The first U.S. COVID-19 patient appeared at an urgent care in suburban Seattle with persistent cough and a fever on Jan. 19, four days after he returned from Wuhan, China. The 35-year-old man had no prior health conditions, but he got sicker and sicker, according to the New England Journal of Medicine. After he was admitted to the hospital, he took a turn for the worse. His cough turned into pneumonia. By the tenth day of his illness, physicians put him on oxygen and administered an experimental antiviral drug called remdesivir. A day later, the patient improved. Doctors removed the oxygen and his appetite returned. Other than a lingering cough, he appeared to have recovered. The news, documented in a March 5 article published by the New England Journal of Medicine, buoyed hopes for a potential coronavirus treatment. Right now, theres no approved treatment for COVID-19, the illness caused by a new coronavirus that has swept the globe since its emergence in late 2019, infecting more than 200,000 and killing almost 9,000. Does the first U.S. case report prove remdesivir works? I dont think so, said Dr. Paul Goepfert, a researcher and physician at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Its promising, sure, but theres no way you can base anything on a single case. Remdesivir was developed through research centered at UABs Antiviral Drug Discovery and Development Center, in partnership with Gilead Sciences, a drug company. In the fight against COVID-19, it emerged as a leading contender. Its been highlighted at White House briefings earlier this week. President Trump described the treatment as exciting." The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has pledged to help make the drug available quickly if it proves effective. The compounds turn in the spotlight didnt come easily. Remdesivir has been around the block during previous pandemics, fizzling out in clinical trials or fading away when other outbreaks petered out. The compound was originally developed as a broad-spectrum anti-viral with funding from the federal government. Introduced as a potential treatment for Ebola, researchers established its safety in early studies and rushed it into hard-hit areas of Africa during an outbreak that claimed more than 11,000 lives. Although remdesivir showed promise in the lab, it proved less effective in clinical trials compared to other antiviral drugs. It was never developed as a treatment. Still, the drug had shown promise against two other coronaviruses: SARS and MERS. Since both diseases had largely disappeared by 2019, so had research into the effectiveness of remdesivir. The emergence late last year of COVID-19, a new coronavirus, put remdesivir back on the fast track for study. Labs at UAB and around the country have begun to ramp up production, racing to meet demand for clinical trials and requests for compassionate use. Patients critically ill with COVID-19 can request the drug directly from Gilead Sciences. At the same time, researchers are comparing the compound with placebos in trials all across the globe. Early reports from 12 patients indicate the drug may have some side effects. Patients treated with the compound reported nausea and gastrointestinal discomfort, according to a paper published by analysts but not reviewed for scientific publication. The authors said the results couldnt be evaluated for safety or effectiveness because they did not come from a clinical study. The National Institutes of Health announced the launch of a remdesivir trial to treat COVID-19 on Feb. 25. Last week, three infected passengers from the Diamond Princess cruise ship had enrolled at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Scientists in China have also established study sites there. Although Goepfert at UAB said he wont draw any conclusions from a single case, he said there are signs remdesivir might be effective this time around. It worked really well in the test tube, Goepfert said. It also looked good in animal models, the researcher added. Remdesivir works by tricking viruses and preventing them from replicating. Ideally, youd hope that the virus would go completely away and the patient would get better, Goepfert said. Right now, many patients hospitalized with severe COVID-19 are requesting the drug for compassionate use, which is allowed for illnesses with no approved treatments. But Goepfert said early reports suggest the drug might be most effective when given early, before patients develop serious complications. Once you get to the point that youre hospitalized, its very difficult to reverse that damage, Goepfert said. Goepfert said results of the first clinical trials are expected in April. Until then, researchers wont know whether the drug really works and if its safe in patients suffering from COVID-19. UAB is one of the sites studying the drug. A positive result would be great, but obstacles could slow the pipeline from labs to pharmacies. Dr. Francis Collins, who has frequently highlighted the potential of remdesivir, said the drug could be a very appropriate way to try to treat people who have been infected. He also said Gilead might have to overcome production problems that emerged after COVID-19 crippled parts of China where pharmaceuticals are made. One of the things this shows is how vulnerable we are as a global community to pipeline disruptions, Collins said. It makes you realize you dont have a good backup plan. SPRINGFIELD Gov. JB Pritzker on Friday issued a Stay at Home order throughout Illinois, directing all residents to stay home except to conduct essential business, and all non-essential businesses to stop operations. The order, which takes effect at 5 p.m. Saturday, will extend at least through Tuesday, April 7. It was the latest and most sweeping step the Pritzker administration has taken to slow the spread of the highly-contagious novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19, but it does allow several exemptions. We have looked closely at the trajectory of this virus in countries like Italy and China. Left unchecked, cases in Illinois will rise rapidly, Pritzker said during his daily briefing in Chicago. Hospital systems will be overwhelmed. Protective equipment will become scarce, and we will not have enough health care workers or hospital beds or ventilators for the overwhelming influx of sick patients. The order came as the Illinois Department of Public Health announced 163 new confirmed cases of the disease and one additional death, bringing the total, as of Friday afternoon, to 585 cases in 25 counties and five related deaths. The most recent victim was a Cook County resident in her 70s. More Kansas City Tech Hopes To Fight Spread Of COVID-19 Transportant turns school buses into mobile WiFi hotspots, sack lunch delivery amid COVID-19 With school closings pouring in nationwide, Transportant customers are looking to use the startup's bus tech platform - which uses video-based technology to allow students, parents and school administrators to better monitor school buses - in ways it was never intended, John Styers said. Local Coronavirus Price Check Kansas, Missouri AGs cracking down on price gouging after getting dozens of complaints KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A $10,000 fine: That's what price-gougers could be facing in Kansas for every item they sell. It's a big fine for a big problem, and Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said he's not afraid to use it. Schmidt said cleaning supplies top the list of the most popular items targeted by greedy sellers. Kansas City Need Cash To Cope With Pandemic KC lawmakers weigh ideas to aid communities 'economically bludgeoned' by coronavirus Lawmakers are preparing to pass a $1 trillion bill to help businesses and workers cope with the financial strain of the coronavirus crisis. But how much money, who gets it and how it is distributed all remain unresolved issues. Rep. Kansas City Home Help Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac offer help to homeowners in COVID-19 crisis KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Two of the country's best-known mortgage lenders want to help people to keep their homes. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac both released statements on Wednesday detailing help they will offer borrowers. The effects of the COVID-19 crisis have meant workers have lost jobs and the paychecks that go with them. Local Testing Ruckus Woman says her parents were turned away from testing JOHNSON COUNTY, KS (KCTV) -- The state of Kansas could run out of coronavirus tests by the end of this weekend, leaving private labs to continue COVID-19 testing in the state for now. Today, the KDHE Secretary said the state of Kansas has about 300 tests left. High-Flying Fam Shut Down Brother, sister from KC area stranded in Peru by COVID-19 There are more American trapped abroad, stranded by COVID-19.For a brother and sister from the Kansas City area, it was dream trip to Machu Picchu with a jam-packed schedule to celebrate a college graduation. Then everything shut down. Tigers Take Test 2 University of Missouri employees diagnosed with coronavirus COLUMBIA, MO (KCTV) -- Two University of Missouri employees have tested positive for COVID-19. According to a statement from the university, both employees immediately quarantined themselves. They are recovering at home and are being cared for by their physicians. Health officials are working to identify anyone who might have recently been in contact with the two. Kansas Teachable Moment Why Kansas Child Care Advocates Say Day Care Centers Should Stay Open During Pandemic With all Kansas public schools ordered closed to slow the Coronavirus pandemic, some people are questioning why child care centers remain open. One teacher at a private Johnson County preschool told KCUR that she thought keeping preschools and child care centers open didn't make sense. KCPD Traffic Crackdown Lightens Up Amid Coronavirus Kansas City police will stop some parking enforcement because of coronavirus Fewer parking violations will be penalized in Kansas City while the state of emergency issued in response to the novel coronavirus pandemic is in effect, police announced Friday. The Kansas City Police Department's parking enforcement efforts will focus primarily on safety-related violations, the department posted on Twitter. Drilling Down On COVID-19 Local dentists limit patients during COVID-19 pandemic RAYTOWN, MO (KCTV) -- Some jobs just can't operate more than 6 feet away from another person. One good example is your dentist's office. There are still clinics seeing patients, but COVID-19 is making for empty waiting rooms. Take Dr. Tim Goodheart's clinic in Raytown where it's been a quiet week. Southland Biz Endures Who's open, who's not and who has the best deals at Red Bridge Shopping Center The news of shut downs and cancellations are happening so quickly it's hard to know what is open, what is closed. Lane4 Property Owners has released a list to help the Red Bridge community keep track of what businesses are open, closed and those offering special services and a sweet deal. KCMO State Review New coronavirus cases in KC brings city's total to 12, officials say KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Kansas City Health Department confirmed Friday there are now 12 positive cases of coronavirus in the city. Six of the patients are men, and six are women, all ranging in age from their 20s to 60s. Some snarky headlines where appropriate along with links to good info; Here's our latest glimpse at some of the most important and recent local COVID-19 news . . .Developing . . . US President Donald Trump speaks during the daily briefing on the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, at the White House on March 21, 2020, in Washington, DC. President Donald Trump said Saturday he wasn't sure if his business would receive financial assistance as part of coronavirus relief packages being considered by Congress. "I don't know. I mean, I just don't know what the government assistance would be for what I have," Trump said at a White House briefing. "I have hotels. Everybody knew I had hotels when I got elected. They knew I was a successful person when I got elected so it's one of those things." The U.S. travel and tourism industry has asked for $150 billion in relief to offset a dramatic decline in travel due to the coronavirus. Representatives from the industry, which included the leaders of the U.S. Travel Association and American Hotel and Lodging Association, met with Trump on Tuesday at the White House. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are negotiating an massive economic relief package that could send billions of dollars to industries from restaurants to airlines to movie theaters that are facing financial hardship due to the coronavirus. Trump resigned from the Trump Organization on Jan. 19, 2017, a day before he was sworn in as president. When asked Saturday how the Trump Organization is doing during the COVID-19 outbreak, Trump said, "I wouldn't say it's thriving when you decide to close down your hotels and your businesses." "Yeah it's hurting me, and it's hurting Hilton and it's hurting all of the great hotel chains all over the world," Trump said. "It's hurting everybody. I mean there are very few businesses that are doing well now." Trump said he had not asked anyone at the Trump Organization specifically how the coronavirus has impacted its business. He said he has spoken to his sons, Don and Eric, about the coronavirus, "but not as it pertains to my business." Trump said the Trump Organization follows the directives of government leaders across the U.S. who are ordering nonessential businesses to temporarily stop operations. "When they say close them down, we close them down," Trump said. For example, one of the Trump Organization's properties in Florida, Mar-a-Lago Club, fully closed on Friday following additional restrictions from Gov. Ron DeSantis, according to the Washington Post. Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak this week temporarily closed all nonessential businesses, which includes hotels and casinos. The Trump International Hotel Las Vegas is located in the state. "Various facilities are temporarily closed given local, state and federal mandates. We anxiously await the day when this pandemic is over and our world-class facilities can reopen," a spokesperson for the Trump Organization told CNBC. The spokesperson did not address a question regarding whether the Trump Organization has specifically asked Congress for financial assistance. - CNBC's Lauren Hirsch contributed to this report. The current practice of allowing staff (doctors, clinicians, law enforcement, etc.) at the CSB Emergency Services (ES) to see patients, public, etc. in tiny interview rooms over and over, and with no protective masks of any kind, is HIGHLY problematic, dangerous, and contributing to the asymptomatic transmission of the virus that causes the disease known as COVID-19, Williams said in a letter to county officials, a copy of which he provided to The Washington Post. This is a challenging time for all of us, but significantly more so for those who have temporarily lost their jobs or are unable to access food and essential items, Phillips said. We encourage anyone who is able to provide assistance to their neighbors in need whether its helping an elderly or sick community member pick up medicine or groceries or making a financial donation to do so. By Allison Martell and Moira Warburton TORONTO, March 20 (Reuters) - Canada's health system is preparing for an influx of coronavirus patients in the midst of a long-running bed shortage, calling doctors out of retirement and ramping down any treatment that can wait. A shortage of beds during periods of peak demand, like the flu season, is a longstanding problem in the publicly funded system. While health spending has risen gradually in recent years, beds have not kept pace with population growth. "You've got people in broom closets and auditoriums and conference rooms across the country," said Michael Gardam, chief of staff at one Ontario's newest hospitals, the 656-bed Humber River Hospital. Canada has 925 cases of the COVID-19 respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus, and 12 deaths. A preliminary model published by Canadian researchers this week estimated that if cases increase by 7.5 percent each day, Ontario, Canadas most populous province, will run out of ICU beds and ventilators in about 37 days. [https://www.covid-19-mc.ca/ ] Between Sunday and Thursday, daily case counts grew an average of 16% a day. In British Columbia, which has seen the most virus-linked deaths in Canada, the majority of hospitals are running between 110% and 140% of their official capacity, said Christine Sorensen, president of the BC Nurses' Union. Most current Canadian hospitals were built between the 1940-1960s, under a federal program. Budget cuts forced closures, and in recent years, growing demand for long-term care has further strained the system. Canada had 12.9 adult intensive care beds per 100,000 people, according to a study based on 2013-14 data, with variations across the country. British Columbia had only 10.5 beds, and the Atlantic province of Newfoundland and Labrador had 21.8, according to a report from Canadian Institute for Health Information. Quebec's government recently said it has 1,000 ICU beds, or 11.8 per 100,000. Story continues In contrast, the United States had 34.7 ICU beds per 100,000 as of 2009, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information. CARE BY EMAIL AND IN HOTELS With little time left to prepare, officials are moving to make the most of what they have. British Columbia's College of Physicians and Surgeons put a call out to doctors who retired in the last two years to re-register under a special emergency class. Ontario told hospitals this week to ramp down elective surgeries and non-urgent treatment. It also said it would invest C$100 million to increase capacity, but it is not clear how quickly that can be done. An Ontario committee set up to address the crisis is looking at how to move more patients out of hospitals and into long-term care or home with care, a document obtained by Reuters showed. Alberta is enabling doctors to bill for phone consultations, in an effort to keep patients at home. Its College of Physicians and Surgeons told doctors that unregulated technology, like email and texting, may be justified under the "extraordinary circumstances." Some hospitals have the capacity to re-open beds that have been closed over the years, said Michael Hurley, president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions, but that is not occurring quickly enough. "So far we haven't talked about approaching this virus with the intensity that the Chinese have," said Hurley, citing China's move to open up thousands of hospital beds in a matter of days to handle the influx of coronavirus patients. China assembled new hospitals in Wuhan using prefabricated buildings. One top priority will be protecting healthcare workers, for their own safety and so they can continue to see patients. "It's going to be a burden on the staff; it's going to be a burden on the system," said Paul-Emile Cloutier, president of hospital advocacy group HealthCareCAN. "The challenges of COVID-19 underscore the challenges that already exist in the system." (Editing by Amran Abocar and Dan Grebler) Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism. On Sunday, when people will thank health care providers and emergency responders, many in the national capital will clap, ring bells, and raise slogans from their homes demanding the government to rescind its decision to update the NPR in view of the new coronavirus pandemic. Civil society group United Against Hate has urged people to protest against the National Register of Citizens, National Population Register and amended citizenship law at 5pm on Sunday from their balconies, windows and gates. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged people to remain inside their homes under a self-imposed curfew on Sunday and thank health care providers and emergency responders who are on the frontline combating the pandemic by clapping and ringing bells. "First we will thank our sisters and brothers who are at ground zero taking care of the infected, supplying essentials...and then we will hold anti-NRC, anti-CAA placards in our balconies and windows and demand the government to roll back its decision to start the NPR exercise from April 1," Nadeem Khan from United Against Hate said. Khan said the government's priority should be countering the virus threat and "we are all in this together". He said while the prime minister has urged people to remain inside their homes from 7 am to 9 pm on Sunday, "we urge him to rehabilitate people who have lost their homes in the riots in northeast Delhi and are putting up in relief camps". Irkan Chaudhary, who will also be a part of the protest, complained that around 1,200 people who lost their homes in the riots have been living in unhygienic conditions at a shelter in Mustafabad. "The prime minister has asked people to remain inside their homes. What about those whose houses have been burnt and looted? They have no option but to live in cramped, unhygienic relief camps where social distancing goes for a toss and the risk of infection is high," he said. Parwez Alam, a social worker, said the entire world is battling a health emergency and the government should focus on it first. "I welcome the prime minister's initiative and will follow the 'Janta Curfew'. But we will also protest against NPR and CAA by beating utensils," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said there is no plan for a lockdown in the city as of now, but the government may go for it if needed, as he limited the public gatherings to five people. "More than five people will not be allowed to gather at one place. However, if they gather, there should be a distance of one meter between them. Even in a queue, keep one-metre distance," Kejriwal said. He said this was the only way the people can save themselves from coronavirus. "No one else can. Follow all the instructions of the government." He said there is no plan to "lock down" the city. "No lockdown as of now. But of needed, we may go for it. All steps are being taken for the people's safety." Kejriwal said he would be holding digital-only press conferences in view of coronavirus. "All Delhi government press conferences will be conducted digitally now. It's very important that all journalists, who are in the forefront of our battle against corona, also protect themselves as they are in a high exposure environment," Kejriwal had said before his first digital press conference. Kejriwal said Delhi has reported 26 corona cases with one death. "Four cases were local transmission, 22 cases were of the people who came from abroad. So the local transmission is not very much in Delhi. But we need to take precautions." The Chief Minister said the city night shelters would also provide food to all, the homeless too can come. "There will be no questions asked." "For the homeless, we are arranging lunch and dinner in all our night shelters. This will be open to all. Anybody can come and have the meals." He said he sincerely appeals to all senior citizens to stay indoors as far as possible. "As the most vulnerable group, we need to take special care of the elderly so that they remain free from infection. I urge you to skip your morning/evening walks for the time being." By Vrishti Beniwal Indias economy, already in the grip of a slowdown, is in for more pain after Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to citizens to stay at and work from home to curb the coronavirus outbreak. The services sector, which accounts for about 55% of Indias gross domestic product, is poised to be the most hit after Modi, in a late evening address on Thursday, urged citizens to go on a self-imposed curfew for a day and private companies to allow employees to work from home for longer. In the countrys vast informal sector, social distancing measures could mean a dent to productivity and consumption because of job or pay losses. Follow latest updates on the COVID-19 pandemic here The impact of a partial lock-down or social distancing will be significant, said Rahul Bajoria, a senior economist at Barclays Plc in Mumbai. If theres a widespread community outbreak, GDP could fall as low as 3.5% in the year starting April 1. The shrinking output may worsen growth in an economy thats already set to expand at an 11-year low of 5% in the current year to March 31. Before the virus outbreak, India had forecast growth to recover to 6%-6.5% in the next fiscal year. S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings have already slashed their growth forecast by 50 basis points. The current social distancing measures will severely impact airlines, hotels, malls, multiplexes, restaurants and retailers, according to analysts at Crisil Ltd., the local unit of S&P Global. Also Read: Coronavirus India update: State-wise total number of confirmed cases Lower footfalls and occupancies, the decline win business volume and sub-optimal operating efficiencies will impact cash flows of companies in these sectors, wrote the analysts led by Chief Economist Dharmakirti Joshi. In a televised address, Modi advised all citizens to stay at home for a day on March 22, as he sought to stem the spread of the coronavirus -- cases of which are relatively low in India at about 200 compared with more than 200,000 infected people globally. His government also barred incoming flights for a week from that day, joining a growing list of countries effectively sealing their borders. Consumption being the biggest component of GDP, a lock-down is bound to have a big impact on the economy, said Devendra Kumar Pant, chief economist at India Ratings and Research, the local unit of Fitch. Modeling uncertainty in any system will be very difficult, but one can say the slowdown could deepen or prolong further. Work from home While companies, including billionaire Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Industries Ltd., are asking employees to work from home, the option isnt feasible in Indias vast informal sector. The option to work remotely simply wont exist for most, said Shilan Shah, an economist with Capital Economics Pte. in Singapore. As many households dont have savings buffers, the government would probably have to back this up with large-scale cash handouts that reach the poorest, he said. Work from home is posing implementation challenges for the manufacturing sector where workers are required to be physically present at the production sites. The services sector, such as banking and information technology, also needs employees to be present in office as confidential data is used and the same cannot be used at home. Close to one billion people worldwide were confined to their homes on Saturday as the global coronavirus death toll shot past 11,000 and US states rolled out lockdown measures already imposed across swathes of Europe. The pandemic has completely upended lives across the planet, restricting movement, shutting schools and forcing millions to work from home. While President Donald Trump insisted the United States was "winning" the war against the virus, individual states dramatically ramped up restrictions, with New York and Illinois joining California in ordering residents to stay home. The virus death toll surged past 11,000 worldwide, with 4,000 alone in worst-hit Italy where the daily number of fatalities has shot up relentlessly over the past week. An estimated 900 million people are now confined to their homes in 35 countries around the world including 600 million hemmed in by obligatory government lockdown orders according to an AFP tally. While the elderly and those with pre-existing medical conditions are the hardest hit by the virus, the World Health Organization warned that young people were also vulnerable. "Today I have a message for young people: you are not invincible. This virus could put you in hospital for weeks -- or even kill you," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. "Even if you don't get sick, the choices you make about where you go could be the difference between life and death for someone else." China on Saturday reported no new local infections for a third straight day, and the WHO said the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus emerged late last year, offered a glimmer of "hope for the rest of the world". But there are growing concerns of a new wave of "imported" infections in the region, with Hong Kong reporting 48 suspected cases on Friday its biggest daily jump since the crisis began. Many of them have a recent history of travel to or from Europe. Italy reported its worst single day death toll Friday, adding another 627 fatalities and taking its reported total to 4,032 despite efforts to stem the spread. The nation of 60 million now accounts for 36 percent of the world's coronavirus deaths and its death rate of 8.6 percent among confirmed infections is significantly higher than in most other countries. France, Italy, Spain and other European countries have ordered people to stay at home, threatening fines in some cases, while Bavaria became the first region in Germany to order a lockdown. Britain, falling in line with its EU neighbours, also announced tougher restrictions, telling pubs, restaurants and theatres to close and promising to help cover the wages of affected workers. Australia's famed Bondi beach was also ordered shut after sunbathers crowded the hotspot in defiance of government orders to avoid non-essential outdoor gatherings. "This is not something we are doing because we are the 'fun police'... this is about saving lives," New South Wales state Police Minister David Elliott told reporters. With virus fears gripping the United States, its largest state California -- with over 1,000 cases and 19 deaths -- told its 40 million residents to stay at home. New York state, which has reported over 7,000 cases and 39 deaths, followed suit on Friday, ordering its nearly 20 million residents to do the same from Sunday evening. Trump applauded the New York and California decisions, but said he did not think a nationwide lockdown was needed. "Those are really two hotbeds," he said. "I don't think we'll ever find (a US-wide lockdown) necessary." Shortly after the president spoke, the governor of Illinois ordered residents of the midwestern state to stay at home and the Connecticut governor did the same. The restrictions so far imposed in seven states cover around 100 million people, with the country's three most populous cities -- New York, Los Angeles and Chicago under lockdown. Trump also announced Friday that the US and Mexico have agreed to restrict non-essential travel across their border. And US lawmakers on Friday evening missed a deadline to reach an agreement on a $1 trillion emergency package, amid fears of widespread economic fallout because of the pandemic. Strict confinement measures across Europe follow the template set by China, as a lockdown imposed in Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital, appeared to have paid off. Europe now accounts for more than half of the world's fatalities linked to COVID-19. Accurate figures are difficult to come by, however, as many of those who die suffer from other illnesses and infection rates are uncertain because of a lack of testing in many countries. In a sign of the shifting centre of the crisis, China has sent medical supplies to European nations struggling to cope with the pandemic, including Greece which received 500,000 medical masks from Beijing Saturday. The shadow of the virus is lengthening across Africa and the Middle East too. The Democratic Republic of Congo reported its first death Saturday, while Burkina Faso reported two new deaths, bringing the total number of fatalities in sub-Saharan Africa to five. Cases stand at over 1,000 across Africa, where health care systems are fragile and social distancing is not possible in many crowded cities. In Iran, which reported 123 new deaths Saturday, both supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani promised the country would overcome the outbreak but still refused to join the rest of the world in imposing heavy restrictions. The country has more than 1,500 deaths and some 20,000 infections. In Latin America, Cuba and Bolivia both announced they were closing their borders, and Colombia said it would begin mandatory isolation from Tuesday. Rio de Janeiro's beaches will be off-limits to sunseekers from Saturday, leaving street vendors worried how they will survive with limited government support. Taiwan adds 27 new COVID-19 cases; total rises to 135 (update) ROC Central News Agency 03/20/2020 07:06 PM Taipei, March 20 (CNA) Twenty-seven new COVID-19 cases were confirmed in Taiwan Friday, bringing the total number around the country to 135, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said that day. Of the new cases, 24 (15 women and nine men) were imported, with the ages of those infected ranging from senior high school students to people in their 80s, the CECC's latest updates show. All are Taiwanese nationals, except for one American man in his 40s. Returning to Taiwan between March 6 and March 18, all those infected began to develop symptoms between March 3 and March 18, the updates indicate. Of the 24 imported cases, 12 had been to countries in Europe (some traveling to more than one country), including France (4), the United Kingdom (4), Spain (4), Portugal (2) and Germany (2), according to CECC data. Six had been to the U.S., one had been to Canada, two had been to Egypt, one to Turkey, one to the Philippines and one to Singapore, the U.S. and Japan. Of the 27 cases, only three were aged 60 or older, while 19 were under 40, indicating that the disease does not only infect the elderly, the data shows. In his daily press briefing, CECC head and Health Minister Chen Shih-chung () said that one of the latest imported cases is part of a cluster infection involving a group tour to Egypt. As of Friday, there were six people in the cluster (five tour group members, plus one who had contact with the infected individual), he added. One other case, a woman in her 60s who traveled to Turkey from March 4 to March 13, is also part of another infection cluster that involved a tour group to Turkey. The cluster has seen 14 people infected, Chen noted. As for the remaining three cases (two women and one man), their infections originated in Taiwan, with one having an unknown source and having not traveled abroad in the past several months, Chen said. The woman, in her 30s, fell ill on March 17 and tested positive on Friday for the coronavirus, Chen said, noting an investigation has been launched on the patient's family and her workplace to ascertain the source of infection. One of the other two indigenous cases is a classmate of the senior high school student who was confirmed as the country's 59th case on March 15 and whose infection became apparent after returning from a trip to Greece, according to Chen. The teenage girl was the second classmate of the 59th case to be infected, Chen said, adding that from Friday, their school was closed until March 29. The third case is a man in his 30s, who said he had not traveled abroad recently but began to show symptoms on March 17, one day before he visited a doctor and took a COVID-19 test, the result of which came back positive on Friday. According to Chen, the man reported that he had contact on March 12 and 13 with a supervisor who had just returned from the United States and who developed symptoms suspected of being COVID-19 infection on March 14. In addition, his two foreign colleagues at the same office also showed "suspected symptoms" on March 17 and 18, respectively, Chen said. (By Elizabeth Hsu) Enditem/J NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Bosky Khanna By Express News Service BENGALURU: The demand for water has increased in the city, not just because the mercury level is rising, but it is also due to the extra hygiene people are maintaining by frequently washing their hands following the coronavirus scare. While water tanker suppliers are making merry by charging higher rates, in some places they are finding it difficult to meet the increasing demand. While in some areas, we are able to meet the demand, in others it is becoming difficult so we are reducing the supply by 2-3 tanker of water to an apartment complex per day, said Jagadish a water tanker supplier. B H Harish, president of water tankers association in East Bengaluru said the onset of summer and coronavirus scare has led to people demanding a lot of water for cleaning and drinking purposes. He added that Cauvery water is unavailable in the area so people are forced to make do with borewell water. BWSSB officials said, Even if consumption increases, only 1,450- 1,460 MLD is being supplied to the city, of which 50 MLD is supplied to 110 villages. There is 20-40% leakage so the supply further drops. We do not supply water every day, so wont know how much demand has increased. Water is supplied once in 2-3 days and it is directly stored in peoples sumps and so we are unable to monitor the rise, BWSSB Chairman Tushar Girinath said. 'It is thought a number of landlords have withdrawn their rentals from short-term listing sites like Airbnb and are putting them on the market instead' There has been an increase in properties for rent due to the crash in tourist numbers, prompting hopes of a fall in rental costs. It is thought a number of landlords have withdrawn their rentals from short-term listing sites like Airbnb and are putting them on the market instead. The volume of rental stock in Dublin central is up 64pc alone, according to property website Daft.ie. Housing experts said the rise in supply could lead to a fall in rents. Adverts are up 13pc nationally in March. But most of that increase is concentrated in Dublin. Many are what tend to be offered for short-term rentals - one- and two-bed properties. As Airbnb is a large platform for short-term listings it seems highly probable many of the new rental stock seen on Daft.ie was previously posted there, Daft.ie said. There has seen a 64pc rise in listings since the start of the month. There have been almost 400 adverts, compared with 242 in the same period last year. Architect and assistant professor at UCD Orla Hegarty said increases in the number of properties for rent is likely to lead to a fall in costs. She said: "If there are more properties for rental, prices will be lower." Migrants were leaving and students were returning home, freeing up properties, she said. Economist Ronan Lyons, of Trinity College Dublin, said the increase in properties advertised for rent is likely to be related to the collapse in tourism, cutting demand. "Most of the country has seen almost no change in properties advertised to rent, compared to a year ago. But the number of smaller properties in central Dublin, where demand for short-term lets is concentrated, has grown almost two-thirds," he said. However, the capital's market needs 1,000 new homes a week to keep rents affordable. "Thus, while a one-off shift from the short-term to long-term rental market may be welcome news for many, it does not change the huge underlying need to build new rental homes," he added. By Aditi Shah NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's Tata Motors is rapidly scaling down activity at its car factory in the western state of Maharashtra and is preparing to close it if concerns about coronavirus deepen, the company said on Friday. By Aditi Shah NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's Tata Motors is rapidly scaling down activity at its car factory in the western state of Maharashtra and is preparing to close it if concerns about coronavirus deepen, the company said on Friday. The move by Tata Motors, which owns the British luxury car brands Jaguar and Land Rover, comes as the state recorded the highest number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in India. On Friday, Maharashtra ordered all shops and offices to close except those providing essential services in three major cities, including the financial capital Mumbai and Pune, where the Tata Motors plant and engineering centre is located. Tata Motors will scale down its operations by the end of Monday and will be prepared to close the plant by Tuesday if things worsen, the company's managing director Guenter Butschek said, adding that it will remain in this mode until March 31. "We shall continue to closely monitor the situation in all states where our offices and plants are located and make appropriate and proactive decisions should the need arise," Butschek said. Tata Motors, which is India's biggest truck maker, has more than half a dozen manufacturing plants across the country. The Pune site, where it builds passenger cars and trucks, is one of its biggest. Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) said on Thursday it would temporarily suspend production in the United Kingdom from next week until the week of April 20 and it has also stopped work at its Slovakia plant to curb the spread of the virus. In a separate statement, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran said that all group companies would make full payments to temporary and daily wage earners for the months of March and April - even if they were not able to come into work due to quarantine measures, site closures or plant shutdowns. (Reporting by Aditi Shah; Editing by Edmund Blair and David Clarke) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. [March 20, 2020] QUDIAN 72 HOUR DEADLINE ALERT: Former Louisiana Attorney General and Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC Remind Investors With Losses in Excess of $100,000 of Deadline in Class Action Lawsuit Against Qudian Inc. - QD Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC ("KSF") and KSF partner, the former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., remind investors that they have only until March 23, 2020 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against Qudian Inc. (NYSE: QD), if they purchased the Company's securities between December 13, 2018 and January 15, 2020, inclusive (the "Class Period"). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. What You May Do If you purchased securities of Qudian and would like to discuss your legal rights and how this case might affect you and your right to recover for your economic loss, you may, without obligation or cost to you, contact KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or via email ([email protected]), or visit https://www.ksfcounsel.com/cases/nyse-qd/ to learn more. If you wish to serve as a lead plaintiff in this class action by overseeing lead counsel with the goal of obtaining a fair and just resolution, you must request this position by application to the Court by March 23, 2020. About the Lawsuit Qudian and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws. On January 16, 2020, the Company disclosed the withdrawal of its fiscal 2019 guidance "due to uncertainty related to the recent regulatory and operating environment" including several regulatory developments in China's online consumer finance industry. On this news, the price of Qudian's shares plummeted. The case is Stephen Bellingham, et al. v. Qudian Inc., et al., 20-cv-00577. About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC KSF, whose partners include former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is one of the nation's premier boutique securities litigation law firms. KSF serves a variety of clients - including public institutional investors, hedge funds, money managers and retail investors - in seeking recoveries for investment losses emanating from corporate fraud or malfeasance by publicly traded companies. KSF has offices in New York, California and Louisiana. To learn more about KSF, you may visit www.ksfcounsel.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200320005559/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Madam Joyce Asumah, the PUSAG Women's Commissioner 21.03.2020 LISTEN The Women's Commissioner (WOCOM) for the Private Universities Students Association of Ghana (PUSAG), Madam Joyce Asumah has called on all university students especially women to join in the crusade against Cervical Cancer disease. The PUSAG women's leader also called on all sister institutions to join in the campaign to create awareness on the canker and its ensuing consequences on the populace world over. Madam Joyce Asumah made these remarks when she spoke exclusively to this reporter in Accra on preparations her outfits is making towards its forthcoming awareness campaign in various campuses across the country. She disclosed that the objective is to ensure students in the various private universities were adequately educated on Cervical cancer pandemic and the need to get early testing. Madam Joyce Asumah seized the opportunity to encourage her colleague WOCOMs to take advantage of the tour to educate both males and females in their respective campuses on Cervical Cancer awareness. She noted that her intention is to create a platform to bring women together in the fight to eradicate Cervical cancer in the system. Cervical cancer according to the PUSAG Women's Commissioner has claimed the lives of thousands of women due to lack of awareness in the past and that the time has come for all to unite and fight the common foe. As to how and when the program will take place in the various institutions, Madam Joyce said: " dates are given by the Students Representative Councils (SRCs) of the respective institutions as to when they would like the programme to take place during their respective SRC week celebrations". She pointed out the move is a thoughtful and innovative way to help students, particularly women to learn about Cervical Cancer. (Bloomberg) -- Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. said it plans to donate more than 10 million tablets of hydroxychloroquine sulfate, a malaria drug touted by President Donald Trump as a potential treatment for the coronavirus, to help U.S. hospitals meet a potential surge in demand. The Israeli company is one of the worlds largest makers of hydroxychloroquine, a less-toxic version of chloroquine, which is used in malaria, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. Though the treatment hasnt yet been approved for use in patients with Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, Trump said Thursday he has urged health authorities to expand its use. Teva will donate 6 million tablets to U.S. hospitals through wholesalers by March 31, and more than 10 million within a month, the company said Thursday. All subsequent product manufactured and shipped to wholesalers will also be donated. U.S.-traded shares of the Israeli drugmaker roses 7.7% to $7.72 at 9:39 a.m. in New York on Friday. Officials from the U.S. Health and Human Services Department and Food and Drug Administration approached the generic-drug giant this week asking if it could increase shipments of hydroxychloroquine, Teva spokeswoman Kelley Dougherty said in an interview. The health officials and U.S.-based Teva executives held multiple phone calls throughout the week. We are committed to helping to supply as many tablets as possible as demand for this treatment accelerates at no cost, said Brendan OGrady, the executive vice president of Tevas North America commercial unit. Immediately upon learning of the potential benefit of hyroxychloroquine, Teva began to assess supply and to urgently acquire additional ingredients to make more product while arranging for all of what we had to be distributed immediately. Were directly responding to a need that was brought to us by the U.S. government, Dougherty added. This is a unique situation. We acknowledge that this is not currently for on-label use. But we are responding to the government and the promise that is being seen in the use of this product for Covid-19. Representatives for HHS and FDA didnt respond to requests for comment. Mylan NV said separately Thursday it would immediately restart manufacturing hydroxychloroquine pills at its West Virgina facility to meet expected high demand if the medication is shown to be effective against the disease. Germanys Bayer AG said that it had donated 3 million tablets of Resochin, a chloroquine treatment, to the U.S. Still in Question More than a dozen generic drugmakers, including Teva, Mylan and Novartis AGs Sandoz unit, manufacture hydroxychloroquine, which comes with few major known side effects, is relatively inexpensive and is widely used around the world. Its also been been touted by Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk as a potential treatment, and China has been testing it as well. Still, its not clear whether the malaria drug will work against illness caused by novel coronavirus. A March 10 review of existing research found theres little solid proof one way or the other. FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said Thursday the drug would be tested through a large, pragmatic clinical trial. Amid increasing demand for the experimental Covid-19 treatment for off-label use, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists found that hydroxychloroquine sulfate tablets were in short supply in March, according to a Thursday report. The FDA, however, hasnt identified the drug as in shortage. 2020 Bloomberg L.P. The coverage on this live blog has ended but for up-to-the-minute coverage on the coronavirus, visit the live blog from CNBC International. Global cases: More than 303,180 Global deaths: At least 12,944 U.S. cases: At least 24,148 U.S. deaths: At least 285 The data above is from Johns Hopkins University. 6:00 pm: Cases top 300,000 worldwide as US becomes one of worst hit countries The number of people who have tested positive for the deadly coronavirus, or COVID-19, has topped 300,000 as the pandemic continues to spread around the world, with the situation in the U.S., Italy and Spain deteriorating even as the pandemic has stabilized in China, where the virus first emerged. At least 303,180 people have tested positive for the virus worldwide as of Saturday at 5:13 pm ET, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The number of cases in the U.S. has surged to at least 24,148, making it one of the worst hit countries in the world. Only China, Italy and Spain are harder hit than the U.S. - Spencer Kimball, Emma Newburger 5:24 pm: Best Buy shifts business model amid coronavirus outbreak Best Buy announced a few business updates as the electronics company adjusts to demand surrounding the coronavirus outbreak. "We are seeing a surge in demand across the country for products that people need to work or learn from home, as well as those products that allow people to refrigerate or freeze food," Best Buy CEO Corie Barry said in a statement. "As we meet the demand for these necessities, we are adjusting how we operate in many ways to improve safety." Starting Sunday, Best Buy is shifting to a curbside service only for all of its stores on a interim basis. Customers also will still be able to order online or on Best Buy's app and have their items shipped directly to their homes. However, all in-home installation and repair services have been suspended. Instead, the company will do in-home consultations virtually. Best Buy noted that all of its employees have been told they do not have to work if they do not feel comfortable or to stay home if they are feeling sick, knowing they will be paid. "All field employees whose hours have been eliminated will be paid for two weeks at their normal wage rate based on their average hours worked over the last 10 weeks," the company said. - Jade Scipioni 4:41 pm: US should rally G7, NATO and other global allies together in fight against coronavirus, Kempe says The U.S. should bring together its global allies in a coordinated fight against the coronavirus pandemic, Atlantic Council CEO Frederick Kempe wrote in a CNBC op-ed. "As the current chairman of the G-7, the United States could convene a 'Coalition Countering COVID-19' that would rally the seven leading industrial democracies, the European Union, NATO and, perhaps most importantly, the G-20," Kempe wrote. "It would thus also involve China as a central and collaborative actor against a common foe," wrote Kempe. - Kevin Stankiewicz 4:28 pm: New York-Presbyterian Hospital seeing nearly 50% increase in potential COVID-19 patients New York-Presbyterian Hospital is experiencing a sharp increase in COVID-19 cases, according to a letter to staff reviewed by NBC News. "Today NYP has about 300 COVID-19 antigen-positive inpatients, with about 200 awaiting test results," reads the letter from Dr. Craig Smith, surgeon-in-chief at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center. "This approaches a 50% increase in one day." The NYP hospital system is anticipating peak COVID-19 volume within 22-32 days, Smith wrote. At that point, the hospital system will need between 700 to 934 intensive care unit beds, which exceeds the hospital system's current capacity, Smith wrote. "This has been a very active day, during which the hard data has become alarming," he wrote. "I wish I could use a more comforting word." - Kevin Stankiewicz 3:20 pm: Trump: 'I don't know' if my businesses will receive assistance President Donald Trump said he wasn't sure if his business would receive financial assistance as part of coronavirus relief packages being considered by Congress. "I don't know. I mean, I just don't know what the government assistance would be for what I have," Trump said at a White House briefing. "I have hotels. Everybody knew I had hotels when I got elected. They knew I was a successful person when I got elected so it's one of those things." The U.S. travel and tourism industry has asked for $150 billion in relief to offset a dramatic decline in travel due to the coronavirus. - Kevin Stankiewicz 3:17 pm: FDA grants 'emergency use' coronavirus test that can deliver results in 45 minutes Diagnostics company Cepheid said it has received emergency authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to use its rapid molecular test for point-of-care patients that can detect the virus that causes COVID-19 in 45 minutes. This is the first coronavirus test that can be conducted entirely at the point-of-care for patients and deliver results in less than an hour. Typically, tests are sent to central reference labs that can take several days to deliver results. Cepheid uses a testing machine called GeneXpert that can run a full test in 45 minutes. There are currently more than 23,000 automated GeneXpert systems worldwide, with nearly 5,000 of them in the U.S., Cepheid said in a statement. Jade Scipioni 3:01 pm: Pence will get tested after staffer tests positive Vice President Mike Pence said Saturday he will get tested for the coronavirus after a member of his office tested positive. Pence said he and his wife, Karen Pence, will both be tested later on Saturday. The staff member's positive diagnosis was announced Friday. "Neither President Trump nor Vice President Pence had close contact with the individual," Katie Miller, the vice president's press secretary, said in a statement Friday. "Further contact tracing is being conducted in accordance with CDC guidelines." Kevin Stankiewicz 2:51 pm: NYC-area, Philly airports lift halt to air traffic following some staffing issues Flights into major New York City-area airports were briefly halted, as the coronavirus continues to cause staffing issues at air-traffic control facilities around the country, the Federal Aviation Administration said. Leslie Josephs 2:33 pm: Scammers, feeding off investor fears, mimic fraud from the 2008 financial crisis Coronavirus scams are emerging, and many look remarkably similar to frauds from the 2008 financial crisis. Government agencies like the Federal Trade Commission and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. issued warnings this week for Americans to be vigilant as con artists attempt to steal from consumers spooked by an onslaught of bad news related to COVID-19. In many ways, the current crisis and its 2008 predecessor are quite different this one caused by a pandemic that has infected more than 250,000 worldwide and the other by broad and systemic failures in the financial system. Greg Iacurci 2:20 pm: Coronavirus cases cause ground stop at New York City-area airports, FAA says Two JetBlue planes sit at the John F. Kennedy Airport in New York on March 13, 2020. in New York City. President Donald Trump cancels all flights between Europe and the United States this Friday, due to the expansion of the Covid-19. Pablo Monslave | Getty Images Air traffic into major New York City-area airports was halted, the Federal Aviation Administration said, as coronavirus continues to cause staffing issues at FAA facilities around the country. An air traffic controller-trainee based at a control center on Long Island tested positive for the virus, COVID-19, the FAA said. The trainee hadn't been in the facility since March 17 but the agency is working with local health authorities to sanitize and clean affected areas. The center is operational, it said. Flights were delayed or canceled after FAA closed other air-traffic-control facilities around the country, including towers at Chicago's Midway International Airport and McCarren International Airport, after technicians and others tested positive for the virus. Leslie Josephs 2:02 pm: NYC restaurants face mass layoffs as coronavirus cripples economic life Restaurants and bars in the nation's largest city, world-renowned for its food and nightlife, are shutting down indefinitely and laying people off en masse as the state takes drastic measures to stop the spread of the deadly coronavirus. Gov. Andrew Cuomo effectively closed bars and restaurants to the public across New York this week, issuing an order that limits them to takeout and delivery only, in an effort to stop people from congregating by enforcing "social distancing" in one of the states hardest hit in the U.S. by the virus. The governor took even more drastic measures Friday when he ordered nonessential businesses to send 100% of their workforce home. Restaurants and bars are still allowed to provide carryout and delivery services, which are considered essential, according to the governor's office. Spencer Kimball 1:50 pm: Amazon will 'double hourly' overtime pay for warehouse workers Amazon said its doubling hourly wages for its associates working overtime in its U.S. warehouses as demand continues to grow due to the coronavirus. "All hourly associates working in the U.S. Ops network will receive double their regular hourly rate for every overtime hour worked in a workweek," Amazon said in a statement to CNBC. "This temporary increased overtime pay is effective March 15, 2020, and will continue through May 9, 2020." Reuters was first to report the news. Amazon said hourly workers will qualify to receive double pay after 40 hours. The announcement following similar one on Monday, when the e-commerce giant hiked the hourly rate for associates from $15 to $17. Jade Scipioni 1:36 pm: NJ Governor orders nonessential retail businesses to close, issues stay-at-home order for nearly all residents New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy Scott Mlyn | CNBC New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed an executive order mandating that "nearly all" state residents stay at home, NBC New York reported. "All gatherings are canceled," Murphy tweeted. "ALL non-essential retail businesses must indefinitely close their physical stores to the public effective 9:00 p.m. [Saturday night]. In New Jersey, 1,327 people have tested positive for COVID-19, Murphy said Saturday, 442 more cases than the previous day. To date, 16 people have died from the virus, Murphy said. Terri Cullen 1:25 pm: Italy's number of cases, deaths continue to soar Italy's grim tally of coronavirus cases and deaths continues to soar, with officials on Saturday announcing new day-to-day highs: 793 dead and 6,557 cases. The country, at the heart of western Europe's rampaging outbreak, now counts 53,578 known cases. More than 60 percent of the latest deaths occurred in the northern region of Lombardy, whose hospitals have been reeling under a staggering caseload that has left intensive care beds hard to find and respirators in dire supply. The new increases come nearly two weeks into a national lockdown in a desperate bid to contain the contagion. Associated Press 1:23 pm: UAE shuts beaches, parks, pools, cinemas, and gyms The United Arab Emirates is shutting beaches, parks, pools, cinemas, and gyms from Sunday for two weeks over coronavirus concerns, the state news agency WAM said on Saturday. Restaurants and cafes will be allowed to operate for the same period at 20% of capacity, and as long as customers are at least two meters apart, and for delivery services, subject to review. Reuters 1:02 pm: Kudlow says coronavirus relief package worth more than $2 trillion Larry Kudlow, director of the U.S. National Economic Council, speaks during a television interview at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S. on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020. Alex Edelman | Bloomberg | Getty Images The stimulus package under negotiation in the Senate to combat the economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic will likely total more than $2 trillion, White House Economic Advisor Larry Kudlow said on Saturday. The package is equal to about 10% of U.S. economic output, Kudlow told reporters as he went to a meeting with Republican senators on Capitol Hill. "We're just trying to cover the right bases," Kudlow said. Emma Newburger 12:55 pm: Relief package must include expanded Social Security payments, Sens. Warren and Wyden say The next coronavirus economic relief package must include increased payments for Social Security recipients, U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, wrote Saturday in a CNBC op-ed. "These Americans are scared about their heightened risk for severe illness and scared about the future as they watch their retirement savings disappear as the pandemic shocks the U.S. economy," they wrote. The senators are calling for $200 increase in the monthly benefit payments through the end of 2021. In addition to Social Security recipients, Warren and Wyden wanted monthly payment increases for Veterans and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) beneficiaries. Kevin Stankiewicz 12:06 pm: USA Track joins swimming in pushing for Olympic postponement U.S. Olympic leaders face a growing rebellion after the USA Track and Field chief added to the call for a postponement of the Tokyo Games because of the mushrooming coronavirus crisis. CEO Max Siegel sent a two-page note to his counterpart at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, Sarah Hirshland, asking the federation to advocate for a delay. It came late Friday, only a few hours after USA Swimming's CEO sent a similar letter. The national committees in Norway and Brazil also have each went public with requests to postpone. The Associated Press 11:44 am: Stitch Fix temporarily closes two distribution centers due to coronavirus Katrina Lake, CEO of Stitch Fix Adam Jeffery | CNBC Stitch Fix announced Friday that it will temporarily close two of its distribution centers, one in California and the other in Pennsylvania, due to the coronavirus. "As a result, please bear with us if your Fix arrives a little later or your return is processed later than planned while we manage through these changes. We will be doing our best to communicate with you individually in these cases, please know our team is working hard to make sure your experience is still the best it can possibly be," Stitch Fix CEO Katrina Lake said in a statement. The online personal styling service has four other facilities in the U.S. The company also said it plans to pay its employees impacted by the closures in the near term and "will continue to evaluate doing so if the closures are extended." Founded in 2011, Stitch Fix went public in 2017. Amanda Lasky, Jade Scipioni 10:50 am: Facebook's response to coronavirus could improve its reputation 10:17 am: Google launches coronavirus information site to help find testing Google dropped its much-anticipated website for coronavirus testing on Friday night. The platform allows users to fill out a questionnaire and learn how to obtain a test for the virus. It also provides resources for safety and prevention and a donation option to the UN Foundation's COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for the World Health Organization. Emma Newburger 10:05 am: Congress is working on a $1 trillion rescue package, but it might not be enough for US businesses Congress is scrambling to put together a third coronavirus relief package and lobbyists are flooding the phones. Lawmakers this weekend are pushing to meet the White House's Monday deadline of coming to an agreement on a rescue package likely to top $1 trillion. Executives have zeroed in on language in Senate Republicans' initial proposal allocating a portion of those funds to Big Business. The proposed bill funnels $50 billion to airlines, $8 billion to cargo air carriers, and $150 billion for other "distressed businesses" a category it leaves notably undefined. But companies have no interest in leaving the definition of "severely distressed business" up to Treasury. Lauren Hirsch 10:04 am: S&P 500 could post record highs early next year, JPM says The S&P 500 could return to record highs by early next year if U.S. efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak work and the government can quickly move forward with fiscal stimulus to cushion the impending economic blow, JPMorgan's chief U.S. equity strategist said Friday. Dubravko Lakos-Bujas wrote in a note to clients he expects the S&P 500 to reach 3,400 in early 2021. That would top an all-time high of 3,386 set on Feb. 19. Fred Imbert 9:19 am: German cases rise by more than 2,000 The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany has risen by 2,705 within a day to reach 16,662, the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases said on Saturday. It said a total of 47 people had died after testing positive, an increase of 16 from a tally of 31 published on Friday. Reuters 8:30 am: WHO offers tips for living under quarantine Don't smoke, limit drinking, exercise and try not to watch too much news. These are some of the recommendations from the World Health Organization to stay physically and mentally healthy while living under quarantine. The new coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China less than three months ago has spread to more than 300,000 people in nearly every country across the world. More than 100 million people across the world are living under some form of social confinement as public officials struggle to contain the COVID-19 outbreak that's already claimed more than 12,000 lives. Dawn Kopecki 8:15 am: Hospitals seek emergency credit and $100 billion in US aid Medical workers and other officials gather outside of the Brooklyn Hospital Center where testing for the coronavirus has started on March 19, 2020 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Spencer Platt | Getty Images U.S. hospitals are setting up coronavirus wards and tents, seeking emergency credit lines and lobbying Washington for a $100 billion stabilization fund to help meet an expected onslaught of patients as the pandemic sweeps the nation. "We believe hospitals and health systems should be top priority number one for the Congress, at this moment," said Robyn Bash, vice president for government relations at the American Hospital Association. The AHA estimates that some hospital systems are losing up to $1 million a day, and the costs are mounting. In many states hospitals have been forced to cancel all elective surgeries, along with non-emergency procedures which generate higher revenues for their facilities. At the same time, they are ramping up staffing to handle the expected influx of acute care patients and spending on as much acute care equipment as they can find. Bertha Coombs 7:43 am: Confirmed cases in Spain nears 25,000 as more than 1,300 people die The Spanish health ministry said Saturday that 1,326 people had now died from the coronavirus in the country, a rise of 324 on the day before. The total number of confirmed cases now stands at 24,926. It comes after Isabel Diaz Ayuso, the president of the region of Madrid, said Friday that the majority of people in Spain's capital city will get the coronavirus. Speaking to state radio Thursday, she said eight out of 10 people in the city would contract COVID-19. Spain is second only to Italy for coronavirus-related cases and deaths in Europe, which has become the epicenter of the outbreak. The WHO has advised all countries to adopt a mix of interventions based on an analysis of the local situation and context, with containment as a major pillar. Katrina Bishop and Sam Meredith 6:21 am: Iran's death toll tops 1,500 as confirmed cases in the country continue to rise The number of people who have died from the coronavirus in Iran has reached 1,556 a rise of more than 100, a health ministry spokesman said on Saturday, Reuters reported. Speaking on state TV, Kianoush Jahanpour said the total number of confirmed cases was now at 20,610. Iran has the fifth-highest number of cases of the virus in the world, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. It comes behind China, Italy, Spain, and Germany. Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said Saturday that the country had to "do everything necessary to return economic production to normal," Reuters reported. Rouhani said that social distancing measures would likely be lifted in two-to-three weeks. Katrina Bishop 2:40 am: Starbucks to shut most cafes in US and Canada While the government and most people are doing their best to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the country, like screening the passengers coming from other countries at airports, some people continue to disregard the advisories and refuse the follow them. In such an incident, some students who arrived from Bangladesh refused to undergo the procedure at Srinagar airport yesterday. The students not only refused quarantine but also destroyed vandalised the Srinagar airport. Kashmir Police: A few students arrived from Bangladesh at Srinagar airport today. They were to be quarantined as a precautionary measure but they protested, broke windows of Srinagar airport. Police have taken cognizance of the incident. Students were later sent for quarantine. ANI (@ANI) March 19, 2020 According to reports, after more than 160 students arrived at Srinagar airport from Bangladesh on Thursday night, the medical authorities at the airport asked them to cooperate for the quarantine process. But the students refused to go for quarantine and argued with the authorities. After that, the students started commotion at the Srinagar airport. They broke the glass windows and panes, shattered the counters at the arrival area. The students had said that they have already undergone thermal screening at Kolkata airport, and refused to go for quarantine. At the same time, parents of the students who had come to receive them also started protests outside the airport and started chaos. After that, the airport authorities and CISF called local police to resolve the issue. The police arrived with a magistrate and requested the students to cooperate, but they didnt concede and continued with vandalism. After that, the police restrained the students on the directions of the magistrate, and they were sent to designated quarantine centres. A police official said that some students from Bangladesh reached Srinagar International Airport. According to Budgam District Majistrates instructions, theses students were to be kept aside as a precaution in light of novel coronavirus infection, which was opposed by the students. However, all of them were later sent for quarantine. Police have taken cognizance of the incident, and appropriate action will be taken against students who turned violent. Source : OpIndia Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 17:38:49|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close SAN FRANCISCO, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Governor of the U.S. state of Alaska Mike Dunleavy on Friday unveiled partial details of an economic plan to counter the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. According to the COVID-19 Economic Stabilization Plan, the state government will focus on six areas including immediate relief for Alaskans, establishment of emergency business loans, enhancing emergency healthcare and measures to help municipalities, protection measures by school districts and state workforce against the spread of COVID-19. The plan is to provide stability to the economy and ensure Alaskans have the resources needed during this unprecedented time, Dunleavy said. "As the virus (COVID-19) and the economic impacts unfold, the plan will adjust to take into consideration new, unforeseen negative impacts." "The details of this six-point plan will be forthcoming over the weekend and there may be additional stabilization efforts added ... as this is an ever evolving and unprecedented event, so should be the response," Dunleavy said. There are currently 12 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Alaska, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. About 30 Malian Servicemen Killed in Terrorist Attack in Country's Northeast Sputnik News 00:43 GMT 20.03.2020 MOSCOW (Sputnik) The Malian army has lost 29 servicemen as a result of a terrorist attack in the northeastern region of Mali, the military command said. The attack took place on early Thursday, with the media initially reporting two fatalities. "The FAM positions were attacked in Gao. The number of victims is growing. The attack left 29 FAM servicemen dead and five more injured", the army said in a statement on its Facebook page. In January, 20 soldiers were killed in an attack on Malian security forces in the Sokolo military camp, located in the centre of the country, the government said as quoted by local media. The situation in Mali was destabilized in 2012 when Tuareg militants seized vast territories in the northern part of the country. The conflict further escalated as a result of the activities of Islamists, forces loyal to former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi as well as French interference. Although tensions have significantly de-escalated since then, sporadic clashes have taken place. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address NJ Transit is tweaking a reduced rail schedule it put in place on Friday -- adding a few more trains back into its lineup in time for Mondays rush hour commutes. NJ Transit said trains will operate on a modified Presidents Day schedule staring Monday morning, as coronavirus continues to reduce ridership. The new schedule will see fewer trains than a normal operating schedule, but more than the reduction it had originally announced on Friday The changes come as Gov. Phil Murphy is expected to announce a shut down of all non-essential businesses in the state Saturday to help stop the spread of the fast-moving virus which already has infected almost 900 residents and has killed 11. Rail service will operate on a Presidents Day holiday schedule with some enhancements. Off to work on NJ Transit Singing all by myself pic.twitter.com/rFxT8zVMK2 Paul Mckeon (@irishpaulnyc) March 20, 2020 Commuters should refer to the Saturday/Sunday/Holiday section in rail schedules and look at the bottom of the shaded columns anything operating on 2/17 refers to the Presidents Day schedule, officials said. Those trains will operate in addition to all of the trains in the non-shaded columns on the schedule. NJ Transit also said it will enhance service on the Raritan Valley Line to and from High Bridge and service to and from Hackettstown. Pascack Valley Line rail service will run on a special schedule that adds stops at Teterboro and Woodcliff Lake. There will be additional early morning trains on the Northeast Corridor and the North Jersey Coast Line. The Presidents Day schedule does not include service at Jersey Avenue Station. Montclair-Boonton Line service west of Bay St. and Gladstone Branch rail service will operate on Monday, as well. Weekday service on the Atlantic City Rail Line (ACRL), will continue to operate on a regular weekday schedule. Complete weekday schedules will be available to view and print at njtransit.com no later than Sunday at 1 p.m., officials said. Bus, Hudson-Bergen Light Rail, Newark Light Rail, RiverLINE and Access Link services all continue to run on full weekday schedules. The move comes after some commuters complained about volume on trains that didnt allow riders to practice social distancing that Murphy and other officials urged people to do to slow the spread of coronavirus. Murphy said Friday that NJ Transit ridership has fallen by 90%. The agency followed New Yorks MTA example when it requested a $1.25 billion bailout from Congress to compensate for lost revenues. Port Authority officials made a similar request late Friday for a $1.9 billion bailout, citing drops in bridge and tunnel, airport, PATH rail traffic and cargo at the ports. Tell us your coronavirus stories, whether its a news tip, a topic you want us to cover, or a personal story you want to share. If you would like updates on New Jersey-specific coronavirus news, subscribe to our Coronavirus in N.J. newsletter. Sign up for text message alerts from NJ.com on coronavirus in New Jersey: Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @commutinglarry. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. Following requests from tourism and manufacturing companies, private schools are now calling for help from the State. About 200 non-public educational institutions have signed a petition to the Prime Minister and ministries, requesting urgent support to help them survive difficulties. As students have been staying off school for nearly two months, schools lack sources of income as they cannot collect tuition from students. Therefore, they dont have money to cover operation expenses and pay teachers. The situation is serious for the schools which employ foreign teachers and run joint training programs with foreign schools. Following requests from tourism and manufacturing companies, private schools are now calling for help from the State. Meanwhile, schools cannot plan their operation because it is unclear when students will come back to school. Local authorities' decisions are renewed every week. A lot of non-state education establishments will have to be dissolved if schools have to close for a long time, said Tran Thi Hai Yen from Alpha School. Teaching online and helping students review lessons from a distance are the methods applied by many private schools. However, it is unclear if distance teaching will be recognized. The Ministry of Education and Training has prohibited collecting tuition from online teaching. The complaints by private schools have raised controversy. On an education forum, some parents commented that it is unreasonable for private schools, which collect very high tuition, to be rescued. They (private schools) need to observe the decisions by local authorities to close schools to prevent the epidemic spread. It will be a crime to call students back to school these days just to bring income to private schools, a parent in Dong Da district commented. Only the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) and local authorities are taking the right position to decide when students can come back to school. The decisions will depend on the recommendations by medical agencies, he said. Meanwhile, another parent said that all sectors of the economy, not only private schools, are suffering from Covid-19. Many private enterprises in many business fields are on the verge of bankruptcy. This is a common problem, he said. However, Yen explained that private schools entreat for help not because they want to call students back to school soon. They just want support like other private enterprises can enjoy from the state. We want tax reduction, tax payment delay and adjustment of regulations which can help us survive and recover after the epidemic is over, she said. Nguyen Thi Ngan Hoa, rector of Victoria Thang Long, a private primary school established in 2019 also said private schools need to be equally treated like other private enterprises in other business fields such as tourism, transport and import/export. Chi Mai Private schools struggle to thrive amid temporary closure The schools complained that the consequences caused by Covid-19 to the education sector have been disastrous. By Jeremy Roebuck, The Philadelphia Inquirer No, chewing garlic pills or drinking colloidal silver wont help you stave off the coronavirus. Legitimate doctors wont send emails in broken English claiming to have treated your sick relatives and demanding thousands of dollars in return. And no one, state and federal authorities say, should be charging as much as $10 for a roll of toilet paper. But just as the spread of the coronavirus has sparked a collective wave of national anxiety, a litany of price-gougers, snake-oil salesmen, email phishers, and scammers are emerging just as quickly to exploit it. Their tactics are not new, cybersecurity and law enforcement experts say. But the nations level of concern over a disease that has infected tens of thousands of people in the U.S. and killed more than 200 is. The plays the same, theyve just changed the scenery, said Michael Levy, a University of Pennsylvania law professor who formerly led the cybercrimes unit in the U.S. Attorneys Office in Philadelphia. The idea is to play on fear. When were afraid, we dont think with the front part of our brain, and getting people to operate on fear is how they operate. Thats made some people more susceptible to scams shilling virus-preventing air duct cleanings, urgent emails with dodgy links to malware-infected apps, and hucksters hawking special toothpastes online that they claim can curb the virus spread. Were seeing just an explosion of scams on a level that we have not seen in relation to one event before, said Scott Brady, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, who announced the formation Thursday of a coronavirus task force to crack down on fraud. Since his task forces hotline launched it already has received complaints about email phishing scams targeting municipal government offices and another bearing a Fox News logo with links purporting to lead to the latest coverage of the virus. Homeland Security officials in New Jersey let the air out of one particularly persistent fraud Friday a text message making the rounds all week that claims the sender has military friends with inside information that President Donald Trump would announce a nationwide, two-week mandatory quarantine within the next 72 hours. That one caused so much alarm it prompted the typically reserved National Security Council to tweet: Text message rumors of a national #quarantine are FAKE. There is no national lockdown. In the Philadelphia region, police in Perkasie, Bucks County, and in Moorestown, Burlington County, warned residents in recent days not to fall prey to potential scammers going door-to-door offering in-home testing for the virus, when no such tests exist. Spokespersons for the departments said they had received no specific reports of this happening in their jurisdictions but issued their warnings in response to chatter on neighborhood message boards. Meanwhile, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said hes fielded nearly 1,800 complaints of skyrocketing prices for staple goods to a price-gouging email address he launched Monday. As of Thursday, his office had sent cease-and-desist letters threatening legal action to 39 businesses in Philadelphia and its suburbs. The targets included a chain department store in Bensalem selling hand sanitizer for $20 a bottle, a Bucks County farmers market where a case of water went from $3 to $15 in a few days, and a Philadelphia store selling $50 N-95 face masks, a spokesperson for the attorney general said. Although not regulated by the same restrictions that apply to tax-paying businesses, a handful of Philadelphia-area posters on Facebooks Marketplace feature were hawking essentials in short supply like toilet paper for as much as $100. Stock up now, wrote one Berks County poster shilling Charmin. Plenty of supply. Nationally, cybersecurity monitors have warned of email phishers and hackers targeting those newly working from home. Earlier this week, the Secret Service flagged fraudulent software, mimicking remote access tools like VPN designed to insert malware into IT networks through employees working remotely. And while the ink isnt even dry on a Senate proposal to issue relief checks to individual Americans as part of a broader stimulus action, the Federal Trade Commission is already warning against scammers seeking Social Security numbers, bank accounts, or credit card numbers in order to release the funds. It will seem legitimate to people who have heard in the news that those distributions might be coming, said Jonathan Sasse, marketing executive at First Orion, an Arkansas company that builds scam protections for mobile-phone users. And often times, where scammers are very successful is if theyre dealing with a too-good-to-be-true thing like an offer of funds in times of desperate financial conditions. Alex Quilici, CEO of the robocall blocking service YouMail, said his company has reports of recorded messages purporting to offer $400-a-week, work-from-home jobs with Amazon and cleaning services that claim to shield houses from disease. That last pitch, recorded and posted to the companys website, recommends sanitizing your ducts and air filters to protect your loved ones from the coronavirus for only $159. A call to the numbers listed in the voice mail was not returned Friday. Still, law enforcement agencies say adopting a measure of common sense could offer the best immunity to common frauds. Theyve urged people to independently verify companies making coronavirus claims and suggested caution with unsolicited emails offering information, supplies, or treatment in exchange for personal information. Dont click on links or open email attachments from unknown senders, theyve warned. And make sure anti-malware and antivirus software is up to date. In a memo sent to U.S. attorneys nationwide Monday, Attorney General William Barr directed each to appoint a coronavirus coordinator to prioritize disease-related fraud reports. U.S. Attorney William M. McSwain urged scam victims to call the FBI at 215-418-4000. Meanwhile, the Pennsylvania Attorney Generals Office continues to collect price-gouging reports and information on other frauds at pricegouging@attorneygeneral.gov. Remember, Shapiros office said Thursday. If there is a medical breakthrough, you wont hear about it for the first time through an email, online ad, or unsolicited sales pitch. TORONTO, March 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Canadas voice of grocery store workers, the United Food and Commercial Workers union (UFCW Canada), is pleased to announce that ongoing discussions with Loblaw have resulted in a $2 an hour wage increase for front-line employees across the country. The wage increase is in the process of being implemented and will be applied to the hourly rates of both full-time and part-time workers at all Loblaw stores and associated banners. UFCW represents more than 90,000 Loblaw employees at all banners operated by the company. In addition to discussions with industry leaders on key measures, like the wage increase, UFCW Canada is fully leveraging its strength as an international union to actively work with global relationships in Europe and elsewhere including a number of American retailers such as Albertsons to identify and share some of the latest containment innovations with Canadian stakeholders. To that end, the union welcomes initiatives by Sobeys and other retailers to install plexiglass barriers in its stores, as announced earlier this week. The commitment shown by UFCW Canada members to their communities as front-line workers to provide safe, high quality food and essential goods throughout this situation has been truly amazing. UFCW has been in constant communication with Loblaw throughout this process to find ways to better meet the needs and concerns of UFCW members and their neighbours, says UFCW Canada National President Paul Meinema. UFCW is fully committed to working with industry partners to face and overcome the challenge of containing COVID-19 and making sure that Canadians have a steady supply of essentials throughout this process. We commend Loblaw for showing leadership on this wage increase and call on other employers to follow this important example, adds the national union leader. The UFCW is Canadas neighbourhood union, representing more than 250,000 people across the country, and 1.3 million internationally, who work in every aspect of the food chain, health care, security, and many other key economic sectors. To find out more about UFCW and its ground-breaking work, visit www.ufcw.ca . CONTACT: Roxane Larouche, National Representative UFCW Canada (514) 233-5440 roxane.larouche@ufcw.ca www.ufcw.ca Now we walk. Every evening since some time last week I cant remember which day because the days have all blurred we walk. Its still bright at five, six, or even seven oclock, so my partner and I set out on a long walk with no destination. In normal times of long, long ago, like last week, there would be no time for a walk. There were always other things to do. Family visits. The gym. Meetings. Work. Now there is only time to walk. So we walk. One night this week, it might have been Monday, we walked west on College Street towards Lansdowne Avenue. The sun was setting gorgeously behind a few clouds. It was the time of day when the evening rush normally would still be on, but the street was empty but for the occasional few cars that would pass by, some drivers going faster than normal since there was no traffic slowing them down. Watch out for those ones. It was quiet, otherwise. A remarkable daylight quiet that sounded more like three oclock in the morning. It was odd and unsettling, but beautiful too. So much city noise is just cars. Remove them and theres so much more to hear. A couple walking across the street were talking and because we could hear them so clearly, we were almost a part of their conversation, a strange intimacy across a normally loud swath of pavement. A block away a drunk with a tall can of beer in his hand sang, with profane joy, an altered version of The Knacks 1979 song, My Sharona that he called My Corona. We heard it verse and chorus as we approached, sharing furtive glances with other passerby also bemused by his performance. He sang one chorus just for us as we passed on the opposite side of the street. In this time of social distance, little connections like this seem to matter more, even if a bit eccentric. We crossed the railway corridor along Dundas Street and eventually connected to Roncesvalles Avenue. Though the previous sidewalks were not completely empty, Roncesvalles had the feeling of a European promenade. People were out, walking together, but safely apart. With most shops closed at this hour, it was clear they were just out for the sake of a stroll. I felt the need to make eye contact with everyone we passed, a thing we dont do so much here in Toronto, as a signal of solidarity. Everybody gave each other the space they needed, some more obviously than others, even walking into the street on narrow sections of sidewalk, but we should all be as comfortable as we need to be when out. A few men chatted and sipped take-out coffees in front of the big St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, normal seeming, though they were about six feet apart from each other. Signs announcing businesses closing have appeared in windows on street after street, voices from within. I try to read them all, so often handmade and heartfelt. Some do it with humour, like Bathing Belle swimwear on Roncesvalles, announcing due to travel bans and community centre closures they were practising social distancing for two weeks, but added, should you need a bathing suit to pretend you are on holiday please call or text. Others have a harder time hiding the worry. Well be back, I think. I want to go to shops I never went into before. I hope they can weather this. An increasing number of shops have a sign made in the old hand-painted Honest Eds style that read, Were All In This Together. Sometimes we ride. Tuesday was warm and the sun was out. Im certain it was Tuesday. Instead of walking we got on our bikes and rode to the lake and west to the Humber River arch bridge. I dont think Ive ever seen more people out along the waterfront parks, except perhaps at the peak of summer. Walking, running, riding, even groups of people doing exercises and stretching, all still maintaining distance between each other. The setting sun was so bright as we rode into it I felt my skin glow warm for the rest of the night after returning home, but it was the feeling of seeing so many people out that was the real tonic. We needed to be out, together, even if apart. As if confirmation that this is still a city. Social isolation should be our first and only mission, but for now we can still practise that outside, alone but together. Well continue to walk and ride the city until we cant, but I hope that day doesnt come because being outside feels like a triumph every time my feet meet the sidewalk. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Djemi Amnifu (The Jakarta Post) Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara Sat, March 21, 2020 07:26 662 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad206c5626a 1 National easter-parade,parade-paskah,East-Nusa-Tenggara,kupang-nusa-tenggara-timur,COVID-19,virus-corona,batal Free Timor Evangelical Church (GMIT) has officially canceled the 26th Easter Parade in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, which was set to be held on Apr. 13. The city's annual celebration, which has always attracted thousands of parishioners from hundreds of churches, has been halted over COVID-19 concerns. "It is a very tough decision but this is what needed to be done to curb the spread of COVID-19," the head of the Synodal Assembly of GMIT, priest Merry Kolimon said on Friday, adding that big events related to Easter, which attract crowds, would be postponed until further notice. He also called on churches to pay more attention to vulnerable age groups, such as the elderly and children, as a precautionary measure against COVID-19. "If the situation gets worse, churches need to tell their parishioners to pray at home while maintaining close communication with the head of the church," he suggested. According to priest Merry, the 2020 Easter celebration should be defined as a chance to build family cohesion and solidarity across the nation. In addition to the cancellation of the Easter Parade, the GMIT has also postponed an ordination Mass for 22 newly elected vicars, which was scheduled to be held on Sunday. The ordination was planned to be held in two places, namely the Policarpus Atambua church-Belu synod and Petrus Ombok church-Northwestern Rote synod. The GMIT's move to cancel and postpone events was lauded by the head of East Nusa Tenggara's Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), Abdul Kadir Makarim, who supported the precautionary measures being enforced in the region. "Religious events that involve crowds must be canceled," he said. In accordance with the GMIT, the MUI East Nusa Tenggara has also advised local residents not to conduct Friday prayers at mosques, which involve crowds, in the countrys battle against COVID-19. (trn) Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 19:50:12|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close HONG KONG, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection (CHP) Saturday reported 17 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 20 preliminary positive cases, most of which had overseas travel history. With the 17 newly confirmed cases, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Hong Kong has risen to 273. Most of the patients recorded on Saturday, aged between 20 months and 72 years old, had overseas travel history, head of the CHP's Communicable Disease Branch Chuang Shuk-kwan said at a daily press briefing on Saturday afternoon. Of the newly confirmed cases, six patients returned to Hong Kong from abroad, said Linda Yu, chief manager of Hong Kong's Hospital Authority. As of 3:00 p.m. local time Saturday, 101 arrivals back to Hong Kong from outside with upper respiratory tract symptoms have been tested at temporary quarantine centers. Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor Tamil Superstar Rajinikanth on Saturday backed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for 'Janta Curfew' and said everyone should stay indoors. The 69-year-old actor said the virus was at its second stage in India and appealed to people to stay indoors so that it can be prevented entering the third stage. "We can prevent the virus entering third stage if people stay indoors and for that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced Janta Curfew on March 22," Rajinikanth said in a video message. The Italian government had announced a similar curfew but people did not heed it and because of that lot of lives were lost to the pandemic and that kind of situation should not occur in India, the veteran actor said. "Everyone including senior citizens and youngsters should extend their cooperation on March 22," he said. The actor also praised medical professionals, saying they were working selflessly to prevent the spread of the virus and "as per the words of Prime Minister let us join to appreciate them and pray for their well-being at 5 pm on March 22." Meanwhile, actor-politician Kamal Haasan encouraged people to follow 'social distancing' to prevent the spread of virus and appealed to them not to take part in large gatherings. "By following that, you are preventing the virus from affecting you and your dear ones," the Makkal Needhi Maiam president said in a video message. "Stay indoors and ensure you spend time with family and try to be responsible. Maintain social distance and stay safe," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The city's coronavirus testing site is pictured next to Citizens Bank Park in South Philadelphia on Friday, March 20, 2020. The site, which opened Friday afternoon, is the first city-run drive-through location where people can be swabbed to determine if they have the coronavirus. At the time of opening, it was only for people with symptoms who are over 50 and healthcare workers with symptoms. Read more While the parking lot of Philadelphias Citizens Bank Park was converted to a white-tented coronavirus testing site, and New Jersey made plans to close nonessential businesses as soon as Saturday, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Pennsylvania on Friday passed 250, rising by nearly 50% from Thursdays number. With patients now in 26 counties, including clusters around Pittsburgh and Stroudsburg in addition to the Philadelphia suburbs, officials said the state was seeing an exponential increase in cases. We are clearly in the rapid growth phase of this epidemic, said Thomas Farley, health commissioner of Philadelphia, where the number of confirmed cases reached 67, catching up to Montgomery County, which had 68. Nationally, more than 19,000 people have been diagnosed with the virus. New York, Connecticut, and Nevada moved to close all nonessential businesses, Illinois came under a stay-at-home order, and bars and restaurants in Florida were ordered to shut down all in-house services. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said he would likely announce Saturday a limit or even a ban on gatherings of any sort and an order for all nonessential businesses to close, saying he had no choice but to tighten the screws on social distancing measures. Meanwhile, Gov. Tom Wolf revised his order for all Pennsylvania businesses that dont provide life-sustaining services to shut down, expanding the types of businesses that can continue with physical operations after mass confusion and backlash from business owners and trade groups. Laundry facilities, hotels, specialty food stores, insurance carriers, agencies and brokerages, accounting and tax services, and all sectors of the natural resources and mining industry were added to the list of businesses that can remain open. Enforcement of the order, which could impact up to three million workers, was delayed until 8 a.m. Monday after the state received a large number of waiver requests from businesses, the Wolf administration said. Wolf defended the order as necessary to keep surging numbers of cases from overwhelming Pennsylvanias hospitals. Were not going to do everything perfectly, he said, but Pennsylvania is going to do everything it can to keep the hospital system from collapsing. Strain was already showing. Montgomery County asked businesses Friday to donate masks to help with a shortage. Delaware County made plans to move its emergency operations center into the empty Glen Mills Schools and create a space to house exposed emergency and medical workers, to avoid endangering their families while awaiting test results. There remains a shortage of testing materials in Philadelphia, officials said, even as testing sites expand. New Jersey officials continued to press the federal government for more supplies, and Murphy said the Defense Department may detail health workers to New Jersey. The governors of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut formally requested $100 billion in regional aid in a letter to President Donald Trump and congressional leadership. Without this funding, we will be forced to make incredibly difficult choices in light of our new fiscal reality, the governors wrote. The principal impact will be borne by the millions of Americans who reside in our states. And one state lawmaker was calling for a shelter-in-place order for Philadelphia and Montgomery County something other counties across the country have implemented. The entire state of California is under such an order. Weve got to get people to stay at home, State Sen. Art Haywood (D., Phila.) said by phone Friday, briefing reporters on the recommendation hed sent to Wolf, Mayor Jim Kenney, and the Montgomery County commissioners. The cases are increasing. I dont think we need to get to 1,000 cases or 20 deaths before we realize we need to shelter in place.... We are there now. Kenney said the city wouldnt be forceful in asking people to comply with restrictions on commercial and social activity, but hoped people would be responsible. This is America and Philadelphia, and people sometimes do what they want to do, Kenney said. Were going to try to keep them from doing it. But were not going to be locking anybody up. Philadelphia officials were working with Wolfs administration to iron out differences between the lists of non-essential businesses that the mayor and governor have ordered to shut down during the pandemic. Across the Delaware River, 11 New Jersey residents have died from the virus, and the number of reported cases was nearly 900. Murphy declared that lab capacity was no longer an issue in New Jersey, announcing significant expansions to the states ability to test for the coronavirus. The state public health lab will now be able to process 1,000 tests per day, and the state has partnered with BioReference Laboratories to provide 10,000 tests to residents and establish mobile testing sites in five counties. And all hospitals and qualified health-care centers in New Jersey will waive coronavirus-related testing and diagnostic fees for any uninsured people under an order from the governor. Cost will not be a barrier for anyone, Murphy said. Increasing our ability to get these residents tested is critical to saving lives. And working with the Army Corps of Engineers, the state could add 500 hospital beds within five weeks, and may add more hospital wings at existing facilities, said Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli. Murphy said 600 people were tested Friday at the Federal Emergency Management Agencys mobile testing site in Bergen County. An additional 350 can get tested tomorrow, and the site will run seven days a week until further notice. We urge those who feel healthy to take a step back, Murphy said, to allow those exhibiting symptoms, or those who are most at risk, to go to the head of the line. In Philadelphia, the parking lot of Citizens Bank Park, the home of the Phillies, became one of 20 testing sites open in the Philadelphia region on Friday. Health-care workers and people who are older than 50 and have symptoms can show up at the site but Farley warned that the city must prioritize certain people and others may be turned away. Joe Marsh, 40, wore a mask his doctor had given him as he waited in his car to pull into the parking lot and follow the orange cones toward a volunteer, masked and gloved, holding a sign that read: Dont get out of your car. This is the worst Ive ever felt, honestly, said Marsh, of Deptford, whose doctor had given him a prescription to be tested. It feels like an elephant is sitting on your chest. Among the people waiting were Jean and Mike Peters of the Graduate Hospital section of the city, who were afraid Mikes illness of a few weeks ago may have been the coronavirus and Jeans shortness of breath and fever meant shed now caught it. Its just stressful not knowing, said Jean Peters, 65. So it would be nice to know one way or another if we really need to watch ourselves. Montgomery County was preparing to open its first drive-through testing site at 10 a.m. Saturday by appointment to first responders and residents who meet criteria for symptoms, said County Commissioners Chair Val Arkoosh. Nearly half of Montgomery Countys 13 new cases on Friday were people under 40 including three in their early 20s. Two of Philadelphias eight hospitalized patients are in their 20s. It does scare me, said Ana Avila, a 24-year-old mental health worker, who was waiting to get tested at Citizens Bank Park with a dry cough, a fever hovering around 104, and shortness of breath. Shes been calling off from work since March 11 and has been financially supporting herself with her savings. Its spreading everywhere. Even without symptoms, you could possibly still have it, she said. I just advise people to stay away from people like, its not worth it. Staff writers Ellie Rushing, Laura McCrystal, Sean Collins Walsh, and Vinny Vella contributed to this article, as did Aneri Pattani, Angela Couloumbis, and Sarah Anne Hughes of Spotlight PA. Casino Group has signed an agreement with Aldi France for the sale of Leader Price stores and warehouses in mainland France, for 735 million euros Paris, March 20th, 2020, Casino Group today announces that it has signed a unilateral promise to sell to Aldi France 3 warehouses and 567 stores in the Leader Price perimeter in mainland France, for an enterprise value of 735 million (including a 35 million earn-out, paid in the event of compliance with operational indicators during a transition period). With this agreement, the transferred Leader Price stores will develop under the Aldi banner and will benefit from the commercial dynamics of Aldi France. Casino Group will remain the owner of the Leader Price brand in order to continue to operate it under certain conditions agreed with Aldi, in France and internationally. The sale will take place after consultation with employee representative bodies and subject to obtaining the authorization of the French Competition Authority. Disclaimer This press release was prepared solely for information purposes and should not be construed as a solicitation or an offer to buy or sell securities or related financial instruments. Similarly, it does not give and should not be treated as giving investment advice. It has no connection with the investment objectives, financial situation or specific needs of any recipient. No representation or warranty, either express or implicit, is provided in relation to the accuracy, completeness or reliability of the information contained herein. It should not be regarded by recipients as a substitute for exercise of their own judgement. All opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice ANALYST AND INVESTOR CONTACTS Regine GAGGIOLI +33 (0)1 53 65 64 17 rgaggioli@groupe-casino.fr or +33 (0)1 53 65 24 17 IR_Casino@groupe-casino.fr PRESS CONTACTS Casino Group Direction of Communication Stephanie ABADIE - sabadie@groupe-casino.fr - +33 (0)6 26 27 37 05 Story continues or +33(0)1 53 65 24 78 - directiondelacommunication@groupe-casino.fr Agence IMAGE 7 Karine ALLOUIS - +33 (0)6 11 59 23 26 - kallouis@image7.fr Flore LARGER Tel : +33(0)6 33 13 41 50 - flarger@image7.fr Attachment Staff frantically wave us out of the way, pushing gurneys carrying men and women on mobile respirators - it's not chaos, but it is hectic. They rush past wards already rammed with beds all filled with people in terrible distress - gasping for air, clutching at their chests and at tubes pumping oxygen into their oxygen-starved lungs. I'm in the main hospital in Bergamo, the hardest-hit hospital in Italy in the hardest-hit town in the hardest-hit province, Lombardy - and it's just plain scary. Masked, gloved and in a hazmat suit, my team and I are led through corridors full of gasping people who look terribly ill. I ask what ward I am in. "This isn't really a ward, it's a waiting room, we just have to use every bit of space," my guide, Vanna Toninelli, head of the hospital press office tells me. The medical teams are fighting a war here and they are losing. The sheer numbers of people succumbing to the coronavirus is overwhelming every hospital in northern Italy - and it could easily overwhelm the rest of the country as well. The staff are working flat out trying to keep their patients from deteriorating further. They are trying to stop them from dying. In groups they crowd around the latest patients. Attaching monitors, drips and most importantly respirators. Without them the patients will simply go downhill fast. Really fast. Deadly fast. It looks like an intensive care unit (ICU), but it is actually just an emergency arrivals ward. The ICU is full. The people being treated are new arrivals, but they look far worse than that. Anywhere else in the world they would be intensive care cases but here, to qualify, you are actually on the point of death, not just gravely ill. In this pandemic, gravely ill is considered a reasonable position. It really is that bad. The arrival of people here is an absolute constant. This killer pandemic is virtually out of control. We have all heard what has been going on here, but no journalist has been allowed in here to see it, until now. Story continues The city of Bergamo invited us in to show everyone what a catastrophic emergency, that nobody has ever experienced before, looks like. They want you to see it. They want the world's population to question their own governments' responses. Because there can be no excuse anymore that nobody knew. Italy did not. Now everyone else does. Through plastic bubbles that fit over the heads of the most ill, staff struggle to communicate with patients. The weak can barely speak and above the noise of the ward and the constant bleep of heart monitors and breathing pumps, it's almost impossible to make out what they are saying. The bubbles are attempting to equalise the air pressure in the lungs. Nobody expected this, nobody even imagined they would be treating so many so quickly. And for the record, it is NOT like flu, it is more often than not chronic pneumonia and it is killing hundreds here each day. The head of emergency care, Dr Roberto Cosentini, says they have never seen anything like it, and he and his staff are warning other countries, especially the UK, that they will see it soon. "It's a very severe pneumonia, and so it's a massive strain for every health system, because we see every day 50 to 60 patients who come to our emergency department with pneumonia, and most of them are so severe they need very high volumes of oxygen. "And so we had to reorganise our emergency room and our hospital [to] three levels of intensive care." The Papa Giovanni XXII hospital is one of the most advanced in Europe, but even this gleaming mega hospital is on its knees. Bergamo is the absolute centre of this epidemic and the hospital is attempting to deal with a crisis that was never imagined. Many of the medical staff have worked or trained in the UK. Dr Lorenzo Grazioli worked in Leicester for a year. He says his friends have been ringing him constantly to get a sense of what it is like. He told me they are bracing themselves for the same and are very worried. :: Listen to the Daily podcast on Apple Podcasts , Google Podcasts , Spotify , Spreaker He, like every other doctor and nurse I spoke to, urged the UK to follow the example of China and Italy, and lock down everything straight away. It is, they say, the only way to slow the virus down: not beat it, slow it. "I have never felt so stressed in my life, I'm an intensivist, and I am quite used to intense moments, and the choices, and people are critical and die without any treatment, and you [usually] make the difference," he told me. "But when you are at this point you realise that you are not enough. "We are 100 anaesthetists, we are doing our best, but maybe it's not enough." In labs, staff are continuously testing for the virus and attempting to find something that can beat it. They say it's a long way off. The problem facing health services across the world is that when the infection curve goes up it rockets, and all resources, all testing, all supplies are used up instantly. Multiple hospitals all making the same demands at the same time. It's crippling - here they call it the apocalypse. Bergamo wanted us to see this, as I have said, and they want to send a simple message: "Get ready." We attempted to send a notification to your email address but we were unable to verify that you provided a valid email address. Please click here to update your email address if you wish to receive notifications. Otherwise, you may click here to disable notifications and hide this message. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has blamed Russia, China and Iran for spreading "disinformation" on COVID-19 and carrying out coordinated efforts to "disparage" America's efforts towards containing the fast-spreading coronavirus pandemic. Speaking at the White House on Friday, Pompeo described the disinformation campaigns as being "pretty diffused" and urged Americans to ensure that they are getting their information from a reliable source and not a "bad actor" trying to create and flow information that they know is wrong. "I wanted to talk about the disinformation the people are seeing both on Twitter and around the world. Some of it coming from government, some of it coming from other individuals," Pompeo told reporters. He identified three countries for these "disinformation campaigns". "It is pretty defused unfortunately but we have certainly seen it come from places like China and Russia and Iran where there are coordinated efforts to disparage what America is doing and our activity to do all of the things that President (Donald) Trump has set in motion here," Pompeo said. COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show "I did just urge everyone as they are seeing information that at one time suggested somehow this virus emanated from the United States Army, this information about lockdowns that are taking place, every American, indeed people all around the world should ensure that where they turn to for information is reliable source and not a bad actor trying to create and flow information that they know is wrong," he added. The Secretary of State acknowledged that to combat the fast-spreading pandemic was a "tough fight". A total of 230 people had died in the US due to the fast-spreading coronavirus pandemic by Friday evening. The number of confirmed cases has jumped to over 18,000, an increase of over 10,000 in less than 50 hours. Coronavirus cases have been reported in all the 50 States in the US and District of Columbia as well as Puerto Rico. Globally, the death toll from the virus has risen to 11,397 with more than 275,427 cases reported in over 160 countries and territories. "The American people are tougher. Our diplomatic teams are working around the clock to help them keep safe both home and abroad and we're showing once again the global leadership that America has always delivered. It's been great to see countries around the world rallied behind what President Trump and his team is doing," Pompeo said. Pompeo's statement came after Dick Durbin and Jeff Merkley led a group of eight Democratic Senators in urging the State Department to take action against foreign actors "who are weaponising disinformation" to undermine efforts by the US and its global partners to inform the public about efforts to address the coronavirus pandemic. Recent EU reports of Russian efforts to sow disinformation about COVID-19 echo warnings made by Lea Gabrielle, the Special Envoy of the Department of State's Global Engagement Center (GEC), to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that Russia is behind "swarms of online, false personas" seeking to spread misinformation about COVID-19 on social media sites, the Senators wrote. According to the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab, these "malign activities" demonstrate how false narratives about COVID-19 are "truly global and spread faster than the virus itself". "Moreover, now that the World Health Organization has declared COVID-19 as a global pandemic, cybercriminals are loading malicious software onto tracking maps, government reports, and health fact sheets in multiple languages," they wrote. A recent study by the Israel-based cybersecurity group Check Point revealed that Chinese hackers such as "Vicious Panda" posed an "advanced persistent threat" in this sphere and are likely being funded by the Chinese government, the Senators said. "Furthermore, despite efforts by companies like WhatsApp to work with governments and other partners to mitigate the spread of false information on their social media platforms, disinformation continues to be shared unabated in countries such as Nigeria, Pakistan, and Brazil," they said. In their letter to Pompeo, the Senators also pressed US officials to refrain from using derogatory and inaccurate language that attributes COVID-19 to a specific region or country. "This global challenge requires international leadership that the United States is uniquely positioned to provide and one that the GEC was specifically established to coordinate. "Similarly, US officials should refrain from using derogatory and inaccurate language that attributes COVID-19 to a specific region or country, including 'Wuhan virus' or 'foreign virus.' Such terminology plays directly into the hands of malign actors who wish to undermine international efforts to combat the virus in a coordinated manner," the Senators wrote. Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday made a "fervent" appeal to the people of the country to confine themselves to homes on Sunday during 'janata curfew' to effectively contain the spread of coronavirus. Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for observing 'janata curfew' this Sunday, he said since the virus spreads through physical contact, social distancing is an effective measure to contain its spread by avoiding contact during the incubation period of the virus. Naidu said in effect it means 'caring for yourself and others' through social distancing which is being principally advocated by the medical experts and WHO. The vice president urged the political parties, civil society organisations and others to rise to the occasion to collectively combat the challenge posed to the nation by the pandemic. He said it is the responsibility of every citizen to educate and motivate others towards meeting the challenge. "I fervently appeal to the people of the country not to venture out of their homes tomorrow as it will go a long way in checking the spread of the virus which is proving to be an unprecedented challenge to the governments and the people across the globe," Naidu added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) New Yorkers queued up to use the citys first drive-through coronavirus testing facility on Staten Island. The state-managed site on South Beach opened on Thursday by appointment only from 11am to 7pm. Teams of medics wearing protective suits carried out the tests by inserting a swab into both nostrils. The procedure takes roughly 30 minutes and results are expected to take 72 hours. Officials said they have capacity for hundreds of cars. The site, which is being run with the help of the National Guard, joins four others across the state of New York, in New Rochelle, Coney Island and Long Island. At the time of the last official update on Friday, there were 3,954 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the city and 26 deaths. New York governor Andrew Cuomo has told all non-essential workers to stay at home to slow the spread of the pandemic. All businesses that do not follow the order will face a fine and mandatory closure after the executive order comes into force on Sunday. OTTAWAIts still just an appeal. But now it comes with a warning. If Canadians fail to self-isolate and practise social distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19, governments will force them to, Health Minister Patty Hajdu said on Saturday. These measures prevent others from getting sick and will likely be needed for months, Hajdu said, as researchers around the world race to find a cure for the deadly virus. They need to be followed, or else governments will step in to enforce them, she said. When people are playing loose and hard with the rules like this, it does actually put our civil liberties in jeopardy. It makes governments have to look at more stringent measures to actually contain people in their own homes, she told reporters on Parliament Hill. I would encourage Canadians to think about that and to think about their obligation to act collectively right now. Hajdus warning came after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stressed on Saturday that Canadians should avoid all trips outside their homes including to visit neighbours or leave their home provinces to contain the spread of the new coronavirus that has killed more than 11,000 people around the world since it emerged in China three months ago. Trudeau said his government still isnt willing to restrict movement through the federal Emergencies Act, but he stressed again Saturday that Ottawa will take whatever steps are necessary to protect Canadians from the deadly virus. Under the Emergencies Act, the federal government has the power to restrict movement, regulate the distribution of essential goods, establish hospitals and more under a public emergency declaration. The key issue in deciding whether to take a more aggressive response will be if the government needs the Emergencies Act to do things that it cant otherwise do, Trudeau said. I want to thank the millions upon millions of Canadians who have self-isolated, who are engaged in social distancing, Trudeau said. We have not removed from the table any options At this time, we do not see the federal emergencies act as an essential tool today, he said. Later Saturday, the Business Council of Canada an organization that represents companies employing 1.7 million people wrote an open letter to Trudeau, urging the government to more strictly enforce its calls for social distancing and isolation. Governments have it in their power to reduce the death toll but only if they act aggressively, with speed and scale, the letter says. We urge you and the leaders of the provinces and territories to speak clearly and with one voice. Beginning immediately, all Canadians should be told, not asked or advised, to stay at home unless their jobs are essential or they must leave the home to purchase food and other necessities. More than 1,000 Canadians have now been infected with COVID-19, while world-wide cases of the virus have surpassed 275,000, Canadas deputy chief public health officer, Dr. Howard Njoo, said on Saturday. As provincial governments declare states of emergency and force the closure of bars, restaurants, theatres and more, the federal government has shut the border to irregular asylum seekers, and foreign nationals trying to visit for tourism and recreation. While Hajdu suggested governments are open to stricter enforcement beyond their appeals to stay home, the health minister also said restrictions on inter-provincial travel is a live issue in government discussions. But she cautioned any restrictions like those on travel between the U.S. and Canada need to allow for essential trade and services to continue. It does not make sense from my perspective as a health minister to put an entire country on lockdown if, in fact, we dont have the need to do so from a science perspective, she said. People still need to eat. We still need things to get across the country from place to place Will there be additional measures? There very well might be. But at this point those conversations are ongoing and its still too early to hypothesize about what those might be. Public health officials have said the aim of social distancing and isolation is to flatten the curve by slowing the spread of the virus, while researchers around the world race to test potential treatments and try to find a cure. The goal is to slow the rate of infections in Canada so that hospitals and critical care units with their limited life-saving equipment and personnel arent overwhelmed with a flood of sick patients. The federal government has pumped more than $300 million into Canadian research so far, Hajdu said, adding she was astounded by the number of applications for COVID-19 research funding that her department received when they put out their initial call to scientists a few weeks ago. The World Health Organization said on Friday that at least 20 clinical trials for a COVID-19 vaccine have already started across the globe, though Hajdu cautioned that it could take 12 to 18 months before such a treatment is widely available even as she hopes for a miraculous breakthrough. Everybody is searching for the cure, both through vaccines and any other medical treatments to treat symptoms, Hajdu said. She added that Canada believes it needs to be involved in this global push in order to guarantee citizens of this country and people around the world have shared access to effective treatments or a cure when they become available. We need to be at the ground level of developing the vaccine and part of that global participation. And the more that countries share their knowledge and their research the more likely that it will be a shared solution and the more likely that it will be a shared vaccine, Hajdu said. Meanwhile, the federal government is also working to arrange flights back to Canada for citizens stranded abroad as other countries shut their borders and close airports to restrict travel. The first flight, arranged with Air Canada, will leave Morocco for Montreal on Saturday, Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said. Government officials are also in talks with other countries including Peru and Spain to arrange return flights for as many Canadians as possible, he said. Champagne said there are tens of thousands of Canadians abroad, but admitted not everyone will be able to return amidst a worldwide crisis that has seen countries go into lockdown and clamp down on travel to contain the deadly coronavirus. The government is offering loans of up to $5,000 to those who cant come back to Canada. We are doing everything in our power to bring the largest number of Canadians home as quickly as possible, he said. Unfortunately, it will not be possible to ensure the return of all Canadians who wish to come home. This week, as the impacts of the pandemic and measures to contain its spread cratered stock markets and economic activity, Trudeau said roughly 500,000 people filed employment insurance claims with the government up from just 27,000 at the same time last year. Ottawa has already announced $27 billion in direct aid to Canadian workers and businesses as the first tranche of a broader package of measures to get through a coming slump. Parliament is expected to be called back next week to pass legislation to send out this money, and Trudeau said Saturday the government is ready to do what is necessary to help individuals and businesses stay afloat during the crisis. We need to do things that are absolutely unprecedented, in terms of getting money out the door into the pockets of Canadians who need it, he said. Read more about: Dozens of drinkers across Britain have been raising a glass at home under the hashtag #TwitterWinchester amid the coronavirus lockdown. They were spurred on by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost who reprised their Shaun of the Dead roles in a bid to urge people to stay indoors. The duo, who played Shaun and Ed in the 2004 zombie flick, took to YouTube on Thursday for a public service announcement where they acted out a parody of the famous scene in which they laid out a plan amid the outbreak of zombies. But hilariously, Simon urged his co-star NOT to go to the Winchester pub, which was in stark contrast to the advice he gave in the film, leading to disaster. Back in character: Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have reprised their Shaun of the Dead roles in a bid to urge people to stay at home amid the Coronavirus pandemic (pictured in character) Simon later took to Twitter with a post that read: 'So as all the pubs and restaurants in the UK are shutting up shop, the #TwitterWinchester is getting ready to open its doors. 'Wherever you are in the world, come and raise a glass to the frontline medical personnel who never call time. Clinking beer mugs #Covid_19' And it has prompted a wave of film fans to post their own videos from the virtual gathering. One user, @pollingersocial, wrote: 'Cheers everyone. Have a lovely evening. #TwitterWinchester.' And another, @OmarNajam, added: 'Popping into #TwitterWinchester to spread small town rumors about the fellow patrons aka just things in my apartment.' The flurry of social media posts came after the actors posted the clip that saw Simon, 50, on the phone to Nick, 47, where they outlined their next steps, but instead of facing an onslaught of the undead, in real life, they discussed how they'd deal with the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus. Simon said: 'Right, call Mum, make sure shes okay. If Phillip has been infected, follow the NHS guidelines to the letter.' Phillip of course was Shaun's step-dad in the movie, played by Bill Nighy, who was unfortunately bitten by one of the deadly zombies. Scene: The duo, who played Shaun and Ed in the 2004 zombie flick, took to YouTube on Thursday for a public service announcement where they acted out a parody of the famous scene in which they laid out a plan amid the outbreak of zombies Parody: The funny clip sees Simon, 50, on the phone to Nick, 47, where they outlined their next steps, but instead of facing an onslaught of the undead, in real life, they discussed how they'd deal with the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus The star then warns his pal not to head to his local pub, and in reference to the hit film, added: 'Remember what happened the last time.' He also urged Nick to be aware of those more vulnerable, adding: 'If you can, stay at home, have a cup of tea, and wait for all of this to blow over. 'Above all, don't be a t**t about things, we're all in this together. Don't be selfish, look after each other, give someone a call if you think they might be lonely.' However, he jokingly denied Nick some essential items as when asked if he had any toilet roll, he replied that he was one to his 'last sheet'. The camera the showed him sitting at a table which held a large stash of toilet paper. Warning: hilariously, Simon urged his co-star NOT to go to the Winchester pub, which was in stark contrast to the advice he gave in the film, leading to disaster Plan: Simon said: 'Right, call Mum, make sure shes okay. If Phillip has been infected, follow the NHS guidelines to the letter' The video concluded with a written message urging fans not to panic and reminded everyone that were all in this together, adding a with "love" from Simon and Nick. It comes weeks after Simon revealed that Mission: Impossible 7 producers pulled production of their latest film out of Italy to protect actors and the public from coronavirus. The actor said that Paramount Pictures were 'very cautious' over the spread of the infection near to their location in Venice, and that they were left with no option but to suspend shooting. Stay at home: He also urged Nick to be aware of those more vulnerable, adding: 'If you can, stay at home, have a cup of tea, and wait for all of this to blow over' Speaking on BBC Radio 6, when asked whether he was shooting the franchise's seventh installment, Simon replied: '[We're] not in Venice, that's where I'm supposed to be. 'Paramount were very cautious and sensible I think and pulled the production out of Venice. 'It's a big group of people, we were shooting carnival sequences and it was just unwise to remain so we bugged out. Simon, who plays technical agent Benji Dunn in the series, continued: 'I think it would be indelicate to complain about anything other than the fact that there was a lot of disruption for everyone.' Instead of walking down the aisle, she reported for duty on the front line of Irelands fight against Covid-19. Paediatric nurse Kayleigh OKeeffe, 29, from Blarney in Cork, was due to marry her childhood sweetheart, Defence Forces member Seamus McNamara, also 29, in her local church yesterday. But after the couple cancelled their wedding as the Covid-19 was escalating last weekend, Kayleigh reported for duty at Cork University Hospital (CUH) yesterday to ensure her sick patients get the medications they need. The couple later shared a kiss outside the Church of the Immaculate Conception and raised a glass of bubbly. Seamus, a member of the Corps of Engineers who is based at Collins Barracks in Cork, has also reported back for duty as the pandemic escalates. They both expect the coming weeks to be very challenging but said they and their colleagues are ready. Kayleigh said they agonised over cancelling the wedding but once they made the call, they knew it was the right decision. We knew last Sunday morning that it was getting serious, and we didnt want to put our guests at risk, and once wed made the decision, we knew it was the right call, she said. Its been the weirdest week certainly completely different to how we imagined it would be. So yesterday I decided to go to work to help. I work in the paediatric research lab at CUH, working on clinical trials for new drugs, and two of my colleagues have been carrying the load for the last week. Our patients depend on these drugs and, because of the coronavirus, a lot of them cant get in, and so weve been working on how to get the drugs out to them and that was finalised yesterday. Kayleigh thanked all the service-providers who had been lined up for the wedding, for their understanding and kindness, and said she and Seamus spent last night enjoying a Chinese meal at home. They will rest and relax over the weekend, while of course observing social isolation guidelines, before reporting for duty on Monday instead of heading off on honeymoon. Kayleighs mother, Lynda, who also works in healthcare, said their families are very proud of them both. Everything just went sideways last weekend but all our family and friends, and everyone involved in the wedding the church, the photographer, makeup, the band, the hotel, the florist everyone was just so understanding, said Lynda. Weve cried a hundred million tears over the last few days, but a wedding is only a wedding. Everyone has had something cancelled. They have arranged a new date and we are looking forward to that. The next few weeks are going to be tough for everyone in the country, but we will get through it. The couple have rescheduled the wedding for later on this year, and said they will focus on that in the coming weeks. [snippet1]987600[/snippet1] A serial fraudster who made off from a hotel without paying for a meal and drinks left his "calling card" behind, a court heard. Sean Fahy (51) left a credit card but when staff tried to use it to pay his 53 bill, it was declined. Fahy was jailed for three months for the offence, after a judge was told it was his 28th similar crime and his 161st conviction. The accused, of Falls Road in Belfast, pleaded guilty to failing to pay for the meal. Dublin District Court heard the incident happened at the Temple Bar Hotel, Fleet Street, Dublin, last September 10. A garda gave evidence of arresting, charging and cautioning Fahy. The accused was handed a copy of the charge sheet, he said. The garda told the court Fahy entered the hotel and ordered food and drinks which he consumed, leaving a credit card behind. When staff members tried to use the card, it came back declined by the bank, the garda said. Record "He left his calling card behind," Fahy's solicitor Eoin Lysaght told the judge. Judge Michael Walsh asked for an outline of the accused's previous criminal record. The court heard Fahy had 160 previous convictions, 27 of which were for "similar offences". He had been in custody for some time and was detained at Wheatfield Prison when he appeared in court. Fahy had attended a treatment centre and had "a lot of" problems with drink and was trying to deal with that the best he could, Mr Lysaght said. He asked the judge to be as lenient as he could in the circumstances. Judge Walsh said he would give the accused credit for his guilty plea, but said the offence was his "28th conviction of this nature". Sentencing him, he said the three months would run from the date of the court hearing. The judge granted free legal aid, assigning Mr Lysaght. The judge also fixed recognisances in the event of an appeal. The charge against the accused was under the Theft And Fraud Offences Act. He was not required to address the court during his hearing. In Real Housewives of Potomac Season 3, mother-of-three Monique Samuels and newlywed Candiace Dillard developed a sister-like bond. However, they fell out in Season 4 and then got into a physical altercation in the upcoming season. A fan tweeted Samuels explaining they thought she and Dillard could salvage their friendship similarly to Real Housewives of Atlantas Porsha Williams and NeNe Leakes. The mother-of-three responded, doubting that would ever happen. Candiace Dillard Bassett and Monique Samuels | Brian Stukes Monique Samuels and Candiace Dillard got into a physical altercation While filming for Real Housewives of Potomac Season 5 at a winery, ex-best friends Monique Samuels and Candiace Dillard got into a physical fight. Allegedly, the former Miss United States threw a drink in Samuels face, causing the mother-of-three to slam Dillards head on the table. Police arrived at the scene but left without arresting anyone. A few weeks later, Dillard filed a complaint in court, and the judge pressed second-degree assault charges against Samuels. Monique Samuels Charged with Second-Degree Assault After Alleged Fight with Candiace Dillard https://t.co/FXQfyB9Rqy People (@people) November 9, 2019 The New Jersey-native swiftly counter filed, but charges against both women were dropped. Dillard and her lawyer implied they would take the mother-of-three to civil court, but they havent pursued that avenue yet. Candiace Dillard allegedly tried to get Monique Samuels fired After the fight, Dillard reportedly attempted to get Samuels fired by refusing to film with her and forcing the other ladies to pick a side. According to sources, the Green-Eyed Bandits (Gizelle Bryant and Robyn Dixon) agreed and would not film with Samuels. However, Ashley Darby and Karen Huger continued to shoot with Samuels as they chose not to pick sides, infuriating Dillard. The podcaster decided against attending the cast trip with the ladies because she didnt want to feel uncomfortable, and sources reported that she contemplated quitting the show due to the unnecessary stress. Outlets also claimed Dillard called producers and demanded they fire Samuels because she didnt feel safe, but it doesnt look like they have complied with her orders. From the time the ladies got into a physical altercation, they have been throwing shade at each other on social media. For example, the two recently got into it over Twitter when Samuels thought Dillard subtweeted her and claimed she shut her up months ago. The former Miss USA then responded, explaining her original tweet had nothing to do with Samuels and threatened to expose the mother-of-threes personal life and status. Monique Samuels doesnt think she and Candiace Dillard will salvage relationship While watching a recent episode of Real Housewives of Atlanta, where Porsha Williams and NeNe Leakes made up, Samuels tweeted, This moment between Porsha and Nene is everything! A fan responded to her with their belief that the same thing could happen with her and Dillard. They wrote, Not to be preemptive, but I think you and Candiace will definitely hug it out and probably go to therapy together. No not even close. Sorry Monique Samuels (@iammrssamuels) March 16, 2020 They claimed they believe the friendship between her and the former Miss USA is worth salvaging. Samuels responded, shooting down the Real Housewives fans hypothesis, bluntly stating, Not even close. Sorry. Another fan jumped in the conversation and explained they dont think Dillard deserves Samuels until her soul evolves. The original fan responded and acknowledged that something must have happened between the two for the mother-of-three to terminate that friendship. Real Housewives of Potomac Season 5 premieres in Spring 2020. The undated photo shows Ma Zhanchuan, a new graduate of Tianjin University browsing recruitment website at home in Baiyin city, northwest China's Gansu Province. (Str/Xinhua) HEFEI, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Despite the COVID-19 epidemic and downward economic pressure, Chen Yijie, who is to graduate this summer but has been stranded at home, still managed to find a dream job as a technical engineer through online recruitment. "I was not too nervous in the video interview. Compared with face-to-face talk, I felt more relaxed at home," said Chen, an undergraduate student from Hefei University of Technology (HFUT) in east China's Anhui Province. To help this year's graduates find jobs amid the epidemic, the university has launched an online campus recruitment platform to provide personalized services to each student based on their information registered in the system, including age, major, preferred locations and jobs. "Nearly 1,500 companies have joined the platform and released recruitment information. We have also organized four major online job fairs so far, attracting more than 200,000 clicks altogether," said Ding Zhaogang, director of HFUT's employment guidance office. It is on this platform that Chen went through each step, from submitting his resume to attending interviews and accepting the job offer, from the comfort of his own home without long-distance traveling. A total of 437 students have found jobs through the platform since Feb. 17, pushing the employment rate to 51.47 percent for more than 10,000 graduates at the university, about the same level compared with a year ago, according to Ding. China expects to see a record of 8.74 million college graduates this year, 400,000 more than last year. The COVID-19 outbreak and ensuing economic fallout have added more pressure on the already-competitive job market. Just months away from graduation, both job seekers and recruiters are resorting to the internet, or cloud recruitment, as China pledges to stabilize employment amid the epidemic. Most companies have moved their recruitment process online since school openings are postponed, and students are trapped at home. Traditional on-site job fairs have been canceled to avoid mass gatherings. "Our target is to recruit 2,500 new graduates this year, of which 42 percent have been completed, and most were recruited online. We have received over 77,000 resumes so far," said Hong Guangdong, a recruitment director of BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd, a leading semiconductor display company in China. To let potential candidates better know the jobs, the company has arranged dozens of live streaming promotional sessions on Douyu, a live-streaming website in China, attracting nearly 20,000 viewers each time, said Hong. However, he admitted that the epidemic had made this year's recruitment harder than ever, as it is impossible to invite students to tour the company or even intern at the company. Unlike BOE, which has resumed production, a proportion of companies across the country have suffered huge losses from the lengthy business suspension, which has resulted in fewer job opportunities in the market. To facilitate the employment of college graduates, the country has rolled out a series of measures, such as expanding the enrollment of postgraduates and degree top-up programs, creating more jobs of medical and social services at the community level and strengthening support for micro and small enterprises to recruit more college graduates, according to a statement released after a State Council executive meeting held in late February. The enrollment of master's degree students in China is likely to increase by 189,000 this year. Meanwhile, the country's bachelor's degree programs will strive to admit an additional 322,000 junior college students in 2020, said Vice Education Minister Weng Tiehui. The Ministry of Education has also launched a 24-hour online campus recruitment program together with five major job-hunting websites last month to help graduates find jobs. The program offers more than 2 million job positions to university graduates. "Based on our statistics, about 10 to 15 of our students receive job offers per day. We are confident that most students will find an ideal job by graduation as long as they are well prepared," said Ding from Hefei University of Technology. Photo credit: Olivia Dewey From Women's Health Olivia Dewey has lived in Milan for 10 years. She has a 14-month-old son Gennaro, is four months pregnant and has been self-isolating in a small apartment, at the heart of the worlds largest outbreak of coronavirus outside of China, for 17 days. Italy is in extended lockdown to prevent the spread of the virus. Olivia's Italian husband, Giovanni Navarra, works for the train service and is one of the few people in the city still going to work. She told Red: 'Im a translator but not working much at the moment. Even if I was, Id have to wait for Giovanni to get home in the evenings during the day, we basically just try to get through to nap-time.' Here, Olivia shares her tips for self-isolating with young children and how she's keeping everyone's morale up. Don't plan ahead My biggest advice is to take it a step at a time. Don't plan ahead; don't plan anything ahead because you can't. Its half an hour at a time: how do we keep him calm and entertained. Go to the park as much as you can, while you still can. We havent left the house since 2nd March, except for one pregnancy check-up on 9th March where we went straight to the doctor and straight home. Keep the basics handy Without going crazy and stockpiling, make sure you have essentials for baby food. For us that means rice, pasta, and lots of rice flour, to make purees. The other things we run out of most is carrots, potatoes, celery and cheese (not toilet paper!). We stock up on little things like pureed fruit, which we didnt give him before: an easy snack at the moment, when we can't go out and buy it fresh all the time. We have a monthly nappy subscription for a hypoallergenic, eco-friendly brand you cant get at the supermarket. I have two packs left and got an email today saying the next package is on its way from the Netherlands, hopefully before more lockdowns. Those not arriving might be the one thing thatd really start freaking me out. Story continues Photo credit: Olivia Dewey Divvy up the chores My online grocery order got pushed back three weeks on Saturday, so were limited to what Giovanni can get at the supermarket. He found vegetables yesterday, but it's a day-to-day thing. He does all the cooking in the evenings, which is amazing, and tries to make us lunch for the next day as well, because he knows I'll have no time to cook. Get creative when it comes to exercise and socialising I'm not taking pre-natal vitamins because my doctor said I was very healthy, but now it's another worry: that I'm no longer getting enough nutrients, enough Vitamin D. Ive just bought an exercise bike because I dont want to get hypertension, and moderate exercise helps before the lockdown I walked about an hour a day, whereas now I'm doing basically nothing. That's another thing home exercise with a toddler? No. Pilates and yoga are not as baby-friendly as they like you to think: you do a plank, hell slide underneath and kick; youre in lunge, hell come push your supporting leg over. Hes teething too, so thats when hes not biting. All I can do is squats, with Gennaro on my shoulders. Hes missing the company. Hes very social and on those long walks we used to stop and chat to so many people. Every afternoon I take him out on the balcony above the street and he waves to everyone who walks past he just wants to be with more people, I think. They wave back; they know us, theyre very friendly but people keep a 15-metre distance now, and just nod, because no one really feels like talking. l love city life but it's not great for quarantine. You rely on communal spaces so much for everyday life, you live in such close contact with so many people, and you don't realise until you're not allowed to go near anyone. Don't fret about screen time We were trying to limit his TV and screen time, but thats gone totally out the window. Gennaro's favourite show is Pimpa, about a red and white spotty dog who goes on adventures in the outside world, and it's all he wants to watch. Season four is on Netflix: 26 episodes, five minutes each, and I think we watch them all every day. But it's good. Everytime Pimpa goes on adventures, goes places, somehow I think... well, Gennaro seems to love it. Contact with the imaginary outside world. Photo credit: Olivia Dewey You wont need nearly as many toys as you think Gennaros more interested in doing chores with us: unstacking the dishwasher, folding washing and vacuuming. We were going well with crayons, but then he started eating them. Just before the lockdown we got a learning tower and its a huge help. If Giovanni is cooking, Gennaro can help out and pretend to be in the middle of things at our height, but not in danger. He loves swinging, piggybacks: anything physical gets a smile or even a laugh. In the evenings we put on classical music and dance around the living room. Giovanni is the best at making up games. The oranges he brought home the other night kept everyone busy for 40 minutes, so that was a big win. And we read a lot together. His favourite books are ones with pictures of other babies Clap Hands and Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes. It's like socialising, and he loves them. Photo credit: Olivia Dewey Look after yourself, too When Giovanni gets home, I have a long shower despite the water waste. Every so-often I just take 15 minutes off, go sit in another room maybe read the news, or reply to messages. I do need to limit my news intake, but its hard. We need updates for work, and groceries (and because were secretly hoping theyll say everythings fine and we can all go back outside again). Gennaros behaviour has definitely changed since weve been at home all day, and I think its because we're tense as well. He's starting to understand us, our tone of voice and our words. Because we do inevitably talk about the situation a lot, he does hear the news, and he does hear that we're tense. But putting music on and turning the news off makes a big difference. Take it one day at a time For now, the plan is to use my exercise bike to get my moderate daily exercise in, hope the healthcare system will be up to scratch by the time we get to my due date, and try to keep eating lots of good fresh vegetables and fruit. That might be the biggest thing about quarantine: it really makes you appreciate the small things, like fresh strawberries. Last advice: unless youre an expert hairdresser, get your kids hair cut before the lockdown. The only redeeming feature of Gennaros DIY quarantine shave is that by that time were allowed out again, it will have grown back. The information in this story is accurate as of the publication date. While we are attempting to keep our content as up-to-date as possible, the situation surrounding the coronavirus pandemic continues to develop rapidly, so it's possible that some information and recommendations may have changed since publishing. For any concerns and latest advice, visit the World Health Organisation. If you're in the UK, the National Health Service can also provide useful information and support, while US users can contact the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Like this article? Sign up to our newsletter to get more articles like this delivered straight to your inbox. SIGN UP You Might Also Like Were going to put out an executive order today. New York State on pause only essential businesses will be functioning. 100% of the workforce must stay home. This is the most drastic action we can take. Everything is uncharted territory. Nobody knows whats going to happen in the news any minute. I think Ive been asking a lot of how we could have prevented this. Am I going to see another depression like my grandfather saw in the 1920s? Over the past few days, New York City has taken a lot of important measures. Im just worried it came a little bit too late. I think Im scared of having to see more death and from reading stories from abroad, having to make decisions about resources. And Im worried people in my life are going to die from it. A few days ago, I had to watch a patient basically slowly die. I just felt helpless. This is the first time Ive really seen people that I truly dont know how to help. And they are coming in so sick that everything Im used to doing to be able to treat them, I cant really do. How was your day off, Mich? It was emotional, to say the least. Why? Its just, like, the hospital has been insane. And every hour, like, things are changing. So its just, like, trying to keep up with that while trying to read about what I should be treating these people with, while people are rolling in the worst I dont know. They say in 18 days its supposed to get really bad. I guarantee you tomorrow were going to have like 1,000 more. The numbers are going to go up. Thats no problem at all. Thank you very much. Thats very nice. Thank you. Sounds good. See you then. Bye. Well, I have been working. A lot of people are not, which is hard. This place used to have 30 employees, and on Sunday we let go of 90% of the staff. We want to reopen so we can rehire people, you know? It was really hard to let everyone go. These are people that are at the level, theyre not wealthy, you know? This is a very harsh reality. And actually what the job is, is smiling through stress. And this is hard to smile through. [Rain falling] Its go time here at the community kitchen. This is the time where we have to ramp up our services to be very sensitive to how people are feeling. People are coming to us feeling vulnerable. They maybe work in the restaurant industry. People who work in Broadway and in a lot of the behind-the-scenes, theyre coming here saying, well, I dont have work. So those industries are the folks that are the first ones that were seeing come through. But were preparing to see more people come through in need. All programming at the senior center is suspended for the next two weeks. Stay safe and have a good day. So this is not business as usual. We dont know whats coming up if people have to stay in their homes for a longer period of time. And we want to make sure people are getting food, especially since a lot of industries are out of work. We are expecting a lot of new people, and we are going to be ready to receive them. This is all very new for them, and some of them are feeling guilt or shame coming to an emergency food program. So we have to remember that we do this all the time, but for them, its something new and something that they feel anxious about doing. Were just getting them registered. Theyre getting food. Thats our main priority is people are getting food. [Sighing with exasperation] Im not supposed to touch my face. Hold on a second. I have prepared myself already, mentally, multiple times, to go back to Oregon and leave this entire beautiful dream behind me. So many people, including many of my friends, are working at bars, at restaurants, which are now closed. And now were all at home, wondering, Can we make it another month? Can our families afford to pay their mortgages at home? Do we just need to go back and start working, just so we can help our own families, the people that we love the most, stay in the homes that we grew up in? Its hard to think that my mom or my dad are never going to see retirement. The best things that we can do right now as a community is just to give ourselves over to something that brings us true happiness. Because right now, it feels like its about to get very desperate. This is only something that we can get through if were working together. There will be so much suffering, unnecessary suffering, if were not really looking out for each other and if we only think about ourselves and our well-being. We have to be thinking about each other. [Birds chirping] Coronavirus in Noida: After identification of a positive case of coronavirus in Noida's high-rise township, the entire society has been put under a lockdown for 3 days. After the lockdown, fear and uncertainty looms large over the residents of the society. Here's what a resident of the society has to say over the entire situation- The Janata Curfew, which was supposed to be imposed from March 22, 2020, at 7 am, has come a day early for a high-rise residential township complex in Noida, which has been placed under lockdown after a person with travel history to France tested positive for the novel coronavirus, COVID-19. With thousands of flats in the township, fear looms large over the residents. One of the residents, under the condition of anonymity, spoke to us and revealed the entire society has been put under a lockdown for 3 days. While they were prepared for the Janata Curfew on Sunday and had decided to store essentials a day prior, the lockdown on early Saturday morning came as a shock. No individual was allowed to go outside the society premises or come inside. Some society members also requested the authorities to allow at least 2-3 individuals to go outside and get essentials for everyone but they were met with only response- it is for their own safety. As the day progresses, the authorities have allowed delivery of essentials till the main gate, but not beyond it. Amid the difficult phase, the township residents stand united against the hardship for the safety of one and all. The residents also paid their respects to all those who are helping to control the virus. Also Read: Coronavirus: Cases now at 283 in India, Noida residential complex shut for 2 days after a resident found positive The tower, where the novel coronavirus patient has been identified, is currently being sanitised, to be followed by sanitisation of common areas and the remaining 30-odd towers. All the domestic help employed in the society have been sent home on paid leaves for 5-6 days after undertaking medical tests for record purposes, the resident said. Also Read: Indian Army allows 35 per cent officers, 50 per cent jawans to work from home from March 23, next batch from March 30 Coupled with the stationing of an ambulance and SDM in the society, health officials are also on rounds enquiring every household about the family members, their travel history and if they had any COVID-19 symptom. However, the resident said most fear that some could be lying to evade a stricter quarantine. Please follow ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) guidelines on #COVID19 testing: Asymptomatic direct and high-risk contacts of a confirmed case should be tested once between day 5 and day 14 of coming in his/her contact. #Coronavirus pic.twitter.com/6gQ2PQGbee ANI (@ANI) March 21, 2020 When asked if residents are working from home or going to offices, the resident said those who can work from home, especially in IT-based jobs, are doing so. However, the ones with field jobs are finding it difficult. In the event of a lockdown, they have been compelled to take a few days off, the resident said. In complete support of PM Modis call for Janata Curfew, the resident emphasised it is important to break the chain by self-quarantine and social distancing. Also Read: Prime Minister Narendra Modi calls for Janata Curfew on Sunday March 22 to contain coronavirus pandemic Union Health Ministry: A total of 298 cases of #Covid_19 have been reported in the country. Out of the total number, four people have died and 22 others have been recovered. pic.twitter.com/oUU2lDC9I6 ANI (@ANI) March 21, 2020 PM Narendra Modi: Never forget-precautions not panic. Its not only important to be home but also remain in the town/city where you are. Unnecessary travels will not help you or others. In these times, every small effort on our part will leave a big impact. #CoronaVirus pic.twitter.com/ajxvvgMZZn ANI (@ANI) March 21, 2020 For all the latest National News, download NewsX App People are becoming more conscious of their carbon footprint, and in turn, so are hotels both new and old. At least that is the case for Soul Community Planet with hotel locations in Colorado Springs, Depoe Bay and Redmond. Most recently, they revived and modernized the historic New Redmond Hotel now known as SCP Hotel Redmond (521 S.W. Sixth St., Redmond, Oregon; 541-508-7600; scphotel.com/Redmond). Though they have already incorporated environmentally sustainable and socially responsible practices, theyve taken being earth-friendly to the next level with their One Tree: One Forest program that will help to plant a new tree each time a guest stays in one of its SCP Hotels. The mindfully designed 49-room boutique hotel is Redmonds first upscale full-service hotel, but without the huge markup: rates start at $125 per night. Other perks include both common and private work spaces which are also utilized for hosting various community events, and a fully-equipped studio to keep up with your health and wellness while youre on-the-go. A Provisions Market sells healthy, fresh and locally-sourced food options and grab-n-go items, while fresh smoothies and cold-pressed juices are available at Mothers Juice along with sustainably-sourced coffee at Backporch Coffee Roasters. One of the most popular spots in the house (and rightly so) has to be the indoor/outdoor dining space at the top of the building known as The Rooftop serving up small plates and handcrafted cocktails. The Rooftop hours are 3 p.m. to close Wednesday through Sunday; whether youre staying at the hotel or not, you must come by and enjoy the good food, drinks and panoramic views of the Cascade Range. Looking for a date night spot nearby with great ambiance and even greater food and drinks? Head next door to Red Martini, Wine Bar & Grill (509 S.W. Sixth St., Redmond; 541-504-6424; redmartiniandwinebar.com) an intimate Hollywood-like cocktail lounge serving up seasonal French-infused New American cuisine. If you can make it in on an evening when live jazz music is offered, theres no better experience. I suggest starting your meal with the Dungeness crab cakes, the maple whiskey barbecue meatballs or the baked French onion soup; all are tasty and made in-house. An array of entrees include seafood, beef, chicken, game and more. As long as you dont expect large portions, the beef tenderloin medallions and the French pot roast are particularly good. For dessert, indulge in classic creme brulee, seasonal cheesecake of the day or my favorite the chocolate decadence cake. Otherwise, opt for the popular dessert martinis. Restaurant hours are 4 p.m. to close Tuesday through Saturday (about 10 p.m. during the week and 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday). Reservations recommended. The all-new fourth edition of Gerry Franks Oregon guidebook is available through oregonguidebook.com; 503-585-8411; gerry@teleport.com; amazon.com; Macys; and P.O. Box 2225, Salem, OR 97308. Ken Zurek, a 63-year-old in Indiana, and his wife quarantined themselves after a trip to China. Associated Press As stay-at-home measures ease across the US, people are eager to get out for reasons that make sense, psychologically and physiologically. Loneliness is uncomfortable, for example, because your body is trying to prompt you to seek connection. Physically, moving less can contribute to restlessness or lethargy. While the ability to go out more now can feel particularly great, it's still critical to take precautions to prevent needing to lock down again. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. You'll likely be in an "unpleasant state" after a period of social isolation, since humans thrive, and survive, on interaction. friends coffee SolStock/Getty Images Humans don't just like to be social, we need to be. In fact, people who have weaker social relationships are 50% more likely to die over a given period than those with more robust connections, according to a 2015 meta-analysis including more than 308,000 people. Put another way, being lonely seems to be as deadly as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. That's why depriving yourself of social connections, even temporarily, doesn't feel good: Your body is trying to tell you to mingle so that, long-term, you stay alive. "If we think about loneliness as this adaptive response kind of like hunger and thirst, it's this unpleasant state that motivates us to seek out social connections just like hunger motivates us to seek out food," lead study author Julianne Holt-Lunstad, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Brigham Young University, told Business Insider. Of course, she said, in a situation like a pandemic that requires you to reduce or eliminate your face-to-face contact, that discomfort needs to be endured to stave off more dangerous, immediate effects. The disruption of routine, including the activities that usually boost your mood, can also feel like an uncomfortable "jolt." Setting goals on calendar Andrey Popov/Shutterstock Not going to work, school, social events, or the gym means lacking "social rhythm reinforcers" and causing stress, Simon Rego, chief psychologist at Montefiore Health System and an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, told TODAY. Story continues "The removal of those things that normally lift our mood like connecting with others, feeling we had a good productive day, getting out and exercising, moving about when you take those things away it can potentially have an impact on people's mood," he said. Feeling frequently bored can also be a new, and uncomfortable, experience. sad bored Luke MacGregor/REUTERS If, like many Americans, you're used to being busy often, too busy the boredom of quarantine can also be a new, and depleting, experience. While boredom is a normal and even healthy human state, people who experience it more often experiencing it more often tend to have more anxiety and are more prone to depression, research has shown. Fortunately, the study authors found, how you react to boring situations makes all the difference in how distressing it is. Experts recommend keeping or creating some routine, including perhaps new hobbies, to help while away the time. The effects of not physically moving as much can mess with your mind, too. working from home stressed Kite_rin/Shutterstock Whether you'd been confined to a room because you'd been exposed to the virus or worked from home because your office or jurisdiction required it, a reduction in physical activity can affect your mind. Look to injured athletes for an extreme example. Athletes may experience "emotional upheaval" when they're injured, in large part because they no longer have the coping mechanism that may have kept these feelings at bay. That may manifest as sadness, irritation, frustration, anger, and other uncomfortable emotions. Reducing or virtually eliminating your physical activity can also cause your muscles to atrophy. negative effects of watching tv tommaso79/Shutterstock "Use it or lose it" is a cliche for a reason: It's true. A study in the Journal of Applied Physiology suggests that just two weeks of inactivity can begin to negate gains to your heart and muscle mass, according to US News & World Report. Another study found that obese adults who worked out for four months and then took a month off lost most of the improvements to their aerobic capacity, insulin sensitivity, and cholesterol. While elite performance coach and human movement specialist Luke Worthington told Insider's Rachel Hosie "strength and aerobic conditioning are actually pretty resilient," he did admit that after about four weeks of inactivity, you'll start to soften. The effects of a quarantine can be psychologically damaging in the long term. FILE - In this Feb. 20, 2014, file photo, a patron exhales vapor from an e-cigarette at a store in New York. Only two years ago e-cigarettes were viewed as holding great potential for public health: offering a way to wean smokers off traditional cigarettes. But now Juul and other vaping companies face an escalating backlash that threatens to sweep their products off the market. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File) Associated Press According to February research in the Lancet that included 24 previous studies on the psychological effects of quarantines during disease outbreaks, the experience can lead to post-traumatic stress symptoms, depression, confusion, anger, fear, and substance misuse. The most vulnerable people, the study authors said, are those who have or have had mental health issues. More recent research suggests these negative effects are playing out in the current pandemic, with 55% of respondents in a survey by the Benenson Strategy Group saying the coronavirus has affected their mental health. Many mental health professionals have warned the isolation will lead to a serious mental-health crisis, skyrocketing depression rates, and even increases in suicide. Of course, how severe the effects are depend on your situation, personality, and history. reading book Shutterstock How affected you are by a period of social isolation, or just reduced physical interactions, is also influenced by your personality. "If you're a massive extrovert who thrives on social contact" the experience is going to hit harder "than if you're an introvert who's very comfortable curling up on a couch with a book," psychologist Dr. Sherry Benton told Business Insider. As lockdowns ease, don't forget to continue to virtually reach out to others. phone call Shutterstock/mimagephotography Being quarantined today is less socially straining than just a decade ago. Tools like FaceTime and Skype "may help relieve some of those short-term unpleasant responses to help us still feel and maintain those connections without potentially putting ourselves at risk of being exposed to the virus," Holt-Lunstad said. Reaching out to others and asking how they're doing boosts your mental health as well as theirs, since they'll at least experience the perception of support, which research shows can reduce stress. Holt-Lunstad added that the silver lining to something like a directive to stay home is the ability to slow down and connect with the people closest to us. "When you're having people still express love and support in a variety of ways, it can make those periods of relative confinement more bearable," she said. Don't forget to continue to do so even when you're no longer confined. While it's understandable to experience "quarantine fatigue," take care not to let it lead to bad decisions. People enjoy the warm weather on the beach in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, June 13, 2020. Spanish government has announced that the northwestern region of Galicia will move next week to what the government calls "the new normal," when some rules, such as wearing face masks when social distancing is not possible, will remain in place. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) Associated Press Just because you may have an increased ability to get out these days doesn't mean you should throw caution to the wind. "The virus doesn't care if we're bored," social psychologist Tony Lemieux previously told Insider. Continue to keep your distance from people you don't live with, wear a mask when you can't, avoid indoor places where people aren't masked, and stay home if you're sick. Doing so may be temporarily inconvenient, but less so than needing to lockdown again something that some cities may need to pursue. Read the original article on Business Insider An Air India special flight for Rome, to bring back Indian nationals including students stranded in the European country amid the coronavirus outbreak, has been delayed by one and half hours. The special flight was scheduled to depart at 14:20 hours. But the commander of the aircraft detected glitches in power transfer in aircraft on last minute of take-off, informed sources in the aviation ministry said. "Air India Boeing, B-777 was scheduled to depart for Rome to bring back Indians today on 14:20 hours and now the special flight was rescheduled for 16:00 hours. Air India engineering team is underway to replace the equipment at Delhi airport," the sources added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) After examining what has happened to power demand in Northern Italy, which some say is about 11 days ahead of the U.S. trajectory of COVID-19, University of Chicago (UChicago) economist Steve Cicala found that power demand has plunged in Northern Italy since the middle of February. On Feb. 21, life in the region was largely normal. The following day, the Italian government began to institute quarantine measures. By Feb. 24, power demand began to slow. There was a bump in power just before the government instituted a national lockdown about two weeks later on March 10. About a week after that, power demand had fallen 18 percent compared to demand just prior to the quarantine measures. Power demand could be a real-time indicator of the more widespread impacts on the Italian economy, said Cicala in a news release posted on UChicago's website on Thursday. What is happening in Italy could point to what the United States could expect in the coming weeks as states issue tighter restrictions on daily life. "If paychecks and employment follow what is happening in the electricity-demand data, then there are a lot of people who will need help," said Cicala, an expert on the economics of environmental and energy policy regulation. When there is a sharp shock in the economy, other indicators like employment may lag in reflecting the impact, because companies often lay off workers as a last resort, after they have already taken other measures like ramping down production or adjusting maintenance schedules, he explained. Conversely, electricity demand shows the more immediate change and is a broad measure of economic activity. As policymakers consider which countermeasures may be necessary to buffer the economic effects of coronavirus, a real-time indicator of the economy's strength is of the utmost importance. Sandoval County is asking that detention center inmates charged with or convicted of misdemeanors or non-violent felonies be released in attempt to prevent spread of the novel coronavirus, according to a petition filed in 13th Judicial District Court. A hearing on Tuesday at the Sandoval County Judicial Complex will decide whether county Attorney Robin Hammers request will be accepted. The detention center has 24/7 medical services through a contract with Corr Health Corporation. The jail contains 204 inmates and 100 staff members. According to the court document, nurse Joni Ollila from Corr Health said inmates must pass medical clearance to be accepted by the jail. She added no detainee has tested positive for COVID-19. No more information was available at press time. Younger children are more likely to suffer severe symptoms than older ones after contracting Covid-19, according to a new study, as it added to a growing body of research showing that children suffer from the disease less severely than adults. The latest study on pediatric Covid-19 was one of the biggest to date, with researchers from the pediatric division of the medical school at Shanghai Jiao Tong University analyzing 2,143 cases that occurred between Jan. 16 and Feb. 8. The results were published in the journal Pediatrics. Of the cases in the study, the average age was 7 years old, with 379 cases involving children 1 year old or younger. Boys accounted for 1,213 cases, or 56.6% of the total, while girls made up the remaining 930, or 43.4%. The research showed the number of cases increased through the end of January and peaked on Feb. 1 before starting to come down. It also revealed a clear trend of movement of infections from Hubei into areas surrounding the province. Of the cases studied, 4.4% had no symptoms, 50.9% had only mild symptoms and 38.8% had moderate symptoms, accounting for 94.1% of all cases. The remaining 5.9% were serious and critical cases, which was well below the 18.5% ratio for adults who suffered more serious symptoms. One death among the group was a 14-year-old boy from Hunan who died on Feb. 7. Other research has found similar results, though no one is sure exactly why children seem to suffer from the virus at much lower rates of severity than adults. The authors of the latest paper proposed that children could suffer less because they are generally more pampered, and thus tend to have less contact with sick people and other viral sources. Children may also be less sensitive to the virus because the ACE2 receptor proteins in their tissue the pathway through which the virus infects human cells are less mature and have less binding ability, the researchers said. They added children also tend to suffer more respiratory infections in winter than adults, which may give them better ability to fight off disease. While the virus more broadly is less severe in children than adults, it can be more troublesome for small children, especially infants. The data showed that children less than 1 who got the disease suffered severe to critical symptoms 10.6% of the time. The ratio went down after that, to 7.3% for children ages 1 to 5, to just 3% for those 16 and older. Several other studies have showed that children tend to have longer incubation and longer virus-shedding periods than adults. Family cluster infection is the major cause of cases in children, which can trigger community outbreaks if not identified in time, researchers warned. Contact reporter Yang Ge (geyang@caixin.com; twitter: @youngchinabiz) Shanghai reports 8 imported COVID-19 cases People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 09:49, March 20, 2020 SHANGHAI, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Shanghai reported eight newly confirmed cases of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) from other countries Thursday, the local health authority said Friday. The municipal health commission said a total of 33 imported cases had been reported in Shanghai by the end of Thursday, while 23 suspected imported cases are under quarantine for further confirmation. Among the eight imported cases on Thursday, seven patients are Chinese citizens returning from the United States and European countries including the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Spain, and one is Spanish from Spain. All of them were quarantined and tested positive for the virus upon arriving at Shanghai Pudong International Airport and Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport. A total of 93 people in close contact with the eight patients on flights have been screened and put under quarantine. Shanghai saw no new indigenous COVID-19 infections on Thursday. The municipality has reported a total of 338 indigenous confirmed cases and zero suspected case. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address But there was Mr. Cotton on Fox & Friends last week, pushing the idea of a quick cash infusion to counter the economic devastation of the coronavirus outbreak. A few hours later, Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, proposed on Twitter that every American adult should immediately receive a one-time check for $1,000. The idea was first met with skepticism and even incredulity. But as it became clear there was bipartisan opposition to President Trumps push for a payroll tax holiday, Mr. Mnuchin got onboard and the cash idea quickly transformed from pipe dream to reality, to the centerpiece of Senate Republicans roughly $1 trillion rescue plan. The optics were jarring, since it is Republicans who usually accuse Democrats of being too quick to throw taxpayer money around. Senate Republicans want to put cash in Americans hands, Mr. McConnell said on the Senate floor as colleagues of both parties worked behind closed doors to hammer out the details of the economic stabilization plan. Not everyone was as enthusiastic about the cash payments. Some Republican colleagues balked, Democrats had reservations about the scope and distribution of the payments and conservative fiscal watchdog groups were aghast. David McIntosh, the head of the free-market Club for Growth, said Republicans seemed to have borrowed the idea from Andrew Yang, the former Democratic presidential candidate who proposed a $1,000 universal monthly income. The idea, Mr. McIntosh noted, was ridiculed by Republicans just a few weeks ago. It is panic-driven panic on Capitol Hill, Mr. McIntosh said. There is no indication it would work or make a difference. They are throwing up any idea. Under the Senate Republicans original bill, individuals could receive one-time checks of a maximum of $1,200 or $2,400 for married couples, in addition to $500 a child. Those earning more money would get a bigger check, and the payment would phase out for those earning more than $75,000, ending entirely for taxpayers with more than $99,000 in income or families earning $198,000. The initial Senate measure would also reduce the payments to $600 for people with no income tax liability but at least $2,500 in earnings. We are not at war with the coronavirus. It's a public health problem, not a conflict. Historically, comparing domestic societal problems to war e.g., drugs or poverty has been counterproductive. The war metaphor doesn't work as an analogy, or as moral guidance. In the current case, treating this public health issue like a war may well prove disastrous if we continue to pursue warlike policies, such as isolation and the favoring of "necessary" industries over a generally healthy economy. We are facing a disease of modest morbidity and a low if uncertain mortality rate very probably somewhere between 0.10 and 2%, concentrated heavily among elderly and/or already unhealthy people. In fact, we lack sufficient data to really know which end of the estimate is correct, though the likelihood is toward the lower side. Worse, in the current highly partisan political climate, even a public health issue breaks along party lines, with Democrats consistently seeing the crisis as more serious than Republicans, bolstered by heavily anti-Trump media coverage. Had a Democratic president tried to tamp down concern as President Trump did in the run-up to the current situation, the media would have supported that effort. In the event, Trump's attempts initial attempts to calm fears were heavily mocked. Still, the driving force behind the draconian warlike measures being undertaken at the state and federal level is not public concern over the virus itself which was initially modest but rather that such actions are necessary to save the medical delivery system. It will supposedly break unless we "flatten the curve." To not break the medical system we are now breaking the airlines, schools, restaurants, hotels, casinos, national and local sports, and the financial system, not to mention the national toilet paper supply. We are going to war to flatten a curve. There are a lot of problems with wars. Among the most common: They often involve significant overreactions, are driven by emotion, involve irrational behavior, cost a lot, and are morally dubious and, perhaps most salient here, they are difficult to stop once started. It is worth keeping a public health problem like the coronavirus away from the ideations and rhetoric of war, yet here we are. Already we are seeing serious governmental overreaction to the situation, driven largely by emotional and irrational behavior whipped up by the media, especially at the state and local levels. And although fighting the coronavirus ought not present serious warlike moral dilemmas we can all agree that it's a disease and not good we have them anyway, again stoked by the media. Here the issue is generational. Since the virus disproportionately affects the elderly, younger people are naturally less concerned. So send a reporter to Daytona during spring break and find a twenty-something to say something coarse and stupid maybe the easiest job ever invented. Then hype the heartless youngsters, throw in a worried older person hooked to an oxygen tank, and push the politicians to shut down some more businesses. Public health, like most things, is all about compromise. We could save many more lives than will be lost to the coronavirus simply by banning cigarettes, which, according to the CDC, cause 480,000 deaths per year, far beyond even worst-case scenarios for the coronavirus over a year-to-year span. A smoking ban would be far less disruptive to society than the measures we have currently undertaken, would break only a single industry, and would free up a lot of hospital space. Likewise, we could raise the minimum driving age nationally to 21, save the lives of thousands of teens, and reduce injury and hospital visits by the tens of thousands. I'm not advocating either course just pointing out the disconnect between existing public health problems (to include the ordinary flu) and the idea that we must go to a warlike status to arrest the coronavirus. Perhaps the most significant problem with calling this a war is that wars are easy to start but difficult to end. Some pontificators have compared the epidemic to World War II. The comparison, though ridiculous, is attractive to some, since WWII was a necessary war with a clear and victorious end. But the better comparison is to World War I. That was an unnecessary war that continued senselessly because politicians could not bring themselves to back out without a victory. Many more wars are like WWI than WWII. President Trump used the war analogy, pressed to this rhetorical extreme by hysterical media coverage and resulting political pressures, promising a quick victory. A recent poll shows that most Americans support his actions so far, but that won't last. Trump, perhaps uniquely for a modern politician, can do this. As a businessman, he routinely dropped marginal projects, took his losses, and moved on. The federal and state efforts to "flatten the curve" may or may not be successful. Regardless, before too long, Trump should declare "victory" over the coronavirus, end this "war," and let America get back to business. Photo provided by Dakin Dakin Humane Society Bella Beep VIP, Breed: Domestic Shorthair, Age: 2 Year, Gender: Female, Location: Springfield. Don't Edit Pet Project 2020 Note: While most shelters have closed their doors to the public for the coming weeks many are still meeting prospective adopters through appointments. Please visit the shelter's website or call to get information on adoption or fostering an animal at this time. Each week, MassLive showcases pets available for adoption at shelters at rescue organizations across Massachusetts. With the participation of the shelters listed below, many animals should be able to find a permanent home. Pets are adopted daily so please contact the shelter directly if you are interested in an animal. Don't Edit Massachusetts Shelters: Dakin Pioneer Valley Humane Society Address: 163 Montague Road, Leverett Hours: Tuesday-Sunday, 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. Telephone: (413) 548-9898 Address: 171 Union St., Springfield Hours: Tuesday-Sunday, 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. Telephone: (413) 781-4000 Thomas J. O'Connor Animal Control and Adoption Center Address: 627 Cottage St., Springfield Hours: Monday, Tuesday, Saturday, noon-4 p.m.; Thursday, noon-7 p.m. Telephone: (413) 781-1484 Westfield Homeless Cat Project Address: 1124 East Mountain Road, Westfield Hours: Adoption clinics, Thursday, 5-7 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Westfield Regional Animal Shelter Address: 178 Apremont Way, Westfield Hours: Monday-Friday, noon-5 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Telephone: (413) 564-3129 Franklin County Sheriff's Office Regional Dog Shelter and Adoption CenterAddress: 10 Sandy Lane, Turners Falls Hours: Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-2 p.m., Friday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Telephone: (413) 676-9182 Polverari/Southwick Animal Control Facility Address: 11 Depot St., Southwick Hours: Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Telephone: (413) 569-5348, ext. 649 Berkshire Humane Society Address: 214 Barker Road, Pittsfield Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 10:00 a.m.-4 p.m.; Thursday, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., Sunday, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Telephone: (413) 447-7878 Animal Rescue League of Boston Address: 10 Chandler Street, Boston, MA 02116 Telephone: (617) 426-9170 Fax: (617) 426-3028 Don't Edit Photo provided by Dakin Blue in Foster Care, Breed: Terrier, American Pit Bull, Age: 8 Year, Gender: Male, Location: Springfield. Don't Edit Dakin Humane Society Notice Due to concerns about COVID-19, Dakin Humane Society has temporarily closed both its Adoption Centers in Springfield and Leverett. Adoptions and surrenders are still being conducted, but both are by appointment only at this time. Callers must phone Dakin at 413 -781-4000 to book an appointment. For ongoing updates about services (emergency and non-emergency) being provided by Dakin at this time, please visit www.dakinhumane.org/covid-19-updates.html Don't Edit Don't Edit Photo provided by Dakin Dakin Humane Society Nena Special Medical Needs in Foster Care, Breed: Chihuahua, Long Coat, Age: 10 Year, Gender: Female, Location: Springfield. Don't Edit Photo provided by Dakin Dakin Humane Society Charlie Office Assistant, Breed: Domestic Shorthair, Age: 2 Year, Gender: Male, Location: Springfield. Don't Edit Photo provided by Dakin Dakin Humane Society Rico in Foster Care, Breed: Boxer, Age: 11 Year, Gender: Male, Location: Springfield. Don't Edit Photo provided by Dakin Dakin Humane Society Snowball 2-Fur-1 Adoption with Fatboy Office Assistants, Breed: Domestic Longhair, Age: 8 Year, Gender: Male, Location: Springfield. Don't Edit Photo provided by Dakin Dakin Humane Society Woody - Breed: Budgie/Budgerigar, Age: 9 Months, Location: Springfield. Don't Edit Don't Edit Photo provided by Dakin Dakin Humane Society Gretta Spirit Cat/Office Assistant, Breed: Domestic Shorthair, Age: 2 Year, Gender: Female, Location: Springfield. Don't Edit Photo provided by Dakin Dakin Humane Society Coconut Office Assistant, Breed: Domestic Longhair, Age: 8 Year, Gender: Female, Location: Springfield. Don't Edit Photo provided by Dakin Dakin Humane Society Shirley - Breed: Rat, Gender: Female, Location: Springfield. Don't Edit Photo provided by Dakin Dakin Humane Society Evangeline Working/Barn Cat, Breed: Domestic Shorthair, Age: 4 Year, Gender: Female, Location: Springfield. Don't Edit Photo provided by Dakin Dakin Humane Society Fatboy - 2-Fur-1 Adoption with Snowball Office Assistants; Breed: Domestic Shorthair; Age: 8 Year; Gender: Male; Location: Springfield. Don't Edit Don't Edit Photo provided by Dakin Dakin Humane Society Patty Spirit Cat; Breed: Domestic Shorthair; Age: 1 Year; Gender: Female; Location: Springfield. Don't Edit MSPCA Animal Care and Adoption Centers Animals are still available for adoption you just need to make an appointment! Finding homes for our current population of shelter animals will be vital for our ability to provide temporary housing and increased surrender intake as a result of the outbreak. Animals in need of immediate surrender will continue to be accepted by appointment . If the need to surrender your pet is not urgent, we ask that you wait to bring in your animal. This will allow us to ensure room for emergency cases and keep traffic low. Rest assured we are here to help if needed. Please visit our website at . If the need to surrender your pet is not urgent, we ask that you wait to bring in your animal. This will allow us to ensure room for emergency cases and keep traffic low. Rest assured we are here to help if needed. Please visit our website at mspca.org/surrender for more information. Our Community Outreach teams will be reaching out to clients in our service areas to check in and make sure owners and pets have the resources they need. Our adoption centers will make disaster preparedness supplies available to the public on an as-needed basis in the event of emergency. Supplies include dog crates, water bowls and pet food is available. Please call our adoption centers if you are in need of supplies. Our adoption centers are determining plans for emergency temporary housing for pets whose owners are ill or hospitalized. Please call us to discuss your situation should you need help. Don't Edit MSPCA website Boston MSPCA Aki - Female, 3 years. Don't Edit MSPCA website Boston MSPCA Liberty - Havanese, female, 10 years. Don't Edit MSPCA website Boston MSPCA Wally - Male, 3 years. Don't Edit Don't Edit MSPCA website MSPCA Nevins Farm Max - Pit Bull Terrier, male, 1 year. Don't Edit MSPCA website MSPCA - Cape Cod Jazzy - Female, 13 years old. Don't Edit MSPCA website MSPCA - Boston Luna - Female, 8 years. Don't Edit MSPCA website MSPCA - Cape Cod Cogsworth - Rag Doll, male, 2 years. Don't Edit MSPCA website MSPCA - Nevins Farm Sunny - Male, 4 years old. Don't Edit Don't Edit MSPCA website MSPCA - Cape Cod Budfford - Beagle, Male, 9 years old. Don't Edit MSPCA website MSPCA - Cape Cod Damon - Pit Bull Terrier, Male, 5 years old. Don't Edit MSPCA website MSPCA - Nevins Farm Deuce - Pit Bull Terrier, Male, 2 years. Don't Edit MSPCA website MSPCA - Cape Cod Rose Buddy - Rex, female, 5 years old. Don't Edit MSPCA website MSPCA - Cape Cod Cape Cod - Parakeet, female, 2 years old. Don't Edit Don't Edit Berkshire Humane Society Shelters will be closed to the public. The main shelter at 214 Barker Road in Pittsfield will still be staffed at r our staff and volunteers and the animals in our care and to support national, state and local recommendations, we are scaling back our op Adoptions and Surrenders will be by appointment only. You can still surrender a pet or come to see a pet you'd like to adopt at the main shelter, but you'll have to make an appointment to do so. Please call 413-447-7878 to set up a time. Adoptions will not be available through Purradise. If you do come to Pittsfield for an adoption or surrender, please know that BHS has taken extra precautions to keep you safe from the virus. Cat Boarding will be available at main shelter. Although Purradise will be closed for feline boarding, BHS can board your cat at the main shelter. Please call 413-447-7878 extension 124. Pet Food Bank and SafePet programs are still available. If you are a food bank recipient, please call 413-447-7878 to set up an appointment. The BHS If you are a food bank recipient, please call 413-447-7878 to set up an appointment. The BHS SafePet program is available for owners of pets through our Participating Partners. Medical care to shelter animals, including spay and neuter surgeries will continue. BHS will keep the shelter animals healthy and adoptable by continuing to work with local veterinarians. Low-cost spay and neuter surgeries for cats will still be available to the public . Please call 413-447-7878 extension 124. Family Dog School is open. BHS is keeping this service available for now because class sizes are well below recommended levels and the training facilities are spacious, allowing proper social distancing. Staff is disinfecting the training room between sessions. As usual, Family Dog School is not open to the public, but to students who have registered for classes. Please call 413-447-7878 extension 139 if you have questions. Education Programs are on hold: All meetings of Humane Heroes and Defenders are cancelled until further notice as are tours and community programs. Don't Edit BHS website Berkshire Humane Society Lucy - Poodle, Miniature/Retriever, Labrador mix, female, 8 years old. Don't Edit BHS website Berkshire Humane Society Ozzy -Mixed breed, male, 2 years old. Don't Edit BHS website Berkshire Humane Society Molly - Poodle, female, 12. Don't Edit BHS website Berkshire Humane Society Bentley - Australian Cattle Dog/Shepherd , male, 1 year-old. Don't Edit Don't Edit BHS website Berkshire Humane Society Oliie - Male/Neutered, 9 months. Don't Edit BHS website Berkshire Humane Society Mary - Female/Spayed, 1 year 7 months. Don't Edit BHS website Berkshire Humane Society Clifford - Male/Neutered, 2 years, 3 months. Don't Edit BHS website Berkshire Humane Society Bananas - Male/Neutered, 1 year 4 months. Don't Edit BHS website Berkshire Humane Society Maverick - Male/Neutered, 1 year, 1 month. Don't Edit On Friday Montana Gov. Steve Bullock ordered the statewide closure of businesses where people congregate, in a move to slow the spread of the coronavirus, while later in the day the state added six new cases, all in counties the virus hadn't reached yet. The closure order affects places like bars, coffee shops, gyms, theaters and more. Restaurants can remain open, but are only allowed to offer takeout or delivery options. Bullock's executive order follows similar steps taken by most of the state's largest counties, as well as smaller ones, though there were notable holdouts like Cascade County. "It really is up to all of us to prevent the spread of this virus and the sacrifices that we make now will help mitigate future action required to keep as many people safe as possible," Bullock said Friday in a call with reporters. The new cases announced Friday included three people in Lewis and Clark County. One was a man in his 30s, another was a woman in her 40s and the third was a teenage boy. The county said the man in his 30s had traveled domestically, while teenager's case does not appear to be related to travel. Both are isolated and recovering at home. Two new cases were also reported in Flathead County, another of the state's major population hubs that did not have a known case before Friday. One person is a man in his 50s and is not a resident of Flathead County, though that county reported his case, while the second is a man in his 30s and is a county resident. Both people traveled domestically out of the state. One person was a health care work who had traveled and returned to work, according to a press release from Kalispell Regional Medical Center. Mellody Sharpton, hospital director of communications and marketing, said in an email that after the hospital became aware of the situation it tested two more people but does not have the results of other tests yet. "This situation caused some of the KRH family to be exposed to COVID-19 and, as such, we expect that there could be other positives," Sharpton wrote. The other case was a woman in her 50s in Madison County. She is also at home in isolation and did not need to be hospitalized. Public health officials are contacting their known contacts, who will be told to quarantine for 14 days. The Madison County public health nurse said the risk to the general public was very low, as the woman there quarantined herself even before she was tested, at the onset of symptoms. The first four known COVID-19 cases in Montana were announced a week ago, March 13, and Friday's additions bring the state's total number of cases to 22. Previously the state had recorded five cases in Yellowstone County, and four each in Gallatin and Missoula. Butte-Silver Bow, Broadwater and Roosevelt counties also each have one case. Through the week Bullock had urged people to follow social distancing guidelines and praised municipalities who acted on their own to close businesses. Some even put into place orders that went further than Bullock's, but on Friday the governor said his move was necessary to get rid of a patchwork of rules across the state that left some bars full while others just across the county line were shuttered. "It is evident that it is both in urban and rural areas of our state, so a uniform closure seemed to be, after consultation with others, the most protective to human health and most likely to flatten the curve of spreading," Bullock said. The closure order was set to take effect at 8 p.m. Friday and expires March 27 at 11:59 p.m., meant to align with a previous order to close all K-12 schools in the state. Bullock said in a call with reporters Friday the timeline for both would likely be extended. Under the directive, the places that must close are: Restaurants, food courts, cafes, coffeehouses and other similar establishments offering food or beverage for on-premises consumption. Alcoholic beverage service businesses, including bars, taverns, brew pubs, breweries, microbreweries, distilleries, wineries, tasting rooms, special licensees, clubs, and other establishments offering alcoholic beverages for on-premises consumption. Cigar bars. Health clubs, health spas, gyms, aquatic centers, pools and hot springs, indoor facilities at ski areas, climbing gyms, fitness studios and indoor recreational facilities. Movie and performance theaters, nightclubs, concert halls, bowling alleys, bingo halls, and music halls. Casinos. Bullock encouraged places that could offer take-out or delivery to do so. He has the ability to order businesses shut under an emergency declaration he made March 12. Also Friday, Bullock extended the instate income tax payment and filing deadlines to July 15, matching an extension at the federal level. The U.S. Census Bureau also pushed back its deadline to report to mid-August, following news Thursday it was suspending field operations for two weeks. On Friday Bullock also acknowledged a shortage of testing supplies and personal protective equipment, but said the state is working to access federal and national suppliers. "You can read or turn on the news or see everywhere across the country there a national shortage of supplies needed for COVID-19," Bullock said. "We're doing everything possible to overcome this challenge in Montana." Montana is tapping into the national strategic stockpile, Bullock said. This weekend the state will also distribute a shipment of N-95 protective masks for health care workers. Bullock also said Montana is working to get additional swabs and testing mediums, and that it's making requests to the national stockpile, reaching out to neighboring states and also private supply chains. The state has said over the last week that testing supplies are limited, and Bullock has increasingly said he's concerned about availability, but also said that the state has enough to test those who meet CDC guidelines, such as those who are hospitalized and show symptoms, those in at-risk categories and those who have close contact with confirmed cases and also become symptomatic. The closures and cancellation of events that have dramatically changed how life in Montana looks over the last week are all in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Public health officials have coalesced around the idea that Montana had an advantage of sorts, if residents seized on it, because the coronavirus arrived in the state later than much of the rest of the country and is not yet widespread. "I believe that here in Montana we have been given a huge gift, the gift that is time," said Michael Bush, the chief medical officer at St. Vincent Healthcare in Billings, earlier in the week. Bullock has also been calling on Montanans to take action to "flatten the curve." That phrase has become a familiar refrain to many in the last week and is a reference to charts showing scenarios for the virus' spread, from a massive spike if guidelines aren't heeded to a gentler curve if people follow social distancing guidelines, work from home when possible and avoid discretionary travel and gatherings with more than 10 people. In some places county health office orders forced citizens to comply and other people have voluntary taken steps, but until Bullock's order Friday the state was left with a patchwork of measures that meant bars could be full in one county but shuttered just across the county line. Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. PM Modi to inaugurate 11 new medical colleges in Tamil Nadu on Jan 12 In Pics: PM Modi to inaugurate new campus of Classical Tamil institute in Chennai today India has everything needed to be hub for medical tourism: PM Modi TN seals borders with Karnataka, AP, Kerala to control coronavirus outbreak India oi-Vicky Nanjappa Chennai, Mar 21: In a bid to control the spread of COVID-19, Tamil Nadu has closed its borders with Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh until March 31. Only vehicles carrying essential commodities such as milk, fuel, medicines, vegetables, gas cylinders and other goods will be allowed. Ambulance movement too will not be restricted. The government however said that those people travelling in these vehicles will be subject to medical precations. Coronavirus cases in India rises to 223 "All vehicular traffic in the borders of Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh will be stopped till March 31, except for essential goods like milk, petrol, diesel, vegetables, medicines, ambulance, gas cylinder and other goods," a press statement read. "All those travelling in these vehicles will be subjected to thermal screening and the vehicles will be disinfected," the statement further read. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, March 21, 2020, 8:37 [IST] Pennsylvanias casinos are closed and the businesses that offer skill game machines have mostly all shut their doors, as well, because of COVID-19. That means, for the first time in a long time, the states lottery system might be the only in-person gambling opportunity available to those who are interested. Pennsylvania Lottery Press Secretary Ewa Dworakowski told PennLive on Friday that the lottery has not seen an uptick in sales, however, in the days since the spread of the coronavirus pandemic has shut down almost everything besides gas stations, grocery stores, pharmacies, hospitals, auto shops, banks, and a shortlist of other places that Gov. Tom Wolf refers to as life-sustaining," many of which happen to be lottery retailers. Lottery sales typically rise and fall with retail sales, Dwoarakowski said. Because of this fact, we are seeing our traditional sales soften a bit during this unprecedented situation as non-essential businesses close and Pennsylvanians comply with the Governors request to stay home. Dwoarakowskis email signature also includes an important reminder: Please Play Responsibly. If compulsive gambling is a concern, please call 1-800-GAMBLER (800-426-2537) for confidential help. Those hoping to participate in Saturdays Powerball drawing, which has an estimated jackpot of $140 million, can still do so while following the pleas of Wolf and health secretary Rachel Levine to stay home by purchasing a ticket on the lotterys mobile app. And, those who do venture out can expect to find scratch-offs and the other games the lottery has always offered, as there are currently no concerns about supply chain, delivery, or manufacturing issues. There is one change to note, but its one many may not even be aware of anyway. As a precaution to protect our senior citizens and to comply with the recommendations pertaining to social distancing, volunteer senior witnesses have temporarily been replaced by a member of management from our broadcast partner, WITF, Dworakowski said. More of PennLives coronavirus coverage: (Photo : Screenshot From Google Allo Facebook Page) Google Photos Update Google has been quite silent with its recent movements ever since the numerous cancellation of events as well as the recent decision to urge workers to do their jobs from the comforts of their home. Google has finally come up with a new update that will show users the source of their images, but sadly, this feature will only be available for the Photos web app. Sometimes when it comes to downloading an image, the source is equally important as the image itself, but with more complicated data, the source is usually harder to save. This feature would be a really useful feature, but due to the fact that it will only be available for the Photos web app, the utility of this feature is limited. How the feature works Google is adding brand new "upload from" as well as "shared by" categories for your images' metadata in Photos. This could be quite useful in tracking where the image is coming from should it be important source material as well as a reference for the image. With an extensive photo library, which is usually the case nowadays, the difficulty of keeping track of the source for certain photos may be a problem. Google aims to address this problem by updating the "info" panel in Photos for it to be able to show more information about every single file. Read Also: SoundCloud and Twitch Team Up to Save Musicians: Here's How to Earn Through Livestreams The "uploaded from" field showcases from which platform the image was uploaded from should it be Android or iOS devices, Google Drive, or even just the web. This should be a useful addition for you to find out and remember which specific device or platform the image came from. "Shared by" on the other hand helps you identify which specific album the shared image originates from. Aside from this, the feature also tells you whether or not the image has been saved straight to your own library. Google is still silent whether it will be sharing this feature For now, Google has not made any comments or statements whether the feature will be available for Android and iOS. Currently, the iOS and Native Android apps still do not possess this feature, as well as features similar to this one. Read Also: [TIPS] YouTube and Netflix to Reduce Video Quality: Here's How to Improve Streaming Experiences Although this is only a minor change and should have been announced properly, Google has still been silent about whether or not it plans to bring this feature to other mobile apps. There might not be any updates coming anytime soon as Google is still preoccupied with other matters such as Project Oasis, which is a research initiative aimed to support new local startups. Google is not the only tech company affected Google is only one among the whole tech industry that is affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) as the gravity of this pandemic's reach stretches out into the economic sector. Google is doing its best to adjust to this period of social distancing by trying to offer better features for its users. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The Christian Post Newsletter Get on the List Do you want award-winning journalism with a Christian worldview, delivered to your inbox? Submit Join over 250,000 others to get the top stories curated daily, plus special offers! Tunis, Tunisia (PANA) The Tunisian president, Kais Saied, on Friday declared the general confinement in the country to eradicate the coronavirus which is recording alarming proportions in Tunisia, without specifying the date of the application of the decision Advertisement Bondi and other beaches in Sydney's east have been been put in a lockdown that will severely restrict public access in a bid to slow the spread of the coronavirus, after droves of careless sun-seekers ignored social distancing rules and flocked there on Friday. In an unprecedented move, Waverley council officials said a maximum of 500 people would be allowed on Bondi, Bronte and Tamarama beaches from Sunday, after shocking pictures showed thousands of sunbathers ignoring health warnings. Australia suffered a huge overnight spike in coronavirus cases, taking the national total to 1,041, prompting calls for people to do their bit to stop it spreading further. But the spiralling health crisis was clearly of little concern to the beachgoers, with health minister Greg Hunt accusing them of 'putting others at risk'. NSW Police were seen at Bondi Pavilion after state officials made the decision to shut down the world-famous beach after outdoor gatherings of 500 people or more were banned Hundreds of beachgoers were seen packing up and leaving shortly after the announcement was made on Saturday Police - along with NSW Lifesaving - were seen ordering sunbathers off the beach Within hours, the once-packed beach resembled a ghost down after hundreds of sunbathers were told to leave Speaking from Bondi Beach on Saturday afternoon, police minister David Elliot said: 'This is the most irresponsible behaviour we've seen so far. 'This is not something we're doing because we're the fun police, this is about saving lives. 'We cannot have an area where more than 500 people are gathered.' 'If the community does not comply, this is going to become the new normal.' On Saturday, the NSW government made the decision to shut the beach completely, following the national crowd rules - after it became swamped with revellers this week as they flocked to enjoy the 30C temperatures. Under regulations introduced to control the spread of the deadly virus, outdoor gatherings of 500 people or more have been banned. As part of that, lifesavers will have the power to close beaches and ask people to move on if a crowd of 500 or more is gathered at the same spot. Mr Elliot also issued a chilling warning that officials expect cases in NSW to top 500 by tomorrow. Lifesavers will have the power to close beaches and ask people to move on if a crowd of 500 or more is gathered at the same spot A group of friends are seen leaving after being booted off the beach on Saturday The decision comes as the number of coronavirus cases in NSW ballooned to 436 after 83 new cases were identified in the state Pictures of crowds soon emerged on Instagram showing a lack of concern for social distancing rules, with many of the young sun-worshippers even making jokes about the virus. LATEST RULES TO CONTROL CORONAVIRUS SPREAD On Friday, Scott Morrison announced new rules for indoor spaces. It means the number of people in a venue is dictated by the size of the room. There needs to be four-square-metres per patron. This means that if a venue is 100-square-metres, 25 people are allowed inside. Event then, Australians are asked to try and keep 1.5 metres apart from one another. Advertisement The shocking images prompted criticism from across the world, with many incensed by the revellers lack of awareness about the virus. Sunbathers ignored 1.5metre social distancing guidelines on Friday and Saturday as they lay together on the sand and helped each other apply sunscreen. Following the announcement, NSW Police were seen working alongside NSW Lifesaving to remove sunbathers off the sand. Within minutes, the once-packed beach resembled a ghost town. 'I don't really speak English that well so I didn't realise what was happening. They [the rangers] came up to me to say it was closed. I am guessing it is the virus,' one resident, who did not want to be named, told Daily Mail Australia. 'Yesterday's behaviour was just plain stupid. I'm a school teacher and I'm already exposed to the virus enough,' Bondi resident, Lara, added. Lauren Ellis, from England, said people were likely taking advantage of the beach before the coronavirus pandemic escalates further. 'I think the reason a lot of people are here are because they want to make the most of it knowing they won't be able to do this in a couple of days,' she said. Life savers have also been instructed to stop patrolling beaches where there are large numbers of people, which could include popular spots such as Coogee, Manly, Maroubra and beaches in the Sutherland Shire. Critics slammed the beachgoers for being ignorant about the coronavirus threat, after they flocked in droves to Bondi Beach (pictured) One beachgoer poses for a photo during warm weather in Sydney on Friday (pictured) despite the threat of coronavirus Hundreds of people packed onto the grass next to Bondi Beach (pictured) and were clearly not socially distancing Waverley mayor Paula Masselos had earlier been forced to issue a public plea for people to stay indoors amid the coronavirus pandemic and away from beaches. 'The public must at all times keep a minimum safe distance from each other in public places and if you don't need to be out in public, please consider staying at home,' Ms Masselos said. 'We all have a role to play in preventing the spread of COVID-19 and I am frustrated that people continue to ignore health advice about social distancing as observed yesterday at Bondi Beach.' Ms Masselos asked for people to heed advice from NSW health including practising social distancing and following hygiene rules. 'No-one is immune to COVID-19 and behaving irresponsibly puts the entire community at risk,' Ms Masselos said. A couple at Bondi Beach on Friday (pictured) smile as they emerged from the surf to join the packed crowds on the beach Beachgoers are seen at Bondi Beach on Friday (pictured) despite the threat of coronavirus Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt also hit out at beachgoers who flouted social distancing advice and risked spreading the virus. 'What happened in Bondi was unacceptable, and the local council must take steps to stop that from occurring,' Mr Hunt told reporters in Melbourne on Saturday. 'Each of us as individuals, as families, as groups, as councils, as state governments, as a national government has responsibility.' 'This now is a pandemic ... a vast majority are doing the right thing,' he added. 'If you are breaking these rules you are putting, not just yourself, but you are putting other Australians at risk.' The crowds were seemingly unfazed by the threat of coronavirus as they embraced on the shoreline, splashed in the waves and played beach volleyball. New South Wales Health Minister Brad Hazzard said the 'thousands of people' who gathered at Bondi should be following the 1.5 metre recommendation. Another group of beachgoers are seen posing on Friday (pictured), but seem to sat with enough distance between them Those who flocked to Bondi Beach on Friday (pictured) have been accused of putting lives at risk by ignoring social distancing CORONAVIRUS CASES IN AUSTRALIA: 27,244 Victoria: 20,269 New South Wales: 4,273 Queensland: 1,161 Western Australia: 692 South Australia: 473 Tasmania: 230 Australian Capital Territory: 113 Northern Territory: 33 TOTAL CASES: 27,244 ESTIMATED ACTIVE CASES: 269 DEATHS: 897 Updated: 5.31 PM, 11 October, 2020 Source: Australian Government Department of Health Advertisement 'We are in a different time,' he said on Friday. 'We need to behave in different ways and that is to keep your distance. The recommendation is at least 1.5 metres. That is a sensible recommendation that people should sensibly take on board.' While residents can 'by all means' visit the beach, they must stick to the strict advice given by health authorities. Shockingly, many of the beachgoers took to social media to boast proudly of their day in the sun - even making jokes about the global pandemic, which has killed more than 10,000 people across the world. 'Two weeks behind the rest of the world,' was the caption of one group photo as 16 young people hung off each other. 'Solid social distancing,' wrote one commenter, making light of the new guidelines which are designed to keep people from spreading the virus. Two friends dip their feet in the water at Sydney's Bondi Beach on Friday, despite guidelines to exercise social distancing (pictured) A couple embrace at Bondi Beach, in Sydney's eastern suburbs, on Friday as the temperature soars above 30C (pictured) A man and woman ignore social distancing guidelines as they embrace in the water at Sydney's Bondi Beach (pictured on Friday) 'If you can't beat 'em, join 'em,' wrote a young man on a picture of him pointing at a Corona beer with a group of friends, 'I would just say that it doesn't matter where you are. Whether you are on Bondi or in a church, separate by 1.5 metres,' Mr Hazzard said on Saturday. Government advice reads: 'Social distancing is important because COVID-19 is most likely to spread from person-to-person.' 'So, the more space between you and others, the harder it is for the virus to spread.' The crowds come as Australia prepares to lock its borders to non-residents at 9pm on Friday in a desperate attempt to stop the spread of COVID-19. Victoria Premier, Daniel Andrews, warned that unless infection rates drop, hospitals will soon become overwhelmed. Two women smile for the camera as they hit the surf at Sydney's Bondi Beach on Friday (pictured) despite concerns over the global pandemic Beachgoers play a game of volleyball on the sand as the government urges residents to exercise social distancing (pictured on Friday) 'If you're in any doubt of how serious this is, switch your TV on and see what's happening in other parts of the world,' he told reporters on Saturday. 'People are dying. We are going to get to a dark place.' Victoria recorded 51 new cases overnight, taking the state's total to 229, while three more cases were confirmed in the ACT. Mr Andrews announced a $550 million business relief package to help those struggling to stay afloat during the crisis. A payroll tax refund will be made available to 24,000 businesses small and medium-sized businesses. It is hoped the cash will help keep about 400,000 workers employed. Sunbathers ignored 1.5 metre social distancing guidelines by helping each other apply sunscreen and lying together on the sand (pictured on Friday) Crowds also gathered at the rocks lining Bondi Beach despite the growing threat of COVID-19 (pictured on Friday) On Friday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison introduced tough new social distancing measures, which are designed to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The number of people allowed in an indoor venue will be dictated by its size. Announcing the new crowd restrictions, Mr Morrison said there will be a maximum limit of 'four square metres provided per person in an enclosed space'. When in a venue, patrons should try and sit a minimum of 1.5 metres away from one another. He also warned a unprecedented ban may be brought in on domestic travel next week ahead of the school holidays - and pleaded with holidaymakers not to fly. Addressing the nation on Friday, Mr Morrison said he needed people 'to keep going' and 'do their bit for their fellow Australians'. The warm weather has lead to crowds flocking to Bondi Beach (pictured earlier on Friday) despite coronavirus concerns When Bondi Beach reopens, the police minister confirmed there would be patrols in place to ensure there are no more than 500 people on the sand. 'We are relying on the laws of common sense. They will be asked to move on if there are more than 500 people on the beach,' he said, adding that 'headcounts for 500 people have been done before. 'In consultation with the police and Surf Life Saving NSW, we will now see beaches across the state that do not comply with the regulations close,' Mr Elliot explained. 'If people to not comply, the police will have the power to 'move on' individuals. 'This is because we want you to be safe.' People are seen playing volleyball at Bondi Beach on Saturday morning (pictured), hours before it was shut down 'I for one am disappointed,' Mr Elliot went on. 'I cannot sit by and watch the community not only ignore the laws but blatantly flout them,' he said of the images of thousands of sunbathers on Bondi Beach on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. 'What we saw this morning was a breach of public safety. 'This is called a pandemic because people's lives are in danger.' As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQ Labour Party Leader Brendan Howlin has urged the Government to help struggling local newspapers through ad buys, and urged the public to support their local and national titles by buying a copy. He was speaking after one of the country's biggest local and regional newspaper groups announced it would temporarily lay off some staff due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Celtic Media said it would continue to publish five weekly papers in print and online, but was forced to reduce staff numbers due to falling revenues. The company employs 90 people. It will keep its print plant in Navan operating as normal. Labour Party leader Brendan Howlin Deputy Howlin said: I welcome the action by the government to suspend the BAI levy for local radio stations giving some immediate relief in the face of collapsing advertising revenues. However assistance and recognition is also needed for local papers during the COVID-19 slowdown. They too are a reliable and trusted source of information for many. The Government should look at supports such as extensive advertising in local papers and radio to get the key messages out. This would be an important way to support advertising revenue sustaining people in jobs while also providing the public with essential news. "Similiar supports may also be needed for independent national broadcasters and newspapers if this is an extended crisis." He also called on the public to support their local and national newspapers by buying a copy when they can. "We all need to be reading reliable information sources," he said. Adding a copy of your local paper to supplies (you're buying for elderly neighbours) is another way to boost their sales. The economic consequences of the coronavirus will impact numerous sectors in our society and when problems are identified we must move quickly to provide support and assistance. Meanwhile,Newsbrands Ireland, which represents the national newspaper industry, wrote to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar on Friday to guarantee that news providers will be treated as an essential service in the event of further movement restrictions in Ireland. Newsbrands asked the Government to ensure that journalists have free movement to continue to fulfil their essential role informing citizens and reporting on the crisis. Advertising revenue is down by between 45% and 65% in local and national newspaper titles in the last week, with further falls expected in the weeks ahead, Newsbrands and Local Ireland warned. The world's largest diamond cutting and polishing hub, Surat in Gujarat, will shut down for a week from Tuesday due to the novel coronavirus outbreak, the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council and Surat Diamond Association said in a joint statement on Saturday. Diamond cutting and polishing units in other parts of the state like Bhavnagar and Botad will also remain closed, Gujarat regional chairman of GJEPC Dinesh Navadiya said. "The industry has already witnessed $846 million fall in exports in February 2020 compared to the same month last year, and the crisis is deepeningfurther and could get worse than what was witnessed during the 2008 financial recession," he said. Navadiya said the export-oriented diamond industry was facing a massive crisis, with three countries accounting for 80 per cent of the exports, namely USA, Hong Kong, and China, being among the worst hit due to the outbreak. "USA accounts for 39 per cent of exports, followed by Hong Kong at 37 per cent, and Chinaat 4 per cent. They are among the countries that are worst affected by coronavirus. We are facing a situation that can get worse than what we witnessed during the 2008 recession," Navadiya said. In another development related to coronavirus, Surat Municipal Corporation on Saturday launched an online voluntary self-reporting for citizens with history of visits abroad or other states within the country, and said non-registration will invite a penalty of up to Rs 25,000. "SMC starts voluntary self reporting of corona affected Citizens, if someone has come from other countries or other domestic localities with suspected cases. Non Registration invites penalty up to 25000/-," Municipal Commissioner Banchha Nidhi Pani tweeted. People who have recently returned to Surat from visits abroador other states within the country will have to provide travel details, as well as health information like whether they are suffering from fever, cough, or having difficulty breathing, etc. The online form link is available on the Surat Municipal Corporation website. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) By Express News Service KEONJHAR: Tension gripped Gambharia village under Keonjhar Town police limits on Friday after locals came to know about a person who returned from coronavirus-hit UAE and stayed put at his in-law's house at the village. Police said that the man returned from Dubai on Tuesday and came to his in-law's house at Gambharia village. He worked as a labourer in Dubai and returned after the outbreak. Suspecting that me might have been affected by coronavirus, locals held a meeting on Friday and opposed his stay in the village. They informed police and health authorities, who examined him on Saturday and put him on home isolation. His preliminary examination did not reveal any coronavirus symptoms and his swab samples have been sent for test. Chief District Medical Officer Dr AK Dash a total of 24 persons have returned from other countries to Keonjhar. Among them, five have been quarantined and the rest are under home isolation. As many as 393 people of Keonjhar have come in contact with people who returned from coronavirus-affected States and countries. Dr Dash informed that all are under home isolation. A 52-year-old man with travel history to Sri Lanka tested positive of coronavirus in Gujarat on Saturday, taking the number of such cases in the state to eight, officials said. The new patient is a resident Vadodara, they said. "A man with travel history to Sri Lanka, tested positive for coronavirus. He was part of a group that had recently travelled to Sri Lanka," Vadodara collector Shalini Agarwal said. "Another member of the same group, a woman, had tested positive on Friday," she said. This is the third positive case in Vadodara and eighth in Gujarat, Agarwal added. "The man has been kept in isolation ward at the SSG Hospital in Vadodara, which is treating the coronavirus patients," she said Others, who travelled with them, have also been quarantined, she added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Release of Roland Marchal comes after Iranian Jallal Rohollahnejad is freed by France. Iran has released a jailed French researcher, in an apparent prisoner swap after France freed an Iranian threatened with extradition to the United States. French President Emanuel Macron is happy to announce the release of Roland Marchal, imprisoned in Iran since June 2019, his office said on Saturday. Marchal is due in France later in the day. France has for months demanded that Iran release Marchal and fellow researcher Fariba Adelkhah who were arrested last year on the charge of plotting against national security. Meanwhile, the Iranian judiciarys news agency Mizan Online reported that Iranian Jallal Rohollahnejad had been freed by France on Friday. Iranian state television later said he was already on a flight back to Irans capital, Tehran. Rohollahnejad, an Iranian engineer incarcerated for more than a year in French prisons and accused of circumventing American sanctions against Iran, has been freed today, the news agency added. The French Court of Cassation had on March 11 approved the request to extradite Rohollahnejad to the US, but the French government freed him, changing this decision, it added. Taking into account the cooperation of the [Iranian] judicial systems intention to release a French detainee through reducing sentences, the French government freed the Iranian engineer in an act of mutual cooperation, according to the report. Iran has in recent months carried out prisoner exchanges with the US, Australia and Germany. Coronavirus fears In its statement, Macrons office also said the president urges the Iranian authorities to immediately free Adelkhah, a citizen of both Iran and France. Tehran does not recognise dual nationality. Adelkhah, 60, an anthropologist and expert on Shia Islam, faces charges of propaganda against the system and colluding to commit acts against national security, according to the researchers lawyer, Said Dehghan. We welcome with relief the arrival of Roland Marchal in Paris after nearly nine months of arbitrary detention in very difficult conditions, but only half of the path has been taken, said Jean-Francois Bayart, a member of the committee and professor at the Geneva-based Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies. He said the fight continues to secure Adelkhahs release. Adding to concerns for the welfare of the prisoners, Iran has been hit hard by the novel coronavirus pandemic, behind only Italy and China in the official number of deaths. Iran said on Saturday that 123 more people had died from coronavirus, raising the countrys official death toll to 1,556. Prisoner releases Ahead of Irans celebration of the Persian New Year starting Friday, authorities had released a number of international prisoners. US navy veteran Michael White was freed on Thursday. He was handed over in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad to a team from Switzerland, which represents US interests in the absence of diplomatic relations, and flown to Tehran, the US State Department said. Iran this week also freed for two weeks Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian dual national who worked for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the media organisations philanthropic arm. Iran is still holding US citizens Siamak Namazi who was convicted for charges including espionage and collaboration with the US government his father Baquer and environmental expert Morad Tahbaz. The Islamic republic in December freed Xiyue Wang, a US academic, in an exchange for scientist Massoud Soleimani and said it was open to further swaps. The high-profile killings of several African Americans by police and subsequent refusal of grand juries to indict the officers involved sparked mass protests in 2014 and 2015 and led several states to propose reforms to the secretive court process. Nebraska was among the few states that lifted the absolute veil of secrecy grand juries have operated behind for centuries through an effort led by Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers, with the backing of top prosecutors and police chiefs in Lancaster and Douglas counties. As everybody knows, there have been any number of police killings which were presented to grand juries to investigate whether the officers violated any law by their conduct, Chambers told the Legislatures Judiciary Committee in 2016, referring to the deaths of Eric Garner, Michael Brown and Tamir Rice at the hands of police in Missouri, Ohio and New York. In many of those instances, the grand jury would not find or hand down or up an indictment, and nothing would be made available to the public from that proceeding, Chambers added. Grand jury proceedings from the beginning were conducted in secret, and that very secrecy was what led to doubt and suspicion on the part of the public. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 19) While the elderly are at higher risk for complications from COVID-19, four Filipino patients aged 69 to 75 have recovered from the viral disease in the country. They are among five recoveries announced by the Department of Health on Saturday. All in all, 13 people have recovered from COVID-19. Most of those who were earlier cured were younger from 24 to 46 years old. The new recoveries include a couple from San Juan City a 70-year-old Filipino man and a 69-year-old Filipina who were both discharged on Thursday. They both have hypertension. The husband first showed red-flag symptoms for coronavirus infection on March 1, while his wife followed the day after. They both tested positive for the virus on March 9, the DOH said. Meanwhile, a 75-year-old Filipino woman from Makati City was cleared on Tuesday, the DOH said, after testing negative for COVID-19. Her symptoms began on March 1 and she was diagnosed with the coronavirus disease ten days after. She recently traveled to the United States and had contact with a known COVID-19 case. The fourth to recover is a 72-year-old Filipino man from Batangas province. He had been exposed to a known COVID-19 patient and started showing symptoms on March 1. He tested positive on March 11, and was considered a "severe case" two days after. The DOH did not explain why his condition was deemed severe. It only disclosed that he is hypertensive. He was discharged from the hospital on Saturday, asymptomatic, and with two negative results for COVID-19 infection. Another patient to recover recently is a 35-year-old Filipino woman from Rizal province. She has asthma. The DOH said she first showed symptoms on March 1 and was confirmed to be infected on March 13. She was given a clean bill of health last Sunday. Worldwide, eight in ten, or around 80 percent, of infected patients experience "mild illness" and eventually recover from COVID-19, according to the World Health Organization. Some 14 percent experience severe illness while 5 percent were critically ill, the WHO said. The most commonly reported symptoms are fever, dry cough and shortness of breath. The disease has killed more than 11,500 people, mostly in Italy, although the outbreak began in Wuhan, China in December last year. Over 277,000 people have been infected, according to the Johns Hopkins University's COVID-19 global tracker. Also on Saturday, the Philippines reported 77 new cases of the coronavirus disease the biggest single-day increase since the outbreak began in January. Of the country's 307 COVID-cases, 19 have died, majority of them are Filipinos aged 40 to 86. President Rodrigo Duterte has placed the entire Luzon area under enhanced community quarantine, restricting people's movement, to contain the spread of COVID-19. To prevent infection, authorities are urging people to practice regular hand washing, cover their mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing, and avoid close contact with those who exhibit virus symptoms. Health quarantine at the Moc Bai International Border Gate (Photo: VNA) In the note, Cambodia says the regulation does not apply to Vietnamese and Cambodian holders of diplomatic and official passports. The request is made to avoid inconvenience at the two countries border checkpoints, in light of the recent spike of confirmed cases of Covid-19, while Vietnam has imposed travel restrictions requiring 14-day mass quarantine and self-quarantine of all travelers from ASEAN countries, including Vietnamese who return home. The Cambodian side proposes that the local authorities of the two countries work together to facilitate and ensure that the transport of goods across the common border can be carried out without disruption. It also requested Vietnamese local authorities to facilitate the repatriation to Cambodia of all Cambodian nationals, if any. The border closing is carried out in accordance with the direction of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen./. With nearly every new skincare brand on the market using words like clean, natural and nontoxic, its hard to determine which products you should spend your money on and which are best for you and your skin. I personally follow a clean, natural skincare routine, because after finding out that what you put on your face enters your blood stream, I prefer not to mess with toxins. I also have fairly resilient combination skin and have never suffered immensely with acne, eczema or psoriasis, and therefore havent had to turn to harsher, more potent ingredients that may not be natural. And while I am definitely no dermatologist or skincare expert, as a beauty editor who plays around with a lot of new products, I do know what works for my skin. If you have combination skin and are looking for some new product recommendations or even a whole new natural skincare routine, youve come to the right place. But before I get into my personal natural skincare routine, I want to set the record straight about some of the terms I mentioned above. I reached out to Hillary Peterson, founder of True Botanicals, a MADE SAFEcertified skincare line that uses only the safest, cleanest ingredients found in nature. Heres what she had to say. WHAT DOES NATURAL SKINCARE MEAN? While the term natural may indicate something harvested in nature, its use in all beauty productsincluding skincareactually means nothing because its not regulated, says Peterson. IS THERE ANY REGULATION OF NATURAL SKINCARE PRODUCTS? No government body in the United States regulates natural skincare products, but there are various independent, international organizations that companies can enlist to verify their level of natural. Take Ecocert in the European Union or the Soil Association in the U.K., for example, says Peterson. The issue is that focusing on how natural a product is fails to consider how safe a product is. If a face serum is 95 percent natural, thats greatbut whats in that other 5 percent? Story continues OK, SO HOW IS NATURAL SKINCARE DIFFERENT FROM CLEAN SKINCARE? Well, this is sort of tricky too. In the same way there isnt regulation of natural skincare, there isnt regulation of clean skincare either. Generally, clean skincare refers to products made without potentially harmful ingredients, as opposed to natural skincare, which is made with some level of natural ingredients, explains Peterson. Why does this distinction matter? Plenty of natural ingredients are hazardous to human health, like talc, for example, which can contain asbestos. And plenty of synthetic ingredients are perfectly safe for humans and the environment, like hyaluronic acid (yep, its typically synthetic). This lack of regulation is why we at True Botanicals rely on third-party certification from an organization called MADE SAFE. Their scientists review the latest research and examine the full safety profile of a productevery ingredient and every ingredient within that ingredientto ensure it poses no threat to human or environmental health. And they also consider whether a particular natural ingredient is a truly sustainable choice. Its the strictest, most thorough certification process available. SO IS ALL CLEAN SKINCARE NATURAL? Theres a lot of crossover. For example, we prioritize natural ingredients in our formulas because I believe that, for most things, the answer can indeed be found in nature. But typically, clean skincare mixes safe synthetics with safe naturals, Peterson says. IS THERE A CERTAIN PERCENTAGE OF NATURAL INGREDIENTS THAT CLASSIFY A PRODUCT AS NATURAL? No! In fact, you could plaster the word natural all over your products label and your ingredient list could be chock-full of only petrochemicals. Thats why its so important to work with a third-party, nonprofit organization like MADE SAFE and to focus on the classification thats ultimately impacting the current and future well-being of people, wildlife, our soil, our oceans and more, Peterson explains. OK, SO LETS RECAP. The term natural, as it relates to skincare, isnt regulated. This means any brand can use the term on its products regardless of whether they are made with 100 percent natural or 1 percent natural ingredients. Its more beneficial to look to brands that have a level of certification that does the vetting for you (like True Botanicals does). I personally use this method when choosing my own skincare products. Its great if the products are natural, but thats not all I look for. Now that the nitty-gritty is out of the way, its finally time to get into the good stuff: my recommendations. Because its my job to test and vet beauty products based on their results, Im pretty discerning with my own skincare routine. I only use the products that are the most natural and clean, because thats what I personally care about. Like I said, Im not a doctor or dermatologist, so I can only recommend products that have worked for my combination skin. Lets get to it. RELATED: Ulta Just Announced Its 21 Days of Beauty SaleHere Are All the Deals You Need to Know About Step 1: Mara Chia & Moringa Algae Enzyme Cleansing Oil As someone who used to use Neutrogena Oil-Free Acne Wash Pink Grapefruit Foaming Scrub on a daily basis, you can imagine my surprise when I found out my naturally oily T-zone didnt actually benefit from oil-free products (they can cause your skin to overcompensate and produce more oil). Nor did my dry cheeks love those plastic microbeads further stripping them of natural oils, twice a day every day. Enter this game-changing, slightly gritty oil cleanser. Its made with natural chia and moringa oils to nourish and hydrate skin, plus four fruit enzymes that lend a bit of a gritty texture, which helps slough off makeup, dirt, grime and even dead skin cells in the gentlest way possible. In the morning, I wet my face with a bit of water before massaging two pumps of this cleanser all over, then I rinse and pat dry. No double cleanse necessary for clean, radiant skin without any harsh chemicals. Buy It ($58) Step 2: Isla Tone Balance Elixir Next up is a new product from Isla, a beauty brand that focuses on transparency. This toner/essence combo is part of its core product line, which sources natural ingredients from all over the world based on where theyre most abundant. This particular toner is made with 100 percent natural ingredients from Australia (like vitamins A, C and E plus an antioxidant-packed wild berry complex), as clearly stated right on the box. As someone who also previously used astringents daily to clear blemishes, I was surprised by the gentleness of this toner and the extreme lack of stinging. It helps remove any excess oils from my cleanser and also preps my skin to better absorb the rest of my skincare products. Buy It ($70) Step 3: Goopglow 20% Vitamin C + Hyaluronic Acid Glow Serum Goop has high standards when it comes to nontoxic beauty, so Im never hesitant to buy anything on the site, especially when its the brands own product line. This new serum has an extremely potent 20 percent vitamin C to target hyperpigmentation and brighten skin, plus hyaluronic acid to add hydration. Unlike most vitamin C serums, it comes with a powder and a liquid activator, which you combine just before use to ensure potency. I also love that the consistency is super liquidy, so it sinks right in and I dont get any of that stickiness that usually results from HA-based serums. Buy It ($125) Step 4a: Grown Alchemist Hydra-Repair Day Cream: Camellia, Geranium Blossom Moisturizer is my favorite skincare product, but Im always trying new formulas. Lately, Ive been obsessed with this hydrating and repairing day cream from Grown Alchemist for its natural ingredients, fresh scent and matte finish. Many natural products dont actually smell amazing, because there isnt any addition of arbitrary fragrance, but I love that this product uses essential oils and plant extracts to deliver an uplifting aroma in the morning. Another thing to note is the aluminum tube, which can be fully recycled for less waste. Buy It ($49) Step 4b: True Botanicals Clear Pure Radiance Oil As mentioned, Ive fortunately never struggled immensely with acne, but that doesnt mean Ive never had blemishesIve had many and I still continue to get them in my 30s. Thats why I love a clarifying face oil for daytime that hydrates my skin while also helping to clear my pores and fend off breakouts. This product is beloved by many for its natural ingredients like algae extract and hemp, pumpkin and grape-seed oils. On days when I need a lighter moisturizer or feel a bit congested, Ill use this oil instead of my moisturizer. 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March 20, 2020 Transcript Remarks by General Wolters in a Press Briefing via Teleconference on COVID-19 Response General Tod Wolters, Commander, U.S. European Command STAFF: Once again, we are joined here with General Tod Wolters, the commander of U.S. European Command. Sir, do you have a -- would you like to give us -- starting with an opening statement? GENERAL TOD WOLTERS: I would, Carly, and thank you, and -- and good morning to all, and it's good to be with you virtually, as all of us execute social distancing, and I thank you for that. As many of you know, U.S. European Command, together with all of our NATO allies and partners, is combating the -- the coronavirus with extreme intensity. This is serious, serious business, and for months we have embraced precautionary measures to safeguard the health not only of our personnel, but also of our communities and the mission. In keeping with our allies and partners, we continue to take the necessary steps to reduce the further spread of the virus. This week, we made the decision to further modify and cancel some length exercises to the long-planned Exercise DEFENDER-Europe 20. Yet, we are still maintaining our readiness through adjusted local training, despite the outbreak. We remain ready. We've implemented prudent measures to reduce the exposure and transmission of the coronavirus to or from our forces, family members and home stations. We are adhering to the Center for Disease Control health protection measures, and the United States secretary of defense's guidance on health protections and travel restrictions. We're also following World Health Organization guidance, along with our allies and partners. The modification and, in some cases, reduction of exercises, is a precautionary measure. It does not impact the ability of our forces to respond to threats now or in the future. Our military men and women and civilian employees who serve across the EUCOM theater remain well prepared, (inaudible) and vigilant. We are focused on sustaining our skills in all domains. And while we may not have completed all of what DEFENDER-Europe 20 was set out to do, there are valuable lessons learned that we've embraced along the way. Just the mere aspects of the cooperation and planning that went into each one of the compartments of our exercises was a gain in training, and it certainly built trust. We will continue to execute daily operations with measures implemented to reduce the exposure and potential transmission of the virus. Continuous assessments are ongoing and our willingness to listen to all chains of command is very, very important. Our nation's allies, partners and potential adversaries should know that our forces remain ready. We are steadfast in our commitment to protect all allies and our shared values. I look forward to embracing your questions. And, Carly, that's it for my opening statement from this end. STAFF: Sir, thank you. We'll go ahead and get started with Bob Burns, A.P. Q: Good morning, General, this is Bob Burns from A.P. A question following up on your comments about the precautions you're taking to limit the spread of coronavirus. I'm wondering a couple things. As you plan for more -- are you planning that -- and anticipating that a greater percentage of your force is going to be contracting the virus, possibly potentially incapacitated by it? And what steps -- you say you constrained training exercises but remain ready. But how long can you remain ready if this becomes a protracted pandemic that lasts a matter of months? GEN. WOLTERS: Bob, as you know, we -- we in the military plan for tragic events like this often. And we continue to adjust not in weeks, not in months but in days and in hours. And as we currently sit, based off the trajectory of the virus spreading across Europe, we're in a position, based off the commanders in the field in all components and in all domains, to be able to sustain the current readiness posture that we have. Don't know exactly what the future unfolds. Can we do this in perpetuity? We would be challenged, but we are preparing for worst-case scenarios with respect to the potential spread. And at this point, based on all the factors that we've been able to embrace, we should be in a position to where we can sustain our force at a readiness level to effectively deter on-continent. STAFF: Barbara Starr, CNN? Q: General, you just said you are prepared to -- for the worst-case scenario. For you, as the commander, what is that scenario? What are you looking at as you plan that, in terms of people not being available to you, troops not being available to you, spare parts, things that you will not be able to do now that you raise the issue of worst-case scenario? And my follow-up is, what else do you think you have in your medical stocks that at this point you could potentially transfer to the civilian sector in the United States to help out hospitals in this county? But tell us more about what your worst-case scenario is. GEN. WOLTERS: You know, Barbara, let me go with the second one first, with respect to stocks. And this brings up a -- a point that I'm not certain that has been addressed. As many of you know, in Europe we've been embracing this virus from a length and severity standpoint probably to a greater degree than what is occurring in the United States. And all you have to do is just take a look at the -- at the tragedies that have occurred in Italy. And -- and so, from a stocks perspective, we're in a position already to where we've seen cases where there has been sharing by European nations who -- who have weathered some significant storms to bring resources back to the U.S. And -- and that already happened from Italy to the United States with -- with respect to -- to swabs, a basic ingredient in -- in the deterrent campaign to make sure that a nation is fulfilled with. On the second side of the equation, Barbara, I -- I won't give you a mathematical number but I will tell you this: Completely in compliance with our secretary of defense's basic priorities, we have to make sure that we -- we do job one, which is to protect our people. And when we examine severity, it has to do with the -- the population of the forces in the military and the environment with which they're working. So worst-case scenarios I -- I won't give you numbers, but what I will tell you is, we -- we closely keeps tabs on the serviceability of each and every one of our military members. And the added advantage that we happen to have in Europe is the fact that the 29 nations that are in NATO, and certainly all of the nations that exist in Europe, offer numerous tactics, techniques, and procedures from the people perspective to make sure that we can cover down and take care of our most precious resource, which happens to be the people. And I know that you would adore for me, Barbara, to give you a specific number or percentage, but I -- I'm not going to be able to do that, because it always depends upon the willingness of -- of the nation and the alliance to be able to weather the storm with respect to protecting our people. And because right now we've seen trends. But we've seen terrific cooperation from a national perspective of the nations in Europe to be able to accommodate military members for support. Thank you. Q: If I could just have a quick follow-up, General, what I'm asking in fact is, as the EUCOM commander, you have just raised the notion, the fact that you have to plan against what you call the worst-case scenario. I'm just asking you if broadly you could sketch out what that means to you? You raised it. I don't -- I'm unclear what you're saying. What do you mean by worst-case scenario? GEN. WOLTERS: For me, Barbara, it's when I have to go outside of the forces that I currently command as the U.S. European commander and seek assistance from -- from other U.S. forces outside of the AOR that I -- that I currently command. And -- and at this point we -- we don't forecast that to occur, but conditions in the environment will dictate that in the future. STAFF: All right, let's go to Shawn Snow, Military Times. Q: Thank you, general. I was just wondering if you could give us, like, a breakdown, a general sense of what the total impact on the training reductions have been, and if you could provide some examples of what some of the adjusted local training has been. GEN. WOLTERS: One of -- one of the key things to look at is just DEFENDER-Europe 20, a -- a U.S.-led exercise commanded by U.S. (inaudible) in command with the executive agents of execution inside of Europe being U.S. Army-Europe. And -- and in that large exercise, we had hoped to have approximately 17,000 U.S. additional soldiers in Europe to be able to effectively shoot, move and communicate and stress the system, if you will, from our ground maneuver perspective. And what we're going to wind up getting, when it's all said and done, is approximately 5,000 to 6,000 additional U.S. soldiers to be able to -- to accommodate the pieces and parts of DEFENDER-Europe 20. So we've -- we've had to cancel some exercises that were -- that were live-play exercises that extended out of Poland and that extended outside of Germany. But we've been able to take the forces that we have up to this point, and we'll be in a position to where they'll get some part-task training on shoot, move, and communicate within the confines of Germany and Poland, and -- and they'll certainly get the basic gunnery training requirements filled that they need to get. So I -- I would tell you that from a large exercise perspective, we -- we probably were only able to accomplish about 40 percent of the desired effects that we sought in DEFENDER-Europe 20, but we've been able to get 30 or 40 percent accomplished. And as time goes on between now and the middle of May and we continue to fine-tune the number of forces that we have, we'll be able to get part-task training completed to a point to where, at least from a large exercise like DEFENDER-Europe 20, we'll wind up with a 40 to 45 percent readiness gain as a result of what we're able to do. So instead of getting 100 percent, you get to about 45 percent. And I think those numbers are pretty reflective of the exercises that we were going to embrace across Europe, from a European perspective and a U.S. perspective, for the months of February, March and April. And -- excuse me -- we're continuing to plan for adjustments for exercises as we roll into the summer and fall timeframe. And my suspicion is if -- if we're able to get recovery soon or we're able to get recovery later, you can expect to see that from an exercise standpoint, there'll probably be a reduction somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 to 65 percent from an exercise standpoint, which is not a reflection of our overall readiness. It's a reflection of fine-tuning our readiness. STAFF: Okay, thank you, sir. Let's try one from the phone. Sylvie from AFP, are you on the line? Q: Hello, do you hear me? Hello, General. Can you tell us if you have already cases of coronavirus in -- in your -- within your troops in -- among your troops in Europe, and if they are confirmed? And what are the measures that you take practically to protect your troops? GEN. WOLTERS: Well, we -- we have approximately 72,000 U.S. uniformed military members. And -- and at this very moment, we -- we have approximately 35 reported cases of the coronavirus. And -- and the measures that we are taking are all of those that -- that nations have put in place -- to include the United States -- and one of the very effective ones that we believe is -- is helping is social distancing. But -- but all of the practices that -- that you're familiar with and all of us have read about in the news, we are embracing here in Europe. And one of the good things we're doing is -- is coalescing the best practices of all the nations to ensure that we are eyes-wide-open with respect to the inputs from all generations and all nations about what we can do to improve. But -- but so far, shift changes and social distancing are two of the key that we feel are making a difference. Thank you. STAFF: Okay, let's try one more from the phones. Courtney Kube are you on, with NBC news? Q: I'm on, but if Sylvie has a follow-up, I can wait. Q: Yes. I had a follow-up. Oh, I forgot my follow-up. Okay, go ahead, Courtney. I -- you... (Laughter.) Go ahead. Q: That's okay. If you think of it, just break right in. Q: Yes, yes. Q: General Wolters, it's Courtney Kube from NBC News. I'm wondering if you, in your NATO capacity, are urging the secretary general or the NAC to enact Article 4 or 5 against coronavirus? And you know, especially at a time right now, like, you know, you were in Munich and there was all this talk about the alliance fracturing and whatnot, so it seems like it would be a time where this could be something that could bring the alliance together. And I'm also wondering if there's been any consideration of bringing non-NATO partners like Russia, some kind of a -- I don't know, a way for everyone to work together. GEN. WOLTERS: Courtney, that's -- that's a great question. I -- I will tell you that we've convened as a NAC once recently, and we did so with the secretary general ensuring that we -- we practice good spacing with respect to social distancing. I -- I would contend that the -- the solidarity that I've witnessed for NATO and NATO partners has been incredibly powerful. I don't think there's any shortage of energy for the nations to come forward and join hands to make sure that we're all doing all we can to beat this virus. So with respect to the -- the viability of Article 4 or Article 5 declaration, as you know, Courtney, that -- that comes from a nation and that -- that certainly is up to the nation. I haven't heard of any that have elected to take that course. And I would suspect that they probably haven't marched down that path just because of the tremendous solidarity that we are seeing among the -- the NATO allies and the partners in the region. And obviously, the last issue that you talked about with respect to non-NATO partners, I -- I will just tell you that all of the nations are -- are very keen to try to get through this. And -- and they're listening to all of the possible tactics, techniques, and procedures that -- that any nation in the region can offer for assistance. And I'll just say that I -- I am aware of the fact that some of the nations are talking to some non-NATO partners and they're certainly willing to entertain conversations about best practices to try to beat the virus. Q: Can you just -- are you able to say just what exactly -- if in fact Article 4 or 5 was invoked specifically for coronavirus, what -- what would that open up or what might that provide that doesn't exist right now? Is there (inaudible)? Can you give any specific examples? GEN. WOLTERS: Courtney, I -- I will tell you, based off the consultations that I have just embraced in a -- in a North Atlantic Council NATO secret environment, given the cooperation in all domains -- diplomatic, (inaudible), financial, military, I -- I don't see a need to do this just because the level of cooperation, diplomatically, from an information perspective, certainly from a military perspective and certainly from a fiscal perspective, has been very, very sound. So I would -- I would just have to admit to you that I believe, based off the consultations that I've been able to be a part of at -- at -- at a classified level, that the cooperation amongst the nations has been powerful. I'm not certain that the declaration of Article 4 or 5 would -- would add much to the equation. Q: Thank you very much. STAFF: Okay, Tara Copp, McClatchy? Q: Hi, General. I wanted to follow up on some of these questions, just some of the very practical things you're doing in the command such as maybe at the commissaries as one goes in, one goes out. And then can you describe kind of in detail, how are you communicating with your NATO allies, and how are you doing with, basically, the technology? You know, we've seen a couple of hiccups here in having video teleconferences, and has it impeded your ability at all to talk to your allies? What have been the work-arounds? And then finally, have you seen any indications that Russia is taking advantage of this time with the coronavirus to make any gains in Ukraine? GEN. WOLTERS: Let me -- let me address the -- the -- the technological aspect of what you just talked about. One of the -- one of the things I think we've done a good job at, certainly in our U.S. Department of Defense, and with my NATO hat on, certainly from a NATO perspective with the 29 that are side-by-side, soon to be 30, is our ability to communicate with telephone and our ability to communicate with -- with classified video teleconferencing has -- has -- has been fantastic. And I -- I -- I can tell you that I -- I talk to each one of my component commanders, all that are in my NATO chain of command, all that are in my U.S. chain of command at least once every 48 hours, and I've got the luxury of -- of not seeing their face on a VTC or I've got the -- the luxury of just talking to them via phone. So from a -- from a communications standpoint to be able to execute effective command and control and feedback with all the forces, we're in -- we're in very, very good shape. From a workforce perspective we -- we -- we have the appropriate policies in place from my level down to our components to make sure that if the headquarters (inaudible), effective command and control all the way down to the tactical level with the -- with the -- the smallest force elements, that the rotation of forces, that the -- the duty cycles based off the needs to effectively deter and defend in Europe are all manned appropriately, so that while we're complying with social distancing, putting ourselves in a position to -- to smartly fight the virus, coupled with maintaining our readiness. And as you can well imagine -- and I -- I -- in public, I'm not keen to talk about numbers that are manned at headquarters -- all those headquarters that I just alluded to have -- have different rotation cycles and they have different manning cycles, but they're all accomplished for the -- for the purpose of making sure that we can effectively take care of our people to effectively deter. And with respect to your -- to -- to your -- to your last comment -- and you've heard me say this before -- I'm -- I'm focused on the readiness disposition of the forces that I command. And it's my duty to -- to make sure, certainly, for the 1 billion people that we protect in Europe from a NATO perspective, and certainly to the 72,000 uniformed military members that represent the United States and Europe, we're -- we're going to do everything that we can to ensure that our readiness is sky-high. And -- and -- and we do so to make sure that anybody that would elect to -- to -- to compromise our sovereignty is in a position (inaudible) readiness -- ready enough to not allow that to occur. Thanks. Q: Just a quick follow-up: Have you seen any activity by Russia that would suggest it's taking advantage of everybody being so focused on coronavirus? GEN. WOLTERS: No, I'll -- I'll -- I'll tell you I haven't, but I will tell you that I'm -- I'm looking very, very closely. That's a huge part of my job. So my vigilance is -- is 100 percent in that particular area from a malign influence perspective with respect to the information domain. And at this point, from my perch, I haven't seen that. STAFF: Okay, I think we're going to take our last question from Mosheh Gains. Q: Hi, Mosheh Gains with NBC. Thanks so much for doing this. You talked about the 35 reported confirmed cases. How many service members have been tested? And then, of the 35 that have been tested positive, have you been able to talk to any of them? How are they doing? GEN. WOLTERS: We -- we -- we've had about 2,600 personnel that -- that fall into the category of concern, and -- and I think that -- that kind of coincides. And -- and I've -- I've had the opportunity, via phone and VTC, to talk to at least a dozen of those, and -- and -- and all of them, those who have tested positive and those who are in quarantine remain in good shape, and very, very positive. And my biggest challenge for those that have been quarantined for 14 days, as you can well imagine, is making sure that they understand that they, by golly, will adhere to the tactics, techniques and procedures and the rules and the regulations that we put out, and -- and they're doing so. This is a -- this is a good order and discipline issue that -- that we take great pride in accomplishing from a military perspective, and -- and -- and part of it is making sure that we stick to the rules. But so far, the force remains in good shape all -- all those who haven't been infected, and certainly, those who have. Carly, thank you so much for the opportunity to -- to share some thoughts. STAFF: Yes, sir. Thank you. (UNKNOWN): (inaudible) GEN. WOLTERS: That -- that includes all the people that -- that have been self-isolated. Q: How are you self-isolating 2,600 people? GEN. WOLTERS: That -- that includes -- it's all -- it's not all 2,600 that are -- that -- that are -- that are self-isolated. A portion of that is those that are in self-isolation. STAFF: All right, if you -- if you have any follow-up questions, feel free to e-mail me and I will get them directly as soon as I can. Thank you, everyone, for participating today. https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/2120572/ NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Author Dustin Robinett is a Vice President in the HVS Brokerage & Advisory Division. A commercial broker with a consultative approach, Dustin has participated in dozens of hotel transactions across the United States. His experience and relationships with hotel owners of all classes and sizes, ranging from branded, well-positioned select-service and extended-stay hotels to distressed, full-service assets, provide him with a detailed understanding of how to optimize transactions. Prior to joining HVS, Dustin spent three years with Marcus & Millichap in Kansas City and Denver. There, he was involved in all elements of the brokerage process for transactions throughout the Midwest and Mountain regions. Dustin earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Finance & Real Estate at Missouri State University and his MBA at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. More about Dustin Robinett The CEO of CEWE Stiftung & Co. KGaA (ETR:CWC) is Christian Friege. This report will, first, examine the CEO compensation levels in comparison to CEO compensation at companies of similar size. Next, we'll consider growth that the business demonstrates. Third, we'll reflect on the total return to shareholders over three years, as a second measure of business performance. This method should give us information to assess how appropriately the company pays the CEO. View our latest analysis for CEWE Stiftung KGaA How Does Christian Friege's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies? At the time of writing, our data says that CEWE Stiftung & Co. KGaA has a market cap of 599m, and reported total annual CEO compensation of 861k for the year to December 2018. While this analysis focuses on total compensation, it's worth noting the salary is lower, valued at 360k. We examined companies with market caps from 374m to 1.5b, and discovered that the median CEO total compensation of that group was 1.3m. Next, let's break down remuneration compositions to understand how the industry and company compare with each other. Talking in terms of the sector, salary represented approximately 61% of total compensation out of all the companies we analysed, while other remuneration made up 39% of the pie. Non-salary compensation represents a greater slice of the remuneration pie for CEWE Stiftung KGaA, in sharp contrast to the overall sector. Most shareholders would consider it a positive that Christian Friege takes less total compensation than the CEOs of most similar size companies, leaving more for shareholders. While this is a good thing, you'll need to understand the business better before you can form an opinion. You can see, below, how CEO compensation at CEWE Stiftung KGaA has changed over time. XTRA:CWC CEO Compensation, March 21st 2020 Is CEWE Stiftung & Co. KGaA Growing? CEWE Stiftung & Co. KGaA has increased its earnings per share (EPS) by an average of 8.5% a year, over the last three years (using a line of best fit). It achieved revenue growth of 10.0% over the last year. Story continues I would argue that the improvement in revenue isn't particularly impressive, but I'm happy with the modest EPS growth. Considering these factors I'd say performance has been pretty decent, though not amazing. It could be important to check this free visual depiction of what analysts expect for the future. Has CEWE Stiftung & Co. KGaA Been A Good Investment? CEWE Stiftung & Co. KGaA has generated a total shareholder return of 15% over three years, so most shareholders would be reasonably content. But they probably don't want to see the CEO paid more than is normal for companies around the same size. In Summary... It looks like CEWE Stiftung & Co. KGaA pays its CEO less than similar sized companies. Christian Friege is paid less than what is normal at similar size companies, and but overall performance has left me uninspired. But on this analysis I see no issue with the CEO compensation. Moving away from CEO compensation for the moment, we've identified 1 warning sign for CEWE Stiftung KGaA that you should be aware of before investing. If you want to buy a stock that is better than CEWE Stiftung KGaA, this free list of high return, low debt companies is a great place to look. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading. On a warm autumn day, as waves gently wash over the sand, there are few better places in the world than Bondi Beach. But the large crowds of sunbathers, swimmers and surfers flocking to the popular beach in the past few days have been criticised for ignoring health advice about social distancing and restrictions on public gatherings implemented in response to the coronavirus pandemic. There were fewer beachgoers on Saturday morning st Bondi Beach before the government announced plans to shut the area down. Credit:Steven Siewert In response, the NSW government announced on Saturday the number of people attending the beach would be capped at 500. Police Minister David Elliott said surf lifesavers would work with councils and police to ensure no more than 500 people gathered at beaches across NSW. "Beaches across the state that fail to comply with the public gathering regulations [will be] closed," he said. "This is about saving lives." Syndicated and guest columns represent the personal views of the writers, not necessarily those of the editorial staff. The editorial department operates entirely independently of the news department and is not involved in newsroom operations. The study was published in the journal -- Nature Medicine.The analysis of public genome sequence data from SARS-CoV-2 and related viruses found no evidence that the virus was made in a laboratory or otherwise engineered."By comparing the available genome sequence data for known coronavirus strains, we can firmly determine that SARS-CoV-2 originated through natural processes," said the lead researcher Kristian Andersen.In addition to Andersen, authors on the paper, "The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2," include Robert F. Garry of Tulane University, Edward Holmes, of the University of Sydney, Andrew Rambaut of University of Edinburgh and W. Ian Lipkin of Columbia University.Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that can cause illnesses ranging widely in severity.The first known severe illness caused by a coronavirus emerged with the 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic in China. A second outbreak of severe illness began in 2012 in Saudi Arabia with the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).On December 31 last year, Chinese authorities alerted the World Health Organisation (WHO) of an outbreak of a novel strain of coronavirus causing severe illness, which was subsequently named SARS-CoV-2.As of February 20, 2020, nearly 167,500 COVID-19 cases have been documented, although many more mild cases have likely gone undiagnosed. The virus has killed over 6,600 people.Shortly after the epidemic began, Chinese scientists sequenced the genome of SARS-CoV-2 and made the data available to researchers worldwide.The resulting genomic sequence data has shown that Chinese authorities rapidly detected the epidemic and that the number of COVID-19 cases have been increasing because of human to human transmission after a single introduction into the human population.Andersen and collaborators at several other research institutions used this sequencing data to explore the origins and evolution of SARS-CoV-2 by focusing in on several tell-tale features of the virus.The scientists analysed the genetic template for spike proteins, armatures on the outside of the virus that it uses to grab and penetrate the outer walls of human and animal cells.More specifically, they focused on two important features of the spike protein -- the receptor-binding domain (RBD), a kind of grappling hook that grips onto host cells, and the cleavage site, a molecular can opener that allows the virus to crack open and enter host cells.The scientists found that the RBD portion of the SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins had evolved to effectively target a molecular feature on the outside of human cells called ACE2, a receptor involved in regulating blood pressure.The SARS-CoV-2 spike protein was so effective at binding the human cells. In fact, the scientists concluded that it was the result of natural selection and not the product of genetic engineering.This evidence for natural evolution was supported by data on SARS-CoV-2's backbone -- its overall molecular structure. If someone were seeking to engineer a new coronavirus as a pathogen, they would have constructed it from the backbone of a virus known to cause illness.But the scientists found that the SARS-CoV-2 backbone differed substantially from those of already known coronaviruses and mostly resembled related viruses found in bats and pangolins."These two features of the virus, the mutations in the RBD portion of the spike protein and its distinct backbone, rule out laboratory manipulation as a potential origin for SARS-CoV-2," said Andersen.Josie Golding, PhD, epidemics lead at UK-based Wellcome Trust, said that the findings by Andersen and his colleagues are "crucially important to bring an evidence-based view to the rumours that have been circulating about the origins of the virus (SARS-CoV-2) causing COVID-19.""They conclude that the virus is the product of natural evolution ending any speculation about deliberate genetic engineering," Goulding added.Based on their genomic sequencing analysis, Andersen and his collaborators concluded that the most likely origins for SARS-CoV-2 followed one of two possible scenarios.In one scenario, the virus evolved to its current pathogenic state through natural selection in a non-human host and then jumped to humans.This is how previous coronavirus outbreaks have emerged, with humans contracting the virus after direct exposure to civets (SARS) and camels (MERS).The researchers proposed bats as the most likely reservoir for SARS-CoV-2 as it is very similar to a bat coronavirus. There are no documented cases of direct bat-human transmission, however, suggesting that an intermediate host was likely involved between bats and humans.In this scenario, both of the distinctive features of SARS-CoV-2's spike protein -- the RBD portion that binds to cells and the cleavage site that opens the virus up would have evolved to their current state prior to entering humans.In this case, the current epidemic would probably have emerged rapidly as soon as humans were infected, as the virus would have already evolved the features that make it pathogenic and able to spread between people.In the other proposed scenario, a non-pathogenic version of the virus jumped from an animal host into humans and then evolved to its current pathogenic state within the human population.For instance, some coronaviruses from pangolins, armadillo-like mammals found in Asia and Africa, have an RBD structure very similar to that of SARS-CoV-2. A coronavirus from a pangolin could possibly have been transmitted to a human, either directly or through an intermediary host such as civets or ferrets.Then the other distinct spike protein characteristic of SARS-CoV-2, the cleavage site, could have evolved within a human host, possibly via limited undetected circulation in the human population prior to the beginning of the epidemic.The researchers found that the SARS-CoV-2 cleavage site appears similar to the cleavage sites of strains of bird flu that have been shown to transmit easily between people.SARS-CoV-2 could have evolved such a virulent cleavage site in human cells and soon kicked off the current epidemic, as the coronavirus would possibly have become far more capable of spreading between people.Study co-author Andrew Rambaut cautioned that it is difficult if not impossible to know at this point which of the scenarios is most likely.If the SARS-CoV-2 entered humans in its current pathogenic form from an animal source, it raises the probability of future outbreaks, as the illness-causing strain of the virus could still be circulating in the animal population and might once again jump into humans.The chances are lower of a non-pathogenic coronavirus entering the human population and then evolving properties similar to SARS-CoV-2. (ANI) Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 21) The law enforcers who are manning checkpoints at the borders of Metro Manila during the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine have already been provided with enough protective gear and proper equipment, National Capital Region Police Office Chief Debold Sinas assured Saturday. May enough PPEs [personal protective equipment] na po. Kumpleto na po yung [face] mask, yung (the) helmet. Nag-improve narin ang PPEs namin, Sinas told reporters in a briefing. [Translation: We have enough PPEs (personal protective equipment), complete with face masks and helmets. We have improved our PPE.] The move came after they drew the ire of the public for letting officers screen travelers who may be carriers of the coronavirus disease or COVID-19 at police stops. Those at the frontlines battling this viral illness are urged to use personal protective equipment, as they have a high risk of getting infected. Health experts have said COVID-19 is spread through respiratory droplets from the nose or mouth of those who have the infection. Authorities were also criticized for not having enough thermal scanners to screen people moving in and out of Metro Manila. But Sinas said this matter has already been dealt with. Sinas added tents have also been set up for police officers to stay in when they are not doing security checks. The official also assured that they are giving police officers enough food, which comes from the NCRPO and its donors. President Rodrigo Duterte early this week ordered travel restrictions in Luzon, which aim to compel people to stay in their homes to stop the spread of COVID-19. In a good step to ensure better future of younger generation, DIG of Saharanpur Luv Kumar has taken the initiative to send the children to school who stay in jail with their mother. The jail administration will take the responsibility of implementation of this program and will make all necessary arrangements to avail this facility to children.Not only this but the jail administration will also pay the school fees of these children. Luv Kumar gave this information when he went to inspect Saharanpur jail on Friday (March 21, 2020) to check situation during coronavirus outbreak. Kumar said, ''These children's have no fault, they are just staying in jail with their mother, therefore their future cannot be pushed into dark.'' The same program will also be introduced in all the jails of Agra and Meerut range said Luv Kumar. Meanwhile, prisons across India are being checked to ensure social distancing and proper hygiene to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Prison officials of Saharanpur jail informed that the authority is taking proper care and no such COVID-19 symptoms have been found yet. The prisoners are also wearing mask to and following preventive measures. Senior Jail Superintendent Dr Viresh Raj Sharma said that the health of the prisoners is being taken care of and the DIG is taking note of everything to ensure zero negligence during the health emergency situation. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 20:25:49|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close MOGADISHU, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Somali National Army (SNA) killed 27 al-Shabab militants on Friday in an operation in the Lower Juba region, a military officer confirmed on Saturday. Isma'il Abdi Malik, commander of the 16th Unit of SNA told journalists that the army conducted an offensive in Bula Gadud village in the outskirt of Kismayo town following intelligence on the movement. "There was stiff resistance from the militants but our forces fought them bravely and killed 27 of them," Malik said. "The army also destroyed two vehicles loaded with explosives during the operation," he added. Residents said heavily armed forces entered the town before the fight. "There was a fierce fight between government forces and the militants in the town and we could hear sounds of the heavy fire exchanged by both sides," Ali Hussein, a resident told Xinhua via phone. The latest incident came barely four days after the Somali National Army killed six al-Shabab militants in another operation in Janale town in Lower Shabelle region in the southern parts of the country. Government forces have stepped up operations against al-Shabab militants in the southern regions, but the militants still hold swathes of rural areas in the regions conducting ambushes and planting landmines. While British shops are stripped bare by panic buyers, stores on the Continent are full of fresh food, pasta and toilet roll. Supermarkets in virus-hit Italy, France, Spain and Germany have been limiting how many people can enter at one time. In France, one British expat told how a maximum spend of 100 euros had been introduced and was helping to keep supplies plentiful. The shopper said: No panic buying. People are very calm and polite. No shortages of essentials and plenty of loo roll. In the city of Lyon, journalist Rosie Wright said: Shoppers are one metre apart, its calm, no queues and plenty of food. Seems to be a different picture in the UK, who havent got the restrictions. Shelves in Spain are still stocked as customers must enter supermarkets alone and store managers monitor how many people are in the shop with security enforcing the rules In France, a maximum spend of 100 euros had been introduced and is helping to keep supplies plentiful according to one British Expat who took this photo of shelves full of fruit and veg In parts of Italy, customers can visit a supermarket only every 48 hours and must stand three metres apart. Stores in Rome have been operating quota systems for shoppers with one-in, one-out entry, leading to queues of up to two hours. Referring to the panic buying of loo paper in the UK, British expat Alison McKinley joked on Facebook: We cant leave home here in Milan except to visit the supermarket which we do daily just to admire all the lovely toilet roll. 'In Spain, customers must enter supermarkets alone and store managers monitor how many people are in the shop. Full shelves in a supermarket in Berlin where shoppers have not succumbed to panic buying One shopper in Milan pointed out that there was no panic buying in the city 'If it gets too busy, customers are made to wait outside.' Mercado, a major Spanish chain, has hired private security guards to make sure its rules are followed. In Lanzarote, British businesswoman Rachel Hammond, 31, said only one person from each household was allowed out once per day to visit a supermarket. German supermarkets have issued posters stating the maximum number of people who can enter the store and closing the door when the limit is reached. A British retail expert believes the panic buying here will ease. Nelson Blackley, retail research associate at Nottingham Business School, said: A number of underlying factors will drive the spending down. Many consumers have lower fixed incomes. 'Many people live in houses where theres not a significant amount of storage space. And all supermarkets are introducing various forms of rationing. PSNI officers are still carrying out their normal duties in challenging times The PSNI could be reduced to a skeleton workforce during the coronavirus pandemic, it has been warned. Mark Lindsay, who chairs the Police Federation for Northern Ireland (PFNI), made the comments but also acknowledged that it was difficult to predict what could happen in the weeks and months ahead. Mr Lindsay explained that the PFNI was involved in planning at the highest levels and has called for adequate personal protection equipment to be made available including masks, gloves and scenes-of-crime white suits. "The basic stuff that is now difficult to obtain because of a worldwide shortage," he said. Mr Lindsay also called for the immediate introduction of spit and bite guards to protect officers. "We want to make sure that they are protected to do their job because the more people who do not report for work, the more people who isolate and the more people who become ill will actually put a great strain on society and the criminal justice system and, indeed, public health," he continued. "In a situation where officers are expected to enforce emergency legislation, we are not as well resourced as other parts of the UK. We do not have cadets. We do not have access to military so we are very much on our own." Mr Lindsay added that it is "imperative" that testing for police officers is brought forward without further delay. "This will increase workforce resilience and will be a major factor in ensuring that our officers can remain at work," he stated. "For years we have been calling for the resourcing of the PSNI to be adequately looked at. In normal times, we are very stretched. Nobody knows what three or four weeks could do to our workforce. We could be left with a skeleton workforce trying to enforce legislation, trying to keep the lid on normal crime. "It is very difficult to predict but I can assure the public that we will do our best. That's what we are here for." Earlier this month PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne told the Policing Board contingency plans are in place if high numbers of his officers are struck down by coronavirus. These would include 12-hour shifts and cancelled rest days, he added. On Thursday Mr Byrne briefed the board on the latest response planning and pledged to "keep people safe and serve the community during this challenging time". American Company Raytheon Missile Systems is awarded a contract for the production and delivery of tactical missiles (Lot 20 AIM-9X, Block II and Block II plus) as well as spare parts and air training missiles for the U.S. Navy. American Company Raytheon Missile Systems is awarded a contract for the production and delivery of tactical missiles (Lot 20 AIM-9X, Block II and Block II plus) as well as spare parts and air training missiles for the U.S. Navy. The newest AIM-9X Sidewinder guided air-to-air missile will use a datalink for beyond visual range applications. (Photo: U.S. Department of Defense) Raytheon Missile Systems will produce and deliver tactical missiles (Lot 20 AIM-9X, Block II and Block II plus), captive air training missiles, plus all up round tactical missiles, captive test missiles, special air training missiles, advanced optical target detectors, Block II and II plus guidance units (live battery), captive air training missile guidance units (inert battery), Block I and II propulsion steering sections, electronic units, multiple purpose training missiles, tail caps, maintenance, sectionalization kits, containers and spares for the Air Force, Navy and the governments of Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, Israel, Japan, Morocco, the Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. The AIM-9X Sidewinder missile is the most advanced infrared-tracking, short-range, air-to-air and surface-to-air missile in the world. It is configured for easy installation on a wide range of modern aircraft, including the F-15, F-16, F/A-18, E/A-18G, F-22 and F-35 fighters. A true tri-use missile, the AIM-9X Sidewinder missile is effective in air-to-air, air-to-surface or surface-to-air applications with no modifications required. It is used on the U.S. Armys Indirect Fire Protection Capability Program on the multi-mission launcher. The effectiveness and versatility of the AIM-9X Sidewinder missile have been combat proven in several theaters throughout the world. It is actively deployed on U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force aircraft, as well as the air forces of 22 international partner nations. The current version, the AIM-9X Block II missile, is in its 16th year of production. It adds a redesigned fuze and a digital ignition safety device that enhances ground handling and in-flight safety. It also features updated electronics that enable significant enhancements, including lock-on-after-launch capability using a new weapon datalink to support beyond visual range engagements. Have deep pockets and like to fly? Dont book your next flight until you check out the ten fanciest commercial airlines to fly, according to airline rating agency, Skytrax: 10. Oman Air Inside an Oman Air aircraft. Image credit: Pexels.com Though not as well-known as other airlines in the Middle East, like Etihad or Emirates, Oman Air has a reputation for providing a luxurious flying experience. The cabins include sliding doors for privacy, and each seat has its own minibar. 9. Qantas Airways Qantas Airways flight. Image credit: James St. John/Flickr.com Australias largest airlines international first class features large, sheepskin beds and ottomans. Passengers also get an amenity kit that contains skin care products, an eye mask and a pajama set. 8. Swiss International Airlines Interior of a Convair 990 operated by Swissair now on public display in the Swiss transportation museum. Image credit: Prijs/Wikimedia.org This airline features fully-enclosed first class suites, complete with mechanically-adjustable window blinds, your own personal wardrobe, and a 32-inch video screen. This screen can show you some unique views at it is hooked up to cameras that capture the view from in front of the plane and below it. 7. ANA All Nippon Airways ANA Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner cabin. Image credit: Masakazu Matsumoto/Wikimedia.org Fly this airline and youll get your own personal closet and phone. Youll also get your own 23 inch LCD screen, free WiFi, Samsonite amenity kits, organic cotton blankets and a sliding door for privacy. Then theres the food, selected by some of the worlds best connoisseurs. 6. Emirates Emirates First Class suite on the ultra long-range Boeing 777-200LR. Image credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/omeyamapyonta Want to visit a spa or bar lounge in the air? Then Emirates is the airline for you. Youll also have the privilege of dining with fine china, free alcoholic beverages and toiletries from Bulgari. First-class passengers also get a private cabin and have access to a private chauffeur-driven car on their way to the airport. 5. Qatar Airways Qatar Airways A380 Business Class. Image credit: Gary Bembridge/Flickr.com Passengers on this airline are welcomed with an amenity kit that contains products made by Giorgio Armani. You even get food made by celebrity chefs. The airlines standard seats fold into beds, and you will have access to free in-flight cellphone service, as well as a bar. 4. Etihad Airways Etihad Airways aircraft interiors demo ITB 2017. Image credit: Travelarz/Wikimedia.org With Etihad, passengers can get a three-room suite that includes a double bed, a living room and a private en-suite bathroom with a shower. For those who dont want to pay top dollar, the airline offers smaller suites and private seats. Even passengers flying economy class get an amenities kit, a four-course meal and nanny service for children. 3. Air France Air France aviation Economy class. Image credit: /Wikimedia.org Passengers flying first class on Air France get to sleep in a six-and-a-half foot long bed. They also get their very own high-quality cotton bathrobe, slippers and socks. To amuse yourself during the flight, youll get your own private TV screen and complimentary WiFi. But the highlight of your flight will probably be the food. The best French cuisine, selected by Michelin star chefs. 2. Lufthansa Lufthansa A380 interior. Image credit: Chinaoffseason/Flickr.com. On Lufthansa, you will be sitting in a spacious, fully adjustable seat that comes with a moveable ottoman. The seat doubles as a comfortable bed with a mattress topper and a temperature-regulating duvet. You will also enjoy multicourse meals prepared by a rotation of distinguished German chefs. Gute Reise (bon voyage)! 1. Singapore Airlines Singapore Airlines Boeing 747-412. Image credit: Phillip Capper/Wikimedia.org Number one on the list, this airline offers private cabins with seats made from genuine leather, as well as separate beds. Passengers get private TV screens, Wi-Fi, and a wide selection of gourmet dishes. UN rights chief urges South Sudan authorities to address inter-communal violence 20 March 2020 - Authorities in South Sudan must address intercommunal violence if the nation is to achieve lasting peace, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Friday, in response to a recent escalation in fighting in the east and central parts of the country. The increased number and range of weapons used by rival clans, as well as the "apparent failure" by the authorities to respond, has contributed to clashes which have left hundreds dead and thousands displaced, while women and children have been subjected to sexual violence. Expressing concern over the situation, UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet stated that the formation of the transitional unity government in February had raised hopes for South Sudan's citizens. "However, for any durable peace to take hold in the country, intercommunal violence must be addressed, and the perpetrators investigated and prosecuted", she said. "It is also vital that peace-building between individual communities is locked in to this process." Ms. Bachelet also stressed that survivors of sexual violence related to this violence must also be provided with appropriate medical and psychosocial support, while abducted children must be reunited with their families. Last month, dozens of civilians were killed and wounded in clashes in Jonglei state, located in the east, and over 200 women and children were believed to have been abducted and subjected to sexual violence. Many homes were torched, forcing some 8,000 people to seek safety in makeshift shelters near the UN peacekeeping base in Pibor. The UN human rights office said evidence suggests that fighting between the Dinka Bor, Lou Nuer and Murle communities there may have been instigated by political and traditional leaders who have allegedly mobilized armed youths and exploited pre-existing communal tensions over access to natural resources. Elsewhere in the country, tensions over cattle movements and access to water and grazing land risk escalating cycles of retaliatory violence unless the authorities intervene. At least 30 people were killed last week in fighting between Dinka sub-clans in Lake state, which also left many others wounded. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Dr. S Samuel Arawattigi, President, Indian Medical Association in Goa, on Saturday, issued an advisory for the people in order to prevent the infection, exposure and spread of the Coronavirus in the community. "People to wash hands for at least 40 seconds and in case there is no availability of soap and water, people can use alcohol-based sanitisers (minimum 70 percent)," the advisory read. ihe advisory also requested people to avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands. It also laid emphasis on social distancing. "Social distancing is The advisory added, "Public are not advised to wear facemasks at this time. Only those who have symptoms or close contacts who care for them should wear 3 layer surgical masks." The advisory requested people not to rush to the doctor in case of minor symptoms. "Please stay home as much as possible if you are well or have minimal symptoms to reduce your risk of infection at OPD or Hospitals from others," it added. In case if any patient has symptoms of COVID-19 (fever, cough, difficulty in breathing); they need to be rushed to a hospital call 104/108 for a dedicated ambulance or contact nearest health centre. The total number of positive cases of coronavirus in India now stands at 258 including 39 foreigners, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Saturday. Four people have died including one each in Delhi, Karnataka, Punjab and Maharashtra. While addressing the nation on Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged citizens to follow 'Janta Curfew' from 7 am to 9 pm on Sunday to contain the spread of coronavirus. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The decision was made at the last moment that it would not be responsible to gather that many people together, especially older relatives, Rabbi Lippe said, adding that even in the midst of everything thats going on with the coronavirus, it was still a joyous occasion for the family. Of course, if you have to cancel or postpone a large wedding celebration, youll need to let guests know as soon as possible about any change of plans. Diana Romero, a San Diego-based wedding planner, recommends informing guests by phone, rather than by email. If you want a large wedding at home, youll likely have to wait until at least the summer. The Centers for Disease Control has recommended no gatherings of 50 or more people for the next eight weeks. Some states, like California, have called for a 10-person limit for gatherings, as health officials work to contain the coronavirus outbreak. Here, though, are a few things to consider before celebrating your nuptials at home either now or in the future. Manage Logistical Challenges This is especially important in smaller spaces. Having a wedding in an apartment is doable (yes, even in New York), said Matthew David, the owner and president of 360 Design, a Manhattan-based event planner. But youll have to get your vendors on the same page. In many apartment buildings, just to use the freight elevator may take planning, he said. Indeed, having a caterer, florist and photographer show up at the same time can cause overcrowding. This is where a wedding planner or day-of coordinator can help. You have to figure all the logistics before you can start planning the fun stuff, said Britt Cole, an owner of 42 North, a wedding planning and design company based in Ipswich, Mass. (Natural News) Northwick Park Hospital in London has declared a critical incident after it has run out of hospital beds for coronavirus patients. I am writing to let you know that we have this evening declared a critical incident in relation to our critical care capacity at Northwick Park Hospital. This is due to an increasing number of patients with COVID-19, the hospitals administrators said in a statement sent out to neighboring hospitals, where they hope to transfer patients who need critical care. As part of our system resilience plans, we have contacted our partners in the North West London sector this evening to assist with the safe transfer of patients off of the Northwick Park site, the hospitals administrators statement read. As of press time, there are 3,983 confirmed coronavirus cases in the United Kingdom, including 177 deaths. According to official data, 1,588 of the cases ?nearly 40 percent of all cases in the country?came from London. Northwick Park is a 500-bed hospital in northwestern London that serves three of Londons 32 boroughs. So far, the hospital has reported six deaths related to COVID-19. The surge of coronavirus cases in the U.K. has since drained Northwick Parks capacity to care for new COVID-19 patients, the hospital said, as it used all of their beds and intensive care facilities. According to the hospitals management, this prompted their declaration of a critical incident. This presents a grave danger, as many other COVID-19 patients may not be able to get the treatment they need. As a result, London could see their mortality rate greatly increase over the next few days. A senior director in the National Health Service (NHS) told reporters that, if the situation around the country continues to deteriorate, the country may have to enact clinical thresholds for admissions to intensive care units, similar to the situation in Italy, where doctors are being given the choice whether or not to administer intensive care treatment to patients over 80. This kind of coordinated, flexible response is one of the NHSs strengths but with staff pulling out all the stops they need the public to play their part too, by following the expert guidance on washing your hands, staying at home and using health services responsibly, a spokeswoman said. BREAKING: Major London hospital declares 'critical incident' after running out of ICU beds due to surge in Covid-19 cases One senior director in the capital just told me 'this is f**king petrifying' Free to viewhttps://t.co/JtSzbumgxF Lawrence Dunhill (@LawrenceDunhill) March 20, 2020 Situation in and around London looking bleaker by the day Other hospitals in London are also struggling to deal with the increasing number of patients that not only have COVID-19 but also, other severe conditions. The situation has gotten so dire that operating rooms in hospitals all over London have been converted into makeshift intensive care centers. In addition, health workers across the metropolis are struggling to deal with new coronavirus patients?many of whom have to be ventilated due to problems with their breathing. Data obtained by The Guardian shows that the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care units went from seven on March 6 to 93 on March 17?a thirteenfold increase in patients. Furthermore, of the 93 critical cases, 86 have been noted as requiring level three care or advanced respiratory supporta worrying development, according to doctors, as it suggests that Covid-19 was leaving many patients in need of life-or-death care A very high number of patients receiving critical care are needing level three care, in which they are anesthetized and have a tube put down their throat and the ventilator takes over the work of their lungs while they are unconscious, one doctor said. These numbers on critical care highlight the U.K.s need to control the oncoming surge in coronavirus cases. However, these numbers only come from hospitals in southern Londonwhich means that there could potentially be even more patients who are currently receiving critical care. One doctor even warned that it was only a matter of time before the outbreak spirals out of control and the situation in Northwick Park becomes the norm in hospitals all over London. Furthermore, doctors throughout the U.K. have raised concerns about the widespread shortages of personal protective equipment or PPEs such as masks and suits. These are extremely crucial to treating COVID-19 patients given how infectious the disease is. https://twitter.com/ashindestad/status/1241177408805507074 Prime Minister: Coronavirus spreading more rapidly in London In a public address delivered on Monday, the U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that London was several weeks ahead of the rest of the country in terms of the spread of the coronavirus. He further advised Londoners to heed the advice of his government to work from home and to avoid any unnecessary social contact. (Related: EU proposes closing ALL borders, effectively placing mainland Europe under lockdown.) In response to the surge of cases, London mayor Sadiq Khan said that several dozen stations of the London Underground, which serves as the public train system for the Greater London region, have been closed indefinitely. Transport for London (TFL), Greater Londons transport authority, made the announcement on Wednesday evening and further urged people living in the capital to not travel, if at all possible. People should not be traveling, by any means, unless they really, really have to, said Khan. Londoners should be avoiding social interaction unless absolutely necessary and that means they should be avoiding using the transport network unless absolutely necessary. The London Underground has 270 stations all over Greater London. TFL stated that up to 40 stations can be closed from Thursday onwards. They further plan to reduce the London Undergrounds service starting Monday to focus solely on providing public transport for critical workers like doctors and nurses. Last Friday there were 167 cases in London and today there are 1,588. This graph here shows just how quickly London is accelerating ahead of the rest of the country in terms of coronavirus cases per 100k people. pic.twitter.com/5nFTzp0giM Thomas Mackintosh (@T_Mackintosh) March 20, 2020 Sources include: ZeroHedge.com HSJ.co.uk Standard.co.uk Telegraph.co.uk AmbulatoryEmergencyCare.org.uk [PDF] DailyMail.co.uk TheGuardian.com 1 BBC.com TheGuardian.com 2 TFL.gov.uk The Simpsons (Fox at 8) When Maggie goes to preschool, Marge decides to get a job when Maggie goes to preschool and ends up working at an upscale weed dispensary. Show us the money. Its not just a slight adaptation of a famous line from the 1996 film Jerry Maguire. Its a chant that dozens of participants repeated Tuesday in a virtual rally as they called for action to address fair funding for education in Pennsylvania. Nearly 100 education officials, advocates, parents, and students across the state participated in the... A gun store with two locations in Alameda County agreed on Friday to comply with the county health officer's order that businesses deemed to be non-essential move to minimum basic operations, according to sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Ray Kelly. The agreement by Solar Tactical, which has stores in Castro Valley and Livermore, apparently ends a Twitter feud that erupted on Thursday, although Solar Tactical owner Mike Addis couldn't immediately be reached for comment. On Thursday Addis wrote in a Twitter message, "Alameda County is trying to close down Bay Area gun shops. Your Second Amendment right (to own a gun) is no longer considered essential during forced shelter-in-place." Addis said, "Today we went to appointments only to avoid any large groups and only have 1 to 2 customers in the store at a time." He told his followers, "Please, share and get the word out. Call your local officials, news stations and the Alameda County Sheriff to let them know about your Second Amendment rights being taken away." In a video he posted on Twitter, Addis said many people in the community, including potential first-time gun buyers, are concerned because the sheriff's office, in coordination with the county's courts, district attorney and public defender, is releasing "criminals on the streets." Kelly has said the release only applies to low-level offenders who aren't considered a threat to the community. Addis said, "Just because we're in a crisis doesn't mean we have to suspend our constitutional rights." Addis posted a phone number for the sheriff's office with his message. Kelly responded on Thursday by writing on Twitter, "Solar Tactical you are not an essential business. Please move to minimum basic operations per the Alameda County health order." In a Twitter message on Friday, Kelly indicated that Solar Tactical has now agreed to comply. He wrote, "Thank you Solar Tactical for moving to basic minimum operations. We appreciate you supporting the community in the fight against COVID-19." Kelly explained in an email message that basic operations means bookkeeping and doing basic essentials to maintain merchandise as defined in the health officer's order. No one answered the phone at the two Solar Tactical stores on Friday afternoon and the company didn't immediately respond to an email message. Solar Tactical describes itself as a full service gun store stocking all the major brands of firearms. Copyright 2020 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Friends encouraged him to jump back into the Senate race and, after a comfortable win, he emerged as a bit more populist, abandoning the work he did as a Gang of Eight member on a far-reaching immigration bill with a path to citizenship for the millions here illegally. Cynics viewed those steps as just positioning for the next presidential bid, trying to get more in line with Trumps more nativist base. . The contemporary trend in Indian politics is marked by two qualitatively different aspects. These aspects could be described as politics of exceptionalism and an exceptional politics. Politics of exceptionalism is different from exceptional politics in two different senses. One, it involves rhetorical accommodation of some members from the marginalised groups into opportunity structures controlled by dominant political forces. This form of accommodation is exceptional in terms of its paradox that makes accommodation both undesirable as well as unavoidable. Two, politics of exceptionalism can also be understood at another level, where some of the self-righteous political actors view minority appeasement and the vote bank as constitutive of exceptionalism. Such a form of exceptionalism, on moral grounds, is seen as undesirable inasmuch as it, in their belief, violates the norms that regulate formal politics. Put differently, it is believed that it is necessary to follow norms that otherwise get undermined by the objectification of people into a vote bank or in a game of appeasement. Exceptional politics, on the other hand, can be defined in terms of the autonomy that a group demonstrates in taking political initiative in order to constitutionally resist such an accommodation. In this context, it is important to note that both these forms of exceptionalism have been perceptively captured in an expression such as politics as usual that has been dealt with in the article by Ghazala Jamil (Who Can Represent Muslims in Electoral Politics? Debates in the Muslim Public Sphere [EPW Engage, 27 April 2019]). Jamil, in her article, raises several points that highlight the importance of political initiatives taken particularly by the Muslim youth in India. She convincingly argues that politics as usual, which also figures in the debate on Muslim politics, is indicative of the political impasse that has adversely entangled the Muslim political discourse. Such an observation, however, is symptomatic of a larger political scenario that concerns the entire spectrum of the politics of marginalised communities in India. The Uttar Pradesh government said on Saturday that 10 out of 26 coronavirus patients who were undergoing treatment have recovered and were discharged. The total number positive cases in the state are 26 -- eight each in Agra and Lucknow, six in Noida, two in Ghaziabad, one each in Lakhimpur Kheri and Moradabad, said Vikasendu Agrawal, joint director/state surveillance officer, Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme, in a statement. Ten COVID-19 patients in the state have recovered fully and discharged from hospitals where they were admitted, the statement said. Meanwhile, Amit Mohan Prasad, principal secretary, health, said the state government had made all arrangements to contain the spread the spread of the deadly COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019). "Mass awareness programmes are going on, in which people are being told about how to sanitise themselves and also adhere to social distancing," Prasad said. "There is no need to fear or feel afraid of this disease, only alertness has to be maintained." Testing centres have been increased from three to six. In the next two days, the number of testing centres will be increased to eight, the official said. "Our effort will be to increase the number of testing centres to 10." Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has appealed to the people not to move out of their houses during 'Janata curfew' on Sunday, according to the Prasad. "During the curfew, the health department, urban development department and the panchayati raj department will undertake comprehensive cleanliness drive. Mock drill on treatment for coronavirus will be conducted at all the hospitals in the state," Prasad said in the statement. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Continue Reading Below Advertisement Except as soon as Boudreau pulled up outside the boat, an O'Keefe staffer warned her about the sting and the whole thing had to be abandoned (We're sure Operation: James Loses His Virginity would have gone off without a hitch otherwise). The whole fiasco got out to the media, leaving O'Keefe a laughing stock. Later, that same year, O'Keefe was arrested after he and several colleagues snuck into the office of Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu. They posed as telephone repairmen in an attempt to bug her phone lines -- which is a federal offense for reasons that should be pretty damn obvious. In 2016, under the banner of 'Project Veritas' (dork), O'Keefe attempted to sting the philanthropic organization operated by the billionaire, conservative boogeyman, and not-a-Nazi George Soros. O'Keefe left a voicemail in which he -- under a fake name of 'Victor Kesh' -- posed as a foreign national "fighting for European values." A super basic, low-effort, attempt to entrap Soros' organization into saying something that O'Keefe could spin as being sinister and shady (Soros isn't good enough for the Love Boat plan, James?). But O'Keefe couldn't even pull that off without crapping the bed -- as he forgot to hang up, and left behind a seven-minute-long voicemail of him and a colleague describing their plan to sting Soros in great detail like the dumbest Bond villains imaginable. "What needs to happen someone other than me to make a hundred phone calls like that," said "Kesh". Continue Reading Below Advertisement And hits are still coming. In November 2017, The Washington Post busted O'Keefe's group for trying to run a con on them whereby a woman, Jaime Phillips, presented herself as a victim of sex monster and creep-ass politician Roy Moore. Their end goal was to get the Post to publish a fake story that could then be used to discredit all of the mainstream media's reporting about Roy Moore. Unfortunately for O'Keefe, this wasn't the Post's first day and they quickly discovered several odd things about Phillips' story -- as well as a GoFundMe campaign that she set up to raise funds to go work for Project Veritas and "combat the lies and deceit of the liberal MSM." A campaign which, apparently, involves stanning alleged sexual predators. The Washington Post told Phillips to kick rocks and splashed a story about the failed sting over their frontpage. Meaning, in the end, O'Keefe technically did play a part in exposing dishonest media frauds. Bangladesh on Saturday postponed a special parliament session scheduled for March 22 and 23 to mark the birth centenary of its founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as the WHO asked the country to prepare for a partial lockdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus which has claimed two lives in the country. Bangladesh has invited former Indian President Pranab Mukherjee and Nepalese President Bidhya Devi Bhandari to address the session. "The special session (slated for March 22 and 23) has been called off," a Bangabhaban presidential palace spokesman briefly told PTI. President's press secretary Joynal Abedin, however, said the special session could be reconvened at a convenient time. The extraordinary session was supposed to be the third such instance when foreign dignitaries would address Bangladesh's parliament. The then Indian president VV Giri and erstwhile Yugoslavia's president Josip Broz Tito had addressed Bangladesh's Parliament in 1972 and 1974. Mujibur Rahman served as the first President of Bangladesh and later as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh from April 17, 1971 until his assassination on August 15, 1975. He is considered to be the driving force behind the independence of Bangladesh. He is popularly known as "Bangabandhu" (Friend of Bengal) in Bangladesh. His daughter Sheikh Hasina is the current Prime Minister of the country. The decision to postpone the session came as the World Health Organisation (WHO) Saturday suggested Bangladesh to prepare for a partial and eventually a complete lockdown to prevent spread of the COVID 19. The country's health authorities on Saturday confirmed the second death due to the coronavirus. Health minister Zahid Maleque at a media briefing said four more persons were detected with Covid-19, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 24. "WHO is apprehensive," Mayor of Dhaka's northern part Sayeed Mohamad Khokon told a media briefing after a meeting with a WHO delegation. Bangladesh earlier postponed the March 17 grand inauguration of Rahman's birth centenary celebrations hours after three coronavirus cases were detected in the country on March 9 and subsequently closed schools and other educational institutions. The year-long celebrations were scheduled to open amid massive festivities on March 17 and were expected to be attended by several foreign dignitaries, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who later joined the scaled down ceremony through a video-conferencing. The government earlier this week also ordered a ban on all social, political, religious and cultural gatherings asking people to stay indoors. More than 274,800 people have been infected with the novel coronavirus across the world and 11,389 have died. Bangladesh reported its first death on March 18. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Fed Reopens Its Landfill for Distressed Assets By Mike Whitney March 20, 2020 " Information Clearing House " - The Fed is reopening its most controversial and despised crisis-era bailout facility, the Primary Dealer Credit Facility. The Wall Street Journal describes the PDCF as an overnight loan facility for primary dealers (that) provides round-the-clock backup source of funding to banks. The WSJs description grossly understates the facilitys real purpose which is to transfer the toxic bonds and securities from failing financial institutions and corporations (through an intermediary) onto the Feds balance sheet. The objective of this sleight of hand is to recapitalize big investors who, through their own bad bets, are now either underwater or in deep trouble. Just like 2008, the Fed is now doing everything in its power to save its friends and mop up the ocean of red ink that was generated during the 10-year orgy of speculation that has ended in crashing markets and a wave of deflation. Check out this excerpt from an article at Wall Street on Parade. Heres an excerpt: Veterans on Wall Street think of the PDCF as the cash-for-trash facility, where Wall Streets toxic waste from a decade of irresponsible trading and lending, will be purged from the balance sheets of the Wall Street firms and handed over to the balance sheet of the Federal Reserve just as it was during the last financial crisis on Wall Street. (Fed Announces Program for Wall Street Banks to Pledge Plunging Stocks to Get Trillions in Loans at Percent Interest Wall Street on Parade) In other words, the PDCF is a landfill for distressed assets that have lost much of their value and for which there is little or no demand. And, as bad as that sounds, the details about the resuscitated PDCF are much worse. First, the Fed is going to provide the 24 Primary Dealers (The Feds exclusive trading partners) with unlimited zero-rate loans. (0.25 percent) Second, the loans will be issued for a period of up to 90 days after which they will be rolled over for as long as needed. (which basically transforms a collateralized loan into a permanent cash transfer.) Third, (and this is from the text of the Feds March 17 announcement): Collateral eligible for pledge under the PDCF includes all collateral eligible for pledge in open market operations (OMO); plus investment grade corporate debt securities, international agency securities, commercial paper, municipal securities, mortgage-backed securities, and asset-backed securities; plus equity securities. Equity securities? You mean the Fed is going to buy stocks??? Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter Indeed, that is precisely what it means. The Fed is going to load up on stocks during the biggest crash of the decade. Thats what you call a bailout, a multi-trillion dollar welfare check gifted to the crooked Wall Street banks in exchange for their dodgy toxic assets. Its infuriating. And the Fed plans to load up on other discarded offal too, such as corporate debt securities commercial paper mortgage-backed securities. Of course theres no market for any of this effluvia currently, but thats not going to stop the Fed. Oh no. The Fed is generously offering infinite-duration loans at whatever amount is requested to preserve the illusion that these corporate and financial zombies are still solvent, which they certainly are not. Its worth noting, that the corporate debt market has been frozen for nearly two weeks which means there are no buyers and no new issuance. The market is a ghost-town devoid of anything but the chirping of birds, and yet, the Fed wants to buy debt in this wasteland, trading boatloads of cash for B-rated corporate sludge that may be worth just pennies on the dollar. The Fed has no idea of how it will get rid of these bonds since the market is not likely to rebound in the near future, but, even so, it is willing to accept the loss, even if it undermines its own credibility, even if it adds trillions more to its already-bloated balance sheet, and even if it assumes the credit risk these sketchy securities pose, after all, many of these poorly-managed corporations are likely to go bust in the very near future leaving the Fed with a pile of dreck it will never be able to unload. None of this seems to bother to the Fed who is determined to buy anything that isnt bolted to the floor. Its madness. The Fed has known for more than 3 years that the corporations have been ripping off investors by selling them garbage bonds from which the proceeds would be used not to develop new products or train workers or build factories or increase productivity but to boost executive compensation via stock buybacks. That was the whole deal in a nutshell, more loot for greedy CEOs. It was a swindle from the get go. The Fed knew that, because everyone knew that. Now the Fed wants to make these hucksters whole again because their bunco scheme blew up in their faces and they cant tap into the credit markets like they did before. Too freaking bad. Many of these corporations need to be euthanized which undoubtedly would be their fate if Sugar Daddy Powell didnt intervene. But thats why he set up the PDCF, to prevent the market from imposing its own rough justice on these charlatans by thinning the herd. Why doesnt the Fed try to find out which corporations are just struggling (due to the coronavirus) and which ones are actually insolvent? Wouldnt that be the sensible thing to do? Why doesnt the Fed try to determine which corporations put their money to good use and which ones blew it on stock buybacks? Isnt that something youd want to know before you buy their bonds? And why didnt the Fed use its regulatory powers to stop the debt-market chicanery before the whole thing went pear-shaped? The Fed is not going to answer any of these questions, and no one in Congress is even going to ask. Instead, the Fed will simply issue a press release in the media, rev up the printing presses, and flood the system with another 4 or 5 trillion dollars. Thats what they did in 08 and thats what theyre going to do now. Heres more from Wall Street on Parade: We learned from the GAO audit that the Primary Dealer Credit Facility was the largest Wall Street bailout program during the financial crisis. It issued 1,376 loans that cumulatively totaled $8.95 trillion. Just as is happening this time around, the Fed spun the story that the program would help American workers and businesses. It did no such thing. It went to bail out the trading and derivative operations of sinking ships on Wall Street as those same firms paid out millions of dollars in bonuses to their derelict executives and traders. (Fed Announces Program for Wall Street Banks to Pledge Plunging Stocks to Get Trillions in Loans at Percent Interest Wall Street on Parade) Lets summarize: The Primary Dealer Credit Facility is not an overnight loan facilitythat provides a backup source of funding to banks, as the Wall Street Journal says. Thats baloney. The PDCF was the largest Wall Street bailout program during the financial crisis which issued roughly $9 trillion to underwater banks for their low-grade-dogsh** collateral. The facility was used to bail out the banks casino operations (trading and derivatives) while providing lavish multi-million dollar bonuses to voracious, thieving executives. And, remember, the PDCF is just one of the many bailout facilities the Fed is currently reviving to prevent the market from clearing and to save the gangsters who have the country by the short-hairs. There will be plenty more to come. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 17:04:58|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close RAMALLAH, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Four new COVID-19 cases were recorded on Saturday in the West Bank, a Palestinian official said. Three new cases were recorded in Ramallah and one case was recorded in Hebron, the Palestinian Authority Minister of Health Mai al-Keileh told a news briefing. "With the four new cases, the number of the cases infected with COVID-19 in Palestine reached 52," she said, adding that "on Friday 17 of them had recovered." The Palestinian Authority had declared a status of emergency and carried out a series of tight precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the virus in the West Bank. The Hamas-ruled besieged coastal enclave of Gaza Strip remained free of the coronavirus. A civilian was injured on Saturday after suspected militants opened fire on him in Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said. The militants fired upon Waseem Ahmed near his residence at Turigam in the south Kashmir district Saturday evening, a police official said. He said Ahmad was shifted to Kulgam Hospital for treatment. Further details are awaited, the official said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Welcome Guest! You Are Here: On Saturday afternoon, members of the Committee for the Technical Management of Covid-19 held a press conference. Maria Jose Serra, from the Health Ministrys Coordination Center for Health Alerts, began by confirming that the director of her department, Fernando Simon one of the most visible faces of the coronavirus crisis in Spain had tested negative for the virus. The committee explained that a total of 1,325 people have died from the coronavirus in Spain, with nearly 13,000 people receiving hospital treatment. They added that they would be stepping up their purchasing of essential supplies for the health system, such as protective masks, as well as supporting national manufacturers. Sectors with the capability to produce such items would also, they added, be starting production of these items. Any vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus will be fast-tracked, and will not have to go through conventional processes Maria Jesus Lamas, from the Spanish Agency for Medications, explained that authorization of any vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus would be fast-tracked, and would not have to go through conventional processes. Raquel Yotti, from the Carlos III Health Institute, explained that there were at least four companies in Spain that were supplying coronavirus tests. We have purchased 640,000 tests in the international market, she explained. The fast tests will be done in a number of different areas. The results come back in 15 minutes. They are already being distributed. Rodrigo Gutierrez, from the Health Ministrys Professional Planning department, explained that the Spanish health system currently counts on 350,000 professionals. The ministry has placed a further 50,000 professionals at the service of the regions, he said, drawing attention to the capacity of health staff to respond to the needs of the service at the current time of the pandemic. The data tells us that we are reaching the peak, which will not be the same in all of the regions Maria Jose Serra Maria Jose Serra also supplied greater detail about the profile of coronavirus patients in Spain. Fifty percent of those hospitalized are over 70 years old, she said. Around 70% of those in intensive care are aged above 60 years old. Serra added that no one can say whether we will overtake the number of victims in Italy. The data tells us that we are reaching the peak, which will not be the same in all of the regions. Serra described the social-distancing measures in Spain as among the most drastic. The most important thing is that they are observed. We are evaluating them, but for now they are adequate. The general secretary for transport, Maria Jose Rallo del Olmo, explained that fewer and fewer people in Spain were traveling as the days passed. On the [high-speed] AVE [train network], just 6,000 people traveled yesterday, she explained. The joint operational director of the National Police, Jose Angel Gonzalez, said that there would be zero tolerance for offenders Laurentino Cena, the joint operational director for the Civil Guard, said that after a week on lockdown, in general, the behavior [of citizens] has been magnificent. He added that there had been exceptions, and that his force had made 25 arrests on Friday for non-compliance. He also drew attention to the challenge of keeping domestic violence cases under control, and called on citizens to use social networks to report possible crimes. The joint operational director of the National Police, Jose Angel Gonzalez, said that there would be zero tolerance for offenders. We are not going to allow for a few people to behave imprudently. Yesterday we saw an increase in arrests, there were around 6,000 reports of disobeying the authorities. Gonzalez called on citizens to call 091 to report crimes, but also to use official social media accounts as well. English version by Simon Hunter. A special PMLA court in Ranchi on Saturday convicted former Jharkhand Minister Anosh Ekka in connection with a money laundering case to the tune of Rs 20.31 crore. The quantum of sentence will be pronounced on March 31. Last month, Ekka, his brother, wife and four others were convicted and sentenced to seven years imprisonment each in connection with a disproportionate assets case. Ekka was also sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering a para-teacher in Simdega. A case was registered by the vigilance department in the year 2008, which was taken over by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the year 2010 on the direction of Jharkhand High Court. On the basis of the aforesaid FIR of Vigilance Bureau, the Enforcement Directorate initiated an investigation under the provisions of PMLA against accused Anosh Ekka and others. "During the course investigations under PMLA immovable assets and movable assets amounting to Rs.20.3 crore involved in money laundering were identified and were attached under PMLA," ED said in a statement. The CBI had, in 2010, registered an FIR under several relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and PC Act. During the probe, properties belonging to him and his relative were found in Ranchi and Delhi. Ekka was a former minister of Rural Development, NREP, Transport, Panchayat Raj and Building Construction in the cabinet of former Chief Minister Madhu Koda from March 12, 2005, to December 19, 2008. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Photo: ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images A week after Broadway closed as part of New Yorks ongoing efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus, the New York Times reports that the theater industrys unions have negotiated an emergency relief agreement that will get hundreds of theater workers, from musicians to ushers to publicists, paid. However, the deal only affects the short-time unemployment of Broadway employees, whose return to work is unlikely to happen on April 13 as planned. The Broadway League negotiated the deal with 14 labor unions representing a wide variety of theater workers. Per the Times, all unionized employees will be paid for the week that was cut short by the shutdown, and the following two weeks. For the first, partial, week, they will receive their normal salary, but there is a cap of 150 percent of the minimum salary for their positions as spelled out in labor contracts. For the subsequent two weeks, workers are to be paid their contractual minimum, which for some means a pay cut. Theater employees will also get full benefits for two and a half weeks, with their health benefits extending through April 12. What will happen after mid-April, however, remains to be seen. We worked really hard with our colleagues in all 14 unions to come up with a fair and generous contract that we hope will tide everyone over until other forms of support can be developed, said League president Charlotte St. Martin to the Times. Our goal was also to get as many shows to come back as possible, and with the slim margins for 90 percent of the shows on Broadway, we had to take that into consideration. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 20:33:16|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close DAMASCUS, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian government on Saturday ordered the closure of marketplaces as of Sunday as part of the measures taken against the novel coronavirus, according to the state news agency SANA. Prime Minister Imad Khamis also ordered the suspension of trade, service, and social activities until further notice, said the report. The new order excluded the outlets for selling food items and pharmacies. The new measure comes in the wake of the spread of novel coronavirus in neighboring countries. Still, no novel coronavirus cases were reported in Syria so far. Most before and after moments are easy to see: The 2 a.m. phone call, the doctor walking into an examination room, test results in hand, a cops lights in the rearview mirror. Then theres the line we see only in hindsight. Two months ago, few of us knew much about a disease with a handful of letters and a number COVID-19 and a word coronavirus that was hard to pronounce. And now? I thought about that this week after receiving an email from Joan Kruse. I wrote about Kruse and her husband, Barbee Lyon, last year when a man showed up at their Northwest Portland home to say hed lived there as a child. Kruse wrote to say that she and her husband had used airline miles to travel from Portland to meet friends and explore Europe. They left on Feb. 12. The before. On that day, there were 14 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States. On Friday, March 20, there were more than 16,000 cases, and more than 200 deaths. The state of New York has told all nonessential businesses to stop work outside of homes. In California, the governor issued an order asking that the states 40 million residents leave their homes only when necessary. Kruse and Barbee returned to Portland this past Tuesday. The after. Its been an experience like slow moving molasses, said Kruse. We had no idea. She and her husband had heard about a virus, didnt think it would affect them on their trip. But on the night of Feb 28, after an idyllic trip, they arrived in Malaga, a port town in Spain and learned three residents were infected with the coronavirus. Looking back, said Kruse, it was such a carefree time. With each passing day, reports came of more infections. The mood changed. The streets grew less crowded. By the time, Kruse and Barbee left for the next leg of their trip, government officials had ordered all stores closed. We kept in touch with a couple in the hotel, Kruse said. They told us wed left just in time. They were confined to the hotel, and they couldnt leave for England. At the airport, while waiting for a flight from Spain to Ireland, Kruse and her husband met five American students from Chicago, Nebraska and Florida. All were studying abroad and were told they had 24 hours to return to the United States, forcing their parents to scramble and pay exorbitant prices for airline tickets home. Once on the plane to Ireland, the couple saw some passengers with face masks. At one point, the head flight attendant made an announcement over the public address system: Im not sure how to say this, but someone has taken two bottles of soap from the toilet and we need soap so others can wash their hands. Kruse and Barbee said they are now different people than when they left Portland. Difficult times in our lives gives us a deeper understanding of what is valuable, truly significant, said Kruse. Isnt that what we yearn for? Being valuable to ourselves and perhaps a few others? Barbee said he reacted slowly to reports of the virus during his trip. Back home, in the last few days, he said, I realize a lot of things have changed, maybe forever. The couple after returning from overseas is following CDC guidelines to stay in their home, although they can go for walks as long as they keep their distance from others. Its a different city. Its been so strange to walk up Northwest 23rd and see the businesses that are closed, and those that are struggling to stay open, Barbee said. We cant foresee the changes in our lives." The other day a neighbor told the couple he would go shopping for them. He said hed leave the groceries outside their front door. They said yes. And thank you. -- Tom Hallman Jr; thallman@oregonian.com; 503-221-8224; @thallmanjr Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. BRUSSELS, March 20 (Reuters) - The EU agreed on Friday to suspend requirements that oblige airlines to use at least 80% of their take-off and landing slots in order to keep them the following year until Oct. 24 due to the aviation industry crisis unleashed by coronavirus. "This slot waiver will provide the necessary flexibility and certainty for our aviation industry in this unprecedented situation. Nobody wants empty planes in the sky ... " said Croatia's transport minister, Oleg Butkovic, whose country is currently president of the European Council. Ambassadors representing the 27 EU nations agreed on the move, saying the waiver would also apply retroactively from 23 Jan. to 29 Feb. 2020 for flights between the EU and China or Hong Kong. The Council said the measure could be extended quickly if the current serious situation persists. The proposal needs final approval of EU nations and the full European Parliament, which is due to sit on March 26 and could approve the measure as soon as then. (Reporting by Marine Strauss @StraussMarine Editing by John Chalmers) COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio Attorney Generals office has sent letters to two abortion clinics Friday, saying that theyve received complaints that they are continuing surgical abortions despite coronavirus restrictions. On behalf of the Department, you and your facility are ordered to immediately stop performing non-essential and elective surgical abortions, said each letter, send by Ohio Deputy Attorney General Jonathan Fulkerson. The letters were sent to Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio in Cincinnati and Womens Med Center of Dayton. The Ohio Department of Health asked Ohio Attorney General Dave Yosts office to issue the letters, said Melanie Amato, a department spokeswoman. Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio is complying with the order regarding protective equipment, according to a statement from Iris E. Harvey of Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio and Kersha Deibel of Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region. PPSWOs attorney immediately responded to Ohio Attorney General Yosts letter, assuring him that PPSWO was complying with Director Actons order, the statement said. Under that order, Planned Parenthood can still continue providing essential procedures, including surgical abortion, and our health centers continue to offer other health care services that our patients depend on. Our doors remain open for this care. On Tuesday, Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton signed an order telling hospitals that elective surgeries must be canceled in order to preserve gowns, masks and other personal protective equipment needed by medical officials. The order allowed four exceptions -- including a threat to the patients life if not performed; threat of permanent dysfunction of the patients organs, risk of progression or metastasis of a disease; a time-sensitive risk of rapidly worsening symptoms. Surgical abortions, Ohio Deputy Attorney General Jonathan Fulkerson wrote, require personal protective equipment. If you or your facility do not immediately stop performing non-essential or elective surgical abortions in compliance with the attached order, the Department of Health will take all appropriate measures, he wrote. Fulkerson asked each clinic to acknowledge theyre complying and to send any questions to him. On Friday, Mike Gonidakis, president of Ohio Right to Life, said that he had sent a letter directly to the Planned Parenthood clinic. Ohio Right to Life and Ohioans across this great state call on Ohios abortion facilities to put the health and safety of our children, elderly and other vulnerable populations above profit and above abortion, he said in a statement. Lives are literally depending on it. Their current noncompliance will undoubtedly contribute to the spread of COVID-19 and put the lives of first responders, nurses and doctors in danger. But NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio executive director Kellie Copeland said abortion is time-sensitive and cannot be significantly delayed without profound consequences. Attorney General Dave Yost and Ohio Right to Life president and State Medical Board member Mike Gonidakis should not be exploiting the COVID-19 crisis to further their agenda to close Ohios abortion clinics, she said. At the Saturday state news briefing, Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton said, We cannot allow the politics of things to get in the way of what we need to do in a state emergency. A list of the best food delivery services. Rome has become the perfect market for food delivery. Almost everything is available on several food websites or apps, from meal delivery to grocery delivery to beer and wine delivery. And please remember to tip what you can. These delivery men and women are essential for our every day life. Meal Delivery Deliveroo Founded in 2013, Deliveroo is a London-based service, priding itself in taking special care of your food and dining experience. After finding success in Milan, Deliveroo expanded its service to Rome, delivering food from neighborhood trattorias to large chain restaurants. Simply, log on to their website (deliveroo.it) or download their app, type in your postal code and peruse through the list of local restaurants that deliver to your area. Delivery fees depend on the size of your order, deliveries over 15 are accompanied by a 2.50 delivery fee. Deliveries under 15 are accompanied with a 2 fee. Deliveroo delivers daily, from 12.00 to 23.30, from some of the best restaurants in Rome: Avocado Bar, Giangusto, La Gourmandise, Maybu and Ramen Bar Akira. Uber Eats Uber Eats is Ubers food delivery service. Running 24 hours a day, seven days a week, you can order breakfast, lunch, dinner or snacks from the full menus of local restaurants collaborating with Uber Eats. Similar to ordering a regular Uber, the Uber Eats app allows you to monitor your order in real time. On the app, you can find restaurants like Burger King, Le Mani in Pasta, Maybu, Retrobottega, Rosciolo, Salumeria and Santo Palato. Cosaporto The online delivery service Cosaporto not only delivers food, but they also deliver wine, flowers and design. Operating in Rome, Milan, Turin and London. Cosaporto carefully selects the best artisanal food and products in the city. On cosaporto.it, you can find baked goods, chocolates, tiramisu and gelato, from shops selling the best products. For gelato, Cosaporto has a list of the best gelaterie in Rome: Gelato San Lorenzo, Gunther, La Gourmandise and Otaleg. For chocolates, pastries and baked goods, there are selections from Bompiani, Le Levain and SAID. Cosaporto offers their services daily from 9.00 to 22.00. Glovo At golovapp.com, customers can order a variety of items that will be brought to their doorstep by Glovo. Operating 24 hours a day for seven days a week, you can order food from local restaurants, trattorias and fast food chains. However, Glovo delivers much more than that. The international company also makes deliveries from grocery stores, like Carrefour and Simply. Glovers, the Glovo employees, are also sent to pharmacies and cafes. Using Glovo is fairly simple, download the app or open the website, type in your location and pick from the variety of products that will be delivered from a store near you. You can pay for your order and small delivery fee online. All orders can be submitted for immediate delivery or can be scheduled for a later time. You can keep track of all orders on your Glovo account. Just Eat Based in London, with branches in 13 other countries, Just Eat serves over 100 different types of cuisine. In Italy, the Just Eat menu has six main categories: Chinese, hamburgers, kebabs, Mexican, pizza and sushi. Operating 24 hours a day, orders can be made online at justeat.it by typing in your postal code. You can also pay for your order online with a debit or credit card or through PayPal. Food orders can also be paid for in person with cash. However, considering the current times, it is probably better to pay online. Medical Pharmaprime, it's a new company that it doing pharmacy delivery. If you are unable to leave the house they will bring any item from diapers to medicine and they can manage prescriptions. Supermarket Delivery Eataly One the best know Italian food chains in the world is usually associated with quality and freshness. You can fill your virtual cart with meat, chees, vegetables, gelato and speciality beers all online. Not cheap but worth it. Esselunga Esselunga is probably the most preferred grocery store for deliveries because they will carry all of your groceries up to the door. This is especially useful if you have ordered heavier products like cases of water or other liquids. After making an account on the Esselunga website, your first delivery will be free of a delivery fee. Carrefour Carrefour is another useful way to receive groceries because some Carrefour stores are open 24/7. All orders can be made online with direct delivery to your front door. These orders are accompanied with a small fee. Zolle Beginning in 2008, Zolle is a useful tool, when it comes to finding and buying fresh and local produce. Your desired products are delivered on a daily basis, just sign up on their website and choose your Zolla based on your food habits and preferences. Then, choose how many times a week Zolle should make a delivery. All food is delivered between 12.00 to 20.00. They will then contact you and discuss possible options, like where to get the food and how much the food will cost, etc. EasyCoop Online shopping that has a line of organic options. Will deliver fresh fruits and vegetables. The service is available 24H but make sure to book your desired delivery time. They also have a good selection of baby food. Mercato Coppelle Family run, this market is not necesserly the most economic choice but their fresh produce can not be beat. Situated in Piazza delle Coppelle, in-between the Senate and the Parliament, they will deliver to places reachable by byciclette in the area. Fore more information call +39347 714 7865. Restaurants Marigold Roma Marigold Roma has created a food delivery service that runs Thursday through Sunday. On their website, you can find directions for ordering, as well as their food delivery menu, which offers options for lunch, dinner and baked goods. Porto Fluviale For all of your pizza needs, call Porto Fluviale at 06 5743199. They will be delivering pizza from 19.00 to 22.30. Beppe e i Suoi Formaggi Beppe e i Suoi Formaggi is offering delivery services for artisanal cheeses and deli products from Monday through Saturday, 10.00 to 18.00. All orders can be made on the phone by calling 06 68192210 or through a private Facebook message. Olivieri 1882 This international, online food delivery service is offering fast shipping for all of their baked goods. For any practicing Christians, this means that their colomba, traditional Easter cake, can be made and delivered in time for the upcoming holiday. What is especially interesting about Olivieri 1882 is that a small percentage of each sale will be donated to Italian hospitals, in an effort to show support during this time of crisis. Beer and Wine Delivery Trimani Wine Shop Now offering home delivery, the Trimani Wine Shop is sending wine and beer to your house for 20% off their listed price. This will run through March 31st, only while supplies last. You can place your order online and receive free shipping. Birra del Borgo The Birra del Borgo brewery is offering free shipping on all orders over 50, now through 4 April. You can browse their selection of craft beer and place your order online. Winelivery App Winelivery is one of the main drinking apps. It delivers, troughtout taly, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks with a a promise to be at your door in less than 30 minutes. Enoteca Bartolini Bernabei is probaly the most well known distributer of wines and spirits and has developed over the years a franchise of wine bars and wine corners nationwide. Prices range from cheap to exclusive. You can order directly on their webiste. Les Vignerons Located in the trendy neighborhood of Trastevere, Les Vignerons is shipping natural wine and craft beers directly to your home. All orders are delivered between 12.00 and 18.00 and can be made by over the phone by calling 06 64771439. Traders associations, markets and even residential societies across the country are taking measures to contain its spread. As the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases rose to 271 on Saturday, traders associations, markets and even residential societies across the country are taking measures to contain its spread. Old Delhis famed light fixtures market Bhagirath Palace is closed till 25 March. Two condominiums in Gurgaon have reportedly asked residents to stay indoors as foreign-returned students and workers in these localities complete their self-quarantine. In Chandigarh, which reported its first case a few days ago, gated societies like Emaar Mohali Hills are also sending out communication and posters on the meaning of social distancing and asking licensed medical professionals to volunteer. On Thursday, the Confederate of Indian Industries also shared a letter from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. In addition to relaxing the rules for meetings with board members and physical meetings on matter relating to approval of financial statements, board report, restructuring, etc. up to 30th June 2020, the letter from the desk of Injeti Srinivas, Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs expected and strongly advised all companies and limited liability partnerships to put in place an immediate plan to implement the Work from Home policy as a temporary measure till 31st March 2020. Stock markets the bellwether of the countrys mood for over a hundred years also closed higher on Friday. Both Sensex and Nifty indices rose by about 6%. Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) will now test patients with severe acute respiratory illness, shortness of breath, fever and cough for Coronavirus infection. This should help to identify and isolate patients, naturally. As of 17 March, there are 21 additional ICMR centres testing for the virus, taking the total to 72. They also expect to add 49 more labs to the current list and 2 rapid testing centres in the coming week. While the country at large seems to be taking a lot of positive steps to fight the pandemic, unfortunately, there are pockets of bad news, too. News agency PTI reported that on Saturday, Aurangabad police arrested four people in Maharashtras Jaina city for hoarding hand sanitizers worth Rs 6 lakh. Maharashtra has the highest number of novel coronavirus cases in the country - data show that there are 63 confirmed cases of infection in the western state so far. Cases of people abandoning their pets are also on the rise, unfortunately. Singing away the blues Internationally, the number of cases rose to 275,434 and the death toll to 11,399. Of these, Italy accounts for 47,021 cases and 4,032 deaths. However, the people of Italy have come up with a novel and moving way to keep the spirits up and show solidarity with their neighbours: by coming out to sing in their balconies! Following Italys example, Lebanon is also seeing sporadic shows of balcony singing as an expression of solidarity. In the UK, where the government has announced a wage-support scheme for those who are unable to go to work during these times, people are also putting out Christmas decorations and lights to cheer up family and neighbours in these anxious times. India, too, is set to experience something similar come Sunday, 5 pm, when many Indians are expected to come out into their balconies or to their windows, to whistle, clap, sing and make some noise to show appreciation for the medical professionals, support staff, karamcharis and everyone who is ensuring essential services in these exceptional times. Cabin fever and anxiety are very real dangers of social distancing and self-quarantines, respectively. Simple steps like coming out into the sunshine and singing can go a long way to mend the mood in the time of Coronavirus. For more tips, read our article on Coronavirus Infection: Symptoms, Types, Diagnosis and Treatment. Health articles in Firstpost are written by myUpchar.com, Indias first and biggest resource for verified medical information. At myUpchar, researchers and journalists work with doctors to bring you information on all things health. Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site. 0108263 License for publishing multimedia online Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349 Rahul Gandhi says the coronavirus impact has been severe on daily-wage workers and small enterprises. New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday called for a big financial package to revive the Indian economy. Stating that the coronavirus outbreak was a serious attack on the economy, he tok potshots at prime minister Narendra Modi's call for beating of 'thalis' in honour of those working to contain the spread of the virus. Gandhi said clapping would not help daily-wage workers and small and medium entrepreneurs. "The coronavirus is a big attack on our fragile economy. Small and medium entrepreneurs and our daily wage workers are the most affected. "Clapping will not help them. Today there is a need for cash relief and tax sops, besides relief in repayment of loans as part of a big economic package. Take immediate steps," the former Congress chief said in a tweet in Hindi. In 30 years, Susan G. Komen Houston has helped thousands of individuals face breast cancer through providing for important needs and supporting research toward prevention and cures. The organization celebrated three decades of work in Harris County and six other area counties with its first More Than Pink luncheon on March 6 at the Ballroom at Bayou Place in downtown Houston. Approximately 350 supporters attended. Breaking News: Get email alerts from Chron.com sent directly to your inbox So our mission and our goal is to reduce deaths from breast cancer by 50% by the year 2026, said Komen Houston Executive Director Julie Voss. So we actually often say as well that we fight breast cancer both locally and globally and that our goal is to stabilize and end breast cancer forever. Komen Houston is an affiliate of the national Susan G. Komen organization and is its own 501(c)3 nonprofit. Voss said it is the greater Houston areas only local organization that fights breast cancer through education, treatment, support, advocacy and research. She explained that each of the seven counties it serves faces different challenges. We work with the different service organizations in each county to ensure that, you know, what works in Harris County isnt necessarily going to work in Fort Bend county or Galveston County, she said, adding that most of the counties lack their own county hospitals and health systems. Renew Houston: Get the latest wellness news delivered to your inbox Voss explained the new luncheon was designed to help rebrand the organization as much bigger and broader than pink ribbons and to show people that Komen Houston has changed over the years. She said Komen Houston doesnt just serve women but those men in their lives that support them, as well as some male breast cancer patients. Were not just, you know, for women, and were not just a pink organization, Voss said. More Information Susan G. Komen recommends temporarily putting off breast cancer screenings during the novel coronavirus pandemic unless an individual is showing symptoms because it will open up medical resources for fighting the virus. For further COVID-19 updates, visit the website. See More Collapse She added that Komen intentionally chose a couple, Carrie and Jonathan Brinsden, to chair the event because they wanted to make sure men turned out and not just women. She called the event fantastic with about 60% women and 40% men in attendance. Fort Bend resident Debbie Scanlon has been active with Susan G. Komen for more than 30 years. She started out running in the Race for the Cure in Kansas City. Seeing lines of breast cancer survivors finishing the race and receiving their roses inspired her. Also, her mother-in-law was diagnosed. After she moved to Texas, she served on the Komen Houston board of directors for seven years through March 2019. So I think that once I got the opportunity to be a board member, when they reached out, it was something I was super excited to do because I felt like it was just some way for me to give back in a more substantial way other than just participating in the race, said Scanlon. Morning Report: Get the top stories on HoustonChronicle.com sent directly to your inbox To her, hearing the luncheon speakers story and how breast cancer had profoundly impacted her life was very meaningful. It reminds you why were all so passionate, spending the extra time we do to make a difference to raise the money and to give it to research and give it to the people that it actually helps. Scanlon shared that when working with Komen Houston, she is always inspired by how much they get done with such a small staff because of all its excited volunteers that faithfully give their time and resources. She said the important thing to remember about Komen Houston is that it all started with just a few women who went on to do great things to battle breast cancer and support those affected. I think it makes a difference to know that those same women are still involved, and they continue to grow that grassroots effort, Scanlon said. I think thats where this volunteer network comes from. And I do think that makes our organization pretty unique from that standpoint and especially in the breast cancer world. To learn more about Susan G. Komen Houston and how to donate or get involved, visit https://komen-houston.org/. tracy.maness@hcnonline.com Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (C) attends an ASEAN summit in Bangkok, Thailand, June 2019. Photo by Vietnam News Agency. An ASEAN summit scheduled in Vietnam early next month has been postponed until the end of June amid complicated coronavirus developments. Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has informed leaders of other Southeast Asian countries and the bloc's partner New Zealand about the postponement, Vietnams Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday. With Vietnam acting at the chair of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) this year, the group's 36th summit had been scheduled to take place on April 6-9 in Da Nang in central Vietnam. PM Phuc said Vietnam has basically finished preparation for the summit, but the delay is necessary as Covid-19 is spreading fast in the region and around the world. Da Nang itself is treating four coronavirus patients. ASEAN has 10 members - Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, and eight partners - Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea and the U.S. The ASEAN Summit is a biannual meeting held to discuss economic, political, security and socio-cultural development of the bloc's members. It is a prominent regional and international conference, with world leaders attending its related summits and meetings to discuss various problems and global issues and strengthen cooperation in tackling them. So far, Covid-19 infections have been recorded in six ASEAN member nations - Cambodia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Malaysia has issued a two-week national lockdown after infections in the country spiked to the highest in Southeast Asia at over 600, along with two deaths. Vietnam announced on March 17 that it would demand quarantine for all visitors from the United States, Europe and ASEAN countries and suspend the issue of new visas for all foreign nationals. The country recorded 85 infects as of late Thursday night, 17 of whom have recovered. Its day three of our foray into remote learning, and my kindergarteners are concerned about the class fish. Mrs. Kausch, my daughter cant remember the name of the class fish. Can you help her out? Dragon, who is named for the mascot of Irving School where I teach, and Reddy, who is so named because he is red, have been part of our class since October. My class of 19 voted on what color and names they should have. My students have been assigned as fish feeders, and they sit and eat snack next to the fish. Sometimes they read their books to Dragon and Reddy. Those are the kinds of things that will be lost now that the coronavirus pandemic has forced us into remote learning. Kindergarten is so much more than learning how to read and count and write your name. Part of what happens is my classroom is social-emotional learning, where children learn to be kind to others and follow rules. The fish are calming to the children, and help them learn to be concerned about people beyond themselves. To alleviate the concerns of my students (my friends, as I like to call them), I posted a video to my newly created Twitter account of the fish being fed. I posted a photo of them swimming the next day. This is what teaching kindergarten is going to look like when none of us can be together. We are going to have to figure out new ways to connect with our friends and let them know that we are still there to comfort them. Children will not be able to see their class pets, like Dragon and Reddy, during the coronavirus breakdown, one kindergarten teacher writes. How that happens will probably change week to week as we learn more about what remote learning requires. Itll mean we teachers will have to figure out on the fly how to use different online services to keep meeting the needs of our friends. That is going to be very different in each district and grade, depending on the technology available in the district and the level of home support. In Highland Park, kindergarten parents are being given access to a Google Drive with things to do on odd and even days. Teachers can answer questions, but for five-year-olds to learn, they are going to need parental involvement. English-language learners and students with special needs will be given work that meets their specific needs. Those without internet can pick up work packets when they grab their breakfasts and lunches, and the district is working with an internet service provider to get free WiFi to students in need. Everything weve shared to the parent Google Drive can be done on a tablet or phone, because not all of our students have laptops. We are not yet live-streaming or sharing video, because not all students have the bandwidth to watch videos or the ability to be online at a set time. We teachers are taking different approaches to connectivity. Some of us have been sending daily updates and tips, while others are sending our morning meeting as notes. Weve been scouring the internet for free resources the parents can access on their phones for our students. The entire team is trying to make things normal. We are hosting a virtual spirit week, where we will dress up each school today. Yesterday was mismatch day, and teachers traded videos and photos to share with our students at home. (I made sure Dragon and Reddy were in the background of my mismatch day photo.) Schools in Highland Park, N.J. are holding a virtual spirit week as the coronavirus pandemic sends schools online. How we make things normal will change as the days and weeks go on. The expectations for students and teachers will likely evolve as we get a better idea of how this all works, and how long it will last. No one can say for sure how the rest of the school year will go, but we are figuring it out. Right now, I am trying to focus on the emotional well-being of my children, letting them know I am still thinking of them and checking in. Im not judging parents for what they can and cant do, because this is a hard time for parents too, but I want my little friends to know I havent gone anywhere. We love our little friends, and we are trying to figure out what remote learning looks like during a pandemic, just like everyone else is. The kindergarten team has been texting non-stop since Thursday afternoon working to translate what we do in the classroom to a telecommuting situation. In my 34 years of teaching pre-K through fifth grade, Ive never had to do something like this. What we are trying to do is not exciting. Its not going to be people saying, Wow I cant believe they just did that, its all the little things we do all day long, like sharing pictures of the fish on Twitter and trying to find the right links to free e-books, that are going to get us through this. When we left school for the day last Thursday, we didnt know when wed be coming back. Things were still up in the air, and Gov. Phil Murphy hadnt yet ordered a total closure of all New Jersey schools. Still, I packed up Dragon and Reddy and took them home with me. We dont know when we can go back, but I know I can tell my friends that their fish will be just fine. Tell us your coronavirus stories, whether its a news tip, a topic you want us to cover, or a personal story you want to share. If you would like updates on New Jersey-specific coronavirus news, subscribe to our Coronavirus in N.J. newsletter. Sign up for text message alerts from NJ.com on coronavirus in New Jersey: Katie Kausch may be reached at kkausch@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @KatieKausch. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us: nj.com/tips. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. Sadly, the more we learn about the coronavirus pandemic, on both the medical and economic sides, the worse the best-case scenarios become. Why it matters: Some readers tell us they think virus coverage has been overly dramatic. So we wanted to share with you the consensus of what the most clear-eyed, serious, optimistic people are saying, as a way to focus our minds. Tens of thousands of Americans die, we have double-digit unemployment for months, countless businesses die, retirements are wiped out, and the nation is saddled with once unimaginable debt. That, folks, is the best case scenario we're facing. is the best case scenario we're facing. That's if we're lucky and doesn't even mention the lost graduations, honeymoons, weddings, and other important missed milestones. Here's an example: A survey of epidemiology experts in academia, government and industry, posted by a scholar at UMass Amherst and reported by FiveThirtyEight, predicted that the number of cases reported by the end of this month would most likely fall somewhere between 10,500 and 81,500. The survey was taken Monday and Tuesday. was taken Monday and Tuesday. Were already right around 20,000 cases, so the lower end of those estimates is out the window. The same survey anticipates about 200,000 deaths in the U.S this year, but experts have established a range that stretches from as few as 19,000 deaths to as many as 1.2 million. A true best-case scenario would look a lot like the response in places like Singapore and South Korea, which were able to quickly flatten the curve and bring the number of new cases under control. would look a lot like the response in places like Singapore and South Korea, which were able to quickly flatten the curve and bring the number of new cases under control. But the U.S. simply has not been doing the things that worked in those countries, so whatever our best-case scenario may be, its not that good. Public health: The optimist's scenario involves a longer outbreak, but with fewer cases at a time. We could use some pleasant surprises. Maybe experimental treatments will turn out to work. Maybe warmer weather will suppress the virus spread more than we expected. Maybe experimental treatments will turn out to work. Maybe warmer weather will suppress the virus spread more than we expected. Those arent ridiculous possibilities, but its a fair amount of wishful thinking when all we have so far is an exponentially growing number of cases, and the certainty that we are under-counting those cases while they spread. Economic havoc: Even under the optimist's scenario, the fallout for jobs and businesses will long outlast the medical calamity. You know things are bad when CNBC reports: "Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin promised Wednesday that the U.S. will not have a 20% unemployment rate." when CNBC reports: "Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin promised Wednesday that the U.S. will not have a 20% unemployment rate." Mnuchin was dialing back a theoretical possibility without a federal rescue package what he now calls "just a mathematical statement" that he had floated in a closed-door meeting of Republican lawmakers. a theoretical possibility without a federal rescue package what he now calls "just a mathematical statement" that he had floated in a closed-door meeting of Republican lawmakers. Goldman Sachs said last Sunday that the S&P 500 could hit 2,450 in the next three months. That turned out to be the optimist's scenario. On Friday, the index closed below that level. said last Sunday that the S&P 500 could hit 2,450 in the next three months. That turned out to be the optimist's scenario. On Friday, the index closed below that level. Axios Markets Editor Dion Rabouin reports that there's no precedent for this kind of hit to small businesses. So banks have no real way to model it one reason that many estimates seem too rosy, and that the government may be underestimating the needed size of the fiscal response. Duration: The stock market plummeted Monday after President Trump said the crisis could last until July, August or longer. That turned out to be the optimist's scenario. to be the optimist's scenario. The next day, the N.Y. Times reported on a 103-page HHS response plan, dated three days before Trump spoke, that said the pandemic "will last 18 months or longer" and could include "multiple waves." The bottom line: The optimist's scenario has summer as the light at the end of the tunnel. But with every day and every new data point, the upside scenario gets dimmer and more distant. Courtenay Brown, Dion Rabouin and Bryan Walsh contributed reporting. Across the country, citizens were ordered to hunker in their homes to avoid catching a deadly virus even as some people thought it was nothing worse than a seasonal cold. In the midst of fear and sickness, politicians had to decide how to hold scheduled elections, and the global pandemic was subject to political spin. The year was 1918 when a deadly flu outbreak gripped the nation, infecting about a third of the worlds population and killing 675,000 people in the United States alone. That crisis, which was known as the Spanish flu, took place in a completely different time technologically and politically. But the reaction then, where local governments took charge and made decisions on how to proceed with voting, offer some guidance for the situation today as the pandemic arrives in a federal election year. In the 1918 election midterm contests, where President Woodrow Wilsons Democratic Party was fighting to keep control of Congress keeping polling places open was a patchwork of decisions by local officials. As emergency orders regulating almost every aspect of daily life emerge to prevent the spread of coronavirus, local officials are being asked to make time for one more decision should elections go on? Earlier this week Gov. Greg Abbott issued a proclamation allowing political subdivisions to postpone their May 2 elections until Nov. 3. I strongly encourage local election officials to take advantage of these waivers and postpone their elections until November, he said in a news release. Right now, the states focus is responding to COVID-19 including social distancing and avoiding large gatherings. By delaying this election, our local election officials can assist in that effort. Related: Tia Juanitas lays off 300 Only political subdivisions can postpone their own elections. Southeast Texas currently is scheduled to have more than a dozen school board, municipal and drainage district races with some 40 candidates. Whether these races go on as planned, however, likely will be decided in the next few weeks. The Port Arthur City Council, of which all six seats are scheduled for contested elections, is expected to vote Tuesday on whether to move the elections. Related: 5 SE Texas counties to coordinate coronavirus screening, testing Port Arthur ISD Superintendent Mark Porterie said the school board there hasnt discussed the possibility yet, but he anticipates it will follow whatever recommendation the city gives. Port Arthur Mayor Thurman Bill Bartie said the city typically runs the school districts elections at the same time of its own. Elections in Orange Countys political subdivisions, including the cities of Pinehurst and Orange and the Bridge City ISD, are expected to be decided in a similar manner. Orange city staff said representatives from each of the organizations are expecting to meet together to make a final decision, something theyre trying to finalize as fast as we can. Top hits: Get Beaumont Enterprise stories sent directly to your inbox A memo from Texas Secretary of State Director of Elections Keith Ingram notes that, for entities deciding to postpone their election, candidate filings and ballot order actions will be preserved as-is. Single-use ballot-by-mail requests submitted because someone was expecting to be out of the country would not be valid as the applicable election date has changed. Political subdivisions are encouraged to send those voters a letter about the change. Any changes could put additional strain on county election offices, as the Texas Election Code mandates county election precincts conduct all elections in November 2020. Jefferson County Elections Manager Naomi Showers Doyle said the office hasnt had an in-depth discussion on the potential changes at this time, as the county does not contract with local political subdivisions to run May elections in years with a primary. Political subdivisions are required to update their websites and send the changes to local media outlets once an official decision has been made. kaitlin.bain@beaumontenterprise.com twitter.com/KaitlinBain About the 'stay at home' order Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Friday issued a stay-at-home order, the most strict statewide action hes taken to date in the effort to prevent further spread of the new coronavirus. Visit herald-review.com for a complete list of what the rule applies to. Pritzkers order follows statewide school closures, restrictions on the size of gatherings and an order for bars and restaurants to suspend dine-in service. Heres what the new action means: When does the order take effect and how long will it last? The order takes effect at 5 p.m. Saturday. It will be in effect until the end of the day Tuesday, April 7. Can I leave my home? Yes, under the order people can leave their homes to get exercise outdoors and walk their pets. Local roads, including interstate highways and tollways, as well as public transit, will remain open and operating. What are the other key exceptions to the order? The directive is aimed at getting people to stay in their homes, but a number of essential needs are exempt, including going to the grocery store, putting gas in their cars and going to the pharmacy. Those businesses are not being ordered to close. Restaurants will be able to continue offering carry-out service. Pritzker ordered dine-in service closed as of Monday evening, through March 30. Agriculture, the press, veterinarians, plumbers, laundromats and banks will not be ordered closed or to stop doing business, but non-essential businesses must stop operating and if people are able to work from home and they arent already doing so, now is the time when you must, Pritzker said. How will the order be enforced? Law enforcement agencies will monitor for violations and take action when necessary, but that is not an option that anyone prefers, Pritzker said. Pritzker acknowledged the resources dont exist to police every individuals behavior, and said he is relying on Illinoisans to be good members of their communities, and good citizens, working together to keep each other safe. Chicago Tribune General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) last week reported its latest quarterly results, which makes it a good time for investors to dive in and see if the business is performing in line with expectations. General Mills reported in line with analyst predictions, delivering revenues of US$4.2b and statutory earnings per share of US$0.74, suggesting the business is executing well and in line with its plan. Following the result, the analysts have updated their earnings model, and it would be good to know whether they think there's been a strong change in the company's prospects, or if it's business as usual. Readers will be glad to know we've aggregated the latest statutory forecasts to see whether the analysts have changed their mind on General Mills after the latest results. Check out our latest analysis for General Mills NYSE:GIS Past and Future Earnings, March 21st 2020 Taking into account the latest results, General Mills's 16 analysts currently expect revenues in 2021 to be US$17.0b, approximately in line with the last 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are forecast to shrink 2.4% to US$3.42 in the same period. Before this earnings report, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$17.1b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$3.39 in 2021. So it's pretty clear that, although the analysts have updated their estimates, there's been no major change in expectations for the business following the latest results. With the analysts reconfirming their revenue and earnings forecasts, it's surprising to see that the price target rose 5.2% to US$58.20. It looks as though they previously had some doubts over whether the business would live up to their expectations. That's not the only conclusion we can draw from this data however, as some investors also like to consider the spread in estimates when evaluating analyst price targets. Currently, the most bullish analyst values General Mills at US$65.00 per share, while the most bearish prices it at US$45.00. As you can see, analysts are not all in agreement on the stock's future, but the range of estimates is still reasonably narrow, which could suggest that the outcome is not totally unpredictable. Story continues Taking a look at the bigger picture now, one of the ways we can understand these forecasts is to see how they compare to both past performance and industry growth estimates. It's also worth noting that the years of declining sales look to have come to an end, with the forecast for flat revenues next year. Historically, General Mills's sales have shrunk approximately 1.0% annually over the past five years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in a similar industry are forecast to see their revenue grow 2.4% per year. So it's pretty clear that, although revenues are improving, General Mills is still expected to grow slower than the industry. The Bottom Line The most important thing to take away is that there's been no major change in sentiment, with the analysts reconfirming that the business is performing in line with their previous earnings per share estimates. On the plus side, there were no major changes to revenue estimates; although forecasts imply revenues will perform worse than the wider industry. There was also a nice increase in the price target, with the analysts clearly feeling that the intrinsic value of the business is improving. Following on from that line of thought, we think that the long-term prospects of the business are much more relevant than next year's earnings. At Simply Wall St, we have a full range of analyst estimates for General Mills going out to 2023, and you can see them free on our platform here.. That said, it's still necessary to consider the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 1 warning sign with General Mills , and understanding this should be part of your investment process. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading. The Indian Army on Friday announced a raft of measures to fight Covid-19, including home quarantine for soldiers posted at its headquarters in New Delhi and staggered office timings, and ordered a temporary freeze on postings and foreign assignments. A fresh advisory on enhanced measures to prevent the spread of the disease said reduced attendance in offices at the Army Headquarters will be effective from Monday. The advisory said 35% of officers and 50% of junior commissioned officers/other ranks would work from home, adhering to home quarantine for one week. The second group of soldiers is to proceed on home quarantine on March 30. Intermixing of groups is to be avoided. It shall be ensured personnel are available on telephone and over electronic means at all times for exigencies of work, the advisory said. The Army Headquarters and establishments under it account for more than 5,000 soldiers including 1,000 officers, two army officials said on condition of anonymity. To avoid crowding at entry and exit points, personnel attending office have been asked to adhere to staggered work timings: 9am to 5.30pm and 9.45am to 6.15pm. The advisory was issued after army chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane reviewed the forces preparations to contain the spread of Covid-19 with important functionaries at the headquarters. The advisory stated that neither were conferences to be conducted nor soldiers assigned on temporary duty till April 15. Also, soldiers who are on leave will continue to be on leave till April 15, it said. All service personnel (excluding Army Medical Corps) attending courses terminating prior to April 15 are to be retained at respective training institutions for which additional training programme is to be issued, the advisory said. It also barred any movement of officers to/from any country of foreign assignment -- whether on leave or completion of tenure -- till April 15. Annual medical examination/periodic medical examination of soldiers also stands postponed till April 15. Steps are also being taken to avoid crowding at army canteens. The army has appealed to veterans and civilians living near cantonments and military stations to adhere to social distancing norms. The army on Wednesday confirmed its first case of coronavirus disease a 34-year-old soldier tested positive in Leh and immediately banned entry and exit from the Ladakh Scouts Regimental Centre to prevent the spread of the disease. The armys first case of Covid-19 surfaced at a time when the three services are implementing several measures to prevent the spread of the disease among their ranks. These measures include cancelling all non-essential training, conferences and travel, avoiding any assembly of more than 50 personnel, regular screening of individuals with symptoms, postponing of all courses for officers, deferring welfare gatherings and postponing recruitment rallies. Asked to comment on the home quarantine for soldiers, former Northern Army commander Lieutenant General BS Jaswal (retd) said it was unprecedented but the army chief knows what he is doing and the measures recommended should be adhered to in order to fight the Covid-19 threat. Singh, Esper speak about Covid-19 Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Friday spoke with his US counterpart Mark Esper on a range of issues including the grave situation arising out of the Covid-19 pandemic, a ministry spokesperson said. Both were confident that through open communication and mutual support the world could overcome the Covid-19 crisis. Singh also briefed Esper about Prime Minister Narendra Modis initiative to coordinate Covid-19 relief efforts in South Asia. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Arsen Avakov announced the tightening of restrictive measures due to Covid-19 in the coming days. He wrote about this on his page on Facebook. "The country has already introduced restrictive measures. They will be much tougher in the coming days - this is dictated by the need! This must be done," Avakov said. The minister noted that "you need to gain time so that as many Ukrainians as possible are not exposed to the disease". And therefore - total quarantine is a must; that's my stance, which I want to ask each of you and I will insist on it, according to my authority in the government," Avakov wrote. The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs noted that all the introduced measures of restrictions are a list of forced effective state measures and socially responsible behavior of citizens that will allow overcoming the coronavirus threat. As of 10:00 on March 21 in Ukraine, 41 laboratory-confirmed cases of Covid-19 were reported in Ukraine. Three of those were fatal, 1 patient recovered and is already discharged from the hospital. Sen. Richard Burr. Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press GOP Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina unloaded hundreds of thousands of dollars in stocks after publicly downplaying the enormous risk of the novel coronavirus, ProPublica reported. According to the investigation, Burr dumped between $628,000 and $1.72 million in holdings on February 13, shortly after reassuring the public that the US was well prepared to respond to the disease. The US "is better prepared than ever before to face emerging public health threats, like the coronavirus, in large part due to the work of the Senate Health Committee, Congress, and the Trump Administration," Burr wrote on February 7. NPR also recently reported it obtained a recording that features Burr raising dire concerns about the coronavirus to members of a private Washington club. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Republican Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina unloaded hundreds of thousands of dollars in stocks shortly after publicly downplaying the enormous risk of the novel coronavirus, ProPublica reported. According to the investigation, Burr dumped between $628,000 and $1.72 million in holdings shortly after reassuring the public that the US was well prepared to respond to the coronavirus. Burr is the chairman of the powerful Senate Intelligence Committee, which has access to the federal government's most classified and sensitive information. According to Reuters, Burr's committee was getting daily briefings on the threat of the coronavirus around the time he dumped his stock. In a February 7 op-ed for Fox News, Burr along with Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee acknowledged that "Americans are rightfully concerned about the coronavirus" at a time when the number of cases in China were still skyrocketing. The senators also wrote, "Thankfully, the United States today is better prepared than ever before to face emerging public health threats, like the coronavirus, in large part due to the work of the Senate Health Committee, Congress, and the Trump Administration." Story continues According to Burr's financial disclosure form, he started dumping stock on February 13, six days after writing that op-ed. He made a total of 33 separate transactions. Seven of those were for amounts between $1,001 and $15,000, 15 transactions were for amounts between $15,001 and $50,000, and seven were for amounts between $50,001 and $100,000. ProPublica's report came hours after NPR reported it had obtained a recording that features Burr raising dire concerns about the coronavirus to members of a private Washington club. "There's one thing I can tell you about this: It is much more aggressive in its transmission than anything we have seen in recent history. It's probably more akin to the 1918 pandemic," Burr said in the recording, according to NPR. "Every company should be cognizant of the fact that you may have to alter your travel," Burr added. "You may have to look at your employees and judge whether the trip they're making to Europe is essential or whether it could be done on video conference. Why risk it?" On Thursday night, Burr defended his decision to talk to the club in a lengthy Twitter thread and accused NPR of "journalistic malpractice." He did not address the ProPublica report, however. In a statement to ProPublica, a spokesperson for Burr said: "Senator Burr filed a financial disclosure form for personal transactions made several weeks before the U.S. and financial markets showed signs of volatility due to the growing coronavirus outbreak. As the situation continues to evolve daily, he has been deeply concerned by the steep and sudden toll this pandemic is taking on our economy." Read the original article on Business Insider Attorneys, compliance officers, managers, nurses, medical assistants, healthcare professionals, business associates, and students are encouraged to attend. The Healthcare Compliance Symposium 2020 will bring professionals from the healthcare and legal communities together for a day of live discussion and learning online. Experts will provide helpful insight on a variety of timely topics including patient advocacy and ethics, telemedicine, whistleblower laws, the role of boards, fraud, waste and abuse, and privacy and security laws while instructing and leading interactive discussions among attendees to answer common questions and provide practical tips. Attorneys, compliance officers, managers, nurses, medical assistants, healthcare professionals, business associates, and students are encouraged to attend. This online learning event has been reviewed and approved for 7.5 Continuing Education Unit(s) by PAHCOM and 7.5 continuing education unit(s) by Practice Management Institute. The Compliance Certification Board (CCB) has approved this event for up to 9.6 live CCB CEUs. Continuing Education Units are awarded based on individual attendance records. Granting of prior approval in no way constitutes endorsement by CCB of this event content or of the event sponsor. Attendees are eligible to receive 7.0 CLE credits including 1 ethics credit in New Jersey. Attendees are eligible to receive 7 distance learning CLE credits in Pennsylvania including 1 ethics credit. Updates are pending for Delaware CLE credits at this time. The symposium is a joint effort to provide resources for professionals facing the challenges of the ever-changing healthcare industry. The full-day event will be held on April 23, 2020, with online access for virtual attendance. Registration is open and available throughout the United States. About Delaware Law School: Widener University is a metropolitan university that connects curricula to social issues through civic engagement. Dynamic teaching, active scholarship, personal attention, applied leadership, and experiential learning are key components of the Widener experience. Delaware Law School is the First States only law school, providing a Juris doctor, legal graduate and paralegal degree programs with an emphasis on developing legal professionals who reflect the Delaware Way and its traditions of civility, integrity and mutual respect. The school offers signature programs in corporate and business law, environmental law, family health law and policy, trial advocacy, and dignity rights. About First Healthcare Compliance: Founded in 2012 by a nurse attorney, the First Healthcare Compliance software solution creates confidence among compliance professionals through education, resources, and support in the areas of HIPAA, OSHA, human resources compliance, and fraud waste and abuse laws. Serving clients across the United States, the companys evolving platform provides real-time insight for board reporting and across multiple locations. For more information please visit https://1sthcc.com/ Howard Marks put it nicely when he said that, rather than worrying about share price volatility, 'The possibility of permanent loss is the risk I worry about... and every practical investor I know worries about. So it seems the smart money knows that debt - which is usually involved in bankruptcies - is a very important factor, when you assess how risky a company is. Importantly, Magnificent Hotel Investments Limited (HKG:201) does carry debt. But the real question is whether this debt is making the company risky. What Risk Does Debt Bring? Debt is a tool to help businesses grow, but if a business is incapable of paying off its lenders, then it exists at their mercy. If things get really bad, the lenders can take control of the business. While that is not too common, we often do see indebted companies permanently diluting shareholders because lenders force them to raise capital at a distressed price. Of course, debt can be an important tool in businesses, particularly capital heavy businesses. When we examine debt levels, we first consider both cash and debt levels, together. Check out our latest analysis for Magnificent Hotel Investments What Is Magnificent Hotel Investments's Net Debt? The image below, which you can click on for greater detail, shows that Magnificent Hotel Investments had debt of HK$399.1m at the end of June 2019, a reduction from HK$692.9m over a year. But on the other hand it also has HK$512.4m in cash, leading to a HK$113.3m net cash position. SEHK:201 Historical Debt, March 20th 2020 How Healthy Is Magnificent Hotel Investments's Balance Sheet? Zooming in on the latest balance sheet data, we can see that Magnificent Hotel Investments had liabilities of HK$194.8m due within 12 months and liabilities of HK$368.0m due beyond that. Offsetting this, it had HK$512.4m in cash and HK$12.2m in receivables that were due within 12 months. So its liabilities total HK$38.2m more than the combination of its cash and short-term receivables. Given Magnificent Hotel Investments has a market capitalization of HK$1.12b, it's hard to believe these liabilities pose much threat. But there are sufficient liabilities that we would certainly recommend shareholders continue to monitor the balance sheet, going forward. While it does have liabilities worth noting, Magnificent Hotel Investments also has more cash than debt, so we're pretty confident it can manage its debt safely. Story continues Fortunately, Magnificent Hotel Investments grew its EBIT by 6.6% in the last year, making that debt load look even more manageable. There's no doubt that we learn most about debt from the balance sheet. But you can't view debt in total isolation; since Magnificent Hotel Investments will need earnings to service that debt. So when considering debt, it's definitely worth looking at the earnings trend. Click here for an interactive snapshot. Finally, a company can only pay off debt with cold hard cash, not accounting profits. While Magnificent Hotel Investments has net cash on its balance sheet, it's still worth taking a look at its ability to convert earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) to free cash flow, to help us understand how quickly it is building (or eroding) that cash balance. Happily for any shareholders, Magnificent Hotel Investments actually produced more free cash flow than EBIT over the last three years. There's nothing better than incoming cash when it comes to staying in your lenders' good graces. Summing up We could understand if investors are concerned about Magnificent Hotel Investments's liabilities, but we can be reassured by the fact it has has net cash of HK$113.3m. The cherry on top was that in converted 124% of that EBIT to free cash flow, bringing in HK$239m. So is Magnificent Hotel Investments's debt a risk? It doesn't seem so to us. There's no doubt that we learn most about debt from the balance sheet. However, not all investment risk resides within the balance sheet - far from it. Take risks, for example - Magnificent Hotel Investments has 3 warning signs (and 1 which is concerning) we think you should know about. When all is said and done, sometimes its easier to focus on companies that don't even need debt. Readers can access a list of growth stocks with zero net debt 100% free, right now. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading. David Anzarouth knew it could happen to anyone but never thought it would happen to him. The fit 25-year-old living in Toronto didn't worry about taking his vacation to South Beach in Miami, Fla., in early March. But 10 days later, he found himself sitting in an isolated emergency room at Toronto General Hospital, wearing a mask and feeling "the most incredible pain that I've ever experienced" as he was tested for COVID-19. A day later, the former McMaster University student learned he was infected with the virus that has led to massive disruptions in Canada and around the world as governments scramble to limit its impact. "I can't put into words how different this feels than anything I've ever experienced before," Anzarouth told CBC News. Partying with thousands and sharing accommodation He arrived in Miami on March 5 with his friend to take part in the Winter Party festival. It wasn't his first time there. Anzarouth knew what to expect a week full of lasers, lights, music and dancing. At the time, COVID-19 cases in Canada had just started appearing. "It was definitely on everybody's mind but at the time, we thought, 'Let's not lose all this money,' I myself have been needing a vacation, so I said 'Let's go,'" Anzarouth said. After a week of nightlife among thousands of people, travelling with a group of about 20 and sharing a hotel room with three others, including a friend from Toronto, Anzarouth flew back on March 11. That's when things started to change. He said he felt "drugged" as if he was "completely out of it" during his Air Canada flight, AC1977, directly to Toronto Pearson Airport. "At that point, [airport staff] were only asking if I went to China within the last 14 days or Italy," Anzarouth said. "They weren't doing any sort of medical checks. They weren't doing anything further." Anzarouth went straight to his apartment on Yonge Street, where he lives alone. Story continues Then, one of his friends sent a message in their group chat saying he was ill. It prompted Anzarouth to email his boss at Toronto's TD Bank North Tower and ask to work from home. He says his supervisor obliged. 'The most incredible pain I've ever experienced' The next evening on March 12, the virus hit him full force. "The minute I woke up, I was drenched in a pool of sweat. I was shaking. I was so cold. My head was pounding. It was something like I've never experienced before," Anzarouth said. "It was the most incredible pain I've ever experienced ... My body felt like I had been flattened." He didn't know what was wrong, but whatever it was had left Anzarouth debilitated and bedridden until Saturday evening, two days later. Still, he couldn't stomach a slice of toast or hold himself up in the shower. "There were points where I thought I might need to call 911 and to get picked up and to go to a hospital," Anzarouth said. Submitted by David Anzarouth That night, his mouth and throat began to feel parched, and he struggled to breathe as he lay in bed, sleeping for no longer than 30 minutes at a time. The next morning, Sunday, March 15, Anzarouth started to get answers. An email viewed by CBC News shows the organizers from the Winter Party festival discovered multiple attendees had tested positive for COVID-19 and alerted other guests. The organizers verified the email. "At that point I thought, 'I need to do something now,'" he said. Quickly isolated in hospital That night, he put on a mask he picked up from the airport and called an Uber to take him to Toronto General Hospital. He said he was out of the waiting area within 25 minutes and placed in a holding room while staff cleaned a different empty room for him to stay in. After that, Anzarouth said two doctors and a nurse spoke to him from behind a closed door. When they tested him for various strains of influenza and X-rayed his chest for pneumonia, each was covered in a full gown from head-to-toe. "The final swab for COVID-19 was an incredibly painful swab they stick far up one of your nostrils," Anzarouth said. He left the hospital that night, not touching anything and returning to his apartment. Less than 24 hours later, the doctor called back Anzarouth had COVID-19. "There's no one to blame I understand that I put myself into a place where I risked my health," he said. A document viewed by CBC News shows the University Health Network asked Anzarouth's employer to have him work from home. TD Bank also told CBC News it is "aware of a positive COVID-19 test of a TD colleague" who "self-isolated upon return from travel and did not come to work." 'This is something that's going to take all of us to fix' Four days after learning he is infected, Anzarouth is still recovering. He's taken some acetaminophen to help dull the symptoms, but there is no treatment yet for COVID-19. His body has to recover on its own. His friend, meanwhile, hasn't experienced any symptoms at all. On Thursday evening, Anzarouth shared his story on social media. While COVID-19 can manifest differently in different people, and some have reported much milder symptoms than Anzarouth, he is hoping his story will catch the attention of those who still don't take the virus seriously and underline the importance of social distancing practices, such as avoiding unnecessary travel and staying two metres away from others. "It could happen to anyone," he said. "This is something that's going to affect all of us. This is something that's going to take all of us to fix." MURTAUGH Even in the midst of a pandemic, some traditions carry on. The 116th annual opening of the Main Line headgates at Murtaugh Lake on March 20 marked the start of the irrigation season. Twin Falls Canal Co. General Manager Brian Olmstead said the canal company cant afford to have workers stay home during the COVID-19 outbreak, because without functioning canals, the Magic Valley cant produce food. Were critical infrastructure, Olmstead said. My guys have to come to work every day. It takes about three weeks to get the canals and ditches up and running again. Farmers will be able to start irrigating in mid-April. Precipitation has been good this year for the Upper Snake River Basin, Olmstead said. Water levels are 8% above average. Shoshone Falls is running at 5,000 cubic feet per second thats a decent flow at this time of year. The reservoirs are clear full, Olmstead said. Last year was also a good water year, Olmstead said, at about 10% above average. Most of the last few years weve been normal or above, he said. Olmstead credited the states cloud seeding program Idaho Power invests significant funds into cloud seeding to increase flows for its hydroelectric dams for the good water years. You can seed clouds either by plane or from the ground, but the process entails releasing particles often silver iodide into clouds that are between 0 and 10 degrees. The introduced particles give the water droplets within the cloud something to bond to and that leads to snowflakes. Artificially creating more snowfall can help build up snowpack, which then melts in the spring and flows into the Snake. They think (cloud seeding) makes a several hundred thousand acre-foot difference, Olmstead said. That seems to be part of the reason were not having many of the below-normal snowpacks. Olmstead also noted that the past few winters have had good natural snowfall. The Twin Falls Canal Co. brings water to several thousand Magic Valley farmers, maintains 110 miles of canals and makes possible the irrigation of 202,000 acres of land. We deliver something over a million acre-feet each year to the farmers, Olmstead said. White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow talks to media outside the White House in Washington on Sept. 26, 2019. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times) Kudlow: COVID-19 Stimulus Package Now Worth $2 Trillion White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Saturday that the size of the COVID-19 economic relief package has swelled to around 10 percent of the countrys gross domestic product, or $2 trillion, according to multiple reports. The package is coming in at about 10 percent of GDP, Kudlow told reporters on March 21, according to a tweet by Bloomberg reporter Laura Litvan, who noted that when fellow Bloomberg reporter Jack Fitzpatrick asked Kudlow to confirm whether the package would come in at over $2 trillion, the director of the National Economic Council replied in the affirmative. According to The Hill, Kudlow called it a very large package. On Capitol Hill, lawmakers and administration officials labored late into the evening Friday over eye-popping sums and striking federal interventions, surpassing even the 2008-09 bank bailout and stimulus. Everybody is working very hard, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said, exiting one closed-door session and heading into another. While key negotiators said they made progress during the daylong talks, they failed to hit an end-of-day deadline to strike a deal. Talks broke around 10:30 p.m. on Friday. Mnuchin launched negotiations using McConnells GOP offer with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and senators from both parties. Our nation needs a major next step, and we need it fast, McConnell said earlier in the day to an empty chamber. The iconic U.S. Capitol is closed to visitors. McConnell said the stimulus package will include direct financial help for Americans, relief for small businesses and their employees, steps to stabilize the economy, and new support for healthcare professionals and patients impacted by the CCP virus. The Epoch Times refers to the novel coronavirus, which originated from Wuhan, China and causes the disease COVID-19, as the CCP virus because the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) coverup and mismanagement of the outbreak fueled its spread throughout China and across the world. We are ready to act as soon as agreement with our colleagues across the aisle can be reached, McConnell said on the Senate floor. The Senate is not going anywhere until we take action. A key plank of the package is a direct payment of up to $1,200 for individuals and $2,400 for couples below a certain income threshold, along with $500 for each child in the family, a Senate Finance Committee statement said. The maximum payments would be for those individuals earning no more than $75,000, and $150,000 for a couple, it said. Above those levels, payments would be reduced, and totally phased out at $99,000 for an individual and $198,000 for couples. President Donald Trumps chief legislative aide, Eric Ueland, told reporters that he expected efforts to draft the aid package would speed up on Saturday, with the goal being to finalize the draft by that afternoon. Were going to be partnering with Republicans and Democrats as they draft the legislation tomorrow, while we continue to work on finishing and closing the deal because the American people expect a resolution here, as do the markets, Ueland said, according to RollCall. And we get that. Preliminary Senate votes are set for Sunday. McConnell said the goal is passage by Monday. According to reporter Jennifer Shutt, Ueland said: The leader has laid out a schedule of legislation to be drafted today and hopefully turned in to him later on today, so were working against that very tight clock and very aggressive clock. The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. A Dublin mother whose nine-month-old baby is recovering from pneumonia is appealing for help after they became stranded in Peru because of the coronavirus pandemic. Caia Daly, 37, who has been living in London, flew out to Lima with her husband Carlos Abisrror, who is originally from Peru, and two young children in February for a four-week holiday and to see family. But their Air France flight home, which was scheduled for Friday night, has been cancelled after the country closed its borders and now they do not know how or when they will get back to the UK. To make matters worse, Ms Daly spent three days in hospital this week after her baby picked up a virus which led to pneumonia. Ms Daly told the PA news agency: "If things get really bad here I'm worried for my children's health, particularly with the baby recovering from pneumonia. "It's a lung thing, the coronavirus does cause pneumonia and because the healthcare system here isn't amazing it's a concern. I'd prefer to be at home." Ms Daly had been hoping to get her family on another Air France flight back to Paris scheduled for Sunday but the British Embassy in Lima said on Friday evening that flight was now full. She tried to call Air France herself but said nobody answered the phone, while the relevant link on the airline's website only directs back to the homepage. "It's frustrating," Ms Daly said. "We really don't know what to do and we don't know how we're going to get out." Peru is currently on lockdown, with a curfew running between 8pm and 5am and all shops closed except for pharmacies and those selling food, meaning Mr Abisrror needed a special permit to visit his wife and child in hospital. Ms Daly has been able to extend their stay at their Airbnb accommodation because the visitors booked to arrive after them had been forced to cancel. Now she is appealing to the UK Embassy in Lima and the Irish Embassy in Santiago for help, as well as contacting her MP, Catherine West. Ms West said: "Its vital that the Foreign Office do all that they can to bring home stranded British nationals, and Caia's case seems one of the most urgent. "I'll be raising this with the Foreign Secretary as soon as possible." Meanwhile, the family is hoping Air France will lay on more flights, or that the Government will intervene. "We're just really looking for a way to get out," Ms Daly added. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab earlier admitted it is "very difficult" for people to get out of some destinations and warned there are up to nearly one million British nationals currently travelling abroad. A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "The UK is engaging with a number of international partners and commercial airlines to see how we can help Britons still in Peru best return to the UK. "We are working intensively to help all those who wish to leave and actively exploring what further flight options can be made available." Leaked footage appears to show an unedited version of the infamous phone conversation that took place between Taylor Swift and Kanye West over the rappers song Famous. In 2016, Wests wife Kim Kardashian shared a clip that showed Swift approving a lyric in which West raps: I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex. Kardashian claimed the clip proved Swift was a snake because the pop star said she had not been informed that West would call her a bitch in the song. The incident caused a widespread backlash against Swift and is believed to be partly responsible for her hiatus from the music industry. In the previously unseen footage that is being shared on Twitter, West is shown in a 25-minute conversation telling Swift about the song, explaining when he wants to release it and his hope that Swift would tweet it. It has a very controversial line at the beginning of the song about you, West tells her, adding: I dont think its mean. West then delays telling Swift the lyric, explaining: It says, uh... and the funny thing, when I first played it and my wife heard it, she was like, Huh? What, thats too crazy, and then when Ninja from Die Atwoord hear it, he was like, Oh my god, this is the craziest s**t, this is why I love Kanye... and now, its like my wifes favourite f***ing line... I just wanted to give you some premise of that. He then says the lyric: To all my Southside n***as that know me best / I feel like Taylor Swift might owe me sex. Swift is heard laughing before she says: Thats not mean. OK, well this is the thing why Im calling you, because you got an army, you own a country of motherf***ing 2bn people, basically, West says. If you felt that its funny and cool and hip hop, and felt like its the College Dropout and Ye that you love, people would be way into it, and thats why I think its super genius to have you be the one that says, Oh I like this song a lot... this is cool. Enjoy unlimited access to 70 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up I need to think about it, Swift tells him. When you hear something for the first time you need to think about it, because it is absolutely crazy- Taylor Swift's 20 best songs Show all 20 1 /20 Taylor Swift's 20 best songs Taylor Swift's 20 best songs 20) Wildest Dreams This song is sadly marred by the controversy that surrounded its accompanying video (its references to films such as Out of Africa drew accusations that it presented a white colonialist fantasy.) The track itself is a dreamy, lush soundscape filled with breathless sighs and dramatic pauses that recall Swifts fellow old Hollywood obsessive, Lana Del Rey. Kevin Winter/Getty Images Taylor Swift's 20 best songs 19) Paper Rings A pop-punk song! Swift is at her most energetic on a song that has more than a hint of Toni Basils Mickey, from the hand-clapping beat to the distorted scuzz added to her vocals. Taylor Swift's 20 best songs 18) Style Until Dress appeared on Reputation, Style was Swifts most bold and sensuous song, driven by a pulsing beat and an urgent electric guitar riff. It plays on the idea that its easy to leave someone but a lot harder to stay away, especially if your lover has that James Dean daydream look in [their] eye. Vevo Taylor Swift's 20 best songs 17) Back to December This was a first for Swift, who apologises to an ex who treated her perfectly, while she perhaps didnt value the relationship as much. Its a noteworthy song simply to point out that Swift, who has faced multiple accusations of using her relationships to drag her ex-boyfriends, is more than capable of self-criticism. Vevo Taylor Swift's 20 best songs 16) Love Story A Swift classic about star-crossed lovers, inspired by (what else?) Romeo and Juliet. This is a country pop song is a prime example of Swifts skill as a story teller one who understands the power of a forbidden romance. Vevo Taylor Swift's 20 best songs 15) Out of the Woods Swift emulates Bruce Springsteen on this Eighties synth-pop get in the car and go epic, which lasts not a second too long and ends so abruptly that it leaves you gasping to catch your breath. Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images Taylor Swift's 20 best songs 14) I Did Something Bad One of the most underrated songs on Reputation has Swift embracing the role of villain after years of being accused of using men as a songwriting tool, along with the fallout from her feud with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian. Theres so much more bite on this track than Blank Space, despite the similar themes here she is merciless upon learning a man has used her name, or spent her money, behind her back. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images) Taylor Swift's 20 best songs 13) "Lover" A tender Sixties-style acoustic ballad that shows Swift experimenting with rhythm and meter in a way thats impressively bold this far into her career. Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images for ABA Taylor Swift's 20 best songs 12) Tim McGraw Theres something very moving about Swift opening her first album with a song that intertwines the old and the new. Nashville is notoriously unkind to female country artists, particularly young ones, so you cant help but admire a then-16-year-old Swift, who offered a profound respect to one of her biggest inspirations on her debut single. Vevo Taylor Swift's 20 best songs 11) Dress This song is essentially one big, lustful sigh: Swift seems to delight in a secret romance where she only bought this dress so you could take it off and quite literally pants with anticipation. Getty Images for TAS Taylor Swift's 20 best songs 10) Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince At first, you could mistake this for a love song. It is, in a way - Swift's most political song to date addresses her heartbreak over America as she witnesses it in turmoil. She takes classic themes from her earliest work - white knights, red roses, princesses and high-school prom - and spins all of it into a metaphor for a perceived loss of innocence following the 2016 general election. Add the subliminal cheerleader chant - "GO! FIGHT! Win!", and this makes for one of Swift's best songs of her career. Getty Taylor Swift's 20 best songs 9) We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together While Red signalled Swifts full-blown transition into pop music, she couldnt resist putting the odd country twang on songs such as We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, which mocks an ex for being snobbish about his indie record label thats much cooler than mine. The most spectacular is really the beginning of the song, where she delivers an astounded what? upon being told the guy needs space: We hadnt seen each other in a month. Taylor Swift's 20 best songs 8) Dear John John Mayer lashed out over this song in 2012, clearly upset after Swift alluded that it was about their past relationship. He called it cheap songwriting in reference to using their personal lives for material whatever you think of that, its features of her best vocal performances and brilliant songwriting right down to the Mayer-ism of that wavering electric guitar line. Then there are the lyrics themselves: You are an expert at sorry/ And keeping lines blurry/ And never impressed by me acing your tests/ All the girls that youve run dry/ Have tired, lifeless eyes/ Cause you burned them out. Medic! Taylor Swift. Credit: Getty Taylor Swift's 20 best songs 7) Delicate One of Swifts greatest talents as a songwriter is to encapsulate those small moments, often in a new relationship, that you as a listener cannot. Her skittishness on Delicate, about the danger of rushing into something, of sharing too much of yourself too soon with someone youre still getting to know, is all too palpable as the beat switches up like a nervous heart. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for TIME) Taylor Swift's 20 best songs 6) Call It What You Want The lyrics here are more open and willingly vulnerable than anything Swift had done before; that line on the chorus where she sings: My babys fly like a jet stream/ high above the whole scene/ loves me like Im brand new hits hard. The song appears on Reputation, released after Swifts lengthy hiatus from the spotlight, and its lyrics speak of a person blissfully content in her relationship to the point that the outside world is just white noise. It includes some of her finest lyrics, too, with superb references to those castles of old crumbling overnight and nods to her Anglophilia (my babys fit like a daydream). Getty Images Taylor Swift's 20 best songs 5) Our Song Mean is beaten only by Our Song as Swifts most country release, helped a lot by her endearing portrait of the slam of screen doors and driving along country lanes listening to the radio. Swift is a master of the meta-narrative, so her making a song about a song based on sounds from real-life is all kinds of perfect. YouTube/screengrab Taylor Swift's 20 best songs 4) Getaway Car On Getaway Car Swift channels one of her friend and producer Jack Antonoffs favourites Kate Bush as she belts that epic go, go, go!, while the song in its entirety recalls Bonnie Tylers Total Eclipse of the Heart cellos and violins enhancing the drama. Getty Images for NARAS Taylor Swift's 20 best songs 3) Blank Space Blank Space was a real moment for Swift, where she turned all of the tabloid gossip, all of the malicious scrutiny around her love life, back on the world with a wink and a nod. Got a long list of ex-lovers/ Theyll tell you Im insane, she trills on the chorus, throwing out punchline after punchline until the exquisite: Youll come back, each time you leave/ cos darling Im a nightmare dressed like a daydream. Taylor Swift's 20 best songs 2) "Afterglow" Against a similar soundscape to "Wildest Dreams", Swift is at her most confessional as she explains how her own insecurities can lead to self-destruction in a relationship and pleads with her lover to be patient with her. Its all me, in my head," she sings. "Im the one who burned us down/ But its not what I meant/ Sorry that I hurt you. Taylor Swift's 20 best songs 1) All Too Well Swifts mastery of storytelling has never been better than on this, a standout song not just from Red, but of her career to date. Its the slow-build from those bittersweet memories of dancing in the refrigerator light to a devastating, stadium-sized anthem that leads to her delivering arguably her best-ever line with one of her best vocal performances: You call me up again just to break me like a promise/ So casually cruel in the name of being honest. Rex The clip then cuts off. In a separate clip that is being circulated on Twitter, apparently from the same call, Swift is heard telling West: I [sold] a full 7m of that album before you did that, which is what happened. Her comment appears to be in reference to Fearless and Wests notorious stage-crash while Swift was being honoured for Video of the Year at the AMAs. At no time in the clips does West make any mention of the fact that he would call Swift a bitch in the song or claim he made her famous. At the time of writing, neither Swift nor West have publicly commented about the new video. #KanyeWestisOverParty was one of the top trends on Twitter, similar to the 2016 #TaylorSwiftisOverParty trend sparked after Kardashian shared the edited video. Variety has transcribed the full conversation here. Swifts album Lover was released in 2019 to positive reviews and became the best-selling record of that year. A 39-year-old Decatur woman died Thursday afternoon in a three-vehicle crash, according to a press release from the Odessa Police Department. Amber Sahagun was a passenger in a Jaguar that was westbound on Interstate 20 near Grant Avenue and was behind a Dodge pickup. An 18-wheeler, driven by Ranjit Singh, 42, of New York, was following the car. Singh failed to control his speed and hit the car, which then hit the pickup, according to the release. Sahagun died at the scene; the driver of the car was transported to an Odessa hospital with life-threatening injuries. No other injuries were reported, and no other details are available at this time. OPD and Odessa Fire Rescue responded at about 4p.m. The 87-year-old man, who is the first person to die of coronavirus in Massachusetts, was a resident of Winthrop, according to WCVB-TV. Friends of the man told WCVB-TV that he was also was a Navy veteran, and very friendly. Health officials said Friday that the man had been hospitalized with the virus and had pre-existing health conditions that put him at higher risk. He was a great guy, Ken Vann said, according to WCVB-TV. He used to walk all over town, very friendly, out every morning. Nice man, very nice man. Gov. Charlie Baker addressed the mans death on Friday: I extend my heartfelt sympathies to the family and friends who lost their loved one. We are living in uncertain and challenging times, and our administration is bringing every available resource to bear in the fight against this disease, and remind everyone in our Commonwealth to continue to work together, follow social distance protocols and look after each other to keep our communities safe. The number of statewide cases of COVID-19 is 413 as of Friday a figure that is expected to rise in the coming days. His death comes after Baker issued a number of emergency orders Sunday, including the cancelation of public and private school programming through April 6. He also prohibited on-site food and beverage service inside restaurants and bars. The National Guard was activated in Massachusetts on Thursday to provide additional resources during the crisis. Related Content: Leaves of CRPF jawans in combat zones likely to be increased Leave of CRPF personnel extended by 15 in wake of COVID-19 India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, Mar 21: To keep its personnel safe from the threat of coronavirus, the CRPF in Jammu and Kashmir has extended the leave of its personnel, presently on vacation outside the Union Territory, by 15 more days, an official said. The officers have also been directed not to sanction leave to any personnel, except in the case of any emergency, during the next fortnight, Public Relations Officer of CRPF (Jammu sector) told PTI. He said the decision to this effect was taken by the top brass in view of the emerging situation due to Coronavirus infection. The medical units at all the camps are alert and also running awareness campaigns to educate the troops of the safety measures against COVID-19, Singh, who is also Deputy Commandant of 166th Battalion, said. CRPF cancels 81st raising day celebrations due to coronavirus threat He said the free entry of the visitors into the camps has been stopped while masks and sanitisers were distributed among the personnel. "CRPF is also conducting the fumigation exercise with major thrust on the cleanliness at the camps and their surroundings," the officer said. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, March 21, 2020, 9:01 [IST] TORRINGTON Eastern Wyoming College has announced that beginning Thursday, March 19, the college closed and is planned to reopen on April 6. Employees will still be available to students during this time and will be working from home. Please continue to email or call EWC employees if you have questions or need assistance. Daily updates and alerts will still be distributed and posted at the following link: https://ewc.wy.edu/alerts/. Additional Updates: The Black and Gold Bash scheduled for April 18 has been postponed to a later date. Residence Hall students will be receiving EWC emails from Shannon and Rebekah regarding plans for moving out of the Residence Halls. If you do not receive an email by Friday, March 20, please contact them directly. College officials will evaluate prorated refunds of room and board charges on a case-by-case basis based on the individual students financial aid package. Classes will still resume on Monday, March 23 in an online or otherwise modified format. Students will receive communication from their instructors at their EWC email account or through Canvas. In a press release, EWC President Lesley Travers saidI am committed to keeping our students and employees safe during this uncertain time and am dedicated to doing all we can to complete the semester. Submit Your News We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form Botswana has so far reported no COVID-19 cases but global travel bans and cancellations caused by the pandemic have thrown the country's controversial resumption of hunting into doubt Gaborone, Botswana, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st Mar, 2020 ) :Botswana has so far reported no COVID-19 cases but global travel bans and cancellations caused by the pandemic have thrown the country's controversial resumption of hunting into doubt. Botswana, home to the world's largest elephant population, in February held its first major auction for trophy elephant hunting quotas since scrapping a hunting ban last year. Botswana Wildlife Producers Association has now asked the government to extend the hunting season which was due to commence next month, after the coronavirus pandemic spread across the globe. "Booked management hunts for the next few months already resulted in many cancellations and postponement of the rest," Dr Eric Verreynne, a member of the association's executive committee said. He also said if the outbreak extends for more than three months, the hunting season will be too short to market the full quotas. With most hunters coming from the US and Europe which are considered affected areas, access to Botswana via commercial airlines will be all but impossible especially as a result of the travel restrictions. President Mokgweetsi Masisi raised the ire of conservationists in May when he revoked a hunting moratorium, just a year after he succeeded Ian Khama, an avid environmentalist, who introduced a blanket ban in 2014 to reverse a decline in the population of wild animals. Masisi fended off criticism of his government's decision, saying the move would not threaten the elephant population. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 18:51:31|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close A man walks on an empty footbridge in Quezon City, the Philippines, on March 21, 2020. The Department of Health of the Philippines reported on Saturday 77 more positive cases for COVID-19, the biggest single-day jump in the number of the coronavirus cases in the country. That brings the total number of the confirmed cases in the country to 307. The government urged people to stay at home to slow down the spread of COVID-19. (Xinhua/Rouelle Umali) MANILA, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The Department of Health of the Philippines reported on Saturday 77 more positive cases for COVID-19, the biggest single-day jump in the number of the coronavirus cases in the country. That brings the total number of the confirmed cases in the country to 307. The government urged people to stay at home to slow down the spread of COVID-19. Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire also reported that another COVID-19 patient has died, bringing the total number of deaths to 19, adding that five more patients have recovered from the viral disease, bringing the total number of recoveries to 13. The Philippines has imposed a strict quarantine measure across main island of Luzon, including Metro Manila, as a precautionary measure to limit the spread of COVID-19. The country is also accelerating its COVID-19 testing capacity by setting up more laboratories in Luzon and in the central and southern Philippines. Once increased testing capacity is in place, the Department of Health said testing of mild cases and patients under investigation can resume. Vergeire earlier said the Philippines has so far tested 1,000 patients since the onset of the disease. Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar said that the government has identified at least 125 evacuation centers in Luzon that can be converted into health facilities to treat COVD-19 patients. Villar said in a statement that "110 evacuation centers have been completed with access to both power and water. We are now facilitating power and water connection to an additional 15 evacuation centers." Villar said they are also looking at similar facilities in the central and southern Philippines. On Saturday, Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian handed over China's donation of 100,000 test kits, 10,000 sets of medical protective equipment, 100,000 surgical masks and 10,000 N95 masks to Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin. The Chinese donation is expected to boost the Philippines' fight against the viral disease. Technavio has been monitoring the veterinary rapid tests market and it is poised to grow by USD 228.69 bn during 2020-2024, progressing at a CAGR of almost 7% during the forecast period. The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current market scenario, latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. Request a free sample report This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200320005395/en/ Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Veterinary Rapid Tests Market 2020-2024 (Graphic: Business Wire) The market is fragmented, and the degree of fragmentation will accelerate during the forecast period. To make the most of the opportunities, market vendors should focus more on the growth prospects in the fast-growing segments, while maintaining their positions in the slow-growing segments. Increasing prevalence of zoonotic diseases has been instrumental in driving the growth of the market. Veterinary Rapid Tests Market 2020-2024: Segmentation Veterinary Rapid Tests Market is segmented as below: Type Companion Animals Livestock Geographic segmentation Asia Europe North America ROW To learn more about the global trends impacting the future of market research, download a free sample: https://www.technavio.com/talk-to-us?report=IRTNTR40178 Veterinary Rapid Tests Market 2020-2024: Scope Technavio presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources. Our veterinary rapid tests market report covers the following areas: Veterinary Rapid Tests Market size Veterinary Rapid Tests Market trends Veterinary Rapid Tests Market industry analysis This study identifies rising adoption of companion animals as one of the prime reasons driving the veterinary rapid tests market growth during the next few years. Veterinary Rapid Tests Market 2020-2024: Vendor Analysis We provide a detailed analysis of around 25 vendors operating in the veterinary rapid tests market including some of the vendors such as BioNote Inc., Biopanda Reagents Ltd., Fassisi, Society for Veterinary Diagnostics and Environmental Analysis mbH and Heska Corp. Backed with competitive intelligence and benchmarking, our research reports on the veterinary rapid tests market are designed to provide entry support, customer profile and M&As as well as go-to-market strategy support. Register for a free trial today and gain instant access to 17,000+ market research reports. Technavio's SUBSCRIPTION platform Veterinary Rapid Tests Market 2020-2024: Key Highlights CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2020-2024 Detailed information on factors that will assist veterinary rapid tests market growth during the next five years Estimation of the veterinary rapid tests market size and its contribution to the parent market Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior The growth of the veterinary rapid tests market Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of veterinary rapid tests market vendors Table of Content PART 01: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY PART 02: SCOPE OF THE REPORT 2.1 Preface 2.2 Preface 2.3 Currency conversion rates for US$ PART 03: MARKET LANDSCAPE Market ecosystem Market characteristics Value chain analysis Market segmentation analysis PART 04: MARKET SIZING Market definition Market sizing 2019 Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Market outlook PART 05: FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS Bargaining power of buyers Bargaining power of suppliers Threat of new entrants Threat of substitutes Threat of rivalry Market condition PART 06: CUSTOMER LANDSCAPE PART 07: GEOGRAPHIC LANDSCAPE Geographic segmentation Geographic comparison North America Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Europe Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Asia Market size and forecast 2019-2024 ROW Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Key leading countries Market opportunity PART 08: MARKET SEGMENTATION BY ANIMAL TYPE Market segmentation by animal type Comparison by animal type Companion animals Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Livestock Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Market opportunity by animal type PART 09: DECISION FRAMEWORK PART 10: DRIVERS AND CHALLENGES Market drivers Market challenges PART 11: MARKET TRENDS Growing presence of veterinary clinics and hospitals Increasing funding for and investments in veterinary health Growing adoption of companion animals PART 12: VENDOR LANDSCAPE Overview Landscape disruption Competitive scenario PART 13: VENDOR ANALYSIS Vendors covered Vendor classification Market positioning of vendors BioNote Inc. Biopanda Reagents Ltd. Fassisi, Society for Veterinary Diagnostics and Environmental Analysis gmbH Heska Corp. IDEXX Laboratories Inc. MEGACOR Diagnostik GmbH SWISSAVANS AG Virbac SA Woodley Equipment Co. Ltd. Zoetis Inc. PART 14: APPENDIX Research methodology List of abbreviations Definition of market positioning of vendors PART 15: EXPLORE TECHNAVIO About Us Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200320005395/en/ Contacts: Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media Marketing Executive US: +1 844 364 1100 UK: +44 203 893 3200 Email: media@technavio.com Website: www.technavio.com/ I feel like health care workers are being asked for a lot right now, and we just want what we need to do our jobs, she said. Its like if you tell a construction worker to go work on the Sears Tower and you dont give them any kind of hard hat, you dont give them any kind of safety harness. You would never do that. Cameroon's Military Raids Separatist Camps Ahead of Election Rerun By Moki Edwin Kindzeka March 20, 2020 Cameroon's military says it has killed 24 separatists who vowed to disrupt Sunday's election rerun in the country's English-speaking regions. The anglophone rebels say the casualties were on the military's side, but witnesses say a number of those killed were civilians caught up in the fighting. Military commander Brigadier General Valere Nka says 350 troops destroyed 10 rebel camps this week, as well as seizing rebel vehicles and weapons and killing a number of their fighters, including a commander. "The so-called general was neutralized, and you had about 20 killed or neutralized, many who are wounded [are] on the run. We are satisfied. Let's continue so that peace comes back to the west, northwest and southwest regions," Nka said. The separatists on social media acknowledged the military destroyed their camps but said most of the casualties were among the military. Nka, however, said all of his troops are alive, though a few suffered minor injuries. Witnesses say the military also killed civilians during the raids. Metombi Nchari, a 44-year-old nurse, says troops shot dead at least six civilians, including his daughter. "Do you want to tell me that my daughter, my 17-year-old daughter who was going to the farm, was carrying a weapon, meanwhile she was carrying just a hoe to go and work?" he said. "Or do you want to tell me that my daughter who is 17 years is a terrorist fighter? That is not possible." Official's response Cameroon territorial administration minister Paul Atanga Nji rejected the possibility the military killed any civilians. He says President Paul Biya ordered the raids to stop a spike in rebel attacks on candidates and voters ahead of Sunday's elections for the National Assembly. "The head of state gave instructions that the administrative authorities and the forces of law and order reinforce the mechanisms for the rerun," Nji said. "We can tell you that the security situation in the northwest region is under control." Local reaction But locals, and even ruling Cameroon People's Democratic Movement party officials, say fighting is common. An official of the ruling CPDM party in the village of Mbiame, Ben Collins Nyuyberiwo, says rebels are always attacking in the area. "Either they cut off your fingers or they cut off your hands completely," he said. "Those who are not able to pay ransom are being killed. Ten houses belonging to my colleagues have been burned. Even this morning we received calls that they are coming to burn our houses if we take part in the rerun this Sunday. They have fabricated explosives and it causes a lot of havoc." Nyuyberiwo says they are pleading with the rebels to call off their attacks and with Cameroon's military to offer protection. The rebels, who are seeking an independent English-speaking state within French-speaking-majority Cameroon, have vowed to stop the elections. Cameroon's Constitutional Council ordered a re-do of the vote in parts of the western regions over widespread irregularities and fraud. The court said Biya's CPDM party, which was declared the winner, was guilty of violations ranging from ballot stuffing to chasing opposition voters from polling stations. The party and government denied any wrongdoing. Voter turnout was barely 5 percent in some English-speaking areas. Authorities have vowed to secure the area for a better turnout this Sunday. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address People sunbathe on Bondi Beach ahead of its closure in Sydney on Saturday. AFP Photo Sydney: Authorities closed Sydney's Bondi Beach Saturday after huge crowds flocked to the popular sunbathing spot despite a government ban on large gatherings due to the coronavirus pandemic. The temporary measure comes after photos of mostly young beachgoers packed on the famous sands were widely shared online, drawing howls of protest in the media and from officials. "What we saw this morning here on Bondi Beach was the most irresponsible behaviour of individuals that we've seen so far," New South Wales state Police Minister David Elliott said. "This is not something we are doing because we are the 'fun police'," he told a beachside news conference. The ban could be extended to other beaches if social distancing rules are not followed, he warned. Non-essential outdoor gatherings of more than 500 people have been barred as officials seek to stem the spread of the virus. Australia has nearly 1,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19. "This is a disease that young people can get -- they can go into hospital, they can die from it," Kristina Keneally, a NSW senator who lives in Sydney, warned. Australia has taken a series of drastic steps to contain the spread of the contagion, including closing its borders to foreigners and non-residents. But Prime Minister Scott Morrison has so far stopped short of ordering people to stay home or the shutdown of non-essential businesses, as introduced in some parts of the world. At Least 24 Afghan Security Forces Killed In Insider Attack By RFE/RL March 20, 2020 At least 24 Afghan security forces were killed early on March 20 in an insider attack on their base in southern Zabul Province, officials say. Several "infiltrators" opened fire on their comrades as they slept, Zabul Governor Rahmatullah Yarmal said, in one of the deadliest attacks since the United States signed an agreement with the Taliban last month. The raid targeted a joint police and army facility near the provincial capital, Qalat, long considered a Taliban stronghold. "In the attack, 14 Afghan Army forces and 10 policemen were killed," Zabul provincial council chief Ata Jan Haq Bayan said. Four other Afghan security forces were missing, Bayan added. "The attackers had connections with the Taliban insurgents," he said. The attackers fled the scene in two military Humvee vehicles, along with a pickup truck, weapons, and ammunition. The Taliban did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The incident comes a day after Afghan Defense Minister Asadullah Khalid said the Taliban should commit to a truce as a means of helping both sides battle the spread of the coronavirus, which he called a "plague" on the war-ravaged country. Khalid also said in a televised statement on March 19 that government forces were remaining in an "active defense" posture as a recently agreed U.S.-Taliban peace deal remains under pressure amid disagreements over prisoner releases and other issues. "Our proposal is that to prevent this plague, a cease-fire should come, so that we would be able to prevent it and treat people in every corner of the country," Khalid said. Afghan health authorities have confirmed 22 cases of the coronavirus and no deaths, but only a few hundred people have been tested in the country of 35 million people. Neighboring Iran has reported more than 18,000 cases and 1,284 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University research. Khalid's remarks come a day after the United States said the government of Afghanistan and the Taliban should begin prisoner releases "as soon as possible," adding that the global coronavirus pandemic was adding to the urgency. U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad wrote in a Twitter thread on March 18 that the "coronavirus makes prisoner releases urgent; time is of the essence." Khalilzad on February 29 signed a deal with Taliban negotiators aimed at ending the nearly 19-year Afghan war. The accord called for the release by the Afghan government of up to 5,000 Taliban prisoners as well as the freeing of 1,000 Afghan government captives ahead of intra-Afghan talks. The Taliban, which so far has refused to meet directly with the Afghan government, said it was committed to the deal but would not start negotiations with Kabul until its fighters were freed. The Western-backed government in Kabul was not a party to the deal and initially resisted freeing any prisoners. President Ashraf Ghani then agreed to free 1,500 prisoners last week and the rest after peace talks were finalized and Taliban violence had ceased. But the peace process was again thrown into crisis on March 15 when Kabul said the release of the first Taliban prisoners had been delayed. Jawed Faisal, a spokesman for the Afghan National Security Adviser's office, said the government needed more time to review the list of the prisoners. With reporting by AFP and dpa Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/afghan-urges-taliban-ceasefire- coronavirus-fight/30498546.html Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Prime Minister Narendra Modi once again urged people on Saturday avoid leaving home and follow instructions to protect you as well as your friends and family as the number of Covid-19 patients jumped to 271 in India. The Prime Minister has already called upon people to follow a Janta Curfew on Sunday by not venturing out from 7am to 9pm on Sunday. He said that this will be a symbol of self-control, adding that every person of the country should choose 10 people and inform them - through phones etc - about this and urge them to stay at home. On Saturday, he repeated his appeal. Never forget - precautions not panic! Its not only important to be home but also remain in the town/ city where you are. Unnecessary travels will not help you or others. In these times, every small effort on our part will leave a big impact, the Prime Minister tweeted. Modi also asked people to follow government advisories about following home quarantine as reports of those advised to stay at home travelling on trains and other public transport rose. This is the time we should all listen to the advice given by doctors and authorities. All those who have been told to stay in home quarantine, I urge you to please follow the instructions. This will protect you as well as your friends and family, he tweeted. The Prime Ministers tweets also came as the Indian Railways asked people to defer their train journeys pointing to those asked to remain in quarantine found travelling. Railways has found some cases of Coronavirus infected passengers in trains which makes train travel risky. PLEASE avoid train travel as you may also get infected if your co-passenger has Coronavirus. Please postpone all journeys and keep yourself and your loved ones safe.* The ministry of railways said earlier two people found travelling on Rajdhani Express between Bengaluru and Delhi were asked to get down on Saturday. The Delhi-bound passengers had returned from Dubai last week and were marked with the mandatory quarantine stamp. The railways also said that four passengers travelling on Godan Express from Mumbai to Jabalpur on March 16 tested positive for Sar-Cov-2 on Friday. Before that, eight passengers, who had travelled on the AP Sampark Kranti Express from Delhi to Ramagundam on March 13, were found to be infected. The government has taken a slew of measures to contain the spread of the deadly respiratory disease, including shutting down schools and colleges and public places, to stem the spread of Sars-Cov-2. Several states have also locked themselves down and asked people to stay at home. Azerbaijani Defense Minister receives new commander of Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh Biden names Kamala Harris as US president during Atlanta speech Ombudsman: Azerbaijan is launching provocations in Armenia territories where it earlier invaded Russia-NATO Council meeting kicks off in Brussels Serdar Kilic is appointed Turkey special representative for Armenia Armenia ambassador to Georgia informs Switzerland envoy about Azerbaijan's gross ceasefire violation Economy minister: Armenia government was guided by political considerations when lifting sanctions on Turkey goods Turkey defense minister expresses support for Azerbaijan in another military aggression against Armenia Pashinyan, Putin discuss Karabakh, Kazakhstan Toivo Klaar: Deeply worried by reports of renewed incidents and casualties on Armenia-Azerbaijan Germany: A record 80,430 COVID-19 cases detected per day 3 more persons die of coronavirus in Artsakh Criminal case launched into 3 Armenia soldiers killing by Azerbaijan shootings Copper rises in price One of main tasks of Armenia peacekeepers in Kazakhstans Almaty is to prevent water supply system poisoning About 80 Americans cannot fly from Afghanistan Turkey parliament ex-deputy speaker: Armenia must fulfill 4 preconditions Border situation in Armenias Gegharkunik Province was calm at night French FM says talks on Iranian nuclear deal are progressing slowly 289 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia Gold slightly rises in price North Korea says it successfully tested another hypersonic missile OSCE calls on Azerbaijan, Armenia to refrain from the use of force Oil is trading without a single dynamic US State Department welcomes announcement on CSTO forces withdrawal from Kazakhstan Newspaper: Ex-ministers are summoned to Hayastan All Armenian Fund parliamentary inquiry committee MOD: Armenia soldiers dead body found at midnight after Azerbaijan provocation Newspaper: Casualties of Armenia PM Pashinyan's 'era of peace' US concerned about EastMed natural gas pipeline project Giant fish sold at auction for over 16 million yen German Marshall Fund: It Is not too early to think about political change in Turkey Armenian Foreign Ministry: We call on Azerbaijani authorities to refrain from provocations Armenia's Geghamasar community head: The situation is stable now Queen Elizabeth II's favorite fast food revealed Human Rights Defender: Azerbaijani troops open fire on Armenian sovereign territory World Economic Forum: Cybersecurity and space pose new risks to the global economy Defense Ministry confirms Armenian side has 2 victims Satanovsky on sending Armenian servicemen to Kazakhstan Unofficial data: 2 servicemen killed as a result of Azerbaijan provocation CSTO and Kazakh Defense Ministry developing plan WHO thinks it's too early to consider COVID-19 pandemic European Commission to require Poland to pay fine of nearly EUR 70 million White House announces $308 million humanitarian aid for Afghanistan Erdogan angry at minister after efforts to strengthen lira failed Armenian FM has phone call with US Assistant Secretary of State India imposes one-week quarantine even for vaccinated tourists Armenian ex-president expresses condolences on poet Razmik Davoyan's death Traction Programme to showcase 8 startups during the Digital Demo Day Azerbaijan uses artillery and UAVs, 3 Armenian soldiers wounded NEWS.am daily digest: 11.01.22 Austrian Chancellor confirms plan for mandatory COVID-19 vaccination in February Armen Sarkissian and Kassym-Jomart Tokayev discuss situation in Kazakhstan Gulf, Iran and Turkey FMs to visit China 20 pregnant women with COVID-19 die in Azerbaijan in year Armenia hands over wanted US citizen to United States Economy ministry: Organizing of accommodation and public catering increased by 61.1% in Armenia Armenia parliament speaker expresses condolences on European Parliament President death Azerbaijan opens fire toward Armenia village sector, one soldier wounded Shoigu: CSTO peacekeepers deployed in Kazakhstan thanks to Syrian and Karabakh experience Azerbaijan official pledges to remove Armenian toponyms from Google Maps UN offers two plans to help Afghans totaling $ 5 billion in 2022 Armenia attorney general travels to Moscow on working visit Azerbaijan MOD blames Armenian side for soldiers death Dollar drops in Armenia Shirak Province captives families hold protest outside Armenia government building Rolls-Royce sales rise to record high in 2021 Ombudsman: Azerbaijanis directed gun at Armenia residents car in which his wife, 3-year-old child were ANCA urges President Biden and Congress to hold Azerbaijan and Turkey accountable for war crimes Serbia's Orthodox Patriarch tests positive for COVID-19 Brothers, sisters of 2020 Artsakh war military casualties to get compensation in lieu of their deceased parents Turkish authorities sanction arrest of 33 suspected FETO ties Copper rises in price Erdogan's spokesman, Biden's adviser discuss Armenian-Turkish relations Armenia deputy defense minister: No one can rule out border tension at any moment New commander elected of Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh Armenia official: Those 100 soldiers absence will not assume any change in terms of border tension Millionaire Robert Durst dies aged 78 Reuters: Over 1.13 million cases of COVID-19 detected in US per day Great Armenian poet Razmik Davoyan dies 2 new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh Deputy PM Matevosyan: About 1,190 subvention programs implemented in Armenia from 2018 to 2021 243 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia Armenia MP: It would be right to put pressure on Azerbaijanis to remove their firing positions Oil is getting more expensive Nearly 10,000 people detained in Kazakhstan in connection with riots Tokayev: CSTO peacekeepers will pull out from Kazakhstan within 10 days Newspaper: Armenia businessmen pay customs duties to Azerbaijanis to go to Iran European Parliament speaker David Sassoli dies Alikhan Smailov appointed Kazakhstan Prime Minister Newspaper: Health minister makes decision full of contradictions in terms of Covid-related restrictions in Armenia Newspaper: Armenia authorities once again showed their being unprincipled, worthless, opposition MP says Germany teacher who had cannibalism fantasies is sentenced to life in prison Israel's military and other security services undergo largest rearmament in years Spain PM calls for a debate to consider COVID-19 endemic disease Flyone Armenia and Pegasus receive permission for Yerevan-Istanbul-Yerevan flights Pope condemns "baseless" ideological misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines Arab foreign ministers to visit Beijing Azerbaijanis stoned an Armenian car on the Stepanakert-Goris road Armenian FM has a phone call with his Polish counterpart Macron travels to French Riviera to discuss internal security issues As Spaniards locked themselves into their homes following the announcement of a nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of the new coronavirus, the country's homeless population are increasingly finding it hard to locate places to stay. Living in the streets of Barcelona for the past decade, Rafael Reyes is among an estimated 1,000 rough sleepers in the city unable to abide by the Spanish government's order to stay at home. In addition, many of the day centers and soup kitchens he used to attend were either shut down or had limited access and reduced operational hours to a minimum as part of prevention measures against COVID-19. "Restaurants closed, bars closed. Everything," Reyes complained. "Normally you always find a friend somewhere that gives you some margin. But there is no margin left," he added. In the deserted streets of Barcelona, signs of life and of the housing inequality are reflected in the blankets and cardboard boxes left on the floor under closed stores. Bob Walker is part of the street team at the Arrels foundation providing services including showers and lockers as well as guidance to the homeless of Barcelona. Recently he's been going around the city to check on those most vulnerable and inform them of the latest virus news and WHO recommendations, such as washing hands. "Even without the coronavirus, there's like 1,200 people in the streets of Barcelona who are completely invisible," said Walker. Authorities in Spain are scrambling to get as many people off the streets without cramming them into a shelter where the spread of COVID-19 could be even greater. In Madrid, the sprawling IFEMA exhibition centre was converted into a make-shift shelter offering 150 beds to people who lack accommodation. Meanwhile, in Barcelona an old school was converted into a temporary shelter for 56 people, not nearly enough to serve those in need although more shelters were being prepared in an attempt to get as many people as possible off the streets. But Reyes said he'd rather sleep in the tiny ATM booth on the street where he has spent the last few nights than go into one of the shelters and risk being infected. "It is a cluster of infections, of robbers, of drug addicts," he said. "I don't want those things. What I want is a house." Spanish health authorities say that 1,002 people have died in the country since the coronavirus outbreak, while infections have reached 19,980. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. The vast majority of people recover from the new virus. According to the World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to recover. The coronavirus has infected more than 271,000 people and killed more than 11,000. Almost 87,000 people have recovered so far, mostly in China. Stay Connected: guide to Norfolk church services online Stay Connected: guide to Norfolk church services online As churches across Norfolk turn to alternative ways to keep their services going and communities in contact through live streaming, podcasts and digital gatherings, we are launching a guide to such services, so please send us your details. Norwich churches The Open Door Christian Fellowship in Norwich is posting daily devotionals and live-streaming its Sunday services at 11am on its Facebook page. Old Meeting House Congregational Church in Norwich is recording daily 3 minute devotions available on YouTube and from its website St Lukes Church, Norwich, is live streaming Compline at 8pm each night and 8.30pm on Thursdays and using Zoom for its Sunday service at 10.30am. Details and resources available at: www.stlanorwich.org.uk New Hope Christian Centre in Norwich is broadcasting short sermons on its YouTube channel. Norwich Evangelical Free Church (a.k.a. The Railway Mission) is posting video services and hymn singing on its YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBWxiwWf0snA1fck_rOvh9A St Peter Mancroft in Norwich is live streaming a service every Sunday at 10am, led by one of the Ministry Team from home. It can be accessed from: www.stpetermancroft.org.uk The congregations of the Mattishall and Tudd Valley Anglican group of churches near Dereham are meeting online using Zoom each Sunday at 10.00 (connect 9.45 onwards). Details at www.matvchurch.uk Ipswich Road URC website is hosting a recorded service each week on behalf of all of the United Reformed Churches in Norwich. The worship is led by either Rev John Potter or Rev Bruno Boldrini. There is also a page on the website for 'Messy church at home' - stories, music and activities to share with the family at home. Servants Church in Norwich is live-streaming its 10.30am Sunday service with other fresh contact weekly on its YouTube channel Surrey Chapel will be streaming its Sunday morning worship led by Pastor Andy Rees (pictured above) at 10.15am. It can be accessed through: www.surreychapel.org.uk St Andrews Eaton has a Virtual Sunday Service page on its website www.standrewseaton.org.uk with prayers, the text (and audio) of the days sermon and links to hymns and readings. Hard copies of services, sermons, notice sheets etc can be picked up at any time from the church porch which is always open. A Sunday service from Witard Road Baptist Church in Norwich can be viewed on the church's Facebook page here: www.facebook.com/wrbcnorwich Latest sermons can also be found on its website . Gateway Vineyard Church in Norwich will be live streaming its services at 10.30am on Sunday mornings. To subscribe to this free service visit YouTube . Norwich Central Baptist Church is live streaming its Portuguese speaking service on Saturdays at 6pm and on Sunday morning at 10.45am. If you would like to join, please email stream@norwichcentral.org and youll be provided with the links to view on YouTube. Soul Church in Norwich will broadcast live at 10:30am and 5pm on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram our Sunday service. All services will be subsequently available on their website: www.soulchurch.com Proclaimers is gathering every Sunday at 10:30 at https://proclaimers.online.church/ More details on be found at www.proclaimers.com, www.facebook.com/proclaimersnorwich, or www.youtube.com/ProclaimersChurh St Thomas Church in Norwich will live broadcast at 4pm on Sundays via YouTube , for a time of prayer, worship and reflection. They have also developed Sunday Guides; a weekly talk, teaching plan for the session (including kids activities) and discussion points. Pictured top is Rev David Lloyd from St Thomas Norwich. One Church in Norwich will be releasing podcasts and worship sets at www.onechurch.uk/church-online Holy Trinity in Norwich will be live streaming their service at 10am every Sunday morning: Service Livestream via YouTube on the Holy Trinity Channel and also some youth videos at 9.30am for younger members of the church family. Kings Church in Norwich has launched Kings at Home daily; content that will help people connect with God, with those around them and in the community and Kings at Home Sunday and will be live streaming on their YouTube channel kingsnorwich.com Live streaming of Masses at St Johns Catholic Cathedral in Norwich has been set up this week in response to the cessation of public Masses from Friday March 20 and can be found at: www.sjbcathedral.org.uk Alive Church and Kingdom Life in Norwich are teaming up to bring church leaders from across the area together in a live broadcast on Sunday March 22 at 7pm to coincide with the National Day of Prayer. It will also mark the start of a programme of live broadcasts direct from a specially set-up studio at Alives Nelson Street base in Norwich. Watch the live stream at: www.facebook.com/alivechurchonline St Stephen's in Norwich will be posting online content on a new page on its website here: www.ststephensnorwich.org Eternity Church in Norwich goes online at 10 am every Sunday on Facebook and website at www.weareeternity.com Christ Church in Eaton has initiated online worship using Zoom. More information is available on www.christchurch-eaton.org.uk/prayer-resources/ or by contacting Patrick Richmond on 01603 250844 Norfolk churches Glaven Valley Benefice in North Norfolk is live streaming services on Sunday mornings at 11am. This is an interactive service on Google Hangout. Details at: www.glavenvalleychurches.org.uk Cromer parish church is live-streaming an act of worship on Sundays and Wednesdays at 10.30am with prayers and a Bible talk. Find it on YouTube . The Anglican Chet Valley Churches in South Norfolk (Chedgrave, Hardley, Loddon & Sisland) have a dedicated YouTube channel with services (complete with hymns and songs); meditations; and stories and songs from our toddler group, Noahs Ark: The Anglican Aylsham Parish is live streaming a Sunday service each week at 10.30am from Cawston Parish Church (pictured right) or the Rectory, at: www.st-agnes.org.uk Dereham Baptist Church is posting online messages on YouTube . More 2 Life Christian Fellowship North Elmham is meeting on Sundays @ 10.30 via Zoom, email revree7@gmail.com for link, and also 7.30pm Tuesdays for prayer via the same. Stalham Baptist Church is putting out a weekly pre-recorded weekly service with different people from the church family doing prayers and readings and are including various songs and hymns and a weekly sermon. Visit: www.stalhambaptist.org.uk Fountain of Life Church in Ashill will make all its prayers, reading and sermons available online folchurch.co.uk/resources/sermons/ The Youth and Kidz Klub ministries are also developing new resources available online, including video clips, downloadable activities and some interactive content www.midnorfolkkidzklub.co.uk Hope Church in Diss will be live on facebook at 10.30m on Sundays www.facebook.com/DissChristianCommunityChurch Hope Church in Wymondham will be live streaming their service on Facebook every Sunday at 10.30am The Catholic National Shrine at Walsingham is now live streaming 24 hours a day including all regular Masses. Details at: www.walsingham.org.uk/live-stream In Sheringham, Lighthouse Community Church is posting a daily devotion on their Facebook page They are also live streaming worship at 10.15am each Sunday on You Tube St Andrews Methodist Church, also in Sheringham, has a video service each Sunday available on their website . Alive Church in Wymondham will be live streaming a service at 10.30am on Sunday morning at: live.alivechurch.org.uk There is also a Sunday Service Catch Up Tuesday 7.30pm/Friday 9am, daily Lunchtime Prayer at 12 noon and Bedtime Stories Mon/Wed/Fri at 6.45pm Great Yarmouth and Gorleston churches: Cliff Park Community Church: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/387332878 : meeting ID 387 332 878 Emmanuel Pentecostal Church: email: brettcrosson@googlemail.com www.epcgreatyarmouth.wixsite.com/emmanuelchurchgy Gorleston Baptist Church: email: https://www.standrewsgorleston.org.uk/ https://www.standrewsgorleston.org.uk/online-wors hip/ Kingsgate Community Church: email: www.wearekingsgate.org https://www.wearekingsgate.org/kingsgate-service-live-stream/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJqc4u-Bi0BTlDICf1WzDNg Park Baptist Church: email: h ttps://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=park+baptist+church+great+yarmouth If for some reason that doesnt work, simply visit YouTube.com and type Park Baptist Church Great Yarmouth into the search bar. You can also click the YouTube link on the church website homepage and it will take you straight there St Mary Magdalene Church, Gorleston: Sundays, 10.30am on Zoom (meeting ID: 587 786 780), also streaming on Facebook live at Facebook.com/magdalenechurchgorleston Morning prayer, weekdays at 9.30am using the same details. All the details and orders of service available at: stmmgorleston.org.uk St Mary's RC Church, Great Yarmouth: website: http://www.stmarysgy.org.uk/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2mRd_tIf8HR9Uu6B5HXmjw/videos?view=57&flow=grid In Mundesley and Trunch, Gordon Webster circulates Online Worship resources to members of the Methodist congregations there. Relational Mission churches across Norfolk have moved their worship meetings online during the current crisis, providing songs, messages and prayers filled with hope. Attleborough Christ Community Church Attleborough Aylsham Aylsham Community Church Beccles New Life Christian Fellowship Dereham Wellspring Family Church Great Yarmouth - Kingsgate Community Church North Walsham New Life Church North Walsham King's Lynn Gateway Church Sheringham Thetford Hope Church Thetford Wymondham https://www.hopecommunitychurch.co.uk/ https://www.facebook.com/Hope-Community-Church-Wymondham-149372521801749/?ref=bookmarks https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOHMgOImjL8WvQuvLsQLi7w Denominational links for East Anglia The Anglican Diocese of Norwich is updating its website with the latest live of live streaming services. The Catholic Diocese of East Anglia is developing a list of live streamed churches across East Anglia. Find it here. Messianic Jews The Adat Yeshua Messianic Synagogue in Norwich is live-streaming services on its Facebook page every Saturday at 10.30am. The Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Memorial Day) service on Monday 20 will be live streamed at 7pm on the Facebook page. For those who may not be aware, Israel holds a different day to the International Day in January each year. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 12:57:26|Editor: ZD Video Player Close NEW DELHI, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in India Saturday rose to 258, India's federal health ministry said. "Total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases across India is 258," a statement issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said. "Of these, 219 cases are Indian nationals and 39 foreign nationals." On Friday evening, the number was 223. According to ministry officials, so far four deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported in India. The ministry also said 23 people have been discharged from hospitals after showing improvement. So far, Maharashtra state has reported the highest number of cases, followed by Kerala, Delhi Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka. "The confirmed positive cases in Maharashtra is 49, while as in Kerala the number is 33," the ministry said. "In Delhi, it is 25, while as in Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka, the number is 23 and 15 respectively." The government has issued advisories asking people to avoid crowded places and unnecessary foreign travel. Local governments in most Indian states have closed educational institutions, clubs, cinema halls, gyms, museums, swimming pools until March 31 to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the country, and major sporting events were cancelled. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday announced self-imposed public curfew on Sunday in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak. Modi said no one should step out of their homes on Sunday from 7:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. local time, except those people in essential services. The Indian government has banned the entry of all international commercial passenger flights from Sunday for one week. Meanwhile, state-run broadcaster All India Radio (AIR) said train services across the country will remain suspended from Saturday midnight to 10:00 p.m. local time on Sunday. CHESTNUT HILL, MA / ACCESSWIRE / March 20, 2020 / Sokolove Law announces an investigation into a securities class action lawsuit filed against Inovio Pharmaceuticals (INO) on behalf shareholders. INO investors who lost $25,000 or more between February 14 to March 9, 2020 who are interested in learning more about the class action lawsuit should call 800-979-3785 to explore their legal rights. The May 12th deadline is approaching, time is extremely limited- shareholders are encouraged to call without delay. For more information visit: INOFraud.com The lawsuit alleges that between February 14, 2020 and March 9, 2020 the defendants capitalized on extreme COVID-19 panic by falsely claiming that Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. had developed a vaccine for COVID-19. The lawsuit also alleges that Inovio Pharmaceuticals CEO J. Joseph Kim appeared on Fox Business News and stated Inovio had developed a COVID-19 vaccine. After J. Joseph Kim's statement, the market responded favorably and Inovio's stock price quadrupled from $4.28 a share on February 28, 2020, and continued to rise in subsequent weeks, reaching an intra-day high of $19.36 on March 9, 2020. It is alleged that Inovio had not developed a COVID-19 vaccine. The lawsuit states that on March 9, 2020, before trading commenced, Citron Research exposed the misstatements, calling for an SEC investigation into the matter. In response, Inovio's stock price fell dramatically from its March 9 opening price of $18.72 per share to close to $9.83. The following day, March 10, 2020, Inovio's stock price fell from its $9.30 per share opening price to close at $5.70 per share. If you are an INO investor who lost at least $25,000 between February 14, 2020 to March 9, 2020, call our experienced case managers now at 800-979-3785 to discuss your legal rights in this securities fraud class action lawsuit. The class has not been certified yet. You are not represented by an attorney until certification occurs. If you do not take action you can remain an absent class member. There is no required minimum number of shares to be a class member. Story continues About Sokolove Law Sokolove Law provides quality legal services that help people obtain access to the civil justice system. For more than 40 years, Sokolove Law has worked to educate people about their legal rights and helped thousands of injured parties obtain the compensation they deserved from their legal claims. Sokolove Law is a national law firm with offices and a licensed attorney in nearly every state. The firm operates as a limited liability company in all states except Virginia, California, Michigan and Tennessee, where it operates as a limited liability partnership. For more information on Sokolove Law, please visit www.sokolovelawfirm.com THIS IS AN ADVERTISEMENT Sokolove Law, LLC, 1330 Boylston St, Suite 400, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467. Ricky LeBlanc admitted in MA only. While this firm maintains joint responsibility, most cases of this type are referred to other attorneys for principal responsibility. This is general information only and should not be taken or relied on as legal, medical, or other advice. No attorney-client or other professional relationship is created by providing or using this information. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. 2020 Sokolove Law, LLC SOURCE: Sokolove Law, LLC View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/581814/SHAREHOLDER-ALERT-May-2020-Deadline-Approaching-for-Inovio-Pharmaceuticals-INO-Class-Action Essel Group Chairman Subhash Chandra appeared before the Enforcement Directorate on Saturday in connection with a money laundering probe against Yes Bank promoter Rana Kapoor and his family members, officials said. Also, Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal was questioned by the ED in connection with a separate money laundering case linked to alleged financial fraud with a Mumbai-based tours and travel company. It was earlier stated by officials that Goyal was questioned in the Yes Bank case but later it was clarified that he joined investigation in another case. Goyal has been summoned by the agency in the Yes Bank case too but he is yet to depose. Officials said Subhash Chandra arrived at the ED office here at Ballard Estate at about 11 am. His statement will be recorded by the investigating officer of the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The Essel Group has an alleged unpaid loan of Rs 8,400 crore towards Yes Bank. Chandra, also a Rajya Sabha MP, was first called by the ED on March 18 but he skipped saying he was occupied with the ongoing Parliament session. He was then given a fresh date for Saturday by the ED. On March 6, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had told a press conference that the Anil Ambani Group, Essel Group, Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS), Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL) and Vodafone were among the stressed corporates Yes Bank had exposure to. Jet Airways' loan exposure to the crisis-ridden Yes Bank is about Rs 550 crore. Naresh Goyal was first summoned by the central probe agency on March 18 but he cited the reason of tending to an ill relative for skipping the summons. He is expected to appear in the Yes Bank case soon, they said. A full-service carrier, Jet Airways shut its operations in April last year after running out of cash. The agency initiated action against Rana Kapoor and his family members and raided him soon after the Reserve Bank imposed a moratorium on the "stressed" Yes Bank earlier this month. Normal banking operations for Yes Bank customers were re-started on Wednesday. Kapoor, 62, was arrested by the ED in Mumbai on March 8 and at present he is in judicial custody. The ED has grilled Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani and Peter Kerkar of Cox & Kings company. The probe agency has accused Kapoor, his family members and others of laundering "proceeds of crime" amounting to Rs 4,300 crore by receiving alleged kickbacks in lieu of extending big loans through their bank that later allegedly became a non-performing asset (NPA). As many as 44 companies belonging to 10 large business groups reportedly accounted for bad loans totalling Rs 34,000 crore of Yes Bank. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rethinking trade liberalisation in the age of the virus View(s): Tourist attractions like the Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage have been closed to prevent the spread of the virus. With the coronovirus reaching pandemic levels globally, and with Sri Lanka also reporting several cases, the immediate concern for all nations is to ensure that its citizens are kept safe. To this end, many countries including Sri Lanka have imposed travel restrictions, quarantine measures and restrictions on public gatherings. While daily wage earners, those self-employed and those whose livelihoods depend on social interaction are immediately at threat in a situation where there is no meaningful social security system, the larger picture has not yet unfolded but is important to understand in a bid to be better prepared to deal with it in the near future. Rationale for trade liberalisation Sri Lanka is a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). As such, it is bound by all its rules as well as several covered agreements that deal with topics such as agriculture, textiles, subsidies, sanitary measures, investment, and intellectual property. The WTO was created for the express purpose of bringing the benefits of trade liberalisation to all nations and promoting economic prosperity globally. The rationale for trade liberalisation is the principle of Comparative Advantage. This economic theory posits the idea that any nation may be good at producing some product or service. The older theory of Absolute Advantage mandated that a nation only produces a product that it was more efficient at producing than another nation. This theory did not serve global trade interests because there were some nations that did not have an absolute advantage over any product. Comparative Advantage takes a more realistic perspective because nations that are very efficient at producing certain goods will focus on them and leave off producing goods that they are not so efficient at producing, even if they do produce them more efficiently than certain other nations. These goods then become comparatively more advantageous for those other nations to produce, resulting in every nation producing something in large quantities, achieving economies of scale and efficiency which results in more profits, and being able to trade these in the global market. Thus, each nation becomes interdependent on each other, as no single nation is self-sufficient any more. Protectionist measures in the WTO setting Even though the WTO actively promotes trade liberalisation, it allows nations to take several protectionist measures that are aimed at safeguarding domestic producers and the market. The General Exceptions to obligations that are found in Article XX of the WTO document permit a state to take measures that are necessary to protect human and animal health and plant life. In addition a state may also prevent exportation of products that are in short supply. The Security Exception in Article XXI permits a state to take any action to protect its essential security interests in a time of war or other emergency in international relations. Therefore, in any emergency situation, a state may choose to refuse to export products that it considers are important for domestic consumption, even if they are essential to another state. Similarly, a state may refuse to allow importation of goods from another state if it fears that those goods are contaminated and will endanger human or animal health or plant life. Implications of the coronavirus for global trade Restrictions on social life have already left their mark on economic activity, with stock markets in most countries indicating a downward spiral. The coronavirus has the potential to not only slow down production, as governments focus only on keeping essential services up and running, but also to slow down imports and exports. While protectionist measures had always been part and parcel of the WTO and its predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT), its provisions had not been fully put to the test, as it will be in the weeks and months following the virus and its aftermath. Implications for Sri Lanka It may be argued that in the face of a global pandemic, trade should not be a priority. In the case of Sri Lanka, the unfortunate reality is that we are dependent on imports for a majority of our basic needs, and that no local production exists in many essential sectors. Thus, if a country that we are dependent upon for a basic good is unable to export this good to Sri Lanka because of its own domestic situation, there is no legal basis on which we could demand that it do so. In a previous work, I have argued that there must be a vibrant domestic production if a state is to participate meaningfully in the global trading arena (Global Trade and Sri Lanka: Which Way Forward Stamford Lake, 2016). Further, domestic production of essential goods must be maintained, even if they are unproductive in the face of foreign competition. Conclusion In the 25 years following the establishment of the WTO, there has been several threats to the global trading system, but none as serious as the one potentially posed by the coronavirus. It will force statesmen and policy makers to re-think many of the fundamental principles upon which the global trading system of interdependency is constructed. If developing nations with low manufacturing capacities such as Sri Lanka are to survive in such a system, there must be re-thinking of priorities without which, vulnerable populations will be placed at high risk. (The writer is a Professor of Commercial Law and teaches International Trade Law and WTO Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Colombo). JACKSON, MI Theres only been one confirmed case of COVID-19 in Jackson County so far. But none of the tests conducted at the Henry Ford Allegiance Health drive-through site in downtown Jackson have yielded results yet, said Courtland Keteyian, vice president of Population Health at Henry Ford Allegiance Health. The tests for the disease caused by the new coronavirus are expected to take at least a week to process, he said. Sorry, but your browser does not support frames. As of the end of the day on Thursday, March 19, the testing site had swabbed and sent in 407 samples to an external lab. It was unclear why the number was lower than the total reported number of tests done earlier in the week. The testing site opened Saturday, March 14, and has processed 760 vehicles, Keteyian said. A number of people whose symptoms werent severe enough were declined a test. This is making sure were utilizing the tests for the most appropriate people who need it the most, Keteyian said. The test results will come back to the hospital electronically, Keteyian said, and will be immediately shared with those tested. Anyone interested in scheduling an appointment to get tested must first call 313-874-7500, where a nurse will decide if you need to be tested or not. The nurses are looking for people with COVID-19 symptoms fever, cough and shortness of breath as well as a recent travel history, contact with people who have the virus, older people and people with underlying medical conditions. Sorry, but your browser does not support frames. The one Jackson County person to test positive was not tested at the drive-through site. The 60-year-old woman was not hospitalized, health officials said. "The person is recovering quite well, at home," said Pamela Hackert, Co-Medical Director for the Jackson County Health Department. Anybody who was in contact with the woman was being monitored by the health department, but theyre only being tested if they show symptoms, Hackert said. The county has not released a list of potential exposure sites. Officials are still gathering data regarding how many tests have been taken and how many results are in from other places around Jackson County, like doctors offices, urgent care centers and the hospital. There have been 549 positive tests for COVID-19 in Michigan so far, including two in Eaton County, 16 in Washtenaw County and seven in Ingham County. Three people, statewide, have died in connection with the virus. More Michigan coronavirus coverage: How Grandma Sarahs soup is inspiring goodwill amid coronavirus crisis Woman tests positive, dining rooms close: Top Jackson coronavirus headlines from March 15-20 No plans to open more Jackson County coronavirus testing sites, officials say Signs of the times: Coronavirus-related signs offer prayers and closures in Jackson Senior shopping hours created at Pollys Country Markets amid coronavirus outbreak PREVENTION TIPS Michigans State Emergency Operations Center is coordinating state-government resources and the response to the coronavirus spread. It has shared the following tips: What you can do to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases: Always cover coughs or sneezes with a tissue or sleeve. Stay home if you are sick and advise others to do the same. Avoid close contact with people who are sick. Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands. Wash your hands often with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds. Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol, if soap and warm water are not available. Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces(computers, keyboards, desks, etc.). Its not too late to get your flu shot! While the influenza vaccine does not protect against COVID-19 infection, it can help keep you healthy during the flu season. - A barangay captain in one of the towns in Cebu was arrested for organizing a cockfight - The village chief was celebrating his birthday, which was why he held a cockfighting game - Policemen received a tip from a concerned citizen regarding a cockfight amidst COVID-19 - It has been customary for the barangay captain to hold a cockfight for his birthday every year PAY ATTENTION: Click "See First" under the "Following" tab to see KAMI news on your News Feed A barangay captain from a town in Cebu was arrested by authorities after organizing a cockfighting game on his birthday. Dumanjug Town, Kabatbatan Barangay Captain Ruel Dinglasa Cuevas, and another Jerry Ligonas Torres were both arrested on Friday, March 20, 2020. As per CDN's report authored by Morexette Marie Erram, policemen received an anonymous tip for a concerned citizen. The tipster revealed that a cockfight was ongoing then at the residence of the barangay captain. Police Major Ardioleto Cabagnot, Dumanjug Police Station chief said that when the police arrived at the area around 4:45 p.m., there were even bettors around. Cuevas didn't resist arrest though but he will be able to post for bail as per Head Topic. Barangay captain holds cockfight in Cebu for his birthday, arrested by authorities (Photo: Erik_Karits from Pixabay) Source: Facebook Aside from the arrest, the police team were also able to confiscate five gaffs and one live cock. Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, along with the Dumanjug Municipal Government, both issued orders that banned such gatherings. PAY ATTENTION: Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news! In a previous report by KAMI, the President has already placed the entire Luzon under an enhanced community quarantine. Officials admitted that there would be people that would have to walk. Gatherings have also been banned to prevent spread of the virus. The coronavirus outbreak started out in Wuhan, Hubei Province of China. Scientists believed that the virus came from an animal at one of Wuhan's wet markets. At present, the Philippines is under a state of calamity while the entire Luzon is under an enhanced community quarantine. Please like and share our amazing Facebook posts to support the KAMI team! Dont hesitate to comment and share your opinions about our stories either. We love reading about your thoughts and views on different matters! Are you an avid fan of a celeb? You might want to challenge yourself and see if you can guess the voice of celebs through recordings. Check out all of the exciting videos and celebrity interviews on our KAMI HumanMeter YouTube channel! Source: KAMI.com.gh A local pastor has been admitted to the hospital and put into isolation nearly a week after his wife was hospitalized for coronavirus. On Friday evening, Jeff Spencer, a pastor at New Hope Missionary Baptist Church in Hobart, shared news on Facebook that his wife's, Darlene Spencer, health continues to decline. "I love her and just had to make the most difficult decision of my lifetime," Jeff Spencer wrote. "Her doctor and nurse came down to the ER to tell me my wife is taking a turn for the worse and that if her heart stops, they are not going to restart it. Please pray for my children and extended children along with all of our grandbabies during this difficult time." Earlier on Friday afternoon, Spencer posted a photo of himself in a medical mask in a hospital room. "Im here and isolated. Infectious disease doctor told them to admit me," the pastor wrote about 4:30 p.m. Earlier Friday, he said amid his worsening cough, a nurse advised he may need to be tested for COVID-19 and could be admitted to a hospital. The President of Ghana Medical Association (GMA), Dr. Frank Ankobea has pleaded with the National Identification Authority (NIA) to suspend its registration exercise in the Eastern Region as it can be an avenue for the spread of the Coronavirus in the country. According to him, as frontline workers who are most affected in the event of disease outbreak such as the coronavirus, it is their responsibility to caution the nation against anything that can foster the spread of the coronavirus in the country as they fall victim in most cases, taking care of the affected ones. In the outbreak of pandemic diseases like this, we are the frontline workers and so looking at the nature of the coronavirus disease which has reached the country, the only thing we can do is to contain the coronavirus and not spread beyond the number we have recorded in the country, he stated. so anything that can foster the spread of the coronavirus in the country, we have to stop it and so we praised the President for boldly putting measures in place to curtail the spread of the COVID-19 in the country by closing schools, churches, mosques and other public gatherings as these will help to stop the spread of the disease. He added that the warning from the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) to the National Identification Authority (NIA) is such that adherent to the warning will put the health workers at peace and reduce undue pressure, trying to fight the novel coronavirus. If the disease does not spread, the health workers will be at peace and it will not put undue pressure on us trying to fight a virus we have no knowledge of and that is why we have realized that the NIA registration can foment mayhem for the country and if we dont take care, we will end up saying had I know and by that time it will be too late for us and so any sign which can possibly cause the spread of the virus, we have to caution the public about it and that is why we are pleading with the NIA to suspend the registration exercise for a while as the President has stated for all other activities to be put on hold for a month to monitor the spread of the virus and contain it so that it does not spread in Ghana and after we have contained it, NIA all the time to continue with the registration, he pleaded. Dr. Frank Ankobea, however, called for the need to weigh the health of Ghanaians above the registration exercise which is being carried out by the National Identification Authority (NIA), pleading with the authority to prioritize the well-being of the citizens before considering the registration later. All we can do is to give caution for Ghanaians to see that we warned against the action of the NIA. We cannot go and seize the equipment of the NIA and we cannot either go and drive the people away from the registration centers; all we can do is to warn the people. We will plead with the NIA to suspend the registration for now and when we contain the coronavirus, they can continue with the registration, he pleaded. Source: Daniel Adu Darko/Peacefmonline.com/[email protected] Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday appealed to the people to make 'Janata curfew' a huge success by staying at home on Sunday. Singh said collective action is the need of the hour to contain the spread of COVID-19. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged Indians to stay at home from 7 am to 9 pm on Sunday to practice social distancing amid the coronavirus pandemic. In his address to the nation on Thursday, he had termed the Sunday's stay at home activity as 'Janata curfew'. The defence minister said there was no need to panic and the government was taking all necessary measures in a calibrated manner to fight the pandemic, according to an official statement. He assured that the armed forces are fully mobilised to assist the civilian authorities to tide over the crisis. "Singh appreciated the efforts of the various arms and services of the armed forces which have been proactive in evacuating people from COVID-19 affected countries such as China, Iran, Italy & Japan and sheltering them at various quarantine facilities," the statement said. From February 1, 2020 till date, the Indian Air Force has evacuated 1,059 people, including five foreigners, and quarantined them at the facilities in Manesar (Haryana), Hindan (Uttar Pradesh), Ghatkopar (Maharashtra) and Jaisalmer (Rajasthan). The Indian Navy has set up a quarantine camp at INS Vishwakarma in Vishakhapatnam, which is fully equipped to accommodate nearly 200 personnel, the government statement said. Isolation facilities have also been set up at INHS Asvini - one of the first Navy hospitals in India - at Mumbai. "The Naval base, Kochi under Southern Naval Command (SNC), is gearing up to provide quarantine facilities for Indian nationals," the statement said. The SNC is also actively coordinating with Kerala state health officials and Ernakulam district administration to explore the feasibility of provisioning civil hotels and resorts for quarantining, according to the statement. Besides, all Army hospitals have been kept on alert to meet any eventuality. In addition to the operational quarantine centres, more facilities have been readied and may be made operational within 48-72 hours, if needed, the statement said. "These facilities are at Jodhpur (Army), Kolkata (Army), Chennai (Army), Visakhapatnam (Navy), Kochi (Navy), Dundigal near Hyderabad (IAF), Bengaluru (IAF), Kanpur (IAF), Jaisalmer (IAF), Jorhat (IAF) and Gorakhpur (IAF)," it added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) French border guards impounded trucks filled with 130,000 face masks bound for the UK leading to hurried negotiations between the British and French governments. The masks were meant for brave NHS workers battling coronavirus across the country. After realising what was on board, border guards in France held the truck in the wake of President Emmanuel Macron's promise to 'requisition' face masks for the French crisis, reported The Sun. French border guards impounded trucks filled with 130,000 face masks bound for the UK This came just a day after another truck bound for the UK, this time stocked with hand sanitiser, was delayed by authorities on the other side of the Channel. Officials in the UK were swiftly made aware of both incidents. A government source told The Sun: 'On Tuesday night, French authorities stopped the hand sanitiser and confiscated the lot. On Wednesday night, it was lorries full of FFP3 face masks to protect staff.' However another source told the newspaper: 'Both incidents were dealt with relatively quickly. 'There is a clear understanding between countries that only a united approach will tackle the public health emergency all countries face. French border guards impounded trucks filled with 130,000 face masks bound for the UK for brave NHS workers battling coronavirus across the country. Pictured: NHS nurses in Wolverhampton earlier this month The trucks were impounded leading to hurried negotiations between the British and French governments. Pictured: NHS nurses in Wolverhampton earlier this month 'It appears to have been a misunderstanding, we're confident it won't happen again '. On March 3 President Macron posted on Twitter that the French authorities would 'requisition all stocks and the production of masks'. Brexiteer Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader told the Sun said: 'This shows you all you need to know about European co-operation. 'Europe is in lockdown and each nation has been left to their own devices.' Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Petition launched to close Island schools A petition has been launched to close schools on the Island following the first cases of COVID-19. Schools closed in the UK yesterday afternoon in a bid to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Education Minister Dr Alex Allinson confirmed this week that Manx schools will remain open. The Government has confirmed parents can withdraw their children from schools without suffering penalties. Yesterday, King Willliam's College and The Buchan School announced they will move to online teaching only from Monday. More than 200 people have signed the petition . A temperature screening checkpoint is set at the entrance of a junior high school in Yecheng County of Kashgar, northwest China''s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, March 20, 2020. According to local education department, students in primary schools, senior and junior high schools and vocational colleges in Xinjiang will return to school on March 23, as the coronavirus spread has been curbed. (Xinhua/Ding Lei) Harpreet Bajwa By Express News Service CHANDIGARH: The Punjab Police has warned that anyone spreading fake news and rumours on WhatsApp about COVID-19 will be dealt with under the relevant provisions of the law. In an advisory, Punjab Director General of Police Dinkar Gupta on Saturday took strong note of the unsubstantiated rumours and fake news being spread on the COVID-19 pandemic and strictly warned that those found guilty of indulging in such acts will be penalized. The advisory warned people against spreading baseless information which can create unnecessary panic, with a series of dos and donts. Gupta requested the general public not to create panic and unrest through malicious forwards and social media posts. Pointing out that the COVID-19 pandemic impacts our daily lives and affects our livelihoods, he said the safety and welfare of our family members, colleagues and everyone around is of paramount importance, with the authorities doing their best to battle the problem. The Chandigarh Police also issued an advisory, saying it has been noticed that some people are posting fake and unauthenticated news posts on social media, thus creating panic among the public. All are requested not to post any such messages on social media or forward them, it said. If anyone is found creating panic and unrest in public through such posts, they will be dealt with as per relevant provisions of the law, it added. Punjab Police Advisory: * Do not just send forwards. If you are yourself not sure of the information or the source of the information in the message, do not forward to friends and family. * Show restraint in what you post on social media or send on WhatsApp. Do not spread fake news. * Seek authentic sources or government helplines for information. Do not believe rumours. Gogoi too formidable to be ruffled by sickening behaviour of politicians trapped in political disarr India oi-Oneindia Staff By Amar Bhushan Ranjan Gogoi, the former Chief Justice of India walked into Rajya Sabha on March 19, 2020 to take oath as a nominated member. That he was inducted in the upper house only after four months of his retirement shocked the righteous and morally elevated Congress and opposition MPs who called it yet another brazen attempt by PM Modi to tell the nation that he gives a damn to institutional sanctity. As Gogoi was taking oath, they staged a walk out, shouting 'shame, shame', giving civility a burial. You don't welcome even an enemy in your house with boos. That's not our culture but who cares! Gogoi's hecklers claim that his nomination will henceforth encourage sitting judges to give favorable verdicts to humor governments of the day so that they are offered post-retirement jobs with free bungalows to stay, vehicles to roam around and several perks to enjoy for a few more years. Retired justices like M. Lokur, MB Shah and Kurian Joseph who were not offered any post-retirement positions are crying hoarse that such kindness has set a wrong precedence for future governments to follow and undermine the independence of judiciary. They apparently have no faith in the judicial integrity and moral strength of sitting judges of the Supreme and High Courts. For them, every one of them is saleable and they are just waiting for a nudge from the government to tailor their judgements. Can you think of a more bizarre hypothesis? Owaisi, Anand Sharma, Kapil Sibbal, Manu Singhvi and other practising denigrators of Modi say that Ranjan Gogoi's Rajya Sabha membership is a quid pro quo. They are gifted with supernatural power to clearly see what happened in the past. They know that before every judgement was delivered both Gogoi and PM Modi had midnight conspiratorial sessions where they decided what the judgement should be like. Thereafter, Ranjan Gogoi forced other justices of the Bench and made them write the judgements accordingly. Let's try to understand why the quid pro quo gang is so insanely upset with Gogoi. In the Rafael's case, Gogoi did not find any corruption or deviation from laid down procedure for procurement of the fighter aircraft. In reaching to this conclusion, he had rightly opted to examine classified papers in sealed cover but his critics argue that those papers should have been made available to them to examine the government's bona fide. Who will tell them that such papers are circulated strictly on the need to know basis to protect the critical aspect of the national security? Chief Justice Gogoi was absolutely right when he called for the papers for all Justices of the Bench to peruse and satisfy themselves whether they were indeed extremely sensitive and whether they substantiated the government's argument as to why Rafael was bought at the agreed price. Gogoi's judicial impartiality is also questioned because he did not promptly quash the Act passed by the parliament that abrogated Article 371 and 35A and kept postponing hearing on habeas corpus pleas related to alleged assault on fundamental rights in the state. The critics expected him to allow perpetuation of a temporary constitutional provision and thus cause unprecedented chaos and confusion in the state by letting perpetrators of violence let loose. He was wise to wait for the heat to settle down and let the time and people decide whether Delhi's move was good for the integrity of India and prosperity of Kashmiris. The allegation that Gogoi kept PM Modi in good humour stems mainly from the preposterous notion that he was fulfilling BJP's poll manifesto that sought to remove Article 370, implement NRC for the whole country (Gogoi provided a firm roadmap for NRC in Assam) and construct Ram temple in Ayodhya. Instead of ridiculing him, they should have appreciated his enormous courage to confront the problem of illegal immigration in Assam headlong and settle the Ram Janam Bhumi land dispute that was hanging for 135 years and which former Chief Justices were scared to touch even with barge's pole. He is also accused of referring the Sabarimala judgement that had permitted the menstruating women to enter the temple, to a 7- Judge Bench and thus reopened the issue to please the BJP that had opposed the court's interference in Hindus' religious practices. You should actually laud the Man for letting this religious practice be discussed by more Justices with diverse views to evolve an acceptable consensus. The earlier ruling had been given by 3 judges Bench including a woman Judge who had opposed interfering with centuries' old religious practice. It may be relevant at this point to know the judgements that Gogoi delivered against the government. He had struck down the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act that had sought to regulate appointment and service condition of various tribunals. Then he had declared right to privacy as a fundamental right, abolished homosexuality and ruled that case against Fadanwis, former chief minister of Maharashtra, regarding suppression of fact in filing his nomination paper for assembly elections was prosecutable. The quid pro quo brigade may argue that Modi and Gogoi had reached an understanding that the latter would give adverse judgements in pedestrian cases and favourable ones in important cases to lull people in believing that he favoured no one. This is absurd. You don't do such fine tuning along with two or more Justices unless you are a conductor of philharmonic orchestra. For heaven's sake! Trust him to give his fiercely independent perspective on a whole range of issues that you may find educative. Just because he has been nominated by PM Modi, does not make this bold, no-nonsense and upright man an NDA surrogate. (Amar Bhushan is a former special director with the Research and Analysis Wing) Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of OneIndia and OneIndia does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same. The requested page is currently unavailable on this server. Back to [RTHK News Homepage] Letters to the editor View(s): Utharadevi first class: All fine except the disgusting toilet My family and I had the opportunity to travel on the Utharadevi, boarding the train at Kankesanthurai at 5.30 a.m on March 9. We arrived in Colombo Fort on schedule at 1.30. The train had two first-class air-conditioned compartments that could carry 104 passengers. On the whole the ride was extremely comfortable with more than enough leg space and the cost of the ticket of Rs. 1700 was fully worth the luxury and comfortable ride. The train was clean and well maintained with no broken furniture or fittings. The reclining seats were perfect for the long eight-hour journey and the air conditioning worked well. The train was filled to capacity on departure from Jaffna. We were returning after attending the Kachchathivu Feast on March 7, where almost 10,000 devotees from India and Sri Lanka gathered. My main reason in writing this letter is to highlight a glaring shortcoming experienced by all 52 first class passengers of one compartment -the toilet. The commode had no seat cover and was heavily stained, looking filthy and unapproachable. The toilet door lock from the inside was broken. The toilet window in this small enclosure was shut and the smell inside was nauseating. Having complained to an official on board, I was told that the toilets are cleaned at the two ends i.e. the first and last station with no cleaning in-between. Can you just imagine the disgusting smell when 52 passengers of this compartment use this small toilet twice or thrice during this long journey? Dear Mr. General Manager of Sri Lanka Railways, please look into this disgusting shortcoming which brings so much shame to one of Sri Lankas main transport modes. Foreigners who travel on our trains expect a comfortable and pleasant ride especially when travelling first Class A/C and this type of condition could be humiliating to the country and us all. I hope the authorities will take immediate steps to have these toilets cleaned at least every 30 minutes on passage. My family looks forward for another long journey on this luxurious train. Capt. Rohith Fernando Colombo 6 A water meter breakdown: Still waiting for Water Board On February 20, the water meter reader informed us that our meter could not be read and would be replaced the next day. It was replaced 10 days later but on March 16, at about 9 a.m. the joint burst with loss of water. I tried to inform the Board on their hotline but to no avail. The general line Dehiwela Mount Lavinia responded and we gave details the address of residence and bill number, telephone number, but they did not turn up. As there was waste of water we got a plumber to attend to the repair at about 12 noon. Later at 4 p.m a Water Board official called to check if the water problem was solved. I do hope they come to check it eventually. Prof E.A. Jansz Via email Let us do our part as Lankans to fight coronavirus The killer coronavirus is now spreading around Sri Lanka. It is the responsibility of all citizens to protect themselves and our motherland from this deadly disaster. The President and the Government have taken all responsibility to their hand to fight the enemy. We also should take some responsibility to support the government. Our commitment and discipline is important at this time. These few points may help: reduce talking unnecessarily, holding /shaking hands, hugging, kissing, touching anothers face or your own, drinking from the same water/drink bottle, using anothers towel, sitting very close to another in short social distancing is key. Most importantly wash you hands with soap and water and if possible, carry and use a hand sanitizer when on the move. Wesley Moses Kotte Actor Yul Edochie has reacted to the news of the price of Chloroquine shooting up in Nigeria after President Trump stated that it is the cure for Coronavirus. Reacting to this, Edochie tweeted that he knows many wicked Nigerians would by now have grounded chalk to sell as the drug adding that God will punish them. Read Also: Dont Marry A Career Driven Woman And Force Her To Stay At Home Yul Edochie In his words; I know by now some wicked Nigerians will be grinding chalk and packaging it as Chloroquine to sell to people. God will punish all of them. Pls stay vigilant, report and expose any suspicious movement. The Almighty God will see us through this. Amen! Movie musicals are currently all the rage. From Renee Zellwegers Oscar-winning turn in Judy to Rami Maleks Oscar-winning portrayal of Freddie Mercury and the recent remake of Stephen Sondheims Into the Woods, Andrew Lloyd Webbers Cats (a misguided vision), and more, movie musicals have been popping up in silver screens in masses. So, how about an Avengers musical? Marvel Studios Avengers: Endgame stars | Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney While a cinematic spectacle of this sort may not suit the Marvel Cinematic Universes shtick, a handful of your favorite MCU stars could carry a tune (if a parody musical was ever suggested). So, which Avengers can sing? Lets highlight the main MCU actors capable of holding a note. 1. Robert Downey Jr. / Iron Man While Robert Downey Jr. recently departed the MCU, bidding the franchise farewell with an awe-inspiring moment of self-sacrifice, would he return for a musical makeover? Considering he tends to bury his previous musical outings in the past, he may be one who would turn away, despite his obvious talents. Back in 2004, when Robert Downey Jr. was on the rise again following stints in rehab and jail he decided to venture into the music industry, and he released an album titled The Futurist. The Futurist remains the first and final studio album by RDJ. You can hear RDJ serenade the audience through songs titled Man Like Me, Broken, Little Clownz, and more. The album consists of 8 pop songs written by Downey himself, as well as two cover songs: Smile (a Charlie Chaplin composition) and Your Move by Yes. 2. Chris Evans / Captain America While Chris Evans has also bid the MCU farewell, he seems a bit more likely than RDJ to return to the franchise for a musical endeavor, as he is slated to star as The Dentist in the Little Shop of Horrors remake. Evans has also explained that he has always wanted to do a musical. And, he has one very iconic number to perform in the upcoming reboot. He also sang in musicals growing up, as part of his mothers theater group. 3. Scarlett Johansson / Black Widow Scarlett Johansson has one set of pipes, as she does all of her characters vocals in Sing, performing both a cover of Carly Rae Jepsens Call Me Maybe and an original number titled Set It All Free. The actress has also released two studio albums, four extended plays, and four singles. This actress, like RDJ, has a decent amount of experience when it comes to the recording studio. While she may not be the next great vocalist, as her acting talent supersedes her vocal chops, she can definitely hold her own in a movie musical. 4. Jeremy Renner / Hawkeye Jeremy Renner though known for a successful acting career in Hollywood is also a working musician and songwriter. The MCU actor has released three original songs and two covers, and he recently recorded an album. Be sure to check out the actor singing Main Attraction below to get a feel for his pipes. When it comes down to it, several of the most pivotal avengers on the team know how to hold a tune; thus, a musical take isnt all too preposterous. The organizations' assistance means the food deliveries will be made at no cost to recipients, Mrvan said. Elizabeth Acevedo, manager of the Catholic Charities food pantry in East Chicago, said her organization was proud to help. When reached by phone Friday, Mrvan and his staff were preparing to help distribute food. On Thursday, Mrvan met with Ben Cabrera at the John B. Nicosia Senior Building in East Chicago, he said. Cabrera, who has diabetes and is receiving chemotherapy as part of his cancer treatment, cannot leave his apartment because he's feeling weak and has a compromised immune system. "He had tears in his eyes because he had no other option to be able to have access for food," Mrvan said. "These are the realities we face. People can't leave their homes under certain circumstances, and we have to help them." Cabrera said he was grateful for the township's assistance, which helped him get through a severe drop in blood sugar Friday morning. "I just lost my wife to cancer in December," he said. "I'm living by myself." Italy, Spain, Belgium and the UK all recorded their largest single-day death tolls in the global coronavirus pandemic on Friday. In Italy, which now has the highest number of deaths in the world, a further 627 people perished, taking the total to 4,032 fatalities. Another 5,986 new infections were announced in the locked-down country. Some 47,021 people have been infected so far, with 2,655 classified as in serious, critical condition. On Thursday, the number of deaths at that stage in Italy (3,405) first topped the total coronavirus fatalities recorded in China. Local newspaper Eco di Bergamo features several pages of obituaries in its March 17, 2020 edition, in Mediglia, Italy (AP Photo/Luca Bruno) In Spain, the total death toll rose to 1,002 yesterday. This gruesome milestone was reached as 235 died over the previous 24 hours. Almost 20,000 cases (19,980) have been recorded in Spain, with more than a third in the capital, Madrid. Army specialists are to begin entering care homes to help with disinfection. The virus has claimed more than 50 lives at elderly care facilities across the Madrid region. In Belgium, 16 more people died, bringing the total to 37, with more than 2,000 cases of infection. With the virus largely contained in China as a result of a mass lockdown and testing program, Europe is the new epicentre. As of Friday evening, 6,057 had died in 40 European countries. Russia, Ukraine and Belarus reported 1,044 new deaths. A total of 129,216 people have been infected across the continent, with 17,852 new infections yesterday. The terrible impact of COVID-19 was graphically seen in a five minute video report posted Friday by Sky News, whose journalists were the first allowed to film inside the main hospital in Bergamo, northern Italy, where the number of dead has surged faster than the corpses can be buried or cremated by public authorities and churches. The film includes harrowing scenes of close-to-death patients struggling for life in a crowded hospital with the few staff available doing everything possible to save them. A shocked reporter narrates, They are fighting a war here and they are losing. The sheer numbers of people succumbing to the coronavirus is overwhelming every hospital in northern Italy. The staff are working flat out trying to keep their patients from deteriorating further. They are trying to stop them from dying. Patients are shown wearing plastic bubbles that fit over the heads of the most ill, staff struggle to communicate with patients. The bubbles are attempting to equalise the air pressure in the lungs. The reporter comments, It looks like an intensive care unit (ICU), but it is actually just an emergency arrivals ward. The ICU is full. The only way that new patients can qualify for treatment on the ward is to be actually on the point of death, not just gravely ill. In this pandemic, gravely ill is considered a reasonable position. It really is that bad. Such images attest to the failure of an entire system of capitalism. In France, a further 78 people died, bringing the total to 450. Coronavirus infections are doubling every four days, the French health directorate reports. On Friday, 1,617 new cases were recorded, for a total of 12,612. In Germany, 15 died, bringing the number of fatalities to 59. New cases were recorded at 4,391, raising the total to 19,711. In the Netherlands, where 30 people died, total deaths are now at 106. There were 534 new cases, bringing the total to 2,994. In the UK, deaths rose by 40 to 177the largest rise in a single day since the outbreak. The infection toll now stands at almost 4,000, with 714 new infections reported. With 18 of the new deaths recorded in London, the capital is the epicentre of the pandemic in the UK. Hospitals are unable to cope with the huge rise in cases. London's Northwick Park hospital declared a critical incident yesterday after running out of critical care beds. The Guardian reported that it had seen unpublished figures showing that the number of people confirmed or suspected to have Covid-19 being treated in an intensive care unit in hospitals in south London rose from seven on Friday 6 March to 93 on Tuesday 17 Marcha fifteenfold increase in 12 days. Due to the escalation of the crisis in Britain, in the space of a few days Boris Johnsons Conservative government has gone from doing virtually nothing over the pandemicas it advocated a policy of letting the entire population be infected to supposedly acquire herd immunityto imposing firstly social distancing measures and yesterday ordering closed all cafes, bars, pubs, restaurants, nightclubs, theatres, gyms, cinemas and leisure centres. Under conditions in which hundreds of thousands of workers have already been laid off or had their hours slashed and pay cut, many by up to 50 percent, the ruling elite fears a massive social and political backlash. Up to a quarter of the UK workforcearound 10 million workersare employed in retail and sectors that have seen a collapse in trade. Yesterday, the Arcadia retail chain, owned by billionaire Sir Philip Green, which has 1,000 employees, announced the closure of every store in the UK. Ryanair boss Michael OLeary said that his entire workforce would have to take a 50 percent wage cut as the airlinewith cash and other reserves of over 4 billionprepared to ground most of its fleet and reduce capacity by 80 percent in April and May. Every other airline continent-wide is imposing similar measures. In response on Friday, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced measures unprecedented in the history of the British state centred on rolling out a Job Retention Scheme, whereby all employers retaining staff would be able to claim 80 percent of their wages from the government up to 2,500 a month. The move follows that of the Danish government, which rolled out a similar scheme to cover 75 percent of workers wages in the private sector. The total number of Covid-19 infections in Europe is undoubtably far larger than any of the reported figures, due to the fact that virtually no testing is being done on a systematic scale in any European country. According to estimates from leading UK scientists, up to 180,000 people in Britain alone may already be infected with Covid-19, based on estimates that there are 1,000 cases for every one death. Without extensive quarantining and rigorous testing, all global experience demonstrates that the virus cannot be combated. This is proven by several studies conducted during the pandemic. This week, it was reported that due to the testing and retesting of all 3,300 inhabitants of the small town of Vo, near Venice, all new infections in the town were halted. Vo was the location of the first coronavirus death in Italy on February 22. The Financial Times reported that the testing of all residents, regardless of whether they were exhibiting symptoms, and rigorous quarantining of their contacts once infection was confirmed, meant health authorities have been able to completely stop the spread of the illness there. The first testing round, carried out in late February, found 3 percent of the population infected, though half of the carriers had no symptoms. After they were isolated, a second testing round 10 days later showed the infection rate had dropped to 0.3 percent. This second round identified at least six individuals who had the virus but showed no symptoms, meaning they could be quarantined. This has major implications and lessons for every country. Professor Andrea Crisanti, an infections expert at Imperial College London, who is taking part in the Vo study, contrasted this approach to Britains, where just 66,976 people have been tested nationwide out of a population of 66 million. In the UK, there are a whole lot of infections that are completely ignored We were able to contain the outbreak here because we identified and eliminated the submerged infections and isolated them. That is what makes the difference. A 35-year-old businessman from Dubai exposed 331 people in Kodagu, Bengaluru before being quarantined A worker sprays disinfectant inside a Karnataka interstate transport bus to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus in Bangalore on March 19, 2020. (AFP) Mysuru: A 35-year-old man from Kodagu who tested positive for the Covid-19 virus on Thursday is causing concern to health authorities in Karnataka as he is said to have come in contact with a very large number of people. There have been 15 COVID-19 positive cases in Karnataka so far. The district administration of Mysuru has identified at least 331 persons with whom he came into direct contact with before he was taken into isolation at the Kodagu district government hospital. These include people who were exposed to him during his journey in a BMTC bus from the Bengaluru Airport to the Satellite bus stop on Mysuru road and then during the bus journey to Kodagu in a KSRTC Rajahamsa bus. In between, he visited a hotel, travelled in an auto three times, visited his sister's family and a relative's family and a dargah in a village in Kodagu, and met a friend who accompanied him to hospital. The 35-year-old businessman from Dubai is a native of Kethmotte in Virajpet taluk in Kodagu. He arrived in Bengaluru on March 15 evening, and reached his native place on March 16 early morning. He went to the Kodagu district hospital on the evening of March 17 with a fever. He was admitted to an isolation ward in the hospital and his throat swab was sent for testing on the same day. His results arrived Thursday, stating him to be corona positive. He is being treated at the Kodagu district hospital and his condition is stable. All three members from his family are being home quarantined. They do not have any symptoms so far, according to Kodagu district health officer Dr K Mohan. The Kodagu district administration has notified an area within 500 m of his house as the containment zone and quarantined as many as 304 people, including three members of his family in Kethmotte. They have notified the Kondageri area, which is within 5 km of his house as a buffer zone as per the Epidemic Diseases Act. This area includes 247 houses with as many as 1054 people. A temporary checkpost has been set up to ensure that people from the containment zone do not go out and no one enters it. Free rations are being provided to Kethmotte people through the food and civil supplies department. Closure of all shops including provisions and vegetable shops and medical shops has been ordered in the buffer zone, according to Kodagu deputy commissioner Annies Kanmani Joy. Based on the patients statement, health officials have traced the mans detailed travel history. They have identified passengers on Indigo flight number 6E96 from Dubai to Bengaluru in which he landed at the Kempegowda International Airport at 4.15 pm on 15 March. The Health Officials suspect that the person might have come to contact with over 300 persons while he was boarding a BMTC bus at Airport and when he alighted at Satellite bus stop, before going to the KSRTC bus stand. Before reaching satellite bus stand at 6.30 pm, he went to the Albek hotel at Malleswaram for dinner at 7 pm and returned to Satellite bus stand at 10 pm. He travelled in an auto both ways. He also waited at the Satellite bus stand till 11.30 pm and boarded a Rajahamsa bus number KA19 F 3170 headed towards Moornadu in Kodagu at 11.33 pm. The bus stopped at the KSRTC bus stand in Mysuru at around 2.30 am on 16 March and the patient has claimed that he did not get got down there. He reached Moornadu at 5.30 am and took an auto and reached his home at Kethmotte around 6 am. From 6 am to 11am, he stayed at home. At 11.30 am he had left along with his family members to his sisters home in Kunjila village in a car. They reached Kunjila village at 2 pm. From there he went to Kunjila Dargah from 2 pm to 3pm. From there he went o another relatives place in the same village from 3 pm to 6 pm. And he was back home at Kethmotte around 8 pm. On 17 March he went to the Kodagu district hospital by car along with a friend who lives at the Madikeri toll gate bus stand. And he complained of fever and was admitted in an isolation ward in the Kodagu district hospital at 11am on Wednesday. While the health department is tracking all those with whom he came in contact, the Kodagu district administration has issued an advisory to passengers who travelled in the same flight and bus to report to the nearest government hospital immediately/ Health department officials have however claimed that the man did not have any symptoms on his arrival at Bengaluru airport. The Kodagu administration is taking all precautionary measures on a war footing. As many as 100 beds for isolation of patients and 150 beds to quarantine have been arranged. As a precautionary measure, Kodagu deputy commissioner Annies Kanmani Joy has imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 (3) of the CRPC from Thursday till the 31st of this month. She has ordered closure of hotels, resorts, home stays and lodges in Kodagu and prohibited the general public and tourists from staying there except for those who have been quarantined. And she informed that tourist destinations, which have been closed since March 14, will continued to be closed until March 31. This story was produced by the Better Government Association, a nonprofit news organization based in Chicago. The presidential election will be the marquee race on the ballot this November, but in Illinois the most expensive and noisy campaign likely will center on the battle to overhaul the state income tax and require the rich to pay more every year. By this fall, following what promises to be months of fallout from the coronavirus outbreak, deciding whether to change the Illinois Constitution to replace the current flat-rate income tax with a graduated levy might not seem like the highest priority. One business group on Thursday even tried to use the pandemic as a reason to pull the measure from the ballot. Whether that effort proves successful or not remains to be seen, but in the meantime, the issue is expected to result in relentless TV ads, political spin and distortions that hit all of the incendiary themes that have dominated political discourse for years greed, corruption and incompetence; taxes driving businesses and residents out of the state; the rich not paying their fair share. The stakes are high. Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who stressed the need for the amendment during both his budget and State of the State addresses, has put a $5 million down payment of his own money into a political action committee promoting it. Pritzker is betting the future of his first-term agenda and possible re-election on passage of the amendment, which he predicts will generate an additional $3.4 billion to $3.6 billion a year in revenue while lowering or maintaining the tax burden for 97 percent of Illinois residents. Were changing the trajectory of the state, said Quentin Fulks, Pritzkers former deputy campaign manager who now heads the Vote Yes For Fairness group leading the graduated tax effort. Citing $130 billion in unfunded pension liabilities, $8 billion in unpaid bills and the lowest credit rating among the states, Fulks said, This is something we have to do. No, say opponents, who have launched several political committees to fight the amendment, including Vote No on the Blank Check Amendment. Jason Heffley, executive director of Ideas Illinois, one of the opposition groups, said legislative performance gives voters little hope a graduated tax will solve the states troubles. (Voters are) being asked, Hey, trust us, but what were saying is we have a General Assembly that has just run amok on spending and hasnt addressed any of the other major problems. Heffley declined to say how much opponents will spend to defeat the measure, but questioned the financial clout of Pritzker. Obviously Pritzker is a wealthy man who has put money behind his causes in the past, but Im not even sure he has enough money to convince Illinoisans to trust Springfield politicians, Heffley said. Another group, the Illinois Business Alliance, on Thursday called on Pritzker and the Illinois General Assembly to remove the graduated income tax amendment measure from the November ballot, arguing in a press release that the new tax would hit small businesses harder at a time when they can least afford it. Among states in the nation that tax income, nine including Illinois assess a flat rate while 32 do so on a sliding scale. Illinois has had a flat rate structure since 1969. To change that, 60 percent of those voting on the change will need to approve it, or a simple majority of all those who cast ballots in the election. Either way, its no easy lift. And with heavily Democratic Illinois not having had a competitive presidential contest since 1988, experts expect the tax battle to suck up most of the political oxygen. I expect this to be incredibly noisy, negative and expensive, said Chris Mooney, a political scientist at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The people most affected by this have a lot of money, and in Illinois there are no restrictions on how much you can give. And on the other side youve got J. B. Pritzker, who has a checkbook the size of the Thompson Center, Mooney said. In states such as California, where voters have been empowered to cast decisions on everything from banning plastic bags to recalling the governor, ballot measures are commonplace. But the rules are much different in Illinois. While Illinois voters think of themselves as grizzled political veterans who have seen it all governors put in prison, shoe boxes stuffed with cash and unrelenting federal investigations involving local and state elected officials voters here dont have a lot of experience deciding important issues via ballot measures. Illinois law restricts the number of referenda to three in a statewide election. Whats more, most of the time voters are only asked their opinions on matters of public policy raising the minimum wage, enacting a millionaires tax through advisory ballot measures that have no force of law. People in Illinois arent used to ballot questions, said Cynthia Canary, former executive director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform. Were accustomed to nonbinding issues like, Should bad guys go to jail? This is going to be at a whole different level. Exceptions are rare. In 1980, voters approved a measure reducing the size of the Illinois House of Representatives, to 117 from 180. Four years ago, Illinois voters approved an arcane constitutional change that guaranteed gas tax revenues were only spent on transportation projects. The total spent by interest groups in that campaign was about $3.8 million, according to an analysis by University of Illinois Springfield professor Kent Redfield, less than Pritzkers $5 million seed money. In California, expensive ballot battles are standard warfare. In 2018 alone, more than $364 million was spent on 16 ballot proposal campaigns, according to FollowTheMoney.org, a nonprofit research group that tracks campaign expenditures. A single committee spent $111 million. Similar tax proposals asking voters to flip from a flat to a graduated tax have fared poorly. The most recent example in 2018 was in Colorado, where confusion played a key role in voters rejecting a sliding scale that went as high as 8.25 percent for those making more than $500,000, with the new money dedicated to public schools. Lisa Weil, executive director of Great Education Colorado, the group that led the effort for the tax change, said putting fiscal matters on the ballot is problematic because the inherent complexity and nuance attached to tax policy cant all be explained in the limited space of a ballot proposition. Its relatively easy to sow confusion or cynicism, Weil said. Its easier to get people to say no. Despite a decade of polls from the Paul Simon Institute at the University of Illinois Springfield showing roughly two-thirds of the public supports the concept of a graduated tax, and despite the heightened national attention paid to the impact of income inequality, pre-election polls often arent predictive. The problems in Colorado underscore why Pritzkers $5 million personal check into the pro-graduated income tax camp is only a down payment, the opening bid of dueling campaigns pitting schools, pensions and promises of state financial stability against those who argue the graduated tax will cripple the state. Even Pritzker acknowledges passage of the amendment will not solve the states financial problems. For example, only additional $200 million would go to help solve the states massive pension debt. Mooney said opponents will launch two lines of attack. One is that taxes will be going up for some and nobody will be getting more stuff because this is money going out the window for stuff already spent, like pensions, Mooney said. The other is, How well do you trust the government to take care of your money? For instance, in January former state Sen. Martin Sandoval pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of bribery and agreed to cooperate in an evolving widespread probe of public corruption. While the tax proposal is about Illinois financial future, the history of political corruption is an obstacle. Id be blind if I said it wasnt a hurdle, Fulks said. Its something were going to have to deal with and combat. And the tool to fight on both sides will be money, and a lot of it. A certain amount of public education is obviously going to be necessary, Canary said. But are people listening to the best argument or are they listening to those making the most noise because they have the most money behind them? Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 1 Angry 1 Sabrina Sloan portrays Angelica Schuyler in "Hamilton." (Joan Marcus) "Hamilton" at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre has suspended nearly three more weeks of performances because of the coronavirus. Lin-Manuel Mirandas hit musical, part of the Pantages-Dolby Theatre Broadway in Hollywood lineup, has scrapped shows through April 19. The production announced Friday afternoon that it has automatically initiated refunds for ticket holders of these performances and is encouraging patrons to rebook seats for a later date in the run, which ends Nov. 22. "Thank you for your ongoing support, patience and cooperation as we navigate the upcoming months," read a Friday statement from the L.A. production. "While we wish we could all come together to enjoy a live performance of 'Hamilton' right now, we remain hopeful that we will see you all soon. " The shows were scrapped one day after Gov. Gavin Newsom announced extraordinary measures directing all Californians to stay at home in an attempt to curb the coronavirus outbreak. As of Friday, Los Angeles County has confirmed a total of 294 cases. This eight-month engagement of "Hamilton" which has won Tony, Grammy and Olivier Awards as well as the Pulitzer Prize for drama and an unprecedented special citation from the Kennedy Center Honors is the show's second stint in L.A., after a four-and-a-half-month run in 2017 . Jamael Westman and Nicholas Christopher alumni of other "Hamilton" productions around the world lead this production as Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, respectively. Ruben J. Carbajal, Joanna A. Jones, Taylor Iman Jones, Carvens Lissaint, Simon Longnight, Rory OMalley, Sabrina Sloan and Wallace Smith are among the principal cast. The initial suspension of shows through March 31 came just hours before the production was set to begin performances on March 12. It followed California officials' overnight recommendation to cancel all gatherings with 250 or more people through the remainder of the month. Story continues Friday's cancellation of performances through mid-April is "at the direction of officials with the County of Los Angeles," and "in support of the well-being of the theatergoing public as well as those who work on the production, subject to ongoing assessment by county or state health authorities," said the production's statement. "We take the health and safety of our patrons, staff and community seriously and urge everyone to continue to follow the guidelines set forth by public health officials." On Broadway, the producers of Martin McDonagh's comedic play "Hangmen" announced that the show would not resume performances once New York theaters eventually reopen. The Olivier Award winner for best play with an ensemble that included Dan Stevens ("Downton Abbey") began performances on Feb. 28 and had played only 13 previews when all of Broadway was shuttered on March 12. It is Broadway's first casualty of the coronavirus outbreak. With no definite end in sight of the governments closure and Broadways suspension, we have no alternative but to release the actors from their contracts and close the production," said the producers in a joint statement Friday. "Given our shows budget and capitalization, we do not have the economic resources to be able to continue to pay the theater owners, cast and crew through this still undefined closure period. Therefore, in the interests of all involved, we regretfully have no choice but to close the show. We are all extremely disappointed that we cannot give Martin McDonagh and our fabulous director, cast and team the celebrated opening they all deserve. By Express News Service LUCKNOW: Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Tirath Kshetra Trust chief Mahant Nritya Gopal Das has appealed to devotees to celebrate Navratri/ Ram Navmi at their homes instead of thronging Ayodhya in view of the coronavirus outbreak. This crisis (virus scare) will be over in some days. We all must think in the larger interest of the nation and must take all precautions to check the spread of coronavirus, added Mahant Nritya Gopal Das. The second-in-command at the trust Mahant Kakamnayan Das and the general secretary Champat Rai echoed Nritya Gopal saying the devotees should worship Lord Ram in their houses only. ALSO READ | Coronavirus: Bars, hair salons closed till March 31 in Lucknow; Ayodhya seers cancel Ram Kot Parikrama The festival of Ram Navmi usually witnesses a rush of around 15 lakh devotees congregating in Ayodhya during the nine-day Navratri festival every year. The trust was expecting a much bigger mela this year on April 2 as it will be the first Ram Navmi after the Supreme Court order paving the path for construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya. District collector Anuj Jha held a meeting with prominent saints of Ayodhya and issued an appeal to devotees against coming to Ayodhya. The saint community in Ayodhya has requested Jha to live telecast Navratri puja ana aarti at Ram Janmabhoomi so that devotees could watch them from their homes. On his part, Ayodhya DM assured that he would make all possible efforts to ensure the live telecast of Navratri puja at Ram Janmabhoomi. ALSO READ: Yogi govt to celebrate Ram Navmi in Ayodhya despite COVID-19 pandemic Now, the shifting of Ram Lalla from the makeshift temple to another temporary temple within the Ram Janmabhoomi campus on the first day of Navratri (March 25) will likely to be a low key affair. CM Yogi Adityanath and members of the Sri Ram Janmabhomi Tirath Kshetra will attend the event where the CM is expected to lead the ceremony. The deity will be shifted from the makeshift temple in a palanquin in the wee hours. CM Adityanath will be among four persons who will carry this palanquin to the new location which is a few meters away from the existing shrine. By Express News Service THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the community spreading of Covid-19 in the district a real possibility, the district administration and local bodies are pulling out all stops to set up corona care facilities to isolate people with symptoms. Should the need arise, these facilities will house the suspected cases and they will receive similar care as in a hospital for the duration of their stay. Four major buildings have been identified in the capital so far. Sameti Hall, AnayaraThe facility houses those who returned from corona-affected countries. The first group comprised 32 people, most of whom were from an ashram. They were later moved to another facility in Kollam. With the last person kept under observation leaving on Friday, the building will be disinfected before a new group is admitted. Youth Hostel, Veli The Youth Hostel of the Central Government with the State Youth Welfare Board chairman as its head can house up to 30 people in isolation. Currently, the building is being prepped and the eight staff members are prepared to house people at a short notice. Food will be supplied by Kudumbashree through the city corporation. Chelsa Hospital The hospital is a backup plan of the authorities. Should community spreading increase, the existing medical machinery will prove insufficient. The hospital had been shut down for a while now. The facility can be used to isolate suspected cases. The district administration has also chipped in to help in isolating suspected cases. Taluk hospitals in Neyyattinkara, Nedumangad and Fort are now facilitated to care for isolated cases. With Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan urging the local bodies to find more such buildings in all localities, more such facilities will be set up. Mayor K Sreekumar said that a meeting was held with all zonal office representatives to locate such buildings. Institute of Management in Government Hostel, Barton Hill The hostel has been disinfected as per protocol and is on standby should the need arise. It has separate rooms which will help in isolating suspected cases and will prove helpful in the long run. The number of Sars-Cov-2 patients in India rose to 258 after 22 fresh cases were reported across the country, the government said on Saturday. Among the 258 people are 39 foreign nationals and also includes the four deaths reported from Delhi, Karnataka, Punjab and Maharashtra so far. The respiratory illness has now spread to 22 states and Union territories after Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh reported new cases. The first Covid-19 case in India was reported from Kerala on January 30. Two more cases were reported in the next couple of days. All three of them were medical students in Wuhan, the Chinese city believed to be the epicentre of the outbreak, who returned to their hometown in Kerala. All three have recovered. Heres a look at the state-wise breakup of Covid-19 cases in India on Saturday: Maharashtra The number of infected people rose to 63 in Maharashtra, which continued to report the highest number of Covid-19 cases. Ten more from Mumbai and one from Pune have tested positive as per the reports we received yesterday (Friday) night. Eight of them have a history of international travel, while three are infected from them, states health minister said. Tope said, out of 63 patients, about 14 were infected from those who tested positive for coronavirus. Maharashtra has reported one death, according to government data. Kerala Following Maharashtra, Kerala has reported 40 cases, including two foreigners, of novel coronavirus so far. Kerala reported the highest increase with 12 new cases. Of these, seven cases involved Indians and five foreign nationals, according to the health ministry data. Three people from the state have recovered and no deaths have been reported as of Saturday. Also read: Coronavirus: Is Tamil Nadu man Indias first community spread case? Uttar Pradesh The most populous state in the country has reported that 24 people have been infected with the novel coronavirus as of Friday and one of them is a foreigner. Nine people have recovered from the virus in Uttar Pradesh so far. Delhi There are 26 people with the respiratory illness, including one foreigner, in Delhi. The Capital has reported one Covid-19 death and five people have recovered from the infection. Rajasthan Rajasthan has 23 people, including two foreigners, who have been infected from the novel coronavirus. Three people have recovered from Covid-19 and sent home. Haryana Twenty people, including 14 foreigners, have tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Haryana. There have been no recovery or death in the state. Telangana In Telangana, 19 people have Covid-19 so far and 11 of them are foreigners. One patient has been cured and sent home. Karnataka There are 15 confirmed cases, all Indians, of the novel coronavirus so far in the southern state. One person has died of Covid-19 in Karnataka so far and there is no report of anyone being cured. Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir The number of Covid-19 cases in the Union Territory of Ladakh rose to 13 and Jammu and Kashmir has confirmed four people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus infection. Gujarat reported a rise in Covid-19 cases with eight patients and in Madhya Pradesh, there are four people who were found to be infected with Sars-Cov-2. In Tamil Nadu, three people have tested positive for coronavirus and one has been cured. Andhra Pradesh and Uttarakhand have also reported three coronavirus cases each. West Bengal has also reported three cases of Covid-19. Punjab has reported two Covid-19 patients and one death. Odisha also has two patients infected with the virus as well as Himachal Pradesh. Chhattisgarh and Union territories of Chandigarh and Puducherry have one case of Covid-19 each so far. By Online Desk The total number of COVID-19 cases in India crossed 300 on Saturday even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed with chief ministers the preparedness of states to check and prevent the spread of the virus, which has claimed more than 10,000 lives globally. The PM also advised people to avoid unnecessary travel to other cities. In a tweet, he said, "Never forget - precautions not panic! Its not only important to be home but also remain in the town/ city where you are. Unnecessary travels will not help you or others. In these times, every small effort on our part will leave a big impact." A spike in numbers prompted the states and UTs to reinforce their efforts to contain the spread. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that social, religious and political gatherings of more than five people would not be allowed, adding that he was also ready to impose a lockdown in the city if the need arose. Three more cases were reported in Tamil Nadu, all of them foreigners, taking the total count in the state to six. Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh joined the list of coronavirus positive states in India with four positive cases and two positive cases reported in each state respectively. As the coronavirus continued its upward trajectory across the country, authorities faced a double-barrelled challenge -- strengthening the checks and prevention mechanisms and addressing public panic which has led to the hoarding of essential items. COVID-19: CHECK THE STATUS OF YOUR STATE HERE Albany, N.Y. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Saturday that there is a statewide shortage of hospital gowns, but that new temporary medical facilities are coming to New York, as will trials of a drug combination that may be the answer to treating coronavirus. Those are a few of several updates Cuomo gave Saturday morning during what has become a daily briefing on the states response to the coronavirus pandemic. Here are some of the highlights: Hospital gown shortage and new masks: Cuomo said the state is working with private companies to manufacture masks and gowns for hospitals. The state has acquired 2 million medical-grade N95 masks, half of which are earmarked for New York City and another 500,000 will be sent to Long Island. New York has enough masks to handle Upstates need," however, there is a statewide shortage in hospital gowns. Cuomo said. 6,000 more ventilators: Cuomo has previously stated that New York could need up to 30,000 ventilators when the virus peaks, but has just around 6,000 now. That supply could soon double after Cuomo announced that theyve identified 6,000 additional ventilators in spaces all across the globe" and will purchase them in the coming weeks. The state is also looking at ways to potentially use a ventilator for more than one patient, which would reduce the burden. Landmark drug trial: New York could soon start trials of a drug therapy consisting of hydroxychloroquine, a common anti-malaria drug, and Zithromax, an antibiotic. President Trump has championed hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment to COVID-19 and a French study found that the two drugs, when used in combination, could reduce the duration of the novel coronavirus in patients. Cuomo also added that Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, a Westchester County-based biotech company, is working on a coronavirus vaccine. Mental health help: Cuomo is asking psychologists, therapists and other mental health professionals to volunteer their time for a new statewide network to provide mental health services for those in need. People are struggling with the emotions as much as they are with the economics, Cuomo said. The sessions would be held by phone or online. To volunteer, visit health.ny.gov/assistance. Field hospitals: The Javits Center, the giant Manhattan convention center, may soon become a 1,000-bed field hospital. Cuomo is eying the spot to be home to four 250-bed field hospitals run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, with the potential to house additional units run by the Army Corps of Engineers. Other potential field hospital sites include SUNY Stony Brook, SUNY Westbury and the Westchester Convention Center. Practice Humanity: Cuomo concluded the briefing with a plea to New Yorkers to practice humanity. The time is now to show some kindness, to show some compassion to people, show some gentility - even as a New Yorker. MORE ON CORONAVIRUS The entrance to Chungjangsa Temple at Haengju Fortress dedicated to General Kwon Yul. Robert Neff Collection, March 2020. By Robert Neff The interior of Chungjangsa Temple with a painting of General Kwon Yul. Robert Neff Collection, April 2015. One of the most important battles during the Imjin War (1592-1598) took place just outside Seoul at Haengju Mountain Fortress near Goyang City. In the early hours of March 14, 1593, a Japanese army of 30,000 men marched from Seoul and arrived at the foot of the stronghold just before dawn. The fortress (on a cliff overlooking the Han River) could only be approached on one side that was fortified with earthen walls and a palisade of wooden spears. Manning the walls were 2,300 Korean soldiers and warrior-monks under the command of General Yul Kwon (1537-1599). In addition to the soldiers were several thousand civilians who fled from their villages for the relative safety of the stronghold. In the morning light, the Koreans could see the vast army of Japanese warriors attired with red and white banners on their backs. Many of these Japanese wore frightening masks depicting ferocious animals and supernatural creatures. Vastly outnumbered, fear must have rippled through the Korean ranks but it was quickly tempered by the calm attitude of their general he ordered his men to eat their breakfast while the enemy prepared to attack. Shortly after dawn the Japanese attacked. The Koreans enjoyed the advantage of elevated cover and easily repelled wave after wave of Japanese attacks. In his book, "The Imjin War," Sam Hawley wrote: An engraving of General Kwon Yul and his soldiers defending the fortress. Robert Neff Collection, March 2020 [The] muskets of the Japanese were of only limited use, for in having to fire uphill they were unable to effectively target the defenders holed up within. Their lead balls simply flew in an arc over the fort and into the Han River beyond. The advantage was with the Koreans, firing down upon the attacking Japanese with arrows and stones and anything else that came to hand. They had a number of gunpowder weapons as well, including several large chongtong cannons and a rank of hwacha (fire carts), box shaped devices built onto wagons that fired up to one hundred gunpowder propelled arrows in a single devastating barrage." Throughout the morning the Japanese were repulsed their losses were severe but by the afternoon the Korean defenders were exhausted and so, too, was their supply of arrows. Fighting was now hand-to-hand and the Koreans used spears, swords, rocks, boiling water and handfuls of ash (tossed into the faces of the Japanese). The Korean women contributed to the defense by gathering stones and carrying them in their skirts to the soldiers so that they could be used as weapons. According to Hawley, "this traditional type of skirt is still known as a Haengju chima (Haengju skirt) in remembrance of this day." Just when it seemed the Japanese would overcome the arrow-less defenders, salvation arrived in the form of two ships filled with 10,000 arrows. Resupplied with arrows, the Koreans mowed down the attacking Japanese. An engraving of the Korean women carrying stones in their skirts. Robert Neff Collection, March 2020. As the sun set the battle ceased. The Japanese gathered up as many of their dead soldiers as they could and burned them. They then walked back to Seoul a defeated army that had suffered thousands of casualties. Once the Japanese were gone, the Koreans gathered the Japanese bodies that had not been burned and mutilated them. They were ripped and cut into pieces and hung from the walls. A Japanese officer later described the Han River and the battlefield as the "river of hell." The Koreans had suffered relatively few casualties and had dealt the Japanese a demoralizing blow. General Kwon Yul became a national hero one that is still remembered. A statue of General Kwon Yul. Robert Neff Collection, March 2020. The fortress still stands and is one of those secrets that bicyclists would probably like to keep to themselves. Located near the bike lanes, it is a popular haunt for cyclists and the residents of Goyang City who want to get away from the crowds and bustle of daily life. Due to the coronavirus, most of the site's buildings are closed but the handful of visitors seem more relaxed lowering their masks while wandering the lonely paths leading up to the monuments, the temple and the earthen wall. Peacefulness reigns, except for the noisy squabbles between the birds in the chestnut and pine trees fighting over choice morsels of food or nesting rights. But not everything about this site pertains to General Kwon Yul and his battle against the Japanese. Near the earthen walls is another monument rather humble and not even mentioned in the information brochures. Perhaps because it memorializes a powerful woman from Korea's distant past one who many might wish to remain forgotten. Who was she? We will find out tomorrow. The old and new "Siege of Haengju" monuments. Robert Neff Collection, March 2020. Deokyangjeong Pavilion and the Han River from Haengju Fortress. Robert Neff Collection, April 2015. A view of the Han River from the fortress. Robert Neff Collection, March 2020. Unfortunately, due to the coronavirus, most of the buildings are now closed to the public. Robert Neff Collection, March 2020. Two New Jersey residents were charged this week after they hosted large crowds at events in their homes, including a pop-up wedding, in defiance of social distancing orders amidst the coronavirus outbreak. Eliyohu Zaks, 49, was summonsed by police on Friday after authorities said he hosted a pop-up wedding in his home on Spruce Street in Lakewood, according to the Asbury Park Press. The event was attended by more than 50 people, a violation of the states newly enacted edict banning such gatherings as part of efforts to contain the coronavirus. Another local resident, 43-year-old Shaul Kuperwasser, was cited by police after a large crowd was seen gathering at his home on Thursday. The image above shows the home of Eliyohu Zaks, 49, of Lakewood, New Jersey. Zaks was charged after police broke up a pop-up wedding at his home earlier this week Several residents of Lakewood, New Jersey, have called the police after witnessing large gatherings at private homes in violation of a statewide ban which was enacted to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. The image above was posted to social media showing an alleged gathering in the township earlier this week New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy (seen above on Saturday) angrily threatened to crack down harder on large public gatherings Lakewood officials said they have received dozens of angry phone calls from local residents who have reported mass gatherings in recent days, according to Patch. The authorities said they are acting with a sense of urgency after Lakewood reported a confirmed 26 cases of coronavirus through Friday. Across New Jersey, at least 11 people have died of coronavirus infection. Statewide, there have been a confirmed 890 cases. Lakewood Police Captain Gregory Staffordsmith said his officers have continued to break up large gatherings this week despite the stay-at-home order. We want the public to know that we have heard and share their concerns regarding gatherings of more than 50 people and have taken action against those who have failed to comply, he said. The recent sightings of public gatherings have already exacerbated long-running tensions in Lakewood, where a large Orthodox Jewish population has relocated in recent years. New Jersey police earlier this week broke up two large weddings at reception halls, according to NJ Advance Media. Even as wedding halls were ordered to shut down, residents simply moved the ceremonies to backyards on their residential properties. Lakewood residents were particularly outraged by photos showing hundreds of students inside a local yeshiva. The photos which were circulated on Thursday on Orthodox Jewish news sites and social media set off a flood of notification, according to police. The above image shows the Lake Terrace catering hall in Lakewood. Police were called to the catering hall earlier this week after receiving reports that a wedding was being held here in defiance of the lockdown Another event involving a large number of people was shut down by police at the Fountain Ballroom in Lakewood (pictured above) New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy this week angrily vowed to crack down more harshly on residents who held gatherings as state authorities struggle to prevent the fast-spreading disease. Its time to cut the crap, Murphy told reporters in Trenton on Thursday. When asked about the continued violations in Lakewood, Murphy said: We simply cannot have this. We have got to ensure compliance, no matter what the circumstances are. The governor vowed that his order banning gatherings of more than 50 people has to be enforced. It will be enforced aggressively, he said. Murphy was also asked to respond to rumors circulating online of widespread coronavirus infections among the Orthodox Jewish population of Lakewood. We dont have any insight on that, said the governor. There was a rumor that 100 people were exposed. We cannot confirm that. Orthodox community leaders in Lakewood said that all 200 local synagogues and 130 yeshivas in the area have either shut down completely or limited prayer to small groups. 'This is a very concentrated close-knit community,' Rabbi Moshe Zev Weisberg told NJ Advance Media. 'Many day-to-day activities and religious customs are done in group settings, so its a bit of a learning curve. 'But an incident here or there should not reflect the community.' Nationwide, the death toll reached 280 as of Saturday afternoon. Meanwhile, the total number of confirmed cases being reported in the United States surpassed 22,000. Robert J. Williams' hunting days may be over. On supervised release from prison on child pornography charges, Williams admitted to police that he was "on the hunt" for children to sexually assault when he and another man approached three girls in central Omaha on a Saturday in May 2019. All three girls ranging in age from 5 to 15 got away from two men who were approaching them along Blondo Street near 69th Street. In one case, a man in dark clothing ran after a 15-year-old girl on her bike for two blocks, while Williams followed in a nearby car. The girl got away. The men approached two other girls a 5-year-old playing in her yard and a young teen at a nearby convenience store. They also narrowly escaped harm. Omaha police caught up with them after at least some of their crimes were caught on surveillance camera. Williams acknowledged to police that the plan was to get the girls in the car and sexually assault them. As a result, Robert J. Williams, 35, pleaded no contest this week to five felonies: first-degree sexual assault, attempted first-degree sexual assault, kidnapping, attempted kidnapping and conspiracy to commit sexual assault. - Commits to keeping clinics open when and where possible during the crisis - - Withdrawing financial and clinic opening guidance - SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., March 20, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Joint Corp. (JYNT), a national operator, manager and franchisor of chiropractic clinics, reiterated its Essential Healthcare Services statement and commitment to keeping its system of chiropractic locations open when and where it is possible. Relying on guidance from governmental agencies, national and state chiropractic associations and local health departments to direct its action, including the International Chiropractors Association , Federation of Chiropractic Licensing Boards , as well as Texas Chiropractic Association and the Texas Board of Chiropractic Examiners , The Joint Corp. views chiropractic care as an essential healthcare service that can be used by patients with a wide array of health conditions in times of urgent need. I am deeply grateful for our doctors of chiropractic, who assume the great responsibility that all healthcare providers are being asked to carry during this unprecedented time, said Peter D. Holt, president and CEO The Joint Corp. Protecting our patients and our staff from the spread of COVID-19 is our highest priority, which is why we have issued policies that align with guidance provided by the World Health Organization (WHO), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and local health departments for the continued safe operations of our clinics. Some of those protocols include creating more distance between patients waiting inside clinic locations, eliminating items such as magazines, utilizing alternative spinal adjustment techniques that minimize contact and heightened cleaning and sanitizing practices. While retailers across the country are closing stores, malls and strip centers, as of today, March 20, 2020, more than 95% of The Joint Chiropractic clinics remain open. The fact that up to now we have been able to maintain 70% of our normal patient visitation speaks volumes to the importance of chiropractic to our patients and validates that they see us as an essential healthcare service, added Holt. Given the strong unit growth over the last several years, The Joint Corp. and our franchisees have never been in a stronger financial position to weather this storm. Nonetheless, given the remaining uncertainty we believe it is prudent to withdraw our 2020 financial and clinic opening guidance. Story continues To further strengthen its cash position and provide financial flexibility, in March 2020 The Joint Corp. drew $2 million under the recently established $7.5 million revolving credit facility with J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. In addition, the company is undertaking cost reduction initiatives and deferring capital expenditures. The company is assisting its franchise system by providing a robust platform of support, including guidance on managing liquidity and leveraging government stimulus plans. Additionally, The Joint is proactively communicating to its franchisees, doctors and patients to help them navigate the rapidly-changing environment. As we continue to respond to the dynamic situation surrounding COVID-19, we remain committed to providing convenient and affordable chiropractic care in our local communities, concluded Holt. We know that many people have healthcare needs that can be helped through chiropractic care, and we feel a responsibility and commitment to be available to assist them. For more information, visit thejoint.com/coronavirus-response . About The Joint Corp. The Joint Corp. (JYNT) revolutionized access to chiropractic care when it introduced its retail healthcare business model in 2010. Today, the company is making quality care convenient and affordable, while eliminating the need for insurance, for millions of patients seeking pain relief and ongoing wellness. With more than 500 locations nationwide and over 7 million patient visits annually, The Joint is a key leader in the chiropractic industry. Named on Franchise Times Top 200+ Franchises and Entrepreneurs Franchise 500 lists, The Joint Chiropractic is an innovative force, where healthcare meets retail. For more information, visit www.thejoint.com . To learn about franchise opportunities, visit www.thejointfranchise.com . Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains statements about future events and expectations that constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on our beliefs, assumptions and expectations of industry trends, our future financial and operating performance and our growth plans, taking into account the information currently available to us. These statements are not statements of historical fact. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause our actual results to differ materially from the expectations of future results we express or imply in any forward-looking statements, and you should not place undue reliance on such statements. Factors that could contribute to these differences include, but are not limited to, our failure to develop or acquire company-owned or managed clinics as rapidly as we intend, our failure to profitably operate company-owned or managed clinics, uncertainties associated with the coronavirus (including its possible effects on patient demand), and the other factors described in Risk Factors in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 filed with the SEC on March 6, 2020, as they may be revised or updated in our subsequent filings. Words such as, "anticipates," "believes," "continues," "estimates," "expects," "goal," "objectives," "intends," "may," "opportunity," "plans," "potential," "near-term," "long-term," "projections," "assumptions," "projects," "guidance," "forecasts," "outlook," "target," "trends," "should," "could," "would," "will," and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. We qualify any forward-looking statements entirely by these cautionary factors. We assume no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements for any reason or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future. Comparisons of results for current and any prior periods are not intended to express any future trends or indications of future performance, unless expressed as such, and should only be viewed as historical data. Business Structure The Joint Corp. is a franchisor of clinics and an operator of clinics in certain states. In Arkansas, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming, The Joint Corp. and its franchisees provide management services to affiliated professional chiropractic practices. Contact Information Media Contact: Margie Wojciechowski, The Joint Corp., margie.wojciechowski@thejoint.com Investor Contact: Kirsten Chapman, LHA Investor Relations, 415-433-3777, thejoint@lhai.com An Australian backpacker stranded in South America amid the coronavirus pandemic says consular officials told him to 'wash his hands' when his family reached out for help. Last week, Melbourne man Ben Butler headed for a four-day hike in Argentina's stunning Patagonia region. Four days later, he emerged to 'complete madness'. 'By the time I walked down the main street all the tourists had their packs on and I was thinking, 'Oh, what have I missed here. Something has gone down',' he told AAP on Saturday. He says he's had no help from consular officials in navigating that madness. Ben Butler, from Melbourne, has been stranded in Argentina amid the coronavirus pandemic Argentina, like several other South American countries, has closed its borders as the health crisis escalates around the world 'I've had my dad contacting them, and they're just saying, "Oh, there's not really anything we can do, make sure he's washing his hands," he said. 'They're hopeless. There's no point even going to them. I feel totally abandoned.' The 24-year-old was able to get to a bigger city, Bariloche, but has struggled to find a safe place to stay and fears he could become a target if civil unrest erupts. He says the perception that foreigners are responsible for the spread of the virus complicates things further, and has resulted in hostels shutting their doors. 'In my mind I was thinking, "I've got my tent, I'm just going to run to the bush", but obviously that's not really a solution either,' he said. It was only through the kindness of a friend of a friend that Mr Butler didn't end up on the street. People with face masks walk at the Jorge Newbery airport after Argentina's president announced a mandatory quarantine 'Six days ago, I was having a great time and now I'm in a crisis in a foreign country, when I don't even speak the language. It just seems surreal.' A group of Perth women on a similar trip through South America are in the same boat. The hostel that Ali and Tess MacGregor were staying in, with friend Ashlee Baker, also kicked them out. They have found other accommodation in Peru, but say they're 'haemorrhaging' money. Like Mr Butler, the trio says they are yet to get any real assistance from consular officials. The only response they've received from the embassy is an automated email reply. 'Basically they are saying there's no plans to repatriate Australians at this stage, which isn't really what you want to hear when you're stranded in a foreign country,' 25-year-old Ali MacGregor told AAP on Saturday. 'We're so stressed, but at least we're together.' A day before the nationwide "janata curfew", the Odisha government announced a "near-total" shutdown on Saturday in five districts and eight prominent towns for eight days to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus. It will come into effect from Sunday morning, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said in a video message. The districts that would observe the near-total lockdown were Khurda, Ganjam, Cuttack, Kendrapara and Angul, while the towns were Puri, Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Balasore, Rourkela, Bhadrak, Jajpur Road and Jajpur, he added. Of the 3,200 foreign returnees to the state, more than 70 per cent hailed from these districts and towns, Patnaik said. The two positive COVID-19 cases detected so far in the state were reported from Bhubaneswar, which is in Khurda district. "The 4.5 crore people of the state are my family. Please cooperate to defeat the virus. I have asked the police to take stern action against violators," Patnaik said. In a directive, he said bus, train and air services will remain in operation and the shops selling grocery items, vegetable, fish, egg and chicken will be open. Besides, petrol pumps, medicine stores, hospitals, banks, ATMs, police, fire and other emergency services will also be in operation. Patnaik said his government had suspended the distribution of social security pensions and public distribution system in the five districts and eight towns for the time being. "The only cure is prevention. It is only if you go out that you may bring the virus to your home and your neighbourhood," he said, adding that China and certain other countries were reporting a lesser number of COVID-19 cases at present. "In the first phase, we are going for a near-complete lockdown in all these areas from 7 am of Sunday till 9 pm of March 29. I humbly request you to stay at home and come out only for basic services," the chief minister said. Subrat Bagchi, the chief spokesperson of the state government on COVID-19, said the lockdown in Odisha will be over and above the "janata curfew" announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from 7 am to 9 pm on Sunday. "By all reckoning, by all means, a systematic, the largest single lockdown for health reasons in independent India has been announced by the chief minister.... It seeks to knock down the deadly novel coronavirus," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A McGill University student who is recovering from a COVID-19 infection has a message for anyone tempted to take the novel coronavirus lightly: listen to directives to limit contact with others. "It isn't about what would happen to you if you got it," Ntando, a 22-year-old studying psychology, said Friday. "It's more important to make sure that you're not spreading it because there are people who are way more vulnerable than you. It really is important to make sure you are staying indoors." Ntando, who is originally from South Africa and asked that she be identified only by her first name, went to Miami for her spring break and started to develop a cough. On her flight home on March 6, she asked the flight attendant if she should wear a mask. She said she was told masks were only given out in serious cases. "I didn't think I had the virus. Even up until the day I went to get tested, I still didn't think I had it," said Ntando. "I never had a fever, and they kept saying online and on the news that a fever is like the most important symptom," she said. "I was coughing, [but] I never had a fever not once. I kept checking my temperature, and it was still in the normal range." That lack of any fever is quite possibly what led Ntando to infecting others. She took part in a campus activity dealing with mental health, handing out resource cards and literature. She said she might have come into contact with three or four people at that event, and about a dozen in all in her dealings on the McGill University campus. With exams approaching, the woman called the school's clinic saying she was feeling ill and wondering what to do. The clinic staff recommended she call 811, and they told her to get tested. The result left her in shock. "The woman told me that I tested positive, and I just asked her to repeat herself because I didn't think that I heard correctly especially because the whole time, I had been telling myself that it was just a cold, and that there's no way I could have it." Story continues Submitted by Ntando 'I felt exhausted' Ntando has been in self-isolation since, leaving her room only to prepare something to eat and depending on her roommate and her boyfriend to look in on her and bring her food. For her, the worst part about the illness has been the fatigue. "The coughing wasn't even a problem any more. It's just the fact that I felt exhausted," she said. "I felt so weak, I didn't have the energy to do anything, to get up. I couldn't taste anything or smell anything. I would forget to eat. I didn't have an appetite." Ntando said Friday she is feeling much better. She must still take two more tests and get negative results on each one to be declared recovered. The ordeal, she said, has taught her the importance of staying positive and listening to instructions from public health professionals. She urged everyone to isolate themselves. "You should just focus on your own health and how this might affect you. Don't worry so much about what's going to happen if everybody has it. Just focus on yourself and your health." JACKSONVILLE, Fla. Florida has its head in the sand. As I drove home Friday night to New Jersey from Tampa, where I have been covering the Yankees abridged spring training, it became obvious: As the rest of the nation fights a no-end-in-sight battle against the deadly coronavirus, which threatens our lives and economy, Floridians have been ignoring the smoke from the fire burning around them. And well all deal with the consequences. Although Gov. Ron DeSantis finally shut down restaurants with an executive order on Friday, its probably too little, too late, based on what Ive seen. As health experts and scientists were preaching that social distancing and self-quarantining can stop the spread and save lives, on Thursday night I drove past a Chilis restaurant bursting with customers. How many people got infected that night at jammed restaurants around the state? Floridians apparently were unaware of the outrage aimed at them after the world watched videos of thousands of spring-breakers and locals slamming beers at Clearwater Beach. Unaware, or unconcerned. LATEST CORONAVIRUS UPDATES FROM NJ.COM If I get corona, I get corona," one knucklehead told CBS. "At the end of the day, Im not going to let it stop me from partying. ... Were just down here having a good time. Whatever happens, happens. In Florida, whatever happens likely will happen to the part of the population most vulnerable to the virus. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 20 percent of the states 21.5 million residents are over 65, which means a tsunami of tragedy is likely rolling toward the shores. DeSantis has refused to close the beaches, leaving that decision to the towns -- which means whatever beaches remain open will be coronavirus breeding grounds. How many more will become infected because Florida procrastinates? As New York, New Jersey and California take steps toward containment that were once unthinkable, shutting down all non-essential businesses and possibly crippling their economies to save lives, Florida lags behind. I pulled off to use a restroom at the Florida Citrus Center in Wildwood, where Josh, an assistant manager, said he didnt fear the virus, which as of Friday had killed more than 237 Americans and infected more than 18,000 in the U.S. As those numbers multiply daily, he added that he didnt worry about potentially transmitting it to others. The coronavirus, he said, was being greeted like it was another forecasted hurricane -- a threat that would pass ... if it materialized at all. Besides, he hadnt really been keeping up on the latest developments anyway. I dont read the news, he said. The Bibles the only news I need. At the Waffle House across the street, patrons were being limited to 20 at a time and every other seat had been blocked off. But the place was still open for business. Customers had to ask for items that usually would be within reach, like syrup and jelly. Kenneth Betancourt, a cashier originally from South Carolina, wasnt hopeful the state would wise up. When it comes to coronavirus, Floridians dont care, he said. A few miles down the highway in Ocala, a PDQ restaurant was open with limited seating. Inside, employee Gabe Stiffler said he thought that while the reaction to the virus was overblown, it was good to try to minimize risk. He likened the virus to past plagues: While many could die, the world always bounces back, he said. Thankfully, hours after I left, the governors executive order shut down all restaurant seating and limited food establishments to takeout and delivery. But how many have been needlessly threatened or infected because DeSantis dawdled? At Normans Roadside Market, a fruits and vegetables stand a half-hour outside Jacksonville, a woman shucked corn behind a counter. She didnt know why everyone was getting worked up. And she especially didnt like that churches were closing their doors. Thats just what the devil wants, she said. God help me, I need to get out of here. Brendan Kuty may be reached at bkuty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook. If you would like updates on New Jersey-specific coronavirus news, subscribe to our Coronavirus in N.J. newsletter. Tell us your coronavirus stories, whether its a news tip, a topic you want us to cover, or a personal story you want to share. Cyprus police sprayed tear gas on Saturday as several hundred people protested against the closure of crossings on the divided island's ceasefire line over coronavirus fears. Four officers were injured in the capital Nicosia during scuffles with demonstrators in which police made "limited use" of personal tear gas spray to control the crowd, a police spokesperson said. Police said they made no arrests as an estimated 200 Greek Cypriots and 150 Turkish Cypriots gathered either side of the Ledra Street crossing in central Nicosia to demand the checkpoints be re-opened. Protesters from the northern Turkish Cypriot side tried to break through a cordon blocking the crossing point, police said. The Mediterranean island is divided between the Republic of Cyprus -- a European Union member state -- and the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, recognised only by Ankara. Cypriot authorities closed four of the eight checkpoints on the line dividing the island last Saturday for an initial seven-day period "for more effective control over the entry points". Activist group Unite Cyprus Now organised the protest, with demonstrators chanting "Peace in Cyprus cannot be stopped" and "Contain the virus of partition". Turkish Cypriot European Parliament member Niyazi Kizilyurek told reporters that closing the crossings was an "unnecessary disruption and politically unacceptable". The government said it will re-evaluate the closures on Monday. - 'Unilateral' and 'unnecessary' - Health Minister Constantinos Ioannou said earlier this week the decision to close the crossings was not political but due to a shortage of medical personnel to monitor the crossings. The United Nations said on Thursday it was concerned by the ongoing disruption caused to people on both sides. "While the UN supports all effective measures to address any potential public health emergency, it is imperative for the two sides to coordinate closely in order to provide a comprehensive response," it said. Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci criticised the closures, calling the move "unilateral" and "unnecessary". "This one-sided decision was not a correct decision, it should be revised," he told Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades in a telephone call. Cyprus has not reported any cases of coronavirus, which has killed more than 3,000 people worldwide, mostly in China, where the epidemic started in late December. Akinci urged Anastasiades to "correct" what he called a political and unscientific decision. Anastasiades denied that the closures were politically motivated, saying: "We have taken a decision which is based on scientific data." It is the first time the crossings have closed since they were first opened in 2003. UN-brokered reunification talks between Anastasiades and Akinci have been suspended since 2017. Although he cant teach in-person anymore this semester, University of Texas at Austin professor and film star Matthew McConaughey has found a way to spend his newfound extra time: producing a new public service announcement video with Gov. Greg Abbott. The PSA encourages Texans to Stay home, if you can, promoting social distancing to mitigate the spread of COVD-19, the new coronavirus. The video features McConaugheys voice with video footage of doctors, emergency workers and people doing at-home activities like painting walls and kneading dough. In the voice-over, McConaughey calls on Texans to stay at home in order to prevent the spread of the disease and make life easier for the EMS workers, doctors and other public servants whose jobs require contact with coronavirus patients. For subscribers: Map of coronavirus cases across Texas Staying home is safer and it can help stop the spread of the virus, which gives them a chance to come home, too, McConaughey said in the video. Alongside the social distancing PSA, the State Health Services Department released a list of everyday actions Texans can take to prevent germs, including washing hands, avoiding close contact with the sick and cleaning and disinfecting surfaces often. "These are challenging times, but Texans are always prepared to respond to challenges," Abbott says in the ad. "I am grateful to all our medical professionals who are working on the front lines to limit the spread of COVID-19 and provide care to Texans in need. Now is the time for all of us to unite and do our part to protect public health in our communities. Thats why I urge all Texans to practice smart hygiene habits and social distancingand if you can, just stay home." Paris: The Indian embassy in France has issued an advisory for its nationals who wish to travel back home before India's week-long ban, imposed to contain the spread of the deadly novel coronavirus, on international commercial flights comes into force on March 22. The Indian embassies in several other countries also issued advisories and started emergency helplines for the distressed Indians, assuring them all possible help. The embassies among others included from Canada, Greece, Finland and Estonia, Israel, Japan, Vietnam, Bulgaria and North Macedonia, Russia, Cuba, Brazil and Switzerland. The Indian embassy in France in a tweet on Friday provided details of the Qatar Airways flight that will operate from Paris before the Indian travel deadline sets in. "Qatar airways is operating the flight. It is advised to all the Indian nationals stranded during transit at CDG airport Paris to book this flight immediately. Failing which it'll be difficult for Embassy to make any alternative arrangements," it said. The mission also requested Indians who wish to travel to "keep the certificate issued by the embassy handy for further travel." The Indian embassy in Greece in an advisory on Friday asked Indians to maintain patience and calm in the prevailing situation. "It is our request to our fellow citizens, including students, in Greece to look after themselves and stay safe wherever they are and follow the instructions issued by the Indian and Greek authorities from time to time," it tweeted. The Indian embassy in Kazakhstan asked the Indian students waiting for flights to India at Almaty airport to return to their hostels in view of the travel restrictions. "We took up the matter with authorities in India. However, due to heavy pressure on air traffic, it has not been possible to accept requests for operation of additional flights from Almaty," it said in a tweet. "We have asked all universities and educational contractors to continue running the hostel facilities," it said in a tweet. The Indian embassy in Israel too requested all Indian nationals to avoid non-essential travel out of the country. "Travel to India for one week, starting March 22 will not be possible. This is a temporary measure, which in being reviewed regularly at the ministerial level," the embassy tweeted. The Indian High Commission in Canada assured its nationals that the consulates have been liaisoning with Canadian government and authorities of universities/colleges for the well-being of Indian students in Canada due to the COVID-19 pandemic. "Host institutions have been providing useful information to students. Please follow the instructions and public health advisories/announcements, remain calm and ensure your and other's safety," it said in a tweet. The Indian embassies in several other countries, including Russia, Brazil, Cuba, Bulgaria and North Macedonia, Finland and Estonia, Japan, Vietnam and Mongolia started emergency helplines for distressed Indians. A special Air India flight will take off for Rome on Saturday to evacuate Indian nationals including students stranded in the European country amid coronavirus outbreak. The flight will return to Delhi on Sunday morning. "On March 21, Air India will be mounting a 787-Dreamliner to Rome to evacuate our students, other travellers or any Indians stranded there. We are in close touch with our mission there," said Rubina Ali, Joint Secretary of Ministry of Civil Aviation, on Thursday. India has carried out evacuations from several countries in the past few weeks. It has brought back its citizens from China, Japan and Iran as the number of cases of coronavirus continue to rise in these countries. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Restaurants are now having to deal with a changing landscape as the coronavirus forces customers from their doors. After Gov. Pete Ricketts recommended limiting gatherings with 10 or more people, restaurants have had to move to other options, including delivery and take-out to meet their customers needs. On Friday, Ricketts ordered all bars and restaurants in Washington, Douglas, Sarpy and Cass counties to close their dining space for the next six to eight weeks, saying they must move to take-out, delivery or curbside service. Ricketts also issued an executive order that would provide relief, including allowing restaurants to sell alcohol for delivery orders, waiving excise tax penalties and extending temporary operating permits and payment for deliveries of spirits and wine. Many chain restaurants have closed their dining room, including Runza, which will only allow drive-thru models. Taco Bell has also moved to serving only with drive-thru and some delivery locations. Local restaurants in Fremont have also been forced to adapt with the COVID-19 spread. Jim Coover, owner of Mels Diner at 4240 N. Broad St. and Macs Cafe at 1755 N. Bell St., said hes had to close both restaurants as a result of the coronavirus. Jose Lopez from La Hacienda Mexican Restaurant, located at 3140 Elk Lane, said although the restaurant has been closed since Monday, they are planning to start serving food-to-go and for deliveries on Saturday. This is the first time weve done this, he said. Through Monday, we havent been serving, but well start this weekend. Lopez said the restaurant will only have one cook and one server as they deliver food for the near future. The restaurants menu can be found at lahaciendafremont.com and orders can be placed at 402-721-9909. I just think the situation has been bad for every business, not only for us, but for everyone, Lopez said. Jinny Bottorff of Thai Maki and Sushi Restaurant, located at 507 N. D St., said it has started to serve no more than 10 customers at a time and only allows for limited seating. Its not bad, we just dont have too many people that are eating, she said. The coronavirus has also prevented the restaurant from getting its ingredients from Omaha, Bottorff said. Well get something from Walmart or Bakers if theres something we cant get, but if we cant get something, we wont sell it, she said. We will sell what we can for now. Thai Maki and Sushi will continue to provide carry-out, which can be placed either online at thaimakisushifremont.com or by calling 402-816-4113. Bellas Broad Street Diner, located at 515 N. Broad St., has also continued to remain open with no change in hours, but has spaced out its seating to at least six feet, owner Bill Baumann said. Were still offering carry-out, with a maximum of 10 people in the diner at any one time, he said. Not that thats really been a huge issue, because there definitely has been a huge drop in customer count. But it is what it is. Anything on the diners menu can be ordered to-go by calling 402-816-4259, Baumann said. The one thing we have done so that we can serve customers who are actually purchasing food to eat in is restricting non-food purchases, so the coffee-drinkers, he said. And I think most people understand that we cant just survive on people drinking coffee for three hours. Baumann said for now, hell try to maintain Bellas Broad Street Diner the best he can. Were hoping its temporary and works its way through the system as quickly as possible, he said. At this point, unless other given directions, we have no intention of closing. Harbor Springs to host Winter Fest this Saturday The City of Harbor Springs is hosting a winter themed and family-friendly event to shake off the cabin fever this Saturday. YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. Ever since the novel coronavirus situation began and number of quarantined people began to grow, many of the isolated citizens started to praise and thank the healthcare authorities for their care and level of attention. At one time, the international press even wrote about the 5-star quarantine conditions in Armenia, referring to the fact that authorities placed the first group of quarantine citizens in a luxury hotel. Now, seems like the hazmat doctors even have a standard procedure on how to cheer up the quarantined nationals on their birthdays. One of the quarantined people, a woman who turned 33, was surprised by the medical personnel at an unspecified facility in Armenia on this special occasion. The entire hazmat personnel, carrying a birthday cake with candles and other sweets, knocked on the door and began singing happy birthday to the woman. Understandably, the hazmat medic carrying the cake leaned a bit away when the woman was blowing the candles. Happy Birthday: at one of the quarantine facilities, where I am the team lead, this is how we congratulate the birthday of one of our temporarily quarantined countrymen, healthcare manager Narek Vanesyan said on social media and posted the video. As of March 21, there are 159 active novel coronavirus cases in Armenia. 1 patient has recovered. More than 600 people are quarantined. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan Image Credit... International Herald Tribune [BY THE HERALDS SPECIAL WIRE.] LONDON, March 21. The determination of the police to put down stock dealing in Throgmorton-street kept the city in a state of excitement yesterday, as up to the present the operations of outside brokers have been conducted under the supervision and control of the police. Guildhall was consequently packed with brokers and their friends yesterday when the four men who, as already stated in the HERALD, were arrested on the previous evening, were brought before Alderman Phillips. Two of them, Mr. Arthur McBrair, of Greenwich, and Mr. Alfred Hicks, of Bromley, were charged with being drunk and disorderly, a charge which created a little sensation in Court; and the others, Mr. Frank Saunderson, of Bedford Park, and Mr. Alfred Silverston, with being disorderly and assaulting the police. Sergeant Ballard said that on Tuesday evening at six oclock in Throgmorton-street, there was a great crowd of stockbrokers. They were shouting and he asked them to get into the carriage way. Mr. McBrair, who was drunk, refused to get off the footwalk, and he put him off three times. The boss of Britain's largest retailer has pleaded with panicbuyers to search their conscience and ask themselves: 'Do I need everything in my trolley?' Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis called for calm as store shelves were yesterday stripped bare again and massive queues formed outside stores across the UK. Pleading with shoppers to pause for a moment to think of others, he said: 'If you're heading out today or next week we ask one thing: buy only what you need, so that there is enough for everyone. 'Maybe at the end of each aisle ask yourself: 'Next week, do I need everything in my trolley or basket?' If the answer is 'no', then please consider putting some things back on shelves. 'If all of us do just a bit of that, then every little will help.' Shoppers queuing at Tesco wearing face masks as they attempt to buy food and essentials Giving a personal pledge that 'there is enough food and essentials for everyone', Mr Lewis assured customers that food was 'arriving every day at vastly increased volumes... and record levels.' He said if customers shopped normally, 'we can fear one less thing: putting food on the table for ourselves and our loved ones'. Tesco, which employs more than 300,000 staff in the UK and Ireland at more than 3,400 stores, is recruiting 20,000 more workers to help ease the crisis. Reflecting on images of empty shelves, downcast elderly shoppers and long queues, Mr Lewis said: 'It's been a tough week for the whole country. No one is untouched. No one is immune to challenges we face as a country. 'Covid-19 is bringing huge changes to the way we live and work. 'Sadly, we are closer to the beginning of all this than the end, but it's clear that our national spirit is alive and well and nowhere is that more evident than in food retail. We'll play our part but anyone watching the news knows that this last week has been extraordinary for all shops.' He said up to double the usual amounts of milk, bread, rice and pasta had been put on the shelves last week and 3.4million toilet rolls had been sent out up from the 2million usually sold per week. Mr Lewis's call for calm was echoed by fellow supermarket chiefs and Environment Secretary George Eustice. During a press conference yesterday, Mr Eustice ruled out rationing for now but warned people that they needed to 'be responsible'. He added: 'I think it is best for retailers to collectively come together and decide what the appropriate limit is for each item.' An aerial view of shoppers queuing to get into a Tesco store at 6am in the morning today Mr Eustice pointed to the experience of France and Ireland where a surge in demand tapered off once people stocked up, but said the Government was keeping 'a close eye' on profiteering following reports that the price of some products had been hiked up. To ensure that the elderly, vulnerable and health workers get access to supplies, retailers including Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury's and Asda have introduced 'golden shopping hours' where access is granted to only certain groups of people. It followed a plea by critical care nurse Dawn Bilbrough, who was seen sobbing after visiting a supermarket following her 48-hour hospital shift only to find no fruit or vegetables. A video of her response went viral on social media. Asked yesterday about the impact of panic buying, Stephen Powis, national medical director at NHS England, said those involved should be 'ashamed'. He added: 'I would like to make a plea on behalf of all my colleagues in the NHS, nurses, doctors, paramedics and many, many others who are working incredibly hard at the moment to manage this outbreak of coronavirus. 'It's incredibly important that they too have access to food, to those essential supplies that they need. Frankly we should all be ashamed that that has to happen it's unacceptable. These are the very people that we all need to look after perhaps us or our loved ones in the weeks to come.' Despite the pleas, shoppers yesterday continued to empty shelves of toilet roll, pasta, tinned food and medicines. There was also massive buying of alcohol, pet food and cat litter. At a branch of Tesco in New Malden, South London, shoppers had formed a queue around the huge car park by 6am yesterday. There were similar queues outside a nearby branch of Aldi. Now John Lewis shuts ALL of its stores for the first time in 156 years By Mail on Sunday reporter John Lewis last night revealed it will close all 50 of its stores for the first time in its 156-year history. The retail chain which began life as a drapery shop on Oxford Street in 1864 said the spiralling coronavirus crisis had forced it to take action. It is the latest retailer to announce mass closures in what is likely to lead to thousands of shuttered stores in empty streets over the coming days. John Lewis last night revealed it will close all 50 of its stores for the first time in its 156-year history. The retail chain which began life as a drapery shop on Oxford Street in 1864 said the spiralling coronavirus crisis had forced it to take action Other stores to announce they will temporarily close include Ikea, shoe shop Clarks, fashion chains Reiss, River Island, Hobbs and TK Maxx, as well as Sir Philip Green's Arcadia group which has more than 500 shops for brands including Topshop, Dorothy Perkins, Wallis, Evans and Burton. Ann Summers and Pret a Manger confirmed last night that they would follow suit, while clothing brand New Look revealed it had temporarily closed all 480 of its UK shops amid 'uncharted territories for all of us'. Marks & Spencer and others also said that they would not rule out the possibility of widespread closures. Other stores to announce they will temporarily close include Ikea, shoe shop Clarks, fashion chains Reiss, River Island, Hobbs and TK Maxx, as well as Sir Philip Green's Arcadia group which has more than 500 shops for brands including Topshop, Dorothy Perkins, Wallis, Evans and Burton In a statement, The John Lewis Partnership said 'extreme volatility' in trade had led to the decision. It will continue to sell products online and its 338-store Waitrose grocery chain will remain open. The company has already deployed more than 2,000 John Lewis staff who own the business through a trust and are referred to as 'partners' to help manage a surge in demand at its Waitrose stores and said more may follow. Coffee chains go cashless to help stop bug Starbucks and Costa Coffee have gone cashless to cut hand-to-hand contact and the potential spread of coronavirus from notes or coins. Both chains will now be takeaway only and all drinks and food will be served in paper cups and containers with a ban on reusable mugs. Other retailers are also clamping down. Pret A Manger has roped off seating areas, while Greggs has closed its customer toilets. It comes after the Government announced rules will be relaxed so pubs and restaurants can offer hot takeaways during the outbreak. Italian chain Zizzi closed all its UK restaurants this week but will offer delivery from select outlets. Sister company ASK Italian took the same action. Others switching to delivery only include Byron Burger. Advertisement Chairman Dame Sharon White said yesterday: 'It is with a heavy heart that we temporarily close our John Lewis shops. 'Our partners will, where possible, be taking on important roles in supporting their fellow partners, providing critical services in Waitrose shops and ensuring our customers can get what they need through johnlewis.com, which is seeing extremely strong demand.' The firm said that orders will still be delivered to customers at homes or through its Click & Collect service from Waitrose stores. Dame Sharon who was reportedly seen helping to stack shelves in the Holloway branch of Waitrose in London last week added: 'The welfare of our customers, communities and partners is always our absolute priority. 'The Partnership has traded for more than 155 years, during which time we have faced many difficult periods, including two world wars and the 2008 financial crisis. We all need to continue to support each other and our strength and resilience will be tested. But they will not be broken.' She said that the company will benefit from the Government's action on business rates, VAT and wages to ease the financial pain. John Lewis has also taken steps to reduce expenditure internally. Dame Sharon added: 'We are not complacent; the scale of the societal and business impact of coronavirus is like nothing we have seen in recent times. 'We are seeing a surging demand in Waitrose and online but like other businesses our shop footfall in John Lewis has fallen and this extraordinary volatility makes predicting full year cash flow and profits difficult.' A spokesman declined to say when the stores would reopen. Meanwhile, there was mounting concern over the future of Cath Kidston, the fashion and accessories brand, after it admitted it was urgently seeking someone to buy its entire business as it battled to survive the Covid-19 crisis. It employs about 800 people, and trades from 60 stores in the UK. Now we're panic-buying booze With pubs and bars closed, Britons yesterday piled into the beer aisles of supermarkets, quickly emptying stocks and prompting more pleas to stop panic-buying. Shoppers turned their attention from loo rolls to alcohol as beer, wines and spirits vanished in hours. Josh Sweetman posted a photograph on Twitter at 7.20am yesterday of a near empty drinks section at his local branch of Tesco in Havant, Hampshire. It had been fully stocked barely an hour earlier. With pubs and bars closed, Britons yesterday piled into the beer aisles of supermarkets, quickly emptying stocks and prompting more pleas to stop panic-buying. Pictured: Asda in Barnsley, South Yorkshire Similar evidence of stockpiling was visible at supermarkets nationwide although one shopper noted a pile of Corona beer crates had been left untouched at a store in Silverburn, Glasgow. Last night, a spokesman for Majestic Wine, which has 200 stores nationwide, told The Mail on Sunday: 'Demand is currently off the scale. 'In terms of stock, we are reasonably confident that supply lines will hold up, but are bringing forward extra inventory originally intended for summer.' The average UK household last year spent 234 on wine, 114 on beer and 104 on spirits, putting the average weekly household spend on alcohol consumed in the home at 8.70. Pictured: Alcohol isles at Tesco in Hartlepool left empty A spokesman for Tesco urged shoppers to use restraint, saying: 'There is no need to bulk buy. 'While there may be a short-term impact on a few products, overall our stock levels are good.' A spokesman for the British Beer and Pub Association said the amount of beer consumed at home had almost doubled to 100million pints a week since the coronavirus outbreak began. The average UK household last year spent 234 on wine, 114 on beer and 104 on spirits, putting the average weekly household spend on alcohol consumed in the home at 8.70. The Coronavirus outbreak could pave the way for a new and more just America. The COVID-19 pandemic is stretching national health systems to their limit across the world. In some countries that have been particularly affected by the pandemic, such as Italy and Spain, legally enforced lockdowns have been imposed to help slow the spread of the virus and ease the pressure on public health services. The United States, where all 50 states have confirmed cases, however, is more susceptible to the impact of this public health emergency than any other industrialised nation. If its leaders do not take swift action and implement fundamental reforms, the pandemic will cause more devastation there than it already did in Europe. European nations are struggling to respond to the crisis despite having relatively well-functioning social security systems and universal health coverage. The US, however, has neither. Neoliberal policies implemented by consecutive administrations, which prioritise maximisation of profit for corporations and the rich over the wellbeing of ordinary citizens, have left the country completely unprepared to tackle a health crisis of this scale. 45,000 Americans are dying each year because they do not have health coverage. 30 million people are living without medical insurance and a whopping 137 million are facing financial hardships due to medical debt. One in four US workers more than 32 million is not entitled to paid sick days. As COVID-19 rapidly spreads across the country, these pre-existing weaknesses put the US on course for an unprecedented socioeconomic catastrophe. However, there is opportunity in crisis. As it exposes the nations flaws, weaknesses and moral blind spots like never before, the coronavirus pandemic can make Americans of all walks of life realise that neoliberal policies that value profit over human life are a threat to national security. This realisation can in turn pressure the US leadership to implement the necessary reforms to ensure all Americans have social security, comprehensive labour rights and access to adequate healthcare. The Trump administration tried to tackle the pandemic as if it is merely an economic threat. Earlier this month, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced that it would offer $1.5 trillion in short-term loans to banks to address highly unusual disruptions in Treasury financing markets associated with the coronavirus outbreak. There has also been talk of bailing out airlines that are facing bankruptcy as a result of the pandemic. This approach, however, already caused a considerable backlash, with many pointing out that the bailout money could be better spent on other priorities, like student debt relief or universal healthcare. Just weeks ago, Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanderss Medicare for All universal healthcare proposal was being dismissed by many as unrealistic, unaffordable and even un-American. However, such schemes do not appear so far-fetched now that the country is dealing with a virus that can potentially kill more than a million and collapse the economy. There are growing calls for the federal government to change the way it treats its citizens and local administrations across the country already started implementing measures to address some of Americas most fundamental weaknesses that are being exacerbated by the deadly pandemic. Some cities and states have halted evictions, mortgage payments and student and medical debt, and they are now considering suspending utility bills, water shutoffs and bank fees. Some jurisdictions have delayed arrests for nonviolent offences, and federal immigration officials have halted most arrests. And with the coronavirus pandemic poised to become a humanitarian crisis in the nations prisons, jails and migrant detention centres, there are renewed calls for decarceration. Moreover, as the coronavirus pandemic threatens to exacerbate socioeconomic inequality and vice versa, some lawmakers even proposed implementing a policy of basic universal income to counter unemployment and prevent an economic depression. In addition, as the virus complicates in-person voting and threatens to disrupt the US election, there have been proposals to allow voting by mail a policy that would expand voter participation across the country. Policy proposals that would have been swiftly dismissed as fringe left-wing fantasies merely a few weeks ago are now being discussed in the mainstream. This shows that long before reaching its devastating peak, the coronavirus pandemic has already changed US politics. And there is no reason for the change to stop here. The coronavirus pandemic could be the wake-up call the US has long been waiting for. Some 80 years ago, Japans unexpected attack on Pearl Harbour finally convinced the US to stop ignoring a war that was about to reach its shores and devastate its people. In response to the military attack, Washington embarked on a campaign to prepare the country for war. The industry was mobilised to manufacture military equipment and all Americans were encouraged to help the war effort in every way they could. The coronavirus pandemic can be this centurys Pearl Harbour moment for the US. In the face of this crisis, Washington can choose to acknowledge the threat neoliberal policies, growing inequalities and injustices pose to the nation and take action. Just like it made manufacturing of military equipment a priority all those decades ago, it can now shift its defence spending to public health as a matter of national security. In a worst-case scenario, coronavirus can kill 1.7 million Americans and infect 214 million others. But if Washington chooses to hear the growing calls for change and swiftly moves to implement the reforms necessary to address the problems that make this public health emergency particularly deadly, this tragedy can eventually pave the way for a new and more just America. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance. In a bid to prevent the spread of coronavirus, Delhi High Court on Saturday issued additional directions to all the District Courts in the capital, including reducing the footfall of staff to one-third. "Having reviewed the 'current arrangements made in the Delhi District Courts to combat the pandemic of COVID-19 and keeping in view the exceptional prevailing circumstances hereby issues the following directions," the notification said. Delhi High Court, in the notification, said that there is no requirement for the entire workforce of court officials to report for duty on a daily basis since the functioning of the district courts of Delhi has substantially been restricted. These directions will remain in force till March 31, 2020. "Accordingly, after assessing the requirement of their respective Districts, District and Sessions Judges and Principal Judges, shall prepare a roster and issue directions to ensure that all officials, posted in branches, report for duty on a proportionate rotational basis, to ensure that their footfall is reduced to one third," it said. "Since the majority of the cases are being adjourned till March 31, 2020, a mechanism be created in each jurisdiction by the District and Sessions Judges and Principal Judges so that one judicial officer takes up the matters of his own court," it added. The notification directed that two or more courts of similar jurisdiction shall remain available during the working hours for taking up fresh urgent matters of such courts. "If it is not practical to put such mechanism in place, in a particular jurisdiction, for any reason whatsoever, the concerned judicial officer may leave the court premises after finishing his entire board after intimating the concerned District and Sessions Judge," it said. It added that in such an eventuality, the judge may also release the staff, attached to his court while ensuring that at least one official is available during the working hours. The High Court directed that all the staff officials who are not required to report for duty on any given day would not leave the station under any circumstance and shall always be available on call and would be deemed to be on duty. It said that Delhi Judicial Services Trainee Officers and on-court attachments should only be asked to come to the court only twice a week. It was also directed that the District and Sessions Judge of the concerned court complex shall ensure that the court building is sanitized on a daily basis. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 22:32:55|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close SINGAPORE, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Singapore's health authority confirmed 47 new COVID-19 cases here Saturday, bringing the total number of infected cases in the country to 432. This is the highest number of cases reported in a day, and the same number of cases was reported on March 18. The 47 new cases include 39 imported cases who had travel history to Australia, the Europe, North America and other parts of Asia, and eight local cases, said the Ministry of Health. Of the 39 imported cases, 33 were returning local residents and long-term pass holders, while six were short term visitors. Of the local eight cases, two are linked to previous cases while six are currently unlinked. Singapore reported earlier on Saturday first two COVID-19 deaths involving a female Singaporean and a male Indonesian national. Nine more patients have been discharged from hospital, bringing the total number of fully recovered cases to 140. Of those who are still hospitalized, 14 are in critical condition in the intensive care unit. In another development, Singapore's Ministry of Manpower (MOM) announced Saturday that it has revoked the work passes of 89 work pass holders for breaching entry approval and Stay-Home Notice (SHN) requirements the government imposed during the COVID-19 outbreak. The workers have been permanently banned from working in Singapore, MOM said in a press release. MOM reminded all employers and employees that entry approvals and SHN are now required for work pass holders entering Singapore from anywhere in the world. Upon the employee's arrival in Singapore, they will be required to serve a mandatory 14-day SHN, which means a self-isolation at home or hotel for 14 days. Inmates clashed with guards at the Dumdum Correctional Home here on Saturday, pelting stones and setting jail property on fire over the state government's decision not to allow them to meet their families till March 31 due to coronavirus, officials said. In the morning, some inmates insisted that they be released on parole but when the authorities refused to accept their demand, they launched a violent agitation, a top prison official said. The stir soon turned into a clash between the inmates and the prison guards, he said. RAF personnel and policemen managed to bring the situation under control after some time, the official said. Several fire tenders were pressed into service to bring the fires under control. No casualty has been reported so far, he said. "The situation is under control. We are trying to identify the inmates behind the incident," the official said. A senior official of the West Bengal Correctional Services Department had said on Friday that allowing inmates' families to wait outside the prison was against the concept of social distancing, which is the key to prevent the spread of coronavirus. "Keeping this in mind, a decision was taken not to allow the meetings till March 31," he said. In view of the coronavirus outbreak, a family member of an inmate can now only call up the prison authorities to enquire about his or her health. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Olen Steinhauer dreamed up CIA agent Milo Weaver more than a decade ago. Robert Ludlum introduced soldier-turned-superspy Jason Bourne in 1980; Eric Van Lustbader took on the series in 2004. Kyle Mills, who continued the Mitch Rapp books after series creator Vince Flynn died, has been writing politically charged thrillers since 1997s Rising Phoenix. Stories of government intrigue, spycraft, and action-packed combat can spell career longevity for authors: Steinhauer and Millss books have sold hundreds of thousands of print copies, per NPD BookScan; Lustbaders have sold millions. We spoke with these three authors about keeping things fresh while satisfying longtime readers, and with newer writers about the perspectives theyre introducing to a crowded genre. Risk management I like to educate people as much as entertain them, says Lustbader, whose numerous books include 11 Jason Bourne thrillers. Take current events, push them into the future, and help people understand whats going on in the world. Lustbader launches a new espionage series with The Nemesis Manifesto (Forge, May), which PW called outstanding in a starred review. Id been writing the Jason Bourne novels, he says, and I got to the point where it wasnt fun anymore. (To see whats next for Bourne and other espionage, military, and political thriller heroes, see Patriot Games.) To Lustbaders rescue: a black ops field agent for the Department of Defense, who in her first outing comes up against a shadowy organization known as Nemesis thats hunting down her fellow agents. Id had this idea for Evan Rider for quite some time, he says. For thousands of years women have been subservient to men. This has finally begun to change, but grudgingly and not without a fight. Evan Rider gives me a chance to explore the still egregious deficits that women deal with every day. Writing about contemporary issues, though, has its risks. These days you cant not trigger or upset some people, Lustbader says. Theres so much fear in the world today, and people dont know what to do with it. Other veteran authors, too, say that sensitive subjects can spark impassioned reactions. People are much more primed to be insulted these days, Steinhauer notes. After the 2009 publication of The Tourist, the first entry in his Milo Weaver espionage series, he experienced some pushback from readers. I was getting comments online from people who were throwing the book across the room because the CIA becomes one of the antagonists, he says. People were angry that I wasnt being patriotic enough. The Tourist went on to sell 143,000 print copies and spawned two sequels. Steinhauer says when he finished the third Weaver installment 2012s An American Spy, my publisher asked for the next one. I didnt have any. I was exhausted. Steinhauer wrote three standalones and after a Weaver cameo in the third, 2018s The Middleman, the now ex-operative returns in The Last Tourist (Minotaur, Mar.). PWs starred review called the latest book a stunning thriller that reinforces [Steinhauers] position at the top of his game. For Mills, staying on top of his game means satisfying fans of Vince Flynn, who wrote 13 Mitch Rapp political thrillers before he died in 2013. Mills picked up the Flynn mantle in 2015, when Mills had more than a dozen books to his credit. I kind of think of the world as BV and AVbefore Vince and after Vince, Mills says. The U.S. is a very different place politically than it was when Vince was alive. Im constantly trying to extrapolate how he would have felt about todays climate. In the latest entry in the series, Total Power (Atria/Bestler, Sept.), ISIS strikes the U.S. power grid, and Rapp needs to find those responsible before the country descends into chaos. Flynns readers, he says, are looking for a darker story. Its sort of like walking into Burger King and they give you sushi, he says. You might like sushi, but you walked into Burger King for a burger. People know what theyre getting with this series, and I want to stick to it. Personnel reflections Mills is among many writers who mine personal history for their fiction: his father was an FBI agent. Another author, Nicholas Irving, spent six years in an Army Special Operations unit and was the first African-American sniper in his battalion. His military action series, the Reaper, written with retired U.S. Army brigadier general A.J. Tata, stars a Ranger sniper. Vick Harwood is essentially me, Irving says, so writing the character is about as fresh as a writer can get: I know that guy. St. Martins will publish the third Reaper novel, Drone Strike, in May; PWs review praised the nonstop action in this assured sequel. Before turning to fiction, Irving wrote a memoir, The Reaper: Autobiography of One of the Deadliest Special Ops Snipers, with Gary Brozek; its sold 88,000 print copies since its 2015 publication. David Ricciardi published his first novel, Warning Light, in 2018, launching an espionage thriller series starring CIA operative Jake Keller. In Kellers third outing, Black Flag (Berkley, May), he battles piracy in international watersa plot that Ricciardi says stems from the surge in special operations forces post-9/11 and ongoing trouble in the waters around the Horn of Africa. I combined the two into a mercenary special ops team that turns piracy from a criminal backwater into a big-ticket operation. Ricciardi, an avid outdoorsman whos received training from law enforcement and special ops personnel, has a network of readers in national security and the military who vet his story lines. I give them veto power, he says. If anything makes them uncomfortable, I take it out. Also, I change some elements that might give away operational security details or give people ideas. Things may be very plausible, but I intentionally make some things incorrect. Debut novelist James Stejskal has more than three decades of experience to draw on, first with the U.S. Army Special Forces and then with the CIA. The things I saw werent meant for the publics eyes and ears, he says. His nonfiction titles include 2017s Special Forces Berlin, which relates recently declassified events surrounding Special Forces soldiers stationed in West Berlin during the Cold War. In Stejskals first work of fiction, A Question of Time (Casemate, Oct.), a CIA spy is compromised and Special Forces must rescue him from heavily guarded 1970s East Berlin. Much of what happens in the book happened in real life, he says. The book launches the Snake Eater Chronicles, a series that the author says follows the evolution of the Special Forces and special operations after Vietnam and the end of the Cold War, and through the emergence of terrorism in Europe. David Pepper, an attorney, former Cincinnati city council-man, and the chairman of the Democratic Party of Ohio, self-published two political thrillers focused on the work of fictional investigative reporter Jack Sharpe. Putnam picked him up for book three, The Voter File (June), which PWs review called a well-researched, gripping look at one of the many perilous wrinkles in the electoral system. In his latest outing, Sharpe is looking into the manipulation of election data, which affected the outcome of a relatively minor race but could be applied on a broader, more damaging scale. People tell me theyre learning from my books, Pepper says. They feel like theyre being responsible citizens when theyre reading a book that also might shed some light on political issues. Politico called the first book in the series, 2016s The Peoples House, the thriller that predicted the Russia scandal. Its story line hinged on Russian interference in a regional U.S. election, a plotline Pepper had planned well before the events of the most recent presidential election. You dont have to go wildly off from the reality of the subject, he says, to capture the thrill in the thriller. Below, more on Mysteries & Thrillers. Fresh Blood: Mysteries & Thrillers 2020 These debut authors found inspiration for stories of crime and creepiness at college, on the police force, and beyond. Blakes Progress: Mysteries & Thrillers 2020 After decades in the shadows, a literary detective returns to the scene of the crime. Border Disorder: Mysteries & Thrillers 2020 PW spoke with authors whose forthcoming books cover the often uneasy ground where the U.S. and Mexico meet. Patriot Games: Mysteries & Thrillers 2020 Heres a sampling of political, military, and espionage thrillers pubbing this season. TIPPECANOE COUNTY, Ind. (WLFI) - The Tippecanoe County Board of Commissioners are declaring a public health/local disaster emergency effective Saturday, March 21st, 2020. The commissioners said in a press release that there is a local disaster emergency throughout the county, specifically linked to the spread of COVID-19. The board continued as follows in the release: "Tippecanoe County and its agencies will continue to cooperate with the Indiana State Department of Health, the State of Indiana and other local governments and organizations in their efforts to address this health emergency. The purpose of this declaration is to facilitate future financial reimbursement, funding assistance, supplies and other assistance as are made available through the State and Federal Government due to the health emergency. Citizens are reminded to continue to maintain a high level of awareness as to the appropriate measures to protect against the spread of the virus. Social distancing remains our greatest opportunity for success! There have been many rumors indicating that there will be a full lockdown and restrictions on local travel. There are currently no travel advisories or restrictions in Tippecanoe County. Please continue to get updated information from trusted sources and refrain from spreading unverified information. The Board of Commissioners, Lafayette Mayor Tony Roswarski and West Lafayette Mayor John Dennis wish to recognize and thank our health care community, first responders and many of our citizens for their tireless efforts in this difficult time. Our community remains resilient, and we have no doubt that our collective efforts will bring us better days!" As of Saturday, there are only two confirmed cases of coronavirus in Tippecanoe County. A Vietnamese postgraduate student in communications in Italy, who decided to return home due to the pandemic, says what she has been through. On March 8, Ngoc Linh's brother called and convinced her to return to Vietnam, which she had been hesitating to do. When the lockdown was announced and northern Italy was isolated, she started feeling very apprehensive. She immediately booked a ticket through Dubai for $740, double the usual price. "I had not planned to leave initially because I believed I could protect myself. But I returned because I wanted to put my family at ease." During her 36 hours en route she was filled with trepidation and wore two masks, replacing them every six hours. She cleaned her hands with sanitizer every 15 minutes, and each time she went to the restroom she washed three times with soap. On board the aircraft, she disinfected every inch around her seat, never took off her masks and skipped meals. When she transited in Dubai, a medical officer took a nose swab from her to test for the novel coronavirus, and she had mixed feelings, both worried about getting stuck in the UAE and knowing she did not want to carry Covid-19 to Vietnam. She had to wait for 21 hours for her test result. No one called out her name on the public address system, and she was allowed to board. When they set foot in Hanois Noi Bai International Airport, Linh and the nine other passengers on board were whisked away for a health examination because they had come from Italy, a Covid-19 hotspot. After that, they were all allowed to eat. "Oh my god, the banh mi with egg and pork was so good that I thought food from any three-star Michelin restaurant owned by Gordon Ramsay could not compare with it." Before returning she had been worried she would face a stigma about coming from a pandemic hotspot, but she was wrong: Everybody was caring, making her feel she was on a 14-day vacation when being in the quarantine. Linh is preserving memories of that "vacation" by taking photos inside her quarantine facility and drawing on them. In them she describes her time in the quarantine. When she is hungry, she can ask someone to buy food from the outside. Every morning a man wearing a blue shirt comes to her room, wakes her up and asks her if she feels alright, Linh said. The facility where Linh is quarantined. Photo courtesy of Ngoc Linh. "If you have any problem, Ill come right away...," he has told her. He is a medical officer responsible for keeping a watchful eye on people in the quarantine. Linh plays games and works on some online courses at her university. It will be another week before Linh is allowed to return home to her family. Vietnam has had 91 patients so far, of whom 74 are undergoing treatment and the remaining 17 have recovered. In Italy, the death toll has climbed to over 4,000, more than in China, and morgues are running out of space. Mount Greylock Lunch Menu for Kids, Seniors WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. The Mount Greylock Regional School District on Thursday released its lunch menu for its " grab-and-go ," service for next week. Anyone in Lanesborough or Williamstown wishing to participate in the program is asked to call and leave their information at 413-458-9582, Ext. 1195, or email lunches@mgrhs.org The district asks that potential recipients respond in advance so it can plan for the proper number of meals. The lunches will be available for pickup each morning at Lanesborough Elementary School and Williamstown Elementary School, and delivery is available for seniors who ask in advance; leave a call back number when you notify the district. Residents who need breakfast items are asked to leave that information in their message. The student lunch menu is: Monday, March 23 Turkey sandwich, milk or juice, fruit cup, veggie sticks, pretzels. Tuesday, March 24 Chef salad, milk or juice, dried cranberries, bread and butter. Wednesday, March 25 Spaghetti with meat sauce, milk or juice, salad, bread and butter, fruit cup. Thursday, March 26 Chicken with stuffing casserole, milk or juice, hot vegetable, fruit cup. Friday, March 27 Tuna sandwich, tuna on a salad, milk or juice, fruit cup, veggie snacks, whole-grain Goldfish. The senior lunch menu is: Monday, March 23 Turkey sandwich, milk or juice, fruit cup, veggie sticks, pretzels. Tuesday, March 24 Chef salad, milk or juice, dried cranberries, bread and butter. Wednesday, March 25 Cheese ravioli, milk or juice, salad, bread and butter, fruit cup. Thursday, March 26 Chicken and stuffing casserole, milk or juice, hot vegetable, fruit cup. Friday, March 27 Tuna sandwich, tuna on a salad, milk or juice, fruit cup, veggie sticks, whole-grain Goldfish. A man from the Shankill area of Belfast who broke into the home of a 94-year-old woman has been handed a 14-month sentence, half of it on licence A man from the Shankill area of Belfast who broke into the home of a 94-year-old woman has been handed a 14-month sentence, half of it on licence. Christopher Henry William Tinsley was under the influence of drugs when he entered the property and stole the pensioner's handbag, Belfast Crown Court heard. Tinsley's barrister Declan Quinn issued an apology to the woman and her family on behalf of his client, and said there was no indication or evidence that Tinsley (27), from Carlow Street, was aware the house was occupied by an elderly resident. Prosecutor Simon Jenkins said the property at Cranmore Park was broken into either on the night of May 7, 2018 or up to 5am the following morning. Entry was gained after the living room window was smashed, and the woman's handbag was taken. Mr Jenkins said that around 4am on May 8 the resident of a house at Deramore Drive was woken by a loud bang. When he checked his property he discovered a rear patio door had been smashed. At around 5am a police constable who was in the area noticed a man riding a bicycle who appeared to be going from driveway to driveway slowly. He approached Tinsley, who sped from the scene on the bike and shouted: 'I'm not f*****g stopping, you black c***'. However, he was apprehended by the officer a short time later and the pensioner's stolen handbag was found in his possession. Following his arrest Tinsley's clothes were forensically examined and glass samples taken from his items contained the same glass samples from the damaged window at the pensioner's home, and also the damaged back patio door. Mr Jenkins said that when interviewed Tinsley denied he was involved and said as he didn't get his medication that day, he took a psychotic episode. He also claimed in his interview that he found the bike against a wall with the handbag already on the handlebars, and he used it to try and get home. Tinsley later admitted breaking into the property at Cranmore Park, and causing criminal damage to a patio door at Deramore Drive. Mr Jenkins concluded the Crown's case by saying Tinsley had a relevant and lengthy criminal record, and that he was on bail at the time. Defence barrister Mr Quinn spoke of Tinsley's long-standing and significant mental health issues which include a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia. Mr Quinn also spoke of his client's drug use, and said Tinsley's criminal record reflected the "chaotic lifestyle of someone with drugs difficulties". Revealing these drugs were Xanax and Lyrica which Mr Quinn said were "plaguing this city and beyond", the barrister said there were now signs that Tinsley was "attempting to get off drugs". Judge Stephen Fowler said that after listening to submissions - and from reading a report from the arresting officer - he accepted Tinsley was under the influence of drugs when he committed the offences and did not deliberately target the home of a pensioner. Tinsley was handed a 14-month sentence, which was divided between seven months in custody and seven months on licence. Washington County Public Schools asking public for input on funding Washington County Public Schools is asking the public for input on how they should spend the American Rescue Plan money from the federal government. (Newser) A morning in California waters turned gruesome for a bunch of surfers this week when they stumbled across a woman's bodya death now being deemed "suspicious" by local officials. The San Clemente Times reports that the surfers came across the body around 8am Wednesday, in the ocean in the North Beach area of San Clemente. Per the Orange County Register, the surfers called the authorities, then reportedly helped the Orange County Sheriff's Department get the woman's body out of the water by placing her on a surfboard. story continues below "At this time, the woman's death is considered suspicious," an OCSD rep said in a statement. "Homicide investigators will be attempting to identify the decedent and determine the circumstances surrounding her death." The department adds that the woman appeared to be Caucasian and in her 40s. "It's shocking, but things can happen randomly anywhere," a man who visited the beach the next day told the Register. "It sounds like one of those Dateline stories." (Read more San Clemente stories.) Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Saturday urged the people to stay in their 'den' and make life hard for coronavirus. The franchise also expressed their gratitude to the 'relentless fighters' of the virus and used the hashtag 'Janata Curfew', an initiative announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to contain COVID-19. "Stay in your Den this weekend. Take care of yourself & the old folks. Let's make life hard for the virus. And let's whistle to express our gratitude to the relentless fighters of the virus. PS. Try doing without using the hands. Tomo 5 PM. #WhistlePoduAt5 #JantaCurfew #COVID2019," CSK tweeted. Prime Minister Modi on Thursday appealed to the citizens to follow 'Janta Curfew' on March 22 in view of novel coronavirus outbreak. "I am seeking one more support from every countrymen today. This is a public curfew. 'Janta Curfew' means for the public, curfew imposed by the public on their own. Every citizen must follow Janta curfew on this Sunday, March 22, from 7 am to 9 pm," Modi had said in his address to the nation. In India, the total number of positive cases of coronavirus has climbed to 283 and four people have died due to the deadly virus so far. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- As schools in New York City -- including public, Catholic and private -- move to online learning in the wake of the coronavirus (COVID-19), parents are now facing a new role in ensuring their children are taking the necessary steps to finish schoolwork each day at home. While the city Department of Education (DOE) is working with principals and educators to finalize details on a virtual learning plan, some teachers and parents have told the Advance/SILive.com that their children are already using online classroom tools, such as Google Classroom and Zoom. Catholic elementary schools and high schools on Staten Island explained they already use virtual learning tools, which will be used for remote instruction over the coming weeks. While parents adjust to this new normal, its important for kids to stay focused on learning, avoid distractions and make sure there are necessary breaks during the day. This is a stressful, unpredictable time for everyone, including families, parents and children, said Dr. Pamela Hurst-Della Pietra, president of Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development. You can help your children by providing them with a structure and routine, and being a positive force in their education. The organization complied a list of 10 tips for families forced to turn to distance learning. 1. Digital quarantine Consider limiting your childrens cell phones and tablets until schoolwork is completed. Games, applications and messaging features are fun but can be distracting. While it may not be an option, consider a computer or laptop for maximum online learning. 2. Make space for learning Children will achieve their best work in a quiet, comfortable and dedicated learning space. This should ideally be in a place where they dont normally play games or watch television. 3. Monitor the computer monitor You can help by monitoring your childrens level of interest and engagement as they adapt to their new schedule and at-home materials. The simplest way to do this is observation. Those at Children and Screens recommend looking at your childs eyes to see if theyre following along with the screen. Check to see if your kids are taking notes or zoning out, and ask questions at the end of a lesson. Its important for parents to confirm that their children are learning and engaging with school lessons. 4. Digital recess Be sure to take plenty of breaks in order to get physical activity and time away from screens. Encourage kids to get fresh air in a responsible manner, or have a snack break. 5. Video chat and text messages Encourage your kids to video chat or text message friends rather than scroll through social media. Its important to make sure your children dont feel socially isolated, but they shouldnt become reliant on their devices. 6. Keep it old school Parents should encourage print and book reading as much as possible. Try to request textbooks and other print materials from your childs school to offset the amount of learning they do online. 7. Know youre not alone Check in with other parents to see what theyve found that is effective, or to ask if they need help. Share concerns and useful hints. 8. Plan your work and work the plan You can relieve stress with good planning. Develop a written schedule for the day and the week, and help kids prioritize and learn to create goals, tasks and deadlines. 9. This isnt a vacation Even though it may feel like a vacation, remind your children that this isnt a vacation. Assignments, grades, requirements and tests wont go away despite moving online. 10. Make sure to have fun Plan off-screen activities for your family, and turn this time together into an opportunity for family bonding. Have fun with your kids -- just make sure you follow community guidelines and social distancing behaviors. REMOTE LEARNING The DOE will shift to a remote learning strategy on Monday for grades kindergarten through 12. Despite differences in readiness, every school will focus on transitioning their core learning and instruction to a remote-based model. The agency has partnered with Google to give schools that dont currently use an online learning platform access to Google Classroom. Understanding that not all students have access to the internet and devices, the DOE is working closely with private partners to deliver devices and data plans for students in need. Ursulina Ramirez, chief operating officer for the DOE, said during a recent press conference that the DOE will purchase 300,000 iPads from Apple at a reasonable price to distribute to students. The agency said the first batch of 25,000 iPads will be delivered next week. However, some Staten Island parents were scrambling to obtain electronic devices this past week. The DOE is also working with T-Mobile, Verizon, and Spectrum to provide internet access for families. Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza asked parents to sign up for the NYC Schools account, which will be critically important as the DOE pushes information out and resources for remote learning needs. You can go to www.myschools.nyc for more information. *** Be the first to know: Sign up for our newsletters; and get breaking news and top stories pushed to your phone with the SILive.com mobile app. 53 The coronavirus life in New York City: The new normal RELATED COVERAGE: Wagner College closing residence halls for remainder of semester College of Staten Island remains closed Tuesday, Wednesday Key details on SAT, ACT college exam cancellations Staten Island Catholic high schools extend remote learning timeframe Schools closed: 100 sites to open for first responder child care across NYC Staten Island Catholic elementary schools closed until April 20 Coronavirus: NYC schools closed at least until April 20; S.I. cases rise to 16 Coronavirus: Wagner College moves to online learning for rest of semester With NYC schools closing, parents and teachers prepare for new normal NYC offering students free meals: What you need to know St. Johns University students return home: Its difficult Latest on NYC school closures: Child care to be available for first responders Coronavirus case confirmed at St. Ritas School FOLLOW ANNALISE KNUDSON ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER. Arrested yahoo boys * To protect the identities of the persons who spoke to me in confidence, I shall only refer to them using the names of the biblical disciples of Jesus Christ. The scourge of internet scam seems to have taken over the minds of so many Nigerian youths today, so much that they have come to see the criminal act as the only other way to make it big. From Lagos to Enugu, Ibadan to Abuja, Calabar to Benin, the officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and men of the Nigerian Police Force have continued to make arrests almost on a daily basis, but the number of young people still plying the fraudulent trade keeps increasing. It is to this end that I undertook a sojourn to find out what motivates these so-called yahoo boys to go into crime. I was hoping to understand the thoughts that go through their minds when they steal from innocent people. I also needed to know if they ever get to feel some form of guilt afterwards. There were just so many questions I needed to answers to. In August of 2019, following a 13-month long investigation, the FBI had arrested a Nigerian named Obinwanne Okeke in an $11 million BEC fraud case. Weeks later, 77 Nigerian nationals were charged with participating in a massive conspiracy to steal millions of dollars through a variety of fraud schemes and launder the funds through a Los Angeles-based money laundering network. These recent incidents had sparked my curiosity to understand why young agile youths will knowingly choose a criminal path. My neighborhood, Isolo-Okota in Lagos is believed to be widely dominated by these yahoo boys. It is said the area is one of the first places in Lagos where internet fraud was being perpetrated. Many of the boys have elevated from the little dating scams of which they make a few tens and hundreds of thousands to business email compromise where they make millions from. Getting in contact with these guys was no difficult task since they all live among us, but the difficult part was getting them to admit what they are and to open up about why and how they do what they do. As I approached the residence of my respondents, I could observe that the residence is a duplex, maybe with about four to five rooms. Knocked on the gate and the gateman asked who I was looking for and I said, My name is Victor and Im here to see Matthew. He took about two minutes to go confirm my invitation and returned, ushering me to the main entrance of the house. The door was opened by a tall skinny guy spotting short tinted dreadlocks and rocking sagging skinny jeans and a white singlet. My main acquaintance could see me from the door and he quickly approached me, welcoming me inside. Guys, this the journalist guy I told you about, Matthew said to the seven guys who were all sitting in the sitting and dining rooms, and all staring at their laptops. After all the introduction and exchange of pleasantries, I quickly jumped into my first question, Why Yahoo? Because of money nah, John who was seated close to the TV set answered with a smile on his face. Still trying to understand Johns point of view, Thomas who was just returning from the kitchen with a plate of rice added, My brother if hunger knack you inside this economy wey job no dey and you get family responsibility, nobody go to tell you to find a way Even if you finally find a job, as a graduate, you are most likely started with N80K. My brother that amount cannot solve the family problems I have. I dont have a father, my mom was selling a petty trade and I have four younger siblings who need to stay in school. How does N80k take care of that, Peter who seemed like the eldest person in the room asked. One thing was clear, money was the key motivation here. These guys want to live above their means. They not only want to be able to meet their individual needs but also want to live the lavish lifestyle. What do their families think of their criminal act? Do they even know or care that they are into fraud? Some of them have found a way to lie about what they exactly do. And for those that have been open with their parents, they (the parents) have reluctantly come to accept the reality. My parents are church people. Theres no way they will understand what I do, so I tell them I buy and sell stuff, Matthew said. My father asked me why Im always carrying a laptop. I had to lie to him that Im into foreign exchange and that that was how I made money, said a light-skinned bare-chested James. I dont know if he believes me though, but we have never had to discuss the matter again In the past, internet scams associated with Yahoo Boys were dominated by romance scams through dating sites as well as phony email business propositions from infamous Nigerian princes, but their current tactics appears to have changed. At this point, I had become more curious wanting to know how the scams work. So I asked, How do you guys go about it? Thomas who seemed to think my question was funny said, there are different jobs (scam formats). Some do dating, some indulge in stealing credit cards, some people do classified and some engage in business email compromise. It all depends on the one you are interested in and the type of money you are hoping to make, James explained. The big money though is in business email compromise where we hack email accounts to convince businesses to make payments to fake bank accounts that the companies would have believed belong to their clients. Dating is not bad too. Sometimes its legit and sometimes its not, Andrew who was smoking a cigarette at the balcony said as he tries to highlight the advantages of online romance scam. Ive been dating this American lady for 5 years now. She has been to Nigeria once and Ive also travelled to see her in Georgia too. Now Im making plans to permanently relocate By this time, I found myself more relaxed because, to be sincere, I wasnt expecting this much honesty and openness. On my way there, I doubted anyone but Matthew who is an acquaintance would give me audience, but as it turned out, for some reason, they were at ease me asking these questions. Now I was confident enough to bring out my notepad so I can go on with my next line of questions and anticipating more revelations (Part 2 coming soon) *** Written by Victor Enengedi [email protected] Showy peacock feathers, extravagant elk antlers and powerful crayfish claws are just a few examples of the ostentatious animal extremes used to compete for and attract mates, a process called sexual selection. Now, thanks to Arizona State University researcher Zackary Graham and his colleagues, we can add the "unicorn of the seas," the narwhal, to the list. "Broadly, I'm interested in sexual selection, which is responsible for creating some of the craziest traits in biology. As an evolutionary biologist, I try to understand why some animals have these bizarre traits, and why some don't," said Graham, a doctoral student at ASU's School of Life Sciences. "One way we try to understand these traits is by looking at the morphology, or the size and shape of them. I immediately became obsessed with trying to think of some interesting animals to study. I was Googling everything; maybe I can find a dinosaur in a museum. Eventually, I found the narwhal tusk." Graham is the lead author of a new study which demonstrates the best evidence to date that the narwhal tusk functions as a sexual trait, published in online in the journal Biology Letters. A tusk among us Like walruses and elephants, male narwhals (Monodon monoceros) grow tusks; these are modified teeth. In narwhals, the left tooth erupts from their head, reaching more than 8-feet-long in some individuals. The tusk grows out in a spiral pattern, giving the appearance of a sea-dwelling unicorn. advertisement Since narwhals spend most of their lives hidden under the Arctic ice, there has been much speculation on what exactly the tusk is used for: hunting, fighting or perhaps something more amorous in nature? Graham mentions that there have been reports of head scarring, broken tusks and tusks impaled in the sides of males, who may have been on the receiving end of some aggression. Other scattered observations include a behavior of "tusking," where two narwhals cross and rub their tusks together, suggests that the tusk is used for communication during intra- or intersexual interactions. Graham has studied sexual selection in all sorts of species, including the crayfish he studies for his PhD dissertation. He realized, that to demonstrate that the tusk is sexually selected, he could use the relationship between tusk size with body size to understand this mysterious trait. To do so, his team collected morphology data on 245 adult male narwhals over the course of 35 years. With colleagues Alexandre V. Palaoro of the LUTA do Departamento de Ecologia e Biologia Evolutiva, UNIFESP, Brazil, and Mads Peter Heide-Jrgensen and Eva Garde, from the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, they created a large dataset from the carefully curated narwhal field data. When comparing individuals of the same age, sexually selected traits often exhibit disproportional growth -- that is, for a given body size, sexually selected traits are often larger than expected in the largest individuals. Importantly, they compared the growth (or scaling) of the tusk to the scaling relationship between body size and a trait that is unlikely to have sexual functions. To do so, they used the tail of the narwhals, called the fluke. advertisement "We also predicted that if the narwhal tusk is sexually selected, we expect greater variation in tusk length compared to the variation in fluke width," said Graham. This is because many sexual traits are highly sensitive to nutrient and body condition, such that only the biggest and strongest individuals can afford the energy to produce extremely large traits. According to Graham, they found that male tusks can have over 4-fold variation in tusk length (the same body size males can have tusks ranging from 1.5-feet to 8.2-feet) long. However, the fluke hardly varies at all, ranging from 1.5-feet to 3-feet long within individuals of the same body size. They also found disproportional growth in the tusk compared to the fluke. Based on the disproportional growth and large variation in tusk length they found, they have provided the best evidence to date that narwhal tusks are indeed sexually selected. "By combining our results on tusk scaling with known material properties of the tusk, we suggest that the narwhal tusk is a sexually selected signal that is used during the male-male tusking contests," said Graham. "The information that the tusk communicates is simple: "I am bigger than you."" And if only the highest quality males produce and adorn the largest tusks, then the tusk likely serves as an honest signal of quality to females or males. Under the Ice Graham hopes that future researchers will use aerial and aquatic drones to provide concrete evidence of the tusk function in nature and elucidate the tusks exact role as either an aggressive weapon, a sexual signal or both. Perhaps one day, we can look forward to a "Big Love: Narwhals Under the Ice" nature documentary coming to an IMAX near you. "Overall, our evidence supports the hypothesis that the tusk functions both as a sexually selected weapon and sexually selected signal during male-male contests," said Graham. "However, further evaluations of the narwhal's ecology are warranted." The Parish Priest of Dunleer, Fr Michael Murtagh, has urged people to remain calm in the face of the Covid-19 outbreak, and look out for vulnerable people. Many of those in rural mid Louth depend very much on mass as outlet for meeting up, but that has been suspended. And naturally, the coming weeks will see funerals, with Fr Murtagh asking people to use their own discretion. There are guidelines that only 100 people or so can attend such events and they must be separated within the church. 'We have to bury our dead and we have to mark the death of someone,' he stated. Personally, he finds it strange that his own pastoral care has been impacted, unable to visit hospitals, nursing homes or indeed homes in general. While people can't attend weekly mass, he will continue to celebrate it. 'I will say Mass alone in Saint Brigid's each weekday at 10 a.m. so people can follow on web-streaming (Google YouTube Dunleer Parish or go to website dunleerparish.ie). I will also say Mass alone on Saturday evening at 7 30pm and on Sunday at 11 30am in St Brigid's for family intentions etc. These also can be followed on web-cam,' he stated. There will be no mass in country churches and intentions for Philipstown/Dromin will be combined at 11 30 Mass in Dunleer. He feels mass is still very important for people at this time and while many older people are up to date with technology, he hopes family members can help others access services. 'There is a good community spirit in Dunleer and people are always aware and watchful of others. I would be optimistic that we will come through this.,' he stated. OnePlus rolled out the first OxygenOS Open Beta update for the 7T and 7T Pro last week, which came with the February patch and Live Caption feature. Now, the Chinese phone maker has released the second beta update that bumps up the Android security patch level on the 7T duo to March 2020. OnePlus 7T (left) and OnePlus 7T Pro (right) The Open Beta 2 update also brings in the Instant Translation feature, which provides real-time subtitles during video calls. It currently supports English, French, German, Hindi, and Chinese languages. You can check out the complete changelog of the Open Beta 2 update below, which is the same as Open Beta 11 for the 7 and 7 Pro. System Fixed the frame rate issue to improve screen recording experience Updated Android Security patch to 2020.03 Fixed the random switch to Gboard while using SwiftKey or a 3rd party keyboard Optimized the adaptive brightness feature Instant Translation Added Instant translation feature. Provides real-time subtitles during video calls, supports 5 languages (English, French, German, Hindi, and Chinese) The new beta firmware will be rolled out over the air to those units that are running the previous version of the beta build. And, those who are on the official build and want to give the Beta 2 a try can head over to the source link below for installation instructions. However, do note that beta builds may contain bugs, so it's best not to install them on your primary device. Source Washington Bahraini Ambassador to the United States, Shaikh Abdulla bin Rashid Al Khalifa, has warned that Iran is hiding behind the tragedy of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) to step up its attacks around the world. He indicated that citizens of the world and the global media are fixated on the new coronavirus and they should be. Millions of people are at risk. Priority must be given to disseminating reliable information about the threat. But the virus frenzy has obscured other news, which has provided a dangerous opening for some of the planets nefarious actors who are wreaking havoc with little notice and few consequences. This has been especially true for Iran, the biggest state sponsor of terrorism. For example, not many people noticed that on Feb. 23 Arab Coalition forces managed to foil an imminent terrorist attack, which was clearly concocted by Iranian operators. In this case, an unmanned boat filled with explosives was destroyed by coalition-allied forces in Yemen, the ambassador said in an opinion article published by the Washington Times on Tuesday, March 17. Shaikh Abdulla bin Rashid added that the month of March has been even more packed with deadly, Iran-influenced incidents that would have made international headlines if they werent obscured by the pandemic. On March 11, Iranian proxy group Kataeb Hezbollah conducted a rocket attack on an American military base in Iraq that left two Americans and one British soldier dead. The United States responded with airstrikes as it should have, but neither the initial attack nor the retaliation was much remarked on in the news. The United States and many Western governments have long labelled the regime in Iran a dangerous terrorist. Irans actions in just the last two months are proof of that accusation. But the diversion created by the coronavirus has allowed Irans probing actions to be relegated to minor mentions online, he said, noting that Iran might well have taken its actions under the cover of a pandemic on purpose. It certainly knew from its own experience that the coronavirus was grabbing all the airtime in the media. The reason: The Iranian regime has been struggling to contain what might be the most severe spread of the virus. Shaikh Abdulla bin Rashid emphasised that the official numbers of coronavirus victims claimed by the Iranian government are considered far lower than the actual amount, according to experts. But the situation there is probably dire. The Washington Post published satellite photos of what looked like mass-grave trenches being dug in Iran to accommodate the many people who have died due to the disease. Data gathered by Radio Farda from various national and local media in Iran quoting local authorities and Health Ministry officials indicate that the coronavirus (COVID-19) death toll in the country is at least 660 more than the officially announced tally on March 21. On Saturday in his daily announcement Dr. Kianoush Jahanpour, Spokesman of Iran's Health Ministry, said with 966 more patients diagnosed with coronavirus in the 24 hours prior to his report the number of infections has reached 20,610. He also said with 123 more deaths in the same period, the death toll from COVID-19 is up to 1,556 now. Radio Farda's tally, which takes patients with clinical manifestations of the disease into account, stands at 46,972, more than double the official number. Iran's Health Ministry counts only those who have tested positive for the disease but its ability to test is limited. Many deaths are registered as respiratory complications or influenza because there are not enough test kits for everyone with symptoms. Iranian officials have so far declined to announce the death toll in Tehran and Qom Provinces which are the two hardest-hit among the 31 provinces. The Health Ministry, the only body authorized to announce the numbers, does not reveal the number of deaths for each province. Even the number of confirmed infected patients in Tehran Province has not been disclosed. Radio Farda has acquired evidence of an exchange of information between the Head of the Coronavirus Combat Taskforce in Tehran Province, Alireza Zali, and First Vice-President Es'haq Jahangiri which may reflect the situation. Based on this evidence, 70 percent of the 23,000 patients (16,000) with "respiratory illnesses" who have been admitted to hospitals in Tehran since the outbreak, have been diagnosed with coronavirus. This is in Tehran alone, while the government's official figure for the whole country is 20,610. The Ministry says their numbers are based on "final testing" for coronavirus and do not include those with clinical symptoms only. Several lawmakers have questioned the figures announced by the Health Ministry on the basis of first-hand information they have from the authorities and personal accounts in their constituencies. The number of patients and the death toll are probably even higher than the numbers Radio Farda has summed up from the said sources, which indicate that the highest deaths have occurred in the provinces of Esfahan, Khorasan-e Razavi, Tehran, Qom, Gilan, Mazandaran and Golestan. Meanwhile, an official in charge of distribution of medicine for the treatment of coronavirus patients on Saturday said that constituent parts of a drug to fight coronavirus have been imported from China. The medication can be manufactured within two days when the ingredients are released from the customs and available, Ali Razazan said. He did not reveal the name of the Chinese drug but said it is an anti-viral drug tested in China that can help in treating patients suffering from COVID-19. China has not reported the use of the drug but Japanese media say a Japanese influenza medication may be helpful to patients suffering from coronavirus disease. Currently according to the Head of the Scientific Committee of the Coronavirus Combat Taskforce, Iran is testing a cocktail of three drugs for the treatment of respiratory complications in coronavirus patients. Dr. Mostafa Qanei on March 17 told the press that the cocktail reduces the duration of hospitalization of patients from up to 15 days to only four days. He added that with improvement of their symptoms, 40 percent of those treated with the medication were released from hospital in less than four days. According to Dr. Qanei the cocktail consists of Azithromycin, Naplo Protexin and Prednisolone. One of the 11 new cases confirmed on Friday - an Auckland man in his 60s - travelled on the Celebrity Solstice around New Zealand. The cruise ship visited Tauranga on March 11. He joined the cruise in Auckland on March 10 and disembarked in Dunedin - before he returned separately to Auckland. The ship visited Tauranga - March 11, Picton - March 13, Akaroa - March 14, Port Chalmers -March 15, and left from Fiordland on March 16. The Ministry of Health's public health staff will be working with their counterparts in Australia to give details of the activities of the passenger while on board the cruise to assist the Australian health services in the follow up they're undertaking there. The ship arrived in Sydney on Friday and any New Zealanders on board returning to New Zealand will be regarded as close contacts, put in self-isolation and monitored daily. Health officials say every person who was on that cruise who is now in New Zealand needs to self-isolate now. As of midnight March 14 all cruise ships were banned from coming to New Zealand until at least 30 June 2020. Ships already in New Zealand waters were permitted to conclude their itinerary. Ruby Princess Coronavirus: 56 New Zealanders being contacted after Covid-19 cases on cruise ship The Ministry of Health is contacting 56 New Zealanders who were on a cruise ship which had four people test positive for Covid-19. The Ruby Princess, which left New Zealand seven days ago, and has had three Australian passengers and one crew member test positive for Covid-19. The advice will be to be vigilant and contact their GP or Healthline if they display any Covid-19 symptoms. The ministry is working with Customs and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Trade MFAT - to check which New Zealanders on board have now returned to this country. The Ruby Princess left Sydney on March 8, travelled to Fiordland (March 11), Dunedin (March 12), Akaroa (March 13), Wellington (March 14) and Napier (March 15). The cruise, which was due to arrive in Tauranga on March 16 was shortened after visiting Napier, for weather reasons, and the ship returned directly to Sydney and passengers disembarked on March 18. Any passengers who returned to New Zealand would be covered by the requirement for all travellers returning to New Zealand to go into self-isolation for 14 days. All returned passengers will be treated as close contacts and followed up with daily health checks, the Ministry of Health said. The ship carried around 2700 passengers and 1100 crew. The ministry is working through the itinerary of local visits undertaken by passengers to see if there are other precautionary steps that need to be taken. Ministry staff will also be working with their counterparts in Australia to determine - from the four cases with Covid-19 - any other possible close contacts in New Zealand that will be contacted, put into self-isolation and tested if showing symptoms. Passengers are not allowed to disembark the ship if they are unwell or showing signs of illness when it docks. While in Wellington, there were a small number of passengers on board at the time with flu-like symptoms, and five passengers were tested in Wellington for Covid-19 on March 14. These people never left the ship in Wellington and the results from those tests were negative. Digital media solutions provider Datasys explains Search-n-Deploy, the all-new, real-time keyword intelligence tool for search originated marketing. NORTH KINGSTOWN, RI / ACCESSWIRE / March 21, 2020 / For the last 20 years, only two channels have existed for search originated marketing (SOM): search engine optimization and pay-per-click advertising. That trend, however, is now set to change with the launch of Search-n-Deploy from Datasys, which utilizes a proprietary algorithm to track search activity and target keywords in real-time using unique mobile device identifiers. Adam Mittelberg, Datasys CEO and chairman, explains more about the exclusive, all-new keyword intelligence tool. "Less than half of users click on search engine optimized links and only one in 20 will click on a pay-per-click ad at all," shared Mittelberg at a recent press event. "Search-n-Deploy is so exciting because it frees our clients from being stuck in that either/or scenario with search engine marketing- now they can completely bypass Google and target users directly." How does it work? Search-n-Deploy intelligently targets users in real time and studies how they're interacting with keywords online. Each instance is then measured for relevance for any given campaign. For instance, if a user is searching for "B2B enterprise solutions", an algorithm would look at traffic patterns to see what type of content the user is viewing and deliver an appropriate digital ad if relevance criteria is met. "It's a brand new method of search originated marketing that can be instantly deployed on your terms," added Mittelberg, "to deliver the ideal campaign only to ideal customers. Our initial conversion rates through testing are 2-3x the industry standard at a fraction of traditional costs." Thanks to a proprietary database of mobile advertising IDs across billions of records, Search-n-Deploy allows users to monitor these IDs and see what people are searching for at any given time. Results are delivered in real time based on specific search traffic and the marketing possibilities are almost endless. "This is a complete paradigm shift since opt-in users are proactively targeted as they're in the actual buying cycle," added Mittelberg, "and we've developed this proprietary technology in-house exclusively for our clients." Datasys is a full-service data, analytics, and digital media solutions provider with multiple marketing channels, a vast array of proprietary data sets, and an ever-growing suite of revolutionary ad tech platforms. Datasys boasts the ability to analyze, strategize, and execute almost any customer acquisition or retention campaign by crafting marketing and digital products that are proven to grow clients' businesses. To find out more, visit https://www.datasys.com/. CONTACT: Caroline Hunter Web Presence, LLC +1 7865519491 SOURCE: Web Presence, LLC View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/581911/Datasys-Launches-Real-Time-Keyword-Intelligence-SAAS In its highest single-day jump, Punjab on Saturday recorded 11 cases of COVID-19, taking the total number of those infected in the state to 14, official said. In the latest development, six cases were reported from Nawanshahr, three from Mohali and one each from Hoshiarpur and Amritsar, they said. As of now, a total of 181 samples have been tested, out of which, the reports of 141 persons were found negative, a medical bulletin said. The report of 23 persons is awaited, it said. The bulletin added that 40 people with suspected coronavirus are admitted in hospitals. The maximum number (six) of coronavirus patients were reported from Nawanshahr town of the state. They are the relatives of the 70-year-old coronavirus positive man who had returned from Germany via Italy and died on Wednesday because of cardiac arrest. Among the infected are his three sons, daughter, daughter-in-law and granddaughter, as per the bulletin. A 60-year-old resident of Garhshankar in Hoshiarpur who had come in contact with the 70-year-old man also tested positive, it said. Three persons from Mohali tested positive on Saturday. Among them is a 74-year-old woman, sister of the 69-year-old Mohali-based woman who tested positive on Friday, said Mohali Deputy Commissioner Girish Dayalan. Another 28-year-old Mohali-based woman who came in contact with Chandigarh-based 23-year-old woman coronavirus patient, also tested positive, said Dayalan. A 42-year-old Mohali resident, who recently returned from the United Kingdom, also tested positive for COVID-19. He is admitted to a government hospital in Sector-16 in Chandigarh. A coronavirus positive case was also reported from Amritsar as a 36-year-old man, who recently returned from the UK, tested positive, officials said. Notably, Punjab's first coronavirus patient was tracked in Amritsar who had returned from Italy. According to the bulletin, condition of all COVID-19 positive cases is stable. Meanwhile, the health authorities said all those who came in close contact with the coronavirus patients have been put under quarantine and surveillance. Samples of such contacts have been taken for testing, they said. Meanwhile, the district administrations of Hoshiarpur, Nawanshahr and Mohali are taking steps to contain the spread of the disease. In Hoshiarpur, the district administration has ordered closure of all markets except shops of essential items and chemists. Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday had asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a fiscal package to combat the coronavirus crisis and permission to get tests done at private hospitals and labs in the state. The CM had expressed grave concern over the escalating COVID-19 crisis while taking part in the deliberations during a video conference convened by the PM with all the chief ministers to review the situation. The CM has also asked deputy commissioners and district police chiefs to chalk out a comprehensive strategy for the containment of coronavirus. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) KAMPALA The Ministry of Health has dismissed a social media post after it claimed that Uganda has confirmed its COVID-19 case. A statement released on the night of Friday March 20, Ministry of Health has said Uganda is still coronavirus free and urged Ugandans to desist from spreading fake news. the ministry of health would like to inform the general public that this is baseless rumor spread by individuals with ill intentions intending to malice the health sectors efforts to prevent the importation of COVID 19 Mr. Emmanuel Ainebyoona, the ministrys spokesperson said. He said that total of 2,278 travelers including Ugandans and others travelling back home have been identified as high-risk and identified for purposes of follow up and institutional quarantine. So far, samples from 54 persons who presented with signs and symptoms similar to that of COVID-19 have been tested. Out of these, the ministry said, 52 tested have negative while two are pending results from Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI). As of today, he said Uganda has no confirmed case of COVID-19. Uganda this week banned with immediate effect, travellers from category one countries in terms of the epidemic for 32 days in an unprecedented move to seal its borders amid the coronavirus crisis. These countries are Italy, France, South Korea, China, USA, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Norway Austria, Malaysia, Pakistan, and San Marino. The measure is also expected to apply to all out-bound movement by Ugandans to or through these countries, again, for 32 days. President Museveni in a televised address said foreigners going to those countries are free to do so provided they do not intend to come back within the prohibited time. The travel ban will affect all non-Uganda nationals from visiting the country. We cannot stop Ugandans coming back from abroad, even from the category one countries that I read above. However, such Ugandans will be put in mandatory quarantine in a designated place but they will pay the cost for their institutional quarantine ? food, etc. If they want to avoid that inconvenience or cost, they can sit out the storm in the country of their temporary abode. Museveni said the measures were agreed on Monday afternoon by the cabinet under his chairmanship. Related An argument between friends turned deadly in southwest Houston early Friday morning. At least three men met at an apartment along South Post Oak near West Orem Drive around midnight, according to Houston Police Department Sgt. Hardy Hay. The group began to argue, so two of the men left in a white Mercedes SUV. COVID-19 UPDATES: Follow Houston Chronicle for live updates on the coronavirus pandemic As they left, a man driving a black car followed them from the apartment, Hay said. The Mercedes pulled over nearby, where a man from the black car walked up to the passenger side window of the Mercedes and started arguing with the driver. At some point, the man pulled a gun and shot the driver dead through the open passenger window, Hay said. He then drove away. The passenger in the Mercedes, shaken by the circumstances, jumped on top of the dead man in the drivers seat and drove the SUV near Croquet Lane and Darlinghurst Drive, where he stopped and called 911, Hay said. Detectives hope nearby surveillance video will help identify the suspected gunman. Anyone with information is urged to call Houston Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477). Jay R. Jordan covers breaking news in the Houston area. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com | Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan | Email him at jay.jordan@chron.com Scotland Yard has warned the British public to be vigilant against a number of scams being perpetrated by criminals looking to cash in on the people's fears regarding coronavirus. The Metropolitan Police said the majority of the incidents reported related to online shopping scams, where members of the public ordered and paid for personal protective equipment which never arrived. "We are seeing communities across London rallying together to help each other through this unprecedented public health crisis, and what is a difficult time for many. However, there are a small number of unscrupulous people out there who see it as an opportunity to con others for personal gain," said Superintendent Lis Chapple, the Met Police's lead for Crime Prevention, Inclusion and Engagement. "The most vulnerable in society are often targeted which makes the offending all the more despicable, and the Met is committed to identifying these people and ensuring they are held to account for their actions. Please take a moment to think about who you are speaking to, what you are agreeing to and what you may be clicking on online. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is," Chapple said. Since the UK government advised people to avoid unnecessary travel and stay at home where possible, the force said it has received a "small number" of reports where people are using coronavirus as a guise to gain entry to homes and steal. It called on the people to ensure they check the identity and credentials of anyone who makes an unsolicited home visit, offering a service and asking for payment. "If you are contacted by someone you don't know, online or in person, and are being pressured to buy something you feel unsure about, take a moment to assess the situation and talk to someone you trust before committing," the Met Police said. It warns that people and businesses are also more vulnerable to being a victim of cyber fraud as they use the internet more to shop and communicate with friends and family. It notes: "There have also been reports of coronavirus-themed phishing emails being sent. These attempts to trick members of the public into opening attachments which could enable fraudsters to steal personal information, passwords and banking details. "Emails sent by fraudsters are often sophisticated and look like genuine emails from banks and other websites you might use regularly, so please be alert to this. If you receive a suspicious email, don't click on the links or attachments, and never respond to unsolicited messages or calls with personal or financial details." Fraudsters have been caught selling counterfeit face masks and hand sanitisers and even a sanitiser containing an ingredient banned for human use six years ago. "By tricking elderly and vulnerable people in self-isolation to part with their cash, fraudsters are playing roulette with the lives of those most at risk," said Simon Blackburn, chairman of the communities board of Local Government Association, which speaks for local councils in England and Wales. "Keeping the elderly and those with underlying health conditions safe is every council's top priority and councils will do everything in their power to prosecute fraudsters and seek the toughest penalties for criminals taking advantage in this despicable way," he said. Britain's National Fraud Intelligence Bureau said reports related to the pandemic, which has claimed 177 lives in the UK, have rocketed to 400 per cent in recent weeks. "The majority of scams we are seeing relate to the online sale of protective items, and items that are in short supply across the country, due to the COVID-19 outbreak," said Superintendent Sanjay Andersen, head of the bureau. Around 105 such cases recorded since last month caused losses totalling GBP 970,000. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Holiday Guru is always on call to answer your questions. This week travel rights amid the coronavirus crisis, whether it will be possible to go on a European city break in late April and what happens if you flout advice and take a 'non-essential' trip are on the agenda... Q. My wife and I are booked on an Oceania cruise departing from Stockholm on June 16 that is due to visit St Petersburg, Tallinn, Riga and Copenhagen. We are over 70, but the Government now advises against travel on cruises for our age group and the final balance is now due. What should we do? Alan and June Beard, via email. One reader asked the Holiday Guru for advice about whether to cancel a cruise he had booked departing Stockholm in June A. Oceania says it wants all guests to be able to travel with peace of mind. We offered to help you with Oceania, and you have since told us that you decided to cancel your booking and that Oceania has offered to refund half of our deposit with a credit note for the rest. Great to hear. Q. We arrived at the airport for our flight to the Canaries on Saturday, but were turned away as it had been cancelled. Does Jet2, the airline we booked with, have any obligation to refund or offer another holiday later on in the year? Joan E. Jelly, via email. A. Yes, contact Jet2 and you are due either a full refund or to be offered an alternative date for travel. For further information on your travel rights, see abta.com/news/coronavirus-outbreak. Q. Some airlines are still flying to Europe whats stopping me going in a fortnight, even if the Government says dont go? Susan Griffiths, London A. There is nothing stopping you taking a trip. You could, for example, fly for about 60 return on Wizz Air to Athens. (wizzair.com). But your insurance will be invalid as you will be taking a non-essential trip during the 30-day restricted period. Q. We are soon to fly back from Sao Paulo in Brazil to the UK, what will happen if our flight is cancelled? James and Peter White, via email. Another reader asked the Guru for insight about what to do if his flight from Sao Paulo to the UK is cancelled A. Contact your airline. Staff should know if you can be put on alternative flights or if the FCO is organising repatriation flights. You may be offered a refund, but be wary of accepting cash as buying a new return ticket on your own could cost much more. Your travel insurer may cover accommodation costs. The Association of British Insurers website offers guidance (abi.org.uk). Q. Would you recommend booking a city break in Europe in late April? That will be outside the Government advice against all non-essential international travel in the next 30 days. Sandra Williamson, Peterborough. A. Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, issued the advice not to go abroad unless it is essential for 30 days starting last Wednesday. So in theory, non-essential travel restrictions end on April 17. However, it seems likely that this will be extended. So be patient. See gov.uk or FCO for advice. WERE HERE TO HELP Holiday Guru is here for you. Please send questions to holidayplanner@dailymail.co.uk or write to Daily Mail Travel, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT - and include your contact details. A few hours ago, I read that Governor Bill Lee of Tennessee is urging churches not to hold services during the coronavirus pandemic. It's a good thought, because a religious service can put 5001,000 people in a building. Also, people naturally show their affection when they go to church. On Thursday night, we got a message from our Bishop, Michael Olson, regarding Mass this weekend and probably for the time being. We will have scheduled Masses but "sine populo," or a new Latin term for me that means "without the people." The "populo" will stay in their cars and wait to be called for Communion. As an usher, I will then line up the parishioners to receive Communion. For the time being, I will follow the bishop's rules. He means well, and the Church does not need any more lawsuits over catching the virus during Mass. Welcome to the world of the coronavirus. Someday, we will look back and tell our kids about the day that we sat in a parking lot and walked up to the doors of the church to get Communion. And, last but not least, I won't get to give my wife a kiss when we say "peace be with you." On second thought, maybe we can do it in the car as we did in the drive-in theaters! PS: You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter. Four inmates of the Dumdum Correctional Home here were injured in a clash with prison guards on Saturday over the state government's decision not to allow them to meet their families till March 31 due to coronavirus outbreak, officials said. The inmates pelted the guards with stones and set jail property on fire following which police personnel burst tear gas shells to quell the violent stir, a top prison official said. Family members of an under-trial prisoner, however, alleged that the prisoner was killed with a bullet injury. State Correctional Administration Department Minister Ujjal Biswas, however, dismissed the claim. "Four inmates were injured during the clash. They were admitted to the R G Kar Medical College and Hospital. There are no reports of any death so far," Biswas told PTI. The minister said the inmates started agitating when authorities stopped them from meeting their relatives on Saturday to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus. In the morning, some inmates insisted that they be released on parole, but when the authorities refused to accept their demand, they launched a violent agitation, a top prison official said. The stir soon turned into a clash between the inmates and prison guards, he said. RAF personnel and policemen managed to bring the situation under control after some time, the official said. Several fire tenders were pressed into service to bring the fires under control, he said. "The situation is under control. We are trying to identify the inmates behind the incident," the official said. Sporadic incidents of clashes between inmates and prison guards were also reported at the Presidency Correctional Home, a senior police officer said. However, there are no reports of any serious injury and the situation has been brought under control, he said. A senior official of the West Bengal Correctional Services Department had said on Friday that allowing inmates' families to wait outside the prison was against the concept of social distancing, which is the key to prevent the spread of coronavirus. "Keeping this in mind, a decision was taken not to allow the meetings till March 31," he said. In view of the coronavirus outbreak, a family member of an inmate can now only call up the prison authorities to enquire about his or her health. Meanwhile, the state government removed Director General of Correctional Services, Arun Gupta and named Peeyush Pandey as the new ADG & IG of the state correctional services, a government notification said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) One of the first known coronavirus sufferers has been able to return home after recovering from the deadly pathogen. Chinese seafood merchant Wei Guixian, 57, was discharged from hospital in early January after paying 70,000 yuan (8,467) in medical bills. She is now in good health and has returned to her two-bedroom apartment but her daughter, who tested positive for COVID-19 in mid-January, remains in a field hospital. Chinese seafood merchant Wei Guixian, who worked at the Hua'nan market in Wuhan (pictured), was discharged from hospital in early January after paying 70,000 yuan (8,467) in medical bills Ms Wei was first taken ill at the Hua'nan market in Wuhan on December 10 but dismissed the symptoms as the onset of a common cold. She initially went to a private clinic near her home where she was administered with antibiotics on an intravenous drip after doctors believed she was suffering with bronchitis. But just days later she was admitted to the respiratory ward at the Xiehe Hospital when she began losing consciousness. Doctors carried out a serious of tests including a throat swab and endoscopies but the street vendor could not be officially diagnosed. Doctors carried out a serious of tests including a throat swab and endoscopies but the street vendor could not be officially diagnosed. Pictured: Medical staff treating COVID-19 patients at a hospital in Wuhan It took weeks before Ms Wei's symptoms were connected to those of other cases in the area with many of the sufferers being other market vendors. Ms Wei was eventually put into quarantine with doctors administering her treatment from behind face masks. She was eventually able to recover and has since been discharged from hospital. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Ms Wei said despite her hefty medical bills she considers herself lucky. She added: 'Some people spent so much money and still couldn't buy their lives.' Ms Wei is now in good health and has returned to her two-bedroom apartment but her daughter, who tested positive for COVID-19 in mid-January, remains in a field hospital (pictured) Ms Wei now believes that she may have been infected with coronavirus via the toilet she shared with the wild meat sellers on the market. She said that both vendors on either side of her stall both tested positive for the virus as well as one of her daughters, her niece and her niece's husband. Ms Wei said that 'a lot fewer people would have died' in China had the government acted sooner. There are so far more than 301,463 confirmed cases of coronavirus around the world with 12,911 deaths. By Costas Pitas and Andy Bruce LONDON (Reuters) - The United Kingdom put 20,000 military personnel on standby over the coronavirus crisis on Thursday as dozens of underground train stations closed across London and Queen Elizabeth left the city for Windsor Castle. As the coronavirus outbreak sweeps across the world, governments, companies and investors are grappling with the biggest public health crisis since the 1918 influenza pandemic. Against a background of panic buying in supermarkets and the biggest fall in sterling for decades, the 93-year-old queen issued a message to the nation as she relocated from central London to Windsor with her husband Prince Philip, who is 98. "At times such as these, I am reminded that our nation's history has been forged by people and communities coming together to work as one," Elizabeth said. "Many of us will need to find new ways of staying in touch with each other and making sure that loved ones are safe. I am certain we are up to that challenge. You can be assured that my family and I stand ready to play our part." In a sign of escalating fears about the impact of the crisis, the Bank of England cut interest rates to just 0.1%, its second emergency rate cut in just over a week, and promised an extra 200 billion pounds of bond purchases. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a now-daily coronavirus news conference that Britain could turn the tide of the outbreak within the next 12 weeks. "At the moment the disease is proceeding in a way that does not seem yet to be responding to our interventions," he said. "I believe that a combination of the measures that we're asking the public to take and better testing, scientific progress, will enable us to get on top of it within the next 12 weeks." However, he said he could not assert that the outbreak would be on a downward slope by the end of June. It was possible but not certain. Britain has so far reported 144 deaths from coronavirus and 3,269 confirmed cases, but UK scientific advisers say more than 50,000 people might have already been infected. Story continues LONDON LOCKDOWN? Amid rumors that travel in and out of London would be restricted, Johnson's spokesman told reporters there was "zero prospect" of restrictions being imposed. But asked about London later at his news conference, Johnson said compliance with the social distancing recommendations made by the government was patchy and it might be necessary to do more in the capital, although he did not specify what. The government said police were still responsible for maintaining law and order and there were no plans to use the military for this purpose, though it did put military reservists on formal notification. London's transport authority said it would close up to 40 underground train stations until further notice and reduce other services including buses and trains. "People should not be traveling, by any means, unless they really, really have to," London Mayor Sadiq Khan said. As panic buying continued and supermarket shelves were being stripped bare, an industry source said retailers were expecting police support. The government announced it was relaxing competition laws to allow cooperation between supermarkets to ensure supplies to the public were adequate. Britain faces a "massive shortage" of ventilators that will be needed to treat critically ill patients suffering from coronavirus, after it failed to invest enough in intensive care equipment, a leading ventilator manufacturer said. Johnson said Britain was in talks to buy a coronavirus antibody test that could be a game changer if it works, and that scientists were already making progress in finding medicines to fight the disease. With the economy coming to a standstill, the pound on Wednesday plunged to its lowest since March 1985, barring a freak "flash crash" in October 2016. On Thursday the pound was down 0.5% at $1.1570. (Additional reporting by Guy Faulconbridge, Elizabeth Howcroft, Kylie MacLellan, Paul Sandle, Sarah Young; writing by Estelle Shirbon and Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Stephen Addison) An Irish band touring in South America may be stuck in Chile for weeks if Canadian borders close this weekend and their last hopes of returning home are shattered. Irish and South American trad band Los Paddys headed to Santiago in Chile for a tour several weeks ago. However, the group is now stranded, with some members having returned home and others granted one last chance to return home today, if Canadian borders do not close before then. "All of the borders were shut in Argentina, so we cannot get back to the United States in order to return to Ireland," said frontman Paddy Mulcahy. "If it goes to plan on Saturday, we might be able to fly to Toronto, to London and then to Shannon." The band headed for a 12-gig tour to Chile and Argentina to pay tribute to their band member Fernando who had emigrated to Chile. "We're in uncharted territory here, the main priority is to get back and we're hoping for the best," said Mr Mulcahy. Chennai, March 21 : In a gruesome incident near here on Saturday, a Class 5 student was molested and killed by throwing her off the terrace of a building. One person was arrested. The police have arrested the girl's neighbour a 29-year-old man within hours of the crime. According to the police, the 10-year-old girl went out of her house in Maduravoyal locality to use the bathroom and did not return early on Saturday. Alarmed by her absence the girl's parents called the police. The parents, neighbours and police personnel took out a search party. The girl was found lying in a pool of blood at the backside of the building. She was rushed to the hospital, where the doctors declared her dead. On medical examination, it was found that the girl was molested. The police arrested the girl's neighbour -- a construction labourer P.Suresh, who confessed to molesting the girl on the terrace and when she shouted he threw her down. Tourists have started leaving after the government on Thursday banned the entry of foreign and domestic visitors to the state. All existing bookings are being canceled by the tourism industry. "I had planned my stay in Shimla until tomorrow but I had to cut short my trip due to the government's advisory. I'm a little disappointed but since public safety is a priority, I support the precautionary measure, it's for our own good," said Sachin Kumar, a domestic tourist. The hotel Association and travel-related business units have stopped taking new bookings and are requesting the tourists to leave the hill station. The Hotel Industry Association here in Shimla is also requesting the state government for compensation, as this will have a drastic impact on the tourism industry. "We are in touch with the administration for the past 15-20 days. All staff members are taking the necessary precautions to avoid the spread of infection. We are happy with the government's decision as till not even one case has been reported in Himachal Pradesh," said Sanjay Sood, president of Shimla Hotel and Restaurant Association. "Since a lot of students have holidays, there are chances that they will visit Himachal, which risks our safety. So, we request people to delay their vacations until the situation gets better. Currently, we have stopped all the check-ins," said Sood. "I have given a representation to the chief minister requesting benefits in the near future so that we can sustain ourselves. As per the instructions, the staff will be paid on time," he added. According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the total number of positive coronavirus case in India are 258 (including 39 foreigners). Till now, four deaths have taken place due to the virus in Delhi, Karnataka, Punjab, and Maharashtra. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) SPRINGFIELD Madison County Health Department officials on Saturday afternoon announced a second confirmed coronavirus case. On Saturday, the Madison County Health Department announced through its Facebook page that a man in his 60s has tested positive for the disease. According to the health department, the man had traveled internationally and continues to recover at home. On Tuesday, health department officials reported the county had registered its first COVID-19 case, a man in his 30s who also had recently traveled abroad. Madison Couty Health Director Toni Corona said the man self-quarantined himself and was recovering at home. Corona also said county residents should expect to see more positive tests locally for COVID-19. On Saturday afternoon, Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued a plea for retired health care workers to join the fight against the COVID-19 as IIlinois health care system braced for a surge of patients amid the pandemic that has now killed six state residents. Illinois confirmed 168 new COVID-19 cases Saturday, boosting its total number of cases to 753 in 26 counties. The sixth victim was a Cook County man in his 70s, said Illinois Department of Public Health Director Ngozi Ezike. Pritzker pleaded for retired health care workers including doctors, nurses and physicians assistants to come back and join the fight against COVID-19 hours before the state entered his stay-at-home order that will continue through April 7. More Information COVID-19 in Illinois For an online map of coronavirus cases in Illinois, visit https://wiu-gis-center.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/8ef833c7ed254fd48fe07266f96e0f70 See More Collapse Were in the middle of battle and and we need reinforcements, Pritzker said. Pritzker said the state would expedite licensing and waive fees to usher retired health care workers heeding his call back into the health care system. Workers whose licenses will soon expire will be automatically extended through September, he said. This is heros work, and all of you have our deepest gratitude for your willingness to serve, Pritzker said. The states coronavirus cases could reach 3,400 within a week, his office said. For most people, the virus causes only mild or moderate symptoms such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness including pneumonia. As of 5 p.m. Saturday, Pritzkers order requires Illinois residents to remain in their homes except for essentials, joining similar dramatic efforts in California and New York to limit the spread of the coronavirus. Residents can still go to the grocery stores, put gas in their cars, take walks outside and make pharmacy runs under the order. Whats important now is to try to reduce the further spread and prevent the healthcare system from being overwhelmed, Ezike said. The Associated Press contributed to this story. Patel, now 29, felt he had to be disruptive to cope with the fact he felt different to others, a quality he recognised in "goofy" Copperfield. "I saw this story of an outsider he's a guy that feels like an impostor, like myself. He's trying to fit in." The class clown has been a lifelong role for Patel, starting at the school he attended near his home in Rayners Lane, north London. "The only way I didn't get beaten up or bullied was because I was the funny dude that did the impressions of my maths teacher", he says. At other points, he is restless and cheeky, cutting off a serious question about "colourblind" casting in period dramas to say: "But I look good in a suit, come on, with that cravat and that top hat..." After the interview, I watch him wrap his arms around his staff as they lead him off to lunch. You need a lot of energy to interview Dev Patel. At one stage, the star of Armando Iannucci's new David Copperfield adaptation is so enthusiastic about a point he is making that he stomps on a coffee table in the central London hotel room where we are sitting. It is true that Patel's school days differed from most. While he was studying for his A-levels, he was also filming for the teen drama Skins. It stipulated that no experience was necessary; for Patel, who had only been in school productions, it was the start of the rest of his life. His breakthrough came in 2008, when he starred in Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire, a popular and critical success that won eight Oscars, and produced a six-year relationship between Patel and his co-star Freida Pinto until they split in 2014. He has since been in several major Hollywood movies including the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel films and an Oscar-nominated turn in 2016's Lion, in which Nicole Kidman played his adoptive mother. But until now, the roles he was offered were always affected by his race, says Patel, the son of Gujarati Indian parents who emigrated to the UK from Kenya. He says that from his Skins days until a few years ago, looking at the parts he was offered was like: "Taxi driver? No. Terrorist? No. Waiter? Already played one of those. I just wasn't getting in the room on the stuff that I wanted to get. You're just waiting for the character name 'Hakim' or something." The UK is even worse than America in offering parts fairly, he thinks, which is part of the reason he decided to move to LA. "I felt like there's a real Downton Abbey kind of thinking here", he says. "In the USA, there's this wonderful attitude, this boldness in society that you can do it, anything is possible," he says. "That kind of attitude is what allowed me to really find a career and build a brand, and now I can come here and be Copperfield." Period dramas always felt particularly off-limits to him. "It's kind of like this incredible party that you can never get into. And then along comes Armando [Iannucci, the director] and he kicks the bouncer, and then you're in," he says. "Normally in a period film, I'd be at the back holding the tray." By Dan Whitcomb and Maria Caspani LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK March 20 (Reuters) - Nearly 40 million Californians have been ordered to stay at home as part of efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus and New York's mayor on Friday renewed his pleas for U.S. President Donald Trump to mobilize the military for additional medical personnel and supplies. The pandemic has already upended life in much of the country, shuttering schools and businesses, prompting millions to work from home, forcing many out of jobs and sharply curtailing travel. Psychologists and psychiatrists are beginning to report signs of distress among patients worried about the consequences. Six clinicians interviewed by Reuters say the coronavirus has been the prime focus of virtually all recent therapy sessions. Chicagoan Mike Wisler was prescribed a sedative to help him sleep when the financial and emotional impact of the pandemic hit the 50-year-old bartender. "My mind won't shut off," Wisler said. "As soon as I wake up, it's like, 'How am I going to get by this month?'" California Governor Gavin Newsom's order late on Thursday took immediate effect, putting in place the widest measures to date in United States, where more than 200 people have died and more than 12,000 cases have been confirmed as of early Friday, an increase of 3,000 cases over the previous day. Click https://tmsnrt.rs/3dkIMIL for a GRAPHIC on U.S. cases. More than 1,000 cases have been confirmed in California, where 19 people have died. Newsom left open the duration of the order, suggesting it could last eight weeks, while expressing confidence that people will abide by orders to stay home except to visit supermarkets, doctors, pharmacies and laundromats. Essential workers will also be allowed to report to work. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti called the statewide measure "the moment everything changed." "This history is clear and this disease is clear. We have to take steps early. None of us have the adequate infrastructure," Garcetti said on ABC News on Friday, adding that, "These are acts of love." STATES FAULT FEDERAL GOVERNMENT Story continues Elsewhere, state and local officials took their own measures and some faulted the federal government for failing to act urgently enough. The governors of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania announced that all barbershops, hair salons, tattoo or parlors and nail salons would be closed as of Saturday. The virus has taken the greatest death toll in Washington state with 74. New York City, where 26 people have died, has about 4,000 cases, or roughly one-third the national total. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio criticized Trump for what he said was a lack of action and responsiveness. "The president is an absence," de Blasio told MSNBC television. "We don't have masks, we don't have ventilators." "We have to recognize at this point we're running out of options in many places, and New York is really the front line of this battle," he said. The Democratic mayor said that unless Republican Trump deployed the military, New York hospitals could run out of medical supplies in a matter of weeks. The U.S. electric industry may ask essential staff to live on site at power plants and control centers to keep operations running if the coronavirus outbreak worsens. Power plants have been stockpiling beds, blankets, and food, according to industry trade groups and electric cooperatives. "The focus needs to be on things that keep the lights on and the gas flowing," said Scott Aaronson, vice president of security and preparedness at the Edison Electric Institute. Meanwhile, the U.S. unemployment benefits program, part of the safety net for the labor market, is about to face its biggest test in more than a decade. More than 1.5 million applications could be filed this week, economists said, as people who work for restaurants, bars, hotels and other businesses suddenly find themselves out of work. "States are just not in a position to respond to this," said Michele Evermore, a senior policy analyst at the National Employment Law Project in Washington, D.C. The U.S. government is moving its tax filing day to July 15 from April 15, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said on Friday. The public health measures meant to control the virus are also strangling the economy. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease official, said stringent measures would be needed for several more weeks. "I cannot see that all of a sudden next week or two weeks from now it's going to be over. I don't think there's a chance of that," Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told NBC News. (Reporting by Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles and Maria Caspani in New York; Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu, Susan Heavey, Nick Brown and Jonnelle Marte; writing by Daniel Trotta; editing by Grant McCool) Less than a year after more than 160 Fulani civilians were massacred at dawn in Ogossagou in central Mali, terror returned to the small village. Eight witnesses gave AFP their account of the latest attack on February 14 in which at least 30 civilians were butchered, bringing more bloodshed to the deeply troubled region. Central Mali has been riven by inter-ethnic violence since a jihadist revolt broke out in the north of the West African country in 2012. The insurgency has claimed thousands of lives, displaced more than a million people and spread to neighbouring countries, while deadly tit-for-tat attacks have flared in the centre. The villagers from Ogossagou -- now off-limits for foreign journalists not escorted by troops -- recounted the fear that gripped them when a military garrison, set up after last year's devastating attack on March 23, left without warning. When the 40-odd soldiers pulled out on February 13, it felt as though his brothers had left, said 46-year-old Bakaye Ousmane Barry. Abdoulaye Cisse, the regional governor, told AFP the soldiers had been withdrawn as part of a redeployment of forces following a slew of deadly jihadist attacks. "We saw the situation was not improving (at the national level), we wanted to change our positioning. Our forces were on the ground, but static, in poor positions," the governor said. "We did not even close (the garrison), we were just regrouping. It was during this time that drama hit Ogossagou for a second time." But the decision left the villagers -- divided between the Fulani and Dogon ethnic neighbourhoods -- to fend for themselves. - Impending doom - After being targeted in attacks, Dogon communities in the region began to form self-defence groups that were then accused of reprisal raids against the Fulani people, who had become associated with jihadists. Mali / AFP By mid-February, Ogossagou was the only place for miles where Fulanis, who are mainly herders and sedentary farmers, remained. The soldiers left the village at six in the evening. "We knew that the moment we were no longer protected, we would be attacked again," said a prominent local, speaking in the provincial capital Mopti. "From that very moment until dawn, I received dozens of calls," he said on condition of anonymity. The man has been residing in Mopti for the last five months after losing seven brothers and his father in last year's attack. He had alerted six different authorities from the military, the government and the UN peacekeeping force, he said -- but in vain. The UN's 13,000-member mission in Mali, called MINUSMA, confirmed it had been told that "armed men had been seen regrouping" near Ogossagou. All the locals interviewed said the attackers were traditional Dogon hunters, who had been blamed for the previous massacre against Fulani. At the time, there was no hard evidence to back up the allegation and the Dogon militia, Dan Na Ambassagou, had denied it was behind that raid. Mariam Belko Barry, 67, said she had a premonition of impending disaster. "It was impossible to make dinner," she said. "Why prepare meals when you know you are going to be attacked?" Barry said given that the last attack occurred just before dawn, she was "waiting for the sun to rise, because things would be better". - 'No sign of danger' - UN troops arrived at the village a little before 2 am, MINUSMA spokesman Olivier Salgado said. It was more than six hours after they were tipped off. The village of Ogassogou, near Mopti was attacked last year, before being hit once again in February / MALIAN PRESIDENCY/AFP They patrolled the village but the 50 peacekeepers saw "no sign of danger" and went on to nearby villages. In Ogossagou, few people slept that night. At five in the morning on February 14, the imam called the first prayer of the day. Bakaye, a herder, went to the mosque and prayed, thanking God. A first shot rang just before the prayer ended at 5:30 am and Bakar froze. Mariam Barry also heard the gunfire. She rushed to the house of the local shaman, who was killed last year, "as it's safer than my straw hut". Then, along with her husband Aliou and many neighbours who sheltered there, she fled to the bush. - 'I ran and ran' - The wizened woman with deep wrinkles and a bent back said she "ran and ran" and lost sight of her husband. He was hit by three bullets in the knee, hip and leg but survived. Bakaye too ran out of the mosque and fled with many others as the gunfire from semi-automatic weapons intensified. The villager living in Mopti for five months meanwhile kept on calling officials but was told that soldiers were on their way there and that they would have to wait. Gunfire raged for two hours and a thick black spiral of smoke towered over the village as the attackers torched homes and granaries. At eight, four army vehicles and three UN vehicles arrived. They arrested one attacker -- the others had fled. - 'I hope he's alive' - Bakaye emerged from the tall bushes where he was hiding and returned. "I looked for my loved ones, I called them, I don't know where they are," he said. The locals trickled back. Meanwhile, the bodies -- some of them charred -- piled up. In the evening, Bamako announced 31 deaths. Villagers say about 10 people are still missing. Bakaye's brother did not answer his telephone calls. "I hope he is still in the bush hiding," he said, although hope fades with every passing day. Nobody wants to return home. "Not till my dying day," said Mariam Barry. "If the soldiers leave, we will be attacked again." Another resident still living in Ogossagou said people's faith in the army had been shattered. "Children no longer go out to play, we don't dare let the cattle out to graze, nor go to the well to fetch water or venture to gather firewood," she said. "If we go out, we're dead." When Star Wars spin-off The Mandalorian debuted in the US last November, it felt like a flashback to a different age. The idea of waiting half a year for the latest hit series to cross the Atlantic had, it seemed, been long left by the wayside, rendered obsolete by Netflixs pan-global reach and terrestrial TVs adoption of simultaneous international broadcasts for high-profile fare like Game of Thrones and Westworld. Because Disney+, Disneys own streaming service, is launching in the UK four months later than in the US, we Brits are coming to The Mandalorian late and, for the most part, cold. If you leave aside the people who saw it abroad or accessed it illegally, the particulars of the series the adventures of the titular masked bounty hunter, played by Pedro Pascal failed to make it to the wider British consciousness, with one glaring exception: the lovable green gremlin officially called The Child, but who is known to everyone, everywhere, as Baby Yoda. Baby Yoda, a tiny, 50-year-old child of Yodas species, was viral marketing at its most unstoppable, a ready-made meme that tapped into several key social media demographics (Star Wars fans; Disney fans; fans of adorable animal GIFs). You could hardly scroll through Twitter without coming across a picture of Baby Yoda swaddled in his oversized robes; a picture of Baby Yoda eating a frog; a picture of Baby Yoda holding a cup. Some feared that Disneys ownership of Star Wars would lead to a kidification of their beloved sci-fi saga, and they were seemingly proved right (although many would argue that spaceship had sailed with The Phantom Menaces Jar Jar Binks, if not with the introduction of the Ewoks back in 1983). For many, Baby Yoda was the point of no return Disney had broken down a piece of classic Star Wars iconography and rebuilt it in its own cherubic image. Was such a bare-faced attempt to pander to Disneys younger audience really in the spirit of what made Star Wars great? In short: yes. Leave aside the fact that the saga was always written with children in mind, and there are still plenty of reasons why Baby Yoda fits right into the classic Star Wars tradition. The Child plays with a lever on the Mandalorians spacecraft (Disney+) Consider this: when The Mandalorian was announced in 2018, no one was quite sure what it was going to look like. Billed as a Western-esque series about a Mandalorian bounty hunter who was definitely not Boba Fett, the project, perhaps understandably, failed to curry much enthusiasm particularly as it arrived amid a saturation of other Star Wars releases. Whats more, it seemed like the series was not going to include the Jedi, the mystical warriors at the narrative centre of the saga. Take away the Jedi from Star Wars and you take away a lot of what makes George Lucas universe so idiosyncratic. Adding Baby Yoda into the mix not only gave the series some levity, but helped give the series a spiritual, enigmatic side it would have otherwise lacked. And then theres the fact that Star Wars has always been a tale of double-acts. The original 1977 film spent much of its runtime focused on the Odd Couple bickering of dysfunctional droids C-3PO and R2-D2. The Empire Strikes Back saw Luke Skywalker work with a crotchety Yoda for his unconventional Jedi training on Dagobah. The prequel trilogy followed suit, with the films focusing on the master-apprentice pairings of Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, and then Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker. The Mandalorian and Baby Yoda are a continuation of this trope, and a variation on it. After the Mandalorian hunts down The Child as a bounty in The Mandalorians opening episode, the pair are inseparable. Together, they form a malleable dyad, able to accentuate the different shades of their relationship hunter and prey, father and son, straight man and clown however the scenes demand. Whats more, the wee green oddball is entirely in keeping with the roots of Star Wars, specifically its Japanese influences. Japans impact on the franchise has been well documented, with the most famous antecedent being Akira Kurosawas samurai epic The Hidden Fortress, from which Lucas borrowed much of the story of A New Hope. While The Mandalorian does indeed borrow from Japanese live-action cinema and from other Kurosawa films such as Seven Samurai and Yojimbo the template for Baby Yoda can be seen most clearly in the world of anime. Access unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows with Amazon Prime Video Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up Star Wars films ranked worst to best Show all 11 1 /11 Star Wars films ranked worst to best Star Wars films ranked worst to best 11. Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones (2002) The prequel trilogy has lived on in infamy, but the true low point of this low point in the Star Wars franchise must be Attack of the Clones, the dry, crusted middle of the cinematic sandwich. While Revenge of the Sith has some sense of completion and The Phantom Menace has some sense of wonder, all Attack of the Clones has is a CGI Yoda bopping about the screen like an unswattable fly while battling Christopher Lees Count Dooku. Its a film driven by unnecessary desires: from the space politics, to Boba Fetts backstory, to Padme and Anakins romance. The latter is the most insufferable, since George Lucas never had much of an ear for dialogue, as notoriously pointed out by Harrison Ford when he declared on set: George, you can type this s***, but you sure as hell cant say it. Which leads us to one of the worst line readings in cinematic history, when Hayden Christensens Anakin laments: I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere. Rex Features Star Wars films ranked worst to best 10. Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith (2005) Hollywood has increasingly made the assumption that darker means better when it comes to cinema it explains why the Harry Potter films look like they were made while someone gradually turned down the dimmer switch on the studio lights. Of course, audiences know that darker sometimes means that your protagonist-turned-villain becomes a youngling-murdering, amateur street magician-looking sourpuss. Anakins arc here comes to a whimper of an ending, underlined by the much-derided decision to have Darth Vaders first moments onscreen involve him howling Noooooo! up to the sky like a mournful hound. That said, Ewan McGregor confirms here that he managed to escape the franchise largely unscathed, as this instalment sees him have the most fun with the clunky dialogue (see: Hello there! and I have the high ground!). Rex Features Star Wars films ranked worst to best 9. Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace (1999) The Phantom Menace escapes slightly ahead of the rest of the prequel trilogy, if only for the fact it remembers these films are meant to be fun once in a while. The pod race its a good scene! Darth Maul is all looks, zero follow through its embarrassing to act like youve won, only to be cut in half and sent hurtling down an exhaust pipe but his inclusion in the film did introduce one of the best musical themes in Star Wars history, John Williamss Duel of the Fates. However, the space politics are a particular drag here, with all the talk of trade disputes, and, of course, it's obligatory to mention the terror that is Jar Jar Binks. Rex Star Wars films ranked worst to best 8. Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) Although its the weakest of the new generation of Star Wars films, Solo still holds up as a fun romp worthy of Han Solos rascal reputation. Alden Ehrenreich picks up on enough of Harrison Fords mannerisms to sell the character without sliding into imitation, while Donald Glover is a scene stealer from the very moment he walks on screen as Lando Calrissian. Its a lost opportunity, then, that the film is otherwise slowed down by an impulse to offer backstory to as many aspects of Hans character as possible. Did we really need to know how we got the name Solo? Really? Rex Features Star Wars films ranked worst to best 7. Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker Director JJ Abrams, like the hero of an ancient prophecy, was destined to make both enemies and allies with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. There will be arguments. And there will be arguments about the arguments. There will be obsessive deconstructions and over-interpretations of each frame and intake of breath. But, at the end of the day, this is still a Star Wars film in its very bones, muscle, and sinew. Whatever controversy Abrams might have brewed up with his artistic choices, he still captures magnificently the soul of this series: that unwavering hope that the powerless can win, despite the odds. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Star Wars films ranked worst to best 6. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Theres a lot to wrap up in the concluding chapter of the original trilogy. The result is a few odd turns for the sake of plot convenience. What does one do with a character as enigmatic as Boba Fett? Why, have him topple into the Sarlacc pit within the first 20 minutes! How does one put to rest the love triangle hinted at in A New Hope? Why, insert a revelation that Luke and Leia are, in fact, brother and sister! Even the second Death Star oddly feels sillier than The Force Awakens and its third attempt at a giant ball in space, since The First Order at least had the excuse that their obsessive admiration of the Empire may have clouded their judgement. That said, theres still plenty of charm to be found here and the Ewoks arent all that bad. Before you dismiss them as irritating merchandise opportunities, its worth remembering that they have absolutely no qualms about killing and eating people. Rex Features Star Wars films ranked worst to best 5. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) If Rogue One is any indication of Disneys plans for the franchise and its future, then theres no cause for concern. The first of the A Star Wars Story spin-offs, it shifts into gear with ease, soothing audiences by not straying too far from the familiar timeline while introducing a full set of new characters and a grittier tone. Stylistically, it feels more like a Vietnam War movie and is proof of how far a gifted director like Gareth Edwards can stray from the franchises usual formula and still feel grounded in the same world. Plus, you have to admire the guts it takes to deliver an ending like that Rex Features Star Wars films ranked worst to best 4. Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015) Disney made a very smart move with The Force Awakens. As the first Star Wars film of a new generation, it not only had to make its own mark, but feel familiar enough that it welcomed fans back with open arms. The balance is hit perfectly here. Thats largely due to the films new trio of central heroes, who radiate the same kind of warmth, bravery, and spirit that carved a special place in peoples hearts when they were first introduced to the franchises original stars. Daisy Ridleys Rey, John Boyegas Finn, and Oscar Isaacs Poe honour Star Wars's past while striding into its unknown future. It also helps that the film has landed on a villain like Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), whose drive and complexity may see him surpass even Darth Vader by the end of his story in Episode IX. Rex Features Star Wars films ranked worst to best 3. Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017) Any divisiveness the film attracted certainly proved one thing: heres a Star Wars film that actually took a creative risk. And what a bold, ambitious, and ultimately beautiful risk that was. Director Rian Johnson took the cinematic legacy presented before him and added a new richness to its textures. He allowed heroism to go beyond the clean divide between good and evil; through Luke and Rey, we were taught not to be ashamed of our doubts but to grow stronger because of them. We were taught not to use destiny as a crutch, but to know when to forge our own paths. The Last Jedi is a soulful film told through some of the most striking cinematography of the entire franchise. Rex Features Star Wars films ranked worst to best 2. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) Its the place where it all began. The Star Wars franchise has only become the success it is today because of how purely revolutionary the first instalment was as a piece of Hollywood filmmaking. It is, to this day, one of the most successful examples of the modern epic, endlessly imitated but so rarely with the same heart or ambition. George Lucas tapped into one of the most timeless qualities of storytelling: its ability to let us see and understand our own world through the eyes of another. Star Wars has become so iconic because, even on such a grand scale, we know and relate to the emotions at hand fear, love, or a desire to do whats right. Rex Features Star Wars films ranked worst to best 1. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) The Empire Strikes Back is remarkable in its ability to pursue real emotional stakes. Its closing moments, the final note to its symphony of sacrifice and tragedy, leaves us with the single, delicate emotion that is hope, blooming in the darkness as our heroes set out to save Han and restore the Rebel Alliance. What A New Hope built up by making us fall in love with these characters, The Empire Strikes Back recouped in sharing with us their pain and their fears. Darth Vaders reveal that hes Lukes father has, of course, found its place in history, but theres an equal sense of emotional resonance in the moment Leia and Han depart, moments before hes trapped in carbonite. When Leias I love you is returned by Hans I know a line written by Harrison Ford himself were reminded of how magical Star Warss sense of storytelling can be, condensing everything that these two characters feel for each other into five simple words. Rex Features The aesthetic pairing of a human with a cute, diminutive creature is one often seen in works of popular Japanese kids TV series like Pokemon (Ash and Pikachu being the shows central relationship) as well as seminal cinema releases like Hayao Miyazakis Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind. Baby Yodas incorrigible sweetness seems, in fact, almost gritty and unwelcoming compared to some of Japans more cloyingly adorable mascots think Hello Kitty, for instance that stem from the countrys wider cultural fascination with cuteness, known as kawaii. Yodas cuteness, then, is no mere accident. The Mandalorian made sure Baby Yoda avoided the sort of queasy criticism hurled at ropey CGI creations like Jar Jar Binks and Dexter Jettster by making him a tangible thing a physical animatronic puppet with heft, and, in its own way, real presence. Its reductive to dismiss the importance of CGI as a filmmaking craft, but theres no denying Baby Yodas physicality was a huge part of his charm, and rooted him in the beloved analogue world of the original Star Wars trilogy, rather than the derided prequels. But thats not to say that the character is entirely unproblematic. Star Wars has always weathered accusations of simply being a pretext to sell toys. Although Baby Yoda merchandise was withheld until after The Mandalorian debuted in order to keep the characters existence a secret, products bearing images of The Child have since flooded the market. Animatronic replica dolls are set to go on sale later this year, costing hundreds of pounds. Village children on planet Sorgan are just as enamoured with Baby Yoda as the Mandalorians viewers (Disney+) Baby Yoda itself was the brainchild of Jon Favreau, The Mandalorians creator, who has so far kept schtum about many of the characters particulars including its real name. Its look was workshopped by a team of artists, with Christian Alzmann being credited for the creatures final appearance. Given Disneys reputation for focus-grouping, though, its hard to imagine there isnt a Millennium Falcon-sized bin somewhere filled to the brim with stacks of not-cute-enough or slightly-too-cute prototypes that didnt make the cut. Baby Yoda is a product designed to please as many people as possible; there was too much money riding on it for it to be allowed to fail. The puppet itself reportedly cost around $5m (4.3m) to build; the reputational cost for Star Wars, and the newly launched Disney+ service, if everyone hated it, would have been severe. Everyone didnt hate it, of course, and most people either joyfully or begrudgingly accepted that, yes, Baby Yoda was scene-stealingly precious. And if Star Wars is an empire built on cheering crowds and merchandise sales, then Baby Yoda is classic Star Wars through and through. Hospitals in Baden-Wurttemberg, in southwest Germany, will admit coronavirus-infected patients from a neighbouring region of eastern France struggling to cope with a rising number of cases. The states health ministry confirmed a report by daily newspaper Schwaebische Zeitung on Saturday that governor Winfried Kretschmann had offered assistance to France as the latter faced a growing shortage of ICU beds. Markus Jox, a spokesperson for the health ministry, said authorities had asked all hospitals in Baden-Wurttemberg with free capacity to admit French patients who required ventilators. He said despite the states own limited capacity, we will naturally try to help our French neighbours. France has reported 12,612 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 450 deaths so far, and Emmanuel Macron warned French citizens on Friday they were only at the start of this crisis. Mr Macron said at a crisis meeting at the interior ministry on Friday: We have taken exceptional measures to absorb this first wave, but weve started a race against the virus. We must react a great deal and reorganise ourselves at every moment. We need to anticipate, he added. Alsace, which borders Germany, has been hit the hardest by the outbreak, as hospitals and intensive care units there are "overstretched" and "overcrowded", said an official for Grand Est and Bas-Rhin in northeastern France. France has been under a nationwide lockdown since Monday. In the capital, Paris, as well as the southern city of Nice, authorities closed parks, promenades and walkways to stop people from gathering in large numbers and ignoring lockdown measures, France24 reported. Over in Germany, more than 20,000 cases of the virus have been reported but the death toll has remained relatively low, with just 70 deaths. The German government warned on Friday that it may have to impose a country-wide curfew on its 83 million citizens if they do not abide by social distancing over the weekend. Stefan Seibert, a spokesperson for German chancellor Angela Merkel, said: They will carry out a ruthless analysis of the situation. How the public behaves on Saturday will be decisive. Germany has already shut schools, restaurants and shops to tackle the crisis. On Friday, Bavaria became the first German state to impose a lockdown to tackle the outbreak. Dundalk IT's Kate Rice, Samuel Olajide and Jessica Savage represented Louth in the coveted Robocode series at the hotly contested Irish Games Fleadh 2020, which was held at the LIT, Thurles Campus last week. The local students came second in the event where the number of competitors taking part this year was at a record high, with a total of 27 entries from nine colleges vying for one of the coveted titles or hoping to come out victorious in the Robocode series. Hundreds of software developers and game enthusiasts attended the daylong event that showcased the best of the third level game development community. Games Fleadh also allowed second and third level students explore possible careers in an industry worth 148.8 billion, and learn more about the social conscience of the gaming world. Congratulating all competitors and winners, President of LIT Professor Vincent Cunnane said, "Games Fleadh continues to lead the way in recognising the brightest and best among the country's student game developers, while also bringing together the collective knowledge of some of the leading names in the gaming industry. Now in its 17th year, I am pleased that Games Fleadh, here at LIT, Thurles Campus, continues to go from strength to strength." Games Fleadh 2019 Organiser and Game Design & Development Degree Lecturer at LIT Dr Liam Noonan paid tribute to the international companies that continue to support the event year on year. "Without sponsors such as Microsoft and EA and the support of companies such as Havok, Ireland's Games Fleadh would not be the success that it is every year. I would also like to acknowledge the support of Irish charity Trocaire this year, who's representatives discussed with students the powerful impact games can make in the areas of climate justice, human rights and sustainable development goals.' Dr Janice O'Connell Head of Department of Information Technology at LIT paid tribute to the organisers. 'I am very proud of the Department of IT members today, and their passion, enthusiasm and determination to drive and organise this year's Games Fleadh. The 2020 theme addressed social conscience and positive world change, which was evident through the variety of extremely high calibre games on display. This was once again a super day thanks to a wonderful event which highlighted the skill and abilities here at LIT. Congratulations to all involved, and particular thanks to Dr. Liam Noonan for his extraordinary efforts in making the event a huge success." The structure of the privatization offer is such that the Fung family sees no change to its 32.3 percent share of Li & Fung. It is GLP, which operates and manages 62 million square meters of logistics property globally, that will take over the rest of the stock, now held by public investors including Vanguard Group and Norges Bank. The Goa government on Saturday announced the shutting of roadside eateries, sealing of state borders for vehicles and stoppage of tourist activities and other steps to combat the novel coronavirus outbreak. The lockdown measures were taken after Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawat held a series of meetings, including one with leaders of all political parties here. "Even though there has not been a single positive case of coronavirus in Goa, considering the critical phase the country is facing, it is necessary to be more vigilant and take all measures required to prevent community transmission of the virus," Sawant said addressing a press conference. The chief minister announced several decisions which would be in force till March 31, based on instructions and advisories issued by the Centre. "Borders are sealed for the entry of all types of passenger vehicles coming through Maharashtra and Karnataka from midnight today. This will not affect the movement and entry of essential goods and other cargo and bonafide residents of Goa," he said. Sporting events, competitions and religious gatherings need to be postponed till March 31, and vehicle rentals have also been suspended, he added. "As a preventive measure, minimum citizen services will be available at Transport department offices. The transport department will reduce government and private bus services to minimum level. Head of departments are empowered to decide on permitting government staff to work from home or stagger the office timings," he said. "All street food joints will be shut till March 31. Non-essential facilities for public like libraries, museums etc will be shut down during this period. Distilleries will be permitted to use their facility for manufacture of sanitisers to overcome its shortfall," he said. The department of Health Services has issued advisory to regulate working hours in all services except for essential services, and advised industrial establishments to adopt staggered timing and regulate crowds in local markets, he added. Sawant said the private sector in the state has been requested to consider work from home wherever feasible. "All senior citizens (except public representatives) should remain indoor, except for medical reasons. All children below 10 years of age to remain at home and should avoid going to public parks, picnics and other outdoor activities," he said, adding that health establishments have been told to avoid non urgent hospitalization and minimize elective surgeries. He requested people not to indulge in panic buying and hoarding. "All those who plan to travel to Goa are requested to postpone travel plans until normalcy returns. Instructions are being issued to all educational institutes that all teaching and non teaching staff are exempted from attending schools, colleges etc," Sawant said. The CM said the registrar has been told to postpone registration of deeds, documents and marriages beyond March 31. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two men have been arrested after the victim of a north London street shooting died in hospital, police said. Scotland Yard said two men had been arrested following the death of Abdullahi Mahmoud, 29, from Enfield, north London. Police were called to a report of a shooting in Hertford Road in Enfield shortly after 4.30pm on Thursday. Mr Mahmoud was found at the scene with a head injury and taken to hospital where he later died. Abdullahi Mahmoud, 29, from Enfield, north London, died in hospital after being shot A crime scene cordon remains in place. Detective Chief Inspector Pete Wallis of the Metropolitan Police's Specialist Crime Command, said: 'Our thoughts are with Abdullahi's family and they will continue to receive specialist support as the investigation progresses. 'This was a violent attack in the middle of the street and my team are working hard to establish who is responsible. 'We are exploring the possibility there was more than one assailant and would specifically like to appeal to those who may have been shopping in the area at this time to make contact with police. Hertford Road, Enfield: A crime scene remains in place as police continue to investigate 'One line of inquiry is that this is gang related, however inquiries are in the very early stages and we retain an open mind as we gather evidence and piece together the last moments of Abdullahi's life. North Area Borough Commander Treena Fleming said: 'This is a horrific incident and our first thoughts are with the victim's family, who have lost a loved one in tragic circumstances. 'I want to reassure local residents that they can expect to see an increased police presence in the area. 'Please, if you have information that you want to share, do approach them and tell them what you know.' Anyone who witnessed the incident is asked to call police on 101 quoting CAD 5035/19Mar, Tweet @MetCC or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. Boris Johnsons government is considering tougher action to fight the spread of the coronavirus in London, but has denied it is planning to confine residents to their homes or seal off the city. There are no plans to close down the transport network in London and theres zero prospect of any restrictions being placed on people travelling in or out of London, Johnsons spokesman, James Slack, told reporters. It is not true that only one person will be allowed out of their home at any one time, he added. The prime minister is threatening to tighten restrictions in the capital, which is at the centre of the outbreak, in order to enforce so-called social distancing policies. Measures under consideration include ordering bars and restaurants to close, and taking a tougher approach to ensure more people work from home where they can, according to a person familiar with the matter. Limits are also being placed on Londons transport network with dozens of stations closing. Earlier, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson used the word lockdown when he said no decision had yet been taken on action in the capital. Johnson, who has faced criticism for moving too slowly against the disease, is now racing to slow the spread of the coronavirus, which has already killed more than 100 people in Britain. The virus is spreading fastest in London, according to the government. When asked about the prospect of a lockdown, which was widely reported in the U.K. media on Thursday morning, Slack reiterated the advice on keeping away from other people and not attending gatherings. The prime minister has been clear that what we want people to do is to follow the very good advice, which is particularly pertinent in London, that people should avoid unnecessary social contact to limit the spread of this disease and save lives, he said. As many as 20,000 military personnel are on standby to be deployed to support civil authorities as part of a new Covid Support Force. They will include people trained to drive oxygen tankers to hospitals, as well as scientists working on combating the deadly disease. The measures are part of contingency plans to respond to requests from governments departments or civil authorities. The troops will potentially take over guarding sensitive sites to free up police officers for front-line law-enforcement duties. Soldiers will also be trained in the logistics of driving oxygen delivery tankers to hospitals. Transport for London announced the closing of 40 underground stations as it encouraged people only to make essential journeys and to leave the network of subways, buses and trains free for the use of workers vital to the effort against the pandemic. People should not be travelling by any means unless they really, really have to, London Mayor Sadiq Khan said in a statement. London will get through these extraordinarily challenging times, and ensuring the capitals critical workers can move around the city will be crucial. Johnson and Khan were to discuss the closing of underground and mainline stations, restricting bus services and possibly closing some underground lines entirely, a person familiar with the matter said. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the government is working with airlines and airports to develop a package to help them weather the impact of the virus. Coronavirus is having a crippling impact on the aviation industry and we cannot allow it to force world-leading, well-run, profitable firms out of business, he said. Johnsons government is also expected to publish emergency legislation that will give it the powers to close meeting places, ban gatherings and detain people who are a danger to public health as it seeks to halt the spread of the virus. Failure to slow the contagion may require tighter controls on the movement of people, Johnson said this week. The government says it already has the power to keep individuals in isolation for their own safety. We live in a land of liberty as you know, and its one of the great features of our lives that we dont tend to impose those sorts of restrictions on people, Johnson told reporters in London. But I have to tell you, we will rule nothing out. (Photo : REUTERS/Jason Cairnduff) General view of Robinsons Bar and The Crown Bar as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues. Belfast, Northern Ireland Picture taken March 20, 2020. (Photo : REUTERS/Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana) Indonesian Red Cross Society personnel walk in protective suits during an operation to spray disinfectant at the Kemayoran Athletes Village, to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Jakarta, Indonesia, March 21, 2020. Amid the coronavirus pandemic happening worldwide, doctors are continuously facing make life-or-death decisions every day on who gets treatment. Researchers in China are now developing an artificial intelligence tool to help doctors with those complex issues. The move, however, raises another complicated question. Should AIs bother making medical life-and-death decisions? ALSO READ: Is This AI Taking A Toll on Coronavirus Pandemic? Scientists Claim This Supercomputer Found The "Most Effective Vaccine" Against COVID-19 Doctors to make speedy decisions on curing people Doctors in the crowded chaos of a hospital handling a pandemic should make speedy clinical choices about the remedy of one affected person over another. One argument is for someone with a higher chance of fighting off the disorder with resources instead of a person with minimal chance of survival. The intention, according to a report by independent global think tank ODI, is to prevent the worst-case scenarios. One had little danger anyway, the others denied remedy, or the other patients with the most considerable risk of death gets treatment first. Chinese researchers started with a piece of artificial intelligence tool that assists medical doctors to make a more knowledgeable decision amongst competing Covid-19 patients. ALSO READ: This A.I. System Can Detect Possible Coronavirus Infection in Less Than A Blink of An Eye! Researchers from the Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) and Tongji Hospital in Wuhan told South China Morning Post they improved an A.I. diagnostic tool to analyze blood samples in estimating survival rates. The developers said the A.I. device completed 90 percent accuracy on the fatality and survival fees of more than 400 patients based on blood samples gathered from the date of admission to Tongji Hospital. They released the results in their ongoing research on the preprint server Medrxiv.Org, a platform scientists from around the arena are the usage of to launch non-peer reviewed research on Covid-19. A.I. to help undermanned clinical staff in coronavirus swamped hospitals The paper said the builders, led via Yuan Ye, a professor with the college of artificial intelligence and automation at HUST, hope to improve the accuracy of the device with a more extensive database soon. The researchers say A.I. should help understaffed clinical staff with confined time and resources determine which individual gets treatment first. Yuan and the team claimed there is currently no available prognostic biomarker to distinguish patients that require immediate medical attention and associated mortality rate. New A.I. tool to detect, early intervene, and reduce of mortality rate among cases When the outbreak of Covid-19 was first detected in Wuhan, doctors and scientists knew little about the new virus causing the chaos. Some patients with slight signs and symptoms and no underlying health issues could all at once deteriorate into critical condition. When they have been rushed into an in-depth care unit and established on life support, fatal harm could have already been done. The researchers, with the help of the A.I., intend to identify high-chance sufferers earlier than irreversible lung lesions occur. The use of the brand new A.I. tool could enable "detection, early intervention, and potential reduction of mortality in high-danger sufferers," the researchers said. According to Yuan, the accuracy of A.I. was influenced by while a blood sample was taken from a patient, with later samples being more precise. But he claimed in advance samples should still go back an accuracy price of 90 percent cent or higher on the patient's likelihood of survival. Researchers stated it is still unclear whether the tool could be used outside Wuhan. Yuan said machine learning is a black box primarily shaped by the data it is fed. He added the tool may need to evolve continuously, just like the virus to adapt to different environments and people. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Resident doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar have alleged that Medical Superintendent Sachidananda Mohanty had allegedly hidden the travel history of his son who was tested positive for Covid-19. The 19-year-old who had recently return from the United Kingdom tested positive for coronavirus on Friday. But according to the resident doctors, the Superintendent was concealing his sons travel history until he tested positive for the viral infection. AFP Accusing the isolation unit in-charge of improper handling of the situation, the doctors alleged that Mohanty's son was initially kept in a doctor's room. Now the resident doctors have written to the director seeking action against Mohanty. However, on Friday, AIIMS authorities said that the incident was being blown out of proportion. The patient arrived at Bhubaneswar on the night of 18 March and went straight home from the airport. His father brought him to the hospital to be tested the next day and he was taken to the isolation room. Now, that room was a doctors chamber in the Ayush ward, but these have been identified as isolation rooms and the patient remains there. The doctor and staff who treated the boy were all wearing n95 masks and had taken all other safety precautions, Dr. Gitanjali Batmanabane, Director, AIIMS-Bhubaneswar said. BCCL According to reports, Mohanty's son had from the United Kingdom to Delhi first and then travelled to Bhubaneswar by air on March 18 by an Indigo flight. At the Biju Patnaik Airport, he underwent thermal screening but nothing was found and he was allowed to go. After he tested positive, the authorities said they have traced 43 out of the 46 people that the patient had come into contact with, including Mohanty, the father of the patient is the nodal officer of nCovid-19 for AIIMS Bhubaneswar. As a precautionary measure, AIIMS has been instructed and will restrict patients. While it is not the first time someone has hidden their travel history or used influence to get around the restrictions, it is unfortunate that a doctor, who is also the nodal officer of nCovid-19 has done something like this, putting the lives of hundreds of people at risk. AFP As the number of such incidents increases, there is a growing demand that people who hide their travel history and break isolation rules should be booked or endangering public safety. Several states like Kerala and Maharashtra are already treating such violations as a criminal act. Federal Department of Foreign Affairs Bern, 21.03.2020 - The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) is planning the organised return of Swiss tourists from Latin America in cooperation with the airline Edelweiss. Two charter flights are planned for next Tuesday and Wednesday, 24-25 March 2020. They should bring back to Switzerland around 630 blocked persons from Peru and Colombia. The Covid 19 epidemic poses a major challenge for every person and for the state, in Switzerland and abroad. Tens of thousands of Swiss tourists and business people abroad have been taken by surprise by the measures taken due to the rapid spread of the epidemic (closure of borders, cancellation of flights, etc.). On 19 March 2020, Federal Councillor and Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis called on all Swiss travellers abroad to return to Switzerland immediately before mobility becomes even more difficult. The FDFA would like to thank all those who, despite difficult circumstances, have already organised their own return journey. The personal responsibility of each fellow citizen is laid down by law. However, not everyone was able to organise the return journey with the help of a travel agency or directly with an airline. In certain cases, due to local and travel developments, it is no longer possible to organise the return journey independently. "I have therefore commissioned our Crisis Management Centre (KMZ) to organise return journeys," explains the head of the FDFA, Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis. Over the last few days, the FDFA, together with tour operators and travel associations, has been intensively searching for ways to reach blocked tourists in order to bring them back to Switzerland. Thanks to the proven collaboration with SWISS and Edelweiss, an initial solution has been found for Latin America. The FDFA has chartered two aircrafts. These are to fly to the capital cities of Bogota (Colombia) and Lima (Peru) on Tuesday and Wednesday. "My department is in the process of obtaining the necessary landing permits from the relevant authorities. This will enable us to bring back, as planned, our citizens who were unable to organise their own return journey". As early as Monday, 23 March, the FDFA will create the capacity for the return of around 100 Swiss tourists from Costa Rica. Further flights planned Further organized return trips will be planned afterwards. The FDFA is also examining cooperation with neighbouring countries in order to provide each other with free seats. The Confederation will pre-finance these charter flights. Tourists will have to pay for a flight ticket and thus bear part of the costs themselves. The FDFA assumes that there are currently still several 10,000 Swiss travellers abroad. Only 7,710 people have registered on the FDFA's Travel Admin App. "In order to reach all those concerned, I would ask interested parties to register immediately in the TRAVEL ADMIN app. This is the only way we can get a good picture of the situation in the world," adds Federal Councillor Cassis. The FDFA therefore calls on all tourists to register their name, contact number and place of stay. This will enable support to be provided more quickly and in a more targeted manner. The FDFA also asks those who have already returned to Switzerland to cancel the registration of their trip. Switzerland has already organised return trips in recent weeks. For example, passengers on a cruise ship were brought back from the USA in close cooperation with Germany. And in cooperation with France, the FDFA has repatriated Swiss nationals from Wuhan in China. Address for enquiries FDFA Communication Federal Palace West Wing CH-3003 Bern, Switzerland Tel. Communication service: +41 58 462 31 53 Tel. Press service: +41 58 460 55 55 E-mail: kommunikation@eda.admin.ch Twitter: @SwissMFA Publisher Federal Department of Foreign Affairs https://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/home.html Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Kurniawan Hari (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, March 21, 2020 08:05 662 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad206c58845 1 Opinion Jokowi,COVID-19,COVID-19-Indonesian-patients,surakarta,#commentary,lockdown Free Another COVID-19 patient died in Surakarta, Central Java, on Wednesday, bringing the total number of deaths caused by the coronavirus in the city to two. Her body was taken directly from the morgue to the cemetery for burial that night without the presence of her neighbors to avoid further spread of the disease. The mother of two was a beauty stylist from Jatipurno district, Wonogiri regency, some 60 kilometers southeast of Surakarta. She happened to be on the same bus and at the same event as another COVID-19 patient who died in Surakarta days ago. The woman attended a seminar on economic empowerment in Bogor, West Java, in late February. Her husband drove her to Surakarta where she joined a friend on the bus to Bogor. Three days later, after the seminar ended, she returned to Surakarta by bus, which could carry about 30 passengers. If the woman had already contracted the virus, she could have transmitted it to other passengers and, eventually, to the people they encountered. From Surakarta, the woman from Jatipurno made the rest of her journey by car. We do not know if she made any stops on the way home from Surakarta to Wonogiri. This information is needed to track the possible spread of the virus. Over the next three days, she spent time with her family and interacted with neighbors before beginning to feel ill. She had a cough, a high fever, chills and nausea. Because her condition did not improve, she went to a few different health clinics, starting from a nearby clinic, then another clinic in the district and then a hospital in the regency before she was told to get more intensive treatment at Moewardi Hospital in Surakarta, where she died. My mother was treated at the same hospital in the days before her death in August 2006. I still feel sad every time I pass the hospital, just as the above womans children must feel. The hospital is about 4 kilometers, or a 15-minute drive, from the home of President Joko Jokowi Widodo. This is a reminder that the threat of the virus in Surakarta is now more significant and that everybody, including the members of the First Family living in the city, are at risk of infection. Surakarta Mayor FX Hadi Rudyatmo declared a citywide emergency, or an extraordinary occurrence (KLB), on March 13 after learning that the male patient who had died on March 11 and the other woman had tested positive for COVID-19. Local authorities shut schools, offices and public places to curb the spread of the pneumonia-like disease. The mayor said the KLB status would be in place at least until an evaluation slated for March 29. He pledged to extend the status if there were an increase in the number of coronavirus patients. Authorities have declared KLBs in past emergencies such as earthquakes and the avian flu, and this could allow them to explore preventative measures without raising any unproductive controversy over the term lockdown. On Thursday, Jokowi, a former mayor of Surakarta, said he had no plans to impose a partial or national lockdown, even in the capital, despite the fact that 70 percent of COVID-19 fatalities were in Jakarta. As of Friday, Indonesia had recorded 369 cases of the illness and 32 deaths. Even if all of the patients previous contacts could be traced, the virus would likely spread further before those contacts could be located and tested. Before the patient from Jatipurno tested positive for COVID-19 at Moewardi Hospital, the woman had undergone regular health checks at clinics and a hospital in Wonogiri because nobody knew she was positive for the disease. Now, several doctors, nurses and neighbors who were in contact with her are under monitoring. The earlier patient died after days of hospitalization at Moewardi Hospital. The result of his swab test was released two days after his death. He was positive. Because the test result was released two days after his death, his burial, which occurred before then, was attended by neighbors. His body was taken to a local mosque in Mojopurno, Magetan, East Java, for prayers before burial. Now the neighbors and his family members are being isolated, and anxiety has spread to other villagers. These two deceased patients in Surakarta represent the condition of COVID-19 patients in general: showing symptoms, taking their own initiative to consult physicians and get medical treatment and being found positive for the illness. However, earlier cases have shown that not all of those affected have symptoms. Authorities in the central government and in regional administrations should therefore be more proactive in dealing with this outbreak. Yes, there could be a significant economic cost to drastic measures. But in this pandemic, firm and urgent action will save lives. Many people have taken the initiative to protect themselves and their families, seeking hand sanitizer, masks and other supplies so have regional authorities. Now national authorities, especially President Jokowi, must lead the campaign against this outbreak. The coronavirus is getting closer to home, Pak Jokowi. Don't Edit From left, Aaron Diamond and his father, David Diamond, owners of Train Wreck Distillery, work making hand sanitizer. (Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) From Kentucky to California, Oregon to Texas, and then onto Europe and the Caribbean, Aaron Diamond, of Shamong, has traveled the world to become the best he can at making different alcoholic spirits. Today, he and his father, David, are making hand sanitizer. The two co-own Train Wreck Distillery in Mt. Holly, and they are answering a call to a higher purpose as the coronavirus pandemic sweeps the state. With federal government approval and following the World Health Organization recipe, they have begun making hand sanitizer and distributing it freely as "a way to give back to the community," according to Aaron. Don't Edit Aaron Diamond works mixing the hand sanitizer. (Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) "It's been pretty crazy going from making whiskeys, rums, gins, vodkas to hand sanitizer," he adds. "We're using the alcohol that we make 80 percent ABV (alcohol by volume) content. So you can't do it with regular vodka. Then we use hydrogen peroxide, glycerin and water." Don't Edit (Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) Don't Edit Don't Edit Don't Edit The U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau issued an order permitting distilleries to produce ethanol-based hand sanitizers. (Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) Don't Edit Train Wreck Distillery in Mt. Holly was opened in 2015 inside the old Mount Holly train station on Madison Avenue. (Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) Don't Edit David Diamond affixes a label to a bottle of hand sanitizer. (Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) There will be limited supply and the best way to keep posted is through their Train Wreck Distillery Facebook page updates or through their website. "We've been getting calls from all kinds of companies, big and small," according to Aaron David. "We're trying to make as much as we can. I've been up all night, been up all morning trying to stay healthy and just trying to help everybody else out, too." Don't Edit RELATED Im definitely going to get it. We all are, N.J.s top health official says as she leads the states coronavirus war Murphy orders N.J. residents to stay home, closes non-essential retail businesses in state lockdown to fight coronavirus (March 21, 2020) What is an essential retail business in N.J.? A list of places that can stay open in coronavirus shutdown Michael Mancuso may be reached at mmancuso@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @michaelmancuso. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.com's newsletters. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday expressed deep appreciation to the Maldives government for contributing USD 200,000 to the COVID-19 emergency fund. He said in a tweet that the contribution strengthens our resolve in this collective fight against pandemic COVID-19. "Deeply appreciate the contribution of USD 200,000 by the Government of Maldives to the COVID-19 Emergency Fund. It strengthens our resolve in this collective fight against the pandemic," he said. Afghanistan has contributed USD one million to COVID-19 Emergency Fund. The Prime Minister had proposed the creation of a COVID-19 Emergency Fund based on voluntary contributions from all the countries, during his interaction with leaders of SAARC countries through video conferencing earlier this month. India made an initial offer of USD 10 million for the fund. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan on Saturday suspended all international flights for two weeks and curtailed train services as the coronavirus cases surged to 625 in the country after more pilgrims who returned from Iran tested positive for the deadly virus, which has turned into a major global crisis. The government in a statement said all international flights are being suspended for two weeks to curb the spread of the virus. From 8 pm tonight, "all incoming international flights are being suspended for two weeks," a statement issued read. National flag-carrier PIA however will be allowed to bring back its planes. Cargo flights will also be allowed. Earlier today, PIA had said all international departures were being suspended till March 28. Railway Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad ordered to reduce the number of trains running in the country from March 25 until the middle holy month of Ramadan, which would start around April 25. We have decided to suspend 34 trains out of total 142 running in the country while another eigh trains will be suspended from April 1, he said. The government announced the measures as the number of confirmed cases in the country jumped to 625 on Saturday. The worst-affected Sindh province reported 90 new coronavirus cases, taking the provincial tally to 357. The new cases have been detected in pilgrims who returned from Iran and have been quarantined in Sukkur, according to a spokesperson for the Sindh health department. The number of COVID-19 patients in Balochistan rose to 104; 96 in Punjab; 27 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa; 21 in Gilgit-Baltistan; 10 in Islamabad; and one in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. So far three patients have died in Pakistan while five have recovered. Pakistan reported the third casualty from the virus in Karachi on Friday, two days after two men both pilgrims returning from Iran and Saudi Arabia died of the coronavirus in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The 70-year-old who died in Karachi was a cancer survivor. He had other medical problems like hypertension and diabetes but did not have any travel or contact history, officials said. Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza has said that all provinces of the country now have laboratories where coronavirus tests can be done. Speaking at a press conference, Mirza said that the number of labs would increase in the future. Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday ruled out total lockdown but asked people to reduce unnecessary travel and go for self-quarantine for at least another 45 days to help tackle the coronavirus crisis which has killed over 11,000 people and infected 250,000 worldwide. Pakistan, despite its close proximity with China, remained unscathed by the virus until February 26 when a man from Karachi tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the Express Tribune reported. The man, in his twenties, had returned from Iran, which is also one of the worst-hit countries. After a brief pause following the first case, COVID-19 cases witnessed a sharp surge as more pilgrims returning from Iran tested positive despite the fact that they were quarantined for 14 days at the Pak-Iran border crossing of Taftan in Balochistan. Amid an imminent threat of spread of coronavirus, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has ordered the release of under-trial prisoners detained in Rawalpindi's overcrowded Adiala jail in minor crimes and directed the Islamabad police not to make arrest in petty matters, the Dawn reported. The Lahore High Court (LHC) has summoned the first meeting of its Crisis Management Committee on March 24. The government has exempted import of 61 diagnostic support and personal protective equipment from all duties and taxes for a period of three months in order to reduce the rising prices in the domestic market. The government has also allowed the use of non-utilised amount of the World Bank-funded projects worth USD 40 million for purchase of COVID-19 equipment. The provincial government of Balochistan has decided to impose a 21-day partial lockdown across the province to control the spread of highly contagious disease. Under the lockdown, which is similar to the restrictions imposed by the Sindh government, all major shopping centres, markets and food restaurants will remain closed. However, food delivery will be allowed during the lockdown. Pakistan Prime Minister Khan while addressing the media in Islamabad on Friday had said the country's strategy is a little different from a complete lockdown, considering Pakistan's socio-economic realities. Pakistan isn't a rich country like Italy, where people can get through a sustained period without economic activity," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- On Sunday, New York will be put on pause." Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Friday that 100% of the states non-essential workforce should no longer report to work after 8 p.m. Sunday. The order comes as the number of confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) cases across New York State rose Friday to 7,102, including 242 confirmed cases on Staten Island. This is a statewide order. Its not what your county executive is doing. Its not what your mayor is doing. Its not what anyone else but me is doing and I accept full responsibility, Cuomo told reporters at a press conference Friday morning. *** CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF CORONAVIRUS IN NEW YORK *** Any non-essential businesses who do not follow the executive order could be penalized. This is not voluntary; these are not helpful hints. We are going to monitor it. There will be civil fines, and there can be mandatory closures for businesses that dont comply, Cuomo said. Under the executive order, however, essential businesses are not impacted. The state classifies essential workers as the following: Health care operations Research and laboratory services, hospitals, walk-in health care facilities, veterinary and animal health services, elder care, medical distribution, home health care workers/aides, doctors and dentists, nursing homes or residential facilities, and medical and equipment providers. Infrastructure Utilities, including power generation, fuel supply and transmission; public water and wastewater, telecommunications and data centers, airports and airlines, and transportation infrastructure, such as bus, rail and for-hire vehicles. Manufacturing Food processing, chemicals, medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, safety and sanitary products, telecommunications, microelectronics, agriculture and paper products. Retail Grocery, including food and beverage stores; pharmacies, convenience stores, farmers markets, gas stations, restaurants and bars for takeout and delivery, and hardware and building material. Services Trash and recycle collection, mail and shipping, laundromats and dry cleaning, building and cleaning maintenance, child care, auto repair, warehouse and distribution fulfillment, funeral homes, crematoriums and cemeteries, and animal shelters. Financial Banks, insurance, payroll and accounting. Other essential workers include news media, homeless shelters and providers, construction, and emergency management workers, such as fire, law enforcement, building code enforcement, security and building cleaners. Businesses are able to make essential business designation requests if you believe that is is essential or it is an entity providing essential services or functions as long as they do not fall in the above guidance, according to the state. CUOMOS ORDER FOLLOWS DAYS OF DISPUTE WITH MAYOR The order follows days of dispute between the governor and Mayor Bill de Blasio over how exactly to word their next guidance to the public about containing the spread of the virus. After San Francisco and five other Bay Area counties issued a shelter-in-place" order, de Blasio said Tuesday a similar order was on the table for New York City. However, Cuomo said later that day that only the state could call for such an order. Be the first to know: Sign up for our newsletters; and get breaking news and top stories pushed to your phone with the SILive.com mobile app. U.S. Navy veteran Michael White in Mashhad, Iran, on March 19, 2020. (Courtesy of the White Family via AP) 2 Americans Imprisoned in Iran, Lebanon Released An American jailed for months in Lebanon was released from custody on March 19, while a Navy veteran was granted medical furlough from an Iran prison, U.S. officials said. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that Michael White, imprisoned more than a year ago for insulting Irans supreme leader, was released to the Swiss Embassy as part of a furlough that will require him to remain in Iran. The U.S. will work for his full release, Pompeo said. The other American was Amer Fakhoury, a New Hampshire restaurant owner who had faced decades-old murder and torture charges in Lebanon that he denies. He was ordered released by a judge because more than 10 years had passed since the crimes he was accused of committing. The Trump administration trumpeted the twin releases, though done in different countries and for different reasons, as part of its efforts to secure the release of Americans held hostage or imprisoned abroad. Officials including President Donald Trump used the occasion to name additional Americans they want released, including journalist Austin Tice, who went missing in Syria in 2012. I want to let everyone know that recovering Americans held captive and imprisoned abroad continues to be a top priority for my administration, Trump said at a news conference. Whites release, though temporary for the moment, came as Iran has furloughed tens of thousands of prisoners while struggling with the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus that Iranian officials fear could kill millions. The Epoch Times refers to the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19, as the CCP virus because the Chinese Communist Partys coverup and mismanagement allowed the virus to spread throughout China and create a global pandemic. Cabinet members wearing masks attend their meeting in Tehran, Iran, on March 18, 2020. (Office of the Iranian Presidency via AP) White, of Imperial Beach, California, was detained in Iran while visiting a girlfriend there in July 2018. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison for insulting Irans supreme leader and posting private information; the State Department said he was serving a 13-year sentence. His mother had called for Whites immediate release in an interview with The Associated Press this month, saying she was concerned about the well-being of her son and that he had been battling cancer. He is in very good spirits, but has some pretty sustained health conditions that are going to require some attention, Brian Hook, the U.S. special envoy for Iran, said on a conference call. Hook said White would be evaluated by doctors. Fakhoury was on his way back to the U.S. after a judge in Lebanon ordered him released. Fakhoury had been accused of torturing prisoners at a jail run by an Israeli-backed militia two-decades ago. He had been imprisoned since September after returning to Lebanon to visit family. Lawmakers in Washington had threatened to withhold critical aid to Lebanon and impose sanctions on the Lebanese military, which is seen by the Trump administration as a bulwark against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement. Anytime a U.S citizen is wrongfully detained by a foreign government, we must use every tool at our disposal to free them, said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H) who had worked for his release. Im very glad that Amer is finally coming home and will be reunited with his family. No family should have to go through what the Fakhoury family has gone through. His oldest daughter, Guila Fakhoury, told the AP by phone, We are so happy. Its a dream. Fakhoury was diagnosed with Stage 4 lymphoma and had been hospitalized in Lebanon. Trump said Fakhoury will now be able to receive the much needed care and treatment in the United States. Weve been working very hard to get him freed, and hes finally able to have his entire family at his side, Trump said. A Lebanese flag flies over Khiam prison in the southern town of Khiam, Lebanon, on Aug. 16, 2006. (Nasser Nasser/File/AP Photo) Fakhoury was ordered to be released Monday because more than 10 years had passed since he allegedly tortured prisoners at a jail run by the South Lebanon Army militia. But he was not immediately allowed to leave the country after a Lebanese military judge on Tuesday appealed the decision, asking a military tribunal to strike down the decision to free Fakhoury. The parliamentary bloc of Hezbollah criticized the military tribunal for what it called succumbing to U.S. demands to release Fakhoury, describing him as an agent who betrayed his country. Hezbollah lawmakers called on concerned authorities to hold the tribunal accountable. Hours before Shaheen announced Fakhourys release, a U.S. Marine Osprey was seen taking off from the U.S. Embassy compound northeast of Beirut. He was being returned to the United States in a State Department medical plane, said Assistant Secretary of State David Schenker. Separately, hours after the release, the U.S. embassy announced that all of its non-essential personnel had been ordered to leave Lebanon. An official in Washington said the decision to move to ordered departure was not connected to the release and was instead made due to the spread of the CCP virus and the uncertainty of transportation. The embassy will be operating with only emergency consular services available for American citizens for the foreseeable future. Fakhoury is a former SLA member who became a U.S. citizen last year. His case has been closely followed in New Hampshire, where Shaheen and other officials have called for imposing sanctions on Lebanon to pressure Beirut to release him. Fakhoury was jailed last year after returning to Lebanon on vacation to visit family. Lebanons intelligence service said he confessed during questioning to being a warden at Khiam Prison, which was run by the SLA during Israels 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon. Human rights groups have described the prison as a center for torture. Fakhourys family and lawyer, however, said he had no direct contact with inmates and was never involved in any interrogation or torture. Fakhourys family said in a statement said they have been through a nightmare that we would never wish on anyone. They thanked Trump and members of his administration and said Fakhoury considers Shaheen his hero. Lebanon and Israel have been officially at war since Israels creation in 1948. Lebanon bans its citizens from traveling to Israel or having contact with Israelis. Fakhourys lawyer and family say he fled Lebanon in 2001 through Israel and eventually to the United States because of death threats he and many other SLA members received after Israel ended its occupation of Lebanon in 2000. Fakhoury was formally charged in February by a military judge with the murder and torture of inmates at Khiam Prison. By Kathy McCormack, Mathew Lee and Eric Tucker Epoch Times staff contributed to this report. New Jersey and nearby states can expect the coronavirus to cost them $100 billion in lost revenue and extra costs, and theyre asking the federal government to pick up the tab. Otherwise, they may have to lay off state workers and slash funding for public transit and other services. Our work is far from done, Gov. Phil Murphy said Friday at his daily coronavirus briefing. We need federal action to address states directly." Murphy and fellow Govs. Andrew Cuomo of New York, Ned Lamont of Connecticut and Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania outlined the need and the dire circumstances they find themselves in on Friday In a letter sent to President Donald Trump and congressional leaders. They asked for a minimum of $100 billion to compensate their states for the loss of tax revenue, for declining transit and bus fares, for the drop in economic activity as stores, restaurants, casinos, sporting events and other public places where people gather are forced to close to stop the spread of covid-19. Murphy made the same plea a day earlier on a tele-conference call with other governors, Trump and administration officials. Were going to need a bigger boat, Murphy said on Friday, quoting the famous line from the movie Jaws. Were going to need a lot more cash to keep doing what were doing," he added. The governors requested that the $100 billion be part of the stimulus legislation now being drafted on Capitol Hill. Our challenges are expanding daily and just beginning, the governors wrote. "Our states have all stepped up to take unprecedented action to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and do all we can to flatten the curve. We implore you to consider the devastating impact these efforts will have on our states and millions of our residents both in the immediate term and the months to come. Unlike the federal government, states must balance their books, and if the red ink flows, theyll have to cut spending to make up for the loss of revenue. Without flexible and immediately accessible resources, states may be left with no choice but to lay off thousands of employees, be unable to pay employees who are providing life-sustaining services, slash funding for education and transportation, and substantially reduce critical services just as our residents need our support the most, the governors wrote. Sign up for text message alerts from NJ.com on coronavirus in New Jersey: If you would like updates on New Jersey-specific coronavirus news, subscribe to our Coronavirus in N.J. newsletter. Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. - The Department of Health (DOH) announced today that 77 new cases of COVID-19 infection have been recorded - This confirmation brings the number of COVID-19 cases in the Philippines to a total of 307 - The DOH also announced that 5 more patients have recovered from the disease, bringing the total number of recoveries to 13 - As for the number of fatalities, 19 people in the Philippines have died so far due to the virus PAY ATTENTION: Click "See First" under the "Following" tab to see KAMI news on your News Feed The Department of Health (DOH) confirmed today, March 21, that 77 new cases of COVID-19 infection have been recorded. This brings the number of COVID-19 cases in the Philippines to a total of 307. According to the DOH, the 77 new cases are the biggest daily jump so far in the country. The DOH also announced that 5 more patients have recovered from the disease, bringing the total number of recoveries to 13. As for the number of fatalities, 19 people in the Philippines have died so far due to the virus. PAY ATTENTION: Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news! In a previous report by KAMI, the story of a woman who has COVID-19 gave birth to a healthy baby circulated online. President Rodrigo Duterte has declared a state of calamity in the Philippines due to the COVID-19 crisis. He also decided to have Luzon under an enhanced community quarantine in order to combat the virus spread. Please like and share our amazing Facebook posts to support the KAMI team! Dont hesitate to comment and share your opinions about our stories either. We love reading about your thoughts and views on different matters! KAMI had a hilarious time with some Kapuso Stars who took on our Tricky Questions Challenge! Check out all of the exciting videos and celebrity interviews on our KAMI HumanMeter YouTube channel! Source: KAMI.com.gh It's in area under Chinese occupation for 60 years: MEA on China constructing bridge across Pangong lake Dont compare India with China on combating COVID-19 says MoS Home India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, Mar 21: India's effort to combat the coronavirus outbreak cannot be compared with China as the latter has a "military system" which can force people into social distancing, minister of state for home affairs G Kishan Reddy said. The Indian government has called for "Janata curfew" on March 22, requesting citizens to remain at home for a day in an effort to stop the spread of the deadly disease, the cure for which has not yet been developed. "We are the second largest populated country in the world. We need to stop infection. The only medicine available right now is to take more precaution and maintain social distancing," Reddy told the media. He said China has been successful in containing the disease to some extent because of its military system. "If China says not to report, nothing is reported by the media. If it says don't attend office, no one does. If it says be at home, people out there follow the orders strictly," he said. Coronavirus cases in India rises to 223 However the situation in India is different and therefore the government is appealing citizens to join its efforts to combat the spread of the disease, he added. Reddy also urged all political parties to work together in this effort and not indulge in unnecessary criticism. "We need to fight together to protect our people," he said, adding that India is taking best practices from other parts of the world to contain the spread of this disease. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, March 21, 2020, 8:29 [IST] New York Michael Bloomberg Friday abandoned plans to form a new super PAC for the presidential race and employ his campaign organizers through November, instead opting to give $18 million to the Democratic National Committee for the party's battleground states program and disband the army of field workers he had assembled across the country. The reversal which came on the same day that election authorities reported he had spent more than $900 million on his campaign prompted an outcry from former staff members, who said it was startling for Bloomberg's campaign to shatter their expectations of employment and health benefits in the middle of a major public-health crisis. "I'm so sorry I worked for this guy. I thought he was totally different," said Jane Conrad, a former field organizer for Bloomberg in Minnesota whom the campaign recruited away from her work as a union field representative in February. "He took me out of my job for his own gain." Bloomberg's presidential campaign had promised at its outset that it would finance a field program through the November election, attracting staff members like Conrad with generous pay and benefits. Then, upon his withdrawal from the race earlier this month, Bloomberg officials said the former New York mayor would continue to employ some of his campaign's field staff through an independent campaign organization. In the end, Bloomberg, a multibillionaire, chose to do none of those things. He transferred $18 million from his campaign account to the DNC, which intends to use the funds to hire its own organizing staff in battleground states. "While we considered creating our own independent entity to support the nominee and hold the president accountable, this race is too important to have many competing groups with good intentions but that are not coordinated and united in strategy and execution," the Bloomberg campaign wrote in an unsigned memo. The Bloomberg campaign had already paid rents through November for dozens of field offices in states expected to be competitive in the general election. Those offices will be transferred to Democratic state parties, which DNC officials said would hire organizers using the money from Bloomberg's campaign. The Bloomberg memo said the DNC staffing would draw "in part from our own incredibly experienced and talented organizing staff." Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. In a conference call Friday, about 1,500 former campaign staff members were informed of the plans by the campaign's states director and encouraged to apply to work for the DNC, though they were advised that, should they be hired, those jobs would carry different pay and benefits. A set of interview talking points used by the campaign to hire field organizers, seen by The New York Times, had included mention of "full health, dental and vision benefits" and "employment through November 2020 with Team Bloomberg." Those verbal promises were first tested March 9 when many field organizers were laid off and told they would be paid through the end of the month. Employees were encouraged to reapply to work for Bloomberg's organization in six battleground states: Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. But Friday, campaign employees learned they would not be working through the general election either. Image by David Mark from Pixabay Real estate prices in Las Vegas over the last few quarters have been dropping steadily even while brand new luxury housing is hitting the market. The number of homes for sale that remained unsold doubled in late 2018, yet the city keeps growing with new transplants moving in from places like California and Seattle. Right now, there is a lull in pricing. This is the ideal market for real estate investors to swoop in and buy swaths of houses at while providing great sale prices. As has been the status quo for years, renters remain locked out of the housing market because new housing developments tend to be luxury homes rather than more affordable housing. Because the government owns most of the desert surrounding Las Vegas, the expansion of city limits is constrained. If new housing developments are to be built, the Nevada Congressional delegation must as the Federal Bureau of Land Management for permission. It can take years or even decades for the federal government to respond to requests for more land. Older homes are often refurbished and improved rather than left in a state of decline. As a result, Las Vegas is one of the best-kept cities in the nation. Owning property in Las Vegas is an apartment renters dream come true. Nearly 20% of Las Vegas residents are renters. Rent prices are on the rise and have nearly doubled from $900 in 2008 to $1,300 today. Thats a strong indication that good jobs have returned. Affordable homes are snatched up quickly while luxury apartment sit vacant longer. This means, as a Las Vegas homeowner, you can list your home for sale at your desired price and more than likely get what youre asking for. If youre looking to sell your home in Las Vegas more quickly, you can go online and enter your homes information and receive a cash purchase offer from an iBuyer company. The Nevada property tax rate is only .77% and county property taxes almost always hover around .25%. Count on paying a little less than 1% in income taxes after buying a home in Nevada. There are buyers out there right now. While home prices might be in a slight lull in comparison to early 2018, they will likely be lower soon. The stock market is showing signs of slowing down, so this is a great time to sell your house in Las Vegas. While home values are rising sluggishly in 2020, they are nevertheless still rising. This kind of growth is healthy rather than inflated. A 3.2% growth rate is sustainable long-term whereas double-digit growth is unnatural and weak. Most of the growth is coming from the luxury home markets, meaning wealthy employers are snatching up new luxury Las Vegas real estate. This is good because these buyers bring jobs with them. The $300,000 average price tag for homes is propped up by tax refugees fleeing Californias high rates. 30% of homebuyers are California transplants. A home in Las Vegas costs half of what a home in Las Angeles. Las Vegas is one of the most affordable cities to buy a home in the United States. The best part about selling a house in Las Vegas now is securing a healthy return on your investment rather than losing out on the highest possible return on your investment. Were headed into an economic recession. Now is the time to sell before values drop any further. Bolivia's government on Saturday announced a complete quarantine to come into effect from Sunday in a bid to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. "It's a tough but necessary decision for the good of everyone," said interim President Jeanine Anez, adding that "we must be at home for 24 hours a day." Bolivia has so far registered 19 cases, far fewer than neighbouring countries such as Brazil, with more than 900, and Chile, with more than 500. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-20 02:59:59|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close Empty road at the U.S. port of entry into Blaine of Washington State is seen at Douglas-Peace Arch border crossing in Surrey, Canada, March 20, 2020. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that the Canada-U.S. border will close to non-essential travel at midnight Friday and both countries will turn back asylum seekers crossing the border. (Photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua) OTTAWA, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne announced on Thursday that he is in self-isolation awaiting his test results for COVID-19. In his tweet, Champagne said he got tested "out of an abundance of caution as I began experiencing new flu-like symptom less than 14 days after returning from abroad." Champagne is the third federal cabinet minister to report being tested, two of his colleagues' test results have come back negative. Canadian Natural Resource Minister Seamus O'Regan and Minister of Small Business and Export Promotion Mary Ng both tested negative for the COVID-19 last week. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been under self-isolation after his wife Sophie tested positive for the COVID-19 last week after returning from Britain. The number of coronavirus cases in Colorado rose by 86 Friday, bringing the total in the state to 363, as the state issued new directives to try to slow the spread of the disease. El Paso County's total increased to 27, including six cases of the flu-like disease in a southeast Colorado Springs senior living center, Laurel Manor Care Center. The elderly, particularly those with other health problems or compromised immune systems, are considered the most vulnerable to the disease, although the latest statistics on hospitalizations shows the young also are at risk. The largest percentage of Coloradans who have contracted the virus so far are in their 30s, 40s and 50s, state data shows. Among Friday's developments were: Thirty-nine Coloradans, including some from Colorado Springs, who had been aboard the cruise ship Grand Princess and had been in quarantine since being allowed to disembark March 9 in California, returned home, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said. A department statement said three of the passengers were in their 80s, 15 in their 70s, 14 in their 60s, four in their 50s, one in their 40s, two in their 30s, two in their 20s and two under 18. None had symptoms of the disease. Four Coloradans who had symptoms of COVID-19 are returning on different flights at later times, a state health department statement said. The 39 who showed no symptoms flew into Denver International Airport Friday afternoon on private planes, and did not enter the concourses or main terminal, health officials said. "They will return to their homes via private vehicle or state-provided private van and will continue to self-quarantine until they have been in quarantine for a full 14 days, which includes their time in federal quarantine," the statement said. UCHealth implemented a no-visitors policy at all of its hospitals and clinics, with the exception of maternity, NICU, pediatric and end-of-life care, a UCHealth statement said. Outpatient clinic patients will be allowed one person to accompany them if needed for support, the organization said. "These new restrictions are in place for the health and safety of patients and their families, visitors and health care workers," the statement said. "The policy will be disappointing for patients and their loved ones; we encourage patients and their families to maximize use of virtual video connections, chats and phone calls. Most other hospitals in Colorado have instituted similar visitor restrictions." More than 2,200 Safeway and Albertsons grocery stores throughout Colorado will have Plexiglas "sneeze guards" installed at registers between customers and cashiers, a company news release said. The grocery stores have also enhanced cleaning measures, reserved shopping times exclusively for seniors, and suspended self-service soup and salad bars, the statement said. Gov. Jared Polis said Colorado is "well-positioned for success when this all blows over," adding that the state is taking several measures to ease financial strain on the community. The state will be taking action to provide relief from evictions, foreclosures and utility shutoffs, the statement said. Polis asked that local law enforcement refrain from carrying out evictions or foreclosures on families unless there's a threat to public safety. He also asked financial institutions to consider a 90-day deferment for all consumer loans, and that public utilities suspend service disconnections for missed payments. Polis asked that property owners and landlords not impose late fees for late payments through the end of April. The Colorado Department of Labor and Unemployment will be expediting claim payments during the state of emergency, the statement said. Unemployment claims statewide surged from about 400 filed on March 9 to about 10,000 filed Thursday, according to the state's labor department. The Colorado Attorney General's Office said in a news release that law enforcement agencies statewide "will use their authority under state law to enforce" orders issued by public health officials "when necessary and appropriate." The state has taken decisive action to protect Coloradans from the spread of COVID-19, Attorney General Phil Weiser said in the statement. "We understand that residents may feel anxious or frustrated by limits on gatherings or closures of businesses and institutions around the state. Our expectation is that residents will respect their fellow Coloradans, use good judgment and follow the public health order. When necessary and appropriate, however, we will work with our state and local law enforcement partners to ensure that residents obey the order. Thursday, Gov. Jared Polis amended an order that closed most Colorado businesses until April 30. The businesses include horse racing tracks, off-track betting, hotel dining areas, spas, tattoo shops, massage parlors, hair and nail salons, gyms, pools, restaurants, bars, coffee shops, theaters and casinos. In Colorado, it's illegal for any person or business to willingly violate public health laws or orders. Disobeying a public health order is considered a misdemeanor and can result in up to $1,000 in fines or one year in jail. "The gravity of the public health orders are appropriate for the gravity of this situation, said Jill Hunsaker Ryan, executive director of the state's health department, in the statement. The transmission of COVID-19 is an event unlike anything we have seen and we must take dramatic precautions to save lives. These policy decisions are grounded in science and what has been learned from other countries and states. The swifter and more decisively we act, the greater the possibility that we can flatten the epidemiological curve, preserve the availability of hospital beds for those who need them, and eventually return to normal life." Colorado Springs is reducing weekend bus service because too few drivers are showing up for work, the city said in a news release. Mountain Metro bus drivers are not required to wear masks, city spokeswoman Vicki McCann said in an email. "Mountain Metro bus drivers are following the guidance issued by El Paso County Health Department which says that if you are not sick you do not need to wear a mask," McCann wrote. The following changes were made to the weekend bus schedule: Saturdays, Mountain Metro is reducing frequency on routes 1, 3, 5, 7, 25, and 27 from 30 minutes to 60 minutes. On Sundays, route 7 will not be reduced. Saturdays and Sundays, routes 1, 3, 5, 7 will only depart the downtown terminal at :15 after the hour. On Saturdays, route 25 will depart from the Citadel at :40 after the hour and will depart Voyager at :13 after the hour. On Sundays, route 25 departs at :38 after the hour and departs Voyager at :14 after the hour. On Saturdays, route 27 will depart the Citadel at :47 after the hour and will depart Pikes Peak Community College at :14 after the hour. On Sundays, route 27 will depart the Citadel at :48 after the hour. Rocky Mountain National Park was closed to all visitors. "As of 7 p.m. today ... Rocky Mountain National Park is closed to all park visitors until further notice," the National Park Service said in an email. "This closure will be in effect 24-hours a day, 7-days a week and there will be no access permitted to Rocky Mountain National Park." Visitors can take a virtual tour at www.nps.gov/romo. Former Obama White House aides have voiced criticism that the Trump White House has not included enough scientists and experts in its ranks to allow it to quickly respond to the coronavirus pandemic as cases in the country reach over 22,000 and states begin to lockdown. Yet others have praised the Trump administration for developing a more streamlined team of experts, putting the right people in place to advise the president. They have also praised the development of a task force includes the likes of top meteorologist Dr. Kelvin Droegemeier, whose role as the head of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy had previously been sidelined. It took a year after Trump took office before Droegemeier was appointed as OSTP head and he was not initially included in the task force line up in January, to the surprise of other experts. Dr. Kelvin Droegemeier is the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy appointed in 2018 and a member of the Trump administrations coronavirus reponse task force Former Obama White House aides have voiced criticism that the Trump White House has not included enough scientists and experts in its ranks that would have dealt with the pandemic Health care workers await patients to test for coronavirus in the pop up test facility in Pennsylvania. Trump has been relying more on scientists as the pandemic worsened In recent weeks, however, Droegemeier has worked with science and medical journal editors to ensure that new research on the coronavirus is being published for free. He has also met with representatives from the Pentagon, the intelligence community, academics and other experts from within the government to focus on providing funds to academics working on predicting how the outbreak will hit the country, as he is praised for leaving politics out of his work. 'Dr. Droegemeier's extensive experience as a scientist has made him an important voice at the table, and he has a robust ability to bring experts together from the nation and the world to work on solutions,' a spokesperson for the OSTP told Yahoo News. 'His experience also lends to his great ability to advise President Trump on science and technology matters,' the spokesperson continued. 'He truly is a direct link to the scientific community. Also, as a meteorologist he has a wealth of knowledge on data, modeling and prediction, which has been monumentally valuable during this outbreak.' Droegemeier, who has previously commented that 'science needs to be conducted free from political interference', has been used by some as an example of a scientist who expertise was been sidelined by Trump before the pandemic struck.w The president has previously said he has a 'natural instinct' for science. Since taking office in 2016, Trump disbanded a team within the National Security Council focused on global health but his administrarion insists that it allowed for the NSC to become more streamlined and that still maintains a high level of expertise on infectious diseases. 'I am sure they will do a very good job,' William Happer, the director for emerging technologies on Trump's NSC until September 2019, told Yahoo News. However former Obama aides have criticized the move, claiming that the Trump administration dismantled the protocols they had begun to establish for dealing with a national and global pandemic such as the one currently faced with the coronavirus. They told Yahoo that '85 percent' of what is currently happening had been predicted by experts working under Obama but that the potential response plan to a global pandemic, modeled after their experience with Ebola, had been 'dismantled' after Trump took office. Tim Morrison, the former senior director for counter-proliferation and bio-defense on the National Security Council, however, has argued that this is unfounded and that the NSC is just as capable as it ever was to respond to the pandemic, remaining well-staffed and having accomplished several biodefense-related achievements over recent years, including an executive order to modernize influenza vaccines. Others believe that the crisis may have changed Trump aversion to help from scientists as he allows experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, to take a prominent role in White House briefings on the task force's response. 'This pandemic is historical, it's colossal, it's epic, it's unprecedented,' said J. Stephen Morrison, the director of the Global Health Policy Center at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). 'It's going to set off years of deliberation ... of inquiries in which the academies and OSTP and others are going to be called upon.' He added that when it comes to the OSTP headed by Droegemeier, it 'is sometimes important and sometimes isn't ... depending on who occupies it and what their access is to the White House'. And others believe that not having scientists within government is not a bad thing when they can still be called in for advice. 'It's a very Trumpian thing. Trump's inclination is, if the government doesn't have the answer, to reach out beyond the government and ask,' said Jim Carafano of the Heritage Foundation. 'Not every smart person is in government.' Yet others have warned that this may slow down a process that needs to react quickly. It's unclear how much face time Droegemeier gets with Trump although he has said that that the president regularly visits meetings of the coronavirus task force and asks questions. Droegemeier also remains diplomatic about the President's response, a tactic that has been praised. He has been called 'shrewd' for not involving politics in his work with Trump in order to push his own perspective, including his denial to comment on his thoughts on climate change as a meterorologist. The Public Relations Consultant Association of India (PRCAI) has issued an advisory to it's members and the broader community on steps to be safe from COVID-19 infection. Their newsletter includes information on best practices and industry surveys on attitudes towards the virus. As COVID-19 continues to spread across the country and dominates our lives, we share our concerns on its impact on business and day-to-day functioning. While India has remained relatively stable, it is now becoming clear that social distancing is essential to preventing spread of the Coronavirus. Temporary shutting down of offices and work from home is emerging as a best practice. In this scenario, we wanted to let you know what we at PRCAI are proposing steps that all are member firms may take for the health, safety and wellbeing of your staff, partners, clients and the broader community. Remote working for all staff Advice clients/media against face to face meetings Freeze on International travel Highly restricted domestic travel Ensuring quarantine of staff who have travelled abroad on personal trips and those who show symptoms Many of our member firms are already adapting the above guideline. At this point we have no information of any known transmission risk in any of our PRCAI member staff, however, it is necessary for us to move to this way of working as a preventive measure and to ensure that we are safeguarding our health, reducing the risk of transmission within and outside our organisation, and for us to contribute to the broader effort to halt / slow the transmission of COVID-19. This remains a challenging time for all of us. And we believe a lot has yet to unfold. However, it is crucial for us to not create panic and as communicators also be vary of sharing any fake news/speculative information across any social media/internal communication platforms. We are also taking advice of our friends in media like you all for the same. For all our PRCAI member firms we are also reinforcing the availability and scope of our international network during this global pandemic. Our members may use the network, and each other, as a vehicle for information and ideas sharing. The latest ICCO Newsletter is here with information on: Coronavirus crisis best practice webinar Recent surveys conducted by the industry (PRCA, IPR) Call for Global Taskforce volunteers Tips on how agencies around the world are responding (PRovoke, IOIC) PRCAI is available for all members firms and media to bring in any issues and to reach out to authorities if required. We are also contemplating running an online campaign extolling people to stay home and practice social distancing. If there is something your organisation has created or that you are aware of that could be of use to the PRCAI members, please do share and we will regularly circulate these resources. Be safe. We are trying to make sure that we are doing the same. From left, Drexel grad students Courtney Basrai, Laura Escalona, and Christine Delacourt enjoy the warm weather after finishing a final exam at the Railpark at 13th and Callowhill in Philadelphia on Friday, March 20, 2020. The warm weather on Friday made it tempting for people to go outside despite calls for social distancing due to the spread of the coronavirus. Read more The first day of spring is upon us. The weather forecasts are full of beautiful warm weather. But in order to slow the spread of the new coronavirus, weve been instructed to stay home. Health officials are hoping that social distancing helps flatten the curve so fewer people will need treatment at the same time. Maybe, if were lucky, we can return to life as we know it sooner rather than later. Now, were all wondering: Can we go outside? Can we go for a run? Can we walk the dog? We spoke to local health experts on how to social distance safely outdoors as the weather warms up and the cabin fever gets real. The good news, said Dr. David C. Damsker, director of the Bucks County Health Department, is that we dont have to stay inside. Not going outside can really start to affect our mental health, Damsker said. Heres how to do it safely. Can I go outside? Yes, we encourage people to still go outside, said Nate Wardle, press secretary for the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Its not healthy to stay in all day. However, Wardle said, its important to practice social distancing while out. That means staying six feet away from people, so even if you cross paths with someone who has been exposed to the coronavirus, you wont be caught by a wayward cough or a sudden sneeze. How much time can I spend outside? You cant set that in hours or minutes, said Damsker. If want to be outside 24 hours a day you can, as long as you are doing so safely. That means social distancing, washing your hands often or using a hand sanitizer that is at least 60% alcohol, especially if you inadvertently touch something. Can I sit on a bench in my neighborhood park? You dont want to put any part of your body including your bum on high-touch areas, said Dr. Heather Ruddock, a pediatrician at Advocare West Deptford Pediatrics. If you do lean on a pole or rest your hand on a ledge, dont touch your face, Ruddock stressed. Carry some hand sanitizer or a few Clorox sheets with you in a plastic bag so you can wipe your hands immediately. And if you have to sit down on a bench, make sure its unoccupied so you can keep the proper 6-feet distance away, Wardle added. What if I want to take a run with a friend? Im getting lonely. Thats fine, said Ruddock, who is a runner herself. But you want to make sure that you take these runs, hikes, and walks, in spaces where staying 6 feet away is easily achievable. That means the Schuylkill Banks are probably not your best bet. And, if someone does cross your path, just jog around them. You dont have to be rude, Damsker said. Is it safe to go for a drive? I wouldnt go for a drive with a family member that has been quarantined or who is sick, Damsker said. But yes, its safe to go for a drive. This is also a time, Wardle says, that you might want to drive with your windows up. Self-care tip: Keep some hand sanitizer or hand wipes in your car. When you get in the car, rub your hands down and the steering wheel. Can I grill outside with friends, since the weather is so nice? What about Sunday dinner? If you are having dinner with people who have been in your home this entire time, yes, Damsker said. However, Wardle added, its best not to meet up with friends at this time. We encourage people to use virtual means of connecting, such as texting, calling, video calls, etc. Wardle said. What about my pets? Do I need to socially distance from them? Should they social distance from each other? Can they go outside? There is no evidence that we have to interact differently with our pets, Damsker said. And yes, you can still take them out on regular walks, even if they run into another four-legged friend. According to the CDC website, in the U.S., there is no evidence to suggest that animals, including pets, livestock, or wildlife, might be a source of the coronavirus at this time. What about outdoor playdates with the kiddies? This is a time for virtual playdates only, Ruddock said. I want to go outside, but I have anxiety about it. Remember the problem is about being in crowds, said Dr. Krys Foster, family physician at Jefferson Hospital, who is urging her patients to have some semblance of normalcy, so going outside is key. Use this time to get away from people and explore nature. And take your hand sanitizer with you. If the anxiety is too much, try downloading a meditation app; if youre concerned about your anxiety, talk to your doctor. What happens if theres a shelter-in-place order? If a shelter-in-place order is issued, it would depend on what the order looks like, but, Wardle said, people would likely be able to be outside on their property. But if things get so bad and we are forced to stay inside, Ruddock said, open the windows for that daily dose of Vitamin D. Its important we let the sunshine in, its one of the best ways we can take care of ourselves. Self-care is key right now." The country will be observing an unprecedented shutdown on Sunday following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal for a 'Janata curfew', where people have been urged to voluntarily stay indoors to check the spread of coronavirus while public transport will be suspended or curtailed and all markets and shops except those dealing in essential items will be closed on the day. IMAGE: Workers wear masks in the wake of coronavirus pandemic, at a construction site in Birbhum district. Photograph: PTI Photo Cutting across party lines, chief ministers and others leaders urged the people to follow the self-imposed curfew from 7 am to 9 pm, noting that "social distancing" was key to breaking the chain of infection, as the number of coronavirus cases rose to 283 after 60 new cases were detected on Saturday, the highest so far in a day, and states like Maharashtra, Odisha and Bihar imposed partial lockdown till month end. No passenger train will originate from any railway station in the country from midnight to 10 pm on Sunday while all suburban train services will be reduced to a bare minimum as well. Metro services, including in Delhi, will remain suspended for the day. Air carriers like GoAir, IndiGo and, Vistara have announced that they will be curtailing domestic operations on Sunday. Traders' body Confederation of All India Traders has announced that they will keep their establishments shut across the country Sunday. IMAGE: Auto-rickshaws are seen parked at roadside due to the unavailability of passengers in the wake of coronavirus pandemic, in Kolkata. Photograph: Swapan Mahapatra/PTI Photo From suspending regular prayers in shrines of various faiths, including Sunday mass, to disallowing jail inmates from meeting their families on the day, organisations and institutions in every sphere have announced restrictions for Sunday. Modi had on Thursday called for the 'Janata curfew' from 7 am to 9 pm on March 22, saying no citizen, barring those in essential services, should get out of their houses, and asserted that it will be a litmus test to show India's readiness to take on the coronavirus challenge. Describing it as the need of the hour, Union Home Minister Amit Shah asked everyone in the country to support the step. In a series of tweets, Shah also asked all citizens to express gratitude to those who are working round the clock to keep the country safe and healthy amid the pandemic. Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu too made a fervent appeal to the people of the country to confine themselves to homes on Sunday. He said that since the virus spreads through physical contact, social distancing is an effective measure to contain its spread by avoiding contact during the incubation period of the virus. "Janata curfew should be seen in the largest context of the initiative to insulate people with their voluntary involvement. It is a matter of great assurance that people have responded very positively to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal. People remaining idoors and social distancing are part of measures to curb the contagion virus," Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Saturday. In Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said 50 per cent of the buses will ply on roads on Sunday considering some people may have to travel due to an emergency. Autos and taxis will, however, be off roads in the national capital as several unions including the Delhi Autorickshaw Sangh, Delhi Pradesh Taxi Union, Delhi Auto Taxi Transport Congress Union and Delhi Taxi Tourist Transport Association, have decided to join the 'Janata curfew'. Photograph: Hitesh Harisinghani/ Rediff.com IMAGE: A deserted CST station. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath appealed to the people of the state to stay indoors on Sunday. "Metro trains, roadways buses and city buses will not operate on Sunday," the statement said on behalf of the chief minister. "Coronavirus is in the second stage all over the country. It will convey a big message to the entire world if we are successful in stopping this at this stage. "To curb this infection, we are working on a war footing. Isolation wards have been set up in every district hospital and medical college. So far, 23 patients have been identified in the state, out of which nine have completely recovered. There is no need to panic, but prepare yourself to fight against this challenge," the UP chief minister said in the statement. Leaders also urged the traders not to hoard essential items and the people to purchase only necessary things. "We can prevent the virus entering third stage if people stay indoors and for that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced Janata Curfew on March 22," Tamil Superstar Rajinikanth said in a video message. Archbishop of Goa Filipe Neri Ferrao cancelled the Sunday mass at all churches in support of the call for "janata" curfew to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. In Delhi too, St Peter's Mar Thomas Syrian Church, Patparganj and Cathedral Church of Redemption in central Delhi have cancelled Sunday mass and all services for next week, sources said. Prominent Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband in Uttar Pradesh said it will remain closed on March 22 and asked its students not to go outside. The Jammu and Kashmir Waqf Board announced suspension of regular prayers at mosques and shrines affiliated to it in the Kashmir valley as a preventive measure to contain the spread of the coronavirus. IMAGE: BJP MLA Ramvir Singh Bidhuri distributes masks and flowers to public during an awareness campaign on Janta Curfew, in the wake of coronavirus pandemic, outside Mandi House Metro station in New Delhi. Photograph: Vijay Verma/PTI Photo On Saturday, the prime minister thanked various organisations and business bodies for their efforts to contain the spread of coronavirus. "Never forget -- precautions not panic!," he said adding that it is not only important to be home but also remain in the town/ city where you are. "Unnecessary travels will not help you or others. In these times, every small effort on our part will leave a big impact," Modi said reacting to tweets by people on the virus. This is the time we should all listen to the advice given by doctors and authorities, he said. "All those who have been told to stay in home quarantine, I urge you to please follow the instructions. This will protect you as well as your friends and family," he said. The prime minister also shared a video which showed how virus spreads and ways to check its outbreak taking small precautions. The Odisha government on Saturday announced a "near total" shutdown in five districts and eight other prominent towns for a week. These districts are Khurda, Ganjam, Cuttack, Kendrapara and Angul, while the towns include Puri, Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Balasore, Rourkela, Bhadrak, Jajpur Road and Jajpur. The Bihar government ordered shutting down of bus services, restaurants and banquet halls across the state till March 31. All schools and malls are already closed in the state. Authorities have already ordered a shutdown in Maharashtra's major cities like Mumbai, Pune, Thane and Nagpur.The Akola district administration also ordered a lockdown between March 22 and 24. - The Philippine Embassy in South Korea confirmed the first case of coronavirus disease involving a Filipino in the said East Asian country - The embassy said the Filipino patient based in South Korea has an overseas travel history - On March 19, he was tested at a hospital in South Korea and was confirmed to be positive for COVID-19 the next day - To extend assistance to the COVID-19 positive Filipino, the embassy is currently in close coordination with Korean health authorities PAY ATTENTION: Click "See First" under the "Following" tab to see KAMI news on your News Feed The first case of coronavirus disease involving a Filipino in South Korea is confirmed on March 20, the Philippine Embassy in South Korea revealed. The embassy in Seoul detailed that the Filipino based in the said East Asian country who caught the virus has overseas travel history before exhibiting symptoms. "The Filipino national lives and works at Songdo-dong, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon," the embassy announced on social media. "Said Filipino national traveled to Geneva, Switzerland from 07 to 12 March, and arrived in South Korea on 16 March," it added. He was tested at a hospital in South Korea on March 19 and was confirmed to be positive for COVID-19 the following day. The Embassy is in close coordination with the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local health authorities and stands ready to extend assistance to the COVID-19 positive Filipino national as needed, it stated. According to a report by Philippine Star, Korea Centers for Disease Control said South Korea has 87 new cases of COVID-19 infection detected on March 20, taking the total to 8,652 cases. As of this posting, the death toll in the country due to COVID-19 remained at 94. PAY ATTENTION: Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news! In a previous report by KAMI, South Korea announced that the number of their cured patients is higher than the newly recorded cases for the first time since the novel coronavirus became a pandemic. It is believed that the development in South Korea will bring hope to other countries that are greatly affected by the pandemic. Please like and share our amazing Facebook posts to support the KAMI team! Dont hesitate to comment and share your opinions about our stories either. We love reading about your thoughts and views on different matters! TikTok dance challenges are taking over social media. We are always on point in asking passers-by to dance to famous songs together with our host Andre! Dont forget to subscribe to HumanMeter! Source: KAMI.com.gh Liam Riehman-Murphy, 11, completes schoolwork while his sister Hazel, 2, sits on the dining room table. Their mother Christina, a librarian at Penn State-Abington, is juggling working remotely and supervising schoolwork for her four school-aged children during a Coronavirus-induced school break. Read more Christina Riehman-Murphy expected to be extra busy juggling her full-time job and supervising her kids schoolwork during an unexpected coronavirus break. She did not expect to have a research class she was teaching via videoconference Wednesday interrupted by the screams of 2-year-old Hazel, who demanded applesauce, threw the applesauce, then asked for a paper towel to clean it up. With a pandemic upending lives around the region and across the globe, millions of parents are suddenly finding themselves juggling the demands of work and child care, figuring out how to turn in reports on time while explaining fractions to their children. Or, in the case of Riehman-Murphy, a librarian at Penn State Abington and mom of five in Glenside, she recently found herself wiping up a toddlers flung applesauce while teaching her class. Luckily, she said, her students were understanding. There is a sense of solidarity in this were all in the same boat, said Riehman-Murphy, whose children attend St. Luke Catholic School and Roman Catholic High School. Her husband is a nurse who works evenings and is less available to help during the day. Michelle Richardson, a therapist and founder of Mindful Soul Center for Wellbeing in Audubon, said its OK to admit this is a stressful time, with schools on an indefinite hiatus, governments ordering residents to stay at home, and the economy taking a nose-dive. Ive been encouraging my clients and my staff to give themselves a little permission to not be perfect right now, to catch their breath, Richardson said. My kids are home, and I feel like I should be spending all this time with them, but Im trying to keep my business afloat. Things are really scary, and the pressures that we normally face feel tenfold." READ MORE: Read more: As coronavirus closes schools, inequities between school systems are underscored Monica Gilson, of Collegeville, normally works from home Tuesdays through Thursdays as an independent event contractor. But now, her 4-year-old and 18-month-old, who are usually in day care, are at home, and things are considerably more complicated. Its really hard to keep them contained. Theyre just like magnets, when they know youre doing something important, Gilson said. Its definitely hitting some additional nerves. READ MORE: Resources for parents during the coronavirus shutdown Gilson has been trying her best to squeeze work in as she can, including by walking around their backyard with her laptop Wednesday, earbuds in, as her older son played outside. But mostly, shes resorted to doing work while her children are napping or in bed for the night. And while some parents are sharing free online resources to help keep kids busy and engaged, that would be yet another task, Gilson said. Plus, her son would probably sneak off and watch YouTube anyway," said Gilson. For Elyse Knight of Pennsauken, a stay-at-home parent, its a learning curve as she balances her three kids suddenly at-home learning with caring for her elderly mother. Its been pretty challenging, said Knight. Its hard juggling with all of the kids in the house; I have to schedule everything. Knight covers subjects ranging from reading and writing to Spanish and gym with twin kindergartners Landon and Amalia, who attend Merchantville School. Knight is relieved that Emily, a seventh grader, is self motivated, because she said shed be hard-pressed to tutor Emily in accelerated math work. How can a parent teach something to a child that the parent doesnt know? Knight said. Tara Chklovski, founder of the Los Angeles-based technology education nonprofit Technovation, said parents should look past busy work for their kids, recognize that these are challenging times and not fixate on mimicking school. Rather, Chklovski said, think about project-based learning or equipping kids with skills that parents have honed themselves in their careers. Its quite impossible to re-create a school schedule at home when theres no structure and everythings different, said Chklovski. Over the next 15 years, if they had a break of two or three months, its OK. READ MORE: Read more: For Philly schools, a chaotic day, then a decision to close. Things went relatively smoothly the first day Kate Mundies sons, fourth and sixth graders at Jackson Elementary in South Philadelphia, were at home. By Day 2, she wanted to cry from the constant togetherness and the weight of constant expectations from her kids. It starts a little bit before 6 a.m. with the constant Mom, Mom, Mom, and it doesnt stop until I put them in bed, said Mundie, who works in marketing for an engineering firm. When the coronavirus break was announced, Mundie thought she would be in good shape, as she already worked from home part time. But reality, with her husband working from home plus the kids underfoot, has thrown her for a loop. Her children have work to complete, but its optional, and her work flow is often interrupted by her children. READ MORE: Free Philly school meals will now be offered at district, charter, PHA sites only, with limited hours She and a neighbor have worked out a system where they take turns taking their similarly aged kids to a nearby municipal parking lot to blow off steam by riding bicycles, keeping a safe distance apart. And thats when my boss will text me: Where are you? I need you! and I have to say, Im with my kids, having them run around," Mundie said. Dayee Johnson of North Philadelphia, a stay-at-home mom, is doing her best to keep her kids engaged in learning. But shes got five school-age children, ages 5 to 15, and a limited number of devices. Once her children finished the paper packets their schools handed out, there was a scramble for the electronics. I do have a tablet that they can juggle, but its complicated, doing homework over the tablet, Johnson said. When theres nothing else to do, they watch TV, one plays on the iPhone, we watch movies sometimes we all pick something together, and we all eat popcorn and candy. Social isolation is tough, Johnson said, and there are moments when everyone feels claustrophobic. We all have to deal with this, though, Johnson said. Were all just doing the best we can. CLEVELAND, Ohio The tremendous number of people applying for unemployment insurance in Ohio in the economic fallout from the novel coronavirus pandemic has set a record, according to a Plain Dealer analysis of more than 30 years of jobless claims. From March 15 through Thursday, 139,468 workers filed for jobless benefits, up from 4,815 for the same period a week earlier, according to Ohio Department of Job and Family Services data. This represents a spike of 2,800%. The last time jobless claims even came close to those filed this week was July 1992, when nearly 50,000 workers in Ohio applied for benefits. This weeks jobless claims are higher than during any of the three recessions in the last three decades, including the Great Recession, which ran from December 2007 to June 2009. Its terrible, Daniel Shoag, a professor at Case Western Reserve Universitys Weatherhead School of Management, said of the gargantuan jump in jobless claims. It shows what is going on with the economy and how rapidly things are changing. The claim numbers were pretty low before this week. Now, the number is clearly record-setting. It is a very trying time. The Plain Dealer analysis looked at initial unemployment claims filed in Ohio from the week of Jan. 1, 1987, through the latest available data. The analysis included Labor Department and ODJFS data. The claims reflect applications made for unemployment insurance, or UI. They do not reflect people who actually receive benefits. In fact, many in Ohio are not eligible for UI, including independent contractors and workers, who dont average $269 a week over at least 20 weeks. The ODJFS doesnt yet have data on how many of the initial claims have been approved. Shoag can only draw one conclusion from the huge number of jobless claims and the fact that many workers will not qualify for benefits. It's really a call for Congress to help the people, he said. There is a lot of pain out there right now. Aid is not only important to help these people, but to keep the economy as a whole functioning. A bill introduced in the U.S. Senate seeks to address workers who lost jobs because of the coronavirus but who arent currently covered by UI. The jump in jobless claims came after Gov. Mike DeWine announced Sunday that Ohio would institute an option the Labor Department offered states of extending UI to workers who couldnt return to work for reasons related to the coronavirus pandemic. In an effort to slow the spread of the virus, Ohio has ordered a large swath of businesses closed, from restaurants to barbershops. States from New York to California have similar directives in place, which have also caused their jobless claim numbers to skyrocket. The Trump administration has asked states to delay releasing jobless claim numbers until the Labor Department releases them next week, the New York Times reported Thursday. How many workers claims are approved has implications for both individual workers and the economy, said George Zeller, an economic research analyst in Cleveland. The current level of new claims is at recession levels, but a recession wont be declared until we get two quarters of negative GDP (gross domestic product) growth, he wrote in an email. More coronavirus and business coverage How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting you economically as a gig or contract worker? Calling All Readers Many out of work due to coronavirus arent eligible for unemployment How and where to get tested for coronavirus Childcare centers, parents grapple with tough choices Acts of kindness amid coronavirus pandemic Photo: Orchard Park Facebook Kelowna's Orchard Park shopping centre is asking its patrons to write to the provincial and federal governments on their concerns about non-essential retailers not being ordered to close in B.C. We hear you and we share your concerns both personally and professionally. We encourage you to reach out to our local government officials, as we have, the mall said on Facebook Thursday. Until we are mandated to close by our government we have legal obligations that require we remain open, the post continued, noting New Brunswicks government has closed all non-essential retail. We can assure you, when we are mandated to close, we will close. Amid the growing coronavirus pandemic, Castanet News has received messages from employees of stores within Orchard Park who are concerned that they are still being required to come to work and interact with the general public. None were willing to go on the record, for fear of repercussions with their employers. Orchard Park said on Facebook that it fully supports the rights of our tenants to take whatever action they feel is in the best interest of their employees health and safety. As a result, many stores in the mall are closed. Orchard Park did not respond to questions from Castanet News seeking more information on its current legal obligation to remain open. The mall is currently operating with reduced hours of 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Patrons are encouraged to call ahead to individual stores to confirm they will be open at those times. Kimberley Finlayson died in Bali after contracting coronavirus. (Picture: Dentistry) The husband of a British woman who died on holiday in Bali after contracting coronavirus has told how they were able to able to exchange goodbyes for a few minutes before she passed away. Kimberley Finlayson who had underlying health conditions underwent two emergency operations in an Indonesian government hospital before her death on March 11. Her husband Ken Finlayson, who tested negative for the virus, described how he has lost half of himself. He told the BBC: I talked to her. She said that she loved me and we exchanged that for a few minutes and looked into one anothers eyes. His comments come as the death toll in the UK reached 177 as of 7am on Saturday morning. He said: Myself and my four children are absolutely devastated to lose the most beautiful wife and mother. Shes so generous, shes so full of life, shes so powerful, courageous, supportive of all of us. Ive lost half of myself. Latest coronavirus news, updates and advice Live: Follow all the latest updates from the UK and around the world Fact-checker: The number of COVID-19 cases in your local area Explained: Symptoms, latest advice and how it compares to the flu Mr Finlayson cautioned other UK citizens when travelling overseas and urged them to be strong for their families in the months to come. He said: The lesson for the British public to realise is that if you go to these places then people really mean well but youre giving up that level of care which we expect and you are playing Russian roulette with your lives if you become critical. Coronavirus cases in England ,how the map has changed in a week. See story HEALTH Coronavirus. Infographic PA Graphics He said: Mistakes were being made. I dont believe if this had happened in Barnet Hospital, I believe our great NHS would have saved Kimberley. I dont think she would have been anywhere near as critical in the first place. Tragically in the UK there will be many people who will suffer, Im sure, over the months ahead. You need to be strong for your family and the memory of your loved one who died in such tragic circumstance. Story continues He added that there was an irony in the now-familiar phrase underlying health issues referring to his wife, who had diabetes. He said: I dont know many people in their 50s who havent received medication, havent had some health issues. KIGALI Rwanda Development Board (RDB) has suspended research and tourism activities in three of the four national parks in the country over coronavirus. The parks where tourism activities have been suspended are; Volcanoes, Gishwati-Mukura and Nyungwe National Parks are home to many primates that are susceptible to infections. Gorillas and chimpanzees are known to be susceptible to infection with human respiratory pathogens, reads part of the statement from RDB. The notice added that the measures were put in place to curb the spread of Coronavirus pandemic among the wildlife. The suspension which takes effect on March 21 however, doesnt affect Akagera National Park, the countrys biggest and home to the Big 5 Akagera will remain open to visitors with the Ministry of Healths covid-19 monitoring measures. Known to have close traits as humans, gorillas the latest count shows there is approximately 1,000 gorillas in the wild, with 604 in the Virunga Massif, at the latest count. On another hand, Nyungwe National Park has the highest population of chimpanzees-over 400 individuals- and other 12 primates species while others can be found in Gishwati-Mukura national park. Having contributed 14.8 % to the GDP, the sector is among the greatest contributors to the economic development of the country. Related SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Pacific Gas & Electric and California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a deal Friday for the nations largest utility to emerge from bankruptcy triggered by massive liabilities from wildfires. The governors office announced that PG&E agreed to overhaul its board and operations, and in addition, it agreed to a process to put the company up for sale if it doesnt pull out of the most complex bankruptcy cases in U.S. history by June 30. PG&E will commit billions of dollars in additional spending to prevent wildfires, meeting one of Newsoms critical demands for the bankruptcy plan. This is the end of business as usual for PG&E, Newsom said in a statement. Through Californias unprecedented intervention in the bankruptcy, we secured a totally transformed board and leadership structure for the company, real accountability tools to ensure safety and reliability and billions more in contributions from shareholders to ensure safety upgrades are achieved. The utilitys outdated system triggered a series of catastrophic wildfires in 2017 and 2018 that killed so many people and burned so many homes and businesses that the company had to file for bankruptcy early last year. PG&E NEW COMMITMENTS PG&E shared in a press release that they have made a series of new commitments regarding its governance, operations, and financial structure, all designed to prioritize safety and expedite the companys success. According to PG&E, the new commitments include: Supporting the CPUCs enactment of measures to strengthen PG&Es governance and operations, including enhanced regulatory oversight and enforcement that provides course-correction tools as well as stronger enforcement if it becomes necessary Agreeing to host an observer to provide the State with insight into the companys progress on safety goals before the company exits Chapter 11 Agreeing that in the unlikely event the Plan is not confirmed, or PG&E does not exit Chapter 11 in a timely manner, an orderly process for a sale of the business to the State or another party will be commenced A commitment not to reinstate a dividend for approximately 3 years, which is estimated to contribute an additional $4 billion of equity to pay down debt and invest in the business Pursuing a rate-neutral $7.5 billion securitization transaction after PG&E emerges from Chapter 11, to reduce the cost of financing for customers and to accelerate payments to wildfire victims Committing not to seek recovery in customer rates of any portion of the approximately $25.5 billion that will be paid to victims of the 2017-2018 wildfires under the companys 2 plan when PG&E emerges from Chapter 11 (except through the rate-neutral securitization transaction). Wildfire Victim Settlements PG&E previously reached settlements with all wildfire victims groups to be implemented pursuant to PGEs Plan, valued at $25.5 billion. This includes the following: British comedian Russell Brand and his family were seen at Sydney International Airport, bound for London amid concerns of the coronavirus pandemic. The 44-year-old, his wife Laura Gallacher and their daughters Mabel, three and Peggy, one, checked into their flights on Saturday. The comedian took no chances and wore blue disposable gloves as he strolled through the airport with eldest daughter. Taking no chances! Russell Brand (pictured) was seen at Sydney airport Saturday, wearing blue disposable gloves. He is pictured with his daughter Mabel. The comedian has fled Australia and is flying home to London with his family The Get Him To The Greek actor dressed comfortably for his long haul flight back to England wearing a black hoodie emblazoned with the word 'Grateful'. He teamed his look with black Nike sweat pants, long sock, neon yellow slides and a belt bag around his waist. Russell was later seen making his way through to the security check point, donning a pair of sunglasses and tying up his long hair into high bun. Ready for the journey home: The Get Him To The Greek actor dressed comfortably for his long haul flight back to England wearing a black hoodie emblazoned with the word 'Grateful' Comfortable: He teamed his look with black Nike sweat pants, long sock, neon yellow slides and a belt bag around his waist He carried Mabel, who kept herself entertained with an inflated blue glove, as well as two tote bags. Earlier in the day, Russell and his family were spotted leaving their accommodation in the Mullumbimby, NSW, and heading to Ballina Byron Gateway Airport to make a connecting flight to Sydney. The performer carried his daughter Mabel as they made their way across the tarmac to their charted jet. Ready to go: Russell was later seen making his way through to the security check point, donning a pair of sunglasses and tying up his long hair into high bun Precious cargo: The comedian carried Mabel as well as two large tote bags Makeshift toy: Meanwhile little Mabel kept herself entertained with an inflated blue glove His wife Laura carried their youngest Peggy, while the family's suitcases were packed alongside the private plane taking them from Byron Bay to Sydney, ahead of the flight back home to London. This comes after Russel shared a video on YouTube where he candidly spoke about feeling 'suspicion and fear' while self-isolating. Discussing the pros and cons of social distancing and self isolation, he reasoned: 'Even in remote places such as the one where I find myself currently stranded, there's suspicion and fear'. Going home: Earlier in the day, Russell and his family were spotted leaving their accommodation in the Mullumbimby, NSW, and heading to Ballina Byron Gateway Airport to make a connecting flight to Sydney via charted jet Daddy's girl: The performer carried his daughter Mabel as they made their way across the tarmac to their charted jet Quickest way back to Sydney: His wife Laura (pictured) carried their youngest Peggy, while the family's suitcases were packed alongside the private plane taking them from Byron Bay to Sydney, ahead of the flight back home to London He added: 'I happen to be in Australia at the moment and one of the biggest questions I'm confronting... is, '"Oh wow, do we go back to the UK now? Or when?" Where you're from is where you're from; it's a tricky one isn't it.' Russel was in Australia for his Recovery Live tour before cancelling his shows. As of Saturday afternoon, there are 1073 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Australia and seven deaths. Vegan recipes: Learn to make Panspermia, a multi-grain soupoffered to Hermes Chthonius and the dead in the ancient Greek spring festival of Anthesteria. For Greeks, the gate to spring has been the Athenian festival of Anthesteria that was held for three days in the month of Anthesterion (February-March). Anthesteria is the ritual rite of the journey from winter to spring, from death to life. During the third day of the festival, the Greeks made panspermia. Panspermia is a multi-grain soup, which was offered to Hermes Chthonius and the dead. Panspermia, an ancient Greek ritual Hermes Chthonius is a god associated with the earth and underworld. He is the god who presides over passages between this world and the underworld, and thus he is considered a psychopomp, a deity who helps guide the souls of the deceased to the afterlife. During the third day of Anthesteria known as Chytroi the name derives from the cooking pots chytrai the Greeks made panspermia. Panspermia makes for an atmosphere of mystery and timelessness. Not only has this recipe been passed down from the times of ancient Greece but it is still very popular among the Mediterraneans. The Spring Equinox marks the end of winter and the beginning of spring. This is the perfect time to perform renewal rituals and get ready for a new cycle of growth. Preparing panspermia is a ritual that can help us mark a rebirth as nature reawakens. The grain, a symbol of Mother Earth and the bounty of harvest, is the main ritualistic ingredient in panspermia and relates to nature as we place our trust in this new cycle of growth. Food is about history, culture, and rituals. Especially in Greece, people still perform this ritual by enjoying this soup with their families, feeding their domestic animals with panspermia and even leaving bowls of panspermia for stray and wild animals. Ancient Greek Panspermia Ingredients 1 cup of dried chickpeas 1 cup of dried butter beans 1 cup of wheat grains (wheat berries) 1 cup of Le Puy green lentils 1 tablespoon of salt teaspoon of ground black pepper cup of Greek extra virgin olive oil 1 lemon (freshly juiced) 8 sprigs of fresh oregano 2 diced scallions How to make Ancient Greek Panspermia Preparation Time: 12 hours 12 hours Cook Time: 1 hour In a large bowl, cover the chickpeas with cold water and soak overnight. The next day, drain and rinse well. Follow the same process with the butter beans and wheat grains. Tip them in a large pan set on medium-high heat and cover with fresh cold water. Bring to the boil, then leave to simmer for 40. Add the lentils and leave the grains to simmer together for 20, until they are tender. Season the soup with salt and pepper. Pour the olive oil and immediately remove from the heat. When you are ready to serve the panspermia, add a splash of fresh lemon juice to flavour and garnish with fresh oregano and diced scallions. Spring is a time of renewal; ancient Greeks understood that, so lets energise our bodies with a nourishing dish! Often hailed as the most widely read African novelist, Chinua Achebe works are integral to the understanding of African literature. March 21, 2020 marks the authors sixth death anniversary. Born in Eastern Nigeria in 1930, Achebe published his first stories while in undergraduate college in 1950. Eight years later, came his most popular work and debut novel Things Fall Apart. This tale chronicled the life of Nigerians before being colonized and the arrival of the British into the country. It won Achebe the Margaret Wrong Memorial Prize. 0141186887, 0141191554 When Nigeria won independence in 1960, Achebe published his next novel No Longer at Ease, which was also a huge hit and won several accolades. Dedicated to preservation of the Igbo culture, Achebes book reflected an Igbo mans dilemma in choosing between his African roots and European lifestyle. But the times were tough for the Igbos. In the period from 1966 to 1967, many Igbos were massacred as the country saw military coups. After the second coup, Achebe had to leave the country. Achebe kept talking of the crisis at the world stage during the Nigerian Civil War and published Beware Soul Brother after the war ended in 1971. He taught for a few years at the University of Massachusetts and later went back to his country and began teaching at the University of Nigeria. In 1979, the Girls at War author received the Nigerian National Merit Award and the Order of the Federal Republic. Achebe had a vision for improving the economy and status of his country. This led him to venture into politics. But this was short lived and he soon returned to literature and began teaching at Massachusetts. He died at the age of 82 in Boston due to a brief illness. But through his life and tales, Achebe has let the world know more about Nigeria and Nigerians. Here are some famous quotes penned by Achebe: -- The world is like a Mask dancing. If you want to see it well, you do not stand in one place. -- Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter. -- One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised. -- Art is mans constant effort to create for himself a different order of reality from that which is given to him. -- While we do our good works let us not forget that the real solution lies in a world in which charity will have become unnecessary. -- Nobody can teach me who I am. You can describe parts of me, but who I am - and what I need - is something I have to find out myself. -- One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised Follow more stories on Facebook and Twitter At Hindustan Times, we help you stay up-to-date with latest trends and products. Hindustan Times has affiliate partnership, so we may get a part of the revenue when you make a purchase. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Oba Abdul Olakisan Adetoyese, the head of the Aborigine Ogboni worldwide, has offered to look for a solution to the coronavirus pandemic in Nigeria. The spiritual leader made this known in a statement made available to journalists in Osogbo on Friday. In his words; I am ready to appease to the gods through rituals in some selected cities within the South West region as a means of solving the epidemic. The disease is not an ordinary one and it demands spiritual solution to send it packing. Such a terrible epidemic in the past had always been tackled through spiritual means even when there was no medical or scientific know-how. I, therefore, offer to embark on spiritual activities to curb the disease in the country, I am also willing to meet with some selected Governors in the South West on ways to avert the spread of the disease. Read Also: Coronavirus: Governor Ishaku Warns Against Kissing, Hugging In Taraba Adetoyese urged other traditional rulers and other religious leaders including Muslims and Christians to embark on spiritual activities to curb the spread of the deadly disease. OAKLAND, Calif., March 20, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Shield of California continues its philanthropic response to the COVID-19 pandemic, announcing a $500,000 contribution to the Oakland COVID-19 Relief Fund. Of those funds, $300,000 is earmarked to set up drive-through testing for the virus with the help of medical experts from Brown & Toland Physicians. "It's clear that COVID-19 requires a massive response if we want to get ahead of it," said Paul Markovich, president and CEO of Blue Shield of California. "We continue to ramp up our efforts to help stem the spread of this virus, and our support for Mayor Libby Schaaf's call to action is a great way for us to make an immediate impact on our hometown of Oakland." Mayor Schaaf aims to raise $10 million for the Oakland COVID-19 Relief Fund to address critical needs in the city. The fund has received commitments from Blue Shield, other Bay Area companies and foundations for more than half of that total. Some of this funding will go to meals programs to help the city's elderly, less fortunate and recently unemployed. The fund will also help keep Oaklanders housed and first responders safe with essential medical equipment such as facemasks and gloves. "Blue Shield of California is dedicated to helping Oaklanders fight this virus and stay healthy," said Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf. "We appreciate their support to help us with vital testing and their leadership on other community initiatives." Brown & Toland Physicians (BTP) will launch the first COVID-19 Pop-Up Testing Site in Oakland today, which will primarily support the City of Oakland's first responders and Brown & Toland physicians, serving on the front lines in the community. BTP has another site launching in San Francisco this weekend and is securing additional sites in both cities for to continue to expand patient services in the Bay Area. "The needs for adequate testing are immediate," said Kelly Robison, CEO of Brown & Toland Physicians. "In preparation for the potential long-term effects of this pandemic, we need to focus not only on protective measures to slow the spread and test symptomatic patients, we also need to ensure the safety and well-being of our first responders, physicians and other healthcare providers who are bravely taking care of the rest of us." Earlier this week Blue Shield of California announced it will contribute $100,000 to help Bay Area nonprofit, MedShare, distribute personal protective equipment to community health clinics throughout California. In addition, Blue Shield has: Waived prior approval and testing costs associated with COVID-19. Announced it was monitoring prescription drug supplies and said members can request early refills of their prescriptions. Waived costs for use of Teladoc and telehealth: online, telephone and smartphone tools used for consulting with doctors and other providers without a trip to an office or hospital. Opened regular communications channels with federal, state and local officials, agencies and regulators to coordinate an effective response. Announced a new digital tool for its network hospitals at no additional cost to help them triage the influx of patients seeking advice on coronavirus or other medical care. (Blue Shield has 347 hospitals in its preferred-provider network.) About Blue Shield of California Blue Shield of California strives to create a health care system worthy of our family and friends that is sustainably affordable. We are a tax paying, not for profit, independent member of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association with over 4 million members, 6,800 employees and more than $20 billion in annual revenue. Founded in 1939 and now headquartered in Oakland, Blue Shield of California and its affiliates provide health, dental, vision, Medicaid and Medicare health care service plans in California. The company has contributed more than $500 million to Blue Shield of California Foundation since 2002 to have an impact on California communities. For more news about Blue Shield of California, please visit news.blueshieldca.com. Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook. CONTACT: Mark Seelig Blue Shield of California 510-607-2359 [email protected] SOURCE Blue Shield of California Related Links https://www.blueshieldca.com/ Stamullen: New Arrivals - Congratulations and best wishes to the parents, guardians and extended families of the following children who were recently baptised in the parish. Calvin Nalley, Saorla McHale and Theo Sheik Jennis. Hospice Thanks. The East Meath Hospice Association would like to extend their most grateful thanks and appreciation to the management, chef and the staff of the City North Hotel in Gormanston for all their help in their recent fund-raising Pancake Morning. A special word of thanks to all those who came along on the morning and to all who supported this event in any way. A very generous 7,600 was collected on the day. The Association greatly appreciates the continued support of the general public and would also like to extend their thanks for this continued support. Befriending Service. Volunters are currently needed to visit the lonely & isolated people in their own homes for 1 hour per week. Anyone who may be interested may contact Eva at 046-9280790 or by e mail to eva@volunteermeath.ie Make-a-Wish cancelled. The McQuillan family from Mountain View, Stamullen who were due to host their annual `Make-a-Wish` Day Cake Sale in the Parish Rooms in Stamullen village over last weekend, March 14th & 15th, have announced that this particular event was called off due to the current crisis of Covid 19 and will be reschedualed for a later date. Meanwhile, a number of other community events that were also due to take place over the coming days and weeks have also been cancelled. St. Patrick`s Day The annual Blessing of the Graves at St. Patrick`s Graveyard in Stamullen village has always been celebrated on March 17th and, in the lead-up to and including March 17th Stamullen graveyard would become a hive of activity as parishioners and former parishioners attended to their loved-ones grave-plots in preparation for the annual Blessing of the Graves. This year, as a result of the virus Covid 19, the village has been a lot quieter, there are no mass gatherings and people opting to arrive at the graveyard, attend to their family grave-plots and leave again. The first mention of a church at Stamullen named after our national Apostle is found in medieval church documents of the 13th century. However, there are further references contained within the Book of Armagh, written in the Early Christian period of the 7th century by Bishop Tirechan and Bishop Murchu, that make reference to Patrick arriving at `Inbher Ailbhine`, which of course is the estuary of the Delvin River at Knocknagin. Patrick then baptised a local man named Benignus at a local water-well and Benignus later became Patrick`s successor at Armagh. Records from the Book of Armagh also show that Patrick then established a church in `Glenn Sescnan`, which was somewhere in the valley of the Delvin River, it`s exact location unknown, but many historians believed it to have been in the area of Stamullen and hence our dedication and association with Saint Patrick. There was also an early Christian Church site in the vicinity of Tullog, situated little over two miles to the south-west of Stamullen village and this church was also dedicated to Saint Patrick. It has also been suggested in the past that the site at Tullog is an earlier one than that of Stamullen and that it was in the vicinity of Tullog where Patrick had founded an early church! There are remains of an early medieval church at Tullog that may still be seen today, located on the estern slope of Tullog hill, along with that of a burial ground, the pattern day of which was celebrated on July 29th up until the mid 19th century. Spring Equinox. This week marks that of the Vernal or Spring Equinox when daylight hours and night darkness are of equal length. It is from now on that the daylight hours will become longer and will continue to do so up until June 21st or soon afterwards. The pattern of the astronomical movements of the planets has an effect on our weather patterns and as a result milder, warmer and brighter days are ahead of us and hopefully this warmer weather will also get rid of the dreaded Coronavirus. Regarding the Vernal Equinox, there is a particularly fine example of a Bronze Age circular enclosure sitting among the hills within the townland of Mullateeling, its construction having taken place more than four-thousand years ago and the entrance to which is aligned to that of the equinox. Broomfield Contact me Contact Gerard on 087/2729154 or E-mail: starinaghgerard1@gmail.com if you have an item for this Column, the deadline for which is 12 noon on Friday. Thanks for your co-operation as always. Best Wishes The best wishes of the Association and Community is extended to all who are hospitalised or ill at this time. We wish you a speedy recovery. Sincere Sympathy The sincere sympathy of Broomfield and District Residents Association and the Community of Broomfield & District is extended to the family, extended family, relatives, neighbours and friends, and all those who were bereaved by the passing of Eamon Meade, RIP, Hopkinstown, Lobinstown, recently. Eamon loved the chat and a game of cards, supporting all our Poker Classics down the years. Ar dheis De go raibh a h-anam dilis! Suspension of Activities Following the Government announcements in respect of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Thursday 12th March last week, Broomfield and District Residents Association has suspended with immediate effect, all its activities, including activities at Teach Raithneach, until at least 29th March 2020. The situation will be reviewed again at that point, and a further decision taken in line with the recommendations of Government and Healthcare Professionals at the time. The Association wish to thank, and express its appreciation to all concerned or involved in any way with Association activities, or its Community facility, Teach Raithneach, at this time, for their understanding, co-operation, and support as always. Community and its representative Organisations were never more important than at this challenging time for our country. Together, we will beat Covid-19. Please stay safe and well. Further information, if required, from Association Secretary on 087 2729154 P.P.N - Message from Covid-19 Health Communications Stakeholder Support Dear Member Groups, We've been asked by the Department of Community and Rural Development to help them make sure that all our groups receive certain information notices from them during this current COVID-19 outbreak. Please find below an email with some important information. Dear Stakeholder As part of the national response to Covid-19, the Department of Health, the Department of Rural and Community Development and the HSE are working closely to support stakeholders and community groups. We will be in regular contact with you to support you and the communities you represent over the weeks ahead. https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/ea1c30-updated-measures-in-response-to-covid-19-coronavirus/ Draft Meath County Development Plan The above Plan makes interesting reading, particularly in respect of Rural Planning. At it's March Monthly Meeting, Broomfield and District Residents Association agreed a Submission on the Draft Meath County Development Plan, which was lodged on Friday 6th March last. Contacts made with other like-minded Organisations and individuals since then reveal that an intensive lobbying of Councillors will be required if the concerns outlined in Submissions are to be addressed and reversed, when the Plan comes before them for final consideration. Broadband One Step closer As you are probably aware by now, Teach Raithneach is one of the designated Broadband Connection Points in Co. Meath. Following a Meeting in Navan on Tuesday 10th March last, the installation of Broadband at Teach Raithneach is imminent. It will be possible to access Broadband from inside and outside the building. This will open up many other possibilities for the local and wider Community, possibilities that should be embraced. Teach Raithneach Activity Contacts While Association activities have been cancelled, for the time being, as outlined above, if there are any Community Members who would like to get involved in, or help with any of the activities listed below, please make contact with the relevant person listed. We are not entirely closed for business, a significant amount can be discussed and achieved by the various forms of social media. Planning for the future is important. Your participation would be greatly appreciated. Walking Group, contact Josie on 086 4458108 Set Dancing, contact Gerard on 087 2729154 Art Group, contact Niamh on 087 8173073 Irish Dancing, contact Grainne on 086 3707227 or Olive on 086 3502157 Brickx and Craft Club, contact Teresa on 086 3212986 Guitar and Piano Classes, contact Nicole on 087 1674639 or Evan on 086 2513640 Yoga, contact Grainne on 086 8046781 To Book Teach Raithneach, contact Alice on 087-9360018 The Teach Raithneach Eircode is A92 W283 Anti-Litter Initiative and Spring Clean 2020 Meath Co. Council's Anti-Litter Initiative has started. Broomfield & District Residents Association appeals to Community Members to play their part in securing the Gold Medal again this year in the Anti-Litter Initiative. The same roads as last year are entered again this year. Thanks for your help! National Tree Week Planting Cancelled This activity scheduled to take place on Saturday next 21st March, has been cancelled. A Tree will be planted in memory of all who passed away during the last year at a later date. Information If you have not got round to returning the information requested of you, please do as soon as possible, as we cannot keep you informed of Community Information if we have not got your details. This is important, and never more so than now, with Covid-19 lurking around, see the Covid-19 information above. Thanks in anticipation. Contact the Secretary on 087 2729154 if you need further information. Lottery Broomfield Bonus Ball Lottery Draw Results. Draw Date: 11/03/2020 .Bonus Ball Numbers were: 02, 05 and 01. No Jackpot Winner! Next Week's Jackpot: 7,900. This Weeks 20 Winner: Holly Mongey, Kellystown. Smokie Devine, Begrath. Ollie Halpenny, Broomfield. R.D.T.A. Barron, Glassallen. Frankie Collier, Drogheda Road, Collon. Promoters: Vincent Fitzsimons, Josie Mongey, Alice Gallagher, Ollie Halpenny, Margaret Barron and Sheila Matthews.. Next Draw: 18/03 2020. The latest travel advice for Spain is at: https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/spain The British Embassy has published a new video from British Ambassador Hugh Elliott aimed at British tourists in Spain, together with a Q&A to address some of the most frequently asked questions at www.facebook.com/britsinspain. The document on Facebook will be updated to reflect the latest information. Hotels: The Spanish Government has ordered that hotels and short-stay accommodation must close by midnight on 26 March. These instructions do not apply to long-stay accommodation where people can cater for themselves. The local authorities may ask British travellers to move hotels, as guests are grouped into smaller numbers of hotels, but they have underlined that no-one will be left without accommodation. We advise British tourists in Spain who wish to return to the UK to make travel plans to do so as soon as possible. Travel: Flights are still operating between Spain and the UK, albeit at reduced levels. If you need to book a new flight or bring your return journey forward you should check the airlines websites and flight comparison sites. You may need to be flexible about your destination airport in the UK. Airlines and ferry companies are experiencing a high volume of calls. Check their websites for the latest information. We are working closely with airlines to ensure that flights continue to operate and that British nationals can get home as soon as possible. Driving through France: Spain is not restricting land border crossings from Spain to France. To drive back through France, the French authorities require that you fill in a declaration to explain your reason for travel, you should also have evidence of your onward travel plan (ie ferry/rail ticket). Please check our travel advice page for France for the latest information. If you do not have access to the printer, you can write the declaration by hand. https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/france British Ambassador Hugh Elliott said: As part of the effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the Spanish Government has ordered the closure of all short-stay accommodation by Thursday 26 March. I want to reassure you that the Spanish authorities have told us very clearly that no one will be left without accommodation, however, it does make it even more important that you arrange your return journey as soon as possible. Flights are still operating from Spain to the UK and tens of thousands of British citizens have successfully returned to the UK in the past few days. Do consult your airlines website for the latest information and if you need to book a new flight you can also try comparison websites. I know that in some places this is proving difficult. We are continuing to liaise with the airlines and Spanish authorities as the situation evolves. We will update our advice regularly. Thank you for your continued patience and understanding. The latest message from HMA Hugh Elliott to UK Nationals is at https://www.facebook.com/BritsInSpain/videos/254152722274096/ Chinese Netizens Unhappy at Authorities Investigation Into What Happened to Whistleblower Doctor Chinese netizens are seething in anger after Chinese authorities announced the results of an investigation into the case of whistleblower doctor Li Wenliang. Li, an ophthalmologist, was one of eight whistleblowers who first publicized about an unknown pneumonia outbreak on Chinese social media in December 2019. After the online post went viral, he was summoned to the local Zhongnan Road police station on Jan. 3 and reprimanded for rumor-mongering. Li was also forced to sign a confession statement, in which he agreed that he wont commit any further unlawful acts. He eventually contracted the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) virus while unknowingly treating a patient infected with the virus. After testing positive himself on Feb. 1, he died six days later. The Epoch Times refers to the novel coronavirus as the CCP virus because the Chinese Communist Partys coverup and mismanagement allowed the virus to spread throughout China and create a global pandemic. On the same day that Li died, Chinas National Supervisory Commission, a Party anti-corruption body, announced that it would send an investigation team to Wuhan, to conduct a full investigation into how authorities treated Li. The outcome of the investigation was announced on March 19. According to Chinese state-run media Xinhua, the investigation team said it was inappropriate for the Zhongnan Road police station to have Li sign the confession statement and the police stations law enforcement procedure was irregular. The investigation team suggested that the confession statement that Li signed be withdrawn and the local security bureau should hold relevant personnel accountable. A few hours after Xinhua made public the investigation findings, Wuhans public security bureau issued two notices on its official Weibo account. In its first online post, the public security bureau announced it had withdrawn the confession statement and issued a solemn apology to Lis family. In the second post, the bureau announced that two police officers at the Zhongnan Road police station had been punished. Yang Li, the police stations deputy head, was given an administrative demerit for dereliction of duty. Officer Hu Guifang was given an administrative warning for irregular law enforcement. Many Chinese netizens took to the Weibo account to express their anger and frustration over the bureaus decision to punish Yang and Hu. Many said Hu was only following orders and he was being punished as a scapegoat. A netizen from Chinas megacity of Chongqing wrote, Should these two police officers be the ones held accountable? What about their superiors who gave out the order [to silence Li]? Another netizen from Shanghai wrote: Corrupt officials pass the blame to grassroots-level police officers. This is real corruption. Others have taken to Lis personal Weibo account, leaving comments on his last social media post published on Feb. 1, when he wrote that he had tested positive for the virus. Many took to his Weibo post to express their gratitude for Li exposing the outbreak to the public. Some netizens also expressed that they were unhappy with the investigation outcome. One netizen from Tianjin city wrote: Dr. Li, we are not satisfied with the investigation results. But there is nothing we can do. We had long expected this outcome. At the time of writing, Chinese authorities began censoring online discussion about the investigation outcome, with many online comments being deleted. New Jerseys leaders want to give you one less thing to worry about if youre diagnosed with the coronavirus. A new law (A3848), signed by Gov. Phil Murphy Friday, prohibits employers in the state from firing, demoting or otherwise punishing workers if they take time off because they have or are likely to have the novel coronavirus. The job protections apply during a declared state of emergency when a person is diagnosed with specific infectious diseases, such as the coronavirus. The bills sponsors said job protections that keep sick people out of the workplace could help limit the diseases spread Our message in New Jersey has been loud and clear: if youre sick, stay home, Murphy said in a statement Friday evening. "No one should fear retribution from their employer for an absence deemed necessary by a medical professional, particularly for an illness as communicable as COVID-19. Every New Jerseyan has a role to play in our mitigation efforts and staying away from others when youre sick is perhaps the most important thing you can do right now. Under the new law, employers cannot refuse to reinstate an employee to their same position or punish them with a demotion, pay cut or other changes to the terms of their employment. If an employer violates this new law, workers can seek reinstatement through the courts or state Department of Labor and Workforce Development, and the employer could be fined $2,500 for each violation. So far, at least 890 people in New Jersey have tested positive for the coronavirus and 11 people have died. The Friday figures include 155 new positive cases and two new deaths. Unemployment during this public health crisis is expected to soar, and in the week ending March 14 the state saw a more than 20 percent increase in the number of new unemployment claims compared to the same week in 2019. The state Legislature sent Murphy two dozen bipartisan bills in response to the coronavirus. The legislation was introduced Monday, passed the state Assembly that same day and passed state Seenate on Thursday. Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, said he expects this will be just the first wave of legislation. Here are some of the other coronavirus bills Murphy has signed into law: A3840 ) Requiring school districts in the state to provide meals to students eligible for free- or reduced- lunch and breakfast. Districts would be instructed to set up easily accessible distribution points including in high-density housing areas if there are any. Districts would have to deliver meals to students who arent within walking distance of a site. And if a district cant meet these requirements, it would have to supply food vouchers families can trade in at retail stores. A3843 ) Requiring health insurers in the state to cover coronavirus testing and telemedicine during a public health emergency or declared state of emergency. The bill requires the coverage to be provided to the same extent as for any other services under the health benefits plan, except that no cost-sharing may be imposed on the coverage provided pursuant to the bill, the legislation says. A3845 ) Permitting the states Economic Development Authority to offer business grants during a declared emergency to go toward the planning, designing, acquiring, constructing, reconstructing, improving, equipping, furnishing of a program, including grants for working capital and meeting payroll. EDA CEO Tim Sullivan said the authority will soon to help employers weather this challenging time. A3850 ) Permitting local government bodies in the state to hold public meetings electronically during an emergency. A3851 ) Giving the director of the states Division of Local Government Services power to unilaterally extend the deadlines for counties and municipalities to adopt their annual operating budgets during an official emergency. A3852 ) Allowing the state Legislature to conduct its business remotely. A3854 ) Allowing any licensed health care facility in the state collect specimens for COVID-19 testing and give the health commissioner authority to waive health care staffing ratios during a public health crisis S3859 ) Empowering the governor to place a moratorium on evictions of homeowners amid foreclosure proceedings or evictions of rental tenants during and for up to two months after a widespread crisis. Murphy signed the bill Thursday and immediately ordered a halt on evictions. A3860 ) Allowing health care providers in the state to provide and bill for telemedicine. A3861 ) Allowing corporations to host remote shareholder meetings. A3862 ) Permitting the states professional licensing boards to expedite including waiving criminal background checks licenses and certifications to applicants who already hold a corresponding license or certification in another state. Murphys office launched this initiative Friday after signing the bill Thursday. A3865 ) Barring grocery stores in the state from accepting returns during the coronavirus outbreak and for 30 days after the state of emergency to protect the public health. They can accept returns because of manufacturer defect but they cannot put them up for sale again. Sign up for text message alerts from NJ.com on coronavirus in New Jersey: Samantha Marcus may be reached at smarcus@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter@samanthamarcus. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) arrive at a news briefing after they returned to the Capitol from a White House meeting with President Donald Trump in Washington on May 22, 2019. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) Pelosi, Schumer Respond to McConnells Phase 3 CCP Virus Proposal Democrats began responding to the Phase 3 stimulus package introduced on Thursday by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) criticizing the bills focus on helping corporations. We are beginning to review Senator McConnells proposal and on first reading, it is not at all pro-worker and instead puts corporations way ahead of workers, Pelosi and Schumer said in a joint statement. Phase 3 of the CCP virus legislation (pdf) comes a day after the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which includes free CCP virus tests, paid sick leave for some workers, and expansion of unemployment benefits. The package currently being considered features rebates of up to $1,200 for individuals and $2,400 for those filing jointly. Families with children can receive $500 per child, with the amount differing the more an individual earns. Individuals earning more than $99,000 will not be eligible. The Phase 3 package also includes $300 billion in small business loans for companies with fewer than 500 employees; a $50 billion bailout for the airline industry; and $150 billion to other industries including hotels, casinos, cruise lines, and shopping malls. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, emphasized getting money to families and small businesses. I would like to see more of the federal stimulus directed at the workers and small businesses who are getting hit the hardest during this public health crisis, Cardin said in a statement. We should focus on ensuring capital to pay your household bills, to pay your workers, to stay open, to stay viable. Cardin added: If we are going to inject such a large cash infusion into the economy, Congress also should be providing more support for the state and local governments and the health care providers and emergency response personnel who have been on the front lines of this battle. They continue to deliver essential services under difficult circumstances, while watching their revenues drop off a cliff with the rest of the economy. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said in an emailed statement more money needs to go into the hands of working families and that McConnells plans fall short. Any relief package needs to put workers first, and get help to the families and small businesses who need it quickly. We need to put money directly in peoples pocketsI have a plan to send at least $2,000 directly to every single middle-class and low-income person in the country, we must allow renters and homeowners to stay in their homes, and we need protections to ensure taxpayer dollars actually help workerswe cant repeat the mistakes of past bailouts. McConnell previously told senators that they should stay in Washington, D.C. until a measure is passed. Talking about the stimulus package Thursday McConnell said: Were doing both. Were going to both provide direct assistance to individuals and to small businesses so they can stay open. This is a government imposed shut down if you will, to deal with this pandemic, and so the idea is to act quickly to send cash directly to both individuals and to small businesses. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) echoed fellow Democrats, saying that the measure should provide financial resources to individuals and small businesses first. How about the people that had to go home and say, Hey, were going to close your businesses so you have no place to work. Those are the people on the front line. Sending me $1,000 is not going to help the economy, sending you and all of us who should have paychecks right now, sending the people that are getting social services, is not going to help because its not changing, except their social interaction. Manchin said he wants to see long-term help for small business owners, many of whom have been left with no livelihoods because of the pandemic. What we need to do is be focusing on the people that have really been affected. Thats the people on small businesses front lines that are sent home with no hope whatsoever and no unemployment compensation. Im just not in favor of bailing out for the sake of bailing out people that got the greatest tax breaks in the world. Medical staff check on a COVID-19 patient in Wuhan, China. (AFP/Getty Images) Men are faring worse than women in the coronavirus pandemic, according to statistics emerging from across the world. On Friday, White House COVID-19 Task Force director Dr. Deborah Birx cited a report from Italy showing that men in nearly every age bracket were dying at higher rates than women. Birx called it a concerning trend. The apparent gender gap in Italy echoes earlier statistics from other hard-hit countries. While preliminary, early accounts have suggested that boys and men are more likely to become seriously ill than are girls and women, and that men are more likely to die. Italian health authorities last week reported that among 13,882 cases of COVID-19 and 803 deaths between Feb. 21 and Mar. 12, men accounted for 58% of all cases and 72% of deaths. Hospitalized men with COVID-19 were 75% more likely to die than were women hospitalized with the respiratory disease. Those figures are in line with early accounts from China, where the novel coronavirus first appeared, and from South Korea, where detection and tracking of coronavirus infections have been very comprehensive. An analysis of all COVID-19 patient profile studies filed in China from December 2019 to February 2020 suggests that men account for roughly 60% of those who are infected and become sick. And in a detailed accounting of 44,600 cases in mainland China as of Feb. 11, Chinas Center for Disease Control reported that the fatality rate among men with confirmed coronavirus infections was roughly 65% higher than it was among women. Even among children younger than 16, coronavirus may affect boys more than girls. In a recent report on 171 children and adolescents who were treated for COVID-19 at the Wuhan Childrens Hospital, 61% were male. In South Korea, men accounted for nearly 62% of all cases. And infected men were 89% more likely to die than were women. The emerging picture of male vulnerability to coronavirus may be easily explained by a clear gender disparity with social and cultural roots: Across the world, men are much more likely to smoke cigarettes. That damages their lungs and primes them for inflammation and further damage when they are battling an infection. Story continues In China, where cigarette smoking rates are among the highest in the world, 54% of men were current smokers in 2010, and 8.4% were ex-smokers. Yet only 3.4% of Chinese women had ever smoked, according to the same 2016 study. In South Korea, the disparity was almost as pronounced: half of adult men and 4% of women smoke. In Italy, 28% of adult males and 20% of females smoke. But that's not the whole story, said Dr. Stanley Perlman, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the University of Iowa who has studied coronavirus infection in mice. In a series of experiments in 2016 and 2017, a team led by Perlman infected male and female mice with the coronaviruses that caused severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). At every age, male mice were more susceptible to infection than females. At the same time, the death rates of infected female mice shot up when their ovaries were removed, or when they got drugs that suppressed the activity of the hormone estrogen. To Perlman, those dual findings strongly suggest that theres something about estrogen that protects against the ravages of deadly coronaviruses and he suspects it's true for the new SARS-CoV-19 virus as well. Why does estrogen protect the woman, and how? Perlman said. Wed like to know. Estrogen has so many important roles in the female body, its hard to prove anything about its specific protective powers, he said. A man helps prepare a hospital in Rome to treat patients with COVID-19. (Antonio Masiello / Getty Images) For most other lung diseases, men have a distinct advantage. Women have long been known to suffer complications and die of influenza at higher rates than men. Theyre much more likely to develop autoimmune diseases of the lungs. And after accounting for mens higher rates of smoking, women appear to be more vulnerable than men to lung cancer and emphysema. We dont really understand why that is, said UC Daviss Kent E. Pinkerton, who studies gender differences in lung health. But Pinkerton and others suggest that humans responses to COVID-19 could reveal important distinctions between the way that mens and womens immune systems fight infection. They suspect that hormonal differences may be playing a key role in that immune response. And if scientists can uncover how that works, they could identify better strategies for fighting coronavirus infections in general, they said. Researchers will scour the records of COVID-19 cases for evidence that the immune systems perimeter defenses the bodys first response to infection may react more robustly to this coronavirus in women than in men, said Susan Kovats, an immunologist at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation in Oklahoma City. If that innate immune response tends to be stronger in females, infected women may have more luck keeping their viral loads low, Kovats said. And they may not need to roll out an army of the immune systems big guns the T-cells and B-cells for a major battle. Often, mounting such an assault after viral loads have shot up does double damage, she said. The infection itself damages delicate lung tissue. And then, the adaptive immune system overreacts, setting off dangerous levels of inflammation that cause further damage in the lungs. The result can be death. But if women are thwarting infection earlier and more effectively, they might be less likely to suffer that outcome, Kovats said. Im not surprised that womens immune systems may do things in ways that men could learn from, Pinkerton said. For years, immunologists only studied male mammals because the complexity of female hormones muddied their findings, he said. When it comes to fighting infection, he added, we really need to study both sexes to understand susceptibility. DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's death toll from the coronavirus outbreak rose by more than 100 to 1,556 on Saturday and the total number of people infected now exceeds 20,000, a health ministry official said. Iran, one of the countries most affected by the pandemic outside China, had on Friday reported a death toll of 1,433 and a total number of confirmed infections of 19,644. The total number of people diagnosed with the disease stood at 20,610 on Saturday, health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said on state TV. Jahanpur warned that coronavirus cases would rise steeply unless people refrain from traveling during the two-week Iranian New Year holiday, which started yesterday. "If people take it lightly and think that the coronavirus outbreak is over, and if urban and inter-city traffic and gatherings in resorts and natural parks increase ... then in one to two weeks we will see a new peak of the disease," he said according to the semi-official ISNA news agency. President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday that social distancing measures to combat the coronavirus outbreak, including travel restrictions, will apply for only two to three weeks, expecting the crisis to ease by then. Iran "has to do everything necessary to return economic production to normal," he said in comments broadcast on state TV. He also accused "counter-revolutionaries" of plotting to shut down economic production. (Reporting by Dubai Newsroom; Writing by Maher Chmatyelli; Editing by Louise Heavens and David Holmes) The incident occurred on the Belfast Road in Bangor (PA) A motorcyclist who died in a road accident in Bangor has been named as 56-year-old Andrew Browning. Mr Browning, who was from the Donaghadee area, was killed in the incident on the Belfast Road on Friday evening. The two-vehicle collision involved a Renault Captur and a motorcycle. It happened at Rathgael on the outskirts of the north Down town last night. North Down MLA Gordon Dunne said: "This is tragic news, and my thoughts and prayers go out to the family affected at this terrible time. "It is an awful tragedy for any family to have to face and I know local people are shocked and saddened at this latest tragedy. "The A2 Bangor to Belfast dual carriageway is a very busy section of road with over 40,000 vehicle movements every day - and this is a very sad reminder of the dangers of our roads." The kids may been off just a couple of days but the verdict is already out on one mom who had been trying to homeschool her son. Candice Hunter Kennedy, from Verona, Kentucky, who describes herself as a stay-at-home parent posted a snapshot of a journal written by her eight-year-old son, Ben who appeared to critique his mom's teaching style. 'Y'all I'm dying!!! This is Ben's journal entry from Monday about our first 'homed school' day', Candice wrote. Candice Hunter Kennedy, from Verona, Kentucky, who describes herself as a stay-at-home parent posted a snapshot of a journal written by her eight-year-old son, Ben Ben's journal appeared to critique his mom's teaching style declaring 'It is not going good.' Ben's school report on his mother-turned-teacher didn't mince words. 'It is not going good. Mum moms getting stressed out. My mom is really getting confused. We took a break so my mom can figure this stuff out and Im telling you it is not going good.' Candice added a couple of hashtags to her post which suggests things are not quite as bad as Ben is making out. '#imgettinthehangofitnow #maybe #kidsseeeverything #8yearoldcalledmeout.' Candice who is a mother to three kids has received thousands of messages of support online Candice's posting has been posted more than 250,000 times with many other parents voicing their support for her new found teaching roll. 'Dont give up! We grow and learn with our kids. We have all been there. 3 of my kids homeschool now. We all made it!' wrote one supportive mother. 'Great penmanship! Punctuation is on point and spelling is good! I am impressed. Mom, give yourself a break. I teach fifth grade and I feel like I am good at what I do! HOWEVER, I am now having to be my 13 year olds teacher, and it is not the same! Lol,' wrote another. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has been sharing regular updates about how his agency is approaching the rapidly changing global coronavirus pandemic situation. This week, NASA escalated its response multiple times due to changing circumstances, including changing the state of working conditions at all of its facilities across the country. On Friday the agency summarized the current status of each of its facilities and major projects in a comprehensive update. Work continues on a few missions that are deemed critical, and on projects where remote and telework are possible. These include the Commercial Crew Program, which is set to return human spaceflight capabilities to American soil via private partners. Boeing and SpaceX are NASA's partners for this program, and NASA says that this is going ahead despite the requirement of in-person operations because it represents "a critical element to maintaining safe operations on the International Space Station and a sustained U.S. presence on the orbiting laboratory." SpaceX and NASA confirmed earlier this week that they still plan to launch the first crewed Dragon mission to the ISS in mid to late May. For the purpose of keeping ISS crew "fully supplied and safe," NASA says that it will continue to operate its commercial resupply missions, too, which ferry experiments, food, water and more to the space station using vehicles including SpaceX's Dragon cargo capsule. For similar reasons, it'll keep open the Mission Control Center at Johnson Space Center, with flight control personnel in place, though it's adding "additional measures" to ensure the safety of those present. Meanwhile, work on the James Webb Telescope in California is temporarily suspended, which means the integration and testing that was happening in preparation for its planned launch next March. Preparations for NASA's Mars 2020 launch, which includes its Perseverance rover and Mars Helicopter exploration vehicles also continue: that mission is scheduled for July 2020. Story continues There's also virtual inspection work being done on the X-59 piloted supersonic test plane that's being developed in California, and Lockheed Martin, which is building the aircraft for the agency, is continuing in-person work on that project. NASA is keeping the lights on at Ames Research Center in California, too, in order to ensure that the agency's IT security and supercomputing operations can continue uninterrupted. Existing spacecraft mission support will continue, as will astronaut training (which is generally subject to strict isolation protocols to prevent illness anyway). Earlier this week, the agency announced it would suspend work on the SLS spacecraft and the Orion capsule that will carry the fundamental components of its Artemis program, which aims to get humans back to the Moon, and eventually to Mars. Artemis has been sticking to a stated 2024 time frame for its mission of returning people to the surface of the Moon, but these setbacks in total represent the most sure sign yet that we'll probably see that window slip, though many skeptical of the schedule have suggested it would actually be later than that anyway. The Marvel movies showed how great Robert Downey, Jr. can be with a younger generation through Tony Starks mentorship of Peter Parker (Tom Holland). Dolittle gives him another young actor to mentor in Harry Collett. Collett plays Tommy Stubbins, who joins the doctor and his animal friends to find a cure to save the Queen (Jessie Buckley). Robert Downey, Jr. | Universal Pictures Dolittle will be available to watch on VOD Tuesday, March 24 and on DVD, Blu-ray and 4K UHD April 7. Showbiz Cheat Sheet got an early copy of the Blu-ray and watched the behind the scenes bonus features, where Collett revealed Downey taught him a thing or two off screen too. Robert Downey, Jr. practices Muay Thai and Wing Chun As early as 2003, Downey was practicing the Thai martial art Muay Thai. At the press junket for Gothika, Downey spoke about practicing Muay Thai on a wooden dummy. Robert Downey, Jr. | Jonathan Prime/Universal Pictures In 2011, Downey started training in Wing Chun with Eric Oram. He told Oprah Winfrey that it helped him recover from addiction. [Wing Chun] gives you a sense of comfort and self-defense, Downey told Winfrey. It improves your focus. It makes you feel youre a part of something you respect. Robert Downey, Jr. became the master on the Dolittle set Its no accident that Downey became a mentor to Collett. That was his plan all along. I took the opportunity to impart a lesson or two on the young master, Downey said. On the set, he encouraged Collett to practice until he got things right. Theres nothing you can get better at until youve done it more often, Downey said to Collett. Its just like surfing, which I know nothing about. Collett revealed that Downey also imparted his martial arts training on the young actor. L-R: Harry Collett and Robert Downey, Jr. | Universal Pictures Throughout the shoot, Robert teaches me martial arts which I really, really enjoy, Collett said. Touch wood it dosnt happen, but if it ever happened in the real world, it could be really useful. Theres plenty of footage of Downey showing Collett punches and footwork. Hes getting quick now, Downey said. Hes gonna break my nose before were done. You see the improvement already? No hesitation. Not all the lessons were productive Downey used the down time between takes to teach Collett, but not every lesson was productive. You dont make a movie with Downey without a little bit of goofing off too. Collett learned that Downey became impatient waiting for a take and would often say things like, Talents ready, Roll sound or Lets shoot this turkey. L-R: Robert Downey, Jr. and Harry Collett | Universal Pictures Sometimes he even joked at Colletts expense. The behind the scenes crew caught Downey saying, I totally forgot about my costar. Downey also joked with Collett about stepping in front of his close up. I give you food, I give you macaroons and then you block the lens? Downey joked. Seriously though, Downey sung Colletts prasies. I remember seeing a screen test and went, Oh my God, I wonder if thats what Tom Cruise was like when he was 11, Downey said. My mentorship program to the next generation of actors continues. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Friday urged Americans to call on the U.S. government to lift sanctions as Iran fights the worst coronavirus outbreak in the Middle East, Reuters reported citing state media. U.S. government sanctions have led to many ordinary Iranians losing their health, jobs and income, Rouhani said in a message carried by state media. Now is the time for the American people to shout loudly at the U.S. government to demand an answer ... and not allow the U.S. history to be blackened further. DUBLIN, March 20, 2020 The "Global CNC Metal Cutting Machine Market, by Type, by End User, by Region, Industry Analysis and Forecast, 2019 - 2025" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The Global CNC Metal Cutting Machine Market size is expected to reach $105.3 billion by 2025, rising at a market growth of 6.5% CAGR during the forecast period. The expansion of manufacturing sectors and accelerated industrialization in developing countries like China and India are driving the growth of the CNC metal cutting machine industry. Furthermore, due to its advanced technology, laser metal cutting machines have gained significant importance because they provide a high degree of precision compared to traditional metal cutting machines. These factors are expected to have a positive impact on the growth of the CNC metal cutting machine industry. Nevertheless, the persistent fluctuations in foreign currency exchange tend to impede the profit margin of players in the CNC metal cutting machine market. The growth in additive manufacturing drives the market for CNC machine tools. The shift of manufacturers towards a cost-effective and accelerated production process has resulted in increased acceptance of additive manufacturing. In addition, the growing popularity of heterogeneous material production capacity is also expected to result in market growth. Furthermore, the application of 3D printing in the consumer electronics, medical and automotive industries has resulted in the growth of the additive manufacturing industry. The drop in production time also results in an additional rise in the popularity of manufacturing among consumers. The major strategies followed by the market participants are Acquisitions and Product launches. Based on the Analysis presented in the Cardinal matrix, Komatsu Ltd. and Amada Holdings Co., Ltd. are some of the forerunners in the CNC Metal Cutting Machine Market. Companies such as DMG Mori Seiki Co., Ltd., Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc., Okuma Corporation, and Hurco Companies, Inc., Yamazaki Mazak Corporation, Mondragon Corporation are some of the key innovators in CNC Metal Cutting Machine Market. Partnerships, Collaborations, and Agreements Dec-2019: Hurco came into partnership with BMO Automation, a company that develops and produces automation systems for loading milling and CNC lathes machines. The partnership aims at bringing the latest Industry 4.0 automation technology to customers for elevating their productivity and profitability and safeguarding their competitiveness. May-2019: Lincoln Electric partnered with Tooling U-SME, an American non-profit educational technology, and blended learning organization. The partnership was aimed at making U/LINC, its welding curriculum platform more-friendly and accessible to educational institutions and welding instructors. May-2019: Soraluce, a part of Danobat Group signed an agreement with Select Machining Technologies, a part of Morris Group Inc. for distribution of the former company's product line throughout the United States . Acquisition and Mergers Sep-2019: Danobat, a Mondragon company, completed the acquisition of Hembrug Machine Tools, a leader in precision hard turning technology. The acquisition provides a better and wide choice between two complementary technologies, hard turning, and grading, to customers. Apr-2019: Lincoln Electric acquired Baker Industries, a provider of custom tooling, fixtures, and parts primarily serving the aerospace and automotive markets. The acquisition complemented Lincoln Electric's automation portfolio and its new metal additive manufacturing service business. Mar-2019: Yamazaki Mazak completed the acquisition of MegaStir, a supplier of friction stir welding (FSW) tools and technology. The acquisition enabled Mazak in expanding and building its HYBRID Multi-Tasking Machine Technology. The new Mazak MegaStir is expected to offer further advancements in systems and evolve in the FSW technology center. Product Launches and Product Expansions Dec-2019: DMG Mori unveiled LASERTEC 125 3D hybrid system, a new 5-axis machining centre embedded with additive manufacturing capabilities. This system supports the manufacturing, maintenance, and repair of workpieces. Aug-2019: Hurco introduced the newest versions of its VMXi Series of performance CNC machines. The new series include VMX24Di (travels 24x20x24-in.), VMX42Di (travels 42x24x24-in.), and VMX30Di (travels 30x20x24-in.). The new versions of these machines provide better surface finish, less head growth, and quieter spindle. It also has a 15,000-rpm spindle, faster spindle acceleration, and deceleration (0-15,000 rpm in 3.2 seconds, 15,000 to 0 rpm in 2.4 seconds), and improved chip-to-chip time (2000 rpm, 12-inch Z-travel in 4 seconds). May-2019: Amada launched VENTIS-3015AJ, its first fiber laser cutting machine embedded with Locus Beam Control technology. This machine improves productivity and processing quality in aluminium and stainless steel. Geographical Expansions Jun-2019: Okuma opened a new production facility in Japan . This facility is expected to manufacture double column machining centers and vertical and horizontal machining centers for supporting its product line. Market Segmentation By Type Machining Centers Lathe Machines Gear Cutting Machines Laser Cutting Machines Others By End-user Automotive Electronics Aerospace & Defense Power & Energy Others Companies Profiled Hurco Companies, Inc. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. Amada Holdings Co. Ltd. Komatsu Ltd. Okuma Corporation DMG Mori Seiki Co. Ltd. Yamazaki Mazak Corporation Dalian Machine Tool Group (DMTG) Corporation Mondragon Corporation (Danobat Group) Nissan Tanaka Corporation For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/fz0zyl Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 SOURCE Research and Markets Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 13:14:40|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close RIO DE JANEIRO, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The Brazilian government on Friday updated estimates for the country's GDP growth in 2020 to 0.02 percent, only nine days after the projection was reduced from 2.4 percent to 2.1 percent, suggesting the possibility of economic recession. The new estimates were motivated by concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil. According to a latest report from the Health Ministry, there are 904 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Brazil, including 11 deaths, compared to 98 cases with no deaths a week ago. According to Adolfo Sachsida, economic policy secretary at the Ministry of Economy, the possibility of a technical recession, defined by two consecutive quarters of economic contraction, is already foreseen. "There is a good chance we will not have favorable GDP figures in the first quarter, and have a significant reduction in the second quarter," he said. Earlier on Friday, the Brazilian Senate approved a request by President Jair Bolsonaro to declare a state of emergency. With the declaration, the Brazilian government will be allowed to increase public spending beyond the fiscal target set for this year, which is expected to cause a deficit of up to 124.1 billion reals (about 24.5 billion U.S. dollars). Without this measure, the government said that it would need to make significant curtailments. The people who run Ontario's hospitals are all hoping the health system will not be flooded with COVID-19 patients, but they are planning for the possibility it that will. Hospital administrators, doctors and nurses have for weeks been poring over their pandemic plans and getting ready to put them into action. Those plans involve redeploying staff, postponing scheduled surgeries, moving patients who don't need acute care and ensuring adequate supplies of protective equipment and ventilators. "Our entire focus is completely shifted wherever possible on preparing for the growth of COVID-19 cases," said Dr. Kevin Smith, chief executive of the University Health Network (UHN) in Toronto. "The entire health care system has mobilized to address what we anticipate to be a very challenging time." Smith and his colleagues across the province have cast a wary eye on Italy, where the rapid spread of COVID-19 overwhelmed hospitals within weeks because of the sheer numbers of patients who needed intensive care beds and ventilators. "We're acting now but also we continue to plan for the future, about what could the next four weeks, six weeks, 12 weeks or longer look like," said Dr. Joshua Tepper, CEO of the 431-bed North York General Hospital. "What happens if we start to see a lot of people who are quite unwell?" said Tepper. "How would we organize the hospital? How would we have the right equipment and the right team in place?" Galit Rodan/The Canadian Press North York General Hospital is considering whether parts of its facility outside the intensive care unit (ICU) can be "turned into places where critical care can be safely and effectively delivered," said Tepper. "We're planning now so if that time comes in the weeks ahead, we'll be able to be more nimble." UHN, which includes Toronto General and Toronto Western hospitals, has about 130 patients who are categorized as "alternate level of care." That means doctors believe they can be discharged from hospital, but they continue to occupy beds because they are waiting for care elsewhere, such as space in a long-term care home. Story continues The hospital is considering options for moving those patients safely, and Smith said that may even include hotels. "People are being very creative and bringing those kinds of ideas to the table," Smith said. "If we could safely redeploy those people to a less acute environment and then have 130 more beds, that would be obviously be very beneficial." One of Ontario's largest hospitals, the 500-bed Southlake Regional Health Centre in Newmarket, is considering creating a screening area outside the hospital, perhaps in a tent. It has postponed about 70 per cent of its scheduled surgeries, as has UHN. That has helped free up ward beds, so those hospitals are now running with about 85 per cent of beds occupied down significantly from the usual scenario of being full beyond capacity. All the hospital administrators who spoke with CBC News say the well-being of staff is a significant concern. St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton At UHN, staff are getting extra training on education on donning and doffing protective equipment and on how to prevent the spread of the coronavirus during particularly risky procedures such as putting a tube down an infected patient's throat. "We really need to be careful that health care workers don't themselves become infected," said Smith. Every staff person who comes through the door at North York General Hospital is screened for symptoms of COVID-19, including Tepper. He said front-line nurses and physicians have been "working at a very high pace" in recent months as the hospital faced high demand during flu season, and he's aiming to find models of working so staff remain physically and emotionally healthy through the pandemic. "This is not something we can get through on adrenaline," said Tepper. A significant concern for Southlake's CEO Arden Krystal is the number of hospital staff who will be unavailable for the next two weeks as they left the country for March break and must remain in self-isolation for 14 days upon their return, under a directive from provincial health officials. The hospital will need to reallocate personnel to parts of the hospital that end up short-staffed, she said. Southlake's emergency operations centre is now running, as is one at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto. That's been the case since late January, when Canada's first case of COVID-19 was detected in a man who came to the hospital after returning from Wuhan, China. For Sunnybrook's director of emergency preparedness, Rob Burgess, the limited supplies of personal protective equipment for nurses and doctors is front of mind. "Without that equipment to help support our staff, it makes it very difficult to provide health care to patients," Burgess said. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 07:27:29|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Closed shops are seen after authorities ordered the closure of all shops except pharmacies and grocery stores in Jammu, Indian-controlled Kashmir, March 20, 2020. (Str/Xinhua) 1K Shares Share I want to make this simple so that politicians can understand. Our country will never survive this pandemic without centralized quarantine and widespread testing. This is not the flu, and our current policies and lack thereof will result in millions dead and economic disaster. What is centralized quarantine? Every person who is tested positive must go to a government-designated housing location and not leave until they are no longer infectious. They are housed, fed, monitored, and paid for their time. Currently, when individuals test positive for COVID-19, they are sent home to infect their families, possibly friends, neighbors, people next to them on the bus, and at the grocery store. You can be certain that the average American has no idea how to self-quarantine for two weeks or more, especially when they feel well. We know from a recent article in Science that almost 80 percent of symptomatic COVID-19 cases were contracted from silent spreaders, i.e., people who are infectious but who generally feel well. The only way to reverse the curve and see a downturn of cases is to increase testing and quarantine those we know are infectious. We have been ignoring the data out of China. If you look at the attached incidence graph, you will see that the US is currently on the first part of the graph, the exponential growth portion of the curve. This portion of the graph represents the period at the beginning of the epidemic where each Chinese citizen with the disease was infecting 3.88 other individuals. After the Chinese government instituted a traffic ban, lock-down, and home quarantine, they were able to flatten the curve and get the transmission rate down to 1.25 people. But they quickly recognized that was not enough, because most of the population would still become infected only it would take longer. As such, the Chinese government rapidly instituted centralized quarantine. This resulted in the transmission rate decreasing to less than one (0.32) person. The incidence of the disease then decreased, and their economy was able to re-open. Just last week, they have reported no new infections. Our current policy of staying home and flatten the curve will still result in most of our population becoming infected just slower. In the U.S., that would result in the death of approximately 3 to 10 percent of the over 65 population. There are 50 million Americans over the age of 65 in grave danger. Some 5 million may die. While these Americans are dying on a ventilator for weeks in the ICU, no other American will be able to obtain adequate healthcare, and we will see a drastic increase in death rates for all other illnesses. The hospitals will go bankrupt along with several other industries. This is the current trajectory of the flatten the curve policy. There must be swift, decisive leadership now. The Chinese were able to control COVID-19 in six weeks with quick, decisive action. Our economy and societal structure can withstand a 6-8 week downturn. It cannot withstand a 12-18 month downturn sure to occur with the current policy of stay home and flatten the curve until a vaccine is created. All Americans, and especially all physicians should be screaming for increased testing and centralized quarantine. Without it, we are doomed to repeat the errors of the 1918 flu pandemic where some 50 million died. The author is an anonymous physician. Image credit: Shutterstock.com New Delhi: Big news has come out about the coronavirus test and kit. On behalf of the Drug Controller of India, 18 companies of the country and abroad have been allowed to investigate the coronavirus. Most of these companies have sought permission from the Indian Council of Medical Research. After approval, the Coronavirus testing kit will be available in the commercial market in a month. The special thing is that the price of this kit will be less than one thousand rupees. Corona: 200 Indians stranded at Malaysia airport, sought help from Indian government According to the information, after getting permission from the DGCI and Pune-based National Institute of Virology, Trivitron Healthcare will be able to sell a commercial coronavirus test kit. The Coronavirus kit will come on the market in the next 3 to 4 weeks. The price of which will be between 500 and 700 rupees. According to Trivitron Healthcare, it will depend on the PCR platform that 100 to 1000 tests can be done daily in a laboratory. PCR platform is a type of gold testing platform for virus testing. At the same time, Roche Diagnostic India is also waiting for the license. This company has got the license to test SARS, Cobas and Cove 2. Difference in leadership, PM Modi stands with country and Imran gives excuses According to the media report, private companies say that after testing it in the kit market, you will not need to wait for two to three days, instead, the report will come out in two to three hours. So that the coronavirus is positive, then it can be treated as soon as possible. The kits prepared by private companies will be sold to testing centers such as Doctors, Path Labs, SRL Diagnostic and Metropolis Healthcare. After which the virus can be tested at the community level. Amid coronavirus pandemic, North Korea fires missiles With hours to go for the Janta Curfew, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday appealed to the people of the country to stay where they are and desist from travelling from one place to another via trains and buses to help contain the spread of the coronavirus. I pray that the city you are in, please stay there for a few days. With this, all of us can stop the disease from spreading. We are playing with our health by crowding railway stations, bus stands. Please worry about yourself and your family, do not leave your house if it is not necessary, the prime minister said in a tweet. Advising people to isolate themselves in their own homes completely so that the risk of community transmission could be lessened, PM Modi said in a series of tweets, Fearing Corona, many of my siblings are leaving the cities where they earn a living and are returning to their villages. Travelling in congestion increases the risk of its spread. Wherever you are going, it will also be a danger to people. Will also increase the difficulties of your village and family. This is the second time in the span of one week that the Prime Minister has appealed to the people to display restraint and avoid unnecessary travel. As the number of those infected with the coronavirus continued to rise on Saturday, many daily wage earners flocked to railway stations and bus stands to return to their native villages or hometowns. Earlier on Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation for 30 minutes and announced a Janta Curfew from 7.00 am to 9.00 pm on Sunday, March 22. In an attempt to curb the spread of coronavirus in the country, people across India will observe isolation in their homes on Sunday. It is a move aimed at stopping any possibility of community transmission of the coronavirus. All citizens barring those working for essential services will be required to stay indoors. Till date, Maharashtra has reported the highest number of coronavirus positive cases with the figure touching 52, including three foreigners. Kerala has the second highest number of cases at 40, including 7 foreign citizens. The total number of cases in India currently stands at 283. Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police HC Awasthi on Saturday directed officials to deal politely with people in case they come out of their homes during 'Janata curfew' on Sunday. In his directives to police officials, Awasthi said, "Crowd should not be allowed to gather during 'Janta Curfew'. However, in case due to any reason, a situation arises that crowd gathers, then an appeal should be made and they should be politely urged to go back to their houses. The police should tell people about the importance of the Janata Curfew." He also asked officials to ensure that masks, gloves and sanitisers are made available to police personnel on patrolling duty. The DGP in a statement also said police and health department squads should undertake patrolling. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Photo: Facebook/Little Owl Academy The B.C. government is providing daycares extra funding to make it through the coronavirus pandemic. Dr. Bonnie Henry, provincial health officer, has advised all parents who can, should care for their children at home. She also recognized that while some centres may close, child care services can and must be provided in a safe manner for those families whose parents work in critical roles. The government announced Friday it will be giving daycares that remain open compensation to continue operating with reduced enrolment. Those that close will receive support for fixed operating costs, like rent or lease payments. "We are working hard with the Ministry of Health to address concerns," said Katrine Conroy, Minister of Children and Family Development. "We have heard from many child care providers and ECEs who want to stay open to support families and essential service workers at this time. The measures we're announcing today will give them the support they deserve and the tools they need to continue safely caring for children." Eligible centres that are staying open to care for children of essential service workers will receive seven times their average monthly funding from government, which is expected to cover approximately 75 per cent of a group facility's average monthly operating expenses. These expanded financial supports will help facilities stay open, even with reduced enrolment, to support care needs for those parents who need it, the government said in a news release. Daycares that close will receive help with fixed costs like rent/lease/mortgage during the temporary closure, so they can reopen when able. These centres are eligible to receive two times their average monthly funding from the government, which is expected to cover approximately 20 per cent of an average group facility's monthly operating expenses. To support families who may be struggling with loss of employment and income, child care providers receiving these payments must not charge parents fees for any periods of closure or for any vacant spaces while they are open, including when a parent chooses to temporarily withdraw a child due to COVID-19. They must also agree to reserve spaces for families that were accessing their services before the pandemic, even if these families choose to temporarily withdraw, so families can be assured their spot will still be there once the pandemic passes. NEWSALERT-TN-PM 3 Learning from the pandemic, we keep working to ensure inclusive, quality health services to all our countrymen: PM Modi at TN event.Learning from the pandemic, we keep working to ensure inclusive, quality health services to all our countrymen: PM Modi at TN event. Madhya Pradesh is the latest entry in the list of states with infected cases. Meanwhile, some of the states like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala, and others are showing a regular increase in the number of cases. Below are the new cases being reported across India on Saturday, March 21. 12 more test positive in Kerala, total cases touch 49 Twelve more fresh cases of coronavirus were reported from Kerala on Saturday, taking the tally to 49, Chief Minister ... Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor Two special trains ,ferrying 2700 passengers from Pune and Mumbai, is slated to reach Patna on the morning of 22nd March. Amidst the rise in positive cases of COVID-19 in Pune and Mumbai, many people from Bihar, mostly students, IT professionals, and labourers are fleeing from Mahrashtra. READ: Coronavirus LIVE Updates: ICMR Revises Testing Strategies As Cases Cross 200 Bihar govt has made arrangement for screening of all the passengers in a special camp in Patna and Danapur. Bihar health Minister Mangal Pandey while speaking to Republic TV said that " Two trains are arriving from Pune and Mumbai on Sunday. All the passengers will be screened . We will ensure that the passengers who will disembark from the train will be investigated by our team of doctors. " Patna district administration has organized for a special camp for the check up of the passengers. District Magistrate of Patna, Kumar Ravi said that "we have organized two camps in Patna and Danpur . Once the train arrives we will ensure that each and every passengers is frisked and thoroughly checked if they are infected with COVID-19. It's a challenging task but our district administration is geared up." READ: Sonu Nigam Extends His Stay In Dubai Amid Coronavirus: Don't Want To Risk People In India So far Bihar has not witnessed any positive cases of COVID-19, but these trains ferrying passengers from Pune and Mumbai is a scare as Maharshtra has accounted for total 63 positive cases as of now. Till date ,on the 49 transit points on the Indo Nepal border more than Three lakh fifty thousand people have been screened. On the Patna and Gaya airport 20786 people have been screened so far. So far 85 samples have been collected in Bihar out of which 78 have tested negative, results of 7 samples are awaited. 520 people who have arrived from abroad, have been kept in home quarantine. READ: Cong In Karnataka Wants Centre, State Govts To Announce 'special Corona Financial Package' READ: South Asia: Several Countries Order Closures And Curfews In An Attempt To Stop Coronavirus Bihar government has declared COVID-19 as an epidemic disease and has already ordered the closure of all schools, colleges, malls, Gyms, theatres, restaurants and also banned the assembly of 50 people at one Place. So far Bihar has not reported any positive COVID-19 case. Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister CN Ashwath Narayan on Saturday said that all the IT companies in the state have agreed to close their offices and have also allowed some employees to work from home in the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic. "IT companies agreed to close their offices and allow employees, except for those discharging essential services, to work from home during a video conference with companies' representatives yesterday," said Narayan. The Deputy Chief Minister said a circular regarding it will be issued soon. Fifteen people have tested positive for CIVID-19 in the state, State Health Minister B Sriramulu had said on Friday. Meanwhile, the news and public relations department, the Indian Red Cross Society and the Karnataka State Labour Studies Institute have invited volunteers for the programme to provide real-time information to people to avoid spreading rumours and misinformation about coronavirus. The total number of positive cases of coronavirus in India now stands at 258 including 39 foreigners, said Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Its unbearable when hardcore partisans act like their team can do no wrong while insisting that the other team can do nothing right. Both political parties play this game, and it grates on those of us in the sensible center who understand that no party has a monopoly on wisdom, efficiency and leadership. And even failed presidencies can succeed at some things. Both parties and every elected official have good moments and bad ones. And we should acknowledge all of it. With the presidential election less than eight months away, COVID-19 will get a vote. Americans will soon elect (or re-elect) a commander in chief who will have to shepherd us through what President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and other world leaders have correctly described as a war. Where is Franklin D. Roosevelt when we need him? Has anyone seen Harry Truman? To make the right decisions about who should lead us through our new reality, Americans need clarity. And that requires honesty. One of the more dishonest elements of our media and, for that matter, much of our citizenry is that too many of us stubbornly refuse to give credit where its due. Sometime last year, long before anyone had heard of the coronavirus, I promised myself Id be better at that when it comes to Trump. As a Never Trumper who has called the president every name in the book and who has previously said that Ill vote for any Democrat over the incumbent, I have nonetheless spent the last several months looking for opportunities to say positive things about the current occupant of the White House. Candidly, at times, I couldnt find much. Then, in the first few days of March, Trump came face to face with the coronavirus. And at first, it seemed, Americans were in for more of the same. Were doomed, I thought. The president is a grab bag. Hes good when he stays on message. Hes bad when he cant stay out of his own way. Initially, in dealing with the virus, Trump appeared to be woefully outmatched by a shadowy enemy that couldnt be beaten down with Twitter insults. He frequently said, and did, the wrong thing. In fact, in those early days, Trump did only one thing right. At the end of January, the Trump administration restricted entry into the United States from China. That one action likely saved countless lives. But for the next five weeks, until mid-March, it was amateur hour at the White House. Remember the whole dont touch your face phase of containment? The president joked to reporters as recently as March 4 that he hadnt touched his face for weeks. I miss it, he said. At a campaign rally on Feb. 28 in South Carolina., Trump accused Democrats of using the coronavirus as their new hoax. He suggested it would disappear by summer, when the temperatures rose. He compared it to the common flu, accused the media of hyping the story, and failed to ramp up tests beyond just a couple thousand a day when South Korea was testing 10 times as many people. And, of course, Trump started referring to it as the Chinese virus a practice that he continues, and defends, to this day. Worst of all, when presented with criticism, he told reporters: I dont take responsibility at all. Then, suddenly, this week, things changed. Trump found his groove. He found smart people, put them in charge, and stayed out of the way. His decision to put Vice President Mike Pence in charge of organizing the governments response seems to have been a good one. The person who once bragged that he knew more than the generals did not dare say he knew more than the doctors and scientists. The Trump administrations daily briefings are full of information and concrete proposals to help Americans. Help, we are told, is on the way. Even some of Trumps Democratic critics including New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and California Gov. Gavin Newsom are giving him credit for righting the ship. Even Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. who is on the left fringe of her own party commended Trumps response to the crisis, calling it incredible and the right response in this critical time. This is what we really need more of in this country especially now. Lets continue to be vigilant and call out Trump when he does something wrong. But lets not be so petty that we cant praise him when he gets it right. ruben@rubennavarrette.com In the first entirely unified match for allopathic and osteopathic medical students, the total number of U.S. students and graduates matching into the specialty increased by 103 compared to last year's combined totals from the NRMP and the American Osteopathic Association's Intern/Resident Registration Program. "Everything is getting overshadowed by the pandemic, but we hope that doesn't diminish the sense of accomplishment students should feel," said Clif Knight, the AAFP's senior vice president for education. "It's important to recognize this critical milestone in students' journey of transformation into physicians. We're certainly celebrating every new member of the family medicine workforce. This is a big deal, and we congratulate our new family medicine residents." U.S. seniors from allopathic medical schools accounted for 1,557 positions (60 fewer than a year ago) filled in family medicine, while U.S. seniors from osteopathic medical schools accounted for 1,399 positions (410 more than last year's NRMP total and 104 more than last year's combined NRMP and AOA total). Knight praised the osteopathic pipeline, which matched nine U.S. seniors into family medicine for every 10 allopathic U.S. seniors who matched into the specialty. Knight said that was "astonishing" considering that osteopathic schools have roughly one-third the number of overall U.S. graduates. Only 8.6% of U.S. allopathic seniors matched to family medicine residencies, compared to 23.4% of osteopathic seniors. With coronavirus developments rapidly evolving and at least 15 cases confirmed in the county in about as many days, Montgomery County Hospital District leadership wants to assure the community they are on the front line of the outbreak. Among those at the helm are MCHD EMS Chief James Campbell and MCHD Medical Director Dr. Robert Dickson. One of our biggest efforts is making sure of keeping our crews safe while still managing the needs of patient care throughout the county, Campbell said. War room MCHDs multi-story administration building, at 1400 South Loop 336 West in Conroe, has of late become something of a fortress. To help suppress community spread of the virus, employee size in the building has been limited. IT has set up many employees to work from home and those on site have their temperature checked daily. Communication within the organization remains intact with nightly phone conferences consisting of 60 employees. In a corner of the building, staff monitor the COVID-19 threat in a makeshift war room a round-the-clock incident command center. Manning phones and addressing patient or employee concerns, personnel collaborate with law enforcement, fire departments and hospitals. Video conferences help connect the team with other response groups in the greater Houston region. Some days, Campbell said, have been faster paced than others. When calmness settles into the command center, staff work off of a white board where new procedures are put into place as information on COVID-19 becomes more prevalent. The command center reviews data, determining how to put it to use throughout county services. Theres a lot we know about COVID-19, and theres a lot we dont know, Dickson said, as he referenced the viruss December discovery. Thats really been the challenge here and what we spend a lot of our time doing here. Patient care MCHD is receiving 200 emergency calls on a daily basis, according to Campbell. Paramedics have been trained on how to place and remove personal protective equipment (PPE) and how to clean and disinfect. The hospital districts dispatch center conducts an over-the-phone screening for COVID-19 infection likelihood. After transporting the patient to the hospital, paramedics with PPE will clean their stethoscope, cardiac monitor, the bed and the back of the ambulance. It does take some time, but we make sure that it is up to CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines and return to service ,and we do it again, Campbell said. Partnerships are key Unlike in Harris County, where there has reportedly been a shortage of hospital beds for COVID-19 patients, Dickson pointed to partnerships with hospitals in the county that are helping avoid this. Our goal is to try with (Montgomery County) Public Health and with EMS, to try to sort out who is sick and needs hospitalization, take them to the right facility and work with our hospital partners and try to educate folks who are able to stay at home, to stay at home, he said. He pressed people to remember flu season is ongoing and the young and healthy are not as susceptible as the elderly and those suffering from chronic health conditions. Still, Dickson is encouraging people with emergency-related issues to not hesitate in calling for an ambulance out of fear of infection. Were there to sort that out, Dickson said. We perform that medical community service to give people peace of mind who may not be sure that their chest pain is not a heart attack. jose.gonzalez@chron.com twitter.com/jrgzztx Actress Uhm Jung-Hwa is resting at home after visiting Paris, France last month. On March 18, her agency said, "Um Jung-Hwa attended the Paris Fashion Week show held at the end of last month and returned home earlier this month after staying for 3-4 days." The actress added that she had no special schedule so she is currently resting. She also said that she was not advised for self-isolation and that she does not have any health problems. Previously, Uhm Jung-Hwa participated in the Paris Fashion Week held at the end of last month. Since the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19) spread throughout Europe, Uhm Jung-Hwa is resting after returning from Paris. Uhm Jung-Hwa said through her Instagram recently, "It is nowadays that I can feel how grateful we have been and enjoyed things." Meanwhile, her movie "Okay! Madam" is about to be released. It will be directed by Lee Chul-ha. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 21) A 65-year-old male employee of the House of Representatives died Saturday while waiting for his COVID-19 test results at a hospital in Quezon City, House Secretary General Jose Luis Montales has disclosed. Montales said the employee went to St. Lukes Medical Center in Quezon City on March 10 after manifesting low grade fever. He was sent home after yielding normal results on tests done on him. On March 11, he developed dry cough and his fever persisted. He went back to St. Lukes two days later after his condition worsened. He was then put in a critical care unit, intubated, and tested for COVID-19. As of Wednesday morning, the results had not come out. The employee had no travel history to a country with a confirmed COVID-19 case, and no known exposure to a confirmed case, Montales said. Meanwhile, two House employees have been previously diagnosed with COVID-19. One of them died on March 15. The leadership of the Yerevan Zvartnots airport decided to open flights to the capital of France despite the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. "A total of 17 flights are planned for tomorrow at the Zvartnots International Airport in Yerevan. Seven airliners will land from Moscow, three of which belong to Aeroflot. The Ural Airlines plane will arrive from Krasnodar. Departures are planned in the following directions: three - to Paris; five will go to the Russian capital and one plane will fly to Krasnodar, Sputnik Armenia reports. China demolishes church, removes crosses as Christians worship at home Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment The Chinese communist government continued its campaign against Christianity during the country's coronavirus outbreak by destroying crosses and demolishing a church while people were on lockdown. On March 13, a church in Guoyang County, Anhui Province saw its cross removed by authorities. A video shared by the Chinese Christian Fellowship of Righteousness documented the moment when the crane removed the red cross from the church's rooftop. A Christian with the surname Chen told persecution watchdog group China Aid that this church usually has 40 churchgoers attending its services. Authorities used the lockdown as an opportunity to remove the church's cross. Bob Fu from China Aid also shared a video showing the demolished Xiangbaishu Church in Yixing city, Jiangsu province on March 11. Religious persecution continues even in the midst of #WuhanVirus, Fu captioned the video. Xiangbaishu Church in Yixing city, Jiangsu province was destroyed by #CCP govt. Cross is our Glory. Religious persecution continues even in the midst of #WuhanVirus March 11 Xiangbaishu Church in Yixing city, Jiangsu province was destroyed by #CCP govt. Cross is our Glory??????????????,?3.11?????.??????????????????????????????? pic.twitter.com/wp35ZexYIu Bob Fu??? (@BobFu4China) March 15, 2020 Another church in Huaishang district of the city of Bengbu, Anhui province also had its cross removed at the beginning of March, according to International Christian Concern. Ms. Yao, a local Christian, said the removal was led by the head of the local United Front Department, a Communist Party organ employed to govern religious affairs. Amid the coronavirus outbreak, which originated in Wuhan, China, most of the churches across the country, both underground or state-approved, are able to meet online as of now. However, in Chinas Shandong province, two state-run Christian organizations, the Three-Self Patriotic Movement and China Christian Council released a statement ordering all online preaching be ceased and churches that gather in secret be rooted out, reports China Aid. In addition, it posits officials should guide Christians in other ways, with the caveat of not gathering together! For the past 20 years, China has been labeled by the U.S. State Department as a country of particular concern for religious freedom violations. Under President Xi Jinping, the government has destroyed numerous churches and removed their steeples and crosses, reflecting the Communist Party's concerns about the growing number of Christians in the country. More than 60 million Christians live in China, at least half of whom worship in unregistered, or illegal underground churches. China is ranked as one of the worst countries in the world when it comes to persecution of Christians on Open Doors USAs World Watch List. In addition to Christians, the communist government continues to persecute and monitor members of various religious minorities, including the detention of over 1 million Uighur and other Muslims in western China over the last three years. In 2018, the government banned the online sale of Bibles. Recently, Fu warned that over the last two years, Xis war on religion has reached its worst in 40 years. He accused the president of turning faith into a tool for the indoctrination of Communist ideology. For example, all religious leaders must pledge to obey the Communist Partys ideology in their pulpit before they can be allowed to practice their religion, Fu said. Additionally, millions of Chinese Christian children have been forced to renounce their faith by signing a Communist Party prepared document. Clearly the aim is to exterminate any independent faiths, he said, referencing not only the Christian faith, but the faith of Muslims, Buddhists, and others. This is a very, very serious signal, he said. Fu encouraged the international community to pay attention to the truth and spread true information about faith communities and persecution on social media. He also stressed that faith communities must unite and speak with one voice and for each other. That is a powerful message, Fu said. Sheena Bora murder: Peter Mukerjea walks out after spending four years in jail India oi-Vicky Nanjappa Mumbai, Mar 21: After spending more than four years behind the bars in the 2012 Sheena Bora murder case, former media baron Peter Mukerjea walked out of Arthur Road Prison in Central Mumbai on Friday evening. The Bombay High Court had granted Mukerjea bail in February, but stayed the order for six weeks so that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) could file an appeal. The stay ended on Thursday. The Central agency did not file appeal in the Supreme Court, paving the way for Mukerjea's release. Peter was arrested on November 19, 2015, in the case, in which his former wife Indrani Mukerjea is the main accused. He was lodged in the Arthur Road jail since then. Peter Mukerjea gets bail in Sheena Bora case In March last year, while in jail, he underwent a heart bypass surgery. His 17-year-old marriage to Indrani also ended during the period of incarceration as the two got divorced in October 2919. The high court in its bail order noted that prima facie there was no evidence to infer that Peter Mukerjea was involved in the commission of the crime. "Except for statement of the approver in the case, Shyamwar Rai, there is no reference to Peter Mukerjea in any evidence. There is no other evidence to show his involvement in the conspiracy," the court said. "There is also no explanation put forth by the CBI as to why Peter Mukerjea was arraigned as accused in the case six months after the arrest of the other accused (Indrani and her former husband Sanjeev Khanna)," the court said. "The applicant is in jail since more than four years and has recently undergone a bypass surgery. Considering these circumstances, this court is granting bail," the order had said. According to the CBI, Peter Mukerjea, Indrani Mukerjea and Sanjeev Khanna entered into a criminal conspiracy to kill Sheena Bora (24), Indrani's daughter from an earlier relationship, in April 2012. Financial disputes as well as Indrani's opposition to Sheena's relationship with Rahul, Peter's son from earlier marriage, were the motives for the killing, the agency said. Sheena Bora murder case: Peter Mukerjea's plea for transfer to special cell rejected The killing came to light three years later, in 2015, when Indrani Mukerjea's driver Shyamwar Rai, who had helped them dispose of the body, was arrested in another case. Rai later turned an approver in the Sheena Bora case. Indrani Mukerjea and Sanjeev Khanna are lodged in jail since their arrest in August 2015. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, March 21, 2020, 8:14 [IST] ALBANY Albany County officials said Saturday that any dip in confirmed COVID-19 cases in the next few days is likely from a lack of testing not a sign the outbreak is ending yet. County Executive Dan McCoy, in his daily briefing Saturday, said testing is going to continue, but its going to be prioritized. Those who have symptoms should talk to their doctor, and then the doctor will make the determination if they are to be tested. A lot of misinformation is going out that Albany Med and St. Peters were going to shut down (testing), but thats not the case, theyre prioritizing, McCoy said. He said there are 89 confirmed cases in the county. County Health Commissioner Dr. Elizabeth Whalen said testing restrictions will begin next week. Starting Monday and Tuesday because that (widespread) testing isnt available we may not see numbers as high as were seeing now, Whalen said. She said 18 positive test results came in Friday night, and wouldnt be surprised if there was a similar result tonight. However, she said next week these numbers might start to drop. The public needs to know that is not a reason for celebration. Its not a reason for comfort. It is simply a reflection that we are not doing widespread testing, Whalen said. The reality is that we are just at the start of this outbreak in community. Both Whalen and McCoy emphasized the importance of social distancing for the safety of everyone and to slow the outbreak. Youre not going to prevent it, but youre going to slow it down and that is what were trying to do, McCoy said. LATEST ON THE CORONAVIRUS Here are the latest cancellations and postponements. For a detailed map, check out The Times Unions New York Coronavirus Tracker Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. To get regular updates on our coverage, sign up for our coronavirus newsletter. He added that this is imperative for hospitals not to be overwhelmed, which are nationally running short on supplies like face masks. The county donated 5,000 masks in efforts to curb the shortage. I am happy to say that because Albany County had prepared in advance that we were able to distribute 5,000 N95 masks to our EMS personnel across the county as well as to St. Peters Hospital and Albany Medical Center, McCoy said. We continue to applaud Governor Cuomo for telling the federal government that these masks, gowns, Clorox wipes, and test kits remain in short supply and we need more. He reminded everyone of the new Mental Health Support Line that is now operational for those dealing with stress and anxiety while remaining in their homes. People can call seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 518-269-6634. Anyone experiencing a psychiatric emergency should still call the Albany County Mobile Crisis Team at 518-5496500. New Delhi: The entire nation felt a breeze of relief on March 20, 2020 when the four convicts in December 16, 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case were hanged to death at 5.30 am in the morning. Social media was flooded with congratulatory messages for Nirbhaya's mother hailing the hard work and countless efforts the family made to bring their daughter to justice. In an interview, Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut expressed her thoughts after the convicts were hanged to death, "Our judicial system is quite old and unfair. It took seven long years for our judicial system to give verdict on a horrific rape and murder case that shook the entire nation. I remember taking part in the candle march for Nirbhaya at the time when I was shooting for Queen. There should have been quick justice for such brutal crime. Indirectly we have tortured Nirbhaya's mother and the entire family for seven long years", she said. "The judicial system has taken so long to deliver justice in this case that people have already forgotten about the case and moved on. I feel related to Nirbhaya's mom's name Asha Devi since my mother's name is Asha", she said. Kangana also mentioned about her sister Rangoli Chandel, who is an acid attack survivor. "I still remember the time when my sister Rangoli had an acid attack and the accused had got bail people used to question us on how we could let go the accused and keep quite. Those were the times I used to feel angry on our judiciary as why the accused was granted bail and the victim suffered," said the actress. "Rangoli suffered ear burns and her eye was damaged. I got her retina transplanted but it was only possible because I was an actress, had it been any common man, it would have still remained the same. The times we tried to move on people came questioning us as why we were letting the accused go free," Kangana added. Adding more, the actress said, "Just think about Nirbhaya's mother facing people for seven long years. People would not even let her emerge from the shock if she wanted to. We have tortured her family for seven long years and killed them indirectly. Think about it in a way that I show you'll my movie's start now and ending after a few days how would it feel? Will it interest you? I think there should be memorials on the names of the girls who are rape victims because we do not have to kill the accused but the thinking they have and their minds change by the thoughts that if I rape s girl or throw acid on someone no one will accept me." Israel Cruz had had enough. The foreman for a crew of nine electricians on an affordable housing job site in Northeast Portland had listened all week as the contractor preached about maintaining social distance and working safely, while doing little to change actual working conditions. Tradesmen swarmed over the site in close contact. The hand sanitizer stations had been vandalized, he said. Soap dispensers were empty. There were six outhouses for 60 guys hotbeds of traffic, touching and potential coronavirus contact. The last straw came Friday, when Cruz said an obviously sick worker was allowed back on the job. Cruz and seven of his crew members walked off. Theyre operating as normal, as if there is no hazard. I shouldnt have to be put in a position of taking a layoff or working safely, he said. Cruz submitted his experience to a legislative subcommittee on Friday that is addressing numerous coronavirus issues. The situation illustrates the increased tension between workers safety and the constant pressure to maintain schedules in the construction industry. It also spotlights some of the risks at job sites large and small, where tradesmen come and go all day, often working in confined spaces and with an ethos that keeps them on the job. Our members dont get sick pay, said Lou Christian, business manager for UA Local 290 Plumbers and Steamfitters. Unless you work, you dont get paid, so they tend to have the mindset that theyre going to go to work unless theyre really sick. Thats a mindset that contractors claim theyre working hard to counter with a consistent message: If you or your family members have any symptoms, stay home. But as Cruzs action demonstrates, compliance and enforcement varies from job to job, company to company. So far, Oregons construction businesses and homebuilders say theyre weathering the coronavirus outbreak without much disruption. Jobs are moving forward., in some cases more slowly. Supply chains arent deeply disrupted yet. Regulators are still reviewing plans and inspecting jobs sometimes electronically. Thats good news, as construction employs more than 100,000 Oregonians who earned average wages of more than $60,000 in 2018. It has been one of the fastest growing sectors of the Oregon economy, with job growth averaging nearly 4% annually during the last five years. Construction employment levels have surpassed pre-recession levels and are at all-time highs, according to the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis. And the industry is still the gold standard for wages that dont require a college degree. On balance, our industry is not currently seeing the impact that a lot of other sectors are, said Mike Salsgiver, executive director of the Associated General Contractors Oregon-Columbia chapter. We have no indication were going to see the (citywide construction shutdown) we saw in Boston the other day. Were not hearing from the mayor or governor that theyre actively considering job shutdowns. But all that could change dramatically if the city or state issues a stay-at-home order. Outside of road and bridge construction, the federal government does not deem the construction industry as essential infrastructure in a time of emergency, said Josh Lehner, an economist with the state Office of Economic Analysis. Its still unclear what the state or the city will do about such a stay-at-home order, or what industries they might exempt. But a shutdown is possible. A recession is now a virtual certainty, which will likely cut into the pipeline of new projects. And while it hasnt happened yet, construction finance could seize up as well. And that has industry people on pins and needles, said Gary Christensen, a construction industry lawyer at Miller Nash in Portland. Were all worried about the disruption that this may cause. The legal backdrop for construction firms differs by company and job. Contracts typically dont include monetary penalties for failure to deliver a project on time, he said. But project owners can sue for damages. Many contracts do include force majeure provisions that permit delay due to unforeseen circumstances outside a contractors control. But some dont, or dont mention a global pandemic. Business interruption insurance may be available in some instances. Companies could face claims from employees who get sick on the job, and whether workers compensation will cover the tab is still an open question. Everyone has questions, but we look first to the terms of the contract or insurance policy, Christensen said. He expects claims may go on for years. From a practical standpoint, simply stopping a job and sending everyone home can be an expensive process that results in further delays when work resumes. Big jobs require contractors to stage materials in advance, say steel from China or a big order of light fixtures from upstate New York. If you cancel an order, you lose your place in the production queue. Likewise, depending on how long a shutdown lasts, companies can lose their workforce too, which happened after the great recession. As it stands, companies claim theyre taking practical steps to decrease the risk of exposure and that those measures can work. Theyre staggering the shifts of various trades on some job sites, issuing edicts about not sharing tools, providing hygiene stations, wiping down surfaces regularly, breaking meetings into smaller groups, distancing in lunchrooms or telling workers to eat in their vehicles. As of now, we have continuing operations on all our projects said Dan Drinkward, a vice president at Hoffman Construction. As to the long term, it really depends on how long this goes. If its a few weeks, the impact will be limited. If its longer than that there could be significant issues with companies failing and supply chains falling apart. Hoffman had a scare this week. The company sent a letter a memo to employees Wednesday informing them that a worker for one of its subcontractors at Intels Ronler Acres campus in Hillsboro had tested positive for the coronavirus and that steps were being taken to interview other crew members and sanitize buses and bathrooms he may have used. It is a massive construction project, with hundreds, even thousands of workers on site every day. As it turns out, the memo was in error. The employee had yet to be tested. But the deep clean and crew interviews went forward. Its not clear if the tests eventually came back positive. In fact, Hoffman may never know. Social distancing can work on job sites that are swarming with hundreds of workers, but its not always practical. Sometimes you have to have two or three people in a close area just to do a job, said Garth Bachman, business manager for the IBEW Local 48, the electricians union. Thats going to be challenging even if it can be done. Michelle Brunetto, the safety manager for Bremik Construction, said she helped craft best practices guidelines for all contractors in her role on the safety committee of the Associated General Contractors. I feel like the job sites are functioning really well, Brunetto said. Morale seems pretty good. They want to keep working. Thats their drive. Tom Scott, an executive with CSI Construction in Portland, said its business as usual with added precautions in Oregon. But three of the firms projects were shut down in the Bay Area due to the shelter in place order there. Work on two eventually restarted because the citys housing shortage qualifies the projects as essential. The firm also saw construction stop in the retail space of one of its projects in Seattle when restaurants were closed. Salsgiver, at the Associated General Contractors, said one of his members immediate concerns was the passage of HR 6201 by Congress, which requires small businesses provide two weeks of emergency paid sick leave to employees infected or caring for someone with Covid-19. That will costs thousands of dollars for small companies, when an average margin on projects is 1 to 1.5%, he said. Its just a significant additional cost burden that a lot of companies will have a tough time carrying. It could also be a helpful step in containing the pandemic, however. Salsgivers trade group and others have also been urging lawmakers in Salem to provide regulatory relief to help out the industry and keep jobs on track, though its unclear any of that will be forthcoming. They say state and local governments may need to deploy competent engineers/architects, third-party experts, or use video or other technology to allow inspections and permitting processes to continue. Gerald Rowlett, the owner of Westlake Development, a builder of high-end custom homes, said one of his most immediate concerns was the possibility that Washington and Clackamas counties would start shutting down their building departments, which would quickly bring his projects to a halt. Thats hasnt been the case. Washington County can accept plans electronically, and Clackamas is working on that capability. Meanwhile they have continued to send inspectors out to jobs, and are talking about electronic inspections via Skype or Facetime. Thank god for iPhones, he said. A lot of our business is being conducted via Facetime. He figures that each home he builds, provides work for 150 tradesmen, and brings 40 to 50 contractors on site. If we can maintain our activity, even at a snails pace, we can help us pull us all through, he said. Rowlett says he has several million dollars worth of projects in the queue, and none of his clients are getting cold feet yet. I havent had any clients call me and pull out, he said. Were only a couple weeks into this, so I might start getting less phone calls. I wouldnt be surprised. Randy Sebastian, president Renaissance Homes, said his company and others have stopped holding open houses, but buyers are still in the market, and Renaissance sold one of the its homes in Southwest Portland this week. Most of the homes it builds these days are residential infill projects in Lake Oswego and Portland, not the big development and spec homes it worked on pre-recession. Sebastian said construction on those projects is going slower because the company is only allowing one trade in a house at a time, when it would typically have plumbers, electricians, drywallers and heating contractors working simultaneously. It takes longer to build, he said. Every day its new protocols, so its dynamic. Like others, he says the work environment is safe with the additional precautions and hygiene measures being taken. What he dreads is a lockdown. Nothing would get done under a shelter in place order, he said. We will safely build until an order is issued, then obviously no one works. Its nuts. Everyone will really appreciate their freedoms when we get them back. -- Ted Sickinger; tsickinger@oregonian.com; 503-221-8505; @tedsickinger Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. A student returning from France has been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Ho Chi Minh City, becoming the country's 92nd patient. The 21-year-old man, who studies in France, has a permanent address in Da Lat City in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong. On March 16, he traveled from Paris to Doha, Qatar on flight QR40 operated by Qatar Airways. From there, he boarded flight QR970 to Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City that landed at the southern airdrome on March 17. The man developed a fever, a sore throat and coughing on the same day while in quarantine at an isolation camp in District 12 and was transferred to a field hospital in Cu Chi District on March 18. He tested positive for the novel coronavirus twice on Thursday and Saturday and is now quarantined and treated at the Cu Chi hospital. Vietnam has confirmed 92 cases of COVID-19 infections so far, with 17 having fully recovered and discharged from the hospital by Friday. Hanoi has confirmed 26 cases while Ho Chi Minh City has reported 21 cases, including three having walked out of the hospital free of the virus. No death has been reported in the country so far. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Seoul, South Korea North Korea has fired two ballistic short-range missiles toward the East Sea, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported Saturday, citing the Joint Chiefs of Staff of Seoul's military. It was not immediately clear where the launch occurred, how many projectiles were fired and where it or they landed. The launches mark a return to missile testing for North Korea after a three-month pause. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. The rogue nuclear nation is banned from testing ballistic missiles by United Nations resolutions, and has been slapped with tough international sanctions to deter it from continuing to develop rockets that could be equipped with nuclear warheads. Global concerns over North Korea intensified late in 2019 after Pyongyang imposed a year-end deadline for the United States to offer sanctions relief and threatened to send a "Christmas gift" if their demands were not met. The John Alden Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution held its monthly meeting on Friday, March 13, at Grace A. Dow Memorial Library. The program on the USS Edson was presented by Jim Reha, the director of educational programs for the Saginaw Valley Naval Ship Museum. The USS Edson DD-946 was named for Major General Merritt A. Edson USMC. The keel of the ship was laid down in 1956 at Bath Iron Works in Maine. It was commissioned in 1958. The Edson was on active duty for 30 years. Several tours were in Vietnam. The ship was staffed with 225-278 officers and men. In May 1967, the ship sustained damage from enemy fire and left the area quickly for repairs. There was thick smoke which hid its departure. Weeks later it returned, but the North Vietnamese thought they had sunk it and didn't believe it was the Edson. This is how the ship became known as the "Grey Ghost of the Vietnamese Coast." The ship had a "Top Gun" rating as she could discharge about 28,000 rounds of 5 inch/54 caliber rounds. The barrels were replaced three times. In mid-January, a few weeks before the Iowa caucuses, Sen. Bernie Sanders pollster offered a stark prognosis for the campaign: Sanders was on track to finish strong in the first three nominating states, but Joe Bidens powerful support from older African Americans could make him a resilient foe in South Carolina and beyond. The pollster, Ben Tulchin, in a meeting with campaign aides, recommended a new offensive to influence older black voters, according to three people briefed on his presentation. The data showed two clear vulnerabilities for Biden: his past support for overhauling Social Security, and his authorship of a punitive criminal justice law in the 1990s. But the suggestion met with resistance. Some senior advisers argued that it wasnt worth diverting resources from Iowa and New Hampshire, people familiar with the campaigns deliberations said. Others pressed Tulchin on what kind of message, exactly, would make voters rethink their support for the most loyal ally of the first black president. Crucially, both Sanders and his wife, Jane, consistently expressed reservations about going negative on Biden, preferring to stick with the left-wing policy message they have been pressing for 40 years. The warnings about Biden proved prescient: Two months later, Sanders is now all but vanquished in the Democratic presidential race, after Biden resurrected his campaign in South Carolina and built an overwhelming coalition of black voters and white moderates on Super Tuesday. While Sanders has not ended his bid, he has fallen far behind Biden in the delegate count and has taken to trumpeting his success in the battle of ideas rather than arguing that he still has a path to the nomination. His efforts to regain traction have faltered in recent weeks as the coronavirus pandemic has frozen the campaign, and perhaps heightened the appeal of Bidens safe-and-steady image. In the view of some Sanders advisers, the candidates abrupt decline was a result of unforeseeable and highly unlikely events most of all, the sudden withdrawal of two major candidates, Sen. Amy Klobuchar and former Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who instantly threw their support to Biden and helped spur a rapid coalescing of moderate support behind his campaign. Sanders had been on the brink of winning, Tulchin argued, until the most unprecedented event in the history of presidential primaries occurred. But interviews with more than three dozen Sanders aides, elected officials, activists and other people who worked with his campaign revealed a more extensive picture of his reversal of political fortune. Though Sanders climbed to a position of seeming dominance by mid-February, he and his inner circle also made a series of fateful decisions that left him ill positioned to win over skeptical Democrats and sorely vulnerable to an opponent with Bidens strengths. Sanders proved unable to expand his base well beyond the left or to win over African Americans in meaningful numbers. He failed to heed warnings from traditional party leaders, and even from within his campaign, about the need to modulate his message and unify Democrats. He allowed internal arguments to fester within his campaign, an ungainly operation that fragmented into factions beneath the only two real decision-makers Sanders and his wife. Though outwardly amiable, Sanders inner circle fractured between some long-serving counsellors and relative newcomers, like Faiz Shakir, his campaign manager. Shakir and others regarded pleas from Tulchin and another pugilistic aide, David Sirota, to go on the attack against Biden as both futile and annoyingly predictable, while Shakirs internal critics saw him as exceedingly territorial. There were also serious operational mistakes: In South Carolina, the campaign effectively deputized a former Ohio state senator and loyal surrogate, Nina Turner, to direct strategy, rather than empowering a political strategist to run the pivotal early state. In private conversations, Sanders often touted his support from some younger African Americans, seemingly missing the bigger picture. And for all of Tulchins alarm in January about South Carolina, on the eve of the primary he was reassuring Sanders that a public poll showing him down over 20 percentage points in the state was an outlier for good reason. In an email sent to Sanders and a group of senior aides, Tulchin reminded the senator that their internal polling had him trailing Biden by only 4 points. Two days later, the former vice-president would win South Carolina by nearly 30 points. Perhaps the most significant factor, as with every presidential campaign, was the candidate himself, and the stubborn ideological and stylistic consistency that both endeared Sanders to his supporters and limited his ability to build a majority coalition larger than his own progressive movement. Sanders campaign declined to comment for this article. It was Sanders persistent lashing of the political establishment that concerned Rep. Peter Welch, a liberal Democrat and fellow Vermonter who was one of just a few members of Congress to endorse Sanders campaign. Welch said he had reached out to the campaign last month to implore Sanders to ease up on that rhetoric, which Welch believed sounded exclusionary to ordinary people backing other candidates. After all, Welch said, there were a lot of voters who are just everyday voters, who decided to vote for other Democrats. It was late January when Zephyr Teachout, a liberal law professor allied with Sanders, wrote a column in The Guardian alleging that Biden had a big corruption problem. Sirota, the Sanders aide, who is known for his voluble and combative online persona, quickly blasted out her column to his large email list. A new phase of conflict between Sanders and Biden seemed to be underway. But Sanders put a stop to it. It is absolutely not my view that Joe is corrupt in any way, Sanders told CBS News. In private, Sanders campaign went further, according to two people familiar with the internal turmoil. As punishment for stirring the controversy, Sirota, who is based in Colorado, was barred from travelling for the campaign outside of visits to its Washington headquarters. The conflict over Teachouts column was part of a long-running debate within the Sanders campaign about what approach to take with Biden. A small group of advisers including Tulchin, Turner and Sirota regularly pleaded with Sanders to attack the former vice-president. But Sanders resisted, giving speech after speech scorching unnamed establishment Democrats but declining to pursue Biden directly. He ruled out several lines of attack against the former vice-president because they touched on Bidens role in the Obama administration, which Democratic primary voters revere. Shakir and a second senior aide, Ari Rabin-Havt, took Sanders side and repeatedly reminded other campaign officials that Sanders was the ultimate decision-maker on the campaign. In conversations with associates, both men agreed that it might make sense to criticize Biden in a sharper way. But they said Sanders could not be persuaded to do so: He and Jane liked the Bidens personally, and their word was final. The fissures within the campaign leadership extended beyond how to deal with Biden. In January, efforts by Turner and others to direct some campaign resources into Super Tuesday states fizzled against opposition from Shakir and others. Shakir was adamant that Sanders path to the nomination ran principally through Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada, and the California primary on Super Tuesday. There was also a running argument within the campaign about how to handle Sen. Elizabeth Warren, with some advisers viewing her as a serious threat that needed to be quashed and others, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Sanders most important endorser, urging the campaign to seek conciliation. The dispute erupted publicly in January, when CNN reported that Sanders had told Warren in 2018 that he did not believe a woman could defeat President Donald Trump, an assertion Sanders denied. Shakir escalated the conflict, daring Warren on TV to call the report a lie. Jeff Weaver, a top Sanders adviser, took a different approach in his own TV appearance, suggesting there had been a misunderstanding a step he told associates was aimed at calming things down. But Warren stood by the account, and a clash between her and Sanders consumed the Democratic debate in Iowa. It would linger over both of them for the remainder of the race. Despite the divisions within his campaign, Sanders cut a winning path through the first few states to vote, culminating with a landslide victory in Nevada on Feb. 22. In his speech that night, Sanders sounded a unifying note, focusing on his multi-generational, multiracial coalition. Encountering a pair of reporters in a Las Vegas hotel that evening, Tulchin strolling to dinner with Weaver crowed that Sanders had delivered a speech worthy of the general election. Weaver was more subdued, noting that the primary fight was not over. The speech turned out to be a blip between Sanders anti-establishment diatribes. And there was little aides could do to steer him in a different direction: The chief speech writer on the Sanders campaign was Sanders. For months, his political advisers and outside allies had quietly mulled a shift in tone the possibility that Sanders might take even modest steps to show skeptical Democrats that he could unify the party. But he has always been disdainful of the art of politics and had to be nudged into wooing even friendly Democratic leaders. As Warren relentlessly courted Ocasio-Cortez last fall, Ocasio-Cortezs advisers had to prod Sanders aides into having him call her a conversation that eventually led to her endorsing him. Pushing Sanders to reach out to establishment Democrats whom he regularly taunted was even tougher despite the best efforts of even some of his staunchest supporters on the left. Ocasio-Cortez repeatedly urged the campaign to broaden Sanders message and seek out new allies, outside his familiar base. (In a statement, Ocasio-Cortez denied any tension or major disagreements with Sanders.) RoseAnn DeMoro, a former leader of the nurses union who was one of Sanders most ferocious surrogates in 2016, and actor John Cusack, another ally, both pressed the campaign to refocus Sanders pitch on a general-election audience, people familiar with their entreaties said. Sanders was not interested in moving in that direction. Some advisers, who endured the divisive 2016 campaign, believed that it was only after seizing a dominant advantage that Sanders could attempt to make peace with a Democratic establishment that remained intensely wary of him. Arriving in Charleston, South Carolina, before the Feb. 29 state primary, Weaver said the campaign had not yet sought a working relationship with figures like the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi because they wanted first to demonstrate the full sweep of their coalition on Super Tuesday three days later. He reached for a Civil War analogy to explain the muscle-flexing strategy. Abraham Lincoln did not issue the Emancipation Proclamation, Weaver said, until after Union troops had routed the Confederacy at the bloody battle of Antietam. Sanders campaign, like much of the political world, had not anticipated Bidens roaring comeback after South Carolinas Feb. 29 primary. Indeed, until then, Sanders campaign was expecting to win seven or eight of the 14 states voting on Super Tuesday and seize a solid delegate lead over the rest of the Democratic field. So confident was Sanders that he would vanquish Biden that he spent valuable days trying to force two other candidates out of the race by campaigning in Minnesota and Massachusetts, the home states of Klobuchar and Warren. He won neither. Sanders had suddenly become a spectator in the campaign, powerless to stop a tectonic shift against him by the partys moderate wing. Klobuchar called Sanders before announcing her endorsement of Biden, while Sanders and Buttigieg did not speak. After being routed across the country, Sander s knew who to blame in an appearance on ABCs This Week. What the establishment wanted was to make sure that people coalesced around Biden and try to defeat me, Sanders said. So thats not surprising. Read more about: 21.03.2020 LISTEN Ghana has confirmed three new cases of COVID-19. This increases the number of confirmed cases to 19. This was confirmed by the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr. Patrick Aboagye. All three new cases are all imported cases. Two were picked from Greater Accra Region and one from Ashanti Region. They include a 55-year-old Ghanaian woman; resident of the UK; returned to Ghana within two weeks. An 84-year-old Ghanaian lady resident of the United Kingdom; came back to Ghana within the past two (2) weeks; developed symptoms and sample confirmed positive in the laboratory. The third patient is a 27-year-old Chinese male; returned to Ghana (Ashanti Region) in the past two weeks; developed symptoms and sample confirmed positive in the laboratory. This brings to a total of nineteen (19) confirmed cases in Ghana, with no death. Contact tracing has started in all these confirmed cases. Copyright 2020 Albuquerque Journal The United States and Mexico announced Friday that nonessential travel along their shared, 2,000-mile border will be severely restricted to control the spread of coronavirus, but trade activity, cargo shipments and work-related crossings will not be affected. The new restrictions, which took effect at midnight Friday, prohibit recreational and tourist travel, similar to restrictions enacted earlier this week along the U.S.-Canadian border. But there will be no ban on people crossing between the U.S. and Mexico for work or other essential activities, and there will be no halt to commercial traffic, acting U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said Friday morning. We want to make sure that cargo continues, trade continues, health care workers continue to be able to traverse that border, Wolf told reporters at the White House on Friday, according to the Associated Press. But tourism, some recreational activities and other things need to stop during this crisis. The announcement ignited rampant rumors that the border is being shut down, something local leaders are now scrambling to correct, said Jerry Pacheco, executive director of the International Business Accelerator and president of the Border Industrial Association. Were trying to quell those rumors, Pacheco told the Journal. All of a sudden, theres panic that the border is shutting down. But its not true. Commercial goods transported on trains and trucks wont be affected, nor will citizens, legal residents, people with legal work permits, and people considered essential or who are traveling for medical or educational reasons, Pacheco said. In fact, Santa Teresa Port Director Fernando Thome told Pacheco business at the border remains normal. Thome said cargo crossing and business will go on as usual, Pacheco said. There are no delays happening now. By excluding commercial traffic from the ban, the two governments substantially softened the economic effects. Mexico and the U.S. have more than $600 billion in annual cross-border trade. Thats critical for New Mexico, which shipped a record $2.39 billion in products to its southern neighbor last year, accounting for about 50% of all state exports in 2019. Most of that trade is coming from southern New Mexico, particularly from the 60-plus companies now operating in the Santa Teresa border industrial parks, which continue to expand at a rapid clip, Pacheco said. Four new buildings are currently under construction at the parks and more businesses are also going up in San Jeronimo on the Mexican side of the Santa Teresa border crossing. Union Pacific as well is investing another $20 million to expand its massive, intermodal rail yard, which operates on the north side of the parks. Most of the new developments are scheduled to come online over the summer, Pacheco said. Up until now, weve been doing exceedingly well. Theres more activity underway at Santa Teresa now than in the history of the parks. Still, Santa Teresa-based businesses, and many more in El Paso and Juarez, could be significantly impacted by the temporary shutdown announced this week by major automakers in the U.S., including Ford and General Motors, to protect workers and help contain the coronavirus. This area is very tied into the auto industry on both sides of the border, Pacheco said. We have a bunch of suppliers in Santa Teresa who make components that go into the automotive maquilas (factories) in Mexico and the shutdown will affect all that activity in the border region. That hasnt happened yet, but if the shutdown extends for a period of time, it will certainly impact businesses here. Although trade between the U.S. and Mexico wont be affected by the new travel restrictions, the border economy will feel the pinch as people in both countries stop crossing back and forth to shop at stores and patronize other businesses. For the tourism and retail sectors, that bites, Pacheco said. Businesses on our side that cater to shoppers will have repercussions. If you want to cross over from Juarez to shop at Walmart in El Paso, you cant do that now. But with most people already working remotely and staying at home to avoid the coronavirus contagion, a lot of the impact from travel restrictions has already hit border businesses, said Paola Avila, chair of the Border Trade Alliance. People are not crossing, anyway, Avila told The Associated Press. This is the right thing to do. If you dont have to cross, dont. The U.S. State Department also issued a new travel alert on Thursday urging Americans not to go abroad under any circumstances and to return home if they are already abroad unless they plan to remain overseas. A French presidency official has said on March 21 that Iran has released the French academic Roland Marchal who was imprisoned in the Islamic Republic since June 2019. According to an international news agency, Marchal is due to arrive in France around midday on March 21. (local time). French President Emmanuel Macron also urged Iran to release another French citizen Fariba Adelkhah who still remains in prison but reportedly has an Iranian passport. According to Iranian state media, Iran and France have agreed on a prisoner swap by releasing Marchal held on security charges in exchange of Iranian detained by Paris over the alleged violations of the United States sanctions against Tehran. France has released Jalal Ruhollahnejad, who is an Iranian engineer and is wanted by Washington over sanction charges. It was in May 2019, when the French court had approved the extradition of the engineer from the Islamic Republic to the United States to face the charges of attempting to illegally import American technology for military purposes on behalf of another Iranian company. According to the US authorities, the Iranian company is linked to the elite Revolutionary Guards. Read - Indian Who Tested Positive For COVID-19 In Iran Has Died: Ministry Of External Affairs Read - Mandana Karimi Says She Can't Meet Her Family In Iran Amid Coronavirus Lockdown France-Iran distrust The detention of French academics had fueled the distrust between France and Iran especially when French President Emmanuel Macron has been willing to defuse the existing tensions. The French pair are reportedly not the only foreigners detained in Iran but the country has also imprisoned Kylie Moore-Gillbert of the University of Melbourne. Canberra has also expressed its 'deep concern' over the Australian academic's case after Gillbert lost an appeal against a 10-year jail sentence and began a hunger strike on Christmas Eve. According to the statement by French foreign ministry after meeting Tehran official, Adelkhah 'has stopped taking food' and expressed 'grave concern'. However, international reports state that Tehran still maintains its stance and criticised Paris for 'unacceptable interference'. Read - Iran Defends Response As Virus Deaths Surpass 1,000 Read - 103-year-old Woman In Iran Becomes Oldest Person To Beat Coronavirus (With ageny inputs) : WangLimin (), : Chinese : NYS Workers Compensation: The Power of Evil : NYS,Workers Compensation,The Power of Evil,Deniers,Limin Wang : BBS (Sat Mar 21 16:30:37 2020, ) NYS WCB # G2029240, The Power of Evil ---My Written Statement to the Upcoming 03/27/2020 Hearing By Limin Wang March 21, 2020 WCBs correspondence received on 02/20/2020 states that the employer/ carrier, claiming to have documentation of voluntary removal from the labor market, has made a hearing request on 02/10/2020, i.e., the date the WCB panel of three judges announced their rejection to my 10/31/2019 review appeal. I am eager to learn what kind of documentation it could be. My documentations of the real murder but fake justice system through workplace trap injury and then through further treacherous injuries from medical services should not be simply ignored or buried though. Then, WCBs postal mail received on 03/05/2020 sets the next hearing on 03/ 27/2020, 9:00 AM 30 Min, at the usual WCB hearing site 168-46 91st Avenue, 3rd Floor, Jamaica, NY 11432. The written PURPOSE states: Whether or not payments should be suspended or reduced. It is necessary for you to provide the Board with the most recent and up-to-date medical report from your treating doctor. Failure to produce this report may result in the reduction or suspension of your benefits. Further consideration of the neck and left elbow. Claimant to produce medical evidence of lost time, to consider attachment to the labor market. I do not quite get its complete meaning in plain and simple languages. I would like to answer this hearing plain and blunt. Its supposed by the WC Law that the treating physicians are required to submit the medical reports and billing forms such as C-4s to the WC Board. Its already so practically impossible for an injured worker to find a WCB -authorized physician to take and then unbiasedly diagnose and treat an injured-worker. Why this evil system is mounting almost every burden or blame on the injured worker? The last available treating doctor, from New York City Medical & Neurological Offices, still acts diagnosing and treating on me. Why there was no direct submission of the medical reports from NYCMNO to WCB shown in eCase Folder about my recent neurological visits? NYCMNO claims that they have submitted the reports to WCB. When I submitted these medical reports, whatever difference it had ever made to the LONG TOTAL SUSPENSION of compensation from Feb. 01, 2019 to Oct . 03, 2019? How the WCLJ reached a decision of temporary partial disability compensation of $150 (ONE HUNDRED FIFTY)/week on the Oct. 03, 2019 hearing? By 10/03/2019, the most up-to-date medical report I submitted to WCB about my 09/17/2019 neurological visit states 100% temporary total disability. Its the systems wanton play, not only on the compensation, but also on the authorization of medical diagnosis or treatment, against me the victim. The so-called no medical evidence for the beginning three weeks of uncompensated lost time is directly caused by such an irresponsible, ruthless, but meticulous system. Its a premeditated and coordinated murder attempt on me, and its sourced from state- or deep-state- level. The perpetrators use multiple means to make me not able to find any physician for real diagnoses and treatment. When I did see a new PCP on Jan. 29, 2018 about the injury, its my then representation attorney and the WCB system chose to ignore it. Its such a managed medical service system that premeditatedly and coordinatingly inflicts further physical, physiological, and psychological harm to me while removing the direct medical evidences of my serious injuries for the perpetrators. If I had recovered just by myself with the time, the perpetrators would have come back to mount me with medical bill balance because they had documented almost no direct evidence of injuries. When my health has been deteriorating, almost all these medical service professionals, through forms of fraud, only want to DECLARE their shameless OPINION that I am healthy, or that I have diseases, even psychiatric disease, but no injury. They know I will die of my serious injury quickly or suddenly without real treatments, but they know to even shamelessly write down 0 in the line of number of my dependents in the permanent impairment section. No judge or representation attorney would ever care or correct such blatant systemic fraud, because they are part of the fraudulent system. This system has already turned my wife into a sick burden living only on me for so many years. How my young children would be able to survive in this real cannibalism system? I have written so much so long to the WCB about my three wants: 1) honest and high-resolution MRI on my head and spine; 2) criminal investigation and punishment to the perpetrators; 3) financial compensation for temporary total disability. What has been done by the WCB? Has OSHA recovered the trap ladders set up by the perpetrators at B.Q. Wide Auto Body Parts Supply, Inc .? I can not trust these treating doctors tests results and their business-connected MRI facilities findings, because besides so many things , they even hold my shoulder steady to run their so-called balance test, deny the existence of an open-mouth view X-ray image, and give me blank or dysfunctional DVDs of MRI images while claiming in their findings NO INTRACRANIAL BLEEDING of any age. The government bureaucrats may be so eager to bring up laws of thousands-of-pages, but they dont show a smattering of patience to read what I the victim has written about this injury case. The NYS WCB and DOH OPMC are supposed to have officials with medical credentials, but they do not show a grain of care about the victim. The bureaucrats only ruthlessly brush away my plethora of symptoms from head trauma and tetraplegia; they ruthlessly refuse my request to have an honest and high-resolution MRI on my head and whole spine; they ruthlessly render their power to declare facts and decisions based on such a fraudulent system , with an eager to even discontinue the meager $150/week WC compensation and the $860/month SSD benefits. My NECK was injured in the Jan. 16, 2018 workplace trap fall, due to axial acceleration/deceleration compression, hyperflexion with a split second of total loss of consciousness, and hyperextension with a hearing of loud metal -like banging noise. And my NECK was further injured by Dr. Yazan Rajai Jabajis sudden and big rotation of my head & neck at New York Medical & Diagnostic Center on Feb. 17, 2018, under the cover of his first chiropractic treatment on me, and then electrically shocked through left arm to neck to head under the cover of SomatoSensory Evoked Potential (SSEP) test by an old Jew technician at NYMDC on Feb. 19, 2018. These days were supposed to be my first days to visit NYMDC, which was referred to by my then newly retained attorneys law firm Bangel, Cohen & Falconetti, LLP. Its NYMDC that denied the existence of an open-mouth view X-ray done on March 08, 2018 which CLEARLY shows fracture on the CRUCIAL C0-C2 area. Its the NYS governmental agencies that chose not to act actively on such medical conduct. Its NYMDC and their business partner Neighborhood Radiology that hindered an early MRI on neck and then tampered with the Apr/ 12/2018 MRI evidence. Its the WCB Judge Anthony Golden, together with my representation attorney Mr. Matthew T. Swansen from BCF and of course with the defense side, to set aside my neck, a CRUCIAL but injured site, as prima facie injury site, for further dispute, on the first hearing (pre- hearing) set on March 12, 2018. The Judge was citing the 02/16/2018 medical report from Dr. Benjamin Uh for this prima facie. How ridiculous is that such a report was not shown in the eCase Folder at all until April 2018? It was not shown during the hearing when I was silent but present. WHY Dr. Benjamin Uh DIDNT INCLUDE MY NECK in his 02/16/2018 MRI referral? Read the first hearing decisions exact treacherous phrasing! Sixty days after that hearing decision (file dated as March 16, 2018), its my representation BCF law firm that brought up a Request For Assistance on May 16, 2018 to want the dispute again on my Neck. The defense side didn t initiate any IME (Independent Medical Examination) of anything until late May, 2018, and their first set of two IMEs were not about the dispute of neck and left elbow! Instead, the IME vendor Brookside Consultants, Inc. sent out documents which have clearly included Neck as part of the established injury sites. Such documents were never sent to me by any parties, and such documents were DISGUISED in the WCB eCase Folder as medical narratives from a treating doctor, Dr. Mehrdad Golzad. By legal practice, these governmental and professional people are supposed to know that then the NECK and LEFT ELBOW are supposed to be considered as part of the Established Injury Sites too. They, including the NYS WCB, play their sophisticated treacherous coordination on and on, against me the victim. For some simplicity here, I will fast-track to year 2019. When I openly talked to them during the Jan. 03, 2019 IME about the premeditated and coordinated murder attempts, the WCLJ Anthony Golden and my representation BCF attorney Jeffery Feldman and the treating clinics NYMDC and NYCMNO, together with the defense sides, set me up for a no medical evidence decision to totally suspend the compensation during the Feb. 01, 2019 hearing. More than that, WCLJ Anthony Golden fabricated a March 15, 2018 IME in this Feb. 01, 2019 decision too. When I went for the March 14, 2019 IME with Dr. William B. Head, Jr. again, its the IME office that threw a pile of lies to me and then declared NO IME to me. I called WCB for the receiving lady to put a note in WCB record, and I called CCMSI insurance adjuster Lisa White. Lisa White told me to leave without the 03/14/2019 IME. Later, the defenses law firm Jones | Jones and the WCB kept claiming that I didnt go for the March 14, 2019 IME ! The credibility of such government and business powers is at the same level of their twisted and distorted Hearing Minutes transcripts in the WCB eCase Folder. In the spring of 2019, I managed to find three neurologists or neurosurgeons , Drs. Ahmed Elfiky, Alfred A. Steinberger, John M. Caridi for diagnoses and treatments. The first two clinics required me to contact the WC insurance adjuster Lisa White who is always denying any responsibility or lability since the very beginning. Ms. Lisa White amazingly AUTHORIZED my medical visits in early March 2019. Then of course, the first two clinics had no interest in hearing my complaint of symptoms. Dr. Elfiky split my initial visits into two, the latter one on March 29, 2019, and his medical report was nowhere to be found or actually obtained yet a full year later. The earliest available appointment to Dr. AAS at Metropolitan Neurosurgery was April 03, 2019, to Dr. John M. Caridi at Mount Sinai Health System was April 04, 2019. Dr. AAS avoided to discuss the diagnostic images with me, and claimed the disks I brought there didnt have any X-ray images. Dr. AAS or his assistant never showed they were running the disks. Dr. AAS only gave me a referral note for a CT regarding ONLY the issue of odontoid process fracture. Peoples explanation to me whether its a CT with or without contrast is contradicting. Dr. JMC gave me a referral note of MRI on cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine, but pointing the diagnoses first at a crossed-out fibromyalgia and then at another disease --- degenerative disc disease, and without checking whether with or without contrast. On the April 05, 2019 hearing, its such a drama show! During the hearing, with a new WCLJ Lucky Enobakhare presiding, the defense attorney lady suddenly claimed she had Dr. AASs medical notes about me. She claimed Dr. AAS concluded that I can return to work without any restriction, and she arrogantly claimed Dr. AAS is my CONSULTANT doctor and so I need to pay for such a visit to Dr. AAS! I was not told by Dr. AAS that he would conclude such or send to the defense side such a conclusion. Its a complete shock to me. (Later days, they changed the handwritten document to a version with some typed pages, under the same Doc ID#. Weirdly, that file on my computer local drive has been replaced too.) Then, the strong-accented WCLJ Lucky Enobakhare doubted the 100% disability in the narrative report about my Mar. 14, 2019 neurological visit to NYCMNO, and set up two hearings to set up a phone cross-examination with my treating doctors. WCLJ Enobakhare said as if the defense attorney lady had to take a flight to Jamaica, Queens to attend such a hearing. Only by July 2019, I started to know that Jones | Jones LLC (5 Hanover Square, #1001, New York, NY 10004) has been representing the employer/carrier since the very beginning of this case, but such information had not been shown anywhere in the documents to me. In year 2018, WCB sent out mails claiming the carrier was either not responding or not found at the right email or fax # for treatment authorization requests. I dont see straight how a flight is required for an attorney to travel from Manhattan to Queens within New York City, and how the defense side could not be reached for business communication in modern USA. Such excuse was also used again and again by Dr. JMCs office. When I arrived by bus about twenty-minutes late for the June 10, 2019 hearing, the WCB at Jamaica, Queens called my former representation BCF attorney to the window, and then told me the hearing was already over because I was late. The WCB files claimed that I was not present, and such claim was made at the minutes AFTER I had arrived. On Aug. 30, 2019 hearing, WCB made me wait for extra hours past the hearing schedule time, literally making me the last injured-worker out of that floor that day. When I had extremely violent heart pain in early August 2019 and almost died of it, I pushed for the spine MRIs and a second head MRI. All the deniers lies and actions and no-actions still go their old ways. Who cares what! The three separate MRIs on my spine from Main Street Radiology were all paid full out of my own pocket, although MSR had collected both WC insurance and EmblemHealth insurance information. Besides, MSR DEMANDED me to sign a sheet prohibiting me from claiming reimbursement from the (WC) insurances, otherwise no MRI to me. There is no possibility of MRI in the USA without a doctors referral, and MSR was already claiming the 04/04/2019 MRI referral had already expired on Aug. 15, 2019. What a real sense of FREEDOM such a system provides to the general people? The cervical spine MRI images from MSR were not so clear, and the axial slices did not cover the CRUCIAL craniocervical junction. The thoracic spine was done in a very quick-through way. Its possible that the MRI facilities may have done extra scans on me without my consent or knowledge. Regardless, I dont have access to the most important direct medical evidence data. The MSR reports were pretty much aimed for degenerative disc disease. The deniers, including NYS WCB , wouldnt authorize the supposedly pre-authorized MRIs and wouldnt acknowledge any MRI findings on my spine. Dr. John M. Caridis office then claimed their help couldnt be available anymore. By September 11, 2019, IME vendor Brookside Consultants, Inc. started to take Neck off and to switch Back to Low Back in the list of established injury sites. When I talked to BCI, WC Insurance CCMSI, and WCB about such of their DISREGARD of facts, truth, or law, they all acted as if they either didnt hear from me, didnt understand me, or for WCLJ Lucky Enobakhare, angerly shut off my talk of such important issues during the hearings. Yes, as Judge says he is not my attorney, but why do such to me as an enemy? The hearing is preposterously for the claimant/plaintiff only to hear what all other parties to say. The deniers choose whatever they want to impose on me the injured worker/victim. The hearing decisions in 2019 were all VAGUE about the medical treatments, and no medical practice gives a damn to my injuries about such VAGUE decisions. The deniers called off the cross-examination and set up the IME with Dr. Robert S. April. When I filed a review appeal on Oct. 31, 2019, before the Nov. 2019 RSA IME. The Jones | Jones attorney wrote in her rebuttal to twist as if my review appeal had been made after the RSA IME, and portrayed me as Mandarin-speaking male while not mentioning I can generally talk and write in English. The conspirators imposed an interpreter on me for the IME but tried very hard to violate my rights of having my accompany for the recording of the IME proceeding. The Nov. 08, 2019 IME and its report were not only a psychological trauma but also a physical assault to me. Yet, the NYS WCB Board Panel Judges cite the deniers falsehood as FACTS and the RSA s opinion to inflict the psychological assault to me another time. Their review decision claims not only my neck is still a disputed site, but also the Back is also diminished to Low Back. Thus, the government bureaucrats, as business fraudsters, show exactly the same kind of DISREGARD of the ESTABLISHMENT too. There are SO MANY facts and evidences about what treacheries the multiple parties of the evil system have done to me. Its so easy for such kind of capitalism-footed evil and corrupt system to claim other systems or governments evil and corrupt. Please face the facts what the USA and special -colored China evil and corrupt systems have done or not done to me. Dont drag me further with this kind of SOPHISTICATED sham justice system, because the perpetrators have been actually dragging me to die of real murderous injuries to my central nervous system which has seriously affected all of my vital systems. Before my injuries from B.Q. Wide Auto Body Parts Supply, Inc., I had been working as a diligent and efficient slave at B.Q. Wide with pretty much two full-time slaves load and one slaves minimal wage rate plus a few hours overtime each week. Some people at B.Q. Wide, including some management and senior employees are malicious to me almost daily with unprovoked verbal assaults and physical threats. I want to live, with my life, liberty, and happiness. I want to seek the three justices. I first want to seek GENUINE medical diagnoses and treatments to my serious injuries. If the USA system can not provide it, then dont pretend it any more, just like the special-colored China gives a flat-out rejection of medical assistant to me the compatriot. I hope I can get the needed help from other countries such as North Korea. -- :WWW mitbbs.com [FROM: 2604:2000:b808:] UNHCR delivers much-needed aid to Sudanese refugees in Chad 20 March 2020 - Nearly 94 tonnes of emergency aid has been airlifted into Chad to support thousands of people who have fled ongoing violence in Sudan's West Darfur state, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, reported on Friday. The aid which includes blankets, jerry cans, mosquito nets and kitchen sets arrived on Thursday from the UN agency's Global Stockpile in Dubai. "UNHCR is working around the clock to help people forced to flee their homes due to violence and persecution. This shipment will ensure thousands of vulnerable Sudanese families receive much-needed aid", spokesperson Andrej Mahecic told journalists in Geneva. More than 16,000 Sudanese citizens, mainly women and children, have crossed the border into neighbouring Chad following violent inter-communal clashes in El Geneina, West Darfur state, that first erupted in December. They arrived exhausted, traumatized and often showing signs of malnutrition, according to UNHCR. "Most are staying in the open or under makeshift shelters, with little protection from the elements", said Mr. Mahecic. "Shelter, food, water and basic health care are urgently needed, as refugees are being relocated further away from the border, for safety and protection reasons". Overall, Chad is hosting around 360,000 Sudanese refugees. The emergency aid was transported to the country via a UNHCR-chartered Boeing 777. The humanitarian charter flight, worth $308,000, was organized by UPS, the American package delivery company, through its team in Dubai, and the company fully covered the transportation costs. The UNHCR global stockpile in Dubai contains reserves of family tents and other shelter materials, in addition to blankets, kitchen sets and other relief items, for more than 250,000 people. It was established in 2006 and is the agency's largest stockpile in the world. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Just four days ago Governor Andrew Cuomo mandated that all bars and restaurants would be take-out and delivery only. But local establishments are still providing their customers with a fish fry and with a new system. The Deerfield Fire House has created a drive-thru operation to sell their fish frys. As the country is called to practice social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic, customers young and old were able to place and pick up their orders without even leaving their cars and to find a sense of normalcy with being able to get out of the house. Sheron Miller of Rome says, Its nice to get out and get some fresh air. Its great that you can keep their social distance and still get out a little bit. President of the Deerfield Fire Company, Stephen Pawlinga says that one of the commissioners came up with the idea. They are very community based and wanted to give people what they wanted during this time while still keeping people safe. He states, We like to make sure we keep our public interaction at a maximum. What we wanted to do was give people fish and still be able to provide them as clean of an environment as we can, a safe environment. So we had to minimize exposure from person to person but still give them what they want. The line of cars went out into the street, some waiting as long as they needed to for their fish fry which was said to be worth the wait. Pawlinga added that the line was running effectively and efficiently. Deerfield sold 1,200 fish frys tonight. A list of other establishments still selling fish frys is listed on our website. Just down the road, residents continue to support local businesses like Tasty Treat which just re-opened, a little earlier this year for the spring/summer seasons. Tasty Treat owner Mike Mancuso says that they opened early because he felt like people needed a pick-me-up. He says that, We are following our regular guidelines which is always a high maintenance program for sanitation and cleanliness but we are obviously paying special attention to it. Our regular habits are to be very clean and sanitary. They are closing at 8 p.m. instead of 10 p.m. for the time being due to the dine-in restrictions. Tasty Treat has removed all seating and is open for counter and window service for take-out only. On Zoom, there is a default setting that allows any meeting participant to share their screen without permission from an events host. Anyone who has a link to a public meeting can join. Links to public Zooms are traded in Facebook Groups and Discord chats, and are easily discoverable on Twitter and public event pages. We have been deeply upset to hear about the incidents involving this type of attack. For those hosting large, public group meetings, we strongly encourage hosts to change their settings so that only they can share their screen. For those hosting private meetings, password protections are on by default and we recommend that users keep those protections on to prevent uninvited users from joining, said a spokesperson for Zoom Video Communications in a statement. The post included tips for users seeking to keep the party crashers out of their videoconferences, including limiting screen-sharing to certain participants and making events invitation-only. Zoom has seen a sharp rise in use over the past few weeks. On Sunday nearly 600,000 people downloaded the app, its biggest day ever, according to Apptopia, which tracks mobile apps. The company is currently valued at $29 billion. But the platform was built as an enterprise technology tool, not a consumer social tool. As such, the company was not prepared to moderate user behavior as other social networks do. With much broader adoption, abuse and misuse will follow, so Zoom should be getting ready to handle reports and complaints, Jules Polonetsky, the chief executive of the Future of Privacy Forum, recently told The Times. The Napa Valley Community Foundation says it will release up to $3.5 million from its Disaster Relief Fund to blunt the economic effects of the coronavirus emergency in Napa County. The money will be distributed over the next eight to 12 weeks to support two work in two areas: Immediate community health needs, such as frontline medical response; childcare for health sector and public safety first-responders; and safety-net services like food for the Valleys most vulnerable residents. Emergency financial assistance for low to moderate-income workers facing serious financial hardship because of the dramatic disruption of the local economy. We will get dollars flowing as quickly as possible to meet the demands of this unprecedented moment, said foundation President Terence Mulligan, who noted that the Foundation would channel resources through a pre-approved grants system set up to meet the challenges of previous emergencies, including the 2014 South Napa Earthquake and the 2017 Napa Fire Complex. Our community has learned through the last two disasters how to prioritize needs, act swiftly and partner intelligently for the most effective results. One benefit of our past experience is that we already have a trusted network of nonprofit partners in place to deliver services and cash aid to those who need it most. While applications are not yet being accepted for additional grants, the foundation may invite such applications from nonprofits and public agencies in the weeks ahead. It may also consider a program to assist small business owners unable to qualify for disaster loans from the US Small Business Administration. Nonprofits receiving disaster funding will coordinate to address unmet needs through Napa Valley Community Organizations Active in Disaster, a collaborative of nonprofits, government and faith-based organizations whose mission is to coordinate and communicate during local disasters or public health emergencies. The Emergency Financial Assistance program is available for workers who live in Napa County, whose household income is at or below 120% of Area Median Income, and who do not qualify for government-sponsored unemployment or paid family leave benefits. The program will launch no later than March 27, but people can sign up for an appointment now in English or Spanish. For residents of Calistoga, St. Helena and surrounding areas please call (707) 965-5010 or email efa@upvalleyfamilycenters.org. For residents of Napa, Yountville and American Canyon please call (707) 363-8390 or email efa@onthemovebayarea.org. Importantly, the EFA program will be administered remotely, through telephone, Facetime and onscreen conversations with applicants. We want to be of service to any wage-earner who is facing difficulties at this time, said UpValley Family Centers Executive Director Jenny Ocon. This might mean helping someone apply for EDD, if they can get it, or accessing some of the new Federal aid programs that are being considered. Our goal is to help people make it through this very rocky period, no matter their circumstances. To do that, we will award Emergency Financial Assistance judiciously to those who have no other recourse, including many immigrant workers and contract employees who have suddenly found themselves out of a job without a safety net. The Napa Valley Community Disaster Relief Fund has provided resources for short-term relief and long-term recovery to 25,000 survivors of the 2014 South Napa Earthquake and the 2017 Napa Fire Complex. To date, across these two most recent disasters, the Fund has distributed nearly $18 million in the form of direct financial assistance to survivors, and to pay for relief and recovery services like temporary shelter, meals, medical care, counseling, legal aid, and assistance in navigating insurance claims. The Fund is managed by NVCF and was established with a $10 million lead gift from Napa Valley Vintners following the 2014 South Napa Earthquake. To make a tax-deductible gift to the Fund, please visit napavalleycf.org. Editors note: Because of the health implications of the COVID-19 virus, this article is being made available free to all online readers. If youd like to join us in supporting the mission of local journalism, please visit napavalleyregister.com/members/join/. A man walks past a closed pub on the day British Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered all pubs to close in response to the growing number of coronavirus disease cases in London. Photo: REUTERS/Henry Nicholls The coronavirus death toll in Italy has leapt by 627 to 4,032, an increase of 18.4pc - by far the largest daily rise since the contagion emerged a month ago. Italy had already overtaken China as the country to register most deaths from the highly contagious respiratory disease. The total number of cases there rose to 47,021 from 41,035, a rise of 14.6pc, the Civil Protection Agency said. In its most complete analysis of the outbreak yet published, the national health institute (ISS) said the average age of those who died was 78.5 years, with the youngest victim aged 31 and the oldest 103. The median age was 80. Some 41pc of all those who died were aged between 80-89, with the 70-79 age group accounting for a further 35pc. The ISS report, based on a survey of 3,200 of the dead, said men accounted for 70.6pc of the deaths and women 29pc. The median age for the women who died was 82, and 79 for men. Pathologies By comparison, the median age of those who tested positive for the illness was 63. A deeper analysis of 481 of the deceased showed that almost 99pc of them were suffering from one or more medical condition before catching the virus. Some 48.6pc had three or more previous pathologies. A total 73.8pc had high blood pressure, 34pc had diabetes and 30.1pc had heart disease. In Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson last night announced a UK-wide shut down of pubs, cafes, gyms and restaurants. Mr Johnson warned it was "becoming clear in order to drive that curve down, to reduce social gathering, we now need to be making absolutely clear that we are going to enforce these closures". Businesses shut to the public would still be allowed to offer a takeaway or delivery service, he added. Meanwhile, the scientific advice on which the UK government has based its strategy was released yesterday, giving a grim insight into the expected progression of the virus and calling into question some of the strategies. Documents studied by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies showed that social measures to keep people apart may need to be in place for most of the year to control the spread. Millions may already be infected according to worst-case modelling. The government published the papers a day after Boris Johnson said he expected the tide to be turned in the fight against Covid-19 within 12 weeks. Modelling shows the crisis could last far longer, with the virus potentially returning next winter. In Northern Ireland, Arlene Foster said the educational work of schools has come to an end due to Covid-19. They are being "repurposed" to provide online planning and resource packs. The German states of Bavaria and Saarland said yesterday they were imposing restrictions for two weeks aimed to keep people inside their homes. "It's not easy to take these decisions," the state premier of Bavaria, Markus Soeder, said. "We take these decisions according to the best of our knowledge and conscience. There will be a Bavaria after corona, but it will be a stronger one if we don't look away." The western state of Saarland announced similar measures, saying people were only allowed to leave their homes to go to work, do essential shopping, visit the doctor or take exercise alone. The restrictions would be in place until April 3. Chancellor Angela Merkel is due to meet the leaders of Germany's 16 states tomorrow to review measures required across the country to slow the spread of the virus. In the US, The White House last night announced that a member of Vice President Mike Pence's staff had tested positive for coronavirus. Mr Pence's spokeswoman said that the staff member, who is not being identified, did not have "close contact" with either the vice president or President Donald Trump. Joe Biden has accused Donald Trump of being "behind the curve" leading the US response to the coronavirus pandemic after the president berated reporters and wavered on emergency actions to rush potentially life-saving medical supplies to health workers. The Democratic presidential candidate told reporters on Friday that "the American people deserve a president who tells them the truth ... Unfortunately, President Trump has not been that president." Mr Biden's message follows the president's dismissal of a question about what to tell frightened Americans during the crisis during a White House press conference. The president responded by calling the journalist who asked a "terrible reporter." The former vice president said: "People are scared. They're worried. They don't know quite what to do." He told the president: "Step up and do your job." The race for the Democratic nomination to face the incumbent in November has whittled down significantly not just in the field of contenders but in the scope of their respective campaigns as the candidates develop their response to the Covid-19 crisis. Bernie Sanders, the former vice president's rival in the 2020 race, has addressed supporters in frequent "fireside chat" livestreams and addresses that he broadcasts from Vermont to discuss the emergency and plans to bolster federal relief legislation in the Senate. The Vermont senator has argued that the coronavirus and the White House response have exposed systemic weaknesses throughout the US, underlining his call for significant government reform. Their responses to the coronavirus and messages to Americans in attempts to offer some comfort stand in stark contrast to the president's wildly inconsistent messaging and often-inflated claims about his administration's success. On Thursday, Tulsi Gabbard, who clung to her campaign despite significant losses in primary states thus far, withdrew from the race and endorsed Mr Biden. The Hawaii congresswoman said she is better suited during the "unprecedented global crisis" to stay in Congress and "to stand ready to serve in uniform should the Hawaii National Guard be activated." Though he did outline a plan to combat the outbreak and offered it to the White House, Mr Biden has dodged criticism for fading from the public after debates and primary elections in the wake of the national emergency. He said he wants to be in "daily" or "significant" contact with Americans throughout the crisis. In his remarks to reporters on Friday, he also attacked Mr Trump's hazy invocation of the Defence Production Act, which would allow the president to force companies to manufacture critically needed medical supplies, like ventilators and other equipment. He also criticised the administration's previous calls for state governors to order equipment themselves: "He said the federal government is not a shipping clerk. Where the hell did that come from?" The president issued an order that invokes the law, but later said that he would only use it during a "worst case scenario" and appeared to renege on previously announced plans. On Friday, the president said he has put the law into "high gear" though didn't offer specifics. Mr Biden said: "When these things don't come through, you exacerbate their concern ... Stop saying false things that will make you sound like a hero." Bengaluru, March 21 : Karnataka on Saturday confirmed five new COVID-19 cases, taking the total number of infections to 20, an official said. "Till date, 20 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state which includes one death," Suresh Shastri, special officer in the information, education and communication (IEC) wing of the Health Department told IANS. Four men with international travel history and a house maid are the new cases. Karnataka's 16th positive case is a 53-year-old female domestic help of an earlier positive case, 11 the positive case. "She is a high risk contact of patient 11 and was on strict home quarantine. She is now admitted in designated isolation hospital in Bengaluru," said an official statement. A 39-year-old man from Bengaluru who on Thursday returned from Amsterdam emerged as the 17th positive case in the state, he is under observation in isolation at a city hospital. The state's 18th positive case is a 21-year-old man from the city who returned from Edinburgh, Scotland on March 17. Similarly, a 31-year-old man from Chikkaballapura with travel history to Mecca, Saudi Arabia is the 19th positive case in Karnataka. He returned to India on March 14. The final case on Saturday and the 20th case of the state is a 35-year-old Mysuru man who returned to India on Thursday from Dubai. The health department has initiated contact tracing of all the five new cases. In an effort to intensify the fight against the contagion, Karnataka government has decided to utilize the services of 10 senior IAS officers to coordinate coronavirus containment measures. Further, markets and malls have been directed to reduce peak hour crowding, maintain social distancing and initiate public awareness via electronic media and displays. Online marketing services players have been ordered to provide masks and hand sanitisers to delivery boys. "Directions have been issued to constitute teams of members belonging to revenue, police, municipality and health to visit all the home quarantined passengers to stamp on the back of the left hand palm showing the date of end of the quarantine period. Thereby monitoring of the home quarantined persons," said the statement. Bengaluru civic body has constituted 108 teams to visit home quarantined persons on Sunday. The health department has also issued a notice to all apartment owners and resident welfare associations regarding home quarantine of persons who have visited COVID-19 affected countries during last 14 days. The apartment residents have been requested to ensure strict home quarantine. As many as 1,377 samples of symptomatic persons were collected for testing, of which 996 have returned negative. Nearly 3,175 people are going through home quarantine across the state while 4,681 people have enrolled for observation. A total of 1.25 lakh passengers have been thermal-screened for the virus in Karnataka till now at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in the city and the Mangaluru International Airport. Another 5,826 passengers were also checked for the virus at Karwar and Mangaluru seaports. Across the state, 149 people are under isolated quarantined in various hospitals. Meanwhile, Bengaluru Metro has advised people to user its services only if it is unavoidable and essential as it will thermal screen passengers randomly. Any passenger with fever or coronavirus symptoms will be referred to medical tests and quarantining by the state authorities. "In the trains, capacity is limited to 150 people as alternate seats have to be left vacant and no standing passengers will be allowed. Trains may not stop at stations which may be crowded, that is less than the expected distance of 1 metre between passengers,a the Metro said. Bengaluru Metro will be shut on Sunday in view of the people's curfew. Interstingly, Vijayapura district administration has decided to initiate action against local BJP leader Kiran Patil for disregarding home quarantine instructions. He allegedly distributed masks to people on his birthday when he was supposed to be on home quarantine, after returning from Bangkok on March 16. Patil also uploaded the mask distribution video on his facebook account. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) I hope you can help me with a question about how we can get information about monuments and burials in the historic cemeteries on the East Side. Specifically, I am curious about the incomplete marker denoting the resting place of my great-great-grandmother and her husband, whom she was alleged to have murdered in 1900. The tombstone backs up to the fence on Pine Street, near Paso Hondo. There is a curious omission: Charles' 1900 demise is carved into the opulent marker, but Elizabeth's (death date) is not, (although) it seems they are both there, based on her 1913 obituary. How can we confirm that they are both buried there? Also, if we wanted to complete the monument (inscription), whom should we contact? Betsy Gerhardt Pasley As we corresponded over the answers to your questions, you supplied some background from your genealogical research, noting that the family history was rife with violence after your paternal great-great-grandparents, Karl (later Anglicized to Charles) F. Gerhardt Sr. and Elisabeth (later Elizabeth) Hardt Gerhardt emigrated in 1852 from Germany to South Central Texas. Because that violence is relevant to the circumstances of his death and their burial together, some of it will be described here - and may not be appropriate for all readers. The Gerhardts had nine children, one of whom was your great-grandfather Charles Jr., and settled on a farm near Yorktown. The story of Charles Sr.s gruesome death and subsequent arrests and court proceedings have been preserved in official documents and newspaper clippings kept by the family. The crime was reported in newspapers all over Texas, including the San Antonio Light and San Antonio Express. Initial reports said that a wealthy farmer was the victim of an axe murder, and a sum as high as $2,000 in gold and silver coins kept at home was stolen, although several hundred dollars of it was later found in an outbuilding on the property. Local papers were less sparing on the details of Gerhardts demise. On the evening of Jan. 28, 1900, reported the Moulton Weekly Eagle, Feb. 17, 1900, The old gentleman came back from Yorktown, and there was considerable unpleasantness aroused in the household concerning the result of a business transaction, the principle differences between father and daughter Johanna (then 29, not working and living with her parents). Whatever transpired from the argument, Gerhardts wife and daughter later told law enforcement that they had left to spend a few hours with Herman, another of the adult children, who lived nearby. When they came home at 9 p.m., Charles Sr. was presumed to be in another room across a large, vacant apartment from them. So they went to bed, but the two women got up and went back to Hermans, with Johanna saying she thought she heard their father cry out and asked her brother to come back with her and check on him. Herman told them Charles Sr. probably just had a severe toothache, and his mother and sister spent the rest of the night at his house. When they returned the next morning, accompanied by Herman, they found Charles Sr. wrapped up in a blanket on the floor beside his bed. Here the tale gets odd: Herman sends a farmhand to Yorktown to get a doctor, saying that he was afraid his father had attempted suicide. Two doctors show up and examine the body, finding what the Moulton paper describes as unspeakable horror. The doctors dont think it could have been self-inflicted. The wounds consisted of a number of stabs about the eyes and forehead and blows on the head with a hatchet, the report stated. There was a bloody hatchet in the room, and a pair of sheep-shears that probably were used to make the wounds around the eyes. Theres more in the Hallettsville Herald, Feb. 8, 1900, which reported that Both eyes were out and yet Gerhardt had lived long enough after his injuries to grope around the room where he was found, leaving bloody prints and spatters all over the wallsand somehow managed to wrap himself up in a blanket after all that. Gerhardts empty money box was found outside. About $400 was soon found in a cotton-seed house. The first suspect was Joe Molino, the farmhand who had fetched the doctors. With a robbery gone wrong as the probable motive, the family seems to have liked him for the crime. Molino either absconded or just left but was apprehended in Houston a couple of weeks later, in possession of a bloody shirt thought to be Gerhardts. He was held in the DeWitt County jail in Cuero but released for lack of evidence. During the intervening time, suspicion had fallen on the family. Wouldnt a robber have just knocked the old man on the head and run off with the money? Gerhardts awful mutilations looked personal. Elizabeth, Johanna and Herman were all arrested, although the children were soon released. Elizabeth was tried and acquitted July 5, 1902, moving to San Antonio, where Charles Jr., a carpenter, had moved. She lived with unmarried daughters Johanna and Alwine (sometimes Anglicized to Alvina), a teacher, at 201 Bowie St., taking in lodgers until her death April 30, 1913. Sentiment in Yorktown seems to have been against the family, so they may all have come here for a fresh start. Molina died in 1905. His death was pronounced at inquest to have been a suicide, although it could have been a weird accident. He was at work on another farm near Yorktown, cutting cotton stalks with a stalk cutter to which he had tied a shotgun, reported the Cuero Daily Record, Jan. 29, 1905. In some unaccountable way, the gun struck the ground and fired, the entire load entering his stomach. The story notes that Molino was in Gerhardts employ at the time of his murder and that Most of the old mans relatives believe until this day that he was guilty of the crime. Well, maybe. Your family lore has it that Gerhardt Sr. was known to be abusive, and the quarrel between him and Johanna might have turned physical. Johanna went on living with Alwine after their mothers death. After Alwine died in 1935, you suggest, Johanna may have gone downhill. Her 1940 death certificate lists the cause as exhaustion from psychosis. She was living in the San Antonio State Hospital and had been there for two years. Charles Jr. - probably a member of the Odd Fellows fraternal organization and thus eligible to buy the family plot - stayed in San Antonio, ending up after a bankruptcy as a janitor at the German-English School until his death in 1922. The city Parks and Recreation Department administers the city cemeteries. Although they dont have records of who bought the family plot at the Odd Fellows Cemetery, contracts manager Jackie Mendez said, they do have records of interments. Charles Sr., who was initially buried in Yorktown, was moved to the plot, which couldnt have been cheap. Elizabeth is buried next to him. Alwine, Johanna and other family members are buried nearby. You may add an inscription and additional markers for Alwine and Johanna. Contact a monument dealer of your choice, then contact Mendezs office to coordinate time for the work with parks staff. historycolumn@yahoo.com | Twitter: @sahistorycolumn | Facebook: SanAntoniohistorycolumn Michelle Keegan has learnt some huge life lessons from her four years in Our Girl. The 32-year-old, who was born in Stockport, has had to spend months away from home filming the much-loved BBC One series. "I believe I've grown throughout this job - as a person, as an actor," says the former Corrie star, who plays medic Georgie Lane in the army drama. "You're away from your family and your friends for such a long time, and it makes me realise that I am strong, and I can cope." Keegan - who's married to TV personality Mark Wright (who first found fame on The Only Way Is Essex) - headed to South Africa for four months to shoot the new episodes of Our Girl. It's the fourth series, and is set one year on from military unit 2 Section's last tour in Bangladesh. Georgie is now working in England, has been promoted to sergeant and is training in mentoring, a job she's enjoying focusing on. Then 2 Section needs to go back to Afghanistan, and they ask her to go. "And she says, 'No, no, I'm happy where I am'; she's training up a girl called Mimi who was going to take her place as a female medic," explains Keegan. "Anyway, there's an altercation, and she sees how Mimi reacts. She's not 100% happy with it because she feels like she has to go out and mentor her in Afghan." However, there's perhaps more behind Georgie's decision than meets the eye. Fans will remember how, in series three (which was split into two parts), her fiance Elvis (played by Luke Pasqualino) was killed in Afghanistan. He was blasted from a rooftop in Kabul by a hidden bomb, and then died in Georgie's arms. It was heartbreaking to watch. Keegan suggests that going back out into the field is "Georgie's way of trying to get closure on Elvis's death". And, as the series goes on, the star adds we will see her suffering from PTSD. "A few years ago I had a meeting with female medics who have seen their mates dying in front of them. And all they want to do is go back into the Army. They don't want any time off. "I think Georgie threw herself into work and pretended nothing happened. Georgie's got a way of brushing things under the carpet." As well as taking on emotional storylines, Keegan says the physical side of this show never gets any easier. "As soon as we get to South Africa, we have a boot camp. We have to adjust to the heat. Obviously, we can't just have a light bag on the back because it would just look silly, so we have to have the full kit in a bag. And the weapons are really heavy as well." Although she professes she loves a challenge, she admits there are moments when she finds herself thinking, "I can't do this." The star, who's also known for ITV drama Tina and Bobby and Sky comedy Brassic, is keen to do different kinds of roles in the future. She shares that her next project, which can't be named yet, is being filmed in the UK, so this year she'll be working at home. However, leaving the role of Georgie was a really difficult decision. On her last day of filming, the cast who play the rest of 2 Section had already gone back to the UK. So, she said goodbye to Georgie on her own, and had a little cry. Asked what she will miss most, she muses: "I'll definitely miss the camaraderie, being in a group. When you're away for such a long time, you do become a family. But mostly I'm just going to miss the role of Georgie. I love playing such a strong female and Georgie is an amazing role model for girls and women out there." She feels she has a little bit of Georgie in her now, in the way she is much calmer and less prone to panicking than before she played her. This particularly came in handy when, a few years ago, she saw a woman faint in a restaurant. She'd ended up lying face down in her plate. "I didn't have to give them CPR or anything, but obviously I checked her airways," she recalls. "I remember she had started to come around, so I sat her down, I kept her really calm, told her husband to get a drink for her. And I wouldn't have known to do that if it wasn't for this show." The question is: who will be the next Our Girl star? "I think whoever gets this role is really lucky, because it is an amazing job," says Keegan. "You just have to throw yourself into this role." Our Girl, BBC One, Tuesday, 9pm The reason these orders are in place is to create an environment that will foster more health, he said. "Everything we do has to consider that. We want compliance. That is the goal of all of this to get people to comply with this so they are safe. We are not trying to criminalize what would be normal activity any other time. Denise Merrill, Secretary of the State, announced Thursday that Connecticuts presidential primary election has been postponed to June 2, in light of the ongoing struggle to impede the spread of coronavirus. The original date was April 28. Moving the primary date is a good first step, Merrill said in a statement, and will give our local election officials more time to prepare. Merrill said in a statement that she had consulted with the Gov. Ned Lamont, local election officials, the bipartisan leadership in the General Assembly and officials in other states. The Connecticut Town Clerks Association had issued a letter Wednesday criticizing Merrills plan to expand the use of absentee ballots. My most important concerns are allowing every Connecticut voter to make their voice heard in the selection of the presidential candidates, Merrill said, and ensuring that they are able to cast their ballots as safely as possible. She added that changing an election date is not something we do lightly. Its a recognition of the severity and nature of this crisis, she said, and more steps may be necessary to guarantee that every Connecticut voter has an opportunity to cast their ballot. Governor Emmanuel Udom of Akwa Ibom states has said that there are no plans to shut down schools in the state due to the Coronavirus pandemic. In a statewide broadcast delivered on Saturday morning, Governor Udom said that there is no confirmed case of COVID-19 disease in Akwa Ibom State. The governor also stressed that the measures put in place at the state airport to curb the spread of the virus into the state is comprehensive and has no parallel anywhere in West Africa. READ ALSO Coronavirus: Lai Mohammed Reveals When Buhari Will Address The Nation He appealed to residents of the state to adhere strictly to preventive measures so they do not contract the virus. Speaking, the governor said: I want to advise that we should all continue to observe the simple rules of Personal and Respiratory Hygiene: Regular handwashing with soap under running water. b. Use of hand sanitizer where there is no water. c. Coughing/sneezing into a disposable tissue paper or the cuff of the elbow where no tissue is available and proper disposal of the used tissue. d. Put on a mask if you cannot properly move away from any person with those symptoms and or give the person a mask to wear. It is also important to observe SOCIAL DISTANCING, avoid handshaking, and keep at least six feet away from anyone who is sneezing or coughing. I would like to remind you of some symptoms of the infection which include: Fever, cough, sore throat, difficulty in breathing, generally feeling unwell (malaise), common cold (catarrh or runny nose, sneezing, cough). Anyone with these symptoms should self-isolate and invite our Emergency Response Team for assessment and follow-up. WE encourage you to report members of your family or friends with these symptoms to the Ministry of Health. Your report will be held and treated with absolute confidentiality. The Ministry of Health has already provided the emergency telephone numbers for you to contact the States emergency team at any time of the day. Given the measures aforestated, it is our belief that there is no need to shut down our public schools, which are supposed to close in a weeks time. I urge you to go about your normal duties. Health minister assures statistics on coronavirus authentic IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Tehran, March 20, IRNA -- Minister of Health, Treatment and Medical Education Saeed Namaki said on Thursday that updates about coronavirus declared in Iran is one of the most sincere ones in the world. In a live dialogue with the Iranian people on his Instagram page, he congratulated new year and expressed condolences to the families which have lost their loved ones because of coronavirus. "This year was a hard year for all our colleagues, as we faced flash floods across the country and coronavirus outbreak this year," he said, assuring that defeating coronavirus is not difficult for the Iranian people, if they have solidarity and consensus. "What is announced in the country as updates about the disease is one of the most sincere ones in the world," he reiterated. He called on the people to stay at home for two weeks and help minimize transmission and provide the managers to control the situation. Namaki also announced a project to screen the people as part of efforts to detect the infected, saying that some five million people have so far been screened. 8072**1424 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address By Barbara Goldberg and Laila Kearney NEW YORK (Reuters) - From Jersey City on the East Coast to Los Angeles on the West Coast, American shoppers picked grocery store shelves clean on products ranging from disinfectants to rice, causing retailers to race to restock their stores as the worsening coronavirus crisis stoked fears of shortages. As shoppers swarmed stores, President Donald Trump on Friday afternoon declared a national emergency aimed at slowing the spread of the novel virus, which has killed at least 47 people in the United States. Daily routines have been upended as businesses including Amazon.com urge employees to work from home, schools and universities close, and sporting events and church services are paused across the country. In response to the run on certain items, major retailers have imposed some purchase limits. The chief executive of Walmart Inc , Doug McMillon, at a news conference with Trump on Friday, said the retailer was having trouble keeping up with demand for products like hand sanitizer Purell, cleaning supplies and paper goods. "Hand sanitizer is going to be very difficult to have 100% in stock for some time," McMillon said. "We're still replenishing it ... but as soon as it hits the stores it's going. The same thing is true for the other categories I mentioned." In Hanover, New Jersey, about 40 customers had lined up to get into a Wegmans grocery store before it opened on Friday morning. A few hours later, shelves were stripped bare of sanitizing wipes, bulk rice and dried beans. The store posted signs announcing limits on the purchase of hand sanitizer and bottled water. "An abundance of caution - semper paratus, like the Coast Guard motto that means 'always ready,'" shopper Marlene Russell, 69, told a reporter after packing groceries into her car. At a Fairway Market on Manhattan's Upper West Side, shelves normally full of pasta, Oreo cookies, pasta sauce, crackers and toilet paper were depleted on Thursday evening. On the West Coast, grocery stores including Ralphs, Pavilions and Trader Joe's had sold out of products ranging from eggs to Lysol cleaning wipes. Story continues RETAILERS REACT Johnson & Johnson is accelerating production of over-the-counter pain killer Tylenol to ease any spot inventory crunches. J&J, which also makes Listerine mouthwash, said it was shipping stocks of products in a controlled manner. It was increasing production of other consumer products to ensure retailers were well supplied, it said, adding it did not expect any shortages. Pharmacy chain Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc and supermarket chain Kroger Co instituted purchase limits to stabilize inventory. Kroger, the largest U.S. grocery store operator, limited the number of cold, flu and sanitary products per visit, while Walgreens said it was limiting disinfectant wipes and cleaners, face masks, hand sanitizers, thermometers and gloves to four per customer. John Terry, 33, went to a Whole Foods in Manhattan to pick up chicken and other items his wife was unable to get at grocery stores near their Jersey City home, in New Jersey across the Hudson River from Manhattan. "It was insanity," he said about his local stores. "She went to Costco and there was a line down the block. At another one, the shelves were picked clean." Phil Lempert, editor of SupermarketGuru, said labor shortages due to everything from school closures to illness could cause business disruptions that last several months. "It's a lot more than stockpiling toilet paper or Purell. This is going to have implications on our food supply and supply chain for months to come," Lempert said. (Reporting by Barbara Goldberg and Laila Kearney; Additional reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Writing by Anna Driver; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien, David Gregorio and Leslie Adler) The U.S. military confirmed Saturday that more than 15 al-Shabab militants were killed in airstrikes in southern Somalia this week, Trend reports citing Xinhua. The U.S. Africa Command (Africom) spokesman Karl Wiest said no civilians were injured or killed as a result of five airstrikes which were carried out in coordination with Somali security forces near Janale on Monday and Tuesday. The command currently assesses these airstrikes resulted in the deaths of over 15 al-Shabab militants, Wiest said in a statement. Janale town that lies about 90km south-west of Mogadishu had been the hub for militants' operations and activities. Now, the town with about 30,000 people is currently under the full control of the joint forces -- African Union Mission in Somalia and Somali National Army. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, March 21, 2020 13:02 662 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad206c6cf04 1 Science & Tech COVID-19,coronavirus,virus-corona,outbreak,University-of-Indonesia,map,online-services,GIS Free Experts and researchers from the University of Indonesia (UI) have made an online map displaying the spread of COVID-19 in the country to help the government determine areas prone to new infections. The map, also available to the public, will show the location of positive COVID-19 patients as well as surrounding areas deemed prone to infections. It also shows the location of people put under general monitoring as well as under surveillance. The map can be accessed at this website. COVID-19 has become a global pandemic, therefore, we want to contribute by developing a map that shows the spread of the disease accurately, UI research and innovation vice rector Abdul Haris said in a statement on Thursday. Read also: Indonesian Ulema Council urges govt to map COVID-19 prone areas to support fatwa on mass prayers The online map classifies regions according to their vulnerability to the disease: low, mild and high. Indicators used to determine their status are the number of patients in a certain area, population density and public transport connectivity, which includes train stations and bus stops. For example, regions are categorized as highly vulnerable or red zones if they have a large number of patients, high connectivity of public transportation and a high population density. Data provided in the map is compiled from various sources, such as the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), the Jakarta administration and the West Java administration. Abdul said the online map was first developed by Ardiansyah, a researcher from the universitys geography department. Other researchers from UIs medical school, school of public health and school of computer science also contributed to developing the map. "Telkom Indonesia has expressed an interest in working with us using this spatial analysis technology. We hope that Telkom, as the countrys largest cellular service provider, can use its big data to support this portal, Abdul said. (aly) Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 21) China, South Korea, and Brunei are among the countries who are donating COVID-19 test kits to the health department. A release from the Department of Health (DOH) said a total of 120,500 test kits will be given to the country. This includes the 100,000 test kits from China which arrived Saturday morning at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport via a chartered flight. Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro "Teddy Boy" Locsin Jr. received the donation from China. Apart from the test kits, the shipment also included surgical masks, N95 masks, and personal protective equipment. The DOH did not say when these other additional test kits would arrive in the country. The DOH also said five sub-national laboratories that are able to process between 50 - 300 tests daily are now operating alongside the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM). Two additional laboratories, the Western Visayas Medical Center and Bicol Public Health Laboratory, will have to undergo testing before they can begin processing tests. In its most recent update, the DOH said as of Saturday afternoon there were 77 new cases of COVID-19. It is the bigest single-day increase since the first first case was confirmed in January. So far there are 307 confirmed cases, and 19 people have died. The DOH also said 13 people in the country have recovered from COVID-19. 'Far from abdicating the government's responsibility in this grave national crisis, he reassured the people that his government is always with the people during a national crisis,' notes Rup Narayan Das. Prime Minister Modi very thoughtfully and imaginatively addressed the nation with regard to the Covid-19 crisis on Thursday. Given the constraints of air time, the prime minister had to be very precise and to the point. As an excellent communicator, the prime minister deconstructed esoteric jargon like 'social distancing', which has gained currency against the backdrop of the outbreak of the pandemic. The address was more in the nature of an appeal laced with compassion, although the message was loud and clear to all concerned. Fully knowing that it is rather premature to claim credit for containing the menace, he rather cautioned one and all to be extra vigilant and restraint from moving out of home. He didn't mention the government's praiseworthy and painstaking efforts to evacuate thousands of Indians from Wuhan, the epicentre of the pandemic in China, Italy, Iran, Malaysia and other parts of the world. It was certainly not a simple task to evacuate the affected or suspected cases and to quarantine them at different airports in Delhi and outside which involved coordination and cooperation of different agencies of the government such as the ministries of external affairs, civil aviation, health, defence, the Delhi police and Delhi administration. External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar did a very commendable job in coordination with respective Indian missions abroad. SEE: PM Modi's address to the nation on coronavirus There was a question why Prime Minister Modi chose to speak to the nation on television while Parliament was in session. Well, the answer could be given the mercurial dynamics of Parliament in the context of the political developments in Madhya Pradesh, it would have been doubtful if he would have been given a patient audience in Parliament. Moreover, a televised address has always a wide reach as compared to an address in Parliament, although Parliamentary proceedings are televised live through dedicated Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha television channels. His address was not only in the fitness of things, but also a much needed one considering the magnitude of the problem and particularly when there is unwarranted speculation regarding the availability of essential services and commodities like food stuff and medicine. A message from no less a person than the prime minister of the country has the desired effects on service delivery agencies, stake holders and citizens at large. His appeal to employers in the private sector, corporate sector, and even employers of domestic help and drivers etc not to cut their salaries is expected to have salutary effects at a time when malls, shops, cinema halls, the aviation and transport sectors are bearing the brunt of the coronavirus effects. Mitigating the effects and after-effects of coronavirus on the economy and the livelihood of people particularly belonging to vulnerable segments of society is a collective responsibility of society, and not the government alone. They have to make a small sacrifice as a part of their social responsibility. It is here that the prime minister's thoughtful exhortation has produced the desired result. In any case, considering the resilience of India's economy, it is certainly going to bounce back sooner than later. In response to the prime minister's appeal to the corporate sector, the Tata group promptly said it will make a full payment to temporary workers and daily wage earners working at its offices and manufacturing sites. Similarly, the Bajaj group also ruled out the possibility of laying off its employees. Such was the impact of the prime minister's appeal that some top corporate honchoes have voluntarily offered to cut their salary in favour of their employees. His declaration of a financial task force under Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's stewardship was yet another major highlight of his address. In fact, the government is already working to provide relief to sectors hit hard by the Covid-19 outbreak with proposal for a 3% interest subversion for the MSME sector as well as at least 50% wage support for workers in the airline, hotel, tourism and other sectors. There are also suggestions to expand financial deficit targets relying on the Reserve Bank of India to stagger loan repayments for specific sectors which have been badly affected by the virus outbreak. The address was in consonance with his people-centric approach to mitigating problems rather than making them indolent. Far from abdicating the government's responsibility in this grave national crisis, he rather reassured the people that his government is always with the people during a national crisis. The way the government rose to the occasion to evacuate thousands of Indians amply demonstrates its resolve and capacity to meet any challenge when its citizens are in distress. The address should be seen as his typical approach of a direct outreach and connect with the people. More stimulus measures to mitigate the crisis can be expected through executive fiat after Cabinet approval or can be declared in Parliament if the session continues. Rup Narayan Das, PhD is a senior fellow at the Indian Council of Social Science Research at the Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi. PM Igor Matovic assumes office at a ceremony with participants wearing facial masks as precaution against COVID-19. A four-party coalition government has taken office in Slovakia, with the coronavirus outbreak an immediate policy challenge. Slovak President Zuzana Caputova on Saturday appointed a centre-right coalition government headed by Igor Matovic, leader of the Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OLANO) party, after a February election which swept anti-corruption parties to power. Matovic and his team were sworn in at a ceremony with participants wearing protective masks as a precaution against the coronavirus. Slovakia has reported 137 cases of the virus this month with no deaths. Lets go to battle The government handover came as the coronavirus outbreak puts Europe on lockdown, pressuring Matovics four-party coalition to quickly form a cabinet. Nobody knows what form this [coronavirus] crisis will take, how long it will last and what consequences it will have, Matovic said. We have a remedy for the coronavirus its solidarity, responsibility and the determination of all people who care about Slovakia, he said. Lets go to battle. 200301143432953 Matovic, 46, takes over amid a public health crisis that led his predecessor Peter Pellegrini to ban international passenger travel, close schools and shutter most shops. The country is the worlds biggest per capita car producer but its four auto plants have all suspended production due to the virus outbreak. The new government replaces the centre-left Smer party that had ruled since 2012, a period of solid growth, though its popularity slipped after the 2018 murder of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancee which led to massive street protests. OLANO, known for anti-corruption publicity stunts, won a quarter of the votes in the February 29 election. It will rule with three other parties: Sme Rodina (We are Family), a socially conservative and eurosceptic party; SaS (Freedom and Solidarity), an economically liberal party; and Za Ludi (For the People), a centre-right party led by former President Andrej Kiska. Free-marketeer Richard Sulik, the head of SaS, will be deputy prime minister, and OLANOs Eduard Heger, a former manager of several private companies tipped to be finance minister, will lead the economic policy. The government will face a confidence vote within 30 days but the coalition holds 95 out of 150 seats in parliament, securing its place. Its majority will allow it to make changes to the constitution and Matovic has said this could enable it to apply stronger criteria in appointing judges. The investigation into Kuciaks killing unearthed communications between a businessman who is on trial for ordering the hit and politicians and judicial officials. The defendant has denied the charges. In the wake of Covid-19 outbreak, private security industry body CAPSI has sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention over the massive job losses of security guards and asked the government to employ private guards to fight the coronavirus pandemic. Terming the situation as "disastrous", the Central Association of Private Security Industry (CAPSI), in its letter to the Prime Minister, has urged him to save the livelihood of lakhs of private security guards who are staring at job losses. The closure of malls, showrooms, theatres, hotels etc. have led to a situation wherein the clients are asking to remove large number of security guards from their locations leaving only one guard at these sites. "They (clients) have also made it clear that they will only pay for the drastically reduced strength. Now what happens to the others? Where do the other guards go? Who pays them their salaries for this period," CAPSI Chairman K Vikram Singh said in the letter to the Prime Minister. Over 23,000 private security agencies employ over 85 lakh security guards across India. Singh said this situation will have deep impact on the life of security guards and their families as corporates have issued letters of drastic reduction of staff strength from their establishments and have also refused to pay wages for the period of layoff. Private security industry will now have to pay its workforce without getting paid for by the clients for the duration till normalcy returns. "We have urged the Prime Minister to direct Employees' State Insurance (ESI), Provident Fund (PF) and Goods and Services Tax (GST) Departments to defer their tax collection dates by giving adequate time so that guards can be paid wages to take care of their families," he added. The private security industry is one of the largest employment-providing sectors of the nation and is one of the largest contributor of corporate taxes and social security taxes (GST, PF, ESI, Income Tax etc). These security guards can play an important role in controlling the spread of coronavirus by checking the body temperature of visitors and residents in various locations. The government can requisite the services of private security guards and pay for the services rendered which will also help them financially in these times of crisis, the body suggested. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account. We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription. A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means youre helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much! Some investors rely on dividends for growing their wealth, and if you're one of those dividend sleuths, you might be intrigued to know that Nordea Bank Abp (STO:NDA SE) is about to go ex-dividend in just 4 days. Ex-dividend means that investors that purchase the stock on or after the 26th of March will not receive this dividend, which will be paid on the 3rd of April. Nordea Bank Abp's next dividend payment will be kr0.40 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of kr0.40 to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Nordea Bank Abp has a trailing yield of 8.1% on the current stock price of SEK54.3. We love seeing companies pay a dividend, but it's also important to be sure that laying the golden eggs isn't going to kill our golden goose! So we need to check whether the dividend payments are covered, and if earnings are growing. View our latest analysis for Nordea Bank Abp Dividends are typically paid out of company income, so if a company pays out more than it earned, its dividend is usually at a higher risk of being cut. Nordea Bank Abp paid out 106% of its earnings, which is more than we're comfortable with, unless there are mitigating circumstances. When a company pays out a dividend that is not well covered by profits, the dividend is generally seen as more vulnerable to being cut. Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends. OM:NDA SE Historical Dividend Yield, March 21st 2020 Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing? Businesses with shrinking earnings are tricky from a dividend perspective. If earnings decline and the company is forced to cut its dividend, investors could watch the value of their investment go up in smoke. Nordea Bank Abp's earnings per share have fallen at approximately 15% a year over the previous five years. Ultimately, when earnings per share decline, the size of the pie from which dividends can be paid, shrinks. The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. Nordea Bank Abp has delivered 4.8% dividend growth per year on average over the past ten years. The only way to pay higher dividends when earnings are shrinking is either to pay out a larger percentage of profits, spend cash from the balance sheet, or borrow the money. Nordea Bank Abp is already paying out a high percentage of its income, so without earnings growth, we're doubtful of whether this dividend will grow much in the future. Story continues The Bottom Line From a dividend perspective, should investors buy or avoid Nordea Bank Abp? Not only are earnings per share shrinking, but Nordea Bank Abp is paying out a disconcertingly high percentage of its profit as dividends. Generally we think dividend investors should avoid businesses in this situation, as high payout ratios and declining earnings can lead to the dividend being cut. Nordea Bank Abp doesn't appear to have a lot going for it, and we're not inclined to take a risk on owning it for the dividend. So if you're still interested in Nordea Bank Abp despite it's poor dividend qualities, you should be well informed on some of the risks facing this stock. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 4 warning signs for Nordea Bank Abp you should know about. A common investment mistake is buying the first interesting stock you see. Here you can find a list of promising dividend stocks with a greater than 2% yield and an upcoming dividend. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading. Agency Main Content The Statewide Accounting and Reporting Services (SARS) unit provides leadership in accounting and in the reporting of the financial results for the State of Oregon. Set accounting policy through the Oregon Accounting Manual and provide training. Manage federal reporting, reporting data, and security. Provide consultation to agency staff on accounting and financial reporting. Compile and publish the state's audited Annual Comprehensive Financial Report. Provide state administration for: security of the financial systems, travel card program, and travel policy. The SARS Statewide Accounts Receivable Management (SWARM) team monitors state agency debt collection functions and assists state agencies in efforts to improve the collection of delinquent debts. Accounting for Coronavirus (COVID-19) Costs: Updated Agency Communication for Enterprise-wide Direct COVID-19 Cost Tracking Updated Agency Communication for Enterprise-wide "In Relation To" COVID-19 Cost Tracking Accounting for COVID-19 FAQ - Updated 05.14.2020 ECC's Cost Weekly Tracker - Agency_XXX_CovidCostTracker_PeriodEnding_XX.XX.2020.xlsx Weekly Cost Tracker - Sample State Agency CRF Reimbursement Request Resources: Form to use to request a CRF reimbursement: State Agency CRF Reimbursement Request Form Tool to consider using to document how the employee's time is CRF eligible: CRF Payroll Documentation Checklist to complete and submit with each reimbursement request: Agency CRF Reimbursement Checklist.xlsx Questions? Send an email to: CoronavirusReliefFund@Oregon.gov International passenger traffic at the country's second busiest airport here has seen a sharp decline of up to 70 per cent in March, in the wake of outbreak, an airport official said on Saturday. The AAI-GVK group-run Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport handles 950-980 arrivals and departures per day with around 200-250 of them international. The pandemic has wreaked a havoc across the world, impacting airline industry severely along with other segments of the economy. It has forced the airlines world over to shut flights and passenger to cancel their trips. "The international passenger traffic ar has dropped significantly in March due to the coroavirus infection concerns. The decline in traffic is any where between 55-70 per cent," the official told PTI. It may be mentioned here that the government has already announced a complete ban on international commercial flights to and from India for a week, starting Sunday. The official, however, said that domestic passenger traffic, though, doing better, it is likely to have some impact too, going forward. Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have found striking orbital geometries in protoplanetary disks around binary stars. While disks orbiting the most compact binary star systems share very nearly the same plane, disks encircling wide binaries have orbital planes that are severely tilted. These systems can teach us about planet formation in complex environments. In the last two decades, thousands of planets have been found orbiting stars other than our Sun. Some of these planets orbit two stars, just like Luke Skywalker's home Tatooine. Planets are born in protoplanetary disks -- we now have wonderful observations of these thanks to ALMA -- but most of the disks studied so far orbit single stars. 'Tatooine' exoplanets form in disks around binary stars, so-called circumbinary disks. Studying the birthplaces of 'Tatooine' planets provides a unique opportunity to learn about how planets form in different environments. Astronomers already know that the orbits of binary stars can warp and tilt the disk around them, resulting in a circumbinary disk misaligned relative to the orbital plane of its host stars. For example, in a 2019 study led by Grant Kennedy of the University of Warwick, UK, ALMA found a striking circumbinary disk in a polar configuration. "With our study, we wanted to learn more about the typical geometries of circumbinary disks," said astronomer Ian Czekala of the University of California at Berkeley. Czekala and his team used ALMA data to determine the degree of alignment of nineteen protoplanetary disks around binary stars. "The high resolution ALMA data was critical for studying some of the smallest and faintest circumbinary disks yet," said Czekala. The astronomers compared the ALMA data of the circumbinary disks with the dozen 'Tatooine' planets that have been found with the Kepler space telescope. To their surprise, the team found that the degree to which binary stars and their circumbinary disks are misaligned is strongly dependent on the orbital period of the host stars. The shorter the orbital period of the binary star, the more likely it is to host a disk in line with its orbit. However, binaries with periods longer than a month typically host misaligned disks. "We see a clear overlap between the small disks, orbiting compact binaries, and the circumbinary planets found with the Kepler mission," Czekala said. Because the primary Kepler mission lasted 4 years, astronomers were only able to discover planets around binary stars that orbit each other in fewer than 40 days. And all of these planets were aligned with their host star orbits. A lingering mystery was whether there might be many misaligned planets that Kepler would have a hard time finding. "With our study, we now know that there likely isn't a large population of misaligned planets that Kepler missed, since circumbinary disks around tight binary stars are also typically aligned with their stellar hosts," added Czekala. Still, based on this finding, the astronomers conclude that misaligned planets around wide binary stars should be out there and that it would be an exciting population to search for with other exoplanet-finding methods like direct imaging and microlensing. (NASA's Kepler mission used the transit method, which is one of the ways to find a planet.) Czekala now wants to find out why there is such a strong correlation between disk (mis)alignment and the binary star orbital period. "We want to use existing and coming facilities like ALMA and the next generation Very Large Array to study disk structures at exquisite levels of precision," he said, "and try to understand how warped or tilted disks affect the planet formation environment and how this might influence the population of planets that form within these disks." "This research is a great example of how new discoveries build on previous observations," said Joe Pesce, National Science Foundation Program Officer for NRAO and ALMA. "Discerning trends in the circumbinary disk population was only made possible by building on the foundation of archival observational programs undertaken by the ALMA community in previous cycles." The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. As the economic ramifications of shuttered tasting rooms and a hobbled hospitality sector become clearer in Napa Valley, businesses and their employees are facing widespread uncertainty. Gov. Gavin Newsom on March 15 directed Californias wineries to close their tasting rooms. Smaller, family-owned wineries, which make up a significant portion of Napa Valleys industry, often rely on their tasting rooms not only for revenue, but as a way to engage with returning customers. The closures have left industry members with difficult decisions to make as to the fate of their staff. The day after Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered the closures, Del Dotto Family Wineries laid off 62 members of its tasting room and sales staff, and notified remaining team members that there would be additional job losses to come in production, according to a former wine educator who wished to remain anonymous for fear of hurting his chances for one day being rehired. To just be lobbed off in a time of crisis when we dont know what the hell is going on, while were living hour-to-hour thats 60-something families, the employee said. A member of the winerys human resources team had told him the expedited nature of the layoffs was to encourage former team members to quickly file for unemployment. Staff members were given a weeks pay as severance; some were notified of the layoffs via email, he said. The Del Dotto family apologized to tasting room employees for not reaching out individually, according to an internal email obtained by the Register. The government is now bailing out businesses so that they can continue to operate, but we arent one of them, the family wrote, describing the crisis as a pandemic that is worse than Spanish influenza and the biggest financial crash since the Great Depression. We are following the governments (sic) plan of shrinking our business quickly and reducing expenses so we can reopen in the long term, which is our biggest concern, the email continued. In an email, owner Dave Del Dotto said the winery had made the decision to lay off "the majority of our culinary wine and sales staff" in the wake of an unprecedented battle for public health and economic survival. "This was shocking to us as we are family and friends and many of these fine people have been working with us for many years," Del Dotto wrote. He said the winery would continue to pay its employees' health insurance benefits through the end of April "or longer." It was his hope, Del Dotto added, that the government would soon provide emergency funding for small businesses like the wineries. That assistance might relieve the financial pressure and allow for rehiring, he wrote. The former employee said he was now grappling with how to pay his rent, especially as his wife had also lost her income, a causality of working in another industry that had been hobbled by dwindling customers and business closures. Both had filed for unemployment, but were concerned with how they would continue to pay rent of almost $2,800 per month, alongside other expenses. And he worried for coworkers whom he described as living paycheck-to-paycheck and those who had large families to support. Californias Employment Development Department this past week reported a surge in unemployment claims statewide as business closings and cutbacks rippled through the economy. The EDD can confirm that there has been a huge spike in the number of claims coming from impacted Californians, the spokesperson wrote in an email. The wine industry in Napa Valley alone employs 44,000 people, according to the Napa Valley Vintners. And Napas booming tourism industry includes service and hospitality sectors whose workers have also felt the sting of business closures. Napa resident Joshua Ray has been a member of the service industry in Napa Valley for more than a decade, most recently as a server at Ciccios in Yountville. When restaurants were directed to operate on a take-out and delivery-only basis, he was effectively stripped of his regular 30-hour weekly schedule, he said. His hourly wage plus tips normally amounts to an income of between $3,000 and $4,000 a month, Ray added. The restaurant was trying to schedule its employees, he explained, but following the shelter-in-home order, Ray had been assigned two three-hour shifts. The nature of the work meant that now only one or two people were needed for work at a time. Without tips, Rays two shifts would bring in an income of $72 before tax. (Ciccios employs less than 25 people, Ray added, so base hourly pay, at $12, is a dollar below the states minimum wage of $13). Were hoping this only lasts a few weeks, Ray said, speaking for himself and his fiance, a former server at Redd Wood in Yountville. The two have an 8-week-old daughter together, and Ray is a stepfather to his fiances 2-year-old daughter. His fiance has also lost her income; both filed for unemployment Monday. We have enough in savings to make this upcoming rent, and maybe the next one, but were just holding on waiting for the government, basically, to tell us what happens next, Ray said. The impact of the closures has rippled through the North Bay. Vallejo resident Jessica Dumas said she and the entire tasting room staff of Vezer Family Vineyards, a roughly 7,000-case, family-owned winery in Fairfield, were laid off Monday in the wake of Newsoms directive. I understand that theres not anything they could have done, because we are a smaller business, Dumas said, but she was disappointed. She and her husband would not be able to pay their expenses with just his income, earned from working as a wine steward at a grocery chain. Dumas husband was in the process of being promoted, she said, and she would be applying for the job he would leave behind. Some wineries, in an effort to preserve their tasting room staff, had repositioned associates internally. Clos Du Val was paying its hourly tasting room employees while figuring out its next steps and organizing virtual tastings, according to Director of Marketing Shannon Muracchioli; Heitz Cellars had committed to paying its employees even with its tasting room shuttered indefinitely, according to CEO and President Carlton McCoy, who said he hoped that wineries and others with the capacity to do so would continue supporting their employees. I dont know what their business looks like; I dont know what their books look like. But we hope that every employer is thinking the same way we are, McCoy said. In situations like this, you dont become a manager dealing with your employees. Youre humans dealing with humans. He said the company would support its roughly 40 employees by cutting into its bottom line and by making adjustments to its investment priorities. Were not looking for the quick game, or looking to report to shareholders that we were somehow profitable in the middle of a pandemic, he said. Clos Du Val tasting room associate Justin Malstrom said Clos Du Val had been transparent with its employees. Some had been temporarily furloughed, Malstrom said, and the situation was still developing but the staff had been in the know from the beginning. The winery had reached out to each employee individually in the wake of the closure, he said. Staff was also told that Clos Du Val was hoping to try and match unemployment stipends so employees could make up to 80% of what theyd previously been earning, Malstrom said. Malstrom receives a military pensionhe retired last June from 14 years served in the Air Forceand said that his wifes income would keep his family stable. Though assured, he was reckoning with the seriousness of the situation. Ciccios Ray felt less certain. There was no telling when unemployment benefits would begin, if the government would make good on its talk of sending checks directly to Americans for relief, or when tasting rooms and restaurants would open back up, he said. The familys plan, were things to take a turn for the worse long-term, was to move in with Rays mother, who lives elsewhere in Northern California. Its all just a waiting game, Ray said. (Nationwide) its not just the restaurant industry, but in this valley especially wineries and restaurants is what this place is. Editors Note: Because of the health implications of the COVID-19 virus, this article is being made available free to all online readers. If youd like to join us in supporting the mission of local journalism, please visit napavalleyregister.com/members/join/. You can reach Sarah Klearman at (707) 256-2213 or sklearman@napanews.com. Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam (Photo: VNA) The self-paying quarantine facilities are set up for diplomatic and official passport holders, experts in key projects, and important trade partners, it was agreed at the meeting of the national steering committee for preventing and combating COVID-19. Dam, who is head of the committee, emphasised the core role of the military force in quarantining. He asked the involved military units to continue implementing strictly quarantine regulations issued by the Ministry of Health. The heath sector should encourage people to join the voluntary health declarations to make it easier for the classification of cases, he ordered. Deputy PM Dam called for special attention to be paid to vulnerable groups such as the elderly, people with chronic diseases and disabilities, warning them to limit traveling and stay at home. According to the Ministry of Health, as of 12:00 noon on March 20, Vietnam recorded 85 COVID-19 cases, of which 17 have been cured and discharged from hospital. More than 38,000 people having close contact with confirmed infection cases or entering Vietnam from pandemic-hit areas are being quarantined. A team from the Union Health ministry has arrived in Pune to check on a woman Covid-19 patient who has no history of international travel. A senior official said the woman, on ventilator support in a private hospital, had travelled to Vashi in Navi Mumbai for a wedding on March 3. Her Covid-19 status was known after her swab was sent to NIV for testing for swine flu (H1N1), he said. Divisional Commissioner Dipak Mhaisekar said, "A team from the Centre had arrived in Pune for further probe. We have so far found some 100 people who were in touch with her." A doctor said she was experiencing respiratory failure and, therefore, has been put on ventilator support. "She is not well since March 8. She had visited a general physician after cough and cold complaints. She was later admitted to a hospital but due to her condition, she was referred to us. She was then detected with viral pneumonia," said the doctor. "We then sent her throat swabs to NIV for H1N1 checking where her HINI tests were negative but she tested positive for COVID-19," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Not everyone wants to read, hear or see news of COVID-19, but let us recognize that the consequences of this sickness are devastating, and the rules we need to follow social distancing, quarantining, etc. are disrupting lives. If you have kids, are you taking the time to teach and introduce them to basic life skills? If you do not have kids, are you taking this time to enhance your work skills? If you havent already come to the realization that social media is changing the way business is conducted, youll need to this year. According to VerticalResponse, a small business marketing company, nearly 90 percent of small businesses are on Facebook, while nearly 70 percent have a presence on Twitter. Those businesses are participating in networks with more than one billion and 140 million people respectively. Women are no longer just talking about their business experiences with a close circle of friends or networking groups; theyre letting their entire social network know what happened. And if your business is great at customer service, engaging consumers online could lead to some great brand advocates for your company. However, customer loyalty can easily go in the other direction. As a leader, its your responsibility to research and find out where and how your company can be active in the growing social media space. If you are not reading one book a month, whether its on business, leadership or your industry, youre going to be left behind and possibly put your career or business at risk. Dont let a lack of time be an excuse for you to miss out on the knowledge and opportunities that reading can provide. The leaders of some of the most successful companies today are avid readers. My dad always said that earning my college degree was great, but continuing to read had even more value and kept your mind sharp. Its quite simple: the better the leader, the more they typically read. Take advantage of the times we are going through. If you have kids and are home with them, read when they read. Actually, when they learn new skills, so should you. If you are "stuck" at home, alone, and have plenty of quiet time, pick up books and learn new skills as well. ADVERTISEMENT Think back to how you came into the leadership role you are in today. Who inspired, taught, counseled and listened to you? Now think about a person in your business or personal life whom you could offer those same skills to. Not only will being a mentor to someone allow you to pass on your knowledge and advice to another generation, you will be challenged to learn more and grow more so you can offer more to your mentee. Right now, you might be mentoring your children, but that is contributing to their knowledge and skills. Leading by example travels far! If you are among the men and women still going to work, take care of yourself and stay healthy! And, if you are among the men and women who are in healthcare, in any way, shape or form, thank you for going to work and risking your own health to take care of others. Thank you for taking care of those who are vulnerable, at-risk or have existing health issues that cannot be ignored while the focus is on "the virus." 2020 is still full of opportunities and possibilities, even though the part of the world you are in has all but "shut down." Take advantage of the time you have! 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Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe Hawaiian beaches are still packed with sunbathers despite social distancing advice, outraging residents who blame tourists for the state's coronavirus cases and are telling them to leave the islands. Beach-goers were seen crowding the shorelines yesterday and crossing the yellow tape surrounding closed areas, armed with rubber rings and surf boards. Beach parks in Honolulu have been closed but Mayor Kirk Caldwell said he was struggling to enforce the shutdown. Beach-goers in Waikiki, Honolulu, were seen ducking under police tape yesterday to get into the closed beach parks Crowds of sunbathers gather on the shoreline today in Waikiki despite warnings to social distance to prevent the spread of coronavirus 'We're pretty much hunkering down in the City and County of Honolulu,' Caldwell said in a press conference yesterday. 'We don't want to have large gatherings. We don't want any gatherings anywhere in any private or public facilities.' 'People continue to not follow the order. We are hoping that as we go forward, people will begin to realize the the significance of the spread of this virus. 'Beaches below the high water mark are open to the public and controlled by the state of Hawaii and DLNR, and we don't have control over that.' 'People continue to not follow the order. We are hoping that as we go forward, people will begin to realize the the significance of the spread of this virus,' Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell said. A beach-goer armed with a rubber ring heads for the beach in Waikiki yesterday morning Though people are still technically able to cross the beaches to enter the sea, overstretched emergency services have urged the public to stay out of the water. 'We want the public to know there are no lifeguards in the towers. We ask that you stay out of the water if possible and away from the shorelines,' an Ocean Safety spokesperson said. DOH worries there is a stigma developing against visitors in Hawaii https://t.co/q0GSYEKlDC #HNN Hawaii News Now (@HawaiiNewsNow) March 21, 2020 Shops, restaurants and city parks have also been ordered to close by Caldwell as the US tries to stem the spread of the deadly virus by following social distancing guidelines. Locals have complained that tourists are to blame for the spread of Coronavirus and have urged them to fly home. The state's Department of Health has moved to dispel the perceived animosity against visitors. 'I have been informed that there are residents ofF Hawaii who believe the COVID-19 positive cases here are all visitors to the state, and unfortunately, there is stigma developing against visitors in Hawaii,'Department of Health Spokesperson Janice Okubo told Hawaii News Now. A Honolulu police officer informs beach-goers that the park is closed and they must leave the area in Waikiki 'I am asking the media to help the public understand that of the 37 positive test results to date, 32 of them are the result of traveling residents. The majority of cases are residents who returned home after traveling.' The number of coronavirus cases has since risen to 48 in Hawaii. Hawaii Gov. David Ige has been urged by state leaders in the House and the Senate to enforce stricter quarantine procedures for travelers entering Hawaii. There have also been calls for him to follow the lead of states such as California and Illinois by issuing a shelter-in-place order. More than 26,000 people have tested positive to Covid-19 in the United States, and 346 Americans have died Cases of coronavirus have soared across the US, surpassing 26,000 cases A shelter-in-place order would restrict residents from leaving their homes unless it is for essential travel such as to buy food or medical supplies. Residents have complained that tour buses are continuing bring tourists to beaches despite the pandemic. 'City beach parks are closed. So if there are companies that are doing that, knock it off,' Honolulu Councilman Ikaika Anderson said. 'Stay out of our communities right now, particularly, when you are bringing visitors from who knows where into our residential communities to mingle with our residents' The Akwa Ibom governor, Udom Emmanuel, has said there was no confirmed case of the novel coronavirus in Akwa Ibom State, and there was no need to shut down schools in the state. Mr Emmanuel, in a state-wide broadcast to the people of Akwa Ibom, on Saturday morning, urged residents of the state to disregard rash of mischievous information peddled by certain media platforms on the status of the coronavirus in our State. Mr Emmanuel said, For emphasis, let me state here unequivocally that there is no confirmed case of COVID-19 disease in Akwa Ibom State as I speak to you. The governor said the state has put up a comprehensive measure at its airport and also set up Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Task Force even before the first confirmed case of coronavirus in Nigeria. He said the state government, besides sensitising the people on how to stay safe from the virus, has set up surveillance, prevention and infection control measures in hospitals across the state, including the distribution of necessary medical equipment to hospitals. Functional ambulances and rapid response teams are on standby to move suspected or confirmed cases, if any, to the Emergency Operation Centre at Ikot Ekpene. The Emergency Operation and Treatment Centre (EOC), in Ikot Ekpene is ready to serve as an isolation/treatment centre to receive, and care for any confirmed case of COVID-19 infection if it occurs. The State Ministry of Health is in constant communication with National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the Directorate of Public Health Services has received sample collection kits from NCDC and are updating the management of the Ministry on, global, national and State COVID-19 data and information daily, the governor said. The governor advised residents of the state to keep observing personal hygiene and social distancing, and to report any suspected case of the virus to health officers. I would like to remind you of some symptoms of the infection which include: Fever, cough, sore throat, difficulty in breathing, generally feeling unwell (malaise), common cold (catarrh or runny nose, sneezing, cough). Anyone with these symptoms should self-isolate and invite our Emergency Response Team for assessment and follow-up. We encourage you to report members of your family or friends with these symptoms to the Ministry of Health. Your report will be held and treated with absolute confidentiality. The Ministry of Health has already provided the emergency telephone numbers for you to contact the States emergency team at any time of the day. Given the measures aforestated, it is our belief that there is no need to shut down our public schools, which are supposed to close in a weeks time, he said. The governor appealed to the press to be cautious and rational while reporting the pandemic. I want to appeal to our people, especially the gentlemen of the press to exercise utmost caution and deep sense of rationality and reflection in the manner you report this global pandemic. There is no redeeming value in causing panic in the State; there is nothing to be gained by misinforming the public. This disease has no political coloration. It does not and will not spare those to be infected along political lines; therefore, we should put aside our political affiliations and tackle this issue as an existential threat. Nigeria has so far confirmed 12 cases of the deadly virus, out of which two have recovered. Amid public concerns of the risk of further spread, many states have ordered a closure of schools, religious, political and social gatherings. The federal government has also ordered all schools in the country closed, although it has not given a date for that to happen. Which masks should health care professionals be using? Ideally, clinicians would be using a new, tightly-sealed respirator, like the N95, with each patient. These are thicker than standard surgical masks, and are designed to fit more tightly around the mouth and nose to block out much smaller particles. The Food and Drug Administration said that neither surgical masks nor N95s should be shared or be reused. As the outbreak worsened and there were shortages in medical supplies across the country, the C.D.C. updated its recommendations for optimizing the supply of protective gear. Now, except in the case of intubations, which involve inserting a breathing tube, the agency says standard surgical masks are acceptable when examining or treating a coronavirus patient. (This aligns more closely with the W.H.O., which advises that surgical masks can be used in some situations, but warns that they are not sufficient on their own.) Some medical professionals suggested that the C.D.C.s new recommendations are borne of political expediency instead of science. We are concerned that C.D.C. recommendations are based solely on supply chain and manufacturing challenges, the American Nurses Association said in a public letter. Now, the C.D.C. also outlines a crisis strategy for wearing the same mask for repeated encounters with different patients. It suggests medical professionals may need to use masks beyond the manufacturer-designated shelf life date, and to prioritize the use of masks for activities in which there may be sprays, splashes or prolonged exposure. As a last resort, the C.D.C. says homemade masks like a bandanna or a scarf can be used, although their protective ability is unknown. Italy has recorded 627 new coronavirus deaths, the world's highest single-day toll since the coronavirus outbreak began, as its total deaths passed 4,000. Restrictions tightened in the UK on Friday as Prime Minster Boris Johnson ordered pubs, restaurants and theatres to close. The Mediterranean country's daily rate of fatalities is now higher than that officially reported by China at the peak of its outbreak around Wuhan's Hubei province. But Matteo Bassetti of Italy's prestigious San Martino clinic in Genoa said the government probably had no idea how many people really had the new disease. "There are so many people walking around who have the virus and who are at risk of infecting others," Bassetti told Italy's AGI news agency. "The 40,000 cases we are talking about (in Italy) could actually be 100 times higher." Italy is rapidly notching up one grim record after the next as it becomes the new global epicentre of Covid-19. In less than four weeks, it has recorded more deaths than China officially registered since reporting its first infection to the World Health Organization in late December. Italy has seen more than 1,500 deaths from Covid-19 in the past three days alone. The total number of deaths now stands at 4,032. Infections rose Friday by nearly 6,000 -- another international record -- to 47,021. UK begins closing down Prime Minister Boris Johnson effectively shut down the United Kingdom on Friday, ordering pubs, restaurants, theatres, cinemas and gyms to shut their doors in a bid to slow down the accelerating spread of the coronavirus. Johnson said he understood just how wrenching it was to take away the ancient rights of the British people but that it was absolutely essential to slow the spread of Covid-19. I do accept that what we're doing is extraordinary: we're taking away the ancient, inalienable right of free-born people of the United Kingdom to go to the pub, and I can understand how people feel about that, Johnson said. It's a huge wrench. The United Kingdom so far has 3,983 confirmed cases of coronavirus, after 66,976 people were tested, though the government's scientists say it is raging across London, partly as some people are not obeying government advice to isolate. At total of 177 people with the virus have died so far across the country. (with wires) T he chancellor has been urged to provide support for self-employed worker during the coronavirus pandemic after promising to help those employed by businesses. Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced during a Downing Street conference on Friday that the Government would partially underwrite the wages of workers who faced being laid off as activity collapses. This measure, to provide 80 percent of employees' wages up to 2,500 per month, contrasted with support given to freelancers who were told to claim Universal credit or Statutory sick pay at a rate of 94 per week. Former Conservative cabinet minister David Davis said the economy could suffer a near fatal seizure if self-employed workers were not protected. Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak unveil new measures to tackle coronavirus outbreak It is absolutely necessary. Without this the whole of the British economy will have a seizure almost a fatal seizure in economic terms, he told the BBC. It is great for those who have got jobs but it does miss out a pretty important sector of the economy namely the self-employed and he (Mr Sunak) is going to have to find a way of replicating this for the self-employed as well. Trade unions and employers organisations broadly welcomed Mr Sunak announcement on Friday that the State would underwrite wages, if firms agreed to keep them on. However TUC general secretary Frances OGrady said the union movement would be pushing really hard for freelancers. Coronavirus hits the UK - In pictures 1 /81 Coronavirus hits the UK - In pictures A deserted Westminster Bridge PA A man wearing a face mask or covering due to the COVID-19 pandemic, walks past customers sat outside a restaurant AFP via Getty Images Boris Johnson addresses the nation on the Coronavirus lockdown Andrew Parsons Runners pass cardboard cutouts of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince William during the London Marathon in London AP An empty escalator at Charing Coss London Underground tube station Jeremy Selwyn Electronic bilboards displays a message warning people to stay home in Sheffield PA A sign is displayed in the window of a student accommodation building following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Mancheste Reuters People take part in a 'We Do Not Consent' rally at Trafalgar Square, organised by Stop New Normal, to protest against coronavirus restrictions, in Londo AP People sing and dance in Leicester Square on the eve on the 10PM curfew Reuters Hearts painted by a team of artists from Upfest are seen in the grass at Queen Square, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Bristol Reuters Graffiti reads 'good luck and stay safe', as the number of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases grow around the world, under a bridge in London Reuters A sign is pictured in Soho, amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in London Reuters Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestures, during a coronavirus briefing in Downing Street, London AP A person runs past posters with a message of hope, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in Manchester REUTERS Riot police face protesters who took part in a 'We Do Not Consent' rally at Trafalgar Square, organised by Stop New Normal, to protest against coronavirus restrictions in London AP An image of The Queen eith quotes from her broadcast to the UK and the Commonwealth in relation to the Coronavirus epidemic are displayed on lights in London's Piccadilly Circus PA Military vehicles cross Westminster Bridge after members of the 101 Logistic Brigade delivered a consignment of medical masks to St Thomas' hospital Getty Images Durdle Door in Dorset Reuters Captain Tom Moore via Reuters Mia, aged 8, and Jack, aged 5, take part in "PE with Joe" a daily live workout with Joe Wicks on Youtube to help kids stay fit who have to stay indoors due to the Coronavirus outbreak PA An NHS worker reacts at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital during the Clap for our Carers campaign in support of the NHS Reuters Goats which have taken over the deserted streets of Llandudno @AndrewStuart via PA Tobias Weller PA Novikov restaurant in London with its shutters pulled down while the restaurant is closed London Landscapes: Hyde Park and the Serpentine, central London. Matt Writtle A newspaper vendor in Manchester city centre giving away free toilet rolls with every paper bought as shops run low on supplies due to fears over the spread of the coronavirus PA Theo Clay looks out of his window next to his hand-drawn picture of a rainbow in Liverpool, as the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continue Reuters A young man cuts another man's hair on top of a closed hairdresser in Oxford Reuters General view of the new NHS Nightingale Hospital, built to fight against the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in London via Reuters Jason Baird is seen dressed as Spiderman during his daily exercise to cheer up local children in Stockport, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues Reuters A woman wearing a face mask walks past Buckingham Palace Getty Images A man holds mobile phone displaying a text message alert sent by the government warning that new rules are in force across the UK and people must stay at home PA Medical staff on the Covid-19 ward at the Neath Port Talbot Hospital, in Wales, as the health services continue their response to the coronavirus outbreak. PA Prime Minister Boris Johnson taking part in a virtual Cabinet meeting with his top team of ministers PA A shopper walks past empty shelves in a Lidl store on in Wallington. After spates of "panic buying" cleared supermarket shelves of items like toilet paper and cleaning products, stores across the UK have introduced limits on purchases during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some have also created special time slots for the elderly and other shoppers vulnerable to the new coronavirus. Getty Images People on a busy tube train in London at rush hour PA Mia, aged 8 and her brother Jack, aged 5 from Essex, continue their school work at home, after being sent home due to the coronavirus PA Children are painting 'Chase the rainbows' artwork and springing up in windows across the country Reuters Social distancing in Primrose Hill Jeremy Selwyn A general view of a locked gate at Anfield, Liverpool as The Premier League has been suspended PA Homeless people in London AFP via Getty Images A piece of art by the artist, known as the Rebel Bear has appeared on a wall on Bank Street in Glasgow. The new addition to Glasgow's street art is capturing the global Coronavirus crisis. The piece features a woman and a man pulling back to give each other a kiss PA The Queen leaves Buckingham Palace, London, for Windsor Castle to socially distance herself amid the coronavirus pandemic PA A general view on Grey street, Newcastle as coronavirus cases grow around the world Reuters Matt Raw, a British national who returned from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan in China, leaves quaratine at Arrowe Park Hospital on Merseyside PA Britain's Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty (L) and Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance look on as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestures as he speaks during a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) news conference inside 10 Downing Street Reuters The ticket-validation terminals at the tram stop on Edinburgh's Princes Street are cleaned following the coronavirus outbreak. PA Locked school gates at Rockcliffe First School in Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear PA A sign at a Sainsbury's supermarket informs customers that limits have been set on a small number of products as the number of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases grow around the world Reuters Jawad Javed delivers coronavirus protection kits that he and his wife have put together to the vulnerable people of their community of Stenhousemuir, between Glasgow and Edinburgh AFP via Getty Images A sign advertising a book titled "How Will We Survive On Earth?" Getty Images A man who appears to be homeless sleeping wearing a mask today in Victoria Jeremy Selwyn A pedestrian walks past graffiti that reads "Diseases are in the City" in Edinburgh AFP via Getty Images Staff from The Lyric Theatre, London inform patrons, as it shuts its doors PA A quiet looking George IV Bridge in Edinburgh PA A quieter than usual British Museum Getty Images A racegoer attends Cheltenham in a fashionable face mask SplashNews.com A commuter wears a face mask at London Bridge Station Jeremy Selwyn A empty restaurant in the Bull Ring Shopping Centre Getty Images A deserted Trafalgar Square in London PA Passengers determined to avoid the coronavirus before leaving the UK arrive at Gatwick Airport Getty Images We have got members in industries from construction to the creative industries and this will cause real hardship unless we get to grips with it, she told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. Treasury Chief Secretary Stephen Barclay said ministers were concentrating on measures which could be rolled out quickly to keep the economy going. Experts warned that assessing the incomes of self-employed people who are outside the PAYE system would be difficult and would take time to work out. Mr Barclay said the issue for the Government was about operationally what is difficult to do and what can be delivered to the timescales were are working to. He said the self-employed were being helped through measures such as the deferral of self-assessment tax requirements, payment holidays for mortgage payers and the strengthening of the welfare safety net. We are looking at operationally what we can roll out to people, he told Today. The main thing we have done is twofold: it is to support the economy as a whole because the best thing for people who are self-employed, as for all people, is to sustain the economy and ensure that we can return with those viable businesses, and alongside that strengthen the safety net. So we have increased the allowance on Universal Credit, we have made it available from day one, we have removed the minimum income floor so if people who are self-employed are working less than 35 hours in a week they are not penalised within the benefits system. Paul Johnson, the director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank, predicted Mr Sunak would come forward with further measures, although said he would need to find the right administrative mechanisms to ensure such workers were paid the right amounts. This clearly is a gap. He is not able at the moment to replace the normal wages or incomes of the self-employed, Mr Johnson told Today. Every gambler knows That the secret to survivin Is knowing what to throw away And knowing what to keep Cause every hands a winner And every hands a loser And the best you can hope for is to die In your sleep. Source: LyricFind Songwriters: Don Schlitz The Gambler lyrics Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC After much rumour and speculation surrounding the OPEC+ meeting, the commencement of a global oil war was confirmed by Russias Energy Minister Alexander Novak when he said post meeting Considering the decision taken today, from April 1 of this year onwards, neither we nor any OPEC or non-OPEC country is required to make (oil) output cuts. With this action, Russia signalled its intentions to take on OPEC, its leader Saudi Arabia and to attempt to deal a death blow to a US shale industry that is already on its knees. Russia has long been negative towards OPEC+ production cuts. Whilst it has provided an environment of stable higher oil prices that have allowed it to become debt free and return to budget and trade surplus, the higher prices has also provided a free pass to the debt fuelled US shale industry to keep increasing production unfettered, to the point of overtaking Russia and Saudi Arabia and becoming the worlds largest oil producer. Recent actions though have no doubt stoked Russias grievances to the point that it is willing to risk a protracted and all-out oil price war against two superior opponents. On the Saudi side, Russia has long felt that artificially propping up oil prices by the Saudi led OPEC has given its old foe the US the ability to become an oil exporter for the first time in decades and thus become a serious competitor to traditional export markets. Secondly, rather than the mooted investment in Siberian gas projects, Saudi Arabia announced the Jafuria Shale Project the biggest shale project outside the US, which would allow Saudi Arabia to become a net gas exporter whilst freeing up oil supplies for export that had previously been used for domestic power generation. Story continues At the same time, Putin is pressuring Riyadh (and indirectly Abu Dhabi) to get more in-line with Russias operations in MENA, especially Syria and Libya. By breaking OPEC+, Putin has shown his willingness to take high risks to support his other strategic goals too. On the US side, aside from the shale industrys continued existence, Russia has felt aggrieved at the meddling of the US and the sanctions imposed by them on state-backed enterprises of Rosneft for trading with Venezuela and Nord Stream 2 to supply gas into Europe. As most aggrieved parties do, Russia believes that it has right on its side and views itself as being in a relatively strong position. Three years of stable oil prices has provided the Russians with a certain amount of firepower and the belief that it can withstand oil prices at between $25 to $30 per barrel for the next 6 to 10 years. In taking this view, Putin is gambling on a couple of assumptions. Related: WTI Rallies 24% In Panic Stricken Markets Firstly, that Saudi Arabia, who is embarking on large and expensive structural changes to the country and its economy, lacks the ability to maintain a protracted price war when they need $80 per barrel to balance their budget and fund their expensive structural changes. With perceived internal pressure on MBS continuing from inside the Royal Family, Putin may believe that the time is right. Whilst true that the Saudi budget requires $80 per barrel to balance its budget, it is not a requirement that it does so. Saudi Arabia has deep cash reserves, a cashed up Sovereign Wealth Fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), which is owner of SABIC and Aramco, and a far greater ability than Russia to borrow in the global financial markets. The Saudi Government has been gaming scenarios where oil drops to $12 to $20 per barrel and has been making its moves accordingly. Secondly, Putin plays on Trumps view that the key to his re-election is the performance of the US economy and the living standards of his voters Trump has always been very vocal fan of lower gasoline prices as a free tax cut to the US economy. Trump, whilst being a vocal supporter of the US Energy Industry, also feels no pressure to immediately ride to their rescue, as he is safe in the knowledge that he will always have their support whilst a Democrat White House would mean industry Armageddon. And by some perverse circumstance, Putin has an accomplice in Saudi Arabia, who having tried and failed between 2014 and 2016, is not against piling on the US shale industry and having a free-kick whilst Russia shoulders the blame. Remembering back in June/July 2018 we saw that Saudi Arabia was a victim of the Trump two-step when encouraged to pump more oil by Trump to drive prices down and help out him domestically, as he placed sanctions on Iran. Saudi complied, only to see immediate and significant waivers granted to purchasers of Iranian oil and the oil price collapse from $75. The Saudi response has been one of shock and awe with Saudi immediately offering barrels into the market with discounts of between $6 and $10 per barrel and Aramcos announcement yesterday to the Saudi Stock Exchange that from the 1st of April they will provide customers with 12.3 million barrels a day and additional 2.6 million barrels per day (~27% increase) from current production levels. As we know, Aramco has never been seen to be producing more than 12 million barrels per day. Increasing production by 2.6 million barrels per day requires some technical issues not yet solved. Whilst there is doubt as to whether these numbers can be achieved (and for how long), it is our expectation that they will dip into their reserves to meet these targets a sign of the commitment to their shock and awe tactics. Whilst this shock and awe tactic taken to be a direct response at the Russian oil industry, with the aim of bringing Russia quickly to heel, Russia may see this as somewhat of a tactical victory. With Russia only able to increase their production modestly (between 200,000 and 500,000 barrels per day), they may see that Saudis 27% increase in barrels offered as being able to deal the fatal blow to the US shale industry that it cant. They would certainly have been encouraged by the report by Lloyds overnight that Saudi state run shipping company Bahri has been active in procuring 10 VLCCs for late March loading (with a combined capacity of 20 million barrels), in addition to its own 41 tankers, on rates of up to $197,500 per day, to flood the US market. Appreciating his best chances lie in a quick victory, Russia has kept the doors of communication open with high ranking officials on both sides are continuing discussions to find a solution. Former Saudi Minister of Energy Khalid Al Falih and his Russian counterpart Novak are still not intending a full-scale crash of oil in the end. But, as Putin hopes to turn the short-term tactical successes of destroying production curtailments, pressuring MBS and the Saudi budget and killing US shale into long-term strategic victories, significant risks abound for all players, especially Russia in a protracted war. Whilst steady oil prices has seen Russias budget and trade surplus build up cash reserves in excess of $500 billion, combined with structural changes that has seen the budget break-even lowered to between $40 and $50 per barrel, Russias weak currency and still greater than 40% dependence on oil income, poses significant risks if this oil war is protracted. Since the oil price slide commenced, the Rouble has depreciated 23% against the US dollar. Related: U.S. Oil Industry Could End Up Losing More Than 200,000 Jobs Far from being a coalition builder, Russia is a lone wolf on the world stage. No longer the super-power it once was, it has been reduced to being a big player on the sideline - meddling in the affairs of the worlds problem children such as Syria, Venezuela, Libya and Ukraine. Military is prohibitively expensive and with military intervention in multiple locations, Russia will soon realise that the cost of budget promises combined with military intervention hubris, will bring significant pressure quickly on the seemingly rosy budget position. The same can be said for Saudi Arabias Yemen excursion. Russias lack of allies that have the capacity to trade with them, invest in them or provide financial assistance to them will be telling on Russia. Saudi Arabia has the much greater position of being able to rely on allies and to being able to borrow in the global financial markets at a much cheaper rate and with greater capacity. Russias dwindling reserves of hard currency, dwindling oil receipts and lack of financially viable allies that can assist will be telling as this crisis continues. Russias greatest risk is that, in an attempt to kill the US shale industry, that the damage done in the short-term effects the overall economic narrative of Trump, and for the sake of his re-election prospects he is forced into intervening on behalf of the US shale industry. In this, Trump has the flexibility of direct or indirect action, both of which would have a devastating effect on Russia. Trump has the ability to intervene directly by providing direct subsidies, loans, assistance or even equity purchases to support the shale industry participants. Direct action such as this would signal to Russia (and Saudi Arabia) that the shale industry will survive and perceived energy independence is a cornerstone of his economic agenda. Russia (and Saudi Arabia) will then have to consider the position of going to war to kill an industry that has the support of the one player with deep and limitless pockets. But, more devastating to Russia still, would be the indirect actions that Trump could take which would completely take down Russia on a structural level. Trump could begin with strategy right from his play-book and enforce a round of trade sanctions on imported oil. This would in the short-term shore up the local shale industry and curtail capacity dumping on the US. But, the nightmare scenario for Russia would be that Trump imposes economic sanctions on Russia, similar to Iran and Venezuela, that would limit or completely stop its ability to sell oil and gas, trade, borrow and receive at both a country and a personal level. This would be the smart play by Trump, which would use the least political capital, would provide a nationalistic argument to support and protect the Energy Industry and US sovereignty from attack and blunt any environmental flack for supporting the Energy Industry. This is a tool that is being used in limited circumstances by Trump now, with sanctions on Rosnefts trading arms, sanctions on Nord Stream 2 and the banning of US nationals from buying or dealing in Russian Sovereign Debt. We have seen the response of Russia to this limited action one can only imagine a widescale imposition of economic sanctions. Of course, Russia may choose to ignore these risks, as they have been doing, taking the view that the tactical considerations take precedence over the strategic ones as the effects of these sanctions have not been strongly felt whilst the oil price has been supported by OPEC+ and receipts have plentiful. But that would be a grave error as we have seen the effects of total US economic sanctions on Venezuela and Iran the incessant constriction of every facet of the countrys fabric of society. And, unlike Russia, the US is in the unique position to enforce its will on the global community cutting Russia off with no coalition supporters with the means or will to help break any sanctions imposed. Russia will then realise that strategic errors cannot be overcome by tactical victories. Russia has a short-term window before The Gamblers words ring true: Son, Ive made a life Out of readin peoples faces Knowing what the cards were By the way they held their eyes So if you dont mind me sayin I can see youre out of aces. By Mitchell McGeorge for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Read this article on OilPrice.com The USS Boxer's crew in the hangar bay during Boxer's 25th anniversary celebration. Boxer was commissioned in Pascagoula, Mississippi, on February 11, 1995. US Navy/MCS 2nd Class Justin Daniel Rankin The military has started to adopt social distancing as a way to stem the spread of the coronavirus. As that and other similar policies have gone into effect, the military's number of coronavirus cases has ticked up, and the nature of its operations means that troops may only be able to get but so far from each other. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Amid the national effort to respond to the spread of the COVID-19 virus, the US military has stepped up to assist as it works to protect its own personnel from the rapid spread of the disease. Military leaders have scrambled to alter the force's behavior to insulate their troops, but the nature of the military, that of a massed force working in close quarters, is a limitation on those efforts. The White House and the Centers for Disease Control have promoted social distancing as a way to halt the spread of the disease, which is thought to be mainly between people within 6 feet of each other. Senior leaders and commanders have said they're embracing those tactics. US soldiers in Tikrit, Iraq, phone home on Christmas Day, December 25, 2003. Reuters "We are altering exercises, training, and our current day-to-day operations to ensure safety for all," Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy told reporters Friday, saying that as of 7 p.m. on Thursday the Army had 45 coronavirus cases, including 21 soldiers. The Army "is a people organization," used to eating and working out together, McCarthy said, but "to prevent the spread of the virus, we must adhere to the social distancing guidelines of the CDC, such as quarantining and hand-washing." US European Command has "approximately 72,000 US uniformed military members, and at this very moment we have approximately 35 reportedly cases of the coronavirus," Air Force Gen. Tod Wolters, head of the command, said Friday morning. "The measures we are taking are all of those that nations have put in place," Wolters added. "One of the very effective ones that we believe is helping is social distancing, but all of the practices that you're familiar with and all of us have read about in the news, we are embracing here in Europe." Story continues US soldiers arrive in Zagan, Poland, as part of NATO deployment, January 12, 2017. REUTERS/Zbigniew Janicki/Agencja Gazeta Wolters' command is also overseeing the reduction of Defender-Europe 20, which was supposed to be the US Army's biggest exercise in Europe in 25 years but has become one of many exercises to be reduced in size or canceled due to the coronavirus. In the context of a large, multinational exercise, a disease like coronavirus is "something you've got to take the appropriate precautions [for], because it can spread quickly and have an immediate ... impact on readiness and health of the force," retired Army Gen. Curtis M. Scaparrotti, who led European Command between 2016 and 2019, told Insider this week. "I think the fact that they've limited the exercise, stopped the movement, those kind of things are indicative of that, and [European Command's] taken the right precautions to ensure that they take care of the force first, as a first priority," Scaparrotti added. 'It's a pretty agile force' Members of the US Army's 6th Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment sleep in their chairs after returning to base during a 24 hour Cavalry "Spur Ride" at Fort Drum, New York. Reuters Soldiers in barracks or in the field, sailors in port and at sea, and airmen on base or in the air all live in close confines, sharing space to eat, sleep, shower, and relax. Senior military leaders have said the force's average age and general level of fitness suggests, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said this week, that "they are less likely to contract and show symptoms at the rates of people older than them." But that doesn't make them immune. Esper said Friday morning that the number of service members who've contracted COVID-19 had risen to 67, up from 51 on Thursday. The Pentagon implemented social-distancing guidelines on March 9, and the effects have been evident in the Pentagon. Elsewhere in the military, such precautions have arrived slower. That same day, "hundreds of employees" from the US Army Aviation and Missile Command gathered for a town hall with the unit's commander to discuss issues facing its workforce. A day later, leaders at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri held a town hall to discuss concerns about the COVID-19 virus. USS Indiana submarine crew mess US Navy On March 11, officials at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida had a town hall meeting to discuss the coronavirus in a room with "a capacity limit of approximately 475 individuals." A day later, at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio where the governor has prohibited mass gatherings leaders held a town hall to discuss the coronavirus. The problem is more acute in the Navy, where small living and working spaces put sailors and Marines in tight confines. A day after the Navy's March 15 announcement that a sailor aboard the USS Boxer, which was docked in San Diego, had contracted the illness, the ship's leaders ordered dozens of senior enlisted sailors and officers into a cramped room for a briefing on social distancing, according to ProPublica. One sailor told ProPublica that some 80 crew members spent the roughly 30-minute meeting standing about 2 feet to 4 feet from each other "Definitely not enough room to maintain appropriate distance," the sailor said. The Navy has reported four cases of the coronavirus two on the Boxer, and one each on the destroyer USS Ralph Johnson and the littoral combat ship USS Coronado. Those cases are on ships in port, and the affected individuals are isolated, Rear Adm. Bruce Gillingham, the Navy's surgeon general, told reporters Thursday. "Our ships that are operating out at sea ... because of those enhanced measures that were undertaken weeks ago, we have not seen active transmission," Gillingham said. "So we believe they are essentially self-quarantined in place." uss indiana torpedo room submarine Chief Petty Officer Darryl Wood The Navy has also told its commands to avoid mass gatherings and implement social distancing to the greatest extent possible. Asked on March 17 whether the Pentagon would issue a moratorium on these kinds of mass gatherings, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said he didn't plan to do so, "at least not as this time." "That has not been raised to me as a problem at this point in time," Esper told reporters. "My view is the commanders have the authorities they need to take whatever precautions." Scaparrotti, the former European Command commander, said that because of the military's "ability to operate as an organization, a military one that's disciplined, that has a focus on health of the force, that has in part of it a good medical system," it's "probably in a little better shape" to respond to the challenge posed by coronavirus. "It's a pretty agile force, when it comes to being able to deal with the unknown or the unexpected," Scaparrotti said. 'This is a good order and discipline issue' Large tents the Army's 82nd Airborne Division set up for returning soldiers at Fort Bragg, North Caroline, March 17, 2020. Associated Press The State Department has told US citizens to avoid international travel, but the military's service branches are still preparing for troops to return from and deploy abroad. In a remote training area at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, large tents have been set up in recent days for hundreds of 82nd Airborne Division troops who are returning from Afghanistan and other deployments in the Middle East. The tent city is being called Forward Operating Base Patriot, or FOB Patriot. In Europe, some of the thousands of soldiers who deployed for Defender-Europe 20 are preparing to return to the US ahead of schedule. Upon their return, they "will be quarantined for 14 days and follow CDC guidelines for preventing the spread of COVID-19," US Army Europe told Insider this week. Later this spring, roughly 2,500 Marines will deploy to Darwin in northern Australia for a six-month rotation. Upon their arrival, they will spend 14 days "restricted to their rooms with access to necessary supplies." "Once we have ensured those quarantined are free of the virus, operations will proceed as scheduled," a Marine Corps spokeswoman told Stars and Stripes. Martial Arts Instructor Course students grapple with each other during their final exercise on Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, California, April 17, 2014. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Ali Azimi/Released How effective those quarantines will be is another question. One soldier returning from Afghanistan this month told The Daily Beast that his 14-day isolation period at Fort Bliss in Texas spent in a 15-foot by 15-foot room with three other soldiers, one bathroom, and little to do was "the most dysfunctional Army operation I've ever seen in nearly 17 years of service." Photos obtained by The Daily Beast also showed soldiers who were supposed to be quarantined mingling with other soldiers at Fort Bliss and Fort Hood, also in Texas. Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Grinston, the service's senior enlisted member, said Friday that senior commanders were looking into issues raised about the quarantine conditions at Fort Bliss. A Marine adjusts a fellow Marine's gear as they prepare to move for a cold-weather training hike inland, Iceland, October 19, 2018, US Marine Corps Wolters, the head of European Command, said his command had about 2,600 personnel that fall into the category of "concern" and that he's been able to talk by phone or video with those who've tested positive and those who are in quarantine. They "remain in good shape and very, very positive," Wolters said Friday. "My biggest challenge for those that have been quarantined for 14 days, as you can well imagine, is making sure that they understand that they by golly will adhere to the tactics, techniques, and procedures, and the rules and regulations that we've put out, and they're doing so." "This is a good order and discipline issue that we take great pride in accomplishing," Wolters added, "and part of that is making sure that we stick to the rules, but so far the force remains in good shape." Read the original article on Business Insider All products featured on Epicurious are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission. You might have an increased interest in baking right now. Baking bread, specifically, feels like a soothing, economical idea: You take just three ingredients and turn them into a hearty, versatile food. But, a simple loaf of crusty bread might be the most deceptively challenging baking project to tackle. Yet, every amateur baker must start somewhere, which is why I spoke with some of Epis biggest gluten hobbyists to round up a list of the best bread baking books for beginners. Breaking Bread: A Baker's Journey Home in 75 Recipes by Martin Philip This book is in the genre of white man finds himself via bread baking, but it's not mansplain-y at all. Philip addresses the mathematical part of bread baking in a helpful and straightforward way, not in a way that's overwhelming or exclusive. Theres a fun brioche recipe, that walks you through making a big, rich sandwich loaf, hamburger buns, or a brioche coffee cake. The chapters and recipes are categorized by all the places Philip has lived: In the New York chapter there are bagels, and in Vermont the loaves get a little more rustic, which I thought was fun. Kendra Vaculin The Fannie Farmer Cookbook by Marion Cunningham I came from a Fannie Farmer household. When my brother and I graduated from college my mom gave us each the newly revised edition. My brother got really into using this cookbook to learn how to cook, and started making his own bread using the Fannie Farmer guidelines. It's not necessarily for the trendy person who wants to do their sourdough and learn complex scoring patterns to share on Instagram. But in terms of giving you the basics of how to shape your dough, how to knead, what texture or consistency you are looking for in bread dough, its going to teach you all of that. And you can carry that knowledge over once you go level 900 and start doing the full sourdough enchilada.Emily Johnson Story continues Flour Water Salt Yeast by Ken Forkish I really like Ken Forkishs bakery in Portland. This cookbook came out right when I got into making my own sourdough, so I used it quite a bit. Everyone thinks of Tartine as the place to go for making your first sourdough, and I love their books so much now that I'm more experienced, but the recipe for Tartine's basic sourdough was hard for me to grasp as a beginner. This cookbook was my first foray into sourdough and I found it to be cleanly laid out and really easy to follow.EJ Sourdough on the Rise by Cynthia Lair This is the book that got me into bread baking, because the book made it seem easy. A lot of bread books are really nerdy and detailed because it is such a complicated subject. But it can be simple , and that's what this book proves. For example, in her main recipe for sourdough, she calls for half a cup of starter, nothing in grams or ounces, which is pretty wild for bread baking. But the recipe really works, and makes a delicious whole grain bread. This book is also all about whole grain sourdough, which I realize is not what all people want when they think of sourdough. But I really appreciate the book for talking about a different type of sourdough that isnt the holey white bread most people are familiar with.David Tamarkin The Tassajara Bread Book by Edward Espe Brown This one is super old school, but when I lived in California, literally everyone who baked had this book. Its from the Zen Mountain Center, a meditation retreat in Marin County. If you stay there you have to help cook the meals, so everyone is taught to bake from this book. It covers almost every type of bread and baked good.Joey De Leo Breaking Bread With Father Dominic by Dominic Garramone My mother gave these books to me when I first started making bread, and while many other bread books have crossed my desk, I still have these two on my shelf because they dont take up a lot of space, but contain great riffable recipes and reference material. Breaking Bread With Father Dominic isnt glitzy. Its not a particularly cool cookbook. But its practical and its sort of kitschy and it has great beginner recipes for both sourdough breads and commercial-yeast breads. I love his recipe for Pumpernickel, which, when I first came across it, was probably the first time I had seen cocoa powder used in a savory way.Joe Sevier Originally Appeared on Epicurious Actor Suchitra Krishnamoorthi and filmmaker Shekhar Kapurs daughter Kaveri has put herself under self-quarantine after returning from Boston, over coronavirus concerns. Kaveri, who is studying at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, landed in India on Thursday. She was stuck in the US after the college got shut and students had to vacate dormitories. As a mother I was going mad, didnt sleep for the whole week she was stranded. I was obviously in a lot of panic though she was staying with a close family friend and was being looked after very well. We had to write to the ministry, try to get everything done and the ministry was so proactive, they were sending directives... They did this for everyone with queries who were concerned, Suchitra told PTI. The actor said Kaveri was finally flown down in an emergency visa. It was all so smooth, she said people at the airport were efficient and thorough but compassionate. When you see videos on social media and whatsapp being circulated, you start panicking. This panic and unrest is uncalled for because our government and health personnel are handling it brilliantly with a war footing. As a precautionary measure, the 44-year-old actor said her daughter put herself under self quarantine despite being tested and cleared at the airport. She got tested at the airport and was completely clear but as a responsible thing, what shes doing is very sensible, she added. According to the Health Ministry data, the novel coronavirus cases in India rose to 195 on Friday after 22 fresh cases were reported from various parts of the country. The cases include 32 foreign nationals including 17 from Italy, 3 from the Philippines, two from the UK, one each belonging to Canada, Indonesia and Singapore. Meanwhile, actor Irrfan Khans wife, Sutapa Sikdar, took to Facebook to announce that their son Nabil has arrived safely back to the country after being stuck in London. Also read | Arhaan Khans Bigg Boss 13 stylist accuses him of not returning clothes, he says contestants stole them during task In her Facebook post, Sikdar narrated how she was aghast to see many people who had their masks like neck band and all the hugs and kisses upon arrival made me swoon. I made such a fuss I took two cars I didnt let my child sit on mine and didnt hug him was armed with my gloves and scarf so were both the drivers. In the airport they had done a thermal check and let him go. I was really surprised that at third stage in which India is they did not suggest home quarantine. They made him fill a form with his phone number I hope its not a formality I will eagerly await for their call after couple of days to check on him. Sikdar said shes now isolating her son for fourteen days as a precautionary measure. Follow @htshowbiz for more Rishi Kapoor, last year returned home after undergoing a year-long cancer treatment in New York City. The veteran actor is now practising Yoga while at home during the Novel Coronavirus outbreak (also known as COVID-19). Wife Neetu Kapoor shared glimpses of the actor's virtual Yoga class and B-town is already a fan. Neetu Kapoor, on Friday, shared adorable clips of Rishi Kapoor taking virtual yoga lessns while at home on Instagram. She captioned the post as, "Stay home, stay healthy!" Like most of the B-town celebrities, the couple is also advocating, Indian health officials advice about how to present the spread of Coronavirus even more. The caption also mentioned, the husband and wife being challenged by their son-in-law, Bharat Sahni, who is married to Riddhima Kapoor Sahni, to practise fitness at home. Neetu wrote, "We accept the challenge," The video shows Rishi Kapoor doing yoga by following steps on the television. The comments section was filled with encouraging posts from celebrities as well as fans. Niece Karisma Kapoor, Ranbir's girlfriend Alia Bhatt and her sister Shaheen all commented heart emoticons on the post. Alia wrote, "Superb," with heart emojis and started a conversation with Neetu, who replied with the "work hard" emoji. On the other hand, Alia Bhatt is spending self-quarantine time with a book. She earlier took to Instagram and posted a picture of the book she is currently reading, and wrote: "Stay home and finish a book,". Currently, Alia is also making headlines for breakup rumours with Rishi Kapoor's son Ranbir Kapoor. However, she addressed them with another social media post and captioned it saying that she is in quarantine, and safe at home with RK. The two have been working together, for the past two years, with Ayan Mukerji for Brahmastra - which has reportedly been postponed once again due to Coronavirus. ALSO READ: Rishi Kapoor Expresses Concern For Pakistan Citizens Amidst Coronavirus Scare Alia Bhatt Rubbishes Break Up Rumours With Ranbir Kapoor; Trolls Call Her An 'Attention-seeker' Interior Minister Marcel Vela in a press statement on Saturday said that the entrance on Romania's territory, through the state border crossing points, of foreign citizens and stateless persons, except for the situation in which they transit Romania's territory, on transit corridors, organised through agreements with the foreign states, will be forbidden. According to the military ordinance setting new measures for the prevention of the COVID-19 spread, the measure is to be enforced as of 22,00hrs on Sunday.Vela said that, by exception, it is allowed the entrance on Romania's territory of foreign citizens and stateless persons from several categories. The coronavirus pandemic continues to cause chaos across the UK and around the world. Heres your morning briefing of everything you may have missed overnight. Pubs and restaurants shut down in bid to beat virus Bars, restaurants, cafes, gyms, cinemas, leisure centres and theatres were all closed as of midnight on Friday. Announcing the unprecedented measures earlier in the day, prime minister Boris Johnson said the situation would be reviewed on a monthly basis. It follows similar action taken in a swathe of other countries including Ireland, France, Spain and Italy. Government to pay wages of staff not being used by employers Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the government would cover 80 per cent of salaries for employees who are kept on by companies even when there is no work. He said the job retention scheme would pay out as much as was needed for as long as the pandemic lasted, and would be open to all firms suffering as a result of coronavirus. The unprecedented intervention is expected to save hundreds of thousands of jobs but could cost into the hundreds of billions of pounds. Doctors to be issued with guidelines to help decide who should live and die NHS medics are to be given criteria on who to prioritise if hospitals run out of intensive care beds or ventilators. The guidelines expected to be issued on Saturday are a recognition that doctors may be forced to play god as huge numbers of patients overwhelm the system. Potentially, it could see a person already on a ventilator removed to allow a someone with a greater chance of survival to take their place. New London Underground announcement tell people they should not be using service The tube will stay open during the crisis, Boris Johnson has insisted, because it is needed by critical workers. But no-one else should be using it, officials say. A new PA announcement carried over the networks speakers cpuld be heard telling users on Friday night: All TfL services are now solely focussed on ensuring critical workers can move around as needed. You should not be using public transport or travelling for anything other than essential journeys. Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Show all 20 1 /20 Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Top: Nabi Younes market, Mosul Bottom: Charles Bridge, Prague Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Grand Mosque, Mecca Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Sagrada Familia, Barcelona Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Nabi Younes market, Mosul Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Basra Grand Mosque, Iraq Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Charles Bridge, Prague Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Taj Mahal hotel, India Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Dubai Mall, UAE Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Beirut March, Lebanon Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Gateway of India, Mumbai Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Cairo University, Egypt Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Amman Citadel, Jordan Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Beirut March, Lebanon Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Cairo, Egypt Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Cairo University, Egypt Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Victoria Memorial, India Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Amman Citadel, Jordan Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Amman Citadel, Jordan Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Sidon, Lebanon Reuters Supermarkets to hire tens of thousands The UKs biggest chains including Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Aldi and Lidl have all said they will take on thousands more staff to cope with increased demand during the pandemic. More cleaners, assistants, shelf stackers, delivery drivers, warehouse pickers and stock takers would all be needed, bosses have said. Tesco has announced it will take on 20,000 new workers; Aldi 9,000; Morrisons 3,500 and Lidl 2,500. Most will be temporary although some are expected to be permanent roles. Twenty per cent of Americans now in lockdown The US states of Connecticut and New Jersey have joined Illinois, California and New York in ordering residents to stay at home in a bid to combat the contagions spread. In total, that now means one in five Americans are currently in lockdown, the BBC estimates. "These provisions will be enforced," said New York governor Andrew Cuomo. "These are not helpful hints." World Health Organisation tells young people: you are not immune The WHO intervention comes amid mounting evidence adults in their 20s and 30s are not taking seriously the need to social distance and minimise contact. Scenes showing parties, packed bars and crowded beaches around the world have shocked the organisation. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general, said: You are not invincible. This virus could put you in hospital for weeks or even kill you. Even if you don't get sick the choices you make about where you go could be the difference between life and death for someone else." After the Tamil Nadu government acquired land for hydrocarbon projects, Dalits lost access to it Do you see that fire burning? Shanthi Shanmugam, an agricultural labourer from Pazhaiyapalayam village, in Nagapattinam district in Tamil Nadu, added: It burns over our heads 24X7. With it burns all my hopes of a good future. Shanthis life has changed dramatically in recent years. From the prosperity of the Cholas to making it the modern rice bowl of Tamil Nadu, the River Cauvery has nurtured the delta region. But, now, the three acres of land Shanthi owns is proving to be not enough to feed her family of seven. To supplement her income, she took up jobs as an agricultural labourer. But those have dried up. Now she travels to other villages for work. Her son, Thiruvasan does the same. Her other son, Thirupuhar, became an electrician after agriculture jobs disappeared. Today, my life is sandwiched between the fire and the well, Shanthi said. The fire and the well are part of Madanam field, a hydrocarbon production project of State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). The work at Pazhaiyapalayam started with ONGC drilling the well (MD-6) at one end of the village, close to the main road, in 2014. The fire is from the combustion of fugitive gasses at a processing facility on the other end of the village. Now, there are several oil and gas wells within a radius of 30 km. In addition, a gas pipeline project started in early 2018. The first casualty was land. When they talk about land, they only think of landowners, said Shanthi. Government talks to them, convinces them, and gives them money. What about us? We are dependent on the land, more than anybody else. Did anybody ask us? Did anybody give us money for our loss? This Dalit colony of Pazhaiyapalayam, where Shanthi lives, sits in the middle of paddy fields that make this region the rice bowl of Tamil Nadu. But Dalits own only small parcels of land, if at all. A few families rent land and earn by sharecropping. Most work as labourers on landlords fields. After the government acquired land for hydrocarbon projects, Dalits have lost access to it. Shanthi said that agricultural land not directly used by the oil and gas units is being ruined by oil spills, groundwater pollution, and emissions. Nothing grows on this land anymore, her neighbour Kandhimari, who owns an acre of land, added. And, how will anything grow without water, wondered another neighbour, 31-year-old Ezhilarasan, who also scouts for agricultural work in nearby villages. The groundwater has turned black since the well came up. Earlier, groundwater was available at a depth of 12-15 feet. Now, its much lower. Cauvery Delta has been facing severe water scarcity, seawater ingression, a decline in paddy cultivation area and production, and farmer suicides. Hydrocarbon projects have added to this pressure. Hydrocarbon production in Cauvery Delta is much talked about as an ecological issue, said S Sundar, a Dalit land rights activist. But, it is also an issue of land rights of the Dalits. One that nobody mentions. Landlords own huge tracts of land and live in cities, said Shanthi. They are happy to receive compensation and abandon agriculture. Were seeing a lot of people give up farming since wells started coming up. If this continues, Ill have no job and nothing to feed my family. It is us who lose. Cauvery basin is one of Indias seven Category I sedimentary basins: having commercial production and proven hydrocarbon resources. ONGC conducted its first drilling here in 1964 and declared a drilling holiday in 1977. It restarted drilling in 1984. Today, ONGCs Cauvery Asset extends from Puducherry in the north to Ramnad in the south and Thanjavur in the west to Karaikal in the east. It operates 24 onland fields covering 27,800 sq km and and three offshore fields covering 30,000 sq km. Cauvery basin produced 0.40 Million Metric Tonnes (MMT) crude oil and 1.29 Billion Cubic Meter (BCM) gas in 2018-19, according to a report of the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons. The well MD-6 in Shanthis village is an oil and gas producer discovered by ONGC in 2014-15. Sundar said that ONGC operates 158 wells in three districts: Nagapattinam, Thanjavur and Thiruvarur. For this, they have acquired over 206 hectares in Nagapattinam alone and over 502.58 hectares across three districts. In Villupuram district, another 274 wells operate covering an 1,653 sq-km land and 141 sq-km sea, he added. The official number of wells and extent of land acquired is unavailable. People living close to hydrocarbon facilities have no information on whether their neighbouring well is functional or what the plant is used for, and how safe it is to live close to them. KM Iraniyan, organiser of Tamil Nadu Land and Water Protection Movement, said that he has been trying to procure this information for several years but ONGC is extremely secretive. A February 2018 report entitled Illegal Business: The Real Story of ONGCs Operations in Cauvery Basin pointed this out too. It mentioned that ONGC has declared 700 well sites and 183 operational wells. However, Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) has records of only 219 well sites and 71 operational wells, the report stated. ONGC wells in Cauvery delta districts District Well count Operational wells Abandoned wells Nagapattinam 57 25 Not known Cuddalore 41 5 34 Ramanathapuram 40 35 5 Thanjavur 29 5 4 Thiruvarur 29 Not known Not known Pudukottai 13 None 10 Ariyalur 10 1 4 Total 219 71 57 (Source: Illegal Business: The Real Story of ONGCs Operations in Cauvery Basin, Feb 2018. Compiled from information from TNPCB and Online Consent Management and Monitoring System, CPCB) It also accused ONGC of operating wells without licenses. According to files provided by the TNPCB, all the wells are operating without valid licenses under the Air and Water Act. ONGC did not responded to several emails asking for information on Madanam project, number of wells, land acquisition, and how they make their facilities safe for the community. If you look at all the wells and processing facilities, and the pipelines connecting them, the whole of three delta districts Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, and Thiruvarur are covered, said Iraniyan. There is no place left for agriculture. Kandhimari, Shanthis neighbour, was awoken by a loud thud. It was a cool night in late December 2019. Her grandson, barely a month and a half, started screeching. Her daughter was crying. Kandhimari started praying frantically. Then, I heard a piercing, hissing sound, recounted Kandhimari. It is a gas leak, shouted somebody in the neighbourhood. We started running around in confusion. Children were petrified. We were panicking. The noise at night has become quite common, said Kaushlya, Shanthis daughter-in-law. We asked officials; they said it was routine maintenance. They do all this at night when we dont see anything or complain. But that night was unusual. We knew something was horribly wrong. Sundar said the thud was an explosion that occurred when a damaged rubber valve in the gas pipe burst; and this led to a gas leak. People in neighbouring villages, including Shanthi, took to the streets to protest. But a large police force didnt allow it. They enforce Section 144 (forbidding more than four people to assemble) whenever we attempt to protest, Shanthi complained. Iraniyan said the police didnt allow him and his fellow activists to enter the village. Im afraid of false cases, said Shanthi, referring to many protesters in the district being arrested and slapped with charges. Two weeks later, in January 2020, at around 3 pm, another explosion occurred. Dhaaaadh! Thats what I heard, Kandhimari recounted. My heart sank. She ran out to check. She saw fire and smoke rising from her paddy field, closer to the processing plant. A patch of my field was burnt. Two month old paddy seedlings had turned to ashes, she said. She lost her investment of Rs 20,000. She didnt receive compensation for the crop damage. When Cauvery is kind, this 1 acre of paddy sails me through a few months. But, this gas plant ruined everything. Now, she needs to work extra to recover the input cost. But where are jobs to make money? she wondered. Cauvery asset 24 Oil and gas fields in Cauvery basin: Adiakkamangalam, Attikadai, Bhuvanagri, Kali, Kanjarangudi, Kamalapuram, Karaikal, Kizhvalur, Kovilkalapal, Kuthanallur, Kuthalam, Mattur, Nannilam, Narimanam, Neyveli, Pallivaramangalam, Periyapattinam, Perungulam, Pundi, Ramanavalasai, Thirukkalar, Thiruvarur, Tulsiapatnam, Vadatheru Offshore fields (3): Pondicherry 1 and 3, Palkbay high, Palk bay shallow Major Production Installations Group gathering stations (2): Narimanam, Adiyakamangalam Gas compression station (3): Kovilkallapal, Kuthalam, Ramnad Central tan form (1): Narimanam Early production system /Extended production Testing(9): Kamalapuram, Nannilam, Bhuvangiri, Kuthanallur, Mattur, Tulasiapattinam, Pundi, Kuthalam-13, Kovilkalappal-11 Effluent Treatment Plant: 1 Trunk Narimanam pipeline: 34 km Flow lines: 540 Km (source: https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/136262/11/11-chapter%205.pdf) Earlier, repeated leaks in the pipeline have been reported in Mathirimangalam and Anaimangalam in Nagapattinam district. Several other incidents have been reported from other districts where hydrocarbon projects exist. List of oil or gas leaks and fires at ONGC facilities in Cauvery basin February 7, 2020 : Oil spill from the underground pipeline of ONGC carrying natural oil damaged a fertile land cultivated with black gram crop in Moolangudi village, Tiruvarur district. Due to the oil leakage, a portion of the land is inundated with the crude oil. February 2018 : Over 20 acres of farmland in Thiruvarur and Kattur districts of Tamil Nadu have been severely damaged due to oil leaks from an abandoned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. (ONGC) pipeline. The oil mixed with water from the Pandavai river, flowing through the district, is polluting it and further affecting 110 hectares of neighbouring Samba farmlands that use the river water for irrigation, according to a report by Puthiyathalamurai. September 2017 : A fire broke out in a cement tank containing effluents adjoining an ONGC exploratory well at Nallandarkoil village near Neduvasal in Pudukkottai August 2017: Oil/gas leak from pipeline at Mathirimanglam village, Nagapattinam. According to villagers, this was the fourth leak in 45 days. June 2017: Oil leak from pipeline damages certified organic farm in Kathiramangalam, Thanjavur, and spreads to downstream farms through Veloor irrigation canal due to lack of timely remedial action. February 2017: Oil leak and fire from ONGC pipeline in Vanakkankadu March 2016: Oil leak from pipeline damages cropland in Velangudi, November 2012: Oil spill from an earlier pipeline leak in June 2012 that ONGC had failed to clean up properly resurfaced with monsoon rains and contaminated farm land in Anaimangalam village, Nagapattinam. Spill spread into nearby irrigation canal due to lack of timely remedial action. Earlier leaks in the same section. August 2011: Oil spill from ruptured ONGC pipeline ruins paddy fields and flows into River Devanadhi in Adiakaramangalam, Nagapattinam. (Source: Illegal Business: The Real Story of ONGCs Operations in Cauvery Basin report, The Times of India, The Hindu, The News Minute) The report quoted the Central Pollution Control Boards observations on Anaimangalam oil spill: Oil leakages are occurring regularly and ONGC has not shown any urgency in mitigating these happenings, clearly indicating laxity on their part ONGC does not have any established disaster management system to have immediate feedback in case of any eventuality like leaks and fire and the incident in the present case was brought by the affected farmers to the knowledge of the ONGC officials ONGC does not have automatic leakage detection systems...,. That day, after the second explosion, Kandhimari dispatched her daughter and grandchild to her in-laws. I asked my daughter not to visit me. On 27 April, 2018, Padmavathi, a farmer belonging to a Most Backward Class (MBC) in Vettangudi village, received a letter. It was from GAIL (India), a State-owned natural gas processing and distribution company, notifying acquisition of her farmland for a gas pipeline project. GAIL proposed laying a pipeline from Madanam to Memathur in Tharangambadi. The 29-km pipeline required around 112 acres of land in 17 villages and was approved by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas in 2016, reported The New Indian Express. The Hindu quoted Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) youth wing president Anbumani Ramadoss saying that this project would affect about 30,000 acres of farmland. Another gas pipeline already existed between ONGCs Narimanam and Kuthalam fields close by. The letter informed Padmavathi that survey numbers of land to be acquired, including hers, were notified in a Central government gazette on 2 February, 2018. Padmavathi was shocked. This was the first time I was hearing of my land being acquired. They asked for 10 cents of her land and offered her a one time compensation (lease amount) of Rs 10,000. But you cant cultivate three meters on either side of the pipeline, which they dont compensate for. Also, they say theyd lay pipes at a depth of three meters so that cultivation isnt affected but they don't lay it that deep. And if the pipe suffers any damage, the agreement holds the landowner responsible. The landowner could face three years in prison, explained Padmavathi. She refused to give away her land. A few weeks later, some officials arrived with the police to acquire her land by force. Padmavathi didnt relent. Officials held a peace meeting and assured landowners of no adverse impact on farming. Still, several landowners refused to offer their land. Padmavathi was one of them. Padmavathi and her husband, Vilvanathan M, decided to contest parliamentary elections from Mayiladuthurai seat in May 2019. Padmavathis nomination was rejected while Vilvanathan contested and lost. They were among 100 anti-methane activists who had decided to contest elections. Only 14 could contest. None won. We both knew we werent going to win, laughed Padmavathi. The idea was to use the platform to raise awareness and build a momentum around the anti-hydrocarbon movement. Its difficult to freely discuss opposition to hydrocarbon projects here. Some people local administration, police, ONGC officials, and local people who act as land brokers for ONGC create trouble. But, nobody could stop us if we spoke about it as part of our election campaign. Opposition to hydrocarbon projects figured prominently on our election manifesto. People held a massive protest against the pipeline project on 13 April, 2019 at Nangur village in the same taluk. The work on laying of the pipeline was halted in November 2019. Then, one day in mid January, a registered post arrived. Padmavathi received and opened it. It was a cheque in lieu of compensation for her land. Ive lost my land to GAIL, said Padmavathi, One morning, in December 2018, Kavitha Sella Pandiyan was busy with her household chores. Her husband had left for fishing early in the morning. They live in Thoduvai village, which translates to touching the mouth (of the ocean). Most of the 1,000 families here are into fishing and related trades. Kavitha, like most families in the village, belongs to a fishing community, declared MBC, and now fighting for the status of Scheduled Tribe. She heard some noise outside, and went across the road to check. A few people had arrived with drilling equipment. She knew from news reports that ONGC was planning to drill well in her village. She called her neighbour Jayalakshmi who arrived with dozens of more women. Soon, a huge crowd gathered. A neighbouring village Iruvakollai in Vettangudi panchayat already had an ONGC well. Weve seen it standing right in the middle of the paddy fields. We didnt want that in our village, Kavitha says. The crowd stopped the ONGC team from working. The police arrived. But the crowd didnt give way. The government organised a peace meeting at the taluk office. Officials tried to calm people down saying the project would benefit everybody and that it wouldnt affect soil or water, said Kavithas neighbour Vishwanath. Next day, the fishing community organised a meeting near the village temple. More than 100 families gathered, including farmers and Dalit labourers. We discussed how the oil wells would threaten our unique landscape of fishing and agriculture, says Kavitha. Vishwanath explained that monsoon failure has forced a shift from groundnut as the major crop a decade ago to cashewnut and that most farming families take a single paddy crop. People are already working around an agrarian crisis. Taking away land and adding pollutants would add to the pressure, he says. And, what if effluents from the well leak into the sea, added Kavitha. How will my husband earn with no fish in the sea? Kavithas husband earns about Rs 10,000 a month, considered a good income here. After the meeting, the landowner, who had earlier made an agreement with ONGC, submitted a letter to the Tahsildar withdrawing his permission for his land to be used. The Revenue Development Officer repeatedly asked for peace meetings, Vishawanath said. Angudhan, a councilor of the neighbouring Vettangudi panchayat, says that ONGC offered Thoduvai a Rs 66 lakh project to build roads on the coast and buy walkie talkies for fishermen. But, many youngsters and women who are active in the anti-hydrocarbon movement refused the offer. We want development of the village but the government should do it, not ONGC, says Vishwanath. Meanwhile, Thirumullaivasal gram sabha, to which Thoduvai village belongs, passed a resolution to not allow any more wells. Some other gram sabhas, including Vettangudi, Kathiramangalam, and Kadhirpur, have followed suit. A total of 84 revenue panchayats and 65 fishing villages have decided to not allow hydrocarbon projects, says Angudhan. In total, over 250 panchayats across Nagapattinam, Thanjavur and Thiruvarur have passed such resolutions. Firstpost was unable to independently verify these numbers. The ONGC has not come back to Thoduvai since they were driven out with their equipment, said Kavitha. But, I fear they will come back. And this time with a much larger police force like theyve done in some villages. Whatever happens, we are not going to allow it. The biggest victory of the peoples protest came in February. The state government legislated the Tamil Nadu Protected Agricultural Zone Development Act, 2020 on 19 February. Aiming to protect agriculture in Cauvery delta, it prohibited eight categories of projects including hydrocarbon projects. The next day, the state also cancelled a 2017 notification that had declared 57,000 acres in 45 villages of Nagapattinam and Cuddalore districts as a Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Region (PCPIR). Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami has recently spoken about public opposition to hydrocarbon projects and their detrimental impact on the agriculturally-crucial delta. This is a huge step away from the Union governments position that these projects do not hamper agriculture or pose environmental or health hazards. However, celebrations might be premature. The Act stops only fresh allocations and allows the existing hydrocarbon activities or projects to continue. This means Shanthi and Padmavathi dont benefit from it, neither do all the villages in delta which have seen mushrooming of projects in recent years. In 2017, the Central government said that more than 700 wells were drilled for extraction of oil and gas in Tamil Nadu. Since then new projects, including the GAIL pipeline, have come up. Meanwhile, Kavitha isnt sure if the law stops offshore projects that might affect the sea. There is another problem: the law doesnt cover the entire delta, spanning eight districts. It forbids new projects in Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam districts and in some blocks in Cuddalore and Pudukkottai districts. The whole of three districts Tiruchirappalli, Ariyalur and Karur and parts of Cuddalore and Pudukottai are left out. The cancellation of the petrochemical region wouldnt stop a Rs 50,000 crore petrochemical refinery by Haldia Petrochemicals in Cuddalore as it falls out of both the protected zone and Petrochemical investment region. The chief minister pulled this project out from deep freeze just a day before he announced his intent to protect the delta. Similarly, a Rs 27,460 crore greenfield refinery in Nagapattinam by Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited, which would depend on imported crude, will be unaffected, reported The Times of India. Also, power plants and pipelines fall out of exemption. Meanwhile, the Central government has been aggressive in accelerating hydrocarbon exploration and production activities under its Open Acreage Licensing Programme (OALP). The ongoing fifth round of OLAP bid includes 4,064 sq km in Cauvery basin, spreading over Nagapattinam, Cuddalore, Puducherry, and Karaikal. The only ultra deep water block in this round also falls in this region. Another push from the government came when it exempted hydrocarbon exploration from Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and public consultation. This came two days after round 5 bidding began on 14 January. Vedanta Ltd, the firm with the highest number of hydrocarbon blocks awarded so far, had requested exemption from public hearing. Many of Vedantas projects in Cauvery delta have faced stiff opposition from the public. At the moment, the impact of new state law on this round is unclear. In effect, the new law has created more confusion than reassurance in villages where hydrocarbon projects exist. Vishwanath of Thoduvai is glad about the law stopping new mega projects. Government officials who routinely visited us to build public support for ONGC projects have stopped coming. At least for now. But, a village level meeting in the first week of March left him confused. A village leader said the CSR fund from ONGC was available to us for building roads and installing solar lights. Why are they offering us money if they are not building a project in our village? The government is playing political games, says Padmavathi. They want to keep us confused till the 2021 Assembly elections. Once thats over, theyll be back to snatch our lands. As the setting sun turns the last-standing patches of paddy into soft gold, Shanthi finished her stroll around the village. She reached her house and said, Three generations before me have lived right here. But this place is not safe for the fifth generation, cuts in her daughter-in-law, Kaushalya. Sometimes I want to run away with my kids. Not that they have a future here, she added There is no land. There is no job. And, there is no food. Shanthis smile vanished. She nodded helplessly. Anyway, it doesnt look like they will let us live here for a long time, she murmured. They said gas, oil, pipeline, coal And, they kept taking away more and more land. They will come back. Will the chief minister close this well, asks Shanthi, pointing at the MD-6 well near her house. Till that fire is burning behind my house, I will not sleep peacefully no matter what the chief minister says. She stared at the street light a board below declares it was installed by the ONGC in front of her house. Will they let me die on my land? Will they allow my children to live here? Shanthi wondered. That is my greatest fear. This story has been reported with the assistance of the Impact Journalism Grant 2019 Few Michiganders will forget this past week. On Sunday, the state had 53 cases of coronavirus COVID-19. By Friday, it was 10 times that -- 549 cases. It was a week in which K-12 schoos started an indefinite closure, college students moved home and St. Patricks Day was unusually low-key -- especially after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer banned dine-in service at Michigan bars and restaurants. Fitness centers and movie theaters were forced to close. Malls shut down for lack of business. Michigan automakers agreed to stop production. The stock market tanked, wiping out three years of gains. Timeline of coronavirus in Michigan: How did we get here? Below are the latest developments that impact Michigan residents. Number of confirmed cases jumps to 787. The number of people diagnosed with the coronavirus COVID-19 in Michigan dramatically increased with the inclusion of commercial and clinical lab results, reaching 787 on Saturday, March 21. That compares to 80 cases on March 18. Michigan reports more coronavirus deaths. There are now eight deaths in Michigan from coronavirus. That includes four Wayne County residents, two in Oakland County, one in Macomb County and one in west Michigan. Sorry, but your browser does not support frames. Whitmer closes hair, nail salons and barber shops. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued an executive order, which takes effect Monday, clarifying that all businesses providing non-essential personal care services must close through April 13. That includes barber shops and hair and nail salons. GM partners with medical company to make ventilators. General Motors is partnering with a medical device company to make ventilators during the COVID-19 crisis, according to a joint statement on GMs website. Whitmer not enacting martial law. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is seeking funding to activate the National Guard for strictly humanitarian missions, she said at a press conference Friday. Im asking for funding for National Guardsmen and Guardswomen to help distribute food and supplies. humanitarian missions. I am not calling for martial law, Whitmer said. Online instruction doesnt count towards K-12 school days requirement. Online learning wont count towards a districts instructional requirements mandated by the state, the Michigan Department of Education informed local districts Friday. Whitmer to ensure high school seniors will graduate. I will be working in the coming days to ensure our seniors graduate and that no child is held back as a result of our ability to provide face-to-face instruction during the COVID-19 school closure," Whitmer said Friday. Whitmer asks Trump to help auto industry. U.S. automakers, including Michigan-based General Motors Corp, Ford and Fiat Chrysler, and their suppliers are suffering financially amid the coronavirus outbreak. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine teamed up to write a letter to President Donald Trump and Congress asking for help. Coronavirus argument ends in shooting death. A Thursday night argument between roommates over restrictions caused by coronavirus concerns escalated into fatal shooting in Ann Arbor, police said. Evictions must stop during coronavirus outbreak. Whitmer issued an executive order that bans landlords from evicting their tenants while Michigan is under a State of Emergency due to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. Non-essential medical and dental procedures banned for now. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in an executive order issued Friday, March 20, ordered medical and dental facilities to postpone any non-essential" procedures beginning March 20 through the coronavirus-prompted State of Emergency is lifted. U.S. borders with Canada and Mexico closed Friday night. All non-essential travel between the U.S. and the neighboring nations of Canada and Mexico will be suspended Friday night at midnight. Number of people on life support with coronavirus. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said there are multiple coronavirus COVID-19 patients near death. Theres not an age group that isnt susceptible, she said during a conversation with Christy McDonald of One Detroit. Weve had a 5-year-old in Michigan test positive for COVID-19. Federal income tax deadline pushed to July 15. Americans will be given three extra months to file their taxes this year after President Donald Trump directed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to push back the approaching deadline. The extension was announced Friday in a tweet sent by Mnuchin. Coronavirus has Michigan nurses worried about protective equipment, sick time. The states largest union representing registered nurses says its seeing a general trend of hospitals with shortage of protective equipment, lack of policies protecting nurses and other frontline workers, and unclear procedures for how to deal with patients exposed to or infected with COVID-19. Whitmer letting child-care centers stay open. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has thus far left day cares off the list of mandatory business closures during the coronavirus, and has signed an executive order loosening some regulatory restrictions around providing emergency child care services. Sorry, but your browser does not support frames. Friday, March 20: Latest developments on coronavirus in Michigan Thursday, March 19: Latest developments on coronavirus in Michigan Wednesday, March 18: Latest developments on coronavirus in Michigan Tuesday, March 17: Latest developments on coronavirus in Michigan Monday, March 16: Latest developments on coronavirus in Michigan. Sunday, March 15: Latest developments on coronavirus in Michigan. Saturday, March 14: Latest developments on coronavirus in Michigan. Friday, March 13: Latest developments on coronavirus in Michigan. Thursday, March 12: Latest developments on coronavirus in Michigan. PREVENTION TIPS Michigans State Emergency Operations Center is coordinating state-government resources and the response to the coronavirus spread. It has shared the following tips: What you can do to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases: Always cover coughs or sneezes with a tissue or sleeve. Stay home if you are sick and advise others to do the same. Avoid close contact with people who are sick. Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands. Wash your hands often with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds. Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol, if soap and warm water are not available. Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces(computers, keyboards, desks, etc.). Its not too late to get your flu shot! While the influenza vaccine does not protect against COVID-19 infection, it can help keep you healthy during the flu season. READ MORE: Complete coverage at mlive.com/coronavirus North Korean leader Kim Jong Un guides artillery fire competition in this image released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency on March 20, 2020. (KCNA via Reuters) North Korea Fires Suspected Short-Range Missiles, South Korea Says North Korea fired two projectiles that appeared to be short-range ballistic missiles into the sea off the east coast of the Korean peninsula, South Koreas military said on Saturday. State media KCNA also said on Saturday North Korean leader Kim Jong Un guided an artillery fire competition between combined units of the North Korean army on Friday, displaying photos of him watching with high-ranking military officers, all unmasked. It was unclear whether Saturdays launch was part of the drill. The launch follows two earlier this month, when North Korea launched short-range missiles and multiple projectiles, according to South Koreas military. The suspected missiles were fired from North Pyongan province, South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff said. The province is above Pyongyang on the northwest corner of the Korean peninsula, bordering China. Japans coast guard said on Saturday that North Korea appeared to have fired a missile, which landed outside Japans exclusive economic zone waters. Earlier on Saturday, North Korea announced it will hold in April a session of the Supreme Peoples Assembly, its rubber-stamp legislature, in Pyongyang, which analysts had said would involve gathering almost 700 of the countrys leaders in one spot as the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus spreads worldwide. Related Coverage Editorial: Giving the Right Name to the Virus Causing a Worldwide Pandemic The Epoch Times refers to the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19, as the CCP virus because the Chinese Communist Partys coverup and mismanagement allowed the virus to spread throughout China and create a global pandemic. If it goes ahead, it would be the ultimate show of (North Koreas) confidence in managing the coronavirus situation, Rachel Minyoung Lee, of the North Korea monitoring website NK News, said on Twitter this week. North Korea has not reported any confirmed cases of the CCP virus that was first detected in China late last year. By Joyce Lee Epoch Times staff contributed to this report. The Northern Arapaho Tribe and Carbon County have announced their first respective cases of COVID-19. The Carbon County patient is an employee of Memorial Hospital of Carbon County. The Northern Arapaho patient is related to the other cases in Fremont County, which stem from an assisted-living facility in Lander. As we investigate this case and hear more about the other cases in the county we have good reason to believe that there are many more cases in the community, Dr. Paul Ebbert of the Wind River Family and Community Health Center said in the tribes announcement Saturday morning. The Northern Arapaho patient is a woman in her 70s from the Ethete area. She is in stable condition and receiving medical treatment, according to an announcement from the tribe. Health authorities are attempting to screen and isolate anyone who may have had contact with her. We are gravely concerned about the health threat that COVID-19 poses to Northern Arapaho members and the larger Wind River Indian Reservation, Chairman Lee Spoonhunter of the Northern Arapaho Business Council said in a news release. ... Now is the time for the Arapaho people to look out for each other. With our prayers and traditional way of life, and by following common sense health precautions, we will emerge from this challenge stronger than before. It was not clear Saturday whether the case was in addition to the nine previously confirmed cases in Fremont County or if the patient is one of the nine. As of 6:30 p.m. Saturday, the state still listed nine confirmed cases in the county and 23 in the state. State Health Department spokeswoman Kim Deti said shortly after noon she did not currently have any information on a new case in the county. In light of this we are recommending that all tribal members stay at home this weekend unless they have an emergency of some kind, Ebbert said in the statement. You should not congregate in groups, you should not go to the store unless you absolutely have to, you should not go visit other tribal members who do not live in your home and should avoid gatherings of any kind. These are tough and scary times. I know that many of these suggestions go against tribal traditions and family structure. However it is very, very important that we not be exposed and that we do not expose other tribal members especially our elders. We asked all tribal members to please comply with these recommendations. The Carbon County patient is an adult man over 50. It is important to note that the employee does not work in a clinical area and has been self-isolated at home for the last seven days, a statement from Memorial Hospital of Carbon County read. Hospital employees who had contact with the individual are practicing self-isolation and none are experiencing symptoms. Ken Harman, CEO of the Rawlins hospital, said the employees role did not require him to come in contact with patients on a daily basis. The man tested positive at one of the hospitals clinics after exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19, though Harman said he was never symptomatic at work. He started developing his symptoms on the weekend, Harman said in an interview. He never had any exposure to employees here at work. It hasnt impacted our organization in any dramatic ways. The patient has not been hospitalized, but Harman would not comment on his condition. We are in contact with the state Department of Health and working with them to initiate all necessary precautions, Harman said in an earlier statement. We will continue to do everything we can to protect our employees, patients and the people of Carbon County. Memorial Hospital of Carbon County is using its preexisting clinics to deal with the outbreak, setting up screening stations both at the hospital and at each clinic. Like every other hospital in Wyoming, we have a limited supply of collection kits, Harman said. Were working very collaboratively with the state and with the Wyoming Hospital Association to make sure that those that fit the criteria are receiving the testing. And the state has assured us that if we get to the point where weve used what we have that well be able to continue to look at those high-risk individuals and provide that care. The CEO was not sure how many coronavirus tests the hospital had conducted. A fair amount, he said. According to a Facebook post shared by Carbon County Public Health, officials were notified late Friday of the positive case. The test had been sent to the state laboratory. Though this is our first case, we do not expect it to be our last, Carbon County Health Officer Dr. Wayne Couch said in a statement. I encourage Carbon County to stay vigilant with personal hygiene practices and social distancing. If you are exhibiting a fever, cough, and flu like symptoms please contact your healthcare provider. If you have any questions please contact Carbon County Public Health. As of 9:30 a.m. Saturday, the state has gathered 461 tests in Wyoming: 409 at the Wyoming Public Health Laboratory, 51 reported by commercial labs and one by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Carbon County is the latest county to get its first case in recent days, along with Natrona and Campbell counties. Park County also has one case. Fremont County has nine cases, all believed to be related to an assisted living facility in Lander. Four of them have been hospitalized. Laramie and Sheridan counties each have four cases. Teton County has two. All Wyomings cases have been announced since March 11. With Natrona County having its first case confirmed Friday evening, the virus is now in the states largest population centers. As the virus spreads, all of the states schools have been shut down. Gov. Mark Gordon has declared a state of emergency, and he issued an order Thursday closing bars, museums, gyms and most other public spaces. Additionally, he has prohibited gatherings of more than 10 people, with some exceptions. Nationwide, there have been nearly 18,000 cases as of Saturday morning, according to the New York Times. At least 239 people have died of the illness. Follow managing editor Brandon Foster on Twitter @BFoster91 Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. JTHS-MIAMI President David Abernathy Palm Beach County real estate posted another strong month in February, consistent with recent market trends" Palm Beach County total home sales, dollar volume and luxury ($1-million-and-up) transactions increased double digits year-over-year in February 2020, according to the MIAMI Association of Realtors (MIAMI) and the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) system. Palm Beach County real estate posted another strong month in February, consistent with recent market trends, JTHS-MIAMI President David Abernathy said. While the effects of COVID-19 on the economy and real estate market remain uncertain, we are reassured by the strength and vitality of the South Florida real estate market and economy. The region is on solid financial footing, mortgage rates are at historic lows and supply of inventory has been decreasing for months. Palm Beach County continues in a sellers market (inventory below 6 months of supply) with months of supply trending downward, a sign of the high demand for Palm Beach real estate. Palm Beach County Total Home Sales Rise 12.4% Total Palm Beach County home sales increased 12.4% year-over-year, from 2,000 to 2,248. Palm Beach single-family home sales rose 12.3%, from 1,098 to 1,233. Palm Beach condo sales increased 12.5%, from 902 to 1,015. A rise in mid-market and luxury transactions fueled the rise in total home sales. In the mid-market, Palm Beach County single-family homes priced between $400K to $600K saw a rise of 34.7% in transactions to 287 sales. Palm Beach condos priced between $400K to $600K registered a 60.5% rise in sales to 69 transactions. In the luxury market, Palm Beach single-family homes priced above $1 million rose 16.5% to 106 transactions. Palm Beach condos priced above $1 million increased 45.5% to 48 transactions. Single-family home dollar volume increased 29%, from $582.1 million to $750.7 million. Condo dollar volume increased 27.6%, from $264.4 million to $337.5 million. According to Freddie Mac, the average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage decreased to 3.47% in February, down from 3.62% in January. The average commitment rate across all of 2019 was 3.94%. A new condo approval process could increase sales in the future. The new guidance, which goes into effect in October 2019, extends certifications from two years to three, allows for single-unit mortgage approvals, provides more flexibility with owner/occupancy ratios, and increases the allowable number of FHA loans in a single project. The changes, many of which MIAMI and NAR has championed, should yield thousands of new homeownership opportunities. Another Month of Price Appreciation in Palm Beach Palm Beach County single-family home prices increased 6.8% in February 2020, increasing from $340,000 to $363,000. Existing condo prices increased 3.3%, from $183,000 to $189,000. Palm Beach Distressed Sales Stay Low, Reflecting Healthy Market Only 2.8% of all closed residential sales in Palm Beach were distressed last month, including REO (bank-owned properties) and short sales, compared to 4.3% in February 2020. Total Palm Beach distressed sales decreased 24.7%, from 85 to 64. Short sales and REOs accounted for 0.4% and 2.4%, respectively, of total Palm Beach sales in February 2020. Short sale transactions decreased 23.1% year-over-year while REOs decreased 25%. Nationally, distressed sales represented 2% of sales in February, unchanged from January and down from February 2019. Palm Beach Real Estate Selling Close to List Price The median number of days between listing and contract dates for Palm Beach single-family home sales was 61 days, even from last year. The median number of days between the listing date and closing date for single-family homes was 103 days, up 3% from last year. The median time to contract for condos was 59 days, a 1.7% decrease from 60 days last year. The median number of days between the listing date and closing date for condos was 97 days, even from last year. The median percent of original list price received for single-family homes was 95%. The median percent of original list price received for existing condominiums was 93.7%. National and State Statistics Nationally, total existing-home sales transactions rose 6.5% from January to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 5.77 million in February. Additionally, for the eighth straight month, overall sales greatly increased year-over-year, up 7.2% from a year ago (5.38 million in February 2019). Statewide closed sales of existing single-family homes totaled 20,693 last month, up 9.1% from February 2019, according to Florida Realtors. Floridas condo-townhouse market totaled 8,842, up 10.8% from the level a year ago. Closed sales may occur from 30- to 90-plus days after sales contracts are written. The national median existing-home price for all housing types in February was $270,100, up 8.0% from February 2019 ($250,100), as prices rose in every region. Februarys price increase marks 96 straight months of year-over-year gains. Statewide median sales prices for both single-family homes and condo-townhouse properties in February rose year-over-year for 98 months-in-a-row. The statewide median sales price for single-family existing homes was $270,000, up 8% from the previous year, according to data from Florida Realtors Research Department in partnership with local Realtor boards/associations. Last months statewide median price for condo-townhouse units was $200,000, up 6.7% over the year-ago figure. The median is the midpoint; half the homes sold for more, half for less. Palm Beach Cash Buyers Represent More than Double the National Figure Palm Beach cash transactions comprised 47.7% of February 2020 total closed sales, compared to 48.6% last year. Palm Beach cash transactions are more than double the national figure (20%). Condominiums comprise a large portion of Palm Beach cash purchases as 62.5% of condo closings were made in cash in February compared to 35.5% of single-family home sales. Sellers Market for Palm Beach Real Estate Inventory of single-family homes decreased 24% in February from 8,269 active listings last year to 6,282 last month. Condominium inventory decreased 11.6% to 6,170 from 6,976 listings during the same period in 2019. Months supply of inventory for single-family homes decreased 27.6% to 4.2 months, which indicates a sellers market. Existing condominiums have a 5.4-month supply, which also indicates a sellers market. A balanced market between buyers and sellers offers between six- and nine-months supply. Total active listings at the end of February decreased 18.3% year-over-year, from 15,245 to 12,452. New listings of Palm Beach single-family homes decreased 8.6% to 2,230 from 2,039. New listings of condominiums increased 2.6%, from 1,792 to 1,838. Nationally, total housing inventory at the end of February totaled 1.47 million units, up 5.0% from January, but down 9.8% from one year ago (1.63 million). Unsold inventory sits at a 3.1-month supply at the current sales pace, equal to the supply recorded in January and down from the 3.6-month figure recorded in February 2019. To access February 2020 Palm Beach Statistical Reports, visit http://www.miamirealtors.com/news/south-florida-market-intelligence Note: Statistics in this news release may vary depending on reporting dates. MIAMI reports exact statistics directly from its MLS system. About the MIAMI Association of Realtors The MIAMI Association of Realtors was chartered by the National Association of Realtors in 1920 and is celebrating 100 years of service to Realtors, the buying and selling public, and the communities in South Florida. Comprised of six organizations, the Residential Association, the Realtors Commercial Alliance, the Broward-MIAMI Association of Realtors, the Jupiter Tequesta Hobe Sound (JTHS-MIAMI) Council, the Young Professionals Network (YPN) Council and the award-winning International Council, it represents 52,000 total real estate professionals in all aspects of real estate sales, marketing, and brokerage. It is the largest local Realtor association in the U.S. and has official partnerships with 222 international organizations worldwide. MIAMIs official website is http://www.MiamiRealtors.com As thousands of people across Manitoba self-isolate and practise social distancing in an attempt to clamp down on the spread of COVID-19, Manitobans more than 100 years ago were going through much the same thing in the face of the Spanish flu. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 21/3/2020 (662 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Advertisement Advertise With Us As thousands of people across Manitoba self-isolate and practise social distancing in an attempt to clamp down on the spread of COVID-19, Manitobans more than 100 years ago were going through much the same thing in the face of the Spanish flu. The two outbreaks were similar in the wide-ranging impact they had on Brandonites lives. Minnie Paterson sits with her family approximately five years before the Spanish flu outbreak. (Submitted) The flu killed approximately 55,000 Canadians just as the First World War came to a close, nearly as many as the 60,000 who died in the war. Cases at the beginning of the outbreak spread more quickly than today, and Brandon was harder hit, according to The Brandon Suns coverage at the time. While there are currently no cases of COVID-19 in Brandon, on Oct. 22, 1918, the Sun reported the city had 55 cases of the Spanish flu, along with three deaths mostly people from outside the city. Esyllt Jones, a professor in the department of history at the University of Manitoba, said based on her research there seemed to be less anxiety among the general public in 1918 than there is today. The lack of mass travel meant many people knew about the flu weeks before it arrived in Brandon or Manitoba, so it wasnt a surprise. Working from home also wasnt an option for most, so many businesses stayed open as the virus spread. "One of the ironies of social distancing measures in that period ... is that while they prevented people from going to church, they still went to work every day," she said. University of Manitoba history professor Esyllt Jones. (File) While more restaurants and stores are closing their doors today, they also closed in 1918 at the beginning of the epidemic. The Sun reported on Oct. 16, 1918, that social teas and large social gatherings and been banned by the provincial health officer. A small article from that day said the Older Boys Conference had been postponed indefinitely. A story from Nov. 23, 1918, says there was a ban on public meetings, and places selling food, such as ice-cream parlours and tea rooms, had been forced to close. Like today, schools and universities shut their doors to reduce people gathering and spreading the illness. The Sun reported that although there were no cases at Brandon College, it had closed classrooms out of an abundance of caution. City council had also cancelled meetings while there was a ban on public meetings. By November 1918, there were calls to support the local businesses that had been shut down to slow down the spread of the flu. "While every theatre owner realized that it was necessary to co-operate with the health authorities in every city, town and community where the epidemic raged in order to do their utmost to stamp out the dreaded disease, great financial loss has resulted in closing the theatres, which loss has been entirely borne by each individual owners and not forgetting the thousands who have been thrown out of employment, and it is urged that the public give their hearty support to the motion picture houses when they open again after the influenza epidemic is checked," an article from Nov. 4, 1918, reads. Brandon City Council also supported theatre owners at the time and had sent a letter to the province asking for support for the owners and those out of a job. There were also calls for the government to support the many other businesses affected by the outbreak. CNS PROVINCE VANCOUVER SUN Influenza victims crowd into an emergency hospital near Fort Riley, Kansas in this 1918 photo. The 1918 Spanish flu pandemic killed at least 20 million people worldwide. (File) The Sun reported that some theatres in eastern cities (the paper did not specify which ones) had reopened, but had fumigated and customers had to wear masks. By mid-November 1918, flu cases were escalating. On Nov. 14, the Sun reported 23 new cases and eight deaths. Jones said this coincides with an explosion of cases as the flu was spreading more rapidly. Social distancing did exist at the time, but it was often about quarantining people in their homes, she said. Public health officials would put a sign on the doors of houses where sick people lived. While it did inform the community of where Spanish flu cases existed, Jones said the people living there hated the practice and so officials were hesitant to use it. One of the differences at the height of the pandemic was that people in 1918 wouldnt have seen the same shortages consumers are seeing nowadays, Jones said. People didnt rush out to stockpile toilet paper or canned goods. There was, however, a surge in the price of a funeral as so many people were dying in a short period of time. A few days later, on Nov. 22, 1918, the Sun reported a "marked decrease" in new cases, down to only 30 new ones in the last day. By that point there were 712 cases in Brandon. Daily life returned somewhat to normal by mid-December 1918. The sun reported on Dec. 16 that there were still some cases of the flu in Brandon, but the ban on public meetings had been lifted. There was a call-out for volunteers to help look after sick people as teachers were "taking a rest" before school reopened. When schools did reopen on Dec. 30, 1918, the Sun reported school trustees were happy with the large attendance. "The flu epidemic came along. Again, all sections of citizens nobly rallied to the call for volunteers to fight the insidious disease. It was the community spirit all the way through. Meanwhile, news came along steadily that Brandon men were being added to the number of dead in France and Flanders. Can it not be said that Brandon has laid solidly and sound the foundations of future greatness. All hail to the New Year," the article reads. Jones said the swell in volunteers to help the sick during the Spanish flu outbreak is one of the things that marks the period. Hundreds of people tended to the sick, while today many people would be more cautious about getting sick themselves. Minnie Paterson was one of the Westman residents who took up the call to help people who came down with the flu. Harvey Paterson, her grandson, said Minnie lived south of Kenton. He remembers stories about the community coming together to help two men who came down with the flu. Minnie personally tended to the sick and brought them food every day while men in the community helped out on their farm. "She took it upon herself she would walk every day and take food there. Food that would drop their temperatures and make them feel better. She would give them all sorts of medications that she made up; she knew quite a bit about what would break a fever," he said. Minnie was also taking care of four of her own children at the time. When she got home, Harvey said, she would hang her clothes outside in the cold to kill any viruses on them and to avoid getting the rest of her family sick. "While she was working, she made a mask out of cloth over her head. She did that for months and months while she was treating them," he said. Looking back, Harvey said hes proud of his grandmother and the work she did. The story has become poignant as Brandon and the rest of the world is in the midst of a new pandemic that echoes the past. "It was so different, and yet its the same. I just think 102 years ago this happened and now were going through the same thing now." dmay@brandonsun.com Twitter: @DrewMay_ There is also speculation the war increased the deadliness of the virus. Soldiers, weakened by undernourishment, as well as the stress of combat and chemical attacks, weakened their immune systems and made them especially susceptible. Countries like Germany were suffering under blockade and starvation was effecting the populace, a perfect storm for the deadly virus. Spanish, being attached to this flu virus is a bit of a misnomer. In an effort to maintain morale, wartime censors minimized early reports of the illness and mortality in places like Germany, the United Kingdom, France and the United States. Papers in neutral Spain were free to report on the pandemics effects, such as when the virus sickened King Alfonso XIII. The result was to give the false impression Spain had been particularly hit hard, and gave rise to the nickname by which it is known today, Spanish flu. In the United States, the disease was first observed in Haskell County, Kan., in January 1918. By March a company cook at Fort Riley came down with the disease, the first recorded victim of the flu. Within days 552 men at the camp had also became sick. Little was done to stop movement from the camp, and the flu rode the rails, reaching New York by March 11. The Indian Railways on Friday announced the cancellation of over 3,700 passenger locomotives and long-distance mail, express trains, which were scheduled to start their journeys on Sunday. The cancellation of the trains coincides with the 'Janata Curfew', which was announced by PM Narendra Modi during his address to the nation on Thursday. "No passenger or express train will originate from any railway station on the country between Saturday/Sunday midnight to 10:00 pm on Sunday," said the order issued by Indian Railways. The order also said that intracity rail services in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, and Secunderabad will be reduced to a bare minimum number of trains, which should be enough to cater to essential travel. The Indian Railways has given the power to each zone to decide by how many trains they would allow to run in their areas on Sunday. The order issued by the Indian Railways will lead to the cancellation of around 2,400 passengers trains as no train would be allowed to start its journey from 12:00 am on Sunday till 10:00 pm. The order also said, "However, the passenger train services already on run at 7:00 am on Sunday will be allowed to run their destinations. Divisions should keep a watch and trains which are empty could be short term terminated if required." This means that trains that start their journeys before midnight on Saturday and are still running at 7:00 am on Sunday would be allowed to complete their journeys. Over 1,300 long-distance mail and express trains will also get cancelled as per the order issued by the Indian Railways. The Railway Board has issued directions to all zones that passengers already travelling in trains during the shutdown should not face any hassle. "Adequate arrangements may be made to facilitate hassle-free refund to passengers affected by tarin cancellations," the order said. The Railway Board has also allowed divisional managers to run special trains if they find it necessary to do so. The 'Janata Curfew', the social distancing campaign announced by PM Modi, will be observed from 7:00 am to 9:00 pm on March 22. Also Read: Coronavirus impact: British FM Rishi Sunak outlines 'unprecedented' wage cover for UK businesses Also Read: Coronavirus Live Updates: Positive cases spike to 258; fresh cases from Kerala, Rajasthan The national security implications of the coronavirus response are almost beyond the scope of any one inquiry. President Donald Trump is already using emergency powers to enact an agenda he has sought for a long time. There is talk of expanding the governments use of the Defense Production Act. People are worried about civil liberties and about the November elections. As has broadly been the case throughout the Trump era, we are flying blind in many cases, without laws or norms to guide us. Georgetown Law professor Joshua Geltzer served as senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council in the Obama administration and, prior to that, as deputy legal adviser to the NSC and counsel to the assistant attorney general for national security. I asked him to help me think through questions about rule of law, the future of free and fair elections, and other national security questions I had been too freaked out about to ask. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Dahlia Lithwick: I wanted to start with the elections. Because I keep thinking that we may be missing the big picture. I am hugely in favor of vote by mail and expanded absentee balloting as Rick Hasen and Dale Ho suggest. But I am concerned that even with such measures there are a million other ways to disrupt or corrupt the presidential election. And that we arent even thinking of them yet. Do you have any thoughts about what would constitute a legitimate election, mid-pandemic, and what measures you would use to determine that it had been free and fair? Josh Geltzer: At a fundamental level, a legitimate election might be one in which the technical requirements of the Constitution and implementing statutes are adhered to. In other words, if some number of ballots are cast in some manner (such as, say, by mail) thats lawfully permitted; if those ballots are then counted in each state as the law dictates; if the Electoral College and ultimately Congress play their anointed rolesall of that might add up to an election thats lawful in mid-pandemic circumstances, and thus legitimate. I wonder if the question of whats free and fair might be a different question: If, to take an extreme example, only 1 percent of Americans vote, would the result of that vote be free and fair? What if that 1 percent are overwhelmingly those who are able to print a mail-in ballot while at home during social distancing because they own printersdoesnt that start to look pretty unfair? So, there could be answers about fairness that are different from answers about legitimacy. And the two could be related. At some point, the unfairness could violate constitutional standards and, in turn, yield illegitimacy. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bottom line: it aint easy, Dahlia. But democracy aint easy; and this pandemic aint easy, either. How does this connect to the issue of emergency powers and the president. I know you have given a lot of thought to that question, even before mass lockdowns, and I wonder where you see the issue of broad wartime powers and the upcoming elections intersecting in ways we havent yet considered? Before coronavirus, many of us were concerned about and critical of Trumps invocation of emergency authorities. Now, many of us are concerned about and critical of Trumps failure to invoke emergency authorities. I dont think thats actually inconsistent: before, Trump was invoking emergency authorities for fake emergencies, such as at the southwest border; now, hes refusing to invoke fully emergency authorities like the Defense Production Act to mobilize the private sector to make sorely needed medical equipment in the face of a real emergency. Its bad to invoke emergency authorities when no emergency exists; it might be even worse to refuse to invoke such authorities when a genuine emergency does exist. Advertisement That said, hes still Donald Trump; hes still a serial abuser of executive authority; and hes still just about the last guy Id trust with additional power. So, even as many of us urge Trump to invoke authorities that can help us address a grave national emergency, I think we need more discussionquicklyabout how we constrain his reliance on those authorities. That can include articulating where we think the authorities boundaries are; time-limiting their use; and ensuring theres oversight of their implementation, so theyre not abused. Advertisement Advertisement On the specific notion of wartime powers, its important to remember that elections happened in this country even during the Civil War, perhaps the most extraordinary of emergencies to afflict this nation. Its simply textbook law that only Congress can change the dates of the presidential election cycle; and its not at all clear, at this point, that doing so is necessary or prudent. Whats more, theres something perverse here: Donald Trump of course didnt create this virus, but his abysmal response has made its outbreak in the United States much worse. For him to turn around and invoke additional authorities because of an emergency situation Trump himself has aggravated seems pretty perverse. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ill ask you the same question I asked Michele Goodwin: How do we calibrate the need for a strong, effective, centralized, and civil-liberties encroaching public health response to the virus, against the sense that this is an executive branch that has shown dramatically little interest in civil liberties and the rule of law even in peacetime? Whats the best way to balance the two imperatives? My basic answer is to try to look past this crisis, even as all-consuming as it is right now, and thus to ensure that the authorities appropriate to deal with it dont overstay their welcome. Its easy for authorities newly enjoyed by the executive branch to become sticky, so to speak: to remain in the toolbox of presidents, to get expanded over time by executive branch lawyers, and to be acquiesced in (if resented) by Congress, as well as the courts. But we dont want the executive branchand many of us especially dont want a Trump-led executive branchto get comfortable with authorities that may well be appropriate here and now for dealing with a truly life-and-death situation but should end there. So, Congress should be using tools like sunset clauses, reporting requirements, and other forms of constraint and oversight to try to confine to the current circumstances exercises of power we may need now but regret if they persist later. Advertisement Advertisement I guess part of what worries me is that in uncertain times, its tremendously hard to know what national security and democracy-protective steps will be taken that make us genuinely less free, and what seems like inchoate fear and panic. Do you have some imaginary line in your heada place in which you would know when constitutional democracy itself is imperiled? Advertisement Advertisement I have a bunch of lines, and I worry theres already chalk on Trumps cleats as he plays up to and even over them. Theyre not all about legal authorities; theyre also about norms. For example, one line that I regard as sacrosanct is the line between public interest and private gain. Trump seems more inclined to the latter than the former: for weeks, he seemed to think he could boost his private reelection chances by denying the growing threat posed by coronavirus, even if that denial endangered public safetyas it surely did. Another example is the line between fact and fiction: and, again, I fear Trump is spreading at least as much fiction as fact about this virus, and probably more. To claim, as Trump has, that the outbreak is under control or fully handled isnt just spinning the situation; its outright lying about a public health crisis. And that, to my mind, is a threat to constitutional democracyto a governmental order thats premised on a public able to be informed and responsive to truth, not lies. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement What am I missing? You need more to worry about? Okay, Dahlia, heres one more thing. Trump is, before our eyes, re-branding himself a wartime president. Thats his way of turning an absolute mess partly of his own making into an electoral opportunity. We cant let that happen. Its true that this virus is of a severity that demands a wartime response from the American people in our seriousness and sacrifice. But that doesnt make Trump, who exacerbated this mess, worthy of being treated as a wartime president, whatever that means exactly. Bungling a response so badly that it takes a wartime toll on the American people doesnt earn a president the honor of being treated as a wartime president rallying the country against an outside adversary. And of course Trumps attempt to call this a foreign virus is patently absurdas if viruses knew national borders! So what happens now? For now, we appreciate those whove stepped up while our federal government hasnt: mayors, governors, even the private sector. And we appreciate each other: our family, friends, and neighbors. Were truly all in this together. As depressed as I am by the response of the American president, Im heartened by the response of the American people. I hope everyone who reads this stays healthy, safe, and kind. Thanks for doing this, Dahlia. Produce prices have soared at supermarkets across Australia amid coronavirus panic buying that has left shelves bare. As the COVID-19 pandemic escalates, shoppers have been struggling to find goods after grocery stores were stripped of pasta, rice, tinned foods and other supplies. Fresh fruits and vegetables remain in stock at most supermarkets, but have now seen a steep hike in prices with bananas going for as much as $4.90 a kilo. At Woolworths in Sydney's CBD, cucumbers were priced at $7.90 per kilo, while tomatoes were selling for $8.90 per kilo. Woolworths iceberg lettuce was priced at an unusually-high $5.50 per head At Woolworths in Sydney's CBD, cucumbers were priced at $7.90 per kilo, while tomatos were selling for $8.90 per kilo Woolworths said the supermarket has experienced an increased demand amid the coronavirus pandemic that has left vegetable supplies running low At Woolworths in Cannon Hill, Brisbane, broccoli was selling for $11.50 per kilo while head of cauliflower was $8.90, The Courier-Mail reported. At Foodworks, iceberg lettuce was $10 a head. Prices for vegetables were not much cheaper at the Cannon Hill Coles, where tomatoes were selling for as high as $9.90 a kilo. 'Tomatoes I think are a ridiculous price. The ones with the vine are $9.90, the ones without are $8.90, how do you justify that?' customer Rhondda Pavlov told the publication. At discount chain Aldi, truss tomatoes were priced at $8.99 a kilogram and iceberg lettuce was just 90 cents less than its competitors, at $4.99. However, Woolworths and Coles say the above-average prices are due to this year's devastating bushfire crisis and the drought - not because they've jacked up prices due to panic-buying. 'Coles has seen wholesale price increases on some fresh produce lines due to factors including limited availability as a result of bushfires and drought,' the supermarket chain said in a statement. Coles staff work to keep shelves stocked during the first Coles Community Hour in Melbourne this week People on social media say they have noticed the prices of fruits and vegetables have skyrocketed People queue for a delivery of toilet paper, paper towel and pasta at a Coles supermarket in Sydney 'Coles has absorbed some of these increases so we can continue to provide great value for our customers.' Woolworths said the supermarket has experienced an increased demand that has left vegetable supplies running low. 'We're working closely with our fresh food suppliers to manage the impact of this increased demand, alongside the broader environmental impact of drought and unseasonal weather in different parts of the country,' the company said. It comes as panic buying have left supplies of rice, pasta, beef mince and other essentials worryingly low. Panic buying has been a source of consternation among consumers, and even Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who slammed hoarding during a global health crisis as 'un-Australian'. Coles, Woolworths and Aldi have all imposed strict limits on purchasing toilet paper, hand sanitiser and non perishable goods like pasta and rice in recent weeks. As the crisis surrounding the coronavirus pandemic hits some of the Shorelines most vulnerable residents, two area food pantries, Shoreline Soup Kitchens & Pantries and the Community Dining Room, are facing a greater demand for their services while quickly adapting operations to help protect their clients, staff and volunteers from the illness. Shoreline Soup Kitchens and Pantries The organization, which provides food and fellowship to people in need in 11 towns, from Madison to East Lyme to Chester, has been stepping up efforts to ensure food supplies reach clients in the midst of the outbreak, according to Executive Director Amy Hollis. While the nine meal sites are temporarily closed, all five of SSK&Ps food pantries in Old Lyme, Old Saybrook, Westbrook, Clinton, and East Lyme are open. To view locations and which day of the week each food pantry is open, visit shorelinesoupkitchens.org/get-help. Hollis said they plan to reopen the meal sites when they can. SSKP staff and volunteers are working hard to maintain food being shared through our pantries, she said. One pantry site last week was able to distribute 8,500 pounds of food. Hollis said the pantries are operating with a smaller number of staff and volunteers to maintain social distancing, and doubling down on protocols for glove wearing, handwashing and cleaning of surfaces already in place. We have a very small group packaging the goods into bags, and then its carried outside in a box and set down, and then the guest is able to pick up their own bags, so theres no contact. The objective for the staff and volunteers, Hollis said, is to be as limited in number as possible, while still continuing to provide access to the food. SSK&P stocks its pantries with food purchased from the Connecticut Food Bank and Gemma Moran Food Bank, as well as donations of nonperishable items. It uses financial donations to purchase fresh produce, eggs, dairy, and meat, she said. Hollis stressed that people who never before have been food-insecure need to know that these resources are there for them. We have enough food, we just have to get it out to the people who need it, she said. We know that lots of people are not getting the paycheck they rely on... we are definitely anticipating an increase in demand. Regarding SSK&Ps mission to provide access to food and fellowship, were going to continue to provide food, and the fellowship is going to be done at a distance, she said. Hollis said the organization is collaborating with the Shoreline Basic Needs Task Force to ensure that the Shorelines most vulnerable individuals and families are getting the help they need. I was just on a conference call with service providers and community leaders and theres a lot of networking between organizations to make sure our schools are getting food to those students who need it, and our senior centers are looking out for their own, she said. Everyone is trying to do what they can to help one another, she said. Were all committed to seeing this through for our neighbors in need. Community Dining Room Over at the Community Dining Room in Branford, Executive Director Judith Barron was sounding a similar refrain. Even with the number of meals doubling in the last week, she said, all our programs are working together quite well, and I think we all collectively plan to stay in operation through the entirety. With some adjustments, that is. Lunch continues to be available from Sunday to Friday from noon to1 p.m. and on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to noon. Now its a lunch to-go, in disposable containers, with the CDR asking guests to pick up at the side kitchen door. Wednesday and Friday takeout also continues, with pick up between 1 and 3 p.m. Families are asked to call ahead 203-488-9750, ext 2. Throughout the month of April, the CDR will offer a Friday Night takeout to all in need. Residents should pre-register at the above number by 1 p.m. on Wednesday. Tuesday Kids Night Meal is still on, with families being asked to pick up between 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. The Homebound Delivery Program, which provides one hot meal and one frozen meal, three days a week to Branford residents who are elderly, sick, or in recovery from surgery, remains in operation. Branford residents in need of this service should call 203-488-9750, ext. 3. The diaper bank continues to be open for Branford residents who can stop by and pick up as long as we have them, Barron said. Theres no need for volunteers in food preparation at this time. Right now we need to help with the mitigation process, so we are limiting and decreasing the numbers of people in the kitchen, Barron said. Regarding food donations, Barron said the CDR was doing well, highlighting the generous donations from Madison Beach Hotel, which was required to shut down, as well as from La Cucina, Jalapeno Heaven, and the 10 trays of corned beef, totaling 500 pounds, from the Irish American Club. She added that Branford High School, which has implemented its summer meal program, has been donating overages in produce, milk and fruit. Were in this community where people are willing to help, no matter the circumstance, so its no surprise that everyone came together and is going above and beyond as usual, she said. We dont know what the future holds, a lot of people are OK now, but were not even at the tip yet, so were encouraging people to save what they have on their shelves and come in and pick up meals, she said. Everyone is welcome to use our services. The only snag in the works, she said, was the $5,000 cost for emergency packaging that wasnt allocated in the budget. But keeping everyone healthy and everything germ-free is worth it. The shelves are stocked, the volunteers are present, and monetary donations are more important than ever to help with emergency funding, she said. For SSKP information, visit shorelinesoupkitchens.org, call 860-388-1988, or, for the latest, check them out on Facebook at The Shoreline Soup Kitchens & Pantries, Inc. For CDR information, visit communitydiningroom.org, call 203-488-9750, or, for the latest, check them out on Facebook at Community Dining Room Inc. Iran's leaders vowed to overcome the coronavirus outbreak in upbeat messages marking the Persian New Year on Friday, even as the Health Ministry announced 149 more fatalities, bringing the country's death toll to 1,433. Iran is battling the worst outbreak in the Middle East, with nearly 20,000 confirmed cases, and has been widely criticized for its slow response. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, called the new year the year of leaps in production in Iran's economy, which has been under strain since U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear accord and imposed .harsh new sanctions. President Hassan Rouhani also marked the new year, known as Nowruz, by promising a better economy. We will put the coronavirus behind us soon with unity, with hard work and with cooperation, he said. Most people who come down with the COVID-19 illness caused by the virus experience only minor symptoms and recover within weeks. But the virus is highly contagious and can be spread by people showing no symptoms. It can cause severe illness, including pneumonia, particularly in sick or elderly patients. More than 240,00 people have been infected worldwide. More than 10,000 have died, while more than 85,000 have recovered. Rouhani has defended his government's response to the pandemic in the face of widespread criticism that officials acted too slowly and may have even covered up initial cases before infections spread rapidly across the country. He also sought to highlight what he viewed as the achievements of the past year, including the downing of a sophisticated U.S. drone and missile strikes on U.S. bases in Iraq in retaliation for the killing of Iran's top general in Baghdad. Rouhani assured Iranians his administration will prioritize health in the coming year and said it had stockpiled basic supplies. Nowruz is a major holiday in Iran, when shoppers typically pack local markets and take extended vacations. Most shops are closed this year, and those merchants who are still working can be seen warily accepting cash or debit cards from customers in face masks. Khamenei issued a religious edict this week prohibiting all unnecessary travel and authorities have restricted travel between cities. After weeks of heavy criticism, authorities finally closed two major religious shrines in recent days. Other countries in the region have imposed far stricter measures to contain the virus, including canceling flights, sealing borders and forcing nonessential businesses to close. In Tel Aviv, the sprawling Mediterranean beachfront is deserted and authorities have roped off outdoor gyms and playgrounds to keep people from using them. Israel has reported more than 700 confirmed cases. Authorities reported Israel's first death late Friday, saying an 88-year-old man with underlying health problems had passed away after a week in the hospital. Jordan announced a total curfew starting Saturday, saying all shops would be closed. Government spokesman Amjad Adaileh said a mechanism would be announced Tuesday to allow people to shop for essentials at specific times. Anyone violating the curfew could face up to a year in jail. Jordan has reported 85 cases. In Iraq, which has one of the highest death rates in the region, authorities struggled to keep Shiite pilgrims from marking the annual commemoration of the death of Imam Mousa al-Kazim despite a week-long curfew in the capital. Thousands of Iraqis typically walk to the shrine of the imam in the Khazimiyah area of Baghdad. Security forces have been stopping pilgrims, but more keep arriving. Late Thursday, the doors of the shrine were closed and the electricity turned off. Officials urged the faithful to perform the pilgrimage remotely to keep themselves and others safe. Caretaker Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi urged citizens to abide by a government curfew, and Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, a deeply revered Shiite cleric, cautioned them not to underestimate the severity of the pandemic. Iraq has been grappling with anti-government protests for months, following years of conflict that have damaged its health care system. The coronavirus outbreak, which has infected over 200 people and killed 17, and the fallout from cratered oil prices, threaten to plunge the country into a major crisis. The U.S.-led coalition in Baghdad says it will "temporarily return some" of its forces from Iraq to their home countries in coming days and weeks in response to the Iraqi government's decision to suspend all training. It provided no numbers. The coalition also said that some coalition troops are being moved off a few smaller bases, partly to protect them from the coronavirus and partly because of progress in the campaign against the Islamic State group. Saudi Arabia announced it would shut down domestic air travel, buses, taxis and trains for the next two weeks, beginning Saturday. The monarchy has reported 274 confirmed cases, eight of whom recovered. In a televised address late Thursday, King Salman said: We are living through a difficult phase of the world's history. However, we are completely certain that this phase will end and pass, despite its harshness and bitterness and its difficulties, he said, assuring Saudis the country had sufficient medical care and supplies to get through the crisis. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Investors who take an interest in Cineworld Group plc (LON:CINE) should definitely note that the Senior Independent Director, Eric Senat, recently paid UK0.24 per share to buy UK100k worth of the stock. That certainly has us anticipating the best, especially since they thusly increased their own holding by 157%, potentially signalling some real optimism. Check out our latest analysis for Cineworld Group The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Cineworld Group CEO & Executive Director Moshe Greidinger made the biggest insider purchase in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for UK116k worth of shares at a price of UK2.99 each. So it's clear an insider wanted to buy, even at a higher price than the current share price (being UK0.52). Their view may have changed since then, but at least it shows they felt optimistic at the time. We always take careful note of the price insiders pay when purchasing shares. It is generally more encouraging if they paid above the current price, as it suggests they saw value, even at higher levels. Cineworld Group insiders may have bought shares in the last year, but they didn't sell any. Their average price was about UK0.78. These transactions suggest that insiders have considered the current price attractive. The chart below shows insider transactions (by individuals) over the last year. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date! LSE:CINE Recent Insider Trading, March 21st 2020 Cineworld Group is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of growing companies with insider buying. Insider Ownership I like to look at how many shares insiders own in a company, to help inform my view of how aligned they are with insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Our data suggests Cineworld Group insiders own 0.1% of the company, worth about UK1.1m. But they may have an indirect interest through a corporate structure that we haven't picked up on. We consider this fairly low insider ownership. Story continues So What Do The Cineworld Group Insider Transactions Indicate? The recent insider purchase is heartening. And the longer term insider transactions also give us confidence. While the overall levels of insider ownership are below what we'd like to see, the history of transactions imply that Cineworld Group insiders are reasonably well aligned, and optimistic for the future. So while it's helpful to know what insiders are doing in terms of buying or selling, it's also helpful to know the risks that a particular company is facing. For example, Cineworld Group has 5 warning signs (and 1 which shouldn't be ignored) we think you should know about. If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt. For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions, but not derivative transactions. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading. The NPP Parliamentary Aspirant for Afigya Kwabre North Constituency, Engineer Peter Antwi Boasiako has donated hand sanitisers and assorted personal protective equipment to hospitals in his constituency. "As part of my contribution in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, I led my campaign team to donate hand sanitisers, assorted personal hygiene and Protective equipment to help protect the frontline health workers in some hospitals in my constituency, Afigya Kwabre North." Items including hand Sanitisers, packs of hand gloves, protective safety masks, toilets tissues, liquids soaps for hand wash, buckets with fitted tap valves for quick hand washing outside before entry (Veronica Buckets), disposable hand towels, and many other safety gears were donated to each Hospital, worth over Ghc2,700.00 "Inasmuch as I wish I could donate to all the major hospitals in the district, the hospitals that benefited from my widow's mite today were the Ahenkro Hospital, Boamang Hospital and Kyekyewere Health Centre." At Boamang District Hospital, the Honourable DCE, Mr Kwasi Karikari joined received the items and handed them over to the Boamang Health Centre. In expressing his appreciation for the items, the Hon. DCE stated that, the items donated have indeed come at a right time since the District Health Director and himself had just finished a meeting discussing amongst other things today, a way forward to provide similar items to our hospitals. The Medical Superintendent in charge of the Boamang District Hospital, also expressed his joy and gratitude for the items supplied, particularly the sanitisers since it's become difficult to find even if you have money to buy. The Health Director at Ahenkro Hospital, Mr Daniel Peprah and Dr Raphael Anyomi of Kyekyewere Hospital equally expressed their gratitude for the donation which they described as life-saving equipment in this pandemic situation. The Health Director at Ahenkro Hospital used the opportunity to urge Ghanaians to frequently practice handwashing to prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus novel. Kingsley Brobbey. (Winners Radio, UK) One of the most important lessons history teaches us is that our ancestors faced many of the challenges we do and that if we show the same amount of resolve and toughness, humanity can beat anything. The people of Syracuse awoke on the morning of Oct. 7, 1918, facing a world much like ours at the moment: a city on lock down. While the people of today shelter in homes over coronavirus, back then it was the Spanish influenza, which would kill an estimated 17 to 50 million people between 1918 and 1920. The influenza epidemic is unchecked in Syracuse, the Herald announced on Oct. 7, 1918. Over the previous 36 hours, 39 people had died from the flu, 27 civilians and 12 soldiers at Camp Syracuse at the New York State Fairgrounds. Physicians that morning reported to City Hall that there were 4,000 confirmed cases of the disease and that there was an estimated 10,000 and 12,000 cases in Syracuse and the surrounding villages. Twenty-seven civilians and 12 soldiers died in Syracuse in just over 36 hours from the influenza epidemic over Oct. 5-6, 1918. On Oct. 7, the city announced that most public gatherings were canceled. Heritage MicrofilmHeritage Microfilm Syracuse mayor Walter Robinson Stone ordered the immediate closing of all places of public gatherings, including schools, churches, movies, theaters, dance halls and roller-skating rinks. We did not want to wait until the situation became critical before we acted, Mayor Stone said. We hope that by taking action at this time we will avert a serious situation. The ban extended to lodge meetings, Liberty Loan meetings, public funerals and even unorganized gatherings on streets and playgrounds. Groups of men and women gathering anywhere in the city out of doors and particularly along sidewalks will be broken up, the Herald reported. Courts were open, but the Mayor requested that judges exclude from court rooms all those who have no actual business there. World War I continued, so some factories and stores remained open, as did the Red Cross and its canteens. Workers were asked to walk to work as much as possible, not congregate on streets and to avoid crowded streetcars. The local Board of Health was given unlimited power in dealing with the crisis. No court could issue any injunctions restraining the operation of any rule it lays down. Officials believed that the public would cooperate with the Board in every way possible. (When the citys decree was announced, managers and customers at motion picture houses and theaters instantly obeyed and went home.) Incredibly, people were not quarantined in their own houses. The move thought not to be necessary. Regular people were asked to follow the rules of the Surgeon General of the U.S. Army, which were printed in newspapers. A list of rules from the Surgeon General that citizens were asked to follow to help check the influenza epidemic. Heritage MicrofilmHeritage Microfilm These included such simple rules such as avoiding needless crowding, smothering your coughs and sneezes and keeping clean. Others sound a bit strange: Food will win the war if you give it a chance help by choosing and chewing your food well. Dont let the waste products of digestion accumulate drink a glass or two of water on getting up. Avoid tight clothes, tight shoes, tight gloves seek to make nature your ally, not your prisoner. When the air is pure breath all of it you can breathe deeply. The efforts were cheered by the press. In an editorial, the Syracuse Herald called the moves by the Board of Health and Mayor Stone certainly justified. By preventing all public assemblages and by impressing upon individual citizens the necessity of taking every precaution to avoid contagion, we may hope to check what has proved to be one of the worst scourges of sickness ever visited upon Syracuse. The measures lasted 18 days. On October 25, 1918, Syracuse physicians believed that the illness had been on, as the Syracuse Journal put it, a hurried retreat back to its own lines. The number of new cases had cases had dwindled. Syracuse was itself again today, the newspaper said. The quarantine was officially raised at 6 oclock this morning. There was no formal ceremony to mark the return to life, but the hum of activity at the movies before noon indicated something. Life was started up again, but things were still different. Mrs. Jan Guilfoyle of Franklin Avenue died of influenza. She was 42. Heritage MicrofilmHeritage Microfilm Health Officer Dr. D.M. Totman asked that people still exercise care. If someone coughed or sneezed, it was asked they do so into a handkerchief or gauze. Kissing and handshakes were to be avoided. Moistening the fingers to count money is also placed on the lists of dont. Schools were reopened but teachers were asked to keep a close eye on their students. If a child is discovered coughing or sneezing it will be the duty of the teacher to send that child home at once, the Journal reported. The requirement that children come to school clean will be vigorously enforced. The pain, though, continued. On the same day that Syracuse returned to normal newspapers reported that 10 more deaths from the influenza. It is believed that in a city close to 171,000 residents, as many as 900 people lost their lives during the epidemic. READ MORE 1905: No one knows who killed this Cayuga County hermit and miser with an ax 1913: How one man with smallpox endangered countless lives from Chittenango to Syracuse 1925: To halt the spread of disease, Syracuse declares war on spitting This feature is a part of CNY Nostalgia, a section on syracuse.com. Send your ideas and curiosities to Johnathan Croyle at jcroyle@syracuse.com or call 315-427-3958. Thanks for visiting Syracuse.com. Quality local journalism has never been more important, and your subscription matters. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work. MICHIGAN -- Secretary of State offices will return to regular hours on Monday, March 23, but remain by appointment only for any in-person visits. Secretary of State administrators announced the changes Saturday, March 21. All of the states 131 branches were closed March 13 and they will remain closed at least until April 5. In the last week, the hours were expanded for appointment-only visits. The regular hours are 9 a.m-5 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and 11 a.m.-7 p.m. on Wednesday. Michigan confirmed coronavirus cases rise to 549 Secretary of State administrators said the first week of being closed gave them a measure of what hours were needed. The appointment-only service will be confined to the following: Drivers license/state ID transactions that must be done in person First-time CDL license issuance CDL endorsements (such as Hazmat) issuance Issuance of first-time drivers license or state ID card Renewal of CDL licenses only Renewal of other licenses must be completed online or via mail only Conversion of any license to REAL ID temporarily paused, unless branch visit is required otherwise Replacement (because of loss) of Enhanced Drivers License only Other licenses can be replaced through online services Title tranfsers For motor vehicles only Corrections or additions to titles temporarily paused Testing Operator, CDL, chauffeur, mechanic, motorcycle Recreational vehicle testing temporarily paused Notary service for Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission applications To make an appointment, conduct a transaction online, or see a map of self-service stations visit Michigan.gov/SOS. Appointments can also be made by calling 888-SOS-MICH. Read all of MLives coverage on the coronavirus at mlive.com/coronavirus. Additional information is available at Michigan.gov/Coronavirus and CDC.gov/Coronavirus PREVENTION TIPS Michigans State Emergency Operations Center is coordinating state-government resources and the response to the coronavirus spread. It has shared the following tips: What you can do to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases: Always cover coughs or sneezes with a tissue or sleeve. Stay home if you are sick and advise others to do the same. Avoid close contact with people who are sick. Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands. Wash your hands often with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds. Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol, if soap and warm water are not available. Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces(computers, keyboards, desks, etc.). Its not too late to get your flu shot! While the influenza vaccine does not protect against COVID-19 infection, it can help keep you healthy during the flu season. Read more on MLive West Michigan coronavirus victim really felt I was dying As coronavirus 'dramatically spikes Michigan unemployment claims, feds impose embargo on numbers Another 5 things that give us hope amid coronavirus crisis in Washtenaw, Livingston counties The Jacksonville Fire Department emergency medical services crew will be adding additional precautions when responding to medical calls as concerns rise over the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. While paramedics normally wear gloves during a response, they will be adding masks and protective gowns that cover their clothes. Two flights have been sent to South America to rescue hundreds of Australians stranded by coronavirus lockdowns. Australian tour company Chimu Adventures and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade have organised for travellers will be lifted out of Peru and Argentina early next week. Passengers will be charged around $5000 each for the LATAM airline flights, which are expected to arrive between Monday and Wednesday before heading to Sydney. The cost includes approvals and transport to navigate a country-wide lockdown in Peru, with Australian diplomats among the evacuees, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. Olivia Natoli and Dean Di Staso, from Melbourne, will be repatriated to Australia next week Melbourne couple Olivia Natoli and Dean Di Staso said they can afford to pay to leave Lima, but it may not be so easy for others. 'For many people, including families over here, this is not an option as it could cost more than $20,000,' she told the Financial Review on Friday. 'For others, they will not be able to get to Lima or Cusco with the current travel prohibitions throughout the country in place.' The Peruvian government has banned all flights out of the country with the exception of officially organised charters by foreign governments to repatriate citizens. The flights are still under discussion between the Australian embassy in Lima and the Peruvian government and are yet to be given final approval. Meanwhile, hundreds of other Aussies will remain trapped on the continent as multiple countries in the region ban international travel and impose restrictions on people's movements. Australians will be charged around $5000 each to be evacuated on the LATAM airline flights out of South America It has left many Australians excluded from the repatriation effort feeling abandoned by the federal government Kerrie Huxham and Harry Fay, from Yamba in northern NSW, are worried they will be trapped in locked-down Ecuador for months. The couple's flights home last week from a three-week trip to the Galapagos Islands were cancelled, with subsequent re-booking attempts thwarted as the country rapidly sealed its borders. Mr Fay said the Dutch and French have sent empty KLM and Air France jets to pick up nationals but nothing similar had been offered to Australians. 'Qantas has just grounded most of its fleet and stood down 20,000 employees, there are enough planes for the government to charter to pick all of us up,' he said. Adam Douglas and his partner, Meagan Thomson, both emergency doctors, find themselves in the same position from Quito, Ecuador's capital. Kerrie Huxham and Harry Fay (pictured) have been left stranded in Quito, Ecuador, as countries across the globe shut borders Dr Douglas said they are eager to get back to Australia to help with the COVID-19 crisis but have not had any response from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. 'I've tried to call the local embassy and the phone just rang out, tried to call the emergency hotline with no response at all,' he said. Chimu Adventures co-founder Greg Carter said Australians stuck in countries with fewer travellers would find it difficult to be evacuated. 'We can't ascertain the numbers in Ecuador and the logistics of getting them out when they're in lockdown,' he said. There are currently hundreds of Australians on board stuck at sea on cruise ships in Europe, South America and the Pacific. The Costa Luminosa, off Italy's coast, has several confirmed cases of coronavirus and 39 Australians on board. DFAT said it is working to with each ship to ensure Australians are kept up to date and provided with contact information. Swab samples are collected at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi, March 18, 2020. Photo by VnExpres/Giang Huy. Two people returning from Hungary and the Czech Republic have contracted the novel coronavirus, raising the countrys Covid-19 tally to 94. "Patient 93" is a 20-year-old male student from Hungary, the Health Ministry said Saturday. He lives in Hanois Dong Da District. He landed at Hanoi's Noi Bai Airport March 18 on Aeroflot flight SU290. His samples tested positive at the Hanoi Center for Disease Control on Friday, and again at the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology on Saturday. "Patient 94" is a 64-year-old woman from the northern province of Bac Giang. She had visited her daughter in the Czech Republic on February 29. She landed at the Noi Bai airport on the same flight as "Patient 93." Both patients are being treated at the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases in Hanoi's Dong Anh District and their health is stable. Of Vietnam's 94 Covid-19 infections, 17 have been discharged from hospitals. Most of the active cases, now hospitalized in 11 cities and provinces, are returnees from Europe and the U.S. and people whod come into close contact with them. Hanoi has the highest number of active patients at 29, followed by HCMC with 18. All the patients are in stable condition except for a 69-year-old British man and a 64-year-old Vietnamese woman who have been on ventilators since March 15. Two British patients in Hanoi have tested negative for the virus twice after several days of treatment. Patients will be discharged after testing negative three times in a row. The Covid-19 pandemic has spread to 186 countries and territories, claiming over 11,400 lives. On Tuesday, four Trump administration officials told the New York Times that the government would begin turning back all asylum seekers at both the northern and southern borders of the US, ostensibly over concerns regarding the coronavirus pandemic. Under the new policy, migrants crossing the border at points of entry will be transported back to Mexico if they are crossing the southern border and will not be held for any time in the US. The policy will apply to asylum seekers and those crossing the border illegally. However, the border will remain open to American citizens, green card holders and other documented foreigners, as well as to commercial traffic. While the change in policy was announced as a measure to combat the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trump administration is, in fact, utilizing the crisis to escalate its attack on immigrants and democratic rights more broadly. Travel restrictions and quarantine measures are necessary to contain the spread of the deadly disease, but Trump has made a point of utilizing such emergency actions to promote his fascistic, anti-immigrant and nationalist agenda, and to appeal to far-right forces. He has made a point of calling the coronavirus a foreign or Chinese virus, in an effort to stoke up racist and xenophobic sentiment within the US. The blanket rejection of asylum seekers is the latest in a series of steps aimed at abrogating the right to asylum, which is protected by both international and US law. Refugees fleeing violence and oppression in their home countriesever-present realities in Central American nations that have been oppressed and plundered by US imperialism for more than a centuryhave a basic democratic right to enter the country where they seek asylum and apply for the right to remain. They are not, under the law, guilty of any illegal or criminal action. With his agreements with Mexico and Central American nations to block asylum seekers from remaining in the US while their claims are processed, Trump and his counterparts south of the US border have condemned thousands of working people to subsist in crowded and unsanitary detention camps in Mexico and other countries where they wait, under military guard, for months or years for a ruling by US immigration officials. The vast majority of claims are routinely denied. Within the US, the government has built a gulag of immigrant concentration camps that detain undocumented workers, including asylum seekers. The US has thereby created the very breeding grounds for the spread of COVID-19 both north and south of the US border that Trump now cites as an excuse for turning back all refugees. The official administration line is that the ban on asylum seekers is necessitated by the existence of already overcrowded detention centers on US territory. The White House has also announced an agreement with Canada to suspend non-essential travel between the two countries. President Trump told CNN he was not planning on closing the southern border, but that we are invoking a certain provision that will allow us great latitude as to what we do. This was a reference to a US code that allows the surgeon general to deny entry to people who risk carrying an infectious disease into the US. A Customs and Border Protection (CBP) official told CNN, The logistics are nearly impossible. If Mexico agrees to take everyone back, there is no issue, otherwise, the logistics become very, very difficult. The CBP official added that the US could use a policy of voluntary return to send Mexican nationals back, but it was not made clear how other nationalities could be deported without agreement with Mexico. The official said it would be more feasible to deny entry at land ports along the southern border since asylum seekers are not yet on US soil. The Mexican Foreign Ministry denied receiving any formal request from the US government regarding the return of migrants to Mexico as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. The consequences of the administrations policies were spelled out in a New York Times interview with a Guatemalan immigrant who escaped from his country after gang members killed his brother. After traveling to the US to seek asylum with his family, Yovani was shuttled back to Guatemala. Since last November, more than 900 Central American immigrants have been sent to Guatemala, but only 20 have applied for sanctuary there. Until the most recent changes, immigrants would be sent back to their country of origin, where they at least had families and support networks that Guatemala does not provide. Many immigrant rights advocates have argued that Guatemala is just as dangerous as other countries where the same criminal gangs operate. American officials have reached similar deals with El Salvador and Honduras, though neither government has put those plans into effect. On Tuesday, Guatemalan officials announced that they would be temporarily suspending flights carrying refugees due to the coronavirus. Young people are not immune to coronavirus and are at risk of serious illness or death as well as putting their elders in danger if they do not avoid socialising, the World Health Organisation has warned. A significant proportion of patients treated in hospital for Covid-19 around the world were aged under 50, the WHO said, amid concern the gravity of the pandemic had not been grasped by many. Today, I have a message for young people: You are not invincible, said the organisations director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Speaking at a media briefing on Friday, he stressed: This virus could put you in hospital for weeks, or even kill you. Even if you dont get sick, the choices you make about where you go could be the difference between life and death for someone else. More than 10,000 people worldwide have died of coronavirus since the outbreak began in China late last year. The number of cases globally has now topped 210,00, the WHO confirmed. The elderly and people with underlying health conditions are most at risk of falling seriously ill with coronavirus. But health chiefs in Italy, the worst affected country, have reported a growing number of younger patients requiring hospital treatment. About 12 per cent of those who have been treated in intensive care in Italy are aged between 19 and 50, according to official figures released last week. Speaking separately to Mr Ghebreyesus on Friday, WHO senior adviser Bruce Aylward said on Friday he was concerned young people were dismissive of the threat posed by the disease. One of the things that terrifies me now is, as this is spread in the west is, theres this sense of invulnerability among millennials, he told Time magazine. We dont understand why some young healthy people progress to severe disease and even die, and others dont. The warnings came came as Boris Johnsons government ordered all pubs, restaurants and gyms to close on Friday night, in response to concerns that many people were failing to heed social distancing advice. Addressing the nation from Downing Street, the prime minister said literally thousands of lives would be saved if the UK public scrupulously observe advice to shun social gatherings where the virus could be spread The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer, John Mahama, has debunked reports suggesting he has selected a running mate for the 2020 general elections. There were reports making rounds indicating that the former president had selected the Member of Parliament for Asunafo South, Eric Opoku as his running mate. But Mr. Mahama described such reports as fake news in a tweet. The former President was elected as the flagbearer of the NDC in February 2019. A number of names have popped up for the position but the party is yet to make an official announcement. The last time the NDC spoke on the issue, the partys National Chairman said the absence of a running mate for the party's flagbearer was not a cause for concern . In previous elections, we always selected the running mate about six months to the election, he said. In past months, there has been speculation about prominent NDC members being selected as running mate. For example, late in 2019, there reports Ghana's longest-serving Finance Minister, Professor Kwesi Botchwey had been chosen as a running mate to Mr. Mahama. citinewsroom Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton says he has been self-isolating for more than a week after meeting people who later tested positive for the new coronavirus. Hamilton was at a charity event in London on March 4 also attended by actor Idris Elba and Sophie Grgoire Trudeau, the wife of the Canadian prime minister. Both were later found to have the virus. In a message on social media, Hamilton says he's shown zero symptoms but has been isolating himself from other people ever since March 13, when the Australian Grand Prix was called off. Hamilton said that I did speak to my doctor and double checked if I needed to take a test but, the truth is there is a limited amount of tests available and there are people who need it more than I do. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) These are in the form of innovative companies that look to tweak business models and rev up new services. Among the emeging firms is Gurugram-based Zypp, an electric scooter rental app, which will start to deliver its bikes to retail consumers with a unique add-on: A sanitary wash-down in front of the customer at the time of delivery. As the work from home lifestyle becomes a norm, many young employees, that ... Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor European truck drivers stuck in miles-long backups. Asylum seekers stranded in Mexico. Cities and states within countries - from Rio de Janeiro to Tasmania - sealing themselves off from the rest of their nations. In a world where the once-steady march of globalization hit strong head winds in recent years from nationalist governments, the novel coronavirus pandemic has done more to suddenly halt and reverse the notion of open - and easily crossed - borders than perhaps any other event in modern history. The impact to the global economy will be severe. Yet the larger question arising from empty international airports and backed-up land borders may be the long-haul effect of the pandemic on everything from freedom of movement to asylum claims to trade. "The question is, when the health crisis recedes, be that six months, one year, or two years from now, are we going to see the protectionist measures related to the health crisis recede too?" said Stephanie Segal, a former senior economist at the International Monetary Fund and a senior fellow at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Certainly they will, but will they ever go back to precrisis levels?" In the meantime, the pandemic is stranding travelers and upending everything from refugee flows to wedding rites. In South America, still less impacted than other regions, many nations are striving to keep it that way by imposing some of the strictest border controls in the world. Peru and Bolivia have suspended international flights, restricted crossings at land borders, and deployed police and the military on the streets. As concerns mount about the ability of crisis-plagued Venezuela to control the pandemic, its neighbors have sealed its borders. The closures have raised fears of a bottleneck that could force migrants - as well as Venezuelans who flocked to Colombia to buy or sell food and other supplies to live - to risk dangerous trips across illegal crossing controlled by armed gangs and guerrilla groups. Vianney Duran, an unemployed 22-year-old law student living in the Venezuelan border city of La Fria, is one of the many who crossed regularly into Colombia to buy food and medicine. He has also survived off remittances from relatives working abroad that he only was able to collect on the other side of the border. Now, that lifeline is closed. "If we are not killed by the coronavirus, people will starve to death if they don't do something," Duran said The U.S. announcement that it would close its borders with Mexico, as well as Canada, sparked an immediate outcry over the fate of thousands of asylum seekers being held south of the border. "I've been preparing for my hearing, but now I don't know if it will happen," said Daniel, a 20-year-old Venezuelan asylum seeker with HIV who declined to give his full name for fear of repercussions from authorities. Daniel, who was stuck in Piedras Negras, Mexico, has a U.S. asylum hearing scheduled for March 31. "With my immune system, I need to be very careful." In continental Europe, leaders rushed guards to reoccupy long-disused border posts to start turning away nonresidents. Trucks backed up for dozens of miles on either side of Poland, which imposed a particularly stringent quarantine on anyone entering the country, leading to fears that other parts of Eastern Europe would soon run out of supplies. "Right now there are two very strong feelings," said Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics, whose country was caught on the isolated side of the Polish blockade. "One, 'Let's close down everything.' Another is, 'Wait a minute, we have seen we are too interconnected.' " EU leaders in Brussels moved quickly to allow truck transportation to continue, fearing that shortages of medical supplies could worsen the pandemic. But by week's end, there were still pileups at borders across the continent. In sub-Saharan Africa, sweeping travel restrictions have gone into effect despite only 353 confirmed cases across its 48 countries as of Friday, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly every country has imposed total or near-total entry restrictions on nonresident foreigners and suspended issuance of new visas. More than a dozen have closed airports to international flights. Karen Mwalo, 34, was planning a marital ceremony with her husband known as an "itara" on April 18, in which Mwalo's family would visit the homestead of her husband's parents in western Kenya. Some family members were coming from as far as Denmark and the Netherlands. "We can't go ahead," said Mwalo, who said they have postponed their plans until at least July. It is "not good to be risking people. You never know. It's already a breeding ground here." Brazil, which has 640 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, by far Latin America's most, is taking a more relaxed approach that has led local governments to act. Beginning Saturday, the state of Rio de Janeiro will effectively seal itself off from the rest of the country, and the city of Rio will seal itself off from the rest of the state. "It is a painful process to interfere in this way with people's lives, but it's necessary," said Wilson Witzel, the governor of Rio de Janeiro state. In the Middle East, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia halted international flights over the past week and sealed their land borders. Other countries in the region have sharply curtailed the flights, and the United Arab Emirates is allowing entry only to the small number of people who are UAE citizens. After initially only restricting travel from the most infected parts of the world - China's Hubei province and regions in South Korea, Iran and Italy - Japan suddenly switched gears. Earlier this month, Japan canceled 3 million visas issued to Chinese and South Korean visitors, and it said anyone arriving from those countries would be subjected to a 14-day quarantine. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said travelers from Europe, Egypt and Iran would have to self-quarantine for 14 days and refrain from using public transport. India, the world's second-most populous nation, has progressively sealed itself off from the world as the crisis has intensified. On Thursday, it became the largest country to announce a one-week total ban, starting March 22, on all arriving commercial flights from abroad. For people such as Rupa Subramanya, 40, the virtual walls coming up around the world have rendered her life unrecognizable. For the past decade, Subramanya and her husband, both economists, have split their time between India and Canada, traveling back and forth about four times a year. But when she attempted to fly from Mumbai to Ottawa on March 19, she encountered a maze of obstacles, including gate agents telling her that she did not meet Canada's new restrictions on entry, even though she did. Mumbai's normally bustling airport was "desolate," she said. Standing in a near-empty terminal "was like being in a zombie movie," she said. She missed her flight to Canada, but she will try again at the end of March if India does not extend its ban. "Who's to say [the ban] is not going to last longer?" she asked. "It sounds ludicrous, but everything that I thought was ludicrous is happening." - - - The Washington Post's Max Bearak in Nairobi, Kevin Sieff in Mexico City, Michael Birnbaum in Brussels, Joanna Slater in New Delhi, Ana Herrero in Caracas, Terrence McCoy in Rio de Janeiro, Simon Denyer in Tokyo and Liz Sly in Beirut contributed to this report. Cecilia Academia is producing a wonderful series of short Instagrams showing its soloists at home. First there was a heart felt thanks from its music director Antonio Pappano, who was talking from London, to all the S.Cecilia season ticket holders who have donated their ticket money from their unused concerts to keep the orchestra and chorus going rather than ask for refunds. Then came Instagrams of the first violinist, the flautist, the cellist and the head of the programme for children. In addition to the snippets of music they play and suggest, it is a real cheer-up call to see and hear these musicians talking to us from their homes, with little insights into how they are coping with the lockdown. These are the people of the orchestra and chorus we seldom see and often take for granted. They are bringing S. Cecilia home to us in an unexpected and imaginative way. Cecilia and the national broadcaster Rai Cultura, are also providing recordings of a selection of the orchestra's previously televised concerts on the RaiPlay platform every Thursday (19.30), Friday (20.30) and Saturday 18.00. See Santa Cecilia for the concerts planned. On 22 March the documentary Il Carattere Italiano by Angelo Bozzolini about the S.Cecilia orchestra and chorus, and the Italian character as the title would suggest, will be available on streaming for a month. Thank you S. Cecilia. Amid rising cases of COVID-19 in the county, the government has taken various initiatives to lock down many cities and states to contain the spread of the pandemic. According to the holistic health platform, GOQii, government efforts have proved fruitful as most people across India have been confined to their homes. As per the real-time step count data of over 5 lakh 'GOQii activity tracker' users, the average step count has reduced by 51 per cent across the country. The average step count has dropped from 6,432 steps on March 2 to 3,146 steps on March 17, 2020. There has been a signification drop within the last four days -- from 20 per cent average footfall on March 13 to 51 per cent on March 17. The data also reveals the reasons behind the drop in the average daily step count. These include the call for social distancing by the Central government and state authorities to contain the spread of coronavirus, fear of stepping out into crowded spaces and public transport vehicles, closure of all public places such as malls, cinema halls, religious places of worship, gyms, monuments and lastly work from home. GOQii has further classified the data into state wise footfall. Kerala, which had the first positive case on January 30, 2020, and which increased to 27 confirmed positive cases, has seen a drop in its step count by 62 per cent as on March 17. The drop in step count started earlier in Kerala due to the initial cases starting from the state. However, with a rapid spurt of cases in Maharashtra, the drop in step count in the state stands at 49 per cent. On the city level, Mumbai and Pune have seen a fairly steep decline of daily step count, with the former at 52 per cent, and latter at 49 per cent. Even though some of the other states do not have cases most of India seems to be taking precautions to prevent the spread of the disease. The drop seen across states ranges from 35 per cent to 62 per cent. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi's idea of declaring March 22 as the 'Janta Curfew' is a very good idea. While India is currently at 51 per cent, with the Janta curfew we can reach 100 per cent lockdown. Let us all work towards this and support our government and our doctors who are tirelessly working towards containing the spread of COVID2019," says Vishal Gondal, Founder & CEO, GOQii. Earlier this week, GOQii introduced a 'contact tracking' preventive feature on its app. This new feature is designed to help individuals maintain a real-time database of the people they have interacted in-person. This will help authorities and individuals quickly track the details in case the user has been tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The company has also created a WhatsApp Chatbot on coronavirus for helping everyone with their queries. Also read: Coronavirus Live Updates: Positive cases spike to 258; fresh cases from Kerala, Rajasthan Also read: Unacademy invites educational institutions to conduct classes for free The number of novel coronavirus related deaths has increased to four in Hungary, the government website koronavirus.gov.hu said on Friday evening. The fourth patient, a 53-year-old man, was suffering from multiple chronic illnesses, the website said. In the morning two elderly coronavirus patients, a Hungarian man aged 79 and one aged 68, died. Meanwhile, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country has risen to 85, the website said. Ten of the patients are Iranian, one is British, another Kazakh, and 73 are Hungarian. The epidemic in Hungary has entered its second phase, as the virus is being transmitted in communities rather than just from one individual to another, it added. The authorities are calling on the elderly and young people in particular to stay at home. Thirty men and 19 women aged between their early teens and late 70s tested positive, including a member of staff at Collingwood Football Club. Two more cases are being investigated by the Health Department and 51 have recovered. Hand sanitiser is on offer and increased cleaning is being carried out at the South Melbourne Market. Credit:Chris Hopkins The number of Victorians confirmed with the virus jumped by 51 to reach 229 on Saturday morning as the Premier, Daniel Andrews, announced a $1.7 billion lifeline for business and Crown Casino's social distancing exemption was revoked. A jump in the number of Victorian COVID-19 cases could be due to Australians rushing home from overseas, according to the state's Chief Health Officer, who has criticised Melbourne cafe patrons for not taking social isolation seriously. Chief Health Officer, Professor Brett Sutton, said cafe patrons still crowding around tables were doing the wrong thing and singled out young people for not adopting social distancing. He warned that young people are also becoming seriously ill with COVID-19. Younger people dont get such severe infections but people in their 20s have died, people in their 30s and 40s are going into intensive care," he said. Someone is dying every two minutes in Italy from coronavirus and so if you care about the people around you, if you think about protecting your family your parents and your grandparents then you have to think about making that distance between you and other people in all settings at all times whatever size. Victoria Police confirmed on Saturday that a number of spot checks had been conducted to ensure people are self-isolating in accordance with the advice of the Chief Health Officer but said no charges had been laid for refusing or failing to comply. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Beijing, China Sat, March 21, 2020 09:20 662 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad206c60aae 2 World China,COVID-19,Wuhan-lockdown,infection Free China reported no new local cases of the deadly coronavirus for a third consecutive day Saturday, but confirmed the highest yet increase in infections from abroad. The rate of infection has been slowing for weeks in China, while the rest of the world steps up measures to try and battle the raging pandemic. The World Health Organization on Friday praised China's success in controlling the outbreak in the central city of Wuhan, where the virus first emerged late last year. "Wuhan provides hope for the rest of the world that even the most severe situation can be turned around," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual news conference in Geneva. Some 56 million people in Wuhan and surrounding Hubei province were locked down in late January, but authorities are progressively easing the travel curbs as cases have dwindled. However, China has stepped up controls to tackle infections brought in from other countries, with another 41 cases reported Saturday -- the highest one-day tally yet. In total, 269 cases have now been brought into China from abroad. Beijing and other regions are forcing international arrivals to go into a 14-day quarantine, while the civil aviation ministry said this week it would limit passenger numbers on inbound international flights. There have been over 81,000 cases in China, but the health commission said only 6,013 were still ill with the disease. The number of deaths has also slowed dramatically, with seven new fatalities reported Saturday, all in Hubei province. As the crisis shifts from Asia to Europe, China's death toll -- now at 3,255 -- was overtaken this week by Italy, where more than 4,000 people have now died. The outbreak has infected more than 250,000 people around the world with more than 11,000 worldwide fatalities. A new Multnomah County indictment was returned Thursday, accusing a 30-year-old man of sexually assaulting 12 women between 2010 and 2019. The indictment against Rafael Gustavo Alcon-Ayala resulted from an investigation by Portland and Gresham police and help from the public. Alcon-Ayala was initially arrested in January, accused of sexually assaulting three women. He pleaded not guilty to the charges at that time and said he didnt know the victims when charged then, according to court papers. Hes now charged with 16 counts of first-degree rape, 12 counts of first-degree sexual abuse, and one count each of strangulation, first-degree unlawful sexual penetration, attempted first-degree unlawful sexual penetration, delivery of oxycodone, possession of oxycodone and possession and delivery of ecstasy. The victims were incapable of consent, either due to physical helplessness or mental incapacitation, according to the indictment. The Multnomah County District Attorneys office provided no further details about the sexual assault case. Many of the alleged victims in the case testified before a grand jury via video, according to the new indictment. Court records indicate Alcon-Ayala, of Northeast Portland, was a freight dock worker who has been on medical leave due to an accident. He remains in custody at the Multnomah County Detention Center on more than $7.2 million bail. He hasnt yet made a court appearance on the new indictment. -- Maxine Bernstein Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212 Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. Subscribe to Facebook page Squirmed for a bit before going still: The final moments of Nirbhayas killers India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, Mar 21: Moments before their hanging, the four convicts in the Nirbhaya case asked the Tihar jail authorities if any court order had come. They were in fact hopeful until the very last minute that their hanging would be stalled. Jail authorities that OneIndia spoke with said that none of them slept and were extremely restless. As a protocol the authorities went to each of their cells at 3 am and asked them to prepare. As protocol demands, the four were asked about their last wish. None of them said anything. However two of the convicts had written a will. Mukesh and Vinay were in cell number 8, while Akshay was in cell 7 and Pawan in cell 1. None of them asked for any special meal. The last meal that they had was on Thursday. However Akshay did not have dinner and had only a cup of tea. From Yakub Memon to Nirbhaya case convicts: Times when SC held post-midnight hearings They were asked if they wanted to pray, but they refused. On Friday, Pawan even tried biting his hand in a bid to stall the hanging. The rules state that an injured convict cannot be hanged. Only two of the four convicts wrote a will, the jail authorities said. Pawan and Akshay said that they did not wish to write any will or donate anything to their families. Vinay in his will wrote that he wanted to donate the paintings he had made in jail to the jail superintendent. Mukesh on the other hand wrote in his will that he wanted to donate his body. There is no law that states that the body of a death row prisoner cannot be donated. Now it is entirely up to his family to take a call on his will. The families would now get the money that the convicts had earned while in jail. Vinay had earned Rs 39,000, while in the case of Akshay it was 69,000. Pawan earned Rs 39,000 while Mukesh chose not to do any work in prison. At 4.30 am, district magistrate, Neha Bansal read out the order to execute the death sentence. She also met with each of them individually. Following this they were allowed to remain alone for sometime. When the jail authorities visited the cell of Vinay Sharma, he broke down and pleaded with the officials to let him go. Before being taken to the gallows, Sharma lay down on the floor and refused to go. He had to carried by the warders to the gallows. Nirbhaya: Justice has prevailed, says PM Modi after convicts' hanging At the gallows, the four men continued to resist until the noose was tightened. At 5.30 am, the superintendent signalled to hangman to pull the lever. Once done, the four men squirmed for a short while before going still. The bodies remained there until 6 am, following which a doctor certified them dead. At 8 am, the bodies were taken in four separate ambulances for autopsy. The families were allowed to take the bodies after giving a written declaration that they would not hold protest marches or have a public funeral. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, March 21, 2020, 8:55 [IST] Working at a breakneck pace, a team of hundreds of scientists has identified 50 drugs that may be effective treatments for people infected with the coronavirus. Many scientists are seeking drugs that attack the virus itself. But the Quantitative Biosciences Institute Coronavirus Research Group, based at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), is testing an unusual new approach. The researchers are looking for drugs that shield proteins in our own cells that the coronavirus depends on to thrive and reproduce. Many of the candidate drugs are already approved to treat diseases, such as cancer, that would seem to have nothing to do with COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Scientists at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York and at the Pasteur Institute in Paris have already begun to test the drugs against the coronavirus growing in their labs. The far-flung research group is preparing to release its findings at the end of the week. There is no antiviral drug proven to be effective against the virus. When people get infected, the best that doctors can offer is supportive care ensuring the patient is getting enough oxygen, managing fever and using a ventilator to push air into the lungs, if needed to give the immune system time to fight the infection. If the research effort succeeds, it will be a significant scientific achievement: an antiviral identified in just months to treat a virus that no one knew existed until January. Nevan Krogan, director of the Quantitative Biosciences Institute, and his colleagues set about finding proteins in cells that the coronavirus uses to grow. Normally, such a project might take two years. But the working group, which includes 22 laboratories, completed it in a few weeks. You have 30 scientists on a Zoom call its the most exhausting, amazing thing, Krogan said, referring to a teleconferencing service. Kevan Shokat, a chemist at UCSF, is poring through 20,000 drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for signs that they may interact with the proteins on the map created by Krogans lab. Shokat and his colleagues have found 50 promising candidates. On Thursday, Shokat and his colleagues filled a box with the first 10 drugs on the list and shipped them overnight to New York to be tested against the living coronavirus. The Plague isnt trying to panic us, because panic suggests a response to a dangerous but short-term condition from which we can eventually find safety. But there can never be safety and that is why, for Camus, we need to love our fellow damned humans and work without hope or despair for the amelioration of suffering. Life is a hospice, never a hospital. At the height of the contagion, when 500 people a week are dying, a Catholic priest called Paneloux gives a sermon that explains the plague as Gods punishment for depravity. But Dr. Rieux has watched a child die and knows better: Suffering is randomly distributed, it makes no sense, it is simply absurd, and that is the kindest thing one can say of it. The doctor works tirelessly to lessen the suffering of those around him. But he is no hero. This whole thing is not about heroism, Dr. Rieux says. It may seem a ridiculous idea, but the only way to fight the plague is with decency. Another character asks what decency is. Doing my job, the doctor replies. Eventually, after more than a year, the plague ebbs away. The townspeople celebrate. Suffering is over. Normality can return. But Dr. Rieux knew that this chronicle could not be a story of definitive victory, Camus writes. It could only be the record of what had to be done and what, no doubt, would have to be done again, against this terror. The plague, he continues, never dies; it waits patiently in bedrooms, cellars, trunks, handkerchiefs and old papers for the day when it will once again rouse its rats and send them to die in some well-contented city. Camus speaks to us in our own times not because he was a magical seer who could intimate what the best epidemiologists could not, but because he correctly sized up human nature. He knew, as we do not, that everyone has it inside himself, this plague, because no one in the world, no one, is immune. Alain de Botton is the author, most recently, of The School of Life. The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com. Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram. Maharshtra government has issued an advisory asking people to restrict the use of air conditioners in view of COVID-19 pandemic citing the reason that the virus can sneak in through the AC vents. The announcement was made by Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Saturday, quoting the World Health Organsiation guidelines which say that the virus can sneak in via AC vents. A directive was issued by Maharashtra health secretary Pradeep Vyas saying that rooms with ACs have a higher possibility of COVID-19 virus entering through the vents, therefore making it necessary to restrict their usage in government and private offices. Meanwhile, Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday ordered that all workplaces in Mumbai, and in the greater Mumbai Metropolitan Region as well as in Pune, Nagpur and Pimpri Chinchwad will remain closed till March 31 to rein in the spread of novel coronavirus. Maharashtra has reported the highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country at 63 so far, including one death. 21.03.2020 LISTEN The razer is sharp but cannot cut down a tree, similarly the axe is big but cannot be used to trim a nail. The above statement underscores the importance of using the right tool and personnel for the right job, failure to do so would invoke one resounding result, which abysmal failure. The health system in Ghana is vulnerable to the concept espoused above: frequent use of wrong tool and personnel for the right job, hence the need for this write up in the midst of the most virulent pandemic in recent history (WHO, 2020). Our health system has varied professionals, with about five regulatory bodies/councils (Act 857 of 2013), Allied Health Professions Council alone regulates about 18 professionals with each having sub groupings. The health delivery can be broadly classified as curative and preventive, the Job Descriptions (Scope of work) do not crisscross at all even though there is occasional task shifting and task sharing. This unique Occupational classifications and their accompanying Job Descriptions are codified in International Labor Organization (ILO)s International Standard of Classification of Occupation, 2008 (ISCO, 2008) and same adapted by WHO in 2010 with each profession assigned a unique ISCO-08 code. Ghanas Version of Job description for each profession was codified in 2005 (MoH, 2005). It is distressing to see how the risk, and crisis communication on the COVID-19 pandemic is been done and by which cadre of health professionals. Ghana started training a cadre of health professionals in 2011 known as Health Promotion Officers whose main job description is social mobilization and health communication. WHO has identified three key pillars of Health Promotion, cardinal among the three is Health Literacy (basically Health education and health communication and guiding people to make informed decision). Even though licensed to do effective Health Communication, the airwaves has been flooded with other cadres of health professionals: Medical Doctors, Pharmacists, Nurses and others who are licensed to be in the consulting room and attending to the clinical needs of patients, these cadres basically lack the rudiments of health risk and crisis communication except those with additional specialty in Health Promotion (health education is different from effective health education). The fear, misinformation, the paranoia and panic among the population is a function of this hemi-paralysis (using square pegs in round holes), shockingly this is fueled by the media who should know more and be the apt gatekeepers. Curiously, listened to Newsfile on Joynews and all I could see was two Medical Doctors (the Director General and the deputy General Secretary of GMA) and a Pharmacist (with no background in public health), Dr. Bayuo did well by severally acknowledging the role of Public Health Professionals. The absence or silence of Health Promotion Officers in the forefront of risk and crisis communication in this pandemic is a national disgrace to the health system and the media as a whole, and a serious misnomer which must end forthwith. I understand that they have been deliberately omitted from the Rapid Response Team of some districts, that is a shame and demonstrates lack of understandings of those District Directors about our health system. The country is happily announcing the huge number of contacts they are tracing (over 500 contacts) which is inspiring hope and confidence in the average citizen, however the angels behind this success and those that are risking for these huge contacts are not mentioned anywhere by anybody. These angels are the Disease Control Officers (DCO) and field epidemiologists, they are in-charge of surveillance and the contact tracing. Shockingly, the clinicians (Medical Doctors and Nurses) who at this moment are managing 19 cases are the ones extoled by the authorities who should know better (even though they are very crucial in the equation too). The insurance package that is been advocated for is only targeted at Nurses and Doctors, this revelation was made on Newsfile, he specifically said they would engage the GRNMA and GMA, what of the GAPHTO or HSWU? The whole country and it's health system would explode if the morale of DCOs is lowered, they are holding the forth for all of us by way of contact tracing and quarantine. A Directorate was created for Health Promotion at GHS headquarters and a Director appointed to head, why is he not leading the charge in communication, his silence is loud, deafening and sickening. Why is he conspicuously missing in all pressers? I say bravo to all Health Promotion Officer who are holding the forth in the various Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Health Directorates to curb the spread in the presence of this unprovoked hijack, same to the DCO for a wonderful job. The silence and abdication of responsibilities by the leadership of Health Promotion Association of Ghana (HePAG), Ghana Association of Public Health Technical Officers (GAPHTO) and Health Services Workers Union (HSWU) on this COVID-19 pandemic and the unprovoked hijack is disappointing to say the least. To sum it up, the COVID-19 pandemic would wreak havoc, our quest to achieve the SDGs by 2030 would be a joke with the neglect of the Public Health fraternity and their mighty contributions in situations like this. Similarly, the Alma Alta declaration of 1978, the Ottawa Charter of 1986, and Shanghai declaration of 2019 among others would come to naught if Health Promotion Officers are not empowered, and if Health Communication is not well regulated and allowed for appropriate and licensed people to handle it. We need our crucially scarce Medical Doctors and Nurses in the consulting rooms, wards and theatres, let us focus on that and allow others too to do what they are being licensed and paid to do. God bless our country and make it great and strong. Shaibu Issifu [email protected] Every county in New Jersey officially has at lease one diagnosed case of the coronavirus after a Salem County resident tested positive for the virus. The Salem County Health Department announced the first case of the coronavirus, a woman in her 60s from Pennsville, who has a history of traveling. The county said it was notified of the positive test from the womans health care provider. A Salem County official previously told NJ Advance Media Thursday three people, two who were being quarantined in another state, were being monitored due to a travel mandate decreed by the the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The Salem County case comes as the state Saturday announced 1,327 cases had been diagnosed in New Jersey, resulting in 16 deaths. To limit the spread of the virus, Governor Phil Murphy announced Saturday the closure of all non-essential businesses in the state. Tell us your coronavirus stories, whether its a news tip, a topic you want us to cover, or a personal story you want to share. If you would like updates on New Jersey-specific coronavirus news, subscribe to our Coronavirus in N.J. newsletter. Sign up for text message alerts from NJ.com on coronavirus in New Jersey: Chris Franklin can be reached at cfranklin@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @cfranklinnews or on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips. If you would like updates on New Jersey-specific coronavirus news, subscribe to our Coronavirus in N.J. newsletter. Illustrative image (Photo: VNA) During a meeting of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT)s steering committee for COVID-19 prevention and control, Anh said the recent suspension and cancellation of several orders from the EU and US was merely made by purchasers due to the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. Director of the MoITs European and American Market Department Ta Hoang Linh said upon hearing the news, the department held a working session with the EU Delegation to Vietnam and the US Embassy. The EU officials affirmed the EUs border shutdown is meant to protect peoples health. Goods and services to the EU, especially necessities such as food and medicine, are still circulating so that the policy is not directly impacting Vietnam EU trade, he said. Linh added that due to the closure of retail systems in Europe and the US, necessities such as footwear and apparel have been hit. He said the MoIT will continue working closely with trade offices in the two markets to offer support to Vietnamese footwear and apparel exporters in the near future. Director of the MoITs Industry Department Truong Thanh Hoai suggested allowing debt payment delay to businesses in the field, as well as boosting exports to China, the Republic of Korea and Japan when the epidemic is under control. Concluding the event, Anh said the situation required new scenarios with more drastic actions, thats why deeper and more updated analyses are needed. Under any circumstance, he asked the sector to act in compliance with the Government and Prime Ministers directions. Data from the General Department of Vietnam Customs showed that Vietnams garment exports to the US remained high in the first two months of this year, reaching 2.3 billion USD. A South Jersey health chain is seeking your help if you can donate any respirator masks as they help fight the coronavirus that is sweeping New Jersey. As with most of the health care industry right now, our supply of N95 surgical masks is low, Inspira Health said in a letter that was widely shared Friday. As this linked CDC graphic explains, the N95 masks are different from standard surgical masks - they contain a respirator that can filter out microscopic particles, including viruses and bacteria. Thats particularly useful because the coronavirus is spread through droplets - in other words, bodily fluids from infected patients. Health care industry employees have complained in recent weeks about mask shortages at hospitals. Part of the reason is increased buying of masks by the general public. The borough of Manasquan began a mask drive that continues through Saturday after receiving a letter from a nurse at Jersey Shore Medical Center who said the hospitals supply was getting critically low." With the increased demand, due to COVID-19, we are pursuing every possible source for these masks in addition to our usual suppliers, the Inspira letter says. We know many industries outside of health care in our region use these masks, and we are turning to our community to ask for assistance. Anyone who has N95 masks or other supplies to donate to Inspira should drop them off at Guest Services at Inspira Health Woodbury, formerly Underwood Memorial Hospital, between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. To have someone pick up your donation, contact the Inspira Foundation at 856-641-8290 or inspiragiving@ihn.org. That facility is being revamped after it ceased acute care services in December. The state health commissioner Judith Persichilli said the Army Corps of Engineers examined the building and within three to four weeks there could be 300 new beds, to help combat a possible strain on the health care system with a likely spike in coronavirus patients. This article was updated with different contact information for Inspira. Sign up for text message alerts from NJ.com on coronavirus in New Jersey: Tell us your coronavirus stories, whether its a news tip, a topic you want us to cover, or a personal story you want to share. If you would like updates on New Jersey-specific coronavirus news, subscribe to our Coronavirus in N.J. newsletter. Joe Brandt can be reached at jbrandt@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JBrandt_NJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Former Jharkhand minister Anosh Ekka was on Saturday convicted by a Jharkhand court for laundering over Rs 20 crore funds, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said New Delhi/Ranchi: Former Jharkhand minister Anosh Ekka was on Saturday convicted by a Jharkhand court for laundering over Rs 20 crore funds, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said. Ekka was being probed in connection with the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case against former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda and others. The agency said the quantum of sentence for Ekka will be pronounced by the special PMLA court in Ranchi on March 31. "The court convicted Anosh Ekka for being guilty of offences of money laundering to the tune of Rs 20,31,77,852 as defined under Section 3 of the PMLA and punishable under Section 4 of the PMLA," the ED said in a statement. Ekka was minister of rural development, transport, panchayati raj and building construction in the cabinet of former CM Koda between March 12, 2005 and December 19, 2008. The case pertains to the money-laundering probe involving Koda and others, and was initiated by the ED in September 2009 in which a number of arrests were made and assets worth hundreds of crores were attached. This is the 11th conviction under the PMLA that was enacted in 2002 and implemented from 2005. In 2014, the ED had attached assets located in Delhi and other places worth Rs 20.3 crore (market value Rs 100 crore) linked to Ekka. The CBI earlier accused Ekka, his wife and others of possessing disproportionate wealth of more than Rs 16.82 crore, allegedly acquired during his ministerial term in the Koda dispensation. Ekka has represented Kolebira in Simdega district of Jharkhand as an MLA. The seat falls under the Khunti parliamentary constituency. He then represented the Jharkhand Party (JKP). Koda, Ekka and others were being investigated by the ED under PMLA charges for alleged possession of disproportionate assets and money laundering. This is the second PMLA conviction in the Koda case as in 2017, former Jharkhand minister Hari Narayan Rai was sentenced to seven years of rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 5 lakh by a special court in Ranchi. The ED had charged Ekka after taking cognisance of a Jharkhand Vigilance Bureau FIR on charges of "misusing his official position and power being a public servant and acquired huge movable and immovable properties." The ED has till now filed multiple charge sheets in this case. [March 20, 2020] PROPETRO INVESTIGATION INITIATED by Former Louisiana Attorney General: Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC Investigates the Officers and Directors of ProPetro Holding Corp. - PUMP Former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., Esq., a partner at the law firm of Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC ("KSF"), announces that KSF has commenced an investigation into ProPetro Holding Corp. (NYSE: PUMP). On August 8, 2019, the Company disclosed a delay to its second quarter earnings report due to an ongoing review by its audit committee involving improper expense reimbursements of approximately $370,000 to executives, undisclosed related-party transactions, and a potential material weakness in its internal control over disclosure. Then, on October 18, 2019, news agencies reported that the company was the target of an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC (News - Alert)") relating to its financial disclosures. Finally, on November 13, 2019, the Company confirmed the SEC investigation and also revealed previously-undisclosed related-party transactions totaling $3.6 million as well as "at least two material weaknesses that resulted in the Company's internal control over financial reporting and disclosure controls and procedures not being effective as of a prior date." The Company has been sued in a securities class action lawsuit for failing t disclose material information, violating federal securities laws, which remains ongoing. KSF's investigation is focusing on whether ProPetro's officers and/or directors breached their fiduciary duties to ProPetro's shareholders or otherwise violated state or federal laws. If you have information that would assist KSF in its investigation, or have been a long-term holder of ProPetro shares and would like to discuss your legal rights, you may, without obligation or cost to you, call toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or email KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn ([email protected]), or visit https://www.ksfcounsel.com/cases/nyse-pump/ to learn more. About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC KSF, whose partners include former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is one of the nation's premier boutique securities litigation law firms. KSF serves a variety of clients - including public institutional investors, hedge funds, money managers and retail investors - in seeking recoveries for investment losses emanating from corporate fraud or malfeasance by publicly traded companies. KSF has offices in New York, California and Louisiana. To learn more about KSF, you may visit www.ksfcounsel.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200320005557/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Saturday said the fight against novel coronavirus is a shared responsibility and everyone has to play their due roles in tackling the contagion. The Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office lauded the efforts of the medical fraternity of Jammu and Kashmir in combating the spread of the virus and sought the cooperation of all sections of society for the same. "All of us have to cooperate in an optimum manner and every person needs to take all necessary precautions and exercise individual and collective responsibility in this fight against the coronavirus," Singh said, chairing a high-level meeting here to review the preparedness of the Union Territory in dealing with the pandemic. The Union Minister also asked people to heed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for the 'Janata curfew' on Sunday to minimize social interaction to control the spread of the contagion. While emphasizing the need for upholding good personal hygiene by washing hands regularly, he also stressed the need for following the necessary guidelines that are being regularly issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare while discarding rumours and misinformation from unverified sources. Singh directed officials to restrict the number of attendants in hospitals and exploring the possibility of designated OPD hours for regular patients to avoid mass gatherings. While calling for proper care and attention of the people quarantined in hospitals, he said they should not be made to feel like prisoners. Advisor to the Lieutenant Governor, Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, said people should not panic and follow the government advisories in letter and spirit. He said COVID-19 patients need to be taken care of and every precaution should be exercised in dealing with the infection. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) OAKLAND - A Singapore-based shipping company was fined $1.65 million in federal court in Oakland this week for dumping oily bilge water into the ocean during a voyage last year from the Philippines to the Richmond. In addition to the fine, Unix Line PTE was placed on probation for four years and ordered to implement an environmental compliance plan as part of a sentence on Friday before U.S. District Court Judge Jon S. Tigar in Oakland. The company had previously pleaded guilty to a violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships. Unix Line admitted that its crew members on the Zao Galaxy, a 16,408 gross-ton tanker, knowingly failed to record the discharge of oily bilge water without the use of required pollution-prevention equipment during the voyage last year, according to U.S. Attorney David L. Anderson of the Northern District of California. The Zao Galaxy set sail from the Philippines on Jan. 21, 2019, heading to Richmond with a cargo of palm oil. On Feb. 11, 2019, when the ship arrived in Richmond and U.S. Coast Guard examiners discovered that a ship officer directed crewmembers to discharge oily bilge water in a way that bypassed the vessel's oil water separator, Anderson said. The discharges were purposely omitted from the Zao Galaxy's oil record book when it was presented to the U.S. Coast Guard during the vessel's inspection, officials said. "The Coast Guard Investigative Service will continue to make criminal investigations that deter maritime organizations from breaking international and U. S. law designed to protect our finite natural marine resources a priority" said Kelly Hoyle, Special Agent in Charge Pacific Region of the Coast Guard Investigative Service. Last October, Unix Line was indicted by a federal grand jury for obstruction of justice and a violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships. Under a plea agreement, Unix Line pled guilty to one count of a The prosecution was the result of a yearlong investigation by the Coast Guard Investigative Service and the Investigations Division of Coast Guard Sector San Francisco. Copyright 2020 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. New Delhi, March 21 : Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Saturday expressed concern over the government's response to coronavirus and demanded a relief package for the worst-hit segments, including the poor, farmers, small businesses as well as the middle class. She also demanded considerable expansion of testing to include people under surveillance and symptomatic cases. Her remarks came after Rahul Gandhi slammed the Modi government over its preparations to combat the pandemic, saying "clapping" (as a symbol of expressing gratitude to healthcare and service sector employees) would not help as a huge economic package is needed to help the people. In a tweet, Rahul Gandhi said, "Coronavirus is wreaking havoc on our fragile economy. Small, medium businessmen and daily wage workers are the worst affected. Clapping won't help them. Today, a huge economic package is needed such as cash help, tax breaks and debt repayment. Take quick steps". Sonia Gandhi in her statement said, "After demonetisation and slowing down of the Indian economy, Covid-19 has come as a huge setback to millions of daily wage earners, the MGNREGA workers, ad hoc and temporary employees, labourers, farmers and those in the unorganized sectors. Even for regular employees, reports suggest massive lay-offs and retrenchment. She said the government has to put in place broad-based social protection measures, including direct cash financial help to these sections," she said. She further said that all businesses, especially the Micro, Small & Medium businesses, were under a huge stress on account of COVID-19 and demanded a sector-wise relief package. The Congress Interim President further said that extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. "A comprehensive sector-wise relief package needs to be announced forthwith by the government, including necessary tax breaks, interest subvention and deferment of liabilities. For the salaried class, Government and the RBI must consider a deferment of EMIs." She also asked the government to consider a "special relief package" for the agriculture sector also. Slamming the government over its preparations to combat Covid-19, she said she disagreed with the government's present testing plan and suggested that it be ramped up considerably to deal with the challenges presented by a country with 1.3 billion population. "In a nation of 130 crore people, only 15,701 samples are reported to have been tested so far. Despite ample time, early warnings and lessons from other nations, we appear to have underutilized our public and private sector capacities. This must change," she said. She further demanded that information on location of each hospital and their emergency phone line numbers should be publicly shared to deal with alleged "uncertainty and lack of information" about the number of beds, isolation wings, ventillators, dedicated medical teams and medical supplies. Sonia said the government should grant special financial incentives to medical staff engaged in combating the virus. She lauded the role of the medical staff. "We are proud of our doctors, nurses and supporting staff. At the same time, I strongly feel that the grant of special financial incentives for them in these trying times is equally important. Currently, both these are lacking." Sonia also raised the issue of the non-availability of protective gear and its black marketing and said the government was duty-bound to deal with the artificial shortage and act against hoarders. She also said that the prices of essential commodities such as vegetables, pulses and rice seem to be rising daily, which the government must check. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) New Delhi, March 21 : Describing the coronavirus crisis in the country as a huge blow to the economy, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi slammed the Modi government over its preparations to combat the pandemic, saying "clapping" would not help as a huge economic package is needed to help the people. In a tweet, Rahul Gandhi said, "Coronavirus is wreaking havoc on our fragile economy. Small, medium businessmen and daily wage workers are the worst affected. Clapping won't help them. Today, a huge economic package is needed such as cash help, tax breaks and debt repayment. Take quick steps." The Prime Minister has appealed to the people to "clap" as a mark of gratitude towards the health workers. Modi, during his special address to the nation on Thursday said people must come at their balconies or outside their doors at 5 p.m. on Sunday during the 'Janata curfew' from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. and clap their hands or sound utensils for five minutes to thank those at the forefront of combating Covid-19. Latest updates on Howdy Modi Houston Pakistan on Saturday suspended all international flights for two weeks and curtailed train services as the coronavirus cases surged to 666 in the country after more pilgrims who returned from Iran tested positive for the deadly virus, which has turned into a major global crisis. The government in a statement said all international flights are being suspended for two weeks to curb the spread of the virus. From 8 pm tonight, "all incoming international flights are being suspended for two weeks," a statement issued read. National flag-carrier PIA, however, will be allowed to bring back its planes. Cargo flights will also be allowed. Earlier, the PIA had said all international departures were being suspended till March 28. Railway Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad ordered to reduce the number of trains running in the country from March 25 until the middle of the holy month of Ramadan, which would start around April 25. "We have decided to suspend 34 trains out of total 142 running in the country while another eight trains will be suspended from April 1," he said. The government announced the measures as the number of confirmed cases in the country jumped to 625 on Saturday, which increased to 666 by late evening. The worst-affected Sindh province reported 90 new coronavirus cases, taking the provincial tally to 357. The new cases have been detected in pilgrims who returned from Iran and have been quarantined in Sukkur, according to a spokesperson for the Sindh health department. The number of COVID-19 patients in Balochistan rose to 104 with 12 new cases. After 41 new cases surfaced in Punjab, Chief Minister Usman Buzdar announced the closure of all shopping malls, markets and public places from 9 pm on Saturday till 9 am on Tuesday. However, pharmacies, petrol pumps, and grocery stores will remain open. In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the number rose to 27 as new cases came forward, provincial health minister Taimur Jhagra said. Gilgit-Baltistan has 30 cases, Islamabad 10 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir one case. So far three patients have died in Pakistan while five have recovered. Pakistan reported the third casualty from the virus in Karachi on Friday, two days after two men both pilgrims returning from Iran and Saudi Arabia died of the coronavirus in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The 70-year-old who died in Karachi was a cancer survivor. He had other medical problems, like hypertension and diabetes, but did not have any travel or contact history, officials said. Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr. Zafar Mirza has said that all provinces of the country now have laboratories where coronavirus tests can be done. Speaking at a press conference, Mirza said that the number of labs would increase in the future. Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday ruled out total lockdown but asked people to reduce unnecessary travel and go for self-quarantine for at least another 45 days to help tackle the coronavirus crisis which has killed over 11,000 people and infected 250,000 worldwide. Pakistan, despite its close proximity with China, remained unscathed by the virus until February 26 when a man from Karachi tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the Express Tribune reported. The man, in his twenties, had returned from Iran, which is also one of the worst-hit countries. After a brief pause following the first case, COVID-19 cases witnessed a sharp surge as more pilgrims returning from Iran tested positive despite the fact that they were quarantined for 14 days at the Pak-Iran border crossing of Taftan in Balochistan. Amid an imminent threat of the spread of coronavirus, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has ordered the release of under-trial prisoners detained in Rawalpindis overcrowded Adiala jail in minor crimes and directed the Islamabad police not to make arrest in petty matters, the Dawn reported. The Lahore High Court (LHC) has summoned the first meeting of its Crisis Management Committee on March 24. The government has exempted the import of 61 diagnostic support and personal protective equipment from all duties and taxes for a period of three months in order to reduce the rising prices in the domestic market. The government has also allowed the use of non-utilised amount of the World Bank-funded projects worth USD 40 million for the purchase of COVID-19 equipment. The provincial government of Balochistan has decided to impose a 21-day partial lockdown across the province to control the spread of highly contagious disease. Under the lockdown, which is similar to the restrictions imposed by the Sindh government, all major shopping centers, markets, and food restaurants will remain closed. However, food delivery will be allowed during the lockdown. Pakistan Prime Minister Khan while addressing the media in Islamabad on Friday had said the countrys strategy is a little different from a complete lockdown, considering Pakistans socio-economic realities."Pakistan isn't a rich country like Italy, where people can get through a sustained period without economic activity," he said. Margi Jackson didn't know how she was going to get food. She certainly wasn't going to go outside. The 69-year-old is in remission from lymphoma and has Crohn's disease, which affects her immune system. For people like her, the threat of contracting COVID-19 can be dire. It's not worth the risk of leaving the house to get groceries. Margi Jackson has compromised immunity and can't go outside to get food, but a post on Facebook led to many acts of kindness. Credit:Chris Hopkins So when her online order was cancelled at a major supermarket as panic-buying shoppers stripped the shelves bare of essentials she posted for help on her local Facebook community page in Altona Meadows. Your tax-deductible gift today powers our reporters and keeps us independent. We rely on you, our reader, not paywalls to stay funded because we believe important news and information should be freely accessible to all. Start your day with LAist Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays. Subscribe On a normal day, Robin Christenson would be overseeing the production of Carraway-tinged aquavit and vodka flavored with Valencia oranges. But nothing is normal these days. With bars and restaurants mostly closed due to the coronavirus, distilleries don't have clients to buy their alcohol. Now a handful have stopped producing liquor and started producing hand sanitizer. At Santa Ana's Blinking Owl Distillery, Christenson, the company's chief financial officer, expects the first bottles of hand sanitizer to leave the company's 6,500-square-foot facility in late March or early April. "A couple weeks ago, we saw the Purell shortage and we started looking into the regulations for [making] it," Christenson says. "We already had some high proof spirit that was ready to be made into vodka but we decided to put that toward hand sanitizer." Head distiller Ryan Friesen (left) with Blinking Owl Distillery co-founders Brian and Robin Christenson. (Courtesy of Blinking Owl Distillery) Blinking Owl isn't alone. Portuguese Bend Distillery in Long Beach and AMASS, which distills in downtown Los Angeles, are also gearing up to produce hand sanitizer. For Morgan Mclachlan, the head distiller at AMASS, it started a few weeks ago when she wanted hand sanitizer for herself and couldn't find any in stores or online. "So I thought, 'I'm a distiller. I'm already formulating things with alcohol. I'll just make my own.' And then I thought, 'I'll make some for my friends and family.' Then it turned into, 'I'll make some for the office.' Then, from there, we just started to see there was a real need." Mclachlan says. Last week, she thought she'd make a couple hundred units to sell online and give to clients. But she says she has received numerous inquiries for wholesale production, both for commercial sale and for government agencies. "The scale of it has just changed really, really dramatically, really, really quickly," Mclachlan says. Ryan Friesen, the head distiller at Blinking Owl and vice president of the California Artisanal Distillers' Guild, estimates that approximately 20 distilleries across California are retooling their operations to make hand sanitizer. It's happening around the country, too. "We're not going to replace the industrial suppliers shipping product across the country. This is more about local distilleries helping their local officials and communities," Friesen says. Sara Cartelli (center) and members of the Koether family fill bottles with a hand sanitizer at the Claremont Distillery on March 20, 2020 in Fairfield, New Jersey. (Kena Betancur/Getty Images) Distilleries are well positioned to do this because the liquor you pour in your martini and the sanitizer you rub on your hands have the same key ingredient (although at much different strengths): ethyl alcohol. "It all starts with vodka," Christenson says. How They Do It Once grain has been fermented into 12% alcohol, it's put into a still (basically a giant pot) where it's cooked until it becomes a high-proof, 96% pure alcohol. This neutral grain spirit is the base for vodka (and other liquors) but it's also the base for hand sanitizer. In fact, you could use this straight alcohol as a sanitizer, although most companies will add glycerin to make it thicker and less harsh on human skin. The World Health Organization's recipe for hand sanitizer recommends adding hydrogen peroxide, an antiseptic that kills bacteria. Making hand sanitizer isn't complicated. Pivoting from liquor distillation to be able to do it, is. On a scale of 1 to 10, Christenson says the process has been a 6 in terms of difficulty. The company has had to work with the federal Trade and Tax Bureau to sort out the regulations and tax implications, with California's Alcoholic Beverage Control to ensure compliance and with the FDA, which regulates hand sanitizer as an over-the-counter drug, to make sure they're checking all the boxes for health and safety. Simon Haxton, the spirits tsar at Portuguese Bend Distillery, holds a bottle of the hand sanitizer the distillery produced. (Courtesy of Portuguese Bend Distillery) "Waiting for the federal government bureaucracy to go through the processes and give us the go-ahead, that it was probably the toughest part," says Simon Haxton, spirits tsar at Portuguese Bend. It has also meant sourcing new ingredients like glycerin, labels and bottles, which have been incredibly hard to find. Christenson estimates Blinking Owl has spent between $10,000 and $15,000 to gear up for production not an inconsequential sum for a small business, especially one with no income coming in. (The cost was fronted by one of the brewery's partners, actress Kirsten Vangsness, who plays computer whiz Penelope Garcia on Criminal Minds.) She says from start to finish fermenting the grain to bottling the sanitizer the entire process should take 10 business days. Portuguese Bend has already produced a small amount of hand sanitizer by taking a batch of high-proof alcohol and converting it. "It didn't take very long to do a very small batch, but we're seeing a larger and larger demand," Haxton says. Figuring out how to scale up and find a market for the product will take longer. A member of the Koether family puts labels on bottles of hand sanitizer at the Claremont Distillery during the coronavirus pandemic on March 20, 2020 in Fairfield, New Jersey. (Kena Betancur/Getty Images) In Orange County, when supervisor Andrew Do heard that distilleries were doing this, he reached out to Blinking Owl and helped connect them to county agencies. The distillery is producing 2-oz. pocket bottles, 12-ounce pump bottles, 1-gallon tubs and 55-gallon drums of hand sanitizer. Most of it is already spoken for. Orange County officials plan to distribute the pocket-size bottles to homeless people. The industrial-size containers will likely go to police stations, fire departments, hospitals and medical facilities. Blinking Owl will also sell some of the pump bottles to their customers. With the coronavirus pandemic in full swing, demand for hand sanitizer is going to grow. (Kelly Sikkema/Unsplash) (Kelly Sikkema/Unsplash) "It's looking like we're going to need to double our production and hire and get this off the line because there's so much need right now," Christenson says. So far, distilleries haven't been jacking up the prices, according to Friesen. "The distilling community in California is happy to be in a position where we can provide a public service," he says. "Many distilleries are donating products. Some are selling it where appropriate but nobody price gouging. The goal is to get this into the hands of first responders. That's where the first wave of this is going." Premier Li Keqiang on March 20 called for more efforts to facilitate the recovery of businesses and to ensure employment. This year's task of stabilizing employment is very arduous due to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, Li said in a written instruction to a teleconference held in Beijing. Local governments and all sectors should make coordinated efforts to further control the epidemic while boosting economic and social development, and giving more priority to employment, he said. They should make the best use of policies such as tax breaks and financial support, help micro, small and medium-sized enterprises tide over difficulties, support firms to resume production, and facilitate the construction of major projects, in order to stabilize employment, he said. More should be done to boost employment of migrant workers, prioritize employment of the disadvantaged groups, step up vocational training and provide assistance to those in areas with serious epidemic situations, while the basic livelihood of the unemployed should be safeguarded, he said. China will continue to cut red tape, improve government services, give full play to the positive role of mass entrepreneurship and innovation, and support the development of the Internet Plus and platform economy, in a bid to provide more opportunities for employment, entrepreneurship and flexible employment, Li said. Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua, also chief of the State Council leading group of employment, speaks at a teleconference on employment and epidemic control in Beijing, capital of China, March 20, 2020. [Photo/Xinhua] Vice Premier Hu Chunhua told the conference that unreasonable regulations that hinder the resumption of production should be canceled. Hu, also chief of the State Council leading group of employment, underscored the role of the unemployment insurance fund in ensuring basic livelihoods for people having problems finding jobs. Supporting measures should be rolled out in a timely manner to ensure various policies can come into effect as soon as possible to stabilize employment, Hu said. Angelique Lopez of Oak Brook said she has heard her kids say they do not understand the point of doing the work if their grades are not going to count. She explained they should do the assignments, out of respect to their educators who are making an effort as well, not to mention this is how they will learn by practicing. A toddler rocking on a playground in Hamburg, Germany, Tuesday, March 17, 2020. Due to the corona virus, daycare centers are closed in most federal states since this Monday. The question of childcare is a major challenge for millions of parents. Read more Jillian Bauer-Reese walks into her bathroom, and finds a bit of a surprise left by her 2-year-old daughter on the edge of the toilet seat: a measuring cup. Fortunately, its empty. Its Bauer-Reeses sixth day of working from home, relocating from Temple University, where shes an assistant professor. Her new coworkers: a toddler, a baby, and a husband. Im literally walking around the house with a weird crap I found that my kid left out bag and dumping everything into it that I find, between working and actually watching them, said Bauer-Reese. Weekends have turned into workdays because we dont have enough time to get everything done during the week mind you, its an incredible privilege that Im able to work from home. The coronavirus has caused countless changes to everyones lives, parents certainly included. In the chaos of it all, here's a guide filled with suggestions on how to keep your kids entertained, and safe, while protecting your own sanity. Scheduling With no school day, keep that structure in place with your own schedule and post it on the refrigerator. Were starting the morning with breakfast and a few activities, 10:30 to 11 is outdoor time whichever parent has the important [work] call at that moment swaps off kid duties and then we have lunch, and try to get our son down for a nap, shares Mikey Ilagan, a father of two and an employee at Comcast. Theyre used to a routine, so we wanted to continue that from day one. Go the handwritten route or test out an online schedule-maker, like Schedule Builder, which allows you to color-code, download, and print. Break the day up into chunks, starting with breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If theres schoolwork, consider when they work best (morning or afternoon), and use that to frame the rest of the schedule, adding playtime in between. Then, define the windows of playtime (arts and crafts, screen time, recess/getting outside, etc.). And have them help plan, too. For starters, pull them into the kitchen with you, and get them involved in the meal planning. Let each kid pick out a dish to make. Meal themes, like Pancake Sunday or Taco Tuesday, will add a layer of fun, too. READ MORE: How to talk to your children about coronavirus Online board games and virtual play dates Board games are classic family fun. If youre limited in options, you can tap into a variety of free options online, including Monopoly, Catan Classic, and the Scrabble-like Words With Friends. Or get extra creative, and challenge the kids to craft their own board game. Some games, like Scattegories, are fairly easy to replicate at home, too. Want to invite other families to join? The video chat app Houseparty, lets you play games like Heads Up and Pictionary with up to eight other users. While youre at it, go ahead and download Singing Machine Karaoke for some future family sing-alongs. Going outside While social distancing is a national priority, that doesnt mean families need to stay cooped up inside all day. This could go on for weeks, potentially months from a mental health perspective, keeping the kids inside is not good, says Bucks County Health Director David Damsker, a father of three. READ MORE: How to safely social distance outside If you have little ones, close monitoring becomes extra important to prevent them from touching their face. Avoiding playgrounds for the time being is encouraged by most health experts. Damsker also stresses regular hand-washing, not only after tossing the Frisbee around but before heading out to play. Juggling parenting, working, and teaching Youre typing away, trying to meet a pressing work deadline, and meanwhile your 9-year-old is loudly rambling off his times tables. What should you do? Someone get the duct tape. Navigating both a full-time job and parenting is already challenging enough, and when you lose the separation between work, home, and school, the word nightmare might pop into mind. Fortunately, there are some measures you can take to ease the stress. 1. Its not going to be perfect First and foremost: recognize that distractions and interruptions are inevitable. If you let every single one get the best of you, you will drown in a pool of frustration. 2. Youre not the only one going through this Communication is essential. Make sure your bosses are aware of your situation, which might include reminders like Hey, just a heads up, my kid might walk in during video meetings and that youll be completely offline during the lunch hour. If you have a partner, spend a few minutes each morning discussing the day ahead. Identify when you each have important meetings or calls that may require the other to help out with kid duty. And dont forget about communicating with your kiddos. Talk to them about boundaries, and consider using a tool, like a paper stop sign, that you can post up when you need quiet time. 3. Get the support you need Finally, remember to take breaks, whether its to complete a Lego kit with your kid, call a friend, or go for a walk around the house. Im keeping up with my therapist Im fortunate she has a telehealth solution and Ive set up happy hours with my friends over Google Hangouts and Zoom, says Ilagan, father of two. Parenting in general, even when things are normal, can be isolating, and were at the point where we arent even doing play dates, so setting up virtual hangouts to get human interaction is important. READ MORE: How are you working and parenting at the same time? Send us your strategies Online learning resources To keep your kids learning, there are plenty of free online resources on virtually every subject. Here are a few to get you started: Food support for Philly kids With doors closed, the Philadelphia School District has set up 30 locations in the city where students (age 18 or under) can get two shelf-stable meals per day (9 a.m. to noon, Monday through Friday). An additional 50 sites will offer individual meals (2 to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday). All Mastery schools in Philadelphia and Camden are offering ready-made food, with some locations enabling students to take home three-days worth of breakfast and lunch at a time (March 19, 20, 23, and 26). Boys Latin of Philadelphia is distributing a weeks worth of breakfast and lunch items at its middle and high schools (March 23). Aspira Charter Schools is handing out meals to its students at two different locations (John B. Stetson Charter School and Olney Charter High School) from 8 a.m. to noon. (March 18, 20, 23, and 26). String Theory Schools is distributing meals across three locations (Monday through Friday). With a student lunch pin, families will receive one bag daily that includes breakfast and lunch. Mighty Writers, which runs writing workshops for children, is giving out free lunches from noon to 1 p.m. weekdays at two locations: 3520 Fairmount Ave. and at El Futuro, 1025 S. Ninth St. The Islamic community center Masjidullah is giving away free Halal lunch to all students from noon to 2 p.m. (through March 27). Help your kids cope, too To curb fears, squash myths, and maintain extra-mindful hygiene practices, educating kids about the coronavirus is a must. Its important to remain calm when talking about the virus and reassure them that there are health-care professionals and scientific experts working to make sure we stay safe. Be honest, and encourage questions. You want to clear up any confusion or misinformation that could be causing panic. As for hand-washing, you can never remind kids too often. Make it a habit to sing the Happy Birthday song, twice, while lathering up and rinsing. And be sure to stress the importance of not touching your face. Photo: The Canadian Press Horacio Arruda, Quebec director of National Public Health, responds to reporters questions Saturday. After a week of strong urging from governments that people should keep apart to prevent the spread of COVID-19, provincial leaders and their police forces have stopped asking politely. In Quebec City, police arrested a woman Friday who was infected with the virus and who was walking around outside after being mandated to stay indoors. The arrest was the first time Quebec City's public health director issued an order to police under emergency powers granted after Premier Francois Legault declared a public health emergency March 14. Mathieu Boivin, spokesman for Quebec City's regional health authority, wouldn't give details on Friday's arrest or how the agency learned the woman carrying COVID-19 had violated a quarantine order. Quebec medical authorities say they give clear directives to people who test positive for COVID-19. If medical officers get the sense an infected person might not obey an isolation order, the patient is monitored more closely. In an interview Saturday, Boivin said regarding the prior day's arrest: "When it became obvious we had to act, we acted." On Friday, Quebec City's regional health authority said in a statement that police would maintain surveillance for a time "to ensure the person respects the isolation order." If she tries to leave, they said, she will be arrested and brought to a "secure location for her and for the population, where public health officials can ensure health orders are respected." On Friday, provincial police in Ontario warned that people will face fines for violating orders to close certain businesses and to limit gatherings. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe suggested citizens who know of anyone not self-isolating after returning from international travel should call police. Dr. Horacio Arruda, the province's chief medical officer, told reporters Saturday that regional health directors across the province "will have no problem" ordering police to make arrests and ensure people carrying the virus are isolated. "Starting now, it's clear that we will restrict people who aren't respecting the orders," Arruda said. "Especially if they have already been advised, contacted, and we have information that they are walking around. "It's a question of respect. The rights of individuals stop when the impact of the community is very high." Federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu warned Saturday that if Canadians choose to ignore the pleas from health authorities, the government will take more draconian measures. "When people are playing loose and hard with the rules like this it does actually put our civil liberties at jeopardy," Hajdu said. "It makes governments have to look at more and more stringent measures to actually contain people in their own homes. "Politicians and governments will be pushed to a place to take more and stringent measures when people violate them and don't take this seriously. So I would encourage Canadians to think about that and to think about their obligation to act collectively right now. In Ontario the provincial police issued a notice Friday warning people that they could face fines of $750 if they defy the "expert advice provided by the chief medical officer of health to close certain businesses and institutions and limit gatherings to 50 people or less." Corporations defying orders can face a fine of $500,000. The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency announced Friday that approximately 80 members of the Pa. National Guard are aiding the operation of a drive-thru, mass testing site for COVID-19 at Temple Universitys Ambler Campus in Upper Dublin Township. The test site remains under the control of Montgomery County, according to a press release. The PA National Guard has skilled professionals who are trained and experienced in conducting operations under challenging conditions, said Col. Frank Montgomery, the director of military support. We are proud to be able to share this expertise with our Commonwealth partners to help our fellow Pennsylvanians during these trying times. The site will open at 10 a.m. Saturday and is by appointment only. No treatment for COVID-19 will be conducted on site, and only individuals meeting one or more of four criteria will be eligible to receive the test. Fever at or above 100.4-degrees and respiratory symptoms such as cough or shortness of breath Temperature at or above 99.6-degrees and 65 years of age or older First responders (law enforcement, fire, EMS or dispatcher) and concern for exposure to a patient with suspected COVID-19 or respiratory symptoms Healthcare workers proving direct patient care and testing not available through employer and concern for exposure to a patient with suspected COVID-19 or respiratory symptoms. Tests will be reserved for high-risk individuals. The release also stated that criteria may be enhanced or relaxed based on future availability of tests. Online registration through the Montgomery County EMA begins at 8 a.m. Saturday. Individuals without access to the online registration can call 610-631-3000. Individuals are being advised to enter campus at the 1400 block of E. Butler Pike. Only enclosed passenger vehicles and small vans and trucks will be permitted to enter the queue. --PennLives complete coronavirus coverage-- Follow Eric Epler on Twitter -- @threejacker Thanks for visiting PennLive. Quality local journalism has never been more important. We need your support. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work. As India's week-long ban on international commercial flights comes into effect on March 22, the Indian Embassy in the US has advised its nationals to stay safe and isolated to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. A total of 230 people have died in the US due to the fast-spreading coronavirus pandemic by Friday evening. The number of confirmed cases has jumped to over 18,000. Coronavirus cases have been reported in all the 50 States in the US and District of Columbia as well as Puerto Rico. According to the Johns Hopkins coronavirus tracker, the death toll from the virus ... 3 1 of 3 Erik Trautmann / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Philip Friedman/Studio D Show More Show Less 3 of 3 Gov. Ned Lamont on Friday issued an executive order, called Stay Safe, Stay Home, requiring non-essential workers to stay home to promote social distancing and slow the spread of the coronavirus. This order will become effective at 8 p.m. on Monday, March 23 through Wednesday, April 22, unless modified, extended or terminated by the governor. The Hearst Connecticut Media Group is exempt from this requirement because we are considered an essential operation as we provide critical information to our readers and our community. Therefore, we will continue our normal print and digital publishing of newspapers during this time. GoAir, the budget airline from India has announced to voluntarily suspend all flights on Sunday when Janta curfew will be in force. Indigo, India's largest flight carrier, on the other hand has announced to operate only 60 percent of its fleet on Sunday. Pitching for "social distancing", Modi on Thursday called for a 'Janta curfew' from 7 am to 9 pm on March 22, saying no citizen, barring those in essential services, should get out of their houses, and asserted that it will be a litmus test to show India's readiness to take on the coronavirus challenge. This experience will serve the nation well, he added. "This Sunday, that is on March 22, all citizens must follow this curfew from 7 am until 9 pm. During this curfew, we shall neither leave our homes, nor get onto the streets and refrain from roaming about in our societies or areas. Only those associated with emergency and essential services may leave their homes," he said. GoAir earlier temporarily suspended all its international operations from Tuesday due to the outbreak of coronavirus and the consequent travel restrictions. According to the airline, it is forced to temporarily suspend all its international operations starting from March 17th until April 15, 2020. Currently, the airline flies to Dammam, Kuwait, Muscat, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Bangkok, Phuket and Male. "The aviation industry has been one of the most affected as governments have issued far reaching travel advisories, special events have been postponed or called off, customers have curtailed their individual travel plans and businesses have restricted the movement of their employees," a GoAir Spokesperson said in a statement. "With all these countries introducing travel bans, GoAir is forced to temporarily suspend all its international operations starting 17th March 2020 until 15th April 2020." Besides, the airline has initiated a short term rotational leave without pay programme that "will not only help the company counter the short term reduction in capacity, but will also ensure that a cross section of our employees stay away from the workplace for a month at a time to ensure business continuity". With Inputs from PTI, IANS Thousands of Connecticut residents this week were suddenly told their long planned elective surgery from cataract operations to back fixes was canceled. But the care providers making those calls didnt disclose that the reason was behind-the-scenes efforts by hospitals to clear their decks and prepare for what could be a nightmare battle against the deadly virus. Several health professionals who didnt want their names revealed said thousands and thousands of patients across the state received calls this week canceling elective surgeries. Those cancellations came after the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention directed hospitals and health care systems to postpone surgeries not immediately necessary for at least six weeks and leave their schedules clear. The idea is to hoard valuable supplies, such as masks and protective gear, and free up bed space and staff. There are a lot of cancellations, said John Cappiello, a longtime spokesman for Bridgeport Hospital. We have canceled most of our elective procedures because of the COVID-19 situation. We are preparing for the number of patients that may be coming at us. Gov. Ned Lamont addressed elective surgery during a briefing on Friday, saying delaying the procedures will free up needed supplies. All of our hospitals are stepping back, Lamont said. A surgeon and several nurses said hospitals are worried that patients stricken with coronavirus could quickly overwhelm the states health care system. Most of the canceled procedures were to be done at outpatient sites, such as ambulatory centers that specialize in eye operations, biopsies, laser surgery and other procedures. The medical professionals said supplies at those outpatient centers, and the bed space and operating rooms they provide, are being reserved as possible overflow locations if traditional hospitals are flooded by virus patients. They added that hotels, arenas, convention centers and just about anywhere with a good roof are also being eyed as possible temporary hospitals. For now, with about 45 coronavirus patients in Connecticut hospitals, theres only concern, not an immediate emergency. New York state is closer to a crunch in hospial resources. But an outbreak in the coming weeks or even days could require Hartford Hospital, Stamford Hospital and Yale New Haven Hospital, amont others, to dedicate every resource, staff member and all the supplies they can muster to battle the outbreak. Doctors and nurses, even those with specialties that have nothing to do with caring for virus patients, would be pressed into service. Im canceling just about everything, a surgeon said as her office quietly prepared for a possible but not guaranteed epidemic of historic proportions. One office worker noted that all she had done all day was cancel appointments and procedures. We are looking at different options and trying to identify capacity on our Bridgeport campus, in our new Milford facility and our outpatient sites, Cappiello said. Asked about the CDCs directive to stay flexible for six weeks, Cappiello said the agency is just being cautious. He hoped the need for such dire action will pass in a few weeks. A lot of the planning and preparation underway is based on simple math and statistical probability. The state has about 8,500 hospital beds and about 1,000 of those are in intensive-care units. About 95 percent of those ICU beds are usually filled so that leaves only a handful unoccupied at any given time. The state has an average hospital bed occupancy rate of about 63 percent, which leaves 3,000 beds available on average, state figures show. But those numbers hide a scary truth that hospitals already know: most models show the number of possible or likely coronavirus patients could easily exceed beds available. The far smaller number of ICU beds would the first to be filled, they added. We could be telling a 52 year old patient in good health that he can have a bed and an 80 something year old who is not good that we cant help you, a surgeon said, explaining the worst case scenario as the world has seen happening in Italy. The doctors face was calm and unblinking. It was clear that neither she nor anyone else wants to make that triage call, but will if they have too. Hospitals are also grappling with shortages of basic equipment and supplies, such as ventilators, specialized masks, gloves and protective clothing. Canceling elective surgeries helps preserve supplies. Tom Nowicki, an emergency room doctor at Hartford Hospital, said everyone is doing what they can. Its very hard to predict and I will say Im impressed with our health care team, Nowicki said. We are putting operations into place to provide that care. bcummings@ctpost.com CultNews101.com: news, links, resources. Cults101.org: resources about cults, cultic groups, abusive relationships, movements, religions, political organizations and related topics. CultMediation.com: offers resources designed to help thoughtful families and friends understand and respond to the complexity of a loved ones cult involvement. Intervention101.com: to help families and friends understand and effectively respond to the complexity of a loved one's cult involvement. CultRecovery101.com: assists group members and their families make the sometimes difficult transition from coercion to renewed individual choice. Geneva, March 21 : Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), warned young people that they were "not invincible" against the coronavirus pandemic. "Today I have a message for young people: You are not invincible," the WHO chief said at a live-streamed press conference on Friday in Geneva, hours before the organization reported that the number of infections worldwide climbed in the last 24 hours by roughly 25,000 to 234,073. Fatalities increased by around 800 on Thursday to 9,840. "This virus could put you in the hospital for weeks or even kill you," Ghebreyesus said. "Even if you don't get sick, the choices you make about where you go could be the difference between life and death for someone else." Ghebreyesus said that self-restraint could save lives. "Solidarity is the key to defeating COVID-19. Solidarity between countries but also between age groups," he added. "Every loss of life is a tragedy. It is also a motivation to double down and do everything we can to stop transmission and save lives." The head of the WHO acknowledged that the drop in coronavirus cases in China was good news for all countries. "Yesterday, Wuhan reported no new cases for the first time since the outbreak started. Wuhan provides hope for the rest of the world," he added. "Of course we must exercise caution. The situation can reverse but the experience of cities and countries that have pushed back this virus gives hope and courage." During his speech, Ghebreyesus said health authorities were learning more about the virus day by day. "One of the things we are learning is that although older people are the hardest-hit and younger people are not spared," he added. He continued that the experience of many countries had proved that many patients under 50 who are infected "required hospitalization". Ghebreyesus recommended anyone under lockdown to maintain healthy habits, such as not smoking, doing exercise and, if they are still allowed to go out, taking walks while keeping a distance with others. He added that citizens must only trust reliable information regarding coronavirus figures and possible treatments. "COVID-19 is taking so much from us, but it's also giving us something special: the opportunity to come together as one humanity, to work together, to learn together and to grow together," he said. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Already, though, there have been winners and losers in the $3 trillion hedge fund industry. The hedge fund manager Boaz Weinstein, in a note to investors in his $2.7 billion firm, Saba Capital Management, said he had positioned his portfolios to profit from bets on defaults and bankruptcy filings by companies with lots of high-yield, or junk, bonds. According to the note, which was reviewed by The Times, his main fund was up 33 percent this month. Others paid the price for misjudging the markets. One of the hardest-hit is Bridgewater Associates, the $160 billion colossus led by Ray Dalio, which manages money for dozens of pensions and sovereign wealth funds. The firms eight main portfolios reported losses for the year ranging from 9 percent to 21 percent. Mr. Dalio has issued several apologies to investors for his firms poor performance. We are questioning if we should have done some things differently, he wrote in a LinkedIn post on Wednesday. We are exploring this and will systemize whatever we come up with into our decision-making systems. Other well known hedge fund companies, including Daniel S. Loebs Third Point and Ricky Sandlers Eminence Capital, have taken steep losses for the year, according to several people briefed on the numbers, who were not authorized to discuss them publicly. The blindside nature of the markets fall is clear from notes released this week from a Feb. 13 meeting that big investors had with the New York Federal Reserve. Members of the Investor Advisory Committee on Financial Markets noted that the virus posed downside risks to growth and that China would likely be particularly impacted, according to the meetings minutes, which were released this week. The committees members include Mr. Dalio, who wrote in his posting that the systems Bridgewater used to make its investment decisions were processing the losses and making adjustments that he believed would benefit investors in the future. That is how we learn and embed our learning into our system, which never forgets and processes information much more quickly, accurately and unemotionally than we can, he wrote. Some further changes to staffing within Wexford County Council were announced at this month's meeting of elected members. It was announced that Director of Services Eddie Taaffe would be departing to head up the new National Housing Delivery Office in Dublin for the next three years. Mr Taaffe's departure follows on from John Carley's retirement towards the end of last year and both positions will now be advertised with a view to them being filled on a permanent basis. Chief Executive of Wexford County Council described Mr Taaffe's departure as 'a secondment' and wished him all the best in the new role. 'I'd like to congratulate Eddie on his success and I hope that he'll be helping us out in Wexford in his new role,' Mr Enright smiled. Carolyn Godkin was appointed as Acting Director of Services following John Carley's departure and it was confirmed that Amanda Byrne would fill Eddie Taaffe's shoes in a similar role, while Paul L'Estrange would make the move from Chief Fire Officer to take over Ms Byrne's role as Chief Executive Officer in the Community Department. Mr Enright said an announcement would follow in relation to who would take over the Chief Fire Officer role. Advertisement The border between the US and Mexico was deserted on Saturday, following President Trump's announcement he was closing the southern border. Pictures reveal the difference a day can make, with the San Ysidro port of entry at the border barren of all people and cars on Saturday. The aerial shots show the border crossing at Tijuana, Baja California state, in Mexico empty as the latest US travel restrictions come into force. Just 24 hours earlier, the very same spot was heaving as lines of vehicles snaked through the parking lot waiting to pass through the US Customs and Border Protection point into the US. The border between the US and Mexico was deserted on Saturday, following President Trump's announcement he was closing the southern border. The San Ysidro port of entry at the Mexico-US border as seen from Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico, on March 21 Just 24 hours earlier, the very same spot was heaving as lines of vehicles snaked through the parking lot waiting to pass through the US Customs and Border Protection point into the US The US and Mexico agreed to restrict non-essential travel across their border as both nations scramble to bring the coronavirus outbreak under control, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday. Trump said the move is necessary to prevent the 'spread the infection to our border agents, migrants, and to the public at large.' It puts Mexico on par with Canada, after Trump announced the closure of the US northern border on Wednesday. The border crossing sits empty Saturday as few travelers cross into the United States in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico The US and Mexico agreed to restrict non-essential travel across their border as both nations scramble to bring the coronavirus outbreak under control, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday Two people are pictured walking through the almost-empty port area Saturday. The decision to close the border has been reached jointly between the countries, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced, and will go into effect at midnight Saturday with a review after 30 days 'Both northern and southern border they're both being treated equally,' the president said during a White House briefing Friday. 'The actions we are taking together with our North American partners will save countless lives,' he said. The decisions have been reached jointly between the countries, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced, and go into effect by midnight Saturday with a review after 30 days. The day before the ban: Trump said the move is necessary to prevent the 'spread the infection to our border agents, migrants, and to the public at large' Motorist line up to cross into the US Friday: It puts Mexico on par with Canada, after Trump announced the closure of the US northern border on Wednesday 'The United States and Canada jointly agreed to restrict all nonessential traffic across our border. This decision goes into effect tonight at midnight. The restrictions that we reviewed after 30 days,' he said. 'The United States and Mexico have agreed to restrict nonessential travel throughout our shared border. Both countries know the importance of working together to limit the spread of the virus and ensure the commerce that supports our economy continues,' Pompeo added. Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said the border would be closed to everything but cargo and essential travel, such as for medical purposes or attending school. Masses of cars wait to cross the border on Friday as the countdown to the closure was on, following Trump's announcement The border wil be closed to everything but cargo and essential travel, such as for medical purposes or attending school Additionally officials announced that illegal immigrants would be returned automatically to their home country and not allowed a hearing to make their case or plead sanctuary The move came off the back of a recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help reduce the spread of coronavirus 'Let me be clear that neither of these agreements with Canada or Mexico applies to lawful trade or commerce. Essential commerce activities will not be impacted. We will continue to maintain a strong and secure economic supply chain across our borders. A few examples of essential travel include but certainly not limited to individuals traveling for medical purposes, to attend educational institutions, for emergency response public health services, and those involved in lawful cross-border trade,' Wolf said. At one border still open Saturday, deported Mexicans were seen being marched out of the US into Mexico. Central American migrants were pictured at Paso del Norte International Border bridge passing into Mexico, following the agreement between the two countries. One shocking picture shows a man in a wheelchair wearing a protective face mask being wheeled out of the US into Mexico by border agents. Central American migrants deported from the US are pictured while walking toward Mexico at Paso del Norte International Border bridge One shocking picture shows a man in a wheelchair wearing a protective face mask being wheeled out of the US into Mexico by border agents A couple embrace at the border bridge on March 21 - the day the new travel restrictions came into force A US Customs and Border Protection police officer talks to a driver at Paso del Norte International Border bridge Officials had announced Friday that, as well as the border closure, illegal immigrants would be returned automatically to their home country and not allowed a hearing to make their case or plead sanctuary. The Homeland Security secretary said it was being done to prevent the spread of the disease to border agents and the greater public, and was based on a recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 'The CDC director has determined that the spread of the coronavirus and border patrol stations, detention facilities presents a serious danger to migrants, our front-line agents, and officers end of American people,' Wolf noted. He said the order goes into effect Friday midnight and argued the move was being done to prevent a strain on the American health system during the pandemic. 'Many of these individuals arrived with little or no identity travel or medical documentation, making public health risk determinations all but impossible. It is also important to note that the outbreak on our southern border will likely increase the strain on health systems in our border communities, taking away important and life-saving resources from American citizens,' Wolf said. The latest travel restrictions came as the State Department warned Americans if they choose to travel abroad, they shouldn't rely on the US to get them back home. 'If you decide to travel abroad or are already outside the United States' then you should 'have a travel plan that does not rely on the US Government for assistance,' the department advised. 'Consider returning to your country of residence immediately using whatever commercial means are available.' 'There's a lot of commercial flights out there,' Wolf said of the decision, noting that several US and foreign carriers are still operating. Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff Mar. 20, 2020 | MURRAY By West Kentucky Star Staff Mar. 20, 2020 | 10:23 AM | MURRAY Murray-Calloway County Hospital has reported its first confirmed case of COVID-19. The hospital said Friday it received notification of the positive test late Thursday, and staff are working to locate and contact everyone who may have been exposed to the virus. The person who tested positive is reportedly a hospital employee who had contact with another person from out of state who tested positive after attending a church service in Murray. Here is an excerpt from the hospital's statement: "A visitor came to Murray from out of state last weekend to visit with people here in Murray. They attended a local church service on Sunday, March 15. After returning home, the visitor developed symptoms on Monday, March 16 and was diagnosed with COVID-19 on Tuesday, March 17. One Murray resident that this person spent time with is an employee at MCCH. On March 18, the employee followed our protocol and informed us that they had contact with a person who tested positive during our staff temperature checks before their shift started. The employee was wearing a mask already, but was taken to Occupational Medicine for evaluation. The employee was then sent home and immediately instructed to be quarantined. They were tested, and late last night confirmed positive for COVID-19. The employee and their family are fine and were informed to be at home in quarantine." Community members with concerns about exposure and risk are advised to contact the Kentucky COVID-19 Hotline at 800-722-5725. On March 11, the hospital opened a dedicated Respiratory Illness Clinic to effectively and efficiently handle the large influx of Influenza A and Strep patients in the community and to best prepare for the possibility of COVID-19 patients. The hospital says anyone experiencing symptoms who feel they need evaluation should utilize the Murray Medical Associates Respiratory Walk In Clinic located in the Medical Arts Building at 180 West. Patients are are advised to call ahead at 270-753-0704 to make a same day appointment. Until we have the capability to do widespread surveillance testing, we are utilizing the tests only for patients that a physician determines may be potentially at risk, said Jeff Eye, MCCH Chief Nursing Officer. 6 2020317Chandan KhannaAFP via Getty Images COVID-196 3245195196234462042862 669 2020310Jason RedmondAFP via Getty Images 44 2020315202011Mandel NganAFP via Getty Images 201911122020Andrew HarrerBloomberg via Getty Images 68 Axios 8 202017Eric BaradatAFP via Getty Images 61991 2020317Eva Marie UzcateguiAFP via Getty Images 2020310Megan JelingerAFP via Getty Images 2020310Bastiaan SlabbersNurPhoto via Getty Images PAC 2020317Drew AngererGetty Images 2020317Saul LoebAFP via Getty Images 6 Vietnam has suspended visa-free entry for nationals of three more countries, Belarusia, Russia and Japan, with effect from Saturday. Certificates of visa exemptions granted to Belarusians, Russians and Japanese of Vietnamese origin, and their family members would also be rescinded, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Diplomatic and official passport holders are exempt, it said. The citizens of the three countries must follow medical protocol on arriving in Vietnam, it added. Vietnam has already suspended visa-free entry for citizens of several countries and territories, including Italy, South Korea, Denmark, and France. It has also banned entry for those coming from the U.K. and the Schengen area or visiting them in the previous 14 days. Starting Saturday, all foreign arrivals to Vietnam are subject to quarantine for two weeks on entry. But the restrictions are not aimed at discriminating against foreign nationals, either before or after entering Vietnam, foreign ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said Friday. The country has stopped issuing visas to all foreigners with a few exceptions since Wednesday. Vietnam has recorded 91 Covid-19 cases so far, of whom 17 have been cured and discharged. Of the 74 active cases, 24 are foreigners. The pandemic has spread to 185 countries and territories, claiming nearly 11,400 lives, most in Italy (4,032), followed by China (3,255). RINER Dogs and cats may not have to worry about COVID-19, but the pandemic viral infection is changing how some veterinarians practice. At Riner Animal Hospital on Thursday, that meant Bear the black lab got his vaccines in the clinic while his ride, Joe Richmeier, sat in his truck in the parking lot. And Bear got a little walk from his vet, Dr. Lindsey Mabe, who brought the 1-year-old canine outside when his appointment was over. Its all part of the new way the clinic handles patient care. For now, animal patients come inside, but their owners dont. All communication and payment is done in the parking lot or by phone. Were really just trying to take every precaution to prevent exposure, Mabe said. And the new service reduces the need to constantly sanitize the waiting room. That allows the staff to conserve cleaning supplies that are already in short supply. I really appreciate them doing that, Richmeier said. Im sure its inconvenient. Mabe said its a little more work for the staff but worth it for everyones safety. Dr. Richard Wright, practice owner, said he implemented the procedures on Tuesday at the request of his staff. The change came after Gov. Ralph Northam announced new guidelines to slow the spread of coronavirus in the state. Northam announced Monday that gatherings of more than 10 people, including in most places of business in the state, are prohibited, and people with elevated risk, such as the elderly and those with chronic health conditions, are asked to voluntarily quarantine themselves. So far in Virginia, more than 1,900 people have been tested for the novel coronavirus and at least 117 cases have been confirmed as of midday Friday, including one in Botetourt County, according to the Virginia Department of Health. Two people have died in the state, and at least 19 have been hospitalized. The changes at Riner help the clinic comply with guidelines to slow the spread. Its not unusual to have up to 10 people in the waiting room all clustered together, and thats not good, Wright said. If the owner wants to hold their dog, youre looking in the dogs eyes, and theres a lot of close contact there. So far clients have been positive about the change, he said. Its a great idea, said Rick Barrow, who came to the clinic on Thursday with his wife, Deb, to pick up prescription food for their cat, Izzy. Everybodys got to be safe. The Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicines teaching hospital in Blacksburg was among the first veterinary practices to institute a drop-off-only policy starting on March 13, director Terry Swecker said. It applies to small and large animal clients. Were big, meaning we have a lot of people, Swecker said. Im trying to protect people, both my people and the clients. As a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week operation with dozens of medical and other support staff, faculty, students and practitioners potentially on site at any given time, preventing coronavirus infection was a particular concern, Swecker said. Policies meant to minimize the number of staff and clients on site were formed with advice from the colleges public health experts, Swecker said. Veterinary students were recently sent home to complete their semesters remotely, and the hospital is working to tailor its staffing to three priority areas: emergency services for all cases where the animals life is in danger, care of existing patients with conditions such as cancer and existing clients with cases that require timely treatment. Appointments for vaccinations and other lower priority services, as well as enrolling new patients who need those nonemergency services will be delayed until the COVID-19 threat passes, Swecker said. His advice to all clients: Call ahead and be prepared to talk about your case on the phone and to provide photos and even videos of the problem. And if the animal needs to be seen at the hospital, be prepared to drop it off, he said. But most private practice clinics so far have made drop-off services optional. On Monday, Companion Animal Clinic in Blacksburg implemented an optional limited contact appointment system for clients who want it, practice manager Sarah Perdue said. On Thursday, they had five such appointments. Were into the unknown at this particular point, so we want everyone to have the option to feel comfortable, but for their pets to still receive care, Perdue said. So far, the majority of clients have wanted regular appointments, she added. But that could change if coronavirus begins to spread in the New River Valley. Roanoke Animal Hospital also is offering drop-off and other limited contact options, but clients have so far shown limited interest in them, Dr. Thomas Blaszak said. Were cleaning nonstop to make sure if it [coronavirus] does at all step into our hospital, hopefully were killing it before it goes anywhere else, Blaszak said. The hospital also has asked staff members who have traveled recently to self-quarantine for 14 days. Worldwide, more than 250,000 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed as of Friday. More than 11,000 people have died. Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Representative Image To combat the spread of Covid-19 outbreak, financial services providers have initiated proactive measures to ensure that critical services remain uninterrupted and have asked customers to prioritise the usage of digital mediums. SBI Card in a communication to customers has said it is ensuring that services remain uninterrupted. "With the situation escalating with every passing day, SBI Card has taken proactive measures to ensure uninterrupted services. Safety protocols across all our offices and touchpoints have been enhanced to fight this notified disaster," it said in an email to its customers on Saturday. Country's largest life insurer, state-owned LIC, has asked all its customers to register on its customer portal to avail online services like premium payments. Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic has killed over 11,000 and sickened lakhs of people around the globe. Private sector insurer Bajaj Allianz Life has launched WhatsApp services for its policies wherein customers can access more than 20 services without any physical interaction. COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show HDFC Mutual Fund said in wake of this pandemic and in line with the government advisory from time to time, "we are operating with considerably reduced employee strength... We therefore urge you to connect with us on HDFC AMC's digital platforms". On similar lines, YES Bank has asked its customers to opt for digital transactions. "To ensure safety of our teams due to Covid-19, are operating with reduced staff across all locations," YES Bank tweeted. The financial service providers have said that they are ensuring robust infrastructure and business continuity plan especially for critical functions like Information Technology, cyber security, fraud prevention. Further to the various advisories issued by Health Ministry, the companies have urged customers to prioritise usage of digital mediums. PNB Housing Finance said, "as part of PNB Housing preventive measure on Covid-19 outbreak, our offices will remain operational with reduced staff. "We encourage you to connect with us on our digital platforms. ...We wish you and your family good health," it said in a message to its customers. Photo credit: Norman Shapiro From Country Living Hawaii Five-0 star Daniel Dae Kim has tested positive for COVID-19. He gave a detailed step-by-step of his experience, and pleaded with followers to take the pandemic seriously. Former Hawaii Five-0 star Daniel Dae Kim has an important message for his fans. Daniel announced that he has been diagnosed with COVID-19. The actor, who played Chin Ho Kelly on the hit series thats ending this spring, posted a lengthy Instagram video explaining what happened, and if its spread to his loved ones. Daniel first started feeling unwell after filming New Amsterdam in New York City, where he was cast as a doctor who ironicallygets recruited to a hospital to help patients during a flu pandemic. The show, like many, had stopped production amid the coronavirus outbreak, so Daniel returned home to Hawaii to be with his family. When he landed, he started feeling a scratchiness in his throat. After a few days, his doctor recommended he get tested so he went to a drive-through facility to do so. The test was given to me by some incredibly professional and kind caregivers, he said. The test itself was really awkward and a little of painful because they shove a huge swab into your nose and into your throat. His results came back positive, but he ultimately was fortunate enough to not have to go to the hospital. His wife and kids results all came back negative. Though hes grateful hes on the other side of this he also wanted followers to know how important it is to stay vigilant. For all those out there, especially teenagers and millennials, who think this is not serious please know that it is, he said. And if you treat this without care you are potentially endangering the lives of millions of people including your loved ones. For the sake of everyone else, please follow the guidelines. He also took this time to shut down the hate hes been seeing online. Please, please stop the prejudice and senseless violence against Asian people, he said. Yes, Im Asian, and yes, I have coronavirus but I did not get it from China. I got it from America, in New York Citythe name calling gets us nowhere. When people are ill what matters most is how best to take care of ourselves and one another. Story continues Finally, David shared a note to his coworkers. To the people that I came into contact with during the incubation period, I want to sincerely apologize, he said. Though I had no way of knowing, and I was trying to be as careful as I could, I feel terrible that I could have given this to anyone, let alone people I value enough to spend time with. And this, of course, includes the cast and crew of New Amsterdam. Wishing Daniel a speedy recovery. You Might Also Like Firefighters in Gia Lai Province in Vietnams Central Highlands successfully carried out a rare rescue mission on Friday afternoon when they helped a seven-year-old boy get out of an old utility pole after the boy had been stuck there for nearly five hours. According to the local police, Puih Phong, who lives in Blang 1 Village, Ia Der Commune in Ia Grai District, fell into the hollow utility pole while playing with his friends in Kla 1 Village at around 10:30 am on Friday. The hollow pillars top had been cut off while the remaining part was buried about two meters underground. Phongs legs were left bent inside the cylindrical post after the fall so the seven-year-old could not climb out on his own. Several attempts by the local people over the next two or so hours to help him out were in vain. He was already fatigued by the time police rescuers arrived due to the crying, high heat, and diminishing oxygen levels. Rescuers help seven-year-old Puih Phong out of a utility pole in Gia Lai Province, Vietnam, March 20, 2020. Video: Van Giang / Tuoi Tre The rescuers splashed water onto the concrete post to cool it down while pumping oxygen into the narrow space to calm the boy. They then dug up the ground around the pole and used a concrete cutter to break open the structure, which required great care so as not to hurt the boy. By 3:00 pm, Phong was able to stretch his legs inside the pole after the concrete around his knees had been removed. He was then lifted out of the pillar safely. Phong was then transferred to Ia Der Commune's health center for medical care and is now in stable health. A police officer holds seven-year-old Puih Phong after taking him out of a hollow utility pole in Gia Lai Province, Vietnam, March 20, 2020. Photo: Van Giang / Tuoi Tre Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Pakistan on Saturday suspended the operations of it national flag-carrier PIA and curtailed train services as the coronavirus cases surged to 510 in the country after more pilgrims who returned from Iran tested positive for the deadly virus, which has turned into a major global crisis. The measures came a day after Prime Minister Imran Khan ruled out total lockdown but asked people to reduce unnecessary travel and go for self-quarantine for at least another 45 days to help tackle the coronavirus crisis which has killed over 11,000 people and infected 250,000 worldwide. Pakistan International Airline (PIA) said that its air operation will remain suspended from March 21 to 28 while Railway Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad ordered to reduce the number of trains running in the country from March 25 until the middle holy month of Ramadan, which would start around April 25. We have decided to suspend 34 trains out of total 142 running in the country while another eigh trains will be suspended from April 1, he said. Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan said the government might also close down all international air operations to Pakistan for all airlines. The total number of COVID-19 patients in the country rose to 510 with 267 cases in Sindh; 92 in Balochistan; 96 in Punjab; 23 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa; 21 in Gilgit-Baltistan; 10 in Islamabad; and one in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. In the worst-affected Sindh province, 15 new cases were reported on Saturday, the provincial health minister said. So far three patients have died in Pakistan while five have recovered. Pakistan reported the third casualty from the virus in Karachi on Friday, two days after two men both pilgrims returning from Iran and Saudi Arabia died of the coronavirus in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The 70-year-old who died in Karachi was a cancer survivor. He had other medical problems like hypertension and diabetes but did not have any travel or contact history, officials said. Pakistan, despite its close proximity with China, remained unscathed by the virus until February 26 when a man from Karachi tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the Express Tribune reported. The man, in his twenties, had returned from Iran, which is also one of the worst-hit countries. After a brief pause following the first case, COVID-19 cases witnessed a sharp surge as more pilgrims returning from Iran tested positive despite the fact that they were quarantined for 14 days at the Pak-Iran border crossing of Taftan in Balochistan. Amid an imminent threat of spread of coronavirus, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has ordered the release of under-trial prisoners detained in Rawalpindi's overcrowded Adiala jail in minor crimes and directed the Islamabad police not to make arrest in petty matters, the Dawn reported. The Lahore High Court (LHC) has summoned the first meeting of its Crisis Management Committee on March 24. The government has exempted import of 61 diagnostic support and personal protective equipment from all duties and taxes for a period of three months in order to reduce the rising prices in the domestic market. The government has also allowed the use of non-utilised amount of the World Bank-funded projects worth USD 40 million for purchase of COVID-19 equipment. The provincial government of Balochistan has decided to impose a 21-day partial lockdown across the province to control the spread of highly contagious disease. Under the lockdown, which is similar to the restrictions imposed by the Sindh government, all major shopping centres, markets and food restaurants will remain closed. However, food delivery will be allowed during the lockdown. Pakistan Prime Minister Khan while addressing the media in Islamabad on Friday had said the country's strategy is a little different from a complete lockdown, considering Pakistan's socio-economic realities. Pakistan isn't a rich country like Italy, where people can get through a sustained period without economic activity," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Analysts: Russia Using Virus Crisis to Sow Discord in West By Zlatica Hoke March 20, 2020 Russia is very likely behind a disinformation campaign on coronavirus in the Western media, intended to fuel panic and discord among allies, experts tell VOA. The European Union has accused Moscow of pushing fake news online in English, Spanish, Italian, German and French, using "contradictory, confusing and malicious reports" to make it harder for the bloc leaders to communicate its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Reuters news agency reported Wednesday that the European External Action Service issued a nine-page internal document March 16 saying that "the overarching aim of Kremlin disinformation is to aggravate the public health crisis in Western countries in line with the Kremlin's broader strategy of attempting to subvert European societies." The document, seen by Reuters, says an EU database has recorded almost 80 cases of disinformation about coronavirus since January 22, some of them claiming that coronavirus was a U.S. biological weapon. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov promptly denied the accusation citing a lack of specific examples. "We're talking again about some unfounded allegations, which in the current situation are probably the result of an anti-Russian obsession," he said. But Russia analysts tell VOA that the Russian government is using every means possible to use the coronavirus crisis to its advantage as part of its information warfare against the West. Russia has reported less than 200 confirmed COVID-19 cases and no deaths, compared with about 80,000 cases and about 3,500 deaths in Europe. "The Russian media is using these numbers to praise the Russian government and personally President Vladimir Putin for allegedly preventing the coronavirus from spreading fast in Russia," said political analyst and historian Peter Eltsov, author of the new book The Long Telegram 2.0: A Neo-Kennanite Approach to Russia. Eltsov said the Russian media also claim that even China is handling the crisis better than the European Union and the United States. "Some talk shows even spread conspiracy theories, claiming that the U.S. government has invented and is testing coronavirus as means of biological warfare." Eltsov says the goal of this propaganda is to sow chaos and dissension in the EU, NATO and the United States. "On many occasions, Putin emphasized that Russia needs a new security architecture in Europe. As European countries are cordoning themselves, he may see it as an opportunity to put his plans in action." U.S. Congress has found indisputable evidence that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election, and many officials say there is no doubt that Moscow plans to do so again in this year's election. During a joint 2017 press conference in Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron asked Putin publicly to stop the fake news against him generated by the Sputnik news agency and RT television network. Klaus Larres, professor of international affairs at the University of North Carolina, noted that Russia has used every opportunity it has had to weaken Europe, notably during the 1973 oil crisis and 2008 global financial crisis. "It is hardly surprising that some Russian state actors are attempting to exploit the coronavirus crisis through conspiracy theories disseminated on the internet," he told VOA. Larres said EU members must not allow being drawn into competition over masks and ventilators as part of an effort to have the spirit of Europe crushed. Instead they must share information and join forces to end the coronavirus crisis, he said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address By Trend Azerbaijan supports the efforts for ensuring rapprochement of OPEC+ countries,Trend learned from the countrys energy ministry. We support the stabilization of the oil market. This position was also expressed during the discussions in Vienna, where we were taking part in the consultations for reaching a common agreement. Azerbaijan supports the efforts for ensuring rapprochement of OPEC+ countries, said the ministry. The 178th (Extraordinary) Meeting of the Conference of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), held in Vienna, Austria, on 5 March 2020, decided to recommend to the 8th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting to extend the adjustment levels agreed at the 177th Meeting of the Conference and the 7th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting for the remainder of the year. It also agreed to recommend to the 8th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting a further adjustment of 1.5 mb/d until 30 June 2020 to be applied pro-rata between OPEC (1.0 mb/d) and non-OPEC producing countries (0.5 mb/d) participating in the Declaration of Cooperation. However, during the meeting held March 6, OPEC+ failed to reach any agreement on extension of the deal or deepening the cuts further, which led to a significant decline in oil prices. The number of coronavirus tests conducted in a day in Massachusetts more than doubled within 48 hours, Gov. Charlie Baker announced at a press conference this week. The tally climbed from 520 on Wednesday to 962 in Friday - an 85% increase, the governor noted. Testing capacities at both the state-run and commercial laboratories have also grown, increasing from just under 700 to 1,144 over the same date range. We have made some significant progress this week, Baker said. During Saturdays briefing, the governor also announced that state officials are collaborating with the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers about how it can support the commonwealth in the midst of the public health crisis. Authorities identified facilities that can be converted or modified to provide additional medical capacity as the pandemic ramps up, according to Baker. Weve already identified a number of possible sites, which we want to work forward with the Army Corps and with the folks in the health care community to pursue further," the governor said. Baker expects laboratories capacities to test for the viral respiratory infection to improve in the next several weeks. As diagnoses are conducted more regularly, the number of COVID-19 cases should grow as well, according to the governor. As the testing numbers go up and as the criteria by which you can be tested expands, we certainly expect that well see an increase in the number of positive test cases as well," he said. Currently, 413 cases of the coronavirus have been reported in Massachusetts. One death has been confirmed in the state. Fifty-eight individuals have been hospitalized, and 1,168 are currently under quarantine. More than 4,000 people in total have been tested for the disease in the commonwealth, according to data from the state Department of Public Health. The first privately owned, drive-thru urgent care center in Massachusetts opened Saturday to start conduct testing for COVID-19, Baker said. Hospitals across the state have implemented similar measures. As we speak, the Waltham AFC urgent care location has cars with pre-screened patients waiting to be tested, he said. DPHs laboratory earlier this year obtained federal approval to use an automated platform to extract viral genetic material from patients oral and nasal swabs, removing the need to rely on paper reports and manual entry. The states COVID-19 Response Command Center, which launched this month, continues to monitor the commonwealths capacity to conduct coronavirus testing and the ways in which it can increase the ability to diagnose residents, Baker said. Related Content: Nigeria has finally suspended all international flights into the country shortly after confirmed cases of coronavirus almost doubled on Saturday. The nations two main airports in Abuja and Lagos will be shut from Monday as measures to stem the spread of the deadly virus, the countrys civil aviation regulator, NCAA, announced in a statement Saturday. The airports, which joins three others in Enugu, Kano and Port Harcourt that were also placed on lockdown, will be shuttered for at least one month, the Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Musa Nuhu said. The closure comes as Nigerias number of confirmed coronavirus cases rose on Saturday from 12 to 22, three of them in Abuja, the capitals first positive identifications and seven from Lagos, the worst-hit city. Mr Nuhu said the closure would last through April 23, adding that emergency and essential flights could be operated from any of the airports within the period. He, however, noted that domestic flight operations would continue normally in all airports in the country. Further to our earlier letter on the restriction of international flights into Nigeria, we wish to inform you that effective Monday, 23rd March at 2300Z to 23rd April at 2300Z, Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos (DNMM) and Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja (DNAA) will be closed to all international flights, he said. This is in addition to the closure of Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano (DNKN); Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu (DNEN); and Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa (DNPO) effective Saturday, 21 March at 2300Z. Henceforth, all airports in Nigeria are closed to all incoming international flights with the exception of emergency and essential flights. Domestic flights will continue normal operations at all airports. Restrictions Prior to the complete ban on international flights, Nigeria has been shuffling with plans to constrict in-bound and out-bound movements in a bid to keep its almost 200 million population safe from the ravaging Covid19. Authorities had on Wednesday announced the ban on entry into the country for travelers from 13 countries with more than 1,000 cases including the US and UK. Schools and public gatherings have also been shut and restricted to the barest minimum. Nigeria has so far confirmed 22 cases. Of these, 16 were confirmed in Lagos, the in Abuja. One and two cases were confirmed in Ekiti and Ogun states respectively. The index case has been declared negative by the Lagos State Government after treatment. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 13:39:21|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Members of medical assistance team from Inner Mongolia are busy at the ICU (intensive care unit) of Wuhan pulmonary hospital in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, March 19, 2020. (Xinhua/Xiao Yijiu) "China has accumulated rich and valuable experience in the prevention and control of this epidemic, which can help Europe avoid detours," Jean-Pierre Armand, an oncologist at the Gustave Roussi Oncology Institute in France, told Xinhua. BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese experts and officials have shared their experience on fighting the novel coronavirus with the international community through video conferences in the past three days. On Wednesday afternoon, Chinese experts and officials from health and customs departments shared information and experience about COVID-19 in a video conference with officials and healthcare specialists from the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and 24 African countries. Members of the African Union (AU) Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) participate in the China-Africa Video Conference on COVID-19 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, March 18, 2020. (Photo by Shiferaw Tadesse/Xinhua) Ethiopian Minister of Health Lia Tadesse spoke highly of the video conference organized by the Chinese government, saying China has shared "amazing experience in curbing this outbreak" with African countries. Deputy Director of Africa CDC Ahmed E. Ogwell Ouma told Xinhua that the video conference is a good example set by the Chinese government, which has placed its experience on the table so that African countries can use in the fight against the pandemic. "China has already done a very big effort in controlling this outbreak," said Ouma. "We are very impressed by the reduction in the numbers; and we think in a short while, the outbreak should be declared finished in China," he said. "The experience that China has undergone is very important for us." Latvian participants attend a video conference with Chinese health officials, experts and their counterparts from Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries in Riga, Latvia, March 13, 2020. (Photo by Janis/Xinhua) On Thursday, officials and experts from about 10 European countries including France, Denmark, Switzerland, Ireland, Portugal and Albania held a video conference with their Chinese counterparts. "China has accumulated rich and valuable experience in the prevention and control of this epidemic, which can help Europe avoid detours," Jean-Pierre Armand, an oncologist at the Gustave Roussi Oncology Institute in France, told Xinhua after attending the conference. About 50 percent of recently detected coronavirus cases in Europe are patients aged under 60, said Armand. For him, there is a particularly urgent need to learn from China's experience in treating younger patients. Liya Ju, chief executive officer of Paris-based Europe PreciMed Platform, said that China's experience has proved that large-scale testing and screening, as well as effective isolation and treatment, are good ways to curb the pandemic. "When Europe was hit by the flu more than 100 years ago, doctors had to fight alone in their own country," she said. "Nowadays, European and Chinese experts can share experience thousands of miles apart, which in itself is a strong support for an early victory over the epidemic." Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi attends a special meeting via videoconference on the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) with Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea (ROK) Kang Kyung-wha and Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi in Beijing, China, March 20, 2020. (Xinhua/Zhang Ling) At China's initiative, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday held a special video conference on COVID-19 with South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi. Wang said that facing the sudden outbreak of COVID-19, it is a natural choice for the three countries to strengthen cooperation to tide over the difficulties together. Kang and Motegi thanked China for providing support and assistance to their countries in fighting COVID-19 and briefed Wang on the efforts and progress that South Korea and Japan have made in responding to the pandemic. Outside China, the pandemic has killed more than 6,500 people, as the cumulative number of cases surpassed 150,000, the World Health Organization said Friday in a daily situation report. More than 230,000 cases have been reported worldwide, including over 9,000 deaths, the report said. 2020-03-21 05:02:00 Ghostly atmosphere in empty Athens streets amid coronavirus pandemic (protothema English video) Something akin to a dystopian movieIf you happened to take a stroll to the centre of Athens and expected to experience the normally bustling streets and tourist-packed sites of downtown Athens on a sunny Sunday, you would have been disappointed. This Sunday it was a completely different story, as you were immediately gripped by an unnatural feeling of concern and isolation, even fear. The coronavirus pandemic and the governments advice for people to stay indoors resulted in the capital being virtually empty of people and vehicles. We walked from Syntagma Square and the Greek Parliament, where the sight of hundreds of tourists trying to snap the Presidential Guards would be a common sight, and moved into the famous Monastiraki square, usually chock-a-block with tourists and locals mingling and music bands of all flavours. Both were eerily empty, as were main roads like Panepistimiou and Stadiou. While recording the video the howling winds heightened the already ghostly ambience. anatakti VIDEO Cruise passengers are furious that they were rushed off the coronavirus-stricken ship the Ruby Princess to fly home without being told they could be infected. Four people tested positive to the deadly virus on the ship which docked in Sydney Harbour on Thursday after a tour of New Zealand. One infected passenger was taken directly to hospital while another flew home to Tasmania. The Ruby Princess docked at the cruise ship passenger terminal at Circular Quay on Thursday. Four people onboard tested positive but thousands of passengers disembarked and returned home without being told anyone was being tested Three passengers said they received text messages at 2pm yesterday to tell them the virus had been present on their ship - long after they had flown home to Adelaide. Bernie, Kim and Phi told the Today Show they had been rushed off the ship in record time without being told people on board were being tested on suspicion of having the virus. Left to right: Bernie, Kim and Phil from Adelaide say they are angry to have been rushed off the Ruby Princess to return to their homes without being told anyone onboard was being tested Coronavirus is highly contagious and cruise ships have proven to be a source of transmission 'We were, and probably still are, quite incensed that the NSW Health Department let us off the ship if they knew some people had been tested,' said Kim, who did not give her last name. 'The fact that we got off the ship, picked up our luggage and pretty much got deposited on the side walk outside of the (passenger) terminal so quickly, it beggars belief.' CORONAVIRUS CASES IN AUSTRALIA: 27,244 Victoria: 20,269 New South Wales: 4,273 Queensland: 1,161 Western Australia: 692 South Australia: 473 Tasmania: 230 Australian Capital Territory: 113 Northern Territory: 33 TOTAL CASES: 27,244 ESTIMATED ACTIVE CASES: 269 DEATHS: 897 Updated: 5.31 PM, 11 October, 2020 Source: Australian Government Department of Health Advertisement Fellow passenger, Bernie, was surprised at how quickly they were disembarked. 'I was very much surprised that we didn't appear to be tested. 'You see everything on the news services about people having their temperatures taken at the very least. It was a breeze straight through. Apart from couple of customs or health officials wearing masks we were pretty much got straight off. Picked up our bags and were deposited on site.' The friend said there had only been a few coronavirus cases in Australia when they chose to go on the cruise, which left Sydney on March 8. 'There was no DFAT (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) travel advice especially for New Zealand, our neighbour across the ditch. So we just booked it. We just assumed that New Zealand was a safe destination,' said Phil. The ship had been carrying close to 2700 passengers and 1100 crew who have now returned to their homes, leaving state and territory health authorities to track them down. More than 100,000 people have now been tested for coronavirus across Australia, with more than 900 confirmed cases. The Federal Department of Health told Daily Mail Australia on Saturday that the country has 'sufficient stocks' of coronavirus test kits to meet 'current demands'. Daily Mail Australia has contacted both DFAT and the NSW Health Department for this story. The Spanish royal family has a serious problem on its hands and it has not gone unnoticed by the general public, in fact, with the country stuck at home and glued to their TV and social media, this latest scandal involving the former king could not have come out at a worse time. On Wednesday night, a cacophony of banging pots and pans, sounded out King Felipes speech, who took to the airwaves to discuss the severity of the coronavirus. The public protest was a response to the US$100 million in bribes that Felipes father reportedly received from the former king of Saudi Arabia. The royal household attempted to subdue public outrage from the scandal, releasing a statement earlier this week that Felipe intends to renounce his fathers inheritance, but that did not stop a significant portion of the Spanish population from demonstrating their outrage. Mas Pais, a leftist movement in Spain tweeted that the money uncovered in the scandal should be donated to Spains public health system, which has become overburdened by the numerous hospitalisations of people suffering from COVID-19. And, it appears that there is no longer popular support for the monarchy as an institution in Spain and Felipe has a battle on his hands to calm the countrys virus fears while distancing himself from his fathers questionable behaviour. Description GIS 21 March 2020: The Health Minister, Dr Kailesh Jagutpal, announced the first Covid-19 related death in the country, this morning at the press conference of the National Communication Committee, in Port Louis. He confirmed that there are at date 14 confirmed cases out of which one death, that of a male patient in his fifties, which occurred on Thursday night at the Victoria Hospital. The 13 positive tested patients are isolated and receiving treatment according to the established protocol and the health and services action plan. Minister Jagutpal lauded the health personnel for their professionalism and for ensuring that protocols are being respected. He further pointed out that contact tracing is ongoing and appealed to the population to adhere to the national confinement put in place by Government as the virus is transmitted through human contact, thus the importance of confinement. He also enumerated additional measures that have been put in place for patients at the hospital such as a fever clinic that has been set up for patients with specific symptoms and appealed for people going to hospital not to take children along. For patients who have appointment at the hospital, Dr Jagutpal underlined that a service by telephone is being offered so that appropriate arrangement can be made for the delivery of medicine and setting future appointment. He appealed to the population to remain confined and to be responsible. The Director of Health Services, Dr Gujadhur, for his part highlighted that there are currently three teams working on field for contact tracing following the new confirmed cases and that confinement is very important to reduce risk of transmission. DCP K. Jughroo appealed to the population to respect the National confinement failing which people are at risk of severe legal measures that have been implemented as from today. He pointed out that the quarantine centres have been declared restricted areas and advised the public not to come to the airport to receive their families since access will not be granted. The young Umar His is an example of the cruel nature of fate. In his childhood innocence, four-year-old Abdullahi Umar was born without hands. And the circumstance of his birth has become a burden he is contending with as a toddler. Upon his arrival from his mothers womb in Nasarawa Local Government Area of the state on March 25, 2015, his father, Mr Musa Umar, wasted no time in driving the new born baby away with his mother, Amina, accusing the latter of giving birth to a witch. Umar said the only condition he would allow his wife to continue living in his house was that she threw the new born baby into the river; a position that was supported by many in the area. The situation put a lot of strain on their marriage, compounded by uniformed comments from close associates, the hurtful rudeness of strangers and even attacks on social media by those who told them what they should have done with the child kill him. Abdullahis mother, Amina, was almost caving in to the pressure but her mother discouraged her from doing so. Instead, she moved them to her house to help take care of the baby. Even my close friends in the market told me that it was selfish of me to have let my new baby live just because I wanted to have a baby, saying that he would have a miserable life, she said. Abdullahis condition is rare. It robs him of the ability to hold something. As a result, he relies on his legs to do most things he should have done with his hands. The situation has not only made life difficult for him, it has also affected his interactions with his age groups. Our correspondents visit to the school and the house where he stays with his mother and grandmother in far away Nasarawa/Toto revealed that little Abdullahi has summoned courage to make meaning out of his life despite his deformity. The head teacher of Abdullahis primary school in Nasarawa/Toto, Mrs Habibat Abdullahi, gave an account of his life in a chat with our correspondent. At the age four, Abdullahis mother was said to have toyed with the idea of loaning him out to beggars who would put him in a wheel barrow for alms from passers-by. He, however, resisted the bid to take advantage of his deformity to make money. Instead, he opted to go to school, a suggestion his parents rejected, wondering how a child without hands would make it to school. Head teachers account In a chat with our correspondent, the head teacher of LGEA Central School where little Umar is now a student, Mrs Habibat Abdullahi, said: A close friend told me about the deformity of Umar and how he resisted his mothers decision to use his condition to beg for money. I was told that the boy kept crying every day that he wanted to go to school, but his mother said such a child without hands could not go to school and that she had no money to sponsor him to school. I made further enquiries about the situation. I sent for the mother to bring him to school and I gave him admission into nursery 1C in my school. Today, Umar uses his toes to write and is doing very well in school. He passed all his papers during the last term. The most crippling disease is ignorance. Umar is an amazing boy who God chose to be my school son, and I am thankful. He is doing very well. He is creative in nature, he understands more than the other students who are not deformed. she said How I escaped being used for begging Notwithstanding his situation, little Abdullahi was full of hope that he could make it to school even without hands. In an emotion laden voice, he said: My life is full of ups and downs. He said: But for the intervention of other people, my father wanted to throw me into the river; that I was not a human being. When I escaped that attempt with the support of my grandmother who moved me and my mother to her house where I am staying presently, they refused to send me to school. They thought I would never be reasonable and decided that they would use my deformity to make money by putting me in a wheel barrow and pushing around to collect money from generous people around. I vehemently resisted it, that I wanted to go to school. My parents thought I would never be reasonable to do anything in life no matter how hard I tried. Their refusal to send me to school touched me and hardened my resolve to make it in school at all cost when I finally got the opportunity to be enrolled in the school by the head teacher. Im trusting God to make me a shining light in my quest for formal education. On my first day in school, I realised that I needed to write, which requires the use of hands. But considering my situation, this became a big challenge for me. At that point, nobody, including the head teacher, thought I could use my toes to write. But I did and is doing it perfectly. During classes, my mates write in their exercise books with their hands. It was quite difficult for me until I summoned courage to make use of my toes to write. At first, it was difficult, but gradually, I picked up as you can see. It is actually a tough time for me, but I later found a way around it. The passion for success is pushing me on in the face of different obstacles. I have forgiven my father who thought I was a witch and wanted to kill me. I will prove him wrong and God will see me through my struggles. May God bless Mrs Habibat for believing in me. He noted that people living with disability can add a lot of value to the society if given the opportunity to do so. I have to confront a lot of roadblocks to get to school. There were times I felt like quitting the struggle to acquire education but the desire to become a successful man at all cost gave me the strength to push on. I lost my marriage for giving birth to him Mum Abdullahis mother said: When I gave birth to him, he came out without hands and we were so afraid of even taking care of him. His father attempted to waste him but people around intervened and God equally spoke to my grandmother. God opened her eyes to see his glory and the value of life in such dire circumstances. When we chose to keep him alive to see what he would become in life, his father pushed me out of his house for giving birth to a witch and I lost the marriage till today. We wanted to use him for alms begging in a wheelbarrow but he refused. He resisted and insisted that we must put him in school. We didnt have the money and even wondered why one without hands would go to school. But today, we glorify God in his creation. Instead of hearing people say Im sorry as if Umar (Abdullahi) had died, I want to hear congratulations. Umar is now a student learning to survive and thrive in this life. We are also going to apologise to him for attempting to dump him in the river to die. She told our correspondent that God does not guarantee a trouble-free life or a stress-free marriage, but our experience has taught us that when life takes a dramatic turn, He is unchanging, even in the worst of circumstances. I give glory to God for keeping him alive and giving him the courage to push harder for his life. Efforts made by our correspondent to locate Musa Umar, Abdullahis biological father, yielded no result as he was said to travelled out of the area. His phone lines were off. *** Source: The Nation U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced on Friday that the border is not fully closed but rather partial access is limited to prevent the further introduction of COVID-19 into the United States. READ MORE: Laredos workforce among the most at risk during coronavirus pandemic The policy prohibits all non-essential travel to and from Mexico, which is a similar measure to what was agreed upon between the United States and Canada, and will only allow essential travel to continue. According to the United States State Department, essential travel is everything considered to be related to commercial trade, cargo, health workers traveling from or into the country from Mexico and any Americans needing health supplies or medication from Mexico. Non-essential travel is considered anything related to tourism or recreational activities. The policy is set to take effect at 12:01 a.m. Saturday morning and last for a period of 30 days subject to extension if needed. This is an unprecedented response due to an unprecedented situation, CBP said. Laredo Mayor Pete Saenz also said that the measure was needed in efforts to respond to the alarming issue of the novel coronavirus. In light of the current grip and other unknown potential pandemic challenges of COVID-19 on our nation and the local community, restricting international travel, including border crossings, to only essential travel seems logical, Saenz said. Essential travel would be medical and educational travel and emergency response. CBP said ports of entry will permit entry of legitimate documented travelers not subject to previously announced travel restrictions and who present proper documentation for essential travel only, and it may limit the number of open vehicle primary lanes to maintain operational control of all travelers seeking entry to the United States. Restricted travelers will be returned to their last point of origin, Mexico or Canada. CBP will suspend case processing of inadmissible individuals including those subject to travel restrictions. We need to be clear that the bridges are not closing, Laredo Economic Development Corportation President Olivia Varela said. There is a restriction on non-essential travel that applies to recreation, gambling and social activity. All trade-related crossings, including workforce, will continue. We need to keep in mind that while these restrictions may cause inconvenience at best and hardship at worst, they are necessary to minimize and curtail the spread of infection. The impact of not putting these measures in place can be far more devastating economically and socially. As for anybody trying to come illegally into the country, there will be efforts done to help keep people from making it across the border and also an expedited way to return them to their home countries. The Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs stated they will not receive any people that are not from Mexico to their country, and American officials agreed that they will send those immigrants to their original home countries. In addition, U.S. Border Patrol agents will be given tools necessary to identify immigrants at the border and to adjudicate some cases in the field at initial encounter. This will enable our agents to rapidly make a decision whether to take someone into administrative custody or to send them without any further Title 8 processing to the nearest port of entry to expel them to Mexico or Canada, CBP said. In terms of commercial trade and cargo, two of the major exceptions to not be restricted, local officials seemed to be content on the matter as they feel it will soften the blow to the local economy. It is critical that we preserve trade and commerce between the United States and Mexico while also helping protect the health and safety of our citizens, said United States Congressman Henry Cuellar (TX-28). I have been working closely with both Acting CBP Commissioner Mark Morgan and Mexican officials to ensure that any disruption to trade at the U.S.-Mexico border will be minimized during efforts to prevent the spread of coronavirus and maintain public health of our citizens. Nevertheless, local small businesses in the downtown area will continue to suffer and even have to close down for as long as the lockdown lasts and while the border remains partially closed as they depend heavily on Mexican customers for their business. Local businesses that sell essential items such as food and medication can still expect to see customers as these buyers will be allowed in if they show proper documentation to demonstrate they visited the country for such things. However, Saenz does stipulate that the inconvenience is necessary to stop the pandemic from truly becoming a major problem locally. While this may be a temporary inconvenience for many of us, we must all do our part in combating this viral threat to human life and our economic well-being, Saenz said. I ask everyone to please fully cooperate with the mandatory social distancing and best hygiene guidelines as have been promulgated by the City of Laredo. In terms of the economic impact the Laredo area and both countries will face due to these new traveling restrictions, Cuellar also notes that he will be working on ways to maintain the economy healthy and partnership between both countries strong. I will continue to work with CBP and Mexico, our economic partner, friend and neighbor, to ensure our economies are strong and our people are safe. I want to thank the men and women of CBP who are on the front lines every day keeping our country safe and making our country more prosperous, Cuellar said. In terms of education, students that attend colleges or universities in the Laredo area such as Laredo College and Texas A&M International University come from neighboring Nuevo Laredo or other parts of Mexico can rest assured the partial border closure does not affect people who study or work in either country. Given the colleges advanced technology platforms, I am confident that the educational needs of all of our students will continue to be met, said Laredo College Presidnet Dr. Ricardo J. Solis. Laredo College Senior Director of Strategic & External Initiative Michael Gonzalez also agrees with the assertion made by the schools president. Laredo College continues to monitor this situation closely, Gonzalez said. With the scheduled conversion of courses to an online format via the continued implementation of our available online platforms, students should continue to have access to their courses regardless of location. The policy that is slated to remain in place for at least 30 days is a bilateral agreement between both countries to counter the virus and save lives. The actions we are taking together with our North American partners will save countless lives, President Donald Trump said when he announced the closing down of the border. Saenz also points out that such decision will help save lives and also defeat the coronavirus as well. Together, we will kill and defeat this silent enemy by simply starving it, Saenz said. READ MORE: Laredo's coronavirus lockdown questions answered For more information on the virus or how it is affecting daily life, contact (956) 795-4954 for complete assistance by the City of Laredo Health Department at all times of day. In hindsight it was perhaps a little ambitious for Communist spies to imagine Enoch Powell was ripe for recruitment. But, according to intelligence files unearthed by The Mail on Sunday, that didnt stop Czech agents targeting and cultivating the Right-wing Tory MP whose infamous 1968 Rivers of Blood speech remains one of the most divisive ever made by a British politician. The Czechs were keen to infiltrate the Scout movement in the late 1950s and identified Powell as a useful contact, noting that he does appear to have certain sympathy for the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. Enoch Powell is pictured above with wife Pamela. His infamous antiimmigration address to a Conservative Party meeting in Birmingham led to him being kicked out of Edward Heaths Shadow Cabinet At the time, Powell had been a Minister in Harold Macmillans government as well as a backbench MP and the Cold War documents describe a number of meetings in London during which he promised to introduce his Czech friends to senior Scout officials. An agent codenamed Ptacek was tasked by intelligence chiefs with obtaining information on the Scouts the idea being that it might help forge links between the movement and the Union of Czech Youth, a feeder organisation for the Communist Party. Ptacek reports that he met Powell in Parliament and at embassy receptions in 1956 and 1958 before arranging a lunch. Upon learning that he knew certain scouting functionaries, I took advantage of the opportunity and asked him for help being introduced to these people and [to] find out more about international scouting events, wrote Ptacek. The Czechs were keen to infiltrate the Scout movement in the late 1950s and identified Powell as a useful contact, noting that he does appear to have certain sympathy for the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. Jiri Hajek, the Czech Ambassador to the United Kingdom, is pictured above I began being interested in Scouts after being instructed to focus on them by the Czechoslovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where the Union for Czech Youth had asked for information about options for establishing contact with British Scouts. Powell agreed to help handle this and has already spoken with some scouting leaders. The pair exchanged gifts, with Powell handing over a copy of his latest poetry verses and the agent offering a souvenir from Prague. In the handover note intended for spies taking over his brief, Ptacek continued: I recommend assigning Powell based on the continued effort to resolve the question of cooperation with scouting representatives. The comrade who takes over this agenda from me will call Mrs Powells [his wifes] parliamentary office on my behalf. This is a solution that Powell himself has described as a good opportunity. The agent, who knew the MP had become friendly with Czech ambassador Jiri Hajek, also left tips for his successor: The comrade who will engage in the contact will give Mr Powell an item of appreciation from me (preferably crystal) and will relay greetings from me and Comrade Hajek. He will also ask Mr Powell whether he could get a copy of the book that he wrote with the title Change is Our Ally which of course he would pay for Powell is very pleased overall whenever anyone is interested in his works. One report in the files says: At lunch with him on July 14, I reinforced the contact overall and arranged another meeting. Powell informs me about certain matters pertaining to the Scouts for the Czechoslovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The final comments noted that the desire was to deepen the contact as Mr Powells willingness to discuss scouting is very beneficial. Powell later served as Minister for Health. His infamous antiimmigration address to a Conservative Party meeting in Birmingham led to him being kicked out of Edward Heaths Shadow Cabinet. He died in 1998, aged 85. After reading the files, Daniela Richterova, a lecturer at Brunel University and expert on the Czech secret service, said: Pragues rezidentura [spy base] in London considered Powell a very capable, energetic person, and an independent thinker ready to criticise policies of his own party. This, coupled with what the Czechoslovaks described as mild sympathies towards the Soviet Bloc, made Powell a target worthy of developing. Last year, The MoS revealed how ex-Labour MP Geoffrey Robinson allegedly passed intelligence to Czech agents in the 1960s and how Jeremy Corbyns adviser Andrew Murray held meetings with a Czech agent in the 1980s. Mr Robinson described the story as a complete fabrication and Mr Murray has denied having met or known a Czech agent. Newport Beach, California--(Newsfile Corp. - March 20, 2020) - Vivera Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a pharmaceutical company focused on putting patients first, today announces a new partnership with Pharmact AG, a leading German manufacturer of rapid diagnostic testing kits. The CoV-2 Rapid Test is an easy to use, rapid diagnostic tool for determination of COVID-19 infection in patients displaying clinical symptoms. Vivera has obtained exclusive rights to market and distribute the test in the United States. As part of this, Vivera has submitted an Emergency Use Authorization application to the FDA. Under the EUA, the CoV-2 Rapid Test is intended to detect SARS-CoV-2 antibodies IgM and IgG in patients. Unlike other tests currently marketed, the CoV-2 Rapid test can further determine infection phase. A positive IgM value indicates an infection in the early phase of the disease (4 to 10 days), and a positive IgG value indicates a later phase (from 11 - 24 days). Results are available in 20 minutes, and require only two drops of blood from the patient. "These kits are designed for rapid in the field testing," says Dr. Stephen McColgan, Vivera's Chief Medical Officer. "When you have thousands of potential patients, you do not have time to wait for labs that can only process a few hundred test results a day. Infection phasing is important to adequately triage patients immediately." Pharmact CEO Eric Schaber said in a statement. "We are confident that our point-of-care tests will be critical to help tackle what is a global pandemic. We are looking forward to exclusively working with Vivera to import and distribute our tests in the United States. Their footprint and expertise means more patients can be helped more efficiently." Vivera founder and CEO, Paul Edalat, further stated. "We look forward to working with Pharmact to assist in treating this global crisis. As a company Vivera focuses on therapies that put patients first. President Trump has announced that he is asking all pharmaceutical and medical companies to do their best to assist in this crisis. On behalf of Vivera we are ready and willing to do our part." Story continues About Vivera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Vivera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is an innovative, science-driven pharmaceutical company focused on novel therapies for a variety of indications. In addition to its pharmaceutical and medical device products, the company has global exclusivity to license the patented and patent-pending TABMELT sublingual drug-delivery system for the pharmaceutical use of cannabinoid compounds. The company is vertically integrated with patented technology, manufacturing capabilities and distribution for its products. For more information, visit https://viverapharmaceuticals.com. About Pharmact AG Founded in 2014, Pharmact AG is a German pharmaceutical company headquartered in Berlin, Germany. The company's research center and sales office are both based in Mannheim. Pharmact is operated in Spain by Pharmact Healthcare S.L. in Alicante and the United States by Pharmact Healthcare Inc. in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Behind an international team of medical experts, the company focuses on preventing disease through early detection. Investor Relations Inquiries: thinkHERO Patrick Piette, CFA for Vivera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 416-526-9911 investorrelations@viverapharma.com Press Inquiries: thinkHERO Karin Elz, for Vivera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 416-992-9848 press@viverapharma.com To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/53637 Second, develop domestic manufacturing capacity. It is imperative that the United States identify critical resources that must be manufactured, along with their component parts, domestically. Key pharmaceuticals and other health care equipment are an obvious place to start. These are strategic necessities akin to the Department of Defense ensuring that essential military gear is made here. Mr. Trump took the right first step by invoking the Defense Production Act. Now he must use it. Longer term, the federal government must pass buy American legislation for a wide range of products. Using preferences wont do; everyone knows how to get around them. The federal government must also be prepared to be the buyer of last resort that keeps manufacturing of important products with low profit margins viable in the United States. We must treat antibiotics, vaccines, masks and other medical items as though they are vital to our national security, because they are. Third, there must be a science and technology initiative directed at developing new means of identifying pathogens and other public health risks, testing for them, containing them, treating them and, ideally, curing them. Increasing the capacity of our health care system to handle pandemics is essential. It will save lives and reduce the need for the widespread shutdowns and quarantines were now experiencing and will thus prevent the accompanying economic destruction that on its own will cause much suffering. Focused efforts that lead to new scientific discoveries could not only prevent or dramatically limit future outbreaks but could also create a virtuous cycle of discovery and development that makes the country more secure and more prosperous. If Mr. Trump does these things, he will see the nation through a major crisis, put his naysayers to shame and create a lasting institutional legacy that will make the nation more secure in the future. Whats more, it would enable the United States to help friends in need. For all the claims that Mr. Trumps America First foreign policy degraded Americas leading position in the world, his critics seem to have forgotten that exporting our manufacturing base to China also meant abandoning Americas ability to lead in many situations like this one. America wasnt the country shipping crucial supplies to Italy because we couldnt. We dont even have enough to meet our own needs. That is a far more dangerous surrender of American leadership than is wanting to reduce Americas involvement in military conflicts abroad. The world looks to America for leadership, but that leadership comes with responsibilities. We could send plenty of management consultants and bankers to hard-hit Bergamo, but it wouldnt help. There are plenty in New York, and its not helping there either. Sending ventilators and masks and pharmaceuticals would help, but we dont have that ability. If the president prepares a plan to build the domestic capacity to quickly and effectively address future public health threats, Americans will be more secure, the world can have confidence in American leadership in times of crisis and Mr. Trump will have earned the support of American voters in November. This will require the president to buck some conventional Republican sentiment about the proper use of government power. But the true spirit of conservatism recognizes that there is no more legitimate use of that power than to protect American lives. Now is his chance to do just that. Christopher Buskirk (@thechrisbuskirk) is the editor and publisher of the journal American Greatness and a contributing opinion writer. The employment support package announced by the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, will cost the taxpayer billions of pounds a month to keep going, an influential think tank has said. Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), said the final cost of paying up to 80 per cent of wages for employees who face losing their jobs during the coronavirus outbreak was unknowable. Mr Johnson said that if the support of up to 2,500 per month is claimed for 10 per cent of employees, it could cost the government 10bn over three months. Announcing the plans on Friday, Mr Sunak said the government would do whatever it takes to help workers in the coming months, as it closed schools, pubs and restaurants and urged people to stay at home to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The move followed intense pressure from MPs and unions to help workers who were not covered by the chancellors 350bn bailout for businesses earlier in the week. Meanwhile, ministers are facing concerns over the fate of millions of self-employed people, who are vulnerable to financial hardship as work dries up. The IFS warned that there were flaws in the design of the plans, which it said had been hastily drawn up and gave incentives to bosses to put half of their employees on temporary leave. The cost of the wage subsidy package is unknowable at present but will run into several billion pounds per month that it is in operation, Mr Johnson said. It is clearly a policy designed in haste and will require considerable speed and flexibility from HMRC to deliver. As a result, there are obvious concerns about its design. An employer with 10 employees might have enough work to keep them all occupied half-time. This policy gives a very clear incentive to furlough half of them and keep half of them on full-time. There may also be concerns about policing this, especially for owner-managed companies paying wages to the owner. Coronavirus fears lead to empty streets and shelves across UK Show all 15 1 /15 Coronavirus fears lead to empty streets and shelves across UK Coronavirus fears lead to empty streets and shelves across UK The usually busy Royal Mile in Edinburgh is empty as people stay away from public areas amid the coronavirus outbreak on 13 March Katielee Arrowsmith/SWNS Coronavirus fears lead to empty streets and shelves across UK Ho bart's Amusement Arcade in Westward Ho!, Devon is offering toilet roll and soap as prizes in grabber machines Rob Braddick/SWNS Coronavirus fears lead to empty streets and shelves across UK An empty platform at Farringdon Station in London the morning after the Prime Minister said that Covid-19 "is the worst public health crisis for a generation" PA Coronavirus fears lead to empty streets and shelves across UK Shopkeepers Asiyah Javed and husband Jawad from Day Today Express, in Stenhousemuir, Falkirk are giving away facemasks, antibacterial hand wash and cleaning wipes to the elderly in a bid to stop the spread of Coronavirus Katielee Arrowsmith/SWNS Coronavirus fears lead to empty streets and shelves across UK A usually busy street in Cambridge is empty as people stay away from public areas amid the coronavirus outbreak on 2 March James Linsell-Clark/SWNS Coronavirus fears lead to empty streets and shelves across UK A hand sanitiser dispenser is seen inside the stadium during the Premier League match between Manchester United and Manchester City at Old Trafford on 8 March Getty Coronavirus fears lead to empty streets and shelves across UK Maaya Indian Kitchen in Milton Keynes is offerig customers a free roll of toilet paper with every takeaway order SWNS Coronavirus fears lead to empty streets and shelves across UK Oliver Cooper[L], was sent home from school for selling spurts of handsanitiser to fellow pupils at 50p a time. He poses with mum Jenny Tompkins by their home in Leeds Ashley Pemberton/SWNS Coronavirus fears lead to empty streets and shelves across UK Empty toilet paper shelves at a supermarket in London on 12 March EPA Coronavirus fears lead to empty streets and shelves across UK A member of the public is swabbed at a drive through Coronavirus testing site set up in a car park in Wolverhampton Getty Coronavirus fears lead to empty streets and shelves across UK A passenger wears a protective face mask as she travels on a bus in the City of London AFP/Getty Coronavirus fears lead to empty streets and shelves across UK A Southampton fan wears a face mask before the match against Newcastle United on 7 March Reuters Coronavirus fears lead to empty streets and shelves across UK A loudspeaker placed in grounds of St Mary's Catholic Church in Broughattin, Dundalk, County Louth ahead of funeral mass later this morning. The loudspeaker has been placed in the grounds after the Catholic Archdiocese said that funerals and weddings should not exceed 100 attendees within the church building PA Coronavirus fears lead to empty streets and shelves across UK A hand sanitising station set up outside Cheltenham Racecourse during day four of the Cheltenham Festival on 13 March PA Coronavirus fears lead to empty streets and shelves across UK People wearing protective face masks walk across London Bridge on 11 March AFP/Getty Mr Johnson said increases to universal credit allowances will benefit 4 million people at a cost of 2bn, raising the weekly basic benefit for a single adult over 25 from 73.34 per week to 92.57. However, he said the government was still struggling to find effective ways to support the self-employed, contractors and freelancers. Former Tory cabinet minister David Davis said the economy could suffer a near fatal seizure if they are not protected. It is absolutely necessary. Without this, the whole of the British economy will have a seizure almost a fatal seizure in economic terms, he told the BBC. It is great for those who have got jobs, but it does miss out a pretty important sector of the economy namely the self-employed and he [Mr Sunak] is going to have to find a way of replicating this for the self-employed as well. His call was backed by the TUCs general secretary, Frances OGrady, who said: We have got members in industries from construction to the creative industries and this will cause real hardship unless we get to grips with it. Steve Barclay, chief secretary to the Treasury, said the issue for the government was about operationally what is difficult to do and what can be delivered to the timescales were are working to. He said the self-employed were being helped through measures such as the deferral of self-assessment tax requirements, payment holidays for mortgage payers, and the strengthening of the welfare safety net. Purchases made via links on our site may earn us an affiliate commission Photograph: Mary F Calvert/Reuters Theres something deeply disturbing about seeing someone profit from a disaster, and weve already seen a few examples in the present crisis. First it was the guys who bought up over 17,000 bottles of hand sanitizer in the hopes of selling them at a high markup. (After Amazon put a stop to their sales, the pair of hoarders donated the sanitizer.) Now we have reports that multiple US senators may have acted on inside information about the coronavirus pandemic, selling stocks in anticipation of a crash, even as they failed to warn the public about the danger posed by the virus. These allegations, if they are indeed true, show that even in a time of crisis, our elected officials are looking out for themselves rather than the public. ProPublica reports that North Carolina Republican Richard Burr, who was receiving daily coronavirus briefings as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, sold off a significant percentage of his stocks, unloading between $628,000 and $1.72m of his holdings, a week before the stock market tanked. And while in public he was insisting that the government was capable of handling the virus, to well-connected constituents at the Capitol Hill Club he was warning that the virus was much more aggressive in its transmission than anything that we have seen in recent history. Then there was Georgia Republican Kelly Loeffler, who according to the Daily Beast also sold a substantial amount of stock in the leadup to the crash, as well as buying shares in the teleworking company Citrix. Other senators also sold stock around the same time, though the evidence of insider trading is less clear in the other cases. Burr, Loeffler, and the others have denied wrongdoing, though have not offered especially convincing alternate explanations for the sales. If they did trade on insider information, what they did was probably illegalunder the Stock Act, which Burr voted against, lawmakers are prohibited from trading on nonpublic information, though the definition of nonpublic is not always clear and Burr says he relied solely on public news reports. Story continues But even if that was true, the fact that Burr had reason to suspect that the disaster would be worse than he was publicly letting on is a deep betrayal of his constituents. He should entirely lose the confidence of the public, because its clear that he chose to make money at a time when he should have been offering Americans the truth. Thats why even figures like Tucker Carlson and Ben Shapiro have been outraged by the alleged behavior, with Carlson saying there is no greater moral crime than choosing yourself over your country at a time of crisis. Elected officials whose first response to a pandemic is to cash in are indeed monstrous. But its not especially surprising in the Trump Era, when the pathological pursuit of financial self-interest is widely seen as unobjectionable. Burr and Loeffler were just doing what they learned in Economics 101: rationally maximize your returns, regardless of the consequences for other people. Its a little surprising to see Shapiro condemning this behavior instead of defending it as an example of the glorious free market at work. After all, you frequently see defenses of price-gouging among free market types, which is no less sociopathic of a behavior during a time of need. Its strange to see those who are generally fine with those who profit off human misery like, for example, health insurance companies get so worked up about insider trading. The alleged behavior of Burr and Loeffler is indeed despicable, and there is a reasonable discussion to be had about whether senators ought to own stock in the first place. Can we trust people to make laws neutrally if they are significantly financially invested in the outcome of those laws? But we should also make sure not to over-focus on insider trading and corruption as being whats wrong with our politics. They are one part of what is wrong, to be sure, but more important than self-enrichment is the fact that US senators are allowing people to suffer and die needlessly by failing to push through the measures needed to deal with the coronavirus crisis. Unethical and selfish behavior becomes especially disgusting in a time of a deadly pandemic, but we must keep our focus on giving people the healthcare and economic relief they will need to get through this. The inadequacy of current measures is a crime in which many elected officials in both parties are complicit, and we should be just as angry at the legislators who kill people through inaction as the few who jumped at the opportunity to make a buck. TDT | Manama Bahraini authorities have warned of stringent-action against rumour-mongers who incite sectarian provocations and spread misleading as well as unverified information on social media platforms undermining public security. According to the Anti-Corruption and Economic and Electronic Security Director-General, people are misusing the technology to spread fallacies and tendentious rumours to undermine public security, despite the current circumstances and the dedicated national efforts to combat coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Such acts considered as dangerous crimes are punishable by Bahraini law, he warned revealing that action has been taken against 65 such cases. Citizens and expats, the top Cyber Cop said, should seek information from official sources and refrain from re-posting information disclosed by unofficial sources or spread misleading fallacies and rumours likely to jeopardise civil peace. He added: Social media users should comply with the law and adhere to precision and credibility. Imprisonment for a period of no more than two years and a fine not exceeding BD 200 or either penalty shall be the punishment for any person who deliberately disseminates false reports, statements or malicious rumours, or produces any publicity-seeking to damage public security, terrorise the population or cause damage to the public interest. The said punishment shall be inflicted upon any person who holds either personally or through others, any publication or leaflet containing any of the things set out in the preceding paragraph without a lawful excuse, and upon any person who possesses any device intended for printing, recording or broadcasting and uses it though for a limited period of time, for printing, recording or broadcasting, any of the above, according to Article 168 of Bahrain penal code. As of now, the Anti-Corruption and Economic and Electronic Security directorate has identified 35 social media users for spreading malicious content of which 23 have been referred to Public Prosecution for actions. The directorate, he said, also identified 30 violations on social media related to sectarian provocation and referred 18 of them to the Public Prosecution to take appropriate action. The authority will be continuing tracking down any such instances and take necessary legal procedures. One of the last arrows in the quiver in the fight against dangerous bacteria is the reserve antibiotic daptomycin. It is used primarily when conventional drugs fail due to resistant bacteria. Although the antibiotic was developed around 30 years ago, its exact mode of action was previously unclear. Scientists at the University of Bonn have now deciphered the puzzle: Daptomycin blocks the integration of important building blocks into the cell wall of the pathogens, thereby killing the bacteria. The results have now been published in the journal Nature Communications. When it comes to bacterial infections, antibiotics are the medical weapons of choice - but they are becoming increasingly blunt. The number of resistances is increasing, which is why many antibiotics are no longer effective against the dangerous pathogens. Some of these active substances are intended for particularly severe infections with resistant bacteria. One example is daptomycin, which was launched in the USA in 2003 and in Germany in 2006. It is used for the treatment of infections with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and resistant enterococci. Although daptomycin was discovered around 30 years ago, the exact mode of action remained elusive until now." Dr. Tanja Schneider, Institute of Pharmaceutical Microbiology at the University of Bonn and the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) There were different theories on how this antibiotic attacks and kills bacteria. One of them was that daptomycin perforates the bacterial envelope and leads to a potassium efflux that ends with the death of the bacterium. "Nobody understood how daptomycin actually works," says Dr. Anna Muller, one of the lead authors from Prof. Schneider's research group. Interdisciplinary research team The interdisciplinary team from the fields of medicine, pharmacology and physical chemistry used a wide variety of scientific methods to discover the antibiotic's mode of action. The researchers first labelled daptomycin with a fluorescent dye that glows green. This enabled them to follow exactly where the antibiotic docks to the staphylococcal cells under the high-resolution microscope. "Daptomycin binds to the bacteria in regions where the new cell wall is just being synthesized," said Dr. Fabian Grein, another lead author and colleague of Prof. Schneider. Like in a construction kit, the bacterial cell wall is assembled from numerous building blocks. Further analyses carried out by the researchers on staphylococci and synthetically produced bacterial walls showed that two of these building blocks in particular are hugely important for the effect of daptomycin: the central cell wall building block "lipid II" and the membrane lipid phosphatidylglycerol (PG). "The combination of lipid II and PG together is the Achilles' heel of the bacteria," says Schneider. This is exactly where daptomycin comes into play: The antibiotic captures these important building blocks and blocks the further construction of the cell wall. As a result, the bacterial cell wall becomes unstable resulting in the outflow of various ions, including potassium. "The outflow of ions is not the actual killing mechanism of daptomycin, as originally thought, but a consequence of bacterial cell death," concludes Schneider. "We were able to show how daptomycin really works and to which molecular target structures it docks," comments Prof. Dr. Ulrich Kubitscheck from the Department of Biophysical Chemistry at the University of Bonn. This is an important prerequisite for the further optimization of daptomycin. Since new active substances cannot be developed to the desired extent to fight antibiotic resistance, researchers are focusing on combination therapies using different active substances. "The strategy is to target already resistant bacteria with differently acting weapons," says Prof. Schneider. However, this would only work if the mode of action and targets of the antibiotics are known. The study was conducted in the Transregional Collaborative Research Center TRR261 "Antibiotic CellMap - Cellular Mechanisms of Antibiotic Action and Production" located at the Universities of Bonn and Tubingen and funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The German Center for Infection Research is also involved. "It was only through this transdisciplinary cooperation that we were able to take the decisive step forward and solve a puzzle that science has been mulling over for 30 years," says Schneider. Tory backbenchers will stage a rebellion next week against the Prime Ministers plans to introduce emergency laws to help fight coronavirus. The Prime Ministers proposals could be in place for more than two years but David Davis, the former Brexit secretary, will table an amendment calling for the legislation to expire after one. The government hoped to find a cross-party agreement so that it could pass through the House of Commons early next week without a formal vote, reported The Times. David Davis is one of the Tory MPs planning to rebel against the Prime Ministers emergency powers and will table an amendment calling for the legislation to expire after one year not two But Mr Davis has decided to table an amendment with senior Labour MPs who are also worried about the amount of power the laws will give the government The legislation allows police to detain and quarantine anyone who has coronavirus for up to a month. Concerns have been raised by the Police Federation, which represents rank and file police officers, that patients suffering from an illness could be treated like criminals. Mr Davis told The Times: There is nobody who can scrutinise a 300-pageb ill in one day. The government itself will have made mistakes, its a fact of life. We need an absolute, brick-wall stop on this legislation at 12 months. Labour MP Christ Bryant said he would try to amend the bill in order to force parliament to vote on the legislation every 90 days. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 07:37:34|Editor: ZD Video Player Close ROME, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The northern Italian town of Vo' Euganeo, which saw the country's first coronavirus casualty, is now offering new hope that the pandemic that has so far taken more than 4,000 more Italian lives can be defeated. Vo', a town of 3,300 people some 40 kilometers west of Venice, has voluntarily entered into a strict quarantine and testing regime as a pilot project. So far, the results are encouraging: the town had 90 residents infected with coronavirus in the first three weeks of the outbreak; with the measures in place, that number has been reduced to a single new infection in the past eight days. "We are a test case, the first community to try these very strict measures and so the results are as good as we could have hoped," Giuliano Martini, Vo's mayor, told Xinhua. "It is difficult for residents but they understand that this is the only way we are going to get through this tragic period." The plan, guided by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the nearby University of Padua, involves testing all of the residents of Vo', whether they show symptoms of the coronavirus or not. That allowed residents infected with the virus to be quarantined earlier. Movement is more limited than in other parts of Italy and in some cases, individuals are re-tested. Italian and international health officials say the success so far of the strategy in Vo' could serve as a blueprint for other parts of Italy and elsewhere. "The lesson we can learn from Vo' is that strict application of testing and quarantine strategy can have encouraging results," Sergio Romagnani, a professor of immunology at the University of Florence, said in an interview. "The message from Vo' is a simple one: test as many people as possible, quarantine those who are infected, and don't make any exceptions." Romagnani said there was no way that the strategy being used in Vo' could be applied nationally in Italy, which has more than 60 million residents. But he said it could be applied to specific high-risk segments of the population, such as health care workers, grocery store clerks, and others with high levels of exposure to the sick or the general public. As the spread of the virus largely halted in China, Romagnani said effective use of the strategies used in Vo' could bring Italy to a similar point sooner. "A smart application of these kinds of protocols can be a key part of the fight against this pandemic," Romagnani said. Back in Vo', Martini said he was pleased that the town he leads will have a second act in Italy's coronavirus saga. "We were among the first towns hit by this outbreak and we were hit so hard it took a month before we could bury the first victim," the mayor said. "If we can play a role in helping to find the strategy that will help bring an end to this crisis, that is something we want to do." US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has blamed Russia, China and Iran for spreading 'disinformation' on COVID-19 and carrying out coordinated efforts to 'disparage' American attempts towards containing the fast-spreading coronavirus pandemic. Washington: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has blamed Russia, China and Iran for spreading "disinformation" on COVID-19 and carrying out coordinated efforts to "disparage" American attempts towards containing the fast-spreading coronavirus pandemic. Click here to follow LIVE updates on coronavirus outbreak Speaking at the White House on Friday, Pompeo described the disinformation campaigns as being "pretty diffused" and urged Americans to ensure that they are getting their information from a reliable source and not a "bad actor" trying to create and flow information that they know is wrong. "I wanted to talk about the disinformation the people are seeing both on Twitter and around the world. Some of it coming from government, some of it coming from other individuals," Pompeo told reporters. He identified three countries for these "disinformation campaigns". "It is pretty defused unfortunately but we have certainly seen it come from places like China and Russia and Iran where there are coordinated efforts to disparage what America is doing and our activity to do all of the things that President (Donald) Trump has set in motion here," Pompeo said. "I did just urge everyone as they are seeing information that at one time suggested somehow this virus emanated from the United States Army, this information about lockdowns that are taking place, every American, indeed people all around the world should ensure that where they turn to for information is a reliable source and not a bad actor trying to create and flow information that they know is wrong," he added. The Secretary of State acknowledged that to combat the fast-spreading pandemic was a "tough fight". A total of 230 people had died in the US due to the fast-spreading coronavirus pandemic by Friday evening. The number of confirmed cases has jumped to over 18,000, an increase of over 10,000 in less than 50 hours. Coronavirus cases have been reported in all the 50 States in the US and District of Columbia as well as Puerto Rico. Globally, the death toll from the virus has risen to 11,397 with more than 275,427 cases reported in over 160 countries and territories. "The American people are tougher. Our diplomatic teams are working around the clock to help them keep safe both home and abroad and we're showing once again the global leadership that America has always delivered. It's been great to see countries around the world rallied behind what President Trump and his team is doing," Pompeo said. Pompeo's statement came after Dick Durbin and Jeff Merkley led a group of eight Democratic Senators in urging the State Department to take action against foreign actors "who are weaponising disinformation" to undermine efforts by the US and its global partners to inform the public about efforts to address the coronavirus pandemic. Recent EU reports of Russian efforts to sow disinformation about COVID-19 echo warnings made by Lea Gabrielle, the Special Envoy of the Department of State's Global Engagement Center (GEC), to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that Russia is behind "swarms of online, false personas" seeking to spread misinformation about COVID-19 on social media sites, the Senators wrote. According to the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab, these "malign activities" demonstrate how false narratives about COVID-19 are "truly global and spread faster than the virus itself". "Moreover, now that the World Health Organization has declared COVID-19 as a global pandemic, cybercriminals are loading malicious software onto tracking maps, government reports, and health fact sheets in multiple languages," they wrote. A recent study by the Israel-based cybersecurity group Check Point revealed that Chinese hackers such as "Vicious Panda" posed an "advanced persistent threat" in this sphere and are likely being funded by the Chinese government, the Senators said. "Furthermore, despite efforts by companies like WhatsApp to work with governments and other partners to mitigate the spread of false information on their social media platforms, misinformation continues to be shared unabated in countries such as Nigeria, Pakistan, and Brazil," they said. In their letter to Pompeo, the Senators also pressed US officials to refrain from using derogatory and inaccurate language that attributes COVID-19 to a specific region or country. "This global challenge requires international leadership that the United States is uniquely positioned to provide and one that the GEC was specifically established to coordinate. "Similarly, US officials should refrain from using derogatory and inaccurate language that attributes COVID-19 to a specific region or country, including 'Wuhan virus' or 'foreign virus.' Such terminology plays directly into the hands of malign actors who wish to undermine international efforts to combat the virus in a coordinated manner," the Senators wrote. President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev visited the Emergency Coordination and Monitoring Center, where he spoke about the shortage of medical masks in the country. I would like to say that so far we do not have enough masks. Although there seem to be enough masks as you reported to me. On the other hand, people complain that there is still a shortage of these masks in pharmacies. Why? I think that this is speculation, " Sputnik Kazakhstan quotes Kazakhstans head of state as saying with a reference to the press service of Akorda. Lanlih Hollland and her husband Billy showed off their new baby Matthew for the first time on television last night as they remembered their late daughter Emmeline, and thanked the public for the 550,000 her fundraiser made for charity. Just months after the Munster Rugby legend and his wife appeared on the Late Late show in January to discuss the death of their beloved daughter Emmeline, they made another appearance via video call last night with the newest member of their "family of four" - Matthew. "Matthew is a fine, sturdy lump of a young fella," Billy said of his son, who he described earlier in the week as "a gift from Emmeline". "We're happy to have him and tell him all about his big sister in years to come." "Emeline has been very present for us," Lanlih added. "Were a family of four. Shell always be part of our family. Well tell Matthew all about her in years to come forever. "Its been amazing. Everyone saying Emmelines name, calling her brave. "Its been an amazing time and were so happy that this is Emmelines legacy. Shes definitely present." Emmeline tragically died in her mother's arms in May after, ten days earlier, overcoming major heart surgery at the age of only 10 months old. After their heart-breaking January appearance on the Late Late, a gofundme page entitled 'Brave like Emmeline Holland' was set up to raise funds for Our Lady's Children's Hospital in Crumlin, Cork University Hospital (Children's wards) and the Ronald McDonald House - all services for sick children. Expand Close Cherished: Billy and Lanlih Holland with baby Emmeline, who died in May of last year / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Cherished: Billy and Lanlih Holland with baby Emmeline, who died in May of last year Since then 557,000 has been raised on the page. Emmeline's father praised the goodwill of thousands of people who donated to the cause, because of which "sick children in Ireland are going to be in a better place". "It's absolutely phenomenal," Holland said. "We were blown away by people's generosity and it just continued for a full week. It kept going up every single day. "Over 16,000 people donated in the end. There was big sums and little sums. "One person donated 8 and left a note saying, 'if this is still open next week, I'd like to donate more'. So this person gave everything they had to it, and things like that just made us so proud of the impact Emmeline was having, and we just can't thank the public enough for the response. "We've spoken to the three charities and what they are going to do with the funds is just absolutely incredible - a lot of equipment for children, helping families. "Obviously the healthcare workers at the moment are true heroes and sick children in Ireland are going to be in a better place because of our Emmeline and those 16,000 people who have donated are a part of something really special and something we're incredibly proud of." Fear of shortages The shortage in peoples homes surely cant continue to deplete what the stores cant supply. I would like to see our grocery stores use some type of number system. This would be based on odd and even numbers to determine who is allowed to shop. This free-for-all will eventually be more deadly than the main problem. Fear is whats driving the public to stock up on so many items. Are all these stores suddenly going to close? We all remember the long gasoline lines that produced fear of no gas. Once again, the element of fear has brought the world to its knees. As things start to simmer down, hopefully the lines will, too. Although temporary, the long lines will return when those items need to be returned. Fred Machado European dream? Once again, Im hearing about European health care. Europeans dont pay anything for coronavirus treatment if they need it. How can the poor in our country call their primary care physician to ask about symptoms they might be having when they dont have one? In France, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands, workers receive full pay for at least six weeks if they fall ill, are quarantined or told to stay home by their employer. Rebecca Baker On ExpressNews.com: We cant test everyone: San Antonians grow frustrated Keep standard time Re: Lets fall back but not spring forward again, Editorial, March 10: I completely agree about keeping standard time, or at least going back to the former switch dates in April and November. Just when the sun began to rise early in the morning, we went back to dark in the morning. It is tough to go to school or work in the dark. If the nation wont act, Texas should. Your editorial on the matter is on point. Michael Aratingi Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Apriza Pinandita (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, March 21, 2020 09:48 662 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad206c62c2d 1 SE Asia COVID-19,Indonesia,Malaysia,coronavirus,pandemic,bilateral-cooperation,Retno-Marsudi,Hishammuddin-Tun-Hussein Free Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi engaged with her Malaysian counterpart Hishammuddin Hussein through a video conference on Friday, discussing the need for the two neighboring countries to maintain close collaboration amid the global COVID-19 pandemic. We agreed on the importance of strong cooperation between the two countries, both bilaterally and within the framework of ASEAN, in addressing COVID 19, Retno wrote in her Twitter account @Menlu_RI after the virtual meeting. Had a video call with Dato Seri Hishammuddin Hussein @HishammuddinH2O, Foreign Minister of Malaysia (20/03). We agreed on the importance of strong cooperation between the two countries, both bilaterally and in the framework of ASEAN, in addressing COVID 19. pic.twitter.com/gUwbeXj9so Menteri Luar Negeri Republik Indonesia (@Menlu_RI) March 20, 2020 Meanwhile, the Malaysian foreign minister said that the discussions he had with Retno during their 45-minute video conference comprised various issues, including the postponement of the inaugural visit of Malaysia's new Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to Indonesia, which was initially scheduled for the end of March. "Furthermore, both Ibu Retno and I deliberated over the status of the ASEAN Summit, which is due in Vietnam next month," Hishammuddin wrote in a Facebook post. The majority of our video conference, however, focused on COVID-19 and we both shared our nations experience in handling our stranded citizens abroad due to travel restrictions imposed by countries in which they were, he added. Hishamuddin said he and Retno realized that "a lot depends on Indonesias and Malaysias bilateral relations with those countries to assist the stranded citizens" and that for the time being, they had agreed to cooperate in engaging nations together so that the two Southeast Asian countries could assist their respective stranded citizens. In addition, the two ministers also focused on both Malaysians and Indonesians who participated in tabligh (Islamic mass gathering) and how they could manage the outbreak of COVID-19 transmissions from these events, Hishammuddin wrote. He said he looked forward to closer cooperation between the two countries as Malaysia and Indonesia have long-standing ties that go beyond mere bilateral relations. Read also: Indonesian businesses look to Singapore, Malaysia for COVID-19 measures Indonesia and Malaysia are currently working flat out along with hundreds of other countries in the world -- in containing the coronavirus outbreak in their respective territories. Malaysia has experienced a spike in coronavirus infections following a tabligh event attended by more than 16,000 participants from countries in Southeast Asia, prompting authorities to impose a partial lockdown in view of the significant surge of cases. The country reported a total of 1,030 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Friday -- the highest number of infections in Southeast Asia, Reuters reported. Meanwhile, Indonesia has the highest death toll from the novel coronavirus among its ASEAN peers with 32 fatalities to date. At least 369 people were infected in the archipelago as of Friday. The Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur estimated on Tuesday that some 700,000 Indonesians were affected by Malaysias lockdown, but that number could be higher. Read also: Indonesians in Malaysia remain calm as they prepare for lockdown In her tweet, Retno also said that she had conveyed her request to Hishammudin to pay attention to the Indonesian citizens affected by the lockdown. According to real-time data from Johns Hopkins University, more than 274,000 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed worldwide, with 11,375 deaths as of Saturday. More than 88,000 patients have recovered from the virus that has spread to around 160 countries, with Italy, Iran and Spain being the countries with the highest numbers of fatalities from COVID-19 outside China, where the novel coronavirus first emerged. Philadelphia Medical Reserve Corps volunteer and nurse Marina Spitkovskaya puts on a mask before the city's coronavirus testing site opened next to Citizens Bank Park in South Philadelphia on Friday. Protective gear shortages for health care workers are already emerging. Read more First responders in New Jersey are being advised to buy painters masks to protect themselves while treating possible coronavirus patients. In Pennsylvania, the state Department of Health is reaching out to the mining industry for masks. A hospital in Woodbury, Gloucester County, is asking for mask donations. Even as the regions health-care providers are digging in to prepare for the expected wave of coronavirus cases, nurses and doctors are facing no-win decisions due to the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE). We dont have the equipment that we need to properly protect us, said Maureen May, a nurse at Temple University Hospital and president of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP). Health-care providers are being encouraged to use N-95 masks, which are dense enough to screen out the coronavirus molecules. But cases are piling up so quickly, May said, that some of the unions roughly 8,000 members have resorted to reusing the single-use masks. Nurses have been told to store their masks in a brown paper bag when not in use to keep the virus contained. We shouldnt be reusing N-95 masks, which is what we are doing, but we dont have enough so if we get one, we use it over and over again, she said. "Theres no option. Its a national crisis, said the president of the American Medical Association. For days, physicians and frontline health-care workers have been sounding the alarm that there is nowhere near enough PPE in the fight against COVID-19 a shortage that endangers patients and jeopardizes the entire response to this virus, said AMA president Patrice A. Harris. Physicians dont have enough masks; they are wearing a single mask all day, cleaning them at home, and sewing their own protective gear. Confronting COVID-19 requires an all-hands-on-deck approach from federal, state, and local governments, and we urge our leaders to pull every lever at their disposal to ramp up test-kit availability and to equip physicians and the health-care workforce to fight the virus. Anything less is unacceptable at this critical juncture. State and local officials acknowledge that they dont know how much gear is available, much less how much will be needed or where they can get more. President Donald Trump could invoke the federal Defense Production Act to boost production of critical medical supplies, but so far he has not ordered businesses to produce needed supplies including protective gear and ventilators. You dont send a soldier out into a war without a gun, said Kristen Kucharczuk, a physician with Advocare Main Line Pediatrics, a practice in Narberth and Malvern, but we are going out there with a stick. READ MORE: Amid coronavirus outbreak, New Jerseys Lazy Eye Distillery gives out hand sanitizer As of Friday evening Pennsylvania reported 268 positive cases and one death. New Jersey had 890 cases and 11 deaths. In Philadelphia, 20 of the citys 44 confirmed cases as of Thursday were among health-care workers, city officials said. The heavy toll on medical personnel is no surprise, experts said. You can do everything in your power not to touch your face, wear gloves, said David Jaspan, chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia. But [the virus] is so prevalent in our environment and your interactions with people who have it, thats likely the reason health-care workers are falling to the illness. The patient with the virus should be wearing a surgical mask and the health-care provider should wear a gown, gloves, eye protection, and a N-95 mask, which are fitted specifically for an individual, Jaspan said. Breathing through them can require some adjustment. Its in place properly, he said, if a wearer feels a sucking sensation against the face when inhaling. READ MORE: A face mask probably wont protect you from coronavirus. Heres what can help. The Pennsylvania Department of Health shipped gloves, N-95 masks, and gowns to 40 counties Thursday, said Nate Wardle, the agencys spokesperson, though he would not say how many of each were sent. It is a continued need, Wardle said. Just because we sent some out does not mean we are not going to continue needing more. The department is also reaching out to businesses, including the mining industry, Wardle said, to obtain more N-95 masks, or at least similarly protective masks. Mining is one of the businesses in Pennsylvania that is considered nonessential, so potentially we could get some, he said. The state, like much of the nation, is still figuring out what it has and what it will need. I dont know whether theres been a request for ventilators," Wardle said. We are working to try to figure out what we have in Pennsylvania. READ MORE: Coronavirus roller coaster will last months, not weeks, experts predict Protective gear also is essential for health-care workers at the growing number of testing sites. We havent gotten to the point yet where we dont have enough protective equipment to do testing, said Thomas Farley, Philadelphias health commissioner. "We hope we wont get to that point. If we do, well just somehow improvise to work through that problem. The health department is also preparing for much higher demand at hospitals, said spokesperson James Garrow. Beds, personal protective equipment, and respirators are all being reviewed citywide, he said, and organizations are requesting donations. The Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia on Friday night put out a call for supplies including thermometers, sanitary wipes, masks, and gowns. We are concerned about the possibility of a surge of patients outstripping our regions supply and are actively working to see how the region can supplement those supplies, Garrow said. The timing and size of the surge, however, are still unclear. "You look at Italy, you look at Iran, you look at China, it happened very, very rapidly, said Arvind Venkat, an emergency physician at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh and president of the Pennsylvania chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians, with about 1,800 members statewide. Medical personnel reusing N-95 masks concerns Venkat. If theyre going to be reused, he said, they have to be handled and stored very carefully, and cleaned thoroughly. Its not an ideal situation, he said, and could endanger physicians and their families. Emergency physicians, when they come home, they are disrobing and bathing before they enter any other part of their house, Venkat said. READ MORE: Dealing with mental health and the coronavirus: Its triggering. Small medical practices, meanwhile, have scrounged and innovated. Doctors who are allergists, dermatologists, who have to see patients, Kucharczuk said, have nothing. Kucharczuk, the Main Line pediatrician, has had to improvise solutions, including canceling all but the most necessary appointments. Her practice received mask donations from contractors, a farm in New Jersey, and auto mechanics, enough for each doctor to have one mask for each office throughout the epidemic. She also got face shields from a nearby orthodontists office. Its been a very heartwarming outreach from the community, she said. People are willing to help." In Camden, Cooper University Health Care sent a memo to the areas emergency medical services squads advising them to shop for masks at hardware stores, insulation suppliers, and paint stores. Smaller retailers with no online presence may be your best options, the memo states. After New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy ordered nail salons and other nonessential businesses to close by Thursday at 8 p.m, staff at Inspira Health, which runs a 210-bed hospital in Mullica Hill, N.J., jumped on the phone to ask companies if they would be willing to donate or sell their masks, said Nick Dalsey Jr., Inspiras development director. Masks intended for one-time use degrade over time, becoming less protective, said Michael Menz, a certified industrial hygienist who owns an environmental firm in South Jersey. READ MORE: What are the first symptoms of the coronavirus? Menz said that while he doesnt have any N95 masks, he does have two respirators with sophisticated filters that he had used for asbestos inspections and other environmental jobs before the crisis curtailed business. If there is a doctor or nurse who wants a respirator that can be sanitized, I will drive it to them immediately, Menz said Friday night. Some community groups are mobilizing to try to supplement medical providers equipment options. On Facebook, the group Sew Face Masks Philadelphia #AbolishCOVID is seeking people to contribute designs and materials as a first step to jump starting a collective effort to make protective masks. Medical staff will need to ration the equipment they have, Jaspan said, being careful to save the most protective gear for specific tasks. Asking screening questions in person, he said, can be done safely without any protective gear if the medical provider stays six feet away from the patient. If a patients symptoms and history suggest coronavirus infection, but the provider isnt directly treating them, a mask and goggles will suffice. The most protective gear, a gown, gloves, eye protection, and mask, should be reserved only for medical personnel who are in close, direct contact with a patient who could have the illness. If we run out of things were going to be using handkerchiefs, Jaspan said, and thats just not acceptable in the 21st century. Staff writer Laura McCrystal contributed to this article. PRESIDENT Mnangagwa has implored Zimbabweans to take maximum precautions to prevent the spread of coronavirus by limiting travel and outdoor activities as the country braces for the introduction of stringent and disruptive public health safety measures to fight Covid-19. Two cases of Covid-19 had been recorded in Zimbabwe as of yesterday afternoon, according to Health and Child Care Minister Dr Obadiah Moyo. The first case, announced on Friday night, was of a Victoria Falls resident who recently returned from Manchester, the United Kingdom, while a 30-year-old man who visited the United States in February also tested positive yesterday. In an interview with The Sunday Mail soon after arriving in Harare from Windhoek where he attended the inauguration of Namibian President Hage Geingob yesterday, President Mnangagwa said confirmation of the two cases obliges the country to adopt stern measures to fight the pandemic. We appeal to all Zimbabweans to restrict their movements. We can only move for essential and critical reasons. Otherwise we recommend that our communities, both urban and rural, remain where they are and not travel. The spread of this pandemic is so quick and fast, so we are appealing to our people to avoid travelling. Let us keep at home and only move either to buy food or medicines. I will discuss with my Minister of Health to hear the circumstances surrounding these two cases in order to take corrective measures to contain the spread of Covid-19. Some of the stringent measures set to be introduced to combat Covid-19 include mandatory screening at all public buildings and temporary closure of overcrowded informal markets. Government has now directed local authorities to increase potable water supply, drill additional boreholes and decongest informal and formal markets. Also, police are intensifying a clampdown on gatherings of more than 100 people at public spaces, churches, funerals and recreational places. Government is not discounting the possibility of citywide lockdowns should there be a large-scale localised outbreak. President Mnangagwa announced the introduction of mandatory screening at all Government-owned premises while launching Governments US$26 million Covid-19 National Preparedness and Response Plan on Thursday. Our preparedness measures have been stepped up through heightened surveillance systems at national, provincial and district levels. We have special focus on all ports of entry throughout the country with mandatory screening of visitors having already started and all our Government buildings and infrastructure should be screened with immediate effect, said President Mnangagwa. Announcing the second confirmed case at a press conference in Harare yesterday afternoon, Dr Moyo said the man was admitted into isolation at Wilkins Hospital on Friday after exhibiting mild symptoms of Covid-19. Today the 21st of March 2020, the national microbiology reference at Sally Mugabe Central Hospital reported yet another case of Covid-19, which brings to two the number of Covid-19 cases in Zimbabwe, he said. This second patient is a 30-year-old male resident of Harare who had travelled to New York, United States of America, on the 29th of February 2020 and returned home in Harare on 9 March via Johannesburg. The man, said Minister Moyo, was advised by his doctor to self-isolate at home before the doctor alerted the local Covid-19 Rapid Response Team which went to assess him. Our teams are now engaged in contact tracing and as with the first case, are being assisted by the patient himself. Once again, we call upon everyone to remain calm as we manage these confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Zimbabwe. As part of the nationwide response, The Sunday Mail has gathered that some private companies have begun asking their employees to either work from home where possible or report for duty in small groups. According to the national preparedness and response plan, Government has a plan for four transmission scenarios: the no case scenario; sporadic cases scenario; cluster of cases scenario and the community transmission scenario, which is the highest level. While the no case scenario has already been overtaken by events the main aim of this stage was to stop transmission and prevent spread. During this phase, authorities would among other things prepare to treat patients, ready hospitals for a potential surge and promote self-isolation of people with mild respiratory symptoms. Zimbabwe is now at the sporadic cases scenario this is when the country has recorded one or more cases either imported or transmitted locally. Here authorities will test all suspected cases and all contacts of confirmed cases, and at this stage treatment of cases will commence while self-isolation of suspected cases is heightened. The third stage, cluster cases scenario, is when the country has cases of local transmission. Here emergency response mechanisms will be scaled up, while active case finding is intensified and contact tracing and monitoring, quarantining of contacts and isolation of cases begins. Authorities will: Enhance triage procedures, activate surge plans for health facilities, designate referral hospitals, defer elective procedures. Promote self-isolation of people with mild respiratory symptoms to reduce the burden on health systems, reads the response plan in part. The community transmission scenario is when the country would have large outbreaks and is unable to relate confirmed cases through chains of transmission for many cases. At this stage contact tracing is scaled up especially in newly infected areas. Quarantine of contacts and isolation of cases is enhanced while symptomatic individuals are urged to apply self-initiated isolation. Government has already banned gatherings of over 100 people for the next 60 days, while schools and tertiary institutions will close on Tuesday. National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said police had begun patrols to discourage large public gatherings. We have teams that are patrolling and monitoring the situation to ensure that there are no gatherings of more than 100 people, said Asst Comm Nyathi. We are also working with the Ministry of Health and Child Care as well local authorities in monitoring the situation at funerals, drinking spots and any other public places. We would like to urge members of the public to inform the police of any gathering of more than 100 people. Members of the public should understand that the measures have been put in place for their own safety thus there is a need for them to comply. Local Government and Public Works Deputy Minister Marian Chombo said Government has activated all Provincial and District Civil Protection Committees while provision of potable water is being heightened. This requires putting in place a raft of measures which look at provision of basic municipal services such as water and repairing all damaged sewer infrastructure, said Minister Chombo. All local authorities have been instructed to make frantic efforts to improve water supply even if it means drilling more boreholes. At areas such as Mupedzanhamo where there is overcrowding, ways and means need to be devised to manage the numbers. The law enforcement agencies must work together with public vehicle operators to maintain distances. Health and Child Care secretary Dr Agnes Mahomva said only the President can order citywide lockdowns at the professional recommendation of the Health Ministry. She said the response plan will continue to be updated as the situation evolves, drawing from the experiences of other countries fighting the pandemic. That document is a living document. That is version three from our side. We decided it needed to be launched so that people see it and we continue updating, said Dr Mahomva. So based on the lessons from China and Europe, we continue updating on what then needs to happen, it is not a one size fits all. There is always room for that (a lockdown); we continue looking. We are giving the President daily detailed updates. We prepare written Cabinet memos where those kinds of decisions are made. So it is not for us to decide on those (decisions). We give the guidance and then that national decision is made and then we implement. Harare City Council acting water director, Engineer Phakamile Mabhena Moyo, said they are frantically working to improve water supplies. We have challenges with water treatment chemicals but we are in talks with authorities on how we can deal with that, he said. We are also working on a number of issues such as water infrastructure so that water production increases soon. We are engaging our various partners who have assisted during such emergencies as cholera outbreaks to assist with water tanks to the various hotspots. Sunday Mail The City of Laredo Health Department has confirmed a fourth positive test for COVID-19 in Laredo. READ MORE: City of Laredo confirms two more cases of novel coronavirus On March 20, the City of Laredo Health Department and Webb County received confirmation of two new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in Laredo to three. Person 3 was confirmed through a private laboratory and presented mild symptom last week. at which time they began a self-quarantine and monitoring. Person 3's a case believed to be related to recent travel. Also on March 20, the Health Department received confirmation or a fourth positive test for COVID19 by the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) Laboratory Response Network (LRN) in San Antonio. Person 4 presented respiratory symptoms and has recovered. The person was tested for COVID-19 on March 17 via contact tracing. The patient has been in quarantine since that time and has not traveled to any affected area. This case is considered to be another case of community transmission through contact with Person 1. Person 4, just as Person 1, is an employee With United ISD. The school district and the Health Department have already contacted students, family and staff as part of their initial investigation and will extend the quarantine from the onset of Person 1. READ MORE: U.S.-Mexico border closed to non-essential travel starting at midnight Friday The Health Department has tested a total of 45 individuals. Fifteen of those cases have been negative, four have been positive, and 26 are still pending results. China News on Women Sorry, the page you requested was not found. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Womenofchina.cn, try visiting the Womenofchina Home page , Cookies . cookies. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, March 21, 2020 19:07 662 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad206c7be9e 1 National Bali-tourism,COVID-19 Free The Bali administration has corrected its report of confirmed COVID-19 cases in its jurisdiction: There are three, not four. The fourth confirmed case left the island for another province in the country. The Bali administrations regional secretary, Dewa Made Indra, said the fourth person had visited Bali for a work-related trip, but the individual later reported to authorities in another undisclosed province. Therefore, we have corrected our data, from four confirmed cases of COVID-19 yesterday to three as of today, said Dewa during a press conference in Denpasar, Bali on Saturday. He added that two of the three confirmed patients had died and they were both foreign nationals. Read also: French national found dead on Bali sidewalk tests positive for COVID-19 One of the deceased had been cremated while another remained in a mortuary at a hospital, he said. We are still in coordination with the general consulate of the country from which the deceased originated, on how to treat the body post mortem. Thats the reason why we still keep it at the mortuary. As of Saturday, the administration had also performed contact tracing of the 217 people who had been in close contact with all confirmed cases in the province and asked them to self-isolate at home. He also said the administration was closely observing 95 others suspected to have the disease. On the other hand, we can also confirm that 71 suspected patients have undergone COVID-19 tests, with 68 of them having been declared negative and hospitals have allowed them to go home. We are still waiting for the [test results of the] rest, he said. (glh) By Express News Service Prithviraj, who has flown back to Jordan to resume the remaining schedules of director Blessys Aadujeevitham, has given an update on the status of the shoot, in addition to urging everyone to stay safe. These are tough times, he said in a statement. Times we need to think and act collectively. The difference this time being.. acting together means staying away from each other. As the world faces one of the greatest challenges of modern times, social distancing and self-hygiene is the only way we can contain this pandemic. Thanking everyone who expressed concern over his safety and the safety of the Aadujeevitham team, he shared that they are currently in Wadi Rum, Jordan and continuing the shoot. We have decided so because, given the circumstances, that seems to be our best option. No international flights are operating in and out of Jordan at the moment, and given the fact that all of us are already here, we can either stay put in our camp in the desert which is currently accommodating only our unit, or get out and shoot at our location which is barely a few minutes outside our camp. Prithviraj added that the team was given the go-ahead by authorities and medical experts considering the isolated nature of the location and the filming process of Aadujeevitham. He also revealed that two actors who have been put on precautionary quarantine in Amman are expected to join the team post the two-week quarantine period.Do stick to all instructions from authorities and even more importantly, please do not panic, he concluded. Vanessa Hudgens appeared to be in damage control mode on Friday when she shared an Instagram post praising doctors and healthcare workers on the front lines of the coronavirus response. The photo was posted after she outraged fans and social media users earlier this week when she downplayed coronavirus fears and said deaths from the virus were 'inevitable.' The 31-year-old Spring Breakers star also posted helpful tips for avoiding the virus and stopping its spread, days after she issued multiple public apologies for her widely condemned rant. About face: Vanessa Hudgens, 31, shared an Instagram post praising healthcare workers Friday after sharing an insensitive rant claiming deaths from the virus were 'inevitable' Vanessa's photo featured multiple healthcare workers in scrubs and surgical masks holding up signs reading: 'We stay here for you [heart], please stay home for us.' She simply captioned the image with three folded hands emojis. The High School Musical alumna also shared an image of tips to 'beat the virus' created by her talent agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA). The tips urged people to 'STAY HOME' and take regular precautions like washing hands often and not sneezing in them, as well as calling the doctor's office before going there. Doing their part: Vanessa's photo featured multiple healthcare workers in scrubs and surgical masks holding up signs reading: 'We stay here for you [heart], please stay home for us' Helpful tips: The High School Musical alumna also shared an image of tips to 'beat the virus' created by her talent agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA) Vanessa's more socially responsible posts came after she called the idea of staying in and having businesses closed until July 'bulls***' in an Instagram Live rant. 'It's a virus. I get it. Like, I respect it, but at the same time, like, even if everybody gets it... like, yeah, people are going to die, which is terrible, but like inevitable,' she said. The widely shared video quickly generated backlash from prominent figures of all political views. Outrage: Vanessa's more socially responsible posts came after she called the idea of staying in until July 'bulls***' and seemed to make light of coronavirus deaths in an Instagram Live video Vanessa tried to tamp down the outrage with a second video from Tuesday in which she claimed the original clip was taken out of context. 'It's a crazy time. It's a crazy, crazy time. I am at home, in lockdown, and that's what I hope you guys are doing too. In full quarantine, staying safe and sane,' she said. 'I don't take this situation lightly, by any means. I am home.' 'So stay inside,' she added. Taking another stab: The High School Musical actress followed her quasi-apology with a more heartfelt note Vanessa followed up her quasi-apology with a more heartfelt note posted Wednesday. 'Hey guys. I'm so sorry for the way I have offended anyone and everyone who has seen the clip from my Instagram Live yesterday,' she wrote. 'I realize my words were insensitive and not at all appropriate for the situation our country and the world are in right now. 'This has been a huge wake up call about the significance my words have, now more than ever. 'I am sending safe wishes to everyone to stay safe and healthy during this crazy time.' Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Stockholm, Sweden Sat, March 21, 2020 07:06 662 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad206c55b9e 2 Health health,child-obesity,obesity,children,anxiety,depression,death Free Two new European studies have found that those who are obese as children may have a higher risk of anxiety, depression, and even early death as adults. Carried out by researchers from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, the first study looked at data gathered from 41,359 children and teenagers aged three to 17. From the group, 7,049 received obesity treatment at some point during their childhood or adolescence, while the other 34,310 participants acted as controls. The researchers, who published their findings in the journal PLOS Medicine, found that those who had obesity in childhood had a three times higher risk of dying in early adulthood (between the ages of 20 and 25) than the participants. Moreover, more than a quarter of the deaths among the participants who were obese as children had obesity recorded as a primary or contributing cause of death. Our study shows that children with obesity have a significantly higher risk of premature mortality already as young adults, says Emilia Hagman, one of the study's authors. Both the risk of death from somatic diseases, of which more than a quarter were directly related to obesity, and the risk of suicide were increased for this group. We did not, however, see an increased risk of mortality from injuries or external causes such as criminal acts. Read also: Childhood obesity: 5 prevention tips for parents In the second study, which was published in BMC Medicine, the same team of researchers looked at 12,507 children between the ages of six and 17 who were treated for obesity, and compared them with a group of 60,063 children from the general population who acted as controls. This time they found that after taking into account possibly influencing factors such as family history of anxiety or depression and socioeconomic status, being obese was linked to an increased risk of anxiety and depression in children and adolescents. Obese boys showed a 33 percent higher risk of anxiety and depression than boys from the general population, while obese girls had a 43 percent higher risk of the mental health conditions. The researchers say the findings highlight some of the health risks associated with childhood obesity and the need to prevent obesity in children and support those who are obese. Taken together our studies highlight the vulnerable situation that children with obesity are in, says Louise Lindberg, another of the study's authors. Anxiety and depression cause emotional and physiological stress and suffering and may also hinder obesity treatment. It is important that children with obesity are offered adequate and long-term treatment early in life to reduce these risks. It is deeply unethical that children with obesity do not receive any form of treatment in some regions in Sweden. Next stop was an ENT. A scan found a deviated septum, which is linked to recurrent sinus infections, but not the kind of cough Hannah was experiencing. The physician assistant who inspected Hannahs larynx heard wheezing and recommended that she return to a lung specialist for a bronchoscopy, a procedure that uses a fiber-optic camera that allows doctors to inspect the lungs and take tissue and fluid samples. : Public transport including buses and metro rail services will be suspended on Sunday on account of the 'Janta Curfew' call by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as part of the country's fight against coronavirus. Following Modi's call, the State government also announced a series of restrictions including suspending metro rail services even as autorickshaws would stay off the roads. Southern Railway cancelled several inter-state trains besides restricting suburban EMU network to bare minimum. Normal life is expected to affected on Sunday as shops, restaurants and major retail outlets will all remain closed following the government's order. Political parties including the opposition DMK welcomed prime minister Modi's call for 'janta curfew' as part of the country's fight against coronavirus. NDA constituent Pattali Makkal Katchi, Makkal Needhi Maiam Chief Kamal Haasan, Tamil Superstar Rajinikanth also extended their support to the curfew. Chief Minister K Palaniswami said government buses would not operate and appealed to private bus operators to also extend their support to the government's initiative by taking part in the public curfew. Centre of Indian Trade Unions said autorickshaws would not operate while sale of liquor through government owned TASMAC (Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation) outlets would not take place. The state government said milk supply would not get affected at the state run AAVIN retail outlets. State milk and dairy development minister K T Rajenthra Bhalaji said considering the welfare of the people, milk will be available at all these outlets on Sunday. Palaniswami said due to curfew, people should avoid panic buying and do not believe in rumours being spread about coronavirus in social media. The Greater Chennai Corporation announced closure of beaches including the famous Marina and Elliotts in the city. Oil marketing companies including IndianOil, BPCL, and HPCL said they would remain open between 7am and 9pm on March 22 in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. "The fuel pumps would operate with skeletal services to offer minimal fueling services to support only unavoidable and essential transportation on emergencies," they said in a statement. The Chennai police nabbed two people for allegedly spreading false information in social media that 12 people have died due to coronavirus. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The political virus that became virulent in Karnataka last year and brought down the HD Kumaraswamy government has travelled to Madhya Pradesh and laid low the Congress government led by Kamal Nath. The Kamal Nath government had no option but to resign as it became clear that it had no majority in the Assembly after 22 of the Congress partys MLAs who owe allegiance to Jyotiraditya Scindia resigned. The Speaker had to finally accept their resignations after some dillydallying. Kamal Nath had tried to hold on to power by delaying a floor test with help from the Speaker who adjourned the House till March 26 citing the coronavirus threat, but there was no doubt about the governments loss of majority. With the Supreme Court rejecting the ruse and ordering a floor test on Friday, Kamal Nath had to call it quits without even going to the House. None of the players in the fortnight long drama in Madhya Pradesh can claim political morality and propriety. The BJPs strategy of inducing the resignation of a sizeable number of Congress MLAs so that a government loses its majority in the Assembly amounts to undermining the anti-defection law. It is also a violation of the popular mandate expressed through elections. Elections, which are basic to democracy, lose their sanctity and become meaningless if their results are stolen by the losing party. Governors and Speakers do not play their right constitutional roles and act with bias and partisanship by favouring one or the other party. Madhya Pradesh Governor Lalji Tandon and Speaker NP Prajapati conducted themselves as representatives of their respective parties, the BJP and the Congress, as in fact some others in their positions did in their states. Parties, their leaders and their representatives do not realise the damage they are doing to democracy by putting their narrow interests above those of a principled polity. In the case of Madhya Pradesh, the Congress has to take some blame for its loss of power, because there was no effective central leadership to deal with the crisis. The leadership was also responsible for Scindias defection, which triggered the whole chain of events. The legislators who resigned are defectors who betrayed their voters for money, power or other considerations. We live in dangerous times and it is strange how the politics of the day reflects the world of the virus that is sweeping across the country now. The MLAs had to be quarantined and isolated after they were infected, and the virus is still in the air. It may have moved to Rajasthan, though the Ashok Gehlot government there is still asymptomatic. Will Congress be able to find a vaccine in time against this virus? New York City is one of the best places where Latinos thrive by having their small businesses. According to a recently published article, there are more than 300 small businesses in the city that are owned by Latinos. Amid the global health crisis that the United States is facing today, Latinos who own small businesses like restaurants continue to serve the New Yorkers through take out or delivery service. This routine is something that Sonia Henriquez, a Latina who owns a restaurant, did not expect to happen. Before Pres. Trump released an order there were still people coming to her restaurant but this time people come and have the food take out. Restaurants are one of the essential businesses that are allowed to open however there are limitations this time due to the effect brought by COVID-19. They are not allowed anymore to dine-in customers but they are allowed to operate only for take-out services. To make sure that her restaurant is clean and away from bacteria and viruses, she assured and commanded her staff to clean the highly-touched surfaces in every 15 to 20 minutes. like tables, chairs, floors, and doorknobs. Her restaurant was open 24 hours every day before COVID-19 hit the city. However, this time there some changes because they do deliveries until 11 in the evening. According to Henriquez that most of her clients go to her restaurant to eat their breakfast or to have late-night bite midnight. But these normal routines in her restaurant significantly changed when the local officials mandated to practice social distancing, avoid mass gatherings of more than 50, and as much as possible is to work at home. Despite this, she still continues to serve New Yorkers by extending her service trough take-out services. She said that the change in her restaurant was very dramatic. Though hr restaurant is still open until 11 in the evening to do food deliveries and she assured that she will heed to the government for any changes once she is told. In an interview with her, she said that Latino business owners like her are much willing to help the government to flatten the curve. If they will be told to close, then they will close. If they need to cut back their hours of operation if they will do it also. One of the reasons that why she still open her restaurant even if people in New York are limited to go outside because she wants to earn even just a little to pay the rent, water, electricity, and most of all her employees. The Latino culture clearly manifests in her action by valuing family, her employees. Moreover, Arelia Taveras, New York State Latino Restaurant Bar and Lounge Association executive director, said that Henriquez is very lucky to have her restaurant still open even amid the global health crisis. There are more than 300 owned businesses in New York and most of them decided to close and shut down because they do not have delivery systems or they cannot compete with big companies or big food chains. To address this problem of Latino small business owners, Espaillat who represents the Washington Heights wrote a letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo to have a 90-day moratorium for small businesses in the state during the months of March, April, and May. While waiting for the response from the Governor's office, the New York State Latino Restaurant Bar and Lounge Association joined other local business owners by sending a notice "we cannot pay our rent this time." This pressing issue caught the attention of the Mayor's office and even offered zero-interest loans to certain small businesses. However, this was not supported by Espaillat because small businesses will be overwhelmed once they go back to their operation three months after and with loans plus their debts. Despite this and the future problems that Latino owners will be facing due to COVID-19 they still continue to serve people in New York by having a system of food delivery and opening their restaurant 24 hours a day to make sure that there is enough food for people living in New York City. Read related articles: In this image released by Ouwehands Zoo Rhenen on Wednesday March 18, 2020, a pair of polar bear twins make their public debut at a Dutch zoo, without public because of coronavirus restrictions. The two youngsters cautiously ventured out of the maternity den at the Ouwehands Zoo on Wednesday morning, sticking close to their mother, called Freedom, as they explored their outdoor enclosure for the first time since they were born on Nov. 27. (Tonny Hoevers, Ouwehands Zoo Rhenen via AP) As the coronavirus tightened its grip a fortnight ago, a Department of Health official told me: We have to conduct the battle on two fronts the battle against the disease and the battle for public confidence. This morning the battle against the disease is hard fought and ongoing. But the battle for public confidence is hanging by a thread. The clinical elements of the strategy are slowly but surely moving through the gears. There are reports of friction within the Governments Cobra emergency meetings between Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove. Hancock, who has been winning plaudits for his cool handling of the crisis, believes the Department of Health should be leading the response Despite the hysteria from armchair epidemiologists and professors with degrees from the University of Wikipedia, the transition from mitigation of the virus to suppression is being guided methodically by the latest Government modelling. The package of support for key workers is being put in place. The most ambitious programme of state intervention in British history has been unveiled for the wider economy. Yet these herculean efforts are being undermined daily by the implosion of the Governments communication operation. Gove, who is respected across Whitehall for his managerial skills, thinks the Cabinet Office should be pulling the various strands of Government together and co-ordinating the official line The country needs a clear message, and theyre just not getting it, one alarmed Tory MP told me. This week I had a group of farmers ring me up to say, Whats going to happen to our farms when the Government locks us in our homes. And I said, What do you mean, no ones going to lock you up in your home. And they said, Thats what theyre going to do to people in London. And well be next. Over the past seven days as NHS workers battled to contain the disease, supermarket workers fought to keep the shelves stocked and manufacturers embarked on a desperate race to expand the nations reserve of life-saving ventilators a wave of contradictory, confusing and inaccurate messages has been allowed to rampage across the UKs airwaves. First there was the publication of a report by Imperial College London that seemed to suggest Ministers had completely lost control of the crisis. The UK only realised in the last few days that its coronavirus strategy would likely result in hundreds of thousands of deaths, screamed Buzzfeed, the online news website. The most damaging farrago centred on the phantom Lockdown of London. This rumour, which originated in Downing Street, was left to run unchecked for an entire 24-hour news cycle. Frith Street in Soho, London is pictured above virtually empty In truth, new data had revealed it was time to step up self-isolation and social-distancing measures, just as the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Scientific Adviser had warned. Asked if the Government had delayed too long in shifting to a suppression strategy, Professor Neil Ferguson one of the reports lead authors replied: Overall I think we have got the timing about right. But by that point the spectre of 200,000 deaths was stalking the news bulletins. Then there was confusion over the likely duration of the national coronavirus campaign. We can turn the tide within the next 12 weeks, proclaimed Boris bullishly on Thursday. But less than 24 hours later the Governments Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) announced social-distancing measures would need to be in place for at least most of a year. As an exasperated senior Tory MP complained: Boris said itll take 12 weeks. Sage said till the end of the year. Now Ive just been asked to sign off emergency powers for the Government that could be in place for 30 months. What the hells going on here? A recent poll found 49 per cent of the country believe Ministers are doing a good job of managing the crisis, with only 35 per cent responding negatively. Boris personally gets a similar thumbs-up. But there are warning signs But the most damaging farrago centred on the phantom Lockdown of London. This rumour, which originated in Downing Street, was left to run unchecked for an entire 24-hour news cycle. Transport was to be shut down. Police and Army units would be deployed to impose a curfew. The capital would be quarantined from the rest of the nation for months on end. Eventually, the Civil Services most seasoned communications operator, James Slack, was given licence to kill the story. But, again, the damage had been done. Shop shelves were frantically being picked clean, people were packing for the country and a mood of panic had settled over the metropolis. Speaking to Government insiders last week, several explanations were given for this communications coronashambles. One is the impact of the virus itself. To avoid contamination, the Whitehall machine is gradually being dispersed. Lots of people are having to isolate and work from home, one official said. People are literally all over the place. Its slowing down responses and making it hard to co-ordinate messages. Another explanation is growing tensions within the Cabinet. There are reports of friction within the Governments Cobra emergency meetings between Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove. Hancock, who has been winning plaudits for his cool handling of the crisis, believes the Department of Health should be leading the response. Gove, who is respected across Whitehall for his managerial skills, thinks the Cabinet Office should be pulling the various strands of Government together and co-ordinating the official line. There is also concern among a number of Ministers at the role being played by the Prime Ministers senior aide, Dominic Cummings. A master of the dark political arts, Cummings is seen to be behind a number of selective briefings to favoured journalists that have cut across the official line and caused confusion about the overall message. But one of the biggest issues has been uncertainty over how to craft messages that many people simply dont want to hear. A big difficulty is trying to manage peoples irrational fear with their rational fear, said one Minister. Take the mixed messaging with pubs and restaurants. Yes, we knew it was ridiculous to be seen to be telling people not to go to them while simultaneously letting them stay open. But whats been happening is that every time weve come out with a hard line theres been a spike in panic buying. So weve had to proceed very carefully with all this. But the problem is that excessive caution has resulted in excessive confusion. And if that confusion doesnt end, its going to start costing lives. Up to now the Government has just about managed to get away with it. Outside of the Twitter ghetto, the PMs unflappable style remains popular. A recent poll found 49 per cent of the country believe Ministers are doing a good job of managing the crisis, with only 35 per cent responding negatively. Boris personally gets a similar thumbs-up. But there are warning signs. In London, which is currently bearing the brunt of the viruss onslaught, support for Boriss handling slumps from 47 per cent to 34 per cent. The expectation within Government is that the infection rate and death toll are about to get a lot worse before the suppression measures start to take hold. And there are increasing doubts about the publics willingness to put up with an extended period of enforced confinement. In the next few weeks the picture will darken. The NHS and other services will be placed under immense strain. As will the resilience of the British people, and the confidence they have in their Government and its strategy. They need to be able to put their faith in what they are being told by Boris and his Ministers. But over the past seven days there has been precious little evidence that faith will be repaid. The chaos and confusion of the past week has to end. And it has to end now. Parliament on Thursday adopted the report of the Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs that recommended the Imposition of Restrictions Bill, 2020 to be passed under a certificate of urgency. Voting to adopt the bill was characterized by drama and political innuendoes, with the Minority members drifting out of the Chamber one after the other as the First Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei-Wusu, who was in the chair, readied to put the issue to a vote. The legislative vote in Parliament was earlier labelled conscious issue by the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, meaning that MPs did not have to vote along party lines. But the atmosphere in the Chamber changed and pitted members against each other in the face of sustained opposition and criticism from the Minority MPs, who insisted on a head count in a desperate attempt to prevent the report from being adopted. The Chairman of the committee, Ben Abdallah Banda, who is also the MP for Offinso South Constituency, led the move for adoption, which the House finally approved by a voice vote. It came as President Akufo-Addo directed the suspension of all public and social gatherings in the country in a bid to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Committee Chairman The Committee Chairman, Ben Abdallah Banda, apprised the House that the committee considered the urgency of the bill in the light of the monumental threats posed by the COVID-19 and the urgent need to pass the bill to give effect to the temporary measures announced by President Akufo-Addo to combat the pandemic. He, therefore, made the recommendation for the House to adopt and pass the Imposition of Restrictions Bill, 2020 in accordance with the relevant provisions of Article 106 of the 1992 Constitution. Minority Concerns But the Ranking Member of the committee, Dr. Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, rose to oppose it, arguing that the bill was too broad and not narrowly specific on the coronavirus pandemic, as it gives unfettered powers to the President that could be subject to abuse. He pointed to some laws of the country that could address the mischief the government was seeking to cure with the bill, and mentioned the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851) and the Ghana Immigration Act. The Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, on his part, raised concern about the absence of checks and balances in the bill, and concluded that there was a perceived unconstitutionality in the bill. Majority response However, it was explained that the bill is purposed to be futuristic in order to provide a broad framework for the current and future emergencies. The Minister for the Interior, Ambrose Dery, said there was the need for a legal framework that would provide for expeditious intervention by the government in the face of the overwhelming threat and the fluidity of the COVID-19 which has impacted not only on public health, but also on all sectors and facets of the country. His argument was supported by the MP for Ablekuma East, Ursula Owusu-Ekufful. By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House Filmmaker Ekta Kapoor was trolled online for her safe hands campaign video for prevention against coronavirus. Her followers on Instagram pointed out that there was no point in washing hands while still wearing jewellery on ones hands. Accepting union minister Smriti Iranis challenge, Ekta had written: Here it is @smritiiraniofficial I accept ur #safehandschallenge I nominate @anitahassanandani @rheakapoor @imouniroy @divyankatripathidahiya !p.s due my ring bracelet filled hands it takes me a whole minute plus an additional layer of sanitizer!n dont mind d hair its my quarantine look. The effort clearly didnt go down well with netizens, many of whom pointed out that micro organisms would still be on her jewellery. One wrote: There is no point to wear so much of jewellery.... your jewellery will still carry lot of micro infecting agents. Another said: May be you should take off some rings, bracelets. temporary. They wont run away. Saves time, sanitizer, water and money...even if you have enough to throw away. A third person said: What the hell she is doing at least remove your bracelets and then wash your hands. Looks so weird. However, a number of TV actors not only accepted her challenge but also applauded her effort. Actors Mouni Roy and Divyanka Tripathi accepted her challenge while Rohit Roy, Huma Qureshi and Smriti Irani appreciated her effort. Also read: Kanika Kapoor says she didnt hide in bathroom to skip screening: There was no advisory by govt to self-quarantine Ekta joins many other Bollywood celebrities who are doing their bit to spread awareness and advocate social distancing to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Actors Amitabh Bachchan, Alia Bhatt, Ayushmann Khurrana, Ajay Devgn, Madhuri Dixit, Varun Dhawan, among others, were part of a video to ask fans to follow all the World Health Organisation guidelines to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Shah Rukh Khan, too, released a video asking all to follow WHO rules. Follow @htshowbiz for more As a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of coronavirus, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday announced that all press conferences of the Delhi government will be conducted digitally. "All Delhi government press conferences will be conducted digitally now. It's very important that all journalists, who are at the forefront of our battle against Corona, also protect themselves as they are in a high exposure environment," Kejriwal tweeted. Kejriwal on Friday shared Delhi's preparedness to tackle coronavirus with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "Shared with PM Narendra Modi and Chief Ministers of other states Delhi's preparedness to tackle coronavirus over video conference. We are all in this together as one team," the Chief Minister tweeted. Modi on Friday interacted with Chief Ministers of all states via video conferencing to discuss measures to combat COVID-19 spread. On Thursday Prime Minister Modi laid emphasis on individual "determination" and "restraint through social distancing" in fighting the global pandemic and called for "Janata curfew" on March 22 to prepare for challenges of the future. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) WATERFORD, MI Shopping malls and playgrounds in Oakland County are closed following the death of a resident from COVID-19. Oakland County Executive David Coulter announced the additional closings during a press conference the morning of Saturday, March 21, at the L. Brooks Patterson Building Conference Center at 2100 Pontiac Lake Road in Waterford. The Oakland County Health Division reported Friday that a 50-year-old man died at Ascension Macomb-Oakland hospital from the disease and that he had underlying health conditions. The man is the fourth to die in the state. This could be any of us, Coulter said. This could be your husband or brother or coworker. This only magnifies, to me, the seriousness of where we are in this pandemic. We need to do all measures that we can to contain the spread of this virus and make sure the number of people who contract the virus and ultimately the number of fatalities is as low as we can possibly make it. To this end, Coulter and Public Health Officer Leigh-Anne Stafford announced three new countywide public health orders the closing of shopping malls, the closing of indoor and outdoor playground equipment, and the screening of all people coming into childcare facilities. The malls in Oakland County are now ordered closed as of noon today, Coulter said. Im grateful a number of malls have already taken this step. This is a prudent measure that we should take. I hope that gives you the message that unnecessary public activities should now cease. Coulter said it is still OK for people to go outside, saying its not a bad idea to visit large parks so long as social distancing of six feet or more is maintained. But when it comes to the playground equipment, we cant guarantee that that equipment is not infected by other children who have played on it, he said. You shouldnt play on playground equipment at this time, and that is now an order. Coulter added hes concerned about area hospitals being overwhelmed, saying beds need to be preserved for those with acute symptoms. Officials are looking into creating facilities for people who have tested positive for coronavirus but dont need hospitalization to be housed and receive medical care away from their loved ones, Coulter said. If people ask if were overreacting, I would say absolutely not, he continued. Theres going to be a new normal for us right now. What we want the normal to be is a healthcare system that is not overwhelmed and fewer deaths in Oakland County. Public Health Officer Stafford added the county is also ordering all people entering a childcare facility to be screened. This means theyll have their temperatures taken, will be questioned about recent travel history, and will be asked if they have symptoms or have been in contact with someone with symptoms, Stafford said. This is the time that we really need to pay attention to our families and our communities that are the most vulnerable, Stafford said. These are the people that will experience the most serious illness. The most vulnerable include those 60 or older and those with diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, chronic respiratory disease, COPD, and emphysema, Stafford said. Thomas Hardesty, of the Oakland County Emergency Operations Center, said hospitals and medical facilities in the county are looking for donations of masks, face shields, gloves, surgical gowns, and non-touch thermometers. Those who have these items and would like to contribute them can call 248-858-5300 or email oakeoc@oakgov.com. Arrangements can be made for officials to pick up the items and starting at 9 a.m. Monday, people can drop them off at the Oakland County Farmers Market at 2350 Pontiac Lake Road in Waterford Township. Regarding the three new orders, Sheriff Michael J. Bouchard said they are intended to give people ways to protect themselves, families, and customers. If they receive a report of a violation, theyll respond, document it, advise the proprietor, notify the Health Department, then clear the scene, he said. Were not arresting people for violations of these orders, Bouchard said. Were not putting up barricades. This is not what you see in the movies. This is a way where the whole community, including law enforcement, is working together to remind people of orders that are in place and encourage them for their own safety and that of their employees to comply. The sheriff also said deputies are responding to all emergency calls. More minor, violent-less crimes are being responded to by deputies over the phone to reduce person-to-person contact. Coulter said that as of 9:45 a.m. Saturday, there are 229 positive cases of COVID-19 in Oakland County. Of those, 42 are hospitalized. The age range of those infected is 7 months to 92 years, the average age being 54 and the median age is 27, he said. I know that this can feel like a very helpless time for our residents, Coulter said, but I believe exactly the opposite is true. The power is in our hands individually to slow the spread of COVID-19. If we all take important, restrictive actions now, everyone we dont infect is another person that doesnt have to get tested, another person that doesnt have to go to the hospital, and another who potentially could die of this virus. Limiting your exposure in the public is critical at this time. Such practices are voluntary as of now, but Coulter cautioned discussions are underway with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and statewide officials. I believe more steps will be coming and need to be coming to make this requirement for all of our people, Coulter said. If you dont have to leave your home, dont, he said. Nonessential activity should cease as of today. Oakland Countys population is an estimated 1,259,200, making it the second most populous county in the state after bordering Wayne County. For coronavirus updates, people can text OAKGOV to 28748. PREVENTION TIPS Michigans State Emergency Operations Center is coordinating state-government resources and the response to the coronavirus spread. It has shared the following tips: What you can do to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases: Always cover coughs or sneezes with a tissue or sleeve. Stay home if you are sick and advise others to do the same. Avoid close contact with people who are sick. Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands. Wash your hands often with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds. Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol, if soap and warm water are not available. Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces(computers, keyboards, desks, etc.). Its not too late to get your flu shot! While the influenza vaccine does not protect against COVID-19 infection, it can help keep you healthy during the flu season. Related: Fourth Michigan coronavirus death reported Complete coverage at mlive.com/coronavirus Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer not enacting martial law; National Guard activated for coronavirus aid Friday, March 20: Latest developments on coronavirus in Michigan One of VP Mike Pences staffers has tested positive for coronavirus Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at midnight on Friday posted a voice message on Twitter to address the public and give guidelines on measures against the rapidly spreading coronavirus, Ahval reports. The message, which urges people to stay at home and be mindful of the elderly and chronically ill, will be delivered to Turkish citizens through robocalls, especially to those over the age of 50, state-run Anadolu agency reported. There have been nine deaths due to the COVID-19 coronavirus in Turkey to date, with the number of confirmed cases rising to 670, Turkish Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca announced late on Friday night. Turkey tested 3,656 suspected patients for coronavirus on Friday, according to Fahrettin Koca, who said he expected the number of coronavirus diagnoses to reach a peak in two to three weeks. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Amid the threat that the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis could last for weeks or months, Mayor Bill de Blasio is calling for an extension of the U.S. Census period. From the very beginning, New York City has been fighting COVID-19 with one hand tied behind our back, said de Blasio. "It is more important than ever for New Yorkers to participate in the 2020 Census to ensure we have the resources that are rightfully ours for the next decade. De Blasio asked in a letter to U.S. Census Bureau Director Dr. Steven Dillingham that census activities that involve door-knocking -- which will involve tens of thousands of enumerators interacting with potentially millions of New Yorkers in person at their homes -- be postponed to summertime or later. For the first time, people can fill out the census via phone, mail or online. According to a City Hall press release, because this is the first census to feature the ability to self-respond to the census online and via phone, the Bureaus door-knocking operation has been expected to be widespread and robust. The U.S. Census Bureau began mailing postcards to every household in the country last Thursday with information, including a unique Census I.D., for residents to use to fill out their census online, Julie Menin, director of the New York City Census, announced last week. Currently, the deadline for filing the census remotely is July 31, 2020, but de Blasio is asking to extend that deadline to Sept. 30, 2020. The U.S. Census Bureau must acknowledge that the COVID-19 pandemic is a barrier to an accurate count and that a lack of a timeline adjustment may result in an inaccurate or incomplete count, said Julie Menin, Director of NYC Census 2020. The census determines New York Citys fair share of federal health care funding, and every New Yorker must be given a chance to be counted. RELATED COVERAGE: Coronavirus: What are the rules for Staten Islanders during state-ordered pause? State eyes CSI, St. Johns University as sites for temporary health facilities during coronavirus outbreak 2 Staten Islanders die from coronavirus-related illness at SIUH Coughs, sneezes, surfaces: Heres how coronavirus is and isnt spread How the coronavirus hit Staten Island: A timeline of the pandemic in our borough Governor seeks to limit coronavirus impact on hospitals NYPD Commissioner: Cooperation, not closures, expected for ban on dining at restaurants and bars Tencent Meeting supports global users in working from home SHENZHEN, China, March 20, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Tencent Meeting, a cloud-based videoA meetingA application,A has played an active role in the battle against theA epidemic by launching an international version of the app. As of March 20, the international version has become available online in over 100 countries and regions around the world, including Malaysia, Singapore, India, Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong (SAR of China) and Macao (SAR of China), where users can search for VooV Meeting and download the application from App Store ! and Googl e Play. Tencent MeetingA makes it possible to host online conferences with up to 300 attendees at one timeA freeA of charge. Lori Wu, vice-president of Tencent Cloud, said, "With the mounting number of new COVID-19 cases outside of China, we look forward to providing our users in other countries and regions with the capabilities to work remotely. As we move forward, we plan to roll out the service across the world, in compliance with local regulations." Tencent Meeting, an audio and video conferencing application developed by Tencent Cloud, was released at the end of December 2019. Within two months of launch, the application had become one of the most widely used video conferencing applications in China with daily active users exceeding 10 million. At the end of January when COVID-19 broke out in China, Tencent Meeting made available the feature allowing online conferencing with up to 300 attendees at one time free of charge, to help fight the epidemic. During this period, a tremendous amount of organizations used Tencent Meeting as a tool for telecommuting, while educational institutions used the platform to handle their online remote teaching and training programs. To cater to the rapid growth in demand by users during the epidemic, Tencent Meeting expanded its computing resources daily and used the added resources to scale up capacity by adding over 1 million CPU cores to the network, withA a total addition of more than 100,000 CVM within eight days, setting a new record in China's cloud computing sector. In mid-March, the pace at which production is resuming and employees are returning to work has accelerated, with tens of thousands of companies and government agencies making Tencent Meeting part and parcel of their new work ethic. Signing in, bidding, conducting an interview, running a training class and other collaborative practices are all taking place in the cloud, signaling the emergence and strengthening of a new trend in how the workplace will function. In order to meet the growing needs of users in the cloud office, Tencent Meeting is continuously upgrading key functionalities and services, launching 14 updates within 40 days. Tencent Meeting will be continuously optimized to provide users worldwide with smooth, secure, and reliable cloud-based HD conferencing services that enable users to host or join meetings with ease. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1136191/1.jpg A Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-22 00:19:33|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close ISTANBUL, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Local authorities in Turkey have removed some benches in parks and streets, as many elderly in the country have continued to flock to parks, stores and bazaars despite the government call to stay indoors. "Apologizing to our uncles and aunts, we removed the benches in front of our old town hall and Mimar Sinan Bazaar," Hilmi Turkmen, the district mayor of Uskudar, one of the most crowded districts of Istanbul, said in a tweet on Friday. In Turkey's northwestern provinces of Edirne and Bursa, benches in squares were also demounted upon the orders of the municipalities. "If we do not take action, more negative results will likely come," said Mustafa Helvacioglu, mayor of the Kesan district in Edirne. "We tell them not to go out, but they don't listen," Helvacioglu was quoted as saying by the Haberturk online news portal. According to Istanbul municipality officials, many of those over 60 years old, with a discounted or free transportation card, continued to use public transportation over the last five days. "Our analyses show that people who are at risk of the pandemic are still widely using the city's public transport system," Ekrem Imamoglu, mayor of Istanbul, said on Twitter. "I want to warn them. Please avoid public transportation." Press reports said the municipality in the Central Anatolian province of Konya canceled the free public transportation cards of those who are over 65 years old. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier said that no citizen should leave home or contact anyone until the threat disappears, adding that the government would distribute medical masks and cologne to the elderlies free of charge. Meanwhile, on Friday, the Istanbul branch office of the Republican People's Party launched a campaign dubbed as "Protect your neighbors from coronavirus" aimed at providing food, medication and other things needed for people who are over 65. For Zeynep Saylan, a resident of capital Ankara, believes that many elderlies still could not perceive the threat very well. "Maybe we should try to explain the danger of the COVID-19 more explicitly," Saylan said. Turkey so far confirmed nine deaths from the COVID-19, as the total number of confirmed cases increased to 670. Gov. Tom Wolf could have never imagined the second year of his second term would involve navigating Pennsylvania through a pandemic. Just a few weeks ago, Wolf was focused on promoting his plan for diverting $204 million from the Horse Racing Development Fund to fund scholarships for students who attend one of the universities in the Pennsylvanias State System of Higher Education. But the coronavirus put a halt to that. Now that Pennsylvanias COVID-19 cases are approaching 200 and the state has seen its first coronavirus death, the Nellie Bly Scholarship proposal is one of many initiatives that Wolf had on his plate last month that now sit on the back burner. Instead, Wolf is juggling a variety of issues related to the virus. Hes closed public schools for two weeks. The governor directed businesses that arent life sustaining to close. He ordered restaurants and bars to stop dine in service. And hes been working with state officials and health care providers to be ready for a surge of patients as the virus is expected to spread across Pennsylvania. PennLive asked three former Pennsylvania governors Tom Ridge, Mark Schweiker and Ed Rendell about the balancing act a governor must perform to manage the crisis like ones they faced during their public service. They said sitting in the governors office at time of a crisis is challenging. Its demanding. It requires a lot of coordination. Theres a need to be smart about what you know and what you dont know. Theres a need to be clear in your communications with the public. And its important to convey calm and confidence that we will get through it. Former Pa. Gov. Tom Ridge waves to the crowd during the inauguration of Pa. Gov. Tom Wolf held outside the Capitol East Wing on Jan. 15, 2019. Joe Hermitt | jhermitt@pennlive.com Ridge, who went on to serve as U.S. Homeland Security secretary in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, led the effort to protect the homeland from a foreign threat. But in that case, the enemy was ISIS and not a virus. Unlike the 9/11 terrorist attacks that were unforeseen and so bruising to the national psyche, Ridge said there had been some forewarning about the coronavirus. But he said, The level of intensity Im not sure we appreciated. In times of a crisis, Ridge said you have to rely on experts. Weve got an incredible health delivery system in Pennsylvania so I wouldnt be a bit surprised if thered been outreach to them to get their perspectives, he said. There also are open lines of communications with other governors as well as a natural inclination to closely collaborate with Cabinet officers and legislators. Former Pa. Gov. Mark Schweiker, Michele Ridge and former Gov. Tom Ridge before the inauguration of Pa. Gov. Tom Wolf held outside the Capitol East Wing on Jan. 15, 2019. Joe Hermitt | jhermitt@pennlive.com Former Gov. Mark Schweiker had to act fast to coordinate efforts to rescue nine trapped miners from a life-or-death situation in 2002. At that time, he said he had to push aside the hundreds of other matters a governor deals with at one time to focus energy and attention to the challenge at hand. When talking to audiences about crisis management, Schweiker said, To some extent you could make the case that you are not paid to manage all 500 matters but to know when one of those 500 requires all your time and to be thoughtful and selective. With the mine rescue, he recalls using his power as governor to cut through red tape to get a compressor truck from West Virginia to Somerset County as far as possible to inject oxygen-rich air to the trapped miners. That required coordinating with West Virginias governor to have their state police and Pennsylvania State Police escort the truck to get it to the rescue site quickly. Given my single focus on working to save the miners or find the miners at that point, we needed an all-hands-on-deck mentality, he said. I will be helpful for the administration and Governor Wolf to make it clear to all that all hands are on deck as far as the units of government that can ameliorate the situation and to be reassuring to Pennsylvanians thats his outlook and thats his insistence. Rendell faced the difficulties associated with the financial fallout from the Great Recession in 2007-09, seeing the unemployment rate spike, furloughing state government employees, and draining all $755 million of the states Rainy Day Fund to keep the state afloat. He said theres no comparison to what Wolf is facing to the financial crisis he encountered. This is much harder, Rendell said. Its a health crisis and a safety crisis and a financial crisis rolled into one. In this instance, he said the first priority has to be on the health of its citizens. Thats the single most important thing, Rendell said. You want to do things that are necessary to preserve health to stop the virus as much as you can but certainly to flatten the curve. I think Governor Wolf has done a superb job in that request. Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell during a gubernatorial forum in Philadelphia, Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2018. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)AP That would be followed by helping small businesses and workers get back on their feet and then when the pandemic has passed, assessing the economic damage and looking at ways to help the state recover. Along the way, Rendell said communicating with the public daily is critical. Its important to share the latest information about the extent of the problem, what new strategies you are implementing to deal with it and the level of progress you are making. Just keep them informed. I think transparency is crucial and the information flow is crucial, he said. All three former governors commended Wolf for his handling thus far of the COVID-19 outbreak and expressed confidence that just as the state and nation emerged from the crises they faced, Pennsylvania will get through it. Ridge compared the current crisis to 9/11. Were in a better position psychologically and hopefully, emotionally to deal with this," Ridge said. "We certainly proved our resiliency after 9/11. We are a resilient country. And I go back to the notion, stay calm about this and smart about this. Well be fine. Jan Murphy may be reached at jmurphy@pennlive.com. Follow her on Twitter at @JanMurphy. Thanks for visiting PennLive. Quality local journalism has never been more important. We need your support. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work. More from PennLive How grocery stores in central Pa. are dealing with customers, shortages Coronavirus closings: Pennsylvanians seek clarity in what is considered life-sustaining businesses Who is Rachel Levine? Pa. health secretary offers calm, reassurance amid pandemic Many shopping malls in South Africa have implemented measures to control the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. As part of its steps to curb the spread, however, the South African government has placed a ban on gatherings of more than 100 people. As shopping malls often see thousands of people moving within a confined space over short periods, these areas pose a heightened risk for contraction of the virus. MyBroadband spoke to prominent malls in the country to hear what actions they were taking to ensure their facilities dont become hotspots for the virus. Mall of Africa None of the malls indicated an intention to close doors or shut down any stores on their premises. However, most have taken additional measures to improve cleaning and hygiene in line with guidelines put forward by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Melt Hamman, CEO of Attacq the majority owner of Mall of Africa said the company has implemented WHO-recommended sanitation measures across all its assets. To ensure compliance with recommended safety standards, Hamman met with national retailer tenants to discuss their responses to COVID-19. Service providers at the mall have been instructed to supply copies of their respective COVID-19 business continuity plans to ensure we have a line of sight of the measures they will implement to protect employees and customers, Hamman stated. The company has also postponed any marketing initiatives at its facilities that will attract more than 100 people. Additionally, internal protocols for cases where employees are suspected to be infected with the virus have been set. Other malls The Kolonnade Mall in Pretoria said it will keep the minimum level of operational staff and security in place to continue with the safe and practical operation of its facilities. It has taken precautionary measures to protect the health of its staff and said it was imperative that stores in the mall follow the guidelines set out by the WHO. Canal Walk CEO Gavin Wood said the Cape Town mall regards the health and safety of staff and customers as its top priority. We are being proactive and diligent in protecting our shoppers, tenants and employees, following the WHOs recommended preventative protocol, and keeping in continuous contact with the relevant local health authorities, Wood stated. Woodlands Boulevard in Pretoria East said it established a COVID-19 task team to implement the relevant guidelines and measures of the local health authorities and protocols as advised by the South African government. It has added detailed, visible communication throughout the mall which outlines preventative measures to safeguard against COVID-19 transmission. Multiple other malls in Gauteng have noted via social media that they have implemented improved hygiene control and cleaning measures. These include Rosebank Mall in Johannesburg and The Grove Mall in Pretoria. Cleaning protocols Canal Walk, Kolonnade, Mall of Africa, Rosebank Mall, The Grove Mall, and Woodlands Boulevard all said they have introduced improved cleaning processes. Our cleaning chemicals have been changed to alcohol-based products with an alcohol concentration of 70% Kollonade stated. Woodlands Boulevard said its enhanced cleaning and disinfecting protocols will pay particular attention to high-touch zones, back-of-house, and delivery areas. Canal Walk noted it has taken similar precautions. We have introduced additional precautionary measures for the safety of guests and enhanced cleaning procedures, including increasing our cleaning staff and using disinfectants that have the prescribed alcohol content, Wood said. Hand sanitiser Most of the malls have said that suitable hand sanitisers will be made available to customers. Mall of Africa has installed hand sanitisers in shared spaces, while Rosebank Mall said it would provide additional hand sanitising equipment. Both Kolonnade and Woodlands Boulevard told MyBroadband they plan to install hand sanitisers at all mall entrances, customer care kiosks. Hand sanitising agents will be installed in all public restrooms as an added measure, Kolonnade said. Sanitising wipes, hand sanitiser at cash desks and tills are vital additions to stores, it noted. Wood said that Canal Walk has added extra sanitiser stations throughout the mall to assist with hygiene practices. He encouraged customers to wash their hands often and thoroughly or to use an alcohol-based sanitiser. The mall has advised its staff to wash their hands regularly, especially in cases where they often handle money. Now read: Gautrain stations exposed to coronavirus Moscow (AFP) - Top Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny on Thursday urged Russians to boycott a vote on constitutional changes backed by President Vladimir Putin, slamming plans to hold it during the pandemic. Putin, who has been in power for 20 years, has backed amendments that would allow him to get around a limit on presidential terms and potentially stay in office until 2036. The amendments will be put to a national vote on April 22, although this may be postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, authorities say. On Thursday, Navalny told supporters in a video post to "make fun of" the vote, arguing it would be "completely falsified" and the constitutional amendments would have no legal force in any case. The 43-year-old lawyer added that holding the vote during the coronavirus pandemic would be a "crime against pensioners" because older people are most vulnerable to complications. Navalny accused the 67-year-old Kremlin strongman of seeking to hoodwink Russians with amendments allowing him to dial his term-limit clock back to zero after changing the constitution. "Everyone knows that one can serve a first term as president only once --- the same way you can only have one first love, one first baby and one first heart attack," Navalny said. Instead of taking part in the April 22 vote, Russians should participate in regional elections in September and vote the ruling United Russia party out of power, Navalny said. A number of Kremlin-friendly candidates lost their seats in local elections last September after Navalny instructed his supporters to vote strategically. Putin had repeatedly denied he had any intention of staying on as president after 2024 and supported an amendment limiting the presidency to two terms. But then last week he suddenly backed a last-minute amendment by the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova, under which presidential terms served before constitutional changes will not count towards the limit. New Delhi: Ayodhya District administration on Saturday (March 21, 2020) issued an advisory amid COVID-19 outbreak stating that the outsiders will be prohibited in Ayodhya till April 2, 2020. The step has been taken in order to control the public gathering in the Ram Navami festivals starting from March 25. The Ram Janmotsav is on April 2. The administration also said that the booking at hotels, dharamshalas, lodges in Ayodhya district have been restricted till April 2, 2020. The devotees and visitors coming from outside will be returned from the Ayodhya district border itself. The administration also restricted the crowd gathering at all temple shrines in Ayodhya district to prevent infection of coronavirus. There has also been a ban on the group bathing in Saryu river till April 2. The Union Health Ministry released a statement on Saturday evening that said the total number of COVID-19 cases reported in the country has touched 283. The first COVID-19 patient in Nigeria has been discharged after testing negative, Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-olu declared. The governor took to his Twitter handle on Friday evening to reveal this with pictures of the Italian, the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Akin Abayomi, and other health officials. As the COVID-19 Incident Commander for Lagos State, I am glad to inform you that the index case the Italian gentleman is now negative, Mr Sanwo-olu tweeted. Through a combined effort of Lagos State, Ogun State and Federal Health Authorities, we were able to limit the transmission of the virus to a single contact. This involved aggressive contact tracing and containment strategies. However, we now have several new imported cases and we hope we can apply the same contact tracing strategy along with social distancing to slow down the outbreak which may be brewing from these new cases. The index patient consented to donate one unit of white blood (otherwise called plasma) before he was discharged today (Friday). The blood plasma is rich in anti-body proteins that target the COVID-19 virus. The white blood plasma is frozen in our bio-bank and will be useful in handling new cases. The blood plasma will be beneficial for the treatment of new patients in the absence of a defined therapeutic drug for COVID-19 yet. The index patient appreciated the exceptional care and support given to him by the staff of the mainland Infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba, all members of the EOC and Lagos State Government The EOC team was extremely happy to bid the patient farewell. Once again, we like to convey the enthusiasm of our team to do the very best possible in handling incidents of Coronavirus. Nigeria has confirmed 12 cases of COVID-19 so far, out of which two have now fully recovered and have been discharged. No death has been recorded in Nigeria from the disease which has killed over 10,000 globally. Civil society group United Against Hate has urged people in Delhi to protest against the National Register of Citizens, National Population Register and amended citizenship law at 5 pm on Sunday from their balconies, windows, and gates. New Delhi: On Sunday, when people will thank health care providers and emergency responders, many in the National Capital will clap, ring bells, and raise slogans from their homes demanding the government to rescind its decision to update the NPR in view of the new coronavirus pandemic. Click here to follow LIVE updates on coronavirus outbreak Civil society group United Against Hate has urged people to protest against the National Register of Citizens, National Population Register and amended citizenship law at 5 pm on Sunday from their balconies, windows, and gates. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged people to remain inside their homes under a self-imposed curfew on Sunday and thank health care providers and emergency responders who are on the frontline combating the pandemic by clapping and ringing bells. "First we will thank our sisters and brothers who are at ground zero taking care of the infected, supplying essentials...and then we will hold anti-NRC, anti-CAA placards in our balconies and windows and demand the government to roll back its decision to start the NPR exercise from 1 April," Nadeem Khan from United Against Hate said. Khan said the government's priority should be countering the virus threat and "we are all in this together". He said while the prime minister has urged people to remain inside their homes from 7 am to 9 pm on Sunday, "we urge him to rehabilitate people who have lost their homes in the riots in northeast Delhi and are putting up in relief camps". Irkan Chaudhary, who will also be a part of the protest, complained that around 1,200 people who lost their homes in the riots have been living in unhygienic conditions at a shelter in Mustafabad. "The prime minister has asked people to remain inside their homes. What about those whose houses have been burnt and looted? They have no option but to live in cramped, unhygienic relief camps where social distancing goes for a toss and the risk of infection is high," he said. Parwez Alam, a social worker, said the entire world is battling a health emergency and the government should focus on it first. "I welcome the prime minister's initiative and will follow the 'Janta Curfew'. But we will also protest against NPR and CAA by beating utensils," he said. A Philadelphia court on Saturday ordered that Walter Ogrod, a man on death row for a 1988 killing that authorities now say he likely did not commit, be taken to an outside hospital for testing and treatment of coronavirus symptoms that he developed this month. Ogrod, 55, has had symptoms of infection since March 11, when he was taken to a prison infirmary with a cough and fever. He is housed at the State Correctional Institution Phoenix in Montgomery County. Until Saturday the county was home to Pennsylvanias highest concentration of coronavirus cases. The Philadelphia District Attorneys Office supported the emergency motion. Earlier this month, the office asked a judge to vacate Ogrods conviction; the next scheduled court date on the matter has been postponed at least until June. READ MORE: Philly DA said death-row inmate is likely innocent. Now his case is delayed by the coronavirus. Ogrods attorney, James Rollins, said in a statement that he was grateful for the order, issued by the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas in response to an emergency request filed by Ogrods legal team last week. To make an innocent man remain even one extra day on death row is unjust. To leave him on death row showing symptoms of COVID-19 without adequate medical treatment would be unconscionable," Rollins said. Ogrod was convicted in 1996 of murdering 4-year-old Barbara Jean Horn, who lived across the street from him at the time in the citys Castor section. But over time, holes emerged in the case. In court documents filed earlier this month, DA Larry Krasners office said Ogrod was convicted based on flawed, hidden, or tainted evidence, including a confession prosecutors believe was coerced by two homicide detectives, and testimony from jailhouse informants whom prosecutors no longer find credible. Ogrod was taken to a prison infirmary with a cough, fever, and difficulty breathing. He was placed in isolation, according to the transfer request filed by his attorneys, after which his fever spiked to 106 degrees. He returned to his cell on Monday after his fever relented, but according to the filing, he is still coughing and having difficulty breathing, which Mr. Ogrod reports leaves him feeling like he is breathing through a wet sponge. Staff writer Samantha Melamed contributed to this article. Pune, India -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/20/2020 -- A recently Fortune Business Insights published a research report titled, "Rubber Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis, By Type (Natural, and Synthetic), By Application (Tire, Non-Tire Automotive, Footwear, Industrial Goods, and Others), and Regional Forecast, 2019-2026." List of best rubber companies operating in the rubber market research report; - ARLANXEO - Kumho Petrochemical - Petrochina - TSRC Corporation - LG Chem - Versalis - Dow Chemicals - Von Bundit - Sri Trang Agro-Industry - Southland Holding Lonza - Vietnam Rubber Group - Tradewinds Plantation Berhad - Tong Thai Rubber Group - Ravasco - Halcyon Agri - Unitex Rubber Request a Sample PDF Copy of Rubber Market Report: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/request-sample-pdf/rubber-market-101612 The Global Rubber Market size is anticipated to gain impetus from a rise in the demand from tire and non-tire automotive parts sector. This information is published in a report by The report further mentions that the Rubber Market size is projected to reach USD 60.38 billion by 2026, thereby exhibiting a CAGR of 5.1% during the forecast period. However, the market was valued at USD 40.71 billion in 2018. Furthermore, rubber consists of numerous crucial properties, namely, high flexibility, insulation property, and weather resistance. Hence, it is used in manufacturing non-flat belts, elevators, and transmission belts. The report provides a detailed analysis of the market growth rate and size for all the significant segments. It further offers qualitative and quantitative insights into the industry, such as Rubber Market trends, growth drivers, hindrances, competitive landscape, and challenges. It also aids in highlighting and analyzing the most important business strategies of renowned market players. Combined with this, it presents accurate information regarding market value, size, and volume. Synthetic Rubber Segment to Dominate Owing to its Various Beneficial Properties In terms of type, the Rubber Market is categorized into synthetic and natural. Amongst these, synthetic rubber is exhibiting higher demand due to various applications, namely, industrial goods, footwear, and tire. It is because they possess superior properties, such as toughness, elasticity, high head resistance, and abrasion resistance. All these vital properties have resulted in the rapid inclination of consumers towards synthetic rubber from natural rubber. They are used widely for commercial purposes, especially for manufacturing tires. It is considered to be very cost-effective as compared to natural rubber. North America to Dominate: Increasing Demand from Automotive and Footwear Industries to Boost Growth The Rubber Market is geographically divided into Europe, the Middle East and Africa, North America, Latin America, and Asia Pacific. Out of these regions, North America is projected to dominate the market during the forecast period. It would occur due to the increasing demand for rubber from footwear and automotive applications. Additionally, the ongoing technological advancements and a rise in the applications in textile and chemical industry would contribute to the Rubber Market growth in this region. Browse Complete Report details with Table of Content and Figures: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/industry-reports/rubber-market-101612 The Middle East and Africa and Latin America are anticipated to showcase lower growth as compared to the other regions. It is likely to happen due to reduced production of tires, expensive nature of synthetic rubber, and increasing dependency on the imports of natural rubber. Thailand Expands Export Market for Lower-priced Rubber in India In May 2019, Thailand's Ministry of Commerce delegated to penetrate the export market for cost-effective rubber to India which has over a billion population and all types of consumers from several sectors. A prominent tire manufacturer called Emerald Resilient Tire Co., based in Chennai, has promised to purchase the Thai rubber products by the end of this year. According to the officials of Emerald, the company will buy those rubber products to utilize them as raw materials for the tire industry. The Thai authorities have also recommended suitable suppliers for the company. The executive officials of the Department of International Trade Promotion and the Minister of Acting Commerce recently visited India to expand the export market for Thai goods. Policyholders can easily pay less on their car insurance premiums if they choose to bundle multiple types of insurance policies., said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company. Compare-autoinsurance.org has launched a new blog post that explains how drivers can save car insurance money if they bundle multiple policies. For more info and free quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.org/why-bundle-car-insurance-plans/ To lower the price of car insurance, drivers can bundle multiple policies. Usually, when a driver is purchasing any type of insurance he will be asked if he wants to buy another insurance policy. For example, a policyholder can add two or more cars on the insurance policy. Policyholders that bundle multiple policies will gain the following benefits: Bundling multiple-policies is convenient. Drivers can easily manage more products that are insured on a single policy. Policyholders will only have to call at a single phone number if there are different insurance problems. For example, if both the house and car got damaged in a fire, the insured will have to call a single company in order to get more info if they want to file a claim. Also, drivers will deal with less paperwork and will pay the insurance bill in a single place. Obtain large discounts. The insurance companies will try to ensure that their customers remain loyal for a long time. For this reason, the insurers offer generous discounts to those policyholders that purchase more than one type of insurance. In some cases, the offered discounts can be as high as 20% of the total policy costs. Drivers will have to deal with one insurance agent. Working with one insurance company means that the policyholder will have to work with a single insurance agent. This insurance agent will know more about the policyholders insurance needs and he will be capable to advise him properly. Also, the insurance agent will help the policyholder look for savings and he will recommend additional insurance policies. For additional info, money-saving tips and free car insurance quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.org/ Compare-autoinsurance.org is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc. GREENWICH Theres been an uptick in the number of calls from residents seeking help as the coronavirus outbreak intensifies, according to the town Department of Human Services. Im expecting that will be increasing as the days go on, said Alan Barry, commissioner of town human services. Eight calls came in on Wednesday from town resident who asked about receiving support from the agency, which provides financial assistance for rent, utilities, medical and childcare bills. The usual number is about two calls per day, said Barry. I think these are people that are working hourly jobs or part-time jobs that have lost the positions, he said. And our families now are beginning to see the changes that are occurring financially, and so, before unemployment kicks in, theyre looking for short-term assistance, he said. Thats what were here for. The calls came from residents who work at restaurants, which turned to takeout only, and other businesses that also had to close to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, Barry said. A Greenwich man reached out to request services for his wife, who lost her business as a part-time yoga instructor. That was income that was helping to support them, said Barry. The department connects Greenwich residents to resources related to food, shelter, health care, employment and personal safety, with a goal of self-sufficiency. Clients must meet established eligibility standards. In November, the department expanded the reach of the program to make more Greenwich residents available for short-term and emergency financial assistance. Under the previous rule, an individual who earned less than $24,980 and a family of four earning below $51,500 qualified for the service. The previous standards served people who earned 200 percent of the federal poverty level, or below. The new guidelines cover individuals and families earning 300 percent of the federal poverty measure, or below. Under the new adjustment, individuals earning less than $37,470 and a family of four earning below $77,250, now qualify. Department leaders invite the Greenwich public to contact human services workers if theyre in need of assistance. While the department leaders have calculated enough funding to assist the clients for now, that may change if the agency becomes overwhelmed, said Barry. I will be monitoring this on a day-by-day basis with my staff, he said. And if we are beginning to see that the funding is getting to the point where we may have some difficulties meeting the needs, then Ill certainly make a request to the town for an increase. The Department of Human Services is continuing to work during the coronavirus outbreak. The departments employees are rotating, with half working from home and half from Town Hall at any given time, said Barry. To help residents in need during this crisis, the Board of Estimate & Taxation recently provided $100,000 of seed money as the Greenwich United Way launched a coronavirus emergency fund. To make a donation, visit greenwichunitedway.org/. A Greenwich foundation, which Barry would not name, recently contacted him to find a way to help people struggling in town. It recently donated more than $100,000 to a number of charities in town. If there are other foundations out there or other people who want to donate, the agencies could really use it, said Barry. There are going to be a lot of people that are going to be in some pretty serious financial hardships, he said. And that were going do our best to meet them. But my concern is getting overwhelmed over the next few weeks. tatiana.flowers@thehour.com (Photo : Screengrab from XBOX Official Facebook page) Xbox Live is down again for the second time this week and Microsoft just released an update on the Xbox Live Status website to address the ongoing issues. Read Also: Fortnite Deadpool Challenge 'Embrace the Rainbow' and Stuffied Unicorn Locations; Plus Do the Soccer Challenge the Easy Way! Some services are radically failing for a ton of players The Xbox Live Core services have been working well which includes important things like, creating new accounts on Xbox Live, recovering in a different device and even trying to, manage the accounts created. Another issue that's been inadequate is the Social and Gaming tabs where users are now unable to join Xbox Live members to play online games. Plus, in the Original Story, servers on the Xbox Live seems to be having a lot of technical difficulties as players on Xbox One have been struggling to access online service worldwide. The solution is still pending Xbox has reassured its players that developers and engineers are working through this unfortunate situation as they tell users to stay tuned and thanked them for their patience. It is still unclear when this will be resolved. There's been a spike of reports that the Online gaming and various Xbox Live functionality have been having issues as well. Though Microsoft has stated on Twitter that, "We are aware that users are experiencing issues with matchmaking, Party Chat, and Looking For Groups. Our engineers are working on fixing this now. We will keep you posted here when we have updates!" We are aware that users are experiencing issues with matchmaking, Party Chat, and Looking For Groups. Our engineers are working on fixing this now. We will keep you posted here when we have updates! Xbox Support (@XboxSupport) March 20, 2020 On top of this, there have been reports saying that the Down Detector is close to 2000 in just the United Kingdom alone. The outage map also says that the problems are mainly hitting users in the UK. At the moment, there is still no word on what is actually going on with the Xbox Live online servers right now. Read Also: BATTLE OF THE CONSOLES! Microsoft Xbox Series X Versus Sony's Playstation 5 This is the second time this week that Xbox Live went down. According to The Verge, it went through a similar situation on Mar. 16. Xbox Live went down with issues like players experiencing errors when trying to log in, or matchmaking has been difficult for some users. Plus, the social and gaming part of the platform had some difficulties as well. These issues began to happen on the console around 5:10 PM ET. Xbox Support on Twitter made an announcement stating that they are well aware of the issues and that "Players should once again be able to sign in and access Xbox Live services normally." After the said tweet from Xbox Support, Microsoft's Xbox Live status page showed that their services had been restored after being offline for two straight hours on Sunday evening. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Weather Alert ...Gusty Winds on Lake Champlain and along the Lake Shore... Gusty winds are occurring on Lake Champlain this morning with speeds in excess of 50 mph being measured at Colchester Reef and will continue through mid morning. These winds are likely occurring along the Champlain islands as well as the adjacent lake shore of Vermont and could result in some damage to trees or isolated power outages. By David Lawder WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Friday said it was soliciting public comments on lifting additional tariffs on Chinese imports that could help the United States battle the coronavirus pandemic, showing some flexibility in its trade war against Beijing. The U.S. Trade Representative's (USTR) office said it would allow members of the public, businesses and government agencies "to submit comments if they believe further modifications to the (Section) 301 tariffs may be necessary" It said the move was part of an effort "to keep current on developments in our national fight against the coronavirus pandemic." The USTR has in recent weeks granted "Section 301" tariff exclusions for certain medical products from China, including medical masks, examination gloves and antiseptic wipes. But as it battles to try to keep the U.S. economy from collapsing amid quarantine orders and halted commerce, the Trump administration so far has been resistant to broader removals of tariffs imposed over the past 20 months on some $370 billion worth of Chinese imports annually, despite calls from industry that this would be an instant tax cut worth tens of billions of dollars. Trump considers his trade pressure on China among the biggest achievements of his presidency and a top argument for re-election in November. The trade war has hit a vast range of Chinese goods with tariffs, from machinery and chemical feedstocks to semiconductors, printed circuit board and consumer goods. In return, China has hit U.S. farm and other products with retaliatory tariffs, but has pledged to vastly increase purchases of these goods under a "Phase 1" trade deal that took effect Feb. 15. USTR did not specify a deadline for submitting comments to a federal website https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=USTR-2020-0014. "This comment process does not replace the current exclusion process and supplements that process," USTR said. "Submissions are limited to comments on products subject to the tariff actions and relevant to the medical response to the coronavirus." (Reporting by David Lawder. Editing by Gerry Doyle) I hate war. It's a terrible evil. It disturbs me to see my sons play with the toy guns people give them as gifts. I sneak them into the bin and throw out the foam bullets. I was so relieved when they stopped playing those horrible 'first-person shooter' games on PlayStation, like 'Call of Duty'. For whatever reason they shifted to 'Minecraft' and 'Fifa', thank God. Honestly, if there were more Quaker meeting houses, you'd find me there on a regular basis. Pacifism is a holy state. Yet, when my teenage son declared an interest in joining the Army, I was delighted. I instantly entertained the fantasy of seeing him in uniform and me, the immensely proud mother. My would-be-soldier is only young, and for all kinds of reasons it might never happen, but my pleasure at the prospect put me to thinking: if I hate war so much, why would I want him to be a soldier? It's because of the qualities we associate with the Defence Forces - discipline, loyalty, bravery and leadership. Irrespective of what job any of my children end up doing, I want them to have all these. Just look at the crisis in which we now find ourselves and the sudden realisation that retail workers, bus drivers and road hauliers are key workers. It requires genuine bravery to expose oneself to the coronavirus to keep essential services going. Some people are born leaders, but they can be made too. What better place to learn than in the Army? There are many who argue Ireland doesn't need an army or navy or air corps - that specific functions like sea rescue could be carried out by a civil force. But that's a very narrow perspective, particularly in an Irish context. When I think of an Irish soldier, I don't see them in the tiny world of a nation-state border defence role; but abroad in the world, peacekeeping and protecting civilian populations against malevolent and murderous forces. The goodness and greatness of the Irish Army is not that it seeks to exercise the power of the State for the benefit of the State, but for the good of all people, across the world. The Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces, Vice-Admiral Mark Mellett, laid out these values in a thoughtful speech at Fordham University in New York just a few weeks ago. Arguing for the multilateral philosophy behind our peacekeeping activity, he quoted John Donne's famous poem that "no man is an island". It includes the line that articulates my deep sadness of war: "Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind." As humans and nation states, we're all connected to each other. That's why our Navy was pulling migrants from the Mediterranean Sea. If we abandon our moral obligation to the rest of the world, we lose something of ourselves. Mellett made an elegant case for the modern soldier who is no longer a warrior but a humanitarian and scholar; who understands the perspective of others as a diplomat. The vice-admiral has lived this out himself. He served in Afghanistan - one of the riskiest environments in the world - with Nato in 2004. He used his diplomatic skills to bring together the numerous official bodies entrusted with running democratic elections that resulted in the election of the former president, Hamid Karzai. If anything encapsulates the transition from the combatant to the diplomat, it's this. He also said interesting things about leadership. In another part of my life, I've an interest in business culture and the importance of creating a culture of challenge and learning in organisations. Mellett put it nicely when he said a good leader makes other leaders. He observed that egotism, either from the personal or national perspective, is a threat to leadership. To cut oneself off from others is to cut off resources and ideas. Egotists can't learn or innovate if they can't be humble enough to learn from others. As an example, he said that the determination to innovate enabled the Defence Forces' medical teams responding to the Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone to be equipped with contactless thermometers before such technology was available on the market. I had no idea we were in Sierra Leone at all. Perhaps that in itself speaks volumes. Many of us are aware, in the abstract, that the Defence Forces have been badly neglected. The low wages simply wouldn't be accepted in any other part of the public service. Possibly it is precisely because they are so loyal they don't threaten or lobby as aggressively as others do for improvements. The booming economy has seen people leave in droves for private sector jobs. It's very sad and reduces our capability to do good in the world. The coronavirus crisis has shown that the public service is capable of doing extraordinary things when faced with an existential threat. I hope when it's all over that we'll reward those whom we've discovered to be so crucial to survival. These are genuinely testing times, and I found inspiration in the chief's statement of the values of the Defence Forces: "The moral courage to do the right thing, the physical courage to persevere despite danger and adversity, integrity that encompasses honesty, sincerity and reliability, loyalty to comrades and the State, and selflessness which puts duty before ourselves." We all need the spirit of the Defence Forces now. A member of the House of Representatives, Rep. Chukwuma Umeoji, has suggested that inmates of correctional centres across the country be set free, while prisons are converted to quarantine centres for patients who have tested positive for the Coronavirus. The lawmaker representing Aguata Federal Constituency of Anambra State, on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, gave the suggestion via a press statement on Friday. He said: The impact of the virus, will be worse on large number of people in an enclosure. Nigerian prisons are overcrowded and notorious for poor hygiene standards. The spread of the virus under such environment, will be rapid and deadly. As a matter of urgency, the Government should carry out proper documentation of prisoners to ensure their return to prison after the end of the epidemic. Read Also: Ogboni Cult Leader Offers To Find Solution To Coronavirus By Appeasing The Gods All prisoners Nationwide should be released and all prison facilities converted to Isolation Centres for the treatment of Corona Virus across the country. A delay will lead to severe number of casualties. The virus must be taken seriously and preventive measures, deployed to enable the nation survive the pandemic, he warned. The government should open borders to enable essential health equipment to come into the country, especially chemicals used in pharmaceutical sector, he stated, as he also advised that There should be a travel ban restriction plan in place for interstate movements. The Telangana government argued that there was no risk of Covid-19 spread in a hall like this. (DC representational image) Hyderabad: The Telangana government indefinitely postponed the SSC examinations that were to be held during March 23-30 following a rebuke from the Telangana High Court on Friday. However, exams on March 21 will take place as scheduled. The court direction came over concerns over the spread of the coronavirus. What is the point of holding the SSC examinations when the entire world is in panic? asked a division bench of chief justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and Justice A Abhishek Reddy. The court was hearing a petition seeking postponement of the exams due to the Covid-19 threat. All educational institutions across the country are closed. CBSE and ICSE have postponed examinations. The Prime Minister yesterday appealed to people to follow a Janata Curfew on Sunday. When the PM appeals to people to refrain from going out, how can the state hold SSC exams? This court has even advised lawyers not to congregate in the court halls, the chief justice said. In Karimnagar, seven positive Covid-19 cases were identified. If god forbid, one child is infected, what will be the fate of the children and parents? If suppose a couple has only one child and that child is infected with the coronavirus, what will be the fate of the couple? Advocate general B S Prasad said the state government has taken precautionary measures, like providing sanitisers and masks in the examination halls to ensure the safety of students. Students who had a cough and cold would be segregated. The exams are underway, he said. At this stage, if examinations are postponed, it will have a psychological impact on students and their careers will be hit, he said. In response, the chief justice said: I am sorry; I cannot imagine 30 students being confined for two hours in the examination hall. If one child falls ill, then the lives of all 30 are at stake and I will not allow this to happen. If a single child tests positive, leave the career and psychological impact, it will be the end for the child, he said. Overwhelmed doctors will be given new guidelines to help them make life-or-death decisions about coronavirus victims if they run out of intensive care beds or ventilators. The criteria expected to be issued on Saturday are a recognition that hospitals are likely to be faced with terrible choices in the weeks to come and cannot be expected to make them alone. They will cover patients with conditions including respiratory disease, cancer, heart disease and diabetes, although it is unclear whether they will also set an age limit above which treatment could be withdrawn. Potentially, it could also see a patient already on a ventilator removed to allow a someone with a greater chance of survival to take his or her place. We have never been in a situation like this before, a source told The Independent, there is going to be huge pressure on beds and critical care, so we are addressing that issue. It is understood the guidelines have been put together in little more than a week. We have had to move very quickly, the source added. The move follows terrible scenes in the worst-hit parts of Italy, branded an apocalypse as older and sicker patients are rejected for treatment in favour of the younger and fitter with a warning to the UK to get ready. A Sky News report revealed wards rammed with people in terrible distress gasping for air and clutching at their chests, as tubes pumped oxygen into their lungs. Filmed in Bergamo, in Lombardy, it actually featured an emergency arrivals ward because the intensive care unit was full. Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Show all 20 1 /20 Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Top: Nabi Younes market, Mosul Bottom: Charles Bridge, Prague Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Grand Mosque, Mecca Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Sagrada Familia, Barcelona Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Nabi Younes market, Mosul Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Basra Grand Mosque, Iraq Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Charles Bridge, Prague Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Taj Mahal hotel, India Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Dubai Mall, UAE Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Beirut March, Lebanon Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Gateway of India, Mumbai Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Cairo University, Egypt Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Amman Citadel, Jordan Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Beirut March, Lebanon Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Cairo, Egypt Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Cairo University, Egypt Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Victoria Memorial, India Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Amman Citadel, Jordan Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Amman Citadel, Jordan Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Sidon, Lebanon Reuters With doctors lacking machines to ventilate all those gasping for air, the Italian College of Anesthesia, Analgesia, Resuscitation and Intensive Care has drawn up guidelines for who receives treatment. Maintaining the criterion of first come, first served would amount to a decision to exclude late-arriving patients from access to intensive care, it warned. In the UK, the low number of ventilators is already a huge controversy. The NHS has just 4,000 forcing the government to put out a desperate appeal for manufacturers to urgently build more. Furthermore, the UK has just 6.6 intensive care beds per 100,000 people half the number in Italy and about a fifth of the total in Germany. The Intensive Care Society had pushed for national protocols to be drawn up and the Royal College of Anaesthetists shared the concern that the issue was being ducked. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) announced on Friday that it would release guidelines to cover the management of patients in critical care, plus those undergoing kidney dialysis and cancer treatment. More will follow that are likely to include patients receiving radiotherapy and those with rheumatoid arthritis. However, The Independent understands NICE will go further by explicitly setting out the comorbidity the level of sickness criteria that will decide access to intensive care and ventilators, and potentially age. Underlining the speed of the move, it comes only a few days after Boris Johnson suggested such fateful choices would be left to local hospitals. The prime minister told the Commons the issue was one that is not unknown to the medical profession, and we will be relying on the clinical decisions of those medical professionals. Afterwards, Dr Andrew Murrison, a consultant and a Conservative MP, who had asked Mr Johnson the question, urged him to be open, honest and candid with public as we advance through this crisis. The best way for the government to take the public with it is to explain any actions it may need to take in order to get the publics consent and compliance, he told The Independent. In Italy, Antonio Pesenti, coordinator of Lombardy's intensive care crisis unit, urged the UK not make the mistake of being unprepared for such a speed and such a huge number of patients. The professor revealed the regions intensive care patients had skyrocketed from just one on 22 February to 1,800 now. Setting out Britains grim future if social distancing measures fail, he said: Any health system will be overwhelmed by the mass of sick people in one or two days. For months, Biden advisers had said they just needed enough cash to compete, and all the way through the end of February, Mr. Biden was racing to conserve that cash. He spent only $13.1 million last month less than the billionaire Michael R. Bloomberg was spending on average per day. During the same period, Mr. Sanders spent more than twice as much on digital and television ads alone as Mr. Biden spent on his entire campaign operation his payroll, his ads, his consultants, his events. In fact, Mr. Biden spent the least money in February of the seven candidates who had qualified to be on the debate stage. For the duration of the campaign, Mr. Biden ranks as only the sixth-biggest spender in the Democratic field as of the end of February. The weak fund-raising in Mr. Bidens first 10 months as a candidate he had only $12.1 million in the bank entering March could be a concern for Democrats headed into a general election against President Trumps campaign operation, which has steadily banked money for the last three years. Mr. Trumps campaign alone not counting his joint operations with the Republican National Committee reported more than $94 million still in his treasury at the end of February, more than Mr. Biden had raised in total since he entered the race in April 2019. In addition, the coronavirus pandemic has put on hold indefinitely Mr. Bidens ability to host in-person fund-raisers and is widely expected to sharply slow the pace of small online donations, as well. Agartala, March 21 : As a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Tripura government on Saturday urged the Centre to seal the India-Bangladesh border to prevent any entry of foreigners from the neighbouring country, though Dhaka is yet to suspend its international flight operations, said Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb. Deb, who also holds the health department, told the media that foreign nationals can arrive in Bangladesh and then they can enter into India through various means causing spread of the infection into the bordering and other states. "I have asked the Chief Secretary to take up with the Union Home Ministry to seal the Bangladesh borders to prevent entry of any foreigners into India. Bangladesh government yet to stop operations of foreign flights into the country," the Chief Minister said after interacting with the officials of all eight districts and reviewed the preparedness to stop spreading COVID-19. "One person died in Bangladesh and 15 others infected by the virus. Tripura's 80 per cent borders are with Bangladesh. We are concerned about this," he added. Five Indian states -- West Bengal (2216 km), Tripura (856 km), Meghalaya (443 km), Mizoram (318 km) and Assam ( 263 km)-- shares 4,096-km border with Bangladesh. Deb, who also urged the people to observe the "Janata Curfew" on Sunday, called by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said : "I would urge the people to stay inside home even after 9 p.m. on Sunday night." "Our government is giving its best to raise awareness on the preventive measures," Deb said adding that the state government has constituted state and district level task force to monitor the situation round-the-clock and take apt steps accordingly. In a move to reduce the risk of spreading the novel coronavirus within its jails, Manitoba is suspending sentences for people who have been serving time on weekends. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/3/2020 (662 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. In a move to reduce the risk of spreading the novel coronavirus within its jails, Manitoba is suspending sentences for people who have been serving time on weekends. The justice department confirmed the decision in response to a Free Press inquiry, saying correctional staff are also assessing new admissions to provincial jails based on public-health warnings. A department spokesperson didn't respond Friday to questions about how many inmates could be released due to COVID-19 concerns. The statement said the province already has the ability to review release dates for all inmates and does so considering risks to public safety. "All inmates who are released would have a release plan completed with their correctional case manager to ensure there are appropriate supports in place. These cases will be reviewed carefully with quality release planning for each inmate under consideration. We have suspended intermittent sentences to reduce the risks and the number of people entering correctional facilities," the Manitoba Justice statement reads, in part. Ontario and Nova Scotia have already announced intermittent sentences would be suspended in those provinces. Intermittent sentences allow inmates to work during the week and typically serve their time incrementally on weekends. They're only imposed in cases where the jail sentence is three months or shorter. A spokesperson for Manitoba Justice couldn't say how many people are currently serving intermittent sentences. Provincial jails are still staffed by correctional officers and are still allowing visitors, with no physical contact between them and inmates. The jails have increased cleaning in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and have plans in place to isolate individuals when required, the department said. A spokesperson didn't answer an inquiry about whether any correctional centre inmate or staff member has been tested for COVID-19. "The health and safety of our staff and people in our custody is our primary consideration. We are also assessing the situation and will continue to adjust our operations and response should the situation change. In the meantime, we continue to take direction from our medical and public health experts," the statement said. Prisoners advocates have been calling on levels of government across Canada to release low-risk inmates to reduce risks of contracting the virus. The Elizabeth Fry Society of Canada issued an open letter this week, calling for prisoner populations to be immediately reduced. Several local groups, including Bar None Winnipeg and Millennium for All, co-signed the letter. Gerri Wiebe, president of the Criminal Defence Lawyers Association of Manitoba, said she was in favour of the move to suspend intermittent sentences. She said other decisions to release inmates should be made in the public interest. Jen Zoratti | Next A weekly look towards a post-pandemic future delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "If people are a danger to society, then they have to be detained in spite of the risks, I suppose, but I would expect that there are a lot of people in custody for matters that do not make them a danger to society," Wiebe said. "The reality is that our correctional institutions are already, for the most part, at or over capacity on a regular basis, and even at capacity, inmates are in very close quarters," she said. "The ability to quarantine or socially distance or appropriately separate is very, very limited." Meanwhile, local defence lawyers have been advised not to enter the Winnipeg Remand Centre for their own health and safety, if they don't have information about the health of the person they're visiting. Wiebe said correctional staff are providing increased telephone access, so inmates can speak to their lawyers, and lawyers are still appearing in bail court to talk to their clients via video while most court sittings are postponed. katie.may@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @thatkatiemay China reported no domestically transmitted coronavirus cases for the third consecutive day on Saturday, even as seven more fatalities were confirmed from the virus' epicentre of Hubei Province, taking the death toll in the country to 3,255. The coronavirus death toll has gone up to 11,397 with more than 275,427 cases reported in over 160 countries and territories, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Italy has overtaken China as the worst-hit with over over 4,000 deaths reported so far. China's National Health Commission (NHC) said on Saturday that no new domestically transmitted cases of COVID-19 were reported on the Chinese mainland for the third day in a row on Friday. On Friday, seven deaths and 36 new suspected cases were reported on the mainland, with all the deaths reported from the virus' epicentre Hubei Province and its capital Wuhan, it said. The overall confirmed cases on the mainland have reached 81,008 by the end of Friday, which included 3,255 deaths, 6,013 patients still undergoing treatment, 71,740 patients who have been discharged after recovery, the NHC said. The commission said that 106 people were still suspected of being infected with the virus. The NHC said 41 new confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported on the Chinese mainland on Friday from the people arriving from abroad, taking the total number of imported cases to 269. While reporting about a steady increase in imported cases, the NHC did not specify whether the infected persons were foreigners or Chinese nationals returning from abroad. China has imposed strict quarantine measures for all those returning from other countries. Of the imported cases on Friday, 14 were reported in Beijing, nine in Shanghai, seven in the Guangdong Province and four in the Fujian Province. Provinces of Zhejiang, Shandong and Shaanxi each reported two cases and Sichuan reported one. By the end of Friday, 256 confirmed cases including four deaths had been reported in Hong Kong, 17 confirmed cases in Macao and 135 in Taiwan including two deaths, the NHC said. As the center of the virus continues to shift to the West, the rate of infection has been slowing for weeks in China. In the US, a total of 230 people have died due to the fast-spreading coronavirus pandemic. The number of confirmed cases has jumped to over 18,000, an increase of over 10,000 in less than 50 hours. The World Health Organization on Friday lauded China's success in controlling the outbreak in Wuhan, where the virus first emerged in December. "Wuhan provides hope for the rest of the world that even the most severe situation can be turned around," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual conference in Geneva. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi has praised Bollywood actor Kartik Aaryan for his efforts to spread awareness among his fans amid the Coronavirus outbreak. Taking to Twitter, PM Modi wrote, The young actors have something to say...Its time to be 'Zyada Savdhan' and do 'Corona ka Punchnama'! #IndiaFightsCorona (sic)." Bollywoods heartthrob Kartik, who is know for his monologues, took to the social media platform to share an advisory on social distancing in his signature style. Urging people to take the pandemic seriously, Kartik wrote, #CoronaStopKaroNa My Appeal in my Style...Social Distancing is the only solution, yet (sic). In the clip, he has requested people to follow the advisory issued by the Government and stay indoor as much as they can. Celebrites from the Indian film faternity have joined hands to support PM Modi's call to observe Janata Curfew on Sunday, March 22, in the wake of the COVID-19. Soon after the announcement was made on Thursday, B-town stars took to social media to show their support. Shah Rukh Khan wrote, "It's imp 2 reduce social interaction 2 minimum. Self Quarantine. The idea of #JanataCurfew on Sunday is a means to this end & we should continue this concept at a personal level as much as we can & more. We need to slow down time' to arrest the virus spread. Be safe & healthy all." We must all do our bit and support the officials doing so much for us. #WarAgainstVirus @mybmc pic.twitter.com/TDLpVhtr1F Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) March 20, 2020 Kamal Hassan tweeted, "I stand in full solidarity with our Prime Minister's call for #JantaCurfew. In this extraordinary situation, we have to take extraordinary measures. It's a disaster that has befallen on us and by staying united and indoors, we can Stay Safe. I call upon my fans,my friends and my people in support of the cause on 22nd March Sunday, 7am to 9pm #JantaCurfew" I stand in full solidarity with our Prime Ministers call for #JantaCurfew. In this extraordinary situation, we have to take extraordinary measures. Its a disaster that has befallen on us and by staying united and indoors, we can Stay Safe. (1/2) Kamal Haasan (@ikamalhaasan) March 20, 2020 Urging fans to follow the guidelines, Bollywoods dhak dhak girl Madhuri Dixit Nene said, "It's time to understand our social responsibility & follow the guidelines. Let's show gratitude to all the people who have been working round the clock for us by observing the #JantaCurfew on 22nd March. Do your part. Stay safe to keep others safe (sic)." It's time to understand our social responsibility & follow the guidelines. Let's show gratitude to all the people who have been working round the clock for us by observing the #JantaCurfew on 22nd March. Do your part. Stay safe to keep others safe. Madhuri Dixit Nene (@MadhuriDixit) March 20, 2020 Here are some other celebs who tweeted in support of Janata Curfew: Request everyone to stay home and adhere to the #JantaCurfew on the 22nd of March from 7am to 9pm. Lets all fight this together! @narendramodi #IndiaFightsCorona Ayushmann Khurrana (@ayushmannk) March 19, 2020 #JantaCurfew is a bold yet important initiative by our Honourable PM, which is a self-inflicted quarantine on Sunday, March 22 from 7 AM to 9 PM. It is a very measured and sensible way to fight this pandemic by not creating panic yet acknowledging the gravity of the situation. https://t.co/rXANVvhBSO Sidharth Malhotra (@SidMalhotra) March 19, 2020 I will take part in the #jantacurfew on March 22 nd and at 5 in the evening will show my support to our selfless heroes fighting this virus. This is a time to be one and practise #SocialDistancing. Lets follow our prime ministers appeal. #BeSafe https://t.co/V9jAqfT7a2 Varun Dhawan (@Varun_dvn) March 19, 2020 Follow @News18Movies for more By PTI KOLKATA: The West Bengal government on Saturday ordered all restaurants, bars, pubs, nightclubs, amusement parks, museums and zoos to remain shut till March 31 as a precautionary measure in wake of the coronavirus pandemic, a senior official said. The order, which aims to prevent all non-essential social gatherings, comes into effect on Sunday morning, he said. The directive also applies to massage parlours and hookah bars, the official said, adding that strict action would be taken in case of any violation. "In order to further check non-essential social gatherings which lead to spread of the virus from infected persons to healthy persons we have ordered the shutdown," the official said. ALSO READ | Migrant workers being sent back without proper screening: Mamata slams railways Three persons, with travel history to the UK, have tested positive for the coronavirus in West Bengal. The ongoing class 12 state board examinations in West Bengal have been postponed till April 15 as a precautionary measure in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the higher education department announced on Saturday. In view of the prevailing situation, the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education has been asked to postpone the examinations which are yet to be held, till April 15, education minister Partha Chatterjee told a press meet. As per the directive, the examinations scheduled to be held on March 23, March 25 and March 27 will now be held after April 15. The minister said the higher education department will take the decision about conducting the examinations after reviewing the situation as per the advisory of the health department. ALSO READ | Coronavirus outbreak: Mamata to chair all-party meeting on Monday The class 12 state board examinations began on March 13. The CBSE and the CISCE have already postponed all scheduled examinations. Chatterjee said that the government has received several complaints that some of the private schools have not followed the state's advisory to suspend internal examinations and warned them of action if the decision is not complied with. PARIS, March 21 (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron threatened to close France's border with Britain on Friday if Prime Minister Boris Johnson failed to take more stringent measures to contain the coronavirus outbreak, a French newspaper reported. On Friday evening, Johnson ordered pubs, restaurants, theatres, cinemas and gyms to shut their doors to slow the accelerating spread of the disease, days after other European countries put their citizens on lockdown. French newspaper Liberation, citing sources in Macron's office, said Johnson's decision came after the French leader gave him an ultimatum on Friday morning, threatening an entry ban on any traveller from the UK if there were no new measures. "We had to clearly threaten him to make him finally budge," the report quoted an Elysee official as saying. Contacted by Reuters, Macron's office declined to comment. Johnson's office had no immediate comment on the report. The British government has said it is acting on the guidance of its scientific advisers as it steps up efforts to limit the outbreak. Macron ordered stringent restrictions on people's movement in France on Monday. Restaurants, bars and schools have been shut nationwide and people ordered to stay at home other than to buy groceries, travel to work, exercise or for medical care. Macron also pushed for European Union member states to close the bloc's external borders earlier this week. The report echoed comments Macron's prime minister, Edouard Philippe, made in an interview on Tuesday. "If neighbouring countries, Britain for instance, stayed for too long in a situation without taking these measures, then we would find it hard to accept on our soil British nationals who would have been moving freely in their own country," Philippe said. Britain left the EU on Feb. 1 but remains in a free-movement area with the bloc until the end of the year. (Reporting by Michel Rose; Additional reporting by James Davey in London; Editing by Daniel Wallis) A family wear protective face masks while carrying luggage at the Ronald Reagan Airport in Arlington, Virginia ANY bailout of airlines in the US should require carriers to limit ancillary fees including baggage and flight change charges, the well-regarded Brookings Institution think-tank in Washington DC has argued. It also contends that any direct financial assistance should trigger a limit on airline stock buybacks that funnel profits to shareholders. Both European and US carriers have raised the prospect that the airline industry might only survive the current crisis with substantial state aid injections. If strings such as those proposed by the Brookings Institution were attached to such bailouts in Europe, it might dramatically alter the DNA of low-cost carriers like Ryanair and Easyjet if they sought help - and also have a major impact on other airlines across the region, from Aer Lingus to Lufthansa. Airlines have grounded large parts of their fleets in response to a slump in travel demand because of the spread of the coronavirus and border restrictions imposed by countries all over the world. Following the 2001 New York terror attacks, there was limited state aid given to European carriers. It included 55m in emergency aid given by France to its airlines, a 125m bridging loan from the Belgian government to Sabena, and 650m given to Swissair. This time around, given the growth in scale and importance of the aviation industry over the past two decades, and the more damaging impact on the sector the coronavirus is having, any bailouts would almost certainly have to be of a very different and vastly bigger nature. Analysts at the Brookings Institution said in a report that airlines in the US should be bailed out, but on taxpayers' terms. "Aviation is essential infrastructure, creating untold benefits for the entire economy," they said. They added that following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, US airlines received $15bn (14bn) in loans and grants from the government - equivalent to about $21bn today. While airlines' financial positions were still depressed a year later, the sector eventually rebounded. Without federal financial backing, the analysts said it was difficult to know how bad the situation could have been. From a global point of view, airlines returned to profit in 2006 after 9/11. They argued that in the current environment, the US government could "negotiate from a position of strength". US carriers have called for a $50bn bailout, comprising $25bn in grants and $25bn in low-interest loans. They also want tax relief in the form of a return in $4bn in taxes already paid. "Airlines, shippers and airports essentially want free insurance, either through grants or low-cost loans," the analysts at the Brookings Institution said. "If the government offers support, federal leaders have a responsibility to extract concessions on the behalf of taxpayers who foot the bill." Some US politicians and unions are also pushing for bailout rules that would ensure any funds made available are not used for CEO compensation, or for share buybacks. The Brookings Institution has argued that airline bailouts in the US should: - Include input from customer rights groups to represent taxpayers; - Comprise loans and not grants; - Result in a moratorium on share buybacks; - Limit the ancillary fees that airlines can charge; - Force airlines to create a benefit pool for workers for the next crisis. Ryanair generated 2.43bn from the ancillaries in its 2019 financial year. That included revenue from the sale of items and services ranging from beverages to travel insurance. That was a 21pc increase on the previous financial year, and the figure represented about 32pc of the airline's total 7.7bn in revenue. If any European bailout conditions include more stringent rules around ancillary charges or buybacks, it could have a notable impact on future airline profitability and their attractiveness to investors. Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history; for poetry expresses the universal, and history only the particular. Aristotle Poetry speaks for all and touches our hearts. The poignant art of expression is celebrated worldwide on March 21 as World Poetry Day. Poetry goes on to show that despite the divisions and disparities, much of what we feel and experience is similar and so is our relation with the nature. On this day every year, poets are honoured, attempts are made at reviving oral traditions and promoting the art of reading and writing poetry. History The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) decided to celebrate World Poetry Day annually on March 21 during its 30th General Conference in Paris in 1999. It was earlier celebrated in many places in October, which continued even after the UNESCOs 1999 session. Some countries still celebrate poetry day on October 15, on the birthday of Roman poet Virgil who is famous for his epic poem Aeneid. Significance Most of the UN member nations now observe this day to converge the art of poetry with other creative art forms like theatre, painting and dancing. Efforts are also made to increase the visibility of poetry in the media. According to the UN, this day is devoted to support linguistic diversity by means of poetic expression. This in turn also gives voices to poems of endangered languages. On this day, children are introduced to the art of poems. Several government bodies and cultural authorities organize exhibitions of poems and their creators. Many poets hold signing events and recitals. Shows invite poets to talk about their work and spread awareness regarding the form. The day salutes small, independent publishers who believe in unknown poets and bring their work in front of the global audience. Schools and other educational institutes do hold poetry competitions to observe the World Poetry Day. Follow more stories on Facebook and Twitter Vice President Mike Pence arrives for a briefing on the Trump administration's coronavirus response in the press briefing room of the White House in Washington on March 4, 2020. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images) Staffer in Pences Office Tests Positive for COVID-19 An official in Vice President Mike Pences office has tested positive for COVID-19the first known such case in a White House staffer. This evening we were notified that a member of the Office of the Vice President tested positive for the Coronavirus. Neither President Trump nor Vice President Pence had close contact with the individual, said Pences press secretary Katie Miller in a statement late Friday. Further contact tracing is being conducted in accordance with CDC guidelines, said Miller, referring to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The statement did not identify the official. Pence is leading the White House task force that was formed to combat the outbreak of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus. The administration this week released Coronavirus Guidelines for America to help slow the spread of the CCP virus. The Epoch Times refers to the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19, as the CCP virus because the Chinese Communist Partys coverup and mismanagement allowed the virus to spread throughout China and create a global pandemic. Trump on Thursday suggested that the Chinese communist regime is to blame for the CCP virus, which has spread to more than 160 countries and territories around the world, killing thousands. Human-to-human transmission of COVID-19 was occurring from at least mid-December 2019 in Wuhan, according to a paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Jan. 29. The paper found that there is evidence that human-to-human transmission has occurred among close contacts since the middle of December 2019. Chinese authorities did not confirm human-to-human transmission until Jan. 20almost three weeks after the disease was first officially reported on Dec. 31, 2019. The first patient reported with the virus exhibited symptoms on Dec. 1. The World Health Organization (WHO) stated there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission on Jan. 14. Actor Guy Pearce says working on Christopher Nolan's breakthrough movie "Memento" had a profound effect on him as he had started questioning his own memories after working on the film. In a video interview with GQ, the Australian actor called the movie "first of its kind" as it is revered by fans till this date. "It made me question my own memory. I would look at a photo and would be thinking about a memory around it and then go, Well I don't know if that memory is really true at all.' It really made me question my own memories, so thank you, Chris Nolan," Pearce said. The film, which released in 2000, followed Leonard Shelby (Pearce), a man with short-term memory loss who is trying to track down his wife's murderer. The actor revealed that he found the film's plot to be "gobbledegook" and it took him time to fully understand it. " What I really got and what was really clear was the emotional journey of the character. As the actor that's the only thing I need to latch onto in order to do my job. The other stuff began to make sense the more as I worked with Chris Nolan and rehearsed with him. "Once it all made sense to me, I then had to put it all away and let it all go and just treat every scene as its own little thing because I wasn't supposed to remember what had happened before and obviously had no clue what was coming afterwards," Pearce added. The 52-year-old actor hailed Nolan, who has since delivered hits such as "Dark Knight" trilogy, "Inception", "Interstellar" and "Dunkirk", as a genius. "His ability to write the story and make the film that was in his head as it is. It's the only film I've ever done where the finished film is exactly as the script was," Pearce said. The actor currently features in Vin Diesel-starrer "Bloodshot". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Sanders campaign suspending Facebook ads, in talks with Biden camp Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment The presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has suspended their Facebook ads, according to reports by multiple news outlets. Independent Journal Review reported Wednesday that there were approximately 50,000 inactive Sanders campaign advertisements on Facebook. In comparison, former Vice President Joe Biden has about 410 advertisements active currently and President Donald Trump has roughly 2,100 advertisements active across Facebooks platforms, IJR reports. Axios also reported on the deactivation, noting that, in the past, such action is an indicator that a candidate is about to drop out of a race. Pete Buttigieg and Michael Bloomberg made their Facebook ads inactive hours before they suspended their campaigns, Axios added. Axios had previously erroneously reported that Sanders had suspended his campaign, later issuing an apology and a correction to their story. The Washington Post reported Wednesday evening that aides for the Sanders and Biden campaigns were in communication, mostly over the coronavirus pandemic. Biden deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield was quoted by The Washington Post as saying that the two camps were in regular contact at a senior level over how to respond to the virus. While the two campaigns obviously have their differences, they are working together to try to promote the health and safety of their teams, those who interact with the campaigns, and the American people, Bedingfield said. The Washington Post concluded that evidence was mounting that Sanders has been giving serious thought to ending his campaign. News of the Facebook ad deactivations comes after it was reported that Sanders is going to assess his campaign following a string of state primary defeats. Sanders Campaign Manager Faiz Shakir said in a statement that the senator was going to talk with supporters about the future of his campaign. Sen. Sanders is going to be having conversations with supporters to assess his campaign, Shakir said, according to NBC News. In the immediate term, however, he is focused on the government response to the coronavirus outbreak and ensuring that we take care of working people and the most vulnerable. The assessment announcement came after Biden bested Sanders on Tuesday in Democratic primaries held in Arizona, Florida, and Illinois. In order to secure the Democratic Party presidential nomination, a candidate has to win at least 1,991 delegates out of a 3,979 delegates made available. As of Thursday morning, Biden is in the lead with 1,180 delegates, followed by Sanders with 885 delegates, and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii with 2 delegates. Gabbard suspended her campaign Thursday morning. On FaceTime, Zoom, phone calls and email, Stanford medical students celebrated Match Day, the once-a-year moment when they and their peers across the nation learn where they will continue their training. In past years, medical students at Stanford along with family members, faculty and staff have gathered at the Li Ka Shing Center for Learning and Knowledge to open envelopes together precisely at 9 a.m. Pacific time. This year, to limit the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, the students who were matched to internships and residencies simultaneously clicked open email messages from the National Residency Matching Program. I know that opening your envelopes electronically is not what you were envisioning for this special day, Lloyd Minor, MD, dean of the School of Medicine, said in a video message to the students. But the reason we cannot be in the same room shows why medicine is a calling. At her home on Friday morning, Sarah Lindsay organized an online event with her family, friends and husband, whos studying law in Utah. They watched as she learned that shell spend her internship and residency in orthopaedic surgery at Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland the city where her husband has recently accepted a seven-month legal internship. Im super excited, Lindsay said. I did one of my away rotations there and really loved the program. Interviewing, hoping and waiting Medical students who plan to start training in their fields of interest, such as pediatrics and neurosurgery, spend a few months interviewing at residency and internship programs around the country. In February, they submit a list of programs, ranked in order of preference, while the programs do the same for their top candidates. The national matching program then uses an algorithm to maximize happiness matching, as much as possible, the top choices of the students and the programs. TIPPECANOE COUNTY, Ind. (WLFI) UPDATE: Due to the "Stay in place" announcement made on Monday, March 23, Our last day we will offer food pickup will be Tuesday, March 24. United Way and West Lafayette Community School Corporation have partnered to provide WLCSC students with breakfast and lunch packets. Starting on Monday, Mar. 23 - Friday, Mar. 27 at 11 a.m. families can pick up one breakfast and one lunch food packet at West Lafayette Intermediate School located at 1838 North Salisbury St., West Lafayette. The limit is two food packets per car per day. WLCSC Superintendent Rocky Killion said car-line pick up is preferred. He's asking parents to stay in the car. Parents or guardians can enter the back of the school off of Lindberg Rd., follow the signs and flow of traffic to the front, pick up the food packets, and exit behind the school again to turn back onto Lindberg Rd. Superintendent Killion said packets are limited. You can call WLCSC at 765-746-1602 anytime after 9 a.m. Monday - Friday. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 22:27:09|Editor: zyl Video Player Close Volunteers help people wear medical face masks in Cairo, Egypt, March 20, 2020. A campaign called "We Can" was launched to help and educate people in the fight against the novel coronavirus. The Egyptian Health Ministry on Friday reported 29 new COVID-19 cases and one more death from the disease, raising the total number of confirmed cases to 285, including eight deaths. (Photo by Ahmed Gomaa/Xinhua) by Mahmoud Fouly CAIRO, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Sayed Mansi stopped a garbage collector in a street in downtown Cairo, sprayed his hands with alcoholic disinfectant and provided him with a set of medical face mask and gloves. A campaign called "We Can" was launched by Mansi and his friends to help and educate people in the fight against the novel coronavirus, which has infected at least 285 locals and foreigners in Egypt and caused eight deaths so far. "My friends and I thought that we shouldn't stand idle and we should try to play a positive role in overcoming the novel coronavirus crisis," the 23-year-old told Xinhua. Started by five young volunteers, the campaign has expanded over the past few days and has 15 members now. Through their Facebook page, the volunteers are trying to attract more members across the country. The campaign comes at a time when the prices of medical face masks, gloves or disinfectants doubled or even tripled in Egypt due to the extraordinary demand, which prompted Mansi to urge all Egyptians to join the campaign and help provide such supplies to those who can't afford them. "We buy the supplies from our own pockets to distribute for free. We welcome people's support and donations in the form of gloves, face masks and disinfectants. We do not accept money donations," Mansi emphasized. Besides providing pedestrians with medical masks and gloves, the volunteers also explain to people how to use a face mask properly, and how to keep a safe space when communicating with another person. An old garbage collector, who declined to give his name, appreciated the campaign and the care of young people. "They are very kind and caring. I knew from them how to protect myself from this infectious virus," the old man told Xinhua briefly before he rushed back to work. Ola Ahmed, a woman in her mid-20s, said that she joined the anti-coronavirus campaign with her friends when her work as a nursemaid at a kindergarten was suspended due to the coronavirus. "The people treat us very well although some are still reluctant to accept our service. But most people are very understanding. We will continue our campaign until the crisis is over," she said enthusiastically. "We instruct people to maintain personal hygiene and wash their hands frequently. We also stop taxi drivers and vendors to tell them how important it is to wear gloves while working and provide them with some gloves," she added. "It is a pleasant effort and a kind imitative of these young. They give us advice and guidelines to raise our awareness about the virus," said Ramadan Abdel-Hamid, a 63-year-old man. "People need more awareness and this is what the campaign is doing. I wish they would continue and their efforts would be rewarded with success," Abdel-Hamid added. Abdel-Razek Saeed, 37, a health ministry employee from Minufiya province, happened to be in the capital and got a free face mask and a pair of gloves provided by the campaign. "I hope to see more of such initiatives to help those who cannot protect themselves from the virus. We're grateful to these thoughtful and responsible young people," he said. NATO Boosted Aerial Surveillance Near Russian Borders by 20 Percent in 2019 - Shoigu Sputnik News Oleg Burunov. Sputnik International 09:46 GMT 20.03.2020(updated 10:37 GMT 20.03.2020) Sergei Shoigu has pointed out that "a number of countries use any pretext to build up a military presence near Russia's borders". Russia's Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu on Friday said that NATO's air reconnaissance intensity near Russia's borders increased by 20 percent in 2019. "The military and political situation in the South-West strategic direction remains difficult. In an effort to block Russia's participation in solving global and regional problems, an array countries use any pretext to build up a military presence near our borders", Shoigu underscored. He recalled that last year, 25 NATO warships were alternately on missions in the Black Sea and that every third such vessel had cruise missiles on board. According to him, "since the beginning of this year, NATO aviation has completed more than 80 reconnaissance flights along our territory". Earlier this month, the Russian military reported detecting 25 foreign aircraft engaged in reconnaissance activities near the country's borders, with fighters scrambled twice to prevent illegal entry into Russian airspace. Late last month, the US deployed the USS Ross guided-missile destroyer into the Black Sea. The Russian Navy, for its part, assured observers that it had the capability to monitor the warship's movement. Moscow has repeatedly condemned the US and its NATO allies over their maritime war games, as well as drone and spy plane flights and bomber drills near Russia's borders, warning that such behaviour only serves to stoke tensions. The alliance has repeatedly turned a deaf ear to these objections. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has spoken with his Belarusian counterpart, Syarhey Rumas, about oil deliveries as they seek to resolve a three-month price dispute between the two countries. Mishustin's office said on March 21 in a statement that the two had "noted the achievement of fundamental agreements" on cooperation in the oil sphere that -- if carried out -- would allow Russia to deliver oil to Belarusian refineries. Minsk and Moscow have been at odds since the start of the year, when they failed to agree on terms for oil deliveries in 2020. Some Russian oil companies suspended oil shipments to Belarus. Russia had been supplying crude oil to Belarus with no export fee under a trade deal between the two countries. However, Russia amended its Tax Code in 2019 and damaged the profitability of Belarusian refineries -- some of the country's most important companies -- sparking anger in Minsk. Russian tycoon Mikhail Gutseriyev, who owns Russneft and Neftisoy, has been supplying the Belarusian refineries in the meantime until a solution to the pricing problem is found. With reporting by Interfax and Reuters A staffer in the team of US Vice President Mike Pence has tested positive for the coronavirus, making him the first White House personnel to have been infected by the deadly disease that has so far claimed the lives of 230 people in the country. "This evening we were notified that a member of the office of the Vice President tested positive for the coronavirus," Katie Miller, Press Secretary to Vice President, said in a statement. Neither President Donald Trump nor Vice President Pence had close contact with the individual, she said. "Further contact tracing is being conducted in accordance with CDC guidelines," Miller said. This is the first case of a White House staffer being tested positive for the deadly virus. Last week, Trump had tested for the coronavirus but the result was negative. The White House has instituted strict provisions for entry of individuals within its premises. Members of the presidential physicians' team and secret service take temperature of every individual who enter the premises. The seating arrangements in the White House briefing room has been rearranged to maintain social distancing. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) By Trend Zurich (Switzerland) will host One Belt, One Road forum, Azerbaijans embassy in Switzerland told Trend. The embassy said that it regularly carries out work and organizes a number of events as part of the One Belt, One Road initiative, which also involves Azerbaijan. During meetings with the Director of the Switzerland-CIS Joint Chamber of Commerce Dorit Sallis and Senior Consultant Russia, CIS and Nordic Countries at Switzerland Global Enterprise Michael Kuhn, Ambassador Khanim Ibrahimova said that as a result of the reforms carried out in Azerbaijan under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev, economic measures to attract foreign investment in the country are underway. She said that the high rate of economic development allowed Azerbaijan to be transformed and large investments in the country made a significant contribution to the modernization of economy, as well as to the creation of modern infrastructure in the field of transport as well. Speaking about the One Belt, One Road initiative, Ambassador Ibrahimova pointed out that the project not only provides transport communication, but also strengthens ties between different countries, serves to strengthen dialogue and cooperation, and creates new opportunities for international trade. The envoy noted that Azerbaijan has the necessary infrastructure to play the role of a center at the junction of various transport corridors. She went on to add that thanks to the East-West, North-South and South-West corridors, Azerbaijan is able to provide the shortest route in trade between Asia and Europe. Moreover, Ibrahimova spoke about the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, the Alat international sea trade port, new roads and airports. As a result of the meetings, it was decided to hold an event dedicated to Azerbaijans infrastructure projects with support of the embassy and joint organizational support of Switzerland Global Enterprise and Switzerland-CIS Joint Chamber of Commerce as part of the 5th Forum dedicated to the New Silk Road strategy, to be held in September 2020 in Zurich. The meeting participants noted the importance of the above initiative in terms of developing ties between Switzerland and Azerbaijan. It was agreed to involve the relevant Swiss structures in the event dedicated to the role of Azerbaijan in One Belt, One Road initiative. Anil Kapoor played Romeo to Anupam Khers Juliet and serenaded him from underneath the latters balcony on Saturday. Kher is confined to his home, practising self-isolation after returning from New York on Friday. On Saturday, Kher shared a video from his balcony on Instagram, telling his fans how he always visits his friend Anil the first thing every time he returns from an overseas travel. However, he couldnt do the same this time as it is important to save others from potential coronavirus infection. Kher said he missed Anil, who lived right opposite Khers house. In normal circumstances when I return from abroad before coming to my house I go to my neighbour & best friend @anilskapoor s house. But things are different nowadays. It is important to observe social distance. Hopefully he will come out to show me his face soon, he captioned his post. Thank you dear @AnilKapoor for coming to your house gate and singing our childhood time song to me. Very nice of you. I just know- This too shall pass. Till then. Jai Ho!! #SocialDistancing #AkSeesAk pic.twitter.com/R2XEiKn9xw Anupam Kher (@AnupamPKher) March 21, 2020 Also read: Kanika Kapoor says she didnt hide in bathroom to skip screening: There was no advisory by govt to self-quarantine However, Anil soon emerged under the latters balcony and treated him to a lovely song. When did you return from America? How is India treating you?, Anil asks Anupam in a video shared on his own Twitter page. What to do my friend, Sunita (Anils wife) will not let you in, Anil says in the video. He then sings a popular Hindi film song Ek Ghar Banauga Tere Ghar Ke Saamne. #AKseesAK! Keeping up with traditions but from a distance!! #socialdistancing #staysafe, Anil wrote in his tweet. Tum bulao aur hum naa aaye that will never happen!! So glad to see you (from a distance), Anil also commented on Anupams post. Anils daughter and actor Sonam Kapoor is also quarantines in her home since her return from London this week with husband Anand Ahuja. She was seen interacting with her mother-in-law from across a glass window in a video. Follow @htshowbiz for more WASHINGTON Negotiators from Congress and the White House resumed top-level talks Saturday on a ballooning $1 trillion-plus economic rescue package, urged by President Trump to strike a deal to steady a nation thoroughly upended by the coronavirus pandemic. It was an extraordinary moment in Washington: Congress undertaking the most ambitious federal effort yet to shore up households and the U.S. economy and a president angry and lashing out at all comers. All while the global outbreak and the nationwide shutdown grip an anxious, isolated population bracing for a healthcare crisis and looming recession. Officials put the price tag at nearly $1.4 trillion and said with other measures from the Federal Reserve it could pump $2 trillion into the U.S. economy. Trump, during a briefing at the White House on Saturday, expressed optimism that it could be agreed upon soon. Theyre all negotiating and everybodys working hard and they want to get to a solution thats the right solution, I think were very close, said Trump, who continued to strike a confident tone about the nations ability to defeat the pandemic soon. We are going to be celebrating a great victory in the not too distant future, he said. Also Saturday, the White House announced that Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen, have tested negative for the coronavirus. Pence had announced earlier Saturday that, out of an abundance of caution, he and his wife would be tested after a member of the vice presidents staff had tested positive for the virus. On Capitol Hill, key congressional and White House officials converged Saturday for more talks on the sweeping aid package, which would provide paychecks for suddenly jobless Americans, money for hospitals and aid to industry. The Senate convened the rare weekend session with the aim of drafting the package Saturday, holding an initial vote Sunday and winning Senate passage on Monday. Banning stock buy-backs is one of Democrats top priorities in the emerging rescue package as lawmakers strain to avoid a repeat of earlier politically toxic bailouts. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said that meant no layoffs, no salary boosts for executives and no stock buy-backs. The GOP plan aims to pump billions into $1,200 direct checks to Americans and provide billions to small businesses to pay workers idled during the global pandemic. But Democrats say McConnells plan is insufficient, arguing for greater income support for workers and a Marshall Plan for the U.S. healthcare industry, which is preparing for an onslaught of newly sick patients. On Saturday, Trump pushed back against accusations that he was sluggish to act for fear of upsetting China, though he told aides last month that he had not wanted to alienate Beijing, an important trading partner, by criticizing its secretive handling of the initial outbreak. The Food and Drug Administration said Saturday that it has approved the first rapid coronavirus test, which produces results in about 45 minutes. The test was developed by Cepheid, a Silicon Valley molecular diagnostics company. Currently, it can take at least a few days to get results from current coronavirus tests, which typically are sent in batches to reference labs, said Dr. David Persing, the companys chief medical and technology officer. Cepheid said it will begin shipping its tests next week. Jonathan Lemire, Lisa Mascaro and Andrew Taylor are New York Times writers. MILAN, March 21 (Reuters) - Italian financial group Cerved said on Saturday talks to sell its debt collection arm to Europe's biggest loan recovery firm, Intrum, had fallen through due to the coronavirus outbreak that is wrecking Italy's economy. The Italian government expects gross domestic product to shrink by 3% this year after imposing a nationwide lockdown to fight the virus, which has killed more people in Italy than in any other country. Intrum Italy and Cerved entered exclusive talks in mid-February a few days before the emergence of the virus, which has since caused more than 4,000 deaths and infected at least 47,021 people. Cerved said in a statement that an exclusivity period granted to Intrum Italy had expired on March 20, and talks had been halted due to "the current economic and financial situation attributable to the COVID-19 epidemiological emergency." Sources had said Intrum Italy had offered more than 450 million euros for Cerved's bad-loan collection unit. The deal was seen as the first major consolidation move in Italy's bad-loan sector, where growth was easing after a boom driven by large-scale sales as banks cleanse their balance-sheets of the legacy of previous recessions. Cerved had been looking at a possible sale of its bad loan unit after the early termination of a collection contract with bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena so as to concentrate on its credit data business. Italy's new economic slump is expected to trigger another surge in unpaid debts, while also making it harder to recoup existing problem loans. A spokesman for Intrum Italy declined to comment, referring to a March 13 statement by Intrum. The Swedish group has said the coronavirus emergency prompted it to reduce its investment levels and hike the rate of return required for new investments, adding that it was reviewing ongoing M&A projects and prioritising a share buyback. Intrum said it expected a delay in cash flows in Italy, where courts have shut down. It said it had taken "comprehensive measures to ensure that we are able to conduct business as usual, as far as practically possible." Italy in 2019 accounted for 4% of Intrum's total cash earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation. (Reporting by Valentina Za Editing by Helen Popper) The World Socialist Web Site spoke with a casual relief public school teacher and member of the Committee for Public Education (CFPE), who may have been exposed to the coronavirus at work. The teachers situation underscores the urgency of the CFPEs demand for the immediate closure of schools and for teachers and school workers to form Action Committees. The widest discussion must be developed on necessary measures to protect the health and wellbeing of education workers and students (see: Close Australian schools to stave off coronavirus! Form action committees of teachers and school staff!). The teachers name has been withheld to protect student privacy. WSWS: Can you describe your potential exposure to the coronavirus and the official response? Casual teacher (CT): This week a child in my classroom was sent home after displaying symptoms consistent with the coronavirus. The official response was entirely complacent. I dont believe the childs temperature was even taken before being sent home. I was advised that the family would monitor the childs health and if it worsened then they would see a doctor. They were not advised to seek testing for the coronavirus. No broader protective measures were takenat least not yet. But Im still following up the issue. Of course the child might simply have had the flu. But to assume that without any medical assessment struck me as highly irresponsible. This is not a question of an individual school but reflects the governments utter indifference to the health of working people. Schools are on the front line of the coronavirus epidemicthey are now one of the few places where hundreds of people are congregating every day within a relatively small space. But teachers and school staff havent been provided with effective information about what should be happening. At-risk teachers, including those who are over 60, pregnant, immune-compromised, or who live with these people, are not being provided with extra protection. They are being told to turn up to work along with everyone else. Some school principals have announced additional measures, such as hiring more cleaners and staggering recess and lunch breaks to reduce the numbers of children in the yard at the same time. Other principals have declared business as usual and done nothing. I know of one school where a staff meeting was held to train teachers for online education in the event of a closure, and the principal refused to allow any discussion about the safety of staff while the school remained open. It is a total disaster in the making, like an Italy-type health catastrophe. WSWS: What happened when you sought advice about your possible exposure to coronavirus? CT: I rang the National Coronavirus Helpline that the federal government has set up. I asked if I should seek a test or self-isolate. I was only told to monitor my health, and if I felt unwell, then go and see a doctor. This contradicts what I have read about people with the coronavirus being contagious before they display any symptoms. The person on the helpline didnt even ask for the name of the school where I had worked or take my name and contact details. The so-called helpline is another piece of political theatre. The absence of mass testing and failure to properly monitor potential cases means the real rate of contagion must be far higher than the official figures. WSWS: What will it mean for you to self-isolate? CT: If I stop working, which I think I should, contrary to the official advice I was given, I have no income. Of course, the government, like the others around the world, has rushed to bail out big business. Trumps given Wall Street $1.5 trillion, Morrison has pledged to fork out public money to different corporations as required, nearly a billion dollars for the airlines the other day. But there are no resources available for ordinary people. I know that casual, contract and gig economy workers are now a massive proportion of the total workforce, but nothing has been provided for those of us affected by the pandemic. WSWS: Can you speak about working conditions for casual relief teachers? CT: Our work is highly precarious. Partly this is the nature of the job. When classroom teachers wake up in the morning feeling too unwell to go to school, casual teachers need to be available at short notice. But the insecurity is exacerbated because we dont have a properly funded and rationally planned education system. For example, classroom teachers training days ought to be planned in advance, with relief teachers given proper notice, but this almost never happens. Also the organisation of relief teaching is privatised. Most schools use contract agencies. The one that hires me skims off nearly a quarter of my wage as profit. In the middle of a pandemic, relief teaching is among the highest risk occupations. Not only do we move from school to school. Sometimes within a day we move from classroom to classroom each hour as required. I have estimated that in the last couple of weeks I have been in close proximity to about 240 children, including young ones, whose personal hygiene and respect for personal space sometimes isnt great. That number is counting only those I have shared a classroom with for an hour or more. If I added children Ive been around while doing yard duty, the number would probably be approaching 2,000. But there has been no advice or assistance issued to casual teachers by the education department beyond the universal recommendation to wash your hands often. WSWS: What do you think of the role of the education unions? CT: I think teachers need to draw some lessons from the total failure of the unions to do anything whatsoever to protect the health of their members during the coronavirus crisis. Im guessing that union officials are now enjoying their $200,000-plus salaries while safely working from home. In the meantime, teachers and school workers are having their health and safety endangered. The unions are complicit in the undermining of the public education system, the imposition of NAPLAN, the development of crushing workloads and every regressive policy imposed on schools. WSWS: What do you think should happen, given the coronavirus epidemic? CT: I agree 100 percent with the Committee for Public Educationthe school system needs to be immediately closed across the country, with proper measures put in place to assist working parents who will face significant challenges. Teachers cant wait for the situation to get worse. They certainly cant trust the governments, education departments or the unions. We need to form Action Committees to discuss the necessary emergency measures. I think we need to prepare walkouts right away. Four COVID patients recover, cases increase to 76 By Kumudini Hettiarachchi, Ruqyyaha Deane & Meleeza Rathnayake View(s): View(s): Good news that four COVID-19 affected patients, including Patient 1, have recovered and would be ready for discharge after a few more tests, came amid a lockdown of the country through a 60-hour curfew imposed at 6 p.m. on Friday. The National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) is awaiting confirmation that the four patients are free of the virus before sending them home, the Sunday Times learns, while two of the balance patients are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). There were altogether 68 confirmed cases at the NIID at the time the newspaper was issued. The number of confirmed patients across the country rose to 76 including the very first Chinese woman tourist who recovered and went home by last afternoon, according to the Health Promotion Bureau, with the suspected cases in designated hospitals reaching 245. This was as many health sources urged that the lockdown be extended beyond tomorrow to cover the 14-day incubation period when the virus can spread, after facilitating a way for people who are in urgent need of food and medicine to buy their requirements without crowding such places. We need to prevent people from gathering for panic buying with crowds rushing to all shops and supermarkets and vehicles queuing up for fuel, said many experts. Stay home and help us to fight the new coronavirus, was also the simple message that was reiterated throughout the week by many including Health Services Director-General Dr. Anil Jasinghe, Army Commander Shavendra Silva and Deputy Inspector General Ajith Rohana. Another factor which came to light was how a few people who were ill were walking into hospitals and wilfully withholding information that they were either returnees from high-risk countries, especially Italy, or had come into contact with those returnees, putting everyone else they met in danger. In one instance, the North Colombo (Ragama) Teaching Hospital had to place all those in a general ward, healthcare workers as well as patients, in quarantine due to this, the Sunday Times understands. The Sunday Times learns that elsewhere a few senior doctors are also being tested to find out whether they have contracted COVID-19, most probably from some patients they saw without knowing that they had COVID-19. The authorities took urgent measures this week to turn the Welikanda Base Hospital in the Polonnaruwa district, with much support from the army, as well as the Mulleriyawa (Colombo East) Hospital as treatment centres for COVID-19. The Welikanda Hospital will be under the purview of the Director of the Polonnaruwa District General Hospital. When asked about the capacity of Intensive Care Units (ICUs), Dr. Jasinghe said they were in the process of increasing these facilities as well as securing adequate stocks of medications and equipment to tackle COVID-19. He said the ICU bed capacity of four at the NIID is being increased to 10 and there are a considerable number of beds at the Mulleriyawa Hospital which they would consider based on how the situation progresses. When looking closely at how the virus behaves, around 80% of those affected would have mild disease; 15% moderate to severe and only about 5% would require ICU treatment, said Dr. Jasinghe, adding we believe we can somehow manage the current situation with the resources we have. The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Australian government on Friday donated medical equipment to the value of Rs. 105 million in support of the treatment of COVID-19. Among the equipment was High-Dependency Unit (HDU) beds, multipara monitors, a pulse oximeter, infusion pumps, a syringe pump, suction apparatus, an ECG machine, portable X-ray machine, a defibrillator, an autoclave tabletop and a high flow oxygen system. (See also Pages 4 and 5) The indiatimes.com privacy policy has been updated to align with the new data regulations in European Union. Please review and accept these changes below to continue using the website. We use cookies to ensure the best experience for you on our website. Almost 200 new jobs were created in 2019 by LEO (Louth Enterprise Office) supported companies, according toa new report. Head of Enterprise, Thomas McEvoy welcomed the year end report which confirmed that 199 new jobs were created last year by LEO supported companies. 'This figure has increased substantially over the past 5 years ago. These are real jobs that already exist, not projected figures, and are a really good indicator of growth in the county.' The Local Enterprise Office Louth has 240 grant aided clients with over 970 employees between them. One of the aims of the Local Enterprise Office is to provide support to companies that can scale up, thus helping to create strong employment growth in Louth. Four companies progressed from being Local Enterprise Office Louth clients to Enterprise Ireland clients in 2019. These local companies have the potential for strong national and international growth. Enterprise Ireland will work intensively with them to achieve that potential. The future is looking bright for new business in the county. 'Last year over 150 participants completed nine Start Your Own Business courses across the county. Many of these will go on to create new businesses which will be able to access training, advice and support from the LEO team as they grow. Interestingly, almost 60% of the participants in LEO training in 2019 were female, with many new female entrepreneurs starting their own business.' There has been significant growth in training in Louth in the last year. Thomas continues: In 2019, 1,195 people took part in LEO training events. Our team work hard to ensure that our training and management development programmes constantly adapt to the changing needs of business.' Business advice is a very important service offered to clients by the Local Enterprise Office. 'Last year, we provided over 390 mentoring sessions to business owners. Business advice clinics give them the chance to talk about opportunities or challenges with an expert, who helps them develop robust plans." Two young entrepreneurs from Louth made it to the final 24 of Ireland's Best Young Entrepreneur. Dundalk's Conor Kerley of Setanta Nutrition Science was a finalist in the Best Idea category. Thomas concludes: 'Strong 2019 results are no excuse to rest on our laurels this year. Supporting entrepreneurs as they establish, develop and grow their business is crucial to the health of our local economy and creation of high quality jobs. "I've put the kids in the freezer, so everything's cool now." Parents may be joking on social media about their childcare hell as more and more countries go into lockdown with the coronavirus. But child protection professionals are not laughing. They have real worries about the risks with families locked up 24/7 together for an indefinite period. "You will no doubt want to throw your children out the window at some point. That's normal," psychologist Moira Mikolajczak told AFP. "What isn't normal, is to do that," she warned, as she urged parents to give themselves a break and "not try to be Superman or Superwoman". While governments across Europe from Ireland to Greece have been having schools send lessons and activity ideas by email to occupy bored children, social media is full of testimony from parents frazzled at having to be both teacher and playmate to their kids. Grassroots groups, however, are trying to step into the gap with the French feminist collective #NousToutes ("All of Us"), which campaigns against domestic violence, mobilising with WhatsApp support groups and practical tips on how "not to blow your top". "Being locked down gives us the chance to spend lots and lots of time with our children," the group said, tongue ever so slightly in cheek. But when "we have to work from home and we are all stuck together in a small space, tensions can escalate." Its WhatsApp groups already have 4,000 members dispensing support and tips on how to stay zen. First among them is "step away when you feel the tension mount (even if that means locking the toilet door)". Parents should also watch funny videos with their children, "and program in 'off' times when you can be on your own... while someone else looks after the children". The main thing is to try to avoid "words or gestures... that can hurt and wound... because we can behave in ways that we will regret immediately". Mother-of-three Sarah, whose kids range in age from seven to just two months, is "staying relaxed" so far. "Yesterday I took an hour for myself in my room, without a child hanging from me, and I did a meditation session via Instagram," the Parisian told AFP. "It's going OK, but it's worrying for the long haul," she said as France neared the end of its first week in total lockdown. If it is tough for the parents, it's no walk in the park for the children either -- they too have been ordered home across large swathes of Europe and now in parts of the US. "When we got into the living room when Mummy is working, there can be arguments," said 10-year-old Estheban. "I am having to be a mother, a teacher, a cook, a cleaner and do my job as an executive in a bank from home at the same time," said Virginie, who has two sons aged 11 and six. While most parents will cope, said Mikolajczak, Professor of Emotion and Health Psychology at the University of Louvain in Belgium, some will not. "We can predict increases in parental burnout," she said, and sometimes there could even be "neglect and violence". - 'Relax the rules' - Governments have the same worry, with the French children's ministry warning of a "higher risk of mistreatment... and since it will be happening at home, it will be hard to spot." "Stay at home parents are more vulnerable to burnout," Mikolajczak said, an effect likely to be exacerbated by the fact they are there against their will. "Western families are also not used to living on top of each other," she added. Added to which families can no longer turn "to grandparents for help nor go out" somewhere to blow off steam. Mikolajczak said structuring the children's day can really help with moments when they will play or work on their own. And she urged parents to "be flexible and not afraid to relax some rules". "Let it go," said Etienne, the father of two girls aged 10 and six, who has adopted the refrain from Disney's film "Frozen" to get him through the crisis. In these exceptional times you cannot juggle everything, he said. "At the beginning when the schools closed, I put myself under pressure. I didn't know what to do. I had no time for myself nor the kids. "Then the penny dropped. I stopped working and since then it's going a lot better," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) RIDLEY TOWNSHIP Once the Boy Scouts of America opened the door two years ago for girls to join, rebranding the organization to Scouts BSA, it was only a matter of days before before Troop 339 G submitted its charter and became the first BSA Girl Troop in Delaware County and in the Conestoga District of Scouts BSA. The troops first official meeting was on March 5, 2019. We are part of the Conestoga District and the Cradle of Liberty Council, said Tara Holinka, who is one of three assistant leaders of the troop. The township commissioners honored Troop 339 G with a resolution at a recent meeting to mark the historic first. The troop meets at the Leedom Cabin in the townships sixth ward as does its male counterpart, Troop 339. The board of commissioners of the township of Ridley hereby express their congratulations to Troop 339 G on their memorable first year and offer their sincere appreciation for their role as a vital part of the Ridley Township community and further wish them many more successful years of dedication, commitment and service to Ridley Township, a portion of the resolution reads. Holinka said Scoutmaster Jim Walls of Troop 339 approved the idea of letting girls start Troop 339 G, as did committee chairperson Scott Mann. With five girls in the troop to start, membership soon grew to 14, with new members lining up. The troop earned 19 rank advancements and 48 merit badges in its first full year. The age range for membership is 10 to 18. Holinka said the troop meets from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesdays at the Leedom Cabin. We have some girls who are dual enrolled in both Girls Scouts and Boy Scouts. I dont see it as a competition. The big thing to remember is that they are very different programs for the girls and boys, Holinka said. I was an assistant scoutmaster for a boys troop so I was famiiar with the program and I decided to step up and get this troop (the girls troop)started. Along with Holinka, there are two other assistant leaders, Barbara Steinmetz and Kirste Tanzosh, both of whom have children active in scouting. The girls are having a great time and learning amazing things, Tanzosh said. The girls were able to compete at winter survival camp. And Troop 339 G acquitted itself very well at the winter survival camp in January, coming in at second place, just one point behind the first-place patrol, which happened to be Troop 339 Boys. Winter survival was my favorite activity since I joined the troop, said Madison McCool, 15, and a sophomore at Ridley High School. It was an overnight trip in Tinicum. It was pretty rainy that night and we slept in tents. We learned winter survival skills, first aid, flag raising, cooking outdoors. There were five of us from our troop and we were so nervous. But we wound up placing second out of 16 patrols and we were the only girl troop there. McCool said her troop is planning a summer trip to a scout camp in the Pocono Mountains, and a Hike-A-Thon to raise money for troop equipment. The resolution presented by the commissioners noted that Troop 339 G has also participated in various activities that included the annual Leedom Estates 4th of July celebration, Philadelphias Thanksgiving Day parade and volunteering with elderly, disabled and homeless groups. For more information on Troop 339 G, email: troop339g@gmail.com. Flash Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday held phone conversations on COVID-19 epidemic with foreign ministers of Hungary, Greece and Morocco, respectively. Wang said that the epidemic is currently erupting at different places around the globe and spreading rapidly, and the Chinese side has been paying close attention to the developments. The Chinese side empathizes with the peoples of the virus-hit countries in their struggle against the epidemic and related difficulties, over which China extended sincere sympathies, he said, adding that the Chinese people are willing to stand firmly with them and overcome the current difficulties together. He also expressed appreciation for countries which have provided valuable support for China's anti-epidemic fight. Even though China still needs a large amount of medical supplies to prevent a rebound of the epidemic, Wang said that the country, despite its difficulties, will do its utmost to assist relevant countries in procurement in China and provide green passages for customs clearance and transportation. Also, China will help and support countries affected by the epidemic by offering necessary medical supplies, sharing anti-epidemic experience and dispatching expert teams, he said, adding that with the joint efforts of all countries, mankind will surely prevail over the virus. Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said that the effective measures against the epidemic taken by the Chinese side have earned respect from Hungary, adding that Hungary thanks the Chinese side for providing assistance of medical supplies in a timely manner and facilitating procurement in China, which embodies profound friendship between the two countries. Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said that the valorous spirit of the Chinese people who unite as one in the fight against the epidemic is admirable, while appreciating China for providing much-needed assistance of medical supplies at the unprecedented difficult time and for its willingness to assist Greece in procurement in China. Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita also thanked the Chinese side for its sympathies with the Moroccan people, and spoke positively of China's support to Morocco. He said China has set a benchmark for the international community to fight the epidemic, adding that Morocco is eager to learn from China's experience in epidemic prevention and control and looks forward to strengthening exchanges and cooperation with Chinese medical experts. Certain unionized employees at Stop & Shop and Peapod in New Jersey are getting a 10% pay increase and two additional weeks of paid sick leave during the coronavirus crisis. The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) labor union, which represents employees in industries such as grocery and retail, announced on Saturday that the agreement was reached with Stop & Shop. The union said the deal will affect 70,000 workers across New England, New York and New Jersey. It was not immediately clear how many workers are impacted by the agreement in New Jersey. A union spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. As we know, grocery workers like Stop & Shop employees have been on the front lines of this crisis, serving the needs of millions of families in the northeast, said UFCW International President Marc Perrone in a statement. Protecting them is absolutely essential to our communities and food supply now more than ever. Stop & Shop spokeswoman Stefanie Shuman said the new agreement will kick in on Sunday. The agreement applies to UFCW locals, 1262, 464A, 1360 and 342. We also want our associates to be able to focus on their physical health at this time - without having to worry about financial stability, Shuman said. For associates who are required to quarantine either by health or government authorities or by the company, Stop & Shop will provide up to two weeks of paid sick leave. Associates in these scenarios would not need to use sick time or other paid time off for the time they are quarantined. Perrone urged that all food retail employers, both union and non-unionized, across the nation should follow suit with Stop & Shops regional agreement. Protecting them is absolutely essential to our communities and food supply now more than ever, he added. Tell us your coronavirus stories, whether its a news tip, a topic you want us to cover, or a personal story you want to share. If you would like updates on New Jersey-specific coronavirus news, subscribe to our Coronavirus in N.J. newsletter. Sign up for text message alerts from NJ.com on coronavirus in New Jersey: Rebecca Panico may be reached at rpanico@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @BeccaPanico. PARIS Iran has released the French academic Roland Marchal, an official in the French presidents office said on Saturday, as part of a prisoner swap agreement with France. Mr. Marchal, who had been imprisoned in Iran since June on security charges, was due to arrive in France around midday Saturday, the official said. Iran and France had agreed to swap Mr. Marchal and Jalal Ruhollahnejad, an Iranian engineer detained by the French authorities over accusations that he violated U.S. sanctions against Tehran, Iranian state media reported on Friday. France had already released Mr. Ruhollahnejad, the state broadcaster IRIB reported. The broadcaster said that Mr. Marchal had been sentenced to five years imprisonment for acting against national security, adding that his sentence had been reduced and he was handed over to the French embassy in Tehran. Coronation Street has been forced to rewrite scripts as cast members have self-isolated, says Andy Whyment. The actor, 38, who plays Kirk Sutherland on the ITV soap took to Instagram on Friday where he revealed it's been a 'tough week' amid the upheaval amidst the coronovirus pandemic. Alongside a snap of himself and wife Nicola Willis enjoying a beer, the star praised everyone on the show for all pulling together during this difficult time. Changes: Coronation Street has been forced to rewrite scripts as cast members have self-isolated, says Andy Whyment He penned: 'So ready for a drink tonight been a tough week at work with rewrites and changes with some cast members having to self isolate. 'I just want to say Im so proud of everyone @coronationstreet the way people have mucked in this week has been incredible and shows how much love there is for the show. 'Its a mad situation we all find ourselves in but well get through this, stay safe everyone xxx.' His co-star Georgiua Taylor, who plays Toyah Battersby was in agreement, as she wrote: 'Everyone has been incredible havent they? Hard times: The actor, 38, who plays Kirk Sutherland on the ITV soap took to Instagram on Friday where he revealed it's been a 'tough week' amid the upheaval amidst the coronovirus pandemic 'I was saying to Mark tonight how I feel so lucky to work with such an outstanding team. And all done with such good grace and humour xxx.' With Andy replying: 'couldnt agree more we have an amazing cast and crew xx.' Jane Danson, who portrays Leanne Battersby, added: 'Totally agree. We all worked together at the worst of times. Its been difficult but everyone on and off camera has pulled together. Stay well everyone x.' Tribute: Alongside a snap of himself and wife Nicola Willis enjoying a beer, the star praised everyone on the show for all pulling together during this difficult time While Tyrone Dobbs actor Alan Halsall also wrote: 'Couldnt agree more mate, just shot the last scene of the week & the spirit was amazing! Tough times as you say & I hope @coronationstreet can keep people entertained!' It comes after both Coronation Street and Emmerdale bosses confirmed that the soap's planned storylines will be affected by their scheduling changes during the coronavirus pandemic. An ITV spokesperson revealed that episodes that were planned to air around Easter or VE Day in May will inevitably be shown on a different dates, after cutting back on their weekly broadcasts to ration their filmed episodes. It comes as the soap industry is hit hard by the recent coronavirus pandemic, with filming of rival soap EastEnders currently suspended until further notice. Scary: Coronation Street and Emmerdale bosses confirmed that storylines will be affected the coronavirus pandemic (Samia Longchambon pictured as Maria Connor) In their statement a spokesperson told MailOnline: 'In the coming weeks some episodes of Coronation Street and Emmerdale will understandably be out of kilter due to the temporary transmission pattern for both programmes which takes effect from Monday 30 March. Which UK shows have stopped filming? EastEnders Line Of Duty Peaky Blinders Doctors Casualty Holby City River City Pobol y Cwm Hollyoaks Vera Call The Midwife The Only Way Is Essex Lorraine Loose Women Emmerdale Coronation Street Advertisement 'Episodes due to broadcast at Easter and those commissioned and filmed to commemorate VE Day, for instance, won't now air on the dates we'd anticipated. 'We'd hope the audience will understand the reasons for this and continue to enjoy the shows.' Earlier this week Coronation Street and Emmerdale confirmed that along with reducing their weekly broadcasts, they would also re-write certain storylines to exclude elderly cast members, allowing them the chance to self-isolate at home. Coronation Street will now air just three episodes a week, while Emmerdale will only air five. The ITV spokesperson also confirmed that despite government advice for residents to avoid social contact in pubs and restaurants, they would be continuing to include scenes in The Rovers Return and Woolpack. Dramatic: A spokesperson for the soap confirmed that despite government warnings to avoid pubs, they will continue to included scenes featuring bars in their soaps (Emmerdale pictured) They told MailOnline: 'Additionally, as both Coronation Street and Emmerdale film many weeks before they air on ITV, episodes will continue to feature scenes set in the Rovers and Woolpack and other communal areas. 'Although the Governments latest guidelines indicate that people should avoid such public spaces, wed ask viewers to make allowances for the fact that filming took place before the coronavirus pandemic... and to make sure they follow the most recent Government's health advice.' Corrie and Emmerdale join a long list of programmes that have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with many shows including rival soap EastEnders, Casualty, Holby City and Call The Midwife forced to halt filming. Halted: It came after ITV bosses confirmed that they would be reducing their weekly Corrie broadcasts from six episodes a week to just three Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 10:53:07|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close CABINDA, Angola, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Angola and the Republic of the Congo will delimit their maritime border by 2022, officials announced here on Friday. In a meeting held by the Inter Ministerial Commission for the Delimitation and Demarcation of the Common Maritime Border between Angola and the Republic of the Congo, Domingos Moreira, a representative from the Angolan delegation, said the two countries decided to prepare in the current year the agreements regarding the delimitation of their common maritime border. In the cross-border maritime region, Angola and the Republic of the Congo share the Lianzi Oil Field located in a unitized zone, which includes parts of the Block 14 located in Angola, and the Haute Mer Permit located in the Republic of the Congo. According to Moreira, who is also secretary-general of the commission, the body is working under the guidelines of the African Union, and the delimitation will be implemented with peace and stability by 2022. The Congolese delegation was led by Jacques Essissongo, permanent secretary of the national border commission of the Republic of the Congo. The next meeting is scheduled for August in Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of the Congo. Renowned Ukrainian sociologist Irina Bekeshkina died at the age of 69. The Democratic Initiatives Foundation, which she headed, stated this information. "Iryna Bekeshkina was a symbol of objective Ukrainian sociology, made a significant contribution to the development of democracy and civil society. Until the last day she was with us and conducted surveys, events; she was full of new ideas and plans," the message said. The cause of her death was not reported immediately. Iryna Bekeshkina was a well-known Ukrainian sociologist, an expert in political and electoral sociology. She worked in the fund "Democratic Initiatives" named Ilko Kucheriv since 1996. She's the author of over 100 scientific papers. In 2007 and 2008, Bekeshkina was in the TOP-100 of the most influential women in Ukraine according to the magazine Focus. As we reported before, in Italy, a second Ukrainian citizen died of coronavirus infection in Italy. The woman was in the risk group. Press secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Kateryna Zelenko and Head of the department of consular service of Ukraine's MFA Serhiy Pohoreltsev informed that. "Unfortunately, the information is being confirmed. Yesterday, a citizen of Ukraine, born in 1958, died of a coronavirus at the hospital of the city of Romano di Lombardy (Bergamo province)," Pohoreltsev said. President Muhammadu Buhari Austria and Sweden have been added to the list of high-risk countries restricted from entering Nigeria over the coronavirus pandemic. This was made public by the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire at a press briefing in Abuja on Friday. Nigeria had, on Wednesday, placed travel restrictions on entry into the county from 13 countries with high-burden of coronavirus. The countries are China, Iran, South Korea, Germany, Italy, United States, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway, Netherlands, Spain, France, and Japan. The country also announced a temporary suspension of visa-on-arrival policy. Details later In a bid to provide support to the economy, the United Kingdom Finance Minister Rishi Sunak, on March 20, unveiled an unprecedented wage boost. As per reports, Sunak announced that the UK government will be paying 80 per cent of wages for employees who are not working. The new measure is the first time in the history that UK government will step in and pay peoples wages. Earlier this week, Sunak had pledged to do whatever it takes to save peoples jobs and livelihood and while addressing the Downing Street briefing Sunak said that the government meant it. Under the new scheme, companies will be able to contact the tax department, HMRC, for a grant to provide most of the wages for people who are not working but are kept on payrolls. Sunak described the new plan as the most comprehensive in the world. READ: UK PM Boris Johnson Orders UK-wide Lockdown From Tonight While briefing about the new plane, he further said that the Coronavirus Business Interruption Scheme will also be interest-free for the next 12 months, with loans available from March 23. Furthermore, in order to provide further cashflow support, Sunak said that the government will be deferring the next quarter of VAT payments as well. He further urged businesses to stand behind the workers and remember the many small acts of kindness done by the government. READ: UK Asks Retired Nurses And Doctors To Return Amid Coronavirus Battle $400 billion package In a bid to support businesses survive the unprecedented times, earlier this week, the British government had also unveiled $400 billion packages. While speaking to an international media outlet, Sunak said that the measures were equivalent to 15 per cent of GDP. He further added that the package is available to any business that needs access to cash. Meanwhile, the British government reportedly also warned that the virus is spreading faster than the authorities had predicted. While speaking to an international media outlet, London Mayor Sadiq Khan said that UK capital is a few weeks ahead of the rest of the country and the way the virus is spreading faster than the government and advisers had thought. Khan believes that the advice given by the government to stop all non-essential social contact is the right advice. He reportedly said that the authorities have to take sensible steps to avoid the virus from spreading faster. READ: UK Classifies Journalist, Broadcaster As key Workers Amid Coronavirus Outbreak READ: Tata Motors JLR Suspends Production In UK Amid Coronavirus Pandemic THE REAL COST OF BEING CRITICALLY ILL IN SINGAPORE: Manulife survey reveals that 1 out of 3 critical illness patients have used up most or all their savings A new Manulife study on critical illness found that close to 40% of respondents have spent all or most of their savings battling illness. Furthermore, Singaporeans who become seriously ill do not just struggle with their disease and medical bills, they often feel like a burden to their friends and family (76%), experience emotional and psychological distress (72%) and face the fear of abandonment (58%). These are among the key findings of the survey* that polled 500 critically ill patients and caregivers to gain an insight into the reality of being sick in Singapore. The survey is unique in that it focuses on respondents, all of whom either have a serious illness or are caring for a sick friend or family member. This helps shed light into the real experiences, challenges and fears that they face. savings Manulife survey reveals that 1 out of 3 critical illness patients have used up most or all their savings savingsFirst Illness, Next Financial Distress As one might expect, financial concerns are among the biggest challenges faced by the very sick. Half of the respondents suffered serious financial problems after being diagnosed with critical illness. On average, patients spent about SGD$32,000 treating their critical illness conditions, while 15% spent in excess of $50,000 or more. As a result of their medical conditions, 1 in 3 patients applied for subsidies or sought cheaper medical care, while 1 in 4 borrowed money or remortgaged to afford treatments. An astounding 20% of respondents admitted to facing trouble paying for basic necessities. This could be an indication to why people with serious medical conditions are reluctant to seek medical attention and healthcare. The survey also found that a prolonged period of critical illness could lead to a permanent reduction in ones income. 33% of patients are worried that they will have to stop working after being diagnosed and 24% fear that they will end up losing their jobs. The medical bills will keep mounting while sources of income gradually shrink and eventually diminish. A shocking 6% of patients surveyed ended up declaring bankrupt as a result of their critical illness. Story continues Emotional Trauma of Being Critically Ill The costs of illness are not always limited to medical bills. The effects of a serious illness can disrupt all aspects of life, bringing about emotional upheaval from fear and worry to grief and despair. Besides worrying about their health, the Manulife survey revealed that most patients experience anxiety as their life enters a world of the unknown. Many patients fear the loss of independent existence (77%). At the same time, 72% are also worried about being diagnosed with another illness and 77% fear that their current condition will worsen. 72% indicated that the illness has brought about additional emotional and psychological disorders. Worry about having insufficient savings for long term medical care They are also unsure about their ability to come back stronger and continue building a future for themselves. 71% are afraid that they do not have sufficient savings to continue long term medical care and worry that they will eventually lose the ability to earn an income (65%). Over half of the patients surveyed are unsure if they will be able to pay off all the loans they have taken to cover their critical illness. Almost 100% of respondents felt that being diagnosed with a critical illness have made them a burden to others. In addition, 6 in 10 are afraid that their friends and family will abandon them. A worrying 50% of patients surveyed indicated that they would rather die than experience a relapse. Strain and Distress on Caregivers Critical illness can also put a financial strain on the patients family members or friends who are looking after them. According to the study 1 in 4 caregivers depleted most or all of their savings on health care needs. 1 in 3 sought cheaper medical care alternatives, and 1 in 10 could not afford to pay for basic necessities. 14% among those surveyed worried about having to quit or change their jobs to cope with caring for a critically ill friend or family member. 9 in 10 caregivers admitted that their family or loved one diagnosed with critical illness is a burden that put a strain on their financial situation. 71% of caregivers surveyed felt emotional pressures and ended up developing stress-related diseases and conditions. There is a general perception amongst Singaporeans that critical illness will not strike them or their family members. With our Manulife survey, we wanted to dig deeper into the realities of being very sick. The main thing that stood out was how critical illness does not just impact you, but affects the ones closest to you, especially the caregivers. Life is a journey with unexpected events along the way and we want to urge everyone to protect against lifes uncertainties, said Darren Thompson, Chief Product Officer of Manulife Singapore. Be #Unbroken in the Fight Against Critical Illness Critical illness does not discriminate. It can strike anyone regardless of age, background or gender at any time. The cost of critical illness is beyond measure. Yet, for the thousands of patients with critical illness and caregivers in Singapore, their will to survive and fight is commendable. It is this strength that inspired Manulife to produce a poignant feature film as a dedication and show of support to the #Unbroken ones. Titled The Unbroken, the short film highlights the unbreakable spirit of Singaporeans even in the face of an unexpected Critical Illness. Set in both the 1960s and present day, it tells the story of a familys unbreakable spirit in the face of adversity. An integral part of the film is its soundtrack. The classic Hokkien ballad was chosen to bring the films emotional and impactful story to life. The song was re-scored and sung by local Getai legend, Wang Lei, especially for this film. The film was launched on Manulifes YouTube channel and social media platforms. Closing the Critical Illness Protection Gap According to the Protection Gap Study Report released by the Life Insurance Association in 2018, Singaporeans are woefully underinsured for critical illness. Whether as individuals or families, there is a real risk that a critical illness or accident could bring about financial disaster either from the hefty bills or the loss of long-term income. With thoughtful protection planning, a critical illness plan can help to secure yourself and your loved ones future against lifes uncertainties Critical SelectCare : Designed specially for ages 40 70, the plan covers against selected major critical illnesses and is available even to those with certain existing health conditions. Ready CompleteCare : An extensive critical illness plan which covers 106 conditions over all stages. LifeReadyPlus with Early Critical Care Rider (II): A combination plan which offers the benefit of a whole life insurance plan with cash value and comprehensive critical illness coverage to protect at every stage of life. The post Savings used up by 1 out of 3 critical illness patients, survey reveals appeared first on iCompareLoan Resources. When do patients infected with the new coronavirus develop severe symptoms and when do they develop mild courses of disease? What is the best possible treatment and which measures have been successful up to now? Scientists and doctors urgently need reliable clinical data to enable them to answer these and many other questions about the coronavirus. Consequently, the German Society of Infectious Diseases (DGI) initiated the establishment of a European case registry to collect clinical data of patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. It is jointly being set up with the DZIF. "We have opted for this course of action as there has been a repeated call for free anonymized data," explains Prof. Joerg Janne Vehreschild, DZIF scientist at the University Hospital of Cologne. He is coordinating the project, which is being supported by the ESCMID Emerging Infections Task Force. "This registry will also collect clinical data of patients who are no longer capable of giving their informed consent." The new registry, Lean European Open Survey for SARS-CoV-2 Infected Patients, or LEOSS for short, will make all the data collected available to the scientific community for use in collaborative analyses. LEOSS is multilingual and open for implementation across the entire EU. An additional special feature of this registry is that the study will be self-managed by the participating centres. Multi-layered safety features will warrant strict anonymity, permitting patients who are no longer able to give their informed consent to be included in the registry. Mr Dixon said he did not want to lose any of his eight staff, but had little choice apart from reducing their shifts. "And everyone's been quite understanding about that," he said. "We still want to give everyone a share of hours." Sign up to our Coronavirus Update newsletter Get our Coronavirus Update newsletter for the day's crucial developments at a glance, the numbers you need to know and what our readers are saying. Sign up to The Sydney Morning Herald's newsletter here and The Age's here. Mr Dixon said he hoped employers alternated their employees between working from home and the office to give "businesses like us a bit more trade". "Hopefully, if it stays like this, depending on how long it goes for, I think well probably just get by," he said. As the Sydney CBD was turned into a ghost town, suburban cafes appeared to attract a steady stream of customers. Bat Country in Randwick had "a normal flat week", said co-owner Aidan Morrison. "It hasn't fallen apart yet." Bat Country in Randwick. Co-owner Aidan Morrison said he hoped to maintain trade in the coming weeks. Credit:Louise Kennerley Speaking before the latest restrictions on public gatherings were announced, Mr Morrison said he hoped to maintain trade in the coming weeks as more people worked from home. "We're watching day-by-day, expecting it to fall off a cliff at any point," he said. The restaurant, which serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, has six full-time staff and 10 casuals. Loading "Right now we havent made any adjustments, but some of the staff are nervous and edgy and asking about the possibility well have to close," Mr Morrison said. To stay open, the restaurant is expanding its takeaway menu and has begun selling pasta, milk, eggs and bread "just to try and offer things people might be struggling to get", he said. "We might try to sell a few rolls of toilet paper. Anything to keep the business open and the doors open." The federal government's aid package for small business included a 50 per cent rebate of income tax costs, up to $25,000. Mr Morrison said businesses that employ mainly low-income staff and casuals - such as cafes and restaurants - will struggle to benefit compared to companies employing high-income workers. "Businesses are incentivised to cut those workers that have fewer hours or lower wages first," he said. Nigel Nickless, the co-owner of Zinc in Potts Point, said he had hoped to maintain business as people working from home replaced lost tourist trade. "The beginning of the week was fine, but something happened yesterday that made everyone panic a little bit," he said on Friday. Mr Nickless said tables inside and outside the cafe had been removed to increase the distance between diners. An increase in cleaning and sanitation was keeping staff busy even as the number of customers dwindled. "Were hoping not to lose anyone as a lot of our staff have been with us a long time," he said. Ljubo Milicevic, the manager of Porch and Parlour, said the cafe opposite the North Bondi Surf Life Saving Club had initially been "quite busy" last week selling take-away coffees to people working from home. Porch and Parlour cafe manager Ljubo Milicevic said he believed the government should take decisive action. Credit:Steven Siewert "People were being told to steer clear of the city meant that a lot more people seemed to be at home," he said. Mr Milicevic said new rules announced on Friday requiring indoor venues to one patron every four square metres would affect the cafe, which had already removed several indoor tables. "We can literally have three or four people in every room and were used to having 20," he said. Mr Milicevic said the cafe had increased its take-away food offerings in an attempt to preserve some of its business. But he expected the cafe would be forced to reduce the number of hours its staff worked. Expressing a personal opinion, Mr Milicevic said he believed the government should take decisive action. The United States Embassy in Lima said Monday it is working in close coordination with the Peruvian Government to explore charter repatriation flights for hundreds of Americans stranded amid the coronavirus pandemic. It's a situation that has become frustrating for not only the stranded Americans, but also for the government of Peru. The nation's defense minister said over the weekend that Saturday is the last day the government will support the return of foreigners from the country before declaring the border "closed permanently" because of the coronavirus situation. Defense Minister Walter Martos said in a previous interview with Canal N that President Martin Vizcarra, who had initially closed the borders March 15, had ordered all airports and borders closed completely as of Sunday and will take a "much stricter measure," El Comercio reported Saturday. As of Monday afternoon, the U.S. Embassy said that approximately 600 Americans had already left Peru on expatriation flights. The Embassy did warn Americans against scams and added that Peru was limiting air traffic to repatriation travel for U.S. citizens facilitated through the U.S. government. Israel brought in planes on Thursday to take out hundreds of its citizens and Canada was repatriating many of its citizens Saturday. 'I can't help but feel we are abandoned': Stranded Americans seek US help amid global lockdown Jared Anderson, a 37-year-old New Yorker who flew to Peru on March 10 to visit his girlfriend, is one of the Americans stuck behind closed borders and under a 15-day quarantine. He said the U.S. Embassy has told them they are essentially on their own. A group of Canadians stranded in in the town of Pisac in south-central Peru hugs a band of Americans after a bus arranged by the Canadian embassy picks them for a trip to the airport. The Americans left behind said the Peruvian government planned to close all borders and shut down all airports on Sunday as part of a nationwide quarantine to fight the spread of the coronavirus. Anderson spoke to USA TODAY on Friday, only hours after Israeli planes brought out its citizens. Anderson said it is almost impossible to reach anyone on a U.S. Embassy phone in Lima and when he has, the embassy says "we are pretty much told this was the situation and you've got to figure it out." Story continues On Monday, Anderson updated USA TODAY via text message and said he still hasn't had luck in getting out of Peru. "Overall feel that the Peruvian government has done a good job of managing things for the most part and feel the issue around repatriation squarely falls on the U.S. government," Anderson wrote. "We have also been told that we are expected to sign a promissory note that we will repay the government if they repatriate us and it could be $1,500 one way. This is definitely higher than everyone's return airfare that we had booked with the airlines. "Many can't afford this and wonder how the government could be asking so much money especially as they are bailing out the airlines in the US and there are many aircraft sitting idle." In Monday's release, the U.S. Embassy asked that Americans interested in repatriation flights email their information to the Embassy, so that it could work on adding those interested to flight manifests. In the release, the Embassy said the flights would not be free, but that the passengers would not be asked to pay costs up front. After an outcry from individuals and members of Congress, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday that the department is using "all of the tools we can" to bring Americans home, including a mix of commercial and private flights. He said the agency is also discussing with the Pentagon the possibility of employing military aircraft. He said State Department has put together a "repatriation task force," which is working on reports from individual citizens and members of Congress, and is urging stranded travelers to log in to the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program. "We'll track you and try to get everybody back," Pompeo said. Jared Anderson and a group of other Americans, Lindsay Stork, Sapan Shah, and Alecia Chinai, are holed up in a hotel in Lima, Peru, after the government closed the borders in response to the coronavirus scare. Anderson says hundreds of Americans are stuck in the country. on March 20, 2020. The U.S. militarys Southern Command said Friday that it was flying 89 U.S. citizens from Honduras to Charleston, South Carolina, after they were unable to return home because of the virus outbreak in the second Air Force Mission to bring people from Honduras, the Associated Press reported. Anderson is in Lima, but said many of the Americans are scattered around the country particularly near the popular tourist destination of Machu Picchu and jungle cities of Iquitos and Pucallpa. Stranded in Peru: These Tennesseans are among the hundreds of Americans who didn't make it out before the country was locked down The personal and tourist trips were disrupted when the Peruvian president closed the border on March 15 and issued a strict, 15-day, stay-indoors quarantine for the entire country. Soldiers wearing protective face masks as a precaution against the spread of the new coronavirus, stand guard at a check point minutes before the start of a curfew decreed by the government in Lima, Peru, Friday, March 20, 2020. Peru is in its fifth day of a government decreed state of emergency amid the presence of COVID-19. Pauline Saade, from Cliffside, New Jersey, tells USA TODAY that she and 12 other "self-isolating" Americans and Canadians are stuck in the town of Pisac in south-central Peru, where they have been since Feb. 24. Saade, 38, said that the Canadians were contacted by their embassy on Friday and were getting picked up Saturday to take them to Cusco to get a flight home. She said the U.S. Embassy had come up short in their efforts to get out. "Theres lack of consistent information, lack of resources to get us out from point A to point B, lack of leadership, lack of seamless communications between countries and most important compassion to do whats right to get us home to our families so we can get through this difficult time in our homes surrounded by our loved ones," she said. Saade also said she had spent hours online and on the phone trying to rebook her flight or talk to a carrier representative. She added that those stranded there were having to pay up to $100 a night "in order for us to safely stay here." "I understand our leaders are doing what they can to contain the virus and protect people with compromised immune systems," Saade said. "I just wish the communication between countries like Peru and U.S. were more organized and efficient so the process of getting people out to there families can be achieved." Anderson said the Americans in his group are confined to a hotel, following a rigorous 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew. He said only one person from a family is allowed to go for groceries and must buy them and return directly. The group has even started a Facebook page called Americans Stuck in Peru. He said the group includes a pregnant woman, elderly people and one person with Lyme disease. Anderson said on Monday that there "are many scams going on" with companies posting to the Facebook page, claiming they can get the stranded travelers home but asking for funds sometimes thousands of dollars to be wired to them. Sen. Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, has been pressing the State Department for help in repatriating three Oregonians stranded in Peru. "He has been told a task force is working to extract all Americans overseas, and he remains determined to make sure this task force translates into action that gives all Americans trying to leave Peru, and any and all other countries, clear guidance and urgently needed assistance to bring them home," a spokesman for Wyden said on Saturday. Travel restrictions: Trump announces U.S.-Mexico border closure to stem spread of coronavirus Jason Gramling, from Milwaukee, said on the Facebook page that he is stuck there with his wife and two daughters, ages 6 and 10. "Please, we need to get out of here and get back home," he wrote. "We have a place to stay but very soon will be running out of money and food and I won't know what we will be able to do.please I don't want to die here." "My children are scared because there will be nothing to eat soon," he wrote. "What we don't know is what is happening," Anderson said. "The good news is that the grocery stores have food, but the medical care system is very different than the American standard and a little bit scary." "A lot of us are in good spirits and definitely ready to come home and be with family," he said. Americans who are not in Lima or Cusco but are interested in repatriation flights are being asked to shelter in place and follow quarantine measures until receiving flight information and transportation details from the Embassy. Contributing: Associated Press This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Coronavirus: U.S. Embassy working to repatriate Americans stranded in Peru Page Content People of St. Maarten, Today March 20th, I come once again, to address you as Prime Minister and Chair of the EOC, to update you on the latest developments regarding COVID-19 developments on St. Maarten. I will be bringing to you, an overview in couple of aspects. The first being the social affairs aspect. Social Affairs A social stimulus plan is being finalized for persons who will be directly affected by the economic downturn as a result of the COVID-19 developments. We are in constant contact with our Kingdom counterparts; The Netherlands, Curacao, Aruba, who together, during video conference held yesterday, March 19, 2020, confirmed our commitment to work together to alleviate the challenges that have already started to rise as a result of the COVID-19 virus which is a National Health Emergency of International concern. Our Dutch Kingdom partner, in the person of Minister of Interior and Kingdom Relations (BZK) Raymond Knops, assured he would highlight the needs of the Caribbean islands in todays Kingdom Council of Ministers meeting which was already held in The Netherlands. Kingdom members in the caribbean have highlighted to Minister Knops, our immediate, as well as projected needs for the rest of 2020. Minister Knops has assured all 3 countries that some form of assistance, which will be formalized during the coming week in bilateral discussions will come forth. St. Maarten has already expressed in this quadripartite meeting between the 4 countries of the Kingdom, that its financial needs for financial assistance have an immediate effect. As a basis for the social stimulus plan, a social assessment report will be conducted by Emergency Support Function 7 (ESF 7) and the ministry of VSA to determine the impact from a social perspective. ESF 7 has already identified that the approximately 1500 persons currently receiving social welfare will continue to do so, and plans are already underway to deliver care packages to them should the need arise before the end of the month. They are in constant contact with their clients and making plans for the expected increase in persons requiring social assistance. Health Care The St. Maarten Medical Centre (SMMC) is currently expanding its capacity to be able to offer triage for COVID-19 patients at the Emergency room, as well as working on the finalization of the Pavilion together with Government, which the Steering Committee has approved the use of $2.5 million via the NRPB trust fund which will outfit the Pavilion. The Pavilion will then contain 6 rooms, of which 5 will be quarantine rooms holding 2 persons each. Therefore, equipping it with 10 beds for quarantine purposes and the last space being a workspace for medical personnel. This effort, has been ongoing for some weeks, and I am very happy to announce that the specifications of the quarantine rooms have been approved and ordered. We expect that they will be here shortly while the Pavilion is being constructed. Containers are also being used by SMMC to expand their capabilities for immediate care for COVID-19 related patients. I must reiterate, that as of today there is still one COVID-19 positive patient and I must update that the second confirmatory test has also come out positive. However, the spouse of COVID-19 patient 1 has tested negative. Contact tracing of persons returning to St. Maarten or suspected of being exposed to the virus has been heightened by CPS (ESF6). 13 persons are currently being monitored as a result of both COVID-19 case 1 (St. Maarten) and the positive COVID-19 case from the French side. These persons will continue to be monitored according to CPS approved protocol which will be explained further. Persons who have been identified as having traveled from countries with COVID-19 clusters are required to fill in a form that is being provided to them by the immigration officer/Pubic Health officials currently stationed at the airport informing them of what will be required in the next 14 days. They will receive a letter signed by me, and sign a document agreeing to carry out the necessary protocol at home. These documents may now be found on the governments website at www.sintmaartengov.org/coronavirus. I would like to take this time to explain to persons what is meant by self - isolation a. Isolation is a medical term used to refer to the separation of ill patients from other persons to ensure the health safety of persons not ill. b. Quarantine is for persons who may have been exposed to ill persons but are not exhibiting symptoms. c. As we know although we are currently expanding our capacity to deal with extensive COVID-19 outbreak, we minimize capacity for such. Hence, the shut-down of travel from visitors. Therefore, persons are required to self-isolate in order to protect your loved ones and the rest of the population. To all residents who have gotten the opportunity to return home this past week from March 13th, and have not received the letter, please call CPS at 914 or your family doctor. Passengers coming in as of today are required to fill in the forms that will be handed to them by immigration officers, requiring self-isolation. In addition, COVID-19 suspected passengers and their family must sign a mandatory isolation document wherein the isolation rules and obligations are stipulated. Passengers who have traveled to St. Maarten from Friday March 13, should download this document and to make themselves known to CPS. You are hereby also asked to voluntarily self-isolate in order to ensure the protection of your family and the population. Finally, I would like to update you that, the shipment of PPEs (personal protective equipment), masks, etc. were received from the Netherlands via Bonaire today for further distribution by ESF 6. They are intended for St. Maarten, Saba, St. Eustatius. Business Affairs ESF 10 is conducting an assessment to determine the frequency of movements and compliancy in terms of social distancing at supermarkets and throughout other public areas and whether other measures should be taken. A regulation for social distancing for persons making use of public transportation, business and public areas will be implemented within short and published for all to know. Let me be very clear and transparent. We are currently unaware when this crisis will be over. We plan and hope that within two weeks the worst would have subsided. However, that remains to be seen. In the meantime, we, as a country sharing a border with French St. Maarten are trying to have some form of normalcy and ensure the safety and security of our population. This is why social-distancing has been implemented and will be enforced. If for whatever reason the recommended social distancing is not being adhered to, EOC will decide to upscale measures, which will lead to a total shut down and minimum mobility for the population for at least 2 full weeks. Businesses allowed to be operational according to our list of our essential business will now be mandated to close at 8 pm to minimize movement and the spread of COVID-19. This goes into effect, tomorrow Saturday, March 21, 2020 (ESF 10). Public order and Government services Public order is being maintained and monitored by ESF 5. Chief Carl John has updated me that there have been no unnecessary activity and there will be more patrols to ensure that the minimized movement is upheld. Essential government services such as Labor & Social Affairs, Receivers, and the Civil Registry Department will be provided with a hotline to be accessible for emergency cases as well as to schedule appointments in the coming days. If the proper protocols which we have put in place to protect our civil servants are not adhered to, all public services will then be moved to -appointments only- service to avoid much as possible contact. A communique with the changes in hours of operations from our government operations and how to access government services, will be communicated in my next press conference, until then the services will be provided. Government is recommending all essential businesses that have been allowed to remain open will designate the first hour of services to senior citizens as well as vulnerable persons such as pregnant women and persons with children. We believe that we are keeping the COVID-19 virus properly contained, but we are relying on you, the people of St. Maarten to do what we have to do. Each and every business, and service and institution which has been granted the opportunity to be open, to maintain the highest level of hygiene for themselves, their clients as well as their staff and to ensure that social distancing is being practiced in and around the establishment. I hope to have properly informed everyone about the steps Government is taking. Realize that we need you, and you are part of the solution as well as part of the problem. I look forward to hearing continuous good news from each of my ESFs and I thank the ESF coordinators for the contributions they are making for the EOC. I also thank all the Ministers in my cabinet as well as Parliament who have continuously given great suggestions to improve upon, regulations that have been put in place already. Today, March 20th, we are yet with one case. We pray to God that this continues and that each one of us does our part to ensure that. God Bless St. Maarten! Be Safe. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 14:28:27|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close MAHMUD-E-RAQI, Afghanistan, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Seven fighters including four pro-government militiamen and three militants have been confirmed dead as clash flared up in Nijrab district of Afghanistan's eastern Kapisa province on Saturday, Provincial Police Spokesman Abdul Karim Shaeq said. According to Shaeq, a group of Taliban insurgents stormed security checkpoints in the restive Nijrab district early Saturday morning, and triggered a gun battle lasting for a couple of hours. As a result, three insurgents and four pro-government militiamen were killed. One pro-government militia sustained wound in the firefight, the official added. The Taliban outfit has been rejecting to talk with the Afghan government. In an overnight operation on Friday, it killed two dozen security personnel in the southern province of Zabul, officials said. By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 03/20/2020 ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade. star Nicole Nafziger is apparently stuck in Morocco while visiting Azan Tefou after the country temporarily shut down international flights due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic."Sucks everything is closed. I'm still in Morocco for everyone that wants to know," Nicole, captioned a photo of herself watching TV on her Instagram Stories Thursday."Not going home just yet. But I'm fine. We're good."Nicole, 26, revealed she and Azan, 29, had reunited in a selfie she posted March 11 on Instagram."So happy to finally be with my love again," Nicole captioned the picture.Ever since then, Nicole has been gushing about her time with Azan in Morocco.Earlier this week, the star posted a video of Azan making a funny face and her laughing at him."These days with you have been so amazing.i I love laughing and smiling with you my love," Nicole captioned the video.One day earlier, Nicole noted she and her man had "a great night out the other day."It appears Nicole's six-year-old daughter May from a previous relationship did not join her on the trip.Nicole first revealed last month she had an exciting "trip coming up," and then she teased her vacation again on March 4 -- without telling her social-media followers where she was traveling."My last week of work until my trip! I'm so excited for this vacation," Nicole teased alongside a photo of herself working as a barista at Starbucks on March 3. "Where do you think I'm going?"Nicole's secret resulted in fans speculating she was planning to visit Azan in Morocco, especially since she had confirmed in a recent Q&A session she'd be seeing her love "soon," according to In Touch Weekly.Fans of the show, however, were skeptical and gave Nicole a hard time that Azan would probably cancel on her and flake."Azan has only ever canceled one trip and that was for a family emergency," Nicole clapped back . "I canceled my last trip there."According to In Touch, Nicole recently confirmed Azan is still her fiance and she loves him with "all" of her heart after four years. She reportedly said they're just trying to "navigate this challenging thing called life together."In November 2019, RadarOnline reported it had been two years since the couple last saw each other "They still talk occasionally, but there have been a lot of fights between them on the phone," a source said. "The family is surprised they're still together."The source also insisted Nicole and Azan had "no plans for a wedding.""He can't get a visa," the source explained to the website. "She's talked about going back to Morocco, but she doesn't have money. She has to save."Nicole and Azan met on a mobile dating app years ago when she was 21 years old and living in Bradenton, FL. Azan was 23 years old and from Agadir, Morocco, at the time.Nicole and Azan got their start on reality TV by starring on Season 4 of the original series, followed by Season 5 of the series.That later led into an appearance on Season 3 of : Happily Ever After? and then Season 4.Nicole and Azan's initial wedding plans in Morocco in 2018 fell through due to alleged time and financial constraints.At the time, Azan seemed to convince Nicole to invest $6,000 of her wedding money into opening a beauty store instead, while he planned to contribute $500 to the overall cost.It's unclear whether that store was a real possibility or will ever actually open considering both Nicole and Azan have made different claims in recent months.Nicole then planned to meet Azan for a fun vacation in Grenada, but that's the trip Azan chose to cancel due to an alleged "family emergency."Nicole therefore booked a trip back to Morocco in 2019, when she thought a wedding would be "highly likely." But the trip got canceled just two weeks later.Nicole never disclosed the reasons behind canceling that trip to Morocco, but the frustration and disappointment all over her face on Season 4 of : Happily Ever After? pointed to Azan being the decision-maker.During the Tell-All special for the spin off's fourth season, Nicole announced her trip to Morocco didn't happen "because sometimes, things are just personal."In August 2019, a source told In Touch that Nicole was getting her life "back on track" with a her new job as a barista and an apartment of her own. Nicole had also enrolled May, now 5, in kindergarten.The global coronavirus outbreak has led major cities in the United States, including Massachusetts and New York City, to shut down restaurants, bars and schools as the number of confirmed cases rises.The coronavirus pandemic has also affected production schedules of dozens of television shows, including reality shows such as ABC's The Bachelorette and CBS' Survivor and The Amazing Race.Want more spoilers or couples updates? Click here to visit our webpage! JACKSON COUNTY, Mississippi All four Jackson County municipalities, following a directive from the Mississippi Department of Health, have issued proclamations closing or restricting restaurants, bars and other gathering spots throughout the county as the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus continues in Mississippi and across the nation. Moss Point was the first to take action, announcing Thursday the restriction of businesses in that city, limiting restaurants, bars and other similar establishments to carryout, drive-thru or delivery services only. Ocean Springs followed suit Friday night, with Pascagoula and Gautier doing so Saturday. Other cities along the coast have taken the same steps, including Biloxi and Gulfport. The MDH recommendations include not attending weddings, funerals, church services or other gatherings of 10 or more people. I think theres a sense of all the mayors along the coast wanting to act in unison to have similar regulations in each city, said Pascagoula Mayor Steve Demetropoulos, who is a physician with Singing River Health System. These regulations are complaint with the states recommendations to limit restaurants and similar facilities, as well as limiting congregations to less than 10. The restrictions are fairly uniform across the county, including, as noted, mandating that restaurants, bars and other food and drink establishments cease offering dining-in services and also limiting the number of people allowed in the business at any one time for carryout purposes. Government buildings and other facilities, such as parks, are either closed to the public entirely or limited to gatherings of less than 10. Check with your local government to determine what facilities remain open to the public. The Jackson County Board of Supervisors, however, as yet has not put any restrictions on businesses located outside the four municipalities, supervisor Troy Ross said Saturday afternoon. Everything weve done so far has pertained to county facilities, county employees, Ross said. "We are encouraging people to follow the 10-person limit rule, but we have not enacted any official limitation on business. We are telling people to use common sense and avoid large groups of people. It would be best if you closed the interior of a restaurant or a similar establishment and let people come get takeout, but as of right now the county has not mandated that. In its now-daily update, the MDH said Saturday there were 60 new cases of COVID-19 in the state, bringing the statewide total to 140, or 0.00005 percent of the states population of roughly 3 million. There were two new cases reported in Jackson County, bringing the county total to five. With two additional cases reported in Harrison County and one in Hancock County, the total for the three coastal counties of Mississippi stood at 19 as of mid-afternoon Saturday. The MDH said 775 people had been tested by the state lab. Additional information released by the MDH included: 66 percent of COVID-19 patients thus far have been female More than 37 percent of all cases involve patients 60 years of age or older There have been only three cases among those under the age of 18 67 percent of patients have not required hospitalization Speaking as a physician, Demetropoulos said its important for people to focus on facts, not rumor and speculation. I think we have to focus on the facts, the evidence-based things we know that can be found on the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) and MDH websites, not on social media, he said. We cant live in fear. The facts help us make good judgments. It helps us to understand that the low-risk people have to help the high-risk people avoid exposure. Thats where these regulations come into play. If we can reduce the person-to-person contact, we can flatten the curve of the expansion of the virus further into the community. Demetropoulos also encouraged residents throughout the coast and elsewhere to be smart. Reduce the congregating, reduce the exposure. Lets do things that are smart, he said. Thats the big thing Id like to encourage people to do. Be smart about it, know what the facts are and what has been working. Thats how we move forward. I think the big message is we can get through this, but its going to take all of us working together to get through it. We will make it through, but we have to work together. Many working Australians don't have enough cash to survive the current crisis without government help, and 10 per cent of working households have less than $90 in the bank. New analysis by the Grattan Institute estimates that the bottom 40 per cent of working households have the equivalent of three weeks' income or less in the bank. A quarter of all working households have less than a week's salary put aside for a rainy day - or a pandemic. Sarah Shaweesh, owner of Khamsa Cafe in Newtown, which is offering free food to casual workers and freelancers. Credit:Roger Stonehouse Even though higher income households have far more in the bank, they will also start to struggle if they are made redundant or temporarily stood down without pay. The research shows that about 40 per cent of the highest fifth of income earners have less than four week's salary in the bank. Grattan economist Brendan Coates warned that working households - where at least one member is in work - will be the most vulnerable to the current crisis. Pensioners and those on government payments like Newstart were already doing it tough, but the crisis would not affect their cash flow. Tuolumne County Public Health Department View Photo Sonora, CA Tuolumne County Health officials released the Friday update that provides testing numbers while noting that there is still no confirmed case in the county. Below is the latest information provided by the county: Tuolumne Situation: Tuolumne County Testing* / Case Information (as of 3/20/20) Total Tested Total Pending Total Negative Total Positive Total Deaths 62 14 48 0 0 California Testing / Case Information (as of 3/17/20) Total Tested Total Pending Total Negative Total Positive Total Deaths Unknown 10,000+ 5,600+ 675 16 *Tuolumne County testing numbers include only those routed through Public Health to a Public Health Laboratory and those reported through the State infectious disease reporting system. The numbers do not necessarily include those routed through a commercial laboratory. All positive cases must be reported to Public Health. For State data, visit: https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/Immunization/ncov2019.aspx. For National data, visit: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/cases-in-us.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fcoronavirus%2F2019-ncov%2Fcases-in-us.html An updated overview of myMotherLode Coronavirus news stories and the neighboring County CoVID-19 report is here. Local Activations & Declarations: PUBLIC HEALTH COVID-19 CALL CENTER: Public Health has activated a call center that will go live on 3/18/20 at 9 a.m. The call center will be open Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The call center phone number is 209-533-7440. We still encourage community members to call the Adventist Health COVID-19 Advice Line at 844-542-8840 with questions or concerns about visiting an Adventist Health clinic or hospital, but phone calls with other questions or concerns may be made to the Public Health COVID-19 Call Center. The Public Health Department has activated its Department Operations Center (DOC) to most effectively respond to the COVID-19 incident, including communication and coordination with our federal, state, and local partners. Dr. Eric Sergienko, acting Tuolumne County Health Officer, has declared a local health emergency in order to enhance the effectiveness of the response to COVID-19, to seek and utilize mutual aid, potentially obtain reimbursement, and ensure that the Countys public health professionals and providers have all necessary resources to provide quality care and keep our community safe. Dr. Sergienko issued a revised Health Officer Order on 3/17/20 The Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians declared a State of Emergency on March 19, 2020 due to COVID-19. The Tuolumne County Office of Emergency Services, with the approval of the Board of Supervisors, declared a local state of emergency on 3/17/20. In order to better focus public health resources on the changing needs of California communities, as of March 18 th , the state is no longer collecting information about California travelers from countries that have confirmed COVID-19 outbreaks. Community transmission has been identified in California since late February, and since early March, most of the confirmed cases in the state were not related to travel outside of the U.S. State Orders On March 19, 2020, the State Public Health Officer Dr. Angel issued the following, To protect public health, I as State Public Health Officer and Director of the California Department of Public Health order all individuals living in the State of California to stay home or at their place of residence except as needed to maintain continuity of operations of the federal critical infrastructure sectors, as outlined at https://www.cisa.gov/identifying-critical-infrastructure-during-covid-19. To view the full Executive Order, visit: https://covid19.ca.gov/img/Executive-Order-N-33-20.pdf For more information about the Executive Order, visit: https://covid19.ca.gov/stay-home-except-for-essential-needs/?fbclid=IwAR16K1XfBpq_kuRtMJLNVZjP9VeIsoTvH5EkdOUFxLrMiIaUS7Bs54jJ4Z8 COVID-19 Testing: Testing is being conducted at the discretion of health care providers in the community, based on their clinical assessment and current recommended guidance Tests that will be conducted through the Public Health laboratory system are coordinated with our Public Health Department Testing is available through Quest laboratories with a health care providers order. These tests are not required to be communicated through the Public Health Department, but our local providers are strongly encouraged to do so Any positive test result must be reported to the Public Health Department Community Agency Updates: We would like to include relevant updates from agencies that serve the community (e.g., the Senior Center is closed but they are offering drive-through lunch pick-up). Please submit updates to PHPIO@co.tuolumne.ca.us by noon each day for your update to be included in this daily email update. Amador Tuolumne Community Action Agency (ATCAA) ATCAA has made some changes to their services as reported here. ATCAA has made some changes to their services as reported here. Area 12 Agency on Aging A12AA has closed their office for in-person services but will continue to be available by phone during normal business hours. All HICAP appointments will be conducted by phone. A12AA has closed their office for in-person services but will continue to be available by phone during normal business hours. All HICAP appointments will be conducted by phone. Behavioral Health Lambert Center closed until further notice Enrichment Center some programs (e.g., Adult Education, Small Group Support, etc.) have been canceled until further notice. Hours and locations of other programs have been adjusted. For more information, visit the following Facebook pages: Tuolumne County Behavioral Health, Tuolumne County Enrichment Center, and The David Lambert Community Drop-In Center The 24-hour crisis phone line is: 209-533-7000 or toll free 800-630-1130 Libraries The Groveland and Twain Harte Branch Libraries are closed but the Tuolumne and Sonora library remain open. All library programs (e.g., book clubs, story times, etc.) have been canceled. Senior Center The Senior Center at 540 Greenley Road will be closed until further notice The Senior Center will have meals available for pick-up only at 540 Greenley Road in Sonora. Lunches will be made available to current Intake Congregate Clients and by reservation only. Current lunch participants who would like to reserve a lunch should call 209-533-2622 by 9 a.m. that morning For more information, visit: http://www.sierraseniorproviders.org/ The Meals on Wheels Program is continuing service as usual The Sonora, Jamestown, and Groveland Congregate lunch sites have ceased on-site serving Mass Gatherings The State order issued on 3/19 (see above) supersedes the County Health Officer order from 3/17/20. Mass Gatherings: Per the 3/17/20 Tuolumne County Health Officer Order (applicable until 4/30/20): All events that have more than 50 participants shall be canceled or postponed to such a time as this Health Officers Order has lapsed All events that may have fewer than 50 participants where it is not feasible to maintain social distances of six feet shall be canceled or postponed to such a time as this Health Officers Order has lapsed Gatherings for those who are at high risk of severe illness, such as those older than 65, those with existing heart or lung disease, and those with diabetes, shall not exceed more than ten participants who are at high risk Issuance of assemblage permits and facility use permits shall be canceled View the CDPH Guidance for Gatherings, here. Schools: The Tuolumne County Superintendent of Schools announced on 3/18/20 that County schools will extend their closure through April 13, 2020, with the anticipated return to classrooms on April 14 th , depending on guidance from the Governor, CDE, and the State Department of Health. View the full announcement here: https://www.tcsos.us/wp-content/uploads/Extended-School-Closures-03_18_2020.pdf , depending on guidance from the Governor, CDE, and the State Department of Health. View the full announcement here: https://www.tcsos.us/wp-content/uploads/Extended-School-Closures-03_18_2020.pdf The School Districts of Tuolumne County are working with their Community Partners to help deliver meals to families of school-age students (0-18). Please visit the following page to see how each district is distributing food to families: https://www.tcsos.us/newsroom/2019-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-meal-distribution/ Private school closure is at school administrator discretion Mother Lode Adventist Junior Academy has reported that they will be closed 3/18/20 through 4/12/20 Please view the CDPH COVID-19 Schools guidance here: https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/CDPH%20Document%20Library/School%20Guidance_ADA%20Compliant_FINAL.pdf *New* Businesses COVID-19 Business Resources Tuolumne County: https://www.tuolumnecounty.ca.gov/1265/COVID-19 Governors Office of Business and Economic Development: https://business.ca.gov/coronavirus-2019/ COVID-19 Guidance Highlights: The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) has their guidance documents available in one place: https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/Guidance.aspx Food, Beverage, Other Services: Bars, wineries, breweries, and pubs should be closed, except for venues that are currently authorized to provide off sale beer and wine to be consumed off-premises Restaurants should be closed for in-restaurant seated dining, and should be open only to drive-through or other pick-up/delivery options For the full guidance, click here. Self-Isolation for Older Adults (age 65 and older) and Those Who Have Elevated Risk Remain at home until further guidance is issued Continue with outdoor activities Practice social distancing, both in and outside the home Stay in touch with others by phone, email, or other online tools Identify family, friends, neighbors, and caregivers who can provide support Have supplies on hand Have a plan for if you get sick Practice hand washing Use respiratory etiquette Clean and disinfect your home to remove germs For the full guidance, click here. What You Can Do: Practice everyday preventive actions to stay healthy Wash your hands thoroughly and frequently with soap and water for 20 seconds, or with hand sanitizer of soap is not available Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth If you are ill, stay home. If other family members are ill, including children, keep them home. Practice social distancing: put more space between yourself and others. About 6 feet is good, if you can Avoid contact with people who are sick Clean frequently touched surfaces and objects often with soap and water or household cleaners. Dont forget your cell phone Per the Presidents Coronavirus Guidelines: If you are a person with a serious underlying health condition that can put you at increased risk (e.g., a condition that impairs your lung or heart function or weakens your immune system), stay home and away from other people Per the Presidents Coronavirus Guidelines: If you are young, or otherwise healthy, you are at risk and your activities can increase the risk for others. It is critical that you do your part to stop the spread of coronavirus: Work or engage in schools from home whenever possible If you work in a critical infrastructure industry, such as healthcare services and pharmaceutical and food supply, you have a special responsibility to maintain your normal work schedule. You and your employers should follow CDC guidance to protect your health at work. Avoid social gatherings in groups of more than 10 people Avoid eating and drinking in restaurants and food courts use drive-thru, pickup, or delivery options Avoid discretionary travel, shopping trips, and social visits Practice good hygiene Those visiting Tuolumne County from counties that have Shelter-in-Place orders should, at a minimum, self-monitor with twice daily symptoms checks, including taking a temperature, if possible. These individuals should also limit their travel. For the local notice, see attached document. To learn about COVID-19 symptoms, visit: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/symptoms.html If someone in your household has tested positive for COVID-19, keep the entire household at home. Do not go to work. Do not go to school. Contact your medical provider. If you have symptoms or get sick: Stay home, unless you need to seek medical care Stay away from other people, pets, and animals. As much as possible, you should stay in a specific room and use a separate bathroom if available. Call ahead before visiting your doctor, clinic, or hospital Wear a face mask to avoid spreading germs Cover your cough with a tissue and immediately throw it in the trash, or cough into your bent elbow. Wash your hands after using a tissue. Wash your hands often and avoid sharing personal items Please see the CDC recommendations here. Stay Informed: After US President Donald Trump calling COVID-19 a "Chinese virus" and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blaming China, Russia and Iran for spreading disinformation about new coronavirus, questions are now being raised over whether Beijing can be held legally accountable for covering up initial outbreak and clamping down on real information from being shared. During a White House briefing on Friday Pompeo said the false information is coming from "places like China and Russia and Iran, where there are coordinated efforts to disparage what America is doing and our activity to do all the things President Trump has set in motion here". Trump earlier said that it's unfortunate that the new coronavirus got out of control. "It came from China, it got out of control. Some people are upset. I know President Xi. He loves China. He respects the United States and I have to say I respect China greatly and I respect President XI," he said. According to a report in Fox News, the communist superpower can be held legally accountable. "An argument could be made that just like support for terrorism, which is legally actionable, a government that engages in such reckless disregard and negligence and covers up an epidemic which has the potential to spread worldwide could be held legally liable," Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, an Israel-based attorney with an specialization in suing terrorist regimes and state sponsors who orchestrate human rights abuses on behalf of victims was quoted as saying in the report. "Cover-ups and deliberate acts to conceal a deadly medical crisis are not [among] the protected acts of a sovereign state or of responsible leaders," the expert added. "China is not to blame for creating the virus but for not sounding the international alarm and trying to conceal it from the world," she said. A latest study by the University of South Hampton in the UK said China could have prevented 95 per cent of coronavirus infections if its measures to contain the outbreak had begun three weeks earlier. "Coronavirus cases could have been reduced by 66 per cent if the measures were taken a week earlier, or by 86 per cent if action began two weeks earlier. If action was taken three weeks later, then the situation could have worsened 18-fold," said the study. According to a timeline by Axios, it was December 10 when China reported first patient that started showing COVID-19 like symptoms. The governments can sue China before international tribunals for violating its obligation to report the coronavirus outbreak early. China has hit out at Trump, who had called coronavirus a "Chinese" disease. Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang urged "the US to correct its mistake and stop its groundless accusations against China". State new agency Xinhua termed Trump's language was "racist and xenophobic". China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced the expulsion of American journalists working for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post as a measure taken by Beijing "in the spirit of reciprocity." On March 2, Washington announced that state-controlled Chinese media outlets such as Xinhua, CGTN, China Daily and China Radio International could only employ a restricted number of Chinese nationals for these organisations on US territory. Trump has also accused China of spreading false information about the US. "I didn't appreciate the fact that China was saying that our military gave it to them. Our military did not give it to anybody." "China was putting out information, which was false," he said. The number of infections worldwide climbed to over 275,000 on Saturday, including over 11,000 deaths, according to John Hopkins Univeristy's coronavirus resource centre. The central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the coronavirus is believed to have originated, remains under lockdown after nearly two months, even as the worlds attention has shifted to other hotspots. These pictures show through windows and on balconies and rooftops how Wuhan residents holed up in their apartments are getting on with their lives. People can be seen hanging laundry. Children play. One man eats noodles. Another smokes a cigarette. Chinese officials and some public health experts have credited the draconian confinement measures on a city of 11 million, and much of Hubei province, of which it is the capital, with slowing the spread of the disease and turning the tide of infection across China. Other countries, including Iran, Italy and the United States, are struggling to manage their outbreaks. But even as the number of new reported cases stops in Wuhan, people in the city remain suspended in an isolated new normal. Residents are forbidden from venturing out of their homes even to buy food, which must be delivered. Schools and most shops remain shut, and roads are virtually empty. On Tuesday last week, Wuhan closed the last of 14 makeshift hospitals set up to treat and isolate patients after the outbreak had overwhelmed the citys healthcare system. In a dramatic sign that the situation is improving, president Xi Jinping made a high-profile visit to the stricken city, his first since the outbreak began. Nearly 50,000 coronavirus cases have been reported in Wuhan, with around 2,500 deaths. However, China this week reported no new domestic cases meaning the strict isolation measures have been working. But the outbreak has also exacted an unquantifiable psychological toll on people in Wuhan as families cope with loss, children are unable to go to school or play outside, and livelihoods are imperilled as people cant go to work. Reporting by Carlos Garcia and Tony Munroe, Reuters Leader of Lebanons most powerful force blames US pressure in the release of the man known as the Butcher of Khiam. Beirut, Lebanon The leader of Lebanons Iran-backed Hezbollah group on Friday denied involvement in the recent release of a Lebanese-American man accused of overseeing the torture of thousands of Lebanese during the Israeli occupation of Lebanon. Hezbollah Secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah said that his organisation had no prior knowledge of the military courts decision earlier this week to release Amer Fahkhoury, the commander of the notorious Khiam Prison from the 1980s until the 1990s, when he was a member of the South Lebanon Army (SLA), an Israeli proxy. Instead, the leader of the most powerful force in Lebanon said he had learned of the decision on television, and then made calls to inquire about it. There was American pressure, and some people were weak, he said. Fakhoury left Lebanon on Thursday on board a US Army helicopter that departed from the US Embassy north of Beirut, following his release on March 16. He had been detained after entering Lebanon in September and was charged with kidnapping, imprisoning and torturing inmates at Khiam. The court, headed by Brigadier-General Hussien Abdallah, however, dropped the charges saying the statute of limitations had passed. The US had been pushing for the release of Fakhoury, who is also referred to as the Butcher of Khiam. Two senators sponsored a bill that would have seen sanctions imposed on Lebanese officials involved in his detention. Nasrallah also said the US had threatened economic sanctions at a time of crushing economic crisis, and amid fears of such measures being imposed due to US President Donald Trumps maximum pressure campaign against Iran and its affiliates. He said some Lebanese officials had come to him and asked him whether charges against Fakhoury could be dropped, in order to secure his release at a time when Lebanon could not bear any more pressure. Nasrallah said he opposed such a decision on moral grounds, but also because it would encourage the US to bully Lebanon with the threat of sanctions in the future. Thank you, Lebanese government Fakhourys release sparked outrage in Lebanon, which was under Israeli occupation from 1982 till 2000 and is officially still at war with Israel. Many saw the timing of Fakhourys release as the country is in a partial lockdown over the global coronavirus pandemic as intentional to contain public anger. Several prominent journalists and politicians, including some supporters of Hezbollah, said a decision of this scale could not have been made without the implicit approval of the party and its allies, who have control over the Parliament and government. Hezbollah and its allies the Amal Movement and the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) who are represented by most ministers in government have all condemned the decision. The FPM also specifically denied its leader, MP Gebran Bassil, had any role in Fakhourys release, following reports suggesting his direct involvement. Trump had thanked the Lebanese government for their apparent cooperation in Fakhourys release on Thursday, saying, We are very thankful to the Lebanese government, they worked with us. Lebanons Information Minister did not respond to a request for comment on the matter. Former detainees of the pro-Israel South Lebanon Army (SLA) militia hold posters depicting former SLA member Amer Fakhoury during a demonstration in Beirut in September 2019 [File: Aanwar Amro/AFP] No Deal Nasrallah said criticisms of Hezbollah, a group that fought the SLA and Israel for decades, were part of a campaign aimed at breaking the confidence of its supporters towards the group. We had no knowledge of any deal, and we know that there was no deal, Nasrallah said. Hezbollah had condemned the decision to release Fakhoury from the outset, saying in a statement that the military judges who agreed to drop charges against Fakhoury should have resigned instead of bowing to US pressure. On Friday, Military Tribunal head Abdallah announced his resignation, saying he had only been implementing the law and was leaving his post out of respect for the military. It was part of a string of developments aimed at containing the fallout from the scandal. Prime Minister Hassan Diab wrote on social media that the crime of collaborating with the Israeli enemy cannot be forgotten. Defence Minister Zeina Akar said she would amend Lebanons penal code to remove a statute of limitations on aggression against Lebanon, and would add language concerning crimes against humanity, which Fakhoury is accused of. On Friday, former inmates at Khiam Prison filed suits against anyone involved in Fakhourys release specifically including politicians and members of the military court for crimes including conspiracy with a foreign state. Eleven days ago, Corianne Goldstein broke out in chills and fever, sitting on her couch in Matawan, N.J. By last weekend, she was coughing. And on Tuesday night, struggling to breathe, she went to the emergency room at Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel. Im just terrified, she said during a phone interview earlier this week. By Saturday, the 32-year-old Rowan University graduate and marketing professional was hospitalized with double pneumonia and had tested positive for the coronavirus, despite no underlying preexisting conditions that might have made her more vulnerable. She couldnt even breathe well enough to talk, she said by text. READ MORE: Coronavirus roller coaster will last months, not weeks, experts predict She doesnt know what will come next, but she is going public with her illness because she wants younger people still getting together and going out to know that despite early indications that the illness doesnt hit them as hard, it can be dangerous to them, too. I feel like if I sacrifice my name out there, it would give them some perspective, she said. Its well worth it. Im 32 and healthy. If it can happen to me, it can happen to anybody. Her concerns have been buttressed by data coming out of Italy and France that show younger people have been hospitalized after getting the virus. Deborah Birx, the response coordinator of the nations coronavirus task force, talked at a White House news conference on Wednesday about the data from those countries, noting young people getting seriously ill and very seriously ill in the ICU, according to the Washington Post. Her warning came as young people on spring break continued to gather on beaches and in restaurants. A report this month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that 20% of the people hospitalized for the virus in the United States as of March 16 were ages 20 to 44. READ MORE: Younger adults are large percentage of coronavirus hospitalizations in United States, according to new CDC data Elena Blanc, 31, a graduate of the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts, began to get a sore throat and general congestion a little over a week ago. She thought it was just allergies, but then started to develop heaviness in her lungs and a dry cough. By last weekend, she had a low-grade fever. She knew that three students at a private school in her Brooklyn neighborhood had tested positive and that the virus was likely around. It was pretty obvious I had the virus at that point, Blanc said by email Thursday. Her primary care doctor told her the illness was likely COVID-19, but because of test shortages and the fact that she doesnt have underlying conditions that would make her more susceptible to bad outcomes, she would not be tested unless her symptoms worsened. Her partner also is sick; he developed similar symptoms shortly after Blanc did, she said. She didnt mind not being tested, Blanc said, given that it really wouldnt change her course of action. But Blanc, a full-time graduate student in the economics department at the New School for Social Research, said she is disturbed at how slow and inadequate the countrys response to the virus had been as of the middle of this past week. In the last couple of days, there seem to be some more measures being taken both to slow the spread of the virus and to increase capacity for the health-care system to handle the coming surge," she said, but the delay between the first cases being reported and substantial action being taken has been alarming. She knew about the school in her area having cases only because of seeing a release on its website. There should have been more information earlier about potential community spread, she said. Goldstein, a former newspaper reporter, said she doesnt know how she got the virus. She had been trying to get tested for several days, which she said was frustrating. She had tested negative for the flu and strep, she said. It was really hard to get someone to listen to me, she said. Her primary care doctor wouldnt see her. Some health-care professionals were skeptical that she had the virus, she said, including one doctor who told her it was unlikely she had contracted it. They still dont think its going to come back positive, she said Wednesday. Then on Friday, it did. She is being treated with Plaquenil, a drug used in the treatment of malaria and chronic rheumatoid arthritis, she said. There is no cure for the virus. Her doctor, she said, told her Im handling it well and to stay positive. The hospital nurses have been treating her wonderfully, she said. Her husband also has gotten sick but is on medications at home. She worries about the coming days and how many more people will get sick. I think the numbers are skewed really low, she said on Wednesday, because for seven days I sat home, with all these symptoms, with a 102 fever, just trying to ride it out, so I didnt overwhelm the emergency room. Theres got to be hundreds of people like me, doing that. Countries across the globe have imposed a variety of travel restrictions in an effort to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. The U.S. State Department advised Americans not to travel abroad at all, the strongest U.S. alert yet. The department on Thursday issued a Level 4 advisory for travel abroad "do not travel." The advisory came a day after the closure of the U.S.-Canada border. Talk of closing the U.S.-Mexico border is ongoing. But other countries have gone even further some locking down travel in and out of the country completely. South Africas largest airport announced Friday that foreigners would not be allowed to disembark as the country's coronavirus cases neared. And state-owned South African Airways suspended all international flights until June. The aircraft will be contained at an isolated bay with all officials ensuring the utmost care is taken, O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg said, following up on the governments announcement of travel restrictions days ago while declaring a national disaster. We are working with the airline to ensure that foreign nationals return to the country of origin. An elderly passenger arrives in a wheelchair at Johannesburg's O.R. Tambo International Airport, Monday, March 16, 2020, a day after President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a national state of disaster. South Africa will close 35 of its 53 land borders and will intensify screening at its international airports. The Johannesburg airport is the busiest in Africa. Foreigners across the continent have faced the increasing chance of being stranded as countries close borders and block flights. Travelers rush to Moroccan airports for evacuation flights Meanwhile, foreigners stranded in locked-down Morocco are getting on evacuation flights Friday as governments try to repatriate their citizens after days of travel frustration. Visitors from around the world have found themselves stuck in Morocco since the North African country suspended all international passenger flights and passenger ships to and from its territory beginning Sunday. The U.S. government announced special chartered flights for U.S. citizens leaving Friday, after growing complaints from several hundred American students and tourists scattered in cities around Morocco. Story continues Passengers line up to board one of the few flights out of Morocco in Marrakech, Thursday, March 19, 2020. Morocco suspended all international passenger flights and passengers ships to and from its territory on Sunday. Since then, citizens from all over the world found themselves stuck in the touristic country. Some have been sleeping on floors in the Marrakech airport, or holed up in one of the last hotels open in Rabat. American tourists and students told The Associated Press on Thursday that the U.S. government had done little to help them, and they were forced to seek guidance from other governments or find their own way home despite limited escape routes. The U.S. ambassador tweeted a video promising to help, and the evacuation flights were announced overnight. There are stranded travelers of all nationalities around the world, but evacuation assistance and guidance has varied widely from government to government. In its latest figures, Morocco lists 63 confirmed coronavirus cases, including two deaths. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Coronavirus travel: In Africa, some travelers denied, head home On Sunday, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked people to stay at home as part of Janta Curfew, the West Bengal government wants all teachers to come to schools to make arrangements for the distribution of mid-day meals to students. The West Bengal government has called the teachers to schools, which have been closed till April 15, on Saturday and Sunday so that the distribution of mid-day meal can start from Monday onwards. You are requested to keep your school/ madrasah open on Saturday and Sunday (21.03.20 & 22.03.20) towards procurement and preparatory works. Towards smooth distribution please ensure picketing by Sunday. Please ensure faster information to the beneficiaries at your level, the district inspector of schools in Malda said in a notice dated March 20. Also Watch | Coronavirus | PM Modi proposes janta curfew: Watch full speech Officials said each student will be given 2kg of rice and potato per month and these would be handed over to the guardians. Students do not need to come to school, they added. Local school authorities will have to buy potatoes from the local markets at 18 per kg on Saturday and Sunday. All heads of institutions of schools are hereby requested to keep open schools on Saturday and Sunday, reads the letter issued by the district inspector of schools, Kolkata. This decision has triggered a controversy, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleging that the state education department deliberately made these arrangements to defy the Janta Curfew. She is risking the lives of many for the sake of petty politics, the BJPs state unit general secretary Sayantan Basu said. The party hinted that it would launch a campaign criticising the move. The states ruling party, Trinamool Congress (TMC), however, denied any political link to the decision. I am afraid that Bengal BJP leaders must not have listened to the prime misters speech with the required attention. Modi never asked essential service providing activities to remain stopped, Snehashis Chakraborty, the TMC spokesperson, said. Teachers, in this case, are providing an emergency and essential service, as many students families depend on the mid-day meal, he added. A few teachers, who did not want to be identified, said some of them could face difficulties in reaching schools on Sunday as the railway has announced to keep most of its trains off track. The Prime Minister has asked people to stay off the roads and public places during the Janta Curfew, which will be in place for 14 hours from 7am to 9pm on Sunday, to help contain the spread of Covid-19. Three people have tested positive for Sars-Cov-2 in the state as the numbers in India went up to 258 on Saturday. Hyderabad, March 21 : The Telangana government on Saturday urged all its officials to take all the necessary measures to contain the spread of coronavirus. The state government also issued the Telangana Epidemic Diseases (COVID-19) Regulations, 2020 by invoking The Epidemic Diseases ACT, 1897. Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar issued the Government order, framing the regulations to prevent the spread of COVID-19 Virus, in Telangana. These regulations shall come into force immediately and will remain valid for one year. The regulations have empowered Director of Public Health (DPH), Director of Medical Education, all District Collectors, Commissioners of Police, District Superintendents of Police and all the Municipal Commissioners of Corporations to take measures necessary to prevent the outbreak of coronavirus or its spread. All hospitals, both government and private, have been asked to provide COVID-19 corners for screening of suspected cases. The order says that every person who has history of travel to affected areas in last 14 days and who is asymptomatic, must remain in home quarantine for 14 days from the day of exposure. "Persons who do not observe the home quarantine guidelines shall be quarantined in the quarantine facilities set up by government." Every person with travel history and symptoms of the virus, shall be required to be isolated in a hospital and tested for COVID-19 as per protocol. Any person with a history of travel in last 14 days to a country or area from where COVID-19 has been reported, must voluntarily report to state control room (040-24651119) toll free number 104 so that necessary measures can be initiated. The authorities have been empowered to isolate and/or, admit into an identified hospital, any person who develops symptoms of Covid-19. The empowered officer may initiate action under the section 188 of Indian Penal Code against the person who refuses to comply with such advice of isolation and/or admission. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) Afghanistan and Maldives on March 21 pledged to contribute USD 1.2 million to SAARC Corona Emergency Fund proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A spokesperson for the President of Afghanistan Sediq Sediqqi reportedly said that the Afghan government believed in joint collaboration and strengthening partnership to fight the rapidly spread coronavirus. Sediqqi in a tweet wrote that the Afghanistan government approved a one million USD contribution to the emergency fund. The Afghan Government has just approved a contribution of One Million USD to the COVID-19 Emergency Fund as per the discussions in SAARC heads of nations VTC, believing in joint collaboration, and strengthening partnership to fight this pandemic. https://t.co/jK4zaYVha5 Sediq Sediqqi (@SediqSediqqi) March 21, 2020 READ: Bhutan Pledges USD 100,000 To SAARC Corona Emergency Fund Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid also took to Twitter to announce that the country will be joining the initiative to tackle the challenges posed by Coronavirus pandemic. Shahid wrote that the country will be contributing USD 200,000 to tackle the virus outbreak. We welcome PM @narendramodis initiative to create an COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund and its pledge of USD 10million. Government of Maldives joins the initiative and pledge USD 200,000 to address issues emanating from COVID-19. Abdulla Shahid (@abdulla_shahid) March 20, 2020 Earlier this week, Bhutan and Nepal also pledged nearly USD one million and USD 100,000 respectively to the SAARC Corona Emergency Fund. Modi said that it was wonderful to see SAARC leaders taking initiatives that are adding strength to the collective fight against Coronavirus. READ: PM-proposed SAARC Emergency Fund To Combat Coronavirus Operationalised: MEA Must work together Modi, on March 15, addressed a SAARC video conference to share each other efforts and issues as the seven countries battle the pandemic. The video conference was led by PM Modi and was attended by Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani, Maldives President Ibrahim Solih, Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bhutan Prime Minister Dr Lotay Tshering, Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's assistant - Dr Zafar Mirza. PM Modi highlighted the SAARC's ancient ties and said that 'we must work and succeed together'. Globally, around 11,800 people have died due to Coronavirus, with the epicentre being China. The virus has infected around 2,87,000 people globally and has now spread to North America, South America, Europe, New Zealand, and more than 100 other countries. READ: 'Working To Provide Swift Assistance': MEA On India's Efforts To Uphold SAARC Agreement READ: Emergency SAARC Fund Proposed By PM Modi Operationalised: MEA A teenager was shot multiple times and killed at a Baton Rouge apartment complex Friday evening, Baton Rouge Police said. Christian Dunbar, 17, was found dead in the back yard of his residence at the Perkins Cove apartment complex in the 7900 block of Bles Avenue around 6:30 p.m., BRPD spokesman Sgt. Don Coppola Jr. said. +5 One killed in shooting on Bles Ave near Perkins Road, BRPD says One person was killed in a shooting on Bles Avenue Friday evening, according to Baton Rouge Police. Around the police perimeter set up near a grassy area facing Perkins Road, residents clumped around the taped-off homicide scene. Other teenagers in the neighborhood said they knew Dunbar well, and he was "like a brother" to them. "I've known him since I was in the 4th grade," one said. "Same school, same buses, same neighborhood." Information on possible suspects or a motive is unknown at this time as police continue the investigation into Dunbar's murder. This was the first of two homicides reported in Baton Rouge on Friday night. (Natural News) The brain works similar to a computer in that both can hold and process plenty of information. But the brain also shares a computers need for a reliable source of power to function properly. This power is provided in the form of glucose and oxygen found in the blood. However, some neurological diseases disrupt this energy supply by altering blood flow in the brain. In fact, recent research suggests that poor blood flow could often be an early warning sign for neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimers disease. A study published in the journal Science found that pericytes cells responsible for regulating cerebral blood flow and which severely restrict blood flow in the brain after a stroke constrict the brains capillaries, thus limiting the amount of oxygen and glucose the brain gets. Additionally, the presence of amyloid-B, which are proteins responsible for the tell-tale plaques in the brains of Alzheimers patients, also contribute to capillary constriction. Our study has, for the first time, identified the underlying mechanism behind the reduction of brain blood flow in Alzheimers disease, said lead author Ross Nortley. Since reduced blood flow is the first clinically detectable sign of Alzheimers, our research generates new leads for possible treatments in the early phase of the disease. The role of pericytes in Alzheimers disease According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Alzheimers disease is one of the most common types of dementia a set of symptoms that cause a decline in memory, reasoning or other thinking skills. They report that as many as five million Americans are currently living with the disease, and they predict that this number will increase to 14 million people in the coming decades. Alzheimers is a progressive neurodegenerative disease triggered by complex brain changes that occur due to damage to the brains cells. (Related: Understanding the medical differences between Alzheimers and dementia.) Previous studies have looked into the relationship between blood vessel health and Alzheimers disease. For instance, researchers from the University of Copenhagen and Yale School of Medicine analyzed how hypertension affects the movements of brain fluids and found that high blood pressure interferes with the brains waste management system, contributing to serious conditions like Alzheimers. In the current study, European researchers examined the role of pericytes in Alzheimers disease by examining cerebral capillaries in humans and mice developing Alzheimers disease. They also looked at the effects of applying amyloid-B to these capillaries. The researchers used freshly sliced brain tissue collected from cognitively-impaired humans during neurosurgery. They then analyzed how the pericytes reacted to long-term amyloid-B exposure. In both humans and mouse models developing Alzheimers, the researchers observed that the capillaries were constricted specifically at locations with pericytes. They also found that the constriction rapidly increased with the severity of amyloid-B deposition. Furthermore, exposure to amyloid-B reduced the diameter of human capillaries by about 25 percent after only 40 minutes. This constriction peaked at 30 percent at locations with pericytes, which the researchers estimated would cut the brains blood flow by half. Meanwhile, in mouse models, 16 of the 20 models experienced more than five percent capillary restriction when exposed to amyloid-B proteins. Our research raises the question of what fraction of the damage is a consequence of the decrease in energy supply that amyloid produces by constricting the brains finer blood vessels, said senior author David Attwell. In clinical trials, drugs that clear amyloid beta from the brain have not succeeded in slowing mental decline at a relatively late phase of the disease. We now have a new avenue for therapies intervening at an earlier stage. Learn more about Alzheimers disease and how to manage its symptoms at Brain.news. Sources include: Dailymail.co.uk MedicalXpress.com 1 MedicalXpress.com 2 Science.ScienceMag.org CDC.gov Alz.org Cross-party MPs will mount a Commons revolt over emergency coronavirus legislation that would hand sweeping powers to the government for two years. Former Tory cabinet ministers David Davis and Andrew Mitchell have signed a cross-party amendment to curb the emergency powers for the government after 12 months. The move presents a headache for Boris Johnson, who is hoping to fast-track the legislation through parliament within days without a vote. But the sweeping powers in the bill have caused disquiet amongst MPs. The legislation includes powers for police to detain people with coronavirus and for care providers to lower their standards to prioritise resources. Mr Davis, a long-standing campaigner on civil liberties, backed the amendment put down by Labours Harriet Harman, which puts a sunset clause on the legislation after a year. The Liberal Democrats have also put forward an amendment requiring MPs to renew the emergency powers after three months, as well as a bid to compel the PM to seek an extension to the Brexit transition period. Ed Davey, the partys acting leader, told The Independent: New emergency powers are absolutely necessary to deal with this crisis, but Liberal Democrats do not believe handing over such far-reaching powers to Boris Johnson unchecked is in the publics interest. Liberal Democrats are therefore seeking cross-party support for our proposal to limit the new powers to three months, after which they would have to be renewed by a vote of the countrys democratically elected MPs. Coronavirus fears lead to empty streets and shelves across UK Show all 15 1 /15 Coronavirus fears lead to empty streets and shelves across UK Coronavirus fears lead to empty streets and shelves across UK The usually busy Royal Mile in Edinburgh is empty as people stay away from public areas amid the coronavirus outbreak on 13 March Katielee Arrowsmith/SWNS Coronavirus fears lead to empty streets and shelves across UK Ho bart's Amusement Arcade in Westward Ho!, Devon is offering toilet roll and soap as prizes in grabber machines Rob Braddick/SWNS Coronavirus fears lead to empty streets and shelves across UK An empty platform at Farringdon Station in London the morning after the Prime Minister said that Covid-19 "is the worst public health crisis for a generation" PA Coronavirus fears lead to empty streets and shelves across UK Shopkeepers Asiyah Javed and husband Jawad from Day Today Express, in Stenhousemuir, Falkirk are giving away facemasks, antibacterial hand wash and cleaning wipes to the elderly in a bid to stop the spread of Coronavirus Katielee Arrowsmith/SWNS Coronavirus fears lead to empty streets and shelves across UK A usually busy street in Cambridge is empty as people stay away from public areas amid the coronavirus outbreak on 2 March James Linsell-Clark/SWNS Coronavirus fears lead to empty streets and shelves across UK A hand sanitiser dispenser is seen inside the stadium during the Premier League match between Manchester United and Manchester City at Old Trafford on 8 March Getty Coronavirus fears lead to empty streets and shelves across UK Maaya Indian Kitchen in Milton Keynes is offerig customers a free roll of toilet paper with every takeaway order SWNS Coronavirus fears lead to empty streets and shelves across UK Oliver Cooper[L], was sent home from school for selling spurts of handsanitiser to fellow pupils at 50p a time. He poses with mum Jenny Tompkins by their home in Leeds Ashley Pemberton/SWNS Coronavirus fears lead to empty streets and shelves across UK Empty toilet paper shelves at a supermarket in London on 12 March EPA Coronavirus fears lead to empty streets and shelves across UK A member of the public is swabbed at a drive through Coronavirus testing site set up in a car park in Wolverhampton Getty Coronavirus fears lead to empty streets and shelves across UK A passenger wears a protective face mask as she travels on a bus in the City of London AFP/Getty Coronavirus fears lead to empty streets and shelves across UK A Southampton fan wears a face mask before the match against Newcastle United on 7 March Reuters Coronavirus fears lead to empty streets and shelves across UK A loudspeaker placed in grounds of St Mary's Catholic Church in Broughattin, Dundalk, County Louth ahead of funeral mass later this morning. The loudspeaker has been placed in the grounds after the Catholic Archdiocese said that funerals and weddings should not exceed 100 attendees within the church building PA Coronavirus fears lead to empty streets and shelves across UK A hand sanitising station set up outside Cheltenham Racecourse during day four of the Cheltenham Festival on 13 March PA Coronavirus fears lead to empty streets and shelves across UK People wearing protective face masks walk across London Bridge on 11 March AFP/Getty He said extending the Brexit transition period would allow the government to focus on the coronavirus outbreak and end uncertainty for businesses and citizens. Labour MP Chris Bryant has also sought to amend the bill to allow MPs a vote on the legislation every two months, which has cross-party support. A Hillsboro day care worker has tested positive for coronavirus, the Touchstone Preschool in Hillsboro announced Friday night in an emailed message to parents. The employee, a teacher who works directly with children, had not been at the facility for the past week, the announcement said. The employee is under doctors supervision and the facility is now closed for at least two weeks. We are sending our best wishes to our teacher for a full recovery, the day care said in a statement Saturday, confirming the case to The Oregonian/OregonLive. "Out of respect for her privacy, as well as the privacy of her family and our school community, we will not be providing further information. Formally called Touchstone School - Hillsboro, the day care was licensed by the state of Oregon in 2017 and has a capacity to care for up to 172 children, according to records. Oregons Early Learning Division, which regulates day cares, had not publicly announced the infection as of Saturday morning. Spokeswoman Melanie Mesaros confirmed the case to The Oregonian/OregonLive. This marks what appears to be the first public case of a day care worker becoming infected with coronavirus in Oregon. Gov. Kate Brown ordered all schools closed through April 28 but has not shut down day cares, saying they are an important resource for parents who need to work amid the global pandemic. Earlier this week, state regulators gave day cares "more flexibility to continue serving parents doing critical work during this state of emergency, Miriam Calderon, director of Oregons Early Learning Division, said in a statement Wednesday announcing the changes. At least 115 Oregonians have tested positive for coronavirus, although only four of those have been age 17 or younger. Among those infected with the virus are a public school janitor, a retirement home employee, a health care provider and nursing home patients and staff. Across all infections, four Oregonians have died. Touchstone Preschool has contacted all employees and asked them to self-quarantine for 14 days from Friday, the school told parents Friday night. The facility will be closed for a minimum of 14 days and will reassess and seek further guidance from health officials before reopening. The school also said it contacted families whose children were in the classrooms where the teacher taught, or shared common space, and suggested they also self-quarantine for a minimum of 14 days from Friday. Touchstone Preschool, at 6355 N.E. Cornelius Pass Rd., will receive a deep clean disinfection of the entire facility, according to the note to parents. We profoundly regret any disruption or anxiety this causes you and your family," the schools director wrote in the note to parents Friday night. "We will continue to monitor this situation and update you with any additional developments, as well as provide more information on our plans to reopen. Touchstone operates day cares in Hillsboro, Beaverton and Tigard. The company is part of a broader national network called SEG Inc., for Spring Education Group, which has 27 different affiliates, including private schools. Separately, KinderCare, the Portland-based day care chain, said this week it will temporarily close two-thirds of its 1,500 national locations. Those that remain open will be focused on providing care to families of health care employees, first responders and other essential workers. Shane Dixon Kavanaugh contributed to this report. -- Brad Schmidt; bschmidt@oregonian.com; 503-294-7628; @_brad_schmidt Microsofts xCloud service has since only been available to users in a closed beta and only on Android, but Windows 10 PCs are now being used to test the service internally. A new report showcases what the service looks like on Windows 10 and discusses how it operates. Which from the sounds of things is not much different from how it functions on Android devices. In fact the short of it is that the experience is apparently the same. Almost identical even. Which is good news for anyone that has been testing xCloud on their smartphone and wouldnt mind testing it out on their PC at home. Advertisement Because it means the UI will be familiar and using it will be a breeze. xCloud on Windows 10 PCs will have a dedicated app A big part of the reason things will feel familiar is because the Windows version will have its own dedicated app. Itll also reportedly looks just like the Android apps UI, so navigating around your list of games and such wont take any extra work. Not that it would be much effort to learn a slightly different design in this case, but its certainly more convenient if things are the same. Advertisement The idea behind cloud gaming is immediate gratification, after all. And learning a slightly different or re-organized UI doesnt really play into that as well. The internal preview is limited to 720p While streaming xCloud on your Android device allows for 1080p resolution, that isnt the case for Windows testing. The internal preview test only supports 720p streams. Which isnt necessarily the best for bigger displays that come with desktops and laptops compared to smartphones. Microsoft does state that 1080p streaming is just around the corner though. Advertisement And that likely means that 1080p will be available before it even reaches the external testing phase. Just like with the Android version of the preview, the Windows 10 version requires a Bluetooth gamepad connection. The report only mentions the Xbox One Wireless controller, but its likely more Bluetooth controllers that work with Windows will work this preview too. At least once it reaches users outside of Microsoft. The Android version supports multiple gamepad choices, so it would be weird for Microsoft to limit this to its own gamepad on PC. Advertisement When it comes to games, the Windows preview should have the same library of offerings as Android. Its noted that Microsoft employees have a variety of games to test, but it isnt mentioned explicitly how many there are or if any of them are different from the Android list. The governor of Aligudarz, a town in Irans Lorestan province says a riot in the local prison on Friday amid a coronavirus epidemic was put down by security forces. While the governor, Hamid Kashkuli claimed no prisoner escaped and the reason for the disturbance remains unknown, the coronavirus epidemic has put prisoners in grave danger and could have triggered the riot. The incident took place one day after 23 inmates escaped from another prison in Iran. During that incident one prisoner was shot to death by guards. Irans government in recent days has freed tens of thousands of prisoners on temporary basis to prevent a tragedy among inmates who are cramped into small spaces in bad sanitary and medical conditions. The Aligudarz prison, which is inside the town, is an old and dilapidated facility. Last year, the head of prisons in the province had said the facility is so bad it is hard to use it as a correctional center. Three years ago, authorities decided to build a new prison in Aligudarz but they said it would take five years to complete the project. It is not clear if construction of a new prison has started. A physician turned "Islamic doctor" in Iran says dropping bitter gourd oil in ears in the morning before going out will prevent infection with coronavirus (COVID-19). Two more drops at night will even prevent those who have been infected from transmitting it to others, he claims. Many Iranians believe in traditional medical treatments and Islamic medicine, which under the pressure of the coronavirus epidemic, can lead people to waste time and resources on exotic treatments. Another "Islamic doctor", a cleric named Abbas Tabrizian who gained notoriety in January for burning Harrison's Manual of Medicine, a standard textbook in Iranian universities, recently prescribed inserting a cotton ball dipped in violet oil in anus before going to sleep to ward off coronavirus. In a video published on his website, Hossein Ravazadeh, known as "the Father of Islamic Medicine in Iran" says only one drop of bitter watermelon (citrullus colocynthis) oil in each ear will prevent "all obnoxious creatures" from entering the body. "If people already have been infected with coronavirus, it will be helpful to use the ear drop at night, too," he says in the video. Moreover, using the ear drop twice everyday will also prevent contagiousness of the disease, he claims. In Iran where traditional apothecaries are found in every corner both the dried, apple-sized fruit and its oil are easily available. Bitter watermelon (also known as bitter gourd, bitter apple, vine of Sodom and bitter cucumber) is a viny desert plant native to the Mediterranean Basin and Asia. The plant bears small hard fruit with a bitter pulp and seeds. Bitter watermelon has been used in traditional medicine in many countries for centuries as a laxative, diuretic or for insect bites. The plant can also induce miscarriages in women. The son of Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi, once named as a possible successor to Khamenei, in December said his father died because he trusted "Islamic medicine" and the so-called "Islamic doctors". He did not name the "Islamic doctor" responsible for his father's treatment for an undeclared illness. The son of another high-ranking cleric, Ayatollah Haeri-Shirazi, recently disclosed that his late father who was suffering from cancer had taken the advice of Hashemi-Shahroudi and trusted none other than the "Islamic doctor" nowadays prescribing bitter watermelon oil for prevention and treatment of coronavirus. Carrie Hoffman sits alone on a yoga mat bathed in a pool of soft light flooding through the window of a large, empty studio at The Yoga Experience. Propped on a folding chair in front of her is her laptop, connected to a steadily growing group of people logging on to join her for a livestreamed class. I guess Im finally putting my film degree to good use. Its funny the skills we bring to bear in these times, Hoffman says as she fiddles with the computer to position the camera. As Flagstaff went into social lockdown in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, local businesses scrambled to find ways to respond. Following local, state and national directives to limit the number of people gathered together, area businesses faced the challenge of keeping employees working, making them and their customers safe, and still finding a way to generate revenue. At The Yoga Experience, the solution was using the Zoom video conferencing application to livestream classes to people who are already members. Weve already had up to nine people join the classes online and there is no limit to the number of people who can take a class. Our space holds about 30 people max. The beauty of this situation is that people can join from anywhere even if they dont live in Flagstaff, Hoffman said. I have a friend from Los Angeles who is going to join this class because she saw me post about it on social media," she added. I think after this is all over, we will still have all of these classes online that people can use when they go on vacation or have a snow day. The classes will eventually be archived and our members will have access to that. While Hoffman continued with her class, the staff at Diablo Burger, tucked in a small space under the parking garage at The Old Town Shops on Heritage Square, were preparing meals of a new to-go menu. Diablo Burger is responding to the COVID-19 outbreak by not only moving to a carryout menu but also by a social media campaign to support the communities that surround their Flagstaff and Tucson restaurants. From the company website: For every meal that you order directly from Diablo Burger during the lockdown, we will donate one meal to a local emergency room or an organization feeding hungry schoolkids or other underserved populations in our community. We will report meal donations in real time on our instagram feed @diabloburger. Vince Sutherland and kitchen manager Myles Niemeyer were busy in the kitchen making burgers and preparing meals as Brynn Bierer packaged a dozen burgers with fries and all the fixings to be delivered, as a donation, to staff working in the Humphreys Unit at Flagstaff Medical Center. Walker Chancellor, general manager of Diablo Burger, took two large bags each with a half dozen meals out to his truck and drove them up to deliver them personally to the hospital. Its all about supporting those who are supporting the community. Hospitals are a need that weve identified and we are glad to help, Chancellor said. If people have a need we want them to e-mail us at flagdb@gmail.com and we will see what we can do to support that need. As many restaurants across the city modified their menus for carryout and delivery, other businesses are closing their stores but still serving their customers via curbside pickup. Inside the Bright Side Bookshop, Lisa Lamberson was preparing books for customers who had arranged a time to collect their orders from the street in front of the store. Across the street, Phyllis Hogan and her staff are also serving the customers of Winter Sun with curbside pickup. Were doing phone-in orders. We get it ready, they can pay us over the phone or they can pay with a credit card at the door. Were the village herbalist and a lot of places dont carry what we carry, so its important that we stay serving our customers, Hogan said. We are doing pretty good on curbside pickup but half of our store is an art gallery. No one is buying kachina dolls or turquoise earrings right now. I still have three employees working, including myself, to cover everything. Im just going day to day. Im still able to keep the door open and keep my staff working but 50% of my business is just gone while the gallery is closed, Hogan added. My staff are stellar, just complete troopers. Im so proud of them. We are all working hard to keep it going, as are so many businesses in town." Technavio has been monitoring the aircraft lighting market and it is poised to grow by USD 507.76 mn during 2020-2024, progressing at a CAGR of 5% during the forecast period. The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current market scenario, latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. Request a free sample report This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200320005401/en/ Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Aircraft Lighting Market 2020-2024 (Graphic: Business Wire) The market is moderately fragmented, and the degree of moderate fragmentation will accelerate during the forecast period. To make the most of the opportunities, market vendors should focus more on the growth prospects in the fast-growing segments, while maintaining their positions in the slow-growing segments. Popularity of low-cost and low-maintenance lighting solutions has been instrumental in driving the growth of the market. Aircraft Lighting Market 2020-2024: Segmentation Aircraft Lighting Market is segmented as below: Type Interior Lighting Exterior Lighting Geographic segmentation APAC Europe MEA North America South America To learn more about the global trends impacting the future of market research, download a free sample: https://www.technavio.com/talk-to-us?report=IRTNTR40169 Aircraft Lighting Market 2020-2024: Scope Technavio presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources. Our aircraft lighting market report covers the following areas: Aircraft Lighting Market size Aircraft Lighting Market trends Aircraft Lighting Market industry analysis This study identifies technologically improved lights as one of the prime reasons driving the aircraft lighting market growth during the next few years. Aircraft Lighting Market 2020-2024: Vendor Analysis We provide a detailed analysis of around 25 vendors operating in the aircraft lighting market including some of the vendors such as Astronics Corp., BAE Systems Plc, Cobham Plc, Honeywell International Inc. and Oxley Group. Backed with competitive intelligence and benchmarking, our research reports on the aircraft lighting market are designed to provide entry support, customer profile and M&As as well as go-to-market strategy support. Register for a free trial today and gain instant access to 17,000+ market research reports. Technavio's SUBSCRIPTION platform Aircraft Lighting Market 2020-2024: Key Highlights CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2020-2024 Detailed information on factors that will assist aircraft lighting market growth during the next five years Estimation of the aircraft lighting market size and its contribution to the parent market Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior The growth of the aircraft lighting market Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of aircraft lighting market vendors Table of Content PART 01: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY PART 02: SCOPE OF THE REPORT 2.1 Preface 2.2 Preface 2.3 Currency conversion rates for US$ PART 03: MARKET LANDSCAPE Market ecosystem Market characteristics Value Chain Analysis Market segmentation analysis PART 04: MARKET SIZING Market definition Market sizing 2019 Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Market Outlook PART 05: FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS Bargaining power of buyers Bargaining power of suppliers Threat of new entrants Threat of substitutes Threat of rivalry Market condition PART 06: MARKET SEGMENTATION BY TYPE Market segmentation by type Comparison by type Interior lighting Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Exterior lighting Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Market opportunity by type PART 07: CUSTOMER LANDSCAPE PART 08: GEOGRAPHIC LANDSCAPE Geographic segmentation Geographic comparison North America Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Europe Market size and forecast 2019-2024 APAC Market size and forecast 2019-2024 MEA Market size and forecast 2019-2024 South America Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Key leading countries Market opportunity PART 09: DECISION FRAMEWORK PART 10: DRIVERS AND CHALLENGES Market drivers Market challenges PART 11: MARKET TRENDS Adoption of energy-efficient lighting Increasing number of aircraft leading to the increasing demand for aircraft lighting Technologically improved lights PART 12: VENDOR LANDSCAPE Overview Landscape disruption Competitive scenario PART 13: VENDOR ANALYSIS Vendors covered Vendor classification Market positioning of vendors Astronics Corp. BAE Systems Plc Cobham Plc Honeywell International Inc. Oxley Group Safran SA SCHOTT AG Soderberg Manufacturing Co. Inc. STG Aerospace Ltd. United Technologies Corp. PART 14: APPENDIX Research methodology List of abbreviations Definition of market positioning of vendors PART 15: EXPLORE TECHNAVIO About Us Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200320005401/en/ Contacts: Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media Marketing Executive US: +1 844 364 1100 UK: +44 203 893 3200 Email: media@technavio.com Website: www.technavio.com/ Dont you just love to hear good news and to feel positivity around certain people? Aidan Kelly is one of those people and in the face of the spread of Covid-19 and the subsequent health restrictions, he could well be moaning here about the temporary closure of his restaurant, The Grill Shack at Donadea. Im gutted for my 10 staff who will be drawing the dole next week, said Aidan But I know this will pass and we just have to get on with it! With extremely good nature, he stated hed like to wish all mothers a happy Mothers Day for Sunday next, especially his mother Roberta. The Grill Shack original hot sauce, soon to be available in Aldi stores nationwide A Kerry native, Aidan says above all, he wishes to express thanks to his wife, Aileen, mother of their two children Aoibhin and Laragh. We met in Dungarvan years ago, and eight years ago, we moved to Kill, Co Kildare. About 18 months ago, Aidan opened a restaurant at Roches, the sinking pub at Donadea. It had been the smoking area but you know what the outside place had character so I looked at converting it into a restaurant. Now we have a quirky restaurant with a tree growing up through the roof, and another tree basically holding the structure up! People love the atmosphere and the menu, especially our sauces. Even up to Sunda last, the phone was ringing for reservations but we to look at social distancing and even with spreading the tables and taking out a few, it wasnt feasible to keep going in these difficult times, putting staff and diners at risk. It was the practical and right thing to do. But Aidan isnt idle at the moment. Having seen an advertisement by Aldi seeking applicants for their new Grow with Aldi, he applied and was one of 240 submissions. It was the Grill Shacks original hot sauce which he proposed (which incorporates jalapenos and chilli, sauce with a real kick) and Aidan was one of the 100 applicants called for interview to the Heritage Hotel, Portarlington last year. I had eight minutes to pitch to a buyer and Im happy to say our hot sauce is one of 40 new Irish lines going onto Aldi shelves on May 31, 2020! Our sauce has very little allergens and is low on fat and sugars; its vegan and vegetarian friendly but goes great with meat too, so it seems to suit everyone! And its hot... There was a great buzz about the success of the sauce, and it just seems to be on trend at the moment, as is the restaurant. But for the moment, the restaurant is closed. However, let me take this opportunity to say a big thank to the wider community of Donadea, they embraced the Grill Shack, and up until the virus spread, we were flying. "Thank you all for your support, and again, happy Mothers Day to all mums and grans out there, I dont know how you stay sane! I hope the restaurant and the rest of the country will be back to normal as soon as it's safe to do so. For more information, phone 045 869 160: Email chefaidankelly@gmail.com Singapore on Saturday reported its first coronavirus deaths, including a 75-year-old Singaporean woman, the health ministry said, as the country announced a slew of measures to prevent the spread of the deadly disease that has infected 385 people in the island nation. Singapore on Friday confirmed 40 new COVID-19 cases, including 30 imported infections, taking the total number to 385 in the country. The two fatalities included the woman and a 64-year-old Indonesian man who died on Saturday, the health ministry said. The woman was linked to the cluster at the Life Church and Missions Singapore and had a history of chronic heart disease and hypertension, reported the Channel Asia. She showed the COVID-19 symptoms on February 9 and was admitted to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) on February 23 for pneumonia and tested positive for the disease on the same day. She developed serious complications and died at about 7.50am. The man, who had a history of heart disease, was admitted in a critical condition at NCID on March 13, after arriving in Singapore from Indonesia and passed away at 10.15am. Prior to his arrival in Singapore, he had been hospitalised in Indonesia for pneumonia. While we all know that there will be fatalities in COVID-19 patients. We are deeply saddened by their passing," Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said. "I know Singaporeans will be worried and anxious. We must take courage and not give in to our fears. We have announced a series of safe distancing measures yesterday and we must all take the necessary precautions to keep ourselves and our families safe," he said. Out of the 385 cases in Singapore, a total of 131 have fully recovered from the infection. Of the 254 confirmed cases who are still in hospital, most are stable or improving. To reduce the risk of local transmissions, authorities on Friday ordered all events and gatherings with 250 or more participants to be suspended. New safe distancing measures were introduced for public venues such as retail shops and restaurants to ensure separation of at least 1 metre between customers. A new TraceTogether mobile app was also launched to help with contact tracing efforts. According to the Johns Hopkins coronavirus tracker, the death toll from the virus globally has risen to 11,397 with more than 275,427 cases reported in over 160 countries and territories. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The sequence of events is grim but familiar in cities across the United States. A mass shooting takes place. A public vigil is held. A community comes together with an outpouring of anger, sadness and solidarity. But for families of those killed in last weekends mass shooting in Springfield, Mo., in which an attacker fatally shot four people, what was already a tragic situation has been compounded by the coronavirus. The families will mostly be grieving in solitude. Cierrah Hicks-Morris, whose brother, Matthew, was killed in the attack, is still in shock. She told a friend on Friday she was going into isolation and just wanted to scream. Mr. Hicks-Morris, 22, was killed Sunday night during a late-night run to a gas station. According to Anice Farmer, a close friend, he whispered over the phone to his girlfriend that a shooter had entered the shop. His girlfriend heard gunshots, and the phone line cut. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 20:00:53|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close PHNOM PENH, March 21 (Xinhua) -- A senior Cambodian official said on Saturday that all 79 Cambodians, who had returned home from a mass religious ceremony in Malaysia, had already been tested for the COVID-19. Citing a health ministry statement released late on Friday, Othsman Hassan, a senior minister in charge of the Islamic affairs, said 25 of them had been tested positive for the virus. "They were infected the virus when they attended the Islamic religious ceremony at Sri Petaling mosque in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (from Feb. 27 to March 1)," he said in a press conference here. Hassan said nearly 300 people, who are the patients' family members and close friends, had also been tested, and the health ministry statement indicated that three of them were positive for the virus. Cambodia has so far recorded a total of 51 confirmed cases of the COVID-19. Among them are a Chinese national, three British nationals, 12 Malaysians, two French nationals, a Canadian man, a Belgian man, and 31 Cambodians. The Chinese patient had recovered and returned home, as the rest have been quarantined at designated hospitals for treatment. Maggie Griffin, who was a beloved co-star of her daughter Kathy Griffins Emmy-winning reality show, My Life on the D-List, died on Tuesday. She was 99. Kathy Griffin announced the death on Twitter and Instagram, giving no other details. In 2019 she said that her mother had dementia. On My Life on the D-List, which aired on Bravo from 2005 to 2010, Maggie Griffin was a churchgoing, wine-loving, elfin woman who adored the conservative Fox News commentator Sean Hannity. Her daughter, on the other hand, is a brash, liberal comedian given to profanity. The show, self-aware and sometimes self-deprecating, was built around Kathys attempts to build fame. Maggie was sometimes the butt of her daughters jokes, both on the show and in Kathys standup comedy, sent up as a gruff, muumuu-wearing throwback. Twenty-two fresh Covid-19 cases were reported in India on Saturday, taking the total number of people infected by the Sars-Cov-2 virus in the country to 258 even as the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) issued guidelines for a new testing strategy for effective tracking of patients. Himachal Pradesh (two cases) and Madhya Pradesh (four cases) are the newest entrants to the list of affected places. At present, infections have been found in 22 states and Union Territories. On Saturday, Kerala reported the highest increase, with 12 new cases. Of these, seven cases involved Indians and five foreign nationals, according to the health ministry data. Kerala was followed by Delhi, which recorded nine cases, taking the total count in the city-state to 26. On Friday, India saw the sharpest increase in the number of Covid-19 cases on a single day, with a total of 63 cases being confirmed within 24 hours by the health ministry. Also read: Is Tamil Nadu man Indias first community spread coronavirus case? So far, four people one each in Delhi, Karnataka, Punjab and Maharashtra have died of the viral infection with flu-like symptoms. The ministrys data also shows that one person with the disease has migrated. This case involved a 44-year-old Delhi man, according to officials. He returned from Singapore in February, travelled to Canada in March, later gave a sample for testing in Delhis Ram Manohar Lohia hospital and took a flight back to Singapore before the test returned positive. India reported its first Covid-19 case on January 30, the same day the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the disease a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. Two more cases were reported in the next couple of days; all three were medical students from Wuhan, the Chinese city believed to be the epicentre of the outbreak, who returned to their hometown in Kerala. All three have recovered. After a lull, cases of Covid-19 surfaced again in early March the first one in the national capital and the number of cases increased ever since. Also read: Covid-19: What you need to know today ICMR has so far tested 15,404 samples from across the country. The numbers are likely to go up with the apex medical research body revising its testing criteria on Friday. It now includes direct or close contacts of anyone who tested positive even if they do not have symptoms and all hospitalised cases of severe acute respiratory infections. All India Institute of Medical Sciences director Randeep Guleria, who chairs the ICMR expert committee on testing criteria of Covid-19, said: With the numbers rising, we have changed the case definition of people being tested to include asymptomatic contacts of positive treating Covid-19 and SARI cases. Now all pneumonia patients must also be notified to NCDC or IDSP so that they can be tested for Covid-19 for community transmission surveillance. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Open source More than 600 passengers arrived in Lviv on special trains from Poland on March 20, 7 of which were hospitalized. The acting Director of the Health Department of the Lviv Regional State Administration Andriy Vasko stated this during a briefing, Interfax reports. Today, 5 trains arrived in Ukraine from Przemysl to Kyiv. From 500 to 800 people were in each train. All passengers were measured the temperature at the border and in Lviv, and as a result of these actions 7 people were taken to the infectious diseases hospital, - he said. According to him, in total about 660 passengers left in Lviv. Those who were not hospitalized signed an agreement on awareness of the norms of Ukrainian laws that apply to those arriving from abroad in connection with quarantine. As we reported before, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, 146 Ukrainians are quarantined abroad, and three died due to coronavirus. In total, 146 Ukrainians are quarantined in connection with the coronavirus, of which 101 are in Poland, 16 in Brazil, 7 in Germany, 3 in the UAE, 2 in the USA, Australia, Moldova and Great Britain, 7 in Vietnam, one in Romania, Cuba, China and Israel. Speaking to Manitoba Metis via Facebook Live Friday, Manitoba Metis Federation president David Chartrand announced $1 million in relief funds to help individuals and families cope with immediate needs. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 21/3/2020 (662 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Advertisement Advertise With Us Speaking to Manitoba Metis via Facebook Live Friday, Manitoba Metis Federation president David Chartrand announced $1 million in relief funds to help individuals and families cope with immediate needs. "When were asking to isolate, how can they isolate if they dont have enough groceries in their cupboards for the children?" asked Chartrand. The federation cabinet has been holding emergency meetings to develop its COVID-19 Health Action Plan. Aside from parents, Chartrand specifically mentioned Metis elders, entrepreneurs and employees who are feeling the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic measures. "One million cash will be made available for our citizens all across our homeland in Manitoba. Were making it very clear to employees that if your employer is not there to help you, then contact the (federation), and well try to give you enough money to carry yourself through until you figure out the unemployment issue, how you can access that," Chartrand said. Chartrand was referring to the $82 billion the federal government pledged earlier this week to help employers, employees and parents via the child benefit. "Were getting all the answers for you," Chartrand said. While it wont be handing out thousands of dollars for each individual Metis person, there will be enough to carry individuals in need through "this tough time." Chartrand spoke of a three-month period he said officials are currently suggesting will be the timeline until daily life might resume free of isolation measures. Noting there are 120,000 Metis people in the province, he said the federation could not provide $1,000 for each one. "We can help those that need help," he stressed, adding there are those who can see themselves through a potential three-month period. "I know theres panic out there. Weve gotten calls already from employers that are wondering whats going to happen to them. Businesses are hurting already." He said people are asking, "How do I make my bank payments? How do I make my mortgage payments? How do I pay my employees?" The federation has already contacted 1,000 elders, checking on them to make sure theyre OK. Each of the seven regions will receive $25,000 cash to ensure resources are in place, including hiring people for grocery delivery, to keep elders isolated and protected. "We dont want our elders going into towns to shop, leaving their house. Theyre the most vulnerable. We need to understand that," Chartrand said, adding that cash infusion is happening immediately. The federation is also "putting something together for all our fishermen who are out there suffering and wondering how theyre going to feed their families," he said, acknowledging they may not fall into any of the prescribed categories as small businesses. "Minister Frances Chartrand, who is minister of health for the Metis government, is taking some extreme measures to make sure that were taking action to ensure were helping all our citizens across Manitoba," the president said. Aside from the cash infusion to those in need, the federation has moved forward to open two 48-bed facilities, turning two construction camps into health facilities, with all the tools and equipment needed to protect people. "Those camps are being developed as we speak," Chartrand said, adding if the Metis government finds it doesnt need them, the 96 beds will be made available to the province. "The Metis government is looking at it as an entire Manitoba issue, not just a Metis issue. I think we need to work together. All society needs to come together, the First Nations, the Metis and non-Indigenous people." The federation also bought mobile tiny homes for self-isolation. Chartrand admitted he has a chest and head cold. Due to this and the fact hes been travelling extensively on federation business, he is self-isolating and will be tested for COVID-19 in the coming days. Chartrand travelled to Ottawa this week to ensure Metis were included in the $82 billion in financial aid announced by the federal government. While offering kudos to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for being a strong, unifying voice for the nation, Chartrand expressed some dismay that he did not mention Metis in the initial COVID-19 financial package for Canadians. "We were somewhat disappointed in the first announcements that were coming out that it was only for First Nations," he said. "We needed to correct that. The prime minister has assured us that the Metis will not be forgotten." Chartrand discussed the matter during a teleconference with Trudeau, who is also in self-isolation. Chartrand emphasized social distancing, despite the fact that intimate touching kisses on the cheek and the forehead, for example is a part of daily life for many. "Well just temporarily have a different way of saying hello, a different way of saying that we care and admire each other," he said. He also asked Metis to be patient when calling, as staff are doing everything they can, as quickly as they can, rolling out the measures. "Please show respect. Dont be frustrated if they cant answer your question right away theyre struggling, too, to get all the answers from Canada. We have little answers right now from the province we hope those will come soon," Chartrand said. Meanwhile, MEDOCare Pharmacy services continue and will be improved. Finally, Chartrand said to look out for COVID-19-related fraudsters. See Page A2 of todays newspaper for more on the latest frauds. *** Manitoba Metis Federation contact information: For Metis employees and elders: 1-800-665-8474. For Metis businesses and entrepreneurs: 1-800-387-6004. For updated information and other contact numbers: www.mmf.mb.ca. mletourneau@brandonsun.com Michele LeTourneau covers Indigenous matters for The Brandon Sun under the Local Journalism Initiative, a federally funded program that supports the creation of original civic journalism. (Bloomberg) -- The Trump administrations plan to aid struggling American shale drillers involves buying as much as $3 billion worth of oil from domestic producers who employ 5,000 people or less. About 300 publicly traded U.S. explorers meet the criteria, including Continental Resources Inc., the shale company owned by billionaire Trump supporter Harold Hamm, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Other potential beneficiaries include Chesapeake Energy Corp., Whiting Petroleum Corp. and California Resources Corp., all of which are trading at distressed levels. The Energy Department will initially purchase 30 million barrels of sweet and sour crude for delivery in May and June, with plans to buy as much as 77 million barrels in total over time, the agency said. Its seeking $3 billion from Congress to cover the cost, Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette told reporters Thursday. The move comes as U.S. benchmark crude has plunged about 60% this year amid a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia that has hit a market already hurting from coronavirus-led demand destruction. Current prices are well below the breakeven level for the biggest American shale fields and threaten to throw smaller, highly indebted producers into bankruptcy. Were moving as fast as we can, said Brouillette. Earlier, he characterized the price war as an intentional disruption to world oil markets by foreign actors. The agencys funding request has really broad support in Congress, he said. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin called for even greater action to aid American producers on Thursday, saying he will recommend President Donald Trump ask Congress for as much as $20 billion to keep the Strategic Petroleum Reserve full for a decade. Lets go out and buy, Mnuchin said in a Fox Business Network interview. Fill up the reserve. At todays prices, $20 billion could buy more than 800 million barrels of oil -- far exceeding the reserves total capacity of 713.5 million barrels. Some 635 million barrels are already stored there, in underground salt caverns along the U.S. Gulf Coast. Story continues Bids are due March 26. Payment for the crude would be issued within 30 days of invoicing, although it was unclear if invoices could be submitted prior to delivery. Its our expectation that once Congress appropriates the funds, we can start to purchase oil approximately two weeks after that date, Brouillette said. A second round of purchases could begin within 60-90 days of the first, he added. For now, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is mission-ready to receive up to 685,000 barrels a day. Oil traders and other sellers are allowed to take part in the sale, as long as the crude is sourced from American producers with less than 5,000 employees. For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source. 2020 Bloomberg L.P. A heartbreaking photograph of an elderly woman staring at empty grocery shelves during the COVID-19 pandemic has brought together the best of humanity as people across the world offer to buy and send her groceries. The viral image was taken in the canned food aisle of the Port Melbourne Coles at 12pm on Thursday. Nine News journalist Seb Costello posted the image on Twitter and said the woman - who has not been identified - was 'in tears'. 'This captures who is suffering from the me-first, unnecessary, trend of panic buying,' he wrote. The heartbreaking picture was taken in the canned food aisle of the Port Melbourne store at 12pm on Thursday Good Samaritans have since sent countless emails to Daily Mail Australia sharing their 'heartbreak' at the image, as well as offering to lend a helping hand. 'I don't know the older woman in the photo crying but if you find her please try to find out what she needs and I will donate to her,' one email read. 'With these hard times and our elderly having these issues I wish I could do so much more. I feel this in my heart.' Another reader said the picture left them in tears and they hoped a fellow shopper was able to help. Kristine, from California, said she would 'truly appreciate' to be able to assist the woman. 'Our state is in lockdown. I can try and send packages of canned goods. The idea, more than the picture itself, speaks far worse about the community that we live in,' she said. CORONAVIRUS CASES IN AUSTRALIA: 27,244 Victoria: 20,269 New South Wales: 4,273 Queensland: 1,161 Western Australia: 692 South Australia: 473 Tasmania: 230 Australian Capital Territory: 113 Northern Territory: 33 TOTAL CASES: 27,244 ESTIMATED ACTIVE CASES: 269 DEATHS: 897 Updated: 5.31 PM, 11 October, 2020 Source: Australian Government Department of Health Advertisement Peter, a Korean expat in Malaysia, also offered his 'unconditional' aid. 'Our local stores still have food items, and I can ship some essential food items to her by TNT Express,' he wrote. 'I have a family, and there are three of us, but we have enough food to spare; so if you can somehow get her contact details, that would be great. 'I can get her pasta, oatmeal, cereals, candies, crackers and so on.' Ashlee, who emailed in from Louisiana, offered to send cash to someone who could buy grocery items for the woman. Another email read: 'I'm in the US and I saw the picture that was posted of the elderly woman looking at the bare shelves and crying.' 'The image has haunted me. I was just wondering if anyone located her and was able to help? 'There are so many people suffering right now, especially the elderly.' Another Good Samaritan said: 'If you find out who this lady is I'd be more than happy to go out and find exactly what she needs and pay for it.' 'No one deserves to be brought to tears due to lack of food in this country.' The number of COVID-19 cases in Australia soared past 1,000 on Saturday Pictured: A man trying to buy toilet paper in an Australian supermarket after panic buying due to the COVID-19 pandemic Panicked shoppers at Coles have bought up to three Christmases worth of stock in as many weeks amid the coronavirus pandemic. Coles chief operations officer Matthew Swindells compared the scale of hoarding to festive seasons - but without the usual six months of lead-up planning. 'It's not a problem of supply, it's a problem of demand,' Mr Swindells told the Seven Network. 'We have done three Christmases in three consecutive weeks from a standing start. 'When you see that immediate lift in demand across a network as large as Coles, it punches a huge stock hole in our supply lines and it takes time to recover.' Twitter users slammed shoppers who continue to bulk buy after viewing the 'heartbreaking' photo. 'This really breaks my heart, the elderly have already given to society, why aren't we looking after them?? We will be them sooner than we realise. Bring in rationing....please let's look after the vulnerable,' one person wrote. 'I am so disappointed with our country at the moment, especially our blatant disregard for our senior citizens,' added another. A joint statement from leading supermarkets Australia's leading supermarket chains have banded together on Wednesday to plead with customers to be considerate of each other and treat staff members respectfully. Aldi, Coles, IGA and Woolworth said they were doing everything they could to get as much produce on the shelves as possible, often under difficult circumstances. 'So we ask you to please be considerate in the way you shop,' they said in a joint statement. 'We understand your concerns, but if you buy only what you need and stick to the product limits it helps everyone, especially the elderly and people with disability.' Supermarkets have been forced to introduce buying limits on items due to the surge in demand for goods. Advertisement Australia produces enough food for 75million people, or three times its population, but shelves have been stripped bare as shoppers fear being locked down because of COVID-19. In a press conference to the nation on Wednesday morning, Prime Minister Scott Morrison begged Australians to 'stop hoarding' as supermarket stores will remain open. 'I can't be more blunt about it. Stop it. It's ridiculous. It's un-Australian, and it must stop. It is not sensible and it is not helpful,' Mr Morrison said. 'It has been one of the most disappointing things I have seen in Australian behaviour in response to this crisis. That is not who we are as a people. It is not necessary. 'There is no reason for people to be hoarding supplies in fear of a lockdown or anything like this. It is not something that people should be doing.' On Wednesday, Coles followed Woolworths and introduced a dedicated shopping hour for the elderly and vulnerable. 'Coles supermarkets will temporarily change their trading hours to open 7am to 8pm on weekdays, with the first hour of trade open exclusively to customers who hold a government-issued Pensioner Concession Card, Commonwealth Seniors Health Card, Companion Card and Health Care Card,' the supermarket giant said in a statement. Cole on Friday said panicked shoppers have bought up to three Christmases worth of stock in as many weeks amid the coronavirus pandemic Australia produces enough food for 75million people, or three times its population, but shelves have been stripped bare as shoppers fear being locked down because of COVID-19 'Once this hour is complete, all other customers will be invited through the doors to complete their grocery shop. 'Supermarkets will also close no later than 8pm to give our team members the time and space to extensively clean our stores and replenish the shelves for customers the next day.' The risk of serious illness from coronavirus increases with age. A fact sheet by the Australian Government read: 'The highest rate of fatalities is among older people, particularly those with other serious health conditions or a weakened immune system.' 'To protect older Australians and those with compromised immune systems we all need to work together to help stop the spread of COVID-19. Australians are advised to exercise 'social distancing', including staying 1.5 metres away from other people, in a bid to combat the spread of the virus. Ms Ellis shared this photo of an elderly man staring at an empty bread shelf after it was cleaned out by coronavirus panic buyers Pictured: Good Samaritan Helena Ellis On Monday, Sydney-based DJ Helena Ellis shared a photo of an elderly man staring at an empty shelf in the bread section. Ms Ellis was shopping at an IGA store in Sydney's south when she came across the man who was 'at least 84'. He had 'an empty trolley [and was] staring at empty shelves of bread,' she said. 'My heart broke.' Ms Ellis had picked up the last two packets of hot dog buns, so decided to give him one out of her own trolley. Ms Ellis suggested communities work together to protect elderly people and ensure they've got everything they need during the COVID-19 pandemic. 'If you see an old person, please stop and ask them if they need anything... give them something from your trolley that is no longer on the shelves,' she said. (Newser) The novel coronavirus has reached the White House. The Hill reports that, in an apparent White House first, an official who works there has contracted the virusand that individual works for Vice President Mike Pence, who's been leading the administration's charge against the pandemic. "This evening we were notified that a member of the office of the vice president tested positive for the coronavirus," Pence press secretary Katie Miller said in a statement. "Neither President Trump nor Vice President Pence had close contact with the individual. Further contact tracing is being conducted in accordance with CDC guidelines." story continues below Per USA Today, it wasn't clear where the infected staffer worked, or whether Pence himself had been tested after the news. Earlier in the week, the vice president said he hadn't yet been tested, noting he'd been consulting with the White House physician. "He said I've not been exposed to anyone for any period of time that had the coronavirus, and that my wife and I have no symptoms," Pence said Monday. Last week, Trump's doctor said the president was tested for the virus and that the results came back negative. (Read more coronavirus stories.) Government and private organisations have announced stopping their services to follow a Janta Curfew on Sunday in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic after Prime Minister Narendra Modis appeal to the people of the country to stay at home for a day. The Prime Minister had in his address to the nation asked people to stay off the roads and public places during the Janta Curfew, which will be in place for 14 hours from 7am to 9pm on Sunday. Today, I am seeking one more support from every citizen. It is Janta Curfew - a curfew for the people and imposed by people themselves, PM Modi had said. Essential services like police, media, medical services etc will not come under the purview of the curfew. Also read: For PMs Janata Curfew, iconic Chandni Chowk, CP shops to down shutters Here is what government and private organisations are doing: * The Indian Railways has said it will not operate any passenger train from any railway station in the country from midnight on Saturday to 10pm on Sunday. * Mail and express trains will also stop services from 4am on Sunday, the transporter has said. All intercity trains will also remain cancelled till 10pm on Sunday. * All suburban train services in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Secunderabad will be reduced to a bare minimum as well. * Budget airline GoAir has announced to voluntarily suspend all flights on Sunday when Janta curfew will be in force. GoAir will protect all the PNRs dated 22 March 2020 in view of the Janta curfew for a period of one year under the Protect Your PNR scheme. Passengers can contact GoAir at any time over the next one year to redeem their ticket on any GoAir flight on any date with no charges being levied, it added. * Indigo, Indias largest flight carrier, has said it will operate only 60% of its domestic flights on Sunday. * Air Vistara also announced it will be curtailing its domestic operations on Sunday when Janta Curfew would be in force. Vistara will operate on a reduced network on Sunday, 22 March on account of Janta curfew. Passengers who have been affected by cancellations will be contacted soon, the airlines spokesperson said. * The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has announced the closure of its services in the national capital on Sunday, for the first time in 18 years, keeping in mind the Janta Curfew. * Delhis transport minister Kailash Gahlot said there are no plans to shut down public bus services yet. Also read: Modi is right to prepare India for a deeper crisis, writes Barkha Dutt * Mobile app-based cab aggregator services such as Uber and Ola are encouraging drivers to stay off-road on Sunday. The app services will, however, be functional for anyone who needs to avail of cabs in an emergency situation. * More than 95,000 auto-rickshaw drivers have also extended their support to the PMs call. Rajendra Soni, general secretary of Delhi Autorickshaw Sangh, said all drivers, irrespective of political affiliation, have decided to cooperate with the government. * Nearly 15 lakh traders in the national capital will be downing shutters on Sunday. While all markets, both retail and wholesale, will remain shut Sunday, some will extend this curfew for three daysfrom March 21 to March 23as a voluntary measure in a bid to contain the community spread of the virus. * The Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC) will suspend Aqua Line services and the city bus service on Sunday in the wake of Janta Curfew. * Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani has said no government buses will ply on Sunday during the Janta Curfew announced by Prime Minister Modi. State transport buses, those being operated under the BRTS mechanism, as well as city buses will be off the roads in the state on Sunday, the CM said. * The Tamil Nadu government has also said government bus and Metro rail services in the state will be suspended on Sunday in view of Janta Curfew. Private transport operators and owners of mini-buses too have been asked to extend support and not operate their vehicles on that day. * Operations of Lucknow Metro will also be suspended on Sunday. * Most private establishments and some public services will be shut across Bengaluru and the rest of Karnataka on Sunday. The Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), that provides inner-city services, said they would operate with limited capacity and based on demand. All pubs, bars, malls and theatres, among other places, will remain closed. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 19:14:14|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close JERUSALEM, March 21 (Xinhua) -- 178 more people tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Israel, bringing the total number of the cases to 883 in the country on Saturday, according to the Ministry of Health. On Friday night, the first coronavirus patient, an 88-year-old man from Jerusalem, died in Israel. Israel Prison Service has announced the release of 500 prisoners as part of the measures against the spread of COVID-19. These prisoners are not considered dangerous, and have already served most of their prison term. Its 9.45 on a Saturday night and there are numerous empty parking spaces along the main street in Naas. Naas is one of those towns with a long main street and little activity off this route and so the state of health of the town can be gauged fairly readily. Most of the pubs and restaurants are still open just about but the pre-booking of tables would be an irrational extravagance. A handful of eateries in the town are generally so busy that booking has to be made at least days in advance. This is the last night of any meaningful social activity in town and most businesses, certainly the pubs, have made the decision to close that evening. Almost all did not indicate a reopening date but it may be safe to assume that reopenings before March 30 are optimistic. If there's a slim sliver of a silver lining in the Covid-19 illness, it comes only in the form of freer movement and lower petrol and diesel prices. The reality is much bleaker. If less and less people are coming through the doors and then the doors close together and it was clear that businesses were struggling early last week before the bars were asked to shut we all suffer, especially those whose livelihoods depend on the health of the hospitality sector. Even before the closure, casual staff in some Naas licenced businesses were told not to report for work on last Friday, Saturday or Sunday the three busiest days of any week. Today, the better part of 150,000 people are without employment. This is something that ought to make those who choose to ignore the anti-coronavirus messages think again. There were some signs; buds of signs, maybe that people were beginning to cop themselves on the weekend. On Saturday afternoon, March 14, the only Lidl store in Naas had many many packets of toilet roll and several brands (2 ply and 3 ply) on the shelf. And nobody was waylaid by an errant shopping trolley. It seems absurd that the availability of bog roll has become the reference point for the scale of fear induced by Covid-19. The first official indicator that we should be worried about this came on Wednesday the previous week at the regular sitting of Naas District Court in the local courthouse. There are two courtrooms in the building. Both are small, generally cramped and frequently overcrowded. On Wednesdays court authorities dealt with the threat by invoking something of an Irish solution to an Irish problem. The defendants and witnesses were left outside the courtroom in the foyer where the seating was insufficient and there was no hand sanitiser. There was some hand sanitiser available but not everyone had adequate access. Kildare County Council decided to call off meetings. Given that the Naas Municipal District (effectively the old Naas Town Council) meetings consist of about a dozen people in a huge room, these could have gone ahead. However, the cancellation of council meetings and the absence of politicians for a month is probably among the least of the concerns of the community. The closure of business is to be regretted. Many did all they could to stay open. McCormacks pub, for example, had hand sanitisers for all, warning notices and disinfected door handles on the run up to the closure. The hope is that the rest of us will heed the advice and adopt the protocols (fine word that). But its up to us. A Naas resident returning from Cheltenhams annual National Hunt horse racing event on Friday reported that it was as raucous and and passionate as ever. And it was as if the virus didnt exist. After his planeload of passengers disembarked the only interaction with those managing the crisis was to be offered the standard black-on-yellow notices. The flight from Bristol had been delayed for three hours. So maybe its understandable that some declined the leaflets offered and only had thoughts of getting home. [March 20, 2020] Bell announces offering of MTN Debentures This news release contains forward-looking statements. For a description of the related risk factors and assumptions, please see the section entitled "Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements" later in this news release. MONTREAL, March 20, 2020 /CNW Telbec/ - Bell Canada (Bell) today announced the public offering in Canada of Cdn $1.0 billion aggregate principal amount of MTN Debentures pursuant to its medium term notes (MTN) program. The Cdn $1.0 billion 3.35% MTN Debentures, Series M-47, which are being issued pursuant to a re-opening of an existing series of MTN Debentures, will be dated March 25, 2020, will mature on March 12, 2025, and will be issued at a price of Cdn $98.501 per $100 principal amount plus accrued and unpaid interest from and including March 12, 2020 to, but excluding, March 25, 2020 in the amount of $0.119315068 per $100 principal amount to yield 3.683%. The MTN Debentures will be fully and unconditionally guaranteed by BCE Inc. Bell intends to use the net proceeds of this offering to repay short-term debt and for general corporate purposes. The MTN Debentures are being publicly offered in all provinces of Canada through a syndicate of agents. Closing of the offering of the MTN Debentures is expected to occur on March 25, 2020, subject to customary closing conditions. This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor will there be any sale of these securities, in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. The Series M-47 MTN Debentures have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (U.S. Securities Act), or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to or for the account or benefit of U.S. persons (as defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act). The MTN Debentures are being issued pursuant to a short form base shelf prospectus dated May 29, 2019 and a prospectus supplement dated June 6, 2019. Bell will file a pricing supplement relating to this issue with the securities regulatory authorities in all provinces of Canada. Update on COVID-19 As the COVID-19 situation continues to significantly impact the Canadian and global economy, Bell Canada has implemented a response plan to continue providing service and support to Bell customers while safeguarding the health and safety of the public and the Bell team. Bell Canada is focused on securing its wireless, wireline and media networks as well as the key business operations required to ensure service continuity for customers. Bell Canada has implemented alternative working arrangements for employees and temporarily closed retail locations nationall, with the exception of a limited number of street front stores that remain open to urgent customer support. As Bell Canada's internal and external response plans evolve, the company remains in close contact with public safety and other government officials at all levels, suppliers and partners, and key business customers providing essential services to Canadians. Public and private sector policies and initiatives to reduce the transmission of COVID-19, including the imposition of travel restrictions, the promotion of social distancing and the adoption of work-from-home and online education by companies and institutions, are impacting how customers use Bell networks, products and services, as well as the ability of certain suppliers and vendors to provide products and services. Due to the speed with which the situation is developing and the uncertainty of its magnitude, outcome and duration, we are not able at this time to estimate the impact of the COVID-19 situation on our operations or financial results; however, the impact could be material. Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements made in this news release constitute forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, statements relating to the expected timing and completion of the proposed sale of MTN Debentures, the intended use of the net proceeds of such sale, the expected outcome of the plans we have implemented in response to the COVID-19 situation and other statements that are not historical facts. All such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the "safe harbour" provisions of applicable Canadian securities laws and of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements, by their very nature, are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties and are based on several assumptions, both general and specific, which give rise to the possibility that actual results or events could differ materially from our expectations expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance or events and we caution you against relying on any of these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release describe our expectations at the date of this news release and, accordingly, are subject to change after such date. Except as may be required by applicable securities laws, we do not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements contained in this news release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Forward-looking statements are provided herein for the purpose of giving information about the proposed offering referred to above and about the plans we have implemented in response to the COVID-19 situation and its expected impact on us. Readers are cautioned that such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. The timing and completion of the abovementioned proposed sale of the MTN Debentures is subject to customary closing terms and other risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, there can be no assurance that the proposed sale of the MTN Debentures will occur, or that it will occur at the expected time indicated in this news release. In addition, there can be no certainty that the plans we have implemented in response to COVID-19 will yield the expected results. Due to the speed with which the COVID-19 situation is developing and the uncertainty of its magnitude, outcome and duration, we are not able at this time to estimate the impact of the COVID-19 situation on our operations or financial results; however, the impact could be material. About Bell Bell is Canada's largest communications company, providing advanced broadband wireless, TV, Internet and business communication services throughout the country. Bell Media is Canada's premier content creation company with leading assets in television, radio, out of home and digital media. Founded in Montreal in 1880, Bell is wholly owned by BCE Inc. (TSX, NYSE: BCE). To learn more, please visit Bell.ca or BCE.ca . The Bell Let's Talk initiative promotes Canadian mental health with national awareness and anti-stigma campaigns like Bell Let's Talk Day and significant Bell funding of mental health care and access, research and workplace leadership initiatives. To learn more, please visit Bell.ca/LetsTalk . Media inquiries: Marie-Eve Francoeur 514-391-5263 marie-eve.francoeur@bell.ca Investor inquiries: Thane Fotopoulos 514-870-4619 thane.fotopoulos@bell.ca View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bell-announces-offering-of-mtn-debentures-301027761.html SOURCE Bell Canada [ Back to the Next Generation Communications Community's Homepage ] A County Derry care home manager has urged the Health and Social Care Trust to think creatively when dealing with staff shortages resulting from the spread of Covid-19. Regina Brady manages two care homes in Belfast and has called on the Trust to relax some of its recruitment regulations in the face of an impending staffing crisis. The Ballinderry native has suggested school staff, who have much of the same safeguarding training as care home staff, could be upskilled in the event of widespread school closures. She said: Over the next few weeks, there could be thousands of people sitting at home saying theyd love to be able to help someone but not knowing what do to. Staff from schools coming in would breach a regulation because they havent been recruited for that particular business and an Access NI check doesnt mention care. The same checks have been done - they have been recruited robustly with the same safeguarding and first aid training as us. That skillset is there, and it can be transferred over. Regina closed her two care homes to visitors last week, going further than public health advice to implement stricter visiting times. She feels she can currently guarantee the safety of the residents but is worried about potential staff shortages as the virus continues its spread. She said: For the first couple of days the girls thought I had completely lost my mind and gone OTT, but now the enormity of whats going to happen is really hitting home. You can be one or two down, but you cope without a few functions for a day, but youre looking at 7 days and maybe even worse. I have a duty of care towards staff. I might even lose them through the risk-assessment process as opposed to contracting the virus or thinking they have it. Some residents rely on us for everything. They will fall if were not with them at all times. They will not eat if were not able to feed them. They will not be able to go to the toilet. They rely on us to change them and if were not able to change them for longer than usual, the skin breaks down and they start becoming ill. I have a lot of residents with dementia who require stimulation throughout the day and can become unsettled and agitated. Are we going to be able to safely administer medication? I can upskill staff, but I need people cooking, cleaning and doing laundry, or even people walking around the home to avoid panic. Those small things make a massive difference. Care homes face stark reality as coronavirus continues to spread, and Regina is frustrated that authorities are skirting around the issue. We need to get that awareness out here that the care homes are going to be crippled. I dont want to be three months down the line thinking the choice Im making today is this person doesnt get fed or this person doesnt fall. Ive asked the Trust not to ignore the elephant in the room. All the 10 Indonesian Islamic preachers spotted in Karimnagar earlier this week are infected by COVID-19. While eight cases were established by Wednesday, Telangana health authorities have on Friday confirmed the remaining two also as COVID-19 positive. The state has also reported a case of a Hyderabadi on Friday - P17, an 18-year-old female with travel history from London. She was referred from a private hospital and presently admitted at the TB and Chest Hospital. She is stable, the medical bulletin said. Follow latest updates on the COVID-19 pandemic here The total tally of COVID-19 cases including the foreigners now stands at 19. All 10 Indonesians are confirmed as COVID-19 positive. They are in a stable condition but couple of them are above 60 years age. Let us see , Dr G Srinivasa Rao, director, public health and family welfare, Telangana told DH. Also Read: Coronavirus India update: State-wise total number of confirmed cases The sighting of the foreigner group and revelation of their movements in Karimnagar town, about 160 kilometres north of Hyderabad, for two-three days for religious activities has alarmed the state government and spooked the locals. According to Telangana health minister Etela Rajender, the 10-member group had landed in New Delhi last week. They took the AP Sampark Kranti Express and reached Ramagundam on 14 March. The group then traveled in a private vehicle to Karimnagar where they stayed in a Mosque for two nights. According to local reports, the group only went for COVID-19 screening on directions of the town police. Once revealed they could be infected, the 10 were isolated to the Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad on 16 March. Also Read: Coronavirus FAQs: All you need to know about the new pandemic COVID-19 Karimnagar is virtually locked down from Thursday morning. Since the group stayed in a Mosque near the Collectorate, the area within three KMs radius is under surveillance. The state machinery is carrying out a massive door to door checking to verify if anyone in the town has contracted the virus from the group. On Saturday, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao along with senior officials were scheduled to visit Karimnagar to monitor the containment efforts but CMO officials informed its cancellation in a late-night communication. Excepting the Indonesians, no other person there has so far tested positive. Since the officials assured him about the measures taken, the CM has cancelled his tour, said one CMO official. The tour was to happen on Friday but was rescheduled due to the Prime Ministers video conference with CMs on COVID-19. A Scottish hotel that left staff homeless after sacking them with immediate eviction from their accommodation has claimed the move was an 'administrative error'. Workers at the Coylumbridge Hotel, Aviemore, in the Scottish Highlands were sent a letter terminating their employment and ordering them to leave their accommodation immediately, it emerged Thursday. The hotel is owned by Britannia Hotel, a chain ranked as the worst UK hotel chain for seven years running in an annual survey by Which?. Its decision to let the staff go amid the coronavirus outbreak, attracted criticism from first minister Nicola Sturgeon who condemned the move after calling on businesses to support staff. Workers at the Coylumbridge Hotel, Aviemore, in the Scottish Highlands were sent a letter terminating their employment and ordering them to leave their accommodation immediately Speaking at a coronavirus briefing yesterday Sturgeon said: 'I would unreservedly condemn the approach that was taken in the Aviemore case: that is not how we want employers to operate. 'I wont underestimate and dont want to downplay the difficulty that businesses and employers are in, but weve seen so many good examples, like Macdonald Hotels stepping in to offer accommodation to all affected by that. 'We want to be doing everything we can to support businesses, but in turn we need employers to support their workforce too.' Britannias spokeswoman told The Liverpool Echo: 'Unfortunately, the communication sent to these employees was an administrative error. All affected employees are being immediately contacted. We apologise for any upset caused.' (left to right) Alvaro Garcia, Carlos Ramero-Martinez and Normunds Varshavans who were sacked from their jobs at the Coylumbridge Hotel and told to leave the staff accommodation The letter sent to employees at the Coylumbridge Hotel, owned by Britannia Hotel, a chain ranked as the worst UK hotel chain for seven years running in an annual survey by Which? However it is not known if those staff will be reinstated to their positions. On Friday chancellor Rishi Sunak effectively signed a blank cheque as he unveiled a huge new coronavirus bailout to cover the wages of millions of people and stop firms going bankrupt. He said the government will cover 80 per cent of salaries up to a ceiling 2,500 a month - equivalent to the UK average wage of 30,000 a year - as long as employers keep workers on their books, and there will be no limit on the total cost. Founder Alex Langsam, 82, has amassed an estimated 240 million fortune since he founded the company 33 years ago Langsam lives in a sprawling ten-bedroom former hotel worth 3.4 million in a leafy suburb of Cheshire The Britannia group, which as 61 hotels across the UK, has previously made headlines after its Fawlty Towers-esque running style saw guests complain of dirty rooms, broken toilets, and stained bedclothes and towels. Despite being dubbed the worst hotel chain in Britain by consumer magazine Which? the chain has seen its operating profits soar over the last five years to nearly 20 million. Founder Alex Langsam, 82, has amassed an estimated 240 million fortune since he founded the company 33 years ago. He lives in a sprawling ten-bedroom former hotel worth 3.4 million in a leafy suburb of Cheshire. The company's remarkable financial performance comes despite damning reviews by Britannia guests on ratings website TripAdvisor - and now despite its heavily criticised treatment of workers. Nearly one billion people confined to homes globally to curb virus View(s): NEW YORK, March 21 (AFP) Close to one billion people worldwide were confined to their homes on Saturday as the global coronavirus death toll shot past 11,000 and US states rolled out lockdown measures already imposed across swathes of Europe. The pandemic has completely upended lives across the planet, restricting movement, shutting schools and forcing millions to work from home. While President Donald Trump insisted the United States was winning the war against the virus, individual states dramatically ramped up restrictions, with New York and Illinois joining California in ordering residents to stay home. The virus death toll surged past 11,000 worldwide, with 4,000 alone in worst-hit Italy where the daily number of fatalities has shot up relentlessly over the past week. An estimated 900 million people are now confined to their homes in 35 countries around the world including 600 million hemmed in by obligatory government lockdown orders according to an AFP tally. While the elderly and those with pre-existing medical conditions are the hardest hit by the virus, the World Health Organisation warned that young people were also vulnerable. Today I have a message for young people: you are not invincible. This virus could put you in hospital for weeks or even kill you, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. Even if you dont get sick, the choices you make about where you go could be the difference between life and death for someone else. China on Saturday reported no new local infections for a third straight day, and the WHO said the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus emerged late last year, offered a glimmer of hope for the rest of the world. But there are growing concerns of a new wave of imported infections in the region, with Hong Kong reporting 48 suspected cases on Friday its biggest daily jump since the crisis began. Many of them have a recent history of travel to or from Europe. Italy reported its worst single day death toll Friday, adding another 627 fatalities and taking its reported total to 4,032 despite efforts to stem the spread. The nation of 60 million now accounts for 36 percent of the worlds coronavirus deaths and its death rate of 8.6 percent among confirmed infections is significantly higher than in most other countries. France, Italy, Spain and other European countries have ordered people to stay at home, threatening fines in some cases, while Bavaria became the first region in Germany to order a lockdown. Britain, falling in line with its EU neighbours, also announced tougher restrictions, telling pubs, restaurants and theatres to close and promising to help cover the wages of affected workers. Australias famed Bondi beach was also ordered shut after sunbathers crowded the hotspot in defiance of government orders to avoid non-essential outdoor gatherings. This is not something we are doing because we are the fun police this is about saving lives, New South Wales state Police Minister David Elliott told reporters. With virus fears gripping the United States, its largest state California with over 1,000 cases and 19 deaths told its 40 million residents to stay at home. New York state, which has reported over 7,000 cases and 39 deaths, followed suit on Friday, ordering its nearly 20 million residents to do the same from Sunday evening. Trump applauded the New York and California decisions, but said he did not think a nationwide lockdown was needed. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 23:11:04|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BAGHDAD, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi warplanes on Saturday carried out an airstrike on hideouts of Islamic State (IS) militants in a mountainous area north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, the Iraqi military said. The Iraqi F-16 fighter jets conducted an airstrike on IS hideouts in Himreen mountain range and killed dozens of the militants, the media office of the Iraqi Joint Operations Command said in a statement. The statement gave no further details, but said that more information is to be released later. Despite repeated military operations against the remnants of IS militants, the extremist militants are still hiding in Himreen mountain range which extends in the three provinces of Diyala, Salahudin and Kirkuk. The security situation in Iraq has been dramatically improved after Iraqi security forces fully defeated the extremist IS militants across the country late in 2017. North Korea on Saturday fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea, Yonhap agency reported, citing South Korea's military. The launch originated from North Pyongan province, the agency said, citing the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff. Earlier this month, the nuclear-armed North carried out similar launches on two occasions -- Pyongyang said they had conducted "long-range artillery" drills, but Japan said the projectiles appeared to be ballistic missiles. Shortly before the Yonhap report about the launch, the North's official Korean Central Agency (KCNA) reported that the country would convene its rubber-stamp parliament, the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA), on April 10. The latest launch comes as a prolonged hiatus in disarmament talks with the United States drags on. The North has been continuing to refine its weapons capabilities, analysts say, more than a year after a summit between its leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump broke down in Hanoi. Pyongyang is under multiple sets of United Nations, US and other sanctions over its weapons programmes. The North carried out a series of weapons trials late last year, the last of them in November, which it often described as multiple launch rocket systems, although others called them ballistic missiles. It also conducted static engine tests, most recently in December. Pyongyang set Washington a unilateral deadline of the end of 2019 to offer fresh concessions on sanctions relief, and at a party meeting in late December, Kim declared the North no longer considered itself bound by its moratoriums on nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests. Heightened tensions in 2017 were followed by two years of nuclear diplomacy between Pyongyang and Washington, including three meetings between Kim and Trump, but little tangible progress was made. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) LaToya Jones owns Kennedy's Kitchen, the in-house/carryout food option at Rock Island's 2nd Ave Market. She worries that the dent put into her business by last week's ban of in-house consumption of food and drink at bars and restaurants will now grow bigger. "Not having those late-night sales from downtown bar traffic has already slowed things for us,'' she said. "We are a carryout business, so that helps, but we rely on foot traffic. I don't see a lot of that with this order from the governor. "We have made great strides with people coming to appreciate our food, and with that we have established some footing,'' Jones added. "My worry is all the work we have done is going to backslide with this.'' Davenport's Jeff Collins carried with him a letter from his employer that will allow him to be out and about in Illinois. It did not make him any more comfortable with the governor's decision. "What if I'm here (downtown Rock Island) past a certain time?'' Collins asked. "I work for Hill and Valley (bakery) and really like it. I don't want to be in Illinois when I'm not supposed to whether I have the letter or not.'' Rick Waitkus is 63 and retired from the Moline Forge company. He lives in a downtown Rock Island high-rise, and he said boredom already has found him. "You can only watch so much television,'' he said. "They have already taken away my chance to go downtown, sit down and have a meal. I understand all of this, but I don't have to be happy with everything. I don't want someone telling me I can't go outside and have a smoke and take my walk." While students across Minnesota are experiencing an exceptionally long (and perhaps exceptionally boring) spring break, many of their teachers and administrators are hard at work. Their task? Coming up with a plan to provide meaningful, effective and convenient online learning opportunities. While everyone would prefer to see students back in classrooms a few weeks from now, each passing day points toward the possibility, if not the likelihood, that "traditional" learning won't resume until fall. The goal isn't merely to have a bunch of worksheets available on Google Classroom; rather, districts across Minnesota need to ensure that students and teachers will be able to connect through "virtual classrooms" that allow face-to-face, real-time exchange of ideas and instruction. The logistical challenge is enormous, and there will be plenty of bugs and glitches, but the task isn't impossible. After all, school districts won't have to invent any new technology. Kids have been attending online school for years. All of which begs this question: Why can't people participate in public meetings in the exact same way? ADVERTISEMENT The Rochester City Council has banned public attendance at City Council meetings, and that's entirely appropriate. Maintaining proper "social distance" at such a gathering would be impossible. But the council also has suspended the open-comment period that allows members of the public to weigh in on issues under consideration. Instead, people are being encouraged to submit their comments in writing. While there are bigger concerns facing our community right now, we strongly support the rights of people to directly address leaders with their concerns about zoning, building projects and public expenditures. Not everyone is a skilled writer, and sometimes there's no substitute for the passion in one's face and the emotion in the sound of a human voice. Given that some council members and city staff have begun attending meetings remotely, we'd argue that individuals who wish to make public comment should have that same option, perhaps via a web conferencing tool like Zoom. We're not suggesting that the city needs to move heaven and earth to help the less-tech-savvy among us, but the growing number of people who routinely hold meetings via their phones and tablets should also be able to use that technology to address elected leaders. While it would be easier to do nothing, based on the belief that we'll be back to "normal" public meetings in two or three months, that's a dangerous assumption. And really, how long is too long to endure quasi-suppression of public comments? Three months? Six? Nine? Truth be told, it's high time that all of our elected governing bodies school boards, county boards, city councils, etc. embrace technology to allow more people to participate in public meetings. In mid-January, on a bitterly cold night, why not allow a disabled person to speak to leaders for four minutes without having to go downtown? Years from now, when coronavirus is but a distant, unpleasant memory, part of its legacy might be that it pushed us to embrace technology in ways that allowed more people to participate in local government. ADVERTISEMENT That's a very small silver lining, but at this point, it's worth grasping. Friday communal prayers have been cancelled in many Mideast countries. The courtyard around the Kaaba in Makkah is empty. Istanbuls Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Jerusalems Dome of the Rock, and Casablancas Hassan II Mosque are closed. Some however have braved the epidemic, filling mosques in Karachi. Jerusalem (AsiaNews/Agencies) The coronavirus outbreak has forced Muslim religious authorities in much of the Middle East to suspend communal Muslim prayers to stop the novel coronavirus from further spreading across the region. This is the first time in living memory that such a thorough cancellation takes place, sign of the seriousness of the situation in a region not yet fully feeling the impact of the pandemic, the one exception being Iran. Some people did meet to pray, violating the restrictions imposed by the authorities, but the usually crowded courtyard around the Kaaba, Islams holiest place in Makkah, was empty and silent. At Riyadhs massive al-Rajhi mosque, only the muezzin who makes the call to prayer, and other staff were praying inside instead of the thousands who normally attend. This feeling is indescribable ... the minarets are crying. The mosques were once full of worshippers, said, tearful, muezzin Nasser Mohammed. Istanbuls Blue Mosque, Jerusalems Dome of the Rock and Casablancas Hassan II Mosque all shut their doors for the first time. The rapid spread of the coronavirus in the Middle East has prompted many governments to suspend communal prayers and put seals on places of worship to avoid dangerous gatherings. For the faithful, the only option was to pray at home, at work, in parks or in streets. Some mosques broadcast an altered version of the call to prayer, exhorting the faithful to stay at home. In Jerusalem, where the Dome of the Rock and the neighbouring al-Aqsa were shut, clerics allowed prayer in the sacred compound that contains the two mosques. Some worshippers scuffled with Israeli police, who tried to limit the numbers. In war-torn Syria, the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus closed for the first recorded time in over a thousand years, something that not even the war was able to do. But the shutdown was not generalised across the Muslim world. Muslims from Cairo to Mogadishu via Karachi flocked to mosques, braving virus and bans. In Karachi, Pakistans biggest city, mosques were crowded as a cleric told his congregation via loudspeaker: We are not too weak to let this one virus empty our mosques. In Cairo, where mosques stayed open, religious authorities urged imams to shorten sermons and prayers and told the faithful to perform their ritual ablutions at home. Shimla, March 22 : A couple who recently returned from abroad and woman whose preliminary tests showed positive for coronavirus were booked by the state police for concealing their travel histories and not adhering to health protocol, police said on Saturday. The couple -- Tanveer and Neha -- both residents of Arki tehsil in Solan district, had returned from Indonesia. It was advised to follow home quarantine protocol for 28 days. A woman from Kangra district, who tested positive for the infection on Friday, was booked for not cooperating with local authorities. Several people, who were in touch with her, have been quarantined. New York will conduct trials for drugs that could be used to treat patients with the novel coronavirus who are seriously ill. Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Saturday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will send 10,000 doses of azithromycin and hydroxychloroquine to New York. Azithromycin is an antibiotic and hydroxychloroquine is used to treat malaria. Cuomo spoke to President Donald Trump on Friday and expressed interest in conducting trials in New York. "There is a theory that the drug treatment could be helpful," Cuomo said. "We have people who are in serious condition and (state Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker) feels comfortable, as well as a number of other health professionals, that in a situation where a person is in dire circumstance, try what you can." A limited study in France found that the combination of azithromycin and hydroxychloroquine could be effective in treating patients with the coronavirus. But Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, cautioned that the study wasn't a controlled trial. Trump tweeted Saturday that the drugs could be "one of the biggest game-changers in the history of medicine." However, doctors and other health experts are concerned about the efficacy of the drugs and potential side effects. The side effects include vision problems, irregular heartbeat and sudden death. New York will play a role in determining whether the combination of the antibiotic and anti-malaria drugs can be effective in treating the coronavirus. The state has the most confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. 10,356, as of Saturday and 1,603 people are hospitalized after contracting the virus. The drug trials will be part of other New York efforts to identify treatments and vaccines for the coronavirus. Cuomo said researchers are working on a possible antibody therapy and vaccines. Regeneron, a New York-based company, is also working on a drug to treat COVID-19 that could be available soon for clinical trials. Cuomo exempted Regeneron from his executive order requiring businesses to keep 100% of their workforce at home. "They could possibly have a really significant achievement for us," he said. UPDATE: Cuomo announced Sunday that the drug trials will begin Tuesday. The Food and Drug Administration will send 750,000 doses of chloroquine, 75,000 doses of hydroxychloroquine and 10,000 doses of Zithromax. Politics reporter Robert Harding can be reached at (315) 282-2220 or robert.harding@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @robertharding. Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Among the worlds 20 biggest oil-producing countries, theres only one that has--as far as anyone really knows--escaped the coronavirus, but its got problems that are just as big. Taking stock of the pandemic from the perspective of oil-producing nations is important because COVID-19 adds another major layer of uncertainty to the already devastating oil price/market share war between Saudi Arabia and Russia. And while Libya has no known cases, and Russia is popping champagne corks over the Wests panic, Iran is reeling under a triple threat, Iraq just had a big operational scare, the UAE is clamping down, and the Saudis are perhaps taking measures that are too mild, too late. It will all continue to affect oil, not simply from an economic growth and demand perspective, but an operational standpoint, too. Its not the ideal atmosphere in which two stubbornly unaccountable world leaders should be playing at a pricing war. The coronavirus may force their hands before theyre ready. Top 20 Oil-Producing Countries as of 2019: (Click to enlarge) Source: Index Mundi / CIA World Factbook But in the meantime, this is what the Oil-COVID-19 playing field looks like, and how the infection is spreading: Africa For once, Africa is probably the only place on the planet to be, and its also home to four large oil-producing countries: Nigeria, Angola, Algeria, and Libya. Nigeria has banned entry for travelers from 13 countries as it grapples with containment, though its 12 confirmed cases as of Thursday represent a more delayed spread of the virus to Africa in general. Then we have Libya, where there are no confirmed cases of coronavirus, and no real facilities to contain an outbreak if there is, but where oil production is already halted over a new phase in an ongoing civil war. Libya is currently producing 91,221 bpd, as production has been halted due to the ongoing civil war between the Government of National Accord (GNA) and the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) led by General Khalifa Haftar. This is now an international proxy war, with external forces lining up on opposing sides, hedging their bets on who will come out on top with the oil in hand. Financial losses due to the forced halt of oil production since mid-January are now estimated at over $3.36 billion by the National Oil Company (NOC) of Libya. To contain an outbreak of the pandemic in Libya, the GNA on Monday suspended all flights at the Misrata Airport for three weeks, and border crossings have been ordered to close. Algeria confirmed its 8th death from coronavirus on Thursday, with a total of 82 cases, but what observers will be watching is how this affects the year-long mass protest against kleptocratic rule, much of which had to do with the state-run oil company, Sonatrach. Angola registered its first case of coronavirus on Wednesday. The GCC The worst case in the Gulf presently is gas giant Qatar, with 452 COVID-19 cases as of Thursday. Foreigners are now banned from entry. Most of the cases are said to be related to migrant workers. Saudi Arabia, the OPEC giant facing off with Russia in a devastating oil price war, had 238 cases of coronavirus as of Wednesday, with 67 new cases that same day. The UAE has 140 cases, with 27 new cases just confirmed today, and it has banned citizens from traveling abroad. Kuwait has 148 cases, with 6 new cases reported Thursday. Foreign flights have been cancelled, employees have been sent on two-week holidays, and educational institutions have been shut down, along with public markets and shopping malls. China China, where the virus originated, has turned a corner, with no new local infections as of Thursday. To date, the virus has killed 3,245 people in China. Iran Outside of China, the hardest hit is Iran, which is also suffering under U.S. sanctions and ridiculously low oil prices thanks to Russia and Saudi Arabia. As of Wednesday, Irans death toll due to coronavirus had surpassed 1,135, spiking 15% overnight. In total, Iran now has 17,631 coronavirus cases confirmed across the country. Iraq In Iraq, which was already reeling from a very undefined proxy war between the United States and Iran, the industry will be twitching a bit over the decision Tuesday to halt production of 95,000 bpd from the southern Gharraf oilfield after Malaysian giant Petronas evacuated its staff over coronavirus concerns. Petronas simply evacuated, apparently without even giving Baghdad a heads-up, and because Petronas is the operator, there was no time to prepare a new operational plan. Russia Russia is still basking in what it appears to think is divine intervention to justify the greatness of Putin--wonderfully portrayed in this must-read Moscow Times commentary--with reportedly fewer than 100 infected. Moscow is currently living the high life, watching a parody of Soviet-era scrabbling for staples in the West, and still pretending its not shooting itself in the foot by taking on the Saudis (and, for good measure, U.S. shale) in a war for market share. Kazakhstan Two cities in oil-giant Kazakhstan are now on lockdown, as of Tuesday, after an overnight doubling of the number of cases to 33. North America Canadas COVID-19 death toll now sits at nine, compared to more than 150 deaths in the United States as of Thursday morning. Albertas oil industry is what some analysts are calling on its deathbed, with the price of Western Canadian Select trading at just $5.40 on Thursday, a loss of 50% in a single day--a price point that is entirely unsustainable for the industry and well below Canadian breakevens. U.S. coronavirus cases soared 40% in just 24 hours as of Thursday, and the total number of confirmed cases had surpassed 10,000. Europe North Sea oil giant Norway, while taking potshots at the unpreparedness in the U.S., has 1,442 COVID-19 cases as of Wednesday and has moved to invoke emergency powers, close borders, schools, and other public and private institutions. The UK, which failed to digest the seriousness of the situation in Italy, where the death toll has officially outpaced Chinas, has 2,626 confirmed cases, with the death toll now standing at 103. Related: Big Oil Is Literally Burning Cash In The Permian South America Venezuela, home to the worlds largest oil reserves, is under a nationwide quarantine due to the virus. Whats particularly worrisome about Venezuela is that their entire health system has essentially collapsed and they have an insufficient number of doctors and not enough medical equipment--or even soap and water. Its hard to assess just how serious the situation is in Venezuela due to media blackouts, but the IMF refused a loan to Venezuela to deal with the virus. As of Wednesday, Venezuela was reportedly grappling with 33 cases of the virus. Brazil, which produces roughly 3 million barrels of oil per day, on Thursday moved to restrict foreign visitors coming from Venezuela, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Suriname, and French Guiana. Its state-run oil firm, Petrobras, has already had employees test positive for the virus and are scaling back meetings and screening collaborators at airports before arriving at production platforms. In Mexico, populist president AMLO (Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador) is playing things cool, insisting that the threat of the pandemic is exaggerated. AMLO is not moving to close down anything and is instead relying on good luck charms, even with 118 confirmed cases of COVID-19. By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Dentists and other businesses are donating equipment and supplies to hospitals that are reporting or suffering shortages while treating coronavirus patients. N95 respirator masks and other personal protective equipment are among the most requested items for doctors and nurses. The federal government is sending supplies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's national stockpile and working with private companies to ramp up production. Meanwhile, people are reaching out to doctors and hospitals on their own, offering what they can. From dentists donating their own supplies to contractors donating respirator masks, people are stepping up in a time of need. Lowe's donating millions Lowe's says it is committing $25 million to support the emerging needs of its associates, customers and communities. "This includes a $10 million donation in essential protective products to do our part in helping to keep medical professionals on the frontlines of this crisis healthy and safe," the company said in a statement. "We deeply appreciate their actions and commitment. These funds will also support our Employee Relief Fund and offer small business relief for our Pros." Related video above: Vocational school donates supplies to hospital 'I started reaching out to friends' James Pring, a molecular biologist at Columbia University, enjoys woodworking when he's not in the lab for his day job. Pring listens to a couple of woodworking podcasts weekly, including "Shop Talk Live - Fine Woodworking." After this week's episode, he realized other woodworkers and contractors have equipment hospitals need, such as respirator masks. Contractors use them to avoid breathing in dust during construction. Pring contacted the podcast host, Ben Strano. "It's a running joke in the woodworking community that people over-order" the masks, Pring said. "I started reaching out to friends and said, 'Hey, if you have some, let me know.' They're going to do much more good on the face of a doctor or a nurse or a scientist than the face of someone who's tinkering about in their shops." Health care workers don't use the exact same masks as woodworkers, but when the option is a construction mask or nothing, using the construction masks for doctors and nurses is a better option, Pring believes. 3M, an American manufacturer of these masks, makes them for health care workers and construction workers. Pring requested woodworkers donate their refillable N95 and N100 cartridges, filters that go inside the masks, to health care workers, along with any extra masks. When Strano received Pring's message March 17, he jumped into action, calling on the Fine Woodworking website -- where he is a digital brand manager -- and social media community to inform contractors and woodworkers across the country of the need for donations. On the other side of the country from Strano's home in Newtown, Connecticut, two contractors in California saw the post. Contractor Stuart Slack in Los Gatos, California, realized he had extra N95 respirator masks sitting in his garage from an attempted donation to fire victims in Napa, California. He missed the window to donate and still had the box. Slack reached out to a surgeon friend at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, a San Jose County Hospital. The friend said he would pick them up as soon as possible. Paul Kavanagh, owner of Hill 16 Construction in San Jose, had a few N95 respirators to donate. He reached out to his doctor at Kaiser Permanente in Santa Clara and asked if he wanted the extra masks. The doctor picked them up that night. Another contractor friend of Kavanagh's, Liam O'Brien, had 160 masks of his own. Together, they donated 175 masks to Kavanaugh's doctor. "These are the guys on the front lines. The man in charge says they are fighting a war here. The only ones fighting a war are the doctors and the nurses. They need them more than anybody else," Kavanagh said. "We can suck in a bit of dust, and we'll survive, but they won't." Goldman Sachs, dentists donate gear Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, and the American Dental Association recommended patients delay all nonemergency or elective medical procedures in an effort to save supplies. Some hospitals across the country mandated that all nonessential appointments be canceled. The states of Ohio and Michigan made similar announcements. While dental offices shift to canceling nonessential procedures, some dentists are attempting to coordinate donation of the supplies they have that hospitals might need. The Massachusetts Dental Society said in a tweet that it was working with the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) to organize donations from dental offices. A page on the society's website explains what donations are needed and how to make an appointment to drop off supplies at MEMA. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Friday that Goldman Sachs, the investment bank and financial services company, donated 100,000 masks to the state. Cuomo called on others to consider donating what they could. "Clinics that are closed," he said. "We need those masks, gowns, gloves, and we need them now." While every donation counts, Dr. Evan Benjamin, chief medical officer of Ariadne Labs, a joint project of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Brigham and Women's Hospital, said the donations aren't enough to fulfill the need across the country. "Even if we had everyone donate all of these to their local hospital, we would still have a shortage," Benjamin said, also an associate professor at both HPS and Harvard Medical School. "It wouldn't be enough, but it would help, so I would encourage the donation. If they have (personal protection equipment), particularly the masks, I would encourage the donation to their local hospital. We do have to work on the bigger picture at the same time." Pring agreed that donations will make an impact. "If we get people to donate 10,000 masks, that's 10,000 health care workers who have a reduced chance of getting sick," Pring said. "That's 10,000 more people who can help people. It just seems the smart thing to do." In different incidents, 21 passengers were prevented from using public transport after they were found to have home quarantine stamp on their hands. Three others, with home quarantine stamps, were detained by Worli police after they were caught roaming in the area on Friday. The Worli residents had travelled to Dubai recently. The three were sent to Kasturba Hospital. While fifteen passengers with home quarantine stamps were spotted by Railway Protection Force(RPF) staff at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) on Saturday, one passenger with a history of travel from Dubai was also stopped at Kalyan railway station. The passenger was at platform number five and was about to board an outstation train when railway police personnel noticed him. The passenger was sent to Rukmini Bai hospital in Kalyan. Central Railway along with Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation(BMC) medical team quarantined the 15 passengers from CSMT at Visava guest house in Worli. A man and a woman were de-boarded from the 12935 Down Bandra-Surat Intercity Express at Virar at 8.35am by the RPF, GRP and Western Railway (WR) authorities after co-passengers complained to WR. Both the passengers had arrived from Dubai on Saturday morning and boarded the train from Bandra Terminus. Both of them had home quarantine stamps on their wrist, said senior police officer Praveen Yadav, RPF. Two more passengers who had recent travel history from Dubai were deboarded by Western Railway authorities at Surat. The passengers were travelling in the Rajdhani Express that operates between Mumbai Central and New Delhi railway stations. One foreign tourist with home quarantine stamp was also deboarded from a BEST bus and was handed over to Mumbai Police. The bus was operating between Kurla railway station and Gorai depot. The passenger was deboarded after the bus conductor spotted the stamp and alerted the driver. The bus was then disinfected and the conductor was tested for Sars-Cov-2. (With inputs from Ram Parmar and Vijay Kumar Yadav) Air cargo essential to fight against COVID-19 View(s): Geneva The International Air Transport Association (IATA) and its members continue to support governments in their efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19. Since the crisis began, air cargo has been a vital partner in delivering much-needed medicines, medical equipment (including spare parts/repair components), and in keeping global supply chains functioning for the most time-sensitive materials. This has been done through dedicated cargo freighter operations, utilisation of cargo capacity in passenger aircraft and with relief flights to affected areas, IATA said in a statement this week. Air cargo is also instrumental in transporting food and other products purchased online in support of quarantine and social distancing policies implemented by states. The dramatic travel restrictions and collapse of passenger demand have severely limited cargo capacity. IATA is urging governments to take urgent measures to ensure that air cargo will be available to support the global fight against COVID-19. Over 185,000 passenger flights have been cancelled since the end of January in response to government travel restrictions. With this, vital cargo capacity has disappeared when it is most urgently needed in the fight against COVID-19. The worlds fleet of freighter aircraft has been mobilised to make up this capacity shortfall. Governments must take urgent measures to ensure that vital supply lines remain open, efficient and effective, said Alexandre de Juniac, IATAs Director General and CEO. Governments must see air cargo as an essential part of the fight against COVID-19 and take the following actions: Exclude air cargo operations from any COVID-19-related travel restrictions, to ensure life-saving medical products can be transported without disruption. Ensure that standardised measures are in place so that air cargo can continue to move around the world with minimal disruptions. Exempt air cargo crew members, who do not interact with the public, from 14-day quarantine requirements. Support temporary traffic rights for cargo operations where restrictions may apply. Remove economic impediments, such as overfly charges, parking fees, and slot restrictions to support air cargo operations during these unprecedented times. Air cargo carriers are working closely with governments and health organisations around the world to safeguard public health while also keeping the global economy moving. Today, as we fight a global health war against COVID-19, governments must take urgent action to facilitate air cargo. Keeping cargo flowing will save lives, said Mr. de Juniac. NorthWestern Energy, the largest monopoly utility in Montana, spent nearly $7 million buying replacement power in the summer of 2018, which it is asking permission from Montanas Public Service Commission to pass onto its 374,000 Treasure State customers. It is also asking the PSC to pre-commit customers to covering expenses associated with Puget Sound Energys 25% of Unit 4. Puget tells regulators it can sell its Unit 4 share to NorthWestern for the aggregate price of $1 and still save customers $24 million to $48 million by getting out. NorthWestern is several months behind the Washington utilities in its request to recover costs related to the shutdown. The units were turned off in late June 2018 after tests revealed both were violating federal Mercury Air Toxics Standards in the second quarter of the year. High summer energy demand was kicking in as air conditioners turned on in Montana and across the Pacific Northwest, which meant the owners of the power plant had to buy replacement power on the open market at a time when electricity prices were high. The Washington utilities racked up $15.4 million in replacement power purchases. Italy reported a record 627 new coronavirus deaths Friday and saw its world-topping toll surpass 4,000, despite government efforts to stem the pandemic's spread. The Mediterranean country's daily rate of fatalities is now higher than that officially reported by China at the peak of its outbreak around Wuhan's Hubei province. But Matteo Bassetti of Italy's prestigious San Martino clinic in Genoa said the government probably had no idea how many people really had the new disease. "There are so many people walking around who have the virus and who are at risk of infecting others," Bassetti told Italy's AGI news agency. "The 40,000 cases we are talking about (in Italy) could actually be 100 times higher." - Worse than Wuhan? - Italy is rapidly notching up one grim record after the next as it becomes the new global epicentre of COVID-19. In less than four weeks, it has recorded more deaths than China officially registered since reporting its first infection to the World Health Organization in late December. Italy has seen more than 1,500 deaths from COVID-19 in the past three days alone. Italy's total number of deaths now stands at 4,032. Infections rose Friday by nearly 6,000 -- another international record -- to 47,021. The nation of 60 million accounted for around 36.2 percent of the world's coronavirus deaths at 1900 GMT. The Italian government already plans to extend a ban on public gatherings and the shutdown of almost all businesses beyond a March 25 deadline. But worried regional leaders are pushing the national government to adopt even tougher restrictions, such as a ban on outdoor exercise and the closure of all stores on Sundays. Some city authorities are taking matters into their own hands. Milan on Friday deployed more than 100 soldiers to help police the streets and ensure no one is found outdoors without a legitimate reason, such as buying food. - Old and sick - The government took the additional step Friday of closing all parks. Joggers are being encouraged to run around the block and stay close to their homes. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte imposed a nationwide lockdown on March 12 and had been hoping to see the first results after two weeks. But civil protection service chief Angelo Borrelli said Friday it was premature to think about when infections might begin to plateau. "There are reasons to think that it could be next week or the week after," Borrelli told reporters. "But it is not a scientific fact." Italy's death rate of 8.6 percent among those registered with infections is significantly higher than in most other countries. Medical experts attribute this to Italy's average age of 45.4 -- seven years higher than in China. The overwhelming majority of Italy's fatal cases involved elderly people with at least one pre-existing condition. The National Health Institute (ISS) said Friday that the average age of Italy first 3,200 victims was 78.5. Almost 49 percent of them had three or more pre-existing conditions. Just 1.2 percent of those who died had no other ailments. Italy is notching up one grim record after the next as the world's new epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic The number of coronavirus deaths in Italy now stands at 4,032 Cumulative coronavirus infections in Italy per region, as of March 20 Italian authorities are considering extending the current lockdown Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Aman Rochman (The Jakarta Post) Malang Sat, March 21, 2020 16:59 662 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad206c78d04 1 National COVID-19,coronavirus,virus-corona,outbreak,Malang,East-Java,disinfectant,innovation,brawijaya-university Free Students of Brawijaya University in Malang, East Java invented a disinfection chamber to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the area, which authorities have declared to be vulnerable to a disease outbreak. The device, called the Sikat Corona (corona scrubber) or SiCo, is a two-meter-high, one-meter-wide chamber covered by a transparent material and equipped with a nozzle to spray disinfectant. Syahrizal Maulana, one of seven students working on the chamber, said it could be operated manually or automatically. The manual chamber, which requires a human operator, is suitable for indoor usage. Meanwhile, the automatic one is suitable for outdoor usage in public places, such as parks and markets, because the chamber would automatically spray disinfectant whenever a person enters it. Current methods of disinfection mainly depend on the availability of human operators. This can be ineffective as it would create long queues of people waiting to be disinfected, Syahrizal said. Read also: Regions close schools, cancel public events because of COVID-19 The chamber holds seven liters of liquid disinfectant that can be used for 15 people at most. It takes five seconds to spray disinfectant on one person. The mechanical engineering student added that the liquid disinfectant used in the chamber was made from herbal ingredients and non-flammable alcohol, which are safe for humans. Malang administration cooperated with Brawijaya University to procure 70 SiCo chambers, each valued for Rp 2 million (US$126.75), to be installed in various spots across the city. Malang health agency would provide the liquid disinfectant. The mobile chambers would be available to be borrowed by those who need them, Malang regional secretary Wasto said. East Java Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa on Friday declared a state of emergency in the province in an effort to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. Malang and Surabaya were also declared "red zones" as 175 people in Surabaya and 74 others in Malang were suspected of having contracted COVID-19. The state of emergency is to be enforced for an indefinite period, Khofifah said on Friday, as quoted by Antara news agency. (trn) The Federal Government has said diplomats, returning Nigerians and foreigners resident in Nigeria are allowed into the country from nations placed under restrictions. The Presidential Task Force for the Control of Coronavirus stated this on Thursday night while making clarifications on categories of people affected by the travel restrictions imposed on 13 countries. The task force stated this in a reaction to frequently asked questions, made available by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, on measures to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. The inter-ministerial committee said, Following the announcement of travel restriction measures taken by the Federal Government to contain and manage the spread of COVID-19 on Wednesday, March 18, 2020, the presidential task force has, as part of the continuing engagement with members of the public, found it necessary to provide answers to the following frequently asked questions. Explaining what it meant by restricted entry, it said, It means you will not be allowed into the country if you live in or have visited these countries in the last 15 days. On whether it applied to a Nigerian returning home, it said, No, you will be allowed in but subject to supervised self-isolation for 14 days after arrival. On how it affects diplomats, the task force said, No, you will be allowed into Nigeria but subject to supervised self-isolation for 14 days after arrival. The committee said the restriction did not affect those resident in Nigeria but holding foreign passports. No, you will be allowed into Nigeria but subject to supervised self- isolation for 14 days after arrival, it reiterated. On those transiting through one of the 13 countries to get into Nigeria, it said, Yes, if you have been to any of the countries mentioned, you will not be allowed into Nigeria, except you are a returning Nigerian, resident or diplomat. The taskforce reiterated that the ban would come into effect from Saturday, urging the public to furnish or seek clarification through the COVID-PTF/NCDC 24/7 help line No: 0800970000-10. Nigeria had, on Wednesday, placed travel restrictions on entry into the county from 13 countries with high-burden of coronavirus. The countries are China, Iran, South Korea, Germany, Italy, United States, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway, Netherlands, Spain, France, and Japan. The country also announced temporary suspension of visa-on-arrival policy. The authorities of two famous jyotirlinga temples in Madhya Pradesh Omkareshwar and Mahalakeshwar - have banned the entry of devotees till March 31 in view of the coronavirus outbreak. Mahakaleshwar temple of Ujjain and Omkareshwar in Khandwa district are two jyotirlinga shrines in the state that attract thousands of devotees every day. There are 12 jyotirlinga temples of Lord Shiva in the country. Ujjain district collector Shashank Mishra said the entry of the devotees has been banned in all the temples of the city, including Mahakaleshwar, till March 31 due to coronavirus threat. He said no coronavirus patient has been found in the city so far. Sub Divisional Officer of Punasa in Khandwa district, Mamta Khede, held a meeting with the priests of Omkareshwar temple on Friday. This temple town is located about 70-kms from the district headquarters. Khede said that as decided in the meeting, the entry of the devotees in Omkareshwar temple has been banned till March 31. However, the priests would continue to hold daily rituals and aartis at the temple, she said. The entry of vehicles in Omkareshwar town would also be restricted during this period, she added. Omkareshwar is about 138 kms from Ujjain. On Friday, Madhya Pradesh recorded its first cases of coronavirus with four persons testing positive in Jabalpur city. Three members of a family, who had returned from Dubai, and another person, who returned from Germany, were found to be infected. After shutting the schools, cinema halls, museums etc, the authorities in several districts of the state have taken several measures, like keeping passenger buses of roads and closure of restaurants and markets. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The victim was transported to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. His name has not been released pending family notification. The investigation caused a major traffic delays in the area. [Race affects our lives in countless ways. To read provocative stories on race from The Times, sign up here for our weekly Race/Related newsletter.] My first trip to China was in 2017. I visited the French Concession in Shanghai, admiring the many London plane trees. I strolled the Bund, the citys waterfront promenade, looking out over the Huangpu River. I went to Beijing to see the Forbidden City and hiked part of the Great Wall, which was far more challenging than I had anticipated. But no matter where we went, I noticed something, even through the fog of jet lag: I was being stared at. One afternoon as I stood on a sidewalk in Shanghai, a passenger on a bus pointed at me and laughed. It was a reminder that I was the only black woman in a sea of Chinese faces, and that for many, I didnt belong. I returned from my second trip to China less than two weeks ago. In mid-February I went to join our team in Hong Kong, where The New York Times has been covering the coronavirus outbreak since it was first discovered in the city of Wuhan. This time, I noticed some Westerners who I thought were being insensitive toward the Chinese. North Korea on Saturday fired two projectiles presumed to be short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, the latest in a series of such launches this month. They were fired northeastward from areas near its western county of Sonchon in North Pyongan Province at 6:45 a.m. and 6:50 a.m., respectively, the JCS said, adding that they flew around 410 kilometers, reaching a maximum altitude of around 50 km. "South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities are analyzing other specifics," the authorities said. "Our military is monitoring the situation in case there are additional launches and maintaining a readiness posture." Calling the launch "a very inappropriate act" at a time when the whole world has been facing difficulties due to the coronavirus pandemic, the JCS called on the regime to immediately halt such military moves. It is the third time that the North has carried out such weapons tests so far this year after they began in March following months of hiatus. The last such test took place on March 9 when it fired at least three short-range projectiles believed to have come from a super-large multiple rocket launcher, which came a week after the firing of two short-range projectiles of the same type, according to the JCS. It is not immediately known if leader Kim Jong-un guided the latest firing, but officers hinted at the possibility. According to the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Saturday, North Korea held an "artillery fire competition" of its army on its western front the previous day under Kim's watch. The previous rounds, which occurred from its eastern regions under Kim's guidance, appear to have been part of its artillery strike drill for the wintertime exercise, JCS officers said, noting that the drill is likely to continue throughout this month. Watchers say the projectiles involved in the latest launch could be the North Korean version of the United States' Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) that the North showed off last year for the first time and tested twice in August. But this type of weapon has not been tested in its western regions, though the North fired two projectiles believed to be its version of Russia's Iskander ballistic missiles in North Pyongan Province in May. Its adjacent South Pyongan Province was also the venue for two other tests -- held in September and October -- when it fired two projectiles each from its super-large multiple launcher system. North Korea has often brought its weapons to western regions to fly them all the way across its territory before they splashed into the East Sea in a move to verify their reliability, according to experts. Throughout 2019, North Korea carried out a total of 13 rounds of weapons tests, including the latest one in November, involving several new types of short-range ballistic missiles and a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM). The recent military moves appear to have been intended to beef up leader Kim's internal grip on power amid fears over the spread of COVID-19 and economic difficulties. The North has intensified its efforts to contain the novel coronavirus, though it has said that not a single confirmed case has been reported, a claim doubted by many. State media earlier reported that it will convene a rubber-stamp parliamentary session on April 10, a meeting expected to discuss measures aimed at cushioning the fallout from growing coronavirus fears. The meeting could also deal with its stance on nuclear weapons negotiations with the U.S. that have been stalled since the no-deal summit between Kim an U.S. President Donald Trump in February last year. In the face of prolonged international sanctions amid the stalled denuclearization talks with the United States, the regime has also called for boosting self-defense capabilities. In his New Year's Day message, leader Kim warned he will show off a "new strategic weapon" in the near future, which experts said may mean an advanced type of its intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) or an SLBM. Instead of completely turning away from dialogue, however, the North appears to have taken low-intensity steps, though it is banned from all ballistic missile activity under U.N. Security Council resolutions. (Yonhap) In Maharashtra, the total number of coronavirus cases has shoot up to 63 on Saturday, with 11 new cases detected overnight among several foreign-returned persons, a Health Department official said here. While one case is from Pune, 10 are detected from Mumbai, including three with no history of foreign travel. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday slapped a-total ban on all non-essential services in Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur. As Maharashtra continued to lead in the number of active cases, Health Minister Rajesh Tope again appealed to people to refrain from stepping out of their homes as isolation is the key to battling the COVID-19 virus. Tope advised people to respond to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call and observe the 'Janata Curfew' on Sunday by remaining indoors. On Tuesday, COVID-19 claimed it's first victim in the state after a 63-year-old man with a history of travel to Dubai, passed away in Mumbai's Kasturba Hospital. However, his wife and son who also tested positive are currently under treatment in the same hospital. Source: IANS Advertisement He added that the state has completely banned all flights from worst-hit 12 countries besides exercising extreme precautions for flights from all other nations at the three international airports in Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur since the past over a month. World Poetry Day is observed on March 21 every year and it is organised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The United Nations body declared the World Poetry Day in 1999 with the aim of supporting linguistic diversity through poetic expression and increasing the opportunity for endangered languages to be heard. There are many languages in the world currently that are dying because of minimal use, but poetry has the power to revive those languages and that is also among the other reasons behind celebrating World Poetry Day. Read: Marcus Rashford Picks Up Sign Language To Judge Poetry Contest For Hearing-impaired Kids Significance of poetry Poetry has been used as an important tool of expression and a tool to empower for centuries. Poetry uses symbolism, irony and other stylistic elements of poetic diction that opens it up for interpretation. The purpose behind celebrating World Poetry Day was to promote the reading, writing, publishing, and teaching of poetry across the globe. The original UNESCO declaration says, it is to, "give fresh recognition and momentum to national, regional and international poetry movements." Read: Aparshakti Khurana Introspects About 'bright Side Of Pandemic', Pens Down Heartfelt Poetry In the 20th century the world generally celebrated the poetry day in October. later they started celebrating it on October 15 to mark the birthday of Virgil, the Roman epic poet and poet laureate under Augustus. Many countries still celebrate national and international poetry day in October or November. In the United Kingdom it is celebrated on the first Thursday of the tenth month of the year. Read: 'Words That Heal': World's First Walk-in Poetry Pharmacy Offering Poems Instead Of Pills Poetry has been often used as a form of protest or to ignite a revolution all over the world. In the 21st century as well many people across the globe are using poetry to express their dissent. A recent example from India would be the Jamia Milia University student Amir Aziz, who used poetry to register his disagreement with the government over the Citizenship Amendment Bill. Aziz's poem was so powerful that it struck a chord with Pink Floyd member Roger Waters, who later used it in a protest that was being held in London. Read: Ayushmann Khurrana's Poem On 'Ameer-Gareeb' Amid Coronavirus Will Leave You Emotional by Richard Heinberg - Undark Magazine For the last couple of weeks, Ive been delving back into one of my favorite books, Plagues and Peoples, by the celebrated historian William H. McNeill. Its relevance to todays headlines is fairly obvious. What makes the book so compelling is McNeills ecological sensibility: He understands human beings as biological organisms embedded in living systems. For him, conquerors like Genghis Khan are macropredators, disease organisms are micropredators, and human history is the tale of how both have shaped population levels and relative degrees of social power. In his discussion of the role of diseases in the political developments of 18th-century Europe, McNeill makes this remarkable observation: [T]he rise of Great Britain in comparison with France in the course of the eighteenth century depended, among other things, on the remarkable population growth that set in earlier and continued longer in Britain than in France. Political institutions, the distribution of coal and iron ore, social structures, values, and individual inventiveness all played a role in defining the over-all result: but in light of what can now be said about the retreat of plague, malaria, and other infectious diseases from the English countryside, together with Englands head start in the deliberate control of smallpox, it seems clear enough that divergent disease experiences in the two countries had much to do with their divergent population histories. McNeill goes on to cite Englands successful management of infectious disease as one of the critical developments of 18th century history, fostering the rise of the British Empire and thereby reshaping the world order, from the Americas to Asia. He also attributes the rise of enlightened philosophical and social world views during this period at least partly to the development of scientific methods of disease suppression. All of which leads me to contemplate the current coronavirus pandemic in the context of history, and to propose a simple thesis: The ways that nations respond to the pandemic today will largely determine their fortunes and fates over the next couple of decades at least, and perhaps beyond. Nations that are more successful at controlling the disease and minimizing fatalities will enjoy more social cohesion, while those that delay active measures to control its spread will see greater social stress, and a crippling of public faith in leaders and institutions. Of course, nations that already enjoy high levels of social cohesion and sound leadership are better positioned to successfully contain the pandemic. Thus, the coronavirus may end up simply being a magnifier of trends already in progress. If it is true, as some have argued, that the United States is an empire in decline, the virus may simply speed up the erosion of its global influence. And if some Asian nations seem destined for a more prominent place in international politics and commerce, the pandemic could propel them to that position even faster. As for economic impacts, there may be no way to avoid extreme and enduring damage to markets and supply chains. Delaying containment measures in order to maintain business as usual would likely lead to overwhelmed health care systems and, in turn, higher death rates. Fear of contagion would then likely cause disruptions of trade and commerce at least as severe as those triggered by the proactive lockdown measures that have already been enacted in some of the countries furthest along in the pandemic cycle notably China, whose economic activity seems to have shrunk remarkably in the past two months. One way or another, we seem to be in for a global depression. But, as with the pandemic, the ability of nations to weather hard economic times may depend largely on factors of leadership and social cohesion. Its already apparent that clear government messaging, widespread testing, and early lockdowns in countries like Taiwan have worked to curtail the outbreak and foster widespread compliance with government recommendations. Compare this with President Trumps sometimes dismissive and often counterfactual comments about the pandemic, the U.S. governments failure to roll out a robust testing program, and its lagging effort at containment. Of course, U.S. politics were already highly polarized, thus complicating the task of coordinating a coherent large-scale response by local, state, and federal governments. But crucial missteps early in the cycle may eventually lead to even more divisiveness, as the economic and social tensions resulting from mounting casualties and months of lockdown erode the patience of a restive public. Boris Johnsons recent, now countermanded strategy of allowing the virus to spread in U.K. so as to develop herd immunity contrasts strongly with his nations historic successes in minimizing disease three centuries ago. While inoculation against smallpox began as a folk remedy in Arabia, North Africa, Persia, and India sometime in the distant past, Mary Wortley Montagus introduction of the practice to England after witnessing it in Turkey in 1717 led to its general adoption throughout Europe. In that instance, efforts in Britain to control disease resulted not just in the saving of lives, but in enhanced general trust in the nascent scientific method. In contrast, Johnsons zigzagging coronavirus messaging has thus far sown only confusion. We shall see. Trends are still developing, were still early in the pandemic cycle, and there is still time for strategies to shift. In any case, the events that are unfolding now will likely prove to be historically decisive. Richard Heinberg is a senior fellow at the Post Carbon Institute and author of several books on energy and the environment, including Afterburn: Society Beyond Fossil Fuels, and, with David Fridley, Our Renewable Future. His upcoming book is Power: Humanitys Quest for Ability, Control, Influence, and Beautyand How It All Went Wrong. This article was originally published on Undark. Read the original article. St Vincent de Paul has warned the public about moneylenders who are taking advantage of the impact of the coronavirus. SVP said there have been leaflets dropped to homes across the country recently from services offering money. The society estimates there are over 300,000 customers of moneylenders in Ireland. Head of Social Justice at SVP, Dr Tricia Kielty, said a lot of people are going to be in vulnerable situations in the coming weeks. "(Loans from moneylenders) will seem like a lifeline," she said, "because people are going to have arrears on their rent...But in the long term it is going to cause more hardship for people." That's why it is so important that the Government introduces a sufficient rent supplement for people who have lost their jobs in the interim. Dr Kielty said that SVP instead encourages people to consider alternatives should they receive these leaflets. Meanwhile, Gardai are warning the public to be careful of Covid-19-related frauds and scams as one couple lost 30,000 in a bank scam. In a statement, Garda headquarters revealed fraudsters are going to some lengths to scam people during the Covid-19 crisis. Your browser does not support the audio element. All incoming travelers to Vietnam from Saturday will be quarantined for 14 days as the country steps up measures to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The new regulation is in effect from 00:00 Saturday, March 21, the Ministry of Transport said in an urgent document sent to airlines on Friday, citing a directive from the national steering committee for COVID-19 prevention and control. Entrants for diplomatic and official purposes must self-isolate at their workplace or residence for the same 14-day period under the supervision of local authorities and medical administrators. All passengers are required to complete a health declaration form before entering Vietnam and be subject to body temperature screening before crossing terminals. The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) is responsible for informing international airlines that incoming flights to Vietnam might have to land at Van Don International Airport in the northern province of Quang Ninh, Can Tho International Airport in the namesake Mekong Delta city, Phu Cat Airport in the south-central province of Binh Dinh, or other airports as requested by aviation authorities in Vietnam. This is due to the limited quarantine capacity of Noi Bai and Tan Son Nhat international airports in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, respectively. CAAV is also tasked with directing local airport authorities to coordinate with relevant agencies and units such as immigration, the military, and customs to prevent congestion and long waits at airport terminals due to health declaration and body temperature screening. No passenger should be held for more than 90 minutes at airport terminals after arriving, the directive stressed. Vietnam has so far confirmed 91 cases of COVID-19 infections, with 17 having fully recovered and walked out of the hospital free of the virus by Friday. No deaths from COVID-19 have been reported in the Southeast Asian country to date. Vietnam has suspended its visa issuance to all foreigners for 30 days, starting from Wednesday, March 18, to deal with the increasingly serious pandemic caused by COVID-19. The countrys major carriers, including Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet Air, have also halted their international and Southeast Asian services, respectively, as safety measures and because many countries are closing their borders. The novel coronavirus, which first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019, has infected over 275,100 people and killed more than 11,300 around the world, according to Ministry of Health statistics. Over 90,600 patients have recovered worldwide. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Locals and expats talk about the measures and how they feel living in Vietnam during the covid-19 pandemic. Tourists wear face masks while traveling around Hanoi. (Photo: VNA) As the number of COVID-19 infected cases jumps every day, Vietnam has taken measures to prevent and control the virus, for example, quarantining those who are suspected of infection, those returning from pandemic-hit areas, asking everyone to wear face masks in public areas and tightening immigration policies. Garrett Mauris, American expat in Hanoi All schools were suspended following the virus outbreak so I do not go to work. As the weekend pedestrian street around Hoan Kiem Lake, my favourite spot, is closed, I mostly stay inside watching movies and cooking as days pass by. I get updates on the virus from Reddit, Hanoi Massive Facebook community and my Vietnamese friends. I have some food but not much more than normal, I still go to the grocery store but didn't buy any more toilet paper. The Vietnamese Government has had a swift and strong response to the virus. I think they've done a good job containing it. Against all odds, I feel safer staying in Hanoi than I would be in the US where the treatment expenses are very expensive and not everybody gets insurance to cover or partially cover necessary treatments. Billy Gray, British expat in Hanoi I feel like Vietnam is doing a good job so far in containing the virus. The immigration and quarantine measures are unfortunately necessary to stop the spread from being imported from abroad. I think the timely response of the Vietnamese authorities in closing the border with China and later the rest of the world has definitely saved lives here. As a foreigner living in Hanoi, Im quite content to go along with the recommendations and measures put in place by the Government here. Frankly, Im just glad theres still toilet paper going around. I have heard some stories of foreigners being verbally assaulted and refused service in cafes and hotels around Vietnam, and this is quite sad. Unfortunately, Ive also heard similar stories coming out of the UK, Australia, and elsewhere. People are worried for their familys sake, and theyre prone to shifting the blame on the other. Its something that we should work together to overcome. The coronavirus pandemic isnt about to go away any time soon, so I think its important that Vietnam doesnt relax their control measures too soon, either. Obviously, this causes a lot of negative economic impacts, which means a lot of people cant earn a living and I hope that people are managing well under the circumstances. The reality of the situation is that until more stringent testing can be carried out around the world, the best defence that I think Vietnam has is to keep its borders closed even though that means that myself and many others who are returning home soon wont be able to come back here for the foreseeable future. Amelie Huynh Le Maux, French expat in HCM City Living in Vietnam for four years, it never ceases to surprise me! The earlier measures the Government took were efficient when we compare international cases numbers. Concerning tightening immigration policies, I understand doing it to avoid virus spreading. My only fear is not being able to stay in Vietnam that I consider as my country, if it is tightened again. At first, I found the virus prevention and control measures very restrictive but, as a lot of foreigners, I did not experience a virus outbreak before, and I was maybe too relaxed. Now, I wear a mask, not really to be safer because it does not work this way and I take precautions (washing hands and self-confinement as much as possible), but to protect others and ease Vietnamese people. They sometimes glare at us because they are anxious near foreigners. I do not blame them, everyone is anxious, and we see some negative behaviours all over the world, but these are just isolated cases, a lot of people support each other too! I am thankful to Vietnam for the measures taken because I feel safe here. We do not have total confinement, as in my home country, and actions are fast for smaller confinement of buildings if needed. Josh Stewart, British expat in Hanoi Vietnam's policies have been spot on as far as I can tell. In my eyes they have set the benchmark for how the rest of the world should tackle this issue. While the European powers have denied COVID 19's implications, Vietnam hasn't messed around. As a foreigner living here I feel safer than if I was at home. I understand that there has been some friction between foreigners and locals however I have not experienced that myself. The Government has done good things for virus protection in the name of immigration policies for those entering the country. However they haven't addressed the issue of residency for foreigners who are already here in a long term. A number of my colleagues and friends have labour contracts expiring soon, and with it, their legal right to stay here. With borders across the world closing, pretty soon many of us will be stranded. When it comes to isolation I feel the authorities could be stricter. I still see many people, locals and foreigners alike, going about their daily business and socialising. Many don't have masks. I get it, isolation can be boring and you have to take care of your mental health. But this could all be over by the end of April if everyone simply knuckled down and stayed inside. Hanh Khue, Vietnamese, NGO employee At 11pm on March 6, fences started being put up in my neighbourhood on Thuy Khue street, Tay Ho district after the 17th patient who failed to declare her health status after returning from London tested positive for COVID-19. My neighbour, a receptionist at Hong Ngoc Hospital, was reportedly in contact with the patient and sent to a centralised quarantine area that night. Astronaut-like medical workers in their hazmat suits immediately appeared and sprayed disinfectant along the alley. A task force was sent to inspect my neighbours contacts since her encounter with the patient and found out that she shopped at a nearby grocery store the day before. Both her house and the store were then kept under lockdown. The rapid response did help to ease residents panic and discrimination towards isolated people, conversely, they were willing to offer guard forces and those kept under isolation assistance when needed. However, for people who have to home-quarantine, it was necessary for local authorities to make an official announcement sent to every household, explaining their conditions and the reasons for the measures taken to stop rumours from spreading. Linh Chi, Vietnamese, social worker in Hanoi Although citizens are encouraged to stay away from crowds, I had to still commute from Ha Dong district to downtown Ba Trieu street by bus daily before being allowed to work from home from March 19. Drivers, attendants and passengers wore masks even before the Governments request took effect on March 16. Now and then when a rider gets on a bus without having their mouth covered, they will be reminded by fellow passengers. Many buses turn off their air conditioners and have windows opened, allowing natural circulation of air. It is good to see how good community awareness and authorities responses to the disease are. Meanwhile, I think it is critical to instruct people how to deal with their used facemasks to both keep the environment clean and prevent profiteers from collecting them for resale./.VNA D ozens of stolen toilet rolls and hand sanitiser were recovered by police in Essex, amid supermarket shelves being emptied in coronavirus panic buying. Essex Police's operational support group, which deals with major public order incidents in the county, posted pictures of the stolen items on Twitter - along with the hashtag #ThatsHowWeRoll. The post continued: "Police officers always get a massive sense of satisfaction when we catch burglars... "However we never expected to find this stolen loot in the boot. "Stolen items recovered and 3 arrested all within an hour of it being reported". Essex Police said that officers had arrested three men on suspicion of theft of a vehicle and burglary, after receiving a call shortly after 10:00 on Friday evening reporting that a car had driven through a barrier at a building site in Hatfield Peverel, to the north-east of Chelmsford. The news comes after stories have surfaced of people around the UK clashing in an attempt to buy toilet paper as fears grow that supplies could run low, as people stock up to prepare for possible self-isolation due to coronavirus. A fight broke out in a supermarket in Wembley, north-west London on Thursday, according to journalist Bill Snaddon. He told the Metro: "A lady got caught between squished trollies for a few seconds and let out a pained squeal. A young girl with her mum looked scared. Toilet paper was sold out in 2 minutes." (CNN) Soldiers were being drafted in to help enforce the lockdown in Italy on Friday as officials announced 627 new deaths, the largest single-day toll anywhere in the world since the coronavirus outbreak began. Desperate scenes have unfolded in the north of the country, particularly the hard-hit Lombardy region where infections first exploded last month, as hospitals struggle to treat thousands of cases. And Chinese medical experts helping Italy deal with the crisis have said the restrictions imposed in Lombardy are "not strict enough." The government has now agreed that the military can be used to help enforce the lockdown, the president of the Lombardy region, Attilio Fontana, told a news conference on Friday. "(The request to use the army) has been accepted... and 114 soldiers will be on the ground throughout Lombardy... it is still too little, but it is positive," Fontana said. "Unfortunately we are not seeing a change of trend in the numbers, which are rising." The soldiers had until now been deployed in the region to ensure general security in the streets. More than 4,000 people have now died from the disease in Italy, the country's civil protection agency said Friday more than any other nation and nearly 6,000 new infections were confirmed in the past day, bringing the total to more than 47,000 cases. Daniela Confalonieri, an Italian nurse in Milan, the region's capital, said the situation was so dire that the dead were no longer being counted. "We're working in a state of very high stress and tension," Confalonieri told Reuters. "Unfortunately we can't contain the situation in Lombardy, there's a high level of contagion and we're not even counting the dead any more. "Look at the news that's coming out of Italy and take note of what the situation really is like. It's unimaginable." A hospital doctor in Bergamo, another Lombardy city, told CNN it had been hit so hard by the coronavirus that it is now sending patients who need intensive care to other parts of the country. "Bergamo is sending ICU patients to other regions because we ran out (of space)," Dr. Stefano Magnone told CNN on Friday, adding that intensive care units in hospitals in nearby Brescia were also full. Brescia is the second-worst affected province, according to the civil protection agency. "Around 50 patients were sent out of Lombardy to other regions, mainly in the south," Magnone said. Less than half of those were Covid-19 cases, according to the civil protection agency. Bergamo's mayor on Thursday announced plans to build a field hospital in the city to help manage the situation. A doctor in the Lombardy city of Cremona, Romano Paolucci, told Reuters that he had "seen a lot of dead here" and that medical staff were battling to cope with a lack of equipment, long hours and increasing sickness within their own ranks. "I would say that we are at the end of our strength," he said. "This is a small hospital and we are taking in a lot of people, I would say the capacity is finished. "We do not have sufficient resources and especially staff because apart from everything else now the staff are beginning to get sick." About 70% of those treated at the hospital for Covid-19 are surviving, he added. Patients 'often die on their own' The disease has taken the greatest toll on Italy's elderly population. Figures released Thursday by the Health Institute of Italy indicated that 86% of fatalities were among those aged over 70. People aged 60 to 69 made up a further 10% of the deaths. Paolucci said his hospital was trying to help patients keep in touch with their family by phone, particularly the elderly who were less used to making calls. "The greatest problem which is emerging in these days, I would say, is that the patients cannot be visited by their relatives and often die on their own," he said. Footage from Reuters showed army trucks collecting the bodies of coronavirus victims overnight in Lombardy. The Prime Minister's office said a taskforce of up to 300 additional volunteer doctors would be sent to the areas of Italy worst affected by the pandemic. This year's medical school graduates have also been told they can start working as fully qualified doctors immediately, months ahead of schedule, as Italy's authorities grapple with the crisis. 'I don't know what everyone is thinking' Meanwhile, the Chinese Red Cross vice president, Sun Shuopeng, urged tougher measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus. The situation "is similar to what we experienced two months ago in Wuhan, China, the epicenter of Covid-19," he said Thursday at a news conference in Milan. "In the city of Wuhan after one month since the adoption of the lockdown policy, we see a decreasing trend from the peak of the disease," Sun Shuopeng said. "Here in Milan, the hardest-hit area by Covid-19, there isn't a very strict lockdown: public transportation is still working and people are still moving around, you're still having dinners and parties in the hotels and you're not wearing masks." "I don't know what everyone is thinking." He advised Italians to stop all "economic activities and cut the mobility of people," calling on everyone to just stay at home. "We need every citizen to be involved in the fight of Covid-19 and follow this policy." Lockdown extension? Italian authorities are considering lengthening school closures beyond April 3, amid rumors of the nationwide lockdown, affecting more than 60 million people, also being extended. "I think we are going toward an extension," Italian Education minister Lucia Azzolina said Thursday, adding that schools would reopen once there is "certainty of absolute safety." Corriere della Sera quoted Italian PM Giuseppe Conte as saying Thursday that "it is clear" the measures to tackle the outbreak, "both the one that has closed a lot of the country's businesses and individual activities, and the one that concerns the school, can only be extended to the deadline." The Prime Minister's spokesperson told CNN no official decision had yet been taken. Two convents in Rome have been placed into lockdown after reports of a high number of coronavirus cases, a notice from the Lazio region health assessor Alessio D'Amato said Friday. This story was first published on CNN.com, "Italy calls in military to enforce coronavirus lockdown as 627 people die in 24 hours." Thiruvananthapuram, March 21 : Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Saturday the state has reported 12 more cases of coronavirus positive, taking the count to 49. The figure does not include three who were positive but are now cured. He said there are 52,785 people under observation at their homes in the state as on Saturday and 228 people are in various hospitals of the state. "Of the 12 people who tested positive for the virus, six came from Kasargode and three each from Kannur and Ernakulam districts. All of them had returned from West Asia," said Vijayan. The Chief Minister said the response of religious leaders in the state to help the government in combating COVID-19 was "excellent." "They have ensured that there are no public rituals. The government wants all religious bodies to follow laws and directives. Any violation will entail strong action," said Vijayan. The CM said the government has decided to open new corona care centres. "This will enable us to shift aged people and those who have none to look after them. We will also ensure that crowding is avoided even at homes," said Vijayan. Meanwhile, Kerala borders with Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have been closed for regular travellers, but goods carriers are allowed. Allaying fears about shortage of essential items, the Chief Minister said the government has enough stocks. "All shops and establishments will remain open. Our general policy is that normal life should go on, but there should be more caution," said Vijayan. In another step, the state government on Saturday decided to stop the sales of lottery tickets till March 31. Also, liquor outlets will be closed on Sunday as part of 'Janata curfew.' It was also decided from next week to reduce the outpatient time at all state-run hospitals from 9 a.m. to 12 noon. Metro operations in Kochi would be curtailed from Monday. In a related development, following visiting foreign tourists getting unwelcome reactions from locals, the Kochi Police Commissionerate launched a 'Foreigners Outreach Cell'. All foreign nationals who want any assistance can send text, audio or video message on FB, Instagram, Twitter and Website links of Police Commissionerate Kochi or send a WhatsApp message to 8590202060. As soon as a message reaches the police, an official will get in touch with the person, officials said. Worlds biggest companies are set to lose up to 1 trillion ($1.07 trillion) in brand value as a result of the deadly Coronavirus Covid-19 outbreak, with the aviation sector being the most affected, according to Brand Finance, the worlds leading independent brand valuation consultancy. The 2003 SARS outbreak, which infected over 8,000 people and killed 774, cost the global economy an estimated $50 billion. As of March 18, there have been 218,663 cases and 8,943 deaths of Covid-19 confirmed worldwide. Global spread has been rapid, with 146 countries now having reported at least one case. With a current combined value of 1,163,937 million, all the top 100 European brands are estimated to drop 13% in value following the impact of COVID-19, stated Brand Finance in the latest analysis released on Europes top 100 most valuable and strongest brands. Brand Finance has assessed the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak based on the effect of the outbreak on Enterprise Value, as of March 18, compared to what it was on January 1, 2020. Based on this impact on Business Value, Brand Finance estimated the likely impact on Brand Value for each sector. Each sector has been classified into 3 categories based on the severity of Business Value loss observed for the sector in the period from January 1 to March 18. Assessed as the hardest hit sector are airlines, leisure and tourism, aviation, aerospace and defence. The global airline industry has called for up to 200 billion in emergency support and Boeing called for 60 billion in assistance for aerospace manufacturers. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has said most carriers will run out of money within two months as a result of the closure of borders for arrivals as governments order a shutdown to contain the coronavirus outbreak. A large number of major airlines have grounded most of their fleets and announced plans to lay off thousands of staff as they now confront a crisis unlike anything ever seen before in the airline industry. As per Brand Finance analysis from the start of the year, Airbus had risen by 15% to 13 billion and Safran 7% to 6 billion as rising defence budgets and increasing demands from airlines helped grow their business. Our new analysis suggests that all of this growth will be reversed. For the third consecutive year, Mercedes-Benzs brand is the most valuable automobile brand in the world. The German brand has been investing strongly in R&D and has been one step ahead in the anticipation of new trends particularly electric and autonomous vehicles. Despite their strength, Mercedes and its parent company Daimler are already being affected by the virus. Daimler has stopped all manufacturing and demand is drying up. If social and economic restrictions are lifted within the next few months, purchases might only be delayed and the long-term impact small but longer-term delays could produce a long-term shock to a sector already challenged by disruption, trade wars and slowing demand in China. Brand Finance CEO David Haigh said the Covid-19 pandemic was now a major global health threat and its impact on global markets was very real. "Worldwide, brands across every sector need to brace themselves for the Coronavirus to massively affect their business activities, supply chain and revenues in a way that eclipses the 2003 SARS outbreak. The effects will be felt well into 2021," stated Haigh. However It is not all doom and gloom. Some brands will fare better under COVID-19: Amazon, Netflix, WhatsApp, Skype, BBC and BUPA are all booming, he added. On January 1, 2020, European brand value growth was slower than in previous years, at 5% (up to 1,135 billion). The trade war last year and worries about the global economy weighed down on growth for the big exporters particularly cars, which saw slower growth than previous years. The World Health Organization (WHO) has created a health alert on WhatsApp to keep people aware and updated about the coronavirus pandemic and combat misinformation. The World Health Organization (WHO) has created a health alert on WhatsApp to keep people aware and updated about the coronavirus pandemic and combat misinformation. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced the move on his social media platform and said that they have worked together with the WHO to get authoritative information about coronavirus sent directly to one's WhatsApp account. Click here to follow LIVE updates on coronavirus outbreak WhatsApp, the worlds most widely used messaging service, in owned by Facebook. According to Zuckerberg, With WHO Health Alerts, you can receive their daily situation report, which has the latest numbers of cases by country around the world, as well as tips on how to protect yourself, and answers to frequently asked questions that you can easily send to friends and family. Heres how you can check WHO health alert regarding CORONAVIRUS on WhatsApp To get all information from WHO on WhatsApp, one has to save the number +41 79 893 1892 on their phone contacts and simply text 'Hi' to get started. The messaging service caters to almost 2 billion people and allows WHO to provide information directly to the people who are in need of it. WhatsApp, which had earlier created a coronavirus information hub whatsapp.com/coronavirus, will now have the link to the WHO Health Alert as well. The WhatsApp Coronavirus Information Hub was launched in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme, the World Health Organization and UNICEF. The coronavirus pandemic has spread to as many as 185 countries around the world has already affected over 2,50,000 people and claimed the lives of over 10,000. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. The Hanoitimes I would like to wish the people of Vietnam a wonderful buy cheap runescape gold Tet celebration with family and friends. I know that Tet celebrations also mean that many travel far and wide to reunite with family and loved ones. Whether travelling or not, I wish all Vietnamese a safe and joyous holiday. relationship is really comprehensive Canadian envoy Vietnam aims to promote trade ties with Chile, Canada: PM Hanoi looks to tap cooperation potential with Canada Ambassador: Vietnam, Canada pose to great potential for cooperation Room for cooperation between Hanoi and Canada remains large On the occasion of 2019 Lunar New Year, the Year of the Pig, Ambassador of Canada to Vietnam Deborah Paul talks to Hanoitimes on the Canada Vietnam relationship in 2018 and hopes for an impetus in 2019. She also shares her thoughts about the traditional Tet in Vietnam. Vietnam has been ranked 13th among the 20 best places to visit in October, according to a list released by Cond Nast Traveller, a UK travel magazine. Rice fields, Sapa. Up top, hill station Sapa is the gateway to misty treks, Hanoi is all chaos, condensed milk coffees on low plastic stools and some of the best food you ever taste, Cond Nast Traveller wrote. In addition, the Mekong Delta is a whole world bobbing on canals and streams, and Ho Chi Minh City is where the bohos go, don miss The Caf Apartment, a nine storey block stuffed with fairy lit mini boutiques and craft coffee stores. The Mets' only hit through five innings was Daniel Murphy's single in the second. But Ronny Cedeno followed with a grounder that turned into an inning ending double play. Rob Johnson and Scott Hairston doubled in the sixth and seventh innings, respectively, for the Mets' other hits against Maholm (10 7). Excluding Creme 21 (acquired in January 2019), sales growth was 10 percent aided by growth in MENA and SAARC regions. The management expects significant reduction on pledge holding in next 6 9 months. While the promoters have worked towards reducing the pledge amount, it is still high at Rs 3,500 crore compared to market cap of Rs 14,165 crore. Knee pain. There is some early evidence that glucosamine hydrochloride might relieve pain for some people with frequent knee pain. But other research shows that taking glucosamine hydrochloride along with other ingredients does not relieve pain or improve walking ability in people with knee pain. Osteoarthritis. There is conflicting evidence about the effectiveness of glucosamine hydrochloride for osteoarthritis. As Spring is coming, here comes the Spring Party with discounts for gold on RSorder! Chance to enjoy up to $10 coupons for RS Gold, OSRS Gold and other products from Mar.16 to Mar.22, 2020! Three cash coupon codes given: $3 off code "KYN3" for $50+ orders. $5 off code "KYN5" for $80+ orders. $10 off code "KYN1" for $150+ orders. Besides, 5% off code "RSYK5" is also offered for Runescape 3 Gold / Osrs gold and all other products. Buy from https://www.rsorder.com/rs-gold at anytime. Emergency plans were underway in schools across Fingal last week following the announcement by An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar of the closure of all schools due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 virus. Schools nationwide were alerted to the closures last Thursday March 12, with schools not due to re-open until March 29. All childcare facilities and third-level institutions have also closed as part of the Government's emergency plans. Loreto College Swords Principal, Mr Peter McNamara said that, although the Taoiseach's decision came as some surprise, it was probably the 'proportionate measure' given the level of threat facing the country due to the outbreak of Covid-19. Speaking after the Taoiseach's announcement on March 12, Mr McNamara said: 'I wasn't too surprised at the decision, but I was surprised at how fast it came in the end. 'I would have thought the announcement would be that the schools would close from next week or something like that. 'It's probably the necessary and proportionate measure in order to try and contain the threat of Covid-19, but announcing it at 11 o'clock in the middle of a school day and just closing at the end of today came very sudden.' Mr McNamara added: 'Obviously the experts felt that it needed to be done today and I'd have to support that and agree with that decision.' Mr McNamara said he had no prior indication of the emergency measures other than information which had been disclosed to the general public. The closure of Loreto College, he said, would be a 'challenging time for our pupils, and a challenging time for our teachers.' He said: 'We have encouraged all of our students to take home their books and learning material with them, and we've been encouraging them to take them home for a number of days. 'We want to minimise the impact on teaching and learning, and we hope that some teachers will continue to provide online resources for students. Where students are equipped to access, a lot of teachers have prescribed extra work. A lot of students will be using e-books, and we will be encouraging our students through our parents to put time aside every school day for regular study.' Mr McNamara said there was particular concern for Leaving Cert students, who were due to begin oral and practical exams on Monday March 23. He was hoping, he said, to receive clarification on contingency planning from the State Exams Commission (SEC), which he said had yet to provide updates to educators. Mr McNamara said: 'I am hoping that I do get clarification or I do get information, and the minute I receive that it will be shared with my sixth year students because they are our priority, and they are the ones who are most worried about this as we speak. I would be giving a message to all students today that we're all there to support each other, and I will be keeping families, parents and students updated with information as I receive it.' SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A woman wearing a hospital bracelet walked into a Spectrum customer service center in Syracuse on Friday and told employees she just left a hospital after being diagnosed with the coronavirus. Spectrum spokesperson Lara Pritchard said workers immediately escorted the woman out of the building at 815 Erie Blvd. E. and closed the center for cleaning and disinfection. Pritchard said there were 10 Spectrum customer service representatives in the center at the time. She said there also were customers in the center at the time, but that she did not have information on how many. The woman walked into the center in the afternoon and volunteered to customer service representatives that she had just been released from a hospital after a coronavirus diagnosis, Pritchard said. The store was immediately closed and we immediately started cleaning and disinfecting the whole area following CDC guidelines, she said. Were working with the 10 employees in the store at the time to ensure they get everything they need following this incident. She said the company does not know if the woman was telling the truth. The center is a facility where customers can walk in to order cable television, internet or digital phone service, or pick up or drop off cable equipment. The World Health Organization has declared the highly contagious novel coronavirus and COVID-19, the respiratory disease it causes, a global pandemic. The virus is not serious for most people infected with it, but it can be more fatal than the flu for older adults and people with serious chronic illnesses like heart or lung disease or diabetes. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the virus is mainly spread person-to-person through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes. The droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs. The CDC recommends that anyone who has been diagnosed with the virus or suspects they may have it to stay away from others. As much as possible, you should stay in a specific sick room and away from other people in your home, the CDC states on its website. Use a separate bathroom, if available. MORE ON CORONAVIRUS Coronavirus in NY: Cases, maps, charts and resources Thousands of coronavirus patients threaten to overwhelm CNY hospitals; what needs to be done now Unemployed in NY? A survival kit for benefits, bills, evictions, mortgages, utilities, debts, help In a week of fear and kindness in CNY, we are all quarantined in this together Rick Moriarty covers business news and consumer issues. Got a tip, comment or story idea? Contact him anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3148 Thanks for visiting Syracuse.com. Quality local journalism has never been more important, and your subscription matters. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work. Since the release of the first iPhone in 2007, millions of apps have risen and fallen in popularity. There are currently more than two million apps available for download in leading app stores. It's not difficult to create an app; the tricky part is acquiring users and achieving continuous growth for many years. So, how do successful apps manage to grow their user base year after year? App store optimization is key. It's vital for users to be able to easily find your app. This is easier said than done when app stores have millions of apps available. It's not enough to have a strong app. A lot of great apps are hidden from search results by lesser apps with better optimization. You must make sure your app is optimized for app store search results. Related: Bringing Apps and Start-ups Together Until recently, Amazon was not able to achieve a top rank in the Google Play Store's shopping category. It seems incredible that Amazon, a company with 197 million website visits per month, would struggle to achieve a top ranking with their app. Amazon's problem was due to a change in a Google Play Store policy. The policy determined how to classify apps based on their descriptions. Surprisingly, the Amazon app's description did not contain the word "shopping" in an optimal location. Keyword optimization plays an important role in an app's success. Simply by adding the word "shopping" to the name of the app, Amazon was able to achieve nearly four times the amount of traffic. In addition to using a keyword, improving your ratings will help boost your search results in app stores. Boost your ratings by carefully listening to the feedback people leave for you in the review sections and implementing that feedback to improve your app. Fix the problems users are complaining about. Enhance the things users love. And be sure you never stop improving your app if you want to continually grow your number of users. Retargeting campaigns increase ROI Retargeting campaigns (also referred to as remarketing campaigns) are a highly efficient way to convert excellent leads into new app users. Retargeting uses cookie-based technology to target potential customers who have shown some interest in your app by visiting your page, but have not yet downloaded or purchased your app. To start a retargeting campaign, you must track visitors to your webpage as well as the completion of app downloads. Google Ads, Facebook ads, and most other ad platforms can do this for you. These platforms can then target ads toward the customers who did not complete the download of your app. To begin your retargeting campaign, simply choose the retargeting or remarketing option from your chosen ad platform. According to AppsFlyers Performance Index for 2019, Facebook has done immensely well at retargeting, going as far as gaining the number one position in the Global Retargeting Index. Needless to say, smaller app businesses would do well to follow the masses and use Facebooks highly effective and affordable retargeting ads as a key aspect of their user acquisition strategies, as well. Related: The Top Apps for Businesses in 2020 Emphasize ease-of-use. The best way to acquire users is to ensure the app makes lives more convenient -- not more confusing. Difficult-to-use apps rarely catch on, so it is imperative your app is user-friendly. Ease of use is not only essential for acquiring users from the beginning, but it is also important to remain the leader in your space when competitors appear down the road. The rivalry between Spotify and Apple Music emphasizes the importance of a user-friendly app. These two apps have been in direct competition with each other since Apple Music launched in 2015. Despite strong efforts from Apple, Spotify is still the streaming giant due to the nature of the intuitive user interface. Compared with Apple Music, Spotify's player has more options featured prominently while music is playing. Users can choose to play, skip, shuffle, and repeat, while Apple Music leaves out the shuffle and repeat options in favor of a volume control feature. This feature is not very useful because most users adjust the volume with the buttons on the sides of their phones. Additionally, Apple Music and Spotify both have a Discovery feature, however, the Apple Music's version has been unremarkable, while Spotify's version has been so successful Google Play imitated it. Apple Music's user-base is impressive with 60 million subscribers worldwide, however, Spotify retains the music-streaming leadership position. In late 2019, Spotify reported 248 million active users with a 29 percent increase in revenue from the previous year. You can be sure that Spotify can thank the user-friendly interface for its current advantageous position in the market. Increase the length of the product life cycle. Every product has a life cycle; knowing how to increase each stage of that life cycle is the key to success. Products generally go through four stages of a life cycle -- introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. The goal is to prolong the growth and maturity stages as long as possible, repeating them many times before ever reaching a decline stage. During the introduction stage, your priority should be securing customers and learning everything you can from those early adopters. This is the time to build brand loyalty and create a buzz about your app. Take user feedback very seriously, and work hard to improve your app based on that feedback. Related: The Right Business App Can Save You Time. Buying It on AppSumo Can Save You Money. After the introduction stage, you will reach the growth stage. If you are strategic, this can be the longest stage of your app's life cycle. During this stage, you should be doing research to understand as much as you can about what groups of people have been hooked by your app and how you can best meet the needs of those groups. It's also imperative to anticipate competition during the growth stage. Other people may attempt to copy your successful app idea. To combat this problem, know your strengths and weaknesses and aim to highlight the advantages you have over copycat competitors. Once the growth stage has leveled out, you'll reach the maturity stage. This is an excellent time to expand to markets you have not yet reached. To do this, you may need to develop new uses for your app as well as new marketing mixes to reach customers you haven't before. Successfully reaching a new market can propel you right back into the growth stage. With some skill and strategic planning, these two stages can be repeated indefinitely. Related: How to Steadily Acquire New App Users for Many Years to Come TikTok Censored 'Ugly, Poor or Disabled' People to Attract More Users COVID-19 Will Fuel the Next Wave of Innovation Copyright 2020 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved According to rental site Zumper, median rents for a one bedroom in Midtown are hovering around $1,402, compared to a $1,195 one-bedroom median for Houston as a whole. So how does the low-end pricing on a Midtown rental look these days and what might you get for the price? We took a look at local listings from Zumper and Apartment Guide to find out what price-conscious apartment seekers can expect to find in the neighborhood, which, according to Walk Score ratings, is friendly for those on foot, is convenient for biking and has good transit options. Take a look at the cheapest listings available right now, below. (Note: Prices and availability are subject to change.) Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in this article may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions. 1624 Holman St. Listed at $850/month, this studio apartment, located at 1624 Holman St., is 38.7% less than the $1,387/month median rent for a studio in Midtown. The building offers on-site laundry, outdoor space and garage parking. The apartment also features hardwood flooring and a ceiling fan. Cats and dogs are not welcome. (See the complete listing here.) 2016 Main St. Here's a one-bedroom, one-bathroom condo at 2016 Main St., which is going for $1,085/month. The building offers garage parking. In the unit, anticipate a dishwasher, a mix of hardwood floors and carpeting, and a walk-in closet. Pet lovers are in luck: This rental is both dog-friendly and cat-friendly. There's no leasing fee required for this rental. (See the full listing here.) 3603 Chenevert St. Then there's this 672-square-foot apartment with one bedroom and one bathroom at 3603 Chenevert St., listed at $1,100/month. The apartment has a dishwasher and a balcony. Pet lovers are in luck: This rental is both dog-friendly and cat-friendly. When it comes to building amenities, expect a swimming pool and garage parking. Future tenants needn't worry about a leasing fee. (See the listing here.) 2403 Bagby St. Check out this 776-square-foot one-bedroom, one-bathroom address at 2403 Bagby St., listed at $1,130/month. Building amenities include garage parking. The unit also has a dishwasher. Pet owners, take heed: This property is both dog-friendly and cat-friendly. There isn't a leasing fee associated with this rental. (Here's the listing.) 3550 Main St. This studio loft, situated at 3550 Main St., is listed for $1,148/month. In the unit, you're promised in-unit laundry, a dishwasher and hardwood flooring. Pets are not welcome. Amenities offered in the building include garage parking and secured entry. (See the listing here.) This story was created automatically using local real estate data from Zumper and Apartment Guide, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Additionally, if youre an agent or a broker, read on for real estate marketing ideas to promote your local listing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback. People queue in front of a supermarket during the national quarantine in response to the spreading CCP virus disease (COVID-19) in Caracas, Venezuela March 17, 2020. (Manaure Quintero/Reuters) US Calls for Humanitarian Release of Wrongfully Detained Americans in Venezuela U.S. State Secretary Mike Pompeo called on Venezuela in a statement on March 19 to release five U.S. citizens and one U.S. resident from Citgo that have been wrongfully detained by the Venezuelan regime for over two years ago and are currently imprisoned in the infamous Helicoide prison in Caracas. During their detention there was no evidence being brought against them and eighteen hearings have been cancelled, says the statement. The six detained men have weakened immune systems due to cumulative health problems and face a grave health risk if they become infected, says the statement, and should be released now on humanitarian grounds. View of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN) headquarters, known as El Helicoide, in Caracas, on May 9, 2019. (STR/AFP via Getty Images) Helicoide prison was originally built in the 1950s as the first drive-thru shopping mall in the world, but the project was abandoned. The government moved its intelligence services, known as SEBIN, to the building in the 1980s and established a prison there where criminals and political prisoners were detained, reported BBC. According to this report, maltreatment, torture, and human rights abuses are common in Helicoide. People wearing protective masks on the streets after the start of quarantine in response to the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Caracas, Venezuela on March 17, 2020. {Manaure Quintero/Reuters) COVID-19s Spread in Venezuela The spread of the CCP virus has already reached Venezuela and 36 cases have been reported so far in the country, according to Reuters. Nicolas Maduros regime expanded a limited quarantine to the entire country and imposed a ban on movement between states, with exceptions for transportation, health, and food delivery services. The Epoch Times refers to the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19, as the CCP virus because the Chinese Communist Partys coverup and mismanagement allowed the virus to spread throughout China and create a global pandemic. However, Reuters reported that in seven states, security forces at checkpoints were holding up trucks carrying food, gasoline, and other basic goods between regions in order to search their cargo. As a result, food distributors and retailers in the country have not received their expected deliveries. We are stuck with a very limited supply of fuel and food, said Carlos Albornoz, head of an association of Venezuelan meat and milk producers. The food shortages that Venezuelans have been facing for more than a year due to the countrys shrinking economy under Maduros regime are often aggravated by delayed food deliveries and the deepening humanitarian crisis in Venezuela. Citgo gas station on 8100 block of Martin Luther King Blvd. in Houston, Texas. (Screenshot via Google Maps) Top Citgo Executives Imprisoned in Venezuela Six men were imprisoned, including the top executive of Citgo, a Texas-based subsidiary of Venezuelas PDVSA, a state-owned natural gas and oil company. They were arrested in November 2017 under the pretense of an anti-corruption probe. The executives were accused of arranging a $4 billion financing deal with two foreign investment firms, one in the United States and one in Dubai. After the arrest of the executives, Maduro made the announcement that former Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavezs cousin is taking over as the new president of Citgo. A view of a gas station of the Venezuelan state-owned oil company PDVSA in Caracas, Venezuela, on Aug. 20, 2018. (Reuters/Marco Bello) President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on the Venezuelan regime in August 2017, prohibiting dealings with the Venezuelan government or its state oil company in an effort to halt financing that fuels the dictatorship of President Nicolas Maduro. In 2019, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on PDVSA aimed to prevent further diverting of Venezuelas assets by Maduro and preserve these assets for the people of Venezuela, and support Interim President Juan Guaido, the National Assembly, and the Venezuelan peoples efforts to restore their democracy, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said. Reuters, The Associated Press, and Colin Fredericson contributed to this report. The coronavirus is wreaking havoc on the world, and its during apocalyptic times like these that you tend to start hearing from people from your past. But now its not just people from your past: These days its businesses, too. As many have noted, the weeks leading up to the coronavirus have been marked by a strange phenomenon whereby every restaurant youve ever eaten at or business youve ever patronized, no matter how long ago, has felt the need to email you to let you know that theyre taking this very seriously. Advertisement My health and safety is the top priority of so many brands I never even knew had my personal email address. Christopher Doyle (@chrisdoyle) March 14, 2020 Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement *opens freezer* *note falls out* We here at Totinos Pizza Rolls know youve been wondering about our response to COVID-19 social distance warrior (@IAmSpilly) March 17, 2020 Advertisement Advertisement > Delete email accounts > Sell house, live in woods > Find bottle in river > Has note inside "Our brand's COVID-19 response and pledge to our customers..." Joshua Self-QuaRayntine (@joshuaray) March 13, 2020 Advertisement My colleague Gabriel Roth has referred to the way brands automatically subscribe you to their email lists like this as a little digital STD, so maybe its fitting that a virus is causing all our inboxes to become inflamed. But still, it sure seems like previous plagues havent involved intercepting quite so many messages from brands. Inevitably, some have felt more necessary than others. Like, I can see wanting to know that my gym was stepping up its cleaning regimen, back when my gym was still open but Im less in need of a heartfelt pep talk from a retailer known for its ugly sandals. Below, Ive trawled social media and the inboxes of everyone I work with to bring you the best and worst examples of brands vitally important COVID-19 email updates, helpfully grouped into categories ranging from Uh, OK, Thanks for Letting Me Know ? to Wait, Who? These were sent at various times throughout the past few weeks, so rest assured that the waxing salon letting you know how hygienic it was circa March 13 has probably now closed its doors. Stay safe out there! Uh, OK, Thanks for Letting Me Know ? (aka the Companies You Least Expected to Have Something to Say About Coronavirus) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Company: Taco Bell Choice excerpt: Like most of you, Ive been reading the news about the spread of coronavirus and I am convinced that Taco Bell, our franchisees and team members have an obligation to do something to help stop this from spreading. Advertisement Advertisement An obligation! I dont know about that, but its true that we need to protect Taco Bell at all costs. Company: Party City Subject line: An Update From Our CEO, Brad Weston Choice excerpt: We will continue to monitor the situation and adjust accordingly to do what is best for the public health and safety and provide updates at PartyCity.com and through our social channels. Be safe, and we look forward to celebrating with you soon. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Pray that one day soon we will party [city] again. Company: Thinx, a company best known for selling underwear women can wear during menstruation Choice excerpt: Dear Thinx Inc. community, As efforts to contain COVID-19 continue, we hope youre supported in taking every measure to protect your health and the health of those around you. ok the best one though is in fact pic.twitter.com/zTLFVRBWfn Sarah Jaffe (@sarahljaffe) March 14, 2020 Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In case you were worried about period underwear brand Thinx in the time of the coronavirus dont be! Company: JNCO, the clothing brand thats synonymous with its extra extra wide-leg jeans from the 1990s Choice excerpt: Once again, we wish you health, peace, and safety during this time. All the best, Team JNCO Folk's we have a new leader for best brand-related corona email pic.twitter.com/xUn3ef7O8a PFTCommenter (@PFTCommenter) March 18, 2020 Advertisement Advertisement JNCO: Applying the principles of PLUR to the coronavirus. Company: Lilly Pulitzer, the preppy retailer of womens clothing and accessories Subject line: March 16 Update from Lilly Pulitzer regarding COVID-19 COVID-19 brand emails forcing me to really grapple with my past self pic.twitter.com/76DMn7QHb0 Madison Malone Kircher (@4evrmalone) March 16, 2020 Advertisement Advertisement I wish I knew what this email from Lilly contained, but Im not in a high-enough income bracket to have received it, alas. Company: Blue Apron, the meal kit service Subject line: Blue Aprons statement on COVID-19 Choice excerpt: Were here for you. Our aim is to be your trusted meal kit solution, because we believe that home cooking is important now more than everand our intent is to deliver fresh, delicious meals right to your door. My meal-kit delivery service, also here for me. Company: Marine Layer, a fashion retailer of surfer-style clothing Subject line: A note to our community Choice excerpt: Im not sure what a note from a brand can provide in these anxious and fearful times. As I write this, Im wearing the first tee we ever made about 10 years ago. Its my favorite piece of clothing. I was wearing it when both of my children were born, and it remains connected to countless other fond memories. Its a comforting reminder of better days to come. I hope all of you have something just as meaningful that provides you with a similar sense of comfort during these trying times. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Upscale T-shirts are actually incredibly meaningful during a pandemic, got it. Badly Timed Sales Pitches Company: Honeygrow, a fast-casual food chain or, ahem, restaurant concept Subject line: To Our Healthcare Heroes Choice excerpt: Healthcare professionals, we appreciate you! Starting today, enjoy a BUY ONE, GET ONE stir-fry or salad, valid for all healthcare professionals and staff with ID. Doesnt BOGO seem a little stingy? And maybe laid-off restaurant workers would benefit from this too? Company: Julep, an online beauty retailer Subject line: An important message from The Julep Team Choice excerpt: I wanted to check in to wish you well and thank you for being here! Were so lucky to have you as part of our Julep family. As a special thanks, I want to give you 60% off everythingonly excluding Eyeshadow 101. Advertisement In times like these, Im glad we can all come together over deeply discounted makeuponly excluding Eyeshadow 101, of course. Company: Verifyle, a tool for sharing files securely Subject line: Use Verifyle to help minimize the spread of COVID-19. Choice excerpt: These are uncertain times. But we want you to know that one thing you can count on is the security of your Verifyle account. Advertisement I dont really see how secure file-sharing is going to help, but thanks, Verifyle! Im glad my accountant uses you. Company: Everlane, the online fashion retailer Subject line: Were In This Together Choice excerpt: At the Everlane virtual headquarters, many of us spent the weekend grappling with our new reality and how, as a company, we can best show up and run our business during this time. A few things are clear for us: We need to come together with our customers and community. We want to offer you meaningful value in uncertain times. Weve always provided value through transparent pricing. But during this period we want to give back more to our customers. We intend to break our own rules and offer weekly promotions that make our everyday basics even more affordable. Look out for something new each Monday. Were kicking off tonight with a full week of $50 denim. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement $50 denim? The real heroes. Wait, Who? (aka the Places You Visited or Interacted With Exactly Once, Five Years Ago) Company: European Wax Center, a chain of hair removal salons Subject line: A Message From Our CEO David Berg Choice excerpt: As a leader in the waxing industry, were keenly aware of the visibility our position can bring. We take this both as a privilege and a responsibility to always do the right thing. Because of that, and guided by the distinct principles of our brand, we have closed our corporate-owned centers, andas of todayhave strongly urged our other franchise-owned locations to follow suit. In fact, we hope all businesses in the personal care space will join us in putting the well-being of our fellow Americans first. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Waxing right now does seem like a bad idea, come to think of it. Company: Tawkify, a matchmaking service Subject line: COVID-19 Love Cant Be Quarantined Choice excerpt: Weve adapted quickly to ensure there is no disruption of our matchmaking services, and are proactively embracing virtual introductions as a safe way to connect matches from the privacy of home until were free again to engage with one another in public places. Our matchmakers will plan and coordinate one-to-one video meet-up dates using Zoom, a high-quality conference platform that is truly the next best thing to being there. No disruption to matchmaking services, thank God. Company: Wisdom Panel, a company that offers DNA tests for dogs Subject line: Coronavirus and dogs: What you need to know Choice excerpt: We understand there are a lot of questions surrounding the impact of coronavirus on families, communities and even our pets. As partners in your dogs health, we want to share with you the latest information. There is limited evidence to suggest that your dog is at risk for COVID-19. Advertisement Advertisement Love to have partners in my dogs health. Company: Wink Brow Bar, a waxing studio that focuses on eyebrows Subject line: COVID -19 - A letter to clients and friends Choice excerpt: To all of our Wink clients and friends, Your health and well-being is a top priority. We would like you to rest assured that we are being diligent in complying with our hygiene protocols to ensure our guests, teams and our staff are protected and you can continue to feel confident coming to a Wink location. So pleased to know they care. Company: Liquor.com Choice excerpt: We understand these are uncertain times and life may feel chaotic for everyone. At Liquor.com, its our mission to make you delicious cocktails, find your new favorite bottle, and stay up on the latest drink trends. The COVID-19 pandemic doesnt change this. Advertisement Finally, an honest brand email. pic.twitter.com/ngELU1F0M6 Mike Standish (@MikeStandish) March 18, 2020 Its nice to be able to count on something. Advertisement Company: Candlescience, a candle-making supplies retailer Subject line: COVID-19: How Were Responding Choice excerpt: Dear CandleScience community, We know everyone is concerned about the COVID-19 outbreak and the impacts the virus may have on our daily lives. We take the health and safety of our customers, staff, and community very seriously. As such, we are taking precautions to do our part in mitigating the spread of COVID-19. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Candlescience is not screwing around. Company: Blue Planet Scuba, a Washington, D.C., dive shop Subject line: COVID-19: Whats a diver to do? Choice excerpt: We have been fielding a lot of calls, emails and texts regarding what this means for people taking classes and preparing for dive trips. Worried about getting your scuba fix if you are working from home and dont want to take off your PJs? Weve compiled a list of suggestions for keeping yourself immersed in the dive life. Advertisement The coronavirus will *not* kill the spirit of the diving community. Strangely Comforting Company: Hahnemuhle, a German paper manufacturing company founded in 1584 Subject line: Corona Virus Update From Hahnemuhle USA Office Choice excerpt: As the corona virus continues to have global impact, we wanted to reach out and outline for you the precautions we are taking to keep our employees and communities as safe as possible. We know that we must be prepared to conduct business in the face of any type of challenge. Helpful to hear from the only company on this list thats actually survived past plagues. Company: Nasty Pig, a company that sells gay fetish gear Choice excerpt: Now that Im a Daddy in this community I feel it is my responsibility not to tell you to keep shopping, but to tell you that we will get through this. Humans are a resilient species, especially gay people. In fact we are the strongest motherfuckers I know. Advertisement why yes the best corporate COVID-19 email is from a gay fetish gear company pic.twitter.com/19CIcroLue Dominic Holden (@dominicholden) March 15, 2020 Only the gay fetishwear companies were truly prepared for this. As New Jerseyans struggle to cope with the sudden demands of social distancing, new data suggests we need to do more much more to prevent a worst-case scenario of 1 in 7 residents becoming ill during the coronavirus pandemic. In fact, without more aggressive efforts to lock down the population with a shelter-in-place order, more than 1.3 million of New Jerseys nearly 9 million residents could contract and show symptoms of COVID-19, according to an NJ Advance Media analysis based on data from a Rutgers University study. The analysis paints a bleak picture for New Jersey over the next few months, absent all but the strictest measures of social distancing. Hospitals could become inundated with patients they lack the beds to care for, and state officials would have to scramble for alternative locations to treat the sick. Distancing measures could last for months. We dont know how long it will last, but we should not expect this to be a two-week thing, said Sarah Allred, an associate professor of psychology at Rutgers-Camden and one of the authors of the study used in this analysis. Were talking about an unprecedented strain on our health care system. Coronavirus is now in all 50 U.S. states and in more than 100 countries around the world. It has killed more than 10,000 and infected at least 250,000. None of these statistics counts people who havent been tested and potentially could infect others, a growing concern among public health officials. This is like the silent monster because you dont have any warning signs until youre sick, said Mary Ellen Santucci, a nurse and professor at Rowan University. I think were going to have to be prepared with the Army Corps of Engineers with temporary hospitals. This could go on 12 weeks. With the current number of coronavirus cases in New Jersey at 890, it seems hard to imagine a million or more infections. But thats exactly where New Jersey is headed, according to the Rutgers University-Camden study and the rapid escalation of cases in the past week as more and better testing becomes available. If that sounds implausible, consider the warning California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued with his shelter-in-place order Thursday night. Newsom predicted 56% of Californias population could contract the virus over the next eight weeks. That would mean more than 25.5 million infections in a worst-case scenario. New York on Friday ordered all nonessential workers to stay home. Even with a high level of social distancing, the total number of confirmed cases in New Jersey could wind up in the neighborhood of 1.1 million. Only with a very high level near-total isolation would the number of cases be held to around 700,000, according to the NJ Advance Media analysis. With only moderate social distancing efforts, the number swells to 1.3 million, and New Jersey could see more than 250,000 people infected at the same time at the peak of the crisis, which is projected to come in May in that scenario. (The New Jersey projections include only those who show symptoms, not every person carrying the virus.) Worldwide, most countries are experiencing a death rate between 1% and 3%. As of Friday, 11 of the 890 people known to be infected in New Jersey have died a death rate of 1.2%. Even at a 1% rate, anywhere from 7,000 to 13,000 New Jerseyans could die from the virus, the data suggests. This death rate depends on a variety of factors, most importantly the strain on the states health care system. The Italian health care system has seen a massive surge in the number of cases, and as a result of inadequate medical resources, the death rate there is now 8%. Keeping that rate down depends on how quickly we can implement effective social distancing and minimize the spike in hospitalizations. For comparison, 750 New Jerseyans were killed during 9/11, and the state lost about 40 people because of Hurricane Sandy. The governors office did not answer questions about the numbers before publication, but during Gov. Phil Murphys Friday news conference, he hinted at more restrictions coming soon. We will within the next 24 hours further tighten the screws in terms of the social distancing," Murphy said. "We have no choice. The New Jersey infection rates are calculated using a Rutgers model and data on the spread of COVID-19 in Italy. First, the population of New Jersey was split into groups: susceptible, exposed, infected asymptomatic, infected symptomatic, hospitalized and recovered. By determining how people move from one group to another, their numbers are tracked over time. Only one of these factors the reproductive rate of the virus can be controlled by policies such as social distancing. A change in this factor can have a dramatic impact on the spread of coronavirus. Lowering human interaction and stopping the virus fast spread is associated with the now-common phrase flattening the curve. With strict isolation, the number of diagnoses would still increase on a daily basis for at least the next five to six months, but it would top out at more than 50,000 active cases on any given day, as opposed to a high end of 160,000 cases on some days under less strict measures. Stephanie Silvera, an epidemiologist at Montclair State University, realizes the prospect of isolation into the fall is frightening. Nobody wants to think about this peaking in October, Silvera said. That means some of these measures have to last much longer. Its been a jarring transition." The consequences of not doing so could mean inviting the type of grave situation Italy has faced in recent days. This week, Italys death toll surpassed China, where the virus is believed to have originated. We only have so many hospital beds and so many ventilators, Silvera said. If you think of it just from a hospital bed perspective, were still going to have people who have heart attacks and strokes and need to be in the hospital and need treatment to survive. Youre talking about making decisions about whos going to survive and whos not. New Jersey currently has 26,000 licensed hospital beds across the state, according to Kerry McKean Kelly, spokeswoman for the New Jersey Hospital Association, a trade group for hospitals in the state. She said that hospitals in the state are already starting to roll out their emergency plans, including postponing elective procedures, reopening closed units and exploring alternative treatment sites like medical tents. Were expecting a significant surge, McKean Kelly said. Its such a fluid situation. We continue to do what we do. We find the capacity that exists in the system. It might look very different than care in a hospital bed that you might see on a regular day. Allred, the Rutgers-Camden professor and author of the study, said the projections were based on existing epidemiological models of the coronavirus using recent data from the viruss spread in Europe. Her group looked at how many are likely to get infected and wind up hospitalized. She added that these epidemiological models have been trusted since the 1950s. The danger of the virus is for the 15% to 20% who do wind up showing symptoms, the large number of them between 40% and 55% will need to be hospitalized, the study found. No individual should panic because every individual is at a low risk of getting sick, Allred said, adding that despite large projected infection rates and possible hospital bed shortfalls, we can decrease that need by enacting strong social distancing measures. The study, she said, does rely on a couple of educated guesses, such as those around the number of people presently infected, which is difficult to know without widespread testing and makes a big difference in how quickly the peak hospital bed shortfall is reached. The numbers indicated, depending on the speed of the spread, that at the peak of the shortfall, there will be between 4.5 and 13 New Jerseyans who need a hospital bed for every 1 that is available. If people can stay six feet apart from each other, were not going to need as many beds at one time, Allred said, adding that officials already need to be thinking about more than just hospitals to care for patients. We have to start thinking about what high school auditoriums were going to use. About this data The model used for creating these predictions is an extension of the traditional SEIR model of disease spread. The primary modification is including two infected classes: symptomatic and asymptomatic. The range of effective reproductive rates used in the figure is 1.4-3.8. The latent period is 5 days, infectious period is 4 days, hospitalization period is 10 days, asymptomatic infection proportion is 0.81 and hospitalization rate is 0.35 of those that are symptomatic. The graphic uses a forward Euler solver with a time step of 0.1 days to create the solution from the model. The initial conditions used are 20 exposed individuals, 10 asymptomatic and infected individuals, 2 symptomatic and infected individuals, 0 hospitalized and 0 recovered individuals. Then, assuming a low degree of social distancing, the model is run forward till the total number of infected and symptomatic individuals reaches the case numbers recorded till date. The end values for each group of individuals are then used as initial conditions for another solution assuming the degree of social distancing set by the user. This way the setting of the reproductive rate starting today is decoupled from the reproductive rate from the beginning of the infection till date. For additional questions on details of the modeling, reach NJ Advance Media developer Arjun Kakkar at akakkar@njadvancemedia.com. Sign up for text message alerts from NJ.com on coronavirus in New Jersey: Payton Guion may be reached at PGuion@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @PaytonGuion. Nick Devlin may be reached at ndevlin@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @nickdevlin. PLEASE NOTE! Due to the March 23, 2020 NM DOH Public Health Order, These Event Listings Are Not Accurate! All non-essential businesses are closed, public gatherings are prohibited! (One day some of these events will be rescheduled or will resume, but they are not happening now!) Six security personnel were injured, two of them seriously, in an encounter with naxals in Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hit Sukma district on Saturday, the police said. The gunfight took place in a forest in Chintagufa area, a senior police official here said. Reinforcement was rushed to the spot, the official said, adding that further details were awaited. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The country went into lockdown on Friday night as the government drastically ramped up plans to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. And while most of the population adapted to life indoors, Ricky Gervais and his long-term partner Jane Fallon enjoyed a walk on Hampstead high street, London, on Saturday afternoon. The comedian, 58, cut a casual figure in a grey fleece and black trousers, while Jane, 59, opted for a similarly low-key ensemble comprising slouchy grey trousers and a black hoodie. They see my strolling: Ricky Gervais, 58, and his long-term partner Jane Fallon, 59, enjoyed a walk on Hampstead Highstreet, London, on Saturday afternoon The pair appeared in a sombre mood as they strolled around Hampstead, with sunglasses shielded their eyes from the spring sunshine. Their outing came just hours after the government told people to 'stay at home' in a bid to tackle the current COVID-19 (coronavirus) crisis that has swept the globe. The prime minister has warned UK citizens not to leave their homes unless absolutely necessary amid the global pandemic, with the exception of key workers. Ricky and Jane flouted the government's advice - despite all shops, pubs and restaurants being closed due to the lockdown - and so the pair walked through relatively deserted streets, although a small group walked closely behind them. What's on your mind? The pair appeared in a sombre mood as they strolled around Hampstead, with sunglasses shielded their eyes from the spring sunshine Low key: The comedian cut a casual figure in a grey fleece and black trousers Off-duty duds: Jane opted for a similarly low-key ensemble comprising slouchy grey trousers and a black hoodie The couple have been together since 1982 but previously told The Times they decided not to marry because 'there's no point in us having an actual ceremony before the eyes of God because there is no God'. Ricky added they decided not to have children because 'we didn't fancy dedicating 16 years of our lives. And there are too many children, of course'. Earlier this month, the couple were left heartbroken when their social media star cat Ollie died aged 16, with both owners taking to Twitter to relay the news. 'Just had to say goodbye to the sweetest little soul I've ever known. RIP Ollie. July 9th 2003 - March 10th 2020,' wrote comedian Ricky, 58. Not staying home! Their outing came just hours after the government told people to 'stay at home' in a bid to tackle the current COVID-19 ( coronavirus ) crisis that has swept the globe Ricky followed this up later, tagging the pet's social media account, posting: 'A heartfelt thank you for all your lovely tributes to @myleftfang. 'I can't quite bring myself to respond at the moment, but your kindness is very much appreciated.' His author partner penned: 'I have awful news. My smart, funny, feisty, beautiful sidekick of the last 16 & a half years @myleftfang has passed away after a sudden down turn in her health at the weekend. 'My heart is broken in two. I have no idea what I'm going to do without her by my side. #Ollie.' BEIJING While other industries struggle, Liu Zhiyong says Chinas virus outbreak is boosting demand for his knee-high, bright-yellow robots to deliver groceries and patrol malls looking for shoppers who fail to wear masks. Liu, CEO of ZhenRobotics, is among millions of entrepreneurs who are gradually getting back to work after China declared victory over the coronavirus that shut down the worlds second-largest economy. ZhenRobotics flagship model is the six-wheeled, 27-inch-tall RoboPony. The self-driving cart is sold to retailers, hospitals, malls and apartment complexes. Unlike airlines, hotels and other industries that face a long and uncertain struggle to recover, Liu said his orders have tripled since the outbreak began. The epidemic made people aware of the fragility of human beings, Liu said. Robots can make up for this vulnerability and provide services people can trust, he said. Trust in robots has been enhanced dramatically. Robots for use in factories and consumer industries are near the top of the ruling Communist Partys wish list for technology development. Chinese leaders see them as a profitable export and a way to make up for a shrinking workforce as the population ages. Beijing has spent heavily to set up robotics departments at universities and research institutes. Private sector developers can apply for research grants and other support. ZhenRobotics, founded in 2016, does its research and development in the Chinese capitals Zhongguancun university district, a hub for tech companies. Liu said the company gets a break on rent and other official support. Its researchers are working on technologies including machine learning, computer vision and autonomous navigation, according to Liu. ZhenRobotics has a testing center in the southeastern province of Zhejiang, south of Shanghai. Manufacturing is in Shenzhen, adjacent to Hong Kong. One of its robots patrols Shanghais Taikoo Hui shopping mall. It can spot customers with bare faces and remind them to put on a mask. It gives out hand sanitizer and broadcasts antivirus information. The RoboPony has been used by Suning.com Group, one of Chinas biggest retailers, to delivery food and other necessities to households during the outbreak. Demand for e-commerce soared after the government cut most access to cities with a total of 60 million people in late January. Hundreds of millions more in other areas were to told stay home whenever possible. The Beijing city government gave ZhenRobotics a marketing boost by including it on an official list of anti-epidemic new technology. The RoboPony, which is controlled through a mobile phone app, can carry 90 pounds and travel up to 6 mph. Liu declined to say what the robot costs. After shutting down for the Lunar New Year in January, Liu went back to work Jan. 26. Other employees started to return on Jan. 30. All but two of the 50 employees were back by March 10, Liu said. The remaining two are working from home in Hubei province, where the coronavirus emerged in December and travel curbs still are in effect. Liu plans to step up research into disinfection by ultraviolet light and other possible hygiene-related features. The company plans to produce 90 robots in the next six weeks, Liu said. We placed a large number of orders for our suppliers, he said. French President Emmanuel Macron gestures as he addresses a meeting at the emergency crisis centre of the Interior Ministry in Paris yesterday as France tackles the coronavirus. Photo: Getty Images Political leaders are as worried about the economic tremors unleashed by the coronavirus pandemic as its deadly risks for public health. In Europe and the United States, governments across the political spectrum are now plotting vast sums of state spending and loans to shore up their beleaguered societies. Lawmakers in Washington wrangled over a mammoth stimulus plan that could add up to $1tn. Germany's central bank has said it could lend as much as $610bn (750bn) to companies. Britain's Conservative government, criticised for its lack of preparation as the outbreak worsened, has proposed about $400bn (374bn) in loans and $35bn in direct state aid to individuals and firms in need. The French government proposed on Wednesday about $50bn in spending, plus $320bn (300bn) in loan guarantees, as part of a new emergency budget. That marked a reverse from its controversial initiatives to loosen up the economy, indefinitely suspending earlier planned spending cuts and pension reforms. "We are facing an economic and financial war," French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told reporters. "This economic and financial war will be long, it will be violent and will require all the strength of our nation, Europe," and the Group of 7 advanced economies, he said. That echoes the rhetoric of US President Donald Trump and Mr Le Maire's boss, French President Emmanuel Macron. And that's for good reason - the political reaction to a pandemic of this scale will probably require the kinds of state mobilisation not seen since World War II. Whole industries are shuddering to a halt, while a quarter of the American workforce has already lost work or reported wage losses. Far from the politics of austerity embraced by many governments in the wake of the global financial crisis over a decade ago, the challenges posed by the spread of the coronavirus demand massive state intervention. Already, there are clear signs of a shifting ethos. If Democrats get their way, planned bailouts of major firms may come with conditions limiting executive pay and bonuses. The right-wing Trump administration is weighing various plans to send checks of somewhere between $1,000 (935) to $2,000 (1,870) to most Americans - a cash handout unthinkable in previous eras of Republican governance and which may be followed by more handouts in the months to come. Numerous other countries are preparing to or have already rolled out their own solutions to help workers without placing additional strains on employers. The Dutch government is set to cover 90pc of salaries lost because of reductions in work hours. The Danish government will shoulder 75pc of wages to prevent the country's affected companies from carrying out layoffs. Prominent libertarians are now clamouring for state subsidies. And orthodox Republican economists have been brushed to the side. "Some people are using this crisis to push their preferred ideas - supply-side ideologues like Art Laffer, Stephen Moore and Steve Forbes want more tax cuts, for example," noted 'New York Times' columnist Jamelle Bouie. "But this isn't that. In forcing people to stay away from each other, the outbreak has made our mutual interdependence clear. This, in turn, has made it a powerful, real-life argument for the broadest forms of social insurance." Some analysts believe this has been a long time coming. "We have been stumbling, from crisis to crisis, toward an enhanced saviour role for the state," wrote Pankaj Mishra in 'Bloomberg Opinion', tracing the world's steady disillusionment with unfettered markets and globalisation from an era of liberal triumph in the 1990s. After the 2008 financial crisis, even globalisation's defenders recognised the responsibility of governments to protect citizens from the whims of the markets. "Today, the coronavirus has elevated that responsibility into a life-or-death imperative," Mishra noted. "And, as happened in the interwar era, the state's deep penetration into economic and social life to counteract a disaster is likely to endure." It's unclear what this will look like in a United States under Trump. The notion of his administration refashioning itself into a wartime behemoth - mass-producing vital medical equipment, plugging the holes of a sagging economy and galvanising a divided nation - still seems improbable. "At the centre of the World War II production effort was [President Franklin D] Roosevelt himself - he set the goals, hired and removed the new dealers and businessmen brought on to run the production effort, and was tasked with explaining it all to the American public," Matthew Zeitlin noted in 'Slate'. "Trump theoretically has the same job, but his team has been hampered by infighting, inexperience, and his own, until recently, insistence that the virus was not that big of a deal." But without that effort, experts warn of dark times ahead. "Already, some 30pc of Americans have zero or negative wealth," economist Branko Milanovic wrote in 'Foreign Affairs'. "If more people emerge from the current crisis with neither money, nor jobs, nor access to health care, and if these people become desperate and angry, such scenes as the recent escape of prisoners in Italy or the looting that followed Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005 might become commonplace." As the virus spreads and economies tank, only governments can hold the line. "Advanced societies must not allow economics, particularly the fortunes of financial markets, to blind them to the fact that the most important role economic policy can play now is to keep social bonds strong under this extraordinary pressure," Milanovic concluded. ( The Washington Post) Among all the bizarre and abnormal things that seem to happen regularly during Donald Trumps presidency, the spectacle of Sean Spicer grilling his former boss in the White House briefing room must be ranked as both memorable and peculiar. On Friday, when the president called on his former White House press secretarywho currently hosts a weeknight show on NewsmaxSpicer didnt press Trump about his actions regarding the novel coronavirus pandemic, as others did, but instead asked his reaction to the Republican senators who reportedly acted on non-public pandemic predictions to dump their stock holdings weeks before the market crash. Trump dodged, claiming ignorance. Weirdly, he neglected to call on Spicer by name, as if forgetting that the Dancing with the Stars contestant-turned-journalist served as his chief spokesman for the rocky first six months of his administration. Spicer resigned in protest after Trump appointed Anthony Scaramuccinow a severe critic of the presidentas White House communications director, a job The Mooch held for all of two weeks until he, too, flamed out. Yet reporters in the room on Friday acknowledged both the validity of Spicers question and the oddness of the questioner. It obviously made for a surreal scene to have the former White House press secretary, best known for lying about Trumps inauguration crowd size, back in the briefing room and asking totally relevant questions, said a veteran member of the White House press corps who asked not to be further identified. He had more credibility today asking questions than he did answering them. A second longtime White House correspondent told The Daily Beast: I thought it was interesting that the president didnt call on him by name. That question had to be asked today. It was a legitimate question I will say it felt very surreal. A third White House correspondent, however, was less than amused: Spicer has a long way to go before he has the confidence of the rest of the White House press corps. His shameful record of repeatedly lying from the podium as press secretary helped usher in an era of gaslighting the public that wont soon be forgotten. One day in the briefing room doesnt erase that. Story continues Reached by The Daily Beast as he was about to tape Fridays installment of Spicer & Co., which hes been hosting since early March, Spicer agreed that interrogating Trump from the back row of the briefing room was something of an out-of-body experience. The funny part is that we were at least six or seven questions in before anyone asked about the stocks, Spicer said, and that was probably the No. 1 story on the morning shows this morning and yet not one of the networks asked about it until I did. (A White House correspondent quibbled: If Sean Spicer had not asked that question about the senators and their stock selloffs, someone else would have.) Spicer added: I thought about this yesterday when I knew this [the briefing] was happening. You know, CNN sent Sanjay Gupta the other day to a briefing and no one had a problem with that. [Gupta, an M.D. and a surgeon, functions as CNNs medical correspondent.] The point is that I have a show. We were talking about these issues on the show today and I thought it would be great to get the president to respond to them. Spicer, who ran communications for the Republican National Committee before his White House stint, is not the first partisan operative to try his hand at journalism. Bill Moyers, Diane Sawyer, Chris Matthews, Tim Russert and George Stephanopoulos, for instance, all worked in politics before crossing over to the Fourth Estate. But Spicer is the first White House press secretary to do it so conspicuously during his ex-bosss first term. Since his departure from the White House, Spicer has been on the lecture circuit and did a stint last year as a special correspondent for Extra, interviewing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Spicers successor as White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and covering the White House Correspondents Dinner after-parties. But he conceded that during his long career as a Republican operative, hes had zero experience as a working journalist. But I would also argue that Im not trying to be a reporter, he insisted. I went to ask questions for my show. Im not claiming that Im some sort of hard-hitting reporter. Newsmax has plenty of people who do that. We have a White House correspondent. Still, Spicer has a permanent White House media credential, a so-called hard pass reserved for members of the regular press corps. Spicer pointed out that when he was press secretary, he credentialed anybody from a bonafide news organization. It was definitely weird to be on the other side of the podium, Spicer said. But sitting on the other side of the podium, I continue to feel sympathy for anyone who has to get up there and brief, because of the nature of the questions and also the tone and frankly the lack of respect that sometimes is afforded to the folks up there. No matter what some of those folks think, he still is the president of the United StatesYou can ask tough, hard-hitting questions and be respectful at the same time. Asked his reaction to Trumps angry eruption at NBC News Peter Alexander, who pushed the president over his arguably unwarranted optimism about a possible coronavirus treatment regime, Spicer said: I think part of this has come down to toneIm not necessarily judging Peters question. I was worried about getting my question out. Trump accused Alexander of asking a nasty question and being a terrible reporter. Trump is going to push back, Spicer said. This isnt anything new. Its not like this exchange is that novel. How many times has he gone after other reporters? Hes used the word nasty countless times. Im not really sure why what happened today was unique. The beauty of this country is the media can ask whatever they want, Spicer went on. They can hold every level of government to the highest accountability. And yet that same right gives anyone else the right to say what they want. And no ones gonna get jailed, and no ones gonna get reprimanded. And no ones gonna get punished. Read more at The Daily Beast. Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now! Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more. 39.3k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo gave his daily coronavirus news briefing on Saturday, and the presentation both in style and substance could not have been more different than what the American people have been seeing from the White House. MSNBCs Joy Reid reacted to the briefing in real time, saying that Cuomos calm, authoritative presentation was a stunning contrast with the president who is combative, angry and spends his daily briefings fighting with the press, disputing his experts. They say that character is revealed in crisis, the MSNBC host said. Wow, these two are very different. Video: Joy Reid reacts to Gov. Andrew Cuomos daily coronavirus news briefing: Boy, I cannot imagine a greater difference with the presentations daily that are given by the president of the United States. #ctl #p2 #amjoy pic.twitter.com/MtWXsBBV6Q PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) March 21, 2020 Reid said: Gov. Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York, factual, even with a powerpoint presentation, seated at a nice social distance from the experts beside him, calm, authoritative. Boy, I cannot imagine a greater difference with the presentations daily that are given by the president of the United States. They say that character is revealed in crisis. Wow, these two are very different. Donald Trump combative, angry, fighting with the press, disputing his experts could not be a different presentation between the two of them. Presidential leadership is coming from the state level, not the White House As this crisis continues to wreak havoc all around the country, the American people have seen more presidential leadership from the state level than from the White House. In New York, the state with the most infections, Gov. Cuomo has been truthful about the seriousness of this outbreak, but hes also delivered his message in a calm and authoritative manner. Other governors, including Ohios Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, have understood that this is no laughing matter and have acted accordingly. Meanwhile, Donald Trumps daily coronavirus briefings are a horror show, with the president physically crammed together with Mike Pence and the rest of the task force, attacking journalists who ask valid questions, and spreading false information thats often immediately corrected by his own team. In fact, Trump had another morning meltdown on Saturday in which he spewed more falsehoods about a possible coronavirus cure. The longer this health emergency goes on, the more obvious it is that the American people would be better off if Donald Trump just stayed quiet and let the adults at all levels of government handle this crisis. Follow Sean Colarossi on Facebook and Twitter My mom wants to go to the store everyday... even though we have lots of food. This lady cannot sit down. I don't understand but I keep yelling. Reply Thread Link We're good too, but my mom is determined to visit every store in the city in search of rice. Not something she eats a lot of, but she's obsessed with The Rules. I mentioned "staple foods," and she wants every last one of them. Reply Parent Thread Link Omg mine too!!! We hate rice but she went to 3 different stores to find some! Whyyyy Reply Parent Thread Expand Link My SO brought home 55 lbs of rice that he got from three different places...and tried to get some more tonight. wtf edit: typo Edited at 2020-03-21 03:47 am (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Link It took two weeks to get my mom to listen and stay home but I think all that worrying and yelling and begging has given me an ulcer. My anxiety is still really bad because my dad still insists on going out to his usual coffee shop and meet his friends who are all in their 60s and 70s. They're gonna be the death of me If I could lock them in a basement like that Chris Geere show Ill Behaviour I would in a heartbeat. Reply Parent Thread Link This is my dad. I'm so scared, he's so high risk and if he wants to be careless with himself, fine, but he's going to take my mom with him and for what? Reply Parent Thread Link my parents (70 and definitely high-risk) are stuck halfway around the world (where it's super low numbers thank goodness) and they aren't coming back to the hellscape that is NYC anytime soon. they're homesick as fuck and always facetiming us, but at least they're safer there Reply Parent Thread Link my mom is the exact same way. shes only feeding her and my dad. they have enough food for 8 thanksgivings but she keeps going out. Reply Parent Thread Link My grandparents (82 & 83, both Trump supporters) keep insisting that it's no worse than the annual flu and so it's totally fine for them to act like normal, and that "god would be ashamed" that their church is temporarily closed. & I'm just like, really? THAT? Not that you openly brag about how your church was hoarding over $1M during Hurricane Harvey & not helping ANYONE? Reply Thread Link Also, the annual flu kills off a ton of 80-somethings a year so thats not even a good argument. Reply Parent Thread Link Of course not, but my grandfather literally blames the downfall of modern society on *women wearing pants* so I don't really look to them for any decent arguments about literally anything. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Im sorry but its time for them to meet the savior Reply Parent Thread Link My dad went out to lunch on Tuesday, I could not talk him out of it. My parents have been going to grocery stores, Home Depot, Petco, etc... Reply Thread Link mine too. not out to eat but everything else. fucking stop it. Reply Parent Thread Link my mom is staying home, her work stopped. but my dad is still insisting on going, but he works by himself and goes by car so I'm trying to stay calm. Reply Thread Link My dad is currently in Chile and keeps going back and forth. One day he agrees it's serious and wants to come home early, the next day he says he doesn't think it's that serious. And that when he does come home he wants to come over for a BBQ. Reply Thread Link There are several sets of pap pics of Garner out and about, shopping, whatnot. Bitch isn't keeping her own ass at home. Reply Thread Link i don't think so? there's a couple of sets of her walking in her neighbourhood and one set of her and her kids picking oranges from trees outside their home. Reply Parent Thread Link my dad is a truck driver and is still going to work every day, it's terrifying!! Reply Thread Link My step dad decided his dumb ass should go to NYC to handle some business. He's 78. Me and my kid were begging him not to go. He left this morning. Fuck him tbh for stressing us out like this. Also no one is doing the business he needs done right now. Reply Thread Link My parents are like that, just because the gov is telling them to stay home, they want to go out. I don't know know what to do to protect them, my brother doesn't think it is serious, so he is not doing anything to protect himself and my parents, it is driving me crazy, my anxiety is through the roof Reply Thread Link It's amazing that some of the folks the youths are called on to protect also don't give a fuck about this. Boooo all around. Our next door neighbor is elderly, so we ran out and got her some milk this morning. She's staying put. Reply Thread Link I mentioned this in the FFAF post, but my parents got texts/calls telling them to shelter in place. I looked it up (as Florida doesn't exactly seem to be on top of things so I was surprised) and apparently the county said that wasn't supposed to be sent. I'm not telling my parents. My mom has to go to work and pretty much the only other thing they do right now is go to the grocery store but they seem to be doing that a lot. I don't know if it's because they are having problems finding things and have to keep going out or if they just want a reason to be out of the house but it is a little frustrating. Reply Thread Link If it keeps people in dont let them know lol. Honestly hackers should be sending shelter in place orders out, focus that chaos on good! I think my grandparents were doing that the other day. My grandma said she had to get birdseed because the birds depend on her. Ive been begging her to stay in and not let my dumbass aunt visit her again. Reply Parent Thread Link It is really nice though that she's thinking of the birds. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I had a woman in her late 70s come into my office to drop off her taxes and she eagerly told me she should be in quarantine bc she had just got off a cruise. Like wtf. Reply Thread Link I'm in California so we're all supposed to shelter in place, but before that was announced I was at a show in a venue that seats over 3000 people. At intermission, the people behind me were discussing coronavirus, what they thought would happen, etc. One of the women said that she was pretty sure she already had it because of all the air travel she'd done lately. She also said she knew that you could be asymptomatic. It took all my self control not to turn around and ask this dumb bitch WHY SHE WAS OUT IN PUBLIC if she was sure she had it. Why would you purposely go into a large venue and spread it to people if you think you are sick with anything, let alone in the midst of an international pandemic? Edited at 2020-03-21 11:10 am (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Link My parents watch a lot of Fox News they werent taking it seriously but now theyre obsessed? I went to put a job app in at a place and my dad called and yelled at me for leaving the house so theyve certainly changed their tune. Reply Thread Link https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-everyone-dies-alone-heartbreak-at-italian-hospital-on-brink-of-collapse-11961130 Show them this video Reply Thread Link I gotta stop watching this. these poor people. only one is so demoralizing for the medical staff. Reply Parent Thread Link My mom is 73 and has an immunosuppressive disorder. I can barely keep her ass at home. After her church went online-only, I think she started to take things more seriously. She's sent me out to the store the last couple times she needed something. Though she did go to the animal shelter this morning when she read that the spca is looking for emergency temporary foster homes. I should have yelled at her for leaving, but she did come home with a dog. So, yay, dog. Edited at 2020-03-21 02:01 am (UTC) Reply Thread Link A source close to Dassault Falcon confirmed that two businessmen with Vietnamese nationality own private helicopters created by the company. The source said Falcon 8X and Falcon 2000S were delivered to the buyers in Vietnam in December 2018. He refused to reveal the prices of the helicopters, the nationality the helicopter registered, and the names of the two businessmen. Doan Nguyen Duc, president of Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group Falcon 8X can accommodate 14 passengers with a flight range of nearly 11,900 kilometers. Falcon 2000S can contain eight passengers with the range of 6,200 kilometers. According to Aviationweek, one Falcon 8X is valued at $58 million, while one Falcon 2000S $30 million. The source also said that six private helicopters are owned by Vietnamese businessmen. Doan Nguyen Duc, president of Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group, was the first person publicizing the purchase of a private helicopter. In 2008, Duc spent $5.1 million to buy a product of Beechcraft King Air 350. At that moment, Duc was one of the richest businessmen, topping the list of the 100 richest stock billionaires. It is very costly to maintain helicopter. To be able to put the helicopter into use, Duc had to pay $2 million in tax, hire pilots and spend on technical maintenance. He had to spend VND300 million on the helicopter each month. Ducs King Air 350 mostly flew between HCM City and the localities where Hoang Anh Gia Lais projects were located, and flew to neighboring countries such as Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar with the flight range of 2,000 kilometers. Duc said in local newspapers that he consulted with many people before buying the helicopter. He learned about the Vietnamese laws to find out what he could do and what were prohibited by the laws. After five years of using a private helicopter, Duc could save time traveling. He sometimes met air traffic congestion, but the time for o waiting was just 5-10 minutes. Like car owners, Duc said in general, one would want to buy a new helicopter after three years of use. He is planning to order another helicopter. The owner of another private helicopter in Vietnam is Tran Dinh Long, chair of Hoa Phat Group. At the time when Long bought the helicopter, valued at VND17.4 billion, he was among top five richest stock billionaires. In 2011, the owner of Hoa Phat Group replaced the six-seat helicopter with a 12-seat one. It is very costly to maintain helicopter. To be able to put the helicopter into use, Duc had to pay $2 million in tax, hire pilots and spend on technical maintenance. He had to spend VND300 million on the helicopter each month. In 2013, Duc transfer the helicopter to Vietstar Airlines. The selling price was not revealed. Duc recently has bought a helicopter at $1.3 million, but it serves agricultural production. The product will be used in Cambodia at Ducs farms. In 2011, Hoa Phats president sold the helicopter to the manufacturer and bought a new one. Le Ha Vietnamese dollar billionaires assets drop, says Forbes The total asset value of Vietnamese dollar billionaires have dropped according to statistics from Forbes. As the coronavirus continues spreading throughout New Jersey, the state frantically is seeking to ramp up testing to combat the outbreak. New Jerseys first government-run coronavirus testing center opened March 20 in Bergen County to long lines and people being turned away. A second, similar site will open at 8 a.m. Monday, March 23 at PNC Bank Arts Center in Monmouth County, Gov. Phil Murphy said. The site at Bergen County Community College is set to operate seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and will collect 2,500 specimens each week at no cost to the public and with no pre-registration required. All individuals will be screened for symptoms of coronavirus, including fever, sneezing, cough or shortness of breath. Asymptomatic individuals will be turned away from the site. Six-hundred people were tested on March 20, a number Murphy said was beyond our wildest dreams. The site hit capacity within two hours after it opened at 8 a.m. Saturday, an official confirmed. Results will be processed within two to five days of testing. Those who wish to be tested must bring identification that provides proof of New Jersey residency with them. We know from the phone calls and messages weve received that access to testing has been an overriding concern of residents, Murphy said March 20 during his press briefing at the Bergen testing site. Expanding testing is absolutely critical. Who can get tested in New Jersey? Murphy said people will need to show symptoms at the two government-run testing sites at Bergen Community College and PNC Bank Arts Center in order to be tested. They also must bring identification proving their New Jersey residency. People would not need to get a recommendation from a doctor, Murphy said. Some privately-run testing sites, like Riverside Medical Groups drive-thru site in Secaucus, have a pre-screening process. Patients have to call in to be screened by an expert at Riverside, and the tests are for Riverside patients only at this time. A second drive-through coronavirus testing site is coming to Hoboken on March 21, Mayor Ravi Bhalla announced. If a person meets the CDCs criteria for testing, an appointment is made. The CDC recommends seeking medical attention immediately if a person exhibits the following symptoms: Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath Persistent pain or pressure in the chest New confusion or inability to arouse Bluish lips or face New Jersey is requiring hospitals and health clinics in the state to waive fees for coronavirus testing and related diagnostic services for uninsured residents as the outbreak continues to spread, Murphys administration announced March 20. FEMA is helping set up sites The Federal Emergency Management Agency is helping the state set up the testing sites in Bergen and Monmouth counties. They represent the first major public testing centers run by the state and the federal government in New Jersey. New Jersey is one of 12 states identified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as a priority state that will have testing sites supported by the federal agency, Murphy said. In addition to FEMA-supported sites, Atlantic Health, the parent company of Morristown Medical Center, has begun drive-through testing in Morris Township. As of March 20, the site is only accepting patients who meet the state Department of Healths criteria for COVID-19 testing through appointments made by Atlantic Medical Group physicians, according to a new release. InFocus Urgent Care also has begun setting up test sites in Mercer County, according to reports. Two drive-thru facilities have opened in Secaucus the first site launched at the Riverside Medical Groups command center, and the second at Hudson Regional Hospital. Testing also is being conducted at various state laboratories, hospitals and private companies, as well as at the Hackensack Meridian Hospital and the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick. Other healthcare facilities across the state are offering testing some walk-in, others requiring an appointment. Call your healthcare provider for more information about getting tested at these facilities or contact them directly. Murphy announced 155 new coronavirus cases on March 20, increasing the statewide total to at least 890 positive tests and 11 deaths. If you would like updates on New Jersey-specific coronavirus news, subscribe to our Coronavirus in N.J. newsletter. Tell us your coronavirus stories, whether its a news tip, a topic you want us to cover, or a personal story you want to share. Have a tip? Tell us.nj.com/tips. A north London mother is stranded in Peru with her nine-month-old baby recovering from pneumonia amid the coronavirus pandemic. Caia Daly, 37, flew out to Lima with her husband Carlos Abisrror, who is originally from Peru, and two young children in February for a four-week holiday and to see family. But their Air France flight home, which was scheduled for Friday night, has been cancelled after the country closed its borders. Ms Daly said they do not know how or when they will now get back to the UK. Caia Daly with her husband Carlos Abisrror / PA She has also just spent three days in hospital this week after her baby picked up a virus which led to pneumonia. Ms Daly, who is originally from Dublin, said: "If things get really bad here I'm worried for my children's health, particularly with the baby recovering from pneumonia. "It's a lung thing, the coronavirus does cause pneumonia and because the healthcare system here isn't amazing it's a concern. I'd prefer to be at home." The north London mother whose nine-month-old baby is recovering from pneumonia is appealing for help after they became stranded in Peru because of the coronavirus pandemic. / PA Ms Daly had been hoping to get her family on another Air France flight back to Paris scheduled for Sunday but the British Embassy in Lima said on Friday evening that flight was now full. She tried to call Air France herself but said nobody answered the phone, while the relevant link on the airline's website only directs back to the homepage. "It's frustrating," Ms Daly said. "We really don't know what to do and we don't know how we're going to get out." Coronavirus - In pictures 1 /106 Coronavirus - In pictures A sign advertising a book titled "How Will We Survive On Earth?" is seen on an underground station platform Getty Images Customers wearing face masks shop at the pork counter of a supermarket following the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan, Hubei province Reuters Westminster Bridge is deserted in London the day after Prime Minister Boris Johnson put the UK in lockdown PA Canadian passengers Chris & Anna Joiner ask for help onboard the MS Zaandam, Holland America Line cruise ship, during the coronavirus outbreak, off the shores of Panama City via Reuters A man crosses a nearly empty 5th Avenue in midtown Manhattan during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in New York City Reuters The London Eye is pictured lit blue in support of the NHS, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues Reuters Boris Johnson addresses the nation on the Coronavirus lockdown Andrew Parsons Commuters cope with Coronavirus Jeremy Selwyn Milan's Piazza del Duomo empty AFP via Getty Images People in protective clothing walk past rows of beds at a temporary 2,000-bed hospital for COVID-19 coronavirus patients set up by the Iranian army at the international exhibition center in northern Tehran, Iran AP Martina Papponetti, 25, an ICU nurse at the Humanitas Gavazzeni Hospital in Bergamo, Italy poses for a portrait at the end of her shift AP Pope Francis celebrating a daily mass alone in the Santa Marta chapel at the Vatican, as part of precautionary measures against the spread of the new coronavirus COVID-19 AFP via Getty Imag Vysheyshaya Liga - FC Torpedo-BelAZ Zhodino v FC Belshina Bobruisk - Torpedo Stadium, Zhodino, Belarus, March 27, 2020 Players in action during the match despite most sport being cancelled around the world as the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues Reuters Hanks and Wilson both have coronavirus Tom Hanks General view of an emergency makeshift field hospital as it is set up at Pacaembu Stadium for coronavirus (COVID-19) patients with a capacity of 200 beds in Sao Paulo, Brazil Getty Images People on a busy tube train in London at rush hour despite Prime Minister Boris Johnson calling on people to stay away from pubs, clubs and theatres, work from home if possible and avoid all non-essential contacts and travel in order to reduce the impact of the coronavirus pandemic PA Naomi Campbell catches a flight in a hazmat suit with goggles, a surgical mask and rubber gloves @naomi Sophie and Emily Ward pose for a photograph with their hand-drawn picture of rainbows and a message on their window in St Helens, as the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues Reuters Mia, aged 8, and Jack, aged 5, take part in "PE with Joe" a daily live workout with Joe Wicks on Youtube to help kids stay fit who have to stay indoors due to the Corona virus outbreak. PA Shoppers queue outside a branch of Costco, in Croydon, south London, on the weekend after Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered pubs and restaurants across the country to close PA Charing Cross Tube Bakerloo Line very quiet at 8.15am Jeremy Selwyn A woman with a plastic box over her head on the London Underground. PA A Racegoer attend Cheltenham Festival on Ladies Day wearing a fashionable face mask SplashNews.com Prime Minister Boris Johnson visits a laboratory at the Public Health England National Infection Service in Colindale PA A man who appears to be homeless sleeping wearing a mask today in Victoria Jeremy Selwyn A couple kiss in Milano Centrale railway station in Milan on March 8, 2020 AFP via Getty Images A combination picture shows visitors wearing protective face masks following an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) looking at blooming cherry blossom nd a pigeon walking at an closed cherry blossom viewing spot during the first weekend after Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike (not pictured) urged Tokyo residents to stay indoors, in a bid to keep the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) from spreading Reuters This combination photo created on March 5, 2020 shows tourists visiting Angkor Wat temple in Siem Reap province on March 16, 2019 (top) and on March 5, 2020 AFP via Getty Images Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Getty Images U.S. President Donald Trump looks at the $2.2 trillion coronavirus aid package bill as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Vice President Mike Pence stand by during a signing ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House Reuters A satellite image shows an empty South Beach during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Miami, via Reuters General view inside the empty stadium as the two teams line up prior to the UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg match between Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund at Parc des Princes UEFA via Getty Images A Sainsbury's supermarket in Cambridge is among those to sell out of antibacterial hand sanitizer PA Tents and ambulances are set up next to the Princess Cruises Grand Princess cruise as it sits docked in the Port of Oakland on March 09, 2020 in Oakland, California. The Princess Cruises Grand Princess has been held from docking until today as at least 21 people on board have tested positive for COVID-19 also known as the Coronavirus Getty Images Medical staff produce traditional Chinese medicine to treat patients infected by the COVID-19 coronavirus at a hospital in Wuhan AFP via Getty Images Army soldiers wearing protective suits spray disinfectant as a precaution against the new coronavirus at a shopping street in Seoul, South Korea AP Russian President Vladimir Putin wearing protective gear walks at a hospital for patients infected with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on the outskirts of Moscow via Reuters A woman who has recovered from the COVID-19 is disinfected by volunteers as she arrives at a hotel for a 14-day quarantine AFP via Getty Images Passengers on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship are seen as the ship arrives at Daikoku Pier where it is being resupplied and newly diagnosed coronavirus cases taken for treatment as it remains in quarantine after a number of the 3,700 people on board were diagnosed with coronavirus Getty Images Dave Abel pictured in hospital in Japan Manchester United fans in the stands during the Premier League match at Old Trafford PA Police officers wearing masks stand in front of the H10 Costa Adeje Palace hotel in La Caleta, in the Canary Island of Tenerife AP Carnival revellers wear protective face masks at Venice Carnival Reuters A general view is pictured of Burbage Primary School in Buxton, Derbyshire after the closure of the school as a pupil's parent has tested positive for the novel coronavirus COVID-19 AFP via Getty Images People wearing face masks walk past the Olympic rings in front of the new National Stadium, the main stadium for the upcoming Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Game Getty Images People leave Kents Hill Park Training and Conference Centre in Milton Keynes where Coronavirus evacuees are due to be released from quarantine today and allowed to go home PA Matt Raw, a British national who returned from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan in China, leaves quaratine at Arrowe Park Hospital on Merseyside PA A woman wears a mask while crossing London Bridg Getty Images A general view of Worthing Hospital in West Sussex PA Passengers relax on board the Holland America-operated Westerdam cruise ship, which has been denied permission to dock in Thailand over coronavirus fears via Reuters A child waves as she sits in a vehicle carrying residents evacuated from a public housing building, following the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, outside Hong Mei House, at Cheung Hong Estate in Hong Kong Reuters A woman wearing a Minnie Mouse face mask looks at her mobile phone in Beijing on February 11, 2020 AFP via Getty Images The Costa Smeralda cruise ship of Costa Crociere, carrying around 6,000 passengers, is docked at the Italian port of Civitavecchia after a health alert due to a Chinese couple and a possible link to coronavirus on board, in Civitavecchia, Italy Reuters A patient covered with a bed sheet at an exhibition centre converted into a hospital as it starts to accept patients displaying mild symptoms of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan AFP via Getty Images A medical official takes the body temperature of a man at the departure hall of the airport in Changsha, Hunan Province, as the country is hit by an outbreak of a new coronavirus, China Reuters The view of the Wuhan International Conference and Exhibition Center Getty Images A plane carrying British nationals from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan in China, arrives at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire A police vehicle enters the gates of the Royal Air Force station RAF Brize Norton in Carterton AFP via Getty Images Passengers wear face masks as the push their luggage after arriving from a flight at Terminal 5 of London Heathrow Airport AFP via Getty Images French citizens arrive and settle aboard of an evacuation plane with destination southeastern France, before departure from Wuhan Airport (WUH), China AFP via Getty Images Police stand at a checkpoint at the Jiujiang Yangtze River Bridge that crosses from Hubei province in Jiujiang, Jiangxi province, China Reuters A member of staff at Arrowe Park Hospital in Merseyside prepares for a bus carrying British nationals from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan in China PA Doctor Paul McKay, who is working on an vaccine for the 2019-nCoV strain of the novel coronavirus, poses for a photograph with bacteria containing fragments of coronavirus DNA, at Imperial College School of Medicine (ICSM) in Londo AFP via Getty Images Workers produce masks at the Thai Hospital Product Company Ltd. factory in Bangkok AFP via Getty Images Passengers wearing face masks are seen on a bus after disembarking from the Costa Smeralda cruise ship, after tests on a woman from Macau with suspected coronavirus came back negative, in Civitavecchia, Italy Reuters People hoard bottles of alcohol after the Philippine government confirmed the first case of the new coronavirus in the country, in Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines Reuters Taking precautions: with fears growing that the coronavirus will spread from China, a health official checks a womans temperature on the underground in Beijing Getty Images An empty road is seen in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province on January 27, 2020, amid a deadly virus outbreak which began in the city AFP via Getty Images Students wearing masks meditate prior to a lesson at a high school in Phnom Penh, Cambodia AP Medical staff at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital wear protective clothing to help stop the spread of a deadly virus AFP via Getty Images Staff move bio-waste containers past the entrance of the Wuhan Medical Treatment Center, where some infected with a new virus are being treated, in Wuhan, China AP Workers driving excavators at the construction site of a field hospital In Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. The builders will complete the 1,000-bed hospital by February 3 to cope with the surge of 2019-nCoV patients in the city Getty Images Buddhist monks wear masks as they walk near Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodi AP A woman and a child wearing protective masks walk toward check-in counters at Daxing international airport in Beijing AFP via Getty Images An employee sprays disinfectant on a train as a precaution against a new coronavirus at Suseo Station in Seoul, South Korea AP A policeman wearing a mask walks past a quarantine notice about the outbreak of coronavirus in Wuhan, China at an arrival hall of Haneda airport in Tokyo, Japan Reuters Paramilitary police wear face masks as they stand guard at Tiananmen Gate adjacent to Tiananmen Square in Beijing AP The resident wear masks to buy vegetables in the market in Wuhan Getty Images Staff sell masks at a Yifeng Pharmacy in Wuhan AP Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV AP Peru is currently on lockdown, with a curfew running between 8pm and 5am and all shops closed except for pharmacies and those selling food, meaning Mr Abisrror needed a special permit to visit his wife and child in hospital. Ms Daly has been able to extend their stay at their Airbnb accommodation because the visitors booked to arrive after them had been forced to cancel. Now she is appealing to the UK Embassy in Lima and the Irish Embassy in Santiago for help, as well as contacting her MP, Catherine West. Ms West said: "Its vital that the Foreign Office do all that they can to bring home stranded British nationals, and Caia's case seems one of the most urgent. "I'll be raising this with the Foreign Secretary as soon as possible." Meanwhile, the family is hoping Air France will lay on more flights, or that the Government will intervene. "We're just really looking for a way to get out," Ms Daly added. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab earlier admitted it is "very difficult" for people to get out of some destinations and warned there are up to nearly one million British nationals currently travelling abroad. A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "The UK is engaging with a number of international partners and commercial airlines to see how we can help Britons still in Peru best return to the UK. Despite the cannabis industry's struggles, sales in its most important fully legalized market continue to grow. On Friday, Statistics Canada released its latest set of economic data, revealing that sales of licensed cannabis increased by 4.3% in January on a month-over-month basis. That growth was in contrast to the broader Canadian retail economy, which rose only marginally over that stretch of time. The nation's marijuana industry is still in its infancy, and therefore on a growth path despite numerous challenges. Recreational cannabis only became legal in late 2018, followed one year later by "Cannabis 2.0" -- the legalization of derivative products such as candies and other edibles. Such goods began coming to market at the beginning of this year, and it seems their introduction helped contribute to the sector's overall growth. That dynamic should continue. One notable example of a busy company in this regard is Canopy Growth (NASDAQ:CGC), whose Tweed brand very recently launched its first marijuana-spiked beverage. The drink, Tweed Houndstooth & Soda, is a key part of Canopy Growth's strategy to become a player in derivatives. In the coming months, investors will certainly keep their eyes on the development of licensed cannabis sales in Canada. Marijuana stocks have had a brutal time recently, in many cases being hit harder than stocks in more traditional industries because many see them as more financially fragile. However, indications are that pot consumers are increasing their purchases in the wake of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic. Encouraging growth amid the pandemic might bring more optimism to the overall marijuana business. The performance of Canada-based cannabis stocks was mixed in the wake of Statistics Canada's new figures. On Friday, Canopy Growth shares rose 9% against a general stock market slump. No new cases in Hubei; 34 added nationally, all imported People's Daily Online (China Daily) 08:40, March 20, 2020 Zero new case of COVID-19 was in Hubei for the second day, and 39 added across Chinese mainland were all imported from oversea, according to data released by the National Health Commission on early Friday. Hubei province and its capital, Wuhan, the hardest-hit city by the novel coronavirus epidemic in China, reported no new infections for the first time on Wednesday, as travel and movement restrictions in Wuhan and its surrounding areas were further eased, and nearly half of the region's industrial sector resumed production. The clearing of new domestic infections in Wuhan, Hubei province, marks another major milestone in China's containment efforts after the rest of the country registered zero or very few new cases for several weeks and major cities have shifted their focus to battle an increase in imported infections. The National Health Commission added 34 new cases on the Chinese mainland on Wednesday, all of them brought from overseas to regions including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong. The number of imported patients nationwide climbed to 189. In addition, eight new deaths, with six in Wuhan and two in other cities of Hubei, were registered on Wednesday. A total of 7,263 patients are now under treatment at hospitals, including 2,314 in severe condition. The commission spokesman Mi Feng said on Thursday that China recorded no new domestic infections for the first time on Wednesday. In Hubei outside Wuhan, the situation has been maintained for 14 consecutive days, and the rest of the mainland outside Hubei has added no local cases for seven days in a row. "In the past week, imported cases have accounted for 84.55 percent of all new infections. The risk brought by the global spread of the virus has multiplied," he said. While hailing the progress, health experts also warned that zero new cases do not justify an overall relaxation, as the risk of transmission is not stamped out and much still remains unknown about the virus. Li Lanjuan, a senior adviser to the commission, said close attention should be paid to monitoring communities and fever clinics, reported Changjiang Daily, a Hubei-based newspaper. She called for standardized procedures at fever clinics, including conducting seasonal flu and novel coronavirus tests on all feverish patients. The entire nation should also stay alert to imported cases and a possible second wave of the outbreak. Jiang Rongmeng, an infectious disease expert at Beijing Ditan Hospital, said that the battle against the disease has not ended. The epidemic situation remains volatile due to a lack of understanding of its transmission mode and the risk of patients that are asymptomatic or exhibit only minor symptoms. Nevertheless, life has begun to return to normal in gradual and slow steps in Hubei, with residents venturing outside, migrant workers returning to workplaces, and key factories up and running. In Wuhan, residents in communities designated as "infection-free", are allowed to engage in personal activities inside the compound by turn after more than a month of being largely confined at home. Group and cross-household visits are still prohibited, the city's disease prevention and control task force said in a guideline released on Wednesday. Rural villages labeled as free of the virus in Wuhan can resume normal activities and agricultural production. Transport of agricultural materials should be smoothed out and related stores can reopen, according to the guideline that took effect immediately. The new rules are expected to benefit at least 78 percent of residential compounds and nearly 95 percent of rural villages in Wuhan, which were labeled as free of infections by the task force as of Tuesday. Most city-level areas in Hubei province except for Wuhan have already relaxed movement controls due to the slowing spread of the virus. Authorities have utilized staggered schedules, color codes that record residents' health status, and entrance passes, to control the flow. The resumption of production has also sped up in Hubei, with 7,629 enterprises in its industrial sector in operation. The work resumption rate reached 49.3 percent as of Tuesday, Wang Qiyang, head of the provincial government's economy and information technology department, said on Wednesday. Cao Guangjing, vice-governor of Hubei, said companies and factories that have significant impact on the national, even global, supply chain, will be given the priority to work at full capacity. For instance, Hubei, as an industrial powerhouse, manufactures about one-third of the country's phosphate fertilizer. As the spring planting is approaching, it is vital to ensure that fertilizer factories resume work. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address One person has been tested positive for coronavirus in Supertech Capetown society located in sector 74 here. With this, the total number of positive COVID-19 cases in Noida mount to five. Gautam Budh Nagar District Magistrate BN Singh has ordered sealing of the society premises from today till March 23. Residents of the society have been ordered to remain at their homes. Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has appealed to the people not to panic over coronavirus. "We have sufficient stock of essential commodities and medicines in the state. So, please don't rush to shops to buy things and hoard commodities," he said. The total number of positive cases of coronavirus in India now stands at 258 including 39 foreigners, said Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday. Four people have died in the country. One each in Delhi, Karnataka, Punjab and Maharashtra. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A man who was alleged to have poured urine over another man who walked past him on the street has received a four-month jail sentence at Cahersiveen District Court. Christoph Bardges with an address at Cappamore, Kells, came before Cahersiveen District Court for two separate assault charges last week. The first of these occurred on April 18, 2019, when it was alleged that Mr Bardges poured urine over the victim while he was walking past him in Cahersiveen. Mr Bardges solicitor, Padraig O'Connell, said that his client denied the substance poured over the injured party was urine. "He would say it was water, not urine. It is a large leap between water and urine and the seriousness of it,"he said Sgt Miriam Mulhall-Nolan said the injured party believed it was urine. She said that the two men involved "rub each other up the wrong way." Mr O'Connell said his client has "extreme medical difficulties" . Mr Bardges was also before the court for an assault charge that occurred in May 2019, when he ran up behind the victim and struck him on the lip. This incident was captured on CCTV. The court heard Mr Bardges has eight previous convictions - one of which was for assault causing harm and for which he was given an 18-month suspended sentence. Judge David Waters said Mr Bardges had already been given one chance by the court yet, despite this, he had gone out and assaulted again. "The circuit court deemed it serious enough for an 18-month suspended sentence, and he goes out and does it again. The next step is a custodial sentence," Judge Waters said. The suspended sentence offence occurred in 2013, and the case was heard in 2016, so the suspended sentence doesn't come into play, argued Mr O'Connell. He added jail was not appropriate for his client, who said he was remorseful for what had occurred. However, Judge Waters said this was not the point, stating that a suspended sentence was not a deterrent to Mr Bardges, and he convicted him and sentenced him to four months for both assaults to run concurrently. Kolkata, March 21 : The West Bengal government on Saturday suspended all inter-state bus services originating from or entering its territory till March 31 to tackle the novel coronavirus pandemic. The order by the state transport department would come into effect from Saturday-Sunday midnight. "Considering the emergent situation developing due to spread of coronavirus, all inter-state bus operations originating from this state shall remain suspended form 12 midnight on March 21 to 31. "Similarly, the inter-state buses originating from the neighbouring states shall not be allowed to enter into West Bengal, with immediate effect till March 31," the order said. Montanans are no strangers to challenging and unprecedented times. In 2017, we tackled the most expensive fire season on record and the largest since the big burn of 1910. Through economic downturns, we have made sacrifices in order to help neighbors in need and rebuilt again. Even dating back to the Granite Mountain mine disaster over a century ago, we made sure we came out of it a stronger community. With coronavirus now reaching our state, we again face challenging and unprecedented times. This pandemic not only gives way to extraordinary health risks, but with it a ripple effect on our economic and social well-being. Montanans have always rallied together in times of crisis. Its time that we do so again. Our first priority is prevention. The small sacrifices we make now missing out on a canceled event, avoiding crowds and staying home if you feel sick means keeping more folks healthy. The person ahead of you in line at the grocery store could be among those most at risk of falling ill to the virus. Social distancing is a primary protective measure, and I urge every Montanan to take this seriously in order to protect our friends and neighbors most vulnerable to the disease. With prevention, we can slow the spread of this virus and reduce strain on our frontline health-care workers. This requires difficult decisions ones that I do not take lightly and that I know will disrupt Montana families. But the actions we take now will ensure our state is better off in the long run. I directed the closure of dine-in food service and alcohol beverage businesses, as well as other entities that pose enhanced risks because it imposes large gatherings of people, such as movie theaters, casinos and health clubs. I encourage Montanans to utilize take-out and delivery service to support our fellow businesses. I also directed the closure of public K-12 schools for two weeks while communities, parents and schools plan for the event of a longer closure, making sure were still providing students with a quality education through distance learning and with essential services, such as school meals. I have suspended visitation in Montanas nursing homes, except for certain compassionate care situations. Montana has a higher percentage of older adults those must susceptible to severe illness from COVID-19 and this measure is imperative to keeping these older generations safe. I also supported the Montana University System in its decision to move to online classes for the remainder of the semester. We are also monitoring the impacts of COVID-19 from a public health perspective and an economic health perspective and taking quick action to care for our fellow Montanans during these times: Emergency rules are now in effect to streamline unemployment benefits. Workers impacted by COVID-19, whether its because theyve been laid off, are quarantined or need to take care of a family member, can do so without worrying about how they will make ends meet. Montanans without health insurance, who receive a recommendation from a doctor, will be able to receive coverage for COVID-19 testing, and if they test positive, treatment. Access to telemedicine services have been expanded to ensure Medicaid patients receive quality health care in their homes to prevent unnecessary gatherings at health care facilities and keep our health care workers safe. Small businesses across Montana are now eligible for emergency loans to help them weather temporary closures and bounce back from critical quarantine efforts. Im inspired by the business owners and local communities who have made adjustments to their daily operating processes in interest of public health. Im inspired by the teachers, cooks and volunteers who are making sure kids still have a school meal to rely on. Im inspired by the doctors and nurses who treat us, and the lab techs who spend late nights performing tests. Im inspired by the Montanans who are checking on neighbors. Im inspired, but not surprised. As Montanans, we have always recognized that when we have a long and hard road ahead, we are better off taking that road together. With coronavirus in our state, we have a lot of work left to do and many more challenges to overcome. But as Montanans, I have no doubt that is what we will do. Steve Bullock is governor of Montana and a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 3 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Travel insurance can be a good investment if you have medical issues or you're traveling to a volatile region, experts say. But it has its limits, as many travelers whose plans are affected by coronavirus have found out. Travel insurance is designed to cover financial losses if you have to cancel or interrupt a trip. Some policies cover the loss or delay of baggage. They also may cover any emergency medical or dental care you need while you're traveling. But basic policies generally don't cover pandemics such as the coronavirus. Policies that do called "cancel for any reason" cost significantly more and may only cover 50-70 percent of a traveler's losses. "Unfortunately, what consumers end up getting often is less than they expect," said Octavio Blanco, who has researched travel insurance for Consumer Reports magazine. Blanco said travel insurance is a good idea if you're traveling to a place where you feel more at risk of getting sick or if you have a medical condition that could force you to cancel your trip. But he doesn't recommend buying it simply because you think you might want to call the trip off. Policies generally have a very specific list of covered reasons for cancellation losing a job or a terrorist incident within 30 days of the date of travel, for example but general concern about traveling isn't one of them. Travelers should expect a travel insurance policy to cost between 4 percent and 10 percent of the total cost of their trip. But plans vary widely. Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection offers a policy starting at $26 that covers lost luggage and flight delays. A pricier plan for adventurous travels will pay up to $750,000 for a medical evacuation. A plan that lets you cancel for any reason costs 40-60 percent more than a standard plan, said Meghan Walch, product manager for InsureMyTrip.com, a website that lets shoppers compare travel insurance. Consumers have to decide if they want to pay $700 or so for "cancel for any reason" insurance on a $1,000 flight or just eat the cost of the flight if they decide to cancel the trip. Walch said the industry has seen a spike in sales of "cancel for any reason" policies since the new coronavirus hit. Travel insurance sales generally have tripled since January, she said. Last May, when American Airlines had a fare sale, Chandler O'Brien bought a round-trip ticket to Tokyo for $650. Her 10-day trip to Japan is scheduled to begin April 1. O'Brien, who does sales and design for an event rental company in Austin, Texas, said she doesn't usually buy travel insurance. But since the ticket was purchased so far ahead of her travel, she added $60 for travel insurance through Allianz Global Assistance, which American offered on its website. O'Brien recently decided to cancel the trip because of concerns about the outbreak. American Airlines waived its $250 cancellation fee and offered her a credit on future travel. The catch? Her future travel must be completed by May since that will mark a year since she bought the ticket. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. O'Brien thinks it will still be too soon to travel to Japan, and she's frustrated that American won't refund her money. "'All of the Japanese hotels and restaurants I had booked very nicely canceled and gave me a full refund with no hesitation," she said. O'Brien plans to file a claim with Allianz, but isn't sure how much the policy will cover. Here are some recommendations if you're considering travel insurance: Shop around: Resist the temptation to add on the insurance offered when you're booking a flight or a cruise. Instead, shop around for the best deal and the coverage you need on sites like InsureMyTrip.com and Squaremouth.com. Walch says you should typically buy travel insurance 10 to 21 days after you buy tickets for your trip. Check your wallet: Some credit cards or health insurance plans may already cover you while you're traveling. Certain American Express cards come with automatic basic travel insurance, for example, which may cover flight cancellations, rental car damage, lost baggage or flight delays. Some health plans will cover international care at an out-of-network rate, but if you have a pre-existing condition, you may have to purchase a waiver to make sure you are covered overseas, Consumer Reports says. Read the fine print: Before you buy, make sure the travel insurance you're considering covers everything you think it should. Photo: Facebook Morgan Peter Dodson A Kelowna resident says community fear over the COVID-19 pandemic forced him to be sent home from hospital. Morgan Peter Dodson says he was visiting his girlfriend's family in Prince George earlier this month and woke up March 10 to discover much of the right side of his body had gone numb. He went to hospital immediately. "The diagnosis they gave me was ALS. It was the only thing they couldn't rule out," he said. "I did have more testing scheduled to be done, but what happened the next day cut that short." He spent two nights in emergency before being taken to a room. "I noticed a few days prior that there was this huge influx of people from the community. I get the concern out there ... but everyone was coming to the hospital to try and get swabbed and try and get tested. "The hospital's reaction was to clear out as many people as possible to get ready for this influx, unfortunately, even for the people who still needed care. "I think they were expecting a lot of individuals to have respiratory issues." Dodson was one of those sent away. He's staying at his girlfriend's uncle's house. "Right now, I am quarantined. Not because I have COVID-19, but because of my health situation," said Dodson. "Everything has halted. I had specialist appointments with neurologists, multiple MRIs that needed to be done, CT scans that needed to be done." He says he's not happy with his circumstance, but understands the situation. Dodson says the medical community is doing everything it can, but he has a message to the public. "As a nation, as a country, as communities, we can do what we can to help this situation as well. I urge people, unless you have the symptoms or criteria, do not go to emergency. As many were walking into the hospital, I was being wheeled out." Through all this, Dodson says he hopes to motivate people. He has started two Instagram pages, #sayno2COVID19 and #advocate4happiness. "Right now, it's a time of chaos for everyone, and I urge people to make their thoughts and decisions based on love, not fear. It's a time we need to band together." Dodson's story illustrates why health officials have been urging the public to stay at home and avoid socializing in an effort to "flatten the curve." While COVID-19's mortality rate may be relatively low, patients are expected to overwhelm the healthcare system and displace others in need of regular care. The BC Centre for Disease Control urges people who believe they may have COVID-19 to use its self-assessment tool. After doing the self-assessment, if you still have questions, contact your healthcare provider or call 811 for guidance. If the symptoms are severe, such as shortness of breath or chest pain, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department. As Oregon prepares for a surge of seriously ill coronavirus patients, state health officials have stopped disclosing vital information that would tell Oregonians how bad the outbreak is. The Oregon Health Authority this week stopped publicly reporting how many patients are hospitalized with the deadly virus, making it impossible for the public to track the growing severity of the novel coronavirus. With testing still severely limited, an expert told lawmakers Friday that hospitalizations are the states best way to track the outbreaks trend. Hospitalizations dont lie, Peter Graven, Oregon Health and Science Universitys lead data scientist, said in a legislative hearing. Whether or not youve been tested, if you get sick enough, youre going to show up at the hospital. The number we want to watch is our hospitalization rate. After questions from numerous media outlets, the Oregon Health Authority said late Friday that it would resume posting hospitalizations on Saturday. On Thursday, authority spokesman Jonathan Modie said the agency stopped sharing it because of an increase in commercial lab testing. That left health officials unable to determine whether the patients were in hospitals when they tested positive, he said. Still, hospitals across the state are coordinating their responses with the authority, which closely tracks influenza and other disease outbreaks, making it highly unlikely the state officials leading Oregons response to a global pandemic couldnt say how many COVID-19 patients are in hospitals. By Friday, Modie said Oregon would start posting the hospitalization numbers again the next day. He said the authority was aware of 40 people being hospitalized among the 115 coronavirus cases identified in Oregon. Gov. Kate Brown on Friday deflected a question about disclosing hospitalizations, repeating what she has said before: That shes concerned about the privacy of people whove tested positive. People connected to the veterans nursing home in Lebanon, where 14 patients have tested positive, were kicked out of a restaurant and school, she said. Oregon is giving the public less information about its test results than neighboring Washington. Though Brown pledged transparency in the states response, the Oregon Health Authority isnt saying how many people older than 80 have tested positive, the group experts consider the most at risk. Oregon instead lumps together everyone older than 55. In Washington, 60% of the deaths are in people older than 80, even though that age group represents just 16% of reported cases. Oregon health officials did not answer repeated questions this week about how many beds are open in the states hospitals -- a vital issue with a possible surge coming. Though Oregon tracks occupancy and hospitals report it, health authority officials wont say how full the states hospitals currently are, even with an unprecedented effort underway to free up beds. Its officials didnt answer repeated questions about how many hospital beds are currently available. Oregon has 6,821 beds and 655 ICU beds statewide. The states hospital beds are typically 68% full, according to an Associated Press analysis of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid cost reports data. Its among the highest occupancy rates in the nation. Oregon also has the fewest hospital beds per 1,000 residents in the nation, the result of a concerted effort to keep people from being hospitalized. OHSUs Graven created a model to determine how many of those beds would be needed if Oregon didnt close schools and limit gatherings. Without any social distancing efforts, he found, Oregon would need 1,000 beds and 400 ICU beds just for coronavirus patients by April 16. Brown issued an executive order this week canceling elective procedures and surgeries statewide -- things like hip and knee replacements -- starting Monday, March 23. It will help conserve dwindling supplies of personal protective equipment including masks, gowns and gloves and increase the number of ventilators available. It will also free up staffing and beds at 104 ambulatory surgery centers around the state. Oregon Health Authority officials told The Oregonian/OregonLive those centers would significantly increase capacity. But they said they did not know by how much. The Oregon National Guard has helped build a 250-bed facility at the state fairgrounds in Salem to create room for people who are ready to be discharged from hospitals but not to go home. We basically dont know exactly what the effects of our efforts to slow the tempo of the outbreak will be, said Richard Leman, the authoritys chief medical officer. If youre thinking about this from a society and public health point of view, we hope for the best and prepare for the worst. OHSUs data scientist, Graven, told the Legislature Friday that it wont be clear whether social distancing measures have worked for at least two weeks. Lawmakers and top OHSU officials said they worried that not all Oregonians are taking seriously the need to stay home. Brown has resisted calls to order Oregonians to stay at home. The governor said Friday that if she feels like Oregonians arent abiding by her aggressive social distancing orders, she would enact a stay-at-home order. Without widespread testing and evidence that Oregon is flattening the demand curve, the hospital community has a moral imperative to prepare, Renee Edwards, OHSU Healths chief medical officer, told lawmakers Friday. OHSU has been clear about where it stands in terms of capacity. Beds at its three hospitals, which include Hillsboro Medical Center and Adventist Health Portland, are 95% full, Edwards said. The halt in elective procedures could free up about 20% of OHSUs beds, she said. If we dont manage a significant slowing of COVID-19, Oregon will not be able to serve the entire hospital needs of our citizens without creating more hospital beds, Edwards said. State health officials have received an analysis of the anticipated effects of the states social distancing techniques from the Institute for Disease Modeling, a Bellevue-based research center that is part of the Global Good Fund, a collaboration that involves Bill and Melinda Gates. The institutes research, a summary of which was obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive, estimated that if Brown had not closed schools or limited social gatherings, the coronavirus would infect 5,000 Oregonians -- and potentially as many as 8,800 -- by April 11. The modeling showed the biggest reduction in infections are expected to result from school closures and bans on large public gatherings -- cutting the 5,000 estimate down to 1,100. Keeping schools shuttered longer than the initial two-week closure dropped it to 790 infections in the model. Closing all non-essential businesses further reduced the projected number to 340 infections. If schools stay closed, the institute concluded, 60 people would need hospital beds by April 11 -- including 10 ICU beds. If all non-essential businesses closed, 31 people would be hospitalized then, including seven in the ICU. But those figures, which the health authority would not discuss, depend on a key factor: How seriously Oregonians take the widespread effort to make people stay home. Staff writer Jeff Manning contributed to this report. Rob Davis rdavis@oregonian.com 503.294.7657; @robwdavis Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. Kim Jun-su of boy group JYJ is celebrating the 10th anniversary of his musical career with his debut role in "Mozart!" Kim will perform as the Austrian composer in the musical scheduled for June 11 to Aug. 9 at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul. Back in 2010, Kim received rave reviews for his captivating and powerful voice, selling out tickets for all of his shows. "'Mozart!' is a very special work that paved the way for me to be where I am now," Kim recalled. "My memories from 10 years ago remain vivid. I really hope to connect with the audience once again, touching their hearts with my songs as before." SAGINAW, MI A Saginaw 19-year-old is recovering from a gunshot wound to his back. Police at 10:17 p.m. on Friday, March 20, responded to the Save A Lot store at 3805 Michigan Ave. in Carrollton Township. They arrived to find a Dodge Avenger containing several people, one of whom had a bullet wound to his upper back, said Carrollton Township Police Chief Craig A. Oatten. The wounded man was taken to an area hospital. He is expected to be released Saturday, Oatten said. The victim has not been cooperative with investigators, according to Oatten. The teen told police two males had shot at him, but he didnt know why, the chief said. Police believe the shooting occurred at another location in the township. They also believe the victim was driving the Dodge when the shooting occurred, Oatten said. Were kind of at a standstill until he decides he wants to cooperate with police, Oatten said. In a bid to prevent the spread of coronavirus, the Assam government on Saturday issued an order directing that 50 per cent government employees should work from home. The directives will come into effect with immediate effect and remain in force till March 31, 2020. "The senior-most secretary or head of the administrative department will ensure that 50 per cent employees in the cadre of the superintendent and below working in the Janata Bhawan are required to attend office every day and the remaining 50 per cent staff should be instructed to work from home," the order read. The order said that a weekly roster of duty shall be drafted and employees should be asked to attend offices on alternate weeks. "While deciding the roster for the first week, care should be taken to include officials who are residing in close proximity to their Office or use their own transport to travel to the Offices," it said. "The officials who are working from home on that particular day as per the roster drawn up should be available on telephone, mobile phone and electronic means of communication at all times," the order added. It said that the officials should attend office if called for any exigency or work. "These instructions shall not apply to the offices and employees engaged in essential and emergency services and those directly engaged in taking measures to control the spread of COVID-19," it said. Earlier today, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal also urged the people to join Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for 'Janata Curfew' on Sunday and remain inside their house. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In response to the Illinois Stay-at-Home Order and with the greatest concern for the health and welfare of our staff and the greater community, we have decided to temporarily close the Chicago Distribution Center (CDC) effective Monday, March 23. The CDC will remain closed for the duration that the Stay-at-Home order is in effect, until April 7 or longer if required. Though print book orders for our titles are delayed, all e-books published by the University of Chicago Press are available and on sale at 30% off using code EBOOK30 at checkout through our website. In the last two weeks, many members of the Press staff have worked to ensure that parts of our business can continue unimpeded in case of a shutdown, including increased use of print-on-demand resources and increased availability of e-books. We are also considering relationships with other suppliers that would allow a portion of orders to be filled if they cannot be filled at the CDC. We will continue to work on all of these efforts. Meanwhile, we recognize that this has been a challenging time for many in the publishing industry, including our partners at many booksellers around the country. You can still continue to order our books and those of our distributed client publishers directly from many independent bookstores through their websites and indiebound.org as well as through major online retailers. Thanks for your patience and understanding as we work to keep our staff and community safe. Stay in, stay well, and stay informed with a good book. Homelessness charities seeking financial support from the Prime Minister have claimed they could be 'overwhelmed' from the spread of coronavirus. A letter signed by more than 30 charities, including Centrepoint, Depaul and St Mungo's, said that funding was urgently needed to help with staffing costs during the pandemic. They also warned that self-isolation or social distancing measures will be difficult to be implement in homelessness accommodation. A homeless man in London holds a sign reading 'What about us Boris - were we gunna isolate? Help!'. The letter sought assurances that all homelessness service providers would be able to access emergency self-contained accommodation The letter, written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday, says the charities are facing 'unprecedented challenges' which will 'overwhelm' them without Government support. They have urged him for an 'urgent package of financial support' for homelessness accommodation services - mirroring grants available to businesses. The charities also called for all providers to be given personal protection equipment (PPE), including thermometers and access to testing facilities. A letter signed by more than 30 charities, including Centrepoint, Depaul and St Mungo's, said that funding was urgently needed to help with staffing costs during the pandemic. Homeless people are pictured outside an Aldi supermarket in London The letter sought assurances that all homelessness service providers would be able to access emergency self-contained accommodation, which would allow them to safely self-isolate where necessary. Seyi Obakin, chief executive of national youth homelessness charity Centrepoint, welcomed 3.2 million of emergency funding by the Government earmarked for helping rough sleepers self-isolate. But he said there were 'significant gaps' in the Government's coronavirus response. 'The Government has acted swiftly on rough sleeping and, in designating hostel staff as key workers, has ensured some of the country's most vulnerable people will get the support they need,' he said. 'These are welcome steps but there are still significant gaps in the Government's response. 'We are already hearing reports of housing offices closing, leaving those who face homelessness , including those being made homeless as a direct result of coronavirus, with nowhere to go to seek support. 'This is unsustainable and will undoubtedly put lives at risk - the Government must provide local authorities with advice on how to safely keep these functions running during the pandemic.' Mr Obakin also raised concerns that key worker status alone was not enough to guarantee the safety of those working in hostels, calling for PPE similar to that offered to frontline emergency staff. He added: 'This is a fast moving situation and the Government is responding to a crisis on many fronts but, after years of relying on voluntary donations to plug the gap where government money should be, that money is now disappearing, and we now need ministers to recognise homeless hostels are an essential part of the coronavirus response and fund our services accordingly.' Every time the Rose of Tralee festival comes around, the same debate breaks out: isn't it humiliating and outdated for women to be lined up in any kind of a beauty pageant? Even if the 'Rose' is also judged on her personality, accomplishments and connections with Ireland? Isn't it time it was brought to an end? The same principle is at the heart of Keira Knightley's new movie about the Miss World contest in 1970, when Women's Liberation stormed the event, threw flour-bombs at the celebrity presenter Bob Hope, and got worldwide headlines for an imaginative stunt. From that moment on, Miss World was described as a cattle-market, objectifying women, judging females on their appearance, and defining them by their "vital statistics" (measurement of boobs, waist and hips). The new film of the 1970 event, Misbehaviour, sure brings home just how humiliating and demeaning parts of this ritual could be. There's a ghastly moment when the TV interviewer (in real life it was the cordial and harmless Michael Aspel who did MC for 11 years) asks the contestants to show their front assets: and then to turn around and display their derrieres for the audience's gaze. That really is a shocking, cattle-market camera shot. But the story also looks at another aspect of the debate, which arises with the annual Tralee Rose as well. For some women, an international beauty contest could be an opportunity, or even a liberation. For the black South African candidate, it was a chance to escape from lifelong servitude in a shoe factory - and maybe the very fact that she had to be included contributed to changing attitudes towards Apartheid. There's a telling exchange between Sally Alexander - Keira Knightley's character - and Miss Grenada, Jennifer Hosten (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), when a conflict between the contestant and the feminist emerges. "It's not you we're angry with," protests Sally, 'Women's Libber', and university student. "I look forward to having your choices in life," replies the Caribbean beauty queen with icy logic. And since feminism underlines freedom of choice, then if some women freely choose to enter beauty contests, what of it? If some women have no problem with being objectified sexually, why should other women forbid them? It's easy to be patronising about the past - how stupid and unenlightened people used be! - without being entirely honest about the present. There is more awareness now that it's demeaning to judge women on their appearance. But appearance and even the beauty cult are very much part of our highly visual modern culture. Young teenage girls doll themselves up - false eyelashes, contrived eyebrows, skimpy t-shirts - and take pouting, sexy selfies, sometimes daily, posting these pics on line. The world's most famous clan, the Kardashians, have made fortunes by promoting their appearance, rather than by quoting the collected works of Simone de Beauvoir. Knightley has taken her role as Sally Alexander (who later became a history professor) seriously and projected the anti-Miss World message vigorously. Knightley is an accomplished actress - female actor, if she prefers - but would she be such a star of the big screen if she wasn't also an exceptionally beautiful woman? Would she have been chosen as an icon for Chanel if she didn't have a stunning face and flawless body? L'Oreal has taken up the feminist message with a current advertising campaign about women supporting one another in business, led by Helen Mirren. That's fine, and being "worth it" is a positive message: but the product is still about how you look. It's hypocritical to pretend that the world doesn't judge women on their appearance - because that judgment is made every hour of every day. It always has, and probably always will. And it will probably never be applied to men to the same extent. It's not that nothing has changed. The Women's Libbers who attacked Miss World in 1970 altered the ground-rules: they showed that the way it was organised was dated and absurd. (They also showed how old-fashioned host Hope had become.) The event itself gradually changed - abolishing the swimsuit section of the catwalk section, and stressing what the candidates do as well as displaying their pulchritude. And it's become much more multi-racial, with young women from Africa, Asia and the Caribbean now dominating the proceedings: Jamaica has won the contest four times in recent years, and currently holds the crown. To mark this shift in focus, Julia Morley has announced that this year's contest, it's 70th, will be held in Thailand. Misbehaviour is spot-on about one key motivation among those 1970 Women's Libbers, a generation of which I was a part: they were often in conflict with their own mothers. This emerges starkly in the memoirs of Australian feminist Germaine Greer - who loathed her mother for wearing so much make-up - and De Beauvoir herself, who wanted her father's choices, not her mother's restrictions. I get the impression that the current generation of young women are much more in harmony with their mothers, and as tomorrow is Mother's Day, that's surely something to celebrate. Islamabad: The Commonwealth Journalists Association (CJA) has condemned the arrest of Mir Shakeel-ur-Rehman, the editor-in-chief of Pakistan's Jung Geo Media Group, and demanded the government's release. The News International reported on Thursday that the CJA is a voluntary professional association working for Commonwealth journalists, including 53 countries from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, North and South America. Pakistan PM Imran Khan appeals to people regarding Corona crisis The CJA said in a statement, "He is arrested and detained by the National Accountability Bureau before the start of the original hearing is inconsistent and is largely seen as an attempt to intimidate the largest independent media group." The statement further stated that the CJA as a democratically elected leader would remove the current restrictions on media independent of PM Imran Khan and without the media requests to act out of fear and allow him to play his due role in the democratic government of Pakistan. Italy in grip of Corona, army deployed for funeral More than 34 years ago, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) arrested Rahman in the case of property illegally purchased from a government institution more than 34 years ago. According to the Jung Group spokesperson, the property was bought 34 years ago from a private party and all the evidence has been given to the NAB and legal requirements were met. Big statement of researchers, "It is necessary to know its effect on children to prevent corona" Valero Energy Corp., San Antonios largest publicly traded company, is facing its biggest challenge since the Great Recession. That year, Valero lost $55 million, revenue plunged 43 percent and cash flow dropped 39 percent. We see 2020 being the first year since 2009 when oil demand falls in absolute terms, even as cost of crude falls, too, CFRA energy analyst Stewart Glickman said. Because COVID-19 discourages transportation, we also think the decline in 2020 could be worse. Valero ended trading Friday at $38.66, up 3.4 percent from the day before. But that share price was 57.6 percent below what it was two months ago $91.22 on Jan. 17. On ExpressNews.com: Jefferson: Empty sidewalks, eerie silence on San Antonios River Walk amid coronavirus outbreak The novel coronavirus crisis has shut down much of the U.S., reducing the demand for gasoline and putting refiners such as Valero in a tough position. And it could get worse for the company before it gets better. In a note to investors Friday, Bloomberg energy analyst Fernando Valle expressed concern about refiners gasoline sales in California. The state is under an eight-week stay-at-home order by Gov. Gavin Newsom, issued Thursday night. Valero isnt the largest refiner operating in California, but the company with two refineries in Northern and Southern California still is a significant player in the states gasoline market. The lockdown in California will be a major blow to refiners exposed to the state, which is the largest consumer of gasoline in the country, Valle said. On ExpressNews.com: Toyota to shutter San Antonio plant for 10 days U.S. gasoline inventories already were near all-time highs. Losing significant demand from a high-margin state will be difficult for refiners, he noted. The huge drop in the price of oil it sold for $26 per barrel Friday allows Valero to buy the oil cheap to refine into to gas. The problem for Valero and other refiners is that the the demand for gas has plummeted. As more American drivers become homebound, complying with virus containment strategies, the price of gas keeps falling. Its a double-edged sword for Valero and other refiners, GasBuddy analyst Patrick DeHaan said. If anything, its a sign of the extreme distress the economy is in. On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio City Council extends emergency coronavirus order to close restaurants, restricts gatherings for 30 days as local cases climb A gallon of regular gasoline sold for as low as $1.39 in the city Friday, GasBuddy reported. The station with San Antonios the lowest price was Pay Less Gas on West Military Drive. DeHaan said the price of gasoline could drop another 35 cents to 75 cents per gallon. In a March 19 report, Glickman set a 12-month stock target for Valero of $48 per share. He said the refiner could make a profit in 2020, but demand for gasoline and other refined products will continue to be weak. This hurts refining utilization and weighs on margins, he said. I think 2020 is going to be a terrible year for energy companies pretty much across the board, he said. The coronavirus is going to be a (macro-economic) headwind for a long time and a huge drag on the economy. On Thursday, Valero contributed $1.8 million through its charitable foundation to assist nonprofits dealing with the virus outbreak in communities where the Fortune 500 company has operations. Randy Diamond covers aviation, energy and manufacturing in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read his stories and more local coverage on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | randy.diamond@express-news.net On the day after the coronavirus outbreak was declared a global pandemic, Joe Ferguson was given a batch of court-ordered evictions to carry out in his job as constable in Tucson, Arizona. He knocked on doors in the majority Hispanic community of South Tucson, told residents to gather personal effects, clothing, medications and pets, and watched as some families became homeless. Ferguson says he strongly opposed the evictions, with the Arizona court system requiring him to toss people out of their homes even as the nation was going into a deeper state of lockdown and panic over the coronavirus. To serve the best interests of the entire community, while were all facing a public health epidemic, we should allow people to stay in their homes, so that we dont stress our shelters, our hospitals and our first responders, Ferguson said. Then on Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced a proposed $1.5 trillion package that he said includes immediate relief to renters and homeowners by suspending evictions and foreclosures for 60 days. It turns out, the vast majority of renters will not be covered by the protections. Thats because the Department of Housing and Urban Developments plan only covers single-family homes with loans through the Federal Housing Administration roughly 8 million homeowners, most of whom are not under foreclosure, according to HUD. That compares to the roughly 43 million households who rented in 2019, according to the U.S. Census. Roughly half rent their home from an individual investor, while the other half rent from a business or multi-unit property owner. The ones renting from a business will not receive any protections, according to HUDs proposal. While housing advocates praised the Trump administration package as an important first step, they said that by excluding renters, an often economically vulnerable population, it does not go nearly far enough. Susanna Blankley, coordinator of the Right to Counsel NYC Coalition, said shes concerned for renters and others who wont be covered by Trumps moratorium. It will help a lot of people but its a very limited subset, Blankley said. Its not nearly enough. We need big-scale solutions, said Andrea Shapiro with the Metropolitan Council on Housing, a New York-based advocacy organization. The White House did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Renters tend to have lower incomes than their homeowner counterparts and cannot tap into the equity in their homes for a credit line in case of an emergency. And a disproportionate number of renters are African American, Hispanic and other minorities. Housing advocates say the situation in the United States reveals a bigger crisis with affordable housing that goes beyond the current virus emergency. And they have grave fears about what happens next, when tenants and homeowners face back payments and still are broke from being jobless. Officials in more than three dozen cities and states, including San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York state, have put in place their own policies to halt evictions, foreclosures and utility shutoffs out of concern that the economic fallout from massive job losses will push many people to the brink of homelessness at a time when they need to stay in their houses and apartments. The measures vary in scope and have included a monthslong reprieve for renters and homeowners who can show that their inability to pay is related to the coronavirus upheaval. But the majority of states and localities have yet to step in to stop people from losing their homes. At this point, with so much uncertainty for so many people who have not thought of themselves at risk of homelessness, to have any type of relief is helpful, said Jeff Smythe, chief executive director of Hope Atlanta, a homelessness prevention organization in Georgia. The state had an eviction rate of 4.7% in 2016, more than double the U.S. average, according to data analysis by the Eviction Lab. Behind all of this is the bigger crisis, Smythe said. Not having enough affordable housing, not having livable wages and the disparities around income are still with us. Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms signed an order this week meant to stop for 60 days the nonpayment evictions by the Atlanta metropolitan areas public housing authorities. The moratorium is a key component of our collective community efforts to prevent further exposure and spread of this virus, Bottoms said in a statement. In Chicago on Thursday, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart announced that he was delaying enforcement of all eviction orders until April 30. During a televised address, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot asked property owners to show grace with tenants. No one needs the added stress of evictions, certainly not now, she said. And in Michigan on Friday, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive order halting eviction-related court proceedings until the states coronavirus emergency has passed. The order, which will remain in effect through April 17, allows tenants and mobile home owners to stay put even if they arent current on their rent. In Detroit, which has one of the nations largest African American majorities and has been particularly hard hit by foreclosures since the 2008 height of the mortgage crisis, homeowners will need relief beyond whats being offered in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, said Nicole Small, vice chair of the citys Charter Commission. Foreclosures are stripping away the culture and fabric of the city of Detroit, Small said. Home ownership is something thats really important, especially to the black community, and now you have a lot of people who have owned homes for decades and theyre actually becoming renters because they dont have any other options. The practices and the policies are so aggressive in order to displace people but the remedies and relief, they are so few and far between, Small said. Housing advocates also said they were concerned with how economically at-risk individuals would prove that they qualify for the relief being offered by local governments. Folks who are performers or play music, who pick up bartending shifts here and there, who do various kinds of gig work are not going to show loss of income because there isnt a steady stream to begin with, said Deepa Varma, executive director of the San Francisco Tenants Union, a housing advocacy group. We dont see how folks are going to catch up when theyre already barely making rent as it is, Varma said. There are growing calls for a national rent holiday long enough to help those who have lost jobs regain or find a solid financial foundation. People shouldnt have to ask, Do I use my last few dollars to get a bag of rice and beans, or do I hold onto that money to pay my rent? said Shapiro, of the Metropolitan Council on Housing in New York. We shouldnt just bail out the airlines and the banks. Thats why Black Lives Matter Houston co-founder Ashton Woods has launched a petition asking Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to suspend rent, mortgage and utility payments. On Thursday, the Texas Supreme Court halted state court eviction proceedings until after April 19, and paused evictions until after April 26. For the most part, if youre black and brown, youre getting it a lot harder with the systemic racism and xenophobia, Woods said. Now, we have a pandemic where people are scared to go to the doctor, let alone miss work, because they still have to pay their rent. Pubs and clubs across Australia are adjusting to new social distancing rules. Sydney's popular Souths Juniors clubs are still open at Kingsford, Malabar and Maroubra, but has told patrons to stay 1.5m away from each other in order to socially distance themselves. The clubs cancelled their gaming machine promotions like Lucky Ducks and Friday Fiesta, but kept Bingo going on a tentative basis. Souths Juniors, Sydney, is doing its best to comply with new social distancing restrictions to halt the spread of the deadly coronavirus Clubs face fines of up to $55,000 if they hold an 'unlawful gathering' which would be having more than 100 people inside, with less than four square metres per person While Souths kept its restaurants open, members were asked to make bookings to help with planning - so the club could keep up with the new coronavirus guidelines of having fewer than 100 people in an indoor space at a time. Australia introduced stricter social distancing guidelines on Friday when Prime Minister Scott Morrison told the nation that people should stand between 1m and 1.5 metres away from each other wherever possible. In addition, gatherings of fewer than 100 people indoors must have four square metres of space per person. 'If you've got a room, if you've got a premises, if you've got a meeting room or something like that, that is 100 square metres, then you can have 25 people in that room,' Mr Morrison said. Gatherings of more than 100 people indoors are banned as are gatherings of more than 500 people outside. Hosting an unlawful gathering can attract fines of up to $55,000. Clubs and pubs have been advised to switch off every second gaming machine and to selectively remove tables, chairs and stools from dining rooms and the bar. Souths also installed hand sanitiser throughout the clubs, and said it would clean public touch points such as lift buttons, gaming machine buttons and handrails many times a day. 'Our contract cleaners will, in conjunction with our staff, provide increased and vigorous cleaning of all public areas of the clubs,' Souths said in a statement posted to Facebook. An empty restaurant at Circular Quay on Saturday. Restaurants, pubs and clubs have been advised to cut back their businesses to try to survive over the next six months The Coogee Bay Hotel in Sydney still has its doors open, but pubs and clubs are struggling and the rules may change again in the next six months In the nearby beachside suburb of Coogee, the Coogee Bay Hotel bravely put up a sign out saying it was open on Saturday. In a message on their website the pub said it had adopted policies to respect the Government's 1.5m social distancing request. 'Wed like to urge our guests to play their part as well that is, by regularly washing hands with soap or hand sanitizer and by choosing to refrain from visiting us if unwell and also respecting the need for social distancing,' it said on its website. The hotel has had to cancel its planned April events including Anzac Day and the Sneaky Sound System. CORONAVIRUS CASES IN AUSTRALIA: 27,244 Victoria: 20,269 New South Wales: 4,273 Queensland: 1,161 Western Australia: 692 South Australia: 473 Tasmania: 230 Australian Capital Territory: 113 Northern Territory: 33 TOTAL CASES: 27,244 ESTIMATED ACTIVE CASES: 269 DEATHS: 897 Updated: 5.31 PM, 11 October, 2020 Source: Australian Government Department of Health Advertisement 'Apart from large organised events, we are still open for business,' it said. The hospitality industry is expected to be among the hardest hit by the coronavirus as people are encouraged to stay home and distance themselves from others to prevent the spread of the deadly virus. ClubsNSW, which represents more than 1200 clubs, has warned its members to scale down their businesses, reducing costs to enable them to survive over the next six months. It has also encouraged its members to contact their banks to seek deferred loan repayments for the next six months to try to keep them afloat. 'Banks have implemented a fast-track approval process,' ClubsNSW said on its website. Hard-hit pubs and clubs were advised to seek payment deferral from the Australian Tax Office for GST, PAYG installments and income tax for its workforce. The Council of Small Business Organisations Australia (Cosboa) has warned that pubs, clubs and restaurants have already started closing - and sacking people - due to the coronavirus pandemic. The UK has moved to simply shut down pubs, clubs and restaurants altogether. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has ordered licensed establishments, theatres, cinemas and gyms to close and said the government would cover workers' wages. 'I do accept that what we're doing is extraordinary: we're taking away the ancient, inalienable right of free-born people of the United Kingdom to go to the pub, and I can understand how people feel about that,' Johnson said on Friday. Johnson's finance minister Rishi Sunak announced a government guarantee to pay the wages of workers to stabilise Britain's economy for the first time in history, AAP reported. Food pantries feeling extra pressure as coronavirus causes meal demand to double for some KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Food pantries, community centers and churches around the metro are working extra to find food, and most of all, to feed people. The devastating effects of COVID-19, is leaving people without jobs, and wondering how they will afford their next meal. Empty grocery store aisles are not making situations any easier. The economic hardship is real and looks to get worse . . . Here's a look at locals trying their best to help: Mina Montano, an environmental aide at St. Paul's Plaza independent and assisted living facility, uses disinfectant wipes to clean the high-touch areas in the memory care unit at the facility on March 10 in Chula Vista, Calif. (Eduardo Contreras / San Diego Union-Tribune) On Wednesday, in a letter asking President Trump for help handling the novel coronavirus, Gov. Gavin Newsom made a startling prediction: More than half of Californians could be infected with the fast-moving sickness in a two-month period. That would be 25.5 million people, with the potential for more than 5 million 20% requiring hospitalization. The state is attempting to build capacity in its hospitals to about 100,000 beds. Taken together, the potential number of patients is alarming, given the capacity to help them. But is it accurate? Kent State public health professor Tara Smith said it was "unlikely" millions of infections would hit so quickly with social restrictions in place. UC Berkeley biostatistics expert Nicholas Jewell, who has been following the progression of the virus since it hit U.S. shores, said, it is "hopefully true that we won't get to that even in the end, when all this is over in California." And Mark Ghaly, California's head of health and human services, agreed the state's number was likely outdated and off. The 25.5 million infections "would be if we were doing nothing and letting it happen to us," Ghaly said Friday, and did not take into account the social distancing and other restrictive measures put in place in recent days to slow the spread of the coronavirus. So why put out a worst-case scenario? Ghaly said the number was created using data specific to California: How the virus is moving through places including Santa Clara County, San Mateo and Sacramento. It is also built off knowledge the state learned by repatriating cruise ship passengers, diplomats and others exposed to the virus and placed in monitored quarantines. One measure experts use to gauge how quickly a disease is spreading is by looking at how fast the number of cases doubles. The longer it takes for cases to double, the better the infection is being contained. Ghaly said the state originally modeled its predictions assuming the coronavirus infections would double every seven days. Instead, he said, it is doubling nearly every four days in California a rapid expansion on par with countries with the worst outbreaks, and the subsequent overwhelming of hospitals. Story continues But even that number is suspect. Experts agree on one fact: The United States lacks enough data to make reliable predictions because authorities have conducted so few tests, due to a cascade of problems. Experts have no definitive way of knowing how many people in the U.S. have had a mild case of the virus but were never diagnosed, were incorrectly diagnosed, or are incubating it now. Every model includes guesswork because only the sickest and most privileged have been able to access tests, skewing understanding of how widespread it is. "Part of the challenge of all of this is to really get the reports on who is infected, you need to have broad-scale testing," Ghaly said. As of Friday afternoon, California counties had reported 1,195 positive cases and 23 deaths. But as of Thursday, only 12,600 people in the state had been tested, and labs were reporting backlogs and shortages of supplies. Newsom has asked the federal government for help obtaining basic items such as the swabs used to take samples for the test, and Friday, private labs running the tests asked for $5 billion to handle the massive task. "Right now, we are not using science," said John Ioannidis, a Stanford epidemiologist. "We are just using fear, panic, anecdotal reports." Ioannidis calls the testing situation an "evidence fiasco" that has left California and the country with few options to protect lives other than staying away from other humans. In order to understand how widespread the virus is, said Ioannidis, testing needs to occur for the population at large. He thinks the limited number of tests now available should be given to a random sample of the population. Such a snapshot approach could provide a quick and accurate look at what the scope of the virus really is, he said. But until the testing situation is fixed, Ioannidis and others said, best guesses and drastic measures will remain the norm. "This is not 21st century science," he said. Lets say you cant get an unpleasant compulsive liar out of your life. Every time he sees you, he says something designed to upset you: You look terrible youre falling apart, your wife doesnt love you your job is in jeopardy your kids will end up badly. He lobs a malignant whopper every time he sees you. Knowing this, would you take dangerous and addictive drugs to prevent feeling anxious around him? Or as a mature person would you try to avoid him as much as possible? Your brain can be that compulsive fibber, throughout the day telling you distressing lies about danger and disappointment. Your heart, an organ without reasoning capacity, replies by beating faster, to which your brain replies, Wow! My heart is really beating there must be danger, I gotta get outta here! This gossip between your brain and cardiovascular, and other neurological reactions is termed anxiety. Taking anxiolytic medication, especially the benzodiazepines, to numb the unpleasant feelings of anxiety amounts to poisoning yourself in response to an empty lie. Anxiety is a real biological reaction to imaginary danger. It is the most common mental problem in post-scarcity societies such as America. Generally, people facing real danger and existential struggle dont have the energy to spend on anxiety. That is why PTSD, a severe anxiety disorder, arises after the danger has subsided, and why military PTSD especially is worse after service than during it. No matter how many books you read, how much you pray or meditate, you cannot get your brain to stop fibbing. Your brain remembers danger not primarily through tuition, but through association with the sensate circumstances -- the sights, sounds, and smells present when you experience harm, loss, punishment or humiliation. Thereafter, similar sensate circumstances, even in the absence of similar factual circumstances, can trigger feelings of anxiety. The milder anxiety conditions such as generalized and social anxiety arise as the brain associates memories of past psychological threats, such as disapproval or judgment, to present circumstances. The more serious anxiety disorders such as PTSD and the phobias arise as the brain associates memories of physical threat to life to present circumstances. All anxiety disorders, mild or severe, result from falsehoods that the brain tells, which transport reactions to past dangers into the present moment. The reason some people are highly anxious and others dont give a hoot lies in the wide individual differences in the tendency of the brain to be permanently reconditioned by distress and danger. PTSD arises in conditions of objective horror and helplessness, such that any healthy brain is reconditioned to memorize whats going on and be triggered in similar circumstances. The point is, the best way to counteract a lie is with the tranquilizer of truth. The best way to neutralize anxiety is to be compassionate and curious about the fibs your brain is telling, and calmly tell yourself the truth. Taking addictive drugs, like benzodiazepines, intensifies the irrational sense of danger. Benzo rebound impedes the tuitive, rational part of the brain from telling yourself fact-based truth that there is no actual danger. I recently took a three-week ocean cruise. After disembarking I continued to feel as if I were rocking back and forth. I recognized that it was probably no coincidence that experiencing vertigo for the first time in my life immediately followed a long ocean cruise. After about six weeks, an ENT doctor diagnosed mal de debarqment syndrome. As he wrapped up his feedback, he offered me a prescription for Xanax. Xanax? To prescribe Xanax in this case is the medical equivalent of, You feel a little dizzy? Ill give you something to cry about. Xanax. The very name sounds like a biological weapon. Physicians are abdicating their scientific and compassionate responsibility to provide pain care, but seem to have no comparable reluctance to prescribe benzodiazepines. There is a value in American justice that it is better to let one-hundred guilty people go free than to put one innocent person in prison. How many innocent people have to suffer untreated pain to save the life of one addict? Pain medication has been rigorously monitored by governmental and private insurers for years, even before the current opioid crisis, but there has been no equivalent monitoring of addictive and sometimes lethal benzodiazepines. Between 1996 and 2013, the number of adults who filled benzodiazepine prescriptions increased by 67 percent, from 8.1 million to 13.5 million. Unlike opioid prescribing which peaked in 2012 and has decreased nearly 20 per cent since then, benzodiazepine prescribing continues to rise. The risk of overdose death goes up nearly fourfold when benzodiazepines are combined with opioids, yet rates of co-prescribing benzodiazepines and opioids nearly doubled between 2001 and 2013. Overdose deaths involving benzodiazepines increased more than sevenfold between 1999 and 2015. Anna Lembke The renowned clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson was reported by his family to have been in Russia, recovering from near fatal benzodiazepine use. According to his daughter Mikhaila, he tried to [q]uit the drug cold turkey, but it led to a horrific withdrawal, putting his life at risk. She has reassured his millions of students: Although he has trouble walking and typing on his own he is on the mend. Perhaps Dr. Peterson had his nose in illuminated Jungian psychoanalysis folios for too long and did not know that suddenly stopping benzos can cause life-threatening seizures; more likely, he knew but thought he could manage it. Either way, Dr. Petersons horrific experience is a cautionary tale. One of the most important contributions of scientific psychology has been to create the cognitive behavior therapies. These are well-honed formulae for challenging the fibs implanted in the brain, which cause anxiety. Professor Peterson would have been well served to deploy such therapies and reject benzos for dealing with his anxiety. Dr. Peterson and his then 20-year-old daughter gave a 2012 interview about their depression. Mikhaila seems an older soul than her intense, childlike father. She started taking anti-depressants at age 11. Anti-depressants are a safer class of medications than benzos, but they are still drugs and no one ever learned anything worth knowing from a pill. Regarding selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), Professor Peterson said, I will never stop taking them ever. The problem with that passionate declaration is that SSRIs, like every other medication, often lose their efficacy over time. Dosages are increased or other medications are added to maintain the effects of the original medication, all with their own side-effects and dangers. Dennis Prager, who has featured Petersons work at PragerU, tells us, Many people are good, but few people are brave. Jordan Peterson is brave. It is worth a psychologists career to challenge LGBTQ cultural supremacy as Dr. Peterson has. In 2016 he stood up against Canadian legislation, Bill C-16, because it compelled the use of government-approved speech regarding gender identity and expression. It takes courage to stand up to the falsehoods of the world and be willing to pay the price for doing so. It is even more difficult to spurn the sly, unceasing falsehoods of our own mind. May Dr. Peterson recover fully from the clutches of benzos and return to his great work in psychology. Joint international action, led by UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), to support the worlds crippled travel industry hit by the coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic, was now a global priority, said the Saudi tourism minister. Ahmed Al Khatib was speaking after taking part in a remote meeting called by the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) with the participation of the World Health Organization (WHO) and tourism chiefs from around the globe. The Saudi minister pointed out the importance of the UNWTO, private sector, and international community working together to develop concrete and decisive solutions aimed at minimising the financial impact of the deadly virus outbreak on declining tourism revenues, reported Arab News Meeting delegates discussed the social and economic implications of the health crisis on the world. Al-Khatib said: We are confident that if appropriate actions are taken and working closely together, we will be able to implement policies and measures that will help all of us to overcome the Covid-19 outbreak and its effects, protect human lives, and the global economy. Saudi Arabia, which presently has the Presidency of the Group of 20 (G20), is playing a major role in the co-ordination efforts to tackle the Covid-19 virus pandemic, it added. During the meeting, which was attended by senior officials including WTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Al Khatib discussed the implications of the crisis of the spread of the virus across the world and its economic effects. Al Khatib pointed out that this epidemic requires a strong international response and multilateral actions to alleviate the impact on the tourism industry. He disclosed that the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) estimates indicate the possibility of a decrease in the number of tourists globally by up to 25% this year, which means that 50 million jobs globally are at risk. The Saudi minister said the kingdom had formed a supreme committee, comprising members from various government sectors, immediately after China had announced the emergence of the new virus at the end of 2019. "This helped us to protect our society from its effects and reduce infections through a series of measures. As we work in the kingdom and the world to contain the spread of the new virus, we must act quickly to reduce its economic impact," he stated. Al Khatib said Saudi Arabia has announced plans to pump in SR50 billion ($13.2 billion) to mitigate the economic effects of the current crisis. "We, in the kingdom, as a tourist destination with huge potential for growth, trust the flexibility of our tourism sector in the medium and long term. But, this does not mean there is no need for more effort and immediate support for the sector," said the minister. "We are consulting with our major partners around the world, including both industry partners, the WTTC and WTO, in order to ensure our continuation to develop appropriate measures to support the tourism sector in the kingdom," he added. According to the ministry, 324 out of 1,326 patients have died over the last 24 hours. Over 2,000people have recovered since the outbreak. Meanwhile, Germany on Saturday confirmed 2,705 new cases of the coronavirus on its soil, bringing the total toll of people infected with the virus to 16,662, according to Robert Koch Institute. The highest number of patients has been registered in the stats of Baden-Wurttemberg (3,668) and North Rhine-Westphalia (3,542). In addition, 47 have died from the disease so far. The number of those infected in Belgium has reached 2,815 as of Saturday with 558 of them being registered over the last 24 hours. A total of 67 patients have died from the disease. Austria has confirmed 2,664 COVID-19 cases and seven coronavirus-related fatalities as of Saturday. Nine patients have been discharged from hospitals. Meanwhile, Serbia has registered 149 confirmed cases of the disease so far, according to the National Health Ministry. Earlier this week, the authorities reported on the first death. The number of those infected in Estonia has increased by 23 to 306 to date. Fifteen patients are currently hospitalized. Israel, in its turn, has registered 883 COVID-19 cases so far with 178 of them being confirmed over the past 24 hours, according to the country Health Ministry. Fifteen patients are in critical condition. Earlier in the day, the authorities registered the first coronavirus-related death in the country. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A German expat who has lived in Australia for more than two years is begging the government to let her come home after she was left stranded overseas. Katie Arenkova, 23, left for a Bali holiday on March 11 with a friend but is now stuck abroad after the Australian government banned non-citizens and non-permanent residents from entering the country to combat coronavirus. For the past two and a half years, she has studied, worked and rented a home in Perth with her French restaurant-manager fiance Thomas Petrillo, 27. But Miss Arenkova, who is on a student visa, now finds herself shut off from her life in Australia and facing an uncertain fate. Scroll down for video Katie Arenkova, 23, has been locked out of her home in Australia after entry bans were put in place while she was on a week-long holiday in Bali 'I'm devastated. I've never cried so much in my life,' she told Daily Mail Australia on Saturday. 'Yesterday was so hard. I have all of my belongings in Australia, my fiancee, my support, a car, a job, a house, health care, everything. 'All these years, I have felt at home in Australia and I am so sad, that I cant count myself as a resident by having everything I own in Perth.' Days before she was due to fly home the Australian government shut the border to non-residents. The rules of the border closure say partners of permanent residents are allowed back in. But Miss Arenkova's fiance is temporary resident on a skills shortage visa. She desperately tried to re-book flights, but they all cancelled hours before they were due to depart. She has six flights with pending refunds, but airlines are only offering flight credits at this time. The Social Media and Marketing student met her fiancee Thomas Petrillo, 27, (pictured together) when she moved to Perth two-and-a-half years ago Her travel insurance has just expired and she says her only option seems to return to Germany, but one-way flights have soared to $8,000 one-way as aviation demand across the world has halted. The German embassy in Australia said it can not help. Germany's repatriation efforts from Indonesia remain a low priority, leaving her potentially in limbo for months. The marketing student is now holed up in a Balinese hotel as funds dwindle, being supported by her friends back home, and fiance, whose business has taken a major hit. She fears her student visa will be cancelled as she can not attend school, which will means she could be locked out of the country or permanently banned. Miss Arenkova said she would not have left Australia if she knew what was to come, but there were no warnings in place when she departed. Ms Arenkova is calling on the Australian government to make exception to allow people who have their lives set up in the country to be able to return home She said she understands the Australian government can not let everyone into Australia but special consideration should be given to those who have their lives set up in a foreign country. 'I know it is a good rule to not everyone in, but there has to be exceptions for people who have a life there,' she said. 'I understand completely that they can't let in every student traveller, but I have a job, a house lease, a car, and I'm studying. 'Even if there was an authorisation form that people could use to prove that they have a life in Australia and could be let in. 'I am asking with all my heart, to please give me authorization to enter the country as a resident. The federal government has said it will consider making exemptions to the border closure on compassionate grounds. Two private schools were sealed, while 10 drivers were booked in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri and Samba districts for allegedly flouting government orders aimed at containing the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic, officials said on Saturday. A team of revenue and police officers found a school at Bari Brahmana in Samba open with about 50 faculty members, students and other staff in clear violation of orders regarding complete closure of all educational institutions, according to the officials. The inspecting team cleared the congregation and advised them to remain in houses till further orders and sealed the school building, the officials said. Civil authorities and police also seized a school at Nowshera in Rajouri for violation government orders, the officials said. Ten drivers -- six in Manjakote, two each in Rajouri and Kotranka -- were booked for plying their vehicles despite suspension of all modes of public transport by the district magistrate, the officials said. Normal life came to a standstill across Jammu region following series of advisories issued by the government over the past week as part of the efforts to control the spread of the deadly COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019). The government has imposed prohibitory orders across Jammu region, banning assembly of five or more people, closed all educational institutions and shops and business establishments, barring those dealing with essential items like grocery and medicines, and suspended public transport till March 31. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu held a meeting on Saturday with all deputy commissioners, superintendents of police and district medical officers to chalk out strategies to prevent an outbreak of coronavirus in the state. Khandu stressed on the need to be equipped with necessary items and equipment for the prevention of the spread of coronavirus. He assured to meet the demand of the districts for the procurement of these items and also urged the deputy commissioners to involve self-help groups and institutes in preparing sanitisers and protective masks. Khandu further urged all citizens to observe 'Janata Curfew' on Sunday to encourage social distancing. The chief minister said that the isolation wards in the state are yet to be fully equipped with all facilities and assured to allocate funds immediately. The chief minister also directed the concerned authority to monitor the travel history of government staffs on leave and make them follow the disinfection procedure as soon they enter the state. To prevent any panic buying and hoarding of essential items, Khandu urged the district authorities to keep the public in confidence. He also the requested food and civil supply department to ensure the availability of all essential items and to keep stock of these items that could last for several months. Since Arunachal has not reported any case of COVID-19, the chief minister directed strict screening of all travelers entering the state and keep a record of their travel history. He also directed that no tourists or visitors from outside the state be allowed even if they are in possession of Inner Line Permits. The chief minister advised that regular disinfection works be carried out in all hospitals and asked the deputy commissioners and district medical officers to monitor. He also asked them to ensure regular disinfection of public places such as hotels, restaurants and places of worship, an official statement said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) 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In a TV interview, Penicaud said: "It is not right that some people are continuing to work while others are not. She suggested some small construction businesses and their workers were being defeatist, hinting they had used the coronavirus to stop work without trying to find ways to conform to new health regulations. She said she was scandalised that one of the branches of Capeb - the confederation of small construction businesses - had advised its members to stop work on building sites saying the government would cover the loss of revenue. However a Capeb spokesperson said as its members often work on smaller sites, many tasks required more than one person to work in close contact. MIxed picture Who is and is not working and how to adapt to the coronavirus is still a mixed picture in France four days into the period of national confinement. Even under lockdown people are allowed to shop for food so supermarket cashiers are particularly exposed. In recent days several big name stores have put anti-Coronavirus measures in place for their staff. From behind a newly installed glass screen, a cashier at a supermarket in the Paris suburbs said she was relieved: I'm young so I'm not too worried but I did stress that I'll give the virus to the others at home, so many people come in here. Sectors In the food and agriculture sector as a whole, about 8 per cent of workers are absent, but the main reason for absence is lack of childcare. Many bakeries remain open. To protect staff as well as customers, the number of people allowed in the shop at once is usually limited and clients are asked to pay using contact-free cards wherever possible. In some instances, employees have refused to work on health and safety grounds. Nestle has temporarily closed its Perrier bottling factory in Vergeze to reorganise the workplace after several employees expressed fears about catching the Covid-19 virus and some exercised their right to withdraw. Change "I've heard some of our factory workers saying things like: 'If other places are closing it must be really serious,' Sylvie Casenave Pere, the boss of Posson packaging told French newspaper Le Figaro. She asked employees at her company, which has been named as an essential supplier to grade their anxiety levels from 1 to 10. She said ten per cent rated themselves a 7 - although 70 percent gave a figure of 4 or below. For many employees in small businesses though, there is a real interest in ensuring the company survives. The boss of a small company making medical devices in the Paris suburbs says five of his 11 employees come into the building to work, although no one is obliged to. As there are so few of us we are well spaced out and they are all keen to keep the company going so that we can resume normal business when this is all over. Continuity "We have orders to process and we're keen not to lose foreign customers." Of the other six, he said: "Some have childcare problems or do jobs which cannot be done outside the premises. I continue to pay them most of their salary and should be refunded by the government later. As lockdown progresses, some companies will struggle but the French president, Emmanuel Macron, on Monday pledged that no business, whatever its size would face bankruptcy. He promised unlimited state financial support for businesses and employees affected by the coronavirus outbreak, including up to 300bn of state guarantees for bank loans to companies. BEIRUT (AP) Lebanon's foreign minister summoned the U.S. ambassador Friday after an American on trial in Beirut was taken out of the country by a U.S. warplane a move that the powerful militant group Hezbollah called a blatant violation of Lebanese sovereignty and laws. The Lebanese-American man, Amer Fakhoury, was ordered released Monday by a judge in Lebanon because more than 10 years had passed since he allegedly tortured prisoners at a jail run by an Israel-backed Lebanese militia. Fakhoury has denied the charges. Another military tribunal contested the release a day later, banning Fakhoury from leaving the country until its appeal was heard. But Fakhoury was transferred on Thursday amid unclear circumstances, and U.S. officials later confirmed that he was aboard a U.S. Marine V-22 Osprey seen taking off from the U.S. Embassy compound northeast of Beirut. The officials said he was being returned to the United States. U.S. President Donald Trump thanked the Lebanese government for working with his administration to release Fakhoury, further muddying the waters over the circumstances of his removal from the country, which has come under strong criticism in Lebanon. Lebanon's official National News Agency said Foreign Minister Nasif Hitti sought an explanation from U.S. Ambassador Dorothy Shea for the circumstances of Fakhoury's exit. Meanwhile, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah sought to distance himself and his group from the decision to let Fakhoury leave. He said Hezbollah was incorrectly and unfairly criticized in Lebanon for letting it happen. Nasrallah said there was no deal made to secure the release of Fakhoury, adding that numerous Lebanese politicians, judges and security and military figures had come under intense U.S. pressure to release him, including some who he alleged were threatened with sanctions. Nasrallah didn't name those who were pressured but said that when he was asked internally and privately about how to respond to the pressure, he said it was not proper to succumb to such pressure because it would open the door for more U.S. interference in domestic affairs. Story continues Nasrallah said he learned of the tribunal's decision to release Fakhoury from the media. He added that Lebanese security forces at the country's airport had subsequently declined to allow Fakhoury to leave through Beirut International Airport because of the pending appeal over his release. The smuggling happened from the embassy (in northeast Beirut) in that manner that you saw, a blatant violation of the Lebanese sovereignty, the Lebanese judiciary and the Lebanese law, Nasrallah said in an 80-minute televised speech, more than half of which was devoted to the matter. Nasrallah said he supports an investigation into the issue to determine responsibility. Fakhoury's case had put a significant strain on already troubled ties between the U.S. and Lebanon. Lawmakers in Washington had threatened to withhold critical aid to the country and impose sanctions on the Lebanese military, which is seen by the Trump administration as a bulwark against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement. Fakhoury, a New Hampshire restaurant owner who received U.S. citizenship last year, had been imprisoned in Lebanon since September, when he returned to visit family. Fakhoury was diagnosed with Stage 4 lymphoma and had been hospitalized in Lebanon. A senior US official, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said there was no deal made to secure Fakhoury's release. The official ruled out the possibility that a promise was made to send aid or to release Lebanese prisoners held in the U.S. The official also denied Washington is in talks with Hezbollah. A Lebanese businessman accused of financing Hezbollah has been serving a five-year sentence in the U.S. since 2018. The U.S. official said Fakhoury's release was ensured by competent judicial authorities," adding that Fakhoury was wrongfully detained. Fakhoury was a member of the Israel-backed militia known as the South Lebanon Army and had been accused of torturing prisoners at a jail run by the militia during Israel's 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon. His family and lawyer say that while he did work at the prison, he did not have any contact with inmates. Former inmates at Khiam prison, where Fakhoury was allegedly a warden until Israel withdrew in 2000, protested the decision to free him. On Friday, representatives of the former prisoners filed a case before prosecutors to investigate who was responsible for violating the travel ban on Fakhoury. Lebanon and Israel have been officially at war since Israels creation in 1948. Lebanon bans its citizens from traveling to Israel or having contact with Israelis. Fakhourys lawyer and family say he fled Lebanon in 2001 through Israel and eventually to the United States because of death threats he and many other members of the South Lebanon Army received after Israel ended its occupation. ____ Associated Press writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report. Rob Gibson Kelowna International Airport has only ever closed its doors once before, during the 9/11 terrorist attacks but if things continue down the path they are on, Airport Director, Sam Samaddar says he doesn't know what will happen. "We don't like to say we'd shut down the airport, but things may happen that would force us to shut down," he says. This after airline executives in the United States call the coronavirus "worse than 9/11." As of Friday afternoon, Samaddar says YLW is doing about 20 per cent of the flights it had scheduled. "WestJet has already announced that as of this coming Sunday they are suspending all of their trans-border and international flights. Air Canada has really shrunk down their international flying. They've also suspended flights in our market to Edmonton and Toronto," he said. Samaddar says what YLW will be left with when April rolls around will be flights that service Calgary, Vancouver and Edmonton. "We're taking it day by day. This is going to have a huge impact, certainly on the airport and also on the Canadian economy. We are assessing all our options." Samaddar says the airport has already made changes, asking its ambassadors to stay home, reducing food services, and eliminating valet parking. "Our flight partners have reduced staff, and our pre-boarding partners will follow suit." "I would ask people to bear with us, we know there has been some frustration with the call centres and people not being able to get through. But, certainly, we are going to be here to try and help people get to where they need to go." The Uttar Pradesh government said on Saturday that eight out of the 25 novel coronavirus patients in the state who were undergoing treatment have completely recovered. "So far, 25 corona-positive cases have come to light in the state," Amit Mohan Prasad, principal secretary, health, told PTI. "They are undergoing treatment at various hospitals. Of this, 8 patients have completely recovered." In a statement, Prasad asserted that the state government had made all arrangements to contain the spread the spread of the deadly COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019). "Mass awareness programmes are going on, in which people are being told about how to sanitise themselves, and also adhere to social distancing, Prasad said. "There is no need to fear or feel afraid of this disease, only alertness has to be maintained." Testing centres have been increased from three to six. In the next two days, the number of testing centres will be increased to eight, the official said. "Our effort will be to increase the number of testing centres to 10."Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has appealed to the people not to move out of their houses during 'Janata curfew' on Sunday, according to the Prasad. "During the curfew, the health department, urban development department and the panchayati raj department will undertake comprehensive cleanliness drive. Mock drill on treatment for coronavirus will be conducted at all the hospitals in the state," Prasad said in the statement. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) For our free coronavirus pandemic coverage, learn more here. Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size There was no time to get ready. No time to actually fight back. By the time coronavirus claimed its first victim in Italy, the disease was already out of control and the battle to save lives had suffered a series of deadly miscalculations and setbacks. The consequences are tragic and unprecedented: dozens of army trucks are rolling into small towns in the countrys hard-hit north to remove bodies from overwhelmed hospitals. The victims are driven to crematoriums and morgues 200 kilometres away because the local ones are overflowing. One convoy comprised 10 trucks filled to capacity. As soon as the bodies are taken away from the hospitals, more seriously-ill Italians are rushed in for treatment. Most who are fortunate enough to be even found a bed in the intensive care units never make it out alive. Many more victims lay in churches or halls. Most families arent allowed to hold funerals. They couldnt even go into the hospitals to say goodbye. Doctor Matteo Flippini holds a tablet for a patient Alessandro Mattinzoli to talk to his relatives from the intensive care unit of a hospital in Brescia. Credit:Sergio Cattaneo For a while last week, it looked like this disaster in Lombardy - the new epicentre of the global coronavirus pandemic - may be slightly easing. The rate of deaths and new infections dropped slightly, suggesting an extraordinary nationwide lockdown might be working. For three consecutive days, the number of new deaths hovered in the mid-300s and exhausted doctors and nurses wondered whether the peak could be near and the worse soon over. It wasnt to be. The flatline ended and the death toll leapt on Thursday by 473. By Friday, 625 more had died. Each day at 5pm, Italians tune into television and radio to hear coronavirus emergency commissioner Angelo Borelli deliver the latest horrifying figure. Advertisement On Saturday, the news was as bad as it had ever been: another 793 people had died overnight - 546 in Lombardy alone. Nearly 5000 Italians are now dead - the most of any country, including China where the virus originated. To put the scale of Italy's crisis in perspective, the rate of deaths per million is about 56.35 compared to 2.26 for China and 16.4 for Europe's second-worst hit country, Spain. The terrifying scale of the emergency is matched only by the alarming speed in which it hit. Nobody had died a month ago. Even a fortnight ago the death toll was 17 times smaller than today. What went so horribly wrong? The list is long and governments around the world - including in Australia - are studying it carefully before their own tsunami arrives. Undertakers carry a coffin out of a hearse at Bergamo's cemetery, northern Italy. Credit:AP Researchers and health authorities now believe the virus could have been spreading undetected around Italy's affluent north for up to four weeks before people realised something was seriously wrong in February. Key "super spreaders" had turned up to local hospitals for treatment but were misdiagnosed or turned away, only to then come back a few days later after their condition deteriorated. By then, it was all too late. The virus had been seeded in the community to such an extent that contact tracing and isolation did little to stop its advance. Italy never had the advantage of time and knowledge that Australia and other countries have been afforded. Advertisement When the Italian government realised the gravity of the threat in late February, it set up cordons around 10 towns in Lombardy. However Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte initially played down the outbreak and said he thought the cases would soon stabilise - a message his political critics claim encouraged others to shrug their shoulders at the virus just as it was gaining steam. Later, Conte's government locked down most of northern Italy. The following day it shut down the country. There has been no stablisation. The Italian army unloads bodies at a crematorium. Credit:AP The result of the Lombardy missteps is a health crisis heavily concentrated in one part of the country. While the south is increasingly affected, the real carnage is still in the north. Lombardy's world-class health system is being absolutely smashed. Intensive care beds have been set up in waiting rooms but demand for treatment is so high the hospitals are on the verge of collapse. Of the 25,515 people who have tested positive in Lombardy, an extraordinary 50 per cent have either been hospitalised with symptoms, sent to intensive care or died. The extreme pressure on such a small part of Italy's overall health system is believed to be a contributor to the country's unusually high fatality rate, which based on crude figures is running at 9.0 per cent. More than one in every 10 people who contract coronavirus in Lombardy do not survive. This compares to 0.24 per cent for Germany, 3.56 per cent for France, and 5.3 per cent for Spain. The British government believes the likely mortality rate of COVID-19 is about 1 per cent, but a range of factors will influence the final numbers. Advertisement Italy's ageing population is likely to blame, and some respiratory experts have raised questions whether Lombardy's air quality is a factor. The region's wealth comes from a huge manufacturing industry and the subsequent pollution could have caused a higher degree of respiratory problems among the population, leaving them more susceptible to the ravages of coronavirus. The European Space Agency recently released maps showing how the fog of filth that usually hovers in the air above northern Italy had almost vanished after manufacturers wound down their operations due to the lockdown. Loading Caution is needed when interpreting fatality rates because the figure is determined by dividing the number of deaths by the total number of reported cases. Given many countries have stopped testing and are simply telling people with mild symptoms to stay home and ride it out, the true number of infections is likely much higher than reported and the fatality rate could therefore be lower. What is clear though is that two-thirds of all deaths in Italy have been in Lombardy, a region of about 10 million people anchored by Italy's financial and fashion capital of Milan. The region's largest funeral director, CFB, normally conducts about 120 funerals a month but has done 600 since the start of March. A staffer checks equipment set up in a temporary field hospital that is about to accept coronavirus patients. Credit:AP The provinces of Bergamo, Brescia and Cremona have been worst hit. Local newspaper L'Eco di Bergamo usually publishes two pages of obituaries but is now printing up to 10 pages a day. Daniela Taocchi, who is part of the obituaries team, says the situation is like a "chemical bomb has exploded". Another newspaper, Il Messaggero, posted grainy footage of more than 50 coffins line up on the floor of a church. Advertisement The largest insider buys this week were in NextEra Energy Inc. (NYSE:NEE), Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE:XOM), Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE:WFC) and Linde PLC (NYSE:LIN). NextEra Energy director bought 4,000 shares Director David L. Porges bought 4,000 shares on March 13 for an average price of $220. The stock has decreased by 12.84% since then. NextEra Energy is an American Fortune 200 energy company with around 45,900 megawatts of generating capacity. The company purchases, owns and operates wind and solar power projects in North America. The company has a market capitalization of $93.76 billion; as of March 20, it traded at $191.75. On Feb. 19, NextEra Energy announced it agreed to sell $2.5 billion worth of equity units to JPMorgan, Wells Fargo Securities and Bank of America Securities. The transaction closed on Feb. 21. Each equity unit was issued in a stated amount of $50 and consisted of a contract to purchase the company's common stock in the future and a 5% undivided beneficial ownership interest in a NextEra Energy Capitol Holdings Inc. debenture due March 1, 2025. Exxon Mobil vice president bought 30,000 shares Vice President Neil W. Duffin bought 30,000 shares on March 18 for an average price of $36.41. The share price has fallen 10.08% since them. Exxon Mobil is an oil and gas corporation. The company is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company and was ranked second in the Fortune 500 rankings of the largest U.S. corporations by total revenue in 2018. The company has a market capitalization of $138.56 billion; as of March 20, it traded at $32.74. On Feb. 14, Exxon Mobil announced the board of directors had elected Stephen Littleton as vice president of investor relations and corporate secretary, effective on March 15. The former vice president in that role, Neil Hansen, was appointed vice president of fuels for Europe, Middle East and Africa. Story continues Wells Fargo director bought 20,000 shares Director Charles H. Noski bought 20,000 shares on March 13 for an average price of $29.53. The stock has decreased by 10.26% since then. Wells Fargo is a banking and financial services holding company. It is the world's second-largest bank by market capitalization and the third-largest bank in the U.S. by assets. The company is the second-largest bank in deposits, home mortgage servicing and debit cards. The company has a market capitalization of $108.37 billion; as of March 20, it traded at $26.50. On March 16, Wells Fargo announced it was decreasing its prime rate to 3.25% from 4.25%, effective immediately. Linde director bought 1,400 shares Director Franz Fehrenbach bought 1,400 shares on March 17 for an average price of $158.72. Since then, the share price has fallen 4.67%. Linde is an Irish chemical company formed from the merger of Linde AG of Germany and Praxair of the United States. The company is the world's largest industrial gas company by market share as well by revenue, and it is also a component of the S&P 500. The company has a market capitalization of $80.64 billion; as of March 20, it traded at $151.30. On Feb. 24, Linde announced the board of directors had declared a quarterly dividend of 96.3 cents per common share, representing a 10% increase. The dividend is payable on March 20 to shareholders of record at the close of business on March 6. For the complete list of stocks that were bought by their company executives, go to Insider Trades. Disclosure: I do not own stock in any of the companies mentioned in the article. Not a Premium Member of GuruFocus? Sign up for a free 7-day trial here. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. By Rebecca Spalding NEW YORK, March 20 (Reuters) - Airlines hit hard by the travel restrictions imposed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic may soon present buying opportunities for investors, the co-founder of the buyout firm that owns budget carrier Frontier Airlines said in an interview. The NYSE Arca Airline Index has lost two-thirds of its value in the past four weeks, more than double the 30% drop in the S&P 500 Index, as investors fret about the impact of airlines grounding flights and placing thousands of workers on unpaid leave as air travel is sharply curtailed across the globe to try to stem the coronavirus outbreak. "My personal point of view is that they're going to be some really good buys on publicly traded shares of airlines in Europe and the U.S.," Bill Franke, managing member of private equity firm Indigo Partners LLC, said in the interview this week. "Inevitably, airlines will come back as the economy revives and as the coronavirus issue abates." Franke is not the first investor to spot bargains in the airline sector. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc increased its stake in Delta Airlines Inc by $45 million earlier this month as its shares slumped, bringing its stake to 11%. Berkshire was already Delta's top shareholder. Berkshire also owns similar-sized stakes in American Airlines Group Inc, United Airlines Holdings Inc , and Southwest Airlines Co. Indigo Partners also owns major stakes in Santiago, Chile-based JetSmart and Hungarian Wizz Air Holdings Plc . Franke said the industry "desperately needs" some form of government support and that he was confident a deal would be reached. While U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has discussed the possibility of providing financial aid to the airlines, it has so far resisted offering grants, as the industry would like. A Republican proposal introduced in the U.S. Senate on Thursday would grant up to $58 billion in secured loans to help passenger and cargo airlines hit by the coronavirus crisis, but would bar cash grants and could result in the government getting equity stakes. Indigo has spent the past few weeks shoring up the balance sheets of the airlines in its portfolio to make sure they have enough cash, Franke said. "We talk on a daily basis about where's your cash. What can we do to reduce operating costs? How can we build cash? Franke said. "You have to plan for the worst or most extreme outcome." (Reporting by Rebecca Spalding in New York; Editing by Peter Cooney) The coronavirus has now spread to at least 177 countries and killed tens of thousands. Some countries and regions have been hit harder than others. Daily life has come to a virtual halt, the global economy is facing its worst downturn since the Great Depression and medical facilities continue to face a shortage of crucial supplies. Many charities and organizations are helping those affected by the pandemic. Here is what you can do to support them. Not sure where to give? Charity Navigator, which evaluates charities using a numbers-based system, has a running list of nonprofits working in communities affected by the outbreak. There are organizations that focus on medical services, relief supplies and more. Want to simply give money? GlobalGiving is a large global crowdfunding community that connects nonprofits, donors and companies. It has set a goal of reaching $5 million in donations. Money received will go toward sending emergency medical workers to communities in need, providing medical supplies to hospitals and helping deliver essentials to families. Cookie Preferences Cookie List Cookie List A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website when visited by a user asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting for our advertising and marketing efforts. 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HENLEY Bridge does not need lighting up like Blackpool, says a heritage group. The Henley Archaeological & Historical Group has objected to a planning application to install LED lights on the Grade I listed structure. Clive Hemsley, an entrepreneur and artist, of Hart Street, Henley, and Henley jeweller David Rodger-Sharp have applied to South Oxfordshire District Council and Wokingham Borough Council, the planning authorities on either side of the bridge, for permission. They say the project would make Henley more of a destination for visitors, increase footfall and contribute to a more ecologically sustainable environment for the river. Last year, Mr Hemsley had a similar application turned down by Wokingham council, which said that drilling into the mortar surrounding the five arches of bridge posed potential harm to the stonework. Mr Hemsley, who is funding the project himself, says he has found a type of adhesive fixing that wouldnt cause any damage. The lights would be attached with cable ties every metre and fastened with the silicone compound. He would like to change the colour of the lights for special events such as Henley Royal Regatta or the Thames Traditional Boat Festival and says London is lighting up its bridges. But the towns two heritage groups have both objected to the idea of coloured lights. John Whiting, chairman of the Henley Archaeological & Historical Group, said: We are concerned that the unauthorised lights remain attached to the stonework of the 18th century bridge and that there is no mention of their removal details. This matter needs to be addressed and resolved before any alternative form of lighting should be considered. The applicant fails to properly consider the setting and very great importance of the Grade I listed bridge itself and its impact on the Henley conservation area. Mr Hemsley is not the owner of the bridge and has no rights over it. The results of a many coloured bridge lighting scheme, controlled by a private individual, might do well in places of highly-lit towns, such as Blackpool or London, but Henley has a quite different character. Saying that Henley needs bridge illuminations because London has them is simply fatuous and irrelevant. Our main concern remains the welfare of the bridge and the obligation to pass it on to future generations unharmed. We would like to take this opportunity to recommend that instead of spending a great deal of money on lighting, why not make use of these funds to set up something beneficial like a repairs and maintenance fund? David Whitehead, who oversees planning for the Henley Society, said: The society has no fixed view on whether or not the bridge should be illuminated, assuming that no damage is done to the structure. However, if permission is to be given for illumination, it wishes to make three recommendations. It would be preferable to revert to the previous design with individual LED bulbs rather than having strip lighting, which would be out of character with the appearance and status of the Grade I listed bridge. There should be no option of changing the colour of the lighting from white. Once installed, control of the lighting should be in the hands of the appropriate local council. Mr Hemsley says the chief engineer at Oxfordshire County Council, who is responsible for bridge maintenance, has approved his plans for LED rubber compound strips. In a letter to this weeks Henley Standard, he says: I gave him a sample of the silicon substance to test independently. I understand he is fully behind the solution, along with the county council, which owns the bridge. He says applications to illuminate 30 London bridges, which are all either Grade I and II listed, have been approved for the Illuminated River Project. Mr Hemsley says the illuminated bridge will attract more visitors to Henley, providing a much-needed boost for the towns shops, bars and restaurants. He adds: We town folk need to adapt/change and be more innovative to get back the support and business for all the locals, especially in the current crisis. Since his decision to install lights without permission, Mr Hemsley has received public support with almost 3,000 people signing a petition calling for the existing lights to stay in place. Henley Town Councils planning committee has recommended approval of the application and Henley MP John Howell has told Mr Hemsley he supports him. Photo credit: Netflix From Women's Health The wildly bingeable Netflix docuseries, Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness, premiered on March 20, 2020 to roaring applause. Filled with eccentric characters and even wackier plots, it has quickly become a cultural phenomenon. (I'm talking lions, tigers, and bears-level wild.) One particularly intriguing guy is Jack Donald Lewis, a.k.a Don Lewis, in the series. He was Carole Baskin's husband at the time and a self-made millionaire, but he doesn't stick around long. Don was nearly 60 years old when he disappeared without a trace on Aug. 18, 1997. There are more questions than answers still 23 years later, and that's where his story gets truly bonkers. Carole reported her husband missing, and police and a private eye started investigating. Don was last seen wearing a $1 T-shirt from Kmart and blue jeans bought at a yard sale, according to the Tampa Bay Times. His 1989 Dodge van was found at a private airport 40 miles from Wildlife on Easy Street within two days of his wife reporting him missing. Police launched an investigation and Carole hired her own private eye, but nobody uncovered evidence of foul play or really any significant evidence whatsoever. Investigators followed leads to Costa Rica. For a while, police thought Don orchestrated his own disappearance. "Some people who knew him thought the eccentric animal lover might have decided to just get away from things for a while," according to the Tampa Bay Times. There were reports he was seen in Costa Rica one month after he disappeared from his Florida home. Don owned 200 acres and visited frequently. "I really don't know what to think," Carole told the Tampa Bay Times. "If this is true, I'm really, really glad he's not in jail somewhere." "The investigation has not given us a direction on where to look for clues," Hillsborough Sheriff's Sgt. John Marsicano, who flew to Costa Rica looking for him in 1997, told the Tampa Bay Times. "I wish we had a whole lot more," he added. "We have looked in every conceivable direction." Story continues Then, and now, some suspected foul play. Don's daughters from a previous marriage even speculated someone fed him to the tigers living in their big cat sanctuary. Its a perfect scenario to dispose of someone, the oldest of his four children, Donna Pettis, told People in 1998. We were upset that the cops didnt test the DNA on the meat grinder. Joe Exotic also supported and helped spread this wild theory, which is also referenced in Tiger King. One of his most famous music videos, "Here Kitty Kitty," shows a blonde woman feeding raw meat to tigers. Carole refuted "lies" about her husband's disappearance. Carole published a blog post in response to Tiger King. She wrote more than 3,000 words refuting its "absurd claims." Carole wrote: It has a segment devoted to suggesting, with lies and innuendos from people who are not credible, that I had a role in the disappearance of my husband Don 21 years ago. The series presents this without any regard for the truth or in most cases even giving me an opportunity before publication to rebut the absurd claims. They did not care about truth. The unsavory lies are better for getting viewers.The unsavory lies are better for getting viewers. Several Redditors dug up the cold case and added theories. A few years ago, Redditors hopped on Don's case to swap theories. The unresolved disappearance post begins: "No sign of him has been seen since and he was declared dead in 2002... It's a little hard to find unbiased information on his disappearance since the wildlife rescue has attracted a lot of controversy." Redditor LeopardLady13 revisited Don's daughter's theory: "Honestly, that was my first thought...Why /didn't/ they check the meat grinder? It honestly sounds to me like whoever did this may have paid off the police department to keep their noses out of the case." It drew some attention, and another Redditor added: "Probably because there was no evidence of foul play, no reason to suspect that he had been murdered and ground up, and reason (at the time) to believe he had left the country." Don was mysterious while he was alive, too. He made his millions in trucking and real estate. (Some pegged his net worth as high as $20 million in the Netflix docuseries.) In spite of his riches, he was known to dumpster-dive, look for food in trash bins, and buy clothing from yard sales. He didn't have a college degree, but he outsmarted many investors. He had dealings and connections in Costa Rica. Don regularly bought worthless vehicles and equipment at auctions that piled up around their property, according to Carole's post. "Dons behavior was gradually showing signs of mental deterioration," Carole writes. "He deteriorated into dumpster diving and even got stuck in a dumpster and called me crying because he did not know where he was." Don and Carole married in 1991 after carrying on an affair for years. Both were married to other people when they first met. "I just fell in love with him at first sight," Carole, who met him at 19, told Tampa Bay Times. They had a courthouse ceremony and he gave her a $14 wedding ring. Shortly after they married, the couple started Wildlife on Easy Street. Their 40-acre exotic cats sanctuary was located near their Florida home in Citrus Park. Don was presumed dead in 2002. After five years of searching, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's office are keeping the case open but a judge declared Don dead. However, no body was recovered and the case remains unsolved today. You Might Also Like If the new coronavirus takes hold inside San Franciscos largest nursing home, whats the plan to save patients lives and protect doctors and nurses from exposure? No one seems to know, but staff at the city-run Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center say they havent been given enough tools to stop the spread of infection and they worry that the sprawling facility that cares for 750 seniors and other especially vulnerable people could quickly be overwhelmed by a surge of COVID-19 cases, if and when residents of Laguna Honda start to test positive. So far, no instances of the dangerous respiratory virus have been reported at Laguna Honda. But medical professionals who work there said they are afraid they will get their first positive test result any day now. According to two doctors and a nurse, the situation is precarious. Nurses cant find masks or other protective equipment. Doctors are treating patients suspected of COVID-19 without recommended face shields. There are only five or so isolation rooms out of 780 total beds. Although some patients have already exhibited symptoms of possible coronavirus infection, and doctors started asking for tests weeks ago, the facility only began ordering tests on Monday, according to one doctor who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. The San Francisco Department of Public Health owns and operates Laguna Honda. In a statement, department spokesman Brent Andrew said, Laguna Honda leadership has worked actively and diligently to train staff on COVID-19 procedures, including the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), thorough cleaning of common spaces and resident rooms, and other prevention techniques. Other hospitals in the region and the country face similar obstacles, struggling to find enough tests and scrounging for masks. Laguna Honda may be especially vulnerable to the pandemic because it serves some of the most disenfranchised people in the city, providing long-term care to the poor, the sick and the elderly. According to the Centers for Disease Control, older people who contract the virus are more likely to die of it. The most recent annual report for Laguna Honda shows that 61% of its residents are 65 or older, and 20% are 85 or older. Dementia, Alzheimers disease and HIV are among their most common diagnoses. Its a powder keg, said Tim Jenkins, senior representative for the Union of American Physicians and Dentists, which represents doctors at the hospital. Its a giant nursing home, and weve seen whats happened in these other nursing homes. This week, a long-term care facility in Burlingame reported that three residents tested positive, and last month the virus raced through a nursing home in the Seattle area, infecting 129 people and killing 23. A report the CDC released Wednesday warned that nursing homes could become coronavirus hot zones if more aggressive measures arent taken. Once COVID-19 has been introduced into a long-term care facility, it has the potential to result in high attack rates among residents, staff members, and visitors, the reports authors wrote. Staff members at Laguna Honda said that their facility, one of the largest of its kind in the United States, with a 62-acre campus, doesnt seem prepared for what might be coming. Just like all others, am concerned about our preparedness personally and as a group to face what is ahead, one doctor wrote to a colleague on Sunday in an email obtained by The Chronicle. If the virus gets loose inside, Laguna Honda is going to become a sick town with 780 pts [patients] plus staff, the doctor wrote. The Laguna Honda doctor who spoke to The Chronicle anonymously said, Im not confident that there are good plans for if things get worse rapidly, which they could so easily do. The doctor added that Laguna Honda only has five isolation rooms where patients with COVID-19 symptoms can be kept apart from the rest of the population and treated safely. If we start to have more [COVID-19] cases than there are isolation rooms, I have no idea what were going to do, the physician said. This would definitely be a wildfire, said Theresa Rutherford, a Laguna Honda nurse assistant and the regional vice president for SEIU Local 1021, which represents nurses at the facility as well as food-service employees and workers tasked with disinfection. We need more personal protective equipment. We need more training. And we need to ensure that frontline workers are protected. Inside the newsroom Anonymous sources:The Chronicle strives to attribute all information we report to credible, reliable, identifiable sources. Presenting information from an anonymous source occurs extremely rarely, and only when that information is considered crucially important and all other on-the-record options have been exhausted. In such cases, The Chronicle has complete knowledge of the unnamed person's identity and of how that person is in position to know the information. The Chronicle's detailed policy governing the use of such sources, including the use of pseudonyms, is available on sfchronicle.com. See More Collapse At a press conference Thursday, San Franciscos public health director, Dr. Grant Colfax, said the city was taking aggressive steps to prepare for a potential surge in coronavirus patients. Colfax said the citys medical facilities have enough protective equipment for now and claimed that health care workers who need the protection are getting the protection they need as of this time. According to the Laguna Honda employees, this isnt true. Right now, they said, their facility doesnt have enough N95 masks, worn over the nose and mouth to stop airborne transmission, and many nurses havent been fit-tested for the dwindling supply of masks that do exist, meaning the masks may fail. Nurses are told they can find N95 masks at the nursing station, and when they go to the station, its empty. Even basic protective items are hard to come by, like cleaning supplies and disposable shoe covers, Laguna Honda staff said. The doctor who spoke to The Chronicle was recently preparing to treat a patient suspected of having COVID-19. When the doctor looked for a plastic face shield, a key piece of protective equipment, none were available in the hospital. So the doctor treated the patient without the face shield. The doctor also said that Laguna Honda only started testing patients for COVID-19 on Monday. Some patients had dry coughs and shortness of breath, and doctors wanted to order coronavirus tests. But the city said no, according to the doctor: The reason we were given was that DPH [department of health] just didnt have enough tests. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. At that point, the doctors asked if they could send samples to Quest Diagnostics or LabCorp, private companies that were offering coronavirus tests. The answer was no: Testing had to be done by the health department. It is unclear how many Laguna Honda patients have been tested to date. As of Thursday night, the doctor said, all completed tests had come back negative; some are still pending. The doctor also expressed concern for the health of colleagues who might be exposed. Some doctors and nurses struggle with their own health issues, and theres no clear plan for what they should do if they get exposed to coronavirus and develop symptoms. All theyve been told is that if they feel sick, they should stay home from work. I have been rather sick a lot this flu season already so cannot imagine what else I can endure, wrote the other Laguna Honda physician in the Sunday email. On March 6, the health department put a halt to visits from family members and others at Laguna Honda, citing concerns about viral transmission. Department spokesman Andrew said the decision was purposefully and carefully designed to protect the institution, its residents and staff. Andy Chan, whose 80-year-old mother Teresa has lived at Laguna Honda for three years, said it has been frustrating not to see her, but its better safe than sorry. Teresa suffers from dementia and uses a wheelchair. Chan said that while the facility has done a good job caring for her, he doesnt have a sense of how Laguna Honda is preparing for COVID-19. He said he hasnt received any emails or letters about coronavirus from the hospital, and he worries about widely reported shortages of supplies. That lack of everything, whether its the respirator, sanitizer, gloves, anything that facilities need its actually quite surprising, Chan said. This is the greatest country in the world, and we cant address this. He said the president and the federal government need to use their power to provide supplies quickly. According to Rutherford, the nurse and union representative, the SEIU asked the city earlier this month to hire more nurses and build physical barriers to stop airborne virus droplets from spreading. This week at Laguna Honda and Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, she said, the city installed glass screens at the entrances, where hospital vendors and members of the public go in and out, and the city agreed to hire 170 additional nurses across all its facilities. Colfax, the city health director, said on Thursday that the department recently hired 70 nurses and hoped to hire 50 more at a recruiting fair this weekend: We are making offers on the spot. Chronicle staff writer Dominic Fracassa contributed to this story. Jason Fagone and Cynthia Dizikes are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: jason.fagone@sfchronicle.com, cdizikes@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jfagone, @cdizikes The worst-affected Western countries have been hit by a tenfold surge in the number of Covid-19 infections and fatalities over 10 days as they struggle to cope under the onslaught of a pandemic that has killed more than 10,000 worldwide. Italy has overtaken China in reporting more than 4,000 deaths, while Spain passed Iran to record close to 20,000 people testing positive in a further reflection of the severity of Europes outbreak, which has driven Britain to extend its social distancing measures to most of the year. The situation in the US continued to worsen, as California imposed an indefinite statewide stay-in-place order on its 40 million residents, becoming the first state to restrict peoples movements. New York also instituted strict new measures on Friday. Were all in various levels of quarantine and its hard, said Governor Andrew Cuomo. New lockdowns have also been announced across the globe, from India and Argentina to the wealthy German region of Bavaria, further straining the global economy. Even though China the worlds second biggest economy recorded no new domestic cases for two days in a row on Friday, critics have questioned the accuracy of its data due to concerns that the numbers are influenced by political considerations and that people with mild symptoms are being excluded. Official figures show the pandemic has taken more than 10,000 lives so far, around half of which are in Europe with 3,400 or so in Asia. It has also left many more in intensive care, put unprecedented pressure on medical workers and caused shortages of hospital beds, ventilators and protective equipment. We have seen too many people die, said Margaret Harris, of the World Health Organisations coronavirus response team, warning that when you have an explosion of cases, you are already way behind your curve. The worldwide toll of coronavirus infections has doubled to 200,000 within just 12 days compared to 12 weeks that took it to get to 100,000 from zero. Story continues In Italy the epicentre in Europe it took 11 days for the death toll to expand tenfold to reach 3,405. More worrying trends have been seen in France and Spain, as there were only nine-day and eight-day lapses respectively before the death tolls increased by a similar factor. France recorded 108 new deaths on Thursday, taking the total to 372 or an increase of almost 41 per cent from Wednesday. Spains death toll on Friday was 1,002, with the health ministry warning that the data is very likely underestimating the reality. Among the seriously ill patients, death is a reality, Fernando Simon, director of the Spanish health ministrys emergency coordination centre, told reporters on Friday. We try to give the best guarantee of survival, but there are some that cannot be guaranteed. Italys death rate stood at a staggering 8.3 per cent, which is more than double the 4 per cent figure recorded in China or the latest worldwide average of 4.18 per cent based on WHO statistics. In Milan, one of the worst-hit cities in Italy, the government was changing tactics on Friday, asking people who show minor symptoms to seek help from family doctors instead of hospitals, which have already been overloaded and understaffed. Anyone who has a fever and is at home is now very likely to have Covid-19. Getting them to the hospital would be unmanageable, said Vittorio Demicheli, an epidemiologist with Milans health authorities. Sun Shuopeng, vice-president of Chinas Red Cross who heads a delegation sent to help advise Italy said the countrys medical system was facing enormous pressure as it lacks human resources. Speaking after a visit to Rome, he told Chinese news portal Thepaper.cn that the median age of those who had died in the capital was 81. It is very difficult to take care of elderly patients, especially when some of them already suffer from chronic illnesses, he said. Italy has a well-developed primary care system and people rely on family doctors more than hospitals, Sun said. But in the current situation where a centralised system is needed to deal with the virus, the available medical personnel are not enough to meet such a high demand, he added. At a press conference in Milan on Thursday, Sun also said the lockdown measures imposed by Italy are not strict enough, saying that public transport is still running and people are still gathering in hotel. We really have to stop our usual economic activities and our usual human interactions. We have to stay at home and make every effort to save lives, he said. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has also been criticised by local officials in Lombardy, the worst hit region, for failing to impose tighter restrictions on people. Professor Walter Ricciardi, scientific adviser to Italys minister of health, attributed the countrys far higher mortality rate to demographics. The median age of hospitalised Italian patients was 67, compared with 46 in China, according to Ricciardi. Italy is home to the worlds second oldest population after Japan. But if age is a critical factor, scientists are also trying to explain why Japans rate of infection and mortality is significantly lower than that of Italy. Italys mortality rate is almost triple Japans, said Professor Yoko Tsukamoto, a professor of infection control at the Health Sciences University of Hokkaido. Part of the reason is if you get tested [in Italy], you get quarantined, so it means that they dont have enough beds for relatively non-severe patients. Leung Chi-chiu, chairman of the advisory committee on communicable diseases at the Hong Kong Medical Association said, the ageing population in Italy had surely contributed to its high death rate and also created a huge burden on its public health system. Europe and the US share the same problem, the government has attempted to close off borders, but they are not able to implement it in a way that is absolute enough. They need to push it to the extreme to ensure it is effective, Leung said. More active testing in different countries has been attributed to the surge of the number of infections and deaths related to the coronavirus. But the WHO advice for countries to do as many tests as possible faced criticism on Friday, with Finland arguing that testing people with mild symptoms would be a waste of health care resources. Britain, on the other hand, announced plans to expand Covid-19 testing in the face of public pressure. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that the government would increase the number of tests to 10,000 a day initially, with a goal of reaching 25,000 tests a day within four weeks. Addressing availability of medical resources, WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus criticised the European Union for a ban on medical supply exports. If there is political commitment we need to have free cross border mobility and we should not ban exports of medical equipment, Tedros said in a press conference on Friday. The shortage of supply of [personal protective equipment] could not be addressed without political commitment, he added. Tedros also called on young people to take social responsibility and abide by social distancing policies. Youre not invincible, Tedros said in an address to younger people. This virus could put you in the hospital for weeks and even kill you. Even if you dont get sick, the choices you make about where you go could be the difference between life and death for someone else, he added. Additional reporting by Kinling Lo and Reuters Purchase the China AI Report 2020 brought to you by SCMP Research and enjoy a 20% discount (original price US$400). This 60-page all new intelligence report gives you first-hand insights and analysis into the latest industry developments and intelligence about China AI. Get exclusive access to our webinars for continuous learning, and interact with China AI executives in live Q&A. Offer valid until 31 March 2020. More from South China Morning Post: This article Coronavirus deaths gather pace in Europe as world struggles to contain pandemic first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2020. A College Station man was arrested Thursday after authorities say he fired shots at a family member. According to the Brazos County Sheriffs Office, deputies responded to a home in eastern Brazos County where a man said James Cody Hejl had fired a gun at the ground in his direction before leaving on foot. Deputies searched the neighborhood and found Hejl walking in the area with a handgun tucked into his waistband. He was arrested without incident. Authorities said Hejl admitted to shooting the gun to scare his family, whom he was arguing with. A search of the property led to the discovery of a bullet that had been discharged into the dirt. Hejl is charged with deadly conduct, a third-degree felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and unlawful possession of a firearm, a Class A misdemeanor. He was released from the Brazos County Jail on $12,000 bond. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 00:54:31|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Chinese Premier Li Keqiang learns about the development of vaccines against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), during an inspection tour to a national emergency platform for COVID-19 drugs and medical equipment, in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 28, 2020. (Xinhua/Wang Ye) BEIJING, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Premier Li Keqiang on Friday called for more efforts to facilitate the recovery of businesses and to ensure employment. This year's task of stabilizing employment is very arduous due to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, Li said in a written instruction to a teleconference held in Beijing. Local governments and all sectors should make coordinated efforts to further control the epidemic while boosting economic and social development, and giving more priority to employment, he said. They should make the best use of policies such as tax breaks and financial support, help micro, small and medium-sized enterprises tide over difficulties, support firms to resume production, and facilitate the construction of major projects, in order to stabilize employment, he said. More should be done to boost employment of migrant workers, prioritize employment of the disadvantaged groups, step up vocational training and provide assistance to those in areas with serious epidemic situations, while the basic livelihood of the unemployed should be safeguarded, he said. A train carrying supplies leaves the Asia and Europe international logistics park in Changji, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, March 19, 2020. Enterprises resumed work in an orderly manner at the Asia and Europe international logistics park with measures to prevent infections of COVID-19. (Xinhua/Sadat) China will continue to cut red tape, improve government services, give full play to the positive role of mass entrepreneurship and innovation, and support the development of the Internet Plus and platform economy, in a bid to provide more opportunities for employment, entrepreneurship and flexible employment, Li said. Vice Premier Hu Chunhua told the conference that unreasonable regulations that hinder the resumption of production should be canceled. Hu, also chief of the State Council leading group of employment, underscored the role of the unemployment insurance fund in ensuring basic livelihoods for people having problems finding jobs. Supporting measures should be rolled out in a timely manner to ensure various policies can come into effect as soon as possible to stabilize employment, Hu said. Responding to the growing coronavirus crisis, the United States on Friday strengthened its emergency and relief measures to combat the toughest public health challenge in decades. More than 230 Americans had lost their lives by Friday evening due to the coronavirus and the number of confirmed cases jumped to over 18,000, an increase of over 10,000 in less than 50 hours. The Trump administration has declared a national emergency and pressed into service its armed forces, albeit in a limited way, to combat the coronavirus, which is now spreading like a wildfire from coast to coast. New York, Washington and California are the three worst hit states by the deadly virus. The Washington State has the largest number of 74 fatalities so far, with confirmed cases being over 1400. New York State had reported the maximum number of over 7,010 confirmed coronavirus cases with 39 deaths. California, which has a little over 1,000 confirmed cases and 21 deaths, has ordered for an in-home stay for all its nearly 40 million citizens. New York has also ordered its residents to stay home as much as possible. Describing it as a "New York State on Pause" plan, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced sweeping increase in restrictions on the movement in the State. "This is the most drastic actions we can take," he told reporters, adding that his executive order will mandate 100 per cent of the workforce must stay home, excluding essential services. President Donald Trump told reporters Friday that he would start using his powers under a Korean War-era law to increase the production of ventilators and masks. "I invoked the Defense Production Act, and last night we put it into gear," he said. "We are providing historic support to small businesses and to the States...We enacted legislation guaranteeing paid sick leave for workers at no cost to employers, so they get paid sick leave at no cost to employers. We are considering the use of new drug treatments. We are advancing legislation to give direct payments to hard-working families," he said. Trump said, "Throughout our country Americans from all walks of life are rallying together to defeat the unseen enemy striking our nation. America's border with Mexico and Canada would be closed starting March 21 for all non-essential travel. The Treasury Department announced to move Tax Day from April 15 to July 15. Trump said he has also temporarily waived all interest on federally held student loans. Schools and colleges across the country have been closed. "With many schools closed due to the virus, the Department of Education will not enforce standardised testing requirements, very importantly for students in elementary through high school for the current year," Trump said. He said doctors and nurses are working nonstop to heal the sick. Also read: Private labs to begin COVID-19 testing next week; Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw panel to work on modalities Citizens and churches are delivering meals to the needy and truckers are making the long haul to keep shelves stocked, Trump said. "We've been dealing with the big stores in the big chains, Walmart, they've been fantastic, and others. We have made it much easier for them to stock in terms of travel and travel restrictions. We are lifting restriction so they can get their trucks on time," he said. During the news conference, Trump rued that his administration, inherited an "obsolete, broken, old system that wasn't meant for this". "We discarded that system and we now have a new system that can do millions of people as you need them," he said. "But we had to get rid of a broken, old system that didn't work. It worked only on a very limited basis. And we're very proud of what we've done. It's incredible what we've done. And this system will now serve them for the future for future problems," he added. Also read: Coronavirus in India: Economic task force yet to be formed; no decision on relief package Also read: 'Janata curfew' to $1,000 in every bank account: How countries are fighting COVID-19 THE delay in addressing road safety issues at Wards Cross, outside Abbeyfeale, has incensed local Fine Gael councillor Liam Galvin. Either someone isnt doing their job or it is down to funding, he said this week. He was responding to a report from the Mid-West Road Design Office which stated that consultants were still trying to finalise the design and prepare the Preliminary Design Report. A small job like that should not take three years to start, never mind finish, Cllr Galvin said. The dangers of junctions along the N21 from Barnagh to the Kerry border have been raised regularly over the years at the Newcastle West Municipal District and a deputation of councillors raised its concerns with Transport Infrastructure Ireland. The matter came to a head in September, 2017 when two local men were injured when the car they were travelling in was rear-ended as they waited to turn right at Wards Cross. At the time, Cllr Galvin warned that somebody will have blood on their hands unless action was taken to mitigate the dangers. Following the accident, locals also got together to voice their fears. At subsequent meetings of the Newcastle West Municipal District and a special meeting of Limerick City and County Council, it emerged that just seven junctions between Newcastle West and the Kerry border had turning lanes. But there were 17 others, including Wards, with no turning or stacking lanes and the people using them were at daily risk. At that time, Cllr Galvin argued for a rolling programme to be drawn up which would address safety issues at one or two junctions each year. In January 2018, a list of six junctions out of the 17 was drawn up and sent forward to the TII with a request for funding to carry out a detailed survey and design for the introduction of right hand turning lanes at all six junctions. But the TII responded, saying that only one junction, Wards Cross, merited further investigation based on their most recent analysis of collisions. In March last year, Cllr Galvin was told that consultants were being sought for the Wards Cross design. Then last week, he was told that a number of design issues had been encountered by the technical consultants. And they listed topography, the location of property in the vicinity of the junction and retrofitting a right lane into a existing road. Many of these issues do not conform to current road design parameters and will require a departure from standards from TII, the report said. The consultants had worked to reduce the number of any such departures from standards, Cllr Galvin was told but a number of issues remain. We are endeavouring to finalise the design and prepare the Preliminary Design Report and submit the departure application as soon as possible, the report ended. Cllr Galvin pledged this week to get to the bottom of this and is demanding more urgency on the matter. Meanwhile, there has been some progress on a new design for the Devon Cross. Consultants have come up with three options to improve road safety at this crossroads. One option would be to install traffic calming measures (like those at Croagh) while a second option would be to stagger the junction and realing the local road L7059 which starts at Buckleys Shop. A third option would be to introduce a roundabout and realign the regional road R515 which goes to Tournafulla and on to Dromcollogher. The options have been reviewed by staff at the Mid-West Road Design Office and a draft report sent to the TII. OTTAWA - The federal government unveiled historic new measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic on Friday, promising a sweeping revamp of the national industrial landscape while closing the country's doors to some who might once have been welcome. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/3/2020 (663 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks to the media about the COVID-19 pandemic during a news conference outside Rideau cottage in Ottawa, Friday, March 20, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld OTTAWA - The federal government unveiled historic new measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic on Friday, promising a sweeping revamp of the national industrial landscape while closing the country's doors to some who might once have been welcome. As the nationwide number of cases surpassed 1,000, the federal government announced it would be supporting businesses to shift their operations to focus on products needed to help combat the spread of the novel coronavirus. Previously announced measures to close the border with the United States will also be tightened even further, with Ottawa reversing a decision to isolate some would-be asylum seekers and opting to bar them entry instead. "We recognize that the efforts we are going through are unprecedented," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a news conference outside his home, where he's been in self-isolation for a week. "These are historic times in which we need to do everything we can to support Canadians and mobilize all our efforts in smart ways." Trudeau, who has long been emphasizing the need for personal actions to curb the spread of the illness, shifted his focus to the corporate realm with word of financial incentives for companies that join the fight against the global pandemic. Government cash will be available to businesses that shift their practices to produce more goods needed for the ongoing COVID-19 containment effort, Trudeau said, such as auto parts manufacturers who switch gears to make badly needed medical supplies. Businesses already producing items such as masks and hand sanitizer, he added, will also receive support as they ramp up their operations. Trudeau also announced a reversal of a previously announced measure related to the pending border closure with the United States, which was expected to go into effect late Friday. Rather than placing asylum seekers entering Canada on foot in isolation as previously announced, Trudeau said those "irregular" border-crossers would be treated the same as most other travellers and turned away at the border. Trudeau described the move as an exceptional, temporary measure to protect Canadians. The mutual agreement between Ottawa and Washington will see the border closed to all but trade and essential travel at 11:59 p.m. as both countries grapple with the COVID-19 outbreak. Thousands of people have been crossing into Canada from the U.S. using unofficial entry points to get around a deal that forbids people from lodging asylum claims at land border crossings. Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland called on Canadians to be patient as the government worked to enact the unprecedented new measures, saying Ottawa is departing from the norm by focusing on speed rather than perfection. Freeland also reflected on the impact the COVID-19 outbreak is having on society at large, saying even the youngest Canadians are struggling to come to grips with the surreal new norm that's shuttered everything from restaurants to schools over the past week. "Having a long school holiday may have seemed fun when it was first announced. But when it also includes learning that you can't have playdates, you can't spend time with your friends, it's really hard for our children," Freeland said. The struggle in getting that message across to young Canadians played out in downtown Toronto, where a massive lineup formed outside a local video game store ahead of the release of several highly anticipated titles. The long queue, which actively flouted conventional wisdom on combating the spread of the virus, drew a sharp rebuke from Ontario's premier. Doug Ford expressed frustration with those eschewing the advice to practice social distancing, calling on businesses and parents to do what was necessary to keep kids safe. "Isn't it a shame that we have to go to this degree? You're putting everyone else into danger," he said. "Please do not create these environments out there." Ford's remarks came as provincial health officials announced 60 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the national count of confirmed and presumptive diagnoses over 900. Data showing 49 new positive tests in Alberta, 18 in Quebec and six in Saskatchewan later edged the country past the bleak milestone of 1,000 cases overall. Drastic provincial measures to combat the outbreak also continued to mount on Friday, with Manitoba becoming the latest jurisdiction to declare a state of emergency. Premier Brian Pallister said the decision to limit public gatherings to less than 50 people was difficult, but described it as a necessary measure to contain the still growing outbreak. In Saskatchewan, which made a similar declaration earlier in the week, Premier Scott Moe granted police additional powers to enforce government-mandated protection measures. Moe said an emergency order signed earlier in the day now empowers officers to take any reasonable action up to an including arrest to enforce government orders, including a requirement that people returning from foreign travel self-isolate for 14 days. "This is not a suggestion. It's not a guideline. It is now the law," Moe said. Pallister was emotional during his press conference, urging people to keep in touch with family and friends while social distancing. "Make sure they have a sense of being connected to you. Make sure that they're able to be confident that they're part of a world that isn't just their room. Do this. This will be appreciated ... We'll beat this thing," he said. Moe also moved to further limit public gatherings, capping the maximum number of attendees at 25. Ready, Pet, Go! Leesa Dahl looks at everything to do with our furry, fuzzy, feathered, fishy (and more!) pet friends. Arrives in your inbox each Monday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. British Columbia ordered all restaurants to close, allowing them to only offer takeout and delivery services. Canadians have increasingly sought government support over the past week as the pandemic encroaches ever further on daily life. Businesses, schools and previously routine activities have been shutting down en masse as a growing number of people are forced into self-isolation or urged to practice social distancing to help "flatten the curve." Trudeau said Service Canada and other government agencies have seen an exponential surge of calls for help in recent weeks, noting the government logged some 500,000 applications for employment insurance this past week, compared to 27,000 during the same period a year ago. The Public Health Agency of Canada says most people with COVID-19 experience manageable symptoms like a fever and cough. For seniors, those with compromised immune systems or pre-existing conditions, the illness can be more severe. by Michelle McQuigge in Toronto This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 20, 2020. One man is dead following a shooting on American Legion Highway in Dorchester Friday evening. Boston Homicide Unit detectives are investigating the death after uniformed officers responded to 86 American Legion Highway at about 7:37 p.m. for the report of a person shot. Officers found the victim at the rear of the property suffering from what appeared to be a gunshot wound. The adult male victim was transported to an area hospital where he was later pronounced dead. Police are actively investigating this incident and anyone with information is asked to contact detectives at 617-343-4470. Sign up for free text messages about important updates on coronavirus in Massachusetts https://joinsubtext.com/coronavirusmass?form=true" Sub-Saharan Africa recorded its second coronavirus death on Friday as infections rose in South Africa, where the government warned bluntly of a long haul in the fight against the disease. Despite stringent restrictions ranging from flight bans to school closures, countries south of the Sahara have recorded two deaths in three days, and the case tally on Friday had more than tripled in the space of a week. The central African state of Gabon announced its first fatality from coronavirus -- a 50-year-old man, whose death followed that of a 62-year-old woman in Burkina Faso on Wednesday. Both had diabetes. The total of known cases across all of Africa, compiled by AFP, stands at more than 900 and is rising fast after lagging other continents. Health experts have issued loud warnings, for most African countries are desperately short of intensive-care units, equipment and trained staff. The Sahel state of Mali has just a single respirator. South African warning Ballooning from one case two weeks ago to 202 on Friday, South Africa has the highest numbers in the subcontinent. Health Minister Zweli Mkhize pointed to established scientific projections showing that infections "ultimately can affect up to 60 percent of the population." But it "doesn't mean they will all be affected at the same time, doesn't mean that they will all have serious illness. It just means that the way the viral infection spreads, that will likely happen," Mkhize said. The virus is "going to be with us for quite a while," he warned. South Africa has started drive-through tests for the coronavirus, but the high cost -- more than $50 -- is beyond the means of most people. By MARCO LONGARI (AFP) "It's a reality we must face, but it's not a reality that says we now face an apocalypse." Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula said South Africa had prevented foreign nationals who arrived Friday in 20 international flights from high-risk countries from disembarking. One of the flights was an Air China plane that landed at Johannesburg's O.R. Tambo International Airport from Shenzhen. Only South Africans were allowed to disembark while 68 Chinese nationals were refused permission to leave the aircraft. The country's flag carrier, South African Airways, suspended all regional and international flights until the end of May in line with government-imposed travel bans aimed at curbing the spread of the virus. South Africa has adopted slew of other measures, including banning gatherings of more than 100 people, shutting schools, and suspending major cultural and sporting events. Restaurants are limited to less than 50 people at time, no alcohol can be served after 6pm, while peddling of fake news will attract a six-month jail term. Lagos challenge In Lagos, Africa's biggest city, authorities faced an immediate challenge in implementing limits on religious gatherings decreed just a day earlier. At the Zawiyat Sofwat El-Islam mosque, in a rundown part of the city, religious leaders struggled to restrict numbers gathered outside -- eventually the gates were flung open and around a thousand worshippers entered. Muslim faithful at Friday prayers in the National Mosque in Abuja, Nigeria's capital. By Kola Sulaimon (AFP) The service proceeded swiftly, lasting less than 30 minutes. The chief imam announced the cancellation of a special Sunday service and directed the faithful to observe it in their homes. "I am here despite coronavirus to offer prayers to God. The Almighty Allah is the giver and taker of life. We should all pray and ask Him to take this strange disease from the world," said Alhaja Basirat Okeowo. Health officials in Lagos meanwhile reported cases of poisoning by chloroquine caused by self-medication, after US President Donald Trump touted the anti-malarial drug as a potential treatment for the virus. East Africa tightens measures In East Africa, Kenya, which has announced no new cases in two days, scaled up measures, ordering bars to shut by 7:30pm from Monday. Supermarkets are being urged to limit numbers of shoppers, implement queue management, open for 24 hours and offer delivery services. "Our actions this coming week... will determine whether we shall go into a full blown crisis with grave human and economic consequences, or whether we shall limit the adverse impacts of this disease, save lives and reduce the impact to our economy," said Health Minister Mutahi Kagwe. Uganda, host to some 1.4 million asylum seekers, has blocked entry to further arrivals over the next 30 days. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, a sprawling country the size of continental western Europe, 18 cases were reported as of Friday, all of them in the capital Kinshasa, a rise of four over Thursday. DRC music stars Fally Ipupa and Koffi Olomide on Friday posted videos on Twitter urging the public not to exchange kisses and handshakes and to wash their hands. burs-sn/ri In the aftermath of the abrogation of Article 370, security forces ensured that the backbone of terrorism is broken with a significant dip in the number of foreign terrorists infiltrating into the valley. Terrorist groups like LeT, JeM and Hizbul have now been relying on overground workers to ramp up recruitment. On Saturday, Jammu and Kashmir Police had a big victory nabbing two persons who were involved in radicalisation of youth in the valley. READ | Farooq Abdullah donates Rs. 1 crore to combat COVID-19 outbreak in Jammu & Kashmir Republic TV has learned that Shopian Police on Saturday arrested one Irfan Ahmed Kuttey and Aadil Bashir Lone. According to the police, Irfan, a resident of Chotipora Sedow, was radicalising youth in the nearby areas to join banned terrorist outfit LeT. Irfan Kuttey had motivated Adil Bashir Lone to join LeT and further the activities of this banned terror outfit. READ | Coronavirus Outbreak: Strict restrictions imposed in Kashmir, markets shut After receiving input about Irfans movements, Shopian Police multiple teams and apprehended Irfan and Aadil. At the time of this article being published, both the accused were being questioned by multiple agencies. Preliminary information gathered by Republic TV reveals that the duo admitted before Shopian Police were working as co-conspirators of terrorists in plotting terror crimes. A case has been registered under Sections 18, 39 ULAP Act. READ | Afghanistan, Maldives pledge $1.2 million to SAARC Coronavirus Emergency Fund Irfan Kuttey has admitted that he has worked as OGW for terrorist Zubair Turray and was introduced to him by one Shahid Islam Naikoo. Shahid is currently in the custody of J&K Police as he has been detained under the Public Safety Act. He has also admitted that he was in constant touch with his handler in Pakistan through applications like Telegram, Vpole. He had got direction from an unknown terrorist to recruit Adil Bashir Lone to the ranks of LeT. Shopian Police also recovered an AK-47 after Irfan Kuttey disclosed that he hid the weapon in a cowshed. Adil Bashir Lone who was also questioned by multiple security agencies has revealed that he on is own will wanted to join a terrorist outfit. In November 2019, he came in contact with one foreign terrorist Waleed with whom he expressed his desire to join terror rank. According to Lone, Wales took his contact number and asked him to wait till the time he receives a call from his person. Nearly after one-month Aadil Bashir Lone received one WhatsApp call from +92 number and got a confirmation of his recruitment. Irfan received a call from the same Pakistani number giving him the task of recruiting Lone. READ | South Asia: Several countries order closures and curfews in an attempt to stop Coronavirus Autos and taxis will be off roads in the national capital on Sunday as several unions have extended support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for a 'Janta Curfew' in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. Several unions including the Delhi Autorickshaw Sangh, Delhi Pradesh Taxi Union, Delhi Auto Taxi Transport Congress Union and Delhi Taxi Tourist Transport Association, have decided to join the curfew from 7am to 10pm on Sunday. The prime minister acknowledging this initiative said that the fight against corona epidemic will receive a boost due to it. "This initiative will give new strength to the fight of the countrymen against corona epidemic," he tweeted in Hindi. General Secretary of Delhi Autorickshaw Sangh Rajendra Soni said all unions affiliated to the Bhartiya Majdoor Sangh will join the curfew. "We have appealed all our members, including those of Delhi Autorickshaw Sangh and Delhi Pradesh Taxi Union, to refrain from taking out their vehicles during Janta Curfew on Sunday," Soni said. He said it was a duty of each citizen to stop the virus spread and contribute to the efforts of the government towards this end. President of Delhi Taxi Tourist Transport Association Sanjay Samrat said his union welcomed the curfew as it will check the spread of the virus. He said the curfew should be extended till March 31 and urged the prime minister for financial help to people earning their livelihood on a daily basis. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Phoebe Tonkin is one of Australia's most well-known acting exports. And the 30-year-old revealed that she likes to recycle clothing and she hopes to one day pass on her clothes and boots to her children. The actress, whose first break was in the kids series H2O: Just Add Water, told Stellar on Sunday: 'I've never been someone who loves to own a lot of things.' 'I want to have things that last': Phoebe Tonkin (pictured) revealed to Stellar on Satuday why she doesn't 'own a lot of things' and hopes to pass on her clothing to her future children She explained that as some who travels around the world often she physically cannot own much. 'When I do choose to buy something, I don't want to replace it. I want to have things that last,' she added. Phoebe, who is the first female ambassador for R.M. Williams boots, spoke highly of the quality, craftsmanship and lasting power of the footwear brand which was established in 1932. Old boots! Phoebe, who is the first female ambassador for R.M. Williams boots, said: 'I hope to pass on my R.M. Williams boots to my kids, and I know they will be around then' adding that she hoped to have a pair of the shoes for 45 years She also said she has heard of people who send their boots back to the company after 45 years to have them repaired and hopes to do the same one day. The Vampire Diaries star said: 'I hope to pass on my R.M. Williams boots to my kids, and I know they will be around then.' She added that the 'recyclability' of the boots was great factor of the brand, instead of spending more. Self isolation: This comes after Phoebe recently revealed to Pedestrian how she is keeping herself occupied while indoors and in self isolation amid the coronavirus pandemic This comes after Phoebe recently revealed to Pedestrian how she is keeping herself occupied while indoors and in self isolation amid the coronavirus pandemic. She said has been keeping in touch with her friends through group chats and they have also planned a Pilate's work out session on FaceTime. The Safe Harbour star also encouraged others to work from home if they can. A generation ago, trekking in Madagascar or climbing remote glaciers was unthinkable. The world has since become smaller. But as horizons widen, there are signs of growing environmental responsibility. Copenhagen aims to become the world's first carbon-neutral capital city by 2025 and, last year, Ireland got its first certified carbon-neutral hotel (Hotel Doolin in Co Clare). Around the globe, more hotel chains are moving to replace single-use plastics, and growing numbers of guests are looking to travel sustainably. But for the delightfully eclectic Saorsa 1875, this is about more than just pandering to the green zeitgeist. This small, family-run hotel is inviting you to experience an entire way of life. The rating: 8/10. Arrival & Location Expand Close 'Whiskey or Not Whiskey' menu: Saorsa bar / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp 'Whiskey or Not Whiskey' menu: Saorsa bar Located 30 minutes from the Scottish ski slopes and five miles from author JK Rowling's 162-acre estate, the hotel opened last year on a gentle hill overlooking the tiny village of Pitlochry. A vision of 27-year-old Jack McLaren-Stewart and his parents Sandra and John (all committed vegans), the three-star Baronial-style business is named after the Gaelic for Freedom and the year it was built. Surrounded protectively by a cluster of wiry Scots pines, its eye-catching scarlet apexes startle against dappled skies. On arrival we're greeted in the tiled entrance hall by the inquisitive brown bundle that is Roxy, the owner's Spanish Water Dog. Her pal Lizzie, a rescue pup, follows behind. Both dogs (vegan of course) are mentioned repeatedly as part of the charm of Saorsa 1875 in the overflowing-with-positivity visitor's book. 8/10 Service & Style Expand Close The restaurant at Saorsa 1875 / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The restaurant at Saorsa 1875 This charm extends to the interiors. The house is quirky and opulent, with a wood-and-candlelight welcome. A book at reception labelled 'Open me' is a copy of Alice in Wonderland with a service bell tucked inside. Animal themes abound. Dotted up the sweeping staircase, gold monkeys happily hold up lampshades and flamingos wear top hats. It is an eclectic luxury that reflects the family's global travels. Think soft greens and greys, high ornate ceilings and mismatched high-end furniture made for lolling with a book. A roaring fire and high panelled windows give it a more luxurious country-club feel. 9/10 The Rooms Expand Close A bedroom at Saorsa 1875 / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A bedroom at Saorsa 1875 The raison d'etre for Saorsa 1875 is the extraordinary passion of the McLaren-Stewart family for ethical travel as well as lifestyle. And you can see that philosophy reflected everywhere with vim and vigour. The toilet roll, for example, is by Who Gives A Crap - a company providing toilets in developing economies (whogivesacrap.org). The hotel plants a tree for every dinner served. All energy is by Ecotricity - a Vegan Society-approved energy provider. In the bedrooms, toiletries are made by The Highland Soap Company, the wild nettle and heather hand-foraged locally. There are 11 individually styled rooms, most facing onto a landing at the top of the wooden staircase. Each is named after an endangered Scottish species. We stayed in Lynx, a bright room with bold, statement walls. None of the bedrooms contain wool or silk, bed linen is 100pc organic cotton and pillows are microfibre. True escapism triumphs with the deliberate lack of televisions throughout, and cleverly placed mirrors offer still more Through-The-Looking-Glass vibes. We found the bathroom draughty, but the powerful shower distracted nicely. Sleep came deeply to the lullaby of nearby Loch Faskally. 7/10 Food & Drink Expand Close Vegan dining at Saorsa 1875 / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Vegan dining at Saorsa 1875 Food and drink are exquisite: locally sourced, lovingly cooked, communally served. Visitors can relish the candlelit dining room with fellow guests sharing vegan recipes and swapping how-we-came-to-be-here tales. It's important to know that not every visitor is vegan. Curious carnivores (like me) and vegan toe-dippers concurred that the grilled romaine and sea lettuce with fried capers and pickled lemon was sublime. The five-course tasting menu (45) also included spinach and ricotta berlingot with roasted tomato sauce (as well as the loveliest apple tartin I've ever eaten). Life stories exchanged, the hotel's guests, as well as those visiting for dinner, retired en masse to the living room fire to sip Arnold Holzer Invaders Orange wine (35 a bottle) while the dogs slept by our feet. 10/10 Insider tip For breakfast, marvel at the vegan croissant's miraculous butter-free flakiness. Separately, the menu at a dispensary-style bar tucked into a drawing-room nook reads 'Whiskey and 'Not Whiskey.' Try the Ginger Laddie, an ice-clinking delight of Bruichladdich classic laddie, port charlotte, Oloroso Sherry, Sweet Vermouth and Orange bitters (10). Local 101 Come in October to experience the magic of The Enchanted Forest. The pioneering sound and light show is set amidst the woodland trails of the Perthshire Highland. Expect Scottish music, fairy hunts and shimmering light displays around the River Tummel. The Bottom Line Expand Close The lounge area at Saorsa 1875 / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The lounge area at Saorsa 1875 After 24 hours absorbing the unique experience that is Saorsa 1875, I'm surprised at the depth of commitment by so many guests to a more sustainable break away. The feeling that you are entering the family's own home might not be for everyone, but for us, it set the experience apart. The hotel is part stately manor, part playground for the earth-minded, part passionate vegan supper-club, a Scottish hideaway that has managed to successfully marry tourism with veganism and sustainability with escapism. Expect to see a rise in such pioneering hotels, with the ins and outs of daily operations considered from the outset. My advice? Let yourself fall down its rabbit hole. Rates Rooms from 130; suites between 180-230 B&B. +44 1796 475 217; saorsahotel.com The Indian market witnessed one of its worst weeks since the 2008 market crash as benchmark indices plunged more than 12 percent each while the bigger cut was seen in the BSE Small-cap index which plunged 14 percent, and the Mid-cap index fell nearly 12 percent for the week ended March 20. Tracking global selloff, investors loses more than Rs 13 lakh crore in a week. The average market capitalisation of the BSE-listed companies fell from Rs 129.26 lakh crore registered on March 13, to Rs 116.09 lakh crore as on March 20. More than 90 percent of the stocks in the S&P BSE 500 index gave negative returns. As many as 313 stocks in the BSE500 index fell 10-50 percent. This included names such as Eicher Motors, MRF, Tata Coffee, Granules India, V-Mart, Uco Bank, Godrej Properties, Can Fin Homes Titan Company and Future Lifestyle among others. The Nifty50 broke below crucial support levels as foreign institutional investors I(FIIs) pull out more than Rs 50,000 crore from the cash segment of Indian equity markets, provisional data showed. COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show "Investors have been liquidating in favour of holding cash, with asset classes from Gold to Government bonds getting affected. FIIs have also contributed to the downtrend in Indian markets, turning net sellers to the tune of around Rs 48,000 crore in March till date," Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services told Moneycontrol. "The unabated spread of COVID-19 and the extent of its impact continue to worry investors. The fear of a global recession turned into reality after rating agencies forecasted much lower global growth rate," he said. Note: Here is a list of top 50 companies out of 300 which have fallen 10-50 percent in a week Markets across the globe witnessed massive selling which was largely triggered by the fear of a possible recession as highlighted by Morgan Stanley and other international organisation as a rising spread of COVID-19 cases across the world threaten to slow down economic activity. Although major central banks around the world have announced several measures to cushion the economic impact of COVID-19 in their countries, ranging from rate cuts to liquidity boosters to cash in hand proposals, which so far have not been enough to calm the markets. Investors look for a cure that could help calm investors nerves. Consolidation ahead? Looking at the relentless fall in the equity markets, investors are looking for signs of consolidation. A steady rise on March 20 and steps taken by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to curb volatility are in the right direction which could curb volatility, say experts. "When other economies resorting to ban on short sell on account of increased volatility, such a move by SEBI should provide some relief on the overall volatility witnessed in the markets and should calm in the markets in the short term," Vijay Kuppa, Co-Founder, Orowealth told Moneycontrol. The Nifty50 rallied nearly 500 points to close above 8,700 on March 20 while the S&P BSE Sensex rose more than 1,600 points. But, both benchmark indices hit a fresh three-year low in the week gone by. With F&O expiry due on March 26, the market is likely to remain volatile, and big short-covering rally is expected due to SEBI move, suggest experts. Dipan Mehta at Elixir Equities also told CNBC-TV18, "It was a global practice; the SEBI has now taken this decision to control the fall in F&O as well as F&O stocks." "Short covering is certainly possible in several stocks, but the market will react to global cues; how Europe and the US close on March 20, and how Asian markets and SGX Nifty behave on March 23 along with fundamentals," he said. Tracking selloff in global equities, both Sensex and Nifty witnessed selling pressure on every rise or a pullback rally, and the rally on March 20 suggests that we could be entering some consolidation but, have hit a bottom? Maybe not. "Sensex and Nifty witnessed sharp cuts in the week gone by. It was a global phenomenon that was visible across the developed and the emerging markets. Nevertheless, a bottom is not in sight yet," Gaurav Ratnaparkhi, Senior Technical Analyst, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas told Moneycontrol. "What we can expect is a consolidation before the markets stretch further on the downside. However considering the magnitude of the fall the consolidation itself can be significantly broad," he added. In the case of Nifty, 8,000-7,800 is a crucial support zone, which is near 78.6 percent retracement of the rally post 2016 low. "Over there the index has entered a short term consolidation mode that was needed to relieve pressure from the deeply oversold short term momentum indicators," said Ratnaparkhi. He further added that on the higher side, "9,000 is the key resistance that can keep the bounce in check. Thus I am expecting a consolidation in the next week, which can unfold in the wide range of 8,000-9,000." : The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on Moneycontrol.com are their own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions. Paula White cites Old Testament plague to urge believers to call on God: Coronavirus can be stopped Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment President Donald Trumps spiritual adviser, Paula White-Cain, called on Christians to continue praying for an end to the coronavirus pandemic Sunday and referenced the plague God sent on the Israelites for a failed rebellion against His chosen leader, Moses, and his brother, Aaron. Trump proclaimed last Sunday the "National Day of Prayer for all Americans Affected by the Coronavirus Pandemic and for our National Response Efforts," which saw White and several other high-profile evangelical supporters offering prayers against the virus that has infected more than 14,000 people in the U.S. as of Friday evening and killed more than 200. When a civil leader of great authority calls for the church, calls for the church to pray, calls for the church to fast, we cannot sit in our seats as usual as if its another Sunday. We have an opportunity for God to divinely intervene. And I believe that God is the God of the supernatural, that God in sovereignty is not a God in panic or chaos or in confusion. God has answers, White said in her message on Sunday. She urged her congregation to pray for an end to the pandemic just like Moses prayed for an end to the plague in Numbers 16. We even see in the book of Numbers a very different situation. There was a prayer that stopped the plague. Now the plague was different. It was a plague of rebellion. But no less it was still a plague. You see it in Numbers 16 and I believe in the same way if we call on God almighty to divinely intervene just as He does so many times, that the plague can be stopped, she said. In Numbers 16, referenced by White, Korah who is connected to the tribe of Levi, leads a rebellion against Moses and Aaron, accusing them of exalting themselves above the congregation of the Lord (Numbers 16:1-3). He gathered 250 other men to be a part of his rebellion, suggesting he could do a better job of leading the congregation than Moses. Moses proposed a test to prove the source of his authority was God and Korah and his followers failed. God opened up the earth and swallowed the rebels, their families, and all their possessions. The people, however, remained unconvinced that Moses and Aaron were Gods chosen and began complaining that they had killed the LORDs people. God threatened to destroy the people in the camp for their rebellion and sent a plague among them. Moses and Aaron interceded for the rebels, however, and averted the catastrophe. Still, 14,700 Israelites died before the plague was stopped. When the plague hits, watch what happens to real leaders. Real leaders dont stand back and watch and say Oh good and say oh wel,l this is whats deserved Real leaders fall on their face for all people, for Democrat and Republican, for white, black and brown , White said. In a follow-up message on Facebook Live Tuesday, White-Cain urged her audience to support the efforts of the government to stem the spread of the coronavirus. She also asked them to continue support the work of the church as well. I want you to say 15 days, 15 days because if we all do our part as churches, as businesses, as families, as people, and use just practical common-sense, in 15 days we can help flatten that curve instead of see it spike. We care about the well-being and health of all Americans. And while we are tackling and hoping we make rapid advances from the spreading of this coronavirus, its still something that we see very real, very tangible impacting us, she said. No one knows to the full extent but we certainly know that our leadership through President Trump, Vice President Pence and the task force, the CDC and others are making a huge difference. She later added: Churches do so much. Not just from a humanitarian standpoint but the greatest thing we do is bring spiritual truths that transform. What we do as ministers of the Gospel is so vitally important because every single day we are a hospital to the sick, not necessarily the physical sick, though we also help take care of that. Many churches have health centers, etc. But we are hospitals for those who are soul sick. Those who are spiritually sick. La compagnie daviation a publie un communique special en fin de soiree du 20 mars 2020 pour aviser que trois vols speciaux seront fait pour le rapatriement des Mauriciens bloques en terre etrangere. Air Mauritius has been granted special authorization by Mauritian authorities to operate specific inbound flights and carry passengers to Mauritius. The following is an extract of the authorization notice: A special authorisation is hereby being granted to allow entry into Mauritius of Mauritian nationals, residents, their spouse and children on Air Mauritius flights MK749 from Mumbai, MK852 from Johannesburg and MK053 from London of Saturday 21 March 2020. All passengers who are allowed entry into Mauritius on the above flights will be placed in quarantine on arrival in Mauritius. Air Mauritius also wishes to inform the public that it is monitoring the situation and will adapt its operations according to new developments. We are complying fully with local and international health directives relative to the Covid-19 outbreak and applying the highest standards of health and safety. Since the deadly coronavirus hit countries around the world more than 244,500 people have been infected and more than 10,000 have died. After more than 3,200 confirmed cases of coronavirus cropped up and around 160 were killed, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson instructed all public institutions and places of gathering to shut their doors. Three foreign nationals under observation have tested positive for coronavirus on Friday, taking the total number of cases to six in Tamil Nadu, State Health Minister C Vijaya Baskar said. While two are from Thailand, the other is from New Zealand, the minister said. "Three positive cases confirmed, 2 Thai nationals and one from New Zealand. Patients are undergoing treatment in isolation," he tweeted. The Health minister said all the six positive cases reported were "imported cases from different regions with travel history and not community transmitted." "New cases were already quarantined and in our radar," he said. Screening has been stepped up at all ports of arrival including Railways besides domestic arrivals at the airport and inter-state borders. According to the Health department on March 7, the state reported its first confirmed COVID-19 case, a 45-year-old engineer who returned from Oman. However, he has recovered and was discharged from the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital here. The other two confirmed cases are a 20-year-old man from New Delhi and a student from Dublin. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak a homemaker in West Bengal's South Dinajpur district has been making masks and distributing these for free among local people to counter black marketers. A resident of Mohonto Para in Balurghat's ward number 1, Puja Das, has made the masks with tissue papers and cloth bags. "The cost of making one mask is Rs 5," Puja Das said. This much can be done for the people, she said. She also said that she started making the masks soon after all kinds of masks vanished from Balurghat as a result of coronavirus scare. Meanwhile, officials of the health department of South Dinajpur district lauded the woman's effort to help people in view of the scare due to coronavirus outbreak. "We respect and thank her for the effort," an official of the department said, adding, wearing masks is not mandatory for everyone. The police have been raiding various shops in Balurghat to stop hoarding of masks. The Deputy Superintendent of Police of Balurghat Sadar, Dhiman Mitra, is continuously raiding various shops in urban and rural areas to nab the people hoarding the masks. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Crisp, buttery crust meets luscious, lemony filling in tarte au citron, a bakery favorite that's easy to make at home This time of year, youll find sunny lemon tarts on display at every bakery in France. The tarte au citron, a combination of a buttery, delicately crisp crust encasing a sweet-tart, lemony filling, is one of Frances favorite dessertsespecially in the thick of citrus season. At once rich with butter and bright with seasonal citrus, its the perfect dessert to transition from winter to spring. The good news is you dont have to be a French baker to master this classic. Tarte au citron is an elegant dessert that relies on simple ingredients and easy techniques. Cloudy Origins The tarte au citron is a cornerstone of the French baking repertoire, but the question of its origin has fueled a culinary battle between the French and the English. We do know lemons were first introduced to France in the 15th century, brought back on ships from the Silk Road. They were used on those expeditions to cure scurvy. Frances first lemon plantations were established in the town of Menton, on the French Riviera, and the first lemon-centric desserts were supposedly invented around that time. Later in the 19th century, rumor has it lemon tarts were often served to French royalty for dessert, as they were a symbol of wealth and generosity. On the other hand, the English argue that it was the Protestant Quakers in England who invented lemon curd in the 18th century. The recipe then traveled to North America, where the first lemon tart with a pastry base and lemon custard was believed to have been created in 1806, by Philadelphia cook Elizabeth Goodwell. A French- or English-born dessert? The question remains. Despite its unclear origins, its safe to say that the tarte au citron rose to fame in the 1960s, when sibling chefs Michel and Albert Roux of Londons Michelin-starred restaurant Le Gavroche made it one of their signature desserts. Their take on the pastry won over patrons, including food writer Lindsey Bareham, who helped make the tarte au citron famous around the country, and then around the world. Now, bakers each have their own twist on the famous tart and its iconic lemon filling: sharp or mellow tasting, firm or soft in texture, topped with an eye-catching meringue or left unadornednature (nah-toor), as the French would say. In France, the most popular version is most definitely meringue-less, allowing the bright yellow filling to shine on its own. In comparison to other countries versions, a classic French tarte au citron isnt as deep, eitherthere is less filling, but it usually is more intense in flavor. You will find it more often served in thin slivers, rather than big trembling slabs. Breaking It Down Like many French desserts, I like to think that the making of a classic tarte au citron isnt very complex, but it has to be done right: with a delicate pate sucree, and a lemon filling made rich with butter and eggsno cornstarch, a common but inauthentic crutch. With only two components, the tart is simple to make, but you need to find the perfect balance for each: the crust should be buttery and crisp, yet not too crumbly; and the filling must be smooth and lemony, neither too sweet nor too tart. The Crust: Pate Sucree Ask any French baker and theyll tell you that tarte au citron cant be made with just any crust, it must be made with a pate sucree. A pate sucree is a sweet, crumbly French pastry that is usually used for tarts featuring cream or custards. Compared to classic pie crusts, it has a higher fat content, resulting in a more crisp and delicate texture and a shortbread cookie-like taste. It is also sweeter and often includes some ground almonds for nutty notes, which helps balance the tartness of the lemon filling. Because a pate sucree contains quite a lot of butter, it needs to be chilled twice: for at least two hours before rolling it out, then at least 30 minutes once rolled out in the tart shell, prior to baking. Take into account these chill times before you plan on making your tart. You can also prepare the dough the day before and keep it refrigerated, wrapped in plastic wrap, for up to 24 hours. The Filling: Lemon Custard A custard is indeed the proper way to describe the filling. It holds its shape, but is softer than that of other lemon pies you might have encounteredalmost jammy, I would say. Its also far richer and more luscious than its American cousin, thanks to the inclusion of a generous amount of butterit is a French tart, after all. Knowing that, youll understand why you dont need a meringue to complete it. The filling is quick and simple to make, and done in just one saucepan on the stovetop. Never stop whisking while it cooks, so it doesnt stick to the bottom of the pan. Stop when just creamy; it will firm up as it cools down. Once filled, the tart simply goes in the oven for five minutes to finish. The custard will set and turn a deep, beautiful, sunshine yellow. Tarte au Citron This tarte au citron recipe includes both the juice and zest of the lemons, so use organic lemons if possible. Choose the plumpest, juiciest ones you can find and wash them thoroughly before zesting. I like my filling very lemony, so I use the zest of two whole lemons. If youre a bit more shy, you can use the zest of 11 1/2 lemons instead. Enjoy the tart slightly warm for a softer, creamier filling, or let it chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours for a firmer consistency. Makes one 9-inch tart For the pate sucree: 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cubed and at room temperature 3/4 cup powdered sugar 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon almond flour 1 large egg 1 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon salt For the lemon filling: 1 cup lemon juice (from about 67 organic lemons) Zest of 2 organic lemons 3/4 cup sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup unsalted butter, cubed 4 large eggs, plus 4 large egg yolks Make the pate sucree. In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer or spatula to combine the butter and powdered sugar until smooth and creamy. Add the vanilla extract, almond flour, and egg, and mix until homogeneous. Add the all-purpose flour and salt, and mix until just incorporated and the dough comes together into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours, and up to 24 hours. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch fluted tart pan. Take the pate sucree out of the fridge and unwrap the plastic. Place the dough between two large sheets of parchment paper and roll it out to a 12-inch circle. Peel off the top sheet of parchment paper, flip the crust over into the prepared tart pan, and peel off the second sheet of parchment. Trim the edges of the crust to fit the pan, if needed, and poke the bottom of the crust all over with a fork. Line the top of the crust with foil or parchment paper and fill with pie weights or dried beans, to keep the crust from puffing while baking. Bake the pate sucree for 20 minutes. Carefully remove the parchment paper filled with weights and bake for 10 more minutes, until the edges of the crust are golden. Set the tart shell aside to cool (still in the pan). Leave your oven on at 350 degrees F. In the meantime, make the lemon filling. Before you start, grab a fine-mesh strainer and have it ready within arms reach. In a medium saucepan (no heat yet), whisk together the lemon juice, lemon zest, sugar, salt, eggs, and egg yolks. Add the cubed butter and turn the heat on to medium. Whisk slowly until the butter is all melted. Continue whisking continuously for several minutes until the mixture thickens to the consistency of a thin custard. It should coat the back of a spoon and leave a clear trail if you run a spoon or spatula through it. Immediately pass the lemon filling through the fine mesh strainer, directly into the tart shell. Using an offset spatula (or the back of a large spoon), smooth out the top of the filling. Bake the tart for 6 minutes, until the filling has slightly set and turned slightly deeper yellow in color. Let cool for at least 30 minutes before serving. Audrey Le Goff is a French food writer, photographer, and creator of the food blog Pardon Your French, where she shares recipes and stories from her beloved home country, France. She is the author of the cookbook Rustic French Cooking Made Easy (2019). She currently lives in Niagara, Canada. Follow her on Instagram @pardonyourfrench The Jamia Administrative Staff Association (JASA) has condemned the letter written by Professor Ramakrishna Ramaswamy to the President Ram Nath Kovind questioning the appointment of Prof Najma Akhtar as the Vice-Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) University. "In response to the write-up published in a daily, on March 17, we, the members of Jamia Administrative Staff Association (JASA), condemn Professor Ramakrishna Ramaswamy's tendentious letter which he wrote to the President of India who happens to be the Visitor of Jamia Millia Islamia, a Central University, New Delhi," read the release by JASA. "Admissible and justifiable by no scrupulous standard, his letter brazenly questions the legitimacy of the appointment of Professor Najma Akhtar as the Vice-Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia. Moreover, the letter also poses a serious challenge to the decision and discretion of the President of India," it read.. JASA further claimed that Prof Ramaswamy was "himself one of the members of the Selection Committee which recommended the name of Prof Najma Akhat for the appointment of VC of JMI." The Association also praised the work done by the VC Prof Najma Akhtar during her ongoing tenure and further added, "It is not surprising that her success in running the university has caused anxiety among a very small group of disgruntled elements who finds the current administration striking at the roots of their vested interest. This group is trying to foment troubles in the campus through a concerted effort of mobilizing forces, within and outside the university, that are inimical to the interest and growth of the university." Speaking about the selection process, JASA said that Prof Najma Akhtar had been appointed as the first lady VC of JMI after a rigorous selection process which saw her being selected amongst 107 applicants. The Association also demanded the Executive Council of JMI to file a defamation suit against Prof Ramaswamy for the "blatantly prejudiced act". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Eric Adams, holding a picture of his late mother, is sworn in as New York mayor during the New Years celebration in Times Square. (Reuters) In his first 10 days, Eric Adams has veered between swagger and tragedy, praise and criticism, as he begins leading the nations largest city. Add telemedicine to the lists of ways your life might change during the coronavirus pandemic. Hospitals are strained. The doctors office is a Petri dish of germs. And everyone is being told to stay home and at least six feet away from other people. But rashes still break out, stomach pains and sniffles come and go, and kids still fall and sprain their ankles. Patients like never before are turning to telemedicine, or virtual healthcare, to connect with doctors and nurses without leaving their homes. The coronavirus is prompting people, in droves, to take advantage of a service that has been available for years. Telehealth companies are estimating that at least half their visits in the last two weeks have been first-time virtual patients. Companies say their call volume has doubled, or more, in recent weeks. Some experts estimate virtual visits across the U.S. will rise from 50,000 to 100,000 daily. Doctors have been experimenting with the technology for years; some providers including in rural areas rely on telemedicine. The Syracuse VA Hospital lists dozens of services on its website -- from diabetes counseling to cardiologist check-ups -- offered to veterans in far-flung places across Central and Northern New York. More recently, insurers and even municipalities have offered virtual health care. Before the coronavirus pandemic, Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon said in his annual speech he wanted to partner with a virtual ER to cut down on Medicaid costs. Some insurers, like UnitedHealthcare have created their own portals for telehealth visits. Others have partnered with companies such as Teledoc, which works with major insurers including Aetna and Molina Healthcare. Central New Yorks largest insurer has been urging patients with minor illnesses to use telemedicine as an alternative to the emergency room for a few years now. Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield partners with the telehealth provider MDLIVE, which for the last several days has run a banner across the top of its website indicating longer wait times and increased call volume. Teledoc alone reported it saw a 50% spike in call volume in the last two weeks, reaching as many as 15,000 visits requested per day. Statistics like those indicate the coronavirus pandemic might make online doctors appointments ubiquitous for the first time in the U.S. Experts say telemedicine is getting a chance to prove how useful it can be. Thats not just for consultations or appointments that seem to translate seamlessly online -- but for all types of medicine -- even, or perhaps especially, in emergencies. Triage In 2014, a physicians assistant and a doctor who both work in hospital emergency departments in Upstate New York started what they believe is the countrys first "virtual ER. Keith Algozzine, CEO and co-founder of United Concierge Medicine based in Troy, said he and his partner Dr. Michael Bibighaus always recognized that about 10% of their work would need to be performed in person. Yet 90% of Algozzines job as a PA, he said, was not mending gunshot wounds or responding to heart attacks. The real specialty of emergency medical providers, he said, is triage. Algozzine says UCMs model shows how the process of evaluating a patient and determining to whom or where they need to go for treatment, can and even should happen online. UCM about two years ago expanded its presence in Central New York, adding the Syracuse Fire Department and CenterstateCEO as clients. Employees of SFD and Centerstate can log into UCM for virtual evaluations, diagnosis and even treatment. Through online visits, the team can order labs, X-rays, referrals to specialists or prescriptions. United Concierge Medicine co-founder and CEO Keith Algozzine speaks at the announcement of his company's partnership with Rensselaer County and insurer CDPHP. Algozzine helped launch an "ER Anywhere" with the county that allows Medicaid members to access online emergency physicians 24/7. (Provided Photo) UCM has seen massive growth, starting with its first ER Anywhere in Rensselaer County where the company is based, and expanding across the country and in the Capital Region, where all Medicaid members have access to the service. This week, UCM announced partnerships with two leading New York insurers, MVP Health Care and CDPHP. Members insured by those companies now have access to physicians at no additional cost, 24/7 from the comfort of their homes. Officials from the insurers said they contracted with UCM to help patients and reduce the strain on local hospitals and doctors. The technology will triage patients to the most appropriate point of service, keeping local medical centers safe and ensure that all patients get the appropriate and timely service they need, MVP officials said in a statement. Algozzine said UCM has seen an explosion in patients use of their services in the last two weeks as the coronavirus spread to the U.S. and became a global pandemic. Virtual visits are up 1,000% in two weeks time, Algozzine said. In a normal healthcare state, not a national healthcare crisis, this is immensely needed, Algozzine said, noting how high the stakes typically are when someone is considering whether to go to the emergency room. In this situation, in a public health crisis, it is just beyond critical. You really do not want to make the wrong decision. You need someone with emergency medicine expertise. Tipping Point UCM sees itself as a critical tool to help an already stretched-thin health-care system. Algozzine said as UCM expands, it plugs into local health-care networks, hospitals, ambulance services, 911 centers, the local Department of Social Services. He said UCM is not an alternative to the existing medical system, but a tool to enhance it, hopefully relieving the burdens on hospitals and 911 responders. Many people turn to these entities if they dont have general practitioners or arent sure what to do, Algozzine notes. Weve all been there: A child wakes up at 2 a.m. with a high fever, or someone isnt sure a bone is broken. Sometimes its less urgent. Mei Kwong, the executive director of the telehealth-focused nonprofit Center for Connected Health Policy, spent 2 1/2 hours in a doctors office waiting room with a relative who had a major surgery. Once inside the examination room, the doctor just had to review the patients MRI results with him. The appointment took all of two minutes. Kwong said thats an example of when a virtual appointment could be really convenient, for both patient and doctor. There are certain things that are just going to need to happen in person, right? You cant draw blood online, Kwong said. Telehealth is not replacing the provider. It is another tool in the providers toolkit." During the coronavirus, its an essential tool. Kwong said she thought telehealth is at a tipping point," as providers report a huge influx of patients seeking virtual options during the coronavirus pandemic. While health experts emphasize how the virus and the subsequent need for social distancing underscore what a helpful tool virtual healthcare can be, legal experts say the coronavirus also importantly cleared the way of any legal barriers to telemedicine. State and federal agencies have temporarily lifted many regulations on telemedicine, Barclay Damon health-care lawyer Bridget Steele said. For example, New York has expanded which telephone communications are reimbursable by Medicaid, Steele said. She emphasized that federal and state agencies are rapidly releasing new guidance on telemedicine. New York state officials, who broadly instructed insurers to cover telemedicine visits and waive copays, have said they want to ensure there are no regulatory barriers to telehealth during the coronavirus crisis. Helping people at the right place, right time Algozzine, the ER Anywhere CEO, said United Concierge Medicine is ready to take on more patients in response to the coronavirus pandemic. UCM is hiring emergency medicine providers rapidly, he said. The company is prepared to scale up its operations as needed. UCM has reached out to municipalities around the county to offer its services, to supplement hospitals and 911 centers that are preparing for a wave of COVID-19 cases. That includes Onondaga County, which has urged residents to seek out telehealth options during the crisis. But UCM was on County Executive McMahons radar long before coronavirus seemed to be a threat to residents here. In his February State of the County speech, McMahon vowed to put together a telemedicine partnership to help the overall system save money. He gave a nod to UCMs service in Rensselaer County, with its virtual app that provides care within minutes rather than hours ... triage of acute issues can be addressed rapidly. McMahon said he saw telemedicine as a solution to address the overuse of emergency rooms for what is otherwise considered routine care. Thats exactly what Algozzine sought to tackle when he found UCM. Most people dont realize that our emergency medical system is on the verge of peril. There is only a finite number of resources, but there is already way too much demand on those resources. Even in good times, if you call 911 and an ambulance is taking a bruised knee to the hospital, that might mean that someone having a heart attack or stroke has to wait 20 minutes for an ambulance, and then they die. So why wouldnt that 911 call be transferred directly to us so we can do something better for that patient with a bruised knee than send an ambulance? Seeing the bright side of the current crisis, Algozzine hopes the urgency of the present situation leads more people to telehealth. If it was up to him, it would already be a ubiquitous tool, he said. We want people to get the right care at the right place at the right time." Advice for patients: How to see a doctor without leaving your house Public Affairs Reporter Julie McMahon covers courts, government, education and sometimes fun stuff like treasure hunters. She can be reached anytime: Email | Twitter | 315-412-1992 Thanks for visiting Syracuse.com. Quality local journalism has never been more important, and your subscription matters. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work Sorry! This content is not available in your region ABC News Former President Donald Trump, his sister Maryanne Trump Barry and the estate of his late brother Robert Trump tried on Tuesday to convince a New York judge to dismiss a lawsuit by Mary Trump that accused her family of swindling her out of at least $10 million. Attorneys for the Trump siblings argued Mary Trump's claims are time-barred by a six-year statute of limitations and prohibited by legal releases she signed in 2001 when the family settled the estate of Fred Trump Sr., the former president's father. The Trumps also argued Mary Trump possessed "boxes and boxes of information" about the estate settlement that should have given rise to any claims at the time. Samaritan's Purse opens field hospital in northern Italy to help coronavirus patients Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment The evangelical humanitarian charity run by Franklin Graham, Samaritans Purse, opened a 68-bed emergency field hospital in northern Italy to help the medical system as it struggles to deal with the coronavirus. On Friday, the field hospital opened just outside the city of Milan. According to Samaritans Purse, the coronavirus outbreak has overwhelmed the medical infrastructure in the area where there are over 40,000 confirmed cases of the virus in the European country. The situation in Italy is desperate, Samaritans Purse CEO Franklin Graham, the son of the late evangelist Billy Graham, said in a statement. The hospitals are overrun and people are dying. We are called to respond in hard places. Thats why our team of disaster response specialists are on the front lines providing life-saving medical care and sharing Gods love to people who are hurting. Over 3,400 people have died in Italy as a result of the coronavirus, according to the World Health Organization. As families have been left without access to necessary care, Samaritans Purse airlifted its emergency field hospital, medical team and critical aid to northern Italy on Monday by way of the charitys DC-8 cargo plane. In total, 20 tons of medical equipment was shipped along with respiratory therapists, doctors, and nurses. According to Samaritans Purse, the hospital began receiving patients as soon as it opened. The field hospital features a respiratory care unit and is located adjacent to Cremona Hospital, which suspended all medical care except for maternity and pediatrics because of the influx of people who have coronavirus. According to Samaritans Purse, none of the patients at Cremona Hospitals intensive care unit have survived the virus. Additionally, the hospital has run out of beds. Every time Samaritans Purse responds to a disaster, we respond in Jesus name, Graham, who also heads the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, said. So were going to the people in Italy who are suffering and dying to care for them, to love them and to tell them about Gods Son Jesus Christ. Kelly Suter, the medical director for the Samaritans Purse Respiratory Care Unit in Italy, said that medical professionals in the community are grateful that weve been willing to come and fight beside them. Almost every person that I talk to almost breaks into tears, Suter said. Theyve felt abandoned. Theyve felt helpless. Theyve been looking for a miracle and they are absolutely grateful that were here and ready to fight alongside them. Samaritans Purse plans to airlift the second round of medical supplies and responders on Saturday. The North Carolina-based charitys disease experts have worked in coordination with the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to ensure all necessary precautions are being taken. Samaritans Purses field hospital exits to provide emergency medical relief in disaster-stricken areas where medical infrastructure is damaged, overwhelmed or nonexistent. The field hospital has been used to treat thousands of patients over the years. The hospital was deployed in the Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian in September 2019 and Mozambique after Cyclone Idai in April 2019. It was also deployed in Ecuador in April 2016 after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake and in Iraq in December 2016 during the battle against the Islamic State terrorist group. As India's week-long ban on international commercial flights comes into effect on March 22, the Indian Embassy in the US has advised its nationals to stay safe and isolated to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. A total of 230 people have died in the US due to the fast-spreading coronavirus pandemic by Friday evening. The number of confirmed cases has jumped to over 18,000. Coronavirus cases have been reported in all the 50 States in the US and District of Columbia as well as Puerto Rico. According to the Johns Hopkins coronavirus tracker, the death toll from the virus globally has risen to 11,397 with more than 275,427 cases reported in over 160 countries and territories. In its first COVID-19 advisory for Indian nationals in the US, the embassy on Friday urged them to stay safe and isolate themselves within their residential premises and follow the advisories updated on the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Please follow social distancing norms and avoid any non-essential local travel. Approach the local health department officials in case you or your family member(s) experience any of the symptoms mentioned in the CDC website, the embassy said. For extension of visa in the US during this restriction period, please refer to the website of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, it said. The Indian embassy here and its diplomatic missions in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Houston, and Atlanta have been running a round-the-clock helpline service for its citizens, Indian students and those who had plans to travel to India. Our Embassy and Consulates continue to function subject to local regulations. Our 24X7 helplines remain available. We stand together with you to face this challenge, Indian Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu, said in a tweet. All Indian nationals in the United States are requested to pay attention to and observe health advisories of local authorities in response to COVID-19. This is essential for the well-being of everyone, Sandhu said. The Indian embassy, he said, has been in regular touch with Indian students and nationals as well as university and US authorities. All nationals are requested to follow advisories; avoid non-essential travel and observe social distancing, he tweeted. Please keep in mind that your actions will impact the well-being of your family members and fellow citizens. Our 24X7 helplines are active to assist you, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Photo credit: Budanatr - Getty Images From ELLE Addressing the nation in his daily televised news conferences, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was 'very confident' that the UK could 'turn the tide' on the Coronavirus pandemic which has hit the country, within 12 weeks. Turning the tide has otherwise been referred to 'flattening the curve' which essentially means limiting the peak of the virus, keeping the most critical patients at a lower, steadier number in order to allow the health services to cope. The aim to flatten the curve is why restrictions on people's daily lives have been implemented across the world; why many of us are working from home and avoiding socialising and why anyone who is experiencing any ill-health symptoms - whether it's a confirmed case of Covid-19 or not - are being advised to completely self-isolate for 7-14 days. The UK announced the restrictive measures on socialising earlier this week, so we are very much still in the early days of our attempt at flattening the curve. Photo credit: Edward Berthelot - Getty Images However, some countries have had these strict measures in place for months, after experiencing outbreaks of the disease since the end of 2019 and the start of this year, and some countries have already started flattening that curve. This handy graph from the New York Times, illustrates it pretty well. Here are some pieces of Coronavirus-related good news of where we are slowly seeing the cases of Covid-19 reduce: Story continues China Photo credit: Stringer - Getty Images The first case of the virus originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan. It is believed that the country has had more than 81,000 cases and 3,000 deaths according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Since, then Wuhan and a number of other Chinese cities and districts have been under lockdown - some restrictions of which are slowly now lifting. According to WHO, the peak of the illness was on the 13th February. Photo credit: WHO Since then, this has reduced and on Friday (20th March), the country reported no new cases of Covid-19. In fact, for the past couple of weeks, most new cases originated outside of the country. South Korea Initially, South Korea was one of the worst affected countries when it came to Covid-19, along with Italy and Iran after China. Photo credit: WHO WHO says the Republic of Korea has seen 8,413 cases of the disease, with 84 deaths. The rate of citizens with the disease peaked at the end of February and has been on the decline ever since. Considering the UK and many other countries across the world experienced cases of Coronavirus later, this could mean positive things for those stuck in the grip of the disease right now. However, much of the end result is dependent on the precautions, advice, restrictions, government measures and healthcare support countries enact. Whatever the outcome, it's likely the UK will be looking to the examples of China especially as well as South Korea to see how they've managed to successfully flatten the curve. Visit the World Health Organisation website and the NHS website to find out the latest information regarding the coronavirus. You Might Also Like Hundreds of millions of people worldwide kicked off the weekend under a coronavirus lockdown, as the global death toll accelerated sharply and the World Health Organization warned the young they were "not invincible". The pandemic has completely upended lives across the planet, sharply restricting the movement of huge populations, shutting down schools and businesses, and forcing millions to work from home -- while many have lost their livelihoods entirely. While President Donald Trump insisted the United States was "winning" the war against the virus, individual states dramatically ramped up restrictions, with New York and Illinois joining California in ordering residents to stay home. The virus death toll surged past 11,000 worldwide, with 4,000 alone in worst-hit Italy where the daily number of fatalities has shot up relentlessly over the past week. While the elderly and those with pre-existing medical conditions are the hardest hit by the virus, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that young people were also vulnerable. "Today I have a message for young people: you are not invincible. This virus could put you in hospital for weeks -- or even kill you," Tedros said. "Even if you don't get sick, the choices you make about where you go could be the difference between life and death for someone else." China on Saturday reported no new local infections for a third straight day, and the WHO said the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus emerged late last year, offered a glimmer of "hope for the rest of the world". COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show But there are growing concerns of a new wave of "imported" infections in the region, with Hong Kong reporting 48 suspected cases on Friday -- its biggest daily jump since the crisis began. Many of them have a recent history of travel to or from Europe. Across Europe, governments continued to rigorously enforce lockdown measures as the continent's most celebrated boulevards and squares remained silent and empty even as warmer spring weather arrived. Italy reported its worst single day, adding another 627 fatalities and taking its reported total to 4,032 despite efforts to stem the spread. The nation of 60 million now accounts for 36 percent of the world's coronavirus deaths and its death rate of 8.6 percent among confirmed infections is significantly higher than in most other countries. France, Italy, Spain and other European countries have told people to stay at home, threatening fines in some cases, while Bavaria became the first region in Germany to order a lockdown. Britain, falling in line with its neighbours in the European Union, also announced tougher restrictions, telling pubs, restaurants and theatres to close and promising to help cover the wages of affected workers. With virus fears gripping the United States, its largest state California -- with over 1,000 cases and 19 deaths -- told its 40 million residents to stay at home. New York state, which has reported over 7,000 cases and 39 deaths, followed suit on Friday, ordering its nearly 20 million residents to do the same from Sunday evening. Trump applauded the New York and California decisions, but said he did not think a nationwide lockdown was needed. "Those are really two hotbeds," he said. "I don't think we'll ever find (a US-wide lockdown) necessary." Shortly after the president spoke, the governor of Illinois ordered residents of the midwestern state to stay at home and the Connecticut governor did the same. The restrictions so far imposed in seven states cover around 100 million people, with the country's three most populous cities -- New York, Los Angeles and Chicago -- under lockdown. Trump also announced Friday that the US and Mexico have agreed to restrict non-essential travel across their border beginning on Saturday. Meanwhile a staffer in the office of US Vice President Mike Pence, the pointman for Washington's response to the outbreak, tested positive for the coronavirus. The family of country music legend Kenny Rogers, who died aged 81, said Friday they would hold a small private service "out of concern" for the virus emergency. France said more than 4,000 people were fined on the first day of confinement and ministers described those breaking the rules as "idiots". The strict measures follow the template set by China, as a lockdown imposed in Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital, appeared to have paid off. Europe now accounts for more than half of the world's fatalities linked to COVID-19. Accurate figures are difficult to come by, however, as many of those who die suffer from other illnesses and infection rates are uncertain because of a lack of testing in many countries. The shadow of the virus is lengthening across Africa and the Middle East too. Gabon confirmed sub-Saharan Africa's second known death, with reported cases across Africa standing at more than 900 and rising fast. In Iran, both supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani promised the country would overcome the outbreak -- but still refused to join the rest of the world in imposing heavy restrictions. In Latin America, Cuba and Bolivia both announced they were closing their borders, and Colombia said it would begin mandatory isolation from Tuesday. The pandemic has sparked fears of a global recession, battering the world's stock markets and prompting governments to push huge spending plans to limit the damage. New Delhi [India], Mar 21 (ANI): The hanging of the four death row convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case is being lauded and welcomed by prosecutors, families of rape victims and the general public alike. Many prosecutors, who have dealt with gruesome rape cases like this, believe that the execution will help in setting an example, creating an environment of fear among criminals and reducing such heinous crimes against women. Public Prosecutor Satwinder Kaur, who fought the abduction, rape and murder case of a 19-year-old girl in 2012, lauded the death sentence and said that it will send a strong message to the society. A trial court has also awarded capital punishment to three convicts for killing, mutilating and disposing of the body of the 19-year-old girl, which was found in Haryana in 2012. Delhi High Court had later upheld the capital punishment in the case. "The convicts in the Nirbhaya case had also shown such brutality in committing the crime and therefore the death penalty was last resort for their action," Kaur said. Senior Public Prosecutor AT Ansari, who fought the rape and murder case of an 82-year-old widow at her residence in South Delhi in 2014 by her domestic help, also expressed similar opinion and added that this hanging has satisfied the conscious of society. "Certainly this case has sent a sternest possible message to the society that if you indulge in crimes of such nature, you are likely to be condemned to death in the same manner," he said. Ansari said that the alarm caused by this case generated an exceptional angle and resentment in the society leading to a demand for the punishment not less than the death to the perpetrators. "Even though the courts do not take into account such factors while awarding punishments, in some way or another, this hanging has satisfied the conscious of society to the maximum possible extent," he added. However, the family members of the elderly victim said that the execution of Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case convicts will not prevent more such ghastly incidents from happening. According to the family members, the delay in the delivery of justice system also needs to be addressed. The alleged use of delay tactics by the Nirbhaya convicts was also criticised by the father of a 25-year-old woman, who was raped by an Uber driver in a cab in 2014. The desolated father urged the defence counsels in such cases to maintain decorum while availing legal remedies and not to file unnecessary petitions to delay the trial. Public prosecutor Atul Shrivastava, who contested the rape case in Uber cab, said that strict punishment will help in reducing crimes as it will create fear among the criminals, who take an easy ride of the criminal justice system thinking nothing can happen to them. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 21) Congress will convene in a special session on Monday to discuss funding for projects that will provide support for over 16 million families nationwide affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Senate President Vicente "Tito" Sotto III on Saturday said the special session, which is set to start at 10 a.m., will focus on granting President Rodrigo Duterte authority specifically to realign state funds for food and cash allowances for the affected families. The projected budget to be realigned could be in the neighborhood of 200 billion, Sotto said. The actual amount, which could be lower or higher, will not be stated in the bill but will be in the implementing rules and regulations after the measure is signed into law. The announcement was made following a meeting among Cabinet officials and lawmakers. Earlier, Sotto said he was certain the special session will happen on Saturday, but this was postponed to give way for the meeting. Senator Christopher "Bong" Go said in a separate statement that the Executive branch will submit a proposed bill "to further empower and give the government the flexibility it needs to address the present health emergency." The Senate and the House of Representatives have heeded Duterte's call to mount a session even though the legislature is on a break. Duterte aired his request earlier this week. Congress has been on a break since May 13 and will reopen May 4. Also on Saturday, health authorities reported 77 new cases of the coronavirus disease the biggest single-day increase since the outbreak began in January. Of the country's 307 COVID-cases, 13 have recovered but 19 have died. Duterte the entire area of Luzon under enhanced community quarantine, restricting people's movement, to contain the spread of COVID-19. Albay Rep. Joey Salceda in a message to 301 other members of the House of Representatives, said they have the option to monitor the session and cast their votes and make manifestations online. As usual, the special session will be streamed on the House's website and social media platforms, Salceda said. But unlike before when members have to be physically present so their statements can be put on record, they can now do so through video call. "It will be the first time in the history of Congress that a session will be held without everyone inside the same room. Your safety is very important to us, and with the crisis we are in, we have to be creative in safely bringing everyone together to address the current national emergency," Salceda said. CNN Philippines' Joyce Ilas and Xianne Arcangel contributed to this report. PHOENIX About 200 members of the Arizona National Guard were activated to help with food distribution as daily life becomes increasingly restricted by efforts to contain the coronavirus in the state, where the first death from the disease was reported Friday evening. The first death in Arizona from the virus was reported by state and Maricopa County health officials, a man in his 50s with underlying health conditions. The Maricopa County Public Health Department said it was notifying people who had been close to the man and asking them to monitor themselves for symptoms. Earlier in the day Gov. Doug Ducey extended school closures, delayed the tax filing deadline and made it easier to file for unemployment. The head of the National Guard in Arizona, Maj. General Michael McGuire, said the operation is still largely in the planning phase and more guardsmen will probably hit the streets next week. He says there are no worries about civil unrest and the Guard's work is focused on logistics as the food distribution system faces extraordinary demand. I'm not at all concerned about civil unrest in the great state of Arizona, McGuire said. We're all your neighbors, we're there together, we live in these communities. He said the Guard's main mission is to fill gaps in grocery store logistics by helping with distribution using Guard drivers and manpower. He urged people to take available store jobs or seek volunteer opportunities to help. Imagine a pristine T&T where there are no more homeless people or animals. One where hunger has been eliminated as the relic of a bygone era. A world where pipe-borne water is delivered to every home every day, not wasted in an archaic system where significant leaks are either ignored or washed out to sea. Hello, i'm looking for some advise. we are flying to Botswana (can be (Livingstone in Zambia) in November looking for some adventure and wild life. Which is a good airport to fly to, which is a good safari, does Kalahri worth a visit and how many days would be enough? We are thinking of 5 nights before we move to South Africa. Many thanks in advance Dhaka: Corona is wreaking havoc in whole world. Not only this, so far this virus has killed more than 8000 people. And still no strong medicine has been made to fight this virus. Not only this virus has affected the human life of people, but the fear of this virus has created panic in the whole world today. According to the information received, in view of the increasing cases of corona in Bangladesh, the government has decided to seek the help of the army. Giving this information, the country's Health Minister Zahid Malik said on Thursday that the Army will build a Special Medical Monitoring Center at Tonga near the capital Dhaka for the investigation and treatment of corona victims. The number of Corona positive people in Bangladesh has increased to 17. One patient has died in these. It is also being said that due to Corona infection, the government of Bangladesh can announce the lockdown. Warning about this, Malik said that in case of increase in infection, the movement of people in many places can be completely stopped. It is learned that the government has already announced to suspend political, social and religious programs to prevent infection. Also Read: Afghan government takes big step to end corona virus Corona: Bill Gates's prediction about epidemic comes true Crack in Bihar Grand Alliance, Congress leader gives this suggestion to Tejashwi Chinese scientist claims, 'Coronavirus was not born in Wuhan' MP Dushyant Singh has put the whole parliament in danger. He had contact with Corona positive Kanika Kapoor. Before going to Isolation, Dushyant not only went to Rashtrapati Bhavan but also spent a long time in Central Hall apart from attending the meeting of Parliament, Standing Committee. Not only this, but MP also joined DMK MP Kanimozhi's party on Thursday night. Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur and MP Nishikant Dubey joined Supriya Sule and Anupriya Patel alone with this wife. 53 countries express opposition to Imran government's decision to arrest Pakistan's largest media group editor On Friday, there was a stir in the Parliament House after information to this effect surfaced. Many MPs left Parliament House while the proceedings were going on. Meanwhile, TMC MP Derek O'Brien demanded an immediate end to the budget session. Brian said that Dushyant sat next to him in the standing committee meeting of Parliament on Wednesday. Singh also came to Parliament on Thursday and Friday. I spent a long time in Central Hall on Thursday. About 20 MPs were present in the meeting of the Parliamentary Committee and more than a hundred MPs were present during Dushyant's presence in the Central Hall. Akhilesh's big statement on the coronavirus, says 'Despite PM's appeal, BJP leaders are enjoying parties' After stirring up this information, first Dushyant then went to her former CM mother Vasundhara isolation. While in the afternoon Anupriya Patel also went into isolation. It is said that Kanimozhi had called these ministers and MPs for food on Thursday night. According to Brian, he and many of the MPs involved in parliamentary committee meetings are considering going into isolation. Many MPs are in awe. For this reason, after lunch on Friday, where the number of MPs in the House has reduced drastically, there were a few elected MPs in the Central Hall. Railway to provide child care leave to single father Update: The attorney generals office is canceling the Consumer Protection hotlines Sunday hours as the office implements a program to allow employees to work from home. LANSING, MI Michigan lawmakers are busy this weekend helping Attorney General Dana Nessel answer calls to her offices Consumer Protection hotline. Amid the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, the office has received more than 1,000 price-gouging complaints, prompting extended hotline hours this weekend. Michigan residents are urged to report Consumer Protection Act violations online or by calling 877-765-8388. The hotline is generally open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, but its open noon to 5 p.m. this Saturday and Sunday. Volunteering for AG @dananessel with @AngelaMIHouse and @ElissaSlotkin this afternoon answering calls for the @MIAttyGen price gouging hotline. Call us at 877-765-8388 to report price gouging! pic.twitter.com/D5X6cT0WJx Yousef Rabhi (@RepRabhi) March 21, 2020 Theres a lot of people out there who are experiencing price gouging at the stores theyre going to, so the lines were pretty busy, state Rep. Yousef Rabhi, D-Ann Arbor, said after his shift working the phones Saturday, March 21. Toilet paper was one of the big things, he said. I heard a lot about that. And also meat specially chicken, ground turkey, that sort of stuff. Those were the big things that I heard. Other lawmakers helping out include U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, state Sens. Curtis Hertel Jr. and Jeremy Moss and state Reps. Julie Brixie, Christine Greig, Jim Haadsma, Kara Hope, Sheryl Kennedy, Matt Koleszar, Laurie Pohutsky and Angela Witwer. Wayne County Commissioner David Knezek, Nessel's legislative affairs director, also is participating. Heres the schedule: Saturday Noon-1 p.m.: Rabhi and Witwer 1-2 p.m.: Haadsma and Hertel 2-4 p.m.: Moss and Greig 4-5 p.m.: Pohutsky and Brixie Sunday Noon-2 p.m.: Hope and Kennedy 2-4 p.m.: Koleszar and Brixie 4-5 p.m.: Knezek Nessels Consumer Protection intake team reported receiving 1,053 price-gouging complaints related to coronavirus as of Thursday, March 19 up from 75 six days earlier. The attorney generals office encourages consumers to file complaints online for a more efficient response, but it also has been taking complaints via phone, and several hundred complaints have come in via the hotline. With the upswell in consumer complaints, Im happy to have the extra help from my friends in the Legislature to answer hotline calls, Nessel said in a statement. Michigan consumers deserve a government that works for the people, and this is a clear example of lawmakers rolling up their sleeves and getting to work. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued an executive order Sunday to address price-gouging related to COVID-19. The order states no business or person can sell products grossly in excess of the price they paid for the product. It also prohibits selling or offering products at a price thats more than 20% higher than it was listed as of March 9 unless the seller can justify the higher price due to an increase in the cost of bringing the product to market. Businesses should know by now that this public health emergency is not a free pass to jack up prices, Nessel said. Again, I encourage consumers to continue submitting complaints to my office so we can investigate and enforce Gov. Whitmers executive order and the Michigan Consumer Protection Act. This state has rules in place to protect people against price-gouging, and I will use any tool I have at my disposal to hold accountable those who disregard our laws. Exploitive price-gouging unacceptable during coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel says Bipartisan legislation introduced in the Michigan Senate would create additional tools for investigators to rein in price-gouging and add price-gouging protections during an emergency declaration or market disruption, Nessels office said. Rabhi also introduced legislation in the House this week to bar employers from taking adverse action against workers who are complying with public heath measures. The protections would apply to workers who have been formally quarantined, who are self-isolating due to illness or who are caring for an ill family member or child under 13. Its hard enough dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and the disruption caused by necessary measures to slow its spread. Michiganders shouldnt have to worry that they will be fired or punished if they do the right thing to protect everyone, Rabhi said in a statement. It is in no ones interest for workers to be coming in sick, but many feel trapped by inhumane leave policies. Rabhi said the bill has been introduced and read and hes hoping it advances soon. As for how long the outbreak might last here, he said, I dont know. I think people should prepare for a month at the very least, but I think it could be longer than that. Its tough to tell at this point. When you look at some of the other countries and how their infection curves have gone every place and country is going to be a little different. MORE FROM MLIVE: Complete coronavirus coverage in Michigan. Saturday, March 21: Latest developments on coronavirus in Michigan Stay at home, Ann Arbor mayor tells residents in new coronavirus video update Assume coronavirus may be present in public places, Washtenaw health officer warns Oakland County closes malls, playgrounds after 1st coronavirus death Calhoun County records first coronavirus case Kent County coronavirus cases climb from 12 to 21 Clare County reports first positive coronavirus case Ben Affleck and new girlfriend Ana de Armas took a break from isolating together to enjoy a stroll in Los Angeles on Friday. The Deep Water castmates-turned-significant others looked at each other lovingly, as they walked side-by-side just two days after Affleck publicly slid into the comment section of de Armas' latest post to cheekily request photo credit. Affleck, 47, and the 31-year-old Bond Girl's relationship has continued to blossom rapidly, since wrapping shooting on their upcoming psychological thriller film directed by Adrian Lyne. Lovebirds: Ben Affleck and new girlfriend Ana de Armas took a break from isolating together to enjoy a stroll in Los Angeles on Friday For the past month, the lovebirds have been getting more serious, and were first spotted getting cozy on a romantic getaway to the Cuba-born beauty's native country. Despite their whirlwind romance, the pair kept looked casual for their outing, as Affleck sported light-wash jeans and layered a grey t-shirt under a navy jacket. His current flame stunned in a polka dot dress midi dress, white trainers and a pair of clear glasses. On the walk, the bombshell, who wore her dark tresses down, crossed her arms and smiled, as she watched her man check his phone. Stepping out: The Deep Water castmates-turned-significant others looked happy with Ana gazing lovingly at her beau, two days after becoming Instagram official Natural beauty: Ana stunned in a polka dot dress midi dress, white trainers and a pair of clear glasses Ana made things Instagram official with the A-list father-of-three on Wednesday with a series of stunning photos taken by her new boo during their recent getaway to Costa Rica, where the actor was seen snapping pictures of Ana along the beach While she didn't tag Affleck, that didn't stop him from cheekily commenting: 'Photo credit pls' along with a laughing with tears emoji. The lovebirds are likely hunkering down after LA Mayor Eric Garcetti issued strict guidelines for the city, asking for all bars, clubs, movie theaters, gyms and other places that hold large gatherings to close. Garcetti's action came just before the White House advised the Nation to avoid convening in groups larger than 10 people, in addition to other social distancing measures, for the next 15 days in a press conference on Monday. Co-stars: Affleck, 47, and the 31-year-old Bond Girls relationship has continued to blossom amid the coronavirus pandemic, since wrapping shooting on their upcoming psychological thriller film directed by Adrian Lyne Casual: Affleck sported light-wash jeans and layered a grey t-shirt under a navy jacket The lovebirds are likely hunkering down after LA Mayor Eric Garcetti issued strict guidelines for the city, asking for all bars, clubs, movie theaters, gyms and other places that hold large gatherings to close On-the-go: Ben was later seen arriving at ex wife Jennifer Garner's house to spend time with his kids On Thursday night, California's governor Gavin Newsom issued an unprecedented statewide 'stay at home order' directing the state's 40 million residents to stay at home for the foreseeable future in the face of the fast-spreading outbreak. 'We are confident the people of California will abide by it, they will meet this moment,' Newsom, a Democrat in his first term as governor of the nation's most populous state, said at a late-afternoon news briefing from the state capital in Sacramento. 'They'll step up as they have over the last number of weeks to protect themselves, to protect their families and to protect the broader community in this great state and the world we reside in.' Already more than 1,000 Californians have been confirmed as infected and 18 have died, the third largest death toll in the United States behind only Washington state and New York. Instagram official: While she didn't tag Affleck on her latest Instagram post, that didn't stop him from cheekily commenting: 'Photo credit pls' along with a laughing with tears emoji Making moves: Ben's brother Casey Afleck was seen leaving the grocery Saturday, March 21, 2020 at 7:35AM Google finally has a simple website to share information about COVID-19. The company will also provide you with enhanced information cards to offer more info for those who look for terms related to the coronavirus. Information tabs are available for things like symptoms, prevention, and global statistics. Google emphasizes that it's getting information from "authoritative" sources such as the World Health Organization and the US's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The site is currently only available in English, but The Verge quotes a Google spokesperson who said that the website will support Spanish soon. The website also has videos in ASL. It also shows the information on Google's relief efforts as well as some resources to help you cope with this extraordinary situation we find ourselves in. Hotel room rates vary, depending on location, amenities, and time of year. The majority of travelers in this country compare prices and choose accommodations based on their budgets. Wealthy travelers who are not concerned with costs are drawn to penthouses and luxury suites with higher price tags. Here are some of the most expensive hotel rooms in the United States, and prices are subject to change. 8. Palms Casino Resort, Las Vegas The Palms Empathy Suite. Editorial credit: palms.com Hailed as the most expensive in the country (and possibly the world), The Palms Empathy Suite in Las Vegas comes with a price tag of $100,000 a night. At 9,000 square feet, it is many times larger than the average home. It has two king-sized beds, artwork by Damien Hirst, 24-hour butler service, a Jacuzzi overlooking the Vegas Strip, and $10,000 in credit to the resort. P.S.: A two-night minimum is required. The Palms also has the $35,000 a night Sky Villa Suite. Sized at 9,000 square feet, these over-the-top digs provide four bedrooms, a Jacuzzi, private gym, a media room, and expansive views of the Strip. 7. Mandarin Oriental, New York City Exterior of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Editorial credit: Inspired By Maps / Shutterstock.com Suite 5000, or the Mandarin Oriental Suite, is this hotels crowning glory. For a $36,000 nightly rate, guests can relax in three bedrooms, a dining room that seats 10, and a curated library of music and movies. 6. The Mark Hotel, New York City A look inside the 5-bedroom suite. Editorial credit: themarkhotel.com Manhattan's Mark hotel has a 10,000 square foot hotel room with five bedrooms, six bathrooms, a full-size kitchen, two wet bars, a library, a grand piano, and four fireplaces. Notables who have stayed here include Serna Williams, Gayle King, and Amal Clooney. The price per night is $75,000. 5. Faena Hotel, Miami Beach The ocean views are a highlight of this suite. Editorial credit: faena.com The Faenas two-story penthouse suite goes for $50,000 a night and was designed by movie director Baz Luhrmann and his wife. Guests can choose from five bedrooms (each with a separate balcony), and enjoy the ivory and marble interiors, and floor-to-ceiling windows with ocean views. 4. Four Seasons Hotel, New York Guests can see all of New York in this stunning suite. Editorial credit: fourseasons.com Also priced at $50,000 per night, this luxury hotels Ty Warner Penthouse is 4,300 square feet and is located on the 52nd floor. It has its own private spa, four glass balconies, a 360-degree view of Manhattan, and a Peloton bike. 3. Setai Hotel, Miami Beach Exterior of the Setai Hotel. Editorial credit: Daniel J. Macy / Shutterstock.com This is a big one Setais 10,000 square foot penthouse in Miami Beach can be had for $32,000 a night. This includes a dining room that seats 10, four bedrooms, a kitchen, and a sparkling rooftop swimming pool. Nice! 2. The Plaza, New York City A light color palette is used throughout this suite. Editorial credit: ny.curbed.com This world-famous hotel has a $40,000 a night room that is 4,500 square feet with actual 24-karat gold-plated faucets! Guests also enjoy three bedrooms, a chefs kitchen, fitness room, library, powder room, and of course, butler service. 1. Boston Harbor Hotel, Boston This suite features beautiful floor to ceiling windows. Editorial credit: bostonharborhotel.com Bostons grandest hotel room is the John Adams Presidential Suite at the Boston Harbor Hotel. For $15,000 a night, guests get 4,800 square feet of decadence that includes a 1,000 square foot terrace, living and dining rooms, a full kitchen, and a private media room. CHESTNUT HILL, MA / ACCESSWIRE / March 20, 2020 / Sokolove Law announces investigations into several securities class action lawsuits - three companies are accused of misleading their shareholders and inflating stock prices. These companies have been accused of misleading their shareholders and inflating stock prices: Jen-Weld Holdings, Inc. (JELD), Tupperware Brands Corporation (TUP) and Funko Inc. (FNKO). Call Sokolove Law at 800-405-1085 or visit: FraudDanger.com We are looking for shareholders who: Company Trade Symbol Qualification Deadline Jen-Weld Holdings, Inc. (JELD) Purchased 40,000 shares between January 26, 2017 and October 15,2018 April 20, 2020 Tupperware Brands Corporation (TUP) Purchased 20,000 shares between January 30, 2019 and February 24, 2020 April 27, 2020 Funko Inc. (FNKO) Lost $25,000 between October 31, 2019 and March 5, 2020 May 11, 2020 If you meet the above criteria for any of the companies, call our experienced case managers now: 800-405-1085 to discuss your legal rights in this securities fraud class action lawsuit. The deadlines to apply to be a lead plaintiff are approaching . Do not hesitate, call Sokolove Law today at 800-405-1085 today. Investors are also encouraged to visit FraudDanger.com to learn more. The class has not been certified for these lawsuits. You are not represented by an attorney until certification occurs. If you do not take action you can remain an absent class member. There is no required minimum number of shares to be a class member. About Sokolove Law- Sokolove Law provides quality legal services that help people obtain access to the civil justice system. For more than 40 years, Sokolove Law has worked to educate people about their legal rights and helped thousands of injured parties obtain the compensation they deserved from their legal claims. Sokolove Law is a national law firm with offices and a licensed attorney in nearly every state. The firm operates as a limited liability company in all states except Virginia, California, Michigan and Tennessee, where it operates as a limited liability partnership. For more information on Sokolove Law, please visit www.sokolovelawfirm.com Story continues THIS IS AN ADVERTISEMENT Sokolove Law, LLC, 1330 Boylston St, Suite 400, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467. Ricky LeBlanc admitted in MA only. While this firm maintains joint responsibility, most cases of this type are referred to other attorneys for principal responsibility. This is general information only and should not be taken or relied on as legal, medical, or other advice. No attorney-client or other professional relationship is created by providing or using this information. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. 2020 Sokolove Law, LLC SOURCE: Sokolove Law, LLC View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/581836/INVESTOR-ALERT-JELD-TUP-FNKO-Class-Action-Deadlines-Approaching Pro-choice advocates are pressuring the Trump administration to eliminate restrictions on the abortion pill during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying the drug is the best option for pregnant women when an in-person contact may not be possible. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) restrictions require that mifepristone one of the two drugs involved in the abortion pill procedure be dispensed in-person by or under the supervision of a certified prescriber. It cannot be mailed. Further, 18 states require the clinician to be present when the abortion drug is dispensed. But Daniel Grossman, an OB/GYN and abortion doctor, says restrictions should be loosened and the abortion pill should be dispensed via telemedicine during the pandemic with pregnant women talking to their doctor remotely and with the abortion pill then mailed. Grossman is director of Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH), a group at the University of California-San Francisco (UCSF). Abortion is obviously a time-sensitive medical procedure. Its not an elective procedure that can just be rescheduled a month or two later, Grossman told VICE. Grossman made the same argument in a series of tweets. There are many abortion patients and providers who are scared right now. Just because a pandemic is upon us, people don't stop needing reproductive healthcare and abortions same for during hurricanes, tornadoes, and other natural disasters. It gets harder, he tweeted. There are many abortion patients and providers who are scared right now. Just because a pandemic is upon us, people don't stop needing reproductive healthcare and abortionssame for during hurricanes, tornadoes, and other natural disasters. It gets harder.https://t.co/yvQjzBVwXR Dr. Daniel Grossman (@DrDGrossman) March 12, 2020 ... This would be a great time to expand access to telemedicine to keep patients and providers safe. This would be a great time to expand access to telemedicine to keep patients and providers safe. But states like Ohio are using this moment to ban it: https://t.co/r2BnDg3jzc And Oklahoma is trying to ban it at 6 weeks: https://t.co/q1Mz3MXxH6 March 12, 2020 Dustin Costescu, family planning specialist in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at McMaster University, made a similar argument. #COVID2019 is a good time to remind you that Self-Managed abortion is safe, avoids in person appointments, and will be necessary to address the increased incidence of unintended pregnancies that will result from self-quarantine, Costescu wrote. #COVID2019 is a good time to remind you that Self-Managed abortion is safe, avoids in person appointments, and will be necessary to address the increased incidence of unintended pregnancies that will result from self-quarantine. Dr. Dustin Costescu (@BirthControlDoc) March 10, 2020 The abortion pill includes two drugs: mifepristone and misoprostol. Mifepristone blocks the hormone progesterone, causing the lining of the uterus to break down and kill the unborn baby. Misoprostol sparks contractions and a delivery of the dead child. They can be taken only early in the pregnancy. The two pills are taken up to 48 hours apart. Alison H. Centofante, director of external affairs at the pro-life group Live Action, criticized Grossmans proposal. Abortionist Dr. Daniel Grossman thinks now is a good time to encourage the deaths of more innocent people, she tweeted. At a time when many patients need *actual* healthcare and treatment for Coronavirus, these abortion-obsessed doctors are using their platforms to push their deadly abortion agenda. Abortionist Dr. Daniel Grossman thinks now is a good time to encourage the deaths of more innocent people...#TheAbortionIndustryWillGetYaEveryTime https://t.co/vaA9Uxq70i Alison H.Centofante (@AlisonHowardC) March 18, 2020 Photo courtesy: Thought Catalog/Unsplash Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel. For many Americans, the novel coronavirus pandemic has generated illness-related fears that have little precedent in our lifetimes. But 60 million Americans over the age of 70 have seen this horror show before: the polio scourge that ravaged the world's young from roughly 1916 until Jonas Salks vaccination arrived in 1955. Similarities between the epidemics that now bookend the lives of these seniors are many. Fear of an unseen enemy. Quarantined families. Social distancing. But one twist stands out. Today in a way is a reverse, because back then our parents were so worried for us kids and now its my kids who are so worried about me, says Sue Gray, 84, who, because of COVID-19s often deadly impact on seniors, now keeps her distance from Chicago neighbors during strolls in the park. But absolutely, when coronavirus hit, the first thing I thought of were those summers in the 1940s, how you couldnt go to pools, you couldnt go to the movies, you just stayed home, says Gray, who as a child lived in Kansas City. When I was in high school, a wonderful young man got polio. It was just so terrifying for us. Coronavirus, explained: Everything to know, from symptoms to how to protect yourself Polio fears echo in today's virus fears Polio may be largely eradicated from the planet today, but in the mid-20th century, it was a frightening presence. The disease, which crippled its victims by attacking the central nervous system, was particularly active in warm months and could be transmitted easily through contaminated water. Like clockwork, the terror would arrive around Memorial Day and wreak havoc through Labor Day. Then it would vanish like a bad storm, only to reappear each spring. President Franklin D. Roosevelt carves the turkey during the annual Thanksgiving dinner in 1933 for polio patients at Warm Springs, Georgia, with first lady Eleanor Roosevelt smiling beside him. Roosevelt was among the most famous Americans to get polio, and he helped start what eventually would become the March of Dimes. That organization raised money for a vaccine, which was found in 1955 by Jonas Salk. Among the more well-known names to be stricken with polio include violinist Itzhak Perlman, actor Alan Alda and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Hundreds of thousands of ordinary Americans also were impacted. Conversations with those who lived through the nations polio nightmare which during its peak in the early 1950s paralyzed an average of 16,000 people and killed nearly 2,000 each year summon a flood of memories that inspire resilience and promise an eventual delivery from todays madness. Story continues I was born in 1944 in New York, and as a child I remember the papers would post box scores of polio kids in hospitals, says David Oshinsky, 75, a member of New York Universitys history department. There was no prevention or cure. Everyone was at risk. I had to touch my toes daily for my parents, and the slightest complaint of stiffness would send them into a panic. STATE BY STATE: Growth in COVID-19 cases where you live Coronavirus curve: Will U.S. be more like China, Italy? Oshinsky did not get polio, but he was captured by it in a different way. His book Polio: An American Story, which won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for History, is a tribute to those who lived through and ultimately conquered the disease, which today has been eradicated globally except in Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The bottom line is, we will see lots of social dislocation, economic upheaval, as well as some deaths, but this, too, will pass, he says. Rita Murphy, 91, had polio but survived. She was a high school freshman when one day she started to feel feverish and achy. She made some tea and took a few aspirin. But when she tried to walk, she fell down. Rita Murphy, now 91, in a photo taken in the 1940s. Murphy, from Chicago, felt feverish and weak one day as a high school freshman and later learned that she had contracted polio. She ended up wearing a leg brace for the rest of her life, soldiering on in the face of hardship and sometimes cruelty. Today's coronavirus crisis, with its fear and social distancing, is making many polio-era survivors recall those days before Jonas Salk found a vaccine in 1955. They gave the verdict that I had polio, so I was sent to the contagious diseases hospital, which kids called the pest house, says Murphy, who still lives in her native Chicago and currently has the help of friends and relatives to get her through today's restrictive times. After getting polio, Murphy eventually spent months in hospitals. She had hot compresses applied to her legs daily but avoided the dreaded iron lung, a machine that helped those whose lungs would not expand and contract on their own. Eventually, she was discharged with a heavy metal brace supporting one foot, which could no longer support itself. What were dealing with now reminds me of that time in many ways, Murphy says. Like then, you have to be careful not to be in crowds and listen to what officials are saying to try and stay safe. Stay up to date on COVID-19 news: Get the Coronavirus Watch in your inbox Fearing the worst in viral times If there is one recurring theme with seniors when discussing the polio era, it is their memory of being banned from pools during hot summer months. I remember being so fearful of polio, and specifically about not going anywhere near a pool, says Myrna Grayson, 89, a retired lawyer who lives in San Diego. She grew up in Cleveland and moved to Los Angeles in 1948 as polio fears mushroomed. When I was 18, I had a job at a hospital in admitting and then I worked for a doctor, but even though I dont remember any polio cases, it was something always in the back of your mind, she says. Later, I worked for an aerospace company sorting those punch cards early computers used. I got a stiff neck one day and was petrified I had polio. Today, Grayson mostly stays indoors, incredulous at the empty mall parking lots she can see from the window of her assisted living facility. She goes out only occasionally to see her longtime steady, but otherwise orders food from the facility's kitchen since dining areas are closed to residents. "People who work here call us daily to check in," she says. In this photo taken in 2017, an Afghan health worker administers the polio vaccine to a child during a vaccination campaign in Kabul. Afghanistan is among three countries that still have not eradicated polio. A vaccine was discovered by Jonas Salk in 1955 after the virus crippled and killed thousands around the world. In the summer of 1946, Keith Hull turned 8. He was the only child of two doting parents, so when concerns grew in the small town of Rock Springs, Wyoming, about the polio epidemic, his mother immediately pulled him out of school and away from his friends. All I remember is my mother telling me what she didnt want, which was me playing with friends or going to the pool, so it was me playing cowboys and Indians by myself, says Hull, 82, a retired English professor now living in Tallahassee, Florida. That summer, a young boy of 5 named Russell was taken away by an ambulance. A few months later, he came home with braces. That hit us all. Hull says that at first he wasnt too concerned with coronavirus, partly because, Id had people die young on me, including my mother and uncle, so I know that just happens. But he says hes more vigilant now about where he goes and who he encounters. When will coronavirus end? What wartime and human kindness can tell us about what happens next Don Bennett, 85, grew up in the small town of Holdenville, Oklahoma. While there were no polio cases in town to his recollection, I do remember a great deal of consternation about it, he says. Going to the pool was verboten, so swimming was out, isolation was in. The fear of paralysis, or the iron lung, those concerns of parents filtered down to us kids. Bennett, who is a jazz bass player now living in Sausalito, California, says all his gigs have been canceled since eateries are shuttered. He worries about how businesses will survive, but otherwise feels he is safe with his family and his friends and his music. With plenty of time to sit around and think, he says todays coronavirus situation which now has his and many other Bay Area counties on lockdown has jogged memories of his polio-filled youth. This is a scene in the emergency polio ward at Haynes Memorial Hospital in Boston in 1955, showing critical victims lined up in Iron Lung respirators. The coffin-like devices helped those whose bodies were crippled by polio breathe artificially. Later in 1955, Jonas Salk discovered the vaccine for polio, which today has been eradicated from all but three countries. All this wondering about what to avoid is so familiar, he says. I guess maybe in some ways were waiting for the equivalent of Salks vaccine. That hit us all like an atomic explosion. Science won. Science indeed beat polio in 1955. The victor was Salk, then 39, who had undertaken the challenge to find a cure some seven years earlier while at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, an effort sponsored by what became known as the March of Dimes. In a White House ceremony where Salk received the Congressional Gold Medal, an emotional President Dwight D. Eisenhower said simply, I have no words to thank you. That same triumphant moment may well come for the scientists who find a vaccine for COVID-19, giving people across generations and the world a reprieve from this global pandemic. But, cautions historian and polio-era survivor Oshinsky, the time to celebrate wont last long. The problem is that nature is always one step ahead of us, he says. The next virus is lurking in a bat cave or a pig farm somewhere out there. There will always be that next one, and this time well have to be more prepared. Follow USA TODAY national correspondent Marco della Cava: @marcodellacava This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Coronavirus quarantine haunts those who lived during US polio epidemic The Syrian government bet on and abetted such outcomes. The civilized frown when a government shoots unarmed protesters. But Mr. al-Assad knew that the moral murkiness of an armed uprising, combined with a ready-made war on terror discourse that flattens nuance, delegitimizes dissent, dehumanizes people and taps into a global psyche that so fears violence committed by Islamists that all sense of proportionality and history is lost, would provide much desired cover to its brutality. The regime wanted both domestic audiences and the international community to take its side, to stick with the clean-shaven, designer-suited devil it already knew well. Or at the very least, to look away. The world obliged. The global conscience was eased by the supporters of Mr. al-Assad, weary journalists and observers reminding anyone especially lecturing Syrians that the opposition had been at best incompetent and at worst really bad. As if the responsibilities of objectivity stop at describing the trees and need not account for the forest. By the time my fathers illness was diagnosed, he had stage-four metastatic cancer. It had started in one organ and had already spread to two others. By the time he died, it was everywhere but the originating organ. Yet in medical terms, his cause of death was the original cancer. Under a microscope, the pathologist sees the tissue of the initially infiltrated organ whether it was the lung or breast or liver in all the other places it is metastasized. Syria is not a tragedy of unknowable causes or equitable blame. It is intellectually dishonest to say so. It is pathologically untrue. After my father outlived his prognosis and the West its patience, and transporting a body to Damascus began to seem like folly, he thought about going to Syria while still alive, to die there. But with no clarity on when that day would be, he chose not to be separated from us, a family that included his grandchildren. So again he asked that when the end did come we bury him back in Syria, next to his parents who he had spent a lifetime away from, in the cemetery beside the Chapel of St. Paul in Damascus. Syria continued to collapse, never quite bottoming out. In what would be his last year, my father renounced the desire completely. He didnt want to lie in a grave that couldnt be visited. Looking at me with blame and admiration, he said: You wont be able to come. And there, who is left to visit me? That mix of blame and admiration I imagine is familiar to other Syrians who also believed in possibility and hope when it all began, who never fathomed what Mr. al-Assad and his military would unleash on a place we all supposedly loved, rather than relinquish even a modicum of power. Many such people are wanted by the regime. They were writers or attended protests or gathered humanitarian supplies for Syrians in need or simply said something on social media. Now they find themselves unable to return to their country and separated from their loved ones, including those they would want to call on at their graves. Even as our relatives admire the courage to have acted or just hoped, spoken or unspoken, the question hangs between us: Was the personal cost worth it? Six fresh cases of the new coronavirus have surfaced in Rajasthan, taking the total in the state to 23 so far, officials said on Saturday. Reports of 42 suspected cases are awaited, they said. Among the six, five are staff members of a private hospital, where a doctor tested positive for COVID-19, Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Rohit Kumar Singh said. He said that another positive case is from Jaipur, thus taking the total number of positive cases to 23 in the state. Out of the 23, three patients, including an Italian tourist couple, have recovered. However, a 69-year-old Italian man, who had recovered from the disease, later died of heart attack at a private hospital on Thursday night. He was a heart and lungs patient, doctors said. The district administration of Bhilwara has sealed the borders of the city and implemented prohibitory orders under CrPc section 144 to prevent the spread of the virus. Similar action was taken in Jhunjhunu, where three positive cases have been detected. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a major health concern, the total number of coronavirus cases in Maharashtra shot up to 63 on Saturday, with 11 new cases detected overnight among several foreign-returned persons, Health Minister Rajesh Tope said here. While one case is from Pune, 10 are detected in Mumbai, including three who are 'first contact' afflictions with no history of foreign travel, sending alarm bells ringing among the health authorities. As the state continued to lead in the number of active cases, Tope again warned of the axe falling on Mumbai's lifelines - the suburban trains and buses - and reiterated that people strictly remain indoors as 'isolation' is the key to battling the COVID-19 virus. "If the people don't heed and continue to use public transport unnecessarily, we have to think otherwise. Even the rush of the working class to the railway stations to return to their native states is concerning," Tope told mediapersons. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray - who slapped a total ban on private offices, slashing attendance in government offices to 25 percent and statewide cancellation of Class I-VIII exams - will tour some railway stations before taking a final decision to shut down public transport. "A rise from 52 to 63 in a day is big. People's cooperation is needed to fight this calamity. We are in Phase II and maybe headed for Phase III. The spread is mostly 'imported' through people who came from abroad," Tope said. With Thackeray and Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar in regular touch with the Centre, he said the state has sought clearance to allow private labs to conduct tests within stringent norms. Among the ongoing measures, the government has postponed all planned surgeries in civic, public health and medical college hospitals to divert all medical resources to fighting Coronavirus, 7000 quarantine beds added in the state besides 250 isolated beds. He assured that there would be no shortage of funds to tackle the 'war against viru' in the state. On Friday, the government had slapped a total ban on all non-essential services in Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur as a measure to reduce crowds. Tope said the state has completely banned all flights from worst-hit 12 countries besides exercising extreme precautions for flights from all other nations at the three international airports in Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur since the past over a month. Tope advised people to respond to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call and observe the 'Janata Curfew' on Sunday, March 22, by remaining indoors. Last Tuesday (March 17), COVID-19 claimed its first victim in the state after a 63-year-old man who returned from Dubai, passed away in Mumbai's Kasturba Hospital. However, his wife and son who also tested positive are currently under treatment in the same hospital. A 15-year-old Indian-origin teen in the US has donated more than 150 coronavirus sanitation kits to the homeless and set up an account to raise funds to expand her initiative, according to a media report. Shaivi Shah recruited her fellow Tesoro High School honor society members to assemble kits of hand sanitizer, antibacterial soap, lotion and reusable masks for distribution to help people experiencing homelessness in the middle of a pandemic, CNN reported. "They don't have necessities right now that are crucial to remain clean and stay germ-free," Shaivi said. California Governor Gavin Newsom's recent speech about the state's homeless problem sparked her idea. So far, the efforts of the passionate student has led to the delivery of more than 150 low-cost sanitation kits to three Los Angeles shelters. According to the US Interagency Council on Homelessness, on any given day, more than 150,000 Californians are living in homelessness -- the most of any US state. Shaivi feared they might be forgotten in this time of social distancing. The teen from Rancho Santa Margarita started a GoFundMe account to raise funds to expand her program throughout California and the US. "These people that are living on the streets, they have no protection, so even a small amount could help." More than 275,000 people worldwide -- including nearly 20,000 people in the United States -- have been infected with the new coronavirus. At least 100 people in the United States have now died from coronavirus, according to an unofficial count compiled by researchers at Johns Hopkins University, and the disease has spread to all 50 states. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hard to believe, but next month sees the 50th anniversary of the day The Beatles broke up. The four of them had been together for under eight years, Ringo having joined John, Paul and George in the summer of 1962. Yet as President Obama noted when presenting Sir Paul McCartney with an award at the White House, in that short time they had 'changed the way that we listened to music, thought about music, and performed music, forever'. Even Her Majesty the Queen hardly your typical fan said in a speech on the occasion of her golden wedding anniversary: 'What a remarkable 50 years they have been for the world... Think what we would have missed if we had never heard The Beatles.' It is hard to believe but next month sees the 50th anniversary of the day The Beatles (pictured in 1965) broke up From the moment they became famous, they were pursued by reporters asking them what they were going to do when the bubble burst. Ringo Starr, in many ways the most pragmatic of the four, thought he would operate a chain of hair salons in the North East. Yet the Beatle bubble never burst; even after they broke up, it just kept getting bigger and bigger. I close my new book about The Beatles with a prediction made by the philosopher and politician Bryan Magee, back in 1967. 'Does anyone seriously believe that Beatles music will be an unthinkingly accepted part of daily life all over the world in the 2000s?' he asked. It's hard to think of a more off-target prediction. In 2020, there can scarcely be a person on the planet who would not have a Beatles song in their head. There are more than 1,000 Beatles tribute bands in the world today, and many of them The Tefeatles from Guatemala, Rubber Soul from Brazil, Abbey Road from Spain have been together longer than The Beatles. Britain's Bootleg Beatles and Australia's Beatnix have both been going for 40 years, or five times as long as The Beatles. And their influence extends well beyond music. Would our clothes, our hair, our way of life be the same had they not existed? President Putin told Paul McCartney that hearing The Beatles as a boy growing up in the Soviet Union was like 'a gulp of freedom'. His predecessor, Mikhail Gorbachev, went even further: 'I believe the music of The Beatles taught the young people of the Soviet Union that there is another life.' Pictured: John Lennon with Yoko Ono in 1968 Other groups had a front man; your favourite was pre-selected for you. No one would ever pick Hank Marvin over Cliff Richard, say, or Mike Smith over Dave Clark. But with The Beatles there was a choice, so you had to pick a favourite, and the one you picked said a lot about who you were. For their American fan Carolyn See, there was, 'Paul, for those who preferred androgynous beauty; John, for those who prized intellect and wit; George because he possessed that ineffable something we would later recognize as spiritual life; and Ringo, patron saint of mess-ups the world over.' Linda Grant favoured Ringo 'for reasons that are beyond me'. There was, she recalls, 'a real goody-two-shoes at school who liked Paul. George seemed a bit nothing. John seemed off-limits, too intimidating'. Ringo was the Beatle for girls who lacked ambition. Picking him as your favourite suggested a touch of realism. It went without saying that the others were already taken, but you might just stand an outside chance with the drummer. Helen Shapiro was only 16 but already a major star when The Beatles toured as one of her supporting acts at the start of 1963. John's aunt met Yoko and thought: 'God, what is that?' Soon after embarking on his relationship with Yoko Ono, John Lennon took her to meet Aunt Mimi in Poole. It was never going to be the easiest of introductions. Mimi told James Montgomery about the encounter. 'He came in all bright and breezy typical John and she followed behind. I took one look at her and thought, "My God, what is that?" 'Well, I didn't like the look of her right from the start. She had long, black hair, all over the place, and she was small. She looked just like a dwarf to me. I told John what I felt while she was outside, looking across the bay. I said to him, "Who's the poisoned dwarf, John?" 'Well, I didn't know what it was all about. I wondered who it was. And he said, "It's Yoko." I didn't think anything of it, you know. But I did say, "What do you do for a living?" She said, "I'm an artist." I said, "That's very funny, I've never heard of you!" While John was in the loo, Aunt Mimi informed Yoko that she had always brought him up to have good manners, and that was why he would always stand up when a woman came into the room. 'On his return, she warned him of what happened to the Duke of Windsor. The Duke had been remarkably popular, she said, but the public had gone off him when he married Mrs Simpson. "He lost his popularity, and John, you'd better know that." Mimi remembered John brushing her lecture away. 'He laughed it off, but he knew I didn't like her and he knew I was a good judge of character. I couldn't see what he saw in her and I thought it was wrong and nothing good would come of it.' Advertisement Like any other girl, she had her favourite. 'John was married but nobody knew about it at the time so, along with a few thousand other girls, I had a crush on him... George was the most serious. 'He would occasionally talk about what he was going to do when he was rich, and try to pick my brains about the financial side of things. I couldn't have been a lot of help. I still wasn't interested in the money. Paul remained the spokesman. Ringo was the quiet one.' Pattie Boyd first met the Beatles after being chosen to act as one of the schoolgirls in A Hard Day's Night. 'On first impressions, John seemed more cynical and brash than the others, Ringo the most endearing. Paul was cute, and George, with velvet-brown eyes and dark chestnut hair, was the best-looking man I'd ever seen.' Unlike millions of other fans, Pattie was able to take her choice a stage further. Reader, she married him. There was a Beatle to suit every taste. As a fan, you expressed yourself by picking one over the others. Each personified a different element: John fire, Paul water, George air, Ringo earth. Even their friends liked to paint them in primary colours, with sharply contrasting characters, like one of those jokes about the Englishman, the Welshman, the Irishman and the Scotsman. Carolyn See noted how, in A Hard Day's Night, they enacted their given personas: 'Winsome Paul, witty John, thoughtful George, goofy Ringo.' The actor Victor Spinetti once told this story about them. While filming Help! in Salzburg, he caught flu and was confined to bed. 'The Beatles came to my hotel room to visit. The first to arrive was George Harrison. He knocked, came in and said, "I've come to plump your pillows. Whenever anyone's ill in bed they have to have their pillows plumped." He then plumped my pillows and left. 'John Lennon came in next and marched up and down barking, "Sieg heil, Schweinhund! The doctors are here. They're coming to experiment upon you. Sieg heil! Heil Hitler!" And he left. 'Ringo then came in, sat down by the bed, picked up the hotel menu and read out loud, as if to a child, "Once upon a time there were three bears. Mummy bear. Daddy bear and Baby bear." Then he left. 'Paul opened the door an inch, asked, "Is it catching?" "Yes," I said, on which he shut the door and I never saw him again.' Paul was being the pragmatist as usual. He knew that if he or the others had caught flu, there'd be no filming. Working alongside Brian Epstein, Alistair Taylor observed the various ways they dealt with their earnings. 'Every month, Brian would issue each of the boys with their financial statements, all neatly and accurately itemised, and sealed in a white manila envelope. 'They reacted very different. John would instantly crumple it up and stuff it in his pocket. George might have a look. Ringo certainly couldn't understand it and didn't waste any time trying. 'Paul was the one who opened it carefully and would sit in the corner of the office for hours going meticulously through it.' Of course, The Beatles revolved around the contrasting characters of Paul and John. Their recording engineer Geoff Emerick watched the two of them at work. 'They couldn't have been two more different people. Paul was meticulous and organised, he always carried a notebook around with him, in which he methodically wrote down lyrics and chord changes in his neat handwriting. 'In contrast, John seemed to live in chaos: he was constantly searching for scraps of paper that he'd hurriedly scribbled ideas on. 'Paul was a natural communicator; John couldn't articulate his ideas well. Paul was the diplomat; John was the agitator. Paul was soft-spoken and almost unfailingly polite; John could be a right loudmouth and quite rude. 'Paul was willing to put in long hours to get a part right; John was impatient, always ready to move on to the next thing. Paul usually knew exactly what he wanted and would often take offence at criticism; John was much more thick-skinned and was open to hearing what others had to say.' John was brittle, demanding and caustic; Paul emollient, engaging, agreeable. But there were those who detected something singleminded, perhaps even self-serving, beneath Paul's charm. Tony Barrow, who worked as The Beatles' press officer, felt: 'John made the most noise, especially with Brian Epstein. But it was Paul who let John do the heavy lifting when there was a dispute with Brian. Then Paul would finish the persuasion. 'John would make Brian cry at times, but Paul, more of a politician, would use a quiet influence to get his way.' Paul was baby-faced, meticulous, perky, diplomatic, energetic, tuneful, ingratiating, optimistic, outgoing, cheery, sentimental, solicitous. John was angular, slapdash, maudlin, difficult, lazy, dissonant, edgy, sardonic, pessimistic, solipsistic, sulky, cool, brutal. Paul considered himself loveable; John believed himself unlovable. The peculiar power of The Beatles' music, its magic and its beauty, lies in the intermingling of these opposites. Other groups were raucous or reflective, progressive or traditional, solemn or upbeat, folksy or sexy or aggressive. But when you hear a Beatles album, you feel that all human life is there. As John saw it, when they were composing together, Paul 'provided a lightness, an optimism, while I would always go for sadness, the discords, a certain bluesy edge'. It was this finely balanced pushme/pull-you tension that made their greatest music so expressive, capable of being both universal and particular at one and the same time. Even as teenagers, they approached their songwriting with a sense of purpose. Paul would bunk off school, and John would join him in the McCartney house in Forthlin Road. Paul would open his school note - book, with its blue lines on white paper, and write, 'Another LennonMcCartney original' on the next page. Then the two of them would get straight down to composing another song. Looking back, Paul struggled to recall a fruitless afternoon. 'We never had a dry session . .. In all the years, we never walked away from a session saying, "F*** it, we can't write one".' Sometimes, their contributions to the same song were so keenly differentiated that they seemed to be playing up to their caricatures. Paul comes up with 'We can work it out' and John immediately undercuts it 'Life is very short'. Paul sings 'It's getting better' and John butts in with, 'Can't get much worse'. In A Day In The Life, it is John, compulsive reader of newspapers, who just has to laugh at the man who's blown his mind out in a car, while it is the happy-go-lucky Paul who wakes up, gets out of bed, drags a comb across his head. Many of their songs have bright melodies but dark lyrics, or dark melodies but bright lyrics. The words of Help!, Run For Your Life, Misery and Maxwell's Silver Hammer are all about depression and psychosis, but they are set to jaunty tunes. Deprived of this tug-of-war between the two competing partners, their solo songs often lack that dimension of otherness, with John falling back on self-pity and Paul giving in to whimsy. As time went by, their collaboration dwindled, and they composed more and more of their songs separately. But they remained driven by a shared sense of competition; each sought the other's approval. 'It was an ideal match,' wrote the critic Ian MacDonald. 'They laughed at the same things, thought at the same speed, respected each other's talent, and knew that their unspoken urge to best and surprise each other was crucial to the continuing vitality of their music.' One, Two, Three, Four: The Beatles In Time by Craig Brown will be published by HarperCollins on April 2 at 20. 2020 Craig Brown. To order a copy for 16 (p&p free, 20 per cent discount) go to mailshop.co.uk or call 01603 648155. Offer valid until April 5, 2020. As the curve of the deadly Coronavirus keeps rising in India, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday asserted that it has not imposed a lockdown for now, but would have to do if the need arises. During his first-ever digital-only press conference, the CM said that his government will double the pension of elders, widows and differently-abled people for this month. "Rs 4000-5000 pension will be paid to 8.5 lakh beneficiaries by April 7," he said. CM Kejriwal said restrictions due to COVID-19 were causing a terrible financial stress to the poor. He also said that free food will be provided for homeless people in the night shelters. "We are extremely concerned about daily wagers, labourers amid coronavirus crisis; don't want anyone to go hungry," he said. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, he announced that those receiving ration from fair-price shops would get 50 per cent extra for April. "Seventy-two lakh people in Delhi get ration from fair price shops. Ration per person being increased by 50 per cent. It will be provided free," the chief minister said. The government has also reduced the size of social, religious and political gatherings to not more than five persons. Kejriwal said only 50 per cent buses would ply on roads in Delhi during the 'Janata curfew' on Sunday. "For those who need to be quarantined and are opting for the paid hotel facility, GST will be waived to make it more affordable," he added. Appealing senior citizens he said, "My sincere appeal to all senior citizens. Please, please stay indoors as far as possible. As the most vulnerable group, we need to take special care so that you remain free from infection. I urge you to skip your morning/evening walks for the time being." Till Saturday, Delhi has recorded a total of 26 positive cases, including one death. India has recorded a total of 283 postive cases so far. Designer Christian Siriano and his team are sewing face masks for hospital workers in New York to combat the reported supply shortages amid the coronavirus pandemic. The 34-year-old Project Runway winner reached out to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo via Twitter on Friday to offer his services as the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the state soared to more than 7,000. 'If @NYGovCuomo says we need masks my team will help make some. I have a full sewing team still on staff working from home that can help,' Siriano tweeted. Scroll down for video Doing his part: Christian Siriano and his team are sewing face masks for New York healthcare workers fighting the coronavirus Getting it done: The 34-year-old designer took to his Instagram Stories on Friday to share videos of his staffers hard at work making masks 'Thank you. Please follow back and we will DM you,' Cuomo responded. In a subsequent tweet, the governor shared that he is in contact with Siriano. 'Appreciate his help so much,' he added. 'Who's next? Let's do this together, NY!' Siriano wasted no time with production after speaking with Cuomo, and he took to his Instagram Stories to say: 'We are working on this and will have masks and gowns ready to go ASAP.' 'Guys these will be very simple it is not for fashion it is to help people,' he added while sharing footage of his staffers sewing the supplies. 'Hopefully we can make hundreds of these quickly.' Purpose: 'Guys these will be very simple it is not for fashion it is to help people,' he wrote while sharing footage of his staffers sewing the supplies The designer also shared a black and white clip of one of his team members modeling a prototype of a mask they made. 'We will be making a few versions of this in order to help as many people as we can,' he wrote. 'Here is the process so we can get a perfect fit. More to come thank you everyone we hope to get these to the right people ASAP.' Siriano's call to action on social media was praised by Twitter users and inspired other people and companies to offer up their services. 'I second that @csiriano! @hedleyandbennett can help make face masks, gowns, etc in our 16,000 sq ft factory in LA @NYGovCuomo!' tweeted apron company Hedley & Bennett. 'We have a full sewing team ready to help and are in this together! Please tag anyone who can get us in touch with their team and spread this message!' Teamwork: Siriano reached out to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo via Twitter to offer his services as the total number of confirmed cases in the state soared to more than 7,000 Working together: In a subsequent tweet, the governor shared that he is in contact with Siriano 'I was thinking the same thing. Ive got a small factory that can pump out masks, too. Were in the east village, small. But could probably make 500 a day,' Pamela Barsky responded. Federal officials have told health workers the nation's stockpile doesn't have enough basic medical equipment like masks and gowns to meet the expected crush of coronavirus cases. Doctors and nurses across the country have already reported shortages in the supplies that they need to keep safe while on the front lines fighting the illness. Many have resorted to reusing asks or making their own out of office supplies. In just one day, 2,950 new coronavirus cases were confirmed in New York, and Cuomo ordered all non-essential workers to stay home starting on Sunday. He also made an impassioned plea for hospital equipment and announced that he would fund any business that could mass manufacture surgical masks. As of Friday, there are more than 18,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the U.S. and 230 deaths. Chipping in: Siriano's call to action on social media was praised by Twitter users and inspired other people and companies to offer up their service Deaconess Health System in Evansville, Indiana, has gone as far as asking the public to sew CDC-compliant face masks for medical workers fighting the virus. Meanwhile, the sneaker brand Allbirds has announced that it is donating shoes to anyone who works in healthcare in the U.S. and is on the front lines. The offer for the $95 Tuke Matcha Wool Runners is valid while supplies last. Actress Kristen Bell was happy to use her platform to promote the initiative on her Instagram Stories on Friday, writing: 'Thank u @allbirds.' Fashion designers and brands around the world are chipping in as well. The French conglomerate LVMH announced at the start of the week that it will use perfume production lines at three factories to manufacture large quantities of hydroalcoholic gel, or hand sanitizer, amid a 'lack of product in France.' The Louis Vuitton owner started production on Monday in a bid to enable 'a greater number of people' to 'take the right action' during the global health pandemic. Announcement: Siriano shared on his Instagram Stories that they will have masks and gowns ready as soon as possible and one of his friends called him a hero Generous: The sneaker brand Allbirds has announced that it is donating shoes to anyone who works in healthcare in the U.S., and Kristen Bell promoted in the initiative on Instagram Inditex, the owner of the fast-fashion fashion retailer Zara, announced earlier this week that it would be making masks to donate to the Spanish government. The Spain-based company said that it would make its factories and its logistics teams available to help with the donations for healthcare workers and patients, with a company spokesperson saying that it will 'make a delivery at least once a week of materials we purchase directly'. 'Inditex has already donated 10,000 protective face masks and by the end of this week expects to be in a position to ship another 300,000 surgical masks,' the statement continued. And on Thursday, the British Fashion Council took to Instagram to ask designers with production capacity to 'help in the manufacture of essential products including masks.' 'In times of need, the fashion industry can be of service,' the nonprofit wrote. The Council of Fashion Designers of America has yet to make a similar call to action, and it's unclear if it has plans to do so. The 360 shows you diverse perspectives on the days top stories and debates. Whats happening In the past few days, President Trump and some of his fellow conservatives have changed the way they refer to the virus that has caused nearly 10,000 deaths around the world. For more than two months, Trump used the word coronavirus. On Monday, he began calling it the Chinese virus on Twitter and in public briefings. Other GOP lawmakers and conservative media figures have pivoted their language as well, with some preferring Wuhan virus, referring to the area of China where the outbreak originated. The change in word choice has raised accusations of racism. Trump defended himself Wednesday, saying, It comes from China. I want to be accurate. The White House accused the presidents critics of fake media outrage. Trump is correct that the virus is believed to come from China. But using the phrase goes against modern best practices to avoid location-based names for infectious diseases. Not only are they often inaccurate Spanish flu started in Kansas and Ebola was chosen by scientists using an incorrect map but they can also stigmatize people from the region the virus is named after. Its really important we be careful in the language we use lest it lead to the profiling of individuals associated with the virus, a World Health Organization official said. There have been numerous reports of racism against Asians in the U.S. and abroad, including hate crimes, as the outbreak has escalated. Health experts say this prejudice could hinder efforts to combat the pandemic. Why theres debate Trump and his allies argue that the term Chinese virus is necessary to ensure that Chinas government is held accountable for the missteps it took in the early stages of the outbreak that allowed the virus to spread to other parts of the world. The presidents critics say hes looking to redirect blame for the impact the virus is having in the U.S. amid accusations that the administration has mismanaged the crisis and put American lives at risk. Story continues Others say the vocabulary shift is an attempt to change the debate to one about the presidents language choice rather than his performance. Trump has faced regular allegations of racism since referring to Mexican immigrants as rapists in the first address of his presidential campaign. Combating those accusations and using them as an opportunity to rail against politically correct culture is something the president and his supporters have ample practice at, and may even see a political advantage in. Some historians say the phrase Chinese virus is part of a long history of blaming foreigners, particularly Asians, for epidemics. Perspectives Its an attempt to distract from mismanagement of the crisis The White House [would] clearly rather have a National Conversation about political correctness run amok than talk about the shocking and continuing malfeasance of the WHs response that will result in unnecessary deaths. MSNBC host Chris Hayes Its important to be truthful about where the virus started While some here say thats a racist term, its actually just an accurate term of where it started, and them not being transparent about how it started really hurt literally the rest of the planet. Brian Kilmeade, Fox News Trump and his allies are more comfortable in debates about rhetoric Controversies like these are a perfect example of what Steve Bannon, Trumps former campaign manager, called flooding the zone with sh*t distracting us from what matters with copious flushes of what doesnt. And raw sewage is this presidents natural habitat, the medium in which he fights most effectively. His opponents are willingly lured into the sewers. Graeme Wood, Atlantic Its fair to blame the Chinese government, but not to stigmatize the countrys citizens If the present instances are unfair to the Chinese people, who have suffered massively from the outbreak, a better name would be Xis disease. Editorial, National Review Trump sees political advantage in culture war debates There is no word in the world more recognizable right now than coronavirus. From his infamous both sides remarks about a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., to his labeling of Haiti and African nations as sh*thole countries to referring to Mexicans as rapists and drug dealers, Trumps frequent displays of racism are deliberate. Kurt Bardella, NBC News It provides a chance to make the left look excessively PC Do I think he should be calling it the Chinese virus? No. But I think its a losing argument for the left to make because I think the vast majority of Americans are going to say, Who cares? Dan Abrams, The View The virus offers an opportunity to needle Trumps biggest geopolitical rival China is a regular punching bag for a president who lays blame for all sorts of global ills at Chinas door; he has already sparked a trade war with China, plunging any semblance of bilateralism to historic lows. Countless Republicans seem to see the coronavirus uh, Wuhan virus as another Team Trump layup that theyre not gonna miss. Daniel King, Mother Jones Fear of disease has always been tied to fear of foreigners The language of disease has always been linked to our discourse around immigration. I think its pretty clear that our fears about immigrants and outsiders have always been bolstered by fears about disease and contamination. Historian Natalia Molin to Vox Is there a topic youd like to see covered in The 360? Send your suggestions to the360@yahoonews.com. Read more 360s Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images All confirmations across the diocese have been suspended until further notice and the church are asking people to be mindful to try and keep numbers down at funerals, paying mind to the limits of 100 people set on indoor events as part of the measures taken to combat the spread of coronavirus. In another unusual measure, baptisms will now be carried out using cotton buds. The diocese is encouraging people to take all precautions necessary and to keep an eye on parishioners who may find themselves isolated at this difficult time. 'The Diocese is mindful of the necessity for prayer at this time and in union with all other Dioceses in Ireland it invites parishioners to place trust in the Lord, asking Our Lady to intercede for us,' said spokesman Fr John Carroll. 'As people of faith, we are called to face the fears of this moment with a courage not our own and with a generous heart. In our hour of trial Jesus calls on us, his followers, to serve the common good by taking responsibility for each other and to prioritise the most vulnerable in our community ahead of our own individual wants and aspirations. At this time our first concern has to be for the elderly, the ill and those with underlying medical conditions.' Parishioners who have symptoms of coronavirus are asked not to present themselves at church over the coming weeks, as are anyone with underlying conditions or those who may be vulnerable should they contract covid-19. 'We strongly encourage people with such conditions to be spiritually united with their local community,' Fr Carroll said. 'Where possible they should avail of parish radio broadcasts and webcam. While in church and as far as possible people are asked to keep a safe distance from one another, in keeping with current advice.' While all confirmations are indefinitely suspended, people are being asked to prioritise the needs of grieving families and close friends as the church tries to keep numbers at funeral masses below 100. 'Prayerful attendance at the cemetery (500 people) is an option for members of the wider community,' Fr Carroll said, before adding that those sympathising should not shake hands. During baptism, the celebrant will sign the child with cross without touching. Where there is more than one child being baptised, a single jug of fresh water will be blessed and used. The anointing with the holy oils will be administered by the use of cotton buds. The guidelines issued by the diocese state that 'in the current emergency situation, all are dispensed from the obligation to physically attend Sunday Mass. 'That said, Sunday Masses can proceed as scheduled for congregations of up to 100. In cases where the numbers exceed this figure, parishioners returning home without Mass are asked to consider private and/or family prayer. Weekday Masses can proceed in a similar manner. In short - Sunday Masses, weekday Masses, weddings, funerals and baptisms may be celebrated once the requirement that attendance in Church does not exceed 100 people is respected.' Despite this, a number of the larger churches have taken matters into their own hands and have cancelled Masses until further notice. In Enniscorthy, St Aidan's Cathedral announced that there would be no public Masses until further notice, but the cathedral would be open for public prayer from 10.30 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. In Wexford town, Bride Street and Rowe Street churches have cancelled all public masses, but 10 a.m. Mass will be broadcast from Bride Street everyday at 10 a.m. on 106FM and both churches will also be open during the day for prayer. All non-essential pastoral gatherings and meetings are cancelled, while priests will use a cotton bud or surgical glove for the pastoral care of the sick and the anointing with holy oil. Priests are being asked to provide an alternative to the practice of passing collection baskets, but people are asked to 'continue their generous contributions to the upkeep of their parish'. Hand sanitisers will be located at the entrance of each church, where it can be sourced; holy water fonts will remain empty; the sign of peace is not to be expressed by hand-shaking; only the priest will receive from the chalice at Mass and priests will sanitise their hands before and after distributing holy communion. The diocese will continue to monitor the situation and church-specific information will be updated and published on the diocesan website www.ferns.ie. Meanwhile, Bishop Michael Burrows of the Diocese of Cashel, Ferns and Ossory has announced the suspension of all Church of Ireland ceremonies until at least March 29. This includes the indefinite suspension of confirmation services. At a press conference Friday afternoon, Illinois Democratic governor J.B. Pritzker announced he was placing the entire state under a stay-at-home order beginning 5 p.m. today. The announcement of this measure, ostensibly to stop the spread of the highly infectious COVID-19, comes far too late. Rising infections indicate that hospitals are already being overwhelmed by cases contracted over the past few weeks, and the state has done little to reassure millions of workers who stand at the edge of a financial precipice. According to Pritzker, there are now 585 official cases of COVID-19 in 25 counties throughout Illinois, with 163 new cases on Friday, both of which substantially understate the true infection rate, due to low levels of testing. The official death toll now stands at five. The governors office also estimates that the number of infections may jump to 3,400 by next week as testing becomes more widely available. President Donald Trump meets with Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead) Pritzkers stay-at-home order is currently scheduled to run through April 7, with all non-essential businesses ending operations. This builds on a previous order Pritzker issued on Sunday which closed bars, restaurants, gyms, and other facilities, and another on Monday which banned gatherings of 50 or more. It was only on Friday, March 13, that statewide school closures were announced, initially only until March 29. Pritzkers latest order pushes the official tentative opening date back to April 8 as well, though it is likely they will be closed for much longer. However, even as the governor and other officials tout the measures they have taken, Pritzker acknowledged many people will still go to work. Among those expected to continue working through the order, largely without meaningful safeguards, are workers at grocery stores, pharmacies, gas stations, medical facilities, transit and road workers, journalists, those involved in maintaining infrastructure, and anything relating to agriculture and the food supply. Restaurants will also continue to operate delivery or takeout services. Despite mass layoffs in the restaurant and hospitality industries, among others, the billionaire Pritzker announced no serious measures to address the dire circumstances facing large numbers of people. According to the Illinois Department of Employment Security, 64,000 people filed for unemployment from Monday through Wednesday, more than 10 times more than seen in those same three days last year. While requirements for receiving unemployment payments have been slightly relaxed, these do nothing for gig workers and others who are not covered by this system. One major Illinois-based corporation that will be unaffected by the shutdown is John Deere, the agricultural and construction equipment manufacturer, which the Trump administration designated this week as essential critical infrastructure. Many companies also plan to flout the order, claiming they qualify as essential services. Pritzker basically acknowledged this would happen and said law enforcement would only intervene when necessary. Illinois Manufacturers Association president Mark Denzler has appealed to both Pritzker and Lightfoot to designate all manufacturing facilities and supply chains as essential. Despite the official presence of COVID-19 in the Chicago area since January 24, with the first positive test result, the state and local governments have carried out the policy the WSWS has labeled as malign neglect. Schools and businesses continued operating, and events proceeded as normal, despite the known risk that the infection would be propagated to wide and vulnerable layers of the population. Decisions by Pritzker, as well as Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot, also a Democrat, to carry on events and services in the face of the outbreak can only be characterized as criminal. Pritzker insisted on holding the Illinois primary election this past Tuesday, claiming the in-person election could not be delayed because voters often need personal help that is unavailable online. Just prior to the election, Pritzker announced his endorsement of former Vice President Joe Biden. Lightfoot, for her part, resisted initial calls to shut down the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), and was ultimately only overruled by the governor. However, even after acquiescing to closing down schools, Lightfoot and her administration made the shocking decision to keep open the facilities of the Chicago Public Library (CPL) and Chicago Park District, and ordered workers to report. Chicago public health commissioner Alison Arwady said the library was being kept open so staff could, provide for those who have no other place to go for basic access to the internet or other resources. She claimed to be confident workers can provide these services in a way that is safe and sanitary. Library workers on social media dispelled these claims, saying library patrons and workers were being put into dangerous levels of contact with one another. One librarian who spoke to the Chicago Tribune noted, People trust us, and said, if we are open, we are telling them that we are still trustworthy, that they should feel safe in our spaces, and I dont think there is any CPL (Chicago Public Library) staff who feel we have been able to make our spaces safe for the public now. The librarian also acknowledged, We cant stand in for all of the social services that have been cut and not replaced in past years. We are librarians, we are not trained social workers. This is entirely correct. Illinois and Chicago have both slashed social services to the bone and hollowed out the social infrastructure over the course of decades. Leaving librarians and other library staff to attempt to pick up the pieces of this frayed social order is not only unfair, it devalues their professional training as well as the importance of libraries as places of learning and knowledge. The same can be said for teachers and schools, which the Lightfoot administration tried to justify keeping open primarily so they could provide meals and other services to students. Over the course of three days this week, after schools were closed to teachers and staff, CPS distributed roughly 500,000 meals. In the face of widespread protest by librarians throughout the country as well as local residents, as well as closures of branches due to worker sickouts and wildcats, the Lightfoot administration planned to move Monday to close down 61 branches. However, 19 branches, as well as the main downtown library were to stay open, while staff would be rotated from all branches to the remaining locations. This plan was widely expected to result in higher concentrations of patrons, many of whom would be classified as more vulnerable to COVID-19 due to existing illnesses, homelessness and poverty. The library union, AFSCME Local 1215, part of ASCME Council 31, did absolutely nothing to help library workers or protect them from this pandemic. The most notable part of the unions complaint was that library workers were fearful and feeling abandoned, due to Lightfoots policy. In response to Pritzkers order, Local 1215 President John Rayburn fawned over the decision saying, I would just like to thank them both, and added, hopefully the people of Illinois can overcome this. Indeed, the unions in Illinois, like their counterparts everywhere, have used the crisis to pledge their allegiance to the capitalist state and force workers to report. In a joint statement issued with John Deere, the UAW announced it was answering the call to continue to operate as the Nation comes together to slow the spread of COVID-19. It is clear that in order to fight the COVID-19 outbreak as well as the ruling classs attempt to use this crisis to carry out further attacks on workers living standards and pollute social consciousness with chauvinist and nationalist filth, new organizations of struggle are needed. The SEP urges workers to study our statement and take up the struggle for socialism. It is only on this basis that the global COVID-19 pandemic can be resolved on a progressive basis. Telco operators provide better data packages to help work from home By Duruthu Edirimuni Chandrasekera View(s): View(s): In a bid to help companies and workers prepare for remote working amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRC) has got operators to provide subsidised/no charge data packages, TRC officials said. Many people are working from home. As such we got the operators to introduce special packages to double up data. Now there will be more data usage and certain operators arent charging for applications such as WhatsApp and Viber, TRC Chairman Oshada Senanayake told the Business Times. A top company chairman is very confident in this model of working remotely. We were one of the first to make the switch to remote working for all our staff, building on pre-existing infrastructure such as office chat groups, remote access to critical tools, and the fact that much knowledge work can be carried out remotely, he told the Business Times. He added that its important to lower the chance of spreading the coronavirus to coworkers, families and communities. It is important to practice social distancing and keep to the 1 meter distance rule when possible. It is also really important to not congregate, he added. Some companies in Sri Lanka are also getting their white-collar work force to adhere to the work-from-home mandate as in the US and Europe, he said. A company CEO said that his firm is holding videoconferences instead of meetings and letting employees work from home. Some companies are considering alternative schedules or staggered shifts. Many Colombo based firms are encouraging employees to work remotely to suppress the spread of the coronavirus. The work-from-home policy can only be used by certain employees whose jobs allow them to work remotely, another CEO pointed out. Not all can work remotely, so some companies are adjusting work schedules in manufacturing, development, customer care and aftersales and contact centres to have staggered work shifts, he said. Two rumours gripped the aviation industry as the COVID virus revealed its full stranglehold over the sector earlier this week. One, the aviation industry in India has been speculating on which would be the next airline to down shutters. This question has been a topic of much debate for a long time now ever since Jet Airways became history. Many in the sector argue that there will be at best three to four players in the sector over the long term and that the weaker airlines will be weeded out sooner or later. The epidemic has brought home that reality with a bang. Even ... The National Science Teachers Association recently honored Caine for the award with a $10,000 prize, which she used to buy a 3D printer for her classroom. Caine also won an expense-paid trip to their national convention in Boston, though it was cancelled due to the coronavirus. Instead, the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education will be paying for her to attend another conference in the future. The Congress in Karnataka on Saturday asked both the central and state governments to announce a 'special corona financial package' in the interest of sections like farmers, daily wage workers and businesses affected by the spread of coronavirus. KPCC president D K Shivakumar wanted a taskforce to come up with modalities and implement the special package urgently. "I appeal to both the central& state govt to announce a 'Special Corona Financial Package' keeping in mind interests of sections like farmers, labourers, daily wage workers & businesses. Please do take measures like Tax & EMI deferrals, basic income transfer & reducing GST," he tweeted. On the medical front, Shivakumar suggested the governments to take private hospitals and labs into confidence to fight COVID-19, adding that the state Congress stands fully in support with the governmentto stop this pandemic. Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition in Karnataka Assembly Siddaramaiah urged people to observe guidelines for prevention of COVID-19 infection besides 'Janta Curfew' on Sunday by staying at home. "Let us all fight together against the spread of virus," he tweeted. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) WASHINGTON President Trump issued an executive order this week invoking the Defense Production Act to battle the coronavirus pandemic, but his advisers have resisted making aggressive use of the law to mobilize private industry. Mr. Trump has given mixed signals about whether his administration has actually used the law at all to spur the production of scarce and necessary items like ventilators; testing kits; and protective masks, gloves, and gowns. Here is an explanation of the law. What is the Defense Production Act? It is a law that permits the federal government to impose some control over private-sector industry to ensure the production of material that is deemed necessary for national defense. It traces back to the Korean War. Congress enacted it with military necessities like steel and tanks in mind, but lawmakers expanded it after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to cover other areas, including public health and safety. It was reauthorized last year until 2025. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Fender is offering three months of free online guitar lessons to the first 100,000 people who sign up, to help us all get through the coronavirus crisis. Music has the power to connect people, the guitar company wrote on Facebook. In Italy, where more than 47,000 people have contracted COVID-19 and more than 4,000 have died, people shut in their homes are using their balconies for concerts. Italians have now been at home for nine days, and, from Bologna to Rome, they have invited their neighbors to engage in what they call a Flash Mob Sonoro, or a sound flash mob, writes the New Yorker. Musical competency is not a requirement, and neither is possessing a traditional instrument. A pot or a wooden spoon can suffice, if only because their sounds will join those of many other people who, from their balconies and windows, are hoping to create a bond through music." Were all going to be spending more time inside, said the guitar company, so we might as well make some noise. So go ahead. Practice inside. Play on your porch. Spread some joy. Not feeling musical? Cleveland.coms Joey Morona has 10 other ideas to improve your life while youre sheltering in place. Maybe a sweat session would make you happy. Jazzercise is offering 60 days free on Jazzercise on Demand, with the code 60DAYSFREE. Audible just made hundreds of audio books free. Fashion and home retailer Cath Kidston is looking for a buyer to save the business as the corona-virus lockdown wreaks havoc on the high street. The shop, which is known for its floral and polka dot designs, has appointed advisers from restructuring experts Alvarez and Marsal to work on a strategic review. The firm has told potential buyers to act quickly and fears insolvency is one possible outcome if a buyer cannot be found, according to a Sky News report. Cath Kidston has appointed advisers from Alvarez and Marsal to work on a strategic review The move comes after fashion and furnishings retailer Laura Ashley last week filed for administration, saying rescue talks had been thwarted by the coronavirus outbreak. Cath Kidston was set up by its eponymous founder in 1993. The British designer made a multi-million pound fortune after selling a stake to American private equity firm TA Associates in a deal that valued the business at 100million. TA Associates sold to another investment firm, Baring Private Equity Asia, that wanted to back the companys expansion in the Far East, leading to the opening of its 100th store in Seoul, South Korea. The retailer now employs around 800 people and has about 200 stores worldwide. However, the company lost 27million in the last two years and a further 11million in the nine months to December 2019, according to reports. A spokesman for the retailer said: Cath Kidston has been actively implementing a new business strategy to support the growth of the brand while managing the many pressures in the retail sector. We have therefore initiated a process to explore options for the business, to enable the management team to continue implementing their strategy to deliver growth. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 20, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. (NYSE: FSM) (TSX: FVI) announces that in the evening of March 19, 2020, the Government of Argentina declared effective at midnight a period of mandatory national social isolation in relation to COVID-19, effective until March 31, 2020. The Company is proceeding to orderly and safely demobilize its workforce at the Lindero gold Project in Salta Province, Argentina, in accordance with the Executive Order and the processes implemented for this purpose by the Provincial Government of Salta. As a result, the Company is temporarily suspending construction activities at Lindero for ten days. A task force will remain on site to maintain critical activities and to undertake safety and environmental monitoring of Lindero over the isolation period. The Company is assessing the impacts of the temporary suspension at Lindero on the timelines and budget and will provide an update once the assessments have been completed. About Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. Fortuna is a growth oriented, precious metals producer focused on mining opportunities in Latin America. Our primary assets are the Caylloma silver Mine in southern Peru, the San Jose silver-gold Mine in Mexico and the Lindero gold Project, currently under construction, in Argentina. The Company is selectively pursuing acquisition opportunities throughout the Americas and in select other areas. For more information, please visit our website at www.fortunasilver.com . ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD Jorge A. Ganoza President, CEO and Director Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. Trading symbols: NYSE: FSM | TSX: FVI Investor Relations: Carlos Baca T (Peru): +51.1.616.6060, ext. 0 Forward-looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking statements which constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation and forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (collectively, Forward-looking Statements). All statements included herein, other than statements of historical fact, are Forward-looking Statements and are subject to a variety of known and unknown risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those reflected in the Forward-looking Statements. The Forward-looking Statements in this news release may include, without limitation, statements about the anticipated lifting of the suspension enacted by the Government of Argentina; the safe de-mobilization of the workforce from Lindero; the long-terms impact of the temporary suspension on Lindero; the duration and effects of COVID-19 and any other pandemics on the Companys workforce, business, operations and financial condition, and the risks relating to a global pandemic, which unless contained could cause a slowdown in global economic growth and impact the Companys business, operations, financial condition and share price. Often, but not always, these Forward-looking Statements can be identified by the use of words such as estimated, potential, open, future, assumed, projected, used, detailed, has been, gain, planned, reflecting, will, containing, remaining, to be, or statements that events, could or should occur or be achieved and similar expressions, including negative variations. Forward-looking Statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the Forward-looking Statements. Such uncertainties and factors include, among others, the duration of the Argentine declaration of mandatory national social isolation; the impact of the temporary suspension on the timelines and budget for Lindero; the worldwide economic and social impact of COVID-19, the duration and extent of COVID-19, changes in general economic conditions and financial markets; changes in prices for silver and other metals; technological and operational hazards in Fortunas mining and mine development activities; risks inherent in mineral exploration; uncertainties inherent in the estimation of mineral reserves, mineral resources, and metal recoveries; changes to current estimates of mineral reserves and resources; changes to production estimates; governmental and other approvals; changes in government, political unrest or instability in countries where Fortuna is active; labor relations issues; as well as those factors discussed under Risk Factors in the Company's Annual Information Form. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in Forward-looking Statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Forward-looking Statements contained herein are based on the assumptions, beliefs, expectations and opinions of management, including but not limited to the management of the worldwide economic and social impact of COVID-19, that the duration and extent of COVID-19 is minimized and not long-term, the expected trends in mineral prices and currency exchange rates; the accuracy of the Companys current mineral resource and reserve estimates; that the Companys activities will be in accordance with the Companys public statements and stated goals; that there will be no material adverse change affecting the Company or its properties; that all required approvals will be obtained; that there will be no significant disruptions affecting operations and such other assumptions as set out herein. Forward-looking Statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company disclaims any obligation to update any Forward-looking Statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, except as required by law. There can be no assurance that the Company will be successful in its legal proceedings or that these Forward-looking Statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, investors should not place undue reliance on Forward-looking Statements. Ottawa: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has reversed his government's open immigration stance and will begin turning back asylum seekers who walk in from the United States outside of official border crossings. The move, which takes effect at 11.59pm Friday Canadian time, came as the countries prepared to close their mutual border for the first time since Canada became an independent nation and as nations seal themselves to limit the spread of the coronavirus. "This is a temporary measure which we'll put in place for as long as the coronavirus crisis lasts," Trudeau said only three days after his government said such asylum seekers would only be quarantined. "These are exceptional measures to protect citizens." Shift in policy or temporary measure? Canadian PM Justin Trudeau. Credit:Bloomberg By Friday afternoon 929 coronavirus cases and 11 deaths had been reported in Canada, although that figure was rapidly rising. The announcement on the redeployment of troops was made by the coalition hours after the occurrence of a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base housing US and other coalition troops. It was the 24th attack aimed at the coalition forces in nearly six months, and the last straw for the US to decide to relocate soldiers from Iraq, an important partner of Washington in the fight against terrorism. According to coalition spokesman Col. Myles B. Caggins III, the coalition is re-positioning troops from a few smaller bases in Iraq. The redeployment first took place at al-Qaim base in northern Iraq, near the Syrian border, with about 300 troops to leave the base. Among them, some troops will be redeployed to coalition facilities in Syria, while some others will be taken to other locations in Iraq or bases in Kuwait. The US decision is said to be quite surprising, as, not long ago, the Pentagon implemented the realignment of forces to focus on deploying troops in Iraq after the withdrawal of some of its troops from Syria. The US wants to maintain its influence in the region through consolidating and strengthening the power of the 5,000 troop forces currently stationed in Iraq. Regardless of repeated attacks on foreign military bases in Iraq, the United States vowed to take retaliatory measures against the Iran-backed attacks, as alleged by Washington. However, from the reality, the security threats in Iraq have caused some US allies to stop training here. The German Ministry of Defence recently announced a plan to withdraw all its troops from Iraq in the context of the strong COVID-19 outbreaks affecting German military operations abroad. The European country would like to prioritise all resources for the fight against the epidemic. German media also reported that the German armys AWACS surveillance aircraft has been withdrawn from Konya, Turkey. Although key US allies, including the UK, declared to continue standing side by side with Washington in the anti-terrorism combat and maintain a number of troops for training and logistics tasks in Iraq, the coalition could not avoid falling into crisis following multiple attacks. In addition, Iraqs parliament recently approved a resolution requesting the end of the presence of foreign troops in the country. Both the Iraqi and US governments are facing pressure from the Iraqi peoples protests insisting on US troop withdrawal. Since launching the anti-IS war in Iraq in mid-2014, the coalition forces have backed the Baghdad administration in its military operations, helping to reclaim the entire IS-occupied territories. In the context of terrorist threats still existing in the region, coalition troops maintain their presence in Iraq in a training role. However, after years of dealing with terrorism, as well as many wars, the Iraqi people have come to thoroughly understand the price of freedom and they no longer want outside intervention. Given the fact that the US position is declining on the anti-terrorist front in Syria, Washington wants Iraq to become one of the main bases of the coalition in the region. The Pentagon also declared it would maintain two aircraft carrier strike groups in the Gulf, with flexibility and readiness to respond to any threats. This is considered a deterrent presence following the series of attacks, which Washington accused Iranian-backed armed groups of carrying out, targeting US military facilities in Iraq. In the context of the Pentagon repeatedly vowing to appropriately respond to attacks on US and coalition forces in Iraq, the US decision to gradually withdraw troops from its bases in the country is just reluctance. The coalitions troop redeployment showed that the US is taking strategic adjustments to suit the new situation. However, it is not at all easy for Washington to achieve the goal of maintaining its influence as US policies continue to escalate tensions in the region, especially in relations with Iran. [March 20, 2020] HP INVESTOR DEADLINE ALERT: Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP Encourages Investors Who Suffered Losses Exceeding $100,000 In HP Inc. To Contact The Firm Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP, a leading national securities law firm, reminds investors in HP Inc. ("HP" or the "Company") (NYSE:HPQ) of the April 20, 2020 deadline to seek the role of lead plaintiff in a federal securities class action that has been filed against the Company. If you invested in HP stock or options between February 23, 2017 and October 3, 2019 and would like to discuss your legal rights, click here: http://www.faruqilaw.com/HPQ. There is no cost or obligation to you. You can also contact us by calling Richard Gonnello toll free at 877-247-4292 or at 212-983-9330 or by sending an e-mail to [email protected]. The lawsuit has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of all those who purchased HP common stock between February 23, 2017 and October 3, 2019 (the "Class Period"). The case, Electrical Workers Pension Fund, Local 103, I.B.E.W. v. HP Inc. et al, No. 20-cv-01260 was filed on February 19, 2020, and has been assigned to Judge Susan Illston. The lawsuit focuses on whether the Company and its executives violated federal securities laws by falsely emphasizing that its four-box model was an accurate, reliable tool to determine demand and revenue in the Company's Supplies business, and reassuring investors that, based on the four-box model, HP had a "clear line of sight to supply stabilization." On February 27, 2019, after the close of trading, HP reported that total Supplies revenue was down 3%, with a 9% decline in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa ("EMEA"), for the first quarter of fiscal 2019. On an earnings call held that day, HP management attributed the shortfall to weaker than predicted demand from commercial customers in EMEA driven by an increase in online sales, where HP had a lower market share and faced moe competition from cheaper third-party alternatives than in the US. HP admitted to a larger problem with its four-box model: it had been using incorrect Supplies market share assumptions and, contrary to its previous statements, in fact had limited "visibility into the downstream channel ecosystem" and had failed to accurately predict "a decline in share and, to a lesser extent, pricing," most significantly for Supplies in HP's commercial channels. On this news, the Company's stock price fell from $23.85 per share on February 27, 2019 to $19.73 per share on February 28, 2019: a $4.12 or 17.27% drop. Then, on May 30, 2019, at the Sanford C. Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference, former CEO and named Defendant Dion Weisler disclosed additional detail on the lack of telemetry data, admitting that the consumer segment of the Supplies business had had telemetry data for years, meaning that management had known all along the importance of telemetry data for an accurate model and that the commercial Supplies business lacked this key input. On this news, the Company's stock price fell from $19.14 per share on May 30, 2019 to $18.68 per share on May 31, 2019: a $0.46 or 2.4% drop. Then, on August 22, 2019, after the market closed, HP announced in a press release, also filed on Form 8-K with the SEC (News - Alert), that Defendant Weisler would step down at the end of October 2019 due to a family health matter. HP also announced disappointing earnings results for the third quarter of fiscal 2019, with Supplies revenue down 7% year-over-year. Management also revised Supplies revenue guidance even further down, to 4% or 5% down for fiscal 2019 from previous guidance of 3%. On this news, the Company's stock price fell from $18.93 per share on August 22, 2019 to $17.81 per share on August 23, 2019: a $1.12 or 5.92% drop. Finally, on October 3, 2019, after the market closed, HP announced that it was "departing from the purely transactional Supplies-centric business model" and transitioning to a hardware-driven business. The new business model would give customers the choice between a discounted HP printer that can only function with HP Supplies or a higher-priced HP printer with the option to choose third-party cartridges. Under the new business model, HP would abandon its use of the four-box model as the Company de-emphasized Supplies revenue and instead would focus on "the key metrics [of] service growth and operating profit dollars, which better reflect[] the system profitability." The Company also announced mass layoffs as part of a major company restructuring, in which it expects to cut between 7,000 to 9,000 positions, or up to 16% of its global workforce, over three years. On this news, the Company's stock price fell from $18.40 per share on October 3, 2019 to $16.64 per share on October 4, 2019: a $1.76 or 9.57% drop. The court-appointed lead plaintiff is the investor with the largest financial interest in the relief sought by the class who is adequate and typical of class members who directs and oversees the litigation on behalf of the putative class. Any member of the putative class may move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff through counsel of their choice, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member. Your ability to share in any recovery is not affected by the decision to serve as a lead plaintiff or not. Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP also encourages anyone with information regarding HP's conduct to contact the firm, including whistleblowers, former employees, shareholders and others. Attorney Advertising. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP (www.faruqilaw.com). Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter. We welcome the opportunity to discuss your particular case. All communications will be treated in a confidential manner. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200320005070/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] The advent of the coronavirus and its tragic fallout on human lives, social order and the economy have undermined the neoliberal order as a return to the welfare state sounds best suited to deal with such repercussions. The state has taken health, security, education and the ordinary functioning of the market into its hand including in Morocco where the government imposed restrictions on movement and took a series of drastic measures to avert a coronavirus outbreak. Morocco chose the safety of its citizens over its economy and corporate interest by stopping many economic sectors such as tourism in order to better contain the virus spread. It has also set up a fund receiving donations from the public and the private sectors as well as executives and ordinary citizens with the aim to allocate more resources to upgrade the public health infrastructure and earmark compensations to people who lost their jobs. Ahmed Lahlimi, head of Moroccos high commission for planning, was one of the countrys senior economists who kept urging more public spending on education, health and other social sectors even before the coronavirus outbreak. In a recent interview with Moroccan news website, Medias24, Lahlimi said that growth forecasts will be revised downwards and that 2.3% growth expected by the central bank was unrealistic. Recession will take place among Moroccos partners in Europe and growth at best case would be near 1% he said, noting that in June only his agency can have a clear idea on its growth forecasts. The lockdown in cities combines with drought will make it hard for a lot of people who gain their living from informal, or gray economy, jobs, he said. Morocco has to think in advance about the post-coronavirus era and take initiatives to boost local demand and consumption as well as take measures to help the most vulnerable. Morocco has the advantage of having a Monarchy that safeguards its stability, he said. The coronavirus pandemic unveiled the impotence of globalization in the face of humanitarian crisis, he said, as states across the globe are trying to take the situation into their own hands. He blamed the IMF for pushing states into more privatization of public services which now with the coronavirus proved wrong. The IMF has long focused on measures such as dirham float reform that it says will protect Morocco from external shocks, he said. Will the exchange rate protect us from what we see currently? he wondered. I insist that external shocks are not the priority for us. I think that we should pay more attention to internal shocks. External shocks are not even identified. Oil, we are used to deal with its fluctuations. Internal shocks are the most painful like shortcomings in health or education, he said. PORTLAND Brenda S. Mierzejewski, founder and CEO of Mizzi Cosmetics, is part of a movement increasing in popularity as more people are confined to home than ever before to avoid spreading the coronavirus. Six years ago, Mierzejewski began selling her vegan and handmade lip balms, scrubs, lip liners, masques and more from her kitchen to remedy her familys dry lips. At the time, she was in the pharmaceutical industry, and had seen a shift toward nonpetroleum and natural, clean bases for products. When I realized what was in most lip care products, I was horrified. Not only did learning about the negative effects of petroleum make me feel sick that I was putting it on my kids lips, but I couldnt believe the amount of petroleum most of us ingest in our lifetime, she told the Press. Fast-forward six years and Mierzejewskis products have been in national magazines, such as People, Allure and InStyle; on Good Morning America and The Dr. Oz Show, mentioned by the likes of model Kylie Jenner, and even found their way into swag bags at the 2015 Academy Awards. Her beauty items are sold at 450 national retailers, including Neiman Marcus. In November, she added a second 1,500-square-foot production-only center behind her other production center, laboratory and small retail shop at 529 Glastonbury Turnpike, expanding it to 3,000 square feet. About three weeks ago, the businesswoman learned of the nationwide shortage of hand sanitizers, an essential part of keeping hands and surfaces germs-free during the coronavirus pandemic. After investigating the possibilities, she introduced two new products to her line: Healthy Hands sanitizer and salve. The salve is a complementary product which can prevent dryness and cracked skin due to overwashing ones hands. As a small business, this is going to help us stay afloat, but its also going to help the community in need in Connecticut. I want to do anything I can to get on that, she explained. The all-natural sanitizer is made from isopropyl alcohol, aloe leaf juice and lavender oil. We put our own spin on it, because we believe in clean beauty. Everything we do is holistic, so we are adding lavender to it, because we want to stay true to who we are, Mierzejewski said. Mierzejewski said people can preorder starting Tuesday. That particular essential oil helps soothe inflammation, and allows the aloe to repair damage from frequent hand-washing and products containing alcohol. A lot of people are asking if they can use our products on their hands. The short answer is yes, but it does have a sweetener in it, so technically, you dont want to put that on your hands. A lot of people are looking for hand salves that dont have essential oils in them. They want something clean and vegan, which Mierzejewski has created. I have the capability as a cosmetic manufacturer, and have a facility to do this type of work. Nobody is buying anything except hand sanitizers, toilet paper, food all the necessities. Its hurting a lot of businesses, and people are still surprisingly buying lip balm and our lip products, she explained. Everyone has taken a big shift in what theyre doing. Medical spas and aestheticians have been contacting her for help. They are purchasing from us, because they want customers to protect the investment they just made in lip injections or facials, Mierzejewski said. She very soon realized, with a son with congenital heart disease, elderly parents, a husband with asthma, and daughter, making hand sanitizers for friends and family was very important and within her capabilities. Initially, Mierzejewski wondered whether it was possible to convert her lip balm facility into one that could handle producing hand cleaner. Theres not much we have to do to switch it around, except clear our area of our lip brand, and make it an area where its going to be mixing, filling, pouring and labeling of the product. So, the entrepreneur worked with her vendors, who allowed her to purchase hundreds of gallons of 99 percent alcohol and 100 percent pure aloe vera. By the middle of next week, shell be turning out products to supply nursing homes, police departments and fire protection services throughout Connecticut. Shes tapped into a market of consumers being faced with mostly staying home, who may be unable to keep up their normal beauty routine. People want to take care of themselves right now, Mierzejewski said. Im the lip lady. But, desperate times and people need it. I almost feel choked up. Im actually helping people and theyre helping me. Its a great thing. Its a rollercoaster, thats for sure, she said. The entrepreneur quickly realized those who have had neurotoxin injections, plastic surgery and other cosmetic modifications recently could be in a bind, worried they may not be able to maintain work theyve gotten done. The population that uses Botox fillers, lip fillers, facials, all the stuff that is done to their face, theyre spending thousands of dollars a month to keep it up. Imagine these people not going for however long [without follow-up appointments], Mierzejewski said. There has to be a way to at least try to protect their investment. Thats what a lot of these aestheticians are doing right now: purchasing products from us. We are housing it for them, and we are shipping all the orders out via Mizzi Cosmetics, she added. Portland firefighters received donated products March 30. It took a lot of effort and networking to move her idea from concept to reality. Youve got to dig for the right people, and you cant just go online and say, theres no alcohol available. Youve got to pick up the phone and call, and get to the right person. Youve got to know the right things to say, Mierzejewski explained. If youre going to price gouge, no one is going to sell it to you. If you have a good reputation, which Ive try my best to uphold for the last six years, people are going to work with you, she said. Her first delivery will be 10,000 mixed-variety units. Its not all going to be done in a day. We are small, but we plan on filling all of those and keep going from there, said Mierzejewski, who may need to add a night shift so employees can fill orders around the clock. I may even have to hire people. Thats a good thing. Im trying to make lemonade out of lemons right now, and do anything we can do to help. For information, visit mizzicosmetics.com, Mizzi Cosmetics on Facebook, call 860-358-9925 or email retail@mizzicosmetics.com. The chance of getting coronavirus from an electronic product shipped from China is low, according to an article published by the World Health Organization (WHO). China has been both one of epicenters of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak as well as the world's leading manufacturer of many consumer goods. Hence, many people are wondering whether it is possible to get the COVID-19 disease from a PC or smartphone made in China. The virus has now spread to more than 60 countries. It is transmitted mainly by respiratory droplets or direct contact with a patient's body fluids. As for packages of commercial goods, previous analysis has shown the virus does not survive long on objects like letters or parcels. It is not certain how long the virus that causes COVID-19 survives on surfaces. Studies suggest they may persist on surfaces for a few hours or up to several days. This may vary under different conditions (e.g. type of surface, temperature or humidity of the environment). It usually takes days or weeks for imports from China to reach the markets of other countries, whether it by plane or ship. "If you had perfect laboratory conditions, I would give you that the virus could survive a few days," said George Rutherford, professor of epidemiology at the University of California, San Francisco. "But this is a short time. How long does it take a product to get from the factory in China to the U.S.? It can take two weeks at least. So, I think it's well beyond the bound of possibility you would get infected," he said. However, if you think your package may be infected, clean it with simple disinfectant to kill any lingering virus and protect yourself and others. The likelihood of an infected person contaminating your electronic goods is low and the risk of catching the virus that causes COVID-19 from a package that has been moved, travelled, and exposed to different conditions and temperature is also low, according to the WHO. If you're concerned about product contamination on your PC or smartphone, you can simply wipe it down. Just remember to wash your hands afterwards. Actually, people should worry more about the delivery man who has coronavirus and is coughing all over your package. So, maybe you should let the package sit outside untouched for another day or two. According to GFK, an international market research institute, the world's 5G smartphone shipments in 2020 are estimated to reach 170 million. China expects to sell 110 million 5G handsets, accounting for 65% of global shipments. Chinese tech firms have demonstrated their resilience in the face of the difficulties and uncertainties posed by the ongoing epidemic. Many smartphone makers in China switched to "crisis mode" soon after the outbreak. Vivo, a major smartphone maker headquartered in the southern Chinese city of Dongguan, Guangdong province, initiated an emergency response and provided its employees with regularly-updated information on prevention measures in the fight against the virus. For customers who have ordered phones online, it disinfected them before delivering them by mail. Chinese computer manufacturer Lenovo resumed operations amid the fight against the coronavirus. Its employees were required to wear masks, have their body temperature checked and hands disinfected before they were allowed to enter the company's headquarters in Beijing. China's exports of machinery, electrical and electronic products in the category of processing and assembling trade totaled $466.4 billion last year, making up 65.4% of the national total of such products. The EU, the United States and China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region were the three major destinations. China's electronic information industry has grown faster than the national GDP growth rate. In 2019, China's electronic information manufacturing industry's designated scale increased 9.3% in added value year on year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). California county tax collectors cannot extend the April 10 deadline for making the second half of 2019-20 property tax payments, but they can waive late-payment fees and interest under certain circumstances, according to a memo sent out by the California Association of County Treasurers and Tax Collectors. After the Internal Revenue Service and California Franchise Tax Board extended their April 15 income tax deadlines until July 15, many readers have been asking whether the April 10 property tax would also be extended as a result of the coronavirus. Although the second installment was technically due February 1, penalties do not apply until after April 10. And theyre stiff 10% of the amount due if you are even one day late. (Mailed payments are considered on time if they are postmarked by the due date.) If the payment is still delinquent after June 30, interest starts accruing at the rate of 1.5% per month, which equates to 18% a year. Because the April 10 due date is set in state law, only the Legislature could change it, said Keith Williams, who is Mariposa Countys tax collector and the associations current president. However, there are two revenue and tax code sections under which property owners could pay their tax after April 10 and avoid penalties, but its not entirely clear how these exceptions would apply in cases related to coronavirus disruptions, and it could vary by county. The code sections were not written with epidemics in mind. One is if the county tax collectors office is closed on April 10, in which case taxes are not due until the office reopens and penalties would not apply until after that date. This code section states that if April 10 falls on Saturday, Sunday or a legal holiday, the time of delinquency is at 5 p.m., or the close of business, whichever is later, on the next business day. If the board of supervisors, by adoption of an ordinance or resolution, closes the countys offices for business prior to the time of delinquency on the next business day or for that whole day, that day shall be considered a legal holiday for purposes of this section. Some county tax collector offices, including Marins, are still open to the public under the shelter-in-place order exemptions for essential services. Some are closed now, but could reopen on or before April 10. As long as the office is open to accept payments on April 10, then an exception to the due date would not apply, according to Dan Mierzwa, Yuba Countys tax collector and the associations legislative chair. If a tax collectors office is closed on April 10, it gets hazy. Technically, this exception would not apply unless the board of supervisors closed the office, Mierzwa said. Most shelter-in-place orders have come from mayors, public health departments or Gov. Gavin Newsom. San Mateo County is preparing a resolution that would allow the Board of Supervisors to close the county offices so that code section could apply. Some counties dont think that is necessary. The second code section says a county can waive penalties for an individual taxpayer if a late payment is due to reasonable cause and circumstances beyond the taxpayers control, and occurred notwithstanding the exercise of ordinary care in the absence of willful neglect. In normal circumstances, financial hardship, unemployment, business failure or even bankruptcy is not a justification for a waiver, Mierzwa said. He believes the Legislature would have to expand this section to cover people who lost their jobs because the government ordered their workplace shut down. Many county tax collectors have posted notices on their websites saying the tax is due April 10 and property owners should pay if they can, because counties, cities, schools and special districts rely on that money especially now. But if they cant, they should apply for a penalty waiver and submit documentation. Before, I couldnt consider the fact that the person didnt have money to pay the tax, said Roy Given, Marin Countys tax collector. That is their responsibility. Before today, if you were admitted to a hospital and unable to take care of your affairs, that could be a reason (for a waiver). Now that has changed because the paradigm is different. Im going to look at each individual and make that decision. The San Francisco tax collector has a process in place for traditional waivers, we have to decide whether the process will remain the same in the case of the coronavirus, said Molly Cohen, the offices acting policy director. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes Even if they could, extending the deadline could be problematic for counties. Many homeowners have already paid their property taxes throughout the year with their mortgage payment. Their loan servicers hold this money, or more often send it to a third-party processor that holds it, until almost the last minute, said Geoff Neill, a legislative representative with the California State Association of Counties. If you extend the deadline, those companies will take a huge portion of revenues and set it to a new last minute. He added that the IRS or state can extend the April 15 income-tax filing deadline because they continue to get taxes throughout the year, through payroll deductions. Counties only get paid twice a year, and count on that money coming in at specific periods, in some cases to pay off short-term debt that comes due within the same fiscal year. If the money didnt come in, they couldnt borrow money across fiscal years without voter approval. Thats why counties have reserves to cover shortfalls. Even if county offices are shut down, most accept tax payments by phone, mail or online. Some closed offices have drop boxes for payment. Credit card payments generally incur a fee, debit card payments do not, but check with your county. Some counties, including Santa Clara, accept partial payments. (San Francisco only accepts partial payments if payments are delinquent past June 30, the end of the fiscal year.) If you have the means and ability, you should pay on time, said Brad Marsh, a tax attorney with Greenberg Traurig. If you cant, document the reasons you cant. Do it today. Then attempt to get penalties removed. Editors note: This story has been updated to clarify when San Francisco accepts partial property tax payments. Kathleen Pender is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: kpender@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kathpender As the deadly pandemic zeros in on Oregon, health care workers are stepping up daily to serve on the frontlines. But some fear theyre going to war with a gun thats only half-loaded. Portland area nurses and health care workers say the giant health systems and hospitals they work for lack sufficient beds, their infectious disease controls were casual, and perhaps worst, they are already running low on personal protective gear. Clearly, no one could have anticipated a disaster of this scale four months ago. Back in those days, lean management and reliance on lower-priced Chinese goods seemed like a sound strategy. The Oregonian/OregonLive has interviewed more than a dozen health care workers, their spouses, union leaders and hospital executives to hear their concerns and gauge the industrys readiness for an expected surge of coronavirus patients. Most would only share their stories anonymously, saying their employers have threatened to fire or sanction anyone who talks to the press. Its a total insult, said Lynda Pond, president of the Oregon Nurses Association. None of us became nurses thinking wed have to dig up our own equipment. Last Wednesday, Gov. Kate Brown conceded that hospitals may have just days worth of safety equipment in their inventories. She ordered all hospitals, health care providers, veterinarians and dentists to cancel any non-emergency procedures to preserve surgical masks, gloves and gowns for front line workers treating COVID-19 patients. State officials and hospital leaders are also scrambling to locate available hospital beds across Oregon and popping up medical triage tents in parking lots and county fairgrounds. Michael Cox, spokesman for the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems, said that protecting medical staff is of utmost importance and that the group is following Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and the Oregon Health Authority guidelines. We are urging aggressive government action to preserve personal protective equipment for health care workers, provide flexibility to bring staffing where we need it most, and allow us to quickly increase the number of available hospital beds, Cox said. Bruce Goldberg, former head of the Oregon Health Authority and now a professor at OHSU and Portland State University School of Public Health, said the last two months have illustrated both the strengths and weaknesses of Oregons health care industry. The dedication of our frontline health care workers is apparent and they are a precious resource for all of us, he said. But the outbreak has also shown our nations lack of an organized and coordinated health care system able to respond to emergencies such as this (and) our lack of an adequately resourced and prepared public health and emergency preparedness system able to respond to a pandemic, and likely to many other widespread emergencies. The sentiment is shared by Oregons doctors, nurses and other medical staff who are balancing their dedication to serving patients with concerns about their own safety. Some serve patients and their co-workers. A Portland nurse is spending her spare time at her sewing machine making surgical masks, which are in short supply at her clinic. She is furious with her employer for putting its workers at risk. But theres no question about going to work. This is the job I signed up for, she said through tears. I have a responsibility. I want people to be safe. The nation is under attack. 8 South This 8th-floor ward at Providence Portland Hospital is not somewhere you want to be. It used to be a neurological unit that treated stroke victims, patients recovering from brain and spine surgeries and those with seizure disorders. One Portland nurse is among 45 who work in the ward, most of them stroke specialists.. In recent weeks, 8 South has been turned upside down. The neurological patients were wheeled to other parts of the Northeast Portland hospital and the ward was repurposed as one of Providences COVID-19 units. Eight days ago, the patients started arriving, all of them with compromised respiratory symptoms consistent with COVID-19. My biggest worry was always hurting myself trying to lift patients that are getting older and more obese, the nurse said, who also was afraid to give her name for fear of retribution. In the back of my mind I knew that I would be exposing myself to dangerous diseases, she said. But I didnt anticipate something like the coronavirus, I didnt anticipate a national lockdown and a great recession. She and her co-workers are becoming infectious disease specialists on the fly. Theyre navigating hot zones and warm zones; comparing the merits of N-95 respirators to surgical masks; mastering donning and doffing protocols. They have devoured the most arcane details of COVID-19, including the ongoing debate over how the virus is transmitted -- does it go airborne or does it spread by droplet and direct contract? The answer to that question will determine what kind of protective gear the nurses will wear when in contact with COVID-19 patients. The World Health Organization had determined that the virus wasnt going airborne -- the most deadly kind of transmission. Rather, she said nurses were told, the novel coronavirus can be transmitted only by direct contact (touching a virus-contaminated surface) or by droplet (the mucous and other liquids humans sneeze or cough into the air). There is some evidence that the virus does, under some circumstances, go airborne. And the 8 South nurses worry that it will happen in the middle of their ward. COVID-19 generally attacks patients lungs. That means nurses will almost certainly have to take aggressive action to help patients breath such as intubation inserting tubes down patients tracheas to provide oxygen. Health care workers say these techniques can effectively aerosolize the virus and send it airborne. Thats a high-risk procedure particularly for the nurses who are standing over the patient, said Marcus Shabacker, CEO of ECRI, a health care consulting firm. Those people need the highest level of protection. Providence says it is carefully following guidelines established by the Oregon Health Authority. It is our responsibility to protect our front-line caregivers, said spokesman Gary Walker. We are being innovative and creative in finding ways to do that. Making do The debate over respirators, N-95 and traditional surgical masks is, to a degree, academic. Most local hospitals dont have enough of any of them. Thats forcing hospitals to improvise. Providence, a multi-billion dollar operation, put out an emergency call for volunteers to make new facemasks from scratch after its supply of masks fell to just two weeks.. Wendall Potter, a former health insurance executive at Humana and Cigna, is now a vocal critic of the industry. Hospitals moved to a just-in-in-time inventory system in hopes improving their financial performance. Frontline workers are now paying the price, he claims. Its just part of the big health systems obsession with the bottom line, Potter said. Staffing is nowhere it should be, the hospitals are full, and basic equipment needed to keep healthcare workers safe is just not there. To some Portland area workers dismay, Providence and other area hospitals are now moving to strategies to lengthen the life of face masks and other protective equipment. At the Portland VA Medical Center in Southwest Portland, nurses get one facial shield a day shields that are supposed to be disposed after one patient. Instead, nurses at the VA say they are expected to clean their own masks after each patient and then reuse them. A spokesperson for the Portland VA could not provide a comment before publication. At the PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver, nurses say they are told they will be assigned one powered air purifying respirator, which they are to use until further notice. They want us to use them indefinitely -- the PAPR hoods, the N-95s, one Vancouver-area nurse told The Oregonian/OregonLive, asking that her name not be printed to protect her job. I just took PAPR training and this is not even close to best practices. With the entire country facing a similar shortage, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention has issued guidance that in an emergency wearing the same face mask for repeated close contact encounters with several different patients is an acceptable strategy. The CDC concedes that some of its emergency guidance is not commensurate with U.S. standards of care. PeaceHealth confirmed it is currently reusing face shields, protective eyewear and respirator hoods after following strict disinfectant protocols with hospital-grade disinfectant. Jeremy Rush, a PeaceHealth spokesman, said the practice is consistent with the CDCs PPE conservation guidelines and is being implemented by hospitals across the nation. Hospitals are in a serious bind, said Shabacker, the health care consultant. He said its understandable that hospitals would try to preserve needed safety equipment for when they absolutely need it. On the other hand, he said, it is vital that as much as possible, hospitals adhere to normal practices and procedures that are in place to protect workers. Old habits While some hospitals have begun taking steps to separate infected patients with quarantine units and temporary tents, local health care workers say a casual approach at some facilities remains. They say some urgent care clinics and emergency rooms struggle to separate potential virus carriers from the rest of the crowd. A nurse at a Kaiser Permanente clinic in Vancouver said a greeter without a surgical mask welcomes new arrivals and refers them to the front desk, where an unmasked administrator checks them in, often handling the patients credit cards or insurance cards. The potential COVID-19 sufferer then generally sits unmasked in the lobby with dozens of other patients, who are also unmasked. Kaiser officials say that account is inaccurate. Anyone showing respiratory symptoms is masked, they said. Some facilities have begun taking the steps to separate potential COVID-19 patients. Providence says it now masks incoming patients with respiratory symptoms. Rachel Gumpert, of the Oregon Nurses Association, said she recently noticed workers had put up a large partition in the middle of an Oregon Health & Science University emergency department. Those with respiratory symptoms were kept on one side. But the partition didnt reach the ceiling, Gumpert said. Dr. Matthias Merkel, OHSUs chief medical capacity officer and vice chair of critical care, said the hospital has instituted sweeping changes throughout the facility. Elective surgeries have been postponed and visitors to the ER are quickly screened, and if need be, masked. We needed to make these radical changes to protect patients and our co-workers, he said. Cry Havoc... One doctor from Providence Health Systems said he knows hes living history and hes eager to go into battle. But hes also plagued by doubts. He shares his peers' concerns about the lack of equipment. Hes concerned about forecasts that COVID-19 patients could vastly outnumber the total hospital beds available at Portland hospitals. I just want to rush into it, thats who I am, said the doctor, who also asked for anonymity for fear of employment repercussions. But I dont know how we do this. This is an epidemic and we have no vaccine. Im already seeing healthcare workers who think they have it. More than anything, hes afraid he could bring the virus into his home. For weeks, hes been living in his downstairs guest room while his spouse and kids stay upstairs. I love my husband but I dont want him in the house, his wife said. I dont know how safe we are. The little bundle of dirty scrubs her husband brings home from work each day adds to her anxiety. Like PeaceHealth and others, OHSU require some of their doctors and nurses to take the scrubs theyve worn all day home for laundering. Before COVID-19, it seemed more of an annoyance. Now it seems downright dangerous. Despite all the questions about the hospitals response to the coronavirus crisis, the Providence doctor he said he will answer the call without hesitation. I dont know what those answers are, he said. Im just a frontline soldier. -- Jeff Manning jmanning@oregonian.com 971-263-5164 Subscribe to our Oregon coronavirus newsletter: GRANTS PASS, Ore. A student firefighter's quick action may have saved the lives of two dogs after a fire that the Grants Pass Department of Public Safety says, ironically, may have been started by one of the dogs. Kaci Carder, a student firefighter with Jacksonville Fire Department, was visiting a friend near the 1000-block of NE Hefley Street when she heard a smoke alarm going off. "Kaci quickly found the location of the sound, a house filling with smoke," GPDPS said. "She furiously knocked and tried to make sure all was okay." Carder found an open door and was able to rescue two dogs that were inside. She spotted the source of the fire a range stove top and turned it off while getting out of the house. Both she and the dogs were uninjured. "In a bit of irony, the cause of the fire was most likely one of the dogs turning on the range while trying to get to a cake," GPDPS said. "The Grants Pass Fire Prevention Bureau urged to have a working smoke alarm. Working smoke alarms save lives!" People queue to buy marijuana at coffee shop Bullwackie in Amsterdam, Sunday, March 15, 2020, after a TV address of health minister Bruno Bruins who ordered all Dutch schools, cafes, restaurants, coffeeshops, and sport clubs to be closed on Sunday as the government sought to prevent the further spread of coronavirus in the Netherlands. AP Photo/Peter Dejong People are stockpiling marijuana as the coronavirus pandemic forces everyone to hunker down in their homes, perhaps for a long time. All around the world, there are pictures surfacing on social media of long lines outside of dispensaries. From Toronto to San Francisco to Amsterdam, cannabis products are flying off the shelves. The old saying that vice industries gambling, tobacco, alcohol, firearms are recession-proof seems to apply to legal cannabis's first big test. 'Sales are through the roof' Ross Lipson, the CEO of the Oregon-based online dispensary software startup Dutchie, told Business Insider he's had record sales over the past week, and that trend is showing no signs of stopping. "Sales are just through the roof," Lipson told Business Insider in a Monday phone interview. "We've seen an uptick across the board." Click here to read more about how the cannabis industry is preparing for, and reeling from, the coronavirus pandemic. Lipson said that last Thursday shortly after Trump declared a national emergency around the coronavirus and a day after the World Health Organization officially deemed it a pandemic sales started to spike "aggressively." Dutchie blew out its sales records, setting an all-time record on Friday. That trend carried over through the past weekend, with the company's platform handling over 50,000 orders and $5 million in transactions. On top of that, Lipson said the stockpiling is real: The average cannabis purchase for one customer on Dutchie's platform is about $92. The average per customer sale since Thursday, says Lipson, is $115, a 20% increase. Story continues On Monday, Lipson texted Business Insider to say the company had broken a record, with 20,000 orders and 2.2 million in sales. That record was broken again on Tuesday, then on Wednesday, when the company took 25,000 orders. topping $3 million in sales. "Every day this week we've seen an all-time daily record," Lipson said. While Lipson said the dispensaries he works with haven't yet felt the supply-chain effects of the coronavirus-related shutdown, that could change quickly depending on how long the shutdowns last. And that brings up a key question, Lipson says. While many adults use cannabis purely for recreational purposes something that they want and are willing to travel for, but far from an essential others do rely on dispensaries for prescribed medicine. "What's the classification here?" Lipson said. "Are dispensaries pharmacies? They're in their own little box." San Francisco. Katie Canales/Business Insider Contact-less deliveries, hand sanitizer, latex gloves On that front, San Francisco has allowed cannabis dispensaries to stay open for medical patients after including them in the citywide shutdown over the weekend. Many dispensaries around the US and Canada have moved to online only as well, according to press releases and social-media messages sent to Business Insider. Amanda Denz, the chief marketing officer at Sava, a California cannabis-delivery service, told Business Insider in an interview that sales jumped three times over the normal amount this past weekend. "People are worried that in a few weeks their favorite products will be gone," Denz said. Denz said each of Sava's delivery drivers will be outfitted with latex gloves and alcohol-based hand sanitizers, and will be instructed to wipe down products and surfaces like door handles in between each delivery, similar to food-delivery services like Grubhub. That customer care seems to extend to New York City's illicit cannabis-delivery services as well. One service advertised in a text message to regular clients "no-contact" drop off service, and said each of its delivery people will carry latex gloves and hand sanitizer, according to a tip received by Business Insider. Rev-Up, a cannabis marketplace in LA. Associated Press Squeezing out smaller CBD and cannabis startups For smaller operators in legal states, the coronavirus pandemic is creating more difficulties than a temporary sales boost can fix. Colorado, for instance, still doesn't allow cannabis delivery service in the same way California does. Cannabis customers in Colorado can place orders online, but they have to physically go to the dispensary to pick up their products. Johnny Kurish, the CEO and general manager of Boulder's Helping Hands Herbals, said he was forced to close his two physical locations. "We're waiting and holding," Kurish told Business Insider over the phone. "If delivery was an option, that would save our business." To Kurish, the biggest challenge of having stores be closed for an indeterminate amount of time is figuring out a way to pay employees. "I'm not holding my breath for federal assistance," Kurish said. "They're still working out our tax laws." Read the original article on Business Insider Community spirits were high in Edinburgh as residents in a block of flats in Leith sang Sunshine on Leith from their homes together in tribute to NHS staff. A video posted by restaurant owner Aleksandra Murray on Friday went viral on Facebook, with many admitting the moving video made them feel emotional. Residents in Cables Wynd House, also known as the Leith Banana Flats, belted out the ballad by Scottish duo The Proclaimers as an act of community spirit through their windows as they practised social distancing. Ms Murray, 32, told The Independent she and her husband were overwhelmed by the response to the video they posted on their restaurants Facebook page. She said: Our restaurant Borough is very much a part of the community and neighbourhood, and weve just had to close because of the measures so of course we were feeling quite sad about the situation. But we could hear the singing outside our flat and when we opened the window, it was so loud and so wonderful, it really made me feel emotional and a lot of other people felt the same way. We werent expecting the response we got when we posted it on social media, but I think its wonderful and its just what people need right now, she added. On Friday evening, Boris Johnson ordered all pubs, restaurants, gyms and other social venues across the UK to close for the foreseeable future, as he escalated the UKs response to the coronavirus pandemic. People are being urged to stay at home and not to make non-essential trips anywhere. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon warned of difficult days ahead, and said she understood the government was asking people to fundamentally change the way we live our lives. She added: This crisis is reminding us just how fragile our world is. But it is also reminding us what really matters health, love, solidarity. With compassion and kindness and with the dedication and expertise of our NHS we can and we will get through this. Recommended Italians are singing from windows to boost lockdown morale Scotland has reported a rise in coronavirus infections since Thursday to 322. There have been six deaths. Ms Murray said the community spirit is strong in Leith and future sing-alongs organised by a Facebook group called I Love Leith are likely to keep people from feeling alone. I think its really important for the community right now to have these sort of sing-alongs on a regular basis, just look at how people reacted, she said. It will continue to encourage connections between people. Id definitely join in next time if Im not recording. At least six militants on Thursday were killed in retaliation by the Pakistani Army by targeting the army posts and residential areas in Digwar sector. Two to three members of the bat are being told. The dead bodies of the slain militants are lying on the no-man's land but it has not been captured due to Pakistani shelling. Actually, Pakistan was infiltrating terrorists under the cover of shelling. The Pakistani Army also attempted to target Poonch Nagar after nearly twenty years of firing in Digwar sector. During this period, a conspiracy was hatched to infiltrate a team of four to six terrorists from a launching pad located in Pakistan-occupied Chidikot area under the cover of shelling. The Pakistani army opened fire to push them from the nearby Nakkar Kot area to the Indian border. The army, while taking action, heaped the terrorists trying to infiltrate with the help of mortars and universal machine guns. Due to the shelling of the Pakistani army and the bodies of the slain terrorists lying far away from the army posts, the army has not been able to take the bodies of those terrorists in their possession. For your information, let us tell you that on Friday, the dead body remained the same for the second day. The Pakistani army also could not succeed in taking those dead bodies to its territory. However, no statement has been issued by the army regarding the killing of the terrorists who are trying to infiltrate in retaliation. Also Read: Corona wreaks havoc all over the world, 11 thousand deaths & 2.5 lakh infected Corona can survive 72 hours on plastic and 48 hours on steel, research reveals 53 countries express opposition to Imran government's decision to arrest Pakistan's largest media group editor Akhilesh's big statement on the coronavirus, says 'Despite PM's appeal, BJP leaders are enjoying parties' IT will be a Mothers Day like no other this year, as florists are scrambling to prepare scores of flower bouquets to be delivered across the country in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis. Florists have said online business is booming, but stock is expected to dry up soon and most are planning to temporarily close on Monday. Florist Joe Duffy, owner of Blue Rose Raheny and April Flowers.ie, almost all orders he has received have been online. The actual shop itself has pretty much fallen off a cliff. Were likely to be about 30 pc down on last year, Mr Duffy told the Irish Independent. We had pre-ordered flowers a good few weeks ago, and we were not in a position to cancel them. On Monday or Tuesday, it was quite slow but the online side of it kicked in considerably over the last three days, he said. We were actually going to close if we could cancel our order, but we couldnt so we will get rid of all the flowers. As soon as they are gone, theyre gone. Renate Buckley, owner of Cork-based online flower shop, AprilFlowersCork.ie, said she has not been able to order stock from suppliers, who import flowers from Holland. If suppliers dont get flowers, we dont get flowers and we cant operate. Weve had to kind of manage with reduced stock, because of the reduced amount coming from Holland. A lot of the big shops in the city and outside the city have already closed and are not even doing Mothers Day, Ms Buckley said. Conor McCarthy of Precious Flowers, based in Clontarf, Co Dublin, said Mothers Day is giving florists false hope. The day-to-day bread and butter business is down massively because there are people working from home. The traditional Congratulations on the birth of a baby bouquets that would be organised by an office, that sort of thing, there is a 70pc drop in that. Now, we are ordering the bare minimum because we dont know what Monday is going to bring. Haiti - FLASH : Cuba closes its borders Friday Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel on Cuban Television during a special program on the latest government measures against the pandemic announced the closure of the borders of Cuba after trying until the last moment to preserve its activity tourist, engine of the island. "We will regulate the entry to the borders of the country, by only authorizing the entry of residents to Cuba" adding "We guarantee the return to Cuba of Cubans who are abroad, the rights of foreigners who are here to return to their countries." According to Prime Minister Manuel Marrero, almost all of the hotels and most restaurants on the island will close, but ships and freight planes will continue to arrive on the island, which imports 80% of its consumption. Cuba has 20 confirmed cases, 1 death and 500 other cases in administrative segregation. This measure takes effect from Tuesday, March 24, 2020. Until Friday, Cuban borders were open and flights continued to arrive normally from countries affected by the pandemic, which caused concern and reaction among the population who demanded the closure of Cuban ports and airports. See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30316-haiti-covid-19-daily-bulletin-march-20-2020.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30292-haiti-flash-covid-19-haiti-cuba-flights-maintained-under-conditions.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30276-haiti-flash-haiti-bans-all-flights-from-66-countries-and-closes-its-borders.html HL/ HaitiLibre Washington: Since the coronavirus broke out in the United States in late January, many of the officials you would expect to feature prominently in the federal government's response have been all but invisible. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar has been sidelined by the Trump administration and is often absent from the White House's daily briefings. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci has risen to national prominence during the coronavirus outbreak. Credit:AP It's the same story with Robert Redfield, who leads the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. He rarely gives media interviews or appears at the daily briefings. US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has been highly visible - and often highly misleading. North Korea's parliament will convene a plenary session in Pyongyang next month, state media said Saturday, amid the country's nationwide efforts to block an outbreak of the new coronavirus on its soil. The presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) on Friday released its decision to convene the third session of the 14th SPA on April 10, according to the Korean Central News Agency. North Korea usually holds such a meeting once in April every year to address the country's major policy, personnel reshuffles and budget affairs. Last year, the North held SPA meetings twice in April and August. Next month's gathering comes as North Korea is making all-out efforts to block the global outbreak of the novel coronavirus from spreading onto its soil. Though it has not reported any confirmed infections, the North has tightened its borders and quarantine measures. Such actions as the border closures and restrictions on movement of people and imported goods are expected to affect Pyongyang's intensified efforts to build a "self-reliant" economy amid long-stalled denuclearization talks with the United States. The upcoming meeting is expected to deal with the North's possible countermeasures to cushion the fallout from the global outbreak of the coronavirus. The meeting also comes after leader Kim Jong-un said in late December that he does not feel bound by his self-imposed moratorium on testing long-range missiles and nuclear devices, saying that he will showcase a "new strategic weapon" in the near future. Nuclear talks between Pyongyang and Washington have been stalled since the no-deal summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump held in February last year. North Korea fired two projectiles presumed to be short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea on Saturday, according to Seoul's military, the third such weapons test in March following a monthslong halt. They appear to be part of the North's wintertime military drills. The North's state media earlier reported that leader Kim guided an artillery fire drill on Friday, the second such guidance in a week. (Yonhap) Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Government on Friday requested the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to ensure availability of sufficient cash in currency chests, bank branches and ATMs across the state to meet the exigencies in view of COVID-19. Special Secretary-cum DIF, Government of Odisha, wrote a letter to Regional Director RBI in this regard.The letter said, "In the wake of the outbreak of coronavirus epidemic, the state government has been taking many proactive steps in preventive healthcare and social protection measures including the establishment of isolation centres, release of old age pension in advance, payment of exgratia etc. It will also involve substantial disbursement from the treasuries. Since it is a very critical time, the public may also require a lot more cash in hand." "Keeping in view, the above facts it is requested to make available sufficient cash in currency chests and bank branches/ATM counters across the state to meet exigencies," the letter added. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday highlighted the urgent need for more testing facilities and requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a video conference to scale up both private and public testing facilities and make them free of cost. He also sought at least 50 days of wages for MGNREGS workers, additional instalments in PM Kisan for Farmers and sought the advance release of funds to the States. Patnaik praised the initiatives such as restriction on international travel, airlifting Indians from affected areas by the Central government.The total number of COVID-19 cases in India has now climbed up to 223, including 32 foreigners, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday. We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription. By Trend The Deputy Minister of Industries, Mine & Trade and Head of IDRO (Industrial Development & Renovation Organization) of Iran Mohammad Bagher Ali has announced the support measures by IDRO to supply and produce essential anti-coronavirus items including disinfectants, masks and test kits, Trend reports citing Fars News Agency. "IDRO has contracted to produce and supply of 130,000 liters of disinfectants, as well as 100,000 liters of hand sanitizing gel through its subsidiaries, which are in the process of obtaining alcohol quotas," Ali said. He also pointed to the conclusion of a contract to produce 10,000 isolation clothing in times of the rapidly spreading coronavirus disease. He went on to mention the support for knowledge-based companies working in the field of coronavirus detection kits. The World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11 declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Iran is one of the countries heavily affected by the rapidly-spreading coronavirus. According to recent reports from the Iranian officials, over 14,900 people have been infected, 853 people have already died. Meanwhile, over 4,900 have reportedly recovered from the disease. The country continues to apply strict measures to contain the further spread. Reportedly, the disease was brought to Iran by a businessman from Iran's Qom city, who went on a business trip to China, despite official warnings. The man died later from the disease. Following the reports of coronavirus spread in the Islamic Republic, several countries have taken measures, including closing borders and banning flights. The Islamic Republic only announced its first infections and deaths from the coronavirus on Feb. 19. Canada is failing to meet its greenhouse gas emissions reduction target under the Paris Agreement but that need not be the case, said one clean-energy consultant. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 21/3/2020 (662 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Canada is failing to meet its greenhouse gas emissions reduction target under the Paris Agreement but that need not be the case, said one clean-energy consultant. Oskar Sigvaldason, who has four decades of experience as an engineering consultant, was scheduled to give a presentation at his alma mater, University of Manitoba, this week. He was to address the challenges the country faces as it transitions its energy systems as it lowers emissions. (The presentation has been indefinitely postponed.) "Canadas performance in terms of meeting its commitments has been not great. In fact, it has missed every target thats been set," Sigvaldason said. "It missed the Rio target, it missed the Kyoto target, its now missed the Copenhagen target. Now its committed to the Paris target, which is a 30 per cent reduction below 2005 (emission levels). But people have become increasingly cynical." Sigvaldason says Canada could meet these targets. However, he adds, theres no hope of that being accomplished if the approach remains status quo. There are a handful of suggestions he believes would put Canada on the right track, but to date: "Canada has done none of those things." To start, Sigvaldason prescribes visionary leadership. He says it is not the fault of any one party, but Canada has not had leadership on this file. "The leadership for this really needs to happen at the federal level. But it needs to have very, very close support and co-operation at the provincial level. None of the federal leaders, to date, over the last 30 years has either developed a plan, or developed a vision to basically say, This is how were going to do this," he said. While Canada has created structures to reach targets, such as the Pan-Canadian Framework on Green Growth and Climate Change, Sigvaldason suggests these plans fall short of the level of detail and ambition needed to succeed. Not all countries experience the same malaise when the prospect of meeting climate targets is discussed, Sigvaldason says: the United Kingdom, for example, had stellar leadership in this field under former prime minister Tony Blair. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. In 2005, Blair prioritized the depoliticization of climate change so policy approaches wouldnt result in divides along partisan lines. Blairs government also commissioned the now-famous report by the former chief economist of the World Bank, Nicholas Stern. The Stern review is one of the pivotal documents that began exploring climate change as a global economic issue. In turn, these actions resulted in a climate-oriented legislative agenda in the U.K. and the creation of institutions to backstop the goals of the government, Sigvaldason says. While not a unanimous opinion, Sigvaldason suggests based on his research with the Trottier Energy Futures Project that Canada need not aim to move entirely away from its oil and gas resources, but invest instead in carbon-capture and storage projects to bring the country to net zero emissions. Achieving net zero emissions would still require "enormous, massive shifts" in our energy markets, Sigvaldason said. He hopes in the coming years to see Canada focus on the decarbonization of the electricity sector and massive investments to electrify the transportation sector. sarah.lawrynuik@freepress.mb.ca By West Kentucky Star Staff Mar. 20, 2020 | 02:41 PM | WESTERN KENTUCKY In a Friday announcement, U.S. Attorney General William Barr has directed Attorneys nationwide to remain vigilant in detecting, investigating, and prosecuting criminal activity associated with the pandemic. As part of their strategy, Coleman appointed Assistant U.S. Attorney David Weiser, a veteran crime prosecutor, to serve as our district's COVID-19 coordinator. Under this position, Weiser will serve as legal counsel for the district, working to prosecute or assist in the prosecution of COVID-19 related cases, and to conduct public outreach and awareness related to the pandemic. The U.S. Attorney's Office is working with Attorney General Daniel Cameron to identify and prosecute scams online, and in-person by criminals looking to abuse the public health crisis. Cameron said, "The COVID-19 pandemic is a crisis that takes support from every level of government, said Cameron. I appreciate United States Attorney Colemans proactive steps to fight illegal schemes, and we look forward to collaborating with our federal colleagues to protect Kentuckians." Officials provided some examples of possible COVID-19 related scams one might encounter: Treatment scams: Scammers are offering to sell fake cures, vaccines, and advice on unproven treatments for COVID-19. Supply scams: Scammers are creating fake shops, websites, social media accounts, and email addresses claiming to sell medical supplies currently in high demand, such as surgical masks. When consumers attempt to purchase supplies through these channels, fraudsters pocket the money and never provide the promised supplies. Provider scams: Scammers are also contacting people by phone and email, pretending to be doctors and hospitals that have treated a friend or relative for COVID-19, and demanding payment for that treatment. Charity scams: Scammers are soliciting donations for individuals, groups, and areas affected by COVID-19. Phishing scams: Scammers posing as national and global health authorities, including the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), are sending phishing emails designed to trick recipients into downloading malware or providing personal identifying and financial information. App scams: Scammers are also creating and manipulating mobile apps designed to track the spread of COVID-19 to insert malware that will compromise users devices and personal information. Investment scams: Scammers are offering online promotions on various platforms, including social media, claiming that the products or services of publicly traded companies can prevent, detect, or cure COVID-19, and that the stock of these companies will dramatically increase in value as a result. These promotions are often styled as "research reports," make predictions of a specific "target price," and relate to micro-cap stocks, or low-priced stocks issued by the smallest of companies with limited publicly available information. Price Gouging scams: When sellers and/or retailers sell or rent an item for a price which is grossly in excess of the price prior to the declaration per KRS 367.374. Goods and services included in this prohibition include consumer food items; goods or services used for emergency cleanup; emergency supplies; medical supplies; home heating oil; building materials; housing; transportation, freight, and storage services; and gasoline or other motor fuels. Coleman and Cameron are urging everyone to avoid these, and similar scams by taking the following steps: Independently verify the identity of any company, charity, or individual that contacts you regarding COVID-19. Check the websites and email addresses offering information, products, or services related to COVID-19. Be aware that scammers often employ addresses that differ only slightly from those belonging to the entities they are impersonating. For example, they might use "cdc.com" or "cdc.org" instead of "cdc.gov." Be wary of unsolicited emails offering information, supplies, or treatment for COVID-19 or requesting your personal information for medical purposes. Legitimate health authorities will not contact the general public this way. Do not click on links or open email attachments from unknown or unverified sources. Doing so could download a virus onto your computer or device. Make sure the anti-malware and anti-virus software on your computer is operating and up to date. Ignore offers for a COVID-19 vaccine, cure, or treatment. Remember, if there is a medical breakthrough, you wont hear about it for the first time through an email, online ad, or unsolicited sales pitch. Check online reviews of any company offering COVID-19 products or supplies. Avoid companies whose customers have complained about not receiving items. Research any charities or crowdfunding sites soliciting donations in connection with COVID- 19 before giving. Remember, an organization may not be legitimate even if it uses words like "CDC" or "government" in its name or has reputable looking seals or logos on its materials. For online resources on donating wisely, visit the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) website. Be wary of any business, charity, or individual requesting payments or donations in cash, by wire transfer, gift card, or through the mail. Dont send money through any of these channels. Be cautious of "investment opportunities" tied to COVID-19, especially those based on claims that a small companys products or services can help stop the virus. If you decide to invest, carefully research the investment beforehand. For information on how to avoid investment fraud, visit the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) website. For the most up-to-date information on COVID-19, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) websites. Officials have also created a dedicated toll free hotline, and dedicated email address for the public to report suspected COVID-19 related fraud. If you believe you may have been a target or victim, report them at the website linked below. We have also linked a price gouging complaint form below. Those wishing to report possible fraud can also call the hotline at 1-888-432-9257. United States Attorney Russell Coleman has appointed a federal prosecutor to assist state and local prosecutors, and law enforcement in the fight against COVID-19 related fraud in western Kentucky. On the Net: A Dubai-based Indian teen, who was stranded at Frankfurt Airport in Germany for over 24 hours, is finally returning to her parents here with the help of Indian and UAE authorities, according to a media report. Indian expats and long-time Dubai residents Arshad and Urvi Zaheer said their daughter Miha Zaheer, 18, a first-year student at University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, will board the next flight from Frankfurt to Dubai,Gulf reported. Miha was stranded at Frankfurt Airport after she was not allowed to take the connecting flight to Dubai due to entry restrictions in the UAE. However, Miha's parents coordinated with Indian and UAE authorities in Frankfurt and Miha was given a letter by the UAE consulate saying she was good to travel. Miha's parents got a call from a UAE-based airlines in Frankfurt that their daughter Miha had been accepted on the flight and they are bringing her to Dubai. "We sincerely thank the airline, the UAE authorities and the Consulate General of India in Dubai and Frankfurt for patiently hearing us out and helping us in these very helpless and challenging times, the family said in a statement. The airline gave Miha special care. They took her to the lounge and told her to shower and relax. She was given special treatment. We are so grateful that they are flying our daughter home in this amazing country that takes care of all its citizens and residents, the family said. Miha had to travel to Dubai after her university was locked down as a preventive measure against the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) and all students were asked to return to their respective homes. She travelled from Vancouver to Dubai via a European airline with a four-hour layover in Frankfurt. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Himachal Pradesh Police has registered an FIR against two persons who tested positive for Covid19 as they were allegedly not cooperating with the health department and administration, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jairam Thakur said on Saturday. Apart from regular washing of hands, social distancing and reducing rush has been considered essential to contain the spread of the deadly virus. According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the total number of positive cases of Covid-19 in India crossed 280, which includes 39 foreigners. Four people have died in the country--one each in Delhi, Karnataka, Punjab and Maharashtra. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Broadway has shut down until at least April 12. But for those hoping to see Moulin Rouge, worry not. The film version, which you can enjoy from the coronavirus-free comfort of your home, is far superior. Its been 20 years since Baz Luhrmanns famously over-the-top movie musical came to screens. Based on La Boheme, the story (cowritten by Luhrmann) is about a young English poet, Christian (played by Ewan McGregor), who falls in love with a French courtesan, Satine (Nicole Kidman) the sparkling diamond of the famous Parisian cabaret the Moulin Rouge. This leads to a gripping, passionate affair that sadly ends in tears. The film opens to Nat King Coles hit Nature Boy (There was a boy, / A very strange, enchanted boy) and a 30-year-old McGregor sitting bearded and depressed at his typewriter. Christian then mournfully relays that the woman he loves is dead. The rest of the movie is a flashback. We soon learn that Christian is an idealist who moved from London to Paris in 1899 to be part of the Bohemian movement. Soon after moving, he discovered an eccentric band of performers living in the apartment above him. They spotted his writing talent and enlisted his help in selling their show Spectacular Spectacular to Harold Zidler, the owner of the Moulin Rouge. Zidler, meanwhile, has more-pressing concerns. The Moulin Rouge needs to secure the financial assistance of an investor, the Duke of Monroth. Zidler instructs Satine to win his influence through her powers of seduction. But theres a case of mistaken identity: Satine confuses Christian for the duke. The couple fall hopelessly in love and have a secret affair. The duke grows suspicious. Both men grow jealous. Later (spoiler alert), Zidler discovers that Satine, who keeps collapsing and breaking into sweats, is dying of consumption. He discloses this fatal news fairly late on, it ought to be added to Satine, who, in turn, hides this information from both of her admirers until her untimely death in the arms of Christian, the man she truly loves. Story continues The story is, on the face, melodramatic. But in the movie, this is undercut by an ironical use of anachronistic pop melodies, from Elton John to Rodgers and Hammerstein. The collection of songs is, at first, a bizarre mix. But the story, acting, and writing are strong enough that it works. Christian wins the respect of the acting troupe by bursting into The Sound of Music. He also wins Satines heart by singing Your Song. As Christian, McGregor is impossibly genuine: an innocent and earnest artist, and a tragic idealist. Satine, meanwhile, played by Nicole Kidman (in a performance that won her Best Actress), is a tortured soul. Theres the person shes pretending to be for the audiences of the Moulin Rouge, as encapsulated in her performance of Marilyn Monroes Diamonds Are a Girls Best Friend. Then, when she believes herself to be alone, theres her heart-wrenching rendition of Randy Crawfords stunning One Day Ill Fly Away. She, too, is a good and likable person. All my life youve made me believe that I was only worth what someone would pay for me, she tells Harold. But Christian loves me. So, while the movies music and cinematography may be over the top it works. The final scenes are genuinely moving. The same cannot be said of the musical at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre on Broadway, where soap opera meets jukebox. In the musical, Christian (played by Aaron Tveit) arrives in Paris from Lima, Ohio. Rather than being earnest and innocent, hes brainless and annoying. Try to remember your first real love affair, he tells the audience in one condescending aside. In the movie Satine has depth; in the musical, she (played by Karen Olivo) is little more than a Barbie doll. In the film, she demonstrates integrity as she refuses to sleep with the duke because she loves Christian. But in the musical, she has sex with the duke within minutes of meeting him. And whereas Satine in the movie tries to protect Christian, Satine in the musical implausibly thinks death is a big joke. She tells Harold, Sing a dirty song at my funeral. To add to the irritation, this change may well be political, as indicated by Kenji Fujishima, a reviewer in Theater Mania: Already perfectly satisfied with her life at the legendary Parisian nightclub, [Satine] doesnt even have aspirations to be the next Sarah Bernhardt that Luhrmanns Satine does. This tweak is more in line with progressive mores that no longer dictate that sex work is inherently demeaning. Instead of trying to delay the act of sleeping with the Duke of Monroth, Christians rival for Satines affections, she beds him without much hesitation, however unenthusiastically, in order to sustain his interest in the Moulin Rouge. This review suggests that Satine has more agency. But she unenthusiastically sleeps with a man she doesnt love in order to keep the institution for which she works financially afloat. And elsewhere were told that she has been turning tricks since she was 13 years old, which was when her father sold her into prostitution. If that isnt demeaning, I dont know what is. In the absence of good writing and proper plot and character development, the focus becomes the songs themselves. This is unfortunate. There are roughly 70 chart-toppers in the musical, from Lady Gaga to Katie Perry, serving as a reminder of the banal and pointless state of modern pop. More from National Review President Donald Trump recently announced that the U.S. Army will award the Presidential Unit Citation to the National Guard's Old Hickory Division for its heroic stand against Nazi armored forces after the Normandy invasion in World War II. In early August 1944, the soldiers of the 30th Infantry Division found themselves in hasty defensive positions around the small town of Mortain, France, facing a withering attack from an entire German Panzer Corps, according to an account of the fight in a March 18 White House news release. Adolf Hitler ordered his Panzer force to cut through the 30th in an attempt at keeping American forces from breaking out of the Normandy beachhead and into the open countryside. "The situation they faced on Aug. 6, 1944, was dire," Trump said in the release. "They found themselves confronted by overwhelming enemy armor, and the German Panzers broke through their lines." Related: Found Wreckage of WWII Aircraft Brings Hope for ID of 7 MIA Americans But the 30th ID soldiers kept fighting. Unit cooks, clerks and drivers were pressed into service as riflemen. The division's artillery protected its encircled and isolated elements with a constant barrage of fire. American and British aircraft began providing close-air support on the morning of Aug. 7 after a long night of fighting. By the afternoon of Aug. 7, the German attack stalled, and the division quickly counterattacked to relieve its trapped elements, through another five days of fierce fighting, according to the release's account of the battle. More than 2,000 Old Hickory Division soldiers were killed or wounded during the weeklong battle. After the war, eight units within the 30th ID were recognized with the prestigious honor, according to the release. "I am proud to direct the Army to honor the remainder of the division and attached units with the Presidential Unit Citation for their heroic stand at Mortain," Trump said in the release. "This action rightfully recognizes our veterans who triumphed against incredible odds, as well as those who died during a critical battle that helped ensure the Allied victory in Europe." The Presidential Unit Citation is awarded to units for extraordinary heroism in action against an armed enemy since Dec. 7, 1941. The National Guard's 30th ID -- which is now the 30th Armored Brigade Combat Team -- was nicknamed the Old Hickory Division because its soldiers hailed from North and South Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia -- all states closely associated with President Andrew Jackson. "We are extremely happy for 30th Infantry Division veterans and their families," Maj. Gen. Todd Hunt, adjutant general of the North Carolina National Guard, said in a recent news release. "We are honored to carry on the lineage and colors of 'Old Hickory' in our 30th Armored Brigade Combat Team that is currently deployed to the Middle East. -- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com. Read More: House Bill Would Direct 'Purple Heart Flag' to Be Flown on National Holidays CT: Were looking into using Australian-grade cotton. Fibres are being microchipped, so you can track them to the farm where they were grown. Youll be able to access details such as what type of soil it has grown in, how much water was used to harvest it. We use sustainably sourced Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) organic cotton. PE: Our customers want to shop with a purpose. Were pioneering sustainability in the skiwear category next. Nobody else is really doing this. KITX Founded in 2014, Kit Willows luxury label has put sustainability front and centre. KitX founder, Kit Willow. Credit:Louise Kennerley I started KitX with the idea of sourcing materials that have a positive impact on the environment, not a negative one. Fashion is the second-biggest polluter behind oil, and 70 per cent of fashions planetary impact comes from material sourcing. Its great there are brands now that want to make a positive impact Ive committed my entire business to being more environmentally responsible. Loading Everything we make is built on three key sustainable platforms. First, that it must be natural and organic matter and has to be kind on its creation; no pesticides or chemicals are used in any process. It also has to be kind to the earth in terms of washing and being easy to care for. The KitX pieces need to break down back into the earth, too. Everything from our care label onwards is made responsibly. My care labels are made from organic cotton, while most of the others are polyester and beach collectors tell me they end up in our oceans and rivers. I am always editing down the KitX collection to key fashion pieces you want to wear. They must be empowering on every level, as well as long-lasting and enabling high-frequency wear. Hemp is the material of the future. It binds the soil when it grows, doesnt attract insects, and hardly needs any water, therefore no chemicals are used. It grows quickly and turns into fibre with little energy. I am working with Belgian masters in linen to weave hemp into luxurious fabrics, and also mixing it with silk. Its wonderful that being sustainable is gaining momentum, but the fashion industry is nowhere near where we need to be Hopefully were going in the right direction. OUTLAND DENIM James Bartles brand, started on the Gold Coast in 2011, aims to deliver denim with a humanitarian message. James Bartle created Outland Denim in 2011. After watching the 2008 film Taken, starring Liam Neeson, I was inspired to try to do something about human trafficking and slavery. I had no expertise in the fashion industry my background is in metal fabrication but I left that film feeling provoked and passionate to make a change. My wife Erica is a journalist and she started researching the subject and thinking of what we could do. Loading In 2011 we employed some teenage girls in Cambodia, teaching them to sew with sewing teachers while non-government organisations helped train them to cut and make jeans. We started with five employees in Cambodia and now have 65 earning a living wage. For us, the impact had to be a social one as well as environmental. We spent six years developing the model and went to market with a powerful message. Meghan Markle changed our brand after she wore our jeans while visiting Australia in 2018; it gave us a global audience. Outland Denim uses organically grown cotton and no pesticides in its processes. It costs more, but is environmentally better. We use vegetable organic dying processes rather than toxic chemicals. All the offcuts collected are repurposed and reused we donate them to other organisations to utilise. One of the challenges we face in making denim is all the green-washing talk around us. Some products say they are made using 95 per cent less water, but thats just in one of the processes theyre still using a lot of water to make a pair of jeans. The government needs to step in and control the process. ENA PELLY Husband and wife duo Dani Pelly and Tim Wilkins Geelong-based label is known for its leather and faux fur. Dani Pelly and Tim Wilkins of Ena Pelly. Tim and I launched our brand six years ago with a range of printed silks and leather jackets and sold them at the South Melbourne Market. We source our leather from New Zealand and use high-grade lamb skins with minimal blemishes and defects, which means we use less water and chemicals in the manufacturing process. Our vegetable-tanned leather jackets are dyed using vegetable oils, so no nasty chemicals are used. Jackets sit in vegetable oils for three weeks to absorb colour sadly, you cant use it for black leather. Since 2018 we have expanded into making faux fur jackets. The trend has taken off globally and was the reason we moved into a sustainable way to run the business. Loading It was during a dinner with our suppliers in China last year that we got the ball rolling to manufacture a faux rabbit-fur jacket using plastic bottles. Each jacket in our AW20 faux fur range is made using approximately 60, 600ml recycled water bottles. Were the first Australian brand to do this. We moved to Torquay on the south coast of Victoria four years ago. Being in that beautiful environment got us thinking about what we could do to protect Mother Nature. COLUMBUS, Ohio - Members of the Ohio House are mourning the loss of Rep. Don Manning. Manning, a Republican freshman from New Middletown, died Friday after experiencing chest pains that afternoon, Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder told members in a memo. He was 54. The Mahoning Valley and the State of Ohio lost one of their biggest fans and advocates yesterday. RIP Don pic.twitter.com/ws53AzPcLn Speaker Larry Householder (@HouseholderOH) March 21, 2020 I was saddened to learn last night of his passing at such a young age, said Ohio GOP Chair Jane Timken in a statement. "Don was a Veteran, devoted father, public servant, and tireless advocate for the Mahoning Valley. My heart goes out to the Manning family during this difficult time. Manning served in the United States Navy onboard the USS Forrestal CV-59, his Ohio House biography states. In addition to the legislature, Manning, who has worked in several areas of the criminal justice system, was the quality and compliance analyst for Youth Intensive Services. Manning previously served as a New Middletown Village councilman. Gov. Mike DeWine said at his Saturday afternoon coronavirus briefing that Manning did not die from COVID-19. DeWine remembered Manning advocating for GM workers at the now-shuttered plant in Lordstown. He was a passionate advocate for those with mental health issues as well, he said, explaining he got to sign House Bill 12, which Manning sponsored. The bill created a childrens behavioral health prevention network stakeholder group to coordinate and plan a network to support young children in social, emotional and behavioral development and to reduce mental health disparities among young children. The group is required to submit policy recommendations to the governor and Ohio General Assembly. The country will be observing an unprecedented shutdown on Sunday following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal for a 'Janata curfew', where people have been urged to voluntarily stay indoors to check the spread of coronavirus while public transport will be suspended or curtailed and all markets and shops except those dealing in essential items will be closed on the day. Cutting across party lines, chief ministers and others leaders urged the people to follow the self-imposed curfew from 7 am to 9 pm, noting that "social distancing" was key to breaking the chain of infection, as the number of coronavirus cases rose to 283 after 60 new cases were detected on Saturday, the highest so far in a day, and states like Maharashtra, Odisha and Bihar imposed partial lockdown till month end. No passenger train will originate from any railway station in the country from midnight to 10 pm on Sunday while all suburban train services will be reduced to a bare minimum as well. Metro services, including in Delhi, will remain suspended for the day. Air carriers like GoAir, IndiGo and, Vistara have announced that they will be curtailing domestic operations on Sunday. Traders' body Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has announced that they will keep their establishments shut across the country Sunday. From suspending regular prayers in shrines of various faiths, including Sunday mass, to disallowing jail inmates from meeting their families on the day, organisations and institutions in every sphere have announced restrictions for Sunday. Modi had on Thursday called for the 'Janata curfew' from 7 am to 9 pm on March 22, saying no citizen, barring those in essential services, should get out of their houses, and asserted that it will be a litmus test to show India's readiness to take on the coronavirus challenge. Describing it as the need of the hour, Union Home Minister Amit Shah asked everyone in the country to support the step. In a series of tweets, Shah also asked all citizens to express gratitude to those who are working round the clock to keep the country safe and healthy amid the pandemic. Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu too made a fervent appeal to the people of the country to confine themselves to homes on Sunday. He said that since the virus spreads through physical contact, social distancing is an effective measure to contain its spread by avoiding contact during the incubation period of the virus. "Janata curfew should be seen in the largest context of the initiative to insulate people with their voluntary involvement. It is a matter of great assurance that people have responded very positively to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal. People remaining idoors and social distancing are part of measures to curb the contagion virus," Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Saturday. In Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said 50 per cent of the buses will ply on roads on Sunday considering some people may have to travel due to an emergency. Autos and taxis will, however, be off roads in the national capital as several unions including the Delhi Autorickshaw Sangh, Delhi Pradesh Taxi Union, Delhi Auto Taxi Transport Congress Union and Delhi Taxi Tourist Transport Association, have decided to join the 'Janata curfew'. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath appealed to the people of the state to stay indoors on Sunday. "Metro trains, roadways buses and city buses will not operate on Sunday," the statement said on behalf of the chief minister. "Coronavirus is in the second stage all over the country. It will convey a big message to the entire world if we are successful in stopping this at this stage. "To curb this infection, we are working on a war footing. Isolation wards have been set up in every district hospital and medical college. So far, 23 patients have been identified in the state, out of which nine have completely recovered. There is no need to panic, but prepare yourself to fight against this challenge," the UP chief minister said in the statement. Leaders also urged the traders not to hoard essential items and the people to purchase only necessary things. "We can prevent the virus entering third stage if people stay indoors and for that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced Janata Curfew on March 22," Tamil Superstar Rajinikanth said in a video message. Archbishop of Goa Filipe Neri Ferrao cancelled the Sunday mass at all churches in support of the call for "janata" curfew to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. In Delhi too, St Peter's Mar Thomas Syrian Church, Patparganj and Cathedral Church of Redemption in central Delhi have cancelled Sunday mass and all services for next week, sources said. Prominent Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband in Uttar Pradesh said it will remain closed on March 22 and asked its students not to go outside. The Jammu and Kashmir Waqf Board announced suspension of regular prayers at mosques and shrines affiliated to it in the Kashmir valley as a preventive measure to contain the spread of the coronavirus. On Saturday, the prime minister thanked various organisations and business bodies for their efforts to contain the spread of coronavirus. "Never forget -- precautions not panic!," he said adding that it is not only important to be home but also remain in the town/ city where you are. "Unnecessary travels will not help you or others. In these times, every small effort on our part will leave a big impact," Modi said reacting to tweets by people on the virus. This is the time we should all listen to the advice given by doctors and authorities, he said. "All those who have been told to stay in home quarantine, I urge you to please follow the instructions. This will protect you as well as your friends and family," he said. The prime minister also shared a video which showed how virus spreads and ways to check its outbreak taking small precautions. The Odisha government on Saturday announced a "near total" shutdown in five districts and eight other prominent towns for a week. These districts are Khurda, Ganjam, Cuttack, Kendrapara and Angul, while the towns include Puri, Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Balasore, Rourkela, Bhadrak, Jajpur Road and Jajpur. The Bihar government ordered shutting down of bus services, restaurants and banquet halls across the state till March 31. All schools and malls are already closed in the state. Authorities have already ordered a shutdown in Maharashtra's major cities like Mumbai, Pune, Thane and Nagpur.The Akola district administration also ordered a lockdown between March 22 and 24. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) West Bengal on Saturday reported two more coronavirus positive cases -- one of which is not linked to foreign travel -- raising concerns of community-level transmission. The state's health officials, however, said, they are trying to ascertain if the patient had come in contact with anybody who tested positive or has recently returned from abroad. As the number of confirmed cases in the state rose to four, the state government ordered a shutdown of a host of public places including restaurants, bars, nightclubs, amusement parks, massage parlours, museums and zoos, till March 31. A 57-year-old man from Dumdum in North 24 Parganas district became the fourth person in the state to test positive for novel coronavirus on Saturday, a health department official said. Asked about his travel history, he said that family members have categorically said the man has not made any recent trip abroad. "But they didn't divulge whether he had a history of recent inter-state travel." Earlier in the day, a 22-year-old woman from Habra, who returned from Scotland on March 19, tested positive for Covid-19. Family members of both the patients have been quarantined. The Mamata Banerjee dispensation issued a notification in the afternoon, directing closure of such public spots from Sunday, as a precautionary measure to prevent mass gatherings so that coronavirus can be contained. The directive applied to massage parlours and hookah bars as well, an official said, adding that strict action would be taken in case of any violation. The city's largest pet market at Galiff Street was also shut down for two weeks, he said. The West Bengal Higher Education Department announced that the ongoing Class 12 board examinations in the state were postponed till April 15. The state government has convened an all-party meeting on March 23 to discuss the situation arising out of the pandemic, sources said. A communication has been sent to all the major political parties, urging them to attend the meeting at the state secretariat at 4 pm. Speaking to a television channel, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee slammed the railways for not ensuring proper screening of the passengers and migrant workers entering the state in long-distance trains. Banerjee said she had asked the chief secretary to communicate to the railway authorities about immediately stopping all long-distance trains to West Bengal, as the public sector behemoth was facilitating the return of migrant workers to the state "without proper screening". "Yesterday, I had urged the Centre to stop the arrival of all international flights in West Bengal," she said. On the availability of masks and hand sanitisers, Banerjee said the priority of her government was to supply those first to health workers, cleaning staff and police personnel. "The small-scale sector in the state is manufacturing around 6,000 litres of alcohol-based hand sanitiser everyday. We will first supply it to those who are in the priority list and then it will be made available to the public," the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo said. Meanwhile, the North 24 Parganas district administration sent a doctor with a travel history to the US to quarantine and closed his private chamber and nursing home. The disaster management and civil defence department of the state said it had launched a helpline number to assist people with their queries regarding the pandemic. On Saturday, 1,211 passengers were enlisted for observation, while 1,190 people were kept under home quarantine, a bulletin of the state's health department said. A total of 19 passengers were sent to isolation wards in different hospitals, it added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Valid student and work visas to come into Canada will be respected during the COVID-19 crisis, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said Friday, as she cut through some of the confusion that has gripped the nations agricultural sector this week. Canadian farms employ tens of thousands of migrant workers, many from Mexico and Central America, whose labour is critical to producing Canadian-grown crops. When the federal government announced it was closing Canadian border to international visitors as a measure to limit the spread of the virus, farmers and the agricultural associations that represented them panicked. March is when crops are planted and vines are pruned. Within weeks, farms usually welcome a legion of foreign farmhands who stay until harvest is complete. For several decades, farmers have become increasingly reliant on foreign workers, according to Debra Hauer, manager of labour market information for the Canadian Agricultural Human Resources Council (CAHRC). As farms get bigger, the skills needed for farming change with technology, and the Canadian labour demographic also changes. Hauer said farms will be faced with difficult decisions if their usual labour force doesnt arrive. For some, it could mean working more, or changing their crops, or planting less. Canadian food production and supply will be affected for more than a year, especially fruits and vegetables. Farmers will have to delay or cancel upgrades and businesses will face job losses. The federal government has announced it will provide augmented credit through Farm Credit Canada. However, farmers say the issue at hand is not about funding, but getting crops into the ground. Without foreign labour, Canadas food security would be at risk, they said. The matter became confused earlier this week when Ernie Hardeman, Ontarios minister of agriculture, food and rural affairs, sent out a Wednesday email to stakeholders saying the workers will not face the same restrictions placed on other travellers to Canada. Citing federal Public Safety Minister Bill Blair, Hardeman said the workers would be allowed into Canada, but would need to be isolated for 14 days. Later Wednesday, however, industry leaders in British Columbia found their elation turn to ash when they were told Ottawa would only permit American workers into Canada. If true, that would still leave farms drastically short-handed because most of the workforce, which is nearly 60,000 people strong according to a recent report from the Canadian Agricultural Human Resources Council, hails from south of the United States. At a Friday news briefing, however, Freeland said valid work and student visas, including those arriving as temporary foreign workers, would be respected by Canada, at the Canadian-U.S. border and international borders. The workers will have to self-isolate for 14 days, Freeland said, just like anyone returning to Canada. However, exactly how that isolation will work was not made clear Friday. Most of the farm labourers live in workers camps, often in trailers or other cramped accommodations that do not permit the kind of social-distancing health experts say is necessary to limit the spread of the virus. Where these workers will be isolated, or how large farms will handle COVID-19 cases after the workers arrive, has not been determined. Some 8,000 migrant farm workers are already in Ontario, with another 13,000 expected in the coming weeks. With files from the Toronto Star VANCOUVERAs Canadians around the globe plead for help returning home as the coronavirus pandemic continues, many are ramping up criticism of the countrys consulates abroad, alleging they have not offered enough help. Canadians like Gaurav Dania, who has been trying to find assistance getting his elderly parents back to Canada from India, say consulates have been slow to respond to them and often do so with prepared generic responses. They are not helping getting the people back, Dania said. I have been told myself that is the responsibility of the citizens by the high commission. Danias parents, father Suresh and mother Anu, both in their 60s, have been in Dehradun in northern India since late February and were planning to come back in late March. But when the pandemic gathered steam last week, the couple decided to return earlier, around the same time flight cancellations and border closures began. Dania said his parents are happy to pay their own way home, but simply cant find a way out of India. He doesnt understand why the Canadian government is not being more proactive to help get people, especially elderly people, home more quickly. I was reading about all the stranded Canadians in different parts of the world, he said. They are all ready to buy their own ticket, but the government needs to at least put on those flights, have those commercial flights, have those military planes to get citizens back. Canadians Carly Brooks and Madeline Campbell are stuck in Utila, Honduras. The pair from Ontarios Kawartha Lakes region are doing internships in the country and arrived last month. Now, Honduras has closed its borders to help stop the spread of COVID-19 and they say the Canadian consulate has given little information about the situation. I got one response from them asking for all of our flight information, Brooks said. Since then all weve gotten is auto-responses saying Dear Canadian, were getting so many emails that we cant answer them. Do not contact us unless your condition has changed. All the emails have said they shouldnt rely on the Canadian government for help to get out of Honduras, she said. The pair said they keep missing flights out that have been hastily arranged because they hear about them too late and not through the consulate. Their complaints echo those of Canadians in other countries reached by the Star, including in Peru, where one Canadian family said someone at the consulate laughed at them and hung up when they asked if there would be humanitarian flights to get Canadians out. Though Canada says it is not the responsibility of foreign missions, Mexico and Israel have managed to organize flights out of Peru for their citizens. In the meantime, according to media reports, Germany has started retrieving its citizens abroad. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday he has spoken to the heads of West Jet and Air Canada about flights to bring Canadians home. But details have not yet been provided. When the outbreak first occurred, Canada did send planes to the epicentre in Wuhan, China, to retrieve Canadians stranded there. On Thursday, in response to complaints of Canadians stranded in Peru, Global Affairs Canada said ensuring the health and safety of such Canadians is a top priority. The Star had asked if the federal government was indeed planning flights to get Canadians out of the country and Global Affairs invoked the privacy act. We are aware of Canadian citizens in Peru and are providing consular assistance, wrote spokesperson Angela Savard in an email. Minister Champagne is in touch with his counterpart. Due to the provisions under the Privacy Act, Global Affairs does not disclose information pertaining to specific consular cases. Chris Alexander, the former ambassador to Afghanistan and minister of citizenship and immigration under the previous Conservative government, said the situation around the world is unprecedented and staff in foreign missions are likely under immense pressure. He said the closure of borders around the globe has made the situation extremely difficult, but hes optimistic embassy staff will eventually solve the problems the pandemic has created for Canadians abroad. They will find solutions, he said. Theyll have to be creative and it wont always involve getting people home soon. Jorge Guajardo, the former Mexican ambassador to China and consul for Mexico in Texas, said repatriation of citizens in need is a common service provided by the Mexican government. But, he said, Mexico has a long tradition of aggressive consulates due to the number of Mexicans living abroad. In some cases, the consulate will even take on employers in foreign countries who have mistreated Mexican employees, he said. Usually, a government immediately looks after its citizens in a case like this, he said, referring to the COVID-19 crisis. Guy Saint Jacques, a former Canadian ambassador, told the Star Thursday that Canada does not consider repatriation of its citizens to be part of the job of consulates abroad. Canadas missions abroad help with lost passports, medical care or legal troubles mainly, he said. Read more about: Reference is made to the stock exchange notification published by Electromagnetic Geoservices ASA ("EMGS" or the "Company") on 28 June 2019 wherein the Company announced it had been awarded a contract for a proprietary CSEM survey offshore Senegal and Mauritania. EMGS has been advised by the customer that it has decided to postpone the project. It is EMGS understanding that the decision is based on the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Start of acquisition was planned for March 2020. All further mobilisation activities will be stopped immediately. EMGS does not expect that it will be possible to find alternative work for the vessel to replace the delayed project. Contact Anders Eimstad, EMGS Interim Chief Financial Officer, +47 948 25 836 About EMGS EMGS, the marine EM market leader, uses its proprietary electromagnetic (EM) technology to support oil and gas companies in their search for offshore hydrocarbons. EMGS supports each stage in the workflow, from survey design and data acquisition to processing and interpretation. The Company's services enable the integration of EM data with seismic and other geophysical and geological information to give explorationists a clearer and more complete understanding of the subsurface. This improves exploration efficiency and reduces risks and the finding costs per barrel. EMGS operates on a worldwide basis with offices in Trondheim, Oslo, Houston, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro and Kuala Lumpur. This information is subject of the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act. GamesRadar+ is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more An employee at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center has tested positive for COVID-19, according to a statement from the hospital on Saturday. The medical center said the person, who works in one of Hersheys outpatient practices, was sent home as soon as symptoms were recognized. The employees test was confirmed March 20 by the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Evidence suggests the employee was exposed through a family member and not in the workplace. The employee is following treatment according to protocols and procedures regarding COVID-19, according to the statement. Citing federal privacy laws, the hospital did not identify the person or additional information about their medical status. However, in an email sent to employees, medical center President Deborah Berini said the person, who works in the I.O. Silver Cardiovascular Specialties Clinic, exhibited symptoms on March 13. She said the employee felt feverish and was not exhibiting respiratory symptoms. The medical center said a small number of patients the employee may have interacted with have been informed and advised to self-quarantine and monitor themselves for symptoms. We will continue to evaluate whether these patients should be screened or tested for COVID-19 and whether further action is required, the statement read. In addition, the medical center said the employees coworkers have been notified of possible exposure. They have also been advised to wear masks while around other people on campus, check their temperatures twice a day and monitor themselves for symptoms. The medical center said it is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Department of Health. It is not the first hospital in the region to announce an employee has tested positive with the virus. Earlier this week Lancaster General Hospital announced one of its independent physicians tested positive for COVID-19. READ MORE: In her email, Berini said, I want to compliment the I.O. Silver clinic staff, physicians and management, who have handled the situation professionally during a time of heightened anxiety. They have demonstrated our values with continued teamwork, concern for their patients and compassion for their co-worker throughout this situation." This situation underscores the importance for all of us to be careful not only at work, but outside work, in following recommended precautions such as good hand hygiene and social distancing," she continued. Hershey Medical Center emphasized it remains open to treat all patients. Congress is allocating billions of dollars to respond to coronavirus and a growing economic crisis and those dollars need to be directed right into Americans' pockets. Right now, Americans are facing a public health crisis and an economic crisis. Coronavirus carries special risks for older Americans and people with underlying health conditions, who are following the advice of public health experts by staying home and staying away from other people in order to reduce their exposure to coronavirus. These Americans are scared about their heightened risk for severe illness and scared about the future as they watch their retirement savings disappear as the pandemic shocks the U.S. economy. That is why we are pushing to include in Congress' next stimulus package a $200 increase in the monthly benefit for all Social Security, Veterans, and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) beneficiaries through the end of 2021. This will put about $4,000 in the pockets of seniors and people with disabilities who have earned this benefit by contributing to Social Security with every paycheck. A simple benefit increase like this will improve the lives of millions of Americans and help our economy stabilize and recover. Providing Americans with one-time cash payments, as members of both parties have suggested, will certainly provide many families with a much-needed cushion to cover the costs of basic necessities like food and rent. But we should not neglect channels like Social Security and Unemployment Insurance that have long been a critical source of income security for workers, seniors and people with disabilities. Furthermore, Senate Republicans' proposal only provides half-benefits for individuals who need these checks most, like seniors on a fixed income or those who pay very little or no tax. Expanding Social Security and other benefits by $200 a month through 2021 will be a more stable and reliable source of support for these seniors and the economy as public health officials work to contain this virus. When the economy is in a downturn, getting it moving back in the right direction requires Americans to start spending money and researchers have found that permanent Social Security benefits increases have a "large, immediate, and significant" positive impact on spending. In fact, there is a nearly 1:1 ratio between an increase in Social Security benefits and an increase in consumer spending. That provides an enormous boost to the economy and it starts with the very first month of increased benefits. Nearly 64 million Americans received a Social Security check in 2019, the majority of whom were retired. Social Security makes up a majority of income for most seniors and older individuals with severe disabilities. But millions of Americans relying on Social Security are still struggling to make ends meet. Nearly 10% of seniors are living in poverty, and the rate is higher for seniors of color and women. More than half of all low-income Americans receiving SSI benefits rely on the program as their only source of income. Increasing Social Security benefits is the quickest way to get money out the door during an economic crisis. Congress has done this before: beneficiaries of Social Security and SSI received a one-time $250 benefit after the 2008 economic crisis as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Our proposal ensures that increased benefits don't end up kicking Social Security and SSI recipients off other critical assistance programs during this crisis and the proposal assures that those who are more well-off pay back some of this expansion when they pay their taxes. It's a solution that helps families, boosts our economy, and starts at the grassroots. We have a chance to stimulate our economy by taking care of Americans who need it the most. We need to match the scope of this crisis with bold solutions that invest in our country's future. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is a Democrat from Massachusetts. U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden is a Democrat from Oregon. New Delhi, March 22 : The Jamia Coordination Committee has temporarily suspended it's ongoing 24 hrs sit-in protest at gate no. 7, near Jamia Milia Islamia (JMI) citing coronavirus outbreak, but not before playing politics. In a statement it said, "With a heavy heart but great hope in our hearts, we temporarily suspend the ongoing 24 hrs sit-in protest at Gate no. 7, JMI and appeal to all protesters to kindly take the situation with utmost seriousness and save themselves and others from this fatal illness." However, while making a case to fight the outbreak, it said, "In times like these, we must introspect our actions and remind ourselves that in the face of death we are all equal; so why exclude, why discriminate, why repress, why exploit, why kill, why violate ? This global epidemic must serve as a reminder of global injustice, global inequality and global violence." Making its stand clear that it continues to remain against the Citizenship Amendment Act, NRC or NPR, it urged the centre to stop the NPR process at once. In a clear case of making a political point even in face of such deadly pandemic, the Jamia Coordination Committee said, "We again appeal to the government to repeal the discriminatory anti-constitutional CAA, NRC and the NPR. The current crisis is a clear reminder of the fact that humanity is for all irrespective of religion." What's more? They even dubbed Sunday's 'janta curfew' where PM Modi urged all to stay indoors through the day as 'jumla'. "We would also like to reiterate our misgivings with jumlas such as 'janta curfew'. It would be instead wise to encourage people to 'quarantine for humanity'. The focus must remain of voluntary and honest self-initiated precautions. No situation must be utilised to normalise curfews," it said. Latest updates on Howdy Modi Houston The government is preparing a "stability plan" to support the economy during the crisis. In a press conference on Friday evening, Minister of Finance Franz Fayot said he would not yet be able to give any details about the package, as the government is still analysing the situation with the SNCI and other banks, and trying to find out which measures they should keep, and which should be discarded. Franz Fayot said that the impact on the economy will not just be "heavy", but it will be "brutal", and thus a corresponding reaction will be required. Minister of Finance: "I am very purposefully not giving any financial details as to how much the stabilisation plan might cost. I just want to remind people that Luxembourg's public finances are in a healthy condition, which allows us to finance the stabilisation plan in the short-, mid- and longer-term. But we don't want to raise false hopes. We won't be able to help every business. We will do the best we can, and all that we can. That is the only thing that is certain right now." Extrait Franz Fayot (1) Franz Fayot also reiterated that short-term working, or partial unemployment, has been extended to all businesses, permanent and fixed-term contracts, as well as to apprentices. However, from next week onwards, these requests will no longer be handed in with the Economic Committee, and instead will have to be handed in at ADEM. Franz Fayot: "ADEM will be setting up a service on their website that will allow people to submit their requests online. The reimbursement will happen quickly and will date back to the day the government shut down the sector. For restaurants, cafes and commerce this would be March 16th. But I ask of you: please give us a chance to respond to the thousands of requests as quickly as possible. Please be aware that the administration, too, is working at reduced capacity." Extrait Franz Fayot (2) According to our sources, providers' food prices have already gone up, which is making life difficult for restaurant owners who are still delivering food. Should, during a time of crisis, market ideology still be alone to reign, a system of supply and demand, or does the government plan to intervene? Franz Fayot: "This is a step we are not yet planning to take, but I will hear more about this later this evening. We are in a situation where normal rules don't apply, which also means that the usual principles of supply and demand have been affected. This is a state of affairs we need to examine closely. As previously mentioned, in an exceptional context, nothing can be definitely rejected, which means we need to keeps these things on the radar. It is a disconcerting bit of news that we will consider." Extrait Franz Fayot (3) When asked whether, as in the US, there would be cheques for people (worth $1000), Franz Fayot said this was not suitable for a country like Luxembourg. The US were a country without social security, whereas here the main plan revolves around saving employment and businesses. Finally, the Minister of Finance said that he was convinced that practical solutions would be found for the European setting. Germany had, for example, lifted export restrictions on Friday. The free circulation of goods and of people was important for Luxembourg, but this benefit went both ways. Jabar Parks had big plans by the time he walked out of Santa Rita Jail on Friday morning. After serving time for a parole violation for leaving the state, Parks was ready to get back to work maybe as a ride-share driver for now, and later start his own business. Parks was one of the nearly 250 people who got a jump-start on freedom, after Alameda County officials granted their early release from the Dublin jail amid fears that COVID-19 could spread behind bars. Alameda County wasnt alone: San Francisco Superior Court on Friday authorized the release of 26 inmates from San Franciscos jails over similar concerns. While Parks had a clear vision for his long-term future, the next few days were clouded by uncertainty. Right now, I would have nowhere to go, he said outside the jail, clutching a few items of clothing and court paperwork. Id be blowing in the wind, waiting to catch this dang virus. But Parks, who walked free nine days before his scheduled release date, was instead greeted by employees of Bay Area Community Services just outside the jails front doors. They jotted down his name, contact information, and secured him housing for a few nights and a ride to get there. Shamima Abdullah, a residential counselor and peer counselor for the Oakland-based nonprofit, said the group is hoping to guide these newly released individuals into a soft landing. Some of the most pressing concerns for those released from jail and prison are in the immediate aftermath who will pick them up, where will they stay, and what will they eat? These concerns are especially pressing now, with a statewide shelter-in-place order in effect and fears of a COVID-19 infection erupting in homeless communities. As more jails and prisons weigh early releases, officials say secured housing has become a top priority for people in the criminal justice system, who are disproportionately poor. On Friday, California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye called for early release of inmates with less than 60 days remaining on their sentence in an advisory to the states superior courts. Among her recommendations, she also called for a significant reduction in bail amounts for the duration of the coronavirus emergency, including the reduction of bail amounts to $0 to people in jail on lower level offenses. In San Francisco, the inmates approved for release had less than 60 days to serve, sheriffs officials said. Roughly 13 of these individuals were placed in supportive housing and behavioral health programs, and the remaining were lined up with existing housing, officials said. Neither San Francisco nor Alameda County have confirmed cases of COVID-19 inside the jails. Abdullah said many of the individuals she encountered leaving lockup Friday morning were relieved to have the help. They were excited to be out, and figured they could work the rest out later. A few people when they walk out they dont have a place to go, she said. In previous releases, a lot of them are walking down out down the street, and not able to make it to BART safely. Florentino Pelayo and Simon Fajardo walked out side-by-side Friday morning, beaming and laughing. The two friends met in jail, and a few days ago heard an early release may be in the cards. I was telling him last night, were out! Fajardo said. If youre 30 days or under, were gone tomorrow, man. Both met with the community service workers and said they may take them up on their offers. Pelayo, who lives in Oakland, said he would be staying with his wife Friday night, but Fajardo said he may need assistance finding immediate shelter. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. I might if my mom dont let me stay at the house, he said. The release in Alameda County came after 67 people awaiting trial in county courts were released on their own recognizance earlier this week. The 314 releases reduced the jails average daily population by 12%, from roughly 2,600 inmates to about 2,300. The moves came after mounting calls for jails and prisons to release people at risk of becoming seriously ill from the virus, such as senior prisoners and those with respiratory diseases, as well as those who have little time left to serve. Chronicle staff writer Lauren Hernandez contributed to this report. Megan Cassidy is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: megan.cassidy@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @meganrcassidy All in-person Advanced Placement tests have been canceled this year, the College Board announced on Friday. Instead, tests will be offered in 45-minute online exams, and students will have two date options to take each test later this spring. The College Board has also extended the deadlines for portfolios in AP subjects that dont hold in-person tests, to May 26. The announcement is the latest development in a college admissions testing season that has been upended in response to the coronavirus . The College Board has also canceled multiple spring SAT test dates, and the ACT has rescheduled its April testing. The new, modified AP exams will only cover content that most teachers would have covered by early March, according to the announcement. Content that will be covered for each course is listed on the College Board website . The health and safety of educators and students are the AP Programs highest priorities, Trevor Packer, the senior vice president of Advanced Placement and instruction at the College Board, wrote in a Tweet after the announcement . We considered canceling AP testing this year, but 91 percent of AP students surveyed asked we not. So well invest heavily to provide optional online daily AP review classes and at-home AP testing. Two dates will be offered for each test. The dates for the exams are scheduled to be released Friday, April 3. Over the coming weeks, the College Board is also offering free, live review courses that cover material teachers would have introduced in the first 75 percent of the course and introduce new material. Still, moving testing online raises equity issues for students who dont have devices or internet access at home, and for students with disabilities who require extended time and other accommodations, said Jayne Fonash, the president of the National Association for College Admission Counseling, in an interview. Students may also have different levels of experience and comfort with taking online exams, she said. I am sure that high school counselors around the world are concerned about how this will impact their students, especially those who are disadvantaged, said Fonash. Students will be able to take the at-home exam on a computer, tablet, or smartphone, according to the College Boards statement. The announcement acknowledges the potential connectivity hurdles involved in an online testing administration. We recognize that the digital divide could prevent some low-income and rural students from participating, the statement reads. Working with partners, we will invest so that these students have the tools and connectivity they need to review AP content online and take the exam. If your students need mobile tools or connectivity, you can reach out to us directly to let us know. Moving the test online, where students may not be in a physically proctored setting, also brings up security concerns, which the College Board plans to address with a range of digital security tools and techniques, including plagiarism detection software. The at-home AP Exams this year will not include any multiple-choice questions, only free-response questions adapted for secure testing at home, Packer Tweeted . They will measure skills that cant be learned from Google or chats with friends. Fonash said that she understands the implications of continuing with exams, given that many students rely on them for college credit. Still, she said, I would hope that the College Board might have a conversation with its high school members and its college members to discuss the possibility of simply canceling the testing for this year. And then were all on the same level playing field. On social media, responses from teachers were mixed. While some appreciated the opportunity for their students to demonstrate what they had learned this year , others pushed back against the decision. Where was this survey available? Hayley Breden, a high school social studies teacher in Colorado, asked on Twitter , in regard to the questionnaire about canceling the AP exam. Was it emailed to all AP instructors? I did not know about it; if I had, I would have passed it along to my students to help you get a larger sample size. SAN MATEO (BCN) A man was arrested Thursday evening as a suspect in a knife attack in a tunnel system beneath downtown San Mateo, police said. Officers responded shortly after 10 p.m. to the Caltrain parking lot at 385 First Ave. where a stabbing was reported in a culvert known as "Darcy's Tunnel." As police assisted a victim who had been stabbed in the hand, they were told the attack was a targeted incident between people familiar with each other. While witnesses interviewed, enabling officers to identify a suspect, a police canine was tracking the attacker's escape path. Hermelindo Agustin Lucas, a 37-year-old San Mateo resident, was arrested blocks away from the attack scene while walking home, police said, and the knife used in the attack was recovered during the arrest. The stabbing victim was hospitalized, and Lucas was booked at San Mateo County Jail for two counts of assault with a deadly weapon and an active warrant for alcohol related disorderly conduct. Police credited community assistance in locating the suspect. San Mateo police and the city's Public Works "have collaboratively partnered with North B Street merchants and St. Vincent de Paul in an effort to address the homeless issue, loitering, and criminal activity plaguing Darcy's Tunnel," officials said in a news release. "We are looking to mitigate any further issues and implement long-term solutions." Copyright 2020 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Novartis will donate enough doses of malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to treat several million patients in the fight against the coronavirus, if it wins approval, the Swiss company said on Friday. There are no vaccines or treatments approved for the disease, but there is currently a 1,500-person trial, led by the University of Minnesota, to see whether hydroxychloroquine can prevent or reduce the severity of COVID-19. Two other trials are studying blood pressure drug losartan as a possible treatment. Novartis makes the malaria drug, which is also used to treat lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, at its Sandoz unit in the United States. It plans to donate 130 million doses of the drug and is in talks with U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulators over expanding its use for coronavirus. "Novartis is supporting ongoing clinical trial efforts, and will evaluate needs for additional clinical trials," it said in a statement. In Washington, U.S. President Donald Trump said during a news conference on Friday he is optimistic about the malaria treatment's use against COVID-19. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, did not take issue with Trump's optimism, but said the drug's promise is based so far on anecdotal evidence in France and that more data is needed. "What I'm saying is that it might - it might - be effective. I'm not saying that it isn't," Fauci said. Fauci also said that while toxic reactions to the drugs are rare based on decades of patient use and can be reversible in many cases, that is not known for COVID-19. "What we don't know is when you put it in the context of another disease whether it's safe. Fundamentally, I think it probably is going to be safe, but I like to prove things first," Fauci said. Novartis has 50 million doses in stock, and hopes to produce another 80 million by the end of May for donation. The donations may be sufficient to treat several million patients, depending on the dosing regimen, Novartis said. The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP), added hydroxychloroquine to its list of drugs in short supply this week. Four out of eight manufacturers of the drug are in short supply, it said. Bayer AG has donated three million tablets of the malaria drug Resochin, which is similar to hydroxychloroquine, to the U.S. government for potential use against coronavirus. Mylan NV is ramping up production and expects to begin supplying it more broadly in mid-April. It said with the raw materials on hand it can make 50 million tablets to potentially treat more than 1.5 million patients. Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd said it would donate more than six million doses of hydroxychloroquine sulfate tablets. Also read: Coronavirus Live Updates: Confirmed cases rise to 271; UP govt to give Rs 1,000 each to 37 lakh labourers Also read: US approves anti-malaria treatment for coronavirus patients; drug already in short supply, say pharmacists Nearly 300 million years ago, the geography of the Earth was drastically different than it is today. This time period, between 280 million and 230 million years before present, was known as the late Paleozoic to early Mesozoic Era, and it was during these periods that Earth consisted of one collective ocean, called Panthalassa, and one single land mass or supercontinent known as Pangea. This name stems from the Greek word pan meaning all or whole, and Gaia which refers to Mother Earth. It is estimated that Pangea was originally formed some 335 million years ago, but was perhaps not the first or only continental form. Likely, this continental formation was created from the coming together of other continents and land masses on Earth. This can be assumed in part due to the fact that continents and tectonic plates - large plates of the Earths crust that make up the surface of our planet - are constantly in motion, drifting apart or butting together. This process is continually happening, it just occurs at such a slow rate by human terms, that we do not see any significant shifts in a human lifetime, or even in the history of humans in general. Proof Of A Single Landmass Map of Pangea. Image credit: Tinkivinki/Shutterstock.com While the creation and later separation of Pangea is of course, speculative, as humans did not exist at this time, there is a great deal of evidence to back these theories. Scientists' deeper understanding of plate tectonics have helped to specify movements and patterns in the Earths crust in a way in which previous theories of Continental Drift could not. The formation and evidence of mountain ranges, rift valleys, and volcanic activity around plate borders and fault lines has greatly contributed to scientists understanding of tectonic plate movement and drift. These natural phenomena and geographical features indicate the deeper movements below the Earths crust, which can be tracked and traced to piece together a historical picture of how the continents have moved, in which ways the crust has broken and reformed, and the drifts and shifts that have occurred over time. Further, there is evidence which backs the idea that all continents were once one megacontinent, ie Pangea. This is seen primarily in fossil records of both flora and fauna found all over the globe. A variety of fossils have been found of similar or identical animal species across a variety of continents which are now great distances apart. This suggests that, like the Pangea theory outlines, these land masses once touched, allowing for free movement of species between now-continents. These fossils are often grouped along country or continent edges which were once joined with other continents. For example, the Eastern coast of Brazil and Western edge of Africa share fossils of the same type of reptile, indicating that these two land masses were once one, and the creatures lived in an area which later split in two. The Separation Of Pangea The Pangea landmass is estimated to have begun breaking apart roughly 175 million years ago. This break and splitting of the singular landmass occurred slowly and in segments, as rifts and fissures began to appear within the continent. These fissures and rifts were primarily caused by volcanic activity in the Earths mantle, the semi-liquid layer just below the crust. In this layer, heat a pressure build up below the Earths plates, until the force is too much to hold, and the magma - or liquid molten rock - breaks forth or causes rifts. When this happens, breaks and fissures begin to split the Earth apart, and push landmasses away from one another. This is an ongoing process, and can be seen even today along fault lines and plate borders where there is increased activity beneath the crust. It is this movement and pressure that causes major changes in the geographical landscape of the Earth, from volcanoes to mountain range formations, and even the movement of continents. This separation, once called continental drift can be explained in terms of plate tectonics. These plates are large pieces of the Earths crust - also known as the lithosphere - which fit together like loose puzzle pieces. The difference lies in the fact that these pieces are not stationary, and in fact float, or move upon an underlying layer of semi-molten rock. This magma allows the plates to shift, move, and collide - albeit very slowly over great periods of time. The movements of the plates occur primarily along oceanic ridges, subduction zones and fault lines, meaning the plates are constantly in motion. This activity below the Earths surface was also the cause of Pangeas break up. Understanding plate tectonics helped to hypothesize that the plates, and Pangea at large, did not come apart all at once, but rather broke, fractured, and separated slowly and in stages. This separation occurred in three major phases, and took place along distinct rifts. Phases of evolution of Pangea to the continents of the world today. Image credit: Tinkivinki/Shutterstock.com Phase One As indicated, the first main phase, estimated to have been 180 million years ago, saw the creation of what we now know to be the central Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean. The rift began in the Tethys Ocean running Westward to the Pacific. Cracking and fissures within the crust created multiple failed rifts along this line, resulting in the creation of the North Atlantic Ocean as North America began to split from Africa. Later, rifting occurred to the south, as the supercontinent known as Laurasia - (what we now know to be North America, Europe and Asia) drifted northward and rotated, resulting in the South Atlantic. The area along Africas eastern coast also experienced a great deal of rifting. At the time, Antarctica and Madagascar were joined to Africa along the coast. As these rifts began to form, continents began to drift, and the Indian Ocean was created. Phase Two Phase two of Pangeas separation occurred roughly 150 million years ago. At this point, the Earth consisted of Laurasia - North America, Europe and Asia - and Gondwana, which was Africa, South America,India, Antarctica and Australia. This phase primarily concerned Gondwana, and began the separation of these individual continents from their former landmass body. A subduction, or dropping in the Earths crust along the Tethyan trench, is thought to be the primary cause of Africa, India and Australias first big shifts northward, thus creating the South Indian Ocean. Later, a landmass dubbed Atlantica - current day Africa and South America - broke from Gondawana creating the South Atlantic Ocean, and over time this land mass drifted westward. The Indian Ocean was also born at this time, as Madagascar and India disengaged from Antarctica and were pushed further north. India was still only just adrift of Africa at this time, and still connected to the island of Madagascar. A rift began to form within this land mass, and it eventually broke India and Madagascar apart. India was propelled away from its original African anchor, all the way up into Eurasia, further closing the Tethys Ocean. India collided with Eurasia approximately 50 million years ago, and it was this forceful collision that was the cause of the Himilayan mountains, which show the buckling and jarring of the Earth's crust along the plate lines there. To the east, smaller fractures began to separate New Zealand, and New Caledonia from Australia proper. Thus, the Coral Sea and the Tasman Sea were born, as well as a number of cracks and smaller rifts where much volcanic activity still occurs. Phase Three The third phase of Pangeas break up is what led, in a general sense, to the map of the Earth as we know it. Of course the tectonic plates are constantly in motion, but because this change is slight, the results of phase three are much the same as the position of the continents now. This phase saw the remainder of the multi-continent land masses breaking up and shifting positions. In the north, Laurasia split apart into Laurentia (North America and Greenland) and Eurasia. This resulted in another sea, known as the Norwegian, and occurred roughly 50 million years ago. Australia also fully separated from Antarctica at this time, and was pushed northward. The continent has been steadily shifting north ever since, and is expected to eventually collide with eastern Asia. At the same time, South America shifted upward to the north, pulling apart from Antarctica. Smaller changes could be seen at this time as well, including the widening of the Gulf of California, the formation of the Alps, and fissures and rifts in the east, bringing Japan and the sea of Japan. By fitting the continents back together jig-saw like, it is easy to see where the fractures and rifts tore the once singular continent of Pangea into its various parts, which drifted, rotated and reconnected over time. President Trumps handling of the coronavirus pandemic has been a case study in a management style marked by falsehoods and intimidation. Rather than risk inviting his ire, subordinates and fellow Republicans covered for him as he delayed a coordinated response to the coronavirus and it felled nearly 200 Americans. His political allies havent been the only ones to fall into line. Just look at the way the president co-opted Google. While declaring the national emergency last Friday, President Trump announced that he had enlisted Google to create a broadly available website to help facilitate testing for the virus. He said that 1,700 engineers were working on the site and had made tremendous progress. It sounded ambitious and promising. If only it were true. What followed were attempts by Google to placate the president and a mad scramble to get done what hed said it was already doing. Photograph: Sandy Huffaker/AFP/Getty Images The fate of a giant US brewery under construction in Mexicos parched borderlands will be put to a vote this weekend in the latest attempt at direct democracy by the countrys populist president. The brewery in Mexicali has provoked controversy in a region where the climate crisis has already caused droughts, and where farmers and residents have taken exception to a US company, Constellation Brands, extracting water to produce beer for export. But the vote over its construction, due to be held on Saturday and Sunday, has drawn criticism from both sides in the row, and unsettled critics of the president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Related: Mexico protesters fear US-owned brewery will drain their land dry The Mexican leader, popularly known as Amlo, says such plebiscites ensure that the people have the last word. But critics say the process is routinely set up to induce the presidents preferred outcomes. Theres a symbolism in this: that Amlo knows what the majority thinks or what the majority supposedly thinks, said Aldo Munoz Armenta, a political science professor at the Autonomous University of Mexico State. Where he wants the project to succeed, the consultation gives weight to his decision and he will mobilise his base to make it happen. The president first unveiled the plan to hold regular plebiscites during the presidential transition in 2018. He initially put a series of 10 projects to national votes, ranging from a refinery to railways and mass tree-planting. To no ones surprise, all were passed with roughly 90% approval and barely 1% of the population participating. Most controversially, he held a consultation on the future of a new airport in Mexico City that was already roughly one-third complete, and voters aligned with his wishes to terminate the project. Another vote in February 2019 approved a gas pipeline in Morelos state despite strong local opposition. The indigenous defender Samir Flores Soberanes, who led the campaign against the project and a related gas-fired electricity plant, was murdered in the days before the vote, prompting Amlo to claim that the killing, while regrettable, had been carried out to undermine the vote. Story continues The latest vote, announced at the start of March, comes after nearly three years of simmering tension over the brewery, which residents fear will suck up dwindling water supplies to produce beers including Corona, Modelo and Pacifico. In early 2018, protesters, gathered under the slogan Mexicali resists, clashed with riot police and camped for months outside the site of the plant, which is 70% complete. Business groups have cautioned against the plebiscite, warning that a no vote could risk torpedoing investor confidence at a time when the economy is diving and investors are wary after the airport decision. Amlo has claimed that Washington has shown a strong interest in the project succeeding, telling a recent press conference that envoys from the US embassy in Mexico City told him if the consultation is carried out, the country is going to look bad. Opponents of the brewery have expressed mixed opinions on the consultation, though they previously pushed for a statewide plebiscite. Constellation Brands declined to comment on the vote. Alfonso Cortez Lara, a water expert at the College of the Northern Border, said: Neither of the two sides will accept the results, [which] are not binding. He said a more productive posture would be for the state government and national water commission to accept recommendations from the national human rights commission which found that the project violated the human right to water. With the number of deaths due to coronavirus swiftly touching 11,419 in just a span of months, the virus seems to have triggered panic buying across the globe. This comes after several preventive measures to safeguard oneself from COVID-19 virus were suggested by international health bodies, including the World Health Organization (WHO). One of the major precautions, they said, was washing your hands or using hand sanitisers with at least 60% alcohol in them. Since then, the demand for hand disinfectants across the world has skyrocketed, some resorting to petty hoarding while others used the global crises an opportunity to sell it at exorbitant prices. so much for getting hand sanitizer at my neighborhood cvs pic.twitter.com/rmICppzEnZ George Conway (@gtconway3d) March 2, 2020 So what does Indian Institutes of Technology Delhi (IIT)do in times such as these? They make their own hand sanitizer. In a Facebook post titled "A true story", the director of the IIT Delhi, V. Ramgopal Rao, informed how the institute was facing a shortage of hand disinfectants in the campus and what they did thereon. "At IIT Delhi, we were facing issues getting Hand sanitizers in large quantities. Even when they were available, vendors were charging exorbitant amounts and quality was suspect," Rao wrote in his now-viral post. An annoyed Rao reached out to his chemistry professors to prepare the hand sanitisers in the campus itself. This was when the chemistry professor asked the director to take the help of the lab staff. "He replied, for such a small thing, you don't need an IIT Professor, it can be done by our technical staff. Lo and behold, in flat two days, we have 50 litres of hand sanitizers meeting WHO standard (certified by IIT Profs). All at a negligible price," Rao added. Calling it the "spirit" to combat coronavirus, an ecstatic Rao added: "Head, Chemistry sent an email to all other departments saying anyone who needs them, can come and collect." Image credits: IIT / Delhi The same was updated on IIT Delhi's official website. "The Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi has prepared alcohol-based hand sanitizer, which has been prescribed by WHO for destroying coronavirus and its spores from surfaces and hand for use by the campus community," the website stated. Image credits: Ramgopal Rao / Facebook The formulation produced by the department contains three chemicals along with Aloe Vera and the major component is isopropyl alcohol (around 75%). Alcohol rub sanitizers containing at least 70% alcohol are known to kill microorganisms on hands within 30 seconds to one minute after application, Prof Anil J Elias, Head, Dept. of Chemistry, was quoted as saying by the website. Responding to the growing coronavirus crisis, the United States on Friday strengthened its emergency and relief measures to combat the toughest public health challenge in decades. More than 230 Americans had lost their lives by Friday evening due to the coronavirus and the number of confirmed cases jumped to over 18,000, an increase of over 10,000 in less than 50 hours. The Trump administration has declared a national emergency and pressed into service its armed forces, albeit in a limited way, to combat the coronavirus, which is now spreading like a wildfire from coast to coast. New York, Washington and California are the three worst hit states by the deadly virus. The Washington State has the largest number of 74 fatalities so far, with confirmed cases being over 1400. New York State had reported the maximum number of over 7,010 confirmed coronavirus cases with 39 deaths. California, which has a little over 1,000 confirmed cases and 21 deaths, has ordered for an in-home stay for all its nearly 40 million citizens. New York has also ordered its residents to stay home as much as possible. Describing it as a "New York State on Pause" plan, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced sweeping increase in restrictions on the movement in the State. "This is the most drastic actions we can take," he told reporters, adding that his executive order will mandate 100 per cent of the workforce must stay home, excluding essential services. President Donald Trump told reporters Friday that he would start using his powers under a Korean War-era law to increase the production of ventilators and masks. "I invoked the Defense Production Act, and last night we put it into gear," he said. "We are providing historic support to small businesses and to the States...We enacted legislation guaranteeing paid sick leave for workers at no cost to employers, so they get paid sick leave at no cost to employers. We are considering the use of new drug treatments. We are advancing legislation to give direct payments to hard-working families," he said. Trump said, "Throughout our country Americans from all walks of life are rallying together to defeat the unseen enemy striking our nation. America's border with Mexico and Canada would be closed starting March 21 for all non-essential travel. The Treasury Department announced to move Tax Day from April 15 to July 15. Trump said he has also temporarily waived all interest on federally held student loans. Schools and colleges across the country have been closed. "With many schools closed due to the virus, the Department of Education will not enforce standardised testing requirements, very importantly for students in elementary through high school for the current year," Trump said. He said doctors and nurses are working nonstop to heal the sick. Citizens and churches are delivering meals to the needy and truckers are making the long haul to keep shelves stocked, Trump said. "We've been dealing with the big stores in the big chains, Walmart, they've been fantastic, and others. We have made it much easier for them to stock in terms of travel and travel restrictions. We are lifting restriction so they can get their trucks on time," he said. During the conference, Trump rued that his administration, inherited an "obsolete, broken, old system that wasn't meant for this". "We discarded that system and we now have a new system that can do millions of people as you need them," he said. "But we had to get rid of a broken, old system that didn't work. It worked only on a very limited basis. And we're very proud of what we've done. It's incredible what we've done. And this system will now serve them for the future for future problems," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The ongoing class 12 state board examinations in West Bengal have been postponed till April 15 as a precautionary measure in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the higher department announced on Saturday. In view of the prevailing situation, the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary has been asked to postpone the examinations which are yet to be held, till April 15, minister Partha Chatterjee told a press meet. As per the directive, the examinations scheduled to be held on March 23, March 25 and March 27 will now be held after April 15. The minister said the higher education department will take the decision about conducting the examinations after reviewing the situation as per the advisory of the health department. The class 12 state board examinations began on March 13. The CBSE and the CISCE have already postponed all scheduled examinations. Chatterjee said that the government has received several complaints that some of the private schools have not followed the state's advisory to suspend internal examinations and warned them of action if the decision is not complied with. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Big Brother Naija 2018 housemate, Alex Unusual whose real name is Alexandra Sandra Asogwa Amuche has reacted to the information going round, that a popular celebrity photographer who attended African Magic Viewers Choice Awards has tested positive to Coronavirus. Yesterday, Kemi Olunloyo disclosed that an anonymous Big Nigerian celebrity has just tested positive to Corona virus. Sharing the news via social media platforms, Twitter and Instagram, she warned Nigerians and celebrities who attended the recent AMVCA award night and an undisclosed night club in Victoria Island, to isolate themselves immediately. She also advised Nigerians to the take preventive measures seriously by washing their hands regularly, wearing masks, and staying far away from celebrities for now. On that note, Alex Unusual took to Instagram to express her fears and worries. Alex shared quite a classy video and wrote,( I didnt go for AmvcA ). Sneaking in now that people are asleep to say something because my own always puts me in trouble when people are awake . I would have shut up o but, I forcefully stayed home yesterday and I almost lost my sanity to boredom which lit a justdoit candle in my brain. This is me walking into this weekend with no fear because I heard Coro bobo attended #amvca2020 . Cant tell how true it is but I know I didnt leave my room except to that corridor to smark pishure and when I sneaked back into my car with my one toe and drove straight home. I didnt go close to the hall neither did I step into the party and so did many of our celebrirrrrriiieess so dont even face me . Although I had an after parrry in my room with my parrry rice and Aladdin. See darlings, lets just stay clean and safe. #socialdistancing . #stayathomechallenge Day 1. Forgive me @medlinboss for wasting this dress. Meanwhile, dm @medlincouturecollection dress available for order. Wait wait wait . I said hi to people before I got to my room . Even in the elevator!!!!! Oh my God !! Im self isolating . #myamvca vlog will be on Youtube soon sha. If you troll me this night, you are either a witch or a wizard or both. *drops mic *. Ehen , @nancyisimeofficial did I hug or shake or wave ? @beverly_osu did I . . I cant even remember who and who I hugged. I even went for @swankyjerry s and met party. Mtchew , what am I even saying?, Im not going out again . #temporarypost maybe. #coronavirus See post below; The post Covid-19: BBNaija star, Alex recounts how she sneaked out of the AMVCA appeared first on . Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla on Saturday asked chief secretaries of all states to ensure that the 'Janta Curfew' called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday is observed properly in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. The home secretary also told the top bureaucrats of all states to see that local bodies, fire services, police and civil defence blow sirens or ring bells on Sunday evening to express gratitude towards those involved in tackling the disease. "As you are aware, Hon'ble Prime Minister, during his Address to the Nation on March 19, on combating COVID-19, requested all citizens to observe 'Janta' curfew (a curfew imposed for the people, by the people, on the people themselves) from 7 AM until 9 PM on this Sunday, the 22nd March 2020. "During this curfew, no one apart from those involved with essential services is supposed to venture out of home," Bhalla said in his letter. The home secretary said the prime minister had also mentioned that there are many brave people who are at the forefront of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic like medical staff, police, government servants, airline staff, media persons, bus/train/auto operators and those involved in providing home delivery. To show gratitude to their selfless service to the nation during such trying times, the prime minister had expressed his desire that at 5 pm on March 22 all citizens acknowledge and salute their efforts by standing in balconies or at the doors of their houses and clap or ring bells for five minutes, he added. "All States and Union Territories are, therefore, requested to widely disseminate the message of the Hon'ble Prime Minister to the community at large," Bhalla said. "Further, Urban Local Bodies, Panchayati Raj Institutions, Fire Services, Police Services, Civil Defence and Industrial Establishments etc., should be advised to ring a siren at 5.00 pm on March 22 for intimation of all citizens," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) KAMPALA A recent investigation by Nation Media Group indicated that a number of freshwater sources in East Africa including Lake Victoria are contaminated with heavy plastics and other microbial organisms that have adverse effects on human and aquatic life. Water sources including Ggaba Landing Site in Kampala, Masese Landing Site in Jinja, Nakivubo channel that drains into the lake and the Source of Nile in Jinja are all toxic. Commenting World Water week celebrated in March, World Wide Fund for Nature Uganda country director David Duli said a number of water sources have been clogged with all kinds of rubbish, including plastic materials. This, according to Mr. Duli whose organization has embarked on camping to restore revere Rwizi in Western Uganda, poses danger to water sources. He said these water resources are becoming more stressed and, therefore, the need for stakeholders to quickly address the matters. He said that plastic is made to last, so it degrades very slowly in the seas, breaking into smaller and smaller fragments. Lakes and the city are choking on plastic junkmillions of tonnes of water bottles, soda bottles, drinking straws, and single-use plastic bags. Worse still, what we see floating on the surface accounts for only 5% of all the plastic litter that has been dumped. Quoting a recent study, Duli said Kampala city alone produces over 600 tons of plastics and only 6% is processed and recycled while a recent study shows that 95% to plastics dumped in water sources is beneath the surface, where it strangles underwater creatures and wrecks aquatic ecosystems. The impacts are evident, in the wetland, by the roadsides, in the drainage systems and all around. This is causing a lot of worries in terms of the impacts that relate to the environment. It takes more than a hundred years for a single plastic bag to decay, and that creates a huge problem, he noted adding that WWF was committed to supporting the government in the fight against plastic pollution. The government last month resurrected a ban on plastic bags of 30 microns and below. It also imposed heavy taxes on plastic bags of the size between 30 microns and 100 microns. Related BOSTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / March 21, 2020 / Thornton Law Firm LLP announces that a lawsuit has been filed against Tupperware Brands Corporation on behalf of Tupperware shareholders (TUP). There is no minimum number of shares required to be a class member and the lead plaintiff window is open. Investors who purchased TUP stock between January 30, 2019 and February 24, 2020 are encouraged to visit https://www.tenlaw.com/cases/TUP to learn about the lead plaintiff process. Shareholders may also contact the Thornton Law Firm at shareholder@tenlaw.com, or call 617-531-3917. Interested TUP shareholders have until April 27, 2020, to apply to be lead plaintiff. The lawsuit alleges violations of the federal securities laws, and the class has not yet been certified. Until certification occurs, you are not represented by an attorney. If you choose to take no action, you can remain an absent class member. FOR MORE INFORMATION: https://www.tenlaw.com/cases/TUP Tupperware Brands Corporation operates as a direct-to-consumer marketer of various products across a range of brands and categories in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Asia Pacific, North America, and South America. The Company manufactures and sells an array of products for consumers under the Tupperware brand name. The Company also manufactures and distributes skin and hair care products, cosmetics, bath and body care, toiletries, fragrances, jewelry, and nutritional products under the Avroy Shlain, Fuller, NaturCare, Nutrimetics, and Nuvo brands. The Complaint alleges that Defendants throughout the Class Period made false and misleading statements and failed to disclose the following: (1) Tupperware lacked effective internal controls; (2) Tupperware would need to investigate Fuller Mexico's accounting and liabilities; (3) Tupperware would be unable to timely file its annual report on Form 10-K for its fiscal year 2019; (4) Tupperware did not properly account for its accounts payable and accrued liabilities at Fuller Mexico; (5) Tupperware provided overvalued earnings per share guidance; (6) Tupperware would need relief from its $650 million Credit Agreement; and (7) as a result, Defendants' statements about Tupperware's business, operations, and prospects, were materially false and misleading or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times. It is alleged that when the market learned the truth about Tupperware, investors suffered damages. Story continues If you have purchased TUP stock (TUP) between January 30, 2019 and February 24, 2020, please contact the Thornton Law Firm's shareholder rights team at shareholder@tenlaw.com, or call 617-531-3917 to discuss the lead plaintiff process. FOR MORE INFORMATION: https://www.tenlaw.com/cases/TUP Thornton Law Firm's securities attorneys are highly experienced in representing individual shareholders and institutional investors in recovering damages caused by violations of the securities laws. Its attorneys have established track records litigating securities cases in courts throughout the country and recovering losses on behalf of shareholders. This may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter. SOURCE: Thornton Law Firm LLP View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/581932/Tupperware-Investor-Alert-Class-Action-Lawsuit-Filed Washington has canceled its spring standard tests, leaving school officials waiting to hear what that means for graduation requirements. And theyre disappointed that the lack of testing will deprive them of important school improvement information. The six to seven weeks of school left after state-mandated closure is scheduled to end on April 24 if it is not extended must be devoted to instruction to make up lost class time, said Longview Superintendent Dan Zorn. It makes perfect sense for us to not have a testing window, Zorn said. But its unfortunate that has to happen because that (test) information is very important to us. Zorn said districts use test results to determine if instruction is effective and identify students who need special attention. Thats a year where were not going to have access to that data, and it does put a hole in informing us about our kids progress and how we might be able to better improve that, Zorn said. The cancellation includes smarter balance assessments in English and math, Washington Access to Instruction and Measurement in English and math, the English Language Proficiency Assessment, the Washington Comprehensive Assessment of Science and several more. Those tests are typically taken in the late spring and are an important tool in (districts) toolboxes, Zorn said. Test results also are one of several graduation requirements. Zorn said the state has said districts may have be be creative in fulfilling those requirements. There will be grace involved in that as well, Zorn said. Were looking for some future guidance from the state board of education. If school districts are able to open on Monday, April 27, OSPIs website says, graduating seniors could choose to take an assessment to meet graduation pathway requirements or an assessment to earn a Seal of Biliteracy, which certifies that a student is proficient in two languages. It does not yet have information on what will happen if schools do not reopen this year. OSPI plans to release more information on assessments and graduation requirements in the future, according to the website. In the meantime, Zorn said he plans to meet with the principals of Longviews high schools to discuss graduation requirements and credit retrieval. Some of the kids who were a little behind, how do we make sure were continuing our efforts to get them back on track to graduate? Zorn said. Were trying to make sure we do all we can during this time to keep our kids on track. Kelso School District spokeswoman Michele Nerland said Kelso would wait for OSPI guidance before making any decisions. College entrance testing is also taking a hit. Several early spring testing dates for the SAT and the ACT have been cancelled or rescheduled. According to the ACT website, the test scheduled for April 4 will now happen June 13. And the College Board, which owns the SAT, announced it has canceled the May 2 exam and will refund money to students who already registered for it. It had previously allowed March 14 testing to continue, but allowed individual sites to cancel. Makeup exams for those exams were scheduled for March 28, but the College Board also canceled those exams. However, the International Baccalaureate organization said on its website altering its May exam schedule would be very difficult, due to the work that goes into preparing and printing the exams. It did say that it was looking at different flexible options and would have a final answer by March 27. It seems to be too soon to tell what effect the cancellations might have on students applying for college. The Washington State University website said the college is evaluating our processes and deadlines due to the pandemic. Please note that we will do everything we can so this unforeseen situation does not adversely impact our students, current and incoming, the website said. We are working diligently to address your concerns throughout this nationwide situation. And many colleges, including the University of Washington and Portland State University, have cancelled tours and informational sessions. At Wednesdays Rainier School District special meeting, held on Facebook Live, Superintendent Michael Carter said he knew SAT and ACT groups were working on creative solutions. We want to provide you the best education we can even though we cant be in schools right now, Carter said. Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. AL-JAWF, YEMEN As the worlds focus turns to the rapidly-spreading COVID-19 pandemic, Yemenis are reeling from their own brewing tragedy, contending with the thousands of cluster bombs, landmines and other exploded munitions that now litter their homeland. Just yesterday, a young child was killed and another was injured in the al-Ghail district of al-Jawf when a landmine left by the Saudi military exploded, witnesses told MintPress. Outraged and terrified by the presence of these unexploded ordnances, Ahmed Sharif, a father of 9 who owns a farm in the district called the unexploded ordnances a significant threat to our children. Earlier this week, thousands of cluster bombs containing between dozens and hundreds of smaller submunitions were dropped by air and scattered indiscriminately over large areas near Ahmeds farm. A large number of those munitions failed to explode on impact, creating a new threat to residents already reeling from 5 years of war, famine and an economic blockade. The use, production, sale, and transfer of cluster munitions is prohibited under the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, an international agreement recognized by over 100 countries, but rejected by Saudi Arabia and the United States. Saudi Arabia is estimated to have dropped thousands of tons of U.S.-made weapons in al-Jawf over the past 100 days alone. Al-Jawf is an oil-rich province that lies in Yemens north-central reaches along the Saudi border. The aerial campaign is likely a last-ditch effort to stem the tide of battlefield success by local volunteer fighters who teamed with Houthi forces to recapture large swaths of al-Jawf and Marib provinces. That campaign, for all intents and purposes, has failed. An unexploded bomb dropped by a Saudi warplane is recovered from a pomegranate farm in the Jamilah district in Sadaa. Courtesy | YEMAC On Wednesday, the Houthis announced that their military operation dubbed God Overpowered Them was complete and that al-Jawf was free of Saudi occupation. According to Houthi sources, more than 1,200 Saudi-led coalition fighters were killed or injured during the operation and dozens of Saudi troops, including officers, were captured. The Houthis also struck deep into Saudi territory in retaliation for the more than 250 Saudi airstrikes that were carried out during the campaign. In multiple operations, ballistic missiles and drones were used to target facilities inside Saudi Arabia, according to officials. Saudi losses havent been limited to al-Jawf either. Last week, Marib province, which lies adjacent to Yemens capital of Sanaa, was recaptured following heavy battles with Saudi forces. Local tribal fighters were able to clear strategic areas in the Sirwah District with the assistance of Houthi forces and take control of the town of Tabab Al-Bara and the strategic Tala Hamra hills that overlook Marib city. Both the Saudi-led coalition and its allied militants initially admitted defeat but later described their loss as a tactic withdrawal. Marib is now the second Yemeni governorate adjacent to Saudi Arabia to fall under the control by Yemens resistance forces in the last month, al-Jawf being the first. Both provinces have strategic importance to Saudi Arabia and could serve as a potential launch point for operations into Saudi Arabias Najran province. Saudi [Arabia] and America have planted our land with death The highly populated urban areas of Sanaa, Sadaa, Hodeida, Hajjah, Marib, and al-Jawf have been subjected to incomprehensible bombing campaigns during the Saudi-led war on Yemen, which turns five on March 26. The sheer scale of that campaign, which often sees hundreds of separate airstrikes carried out every day, coupled with its indiscriminate nature, has left Yemen one of the most heavily contaminated countries in the world. Since 2015, when the war began, coalition warplanes have conducted more than 250,000 airstrikes in Yemen, according to the Yemeni Army. 70 percent of those airstrikes have hit civilian targets. Thousands of tons of weapons, most often supplied by the United States, have been dropped on hospitals, schools, markets, mosques, farms, factories, bridges, and power and water treatment plants and have left unexploded ordnances scattered across densely populated areas. A significant proportion of those ordnances are still embedded in the ground or amid the rubble of bombed-out buildings, posing a threat to both civilians and the environment. As Mane Abu Rasein, a father who lost two sons to an unexploded cluster bomb in August of 2018 puts it: Saudi [Arabia] and America have planted our land with death. Abu Raseins sons, Rashid, ten, and Hussein, eight, were grazing their familys herd of sheep in the village of al-Ghol north of Sadaa, far from any battlefield. They spotted an unusual looking object and like most curious young boys, picked it up to investigate. But the object they found was no toy, it was an unexploded cluster munition dropped by a Saudi jet. After hearing an explosion, the boys family went to investigate and found them lying dead, covered in blood. A group of children in Sahar district inspects a cluster bomb dropped by a Saudi warplane at a farm in Sadaa, March 18, 2019. Abdullah Azzi | MintPress News Since March of 2015, Human Rights Watch has recorded more than 15 incidents involving six different types of cluster munitions in at least five of Yemens 21 governorates. According to the United Nations Development Programs Emergency Mine Action Project, some of the heaviest mine and ERW (explosive remnants of war) contamination is reported in northern governorates bordering Saudi Arabia, southern coastal governorates and west-central governorates, all areas surrounding Houthi-dominated regions of Yemen. Since 2018 alone, the UNDP has cleared nearly 9,000 landmines and over 116,000 explosive remnants in Yemen. From the Yemeni war of 1994 to the six wars in Sadaa, Yemenis have suffered several wars over the last three decades. Yet thanks to saturation of U.S. weapons, the ongoing war has brought death on a toll not seen in Yemen for hundreds of years. In Sadaa, the Saudi coalition has a significant legacy of unexploded ordinances, up to one million according to figures provided to MintPress by the Yemeni Executive Mine Action Center (YEMAC), an organization backed by the United Nations. The Project Manager of YEMAC identified heavy cluster munition contamination in Saada, al-Jawf, Amran, Hodeida, Mawit, and Sanaa governorates, including in Sanaa city. Contamination was also reported in Marib. For the time being, YEMAC is the only organization working throughout the country during the ongoing war. Their teams are confronted with a very complex situation, disposing of both conventional munitions and bombs dropped from airplanes, including explosive remnants of war rockets, artillery shells, mortars, bombs, hand grenades, landmines, cluster bombs, and other sub-munitions and similar explosives. Saudi Arabias toxic legacy In addition to killing and injuring hundreds of civilians, American-made weapons have exposed Yemens people to highly toxic substances on a level not seen since the now-infamous use of radioactive depleted uranium by the United States in Fallujah, Iraq, which to this day is causing abnormally high rates of cancer and birth defects. The hazardous chemicals from Saudi Coalition military waste, including radioactive materials, fuel hydrocarbons, and heavy metals, has already led to outbreaks of disease. Vehicles abandoned on battlefields, usually in various states of destruction, contain toxic substances including PCBs, CFCs, DU residue, heavy metals, unexploded ordnances, asbestos and mineral oils. Hundreds of these military scraps remain publicly accessible in Nihm, al-Jawf, Serwah, Marib and throughout Yemen. Aside from the threat they pose to life and limb, unexploded ordnances contain toxic substances like RDX, TNT, and heavy metals which release significant levels of toxic substances into the air, soil and water. According to both the Ministry of Water and Environment and the Ministry of Health, which have undertaken environmental assessments on the impact of urban bombing, high levels of hazardous waste and air pollutants are already present in a populated areas A young girl injured by a cluster bomb dropped by a Saudi warplane is fitted for a wheelchair near the Yemen-Saudi border, March 18, 2020. Photo | YEMAC Alongside the still unknown quantities of more conventional weapons remnants in Yemen, the waste from the cleanup of bombed-out buildings has been found to be especially contaminated with hazardous materials, including asbestos which is used in military applications for sound insulation, fireproofing and wiring among other things. Fires and heavy smoke billowing over heavily populated civilian areas following Saudi bombing runs also pose an imminent threat to human health. A common sight in many Yemeni cities since the war began, these thick clouds of toxic smoke sometimes linger for days and coat both surfaces and peoples lungs with hazardous toxins like PAHs, dioxins and furans, materials which have been shown to cause cancer, liver problems and birth defects. Before the war began, most hazardous materials were trucked to Sanaa where they were separated and disposed of properly at the sprawling al-Azragein treatment plant south of the capital. But that plant was among the first targets destroyed by Saudi airstrikes after the war began. After it was bombed, puddles and heaps of toxic material were left to mix with rainwater and seep into surrounding areas. Yemeni researchers are still trying to grasp the scale of pollution from biohazardous chemicals at the site. Although a comprehensive nationwide environmental assessment of the impact of urban bombing in Yemen has yet to be completed, high levels of hazardous waste and air pollutants have been recorded by many hospitals and environmental agencies. Some idea of the long-term effects can also be gleaned from studies carried out in areas where similar toxins have been used, particularly by the United States in Fallujah, Iraq and in Vietnam, where scientific assessments have shown increased cases of birth defects, cancer and other diseases, including in U.S. veterans. In southern Yemen, where Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates operate largely unchallenged, the coalition has been disposing of military waste in large trenches devoid of any measures to mitigate potential toxic fallout. Waste is dumped into large holes and either detonated or simply buried, inevitably contaminating soil and groundwater according to data from the UN Environment Program. Yemens coastline hasnt been immune either. The countrys General Authority for Environmental Protection said Wednesday that the Saudi-led coalition is dumping toxic and polluted waste on the shores of Yemen and in Yemeni regional waters, causing great damage to the marine environment, the deaths of fish and marine organisms, and in some cases, actually changing the color of the sea to a toxic green. The agency stated that in addition to dumping toxic waste, the coalition was allowing unsafe fishing practices such as marine dredging and the use of explosives by foreign ships, destroying the marine environment and coral reefs. One hundred years to safety Thousands of displaced Yemenis cannot fathom returning home due to the large number of explosives potentially hidden in and around their houses. Removing them all would require an end to the U.S.-backed war and economic blockade. Special equipment and armored machines such as armored excavators would need to be brought in, a slim prospect in a country unable to secure even the basic stapes of life. Pyongyang, March 21 : North Korea on Saturday fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea from North Pyongan province on Saturday, Yonhap news agency reported, citing South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff. North Korea launched multiple missiles as part of firing drills earlier this month. The US and China have called on Pyongyang to return to talks on ending its nuclear and missile programmes, BBC reported. On Saturday, South Korea's military said it was monitoring the situation in case there are additional launches. Japan's coast guard confirmed a missile had landed outside the waters of its exclusive economic zone. It comes as North Korea announced it would be holding a session of the Supreme People's Assembly, the country's parliament, on 10 April. Analysts say the meeting will involve almost 700 of the country's leaders in one spot. Rachel Minyoung Lee, from North Korea monitoring website NK News said on Twitter that the meeting would "be the ultimate show of (North Korea's) confidence in managing the coronavirus situation". Analysts, however, said that it was a show of confidence during the coronavirus pandemic by announcing an April legislature session. BALTIMORE - The mayor of Marylands most popular beach destination wants vacationers to postpone their trips as the state attempts to combat the spread of the new coronavirus. Were not encouraging people to come, Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan told WBAL-TV on Saturday. We dont want them to be here and contract anything while they were down here in Ocean City, even if thats possible. Gov. Larry Hogan has reduced the permissible number of people statewide at gatherings from 50 to 10. He said this week that some people were still holding parties and cookouts and large gatherings, in violation of state law. Meehan said Ocean City will be enforcing all of Hogans initiatives: Were hoping people will wait for those good times to come back before they travel to the beach. Maryland health officials reported 190 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Saturday, about 40 more than was reported on Friday. More than half of the statewide total are in Montgomery and Prince Georges counties. Two people have died. Children account for three of the positive cases. For most people, the virus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. Maryland National Guard members are now in Baltimore providing assistance to the city during the outbreak. - The Associated Press receives support for health and science coverage from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content. ___ Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak New Delhi, March 21 : Time is ripe to implement India's version of "Helicopter Drop" fiscal support scheme to avert an impending economic disaster due to the outbreak of COVID-19, with industry body CII suggesting direct cash transfer of Rs 5,000 into the accounts of all adults with annual income of less than Rs 5 lakh per annum. It said that for more vulnerable persons above 60, the cash transfers could be raised to Rs 10,000. "This would be a temporary one-time measure to boost consumer demand," the industry chamber said in an action note on COVID-19 and its impact, industry and economy submitted to the Prime Ministers Office (PMO). Though an old concept, Helicopter Drop was widely used in the 2008-09 economic crisis in the US. It entails providing a direct financial support to the public which can kick-start economic activity. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has said that as COVID-19 is expected to weaken growth impulses by acting through the trade and financial channels, expeditious policy redressal measures - both on fiscal and monetary front would be required. It is here that a fiscal stimulus of around 1 per cent of GDP, amounting to Rs 2 lakh crore, would be required to put money in the hands of people through Aadhaar-based Direct Benefit Transfer. With regard to money to support large cash transfer programme, CII has suggested that savings from low oil prices could be channelised for additional spending required to keep the wheels of economy moving and preventing depression to seat in. "With oil prices coming down, there are benefits for the economy. Every $10 dollar decline in the oil price leads to a saving of $15 billion in the oil import bill. This will create fiscal space for the government to make additional spending," the industry body said. With a budget of Rs 2 lakh crore, 20 crore people can be compensated with a transfer of Rs 10,000 each or 40 crore people with a transfer of Rs 5,000 each. Industry estimates and labour force survey data indicates that there are roughly 20 crore casual labourers who are employed. These are the most vulnerable sections and among the first to be hit on account of economics crisis being triggered by COVID-19. "They can certainly be compensated from the government's fiscal resources," CII said. With regard to other fiscal measures, the confederation has suggested that one month's ration could be distributed to those below poverty line and to daily wage earners using food stocks available with FCI. Further, it said tax-related announcements are need for restoring the health of the markets. In this regard it has suggested that long-term capital gains tax of 10 per cent should be abolished and tax on dividends to be taxed at an overall rate of 25 per cent at one point. CII also said that government should also clear and pay their dues to the private sector, whatever the additional cost. For the most distressed sectors such as Civil Aviation, Hotels, SMEs, Real Estate, Commercial infrastructure, CII said that specific relief should be given such as waiving off of taxes. A grace period of 30-60 days can be allowed in utility, statutory and GST payments for affected areas and industries without impacting credit history. "Industry liquidity is stuck due to GST payments on raising of invoices. GST should be made payable on collection of proceeds instead of raising of invoices," the body has suggested. CII has also suggested a series of monetary policy measures that RBI should take to ensure liquidity in the economy. It said that (Repo Rate) and Cash Reserve Ratio should be reduced by 50 basis points. Further, RBI should change definition of NPA recognition from 90 days to 180 days till September 30. The central bank should announce a blanket moratorium on debt repayments for sixty days. This will help the corporates to tide over their immediate cash flow issues. This will reduce the insolvency risk of corporates and not put pressure on non-performing assets of the banking sector. The confederation said that a concrete action plan to fight COVID-19 related disruptions is not possible unless industry also came forward and should shoulder some responsibility. It said that it has appealed to all its membership and beyond to explore possible ways to retain this workforce even as production lines slow down and to ensure payment of wages. "Second and very importantly, companies need to explore if pay cuts can be taken at the senior management level to meet the cost challenges that industry is facing following loss in demand, trade and additional expenses," it said. CII has also appealed to its members to take a proactive step in developing ventilators at low cost and at scale as going forward there may be a need to take urgent health measures to deal with the catastrophe. All major private sector hospitals have identified isolation beds for corona patients. CII has also mapped out in 20 states, the list of private hospitals and the number of isolation beds, which they are willing to provide. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text SYRACUSE, N.Y. Crouse and Upstate University hospitals are preparing to add more than 200 beds and press retired nurses and doctors into service if need be as coronavirus cases increase. Its essentially wartime planning, said Dr. Robert Corona, Upstates chief executive officer. We can shift our plans on the fly. Syracuses hospitals are joining their counterparts nationwide in a mad dash to increase beds, staffing and ventilators to fight a pandemic that may overwhelm the health system. Syracuse hospitals could be called upon to treat thousands of patients stricken by coronavirus. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said the state might need more than 50,000 more hospital beds to deal with the crisis. Extrapolating from Cuomos statewide projections, Onondaga County could need 1,000 or more extra beds to accommodate patients when a wave of coronavirus cases hits. Of those, 400 to 600 would need to be high-level critical care beds, equipped with ventilators and equipment to give medication intravenously. Corona and Dr. Seth Kronenberg, Crouses chief medical officer, talked to syracuse.com today about how their hospitals are bracing for that surge. Syracuse.com published a story Thursday about how the coronavirus could overwhelm hospitals. That story reported St. Josephs Hospital in Syracuse is prepared to boost its bed capacity by 25%. Upstate is the largest Syracuse hospital. On any given day it has about 650 staffed beds at its two hospitals downtown and on Onondaga Hill. Corona said Upstate could rapidly increase that to 752, the maximum number of beds its licensed by the state to operate. He said Upstate could add even more beds than that because Cuomo recently issued an executive order allowing hospitals to expand capacity beyond their license limitations. One scenario under consideration by Upstate is setting up an undisclosed number of beds at some of its other locations in Onondaga County, according to Corona. He refused to identify those locations. Onondaga County emergency planners are also working on providing more beds and temporary hospital space should hospitals get overwhelmed. County Executive Ryan McMahon this week said he did not anticipate any new construction, but the county could convert some facilities, which he did not name. Corona said Upstate can quickly convert operating rooms into intensive care units. We are going to be looking at the demand on a day-by-day basis and making decisions based on really good intelligence data, he said. Crouse Hospital is prepared to add 75 or more beds. To increase capacity, the hospital canceled elective non-emergency surgeries earlier this week. That move freed up beds because some elective surgery patients stay in the hospital for 24 hours or longer, Kronenberg said. Upstate and St. Joes have also canceled elective surgeries. Crouse has plans to add beds if needed in its emergency department, medical-surgical floors and intensive care units, and open two units not being utilized currently. It is also prepared to convert private rooms into semi-private rooms. On any given day Crouse has 300 to 350 staffed beds. That number can be increased by 25% or more if necessary. We will do whatever we need to do to meet the needs of the community, Kronenberg said. Both Upstate and Crouse have retired nurses and doctors on standby who have agreed to help out if necessary. Theres been growing concern the U.S. and other countries do not have enough lifesaving ventilators to help people with severe cases of coronavirus breathe. During a news briefing Friday, Cuomo said ventilators are the greatest need in the fight against the pandemic. Ventilators are to this war what missiles were to World War II, Cuomo said. Crouse has 70 ventilators, an adequate supply, according to Kronenberg. Upstate has 60 ventilators and expects to get 60 more, Corona said. St. Joes also has 60. Everyones worried about getting adequate numbers of ventilators, Corona said. He said thats why the state has closed schools, ordered people to stay home and taken other measures to slow the spread of the virus. The idea is to keep ahead of it so we dont need ventilators, Corona said. Kronenberg said Crouse, like all U.S. hospitals, is concerned about limited supplies of face masks and other gear needed to keep nurses and other staff working with infected patients safe. We are doing everything we can to provide adequate PPE (personal protective equipment) to staff, he said. We have concerns over the supply. We are working collaboratively with other hospitals in the community to allocate PPE among the institutions. Upstate is using technology to help stop the spread of coronavirus. It added an online coronavirus assessment tool to its website Thursday that can answer the publics questions about the virus and whether they may need testing. The tool supplements Upstates coronavirus hotline (315-464-3979) that has handled more than 3,000 calls over the past week. The hotline has kept many patients out of hospital emergency rooms by referring them to a drive-through coronavirus testing program at the Syracuse Community Health Center. Upstate developed the online tool in a joint effort with Microsoft. Corona said further enhancements to the tool will allow Upstate to use bar code technology to follow up with individuals recommended for testing. Corona said the goal is to use the technology to help track people whove been exposed to individuals with the virus and need to be quarantined. He said similar technology helped slow the spread of coronavirus in South Korea. The way we are going to win this is through the use of technology, he said. MORE ON CORONAVIRUS Coronavirus in NY: Cases, maps, charts and resources Thousands of coronavirus patients threaten to overwhelm CNY hospitals; what needs to be done now Unemployed in NY? A survival kit for benefits, bills, evictions, mortgages, utilities, debts, help In a week of fear and kindness in CNY, we are all quarantined in this together James T. Mulder covers health news. Have a news tip? Contact him at (315) 470-2245 or jmulder@syracuse.com London: Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton says he has been self-isolating for more than a week after meeting people who later tested positive for the new coronavirus. Hamilton was at a charity event in London on March 4 also attended by actor Idris Elba and Sophie Grgoire Trudeau, the wife of the Canadian prime minister. Elba and Gregoire-Trudeau subsequently both tested positive for COVID-19. "I want to let you know that I am doing well," Hamilton said in a statement. "There has been speculation about my health, after I was at an event where two people later tested positive for coronavirus. "I have zero symptoms and it has now been 17 days since I saw Sophie and Idris. I have been in touch with Idris and happy to hear he is OK. "I did speak to my doctor and double checked if I needed to take a test but the truth is, there is a limited amount of tests available and there are people who need it more than I do, especially when I wasn't showing any symptoms at all." Hamilton has been in isolation since last Friday. The start of the Formula One season has been wiped away by the pandemic with races in Australia, Bahrain, Vietnam, China, Netherlands and Spain shelved and the iconic Riviera showpiece in Monaco cancelled. A season which should have started in Melbourne on March 14 will now not start until Azerbaijan on June 7 at the earliest. Formula One's British-based teams are also hoping to contribute away from the track. They are working on a plan to manufacture medical equipment needed to fight the coronavirus which up to Friday night had claimed 177 victims in the United Kingdom with the numbers infected set to top 4,000. The British government and health authorities need more ventilators in intensive care units to deal with respiratory problems caused by the illness. Formula One teams have engineering capabilities that could speed up the production of the units. (With inputs from Agencies) North Korea fired two projectiles that appeared to be short-range ballistic missiles on Saturday, South Korea's military said, calling the action "highly inappropriate" given the global coronavirus pandemic. The suspected missiles were fired around 6:45-50 a.m. KST into the sea off the east coast of the Korean peninsula from around Sonchon, North Pyongan province, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. Sonchon is above Pyongyang, near the northwest corner of the Korean peninsula. "Such military action by North Korea is highly inappropriate at a time when COVID-19 is causing difficulties worldwide," the JCS said, calling for an "immediate stop." The missile launch came just hours after North Korea confirmed it would go ahead with a session of the Supreme People's Assembly, its rubber-stamp legislature, in Pyongyang. As an event that gathers almost 700 of the country's top officials in one spot, analysts said it was a show of strength amid the virus outbreak. "If it goes ahead, it would be the ultimate show of (North Korea's) confidence in managing the coronavirus situation," Rachel Minyoung Lee, of the North Korea monitoring website NK News, said on Twitter this week. North Korea has not reported any confirmed cases of the coronavirus, though a top U.S. military official said last week he is "fairly certain" there were infections in North Korea. It has imposed strict border controls, but is viewed by aid organisations as especially vulnerable to an outbreak as its health system lacks resources and because of international sanctions. "Not only does Pyongyang wish to avoid signs of weakness during the coronavirus crisis, it wants its people to believe that North Korea stands in a position of relative strength," said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha Womans University in Seoul. "Kim can improve military capabilities ... at little cost because international aid is unlikely to be cancelled after these tests, China and Russia refuse to tighten sanctions, and the U.S. and South Korea are focused on defense cost-sharing negotiations and COVID-19." Saturday's missile launch followed two incidents earlier this month, when North Korea launched short-range missiles and multiple projectiles according to South Korea's military, drawing U.S. and Chinese appeals for Pyongyang to return to talks on ending its nuclear and missile programmes. State media KCNA also said on Saturday North Korean leader Kim Jong Un guided an artillery fire competition between combined units of the North Korean army on Friday, issuing photos of him watching with high-ranking military officers, all unmasked. Press Release March 21, 2020 Peddling disinformation in times of COVID-19 crisis is 'beyond evil' - De Lima Senator Leila M. de Lima has denounced the surge of fake news and hate speech directed against the opposition and other local officials who are actively working to help the public cope up with the impact of government-imposed enhanced community quarantine due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in the country. De Lima made the statement after she learned that online trolls have intensified their efforts to spread fake news in order to discredit the efforts of opposition leaders, including Vice President Leni Robredo and members of the Senate minority bloc. "Manufacturing fake news and trolling the 'woke' netizens are just as destructive during ordinary days. But to ramp up such despicable operations during national emergencies and public health crisis is beyond evil," she said. "Habang nagdurusa ang ating mga kababayan sa sakit, gutom at pangambang dala ng COVID-19 dahil sa kakulangan ng tulong mula sa gobyernong nacional, nasisikmura ba ninyo ang paggawa at pagpapakalat ng mga pekeng kuwento laban sa mga taong tumutulong at nagbibigay serbisyo?" she added. As the entire country was placed under a state of national calamity due to the COVID-19 outbreak, reports have shown a surge of fake news and oft-repeated false narratives populating various social media platforms. Rabid supporters of the Duterte administration, some of whom are holding high-ranking positions in government, have also ramped up their social media presence in attempting to discredit the good work of other leaders not allied to the administration. News organizations, such as the Philippine Daily Inquirer, News 5 and Rappler have also reported that shady online personalities manipulated their published social media cards with fake quotes from opposition leaders and local executives. "Because these leaders actually make sense and are doing remarkably well in their own capacities without government support, the growing approval of their constituents makes the traditional politicians feel threatened and insecure," the lady Senator from Bicol said. "The most glaring victims of these fake news and hate speech are VP Leni and Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto, to name a few, who are steps ahead of the rest of the government bureaucracy in implementing genuine public service measures against the spread of COVID-19," she added. In order to curtail the spread of fake news in times of a national crisis, De Lima urged "woke" netizens to block fake news and their peddlers from their online feeds and report them to social media platforms under their respective community standards. "Kilala naman ninyo kung sino talaga ang mga hari't reyna ng fake news sa Pilipinas. I urge everyone to follow credible media outfits only and to block and report these fake news peddlers as soon as you see them creep up on your feed," she said. To date, local health authorities have reported a surge of COVID-19 infections across the country, with at least 17 people who have already died while 217 others are confirmed to have contracted infection. Last March 16, the whole island of Luzon has been placed on strict "enhance community quarantine" where residents are urged to stay within the confines of their homes and practice "social distancing" measures to stem the spread of the deadly virus. - China was praised for doing a good job in controlling the spread of the novel coronavirus - It has been recording zero new local cases of the said virus for three consecutive days now - The new cases, which they call imported, were all from people who came from other countries - Even the World Health Organization (WHO) commended the said country for their success PAY ATTENTION: Click "See First" under the "Following" tab to see KAMI news on your News Feed A recent development in China regarding the novel coronavirus disease has given a ray of hope to many people. KAMI learned that the said country has been recording zero new local cases of the said virus for three consecutive days now. The development was reported by Chinas National Health Commission (NHC) on Friday, March 20. Despite having zero local cases, the country has recorded 41 new confirmed cases from people who came from other nations. They call it imported cases. There are 269 imported cases now in China although there are strict quarantine measures that are being imposed for people from other countries. A ray of hope: China records no new local cases of COVID-19 for 3 days now Source: Getty Images PAY ATTENTION: Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news! Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) praised China for doing a good job in controlling the spread of the virus in the central city of Wuhan. "Wuhan provides hope for the rest of the world that even the most severe situation can be turned around," the organization quipped. In a previous article by , the Philippines has recorded 5 more COVID-19 patients who already recovered. China is the first country that was hit by the novel coronavirus disease. There have been more than 81 thousand cases since the very first day when the virus struck. Please like and share our Facebook posts to support KAMI team! Dont hesitate to comment and share your opinion about our stories either. We love reading about your thoughts! TikTok dance challenges are taking over social media. We are always on point in asking passers-by to dance to famous songs together with our host Andre! Dont forget to subscribe to HumanMeter! Source: KAMI.com.gh DCH Regional Medical Center in Tuscaloosa is dropping one of the two methods it used to test for coronavirus after reports that more than half of the hospitals samples were unusable, a hospital spokesman said. Samples from Tuscaloosa and many testing sites in the state are sent to the Alabama Department of Public Health lab in Montgomery, which conducts the actual tests. The ADPH said 528 of the 1,043 samples from Tuscaloosa this week could not be processed because they were insufficient or spoiled, according to Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox. The hospital is working on informing people, but is not able to contact the hundreds of individuals whose samples were not tested. The hospital had used two different methods to test for coronavirus: sputum samples and swabs inserted into the nose. For sputum samples, a patient coughs to produce phlegm or mucus, which is collected and analyzed, but if those samples dont have enough material, the lab cannot run the tests. Hospital spokesman Andy North said sputum samples that did not contain enough material were the main reason so many samples could not be used. Thats the majority of what happened with our samples, North said. North said that visually screening the sputum samples at the collection site proved challenging because of the personal protective equipment used by the healthcare workers, and that from now on the hospital will only conduct swab tests. North said supplies of swab test kits are critically low. The hospital expects its current supply of swab kits will run out early next week, but is making an extensive effort to get more. In the meantime, DCH will only test patients who are displaying symptoms of coronavirus. As long as were able to do swab tests, well do them, North said. North said patients who were screened can log onto their DCH medical records portal to see whether their sample was processed. Results from the tests will be available after about five days. He said the hospital is trying to find a way to notify patients whose samples were not processed, and that some doctors had begun doing that on an individual basis, but the hospital did not have the capacity to notify everyone whose test was unusable. He said if a patients symptoms persist, they can contact their doctor to discuss getting re-tested. The hospital recommends anyone experiencing symptoms practice social distancing for at least 14 days. DCH is continuing to offer drive-up screening for coronavirus Sunday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. and weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., as long as the hospitals swab test supplies last. Maddox tweeted on Friday that 528 of the 1043 samples sent from DCH to the Alabama Department of Public Health for testing were not sufficient or spoiled." Maddox said just 40 tests from Tuscaloosa had been processed, one of them positive for COVID-19. The other 475 samples were still being processed as of Friday. Alabama now reported 124 confirmed coronavirus cases in 21 counties as of 10:20 a.m. Saturday. Four of the 124 were residents of Tuscaloosa County. As unprecedented stimulus efforts move through markets, banks face growing pressure from clients to say when risky assets could reach their low point. But Wall Street's top players can't agree on an answer, with limited ability to predict the path of the virus and efforts to contain it. One view: Governments are unleashing trillions of dollars in spending, and such assets could soon stage a comeback. John Normand, head of cross-asset fundamental strategy at JPMorgan, told clients on Friday that the "conditions we had set for markets to stabilize then revive" have "mostly been met." The bank was looking at factors including infection rates, market pricing and the amount of fiscal stimulus announced by governments. He noted that "the missing criteria is a convincing deceleration in COVID daily infection rates." But enough has changed, he continued, to "justify adding risk selectively." Normand said that most risky markets, with the exception of oil and some emerging market currencies, "have probably made their lows for this recession." Goldman Sachs, meanwhile, is advising clients that the S&P 500 "will turn lower in coming weeks," and that in order for the index to sustain a rally, there needs to be a slowdown in the spread of the virus, evidence that fiscal and monetary policy stimulus is working and slowing selling pressure. "If the worst is indeed behind us, it would mark the fastest and most volatile bear market decline on record," chief US chief equity strategist David Kostin told clients on Friday. He pointed out that between September and December 2008, the S&P 500 experienced six bounces of 9% or more, with some gains as large as 19%. But the market didn't reach its bottom until March 2009, "when the pace of economic contraction began to slow." Why it's hard: Banks can only foresee so much, and there are plenty of mixed signals about how soon the global economy can get up and running again. See here: US President Donald Trump announced Sunday that social distancing measures would be extended at least through April 30 after suggesting the country could reopen by Easter. Carmakers race to make medical equipment for hospitals As the number of coronavirus cases continues to climb worldwide, putting pressure on hospital systems that are running low on items such as ventilators, automakers are stepping up to procure crucial supplies and develop new products to ease the shortage. One example: Mercedes' Formula 1 engine manufacturer has teamed up with clinicians and university engineers in London to design a breathing aid that can be quickly mass produced, my CNN Business colleague Charles Riley reports. This could help reduce the need for seriously ill coronavirus patients to be placed on ventilators. The Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) device was designed in fewer than 100 hours. In the United States, GM is making ventilators in partnership with Ventec Life Systems, despite a spat with the Trump administration over the contract. Trump invoked the Defense Production Act on Friday to require GM to produce more ventilators but on Sunday shifted to praising the company. "General Motors is doing a fantastic job," Trump said. "I don't think we have to worry about General Motors now." Other automakers are stepping up, too. Ford is working with 3M and GE Healthcare to produce medical equipment and protective gear. Toyota is finalizing agreements to begin working with at least two companies that make ventilators and respirators. But switching from cars to medical equipment isn't so easy, according to CNN Business' Jackie Wattles and Peter Valdes-Dapena. Ventilators use sophisticated software and specialized parts, and companies that seek to manufacture them face several hurdles including intellectual property rights and the need for specially trained workers. US oil dips below $20 per barrel as pressure continues Pressure on oil prices is only getting worse as the collapse in demand deepens and the price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia drags on. US oil futures briefly dropped below $20 per barrel on Sunday after Trump's announcement that social distancing guidelines would be extended through the end of April. Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, were last down 7.5%, trading at $23.05 per barrel. US oil is trading at $20.43, down 5%. Bjornar Tonhaugen, head of oil markets at Rystad Energy, a consultancy, told clients Monday that oil slipped to 17-year lows as it became clear that demand for energy would stay weak for at least another month. The ongoing fight between Saudi Arabia and Russia doesn't help. Reuters reported last week that Russia was seeking talks to end the standoff, which has led to a supply glut. But a Saudi official said Friday that the talks weren't happening, despite rising pressure from Washington. Up next US pending home sales for February arrive at 10 a.m. ET. Coming tomorrow: How confident were US and UK consumers in March? Data arrives tomorrow though it may not fully reflect the impact of the coronavirus and related shutdowns. Eva Mendes is raising a budding photographer. The actress, 46, posted a photo of herself makeup-free, striking a pose for her daughter as she encouraged people to donate to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. 'My kid took this. (heart emoji) If you'd like to donate, link in my bio. (heart emoji),' she wrote in the caption. 'As many of you are, I'm home, trying to prevent the spread. I'm conflicted about what to post while so many are suffering. Giving back: Eva Mendes shared a photo of herself taken by her daughter as she urged fans to support the Los Angeles Food Bank 'So please let me know what you guys are wanting right now. Doesn't feel quite right to do business as usual yet doesn't feel right to disconnect. 'Will be reading comments thought the day. Sending so much love. Be safe (heart emoji) love you.' Eva has daughters Esmeralda, five, and Amada, three, with her partner of nine years, Ryan Gosling. The actress has been chronicling her life in quarantine on social media amid the coronavirus pandemic. Staying safe: The actress has been chronicling her life in quarantine on social media amid the coronavirus pandemic Earlier this week she shared a video of herself, all glammed up, while taking out the trash wearing a face mask and gloves. The actress looked lovely in a lemon print dress and polka dot heels as she disposed of the trash. 'When life hands you lemons, wear them,' she captioned the video. She also urged fans to stay safe. Doing chores in style: Mendes wore a face mask and gloves as she took out the trash On top of raising two children and acting, Eva has also ventured into fashion with the release of her clothing company, New York & Company. Recently, the actress discussed why it was important for her range to have a plus-size collection. 'I've always thought the fashion industry was a bit archaic in that way. I never understood why there was really only one form of beauty, and I'm just so excited that my girls are going to grow up in a world where they get to see so much more diversity,' she said at Create and Cultivate, according to The Hollywood Reporter. 'My two little girls are already these two self-empowered little women. I'm just like, "Oh my Gosh. I just need to get out of their way."' India has registered around 298 cases of COVID-19 so far, as per the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW). Amid anxiety buying and hoarding of daily essentials as news of markets, shutdown spread over the COVID-19 outbreak, the Government has capped the maximum retail price (MRP) of hand sanitizer at Rs 100 per 200ml bottle and surgical mask's price at Rs 8 and Rs 10 for 2-ply & 3-ply quality respectively until June 30, 2020. It is also working to increase the production of masks and sanitisers and has asked states to allow deodorant manufacturers to produce sanitisers. Check out all the timely updates on novel coronavirus outbreak on BusinessToday.In blog 05.10: Government to ramp up production of masks and sanitisers; states asked to allow deodorant manufacturers to produce sanitisers, says official -PTI 05.02: Around 1,700 Indians have been quarantined in India from abroad 05.00: Asymptomatic cases will be tested under 5 days now, this includes symptoms of pnuemonia, says Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, MoHFW 04.50: Mock drill on March 22 for emergency response for handling coronavirus cases in govt hospitals, says MoHFW. 04.45: It also said that there's a lot of misinformation about masks and not everybody needed to wear them, social distancing more important. 04.40: MoHFW also said that it conducted training on critical care management at 1,000 places through video conference. 04.30: 262 people, mostly students, to fly from Rome to India today, says Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on the media briefing on current novel coronavirus situation in India. 04.25: Centre caps MRP of 200ml hand sanitizer at Rs 100 Government has capped the maximum retail price (MRP) of hand sanitizer at Rs 100 per 200ml bottle and surgical mask's price at Rs 8 and Rs 10 for 2-ply & 3-ply quality respectively until June 30, 2020. 04.15 PM: Railways relaxes refund rules for travel Indian Railways issued advisory relaxing refund rules for passengers who had booked tickets to travel between March 21 and April 15 to avoid crowding on trains and encourage social distancing in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak in the country, reports PTI. 04.00 PM: Goa government shuts borders for mass passenger and tourist vehicles traffic Due to coronavirus pandemic, Goa government has closed its state borders for mass passenger and tourist vehicles traffic. This is an attempt by the administration to crackdown on inter-state movement as a safety measure, according to IANS. 03.55 PM: Former Rajastan CM Vasundhara Raje Scindia tests negative for COVID-19 Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia has tested negative for the deadly coronavirus. This is the first report that has come out whereas the second report is expected tomorrow. Vasundhara Raje had attended the party ia party in Lucknow with the famous Bollywood singer, Kanika Kapoor. Kapoor had returned from London and later tested positive for coronavirus. 03.50 PM: Prime Minister Modi thanked Maldives for their contribution to the SAARC COVID-19 Emergency Fund Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter to thank the Government of Maldives for making a contribution of $200,000 to the SAARC COVID-19 Emergency Fund. The PM, further stated, "It strengthens our resolve in this collective fight against the pandemic." Deeply appreciate contribution of USD 200,000 by Government of Maldives to the COVID-19 Emergency Fund. It strengthens our resolve in this collective fight against the pandemic. @ibusolih - Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 21, 2020 03.45 PM: "We are fully prepared to fight coronavirus", says Mansukh Mandaviya Minister of State for Shipping and Chemical and Fertilisers, Mansukh Mandaviya said that the nation is fully prepared to fight coronavirus. The central MInister and Rajya Sabha MP also elaborated on the manufacturing of masks and availability of sanitisers and medicines. He said that the government is making 1.5 crore masks everyday and more than 2 crore medicines. MAndaviya also stated that the government is fulfilling the requirement of sanitisers. 03.42 PM: Maha government asks establishments to not terminate employee services or deduct wages Maharashtra government has asked both private and public sector establishments to not terminate employee services or deduct wages. -PTI Also read: Coronavirus: Ola, Uber suspend ride-sharing services to promote social distancing 03.38 PM: General Motors to utilise its resources to combat COVID-19 In an attempt to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, General Motors announced that it will help in producing the much -needed ventilators that are pivotal in the treatment of coronavirus patients. In a bid to help battle the novel #coronaviruspandemic, #GeneralMotors has announced it will use its resources to help produce much-needed ventilators for treating #COVID19 patients.#COVID2019#Covid_19pic.twitter.com/0CYADaQKTw - IANS Tweets (@ians_india) March 21, 2020 03.35 PM: Total number of coronavirus positive cases in Rajasthan reach 23 6 new coronavirus positive cases have been reported from Rajasthan. 5 people out of these belong to Bhilwara whereas one person belongs to Jaipur, according to IANS. 03.28 PM: Gurugram societies decide to lockdown premises totally Amid complete pandemonium due to coronavirus, many societies and upscale condomimiums have decided to lockdown their premises completely. 03.25 PM: TV Host Andy Cohen test positive for coronavirus TV host Andy Cohen took to Instagram to announce that he has tested positive for coronavirus. In his Instagram post,Cohen also thanked all the medical professionals who are 'working tirelessly for all of us'. He also urged people to stay indoors and take good care of themselves. 03.22 PM: National Conference Chief Farooq Abdullah releases Rs 1 crore to combat COVID-19 threat in J&K National Conference Chief and Srinagar MP, Farooq Abdullah has released Rs 1 crore from his MPLAD or Members of Parliament Local Area Development Fund to counter the novel coronavirus threat in Jammu and Kashmir, according to IANS. 03.20 PM: "Global community should lift the sanctions on Iran": Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan Pakistan Prime Minister said that the global community should lift sanctions on Iran as the neighbouring country is struggling to handle the coronavirus crisis. Current number of coronavirus cases in Pakistan stand at 510. 03.15 PM: Gujarat reports 6 more coronavirus positive cases Total number of coronavirus cases has reached 14 in Gujarat as 6 more people test positive for novel coronavirus on Saturday. 03.10 PM: Tamil Nadu postpones class 10 exams Following the lead of Maharashtra and Bengal, Tamil Nadu government has postponed class 10 exams to a suitable date reportedly after April 14. 03.05 PM: Vrindavan Temple to be closed till March 31 Vrindavan Temple management has decided to close its premises till March 31 as a safety measure amid coronavirus outbreak, according to India Today. 03.00 PM: UP Roadways to observe Janta Curfew Uttar Pradesh roadways have decided to suspend interstate bus and metro services from 6 am to 10 pm on March 22 in adherence with the Janta Curfew call given by PM Modi on Thursday. Also read: Coronavirus update: Yogi Adityanath announces Rs 1,000 each for 37 lakh labourers 02.55 PM: US Federal Internal Revenue Service extends IT filing deadline Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced that the US Federal Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is extending the deadline to file income tax returns till July 15 in an attempt to minimise the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic. The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is extending the federal income tax filing deadline to July 15 as part of the efforts to minimise the economic impact of the #coronaviruspandemic, Treasury Secretary #StevenMnuchin announced.#Covid_19#COVID2019 Photo: IANS pic.twitter.com/I02LxMEULa - IANS Tweets (@ians_india) March 21, 2020 02.52 PM: 2 passengers escaped quarantine, found travelling in Rajdhani Express 2 passengers who were supposed to be in mandatory quarantine were found travelling between Bengaluru and Delhi on Rajdhani Express. Both these passengers were immediately deboarded and the authorities disinfected the entire coach. -ANI 02.50 PM: 8 passengers who travelled on Andhra Pradesh Sampark Kranti Express test positive for COVID-19 Ministry of Railways said that 8 passengers who travelled from Delhi to Ramagundam on Andhra Pradesh Sampark Kranti Express on March 13 have tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday. -ANI Ministry of Railways: 8 passengers who had travelled on Andhra Pradesh Sampark Kranti Express from Delhi to Ramagundam on 13th March tested positive for #COVID19 yesterday. https://t.co/ijp6bd5Btg - ANI (@ANI) March 21, 2020 02.45 PM: Odisha CM writes to PM Modi regarding postponement of NPR Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik sought the delay of NPR survey citing the coronavirus outbreak in a letter addeessed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, according to India Today. 02.42 PM: Pakistan International Airlines cancels all International flights till March 28 Amid coronavirus pandemic, Pakistan International Airlines has cancelled all international flights due till March 28. This move will come into effect from 8 pm on March 22. However, this does not mean that the Pakistani Airspace hash been shut, Spokesperson of PIA (Pakistan International Airlines) Abdullah Khan was quoted as saying by ANI. 02.40 PM: Total number of coronavirus positive cases cross 500 in Pakistan The number of coronavirus positive cases in Pakistan reached 510. According to Pakistani authorities, the death toll due to COVID-19 stood at 3. 02:38 PM: Kerala's Kasargod district under lockdown Kerala's Kasargod district is in a state of lockdown due to coronavirus pandemic. Cases have been registered against 10 shopkeepers for keeping their shops open despite warning.-PTI 02.35 PM: Jammu Kashmir administration to take strict action against people hiding travel histories Jammu and Kashmir administration has said that strict action will be taken against all those passengers who do not come clean with regards to their travel history at the Srinagar Airport. 02.32 PM: Potato prices increase in West Bengal due to panic buying Due to panic buying triggered by coronavirus scares, potato prices have soared by at least 20% in West Bengal.-PTI 02.30 PM: Maha government postpones class 10 Board exams Maharashtra Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad said that the Maharashtra government has decided to defer the class 10 Board exams due to coronavirus, according to India Today. 02.25 PM: Number of coronavirus positive cases reach 6 in Haryana Coronavirus cases in Haryana have reached 6 as of now with two more people, from Faridabad and Panipat respectively testing positive for the virus. The number of positive #coronavirus cases in #Haryana has risen to six with two more persons -- one each from #Faridabad and #Panipat testing positive for the virus.#COVID#Covid_19 Photo: IANS pic.twitter.com/OtRKxRWfuG - IANS Tweets (@ians_india) March 21, 2020 02.20 PM: 27 year-old Polish woman died due to novel coronavirus According to IANS, the woman did not report any underlying symptoms of the novel coronavirus. She died days after giving birth. A 27-year-old Polish woman without any underlying illness died from the novel #coronavirus just days after giving birth, officials have said.#Covid_19 Photo: IANS pic.twitter.com/oYQD1SCwQS - IANS Tweets (@ians_india) March 21, 2020 02.10 PM: Karnataka State Road Trannsport Corporation has withdrawn 25% concession provided to senior citizens In order to minimise their travel amid coronavirus pandemic, the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation has withdrawn the 25% concession given to senior citizens on bus tickets. -ANI 02.05 PM: Mumbai Metro One to suspend operations on March 22 To encourage people to stay at home and make 'Janta Curfew' a success, Mumbai Metro One will suspend its operations on March 22, Sunday. -ANI 02.00 PM: West Bengal government postpones Board exams West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has decided to postpone board exams for class 12 slated on March 23 and March 25 to April 15. 51 people have been quarantined in West Bengal so far. The state has reported 3 confirmed COVID-19 case so far. 01.50 PM: 3 new coronavirus positive cases confirmed in Karnataka Total number of coronavirus positive cases has reached 18 in Karnataka after confirmation of 3 new coronavirus positive cases. For case management of COVID-19, 48 government hospitals and 35 private hospitals have been identified. -ANI 01.41 PM: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal says all pressers of the Delhi government to take place digitally In a latest tweet, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal said due to the coronavirus pandemic, all press conferences will be conducted digitally now. He also said in his tweet that journalists were at the forefront of the fight against coronavirus. All Delhi Govt. press conferences will be conducted digitally now. It's very important that all journalists, who are on the forefront of our battle against Corona, also protect themselves as they are in a high exposure environment. - Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) March 21, 2020 01.38 PM: Refund can be taken on submission of tickets up to 45 days from date of journey for trains canceled from March 21 to April 15-PTI 01.30 PM: Samples of 28 people who came in contact with UP Health Minister Jai Pratap Singh have tested negative for COVID-19, says KGMU Hospital 12.53 PM: Couple in Maharashtra's Jalgaon district booked for allegedly failing to inform authorities about recent trip to Thailand. 12.50 PM: One more person tests positive for coronavirus in Gujarat; total rises to eight. 12.49 PM: The government has launched a WhatsApp number to ensure people receive accurate information when it comes to coronavirus outbreak in India. "Sharing correct information, avoiding incorrect panic," Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted. Sharing correct information, avoiding incorrect panic. Here is an effort by WhatsApp and @mygovindia to ensure you receive accurate and verified information on Coronavirus. Please click on this link https://t.co/REabfIp5QT or send Hi on +919013151515. #IndiaFightsCoronapic.twitter.com/0maqUE3PvG Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 21, 2020 12.39 PM: Unfortunate that coronavirus got out of control: Trump US President Donald Trump has said he greatly respects China and shares a "very good" relationship with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, but termed it "unfortunate" that the coronavirus began in the Communist nation and got out of control. Speaking at a press briefing on Friday, Trump said he considered Xi as a friend and and asserted that the Chinese President respects the US. Also read: Relationship with Xi 'very good' but unfortunate that coronavirus got out of control: Trump 12.25 PM: Kanika Kapoor leaves behind trail of possible infection BJP MP Dushyant Singh had attended a party with Kanika Kapoor, who was tested positive for coronavirus on Friday. Singh then met with multiple MPs and even President Ram Nath Kovind two days after coming in contact with Kanika Kapoor, thus leaving behind a trail of possible COVID-19 infection. According to reports, Dushyant Singh has self-isolated himself and so has his mother Vasundhara Raje, who is the former Chief Minister of Rajasthan. Raje was also present at the party in Lucknow. 12.10PM: Number shoots up to 271 The number of coronavirus-infected people have risen 271 in India now, the Indian Council of Medical Research has said. "A total of 15,701 samples from 14,811 individuals have been tested for SARS-CoV2 as on 21st March 2020. A total of 271 individuals have been confirmed positive among suspected cases and contacts of known positive cases," an ICMR statement said today. 12.04 PM: Woman with no foreign tour history tests positive A woman in her early 40s has tested positive for coronavirus in Maharashtra's Pune city, a senior official confirmed on Saturday. The woman, who is currently on ventilator support at Bharti Hospital, tested positive for the infection after her throat swabs were sent to National Institute of Virology to check for possibility of swine flu (H1N1), he said. The woman does not have travel history to a foreign country, but had travelled to Vashi in Navi Mumbai to attend a wedding on March 3, he said. 12.00 PM: A total of 271 individuals have been confirmed positive among suspected cases and contacts of known positive cases, says Indian Council of Medical Research. 11.55 AM: Six new cases of coronavirus have been detected in Rajasthan, say officials. 11.50AM: Four people arrested in Maharashtra's Jalna city for allegedly hoarding hand sanitisers worth over Rs 6 lakh. PTI 11.45 AM: One more person tests positive for new coronavirus in Noida, total 5 such cases so far: Noida authorities 11.40 AM: As many as 11 fresh cases reported in Maharashtra; total number jumps to 63 in state. 11.38 AM: Fresh case of coronavirus infection reported in Karnataka; total number rises to 16 in state. 11.35 AM: One more person tests positive for coronavirus in Gujarat; total rises to eight. 11.30 AM: Yogi Adityanath announces relief measures to combat coronavirus Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has announced monetary help worth Rs 1,000 to over 20.37 lakh labourers who are registered with the state labour department in wake of COVID-19 crisis. The CM said there will be no Metro services tomorrow as part of the Janata Curfew call given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The CM said about 15 lakh auto and rickshaw workers will also get Rs 1,000 via Direct Benefit Transfer scheme. Yogi said the state government will make sure those who don't have ration card get them as soon as possible so they can get the benefit of free 20 kg wheat and 15 kg rice. He said the MNREGA workers will also be paid their March dues soon. Besides, the state will release advance pension for March and April months in this month only, which will benefit over 83 lakh pensioners. 11.27 AM: China reports zero local cases Mainland China reported zero locally transmitted cases of the coronavirus for a third day running, while the daily log of infections involving travellers arriving from other countries continued to rise. Mainland China had 41 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infections on Friday, the country's National Health Commission said, all imported from abroad. That brought the total number of imported cases to 269. - PTI Also read: China reports zero local COVID-19 infections for third day 11.15 AM: HUL cuts Lifebuouy soap, sanitiser prices Hindustan Unilever (HUL) has announced that it will be reducing the prices of Lifebuouy sanitisers, Lifebuouy Liquid Handwash and Domex floor cleaners by 15 per cent. The country's biggest FMCG company has said it's scaling up production to meet the supply-demand arising out of coronavirus outbreak. Sanjiv Mehta, Chairman and Managing Director, HUL said, "In a crisis like this, companies have a big role to play. We are working closely with the governments and our partners to ensure that we overcome this global health crisis together." Also read: Coronavirus impact: HUL cuts Lifebuouy soap, sanitiser prices by 15%, others ramp up production 11.10 AM: Coronavirus positive cases in Maharashtra The total number of coronavirus positive patients in Maharashtra has risen to 63 with 11 more positive cases reported in the last 24 hours, officials said. Of the 11 new cases, 10 are in Mumbai and one in Pune, they said on Saturday. Officials said seven patients were admitted to Kasturba hospital, one each at Saifee hospital, Nanavati hospital and HN Reliance hospitals in Mumbai. A coronavirus positive patient has been admitted to Naidu hospital in Pune, officials said. 11.01 AM: Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope: Positive cases of Coronavirus in Maharashtra rise to 63 Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope: Positive cases of Coronavirus in Maharashtra rise to 63 pic.twitter.com/lDCEjNyjy8 ANI (@ANI) March 21, 2020 11.00 AM: Another COVID-19 case reported from Noida Noida authorities said one more person tested positive for novel coronavirus. The patient is a resident of Supertech Capetown in Noida. 10.55 AM: Maha government issues a circular to restrict the use of ACs in government offices Maharashtra government has issued a circular to restrict or limit the use of air conditioners in government offices to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. -ANI 10.45 AM: PIL filed in Delhi High Court to provide hand sanitisers and face masks to prisoners in Tihar Jail An advocate has filed a PIL in Delhi High Court seeking immediate direction to Delhi Government to provide face masks and hand sanitisers to all prisoners in Tihar Jail. The advocate also urged that disinfectants be sprayed and Tihar Jail premises and other Delhi jails be quarantined. The matter will be heard on March 24. -ANI 10.30 AM: UP CM Yogi Adityanath appeals to people to not panic over novel coronavirus Yogi Adityanath was quoted by news agency ANI as saying, "We've sufficient stock of essential commodities and medicines in the state. So please don't rush to shops to buy things and hoard commodities." #WATCH I appeal people to not panic over #coronavirus. We've sufficient stock of essential commodities and medicines in the state. So please don't rush to shops to buy things and hoard commodities: Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath pic.twitter.com/UxgRHeZnat - ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) March 21, 2020 10.20 AM: Air India to fly 787- Dreamliner to Rome to evacuate Indians Air India will fly a 787-Dreamliner to Rome today to evacuate students, other travellers oor any Indians stranded in the coronavirus-hit country. The flight will return to Delhi tomorrow morning. Air India to mount a 787-Dreamliner to Rome today to evacuate students, other travellers or any Indians stranded there. The flight will return to Delhi tomorrow morning. pic.twitter.com/nfB2BCvt7d - ANI (@ANI) March 21, 2020 10.11 AM: Positive cases surge to 19 in Pune Naval K Ram, Dist Magistrate, Pune, Maharashtra, says two more people have been tested positive for COVID19 in Pune, taking the total tally of positive cases in Pune to 23. Naval K Ram, Dist Magistrate,Pune, Maharashtra: 2 more people have been tested positive for #COVID19 in Pune, taking the total tally of positive cases in Pune to 23. One positive case has travel history to Ireland and the other does not have any recent travel history. (file pic) pic.twitter.com/2SYegg2aqu ANI (@ANI) March 21, 2020 10.10 AM: Himachal sends back tourists Over 35 tourists, including Nepal and Israel nationals, sent back from Mandi as part of the state government's efforts to check tourist inflow. Himachal Pradesh: Over 35 tourists including Nepal&Israel nationals sent back from Mandi today as part of govt's efforts to check tourist inflow into the state. Sundernagar SDM Rahul Chauhan says, "They were going to Manali". Eight tourists were sent back from Shimla yesterday. pic.twitter.com/4mkWwbZl9L ANI (@ANI) March 21, 2020 10.00 AM: New ICMR guidelines The Indian Council of Medical Research has all asymptomatic people who have undertaken international travel and all contacts of "laboratory confirmed positive cases" to stay in home quarantine for 14 days. APPEAL: Please follow ICMR ((Indian Council of Medical Research) guidelines on quarantines - All asymptomatic people who have undertaken international travel and all contacts of laboratory confirmed positive cases should stay in home quarantine for 14 days. #Coronaviruspic.twitter.com/NAUCrrk2s5 ANI (@ANI) March 20, 2020 9.50 AM: Latest COVID-19 cases across India (official figures): 258 Total number of Active COVID 2019 cases across India: 231 Total number of Discharged/Cured COVID 2019 cases across India: 22 Total number of Migrated COVID-19 Patient: 1 Total number of Deaths due to COVID 2019 across India: 4 9.44 AM: Railways announces shut down of trains on Sunday The Indian Railways has announced the cancellation of over 3,700 passenger locomotives and long-distance mail, express trains, which were scheduled to start their journeys on Sunday. The cancellation of the trains coincides with the 'Janata Curfew', which was announced by PM Narendra Modi during his address to the nation on Thursday. 9.37 AM: Three Kashmiri students flee quarantine Three Kashmiri students from Aligarh Muslim University, who visited United Arab Emirates from March 5-9 missing from hospital, where they were put in quarantine. Another student informed that he had left for Anantnag. Authorities are trying to locate them. 9.18 AM: Rishi Sunak announces 'unprecedented' wage cover UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, who had pledged to do "whatever it takes" to save people's jobs and livelihoods through the coronavirus pandemic, on Friday unveiled an "unprecedented" wage boost to his COVID-19 rescue package. Britain's Indian-origin finance minister announced that the UK government would pay 80 per cent of wages for employees not working, up to 2,500 pounds a month. - PTI Also read: Coronavirus impact: British FM Rishi Sunak outlines 'unprecedented' wage cover for UK businesses 9.13 AM: 'Didn't get a seat despite having a confirmed ticket' People in large numbers at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus wait to board their respective trains. A passenger says, "There are so many people on trains that I didn't get a seat despite having a confirmed ticket. My parents have asked me to return because of coronavirus". - ANI Mumbai: People in large numbers at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus wait to board their respective trains. A passenger says, "There are so many people on trains that I didn't get a seat despite having a confirmed ticket. My parents have asked me to return because of #coronavirus". pic.twitter.com/YOF7UtWIzm ANI (@ANI) March 21, 2020 9.06 AM: 12 more people test positive in Kerala Kerala Chief Minister Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Friday that 12 people, including five Britishers, tested positive for coronavirus on a single day. This takes the total number of COVID-19 cases in Kerala to 37. Over 44,000 are under observation right now. Fighting #COVID19 | Don't Stigmatize It's important that there is no stigma around COVID19. This is a contagious viral disease; almost anyone can get affected by it. Stigma can lead to under reporting, misinformation & lack of cooperation. It takes all of us to win this battle. Pinarayi Vijayan (@vijayanpinarayi) March 20, 2020 9.03 AM: White House staffer tests positive for coronavirus A staffer in the team of US Vice President Mike Pence has tested positive for the coronavirus, making him the first White House personnel to have been infected by the deadly disease that has so far claimed the lives of 230 people in the country. "This evening we were notified that a member of the office of the Vice President tested positive for the coronavirus," Katie Miller, Press Secretary to Vice President, said in a statement. 8.59 AM: Iran coronavirus death toll jumps 149 to 1,433: Iran's death toll from the new coronavirus outbreak rose by 149 to 1,433 on Friday, a health ministry official tweeted, adding that that total number of confirmed infections had increased by 1,237 to 19,644. Iran is one of the countries outside China most affected by the pandemic. - Reuters 8.45 AM: Italy coronavirus deaths surge by 627 in a day The death toll from an outbreak of coronavirus in Italy has leapt by 627 to 4,032, officials said on Friday, an increase of 18.4% - by far the largest daily rise in absolute terms since the contagion emerged a month ago. On Thursday, Italy overtook China as the country to register most deaths from the highly contagious virus. Until Friday, Italy had never recorded more than 475 deaths in a single day, while China, where the contagion has slowed sharply, has never reported more than 150. - Reuters 8.30 AM: IndiGo announces flight cut on Sunday IndiGo said on Friday that it will be operating 60 per cent of its domestic flights on Sunday when 'Janta curfew' would be in force. Moreover, as the airline has seen reduction in demand due to the pandemic, it will be operating 25 per cent less domestic flights for now. Also read: Janta curfew: IndiGo to operate only 60% domestic flights on Sunday 8.15 AM: Govt stares at gear shortage Public sector company HLL Lifecare Ltd, the government's sole procurement agency for personal protective equipment (PPE) kits for use by healthcare professionals, seems to be struggling to match the supply-demand gap in wake of the rising demand. HLL has the Health Ministry's sole mandate to source 7.25 lakh body-coveralls (also called hazmat-or hazardous materials-suits); 60 lakh N-95 masks and 1 crore 3 Or 2-ply face masks. Also read: Centre stares at shortage as sole procurer of COVID-19 gear struggles to supply 8.00 AM: US praises India on SAARC COVID-19 initiative US Defence Secretary Mark Esper on Friday held a telephonic conversation with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and praised India's COVID-19 initiative for SAARC countries, the Pentagon said. The two leaders discussed the COVID-19 pandemic and underscored their commitment to close communication during this period in order to maintain momentum on initiatives that reinforce their comprehensive global partnership, the Pentagon said in a readout of the call. Also read: US praises India's COVID-19 initiative for SAARC countries Indias national carrier Air India on Saturday deployed a Boeing 777 with 12 crew members to rescue stranded Indian citizens in Rome, Italy, amid the coronavirus (COVID 19) outbreak. Air India flight AI-123 scheduled to take off on Saturday afternoon from New Delhi is expected to land in the Capital at 7:20 am on Sunday. The crew members have been provided with hazmat suits for safety. 327 passengers will be brought back, an Air India official said. The Centre may need to deploy another flight as more than 500 stranded people are estimated to be present in Italy. The total number of confirmed cases in Italy stands at 41,035 with 3,407 deaths reported so far, according to the World Health Organizations data. At least 276 Indians have been infected with coronavirus abroad, including 255 in Iran, 12 in UAE and five in Italy, the government informed the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, the Ministry of External Affairs said the total number of Indians infected by coronavirus overseas is 276 - 255 in Iran, 12 in UAE, five in Italy, and one each in Hong Kong, Kuwait, Rwanda and Sri Lanka. The Indian government on Thursday announced no international flights would be allowed to land in India from March 22 onward for a period of one week. China and Russia have been rivals in selling weapons since the 1990s. Over the two previous decades China had slowly been catching up to, and now passing Russia in quality. The Chinese always offered lower prices. One thing the Chinese did not offer was financing. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Russians were no longer able to offer generous financing arrangements to obtain sales. Those deals were one of the reasons the Soviet Union collapsed. By 1991 the Soviet Union was bankrupt and billions of dollars in bad loans for arms exports were one of the reasons. China had long sought to replace Russia as the best source of second-rate but much cheaper modern weapons. The post-1991 economic situation the Russians stumbled into was seen as a major opportunity but the Chinese did not, as many expected, emulate the discredited Russian make the sale at any cost approach. China was doing it differently by modeling their arms development and sales practices after Western defense firms. China wanted to get paid. Long-term this posed a greater threat to Russian arms sales, and more of a threat to Western defense firms than Russia ever posed. The Chinese plan took the long view and aimed to keep arms sales profitable while eventually surpassing Russia, and then the West, in arms quality. After 1991 Russia adopted the Chinese policy on arms sales terms, if only because it had to. If the customer cannot pay Russia is not interested. Russia was surprised at how old customers, who used to stall until Russia offered the long-term payment plans, were now willing to abide by the more demanding Chinese and Western sales terms. China had always believed the Cold War Russian sales techniques were foolish. By the 1980s this Russian financing method had turned into a disaster as more and more of those long-term loans turned bad. Worse, the collapse of the Soviet Union discredited the quality of Russian weapons even more. Since the 1960s, as Russian weapons got more and more opportunities to prove their worth in combat, Western weapons regularly bested the latest Russian stuff. This surprised a lot of arms buyers and not just those who saw their state-of-the art Russian weapons get cut to pieces by less impressive, visually and on paper, Western weapons. Russia was dismayed but not discouraged in the 1990s and sold the Chinese whatever they wanted after 1991 and often at higher prices than before. For over a decade China was the top Russian customer for weapons. There was one catch that the Russians chose to ignore at first; the Chinese were blatantly copying the Russian tech and incorporating it in their new designed and developed in China weapons. Since the Chinese were a decade ahead of Russia in adopting Western production techniques and business management practices, the Chinese were actually able to improve the Russian systems they plagiarized. After 1991 Russia finally accepted Western practices regarding patents and IP (Intellectual Property). China had already accepted, officially at least, respect for patent and trademark law. But in the meantime, China was carrying out a more successful technology theft campaign. This was unacknowledged and illegal but it took the West a while to catch on. The Russians were quicker to notice the theft of their tech because the Russians had pioneered the practice during the Cold War. In the 1990s the Russians complained but could not turn down the Chinese orders for modern warplanes and air defense systems. The Chinese were keeping key Russian defense industries alive with those large purchases. After the 1990s the Russians were less dependent on those Chinese sales but by then the Chinese were catching up and starting to surpass Russia in some areas. By 2020 China was producing jet and helicopter engines they long earlier only obtain from Russian or Western suppliers. Before 1991 Russia believed China would take a lot longer to do this but now Russia is feeling the heat from Chinese competition. The latest example of this is China openly taking advantage of the fact that the most modern Russian systems have been used a lot in combat, and found wanting. China turned the scant combat experience of their own modern systems into an advantage by noting that Chinese systems took a Western approach in design, development and testing. The implication was that Chinese weapons, when put to the test, would perform more like Western ones which, for over fifty years have consistently defeated their Russian counterparts. An example of this was seen in early 2020 when articles in Chinese state-controlled media came right out and said the Russian S-300 air defense system did not work and that the Chinese should know because they bought the system from Russia and fixed the problems by developing their own, improved version of the S-300 called the FD-2000. This system is available for export, to just about anyone can pay, including Iran or Syria. But Russia insisted S-300 was just as good and offered a better price, along with some freebies. Neither the S-300 nor FD-2000 have yet to prove themselves in combat, at least not officially. The Chinese were alluding to the reports that the S-300 systems used by Syria and Iran had regularly been bested by Western systems. In Syria, the winners were usually Israelis who also used Israeli developed systems that were respected as equal if not superior to similar American tech. That was one reason American and Israeli defense firms openly and legally cooperated with each other in developing some systems. The Russians seem aware of all this as well, even though they wont admit it. An example of this is Russia delivering S-300 air defense batteries to Syria to help the Syrians halt the growing number of Israeli airstrikes. Russia delivered these systems over a year ago, and trained Syrian operators, but does not allow the S-300s to operate freely. The reason for that is the failure of S-300 radars to effectively detect and track Israeli airstrikes. For the same reason, Russia is reluctant to use the S-400 systems they brought in to protect its own troops. Some of the less elaborate Russian air defense systems have been vividly exposed as ineffective. In February, when Turkish forces went to war with the Syrian Army in northwestern Syria, the Turks made it clear that Syrian air defenses were apparently not very effective. Turkish UAVs captured on video their missiles destroying several of the Russian Pantsir air defense vehicles (equipped with radar, missiles and autocannon). Earlier Russian officials went public trying to explain how Israeli aircraft regularly defeated Pantsir and even Russians with inside knowledge had gone in the Internet with these complaints. The Chinese saw an opportunity here and made the most of it. Meanwhile the Chinese are hustling to upgrade their own military gear for the eventual combat test. The Chinese are more serious about this than the Russians ever were. China adopted Western methods for continually testing and tweaking combat systems. China has already demonstrated this works for them because a growing number of their warships are staying a sea for longer periods where the crews gain experience while putting Chinese naval tech to the test. Officers and sailors on Western warships or in surveillance aircraft are noting the improvement. Not quite the same as combat but close. The same with aircraft. China tests its warplanes using the more exactly Western methods and trains its pilots the same way. Chinese combat pilots get more air time than their Russian counterparts and demonstrate more skill in realistic exercise. One of the first victims of all these Chinese efforts was Russian arms sales and the Russians acknowledge this by becoming much more accommodating and generous when their chief competitor for a sale is China. This doesnt bother the Chinese because so far the Chinese strategy is working and they believe the Russians, and then the West, are doomed. BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 21 Trend: Over the past 24 hours, Armenian armed forces have violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops 30 times, Trend reports referring to Azerbaijani Defense Ministry on March 21. The Armenian armed forces were using large-caliber machine guns. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Three passengers told MailOnline the Navy in Gibraltar should rescue them Brits discovered they would be taken to Genoa, northern Italy and broke into the control room to wa rn passengers they were going to a coronavirus hotspot Desperate British pensioners trapped aboard a cruise ship in northern Italy have pleaded for the Government to send in the Royal Navy to rescue them. Speaking exclusively to MailOnline via video call, three of the 214 British citizens on the Costa Pacifica which moored last night at Genoa, near the epicentre of the outbreak demanded that the Government get us out of here. Robert Marshall, 75, said: Id like the Government to send the Navy up from Gibraltar and pick the English up. What none of us want is to leave the ship and go on shore where well be liable to catch the virus. He did not believe that the abandoned Britons would be flown home, he said, as the airports in Italy are under lockdown. Desperate British pensioners trapped aboard a cruise ship in northern Italy have pleaded for the Government to send in the Royal Navy to rescue them The only way that I can see that we can get out of here is by sea,' he said. 'Send the Navy in and pick us all up. Terry Guest, 72, a pet shop owner from Oxfordshire, added: We feel were being hijacked. We cant get any information. Mr Guest said that the vessel was docked alongside GNV Splendid, a 'hospital ship' that is being used to quarantine patients infected with Coronavirus, raising fears of cross contamination. Robin Howard, 75, a retired engineer, said: If we leave [the ship], its one of the highest rates of the virus. If we go outside, were going to be in with them. On Thursday, the pensioners attempted a mutiny in a failed bid to prevent the ship being diverted to virus-riddled Italy. Speaking exclusively to MailOnline via video call, three of the 214 British citizens on the Costa Pacifica which moored last night at Genoa, near the epicentre of the outbreak demanded that the Government get us out of here. Pictured from left: Passengers Robin Howard, Robert Marshall, and Terry Guest The Costa Pacifica ship, which left Argentina on 3rd March with up to 3,780 passengers aboard, docked in Marseille on Thursday night. But there was outrage when the French authorities barred all non-French citizens from coming ashore. British holidaymakers, as well as those of other nationalities, then discovered that they were to be taken on to Genoa, close to Lombardy, the epicentre of the Covid-19 outbreak. When questioned, crew admitted that the plan was to fly them back to Britain from Italy ignoring the fact that Italian planes are largely grounded. Non-French passengers had to be taken to Italy because Costa Cruises, the operator, is based there, the crew said. It comes as the Italian army prepares to impose a lockdown on Lombardy. Passengers had planned to block the French citizens from disembarking the vessel but they changed their minds over fears of arrest. Pictured: Terry and Marie Guest The Foreign Office has already sent their local team in Milan to Genoa to meet the passengers when they arrive. Pictured: Jann and Robin Howard, both aged 75 Shocked British OAPs, many of whom suffer from underlying health conditions, barged into the ships control room to warn passengers over the intercom that they were heading for the worlds most dangerous pandemic area. After a scuffle, they were ejected from the control room. Two pensioners Mr Guest and Mr Howard then marched into one of the theatres during a performance and stormed the stage, seizing a microphone and telling the audience that they were all in grave danger. All the passengers went mad. They were clapping and cheering, Mr Guest told MailOnline. We demanded that the captain come to explain himself, and eventually he sent his deputy. We refused to accept that, and eventually the captain himself appeared with five bodyguards. He just told us we were going to Genoa and that was it, no ifs or buts. Then he walked off. The Costa Pacifica has already been at sea for almost two weeks, as passengers were unable to disembark at any of the scheduled ports due to Coronavirus After that, things got a bit wild. The Brazilians and Argentinians got very heated and were a bit violent towards the staff. Tempers were boiling over. People were threatening a girl who worked for Costa and I had to stand in front of her. The whole thing lasted about an hour-and-a-half. We left it in the end because we were too upset. Passengers had planned to block the French citizens from disembarking the vessel but they changed their minds amid fears of arrest. After allowing French citizens ashore, the ship departed quickly for Genoa. There are at least 214 British citizens aboard, as well as some who may be dual nationals. Non-French passengers had to be taken to Italy because Costa Cruises, the operator, is based there, the crew said. It comes as the Italian army prepares to impose a lockdown on Lombardy Shocked British OAPs, many of whom suffer from underlying health conditions, barged into the ships control room to warn passengers over the intercom that they were heading for the worlds most dangerous pandemic area For three days, the crew had told us that we were all getting off in Marseilles and flying home, Mr Guest said. It was all flannel. They were lying to us. Im very worried as I had to pay 1,500 for special holiday insurance because I have pancreatitis and respiration problems. That insurance has now run out, meaning that Im not covered for any medical bills. What happens if I get Coronavirus? Ill just be left out in the street. His wife, Maria, 72, added: Were not very happy. We just want to get back to our own country. We just want to get home. Were not sleeping at the moment. Its very scary. The Costa Pacifica has already been at sea for almost two weeks, as passengers were unable to disembark at any of the scheduled ports due to Coronavirus. Some were due to leave the ship in Barcelona but the port was closed amid Coronavirus fears. The last time any of the holidaymakers set foot on dry land was in Brazil on 9 March. A Foreign Office source said that there are currently no confirmed cases of Covid-19 aboard the Costa Pacifica. Danielle Stradling, whose in-laws are stranded aboard, said: My husband has spoken to the Foreign Office. They said they were aware of the situation onboard the Costa Pacifica and that their global response team was dealing with it as their highest priority. Ms Stradling said: The French government are refusing English entry to France. The Foreign Office stated that they don't know what to do and that this is the worst possible outcome. They were very transparent. Right now, its their biggest priority, they said, and they assured us that they're trying everything. The Foreign Office has already sent their local team in Milan to Genoa, so they won't get an update until passengers arrival in Northern Italy. Costa Cruises have advised the Foreign Office that Britons will be given sanitised buses for travel arrangements. But that's all the information they have. Robert Marshall, 75, a passenger trapped aboard the ill-fated ship, added: Were in a pickle and theres nothing we can do about it. Everybody is up in arms. We need to have our voices heard to put pressure on the Foreign Office and the French. Weve heard almost nothing from the captain. Hes letting his underlings bear the brunt. The cruise company clearly only has its own interests at heart. Its bloody terrifying. A Foreign Office spokesman said: We are doing all we can to help British people on board the Costa Pacifica cruise ship. 'Our staff are in close contact with the cruise operator and the authorities in the region to ensure British people can get home safely. Any questions regarding the repatriation of British nationals should be directed towards Costa Cruises, the spokesman added. A Costa Cruises spokesman said: 'Costa Pacifica disembarked the French guests and left the port of Marseille. The ship will arrive in Genoa, the final call for her itinerary, on the March 21st, where all the remaining guests currently on board will disembark and will return home. 'Unfortunately, the French Authority did not allow the disembarkation of any other nationality in Marseille due to the recent decisions of the Government to restrict travel in the country. 'Costa Crociere is working endlessly to find the best travel plan solutions to guarantee a safe journey back to the guests' original destination. Once disembarked, Guests will be accompanied to their flights and transfers, organized by Costa through a sanitary cordon of isolation. 'All health procedures have been agreed according to latest international guidelines. At the moment he health situation on board is regular and does not present any issue. 'Monitoring and screening onboard is kept ongoing to make sure the situation is under control and preserve the health of guests and crew before their disembarkation.' The French authorities have been contacted for comment. Australias famous Bondi Beach has been temporarily closed after the number of people flocking there exceeded the governments coronavirus restrictions on outdoor gatherings. New South Wales police ordered the closure of the beach on Saturday afternoon, after people visited the tourist hotspot to take advantage of the warm weather. The local government in the area, Waverley Council, also closed Bronte and Tamarama Beaches. The measure will be extended to other beaches if social distancing rules continue to be broken, in which non-essential outdoor gatherings of more than 500 people were banned. Paula Masselos, mayor of Waverley, said in a statement: I want to reiterate that this is a time to be kind, whilst being vigilant in maintaining social distancing recommendations, as well as personal hygiene and staying home if youre feeling unwell. If you are being asked to leave the beach, please be respectful to our lifeguards and surf lifesaving volunteers. They are doing their jobs in keeping our beaches safe. We all have a role to play in preventing the spread of Covid-19. We all need to behave in a safe and responsible manner so that the spread of this virus can be slowed. No one is immune to Covid-19 and behaving irresponsibly puts the entire community at risk. NSW police minister David Elliott told a press conference: We are relying on the laws of common sense. They will be asked to move on if there are more than 500 people on the beach. In consultation with the police and Surf Life Saving NSW, we will now see beaches across the state that do not comply with the regulations close. If people do not comply, the police will have the power to move on individuals. This is because we want you to be safe. Federal health minister Greg Hunt said the number of people on Bondi Beach was unacceptable after photos of the crowds went viral on social media, reported the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Bondi Beach is one of the most popular beaches in Australia. In March 2019, it saw 459,000 visitors, with 80 per cent of those visitors coming from Sydney. Australia has reported more than 1,000 cases of coronavirus and seven deaths. The Jersey City Board of Education approved its proposed $736 million budget during an emergency meeting Friday, sending the ambitious spending plan to the county superintendent of schools. The 2020-2021 budget, which includes more than $66 million in additional funding from last years spending plan, was approved after many members of the public called on the board to approve the budget during the public comment portion. Nancy Pokler, a parent and member of Jersey City Together, said the budget prepared by Superintendent Franklin Walker addresses the childrens needs. We believe that Mr. Walker can lead us to success, but he cant do it without a budget that values our schools, Pokler added. We are facing unprecedented times, and our schools must be prepared for what comes next. In order to be prepared, they need to be funded. If they are not funded, they are not prepared. The plan was approved 8-1, with Trustee Alexander Hamilton as the only dissenting vote. The BOE proposed a colossal $736 million budget for the 2020-2021 school year on Wednesday, the spending plan could increase the average tax bill by almost $700 next year. The budget, which grew by $66 million from a year ago, calls for a 47% hike to the school tax levy from $136 million to $200 million. The tax increase means the owner of an average home assessed at $452,000 would see their school taxes increase by $688 next year. Property taxes are composed of municipal, county, and school taxes. The majority of those who spoke during the meetings public comment continued to support Walker and the budget he proposed. Some also took time to bash Mayor Steve Fulops recent comments he called the proposed budget really irresponsible" on Thursday. The spending plan would also add 107 full-time positions to the school district, more than half of the new hires being devoted to math and language arts support. New Jerseys second largest school district is facing an estimated $150 million budget deficit, due in large part to a state funding change that will cut $55 million from the schools next year. By that time, the district will have lost $120 million in state funding since 2019. The board had until Friday to submit its budget to the county superintendent and had to have an emergency meeting to meet the deadline. The budget must be submitted to the county by Friday for review and approval. It will then return to the board, which will to continue to make necessary changes until board members are ready to finalize and submit the plan to the state in May. Citing the current coronavirus pandemic and its unseen economic toll, Hamilton said the board should delay its vote and suffer whatever consequences the district may face for missing the deadline. I dont care about the county and the state right now," Hamilton said. "They can come arrest me. The board was hoping for a deadline extension from the state, but Walker said he had reached out to the state and has yet to get a response back. If it happens, it will happen after the fact, Walker said Friday morning. I havent heard anything in reference to it As of now, the deadline for the budget remains the same." The budget does not appear to include any of the measures suggested in the school funding plan that Mayor Steve Fulop proposed last month. Fulops plan called for the school board to make $45 million in cuts and increase the school tax levy by $25 million each year in the next three years. Fulop called the boards plan to increase spending during the coronavirus pandemic is tone-deaf and the struggle people are experiencing because of the pandemic may take a couple months before it gets easier. Theyre going to destroy the taxpayers. Theyre going to destroy residents, both renters and homeowners," Fulop said Thursday. You dont see whats going on in the world, and you guys are sitting there with a 47% tax increase. Its crazy. Three Turkish citizens die from coronavirus in Netherlands Netherlands health officials said Friday the number of coronavirus cases increased by 534 to 2,994, and the number of deaths increased by 30 to 106. Three Turkish nationals with different ailments died in the Netherlands from the coronavirus, Turkey's ambassador at the Hague told Anadolu Agency on Friday. Saban Disli said the deceased were a male, 82, and two women aged 70 and 66. FIVE OTHER CITIZENS ARE IN INTENSIVE CARE The envoy said he talked with the families of the victims and conveyed his condolences, and five other Turks were in intensive care because of the virus. Disli said a lot of support were given to the patients and families of the deceased, and noted the Turkish embassy is paying close attention to patients. He said the bodies were unable to be transported to Turkey due to decisions by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) but the victims will be buried in a section reserved for Muslims in cemeteries in the Netherlands. I spoke to Mrs. Ts nurses by phone at midday Saturday, and they had nothing but good news to give me. In addition to nodding her head when spoken to, she is now able to squeeze her nurses fingers with both hands in appropriate response (their phrase) to simple questions. All of her various treatments, in particular the dialysis that is compensating for her impaired kidney function, are working well, which explains why she is finallyif graduallymoving in the direction of full consciousness. Im sure I dont need to tell you how painful it is for me not to be able to visit Mrs. T. Were the larger situation anything other than what it is, I might well find it unbearable. But things, as they say, are rough all over, and as new coronavirus patients start flooding into New Yorks hospitals, I cant possibly expect New York-Presbyterian to make an exception for me. As I tweeted earlier today: I wont lie to you: Im almost relieved that Mrs. Ts hospital is closed to visitors. I cant afford to catch the virus. Im in a high-risk group, and she will need my caregiving more than ever after she comes home. I hate not seeing her now, but I know its better this way. Many of us will be forced to make choices of this kind as the situation grows increasingly dire. The best choice of all, though, is: stay home. It is that knowledge alone that makes it easier for me to stay home alone and wait as patiently as I can. If all continues to go well, Ill be able to speak to her on the phone at some point and try to explain what has happened to New York and the world in the three weeks since she got her new lungs. In the meantime, Ill continue to check in with the ICU nurses at New York-Presbyterian once or twice a day, hoping that future reports are as encouraging as this one was. To all of you who have sent your good wishes to us: they matter, very much. Bless you for them. UPDATE: I spoke to the night nurse at nine-thirty Saturday evening. She told me that Mrs. T is doing really well, and the enthusiasm in her voice was a delight to hear. She grew increasingly responsive throughout the afternoon and evening, and can now move a toe on command (this is a big deal). The nurse thinks she is now sufficiently aware to be told that New York-Presbyterian is closed to all visitors, but that I am checking on her twice a day by phone and that I love her very much. Actual dialogue, guaranteed unembellished: NURSE Yes, I think that will make sense to herIll tell her as soon as we hang up. ME (silenceIm too choked up to speak) NURSE (after a moment) Mr. Teachout? Sir? Are you there? Are you all right? ME (finally, clearing throat loudly) Oh, yesIm really, really fine now. * * * For previous reports on Mrs. Ts surgery and subsequent recovery, go here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. To learn more about her rare illness, go here. To find out how to become an organ donor, go here. * * * Lee Wiley sings A Ship Without a Sail, by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart: WASHINGTON Coast-to-coast storms. A spate of wildfires. Flooding in Hawaii. As the United States rushes into disaster season, federal officials now have an added crisis to worry about: How to stop tightly packed disaster-response shelters from becoming hot spots of coronavirus transmission. The virus is forcing emergency managers to rethink long-held procedures for operating shelters like these in real time. That challenge comes as the nations crisis-response work force is already taxed by three years of brutal hurricanes, floods and wildfires, a trend that climate change promises to accelerate. All of these activities that we do during and after disasters are activities that require a lot of people to be in close proximity to each other, said Samantha Montano, assistant professor of emergency management and disaster science at the University of Nebraska, Omaha. And that is the exact opposite of what we need to do to keep people safe from Covid-19. Any hazards that were concerned about on an annual basis, we need to be twice as concerned about them now, she said. Banks are under great pressure to hike capital to satisfy Basel II standards. (Photo Vietcombank) The pandemic would also cause adverse impacts not only on business performance of listed firms but also the Governments divestment plans from State-owned enterprises (SOEs), according to KB Securities Company (KBSV) analysts. According to the Governments roadmap, it would increase charter capital by 10 trillion VND (429 million USD) for Vietcombank and Vietinbank in the first quarter of this year. As for Agribank, all its profit in 2020 will be used to increase capital instead of contributing to the State budget. The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), on behalf of the State, currently holds 74.8 percent of capital in Vietcombank and 64.46 percent in Vietinbank. Meanwhile, fully State-owned lender Agribank is preparing to launch its IPO in the near future. If failing to get the funding in this quarter, the three banks could not meet Basel II standards this year as required by the SBV as well as be qualified to expand credit to support the countrys economic growth. The banks are under great pressure to hike capital to satisfy Basel II standards, which are recommendations on banking laws and regulations issued by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. Under the SBVs regulations, banks must maintain a capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of at least 8 percent as per Basel II norms starting in 2020. The CAR of State-owned banks will fail to reach the minimum level set by the SBV if they fail to increase capital. Raising capital has been a struggle for Vietnamese banks in recent years. For example, Vietinbank the fourth largest listed bank has seen its capital remain unchanged since 2014 at 37.23 trillion VND. Uffizi Gallery, Florence Website: artsandculture.google.com/partneruffizigallery The building is stunning it was constructed in the 1560s as offices for Florence's magistrates (uffizi meaning offices) One of the most famous art museums in the world. The building is stunning it was constructed in the 1560s as offices for Florence's magistrates (uffizi meaning offices). When the Medici (Tuscanys ruling) died out, their incredible Renaissance art collections were bequeathed to the city. Look for: In Annunciation by Leonardo da Vinci, the lilies held by the angel Gabriel are a symbol of Marys virginity. Dont miss: The Madonna with the Long Neck by Parmigianino. Its officially Madonna and Child with Angels and St Jerome. But you can guess how the popular name came about. Fascinating fact: One figure in Gentile da Fabrianos Adoration of the Magi is Palla Strozzi, who paid for the piece. Hes near the front with a red hat. Museum of Natural History, Washington D.C. Website: naturalhistory.si.edu/visit/virtual-tour/current-exhibits This wonderful museum has the worlds largest natural history collection with more than 145 million items. You can view many of them on this excellent site. Look for: The gneiss. This slab of beautiful patterned rock (in the Geology, Gems and Minerals: Hope Diamond 1 section) originally formed nine miles beneath what is now Sri Lanka. Gneiss is used for counter tops and to face buildings. Dont miss: The Mammal Hall Africa 2 section in one shot you can see a hyenas terrifying teeth and a giraffe doing the splits to drink from a pool. Fascinating fact: Lucy, a 3.2million-year-old human ancestor, got her name because on the day an archaeologist found parts of her fossilised skeleton (Ethiopia, 1974), he was listening to Lucy In The Sky with Diamonds by The Beatles. This wonderful museum has the worlds largest natural history collection with more than 145 million items Acropolis, Greece Website: acropolisvirtualtour.gr The Acropolis, the collection of buildings on a hilltop overlooking Athens, has its roots in a defensive wall built by the ancient Mycenaeans in the 13th century BC. This was so well built, parts of it still survive. Look for: The Parthenon. This building once held a 38ft statue of Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom and warfare. Standing in her right hand was Nike, the winged goddess of victory. Dont miss: The other buildings, which (like the Parthenon) were originally multicoloured. It was only because these got bleached by centuries of sunlight that 18th and 19th century architects, who copied the style in other countries, made their structures white. Fascinating fact: When Nazi Germany invaded in April 1941 they replaced the Greek flag atop the Acropolis with a swastika. On the night of May 30, two young Athenians (Manolis Glezos and Apostolos Santas), climbed the hill, cut down the flag and slashed it to pieces. It was only because these got bleached by centuries of sunlight that 18th and 19th century architects, who copied the style in other countries, made their structures white Machu Picchu, Peru Website: youvisit.com/tour/machupicchu The amazingly intact remains of the 15th-century Inca citadel stand atop an 8,000ft mountain in southern Peru. Machu Picchu (meaning old peak in Quechua) was a royal estate for the emperor Pachacuti. The stunning website allows you to stand in various locations and rotate your view in any direction, from the stonework to the greenery of the slopes. Look for: The Overlook 2 page, which relates that Machu Picchu was so well constructed, it has survived earthquakes which destroyed buildings in the nearby city of Cusco. Dont miss: Looking out over the edge. We learn the site was in part chosen because it put residents closer to the gods. Fascinating fact: Its lawns are kept neatly trimmed by llamas and alpacas. The Pyramids, Egypt Website: 3dmekanlar.com/en/the-pyramids Most of us will get a modest headstone or plaque after we die. Egyptian pharaohs preferred pyramids several hundred feet tall. The famous ones at Giza contain tunnels which housed their tombs and treasures to take to the afterlife. Look for: The Great Pyramid of Keops. At 481ft it was the tallest building in the world for over 3,800 years, until Lincoln Cathedral overtook it in 1311. Dont miss: The smaller Khafre Pyramid. Like the others it was once covered in white limestone, which has since eroded. Fascinating fact: Its thought the pyramid shape was chosen because it mimics the angle of the suns rays through clouds. (The pharaohs wanted to join the sun god after death.) A total of 255 more people have returned to the district from Bangladesh and other countries up to 2 pm since morning, the local administration said on Saturday. "255 more people have returned to the district from Bangladesh and other countries up to 2 pm since morning. They have been isolated to undergo quarantine as a preventive measure," said the administration. "50 well-equipped quarantine facilities have been set up in the district," added the administration. Students arrived from Bangladesh at Srinagar International Airport on Thursday. They have been quarantined at pre-designated locations by the district administration Earlier today, the administration shut markets in Srinagar as a measure to control the spread of coronavirus. The administration has also passed an order for its employees to attend offices on alternate weeks. Four people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Jammu and Kashmir. The total number of positive cases of coronavirus has climbed to 283, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Advertisement Simon Cowell and his girlfriend Lauren Silverman stepped out for some fresh air on Friday as they enjoyed a family stroll along a beach near their Malibu home with their dogs. The music mogul, 60, kept things casual for the family outing, where they were joined by their son Eric, six, and Lauren's son from her previous marriage to Andrew Silverman, Adam, 11. The outing came just hours after new legislation in the state warned residents to 'stay at home' in a bid to tackle the current COVID-19 (coronavirus) crisis that has swept the globe. Family outing: Simon Cowell and his girlfriend Lauren Silverman stepped out for some fresh air on Friday as they enjoyed a family stroll along a beach near their Malibu home with their three dogs The couple kept their spirits up amid the pandemic as they chatted and shared a joke together while walking their pooches, Squiddly, Diddly, and Freddie, who previously belonged to his mother Julie before her death in 2016. Also on the walk was the family's rescue dog Daisy, who they adopted from Barbados. The Britain's Got Talent judge wrapped up in a black padded jacket and T-shirt, while opting for a more relaxed look with a pair of tracksuit bottoms, slip-on shoes as well as his signature black aviator shades. Meanwhile, Lauren looked typically chic in a striped jumper which she accessorised with a straw fedora and a pair of glamorous sunglasses as well as a grey scarf wrapped around her neck. All smiles: The couple kept their spirits up amid the pandemic as they chatted and shared a joke together while walking their pooches, Squiddly, Diddly, and Freddie, who previously belonged to his mother Julie before her death in 2016 Stay in! The outing came just hours after new legislation in the state warned residents to 'stay at home' in a bid to tackle the current COVID-19 ( coronavirus ) crisis that has swept the globe Lauren put on a leggy display in a pair of tiny denim shorts and completed her beach attire with a pair of metallic flip flops, while carrying a bottle of Fiji water to stay hydrated in her hand. Little Eric mirrored his dad's relaxed look in a pair of grey tracksuit bottoms and flipflops. California's governor on Thursday issued an unprecedented statewide 'stay at home order' directing the state's 40 million residents to hunker down in their homes for the foreseeable future in the face of the fast-spreading coronavirus pandemic. Chic: Meanwhile, Lauren looked typically chic in a striped jumper which she accessorised with a straw fedora and a pair of glamorous sunglasses as well as a grey scarf wrapped around her neck Governor Gavin Newsom's directive marks the largest and most sweeping government clampdown yet in the worsening public health crisis brought on by the COVID-19 outbreak, which he predicted could infect more than half the state within eight weeks. 'We are confident the people of California will abide by it, they will meet this moment,' Newsom, a Democrat in his first term as governor of the nation's most populous state, said at a late-afternoon news briefing from the state capital in Sacramento. 'They'll step up as they have over the last number of weeks to protect themselves, to protect their families and to protect the broader community in this great state and the world we reside in.' Cute! Also on the walk was the family's rescue dog Daisy, who they adopted from Barbados Leggy: Lauren put on a leggy display in a pair of tiny denim shorts and completed her beach attire with a pair of metallic flip flops, while carrying a bottle of Fiji water to stay hydrated in her hand. Newsom said exceptions to the stay-at-home rule would be granted for residents to make necessary trips to grocery stores, pharmacies, doctors and in some cases work. He did not give an end date for the order but suggested that it would last for at least eight weeks. The governor said the order was essential in light of modeling by experts that showed roughly 56 per cent of the state's residents, or 25 million people, would contract the respiratory illness in the next eight weeks. Walkies! Lauren's son Adam also dressed down in a black hooded jacket and grey tracksuit bottoms Like father, like son! Little Eric mirrored his dad's relaxed look in a pair of grey tracksuit bottoms and flipflops Beach life: The couple strolled along the beach together with one of their pooches Such numbers would require nearly 20,000 more hospital beds than the state could provide. Already more than 1,000 Californians have been confirmed as infected and 18 have died, the third largest death toll in the United States behind only Washington state and New York. California is home to some 40 million people, including an estimated 108,000 homeless. Family unit: Simon is currently residing with his family in California after Britain's Got Talent filming was postponed Having a laugh! The couple appeared chipper as they shared joke together on the beach Stir crazy: The family beat cabin fever by opting for a stroll along the beach in the fresh air Outing: The beach appeared almost deserted apart from a couple of other people Class 10 geography paper in Maharashtra, which was scheduled for Monday, has been postponed till March 31 in wake of surge in cases of coronavirus in the state. The next date of the examination will be decided after March 31. "The examination of Mahrashtra's Class 10 geography paper, which was scheduled for Monday, has been postponed. The next date of the examination will be decided after March 31," said State School Minister Varsha Gaikwad. Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Saturday said that the positive cases of coronavirus in Maharashtra rose to 63.The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has said that the total number of positive cases of coronavirus now stands at 271 in the country. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two women residing in a housing complex in Kolkata's Ballygunge area were shifted by police to a quarantine facility for not following the guidelines of home quarantine after returning from abroad. The information was shared by Kolkata Police Commissioner Anuj Sharma with the media on Friday."Two ladies were shifted by police to hospital from a housing complex in Ballygunge for not adhering to the protocol of home quarantine after coming back from abroad," he said. The two women have been taken to the hospital under the West Bengal Epidemic Disease COVID-19 Regulation, 2020. The Health and Family Welfare Department of West Bengal government on Friday appealed to citizens, who have recently returned from abroad, to home quarantine for 14 days. The appeal was made in view of detection of two cases of COVID-19 in the state. "The government urged all persons who have recently returned from foreign nations, especially the UK, the USA, Europe and the Gulf countries to necessarily confine themselves in quarantine at home for a period of 14 days," Sharma said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) On This Day The Day the Thai Princess Visited Myanmar Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn in Sagaing Region in March 1986. YANGONOn this day 34 years ago, Thai Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, the second daughter of late Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, arrived in Yangon on her first visit to Myanmar, at the invitation of military dictator General Ne Win. Gen. Ne Win, chairman of the Burma Socialist Programme Party, rolled out the red carpet for the visiting Thai princess, who led an 11-member goodwill delegation. Gen. Ne Win, President U San Yu and Prime Minister U Maung Maung Kha each hosted separate dinners for the princess. On her 11-day visit, the 31-year-old Thai princess travelled to sites across the country, including Bago, Bagan, Mandalay, Sagaing and Taunggyi and Inle in Shan State. She even offered recommendations for the conservation of cultural heritage in Bagan. Myanmar officials who conducted her around the country praised her highly for being approachable and down-to-earth despite her royal blood. She dressed simply throughout her trip. During her trip, the princess studied the history of Thai-Myanmar relations, art, culture, agricultural development and Myanmar peoples way of life. She visited the Shwedagon Pagoda, the National Museum and colonial buildings on Pansodan Street, according the travel schedule drawn up by Gen. Ne Win. However, Gen. Ne Win rejected her request to go to the Bagan Publishing House on 37th Street in Yangon to look for some books she wanted. The publisher said that the rejection was probably because either the street was filthy or the government was not ready to provide security for her. In 2003, the Thai princess made her second visit to Myanmarthis time managing to accomplish what she could not do 17 years ealier. She went to the Bagan Publishing House and bought books about Myanmar and Thailand in both English and French. Princess Sirindhorn, who is now 65, also visited Myanmar in 2010, 2013 and 2015. Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko. You may also like these stories: The Day British Bombers Destroyed Mandalay Palace When Gen. Ne Win Seized Domestic and International Banks in Myanmar High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell denounced the US unilateral sanctions against the health and life of the Iranian people amid the outbreak of coronavirus in the world, Tasnim news agency reports. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and EUs top diplomat Josep Borrell held a telephone conversation about the coronavirus global pandemic on Friday. The conversation was held as part of the intensive and widespread consultations that Foreign Minister Zarif has been holding within the framework of the health diplomacy and the exposure of the acts of economic and medical terrorism that the United States of America has committed against the Iranian nation. In their talks, Zarif and Borrell discussed the latest developments in relation to the outbreak of coronavirus in the world and Irans measures, particularly the obstacles to the Iranian campaign against the COVID-19 epidemic. In the conversation, Josep Borrell expressed solidarity with Iran, denounced the US unilateral sanctions against the health and life of Iranian people, and called for consultation and cooperation among the countries to find effective solutions to the problem, according to the Foreign Ministrys website. Millions of workers will be shielded from an economic slump with a $25.2 billion cash injection to ensure employers can keep paying wages if the coronavirus crisis hits their business. The federal government will transfer up to $50,000 to small and medium businesses within weeks and will offer another $50,000 in the new financial year to confront fears of widespread lay-offs. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said "there is a lot of pain coming". Credit:Alex Ellinghausen In a mammoth stimulus package to be unveiled on Sunday, the government will also guarantee half the value of new bank loans to small and medium companies to unlock up to $40 billion in finance. While the government will also boost welfare payments in its statement today, its priority is to keep Australians in work with the help of a total stimulus worth $189 billion or 9.7 per cent of the economy across all measures. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 11:18:48|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close A China Eastern Airline plane carrying 1.1 million respirators which the Czech Republic had purchased from China arrived at the Prague Airport on Friday. It was the second batch of medical supplies procured from China after a Czech military plane brought home 150,000 rapid COVID-19 testers from China on Wednesday. "There will be many more flights ahead of us. We have built an air bridge," said Interior Minister Jan Hamacek at the airport. Hamacek said this batch is just the start, and medical supplies might arrive from China three times a week in the next few weeks. He noted that protective equipment and supplies from China would greatly help the Czech Republic ease its severe shortage. At the airport, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis and Hamacek thanked China for its support in bringing the supplies to the Czech Republic. Chinese Ambassador to the Czech Republic Zhang Jianmin was also at the airport. He stressed in his speech that countries around the world should work together in fighting the virus. "COVID-19 is a challenge to all countries, and we shoulder common responsibilities in fighting the virus. China has received help from the Czech Republic during the outbreak. We feel the pain for the Czech people, especially the medical professionals, caused by shortage of protective supplies," said the ambassador. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 23:08:11|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- With COVID-19 cases approaching 20,000 on American soil, the White House's sloppy response and scapegoating behavior in the face of the virus have made the public health crisis worsen across the country and even around the globe. Facing an epidemic, a responsible government should concentrate its resources on domestic problems. But some U.S. politicians are looking elsewhere for a scapegoat to blame. By branding the disease "the Chinese virus," spreading rumors that products made in China carry the virus, and even asking China to compensate for countries affected by the epidemic, they attempt to deflect public attention from their own mishandling of the crisis while fueling discrimination, xenophobia and racism. The pandemic comes as a tough test for humankind. As the sole superpower on the planet, the United States is widely expected to give full play to its overall strength and ability and participate in international cooperation. Yet, some U.S. politicians and media are turning a deaf ear to the global call for solidarity and cooperation to fight the epidemic. They have been so fixated on the Cold-War mentality of smearing China and have let the world down. First, it neglected international morality. Ever since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Washington has been striking a tone of schadenfreude. On one hand, it ignores the World Health Organization's professional advice, doubts its independence in decision-making, and pays mere lip service to foreign assistance. On the other hand, it exploits the virus for cheap political gains. In particular, turning a blind eye to China's huge sacrifices and unremitting efforts, which have earned the world precious time to prepare for the pandemic, the bystanders in the White House kept using the virus as a weapon to hurt China. Some even made a selfish suggestion that the outbreak could help bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States. Second, it shook off the responsibility of a major country. The U.S. government has been criticized for downplaying the epidemic, as well as its slow response to it. An article published by The Atlantic said bureaucracy, equipment shortages, an unwillingness to share, and failed leadership have doomed the American response to COVID-19. Instead of admitting their own mistakes and showing a sense of responsibility, some U.S. officials have cooked up bizarre theories to make scapegoats of others, saying that the virus originated in China, that China's data is imperfect, and that China has been uncooperative. The National Interest, another U.S. journal, has pointed out sharply that as the crisis begins to be felt more acutely at home - and as the November election draws closer - there is every chance that some politicians will revert to form by blaming China for the coronavirus in hopes of deflecting criticism of the government. Third, it escaped media responsibility. International solidarity is the only way out of the current epidemic. Some U.S. media, though, still hold a distorted view of China, speaking ill of the country's anti-epidemic efforts and fanning the flames of anti-Chinese sentiment. Rather than illustrating why the virus is dangerous and how China has responded to the outbreak, some U.S. media are fomenting rage at China, which has to some extent shifted public attention and led its audience to vastly underestimate the severity of the situation. Blaming China will not help win the war against the novel coronavirus in the United States. Neither will it contribute to international efforts of dealing with the virus. As a group of international health law experts said in The Lancet, measures based on fear, rumor, racism and xenophobia cannot save people from such emergencies as the COVID-19 epidemic. Yuri Tavrovsky, a professor with the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, said that the "political virus" caused by ideological prejudice and double standards is more dangerous than COVID-19 itself. To quote an ancient Chinese saying, turn inward and examine yourself when you encounter difficulties in your life. U.S. stocks have dived on coronavirus fears, triggering four trading pauses in just 10 days. A main factor behind panic selling was investors' worry over the actual scale of the epidemic and whether the U.S. government could effectively address the challenge. It is better for some U.S. politicians to focus on the epidemic itself and play a constructive role in working with the international community to safeguard global health security, rather than waste their time on slandering, smearing and complaining about China. As the pandemic continues, international cooperation matters more than ever in this era of globalization. Narrow nationalism, xenophobia or racism are of no avail. Only when all members of the global community brave the challenge together with solidarity and mutual assistance will mankind defeat this terrible pandemic. Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked people to observe Janata curfew on Sunday, the protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Register of Citizens (NRC) and Population Register (NPR) will continue, said the Shaheen Bagh protesters on Saturday. "If PM Modi wants us to be safe from coronavirus, then he should have withdrawn CAA, NPR and NRC. We will hold our protest tomorrow too," Salima, one of the protesters at Shaheen Bagh, told ANI. She also said that the protesters are following all precautionary measures at the protest site. "Here, the women maintaining the social distance of more than 1 metre and using hand sanitisers and phenyl to maintain cleanliness in the protest site," said one woman, who is a member of the Indian Federation of Trade Union. She said, "In Delhi, there are one-room quarters where about 8 people live together. Also, in the RainBasera outside AIIMS, there are 70 beds with almost zero space between them. In such situations, the concept of social distancing is not possible for these people." "Having Janata curfew for one day will not stop the spread of coronavirus as the government failed to take necessary precautions like closing airports much before," she added. Echoing the same sentiments, Ritu Kaushik, another protester, said: "If the government was serious enough to stop the spread of coronavirus, then it should have intensified its checking at the airports." "While announcing that people should refrain from going outside so as to avoid the spread of coronavirus, the government should also have said that ration would be sent to the daily wage labourers as they are completely dependent on their daily earnings." While addressing the nation on Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged citizens to follow 'Janata Curfew' from 7 am to 9 pm on Sunday to contain the spread of coronavirus. The Supreme Court will hear on Monday petitions seeking the removal of anti-CAA protesters from Shaheen Bagh to prevent the spread of coronavirus, along with other pleas pending before it in the matter. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Im a parent of a high school student with high functioning autism and epilepsy. As schools all around the country announce shutdowns and move towards online education, kids like mine are going to suffer the most. The move to online education, which has been largely driven by the imperative to maintain the 180-day minimum without taxing already stretched budgets or running afoul of teachers contracts, will be difficult to manage. To date, nearly 42 million students. have already been impacted. Will teachers and administrators manage to create an entire system of online K-12 education from scratch in a handful of days? Do teachers have the technological skills, equipment, or experience to implement those plans? Do families have enough computers for themselves and all their children? The questions are endless. Were in the midst of a huge educational experiment and really have no way of knowing how it will work out. There are even more problems and questions around online special education. Children miss on the related service of therapies For kids with even mild learning or attentional issues, working independently in front of a computer will be a major challenge. In school, those students have aides to guide them. They might work in special classrooms with trained staff that keeps them on task. Parents, most who have no training in this area, will have to take an extremely hands-on approach to educate those kids. Coronavirus and closed schools: My students now face a world as unstable as their lives For families with children with more intense needs, like nonverbal autism, extreme behavior problems, serious cognitive deficits, and physical handicaps, the closure of school will bring extreme misery. Not only will they miss on their academic studies, but even more importantly for those students, theyll miss out on therapy. These students receive a whole host of therapies at school, which in education lingo is called related services. Every day, speech therapists drill common phrases or help them use picture boards with them. Occupational therapists provide help with handwriting and sensory issues. Physical therapists take children out of wheelchairs and stretch their legs. Behaviorists monitor and correct the actions of students with autism. There are aides who can diaper children in the wheelchairs or hold the children with epilepsy as they have seizures. Story continues In Pawtucket, Rhode Island, on March 6, 2020. Those essential services cannot happen online. Instead those students will be knocking around their homes for weeks. They will forget the essential skills and regress. Parents will have unthinkable responsibilities caring for those students, while trying to work and possibly caring for sick family members. Separated from routines, some students could have extreme meltdowns that might endanger younger siblings and will certainly impact on the mental health of everyone. These families will be at their breaking point very quickly. My heart is with them today. A challenge for special ed children and their family Lets just be honest. Many special education kids wont be educated at all for weeks. Even my son, who has relatively mild issues, will miss out on learning. Sure, hes really good at technology, so he can practice his Algebra 2 on the Khan academy. But isolated from teachers, therapists, and classmates, he wont get help with his social skills, and his conversation skills will slip. He wont get help with reading comprehension. So, hell be entitled to a whole lot of make-up education, when this crisis abates. Forced to move out: Are colleges helping their foreign, homeless and poor students? What will happen going forward? All those services are legally guaranteed to those students in their IEPs. Students will be owed hours and hours of education, once schools resume. The Department of Educations recent statement, Questions and answers on providing services to children with disabilities during the coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak, waffles about whether or not schools will be required to provide students with compensatory education. Betsy DeVoss department says that those judgments must be handled by the individual schools. However, every student will be legally owed those hours, and schools will have to comply. Schools must be prepared to stay open all summer to fill the special education gap, and the federal government must support local school districts with this financial burden. Laura McKenna is a former teacher, academic and policy analyst. She is a freelance writer specializing in education, parenting and politics. Follow her on Twitter: @laura11d You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page, on Twitter @usatodayopinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter. To respond to a column, submit a comment to letters@usatoday.com. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Coronavirus: What happens to students with disabilities when schools close? After 35 years under the ownership of Michael Murphy, landmark business The Frying Irishman is for sale as a going concern. The Advised Minimum Value (AMV) on the premises has been set at 495,000 and it's to be offered for sale by public auction on April 2, unless previously sold. The sale of the business is being overseen by Colum Murphy of Kehoe & Associates and he says it's a wonderful opportunity for someone. 'This sale represents a tremendous opportunity for a potential buyer,' he said. 'It's a turn key business, successfully run for decades with a very loyal customer base, from near and far.' Located in the heart of Castlebridge village, which is constantly expanding, the restaurant/fast food/take-away business has been a favourite among locals for many years and they will be incredibly sad to see Michael depart from behind the counter. Kehoe & Associates are anticipating substantial interest in the business and are urging those interested to get in touch with them as soon as possible. 'Be wary of those trying to create differences': Mayawati salms BJP on Ram Navami COVID-19: This year Ram Navami will be a low key affair India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, Mar 21: Ram Navami in Uttar Pradesh is likely to be a low key affair, with Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath calling for isolation. The CM appealed to the people to perform puja during Navaratra at their homes and avoid religious gatherings. This would mean that the the Ram Navami snan and mela at the Sarry river in Ayodhya on April 2 would remain a low key affair. Navaratra begins on March 25. The Ram Navami snan is now organised by the state government. The authorities are only in charge of crowd control. According to additional chief secretary Awanish Awasthi, the CM had already directed all the DMs to reach out to religious heads and ask them to postpone all religious congregations until April 23. Coronavirus cases in India rises to 223 There is also a likelihood that the borders of Ayodhya district may be sealed on Ram Navami in order to restrict crowds from outside. Social distancing to ensure that a maximum of five people move in a group may also be implemented. Going by the developments this year the event may be a low key one. There has hardly been any preparation made and hence it is unlikely that a large crowd may gather. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, March 21, 2020, 8:23 [IST] Foreigners arrive at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi, March 13, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Ba Do. Starting Sunday, Vietnam will suspend entry for all foreign nationals, including those of Vietnamese origin and family members with visa waivers. The directive, issued by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc Saturday night, comes as Covid-19 infections continue to rise in the country, with most new patients having come in from foreign countries. For those entering the country for diplomatic purposes or other special matters such as business managers, experts and high-skilled workers, the Ministries of Public Security, National Defense, Foreign Affairs, and Health will decide whether it's necessary to issue visas for them, Phuc said. Even when they do enter the country, they must fulfill health declarations and follow 14-day quarantine procedures, he said. Foreign experts, business managers, high-skilled workers carrying an official certificate confirming that they are free of the novel coronavirus, issued by competent authorities of the host countries and approved by the Vietnamese government, will be allowed to enter the country but must be isolated at their accommodation establishments. The Ministry of Public Security will decide whether to grant or extend visas for these cases. Representative agencies of the countries of these people in Vietnam will be responsible for their medical monitoring. Earlier, on Friday, the PM had ordered the suspension of all international flights coming to Vietnam, without giving a specific time frame. In his Saturday directive, he asked the Ministry of Transport to limit flights from overseas to Vietnam to avoid overload in quarantine areas, and create favorable conditions for flights carrying foreigners out of Vietnam. Overseas Vietnamese have been asked to restrict their return home at the moment. Earlier, officials had said they expect to receive 10,000 Vietnamese coming home from abroad in the coming week, with the corresponding figure for HCMC being 17,000. As of Saturday night, Vietnam had recorded 94 Covid-19 infections with 17 discharged from hospitals. Most of the active cases, now hospitalized in 11 cities and provinces, are returnees from Europe and the U.S. and people whod come into close contact with them. The Covid-19 pandemic has spread to 186 countries and territories, claiming nearly 12,000 lives so far. Cash-strapped banks have cut access to dollars for depositors already hit hard by the countrys financial crisis. Since Lebanon was placed on lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus, cash-strapped banks have cut access to dollars for depositors already separated from much of their savings by months of tightening controls. The health ministry has recorded 163 infections from coronavirus so far, and experts warn Lebanons healthcare system may be ill-prepared, as dollar shortages have for months drained it of critical supplies. The outbreak has compounded Lebanons woes, coming after it declared that it could not pay its hefty debt obligations and needs foreign currency reserves for key imports. Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab earlier this month said that the country will seek to restructure its massive debt as currency reserves dwindle amid an acute financial crisis. Lebanons economic troubles have weakened the local currency, resulting in shuttered businesses, job losses and informal capital controls from banks severely restricting foreign exchange withdrawals and transfers abroad. Lebanons cabinet exempted banks from closing when declaring the lockdown, saying they could maintain daily operations at a minimum level, without specifying the ground rules. Banks then said they would close until March 29 to protect employees from the virus outbreak but would keep a small number of branches open while handling operations for essential imports and paying salaries in Lebanese pounds. I need to withdraw dollars to pay salaries There are no dollars in the ATMs now, said Viviane Khoueiry, a senior partner at a law firm. The workers need the money more and they rely on cash. Some customers said their banks told them to withdraw cash from ATMs in Lebanese pounds at a pegged rate roughly 40 percent weaker than the parallel market rate, effectively slashing their dollar savings. Others said they were turned away from open branches and told those were intended to serve only corporate clients. The banking association has said the curbs aim to keep foreign exchange which is needed to pay for imports in the country. With patience running thin, the government has promised a draft law to standardise capital controls. The draft law is expected to be finalised next week. Some Lebanese took to Twitter to complain that the policies amounted to a haircut, or one-time reduction, on their savings and were meant to block access to dwindling foreign exchange reserves. In Lebanon, bankers took corona as an excuse to close their doors to control the ongoing crisis and lack of liquidity, said one frustrated tweet. Perhaps it's surprising, given everything that went down in the 1990s, that Conrad Black still regards himself as "rabidly pro-Australian". When the then-Canadian sold his 25 per cent share of media group Fairfax in 1996, he went out in a blaze of invective, trashing then prime minister Paul Keating as a "coarse autodidact", media tycoon Kerry Packer as "an unapologetic and atavistic philistine" and the country's politics as "juvenile". But after 24 years (including 3 in a Florida prison, convicted of fraud), it appears all is forgiven. "I think it's a terrific country," says Black, 75, on the telephone from Toronto. "I don't want to be maudlin or saccharine about it. But it's always very refreshing to go there." Former media mogul Conrad Black at the University Club in Toronto in 2014. Credit:The Canadian Press/AP In many ways, it is a new era for the loquacious former media mogul. Having always maintained his innocence, Black was formally and fully pardoned last year by his friend and one-time business partner, US President Donald Trump. He has been asked by Boris Johnson's new government in Britain whether he would consider coming back to the House of Lords as an active Tory peer, and says he probably will. And he has returned to work in private finance. "Life is a lot easier if you don't have to deal with securities regulators or ratings agencies or the financial press or minority shareholders," he says. Technology companies are cashing in as millions of office staff switch to working from home during the coronavirus pandemic. Workplace messaging services such as Slack and Microsoft Teams have reported a huge influx of customers, while video and audio conferencing apps such as Zoom and Discord are also becoming more popular. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has urged people to work remotely if possible. Home working: Workplace messaging services have reported a huge influx of customers, while video and audio conferencing apps are also becoming more popular And the switch has been hailed by experts as a potentially pivotal moment, with some saying it could lead to permanent changes in the way businesses operate after the crisis. Slack says it has added 7,000 paying customers since the start of February, 40 per cent more than what it usually adds in three months. Stuart Templeton, its UK boss, said remote working had become even more vital now that many parents are looking after their children who have been sent home from school during the day. He said: 'For too long, many people have had access to better technology in their personal lives than at work, so I do think there will be a lasting shift as a result of what's happening now.' Slack, which bills its technology as a replacement for internal office emails, listed on New York's stock exchange last June. Slack's founders include boss Stewart Butterfield and Cal Henderson (pictured), a British software engineer who serves at the company's chief technology officer Founders include boss Stewart Butterfield and Cal Henderson, a British software engineer who serves at the company's chief technology officer. Butterfield, 47, owns a 7.2 per cent stake worth a b o u t 714million, while Henderson, 39, owns 3 per cent worth 297million. Kelly Steckelberg, finance chief of video and audio conference service Zoom, also said usage of her company's platform was up 'pretty significantly' since the coronavirus crisis erupted. The Chinese firm listed in New York last April and its shares have surged more than 94 per cent higher since the start of 2020. As the pandemic has increasingly forced people to stay indoors, Zoom has offered many of its features for free to new users including schools who want to teach pupils over the web. Microsoft's Skype service has also seen a spike in usage, as workers seek to stay in touch with colleagues and family members from their homes. Teams, a rival service to Slack also owned by Microsoft, reportedly saw a record 44m people use its service this week. Jared Spataro, boss of Microsoft's 365 office software, said it was a 'turning point in the history of the way people work'. Families and schools are split over who qualifies as key workers during the Pandemic Crisis as headteachers urge parents to keep children away from schools. The Government has published a sweeping list of key workers who are required to keep crucial public services and sectors of Britain's economy afloat. Divided into eight categories, the list includes doctors, nurses, midwives, delivery drivers, supermarket workers, clerics, bankers, undertakers, and journalists. Parents who work in one of these critical sectors and cannot keep their child safe at home will be entitled to 'educational provision' for their family. Schoolchildren with their parents leaving Bevois Town Primary School, Southampton Vulnerable children, such as those with disabilities or on child protection plans, will also attend class, and special schools are trying to remain open. Who qualifies as a key worker? Latest Government rules cover EIGHT critical sectors The Government published a list of workers in 'critical sectors', who can send their children into school if they 'cannot be safely cared for at home'. Many schools will be closed, with children redirected to others in their local authority area. However, the categories have led to fears the 'majority' of pupils might turn up on Monday - with heads forced to turn away children. The list of 'key workers' includes roles in eight categories: Health and social care - Doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics, social workers, care workers; producers and distributers of medicines and medical and personal protective equipment. Education and childcare - Nursery and teaching staff , social workers and specialist education professionals who must remain active to keep schools running. Key public services - Those running of the j ustice system, religious staff, charity workers, undertakers, journalists and public service broadcasters. Local/national government - 'Only those administrative occupations essential to the effective delivery of the COVID-19 response or delivering essential public services such as the payment of benefits'. Food and other vital goods - Those involved in food production, processing, distribution, sale and delivery as well as those essential to the provision of key goods like hygienic and veterinary medicines. National security - Police and support staff, MoD workers, the armed forces, fire and rescue services, those maintaining border security, prison and probation staff and other national security roles. Transport - Workers on air, water, road, and rail passenger modes, as well as air, water, road, and rail freight transport modes. Utilities, communication and financial services - Staff needed for financial services like banks and stock markets; workers in the oil, gas, electricity and water sectors, the postal service, sewerage and telecoms. Advertisement But the few schools that will stay open are asking if parents should self-identify as key workers, and if they can work from home to look after their children instead. There is also huge confusion from people who believe they self-identify as key workers about whether or not the scheme only applies to both parents being 'critical' - or for just one parent. The Department of Education told MailOnline the guidance is worded in such as way so as to help parents make informed decisions on whether or not to go into work and keep children at home, or send them back into school - meaning there are no hard-and-fast rules. A spokesperson said that they cannot legislate for every family and situation. The Government has come under criticism from concerned headteachers and related unions for including too many sectors in its list, as headteachers fear the system will be open to 'abuse'. It comes amid increasing fears that as many as 1.7million children could flock to schools on Monday, while others might remain closed for months. The potential chaos would lead to so-called 'dangerous overcrowding' and derail Boris Johnson's plan to prevent mass viral infections. Education Secretary Gavin Williamson urged workers to look after their own children where possible after the Government's list was published. He said: 'Schools and teachers are on the front line of the fight against coronavirus as they support other critical workers to continue doing vital jobs. 'I know my admiration for them is shared by all, so we must ask parents, even those who are critical workers but are able to work from home, to look after their child at home - helping schools to focus on those who need it most. 'If it is at all possible for children to be at home, they should be.' However, it is not clear how the system will be policed, and which schools will be entirely closed while others remain open as 'hubs' for the local community. A headteacher of a south London primary said: 'It's pretty chaotic. It seems like parents will be able to self-identify as a key worker, so it's wide open to abuse.' Teaching unions have urged parents to send their children back to school as the 'last resort', fearing the 'majority of pupils' could turn up next week. Geoff Barton, of the Association of School and College Leaders, warned: 'The key worker list is extensive and schools will not be able to cope with the number of children who could potentially arrive on Monday morning. 'It is important that the public understands that this is not business as usual. The provision in school is likely to be more akin to childcare than a normal timetable. Schools are working to an incredibly tight timescale to turn round this provision, and we would ask everybody to show patience and understanding.' Paul Whiteman, of school leaders' union NAHT, said: 'The Government has made clear that every child who can be cared for at home should be. 'And the advice makes clear that this applies to children of key workers.' Education Secretary Gavin Williamson urged workers to look after their own children where possible after the Government's list was published The Government has published a sweeping list of key workers who are required to keep crucial public services and sectors of Britain's economy afloat Mr Whiteman urged: 'Taking up a place during this time is the offer of last resort for key workers who have no alternative.' Dr Mary Bousted of the National Education Union added 'the fewer children in educational settings, the lower the risk that the virus can spread'. She said 'this is a very long list' which could result in some schools having the majority of pupils attending, adding: 'This will not achieve the goal of slowing the spread of the virus. So it is vitally important that parents follow Government advice to keep their children at home wherever possible.' One Mohali resident with travel history to the UK was tested positive for coronavirus. With this, the total number of positive cases in the state rises to four. Earlier on Friday, a 69-year-old woman from Mohali had tested positive for COVID-19. Meawnile, Department of Public Relations Chandigarh said that samples of two Chandigarh residents with travel history to the US have tested negative for coronavirus. On Friday, expressing grave concern over the escalating COVID-19 crisis, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a fiscal package to combat the crisis and for permission to get tests done at private facilities in the state. "Taking part in the deliberations during a video conference convened by the Prime Minister with all the Chief Ministers to review the situation, Captain Amarinder said there was an urgent need to scale up the testing for the Coronavirus, and hence the Centre should immediately allow reputed private medical colleges and super-speciality hospitals," read a press release from Punjab government. The number of positive coronavirus cases in the country rose to 236, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said on Friday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) SALINAS (BCN) Two men have been sentenced to prison for their parts in two burglaries, Monterey County District Attorney Jeannine Pacioni announced Friday. Luis Chavez, 33, was sentenced to seven years in prison for his role in the burglary of C&N Tractor of Watsonville, and Jose Yanez, 36, 36, was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for the same burglary and an additional burglary of the Marina Club, prosecutors said. Both men are suspected gang members and committed the crimes for the benefit of the Norteno criminal street gang, prosecutors said. On May 29, 2019, Yanez and two other gang members used crowbars to break into the Marina Club card parlor in Marina and stole an ATM machine, prosecutors said. Security camera footage showed the burglars with their identities concealed entering the business after hours. Yanez was seen on video surveillance stealing the get-away vehicle that had been taken the night before from William's Roofing yard in Castroville, prosecutors said. On June 3, 2018, Yanez and Chavez broke into the C&N Tractor store in Watsonville when smashing the front window with a brick closed the business. A safe and tools were taken during the burglary. There was a loss of around $6,000 in tools and damage reported due to the burglary. Prosecutors said Yanez and Chavez were seen trying to sell the tools, and the witness reported the incident to the Monterey County Sheriff's Office. Copyright 2020 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has asked people to voluntarily follow the 'Janata curfew' called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday. Rao directed state Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar to hold a video conference with district Collectors and officials of the police, health and other departments on the arrangements and action plan to make 'Janata curfew' a success, an official release said late on Friday night. Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, who held a press conference on Friday, also appealed to the people to observe 'Janata curfew' on March 22 from 7 am to 9 pm. The Governor said she, along with her family members and staff, will be standing at the portico of Raj Bhavan and clap for five minutesto "pay profound respects to the invaluable services rendered by the medical staff, paramedical staff, government servants, public transport personnel" on Sunday at 5 pm. She appealed to the people to do the same as a gesture of gratitude. The number of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in Telangana stood at 19 as on Friday night. The 19 cases include a group of 10 Indonesians who stayed at Karimnagar in Telangana for two days last week. It also includes the first positive case of a software professional who has been discharged from hospital after recovery. State Endowments Minister A Indrakaran Reddy told reporters on Saturday that 'Panchanga Sravanam' (reading/listening to the almanac) on the occasion of Telugu New Year 'Ugadi' (on March 25) would be live telecast this year instead of organising a public gathering as part of precautions being taken to prevent the spread of the virus. The Sri Rama Navami celebration at the famous temple town of Bhadrachalam, which is attended by thousands of people every year, would be held at the temple with only the priests, pandits and officials attending, he said. The Sri Rama Navami celebrations at other temples in the state would also be a low-key affair, he added. Meanwhile, the Collector of Asifabad district has written a letter to the District Medical and Health Officer (DMHO) that an MLA (in the district), who returned from the US along with his wife recently, needs to be in quarantine in view of precautions being taken to prevent the spread of the virus, official sources said. The MLA, who was found to have participated in public gatherings for a day, has been told that he should be in quarantine (at home) and his staff conveyed that he stayed at home and did not go out, the sources added. The MLA does not not have any symptoms related to COVID-19, they said. The government, in an appeal to public in a media bulletin, said any person who has returned from any foreign country or has been in transit shall be in self-home quarantine for 14 days from the time of arrival in India, irrespective of having any symptoms or not. As part of measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus, the state government has already announced various measures, including closure of educational institutions till March 31. Chief Minister Rao, who held a meeting with ministers, senior officials and district Collectors on Thursday, had said district Collectors and police officials have been given directives to identify people who arrived in the state from abroad after March 1 so that those having symptoms of COVID-19 could be referred to medical authorities. Rao had also said cinema halls, bars, pubs, clubs and others, which have been closed for a week earlier, would remain closed till March 31. The restrictions imposed earlier on certain establishments for a week have been extended till March 31, hehad said. The closure of educational institutions and other establishments, besides other restrictions, resulted in a decline in the heavy traffic usually witnessed on the city roads. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Senior Congress leader and former Union cabinet minister Salman Khurshid has suggested that the government should postpone the Population Register (NPR) and other such things "for three months" in the face of the coronavirus threat. He said that the governments should reach out to the protesters and ask them to take back their protests to avoid the risk of coronavirus transmission through large public gatherings. The Congress leader also termed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's request to people to come out on their rooftops and balconies etc on March 22 and clap or beat thalis to express gratitude to the people involved in providing essential services as "excessive" and "uncalled for". "I wish that the Uttar Pradesh government and the central government had a good sense of reaching out to people who are participating in anti-CAA protests and tell them that everything will be postponed till we can shake off this threat (coronavirus)," Khurshid told ANI in response to a query about UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath urging people to avoid any religious gatherings till April 2. "Then we can then negotiate or discuss about what can be done or what cannot be done (about CAA and NPR). But now it is time to bring this major confusion to a halt. I imagine it would be fair on their (government's) part to say that they are postponing everything for three months. It is not the end of the world," he said. Reacting to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's proposal of voluntary curfew on March 22 and his request to people to come out on their rooftops and balconies etc at 5 p.m. on that day and clap or beat thalis to express gratitude to the people involved in providing essential services, Khurshid said: "The growing awareness and the voluntary steps people are taking are to be encouraged and applauded. But perhaps it's a little bit excessive to be saying what the PM has said that we should come out and clap etc." "This is a little uncalled for. But to the extent that we owe gratitude to the people who continue to provide essential services despite the danger that it poses to them, I think our gratitude should certainly be underscored and emphasised," he added. About politicians and celebrities attending parties etc, the congress leader said that it is a "grave mistake" for anyone to assume that all the prescribed precautions to stop the spread of coronavirus are for others and not for us. Commenting on Madhya Pradesh political crisis, the Congress leader said: "It's time we have to draw lines very clearly about our commitment to democracy. This (BJP's move) doesn't seem a clear commitment to democracy. Our MLAs' unhappiness should become a launchpad for BJP to form a government because they were very desperate out of power, it's a sad commentary on the state of affairs in a democracy. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) LOS ANGELES, March 20, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) today announced it will donate $1 million to nonprofit organizations throughout its service area to support the region's workforce, feed the hungry, and provide bill assistance to customers most affected by the coronavirus. "All of us at SoCalGas want to do everything we can to support our community during this crisisespecially workers who might be laid off, people going hungry, and those who just won't be able to pay their gas bills without help," said Bret Lane, SoCalGas Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "By providing funding to several outstanding nonprofit organizations, we're helping deliver critical services to help our neighbors who need it most." The $1 million in donations will include: A gift to the American Red Cross Los Angeles Region to support serving meals to L.A. Unified School District students affected by school closures due to coronavirus concerns. Monies designated to the Gas Assistance Fund, a program that helps income-qualified SoCalGas customers pay their natural gas bill. Seniors and those who have been laid off as a result of the coronavirus crisis will be prioritized. A donation to the Mayor's Fund for Los Angeles COVID-19 fund, which is supporting families, healthcare workers, unhoused neighbors and providing equipment needs of first responders. COVID-19 fund, which is supporting families, healthcare workers, unhoused neighbors and providing equipment needs of first responders. A gift to the Orange County United Way to assist in support local non-profits who provide essential services to those who are food and housing insure. A donation to Proteus, Inc., to provide education, job training, job placement, and other support services to farm working families and others in need in the San Joaquin Valley . "Here in Los Angeles, we are responding to the COVID-19 crisis with a full heart and a firm commitment to keeping all Angelenos healthy and safe," said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. "Like so many right now, SoCalGas is stepping up to the plate and showing what it means to lead with L.A. love doing its part to deliver essential assistance to the folks hit hardest by this pandemic." "Thousands of children who are not getting their usual school meals during this crisis will receive meals thanks to this generous gift from SoCalGas," said Jarrett Barrios, CEO American Red Cross, Los Angeles Region. "School closures can create extreme food insecurity for many children. These funds will ensure the Red Cross continues its work feeding LA Unified students at risk of hunger. SoCalGas continues to be a true community partner." The health, safety and wellness of SoCalGas customer and employees is foundational to the company. SoCalGas continues to closely monitor the COVID-19 situation with local, state and federal health agencies, as well as monitoring and implementing guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In addition to the temporary suspension of service disconnections and waiving of late fees for small businesses, SoCalGas is taking precautionary measures including: Reminding employees to stay home if they are sick and encouraging work from home and other social distancing practices Implementing company travel, visitor, meeting and event restrictions Enhanced cleaning of SoCalGas facilities and personal hygiene practices Additional information about SoCalGas' response to COVID-19 is available here. About SoCalGas Headquartered in Los Angeles, SoCalGas is the largest gas distribution utility in the United States. SoCalGas delivers affordable, reliable, clean and increasingly renewable gas service to 21.8 million customers across 24,000 square miles of Central and Southern California, where more than 90 percent of residents use natural gas for heating, hot water, cooking, drying clothes or other uses. Gas delivered through the company's pipelines also plays a key role in providing electricity to Californians about 45 percent of electric power generated in the state comes from gas-fired power plants. SoCalGas' vision is to be the cleanest gas utility in North America, delivering affordable and increasingly renewable energy to its customers. In support of that vision, SoCalGas is committed to replacing 20 percent of its traditional natural gas supply with renewable natural gas (RNG) by 2030. Renewable natural gas is made from waste created by dairy farms, landfills and wastewater treatment plants. SoCalGas is also committed to investing in its gas delivery infrastructure while keeping bills affordable for our customers. From 2014 through 2018, the company invested nearly $6.5 billion to upgrade and modernize its pipeline system to enhance safety and reliability. SoCalGas is a subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), an energy services holding company based in San Diego. For more information visit socalgas.com/newsroom or connect with SoCalGas on Twitter (@SoCalGas), Instagram (@SoCalGas) and Facebook. SOURCE Southern California Gas Company Thin blue line: Some of the 319 newly attested gardai ensure social distancing is in place at Templemore yesterday. Photo: Mark Condren Ireland may be facing into a new divide as some regions of the country have tougher emergency measures imposed on them to curb the spread of the coronavirus, it emerged yesterday. Chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan said there was currently no justification here to escalate the national restrictions on the population and introduce more draconian constraints, such as ordering people not to leave their home. However, he said depending on how the coronavirus spreads over time, putting local hospitals and health systems under acute pressure, there may be a case for heightening measures in particular regions. He was speaking after another 126 people tested positive for the virus, pushing the total to 683 amid predictions the daily toll will continue to spiral next week. He said he believed there was a high degree of compliance among the population with social distancing measures and the hope is that at the end of next week the rate of increase will have slowed, missing the potential 15,000 cases signalled by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. "Now is not the time for complacency," he urged. His advice to families celebrating Mother's Day this weekend is to confine it to members of the household and not mingle with relations or friends. An analysis of the number of positive cases up to Wednesday, when 438 were positive, shows a rise in infections among vital healthcare workers caring for the sick. Some 114 healthcare workers have fallen victim to the virus so far and the majority picked it up here, including in their workplace. The median age of infected people has risen slightly to 44 years and the number in intensive care has risen to 12. More people are picking up the virus and do not know the source - community transmission has risen from 35pc to 40pc. It comes as there is a growing momentum among a significant number of doctors to impose tougher restrictions on the population at this point to prevent Ireland becoming "a second Italy", where 4,032 have died from the infection and its hospitals are crippled. Dr Carmen Regan, an obstetrician in the Coombe Hospital, Dublin, who is echoing the call by several doctors, said: "The only way to reduce the exponential rise in the number infected during this epidemic is to isolate, contact trace, and test as many as possible. "This will in turn influence the number presenting with severe symptoms to general practitioners, accident and emergency departments, and critical care facilities across the country. We need to do as other countries have done, lock down, to buy time." But Dr Holohan said he believed more extreme measures were not needed now and the emergency group of experts overseeing the management of the virus will consider any escalation when it meets next week. Many GPs remain very concerned by the delays faced by patients who are referred for testing for the virus. Dr Padraig McGarry said it can take up to 10 days for a patient to get a result and there are variations in waiting times across the country. The HSE said community testing was now provided in 29 locations. The majority of centres are offering testing in a building or clinic location, while a number are offering a drive-through testing service. It is planned that there will be a further expansion in the number of testing locations in the coming days. There is also growing worry among healthcare workers that they will run out of protective equipment which has been supplied by the HSE. This is vital to ensure the risk to doctors, nurses or other healthcare workers is minimised when they are treating positive patients. Health Minister Simon Harris told teenagers who are meeting up in groups that "it is not the summer holidays", and they should maintain social distancing. He said the HSE is working to source additional hospital capacity, including in private hospitals which have 1,900 beds and 164 ventilator rooms. He also said there are a lot of vacant beds in HSE hospitals for the first time in his four years as health minister. This is due to the work of HSE staff in discharging patients who are able to go home and fewer people presenting to hospitals. As of today, there are over 1,000 free beds in the Irish health service. Hotels and places like the Garda College at Templemore may be used as step-down or isolation facilities to further increase capacity. We are going to see a very significant increase in cases in the coming days and weeks, he warned. Wexford County Council has agreed to a cessation of all foreign travel in a bid to limit the spread of coronavirus. While County Council Chairman Michael Sheehan and Mayor of Wexford George Lawlor were due to fly to Savannah, Georgia, for St Patrick's Day to discuss furthering connections with Georgia Southern University and the Tradebridge Scheme, the decision has been taken to cancel the trip. Similarly, Cllrs Lisa McDonald and John Fleming were due to fly to New York to join the St Patrick's Day festivities, but this has also fallen victim to the virus. In a joint statement, Cllrs Sheehan and Lawlor said: 'In view of the current situation regarding public health and with an abundance of caution, we have decided to cancel our proposed visit to join the St Patrick's Day festivities in the USA. We believe our foremost responsibility is to remain in Wexford to monitor, lead and assist in the response to what is an unique and unprecedented crisis. We urge people to listen to the relevant authorities for up to date guidelines and advice. Wexford County Council groupings will be active in meeting to monitor, review and formulate plans as required.' Similarly, at last week's meeting of Wexford County Council, invitations were made for council delegations to travel to the Cavalcade of Fleurus in France on April 11 and 12 and New Ross' twin town of Moncoutant in France on April 17. Cllr Sheehan confirmed that, unfortunately, the council would not be in a position to accept these invitations in the midst of the global pandemic. 'Pretty much all travel is currently off the agenda,' Cllr Sheehan said. 'First we started with the bigger trips to the US and that will be extended to all trips. I think the realism of the scale of this situation is now dawning on people and we have to take every precaution possible.' SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Friday ordered all state residents to remain in their homes except for essentials, joining similar dramatic efforts in California and New York to limit the spread of the coronavirus. Pritzker's order, which takes effect Saturday, still allows the state's 12.6 million residents to seek essentials including groceries and medicine. The Chicago Tribune was the first news outlet to confirm the impending state shutdown. On Thursday, Pritzker sought to reassure residents and discourage panic-buying. Grocery stories, pharmacies, gas stations, these sources of fundamental supplies will continue to operate, he said. "There is no need to run out and hoard food, gas, or medicine. Buy what you need within reason. There is enough to go around as long as people do not hoard. We will never shut these services down. Pritzker had previously ordered all schools statewide to shut down and limited gatherings to 50 people to curb the spread of the coronavirus in the state. He also closed dine-in service at bars and restaurants, but allowed businesses to continue delivery or carryout options. The governors of California and New York have issued similar orders. The first Illinois community to impose a stay-at-home order was the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, which declared a state of emergency Wednesday. For most people, the coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. The vast majority of people recover from the virus. According to the World Health Organization, people with mild cases recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe ones can take three to six weeks to get better. As of Friday afternoon, Illinois reported 585 cases of COVID-19 in 25 counties, and five deaths. The latest patient to die is a woman in her 70s from Cook County. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Thursday ordered anyone with a confirmed case of COVID-19 or showing symptoms of the disease to stay indoors, formalizing advice issued by health officials. Patients cannot leave their homes, go to work or visit any group setting except to seek medical care and life sustaining needs, including medicine or food, according to a statement from the Chicago Department of Public Health. March 20, 2020 Release Readout of Secretary of Defense Dr. Mark T. Esper's Phone Call With Indian Minister of Defense Rajnath Singh Secretary of Defense Dr. Mark T. Esper spoke with his Indian counterpart, Minister of Defense Rajnath Singh, over the phone today. During the call, the two leaders discussed bilateral defense priorities, including ongoing regional cooperation and initiatives to enhance military-to-military engagement and defense trade. They also discussed the COVID-19 pandemic and underscored their commitment to close communication during this period in order to maintain momentum on initiatives that reinforce our comprehensive global partnership. Secretary Esper expressed his appreciation for India's leadership in coordinating COVID-19 related relief efforts among South Asian countries, and conveyed his intent to visit India at the earliest opportunity. https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Releases/Release/Article/2119790/ NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address New Jerseys attorney general has ordered police recruits to stop training as coronavirus cases mount across the state. The State Police closed its academy Friday, according to Peter Aseltine, a spokesman for state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal. Training in Cape May, Ocean, Monmouth and Atlantic counties as well as for the corrections department also shut down, Aseltine wrote in a message. The academies will be closed until April 6, although the moratorium may be extended. Training had soldiered on earlier in the week, in an effort to bolster departments on the front lines of the fast-moving viral outbreak. At least six officers have tested positive for COVID-19 and 20 more are self-quarantined, the states largest police union said Thursday. Grewal has told departments to lean on other towns in the face of staff shortages. The Monmouth County Police Academy had planned to graduate 18 new recruits in May, and Atlantic County slated 41 new officers for June. Those and other classes will likely now not finish until later. The Law and Public Safety Institute in Bergen has new recruits studying remotely, a spokesperson for the prosecutors office said Thursday, and 75 people had already finished the Essex County Public Safety Academy earlier in the month. Ongoing training for current officers has also stopped in many places. Tell us your coronavirus stories, whether its a news tip, a topic you want us to cover, or a personal story you want to share. If you would like updates on New Jersey-specific coronavirus news, subscribe to our Coronavirus in N.J. newsletter. Sign up for text message alerts from NJ.com on coronavirus in New Jersey: Blake Nelson can be reached at bnelson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BCunninghamN. Representative Image China reported no domestically transmitted coronavirus cases for the third consecutive day even as seven more fatalities have been confirmed, taking the death toll in the country to 3255. No new domestically transmitted cases of COVID-19 were reported on the Chinese mainland for the third day in a row on Friday, China's National Health Commission (NHC) said on Saturday. On Friday, seven deaths and 36 new suspected cases were reported on the mainland, with all the deaths reported from virus epicentre Hubei Province and its capital Wuhan, it said. The overall confirmed cases on the mainland had reached 81,008 by the end of Friday, which included 3,255 who died, 6,013 patients still undergoing treatment, 71,740 patients who had been discharged after recovery, the NHC said. The commission said that 106 people were still suspected of being infected with the virus. COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show The NHC said 41 new confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported on the Chinese mainland on Friday from the people arriving from abroad, taking the total number of imported cases to 269. While reporting about a steady increase in imported cases, the NHC did not specify whether the infected persons were foreigners or Chinese nationals returning from abroad. China has imposed strict quarantine measures for all those returning from other countries. Of the imported cases on Friday, 14 were reported in Beijing, nine in Shanghai, seven in the Guangdong Province and four in the Fujian Province. Provinces of Zhejiang, Shandong and Shaanxi each reported two cases and Sichuan reported one. By the end of Friday, 256 confirmed cases including four deaths had been reported in Hong Kong, 17 confirmed cases in Macao and 135 in Taiwan including two deaths, the NHC said. Smarter Surfaces, whose founder is Arklow native Ronan Clarke, was announced as 'Exporter of the Year' at the 2020 SFA gala awards. The SFA Awards, now in their 16th year, celebrate businesses for the contribution they make to the Irish business sector. The exporter category highlights businesses with a proven track record in export who can demonstrate their success. The awards night took place on Thursday, March 12, at the RDS Concert Hall in Dublin. Smarter Surfaces was delighted with the win. Export accounts for 96 per cent of their business and they currently sell to over 25 markets. Smarter Surfaces is supported in their export needs by Enterprise Ireland. Smarter Surfaces has a large number of customers from a variety of industries, including Airbnb, NASA and Reebok. They are continuing to grow their direct sales, distribution and e-commerce websites in five different languages. Smarter Surfaces is committed to helping businesses increase collaboration through functional surfaces and coatings, with this latest award win supporting their achievements in the sector. Commenting after receiving the award, Ronan Clarke said: 'I was delighted to accept this award on behalf of the entire Smarter Surfaces team and our customers. We will continue to focus on developing products that create work and learning spaces that encourage collaboration and productivity by making walls projectable, writeable and magnetic. We would also like to thank the SFA for putting together a great programme. 'It was a pleasure to meet all the other finalist companies and I would like to congratulate them all.' Mr Clarke attended the Christian Brothers School in Arklow. We are home, it sure feels a bit weird not to have any scheduled speaking events in the foreseeable future, but we are safe and healthy and wise and waiting. Our prayers are for all of us, especially for pastors and churches and our own church. We will get through this together. Who is taking COVID-19 the least seriously? Ask 538: Theres been a lot of finger pointing in the past few days over who isnt taking the coronavirus seriously. Some have pointed to millennials out at bars or brunch, saying they are not taking recommendations to stay home and avoid crowds to prevent the spread of the virus. Others have gotten frustrated with baby boomers stubbornly carrying on with their weekly gatherings and travel plans. (President Trump asked Americans to avoid unnecessary travel in new national guidelines Monday.) But when you look at recent polls, there just isnt any evidence that one age group is more concerned than another about the spread of the disease. And furthermore, there doesnt seem to be an age gap in peoples willingness to adopt preventive measures. We looked at five polls conducted in the past eight days that asked Americans whether they were concerned that they or someone they knew (including a family member) would contract the virus, and in every age group, a majority said they were concerned.1 That doesnt mean there werent some differences among age groups. There were, they just didnt add up to a clear trend. Of the five polls we looked at, two found an 11-point gap between the share of people in the oldest age group who said they were worried that they or someone in their family would catch the virus and the share of people in the youngest age group who said the same.2 (Around 65 percent of the oldest group in both surveys said they were somewhat or very concerned, while that number was just under 55 percent for the youngest group.) One poll found a 10-point gap in the opposite direction: 68 percent of the youngest age group said they were worried, while 58 percent of the oldest age group said the same.3 And two polls found smaller variations one found that older respondents were about 7 points more likely to be worried, while the other found essentially no difference between the oldest and youngest groups.4 Diminishing numbers for COVID-19 in China: (CNN)Most people who contract the novel coronavirus experience mild symptoms, according to data from China, where the worst of the epidemic now appears to be over. Last month, scientists from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention published a research paper analyzing the data for the first 72,314 people diagnosed with Covid-19. Epidemiologists say it will take a long time to fully understand the mechanics of the coronavirus outbreak, but the information published by the Chinese scientists may give some insight into those most vulnerable to the virus. The data shows that men and women have roughly the same chance of contracting the virus. When the scientists looked at 44,672 patients confirmed to have the disease, they found there were 106 diagnosed men per 100 women. However, the impact on men appears to be worse, at least among those who were part of this initial study. While 2.8% of the men diagnosed with the disease died, only 1.7% of women did. Ian Pauls essay on impartiality is now illustrated by the coronavirus and by the the virus of Gods own distributive grace: Gods quality of impartiality becomes a theological turning point in the proclamation of the gospel in the New Testament. Luke sows the seeds of this idea in his portrayal of Jesus, albeit in the words of his adversaries: Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth (Luke 20.21) Curiously, in seeking to communicate to an audience including Gentiles, Luke goes back to the root of the metaphor and notes that Jesus does not lift the face but teaches truth. Then, in Acts when Peter sees that God has blessed Cornelius and the other Gentiles with him, this idea comes home to roost: Then Peter began to speak: I now realize how true it is that God does not show favouritism but accepts those from every nation who fear him and do what is right. (Acts 10.3435). For Luke, the every nation Jews who have witnessed the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost now open out to become the every nation Jew and Gentile, who will receive the good news of the message of Jesus. The same principle is at work for Paul, where the carefully structured binary focus of the opening chapters of his Letter to the Romans, balancing the reality before God for both Jew and Gentile, hinge on this idea of impartiality. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honour and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favouritism. (Rom 2.911). Again, this theological principle works itself out in practical ethics, from the earliest to the latest of the NT letters. James is emphatic that the early community of followers of Jesus cannot treat different people in different ways according to outward appearance (James 2.1, 9). Paul treats both allies and enemies in the same way in his disputes (Gal 2.6), and he is clear that the human distinction between slave and master cannot stand up to scrutiny under the searching spotlight of Gods lack of favouritism (Eph 6.9). And Pauls protege Timothy is to both guard gospel teaching and appoint gospel ministers without a hint of partiality (1 Tim 5.21). One implication of all this relates to judgement. The place where all this started, in 1 Peter 1.1718, explicitly links judgement with the impartiality of God, and connects this quite explicitly with judgement according to deeds. I think it is sometimes easy to get the idea, listening to some Christian talk about salvation, that final judgment will run according to the T-shirt slogan: God loves you, but I am his favourite. God loves all people, but Christians are his favourite! That kind of exceptionalism is the opposite to every way in which the NT describes judgement. This is particularly clear in the Book of Revelation (you knew, dear reader, that I would come to this text eventually!) where the growing focus on judgement in the later chapters is framed by a repeated emphasis on the justice of God. Even in the final visions of the New Jerusalem there is a (to us) awkward tension between the severe language of judgement and exclusion from the Holy City, and words of radical welcome and invitationall held together by the theological idea of Gods impartiality. Gods free offer of life is open to all who will accept it. Ryan Burge, one of my favorite sociologists, probes fear among Christians: Faith over fear is a common saying in Christian circles. Its becoming a mantra in recent days, as pastors, denominational leaders, and theologians try to navigate what it means to be religious during an unprecedented and unrelenting pandemic. But is that really true? Are religious people less likely to be fearful than the religiously unaffiliated? Does frequent church attendance serve as an antidote to panic and uncertainty? As is often the case in social sciences, the answer is a qualified maybe. The Chapman Survey of American Fears was published recently on the Association of Religion Data Archives. It was a survey of just over a thousand people per year from 2014 to 2018. Its unique because it asks about fear in a staggering number of scenarios. For instance, in the 2018 wave, it asks how fearful respondents are of fifty-three different things. This battery included threats like nuclear attack, needles, flying, an economic collapse, and yes even a pandemic. It also included a host of quests about religious belief, behavior, and belonging that helps us understand how religion mitigates or exacerbates feelings of fear. Because the sample is relatively small, I have to look at broad religious categories Protestants, Catholics, and the religiously unaffiliated. I calculated the share of each who say that they were afraid or very afraid of each of the 53 items in the battery. In some ways, the rise of COVID-19 has made me think carefully about partisan polarization and some of its causes. I think that people vote differently, at least in part, because they just dont live in the same world. While liberals are often deeply concerned with the lack of regulations surroundings guns, conservatives would be more afraid if guns were regulated. Does being religious make someone afraid of different things? Or does a specific psychological disposition toward a fearful worldview also drive people to become members of a specific faith community? This data cannot answer that question. But, what it has made clear to me is this: two people can see the same thing happen and one can be paralyzed with anxiety, while the other can shrug their shoulders and go about their day. And, the data cannot tell us what people do with that feeling of uncertainty some my lick the floor, while others may hoard toilet paper. The cost of an aging dog/pet: Owners of the dogs, many of whom have been around long enough to watch children grow up and provide support through countless family joys and traumas, are going to great lengths to prolong their lives, paying bills of up to $3,000 for stem cell therapy for arthritis and $7,000 for cardiac procedures like Sophies. Dogs are like a person, a family member, said Gelzer, cardiology professor at the University of Pennsylvanias School of Veterinary Medicine in Philadelphia. Nearly half of the nations 77 million pet dogs are aged 6 or older, a 15 percent increase since 1987, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association. Larger breed dogs are considered geriatric at 6 years old, smaller breeds at 7 years old. Aging dogs contend with many of the same illnesses as elderly humans, including heart disease, diabetes and senility. Cancer ravages canines at roughly the same rate as humans, striking nearly half of all dogs over age 10, experts say. Sad, but true: LOS ANGELES, CALIF. - MARCH 22, 2020: Workers at the Ralphs grocery store in Westchester is implementing social distancing guidelines for its customers on Sunday, March 22, 2020 in Los Angeles, Calif.. This Ralphs location is placing social distancing markers every six feet and limiting the number of customers it allows in to shop to help with social distancing due to the Coronavirus pandemic. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times) (Jason Armond/Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times) The death toll rose in California this weekend as coronavirus cases spread and residents tried to adjust to extraordinary restrictions on their movement. Los Angeles County health officials on Sunday confirmed one more coronavirus death, bringing the total number of deaths to five. They also reported 71 new cases in the county, with the total number now at 409. There were 132 new cases reported in last 48 hours. The number of coronavirus deaths statewide stands at 35. It is critical that everyone practices social distancing, obey the Safer at Home Health Officer Order and assume that anyone can have COVID-19, and anyone could unintentionally infect others," said Dr. Barbara Ferrer, Los Angeles County Public Health Director. "Please know that the actions you take today to stay 6 feet away from others and limit all non-essential activities outside your home are the best way for us to slow the spread of COVID-19 and save lives. The total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus, in California now stands at more than 1,500, with 30 deaths, but officials have said that the number of cases is a gross underestimation due to the lack of tests for the virus. Testing picked up this week, but healthcare authorities said they still don't have anything close to a firm estimate of how many people are infected. More than 25,200 tests had been conducted in California, by both commercial and private labs, the state Department of Public Health said Saturday. Results for more than 12,700 of them were pending. A growing number of the cases in California are instances of community transmission, in which the person diagnosed had not recently traveled or been in contact with another confirmed case. Those cases indicate that the virus is spreading locally within communities. Community transmission has been identified in California since late February, and since early March, most of the cases in the state have been unrelated to international travel, the state Public Health Department said Saturday. Therefore, the state will no longer collect information about travelers returning to California from countries with confirmed outbreaks of COVID-19, the Public Health Department said. Story continues In Los Angeles County, the median age for the total number of those who have been infected is 47, Ferrer said. There are 138 people between the ages of 18 and 65 who have tested positive. The risk is spread across everyone, she said. On Saturday, a third Los Angeles police officer tested positive for the coronavirus. The officer, who had recently returned from a vacation out of the country, was coughing and sweating during roll call earlier this week in the Central Division, which patrols areas that include downtown L.A., sources told The Times. At least 14 Los Angeles Police Department employees have shown symptoms and been tested for the virus, sources said. The other two who tested positive are a sergeant in the Pacific Division, who is hospitalized, and the other is a high-ranking command staffer, the sources said. The LAPD has now set up a plan for first-responder testing, they said. On Saturday, Long Beach announced that it had recorded three more cases of the virus, for a total of 15. New cases were also reported in Orange County, which rose from 65 to 95, and Riverside County, which rose from 22 to 45, with six deaths. In Orange County, a resident of graduate student housing at UC Irvine tested positive for the coronavirus, the school said Saturday. The person, who is not a student, had recently returned from an international trip and reported symptoms, Dr. Albert Chang, medical director of the UCI Student Health Center, said in a statement. The person is isolated and in good condition, and the risk of transmission to others on campus is low, the school said. Big Bear Lake mayor Rick Herrick tested positive for the coronavirus, becoming the first confirmed case in Big Bear Lake and the 10th in San Bernardino County, the city announced Saturday. Herrick was tested on Thursday and received a positive result late Friday. He is doing well and expected to recover, the city said. This is not the announcement that I imagined, but I hope that by going public on what is normally a private, HIPAA-type subject can be a learning moment for our tight-knit community, Herrick said in a statement. He said that he became sick with relatively mild symptoms about a week ago and self-quarantined at his home. He will continue to conduct his mayoral duties from home, he said. The mayor had limited contact with other city officials, and none are currently symptomatic, the release said. Any members of the public who had contact with the mayor before he self-quarantined can call the San Bernardino County Public Health Department for advice, officials said. In San Jose, a reserve police officer who tested positive for coronavirus is now in an intensive care unit at a local hospital, while another 20 officers or reserves remain self-quarantined, according to a source. Eleven city firefighters have tested positive, and more than 50 are in self-quarantine. Intensive care beds at L.A. Countys emergency-room hospitals are already at or near capacity, even as those facilities have doubled the number available for COVID-19 patients in recent days, according to newly released data. Fewer than 200 ICU beds were available Wednesday, with most occupied by patients who don't have the virus, according to the data, which cover the roughly 70 public and private hospitals in Los Angeles County that receive emergency patients. County health officials have advised doctors to refrain from testing some patients unless a positive result could change how they would be treated. The guidance, sent to doctors in a letter last week, was prompted by a crush of patients and shortage of test kits, and could make it difficult to ever know precisely how many people in the county contracted the virus. The health department is shifting from a strategy of case containment to slowing disease transmission and averting excess morbidity and mortality, according to the letter. Doctors should test symptomatic patients only when a diagnostic result will change clinical management or inform public health response. Sweeping orders On Sunday, President Trump approved a request from Gov. Gavin Newsom to declare a major disaster in California to help the state respond to the COVID-19 pandemic with mass care, emergency aid, unemployment assistance and disaster legal services, among others. Newsom on Friday deployed the California National Guard to assist food banks statewide that are serving residents facing food shortages. Newsom said the short-term deployment will initially assist a food bank warehouse in Sacramento County and will also assess the needs of other counties that have requested assistance with their programs. The move came a day after he took the extraordinary action of telling most Californians so stay home. The mandatory order allows residents to continue to visit grocery stores, pharmacies, farmers markets, food banks, convenience stores, takeout and delivery restaurants, banks, gas stations and laundromats. People may also leave their homes to care for a relative or a friend or seek healthcare services. Newsom asked Californians to practice social distancing when performing such necessary activities. Were going to keep the grocery stores open, he said. Were going to make sure that youre getting critical medical supplies. You can still take your kids outside, practicing common sense and social distancing. You can still walk your dog. On Saturday, after a day of confusion about the reach of Newsoms historic executive order, the state announced that more stringent sets of mandatory restrictions implemented by some California counties and cities will remain in place. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he strongly supported the move by Newsom, as well as a similar directive by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and urged residents of the two hard-hit states to heed the new orders. President Trump also praised Newsom and Cuomo, saying, I applaud them for taking very bold steps to limit activities in their states. On Saturday, Trump said he is continuing to work with the two governors. "We coordinate very much with them," he said. Lives changing Saturday will be a key test of the governor's order. On Friday, automobile traffic was "pandemic light." Hiking trails, meanwhile, were filled with cabin-fever sufferers who stayed the requisite six feet apart and smiled a lot more than normal, grateful to be anywhere but home. The city of El Segundo blocked off parking spots in front of local restaurants, where sit-down service is prohibited, and posted cheerful Gundo to Go signs. Masks and latex gloves were the garb of the day for those who ventured out. At Los Angeles International Airport at 10:30 a.m. Friday, there were twice as many workers as there were travelers at the Air Canada counter in Terminal 6. The LAXit lot looked all but closed. The four zones where travelers wait for Uber and Lyft rides had a total of three cars at 11:15 a.m. There were 13 taxis. And the travelers? Forget about it. At Griffith Park, dog walkers and exercisers were out in force Friday morning. People did lunges on the grass and push-ups on the picnic tables. A sign flashed Observatory closed until further notice. Robert Dolan, a 64-year-old Los Feliz resident, said hed been cooped up at home for nearly a week. But on Friday he decided to resume his regular speed-walking routine. I was feeling stuck in the house because of the coronavirus and all that, he said. Finally I said today I need to get out of here, because its driving me crazy. He sat on a stone ledge and watched a robin land on a tree. He listened to the flow of water near his feet. Its better than it usually is, he said, because Ive actually stopped and looked. Additional deaths Additional deaths were reported Friday across the state. Contra Costa County announced its first death related to the virus: a person in their 70s who had an underlying medical condition and had recently traveled to Europe. The patient died Thursday in an undisclosed hospital. Riverside County reported its fourth death . Information about the victim wasnt immediately available. Santa Clara County announced two additional deaths from COVID-19 on Friday, bringing its total to eight. Kolkata, March 21 : The number of confirmed Coronavirus cases in West Bengal has risen to three with a young woman from Habra in North 24 Parganas district testing positive for the infection, officials said on Saturday. The woman, in her early 20s, returned from Scotland on March 15. She is now admitted at the special isolation ward of the state's primary referral hospital for infectious diseases ID Hospital Beliaghata. State Health department sources said her family members have been asked to remain in home quarantine. According to the woman's family, she was in home isolation since returning from Scotland. However, she developed a cough and fever and was admitted to ID Hospital on Thursday. Her samples were sent to the virology laboratory of National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED) here on Friday. The test reports confirmed she was afflicted with Novel Coronavirus. Earlier, two males - a teenager and a youth - who came back from United Kingdom recently, tested positive for the disease. They are both admitted at ID Hospital and stated to be stable. Both are residents of South Kolkata. Camilla Parker Bowles title when Prince Charles becomes King has been a hot topic as of late. There has been plenty of debate about what her title should be when Charles is on the throne, with some reports claiming she will be named Queen Consort. One royal expert, however, says that Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, does not need to be Queen and is satisfied with a lesser style. Camilla Parker Bowles | Chris Jackson/Getty Images Camilla Parker Bowles will receive this title Charles and Camilla started dating when they were young, though their romance fizzled out after he went into the military. They rekindled their romance when Charles was married to Princess Diana and have been together ever since. Their affair effectively ended Charles marriage, and they went on to date for years before tying the knot in 2005. At the time of their marriage, there was a lot of talk about what title Camilla will get once Charles inherits the crown. According to Express, royal expert Angela Mollard explained how the royals have always insisted that Camilla Parker Bowles will take on the title of Princess Consort. Fast forward 15 years and that stance has not changed. Many years have passed now, she is only going to be Princess Consort, Mollard shared. Shes not going to be Queen as was discussed when she married Charles. There was always the directive that she would be Princess Consort. Despite the royals being open about Camillas title, rumors have persisted that Charles will name her Queen Consort after he takes over the monarchy. As far as Mollard is concerned, that will not happen because Camilla does not want the title anyway. Does the Duchess of Cornwall want to be Queen? Mollard went on to say that Camillas title has been making rounds again because of Queen Elizabeths age. Her Majesty will be turning 94 years old next month, and there is no telling how much longer she will sit on the throne. Charles is first in the line of succession and will take over as soon as Queen Elizabeth has passed or steps down. When he inherits the crown, Charles will likely pick a new name for himself, but Mollard is convinced that Camilla Parker Bowles is content with becoming Princess Consort. HEGXIT MEGXIT News Prince Charles Is 'Disappointed' Camilla Parker Bowles Will Never Be Queen Claims Royal Expert Showbiz Cheat Sheet https://t.co/NKSoa0WVAO #HEGXIT #MEGXIT pic.twitter.com/FtkRNpkOJW #HEGXIT Newsfeed: Harry and Meghan (@HEGXIT) March 17, 2020 Apparently she has no desire to be anything more than Princess Consort, Mollard explained. She doesnt need to be Queen, and this is just confirmation from Clarence House that that will be her title. As Princess Consort, Camilla will perform duties befitting a Queen and will be expected to support Charles in all of his endeavors. This includes increasing her royal duties, something she has already been doing in recent months. Camilla Parker Bowles increases her royal duties With Charles set to take the throne at any moment, Camilla has increased her royal duties over the past few years. In 2019, for example, Camilla was often spotted by Charles side and joined him for their tour of New Zealand. In light of recent developments, i.e. Prince Harry and Meghan Markles exit, Camilla is expected to take on even more responsibilities moving forward. She has also reportedly been a huge source of support for Charles, who was not happy about Megxit. Unfortunately, the recent COVID-19 outbreak has put a stop to many of the royal familys upcoming events. This includes Camilla Parker Bowles and Prince Charles planned tour of Jordan and the Republic of Cyprus. The events have been canceled to protect the public and the royals from contracting the virus. Hopefully, the outbreak will become better managed in the weeks to come and the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall can get back to their schedule. What does Camilla Parker Bowles do to cope with stress? It sounds like Camilla is pretty content with not being Queen, but she still feels the pressures of the royal spotlight in her daily life. After all, Camilla lived half her life before marrying Charles and experienced a major adjustment upon joining the royal family. When Camilla feels like the stress is too overwhelming, she turns to her own family for support. According to Express, royal author Penny Junor revealed that Camilla Parker Bowles uses her family as a much-needed escape from the pressure and enjoys spending time at her Berkshire home, Ray Mill. 2/47 #Royal Facts About #PrincessDiana After her marriage to Prince Charles, Camilla Parker-Bowles could have used the title Princess of Wales. Instead, she chose to use Duchess of Cornwall so that the public could continue to associate the title with Diana pic.twitter.com/J6JBdUsWay Prince George (@PrinceHRHGeorge) September 7, 2018 Her saviors have been her family, who keep her feet on the ground, a couple of good friends, who are prepared to tell her shes talking nonsense, and Ray Mill, which she kept when she married Charles, Junor stated. She has an escape. She can forget she is a Duchess. Junor added that Camilla often spends weekends at Ray Mill to reboot. At her house, Camilla has the freedom to cook for herself, wear whatever she wants, and watch mindless television. Charles sometimes accompanies her at Ray Mill, though he often cannot because he is too busy with work. Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles, of course, have not confirmed these reports. The notice went on to say that OTG is not offering severance packages, however due to the impact the COVID-19 is having on the nation, many local governments are offering additional assistance to impaired workers. Ms. Muzquiz, who had worked for OTG in the airport for five years, said she understood the predicament the company was in, but she took issue with the message and the way it was delivered: a curt dismissal that offered no compensation or benefits to help employees left jobless in an economy that is cratering. This isnt our first rodeo with OTG, she added. How they treat their employees is not right. Ms. Campos, 57, agreed that the way that OTG treated its workers was very not fair. Ms. Campos, who for the last eight years had served customers at OTGs Prime Tavern in Terminal D, said she was especially worried about the companys newer workers who were let go with no paid time off or accumulated sick days to use. You run out of your sick pay, you dont get anything, she said. You walk out of there with nothing. Waves of workers at airports across the country are losing their jobs as travelers evaporate, but some companies are offering their employees a financial lifeline, including extending their health care coverage. Many restaurants and shops in once bustling airport terminals have closed with business essentially having come to a standstill. Arthur Phillips, a spokesman for Unite Here Local 100, said the union estimated that at least 2,400 of its members had been laid off from jobs in concessions or catering at the three airports that serve New York City. Its a rainy Wednesday evening here in Michigan. Supper is over and the girls are washing dishes. I decided to sit here at the kitchen table and get started on this column. The girls are talking to each other, so my mind wanders over to them, making the task of writing a little difficult. The boys are taking their showers and things are slowing down for the day here at the Eicher farm. The girls made hamburger potato skillet casserole for our supper. It is made with hamburger, onions, potatoes, cream of mushroom soup and Colby cheese, layered in a skillet. Son Kevin, 14, has been having school here at home this week due to school doors closing because of the coronavirus. Kevins teacher brings him his work whenever he needs some more. Kevin goes to a small public school of around 300 students in K-12 that is located about three miles from here. The Amish schools have all closed their doors as well here in Michigan. It is hard to get groceries that are needed when the shelves are emptying fast. We have plenty of meat in the freezer and canned goods, but items such as toilet and Kleenex tissues were off the shelves. I am not one to stock up on such items, as they are usually available in the stores. Once in a while when they go on sale, I buy a few more packs than needed. Of course, with eight people in the house, it takes quite a bit already. The first store I went to was out of toilet tissue and Kleenex. The second store had a few six-roll packs of toilet tissue left, which of course I took, but they were out of Kleenex and all the other brands except the very small purse size packs. I took some, as not everyones nose is OK with paper towels. Yes, fortunately, I was able to get paper towels. I know a lot of people use hankies, but I never did just because I really think its carrying germs to use it over and over. I also remember well when I used cloth diapers. I was one of the mothers that, if our paycheck allowed it, added disposable diapers to our grocery list. Of course, with my children being closer in age and having more than one child in diapers, that wasnt always possible. I was telling our children how well I remember going to church as a little girl and, at some places, there wasnt any toilet tissue in their outhouses only newspaper and magazines. They were amazed that one would even consider using that. Yes, times have changed and life goes on but one thing will never change and that is our almighty God! Let us not fear but keep our trust in Him. He will take care of us in times of need. We do want to use common sense though with this virus. I pray all of you will stay healthy and safe. God will provide if we put our full trust in Him. Meanwhile, our sons-in-law Tim and Mose have cooked a lot of sap into maple syrup from the trees in the woods beside Tim and Elizabeths house. A reader asked if the bags they use are reusable; they are not. They gather the sap with the horse and wagon, and the bags are emptied into the buckets on the wagon, then taken to the cooker to cook down, which takes hours and hours. I was very excited to receive my brand new cookbook. The pages are so crisp and new. Im looking back at all the hard work we put into it, and now the finished product. I will share a recipe from the book that uses maple syrup. God bless! Lovinas Amish Kitchen is written by Lovina Eicher, Old Order Amish writer, cook, wife, and mother of eight. Readers can write to Eicher at PO Box 1689, South Holland, IL 60473 (please include a self-addressed stamped envelope for a reply); or email LovinasAmishKitchen@MennoMedia.org and your message will be passed on to her to read. She does not personally respond to emails. Lovinas new cookbook, Amish Family Recipes, can be found online. Morning Maple Muffins 2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup milk 1/2 cup butter, melted 1/2 cup maple syrup 1/4 cup sour cream 1 egg, beaten 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract Topping 3 tablespoons flour 3 tablespoons sugar 2 tablespoons chopped nuts 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 2 tablespoons cold butter In a large bowl combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl combine milk, melted butter, maple syrup, sour cream, beaten egg, and vanilla. Stir milk mixture into flour mixture just until moistened. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Topping: Combine flour, sugar, chopped nuts, and cinnamon; cut in cold butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over batter. Bake at 400 degrees for 16-20 minutes. Cool 5 minutes before placing muffins on wire rack. 20 Nigeriens have been arrested by immigration officers at Juaso in the Asante Akim South District of the Ashanti Region. Our manifesto: This is what YEN.com.gh believes in The arrested persons include eight females, 11 males, and a toddler. They have all been screened by health officials in the district as concerns over the COVID-19 grow in the Juaso community and Ghana. READ ALSO: Oppong-Nkrumah claims health experts have dropped hint of more COVID-19 cases According to initial investigations, they came from Sunyani to sell their local herbal medicines. Residents, however, raised alarm following fears of the recent outbreak and the spread of the coronavirus, Bernice Amponsah, Public Relations Unit of the Ashanti Regional Immigration Command said. The police also revealed only four of the 20 foreigners had their travel documents and certificate which did not even permit them to work or stay in Ghana. The remaining 16 only carried on them Nigerien identity cards. The Immigration Command in an interview with Citinewsroom.com said the 20 persons are being prepared for repatriation. The police and immigration authorities also expressed gratitude to the residents of Juaso for reporting the foreigners to the appropriate authorities. They encouraged citizens to continue to work and communicate with the police anytime they are suspicious of something. READ ALSO: Live: Bawumia and Chief Imam lead Muslims in prayer against Covid-19 Meanwhile, Ghana has recorded five new positive cases of the coronavirus on Friday, March 20, 2020, bringing the countrys recorded cases to 16. All five were reported from the Greater Accra Region, according to the Ghana Health Service. YEN.com.gh earlier reported that two Members of Parliament (MPs) who travelled outside Ghana have been directed to stay away from Parliament for two weeks. The directive is to ensure that the two, MP for Binduri, Dr Robert Baba Kuganab-Lem, and MP for Ayawaso East, Naser Toure Mahama, undergo the two-week self-isolation to help prevent the spread of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). "I will score President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo 0/100" - Market woman reveals | #Yencomgh READ ALSO: Ghana Card: NIA official arrested for registering people at night Know someone who is extremely talented and needs recognition? Your stories and photos are always welcome. Get interactive via our Facebook page. Source: YEN.com.gh You are the messengers of Gods destruction. Galaxy Brain was written by the team of Meredith Glynn and Robert Berens and was directed by Richard Speight Jr. The episode drags us back to Not-Kaia (Yadira Guevara-Prip) and retcons Kaia back to life. Guevara-Prip is again excellent. She would have easily been one of the bright spots had the Wayward Sisters spinoff ever gotten off the ground. The episode also marks the potential last appearance of Sheriff Jody Mills (Kim Rhodes). I couldnt help shaking that Rhodes performance is infused with anger at the CW passing on the spinoff but maybe thats just me. Regardless, it will be a shame if we dont get a final episode that features the team of Jody and Donna (Brianna Buckmaster), but unlikely with only 8 (hopefully) episodes left its very unlikely. To me, they were always the much more interesting part of Wayward Sisters than the trouble special teens.The episode begins on Earth 2 and why does the CW have to mandate that every single show on the network looks like the Arrowverse? Regardless, we find Chuck (Rob Benedict) visiting a Radio Shed and playing on the demo stereo is Pop Tart Heart by Louden Swain Benedicts band! (yes. I was at the concert in the link but am not the videographer) The clerk (Nicco Del Rio) tries to help his customer, but Chuck tells him that hes just looking for an audience because its monologue time. Yeah. Its kinda funny, but really its just bad meta.Chuck tells the clerk about making the world and then the other world and his characters. He then tells him that Dean (Jensen Ackles) has said that hes not going to get the ending that he wants. And this did actually feel like better meta, as Ackles said that when he was told about the ending for the series, he was initially not happy. Its since been reworked and he came around to it neither are good signs. Chuck goes on to say that it shouldnt matter because hes gotten what hes wanted from hundreds of Sams and Deans do we read this as satisfying episodes? Satisfying fan fiction? You know people are going to be rewriting the ending of this series for at least another 15 years, right?But Chuck IS upset because those other toys (other shows? Fan fiction?) dont spark joy the way that the real Sam and Dean do. Chuck goes on to say that they disappoint him, challenge him, surprise him. Chuck decides its time to clear the board of all the other world, realities, subplots, and failed spinoffs. And thats rather a nasty dig at Wayward Sisters, but its also a clear indication that we wont be seeing these characters again. Especially, when Chuck declares that its time to start cancelling shows.We pick up the action on our world in Sioux Falls. Jody is investigating a dead cow that looks to be just a dead cow, and shes taken prisoner by Not-Kaia.Back at the Bunker, Sam (Jared Padalecki), Cas (Misha Collins), and Dean discuss Jack (Alexander Calvert). I loved Collins performance as Dean sums up whats wrong Jacks deal with Death aka Billie (Lisa Berry) and eating hearts and Cas, with a little shudder, says the hearts were disturbing. Sam wants to know whats next. Dean points out that cosmic players never reveal their plans. Sam points out that Jack still has no soul and after being in the Empty for months, they have no idea where his head is.The action cuts to Jack as he moves around the Bunker. He pauses to look at the initials carved in the table and then looks around his room. This is home. This is his family. Once alone in his room, Merle (Sandra Ferens) answers the silent prayer he sent to Billie because Billie is busy. Jack is worried. He prayed when the Grigori had him and Billie didnt save him, Cas did. Merle points out that Billie likely knew that. She cautions him to play by the rules. No using his powers.Cas maintains that Jack trusts Billie and he trusts Jack. Sam is worried about cosmic balance. If Jack kills Chuck, what will Amara do? Dean points out that hes seen Billies library and spent time with her, so he has faith in her. She sticks to the rules and she was right about Rowena. Its the only plan they have right now.Sam checks in on Chuck, interrupting his conversation with Merle, who disappears like any good Reaper. Chuck tells Sam that he wasnt talking to anyone. Jack says hes settling in fine. Sam tells him that they are all really glad to have him back. Sam tells him that he could have come to them first they would have helped him. Jack says he knows. But its an uncomfortable and awkward scene.We get a really nice scene between Dean and Cas as the two share a drink. Cas is clearly pleased that things have worked out. He tells Dean that he knew from knowing Kelly that Jack would turn out ok. The two toast to it. Dean wants revenge but Cas is more interested in Jack simply fulfilling his destiny. Dean muses that Chuck wanted to go all Cain and Abel and now they are going all biblical on him killed by his own grandson. The two are interrupted by the call for help from Jody.Dean and Sam head to Sioux Falls and find Jody tied to a chair as bait. Non-Kaia easily takes them out. She wants her spear back and she wants them to live up to their promise to get her home. Jody manages to save them. Sam cant believe that she wants to go back to the Bad Place and really? How bad are these writers at naming things???She tells them that her world is dying and she knows because of her dreams. Her dreams that are visions she shares with Kaia who is miraculously still alive and shes just telling them now. Omg. This is some of the worst retcon yet. Not-Kaia tells them that she left Kaia the tools she needed to survive, but now she sees that her world is dying. She needs their help to get back there.I loved that we see the board games come out again and Cas and Jack are playing Connect Four. Cas, of course, sucks at it! The others return, and its kind of ridiculous that this is the first time that Cas and Jody have met in person.Not-Kaia stands apart as the others discuss what they can do. Jack is off limits, but the brothers will hit the lore and Cas will reach out to Sergei to see if he has any more arch-angel grace. Not-Kaia is understandably upset as she doesnt understand why he cant just open a portal. They discuss what to do with Kaia and chain her up with a womans magazine! LOL!Jack throws himself into helping with the research and finds a spell he thinks could work. Only the last ingredient is a monster that is extinct. The best part for me in this scene was that the brothers know this because John wrote about killing the last one in his journal. Its nice to see that that is still and integral part of their research!Cas has no luck getting Sergei on the phone. Jody has been going through the unidentified magical objects with no luck on identifying them. This scene is a nice one as the two discuss Claire. It makes it even more absurd that theres never been a scene between the two Claires father and adopted mother. Cas asks if Jody has told Claire, and Jody tells him shes out of cell range following up a lead on a woman in a dark cloak. Jody has clearly arranged this. She tells Cas that Claire loved Kaia and has spent years trying to get revenge. If she failed now, it would kill her. Of course, the other issue is that Kathryn Newtons (Claire) career has inexplicably blown up so clearly not a guest star option.Jack goes to talk to Not-Kaia who is not happy to see him. She tells him that she saw him. Kaia was scared and he pushed her to cross over. Jack tells her that he was just trying to help Kaia because she was in so much pain. For someone without a soul, Jack is filled with a lot of remorse for the fact that Kaia is in mortal peril now because of him. He asks why Not-Kaia came there. She tells him that she envied Kaia because her world looked peaceful, but she finds the world cold and she doesnt understand it. She grabs his hands and tells him that he can fix it. He can help them. She begs him and looks like Kaia for a moment. Jack briefly uses his powers to see Kaia through Not-Kaia.Jack tells Dean and Sam that hes saving Kaia because its the right thing to do. Merle appears and tells Jack hes being Winchester-dumb risking everything to save one life. She tells him to try and shell tell death. Jack tells her to go and hell open the rift before she can tell Billie. Merle says shell just stop him, and Jack tells her she can try. He knows she cant stop him and then he tells her to wait and see what Billie does to her when everything goes sideways on her watch. OR she can help them find the safest way to do it.Merle finally admits that there might be a way. She tells them that their cosmic warding is useless since Amara peeled it off. Dean insists that they restored it, but Merle tells them that they didnt restore the cosmic-grade warding. She can only really restore it temporarily and with Cass help. It was kind of fun to watch the runes being restored by Sams spell.Dean and Sam get ready to go through the rift and Sam says it feels like they are taking a big and probably stupid risk but it feels good doing the dumb, right thing. It feels like theyre back. Jody thanks Cas for staying back with the Reaper. Cas asks Jody to stay back. She accuses him of some silly male chivalry, but Cas wants to make sure that Claire is going to be ok. If something goes wrong, and Kaia doesnt come back, Claire has already lived through that trauma, but if something happens to Jody, it will kill Claire. Its a stupid way to sideline Kim Rhodes.Not-Kaia is first through the rift, followed by Sam and Dean. The three are quickly surrounded by huge Jawas Not-Kaia assures them that they arent hungry, theyre just scared of the storm. She takes them to her home. Kaia comes out when she hears Dean calling her and rushes into his arms. Sam assures her that Not-Kaia helped them find her. Not Kaia refuses to return with them. And it definitely looks like she dies with her world.Dean and Sam return with Kaia and Jody takes her in her arms. Jack lends her some clothes, which mostly fit but Kaia is just happy theyre clean. Jack asks how she survived, and Kaia tells him Mary Mack the nursery rhyme which her mother used to tell her. Jody invites her to come home with her, and Kaia asks if Claire will be there. Jody says she will soon. She thanks them, and the two leave. Its a pretty blah parting if thats the last time we see Jody.Merle declares it a victory, just before Billie drives her scythe through her, turning her to dust. Billie is clearly not happy with Jack. The scythe would be more impressive if it wasnt so clearly plastic Billie tells them that they are playing a big game and the weakest link had to go. Billie also tells them that she sees the big picture one life means nothing in the grand scheme of things. Billie tells them that all the worlds are dying but theirs. Hes extinguishing galaxies for the end game. Which explains why she was so busy!Sam wants to know what Billies end game is. How is Jack supposed to kill Chuck? She tells them that as a Reaper, she believed in the rules and then Cas killed her. And she inherited Deaths knowledge and Deaths library. Everyone has a book, even God. And we get that awesome flashback to Death (Julian Richings who was the best Death ever hands down and I still miss him!) telling Dean that he will reap God. Cas wants to know why God would write the blueprint to his own death, and Billie tells him that God didnt write it the books write themselves. In order to keep things ticking even in his absence, God had to build himself into the framework. And its his only weakness. Only she can read someones book other than the person themselves. She tells them that Jack and both of them are in Gods book. She tells Dean that she told him that the brothers had work to do, that this is their destiny. She tells themThe episode circles back to Radio Shed. The clerk is a mess. Chuck is largely done, but some worlds require more attention to be unwound. The clerk says that he guesses Chuck will spare them. Chuck tells him hell be fine and walks out of the store. As he walks away, we see the store hit by flaming meteorites and in case we still dont want to believe Chuck is a bad guy, he also litters the plastic cup hes drinking out ofSo a tiny bit of information to give us a little hope that the brothers can win. It was nice seeing Yadira Guevara-Prip again, who is a pretty busy actor in her own right! Other studios have certainly been busy snapping up these actors. It was nice to see Jody and Cas finally get some face time. Calvert delivers a really good performance here. Its hard to believe that Jack is completely soulless with all the emotion he shows! If this was Jodys swan song, its pretty disappointing. I suppose we can console ourselves that at least they didnt kill her yet. What did you think of the episode? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below! Three Western Massachusetts cities have ordered all barbershops, hair salons, nail salons, esthetic salons, massage therapists and tattoo artists to cease operations for at least two weeks to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. Holyoke, Agawam and Chicopee have issued closure orders effective March 23. In Chicopee, shops may reopen on April 5 if it is determined it is safe to do so. Officials reserve the right to reevaluate every two weeks and could order further closures. Springfield officials are allowing a voluntary shutdown. The orders come due to the inability of those services to maintain appropriate social distancing of six feet between the operator and the client, officials said. Representative image Thirty-five-year-old consultant Mayank Upadhyay has worked double his regular shift over the past week after the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic forced him to work-from-home. While going to office would have meant a 9-6 work day, work-from-home means that he is technically online for almost 14 hours. He says his human resource (HR) manager also is encouraging longer hours at the job. You are at home, dont switch off seems to be the message. At his employer, which is a multinational corporation (MNC), the number of hours put in everyday is taken into consideration at the time of appraisals. With 236 positive reported COVID-19 cases in India, corporates across the country are encouraging employees to work-from-home. The reality, however, is that these firms want their staff to be logged in almost 24/7. At a Mumbai-based financial services firm that has given alternate days work-from-home, employees are monitored every 15 minutes. If the laptop remains inactive, the employee is automatically sent a message to login again. While the idea is to follow business continuity plans, work-from-home also needs to be treated as regular work day. Here, the more you miss out on the 15-minute inactive notifications, the longer your day gets. The assistant vice president at the firm quoted above says that he is surprised at the level of mistrust at his workplace. COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show Also Read: Is India Inc ready to offer work-from-home? Parallels could be drawn with Japan that has a culture of overworking and judging employees on the number of hours they put into the office job on a daily basis. With the threat of COVID-19, the Japanese government has also requested employers to allow work-from-home, but several companies are grappling with this advisory. And have told HR consultants that they have no other way of measuring employee productivity other than monitoring physical presence in the office. In India too, despite government advisory, several companies in the software and IT/BPO sector have refused to offer flexible work benefits. And those who have been forced are making employees do double-shifts. HR managers of companies in India have over the past two weeks noted multiple cases of employees reporting fatigue due to working from home. This is primarily because companies that would have a 9 am login policy are now insisting that the staff start working from 8 am onward. The justification? You are at home. Work-from-home is also challenging for teams as far as coordination is concerned. Those employees dealing with client servicing face a far tougher situation with conference calls taking up 40-50 percent of their average work-from-home day. In cities such as Mumbai and Bengaluru, where real estate is more expensive than other cities, owing a large apartment with a quiet corner to work is a luxury. Doing a cross-nation video call would mean that an individual needs space with proper lighting and a professional background to be able to attend these calls. With the neighbourhood coffee shops that were earlier used by employees on the move also shut, maintaining professional ethics is a concern. Kolkata-based data analyst Dipti Sikdar who lives in a one bedroom flat with her two children says that she waits for her infant son to sleep so that she can attend to her daily client calls in peace. If there is external noise in her room during these calls, she is expected to wait for a time when there is lesser disturbance. This automatically means her day ends only by 10-10.30 pm during work-from-home as against 7 pm on a regular day. Call drops, poor internet connectivity and background noise are added concerns that are stretching the already longer work hours. What both companies and their HR managers need to understand is that work-from-home is an exact replica of working from office. Hence not just the work hours will have to be similar, the breaks entitled to an employee also need to continue. Lunch breaks, coffee breaks and smoke breaks during an eight to nine hour office day help manage the monotony. While employees are expected to complete their daily tasks no matter what their location, they are entitled to breaks during the day as well. Corporates need to let go of the misconception that work-from-home is treated like an informal holiday by employees. If this trust deficit is bridged, overworked employees can also heave a sigh of relief. Commissioner Rawalpindi, Capt Muhammad Mehmood has said that divisional and district administration of the division were fully alert to face the challenge of corona virus and all possible quarantine and treatment facilities would be provided to the confirmed patients RAWALPINDI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th Mar, 2020 ) :Commissioner Rawalpindi, Capt Muhammad Mehmood has said that divisional and district administration of the division were fully alert to face the challenge of corona virus and all possible quarantine and treatment facilities would be provided to the confirmed patients. During his visit to quarantine center established in Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU), he was informed that Quratine centre in FJWU can host over 250 patients where doctors and paramedical staff have been deputed to handle with any emergency like situation. On the occasion, Commissioner said that "We should not be panic. We must get united and join hands with the government to root it out of our country and implementation on precautionary measures is very important and decisive in this regard. " He appealed to the public to fully cooperate with the district administrations for the implementation of government directions as there was no other way out to stop spread of coronavirus. Later, Commissioner also visited quarantine center established in Rawalpindi Institute of Urology (RIU) and Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH). Meanwhile, one patient of Coronavirus has been admitted in RIU where his treatment was underway while 8 suspects reported to BBH where their reports are awaited. Tens of thousands of Iraqi Shiites turned out to commemorate a revered imam on Saturday, defying curfews imposed to stem the spread of the coronavirus. On foot, they streamed to the golden-domed mausoleum of Imam al-Kadhim in Baghdad, where authorities kept an outer gate open to allow pilgrims into the surrounding courtyard. The inner shrine remained closed despite some pilgrims pressing authorities to let them in, a shrine official told AFP. "There are many fewer pilgrims than in previous years," the official said, asking not to be identified. "For the first time, there are no foreign pilgrims -- everyone comes from Iraqi provinces." The anniversary typically draws millions of devout followers from around the world who visit and kiss the shrine housing the remains of Musa al-Kadhim, who died in 799 in the custody of Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid. Many come from Iran, which is now battling one of the world's deadliest coronavirus outbreaks. Iraq banned travel to and from Iran last month for fear of a potential spillover. Last week, it expanded the measures into a total flight ban until March 24 and shut shrines across the country. The country's top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani has urged Iraqis not to gather in large numbers for prayers, where the risk of contamination could be high. On Friday, his representative issued another rare statement urging Muslims to abide by medical advice on social distancing, but did not specifically tell pilgrims to stay home. Authorities have struggled to enforce lockdowns announced in more than half of Iraq's 18 provinces, as well as a ban on travel between provinces. In the southern city of Nasiriyah, thousands of pilgrims packed onto a bridge with a mock coffin to honour the fallen Imam as they could not make it to Baghdad. Influential cleric Moqtada Sadr called on his followers to take part in the pilgrimage to the Imam al-Kadhim mosque despite federal authorities urging otherwise. The Iraqi health ministry has documented 208 COVID-19 cases and 17 deaths, but many expect the real number is much higher as only some 2,000 people have been tested in a country of 40 million. A fully fledged outbreak would be devastating for the country, where years of conflict and underinvestment have ravaged the healthcare system. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) While the COVID-19 outbreak continues to evolve, Tennessees farms remain an ideal source for fresh and local produce, dairy products, and meats, said officials. Many farms that sell directly to the public are working to keep the food supply chain strong and taking additional precautions to protect the health of their customers. There are farms across the state that sell their own products, as well as products from other Tennessee farms, to provide customers with a broad selection. Many have retail stores on site or sell online. From eggs gathered that morning, to freshly-picked vegetables, to milk and cheese, to freezer meatsfarmers are adapting to customers needs. With recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control in mind, many farm stores are offering advance orders online or over the phone, limiting the number of customers inside the store at one time, delivery to the car or a pickup location, options to ship, and in some cases, home delivery. Pick Tennessee Products features a searchable database of farms statewide that sell directly to the public. Customers can go to www.picktnproducts.org or download the free PickTN mobile app to find a local farm. Although our grocery shopping habits have changed with time, farms remain the original source for our food, Commissioner of Agriculture Charlie Hatcher, D.V.M. said. If you havent shopped at a local farm before, I encourage you to call ahead and ask whats available. Many are partnering with other farms to provide a greater variety of fresh products than ever before. It is not believed that COVID-19 is spread through food. However, those who manufacture or sell food should take steps to prevent the spread between food handlers and customers. The Tennessee Department of Agriculture has information and tips for food handlers online at www.tn.gov/agriculture on the COVID-19 Response and Resources page. On a muggy Thursday morning, volunteers and staff scrambled to fill boxes and bags with food inside a warehouse before heading out to make deliveries to Houston-area seniors. Outside, in the parking lot, Geoff Newby packed up a truck with the hot meals that he typically delivers daily. But he also added a box of meals with non-perishable items canned goods and meats, juices and other foods that can last his older clients longer. Interfaith Ministries Meals on Wheels is accustomed to operating under difficult conditions such as hurricanes. But concerns about the spread of the new coronavirus and recommendations for social distancing have forced the nonprofit to innovate, relying on practices typically utilized during natural disasters to deliver meals safely. Many of our delivery folks are seniors themselves, so were trying to both reduce the risk for our drivers and volunteers, as well as reduce the risk for our senior clients who were visiting when we deliver the meal, said Martin Cominsky, CEO of Interfaith Ministries of Greater Houston. Now Playing: Operation IMpact usually occurs in May or June (for hurricane season), but Interfaith Ministries will be making the deliveries in March due to the COVID-19 outbreak. All of its 4,300+ seniors will receive the emergency food this month, in case the virus impacts Meals on Wheels deliveries. Video: Steve Gonzales, Staff photographer/Houston Chronicle In addition to the non-perishables, the non-profit is rolling out weekly delivery of frozen meals, instead of daily hot meals, so that drivers dont have to go to residents homes every day. They will still check in on clients every day, but by phone. The organization also is grappling with a significant dropoff in volunteers across all age groups. Normally, the group sees volunteers from various companies and college and school groups, but it believes concerns about COVID-19 have kept people away. Meals on Wheels is looking into virtual opportunities, so people can still help out from afar. Newby, a delivery driver for four years, said he can sense his older clients are worried that meal deliveries might stop during the pandemic. A lot of times I can hear in their voice that theyre kind of concerned with all the craziness that is going on, and they just need a little bit of reassurance that everything is going to be alright, said Newby, 55. Interfaith Ministries Meals on Wheels currently delivers about 4,300 meals a day to home-bound seniors in Harris, Galveston, Montgomery, Liberty and Chambers counties. Faced with the challenges posed by the pandemic, the nonprofit decided to begin its Operation IMpact distribution, which typically occurs in May or June, just prior to hurricane season, two months early. In case the virus impacts our deliveries, our seniors will have a supply of emergency food now that can also be used for hurricane season, Interfaith Ministries of Greater Houston said in a statement. The operation involves delivering two boxes of five meals containing non-perishables to area seniors. More Information How to Help Meals on Wheels Sign up for Volunteer opportunities with Meals on Wheels at http://volunteerhouston.org/ Donate cat food to support their Animeals program, which delivers meals to pets of senior's once-a-month. Donate here to help seniors get the microwaves they need. See More Collapse Businessman Jim McIngvale, better known as Mattress Mack, recently stepped in to help raise awareness about the nonprofits growing need of microwaves, given that seniors will have to heat up the frozen meals. Thats our challenge, Cominsky said. In an organization thats all about bringing people close together, were trying to figure out how to enable that spirit in a more distant, prescribed path that the medical community is asking for. David Golemon, whos been delivering meals since 2017 for the program, isnt letting the coronavirus keep him from helping out seniors. He said he doesnt feel at risk himself, noting that he doesnt have any underlying health issues. They enjoy seeing me show up, said Golemon, 59. It gives us both a couple of minutes of familiarity, and conversation and social interaction. He said he isnt hugging or shaking hands, as he normally might, and is wearing surgical gloves when he delivers meals in Midtown and the Heights. Delivering a hot meal to someone thats akin to giving someone shelter who didnt have it before, said Golemon. Theres a heightened sense of obligation and a heightened sense of accomplishment that comes with working with a program like this. Newby also is continuing to deliver to clients. During the first stops on his delivery route near downtown Houston, Newby cheerfully greeted each client as he dropped off their packages of food. Since the coronavirus became a major concern, Newby is trying to use hand sanitizer every time he leaves the truck, wipe his vehicle down with Lysol wipes and maintain his social distance as he drops off food. One of Newbys clients, Moses Ford, said hes grateful for the service hes been receiving for nearly a year. Sitting on his porch, the 84-year-old said his favorite food in the packages are the meatballs. Hes real good to me, Ford said of Newby. brooke.lewis@chron.com Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-20 23:56:12|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Workers disinfect a railway station in southern Pakistani port city of Karachi, on March 20, 2020. While ruling out a complete lockdown of the country, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan Friday urged people to adopt social distancing as a precautionary measure to contain the spread of COVID-19. According to the federal government statistics, there were 457 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Pakistan so far. (Str/Xinhua) ISLAMABAD, March 20 (Xinhua) -- While ruling out a complete lockdown of the country, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan Friday urged people to adopt social distancing as a precautionary measure to contain the spread of coronavirus. Speaking to senior journalists in Islamabad, he said practicing social distancing is very important to contain the virus, and the best thing people can do is self-quarantine instead of going to hospitals and burdening them. "Our people should limit their social gatherings for the next one or two months." He said 4 to 5 percent of people may need hospitalization if virus spreads in the country which will put a strain on available medical resources, adding that even most developed countries of the world facing shortage of medical supplies during the outbreak. The prime minister said that experiences of various countries, especially China, will be utilized to fight against the threat of coronavirus pandemic. "Like China, we have to fight against this menace as a nation," he said, adding that Pakistan has been in contact with the Chinese government ever since the disease broke out, whereas authorities in Pakistan have been following guidelines provided by China. Talking about the complete lockdown of the country, Khan said the government was not considering any lockdown yet as it will deeply effect the poor and weak groups in the society. Keeping economy afloat and people safe from the epidemic is the need of the hour, he added. "We are going to provide incentives to construction industry to protect our lower and labor class against the coronavirus. We want people to exercise discipline, rather than lock downing the whole country." The prime minister also urged media community to avoid sensationalism while reporting on the disease as it could lead to panic that might make the situation worse. "Responsible role of the media in creating awareness and preventing panic among masses is important." According to the federal government statistics, there were 457 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Pakistan so far. (Newser) The hottest new bar's dress code? Sweatpants. And you don't have to leave your couch. With bars shuttered and stressed-out workers stuck at home, companies and friend groups across the US are holding happy hours over video chat to commiserate and keep spirits high during the pandemic. In one community, neighbors are toasting one another every night from the ends of their driveways to unwindwhile keeping a safe distance, the AP reports. "Let's be honest, we could all use a break and a drink right now," said Nick Minerd, who took part in a virtual cocktail hour with more than 30 home-bound coworkers in Tennessee. Video chat happy hours have popped up all over social media as bars have closed and restaurants have shifted to delivery and takeout only in an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19. story continues below Emily Anderson, who runs an organization that connects moms in New York City, plans to host weekly video chat happy hours to help moms celebrate surviving another week of the Coronapocalypse" with a quarantini." Tracy Stallard of New York said a group of her friends from high school caught up over drinks via video chat and talked about their new normal. "Have you been going out and taking a walk? Do you wear real pants when you get up in the morning? How many days did it take before you stopped wearing makeup?" they asked each other. In Montclair, New Jersey, a group of neighbors is taking a different approach, holding a nightly happy hour in front of their homes. While everyone stays in their own yard, they've sung happy birthday to those whose celebrations were spoiled by the virus and toasted "to better times, but never better neighbors," Gail Stocks said. (Read more coronavirus stories.) VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / March 21, 2020 / Mota Ventures Corp. (MOTA.CN)(FSE:1WZ:GR)(PEMTF) (the "Company" or "Mota") is pleased to announce that since the launch of the Pure Herbal Immunity Blend under the First Class brand on March 14th, 2020, it has had an exceptional reception, acquiring 1,838 new customers. The all-natural Immunity Blend is made from 100% pure essential oils, including cinnamon leaf, lemon, clove bud, lime, eucalyptus globulus, rosemary, peppermint, spearmint and oregano. Due to customer demand for pure and efficacious products to support the immune system, the Company will be launching an Immune CBD oil, along with an Elderberry Gummy product on Monday, March 23rd. The new Immune CBD product contains CBD, B3, B12, Vitamin C and Zinc. Based on the success of the launch, First Class will be increasing marketing efforts throughout the US. The Company plans to offer similar immune products in Europe through its Sativida brand, which currently retails product in various jurisdictions in Europe, including Spain, Portugal, Austria, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. The Company anticipates the completion of the Sativida transaction in the next seven days. Further to its January 10, 2020 news release, the Company will acquire the intellectual property and trade names of Sativida from VIDA BCN LABS SL (Spain) and Sativida OU (Estonia) (collectively, "Sativida"). The Company will license both back to Sativida in exchange for a royalty associated with the gross revenues generated by Sativida. "As our customers around the globe face challenges in their daily lives, we are working diligently to provide products to help families with natural health needs. Our supply chain is operating uninterrupted and we are quickly working to expand our immune support product line. We stand ready to continue to adapt to market changes and innovate new products to take advantage of the numerous opportunities ahead", states Ryan Hoggan, CEO of the Company. Story continues About Mota Ventures Corp. Mota is seeking to become a vertically integrated global CBD brand. Its plan is to cultivate and extract CBD into high-quality value-added products from its Latin American operations and distribute it both domestically and internationally. Its existing operations in Colombia consist of a 2.5-hectare site that has optimal year-round growing conditions and access to all necessary infrastructure. Mota is looking to establish sales channels and a distribution network internationally through the acquisition of the Sativida and First Class CBD brands. Low cost production, coupled with international, direct to customer sales channels will provide the foundation for the success of Mota. About Sativida Sativida is a producer and online retailer of CBD and branded CBD products in various jurisdictions in Europe, including Spain and the United Kingdom. Sativida currently develops and retails a vast range of organic CBD oils and cosmetics across Europe and is currently expanding its distribution network internationally. For more information on Sativida, readers are encouraged to review their website, www.sativida.es. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS MOTA VENTURES CORP. Ryan Hoggan Chief Executive Officer For further information, readers are encouraged to contact the President of the Company, Joel Shacker, at +604.423.4733 or by email at IR@motaventuresco.com or www.motaventuresco.com Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release, which has been prepared by management. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statement All statements in this press release, other than statements of historical fact, are "forward-looking information" with respect to the Company within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including with respect to its completion of the acquisition of Sativida, the expansion of Sativida's business, its plans to become a vertically integrated global CBD brand, its plans to cultivate and extract cannabis to produce CBD and high-quality value added CBD products in Latin America for distribution domestically and internationally. The Company provides forward-looking statements for the purpose of conveying information about current expectations and plans relating to the future and readers are cautioned that such statements may not be appropriate for other purposes. By its nature, this information is subject to inherent risks and uncertainties that may be general or specific and which give rise to the possibility that expectations, forecasts, predictions, projections or conclusions will not prove to be accurate, that assumptions may not be correct and that objectives, strategic goals and priorities will not be achieved. These risks and uncertainties include but are not limited those identified and reported in the Company's public filings under the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise unless required by law. SOURCE: Mota Ventures Corp. View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/581890/Mota-Ventures-Launching-Immune-Support-CBD-Line-Pure-Herbal-Immunity-Blend-Acquiring-1838-New-Customers-Within-a-Week New Delhi : The US has seen a significant spike in coronavirus cases with the number of fatalities surging past 200 and the total confirmed infections crossing 14,000, pushing health care officials and political leaders to step up efforts to contain the fast-spreading pandemic. According to Worldometer, a website which compiles new case numbers of COVID-19, there were 14,299 confirmed infected cases and 218 deaths reported in the US as of Thursday night, making it the sixth top coronavirus infected country. China with 80,967 infected cases and 3,248 deaths tops the list followed by Italy (41,035 cases and 3,405 deaths), Iran (18,304 infected cases and 1,284 deaths), Spain (19,077 infected cases and 831 deaths), Germany (15,320 infected cases and 44 deaths) and France (10,995 infected cases and 372 deaths). With a significant spike in both the infected cases and deaths in the last 24 hours, several US States and local governments have issued lockdown orders. Coronavirus cases have been reported in all the 50 States and District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. California on Thursday ordered all its residents, about 40 million people, to stay at home in a bid to battle the coronavirus pandemic in the most populous state in the US. Californians can go out only for essential needs like food, hardware supplies, exercise and medication. California Governor Gavin Newsom in a letter to President Donald Trump projected that roughly 25.5 million Californians - about 56 per cent of the State's population - could become infected with the virus over the next eight weeks. "This is not a permanent state, this is a moment in time. We will look back at these decisions as pivotal," the Governor said. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio told New Yorkers to be prepared for a long battle. "This is going to be one of the most difficult moments in New York City history," he said and urged retired health care workers to volunteer to help. "There will be people who die who didn't need to die. We are seeing an explosion in the number of cases. ' It's a painful and distressing number," he said. New York city has reported 3,615 positive cases and 22 deaths. The Mayor called it "nothing short of staggering." Texas issued a notification ordering the closure of all schools, gyms and restaurants and asked people to avoid a gathering of more than 10. "We continue our relentless effort to defeat the Chinese virus," Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday. This year's Hope & Dream 10 road run in Enniscorthy has been postponed until October. The decision to reschedule the event was made by the organising committee last week in line with Government and health authority guidelines with regard to public gatherings, as efforts continue to stem the spread of the coronavirus, COVID-19. While the health and safety of the general public is of paramount importance to the event organisers the Hope & Dream 10 is the principal fundraising event for the Hope Centre and Wexford Hospice and its postponement will put added pressure on the resources of both services throughout the summer. Michael Jordan, the race director, spoke to this newspaper about the decision and said that although it was inevitable, given the current situation, it was one not taken lightly by the committee members. 'It was a very difficult decision to make and we already had 1,500 people registered to participate,' he said. 'However, some of the people who would take part, as well as the general public, would possibly be at risk and obviously the health and safety of everyone has to come first,' he added. 'We knew once we had made the decision it was the right thing to do.' However, rather than cancel the event the committee chose to reschedule it and the new provisional date is October 4. 'That is the new provisional date, albeit subject to risk assessment and medical advice,' said Mr Jordan. 'That's six months away and we would hope that the situation with regard to the coronavirus will have resolved itself by then but who knows how things will develop,' he added. 'We are certainly hopeful that the event will take place on that day all things working in our favour.' Mr Jordan went on to comment: 'We have secured that date and we are going to be working towards that.' The committee is also mindful of the fact that fundraising events in support of the race have already taken place and Mr Jordan said: 'People have already collected money and we would ask them to hold onto it. We have a specific system in place for collecting money and the insurance et and cannot do it on a piece-meal basis and we will collect all of the money raised like we normally do in line with the rescheduled date.' Last year's Hope & Dream 10 event raised 180,190 for the centre and Mr Jordan confirmed that both the centre and Wexford Hospice Homecare will be 'massively hit' as a result of this year's postponement. 'They are going to be massively hit by this,' he said. 'The Hope Centre relies on 80 per cent fundraising and those events are not now going to be able to happen,' he added. 'However, people's health and safety have to come first.' While the current restrictions will have an impact on provision of services in terms of some logistics Mr Jordan pointed out that clients of the Hope Centre will still be able to access its services. 'If someone contacts the centre by phone they will be looked after and we will be proceeding as best we can,' he said. KAMPALA Uganda has confirmed her first case of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), the health minister Jane Ruth Aceng has announced. Dr Aceng said the confirmed case is a 36 year old Ugandan male who arrived from Dubai, on Saturday March 21 2020 aboard Ethiopian Airlines at 2:00am. During the screening process at the airport, Dr Aceng said the patients temperature was 38.7 prompting the health teams to isolate him at the airport for further follow up. Subsequent temperatures taken at intervals of 30 minutes and one hour remained the same. He was evacuated to Entebbe Grade B Hospital for further follow up where a nasal swab was taken for analysis. The confirmed case presented with high fever and poor appetite. He is not coughing neither did he have flu. However, the persistent fever prompted the health workers to isolate him. His nasal swab samples was sent to Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) for analysis. Results from UVRI showed the sample is positive for COVID-19. According UgStandard, the patient has had travelled to Dubai on the March 17, 2020 for business purposes. At the time of his travel, he was in good health. He is a resident of Kibuli, Kagungulu zone, Kampala. To date, Dr.Aceng said a total of 1,827 travelers including Ugandans and others travelling back home have been identified as coming from high-risk countries for purposes of follow up. About 827 are completing self-quarantine while about 1,000 are under quarantine. She reassured the general public that all measures were undertaken to identify this case at the airport and isolate him in a timely manner. The passenger manifest has been retrieved and all contacts are known as we are in position of the passports of all the travelers that came on that plane. Uganda has since suspended all incoming and outbound commercial passenger flights effective Sunday, March 22 at midnight for at least 30 days. Addressing the country, President Yoweri Museveni said starting 12:00 am on Sunday 22 March 2020, no passenger planes or human movement will be allowed into or out of the country. He said only Cargo planes and their crew will be allowed in Uganda as the country gets into total shutdown to prevent the Coronavirus. Due to the indiscipline of certain people in our efforts to curb COVID-19, we have decided to prohibit all incoming passengers into the country by air, water or road, Mr. Museveni said. He added that: No person Ugandan or otherwise will be allowed to enter Uganda by land, water except drivers of cargo vehicles. No buses minibusses, salon cars, boda boda, pedestrians on foot, people on bicycles. Nor will they be allowed to exit by these means. The ban, to begin on 22nd March also applies to Ugandan citizens trying to return home. The disruption to air travel is also certain to ripple through economies, causing widespread damage to hotels, car rental companies, and restaurants. Related Today was supposed to be Bailey Kings wedding day. Since becoming engaged to Eric Griffin in January of 2019, Bailey, an occupational therapist in Vestavia Hills, spent the next 14 months planning their wedding for Saturday, March 21, in her hometown of Mobile, with a ceremony at Springhill Avenue United Methodist Church and a reception at the Ezell House. As of last Sunday, the wedding was still a go. But by Monday, the coronavirus pandemic had changed everything when the White House advised Americans to avoid groups of more than 10 and encouraged people to stay at home. Terribly disappointed, but knowing they were doing the right thing, Bailey and Eric decided to postpone their big day. Its been a whirlwind of a couple of weeks, says Baileys mother, Jeannie King. That day, the wedding planner, Leslie Gilbert with Jenna Laine Weddings, called every venue and vendor and rescheduled everything for a new date, July 18. But there was nothing they could do about the flowers, which had already arrived at Belle Bouquet Florist and Gifts in Saraland. Jeannie decided that, instead of keeping the flowers, she wanted to donate them to someone who could enjoy them. Toni Steiner, the consultant at Belle Bouquet who worked with the bride, contacted Knollwood Pointe, an assisted living and memory care facility in Mobile, where she knows several residents. They were excited to receive the flowers, which they wanted to use to help celebrate a residents birthday. A gorgeous assortment of white and blush roses and white hydrangeas with eucalyptus greenery was delivered to Knollwood Pointe on Thursday. No one was happier than the birthday girl, who asked Toni for the brides address so she could be sure to send a thank-you note. It was such a gracious delivery to our community, said Jennifer Mares, a spokesperson for Knollwood Pointe. It was definitely such a happy surprise for the residents, and it helped lift their spirits. Belle Bouquet Florist Gifts had a bride who postponed her wedding scheduled for this weekend. The flowers were already... Posted by Knollwood Pointe on Thursday, March 19, 2020 At Belle Bouquet alone, 13 upcoming weddings have been postponed four this week, four next week and five in April and May because of the pandemic, said Toni. Her parents, Edna and Bill Adcox, started the florist shop 50 years ago. Toni, her sister and their mother all work in the family business. Were doing the best we can, she says. Business is down, but weve weathered some storms over the years and always managed to bounce back. The brides father, Tommy King, owns another small business in Mobile, Print King. Were feeling the effects just like everyone, Jeannie says. We did a lot of work for schools and events, and now nothing is happening. Knowing the flowers were put to good use the staff has placed floral arrangements throughout the community, and even in some residents rooms has helped the brides family feel less sad about the situation. Its kind of sunk in now, says Jeannie. Were hoping and praying itll all be gone by July. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Reuters) New York, United States Sat, March 21, 2020 07:39 662 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad206c56a6b 2 World New-York-City,COVID-19,US,army Free The US Army Corps of Engineers is looking at converting more than 10,000 New York rooms, potentially in hotels and college dorms, into medical care units to help address the fast-spreading coronavirus, the commanding general of the Army Corps said on Friday. The pandemic has upended life in much of the United States, shuttering schools and businesses, prompting millions to work from home, forcing many out of jobs and sharply curtailing travel. Lieutenant General Todd Semonite told reporters at the Pentagon that the Army Corps was looking at converting the rooms and other large spaces into intensive care unit-type facilities and it would need to happen within weeks, not months. "We're talking about over 10,000 that we are looking at right now," Semonite said, adding that a decision would be made by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Earlier this week, the White House said it was in talks with the Pentagon about how the military can be deployed to deal with the coronavirus, including setting up field hospitals in states with a surge in cases. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has called for the Army Corps to increase hospital capacity. The Army Corps of Engineers is made up of 37,000 soldiers and civilians providing engineering services in more than 130 countries, its website says. Erin is the managing editor at The Red & Black, where she has covered Greek life, student culture and local business. She is a junior journalism and English major, and also has bylines in Matador Network, Apartment Therapy and Down South House & Home. Follow ERIN KENNEY Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today Actors Hema Malini and Esha Deol shot for a special episode of The Kapil Sharma Show which will air this weekend. Among the things they talked about, Hema told host and comedian Kapil Sharma how Dharmendra had booked an entire hospital for her, reported Mumbai Mirror. She also spoke about how she had dozed off while speaking to him over phone. Yes, its true, during the deliveries of Esha and Ahana, he had booked the whole hospital on my name so that I dont get disturbed by fans. Hema also mentioned how her mother had barred her from entering the kitchen and wanted Hema to focus on her dancing career. It was only after Esha and Ahana were born and later when they complained that they wanted food cooked by their mother that she decided to learn cooking. Incidentally, the first thing she learnt was bread poha. Hema also added that she learnt most of her cooking during her vacations abroad. Both Hema and Esha will appear on this weekends episode of The Kapil Sharma Show. Esha reportedly spoke about her book Amma Mia which has all the insights, advice and recipes passed down from one mother to another. Kapil reportedly asked Hema if she had learnt any Punjabi cuisine, to which Hema replied that she hadnt. She added that when he comes to her place, he loves to have idli and sambhar. To this, Kapil jokingly said, he does it out of love. Also read: Sonam Kapoor defends Kanika Kapoor: She came back on 9th. India wasnt self isolating but playing Holi There was once a time when Hema dozed off while speaking to Dharmendra. Explaining the scenario, Hema said how back then the only mode of communication was the telephone. Once, when she was in a deep discussion with him but dozed off. During that time, I was constantly shooting throughout the night and because of which I was too tired and slept while talking to Dharamji. Pyaar bhari baatein, ek certain time tak thik lagi hain and then you start to feel bored... agar Dharamji yeh sunenge toh unhe bahot bura lagega (Romantic conversation feels good till a certain time, after that one starts to get bored. If Dharamji hears this he will feel bad), she said. Follow @htshowbiz for more In the face of these troublesome times, we often worry about ourselves, our supplies, our shelves -whether they are stocked, or needing restocking. We see the worst in some people, and we see the best appear in others. Until recently, understanding one of our children work in Vancouver's downtown core hospital, Saint Paul's, was always was a bit concerning. Only because growing up in Vancouver, I've seen the effects of its drugs, crime and the mental health challenges that endlessly rotate the hospital's turnstiles. But in the light of this virus, and the scores of people coming in daily with uncertain ailments, or suspicious symptoms, our hearts are torn between genuine worry and overwhelming pride. Being a front line worker in the emergency ward, there is a genuine worry for her well being, yet an overwhelming sense pride in the fact that she, and scores of other health care workers are putting themselves at higher risk for the well being of others. Hats off to those caring for us all. Stay safe, be safe. Greg Hall (Bloomberg) -- Malaysia will deploy its army starting on Sunday to ensure the public stays at home through the two-week lockdown meant to contain the coronavirus pandemic. We are confident that with the help from the army, there will be more control and we hope the people will obey the orders issued by the government, said Defense Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob after attending a meeting with ministers on the Restriction of Movement Order Friday. The number of confirmed cases in the country has continued to climb to reach a total of 1,030 as of Friday, the most in Southeast Asia, even as the growth has started to plateau. Malaysia has reported two fatality from the disease. Malaysia banned citizens from traveling overseas while shutting schools, shops and many public services until March 31 in a bid to limit the spread of the disease. Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin urged people to stay home and warned the government may need to extend the period of lockdown if the measure fails to contain the virus during these two weeks. Even the king, who rarely addresses the public, called for Malaysians to heed the order in a televised speech on Friday. Ismail said some Malaysians were still flouting the government order, with some taking their children to the playground or eating in groups at restaurants. Still, public compliance had increased from the 60% seen on Wednesday, when the order first came into effect. Police have set up roadblocks around the country to advise drivers to stay home. (Updates with the kings speech in fifth paragraph.) For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source. 2020 Bloomberg L.P. Suriya, the Nadippin Nayagan of Tamil cinema is currently all set to release his highly anticipated movie Soorarai Pottru. The biopic, which marks the actor's first collaboration with talented filmmaker Sudha Kongara, is one of the most-awaited Tamil films of 2020. If the reports Suriya is currently on a signing spree. As per the latest reports, Suriya is in talks with the renowned filmmaker TN Gananavel for his next directorial venture. The filmmaker, who is best known for the acclaimed movie Koottathil Oruthan, is planning to direct a film based on the Irular tribal community of Tamil Nadu and has approached the Soorarai Pottru actor to play the lead role in it. Reportedly, Suriya is highly impressed with the story idea and has asked the director to kickstart the scripting immediately. If things fall in place, the actor will team up with TN Gnanavel for this ambitious project, which is said to be based on real-life incidents. The project is expected to go on floors with a pooja ceremony, by the first week of April. According to the rumour mills, Suriya is also in talks with his once best friend Gautham Vasudev Menon, for an upcoming love story. The speculations regarding the Suriya-Gautham collaboration started doing rounds after the actor mentioned that he is ready to 'hold a guitar' once again for Gautham, if he comes up with an exciting idea, in a special video he posted during the 20 Years Of Gautham Menon celebrations. Apart from these projects, Suriya is collaborating with hitmaker Hari for the upcoming family thriller Aruvaa, which is expected to start rolling soon. The actor is also teaming up with the acclaimed filmmaker Vetrimaaran for an ambitious project that is said to be a period film based on the popular novel Vaadivaasal. Also Read: Suriya's Aruvaa: Here's An Exciting Update On The Project! The Chinese Government Sends A Team of Medical Experts on COVID-19 to Serbia 2020/03/21 Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang announces: To help Serbia fight the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chinese government has decided to send a team of medical experts to Serbia. The team, organized by the National Health Commission, consists of experts selected by the Health Commission of Guangdong Province. The team left for Serbia on the afternoon of March 21. Bollywood stars are sharing messages of hope and strength as the country fights against the deadly coronavirus. Actors such as Katrina Kaif, Sonam Kapoor, Jacqueline Fernandez have shared social media posts for their fans on holding tight through the self-isolation. In her message, Katrina said that she was recording the video from her home and hoped that her fans were watching it from their homes as well. Be safe and take care of one another. Together lets help to stop the spread of this virus. Stay safe everyone, Katrina wrote in her post. She advocated the need for social distancing and how the next few weeks will be crucial in stopping the spread of the virus. Sonam also wrote a thoughtful message for her fans. Kindness, Empathy and understanding is the need of the hour. Self discipline, self reflection and isolation is the need of the hour. There isnt any place for negativity, hate, xenophobia, racism and dishonesty. Please please stay at home if you can. Drink hot water as much as you can. Gargle with Salt .Bathe as soon as you come home and dont sit anywhere before you do. Wash clothes. immediately or sun them. Clean all metal surfaces. Dont smoke. Hands should be washed several times a day.Elevate zinc and vit c doses.Pets dont spread the virus, so stop abandoning them or killing them.Dont eat cold things.Attack a sore throat immediately. Apparently the virus lives in the throat for 3-4 days before moving to the lungs, she wrote. Sonam is currently in quarantine with her husband Anand Ahuja since returning from London earlier this week. Lisa Haydon, finally stepped out after eight weeks inside her home in Hong Kong. Having a new born baby in a corona virus world had me very busy with a bottle of sanitizer... thus havent been posting that much lately. But here is a video of me finally not staying inside after 8weeks. Most of the world seems to be in self quarantine at the moment. However, here in Hong Kong things are just about beginning to feel back to normal. The way the ppl here in Hk handled this virus from the get go was commendable. A very militant approach to wearing masks, social distancing, SANITIZER etc... But, What Ive learned in these passed months is - it doesnt take a lot, or cost a lot to be happy, she wrote. Weve had the pleasure of some quality family time, lots of home baking and cooking, mountain walks on Occassion, catching up on movies , sleep, and plenty of conversations with each other. Its been a break from the craziness of life and its many professional and social obligations. A time to rest, and recoup.. in fact I wish I would learn to take breaks like this without it being enforced in this unfortunate way. It also got me thinking .. Last year a lot of what I read in the news was about Brexit, US China trade war, Harry and Meghan leaving the royal family, and then experiencing the protests in Hong Kong . But, all of that seems much less talked about in the face of a global health crisis. Without good health it seems there is little place for any other perspective. In all of this I pray we find the peace and patience to ride this out and hopefully be better for it. In the meantime, here is some extremely rusty clumsy post natal surfing for a lol, she added. Also read: Robert Downey Jr willing to return as Iron Man for less money after Dolittle flop: report Jacqueline prayed for affected people and sang a song for her fans on a piano. Just a little something. My prayers to all those suffering from the virus and all those risking their lives to keep us safe, she captioned her post. Comedian Kapil Sharma also shared a post on Twitter about the upcoming janta curfew on Sunday. #StayHomeStaySafe #IndiaFightsCorona #UnitedWeStand #jantacurfew22march God bless this beautiful world, he wrote. The number of novel coronavirus cases in India rose to 283 on Saturday with 60 persons testing positive. Several states went into battle mode to contain the pandemic, announcing partial shutdowns and imposing restrictions on peoples movement and gatherings among a slew of precautionary measures. Follow @htshowbiz for more Cheyennes Britney Wallesch acknowledges that Saturday of all days was a strange time to announce a campaign. All of Wyoming is currently in a state of emergency and, as many struggle with the reality of lost jobs, a stock market in decline and an oil price war abroad, not too many people are even thinking about state politics. Much less her bid to unseat her districts incumbent Republican Sen. Anthony Bouchard in this years general election. But as other Democrats running for the statehouse kicked off their campaigns months ago, Wallesch, a Democrat, said the decision to wait and to pull the trigger right now came for one reason only: she was simply ready to start running. Wallesch, founder and executive director of Cheyennes Black Dog Animal Rescue and chairwoman of the Wyoming Nonprofit Networks board of directors, had been planning a campaign for the Wyoming statehouse since last August, seeing an opportunity to provide a needed voice in the Legislature both for women and the nonprofit sector she has spent years advocating for. In the midst of a pandemic and facing the prospect of being unable to go door-to-door for weeks if not months due to the coronavirus Wallesch decided now was as good a time as any. Do you bail on all the work thats been done because the timing is weird? Wallesch said Friday in an interview with the Star-Tribune. Or do you say You know, were asking people to have faith in you as a leader, so you have to show up in this moment, even if its not the way we planned to do it? Her bid against Bouchard who won the seat in a surprise upset of longtime incumbent Dave Zwonitzer in the 2016 primaries is an effort to bring constituents concerns back into the Capitol at a time where they feel underrepresented, Wallesch said. Attending legislative sessions as a private citizen, Wallesch said she observed a party and gender imbalance, a lack of perspective, and, at home, a lack of access and accessibility to the person intended to bring those concerns to the Legislature. Finally deciding to run, she said, was an extension of what she is used to doing every other day of her life: identifying a problem and developing a solution to solve it. There arent a lot of women who are in a position where they can (run for office), she said. It became apparent to me that I was in that position and therefore felt a responsibility to embrace it. Running as a western Democrat, her platform is fairly standard: a support for Second Amendment rights but an openness to expanded gun safety programs. Support for the states education system and advocacy for competitive rates of pay for teachers. Affordable healthcare, particularly for those with mental health issues. But in business-friendly Wyoming, Wallesch sees a niche for herself she feels has been absent from the conversation for a long time in the Senate: a business owner who supports diversifying the states revenue streams, bringing new voices into the debate and bolstering the community assets needed to make communities vibrant. We cant just cut programs and services and expect people to stay here, she said. We want people to stay here, to make their living here and to love being in Wyoming. Because it is a wonderful place. We just need to be able to build a future for them that makes them want to stay. At a time of tough decisions for state lawmakers as well as heightened economic anxiety, the likelihood of deep budget cuts and possible tax increases its certainly not an easy time for anyone to run. Its a reality Wallesch not only acknowledges but embraces. Regardless of the current state of things, theres no point in which running for something like public service isnt going to be extremely hard, she said. The fact the environment is even harder, I think, is sort of a challenge of your commitment to the thing. For me, it makes me want to double down. Im not a person who runs away from something thats hard, and the harder it gets, the more I feel internally committed to doing whatever I can to make a difference. At stake for the candidate is a seat at the table for a sector she feels has rarely been included in conversations in the Legislature nonprofits and the constituency they serve. She sees an opportunity to not only bring that perspective into the floor debates but to serve as a conduit for those nonprofits as well, acting as a liaison between them and their government. She wants to be an active listener, increasing constituent access and improving transparency in places where she believes its long been absent. This, she said, includes not only her own district but the state legislature as well, where she says some conservative groups have been making increasing strides to bolster conformity among the states conservative political class. I have not framed my opposition as a single person, she said. What we are fighting against is a radical fringe group that is trying to redefine our values. Theyre trying to frame decisions around how women receive health care or what the rules around how we vote might be she continued. We see them attacking people who dont agree with their position in a way that makes it hard for them to stand for their own values. And I dont think thats right. That said, kicking off a campaign in the middle of a pandemic does come with its challenges. Her campaign launch event originally scheduled for Saturday was indefinitely postponed, taking consideration for the types of social distancing practices that have become ubiquitous across the United States. However, getting started and building name recognition early is important, even with the general election more than half a year away. At the center of her campaign, she said, is increasing connectivity with her constituents and bringing their voices back into the Capitol, learning exactly how state policies are impacting them on the ground. I think it has the potential to reveal new opportunities or solutions or paths forward to solve the problems weve been struggling with for the last decade that we havent made much progress on, she said. If we just keep having the same people asking the same questions over and over again, were going to keep getting the same answers. And that is exactly what is happening right now. Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Australian PM announces stricter limits for indoor gatherings over COVID-19 People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 16:48, March 20, 2020 CANBERRA, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Friday announced stricter restrictions on non-essential indoor gatherings, which had already been limited to 100 people. Under the new rules each person at an indoor gathering must be provided with at least four square meters of space. The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Australia was 709 as of Friday morning - an increase of 25.4 percent from 565 on Thursday morning. "The rise in the number of cases means we need to continue to take action to suppress the growth in these cases and to flatten the curve, which is something more Australians are becoming more familiar with," he said. "So for example, if you've got a room, you've got premise, if you've got a meeting room or something like that, that's 100 square meters then you can have 25 people in that room. "I know these rules will take some time for people to get used to, but I'd ask people to move as quickly as they can." The prime minister also flagged "more advanced measures" in the near future, including "particular area" shut downs in the event of localized outbreaks of COVID-19. "What we've asked for advice on is the density of those cases, how many cases in a particular area that triggers actions over and above what these general rules are that apply to those areas, and that would be staged up according to the level of that outbreak and what needs to be done wherever possible to shut that down," he said. Meanwhile, Australia's Parliament will resume for just one day as coronavirus continues to spread in the country. The House of Representatives, the lower house of Parliament, will resume on March 23 with only 90 out of 150 Members of Parliament (MPs) set to attend to legislate the government's 17.6-billion-Australian-dollar (10.3 billion U.S. dollar) economic stimulus package. The federal budget for financial year 2020/21, which Treasurer Josh Frydenberg was due to announce on May 12, has been delayed until the first Tuesday in October. The government has committed an extra 444.6 million Australian dollars (259.5 million U.S. dollars) for aged care facilities, most of which will go towards ensuring "the continuity of the workforce." National Australia Bank (NAB) on Friday became the first Australia's big four banks to announce that it will allow personal home loan customers to pause repayments for up to six months in an attempt to stimulate the economy and relieve financial pressure. Morrison on Friday confirmed that state governments were working on providing similar relief for renters. "States also agreed today, and further work will be done on this, are working to identify how relief can be provided for tenants in both commercial tenancies and residential tenancies to ensure that in hardship conditions there will be relief that will be available and ensuring the tenancy legislation is protecting those tenants over the next six months at least," he said. "Now I know that will mean something for landlords, just as the decision taken today means something for banks, just like the decisions we have already taken as a Commonwealth Government means things for our balance sheets and as a people for the Commonwealth Government as it does for the states. "All Australians are going to be making sacrifices obviously, in the months ahead, and everyone does have that role to play and that will include landlords, at the end of the day for people who are enduring real hardship." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address CHESTER A Chester City police officer died while on duty Saturday morning, officials said. Mayor Thaddeus Kirkland confirmed that Officer Bronelle Barrett Lee, a 22-year veteran of the force, became unresponsive while on duty at the police station Saturday morning requiring paramedics. Crozer-Chester EMS was called at 7:16 a.m. for an unresponsive person at the police station. We are awaiting further confirmation from the Medical Examiners office, Kirkland said. She was on duty and was asked if she wanted to do a double shift. Its a painful situation, said Kirkland. The fact that when you lose one of your brother, sister comrades, its painful. The other stuff is out the window. She was a good person, Kirkland said. She had four children. Living here in the city of Chester. She was a good person serving the people of Chester. Police Commissioner Otis Blair said Lee had been an officer in Chester for more than 22 years. An outstanding officer, a work-a-holic, she give you the shirt off her back if thats what it took, fed you if it was necessary, Blair said. Of the highest honors. Our condolences go out to our family, her loved ones. She would want us to keep moving forward. We still have a job to do. Pray for her family, thats all I can ask. Police officers from nearly every department in Delaware County took part in a procession that escorted her body from Crozer-Chester Medical Center the nearly 8 miles to the Medical Examiners officer at the Fair Acres Geriatric Center in Middletown. Along the route firefighters formed arches with the American flag hung from the ladder trucks. Residents stood and watched, some saluting or holding their hands to their hearts as the officers body went past. At the Medical Examiners office, 50 officers stood at attention as Lees body, covered with an American flag, was brought out of the ambulance. What you see today is a fitting tribute to a fine officer, Kirkland said. The coverage on this live blog has ended but for up-to-the-minute coverage on the coronavirus, visit the live blog from CNBC's U.S. team. Global cases: At least 234,073, according to the latest figures from the World Health Organization Global deaths: At least 9,840, according to the latest figures from the WHO All times below are in Beijing time. 8.45 pm: Europe approves France's $323 billion aid package The European Commission has approved France's 300 million euros ($323 billion) aid plan as it attempts to stem the economic impact of the fast-spreading coronavirus. The money is designed to help businesses with liquidity issues across the country. "We are working around the clock with Member States to enable them to take swift, effective and targeted action to support the European economy at this difficult time, while preserving the Single Market," Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager said in a statement Saturday. "Because we need the Single Market to weather this crisis and bounce back strongly afterwards." France has over 12,600 confirmed cases, according to Johns Hopkins University, and 450 people have died from the virus. It is the seventh-worst affected country in the world. 7.43 pm: Confirmed cases in Spain nears 25,000 as number of deaths jumps 30% The Spanish health ministry said Saturday that 1,326 people had now died from the coronavirus in the country, a rise of 324 or more than 30% on the day before. The total number of confirmed cases now stands at 24,926, up from 19,980. It comes after Isabel Diaz Ayuso, the president of the region of Madrid, said Friday that the majority of people in Spain's capital city will get the coronavirus. Speaking to state radio Thursday, she said eight out of 10 people in the city would contract COVID-19. Spain is second only to Italy for coronavirus-related cases and deaths in Europe, which has become the epicenter of the outbreak. The WHO has advised all countries to adopt a mix of interventions based on an analysis of the local situation and context, with containment as a major pillar. Bishop and Meredith 7.05 pm: Australia closes Bondi Beach after 'unacceptable' number of people ignore the rules Australia's Bondi Beach has been closed after people ignored the government's social distancing rules and flocked to its world-famous shores. Greg Hunt, the country's health minister, said the number of people on the beach was "unacceptable," as the New South Wales police closed the beach to the public. Hunt said, "where something like this is happening, the local council must step in." "We are all in this together ... If you are breaking those rules, you are putting not just yourselves, but other Australians at risk. The message is: be our best selves," Hunt told reporters Saturday. Australians have been advised to avoid large gatherings, although its social distancing measures are more lax than in many other countries, and schools remain open. The number of people who have coronavirus in the country now stands at 1,081, according to Hunt, and seven people have died. Bishop People sunbathe on Bondi Beach ahead of its closure in Sydney on March 21, 2020. Peter Parks | Getty 6.21 pm: Iran's death toll tops 1,500 as confirmed cases in the country continue to rise The number of people who have died from the coronavirus in Iran has reached 1,556 a rise of more than 100, a health ministry spokesman said on Saturday, Reuters reported. Speaking on state TV, Kianoush Jahanpour said the total number of confirmed cases was now at 20,610. Iran has the fifth-highest number of cases of the virus in the world, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. It comes behind China, Italy, Spain and Germany. Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said Saturday that the country had to "do everything necessary to return economic production to normal," Reuters reported. Rouhani said that social distancing measures would likely be lifted in two-to-three weeks. Bishop 4:05 pm: Thailand to shutter malls as cases spike Thailand announced it will close malls in its capital Bangkok for 22 days, from Mar. 22 to Apr. 12, as cases spiked, according to a Reuters report. It reported 89 new cases on Saturday, its largest daily increase, to a total of 411 infections. The government urged people not to panic buy goods, saying that supermarkets, pharmacies will stay open. Restaurants will also be open for delivery orders, the report said. Weizhen Tan 3:00 pm: South Korea advises public facilities to close, citizens to avoid socializing South Korea strongly recommended all religious, sports and entertainment places to shut down for 15 days. It also advised its citizens to avoid socializing and travelling for that period, its prime minister announced in a televised address, according to a Reuters report. If those facilities do not adhere to that guidance, authorities will order crowds to disperse, the report said. New cases in South Korea jumped by 147, as of Saturday morning, and it reported eight more deaths. That brings the country's total to 8,799 confirmed cases. Weizhen Tan 2:40 pm: Starbucks to shut most cafes in US and Canada Starbucks said it will close most company-operated cafes across North America for two weeks, and service will be limited to drive-throughs, in helping to slow the spread of the virus, according to a Reuters report. Cafes in or near hospitals and health care centers will be exempted from closing, it said. Weizhen Tan 1:50 pm: Australia shuts down Sydney's Bondi Beach after hordes flock there, ignoring 'social distancing' orders Thousands of people flocked to Sydney's Bondi Beach in recent days despite orders of "social distancing" by the government. That prompted Australia's health minister Greg Hunt to call such behavior "unacceptable," as authorities closed the beach, according to Reuters. Infections across the country has soared, with its health ministry reporting a jump of 165 new cases in the previous day, to a total of 874 cases. Weizhen Tan 1:05 pm: Colombia to hold 19-day quarantine A 19-day nationwide quarantine in Colombia will kick in from Tuesday night, its president Ivan Duque said, according to Reuters. The South American country has 158 confirmed cases so far, but no deaths. Weizhen Tan 12:00 pm: Singapore reports first two deaths Singapore reported its first two confirmed deaths related to the COVID-19 outbreak. The city-state's health ministry said the two patients who died were a 75-year-old woman, and a 64-year-old man. The female patient had pre-existing conditions including heart disease, while the male patient had been hospitalized in Indonesia for pneumonia, and also had a history of heart disease, according to the health ministry. Singapore has been lauded globally for its approach in managing the outbreak. In February, the World Health Organization said that it was "very impressed" with the way the city-state has tackled the outbreak. Weizhen Tan 11:20 am: United Airlines to slash its international schedule by 95% United Airlines said its would cut its international schedule by 95% for April because of travel restrictions to curb the coronavirus pandemic, said a Reuters report. It also says it will temporarily suspend all flights to Canada effective April 1. Weizhen Tan 10:35 am: Italy locks down further after deaths spike by 627 in one day The number of deaths in Italy spiked by 627 in a single day the highest daily increase recorded globally prompting the country to impose further restrictions. On Thursday, Italy overtook China to be the world's deadliest hotspot. As of Mar. 20, total fatalities was 4,032. A worker carries out sanitation operations for the Coronavirus emergency in Piazza dei Miracoli near to the Tower of Pisa in a deserted town on March 17, 2020 in Pisa, Italy. Laura Lezza | Getty Images The mayor of the most badly affected city, Bergamo in Lombardy, said the true number of fatalities in his area was four times higher than what was officially reported, Reuters said. Italy's health ministry said that new restrictions include closure of all parks, and people can only exercise around their residences. Authorities were frustrated that people were still out and about despite appeals for them to stay indoors, according to reports. Weizhen Tan 10:00 am: US senators express concern on coronavirus safety at Amazon warehouses Four senators sent a letter to Amazon urging the company to better protect warehouse workers during the coronavirus outbreak. "Any failure of Amazon to keep its workers safe does not just put their employees at risk, it puts the entire country at risk," the senators wrote in the letter. "Americans who are taking every precaution...might risk getting infected with COVID-19 because of Amazon's decision to prioritize efficiency and profits over the safety and well-being of its workforce." The letter said workers risked poor performance ratings if they took sufficient time to wash their hands after coughing or sneezing on the job, according to Reuters. It noted that the virus could survive up to 24 hours on cardboard such as Amazon packaging. Annie Palmer, Weizhen Tan 9:20 am: South Korea reports 147 new cases, 8 more deaths New cases in South Korea jumped by 147, as of Saturday morning, and it reported eight more deaths. That brings the country's total to 8,799 confirmed cases, and 102 deaths, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Daily new infections in the country have generally been on a downward trend over the past week, with 87 new cases on Friday, but the numbers reported on Saturday brings the number of new cases back above 100. Weizhen Tan 8:00 am: China reports 41 cases, 7 more deaths China's National Health Commission (NHC) said there were 41 new cases, and seven more deaths as of Mar. 20. That brought the country's total to 81,008 confirmed cases, and 3255 deaths. There were no new cases in Hubei, the epicenter of the outbreak, but all the additional deaths were in the province. China said all of the new cases were imported, meaning people who traveled from overseas. The NHC said that brings China's total number of imported cases to 269. The rise in imported cases come as students flock home from campuses in the U.S. and Europe, according to reports, sparking fears of a second wave of infections. Weizhen Tan All times below are in Eastern time. 8 pm: Washington governor asked Trump to declare 'major disaster' in state Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee sent a 74-page letter to President Donald Trump requesting that he declare a federal major disaster in the state to unlock additional federal assistance, including unemployment assistance and basic food benefits. "The state urgently requires additional supplemental federal emergency assistance in order to save lives, protect public health and safety, and limit further spread of the disease," Inslee said. Salvador Rodriguez 7:31 pm: GM to lend its auto factories to support production of ventilators in coronavirus fight General Motors on Friday announced it will lend its auto factories to support Ventec Life Systems' production of ventilators in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. "We are working closely with Ventec to rapidly scale up production of their critically important respiratory products to support our country's fight again the COVID-19 pandemic," GM CEO Mary Barra said in a statement. "We will continue to explore ways to help in this time of crisis." Salvador Rodriguez 6:49 pm: Member of Vice President Pence's staff tests positive for COVID-19 A new novel coronavirus case has been reported in Karnataka on Saturday, taking the total number of infections to 16 in the State. A 32-year old person from Gauribidanur in Chikkaballapura district, who has returned from Mecca has been confirmed for COVID-19 infection, Health Minister B Sriramulu tweeted. The person has been admitted in a designated isolated hospital for treatment, the Minister said and asked people not to fear or panic. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At the daily government coronavirus press briefing Wednesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that schools across the UK would close from the end of Friday. Education Secretary Gavin Williamson, in an address to the House of Commons, said that schools will be closed until further notice. Most schools were due to break for the Easter holidays in two weeks time, but schools in England, Wales and Scotland closed Friday afternoon. Schools in Northern Ireland will close from Monday. This followed increasing pressure from teachers, parents and unions to shut schools, after the government updated its guidance extending self-isolation to entire families when just one member is showing symptoms of coronavirus. The move came after days of uncertainty, with some schools struggling to stay open. A public petition calling for the closure of schools and colleges reached nearly 680,000 signatures. The petition stated, We would like the government to enforce this action due to the growing fear among parents and students that attend school. The National Education Union (NEU) had also called for the closure of schools on public health grounds. Schools had been struggling as a result of government inaction. Over the past weeks, schools have had to invest in cleaning products, with some shutting their doors due to suspected cases of COVID-19. Some had already temporarily closed to carry out deep cleans and were struggling to stay open, even in the short term till Fridays official deadline. Since the change of government advice on Monday night, many schools had already taken the decision to close due to student attendance falling and the number of staff self-isolating. The moment the virus hit Italy, British schools were alarmed by the possible spread of the virus from students returning from ski trips in northern Italy. This led pupils being told to self-isolate if they showed any symptoms. Some schools closed to carry out deep cleans due to suspected cases, with schools nationally increasing spending on soap and enforcing strict hand washing. This was despite schools struggling financially for a decade due to government cuts in education funding. Uncertainty is leaving schools still struggling and pupils in the dark about their future. Although most pupils are being sent home, some schools, with reduced staffing, will have to remain open to ensure key workers are able to continue working, rather than being at home to look after their children. Examples of key workers include NHS staff needed to combat the virus, police and delivery drivers needed to keep food and other critical supplies running. Also, certain vulnerable children, such as those with a social worker, would continue to go to school. Williamson said, I recognise that what schools will be doing in these circumstances will look very different to the normal state of affairs, and well ensure leaders have the flexibility that they need to face this challenge. In order to allow schools and other settings to focus on this new operational model, and the support they can give to these young people, we are removing various duties. Educationalists have described this as simply providing childcare rather than a full education service. Key examinations are to be cancelled. This affects SATs, taken when children are aged 6-7 and 10-11, GCSEs, AS- and A-Level exams, usually taken from ages 16-18. The government has not said what would replace these assessments. After consecutive Tory governments moved away from appraisals based on a combination of continuous assessment and a final exam to just an exam-based system, it has now been decided that teacher assessment is indeed a good method of giving reliable information about young peoples progress and achievements, according to the NEU. The coronavirus emergency bill passed on Tuesday includes draconian powers that require educational institutions or childcare providers to stay open or relax some requirements around education legislation in order to help these institutions run effectively during the event of an emergency. The legislation allows for reducing teacher-pupil ratios, meaning staff might face much larger classes, lowering school meal standards and relaxing provisions for those with special educational needs. The various devolved UK governments can also decide when to implement and when to dissolve the emergency powers, but potentially they could continue indefinitely. There is no clear picture of how long schools may be closed, but Sir Patrick Vallance, the governments chief scientific adviser, has said closures would have to extend for at least 13 to 16 weeks or longer to have an impact. This raises significant questions about how pupils will be taught. A Department of Education adviser was quoted in the press saying that an estimated two-fifths of Englands schools lacked sufficient infrastructure to deliver remote learning. Most schools have asked teachers to produce education packs for two weeks of work for pupils in the first instance. Teachers, who have faced years of excessive workloads, budget pressures and performance-related pay, can now see the true value of their profession laid bare. Powers granted by the coronavirus bill are already being used, with the government ordering that schools will stay open for those children of key workers and those vulnerable children during Easter holidays. SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE -- "Emma Thompson" Episode 1766 -- Pictured: Host Emma Thompson during Promos on Tuesday, May 7, 2019 -- (Photo by: Rosalind O'Connor/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images) Hollywood star and British acting institution Dame Emma Thompson has said the sexist movie industry stopped her from grabbing the more glamorous roles on offer. A double Oscar-winner, Thompsons acting chops cannot be questioned, but she admits she spent her career not putting herself forward for roles where the character was described as beautiful. Speaking on The Pleasure Podcast, she said: Ive never been a Gwyneth Paltrow type. I didnt ever fit the norms that are generally required to be a sexually castable person, if we are talking Hollywood, or even here. Read more: Emma Thompson: We 'need to move on' from dismissing movies made by women The profoundly prescriptive and sexist responses to peoples shape and who they were - in a sense, I was out of that a bit because I have always been a character actor. It felt like a relief but if I was handed a script where it described the character I was going up for as beautiful, I wouldnt go up for the role. I would just go that is not for me. FRANCE - MAY: Portrait Of Actress Emma Thompson, May 1992. (Photo by Bertrand LAFORET/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images) So I was relieved by it but I was oppressed by it. Of course. As you get older, you are relieved of all of that but I havent had the same trajectory as someone like, say, Michelle Pfeiffer, which must be very hard when you are considered a great screen beauty and then to see that drifting away. I dont notice it really because I have done other things. And because I have a political response to it which is a kind of energy in itself. Thompson also discussed an experience she had in her 20s when an older man attempted to take advantage of her. She revealed: When I was about to be taken advantage of at the age of 20 or something by a much older man - he reached towards me to put his hand down my shirt. I grabbed his wrist and said I think you are taking advantage and immediately he kind of took his hand away and stopped. Read more: Emma Thompson reveals real-life heartache behind tearful Love Actually scene He knew he was taking advantage as soon as I described it and used the words taking advantage. Story continues His shame instinct kicked in and stopped him from doing it and protected me from my own feeling of shame. It is a hugely powerful thing, to be able to say no in the right way. The Pleasure Podcast episode featuring Thompson speaking with hosts Naomi Sheldon and Anand Patel, is available on Spotify or can be listened to here. michael barbaro From The New York Times, Im Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily. [music] Today: Two weeks ago, the biggest story in the country was the Democratic presidential primary. Now, with the coronavirus, its been largely forgotten. Alex Burns on what happened when those two stories collided. Its Monday, March 23. michael barbaro Hello? alex burns Hello, Michael. michael barbaro Hey. Its always nice to be heralded by a bing, you know? alex burns Is that not your usual entrance into halls and rooms? michael barbaro Usually its trumpets. [LAUGHS] I feel like every day pretty much for two weeks, we would talk on the show. And then poof, we have this unplanned hiatus, and you go away. And so I kind of miss you a little bit. alex burns [LAUGHS] Its a particularly painful kind of social isolation, for me at least. michael barbaro So, bring us up to speed on the Democratic primary. How would you describe the current state of the race? alex burns Well, its pretty close to over at this point. Joe Biden has emerged as the overwhelming favorite to be the Democratic nominee. He clearly has a support from the majority of the party, wide lead in the delegate count. And Bernie Sanders has not conceded the race, but hes acknowledged that he is sort of reassessing his campaign. And thats often the first stage in the process of winding things down. michael barbaro So in effect, it feels like what you just described is more or less where we were a couple of weeks ago. But with the benefit of some hindsight and some reporting on your part, I wonder if you could tell us how exactly that happened, because I dont think weve properly accounted for the whiplash and the speed with which the Sanders campaign came kind of crashing down. alex burns No, I dont think we have. And I think really, you have to rewind the tape almost exactly a month ago to what was the high point. archived recording (bernie sanders) And now, Im delighted to bring you some pretty good news. [CHEERING] I think all of you know, we won the popular vote in Iowa. [CHEERING] We won the New Hampshire primary. [CHEERING] And according to three networks in the A.P., we have now won the Nevada caucus! [CHEERING] alex burns He wins the Nevada caucuses. And he wins them by just an enormous margin. archived recording (crowd) Bernie! Bernie! Bernie! alex burns He crushes Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg. archived recording (crowd) Bernie! Bernie! Bernie! alex burns He wins young voters. He wins older voters. He wins folks who have participated in caucuses in the past and people who are participating for the first time. Its in Nevada, where we see him go from winning about a quarter of the vote to winning nearly half the vote. archived recording (bernie sanders) And no campaign has a grass-roots movement like we do, which is another reason why were going to win this election. [CROWD CHEERING] alex burns And that sends a really powerful signal across the Democratic Party. michael barbaro And what does that signal? alex burns I think what most of us thought at the time was that it was sending a signal that Bernie Sanders was broadening his appeal, and that he was building a more diverse and more muscular political coalition than he had been able to demonstrate so far. Its also clear now that another message it sent to the rest of the Democratic Party was that Sanders was becoming a real freight train in this race. And that if you were going to stop him, you were going to need to do it real fast. So the moment where Sanders is riding high like that, I think hes kind of faced with a choice of either trying to more actively reassure the Democratic Party that they can trust him to be the nominee and to make a more explicit case about his own electability and to address himself more clearly to moderate voters who have, you know, been beyond wary of his campaign, just terrified of the idea of nominating him. Or he can stick with the approach that got him there to begin with. And thats to run as this anti-establishment progressive populist who is taking on his own party in addition to taking on the Republican Party. And the question then I think is, which version are we going to hear over the coming week and the coming months from Bernie Sanders? michael barbaro And what happens? alex burns The day after he wins the Nevada caucuses, a 60 Minutes interview airs. archived recording (anderson cooper) Back in the 1980s, Sanders had some positive things to say about the former Soviet Union and the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. archived recording (bernie sanders) And everybody was totally convinced archived recording (anderson cooper) Here he is explaining why the Cuban people didnt rise up and help the U.S. overthrow Cuban leader, Fidel Castro. archived recording (bernie sanders) He educated their kids, gave them health care alex burns The piece of it that really pops out to a lot of Democrats is when Anderson Cooper asked Bernie Sanders about his past praise for the Castro regime in Cuba. archived recording (bernie sanders) Were very opposed to the authoritarian nature of Cuba. But its unfair to simply say, everything is bad. When Fidel Castro came into office, you know what he did? He had a massive literacy program. Is that a bad thing? Even though Fidel Castro alex burns And it just sends a shockwave through Democrats. [music] archived recording Bernie Sanders has the lead in total votes in delegates. But his comments he made Sunday night on 60 Minutes that are causing fresh panic for some Democrats. archived recording 1 Its absolutely inconceivable that any American as old as him, knowing everything we know about Fidel Castro and the people that hes murdered over the years, that anybody could support him in any way. archived recording 2 The blowback is emblematic of broader uncertainty about how nominating a self-described democratic socialist could impact Democrats chances in the general election. archived recording 3 I like Bernie. archived recording 4 How do you feel about him praising the Soviet Union and Fidel Castro? archived recording 5 Yeah, I dont like that part. alex burns So to hear that from Sanders, and to hear him essentially be unapologetic about it, I think, was a real sign to people that if you thought this guy was going to start moving to the middle now, that is not happening. archived recording His response infuriated democratic lawmakers from South Florida, a key swing state where public support for the Castro regime is a nonstarter. alex burns More specifically, and in a more localized, but really no less important way, this is terrifying to Democrats in Florida. archived recording (reporter) Freshman Congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, she called Sanderss comment quote, absolutely unacceptable. archived recording (debbie mucarsel-powell) He made more than a mistake. Its what he believes. And its unacceptable to our community. archived recording (reporter) And Congresswoman Donna Shalala, who suggested that Sanders talk to her constituents before quote, singing the praises of a murderous tyrant, unquote. alex burns You see just a unified, almost unified, wall of criticism of Sanders coming from Democrats in that state, saying, you are imperiling the general election in one of the biggest swing states on the map. [music] After the 60 Minutes interview, you then start to hear prominent national Democrats say something that many of them havent said so far, which is, we just cant nominate this guy. archived recording (jim clyburn) Let me thank all of you for joining us here this morning. alex burns And thats the point where you see Joe Biden get a major, major endorsement from Jim Clyburn, popular congressman from South Carolina, highest ranking African-American member of Congress. archived recording (jim clyburn) Well, I want the public to know that Im voting for Joe Biden. South Carolinans should be voting for Joe Biden. And heres why. I know Joe. We know Joe. But most importantly, Joe knows us. archived recording Thats right. Thats right. archived recording (jim clyburn) Thats important. alex burns So we head into the South Carolina primary, which Joe Biden was always favored to win. archived recording NBC News is now projecting that former Vice President Joe Biden has won a decisive victory in the South Carolina Democratic primary. alex burns And he wins it by 30 points. archived recording And he has done so by a substantial margin, potentially changing the dynamics of a race dominated so far by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. alex burns That is beyond what even the Biden campaign was expecting. Biden just coalesces the overwhelming majority of Democrats who are not for Bernie Sanders behind his campaign. michael barbaro And so why in that moment did we not see Bidens win in South Carolina, which as you just said, was kind of mathematically quite significant as the beginning of a turning point kind of comeback? alex burns So on the night of South Carolina, we can look at Bidens 30 point margin, and say, wow, that was impressive. And this guy is clearly more resilient than even some of his supporters, even some of his inner circle believed he was. What we didnt know is that the next day archived recording (pete buttigieg) So tonight, I am making the difficult decision to suspend my campaign for the presidency. alex burns Pete Buttigieg would drop out of the race. archived recording (pete buttigieg) I will no longer alex burns And then on Monday morning, Amy Klobuchar would drop out of the race. archived recording (amy klobuchar) Today, I am ending my campaign and endorsing Joe Biden for president. [CROWD CHEERING] alex burns And by the end of Monday archived recording (pete buttigieg) That Im delighted to endorse and support Joe Biden for president. [CROWD CHEERING] alex burns both of them would endorse Joe Biden. archived recording (beto o'rourke) I will be casting my ballot for Joe Biden. [CROWD CHEERING] alex burns And by the way, so would Beto ORourke, who dropped out of the race a couple of months ealier. We saw a transformation of voters preferences within this field at a speed that I dont think its an overstatement to call it totally unprecedented. michael barbaro I want to understand this phenomenon. Let me just begin with those endorsements that you just described. Why did Buttigieg, did Klobuchar drop out and endorse him so quickly? Whats your understanding now of how that happened? alex burns There are a couple of things going on here. Pete Buttigieg was on track to get totally waxed on Super Tuesday, which is just three days after South Carolina. So he is staring at the possibility of not just defeat and not just a setback, but something like political humiliation to go in a month from essentially winning Iowa basically splitting the win with Bernie Sanders to winning absolutely nothing on Super Tuesday. And so there is a logic of self-interest that says, maybe you should take your winnings and walk away from the table at this point. Amy Klobuchar faces a somewhat different situation because she does look like she will win her home state of Minnesota. But she is clear-eyed enough at that point to recognize theres really no path forward for her in the race beyond Super Tuesday. Beyond the self-interest, though, these are two of the candidates who have been the bluntest and most pointed all along about their concern for the implications of nominating Sanders. They have been talking about the idea of nominating Sanders as deeply, deeply politically risky. And there are people who can do the math for themselves and see that after Nevada and South Carolina, there are really only two candidates in this race who are putting up big numbers on the national level in the way that it would take to go the distance. And between those two candidates, theres no question about whether theyre closer to Biden or Sanders. michael barbaro OK, so at this point, post-South Carolina and post-Super Tuesday, Biden is the front-runner. But theres a ton of primaries and delegates left. And still theoretically, time for a Sanders comeback, right? alex burns Right, and it turns out to be very much a theoretical exercise, the Sanders comeback. You see starting right after Super Tuesday, he points the way to the next round of primaries, most importantly, Michigan. archived recording Well, the Joementum continues. Former Vice President Biden swooping to victory overnight in a pivotal primary contest. alex burns Sanders ends up totally flopping in Michigan. Its a blowout in the state. archived recording Biden sweeping every county in Michigan, Missouri and Mississippi. He also won Idaho. The wins giving him a commanding 160 delegate lead over Sanders. alex burns And what happens, essentially the night that Biden wins in Michigan and in a number of other important states, is that the campaign is essentially frozen in place by a force that hits the campaign and hits the entire country in a way that nobody could have anticipated. And of course, thats the coronavirus. [music] michael barbaro Well be right back. Alex, how exactly does the coronavirus epidemic eventually becomes a pandemic how does that hurt Sanders and help Biden? Thats not entirely intuitive to me. alex burns Well, what it does is it essentially ends the active portion of the campaign. On the night of the March 10 primaries, both of them are supposed to hold election night events where they address a roaring crowd of supporters. Both of those events get canceled. There have been no campaign rallies since then. Bernie Sanders cannot hit the road and gather tens of thousands of people in stadiums and deliver a forceful plea to the Democratic Party to not go ahead and nominate Joe Biden. The window to make that argument has essentially closed. Whats also going on is that the terms of debate go from being about ideological differences and policy differences to the reality of a terrifying national crisis. And what we see consistently in public polling for months, and in exit polls taken around the March primaries, is that on the question of which candidate you trust to handle a major crisis, Joe Biden is overwhelmingly favored, not just over Bernie Sanders, but over every alternative that democratic voters had in the race. michael barbaro So in a sense, the coronavirus doesnt just freeze the campaign and freeze Joe Bidens advantages electorally, it amplifies them because many democratic voters see him as a crisis-style leader. alex burns Exactly. Bidens biggest strengths from the beginning have involved his experience, and his perceived steadiness, and the fact that voters basically find him trustworthy, and reassuring. michael barbaro Well, thats interesting because another way of thinking about this, and the impact that were seeing already on Americans from this pandemic the health care shortcomings, the thin financial cushion on which so many Americans are living thats the stuff that Bernie Sanders has been saying forever. So I could also imagine a version of this where the pandemic strengthens Sanderss candidacy, not weakens it. alex burns I think thats really, really sharply put. But I do think people are processing this differently than they would process, for instance, a crash just of the financial sector. That if you saw an economic collapse in which people felt like the government was racing to contain a contagion from the financial industry, and that their lives were basically safe, I suspect that we might be having a different political debate right now. And that you would see Bernie Sanders holding these enormous rallies and making exactly the case you just laid out. And I think that things are so turbulent and unpredictable right now that we cant totally rule out the possibility that maybe that happens at some point once people see the scale of economic damage and the kind of vividness that we certainly and unfortunately will. What we have right now, though, is people who are experiencing a terrifying disruption in their daily lives. Theyre experiencing it yes, as an economic crisis, but also as a public health crisis, and something that probably feels to a lot of people like a national security crisis. And while a lot of Sanderss themes and ideas about the economy will probably be a bigger part of the conversation in the coming months, I dont know that the country has reached that point yet. michael barbaro So I want to turn now to the practical question of how the rest of the Democratic primary unfolds. Because the situation were in hasnt just frozen the dynamics of the race, it also seems to have actually frozen the mechanics of the campaign. Which feels pretty tricky because people have to leave their homes and go vote in order for there to ever be a nominee. So how is that going to work? alex burns Well, the short answer is we still dont really know. Almost every day now, we hear from another state that is delaying its primary well into May or even into June. Now, some of the relevance of those changes is going to depend on what Bernie Sanders does next. If Sanders does stick around, and if Biden is not able to functionally unify the Democratic Party, with or without Bernie Sanderss support, then we could see this really weird long period of dormancy in the campaign followed by a sudden frenzy of activity again in the late spring when maybe the virus will be more under control, and maybe people will start voting again. Personally right now, I think that that is an unlikely scenario. michael barbaro Alex, whats your understanding of how Bernie Sanders is thinking of the big and difficult question of how long to stay in the race if it doesnt really seem as a practical path to the nomination? Hes certainly hearing lots of calls to step aside in a moment of crisis, kind of let the party coalesce around a nominee and prepare itself for a general election. alex burns I think there are a couple things about the mindset of the Sanderss camp right now that are really worth emphasizing here. One is that this is a group that not that long ago thought that they were on, not a glide path, but a pretty convincing course to the nomination. And they saw it fall away with astonishing speed. So theres a level, I think, still of kind of shell shock, at feeling like they had this, or they were close to having this. And then it was yanked away from them. Thats a hard thing for a campaign, and especially, for a candidate to process. I think the conditions of the pandemic also make it harder for, well, anybody involved in the race at this point to think through, what is the right thing to do next? What we know about Bernie Sanders is that he cares a great deal about his agenda. And we also know that, as a personal matter, he likes Joe Biden. This is not the Sanders-Clinton rivalry. He doesnt feel that the party really conspired to kneecap him in this race in the way that he did, with some justification, in 2016. So what you see here is a candidate, Sanders, who I think understands what an underdog he is right now, and an opponent in Biden, who is a negotiator. And I think thats why youre seeing Biden make such explicit overtures to Sanders supporters. archived recording (joe biden) Tonight in keeping with the latest guidance from the CDC, Im speaking to you from my home in Wilmington, Delaware alex burns That in the last two primary nights that well have for a while, he has in his election night remarks, addressed himself to Sanders supporters archived recording (joe biden) So let me say, especially to the young voters who have been inspired by Senator Sanders, I hear you. I know whats at stake. I know what we have to do. alex burns saying that he admires their enthusiasm and their ideas. archived recording (joe biden) Senator Sanders and his supporters have brought a remarkable passion and tenacity to all of these issues. And together they have shifted the fundamental conversation in this country. alex burns He gave them credit for having fundamentally changed the framework of American politics. And he, specifically addressing young people, said archived recording (joe biden) Senator Sanders and I may disagree on tactics. But we share a common vision for the need to provide affordable health care for all Americans, reduce income inequity that has risen so drastically, to tackling the existential threat of our time, climate change. alex burns he understands the gravity of the challenges that they feel in their lives. When Biden takes those steps, its a clear signal that hes trying to show Bernie Sanders that he has respect for the movement that hes built. archived recording (joe biden) We have to step up and care for one another. Thank you all. Thank you all for listening. michael barbaro Finally, Alex, if Joe Biden is becoming a kind of de facto nominee over the next few weeks during this dormancy in the campaign, and if it starts to feel like a general election is getting underway between Biden and President Trump, I wonder what this really unique set of circumstances which has meant so much for the Democratic primary is going to mean for Bidens potential challenger, the sitting president, Donald Trump. alex burns We know that the president is not going to be able to run for re-election on a message that happy days are here again, and there is nothing but prosperity as far as we can see. That message is gone. What we dont know is what kind of story he will be able to tell about managing this crisis. We just dont know what the conditions on the ground are going to be like in a couple of months, let alone in the general election. When this crisis hit, Joe Biden had a pretty solid advantage over the president in general election polls. The map just feels to me like its really up for grabs right now, because weve never conducted an election under these kinds of conditions. And even 2008, the election in the middle of a financial crisis, we hadnt had the kind of time that we are going to have now to process the meaning of the setbacks that the country is currently experiencing. [music] michael barbaro Its interesting you mentioned 2008 because it feels to me that that race might be the proper analogy, a crisis. And as youve said throughout this conversation, Democrats are starting to view Joe Biden as the candidate of crisis. Im sure Republicans view President Trump as the candidate of crisis. And the question will become, once this crisis is over, what the general electorate views as the candidate of the crisis, who handled the crisis well and who would get us out of the crisis best. alex burns And is there a candidate they blame for the crisis? If people ultimately see the president as having let them down in this, that feels awfully hard to escape. As it is, we cant say that thats how the country is going to feel. But we can say that he was an unpopular president on the day this crisis started. And that its certainly not, based on what we know now, changing that picture in his favor. [music] michael barbaro Alex, thank you very much. alex burns Thank you. michael barbaro Well be right back. [music] michael barbaro Heres what else you need to know today. Over the weekend, global efforts to contain the coronavirus by restricting peoples movements intensified. Australia ordered most public spaces closed. India said it was shutting down all but essential services in its capital, Delhi. Germany limited gatherings to no more than two people. Britain ordered 1.5 million people with serious medical problems to self-quarantine. And Lebanon called in the army to endorse a lockdown. archived recording (mike dewine) We are certainly at war. In a time of war, we have to make sacrifices. And I certainly, in the last week or so, have asked the people of Ohio to make many sacrifices. michael barbaro In the United States, Ohio and Louisiana became the latest states to instruct residents to stay at home as infections in each state surged. archived recording (mike dewine) Other states have referred to this as shelter in place. We prefer stay at home. Either one, its pretty much the same thing. michael barbaro In Washington, negotiations over a $2 trillion stimulus package designed to protect businesses and workers hurt by the pandemic reached an impasse in the Senate. archived recording (joe manchin iii) The proposal that Leader McConnell from the Republican side has put forth is absolutely totally worried about Wall Street at this time. Im worried about the people in little rural West Virginia and all over Main Street. Thats the people were worried about. michael barbaro On Sunday, Senate Democrats blocked the stimulus bill, saying it favors big business and does not contain enough protections for workers by allowing companies to fire workers even after receiving federal bailouts. archived recording (joe manchin iii) And Wall Streets going to do just fine. Its always rebounded real well. Theyve always come back strong. michael barbaro Several Senate Republicans failed to cast votes because they are self-quarantining over fears that they may have been exposed to the coronavirus. And at least one senator, Republican Rand Paul of Kentucky, has now tested positive for the virus. The Times is providing free access to our most important updates on the pandemic. To read it, go to nytimes.com/coronavirus. [music] Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) London, United Kingdom Sat, March 21, 2020 11:03 662 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad206c6755e 2 Entertainment johnny-depp,amber-heard,libel-case,libel,Hollywood,united-states,Celebrities,trial,actor,film,Britain,coronavirus,COVID-19 Free A libel case brought by Hollywood actor Johnny Depp against Britain's The Sun newspaper, over allegations he abused his ex-wife Amber Heard, was suspended Friday due to coronavirus. Two weeks of hearings were due to start in London's High Court on Monday, but the judge heard that two of Depp's legal representatives have already had to self-isolate. Judge Andrew Nicol said he had come to the "reluctant conclusion" to adjourn because coronavirus-related travel restrictions between Britain and France, where Depp is living, and the United States, where Heard lives, may complicate the hearings. Depp is suing News Group Newspapers, which publishes The Sun tabloid, and its executive editor Dan Wootton over an April 2018 article that referred to the Pirates of the Caribbean star as a "wife-beater". Judge Nicol noted that England's Lord Chief Justice had announced earlier this week that criminal trials lasting longer than three days should be adjourned due to coronavirus. "I recognize that I am not conducting a criminal trial, but the large number of lawyers involved, as well as the public and press who wish to attend, mean that the numbers involved would be no different," he said. Read also: Vanessa Paradis defends ex-husband Johnny Depp in defamation case against Amber Heard The newspaper's lawyers said earlier this week they were keen to proceed, and the judge said he had received a statement from Heard expressing her "very strong wish" to continue. She was willing to give evidence over videolink from Los Angeles, and if necessary, fly to Britain. But Depp's lawyers said he would not be able to travel because of restrictions in France, nor would he be able to give evidence over video-link from his "remote location" in the country's south. Depp and Heard married in February 2015 and settled a divorce out of court in 2017. He denies being abusive towards his ex-wife and has brought separate libel proceedings against her in the United States. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 12:13:48|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- As Italy saw the biggest day-to-day spike in fatalities on Friday and global COVID-19 cases continued to rise, the whole world has been toughening the implementation of anti-virus measures. The European region reported 17,506 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours as of midnight Thursday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases there to 104,591, according to the daily situation report released by the World Health Organization (WHO) on late Friday. COVID-19 seems to reach a new and tragic milestone every day, as more than 210,000 cases, including over 9,000 deaths, have been reported globally, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Friday at a press conference. "Every loss of life is a tragedy," Tedros said, calling it "motivation" to double down and do everything to stop transmission of the virus and save lives. In Italy, 627 patients died of COVID-19 in a 24-hour span on Friday, the highest single-day deaths, bringing the country's COVID-19 death toll to 4,032, according to official data. In the previous 24-hour span, the country saw 427 deaths. The hard-hit country announced on Friday that it would call up the military to help enforce the national coronavirus lockdown in the hardest-hit parts of the country. Spain also recorded a steep rise in both death toll and infections on Friday. According to its health ministry, 1,002 people had succumbed to COVID-19 by midday Friday, an increase of 235 deaths from a day ago. The Spanish government introduced strict controls on roads leading out of the country's main cities in order to keep people at home during the lockdown. In London, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that cafes, bars, pubs and restaurants must close from Friday night across Britain in a bid to contain the spread of the virus. Iran, the hardest-hit country in the Middle East, said Friday that 1,433 people have died from COVID-19, which has infected a total of 19,644 people, 6,745 of whom have recovered. The latest number of COVID-19 cases in the United States has topped 19,285 with 249 deaths, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. The Brazilian Senate on Friday approved a request made by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to declare a state of emergency. The country reported the most infected people in Latin America with its caseload rising to 793 with 11 fatalities. Besides, the WHO report showed six additional countries and regions reported their first confirmed cases, while 96 countries and regions have seen local transmission of COVID-19. Medical workers help each other wear protective gears at Cu Chi Field Hospital in HCMC, February 10, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran. A 21-year-old Vietnamese student from France has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, bringing the country's Covid-19 tally to 92. The Health Ministry said Saturday that the man, a resident of Da Lat in the Central Highlands, flew on Qatar Airways flight QR40 from Paris to Doha on March 16, before landing March 17 at Saigon's Tan Son Nhat Airport on flight QR970 (seat 18D). Asymptomatic on arrival, he was quarantined in District 12. A day later, he developed fever, sore throat and a dry cough. He was transferred to the Cu Chi Field Hospital the same day. His swab samples tested positive the first time on March 19 and the second time on March 21. He's being treated at the Cu Chi facility. Vietnam has confirmed 92 Covid-19 cases so far, 17 of whom have been cured and discharged from hospitals. Most of the active cases, now hospitalized in 11 cities and provinces, are returnees from Europe and the U.S. and people whod come into close contact with them. Hanoi has the highest number of active patients at 27, followed by HCMC with 18. All the patients are in stable condition except for a 69-year-old British man and a 64-year-old Vietnamese woman who were reportedly in critical condition a few days ago. Both have been put on ventilators since March 15. The Covid-19 pandemic has spread to 186 countries and territories, claiming over 11,400 lives. It's official: Murray State becomes member of Missouri Valley Conference More than 35 tourists including Nepali and Israeli nationals were returned from the district on Saturday as part of the government's efforts to check tourist inflow to help contain the spread of coronavirus. The district administration said people had come from different places and were on their way to Manali. "All the tourists were sent back including 20 people from Nepal, five from Kerala and six others from abroad. With the help of the local police and medical team, the buses were checked and people were sent back," said Rahul Chauhan, Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of Sundernagar. Chouhan said eight tourists were sent back from Shimla on Friday. The state government had on March 14 closed all educational institutions, Anganwadi centres, and play-way schools till March 31. Two fresh cases of coronavirus were reported in Kangra district on March 20. Meanwhile, the total number of positive cases of coronavirus in India now stands at 258 including 39 foreigners, said Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) EDWARDSVILLE The coronavirus crisis has officials at the Madison County Jail and the criminal courts system taking special precautions in hopes of preventing spread of the virus. Maj. Jeff Connor of the Madison County Sheriffs Office said no one will be allowed in the lobby of the jail without first announcing their purpose and being admitted. Personnel at the jail will determine if the individual is admitted to the building. There will be no face-to-face contact even by attorneys, Connor said. He said there are kiosks set up whereby essential people may talk to prisoners via video. No one will be able to enter the cell block area if the have a temperature of 100 degrees or more. Jail personnel are also making arrangements to set up an open jail block for people who might have the COVID-19 virus. We are also trying to stockpile supplies if we do have to quarantine prisoners, Connor said. Any prisoner on hold at the jail for transport to the Illinois Department of Corrections has been taken away. We have taken a lot of precautions and we will continue to monitor, Connor said. Our focus will be on safety of the employees, the inmates and the public. Starting Monday, the Criminal Justice Center will be staffed by only one judge at a time. Judges will take turns appearing for essential tasks. The judge will hold hearings on bail and preliminary hearings which are required by law. Chief Criminal Judge Richard Tognarelli said the Supreme Court is considering whether to relax the speedy trial rules to avoid abridging the rights of the accused. He said there is a statute in place that allows relaxing of the rules covering trials and preliminary hearings. Initial appearances will continue to be held via video, he said. He said officials expect many of the defense attorneys to cooperate by asking for continuances of various appearances. The state is presently bound by speedy trial rules. Tognarelli said post-conviction hearings will be cancelled, primarily because the Illinois Department of Corrections has decided its personnel will not transport inmates to court for hearings. Customarily the Illinois Fifth District Appellate will send convicted criminals back to the circuit courts for additional action on their cases. Connor said the Madison County Sheriffs Office has instructed its patrol officers to become more reactive than pro-active. Minor traffic offenses, for instance, may not be enforced as stringently. If it is a blatant violations, the officers will take action, he said. A girl who recently returned from France to Moradabad and two persons in Noida have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, taking the total number of confirmed cases in the state to 26, officials said on Saturday. The student who came from France earlier this week was suffering from cough and cold. She was immediately rushed to a hospital and her sample was sent to a lab in Aligarh, where it tested positive for coronavirus on Friday, Moradabad Chief Medical Officer M C Garg told PTI. Two persons in Noida also tested positive, said Vikasendu Agrawal, joint director/state surveillance officer, Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme, in a statement. As many as 162 'contacts', who have attended different parties in Lucknow with a COVID-19-positive patient, have been identified and contacted so far. The samples collected from them have tested negative, according to the statement. All positive cases in the state are persons with recent history of foreign travel, it said. According to the statement, the total number positive cases in the state are 26 -- eight each in Agra and Lucknow, six in Noida, two in Ghaziabad, one each in Lakhimpur Kheri and Moradabad. Ten COVID-19 patients in the state have recovered fully and discharged from hospitals where they were admitted. All localities where positive cases have been found in Lucknow have been thoroughly sanitised by expert teams, it added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Ever heard of a company allowing employees to take their office desktop home and paying for the cab too? Mumbai-based RPG Group has taken work from home to the next level. The group that makes tyres and has interests in information technology (IT), pharmaceuticals and infrastructure has upped its work from home culture which it has been following since 2016. "Except for the absolutely essential services everybody else is working from home. Not everybody has a laptop so we allowed employees to carry the desktops to their homes. We even reimbursed the cab fare when they carried the desktops to homes," said a Milind Apte, Chief Human Resource Officer, RPG Group. In official communication released by several companies, office goers have been discouraged from using public transport till the risk of coronavirus (COVID-19) subsides. Buses run by the municipal corporation in Mumbai have banned standing passengers in order to reduce the crowd. "We have cab mandatory for those who used to take public transport. And those who have a car are allowed to take them as transport and we are reimbursing the fuel cost. We have indicated that these steps will continue till March 31," added Apte. After the clarion call to shut down all private offices with immediate effect was made by the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra government on March 20, corporates have started to comply. Many companies have allowed their employees to work from home while suspending all meetings and official events involving the gathering of more than a dozen people. Several of them have switched to interacting using the online medium. "Independent of the current situation the work-from-home culture is pretty strong within the RPG Group. On an average 30-32 percent come to office and the balance works from home and the lowest has been 5-10 percent," added Apte. RPG is the promoter company of Ceat, Indias fourth largest tyre manufacturer. The tyre maker has factories in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. To cut down on chances of spread of COVID-19 infection Ceat has decided against making two workers share a seat on a bus. We have decided not to make two people sit next to each other in the buses that we provided to pick up and drop employees. Thats why we have doubled the number of buses from today, added Apte. While there is complete ban on international and domestic travel for Ceat employees, it has switched to the virtual world for holding a conference for the first time. "There was a large sales conference in the first week of April and it was to be held outside of the country. We would instead try for the first time for a virtual conference involving 400-450 people," added Apte. US President Donald Trump has said he greatly respects China and shares a "very good" relationship with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, but termed it "unfortunate" that the coronavirus began in the Communist nation and got out of control. Speaking at a press briefing on Friday, Trump said he considered Xi as a friend and and asserted that the Chinese President respects the US. "I have a very good relationship with China and with President Xi. I have great respect for President Xi. I consider him to be a friend of mine. It is unfortunate that this got out of control," he said. Trump reiterated that coronavirus originated from China. "They (coronavirus) came from China, it got out of control. Some people are upset. I know - I know President Xi. He loves China. He respects the United States and I have to say I respect China greatly and I respect President Xi," he said. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the same press briefing that China's delay in sharing information about the virus had created risks to people worldwide. "We need to know immediately. The world is entitled to know. The Chinese government was the first to know of this risk to the world, and that puts a special obligation to make sure that data gets to our scientists, our professionals," Pompeo told reporters at a White House conference on Friday. "When you see a delay in information flowing from the Chinese Communist Party to the technical people who we wanted to get into China immediately to assist in this, every moment of delay connected to being able to identify this risk vectors creates risk to the people all around the world," he said. Pompeo, a known critic of China, said he was not blaming Beijing, but the Chinese government was the first to know about the risk the virus presented. "This is about moving forward to make sure that we continue to have the information we need to do our jobs," he said. "We need to make sure that even today the data sets that are available to every country, including data sets that are available to the Chinese Communist Party, or made available to the whole world. It's an imperative to keep people safe," Pompeo said. "We talk about the absence of data sets, not being able to make judgments about what to do. This is also about transparency, this real-time information sharing isn't about political games or retribution. It's about keeping people safe," he insisted. US Health Secretary Alex Azar told the reporters that China informed America about the coronavirus in January. "In January within two weeks of China's notifying the WHO about the virus and with only 45 cases in China we began screening travellers from Wuhan. Then over time as the outbreak evolved the President restricted travel from China, Iran and Europe. Our health experts say that these measures have been truly effective at slowing the viruses spread to our shores," Azar said. Trump criticised China over the coronavirus this week, saying Beijing should have acted sooner to warn the world and dismissing criticism that his labelling it the "Chinese virus" was racist. The Trump administration has rejected attempts by Chinese officials to blame the virus on the US military. A total of 230 people had died in the US due to the fast-spreading coronavirus pandemic by Friday evening. The number of confirmed cases has jumped to over 18,000, an increase of over 10,000 in less than 50 hours. Coronavirus cases have been reported in all the 50 States in the US and District of Columbia as well as Puerto Rico. Globally, the death toll from the virus has risen to 11,397 with more than 275,427 cases reported in over 160 countries and territories, according to Johns Hopkins University tracker. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) When it comes to Alan Jones I have been gobsmacked many times, but I think never has my gob been more smacked than Monday last. It was the day after Italy had announced that it had recorded 368 deaths of mostly elderly citizens in the previous 24-hour period a casualty count roughly equivalent to five Granville train disasters or 20 Thredbo landslides. In. One. Day. And it was an average day at that. This, in a country that just four weeks ago had recorded only six or seven deaths, just like us. Alan Jones has been downplaying the threat of coronavirus. Credit:James Brickwood Get it? Across the globe, the people most at risk of this pandemic are the elderly. The people Australia must do the most to protect and for whom we must take all precautions for their health, and to flatten the bell curve for all of us, so the hospitals can remain unclogged are Australias elderly. And so, broadcasting in personal safety from the splendid isolation of his place at Fitzroy Falls, what does Jones tell his mostly elderly listeners? We now seem to be facing the health version of global warming, Jones said. Exaggeration in almost everything. Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Editors note: This was originally published Thursday in the Lewiston Tribune. The legislature adjourned Friday morning. Idahos Legislature has become one of the states last remaining large petri dishes of coronavirus. But the time to worry about the health of those people has passed. They are now a potential risk to the rest of us. If allowed to return home after final adjournment, this assembly of vectors could disperse a deadly virus far and wide across the Gem State. Why not place Idahos lawmakers under quarantine in Boise for at least the next two weeks? Find housing if you have to. Confine them if you must. Does that sound harsh? Well, its not as if the Legislature has been worthy of public confidence these past few days. Theyve been deaf to the Centers for Disease Controls advice. The CDC calls for limiting gatherings to no more than 50 people and possibly no more than 10. There are 105 lawmakers, staff members, lobbyists, government agency officials and members of the public. The CDC warns against meetings that would attract people from areas with confirmed community spread. Idaho now has 11 confirmed coronavirus cases from Ada, Madison, Teton, Twin Falls and Blaine counties. In addition, three lawmakers Reps. Priscilla Giddings, R-White Bird, Tammy Nichols, R-Middleton, and Heather Scott, R-Blanchard attended last months Conservative Political Action Conference where an individual who tested positive for coronavirus had direct contact with at least a dozen people. The profile of the Idaho Legislature corresponds with the segment of the population most at risk many of them are older than 60 and certainly more than a few have underlying health issues, such as obesity, diabetes, respiratory ailments or heart disease. To be fair, Idaho is no outlier. The National Conference of State Legislatures says 18 states remain in session while 19 including Colorado, Iowa and Nebraska have suspended operations in light of the outbreak. But Idaho remains the only state in its immediate neighborhood still conducting regular business. Washington, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming adjourned while Montana and Nevada did not convene this year. Why are they still there? To pursue divisive culture wars against abortion rights and transgender people? To shoot down must-pass budget bills as a sign of legislative indignation against other state officials, agencies and colleges and universities? Already, two legislators Sens. David Nelson, D-Moscow, and Maryanne Jordan, D-Boise have said enough and left. I am greatly concerned about the blatant disregard for all recommended safety precautions that the CDC, White House and governments around the U.S. and the rest of the world have issued to slow the spread of the virus, Nelson said. We are putting the lives of people in this building at risk. The longer we stay, the more likely it is that we will also chance carrying the virus home with us when the session does finally wrap up. A legislative attache also resigned, telling House Speaker Scott Bedke in an email obtained by the Idaho Statesman that I believe that leadership and the legislators do not have our best interest at heart. Where would he get that idea? From House Republican Caucus Chairwoman Megan Blanksma of Hammett? When Melissa Davlin of Idaho Reports asked on Twitter about the risk lawmakers posed to the public at large, Blanksma tweeted: OK, enough. This is not the plague. Stop treating it as if it is. Wash your hands and act like responsible humans. From Rep. Dorothy Moon, R-Stanley? Here she was urging lawmakers to attend a sine die (adjournment) party Tuesday at the Basque Center in downtown Boise: It started at 5 oclock, so hurry down there when you get a chance to celebrate sine die. From Senate Majority Leader Chuck Winder, R-Boise? Explaining the GOP majoritys decision to keep working, Winder said: Weve said all along that until someone actually in our chamber, in the building, was confirmed, we would work. Sometimes coronavirus carriers are asymptomatic. Even if not, a person can be contagious for three to five days before he becomes ill. And getting a test result is not instantaneous. Maybe thats another day or two. In other words, someone could spread coronavirus for a week or more before reaching Winders threshold for alarm. This is Idaho legislative hubris. They know more than the CDC, physicians, educators and even President Donald Trump. They can ignore the risk factors for themselves and their associates. They can disregard the decisions of their colleagues in other states. They can tune out the actions of other large organizations such as sports, theaters, ski areas, schools, universities, Idaho corporations, bars, restaurants and businesses. In so doing, they now pose a unique threat. This is not a mere gathering of 105 people who have spent nearly three months in large numbers in close quarters mingling with individuals from across Idaho and throughout the United States. Whether its one or a dozen, each will return home to their private lives, potentially exposing their communities to the coronavirus. Who knows how many of them have been exposed? Would Hammett or Stanley feel comfortable with Banksma and Moon in their midst so soon? Maybe theyll do the right thing and self-quarantine. But given their judgment thus far, do you really want to trust them with your health? Marty Trillhaase is the Editorial Page Editor for the Lewiston Tribune. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc speaks at the meeting (Photo: VNA) During a meeting between permanent members of the government and the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control in Hanoi on March 20, PM Phuc said the Politburo lauded efforts of the entire Party, people and armed forces in the fight against the epidemic. As the golden time to combat COVID-19 is only one week away, the government leader asked for the continued vigilance in the fight against COVID-19. PM Phuc called on the whole society to switch to online transactions or via mobile phones and limit face-to-face meetings to prevent infections. In crowded or COVID-19-hit areas, it is a must to wear face masks, he stressed. The Ministry of Education and Training was required to enhance online teaching while people were urged to not come to karaoke clubs or massage parlours, which he said, should be suspended or even shut down. The PM ordered raising public awareness of the effort to strengthen their trust, as well as increasing the use of technological advances in the regard. As the granting of visas to Vietnam will be suspended from 0:00 on March 21, authorities were required to minimise visitor arrivals in Vietnam via airway, road or seaway, he said. PM Phuc said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Vietnamese embassies must encourage overseas Vietnamese to stay in their host countries for treatment if necessary. In case they still want to return home, flights will be arranged at an appropriate time, he said. According to the government leader, all people entering Vietnam will be quarantined and those violating quarantine regulations will be strictly punished. The health sector and authorities were asked to promptly discover infection cases to provide treatment, thus minimising deaths. The PM also agreed with the proposal to pool all possible means and resources, especially humans, to fight the pandemic. Vietnam has enough food and necessities to meet public demand, he said, stressing that it is prohibited to hoard goods to seek profits from the epidemic. Singapore on Friday confirmed 40 new COVID-19 cases, including 30 imported infections, taking the total number to 385 in the country. The two fatalities included the woman and a 64-year-old Indonesian man who died on Saturday, the health ministry said. Singapore: Singapore on Saturday reported its first coronavirus deaths, including a 75-year-old Singaporean woman, the health ministry said, as the country announced a slew of measures to prevent the spread of the deadly disease that has infected 385 people in the island nation. Click here to follow LIVE updates on coronavirus outbreak Singapore on Friday confirmed 40 new COVID-19 cases, including 30 imported infections, taking the total number to 385 in the country. The two fatalities included the woman and a 64-year-old Indonesian man who died on Saturday, the health ministry said. The woman was linked to the cluster at the Life Church and Missions Singapore and had a history of chronic heart disease and hypertension, reported the Channel News Asia. She showed the COVID-19 symptoms on February 9 and was admitted to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) on February 23 for pneumonia and tested positive for the disease on the same day. She developed serious complications and died at about 7.50 am. The man, who had a history of heart disease, was admitted in a critical condition at NCID on March 13, after arriving in Singapore from Indonesia and passed away at 10.15 am. Prior to his arrival in Singapore, he had been hospitalised in Indonesia for pneumonia. While we all know that there will be fatalities in COVID-19 patients. We are deeply saddened by their passing," Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said. "I know Singaporeans will be worried and anxious. We must take courage and not give in to our fears. We have announced a series of safe distancing measures yesterday and we must all take the necessary precautions to keep ourselves and our families safe," he said. Out of the 385 cases in Singapore, a total of 131 have fully recovered from the infection. Of the 254 confirmed cases who are still in the hospital, most are stable or improving. To reduce the risk of local transmissions, authorities on Friday ordered all events and gatherings with 250 or more participants to be suspended. New safe distancing measures were introduced for public venues such as retail shops and restaurants to ensure the separation of at least one metre between customers. A new TraceTogether mobile app was also launched to help with contact tracing efforts. According to the Johns Hopkins coronavirus tracker, the death toll from the virus globally has risen to 11,397 with more than 275,427 cases reported in over 160 countries and territories. She made her Radio 1 hosting debut on Friday. And Emily Atack was back for a second day of presenting duties on Saturday, as she was seen heading towards the BBC studios in a chic grey ensemble. Following her first day on the job, the presenter, 30, assured fans she had kept a safe distance from her co-host Jordan North amid fears over COVID-19 (coronavirus). Chic: Emily Atack was back for a second day of presenting duties at BBC Radio 1 on Saturday, as she was seen heading towards the BBC studios in a chic grey ensemble Emily looked effortlessly stylish in a simple button up cord dress paired with black tights and heeled cowboy-style boots. The I'm A Celebrity star paired the dress with a woollen grey over coat and opted for Gucci frames on her face for a touch of glamour. The beauty swept her auburn tinted locks away from her face into a simple up-do and arrived with a pair of earphones in. Stylish: The presenter, 30, looked effortlessly stylish in a simple button up cord dress paired with winter tights and boots Emily gave a friendly wave before heading inside, proving she is no doubt remaining positive despite the on going health crisis. Following her first day in the hot seat on Friday, Emily shared a celebratory selfie on her Instagram page in the studio next to a Radio 1 microphone. Clearly pleased with how it all went, Emily flashed a beaming smile to the camera and captioned the image: Happy snap! Following her first day in the hot seat on Friday, Emily shared a celebratory selfie on her Instagram page in the studio next to a Radio 1 microphone Today was my first time hosting at Radio 1 and it was a joy! I'll be keeping you company all weekend from 1-4 with the wonderful Jordan North. 'Social distancing and safety note: I did the show with very safe distance from my co-host / no direct contact with others. 'The BBC have new and very strict measures we all have to follow. Stay safe.' Caption: Clearly pleased with how it all went, Emily flashed a beaming smile to the camera and captioned the image The star made headlines in January when she took to Twitter to declare she was voluntarily single following her split with boyfriend Rob Jowers five months prior. She revealed she was sick of being made to feel like being single was a bad thing, adding: 'Being single shouldn't be seen as negative! 'I became single by choice. Let's stop making women feel like they're failing if they aren't in a relationship!' Work vibe: The I'm A Celebrity star paired the dress with a woollen grey over coat and opted for Gucci frames on her face for a touch of glamour The media personality made it more than clear she doesn't want anyone to feel sorry for her over her relationship status, as she insisted the break-up was 'her choice'. Emily and Rob split amid claims their romance 'just wasn't right', however according to The Sun the split was mutual and the pair tried to remain friends. The couple, who met at the BRIT Awards in February last year, were said to be devastated after the demise of their fleeting romance. Insiders said: 'Emily and Rob were enjoying a honeymoon phase in their relationship with lots of fancy dates and extravagant weekends abroad. 'But when the dust settled they realised it just wasn't right. The split was mutual and they are both really sad about it and remain friends... 'Emily's enjoying one of the busiest times in her career so wants to give all she can to the exciting work opportunities coming her way... She's throwing herself into upcoming projects and remains positive.' With the country seemingly shuddering to a slow halt, people are hunkering down in their homes, hoping to flatten the curve of the spread of the coronavirus. But its easy to go stir crazy all the tension of the extreme amount of indoor time needs to be cut with some joy. For the Popcast team, that comes from music. On this weeks episode, were grateful for two gifts: great music and communion. To offer some distraction for idle ears, weve gathered song recommendations from a roster of Popcast favorites: (Photo : www.pxhere.com) Several Asian countries are now embracing a new way of fighting off the pandemic that is the coronavirus using technology to stamp out the spread by using extremely innovative gadgets and GPS tracking watches and the sort. The question now becomes, is this going to be the norm moving forward? When is it ever going to be enough? Read More: [WATCH] Robots in Kerala Dispense Hand Sanitizers and Masks to the Public While Another in Thailand Measure Temperature to Help Fight COVID-19 China China deployed the most controversial tech to combat the virus, given the nature of that it happened right in their home turf. Cities all over the mainland are using QR codes that are a must on their mobile phones to help track people's movements. Green indicates a healthy individual; Yellow indicates that the user may have visited a hot zone area within the past 14 days which makes them subject to closer observation and Red for those who need quarantine effective immediately. There has been some explanation as to how they can tell if the person's QR is based on, by using their mobile phones when making payments. Online payments have been the new way of currency in most cases now, and they use GPS to track where the person has been to if it was a previous hot zone or not. The Chinese government has said that they will only be using the QR codes until the pandemic subsides. Hong Kong In the busy city of Hong Kong, electronic bracelets, as well as your mobile phones, will be used to monitor your whereabouts and something else. That something else will be to warn authorities that you are straying away from safe quarantine zones. The wristband is connected to your phone, and you have to download your phone as soon as possible, and newcomers should still use it regardless of their 14-day quarantine. This allows authorities to monitor the location of their citizens as Hong Kong is trying to squash new cases of the coronavirus from people who are returning home from overseas. After two months of shutting down their doors, they now allow people to come back, which is a statement as to how efficient technology has been to counter the spread of the coronavirus. Read More: Not Today! Twitter Waves Off Irresponsible Elon Musk Tweet About Children and the Coronavirus South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore Taiwan is using centralized epidemic control to centralize and link multiple government agencies which control a vast bank of data to look for potential carriers and monitor also the ones in quarantine. Smartphones with GPS are given to those quarantined, which then uses the Line app to track their whereabouts. If in any case, they go out, a text message warning would tell them to go back inside. The next offence would be subject to a hefty fine of about TW $1 million or USD 33,000 as well as their names published for shame. South Korea has the same app, but for now, it's still voluntary. Singapore has a dedicated army of detectives who scour the digital footprint of the person who was infected and trace everyone who was ever in contact and informing them to stay indoors or subject themselves to a test in a very effective and efficient way. What is Hindering This Tech Advantage? Privacy concerns, of course. A reported named Maya Wang, a Chinese specialist at Human Rights Watch, has said that "even during times of crisis laws to track people should meet three criteria: legality, proportionality, and necessity." She also added that "In places like China you see the most intrusive measures and the most arbitrary outcomes," and finally said "Emergencies often provide the best opportunities for the subversion of democratic principles," The United States and Western Civilization is Lagging Behind As the cases in the US grows, it is puzzling enough that such a technologically advanced nation would have such a hard time in fighting off the virus. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top of the federal government's top infectious disease scientist has spoken up in a cogressional hearing last Thursday saying that the testing situation in the nation is "failing". He then added, "The idea of anybody getting it easily the way people in other countries are doing it -- we're not set up for that,". His last statement said, "Do I think we should be? Yes. But we're not." Western civilization is now exploring means of combating the spread of the coronavirus in that region. The problem that Professor Christophe Fraser from the Big Data Institute said that "Current strategies are not working fast enough to intercept the transmission of coronavirus," and later added that "To tackle this pandemic we need to harness 21st-century technology effectively." Read More: AI vs. COVID-19: Studies Say The Fastest Supercomputer Could Beat Coronavirus 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Curbside KC website could help boost business amid coronavirus concerns KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -- Black Dog Coffeehouse is a part of a locally run chain of seven coffee shops across the metro. Coronavirus restrictions have forced the owners to lay off more than 100 employees. But, while these tough times continue, a Kansas City woman set up a website to help businesses communicate to customers. One last link for this worthwhile digital index of local restaurants still working hard to keep workers afloat and serve tasty food to Kansas City patrons . . . Read more: A California based artist who spent much of his youth in Ireland has taken up residency in Creative Spark, Riley Waite, was born in California and moved to Dundalk with his Irish mother at the age of seven, before going back to California to pursue his passion for art when he was 18. 'I went to Dundalk Grammar School for several years and then to the De La Salle College,' he says. 'I didn't finish secondary school because it wasn't really for me.' I just wanted to study art, so I went to college in California for fine art and got a degree in drawing and painting. Riley graduated with a BFA for drawing and painting from California State University, Long Beach, and holds a studio arts degree and narrative illustration certificate from Orange Coast College 'I've been travelling back and forth continuously ever since I was eight,' he explains, 'So I'm currently exploring that aspect of my life in my paintings, using both cultures as source of inspiration.' 'I heard of the Creative Spark residency program and because of its location and its goal of promoting creative growth, I believed it would make an ideal environment to further my art practice. It would allow me to engage with the local artists as well as utilize the facilities of creative spark to create work specific to the area.' Back in California Riley attends art workshops, owns his own portrait painting business and is currently taking portrait commissions. He has been exhibited in numerous fine art galleries and museums in California such as the University Art Museum (UAM) in Long Beach, Frank M. Doyle Arts Pavilion, The Orange County Center for Contemporary Art (OCCCA) and the Irvine Fine Arts Center. He is hoping that his residency in Creative Spark will give him the opportunity to create more work that is personal to me. Since graduating I feel like I haven't had an extended period dedicated to producing my own work. If time permits, I would want to create a whole new series of paintings, enough to exhibit a solo show here in Ireland.' 'Right now, I'm inspired by the physicality and process of painting itself, as well as visual storytelling through paint,' he says. 'When I see a painting by a contemporary and study the way it's painted; the way a brush stroke is placed, or the subtle temperature shift in colour, it motivates me to get in the studio and explore paint more.' New York, March 21 : On the strength of new data from the surging caseload, the White House Coronavirus Task Force cautioned Americans that "nobody is immune to the virus" and the contagion level from the pandemic was high for every age group. "We continue to see signs that individuals under 20 years may have severe disease, but majority have recovered to date," Deborah Birx, co-ordinator of the Task Force, said on Friday. "Another concerning trend that the mortality among males seems to be twice that of every age group of females," she said. The warnings came on a day when California, New York and Illinois announced drastic new rules sharply limiting outdoor movement in the wake of the rising death toll from the coronavirus. More than 200 have died in the US. New York has the biggest cluster of cases - more than 7,800 at last count. Birx urged Americans not to interpret mild or moderate disease as lack of contagion. "You just happen to have a better immune system and the ability to fight the virus in a way that maybe older people or people with existing medical conditions can't," she said. At the same briefing, Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute For Allergy and Infectious Diseases, rebutted President Donald Trump's claim that anti malarial drug hydroxychloroquine could be a "gamechanger". With Trump towering over him, Fauci said there is only "anecdotal" evidence to support the claim and that only testing would deliver the right answers. Fauci underlined America's two pillar strategy to battle the outbreak: The country's ability to flatten the curve by taking tough decisions on how society operates and stopping infections from coming into the country from the outside. Border closures to non-essential travelers from Canada and Mexico go into effect midnight on Saturday. Influx into the US from China and Europe have already been stemmed. The State Department has implemented a Level 4 travel advisory warning Americans against travelling abroad. Fauci applauded the "tough decisions" individual states are taking to stop the spread. On Friday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told the state's residents to stay indoors and ordered 100 per cent of non-essential businesses to keep workers home. On the same day, California ordered all of its 40 million residents to stay in their houses as much as possible. The Trump administration on Friday announced that all standardised school tests, which are typically scheduled during the final burst of the school year, will be cancelled. The tax filing date has been extended from April 15 to July 15. Trump this week invoked emergency wartime authority to help speed up production of equipment to battle capacity shortages in America's hospitals. (Nikhila Natarajan can be contacted at @byniknat) -- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed Health leaders now fear many of them could be bringing the virus back with them. In Afghanistan, at least 22 people have been diagnosed with coronavirus. But with limited checks along the border with Iran, where the pandemic is spreading rapidly, health officials worry the number could quickly grow. Al Jazeeras Katia Lopez-Hodayan reports. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ghina Ghaliya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, March 21, 2020 10:06 662 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad206c63624 1 Politics house-of-representatives,puan-maharani,COVID-19,COVID-19-in-Indonesia,coronavirus,Wuhan-coronavirus,outbreak,pandemic,virus-corona Free The House of Representatives has extended its recess period for seven days until March 29 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with Jakarta which house the House compound being the hardest-hit area in the country. The recess period, which started on Feb. 28, was initially scheduled to end on March 22. "Weve agreed to extend the recess period and postpone the opening of the House's next sitting period until March 29," House Speaker Puan Maharani announced following a teleconference meeting on Friday. Should the situation continue to exacerbate after March 29, the House speakership could further extend the recess period. Read also: House joins experts to push for lockdown against COVID-19 The ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician, however, called on lawmakers in commissions that oversaw issues related to the work of Indonesia's COVID-19 rapid-response team to be proactive in assisting the government in handling the pandemic. The House is now focusing on overseeing the governments efforts in handling the coronavirus and studying its impacts, especially the socioeconomic impacts," she said. As of Friday, Indonesia has recorded 369 cases of COVID-19 infections, 215 of which were reported in Jakarta. The death toll from the disease has reached 32 to date, with 18 of the fatal cases occurring in the capital. Read also: $3.9 billion state spending reallocated for COVID-19 response: Sri Mulyani Puan further urged the government to work faster in delivering medical services to the public, including ensuring the availability of testing kits, medical workers as well as masks and hand sanitizer. House Legislative Body deputy chairman Achmad Baidowi said lawmakers and their family members were scheduled to undergo COVID-19 testing in Kalibata and Ulujami in South Jakarta during the recess period. The House secretary-general will notify the time and place later, he said. Click here for the March 22 update The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported there were 371 positive cases of coronavirus in the state as of noon, March 21, 2020. Here is the locator map and details of the known cases. Municipality maps, when available, are below the overall state map. If you are unable to view the map below, please click this link. This post and map will be updated throughout the day as additional details on cases are released by individual counties. Please note that in some cases, the number of cases per county could be higher than the state total. Please note that starting March 16, the state has changed how it labeled cases from confirmed positive and presumed positive to either negative or positive. Adams County Four people from the county, whose age or gender was not released, has been diagnosed. Allegheny County Two adults from Pittsburgh, who live in the same household. One is in their 70s and the other is in their 60s. Both are in isolation at home. An adult in their 60s is in isolation at home. An adult in their 60s is hospitalized at Jefferson Hospital in Jefferson Hills. Three people over the age of 18 have been diagnosed. Two were exposed during international travel, the third was exposed during domestic travel. They are in isolation at home. 24 additional people from this county have been diagnosed. Beaver County An unknown person from this county has been diagnosed. Peter Carbone, superintendent of Aliquippa School District, indicated that the person is from Aliquippa. Two other people from this county has been diagnosed. Berks County Seven people from the county, whose age or gender was not released, has been diagnosed. Bucks County The Bucks County Department of Health said that at least one resident in 14 municipalities tested positive for COVID-19 as of March 21 with 28 people diagnosed overall. Those cases include: Two adults who live in the same household, who attended an out-of-state gathering and were exposed to the virus. Both are in isolation at home. An adult, who had been in contact with the affected cardiologist from Montgomery County. They are in isolation at home. A case announced between March 14 and 16. Three new cases were announced March 16. Two were in isolation at home, and one is hospitalized. Two new cases were announced March 17. Both are isolated at home. Three new cases were announced March 18. All are isolated at home. Two new cases were announced March 19. This includes the first child in the county to be infected. Ten new cases were announced March 20. Six of them had contact with known cases, four were attributed to community spread. Centre County One resident from the county has been diagnosed. Chester County The county is maintaining a coronavirus database site. All information below has been pulled from it. BIRMINGHAM TOWNSHIP: A 71-year-old man has been diagnosed. EAST GOSHEN TOWNSHIP: Three cases have been reported between the ages of 20 and 54. EAST MARLBOROUGH TOWNSHIP: Two cases have been reported - A 51-year-old woman and a 53-year-old man, both who had exposure to someone with the virus. EAST NOTTHINGHAM TOWNSHIP: A 21-year-old male has been diagnosed. MALVERN: A 33-year-old woman, who was exposed during travel. NEW GARDEN TOWNSHIP: A resident has been diagnosed. NORTH COVENTRY TOWNSHIP: A 30-year-old man who had exposure to someone with the virus. UWCHLAN TOWNSHIP: Three cases have been reported between the ages of 14 and 52. WEST CHESTER: Three cases have been reported between the ages of 34 and 44. WEST PIKELAND TOWNSHIP: A 56-year-old woman who had exposure to someone with the virus. WILLISTON TOWNSHIP: A 38-year-old man who had exposure to someone with the virus. Cumberland County Two adults and a child were diagnosed. Their ages and gender have not been released. Nine additional people from the county, whose ages or gender were not released, have been diagnosed. Delaware County An adult woman, who recently returned from a conference in Boston. She was treated at Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Upland. An adult man, who is employed at George W. Hill Correctional Facility. He contracted it from his son, a police officer who had tested positive for the disease in Montgomery County. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, 34 people including 11 inmates have been quarantined. 31 other people from the county, whose ages or gender was not released, were diagnosed. Erie County A 35-year-old resident has been diagnosed. Franklin County One resident has been diagnosed. Lackawanna County Five people from the county, whose ages or gender were not released, have been diagnosed. Lancaster County One person is being treated at Lancaster General Hospital. A second case has also been diagnosed in the county. Three additional people from the county, whose ages or gender were not released, have been diagnosed. Lebanon County A person is in isolation at home after receiving outpatient treatment at Lebanon VA Medical Center. One additional person from the county, whose age or gender was not released, has been diagnosed. Lehigh County An adult from Bethlehem, who works for the Lehigh Valley Health Network. They are in isolation at home. 12 additional people from the county, whose ages or gender were not released, have been diagnosed. Luzerne County An adult from the county, who was diagnosed after traveling, is in isolation at home. Five additional people from the county, whose ages or gender were not released, have been diagnosed. Monroe County The person, whose age or gender was not released by officials, is hospitalized. A second person, whose age or gender was not released by officials, is hospitalized after contact with a previously diagnosed Pennsylvania patient. A child, whose age or gender was not release by officials 22 additional people from this county have been diagnosed. Their ages and gender have not been released. Montgomery County ABINGTON TOWNSHIP: Three people between the ages of 22 and 72 have been diagnosed. CHELTENHAM TOWNSHIP: A 70-year-old woman is hospitalized at a Philadelphia hospital. Five other residents between the pages of 49 and 95 have been diagnosed. COLLEGEVILLE: A 45-year-old man and a 41-year-old woman, who both had contact with a previously identified person in Montgomery County with the virus. They are in isolation at home. CONSHOHOCKEN: 58-year-old woman, who had contact with a previously identified person in Montgomery County with the virus. She is in isolation at home. DOUGLASS TOWNSHIP: A 38-year-old has been diagnosed. EAST NORRITON TOWNSHIP: Two residents, both 37-year-old, have been diagnosed. LIMERICK TOWNSHIP: A 50-year-old has been diagnosed. LOWER GWYNEDD TOWNSHIP: Two women between the ages of 18 and 54 have been diagnosed. The teen is a student at Germantown Academy. Both live in the same household and they are in isolation at home. LOWER MERION TOWNSHIP: Seventeen residents have been diagnosed between the ages of 10 and 84. They include: An adult man and woman who reside in the same household. Both are in isolation at home. A 58-year-old man and a 53-year-old woman who traveled within the US to an affected area. They are in isolation at home A fourth-grade teacher at Cynwyd Elementary School. The teacher is in isolation at home. A 46-year-old woman who is in isolation at home. A 57-year-old woman who is in isolation at home. LOWER MORELAND TOWNSHIP: Five residents between the ages of 20 and 57 have been diagnosed. LOWER POTTSGROVE TOWNSHIP: A 51-year-old man has been hospitalized. LOWER PROVIDENCE TOWNSHIP: Eleven people have been diagnosed between the ages of 18 and 75. They include: A 31-year-old woman who had contact with a previously identified case. She is in isolation at home. (Source) A 42-year-old who had contact with a previously identified case. She is in isolation at home. (Source) A 67-year-old man who is in isolation at home. (Source) LOWER SALFORD TOWNSHIP: A 39-year-old who had traveled throughout the United States is in isolation at home. (Source) MONTGOMERY TOWNSHIP: A 59-year-old man, who is hospitalized. NEW HANOVER TOWNSHIP: Two children, ages 2 and 4, have been diagnosed. PERIKOMEN TOWNSHIP: Three people have been diagnosed. They include: A 35-year-old police officer, works in Lower Providence Township. Officials believe he contracted it from a pediatrician at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphias location in King of Prussia. He is in isolation at home. A 34-year-old, who is in unknown condition. A 44-year-old woman who is in isolation at home. PLYMOUTH TOWNSHIP: A 62-year-old resident has been diagnosed. ROYSFORD: A 1-year-old boy has been hospitalized. SKIPPACK TOWNSHIP: There are three cases so far in Skippack Township. They include: A 35-year-old man, who had contact with a previously identified person in Montgomery County with the virus. He is in isolation at home; A 37-year-old man and a 36-year-old woman in the same household. The man had contact with a previously identified person in Montgomery County with the virus, and the woman caught it from the man. They are in isolation at home. SPRINGFIELD: A 35-year-old man, who is in isolation at home. A 20-year-old has also been diagnosed, UPPER MERION TOWNSHIP: Three people have been diagnosed between the ages of 31 and 67. One, a 62-year-old woman, is hospitalized at the University of Pennsylvania. The second, a cardiologist, is in critical condition at the University of Pennsylvania. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that more than 20 patients and 17 workers were exposed to the doctor. UPPER PROVIDENCE TOWNSHIP: A 72-year-old woman has been hospitalized. Officials say its the first case of community spread in the county. WEST NORRITON TOWNSHIP: A 72-year-old has been diagnosed. WHITPAIN TOWNSHIP: A 66-year-old has been diagnosed. WORCESTER TOWNSHIP: Four people have been diagnosed between the ages of 43 and 77. Montour County One resident from the county has been diagnosed. Northampton County Carmine Fusco, a 55-year-old horse trainer from Bath, is the first person from Pennsylvania to die from COVID-19. He passed away on March 18. Fusco was hospitalized at St. Lukes Bethlehem Township campus. 16 additional people from the county have been diagnosed. Philadelphia County A man in his 50s from Philadelphia, who had traveled to an international location affected by the virus. He is in isolation at home. A female in her 50s from Philadelphia, who had close contact with the male above. She is in isolation at home. A person from Philadelphia, age and gender unknown, who had traveled to an international location affected by the virus. They are in isolation at home. 66 additional people from the county, whose age or gender have not been not released, have been diagnosed. Pike County An adult resident is in isolation at home. One additional person from the county, whose age or gender was not released, has been diagnosed. Potter County One person from the county, whose age or gender was not released, has been diagnosed. Washington County An adult from the county, whose age or gender was not released, has been diagnosed. Four people from the county, whose age or gender were not released, has been diagnosed. Wayne County An adult man who traveled extensively in Europe was treated March 4 at Carbondale Family Health Center. He is in isolation. Westmoreland County Four people from the county, whose age or gender was not released, were been diagnosed. York County Nine people from the county, whose age or gender was not released, were been diagnosed. PLEASE NOTE: Additional details about the location of the cases and the ages of those affected have been included whenever possible. State officials are invoking a 1955 law in choosing to release only the county and whether or not theyre an adult. Any information beyond this is provided by the individual counties to the press. The DGCA has permitted an Amsterdam-Delhi flight with 120 Indian passengers, that was turned back due to aviation restrictions applied in view of the coronavirus pandemic, to land in India on Sunday, an official said. The Netherlands' KLM Airlines on Saturday said its Amsterdam-Delhi flight with 120 Indians on board was turned back due to "conflicting" information on flight restrictions imposed by the Indian authorities in order to hinder the spread of COVID-19. According to the official, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Saturday night issued permission for the Dutch airline to land its aircraft carrying the Indian citizens in the national capital on March 22. In a statement, KLM Airline said, "On March 20, FlightKL871from Amsterdam to Delhi had to be redirected to Schiphol due to conflicting information on entry restrictions in the country. 120 passengers on board this aircraft are residents of India, who were on their way to Delhi via a transfer at Schiphol, and are now on airside at Schiphol". The plane had transit passengers from the US and the UK too, and there was confusion over whether such passengers could disembark on Indian soil as they were not taking direct flights and their segregation could be difficult. The Central government has announced that it would not allow any international commercial passenger flight to land in India from Sunday onward for a period of one week. KLM airline had said it "ensures to abide and respect" the regulations put in place by the Indian authorities and that it will fly these passengers only if afinal agreement is provided by the authorities in India. "KLM is committed to doing everything it can torepatriate as many travellers as possible," the statement said. The Dutch airline further said, "KLM will re-operate flight KL872 for the passengers in Delhi who were supposed to return to Amsterdam on the above mentioned flight for a departure on the night of March 22". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Ever since the novel coronavirus or COVID-19 was first reported from China's Wuhan city, the virus has spread to more than 166 countries and territories around the world. Ever since the novel coronavirus or COVID-19 was first reported from China's Wuhan city, the virus has spread to more than 166 countries and territories around the world, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU). The World Health Organisation declared the virus as a global pandemic on 11 March. The United States declared a state of emergency 13 March as many European countries went on a war footing amid mounting deaths as the world mobilized to fight the widening coronavirus pandemic. At the White House, where President Donald Trump made the emergency decree, drug company executives vowed to work together and with the government to quickly expand the country's coronavirus testing capabilities, which are far behind those in many countries. We will defeat this threat, Trump told a news conference. When America is tested, America rises to the occasion. The fallout from the disease spread across the Pacific, with Australian travel firms issuing profit warnings and Japanese carriers cutting capacity while US airlines rushed to cut flights to Europe in the wake of new travel restrictions. The virus has infected nearly 253,000 people across the world and the death toll exceeds 10,400. Click here to follow LIVE updates on coronavirus outbreak In India, which is the second-most populated country in the world, the maximum number of cases have been reported in the state of Maharashtra. Suspected coronavirus cases have also been reported in multiple cities such as New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Patna. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has said that the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases has risen to 258. Of the total 258, 219 are Indian nationals and 39 are foreigners. So far, four deaths have been reported. However, as per the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)'s data released on Friday, 236 individuals have been tested positive among suspected cases and contacts of known positive cases. A total of 15,404 samples from 14,514 individuals have been tested for SARS-CoV2 as on March 20 till 6 pm, the apex health research body said. Among the 258 figures of coronavirus cases are 39 foreign nationals, including 17 from Italy, three from the Philippines, two from the UK, one each belonging to Canada, Indonesia, and Singapore. The figure also includes four deaths reported from Delhi, Karnataka, Punjab, and Maharashtra so far. Here's a state-wise list of confirmed cases in India so far: Sr No Name of State / UT Total Confirmed cases (Indian) Total Confirmed cases (Foreign) Cured/ Discharged Deaths 1 Andhra Pradesh 3 0 0 0 2 Chhattisgarh 1 0 0 0 3 Delhi 25 1 5 1 4 Gujarat 7 0 0 0 5 Haryana 3 14 0 0 6 Himachal Pradesh 2 0 0 0 7 Karnataka 15 0 1 1 8 Kerala 33 7 3 0 9 Madhya Pradesh 4 0 0 0 10 Maharashtra 49 3 0 1 11 Odisha 2 0 0 0 12 Puducherry 1 0 0 0 13 Punjab 2 0 0 1 14 Rajasthan 15 2 3 0 15 Tamil Nadu 3 0 1 0 16 Telengana 8 11 1 0 17 Chandigarh 1 0 0 0 18 Jammu and Kashmir 4 0 0 0 19 Ladakh 13 0 0 0 20 Uttar Pradesh 23 1 9 0 21 Uttarakhand 3 0 0 0 22 West Bengal 2 0 0 0 Total number of confirmed cases in India 219 39 23 4 The worlds richest nations poured unprecedented aid into the global economy as coronavirus cases ballooned in the new epicentre, Europe, with deaths in Italy outstripping those in mainland China, where the virus originated. More than 252,700 people have been infected by the novel coronavirus across the world and 10,451 have died, with deaths in Italy surpassing the toll in China, where the outbreak began, according to a Reuters tally. Infections have been reported by 183 countries outside China. Data source: worldometer List of 25 worst-affected countries: Sr No Country/Other Total cases New cases Total deaths Total recovered 1 China 81,008 41 3,255 71,740 2 Italy 47,021 4,032 5,129 3 Spain 21,571 1,093 1,588 4 Germany 19,848 68 180 5 USA 19,650 267 264 147 6 Iran 19,644 1,433 6,745 7 France 12,612 450 1,587 8 South Korea 8,799 147 102 2,612 9 Switzerland 5,615 56 15 10 UK 3,983 177 65 11 Netherlands 2,994 106 2 12 Austria 2,649 6 9 13 Belgium 2,257 37 204 14 Norway 1,959 7 1 15 Sweden 1,639 16 16 16 Denmark 1,255 9 1 17 Canada 1,087 12 14 18 Malaysia 1,030 3 87 19 Australia 1,023 95 7 46 20 Portugal 1,020 6 5 21 Japan 1,007 35 215 22 Brazil 970 11 2 23 Czechia 833 4 24 Diamond Princess 712 8 567 25 Israel 705 1 15 With inputs from agencies Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 21) The country's efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19 just got a boost after a donation of test kits and medical supplies arrived from China Saturday morning. The shipment included 100,000 COVID-19 test kits, 100,000 surgical masks, 10,000 N-95 masks and 10,000 sets of personal protective equipment. Department of Foreign Afairs Secretary Teodoro "Teddy Boy" Locsin Jr. was at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport to receive the shipment, which was flown in via a chartered flight. A statement on the Chinese Embassy's Facebook page said, "Ambassador Huang Xilian said that this is a difficult time for both China and the Philippines, who are fighting hard against the novel coronavirus epidemic. China will always remember the valuable support rendered by the Philippine government and people earlier to our fight against the epidemic. As now the Philippines is facing a severe epidemic situation, the Chinese side feels keenly for the Philippine people." Locsin made note of the "tremendous help" from China and said the assistance was a model for the rest of the world. Meanwhile, the Department of Health said more test kits would be arriving from other foreign countries, among them Brunei adnd South Korea. Pandemics of bygone days By Prof. Sarath Edirisinghe View(s): View(s): On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the current spread of the COVID-19, Corona virus epidemic as a pandemic. In the natural history of an infectious disease, a pandemic is the most dangerous scenario. When an epidemic crosses the borders of a country it is officially declared as a pandemic. Most of the historical pandemics we hear about are those due to plague (mahamariya) caused by a bacillus that is transmitted to humans by a biting rat flea. Whatever the agent responsible for a pandemic, the terror, social and political disruption and subsequent human misery experienced are the same, still valid to this day. In order to understand the magnitude of the misery and social disruption during pandemics, there is no better example than those caused by the plague bacillus Yersinia pestis. Brawls, fisticuffs and abusive behaviour over toilet paper in supermarkets we read of in Western countries in current times are closely reminiscent of the picture depicted by Giovanni Boccaccio in his Decameron during the second plague pandemic. Our historical chronicles Mahawamsa or Chulawamsa make no reference to pandemics or even epidemics that could possibly be identified as those due to plague. The Old Testament refers to plagues frequently. Some believe that the emirods with which the Lord smote the Philistines were in reality the bubos (swellings) of plague. The pestilence is believed to have killed more than 50,000 inhabitants of Bethshemesh. It struck terror and panic among whole communities as people, rich and the poor, awaited the call of death, heralded by a messenger in the form of a black cloaked skeleton riding a black horse, identical to one of the three horsemen of the Apocalypse in St Johns allegory in the book of Revelations, Chapter 1 in the Bible. History records three great pandemics of plague. The first was the Plague of Justinian in 542 AD. It started in Ethiopia and spread to Egypt. From there it spread throughout the known world. The pandemic decimated the population and the highest mortality was in the years 542 and 543. The scourge lasted until the close of the 6th century. Procopius, the historian described this plague which was named after the reigning Emperor, as, the whole human race was near being exterminated. Procopius was able to trace the origin of the plague to China and the subsequent route that the plague took to reach Rome. He publicly placed the blame for the plague on the unrighteous emperor implying the wrath of Gods. The fall of the Byzantine Empire following the Plague of Justinian was similar to the part played by malaria in the fall of the Roman Empire. The second pandemic started around 1340 and peaked in the year 1348. The pestilence spread widely across Europe and in the years 1345 to 1350 half the population had succumbed to the scourge. It is mentioned that 200,000 market towns and villages in Europe were completely depopulated. The dwellings of the dead, scattered with decomposing corpses were taken over by wild beasts. Pope Clement the VI consecrated the Rhone at Avignon so that bodies could be cast into it. Statistics forwarded to the Pope estimated the death toll for whole world as 42,836,486. The plague reached England in 1348 and within a few years one third to half the population perished. The panic, the terror and the total disarray of social order were described vividly by Giovanni Boccaccio in his Decameron written in 1348. The social and economic effects of plague were universal and long lasting. Boccaccios own words are, one neighbor had not any care of another, parents nor children ever visiting them, but utterly they were forsaken on all sides; this tribulation pierced in to the hearts of men, and with such a dreadful terror, that one brother forsook another, the uncle, the nephew, the sister, the brother and the wife, the husband; nay, a matter much greater, and almost incredible fathers and mothers fled away from their own children. The pestilences unleashed a flood of violence and passion. Quacks appeared in hordes prescribing chants, charms and other application. The stringent sanitary laws and practices by the Jews led to lesser number of plague cases among them. This led to the rumour that they were behind the pestilence. Jews were massacred right across Europe except in England and Lithuania. Medieval times also saw the emergence of preventive measures. Ships arriving at Venice from ports of Egypt were isolated in special ports and all travellers were detained for a period of 30 days at first and then for 40 days to make it the same as the days spent by Jesus wandering in the desert. The term Quaranta Giorni used for this procedure subsequently became quarantine meaning isolation. The third pandemic of plague originated in Yunnan Province of China in early 1890s. It killed nearly 100,000 in and near Yunnan. Marmot trappers brought it from Manchuria. This epidemic reached pandemic level when it crossed the borders into neighbouring countries including Hong Kong. A landmark in the history of medicine about this time was the discovery of the agent responsible for plague, independently by Shibasaburo Kitasato, a pupil of Koch, and by Alexandre Yersin, a pupil of Pasteur in 1894 during the plague of Hong Kong. From Hong Kong plague spread to Bombay, India in 1896. Then it spread to Calcutta, Poona and along the western coast of India. The death toll in India the following year was 12 million. From India the plague was disseminated worldwide. During this terrible period it was discovered that scourge was disseminated by ships carrying infected rats from stricken ports. The role of the rat flea as the transmitter was discovered much later. Finding of dead rats prior to the appearance of plague had been noted from ancient times. The Old Testament refers to plague and dead rats so does Charaka in India. Historically major pandemics of infectious diseases have occurred due to plague, typhus, smallpox, cholera, influenza and a host of viral agents including HIV/AIDS. As mentioned earlier irrespective of the causative agent the resulting misery, disarray of social and economic order remain the same. (The writer is a retired Comsultant Parasitologist) By Express News Service CHENNAI: A division bench of the Madras High Court has directed the State government and the Greater Chennai Corporation to provide food and shelter to poor people on Sunday (March 22) when the country will observe Janata Curfew. The bench gave the direction while passing interim orders on an unconnected habeas corpus writ petition, on Friday. ...the government and the Corporation are directed to inform through media about the availability of night shelters for poor people. It is also their duty to provide food for them during the curfew, when hotels and shops would not be opened. If necessary, the government and the Corporation shall utilise the community halls, marriage halls and schools for this purpose on Sunday, the judges said. Meanwhile, the city corporation has announced that all 51 shelters that it maintains would be open on Sunday, and food and essentials will be served to people. On the heels of three more new coronavirus cases Friday, Montgomery County health officials confirmed a 13th case Saturday afternoon. According to information from the Montgomery County Public Heath District, the woman is in her 30s and lives in northwest Montgomery County and has no recent travel history. She is currently isolated at home. Montgomery County Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security Executive Director Jason Millsaps said while more cases are expected, he said the number of negative tests are increasing as well. As we have ramped up testing at private facilities and hospitals across the county and tests become more available to the general population we expect to see increases in positive tests but we have seen an increase in negative tests so there is some good news, he said urging people to not panic or continue stockpiling groceries. County Judge Mark Keough took to social media Saturday to address misinformation clearing up rumors of any lockdown, shelter in place or that the National Guard was responding locally. He urged residents to fact check information with the county, state and federal government websites. Any orders will be distributed via press conferences where you would hear them from the originating authority directly and can see for yourself, Keough stated. The three easiest ways to deal with theses rumors are to stop listening to them and stop forwarding or sharing them. If you are passing these rumors along or creating these rumors, stop, and do not be afraid, be strong, be wise, be self controlled and unless you you hear it from the designated authorities, the rumors are false. Here are updates on Montgomery Countys current cases: Case 1: A man in his 40s, who lives in northwest Montgomery County, is still hospitalized. He remains in critical condition, but is stable and showing some improvement. He was believed to have become infected with the virus as a result of community spread. More Information Keep clean Wash hands often for 20 seconds and encourage others to do the same. If no soap and water are available, use hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol. Cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue, then throw the tissue away. Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands. Disinfect surfaces, buttons, handles, knobs, and other places touched often. Avoid close contact with people who are sick. For more information, please see www.dshs.texas.gov/coronavirus See More Collapse Case 2: A woman in her 40s who lives in southeast Montgomery County. She remains in a hospital in Harris County in critical condition. Her only travel was to New Orleans. Case 3: A man in his 40s who lives in northwest Montgomery County. He is at home, recovering well. His only travel was to Florida. Case 4: A woman in her 40s who lives in northwest Montgomery County. She remains at home, doing well. Her case is connected to Case 3. Case 5: A man in his 50s who lives in southwest Montgomery County. He is in isolation at home. The man had recently traveled to California. Case 6: A man in his 40s who lives in southwest Montgomery County. He is in isolation at home. The man had recently traveled to California. Case 7: A woman in her 60s who lives in northwest Montgomery County. She is in isolation at home. She has no recent travel history, and no known contact with other patients. Case 8: A woman in her 40s who lives in southeast Montgomery County. She is in isolation at home. She had recently traveled to Germany. Case 9: A man in his 50s who lives in southwest Montgomery County. He is hospitalized in critical but stable condition. His travel history is under investigation. Case 10: A woman in her 50s who lives in southeast Montgomery County. She is in isolation at home. She attended the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo March 8. Case 11: A man in his 90s, who lives in southwest Montgomery County. He is currently hospitalized and has no recent travel history. Case 12: A man in his 50s, who lives in southwest Montgomery County. He is in isolation at home and recently traveled to Brazil. cdominguez@hcnonline.com Harry and Meghan Markle are urged not to return in the United kingdom once they leave the country according to a recent poll conducted by a British news outlet. The royal family in the United Kingdom is now surrounded by issues involving Harry and Meghan. The couple has decided to leave their royal life and duties at the end of this month and will move to Canada to live independently. In a previously published article by Latin Post, it was reported that Prince William and Harry are filled with anger and resentment towards each other. Even though they stopped trash-talking in front of the public, it's obvious that something is going on behind closed doors. William and Harry are both second and third in line to the throne. They are expected to do their royal duties most especially as the country is facing a bigger problem in the COVID-19 pandemic. At present, the country has more than 3,000 confirmed cases with a more than 100 death toll. In this time of crisis, William and Harry are supposed to step-up because Queen Elizabeth is already in old age. The Queen is considered very susceptible to this virus. In a recent poll conducted by a news outlet which was carried out on Friday from 2 pm to 8 pm, the question was "Should Meghan Markle and Prince Harry return to the UK to be with the Royal Family?" Many readers responded to the poll. Roughly 6,396 readers participated in the poll and the majority of them answered "NO." This makes up an estimated 88 percent, or 5,575 people polled. Another 11 percent or, 711 people, answered "YES", while one percent, or some 110 people, answered, "DON'T KNOW." The poll was conducted as a response to the claims by a royal expert that Prince Harry could go back in this time of global health crisis as Queen Elizabeth may be forced to isolate herself because of her age. Prince William is expected to step-up because after March 31 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will no longer have royal duties following their decision to leave the country and have a life in Canada. However, the problem in this expectation is if Kate Middleton, the lovely wife of Prince William, gets pregnant then someone else needs to be the physical presence of the crown to stabilize and maintain order in the country. But the majority of the British seem to not want Harry and Meghan to come back to the United Kingdom. REACTIONS OF READERS WHO DO NOT WANT PRINCE HARRY AND MEGHAN MARKLE TO RETURN IN THE UNITED KINGDOM "No! Absolutely not. They chose to leave and the Royal Family and the country can manage without them." "No, they are neither wanted nor needed." "As far as I'm concerned, they are no longer part of the UK Monarchy." "There is a well-known quote which suits their situation which states as you make your bed, so you must lie on it." "They made their choice, caused endless heartache to our Queen so should get on with it." These are just few of the reactions posted by the readers on different social media sites. There are others who think Prince Harry and Meghan Markle should return. Here are their reactions: "Prince Harry has a duty to step up at this time of need and assist his brother Prince William and the rest of the Royal Family. With or without the help of Meghan Markle." "@sussexroyal I certainly hope you are checking in on your father who is in the highest risk group." However, it seems that Harry and Meghan have made their minds up as they have completed their final engagements as members of the Royal Family. On March 31, they are no longer expected to carry out royal duties in the country. Read related articles: India has reported four deaths and 258 cases of coronavirus (Covid-19) in the country so far. While the numbers are rapidly increasing for the past few days, many health experts have pointed out that the number of confirmed cases in the country with a population of 1.3 billion is very low and has suggested that India is not carrying out enough tests. Read more Criminal Negligence Of One Man Has Put Entire Kerala District Under Lockdown Over the past few days, there have been several incidents where people returning from countries with coronavirus outbreak, refusing to follow the self-isolation protocol resulted in passing on the virus to more and more people. AFP But a man from Kerala who had recently returned from Dubai takes the cake for being the most irresponsible person at the time of Covid-19. The 48-year-old native of Kasargod in northern Kerala had on March 12 at the Karipur International Airport in Kozhikode. Read more AIIMS Bhubaneswar Medical Superintendent Accused Of Hiding Travel History Of 'Covid-19' Son Resident doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar have alleged that Medical Superintendent Sachidananda Mohanty had allegedly hidden the travel history of his son who was tested positive for Covid-19. AFP The 19-year-old who had recently return from the United Kingdom tested positive for coronavirus on Friday. But according to the resident doctors, the Superintendent was concealing his sons travel history until he tested positive for the viral infection. Read more Returning From Bangladesh, 40 Students In Srinagar Quarantined In Just 2 Rooms With Foreigners Srinagar Airport was host to chaotic scenes on Thursday after a group of Kashmiri students pursuing studies in Bangladesh arrived in J&K's summer capital. Upon arriving at the airport, students were made to wait for more than two hours, as authorities were not sure whether to allow them to go home. AFP But the matter escalated after some students with 'influence' were escorted out of the airport, while others were told that they would be quarantined. Read more Shaheen Bagh Protesters Won't Give Up, To Continue Even On Janta Curfew The women-led protesters in Delhi's Shaheen Bagh against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) have refused to call off their demonstration in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak in the country. BCCL According to the protesters, the sit-in will continue on Sunday, the day when PM Narendra Modi has urged people to remain indoors under a self-imposed curfew. Read more World Forest Day 2020 - A Reminder To Turn Around Deforestation Before It Is Too Late The World Forest Day is celebrated on March 21. This day celebrates the different kinds of forests all over the world and is used to spread awareness about the environment and the importance of forests. BCCL On this day, the UN advises governments across the globe to promote their forests and to undertake activities such as tree planting and wildlife education. Read more The West Bengal government convened an all-party meeting on March 23 to discuss measures being taken in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, sources said on Saturday. Letters have been sent to all major political parties, urging them to attend the meeting at 4 pm, they said. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be chairing the meeting that will be held in state secretariat 'Nabanna', sources said. Leaders of all major political parties in the state said that they will be present in the meeting. CPI(M) legislative party leader Sujan Chakraborty said his party would attend the meeting and place a few suggestions to tackle the pandemic. Welcoming the move, state Congress president Somen Mitra said his party will also attend the meeting. "We welcome the decision. We have received the letter. We will attend the meeting," he said. State BJP sources said senior members of the party will be present in the meeting. Three persons, with travel history to the UK, have so far tested positive for the coronavirus in West Bengal. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- In order to quickly fill necessary staff positions at stores throughout Michigan, Meijer is speeding up the hiring process and delaying background checks. Meijer is hiring additional seasonal workers to help meet the demands of the public during the coronavirus outbreak in Michigan that has now infected more than 500 people and resulted in the death of three. The company is planning to hire 40-50 new employees per store, Joe Hirschmugl, spokesperson for Meijer, said. New employees must still take a background check, and ongoing employment is based on a successful check, Hirschmugl said. The store is starting the onboarding process for new employees as background checks are pending, he said. The store has also been reaching out to local businesses affected by mandated closures to help place their staff in positions in Meijer stores until their businesses can reopen, Hirschmugl said. Meijer also recently announced it is limiting hours. In a press release, the Walker-based retailer said starting on Friday, March 20, stores will close at 10 p.m. and open at 8 a.m. The move is designed to give employees more time to deep clean and restock stores. Designated shopping hours for senior citizens and customers with chronic health conditions will run from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the company said. These are unprecedented times that require appropriate action to ensure we are supporting the communities where our customers and team members work and live, Rick Keyes, the companys president and CEO, said in a statement. Other retailers have announced similar expedited hiring processes to meet the demands. Walmart will hire 150,000 new employees nationwide to help fill the stores. Walmarts hiring process usually takes two weeks; that will be reduced to 24 hours. Walmart also announced limited hours to allow for deep cleaning and stocking of shelves. Also on MLive: Meijer to drop 24-hour service amid coronavirus pandemic Michigan confirmed coronavirus cases rise to 549 Washington: Two Republican senators defended themselves on Friday against heavy criticism, including calls that they resign, for selling substantial amounts of stocks before the coronavirus-induced market meltdown and after closed-door briefings on the outbreak. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr sold up to $1.7 million (1.5 million pounds) worth of stock on February 13 in 33 separate transactions after offering public assurances the government was ready to battle the virus. His financial filings were first reported by ProPublica. Senator Kelly Loeffler also sold millions of dollars in shares in the weeks after lawmakers were first briefed on the virus, according to public filings. Media reports about Burr and Loeffler, who have denied wrongdoing, prompted calls they leave office and other criticism from people as disparate as a progressive Democratic lawmaker and a conservative commentator. The controversy came as Republican and Democratic senators worked with officials from President Donald Trump's administration to try to hash out a massive bill to boost the US economy as it reels from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Burr made public comments in line with fellow Republican Trump's early assurances that the country could easily deal with the outbreak. Trump's tone has since become much more serious. But the senator, whose committee position means he receives regular classified briefings on threats to the United States, told a private Washington luncheon two weeks after the stock sales that the coronavirus was much more aggressive "than anything that we have seen in recent history," according to a recording obtained by National Public Radio. The comments predated Wall Street's series of avalanches. In a statement Friday, Burr said he relied only on public news reports to guide his decision on the February 13 stock sales. "Understanding the assumption many could make in hindsight, however, I spoke this morning with the chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee and asked him to open a complete review of the matter with full transparency," Burr said. Senate Ethics Committee Chairman James Lankford declined to comment. Loeffler, who was appointed to the Senate and took her seat in January, sold up to $3.1 million in stocks in 27 transactions from January 24 through mid-February, as first reported by The Daily Beast. The report said the sales began the day her health committee hosted a private coronavirus briefing for senators. Loeffler said she was informed of the transactions three weeks after they occurred and that she is not involved in investment decisions for her portfolio. "This is a ridiculous and baseless attack," she wrote on Twitter. Trump said the senators should "possibly" be investigated. "They said they did nothing wrong. I find them, the whole group, very honourable people," he told reporters. 'STOMACH-CHURNING' Critics on both ends of the political spectrum called on Burr and Loeffler to consider resigning or at least explain the sales. "Senator Burr owes North Carolinians an explanation," fellow North Carolinian and Republican Senator Thom Tillis wrote on Twitter. "His self-referral to the Ethics Committee for their review is appropriate, there needs to be a professional and bipartisan inquiry into this matter." Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted, "It is stomach-churning that the first thoughts these Senators had to a dire & classified #COVID briefing was how to profit off this crisis." Ocasio-Cortez is a prominent member of the party's progressive wing. Conservative Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson told viewers on Thursday: "Maybe there is an honest explanation for what (Burr) did. If there is, he should share it with the rest of us immediately. Otherwise, he must resign from the Senate and face prosecution for insider trading." Republican Senator James Inhofe and Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein also sold stock, according to filings, but both said they were not involved in the transactions. Neither has faced the same scrutiny as Burr and Loeffler. Inhofe said he has divested most of his stock and is not involved in investment decisions. Feinstein's money is in a blind trust. Activist groups demanded federal officials and securities regulators investigate all four senators. The controversy swirled as negotiations continued on a rescue plan for the reeling economy, after Republicans made a $1 trillion opening bid that included payments of up to $1,200 for many Americans. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he wanted a deal by the end of Friday. That would allow for Senate passage on Monday, sending the bill to the House of Representatives and clearing the way for Trump to sign it into law early next week. However, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Friday evening that the talks could spill into Saturday. The Democratic House leader, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was involved in the talks on behalf of the House. Aid to small businesses hard-hit because customers are staying at home appeared to have the broadest level of agreement, according to Republican Senator Marco Rubio. But serious disagreements weighed on the talks over issues including Democrats' demand for a major expansion of the unemployment insurance system and state governors' call for a $150 billion fund to help them respond to the virus. Fewer than 1 percent of Australians paid for consumer goods with cryptocurrency in 2019, according to a study published Thursday by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), Australias central bank. Revealed in RBAs triennial Consumer Payments Survey (CPS), the findings from about 1,100 respondents shows that while consumers are largely embracing digital and alternative payment methods over cash, theyre just not paying in crypto. RBA conducted the survey in October and November 2019. The low usage comes in spite of respondents overwhelming awareness that cryptocurrency can be used to pay for goods. Over 80 percent said theyd heard of crypto, making it the third-most recognized alternative payment method the bank surveyed for, behind only buy now pay later services and tap and go mobile payments. Related: Thai Remittance Platform Starts Processing Ripple Payments Crypto was by far the least-used alternative method, falling behind those as well as AliPay and WeChat Pay, bank-owned PayID and Beem It services, and in-app mobile payment options. Crypto had the worst usage-to-awareness ratio by far, the survey showed. Although many respondents had heard of cryptocurrencies, very few had used a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin to actually make a consumer payment over the past year, RBA said. The bank has previously cast doubt on cryptos potential to overtake existing payment rails. This appears to be the first time that RBAs CPS survey asked respondents about cryptocurrency. The survey had been conducted on five previous occasions. Related: Dollar-Backed Stablecoins Are Holding Their Own Amid Coronavirus Chaos RBA found that cash use in Australia is down in 2019, especially among younger demographics such as those under 40, who paid by cash in just 15 percent of recorded transactions. Even older groups are moving away from cash, the survey found. But it remains the most popular payment method for those 65 and up. The survey also found that mobile payment methods are on the rise. That growth is being driven by younger demographics as well. Related Stories Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, has reportedly told close friends that Kate Middleton and the royal family were "so uptight" following her exit as a senior royal member. Meghan told her friends her farewell tour in the UK had confirmed she "made the right choice" to leave the royal family. A close friend of Markle said the duchess wanted to raise her son, Archie, in a home filled with laughter and joy. She also said Markle is aware of Kate and William's disapproval of her choices, which created a lot of tension. The news comes after the awkward exchange between the royal couples during the Sussexes final royal engagement earlier this week during the annual Commonwealth Day service. Harry and Meghan were seen greeting William and Kate after they made an entrance. Kate reported reportedly gave them both a blank stare while William gave a brief smile and a nod. The event spurred further animosity when William and Kate turned to speak with Edward and Sophie but did not talk with Harry and Meghan who sat beside the former couple. (AWKWARD!) The Duchess of Sussex told friends she is relieved she did not bring Archie to the UK but claims she was not keeping him away. It just "made no sense to put him in harm's way." Meghan also said she was afraid of the health threat coronavirus imposes and admitted she hadn't educated herself on the disease yet. In a recent article, a royal insider said Queen Elizabeth still holds a place in her heart for the Sussexes despite their commitment to taking a break from the royal family. The insider said their invitation to the Commonwealth Day Service was Queen Elizabeth's sign of support for them. Meghan and Harry formally announced their decision to "step back" as senior members of the royal family on January 8. They said their decision came after many months of discussions. Their decision came after an ITV documentary where Meghan and Harry offered a glimpse into the hardships they've faced following numerous ruthless tabloid rumors. Meghan also said she was struggling with handling all the scrutiny because it "was not fair." She also shared her concerns with seeing her name splattered across headlines where the stories were not true. She also got candid with the report when she shared the negative reaction she received during her pregnancy with Archie left her vulnerable and distressed. When asked if it has been a struggle, Markle answered, "Yes." Meghan said Harry and her son helped her get through it, saying, "The good thing is that I've got my baby and I've got my husband and they're the best." Markle has gone back home to Canada to be with her 10-month-old son Archie after the Commonwealth Day Service, while Prince Harry stayed in the UK. Meghan was said to have shed tears while saying her farewells to staff. Harry and Meghan are now planning to have a bright future when they formally leave their royal duties in April. Eleven policemen were injured in a fierce gun-battle with naxals in forests of Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hit Sukma district on Saturday, the police said. The encounter took place at around 2:30 pm near Korajguda hills in Chintagufa area when a joint team of security forces was out on an anti-naxal operation, a senior police official said here. Personnel of the police's District Reserve Guard (DRG), Special Task Force and CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) had launched the operation from Chintagufa, Burkapal and Timelwada camps based on information about presence of ultras near Elmagunda, he said. When the team was advancing through Korajguda hills, located around 450 km from the state capital Raipur, firing broke out between the two sides, he said. "Eleven DRG personnel sustained injuries. They are being evacuated," he said, adding that two of them were said to be in critical condition. " Based on the ground inputs, it is believed at least 4 to 5 naxals might have been killed and an equal number injured as security forces retaliated strongly," he said. Further reports were awaited, the official added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Kansas City to use health inspectors, fire marshal to enforce COVID-19 restrictions Kansas City, MO - Kansas City city officials aren't kidding around when it comes to enforcing social distancing as the world fights off the coronavirus pandemic. Mayor Quinton Lucas ordered all restaurants to close their dining rooms to customers, mandated the shutdown of schools and banned all gatherings with more than 10 people. report offers more deets than any other news outlet on HOW this town will enforce the new Coronavirus rules. Read more: Researchers analyzing the first-ever image taken of a black hole taken by a powerful telescope last year announced this week that they have analyzed new data that sheds light on its mass, rotation, and shape. Last April, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) team at Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics was able to capture the silhouette of the super massive black hole that lies at the center of Messier 87 (M87), a galaxy that lies 55 million light years away. The EHT project, which was first started more than 20 years ago, hooks up eight radio telescopes in Arizona, Spain, Mexico, Antarctica and other locations to create a virtual telescope approximately the size of the Earth. The mega telescope has been used to get glimpses of two supermassive black holes - the one in M87, which has about 6.5 billion times more mass than our sun; and another supermassive black hole in our own galaxy, the Milky Way. Scientists said they were able to glean data from photon rings created by a black hole's gravitational bending of light in order to simulate a high-resolution image of a black hole located 55 million light years from Earth Scientists at Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics said that the black hole in M87 is made up of 'subrings' or 'substructures' This galaxy is nearly 55 million light-years from Earth and the black hole at its center weighs as much as 6.5 billion suns - dwarfing our solar system Scientists hope to map these two black holes contours by capturing images of their event horizon - or the point of no return beyond which nothing, including light, can escape. Last spring, the EHT team announced that it successfully photographed the M87 black hole. The photograph was the highest resolution image ever taken of one. While the image was a historic first, the immense distance of 55 million light years made it quite fuzzy, even with all of the telescopes being put to use on Earth. WHAT IS AN EVENT HORIZON? The event horizon is theoretical boundary around a black hole where not light or other radiation can escape. When any of that material gets too close to the edge of the hole, known as the event horizon, its atoms are ripped apart. The nuclei disappear below the horizon, the much lighter electrons get caught up in the black hole's intense magnetic field and tosses them around at high speed. This twisting motion causes them to release photons, which is the main source of emission from matter close to the black hole. Advertisement This week, scientists used Einsteins Theory of Relativity in order to simulate what high-resolution images of a black hole would look like from a distance. The result is a set of substructures or subrings that were able to be detected due to what experts say is the black holes tendency to bend photons, or particles of light, as they approach the center. The image of a black hole actually contains a nested series of rings, said Michael Johnson, a researcher with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Each successive ring has about the same diameter but becomes increasingly sharper because its light orbited the black hole more times before reaching the observer. Researchers say that they can glean more information about the physical measurements of the black hole using data from the photon ring created by the strong gravitational center that bends light. Scientists have lifted the veil on the first images ever captured of a black hole's event horizon. In a highly-anticipated string of press conferences held simultaneously around the world, the team behind the Event Horizon Telescope revealed the findings from their first run of observations. The glowing orange ring shows the event horizon of M87, in the Virgo galaxy cluster This is an extremely exciting time to be thinking about the physics of black holes, says Daniel Kapec from the Institute for Advanced Study. Einstein's theory of general relativity makes a number of striking predictions for the types of observations that are finally coming within reach, and I think we can look forward to lots of advances in the coming years. As a theorist, I find the rapid convergence between theory and experiment especially rewarding, and I hope we can continue to isolate and observe more universal predictions of general relativity as these experiments become more sensitive. The results of their work were published in the latest edition of Science Advances. With stunning speed, it has become clear that many mainstays of American industry are facing potentially existential risks from their looming financial losses, and that Congress and the Trump administration are determined to prevent widespread bankruptcies and corporate collapse. But not all bailouts are equal. There are distinctly different rationales for industry bailouts, each with different implications for how a rescue is (or ought to be) designed and carried out. And the surprisingly rich history of the U.S. governments stepping in to backstop major companies and industries shows what forms they might take. In normal times and in most cases, the process for dealing with a company that runs out of money is straightforward. It goes to court and files for bankruptcy protection; shareholders generally get wiped out or close to it; and the business is either restructured (in Chapter 11) or liquidated (in Chapter 7), with whatever is left divided fairly among those the company owed money to. But for lots of different reasons, and in many different eras, government officials have decided that major companies, or entire industries, needed some form of special treatment. To understand what form the coronavirus bailouts might take, its worth looking at these different rationales and programs, and the lessons they offer. Note that these categories arent mutually exclusive, and several past bailouts can fit into more than one. The systemic risk bailouts: Companies in the financial industry are unlike other companies in important ways. They provide the funding that the rest of the economy relies on, meaning that if financing freezes up en masse, a recession can result. The companies that make up this industry are deeply intertwined through a web of debts and obligations. As such, they tend to have systemic risk, the possibility that the failure of one firm or one key market could ripple through the economy and make everybody worse off. In that case, the usual arguments against bailouts especially moral hazard, the idea that rewarding firms that made irresponsible bets encourages more irresponsible bets in the future tend to get pushed aside. This systemic risk drove the Bush and Obama administrations and the Fed under Ben Bernanke to give emergency loans to AIG; arrange the sale of investment bank Bear Stearns; and invest money on favorable terms in hundreds of banks, starting with the handful of giant too big to fail institutions like Citigroup and Bank of America. These actions were deeply unpopular, but they succeeded in stabilizing the financial system and helping to end the financial crisis. And they turned out to be profitable for taxpayers, as the investments in question ended up making about $15 billion. Many of the industries being discussed as possible recipients of coronavirus bailouts dont have the same systemic issues. If a hotel chain or cruise line goes bankrupt, it will hurt employees, creditors and shareholders of that company, but probably not the broader economy. The current efforts to shore up the financial system have more to do with systemic risk. With many lending markets freezing up as investors and companies hoard cash, the Fed has already announced a program to fund commercial paper a form of short-term borrowing used by companies in a range of industries. The way things are going, the Fed will most likely consider other efforts that would amount to subsidies of other forms of lending, such as to state and local governments and corporations large and small. It is a recognition that allowing those markets to falter can cause broad economic damage far beyond that experienced by any one company facing tough credit. The act of god bailouts: When the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, caused the air travel industry to shut down for a time, creating enormous losses, one option would have been to allow major airlines to go into bankruptcy and restructure. Instead, Congress and the George W. Bush administration decided to offer $7 billion in grants and loan guarantees to prevent bankruptcies. The logic behind the action was straightforward: The airlines were innocent victims of the terrorist attacks, and the government ought to stand behind them to prevent their unnecessary failure. Its the corporate equivalent of disaster relief. When a hurricane decimates a state, the federal government sends billions in aid to help the area get on its feet. This rationale could end up applying to numerous industries in the current situation, including the airlines (again), cruise lines, hotels, restaurants and others being shut down by forces far beyond their control. The economic pain is too great bailouts: With the economy in free fall in late 2008 and 2009, the automobile industry was on the brink. The Big Three American automakers had built too much manufacturing capacity and had unsustainable contracts with their labor unions and auto dealers, just as demand for cars collapsed. In theory, auto companies could go bankrupt and come out the other side as leaner, more efficient versions of themselves. But the Obama administration worried that because of the freeze-up in global credit markets, automakers would be unable to obtain the financing that normally allows companies to keep operating during a restructuring. The fear was that General Motors, Chrysler and Ford would instead collapse, bringing down thousands of suppliers and millions of jobs with them during what was already a severe recession. So they directed funds from the bank bailout toward loans to help GM and Chrysler through a restructuring. It was hardly a free lunch for the automakers. Both went through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, autoworkers unions agreed to restructured contracts, and the companies were allowed to end onerous contracts with dealers. But the industry stayed open for business. This kind of bailout can apply even to companies that have some culpability in their difficulties like the auto companies that made plenty of mistakes, and were helped out anyway because the cost of not doing so would have been so great. Expect to see this rationale used extensively in coming debates, with companies of all types seeking federal assistance by arguing that otherwise they will have to cut more jobs or shut down entirely. Neil Irwin is a New York Times writer. By PTI NEW DELHI: Ride hailing companies Ola and Uber will operate limited cabs during the 'Janata' curfew hours on Sunday for essential travels. "As per the Hon'ble Prime Minister's appeal to the nation to take part in the Janata curfew, we encourage all our users across India to avoid all non-essential travel from 7 am to 9 pm tomorrow. We will have limited availability of vehicles to support essential and emergency travel during this period," Ola spokesperson said in a statement. To check the spread of coronavirus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appealed to citizens to observe a 'Janata curfew' on Sunday between 7 am to 9 pm by staying indoors at their homes and avoid unnecessary travel. "In line with the government's advisory, we urge riders to observe the 'Janata Curfew' on Sunday, March 22. However, we will offer services to meet the essential and urgent travel needs of the communities we serve," Uber said. Both Ola and Uber have temporarily suspended their shared ride service to check the spread of the deadly virus which has killed over 11,000 people globally. The affluent seaside town of Southwold is bustling despite the coronavirus outbreak as wealthy Londoners abandon the city for their second homes in the country. In contrast, Lowestoft just 14 miles or a half-hour drive from Southwold on the East Suffolk coast, is deserted. The Southhold market is on, the streets are full of pedestrians and people are strolling along the seafront taking in the view. The bustling pier at Southwold where second-home owners have flooded the seaside town Southwold resident Keith Newland said: 'At the weekend it was just amazing how many people were out and about.' 'Everywhere was very busy and it was totally different to what you would expect it to be. 'There are shops here right on your doorstep and that means we don't need the car as everything is available.' But for occasional walks out to the shops or with their dog, Mr Newland and his wife Judy are effectively self-isolating and not going out to cafes or restaurants. The couple own their second home in Southwold. Lowestoft and Southwold sit just 14 miles apart on the eastern edge of the Suffolk coast but Lowestoft has become a ghost town whilst Southwold is bustling with second-home owners A map showing east Sussex. Southwold is a popular destination for second-home owners Laura Cliff, who runs the Little Gems grocery store, says her trade this most recent weekend was three times what it would usually be. Many second-home owners have either decamped to Southwold or have stayed on there in light of the coronavirus pandemic. No work but no holidays either Would-be tourists are being urged to keep away from beaches and other holiday destinations in the UK to limit the spread of coronavirus. Cumbria Police said despite Government advice to avoid non-essential travel, the Lake District and other tourist hotspots in the UK were experiencing an 'influx' of visitors. The force has now urged people from outside its county to keep away, stating that the Lake District is 'no longer conducting business as usual', with pubs, restaurants and attractions advised to close. It comes as the West Wittering Beach in Chichester, south-east England, closed to the public after the number of visitors on Saturday 'far exceeded' expectations. Meanwhile, the Visit Cornwall tourist board published a statement on Friday asking people to postpone their visits to a later date 'despite the lack of clarity from Government' around the situation. In a statement on Saturday, Cumbria Police's assistant chief constable Andrew Slattery said: 'Whilst we are looking at all measures to limit the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus, I must urge people living outside the county not to visit. 'A national emergency shut-down of businesses and schools is not an excuse for a holiday. 'Cumbria County Council yesterday urged people to stay at home as far as possible to protect out NHS and save lives. I reiterate that advice and it is important that we all follow it.' In a statement, Mr Slattery said public services within the county, located in north-west England, are resourced to serve its population of 500,000 and will be 'stretched to breaking point' by the coronavirus pandemic. 'Large numbers of visitors will only place an additional burden on these hard-pushed professionals,' he added. 'These are unprecedented times and our first priority is the protection of life. People's lives must come first.' Elsewhere, the West Wittering Estate posted a message on its website to say its beach and car park would be closed as remaining open had 'encouraged an unacceptable movement of people' into the local community. It added: 'We understand that the restrictions imposed by the government make us an attractive option for exercise, dog walking, and socialising, but we cannot in good conscience remain open to the public.' On Friday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered pubs and restaurants across the country to close in a bid to impact the infection rate by reducing 'unnecessary' social gatherings by 75 per cent. In a statement, the Visit Cornwall website posted: 'Despite the lack of clarity from the Government, Visit Cornwall is advising that visitors should not come to Cornwall at this time.' Advertisement Ms Cliff said: 'We have a lot of second-home owners here who have decided to stay and people are really keen to buy fresh produce to stay healthy.' So far she is managing to keep with demand for food supplies. She added: 'We are sensible, it is a changing thing.' 'The local community have all been in and said they will help out with deliveries. We've not had to call on people yet but we may well do because I know they mean it when they say it.' Ms Cliff is being helped in the store by her brother Benjamin, a freelance chef, who last week lost his job at a hotel on the outskirts of Norwich. 'My agency has told me that there is just nothing coming in, everything has been cancelled,' he says. 'Our industry is going to take the biggest hit, I think. 'I now have to sign on. I've never had to do that before.' But while the level of second home ownership in Southwold has meant a busy period for local traders, not everybody sees that as a positive thing. On the Friendly Bungay Facebook page, one person wrote: 'Really, really cross Southwold alive with second homeowners from London flaunting about and stupid enough to think our beautiful fresh clean air will stop them getting the virus.' That post was greeted with wide-scale agreement, with one person saying: 'I have friends in Southwold, and once again they are flooded with holiday homeowners. No food, nowhere to park'. Lowestoft, on the other hand, stands in stark contrast to the hustle and bustle seen in Southwold. Off-shore worker Peter Hogg is sitting alone in the East Prom Pavilion sipping a cup of tea. The 63-year-old was supposed to move home from one part of Lowestoft to another. But earlier he learned the person handling the move had fallen ill and was now self-isolating. 'I was walking down London Road South earlier,' he says, referring to one of the town's longest roads. 'I looked one way and then the other and realised I was the only person walking along the entire road. 'It was eerie.' Dominic Clarke works the counter at the fish-and-chip shop at The Galley in Lowestoft. 'Some people are keeping their distance,' he says. 'And it is a quiet time of year here and it is always quiet during the week. But people are coming in still. 'The main changes we've had to make are taking the cutlery off the tables and we're cleaning everything down three times a day. 'We've had no issues with supplies with anything except getting hand sanitiser - that's the one thing we've struggled with.' Holly Davis, manager at the East Prom Pavilion, says: 'It has been quieter, there's no doubt about that, and I do know of premises that have decided to shut. 'It is never this quiet normally, and this is the time when we would usually be getting busier with Mother's Day and Easter coming up.' As for the second-home owners down in Southwold, Ms Davis says they would be very welcome to pay a visit to Lowestoft. A young worker at the Metalsa auto parts plant in Elizabethtown, Kentucky spoke to the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter on Wednesday after news broke of Big Three automakers shutting down production. A tier one supplier to Ford, Fiat Chrysler, Toyota, General Motors and others, Metalsa is continuing to produce vehicle frames, endangering thousands of line workers in the plant in the process. The Elizabethtown facility is one of three Metalsa plants operating in Kentucky. Metalsas parent company Proeza declared the Kentucky facility low-risk, although the state has tested very few residents for the coronavirus. In the Elizabethtown plant, around 2,000 hourly employees work the lines. These workers are drawn from surrounding counties, where the possible spread of the virus is virtually untracked. The worker estimated Metalsa produced 90 percent of Fords vehicle frames, and the company had no intention of slowing production through the outbreak. Right now, he said, they scheduled us to work Saturday and Sunday as wellyou know, just keep on trucking and not even worry about it. We have a lot of 12-hour shifts, a lot of people in there all day, in the small break rooms together. We have a pretty large plant, but its still pretty close quarters on where you work at in most places. On the assembly line its all pretty close quarters, the worker explained, working with your other people, repair stations, welding and stuff like that. So, to put this in perspective, he added. On a humid day, when somebody sneezes, theres a projectile of up to ten feet that this virus could spread [on] and be in the air for up to 20 minutes. When you have 400 people changing shifts at 2 p.m., a possible five people have it and we all go out the same door: one of them sneezes, 20 minutes; we do a shift change in five. A hundred people go out the door in three minutes, two minutes. Theyre not even looking at the small things. The worker was angry that the company didnt prepare for the coronavirus outbreak weeks ago. The first day that we found out there was a case in the US, we should have started taking precautionary measures to keep people safe, he said. They were more worried about the economy. I think its kind of alarming that this is one of the biggest outbreaks thats ever occurred so fast. Theyre not even sanitizing. And we didnt shut down first shift for them to come in and clean. I mean, its terrible. Company management has compared it to the flu and told workers not to worry about it. We could all ignore facts, but its not another flu, he stated. We dont have a vaccination for the coronavirus yet. We dont have medicine to treat it. We do have that for the flu. I think theyre handling it all the wrong way and we have quite a few workers who are very distraught over the situation. Most of the workers are afraid they will contract the virus, but they have no recourse except burning through vacation and sick days. Theres a majority, I think that 80 percent of the people are just terrified, the worker said. Their plan is to go to the doctor and get a note to be put off work for other issues. There was someone calling in because they said their wife was a suspected case of COVID-19 and she was in the ICU or something like that, the worker stated. Thats causing a pretty big stir. People are calling in for that reason. I think everybody is just scared but were not getting any answers at all. You know, we have a lot of higher risk people the only directive weve been given by the company [is] that if you are scared and want to take off, you have to use your [sick or vacation] days. But we dont get enough days. Unless youve been there for 20 years, you dont get the 20 days of vacation. You dont get enough days to take off for two weeks and not have to be scared anymore. Theres no amount of time that were given. So my fathers 60 and hes got diabetes and I would like to see him. However, if Im going back and forth to work seeing all these people every day, Im not going to be able to go visit him at all. The worker described the grueling production schedule in unsanitary conditions. Weve been working seven days a week for the past month, give or take a Sunday here or there that were off, he said. Getting drafted for [three] twelves Monday through Friday and then working Saturday and Sunday 12 hours a day, already not seeing our familiesthis has been an issue. And this is a known fact that this was rolling into a pandemic and these companies are saying that they are essential. But theres no automotive manufacturer that is an essential company in this time of panic. Were not even getting cleaned. I went in the bathroom in the back of the plant on one of the lines that should be taken care of, its right below an office, but there was no toilet paper in there. It was out of soap. The toilets were disgusting! Every door we had you had to grab to pull it open. Thats terrible hygienic practice, grabbing a door to open it in a bathroom of all places after youve washed your hands. The worker said he had appealed to both management and union representatives for a shutdown, to no avail. The [UAW] is pretty much the modern-day version of the mob, he declared. They say our security is their number one goal, but its not. Our money is their number one goal, the money they receive. The union president probably makes more than anybody in the factory I work in. You know we should be next on the list for shutdown, he said. Were behind [in production], but those numbers should not matter when it comes to health and safety. How are you going to run a plant that turns into something worse and youve got people dropping like flies? How are you going to run a plant when half the people are gone? I mean, it just doesnt make any sense to treat humans like cattle. The Metalsa employees felt they had no choice but to stay, given the poor economic conditions across Kentucky and the US as a whole. We all have a choice that we could say, you know, were done with it, and quit and walk out, but then what do we face when we dont have insurance and do get sick? Or were needing to go the hospital or pick up our medicine and we are sick, you know? Then we cant do anything about it because we cant afford it. If you look at the median income in Kentucky, the average household income is like $30,000, the worker said. And with that comes poor health insurance. We could shut down everything in the world for two weeks or maybe a month and not worry about the economy. When we start back working the economy, that should be our least concern. The economy is going to go up and down. We cant control that, but we can control our health if we try. And theyre not willing to try at all. Were all facing the same issue and we have been. This is not a new thing. This is not just because of this virus spreading. This has always been an issue. We should be able to stand up as a country as a whole. You know, theres only so much percent of this country that is wealthy. The worker told the Autoworker Newsletter he would be speaking to coworkers about the conception of rank-and-file committees independent of the UAW. You shouldnt have to work and live in fear the rest of your life that youre going to get fired because you got sick. We definitely need to demand something to change in our sanitation routines or our overtime hours. I dont know if youve ever worked an 85-hour week in a place filled with weld smoke and loud noises. Your head becomes foggy and you dont operate correctly and your immune systems lowered when youre pulling all those hours and not sleeping. The worker expressed gratitude for the workers voice provided by the Autoworker Newsletter. Ive reached out to a few media outlets and it seems more of a joke to them. Its nothing serious to themjust like the UAW, clearly. I messaged you guys on Facebook and within 24 hours Im talking to somebody. The union, I called and left two voicemails asking for a call back and its been 48 hours and I havent heard a callback from them. So we see how it is. Shut down all nonessential production to halt the spread of the coronavirus! Distribute our statement, How to fight the COVID-19 pandemic: A program of action for the working class and form rank-and-file committees at your workplace. For assistance and to distribute information about actions workers are taking at your plant, contact us immediately at autoworkers@wsws.org or on Facebook. By Express News Service HYDERABAD: On Friday, panicky residents of an apartment building in Banjara Hills locked up an occupants flat from outside. Aditya Sambyal, who returned from South Africa a week ago, was in self-quarantine. Aditya took to Twitter and wrote, Residents in my building have locked my flat from outside assuming that I have Coronavirus, though I have no symptoms. He tagged police officials who reached the spot in a few minutes and resolved the issue. The IT employee returned from South Africa a week ago. As a precautionary measure, he remained on self-quarantine. But, since he had no symptoms, he was planning to go out on Friday evening and found that residents had locked up his flat door from the outside, said the station house officer of Banjara Hills police station, N Kalinga Rao.After we received the complaint, we rushed to the building and counselled the residents not to panic, police said. Man with intl baggage not allowed to board RTC bus A 22-year-old man from Andhra Pradesh, who returned from Dubai, was not allowed to board an RTC bus at LB Nagar on Friday. The passengers after noticing his baggage with international tags, raised an alarm, suspecting him to be Covid-positive. Police rushed to the spot and shifted him to Gandhi Hospital for further tests. Inquiries revealed that the man hailing from West Godavari, was working as a glass cleaner at Dubai. He landed at Mumbai on Thursday and travelled to Hyderabad by road. Anganwadis to function for two-and-half hours a day Hyderabad: Anganwadi centres across the State will now operate for only 2 hours and 30 minutes every day in view of the Covid-19 outbreak. The decision was taken in a bid to minimise the chances of children and pregnant women contracting the virus. During the brief period of time they are there, the children and women will be provided with meals. Apart from this, Anganwadi teachers have also been directed to take up door-to-door campaign to spread awareness about the preventive measures Idaho Legislature passes bill banning most abortions if Roe v. Wade is overturned Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment The Idaho Legislature has passed a bill that, if enacted, would ban most abortion procedures in the state if the U.S. Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade is overturned. The Idaho House of Representatives voted 49-18 in favor of Senate Bill 1385 on Wednesday, with the state Senate having voted 27-7 in favor of the legislation last week. After both houses voted to approve the proposed legislation, it was sent to the desk of Gov. Brad Little on Thursday afternoon and awaits his signature. Sponsored by Republican state Sen. Todd Lakey, SB 1385 is meant to take effect if either the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe or the U.S. Constitution is amended to give states the right to ban abortion. Every person who performs or attempts to perform an abortion as defined in this chapter commits the crime of criminal abortion, reads the bill in part. Criminal abortion shall be a felony punishable by a sentence of imprisonment of no less than two (2) years and no more than (5) years in prison. The proposed ban on abortion includes exemptions for rape, incest, or if a woman is facing a medical emergency in which the baby cannot be saved. Nothing in this section shall be construed to subject a pregnant woman on whom any abortion is performed or attempted to any criminal conviction and penalty, added SB 1385. The pro-life group Idaho Choose Life celebrated the House vote, calling it a historic rebuke to the abortion regime forced upon the states by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973. Some in the pro-life movement have sought to impede this legislation, arguing that it doesnt really do anything. We beg to differ, the group said Thursday. It unapologetically makes 98% of all abortions happening in the state today illegal, once the Supreme Court recovers its proper limits of authority by restoring to the states the power to protect preborn babies and women from the scourge of abortion. The Idaho chapter of the ACLU has been critical of the bill, at one point claiming that it would harm womens health. This legislation would prevent Idaho women from accessing safe and long-held legally protected abortion care, which is a critical component of their health and dignity, as well as independence, freedom, and social and economic equality, the ACLU of Idaho argued. Magam villagers in Inavilli mandal of Konaseema area in East Godavari district are living in fear after seeing four Vietnamese in the village. According to sources, the group came to Magam from Vietnam on February 13 for erecting machinery for an aqua food processing Unit. In the wake of the coronavirus scare, and presuming them to be Chinese, the locals informed the district officials. After receiving information, local doctors and police rushed to the spot and enquired about them. They were told that they were from Vietnam and had come on work. Incidentally, though they have been in the village for the past one year, they have been to their native place once or twice during the period. They are residents of Mummidivaram village, which is the mandal headquarters. Sub-Inspector Mr Pandu Dora advised the four not to move out from their room for 10 days. The local primary health care (PHC) medical officer Dr Manga Devi said that they are healthy and people need not be worried. Coronavirus nodal officer Dr Kiran said that when the returnees or foreigners stay beyond 14 days and are not having fever, cough or respiratory problems, there was no need to panic. The provincial mediator is expected to call the government and high school teachers union back to the bargaining table, possibly this week, says Education Minister Stephen Lecce. Fresh off signing tentative deals with the Catholic teachers union last week and the elementary teachers on Friday, Lecce said the province will resume talks with the AEFO representing 12,000 French-board educators on Monday. While the province held brief, exploratory talks with the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation (OSSTF) earlier this month, no formal talks have been held since last December. We seek to build more momentum with the French teachers federation Monday and Tuesday of next week and with OSSTF, the remaining partner at the table, Lecce said at Queens Park. A Ministry of Labour mediator decided to bring us back (with the French teachers) and thats positive, he also said. We hope the mediator will do the same with OSSTF next week, or in the coming days thereafter I think they will call back the final partner in the coming days. Harvey Bischof, president of the OSSTF, said he awaits the call and weve always said that if invited by the mediator, we expect we would go back. However, he expects some changes to the negotiating process will need to be made given we are under different expectations for behaviour with social distancing. Lecce has shut down Ontario schools for the next two weeks, until April 5, in a bid to contain the COVID-19 outbreak, and on Friday unveiled a website for parents and students to access learning materials during that time. Lecce says he has now reached out to the unions as plans are being made in the likely event schools are shuttered even longer. A letter to union leaders sent Friday night said our goal would be to restore teacher-led learning to the greatest extent possible, recognizing the challenges in doing so while respecting public health direction We will be asking school boards to develop a plan that supports teachers in connecting with their students to ensure the successful completion of the school year for all students, and to support students in advancing to the next school year and to graduate. At Queens Park on Saturday, Lecce told reporters that we want to work with all of them to provide stability and to move forward with unity on the mission at hand which is combatting COVID-19 and ensuring the safety of staff, but of course our kids in schools and right across the province, Lecce said. He also said he will soon issue a letter to families about the unprecedented situation, impacting two million students in the provinces 4,800 schools. Bischof said as soon as it became apparent that this was as serious as it was, we signalled our intent to cooperate in terms of looking out for student well-being. Meanwhile, in an email to parents, Toronto District School Board Director John Malloy said the board, like others, has posted additional learning materials online, and said It is important to note that these online resources are not mandatory or graded and are meant for families to use as optional resources to support independent learning while students are at home. He also said that starting Monday, many members of the Professional Support Services staff with mental health expertise will reach out to the students with whom they have relationships. In a few days, a variety of mental health resources will be announced on the TDSB webpage. Malloy also said the board has been working to resolve a number of challenges that lie in creating conditions where all students and teachers have access to devices and the internet and supporting our Special Education and English as a Second Language students. We are committed to working through all aspects of this situation quickly and effectively under these very difficult circumstances. We are working on our plan and once finalized, we will share it with staff, students and families. This Friday was the last evening the city had before a statewide stay-at-home order will go into effect, ordering residents to stay home barring essential needs. Chicago police officers assigned to the patrol division will have their days off canceled this weekend as the force prepares to navigate the new directive while stemming crimes, the Tribune has reported. Additional officers will be sent out to retail corridors and other main streets. There were two cases of poisoning with the anti-malaria drug chloroquine in Nigeria after President Donald Trump praised it as a possible cure for the new coronavirus. Two people were hospitalized for overdosing on the drug in Lagos, Oreoluwa Finnih, senior health assistant to the governor of Lagos, said in an interview with Bloomberg. Nigerias Centre for Disease Control sent out a tweet Saturday making clear that the World Health Organization has not approved the anti-malaria drug for COVID-19. Advertisement #FactsNotFear@WHO has NOT approved the use of chloroquine for #COVID19 management. Scientists are working hard to confirm the safety of several drugs for this disease. Please DO NOT engage in self-medication. This will cause harm and can lead to death.#COVID19Nigeria pic.twitter.com/K6kljq0VtW NCDC (@NCDCgov) March 20, 2020 Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The overdoses on chloroquine came after Trump sang the praises of two malaria drugschlorquine and a less toxic related pill called hydrochloroquineand pretty much characterized them as possible miracle cures for COVID-19. That led to people rushing out to buy the drugs and there were reports of high demand in Nigeria leading to shortages in pharmacies. Trump doubled down on the dubious medical advice Saturday, writing on Twitter about another unproven combination of drugs, claiming that hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin taken together could be one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine. Trump went on to express optimism that they will be put in use IMMEDIATELY because PEOPLE ARE DYING. To make his point, Trump cited a report in a scientific journal that only studied 20 patients and was not a controlled clinical trial. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Earlier in the week, Trump had said he had a good feeling about the use of anti-malaria drugs for COVID-19. I feel good about it. Thats all it is. Just a feeling, he said. You know, Im a smart guy. I feel good about it. And were going to see. Youre going to see soon enough. Anthony Fauci, the governments top infectious disease expert, pushed back against the claim emphasizing that it was all based on anecdotal evidence. Trump cheerleading of the unproven treatment has led to concerns about possible shortages among doctors and patients with diseases, including lupus, that rely on the drugs. Rheumatologists are furious about the hype going on over this drug, Dr. Michael Lockshin, of the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan, tells the New York Times. There is a run on it and were getting calls every few minutes, literally, from patients who are trying to stay on the drug and finding it in short supply. The West Bengal government on Saturday ordered a shutdown of a host of places frequented by the public, including restaurants, nightclubs, amusement parks, museums and zoos, till March 31, hours after the state reported its third positive coronavirus case. The Mamata Banerjee dispensation issued a notification in the afternoon, directing closure of such public spots from Sunday, as a precautionary measure to prevent mass gatherings to contain the spread of the coronavirus. The directive applied to massage parlours and hookah bars as well, an official said, adding that strict action would be taken in case of any violation. The city's largest pet market at Galiff Street was also shut down for two weeks, he said. The West Bengal Higher Education Department announced that the ongoing Class 12 board examinations in the state were postponed till April 15. The state government has convened an all-party meeting on March 23 to discuss the situation arising out of the pandemic, sources said. A communication has been sent to all the major political parties, urging them to attend the meeting at the state secretariat at 4 pm. Speaking to a television channel earlier in the day, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee slammed the railways for not ensuring proper screening of the passengers and migrant workers entering the state in long-distance trains. Banerjee said she had asked the chief secretary to communicate to the railway authorities about immediately stopping all long-distance trains to Bengal, as the public sector behemoth was facilitating the return of migrant workers to the state "without proper screening". "Yesterday, I had urged the Centre to stop the arrival of all international flights in West Bengal," she said. On the availability of masks and hand sanitisers, Banerjee said the priority of her government was to supply those first to health workers, cleaning staff and police personnel. "The small-scale sector in the state is manufacturing around 6,000 litres of alcohol-based hand sanitiser everyday. We will first supply it to those who are in the priority list and then it will be made available to the public," the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo said. A state health department official said a woman with a recent travel history to Scotland tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Saturday, making it the third confirmed case in West Bengal. The woman, in her early 20s, returned from Scotland on March 16 and was subsequently admitted to the Beliaghata ID Hospital here with COVID-19 symptoms, he said. The official, however, could not confirm whether she was in home quarantine in accordance with the protocol after returning from abroad. Her family members have been kept in home quarantine. Meanwhile, the North 24 Parganas district administration sent a doctor with a travel history to the US to quarantine and closed his private chamber and nursing home. The disaster management and civil defence department of the state said it had launched a helpline number to assist people with their queries regarding the pandemic. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) 21.03.2020 LISTEN The Republic of Togo has shut her borders to passengers on the Abidjan-Abuja Corridor to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus. The closure of the country's land borders at midnight of Friday, March 20, came hours after the shutdown of the national Airport in Lome following reports of increasing imported cases of the virus in the country. The closure, which is expected to be in force for two weeks, formed part of measures to contain the COVID-19. The measures include the prohibition of visit by persons to the beach, ban on religious activities and funerals, closure of schools and suspension of gathering of more than 15 people that the Government announced to enable the West African country to contain the pandemic. The Ghana News Agency (GNA) gathered that the number of confirmed cases in Togo, as of Friday evening, shot up to 45 from the earlier eight cases, necessitating government's measures. The closure has left travellers stranded at both sides of the Ghana-Togo border as they cannot cross into either Ghana or Togo, even though Ghana's border remains open. Mr Noah Ahomka Yeboah, the Deputy Sector Commander, Aflao Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), told the Ghana News Agency that haulage trucks and cars carrying goods were being permitted to cross over the borders into both countries. He disclosed that two Togolese who attempted transiting through Ghana to Zurich on Friday dawn after the Lome Airport was shut were turned away. Mr Yeboah added that since the directives by President Akufo-Addo on Sunday, the Aflao Sector had refused a number of travellers entry into Ghana because they were coming from countries affected by the travel ban. Given the speculated rate of infections in Togo, it's likely that persons coming from there may soon be affected by the travel ban, he said. Meanwhile, travellers who spoke to the GNA complained that the closure had negatively impacted their activities as they least expected it. Madam Abla Kudoh, a resident of Keta, who had travelled with a relative to the Aflao Border on Saturday in anticipation to cross into Togo for a funeral, was disappointed about the closure and said there should have been pre-information on the closure to inform travel decisions. ---GNA French English TORONTO, March 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As part of its efforts to repatriate Canadians, Sunwing is bringing home over approximately 11,000 additional Canadians today, which will bring the total number of repatriated Sunwing customers to nearly 55,000 to date. Sunwing is operating close to 60 flights across a wide range of destinations across the Caribbean, Mexico, Florida and Cuba, leaving today, in order to bring these Canadians home safely. The schedule may change as the situation on the ground in various destinations continues to evolve. Sunwing also continues to offer available seats on its repatriation flights from southern destinations to stranded Canadians, free of charge including for non-Sunwing customers. We understand a lot of Canadians are still stranded outside the country and struggling to get home, said Stephen Hunter, CEO of Sunwing Travel Group. Thats why we want to open up any extra capacity we have. Its the Canadian thing to do. Todays flights bring the company closer to having all Sunwing customers home. The last repatriation flights will operate on Monday March 23, after which time all Sunwing flights will be temporarily suspended. At the current estimate, Sunwing will be operating almost 400 flights and spending more than $26 million to bring these Canadians home safely, at no extra cost to the customer. Canadians looking to return home on a Sunwing flight should check the most up to date flight times at https://www.sunwing.ca/pages/en/flight-status-alerts . If a northbound flight is operating from their destination, they should make their way to the departure airport and present themselves to the Sunwing Airlines check in counter. If space remains prior to departure at the closure of check in, any available seats will be offered to Canadians or Canadian permanent residents free of charge. Given the unprecedented situation the focus of our company and destination team remains on the repatriation of our customers. We therefore ask to please refrain from calling us since availability can only be confirmed at the airport ahead of the closure of check in for each flight service. About Sunwing The largest integrated travel company in North America, Sunwing has more flights to the south than any other leisure carrier with convenient direct service from over 33 airports across Canada to more than 45 popular sun destinations across the U.S.A., Caribbean, Mexico and Central America. This scale enables Sunwing to offer customers exclusive deals at top-rated resorts in the most popular vacation destinations as well as cruise packages and seasonal domestic flight service. Sunwing is consistently voted the top leisure airline by travel agents and is the perennial winner of the Consumer Choice Award. Customers can look forward to starting their vacation off with award-winning inflight service, which features a complimentary glass of sparkling wine*, non-alcoholic beverage service; together with a buy on board menu of light meals and snacks, including kids choices, the World Famous Original Smoked Meat from the iconic Montreal-based Schwartzs Deli along with delicious menu options inspired by Food Network Canada Celebrity Chef, Lynn Crawford. Sunwing customers also benefit from the assistance of the companys own knowledgeable destination representatives, who greet them upon arrival and support them throughout their vacation journey. Sunwing supports the communities where it operates through the Sunwing Foundation, a charitable initiative focused on the support and development of youth and humanitarian aid. Sunwing matches all donations the Foundation receives through its Spare Change Program on board Sunwing Airlines, no administrative fees are collected and 100% of the proceeds go to charity. *Service may be unavailable on select flights For all media enquiries, please contact: Rachel Goldrick Senior Corporate Communications Manager Sunwing Vacations 1-800-387-5602 | media@sunwing.ca The fight against coronavirus is moving into a new phase in some of the country's biggest hotspots, where widespread testing is now being discouraged in favor of conserving resources for the highest-risk patients. 'Not every single person in the U.S. needs to get tested,' said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, at a press conference on Saturday. 'When you go in and get tested, you are consuming personal protective equipment, masks and gowns those are high priority for the health care workers who are taking care of people who have coronavirus disease,' he said. In California and New York, health officials are advising doctors only to test people for coronavirus if a positive result would change how they would be treated. Medical personnel collect a sample from a patient at a drive-thru COVID-19 testing clinic at a Kaiser Permanente facility in San Francisco, California on Thursday 'Not every single person in the U.S. needs to get tested,' said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases On Thursday, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health sent guidance to doctors on Thursday asking them to reserve testing for high-risk patients as well as healthcare workers. The department 'is shifting from a strategy of case containment to slowing disease transmission and averting excess morbidity and mortality,' according to the letter, which was reported by the Los Angeles Times. Doctors should test symptomatic patients only when 'a diagnostic result will change clinical management or inform public health response,' the letter said. Similar orders have come down in New York City, as the city scrambles to expand healthcare system capacity as cases skyrocket. In Manhattan, the military is converting the massive Javits Center into a field hospital, and the Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort is making steam for New York Harbor. Triage centers are set up in Elmhurst Queens to test for Coronavirus in New York City. Doctors are now being asked to test only if it would change how the patient is treated The focus has turned to treating those in dire need, rather than confirming whether people with mild symptoms have coronavirus. 'In a universe where masks and gowns are starting to become scarce, every time we test someone who doesn't need one, we're taking that mask and gown away from someone in the intensive care unit,' said Demetre Daskalakis, deputy commissioner for the Division of Disease Control of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, according to the Washington Post. For most people, coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. But for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including life-threatening pneumonia. The advice to test for coronavirus strategically follows notable shortages of tests in the early days of the outbreak, when aggressive testing and isolation of cases could have slowed the infection. Medical personnel surround a car that is going through a coronavirus drive-thru test clinic at the San Mateo County Event Center on March 16, 2020 in San Mateo, California California and New York are among five states that have now issued near-total population lockdowns. As the crisis deepens, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the state is scouring the globe for medical supplies. The critical shortage of medical supplies across the U.S., including testing swabs, protective masks, surgical gowns and hand sanitizer, can be tied to a sudden drop in imports, mostly from China. Trade data shows the decline in shipments started in mid-February after the spiraling coronavirus outbreak in China led the country to shutter factories and disrupted ports. Some emergency rooms, hospitals and clinics in the U.S. have now run out of key medical supplies, while others are rationing personal protective equipment like gloves and masks. The United States counts on receiving the vast majority of its medical supplies from China, where the coronavirus has infected more than 80,000 people and killed more than 3,200. When Chinese medical supply factories began coming back on line last month, their first priority was their own hospitals. The government required makers of N95 masks to sell all or part of their production internally instead of shipping masks to the U.S. The most recent delivery of medical-grade N95 masks arrived from China about a month ago, on Feb. 19. And as few as 13 shipments of non-medical N95 masks have arrived in the past month - half as many as arrived the same month last year. N95 masks are used in industrial settings, as well as hospitals, and filter out 95 percent of all airborne particles, including ones too tiny to be blocked by regular masks. (Natural News) How ancient Britons built Stonehenge has remained a mystery for the longest time. A new analysis, however, claims to have found the mystery material that enabled these ancient people to build the stone monolith lard. Archaeologists from Newcastle University propose that ancient builders used pig fat during the construction of Stonehenge. According to the archaeologists, the pig fat would have been used to lubricate greased sledges to drag the monoliths stone slabs into place. Pig fat residue had already been found in significant amounts on pottery shards at Durrington Walls, near Stonehenge. These were long thought to be associated with feeding the hundreds of people who helped build the monolith. New analysis, however, has found that the traces of lard may actually stem from bucket sized dishes that may have been used to collect and store a form of animal fat called tallow. I was interested in the exceptional level of preservation and high quantities of lipids or fatty residues we recovered from the pottery, said Dr. Lisa-Marie Shillito, senior lecturer in Landscape Archaeology, Newcastle University. The pots werent used for cooking The pottery shards found at Durrington Walls are some of the best studied for organic residues. Over 300 shards from the site have been analyzed as part of a larger study on grooved ware use in Britain, on top of the Feeding Stonehenge study that Shillito was part of. Initially, the archaeologists were studying the shards thinking that they were used for cooking. However, looking at the animal bones found in the same sites indicated that they were used for something else. The fact that these bones werent chopped up showed that these animals were roasted over spits, and not cooked in the pots. I wanted to know more about why we see these high quantities of pig fat in pottery, when the animal bones that have been excavated at the site show that many of the pigs were spit roasted rather than chopped up as you would expect if they were being cooked in the pots, stated Shillito. Most scientists generally accept the idea that the giant stones that make up Stonehenge were moved by human effort. Most theories posit that the stones were quarried from Preseli Hills in Wales. Specifically how the stones were moved and later wedged into place, however, is still up for debate. Some recent experiments have shown that teams of 20 people could have moved the stones, some of which can stand up to 26 feet tall and weigh as much as two tons, by placing them on sleds and sliding them over logs. With the new study, its possible that the lard was used to lubricate the sleds as they slid over the logs. Rethinking the analysis of fat residues in pots Analyzing the residues of absorbed fat is a commonly used technique for learning what types of food different types pottery were used for. However, based on these recent findings, Shillito argues that more attention must be paid to how this information is interpreted. (Related: Amazing discovery resembling Stonehenge found in Amazon rain forest.) There are still many unanswered questions surrounding the construction of Stonehenge, she said. Until now, there has been a general assumption that the traces of animal fat absorbed by these pieces of pottery were related to the cooking and consumption of food, and this steered initial interpretations in that direction. But there may have been other things going on as well, and these residues could be tantalizing evidence of the greased sled theory. The way most archaeologists interpreted the pottery residues only gives part of the picture, Shillito added. For her, archaeologists must think about the wider context of what they know, taking a multi-proxy approach to identify other possibilities if they hope to unlock the secrets of sites like Stonehenge. Sources include: DailyMail.co.uk NCL.ac.uk Srinagar: Three out of four PhD scholars who had escaped during quarantine from Aligarh Muslim University were traced to Kashmir on Saturday. Four Ph.D. scholars of Aligarh Muslim University, who belong to the Valley, had escaped from the quarantine ward in that Uttar Pradesh city on March 18. Two of them have been traced by the authorities in Baramulla district while the third one was traced in Anantnag district, District Magistrates of the two districts told media. The fourth Kashmiri scholar who escaped from the quarantine ward in Aligarh is still untraced. They have been shifted to Health Centres for examination. Officials said after preliminary medical examination today, doctors would decide the course of preventive procedure regarding these three persons. Sources said that the three had returned to India from the UAE on the March 18 and their university had kept in quarantine where from they fled to Kashmir. A letter issued by the medical authorities at the AMU had said three scholars fled the isolation wards without informing the authorities. The authorities in Jammu and Kashmir swung into action and traced the trio in their native villages in Anatnag and Baramulla. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Anantnag Sandeep Chaudhary told IANS that the police was alert about their movement to Kashmir from Aligarh. "The scholar from Anatnag was taken away by police just an hour after he reached his home at 3 a.m.," Choudhary said. The two youth from north Kashmir`s Baramulla district were also timely traced timely by the authorities. Divisonal Commissisoner P.K. Pole that after the whereabouts of the three scholars were known, the government teams immediately tracked them down. The authorities continued complete restrictions for the second consecutive day in Srinagar district today. Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, Srinagar DM has said this has become absolutely necessary to ensure safety and well being of the people in the district. With the snowy Sangre de Cristo range as a backdrop, Roger Welles fly-fishes on the Arkansas River just east of Cotopaxi on Thursday. The temperature in nearby Canon City hit 75 degrees Thursday and Welles said he couldn't pass up the chance to get on the river. He said he lives in Canon City and fishes the Arkansas year-round. Photo by MARK REIS, THE GAZETTE Andrew Jensen received the email three minutes before 11 a.m. His fiancee Annie Crea gasped in joy: Yeah! The email contained life-changing information about Jensens future: Where he will spend the next four years in residency as a new medical doctor. Jensen was just one of 40,000 new doctors learning his future on Friday, simultaneously across the country. The event, called Match Day, reveals which institution these doctors are assigned to for their residencies, a commitment that can last as long as seven years. Jensen, a 26-year-old medical student at Baylor College of Medicine, has matched to stay at Baylor for the duration of his residency in anesthesiology. This means he can remain near his parents who live in Sugar Land, in the same state as Crea, who attends law school in Austin. Now Playing: Baylor College of Medicine hosts virtual Match Day celebration due to coronavirus. Video: Baylor College of Medicine I matched with Baylor, my No. 1 choice. This is perfect, I get to stay home, Jensen said as he sat in his parents dining room Friday. Im very relieved. This is exactly what I wanted, and definitely my goal from the beginning. Pandemic-induced social distance requirements changed Baylors annual ceremony, as well as how students like Jensen feel about entering the health care field at this uncertain point in history. Every new doctors residency begins July 1. If anything, Jenses said he feels readier to help tackle COVID-19. Everyone is excited and thrilled about how far theyve come, but were also realizing what were getting into, he said. It goes back to the root of why we got into medicine. We want to do the best we can to help our fellow people. Theres an air of seriousness about what were about to get into, but we are ready for it and prepared. The medical students want to be part of solutions, said Dr. Joseph Kass Baylors associate dean of student affairs. Theyre sad this is happening to the world, he said. People who have chosen to join this profession are not scared about the disease from a normal perspective. Theyre more frustrated they cant be part of the solution when people are suffering and the (health care) system is getting overloaded. Many medical schools, including Baylor, host a celebration for the graduating class. It typically starts with brunch, followed by speeches and, finally, a ceremonial envelope-opening. On HoustonChronicle.com: Disaster expert: 13 things every Houstonian should know during coronavirus pandemic The ceremony had to be different this year though, due to of COVID-19, the new coronavirus. The school hosted a virtual Match Day with pre-recorded speeches by Dr. Paul Klotman, president of the college, Dr. Alicia Monroe, provost, Dr. Jennifer Christner, dean, and Kass. Jensen, the class president, also offered words of encouragement to his classmates in the video. (We are) united by the unique and unforeseen circumstances that happened with our class such as Hurricane Harvey, and this coronavirus worldwide pandemic, he said. Today is the day we find the results of all that hard work. We have worked so hard to get to this point, and that should absolutely not go unnoticed. In the days since campus was cleared for safety, Kass said hes received emails from students asking on what they can do to help from home: tutoring, volunteering, grocery shopping for faculty members or residents who cant go home. Now Playing: Baylor College of Medicine hosts virtual Match Day celebration due to coronavirus. Video: Baylor College of Medicine On HoustonChronicle.com: New meds, new fears: Houston coronavirus update from disease expert Peter Hotez Some come from engineering backgrounds, and all are dynamic, solution-oriented and compassionate, he said. Im very proud, he said of the 194 students in the graduating class, 191 of whom applied for the match program. Seventy-one matched with Texas programs; 33 with with Baylor. More than half of the class will become primary care residents, like internists, family doctors and pediatric doctors. The other half chose specialties. Jensen shadowed doctors in surgical operating rooms between his graduation from University of Notre Dame in 2016 and the start of medical school. It was there he realized he wanted to be a part of a team with one common goal: get the patient through the procedure as safely as possible. People ask in surgery about going to sleep and not waking up, Jensen said. You are giving someone such power and responsibility over your own body. An anesthesiologist has to acquire trust immediately when they meet someone, so having that skill and ability is fascinating. Kass remembers opening his Match Day envelope on the campus of Baylors medical school in 2001. He was 33 a non-traditional student after he decided to switch careers. On HoustonChronicle.com: Match Day 2019 at Baylor College of Medicine He also matched with Baylor and was able to stay in Houston where he had put down roots with his wife and daughter who was a toddler at the time. Their extended family lived nearby as well, which made the match an even better one. Its a much bigger deal now; parents and families fly in. In some ways, its a bigger deal than graduation because you find out where youre going to be for the next seven years, Kass said. In college, you get multiple choices. With this, you get assigned to the place; theres no A, B or C. Not all residencies are the same, but a typical one lasts four to seven years. Some doctors decide to go into their own practice afterward, and some pursue fellowships. But all have M.D. after their name, Kass said. Each year, he shares a poem for the graduates that he writes based on his knowledge and time spent getting to know them. This years was slightly different: he read the poem virtually rather than on stage. Lets imagine were in that courtyard, sitting with your families, faculty, mentors and students and everybody here who cheers you guys on, he began. With that visual image, lets get started. julie.garcia@chron.com Twitter.com/reporterjulie Renew Houston: Get the latest wellness news delivered to your inbox Hong Kong confirmed 48 new coronavirus cases on Friday, by far the biggest daily increase and a stark reminder that the city was facing the real risk of an overwhelming surge of imported as well as community-spread infections. Most of the new patients had a recent history of travel, many having returned from hard-hit Europe, prompting dire warnings from health experts fearing an explosion of infections over the next couple of weeks. With the citys infection tally now at 256, Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Centre for Health Protections (CHP) communicable disease branch, warned of a further surge in the coming days. As some of the cases had travel history a few days before with the incoming number of residents returning to Hong Kong, we may see a high number of cases for at least two weeks or more, she said. Arrivals into Hong Kong leave a testing facility near the airport at AsiaWorld-Expo as the government ramps up anti-contagion measures on another record day in the city for new infections. Photo: Winson Wong Experts ramped up their warnings after weeks of reminding the city against complacency as Hong Kong appeared to make significant progress bringing infections under control. This is the worst time to relax because were at the highest risk since this began, said Professor Gabriel Leung, dean of the University of Hong Kongs (HKU) medical faculty and a member of Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngors expert panel on the pandemic. It is absolutely critical especially as we have this influx of Hong Kong returnees starting from a few days ago and continuing for the next few days. This is the highest risk and we must be extra vigilant. He warned that even a few patients spreading the disease could lead to large numbers of local clusters, as South Korea experienced, with more than 8,600 infections and close to 100 deaths. Top microbiologist Ho Pak-leung, also of HKU, advised the city to brace for hundreds of imported cases of Covid-19 in the next two to three weeks, likening the crisis ahead to a war. Ho suggested isolating arriving travellers at hotels to avoid the risk of infection through sharing bathroom facilities as well. Story continues When one patient passes the virus to two people in the community to form an unknown number of hidden transmission chains, then its very likely that we will have 400 to 600 cases in the next two weeks, he said, adding if that happened, then Hong Kong is at war. With anyone coming into Hong Kong from overseas required to undergo a mandatory two weeks of self-isolation, concerns were also raised about enforcement as a third of quarantined new arrivals could not activate their tracking wristbands. It was hours before authorities, who admitted that only some 2,000 of about 6,000 digital bracelets that had been handed out could be activated, were able to fix the problem. Many complained that after following instructions to download an app, they had not received the passwords by SMS required to activate the devices that would ensure they stayed at their designated addresses. More than 13,100 travellers including 11,924 Hongkongers arrived in the city on Thursday, after the new entry restrictions were put in place. That figure was 36 per cent lower than Wednesdays count of 20,583, as planeloads rushed in to beat a midnight deadline. Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Centre for Health Protections communicable disease branch, has warned the city to brace itself for a surge of new cases. Photo: Warton Li French consul general Alexandre Giorgini issued a message to fellow nationals in Hong Kong, urging them to put on masks, as he described the spike of 48 cases as a turning point. Our health, our families, our image in the eyes of the Hong Kong people are at stake, he said. It is our duty to take our full part in this fight. The means are simple: lets wear a mask; for those who have recently travelled but also their close ones, scrupulously comply with the quarantine rules. The CHP said 36 of the new cases, involving patients aged between four and 69, had a recent travel history. Many had been to European countries such as Britain, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Portugal and Turkey, while the rest had flown in from the US, Canada, Dubai, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines. One of the local cases was a taxi driver who had picked up passengers from the airport at least once a day recently. Asked whether the government should ban non-residents from entering the city, Chuang of the CHP said all the new patients were residents except for an Australian who had been to the US and Portugal he was a transit passenger at the airport when he was sent to hospital feeling ill. The area around a Standard Chartered branch in Chung On Street, Tsuen Wan, is deep-cleaned after a member of staff caught the virus. Photo: Winson Wong Two new patients had visited the Hollywood Road branch of the Pure group, a Hong Kong yoga and fitness chain which had two earlier cases linked to its Lan Kwai Fong centre. One had also visited Pures Lan Kwai Fong centre during her incubation period. We believe the transmission was not because of the environment, but because people gather together, Chuang said of the cluster of infections linked to the citys most popular wining and dining nightspot. It was possible that people gathering at Lan Kwai Fong without wearing masks were spreading the coronavirus, she said, while it could also have been transmitted in the yoga centres changing rooms. The Pure group announced on Friday that all of its branches would be closed for two weeks. Two other patients had joined a dinner at Lan Kwai Fong on March 13 with another infected person who then attended a wedding cocktail party in Discovery Bay a day later two more people at the gathering contracted the coronavirus. Television Broadcasts Limited, the citys dominant free-TV station, said it was cleaning its premises after a journalist came into contact with an infected patient. It is understood that the patient is a Young Post freelancer, and that case prompted the closure of the Times Square headquarters of the Post. The citys nightlife heartland of Lan Kwai Fong was disinfected on Friday after the area was linked with confirmed Covid-19 cases. Photo: Dickson Lee Another new case involved a member of Pure Fitness gym in Central, where two other members were infected. A Standard Chartered bank employee at the Chung On Street branch in Tsuen Wan was among the new cases she had attended a wedding banquet on March 14 that three other confirmed patients had also been to. The bank said the branch was closed until further notice, and all staff there would go into 14-day self-quarantine. Leung of HKU suggested that businesses such as restaurants slash opening hours and limit the number of patrons, while maintaining good hygiene. He noted that some countries had legally limited the opening times of places that might draw crowds, such as bars. The government should consider if these stringent measures apply to Hong Kong, Leung said, but these should be a last resort. People delivering supplies to the elderly should avoid face-to-face contact altogether, however hard it may be, he added. Though people might want to visit the elderly to lift their spirits, doing so could also risk infecting them, he warned. What I do not want to see is love turning into harm, he said. Separately, health minister Sophia Chan Siu-chee told a panel meeting at the legislature that the government would consider barring entry to non-Hong Kong residents if it was deemed necessary, while calling on those under home quarantine to practise self-discipline. By 9pm on Friday, some 50 arrivals at the airport were earlier screened and sent for testing at two new temporary facilities the Hospital Authority had opened to handle the influx of people returning from overseas. The facility at AsiaWorld-Expo tested 46, while the North Lantau Hospital handled four. Four have been sent to hospital for treatment after preliminarily testing positive for the virus. Additional reporting by Alvin Lum and Victor Ting Purchase the China AI Report 2020 brought to you by SCMP Research and enjoy a 20% discount (original price US$400). This 60-page all new intelligence report gives you first-hand insights and analysis into the latest industry developments and intelligence about China AI. Get exclusive access to our webinars for continuous learning, and interact with China AI executives in live Q&A. Offer valid until 31 March 2020. More from South China Morning Post: This article Coronavirus: Hong Kongs single-day record of 48 new cases signals full onslaught to come first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2020. Several western Balkan countries have imposed further restrictive measures aimed to curb the rapid spread of the new coronavirus. Croatian Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic on Saturday announced the stoppage of all inter-city traffic by train or bus. Bozinovic said this was to keep the fluctuation of movement between cities to minimum, while travel to and from the country's islands would be ended for all apart from those who live there. A shipment of medical kit arrived in the Croatian capital to help its health service deal with the outbreak, with donations coming from various nations including the United Arab Emirates. Croatia, which has reported 168 virus cases, had earlier banned all public gatherings closed schools and all shops and restaurants. Meanwhile in Bosnia, which has announced fewer than 100 cases similar restrictions have been in place for a week now, adding a mandatory curfew that will kick in from Saturday night. Residents have been complying with the rules, as main streets and parks in central Sarajevo were virtually empty. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. The vast majority of people recover from the new virus. According to the World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to recover. KYODO NEWS - Mar 21, 2020 - 22:59 | World, All, Coronavirus Hong Kong will step up countermeasures to tackle the coronavirus outbreak as a surge in imported cases could crash the local medical system, leader Carrie Lam warned Saturday. Nearly 90 percent of the new confirmed cases reported since early March have been imported ones, Lam said in a news briefing. "The aggravating situation of the outbreak due to rising imported cases could be long-lasting," Lam said. "The medical system could be crippled should there be a surge in cases." (File photo shows Carrie Lam (L)) [Getty/Kyodo] Surveillance on incoming visitors will be enhanced under the 14-day compulsory quarantine arrangement in place since Thursday, she said, adding that those found in breach of the quarantine order will be prosecuted without prior warning. The maximum penalty for the offense is six months' imprisonment and a fine of HK$25,000 (about $3,200). She also said that civil servants, who had begun to return to their offices since March 2, would resume working from home on Monday while non-essential public services will be suspended. Schools will remain closed while high school examinations are to be postponed for another month to the end of April, Lam said. Seventeen new confirmed cases have been reported, taking the territory's total to 273. Most of the new cases have traveled overseas before falling ill, according to health officials. Related coverage: Japan eyeing corporate tax refunds for coronavirus-hit companies Myanmar still free of COVID-19 despite rising cases in neighbors Bangkok orders mall closures from Sun. amid coronavirus crisis PARISAn exodus from Paris at the Gare Montparnasse train station. A postal worker warning of the plague, the apocalypse and repentance, with the Eiffel Tower behind him. Fear in peoples eyes, and tense moments, in a long line outside a supermarket. But also Parisians out jogging on deserted streets. Or walking their dogs, or trying to connect their children to their teachers on home laptops. And a California couple savouring, for now at least, their first trip to the City of Lights. As France was put on lockdown on Tuesday to contain the spread of the coronavirus, Paris, one of the worlds most visited cities, turned into a ghost town. At noon sharp, police officers patrolling the Champs-Elysees, near the Arc de Triomphe, began enforcing new rules of confinement across the capital and the rest of France, one of the hardest-hit countries in Europe with 6,600 cases and 148 deaths. In what has been described as the toughest health-related restrictions in Frances modern history, people will be allowed outdoors for only specific reasons for at least the next 15 days; the exceptions include buying groceries, getting medication at a drugstore, or commuting to work for those unable to work remotely. People leaving their homes now have to sign and carry a form explaining the reasons for their movements, or face fines. Across the city, police officers began stopping pedestrians and pulling over cars to inspect their papers. Im just trying to enjoy the last hour before confinement, said Nana Zhou, as she took photos of the Arc de Triomphe just before noon. A Chinese student in Paris, Zhou, 24, was now facing her third quarantine in as many months. In January, for the Chinese New Year, she went back to her family home in Henan, a province just north of Wuhan, the source of the coronavirus, and spent 14 days in quarantine. Back in France, she self-quarantined for 14 days, and now she faced an indeterminate period inside her apartment. She had warned her French friends about the dangers of the coronavirus, but her warnings had been ignored like Cassandras. Its just the flu, they told me, Zhou said. I feel that France is where China was in January. Im afraid of whats coming. The lockdown, which President Emmanuel Macron announced in an evening address to the nation on Monday, followed a week and a half of mixed messages from the French government. Despite the ravages caused by the pandemic in Asia and in neighbouring Italy, Macron and his wife, Brigitte, had only 10 days earlier attended the theatre in Paris to urge people to keep going out despite the outbreak. Late last week, even as Macron announced the closing of schools and non-essential businesses, he allowed municipal elections to take place on Sunday a decision now widely regarded as a significant mistake that led many French to underestimate the gravity of the risk. Its a bit like an exodus, Jeanne Bacca, 23, sitting in the middle of Gare Montparnasse, one of Paris main rail stations, as she waited for her train to join her family in Bordeaux. Looking distraught and covering her face with a grey scarf for lack of a mask, Bacca said that Macrons speech had led her to flee Paris even though she was fully aware that the risk of contracting the virus would increase aboard a packed train. The train is what scares me the most, Bacca said. Gare Montparnasse was a swirl of rumours, doubts and anxieties in the hours before the lockdown went into effect. Hoping to join families elsewhere in France, or dreading the thought of being stuck inside tiny Paris apartments for weeks, hundreds of people, many wearing white face masks, thronged the citys rail stations before being forced to confine themselves at home. Im trying to get back to Toulouse, said Robin Pereira, 20, a student whose train to southern France had just been cancelled. I dont have a ticket; Ill get on the train and well see what happens. People were packed aboard trains leaving for Nantes or Bordeaux some sitting on the floor, others standing tightly between seats, physically incapable of practicing social-distancing rules as they paradoxically turned the trains into what they were trying to escape: high-risk areas of contagion. Anne Rasmussen, a historian specializing in health crises, said that every epidemic, from the plague to the Spanish flu, had been marked by exoduses from Paris. Its a normal reaction for a population, she said, adding that the current lockdown was unprecedented in Frances modern history. But fleeing Paris also posed other dangers. The exodus raises the question of the spread of the virus to other territories, said Olivier Veran, the health minister, adding, Just because youre by the sea or closer to nature doesnt mean youre any less close to the virus. With the exodus from Paris, some were grappling to understand the situation in biblical terms. In Trocadero, a favourite spot for tourists to see the Eiffel Tower, a postal worker named Katian Kibio was engaged in a heated conversation with a passerby. This is the plague before the apocalypse, he explained a few minutes later. Man has to repent. A few blocks away, a long line had formed outside the U Express supermarket, each person staying about 4 feet away from the next. When one woman felt that the person behind her was too close, it triggered an exchange of sharp words. Up the line, Pascale Chedin, wearing mittens and a scarf around her mouth, said she was trying to stay calm, though the fear in her eyes spoke otherwise. She, too, had been planning to flee Paris to the countryside. But her would-be host, an elderly person, had asked her to stay in the capital. Chedin, who works at a museum that had been preparing an exhibition on Pompeii, said she was now planning to hole up in her apartment and read about the ancient Italian city that was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. But even in Paris darkest hours, its power to draw people from all over the world was undiminished. A group of Malaysians posed in Trocadero, the Eiffel Tower as stately as ever on the other side of the Seine River. Despite the pandemic, they had decided not to cancel their long-planned, non-refundable trip to France. At least we go to see the Eiffel Tower, said Fadhilah Nor, 34, adding that they had arrived on Monday and would head back to their hotel. On the Champs-Elysees, a couple from Sacramento, California, Alfredo and Monique Alcausin, were taking selfies with the Arc de Triomphe behind them. They had arrived on Monday and planned to stay four days on their first visit to Paris. I think its a very unique and a good experience to come here without a lot of people, Alcausin, 41, said. We dont have to fight for a spot on the train, or space to take a picture in front of the arch. It made life easier. But spotting a phalanx of police officers coming toward them as the clock ticked toward noon, he added, I guess theyll start kicking people out. Read more about: Advertisement "Sanofi is committed to making its treatment available to France," a company spokesperson said in a statement to the press.The institute published various papers in journals in the last two weeks about the effectiveness of Plaquenil, which is used to treat lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.Health Minister Olivier Veran said that trials must be carried out on a larger number of patients to validate results.Government spokeswoman Sibeth Ndiaye said that the testing would now be "carried out with a team independent of Professor Raoult."According to the latest figures from the French Health Ministry, 7,730 cases have been reported across the country and the death toll stands at 175.Worldwide, out of over 204,000 confirmed cases, the death toll now hit 8,250, while more than 82,500 patients have recovered, according to Worldometer, a statistics website that compiles new case numbers.New academic study, published by US scientific researchers, also said that chloroquine appeared to be an effective treatment, and appeared to align with the findings in France.It said: "Use of chloroquine is showing favorable outcomes in humans infected with Coronavirus including faster time to recovery and shorter hospital stay..."Research shows that chloroquine also has potential as a prophylactic (preventative) measure against coronavirus in the lab, while we wait for a vaccine to be developed."Till now, no country, nor the World Health Organisation (WHO) has officially published therapuetic measures against COVID-19, but in China and South Korea, guidelines already outline the use of chloroquine as an "effective treatment", the report said.Source: Medindia Gourmet Food Parlour, with its outlets in Skerries, Swords and Malahide has been named as one of Ireland's Best Managed companies in the Deloitte Best Managed Companies Awards programme, in association with Bank of Ireland. The company, which demonstrated superior business performance for the second year, was recognised at a gala awards dinner in Dublin. Nine companies have qualified for the first time in the 2020 Best Managed Companies Awards programme. They join a network of 130 companies representing 27 counties across Ireland, with a combined turnover of 11.4 billion, over 3 billion in annual export sales and providing 42,000 jobs. Commenting on the award, Lorraine Heskin CEO, Gourmet Food Parlour said: 'We are delighted to be awarded as one of Ireland's best managed companies for the second year in a row. 'It is a great achievement and testament to all of the teams across our seven restaurants and catering business to achieve this accolade for the second year running.' She added: 'We hope to increase our interaction with the Deloitte team going forward and nurture lasting relationships into the future.' Lorraine Heskin concluded: 'This fantastic programme opens up a new family of business associates who we can work with in different capacities to further our mutual business goals' Vietnam began attending International Mathematics Olympiads (IMO) in 1974. Since then, 11 female students have won medals from the competitions. Phan Vu Diem Hang, MA, was the first Vietnamese female student attending IMO 17 in Bulgaria in 1975 when she was a student at the High School for the Gifted in Natural Sciences. Phan Vu Diem Hang After winning the prize, she studied at MGU in Russia and then returned to Vietnam to work at the Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology. Sixteen years later, she left for the UNs AIDS prevention program and other organizations. Dr Nguyen Thi Thieu Hoa, attended IMO 18 in Austria in 1976. With 27/40 score, she won a silver medal, the highest achievement gained by Vietnamese competitors that year. Vietnam began attending International Mathematics Olympiads (IMO) in 1974. Since then, 11 female students have won medals from the competitions. She obtained a PhD in Science at the Mathematics Institute under the former Soviet Union Academy of Science. Now she is a professor in the US. Nguyen Thi Minh Ha was a student at Chu Van An High School in Hanoi when she attended IMO 25 organized in Czechslovakia and got 19/42 scores. Phan Thi Ha Duong from the Hanoi-Amsterdam High School for the Gifted attended IMO 31 in 1990 in China and got 19/42 scores. In the same year, she became a student at the Hanoi General University, now the Hanoi University of Natural Sciences. After finishing the third year student at the university, Duong received a French Government scholarship and won admission to become a fourth-year student at Paris 6 University, which rarely occurs. Duong received a master's degree in algebraic geometry in 1995, but she later decided to devote herself to information technology. In January 1999, her doctoral dissertation was assessed very excellent (tres honorable). In the same year, she became associate professor at Paris 7 University. In August 2005, she left the position and returned to Vietnam and has been working for the Vietnam Mathematics Institute. Nguyen Thuy Linh from the High School for the Gifted in Natural Sciences attended IMO 33 in Russia and got 16/42 score. Pham Chung Thuy from the High School for the Gifted under the University of Education, attended IMO 34 in Turkey with 17/42. Dao Thi Thu Ha from the High School for the Gifted in Natural Sciences, IMO 39 in Taiwan, won a gold medal with 23/42 score. Nguyen Phi Le, Lam Son High School for the Gifted, IMO 41, received a silver medal 21/42 score. Do Thu Thao, Nguyen Trai High School for the Gifted, IMO 49, had a silver medal, 29/42 score. Vuong Nguyen Thuy Duong, Le Quy Don High School for the Gifted, IMO 55, won asilver medal, 22/42 score. Nguyen Thi Viet Ha, Ha Tinh High School for the Gifted, IMO 56, received a bronze medal, 15/42 score. Mai Chi Vietnamese mathematicians oppose multiple-choice questions for exam The Vietnam Mathematics Institute and experts disagree on the application of the multiple-choice mode for math exams, saying that it will harm education. ULMWP/VWPAUC executive members pose with new members standing first from left, Tom Young and Harold Ayamiseba (third) Director of the National Economic Council Larry Kudlow gives the thumbs up as he arrives for a meeting with a select group of Senate Republicans, Senate Democrats, and Trump administration officials in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on Friday The coronavirus stimulus package being negotiated by the U.S. Senate would be worth more than $2 trillion, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Saturday. 'The package is coming in at about 10 percent of GDP,' Kudlow told reporters. Asked if that amounted to more than $2 trillion, Kudlow said: 'That's correct.' 'We're just trying to cover the right bases,' Kudlow said as he entered the talks. 'It's a problem of weeks and months, not years. We just want a bridge.' Kudlow also said lawmakers are considering a payroll tax holiday for small businesses. The decision is a significant rise from the $1 trillion request initially submitted by the administration. The US Congress resumed negotiations Saturday on the emergency economic package. There was some optimism in the US Capitol that Democrats and Republicans could reach a deal, despite their failure to do so Friday, as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had hoped. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaks on the Senate floor at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Saturday Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin tells the media they need to practice more social distancing outside a meeting to wrap up work on coronavirus economic aid legislation to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Washington Saturday McConnell said negotiators had worked through the night and were getting closer to a compromise. 'Both sides (and) negotiators with the administration are continuing to work toward a bipartisan agreement on major legislation to support American workers and families,' McConnell said. 'Small businesses all across the country have made it clear - if they're going to keep their lights on and keep their employees on payroll, they need help. And they need it now.' Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, said: 'We are making very good progress.' 'We are all eager to come to a bipartisan agreement as soon as is humanly possible,' Schumer added. McConnell's proposal includes onetime 'recovery rebates' of up to $1,200 for most adults, and hundreds of billions of dollars in loan guarantees to crisis-hit industries, including airlines, and to small businesses. Democrats continued to press for more benefits to go directly to workers who lose their jobs. There were 281,000 unemployment claims last week, according to government figures and experts fear the number could soon go far higher. Schumer demanded a sweeping expansion of unemployment insurance that would provide furloughed and laid-off workers the same monthly pay that they had before the coronavirus crisis erupted. He also called for more support for the beleaguered public health care industry, and for state and local governments which he said are running out of cash. 'We must provide - they are on the front lines,' he said. New Jersey Army National Guard Sgt. Sarah Heitzenroeder assists New Jersey citizens at a COVID-19 Community-Based Testing Site at Bergen Community College in Paramus, New Jersey, on Friday The first procedural vote on the measure was set for Sunday, which could lead to a final vote in the Senate on Monday. The bill would then have to be approved by the House of Representatives, before being sent to Republican President Donald Trump for his signature. That could force more negotiations. On Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said McConnell's proposal 'puts corporations ahead of working people.' 'As written, it is a non-starter,' she said in a letter to Democratic colleagues. STRATFORD A brush fire was extinguished after burning about three acres Saturday afternoon, fire officials said. Firefighters responded to the area of Dorne Drive and Stratford Road around 3 p.m. and were met with a brush fire which eventually spread into the area of Stratford Road and Main Street. By 3:15 p.m., several units on scene were working to extinguish the flames. One firefighter described the blaze as being three bodies of fire in a marshland area. About 50 minutes later, firefighters on scene said the fire spanned about three acres, which officials later confirmed. The fire was out shortly after. Officials did not indicate whether there were any injuries. Washington: Mike Bloomberg is transferring $US18 million ($31 million) from his aborted US presidential campaign to the Democratic National Committee in the largest single such transfer ever. It's the latest sign of the billionaire's continued involvement in the race since ending his own campaign this month because of a lacklustre showing in the March 3 primaries. In those Super Tuesday contests, the former New York City mayor won only one US territory. Mike Bloomberg on Super Tuesday, March 3. Credit:AP Bloomberg's contribution amounts to more than the national party's typical cash balance. The transfer will help the DNC make up for some steep fundraising disadvantage when compared with its Republican counterpart, which routinely has raised tens of millions more than the Democratic organisation throughout election cycles. One of the world's wealthiest men with a net worth estimated to exceed $US60 billion, Bloomberg promised throughout his campaign that he would help Democrats try to defeat President Donald Trump regardless of how his own White House bid fared. US Navy SEAL candidates during Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training in Coronado, California, January 23, 2018. US Navy/Petty Officer 1st Class Abe McNatt A US Navy sailor who was training at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor in Washington state tested positive for the new coronavirus. The unnamed petty officer 2nd class, who is assigned to the Naval Special Warfare Command, is under isolation and prohibited from traveling. Fellow service members who were also in contact with the diagnosed troop have also been quarantined at the base "out of an abundance of caution." Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. A US Navy sailor who was training at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor in Washington state tested positive for the new coronavirus, the military announced on Thursday. The unnamed petty officer 2nd class, who is assigned to the Naval Special Warfare Command, is under isolation and prohibited from traveling. Fellow service members who were also in contact with the diagnosed troop have also been quarantined at the base "out of an abundance of caution." "US Special Operations Command and the Navy are committed to taking every measure possible to protect the health of our force," a Naval Special Warfare Command statement said. "We remain in close coordination with local agencies, base tenant commands, and public health authorities to ensure the well-being of our personnel and the local community." The Navy Special Warfare Command (NSWC), the service's special operations force, described the ongoing coronavirus pandemic as being "not business as usual." "We know that some of you are anxious, concerned, and wondering what's next for you and your loved ones," NSWC commander Rear Adm. Collin Green said in a statement, adding that "the NSW family pulls together to face difficult challenges, and we will do our part to mitigate this threat." Sailors in numerous Navy fleets have tested positive for the coronavirus. At least two sailors assigned to the USS Boxer in San Diego tested positive, in addition to one sailor assigned to the USS Ralph Johnson in Washington, and another sailor from the USS Coronado in San Diego. All of the sailors are being quarantined. Story continues The Navy implemented sweeping changes to address the influx of cases around the world. The Navy's 6th Fleet, which primarily operates around Europe and Africa, imposed a 14-day quarantine on ships between port calls in Europe. The guidance follows a similar one for 7th Fleet, which operates in the Asia-Pacific region, out of "an abundance of caution." The Navy Reserve also postponed drill weekends through May and limited unofficial travel. "Shipmates, the spread of the coronavirus is something that we are taking very seriously," Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday and Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Russell Smith said in a joint statement. "While many of you may be anxious, worried, or wondering what happens next, leadership at every level is actively engaged on this issue." As of Thursday evening, the US reported 195 deaths from the coronavirus. Over 13,600 cases have been reported in all 50 states and US territories. Read the original article on Business Insider Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Saturday called for a 24-hour voluntary curfew from 6 am on March 22 to combat the spread of the coronavirus, as two new fresh COVID-19 cases were reported in the state taking the tally to 21 in the state. The fresh cases, include a 35-year-old man, a city resident who moved closely with a person who has already tested positive for the virus, according to a media bulletin on COVID-19. Rao, who supported Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call to observe 'Janta curfew' on Sunday from 7 am to 5 pm, urged the people of Telangana to stay at home from 6 AM on Sunday to 6 AM on Monday. Telangana should stand as an ideal to the entire country in the decision that the country has taken to observe 'Janta curfew' with self-control, tomorrow. Backing PM Modi's call for the 'curfew', he said:"... let us follow for 24 hours from 6 (AM) tomorrow morning to 6 (AM) day after tomorrow morning, Rao told reporters. The voluntary curfew should not seen as a burden, he said. Except emergency services, including medical, fire services and electricity, others should close down voluntarily and stay at home for 24 hours in the interest of their own families, state, country and humanity, he said. Rao announced that the state-run Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) buses would not operate during the 'curfew.' Buses from other states would be stopped at the borders and not allowed into the state, he said. Replying to a query, he said if need be, borders with other states would be closed to prevent spread of the virus. The Hyderabad Metro Rail would be closed, but five trains have been kept on stand-by to attend to any emergency. He appealed to owners of shops, malls and other commercial establishments to down shutters voluntarily. Countries which have not observed controls faced problem with regard to coronavirus, he said. Observing that Telangana is faced with a worry as coronavirus cases are on the rise in Maharashtra, he said the state government is thinking of even closing down the border with the neighbouring state after reviewing the situation after two to three days. Saying that the government deliberated on ways to tackle the coronavirus threat, Rao said it even thought of supplying ration to people if such a situation (of people not coming out of their homes) arose. Finding fault with some people on social media allegedly mocking Prime Minister Modi calling on people to clap on Sunday evening to thank health care providers, Rao asked DGP Mahender Reddy, who was present at the press conference, to file cases and arrest such people. Rao said he, along with members of his family, would also clap at 5 PM on Sunday. Telangana ministers, TRS MLAs would also clap, he said, adding, the government is making arrangements to blow a siren at 5 PM. When it was pointed out that crowds have been observed at wine shops, he said the government did not want to close down all at once. "If the situation (intensity) rises, if need be, we will do total shutdown also," he said. Rao said over 20,000 people came to the state from abroad since March 1. The foreign returnees should voluntarily report either to local doctors, police or other government agencies so that their health status can be checked which is in their own interest, the state and the country, he said. Rao said about 65 foreigners from countries like Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam, who are in the state, have been traced and that they are under observation for any symptoms of the virus. Asked about social harmony coming under threat due to alleged wrong campaign in social media about Karimnagar incident, where 10 Indonesians who visited the town tested positive, he said there is no such threat and foreign nationals who have come to Telangana are not infiltrators. They came on visa and they will go back, he said. When suggested that 'homam' (a form of worship) can be permitted in temples to ward off the coronavirus, he said the government would allow those who want to perform out of interest or on behalf of government. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) South Africa will build a 40km fence along its border with Zimbabwe to prevent undocumented migrants from entering and spreading coronavirus even though the neighboring country has no confirmed cases. The planned fence is to be erected on either side of the Beitbridge Land Port of Entry to ensure that no undocumented or infected persons cross into the country, Patricia de Lille, the public works minister, said in a statement. We are certainly not xenophobic. We have had thorough consultations with all the countries that are our neighbors. What is important for South Africa is to protect our own citizens and people coming into our country because at the border post now, youve got health inspectors and youve got environmental professionals and they are doing the testing and screening at the border. But if somebody just walks over the border, there are no such facilities, she added. It is important to notice that South Africa, the continents most industrialized country, has long sought to reduce irregular migration from Zimbabwe, which it sees as a threat to local jobs in a country with unemployment of around 30 percent. The current situation comes like a golden opportunity to fulfill such a long time desire. Medical materials donated to the Iranian armed forces from the Chinese military arrive in Iran on March 19, 2020. [Photo/Official Weibo account of information office of the Chinese Defense Ministry] Medical materials donated to the Iranian armed forces from the Chinese military arrived in Iran on Thursday, according to the Chinese Defense Ministry. The ministry said in a brief statement on its website that the materials include test kits, protective suits and medical masks. It said that the coronavirus knows no boundaries and that the Chinese military will work with its counterparts around the world to cope with global security challenges and to contribute to the shared future of all nations. In another development, the Red Cross Society of China said on Thursday that Chinese medical experts sent to Iran had recently met with their peers at Tehran University of Medical Sciences to discuss the situation in Iran and they plan to use traditional medicines from both countries in the treatment of novel coronavirus pneumonia. The Red Cross said Iran has taken advantage of the knowledge gained from China's anti-virus endeavors. The organization added that it has donated five batches of medical supplies including test kits, respirators and medicine to Iran. By the end of Wednesday, Iran had reported more than 17,000 confirmed infections, according to local health authorities and media outlets. On Saturday, President Xi Jinping called Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, saying that he appreciated the support and assistance from the Iranian government and people during China's fight against the contagion. Xi said China will strengthen its cooperation with Iran in their anti-virus efforts and will continue to offer assistance. Xi said he is confident that Iran will prevail over the outbreak. Medical experts sent by the Red Cross Society of China have been in Iran for 20 days and have met with local health officials, medical workers and researchers to share their knowledge and experiences. Kianush Jahanpur, spokesman for Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education, was quoted by China's People's Daily as saying that the Chinese experts have provided useful advice and that Iran would save time and resources by learning about China's experiences in the disease's prevention and treatment. A father and son medical team drive in a beige GMC pickup truck drive through a rural Black Belt county to check on a patient awaiting the results of a coronavirus test. They hop out of their truck and knock on the door of patients theyve known for decades. I dont think (they) have it, said Dr. William Lee. Still, he offered the test to this patient because of travel history, past medical condition, and a home situated near older residents. Lee makes rounds with his son Ben, a medical resident, who plans to eventually work for his father. The family raises cattle and has a pet alligator called Al that lives in its pond. Lee takes medical missionary trips around the world. He confronted the Ebola virus in Africa as an active duty medic and shepherded his patients in Marion through a Tuberculosis outbreak a few years ago. I think the concern (about the coronavirus) is good. The panic is not, he said. Alabama state health officials have moved faster than in some other states. Alabama suspended dining in restaurants and bars, and state official banned all gatherings of 25 or more. Lee says he thinks such social distancing will help flatten the viruses curve, but he also questions whether its the best approach. Are we delaying the inevitable, where the normal people can go out, get the thing, develop the immunity, and we march on as a society? Lee hopes the approaching warm weather will hamper the coronaviruses spread. His small, private practice in Marion, in Perry County, is one of the only clinics to offer the coronavirus test. With about 18 labs submitted, and some results still pending, there has yet to be a positive in the County. Lee estimates his lab has about 12 more tests available and is awaiting more he hopes will arrive. Lee says he is using his limited coronavirus tests to get a community snapshot. I may test some people more so based on their job description, based on what their impact would be in the community either through spreading it or losing them in the community. Dr. Lee speaks with his son Ben, a third year medical resident who plans to work at his dad's clinic. He says the challenge is, a lot of patients want the test but dont need it. Weve ran into actually some open belligerence about that. If you dont test me and something happens to me, Im going to get a lawyer, he said. He worries some patients who might test positive but have few complications will demand to go to the hospital. He says going to the hospital might not be in their best interest. And thats why he believes managing infectious diseases is also about managing societys response to a disease. It is in large part psychological, like managing any herd. I can go out in the middle of my cows and I can put range pellets on the ground, and you can shoot a machine gun up in the air and theyre going to eat those range pellets, he said. But if a stranger walks out and you dont have anything positive and you shoot a gun up there, you know, theyre going to rush the fence. He says leaders in the United States are similarly trying to prevent a bunch of people from rushing the fence. Lee thinks the Alabama Department of Health is handling the disease fairly well, but frustration among physicians about unknowns and changing directives is inevitable. There is not a set-in-stone way to manage this. You just have to use science and you have to use common sense, he said. Lees clinic changed its normal practices recently in response to the outbreak. Staff now take temperatures when people enter the clinic and require some visitors to wear masks. Lee has already identified a back door where any patients that do get the virus can drive up for treatment. Since many insurers expanded coronavirus coverage to include telemedicine, Lee and his son are also shifting many regular appointments to online to prevent spread. With limited internet access at home, same as throughout large rural stretches of Alabama, he has been slowed in his effort to watch informational videos about coronavirus geared toward doctors. Still Lee makes multiple home visits a day. He is the medical director at several nursing homes in the area. As he drives to visit one, he passes the Marion Military Institute. He says he helped advise the college to shut down to prevent spread of the virus. Heres a dead bobcat in the road, he exclaims laughing. You dont see that all the time That could be some sort of vision, a buzzard eating a dead bobcat. Lee points out a one-room brick school for the children of freed slaves, the old Lincoln School," as he drives past it. He proudly points out a dialysis center he helped set up, one of the few available in the Black Belt. Originally from Hueytown, Alabama, Lee always wanted to be a rural physician. He considered moving up to Virginia to open a practice but settled on Marion instead. He wears many hats in town. In his 30s, he worked around the clock filling many roles. He ran a private practice during the day and moonlighted at night at the local hospital, now closed. He says when he was a kid, his parents used to take him to be with children who had chicken pox to get it before school started. Dr. Lee visits multiple nursing homes a day In the deep South, whats going to save us is we start getting weather like this on most days. Historically thats what ends viral epidemics, he said. Theyre not sure about this but were hoping. Referring to what is happening in Italy, where hospitals are overwhelmed and some elderly patients are being unattended, Lee said it is a cause for fear. But he says he would like to know which demographics there are dying and hasnt seen those numbers. If its mostly the older population, thats a good sign. I hate to use my hope, but if it (only) got into a susceptible population (in Italy) might give you a little more confidence this stuff can be whipped, he said. In terms of the virus path through Marion, Lee still imagines the predictable. Praise god it is a sleepier situation, he said. Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content. Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist. If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter . Support our mission and join our community now. A mum has begged Australians to stop panic-buying medication after she was unable to buy her son a life-saving asthma puffer. Sunshine Coast woman Natalie Benson tried to find Ventolin at four chemists for her asthmatic toddler, Oliver, three, after he fell sick earlier this week. But the medication that prevents his from 'lungs shutting off' had been completely swiped by stockpilers amid coronavirus fears. 'My son is sick at the moment, and as soon as the asthma comes into that he cannot breathe. It can be very dangerous for him, his lungs can shut off,' Ms Benson told ABC News. 'If you don't have asthma or need it then don't go stockpiling it, as people like my son really need it. 'It doesn't actually help people who don't have asthma, so it's a waste and then the people who need it end up in hospital taking up an oxygen mask instead.' Ms Benson said without medication, Oliver spends up to two nights hospitalised as his oxygen levels are boosted. On Thursday, the government announced sales of prescription medications and critical over-the-counter drugs would be limited to a month's supply to stop bulk-buying. The QLD mother said it was disappointing people were choosing to place lives at risk and that the government had to step in. She added that staff at a local pharmacy told her they had been abused after trying to stop a man from buying four puffers when they learned he did not have asthma and intended to store them. The country's peak industry body said pharmacies nationwide are reporting panic buying as well as physical and verbal abuse towards staff who intervene. Pharmaceutical Society of Australia president Chris Freeman said although there is no issue with the, spike in demand has created a delay. He said the shortages caused by panic-buyers could result in death for people whose lives rely on receiving medication. Earlier this week, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the panic buying frenzy sweeping the country has been one of 'the most disappointing things' he has seen in 'Australian behaviour' in response to this crisis. Mr Morrison urged people at a press conference on Wednesday to refrain from hoarding as supermarkets and pharmacies shelves continued to be depleted. 'Stop hoarding. I can't be more blunt about it. Stop it,' he said. Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) listens as Dr. Christine Blasey Ford testifies during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States in Washington on Sep. 27, 2018. (Tom Williams/AFP via Getty Images) US Lawmakers Call on Twitter to Bar Chinese Communist Party Accounts Over Virus Disinformation Two Republican lawmakers are urging Twitter to ban Chinese Communist Party officials from the social media platform in response to the regimes aggressive propaganda campaign to whitewash its coverup of the outbreak. While the coronavirus pandemic is afflicting families, governments, and markets around the world, the Chinese Communist Party is waging a massive propaganda campaign to rewrite the history of COVID-19 and whitewash the Partys lies, wrote Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) and Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) in a March 20 letter to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. Twitter is censored in China, but dozens of Chinese diplomats, embassies, and consulates are active on the platform, pushing state-sanctioned narratives about the outbreak. For instance, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian recently promoted the conspiracy that the CCP virus came from the U.S. Army, echoing the regimes suggestion that the outbreak did not originate in China. Following the tweet, the U.S. State Department summoned the Chinese ambassador to the United States, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called a top Chinese diplomat to condemn state-led outlandish rumors. By banning Twitter in China, the Chinese Communist Party is keeping its citizens in the dark. By putting propaganda on Twitter, the Chinese Communist Party is lying to the rest of the world, the lawmakers wrote. They said that propaganda that obfuscates the CCP viruss origin potentially undermines efforts to contain and control the outbreak. We believe this behavior more than warrants their removal from the platform, they wrote. The Epoch Times refers to the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19, as the CCP virus because the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) coverup and mismanagement of the outbreak fueled its spread throughout China and across the world. The lawmakers asked Twitter several questions, including whether it believes that Chinese officials are engaging in a free and open exchange of ideas about the virus, how it views such statements from China, and how it views its responsibility to users if these officials indeed have ulterior motives and are deliberately spreading misinformation on your platform. A Twitter spokesperson declined to comment on the lawmakers requests but confirmed the company has received the letter. During a press conference on Friday, Pompeo also accused China, Iran, and Russia of making coordinated efforts to disparage the U.S. effort to contain the outbreak. Indirectly referring to Zhaos tweet, he stressed that transparency and accurate information are what can protect the American public. I just urge everyone, as theyre seeing informationinformation that at one time suggested somehow this virus emanated from the United States Army. Every American indeed, and people all around the world, should ensure that where they turn to for information is a reliable source and not a bad actor trying to create and flow information that they know is wrong, Pompeo said. He urged the regime to promptly inform the world about what they knew and when they knew it. We need to know immediately. The world is entitled to know, he said. The Chinese government was the first to know of this risk to the world, and that puts a special obligation to make sure that datathat data gets to our scientists, our professionals. This is not about retribution, he added. Were in a live exercise here to get this right. WASHINGTON Lora Shiao, a career American intelligence officer, will be the next acting director of the National Counterterrorism Center, the governments central clearinghouse for intelligence on terrorist threats, Trump administration officials said on Saturday. Ms. Shiao, who is currently the centers third-ranking official, replaces Russell Travers, who was abruptly replaced last week amid planned cutbacks by the acting director of national intelligence, Richard Grenell, that have prompted fears among career officials of potential political retribution and a widespread loss of expertise. Ms. Shiao will begin serving as acting director on April 3, a spokeswoman for Mr. Grenell, Maura Beard, said in an email. President Trump has nominated Christopher C. Miller, a former National Security Council aide now working at the Pentagon, as his permanent choice for the top counterterrorism job, but it could take months for the Senate to confirm him. Mr. Grenell was installed in recent weeks to temporarily serve as the nations top intelligence official and he has made clear he plans to overhaul his office. The effort, coming from a leader serving in an acting capacity and as the federal government confronts the coronavirus pandemic, has incited concern that the Trump administration is intent on purging career officials. But supporters of Mr. Grenell say that the office, which oversees the intelligence community, has grown top heavy and that other agencies could more efficiently handle some of its functions. New Delhi: In his address to the nation on Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an Economic Response Task Force under Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. This task force will decide on a package to deal with the crisis arisen due to the COVID-19 attack. However, the contours of the relief package are not known yet, as they will be decided after a feedback from all stakeholders and an analysis of the situation. Meanwhile, panic has started to set in as a vast workforce stares at a bleak and uncertain future. Among the most important are Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and small businesses which employ more than 125 million people today. With the closure of malls, gyms, pubs, restaurants, spas, midnight bazaars and mandis, thousands of small entrepreneurs are facing a complete blackout of revenue. Those in supply chains of hotels, airlines, logistics and tourism and transport have seen business drop upto 90 per cent. Lakhs of other MSMEs in consumer goods, garments, automotive sector, exports have seen 50 to 70 per cent drop in orders, says Raj Chawla, Chairman of Integrated Association of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises of India, a non-profit institution that supports MSME. The concern for MSME sector was reflected in the words of MSME and Road Transport and Highway minister Nitin Gadkari. On Monday, while responding to a question, Gadkari told Rajya Sabha that six lakh industries under the MSME sector have been restructured and the number will increase by the end of the year. While the minister denied job losses or production losses in the sector, with the hardening grip of coronavirus, all employments and industries are bound to suffer. While the big Industries and businesses can stay afloat for some time, small industries are more fragile in nature. According to a data provided by CII last year, the sector is adding almost 13 to 15 million jobs every year. The sector has more than 65 million units and produces over 6,000 different kinds of products which account for nearly 50 per cent of Indias export. This shows the importance of MSME which is often termed as the backbone of Indias economy. However, due to coronavirus outbreak there are tremendous challenges for this medium, small and micro industry. Small entrepreneurs are worried on many fronts. Apart from paying the salary and wages, the pressure of statutory dues such as PF, GST, advance tax and running cost, which include the payment of electricity, water and other bills. The EMIs for pending loans from banks or financial institutions will make the situation worse for them. As India prepares to fight back the highly contagious monster, restrictions on human movement are bound to stay for some time. This is surely hitting the businesses and the sector is demanding relief and grace period for loan installments, GST filings and other payments to stay afloat. The month of March and the first quarter of FY 2020-21 will be a real challenge for these entrepreneurs and they are expecting the RBI to issue guidelines regarding it. Many countries have understood this and the leaders have announced packages to allay the fear. For example, Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced $ 82 billion dollar package to protect the jobs and economy in his country. This is more than 3 per cent of the Canadian economy but Trudeau and his counterparts in many countries have rightly understood the importance of the stimulus. Even the government of Kerala has announced 20,000-crore special package for the state to overcome COVID -19. Although it is focused on welfare pensions in advance, expenditure on food, subsidised meal and health package, it will definitely bring some relief to the common people. PM Modi should take it to another high level. He has asked the citizens to observe a self-imposed curfew to defeat the pandemic. He should also execute an elaborate and effective plan to assure the country that government will take care of the jobs and businesses, while fighting this health emergency in these testing times. 6 children escape government-run orphanage in Nigeria to attend church Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Six children temporarily escaped a government-run childrens home last weekend in northern Nigeria to attend a church service for the first time since they were removed from a Christian orphanage last December, according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide. CSW, which advocates for persecuted Christians in over 20 countries, reports that the children were formerly housed in Du Merci Center Christian orphanages in Kano and Kaduna states but were removed from the homes on Christmas Day in 2019 when the orphanages were shut down by authorities. According to CSW, the orphanages proprietors were accused by the government of running illegal childrens homes even though they were registered with appropriate government bodies. The orphanage's leaders have in turn accused the government of trying to convert children taken from the orphanages to Islam. Twenty-seven children from the Du Merci homes have been transferred to a government-run home in Nassarawa. The Du Merci children have not been allowed to leave the premise since arriving at the government-run home and have not been able to attend school or church, according to the nonprofit. Mercy Tarfa, who co-founded Du Merci orphanage with her husband, Prof. Solomon Tarfa, in 1996, told CSW that the children approached a security guard at the Nassarawa Childrens Home last Sunday morning to ask permission to attend a church service. After the guard refused their request, the children left anyway. After a police search of the area, all but six of the children were reportedly located near the government-run home. Tarfa said that she received a call from a church leader in Sabon Gari, a predominantly Christian area, telling her that the missing children were at his church. Tarfa said she picked up the children and took them back to the government home, accompanied by her lawyer. CSW is deeply concerned by the unnecessary restrictions on the children from the Du Merci Centre, which violate their rights to freedom of religion or belief and education, amongst others, CSW Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said in a statement. The children are being treated like prisoners, and reports that one of them has been physically assaulted should be of utmost concern. We call on the government of Kano state to allow these children to return to the Du Merci Centres, which they consider to be their home. According to CSW, the children have also faced verbal and physical abuse and have been under pressure to convert. There is at least one allegation of physical assault by a police officer. CSW alleges that earlier reports stating that those seized from the orphanages are ages 3 to 12 are erroneous because the group also includes a 30-year-old female graduate, a 22-year-old man and a married woman who was visiting the orphanage with her baby. Prof. Tarfa has been detained by authorities since Dec. 25 on what CSW calls excessive charges. According to Matthew Braimoh, the director of advocacy for Christian Solidarity Worldwides Nigeria office, about 25 police officers armed with guns stormed the Kano orphanage on Christmas Day. Prof. Tarfa and 19 people, as young as 3 months old, were taken to a police station. Eight other people taken from the Du Merci center in Kaduna were transferred to Kano. At the police station, the children were given papers to make statements which the police wrote for them and one of them, aged 24, was told to state he was a staff, Braimoh wrote in an op-ed. The first allegations were that Du Merci was an illegal operation. But upon presentation of documents of registration, five days later the allegation was changed to criminal conspiracy and abduction. Braimoh explained that Du Merci was registered as an orphanage by the Ministry of Women Affairs. He stated that the orphanage had in the past even received 120 bags of rice and other relief materials from President Muhammadu Buhari. The contention here is that the proprietors who are Christians are operating a faith-based outfit in Kano, Braimoh stated. This is a case of persecution, marginalization and discrimination on grounds of religion. According to CSW, Tarfa was offered bail on Jan. 3. However, the terms of the bail are so steep that he has not been able to meet them. The Tarfas faced a similar effort to close down their ministry in 2002. [T]he same judge who was in the matter in 2002 is the same judge handling the matter at the High Court now, Mercy Tarfa was quoted as telling those gathered for a prayer and advocacy event organized by CSW Nigeria last week. In fact, the chief justice of Kano state said he should be included in the matter because he is interested in the case. My husband has been in prison for three months and counting. We were refused giving him food severally because the prison/state officials prevented us." Thomas is calling on Nigerian authorities to issue Prof. Tarfa his unconditional release because the charges against him are unfounded. For over two decades, the Du Merci Centre has undertaken commendable work in caring for vulnerable children, providing stability in a family environment, and successfully bringing them through to adulthood, Thomas said. The government of Kano state must allow this work to continue and ensure that due process is observed in all proceedings. Nigeria ranks as the 12th worst country in the world when it comes to Christian persecution on Open Doors USAs 2020 World Watch List. In December, the U.S. State Department added Nigeria for the first time to its Special Watch List of governments that have engaged in or tolerated severe violations of religious freedom. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal announced pension, free ration and food for the poor among the governments new steps as he stopped short of announcing a locked down in the national capital. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader made the announcements during a press conference, which he said will be conducted digitally in the future, and also tweeted about them. Watch | Coronavirus outbreak: Delhi govt announces free ration, pension, food for poor Corona restrictions causing terrible financial stress to poor. Following decisions taken to provide them relief- 1. Rs 4000- 5000 pension will be paid to 8.5 lakh beneficiaries by 7 Apr 2. Free rations, with 50% more quantity than normal entitlements, to 72 lakh beneficiaries (sic), Kejriwal posted on Twitter. In addition 3. Lunch and dinner will be served free to each and every person at all Delhi govt night shelters 4. For those who need to be quarantined and are opting for the paid hotel facility, GST will be waived to make it more affordable (sic), he added. Kejriwal also said the government has decided to ban all gatherings of more than five people in the national capital, down from the earlier restriction on the assembly of more than 20 people. He asked people to maintain a distance of a metre between them if they are in a queue. He also appealed to the elderly to stop their morning walks. Please, please stay indoors as far as possible. As the most vulnerable group, we need to take special care so that you remain free from infection. I urge you to skip your morning/evening walks for the time being, he said. Delhi has reported 26 people, including one foreigner, have been infected with Sar-Cov-2 so far. One person has died in the Capital and five people have been discharged from hospitals. FILE PHOTO: Logos of ExxonMobil are seen in its booth at Gastech, the world's biggest expo for the gas industry, in Chiba By Helen Reid, Emma Rumney and Stephen Jewkes JOHANNESBURG/MILAN (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil is likely to delay the greenlighting of its $30 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Mozambique as the coronavirus disrupts early works and a depressed gas market makes investors wary, six sources told Reuters. Top U.S. oil and gas company Exxon said on Tuesday it was evaluating "significant" cuts to capital spending and operating expenses. Energy firms worldwide have slashed spending this month as oil prices plummeted to 18-year lows after global travel curbs and reduced economic activity destroyed demand. The coronavirus pandemic is forcing delays to projects worldwide. Qatar, the world's largest producer of liquefied natural gas (LNG), is delaying a big expansion in which Exxon is a major partner. The Rovuma LNG project, which will produce from a deepwater block off Mozambique containing more than 85 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, was expected to get the go-ahead in the first half of 2020. But three sources familiar with the project told Reuters that Exxon's partners want to push back a final investment decision (FID). A further three sources said the pandemic is disrupting work on the project to such a degree that FID before the second half is unlikely. Any delay would leave Exxon's project further behind rival Total, which took FID last June on its neighboring project. Exxon might be left with no choice. "COVID-19 is affecting guys going into Mozambique, it's affecting Chinese and Korean financiers, and clearly you've had the arse drop out of the oil market," said a source with knowledge of the project. The pandemic is causing delays to the financing needed for the project, the source added. Rovuma LNG is managed by Mozambique Rovuma Venture, a joint venture owned 35.7% each by Exxon and Eni with the remaining stake of 28.6% held by China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). LNG prices hit a record low of $2.7 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) last month, and Rovuma requires an average price of $7 per mmBtu throughout its life to be profitable, according to Bernstein analysts. Another source with knowledge of internal discussions said with the energy outlook uncertain and LNG supplies set to rise sharply by 2025, some of the project partners want to "cool Exxon's heels" and delay. Story continues Exxon spokesman Todd Spitler declined to discuss whether partners are seeking to push back the FID. "This is a complex project that will be developed over several years," he said. China's CNPC did not respond to Reuters' request for comment and Eni declined to comment. Mozambique's state oil firm ENH, Galp Energia and KOGAS, which each have 10% stakes in the project, either did not provide a comment or referred Reuters to Exxon. EARLY WORKS HIT Exxon has already committed to $500 million in initial investment, and FID is the next stage in funding based on which banks can extend lines of credit. But early works are being disrupted by coronavirus travel restrictions. International workers travel regularly to the project site on the Afungi peninsula in Cabo Delgado province, where they live cheek-by-jowl and share a canteen for six- or eight-week stints. Many hail from countries that have been hit hard by the coronavirus and have put in place travel restrictions. Mozambique has imposed a 14-day quarantine for those entering the country. That has left key personnel unable to reach the site. "It seems as though they are electing to postpone some of the early stage works and contracts for now," another source familiar with the matter said. "I doubt we can expect their FID before the end of 2020." Exxon's Spitler said employees' health and safety was a priority and declined to comment on the day-to-day details of its operations. (Reporting by Emma Rumney and Helen Reid in Johannesburg, Stephen Jewkes in Milan, Ron Bousso in London and Jessica Jaganathan in Singapore; Additional reporting by Jane Chang in Seoul, Muyu Xu in Beijing, Victoria Waldersee in Lisbon, and Gary McWilliams in Houston; Editing by Simon Webb, Veronica Brown and Daniel Wallis) Donald Trumps first instinct when it came to the coronavirus was to dismiss the threat as overblown, over there, and totally under control. His second was to use the pandemic as an opportunity to show off his world-historical leadership skills by treating the virus as a threat on par with World War II. Both reactions were driven by politics, not evidence. The first was unquestionably wrong. The second needs to be questioned aggressively before we impose solutions possibly more destructive than the virus itself. On Thursday, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California commanded the people of his state to stay home. Thats roughly 40 million people. He anticipates that about 25 million Californians will be infected by the virus over the next eight weeks. Where does that projection come from? The governor cites a model used by state planners, the accuracy of which can only be guessed. How long will it be enforced, and for how long can it be sustained? Nobody knows. The only certainty is that, in the midst of a crisis, politicians are rarely penalized for predicting the worst possible outcome. If it comes to pass, they seem prophetic. If it doesnt, they take credit for averting catastrophe. National commemoration events to mark VE Day 75 will be scaled back in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Government has announced. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said that in line with the latest advice from Public Health England, plans to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe on May 8 will be changed. A veterans' procession down the Mall in London and events in St James's Park will no longer go ahead to protect members of the public. National commemoration events to mark VE Day (including the veterans' parade, pictured above) will be scaled back in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Government has announced The Government has called on everyone in the UK, particularly the over-70s, to avoid all non-essential contact and travel. DCMS said that the Government and devolved administrations were working on new plans to provide a 'fitting tribute' for the anniversary. Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said: 'It is with a very heavy heart that we have to scale back our VE Day commemorations. 'Veterans always have and will be at the centre of our plans and our key priority right now is to protect their health and wellbeing. 'In these unprecedented circumstances I hope that the public will understand why we have made this difficult decision and I hope they will join us in saying thank you to the generation who gave so much on May 8th.' He added that an update on plans to mark the event could be expected shortly. Events in Scotland to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day, which included a parade and concert in Edinburgh, are also being rescheduled. The Government is continuing to plan to mark VJ Day 75 on August 15, to commemorate Victory Over Japan, and the end of the Second World War. The Jammu and Kashmir government has passed an order for its employees to attend offices on alternate weeks in the wake of coronavirus outbreak. "In wake of the coronavirus outbreak, it is hereby ordered that the government employees shall attend their offices on alternate weeks except those who are associated with the coronavirus control efforts and essential services," the order by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir read. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Ghana has recorded another case of the novel coronavirus. This increases the number of cases to 21. Ghana records two(2) new cases of COVID-19 with 1 death, this leaves the existing case count in the country to be 20, the Ghana Health Service reported on its website on Saturday. Prior to the new development, the website reported three new cases earlier on Saturday pushing the figure to 19. One of the patients said to have an underlying health problem however died in Kumasi. More soon ---citinewsroom By Express News Service Malayalam actor Ajay Kumar (a.k.a Guinness Pakru), who recently voiced his support for bullied Australian boy Quaden Bayles, has announced that he is offering him a part in his upcoming film Janaki which is said to address body shaming and bullying. In a statement, Ajay said the film will commence production once the coronavirus outbreak has been tackled and that theyre hoping Quaden will join them too. Besides, Ajay has announced the creation of a campaign against bullying called We Are With You. A nine-year-old boy with dwarfism, Quaden talked about his painful bullying experience in a heartbreaking viral video, following which he received comforting messages from all over the world. Ajay, who was born with a similar condition, was among those who reached out to Quaden. Quadens mother had shared that she and her son found Ajays message inspiring. Apparently, Quaden had revealed his wish to be an actor. Ajay, who is a Kerala State award winner, has appeared in over 50 films. He was recently seen in the Malayalam film Ilayaraja, an uplifting film about a family overcoming odds. Addressing Quaden, director Unnidas Koodathil, who will be helming the film, said, You are a superhero and you taught this world that the pains of small children shouldnt be considered as silly. You taught the world that elders need to respect childrens agony and teach their children to respect every child, irrespective of any physical disabilities. China calls for targeted measures to curb cross-border COVID-19 transmission People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 08:27, March 20, 2020 BEIJING, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese authorities on Thursday required targeted measures to curb cross-border transmission of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), and proactively promote work resumption in an orderly manner. A leading group of China's COVID-19 epidemic response convened a meeting Thursday, which was chaired by Premier Li Keqiang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee. The meeting called for continuous efforts for medical treatment, community-based prevention and control and follow-up work in Hubei Province and its capital city of Wuhan, and resolute actions to prevent the risk of virus outbreak rebounding in other regions. Imported COVID-19 cases in China are increasing as the epidemic rapidly spread across the world, leading to growing pressure in epidemic containment, the meeting noted, demanding strengthened international coordination and cooperation to improve epidemic prevention and control on international flights. The meeting required tailoring gate position, boarding bridges, and passes for all flights from hard-hit regions overseas, and carrying out health inspections at designated areas to minimize the risk of cross-infection. It called for the timely transfer, treatment and quarantine measures for confirmed or suspected patients and close contacts, adding that people who report false information or conceal infection will be investigated in accordance with the law. The meeting also demanded suspension of land passenger transportation from overseas and improving the management of waterway passenger transportation from overseas. Areas with the major risk of imported cases should strengthen the preparation for treatment, including supply for medicines and protective materials, designated hospitals, and isolation wards, according to the meeting. The meeting required issuing warnings on cross-border personnel mobility and suspending inbound and outbound tours. Guidance and support to Chinese nationals overseas should be strengthened to protect their lives and health, said the meeting, pledging continuous assistance to other countries to the best of China's ability. The meeting also called for sharing epidemic containment experience and facilitating related countries to purchase medical materials from China. Noting that most regions in China have been low-risk regions in terms of virus spread, the meeting underscored efforts to restore people's normal work and life in full in low-risk provincial regions. Health certificates should be recognized nationwide, and obstacles for personnel and goods flow across low-risk areas should be eliminated, said the meeting, requiring no quarantine for people from low-risk areas before resuming work. The capacity for emergency response should be preserved to properly handle new confirmed COVID-19 patients, the meeting stressed. Wang Huning, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and deputy head of the leading group, attended the meeting. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address The Maldives hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's initiative to create a COVID-19 emergency fund and has pledged USD 200,000 to address issues emanating from the disease. "We welcome PM @narendramodi's initiative to create an COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund and its pledge of USD 10million. Government of Maldives joins the initiative and pledge USD 200,000 to address issues emanating from COVID-19," Abdulla Shahid, Foreign Minister of Maldives tweeted on Frdiay. Nepal has also committed NPR 100 million to the SAARC emergency fund proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help combat the coronavirus pandemic in the region. The announcement in this regard was made by Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli during his first address to the nation after undergoing a kidney transplant. On March 15, during his interaction with leaders of SAARC countries through video conferencing, PM Modi proposed the creation of a COVID-19 Emergency Fund based on voluntary contributions from all the countries, with India making an initial offer of US $10 million for the fund. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Concurs repetat pentru selectarea unei companii sociologice, care sa efectueze un studiu tematic "Barometrul opiniei publice in domeniul schimbarilor climatice" T he Duke and Duchess of Cambridge witnessed first hand the pressure on the 111 service which is now seeing a record demand. As the royal couple toured the London Ambulance Service call handling room, they paused to look at a screen on a pillar which in one brief moment showed that the call centre - one of five in London - had 129 members of the public waiting to speak to a call handler. No sooner had Garrett Emmerson, the chief executive of the London Ambulance Service, started explaining the figures to the couple than the number of people waiting jumped to 131. That, however, was not the most revealing statistic. The screen also showed that people were having to wait on the phone for 1 hour 10 minutes before they were able to speak to anyone. Inevitably many people gave up before they got through. Nearly two-thirds of calls had been abandoned in the previous hour. Normally we would hope to get to 95 per cent of our calls within 60 seconds, said Mr Emmerson. We are usually there or thereabouts with that. We are clearly a very long way away from that at the moment. People are having to wait a lot longer. When people do get through they are very understanding about that. At the moment the 111 service - which in London is run by the ambulance service - is dealing with about 25,000 calls a day across the capital. Normally that figure would be about 7,000, said Mr Emmerson. AP The number of people ringing 999 had also nearly doubled, he said, from about 4,500 a day to 8,000. Mr Emmerson continued: 111 call handling numbers are probably four times what they would normally be as a result of queries about Covid-19. But also 999 calls are up phenomenally. We have just had our three busiest days in our history, on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. We would normally see about 5,000 calls maximum on a busy day. We are touching 8,000 calls a day in 999. People are incredibly concerned about displaying symptoms. Our message, though, is Please, if you can, dont phone either of these lines. Dont phone 999 unless it is a life-threatening emergency given the volume of demand. And if you can avoid phoning 111 and go online to nhs.uk/coronavirus if youve got some concerns related to Covid-19. Staff are working incredibly hard to respond to those volumes. People will see it is longer for us to answer the phone, and longer to call people back where we are calling them back with clinical advice. Getty Images We are trying to get through calls as fast as we can and make sure we can identify the sickest patients and get the most urgent care to them, whether that is on the phone or with ambulance services. We are changing the way we have to operate and triage our patients to make sure we can identify those that are most in need of our services quickly. Not only is the messaging changing to the public as to what they should be doing, but the clinical advice and support to our staff is changing as we move into different phases of the virus, and we treat and prioritise patients in different ways. People should only call 999 if they have a very serious, potentially life-threatening emergency he said. Call 111 if you cannot get the advice you need from NHS online. The service is under such pressure that they are looking to see how volunteers can help, he said. There are a lot of things we can do to use the support of volunteers. We have got a lot of people who have been former clinicians, former members of staff either as paramedics or call handlers, who are perhaps in industries which are not busy at the moment, for instance the airline industry, who are offering their services. We will be looking to take up many of those offers in the coming weeks as we get further into this epidemic. How will they cope as pressure builds up? As well as changing what we do on a daily basis, we are trying to plan ahead as best we can, using the modelling that government analysts are providing to try and predict what we are going to need to do when, what the volume of caseload is likely to be. The thing that is almost impossible to predict is what the call volumes are likely to be. What we can take a more scientific look at is what the development of the virus is likely to be and therefore how many people are likely to develop symptoms and how many people are likely to be sick. He also talked about bringing additional staff into the ambulance service and shutting down non-essential corporate functions to direct staff to where they are needed. There's a reason Americans have often turned to governors when they elect presidents, and it's been on display almost every day recently. As the coronavirus pandemic has been spreading across the country, top governors have moved faster and more decisively than federal leaders. Over a 24-hour period Thursday and Friday, Govs. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., Andrew Cuomo, D-New York, and J.B. Pritzker, D-Ill., whose states have a combined population of more than 70 million people, began to implement various versions of statewide, stay-at-home orders for all but essential workers. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, barred spectators from an annual fitness and bodybuilding festival before any there were any confirmed covid-19 cases in his state. He was the first governor to order schools closed. Despite controversy, he used the state's health emergency powers to delay last Tuesday's state primaries. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, faced the crisis earlier than most when the virus struck a nursing home in the Seattle area. That state has more deaths recorded to date than any other state, but Inslee has, so far, not done what Cuomo, Newsom and Pritzker have done in ordering people to stay home. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican who chairs the National Governors Association, closed schools shortly after Ohio had done the same and has followed up with other restrictions on businesses ahead of federal guidelines. He also postponed the state's scheduled April 28 primaries. The Toledo Blade recently quoted Nan Whaley, the Democratic mayor of Dayton, Ohio, as saying of DeWine, "He knows it's coming, and he's preparing us before we can even see it. That's tremendously difficult leadership to show." Not all the governors have been so proactive. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, on Thursday called for the closing of bars, restaurants and schools, but not before mayors of some major cities in that state had already moved unilaterally in the absence of action by the governor. The Texas Tribune described Abbott's move as "a remarkable shift after he spent days deferring to local officials on virus-related issues." When the federal government faltered earlier, governors stepped in. Many have been demonstrating the kind of leadership that was missing in Washington as the coronavirus continued to gain force, including a recognition that this isn't a time for buck passing. President Donald Trump was asked a week ago whether he should shoulder any of the blame for the delays and missteps by the federal government earlier this year. He responded by saying, "I don't take responsibility at all." He has maintained that posture, even as he has begun to take a more serious attitude toward the situation. Contrast Trump's blame-shifting with what Cuomo said on Friday when he announced the stay-at-home restrictions. "If someone is unhappy and somebody wants to blame someone or complain about someone, blame me," he said. "There is no one else who is responsible for this decision." Trump has sparred with some state leaders who have demanded swifter action by the federal government. Two weeks ago, he called Inslee "a snake" and said he didn't want to deal with him. Vice President Mike Pence, who heads the federal coronavirus task force, took another tack, praising Inslee and his staff for the steps they were taking and maintaining good relations. Trump also needled Cuomo on Twitter, but state-level officials say that in recent days there has been a greater spirit of cooperation between the president and the governors, in meetings and on conference calls. Trump has since taken to praising Newsom, and he reportedly has had good conversations with Cuomo. But the president still loses focus on the pandemic and instead lashes out when there is any hint of criticism. On Friday he aimed his ire at NBC's Peter Alexander for asking what message the president would have for Americans who are scared. ""I say that you're a terrible reporter, that's what I say," Trump replied. That governors have become leading public actors at a moment the country is facing one of the biggest health threats in a century is all the more notable, given that they were afterthoughts in this year's campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, just as they were in the 2016 Republican nomination battle. Citizens are looking to governors now for action and reassurance; voters looked past them when deciding about who should be president. Inslee declared his candidacy for the Democratic nomination on March 1, 2019. He said combating the enormous threats posed by climate change would be the signature focus of his campaign and his presidency. By mid-August, he was out of the race. Former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper was gone a week ahead of Inslee. Montana Gov. Steve Bullock suspended his candidacy by early December. Former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick, who announced late, barely left a trace. In 2016, there were even more sitting or former governors seeking the Republican nomination, including Florida's Jeb Bush, New Jersey's Chris Christie, Texas's Rick Perry, Arkansas's Mike Huckabee and Wisconsin's Scott Walker. Some, like Bush and Christie, had dealt with natural disasters and had earned high marks. Only John Kasich, then the governor of Ohio, lasted into the spring of the nomination battle, though he won only his home state. From 1976 through 2000, governors seemed to have the upper hand in presidential nomination campaigns. Jimmy Carter, who had been governor of Georgia, won the presidency in 1976. He was defeated in 1980 by Ronald Reagan, the former governor of California. He was succeeded by his vice president, George H.W. Bush, but in 1992, Bill Clinton, the governor of Arkansas, defeated Bush. Eight years later, George W. Bush, the governor of Texas, succeeded Clinton. Since then, the White House has been occupied by Barack Obama, a first-term senator, and Trump, a businessman with no governing experience. The next president will not come from the ranks of governors, as the campaign is now down to former vice president (and former senator) Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Trump. Last Sunday's debate between Biden and Sanders, which came as the full impact of the crisis was being felt widely, featured extended squabbling between the two candidates over Senate votes that took place a decade or more ago. Meanwhile, governors were dealing with the realities of trying to mitigate the worst of the coronavirus outbreak. Governors will continue to look to Washington as the battle continues. They will be asking for help in securing more medical supplies. They will need money to help refill depleted state budget accounts. They also have their limitations. But in a federal system, much of the burden of dealing with something like this threat falls on the states and in the face of something this massive and unexpected, many of the nation's governors have quickly risen to the moment with presidential-style leadership. By West Kentucky Star Staff Mar. 21, 2020 | 11:37 AM | WESTERN KENTUCKY In a Facebook post, Pathway Baptist Church in Calvert City has announced they will be hosting their regular Sunday service at the Calvert City Drive In. Those attending will worship from within their vehicles with live music and preaching. The post said, "The Bible calls for our church to meet together regularly, but we also need to love each other and our community by doing what we can to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Our solution is that we will be having our regular Sunday Morning Service at the Calvert Drive In Theater. Though it's not a perfect solution, we are so looking forward to gathering once more as a church to worship the Lord this Sunday at 10:30 AM from our cars at the Calvert Drive In Theatre. Please join us!" Pastor Mike Donald told WKMS that the service was their unique way to engage the congregation during the COVID-19 pandemic. He said, "I dont even know if its the next best thing, but its just maybe more of a novelty idea of gathering together and worshipping the Lord." Following his restrictions on public gatherings on Thursday, Governor Andy Beshear responded to the idea. "I believe this is a creative solution as long as there is the distance in between those cars." Beshear said, "We want to see creativity. We want to see ways they can connect. But we have to make sure they follow that guidance." Donald told WKMS that the feedback they had received after the announcement has been overwhelming, although positive. Following the announcement from Pathway Baptist, Grace Life Church in Mayfield followed their lead and made a similar announcement. According to Liv Crawford with Grace Life Church, they will be holding a Drive In church service on March 22 at 10 am. The service is set to take place at the Mayfield Plaza on Paris Road. Worship and a message from Pastor Chad Lamb will be played through the FM dial on the radio. Church officials say that cars should be parked in every other parking space to ensure the six feet distancing requirement is followed. There will also be law enforcement at the entrances to ensure that everyone remains in their vehicles. Pastor Lamb is asking attendees to honk their horns to 'amen' him, and to turn on their flashers if someone in their vehicle gets saved. For anyone that can not attend the service, it will also be streamed at the link below. Churches in western Kentucky have found a unique way to practice social distancing while still holding a Sunday service. On the Net: Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 11:57:33|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Medics supporting virus-hit Hubei Province arrive at Nanning Wuxu International Airport in Nanning, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 20, 2020. The second batch of the medical assistance team from Guangxi, which consist of 136 members, had left Hubei Province, as the epidemic outbreak in the hard-hit province has been subdued. (Xinhua/Cao Yiming) The National Health Commission received reports of 41 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on the Chinese mainland on Friday, all of which were imported. BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- No new domestically transmitted cases of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) were reported on the Chinese mainland for the third day in a row on Friday, the Chinese health authority said Saturday. The National Health Commission received reports of 41 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on the Chinese mainland on Friday, all of which were imported. Of them, 14 were reported in Beijing, nine in Shanghai, seven in Guangdong Province and four in Fujian Province. Provinces of Zhejiang, Shandong and Shaanxi each reported two cases and Sichuan reported one. By the end of Friday, 269 imported cases had been reported, said the commission. Also on Friday, seven deaths and 36 new suspected cases were reported on the mainland with all of the deaths reported in Hubei Province. On Friday, 590 people were discharged from hospital after recovery, while the number of severe cases decreased by 173 to 1,963. The overall confirmed cases on the mainland had reached 81,008 by the end of Friday, including 6,013 patients who were still being treated, 71,740 patients who had been discharged after recovery, and 3,255 people who died of the disease. The commission said that 106 people were still suspected of being infected with the virus. The commission added that 9,371 close contacts were still under medical observation. On Friday, 1,191 people were discharged from medical observation. By the end of Friday, 256 confirmed cases including four deaths had been reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), 17 confirmed cases in the Macao SAR, and 135 in Taiwan including two deaths. A total of 98 patients in Hong Kong, 10 in Macao and 28 in Taiwan had been discharged from the hospital after recovery. While Gov. Ned Lamont is urging Connecticut residents to stay home to minimize the spread of COVID-19, the state parks and forest remain open as long as visitors practice social distancing. The state Department of Energy and Environment Protection said the trails and grounds of all state parks and forests are open for solitary outdoor enjoyment. If you plan on visiting a park, it should be for solitary recreation, not group activities, DEEP said. Those planning to get in some alone time at one of the state parks or forests should keep in mind that most park and forest restrooms are closed, DEEP said. DEEPs indoor spaces, museums and nature centers are closed to prevent any community spread of the virus. Anyone headed to the state parks should bring water since public drinking fountains may be disabled and should not be used during this time even if they are working, DEEP said. The agency reminded residents that if they notice crowds forming at a park to choose a different park, trail or come back a different day. Instead of choosing a more popular spot like Hammonasset Beach State Park, Sleeping Giant State Park or Bluff Point State Park, try a park you may not have visited before or one close to your home, DEEP said. The full list of state parks can be found on the DEEP website. When on a trail, warn other users of your presence and as you pass to allow proper distance. Step off trails to allow others to pass, keeping minimum recommended distances at all times, the agency said. Signal your presence with your voice, bell or horn. That distance, encouraged by the CDC, is at lest 6 feet away from others while walking, biking or hiking. The agency will continue to monitor visitor capacity at the states most popular parks and might reduce the parking threshold to limit the amount of visitors to prevent potential overcrowding. DEEP urged any residents not feeling well to stay home. The opening of camping season at state parks and forests has been postponed until Memorial Day weekend in May, unless a further delay is deemed necessary. All campground reservations made for stays prior to Memorial Day weekend will automatically be canceled and refunds will be processed. In-person environmental education programming, including Conservation Education and Firearms Safety and Aquatic Resource Education classes, have been temporarily suspended. Online education opportunities continue. ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The mayor of Anchorage has announced his third emergency order in response to the coronavirus pandemic as more cases of COVID-19 are confirmed in the state and the citys supply of swabs needed to test for the disease run low. Mayor Ethan Berkowitz issued the hunker down order Friday, telling residents to stay at home as much as possible, KTVA-TV reported. The order is effective Sunday at 10 p.m. until March 31. On Saturday, the mayors of Ketchikan, Saxman and the Ketchikan Gateway Borough in southeast Alaska issued a joint proclamation telling residents to stay at home as much as possible. As in Anchorage, grocery stores and other essential businesses will remain open. As of Saturday night, the state has 15 cases of people with the coronavirus, according to the John Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center. For most people, the coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. But for the elderly and people with existing conditions, it can cause more severe illness. The vast majority of those who are infected recover. Im asking people to do the right thing, Berkowitz said during a conference Friday alongside representatives from Providence Health and Services Alaska, Alaska Regional Hospital and Alaska Native Medical Center. The announcement comes after Berkowitz first prohibited dine-in operations, movie theatres and gyms and then ordered medical workers and private businesses to conserve all stocks of personal protective gear for front line health care workers, including gloves, gowns and face masks. The Anchorage Fire Department also announced the testing swab shortage in a statement Friday. Based on the current demand of 250-280 tests a day, Anchorage will run out of tests by Sunday, the department said, adding that they have asked medical providers to donate swabs to the drive-thru testing site on Lake Otis Parkway. In a news conference, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy confirmed two more cases of the coronavirus, bringing the known state total up to 14. One was confirmed to be a travel-related case in Ketchikan, while the other is under investigation in Fairbanks. In response to the new cases, the state Department of Health and Social Services has ordered a statewide closure of public and private schools through May 1. In addition, gatherings of more than 10 people are prohibited in Fairbanks and Ketchikan areas and businesses where people have to be within six feet (1.8 metres) of each other are prohibited from operating. Former Jharkhand minister Anosh Ekka was on Saturday convicted by a Jharkhand court for laundering over Rs 20 crore funds, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said. Ekka was being probed in connection with the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case against former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda and others. The agency said the quantum of sentence for Ekka will be pronounced by the special PMLA court in Ranchi on March 31. "The court convicted Anosh Ekka for being guilty of offences of money laundering to the tune of Rs 20,31,77,852 as defined under Section 3 of the PMLA and punishable under Section 4 of the PMLA," the ED said in a statement. Ekka was minister of rural development, transport, panchayati raj and building construction in the cabinet of former CM Koda between March 12, 2005 and December 19, 2008. The case pertains to the money-laundering probe involving Koda and others, and was initiated by the ED in September 2009 in which a number of arrests were made and assets worth hundreds of crores were attached. This is the 11th conviction under the PMLA that was enacted in 2002 and implemented from 2005. In 2014, the ED had attached assets located in Delhi and other places worth Rs 20.3 crore (market value Rs 100 crore) linked to Ekka. The CBI earlier accused Ekka, his wife and others of possessing disproportionate wealth of more than Rs 16.82 crore, allegedly acquired during his ministerial term in the Koda dispensation. Ekka has represented Kolebira in Simdega district of Jharkhand as an MLA. The seat falls under the Khunti parliamentary constituency. He then represented the Jharkhand Party (JKP). Koda, Ekka and others were being investigated by the ED under PMLA charges for alleged possession of disproportionate assets and money laundering. This is the second PMLA conviction in the Koda case as in 2017, former Jharkhand minister Hari Narayan Rai was sentenced to seven years of rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 5 lakh by a special court in Ranchi. The ED had charged Ekka after taking cognisance of a Jharkhand Vigilance Bureau FIR on charges of "misusing his official position and power being a public servant and acquired huge movable and immovable properties." The ED has till now filed multiple charge sheets in this case. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The federal government of Nigeria, on Saturday, announced the shut down of international flights coming into Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, and Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. This was confirmed in a statement signed by the Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Capt. Musa Nuhu. Further to our earlier letter on restriction of international flights into Nigeria, we wish to inform you that effective Monday 23 March at 2300Z to 23 April at 2300z, Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos (DNMM) and Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja (DNAA) will be closed to international flights, the statement read. This is in addition to the closure of Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano (DNKN); Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu (DNEN); and Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa (DNPO) effective Saturday, 21 March at 2300Z. Henceforth, all airports in Nigeria are closed to all incoming international flights with the exception of emergency and essential flights. The statement added that domestic flights would continue operations at all airports across the nation. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates One central Pennsylvania restaurant group is ensuring its customers have all the toilet tissue they need during the coronavirus pandemic. Rotunda Restaurant and Brewery in Annville and its sister establishment, Rotunda Brew Pub in Hershey, are giving away free rolls of toilet paper with takeout orders of $10 or more. When in your life were you thinking you would give toilet paper with every order? asked Mike Rotunda, co-owner. All of [the customers] are getting a kick out of it. The offer is intended to drum up sales and attract more customers at a time when business is dropping off. Earlier this week, Pa. Gov. Tom Wolf ordered all non-essential businesses in the state, including bars and restaurants, to close. Food establishments are permitted to sell takeout, curbside pickup and delivery. My heart sank, Rotunda said of the announcement. I really hope it doesnt go past two weeks. After that it will get really, really scary." He said business is down by about two-thirds since Wolfs order. Moving forward he is concerned about paying bills, insurance and mortgage. READ MORE: Latest list of central Pa. restaurants offering takeout during the coronavirus pandemic Rotunda scored the toilet paper from food purveyors, who he said have an abundance of food and products right now. The 96-roll boxes cost $40, or less than 40 cents per roll. The rolls are stacked on the restaurants bars at the ready to be sent out with food orders. The restaurants are offering full menus for pickup and delivery, as well beer crowlers and four-packs. We are just trying to do anything to stay afloat, Rotunda said. He noted they have been overwhelmed by customers who are leaving generous tips. Several people have also inquired about buying toilet paper, Rotunda said, adding he is accepting orders with a two-day notice. Rotunda Restaurant & Brewing Co., 245 W. Main St., Annville, 717-867-0113. Rotunda Brewpub, 814 E. Chocolate Ave., Hershey, 717-298-6476 The millennial generation represents the fastest-growing portion of the Latino electorate. In 2019, Latinos youngest ethnic group in America with the median age being 28. This year, they are also expected to be the nation's largest racial or ethnic minority in a U.S. presidential election, with a record 32 million projected to be eligible to vote, accounting for 13.3% of all eligible voters. However, according to a Latin Post article, these civically engaged young people who have the potential to become one of the most influential segments of the political system are heading to the ballot boxes at a lower rate than their elders as revealed by a study. A 2016 report from the Pew Research Center said that even though 27 million Latinos were eligible to cast a ballot- an increase of 17 percent since 2012 - the Latino population has become more distant from the American political process. Moreover, the report suggested that most Latinos who could vote in the last three national elections chose not to. In 2008, turnout was just under 50 percent, and slumped to 48 percent in 2012. In 2014, it dropped to 27 percent, the lowest rate ever recorded for Latinos. This fact motivated organizations such as Mi Familia Vota, Voto Latino and Rock the Vote to double their efforts to increase turnout among young Latinos. Churches, community organizations and Hispanic evangelicals, who have large numbers, are also encouraging young people to move beyond talking and tweeting about politics and actually get involved. Burdened with loan debt, poverty and unemployment, Latino millennials are one of the most racially diverse and economically damaged eras in modern times. Because of that, many are disenchanted with politics, and those who do decide to vote are increasingly less homogeneous. Many Latinos, particularly second or third generation Latinos who are more focused on jobs and education, show neutrality in terms of immigration reform. However, this doesn't mean that millennials tend to shrug their shoulders whenever immigration is brought to the conversation. Check these out! Latino Victory Fund Endorses 11 Latino Congressional Candidates Latino Voters Will Make the Difference in the 2020 Presidential Elections, If They Vote MSNBC Reporter Shocked by Latino Support of Donald Trump "My parents' generation ... they were like, 'How do we sever the ties?'" said Fernando Guerra, a professor of Chicano studies and the director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University. "Previous generations' goal was to not be immigrants. Millennials don't define it that way. They associate and relate to their immigrant past because it was politicized." The advent of technology has molded a generation of Latinos who are better informed, politically minded and more discerning individuals. When it comes to social issues, Latino millennials tend to be liberal but can be fiscally conservative. Social media has become crucial tracker of the trends of young voters. Compared to older Latinos, legal abortion and LGBT acceptance rate is higher among younger Latino, but both groups have demonstrated an interest in immigration reform. "We each have our core principles," said Murrieta, a 27-year-old who became a citizen in 2010. "Political parties should not be looking for the one perfect candidate who can talk to our issues. ... We're not monolithic in terms of partisanship. We're not one size fits all. Political parties are going to be very smart to realize this." Latino millennials are a force to reckon with and can play an integral role in shaping the nation, only if they actively cast their votes in the election. Dr. Tony Fauci said on Saturday that President Donald Trump was 'talking about hope' when he bragged that malaria drugs could be a 'gift from god' to cure the coronavirus and not whether the medication 'actually works.' 'The president is talking about hope for people and it's not an unreasonable thing to hope for people,' Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, said at the daily press briefing. But, he added, his job as a scientist - Fauci is an immunologist and AIDS expert - is to prove that a treatment and cure are safe and actually work. 'There are those who lean to the point of giving hope and say give that person the option of having access to that drug and then you have the other group, which is my job as a scientist, to say my job is to ultimately prove without a doubt that a drug is not only safe, but that it actually works,' he said. Dr. Tony Fauci said President Donald Trump was 'talking about hope' when he bragged that malaria drugs could be a 'gift from god' to cure coronavirus President Trump defended his embrace of malaria drugs without studies to back him up, saying 'what do we have to lose' Trump has continually pushed drugs used for malaria as a treatment option for coronavirus and his embrace of them has caused twinges in the medical community. 'This would be a gift from heaven, this would be a gift from god if it works. We are going to pray to god that it does work,' the president said Saturday. Fauci acknowledged the two points of view - hope versus science - could come into conflict and noted he experienced just that during the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. 'Those two things are really not incompatible when you think about it, particularly when you're in an arena where you don't have anything that's proven,' he said. For several days Trump has pushed drugs that have been used to cure malaria as a treatment option for the coronavirus, leading to questions as to whether he is raising unsubstantiated hope for people infected with the disease since there have been no studies proving it cures the virus. The president exploded in anger on Friday when he was asked just that as he touted orders of the drug cloroquine - despite Fauci saying at the same press briefing that there was no evidence it worked and that even its safety was unknown. Trump, on Saturday, argued 'what do we have to lose' when it comes to using the drugs. 'Look, I feel as the impression goes, what do we have to lose, because, you know, I feel very good about it,' he said. The president acknowledged Fauci and other doctors wanted data on the subject. 'Tony would feel like he likes samples done and I understand that too. Many doctors agree with that,' he said, adding 'we don't have much time. We have a lot of very sick people in hospitals all over the place.' The president has gotten defensive when asked about his embrace of the drugs as a coronavirus cure. 'I'm a smart guy,' he said on Friday. 'I feel good about it.' An angry Donald Trump went after NBC News' Peter Alexander simply for asking what his message was to 'scared' Americans NBC News' Peter Alexander had asked President Trump if he was putting too positive of a spin on the coronavirus crisis and if he had a message for scared Americans And he erupted at NBC's Peter Alexander who asked the president about the issue, saying: 'What do you say to Americans who are watching you right now who are scared?' Trump, who listened to the question with his eyes down, shaking his head, looked up and erupted: 'I would say that you're a terrible reporter, that's what I'd say. 'I think it's a very nasty question. And I think it's a very bad signal that you're putting out to the American people. The American people are looking for answers and they're looking for hope. And you're doing sensationalism and the same with NBC, and Concast, I don't call it Comcast [NBC News' ultimate parent company] for whom you work. You need to get back to good reporting. 'Let's see if it works.' Before entering the briefing room on Saturday, the president urged the Food and Drug Administration in a tweet to speed approval for a malarial drug and an antibiotic to treat coronavirus patients, despite warnings from experts that further study is needed. 'HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE & AZITHROMYCIN, taken together, have a real chance to be one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine,' Trump wrote in a tweet on Saturday morning. 'The FDA has moved mountains - Thank You! Hopefully they will BOTH...be put in use IMMEDIATELY. PEOPLE ARE DYING, MOVE FAST, and GOD BLESS EVERYONE!' he continued. Trump noted that 'H works better with A,' referring to the drug combination, and cited a small French study published in the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents. The president tagged the FDA and FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn in his tweet, apparently urging them to action. An FDA spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment from DailyMail.com. President Donald Trump has urged the Food and Drug Administration in a tweet to speed approval for a malarial drug and an antibiotic to treat coronavirus patients The president tagged the FDA and FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn (above) in his tweet The French study, carried out on 20 patients earlier this month, is highly preliminary and was non-randomized. However, it did find that six patients who received a combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin had their viral load reduced faster than those on either hydroxychloroquine alone or neither of the drugs. Hydroxychloroquine is a high-power drug used to treat malaria, which is a parasitic infection, as well as some non-infectious inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. Azithromycin is a fairly common antibiotic that is used to treat a number of bacterial infections, such a strep throat. Neither drug has been previously indicated to treat a viral infection such as coronavirus, although there were anecdotal reports of hydroxychloroquine being used successfully to treat SARS, a close relative of coronavirus. Though both drugs are common, with side effects that are well understood, the combination of the two drugs is novel and its unclear what interactions they may have. For several days, Trump has been touting hydroxychloroquine, saying on Thursday that it is 'very powerful' and 'could be a tremendous breakthrough. Tremendous breakthrough.' This chart shows the average viral load in the patients in the preliminary French study that examined hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin in treating coronavirus At a press conference on Friday, however, the government's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, bluntly rebutted Trump's more optimistic statements about the drug. Trump clung to his feeling that the malaria drug could be the answer-in-waiting to an outbreak spreading around the nation, shutting down major parts of the economy, and posing the biggest challenge he has faced as president. Calmly and quietly, Fauci insisted that the science is not yet there to validate Trump's hope. Neither man directly challenged the other. The extraordinary scene played out on national television Friday during the White House briefing on the outbreak. Anxious for answers, Americans heard conflicting views. Reporters asked both men - first Fauci, then Trump - if hydroxychloroquine could be used to prevent COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. A day earlier, when Fauci wasn't with him at that briefing, Trump had called attention to the drug. On Friday, Fauci took the reporter's question and got right to the point. 'No,' he said when asked if hydroxychloroquine had been proven effective to treat coronavirus. 'The answer ... is no.' At a press conference on Friday the government's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, bluntly rebutted Trump's more optimistic statements about the drug 'The information that you're referring to specifically is anecdotal,' Fauci added firmly. 'It was not done in a controlled clinical trial, so you really can't make any definitive statement about it.' He went on to explain that the Food and Drug Administration is looking for a way to make the drug available for emergency use, but in a manner that gives the government data about whether it's safe and effective. Fauci is director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at NIH and in more than 30 years has handled HIV, SARS, MERS, Ebola and now the new coronavirus. Currently, there is no medicine specifically approved for treating COVID-19. But Trump stuck to what his gut was telling him at the Friday press conference. As the two men took turns at the podium, Trump said he disagreed with the notion that there is no magic drug for the coronavirus disease. 'Maybe and maybe not, ' he said. 'Maybe there is, maybe there isn't. We have to see.' He struck an upbeat note, while trying not to directly challenge Fauci. 'I think without seeing too much, I'm probably more of a fan of that,' he said, referring to the malaria drug. 'And we all understand what the doctor said is 100% correct.' Then the president added, 'It's a strong drug. So, we'll see.' Hydroxychloroquine and a similar drug - chloroquine - are sold around the world under a variety of brand and generic names. They can be prescribed off-label by doctors in the United States, though doctors risk higher legal liability when doing so. They may interfere with the coronavirus being able to enter cells, and some scientists have reported possible encouraging signs in test-tube and other small studies. Kylene Karnuth, a clinical lab scientist, and Robyn Kincaid, technical specialist, work with coronavirus samples as researchers begin a trial to see whether malaria treatment hydroxychloroquine can prevent or reduce the severity of coronavirus disease Researchers at the Microbiology Research Facility work with coronavirus samples as a trial begins to see whether malaria treatment hydroxychloroquine can prevent or reduce the severity of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis Other scientists are skeptical that those promising test-tube results will translate into benefits for patients. Fauci has a track record of being the fact-based counterpoint to the Trump administration's upbeat assessments of the coronavirus outbreak. For much longer than that, he's specialized in the same calm and persistent repetition of the information he thinks his audience - whether the public or physicians - needs to know. Weeks ago, after Fauci said that even with all deliberate speed a vaccine could take a year to 18 months, Trump told a political rally one could be ready 'relatively soon.' As administration officials repeatedly assured the public that coronavirus tests were rapidly becoming available, Fauci at a congressional hearing said the lack of widespread testing was 'a failing' of the system. Although Fauci has publicly supported Trump's travel restrictions to try to keep the virus out, he warned the worst was coming even as Trump suggested the crisis was under good control. Rather than fighting with Trump, he stepped up to the podium Friday to say he's not ruling the drug out, but that it must be studied before making any promises. Trump wasn't dialing back his enthusiasm. 'Look, it may work and it may not work and I agree with the doctor,' Trump said. 'I feel good about it. That's all it is. Just a feeling. You know, I'm a smart guy. I feel good about it ... You're going to see soon enough.' The two even debated the safety of the malaria drug, with Trump saying it has a proven record and Fauci cautioning that must be validated again for coronavirus disease. In the end, the scientist seemed to be trying to find a way to avoid a direct confrontation with the president. 'You know, I'm not dismissing it at all, and I hope that that interpretation wasn't widespread,' Fauci said later on Fox News. 'What I said is that we don't have definitive proof that it works.' It wasn't just Trump with whom Fauci took issue. In answer to a reporter's question at the White House, he called a suggestion by Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin that the administration was overreacting, given that thousands die on the highways every year, a 'false equivalency.' He added: 'I don't think with any moral conscience you can say, `Why don't we just let it rip and happen and let X percent of the people die?'' And asked about economist Kevin Hassett's suggestion that all Americans be tested so that uninfected people can get back to work, Fauci said, 'I don't connect the dots there.' It will take social distancing to slow the spread. For most people, the virus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. The Alabama Department of Labor said Friday that it is working to fix problems with its website for online unemployment filing. Update Saturday March 21: 9,347 people filed for unemployment this week, according to preliminary numbers from the Alabama Department of Labor. In a tweet, the Department said: ADOL is aware of issues regarding online filing. We are working to correct the issue as quickly as possible. Thank you for your patience. ADOL (@al_labor) March 20, 2020 Its a problem that has been documented across the country, as unemployment claims are expected to soar in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, which has shuttered thousands of businesses. The demand for filing has crashed some state websites. More than 6,000 people filed unemployment claims the first three days of this week in Alabama. Earlier this week, the Alabama Department of Labor modified existing unemployment compensation rules to allow workers to file claims related to the virus. It also says charges will be waived against those employers who file partial unemployment compensation claims on behalf of their employees. State officials say Alabama has $700 million in its unemployment fund, an all-time high. Having left my rural Missouri home to serve as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala from 1988 to 1991, I felt a visceral connection with the 169 volunteers preparing to leave Guatemala on Wednesday. They shared personal stories and photos on social media, trying to come to grips with what it means to be evacuated from the schools and host families and wider communities they were part of. As they said their goodbyes, I imagine every one of them pledged to return. One day they will. Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Saturday suspended all international flights till March 28 as coronavirus cases in the country reached 501. A spokesperson for the PIA confirmed that the national carrier has decided to suspend all international flights on directives from the government, Dawn reported. According to the spokesperson, the decision will become effective at 8 pm on March 21 and international flights will resume on March 28. There have been three COVID-19 deaths in Pakistan so far and the total number of confirmed cases has gone up to 501, Geo News reported. Sindh is the worst-hit province with 252 cases. Analysts have suggested a complete lockdown of Pakistan, including suspension of flights in view of the increase in the number of infections. However, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has refused to impose the lockdown, saying the country can not afford it. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 05:07:18|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close A worker disinfects a street in central Algiers, Algeria, on March 20, 2020. Algeria reported a new death from COVID-19 on Friday, bringing the death toll in the country to 12, the health department in eastern Algeria's Khenchela province said in a statement. Algerian health authorities specified that out of the 90 confirmed cases, 42 patients were healed and discharged from hospital, temporarily. (Xinhua) ALGIERS, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Algeria reported a new death from COVID-19 on Friday, bringing the death toll in the country to 12, the health department in eastern Algeria's Khenchela province said in a statement. Earlier on Friday, two death cases were also reported in Tizi Ouzou province and El Oued province respectively. Algerian health authorities specified that out of the 90 confirmed cases, 42 patients were healed and discharged from hospital, temporarily. In a bid to contain the spread of COVID-19, the government has taken measures such as providing paid leaves for 50 percent of employees, except for those working in vital fields including security, army, fire-fighting and hospitals. The government also suspended all unnecessary air and sea voyages, in addition to the suspension of private and public transportation, marches and sit-ins. It also ordered to close places such as schools, universities, sport arenas, and mosques. Central New York parks and recreation departments have closed some structures and playgrounds amid the coronavirus outbreak. Several towns in Onondaga county have closed recreation centers, town halls and other facilities. Parks and recreation departments have canceled most of their programs and warn against utilizing play structures and benches, as they are not properly sanitized. Outdoor public spaces, such as parks and trails, remain open. Several parks departments have urged park visitors to practice social distancing when outdoors. New York state parks and historic sites have waived entrance fees. Public programs and events in state parks have been canceled and indoor facilities are closed until further notice. Heres what parks departments in Onondaga County have changed to prevent the spread of COVID-19: Syracuse Playgrounds and exercise equipment in Syracuse parks will be closed until further notice. Playground and equipment surfaces are not sanitized, the Syracuse Parks and Recreation department said in a post on Facebook. Parks and trails will remain open to the public. We ask that you continue to practice social distancing and safe hygiene when visiting parks, the department said in the post. Camillus Programs and buildings in Camillus, such as their senior center, Town Shop, Sims Store, Octagon House, Shove Park and bathrooms are closed indefinitely. Though Camillus Parks and Recreation did not close playgrounds, they ask park visitors to avoid touching surfaces that could be touched often and not disinfected, such as equipment and benches. Cicero On Thursday, March 19, Cicero closed its Town Hall indefinitely. Parks in Cicero will be open to the public, but not sanitized. The Cicero Youth Bureau asked that park visitors keep in mind social distancing and use caution when using playgrounds. The Cicero Youth Bureau has also canceled their Easter Egg Hunt, originally scheduled for Saturday, April 4. Please keep in mind that this is a difficult and unprecedented time that we face and regulations and recommendations are subject to change, the department said in a Facebook post. DeWitt DeWitts office of recreation will be closed indefinitely, and all recreational programs will be suspended until further notice. Facility reservations are suspended through the end of April. The town has opened a drop box in front of Town Hall to be used for facility rentals, programs registrations and sign rentals. Parks will remain open, but the department warns park visitors to stay six feet apart from others and avoid playgrounds, as they may not be disinfected. Marcellus At 3 p.m. Friday, Marcellus closed its Town Hall and recreation department. All yoga and senior exercise classes have been cancelled indefinitely. The town will not be collecting registrations, and will continue to plan summer activities. Park bathrooms in Marcellus are also closed, and parks, trails and playgrounds are still open. Town of Manlius The town of Manlius has delayed opening registrations for summer programs until April 20, according to the towns recreation department. Manlius Town Hall is open on a very limited basis, according to the town's website. The town declared a local state of emergency on Tuesday. Currently, the towns five parks and all playgrounds remain open. New Delhi: Rebel Congress MLAs of Madhya Pradesh meet BJP President JP Nadda in the presence of BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, in New Delhi on March 21, 2020. The 22 Congress legislators, including six ministers who earlier tendered their resignati Image Source: IANS News New Delhi: Rebel Congress MLAs of Madhya Pradesh meet BJP President JP Nadda in the presence of BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, in New Delhi on March 21, 2020. The 22 Congress legislators, including six ministers who earlier tendered their resignati Image Source: IANS News New Delhi, March 21 : Twenty-two Congress legislators, including six ministers, who earlier tendered their resignations amid a political crisis in Madhya Pradesh as Jyotiraditya Scindia jumped ship to BJP, met BJP Presidnet J.P. Nadda on Saturday. All the 22 Congress MLA's are expected to take primary membership of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Jyotiraditya Scindia was present at the moment when they met Nadda. Apart from him, two key leaders of Madhya Pradesh -- Narendra Tomar and Kailash Vijayvargiya were also present. After the 22 MLAs deserted the Kamal Nath government, the veteran Congress leader resigned from his post just ahead of a crucial floor test. It all started with Scindia's disenchantment with the Congress. In his resignation letter to Congress' interim President Sonia Gandhi, Scindia wrote: "While my aim and purpose remain the same as it has always been from the very beginning, to serve the people of my state and country, I believe I am unable to do this anymore within this party." He even accused his former party of living in denial. When Laurance Rockefeller happened upon a crescent of untouched coast on Virgin Gorda some 60 years ago, the American philanthropist set about creating Little Dix Baya hotel that would come to embody unfussy luxury in harmony with nature, attracting the likes of Queen Elizabeth II. Five years ago, the property (a Rosewood resort since 1993) enlisted the New York design firm Meyer Davis to shepherd a renovation of the rooms. But after Hurricane Irma struck the British Virgin Islands in 2017, what was meant to be a light refresh pivoted to a holistic rebuild. Though the iconic dining pavilionits distinctive conical roofs inspired by swaying palmssurvived, the propertys guest accommodations were all but destroyed. Rosewood Little Dix Bay Today, Meyer Davis has faithfully re-created Rockefellers vision, maintaining the footprints of the original structures, among them the propertys signature hexagonal beach cottages and tree houses. (The latter were converted from side-by-side rooms into amply scaled suites). We introduced pure, honest materials to reflect the beauty and vibrancy of the surroundings, says Meyer Davis founder Will Meyer, citing the use of natural stone and wood, with campaign-style detailing. Throughout the renovation, the team took extra care to plan for future storms. As we enter a new chapter in climate change, Meyer notes, a design is only successful if it will last. Little Dix remains one for the ages. rosewoodhotels.com See More of the Rosewood Little Dix Bay Rosewood Little Dix Bay Rosewood Little Dix Bay Rosewood Little Dix Bay Rosewood Little Dix Bay Rosewood Little Dix Bay Rosewood Little Dix Bay Rosewood Little Dix Bay Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest Now that the pandemic has arrived, CareFirst should be prepared to use its surplus to address community needs brought about by the pandemic. Unfortunately, though, the D.C. commissioner has yet to enforce the 2014 determination that the company has excess surplus. Meanwhile, the company has increased its surplus to a record $1.44 billion. Therefore, we believe that now is the moment for the commissioner to determine what more the company could and should be doing with its surplus to comply with the councils law and support residents of the region as they face the pandemic. This service applies to you if your subscription has not yet expired on our old site. You will have continued access until your subscription expires; then you will need to purchase an ongoing subscription through our new system. Please contact The Chanute Tribune office at 620-431-4100 if you have any questions Can AI Replace Your Job? While AI won't replace all jobs, what seems to be certain is that AI will change the nature of work, with the only question being how rapidly and how profoundly automation will alter the workplace. The evidence of which jobs will be supplanted is emerging. Amazon has launched Amazon Go, a cashier-free supermarket where customers just take items from the shelves and walk out. What this means for the more than three million people in the US who works as cashiers remains to be seen. Amazon again is leading the way in using robots to improve efficiency inside its warehouses. These robots carry shelves of products to human pickers who select items to be sent out. In fact, Amazon has more than 100,000 bots in its fulfilment centers, with plans to add many more. But Amazon also stresses that as the number of bots have grown, so has the number of human workers in these warehouses. However, Amazon and small robotics firms are working to automate the remaining manual jobs in warehouses, so it's not a given that manual and robotic labor will continue to grow hand-in-hand. Fully autonomous self-driving vehicles aren't a reality yet, but by some predictions the self-drive truck industry alone is poised to take over 1.7 million jobs in the next decade, even without considering the impact on couriers and taxi drivers. Yet some of the easiest jobs to automate won't even require robotics. At present there are millions of people working in administration, entering and copying data between systems, chasing and booking appointments for companies. As software gets better at automatically updating systems and flagging the information that's important, so the need for administrators will fall. Reasons To Be Cheerful For some commentators, AI augments rather than replacing workers. They argue there will be a commercial imperative to not replace people outright, as an AI-assisted worker, think a human concierge with an AR headset that tells them exactly what a client wants before they ask for it, will be more productive or effective than an AI working on its own. Among AI experts there's a broad range of opinion about how quickly artificially intelligent systems will surpass human capabilities. Oxford University's Future of Humanity Institute has asked hundreds of machine learning experts to predict AIs capabilities, over the coming decades. They estimated there was a relatively high chance that AI beats humans at all tasks within 45 years and automates all human jobs within 120 years. Notable dates included AI writing essays that could pass for being written by a human by 2026, truck drivers being made redundant by 2027, AI surpassing human capabilities in retail by 2031, writing a best-seller by 2049, and doing a surgeon's work by 2053. 10 Jobs That Are The Most Likely To Be Replaced 1. Receptionists - An automated touchscreen system or humanoid AI can easily replace the role of a receptionist. This is already happening in many modern companies that can afford the technology. In fact, in two hospitals in Belgium, robots now do reception duties. The receptionist robot which stands at 4ft tall with a round head and screen on his chest is able to recognize the human voice in 20 languages and can detect if hes talking to a man, woman, or child. 2. Factory Worker - Millions of factory jobs are now lost to machines. For years, robots have been replacing factory workers in the field of construction and manufacturing, especially in developed economies. Certainly, it wont be far in the future when all companies can afford to use machines. 3. Couriers - Aside from the manufacturing industry, the logistics and transport sectors will be most affected when robotic automation booms in the future years. Couriers are now slowly being replaced by drones and robots capable of traveling by air or wheels. One example is Starship Technologies, which recently launched their tiny self-driving robots which can deliver goods from various diners in Redwood City to its customers within a two-mile radius. 4. Taxi and bus drivers - Thanks to Tesla, semi-automated driving is already here and it wont be long before fully autonomous vehicles take over public transport and taxis, although in places such as India, the government is banning self-driving cars to protect jobs. Pilots, however, are safe for now whilst self-flying technology exists, passengers will need time to get comfortable be flown by a computer. 5. Soldiers - No more wasted human lives on the battlefield, soon robots will take over and fight for us. During Americas war on terror in Iraq, robot-soldiers in the form of weaponised drones were already being used by the U.S. Army to assassinate enemies. 6. Doctors - The rise of robot doctors is now closer to reality than fiction. Today, robo-surgeons can perform various medical operations starting from knee replacement surgery to vision correction. Before long, diagnosing patients based on their symptoms will be done through a chat bot 7. Security Guards - Robo-guards are already replacing humans when it comes to protecting and securing business locations. Take, for instance, Yelps security robot, who is capable of inspecting the whole building with its high-definition camera. The robot also has a directional mic and infrared sensor that can detect any suspicious sound or movement. 8. Sales Manager - AI is now being used to create content strategy and email marketing playbooks for marketers. They could also analyse sales calls quicker than any sales manager. In fact, according to one study, telemarketing is predicted to decline by 2014 largely because of robo-callers that take the place of telemarketers. 9. Accountant - Finance jobs may soon be replaced by AIs which could compute and analyse data faster. Various research has shown that robots are better in accounting tasks than humans. Robo-accountants are currently being developed with confidence because unlike driverless cars which could cause deadly consequences for small errors, robot accountants dont carry that big risk since data can easily be recovered. 10. Farmer - Robot farmers are currently harvesting crops at impressive rates. In Kyoto, Japan, the worlds first robot lettuce farm was recently opened and includes an all-robot farming staff. The robo-farmers are responsible for harvesting, planting and caring for the crops. As with every technological shift, new jobs will be created to replace those lost. What is uncertain is if these new roles will be created quickly enough to offer employment to those displaced, and whether the newly unemployed will have the necessary skills or temperament to fill these emerging roles. Vanna: ZDNet: Oxford University / Future of Humanity Inst: You Might Also Read: Artificial Intelligence & Automation Impact On Legal Jobs: Industry 4.0 - Changing How We Live: A second dog has tested positive for coronavirus in Hong Kong, days after the first to contract the disease in the Chinese administrat... A second dog has tested positive for coronavirus in Hong Kong, days after the first to contract the disease in the Chinese administrative region had died. Before now, the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) had stated that there is no evidence that pets like cats and dogs can spread the virus and that people shouldnt abandon their animals out of fear. According to the South China Morning Post, the 2-year-old German shepherd, owned by a coronavirus infected woman in the Pok Fu Lam area, was quarantined at a government facility. It was a case of human-to-animal transmission, according to the report on Thursday. The Agriculture, Fisheries, and Conservation Department (AFCD), in a statement, said the German shepherd was sent for quarantine along with another mixed-breed dog from the same residence. No positive results were obtained from the mixed-breed dog and neither dog has shown any signs of disease, it said. The department will continue to closely monitor both dogs and conduct repeated tests on the animals. The sick German shepherds diagnosis came days after the first known dog to test positive for the coronavirus a 17-year-old Pomeranian died in Hong Kong after returning home from quarantine. But animal welfare experts had suggested it may have died from stress or naturally. Ever since coronavirus broke out in Wuhan, more than 250,000 cases have been recorded across over 170 countries with the death toll exceeding 10,000. China and Italy are among the worse hit countries. Broadway Star Who Is Set to Marry Over the Weekend Is Live-Streaming Wedding Instead Amid Coronavirus A Broadway star who planned to tie the knot over the weekend is not letting coronavirus (COVID-19) ruin her big day even if shes had to alter her plans slightly. Lauren Lolo Pritchard and her fiance Colton Cobb have been planning their wedding for months, but never would have expected that it would take a dramatic turn in the days leading up to their big day. Its been an interesting two weeks, Pritchard, 32, tells PEOPLE. It is strange when you have been planning something for a while and you have to completely change it Like everyone else, weve been trying to keep track of whats going on and gauge what level of severity things really are. Just this week, the couple decided to limit their wedding guests to only their immediate family and livestream the ceremony on YouTube Saturday so the rest of their loved ones approximately 200 of them could follow along virtually without jeopardizing their health. We were like, Okay listen, we love everyone so much and were going to live stream, we want you all to watch,' she says. We want you all to dress up and fancy yourselves up on Saturday because well be still fancy. And then when we get on the other side of this, we are going to have a big party.' Were really excited actually, adds Pritchard, who is currently 19-weeks pregnant. Its certainly not the wedding that we planned [but] no one could have ever expected anything like this. lolo pritchard Lolo Pritchard and Colton Cobb RELATED: Heres a Map of All the Coronavirus Cases in the U.S. Pritchard and Cobb, who got engaged in January, initially planned to tie the knot at Lambuth Memorial United Methodist Church in Jackson, Tennessee, before celebrating at a nearby venue. But last Friday, their plans shifted when the COVID-19 outbreak escalated, prompting the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to advise against gatherings of more than 250 people. Because multiple family members were currently living with pre-existing health conditions and many others lived out of state and were planning to travel, their guest list began to dwindle down. Story continues Still, Pritchard and Cobb planned to carry on with their plans as normal at that point, they had a guest list of about 230 people but opted to stream the event online for those who could not make it. However, another challenge was placed in front of the couple when the CDC announced on Monday that gatherings of 10 people or more would not be recommended amid the pandemic. All of a sudden were like, Okay, this is an entirely different situation,' Pritchard recalls. So we just made an executive decision to live stream at 2 p.m. for everyone except for our parents, our siblings, our grandparents and a couple of people in our wedding party. lolo pritchard Lolo Pritchard and Colton Cobb at their rehearsal RELATED: Bride-to-Be Says Her Uncertain Princess Cruise Wedding Feels Like Uphill Battle Amid Coronavirus After the ceremony, Pritchard says the intimate group will celebrate within the recommended six-foot distance from each other at a banquet hall in the church. Making that decision also meant Pritchard had to cancel the planned venue and alter many of her previous orders, including ones for cake and food. Yet, even with the last-minute changes, the bride-to-be says everyone has been very understanding. We didnt want to postpone it because were expecting a little one, the former Spring Awakening star explains. If we try to do this in a few months, its going to be so much crazier so we wanted to just go ahead and have our day. This whole thing has been incredibly scary for everybody to try to navigate because its really hard to know what is really going on, she says. Because everybody is being so affected by everything thats happening, were not the only people having to deal with these kinds of decisions so everybody was really understanding. While many brides would be panicking in this situation, Pritchard says shes found comfort in knowing she made the right decision and that shell get an even more meaningful celebration sometime down the line. Its completely out of our control, she explains. Especially after everything the CDC said on Monday, we were like, We cant in good faith go forward with the wedding that we were planning.' Im not assuming that anything will happen, but God forbid, what if something does? Its not worth the risk. I dont think its worth anyones health or safety, she adds. We fully intend to have a really, really, big party and at that time, we will be celebrating so much more than just our marriage celebration. RELATED VIDEO: Broadway Star Laura Benanti Wants to Build a Community Through #SunshineSongs Amid COVID-19 Broadway Star Laura Benanti Wants to 'Build a Community' Through #SunshineSongs Amid COVID-19 Benanti's social media movement has gotten reactions from Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ben Platt and more As for their hopes this weekend? All we want to do is just bring everyone a happy moment tomorrow, Pritchard says. Everybody is in this very strange, uncertain state and still trying to figure out what to do. Were excited to have a reason to dress up and we are encouraging everyone to do that too. Put on a fancy dress, put some lipstick on, put a suit on, sit in your kitchen and pour champagne while were saying I do and cheers us from the internet, she adds. We just want everyone to have a wonderful afternoon and bring a smile to peoples faces. As of Friday evening, there have been at least 17,610 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 237 deaths in the U.S., according to the New York Times. In Tennessee alone, there are at least 175 reported cases but no confirmed deaths, according to the Times. As information about the coronavirus pandemic rapidly changes, PEOPLE is committed to providing the most recent data in our coverage. Some of the information in this story may have changed after publication. For the latest on COVID-19, readers are encouraged to use online resources from CDC, WHO, and local public health departments and visit our coronavirus hub. Several medical experts have warned that India is at risk of a devastating coronavirus outbreak throughout the country. With a crisis-ridden public health system that lacks basic facilities and suffers from widespread staff shortages, and hundreds of millions living in extreme poverty, especially in high density cities like New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, the country is vulnerable to a rapid spread of the pandemic. Having reported over 223 positive cases and four coronavirus-related deaths so far, however, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has refused to initiate mass testing. Indian authorities have limited their response to the imposition of travel restrictions, tests for incoming travellers and contact tracing of those who have registered a positive result. These steps alone are woefully inadequate to halt the progress of the pandemic in a country of 1.3 billion people. Even though it is weeks since the first COVID-19 case was confirmed, just 14,175 tests have been conducted across the country. Despite a growing number of infections, the ministry of health has asserted that there is no evidence of person-to-person transmission within India in a bid to justify the lack of mass testing. Dr. T. Jacob John, the former head of the Indian Council for Medical Researchs Centre for Advanced Research in Virology, has warned that while infection rates appear to be relatively low so far, the number of cases will likely increase ten-fold by April 15. In comments reported by NDTV on March 18, John warned that the authorities were not understanding that this is an avalanche. As every week passes, the avalanche is growing bigger and bigger. Health ministry officials have called for social distancing as a means of slowing the spread of the coronavirus, however medical experts have warned that this is impractical in high density areas. Across India, an average of 420 people live in every square kilometre, compared with just 148 per square kilometre in China. More than 400 million people live in cities. In Mumbai alone, the population density is 21,000 per square kilometre. Nearly half of Delhis 18 million residents live in overcrowded shanty-towns. Under these conditions, Dr. K. Srinath Reddy, president of the Public Health Foundation of India has bluntly declared that social distancing is something often talked about but only works well for the urban middle class. Reddy, who is also adjunct professor of epidemiology at Harvard Universitys T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told NDTV: It doesnt work well for the urban poor or the rural population where its extremely difficult both in terms of compactly packed houses, but also because many of them have to go to work in areas which are not necessarily suitable for social distancing. The response of the Indian ruling elite, like its counterparts around the world, has been criminally negligent. Despite these warnings, the Modi government has done nothing to prepare mass testing or to boost funding to the shambolic public health system. In an interview with Indian Express on March 17, Nivedita Gupta, senior viral scientist at the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), stated that India had limited its testing to symptomatic travellers and contacts of confirmed cases. Only on Tuesday was it announced that testing would be extended to health workers who are at risk due to contact with infected patients. According to Gupta, India currently has a capacity for 6,000 tests per day. There are around 150,000 test kits in 51 labs. Responding to World Health Organisation guidance for countries to test as many people as possible to curb the pandemic, Balaam Bhargava, head of the ICMR said mass testing would be premature for India. Bhargava sought to justify this position by claiming that community transmissions had yet to be detected. This assertion has been countered by a number of medical experts. Ramadan Laxminarayan, director of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy told the Hindustan Times on Thursday: Community transmission began in India two to three weeks ago, around the same time as other countries. India is not an exception to the way the virus behaves, he stated. We just havent tested a representative sample that the countrys population of 1.34 billion demands. The Times also quoted an anonymous public health expert who warned: Unless you test, you wont know. Enough testing is not happening. In the initial phase of the epidemic, there are very few cases. But once it begins, it spreads like wildfire. Millions of peoples lives have already been placed in danger by the slow response of the authorities. Indicating the prospects of a mass catastrophe, Dr. T. Jacob John wrote in the Economic and Political Weekly on March 14: If 10 percent (80 million)out of Indias total 800 million adult populationget infected and 10 percent of them developed severe illness (8 million; in particular the elderly, those with diabetes, chronic lung diseases, etc. who are more vulnerable), 80,000 may die at a 1 percent case fatality rate and 160,000 at 2 percent case fatality rate, all in one year. The Indian government has claimed that its response has been aimed at preventing mass panic and ensuring that the countrys hospital system is not overwhelmed by testing. In reality, its primary concern is to limit public spending amid an ongoing drive to slash costs and drive up the fortune of the countrys investors and wealthy elites. While no money is made available to fight the pandemic, the Modi government allocated $US66 billion for defence in this years national budget, the third largest annual spend by any government in the world. The same budget provided just $9.7 billion for healthcare. This demonstrates that for the Indian elite, boosting its military power to pursue its predatory geo-political interests is a greater priority than the health, and the very lives of ordinary people. Meanwhile, a tiny and corrupted super rich layer has accumulated a mountain of wealth. Oxfams Time to Care report released earlier this year found that Indias richest 1 percent hold more than four-times the wealth of the poorest 70 percent of the country, some 953 million people. The collective wealth of the countrys 63 billionaires is more than the annual national budget. Mark Mulligan, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer Three more people in Harris County and two in Montgomery County have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the region's total to 107 known cases. The new cases mean that 55 people have officially tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Harris County. One of those people, a male nursing home resident in his 80s, died Wednesday night at the hospital. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday said that 23 people have tested positive for coronavirus in Uttar Pradesh and asserted that a sufficient number of isolation wards are there in the state. "A total of 23 people have been found to be infected with coronavirus in the state. Out of the total cases, nine people have recovered. We have a sufficient number of isolation wards in the state," Adityanath said. The total number of positive cases of coronavirus in India now stands at 258 including 39 foreigners, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Saturday. Four people have died including one each in Delhi, Karnataka, Punjab and Maharashtra. While addressing the nation on Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged citizens to follow 'Janta Curfew' from 7 am to 9 pm on Sunday to contain the spread of coronavirus. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Singapore on Saturday reported its first two confirmed deaths related to the COVID-19 outbreak. The city-state's health ministry said the two patients who died were a 75-year-old woman, and a 64-year-old man. The female patient had pre-existing conditions including heart disease, while the male patient had been hospitalized in Indonesia for pneumonia, and also had a history of heart disease, according to the health ministry. Singapore has been lauded globally for its approach in managing the outbreak, with no fatalities before Saturday even as deaths have surged elsewhere in Asia and worldwide. The tiny Southeast Asian state was one of the earliest countries to report cases of COVID-19, and was also at the frontline of the SARS epidemic in Asia 17 years ago. In February, the World Health Organization said it was "very impressed" with the way the city-state has managed the outbreak. "We are very impressed with the efforts they are making to find every case, follow up with contacts, and stop transmission," it said in February. The Sri Lankan government has imposed a nationwide curfew in the country to deal with the Coronavirus COVID-19 on Friday. Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said that this curfew would last from Friday to Monday. A nationwide curfew will then be reviewed. President Rajapaksa's office said that the curfew will be implemented from 6 pm (local time) to the country tonight. Earlier, in view of the increasing number of coronavirus cases globally, Sri Lanka on Tuesday suspended all international flights arriving in the country. Corona outbreak in Italy, 627 deaths in one day The President's office has not given any reason for this, but it is believed that the government has taken such steps to deal with the threat arising from Corona. President Rajapaksa refused to lock out the entire country citing economic hardships for the poor. Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan police said that despite the curfew, people are involved in social activities. The Sri Lankan government has appealed to the citizens not to congregate and refrain from going to any social event. Italy in grip of Corona, army deployed for funeral The curfew was announced a day after the Sri Lanka Election Commission announced the postponement of parliamentary elections to be held on April 25, in view of the impact of the virus. The commission said that the decision on the new date will be taken after March 25. Meanwhile, the government has said that so far 66 cases of corona have been confirmed in the country. Of these, 22 were citizens of Italy, while 2 were Britons and one was a citizen of India. 2,400 suspects have been found in Sri Lanka. Which includes 27 foreign nationals. Big statement of researchers, "It is necessary to know its effect on children to prevent corona" RAMALLAH, West Bank Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett decided March 17 that as of March 18, Palestinian workers and merchants from the West Bank would be allowed into Israel provided they sleep for one to two months in Israel with the employer providing lodging. Meanwhile, on March 17, the Palestinian government called on workers in Israel to arrange accommodation with their Israeli employers within three days, after which the Palestinian government will cut off movement between the Palestinian territories and Israel. The continuous increase in the number of coronavirus cases in both Israel and the West Bank, and the Israeli measures taken to confront the virus and prevent its spread have taken a toll on Palestinians working in Israel. On March 11, Israel announced that Palestinian workers and merchants over the age of 50 would not be allowed in from the West Bank. The measures entered into effect on March 12. Ghalib al-Saleh, 55, from Jenin, works in the construction sector with an Arab contractor in the city of Caesarea. On March 12, he went to al-Taybeh crossing in Tulkarm, one of the largest crossings between Israel and the West Bank, to enter Israel, but the soldiers at the crossing did not allow him in. This decision applied to all workers above the age of 50, he told Al-Monitor. Palestinians over the age of 55 are usually allowed to enter and work in Israel without a permit, unlike other age groups that need permits from the Israeli authorities, such as work permits often issued for constructors, or commercial and agricultural permits. People looking for jobs inside Israel also need permits from the Israeli authorities, and permits are usually valid for a few days only. However, under normal circumstances, none of these permits allow Palestinian workers to sleep in Israel once their work day is finished, so Palestinians return to the West Bank every evening. Abu Mohammed, 52, who is from Jenin, told Al-Monitor on condition his full name not be used that after being prevented from entering through al-Taybeh crossing on March 12, he was forced to enter illegally through what Palestinians call al-fatehat, meaning "gaps" in the wall. This decision will lead us to incur heavy losses. We have dues and we need several days worth of wage in order to cover the price of our permits, Abu Mohammed said. The Israeli authorities decided to prevent those older than 50 from entering Israel because the elderly are at higher risk than other age groups. The Israeli authorities are also seeking to alleviate crowding around the crossings to prevent the transmission of the virus. It seems the Israeli move to allow tens of thousands of Palestinians to spend one to two months inside Israel aims to avoid a blow to the Israeli economy, especially the construction sector. A report published March 6 by the Israeli financial newspaper Calcalist warned of the losses that the construction sector might incur if Palestinian workers are not allowed to enter Israel, and added that estimates indicate that if the 65,000 Palestinians working in the construction sector are not allowed in then this would lead the Israeli gross domestic product to lose a monthly amount of 4.56 billion Israeli shekels ($1.18 billion), as a result of delays in the delivery of roughly 70,000 apartments. Palestinian workers in Israel are among the most prominent factors that may contribute to the rapid spread of the virus, be it in the West Bank or Israel, due to their large number, their daily overcrowding at crossings and checkpoints, their contact with Israeli employers and their daily movement between the West Bank and Israel. Of note, the first case of the coronavirus was reported on March 9 in the city of Tulkarm, in the northern West Bank, and it was a worker in Israel who had been infected by his Israeli employer. Despite the political rupture between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, coordination between the two sides is in full swing regarding the means to confront the coronavirus, especially considering that the Palestinian government realized that workers may be a dangerous factor in the transmission of the virus. As he explained to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on March 10, Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said that the tens of thousands of Palestinians who work in Israel are the biggest problem facing Palestinians to stop the spread of the virus, especially considering that this issue is difficult to deal with. Shaher Saad, secretary-general of the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions, told Al-Monitor that many Palestinian workers had been asked by their Israeli employers to be ready to stay in Israel. Saad pointed out that some workers have managed to rent apartments near their workplaces in order to avoid returning to the West Bank, while others have set up sleeping areas at their workshops. The one positive outcome of this decision, he added, is that it allows workers to maintain their jobs and provide for their families. However, there are several negative aspects that need to be considered. Chief among these, he said, is the high risk of infection among workers and the high cost of living in Israel compared to the West Bank. This, he said, shrinks the amount of savings Palestinian workers would be able to make. In case a Palestinian worker gets infected it is unclear where and how they would be treated, but the two sides are said to maintain a high level of coordination in this regard. Saad pointed out that despite the circumstances, Israel is clinging to Palestinian workers because the construction sector would collapse if constructors are not allowed in. He concluded that if one Palestinian worker sleeping in Israel is infected, this would create panic among other workers. In an expression of solidarity with the nations affected by the novel coronavirus, Brazil's famous Chirst the Redeemer statue lit up with flags of the countries that were affected with the COVID-19 pandemic, Wednesday. Aside from the flags, the statue also projected the message "#praytogether" translated in different languages, Archbishop Orani Joao Tempesta of Rio dde Janeiro also held a mass at the site of the famous Brazilian landmark, where he relayed the church's message and encouraged people all over the world to pray, especially for those who are sick. Brazil orders closure on Tourist sites On March 27, the number of cases in Brazil has risen to 261 since the first case in the country was reported in March 17. Despite the hopeful display by the 125-foot-tall statue last Wednesday, it is also succumbing to the pandemic, as it was closed by the end of Tuesday and will not be open for at least a week. This is in adherence to the orders of Brazil's Chico Mendes Institute to close all national parks and tourist spots to control the spread and the looming threat of the outbreak. As each day passes with the coronavirus still out there, Rio seems less marvelous. On Monday, recordings were blaring from firemen who urged the beach goers to stay home. The following day, Rio's Governor Wilson Witzel placed the country under a state of emergency. Read also: 'Favilavir' First Drug Approved as Possible Treatment for COVID-19 On top of this, Witzel also recommended that bars and restaurants limit their capacity to 30% for at least 15 days. It was also recommended that boats and buses reduce their passenger loads by half, the closure of shopping malls, public beaches and pools. The decree also suspended mass gatherings including classes. After the declaration of states of emergency in Rio and Sao Paolo, public transportation was reduced and the public was warned to take social distancing seriously to avoid further spread of the virus. Cultural and sporting events have also already been canceled and companies have been encourage to allow their employees to work from home. Solidarity Amid the Pandemic Aside from the lighting of the Christ the Redeemer statue, there have been several gestures of solidarity that has been going on around the world in the midst of the outbreak. In Italy, people who have been in lock down have taken it to their balconies to cheer up each other and remind people that they are not alone in facing this tragedy, through singing songs and playing instruments. Children whose classes have been canceled have also drawn rainbows on their windows to symbolize hope. Celebrities have also used the power of social media in order to bring hope to the world amid the outbreak. Wonder woman Gal Gadot has enlisted the help of other stars including "The Hulk" Mark Ruffalo to sing a cover of John Lennon's "Imagine," to remind everyone that amid this crisis the world should be as one. The number of coronavirus infections all over the world has already risen to more than 218,000 and there are already millions that are placed under lockdown and community quarantine. Related article: Italians Sing from Balconies as a Symbol of Solidarity Amid Coronavirus Outbreak @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Equipment for 32 mask production lines to be fully delivered soon ROC Central News Agency 03/20/2020 06:45 PM Taipei, March 20 (CNA) The equipment needed for 32 new surgical face mask production lines in Taiwan is expected to be fully delivered soon, the chairman of the Taiwan Machine Tool & Accessory Builders' Association (TMBA) said Friday. Hsu Wen-hsien () made the comments while inspecting the latest batch of equipment being delivered by Chang Hong Machinery Co. in New Taipei's Wugu District, one of the two companies that are assembling the production lines. According to Hsu, 15 of the 32 lines are assembled by Chang Hong, while NCM Nonwoven Converting Machinery Co. in New Taipei's Yingge District are responsible for the 17 others. So far, 13 mask production lines have been completed by NCM, with equipment for the final four remaining lines expected to be delivered by next week, he said. Due to the surging demand for surgical face masks as result of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) announced March 5 that it had decided to build the 32 additional lines, with all necessary equipment due to be delivered by the end of March. The decision came after the Cabinet last month approved a plan to build 60 production lines to help meet the country's mask supply shortage. Even if they operate at just 80 percent capacity, the 92 lines will be able to churn out a daily output of 9 million of the masks, which will be just sufficient for domestic demand, the TMBA chairman said. (By Chung Jung-feng and Ko Lin) Enditem/J NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address (Photo : Screenshot From Trek Convention Facebook Page) Astronaut Remember when you were a kid and wanted to be an astronaut? Well, now that social distancing is being encouraged due to the coronavirus (covid-19), it may be the best time to try and train like one to see what it's really like in the shoes of an astronaut. Isolated at home? Then train like an astronaut. That was the inspirational advice which was given by a public engagement specialist from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory located in Pasadena, California, as a suggestion to what people should do during their free time. An astronaut wannabe by the name of Rachel Zimmerman-Brachman has just recently said that being in isolation has quite a lot of similarities to astronaut training coming up with a positive message which was launched to Facebook on Thursday saying, "Attitude is everything: I'm on an adventure in a confined space with a small crew for a long duration mission, with occasional space walks and resupply missions. Sounds like astronaut training to me." Read Also: Japanese Hayabusa 2 Spacecraft Fires Into Near-Earth Asteroid: What Happened Next Shed Light On How Planets Are Formed Zimmerman-Brachman is a longtime JPL employee who possesses degrees in both space studies as well as physics. According to her, the dream of becoming an astronaut has been with her ever since childhood. Zimmerman-Brachman has already applied four times through NASA as well as the Canadian Space Agency due to her dual citizenship status which allows her to qualify for both applications to agencies. Zimmerman-Brachman has quite the imagination According to Zimmerman-Brachman, the thought of her friends who have been fortunate enough to have lived in simulated Marian habitats and have taken part in other long-duration isolation studies have come up during the social distancing due to the covid-19. According to her, the social distancing and the space program employees both shared the same environment as they were urged to work from home! Zimmerman-Brachman has a 14, year old son who stays at home as well in Sherman Oaks located in California currently dealing with schoolwork. Zimmerman-Brachman suggests that since both space program employees and people who are advised to practice social distancing both deal with quite an amount of isolation, it is better to think of it as astronaut training! The JPL is currently working on space-related educational activities JPL is currently making an effort to build a list of space-related educational activities with high possibilities of teaching youngsters more about space while staying at home. According to Zimmerman-Brachman in an email to The Associated Press, "Life is a combination of what happens to you and what you do about it. We're going to be at home for a while, so we may as well make the best of it," she wrote in an email to The Associated Press. Reda Also: Is SpaceX Ready for First Crewed Mission With NASA's Astronauts After Falcon 9 Failure? Ending her email, Zimmerman-Brachman wrote that "We're all in this together." The battle against the coronavirus (covid-19) does not have to cripple productivity as this social-distancing can actually give people more time to develop other skills, try new things, or even learn more about space and how to become an astronaut! 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal on Saturday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a money laundering probe against Yes Bank promoter Rana Kapoor and his family members, officials said. They said Goyal's statement will be recorded by the investigating officer of the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) at its office in Ballard Estate here. Jet Airways' loan exposure to the crisis-ridden Yes Bank is about Rs 550 crore. Goyal was first summoned by the central probe agency on March 18 but he cited the reason of tending to an ill relative for skipping the summons. He was given a fresh time and deposed Saturday, they said. The agency initiated action against Kapoor and his family members and raided him soon after the Reserve Bank imposed a moratorium on the "stressed" Yes Bank earlier this month. Normal banking operations for Yes Bank customers were re-started on Wednesday. Kapoor, 62, was arrested by the ED in Mumbai on March 8 and at present he is in judicial custody. The ED has grilled Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani and Peter Kerkar of Cox & Kings company. The probe agency has accused Kapoor, his family members and others of laundering "proceeds of crime" amounting to Rs 4,300 crore by receiving alleged kickbacks in lieu of extending big loans through their bank that later allegedly became a non-performing asset (NPA). As many as 44 companies belonging to 10 large business groups reportedly accounted for bad loans totalling Rs 34,000 crore of Yes Bank. Goyal, the former chairman of the now defunct airline, is already facing a separate criminal probe under the PMLA and also a foreign exchange violations case being investigated by the ED. A full-service carrier, Jet Airways shut its operations in April last year after running out of cash. A month earlier, Goyal had stepped down as the chairman of Jet Airways. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Jewish holiday of Passover begins at sundown on Wednesday, April 8. Whenever it comes around I think of the holiday and its rituals. For thousands of years Jews have marked the event of the exodus from Egypt with a meal called the Seder. Unleavened bread, called matzah, is eaten. This food was eaten during the exodus from Egypt. By eating matzah Jews remember God's kindness. Although finding and eating matzah is simple today, it has not always been so easy. Let me share this story I learned from Rabbi Eli Hecht, who learned from his teachers who were World War II Holocaust survivors. Far away in Slovakia the Passover Seder was celebrated in a most humble fashion. Simcha Bunem Unsdorfer had been brought to the Auschwitz death camp. There the SS officers killed thousands of men, women and children daily. Simcha knew that there were only two ways to leave the death camp. One was through the chimney of the ovens after being gassed and burned. A better way was to find work for the German war effort. One day a rumor was spread. The German military factories were bombed and new parts for guns and airplanes were needed. The Germans built factories in hidden areas. They used Jews to run their factories and literally worked them to death. Replacements for the poor workers were the men found in the death camps who were strong enough to work. One such camp, "Nieder-Orschel," was established to produce parts for building wings for the Luftwaffe's fighter aircraft. Simcha and some Slovakian Jews were taken from Auschwitz to this camp. The men were forced to work 18-hour shifts and were given barely enough food to survive. The food rations were terrible but the lice and diseases were worse. Imagine wearing the same clothing for months. As bad as it was, the men felt that this was infinitely better than being gassed and burned in the crematoriums. When the Passover season came the men gathered around and spoke of their need to have Passover matzah. In the Nieder-Orschel factory there were workers who were not prisoners. They were civilian workers who went home nightly. Simcha had made friends with one Christian known as Meister Meyer, a civilized worker. "I need a 1/2 pound of flour," said Simcha to Meister Meyer. "What? Have you lost your mind?" exclaimed Meyer. "What do you need the flour for?" "The holiday of Passover is here and I need to bake matzah," answered Simcha. Meister Meyer muttered to himself, "How can Jews think of matzah when their God has forsaken them to the death camps?" Since Simcha was very determined to have his way, Meister Meyer brought him a little bag of flour. "We shall not see each other any more. Here is the flour. May your God protect you." That night Simcha and a few friends sneaked out of the barracks and went into the smithy's shop. They worked feverishly with the bellows until they got a small fire going. Finding a small, dirty tin plate, they cleaned it as best as possible and used it as a platter. In a half hour three tiny, round matzah were ready. That night, March 28, 1945, the small group held their Seder. They couldn't find anything as satisfying in their lives as eating the small matzahs in this godforsaken death camp. Simcha survived the death camp and shared his experience in a personal memoir called The Yellow Star. Before the Nazi occupation Shimon Cohen was the head baker of his city. Shimon wanted to provide the Jews with matzah. A few days before the holiday Shimon organized a group of young men and asked them if they were willing to give up their lives for the performance of a mitzvah, the commandment, to bake matzah. In great secrecy they bartered old clothes for flour. They sneaked into an old bakery and heated up the oven to bake matzah. Forgetting the grave danger surrounding him and his friends, Shimon became so excited with the baking that he began to sing. His soul felt like bursting. He sang louder and louder. "As the Israelites went out of Egypt," went the song. Suddenly a shout was heard. The door of the bakery was smashed down. In entered the Gestapo leader. "Cursed Jews, what's happening here?" Before they could answer, the Gestapo officers swung their batons and rifles onto the heads of the defenseless Jews. "Your singing gave you away. Your fate is sealed. We will put you against the bakery wall and shoot you!" Shimon, the initiator of the baking said, "You cannot frighten me. Tomorrow is the Jewish holiday of Passover and I was baking matzah in honor of the holiday." The commander began screaming like an animal in pain, "Typical Jewish audacity, you will be killed by us. We will not kill you by bullets, as we don't want to waste the bullets. Rather, we will club you to death." A group of sneering Nazi Gestapo men descended on poor Shimon and beat him mercilessly, killing him. That night the Seder was held in the poor Jewish homes in the ghetto but there was no matzah to be found. Little innocent children gathered the bits of the matzah left in the bakery for the Seder meal. They wanted to prove to themselves that nothing would stop their belief in God. The little matzah bits were displayed on the Seder table to symbolize the ritual matzah. Yes, Shimon Cohen had died a hero's death. The ghetto remembered his heroism for a long time. They called him "the modern day Paschal sacrifice." This message is for all the people on Earth, as there is no monopoly on the spirit of life. The holiday of Passover is a lesson to all nations of the world. We all may be exposed to evil people but we don't have to become like them. We can liberate ourselves by remembering our divine spirit and experience freedom. Rabbi Jon Haddon lives in Danbury and is Rabbi Emeritus, Congregation Shir Shalom of Westchester and Fairfield Counties, Ridgefield. He can be reached at jonrab33@gmail.com . Everyone catches onto the enormity of this pandemic at his or her own rate. Here in rural Iowa, some people are further down the road in their understanding and are canceling events, declining to hug or hold hands, and stocking up on enough groceries and medicine to weather several weeks at home, while others are angry at disruptions in their lives and canceled travel plans over something they see as overly hyped up. I fall somewhere in between them, though the difficulties facing Italy have been a wakeup call for me. I'm digesting the news that social distancing and self-imposed isolation can slow the spread of this disease. Because of that, and because we don't have a lot of extra ICU facilities waiting around empty, I think it makes sense for us to start limiting our face-to-face contact. I want medical facilities to be available when people need them. I don't want us to run out of ventilators. To stock up for an extended period of staying home, I drove to Omaha and ventured into unusually crowded grocery stores. Most of us in America are inexperienced in going long stretches without resupplying. Even people who can afford to gather six weeks' worth of groceries and other supplies might not readily be able to understand just what they should be purchasing. Checking the expiration dates on ultra pasteurized milk, and contemplating relying on frozen fruits and vegetables rather than fresh requires us to think about our consumption and shopping habits, in a new light. I admit to being somewhat guided by seeing what other people were buying, and noticing which shelves were nearly empty. When I saw there were only two cans of garbanzo beans left, I decided to grab them. Dried fruit seemed like a good option. Extra coffee, oats, grits, eggs and rice made sense to me. A friend told me she spontaneously bought a large package of cream cheese, something she has not purchased in years. Of course, toilet paper is on everyone's mind -- and in scarce supply. I'm lucky that my work doesn't require me to report to a physical location. Because of that, I'm less likely than others to be hurt financially. As a cautionary measure, I canceled a flight to another state to visit my daughter and her family. I'm hosting an event at my house on Saturday, and I'm debating with myself about canceling it. It's an optional event, but it's also something that supports people's mental and physical health. A week ago I would not have had any qualms about hosting it. But if the spread of this disease in the US follows the trajectory of other countries, by this time next week I probably wouldn't dream of hosting an in-person event. People in Washington state or New York City or areas of California where there have been outbreaks might shake their heads at those of us who are just trying to get our heads around the recommended lifestyle changes. We haven't been directly impacted in my community. I live in a very rural county, with only one stoplight. People here seem to pride themselves on not overreacting. Some of my neighbors are posting on social media about their disgust at what they see as media hype. Others are offering to be the ones to go pick up groceries or other supplies for any neighbors who are at extra risk of complications because of their age. Today, things feel palpably different in the US. I honestly don't know if it was President Trump's address to the nation, or the fact that Tom Hanks has been diagnosed with coronavirus. For me, it was reading about the inability of the medical community in Italy to respond appropriately to the crisis. If our medical system in the United States is completely overwhelmed because we all get sick at once, the facilities that usually respond to heart attacks and car accident victims won't be available. For some, the widespread cancellation of sporting events, or the Blake Shelton concert in Omaha on Thursday might get their attention. My own attitudes and my grasp of the situation are changing rapidly. Because of that, I don't judge people on either end of the spectrum. Is there a part of me that has thought this was overly hyped up? Yes. Is there a part of me that thinks we should close all the schools and figure out how we can help everybody in non-essential jobs stay home for the next several weeks? Also, yes. Today I heard several people say that they were "taking a media fast," or that they were just turning off the news because it is too depressing. But because this is a contagious disease, we all have a part to play. There are a lot of indications that people can carry the virus to others while feeling completely healthy. All of us, even those who still have to go to a workplace, can make behavior changes that might slow the spread of this virus. Consider how you can support people who cannot work remotely. If you normally get a massage but are foregoing that because of the virus, consider paying your massage therapist anyway. If you are reducing how often you go out to restaurants, start doubling the tip that you leave for your server. Hand a grocery store gift certificate to the cashier at your grocery store. Check in on people by phone. Let's keep talking about it. Let's not roll our eyes at people who are seeing it differently than we are. And if my neighbor needs a can of garbanzo beans, or runs out of coffee, I'm happy to share. Indians stranded at airports and cities in several countries because of Covid-19-related travel restrictions are being advised to hunker down and stay put ahead of the suspension of all international flights from March 22, people familiar with developments said on Friday. Special flights will be operated on Saturday to evacuate some 200 Indians from Italy and more from Uzbekistan, the people cited above said on condition of anonymity. Some Indians stranded at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam are expected to return on a KLM flight early on Saturday, they said. Moving forward, we are asking stranded Indians to stay where they are. They should get in touch with Indian missions. We are operating in very challenging circumstances, said a person requesting anonymity. About 70 Indians are stranded at the airport in Kuala Lumpur following the governments March 17 decision to suspend all flights from Malaysia for a week. They are currently inside the terminal with little clarity on whether they will be able to get a flight home during the suspension. The Indian high commission in Kuala Lumpur said it has assisted more than 860 Indians this week, while 405 stranded citizens were evacuated on special flights on March 18. Difficult times. Tough choices to make, the mission tweeted. Rahul Saigal, a professional stranded in Manila after the government also barred flights from the Philippines, told HT it was unclear when he and some other Indians would be able to return home. I was in transit and there was no window at all in the March 17 order, which resulted in me being stranded here, he said. Additional secretary Dammu Ravi, the external affairs ministrys pointsperson for Covid-19-related matters, told a news briefing: It is not advisable for people to move from one region to anotherThese restrictions are temporary, so no one should panic. If Indians are [stranded] in some places, our advice would be to stay put. Authorities in the UK and other countries, where Indians are stranded, are working on ways to assist those whose visas are due to expire, the people cited above said. These steps are in line with Indias decision to provide free of charge extensions to foreign nationals whose visas have expired, they said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Iran's judicial authority said Friday Tehran was liaising with Paris over the release of a French prisoner held in the Islamic republic after France released an Iranian threatened with extradition to the US. The Iranian, Jallal Rohollahnejad, "has been freed today", the Iranian judiciary's agency Mizan Online reported, without disclosing the identity of the French detainee. Iranian state TV later Friday said he was already on a flight back to Tehran. Rohollahnejad "an Iranian engineer incarcerated for more than a year in French prisons and accused of circumventing American sanctions against Iran, has been freed today," the agency added. The French Court of Cassation had on 11 March approved "the request to extradite Rohollahnejad to the US, but the French government freed him, changing this decision", it added. "Taking into account the cooperation of the (Iranian) judicial system's intention to release a French detainee through reducing sentences, the French government" freed the Iranian engineer "in an act of mutual cooperation", according to the report. France has for months demanded that Iran release two French researchers, Fariba Adelkhah and Roland Marchal, who were detained in June 2019. Their trial began in early March. Adelkhah is a citizen of both Iran and France, but Tehran does not recognise dual nationality. Iran has in recent months carried out prisoner exchanges with the US, Australia and Germany. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Every name on the BrandBucket marketplace is exclusively listed with BrandBucket. That means that all of our sellers are very responsive, making for quick domain transfers. A dedicated BrandBucket agent will manage your domain transfer from beginning to end, ensuring a secure and easy transaction. They will manage the receipt of the domain into one of BrandBuckets secure registrar accounts and then complete the transfer to you. 1. Verification and registrar choice After we receive the payment and verify it, we will reach out via email to confirm which registrar you want the domain transferred to. We also provide a link to our tracking system, where you can communicate with us, check on the status of your transfer, view your invoice, and download your logo files. In most cases, if a domain is moved between accounts at a single registrar, the transfer is quick and usually completes within 48 hours. If a domain changes registrars (in other words, you would like to move it away from where it is currently registered), the transfer is slower. The total transfer time can then be anywhere from 48 hours to 7 days. BrandBucket has vetted and supports the following registrars: GoDaddy Namesilo Uniregistry NameCheap Google Domains Network Solutions Name.com Dynadot Amazon Route 53 123 Reg Gandi 2. We request the name from the seller. Once we know where you would like the domain transferred, BrandBucket will request the domain from the seller. All of our sellers are very responsive, making for a quick process. 3. Transfer the name into your account As soon as we receive the name from the seller, we start the transfer into your account and guide you through the whole process. 4. Verify with the buyer that the transfer is complete Once we confirm that you have received the name, we consider the escrow process to be complete. Only then do we release payment to the domain seller. The question is, when the health crisis recedes, be that six months, one year, or two years from now, are we going to see the protectionist measures related to the health crisis recede too? said Stephanie Segal, a former senior economist at the International Monetary Fund and a senior fellow at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. Certainly they will, but will they ever go back to precrisis levels? Woman killed by car in chaotic dispute was grieving babys death; childs dad charged Two months before Tierra Eddy was killed in an alleged vehicular assault following a chaotic dispute with her boyfriend in West Brighton, the couple held a funeral service for their baby girl, who died in the womb. She hadnt even gotten over the death of her baby, said Eddys mother, Leslie Connor, who spoke recently with the Advance/SILive.com. We were working through that. Click here for the full story. Don't Edit Man accused of stealing $9K in watches from Macys A 54-year-old man from the Bronx stole about $9,000 in watches from Macys in New Springville, authorities allege. But his lawyer says that its a case of mistaken identity. Glenn Campbell, of the 2600 block of 3rd Avenue in the Bronx, was arrested on March 10 inside the 121st Precinct stationhouse in Graniteville, police said. Click here for more details. Don't Edit Tires stolen from retired NYPD chiefs SUV in Great Kills A retired NYPD assistant chief woke up Wednesday morning to find the tires and rims had been stolen from his SUV. On Thursday, the NYPD issued an alert to all South Shore residents. Rims and tires are being targeted for theft. Honda cars specifically! read a tweet posted Thursday by the 123rd Precinct. Click here for the full story. Don't Edit Cell-phone theft dials up criminal conviction A Clifton man will ring up some jail time with a cell-phone snatch. Clifton resident Joshua Smith faces at least nine months behind bars after pleading guilty to attempted robbery for trying to swindle the seller in a cell-phone purchase last fall. Click here for more details. Don't Edit Its clear you are a lackey: Judge blasts conspirator in Miss Franny slay at sentencing A justice didn't mince words Tuesday, dressing down one of the defendants convicted of planning and later trying to cover up a gang shooting that claimed an innocent bystander's life two years ago in New Brighton. Its clear to me that Mr. Tart is a lackey of Mr. [Isaiah] Kelson, Justice William E. Garnett said at Marquise Tarts sentencing in state Supreme Court, St. George. ... An innocent bystanders, Miss Frannys, life was snuffed out as the result of an act of hatred and violence. Click here for the story. Don't Edit Don't Edit Man sought for questioning in connection with bail scam of 93-year-old grandpa Police are asking the publics help in identifying a man sought for questioning in connection with a bail scam that targeted a 93-year-old grandpa in New Dorp, according to the NYPD. On March 4, a man called the victim at his residence in the vicinity of Prescott Avenue and Kruser Street posing as his grandson and telling him he was incarcerated in another state and needed money for his bail, according to a police statement. Click here for more details. Don't Edit Criminal charges dropped against woman; brother to be sentenced for drugs, gun Criminal charges were dropped Monday against a Graniteville woman, who, along with her brother, was busted on drug and gun counts during a raid of their home 17 months ago. Monet Robinson's case was dismissed, because her sibling, William Fonseca, previously admitted to the crimes. Fonseca, 29, and Robinson, 21, were arrested in their Ada Drive residence on Oct. 24, 2018, in a Narcotics Borough Staten Island investigation, according to a criminal complaint and police. Click here for the story. Don't Edit Cashed out? Worker accused of illegally wiring $11K from money-transfer company This was one get-rich-quick scheme that went south fast, prosecutors allege. Deysi Iturbide, 25, who works at a Stapleton money-transfer service, illegally wired about $11,000 into several bank accounts, prosecutors allege. Iturbide, of the 1000 block of Castleton Avenue, was busted last week in connection with the alleged Feb. 7 incident, said police. Click here for more details. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) announced Thursday that twenty-three New York City transit workers have tested positive for COVID-19. The announcement came a day after a New York City bus driver who subsequently tested positive fainted at a Brooklyn bus depot. The MTAs callous responsetelling workers present, even those who had recently interacted with the infected driver, to continue with their planned schedulesparked immense anger. Frankie, an MTA bus driver present at the incident Wednesday, described the scene to the World Socialist Web Site, A female worker fainted in the depot room, then they sent us to work. Its where we report to work at Jackie Gleason depot. They only closed the room and then sent us elsewhere. Workers that interacted with her are still working. We are all wondering what is going on. The rapid spread of the coronavirus among transit workers is the direct result of the criminal indifference and malign neglect of the government, the MTA and Transport Workers Union (TWU) bureaucrats who supposedly represent the workers. In New York City, as elsewhere around the United States, access to coronavirus tests is being rationed, facilitating an explosion of cases. Transit workers have no access to personal protective equipment unless they procure it themselves and they have received no systematic training on how to protect themselves. The MTA refuses to enact meaningful operational safeguards to limit the transmission of the virus. The minimal efforts that have been announced, such as the sanitizing of stations and equipment, are seen by workers as nothing more than public relations campaigns. The experience of transit workers in New York is being replicated all around the world with governments focused on limiting the impact of the crisis on corporate profits, even if that means immediate danger for workers. This week, autoworkers throughout North America took matters into their own hands, launching a wave of wildcat actions to force the shutdown of their factories over coronavirus concerns. Despite New York Citys rapidly expanding outbreaknow the nations largestthe subway and bus networks remain fully operational. While ridership has plummeted since the outbreak began, the system, which under normal circumstances provides daily transportation to eight million passengers, remains the only feasible way for workers in health care and other critical industries to get to work, and the only way for broad sections of the public to access food, medical care and other vital services. Transit workers are providing essential services, yet their health and ability to continue to give this service are being put at huge risk. Concerns and confusion are soaring as an increasing number of MTA employees test positive for the virus. I dont feel safe at all because of what is going on. There is no information. I am in panic mode, Frankie said. I have a wife and four kids. I dont know what would happen if I got the virus. Paid sick leave is only being given to those who have tested positive or who are able to convince the MTAs notoriously unsympathetic sick desk they have been exposed to someone who has tested positive. A reporting system designed to restrict testing requires workers to spell out the exact nature of the exposure. Workers for instance must detail whether the positive individual touched them or coughed on them directly. Those who do feel ill and do not want to risk exposing co-workers and riders to the virus are forced to use their accrued sick days. Many workers have already exceeded the 12-days of paid-sick leave allowed annually. They are under pressure from both the MTA and the TWU, which under the terms of the new contract has a financial incentive to increase employee availability by reducing workers time off. In practice, this means many workers who are potentially carrying the virus are forced to remain on the job. On March 17, a worker who believed he had been exposed to someone who tested positive was interviewed on Progressive Action TV, an online show run by an opposition faction of the TWU. The worker stated, They dont have me self-quarantining. I am not on official administrative leave. I and my co-workers are obligated to work. The policy of work first, test later continues to threaten the lives of workers, their families, and the riding public. This policy will only lead to the infection and death of more workers and riders in the long run. Another major concern is the lack of safety equipment, including masks and gloves. At the onset of the outbreak in New York the MTA actively prevented workers from wearing their own masks. Jey, a subway station agent, told the WSWS, They were pulling employees out of service at first for wearing mask. They said we can wear them now but theyre not providing masks. The supplies are very limited. This rule was only changed on March 9 when there were already 142 confirmed cases in New York State, and likely thousands of unconfirmed cases, in response to an uproar by transit workers trying to protect themselves. Transit workers have received no training on how to deal with sick passengers and arent provided with adequate cleaning supplies to sanitize frequently touched work surfaces. Wider social conditions in New York City are also being compounded by the current crisis. The MTA often acts as a safe haven for the over 70,000 homeless individuals in the city. With no option many are forced to turn to the subway system for shelter. The homeless population is extremely vulnerable due to the poor sanitary conditions of their existence and the prevalence of pre-existing illnesses. This then poses a greater risk of contagion for subway workers and riders. Josephine, a train conductor, commented on this issue. We work around homeless people that have no way of cleaning themselves or their hands at all. So how are we being protected? Nothing has been done for us, she said. We are all worried, hoping we will make it another day. With the crisis intensifying each day, there is mounting anger among workers at officials reckless response to the pandemic. Jey described the precariousness of her own situation. Im a single parent with a child who has asthma, she said. Im really scared to go home every night in case I give him the virus from work. Another MTA worker, Raya, commented on Twitter, Wondering when the health and safety of me and my fellow MTA coworkers are going to be taken into consideration... I most certainly dont feel safe at all and Im sure plenty others feel the same. The TWU is not an ally but an obstacle to workers fight to protect their health. The union has functioned to provide cover for the criminal response of the MTA and the government, refusing to take any action beyond placing the most minimal demands on the transit agency: Tests for those who are presumptively positive, establishing a toll-free number for transit workers to call with health issues, and suggestions for distancing bus operators from passengers. These demands do not even begin to address the threats to workers lives. All transit workers must have access to testing immediately as part of a nation-wide ramp up of testing capacity in order to stop the spread of the disease. Those who are ill or at high risk must be granted unlimited leave until they are recovered, receiving full pay and free treatment. Decisions about health precautions and operational safeguards must be based above all on public and worker health, determined by workers in collaboration with health experts. Adequate protective supplies must be procured through emergency production. Emergency housing must be provided for the homeless, so they are not forced to take shelter in subways and stations, spreading the virus further. To carry forward the struggle for such demands, new rank-and-file organizations are urgently needed. The health and safety of the working class must come first. Decisions about operations and protective measures must be taken out of the hands of the Wall Street functionaries who direct the MTA and placed in the hands of the working class. [March 20, 2020] Greater Houston Orthodontics Introduces Virtual Appointments HOUSTON, March 20, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Greater Houston Orthodontics announces the addition of remote patient treatment monitoring in its two Houston-area practice locations: Memorial and West University. The goal of this service is to reduce the frequency of office visits, give doctors even more data regarding treatment progress, and reduce total treatment time. Powered by Dental MonitoringTM, this innovative treatment option allows patients to take weekly photos of their smile via an app on their smartphone. The orthodontic specialists at Greater Houston Orthodontics review the detailed images to track the progress of treatment in real time. Patients receive the same level of care from the doctors and team, with fewer in-person checkups. "With COVID-19 circulating in the Houston area, virtual appointments allow our patients to abide by guidelines for self-quarantine and social distancing, which are important tools as we manage disease transmission," says Dr. Amir Davoody. "This is a strong example of how we continually refine orthodontics to ensure our patients achieve the best possible results, in a way that best fits their lives," concludes Dr. Davoody. About Greater Houston Orthodontics Dr. Amir Davoody, Dr. Rana Mehr, Dr. Niloufar Azami and Dr. Adam Skrypczak lead a friendly, dedicated team that works together to create a positive experience for patients and their families that's fun, light hearted, informative and inviting. The doctors and team use the most advanced treatments available today, including Dental Monitoring, Invisalign, Invisalign Teen and Incognito Hidden Braces. Click here to schedule a Virtual Consultation at greaterhoustonorthodontics.com. Contact: Debra Holtham Greater Houston Orthodontics (713) 464-7777 [email protected] View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/greater-houston-orthodontics-introduces-virtual-appointments-301027768.html SOURCE Greater Houston Orthodontics [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] A table games dealer at The Borgata Hotel and Casino was infected with the coronavirus, the casinos president said in a memo to employees. The Atlantic County Division of Health notified the casino Friday that an employee had tested positive for the coronavirus, according to a memo sent to employees and forwarded to NJ Advance Media by a casino spokeswoman. The employees name was not released. On Sunday, the day before casinos across the state were shut down by Governor Phil Murphy, the casino sent out a memo to employees notifying them that a table games dealer had complained of symptoms of the coronavirus, a casino employee said. The dealer is the same person who ultimately tested positive, the employee said. Casino spokeswoman Liza Costandino declined to comment on if the dealer was working at the casino while experiencing symptoms. The casino is in the process of notifying people that may have been in close contact with the dealer and has already cleaned and disinfected the dealers work area, according to the memo. While we do not believe there is a significant risk of transmission for individuals who were not in close contact with this person, if you are experiencing symptoms of fever, cough or shortness of breath, please stay home and seek medical attention or Telemedicine services, Marcus Glover, the casinos president COO, said in the memo. If you would like updates on New Jersey-specific coronavirus news, subscribe to our Coronavirus in N.J. newsletter. Tell us your coronavirus stories, whether its a news tip, a topic you want us to cover, or a personal story you want to share. Sign up for text message alerts from NJ.com on coronavirus in New Jersey: Rodrigo Torrejon may be reached at rtorrejon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @rodrigotorrejon. Our friend Brian Sullivan has updated the international mortality table that I posted a few days ago, through yesterday. It shows deaths per million of population in 12 Western European countries, South Korea and the U.S. The blue bar shows the per capita death rate (per million) as of March 16, the orange bar as of March 20. Click to enlarge (slightly): The U.S. has the lowest per capita death rate of this group, tied with Austria, at 0.7 per million, up from 0.3 four days earlier. Italy has the highest mortality rate by far, at 67 per million. It is too early to gauge the ultimate course of the epidemic, but in crude terms it looks as though Italy is heading for a death rate of something like 100 per million. It could easily go higher than that. I dont think the U.S. will experience a mortality rate anywhere near as high as Italys, for a number of reasons including our younger population, far fewer smokers, lower population density, a better health care system and early deployment of anti-viral drugs, some of which are likely to prove helpful. But lets assume the U.S. ultimately sees a mortality rate of 100 per million. That would be 143 times the current U.S. rate, not outside the realm of possibility. Do the math: if we have around 330 million people, and 100 die per million, that equals 33,000, which would be equivalent to the deaths from an average seasonal flu season. Maybe its worse than that; maybe by the time it runs its course, the death toll from COVID-19 rises to 200 per million, 286 times the current rate. That would still be less than the death toll from flu in the U.S. just two years ago. Maybe the Wuhan virus will prove much worse than any of those crude assumptions suggest. It is too early to rule out that possibility. But policymakers need to consider the possibility that the damage done by the extreme measures being taken to slow the spread of the virus will ultimately prove to be greater than the harm done by the virus itself. Why do you keep calling this the Chinese virus? visibly angry ABC News White House correspondent Cecilia Vega demanded of President Donald J. Trump during Wednesdays press conference with his COVID-19 task force. There are reports of dozens of incidents of bias against Chinese Americans in this country, she seethed. People say its racist. Its not racist at all, President Trump replied. No. Not at all. It comes from China. Thats why. It comes from China. He added: China tried to say at one point maybe they stopped now that it was caused by American soldiers. That cant happen. Its not going to happen not as long as Im president. Moments later, PBSs Yamiche Alcindor asked Trump: Do you think using the term Chinese virus that puts Asian Americans at risk, that people might target them? No, not at all, President Trump responded. No, not at all. I think they probably would agree with it 100 percent. It comes from China. Theres nothing not to agree on. Before Vega, Alcindor, and their brethren in the media again accuse President Trump of COVID-19-related racism, they should focus on the racism associated with so many other diseases. Clearly, the term German measles is racist. So are Spanish flu, Japanese encephalitis, Ebola (named after the Ebola River, a tributary of Africas Congo River), West Nile virus (reflecting an even mightier African river), and MERS (the Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome arose from the sands of Saudi Arabia in 2012). Tick-borne Lyme disease was christened after a deer-clogged town in Connecticut that mirrors talcum powder, given its 96.5 percent white population. Also, CNNs rebarbative Jim Acosta has referred to the Wuhan Coronavirus. And he is not alone! In his compendium of the dinosaur medias innumerable COVID-19-related lies, Breitbarts John Nolte on Tuesday carefully documented 23 instances in which major news outlets have used the same supposedly racist language that President Trump employed, or words that were nearly as prejudiced. Reuters and National Geographic both used President Trumps exact phrase: Chinese virus. Story continues Others were a bit more sophisticated and called this disease Chinese Coronavirus. These include: Americas so-called Paper of Record BBC Buzzfeed CNBC CNN Los Angeles Times NBCs Today Show| Washington Post Other news organizations wielded a less broad calligraphic brush to paint a racist portrait of COVID-19 as a pathogen from Wuhan, the capital of Chinas Hubei province. These journalists attacked Wuhanites but left untouched those from elsewhere in the Middle Kingdom. One must respect the narrowly tailored racism of these media establishments for referring to Wuhan virus and Wuhan Coronavirus. Al Jazeera Bloomberg Business Insider CNN The Economist Foreign Policy Kaiser Health News National Public Radio Nature USA Today Wall Street Journal And The Economist deserves special mention for a striking cover illustration, which combines Sinophobia and some truly beautiful graphic artistry, which makes it particularly dangerous. One wonders how many Americans of Chinese background were beaten to a pulp after this issue hit newsstands on February 1. If White House correspondents excoriate President Trump for alleged anti-Chinese racism, then they also should denounce the Sinophobic bigotry of their reputedly enlightened colleagues in the press corps. (They also might arrange a little Chinese water torture for uber-woke Late Show host Stephen Colbert, who called Chinese virus a very racist term, and a dog whistle. But, as The Federalists Emily Jashinsky documented, he has deployed Chinese stereotypes for years. These include a character he played on The Colbert Report named Ching-Chong Ding-Dong who said such things as: Come on my rickshaw, I give you ride to Bangkok! Colbert also once claimed that Asians are just Kung Fu Mexicans.) Conversely, these top news people could recognize this truth: There is nothing remotely racist about calling a pathogen Chinese when it comes from China. As no less than the World Health Organization states on its website: COVID-19 is the infectious disease caused by the most recently discovered coronavirus. This new virus and disease were unknown before the outbreak began in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The relentlessly reckless and destructive Trump-loathing media must stop playing absurd, puerile games in the middle of a literal national emergency. Perhaps they could use their megaphones to popularize the Coronavirus.gov website, educate Americans on President Trumps 15 Days to Slow the Spread anti-COVID-19 guidelines, encourage people to wash their hands and use sanitizer gel, and steer boneheaded Millennials off of spring breaks beaches and into gatherings of 10 or fewer or, even better, self-quarantine. These irresponsible journalists should try such worthwhile exercises rather than squander their talents on Trump hatred and national division. More from National Review A sparse number of shoppers in New Street in Birmingham (Picture: Getty) A coronavirus outbreak in the West Midlands that has killed several people has been linked to a worshipper who attended a church without knowing they were infected, a new report claims. The person is said to have passed COVID-19 to two other members of the congregation after they attended a service, according to a source who talked to The Times. The origin of the outbreak was traced back to the worshipper after a patient was tested for the infection when they died, the newspaper added. At least 21 people have died from coronavirus in the West Midlands, which is only second to London for the number of fatalities. The Bull Ring in Birmingham (Picture: Getty) Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Friday the Government was looking very, very closely at why there was a coronavirus hotspot in the West Midlands. The number of people across the country who have died after testing positive for COVID-19 reached 233 on Saturday, with a 41-year-old patient thought to be the youngest victim in the UK since the outbreak began. Latest coronavirus news, updates and advice Live: Follow all the latest updates from the UK and around the world Fact-checker: The number of COVID-19 cases in your local area Explained: Symptoms, latest advice and how it compares to the flu All 53 whose deaths were announced in England had underlying health conditions and the eldest was 94, NHS England said. Waless death toll has risen to five, Scotlands now stands at seven and Northern Irelands remains at one. NHS England announced on Saturday it had struck a deal with the countrys independent hospitals to provide thousands more staff and nurses to the public healthcare system. Under the agreement, the independent sector will reallocate practically its entire national hospital capacity en bloc to the NHS. It will be reimbursed at cost meaning that it will not make any profit for doing so. NHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens said they were taking immediate and exceptional action to gear up to deal with an unprecedented global health threat. The NHS is doing everything in its power to expand treatment capacity, and is working with partners right across the country to do so, he said. Iran has agreed to release French researcher Roland Marchal, held since June 2019, in a prisoner swap for an Iranian engineer wanted by the US over sanctions charges. Marchal's colleague, French-Iranian Fariba Adelkhah, remains in prison in Tehran. Marchal is due to arrive in France around midday on Saturday, a French presidency official said. French President Emmanuel Macron urged Iran to also release French citizen Fariba Adelkhah, who is still imprisoned, the official added. Adelkhah also holds an Iranian passport. Iran and France have agreed to swap Marchal, held on security charges, and an Iranian detained by Paris over alleged violations of U.S. sanctions against Tehran, Iranian state media reported on Friday. France has released Jalal Ruhollahnejad, an Iranian engineer wanted by U.S. authorities over sanctions charges, state broadcaster IRIB has reported. France had demanded that Iran release Marchal, a senior researcher at Sciences Po university whose arrest was reported by Paris in mid-October. In May, a French court approved the extradition of Rouhollahnejad to the United States to face charges of attempting to illegally import U.S. technology for military purposes on behalf of an Iranian company which U.S. officials said was linked to the elite Revolutionary Guards. The detentions have complicated ties between the two countries during a period when Macron was seeking to defuse tensions between Washington and Tehran. Iran Revolutionary Guards have arrested dozens of dual nationals in recent years, mostly on espionage charges. The detentions have coincided with a protracted standoff with Western powers prompted by a U.S. decision to withdraw from an international agreement to curb Iranian nuclear activities. An Oxford society which caused uproar after it cancelled a speech by former Home Secretary Amber Rudd has been barred by university authorities for breaching free speech guidelines. The UN Women Oxford UK society sparked fury after its committee axed Ms Rudd's talk with just 30 minutes' notice last month following outcry from students about the ex-Minister's role in the Windrush scandal. Following a storm of protest Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg dubbed his alma mater 'snowflake central' Oxford University's governing proctors have ordered the feminist group to be de-registered from its affiliated societies and to apologise to Ms Rudd. Amber Rudd is pictured above with student Felicity Graham. The UNWomen Oxford UK society sparked fury after its committee axed Ms Rudd's talk with just 30 minutes' notice last month The move follows an official complaint by the newly established Free Speech Union led by journalist Toby Young. Proctors Martin Maiden and Sophie Marnette ruled: 'We have determined that the cancellation of this event was not carried out in accordance with university procedures, codes of practice and policies, in particular that of the freedom of speech. 'Therefore the society will be de-registered with the proctors. In addition, the proctors have directed the society to issue an apology to Amber Rudd.' The move follows an official complaint by the newly established Free Speech Union led by journalist Toby Young, who is pictured above Mr Young, who launched the Free Speech Union in an article for The Mail on Sunday last month, said: 'Let's hope this sends a clear message to other Oxford students thinking of no-platforming people. The way to win an argument with someone you disagree with is to engage them in open debate, not ban them from speaking. Free speech is for everyone, not just those who agree with you.' The snub to Ms Rudd outraged supporters of free speech. National charity UN Women UK said it would no longer be associated with the student society, which has since changed its name to the United Women Oxford Student Society. Ms Rudd, 56, who was due to deliver a speech encouraging more women to get involved in politics, criticised the society's decision to no-platform her as 'outrageous and disappointing'. She said: 'Oxford should be a place where they explore ideas and have the highest standards. They are just damaging their own reputation and it's disgusting that they're behaving in this way.' Responding to the proctors' decision, an Oxford University spokesman said: 'The university is strongly committed to freedom of speech and opposes no-platforming. 'The university strongly disapproved of the decision to disinvite Amber Rudd and the proctors have taken just and proportionate action according to the policies which underpin the university's stance on freedom of speech.' SINGAPORE (EDGEPROP) - While the Covid-19 situation has been playing havoc with businesses everywhere, co-living operators remain cautiously optimistic. When contacted, many said they have stepped up precautionary measures by requesting declaration of travel plans for residents and visitors, communicating Ministry of Health (MOH) guidelines and increasing the frequency of cleaning and sanitisation. Some also provide their tenants with masks and hand sanitisers. Operators admit that a long-drawn outbreak could keep away its expatriate clientele and impact business. However, some feel that the flexibility of co-living plays to their advantage during this challenging time. As YOLOLive chief executive Loo Kian Wai explains: YOLOLive is still garnering interest from expats who are already here in Singapore and previously leased from the traditional rental market. Our lease flexibility allows them to make plans for possible relocations. So, they opt for co-living as they still want to stay in a decent location but need to tighten their belts in lieu of the economic situation." He adds: On a month to month comparison, we do see that the market is slower, but we have good demand for our new location and will be expecting a 100% occupancy quite soon. YOLOLive, a newcomer to the local market, currently runs two co-living spaces at Jalan Besar and Clarke Quay. They will be launching their third space in Novena later this year. The communal living room at YOLOLives Clarke Quay property (Photo: YOLOLive) Targeted at millennials, co-living typically entails living in well-furnished rooms, usually in a prime location. They offer communal facilities and community events. People who choose to co-live instead of renting the traditional way like its convenience as they get to bypass property agents and landlords. For the price, they also get access to a fully furnished apartment and weekly housekeeping services. Indeed, for certain locations such as the CBD, co-living rent prices could be cheaper if the tenant can compromise on size. Story continues For instance, rent for a common room at One Shenton starts from $1,800 per month. The rental price of an equivalent room size costs $2,155 per month under co-living operator Hmlet. However, the operator also offers a smaller room size (Pocket Room) costing $1,260 per month, inclusive of utilities and housekeeping. The tenant still enjoys flexible leases, stylish furnishing, a central location and upscale albeit shared amenities. Giselle Makarachvili, Hmlets director of operations says: "We are seeing that longer term stays in our co-living properties are less impacted than hotels, serviced apartments and other short-term rentals. So far, none of our members have left because of the coronavirus outbreak." Hmlets goal of reaching 5,000 rooms across Asia-Pacific by the end of 2020 has not changed (Photo: Hmlet) Hmlets goal is to provide 5,000 rooms across Asia-Pacific by the end of 2020 and that hasnt changed, she adds. Ian Lau, co-CEO for co-living space operator Commontown, says: Co-living operators whose main source of leads are from the affected regions may see more immediate impact. If the situation worsens globally, co-living operators may see fewer take-up if companies or people pause overseas job posting plans. Despite this, he says that the take-up rate for rooms across its 17 properties has been consistent. Currently, Commontowns occupancy rate stands at 95%, up from 90% six months ago. He remains cautiously positive and says that Commontown will take a conservative approach on its expansion plans. Lau adds: At the moment, the Singapore government has been managing the crisis well. We have not had any cancellations due to the concern about the outbreak. The immediate impact for us is adjusting operations to heighten safety and hygiene measures. Commontown Adria, one of the company's 17 co-living spaces. (Photo: Commontown) Calvin Cai, country head of Login Apartment, shares that their occupancy has maintained at around 95%. He says: The impact on co-living spaces or industries at large will be inevitable in this global pandemic. We do have incoming tenants that may have postponed their relocation plans and we accommodate their request." Sector growth depends on long term impact Hotels in Singapore saw occupancy rates dip below 50% last month, from nearly 100% just before Chinese New Year (Jan 25). Compared to hotels, co-living operators seem to be cushioned from the immediate impact due to relatively longer leases. The occupancy rate is also tied closely to expatriate job demand rather than tourist arrivals. Co-living sees demand mainly coming from young expatriates here because it is not as popular among locals. This is unlike cities where home ownership is expensive and average rents have risen above average incomes, as Singaporeans have access to affordable public housing. Ong Teck Hui, senior director of research & consultancy at JLL Singapore, says: The co-living sector has been on the growth path over the last three to four years, finding increasing acceptance by mainly younger expatriate tenants who were attracted to community living. It was also aided by the governments move to lower the minimum rental period for private homes from six to three months in June 2017, which provided more flexibility for co-living operators in catering to the needs of tenants. Co-living spaces here have to comply with URA regulations for short-term rentals and offer leases of at least three consecutive months. However, certain spaces can offer single-night or week-long stays due to the nature of building use. The common area at Hmlet Cantonment, where the minimum stay starts from six nights as the property is classified as a serviced apartment. (Photo: Albert Chua/EdgeProp Singapore) Such spaces thus present a viable alternative real estate asset. It leverages economies of scale by offering smaller rooms but more shared facilities, which means that more people per square footage use and pay for the space. JLL says global funding in the co-living space has increased by more than 210% annually from 2015 to 2019. Last year, there were two high-profile funding ventures in the co-living space. Hmlet the largest co-living outfit here raised US$40 million in a Series B round, allowing it to expand in Melbourne, Brisbane and Tokyo. Meanwhile, Singapore based start-up COVE also secured more than US$2 million in seed funding in September 2019. The company will use the funds to expand its presence in Southeast Asia. Dash Living, a Hong Kong-based property tech startup, also recently announced that it has expanded its presence to Asia Pacific by acquiring Singapores co-living company EasyCity, says JLLs Ong. In the near future, the growth of the co-living sector will depend on how long the virus outbreak persists, the extent of global economic slowdown and subsequent headcount adjustments. There may also be a potential for the government to work with co-living operators. MOM has announced that the government will provide financial support and work with hotels and dormitories to help house workers who commute across the Singapore-Malaysia border frequently, amidst a recently-announced nationwide lockdown in Malaysia that will last for two weeks. Co-living operators who can offer week-long or single-night stays could benefit from this. Read also: See Also: PennLive asked its readers what questions they had about the novel coronavirus along with a promise that we would try to find answers. A number of state government workers and others responded to this request, asking questions about the safety of their state office, how long non-essential employees will be paid, and whether furloughs are in the offing, among others. Here are the answers we received to some of those questions. Well work to bring you more answers in the days ahead: What safeguards are provided to essential employees who are required to report to work at a time when the governor and health secretary are telling people to stay home? In cases where employees must report to work to perform essential functions, they are being directed to follow guidance from the (Centers for Disease Control) and (Department of Health) on appropriate measures to protect themselves and others, including washing hands with soap and water for 20 seconds, using alcohol-based hand sanitizer, covering coughs and sneezes with their elbows, and social distancing while at work, said Dan Egan, a spokesman for the governors Office of Administration. In addition, the Department of General Services is following CDC recommendations for environmental cleaning, including increased cleaning of high-touch surfaces and high-traffic workspaces and directing owners of leased buildings with commonwealth offices to do the same. Has anyone filed a grievance over that issue or issues related to their safety in their work environment during the coronavirus outbreak? Yes, we are aware that grievances have been filed, Egan said. We are also anecdotally aware of some filed at the work site or agency level which have not yet reached the governors Office of Administration. Are non-essential employees who are not reporting to work and getting paid doing any work for the commonwealth at this time? Non-essential employees are also being required to telework, if possible, Egan said. Is the governors office preparing a plan, in the event this pandemic lasts several more weeks, to furlough employees? If so, when is the earliest that would happen? There are no plans at this time to furlough employees, Egan said. The Department of Human Services employees who work in county assistance offices are deemed to be essential personnel and must report to work. Why is that necessary and what precautions are taken for them so they dont contract the virus in their office settings? This uncertain time is undoubtedly going to create difficult situations for people around Pennsylvania, and we need to continue to administer these vital programs for those who need it most, said Human Services spokeswoman Erin James. We have seen a 23% increase in COMPASS online applications [for benefits] this week compared to the previous six weeks. While we are simultaneously seeing a decrease in paper applications, we anticipate a sustained overall increase in applications due to the widespread closing of businesses. The department encourages Pennsylvanians to apply for benefits and complete renewals at the online COMPASS website. James went on to say that these job functions are essential and cant currently be performed off-site, so workers must report to offices. We cannot abandon the people who need or may need these programs when they are needed most, she said. Further, James said, To protect all essential employees who are reporting to their job site, the department is following the guidance of public-health professionals, such as recommendations for environmental cleaning, to protect these workers and mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and is directing landlords overseeing leased office spaces to do so as well. The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency has called some of its employees to report to the office. What safety precautions will be taken for them to prevent them from getting the coronavirus? PHEAA had nearly a quarter of its 2,600 employees, most of whom work in the Harrisburg headquarters, report to work on Friday, said agency spokesman Keith New. None were ordered back; its voluntary, he said. The agency services student loans for the federal government and administers other financial aid programs. Some of those employees will be working remotely soon, New said. The agency is working to obtain additional laptops soon so they can to continue to perform their work at home, New said. Social distancing protocols as recommended by the CDC and the World Health Organization are being implemented in the Harrisburg headquarters. All employees will be separated and spread throughout several floors. Its important to note that our Clean Team has deployed additional staff to conduct a thorough and continual sanitization cleaning of our headquarters, including all workstations, conference rooms, and entry/exit spaces, he said. Be assured that everyones safety continues to be our priority. Jan Murphy may be reached at jmurphy@pennlive.com. Follow her on Twitter at @JanMurphy. Thanks for visiting PennLive. Quality local journalism has never been more important. We need your support. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work. More from PennLive Who is Rachel Levine? Pa. health secretary offers calm, reassurance amid pandemic Coronavirus and elections: Pa. county officials fear they cant pull off April 28 primary without changes Gov. Wolf defends aggressive coronavirus response: Were in an unprecedented crisis New Delhi, March 22 : Appealing people to make 'janta curfew' a huge success by staying at home on Sunday, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has said that armed forces are fully mobilised to assist the civilian authorities to tide over the crisis. He said collective action is the need of the hour to arrest the spread of COVID-19 and everyone has a role to play. Singh said by staying at home and following the prescribed precautions, we can interrupt the spread of the infectious virus. He said there was no need to panic and the government was taking all necessary measures in a calibrated manner to fight the pandemic. The Defence Minister also appreciated the efforts of the various arms and Services of the Armed Forces which have been proactive in evacuating people from COVID-19 affected countries such as China, Iran, Italy and Japan and sheltering them at various quarantine facilities. From February 1, 2020 till date, the Indian Air Force has evacuated 1,059 people including five foreigners and quarantined them at the facilities in Manesar (Haryana), Hindan (Uttar Pradesh), Ghatkopar (Maharashtra) and Jaisalmer (Rajasthan). These are working in total synergy with the civilian authorities to ensure proper care to all evacuated citizens. The Indian Navy has set up quarantine camp at INS Vishwakarma at Vishakhapatnam which is fully equipped to accommodate nearly 200 personnel. Navy has also set up isolation facilities at its premier hospital INHS Asvini at Mumbai. The Naval base, Kochi under Southern Naval Command (SNC), is gearing up to provide quarantine facilities for Indian nationals.A The SNC is also actively coordinating with the Kerala state health officials and Ernakulam district administration to explore the feasibility of provisioning civil hotels/resorts for quarantining. Besides, all Army hospitals have been kept on alert to meet any eventuality. In addition to the operational quarantine centres, more facilities have been readied and may be made operational within 48-72 hours, if needed. These facilities are at Jodhpur, Kolkata, Chennai, Visakhapatnam, Kochi, Dundigal near Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kanpur, Jaisalmer, Jorhat and Gorakhpur. UPDATE: Barbershops and beauty salons, and retail establishments, have been ordered closed under an expanded order from the Jefferson County health officer released on Sunday night, March 22, 2020. MORE HERE Our earlier story continues below: In an effort to help residents understand which businesses qualify as nonessential, the Jefferson County Health Department Friday decided to spell it out in pictures. Thursday, Jefferson County Health officer Dr. Mark Wilson issued an order to close all nonessential businesses in the county in its ongoing attempts to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by novel coronavirus. The order went into effect Friday, March 20 at 5:00 p.m. However, many people still had questions about which businesses would be allowed to remain open. Friday, the health department added two infographics to its website, differentiating between essential and non essential businesses. Concert venues, and gyms are on list of businesses that must close their doors. Personal grooming services, including nail salons and threading services are on the list of non essentials. As of right now, barbershops and hair salons are not on that list. However, that mandate could change at any time says Chris Osborne, public relations manager for the Jefferson County Department of Public Health. Osborne explained that explained that owners and patrons of those establishments must make the most responsible decisions for everyones safety based on social distancing. We cannot address every individual scenario, so we are relying on the Jefferson County community to use good judgment to help stop the spread of COVID-19, Osborne said in an email to AL.com on Saturday. The department currently defines the countys essential businesses as ones that residents need every day, including grocery stores and restaurants says department public relations coordinator Wanda Heard. We need gas to put in our cars. Hospitals are not closing. So, things that we would need to live and function in a basic manner," Heard explained to AL.com Friday morning. "Those are the things that are essential. Heard says the department noted the confusion after the Thursday announcement, so it decided to create a more comprehensive and specific list. However, she noted that the list is subject to change since prevention efforts are still fluid. Its something new and everybody needs to get an understanding, so thats our goal. To get everybody on the same page," said Heard. Thursdays order was an amended version of one issued by the county health department earlier in the week, prohibiting dining on premises at restaurants and bars, visitors in hospitals and nursing homes. The order also prohibited gatherings of 25 or more, and those where people cannot keep a six-foot distance between attendees will also be banned. Alabamas state health officer Dr. Scott Harris later issued a similar order, also implementing a statewide ban on dining on premises and limiting the number of people at public gatherings. Friday, Harris updated the statewide emergency public health order to say the prohibition on gatherings of 25 or more people does not apply to workplaces. This is the artwork updated on March 22, 2020 at 8:30 p.m. NON ESSENTIAL JeffCo health card ESSENTIAL Henderson County reports first coronavirus case The Henderson County Health Department was notified at 8:58 a.m. Saturday by Mission Hospital that a Henderson County resident has tested positive for novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). The individual is in isolation. Henderson County has been preparing for this reality and anticipated that our community would likely be impacted at some point. Public health staff have already initiated an investigation and will be identifying close contacts to contain the spread of disease. To protect individual privacy, no further information about the case will be released. The Henderson County Health Department will keep the public informed by announcing any additional cases that may arise through our local media partners. It is important for the community to understand that the identification of a case does not change our local strategies for preventing and reducing the spread of disease. Above all else, please isolate yourself at home if you are sick. Coronavirus symptoms include fever, cough and shortness of breath. If you experience these symptoms, please call your healthcare provider and follow their advice. If you are having a medical emergency, call 9-1-1 and inform the dispatcher that you have symptoms of COVID-19. Remember that 80% of coronavirus cases generate only mild symptoms. At a time like this it is especially important to remember that we are all worried, added Steve Smith, Henderson County Health Director. People all around us are feeling the fatigue of concern and disruption in their lives. We are blessed in Henderson County to have a strong community. Your public officials and county leadership have been working tirelessly to prepare for the impact of this virus. Community members can do their part not only by following the guidelines, but by remembering that were all in this together, and to support one another. Because COVID-19 is most commonly spread through respiratory droplets, the Health Department urges everyone to take precautions to protect themselves from the spread of all respiratory illness, including flu and COVID-19: Stay home when sick Avoid contact with persons that you know are sick Cover your cough (cough into the crook of your elbow; or use a tissue and throw in trash) Practice good hand hygiene (wash hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom; before eating; and after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing) If you do not have access to soap and water use hand sanitizer that is at least 60% alcohol Routinely clean frequently touched surfaces with household cleaners Routine use of these measures by everyone will decrease the spread of viruses and respiratory diseases in our community. It is important to make sure the information you are getting about COVID-19 is coming directly from reliable sources like the CDC, NCDHHS and Henderson County Public Health. For more information, call the North Carolina Coronavirus Hotline at 1-866-462-3821 (staffed by nurses and pharmacists 24/7), or visit the Center for Disease Controls website for information and frequent updates at www.cdc.gov/coronavirus. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 09:22:17|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close WASHINGTON, March 20 (Xinhua) -- A staff member of U.S. Vice President Mike Pence's office has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, Pence's office announced Friday. It is the first known positive test to date for a White House staffer, according to local media reports. "This evening we were notified that a member of the Office of the Vice President tested positive for the coronavirus," Katie Miller, Pence's press secretary, said in a statement. "Neither President Trump nor Vice President Pence had close contact with the individual," said Miller. "Further contact tracing is being conducted in accordance with CDC (the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines." U.S. President Donald Trump tested negative for the novel coronavirus last week, according to the White House. Pence had not been tested for the coronavirus this week, citing guidance from the White House doctor, said a report by The Hill. Also on Friday, Pence said the country is making efforts to secure more masks for health care workers as well as more ventilators for sick Americans who may need treatment. "We continue at the President's direction to pursue every means to expand the supply of personal protective equipment," Pence told a White House daily press briefing. With coronavirus cases soaring, doctors, nurses and other front-line medical workers across the United States are facing a dire shortage of masks, surgical gowns and eye gear to protect them from the virus. The number of COVID-19 cases in the United States topped 18,563 as of 19:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (2300 GMT) Friday, with 227 deaths, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. Natalie Rodriguez managed the counter at Nuestra by herself Thursday afternoon. Normally, the co-owner of the Puerto Rican inspired restaurant would have help. Not this week. Not after Gov. Charlie Baker implemented restrictions last week that prohibited restaurants in the state from serving patrons in the dining area. Rodriguez, like many small businesses in Worcester, had to cut hours for the staff of her restaurant, which officially opened at the beginning of January. Its super scary as a new business owner just knowing that restaurants that have been open for years can fail because of this, Rodriguez said. Being the rookie in the field over here in Worcester, I feel like I have to give all my fight at this point to just survive. Every few minutes the phone rang at 153 Stafford St. Rodriguez dropped what she was doing, took the order, then continued as a one-person restaurant. Thursdays lunch might wind up being a good day compared to others this week. Although, good days now are graded on a curve. Were not seeing as many customers as we usually do. Its up and down, Rodriguez said. [Wednesday] we had a decent lunch. Dinner wasnt as good. Tuesday, nobody was out. Its definitely hitting us. Navigating the uncertainty is no easier for experienced restaurateurs with almost a dozen spots like Mike Covino of Niche Hospitality Group. Unlike Rodriguez, who cut hours for everyone on staff, Covino opted to lay people off to allow them to collect unemployment. Were not capitalized in a way where we could just afford to pay everyone through this period, Covino said. ... Were covering goods and labor. So, knowing there was going to be a long drag-out and knowing what its going to take financially to get things launched again, we made a decision that we had to lay everybody off. Both locations of The Fix Burger Bar, Worcesters Mezcal location, Rye & Thyme and Worcesters Bocado location remain open four hours a day for takeout and delivery. Mezcal in Leominster, Bocado in Wellesley, Steam Energy Cafe and Still & Stir are closed until April 6. However, with that many restaurants, Covino cant move as nimbly as a smaller business with one or two restaurants. Im concerned, with 10 stores, that well be able to get them all open, Covino said. Its going to be very difficult. Weve never opened 10 locations at one time. How do you do that? Were not going to turn around and open 10 stores on April 7, thats not going to happen. Covino said hed likely need to know on April 1 if Bakers restrictions would be lifted in order to open on April 7. Business owners, though, are living in a world where each new day usually brings more questions than answers. We dont know. We feel like at any moment well have to shut down, Rodriguez said. Its a possibility now. Were not exaggerating when we think that way. Every restaurant owner that spoke with MassLive said how long their business could waive the unsettled waters would depend on the length of the restrictions. If its weeks, there are sacrifices I can make personally. There are ways I can operate the business to make things a little more lean, said Alexis Kelleher, co-owner of Crust Bakeshop in Worcester. But months of operating like this probably isnt realistic for us. Its a hard pill to swallow. Its hard to even think about that. I have to think it will only last weeks. Kelleher said Crust Bakeshops retail sales have dipped, but not as bad as its wholesale orders. Many restaurants in the area order through Crust Bakeshop, but as demand slowed so too did those orders. Wholesale orders at Crust Bakeshop are down 30 percent, Kelleher said. The drop happened overnight after the new restrictions on restaurants. Its such a complicated time, Kelleher said. I cant even wrap my head around what Im feeling, let alone verbalize it. Like other business owners in the city, Kelleher has implemented to-go ordering and is developing a way for customers to order online. Currently, Crust Bakeshop is using Facebook and Instagram to connect with its patrons online orders. Kelleher is also creating a way to allow customers to purchase through Crust Bakeshops website. Redesigning a website can often take weeks, if not months, to develop. Now, shes trying to implement it in days. Im someone who labors over details and I get really hung up on things being perfect, Kelleher said. Rather than laboring over how exactly I want everything to look and what we want to offer, I just have to make decisions quickly. Kelleher hasnt laid off employees, but hours have been cut for all staff. Its been really important for me to retain all my employees, Kelleher said. A lot of people Ive talked to have had the really difficult task of laying people off in the last week. Im not saying that wont happen eventually for us but I want to prevent it as long as possible and I think feeling like Im fighting for my team makes me kind of dig deeper. Aid from state and local levels can be difficult to find. A $10 million emergency fund that will offer loans through the Small Business Administration stopped taking applications three days after its launch. Worcester announced a $500,000 grant program that will begin taking applications on Monday but could only reach 50 businesses in New Englands second-largest city. A group in Worcester launched Worcester Love on Thursday to promote shopping local. They reminded residents small businesses often have the same supplies that many flock to big box stores for. There are a lot of people that dont know whats open and or available, Worcester District 1 Councilor Sean Rose said. You go to the grocery store and the bread aisle is empty, yet you can go down to BirchTree Bread and grab yourself a couple loaves. While Kellehers focus remains on Crust Bakeshop, and her other store North Main Provisions, as a small business owner, she feels part of a community. Shes asked small shops that have closed if it would help them to sell their goods out of her stores. Rising together is a sentiment felt by many in the city as most remain confident they can navigate through the pandemic. But everyone, from city officials to small business employees, agrees it cant be done without help. I think supporting one another, Kelleher said. I think everyone just has to lift each other up right now. Jacob Hamilton | The Ann Arbor News ANN ARBOR, MI -- Cancellations and venue closures abound amid the coronavirus outbreak, but there are still plenty of activities to keep yourself busy this weekend. Many businesses and organizations are offering alternative ways to shop or watch a show while maintaining social distance to limit the spread of COVID-19. Here are five remote activities planned in the Ann Arbor area this weekend. The Blue LLama Jazz Club regularly hosts shows in its swanky Main Street venue. This weekend, it's offering livestream viewing of two shows. Composer, pianist, vocalist, lyricist and arranger Hannah Baiardi will perform live to your screen at 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. Friday, March 20. Watch the show here. Tim Haldeman Quartet will perform at 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. Saturday, March 21. Blue Llama is also offering delivery and carryout from the venue and from Dessous Ann Arbor. Don't Edit Jacob Hamilton | The Ann Arbor News Laith Al-Saadi Best know as a finalist on "The Voice," local musician Laith Al-Saadi will perform Saturday, March 21 as part of a series of musical events to be streamed via Facebook Live The "Live From The Bird House" also includes performances from Telesonic 9000 at 10 p.m. Friday, March 20; Alex Holycross of The Native Howl and Erin Zindle at 7 p.m. Sunday, March 22; and Macpodz Presents Mondays on Monday, March 23. More on the series here. Don't Edit Melanie Maxwell | MLive file photo Live @ the 415 The Kerrytown Concert House is also kicking off a livestreamed concert series Saturday. At 7 p.m., Accidentally Hip is performing "Quarantini Jams - A Bit Shaken, but Not Stirred." Contributions are optional. Watch the show here. Don't Edit Jacob Hamilton | The Ann Arbor News Support local businesses Several downtown-area businesses are asking the community to support them by purchasing gift cards, shopping online or ordering carryout while their doors are closed. Browse around your local neighborhood business websites to see what your options are. Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti restaurants offer takeout amid state-ordered closures due to coronavirus Ann Arbor businesses urge customers to buy gift cards, use curbside and online services amid coronavirus closures Don't Edit J. Scott Park | MLive file photo Finish a puzzle One more tip: Do you have a puzzle sitting in the back of your closet that you've been too busy to piece together? Now is the time to pull it out and give yourself an activity that will keep you focused on something for an hour, two, or many, many more. Or, you can finally read that book you've tabled for a while. Keep up with coverage of the coronavirus outbreak and it's impacts, including collections of tips and resources, here. Don't Edit Three people have been arrested after a haul of toilet paper was stolen in Essex. The suspected bog roll bandits were detained last night just 30 minutes after police were told a van had smashed through a barrier at a building site in Bury Lane, Hatfield Peverel. The Essex Police Operational Support Group (OSP) exposed the attempted heist on Twitter, with the hashtag #ThatsHowWeRoll. Police found a huge haul of toilet paper in the back of a van, pictured, as the Operational Support Group (OSP) exposed the attempted heist on Twitter, with the hashtag #ThatsHowWeRoll A 28-year-old man from Aveley, a 37-year-old man from South Ockendon and a 41-year-old man from Purfleet remain in custody on suspicion of theft of a vehicle, pictured, and burglary They posted photos of a silver Ford van and the dozens of loo rolls that were stashed in the back. 'Police officers always get a massive sense of satisfaction when we catch [suspects]... however we never expected to find this stolen loot in the boot,' they wrote. Officers found the suspected thieves within 30 minutes of being told a van had smashed through a barrier at a building site in Bury Lane, Hatfield Peverel, Essex A spokesman for the force confirmed a 28-year-old man from Aveley, a 37-year-old man from South Ockendon and a 41-year-old man from Purfleet remain in custody on suspicion of theft of a vehicle and burglary. Nothing binds a nation like a deadly attack that makes no distinction among the people it hurts. Whether by man or by nature, inclusive threats awaken the often-forgotten reality that we are countrymen and -women in the fight together. Two world wars and the 9/11 attacks did this for the United States. The rising spread of COVID-19 is having the same effect, and that is reflected in national politics. On Wednesday, President Donald Trump signed a $104 billion relief package that had easily passed in the House of Representatives. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act provides free COVID-19 testing; up to 10 days of fully paid sick leave; 12 weeks of paid family leave for parents at two-thirds of their salaries; expanded unemployment insurance; and increased funding for food stamps and Medicaid. The federal match for Medicaid could mean an extra $2.5 billion for Texas by the end of the year. This was the second of whats expected to be three aid packages passed by Congress and signed by the president to minimize the devastation COVID-19 is wreaking, and will continue to wreak, on Americans, the economy and the health care system. The first bill, which allotted $8.3 billion, was for coronavirus vaccine research and development, and the third will be a nearly $1 trillion stimulus bill, which is expected to include direct cash payments to Americans. Those likely cash payments illustrate how much COVID-19 has changed the nations political landscape. Throughout the Democratic presidential primaries, former candidate Andrew Yang repeatedly advocated the federal government giving every American a guaranteed income of $1,000 a month. The checks the stimulus bill would send to Americans may not have the permanence of Yangs proposal and the amounts have yet to be decided on, but the mere fact that the administration and both parties in Congress see the necessity is remarkable. And it is the right thing to do. In response to what may be an unprecedented combination of public health and economic crises, the government is asking Americans to take unprecedented actions, such as staying home. They will need money to survive, and the places where they usually shop and work will need to survive. We all have to somehow hold steady until the pandemic is under control. The relief package signed this week doesnt go far enough in providing more workers with paid sick leave, but like the stimulus package to come, its just the beginning of what will be the large sum of government spending needed to cushion the blows to come and rescue the economy. Sen. John Cornyn, who voted for the relief package, acknowledged the crisis all Americans are in, the bipartisanship its encouraging and his support for measures that he, as a Republican, would normally oppose. I think we already are on a war footing, and weve got to beat this virus, Cornyn said. I just think this is an extraordinary emergency, and we ought to consider everything that would solve the problem, including things I wouldn't ordinarily agree to doing. We are in an extraordinary emergency, and nothing should be ruled out that could avoid or minimize the pain so many are already feeling and that millions more will experience. As Americans bound by this emergency and its pain, we are also bound to the necessity of working together until both are behind us. T he Prime Minister will be speaking with supermarket bosses to ensure there is enough food for the nation during the coronavirus pandemic. Shoppers up and down the country have been faced with empty shelves at a range of supermarkets as the UK stocks up on groceries to last them through self-isolation. Essential items such as toilet rolls, hand sanitiser, paracetamol, meat, fruit and vegetables have been depleted at major retailers, with the public turning to newsagents to pick up supplies. Responding to a surge in demand supermarkets have brought in customer buying limits, introduced shopping sessions for the elderly and health care workers and taken on thousands of temporary and permanent workers during the Covid-19 crisis. Hundreds of people queue to enter a shop in Coventry / PA It is understood Boris Johnson will be speaking to the leading supermarket chains to see what the Government can do to ensure the shelves remain stocked and the supply chains can cope with the demand. Tesco, Marks & Spencer and Sainbsurys have announced a golden shopping hour for NHS and social care workers, so they can join older and vulnerable shoppers in having less competition for restocked shelves. London panic buying during the Coronavirus outbreak - In pictures 1 /61 London panic buying during the Coronavirus outbreak - In pictures PA Wire Shoppers descended on supermarkets again AFP via Getty Images Shoppers seen rushing to get toilet rolls as new ones are put on sale in a London Morrisons store Rex Features Shoppers should be sensible when buying food and groceries Lucy Young Shoppers queue outside a branch of Costco, in Croydon PA Lucy Young Lucy Young Lucy Young Lucy Young Lucy Young Reuters Reuters Reuters People queue outside a Sainsbury's store as the coronavirus outbreak continues Reuters Reuters Reuters Jeremy Selwyn Jeremy Selwyn Jeremy Selwyn Jeremy Selwyn Jeremy Selwyn Jeremy Selwyn Jeremy Selwyn Jeremy Selwyn Queues for hand sanitizer at Boots in Islington Jeremy Selwyn Tesco Brent Cross 9.00 am Jeremy Selwyn Empty shelves of pasta are seen at a supermarket Reuters Brent Cross Shopping centre at 5:30am Jeremy Selwyn SplashNews.com A sign at a Sainsbury's supermarket informs customers that limits have been set on a small number of products Reuters AFP via Getty Images Shelves have been cleared of the likes of pasta and toilet roll AFP via Getty Images A woman carries a basket filled with toilet rolls AFP via Getty Images Shoppers wait in line for a supermarket to open its doors in London AFP via Getty Images Shoppers are faced with partially empty shelves AFP via Getty Images AFP via Getty Images Brent Cross Shopping centre at 5:30am Evening Standard / eyevine AFP via Getty Images A long line of shoppers queue to buy groceries at a supermarket in Chingford, London Cham Karimeddin Shoppers form long queues ahead of the opening of a Costco wholesale store in Chingford Getty Images Empty shelves in the bakery aisles of an Asda store in London PA Shoppers queue at the checkout of a supermarket in London AFP via Getty Images A customer leaves with shopping as other customers queue to enter a Costco Wholesalers in Chingford Reuters A long line of shoppers queue to buy groceries at a supermarket in Chingford Ashraf Karim Eddin Shoppers are faced with partially empty shelves at a supermarket in London AFP via Getty Images FILE PHOTO: A man stands next to shelves empty of fresh meat in a supermarket, as the number of worldwide coronavirus cases continues to grow, in London REUTERS It comes after critical care nurse Dawn Bilbrough , from York, made a heartfelt plea for shoppers to stop stockpiling, in a video which circulated on social media on Thursday. In the footage, she is seen crying after visiting a supermarket following a 48-hour hospital shift to find there were no fruit or vegetables. Sainsburys said from next week health and social care staff will be able to shop between 8am and 9am every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, alongside elderly and vulnerable shoppers.It is also consolidating its opening hours in its main stores from 8am to 8pm, Monday to Saturday, in order to be able focus on restocking shelves. Sunday opening, Sainsburys Local and petrol station opening times will stay the same. Boris Johnson has told the country not to panic buy, yet many shoppers can't even get basic essentials / PA Chief executive Mike Coupe urged customers to take simple measures to reduce risk by standing one metre away from each other and consider paying with card instead of cash. Please also treat our colleagues and other customers with kindness and respect, he said. These are unprecedented circumstances and our colleagues are being asked to come to work every day while so many others are being asked to stay at home. We all need them to keep coming to work to feed the nation a small thank you goes a really long way. Meanwhile, Morrisons is taking on up to 500 staff from Marie Curie and CLIC Sargent charity shops to help the elderly and vulnerable in its supermarkets. They will be working alongside Morrisons army of community champions who currently work with local charities and community groups. The Co-op is donating 1.5 million of essential food items to charity FareShares network of food banks and community groups. And to thank NHS workers and community groups for their hard work, Lidl is giving away thousands of bunches of Mothers Day flowers. Shoppers queue outside Lidl / AFP via Getty Images The Road Haulage Association has also welcomed an announcement by the Department of Transport to relax the working hours for drivers for a month from March 23 until April 21. It is hoped that easing the restrictions will help to keep supplies moving and the supermarkets fully stocked. Road Haulage Association chief executive Richard Burnett said: This is a blanket relaxation covering all sectors and recognises how integrated and inter-dependent supply chains are across the whole economy. The sector is working as efficiently and as quickly possible. This relaxation improves resilience in a way that ensure all goods can reach the area where they are needed. Shortages are not the problem at the moment the problem lies with supplying the current excess demand for goods caused by panic buying. This just creates bottlenecks that undermine efficient delivery schedules. The relaxation in hours will not reduce the levels of enforcement of the drivers hours. It is vital that companies only use these relaxed rules when needed and companies must monitor drivers to ensure they do not drive tired or in any way unfit. This relaxation must be used wisely, not abused recklessly. Saint Patrick is credited with banishing snakes from Ireland and by all accounts he did a pretty thorough job as there appear to be no records of these slithering reptiles occurring anywhere throughout our green and pleasant land. While the Emerald Isle has no snakes, it does have other reptiles. However, the number of other representatives isn't very big, in fact, it is only one: the Viviparous Lizard is the sole land reptile species native to our shores. Our native lizard is a common and widespread beast and has an unusual reptilian feature. Most reptiles lay eggs and the young hatch from the eggs after a period of incubation. Our lizard is viviparous, that is, females give birth to live young rather than laying eggs. Marine turtles are, of course, reptiles too, so if they are included in the national tally of Irish reptiles the number jumps by five to six. Leatherback, Green, Hawksbill, Kemp's Ridley and Loggerhead and are all sea turtles that turn up on our shores every now and again. Over the years, captive pet snakes have undoubtedly either escaped from their owners or were set free when no longer wanted but none has managed to survive and become naturalised. One introduced lizard, the Slow-worm, has managed to survive and become naturalised. It is a very long, legless lizard so it looks like a snake, but it is not a true snake. True snakes don't have eyelids so they can't blink. Consequently, they have a fixed stare and sleep with their eyes open. All lizards have eyelids and they blink. They can also shed their tails if required, something snakes can't do. While it is long and skinny like a snake or a worm, the Slow-worm is neither a snake nor a worm. It is a slow-moving legless lizard that hunts slow-moving prey like slugs. The Slow-worm is confined to the Burren in Co Clare, but it is not our only introduced reptile; other alien reptiles have been recorded from various locations nationwide. The Cumberland Slider, the Red-eared Terrapin and the Yellow-bellied Slider, the three sub-species of the Pond Slider, are pet-shop terrapins that people regularly dump in their local waterways in the mistaken belief that they are 'returning them to the wild'. Pond sliders are native to the southern United States and northern Mexico and are listed as one of the top 100 world's worst invasive and undesirable species to have. AMMAN, March 20 (Reuters) - Jordan will impose a curfew early on Saturday to prevent people from moving except for emergencies to combat coronavirus, the government said. The curfew across the country would start from 0700 local time (0500 GMT) on Saturday until further notice said Amjad Al Adailah, government spokesman. King Abdullah had enacted an emergency decree last Tuesday that gives the government sweeping powers invoked in times of war and calamities to enforce an army imposed curfew and other measures. (Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by Jon Boyle) As businesses across the state close to slow the spread of the coronavirus, the mass layoffs that have followed could quickly drain the state fund that pays unemployment claims. The state has less than six months of reserves to pay unemployment insurance at recession-level rates, according to U.S. Department of Labor data from the second quarter of 2019, the most recent available. Thats well below the federally recommended level of one year, and the seventh-lowest reserve level among states. Between Sunday and Wednesday, Texas received more than 61,500 first-time unemployment insurance claims, according to the Texas Workforce Commission, more than four times the filings during a similar period in 2019. The avalanche of claims slowed and crashed the states unemployment benefits websites this week, before the workforce commission made upgrades deal with the spike in traffic. Nearly 30 percent of the unemployment insurance applications, or nearly 18,000, were from the Houston region, according to the TWC data. Shutdowns have hit the local economy hard. People who work at local theaters and event venues were 99 percent unemployed in a matter of days, said Hany Khalil, the executive director of the Texas Gulf Coast Area Labor Federation, which works with unions across the Houston region Its really devastating, Khali said. More Information Lowest unemployment benefit reserve ratios in the U.S. 1. California: 3 months 2. New York: 4 months 3. Massachusetts: 5 months 4. Ohio: 5 months 5. Illinois: 5 months 6. Indiana: 6 months 7. Texas: 6 months 8. Connecticut: 6 months 9. West Virginia: 7 months 10. Kentucky: 7 months See More Collapse The average weekly unemployment insurance benefit in Texas is $246 or the wage one would be paid on a roughly $12,800 annual salary. Benefits range from a minimum payment of $69 per week (about $3,600 annually) to a maximum of $521 per week (about $27,100 annually). Dwindling reserves The reason Texas has one of the lowest reserves in the nation to pay for unemployment benefits is because the program is funded through taxes on employers, which in Texas, are very low. Texas taxes the employer for the first $9,000 of an employees annual wages, compared to the national average of the first $18,900, according to Labor Department data. Texas loves their low taxes on employers, so its not surprising that the fund is in trouble, said Maurice Emsellem, a program director at the National Employment Law Project. A lot of states are not in great shape right now. That means that several states with very low reserves including California, New York and Texas will likely have to borrow money from the federal government to pay for the scores of people who need unemployment assistance. The Texas Workforce Commission said in a statement that the agency is committed to paying the benefits to people who need them. "The Texas Workforce Commission is committed to helping Texans in need," said Cisco Gamez, spokesperson for the TWC, in a response to whether the low reserves would impact the state's ability to pay for the huge increase in unemployment benefits. "People that qualify for unemployment insurance will receive benefits," he said. To pay the money back, most states with low reserves, including Texas, will likely be forced to raise the unemployment insurance tax on employers in the next few years. The first stimulus package passed by Congress and signed by the president Wednesday allocated $1 billion to state unemployment programs to start, but members are debating sending more aid, a move that could help remedy the potentially disastrous situation in which many state funds find themselves. Many dont qualify for benefits The states unemployment insurance program does not cover all the people who find themselves out of work during the pandemic. Independent contractors and those who are self-employed dont qualify for benefits. The only way those Texans will be able to apply for benefits is if Governor Greg Abbott requests a disaster declaration from President Donald Trump that includes a request for disaster unemployment assistance, a federal program funded by FEMA that is typically used for instances such as major storms. For the time being, those workers, among them construction workers, artists, writers and small business owners, cannot get unemployment benefits. Thats a big problem in Texas, where misclassification of employees as contractors is common. A 2017 survey of more than 1,400 construction workers in the south by the Workers Defense Project found than one in three construction workers are misclassified as an independent contractor, meaning employers don't have to pay minimum wage, overtime or payroll taxes, and workers cant apply for benefits if they are laid off. A lot of people fall through the cracks, said Rick Levy, the president of the Texas AFL-CIO. While President Trump has declared an emergency for all 50 states, that declaration does not cover disaster unemployment benefits, which are only available to states that request it and have a major disaster declaration for individual assistance. John Wittman, a spokesperson for Abbotts office, said in a statement the governor has not yet requested the declaration that would trigger disaster unemployment assistance, but is pursuing the option. Labor advocates implored the governor to try. Since many people currently dont qualify for unemployment benefits at this time, when they are laid off, they are left with no income. They wont be able to pay rent, spend on groceries, or generally contribute to the economy, advocates point out. The whole point is to keep money flowing into the system, Levy said. Unemployed workers spend money. It takes those people out of the realm of being part of the solution. --updated to include comment from the Texas Workforce Commission. Taylor Goldenstein and Jordan Rubio contributed reporting. erin.douglas@chron.com Twitter.com/erinmdouglas23 A top panel of scientists on Saturday cleared an industry proposal to ramp up production of ventilators in the country to minimise shortages in the context of increasing numbers of people testing positive for the Sar-CoV-2 virus. Government sources said there are over 4,000 ventilators in the country. The availability of ventilators will be a key determinant in Indias success to keep the mortality rate of Covid-19 patients when the infection moves into the community transmission stage and the number of coronavirus patients rises sharply. The international experience has been that around 5% of coronavirus patients need a ventilator to assist them in breathing. Also Watch | Coronavirus outbreak: Delhi govt announces free ration, pension, food for poor Government sources said the panel of top scientists, officially called the empowered group on Covid-19 Response, had cleared a proposal of the Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone Limited to scale up production of ventilators and other Covid-19-linked devices. The approval comes just a day after the group of ministers that formulates Indias response to the health crisis had banned export of ventilators and respirators to ensure adequate supply of the critical devices within the country. The anticipated shortage of ventilators isnt unique to India. In the United Kingdom, the government has responded to the shortage by roping in manufacturers such as the aerospace and engineering group Rolls-Royce and vacuum company Dyson to produce the equipment. In Italy, 3D printing companies have been trying to create components for the ventilators. Sar-CoV-2 and ventilators Sar-CoV-2 virus targets the lungs and kills people from severe acute lung infections such as pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome. Ventilators - mechanical breathing machines that help patients breathe and prevent the lungs from collapsing - blows air with extra oxygen into the lungs to maintain optimal levels of oxygen in the blood. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Netflix's 'Self-Made' miniseries about Madam C.J. Walker leaves out the mark she made through generosity As late-night TV talk shows have stopped production because of coronavirus concerns, more of the hosts have moved to posting online monologues, stream-of-consciousness musings about the need for social distancing, interviews and, in the case of Jimmy Fallon, an attempt to pitch a tent in his yard. Stephen Colbert, who helped get the online-content ball rolling as The Late Show With Colbert Colbert stays dark, is off for a pre-scheduled break. But Tonight Show host Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Trevor Noah, and more recent addition Samantha Bee are all posting videos from their homes. The online at-home videos feature the celebs in low-res form, encouraging viewers to do what theyre doing, and stay home to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. Some include suggestions for charities to support, some are a bit more surreal, and some include the kind of commentary on news events that are a staple of late-night show monologues. For example, Kimmel, who has been critical of President Donald Trump, was true to form in his most recent Quarantine Minilogue, taped at his house. After wishing his mother a happy birthday and joking that his new sponsor was lentils -- Dont go mental, get some lentils" -- Kimmel moved on to Trumps comments during a White House press briefing on the coronavirus. Ive really had enough of this guy. You know what, just shut up already," Kimmel said, adding it was time to let the doctors take over. Seriously, you Trumped the shark. Go away. Hand it over to Mike Pence. Just as late-night TV hosts made jokes about similar topics when they were filming in their studios, theyre covering some of the same ground in their do-it-yourself videos. Like others, Kimmel slammed young people on spring break in Florida, cavorting on the beach and ignoring social distancing guidelines. Kimmel then said he was planning to observe #FormalFriday this evening, an idea he said his wife suggested. He encouraged others to dress up for dinner, even if they were home alone, of if not, dance with your partner, six feet apart, like a homecoming dance at a religious high school. Connecting via video conference with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who was also staying home with her husband and grown children, Kimmel and the Veep star compared notes about how theyre handling staying home, and shared suggestions for binge viewing (Louis-Dreyfus recommended the Netflix docuseries, Cheer, and Last Chance U). Louis-Dreyfus also encouraged donations for Feeding America, a charity that works with food banks to make food available to those in need. In his web series, The Daily Social Distancing Show, Daily Show" host Trevor Noah has been video conferencing with correspondents on the show, and doing a monologue about current events, including more digs at how Trump is handling the coronavirus and the White House press conferences. Just let the doctors and the scientists talk, Noah said. Trump should just stand in the back, like a hype man. Noah added that as Trump delivers information that is either confusing or just plain wrong, Americas governors are taking matters into their own hands. Like Kimmel and Fallon, Noah also recommended a charity, No Kid Hungry. The host of Full Frontal With Samantha Bee is also getting into the at-home video act. Her video series, Beeing At Home With Samantha Bee, has found the host joking about how the coronavirus crisis has shown us that other late night hosts have incredible homes. In her series, Bee is outdoors on what is presumably her property, near a woodshed. Shes attempted to chop wood in a show of self-reliance, and joked about coping strategies, including How to not kill your spouse during these difficult times," as her offscreen husband, actor Jason Jones, operates the camera. Fallon continues his digital at-home segments, which are also airing before reruns of The Tonight Show, and generally offer a more genial break from the days worries. Fallons daughters barge in, and the host interviews, via video conference, guests including Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Jennifer Garner, who talked about #SaveWithStories, a partnership Garner and Amy Adams formed with Save the Children and No Kid Hungry, featuring well-known people reading stories to kids in posts on Instagram and Facebook. Deadline reports that the Late Night With Seth Meyers host is also joining the at-home late-night TV taping trend, and that next week, Meyers will record A Closer Look segments, which will be available on the Late Night YouTube channel. Also working from home is David Spade, host of the Comedy Central series, Lights Out With David Spade. With his show paused because of coronavirus fears, Spade is doing monologues from his house for a digital series called, Lights Out, Live From the Bunker. More of our coverage: -- Kristi Turnquist kturnquist@oregonian.com 503-221-8227 @Kristiturnquist Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 12:20:23|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close OUAGADOUGOU, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Burkina Faso's Minister of Mines and Quarries Oumarou Idani has tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of infected ministers in the country to four, according to a statement on Friday. Idani tested positive after leading a delegation to visit Canada, said the statement, adding that one of the representatives in the delegation was from the presidency. So far, he is in stable condition and under home isolation, said the statement. Idani has become the country's fourth minister declared to be infected by COVID-19. The education minister, territorial administration minister and foreign minister also tested positive on Friday. Burkina Faso reported its first confirmed COVID-19 case on March 9, and the number has reached 40 to date. President Roch Marc Christian Kabore on Friday evening announced a curfew throughout the territory from 7 p.m. (1900 GMT) to 5 a.m. (0500 GMT), and a closure of land, air and rail borders. These measures will become effective from midnight Saturday. ROME As Italys coronavirus infections ticked above 400 cases and deaths hit the double digits, the leader of the governing Democratic Party posted a picture of himself clinking glasses for an aperitivo in Milan, urging people not to change our habits. That was on Feb. 27. Not 10 days later, as the toll hit 5,883 infections and 233 dead, the party boss, Nicola Zingaretti, posted a new video, this time informing Italy that he, too, had the virus. Italy now has more than 53,000 recorded infections and more than 4,800 dead, and the rate of increase keeps growing, with more than half the cases and fatalities coming in the past week. On Saturday, officials reported 793 additional deaths, by far the largest single-day increase so far. Italy has surpassed China as the country with the highest death toll, becoming the epicenter of a shifting pandemic. The government has sent in the army to enforce the lockdown in Lombardy, the northern region at the center of the outbreak, where bodies have piled up in churches. On Friday night, authorities tightened the nationwide lockdown, closing parks, banning outdoor activities including walking or jogging far from home. The tragedy of Italy now stands as a warning to its European neighbors and the United States, where the virus is coming with equal velocity. If Italys experience shows anything, it is that measures to isolate affected areas and limit the movement of the broader population need to be taken early, put in place with absolute clarity, then strictly enforced. Despite now having some of the toughest measures in the world, Italian authorities fumbled many of those steps early in the contagion when it most mattered as they sought to preserve basic civil liberties as well as the economy. Italys piecemeal attempts to cut it off isolating towns first, then regions, then shutting down the country in an intentionally porous lockdown always lagged behind the virus lethal trajectory. Some officials gave in to magical thinking, reluctant to make painful decisions sooner. All the while, the virus fed on that complacency. Governments beyond Italy are now in danger of following the same path, repeating familiar mistakes and inviting similar calamity. Jason Horowitz, Emma Bubola and Elisabetta Povoledo are New York Times writers. A big part of Rosatoms success in winning so many contracts comes from the provision of credits to finance the plants. Ted Jones, director for national security and international programs at the Nuclear Energy Institute in Washington, a trade association, complained that state support, particularly in financing, has given Rosatom a huge advantage over rivals like Westinghouse, the largest American nuclear contractor. They are driven by different interests. Westinghouse is a business. Rosatom is a designated strategic exporter, he said, They are notching up big strategic wins each time they get a deal. Unlike Western companies in the nuclear business, which must abide by rules set by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development that limit the role of state financial support and impose other constraints, Rosatom, a recipient of lavish support from the Russian government and treasury, has a free hand to pursue its own business. Over the past decade, Russia has opened credit lines of more than $60 billion to six countries for nuclear power plants. Westinghouse lost out on a contract to build a new reactor in Hungary when Russia offered the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orban, a loan of $11 billion. Rosatoms deal for the Paks II nuclear plant in Hungary helped cement close ties between Mr. Putin and Mr. Orban, who has frequently broken with fellow European leaders to side with the Kremlin on issues like Ukraine and the shortcomings of liberal democracy. Rosatom, having shaken off its reputation as a swamp of corruption and escaped from the dark cloud left by the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, is now a front-runner for a revived nuclear power project in Bulgaria, another member of the European Union. It won a $30 billion contract for four reactors in Egypt, a longtime U.S. ally, and another big nuclear plant deal in Turkey, a NATO member whose president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has worked increasingly closely with Mr. Putin, despite their being sharply at odds over Syria. It has had some setbacks. In February, Bolivias caretaker government suspended the construction of a Rosatom nuclear research center, saying the project had not received all the required regulatory approvals. The center was part of a $350 million deal with Rosatom approved in 2016 by the former president, Evo Morales, an ally of Russia; the new government has scrapped dozens of his initiatives since taking office in November. Southeast Texans got word of two more local cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, and in Hardin County, officials put more restrictions on local businesses. A second person in Beaumont tested positive for the coronavirus, the citys health department announced Saturday. In Hardin County, a resident self-reported that he had tested positive after taking a test for for the highly contagious disease in Louisiana. The Beaumont resident is cooperating with the health department and is quarantined at home, according to officials. This is a rapidly evolving situation, officials said in a release. We understand this positive case may concern our community, but at this time there is no evidence of community spread. The immediate risk for Beaumont residents remains low. Beaumont Mayor Becky Ames told The Enterprises that the man is doing well and is quarantined at home. She said officials believe the case is travel-related but declined to say where he had been. As we start testing more individuals, we do know that there will be a spike, she said. We are asking people not top panic. Hopefully, we wont get anymore, but the expectation is that we will. We just have to manage it. We have make sure that as we learn about them, we have to do the proper procedures and we will do that. The citys health department is investigating and working to identify close contacts of the individual. Jefferson County Judge Jeff Branick said Saturday that about 200 people have been screened through the countys screening facility. The county, which expects to receive test kits Monday, will begin drive-through testing Tuesday at an undisclosed location. People will call in and get screened through our screening program, Branick said. If they are deemed appropriate for testing, they will be given a number and a location. They will be checked again at that location and if appropriate, tested. The judge said it will take about 3 days to get the test results back. In Hardin County, Judge Wayne McDaniel upped restrictions on businesses after the county confirmed a residents positive diagnosis with health officials in Louisiana, where the man was tested. McDaniel ordered all-door-to-door sales suspended, as well hair and nail salons and game rooms. The order also reduces childcare facilities occupancy rate to 10% of their current limit. In addition, the order requests that private residences limit gatherings to no more than 10 people. The unidentified Hardin County mans diagnosis came to the attention of county officials after he posted his medical status on social media. After being notified of the post about 11 a.m. Saturday, McDaniel urged the man to contact the director of the county health department, Sharon Whitly. Whitley gave the man instructions pertaining to self-isolation, which he said he had been following since the moment he was tested, McDaniel said. McDaniel did not know when the man was in Louisiana or when he returned home. McDaniel urged everyone to stay home unless they have a pressing need. He also stressed the important of social distancint. There are most likely other similar cases that are not on the radar of our public health officials, he said in the release. When someone goes to a private health care facility to be tested, or a facility out of this area, that information is not always being reported to our public health departments. This makes it difficult for us to keep track. However, I dont blame someone who thinks they need to be tested for going wherever they can go to do so. McDaniel said 11 county residents have been tested; one test came back negative, 10 others are pending. For information on the virus, McDaniel asked people to call 211, option 6. Legacy Community Health, which has a COVID-19 satellite clinic on North 11 Street in Beaumont, reported Saturday that it tested 10 people for the virus on Friday. The clinic only tests those who screen positive. chris.moore@beaumontenterprise.com Thank you! You've reported this item as a violation of our terms of use. This content was contributed by a user of the site. If you believe this content may be in violation of the terms of use, you may report it. MIDDLETOWN In a team effort uniting Middletown schools, restaurants and local donors, takeout meals will be provided over the weekend to well over 1,000 students and families in need. Its a win, win, win, community organizer Patti Anne Vassia, who helped coordinate the plan by securing funds from community organizations and individuals, said in a prepared statement. The need was evident. The schools were running out of food inventory after providing an average of 1,300 grab-and-go meals a day to families. The restaurants have inventory they cant use after being ordered to shut dining rooms, and the modest income theyll get for providing the meals is income they would not have had, she added. Twenty-six restaurants agreed to provide 100 meals each. They will be paid $5 for each meal delivered. With 100 meals from each of the restaurants, schools, already set-up to provide meals, will be able to distribute meals Saturday and Sunday, according to a press release. Were providing the kitchen, janitorial and campus security staff, Marco Gaylord, Middletown Schools Chief of Operations, said in the release. That staff is going to be augmented by community volunteers who have signed up in great numbers. I wanted to do something for the community, and my friends who own local restaurants, said Chu Ngo, owner of Lan Chis Vietnamese restaurant on Main Street. In normal times, we would provide food and service for free. These are not normal times. The whole idea is to help the students and families in the community we love, and to help the restaurants at the same time, she said in the statement. Middletown has a school population of 4,564 in the public schools, 194 students in adult education and 287 in magnet schools. Students who receive free and reduced lunches make up more than 40 percent of the total student population. Middletowns total population is approximately 48,000. Were providing meals for all students who need it, Gaylord said. In the first four days of operation, we provided 5,389 meals, and our inventory is down, so providing weekend meals would have been difficult before our supplies are replenished for next week. Donors of the $13,000 in funds for the weekend meal project include the Community Foundation of Middlesex County, Middlesex United Way, Rotary Club of Middletown, Womens Initiative of Middlesex United Way, Kiwanis Club of Middletown, Michael DiPiro, City of Middletown and Middletown Board of Education. One of our focus areas is financial stability, said Kevin Wilhelm, president and CEO of the Middlesex United Way. We will do whatever we can to help families endure, even in the midst of a pandemic. Keeping families afloat and healthy is one of our top priorities, so we are eager to step up to ensure that happens. I think its a great effort, Mayor Ben Florsheim said in the statement. The fact that the schools, restaurants and community organizations were able to create this partnership for students speaks volumes about how Middletown people want to help one another. We began this effort just two days ago, Vassia said Friday. Ive never felt so high about doing such great work so quickly. Ours is an amazing community with top governmental, nonprofit, educational and business folks working together to meet needs and support our kids. We must continue to this good work going forward, especially in these difficult times. Reno Omokri, a former presidential aide and social media commentator has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of being more interested in protecting himself and family than Nigerians. Read Also: Nigeria Was Among The Happiest Nation Under Jonathans Regime Omokri Speaking via his official Twitter handle on Saturday, he accused him of restricting flights from the UK to stern coronavirus after his daughter returned back into the country from the UK. He wrote: The reason General @MBuhari did not restrict flights from the UK to stem #CoronaVirus in Nigeria is because his daughter was in the UK. He only restricted UK flights THE DAY SHE RETURNED. Buhari is more focused on protecting himself and his family than Nigerians. Aihik Sur By Express News Service HYDERABAD: More than 50 Indian citizens, including many from Hyderabad, are stuck in United Kingdom (UK) ahead of the implementation of Centres order banning all International flights coming into the country from March 22. It has to be mentioned here that a Hyderabad resident, Mirza Ibrahim Baig, and 50 others were all set to fly from Gatwick airport in UK to Hyderabad on Friday morning. However, the flight officials denied them from boarding the flight in the light of Indian governments instruction which says, no scheduled International commercial passenger aircraft shall take off from any foreign airport for any airport in India after March 22. Baig said, People who are stranded here are mostly students. Our parents back home are panicking as Europe may become the next epicentre of this virus. Right now, we are reaching out to the embassy officials seeking help. Baig and others also made an appeal to AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, who in turn requested Subramanyan Jaishankar, the Union Minister of External Affairs, to help the stranded citizens. Speaking to Express, Owaisi said: I had a conversation with the Foreign Secretary who told me that these are temporary measures. I apprised the same to the students who reached out to me. Earlier he had tweeted, Ive been informed by one of my constituents that the UK authorities are not allowing approx. 20 Indians to board a flight to India from Gatwick airport. Immigration authorities are insisting on an email from Indian govt. Request @DrSJaishankar to help these stranded Indians urgently (sic). As of now, the 50 plus citizens are staying in the office of the Indian High Commission in UK. Embassy officials are talking to the officials in New Delhi, but there is still no news, he added. Abdul Faheem Qureshi, an advocate said: My son (Habeed Mustafa Qureshi) is leading all the passengers to Indian High Commission in London for a memorandum to arrange special flights for Indians in UK, who are suffering from severe trauma as they have not been provided facility for treatment by the NHS in London. Coronavirus Outbreak Updates: Novel coronavirus cases in India rose to 315 Saturday after more than 60 fresh cases were reported in various parts of the country. Auto refresh feeds The governments in the National Capital and Maharashtra announced shutdown of public places to contain the spread of COVID-19 that has claimed more than 10,000 lives globally. COVID-19 cases rose to 236 in India after 63 fresh cases were reported on Friday, as per the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) while, the Union health ministry figure stood at 223. The ministry said that all doctors, nurses, and support staff in different specialties, including pre and para clinical departments, should be mobilised and trained in infection prevention and control practices. "Some beds should be set apart and prepared for creating isolation facilities in every public and private hospital. All hospitals should mobilize additional resources including masks, gloves and personal protection equipment. Healthcare personnel should be trained for dealing with any foreseeable emergencies," read the advisory. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Friday issued an advisory for hospitals and medical education institutions in the view of COVID-19. The ministry has asked hospitals to postpone non-essential elective surgeries. Esper expressed his appreciation for India's leadership in coordinating COVID-19 related relief efforts among South Asian countries and conveyed his intent to visit India at the earliest opportunity, the Pentagon said. The two leaders discussed the pandemic and underscored their commitment to close communication during this period in order to maintain momentum on initiatives that reinforce their comprehensive global partnership, the Pentagon said in a readout of the call. US Defence Secretary Mark Esper on Friday held a telephonic conversation with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and praised India's COVID-19 initiative for SAARC countries, the Pentagon said. One of the individuals was a 78-year old Arab national who had arrived in the country from Europe. "The Ministry of Health and Prevention has announced the first two deaths caused by the novel coronavirus in the country," the Emirates News Agency reported. The United Arab Emirates on Friday reported the first two deaths from coronavirus in the country. Abu Dhabi has reported 140 infections so far, of whom 31 have recovered, but no deaths. GB Taekwondo performance director Gary Hall, who is in Japan, said organisers are "nervous" and rates prospects of the Games beginning in July at "50-50", according to BBC. It comes amid the cancellation of key qualifying events and mounting athlete criticism of the organisers' stance to press ahead with plans to stage the event, which is due to run from 24 July to 9 August. Nic Coward, the new chairman of UK Athletics, has suggested that the Tokyo 2020 Olympics should be postponed because of the coronavirus outbreak. Taking to Twitter, TMC leader Derek O'Brien said: " I'm on self-isolation and following all protocol, as I was sitting right next to MP Dushyant for two hours at a Parliament meeting on 18 March." "I was present at an event yesterday. Member of Parliament Mr. Dushyant Singh was also present at the event. As a precaution, I am going to self isolation. I will follow the necessary guidelines by the government," tweeted Apna Dal party chief Anupriya Patel, who represents UP's Mirzapur in Lok Sabha. Lawmakers Anupriya Patel and Derek O'Brien on Friday announced that they have gone into "self-isolation" as they came in contact with colleague Dushyant Singh, who has also gone into self-quarantine as a precautionary measure after attending a dinner party with Bollywood singer Kanika Kapoor. The shutdown order will come into force by Friday midnight till 31 March. All shops and offices are to be shut in Mumbai, Pune and Pimpri, except essential services. He also said that the government is working on measures to mitigate financial crisis. He said that these stringent measures had to be put in force as people were not practicing social distancing. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday announced a lockdown in Mumbai, MMR region, Pune, Pimpri Chinchwad and Nagpur till 31 March. He further added that all offices will have to initiate work-from-home practice and if that is not possible then they will have to shut their offices. But he stated that there are no plan to stop local train, bus services in the state. The total number of cases in Italy rose to 47,021 from a previous 41,035, an increase of 14.6 percent, the Civil Protection Agency said. Until Friday, Italy had never recorded more than 475 deaths in a single day, while China, where the contagion has slowed sharply, has never reported more than 150. On Thursday, Italy, a country with 60 million citizens, recorded more deaths from the coronavirus than China, the source of the pandemic with a population over 20 times larger. The toll from the coronavirus pandemic in Italy leapt by 627 on Friday to 4,032, officials said, an increase of 18.4 percent, which is the largest daily rise in absolute terms since the contagion emerged a month ago. It has also suspended all official travel of Members of the Court and Registry staff and decided to cancel all visits and to implement teleworking. These measures have been taken by the international court to reduce to a minimum the physical presence of staff at the Peace Palace, the seat of the ICJ. The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, has cancelled any hearings or meetings of the Court in March and at least until 16 April. That brought the total number of confirmed cases in mainland China to 81,008, the health authority said in a statement on Saturday. High in the charts was Beijing, with 14 new imported cases. Shanghai and six provinces also identified such cases. Mainland China had 41 cases from foreign transmission on Friday, the countrys National Health Commission said. That brought the total number of imported cases to 269. Mainland China reported zero locally transmitted cases of the coronavirus for a third day running, while the daily log of infections involving travellers arriving from other countries continued to rise. New Yorks restrictions, effective 8 pm Sunday, come a day after California decided to all but confine its population in the biggest lockdown in the US. "No, this is not life as usual," Cuomo said at a news conference,adding, "Accept it, and realize it, and deal with it." The Democratic governor said the "drastic action" was needed to check the rapid spread of the coronavirus virus in a state with more than 8,000 confirmed cases, the most in the nation. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced sweeping orders on Friday that will severely restrict gatherings of any size for the state's more than 19 million residents and will require workers in nonessential businesses to stay home. Six of the new patients are from Kasargode district, another one is from Palakkad and the rest five are in Ernakulam district, said Vijayan. All have a recent travel history. With the new patients included, Kerala has a total of 37 active cases now. Kerala confirmed 12 more COVID-19 cases on Friday, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said. In a first, two MLAs in the state were also placed under quarantine on Friday after they came in contact with coronavirus patients. Following the increase in fresh cases, passenger vehicles from Kerala reeled under a shut down of borders from neighbouring Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. "Actual no of trains to be run on 20 March will be decided by the respective zonal railways as per the assessment of local conditions and requirements," it said. Suburban train services in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Secunderbad will be reduced to 'bare minimum', an official statement said. On Thursday evening, Modi called for a peoples curfew on Sunday in a drastic step by his administration to prevent a surge in COVID-19 cases. In an address to the nation, Modi asked citizens to voluntarily stay indoors from 7 am till 9 pm. The Indian Railways on Friday said it has cancelled 3,700 trains from Saturday midnight till Sunday 10 pm, in line with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal of a day-long curfew to contain the spread of coronavirus. He identified three countries for this "disinformation campaign". "It is pretty defused unfortunately but we have certainly seen it come from places like China and Russia and Iran where there are coordinated efforts to disparage what America is doing and our activity to do all of the things that President (Donald) Trump has set in motion here," Pompeo said. "I wanted to talk about the disinformation the people are seeing both on Twitter and around the world. Some of it coming from government, some of it coming from other individuals," US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters at a White House news conference. The United States on Friday blamed Russia, China and Iran for the alleged "disinformation campaign" against it on the coronavirus and urged its citizens to be aware about this on social media. The Bhutan foreign office in a statement said, "The Royal Government of Bhutan has welcomed the establishment of the Emergency Fund and has decided to make an initial contribution of $100,000 (US Dollar One Hundred Thousand only)." Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli announced it during his Friday evening address to the nation on the COVID-19 pandemic. He said, "I want to inform you that Nepal will contribute Rs 10 crores in this fund set up with the objective to provide requisite help to the SAARC nations" Nepal and Bhutan have pitched in for the COVID-19 emergency fund for South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries which was envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Kathmandu has announced 10 crore Nepali Rupees for the fund while Bhutan has announced $100,000 for it. According to reports, the patient went to Sri Lanka and upon returning his health has been deteriorating. He was sent to SSG Government Hospital, Vadodara, and has been undergoing treatment since 18 March. With this the number of infected individuals in the state has risen to eight. Another new case of coronavirus has been reported in Gujarat after a 52-year-old man who returned from Sri Lanka tested positive in Vadodara. Among the projects pending before the committees is a proposal to construct a new Parliament building, a part of the government's ambitious plan to redevelop the Central Vista. "We have put all (meetings of) EACs on hold due to the situation. No meeting will take place till 31 March. One meeting means 50-60 people coming together. So we will not have that," the official said. The Environment Ministry has put all meetings of its expert appraisal committees (EAC), responsible for issuing green clearances, on hold till 31 March amid a spurt in new coronavirus cases across the country, a top environment ministry official said. The total number of people who have been cured, discharged or migrated stood at 23. So far, four deaths have been reported. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has said that the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases has risen to 258. Of the total 258, 219 are Indian nationals and 39 are foreigners. Before this, two persons with travel history to abroad have been reported positive for the virus in West Bengal. The woman is a resident of Habra in North 24 Parganas district. The official, however, could not confirm whether she was on home quarantine as per the protocol after returning from abroad. The woman, in her early 20s, returned from Scotland on 16 March and was subsequently admitted to the Beliaghata ID Hospital in the city with symptoms of COVID-19, the official said. A woman with a recent travel history to Scotland has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, making it the third confirmed case in West Bengal, a state health department official said on Saturday. The Maharashtra Police (Cyber Crime Cell) have arrested two people for spreading fake news about linking coronavirus with consumption of chicken and eggs. On the contrary, chicken and chicken products consumption has gone up in the US, China and other developed countries. Experts from National Institute of Virology, Pune, JJ Hospital, Mumbai and Sasson Hospital in Pune clarified that consumption of chicken is not linked with the coronavirus infection. "All these labs are meant not only to cater to particular geographies. They are supposed to carry out tests as per the requirement, and samples can come from any corner of the country," he said. Apart from the NIV, one lab is currently being operated at the Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Hospital (IGGMCH) in Nagpur and the other one at Kasturba Hospital in Mumbai. "Global referral means its reports are considered valid even in other countries," he said. Of these three facilities, the Pune-based National Institute of Virology (NIV) is a global referral laboratory, which gets samples even from SAARC countries for confirmation of various types of infections, including coronavirus, a senior official said on Thursday. Three laboratories in Maharashtra, which are currently burdened with the task of testing samples of suspected COVID-19 patients, are analysing samples not only from the state, but also from the neighbouring regions. An official with the Maharashtra government has said that the number of confirmed cases in the state stand at 63 after 11 more individuals tested positive since Friday evening, PTI reported. The other person is a 42-year-old resident who had recently returned from the United Kingdom and was admitted to a government hospital in Sector-16 in Chandigarh, the official said. Another person who tested positive had come in contact with a Chandigarh-based 23-year-old coronavirus patient, Dayalan said. Among the fresh cases is the sister of a 69-year-old Mohali woman who tested positive on Friday, he said. Three more people in Punjab have tested positive for the new coronavirus, taking the total in the state to six, an official said on Saturday. "Three more people have tested positive in Mohali," Deputy Commissioner Girish Dayalan said. A total of 23 people have been found to be infected with coronavirus in Uttar Pradesh. "Of the total cases, nine people have recovered. We have sufficient number of isolation wards in the state," said Yogi Adityanath while briefing the media on the state's preparedness on tackling the novel coronavirus. We all must adhere to 'Janta curfew' called by the Prime Minister. All metro rail, state and city bus services in the state to remain closed tomorrow "I appeal people to not panic over coronavirus. We've sufficient stock of essential commodities and medicines in the state. So please don't rush to shops to buy things and hoard commodities," said Adityanath. Adhering to the 'Janta curfew' called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Uttar Pradesh government has suspended the functioning of all metro rail, state and city bus services in the state. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday announced cash aid of Rs 1000 each to 20,3700 registered lakh daily wage workers in the state. The cash aid will be given through state Labour Department with the help of labour cess. Around 15 lakh people who depend on small shops, kiosks will also be benefitted with this. Mumbai Mirror quoted Dr Om Shrivastva, an infectious diseases specialist, as saying, "people in such large numbers crowding railway stations goes against the aim of shutting down the city. The whole idea of shutting down restaurants offices and malls was to reduce mass gatherings, but this is crazy." As four of Mumbai Metropolitan Region's (MMR) main long-distance train stations Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) and Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT), Thane and Kalyan brimmed with passengers, the Central Railway posted its men with thermometer guns to screen passengers for fever. However, till reports last came in, not a single passenger had been prevented from boarding a train. Thousands began flocking to train stations in Mumbai on Friday to flee the city, ignoring all appeals by chief minister Uddhav Thackeray for social distancing, avoiding large congregations and travelling only when absolutely necessary. "We saw people are leaving Mumbai in large numbers. There are big crowds at the railway stations. We are speaking to railway officials that maximum number of trains should be made available so that people can leave the city easily and railway stations aren't crowded," said Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope. To avoid over crowding at railway stations in Mumbai, maximum number of trains have been deployed so people can leave the city immediately without risking the guidelines of social distancing. "We have more than 250 beds for isolation and more than 7000 ordinary beds at hospitals in the state," said Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope while appealing citizens to practice social distancing to curb the fast-spreading novel coronavirus. In its efforts to contain the novel coronavirus, Ola has suspended its share option until further notice. "In our efforts to ensure the well-being of our customers & driver partners during these challenging times,weve decided to suspend Ola Share until further notice. Our support teams are available 24/7 for any assistance," read the notice. "I would rather suggest to postpone the scheduled Census and related activities," Patnaik had said. Such an indication comes even as states have begun writing to the Centre seeking a review of the notified Census timeline. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik said all efforts of the state machinery were directed towards containment of the infection and mobilisation for Census and concerned activities posed a risk for field functionaries and the people. The NPR exercise was scheduled scheduled to kick off in central Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep and Meghalaya on 1 April. According to several media reports, Centre is likely to defer or advise states the 1 April launch of Census 2021 and National Population Register (NPR) update, in view of the situation arising out of the novel coronavirus. Earlier three residents from Sectors 100, 78 and 41 and one from Delhi been tested positive in Noida, according to officials. "During this period nobody would be allowed to get in or go out of the society except only in very essential cases. Everybody is requested to stay indoors," District Magistrate BN Singh stated in an order. The person stays in Supertech Capetown in Sector 74 and the district administration has announced a lockdown of the residential society, which has thousands of residents, from 10 am Saturday till 7 am on Monday for sanitisation, the officials said. One more person has tested positive for COVID-19 in Noida, taking the number of positive cases to five here, district officials said on Saturday. The government as well as medical experts have advised social distancing, and thereby avoiding large gatherings, as one of the major preventive measures. A total of 271 individuals have been confirmed positive among suspected COVID-19 cases and contacts of known positive cases, according to Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). "With a view to provide some degree of relief to the borrowers whose operations are impacted by COVID-19, it is decided to make available additional liquidity credit facilities to the eligible borrowers by way of ad-hoc facilities -- CECL to tide over the current crisis situation," the bank said in a circular to all branches. The loan will be offered at an interest rate of 7.25 percent with a tenure of 12 months. The additional liquidity facility COVID-19 Emergency Credit Line (CECL), will provide funds up to Rs 200 crore and will be available till 30 June, 2020, SBI said in a circular issued on Friday. Amid businesses getting affected due to the coronavirus pandemic, the country's largest lender State Bank of India has opened an emergency credit line to meet any liquidity mismatch for its borrowers. "It took me four days to book a flight back home. Many Israelis are stuck in India; there are 3000 Israelis who cannot go home. I hope the situation gets better," said Illa, an Israeli national at IGI airport. "It is very difficult situation here and our government should help us," said Irina, a Russian national at IGI airport. The Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport has barred all International flights for one week from 22 March onwards amid the coronavirus pandemic. Patients have been directed to the nearest dispensary or peripheral hospital. Appointments for the dates of routine or elective surgeries to be deferred by 2 to 3 weeks. No floor beds or sharing of beds shall be allowed. Inter-bed distance to be maintained to 1 meter in all wards. Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) chief Praveen Pardeshi ordered to avoid overcrowding major civic hospitals in the city, postpone routine surgeries, shut OPD dealing with hypertension, asthma, diabetes, thyroid, hematology, Geriatric etc. The ministry will hold an internal meeting on Saturday to firm up the action plan to deal with the crisis, she added. "I had a meeting with tourism ministry, MSME, civil aviation, animal husbandry sectors. These ministries presented assessment of their sector after consultation with their stakeholders.We had a detailed discussion in the presence of the Finance Secretary and Economic Affairs Secretary. We are compiling their suggestions," Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters in Delhi. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said an economic package for the coronavirus-affected sectors will be announced "as soon as possible". The minister, however, did not give any timeline by when the package will be unveiled. News agency PTI reported that the National Carrier will send a 787 Dreamliner aircraft to Rome on Saturday to evacuate Indians stranded in Rome amid the coronavirus crisis. The Air India flight will return with the Indian citizens from Rome on Sunday morning. From Sunday, the government has decided not to allow any international flight to land in India for a week. As the coronavirus crisis continued to affect every country, a special Air India flight will be sent to evacuate students or any stranded Indians in Rome and arrive back in Delhi on Sunday. Meanwhile, the Indian Council of Medical Research revised its strategy to fight the spread of the new coronavirus on Saturday, saying all hospitalised patients with severe acute respiratory illness, shortness of breath and having fever and cough will now be tested for COVID-19 infection. Greater Kashmir quoted Commissioner Secretary (Health) Rigzin Samphel as saying, "The samples of three more persons have tested positive for COVID-19 in Ladakh." Those affected include an army soldier as well. Three more persons tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Ladakh on Saturday, taking the total number of cases in the Union Territory to thirteen, officials said. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced the move on his social media platform and said that they have worked together with the WHO to get "authoritative information" about coronavirus sent directly to one's WhatsApp account. The World Health Organization (WHO) has created a health alert on WhatsApp to keep people aware and updated about the coronavirus pandemic and combat misinformation. The train was briefly detained and the couple was taken to a hospital. The coach was completely sanitised in Kazipet and was locked, officials said. When the train reached Kazipet in Telangana at 9.45 am a co-passenger noticed the quarantine mark authorities are putting on suspected coronavirus cases on the husband''s hand when he was wash his hands. Other co-passengers then informed the TTE on board the train, the national transporter said. A couple was deboarded from a Delhi-bound Rajdhani train on Saturday after co-passengers observed a home quarantine seal on the husband's hand, the Railways said Saturday. Officials said the Delhi-based couple boarded the Bangalore City-New Delhi Rajdhani at Secunderabad Saturday morning. "The IPA member companies are closely monitoring orders and inventories of medicines. With an adequate stock of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), finished product formulations and channel availability, we would be able to sustain the supply of medicines for the coming months. We are not aware of any medicines shortage, to date," the IPA said in a press statement. The IPA and its member companies are working with the Centre and state governments, Indian pharmaceutical industry associations and key stakeholders in the pharmaceutical supply chain to ensure that patients in India and the world continue to have access to medicines. The Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) is closely monitoring inventory and working with the government in the wake of the rapid spread of COVID-19, according to CNBC-TV18. "Minute precautions can make monumental impacts and save many lives. Saw this interesting video on social media. If you have such videos that can educate people and spread awareness on battling COVID-19, please do so using #IndiaFightsCorona," he tweeted. Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared a video on Twitter on Saturday which educates people about how to take minute precautions against coronavirus pandemic. which can make monumental impacts and save many lives. According to the ministry, the passengers came to India from Dubai last week. In an official statement, the Ministry said: "Railways has found that 4 passengers who traveled on Godan Express (Train 11055) from Mumbai to Jabalpur on 16 March have been tested positive for COVID-19. They came to India from Dubai last week. All concerned have been alerted to take necessary action." The Ministry of Railway on Saturday issued a statement that four passengers who traveled in Godan Express on 16 March have been tested positive for coronavirus. The train was destined to Jabalpur from Mumbai. The second patient, known as Case 212, was a 64-year-old Indonesian man with a history of heart disease. He reported the onset of symptoms on 9 March and had been hospitalised in a hospital in Indonesia for pneumonia. The woman, known as Case 90, was linked to the cluster at The Life Church and Missions Singapore. Two patients in Singapore have died from complications due to COVID-19, the first deaths in the country linked to the infection. The patients a 75-year-old Singaporean woman and 64-year-old Indonesian man died on Saturday morning, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has announced that all govt press conferences will be conducted digitally from now on. "All Delhi government press conferences will be conducted digitally now. Its very important that all journalists, who are on the forefront of our battle against Corona, also protect themselves as they are in a high exposure environment," he tweeted. So far, 63 persons have tested positive for coronavirus in the state. School Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad made this announcement. She said the new date would be announced later. The Maharashtra government on Saturday announced that the last paper of the SSC (Class 10) exam, which was scheduled to be held on Monday, has been postponed in view of the coronavirus outbreak. The person has been admitted in a designated isolated hospital for treatment, he said in a tweet. Details regarding the other two patients are still awaited. Earlier on Saturday, Health Minister B Sriramulu giving details about one positive case said, a 32-year old person from Gauribidanur in Chikkaballapura district, who has returned from Mecca has been confirmed for the infection. Three new COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in Karnataka, taking the total number ofinfections to 18, the state government said on Saturday. "In view of the of coronavirus outbreak, declared as 'Pandemic' by the World Health Organization and as a preventive measure to contain the spread of the virus in Kashmir Valley and subsequent the imposition of restrictions under Section 144 Crpc by the District Administration concerned, it is hereby ordered to suspend regular prayers in shrines / mosques affiliated with the Wakaf Board and displaying of Holy Relic (PBUH) on the occasion of Mehrai-ul-Alam (SAW) celebrations, the Wakf Board, said in an order, issued on Saturday. The Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Wakf Board on Saturday announced suspension of regular prayers at its affiliated mosques and shrines as a preventive measure to contain the fast-spreading COVID-19. The West Bengal government has postponed the Higher Secondary Examination, in wake of the novel coronavirus outbreak. "All exams are suspended till 27 April. Dates of rescheduling will be fixed after 15 April," ANI reported. Several unions including the Delhi Autorickshaw Sangh, Delhi Pradesh Taxi Union, Delhi Auto Taxi Transport Congress Union and Delhi Taxi Tourist Transport Association, have decided to join the curfew from 7 am to 10 pm on Sunday. Autos and taxis will be off roads in the National Capital on Sunday as several unions have extended support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for a 'Janta Curfew' in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. "The government has approved a contribution of $ 1 million to COVID-19 Emergency Fund as per the discussions in SAARC heads of nations VTC, believing in joint collaboration and strengthening partnership to fight this pandemic," ANI reported. The Afghan government has pitched in for the COVID-19 emergency fund for South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries which was envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Government and private organisations have announced stopping their services to follow a Janta Curfew on Sunday in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic after Prime Minister Narendra Modis appeal to the people of the country to stay at home for a day. Ahead of the 'Janat curfew' Sunday, public announcements were made via loudspeakers across localities in Bengaluru. Preventive measures such as social distancing were also discussed. "In the wake of Janta Curfew to be observed this Sunday i.e., on 22nd March 2020, DMRC has decided to keep its services closed. The move is aimed at encouraging the public to stay indoors and maintain social distancing, which is essential in the fight against Covid-19, Anuj Dayal, Executive Director, DMRC said in an official statement. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Friday announced the closure of metro services in the National Capital on 22 March keeping in mind the Janta Curfew declared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Maharshtra government has issued an advisory asking people to restrict the use of air conditioners in view of COVID-19 pandemic citing the reason that the virus can sneak in through the AC vents. The announcement was made by Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Saturday, quoting the World Health Organsiation guidelines which say that the virus can sneak in via AC vents, News18 reported. Prices for key crops like corn, soybeans, cotton and onions have plunged as much as 50 percent just as farmers prepare for harvest, putting paid to prospects for a rural economic rebound. After excessive rains damaged summer-sown crops in 2019, India was banking heavily on winter-sown crops to fuel a rebound in rural earnings. However, the coronavirus outbreak sent crop prices tumbling just as Asias third-biggest economy was expanding at its slowest pace in more than six years. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also ordered the immediate release of a months worth of food grain to about 1.67 crore people who have Antyodaya cards, MGNREGA cards, and also to construction workers and daily wage workers registered with the labour department, The Indian Express reported. In order to dampen the impact of shutdown-like situation on daily wage earners, who increasingly find themselves out of work as fear of the pandemic settles in, the Uttar Pradesh government Saturday launched a new scheme under which at least 20.37 lakh labourers will be given Rs 1,000 per month through Direct Benefit Transfer. In a health ministry breifing, reporters questioned the officials on three cases in India who have no reported history of foreign travel and only had history of domestic travel from Mumbai, Pune and Chennai respectively. The ministry officials, however, refused to call it a case of community spread and said efforts were on to trace their contact history. Uttar Pradesh government has banned all travel to Ayodhya till 2 April. The move comes amid rapid spread of coronavirus. Around 540 offences have been registered in Maharashtra for violating orders in place to stop the spread of novel coronavirus, officials said on Saturday. The violations include not observing lockdown, hiding or falsifying travel history, fleeing home quarantine, spreading rumours about the infection and advertising products with the aim of profiting from the outbreak, they said. Congress chief Sonia Gandhi today said, "A comprehensive sector wise relief package needs to be announced forthwith by the government including necessary tax breaks, interest subvention and deferment of liabilities. For the salaried class, government and the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) must consider a deferment of EMIs." He, however, added, "We are not going for any lockdown immediately, but if any such measure is in the interest of people, we will implement that as well." Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the restrictions, including shutting down of malls, restaurants and various other public spaces are causing severe financial stress to the poorer sections of the society and the government cannot afford to let people go hungry. "Those needing medical attention will be exempted. There are 135 suburban stations. Railways have reduced services by 35 to 40 per cent but we would like it come down further," PTI quotes Daund as saying. "All the people who are not related to emergency services should avoid unnecessary travel from railway. They will not be given the entry on the railway stations. The officials and staff involved in the emergency services will be verified based in their government identity card or appointment orders," states the order issued by Daund. Konkan Divisional Commissioner Shivaji Daund issed orders restricting travel on suburban local trains in Mumbai only for those engaged in essential services or those requiring medical aid, reported the Indian Express. It also includes four deaths reported from Delhi, Karnataka, Punjab and Maharashtra. Novel coronavirus cases in India rose to 315 Saturday after more than 60 fresh cases were reported in various parts of the country, PTI quotes the Union health ministry as saying. "Total number of confirmed cases so far in the country as on 21 March including foreign nationals is 315," the health ministry said late Saturday. "A total of 315 individuals have been confirmed positive among suspected cases and contacts of known positive cases," the ICMR said. The figure of 315 includes 39 foreign nationals, including 17 from Italy, three from the Philippines, two from the UK, one each from Canada, Indonesia and Singapore. The government of India has notified guidelines laid down by Indian Council of Medical Research for COVID-19 testing in Private labs. The maximum cost for testing sample should not exceed Rs 4,500. This may include Rs 1.500 as a screening test for suspect cases, and additional Rs 3,000 for contamination test, reports NDTV. The names of the lab which have been allowed to carry out the tests will be announced tomorrow, said the report. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has ordered a lockdown in the state from March 22-March 31. Apart from essential services, all governement and private offices, factories and even public transport shall remain closed in the state, he said. Assam recorded its first case with a four-and-a-half-year-old girl in Jorhat district with no travel history abroad testing positive, reports PTI. Jorhat Deputy Commissioner Roshni Aparanji Korati said the initial results from Jorhat Medical College and Hospital (JMCH) were positive and the samples have been sent to ICMR-RMRC laboratory at Lahowal in Dibrugarh district for a recheck. The state has so far reported 14 COVID-19 cases, with seven new cases on Saturday. Shops selling non-essential items will remain closed in the state's four largest cities till 25 March, while government offices will operate at half strength on a rotational basis till 29 March, the Gujarat government announced. The decision to lock down four cities was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.In Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, and Rajkot, shops and malls selling non-essential items will remain shut till Wednesday. Shops selling essential items like milk, vegetables, food items, medicines, medical equipment, as well as hospitals and laboratories, will remain open, said a government release. Essential services of municipal corporations, panchayat offices, internet-telephone, IT, banks, media houses, bank clearinghouses, ATMs, transport services, petrol pumps, shops selling food items, will continue to operate, it said. All positive cases in the state are persons with recent history of foreign travel, it said. Two persons in Noida also tested positive, said Vikasendu Agrawal, joint director/state surveillance officer, Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme, in a statement.As many as 162 'contacts', who have attended different parties in Lucknow with a COVID-19-positive patient, have been identified and contacted so far. The samples collected from them have tested negative, according to the statement. A girl who recently returned from France to Moradabad and two persons in Noida have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, taking the total number of confirmed cases in the state to 26, PTI quoted officials as saying. The student who came from France earlier this week was suffering from cough and cold. She was immediately rushed to a hospital and her sample was sent to a lab in Aligarh, where it tested positive for coronavirus on Friday, Moradabad Chief Medical Officer M C Garg told PTI. Italys tally of coronavirus cases and deaths continues to soar, with officials on Saturday announcing new day-to-day highs: 793 dead and 6,557 cases, reports AP. The country, at the heart of western Europes rampaging outbreak, now counts 53,578 known cases. More than 60 percent of the latest deaths occurred in the northern region of Lombardy, whose hospitals have been reeling under a staggering case load that has left intensive care beds hard to find and respirators in short supply. The Uttar Pradesh government said on Saturday that 10 out of 26 coronavirus patients who were undergoing treatment have recovered and were discharged. The total number positive cases in the state are 26 eight each in Agra and Lucknow, six in Noida, two in Ghaziabad, one each in Lakhimpur Kheri and Moradabad, said Vikasendu Agrawal, joint director/state surveillance officer, Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme, in a statement.Ten COVID-19 patients in the state have recovered fully and discharged from hospitals where they were admitted, the statement said. The West Bengal government has suspended all inter-state bus operations originating from the state from 12 midnight on 21 March till 31 March, reports ANI.. Inter state buses originating in the neighboring states shall not be allowed to enter the state till 31 March. "Those needing medical attention will be exempted. There are 135 suburban stations. Railways have reduced services by 35 to 40 per cent but we would like it come down further," PTI quotes Daund as saying. "All the people who are not related to emergency services should avoid unnecessary travel from railway. They will not be given the entry on the railway stations. The officials and staff involved in the emergency services will be verified based in their government identity card or appointment orders," states the order issued by Daund. Konkan Divisional Commissioner Shivaji Daund issed orders restricting travel on suburban local trains in Mumbai only for those engaged in essential services or those requiring medical aid, reported the Indian Express. It also includes four deaths reported from Delhi, Karnataka, Punjab and Maharashtra. Novel coronavirus cases in India rose to 315 Saturday after more than 60 fresh cases were reported in various parts of the country, PTI quotes the Union health ministry as saying. "Total number of confirmed cases so far in the country as on 21 March including foreign nationals is 315," the health ministry said late Saturday. "A total of 315 individuals have been confirmed positive among suspected cases and contacts of known positive cases," the ICMR said. The figure of 315 includes 39 foreign nationals, including 17 from Italy, three from the Philippines, two from the UK, one each from Canada, Indonesia and Singapore. Coronavirus Outbreak Updates: Novel coronavirus cases in India rose to 315 Saturday after more than 60 fresh cases were reported in various parts of the country. Italys tally of coronavirus cases and deaths continues to soar, with officials on Saturday announcing new day-to-day highs: 793 dead and 6,557 cases. The government of India has notified guidelines laid down by Indian Council of Medical Research for COVID-19 testing in private labs. The maximum cost for testing sample should not exceed Rs 4,500. This may include Rs 1.500 as a screening test for suspect cases, and additional Rs 3,000 for contamination test. The death toll from the new coronavirus has surpassed 5,000 in Europe, with Italy, Spain and Germany reporting a steep rise in infections. The overall global toll crossed 11,000 today. Meanwhile, India also recorded a steep rise in number of cases, with 283 people tested positive for the virus so far. Congress chief Sonia Gandhi today said, "A comprehensive sector wise relief package needs to be announced forthwith by the government including necessary tax breaks, interest subvention and deferment of liabilities. For the salaried class, government and the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) must consider a deferment of EMIs." Around 540 offences have been registered in Maharashtra for violating orders in place to stop the spread of novel coronavirus, officials said on Saturday. A day before the nationwide 'Janata curfew', the Odisha government announced a "near total" shutdown in five districts and eight other prominent towns for a week to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic. It will come into effect from Sunday morning, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said in a video message. In a health ministry breifing, reporters questioned the officials on three cases in India who have no reported history of foreign travel and only had history of domestic travel from Mumbai, Pune and Chennai respectively. The ministry officials, however, refused to call it a case of community spread and said efforts were on to trace their contact history. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Friday announced the closure of metro services in the National Capital on 22 March keeping in mind the Janta Curfew declared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to contain the spread of the coronavirus. "In the wake of Janta Curfew to be observed this Sunday i.e., on 22nd March 2020, DMRC has decided to keep its services closed. The move is aimed at encouraging the public to stay indoors and maintain social distancing, which is essential in the fight against Covid-19, Anuj Dayal, Executive Director, DMRC said in an official statement. Three new COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in Karnataka, taking the total number ofinfections to 18, the state government said on Saturday. Earlier on Saturday, Health Minister B Sriramulu giving details about one positive case said, a 32-year old person from Gauribidanur in Chikkaballapura district, who has returned from Mecca has been confirmed for the infection. The person has been admitted in a designated isolated hospital for treatment, he said in a tweet. Details regarding the other two patients are still awaited. The West Bengal government has postponed the Higher Secondary Examination, in wake of the novel coronavirus outbreak. "All exams are suspended till 27 April. Dates of rescheduling will be fixed after 15 April," ANI reported. The Ministry of Railway on Saturday issued a statement that four passengers who traveled in Godan Express on 16 March have been tested positive for coronavirus. The train was destined to Jabalpur from Mumbai. According to the ministry, the passengers came to India from Dubai last week. In an official statement, the Ministry said: "Railways has found that 4 passengers who traveled on Godan Express (Train 11055) from Mumbai to Jabalpur on 16 March have been tested positive for COVID-19. They came to India from Dubai last week. All concerned have been alerted to take necessary action." Three more persons tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Ladakh on Saturday, taking the total number of cases in the Union Territory to thirteen, officials said. Greater Kashmir quoted Commissioner Secretary (Health) Rigzin Samphel as saying, "The samples of three more persons have tested positive for COVID-19 in Ladakh." Those affected include an army soldier as well. According to several media reports, Centre is likely to defer or advise states the 1 April launch of Census 2021 and National Population Register (NPR) update, in view of the situation arising out of the novel coronavirus. The NPR exercise was scheduled scheduled to kick off in central Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep and Meghalaya on 1 April. A total of 23 people have been found to be infected with coronavirus in Uttar Pradesh. "Of the total cases, nine people have recovered. We have sufficient number of isolation wards in the state," said Yogi Adityanath while briefing the media on the state's preparedness on tackling the novel coronavirus. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has said that the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases has risen to 258. Of the total 258, 219 are Indian nationals and 39 are foreigners. Another new case of coronavirus has been reported in Gujarat after a 52-year-old man who returned from Sri Lanka tested positive in Vadodara. With this the number of infected individuals in the state has risen to eight. According to reports, the patient went to Sri Lanka and upon returning his health has been deteriorating. He was sent to SSG Government Hospital, Vadodara, and has been undergoing treatment since 18 March. The Indian Railways on Friday said it has cancelled 3,700 trains from Saturday midnight till Sunday 10 pm, in line with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal of a day-long curfew to contain the spread of coronavirus. On Thursday evening, Modi called for a peoples curfew on Sunday in a drastic step by his administration to prevent a surge in COVID-19 cases. In an address to the nation, Modi asked citizens to voluntarily stay indoors from 7 am till 9 pm. Suburban train services in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Secunderbad will be reduced to 'bare minimum', an official statement said. The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, has cancelled any hearings or meetings of the Court in March and at least until 16 April. It has also suspended all official travel of Members of the Court and Registry staff and decided to cancel all visits and to implement teleworking. These measures have been taken by the international court to reduce to a minimum the physical presence of staff at the Peace Palace, the seat of the ICJ. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday announced a lockdown in Mumbai, MMR region, Pune, Pimpri Chinchwad and Nagpur till 31 March. He further added that all offices will have to initiate work-from-home practice and if that is not possible then they will have to shut their offices. But he stated that there are no plan to stop local train, bus services in the state. He said that these stringent measures had to be put in force as people were not practicing social distancing. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Friday issued an advisory for hospitals and medical education institutions in the view of COVID-19. The ministry has asked hospitals to postpone non-essential elective surgeries. "Some beds should be set apart and prepared for creating isolation facilities in every public and private hospital. All hospitals should mobilize additional resources including masks, gloves and personal protection equipment. Healthcare personnel should be trained for dealing with any foreseeable emergencies," read the advisory. The ministry said that all doctors, nurses, and support staff in different specialties, including pre and para clinical departments, should be mobilised and trained in infection prevention and control practices. State governments and authorities across India ramped up efforts to carry out more tests and contact tracing while issuing and imposing restrictions on mass gathering and movement of people, as the total number of confirmed cases in India rose to 236, an increase of 63 cases. Across states, the police also joined efforts in ensuring that that prescribed quarantine is adhered to. While in some cases, the police shut down business establishments, a case was filed against Bollywood singer Kanika Kapoor in Uttar Pradesh for allegedly violating quarantine guidelines. Cases were also filed two against marriage halls in Aurangabad and in Kerala, four were arrested for roaming outside despite being advised home quarantine. As authorities took a stricter stand on Friday, new restrictions were imposed in some states to curb the spread of the virus. Some of the new restrictions announced on Friday curtailing the movement of people included the Maharashtra government ordering the closure of all working place in Mumbai, MMR Region, Pune, Pimpri Chinchwad and Nagpur till 31 March. In Thane, a ban was imposed on share autorickshaws, taxis and aggregator cabs to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. Meanwhile, following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for "social distancing" on Thursday, a senior district official in the town of Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh told Reuters that he expected the state government to call off the Ram Navami Mela, a major Hindu religious gathering in the temple town. Were expecting an official order in a couple of days and it will be in line with what our prime minister said yesterday in his address, said the senior official. The annual Ram Navami fair in Ayodhya brings millions of Hindus to the holy city. This year authorities were expecting a surge in numbers, as the foundation-laying ceremony of the grand Ram Temple was also expected to take place. Over 63 new cases recorded Among those found positive for coronavirus are 32 foreign nationals, including 17 from Italy, three from the Philippines, two from the UK, one each belonging to Canada, Indonesia, and Singapore. The figure also includes four deaths reported from Delhi, Karnataka, Punjab, and Maharashtra so far. "The total number of active COVID-19 cases across India stands at 196 so far," the ministry said, adding that 23 others have been cured/discharged/migrated while four have died. Delhi has, so far, reported 17 positive cases, which includes one foreigner, while Uttar Pradesh has recorded 23 cases, including one foreigner. While Karnataka has 15 coronavirus patients, the number of cases in Ladakh rose to 10 and Jammu and Kashmir four. Telangana has reported 17 cases, which include nine foreigners. Rajasthan has also reported 17 cases, including that of two foreigners. Gujarat has reported five cases so far. Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Uttarakhand have reported three cases each. West Bengal, Odisha, and Punjab each reported two cases while Puducherry, Chhattisgarh and Chandigarh reported one case each. In Haryana, there are 17 cases, which include 14 foreigners. "A total of 14,376 samples from 13,486 individuals have been tested for SARS-CoV2 as on March 20," Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) officials said. While health ministry recorded 28 cases for Kerala on Friday, the state government put the total number of confirmed cases at 37, stating it registered 12 new infections in a single day. "We need to be more careful and serious in dealing with this pandemic as there are 12 more cases in the state today. The positive cases of Ernakulam are the UK tourists, who travelled from Munnar earlier. One person is from Palakkad. He is a UK-returnee," Chief Minsiter Pinarayi Vijayan said, adding that a total of 44,390 people are under observation in the state. Of them, 44,165 are in home quarantine and 225 in isolation wards in various hospitals, the chief minister added. Maharashtra has 52 cases, including three foreigners. Of the fresh cases in Maharashtra, two are from Mumbai, while Pune and its neighbouring Pimpri Chinchwad account for one each. "Of the people undergoing treatment for COVID-19 at hospitals, 41 are asymptomatic, eight have minor symptoms, and two admitted in Kasturba hospital in Mumbai are critical," a state government release informed. According to the health department, 12 persons have, so far, tested positive in Pimpri-Chinchwad, nine in Pune, 11 in Mumbai, four in Nagpur, three each at Yavatmal, Navi Mumbai and Kalyan, two in Ahmednagar, and one each in Raigad, Thane, Ulhasnagar, Ratnagiri and Aurangabad. Of the 52 COVID-19 patients in the state, one died on 17 March, it added. It said 1,586 people arrived from Covid-19 affected areas, 281 are kept under observation, while 1,317 are admitted in isolation facilities for symptoms like cough, cold and fever. "Every day, we find 1-2 positive patients. Most have international travel history, and in 4-5 cases, we found contact history. Hence we are saying transmission in families and close contracts have started," said Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation deputy director (health), Daksha Shah. She stressed on quarantine, contact tracing and restrictions on mass gathering, as was done in places like Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan, to stall the exponential multiplication of Covid-19 cases. She said these measures will ensure the transmission of the disease does not move from stage 2 to stage 3. No community spread of coronavirus in India says Harsh Vardhan Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Friday that there was no community spread of coronavirus in the country and a defined protocol exists about who needs to go for a test. Answering during the question hour in Lok Sabha, the minister said the scientists in the country were doing their own research about coronavirus and were also in touch with their counterparts in other countries. "There is a very defined protocol about who needs to be tested," the minister said. He said those with symptoms and travel history need to go for tests and the ministry was also doing a detailed contact tracing. He said the infection was travelling from one person to another and "has not gone to the community". The minister said the Indian Council of Medical Research was doing tests to see if there was community spread. "Whatever test we are doing is with perfect scientific advice," he said. Self-distancing, quarantine remains a challenge The biggest challenge, however, was enforcing self-quarantine and "social distancing" as several reports showed that several people who are either suspected of having the virus or with a history of travels to the virus-affected countries and advised home quarantine, continued to violate the rules. Even after Modi stressed on the importance of social distancing in his nearly half an hour speech on Thursday, these reports showed that imposing "social distancing" and "self-quarantine" is likely to be a major challenge in combating the virus. Three such cases came to light on Friday. One included a singer in Uttar Pradesh who tested positive for the virus and, and another a bridegroom in Telangana who along with his family had to be persuaded into a quarantine facility in the state. Singer Kanika Kapoor had returned to India from London on 15 March, and test positive on Friday is said to have attended three parties after her return to Lucknow and had come in contact with around 400 families during the same. Kanika is among the four people who tested positive for novel coronavirus in the city on Friday, taking the total number of confirmed cases in Uttar Pradesh to 23 eight each in Agra and Lucknow, four in Noida, two in Ghaziabad, and another in Lakhimpur Kheri. According to News18, an FIR has been filed against the singer in Uttar Pradesh. In Telangana, the police had to persuade a Ramannapet resident, who had returned from France on 12 March and got married on Thursday to cancel a reception which was likely to be invited by around 1,000 guests. Though the medical team conducted tests on bridegroom's family members on Friday and did not find any symptoms of COVID-19, as a precautionary measure, he and his family members have been shifted to the Mahathma Gandhi Memorial Hospital for quarantine for a few days. Another such case came to light in Odisha, where a 19-year-old man who returned from the UK tested positive for coronavirus, the second confirmed case in the state. He is the son of the medical superintendent of AIIMS, Bhubaneswar. The man came in contact with 46 persons and 43 of them have been identified. Eight teams are now engaged in tracing the remaining three people. Economic package soon, says FM Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said an economic package for the coronavirus-hit sectors will be announced "as soon as possible". The minister, however, did not give any timeline by when the package will be unveiled. "I had a meeting with tourism, MSME, civil aviation, animal husbandry sectors. These ministries presented an assessment of their sector after consultation with their stakeholders. "We had a detailed discussion in the presence of the Finance Secretary and Economic Affairs Secretary. We are compiling their suggestions," she said after a four-hour meeting in Delhi. The ministry will hold an internal meeting on Saturday to firm up the action plan to deal with the crisis, she added. When asked by when the package will be announced, she said, "It will be difficult to give a timeline but it will be done as soon as possible." The finance minister also said the task force announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is yet to be constituted. Asked about relief measures for the financial sector, Sitharaman said, "SEBI has come up with a list of regulations which will also sort of keep the markets a bit stable. But I can't say what I am doing for the markets. At the moment, we are at a critical stage of collecting everybody's inputs and also the ministry is working in detail about all the inputs which have come." Global toll crosses 10,000 Worldwide, the death toll from COVID-19 passed 10,000 and infections exceeded 244,000, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally, AP reported. Italy recorded 627 deaths on Friday, its highest day-to-day-rise in the number of deaths of persons infected with COVID-19. The number of new cases also shot staggeringly higher at 5,986 cases. That brings the official total of new deaths overall to 4,032 and of cases to 47,021 in Italy, with 60 million citizens, exceeding the 3,248 in China, a country with a population over 20 times larger. Though the illness is mild in most people, the elderly are particularly susceptible to serious symptoms. Italy has the worlds second-oldest population, and the vast majority of its dead 87 percent were over 70. Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit, a virologist at Germany's Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, offered another reason for Italy's high death rate: That's what happens when the health system collapses." More than 86,000 people have recovered, mostly in China, but the pace is much slower than the spread of the virus. Recovery takes two weeks or so for mild cases but can be up to six weeks for those that turn serious, according to the World Health Organisation. Nations are imposing ever-stricter border controls and lockdowns to keep people at home and keep away outsiders, hoping to slow the spread of the virus while preparing for an onslaught of sick patients. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned of a looming global recession perhaps of record dimensions. In the US, the Donald Trump administration upgraded its already dire warning to Americans against all international travel, and the State Department announced new restrictions on the issuance of passports to US citizens. At home, the US Army prepared mobile military hospitals for deployment in major cities, and motorists waited in long lines for nurses to swab their nostrils at new US drive-thru testing sites. Deaths have reached at least 205 and New York City is rapidly becoming a US epicentre, with more than 4,000 cases. Iran accused the United States of helping spread the virus by retaining sanctions that prevent it from importing desperately needed medicine and medical equipment. In other words, while the US is trying to curb the virus internally, it is helping the spread of the virus externally," Iran's UN mission said in a statement. In a measure of how the fortunes of East and West have shifted, a Chinese Red Cross official heading an aid delegation to Milan castigated Italians for failing to take their national lockdown seriously. Sun Shuopeng said he was shocked to see so many people walking around, using public transportation and eating out in hotels. Right now we need to stop all economic activity, and we need to stop the mobility of people, he said. All people should be staying at home in quarantine. But globally, governments are trying to balance the need to lock down residents with the need to keep food, medicine and other essentials flowing. French President Emmanuel Macron urged employees to keep working in supermarkets, production sites, and other necessary businesses amid stringent restrictions of movement. We need to keep the country running, Macron said. With agency inputs SAN FRANCISCO, March 20, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hagens Berman urges investors in VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW) who have suffered significant to submit their losses now . Certain investors may have valuable claims. Relevant Holding Period: Before Feb. 28, 2020 Sign Up: www.hbsslaw.com/investor-fraud/VMW Contact An Attorney Now: VMW@hbsslaw.com 844-916-0895 VMware, Inc. (VMW) Investigation: The investigation centers on whether VMware may have misled investors about its financial results, including the Companys reported backlog and associated accounting and disclosures. In past quarters, VMware has touted its backlog, which the Company represents is comprised of unfulfilled purchase orders or unfulfilled executed agreements received at the end of a given period. VMwares backlog is an important metric to investors as it helps gauge the pace of the Companys sales and production efficiency. But, on Feb. 27, 2020, after the market closed, the Company announced disappointing Q4 results and disclosed that in Dec. 2019 the SEC requested documents and information related to VMwares backlog and associated accounting and disclosures. Significantly, on the Q4 2019 earnings call, VMware disclosed that its total backlog was only $18 million, down massively from $449 million in the year-ago quarter. This news sent the price of VMware shares sharply lower the next day. Were focused on investors losses and whether VMware may have manipulated its backlog metric, said Reed Kathrein, the Hagens Berman partner leading the investigation. Whistleblowers: Persons with non-public information regarding VMware should consider their options to help in the investigation or take advantage of the SEC Whistleblower program. Under the new program, whistleblowers who provide original information may receive rewards totaling up to 30 percent of any successful recovery made by the SEC. For more information, call Reed Kathrein at 844-916-0895 or email VMW@hbsslaw.com . About Hagens Berman Hagens Berman is a national law firm with nine offices in eight cities around the country and eighty attorneys. The firm represents investors, whistleblowers, workers and consumers in complex litigation. More about the firm and its successes is located at hbsslaw.com . For the latest news visit our newsroom or follow us on Twitter at @classactionlaw . By Express News Service NEW DELHI: A day after PM Narendra Modi called for a Janata Curfew on Sunday, Delhiites begun preparations to stock basic essentials such as vegetables and medicines in the event of a lockdown due to corona outbreak. People have been buying more vegetables to store for few days There has been a high demand. I had to get more stock from the mandi, said a vegetable vendor in South Delhi. Shopkeepers and local departmental stores have been appealing to people that there was not going to be shortage of goods, but panic seems to have taken over. Shop owner Devinder Rana (name changed) said he has been counselling every customer that they should not panic buy. I have been telling them to be calm as there is no shortage of good. I have an entire area in Lajpat Nagar which bought basic essentials including detergent, liquids, milk and bread from me...some people are worried after rumours about shortage (of essentials), Rana added. COVID-19 LIVE | Himachal, MP report first cases as India tally crosses 250 While some residents have stocked vegetables, some are more concerned about the medicine. Were trying not to panic as there are more people in need but these are testing times, said Amrita Lakhani, a resident. The overriding panic and gloom can be understood given that the people are worried despite the Delhi government asking the administration to take strict action against anyone hoarding essentials. Presently, we are doing everything to make the people aware about the disease. We will be raiding essential goodstores and other places to keep a check. We have been ordered to take strict action against those hoarding goods, District Magistrate, Central District, Nidhi Srivastava told this newspaper. GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Grand Rapids Community College students suffering from food insecurity can pick up bags of food beginning Tuesday, March 24 for at least the next three weeks. Given the calls for social distancing as the coronavirus (COVID-19) spreads, GRCC is offering drive-by pickups rather than people going into the campus food pantry. There will be three food distribution opportunities -- one per week for the next three weeks -- with the prepackaged grocery provided on a first-come, first-served basis. We know many students struggle to buy healthy food and other essentials, and those challenges will only increase as businesses close their doors during the crisis, said Lina Blair, GRCCs director of Student Life and Conduct. Before the layoffs and closures prompted by the spread of the infectious disease, students were already on track to use the food pantry in the student center more than past years. Last academic year, 87 students used the pantry and as of January,78 students had taken advantage of the free food and other products. During the pandemic, food will be delivered through curbside pickup on Lyon Street at the brick-paved portion of the north end of Juan R. Olivarez Student Plaza. Much of the food has been donated by GRCC employees as well as the Secchia Institute for Culinary Education and GRCC Campus Dining. The distribution dates and times are: Tuesday, March 24, from 4-6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 1, from noon to 2 p.m. Monday, April 6, from 10 a.m. to noon. We care deeply about our students and want to help. There are things we can do as a campus community, and we also can connect our students with other resources that can assist them through a variety of struggles, Blair said. The Student Life team is listing other food resources in Kent and Ottawa counties for students on the GETHELP website, grcc.edu/gethelp. Student Life is collaborating with other campus groups that have been part of a Campus Action Project. GRCC closed its Grand Rapids and Lakeshore campuses on Wednesday, March 18 because the coronavirus, except for a limited number employees. On March 11, the college suspended face-to-face instruction March 11 and switched to online learning like all of Michigans public higher education institutions. The webpage is frequently updated, and includes links to resources for mental health, child care, Internet service, utilities and other challenges. The food pantry is available while the campus is closed. The pantry is designed to meet the immediate food needs of students by providing a variety of non-perishable food items and basic necessities to students and their families. People also can support the food pantry by donating the Grand Rapids Community College Foundation. Using the online donation page, look for the designation drop-down menu, and select Student Food Pantry or Student Emergency Fund. Since 2016, the college has increased efforts to support those students feeling insecure about where to find the next meal. Thats when a student survey revealed the level of food insecurity on campus. Forty-five percent or 193 of the 428 that completed the survey scored "low security'' or "very low security'' for food. In January, the prices at Grand Rapids Community Colleges Raider Grill and Sneden Cafe were reduced this to become more affordable for students. Besides the longtime food pantry, students in 2018 also had access to free "Grab and Go'' snack sites throughout campus. More on MLive: Complete coverage at mlive.com/coronavirus Evictions must halt amid coronavirus outbreak, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer orders Ferris State cancels May commencement amid coronavirus concerns Second medical marijuana shop opens in Grand Rapids For 11 years, top American lawyer Bradley Edwards made it his lifes mission on behalf of countless young women victims to put Jeffrey Epstein behind bars. Now in a compelling new book, entitled Relentless Pursuit, stories from which we are featuring over three weeks, he tells how he brought the sociopath with unlimited wealth to justice Virginia Roberts was a striking 16-year-old with drive and a determination to improve herself. She was doing just that reading a book on a bench one lunchtime outside Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. Her father, who worked at the club as a maintenance man, had helped her to get a job there that summer of 1999 as a towel girl in the womens changing rooms. Suddenly, the teenager was approached by a smartly dressed and rather charming woman. A British accent added to the sense of allure. The woman showed an interest in the book Virginia was reading on massage therapy, as it happened and wasted no time telling her that she could get her a job with a billionaire friend who owned a house just around the corner. 'Sex slave': Virginia Roberts, pictured in Australia in 2011, met Jeffrey Epstein in 1999. She was a striking 16-year-old with drive and a determination to improve herself Virginias reaction was disarmingly honest, telling the well-spoken stranger that she knew little about massage and was merely interested to learn about it as a potential career. This didnt matter, said the woman: she and the billionaire friend would teach Virginia anything she needed to know. Im Ghislaine. See you tonight, she added, handing over Epstein's address. This, of course, was Ghislaine Maxwell, daughter of disgraced media tycoon Robert Maxwell. Virginias head was spinning. A girl from a family where money had always been a struggle was really about to start working for a billionaire? She ran to her father, excited. Someone thought she was important. This was her chance and she couldnt let it slip. For Virginia, as I was to learn when I became her lawyer, had endured a difficult childhood. As a teenager, her parents had put her in a home for troubled girls but she ran away to Miami. There, she had been groomed by a man almost 50 years her senior who was running a prostitution racket. After a brief involvement with the police, her parents rescued her and got her the job at Mar-a-Lago. I first met Virginia in 2014, after taking on the case of a 20-year-old girl called Courtney Wild who had been sexually assaulted by Jeffrey Epstein. Having listened to Courtneys testimony, my blood pressure rose. This man needed to be stopped. At first, the case sounded easy. It was anything but. Over the course of 11 years, the investigation took me all over the United States and beyond. Virginia Roberts, I discovered, was one of countless young girls involved with Epstein and had begun a civil lawsuit against him. She had been to his house in New York (one of the largest townhouses in Manhattan), his ranch in New Mexico (which had its own airplane runway), his apartment in Paris, and his private island in the US Virgin Islands, Little Saint James (which was nicknamed Little Saint Jeffs). She had travelled the world with Epstein and was a true insider with detailed knowledge of the structure of his organisation. She held the key to building a water-tight case against him and putting him where he belonged behind bars. David Boies, representing several of Epstein's alleged victims, centre, arrives with Annie Farmer, right, and Virginia Giuffre, alleged victims of Epstein, second left, in New York in 2019 I found Virginia to be a powerful woman who would not scare easily or be bullied by anyone. She recounted how her father had driven her that evening in 1999 to Epsteins palatial Palm Beach mansion at El Brillo Way. Too naive to be scared, Virginia hopped out of the car and went to the front door boiling with excitement, ready to learn. She was pinching herself to remember that this wasnt just a dream. Jeffrey has been waiting to meet you, said Maxwell as she greeted her at the door, before heading up the stairs. Follow me. Virginia was taken to a bedroom, where Maxwell instructed her on every aspect of how to perform a massage, from the location and placement of the oils to the length of time she would need to spend on each portion of the body. Then, standing by the massage table, Virginia turned to look and saw an older man walking in her direction wearing only a towel and a big, childish grin. Im Jeffrey, he said, before lying down. Maxwell and Jeffrey seemed almost giddy while asking Virginia questions about her life and her future, interspersed with Maxwells instructions on how to give a proper massage. The older woman wasted little time before stripping off all her clothes and telling Virginia to do the same. Epstein then sexually assaulted Virginia. Doesnt that feel good? he asked. She wasnt sure what to think and definitely wasnt sure what to say. Yet such was Maxwells confidence that Virginia simply assumed this was the way massages were performed in the world of the rich and famous. That she should, in other words, get with the programme or get another job. You did great. He really loved you, Maxwell told Virginia afterwards. Can you come back tomorrow? Of course, Virginia responded. But her mind was still whirling and she spent the rest of the night crying in the bathroom of her parents house. What had just happened? Was everyone like this guy? Yet she also knew that Epstein had just paid her more money than she had been paid in her entire life for no more than an hour of her time. By the time she was 17, Virginia was travelling around with this billionaire and Maxwell, part of what Virginia called their dysfunctional family. She was interacting mostly as a sex slave with powerful people. If she wasnt servicing Epstein, Virginia was being made to please one of his friends. Maxwell called Epsteins girls her children, referring to herself as mother hen. She was the one who knew what Epstein liked. Sex seemed vital to Epsteins survival. As another of his victims, Johanna, told me: He needed to have three orgasms a day. It was biological, like eating. Epstein had a particular type of girl. The younger the better. White. No tattoos. No piercings. No pregnancies. The girls had to look pure. Once, Courtney Wild brought an African-American girl to Epsteins house. He took Courtney inside and left the other girl outside. He handed Courtney $200 and said: Do not ever do that again. Maxwell taught Virginia all the skills she needed to keep him happy. Those included how to act in front of important and powerful people, how to dress, how to hold her knife and fork, and, of course, how to please him and his friends sexually. Epstein pictured with Maxwell. The most seemingly outrageous claim that Virginia made during our interviews was that she was taken by Epstein and Maxwell to London Maxwell, an elegant figure whose social circle included not just leading business figures but members of the Royal Family, was the one woman whom Epstein appeared to treat as an equal. She was a chameleon, blending in with high and low society as it suited. The most seemingly outrageous claim that Virginia made during our interviews was that she was taken by Epstein and Maxwell to London, where she was lent out to Prince Andrew, the Duke of York. During my first conversation with Virginia, I asked her to provide proof of some of her allegations. She sent me the directions she had been given to Epsteins home as well as travel and hotel receipts charged to Epsteins card. Not long afterwards, Virginia showed me a photograph of herself, aged 17, wedged in between Maxwell and Andrew. She said it was taken by Epstein in Maxwells apartment in London in 2001. Of all the people she claimed to have been introduced to and made to have sex with, the Duke of York sounded the most preposterous. Yet here was a picture of the two of them arm in arm, smiling like a happy pair out for the night even though hes 23 years her senior. It was further confirmation of an extraordinary sex abuse enterprise that I was discovering went far beyond what was uncovered in Florida. I knew that Epstein was addicted to sex with children and had assistants scheduling multiple appointments per day with different girls. He travelled all the time, all over the world, with the same assistants, who clearly knew what he was up to. While there had not been any evidence of Prince Andrew spending time at Epsteins Palm Beach house while young girls were upstairs with Epstein, witnesses had confirmed that the billionaire and the Prince were close friends. Next, I obtained evidence of at least one more encounter between Andrew and Epstein. Another of his victims, Johanna, said she vividly remembered seeing Andrew at Epsteins New York mansion. She described how Virginia was sitting on one of Andrews knees and Johanna herself was sitting on the other. While the two girls were in his lap, Ghislaine Maxwell took out a puppet figure of Andrew and placed the puppets hand on Virginias breast, at which point Andrew placed his hand on Johannas breast. Everyone laughed. Pursuing Epstein on behalf of his victims became my life mission. Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, an elegant figure whose social circle included members of the Royal Family, pictured attending Batman Forever on June 13, 1995, in New York City He was an intellectually gifted sociopath with unlimited wealth who lived a virtually unconstrained life. The rules he and those in his fold lived by were his own. The problem was that his rules didnt account for laws. Epstein had amassed extensive political and worldly connections. For decades, he used his tremendous fortune to sexually exploit women and girls, some as young as 14. Our team was working hard to stay focused on what mattered to secure a conviction. Virginia had important revelations that should not be silenced. While Epstein and his entourage were looking to shut her down, she was determined to be heard. Because Virginia liked Amy Robach, of the ABC network, we chose her and flew with Virginia to New York in April 2015 for the taping of an interview in which she would set down her full story. The interview was powerful. In fact, we were told it was one of the best interviews anyone had seen and would air on Good Morning America. The Epstein organisation was finally going to be exposed. But after being strung along for weeks, we were told that because Virginia talked about her interactions with Prince Andrew, the network had to seek comment from the Royal Family and from an attorney for Epstein, since nearly the entire story discussed the inner workings of his sex-trafficking organisation. For some reason, both presented a problem for ABC. We were not told much other than the network was scared it would lose access to the Royal Family if it aired the interview. For whatever reason, the interview never made it on screen, which deeply frustrated Amy Robach. More than four years later, after Epsteins sexual abuse was widely reported, Amy expressed her frustration: Ive had the story for three years. Ive had this interview with Virginia Roberts. We would not put it on the air. I was told the Palace found out that we had her whole allegation about Prince Andrew and threatened us in a million different ways. We were so afraid we wouldnt be able to interview Kate [Middleton] and [Prince] Will. That also quashed the story. While Virginia Roberts was travelling the world with Epstein and Maxwell, she had a boyfriend one much closer in age called Tony. He didnt ask many questions, even though he knew what was going on. Virginia had told him, for example, that she didnt wish to sleep with Prince Andrew but that it was necessary if they were to maintain their lifestyle. There came a time, however, when life inside Epsteins debauched world became too much for even a strong soul such as her. Epstein pictured in 2017, in a file photo provided by the New York State Sex Offender Registry At the age of 19, when she had been involved in the sex cult for over two years, Epstein and Maxwell came up with a proposal that turned her stomach: they wanted her to carry his baby. They told Virginia she would be taken care of for the rest of her life if she would agree to give Epstein and Maxwell a child, although there were some strings attached. In particular, she would have to sign a contract agreeing that the baby was not her own, but the legal child of Epstein and Maxwell. It was the final straw. She couldnt bear the thought of Epstein and Maxwell raising her child. She knew she had to escape. Her chance came during a trip to Thailand. At Epsteins direction, Virginia had been dispatched there to pick up a young girl, interview her, and let Epstein know if she was qualified. But rather than meet the girl Virginia recognised her chance to escape. She went into town and met a man from Australia who fell in love with her and promised to take care of her. She married him days later, hopped on a plane with him to Australia, and never looked back. She hid in Australia for nearly ten years, during which time she had three children. Over 11 years, I represented more than 30 victims in lawsuits and claims against Epstein and in the end, justice was finally served. He was arrested. But he convinced a psychologist to let him off suicide watch. Of course he did. He could convince anyone of anything. He was the most notorious child molester on the planet. He had fallen overnight from a jet-setting billionaire who controlled everyone around him to a caged animal at the mercy of prison guards and inmates. All signs indicated a high risk for suicide. A month later, he was found hanging in his cell. Hed escaped responsibility once again. Even though he died, the story of Jeffrey Epsteins crimes should not. I owe it to the brave women, such as Virginia Roberts, who came forward to seek justice, to share what really happened. Bradley J Edwards, 2020 By The Mail on Sunday, based on Relentless Pursuit: My Fight For The Victims Of Jeffrey Epstein, by Bradley J Edwards, published by S&S on March 31, priced at 20. Offer price 16 (20 per cent discount) until April 30. To preorder, go to mailshop.co.uk or call 01603 648155. Free delivery on all orders no minimum spend Bizarre reason Jeffrey told me Prince couldnt have had bath with teenager During our investigation of Jeffrey Epstein, he called me several times to arrange meetings. The first occasion was in the autumn of 2015. I was sitting at lunch with two of my law partners when I got a call on my mobile phone that showed the incoming number as 0000000000. I had never seen a phone number come up like that, so I walked outside and answered the call. Brad, its Jeffrey. Lets meet face to face. When I asked why, he responded: I want to see if theres a way for us to finally get divorced from one another. This was his way of implying that he wanted to find a way to resolve all cases that involved him. The call told me he was concerned. We arranged to meet the next morning at a Starbucks in Boca Raton, Florida. Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, with Virginia Roberts, aged 17, at Ghislaine Maxwell's apartment in London. The photo was developed in March 2001 Yes, this was unusual. But things between us were far beyond anything lawyers could fix. It was just gamesmanship, part of an eight-year legal chess game between a genius sociopath and me, a lawyer in the business of playing legal chess against bad guys. I showed up to the Starbucks first. Epstein appeared wearing his customary grey sweatpants and blue suede slippers with the collar turned up on his monogrammed polo shirt. We talked for an hour about our philosophical differences, our factual and legal disagreements. He thought female sexual availability should be determined by biology and not established by arbitrary social norms or the law. Under his law, science was all that mattered. Pre-pubescence, therefore, was where he drew the line. According to Epstein, the age of consent, if dictated by anything other than biology, was arbitrary which was a word signifying that it should have no application in any aspect of his life. How could a female whose body was able to bear children not be given the choice to perform the acts necessary to give birth? In his own twisted ideology, he thought he was invincible. He basically said as much. He loved to name-drop to let me know how important and protected he was. The more we talked, the clearer certain things about him became. He was a very torn soul. He wanted to resolve his legal problems, all of which stemmed from his sexually deviant behaviour, but he didnt really want to change that behaviour. He loved to make jokes that were particularly inappropriate for the situation. He said something along the lines of, Brad, lets put our heads together and figure out how we can massage the narrative to make it more fair to me, before staring at me and pausing. Then he added: My kind of massage, of course. The Duke of York with Emily Maitlis, who interviewed him for a BBC Newsnight special. Prince Andrew has repeatedly and strenuously denied Miss Robertss claims These types of childish statements were irresistible for Epstein. He would snicker afterwards, expecting a reciprocal laugh. While at Starbucks, Jeffrey looked at me and said: You know, some of what Virginia [Roberts] is saying isnt right. What part? I asked. Didnt Virginia say she and Ghislaine had a threesome with Prince Andrew over in Ghislaines apartment in London? He was clearly trying to embellish things to make her appear unbelievable. I corrected him: No. She didnt say anything about a threesome, but now that you bring it up, she did say that she was with you and Ghislaine at the apartment in London when Prince Andrew came over and stayed the night. You instructed her to entertain him. Theres even a picture to prove most of that. He said: Theres a problem. Now I remember. She said she took a bath with Andy. If I could show you how small Ghislaines bath was in that apartment, it would be tough for two people to fit. This seemed like a weak point to force. How about the threesomes with you and Ghislaine where Virginia was made to dress up as a Catholic schoolgirl and sometimes in latex outfits, I said. That certainly doesnt seem far-fetched given that Juan Alessi [Epsteins former housekeeper] testified about Ghislaines sex toys and we know you particularly enjoy the schoolgirls in uniform. He smirked and said: Does Ghislaine look like my type to you? Dont you know me better by now? He loved to make comments like that, poking fun at the fact that he was attracted to young girls, a category into which Ghislaine Maxwell did not fall. There is no way they will prosecute me Trump is my friend During the summer of 2009, we began seeking information from those who had reportedly been close friends of Epstein, including Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, and I issued subpoenas demanding that they tell us what they knew. The first of Epsteins powerful friends to respond in a meaningful way was Trump. He explained that he was a business acquaintance of Epstein from many years earlier. He said the two had attended many of the same events and parties, but that he was not as close with Epstein as the media had made it seem. I reminded Trump that he had been quoted in a 2002 New York magazine article stating: Ive known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy. Hes a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it Jeffrey enjoys his social life. Close: Donald Trump posing with future wife Melania, Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at the Mar-a-Lago club in Florida in 2000 Trump had an answer for this, saying when that article was being written, Epstein called him to say he needed people to say nice things. So hed asked Trump if he would attribute the quote written by Jeff himself as his own words. As it was long before the allegations of Epsteins abuse surfaced, Trump had agreed. Trump did say that he always saw Epstein around younger girls, but to his knowledge, none was under age. He said Epstein was not secretive about his lifestyle and whether it was at a party, a private event, or a public event, there were always multiple young women at his side. I asked about a rumour that Trump had expelled Epstein from the Mar-a-Lago club for trying to take the 15-year-old daughter of a member home with him. Trump paused before saying that something along those lines happened, but he could not recall the exact details. He had not spoken with Epstein in years, he said. The last time he remembered seeing Epstein personally was one day when he went to Epsteins house in Palm Beach for a business meeting, and that was before Epsteins legal troubles came to light. Trump recalled he had seen young women who, Epstein explained, were part of a mentoring-type programme that he was involved in. Trump admitted this was odd and then quickly said to me: The guy was always strange. Even back when I ran into him more, I never really liked him. I met Trump again in 2015, when he again maintained that his relationship with Epstein was primarily based on business. Over the next few years, I spoke to several witnesses who told us that they had been introduced by Epstein to Trump. Some had seen him at Epsteins office, others at one of Epsteins homes, at parties or social events, and even on his plane. In fact, Epstein bragged to certain young women in his life about how he had bailed Trump out of bankruptcy and how he was indebted to him. Last year, I saw a 1992 video of Epstein and Trump together, suggesting that they were closer social friends than I had been made to understand. I spoke to several witnesses, some of whom said they had been introduced by Epstein to Trump. Some had seen him at Epsteins office, others at one of Epsteins homes, at parties or social events, and even on Epsteins plane. And Epstein was happy to use his name when trying to pressure me into dropping the legal action. There is no way they will prosecute me, he said. This will go all the way up to the Attorney General. You know Trump was my friend and [Attorney General William] Barr is his boy. That said, whether Trump was ever a closer friend than he let on was of no real concern to me. None of the people I interviewed who had met Trump through Epstein claimed that he had engaged in any improper sexual activity, nor did they say that Trump was around when minors were present. VALLEJO (BCN) A 26-year-old Vallejo man was arrested Friday morning who police said carjacked a victim he had met through a sales computer app. Police said Oscar Molina was booked into the Solano County Jail in Fairfield on suspicion of carjacking, possession of a firearm by a felon and probation violation after his l, tried Police said Molina had lured the victim to the parking lot in the 600 block of Broadway by advertising a watch for sale on the Offerup app. The victim drove his pickup truck to that lot and waited for Molina, police said. Molina soon arrived, police said, and got into the victim's truck. Molina then pointed a semi-automatic pistol at the victim and said, "Give me the money!" The victim, fearing for his life, surrendered his keys and called 911. Police said Molina then drove off with the victim's truck, which had a trailer attached. Police soon found Molina in the 1800 block of Santa Clara Street. Molina fled, and officers chased him down and Tasered him. Officers recovered the victim's stolen vehicle and found the handgun in the truck. A search of Molina also revealed approximately 10 grams of heroin. "OfferUp"-type scams involving online sales of personal property are common throughout the East Bay, and police encourage our citizens to meet in front of police stations when making such a transaction. Copyright 2020 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. US Defence Secretary Mark Esper on Friday held a telephonic conversation with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and praised India's COVID-19 initiative for SAARC countries, the Pentagon said. The two leaders discussed the COVID-19 pandemic and underscored their commitment to close communication during this period in order to maintain momentum on initiatives that reinforce their comprehensive global partnership, the Pentagon said in a readout of the call. "During the call, the two leaders also discussed bilateral defense priorities, including the ongoing regional cooperation and initiatives to enhance military-to-military engagement and defense trade," it said. Esper expressed his appreciation for India's leadership in coordinating COVID-19 related relief efforts among South Asian countries and conveyed his intent to visit India at the earliest opportunity, the Pentagon said. In the wake of the coronavirus crisis, Esper had postponed his scheduled travel to India this month. He has been roped in by President Donald Trump to combat the coronavirus that has so far infected more than 13,000 Americans claimed 230 lives. Also read: Donald Trump signs multi-billion dollar coronavirus aid package Also read: 'Janata curfew' to $1,000 in every bank account: How countries are fighting COVID-19 An outbreak of the coronavirus that has killed 28 people in the West Midlands has been linked to a church attended by a worshipper who did not realise they were a carrier. Yesterday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced that the West Midlands was exploding as a coronavirus hotspot, alongside London. There have been 28 fatalities from COVID-19 in the region, with nine at one NHS trust. Two of the fatalities have been connected to a church where a congregant had continued to attend services, not realising they had been infected with the novel coronavirus, the Times reported. People wear a protective face masks as they walk past the Library of Birmingham in central England today, a day after the British government said it would help cover the wages of people hit by the coronavirus outbreak as it tightened restrictions to curb the spread of the disease Social distancing lines in operation on the floor of a McDonalds restaurant in Birmingham in central England today Empty Bullring shopping centre in Birmingham during Coronavirus outbreak March 21 2020. Two fatalities have been connected to a church in the West Midlands (not pictured), which a congregant continued to attend, not knowing they had been infected with COVID-19 Another source understood that the virus was only detected in one of the patients after their death, the Times reported. They went on to say the congregation is made up of 'people in their eighties', vulnerable from working in 'heavy industry in the Black Country'. 'Full of smog, doing heavy engineering,' they told the Times. Yesterday, the Health Secretary confirmed the West Midlands is emerging as another coronavirus hotspot in Britain, alongside London. Pictured: Pensioners queuing at the Iceland supermarket in Harborne, Birmingham Pictured: Empty Bullring shopping centre in Birmingham during Coronavirus outbreak today Twenty-one infected patients have died at hospitals ran by three neighbouring NHS trusts in the vicinity of Birmingham. They include the Royal Wolverhampton Trust, which has recorded nine fatalities - the highest death toll of any NHS hospital organisation in the UK. Health Secretary Matt Hancock admitted the Government was looking 'very, very closely' at why so many patients had died in the West Midlands. A sparse number of shoppers at Birmingham Bull Ring market on March 19, 2020 in Birmingham, United Kingdom A empty restaurant in the Bull Ring Shopping Centre on Thursday in Birmingham, United Kingdom Twelve more deaths have been recorded at two other NHS hospital groups near to the Royal Wolverhampton Trust. NHS England have confirmed seven fatalities at the Dudley Group Foundation Trust and five at the West Birmingham Hospitals Trust. Of the 135 deaths recorded across the whole of England, 34 are known to be in the Midlands the equivalent of 25 per cent of all deaths. A market stall owner sells protective masks at Birmingham Bull Ring market on Thursday in Birmingham, United Kingdom. Only London which has four times more cases than any other region in England has had more coronavirus fatalities (51). Eight of those have been at the Barts Health Trust, while three separate trusts across the capital have confirmed six each. The South East has recorded 21 deaths, while two patients have died in the South West and three victims have been announced in the East. Ten coronavirus deaths have been confirmed in the North West, as well as five in the North East and Yorkshire region. Across the home nations, six patients have died in Scotland, three in Wales and one in Northern Ireland. Mr Hancock told Sky News the Government is looking 'very, very closely' at why there is a coronavirus hotspot in the West Midlands. And he suggested that tougher measures could have to be brought in if people do not follow the Governments advice. He told the BBCs Breakfast programme: 'What I can say is that if people follow the advice, stay home, which saves lives, and if they keep apart from others - more than two metres, more than six foot - then we can tackle this and we can turn the tide.' The Health Service Journal, which reported on the cluster of deaths in the West Midlands, claimed the cause of the spike has yet to be identified. Hospital sources suggested the patients had mostly been the elderly or those with underlying health conditions. Dr Rachel Clarke, a palliative care doctor, made a plea to Matt Hancock on Twitter NHS DOCTOR BEGS PM TO SHUT PUBS AS SHE WARNS INTENSIVE CARE BEDS ARE NEARING CAPACITY A palliative care doctor today issued an impassioned plea to Mr Hancock, claiming London's intensive care beds are nearing capacity. Dr Rachel Clarke, from Oxfordshire, called on Mr Hancock to intercede and ask Boris Johnson to shut London's pubs down. In a dramatic call to action, she tweeted: 'Matt, we wont pull through without action. We need pubs, clubs & bars to be closed immediately. 'Londons ITU beds are nearing capacity. London needs lockdown - now. If you care about humanity, then please - please - get the prime minister to act.' Dr Clarke, who called Mr Johnson a 'one-man public health comms disaster', added: 'I am literally begging you.' It comes after toilet roll and food stocks were delivered to Downing Street yesterday as the prospect of a London lock down moved closer. The bustling capital is known to be the epicentre of the UK's crisis, with a third of the UK's cases confirmed among the nine-million inhabitants. The government has insisted London will not be completely cut off from the rest of the country, with 'zero' prospect' of trains in and out of the capital being axed. And it said there are 'no plans' to shut down the Tube system entirely, although some services have been pared back. The PM's spokesman also insisted it is 'not true' that only one person from each household will be allowed to leave their homes. Advertisement A palliative care doctor today issued an impassioned plea to Mr Hancock, claiming London's intensive care beds are nearing capacity. Dr Rachel Clarke, from Oxfordshire, called on Mr Hancock to intercede and ask Boris Johnson to shut London's pubs down. In a dramatic call to action, she tweeted: 'Matt, we wont pull through without action. We need pubs, clubs & bars to be closed immediately. 'Londons ITU beds are nearing capacity. London needs lockdown - now. If you care about humanity, then please - please - get the prime minister to act.' Dr Clarke, who called Mr Johnson a 'one-man public health comms disaster', added: 'I am literally begging you.' It comes after toilet roll and food stocks were delivered to Downing Street yesterday as the prospect of a London lock down moved closer. The bustling capital is known to be the epicentre of the UK's crisis, with a third of the UK's cases confirmed among the nine-million inhabitants. The government has insisted London will not be completely cut off from the rest of the country, with 'zero' prospect' of trains in and out of the capital being axed. And it said there are 'no plans' to shut down the Tube system entirely, although some services have been pared back. The PM's spokesman also insisted it is 'not true' that only one person from each household will be allowed to leave their homes. It comes after MailOnline yesterday revealed the UK's coronavirus outbreak is one of the fastest escalating epidemics in Europe. Almost 700 people were diagnosed with the virus on March 18 in the UK, more than in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Austria or Denmark. This was 35 per cent more than the previous day, when there were 407 cases, and meant the total toll had almost doubled in two days from 1,523 to 2,626. Another surge of cases saw the total number of patients in the UK surpass 3,200 yesterday. Hundreds more are expected today. Only Italy, Spain, France and Germany are seeing faster growth but they all have significantly higher numbers of cases each with at least 7,000 cases each. Switzerland, which has a comparable number of patients to the UK, saw just 450 new cases between Tuesday and Thursday whereas Britain has had 1,083. Prime Minister Boris Johnson this week acknowledged the epidemic was entering its 'fast growth phase' and scientists have said Britain and other countries are just weeks behind Italy, which is in the grip of the worst outbreak outside of China. Three more people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Laredo, according to the city. This brings Laredos total up to four cases; none are hospitalized and all are in quarantine with mild symptoms, according to Laredo Health Department Director Dr. Hector Gonzalez. READ MORE: Laredos workforce among the most at risk during coronavirus pandemic The citys second case had intimate contact with the first positive case; they worked together at the Hillside Recreation Center, Gonzalez said. She is also a teacher aid at Dovalina Elementary School and is a student at TAMIU, the doctor said. Gonzalez said they are conducting contact investigations with 20-25 students and faculty who were possibly in contact with this latest case. And Laredo ISD spent most of the day contacting the staff and parents of children who were in immediate contact with the employee, according to the school district. All city recreation centers have already been closed for the week and are being deep cleaned. The third case is a Customs and Border Protection agent who had traveled to South America. The city believes they contracted the virus while traveling. The fourth case, announced Friday night, is also believed to have contracted COVID-19 through contact with Laredos first patient. They worked together at Zaffirini Elementary School, according to Emergency Management Coordinator Steve Landin. After the city announced the first positive novel coronavirus case in Laredo this week, people flooded social media with the patients name and accused her of going to the Zapata County Fair while ill, which the patient denied. This time, City Manager Robert Eads implored that the community respect the privacy of these patients. We are going to be affected, probably in even greater numbers thats our expectation, he said. Remember, these are our community members, these are our family members, these are our friends, coworkers. Lets support them, lets not harass them. READ MORE: U.S.-Mexico border closed to non-essential travel starting at midnight Friday Since testing began in Laredo, 45 people have been tested, with these four positive cases and 15 coming back negative, Gonzalez said. The Health Department has been sending off samples to San Antonio to complete testing for patients. However the city manager put in an emergency purchase order for 1,000 test kits from a private company in Tennessee. These will still only be utilized for those who are ill or high risk, Gonzalez said. The City of Laredo has brought down its operations by over a third, Eads said Friday. Core services such as the police, fire and utilities departments remain active. Laredo police and code enforcement officers, along with Webb County sheriffs deputies are visiting local businesses to make sure people are not congregating in groups larger than 10. Laredo police alone have visited 464 places so far as part of this task force, according to Investigator Joe E. Baeza, LPD spokesman. They have not cited any businesses since most people are complying, he said. On Thursday, the first day of the citys partial lockdown, El Metro ridership was at an all-time low for a week day, Eads said. Normal daily ridership is about 9,000 people. On Thursday there were 2,906 passengers. El Metro announced Friday that they now will only be allowing 10 people maximum to ride the bus per route. The city manager said that while people are allowed to go outside during this emergency order, they are seeing too many people in large groups at city parks. READ MORE: Laredo's coronavirus lockdown questions answered Where were being challenged is were seeing too many people, gatherings of too many folks together in our parks playing basketball, flag football, Frisbee golf, volleyball. That sort of thing needs to stop, Eads said. Yes, go out, walk your dog, get some fresh air, we get that. But dont congregate in groups of 10 or more. We ask across the board that that doesnt happen. Julia Wallace may be reached at 956-728-2543 or jwallace@lmtonline.com The U.S. electric industry may ask essential staff to live on site at power plants and control centers to keep operations running if the coronavirus outbreak worsens, and has been stockpiling beds, blankets, and food for them, according to industry trade groups and electric cooperatives. The contingency plans, if enacted, would mark an unprecedented step by power providers to keep their highly-skilled workers healthy as both private industry and governments scramble to minimize the impact of the global pandemic that has infected more than 227,000 people worldwide. 'The focus needs to be on things that keep the lights on and the gas flowing,' said Scott Aaronson, vice president of security and preparedness at the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), the nations biggest power industry association. He said that some 'companies are already either sequestering a healthy group of their essential employees or are considering doing that and are identifying appropriate protocols to do that.' Steam rises out of the nuclear plant on Three Mile Island in a file photo. The U.S. electric industry may ask essential staff to live on site at power plants and control centers Maria Korsnick, president of the Nuclear Energy Institute, said that some of the nations nearly 60 nuclear power plants are also 'considering measures to isolate a core group to run the plant, stockpiling ready-to-eat meals and disposable tableware, laundry supplies and personal care items.' Neither group identified specific companies. Electric power plants, oil and gas infrastructure and nuclear reactors are considered 'critical infrastructure' by the federal government. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is charged with coordinating plans to keep them operational during an emergency. A DHS spokesperson said that its Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency had issued guidance to local governments and businesses on Thursday asking them to implement policies to protect their critical staff from the virus. 'When continuous remote work is not possible, businesses should enlist strategies to reduce the likelihood of spreading the disease,' the guidance stated. 'This includes, but is not necessarily limited to, separating staff by off-setting shift hours or days and/or social distancing.' The Great River Energy cooperative which runs 10 power plants serving 1.7 million customers in Minnesota, said it is preparing for the possibility of sequestering staff essential to running its operations. It has a supply of cots and blankets ready at its main control center if it decides to keep critical workers on site to keep them healthy. Staff look over data in the control room of the PG&E Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in Avila Beach, California in a file photo. Power plant staff may soon be sequestered 'We saw this coming,' said Mike McFarland, the co-ops director of enterprise risk management. He said Great River drafted a detailed pandemic plan after the H1N1 bird flu crisis in 2009 and dusted it off a few weeks ago. The cooperative has currently only activated its 'medium threat level' plan, which required it to configure facilities to give more space between employees and to allow non-critical employees to work from home. But McFarland said sequestering could happen if the coronavirus hits the region hard. He said the protocol, which could keep workers from the outside world for weeks, would be 'effectively voluntary' but did not elaborate. He said the company is planning for a scenario of losing up to two-thirds of its staff during the outbreak. Reuters contacted a dozen other power providers, all of whom said they were implementing plans to moderate risks to their employees and to ensure continuity of service, but who declined to comment on whether sequestering staff was a possibility. In New York, Consolidated Edison Inc, which provides power to around 3.3 million customers and gas to about 1.1 million customers in New York City and Westchester County, said it was taking steps to keep critical employees healthy, including separating some control center personnel to other locations where they can perform their work. Members of the New York Army National Guard walk through the first New York City Coronavirus testing center in the South Beach section of Staten Island on Thursday Duke Energy Corp, which provides power to 7.7 million customers in six states and gas to 1.6 million customers in five states, said it instituted additional worker screening measures, such as temperature checks, at generating and other critical facilities. Puget Sound Energy, which serves more than 1.5 million customers in a region hard hit by coronavirus, said all non-essential workers are working remotely, and the utility has limited access to facilities that provide critical operations. Jimmy Slevin, president of the Utility Workers of America, a union representing 50,000 members, said the organization was aware that as the coronavirus outbreak develops, essential employees such as plant operators could be called on to work longer hours - or remain on site. 'There is only a certain amount of trained operators that run these power plants. We need to make sure their health is at the utmost,' said Slevin. Rubber gloves are in. Plexiglass screens are appearing to separate customers, and their occasional coughs and sneezes, from staff. Bank lobbies are being shut down to general customer use, with patrons being directed to drive-through lanes or automated teller machines. These are just some of the changes making their way through the world of customer-facing work in the fields like groceries, gas stations, pharmacies and banks that, according to Gov. Tom Wolf, are supposed to stay open in the interest of sustaining Pennsylvanians ability to eat, move and otherwise take care of themselves during the coronavirus pandemic. These jobs arent necessarily life-or-death in themselves. But they are all about living if you need some quick cash or gas in the car, you have to get a prescription renewed, or you need some ingredients for that new recipe you want to try. And they literally cant work from home. So heres five questions PennLive posed to workers and employers this week to learn how they are getting through it, and what we learned. 1. Is it stressful? Overwhelming, said Ashley Kress, a store manager at Rite-Aid pharmacy in Carlisle. Our shelves are empty and weve got customers coming in and asking for the same things over and over again. Its frustrating not being able to fulfill their needs This is happening, Kress explained, because the stores sales have doubled in the wake of the virus, but the company truck only comes every other week. And then, as the mother of a 10-year-old daughter, I have to be careful not to get sick myself and take it home to her. For Jim Viccaro, a meats department employee for Whole Foods in South Yarmouth, Mass., this means a whole new appreciation for the bulky glass case that separates him from the masses. It means, he said, Im far enough away from a customer that Im not getting direct contact, but the Mechanicsburg native still admits to feeling a little unnerved because of the close quarters and the crowds that are always in the store. Ive seen that once somebody gets the flu, it goes through us like wildfire, Vicarro said, and this is a little different than that. 2. How do you deal with the constant exposure to customers? Employers and workers say they are coping as best they can, trying to make things as safe as they can for both customers and themselves. In most cases, that means regular cleanings of all high-touch surfaces, like counters, transaction screens and debit card pin-pads. Some workers who handle a lot of cash each day have taken to wearing gloves, though at most businesses surveyed for this report that was still a matter of personal choice. Most of the major grocery chains have curtailed their overnight hours to allow staff to focus on sanitizing the stores. Its wanting to protect our team, its wanting to protect our vendor partners, and its wanting to protect our customers, Giant Company President Nick Bergstrom told PennLive earlier this week, in explaining the temporary move to 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. hours. "We just needed more time to get all of that done and really keep the stores sanitized and clean to a level thats even beyond what we typically do. 3. What are your employers doing to help? Various things, it turns out. At gas stations operated by New Cumberland-based P. Hastings Corp., owner Todd Taylor has been flying around his sites to install plexiglass barriers between what had traditionally been completely open-air cashier counters. Just wanted a barrier to keep people away from the cashier, create a little distancing... That was the goal, Taylor said in a phone interview conducted Thursday as he was in mid-install at one of his sites. Whole Foods is rewarding people in a different way, having committed to paying its workers an extra $2 per hour through April. "As a grocer, we believe serving customers and the community during this time is essential, the company said in announcing the bonus wages this week. At Orrstown Bank offices, bank lobbies were closed indefinitely Wednesday and customers are now being routed to drive-up windows for all routine transactions. Bank staff will meet face-to-face with customers only by appointment for needs that demand extended time or consultation. After a transaction Friday, one Orrstown employee signaled that the change was a nice relief. Taking care of each other is, after all, taking care of the bottom line. In other to serve our customers, we have to have healthy associates, Rite Aid CEO Heyward Donigan said this week in a conference call with stock analysts. 4. What happens if you get sick? This is one of the hardest questions and it really depends upon where you work. Federal law requires hourly workers be paid only for the time they work, and Pennsylvania is not one of the 12 states that mandates paid sick leave. (Both Philadelphia and Pittsburgh have city ordinances, however, that do require it.) Most major firms, like Rite-Aid, do offer paid leave time for its full-time employees. Under its pandemic pay policy, Rite Aid employees will be compensated for time off due to quarantine or illness. At Sheetz, spokesman Nick Ruffner said while all employees receive paid time off, we are providing up to an additional two weeks paid time to any employee who contracts the virus or is subject to quarantine due to exposure. Workers with compromised immune systems who are particularly vulnerable to the virus are eligible for leave without fear of losing their jobs. But economy-wide, one in four American workers more than 32 million have no paid sick days. The coronavirus pandemic has forced some firms to take a fresh look at that. A March survey of 95 large employers by Business Group on Health, which represents employers on health care and benefit matters, found almost one in four of them (23%) will continue to pay employees who are not typically eligible for leave if they are quarantined because of coronavirus. Fourteen percent said they will pay employees who are caring for a symptomatic family member. In one notable example, Walmart and Sams Club instituted a new COVID-19 emergency leave policy that gives employees who are being quarantined up to two weeks pay after a Walmart employee tested positive for coronavirus. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that more employers establish non-punitive policies, encouraging employees who are sick or exhibiting symptoms to stay at home as a part of the overall campaign to stop the spread. 5. So in light of the layoffs of so many workers around the country in recent weeks as other businesses have closed, are you happier that you are still working? Or are you more worried about the potential for exposure? PennLive heard from a dental hygienist in Hazlet, N.J., who asked off from the two practices she works at this winter because of her concerns about the airborne particles, or aerosols, that can stay in the air for hours, and the lack of developed immunities to the coronavirus. (The American Dental Association has since advised all dentists to limit their practices to emergency calls only.) Do I choose a paycheck, or lives? asked Dana Ryan, and I chose to protect peoples lives, myself included. Most of the workers we reached for this story said theyll keep the jobs. Im more grateful I still have a job, Rite-Aids Kress said. "Im glad I dont have to be one of the thousands of people who are filing for unemployment and waiting for that to come." Viccaro, the Whole Food worker, was a little more blunt. Were not first responders, but everybodys got to eat, you know? CROWN POINT A 17-year-old was charged Friday with murder after allegedly admitting he shot a man last month, just before the man crashed into a tree in Gary, records show. Melvin M. Brown, of Gary, was being held without bond at the Lake County Jail, Gary police Cmdr. Jack Hamady said. Brown is accused of fatally shooting Marcelis Stevenson, 21, of Gary, about 10:45 p.m. Jan. 12 in the area of 35th Avenue and Fillmore Street. Emergency crews were dispatched to the area for a report of a car that hit a tree and didn't realize Stevenson had been shot in the right side until they turned him over to place him in a Lake County coroner's van, records state. Detectives found Stevenson's phone at the scene, along with a BB or airsoft gun. Investigators learned Stevenson's last texts and phone call were with a number registered to Brown, records state. The texts showed Brown asked Stevenson if he wanted to trade a Glock handgun for a .38-caliber handgun and directed Stevenson to the location on 35th Avenue where Stevenson was killed, records state. [March 20, 2020] New telehealth app, drive-through specimen collection to speed COVID-19 testing JACKSON, Miss., March 20, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The University of Mississippi Medical Center is leading an effort to address the state's community COVID-19 outbreak by offering triage for symptoms via a new smartphone telehealth app and collection of testing samples at the Mississippi State Fairgrounds. Residents who believe they have symptoms of the virus must start the triage process beginning Monday by using the free app, C Spire Health UMMC Virtual COVID-19 Triage, created by the Medical Center and C Spire. The app is available for screening from 8 a.m.-8 p.m., seven days a week. Only those triaged for risk through the app can take part in the collection of samples, at no cost, at the Fairgrounds beginning on Tuesday. They must arrive at their scheduled time and present an identification number given to them from the app. "This is not wide-open testing," said Dr. LouAnn Woodward, UMMC's vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine. Individuals found by UMMC Center for Telehealth providers to be at high risk for infection will receive a next-day appointment at drive-through tents at the Fairgrounds. Hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m., seven days a week. No one will get out of their vehicle; providers wearing protective gear will come to their window and swab their noses to retrieve specimens for testing to be performed at the Mississippi State Department of Health. UMMC will notify those tested of the results and give further instructions. Those without a smartphone showing symptoms and who want to be screened can call 601-496-7200. Anyone not experiencing symptoms is asked not to use the app or call. App users determined to be at low risk for infection won't receive an appointment for collection of specimens, but instead will receive instructions on social distancing, home isolation and self-care and told to call back if symptoms worsen. The app is downloadable March 23 from the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. Those who have already downloaded the existing C Spire Health telehealth app will need to make sure their app is updated Monday to reflect the UMMC Virtual COVID-19 Triage usage. Dr. Jonathan Wilson, UMMC chief administrative officer, said the drive-through collection site leverages the Medical Center's expertise in emergency services and telehealth to support a pressing health care need in the state. The first day of screening on Tuesday won't be perfect, he and other state medical leaders say. "There's not a clear playbook for this. We are using best practices from around the country, and we will change and adapt as we go. We will continue as long as we have specimen collection materials and good weather," Wilson said. "We don't have time to do a lot of practice runs. We need to do this sooner rather than later." "We are offering our disaster response experience and our state-of-the-art telehealth services to support the public health effort of the Mississippi State Department of Health," Wilson said. "This field collection site will help the Medical Center continue to function as a tertiary hospital to care for the sickest patients, rather than consume its resources taking care of low-acuity patients." How it will work: Users of the app will be placed in a virtual waiting room to be picked up by a provider. They'll be asked if they have symptoms including cough, fever, shortness of breath or sore throat. If they are found to be at high risk, they will receive a next-day appointment for collection of samples at the Fairgrounds. Plans call for specimens to be collected from 128 people per day, said Dr. Alan Jones, UMMC chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine. If those appointments fill, callers will be asked to try back the next day for screening and a potential appointment. Appointment-holders will use only the High Street entrance, and they will follow clear signage under direction of troopers with the Mississippi Highway Patrol. Walk-ups and use of Uber, Lyft or other ride-sharing services are not allowed. C Spire will provide free Wi-Fi at the Fairgrounds to support the drive-through operation and the public. With the number of confirmed cases in the state up to 80 on Friday and one death, the outbreak is fast worsening, Woodward said. "I promised to you and others earlier this week that we would bring to bear the full resources of our academic medical center for this," Woodward said to media during an afternoon news conference. That includes swift development of testing technology by UMMC's scientists, a task with the capabilities of an academic medical center with full research capabilities, said Dr. Richard Summers, associate vice chancellor for research. It's hoped a test will be ready for use at UMMC in the next 10 days or so, Woodward said. The UMMC-led effort is a public-private initiative. The app's development was coordinated by UMMC, C Spire and the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. The drive-through field collection site is coordinated through UMMC, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, MSDH, the state Department of Agriculture and Commerce, the state Department of Transportation and the state Department of Public Safety. C Spire will provide free Wi-Fi at the Fairgrounds to support the drive-through operation and the public. The offices of Gov. Tate Reeves and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann are among the entities supporting the app and field collection. "As a Mississippi-based telecommunications and technology company, we care about our employees, our customers and the people of the Magnolia State," said Hu Meena, president and CEO of C Spire. "C Spire is prepared to do whatever it takes to help our state respond to and recover from this devastating public health crisis. "In times like these, communications apps and technologies are a critical lifeline for our schools, our churches, our state and nation to rely on." "UMMC's initiative is a great example of the joint effort between state agencies, the Institutions of Higher Learning, and hospitals as we respond and ultimately win the fight against COVID-19," said MEMA Director Greg Michel. The app's overarching purpose and that of the field collection is to provide quick and substantially increased access to testing, Jones said. "UMMC and its partners are poised to provide an unprecedented response. Our desire is that this telehealth option fills an important need for the citizens of this state, and that it answers their questions and concerns about this pandemic." "This is a somber time for Mississippians with our first COVID-19 death yesterday and the marked increase in cases we reported today," said Dr. Thomas Dobbs, state health officer. "We're going to see a lot more cases. We're at the front end of this thing. "We now have significant community-wide transmission, and that is why these type of mobile rapid testing centers are important. They allow testing of individuals while protecting the health worker. " Metro-area health systems including Baptist Hospital and St. Dominic Hospital plan to take part in some way in the process. Andy Gipson, the Agriculture and Commerce commissioner, called the Mississippi State Fairgrounds the "ideal location that will allow the public to drive up and get tested for the virus without spreading the disease through in-person contact. "There may be some dark days ahead, but we will defeat this. By working together and looking after one another, we will get through this crisis." About the University of Mississippi Medical Center UMMC is the state's only academic medical center. Its education, research and health care missions share the objectives of improving the health of the state's population and eliminating health disparities. Located in Jackson. UMMC encompasses seven health science schools, including medicine, nursing, health related professions, dentistry, pharmacy, graduate studies and population health. The Medical Center's health care enterprise includes the state's only Level I trauma center, only children's hospital, and only organ and bone marrow transplant program. The Medical Center also is home to a Telehealth Center of Excellence, one of two in the nation. For more information, visit www.umc.edu and click here to view news and features stories produced by UMMC Communications and Marketing. About C Spire C Spire provides a full suite of world-class, customer-inspired dedicated Internet, IP Voice, data, managed services, cloud services, value added resale and mobile communications to businesses and wireless, 1 Gigabit consumer Internet access and related home services for consumers. This news release and other announcements are available at www.cspire.com/news. For more information about C Spire, visit cspire.com or follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/cspire or Twitter at twitter.com/cspire. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-telehealth-app-drive-through-specimen-collection-to-speed-covid-19-testing-301027816.html SOURCE C Spire [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] North Korea on Saturday fired two presumed short-range ballistic missiles into the sea, South Koreas military said, as it continues to expand military capabilities amid deadlocked nuclear negotiations with the Trump administration and a crippling global health crisis. Seoul: North Korea on Saturday fired two presumed short-range ballistic missiles into the sea, South Koreas military said, as it continues to expand military capabilities amid deadlocked nuclear negotiations with the Trump administration and a crippling global health crisis. Click here to follow LIVE updates on coronavirus outbreak South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff said the projectiles were fired around 6:45 and 6:50 am from an area around the county of Sonchon, western North Korea. They and flew 410 kilometers (255 miles) cross-country on an apogee of 50 kilometers (31 miles) before landing in waters off the eastern coast. South Korea and the US were analyzing the launches. Seoul's military urged the North to immediately stop its very inappropriate military demonstrations when the world is struggling to cope with the coronavirus pandemic. Japans Defense Ministry said the North Korean projectiles didnt reach Japanese territory or its exclusive economic zone. The North conducted two previous rounds of similar short-range launches and other military exercises this month after leader Kim Jong Un entered the new year vowing to bolster his nuclear deterrent in face of gangster-like US sanctions and pressure. South Koreas military alerted the latest launches shortly after North Koreas state media reported that Kim supervised an artillery firing competition between army units in the country's west on Friday. The KCNA said Kim expressed satisfaction over the exercise that was aimed at evaluating combat readiness. The report didnt mention any direct comments by Kim toward Washington or Seoul. Pyongyangs official Korean Central News Agency also said on Saturday that the North has decided to hold a session of its rubber-stamp parliament on 10 April. It wasnt immediately clear what would be discussed. Nuclear talks have stalemated since the collapse of the second summit between Kim and President Donald Trump in early 2019 when the Americans rejected North Korean demands for major sanctions relief in exchange for a partial surrender of its nuclear capabilities. While Kim has declared to build up his nuclear arsenal and achieve a frontal breakthrough against sanctions while urging his nation to stay resilient in a struggle for economic self-reliance, some experts say North Korea's self-imposed lockdown amid the coronavirus crisis could potentially hamper his ability to mobilize people for labor. North Korea has not publicly confirmed a single case of the COVID-19 illness, but state media have described anti-virus efforts as a matter of national existence. Experts say an epidemic in North Korea could have dire consequences due to the countrys poor health system and a shortage of medical supplies. The country has banned foreign tourists, shut down nearly all cross-border traffic with China, intensified screening at entry points and mobilized health workers to monitor residents and isolate those with symptoms. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 19:24:15|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close WINDHOEK, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Southern African leaders on Saturday called for the region to unite in the combating COVID-19 as well as continue to building towards a prosperous region. The leaders were attending the inauguration of the Namibian President Hage Geingob. Zimbabwean President Emerson Mnangagwa said the SADC region remains one of the most united region in the African continent and should work closely in dealing with challenges including the spread of COVID-19. "The world is currently experiencing challenges from the COVID-19. This is a real challenge that we need to deal with as brothers. Zimbabwe stands ready to work with our neighbours to improve the standard of living for our citizens," he said. Botswana President Mokweetsi Masisi also weighed in saying the SADC region has adopted a theme of silencing guns and improving democracy. "We have enjoyed the peace since the attainment of independence and we continue to prosper. We are working as a region to deal with the challenges of COVID-19 as well as other challenged facing us. We are happy to stand as brothers in the most challenging time in the world," Masisi said. The same sentiments were also echoed by South African Foreign Affairs Minister Naledi Pandor as well the Angolan President Joao Lourenco. SYRACUSE, N.Y. They come from Utica, from Whitesboro, and all around Central New York. More than a thousand people have been swabbed for COVID-19 since Syracuse Community Health Center began coronavirus testing Monday. The Syracuse drive-through testing site may be the most active in Upstate New York, said Derrick Murry, the health centers chief operating officer. About one-quarter of all those tested have come from outside Onondaga County. I dont believe anyone is doing the testing to the degree that we are, probably outside of New Rochelle (where there is a large outbreak), Murry said. As a community, working together, I think we are further along than a lot of communities. Onondaga County officials established the Syracuse center as a test site Monday, hoping to keep people from going to hospital emergency rooms in search of a test. It appears to have worked. Some 983 tests were conducted through Thursday evening. Murry said he did not yet have Fridays numbers. The weeks total was well over 1,000. The center also plans to be open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Murry said he expects to be busy over the weekend. Its been a struggle to keep the center stocked with enough test kits, especially given the large geographic area it serves, County Executive Ryan McMahon said. Earlier today, McMahon said he believes the center has enough test kits for Saturday. He was continuing to work on a supply for Sunday. Test results from the Syracuse center take three to four days to come back from a private lab. As of Friday afternoon, there were only 95 results, all negative, McMahon said. Onondaga County had 13 positive cases as of Friday, all of which were tested at private physicians or hospitals, officials said. Midweek, the Syracuse health center made a change to drive-through testing that made the operation more efficient and cut down the use of supplies. Instead of patients coming indoors to be tested, they remain in their cars in the parking lot. Thats quicker, and it cuts down on the need to clean rooms after each patient and discard health workers protective gear, Murry said. It helps us maintain necessary stocks of personal protective equipment, he said. To complement the 15 health center staff members assigned to do testing, some 20 nurses from local hospitals have volunteered to help, Murry said. Thus far, none of the workers has gotten sick. Our staff is very dedicated, Murry said. They are doing this out of their love for our community. A reported spike in pneumonia cases in Moscow is fuelling fears about the accuracy of official coronavirus data in Russia. The country of 144 million has reported just 253 cases, far fewer than in many other European countries with smaller populations. The figures have led some doctors to question how far the official data reflects reality, given what they say is Russia's patchy nature and quality of testing. I have a feeling they (the authorities) are lying to us, said Anastasia Vasilyeva, head of Russia's Doctor's Alliance trade union. The government says its statistics are accurate, however, and president Vladimir Putin has complained Russia is being targeted by fake news to sow panic. The number of cases of pneumonia, which can be caused by coronavirus, increased by 37 per cent in Moscow year-on-year in January, according to Rosstat, Russia's statistics agency. The data showed that the Russian capital, which has 98 confirmed cases of coronavirus, recorded 6,921 pneumonia cases in January, up from 5,058 the previous year. Nationwide pneumonia cases also spiked by over 3 per cent year-on-year. Yet Moscow's own health department issued a statement on 13 March saying pneumonia cases in January and February were actually 8 per cent and 7 per cent lower than last year. Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Show all 20 1 /20 Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Top: Nabi Younes market, Mosul Bottom: Charles Bridge, Prague Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Grand Mosque, Mecca Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Sagrada Familia, Barcelona Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Nabi Younes market, Mosul Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Basra Grand Mosque, Iraq Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Charles Bridge, Prague Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Taj Mahal hotel, India Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Dubai Mall, UAE Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Beirut March, Lebanon Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Gateway of India, Mumbai Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Cairo University, Egypt Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Amman Citadel, Jordan Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Beirut March, Lebanon Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Cairo, Egypt Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Cairo University, Egypt Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Victoria Memorial, India Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Amman Citadel, Jordan Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Amman Citadel, Jordan Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Sidon, Lebanon Reuters It did not respond when asked why its data was so different. Asked about the discrepancy, Rosstat said it did not know where Moscow's health department was sourcing its numbers or how it could have produced such a result. The idea that this pneumonia is coronavirus comes to mind, said Dr Vasilyeva. There seem to be no other reasons for the rise, she said. Other doctors disagree. There is an explanation for this, said Professor Vladimir Nikoforov, a prominent specialist in infectious diseases. The number of people seeking medical attention has risen due to anxiety among the population, he said, saying people were seeking medical advice earlier than usual because they were worried about coronavirus. There were therefore more pneumonia diagnoses, he said. Some Russians who recall the Soviet-era cover-up of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident are less sure. I don't believe the coronavirus numbers, said Ekaterina, a Moscow accountant. I remember what they told us about Chernobyl at the time. It's only now that we're finding out what really happened. On Thursday, Moscow authorities reported Russia's first coronavirus-related death, a 79-year old woman, but later said she'd died of a blood clot. The government did not include her death in its daily coronavirus bulletin. Mr Putin's fake news claims came amid a European Union (EU) analysis which concluded Russia state media and news outlets were waging a disinformation campaign aimed at undermining public confidence in the ability of European health care systems to cope with the coronavirus. The report, seen by The Associated Press, said EU experts noted nearly 80 instances of virus-related disinformation in about the last two months, including claims the Covid-19 virus was a Western-made biological weapon. The campaign is designed to exacerbate confusion, panic, and fear, and to prevent people from accessing reliable information about the virus and public safety provisions, states the report, which was compiled by the EU communications division assigned to counter false information. The EU experts pointed the finger at news outlets Russia Today, Sputnik, Oriental Review, Geopolitica and others. As examples of false reports, they cited stories saying Covid-19 was less harmful than the flu, developed by the US, brought into Europe by migrants or exacerbated by taking ibuprofen to relieve symptoms. Additional reporting by Reuters Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman, has announced a public lecture amid the coronavirus outbreak. Shehu posted an invitation to the lecture on his Twitter handle on Saturday. Nigeria currently has 12 confirmed cases of coronavirus. But two patients have recovered from the disease. Since the outbreak of the disease, different measures have been put in place to combat the spread of the virus. The federal government banned public officials from travelling to high-risk countries. It also placed a travel restriction on 15 countries including the United Kingdom and the United States. It also suspended the issuance of all visas on arrival and asked Nigerians to cancel or postpone all non-essential travels to these countries. Several state governments have also announced the closure of schools while some placed a restriction on gatherings above 50 persons. Churches and mosques have had to adjust their services in line with the restrictions. In all, Nigerians have been advised to practise social distancing. Please find time to join us at the Barewa Old Boys Association (BOBA), 2020 Annual Leadership Lecture, where I will be speaking on Media and Democracy: Challenge of Journalism, Shehu tweeted. His excellency, Governor Nasir @elrufai is expected to Chair the occasion, with the Ministers of Defence and FCT as special guests. Here's what happened today: Pubs, clubs, cinemas, nightclubs and restaurants will be closed nationwide from midday Monday, while cafes and restaurants will only be open for takeaway. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the measures would be in place for at least six months after people had not heeded warnings about social distancing. That came after Victoria declared a state-wide shutdown of everything except essential services over the next 48 hours. School holidays in Victoria will be brought forward to Tuesday. NSW also introduced a similar lockdown. The AFL season was suspended and the AFLW season cancelled. The NRL will continue to play on. WA and SA imposed new border restrictions. Victoria had its largest daily increase in cases so far, with 67. The total is now 296. The national number of cases passed 1300. A stimulus package of $66 billion was announced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison. That's the end of The Age's live coverage of what has been quite a remarkable day. Tomorrow promises to bring more dramatic developments in the coronavirus outbreak. Be sure to check in during the day, our real-time coronavirus coverage is free for all readers. Thanks to Simone Fox Koob for taking the reins this morning, I'm sure I'll be back in the blog chair soon. See you then. Syracuse, N.Y. Nearly 300 free meals were available to people this afternoon at Syracuse Community Connections, 401 South Ave, as part of a new community initiative to help those in need. The effort was organized by a new groupjust one week oldcalled Westcott Mutual Aid, which plans to make this a regular weekday option available to anyone who needs it. Along with the team at Westcott Mutual Aid, the Food Bank of Central New York distributed about five pallets of food. David Knapp, a Syracuse University music professor, Westcott resident and one of the organizers of the group, said Westcott Mutual Aid is focused on two immediate needs: Food and child care. While the child care component is still in the works, the food component, called Community Plates, is ready to go. The goal is to provide meals to those who need them and paid labor for those who find themselves out of work right now due to the coronavirus crisis. Local kitchens will prepare the meals which will then be delivered or offered at the no-contact pickup site. Beer Belly Deli has pledged to provide kitchen space, ingredients or other aid. Fellow Westcott restaurants Alto Cinco and Rise N Shine have also offered to support the cause. The group hopes to add more restaurant partners in other parts of the city in the future. Beer Belly Deli owner Lauren Monforte said shes pledged to provide 150 meals a day for a week. Other contributors include Monforte Law Office, Stout Beard Brewing Company, Three of Swords and Westcott Barber. The group has partnered with the Allyn Family Foundation, the organization behind the Salt City Market food hall slated to open this fall, as its fiscal agent. The hope is to serve at least 300 meals a day. To donate, visit saltcitymarket.com/donations MORE ON CORONAVIRUS Coronavirus in NY: Cases, maps, charts and resources Thousands of coronavirus patients threaten to overwhelm CNY hospitals; what needs to be done now Unemployed in NY? A survival kit for benefits, bills, evictions, mortgages, utilities, debts, help In a week of fear and kindness in CNY, we are all quarantined in this together Black humour in these testing times View(s): Sri Lankans are known for often turning government announcements and political pronouncement into jokes. That some see as a national trait. Humour after all is not essentially bad. It keeps people and nations alive at the worst of times. There I was isolating myself and contemplating my navel on what best to do next when a Sri Lankan friend of yore contacted me to ask whether I heard or read President Rajapaksas address to the nation. Despite the technological advances, news takes time to reach one thousands of miles away unless some kind soul alerts one or sends it pronto. He claimed that the government in its generosity had reduced the price of parippu (a favourite lentil in Sri Lankan cuisine) and the price of SALMON had come crashing down to hundred rupees a can. Not believing what he said and knowing only too well his penchant for humour I brushed it aside, for which country in the world would be selling salmon at that price. To debunk my scoffing at his joke he played me a recording as proof of what he said. Sure enough the President said salmon had been reduced in price. One cannot blame the President for having used the word. In these critical times he would not have time to check every word that is put before him by speech writers and assorted officials parading as pundits. But what about the media? Surely it has a duty to check and even correct when such mistakes occur. Oh no. One news channel that is said to be pro-government in a telecast the next day repeated salmon several times as they were coming swimming in shoals. So never mind. But then the joke acquired another layer of humour. A couple of days later somebody else contacted me to ask whether I was aware that incoming flights to Colombo had been banned. I had, but it had not been confirmed, I said. You know why they were banned, I was asked. Well to stop coronavirus-carrying persons arriving in the country and adding to a crisis already upon Sri Lanka. Ha, ha, he hooted. So you dont know. Well it was to stop nationals of other countries where salmon is expensive or scarce from rushing to Colombo on a buying spree. Okay turning out occasional jokes is good for body and soul, to keep one occupied and others in paroxysm of laughter. But why turn on this word which Sri Lankans constantly use to describe any kind of canned fish from mackerel to sardines because, I suppose, salmon is a kind of fish they had heard from their parents or ancestors and has been carried down generations. If the presidential slip surely not authored by him but some official/ translator is turned into a joke at this time of national emergency, maybe a real joke that punned on salmon might be more appropriate-certainly more humorous. In Ceylons first parliament, there was provision for six nominated MPs to represent minorities and other groups not represented in the elected house. One of the nominated representing I believe British interests was Robert Singleton-Salmon who was a witty speaker from what was told to me by a couple of MPs of that parliament. Having listened to a speech by Singleton-Salmon earlier, one of the great orators this country produced, Dr Colvin R de Silva, responding to the British MP, said, I have heard of salmon swimming in shoals. But I have never heard of a singleton-salmon which naturally evoked roars of laughter. What surprises me is that I have not heard a word from those who create these jokes about nomination day and the droves of potential MPs and supporters turning up to hand over their nominations or those of their parties. Watching some images of these politicians arriving in droves one noticed that only a handful of them were wearing masks though they mingled with officials and the public, even speaking to the media. Surely these men and women who are seeking to represent the people should have greater regard for the people they want to represent and take basic preventive measures at a time such as this. It seems that these potential MPs want the public who do not know them to remember their faces. They should not worry. The public will and when the time comes the public will recall these memories. (Neville de Silva is a veteran Sri Lankan journalist who was Assistant Editor, Diplomatic Editor and Political Columnist of the Hong Kong Standard before moving to London where he worked for Gemini News Service. Later he was Sri Lankas Deputy-in-Chief in Bangkok and Deputy High Commissioner in London.) Identity and access management in 2022 - what will the future look like? As we enter into 2022, there is still a level of uncertainty in place. Its unclear what the future holds, as companies around the world still contend with the COVID-19 pandemic. Remote working has been encouraged by most organisations and the move to a hybrid working system has become business as usual, for the majority of businesses. Some have reduced their office space or done away with their locations altogether. Following best security practices With all this change in place, there are problems to deal with. According to research, 32.7% of IT admins say they are concerned about employees using unsecured networks to carry out that work. Alongside this, 74% of IT admins thought that remote work makes it harder for employees to follow best security practices. This need to manage security around remote work is no longer temporary. Instead, companies have to build permanent strategies around remote work and security. The coming year will also create a different landscape for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs). Here are some key predictions for next year and what to start preparing for in 2022: The reality of SMB spending around security will hit home SMBs had to undertake significant investments to adapt to remote working SMBs had to undertake significant investments to adapt to remote working, especially in comparison to their size. They had to undertake significant digital transformation projects that made it possible to deliver services remotely, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Weve seen a shift in mindset for these companies, which are now more tech-focused in their approach to problem solving. According to our research, 45% of SMBs plan to increase their spending towards IT services in 2022. Around half of all organisations think their IT budgets are adequate for their needs, while 14.5% of those surveyed believe they will need more, to cover all that needs to be done. Identity management spending to support remote work For others, the COVID-19 pandemic led to over-spending, just to get ahead of things and they will spend in 2022, looking at what they should keep and what they can reduce their spending on. Areas like identity management will stay in place, as companies struggle to support remote work and security, without this in place. However, on-premise IT spending will be reduced or cut, as those solutions are not relevant for the new work model. Services that rely on on-premise IT will be cut or replaced. The device will lead the way for security We rely on our phones to work and to communicate. In 2022, they will become central to how we manage access, to all our assets and locations, IT and physical. When employees can use company devices and their own phones for work, security is more difficult. IT teams have to ensure that theyre prepared for this, by making sure that these devices can be trusted. Wide use of digital certificates and strong MFA factors Rather than requiring a separate smart card or fingerprint reader, devices can be used for access using push authentication There are multiple ways that companies can achieve this, for example - By using digital certificates to identify company devices as trusted, an agent, or strong MFA factors, like a FIDO security key or mobile push authentication. Whichever approach you choose, this can prevent unauthorised access to IT assets and applications, and these same devices can be used for authentication into physical locations too. Rather than requiring a separate smart card or fingerprint reader, devices can be used for access using push authentication. Understanding human behaviour Alongside this, it is important to understand human behaviour. Anything that introduces an extra step for authentication can lead to employees taking workarounds. To stop this, it is important to put an employee education process in place, in order to emphasize on the importance of security. The next step is to think about adopting passwordless security, to further reduce friction and increase adoption. Lastly, as devices become the starting point for security and trust, remote device management will be needed too. More companies will need to manage devices remotely, from wiping an asset remotely if it gets lost or stolen, through to de-provisioning users easily and removing their access rights, when they leave the company. Identity will be a layer cake Zero Trust approaches to security Identity management relies on being able to trust that someone is who they say they are. Zero Trust approaches to security can support this effectively, particularly when aligned with least privilege access models. In order to turn theory into practical easy-to-deploy steps, companies need to use contextual access, as part of their identity management strategy. This involves looking at the context that employees will work in and putting together the right management approach for those circumstances. For typical employee behaviour, using two factor authentication might be enough to help them work, without security getting in the way. How enterprises manage, access and store identity data There will also be a shift in how enterprises manage, access, and store that identity data over time For areas where security is more important, additional security policies can be put over the top, to ensure that only the right people have access. A step-up in authentication can be added, based on the sensitivity of resources or risk-based adaptive authentication policies might be needed. There will also be a shift in how enterprises manage, access, and store that identity data over time, so that it aligns more closely with those use cases. Identity management critical to secure assets in 2022 There are bigger conversations taking place around digital identity for citizenship, as more services move online as well. Any moves that take place in this arena will affect how businesses think about their identity management processes too, encouraging them to look at their requirements in more detail. Overall, 2022 will be the year when identity will be critical to how companies keep their assets secure and their employees productive. With employees working remotely and businesses becoming decentralised, identity strategies will have to take the same approach. This will put the emphasis on strong identity management as the starting point for all security planning. Prime Minister Narendra Modi today praised tech giant Google and Twitter for assisting in the country in its battle against the coronavirus outbreak through their vast social media networks. With the deadly virus spreading its footprint over 110 countries across the world, the tech giants have initiated campaigns to tackle misinformation on the pandemic. Prime Minister praised Google for its 'Do the Five. Help stop Coronavirus' campaign, which lists out five important things a person should follow to prevent the COVID-19 spread. He re-tweeted Google's tweet and replied, "Google is doing its best to spread awareness on how to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Their efforts add great strength in this fight". Leveraging technology and the internet for a healthier planet. Google is doing its best to spread awareness on how to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Their efforts add great strength in this fight. https://t.co/V61WoT8j64 - Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 21, 2020 Modi, in response to Twitter's effort, tweeted, "Commendable effort by @TwitterIndia, which has launched a dedicated COVID-19 page that provides essential real-time updates to people from various authorities across India. #IndiaFightsCorona." Commendable effort by @TwitterIndia, which has launched a dedicated COVID-19 page that provides essential real-time updates to people from various authorities across India. #IndiaFightsCorona https://t.co/JUZ8boc0bc - Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 21, 2020 PM Modi also shared the government's MyGov Corona Helpdesk number and appealed citizens not heed to rumours surrounding COVID-19. He said, "Sharing correct information, avoiding incorrect panic." Sharing correct information, avoiding incorrect panic. Here is an effort by WhatsApp and @mygovindia to ensure you receive accurate and verified information on Coronavirus. Please click on this link https://t.co/REabfIp5QT or send Hi on +919013151515. #IndiaFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/0maqUE3PvG - Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 21, 2020 From unverified home remedies to cure coronavirus to advisories on avoiding foods like -- chicken and ice cream, these rumours are filling people's phones with misinformation. To fight these rumours, the government has launched a WhatsApp number to ensure people receive accurate information when it comes to the coronavirus outbreak in India. The WhatsApp chatbot has been developed with the support of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, National e-Governance Division, WhatsApp, Facebook and Haptik's Intelligent Virtual Assistant a bid to make citizens aware of the coronavirus outbreak. Thank you, Hon. PM @narendramodi for the inspiration that has brought the nation together in the fight against Coronavirus. We would also like to thank @GoI_MeitY, @NeGD_GoI, @WhatsApp, @Facebook & @haptik - our implementation partners - for the support. #IndiaFightsCorona https://t.co/Ko5w65dAjF - MyGovIndia (@mygovindia) March 21, 2020 PM Modi also shared an awareness video, saying minute precautions could make monumental impacts and save many lives. "Saw this interesting video on social media. If you have such videos that can educate people and spread awareness on battling COVID-19, please do so using #IndiaFightsCorona," he tweeted. Minute precautions can make monumental impacts and save many lives. Saw this interesting video on social media. If you have such videos that can educate people and spread awareness on battling COVID-19, please do so using #IndiaFightsCorona. pic.twitter.com/OfguKRMs1g - Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 21, 2020 India has registered over 273 cases of COVID-19 so far, including four deaths. Also Read: COVID-19: Grofers, BigBasket cap grocery purchases, shun discounts amid anxiety buying Also Read: Coronavirus impact: CII demands Rs 2 lakh cr stimulus; DBT to poor, elderly Also Read: Coronavirus outbreak: FM says economic package to be announced 'as soon as possible' As if Covid 19 isnt bad enough, but guess what happened to yours truly over the weekend? I ended up behind bars! Locked in! Locked up! Literally! And to make matters worse who should come to my rescue but a past pupil of mine! Oh dear. He takes one look at me and laughs: Jeez, I never thought Id see the day, my former teacher behind bars, but do you know whats killing me, Gerry? Tell me. I havent got my mobile on me. Thank God, Im thinking, or Id be all over Facebook, all over Facebook for the rest of my life. Its Saturday afternoon, Im lolling in the armchair watching a movie on the telly. I should be watching sport but sport is a non-runner (apart from Cheltenham but Im not going there) The missus is not impressed sport she can cope with (has to cope with) but not some Hollywood B (possibly C) movie and announces: That rubbish needs to go. I say nothing, not because I didnt hear but because Im in no mood to go to the dump. Im happy self isolating in front of the telly, watching some rubbish movie, safe from Covid, and avoiding unnecessary social interaction. And then: Did you hear me? Ten minutes later Im heading across town to the Greenstar Waste depot in Hebron. As I approach I realise its Saturday and they may be closed, but no, my luck is in, the gate is open and in I swing. Mission accomplished I swing round to drive out but.the gate, the massive iron-gate, with the massive iron bars, slowly closes before my eyes and I get an awful feeling that I could be locked in as there isnt a soul in sight. No sign of life anywhere! Greenstar is in lockdown! Im beginning to feel uneasy. Its eerie in here. Surreal even. Ominously silent, its like a scene from a horror movie any moment now I expect to see a zombie-like, putrescent creature emerge from the bowels of the huge, cavernous shed littered with the detritus of mankind. And although I have not resorted to wearing a mask (not yet anyhow) in the face of Covid I need one now. Above all, however, I need to get out of here. I ring directory enquiries for a number for Greenstar, Kilkenny but am given a Waterford number which rings out. After half an hour of arsing around, staring up at security cameras (in the hope someone might spot me) and futilely trying various combinations on the gates keyboard system, I resort to the inevitable I ring the wife. Hi, she chirpily replies. We (note the plural) have a problem, I sheepishly say. Whats wrong? Im locked in. Locked in? she asks alarmingly, whereabouts and is it the virus? Im locked in, in the waste depot. I got in but I cant get out. There is a silence down the phone that all married men understand, a silence that says one thing, and one thing only: You eejit. Ten minutes later my wife arrives, looks at me standing, like a forlorn prisoner, behind the iron-bars of the gate, and says: Might throw in a bag and let you self isolate for the weekend (my wife is of the opinion that self-isolation, away from each other, would do wonders for our marriage, for any marriage) So, how are you getting out? Ill climb the gate, of course. You will not, I have no intention of ending up in A&E with you. And off she drives. Five minutes later, a large van with Flowers by Lucy emblazoned across it, pulls up and out steps Vinny Yeates, a past pupil of mine. Vinny takes one look at me and laughs. Which is where I began. And thanks to Vinny, and his two ladders (I needed two) yours truly escaped from the wasteland. My car, however, remained in lockdown. So, I left a note with a mobile number. And boy was I glad to get home and finish the trashy movie Id been viewing. Two hours later my mobile rings: Is this Gerry? It is. This is Ken in Greenstar, whereabouts are you? Ten minutes later Ken picks me up and soon Im sitting in my car and homeward bound. Ken, and his co-worker Mark, were finishing a rubbish collection and saw my car, and note. Guys, a five-star thank you, for your Greenstar kindness. And, Liam Barry, sincere thanks for the trouble you went to. A pint in the barrel in Peigs for you - just not sure when youll drink, not sure when any of us will drink a pint again! Montenegro Airlines and Air Serbia have deployed their aircraft to bring home stranded passengers after both countries closed their airports for commercial traffic. Montenegro Airlines has operated rescue flights to Budapest, Vienna, Rome, London and Belgrade, with more services planned. The carrier will also repatriate Serbian nationals. On the other hand, Air Serbia operated a rescue flight to Amsterdam and Paris, with more to follow. The airline has deployed a second aircraft, an Airbus A320 to Shanghai to pick up medical supplies. Yesterday, its A330 was also dispatched to China to collect several tons of medical supplies and Chinese health professionals. The Montenegrin Prime Minister, Dusko Markovic, noted, This is the best response to the question whether we need a national carrier. The Ondo State Commissioner for Health, Wahab Adegbenro, has reported that the results from a test carried out on a suspected case of the Coronavirus in the state came out negative. He said on Saturday in a statement that the result showed that Ondo State is still maintaining a coronavirus free status. Mr Adegbenro said the result of the blood sample of the suspect that was sent for Coronavirus screening came out negative on Friday evening. He said there was no cause for panic, even though all hands must be on deck to forestall its outbreak in the state. Mr Adegbenro appealed to people in the state to maintain personal and environmental hygiene, wash their hands regularly with soap and water, use hand sanitisers, avoid being in an environment where there are more than ten people, avoid unnecessary travelling, especially interstate, to prevent the outbreak. The suspected case was said to be a Nigerian returnee from the United Kingdom, who reported to the hospital with some symptoms but was immediately quarantined and tested. A positive case had already been confirmed in Ekiti, resulting in the shutdown measure imposed by the state government on schools and other educational and civil institutions. READ ALSO: The Ondo State government had also ordered the closure of schools and restrictions in religious, political and social gatherings. It had also met with religious leaders in the state on how to regulate religious gatherings as a strategy to forestall the outbreak of the deadly virus. Mr Adegbenro said social distancing was now compulsory, and that heads of religious organizations should discourage gathering of more than 10 people, handshake, holding hands to pray, using the same Holy Communion Cup amongst others. He called on the federal government to support states financially in the fight to contain the spread the virus, as the financial burden was beyond the states. By PTI NEW DELHI: Jamia Millia Islamia students on Saturday temporarily suspended their sit-in protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in the wake of coronavirus pandemic. The announcement was made by the Jamia Coordination Committee, a group comprising JMI students and alumni. The group was formed after alleged police brutality on the campus on December 15. "We temporarily suspend the ongoing 24 hour sit-in protest at Gate no.7, JMI and appeal to all protesters to kindly take the situation with utmost seriousness and save themselves and others from this fatal illness," the Jamia Coordination Committee (JCC) said in a statement. The JCC said the "university was vandalised, students terrorised" but in the face of the pandemic facing the nation, "we shall direct all our efforts to its containment, relief work and spread of awareness among people". The members of the committee said they are not in favour of 'janata curfew' and no situation must be utilised to normalise curfews. "We again appeal to the government to repeal the discriminatory anti-constitutional CAA, NRC and the NPR. The current crisis is a clear reminder of the fact that humanity is for all irrespective of religion," the JCC said. "Withdraw the Foreigners (Tribunals) Amendment Order, 2019 and withdraw all instructions for construction of detention camps and release all people in detention camps after running COVID-19 tests on them," it added. The students demanded adequate monetary and policy measures to combat COVID-19. "Doctors need proper medical infrastructure such as safety gear and testing kits, more than appreciation and heroism," the JCC said. "The affected people must not be treated as criminals. They should be given adequate treatment and proper facilities in isolation," it added. The students also appealed to the central government to immediately suspend the exercise of NPR which in ongoing in many states and direct all its efforts in fighting coronavirus. Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Friday rejected a petition seeking the online sale of liquor to reduce crowd at the liquor outlets in the wake of Covid-19 threat. G Jyothish, a native of Aluva in Kerala had filed the plea. "While the state is struggling to cope with the threat, such a petition is an attempt to mock the judiciary. The petitioner has to pay Rs 50,000 to the chief minister's relief fund within two weeks," the High Court observed. "While the courts consider only cases of urgent importance in the public interest, this selfish behaviour is condemned," the court said. The Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (Added), has launched a new initiative, the Economic Collaboration Committee, which is aimed to enhance collaboration and coordination between the public and private sectors, especially across the efforts directed towards achieving sustainable development. Mohammed Ali Al Shorafa, Chairman of Added made the announcement during a roundtable meeting for investors and businessmen held at the St. Regis Abu Dhabi Hotel. The roundtable meeting was attended by Rashed Abdul Karim Al Balooshi, Undersecretary, Added; Dagher Darwish Al Marar, Acting Director General, Abu Dhabi Council for Economic Development (ADCED); and over 50 businessmen and private sector leaders in Abu Dhabi. Al Shorafa explained that the newly formed committee is a pioneering initiative that has been developed to help promote the private sectors role as a driver for the economic development by increasing its contribution to Abu Dhabis gross domestic product (GDP). Al Shorafa pointed out that the Economic Collaboration Committee will serve as a strategic interactive platform, playing a key role in effecting better policy and decision-making in the emirate. The move is seen to help stimulate the business environment and develop stronger collaboration ties between the government and the private sector. We remain highly confident that the committee will serve as a vital communication channel for the private sector, building on the momentum of previous efforts to reinforce public-private sector partnership. This initiative will enable us to engage in constructive discussions on promoting growth and investments and fostering the emirates local economy, he added. In line with this, the creation of the new Economic Collaboration Committee demonstrates an advanced step forward in successfully integrating the public and private sectors in achieving sustainable development. Moreover, Al Shorafa explored Addeds leading initiatives to enhance private sectors role and promoting doing business in Abu Dhabi, prominently the completion of phase 1 of preparing Abu Dhabi Economic Development Plan; building the Business Confidence Index (BCI) and the Residential Property Price Index (RPPI); signing a partnership agreement with Etihad Credit Insurance (ECI) to encourage local businesses to access to global markets; launching the Electricity Tariff Incentive Program (ETIP), which is tailored to support the industrial sector; signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ADNOC to develop and maximise In-Country Value (ICV); launching the Technology Innovation Pioneers (TIP) Summit to promote innovation and creativity; and establishing the Ventures Fund of the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO), which is dedicated to extend financial support and assistance to the emirates innovative companies. Al Shorafa noted that the Economic Collaboration Committee will assist the Abu Dhabi Government in exploring private sectors views and suggestions regarding the emirates economic development. The committee will also help direct the governments economic legislations and policies to support the private sector, enhance its contribution and regulate its activities in Abu Dhabi.-- Tradearabia News Service Back in 2013, in his first year in Washington, Rep. Eric Swalwell had a radical idea for an institution steeped in tradition. As he rushed back from weekend trips to his East Bay district for decidedly routine votes naming post offices, allowing Boy Scouts to use the Capitol grounds for soapbox derbies the Dublin Democrat questioned whether there was better way to handle that Monday evening business in the 21st century. But HR287, the legislation he co-sponsored with Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., to allow House members to vote remotely on procedural issues and to use videoconferencing in certain hearings went nowhere. Top House and Senate leaders, Democrat and Republican, then and now, have been opposed. Swalwell never gave up on the idea. Now a pandemic that has sidelined two lawmakers with coronavirus and caused more than two dozen others to self-quarantine has brought the issue of electronic voting to the fore. So I sent a letter with (Rep.) Katie Porter at the beginning of the week with 50 members signed onto it, bipartisan, asking for this (remote voting) capability to be given to us during the coronavirus emergency, Swalwell said. And weve seen progress with it. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had been resistant to the idea. But rather than dismiss the letter out of hand, she asked Rules Committee Chairman James McGovern, D-Mass., to study and report on the matter. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has been adamant. Well not be doing this, he said Tuesday. We will deal with the social distancing issue without fundamentally changing Senate rules. Tradition is one of the forces against such a change, and there is no overstating its influence on the Capitol culture. Another concern is online security, though it would seem that any breach would be instantly detected. And then there is the slippery slope argument, that more and more of the legislative process would gravitate to the internet, diluting the personal interactions among lawmakers that are essential to finding common ground on significant matters. Swalwell said another apprehension among some of his colleagues is that it would be perceived as shortcutting their workload. I know in the past that some have not supported it because they thought of it as a proposal to have a virtual Congress, that we would never meet, Swalwell said. That was not my intent and I have never talked about it that way. Instead, he viewed remote voting as a way to handle routine matters and emergencies. I see it as beneficial for the crisis were in, he said. I never intended it to be a substitute for meeting in Washington, only to supplement the work we do in Washington, so that when we are away we can still be productive. Porter, a first-term Democrat from Orange County, said it would be especially helpful to younger members with children. She and Swalwell fall into that category. Instead of getting up at 5:45 a.m. on Monday, letting my kids get themselves off to school and spending the entire day on airplanes to arrive at the House floor by 6:30 p.m. for a noncontroversial vote, the mother of three told the Associated Press. Another benefit: It would give our elected representatives a chance to spend more time with their constituents and less time with Washington lobbyists. Beyond that, it would compel members of Congress to make an adaptation to reality that Americans are experiencing, in the immediate and long term. Many Americans of myriad endeavors and all of us at The Chronicle not involved in printing or delivery are working remotely to limit exposure to the coronavirus. Most Capitol Hill staffers are working from home. Its ludicrous for members of the House and Senate to insist on in-person voting during this pandemic, especially with so many of them in the age range of greatest risk. Also, its time for an increasingly diverse Congress to catch up with societys growing appreciation of the need for a family-friendly workplace. The rules that forced members to show up in the chambers to vote were made when men filled the halls and, as Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., put it, physical presence was the only way to make sure that a person was present and voting. Tech-savvy members such as Swalwell have employed online tools to expand their reach to constituents. That he regularly uses Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat does not supplant his frequent town halls, in person and online. Our constituents always knew they could find us online, he said. And now (with the coronavirus crisis) almost everything shifted that way. Remote congressional voting would be the least of the changes that will emerge from this pandemic. The mores of the new world struck Swalwell as he was home maxing out on our Netflix consumption with his wife and two young children. Anything that you see on television now when people shake hands or hug or in a large crowd ... you almost cringe: thats not social distancing, he said. Youre already conditioning yourself to think that human contact is something inappropriate. My hope is that we go back to that. I dont want to lose that humanity. We can all vote yes on that aspiration. John Diaz is The San Francisco Chronicles editorial page editor. E-mail: jdiaz@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JohnDiazChron The great divide in life is not between rich and poor or young and old. Neither is it the gulf between the well-heeled and those bedraggled at the bottom of the pile. Rather, the biggest chasm of all is between those who are healthy and those who are ill. Novelist Somerset Maugham spent a short time as a hospital doctor before embarking on a lauded literary career. His early experiences with the unwell left a lasting legacy. For ever more he believed people who are sick, compared to those in good health, reflect the ultimate contrast in the human condition. Maugham's musings cast a powerful resonance as Covid-19 forces a rethink on old certainties. The driving force of unstoppable events jolts the consciousness of millions. Can anything be taken for granted? There is a shuddering realisation at how flimsy are the vast resources of modern life, when confronting an epidemic redolent of the Middle Ages. There is a feeling of bafflement in the air. Ahead is a vast unknown. Who will be ensnared in the clutches of the coronavirus? Who will die? We are in the calm before the storm, said Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. The much-feared pressure point is almost upon us. A gnawing fear the surge will swamp our best efforts remains constant. Do we have enough people and resources to save the seriously ill - and comfort the dying? Those especially under threat from this unseen enemy hover in their homes. Some fitfully make an outside journey. A kind of low-level terror now afflicts those seriously at risk. Infection can be a death sentence. They fixate on protecting their own space in sometimes near-deserted streets. They nervously refuse to touch the edges of a shopping trolley. Can we grasp at consolations? There has been a calm assurance in the approach of Leo Varadkar and the Government to this seeping challenge. It is partly reflective of a national self-confidence in our own decision making, spawned in recent Brexit battles. This new sense of self meant we could decide on a strategy which at times sharply deviated from Boris Johnson's approach. The decision by the Irish authorities to close pubs, and then schools, while we still had some time on our side, will prove pivotal. An underlying ideology in Johnson's and Donald Trump's governments has led to dithering and indecisiveness on their part. It's borne of a particular right-wing worldview. A core belief is that politicians should not interfere with individual freedoms, and the freedom of the market, particularly if it will cost the taxpayer unknown amounts of cash. Echoing this train of thought is Boris Johnson's father, Stanley. Despite advice and entreaties from sundry medical experts, he says he will not accept government guidelines which restrict his lifestyle. "Of course I will go to the pub if I need to go to the pub," he told anybody who cared to listen. But the coronavirus knows no bounds. His son finally cracked and UK schools are now closed. Further restrictions across the UK seem certain. London in particular is a city where some form of lockdown is necessary sooner rather than later. Meanwhile, Trump has had his limitations as a political leader graphically exposed. An obvious fixation with his re-election prospects above all else is nauseating. However, if the mayhem of the moment endures, the admittedly mediocre Joe Biden just might have a chance of bringing the Trumpian White House era to a close. In Ireland, the world of work and jobs - with a possible 400,000 suddenly unemployed - is a metamorphosis unimaginable even a few days ago. What the future holds on the economic front is currently beyond the ken of any expert. In time, something akin to the Marshall Plan which gave rebirth to the wastelands of post-World War II Europe will be necessary. As we mourn the loss of what used to be, perhaps some other lines from Somerset Maugham might strike a chord. "Nothing in the world is permanent and we are foolish when we ask anything to last, but surely we are still more foolish not to take delight in it while we have it." By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Senate on Saturday scrambled to complete a deal on a $1 trillion-plus bill aimed at stemming the coronavirus pandemic's economic fallout for workers, industries and small businesses. But after a second day of marathon closed-door negotiations, there was no sign of an overarching deal between negotiators, despite Republicans' claims of bipartisan agreement on specific issues including unemployment insurance and small business assistance. "The past two days of intense bipartisan talks are very close to a resolution," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who intends to hold a vote to pass the sprawling package on Monday. He said he has asked committee chairmen to produce final language for the bill by late Saturday. White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told reporters he expects the final legislative package to be worth $1.3 trillion to $1.4 trillion to combat the effects of a health crisis that many fear will lead to a spike in unemployment as businesses close and the economy falters. Combined with actions undertaken by the U.S. Federal Reserve and the administration, the prospective bill would have a $2 trillion net impact on a U.S. economy facing powerful headwind spawned by the outbreak, according to White House officials. Republican Senator Mike Crapo, who chairs the Senate Banking Committee, said the legislation could contain $300 billion to $500 billion in stabilization funds that the Federal Reserve could use as the basis for much larger infusions of liquidity for businesses of all sizes and configurations. Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, who met twice on Saturday with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, agreed that progress was being made. "I'm optimistic we can get a deal. We're going to continue working through the night," the New York Democrat told reporters. Lawmakers from both sides said they were at or near agreement on proposals to provide $350 billion or more in assistance for small businesses and to enhance unemployment insurance coverage for people made jobless by the outbreak. Story continues Democrats pressed for all coronavirus-affected workers to receive full pay for four months. "We haven't dotted the i's and crossed the t's. But conceptually, I think we're there," Schumer told CNN. Democrats have also called for a $100 billion "Marshall Plan" for U.S. hospitals to pay for protective gear, equipment such as ventilators, beds and additional doctors and nurses. "I suspect that we'll have a bill by tomorrow that will have significant Democratic priorities, significant Republican priorities and hopefully we can pass the bill Monday morning," Republican Senator Lamar Alexander told reporters. Major U.S. airlines and their unions also called on Congress to include federal cash grants to support industry paychecks. But their plea did not appear to find support with senators or the administration. The prospective legislation already includes $58 billion in loans and loan guarantees for passenger airlines and air cargo carriers. Republican lawmakers said the bill will also include a funding response to the Trump administration's request for $45.8 billion in extra funding for the Department of Health and Human Services, the Veterans Administration and the Defense Department. (Reporting by David Morgan; Additional reporting by Eric Beech and Jan Wolfe; Editing by Mary Milliken and Christopher Cushing) Wayne Worrel, a British expatriate who has lived in Vietnam for years, joined his peers at a blood donation spot at 26 Luong Ngoc Quyen street, Hanoi's Hoan Kiem district, on March 18 noon. Wayne Worrel donates his blood at a collection spot on Luong Ngoc Quyen street, Hanoi. (Photo courtesy of Wayne Worrel) Many people are scared to donate blood (due to COVID-19) which is urgently needed as blood banks are in short supply. It is now our turn to come together and help each other. Not only are you helping someone who needs it, you will also receive a few little gifts of thanks, the man wrote in a Facebook group for expats living in Hanoi on March 13. Worrel said he had visited the blood collection spot earlier but he saw no one around. He then asked a nurse to take a photo of him and posted it on Facebook to call for public support. The man told Lao Dong (Labour) newspaper that he has lived in Vietnam for 10 years and he should do something for the country, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. I know you are afraid of the virus, but life goes on. Lets imagine someone has an accident and there is no blood left," said Worrel. Also present at the blood collection spot, Josept from the UK said he learned about the event through Facebook, and shared it with the hope of raising public awareness. Jack, a teacher from New York who has lived in Vietnam for five years, said his friend introduced him to the campaign, adding although each individual contributes only a small part, their joint efforts would bring about huge values. Since the epidemic broke out in Hanoi, blood collection has dropped sharply to only about 60 units each day, as compared with 1,200 units in February. According to Bach Quoc Khanh, head of the National Hematology and Blood Transfusion, this is the second time since the Lunar New Year festival, blood collection has been hurdled due to the epidemic. As of late March 18, Vietnam had confirmed 76 COVID-19 cases, of them 16 have completely recovered./.VNA Pham Thu Huong Foreigners to bear costs of Covid-19 treatment in Vietnam: PM Ideas suggest that Vietnam should not offer free treatment for foreigners as it will cause financial burden. The ABC will suspend its television show Foreign Correspondent and has put a travel ban on its overseas correspondents in light of the coronavirus pandemic, ABC chair Ita Buttrose says. "Some shows will need to be suspended for now, like Foreign Correspondent ... we've told our international people they can't fly anywhere in the interests of their health and welfare," Ms Buttrose told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. ABC chairman Ita Buttrose, walking the catwalk last week at Melbourne's fashion festival for a charity raising funds for Dementia Australia. Audiences for live shows such as Q&A and Shaun Micallef's Mad as Hell have been banned, news presenting shifts have been staggered and some presenters are working from home, in an effort to keep staff well, she said. "We are operating in emergency conditions," Ms Buttrose said. ZURICH, March 20 (Reuters) - Switzerland has announced a new 32 billion Swiss franc ($32.56 billion) aid package to support companies and workers hit by the coronavirus outbreak, it said on Friday. The government also banned gatherings of more than five people as it ramped up its response to the epidemic which has so far claimed 43 lives and forced a shutdown of businesses across the country. ($1 = 0.9829 Swiss francs) (Reporting by John Revill) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) London, United Kingdom Sat, March 21, 2020 19:20 662 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad206c7c949 2 Sports Lewis-Hamilton,COVID-19,IdrisElba,justin-trudeau Free Six-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton says he is self-isolating but will not get tested for coronavirus as others need attention more than him. The 35-year-old Briton said he decided to self-isolate because he had been at the same function in London that actor Idris Elba and Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's wife Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau attended earlier this month. Elba and Gregoire-Trudeau subsequently both tested positive for COVID-19. "I want to let you know that I am doing well," Hamilton said in a statement. "There has been speculation about my health, after I was at an event where two people later tested positive for coronavirus. "I have zero symptoms and it has now been 17 days since I saw Sophie and Idris. I have been in touch with Idris and happy to hear he is OK. "I did speak to my doctor and double checked if I needed to take a test but the truth is, there is a limited amount of tests available and there are people who need it more than I do, especially when I wasn't showing any symptoms at all." Hamilton has been in isolation since last Friday. The start of the Formula One season has been wiped away by the pandemic with races in Australia, Bahrain, Vietnam, China, Netherlands and Spain shelved and the iconic Riviera showpiece in Monaco cancelled. A season which should have started in Melbourne on March 14 will now not start until Azerbaijan on June 7 at the earliest. Formula One's British-based teams are also hoping to contribute away from the track. They are working on a plan to manufacture medical equipment needed to fight the coronavirus which up to Friday night had claimed 177 victims in the United Kingdom with the numbers infected set to top 4,000. The British government and health authorities need more ventilators in intensive care units to deal with respiratory problems caused by the illness. Formula One teams have engineering capabilities that could speed up the production of the units. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 22:39:32|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close New Delhi, March 21 (Xinhua) -- India's mobile manufacturing industry on Saturday welcomed the new "Production-linked Incentive (PLI)" scheme which is believed to spur mobile manufacturing in India at a global scale. The new Scheme would replace the earlier "Merchandise Export from India Scheme (MEIS)." The Union Cabinet on Friday approved the new Scheme for large scale electronics manufacturing. It proposed production-linked incentive to boost domestic manufacturing and attract large investments in mobile phone manufacturing and specified electronic components, including assembly, testing, marking and packaging. The Scheme would extend an incentive of 4-6 percent on incremental sales of goods manufactured in India, and covered under target segments to eligible companies for a period of five years. Currently, at 4 billion U.S. dollars India constitutes merely 1.5 percent of global mobile exports. The PLI has the potential of making India one of the countries that could serve the over 200 countries' demand worldwide. "This new policy advances Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision expressed in the National Policy for Electronics (NPE) to make India a global hub for mobile and component manufacturing. It is a mid-term stimulus to correct mobile manufacturing disabilities that India suffers from compared to other mobile manufacturing hubs, and help India build global capacities," said the India Cellular & Electronics Association (ICEA) in a statement on Saturday. The NPE envisions India to reach a mobile phone production of 190 billion U.S. dollars by 2025, of which 110 billion U.S. dollars would be exported. "Once every decade, the government announces a policy that can be a game-changer - taking the sector to the next level. PLI is exactly that. Its visionary, scalable and global in its outlook" said ICEA Chairman Pankaj Mohindroo. The government is yet to establish the source of infection of a 20-year-old Delhi resident who tested positive for coronavirus in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday, sending alarm bells ringing and raising questions if this is Indias first case of community transmission of the deadly contagion. The man had travelled by train from Delhi to Chennai it was not immediately clear when and authorities said they have not found any history of travel abroad or any contact with any other positive case of the coronavirus disease, or Covid-19. We have come to know he has had no travel history, but contact tracing is not a simple process. It has to be thoroughly investigated, said Dr RR Gangakhedkar, head of epidemiology, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the countrys apex biomedical research body. The Union health ministry reiterated that there was no evidence of community transmission a phase of the outbreak where the origin of the infection cannot be traced to foreign travel or contact with another positive case in the country, and that this particular case was still being investigated. The initial part of the investigation is to document what the patient tells you and then look for people he may have come into contact with indirectly. Sometimes there is a contact but the person doesnt realise, said Gangakhedkar. All these things need proper investigation before a conclusion is drawn. ICMR is expanding the scope of its sentinel surveillance that is meant to track signs of community transmission. From 51 sites currently we have decided to lift samples of severe acute respiratory infections from 100 sites, he added. In countries such as Italy or South Korea, the number of Covid-19 cases and related fatalities surged once community transmission of the disease began, making it difficult for governments to contain the rapid spread of the infection. While the government is keeping private hospitals and laboratories on standby for a surge in cases that are likely to happen given the contagious nature of the disease, the 121 government laboratories so far are not testing to its full capacity. The government labs are so far using only about 10% of their capacity, but the private labs are being involved so as to stay prepared for any eventuality, he said. As of Friday, 112,000 people across the country were under watch for either having travelled from abroad or having come into contact with a laboratory positive case. Close to 7,000 people have been identified as contacts of positive cases, and are being closely observed. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON ABOUT THE AUTHOR Rhythma Kaul Rhythma Kaul works as an assistant editor at Hindustan Times. She covers health and related topics, including ministry of health and family welfare, government of India. ...view detail The announcement by Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on March 20, to shut down non-essential establishments, led to chaotic scenes in some of the corporate offices in Mumbai. The biggest rush was to arrange laptops for employees so that they could work from home. "Though in our office already 50 percent of the staff were working from home, still there was a need to get many more laptops in a very short period of time," said a senior executive of a major manufacturing company, about meeting the midnight deadline. But there was a scarcity of laptops, especially with many of the dealers also shutting shop. Some companies rented laptops, and others even asked staff to take office desktops home. In the process, those in charge of administration and IT in these companies, were overworked. An executive from another company added: COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show "Despite all the efforts we haven't got laptops for everyone. And now employees can't come to the office to pick them either. Most probably, the company will have to deliver laptops to the employees' homes." The diktat from the state government became a necessity because of the rising number of infected people in the country's financial capital. While those reported infected are now over 270 in India, the maximum of them are in Maharashtra, which has 63. In Mumbai, 28 have been infected, the highest for a city in India. Working in virus times Many of the corporate offices have been on a work-from-home mode for over a fortnight. Most of the Tata employees in Bombay House, the Group headquarters, have been working from home. Executives from the Group said that there is skeletal presence, if any, in Bombay House, a rare occasion in the history of the iconic building that has been around since 1924. Similar is the case at RPG House, the corporate office of the RPG Group. "Except for the absolutely essential services everybody else is working from home. Not everybody has a laptop so we allowed employees to carry the desktops to their homes. We even reimbursed the cab fare when they carried the desktops to homes," said a Milind Apte, Chief Human Resource Officer, RPG Group, had told Moneycontrol. At the same time, few expected a complete shutdown. "We had employees coming to office on a rotation basis. At any time, about 25-50 percent of the workforce was in office. In fact, a fresh roster was being prepared when the announcement came on Friday. That created a lot of confusion," an executive from a conglomerate said. The Group has multiple offices in the city. One such office alone has 1,000 employees, and another with 600. Apart from the logistics nightmare, companies have been forced to think at alternatives to ensure corporate services continue, critical to also keep manufacturing sites in operations without a hitch. "We may shift some of the core employees outside Mumbai, to other sites," said a senior official. Many more companies may follow suit and move some of their staff outside the city. "While the state government has said that the lockdown is till March 31, we don't know if this situation will improve by then or not," said the official quoted above. Irelands government is considering plans to pay up to 75% of the wages of thousands of staff temporarily laid off as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the Irish Times reported. Irish ministers are working on plans similar to those introduced by the British government on Friday that will see businesses paid up to 80% of a workers salary, up to 2,500 pounds, if the employer keeps them on the payroll, the newspaper reported on Saturday. The Irish government already has a COVID-19 scheme that allows employers to claim a refund of 203 euros a week for employees temporarily laid off because of the pandemic, and on Friday said it would allow employers to top that up. It said 58,000 people had already claimed the emergency payment by Wednesday. On Friday, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said he accepted that 203 euros was not enough for many and the government was looking at what else it can do to both help those who have lost their jobs so quickly and support those who are still in a job. Yes Im aware of what the UK has done but were also studying quickly what is happening in other European countries and were going to see is there something we could do here and what would it be, Donohoe told national broadcaster RTE. Asked about the Irish Times story, a spokesman for the finance ministry gave the same response as Donohoe on Friday. SOURCE: REUTERS We are now actively working with Temple to support their patients, at-risk individuals, and the healthcare workers who are working night and day to care for the community at large, said Michael J. Markus, PhD, the CEO of HGE Health. As the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to accelerate across the country, Temple University Hospital (TUH), its Department of Thoracic Medicine and Surgery, and the Temple Lung Center have taken proactive steps to protect its staff and patients using HGE Healths COVID Care symptom tracking platform and triage/care coordination services. Temple is now enrolling patients, faculty, staff, frontline workers and their families at risk for or experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 in HGE Healths platform to remotely monitor them while they are social distancing or quarantined at home. Additionally, individuals will be monitored during their convalescence at home following hospitalization for COVID-19 to ensure continued resolution of their symptoms. The use of HGEs COVID-19 solution provides close monitoring of the patients daily symptoms and risk factors while preventing unnecessary staff exposure to COVID-19. We have extensive experience with monitoring thousands of patients on a daily basis that live with COPD and following lung transplantation. Weve now leveraged those 17 years of experience and expertise into a scalable and easy-to-use COVID-19 engagement, monitoring, and triage platform, said Michael J. Markus, PhD, the CEO of HGE Health. We are now actively working with Temple to support their patients, at-risk individuals, and the healthcare workers who are working night and day to care for the community at large. The expanded use of our platform is already enabling Temple to remotely quarantine potential COVID-19 patients, and provide them with care in their own homes, where they will not expose others to the virus. COVID-19 has now spread to over 110 countries around the world, infecting more than 120,000 and killing more than 4,000. The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes that the severity of Coronavirus is linked to the age and health condition of patients and has recently declared it a pandemic. Patients of advanced age (at least 60 years old) and diagnosed with a co-morbid disease are the most likely to experience a severe infection of Coronavirus. HGE Healths digital platform and technology-enabled services, called HGE Care, allows physicians to remotely care for patients from anywhere in the nation, and help patients better understand and manage changes in their symptoms. Thanks to daily digital interaction with their healthcare team, patients are engaged in their own symptom management, and log their symptoms on the HGE Care platform over 80% - 90% of the time. Patients enjoy peace of mind that each day they experience a change from their typical symptoms, their own physician/care team will provide same-day feedback, helping patients breathe easier, avoiding ER visits and hospital admissions, and enjoy an improved quality of life, all while reducing overall healthcare costs for patients and their health plan. Editors Note: HGE Health Care Solutions is the exclusive licensee to certain Temple University intellectual property. Dr. Gerard Criner, Director of the Temple Lung Center, is the founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of HGE Health Care Solutions. Temple University and Dr. Criner hold minority equity positions in the company. About HGE Health Headquartered in Fort Washington, PA, HGE Health harnesses its deep experience in chronic disease management and digital health in pulmonary disease, telemedicine, and mobile health to develop a clinical services platform that delivers better care faster at a much lower cost for patients, physicians and payors. Built on clinical protocols developed and supported by 16 years of research, the companys technology has compiled the longest-running and worlds largest longitudinal data set of COPD symptoms, interventions and clinical management to help physicians provide care for a geographically and socio-economically diverse COPD and pulmonary patient population. About Temple Health Temple University Health System (TUHS) is a $2.2 billion academic health system dedicated to providing access to quality patient care and supporting excellence in medical education and research. The Health System consists of Temple University Hospital (TUH); TUH-Episcopal Campus; TUH-Jeanes Campus; TUH-Northeastern Campus; The Hospital of Fox Chase Cancer Center and Affiliates, an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center; Temple Transport Team, a ground and air-ambulance company; Temple Physicians, Inc., a network of community-based specialty and primary-care physician practices; and Temple Faculty Practice Plan, Inc., TUHSs physician practice plan comprised of more than 500 full-time and part-time academic physicians in 20 clinical departments. TUHS is affiliated with the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University. Temple Health refers to the health, education and research activities carried out by the affiliates of Temple University Health System (TUHS) and by the Katz School of Medicine. TUHS neither provides nor controls the provision of health care. All health care is provided by its member organizations or independent health care providers affiliated with TUHS member organizations. Each TUHS member organization is owned and operated pursuant to its governing documents. It is the policy of Temple University Health System that there shall be no exclusion from or participation in, and no one denied the benefits of, the delivery of quality medical care on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity/expression, disability, age, ancestry, color, national origin, physical ability, level of education, or source of payment. KASTANIES, Greece (AP) Greece countered accusations from Turkey Wednesday that it was responsible for the death of a migrant, as its border authorities strove for a sixth day to keep thousands of migrants out by using tear gas, stun grenades and water cannons. The border tensions followed last week's decision by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to declare the country's gateways to Greece open, in an apparent attempt to pressure Europe into offering Turkey more support in dealing with the fallout from the Syrian war to its south. Turkish officials charged that Greek gunfire killed one migrant and wounded five others a claim that Athens flatly rejected. The office of Ekrem Canalp, governor for the Turkish border province of Edirne, said the death occurred on the Turkish side of the border close to the Kastanies or Pazarkule in Turkish crossing. An official at Edirne's Trakya University Hospital confirmed the death and injuries. Reporters on the Greek side heard what sounded like gunfire, though it was unclear whether live ammunition was used. People could be seen carrying what could have been a person between them, and running to the Turkish border post. Shortly afterward, at least one ambulance left. Greek border authorities also said Wednesday that Turkish police were firing tear gas at them, and supplied video they said backed their assertion. Greek government spokesman Stelios Petsas categorically denied any migrants had been wounded or killed by Greek authorities. The Turkish side creates and disperses fake news targeted against Greece, he said. There is no such incident with fire from the Greek authorities. Turkey had also claimed on Monday that a migrant was killed, which Athens again denied. The crisis at the border of the two NATO allies and historic regional rivals comes at a time when tensions were already high over offshore exploration rights. Erdogan's decision to open the border encouraged thousands of people seeking a better life in Europe to try their luck by land and sea. He has warned that millions of migrants may be headed Europe's way. Story continues He has claimed more than 100,000 people have successfully crossed into Greece, vastly above the numbers being reported by Greece or observed by reporters at the border. Greek authorities said Wednesday that more than 32,000 attempts to illegally cross the Evros border have been thwarted since Saturday morning, with 231 people mostly Afghans arrested. After a dip on Tuesday when top European Union officials visited the border, attempts roughly tripled to 4,600 Wednesday, while some 15,000 people were gathered along the frontier. The European Union has accused Erdogan of blackmail. Erdogan made the decision to open the border after a Russia-backed Syrian government offensive into Syrias northwestern Idlib province killed dozens of Turkish soldiers fighting in Syria and prompted nearly a million Syrian civilians to head toward Turkey. U.N. Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, is very concerned about the situation on the border, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Wednesday. As well as seeking to prevent migrants from crossing over land, Greece is having to patrol its waters as hundreds of migrants have headed for the eastern Aegean Sea islands from the nearby Turkish coast. Migrants cross in crammed and unseaworthy dinghies provided by smuggling rings. A child died when the boat he was in capsized off the island of Lesbos this week. Gale-force winds and rough seas hampered sea crossings Wednesday. The Greek government has called the situation a direct threat to national security and imposed emergency measures to carry out swift deportations and freeze asylum applications for one month. Migrants have been reporting being summarily pushed back across the border into Turkey. The mass movement towards Greece has appeared organized. Buses, minibuses, cars and taxis were provided in Istanbul to ferry people to the border, while some of those who managed to cross have said they were told by Turkish authorities to go to Greece. Meanwhile, Turkish officials closed the only other road crossing into Greece later Wednesday, citing technical work. European Union interior ministers held emergency talks to show solidarity with Greece and to raise more equipment to bolster the 27-country blocs border with Turkey. The European Commission has praised Greece as the shield on Europes external borders. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, speaking at the French Senate, said the migratory pressure is at Europes door, ... That migratory pressure is being organized by President Erdogans regime to blackmail the European Union. The EU wont give in to blackmail. Turkey, for its part, accused Greece of mistreating refugees. Erdogan on Wednesday called on Greece and other European nations to respect migrants' rights. He also accused EU countries of hypocritical behavior, saying they had rushed to Greece's help "with money, boats and soldiers" to prevent a new influx of migrants but ignored Turkey's plight concerning 3.7 millions Syrian refugees on its territory. Meanwhile, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia pledged to help Greece to deal with pressure along its border. The four countries have been known for their tough stance against migrants and rejected an EU plan to redistribute refugees in member states. European Council head Charles Michel was meeting with Erdogan in Ankara Wednesday, while EU Vice President Josep Borrell and Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic were holding talks with Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay. Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Erdogan, Borell said that the EU delegation asked Turkey not to encourage the further movement of refugees and migrants toward the EU borders. Borell said Turkish officials' response was that Turkey was not encouraging people to move but that they cannot prevent people from doing so. ____ Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey. Elena Becatoros and Nicholas Paphitis in Athens, Sylvie Corbet in Paris, Edith Lederer at the UN and Karel Janicek in Prague contributed to this report. (@FahadShabbir) MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th March, 2020) It is necessary to be "very, very" careful with vaccines against COVID-19, World Health Organization (WHO) Emergencies Programme Executive Director Michael Ryan said on Friday, stressing that a product expected to be injected in most of the people living in the world should no way be bad. "There's only one thing more dangerous than a bad virus and that's a bad vaccine. So we have to be very, very careful in developing any product that we are going to inject into potentially most of the world's population," Ryan told a virtual press conference. While lauding the fact that first clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccines have begun mere weeks after the beginning of the outbreak of a completely new disease, the WHO official noted that there were still challenges ahead. "Even if we get a vaccine that is effective, we have to have that vaccine available for everybody. There has to be fair and equitable access to this vaccine not just for ethics reasons, but because the world will not be protected until everyone is protected," Ryan stressed. Apart from scaling up the production and distribution of a potential vaccine to the population, it is also necessary to convince people to take it, according to the official. "Because you have all seen, over the last few years, the lack, the loss of confidence in vaccines. It is one thing having this vaccine, but people need to avail of that vaccine. So there is a lot of work to do," Ryan said. More than 265,000 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed globally, while the number of fatalities has exceeded 11,000. More than 87,000 people have recovered. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 01:01:45|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close CHICAGO, March 20 (Xinhua) -- After examining what has happened to power demand in Northern Italy, which some say is about 11 days ahead of the U.S. trajectory of COVID-19, University of Chicago (UChicago) economist Steve Cicala found that power demand has plunged in Northern Italy since the middle of February. On Feb. 21, life in the region was largely normal. The following day, the Italian government began to institute quarantine measures. By Feb. 24, power demand began to slow. There was a bump in power just before the government instituted a national lockdown about two weeks later on March 10. About a week after that, power demand had fallen 18 percent compared to demand just prior to the quarantine measures. Power demand could be a real-time indicator of the more widespread impacts on the Italian economy, said Cicala in a news release posted on UChicago's website on Thursday. What is happening in Italy could point to what the United States could expect in the coming weeks as states issue tighter restrictions on daily life. "If paychecks and employment follow what is happening in the electricity-demand data, then there are a lot of people who will need help," said Cicala, an expert on the economics of environmental and energy policy regulation. When there is a sharp shock in the economy, other indicators like employment may lag in reflecting the impact, because companies often lay off workers as a last resort, after they have already taken other measures like ramping down production or adjusting maintenance schedules, he explained. Conversely, electricity demand shows the more immediate change and is a broad measure of economic activity. As policymakers consider which countermeasures may be necessary to buffer the economic effects of coronavirus, a real-time indicator of the economy's strength is of the utmost importance. Topshop employees say they have been laid off after the Arcadia Group closed its 300 UK stores an hour before the government announced its coronavirus job retention plan. The group owned by billionaire Sir Philip Green said in an emailed statement: 'In line with many other retailers, the Group has made the difficult decision to close until further notice all of our stores from 4pm this afternoon.' This includes the chains Topshop, Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Miss Selfridge and Wallis. The statement added: 'All store staff remain employees during this time and will be paid their normal pay for March plus any outstanding overtime payments, after which we will review this situation and will be keeping our store teams updated.' A Topshop store in London. All of the Arcadia Group's chains were closed this afternoon over the coronavirus Employees claimed that they had been laid off without sick pay or redundancy Twitter users reacted furiously to the news today, with many citing Sir Philip Green's colossal earnings Employees took to Twitter earlier to vent their frustration, claiming that managers had already informed staff that they had been laid off. It comes as the number infected by the coronavirus soared to more than 4,000, including 177 deaths. Sir Philip Green, the chairman of Arcadia Group This evening, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a colossal relief package for employers, saying the government would cover 80 per cent of wages for staff being paid up to 2,500 a month. One Twitter user, Eleanor Cerys, tweeted: 'No sick pay, redundancy, nothing. The amount of tears Ive seen this week is disgusting. Seeing my managers having to let all temporary contracts end and now this. Bad to worse.' Another, Sophie Rebecca Guest, wrote: 'As a manager in a Topshop/Topman store, just thought I'd clear up that all team members are being paid for March, the business would not comment on April pay at this time until there is clarity on what the government was doing to support so not to mislead staff. 'Unfortunately we have had to end the contacts of those who were on a temporary contract, which wasn't easy to do, and those who weren't meeting expectations in their last two reviews/probation. All of which is a clause within a fixed term contract.' The announcement by Arcadia came before Mr Sunak announced a further bailout, previously unthinkable by a Conservative government, after pledging hundreds of billions to businesses earlier this week. Meanwhile the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) warned the cost of Mr Sunak's job retention scheme was simply 'unknowable'. IFS director Paul Johnson said if the support was claimed for 10% of employees it could cost the Government 10 billion over three months. 'The cost of the wage subsidy package is unknowable at present but will run into several billion pounds per month that it is in operation,' he said. 'It is clearly a policy designed in haste and will require considerable speed and flexibility from HMRC to deliver. As a result there are obvious concerns about its design.' The announcement by Arcadia came before Mr Sunak announced a further bailout, previously unthinkable by a Conservative government, after pledging hundreds of billions earlier this week The plan was, however, broadly welcomed by trade unions and employers as offering a vital lifeline amid growing fears of a major recession. Emma McClarkin, the chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association, said: 'We stand ready to play our part in the fight against Covid-19 and in the process protecting our communities and employees. 'As a sector employing nearly one million people, the Chancellor's support package announced today on staff wages will safeguard thousands of livelihoods and help closed pubs try to get through this difficult period. 'We stand ready to work with the Government to ensure that the support is accessible as fast as possible.' TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said it was a 'breakthrough' and praised the Chancellor for showing 'real leadership'. 'Employers can now be confident they'll be able to pay their wage bills. They must urgently reassure staff that their jobs are safe,' she said. However, shadow chancellor John McDonnell said Mr Sunak had not gone 'far enough or fast enough'. 'The Government must give people the economic security to stay at home by lifting the level of statutory sick pay, but it appears that the Government hasn't done that today,' he said. While many major cruise operators are idling their fleets in response to the coronavirus pandemic, some ships are still at sea or trying to find a port as they deal with fears that passengers or crew may have become infected with COVID-19. Some ships, such as Fred. Olsen Cruises' Braemar, have passengers aboard who either tested positive for COVID-19 or have coronavirus-related symptoms. Others, like Celebrity Cruises' Eclipse, have no reported cases, yet are being turned away from ports overseas. "This is a highly fluid situation, with numbers changing by the hour as cruise ships around the world are completing their voyages," Bari Golin-Blaugrund, senior director of strategic communications at Cruise Lines International Association, the industry's leading trade organization, told USA TODAY. As of Thursday morning, around 14% of CLIA's 277 member ships were still at sea in the process of wrapping up current voyages. "The vast majority of the rest are either at port, anchored or repositioning," Golin-Blaugrund continued. "CLIA members are focused on the safe and smooth return home of those onboard cruise ships that are currently at sea." But the path home is increasingly murky for some ships. Officials alerting Ruby Princess passengers others tested positive A third Princess Cruise ship has become subject to the chaos of coronavirus. After two members of the Princess Cruises fleet, Diamond Princess and Grand Princess, were forced into quarantine as a result of the rampant virus, Ruby Princess' former passengers now have to worry that they too could have been in contact with COVID-19. Passengers on board the Ruby Princess, including approximately 570 Americans, disembarked Thursday and the cruise line announced the positive tests on Friday. "We are working closely with NSW Health authorities who advised that three guests and a crew member who travelled on Ruby Princess have tested positive for COVID-19," the cruise line said in a statement Friday provided by spokeswoman Negin Kamali. Story continues All four people reported flu-like symptoms during the cruise and were in isolation on board with their travel companions. "We have assisted NSW Health to make contact with all guests who arrived in Sydney yesterday," the cruise line said. The ship can hold up to 3,080 guests and 1,200 crew members, according to the Princess Cruises website. "Ruby Princess had returned to Sydney in accordance with the Australian Governments arrangements for cruise ships to return and disembark guests at the ports where their cruises began," Kamali told USA TODAY in an email. Costa Luminosa arrives in France Costa Cruises' Costa Luminosa arrived to port in Marseille, France, on Thursday, where it was allowed to disembark some guests despite the fact that France is under lockdown. According to the cruise line, 386 Costa Luminosa passengers, including all 233 Americans on board and some Canadian and French passengers, too, disembarked in Marseille. Those who disembarked on Thursday evening were accompanied to flights and transfers organized by the company, and the partial disembarkation continued Friday. The cruise line said the ship has five passengers and two crew members exhibiting "flu-like" symptoms. The most common coronavirus symptoms resemble the flu and include fever, tiredness and dry cough. After dropping off passengers in Marseille, "the ship is then scheduled to continue towards Italy, where Costa is working with local authorities to complete disembarkation for remaining guests," the cruise line said in a statement shared by Rossella Carrara, vice president of external relations and sustainability for Costa Cruises. Complicating matters is the fact that all of Italy is in the midst of a government-enforced lockdown, including its ports, according to Cruise Critic, a news and review site, which raises questions about the Luminosa's ability to dock in Savona or Naples as planned. Earlier in the week, Costa Luminosa was denied permission to disembark its more than 1,400 passengers in Spain after that country was placed in lockdown over the weekend, including the closure of all ports. The company, which is owned by Carnival Corp., said that three Costa Luminosa passengers who were removed from the ship in the Cayman Islands and Puerto Rico have tested positive for COVID-19, including a 68-year-old man who died last weekend. On Monday, two passengers who had problems breathing and one who had a fever were transported from the ship to the hospital when it stopped for provisions in the Canary Islands, a autonomous Spanish territory off the coast of Morocco. British guests from Braemar arrive back in U.K. Passengers from Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines' MS Braemar arrive at London's Heathrow Airport on Thursday after returning from Havana, Cuba, via charter flights. On Wednesday night, all 682 guests on the Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines' Braemar disembarked in the Port of Mariel in Havana, Cuba, and boarded charter flights back to England. According to a Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines release provided by spokesperson Ellis Barker to USA TODAY, one plane ferried passengers who have been diagnosed with coronavirus or who have exhibited symptoms and their travel companions to MoD Boscombe Down Wiltshire, a military base in southwest England. The other three jets were British Airways charter flights bound for London's Heathrow Airport. Upon arrival, passengers were provided with care packages including milk, tea, biscuits and fruit to help stock pantries at home. "We know that at times this was a frustrating process, and it was not the way they, or we, had anticipated the end to their holiday," Peter Deer, managing director of the cruise line, said in the release. As we have already seen in the Caribbean, the world, including the U.K., has become a very different place over the past few weeks. I hope this small gesture of a care package goes some way to showing our thanks to them all in what has become a very challenging and unprecedented time." On Tuesday, the cruise line reported that there were 28 guests in isolation, including two that tested positive for COVID-19 at a port call in Willemstad, Curacao, the week before. There had been 27 crew members in isolation too, including a doctor. Those who were too sick to travel were to receive medical treatment in Cuba. Thursday afternoon, the ship, with its crew, began the journey back to the U.K. to rejoin the rest of the fleet. Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines expects to welcome passengers and crew back on board as of May 23, after a pause of operations. Norwegian Jewel and Holland America's Maasdam to be turned away from Hawaii The state of Hawaii, which on Tuesday asked travelers to delay their trips for at least 30 days, has restricted ships owned by Norwegian Cruise Line and Holland America Line from disembarking, despite a lack of positive cases of coronavirus on either vessel. Previously, state and cruise line officials said passengers from the Norwegian Jewel and Holland America's MS Maasdam could disembark at Honolulu Harbor. The only exception was made Friday in Honolulu for six Hawaiian residents, plus two other U.S. citizens for medical reasons not related to COVID-19. "No other guests will be allowed to disembark and must sail with the ship," Holland America said in a statement late Friday provided to USA TODAY by Erik Elvejord. "The company has been working today to facilitate reconsideration with various authorities on a humanitarian basis, as most governments have told their citizens to return home immediately." There are no confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases among the 834 guests (including 444 American citizens) and 542 crew on board the Maasdam. The ship was allowed to take on fuel and provisions in Honolulu, and the Maasdam's departure time and new port of disembarkation are still being finalized. U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard said during a telephone town hall Wednesday that Hawaii's Department of Transportation "made the difficult, but correct, decision to only allow the Maasdam and Norwegian Jewel cruise vessels ... to come into port solely to take on fuel and resupply, in Honolulu Harbor. Norwegian Jewel, which is carrying about 1,700 passengers, was turned away from Fiji and New Zealand. While passengers were not permitted to leave the ship in Pago Pago, American Samoa, the ship was allowed to refuel there. It is expected to arrive in Honolulu on Sunday. 'If I get corona, I get corona': Coronavirus pandemic doesn't slow spring breakers' party Coronavirus shutters: Pearl Harbor memorial, Neon Museum, Eiffel Tower, other landmarks Contributing: The Associated Press, Chris Woodyard, Brian Truitt This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Coronavirus: Princess, Costa, cruises scramble to get passengers home Count of known COVID-19 cases Numbers updated 7:30 a.m. Saturday March 21 Missouri: 3 deaths, 73 known cases. Cases include 10 in St. Louis County, five in St. Louis city and two in St. Charles County. Illinois: 5 deaths, 585 known cases. Cases include three in St. Clair County and one in Madison County. National: At least 17,962 people in all 50 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico have tested positive for coronavirus, according to a New York Times database. At least 239 patients with the virus have died. Worldwide: There have been 234,073 confirmed cases worldwide, and 9,840 confirmed deaths, according to the World Health Organization. It is true that coronavirus has slowed down the world economy, put entire countries under lockdown and brought to a halt the daily lives of people. But the main beneficiary of this slowdown is, hands down, the environment. Given the non-existent traffic on roads, a slowdown in the release of waste into the air and ocean by large scale industries, and no cluttering on the beaches nature has finally been able to catch its breath. Juhu Beach/Twitter The obvious downsides aside, today we'll focus on seemingly positive developments post the outbreak. Thanks to coronavirus: Pollution Has Reduced In China There has been a tremendous decline in activity in Chinas factories as manufacturers stopped work in a bid to contain coronavirus. A massive decrease in pollution over China may have also brought with it a reported economic slowdown but for once, one of the world's most polluted countries could breathe. NASA NASA images of Earth show a major decrease in pollution levels over northern China in the last month. Usually in February, NO2 levels increase after Chinese New Year celebrations, as factories reopen and more vehicles take to the roads following the annual holiday. It Will Save Lives Of Those Dying Of Pollution Researchers feel that the coronavirus lockdown can save more lives who are affected by pollution than those threatened by contracting COVID-19. "Strangely enough, I think the death toll of the coronavirus at the end of the day might be positive if you consider the deaths from atmospheric pollution," Forbes quoted Francois Gemenne, director of the Hugo Observatory as saying. According to WHO (World Health Organisation) around seven million people across the world lose their lives due to pollution. PIxabay He further added, More than likely the number of lives that would be spared because of these confinement measures would be higher than the number of lives that would be lost because of the pandemic. Waters In The Canals Of Venice Have Become Clearer People are looking at the side effects of quarantine and keeping that in mind some started a Facebook page clean Venice uploading the pictures of the canals in the beautiful city which seem clearer because of the non existence of tourist activity. Water in the city's canals has become much clearer owing to the pause in running of boats that are known as 'taxis' there. People Are Saving Commute Time All the people sitting and working at home were probably once told by their bosses that their job cannot be done by working from home. But here we are. Many of us spend a major part of our day commuting and what is supposed to be an 8-hour job becomes a 12-hour gig. Now that we are home, we are saving four hours of our day that we can invest in something else, even much-needed sleep. Reuters Pollution Reduced In Italy Italy has been on lockdown and now, just like in China, there has been reported decrease in pollution there too. The levels of nitrogen dioxide seem to have decreased. The photos were uploaded on Twitter by Santiago Gasso - a researcher at the University of Washington and NASA. Following his findings, he penned on his social media account: 'In one month, there is a clear decrease of NO2 levels (a pollution marker) in northern #Italy according to the satellite sensor.' People Are Finally Spending More Time With Family One thing that millennials focus on the least is family. Now that most of us are home, we can finally bond with them or at least give them more time than we used to. This time of coronavirus lockdown can be used to work on personal relationships, rebuilding them. Getty Images Air Quality Improves In National Capital As cinemas, schools, restaurants and other public places have been shut down till March 31 because of coronavirus and many people are working from home, traffic has reduced on the ever packed Delhi roads resulting to lower pollution and better air quality in the national capital. Twitter Delhi-NCR saw some 'moderate' air quality with the AQI at 129. It is expected to improve, according to reports, and the improvement can be partially credited to the low traffic on roads. Juhu Beach Is Vacant One of the most popular and crowded spots in Mumbai, Juhu Beach like many other places has been shut down because of COVID-19 scare. The result? One can finally see what the beautiful place looks like without thousands cluttering the space and littering the beach. Animals Get To See... Animals Since Chicago like many other cities is on self-imposed quarantine, aquariums do not have visitors. Well, at least not human visitors. With Homo Sapiens out of the way, the residents got to tour the place and catch up with their neighbors. The adventure continues! This morning, Edward and Annie explored Shedds rotunda. They are a bonded pair of rockhopper penguins, which means they are together for nesting season. Springtime is nesting season for penguins at Shedd, and this year is no different! (1/3) pic.twitter.com/VdxN3oQAfe Shedd Aquarium (@shedd_aquarium) March 16, 2020 These penguins got a grand tour of their own home at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium because no one else was around. The Shedd's rockhopper penguins went on a field trip through the aquarium, encountering some their fellow residents along the way. Life is difficult in times of a pandemic, as all of us are realizing it, but it is only these silver linings that will help keep us sane. The Palace Bar on Dublin's Fleet Street, which temporally closed its doors due to the impact of the Coronavirus The Palace Bar on Dublin's Fleet Street, which temporally closed its doors and boarded up, due to the impact of the Coronavirus Merchants Arch bar which temporally closed its doors and boarded up, due to the impact of the Coronavirus Garda pictured in Temple Bar which is very quiet due to the impact of the Coronavirus Four Dublin pubs suffered break-ins in the space of less than 48 hours after they were closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Herald can reveal. The four city centre pubs were targeted by criminals on Thursday and Friday with sources saying it is expected that more pubs will be targeted nationwide in the coming days and weeks by "opportunistic and desperate burglars". Some pub owners are so concerned about the situation that they have completely boarded up the front of their premises. Pubs to have taken this decision include the well-known Palace Bar on Fleet Street and the Merchant's Arch pub on Wellington Quay. Arrests Following one of the pub burglaries in the capital, gardai from Pearse Street arrested three suspects after they allegedly raided the Oak Bar on Parliament Street in Temple Bar in the early hours of Thursday morning. The incident happened at 5.45am and gardai yesterday confirmed details of the arrests. "Two men, aged in their late 20s, and a woman, aged in her early 30s, entered the licensed premises and took a number of items. "All three were apprehended by gardai on mobile patrol in the area," a garda spokeswoman told the Herald. "They were arrested and taken to Pearse Street Garda Station where they were detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984," she added. The suspects are expected to appear before court at a later date and our photo shows the damage caused to the door of the popular bar. When contacted by the Herald, Donall O'Keeffe, chief executive of the Licensed Vintners Association, said that the LVA had been advising all its members on possible security precautions. He explained that some pubs had boarded up their premises as some had "pretty unique shopfronts which are literally irreplaceable in some instances". "In these unprecedented times we have two key threats and this is from break-ins and vandalism," he said. Mr O'Keeffe also pointed out that "at this stage pubs are obviously de-stocked". "Cash has been gone from the pubs since Monday and spirits and other high value items have also been removed," he went on to add. Gardai across the country are paying particular attention to pubs that have had to close because of the coronavirus as part of their new policing plan. The Vintners' Federation of Ireland has also provided its members with detailed security advice. A spokesman told the Herald that in many cases suppliers have removed taps and kegs from pubs. Meanwhile, gardai across the country have noticed a marked reduction in home burglaries over the past week and a massive increase in closed business premises being broken into. "There has been a huge decline generally in home burglaries, not just in Dublin but across the country," a senior source told the Herald last night. "Of course this type of crime is still happening but there has been a huge reduction in it," the source added. Deterrent Figures are not yet available but gardai believe that the massive decrease in home burglaries is due to the fact that hundreds of thousands of people are now constantly in their homes. This contrasts with when homes were vacated by those attending work before the health crisis, and this provides "a major deterrent to most burglars". However, the pandemic has also led to the closure of thousands of businesses, making them ideal targets for the burglary gangs. Yesterday the Herald revealed that a suspected member of an international crime organisation was arrested shortly after midnight on Thursday as he and two other gang members attempted to break into an NCT Centre in Carlow town. The 32-year-old Romanian national appeared before Carlow District Court yesterday where he admitted a burglary charge. He was convicted, fined 500 and ordered to leave the country. Welcome to the 21st century. It has been a great run, hasnt it? (At least for some people.) And havent we been clever? We have kept our taxes comfortably low even though to do that we have had to aggressively cut back our public health personnel and facilities to the bone, ignoring the warnings of experts that we will one day regret this. But it was worth the risk, wasnt it? No, sadly, it wasnt and the day of reckoning may be near. Worse, it will be a day that may force horrific choices upon us. As this new global COVID-19 pandemic worsens in the weeks ahead and threatens to completely overwhelm our medical facilities and personnel, which cherished family members in our loving families should we or our doctors select to die? Should it be our grandmother, or grandfather? Who is weaker? How about our elderly parents? Who is the more vulnerable? Or our children? In a period of rationed medical care, who among them should live? Or die? Horrific choices? Of course. But we should prepare to make them if we as a society arent ready to make the sacrifices necessary to avoid the worst of this pandemic. Already in various parts of the world such as Italy, China and Iran precious family members are dying because life-or-death decisions need to be made. In Canada, this fateful moment is not imminent since our medical system appears to be prepared for the threat of the virus, depending on how bad it gets. At least, that is the hope. But the same cant be said for the United States, and its crisis may be contagious. Led by a president who has been ignorant, self-serving and criminally negligent in preparing his country for this crisis, America is on the brink of a catastrophe. A widely regarded medical group at the Imperial College in London this week released a report warning that, without sufficient action by the U.S. government and citizens in general, up to 2.2 million Americans may die. In addition, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that in a worst-case scenario, between 160 and 210 million Americans will be infected by December with 21 million people requiring hospitalization. Desperate state governors and health officials are warning that their countrys largely private health care system will soon become critically short of sufficient intensive care units and ventilators to cope with this crush of COVID-19 patients. So, what will happen then? Of course, we cant predict the future but we can look at the exploding crisis in Italy. Many experts fear the U.S., on its current course, is a week or two behind Italy. Apart from China, Italy has been the hardest hit. The death count there is being measured in the thousands, and the number of infections in the tens of thousands. Italian officials dont know when the daily rise in deaths will stop. On Wednesday, there were 475 new deaths reported, the highest one-day official toll of any nation since the first case was detected in China late last year. The crisis has totally overwhelmed Italys medical system, and every day now, Italys heroic medical staff who themselves are falling sick to the virus in their hundreds are having to make life-and-death choices to cope with the exploding numbers. There are now too many patients, which means that doctors lack enough machines to ventilate all those gasping for air. In some parts of Italy, protocols are being drafted to determine who gains access to scarce medical facilities. For example, a document drawn up by the civil protection department in Turin suggests that Italians over the age of 80 will in effect be left to die if hospitals run out of beds. If U.S. experts fear that the American pattern may soon follow Italys, no such fear has yet been expressed regarding Canada at least, not yet. However, this certainly does focus the mind. If this doesnt motivate us to follow the strict guidelines being asked of us such as washing hands, avoiding public gatherings and practising social distancing to prevent spread of the virus nothing will. Tony Burman, formerly head of CBC News and Al Jazeera English, is a freelance contributing foreign affairs columnist for the Star. He is based in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: , formerly head of CBC News and Al Jazeera English, is a freelance contributing foreign affairs columnist for the Star. He is based in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @TonyBurman Read more about: A couple from Cork have again appealed for help from the government to have them and about 38 other Irish people brought back to Ireland from Peru. They are among about 40 Irish tourists trapped there under martial law as the country deals with the worsening COVID-19 crisis. And they have just been informed less than 24 hours to get out of the country. If they dont - they face arrest if caught outside their hotel, food rationing and growing hostility from local people. Andrew Cotter, from Mitchelstown, and his girlfriend Marie Barry, from Conna, were given just a few hours notice that tourists had to Read More: And they have been trying ever since to get a flight out of the country, which is now under a military-imposed lockdown expected to last until at least March 31. The couple are in a hotel in Cusco, some 20 hours by land from the countrys capital city, Lima. They have called on the Irish governments to get them out. However, the only flight available to them at the moment is going to cost between $3,500 and $7,500 - money Mr Cotter and his girlfriend do not have. He told the Irish Examiner: As the situation here in Peru is deteriorating by the day, we ask that the government please do your utmost to repatriate Irish Citizens. Just as the French/German/Israel/Mexico governments have done in the last few days. The Peruvian government has today stated all repatriation flights will be stopped from March 22. Other countries have been able to solve this within the last six days, can you tell me why the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs cannot? Can we ask other countries for help if we can't manage it ourselves? With over 600 people dead today from the virus we need your help to get home. And he added: We have today been told that food rationing has to be increased as food availability is reducing. Medics arriving to test an Italian tourist at the hostel for Covid-19 The portions are meager at best. We go out to the supermarket singly and try to get some non-perishable food to supplement this although we do so only every few days. We are not to gather in groups within the hostel in case the police raid and shut down the place, which has happened to neighboring hostels. Staff in the hostel as great and doing their best to look after us. I won't say I fear for our safety but the uncertainty is worrying. Some people do not have the money to be able to hold out for more than a few weeks not to mind the excessive cost of potential flights back to UK. There is an air of hostility against foreigners, examples being not allowed into supermarkets by police, locals shouting and offering rude gestures. A spokesperson for Perus president announced today: Tomorrow is the last day that facilities are being given to foreigners to leave and to compatriots to return. The president has ordered that as of Sunday all airports and all borders are closed completely to take a much stricter measure. It had been relaxed due to the problems our compatriots had abroad and the main compatriots who had problems in other countries are being repatriated. As of Sunday, all airports are closed and immobilization measures at the national level are extreme. Earlier this week, Andrew told the Irish Examiner he had been in contact with the Irish embassy in Chile and the consulate in Bolivia. Andrew Cotter He was offered a potential flight back to London this weekend at a cost between $3,500 and $7,500 dollars. But, he said, most people will not be able to afford that flight if it goes ahead. They are two of four Irish staying at the Milhouse Hostel in the southeastern city of Cusco, where most of the Irish are staying. The couple was two and a half months into their eight-month South and Central America trip, which started on December 31 in Rio, Brazil. While flights normally cost about 300, the Irish Embassy has told Mr Cotter the high price being asked for reflects the cost of bringing a sufficiently-large plane to Peru, a connecting smaller flight from Cusco, and what is involved in negotiating permissions from the authorities. He said the email the couple received from the Irish Embassy also told them: Avianca can only commit to this charter once they know there is sufficient demand. This is the only charter option we are aware of that is likely to be available direct to London at this point. [snippet1]987600[/snippet1] Canadians are finding creative ways to cheer on health care professionals shouldering the burden of leading the charge against COVID-19. Since Thursday night, a flood of videos have been surfacing online, showing individuals and small groups of people making noise with pots, pans, clapping hands and singing songs of praise, in a collective show of support from the safety of their front stoop. The local gestures of kindness now catching on in neighbourhoods across Ontario has given birth to #TogetherWeCanDoIt and #Cheer4HealthWorkers. They were spawned by a similar campaign which originated in hard hit countries such as Italy and Spain and has since been adopted by the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario. The RNAO has been pushing the campaign. CEO, Dr. Doris Grinspun hopes it will spread across the country to rally support for health care staff. We followed suit, because were getting ready for tough times, said Grinspun of the Canadian version of the campaign. It brings a sense of community for families. Grinspun is urging Canadians to join the collective shout-out every day at 7:30 p.m. from outside their homes while keeping a safe distance from each other. The campaign has been catching on, with people from provinces such as Newfoundland and Alberta already joining. In some places, theyre doing bands in the street, she said. Grinspun said the campaign is another means to raise public awareness about the things each person can do such as stay at home, avoid public gatherings, wash hands often and keep a safe social distance from one another. These things are critical to suppressing the spread of COVID-19 and in turn easing pressure on health care providers. We are all in this together, she said. It helps to create an anti-COVID movement. Together were going to push it away by doing the right things. TIPPECANOE COUNTY, Ind. (WLFI)The Salvation Army in Greater Lafayette is making strides to bring people together in any way possible during this pandemic. "There's nothing on social media that doesn't spurn some sort of fear with the times that are going on right now, said Lieutenant Aaron Johnson. That's why Lieutenant Johnson along with others in the organization are encouraging people to participate in a movement called "Front Porch." An idea that originated from another Salvation Army location. "Ultimately what's happening is people are feeling alone, said Johnson. This movement encourages people to simply stand on their porches from 6:30 to 7 on Tuesday nights and encourage their neighbors. "Just kind of love on their neighbors, said Jonson. You don't have to leave your front porch. You just have to talk to the neighbors." Lieutenant Johnson said practicing social distancing is still important. But waving, smiling, making sure your neighbor is ok, is a way of spreading hope during this tough time. "How much are you involved in "How are you guys doing tonight, is everything alright? Can I pray for you? Just something, instead of just going in our house and just shutting the door, said Johnson. He hopes people will join the movement in helping others as much as we help ourselves. "Cause some people are really afraid, said Johnson. When it comes to sickness and viruses, that can do harm, we need to gather together." VANCOUVER Bonnie Ye, 42, left China four years ago to marry a Vancouver man she met on a Chinese matchmaking website. Soon, her husband was shuttling between China and two homes in Vancouver, leaving her alone for long stretches to care for their young daughter. Now, the two are divorced. Valerie Ng, 19, was so distraught as a child when her father left Vancouver to go work in Hong Kong, she bit his ear until it bled. But she and her mother came to dread his sporadic visits home: He was a yeller. After Valerie finishes college, her mother hopes to return to Hong Kong while her daughter plans to remain in Canada. These are just two of the astronaut families who have made Vancouver a global hub for tens of thousands of people whose lives straddle Canada and China. They are known as astronauts because at least one parent usually the father spends so much time in the air, flying to and from mainland China, Hong Kong or Taiwan to financially support the family. Drawn by Canadas education system, passports for their children and a refuge outside authoritarian China for cash and kin, these transnational migrants are transforming the social fabric of Vancouver and pumping billions of dollars into the local economy while creating challenges for families pulled between two continents and two cultures. Greece is battling hard to control the novel coronavirus but experts warn that its public health system has been drastically weakened by a decade of dwindling spending and staff cuts. Since March 12, when Greece registered its first death from the virus, the government has taken swift action to reduce social mixing -- shutting businesses and public spaces, quarantining travellers and banning gatherings among other measures. "If we manage to limit transmission, we will give our health system the time necessary to deal with emergencies," Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a televised address this week. Penny Zorzou, an infectious diseases expert at Chios general hospital, said Greece had no choice but to react quickly before its chronically underfunded public health system was overwhelmed. The system is "very weakened after the debt crisis", she told AFP. A quarter of national output was wiped out and official unemployment soared to nearly a third of the workforce during the 2010-2018 crisis, originally sparked by reckless state spending and misreporting of fiscal data to the EU. Thousands of trained doctors emigrated during the crisis, most of them to Germany and Britain. Sotiria Hospital in Athens, the top facility for respiratory illness, is a stark example of the shortage in medical staff, according to Theodoros Vassilakopoulos, a pulmonology professor at Athens University. "Before the crisis, the hospital had around 130 pulmonologists-in-training and 60 doctors. Today it has 30 trainees and around 40 doctors," Vassilakopoulos told state TV ERT. "More than half of them are over the age of 60, a high-risk group," he said. The scale of the outbreak in Italy -- which has overtaken China in coronavirus deaths -- was instrumental in mobilising the Greeks, says Kyriakos Souliotis, a professor of health policy at the University of the Peloponnese. - Italy a 'shock' - "Italy was an example that shocked everyone," Souliotis told AFP. Officials are racing to avoid contagion among tens of thousands of migrants in overcrowded camps nationwide / AFP/File Greece "only has half the European average in beds in intensive care units", notes Souliotis, adding that the cash-strapped state health system can only afford limited screening facilities which are "expensive". The union representing public hospital staff has also warned of a possible shortage in essential sanitary equipment, while other insiders say not enough people have access to test kits. There are currently 120 beds available for coronavirus patients requiring emergency care, the health ministry said this week. The aim is to "buy time" to forestall a mass propagation of cases that could cause a "collapse" in the system, says Penny Zorzou. As of Thursday evening, 16 people are in intensive care, and officials say more beds are being added. Greece has announced 464 infections so far, most of them in mild condition. Six people have died. But total virus cases are roughly estimated at 2,000-3,000 as not all those infected undergo testing, Sotiris Tsiodras, the health ministry's special spokesman on the virus. said this week. The government has now put out a call for 2,000 additional medical staff. - Camps a 'health bomb' - Officials are also racing to avoid contagion among tens of thousands of migrants in overcrowded camps nationwide, a situation recently termed a "health bomb" by government spokesman Stelios Petsas. On Wednesday, the migration ministry said it was "drastically" reducing the movement of camp residents on Greek islands, where the worst congestion occurs. The ministry said that for the next 30 days, the movement of camp residents to nearby communities would be restricted to "small groups" between 7 am and 7 pm. Specialised medical teams were being deployed to the camps and virus isolation areas would be created. On Tuesday, Greek authorities said camp access to outside visitors would be barred for two weeks. "These measures are very positive," said Zorzou. "The aim is to reduce the migrants' contact with the indigenous population, who travel more than them and are potentially more exposed to the virus than people living in the camps," she said. There are nearly 38,000 people crammed into overstretched refugee centres on the islands of Lesbos, Samos, Chios, Leros and Kos. As the camps were originally intended to handle around 6,000 people, many sleep outdoors in makeshift shelters with minimal access to hygiene. When did the executive branch begin to bend the judiciary to their (political) will in India and how? Sixteen Stormy Days, a new non-fiction book by Tripurdaman Singh, tries to answer this question and address the long-term effects of the First Amendment to the Indian constitution. Its fair to say that the average Indians faith in the judiciary and the Constitution in general is at an all-time low. A few days ago, we learned that former Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi, will be a Rajya Sabha MP soon. This is less than a year after he presided over his own sexual harassment allegation hearing just one of the many unpopular decisions he took in the last year of his career, all of which favoured the Narendra Modi government (Ayodhya, the Rafale deal and so on). The most contentious issue in India (other than the governments handling of COVID-19, of course) today, after all, is an act that many of us feel is unconstitutional (violates Article 14, for starters) and yet, the fight against the CAA is led by street protests, not legal challenges. When did the executive branch begin to bend the judiciary to their (political) will in India and how? Sixteen Stormy Days (Penguin Random House India), a new non-fiction book by Tripurdaman Singh, tries to answer this question and address the long-term effects of the First Amendment to the Indian constitution. As the author says, How did this magnificent Constitution, the most elaborate declaration of human rights yet framed go from being a charter of freedom & fulfillment of the dreams of Indias people in 1950 to being an impediment in the will of the same people by 1951? Why did Jawaharlal Nehru push so hard for the First Amendment in 1951, especially in the face of challenges both within the provisional parliament (general elections were still a few months away) and from various High Courts? The answer is both simple and not. The objective was three-fold: the abolition of the zamindari system (the impediment being the right to property), the application of caste-based reservations (the impediment being the right to equality) and the censoring of publications deemed as national security threats (the impediment being freedom of speech). Each of the three objectives, therefore, involved a clash between political objectives and fundamental rights. This brought Nehru back to the original question: why do we have fundamental rights in the first place? Is it not to protect the most vulnerable among us? Nehru was certainly correct in his over-arching view of things that as long as structural inequities existed in the Indian state (the caste system, for instance, something that persists to this day and is easily Indias biggest social justice issue), fundamental rights could be misused to privilege the powerful over the weak. Zamindari did need to go, caste-based reservations were needed in India (still are). As part of its agenda, the Congress wanted to abolish the zamindari system as soon as possible. Obviously, faced with the overnight evaporation of their power, the zamindars of Bihar in particular fought back hard, helped by allies like Rajendra Prasad, Indias first President. On 12 March 1951, the Patna High Court struck down the Bihar Land Reforms Act, saying that it violated Article 14 of the Constitution (which pertains to the equality of all citizens in the eyes of the law). In a searing indictment of the Congress party and the Bihar governments manifest authoritarianism, the judges denounced the Act as an unconstitutional law enacted in the belief that the right of the plaintiffs to challenge it and ask for relief from its operation has been taken away. The courts decision shook the government and the Congress party to its core. It shattered the illusion of the current regime having inherited the absolute power of the Raj. The Bihar Land Reforms Act bit the dust. An entire pillar of the Congress partys social agenda stood virtually crippled. Singhs research is thorough. He excels in the blow-by-blow accounts of those crucial weeks when Nehru tried to bring his allies and his opponents around to his point of view. (Realpolitik is a thorny affair at the best of times, one that Singh is clearly familiar with). Immediately after the Patna High Court ruling, Nehru had a fairly strong-worded statement for the press: If the Constitution is interpreted by the Courts in a way which comes in the way of the wishes of the legislature in regard to basic social matters, then it is for the legislatures to consider how to amend the Constitution so that the will of the people as represented in the legislature should prevail. Most students of history and/or political science will, I am sure, find the back-and-forth between Nehru and BR Ambedkar, or between Prasad and Nehru, compelling reading. This is among the reasons why Singhs work is such a valuable resource. To his credit, the book is also accessibly written, for the most part, only slipping into legalese at a few places every now and then small blemishes in an otherwise thoroughly professional job. I was also impressed by the fact that Singh, despite his Bharatiya Janata Party affiliations (his father Mahendra Aridaman Singh re-joined the BJP in 2017; at various points through the 90s and 2000s, he had been a part of the Samajwadi Party and Janta Dal as well), isnt interested in painting Nehru as an outright villain (although predictably, his book has been gleefully reported on by right-wing publications with a history of Islamophobia and publishing falsehoods like Swarajya magazine, complete with headlines blasting Nehru). As the author himself pointed out in a recent interview, he saw Nehru as a hard-nosed politician (and not as the saboteur of fundamental rights in India, despite his stand here). Hopefully, this sense of nuance also reaches Singhs colleagues in the BJP soon. Rouhani who is undoubtedly aware of the publics reaction to the lies and criminality of the rulers of the regime more than anyone, and senses the explosive state of society resulting from utter distrust of the public against the regime, sees no choice but to lie like Nazi Germanys Joseph Goebbels. While begging the people to believe his words he said to the public: Dont pay attention to cyberspace and a bunch of people I dont know what they are looking for, dear people of Iran! and added: While on 21 February was elections we could wait and announce it on 22 February, we didnt do it and were honest with the people. But his spokesman stated exactly a different thing while interviewing with State-TVs news channel and effectively confirmed that this claim is just pure lie: I, on 24 January gave a letter from the Information Council Secretariat to the president And on 26 January, the president ordered the necessary preparations. (State-TV 18 March) Rouhani, instead of responding to his negligence, tried to clean up the regimes hands of the crime and with an astounding flagrant posture claimed that the two provinces have crossed the coronavirus pick. Then completed his lie and said that 20 percent of the beds of Gilans hospital is free: I asked [the head of Gilan University of Medical Sciences] if they had an empty bed. Gilan told me 20 percent of my hospital beds are empty now that they are advertising there, I dont know there are people in the street, I dont know that is a lie, yes the start of the first days were hard days. This is a deceptive lie, as Gilan Emergency Chief Peyman Asadi admits: Gilans situation is still in critical condition Our hospitals are full of patients and the health care workers work at multiple shifts. (Asr Iran, 19 March) Earlier, on 8 March, Jafarzadeh Imen Abadi, Gilans member of parliament, who was speaking to Rouydad 24 news agency, had confessed to the deaths of 30 to 40 people daily in the province: We have no facilities and hospitals are no longer able to accept patients because their capacity has been filled. But as if not, the regimes president has nothing else to do as just to lie and ignoring the peoples pain compare the situation of Iran with London, Berlin and Paris and said: Compare Tehran Now with London! Compare Tehran with Berlin! Compare Tehran with Paris! Its very easy to see whats going on there, see their store shelves empty. There was a fight between two people for a single piece of paper. People are worried about their food, theyre worried. Their hospitals say we have no place. And said that the The coronavirus is a test, a divine exam: But its an exam which is a test. You can compare Iran to other countries, weve talked about in Corona explicitly! Rouhanis purpose of the divine exam is, of course, the test that the people must give, not the rotten and corrupt rulers! His purpose is that people should not wait for the help of the government; just sit quiet and give their divine exam! Read More: Exclusive Citizen Report About Coronavirus Outbreak in Mashhad, Northeastern Iran Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 07:26:56|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Humanitarian workers are concerned about the 100 million people living in emergency situations who depend on aid as the coronavirus spreads around the world, a UN spokesman said on Friday. "Many people live in cramped conditions and with little or no access to proper sanitation and basic health services," said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. "As the virus reaches these places, our colleagues warn that the consequences could be devastating." The humanitarian imperative is to keep getting life-saving help out to these people while taking action to avoid the catastrophic impact that the COVID-19 outbreak could have on them, Dujarric said. Relief agencies are concerned about the limited surveillance systems in countries with large numbers of vulnerable groups, while the additional burden of COVID-19 could mean that other current outbreaks such as cholera, measles and yellow fever receive less attention. Overcrowding of camps for internally displaced persons in some of the world's humanitarian hotspots are also high-risk areas for COVID-19, the spokesman said. "The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and its partners are working around the clock to help raise awareness about how people can protect themselves and others from the virus," he said. "They are also taking precautions to ensure the safety of their staff and the people they serve." UN agencies are assessing where humanitarian operations are being disrupted and identifying solutions, working on a global humanitarian response plan which should be ready to launch next week. The UN Central Emergency Response Fund has released 15 million U.S. dollars to help contain the virus in vulnerable countries. The UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) said the inclusion of migrants and marginalized groups is necessary for all aspects of the response to COVID-19. It is particularly important that authorities make every effort to confront xenophobia, the IOM said. "The virus does not discriminate and nor should our response, if it is to succeed." The agency warned that migrants all too often face obstacles in accessing health care and if they fear deportation, family separation or detention, they may be less willing to access health care or provide information on their health status. The IOM pointed out that while many countries have chosen to tighten controls at their borders, it is critical that such measures be implemented in a non-discriminatory manner, in line with international law, and by prioritizing the protection of the most vulnerable. In Africa, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that, as of Thursday, more than 600 cases of COVID-19 had been confirmed in 34 countries, compared to 147 just one week ago. Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO's regional director for Africa, said the rapid evolution of the virus in Africa is deeply worrisome and a clear signal for action. However, Moeti said that it is still possible to change the course of this pandemic, calling on governments to draw on all of their resources and capabilities to strengthen their response. In the African region, 12 countries are experiencing local transmission. The WHO said it is crucial that governments prevent local transmission from evolving into a worst-case scenario of widespread sustained community transmission. In a business-related initiative, Dujarric said the UN Global Compact is bringing together more than 10,400 companies in 166 countries. The spokesman said the compact is now encouraging businesses to support workers. As an example, he said the UN team in Brazil reported that the national UN Global Compact network is collecting information on measures that companies are taking to fight the pandemic and on voluntary initiatives to support the global response to the crisis. "The objective is to map and encourage measures that address workers' rights and safety, including remote work," the spokesman said, adding, "Some companies have increased health services for people impacted by the virus." At the UN headquarters, the spokesman said security officers reported about 247 people swiped their identification cards Friday, down from 11,000 on a normal day. "The UN is taking responsibility by lowering the footprint and cutting back on the workforce that actually has to be in the building," he said. Dujarric said there were 24 cases of COVID-19 among UN staffers worldwide, including one staffer in New York. Earlier in the week, a correspondent at the UN headquarters in New York was reported infected. As for the secretary-general, the spokesman said Guterres continues to meet virtually, by teleconference, with the senior staff from around the UN system to ensure coordination of the COVID-19 response. Widgetways.com scored 42 Social Media Impact. Social Media Impact score is a measure of how much a site is popular on social networks. 2/5.0 Stars by Social Team This CoolSocial report was updated on 6 Aug 2013, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want. The total number of people who shared the widgetways homepage on StumbleUpon. The total number of people who shared the widgetways homepage on Google Plus by a google +1 button. This is the sum of two values: the total number of people who shared the widgetways homepage on Twitter + the total number of widgetways followers (if widgetways has a Twitter account). The total number of people who shared the widgetways homepage on Delicious. This is the sum of two values: the total number of people who shared, liked or recommended the widgetways homepage on Facebook + the total number of page likes (if widgetways has a Facebook fan page). Basic Information PAGE TITLE index.html DESCRIPTION Widgetways offers free widgets for your websites, web pages, blogs and social networking sites. Choose from a large category of widgets in different sizes to compliment your pages. KEYWORDS widgets, free widgets, games, banners, puzzles, soundboards, holiday widgets, christmas widgets, glitter text, OTHER KEYWORDS widget, jukebox, widgets, games, puzzles, makers, click The title found in the head section of the homepage. CoolSocial advanced keyword analysis tool is able to detect and analyze every keyword on each page of a site. The keywords meta-tag found in the head section of the homepage. The description meta-tag found in the head section of the homepage. The URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is the address of the site. Domain and Server DOCTYPE CHARSET AND LANGUAGE DETECTED LANGUAGE English English SERVER YTS/1.20.28 OPERATIVE SYSTEM Character set and language of the site. The language of widgetways.com as detected by CoolSocial algorithms. Operative System running on the server. Type of server and offered services. Represents HTML declared type (e.g.: XHTML 1.1, HTML 4.0, the new HTML 5.0) Site Traffic trend during the last year. Only available for sites ranked <= 100000 in the world. Referring domains for widgetways.com by MajesticSeo. High values are a sign of site importance over the web and on web engines. Facebook link FACEBOOK PAGE LINK NOT FOUND The URL of the found Facebook page. Facebook Timeline is the new layout of Facebook pages. The type of Facebook page. The total number of people who like website Facebook page. The description of the Facebook page describes website and its services to the social media users. A Facebook page link can be found in the homepage or in the robots.txt file. The total number of people who tagged or talked about website Facebook page in the last 7-10 days. Twitter account link TWITTER PAGE LINK NOT FOUND Photograph: Win McNamee/Getty Images As states around the country enacted emergency measures to deal with the outbreak of coronavirus, Kentucky lawmakers quietly tightened and approved a new photo identification requirement that would make it harder to vote. Lawmakers eliminated a catch-all provision that allowed voters to give their own reason for being unable to obtain acceptable identification if they signed an affidavit swearing they were unable to obtain acceptable identification, according to Joshua Douglas, a law professor at the University of Kentucky, who said he had reviewed the changes. Now voters have to provide one of the specific and approved reasons for lacking ID to vote. The legislators also tweaked the law so that IDs from other states were not acceptable. Related: Texas upholds sentence for woman who didnt know she was ineligible to vote Kentuckys secretary of state, Michael Adams, a Republican, praised the measure in a statement. He noted that the bill would allow anyone who did not have an ID to get one for nothing and allowed people to vote if a poll worker recognized them. I ran for this office to make it easy to vote and hard to cheat, he said. The lawmakers made the changes in a committee days after Kentuckys governor, Andy Beshear, a Democrat, closed the state capitol to the public over coronavirus concerns. DMV offices, one of the most common places people would obtain a photo ID throughout the state are also closed as Kentucky deals with 47 cases of Covid-19 thus far. The Kentucky primary is scheduled to take place on 23 June (the state postponed it from 19 May amid the coronavirus outbreak) and the deadline to register is 20 April. Its absurd, Douglas, who has advised Adams on the legislation, said of the timing of the changes. It makes me question how much the legislature really care about the Kentucky voters. The measure now goes to Beshear, who will probably veto the measure. But the Kentucky legislature, where Republicans control a majority of seats, can override that veto with a majority vote. Story continues Kentucky already has a voter identification requirement, but Republicans pushed the new measure after the state narrowly elected Democrat Beshear and want it in effect this fall when Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, faces re-election. The law will probably go into effect this summer. Many Kentuckians will not even have the option to obtain a new ID because county clerks offices throughout the commonwealth have closed following the recommendation of public health officials, Corey Shapiro, the legal director of the Kentucky chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement. It is unconscionable for politicians to move this legislation at a time when Kentuckians are not allowed in the capitol and are losing their jobs, their small businesses, access to childcare and more. The push for additional voting restrictions contradicts a national push to ease voting regulations so that people can vote by mail without having to gather at polling places this year. Kentucky currently requires voters to give an excuse if they want to vote absentee and does not have early voting. Confirmed coronavirus cases in New Jersey increased nearly 49% as of Saturday afternoon, with 1327 known infections across the state. These numbers, sooner or later," Gov. Phil Murphy said, will go into the many thousands. That overall count, from the New Jersey Department of Health, includes 16 deaths. Of those, nine had underlying conditions and two remain under investigation. The rate at which the infection has spread mirrors other parts of the country and world: a slow buildup followed by swift growth, which appears to be the phase weve entered now. Bergen County leads the state as it has from the outbreaks outset with 363 cases. Just across the Hudson, New York City has become one of the national epicenters of the outbreak. Cumberland County saw its first official case on Friday. Cape May, Sussex and Warren had their first cases announced by the state on Thursday. Ocean and Passaic each saw their number of positive tests more than double between Wednesday and Thursday. Many around the state are ramping up measures to fight the spread of the virus. A new testing site opened in Warren County on Wednesday, which had 113 appointments scheduled for its first two days open. Gov. Murphy promised to aggressively enforce the ban on large gatherings after two Orthodox weddings in Lakewood had to be broken up by police on Tuesday. A hospital in Jersey City will be screening ER patients for COVID-19 on their way in the door. Tell us your coronavirus stories, whether its a news tip, a topic you want us to cover, or a personal story you want to share. Disha Raychaudhuri may be reached at disha@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @Disha_RC. Nick Devlin is a reporter on the data & investigations team. He can be reached at ndevlin@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @nickdevlin. [March 21, 2020] EnKing International Wins a Bid for Selling Methane Credits to PAF of The World Bank Group INDORE, India, March 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- EnKing International is one of the 15 winners in the auction who paid $0.30 for the right to sell a carbon credit to the PAF at a good price. The World Bank Group auctioned $8.25 million of climate funds on March 3rd, 2020, and this could lead to a reduction of the equivalent of 4.2 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions by the end of 2020. Twenty-one companies took part in a pilot online auction for the right to sell carbon credits. The eligible projects are the ones that will cut the methane emissions from waste disposal which includes landfill, wastewater, and agricultural waste. Methane is a high potent greenhouse gas with a global warming potential of at least twenty-five times that of carbon dioxide. This auction has attracted bidders in nine developed and developing countries ranging from large multinationals to small, local businesses. The winners in this auction will receive contracts as 'Pilot Auction Facility Emission Reduction Notes', issued as The World Bank bonds. To be eligible, the emissions must be monitored and verified by a third party. Credits verified under the Clean Development Mechanism, Gold Standard, and Verified Carbon Standard are eligible in the auction. This has been a wonderful achievement for EnKing International to supply methane credits developed by the firm from projects all across the world. About EKI Energy Services Limited : EKI Energy Services Limited, is India's first public limited company, an ISO 9001:2015 certified organization, working in the field of energy, carbon and quality management with brand name of EnKing International. EKIESL is one of the leading firms in India having more than 400 national and international clientele, associates all over the world, and headquartered at Indore (MP - India). With a vision of "Making Planet Earth a Green Global Society", EKIESL is delivering services into the categories of R&D, training, consulting and auditing services. For more information, visit http://www.enkingint.org [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] INTRODUCTION On January 30th, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of COVID-19 (previously termed 'novel coronavirus' or '2019-nCoV'), a public health emergency of international concern. COVID-19 is caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which is sometimes also referred to as the COVID-19 virus. As the epidemic continue to spread to more countries, people around the world were by then wondering about the trajectory of the epidemic and whether they should be concerned. Media reports of the epidemic often focus on the more eye-catching events: travel restrictions, closing down of major airports, lockdown of entire cities or images of supermarket supplies running out in areas perceived to be at high risk. On social media, other reports about the epidemic range from unsubstantiated rumours to deliberate disinformation increasing the sense of panic many individuals are experiencing. Africa and for that matter Ghana were spared this ordeal by time, but hey! COVID-19 IS HERE WITH US NOW. Robust, reliable analysis is vital at this stage not only as a way to give concerned members of the public a sense of perspective, but also to give credence to government efforts and response to the pandemic. Government alone CANNOT DEAL WITH THIS PANDEMIC. The right information must be made available to all stakeholders especially community leaders to ensure calm and reduce panic, which has proven to be the main drivers of myth and misinformation on the main stream and social media. THE TRUTH A suspected case is a patient with acute respiratory illness (fever and at least one sign/symptom of respiratory disease (e.g., cough, shortness of breath), AND with no other etiology that fully explains the clinical presentation AND a history of travel to or residence in a country/area or territory reporting local transmission OR A patient with any acute respiratory illness AND having been in contact with a confirmed or probable COVID-19 case in the last 14 days prior to onset of symptoms; OR A patient with severe acute respiratory infection (fever and at least one sign/symptom of respiratory disease (e.g., cough, shortness breath) AND requiring hospitalization AND with no other etiology that fully explains the clinical presentation. COVID-19 spreads primarily from person to person. Droplets releases when someone sick sneezes or cough can land on the mouth or nose of people nearby. Close contact like hugging and shaking hands with someone sick can also spread the virus. Surfaces (like desks, tables, lift buttons, door knobs) and objects like (telephones, key boards, pens,) should be wiped with disinfectants regularly at the work place. This implies if you touch something contaminated and then touch your face or anothers face, you might all fall ill. If you are healthy, you only need to wear a mask if you are taking care of a person with suspected COVID-19 infection Wear a mask if you are coughing or sneezing. Masks are effective only when used in combination with frequent hand-washing with alcohol-based hand rub or soap and running water. If you wear a mask then you must know how to use it and disposed of it properly. Comply with restriction on travels, movement or large or social gatherings THE MYTH There is no relationship between climate and the transmission of COVID-19 From the evidence so far, the COVID-19 virus can be transmitted in ALL AREAS, including areas with hot and humid weather, cold or snow. Regardless of climate, adopt protective measures if you live in, or travel to an area reporting COVID-19. Taking a hot bath does not prevent the new coronavirus disease Taking a hot bath will not prevent you from catching COVID-19. Your normal body temperature remains around 36.5C to 37C, regardless of the temperature of your bath or shower. Actually, taking a hot bath with extremely hot water can be harmful, as it can burn you Are hand dryers effective in killing the new coronavirus? Hand dryers are not effective in killing the 2019-nCoV. To protect yourself against the new coronavirus, you should frequently clean your hands with an alcohol-based hand rub or wash them with soap and water. Once your hands are cleaned, you should dry them thoroughly by using paper towels or a warm air dryer. How effective are thermal scanners in detecting people infected with the new coronavirus?: Thermal scanners are effective in detecting people who have developed a fever (i.e. have a higher than normal body temperature) because of infection with the new coronavirus. However, they cannot detect people who are infected but are not yet sick with fever. This is because it takes between 2 and 10 days before people who are infected become sick and develop a fever. Can eating garlic help prevent infection with the new coronavirus? Garlic is a healthy food that may have some antimicrobial properties. However, there is no evidence from the current outbreak that eating garlic has protected people from the new coronavirus Does the new coronavirus affect older people, or are younger people also susceptible? People of all ages can be infected by COVID-19. Older people, and people with pre-existing medical conditions (such as asthma, diabetes, and heart disease) appear to be more vulnerable to becoming severely ill with the virus. It is advised that people of all ages take steps to protect themselves from the virus, for example by following good hand hygiene and good respiratory hygiene. Are there any specific medicines to prevent or treat the new coronavirus? To date, there is no specific medicine recommended to prevent or treat COVID-19. However, those infected with the virus should receive appropriate care to relieve and treat symptoms, and those with severe illness should receive optimized supportive care. Some specific treatments are under investigation, and will be tested through clinical trials. WHO is helping to accelerate research and development efforts with a range of partners. The most effective way to protect yourself against the new coronavirus is by frequently washing your hands with soap and running water or cleaning your hands with alcohol-based hand rub. WAYFORWARD. There are many things than can be observed to restore some hope against the fight at hand. As directed by the President, Nana Akuffo Addo, Lets all support the fight at hand. Aside travel restrictions, lets practice the following. PHYSICAL DISTANCING MEASURES: Like cancelling sporting events, concerts and other large gatherings can help to slow transmission of the virus. I repeat, slow transmission of the virus. This can also reduce the burden on the health system which are not the best and well equipped to deal with this kind situations. And they can help to make epidemics manageable, allowing targeted and focused measures. But to suppress and control epidemics, Patients must isolate, test, treat and trace. If this is not done, transmission chains can continue at a low level, then resurge once physical distancing measures are lifted. WHO continues to recommend that isolating, testing and treating EVERY suspected case, and tracing EVERY contact, must be the backbone of the response in every country. This is the best hope of preventing widespread community transmission of COVID-19 in Ghana. THE SOUTH KOREA EXPERIENCE: A month ago, the Republic of Korea was faced with accelerating community transmission. But it didnt surrender. It educated, empowered and engaged communities. It developed an innovative testing strategy and expanded laboratory capacity It did exhaustive contact tracing and testing in selected areas. And it isolated suspected cases in designated facilities rather than hospitals or at home. As a result, cases have been declining for weeks. At the peak there were more than 800 cases a day, and gradually the incidence reduced to 90 a day cases. This is a model Ghana can also adopt. A comprehensive approach, as recommended by the WHO, (isolate, test, treat, trace as well as educate and engage communities) with the aim of slowing down transmission and containing the virus is what is required to save lives and buy time whiles waiting for the development of treatments and vaccines. As directed by the WHO, The same spirit of solidarity used against Ebola must be at the centre of our efforts to defeat COVID-19; Health service, Political actors, Religious leaders, Community leaders, Security services, business community, teachers, social media actors, bloggers, all must join hands in whatever positive way possible to fight COVID-19 in Ghana. GHANA FIRST! BY: Kofi Asaah Public Health Officer, Member, Ghana Association of Public Health technical Officers (GAPHTO) Email: [email protected] Visit the following websites for up to date information on COVID-19: https://ghanahealthservice.org/covid19/ , https://www.who.int/dg/speeches , https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/situation-reports/ As the evidence shows, the damages suffered by the minorities have been sharply greater and more horrific than that by the Hindus The Hindu society has yet not felt it necessary to examine its own caste discrimination and work towards eradicating it Ambedkar was worried about discriminatory, violent Hindu majoritarianism taking over post-Independence to the detriment of Dalits But by now one should know only too well that there has always been only one side to all such , if you want to call them that, especially post-1947. The aggrieved side. The side that has been oppressed and marginalized, historically, at least in their understanding. The side with the acute sense of victimization. The side that claims to follow a path of peace and submission to the almightys cosmic design. The Hindu side.Of course, one must be careful to make generalizations and create monolithic entities, such as Hindus. Certainly, one is aware that not all Hindus condone such acts. Yet, it would be hard to argue that a Hindu sensibility, however vaguely present, however recent, has not informed the confrontation with minority communities such as Dalits, Muslims and Sikhs. In recent history, we can take the examples of the 1984 Sikh riots, 1992 Mumbai riots, the 2002 Gujarat carnage or the 2013 Muzaffarnagar clashes.There have always been two sides to the stories related to the trigger, but by the well-established method of balance of probabilities (used extensively during the Supreme Courts recent judgement on Ayodhya) one can observe a preponderantly Hindu participation in the punitive violence that follows the trigger.This is not to absolve the Muslims from also taking up violence and participating in destructive retaliation. But pointing to a role of, say, Islamist leadership, and ghettoism, as noted in the RSS newssite Organiser in relation to the recent Delhi violence, begs the question of the ability of the state itself to curb Islamist leadership, and tackle issues at the root of ghettoism.The riots in Delhi in February seem to have had clear triggers -- the hate speech by a BJP MLA, Kapil Mishra, and the clash with anti-CAA protesters at Jafrabad. It also had clear priming or preparation for the events that followed: the northeast Delhi constituencies, a majority of which were won by the BJP in the Delhi elections, had seen vicious polarization before the elections, with temples displaying pro-CAA banners.As the evidence shows, as it has in all such cases, the damages suffered by the minorities have been sharply greater and more horrific than that by the Hindus. One can cite example after example, but one recent on-the-ground report from northeast Delhi should suffice. As this report notes:As admitted by former IPS officer VN Rai, who had conducted research on police bias Under the current dispensation, with its record of a chillingly dispassionate silence in such matters, whether in Gujarat in 2002 or over the suffering of the Kashmiri people since August last year, it is probably even likely that no one will actually mind the suggestion of Hindu riots and Hindu terror it is all so well established now.The official silence more like a sadistic voyeurism has acted as unofficial blessing to all those that contemplate and worse. In addition, the regular felicitation of rioters and murderers and the implicit condoning of inflammatory remarks and actions have created a nurturing environment for all kinds of crazies to find space, patronage and encouragement.Whether this is a Hindu Rashtra or not is still debatable -- not because the Sangh Parivar has suddenly changed its mind but because the Indian public has not caved in to accepting some new overlords. The BJP is by-and-by trying to actualize pieces of its Hindutva ideology, but to say that the entire country is sold on their ideology is still far from the truth.As can be seen on repeated instances, Hindu majoritarianism has informed several crucial incidents in the countrys history which have had bearing communal relations, regardless of the political party at the center. Prominent examples are ones connected with the Babri Masjid issue, such as the installation of the Ramlalla idols in 1949 and the opening of the gate locks (1986) during Congress rule.So, anti-minority actions overtly violent or leading to violence have been condoned by various political formations. Using labels such as fascism, or Hindu Rashtra for such actions, especially the latest in Delhi, as is the knee jerk reaction of left-liberals, does not capture the more complex history of such communal confrontations.One would probably have to agree with Dr BR Ambedkar who worried about discriminatory and violent Hindu majoritarian attitudes taking over after Independence to the detriment of the Dalits, over whom the Hindus would have untrammeled dominion. In that sense, a Hindu fascism, or a Hindu Rashtra, has been in the works right after Indias Independence.What, then, one has to be wary and alert about is the strain of majoritarianism which seems to be held and condoned, in one way or another, by all political parties in India. One cannot forget that the Muzaffarnagar riots were carried out during the Samajwadi Partys rule in UP -- and in every way, in terms of official response, the SP was as apathetic and lackadaisical as BJP and AAP during the Delhi riots.The ruling political dispensations and the police are almost always seen to be slow - and unwilling - to act in communal incidents. That seems to be a given, almost. Police inaction and bias have been studied in depth by Rai, above, and people like Omar Khalidi. Without major effort and political will not much is about to change in police attitudes, especially when they respond to majoritarian leanings of the state.Journalist Dilip Mandal argues that political will is key to ensuring the control of communal, sectarian and casteist violence. He points to the near impossibility for every neighborhood or cluster of neighborhoods to be effectively shielded, administratively at least: After all, no administration or government has the capacity to ensure permanent peace at the mohalla level and only people can exercise that agency to co-exist peacefully.This does not mean that citizen-managed mohalla-committees cannot be set up. However, such steps are only taken, if at all, after an unfortunate incident occurs -- few neighbourhoods would proactively set up peace or harmony councils if there is no danger sensed. However, community peace committees have been tried out, especially in places like Calicut and Aligarh, with mixed results, as detailed by Ashutosh Varshney. Well consider them further in the article.Considering the example of Bihar, Mandal points to the coming to power of backward castes as the deterrent to communal flare-ups. These backward classes allied with Muslims in Bihar which was the genesis of M-Y-D (Muslim, Yadav, Dalit) combination cobbled together by Lalu Yadav of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)...The natural corollary to this socio-political coalition was that the state government ensured that no communal violence took place.While this seems to be a plausible explanation, Mandal seems to paint it a little too instrumentally, using a language of benefit and interest: Because the ruling political class in Bihar found communal harmony beneficial to its interest, it ensured that the administration acts tough on communal forces. This does not seem guarantee enough to ensure continued policy of no tolerance for communal riots.Also, it is also essential to extend the conversation to the violence on Dalits which seems to be left out in considerations of communal confrontations. Scholar Dilip Menon posits a displacement of caste hostilities onto the register of religious hostilities or communalism that is, upper caste Hindus, in order to avoid lower-caste assertion, somehow convinced the lower-castes that the enemy is really in the form of Muslims, and not the upper-castes. In his view, communal violence is a red herring, proffered by upper-caste Hindus to avoid the internal violence of caste.To dismiss communal conflict out of hand in that manner seems a bit hasty. In India, violence against Dalits and minorities, especially Muslims, has occurred in parallel, almost. There is no letup in animosity and violence against Dalits even with Muslims being painted as the Other for at least a century now. But can a cessation of the internal violence against the internal Other somehow lead to a cessation of the external violence against the external Other? That is a tantalizing possibility but one has nothing to go on right now in terms of evidence and data.What is certain is that both the internal and the external Other are constructions of Hindus. It is primarily their identification with Hinduism (however defined and consolidated) which constructed an internal and an external Other. It is their beliefs and interpretations - scriptural and historical which have led them to inflicting violence in one case and seeking historical justice in the other.Can a hope of self-reform by theHindus be entertained? Since, there is scant admission of any issue with the continued presence of an internal Other, it is highly unlikely that a voluntary course of action will ever be taken up in any meaningful manner. This is a shame since the Hindu society has yet not felt it necessary to examine its own caste discrimination and work towards eradicating it.But in the context of this piece and the recent violence in northeast Delhi, an effort to stave off any future occurrence of this nature will have to be multi-pronged and multi-faceted. As long as it is initiated, composed of and led by members of civil society, it will have some semblance of effectiveness.Such peace and justice committees' could also be inter-faith in nature, using the vast reach and semblance of authority many faith groups and leaders yield. This is of course tricky but it is necessary to not allow any further co-option of religion; and in the case of Hinduism, to have strong Hindu voices condemn such violence outright, adding any moral weight that such voices can command. As Varshney observes about the failings of Aligarhs civil societys peace efforts:The said committees will have to act in various modes: trust-building, anticipatory, rapid-response, liaison (between state-agencies) etc. These efforts at maintaining and deepening bonds of good-will among communities will have to be a constant and ongoing effort, beyond the inconstancy and shifting priorities of political parties, since the endeavors of those who seek to create fissures is quite unstinted.We cannot hope for some further artificial configuration of our villages, towns and cities to separate people and keep them out of harms way -- the ghettoisation that exists, whether marked by religious and/or economic marginalization is artificial enough. For a country as vast and densely populated as India with fairly diverse demographics, we have to find ways to live together in the geographical configurations as they exist while carrying out our everyday lives.As the philosopher DR Nagaraj observed in his book Listening to the Loom:--- One more person has tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Noida with authorities locking down his residential society for 48 hours to carry out sanitation work, as the number of identified COVID-19 cases reached five here, district officials said on Saturday. The person, who returned from Europe three days ago, stays in Sector 74's Supertech Capetown, which has 6,000 flats, they said. The society has been lockdown from 10 am on Saturday till 7 am on Monday for sanitisation, the officials said. "During this period nobody would be allowed to get in or go out of the society except only in very essential cases. Everybody is requested to stay indoors," District Magistrate B N Singh stated in an order. Earlier, three people from sectors 100, 78 and 41 and one from Delhi have been tested positive for coronavirus in Noida, according to officials. According to official figures, 1,624 people were under surveillance in Gautam Buddh Nagar for coronavirus as on Saturday, while samples of 289 have been taken. Of the 289 samples, five have tested positive, 189 negative while results of 96 were awaited, it said. Thirty-nine people have been kept in isolation. Of them, 11 are in hospitals and 28 at the Dr Ambedkar Hostel in Gautam Buddh University, the officials said. Government officials in the district have appealed to the people to not panic and take all precautions to prevent the virus from spreading. People can use helpline numbers 807662361, 6396776904 (both by health department) and 0120 2569901 (by administration) round the clock to get their queries related to COVID-19 answered, they added. Uttar Pradesh has recorded 24 coronavirus cases, including one foreigner, while 258 such cases have been reported across India till Saturday, according to the Union Health Ministry. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) "We're now on a mystery cruise because we have no idea where we're going," one American passenger told Business Insider. Andy Clark/Reuters The MS Zaandam, a Holland America Line cruise ship with 842 passengers and 542 crew members on board, is currently sailing north after being shut out of South American ports over coronavirus concerns. The ship is not in quarantine, and there are no suspected COVID-19 cases onboard, a Holland America spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider in a statement. "We're now on a mystery cruise because we have no idea where we're going," one Zaandam passenger told Business Insider. Passengers were nearly told to embark in Punta Arenas, Chile, before the country's health officials blocked the disembarkation. The coronavirus pandemic has thrown the cruise ship industry into chaos, as even vessels with no reported outbreaks are denied access to ports. Are you a cruise ship passenger or employee with a story to share? Email acain@businessinsider.com. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. A St. Patrick's Day celebration broke out in the piano lounge of the MS Zaandam, as the Holland America cruise ship drifted along on its uncertain course. The bar's French piano player broke out the handful of Irish tunes he knew offhand while guests clinked glasses of Guinness and shared worries about their loved ones enduring the coronavirus pandemic back at home. Chile had just blocked Zaandam passengers from disembarking, over concerns of a coronavirus outbreak. But there were still reasons to cheer. A mandatory ship-wide temperature-check failed to uncover any signs of fever a tell-tale symptom of COVID-19. The cruise ship's future remains unclear, and passengers and crew members alike are not sure where or when they will be able to disembark. The situation on board the Zaandam latest instance of the havoc that the COVID-19 outbreak has wrought on the cruise ship industry. Six passengers died after getting caught up in the coronavirus outbreak onboard the Diamond Princess ship in February. A majority of the guests released from the Grand Princess declined to be tested for the disease after a lengthy quarantine. Story continues Like Princess Cruises, Holland America is a subsidiary of cruise industry giant Carnival Corporation. On March 17, the line suspended its global operations for 30 days, citing "port closures and travel restrictions." No Holland America passengers or crew members have tested positive for COVID-19. "From there the ship will head north, and Holland America Line is currently working on finalizing the details for the best place for guests to disembark as soon as possible and return home," the spokesperson told Business Insider in a statement. "We will share more information as it is known." "Zaandam is not in quarantine and there are no known or suspected cases of COVID-19 among the 842 guests and 542 crew on board," the spokesperson added. But the pandemic has even led to the un-mooring of outbreak-free cruise ships, where no indications of an outbreak have been detected so far. The story of passengers on board the Holland America ship give a glimpse into what it's like to be trapped on an aimless "mystery cruise" during an international pandemic. 'Such an abrupt end' Cruise ships are currently clogging Port Tampa Bay, according to the The Tampa Bay Times. CNN listed a fleet of stranded vessels, from lines like Royal Caribbean, Princess Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, and Costa Cruises. According to the Guardian, thousands of Australian citizens have been left stuck abroad after departing on cruise ships during the pandemic. The Zaandam is now anchored off of Valparaiso, Chile, where it is taking on fuel and provisions. A Holland America spokesperson told Business Insider that the ship will set sail again around noon on March 21. An American passenger on board the Zaandam spoke with Business Insider, but asked to go by his first name Chuck over privacy concerns. "We're now on a mystery cruise because we have no idea where we're going," he told Business Insider. "Prior to Holland America Line's announcement on March 13 suspending all global cruise operations for 30 days, Zaandam was sailing a 14-day South America voyage that departed Buenos Aires on March 7 and was scheduled to end in San Antonio on March 21," a Holland America spokesperson told Business Insider. The spokesperson added: "We sincerely thank our guests and their loved ones for their continued patience and understanding during this unprecedented situation. The health and safety of our guests and crew is one of our highest priorities." A Holland America cruise ship. Reuters / Stringer Sailing around Cape Horn and cutting through the Panama Canal were both on the itinerary for passengers, along with a number of day trips at ports throughout South America. After making stops in Montevideo, Uruguay and the Falkland Islands, the cruise was canceled on March 15. Passengers received a letter apologizing for the situation; "We are very sorry to inform you that our current sailing will now terminate in Punta Arenas, where we have arrived today." "We are sincerely sorry that your voyage has come to such an abrupt end," the letter read. "If you have cruised with Holland America Line before you know this is absolutely not how we endeavor to treat our guests or have their cruise experience go." The March 15 letter cited "challenges maintaining scheduled itinerary in light of rapidly changing restrictions limited to COVID-19" as the reason for the cancellation. The Zaandam crew would work with Chile in order to arrange a disembarkation on March 21, and would remain in the port to accommodate guests unable to catch an immediate flight. The American passenger who spoke with Business Insider said he was especially upset about the lack of assistance for guests who booked travel arrangements independent of Holland America. The March 15 letter advised that passengers who'd signed up for the line's Flight Ease program would have their "homeward flights rebooked to depart from Punta Arenas at our expense." 'That really put me off' But those with independent travel arrangements were simply advised to "work with your carrier" to book travel from Presidente Carlos Ibanez International Airport for no earlier than 1 p.m on March 16. All guests were offered complimentary transfers from the ship to the airport on a travel plan questionnaire posted in each room. The passenger said he was advised to file an insurance claim. Chuck said that, while he appreciated how "forthcoming" ship Captain Ane Jan Smit has been throughout the cruise, he was upset by Holland America's treatment of passengers who booked their flights independently. He said that attempting to fly back home from Chile would have cost his party around $8,000 "That really put me off," Chuck said. "I was anticipating they would say, 'Where's your final destination?' And they were going to take care of this. But instead it was, 'Figure your own way home and then file your claim with the insurance company." A Holland America cruise ship. Marcos Brindicci/Reuters However, the Zaandam passengers were ultimately not allowed into Chile. A March 16 letter sent to guests announced that the country had "entered a higher phase of their coronavirus outbreak, and their officials have decided to close all borders by air, land, and sea, as well as their airspace, within the next 48 hours." The letter said that the Zaandam crew "had put pressure on the authorities to allow disembarkation within the next two days, however, they are not allowing us to do this without remaining outside the city for at least 14 days." On March 15, when there was still a possibility that passengers would disembark in Chile, all Zaandam passengers went through a health check. Guests were called into the ship's main theater by deck. Crew members had collected each passenger's passport when they first boarded in Buenos Aires, and individually called down guests who failed to "They just took our temperatures and everybody had to fill out a form," Chuck told Business Insider. So far, he said there have been no indications that anyone on board has had a fever. Now aboard a cruise with no end in sight, Chuck said that the mood on the ship is relatively calm. With the ship heading north, he expressed concerns for passengers not from the United States, like the citizens of Britain, Australia, Canada, and France he met onboard. "We don't know how they would get back home from the States," he said. 'It would work out for us. But, I'm not really sure what they're going to do." He said guests often seem to be more worried about family back home, since everyone on board appears to be "healthy." A Holland America spokesperson told Business Insider that "complimentary internet and phone service" have been provided to all guests, so they are not completely cut off from the outside world. And passengers find ways to amuse themselves at sea, like observing the cruise ship's latest delivery of booze. "On a lighter note, they are loading cases of Corona beer on board," Chuck wrote in a text to Business Insider. Read Holland America's full statement here: Zaandam will make a service call on March 20 in Valparaiso, Chile, for fuel and provisioning. The ship is planning to depart on March 21 about noon. From there the ship will head north, and Holland America Line is currently working on finalizing the details for the best place for guests to disembark as soon as possible and return home. We will share more information as it is known. Complimentary internet and phone service has been provided for all guests to communicate with their families. We sincerely thank our guests and their loved ones for their continued patience and understanding during this unprecedented situation. The health and safety of our guests and crew is one of our highest priorities. Zaandam is not in quarantine and there are no known or suspected cases of COVID-19 among the 842 guests and 542 crew on board. Prior to Holland America Line's announcement on March 13 suspending all global cruise operations for 30 days, Zaandam was sailing a 14-day South America voyage that departed Buenos Aires on March 7 and was scheduled to end in San Antonio on March 21. Are you a cruise ship passenger or employee with a story to share? Email acain@businessinsider.com. Read the original article on Business Insider ALTON Efforts by an Alton restaurant to care for each other buried them Friday in responses. On Thursday night, Terri Beaubien of the State Street Market posted a request on the business Facebook page for people to be empathetic toward those affected by COVID-19. She said a recent customer of the restaurant had informed it of testing positive for the disease. In response, Glenn (Beau) and Terri Beaubien decided to temporarily close The State Street Market and The Copper Bar. As of Thursday, health officials had only announced a single confirmed coronavirus case in Madison County. The Telegraph has been told of multiple area residents who have been tested and are waiting results, which takes three to five days. Be empathetic to those who are affected and if you dont self quarantine, understand that you are also putting yourself and others at risk, Beaubien said in her Facebook post. If you were in our business on Saturday, we ask that you also self quarantine for 14 days. People on Facebook began sharing her post. Within 10 hours, Beaubien was contacted by multiple media seeking to talk with her. State Street Market And The Copper Bar responsibly decided to close Tuesday night after finding out a customer who was in the bar on Saturday (March 14) came down with a fever, she said in a released statement. Normally, this wouldnt raise red flags, but she had been traveling so it seemed like we should be cautious. At the time, I honestly thought it was only precautionary and we would re-open a few days later for curbside pickup, Beaubien said. A March 17 story in The Telegraph talked with Beaubien about the State Street Markets decision to offer delivery and curbside pickup after Gov. J.B. Pritzker banned dining inside bars and restaurants. More Information Tests offered in Belleville SWANSEA - Madison County residents seeking a COVID-19 test can use a drive-through testing site at Memorial Hospital at 4000 N. Illinois Lane in Swansea. The hospital and the St. Clair County Health Department now offer the drive-through COVID-19 specimen collection noon to 6 p.m. every day of the week. People must first contact their primary care physician who will work with local health departments to pre-screen and validate if they need to come to the collection site. People without a primary care physician should contact their local urgent care center. Madison County residents should not go to the county health department; it is not doing any COVID-19 testing and has temporarily suspended all-walk clinic services. About 80 percent of people who contract COVID-19 may not show symptoms or have very mild symptoms. Test results typically take one to three days, health officials said. See More Collapse Were all in this together, she said at the time. We have so many wonderful restaurants in Alton. We just want them all to still be here at the end of this. On Wednesday, the Beaubiens learned the customer did have COVID-19. Terri Beaubien said she knew it was their responsibility to let customers know and decided the only way to reach everyone was through social media. So she put a post out on Thursday informing the public. The customer is not from Alton, nor was she treated in Alton, Beaubien said. She is from Jackson County and did not realize she had a fever until back in Jackson County. She was interviewed and then tested for Covid-19. It was two days later before she received her results. She has not had to go to the hospital but instead was sworn to quarantine for the 14 days, checking in daily with the health department to monitor her symptoms, Beaubien said. She has followed all direction of the state and is doing very well as of today. Beaubien said they and their employees are self quarantined for 14 days and reporting their temperatures twice daily, as well as any symptoms that could occur. Today is Day Six and as of today all are still fine, she said. We are urging ALL people to self quarantine for 14 days. no matter where you have been, she said. If you will self quarantine, at the end of the 14 days you will most likely be virus free and will feel more comfortable knowing you are not in public spreading a virus. You will also be more likely to change the way you socialize, shop, travel, etc. She also said that, just because a carrier was in their restaurant, please realize the same situation could happen anywhere. I think one of the toughest things Ive struggled with after going public is people who have been continuing to put themselves out in the public, taking risks daily, she said. And now if they end up with the virus, we have opened the door for them to point a finger at us. When going public, we knew this would happen but still knew we had to post but in all actuality, if people you going to public places you are putting yourself at risk, she said. She encouraged area residents to not be afraid and to continue supporting local restaurants who, she said, are doing everything to keep you and their employees safe. In our business, we have to practice the proper sanitary measures and now we are going over and above what is required to keep the public safe, she said. Please consider sanitizing your debit/credit cards before handing them off and continue to practice social distancing. Any effort is greatly respected and appreciated. We have been as honest and transparent as possible through this situation, Beaubien said. It was devastating to have to post and I hope we will be able to rebound from it when the time comes. I wouldnt wish this on my worst enemy, she said. So please, when you see anyone going through this, please have empathy. It will be a miracle if you arent one degree of separation from a carrier so please take it seriously. Chef Zhang Xuesi lowered the fire on the stove where he was cooking his Cantonese meal. He added all the necessary foods, including the seafood, shrimp. He quickly lowered the fire and turned toward a phone camera as hundreds of people watched him online. It ruins the dish if you burn the breadcrumbs, he advised his livestream video watchers. Many people in China are restricted to their homes in the effort to stop the spread of coronavirus. Millions of them are finding a new interest in cooking. People watching television and online cooking shows are learning how to make Chinese and Western foods. They are also pushing up the sale of special cookware on online markets. Downloads of the top five recipe apps doubled in February said research company Sensor Tower. That means more than 2 million downloads. The Chinese video streaming company Billibilli said it has had more than 580 million views of its cooking videos in the two months since the coronavirus began to spread in China. Another online cooking show producer DayDayCook told Reuters its numbers of new users increased 200 percent from January to February. A recipe for bean curd and shrimp received the most watchers. We have never gained new users with such speed since we launched the service in 2012, said founder and leader Norma Chu. Many new home cooks are young people living in cities, say industry leaders. This group is used to eating in restaurants or getting food delivery. Now these people are cooking at home. Wu Shuang is a 30-year-old who works in Beijing, the capital. She was among those trapped at home in February. She says she spent a lot of time online, learning how to make bread and other foods. Chef Zhang explained that many of his online viewers expressed interest in discussing more than just food. In the past, users were only interested in learning cooking tricks, but now we talk about all kinds of subjects. Im Anna Matteo. The Reuters News Agency reported this story. Susan Shand adapted it for Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor. _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story breadcrumbs n. crumbled bread used to coat food for frying livestream n.live video sent or received over the internet recipe n.a set of instructions for making food bean curd n.a food made from mashed beans Passengers are seen at the Emirates airline check-in queue to leave Nigeria ahead of the travel ban deadline by the government aimed at stopping the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at the Murtala Mohammed International airport in Lagos DUBAI (Reuters) - Emirates, one of the world's biggest international airlines, is suspending all flights to France, Germany, Nigeria, New York and New Jersey due to the coronavirus outbreak, according to internal emails seen by Reuters. The state-owned airline has already suspended dozens of routes, crucial to its Dubai hub that is dependent on millions of passengers passing through each year. Flights to France, Germany and Nigeria would be suspended from March 23, until further notice, a company email said. Emirates operates services to France's Paris, Lyon and Nice, Germany's Frankfurt, Munich, Duesseldorf and Hamburg, and Nigeria's Abuja and Lagos. Flights to New York JFK and New Jersey's Newark EWR would be suspended from March 24 until further notice, another company email said. Emirates did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The airline said in the emails it was suspending the flights because of measures and restrictions imposed to control the spread of the deadly virus. Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways said on Saturday it was suspending flights to Pakistan's Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore from March 21, Belgium's Brussels from March 22 and Switzerland's Zurich from March 24. Governments around the world have imposed tight entry requirements and in some instances suspended flights. The United Arab Emirates, which has reported 140 cases of the virus, including two deaths, has temporarily banned all foreigners from entering the country, including residents. Middle East airlines are facing a liquidity crisis, putting hundreds of thousands of jobs across the region at risk because of the virus epidemic that has shattered global travel demand, the industry's largest body warned on Thursday. (Reporting by Alexander Cornwell, editing by Louise Heavens and Ed Osmond) Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 07:33:21|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close U.S. President Donald Trump addresses a news conference at the White House in Washington D.C., the United States, on March 13, 2020. (Xinhua/Liu Jie) "I don't think so," Trump said. "Essentially you've done that in California. You've done that in New York. Those are two hotbeds." WASHINGTON, March 20 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that he currently does not consider a nationwide lockdown to keep all Americans at home. "I don't think so," Trump said when asked during a press briefing at the White House. "Essentially you've done that in California. You've done that in New York. Those are two hotbeds." "You go out to the Midwest, you go out to other locations, and they're watching it on television, but they don't have the same problems," he added. The number of COVID-19 cases in the United States has topped 18,563 as of 18:30 Eastern Standard Time Friday, with 227 deaths, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. Finalists will be selected to compete for several awards such as the Cruickshank Intellectual Property High Achieving Merit Award, the Grant Thornton Emerging Business Award and the Local Enterprise Office ICT Award. The deadline for Fingal students from third level institutions with an innovative business idea, technology or solution to apply to this year's 39th Enterprise Ireland Student Entrepreneur Awards, co-sponsored by Cruickshank, Grant Thornton and the Local Enterprise Offices passed last Friday and the selection of finalists is underway. Finalists will be selected to compete for several awards such as the Cruickshank Intellectual Property High Achieving Merit Award, the Grant Thornton Emerging Business Award and the Local Enterprise Office ICT Award. The overall winner will share in a 35,000 prize fund and receive mentoring from Enterprise Ireland to develop the commercial viability of their concept. The winners will also share in a 30,000 consultancy fund that will enable them to turn their ideas into a commercial reality. Richard Murphy, Manager of LEO Support, Policy & Co-ordination Unit, Enterprise Ireland said: 'For close to forty years, the Student Entrepreneur Awards have been a hot bed for entrepreneurship in Ireland. Last year's awards attracted 1,000 high quality, innovative entries that identified challenges across a range of sectors and provided solutions to overcome them. Nurturing this talent and helping to foster that entrepreneurship is essential in driving Ireland's global reputation in business. We are looking to support great ideas with fast growing export potential and if you have an idea with a strong commercial focus then the Student Entrepreneur Awards is the right competition for you. It could be the first step on the way to becoming a business leader in 2020.' 112 Agency The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved the extension of the contract with Andriy Kobolev - Chairman of the Board of Naftogaz National Joint Stock Company. This was reported by the press service of the government. "Agree with the proposal of the Supervisory Board of the Naftogaz Ukraine National Joint Stock Company to extend the term of office of the chairman of the board Kobolev from March 23, 2020 to March 22, 2024," the government said. We recall that Naftogaz itself extended the contract with Kobolev on March 16 and was waiting for the approval of the government. Related: Naftogaz extended contract with Kobolev for four years Earlier Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) has started considering the case against Naftogaz-Ukraine on the violation of the Law on Protection of Economic Competition in the form of abuse of monopoly position in natural gas markets. This was reported on the AMCUs website. It was stated that since November 1, 2018, Naftogaz had set natural gas prices at a certain level that would not be possible in the conditions of considerable competition. Naftogaz has set prices for industrial consumers that are higher than those in the competitive environment, in particular on the results of electronic bidding at the Ukrainian Energy Exchange and at European hubs for gas delivery to the Ukrainian border (NCG), the message reads. As we reported earlier, in March 2020, JSC Naftogaz-Ukraine reduced natural gas prices for industrial consumers and other business entities. As the world struggles to suppress the spread of COVID-19, please follow the guidelines of your local health authorities. Even if you dont have the virus and live in a place without restrictions on outdoor recreation, please do not ride dangerously. Bike-related hospital visits put additional stress on local medical systems and put riders at increased risk of exposure; do not undertake any activities that put you or others at risk . Has your work situation changed? Has your work situation changed? Yes, I've lost my job Yes, I've had my hours reduced Yes, I'm working more than usual. Not yet, but my job is at risk No, I feel my work is stable Responses: 16571 Faves: 0 Comments: 11 Are you working from home? Are you working from home? Yes, I've started working from home Yes, I've always worked from home Partially, I'm working from home more than usual No, I'm still going in to work Responses: 14946 Faves: 0 Comments: 5 Have your plans for purchasing new bike parts changed? Have your travel plans changed? Have your travel plans changed? I am less likely to travel this year My plans haven't changed I'm more likely to travel this year Responses: 15962 Faves: 0 Comments: 2 Are you able to ride? Are you still able to ride? Yes, I'm riding and there are no restrictions in place Yes, I'm riding but with restrictions in place Yes, I'm able to ride but choosing not to No, I'm currently not able to ride Responses: 16004 Faves: 0 Comments: 3 Has the amount of time you're spending on the bike increased or decreased? Are you spending time training indoors? What events would you be most disappointed to see canceled? Are you eating better or worse? Are you cooking more or less? Have you or anyone you know personally contracted COVID-19? Has anyone you know contracted COVID-19? Yes, I personally have suspected or confirmed COVID-19 Yes, someone I know has suspected or confirmed COVID-19 No, I'm not aware of anyone I know having suspected or confirmed COVID-19 Responses: 14916 Faves: 0 Comments: 0 Do you foresee lasting impacts on the way you recreate? When do you predict your life will return more to what you consider normal? When do you think life will return to relative normalcy? April 2020 May 2020 June 2020 July 2020 August 2020 September 2020 Fall 2020 Winter 2020-2021 Spring 2021 Sometime after Spring 2021 Never Responses: 14841 Faves: 0 Comments: 3 The current COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly changed the way that we go about our daily lives. The virus has rapidly spread across the globe, bringing travel and business as we knew it to a halt. It has tragically taken lives and forced many to adapt to new realities.Pinkbike is a global community, and we wanted to check in and seeing how everyone is doing. How has your life changed in recent days? Let us know below and feel free to comment if you have positive suggestions or tips for making the best of these difficult times. Is there something you'd like to see from us (besides the Grim Donut) in the coming weeks? We're all in this together.Many people are working longer or shorter hours or are out of work all together at the moment due to businesses being closed. Some are continuing on but working remotely from home (we'll ask that next).Are you still going into work? Are you newly working from home? Or have you always worked from home?Priorities for many have been realigned, but for many people the bike is a critical part of life and sanity.Did you have to cancel a trip you have planned or are you still holding out at this point?Certain governments have imposed restrictions on their citizens practicing self-quarantining and on travel. Some people are not allowed to leave their homes and some don't want to. Some trail networks have closed and others are inaccessible. Many people are deciding that riding is too risky as an accident may land them in the ER, further stressing already burdened facilities. Can you get out on the trails or are you stuck inside, or practicing wheelies in your yard?Are you riding more or less than a couple of months ago or than you would typically be riding this time of year? Are restrictions and necessities taking priority over your normal ride time?There are a number of ways to stay fit and help your mental sanity, even indoors. Are you doing push-ups and pull-ups? Are you hitting the weights? Riding the trainer? Or none of the above?There is an enormous list of canceled events at this point, reaching a few months out. What would you be most disappointed to not be watching or taking a part in?With many restaurants closed and more people having to come up with food at home, are you eating better or worse than you typically would?Are you perfecting your culinary skills at home by cooking more or are you cooking less than normal, for whatever reason?Have you contracted the virus, or do you know someone who has?Do you think it will be life as normal or will things be quite a bit different in the future?Things are changing by the hour. When do you think we'll be back to a more normal rhythm of life? Nominations first, curfew had to wait View(s): With the entire country under a blanket curfew over the weekend and a virtual lockdown till the next weekend, one of the wisest decisions taken was to postpone the Parliamentary elections scheduled for April 25. Theres a local saying that refers to just such a situation. It points to a bullock cart in the midst of a traffic jam. If the situation is bad enough, the cart makes it worse. That cart was the holding of an election in the midst of the crisis that is the global coronavirus pandemic that has hit this country as well. Despite a few shortcomings like allowing Italian tourists and Sri Lankan returnees from Italy where the virus is full blown slip into this country without quarantine, the Government has managed to act reasonably swiftly in handling the situation. Claims on television talk shows by official advisers that the Government acted well ahead of time in the early stages of the crisis are pure nonsense. When this newspaper first reported the outbreak of this virus in China by our reporter from Hong Kong, the medical unit at the Colombo international airport (BIA) had not even heard of the outbreak. There was much to be desired in the screening process at the entry points to the country the airport and the harbour. Somewhat slow off the block, the Government however, seems to have got its act together turning to its new kokatath behetha (medicine for all ailments) the military. This time it was totally justified as it is only the military that can execute some of the things that had to be done urgently like setting up quarantine camps and transporting persons to these camps. The GMOA (Government Medical Officers Association) which is almost a political adjunct of the new Government seems to be an influential force that has pushed the authorities towards imposing a sudden curfew over the weekend. In a statement issued hours before that imposition it said that the next weeks are crucial to contain the virus that has now assumed community spreading proportions. In the meantime, the Government stepped up measures by upgrading a Presidential Committee to a Task Force, but the entire exercise was coloured by its political agenda to proceed with keeping roads open to accept nominations for the Parliamentary elections. It was business as usual for elections. A police spokesman tried to defend the move by saying elections were a fundamental right of the people but so is the right to life. It is best that policemen not dabble in political decisions of the Government. Clearly, the Government was taking advantage of the disarray in the Opposition camp, especially within what was once the main Opposition party, the UNP. It wanted to frustrate any eleventh hour attempts for the two factions in the party to get together. Coming over a television channel, the President said that the Election Commission (EC) can decide later whether to hold the elections on the due date. He didnt say exactly why the District Secretariats were kept open while all other state institutions were closed as if they were immune to the spread of the virus. It betrayed the fact that the Government was prepared to take political decisions even at the expense of a national and global health crisis. The Presidents argument that there was an urgent need for a new Parliament to pass a budget to pay salaries and fund the fight against the virus rang hollow because he could have reconvened the old Parliament whose constitutional term runs till August and brought a limited purpose money bill that could have received Opposition approval. That apart, the President has exercised his powers to authorise money from the Consolidated Fund and the Chinese Government has come forward with yet another loan of USD 500 million euphemistically called a financial facility which the Government is sure to use to fund its activities in the coming months. The primary political objective of the Government was patently apparent. It is targeting a two-thirds majority in a Parliament (150 seats) by exploiting the political vacuum in the Opposition. The groundswell of public opinion and possibly the concerns of the public servants and security personnel who would be on duty during an election exposing them to the virus would have had to be taken into consideration. A low poll due to voters keeping away can always be remedied after all, by ways and means. We referred last week to what happened in Iran recently when a Parliamentary election was held just when the coronavirus broke out in that country. The rapid spread of the virus among its citizens has been directly attributed to holding these elections at such a time. Italy has been a different story. It is probably the one country in Europe that has the most interaction with China. There is a massive exchange of tourists so much so that Chinese policemen are present in certain Italian cities to help visiting Chinese with directions and other assistance. That is not all. The high-end USD 80 billion fashion industry of Italy from its designer hat makers to the fur coats from foxes and raccoon farms in China relies heavily on Chinese raw material. This week, Italy surpassed China in number of deaths due to the coronavirus. Sri Lankan authorities missed a trick by delaying to quarantine those Sri Lankan returnees and Italian tourists in the early weeks of the outbreak. Now, they have been forced to impose a curfew starting in Little Italy on the western coastline of Chilaw followed by an all island curfew. Again, there was an information deficiency on the need for an all island curfew. Unlike in earlier instances, there was no sudden breach of the peace or immediate threat to national security. The public was taken totally by surprise leading to panic all round. There is uncertainty about the future with no official intimation from the Government of what its thinking is. A secondary factor in Iran that escalated the crisis was the publics own carelessness when the virus broke out with people in the main cities going back to their villages for an annual spring festival taking the virus with them. The curfew just imposed here saw a mass exodus of city workers this week, with buses and trains absolutely jam-packed. Was it just the antithesis of the GMOA warning of the possibility of the virus spreading to the community? With the National New Year vacations approaching, what contingency plans the Government has to ensure the virus doesnt spread countrywide making it more difficult logistically to curb, must surely be in the thinking caps of those in charge. * Coronavirus cases reach 874, deaths 7 * NSW govt to patrol beaches for compliance * Crown casino exemption revoked * Victoria orders 2-day school test closure By Lidia Kelly MELBOURNE, March 21 (Reuters) - Australian officials closed Sydney's iconic Bondi Beach on Saturday after thousands of people flocked there in recent days, defying social distancing orders to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, amid an unusually warm autumn spell. Health Minister Greg Hunt said the crowds on the country's most famous strip of sand were "unacceptable" as he reported the number of infections across Australia had risen to 874. The death toll was seven, unchanged from a day earlier. New South Wales state police minister David Elliott announced Bondi's closure, warning "this is going to become the new norm" if people did not comply with regulations that prohibit more than 500 people gathering at a non-essential event. "This is not something we are doing because we are the fun police," Elliott said in a televised news conference. "This is about saving lives." "We will be closing down the type of iconic activities that unfortunately we've come ... to love and adore about our lifestyle." Elliott said lifeguards who patrol the state's many beaches will conduct head counts and, if there are more than 500 people at any one location, the beach will be closed and people ordered to move on. Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced stricter rules on socialising on Friday, requiring indoor venues such as bars and restaurants to maintain a density of no more than one person per four square metres (43 sq f) of floor space. The overall limits of 100 people gathered indoors and 500 outdoors remained in force. In Victoria, the state government responded to public pressure and revoked an exemption given to Crown Resort Ltd's Melbourne casino from those tougher rules. "We are practicing what we were told to do," a Crown representative told Reuters by telephone. Story continues Crown and Sydney rival Star Entertainment Group Ltd are licensed to operate a total of more than gaming 4,000 machines. Both introduced social distancing measures last week, including switching off every second electronic gaming machine and table, but their shares have tumbled on concerns about their future revenue. The Australian response to the coronavirus pandemic, while unprecedented, has been less severe than in parts of Europe and North America where higher rates of infection have led to more sweeping public lock downs. Schools in Australia remain open, with Morrison citing medical advice despite some criticism of that tactic. However, Victoria state partially broke that national agreement on Saturday when it ordered public schools in the state to close for two days next week to trial the viability of online education for pupils. (Reporting by Lidia Kelly; editing by Jane Wardell) World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says that the COVID-19 outbreak can be characterized as a "pandemic" as the virus spreads increasingly worldwide, at a press conference in Geneva, Switzerland, on March 11, 2020. (Xinhua/Chen Junxia) Calling it a "success", WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, reported no new cases for the first time since the epidemic outbreak started. Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO health emergencies program, said it's a message of hope from China that the coronavirus can be suppressed, whose transmission chains can be broken through huge all-society effort, coordination, solidarity, commitment and workable supply chains, as well as engagement of activated communities and brave health workers. GENEVA, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Wuhan, the epicenter of COVID-19 outbreak in China, provides hope for the rest of the world that even the most severe situation of COVID-19 can be turned around, the World Health Organization (WHO) chief said Friday. Calling it a "success", WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, reported no new cases for the first time since the epidemic outbreak started. According to the Health Commission of Hubei Province, no new infections or suspected cases of the novel coronavirus were reported on Thursday in Wuhan, marking two days in a row of zero report at the epicenter of the epidemic in a months-long battle with the deadly virus. Henan medical team members give thumb-up for Wuhan before their departure in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, March 19, 2020. Some medical teams supporting the virus-hit Hubei Province left Thursday as the epidemic outbreak has been subdued. (Xinhua/Fei Maohua) "The experience of cities and countries that have pushed back this virus give hope and courage to the rest of the world," Tedros said at a daily briefing. Answering a question from Xinhua, Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO health emergencies program, said it's a message of hope from China that the coronavirus can be suppressed, whose transmission chains can be broken through huge all-society effort, coordination, solidarity, commitment and workable supply chains, as well as engagement of activated communities and brave health workers. "That is a message of hope to many other countries around the world who have very low number of cases right now," said Ryan. Tedros said COVID-19 seems to reach a new and tragic milestone every day, as more than 210,000 cases, including over 9,000 deaths, have been reported globally. "Every loss of life is a tragedy," Tedros said, calling it "motivation" to double down and do everything people can to stop transmission of the virus and save lives. Tedros warned younger people particularly that they are not spared amid the pandemic. "Data from many countries clearly show that people under 50 make up a significant proportion of patients requiring hospitalization," said Tedros. He stressed solidarity between countries as well as between age groups is the key to defeating COVID-19. Members of medical assistance team from Zhejiang are busy at the ICU (intensive care unit) of Wuhan pulmonary hospital in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, March 19, 2020. (Xinhua/Xiao Yijiu) On 18 March European Commissioner for internal markets Thierry Breton contacted Netflix CEO Reed Hastings to ask for the subscription video-on-demand service to end broadcasting content in high-definitionbroadcasting content in high-definition and switch to the substantially less network-intensive SD so as to assist the millions of additional workers who have been forced to use home networks and use collaboration and teleworking tools in order to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Explaining the purpose of his actions, Commissioner Breton said that to secure Internet access for all, it was necessary to switch to standard definition Internet when HD was not necessary.The SVOD leader subsequently agreed to the appeal and has decided to begin reducing bit rates across all streams in Europe for 30 days, a move it says will reduce its traffic on European networks by around 25% while still also ensuring a good quality service.Only hours later, rivals Amazon and YouTube have followed suit. Following a meeting between YouTube owner Googles CEO, Sundar Pichai, YouTube CEO, Susan Wojcicki, and Commissioner Breton the online video juggernaut said that it was making a commitment to default temporarily all traffic in the EU to standard definition. The commissioner commented: I warmly welcome the warmly the initiative that Google is taking to preserve the smooth functioning of the Internet during the Covid-19 crisis by having YouTube switch all traffic to SD by default. The decision also applies to the UK which officially left the European Union on 31 January 2020.Talking to The Hollywood Reporter, a YouTube spokesperson said: People are coming to YouTube to find authoritative news, learning content and make connections during these uncertain times. While we have seen only a few usage peaks, we have measures in place to automatically adjust our system to use less network capacity. We will continue working with member state governments and network operators to minimise stress on the system, while also delivering a good user experience.In a statement outlining its position and its move to make similar limitations, Amazon said: Prime Video is working with local authorities and Internet Service Providers where needed to help mitigate any network congestion, including in Europe where weve already begun the effort to reduce streaming bitrates whilst maintaining a quality streaming experience for our customers.The issue of strategies to maintain smooth working of home networks given the added masses of users has been a matter of some debate over the last couple of days. Extreme Networks CTO, Eric Broockman said asking Netflix to reduce its streaming rates merely alleviates the symptoms of a more fundamental problem, instead of tackling its roots, especially as a lot of other streaming, video conferencing and cloud services will continue to put unusually high volumes of data across networks. Indeed Broockman said that Extreme had monitored that some of the networks it worked with had seen an increase of up to 25% in traffic over the last few weeks, in some cases that translates to an additional 1.5 TB of data that is being transmitted each second.In an ideal world, network operators would obviously upgrade their infrastructure and invest in cloud-based solutions to make their networks as agile, resilient and flexible as possible, he added. However, the reality is that this is a race against time for network operators that need to find a solution to this problem now, rather than in a few months or years down the line. So, in the short term, what network operators could do to reduce the pressure on their networks and ensure connectivity for all is to deprioritise non-essential traffic coming from applications such as online gaming. This would then free up bandwidth for essential services, including voice and video traffic, and ease the pressure on the network without impacting service levels too much.Showing this problem clearly, communications provider Verizon released data on 18 March showing that it was games rather than streaming video that had shown the greatest increase on its networks. The provider said that while video such as Netflix has seen a 12% week-on-week increase, gaming had spiked by 75%. The world didnt see it coming but the world now has to deal with the unpleasant situation the coronavirus pandemic. Spread across over 180 countries, about 272,000 people have contracted the virus and at least 11,310 have died, CNN reports, quoting statistics by Johns Hopkins University as at the morning of Saturday, March 21. 12 of those cases have been confirmed and active in Nigeria same period as John Hopkins tally. The first case being that of an Italian national was recorded on February 28 and since then, confirmed cases have risen to 12, according to the NCDC daily update of Friday, March 19. Nigerias first drastic measure was to place a travel ban on 13 high-risk Covid-19 countries from Saturday, March 21, for four weeks. By this directive, given on Wednesday, March 18, nationals of China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Japan, France, Germany, Norway, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Switzerland are restricted from travelling to Nigeria. This was followed by the addition of Sweden and Austria bringing the list to 15, on Friday. If the criteria of restricting these countries based on their record of over 1, 000 as put forward by the 12-man Presidential Committee led by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, is anything to go by, at least five other countries ought to have been added to that list since. From Europe to Asia and America, countries battling with major situations ought not to be spared. Belgium Europes central state has been on total lockdown since Wednesday, March 18, with movements restricted. Residents are only allowed to leave their homes for essential reasons, such as food shopping, health-related errands or assisting someone in need. This was after an initial partial lockdown some days prior. As at the time Nigeria was drawing up its list of countries restricted, Belgium already had 1, 486 cases and 14 deaths. On Friday when Nigeria reviewed its list, the cases had risen to 2, 257 and 37 deaths, prompting Belgium to adopt stiffer measures. On another scale of analysis, it appears Belgium, with an 11 million population, is worse hit than some of the countries the travel ban affected, considering population to case ratio. For instance, Sweden with a close population figure to Belgiums had 1939 cases and 17 deaths as at Friday. If Austria was added to the list, why not Belgium? Denmark 24 hours before Mr Mustaphas committee made public the travel restrictions, Denmark already passed the 1, 000 benchmark having recorded 1, 024 cases on March 17. Before this day the country already put its schools on lockdown and directed all people working in non-essential functions in the public sector must stay home for two weeks. However, Nigeria didnt deem it fit to place the country on restriction on Wednesday. Assuming the country had not updated its record as at the time of the committee meeting and announcement on Wednesday, why was Denmark excluded again on Friday? The cases had risen to 1, 255 and 9 deaths by then. Denmark only has 5.6 million population. Portugal The same why question could be asked on the exclusion of Portugal; from the list. Although the Southern European country was less 1, 000 cases on Wednesday, the number was well above the threshold on Friday at 1, 020 cases and six deaths on Friday. Already, it had risen to 1, 280 cases and 12 deaths as at Saturday morning. At 10 million, a population less than half of Lagos, those are scary figures to warrant a restriction. While Nigeria still condones its citizens, Portugal has already shut down except for essential services and declared a state of emergency on the pandemic. Malaysia With over 1, 000 cases on Friday is Southeast Asian country, Malaysia. 1, 030 cases and 3 deaths were enough statistics judging by the benchmark set by the Presidential Task Force. Malaysia is currently on partial lockdown and the government of Muhyiddin Yassin has directed that the military be deployed control order and ensure implementation of the stay at home order. Canada Although with a larger population than others, Canadians are not worthy of being granted entry into Nigeria considering the 1, 000 cases benchmark. Since it recorded its first case on February 15, confirmed infections stood at 1, 087 at 20th March. From this number, 12 people have died prompting the North American country to North American country to close its borders against refugees while promising financial assistance for its citizens. Were going to be flowing income supports to millions of Canadians, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Tuesday. Stiffer, safer criteria wanted Judging by the specifics of the criteria used in deciding the countries to restrict, the logical thing to do for Nigeria is to place more countries on the list given the rising cases recorded in the country. Further, a fixed number of 1, 000 cases may not be good enough to classify countries as high-risk judging by the dynamics of the disease in countries. For instance, some countries have less than 1, 000 cases but badly hit based on the fact that such countries are small in population. In this category is Israel with 883 cases, one death for just an 8.7 million population. Also, 602 million Luxembourg now has 670 cases and eight deaths and 5.4 million population Finland with 512 cases, no deaths. These figures suggest that population to cases ratio is also important in judging who to shut out of Nigeria or not. Besides this, the fatality in some countries warrants that they be restricted. Greece has 13 deaths, Indonesia 38, Philippines 19, Iraq 17 and San Marino 14. These are countries with less than 500 cases. Algeria has 95 cases but recorded 11 deaths already. Advertisements Beyond the relative influence and media coverage that brought the countries already restricted to limelight, shouldnt these others also be considered as high risk and restricted? Yesterday at 5 p.m., a public health order closed Alabamas beaches but not everyone saw the news. So officers from the Orange Beach Police Department informed everybody walking on the beach about the new restrictions. Basically, we are just telling people its in their best interests, said Assistant Chief Robert Howard. Were being really polite about it and we havent had any problems with it. But if they did have problems, the police have the power to arrest and fine people for violating the public health order. The same goes for those who have large gatherings, over 25 in most of the state and over 10 in Jefferson County. And those who consume food or drink on the premises of a restaurant or bar all banned yesterday in the order from Gov. Kay Ivey. Howard said the fine for a violation ranges from $25 to $300. If a person refused to comply, officers could make an arrest. Howard said he hopes it doesnt come to that. Were not just going out here to arrest them, Howard said. Mostly we are just trying to inform them, hey, if we dont do this now, were looking at restrictions for the whole summer. If the courteous approach doesnt work, governments can use more heavy-handed tactics. In Louisiana, a church pastor defied Gov. John Bel Edwards order limiting large gatherings by hosting more than 300 in his church Tuesday evening. Police appeared and threatened to bring in the National Guard, according to local news outlets. That would be the natural next step if large numbers of people refuse to abide by Gov. Iveys orders, said Leonard Nelson, professor emeritus at Samfords Cumberland School of Law. State and county leaders could call out the National Guard, Nelson said. The police dont have enough resources. If it is widespread, they could declare martial law. Louisiana authorities have threatened to prosecute people who violate the order banning large groups, but so far, no concrete actions have been taken against the pastor. On Thursday, Jefferson County Health Officer Dr. Mark Wilson issued new orders even more restrictive than the states, limiting gathering to just 10 people and immediately closing all nonessential businesses, including gyms, salons and theaters. Deputy Chief David Agee of the Jefferson County Sheriffs Office said he has not received any complaints of people defying the order. But he said his department would confront violators with a warning. We can take out a warrant against an individual who does not follow the order, Agee said. This is an enforceable action. It does have teeth. Leila Barraza, a law professor at the University of Arizona, said public health experts typically try to balance civil liberties with the need to protect public health. They try to use voluntary means before imposing orders. The orders should impose as little restriction as possible to preserve public health, Barraza said. Even in California, where Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered residents to shelter in place, people are allowed to walk outside, shop at the grocery store and visit the doctor. Public health departments have long had the authority to require people with infectious diseases to quarantine, including those with COVID-19. Patients who violate mandatory quarantine can be taken to court and even jailed. Even then, patients can challenge orders in court and have Constitutional protections against unreasonable detention. Barraza said no one has ever seen so many widespread health orders affecting the way Americans live and work. Many states have adopted restrictions that have closed restaurants to dine-in service, shuttered church services and sent children home from school. As far as the U.S. is concerned, I think were all in very new territory, Barraza said. Such measures arent undertaken lightly and underscore the serious threat posed by COVID-19. Public health officials all over the country are working non-stop to ensure everyone is safe, she said. And sometimes they are making very hard decisions. Both Nelson and Barraza said orders could be challenged in court. The process could take months and would require the person to argue against claims of public health protection. Georgetown University law professor Lawrence Gostin recently wrote an article outlining the federal and local steps taken to stop the spread of COVID-19. He wrote that legal challenges to shelter in place orders are likely, because they significantly limit civil liberties and business activities. COVID-19 poses a threat to US health and security, justifying rigorous interventions at levels US residents have rarely experienced, Gostin wrote. Yet, it is important to carefully balance public health with rights to privacy and liberty. Exercising public health powers unmoored from constitutional rights is unwarranted. Illinois became the latest state to issue a shelter-in-place order. Alabama had 106 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Friday morning, compared to 585 in Illinois. This will be the first weekend it is illegal to congregate in an Alabama church with more than 24 other people. Barraza said public health departments will be relying on law enforcement to uphold orders to protect public health. In Orange Beach, Howard said one officer has been assigned to make sure people abide by the new rules. Most people have been really good about it, Howard said. Almost everything is closed. The grocery stores are low on meat products. Its not a real fun time to come to the beach. UP Election 2022: From which seat should Yogi Adityanath contest? Here's what voters say UP assembly polls will be about '80 per cent vs 20 per cent'; BJP will win: Yogi Adityanath Coronavirus Pandemic: Yogi Adityanath announces Rs 1,000 aid for daily wagers India oi-Deepika S Lucknow, Mar 21: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday announced cash aid of Rs 1000 each to 20,3700 registered lakh daily wage workers in the state. The cash aid will be given through state Labour Department with the help of labour cess. Around 15 lakh people who depend on small shops, kiosks will also be benefitted with this. "The whole nation is following instructions and precautions and so as uttar Pradesh. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also addressed the nation and urged people to avoid gatherings. Coronavirus is in second stage in our country and if we get successful in stopping it here, it will be a message for the whole world," said Adityanath. "This spread can be stopped only by stringent measures. Isolation wards have been made across Uttar Pradesh. People are also recovering. We need to be prepared to fight the virus," he added. Coronavirus cases in India rises to 258 "We all must adhere to 'Janta curfew' called by the Prime Minister. All metro rail, state and city bus services in the state to remain closed tomorrow," he further said. A total of 23 people have been found to be infected with coronavirus in the state. Out of the total cases, nine people have recovered. We have sufficient number of isolation wards in the state. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, March 21, 2020, 11:12 [IST] Lady who infiltrated Bengal ten years back passed vital govt info to Lashkar India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, Mar 21: A lady who infiltrated India from Bangladesh ten years back has been arrested for her alleged links with the Lashkar-e-Tayiba. She has been booked under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The agencies have accused her of recruiting for the Lashkar. During her arrest, the police found Pakistani SIM cards. She had created several WhatsApp groups and was circulating anti national content. She has been using such content to contact people and recruit them into the terror outfit, police sources tell OneIndia. The lady was arrested from her residence at the Baduria area of North 24 Parganas district. The police say that she was living in Bengal for the past 10 years after migrating from Bangladesh. Two Lashkar operatives from PoK charged by NIA She was tasked with both recruitments and setting honey traps. She was in touch with several government officials and investigations would now reveal the extent of information she has shared with her handlers. The lady is an MA final year student of a well known college. She is the daughter of a mason and was pursuing a post-graduation degree in Arabic literature. During questioning, she confessed that she was in touch with several top leaders of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba. Her diary and documents seized have revealed that she had managed to collect vital information about the government. She has revealed the names of several government officials in Bengal that she was in touch with and we are trying to get in touch with them as well, the source cited about said. Following her arrest, she was brought to Kolkata on a transit remand. After being produced before the magistrate, she was remanded in police custody for 14 days. This case once again brings about the debate around illegal immigration into West Bengal. The Centre has been speaking of weeding out illegal immigrants as they pose a huge national security risk. Bengal the maximum number of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. There have been several instances to show that these persons do not just come in search of livelihood. They are involved in illegal activities such as drug peddling and counterfeiting Indian currency as well. They have set up a hub in Malda and this has become the landing point for fake currency before it is circulated in the rest of the country. Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist who gave the slip arrested Further illegal immigrants have also found to be involved in terror related activities as well. The Burdwan blast of 2014 went on to show the extent of their involvement. Illegal immigrants are roped in by terror outfits such as the Lashkar and Jamaat ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh. They role of the illegal immigrants was also exposed during the investigations into the Bodhgaya blasts as well. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, March 21, 2020, 8:47 [IST] Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 22:33:16|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close SHENYANG, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, will donate 10,000 disposable masks and 500 protective suits to the city of Braga, Portugal, said the municipal foreign affairs office. In a letter to Shenyang Mayor Jiang Youwei on Thursday, Ricardo Rio, the mayor of Braga, said his city hoped to learn from Shenyang's experience in coronavirus prevention and control, as well as the support. Shenyang authorities organized a video conference Friday afternoon with officials and medical experts of Braga to share its experience in epidemic prevention and public health crisis management. Shenyang and Braga will establish a sister-city relationship in accordance with an agreement signed during Ricardo Rio's visit to the Chinese city in October 2017. While the serious nature of the COVID-19 coronarvirus has left the entire world shocked and Ireland prepares itself to go into lockdown people in the Enniscorthy area have begun to rally together to ensure that the most vulnerable in society are protected. Local actor, Nic Furlong, was one of the first people in the area to adopt a pro-active approach to countering the virus and posted through his social media page his willingness to help people in the community. Commenting to this newspaper he said he made 10 trips in one day last week but was very happy to do so. 'Once a person contacts me [by email] I ask for their number and I call them straight away,' he said. Over the last few days he has made trips from Gorey to Kilmore Quay and many other locations in between. Nic can be contacted through his Facebook page or through nicholas070@gmail.com. As he did on his social media post Nic is asking people to contact him if they, or someone they know, is in need of assistance. 'If there are any older people, or you know of any who are stuck or are going to be stuck for tablets, groceries or anything at all over the next few days please let me know,' he said 'I have a car and a van and I will be free to help in the Wexford, Gorey or Enniscorthy areas and surrounding towns an villages,' he added. Cathy Keane, from County Wexford Heritage Tours, is also helping people. Describing the current climate as 'unprecedented' Cathy told this newspaper that wants people to contact her if they know of anybody in high risk categories who need help through 087 3299900. Good Morning, welcome to Information Nigerias Newspaper headlines for today, 21st March 2020. Here are the major headlines. FG To Shut Lagos, Abuja Airport Hadi Sirika, minister of aviation, says the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, and Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja will soon be shut. I Am Very Committed To The Safety Of Nigerians Buhari President Muhammadu Buhari says his administration is still very committed to the welfare of Nigerians, especially with ongoing coronavirus pandemic. UN Ranks Nigeria Worlds 39th Unhappiest Country Nigeria has been ranked the 115th most happy country in the world, thus placing it just above 38 nations, according to a new report by the United Nations. The implication of this is that Nigerian is the 39th most unhappy country in the world. Coronavirus FG To Place Ban On Two More Countries In order to prevent an outbreak of Coronavirus in the country, the Federal Government has imposed travel ban on two more countries. Recall that on Wednesday, the Nigerian government announced a restriction on travellers from 13 countries into Nigeria. Italian Man Who Brought Coronavirus To Nigeria, Discharged The Italian man who brought coronavirus to Nigeria has tested negative to the deadly disease the second time and as such, he has been discharged. This was made known by Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the Lagos state governor via his official Twitter handle. Coronavirus: NYSC Suspends CDS Indefinitely Few days after shutting down its Orientation camps nationwide over the coronavirus outbreak, the National Youth Service Corps NYSC has suspended its weekly Community Development Service activities indefinitely. CAN Declares March 22, 29, National Prayer Day The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has declared March 22 and 29 as days of prayer for the country over the Coronavirus pandemic. Coronavirus: Dont Be Afraid, Take Precaution Buhari President Muhammadu Buhari has finally spoken about the Coronavirus outbreak in the country which has led to the banning of public gatherings and shutting down of schools in the country. Coronavirus: Kogi, Zamfara Shut Down Schools Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello has ordered the closure of public and private schools in the state indefinitely as measures in preventing the spread of coronavirus in the state. NCDC Speaks On Chloroquine As A Remedy To Coronavirus The Nigeria Center for Disease Control(NCDC) has broken its silence following the news that chloroquine, an anti-malaria drug, can be used as a treatment for the dreaded coronavirus. Two persons were arrested for allegedly killing a man following an altercation between them in southeast Delhi's Meethapur area, police said on Saturday. The deceased was identified as Khemchand (47). His daughter told police that Khemchand went out with Vishnu Bhati and his nephew Sourav Bhati in the morning. When Khemchand returned home at 3.30 pm, he had injury marks on his chest, back and hands. He told his daughter that Sourav Bhati and his friend Ravi took him to a forest in Faridabad, where they thrashed him with belts and sticks. After narrating the ordeal to his daughter, he went to his room. Later in the evening when Khemchand's daughter went to his room to wake him up, he did not answer. She took him to a hospital, where he was declared brought dead by doctors. "Police nabbed Sourav and his friend Ravi. One bike, a belt and a stick were recovered from their possession," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) R P Meena said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bhutan Prime Minister Lotay Tshering on Saturday lauded the initiative of creating a COVID-19 emergency fund, saying it will "be of huge help" for those in need. Bhutan has committed USD 100,000 to the SAARC emergency fund proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help combat the coronavirus threat in the region. Modi on Friday appreciated his Bhutanese counterpart for the monetary contributions. "Gratitude to @PMBhutan Dr. Lotay Tshering for his decision to contribute $100,000 to the COVID-19 Emergency Fund on behalf of the Bhutanese Government. It is wonderful to see SAARC leaders taking initiatives that are adding strength to the collective fight against Coronavirus," the Prime Minister tweeted. Replying to Modi's tweet, Tshering said, "Thank you. The amount may be small but it is contributed with lots of prayers and affection from all Bhutanese for the larger interest of the people in the region. This noble initiative of PM @narendramodi will be of huge help to those more needy." Nepal has committed NPR 100 million to the SAARC emergency fund to help tackle the COVID-19 crisis in the region. On March 15, Modi, during his interaction with leaders of SAARC countries through video conferencing, had proposed the creation of a COVID-19 Emergency Fund based on voluntary contributions from all the countries, with India making an initial offer of USD 10 million for the fund. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Independent.ie understands health officials have been notified of a small number of pubs, including a pub in Munster, which has opened to customers in recent days. Photo: Gerry Mooney PUBS who remain open will forcibly be shut by the government for not complying with a request to close and limit the spread of the coronavirus, Health Minister Simon Harris has said. The minister is aware of a small number of pubs still operating and social media footage that appears to show customers still drinking in premises that are not complying with a request for bars to shut. It comes as he confirmed households will start receiving new booklets next week with the help of An Post offering advice and answering frequently asked questions about the coronavirus. The HSE is also set to start interviewing thousands of people who applied to work in the health service or return to work in the sector to help tackle the disease. The telephone interviews will start next week. Read More Harris said he is satisfied and proud of the lengths healthcare workers and citizens are going to in limiting the spread o the disease but conceded some people could do more. He said he was very disappointed to hear of a small number of publicans still serving customers. Let me be very clear to those people. Last night the Oireachtas gave this Department and myself, as minister, emergency powers. The President of Ireland signed that in to law last night and we will shut you down if youre a pub that is remaining open. You are letting down the people of this country. You are also letting down your fellow publicans who are helping out and complying, with great difficulty to them and their staff at a very challenging time. Independent.ie understands health officials have been notified of a small number of pubs, including a pub in Munster, which has opened to customers in recent days. Harris met with medical leaders from across the country via teleconference today along with the departments chief medical officer Tony Holohan, to discuss what medical professionals on the frontline are seeing as they work to address growing cases of coronavirus. Last night it was confirmed another 126 people had tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number to 683. When asked today if the country is in a surge phase the Minister said: We are in what the chief medical officer determines to be a delay phase. That basically means the coronavirus is here and we are doing everything we can to slim down its spread. It is highly likely we are going to see a significant increase in the number of cases in this country in the coming days and weeks. The actions we take or dont take, as a people, will help determine how many cases we see in two or three weeks time. The minister added he is satisfied measures currently in place will help slow down the spread of the coronavirus. He said a significant amount of new personal protective equipment is due to arrive in the coming days, including 6.5 million more face masks. The HSE said it has 35,000 coronavirus testing kits and another 20,000 kits are expected to arrive next week. To date more than 12,000 tests have been carried out. My department will also meet, along with other state agencies on Monday, with stakeholders from industry. We will meet with some of the pharma companies in Ireland, some of the medical devices companies, and this is to ensure we can absolutely maximise the access we have to medical devices in the coming days weeks and months. The minister said it was important people continue to practice social distancing on Mothers Day tomorrow. He said people can still bring a gift to their mother, cook a meal and drop it to her doorstep, or find other innovative ways to stay in touch. He thanked all the mothers on the frontline in the medical and retail sectors who are helping others at present. I am very conscious we are asking people tomorrow to stay apart. Dont let tomorrow pass just because you cant visit your mum. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has said that establishments providing essential services, such as grocery shops, petrol pumps, medicine shops, will remain open in the state during 'Janta Curfew' on Sunday. He urged the people of his state not to panic or fear and adhere to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal for observing a 'Janta Curfew' on March 22 to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus. The chief minister issued these directions on Saturday during a review meeting with all Deputy Commissioners in the state, District Food and Supplies Controllers, grocery wholesalers, retailers and vendors through video-conference. During the meeting, Khattar issued directions to meet the potential challenges posed by the coronavirus outbreak. He directed all Deputy Commissioners to ensure there was no shortage of any essential commodity in their respective areas and nobody indulged in panic-buying, profiteering or hoarding. If necessary, Deputy Commissioners can close establishments not connected with providing essential goods and services, he said. He also said business establishments in the state should take special care of their employees who are on leave during this period and should not deduct their salaries. The government would consider making arrangement for staggered arrival of wheat for Rabi procurement, which is slated to start from April 1, in order to prevent the gathering of people in the grain markets, he said. The chief minister said the state government will ensure there is no obstruction in the supply and transportation of essential commodities and all necessary support will be given to traders. He said that to avert the risk of the spread of the virus, merchants should promote cashless transactions. Khattar directed the District Deputy Commissioners to ensure people don't pay heed to rumours. The Haryana government has decided to restrict public dealing in government offices across the State. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Haryana Government has issued an order to all District Magistrates and Police Commissioners in the state to invoke section 144 of the CrPC as a precautionary measure against coronavirus. The order issued by the Home Department of Haryana said, "So as to prevent and contain the spread of nCOVID-19 in Haryana, all District Magistrates, Police Commissioners in the state are advised to invoke section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 in their respective Districts/jurisdiction restricting assembly of five or more than five people in public places." "Adequate consideration may, however, be provided to the movement of people in public transport (in trains, buses etc) or in any other mode of transport especially in the eventuality of medical emergencies," it added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A man who lives in both Midland and Mississippi has tested positive for corona-virus, according to a press release from the city of Midland. The man is in his 80s and traveled from Midland to Mississippi on March 9, according to the release. The dual resident became symptomatic and was admitted to the hospital, where he tested positive. Now that President Donald Trump is making use of the Defense Production Act, U.S. Reps. Anthony Brindisi and John Katko want the federal government to work with manufacturers to address medical supply shortages at central New York hospitals. Brindisi, D-Utica, and Katko, R-Camillus, wrote a letter to Trump highlighting the importance of coordinating with manufacturing companies to "maintain production in the coming weeks." Hospitals, the congressmen continued, are facing "severe shortages" in personal protective equipment and ventilators. "Healthcare providers in central and upstate New York have begun to raise concerns about the impact that this equipment shortage will have on their ability to provide adequate care in the case of a sudden influx of patients," Brindisi and Katko added. The congressmen support Trump's decision to invoke the Defense Production Act to boost the production of key supplies and ventilators. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has asked for the federal government's help in acquiring more ventilators equipment that's needed to treat some COVID-19 patients who are moved to intensive care units. Because New York has the most confirmed coronavirus cases, there are concerns about hospital capacity and the availability of supplies. More than 7,000 New Yorkers have tested positive for the virus, and over 1,200 people are hospitalized. With an 18% hospitalization rate, New York is looking for ways to expand the number of hospital beds and acquire more supplies. Cuomo called on companies to be creative and manufacture gloves, gowns, masks and other protective equipment. Several companies already contacted the state about providing equipment. But with Trump invoking the Defense Production Act, Brindisi and Katko want to ensure that manufacturers can meet the demand. "As necessary workforce and travel restrictions are deployed to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, it is critical that federal, state and local officials recognize the essential role that these businesses play in supporting our healthcare providers," Brindisi and Katko wrote. "An effective national response to this pandemic is incumbent on the strength of our medical supply chain." Politics reporter Robert Harding can be reached at (315) 282-2220 or robert.harding@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @robertharding. Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The Communication Workers Union (CWU) decision to ignore an overwhelming strike vote by its membership and instead offer workers up as an additional emergency service during the COVID-19 pandemic has met with widespread opposition. On Tuesday, the CWU announced a vote of 94.5 percent in favour of strike action, on a turnout of 63.4 percent of their 111,000 members in Royal Mail. This was immediately followed by a statement suspending any industrial action and offering to set aside our differences with management in the interests of the nation. In return, the union politely asked the employers to end their vicious attacks on the workforce for the duration of the coronavirus crisis. While there is no way to determine the majority position among CWU members, the announcement has received considerable criticism on online forums. There is a widespread recognition that no goodwill will be forthcoming from Royal Mail. The company are engaged in a five-year restructuring plan under new CEO Rico Back to reassure nervous shareholders that profits and dividends, extracted from the workers, will continue to flow. In this context, several CWU members commented that the unions decision must be a cause for celebration at company headquartersI bet they cant believe their luck, one said. Royal Mail Management will indeed pick up your proposal and be rubbing their hands at the prospect of them having more time unopposed to drive their change through. Coronavirus means nothing to them its profit, profit, profit and shareholders first and last. Others wrote: RM [Royal Mail] will not honour a period of calm, they will push on regardless and the push for more cost cutting will be relentless. Management will use [the CWU proposal] to accelerate Executive Action. And more: There is no way Royal Mail will halt its strategy, they will just plough on as they know f-all will happen. Of course theyre going to continue they are all about money and thats it I cant believe how naive the union are being by thinking the Royal Mail will give a truce NO CHANCE! Given Royal Mails ruthless drive for profits, many have argued that the only option was to take industrial action: If we dont strike Royal Mail will take full advantage and follow through on their plans to streamline the business and cut thousands of jobs. We must fight. Royal Mail will carry on doing the same thing they been doing and so we should carry on and strike. If RM are pressing ahead with Executive Action, then we should press ahead with Industrial Action ... If the company cannot call a truce, then why should we be put at a disadvantage? If we dont take [industrial action] this time were f****d, coronavirus nothing to do with our ballot or actions from it we are still working after all. Royal Mail workers have seen national strike action cancelled repeatedly, with no reference to the wishes of the membership. Several comments on online forums pointed to the arbitrary and unaccountable way in which the unions emergency service proposal was made, striking a deal between the union bureaucracy, the employers and the government: Why hasnt the CWU spoken to its members in Royal Mail before offering up the people who work on the frontline as an emergency service, we have familys and our own health issues as well. Most of us would help as best we can, but it would be nice to actually be asked rather then offered up like some commodity. So do we get a vote or choice in the decision of us the members being put forward as another emergency service? Proposals for an emergency service are wholly unrealistic without placing an impossible additional strain on an already overstretched workforce. Workers told the CWU, You cant ask us to do any more than what we do already. One explained, Most walks in our office are to the max time limits, not much time left for social helping Another asked, How are we meant to provide this when many of our work force would be in the high risk category and will be advised to take 12 weeks off work? A strategy needs to be in place. Will our members in the high risk get their wages for the 12 weeks? One worker made the point that the CWU have lined up with the government against their own members: But youre not fighting for the customers or politicians, we voted for our terms to be upheld ... We are a postal service not an emergency service ... The unions claim that its pledge to work with the employers is out of concern for the health risks of coronavirus is refuted by the working conditions it has accepted for Royal Mail workers. As one commenter warned: If PPE [personal protective equipment] and basic hygiene is not taken seriously, the new emergency service will be distributing the virus as well as food bank parcels ... Like corporations across the world, Royal Mail is indifferent to the health of its workforce. They can pay millions to a CEO but cant provide hand wash and sanitizer, wrote one worker. Bexleyheath office have no gloves, no hand sanitizers and two people have the symptoms in our office, yet we are still in and office has not been deep cleaned. And: Only water to wash my hands in my office now, if no soap or hand sanitizer tomorrow morning and Im walking out, will CWU back me? Some have drawn important lessons from this episode about the motivations of the union bureaucracy: So while Royal Mail continue their executive action in their relentless assault on our terms and conditions, our union leaders in their ivory towers nowhere near the front line put us up to be another emergency service. Shame on the CWU, shame on you, if we contaminate just one person and god help it something happens to them because you want to put us as an emergency service then shame on you ... not that you lot will be bothered because as long as you look good thats all that matters hey, hope you lot can sleep well with your nice big fat pay cheques. Even among Royal Mail workers sympathetic to the idea of suspending industrial action in the face of an unfolding global disaster, there is an insistence that Royal Mail Group must cease its attacks on jobs and conditions. Two workers commented on social media: Dont have a problem in the present climate to hold back on any industrial action as long as the company stops its executive action, and If its decided that we the union are not striking at this time despite a yes vote for the right reasons then the business must agree to stop the ongoing stripping of rights and conditions. Another said: If executive action continued, no matter what else is happening, you have to follow through with what we voted for. The crucial task now for Royal Mail workers is to draw the political conclusions from these events. The CWU are on the side of the employers. If attacks on jobs and conditions are to be fought, then this must be done independently of the bureaucracy through rank-and-file organisations of the workers themselves. This is also the only basis on which a serious global response can be mounted to the coronavirus pandemic. We urge workers to read and discuss the article Union calls off UK Royal Mail strike citing national interest during coronavirus pandemic and to contact the WSWS to begin organising a fight for this perspective. Massachusetts is enlisting the help of the life sciences industry to fill the supply shortage first responders and health care workers face in the response to the coronavirus pandemic. Gov. Charlie Baker announced a new Life Sciences Emergency Supply Hub created by the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council and several medical associations. The supply hub is the latest effort to track down lab equipment, protective gear, diagnostics and other supplies that the state can send to those who are testing and treating coronavirus patients. Its no secret that Massachusetts is home to many incredible life science companies that are dedicated to developing solutions to health care issues across the world, the Republican governor said during a news conference on Friday. Theyve brought that same dedication to the table as they thought about how to respond to COVID-19. MassBio President Bob Coughlin, who joined Baker on Friday, said nearly 200 companies have already responded to a survey that went up in the 24 hours asking companies to donate supplies. Youd be surprised. Its not just biopharma and medical device companies and diagnostic companies that are offering to donate, but also dentist offices, colleges and universities, he said. The supply hub wont collect or distribute supplies, Coughlin said. The group will instead gather information on who has supplies and coordinate with the state Department of Public Health so the government can collect it. The supply hub is also looking for workers to join the states response. According to MassBios website, the supply hub is seeking lab techs, registered nurses, physicians and pharmacists who can lend a hand. Coughlin asked business leaders who may be able to offer supplies, lab equipment or other help to fill out the survey. The supply hub was created out of partnership with MassBio, the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association, the Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council and the Conference of Boston Teaching Hospitals. Here are the supplies they said emergency personnel need: Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) Surgical/procedure masks N95/N99 masks (respirators) Face masks with integrated shield Powered Air Purifying Respirator (PAPRs) Goggles Gloves Protective suits/gowns Booties / shoe covers Head covers Hand sanitizer Sanitizing wipes Hospital Supplies Ventilators, PEEP Stretchers/beds Hospital gowns Endotracheal tubes Vital sign monitors Thermometers Lab Supplies UVT 3ML with flocked flex minitip 1.5ml swab microtiped flocked 6in swab Darcon Medium 2% FBS STD REFEED ML Sample collection supplies (sterile swabs, tubes, media) MicroAmp Optical 384-Well Reaction Plate with Barcode MicroAmp Fast Optical 96-Well Reaction Plate 0.1mL RNAse Away 6-pack RNeasy Mini Kit TaqMan Fast Advanced Master Mix BD Universal Viral Transport for Viruses, Chlamydiae, Mycoplasmas, and Ureaplasmas 0.2 mL PCR 8-tube Strip with Indiv. Attached Dome Caps QIAamp MinElute Virus Spin Kit Viral RNA Isolation Kits QIAamp Viral RNA Mini Kits QIAamp MinElute Virus Spin Kit or RNeasy Mini Kits (QIAGEN EZ1 DSP Virus Kits (QIAGEN) Diagnostics Supplies and Instruments Roche MagNA Pure Compact RNA Isolation Kits Roche MagNA Pure Compact Nucleic Acid Isolation Kits Roche MagNA Pure 96 DNA and Viral NA Small Volume Kits Roche MagNA Pure systems Roche 480Z ABI 7500DX Qiagen EZ1 Advanced XL QIAcube/QIAcube Connect cobas omni Wash Reagent 6997503190 cobas omni Lysis Reagent 6997538190 cobas omni MGP Reagent 6997546190 cobas omni Specimen Diluent 6997511190 cobas NHP Negative Control Kit 7002220190 cobas omni Pipette Tips 5534925001 cobas omni Processing Plate 5534917001 cobas omni Amplification Plate 5534941001 6800 biohazard bags 7435967001 Related Content: Last week, a medical student working with Dr. Stanley H. Weiss at Rutgers University got sick with what seemed like a cold. He went to health services and asked to be tested for coronavirus, but was told they had no test to give him and he should just isolate, according to Weiss, a professor of medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and of epidemiology at Rutgers School of Public Health. Many people around the state and the country are being told they dont meet the CDCs criteria to be tested because theyre not at high risk or really all that sick, havent traveled abroad and cant point to a specific contact who might have had the virus. So should the student have been tested out of an abundance of caution? For Weiss, the answer, on an individual level, is no. If your treatment doesnt change on the basis of the test and at the moment you're not extremely ill... you don't need to test. You need to assume you might have it and self-isolate, Weiss said in an interview Wednesday. But on a public health level, knowing whether the student had the virus is vital because if he does, officials can trace his contacts and limit the chance that anyone else could have contracted it from him and be spreading the disease further. Plus, it would give the state a more accurate picture of how many people are sick and how they caught it, Weiss said. In terms of public health surveillance, when we can test enough people it would give us a lot more data to judge what our recommendations are for trying to flatten the curve. The states public health system has been performing this balancing act regarding testing since fears of coronavirus started to grow at the end of February. State officials say they want to know who has the coronavirus so they can quarantine and contact trace. But they also want people to stay home and not get tested if theyre not that sick, since most people wont require hospitalization. Theres a difference between really needing the test and wanting the test, Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said in an interview Tuesday. I dont believe anyone who needs the test is not getting it. We do not have a backlog with the commercial labs. While there was initially a limited number of tests available to the state from the CDC, doctors are now able to order tests from private labs regardless of the criteria. However, residents who contacted NJ Advance Media say doctors still tell them they are limited by CDC guidelines. Does this mean coronavirus case numbers in New Jersey are totally wrong? Weiss said there are many more people with coronavirus walking around than the state numbers announced daily indicate. The state isnt alone in this either. We know for certain that has happened in other countries. We know that for every case a person is symptomatic there are additional people that we dont know of yet, he said. We dont know if thats five times or 10 times or 100 times. Many of those people could have no symptoms at all though they could still spread the disease but there are likely some symptomatic people who could get tested if there were fewer barriers. State officials acknowledged the limited testing is skewing their data. At a press conference they said the states high hospitalization rate of 55% is likely more a result of testing only the sickest than an indication that more than half of patients will require hospitalization. A CDC study released this week found only about 12% of detected cases in the U.S. were hospitalized. Weiss said that while testing and data is vital to inform state officials and experts about how to handle the pandemic, he thinks its a mistake for the layperson to focus on the number of cases and deaths announced every day. They will either scare people or make the outbreak seem not that bad, he said, and both are bad. Those numbers are way behind the times as to what's really going on, that we are certain about, he said. The good news: Coronavirus testing in New Jersey is expanding Testing in New Jersey has already expanded thanks to the federal government allowing private labs to process tests, but people seeking tests like Weiss student were still told their medical provider didnt have access to them. Hackensack Meridian Health which developed its own rapid test for the virus last week had been telling patients that they were only testing those who were severely ill and already in isolation and treatment. But Daniel W. Varga, chief physician at Hackensack Meridian, said the system has partnered with private labs to be able to test more high-priority patients. Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said she hopes that eventually everyone who wants to be tested will be. For now, anyone who is symptomatic and meets the CDC criteria should be tested, she said. Tuesday, March 17, 2020 - Interview with Judith Persichilli, R.N., B.S.N., M.A., Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Health for the State of New Jersey, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com If you are symptomatic but dont meet the criteria, she said, you should stay home, watch yourself for 72 hours, take your temperature twice a day, hydrate. Were in flu season, it could very well be the flu. Its not clear how soon the state will open up testing to more patients, but one big step forward took place Friday when the first state testing site opened at Bergen County College to a line of waiting cars three miles long. FEMA is helping the state launch the testing pods at the college and PNC Arts Center in Holmdel, and will be supplying 2,500 test collection kits to each of these sites per week, according to the Department of Health. Persichilli said that the state wants people to show up with prescriptions from their doctors and obvious symptoms but there will be pre-screening available for those who are symptomatic and do not have a primary care doctor. Its not clear when people with milder symptoms will be able to get tested. Everybody who wants the test a second cousin once removed of someone who tested positive eventually you should be able to get the test, Persichilli said. Did we miss our chance to contain the virus with widespread testing and contact tracing? Weiss is somewhat hopeful that New Jersey can still use testing and contact tracing to limit the spread of coronavirus. In some portions of the country it may be too late to do that. Here in New Jersey it is not too late, in my opinion, he said. If you wait two more weeks, Im reasonably confident it will be too late. He said the criteria for testing clearly needs to be broadened as soon as we have enough test kits available so that makes sense. Data shows that the countries that have been able to stop the number of cases from growing exponentially, Weiss said, have done extensive contact tracing think thousands of contacts. Not testing everyone who may have the virus significantly limits the states ability to do comprehensive contact tracing, so does not having enough people to actually do that tracing work. In other countries they have rapidly mobilized to create a much greater enlarging of their public health workforce to help them do that type of contact tracing and to protect workers doing it, he said. We should be doing the same. Whether the state or the country could replicate that even on a much smaller scale remains to be seen. For the average person, Weiss said, their main concern should not be testing anyone who is unsure should assume they have it and self-quarantine, he said. They should be focusing on mitigating the spread by staying home and practicing social distancing. I have the expectation that the results of a number of clinical trials in progress around the world that were going to begin getting solid results from those towards the end of April, he said. If we can postpone many people from becoming ill for two or three months from now, our abilities to treat them may be greatly improved." He does not think there will be a vaccine or a cure in a few months. But even small steps could greatly improve the survival rate or decrease the infection rate. For instance, he said, studies have shown that giving people Tamiflu when theyve been exposed to the flu can reduce their chance of becoming ill. People need to know that if they can reduce their chance of getting this virus now, the chance of being able to successfully treat them in the future is going to be far greater, he said. Sign up for text message alerts from NJ.com on coronavirus in New Jersey: Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Dowling recovering at home after long hospital stay State Rep. Matthew Dowling has returned home after suffering a one-vehicle crash in October. Dowling represents parts of Somerset County. Updated on March 27 If youre stuck at home and hankering for the fine arts, theres plenty online. Since the coronavirus pandemic began temporarily shutting down performing arts venues and museums around the world, cultural organizations have been finding ways to share their work digitally. Performances are being live-streamed, archival material is being resurfaced and social media platforms like Instagram, YouTube and Facebook are serving as makeshift stages, concert halls and gallery spaces. Heres a list of some of whats streaming and otherwise available on the internet. The offerings are increasing by the day, so be sure to check in with your favorite arts institutions to see what theyre providing as things develop. And check back here for updates. Theater En Garde Arts is offering a video of its production of Fandango for Butterflies (and Coyotes) through its website. Online access to a multicamera recording of Central Square Theaters production of Pipeline by Dominique Morisseau is available on its website. The Zimbabwean government says a second person has tested positive for coronavirus, a few hours after it announced the first case of COVID-19 in the southern African nation. In a statement, Health Minister Obadiah Moyo, identified the person as a Harare resident, who is currently in isolation. The person visited a nation with high coronavirus cases. A man identified as a Caucasian was the first person to test positive for coronavirus in Zimbabwe. He recently visited Britain and was quarantined as soon as he landed home in Victoria Falls. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by Nelson Chamisa says President Emmerson Mnangagwas government appears to be failing to follow protocols laid down by the World Health Organization in tackling the disease as the president is currently visiting Namibia without taking the necessary measures to protest himself and his entourage. MDC director of communications, Luke Tamborinyoka, said Mnangagwas government has no clue in curbing coronavirus as the president himself is not even observing some simple ways of preventing the spread of the disease like self-isolation and social distancing. But Zanu PF spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo defended the president saying he is on national duty in Namibia. Mnangagwa attended the inauguration of President Hage Geingobs second term, a few hours after his country reported two cases of coronavirus. According to several international media entities, Africas cases of the coronavirus rose above 1,000 on Saturday while two heads of state appeared to defy their own travel restrictions to attend another presidents inauguration. Angola announced its first cases, meaning at least 40 of Africas 54 countries are now affected. Congo reported its first death; Burkina Faso reported two new ones. Somalia said it's lifting its ban on international flights for two days so stranded citizens can come home. And Ethiopias electoral authorities discussed the virus effect on a major national election later this year. Angola closed its air, land and sea borders this week, but Namibian media showed President Joao Lourenco at the inauguration of Namibian President Hage Geingob. Also in attendance was President Mokgweetsi Masisi of neighboring Botswana, which this week suspended international travel by all government employees. Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa also was there. He announced a national disaster even before his country confirmed its first virus case on Friday. Burkina Faso now has the most virus deaths of any country in sub-Saharan Africa. The West African nation has one of the highest caseloads on the continent with 64. Several government ministers in Burkina Faso have tested positive, including the minister of foreign affairs. On Friday, President Roch Marc Christian Kabore announced the country's two international airports would close for two weeks with the exception for military and cargo. Burkina Faso is one of Africas most fragile states with a growing humanitarian crisis caused by attacks linked to Islamic extremists. More than 130 health centers have closed, affecting more than 1.5 million people, the government and aid groups say. According to a government response plan seen by The Associated Press, emergency teams aren't trained for a respiratory disease outbreak and don't have appropriate protective gear. There's also insufficient screening at borders. None of Burkina Fasos 44 high-flow entry points have the needed personal protective equipment, and only 23% have coronavirus screening devices. Jerry-Jonas Mbasha, cluster coordinator for the World Health Organization in Burkina Faso, said he was much worried about what might happen in the next one week, two weeks from now. Most people only experience minor flu-like symptoms from the coronavirus and recover within a few weeks, but the virus is highly contagious and can be spread by those who appear well. It can cause severe illness, including pneumonia, in some patients, particularly those with underlying health problems. More than 275,000 cases have been confirmed globally, including over 11,000 deaths, according to a running tally by Johns Hopkins University. At least 88,000 people have recovered. In Nigeria, which just three weeks ago announced the first coronavirus case in sub-Saharan Africa, authorities said that first patient, a man who had traveled from Italy, was now fit to go home. Meanwhile, Africa's most populous country said it now had cases in the capital, Abuja. In Kenya, health officials continued to disinfect crowded markets in the capital, Nairobi, trying to stop the virus spread. Its for the sake of us, its for the sake of the country, said Simon Kimani, public health council chairman. ___ Anna reported from Johannesburg. Farai Mutsaka in Harare, Zimbabwe; Abdi Guled in Mogadishu, Somalia; and Idi Ali Juma in Nairobi, Kenya contributed. NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard was forced to walk away from a coronavirus press conference after suffering a coughing fit in front of reporters. The health chief addressed the media in Sydney on Saturday regarding the latest number of COVID-19 cases in the state. But just seconds into the live televised conference, Mr Hazzard struggled to get through his speech before bursting into a fit of coughs. NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard was forced to walk away from a coronavirus press conference after suffering a coughing fit in front of reporters The coughing fit sparked concern on social media with many people commenting the health minister did not sound well. 'Has Brad Hazzard been tested? Not sounding too healthy on TV. After coughing twice, handed over the mic and you could hear him coughing up a lung in the background,' one person said. 'Brad Hazzard not instilling any confidence while coughing during his press conference,' another said. 'Coughing at a presser on live TV isn't a good look while talking about coronavirus,' a third added. This comes just one day after Mr Hazzard, was photographed behind the New South Wales Chief of Health Kerry Chant ignoring their own best practice cough etiquette. The Minister had just aired frustration about beachgoers ignoring directives around social distancing measures at Bondi Beach. The coughing fit sparked concern on social media with many people commenting the health minister did not sound well 'We are in different times. We need to behave in different ways' Mr Hazzard said. Minister Hazzard reinforced the need for New South Wales residents to keep strict social distancing measures before launching into an announcement about the further spread of COVID-19 via the Ruby Princess Cruise Ship's arrival in Sydney. 'It doesn't matter where you are. Whether you're on Bondi or whether you're in a church- separate by 1.5 metres. Make sure you're looking after yourself because not only are you looking after yourself, you're looking after your family and your friends when you follow those very basic health directions,' Mr Hazzard said. One woman said the press conference did not instill her with any confidence Mr Hazzard said that the AUSLAN interpreter has a case of coronavirus The New South Wales health website includes information around the best practice cough etiquette. 'When coughing or sneezing, use a tissue to cover your nose and mouth.' 'If you don't have a tissue, cough or sneeze into your elbow,' the advice reads. Daily Mail Australia has contacted New South Wales health for comment. I was so proud of that, he said. A lot of guys would go back to what they think they know, and theyll gravitate to the streets. And he was trying to change his life around. He made a few mistakes, but he was trying to change his life around. Italy virus toll tops 4,000, New York joins California in lockdown WORLD: The grim toll of coronavirus deaths in Italy, the worlds worst-hit nation, surged past 4,000 yesterday (Mar 20) as New York and other US states joined California in ordering a lockdown to try to bring the pandemic under control. CoronavirusCOVID-19deathhealth By AFP Saturday 21 March 2020, 10:13AM California has told its 40 million residents to stay at home. Photo: AFP While new infections were being detected around the globe, the World Health Organization said the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the pandemic began in December, offered a glimmer of hope for the rest of the world, with no fresh cases reported. As Italy reeled from its worst single-day toll with more than 600 deaths, worldwide fatalities swept past 11,000, with the number of infected people topping 275,000. Governments and central banks continued meanwhile to throw huge sums of money into the economic battle, hoping that a deep global recession could somehow be dodged. US President Donald Trump applauded decisions by the governors of New York and California to order residents to stay home but said he did not think a nationwide lockdown was needed. Those are really two hotbeds, Trump said. I dont think well ever find (a US-wide lockdown) necessary, he said, adding that the United States was winning the war against the virus. Shortly after Trump spoke, the governor of Illinois ordered residents of the midwestern state to stay at home and the governor of Connecticut did the same. The stay-at-home orders put the three most populous cities in the United States - New York, Los Angeles and Chicago - under lockdown. Britain, falling in line with its neighbors in the European Union, also announced tougher restrictions, telling pubs, restaurants and theaters to close and promising to help cover the wages of affected workers. Italy reported its worst single day, adding another 627 fatalities and taking its reported total to 4,032 despite government efforts to stem the spread. The nation of 60 million now accounts for 36 percent of the worlds coronavirus deaths and its death rate of 8.6% among those registered with infections is significantly higher than in most other countries. France yesterday reported 78 more deaths over the last 24 hours, bringing the death toll there to 450. Hope In encouraging news, Wuhan reported no new cases in 24 hours. Wuhan provides hope for the rest of the world that even the most severe situation can be turned around, said World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Hours earlier, California, which has over 1,000 cases and 19 deaths, told its 40 million residents to stay at home. New York state, which has reported over 7,000 cases and 39 deaths, followed suit on yesterday morning, ordering its nearly 20 million residents to do the same from tomorrow evening. Were all in quarantine now, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said. Trump also announced yesterday that the US and Mexico have agreed to restrict non-essential travel across their border beginning today (Mar 21). He said the move, similar to one already announced with Canada, was necessary to prevent the spread the infection to our border agents, migrants, and to the public at large. Meanwhile a staffer in the office of US Vice President Mike Pence, the pointman for Washingtons response to the coronavirus outbreak, tested positive for the illness Across Europe, governments continued to rigorously enforce lockdown measures as the continents most celebrated boulevards and squares remained silent and empty even as warmer spring weather arrived. France, Italy, Spain and other European countries have told people to stay at home, threatening fines in some cases, and Bavaria became the first region in Germany to order a lockdown. Idiots France said more than 4,000 people were fined on the first day of its confinement and ministers described those breaking the rules as idiots. The strict measures follow the template set by China, as a lockdown imposed in Hubei province where the virus first emerged appeared to have paid off. Chinas death count was steady at 3,248, according to an AFP tally. Europe now accounts for more than half of the worlds fatalities linked to COVID-19. Accurate figures are difficult to come by, however, as many of those who die suffer from other illnesses and infection rates are uncertain because of a lack of testing in many countries. The shadow of the virus is lengthening across Africa and the Middle East too. Gabon confirmed sub-Saharan Africas second known death, with reported cases across Africa standing at more than 900 and rising fast. In Iran, both supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani promised the country would overcome the outbreak - but still refused to join the rest of the world in imposing heavy restrictions. In Latin America, Cuba and Bolivia both announced they were closing their borders. The pandemic has sparked fears of a global recession, battering the worlds stock markets and prompting governments to push huge spending plans to limit the damage. The central banks of the United States, Japan, Britain, Canada and Switzerland joined forces yesterday in a new bid to keep money pumping through the world economy. In the United States, senators began negotiations over a $1 trillion emergency stimulus package to help Americans ravaged by the virus outbreak. The US package - coupled with a European Central Bank plan to buy 750 billion euros in bonds - saw stock markets across Asia and Europe rebound in Friday trading, but Wall Street finished sharply lower. The global sporting calendar, shredded by the pandemic, still has one major event coming up that has not yet been called off - the Olympic Games, set to take place in Japan in the summer. united airlines Scott Olson / Getty Images United Airlines said on Friday that without financial assistance from the government, it would be forced to "reduce our payroll" up to 60%, suggesting layoffs or furloughs were possible. United and other airlines have been severely impacted by the novel coronavirus outbreak. US airlines have requested a nearly $60 billion bailout from the federal government the White House has proposed $50 billion in loans but have faced backlash over cash spent on stock buybacks throughout the 2010s. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. United Airlines said on Friday it could lay off or furlough workers in the coming weeks if the federal government fails to finalize a bail out for the US airline sector by the end of March. As the novel coronavirus outbreak has caused global travel demand to plummet, the airline previously announced that it would cut about 60% of its schedule for April, while offering voluntary unpaid leaves for employees. In a public letter to employees signed jointly by United CEO Oscar Munoz and President Scott Kirby, along with the airlines' labor leaders, the airline said without assistance from the government, the airline would be forced to "reduce our payroll in line with the 60% schedule reduction." "May's schedule is likely to be cut even further," the statement continued. The letter did not explicitly state that there would be layoffs or furloughs. United previously outlined cost-cutting measures, including grounding planes, reducing corporate officer salaries, freezing hiring, and pausing capital spending. While the fiscal situation for the world's airlines has rapidly deteriorated, Friday's statement was the most dire and immediate warning of job cuts to date. The White House has proposed a $50 billion aid package for airlines in the form of secured loans, part of a larger $1 trillion financial rescue. Airlines had previously requested a nearly $60 billion package, comprised of $29 billion in grants and $29 billion in loans. Story continues However, the proposal and the request from the airlines has drawn backlash from opponents who point out that airlines collectively have spent significant amounts of cash in recent years on share buybacks, effectively increasing their stock value for shareholders rather than offering more money to employees or saving cash for a downturn. "One of the reasons, let's not forget, that many airlines are so short of cash right now is they spent billions on stock buybacks money they had to send out when they should have been saving it for a rainy day, for their workers and customers," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor Wednesday. "That issue should be addressed." President Donald Trump said in a press conference earlier on Friday that he was in favor of prohibiting stock buybacks as part of a rescue package. However, with cash flow severely in the red, airlines have suggested that continuing to pay employees and cut expenses only through executive salary cuts and voluntary leaves will not be possible. The United letter calls on employees to contact their Congressional representatives, "urging them to take quick, bipartisan action to protect airline jobs." Read the original article on Business Insider Authorities were called to the scene around 12:20 p.m. and found the man with gunshot wounds. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. His identity was not released pending family notification. Police are asking anyone with any information on the shooting to call 866-411-TIPS. Arizona children wont be going back to school until mid-April at the earliest. In a new directive, Gov. Doug Ducey and Arizona schools chief Kathy Hoffman have decided to extend by two more weeks the coronavirus-related closure that began March 16. The pair said they believe keeping campuses closed until at least April 10 is necessary to be sure that conditions are safe for students to return. Gubernatorial press aide Patrick Ptak said that since the original two-week closure was announced, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has come out with new protocols to protect health. He said following these protocols would preclude schools from reopening as scheduled on March 30. But Hoffman said the question of spreading COVID-19 among classmates is only part of the issue. Theres also the question of who would teach the children. Staffing would be very challenging at this time, she said. And then theres the possibility that teachers could spread the virus among themselves in meetings. Whether schools will reopen before the end of the school year remains an open question. Our goal is to get kids in the classroom as soon as possible, Ptak said. We believe thats the best place for them. Were going to continue to reassess the situation in order to safely do that. Hoffman said she also intends to keep monitoring and evaluating the situation. But she told Capitol Media Services that it would not be the end of the world if schools did not reopen before the summer break. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 20:45:48|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close File photo of Chinese President Xi Jinping (2nd L) and his wife Peng Liyuan (1st L) talk with Spain's King Felipe VI (2nd R) and Queen Letizia in Madrid, Spain, Nov. 28, 2018. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi) Xi said he highly values the development of China-Spain relations, and believes that through the joint fight against the epidemic, the two countries' friendship and mutual trust will grow stronger, and their win-win cooperation closer, so as to benefit both nations and their people. BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- China and Spain will certainly be able to win the final victory over the COVID-19 epidemic as long as they make joint efforts with the international community, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a message of sympathy recently sent to Spanish King Felipe VI. On behalf of the Chinese government and people, Xi extended sincere sympathies to the Spanish government and people over the recent COVID-19 outbreak in the European country. China, Xi said, firmly supports Spain's efforts and measures in fighting the novel coronavirus disease, and stands ready to share prevention and control experience as well as diagnostic and treatment plans, and provide assistance and support within its capacity. Mankind is a community with a shared future, and only through solidarity and coordination can mankind overcome this public health security challenge, added the Chinese president. Xi said he highly values the development of China-Spain relations, and believes that through the joint fight against the epidemic, the two countries' friendship and mutual trust will grow stronger, and their win-win cooperation closer, so as to benefit both nations and their people. BOISE, Idaho, March 20, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Albertsons Companies today announced an Appreciation Pay program to all non-union and union frontline associates. Structured to recognize the hard-working team members on the front lines, the companys e-commerce pickers and drivers, store associates, distribution center associates and manufacturing plant associates will receive a temporary $2 per-hour-worked increase, above and beyond their regular hourly pay and overtime. In ways that we could not even imagine, overnight, our country changed and as a result, it changed the way our teams conduct business, said Vivek Sankaran, President & CEO. I am so proud to say our teams did not skip a step. In our manufacturing plants, distribution centers and in our stores, our associates are working tirelessly to serve our customers. They work every day to keep our communities fed, their pantries and medicine cabinets stocked, and to ensure one less worry on our customers minds as we all face this unprecedented pandemic. The temporary increase, which was requested by the companys division presidents and supported by the board of directors and the companys owners, including Cerberus Capital Management, is effective March 15, 2020 until at least the end of the following pay period on March 28, 2020 for approximately 230,000 Albertsons associates. The company will evaluate the situation on an ongoing basis and make changes as necessary. These times are unprecedented in the grocery industry, commented Sankaran. This simple thank you doesnt seem like quite enough and we hope our sincere appreciation with this program is a start. # # # About Albertsons Companies Locally great and nationally strong, Albertsons Companies is one of the largest food and drug retailers in the United States. We operate stores across 34 states and the District of Columbia under 20 well-known banners including Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaws, Acme, Tom Thumb, Randalls, United Supermarkets, Pavilions, Star Market, Haggen and Carrs. Albertsons Companies is committed to helping people across the country live better lives by making a meaningful difference, neighborhood by neighborhood. In 2019 alone, along with the Albertsons Companies Foundation, the company gave $225 million in food and financial support. These efforts helped millions of people in the areas of hunger relief, education, cancer research and treatment, programs for people with disabilities and veterans outreach. A 50-year-old woman was mauled to death by a tiger outside Pilibhit Tiger Reserve here on Saturday while safeguarding her crops, forest officials said. According to Pilibhit Tiger Reserve Deputy Director Navin Khandelwal, the incident took place in Gajraula area of the district when Ramoni (50) was safeguarding her crops in an agriculture field. Some parts of Gajruala town falls inside the reserve. "It was during this that she was attacked by a tiger from behind. Hearing the cries of the woman, people working in nearby fields rushed to rescue her," Khandelwal said. Angered over the loss of a life, local residents refuse to hand over the body to the police and blocked the Richhaula-Mala road. They claimed that the tiger attacked the woman around 200 metres outside the reserve by straying into the fields. They also demanded that adequate compensation should be paid to the kin of the deceased. Following assurances given by tehsildar Vivek Mishra, the residents handed over the body to police for a post-mortem. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) COVID-19, also known as the novel coronavirus, has now visited so many countries in the past couple of months that itll put some frequent fliers to shame. Consequently, nearly every country has put travel restrictions in place. India for example has restricted even Indian citizens from entering the country if theyre inbound from UK, Turkey or anywhere in the EU. In fact all incoming flights to India have been suspended for a week and all tourists and e-visas stand suspended. The United States has closed its 8,891 km long border with Canada, for all non-essential travel and suspended all travel from Europe too. Flightradar24 / Aircraft traffic over India. Other countries have similar restrictions. Japan has banned entry of travellers who have been to China, Iran or Italy. Australia has banned travellers from UK. Thailand has cancelled its popular visa on arrival for 18 countries. With such restrictions in place, travelling from one country to another is pretty much impossible. So youre probably wondering with no passengers to ferry, all those huge air planes must be parked on the tarmac at various airports of the world. Wrong! While there are reports that some airports are working at reduced capacity theres still thousands of planes still flying across the globe. Some on intercontinental flights. Want to know why? Its all because of the way the airports, and consequently the airlines, work. Flightradar24 / Intercontinental traffic hasn't slowed down between US and Europe. Most busy airports work on slots for take-offs and landings. That is, a plane can take off at a designated time slot from one airport and land at the other at a designated landing slot. This helps keep chaos in the air to a minimum and make efficient use of resources on the ground. These slots are managed by the airport according to Worldwide Slot Guidelines of the IATA (International Air Transport Association). So if an airline wants to take off from an airport and land on another, it has to apply for a slot. But with airports getting busier and new airlines coming into business, these slots are hard to come by. And with demand outstripping supply, these slots are prized commodities and prices go in the millions. For example, Oman Air reportedly paid $75 million for a pair of slots at Londons Heathrow airport to Air France. But that still doesnt explain the current air traffic. The thing is, to retain these slots for the next year, airlines should have 80 per cent utilisation for these slots or they stand to lose them. Simply put, airlines have to fly planes and use these slots if they want to retain lucrative slots such early morning landing slots at busy terminals like Heathrow or JFK. Even if there are no passengers. So while governments can prevent people from entering their respective countries, theres no one stopping airlines from still flying their planes. No wonder there are so many empty plane tweets these days. Flight was virtually empty pic.twitter.com/0Z5NVP1s7e mark rowan (@markrowan6260) March 16, 2020 ... were done boarding. My flight is basically empty. pic.twitter.com/UPAcvr87KF Amy (@TheAmyCode) March 17, 2020 The disadvantages are apparent, pollution being the biggest. According to a study by The International Council On Clean Transportation, carbon-dioxide emissions by airlines increased by 32 per cent between 2013 and 2018. And passenger traffic is the biggest culprit. In 2018 the passenger aircraft amounted for 81 per cent of the total emissions. There is however some respite on the way; EU has agreed to a waiver of airline requirement of 80 per cent utilisation till October 24. The sad bit is that this is meant to help the aviation industry. It's unfortunately not the result of compassion for the environment or concern over people dying because of coronavirus. So when you look up at the sky and see planes flying, you know whats up. Flipkart on Saturday said that e-commerce worldover has been the lifeblood for cities under shutdown to fight against coronavirus while lauding the government move to exempt e-tailers from any order that restrict supply through them. "We see that world over, e-commerce, powered by technology, has played a key role as a partner with the public authorities and has been the lifeblood for cities under shutdown to fight Covid-19," Flipkart spokesperson said in a statement. To ensure there is no disruption of supply of essential commodities, the ministry of consumer affairs has advised state governments and local administration to exempt e-commerce operations (warehouse and logistics facilities and services), wholesalers, their vendors and third party delivery partners who are part of the supply and logistic chain eco-system, from any type of prohibitory orders. "The government's decision gives e-commerce industry confidence in our ability to support and collaborate with Governments (both Center and States) and other stakeholders as we fight this crisis as a country," the spokesperson said. Several state governments have imposed prohibitory orders like Section 144 and mandated closure of malls and shopping places in order to ensure social distancing in the wake of rising Covid-19 cases. E-commerce companies have seen jump in order across several categories in last several days and have run out of stock in some categories specially masks and hand sanitizers. Amazon said that the ongoing coronavirus crisis has impacted its operation in the short term and it is working to resolve it. "In particular, you will notice that we are currently out of stock on some popular brands and items, especially in household staples categories. You will also notice that some of our delivery promises are longer than usual. We are working around the clock with our selling partners to ensure availability on all of our products, and bring on additional capacity to deliver all of your orders," Amazon said in a blog post. The company did not share any comment on government move to exempt e-commerce for supply of essential items. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pence and Wife Will Be Tested for COVID-19 After Staffer Tests Positive Vice President Mike Pence said at a March 21 briefing at the White House that he and his wife will be tested for COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP virus. The Epoch Times refers to the novel coronavirus, which originated from Wuhan, China and causes the disease COVID-19, as the CCP virus because the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) coverup and mismanagement of the outbreak fueled its spread throughout China and across the world. Pence said that he and his wife Karen would take the test later in the day because a member of his staff earlier tested positive for the virus. The Vice President, who heads the White House COVID-19 task force, told reporters that the staff member was last at the White House on Monday but didnt come into direct contact with him or President Donald Trump. Pence added that the affected individual had mild cold symptoms, but hes doing well. Pence said that while there was a priority to give tests to people with symptoms, he would take one due to his strategic role as chief of the task force. He said over 195,000 Americans who had symptoms suggestive of COVID-19 have now been tested, with 19,343 of them having been diagnosed with the virus. Testing is expanding rapidly across the United States of America, Pence said, adding, State-run drive-throughs are expanding across the country. Pence also urged people to cancel elective surgeries in order to preserve personal protective equipment like gowns and masks for those on the front lines of the outbreak. Testing Priority Pence urged members of the public not to rush to get tests done unless theyre symptomatic in order to minimize the use of personal protective equipment, which has been in short supply. If you dont have symptoms, dont do a test, Pence said. Brett Giroir, the four-star admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps who serves as the Assistant Secretary for Health under the Trump administration, said at the briefing that testing should be prioritized for front-line staff dealing with the outbreak, as well as for those with symptoms, particularly if they fall into certain categories. Clearly, everyone across the country should understand that those hospitalized or in an ICU are a priority for testing. Symptomatic health care workersfor obvious reasons we want to make sure that their health is preserved and that they are not going to spread to those that may be seriously ill, Giroir said. Along with, patients in public health investigations, and there are local priorities around the country, particularly health care workers, he said. Symptomatic people in long-term care facilities, who are over 65, or who have underlying conditions like heart and liver disease, were all at priority for testing, Giroir added. Giroir presented a chart of COVID-19 tests completed through March 20, noting that the data was limited to CDC state public health labs and those affiliated with the American Clinical Laboratory Association, but does not include the over 15,000 of hospital-based labs, many of which are doing testing, he said. Data from the hospital-based labs would be available this week, he added. As you see, this curve will continue to rise dramatically over the next period of time, he said. According to data collected by Johns Hopkins University, as Saturday afternoon, there were 278 deaths in the United States due to COVID-19, with 83 in Washington State, 56 in New York State, and 24 in California. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that the measures taken so far were impactful, but not yet measurable with precision. I can tell you for sure, from a public health point and from other outbreaks, we know we are clearly having an effect, but we cant quantitate it for you accurately now because looking forward youll know what the impact of the rate of the steep inclines will be, Fauci said, adding that this information would be presented in due course of the daily White House briefings. There will be areas, and youve heard them clearly, Washington State, California, New York City, in which the dynamics of the outbreak are clearly different and much more robust, Fauci added. He said the key objective of the mitigation efforts was to flatten the curve of new infections in order not to overwhelm health care resources and make the fight against the disease more manageable. Llantysilio Mountain could be reseeded using helicopters following catastrophic fire This article is old - Published: Saturday, Mar 21st, 2020 An environment watchdog report into a fire that burned for weeks on a Denbighshire mountain says it wants to use helicopters to re-seed the slopes. The Natural Resources Wales (NRW) study into the fire on Llantysilio Mountain above Llangollen in 2018 made the suggestion because of the extent of damage to the area. The blaze raged from mid-July until late August 2018, resulting in approximately 250 hectares (617 acres) of mountain habitat suffering catastrophic damage. The fire site is in the Bryniau Clwyd a Dyffryn Dyfrdwy/Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). Vast areas of upland heath on which heather, bilberry and gorse grew were completely destroyed down to the subsoil. So re-seeding the area is dangerous according to the report due to the instability of the ground on the steep slopes, where peat has been burned almost completely away in some areas. NRW proposes a little-used technique in the UK, helicopter hydro-seeding, to re-seed the areas of land scorched by the fires. The method involves using a mulch and tackifier which could be added to water or used dry and distributed from a bucket slung under a helicopter. Its a process thats been used successfully in places like New Zealand and the USA but described as novel for the UK. The report said: Neither (wet or dry) methods are currently widely used in the UK and both require discussions between hydro-seeding contractors/suppliers and the helicopter operators to allow a workable method to be developed. Other moorland restoration projects (Moors for the Future and Yorkshire Peat Partnership) have been approached but have confirmed they are not currently using aerial hydro-seeding (wet or dry), meaning this would likely be a novel approach if undertaken. A nurse grass mix and heather seed would be distributed on areas of the greatest damage, with small coir logs and areas of jute mesh used to stop the mulch washing away off the fragile land. The affected area is privately owned but constitutes unenclosed Registered Common Land, used predominantly for sheep grazing, said the report. In the past landowners and graziers had undertaken controlled burning and management of the land in agreement with NRW. The environment watchdog compensated landowners for this work but a study by Denbighshire council revealed the last five-year agreement ended in September 2014. The NRW report added there has been no significant heathland management in recent years. It said it is confident the soil can sustain hydro-seeding via helicopter but said the creation of fire breaks in the new and existing vegetation, grazing levels and management, and the development of a fire management plan for the whole site were needed. Speaking to a meeting of Denbighshire councils communities scrutiny committee, Nick Thomas of NRW said he was meeting with graziers this week. He said: We need to agree with them. They need to be happy with what we propose. He said the organisation was hoping to get some preparatory work done this spring. The watchdog also revealed it has contributed 20,000 per annum towards a Moorland Management Officer for the county to liaise with landowners. By Jez Hemming Local Democracy Reporter Lome, Togo (PANA) - Togo has closed its land borders to passengers for two weeks effective Saturday as it rolled out new measures to contain COVID-19 (coronavirus) SPRINGFIELD Although about 400 people attending the 2020 Soybean Summit March 10 here didnt fear coronavirus so much they stayed home, the virus was certainly a topic of discussion among the speakers and famers attending the Illinois Soybean Association event. Roseville, Illinois, soybean grower Ron Moore said the disease COVID-19 is something farmers have no control over. You have to focus on what you do control, he said, adding farmers must also be aware of the possible impact of the situation. In a panel discussion, Moore did say he saw the virus as a top challenge this year. Other farmers and crop advisers included marketing, herbicides and profitability as top challenges this year. The meeting was held the day before President Donald Trump suspended travel from Europe, before national sporting teams canceled or postponed seasons and before large events were canceled and many schools announced closures. The coronavirus is a challenge, said Matt Bennett, a Shelby County, Illinois, farmer and grain analyst who was traveling by plane the next day and was uncertain about it. More than 100 countries have some level of coronavirus outbreak, said Sara Wyant, Agri-Pulse Communications editor. Coronavirus is bad its scary. Trade talk Wyant talked about the virus in context of its impact on trade. Among the top five issues soybean growers should consider this year, she said trade was No. 1 on her list. Until the coronavirus, many people were feeling better about trade this year than last year, she said. Businesses gave a collective sigh of relief when phase one of the U.S.-China deal was agreed upon. The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement is official after the Canadian Parliament approved it March 13. And agreements with Japan are positive. Now traders are waiting to see if China can deliver on its promises made in that pact, she said. While China has garnered most headlines recently, there is still a lot or market potential for the U.S. worldwide, Wyant said. For example, today the U.S. has only 6% of market share in India, 19% in China and 25% in Japan. We have room to grow, she said. Wyant said she expects there will be some stimulus coming to farmers in the election year as the U.S. tries to get the economy back on track. That could include a third round of the Market Facilitation Program. She noted Illinois received the second highest amount of MFP payments in 2019. The other four items Wyant sees as the top issues for soybean farmers this year are freedom to operate, sustainability, workforce and the rural voice being diluted. She noted that with the countrys population shift, Illinois will lose a congressional seat with the next alignment, giving the state less clout nationally. Market strategies Matt Bennett, a Windsor, Illinois, farmer and a grain analyst, said he is worried about farm incomes this year. Thank God I have an off-farm income, he said. He got chuckles and head nods from those attending his Maximizing Profit in Challenging Markets workshop. At this time it is essential to know ones family living expenses as well as farm and crop input costs. Knowing those costs will help farmers know their breakeven and plan marketing better, Bennett said. He said once farmers know their breakeven, they need to start contracting when their target prices come up. Last year he started at $4.07/bu. for corn and sold some corn at $4.18, $4.39, $4.59 and $4.72. The former grain elevator operator spread his risk. A farmer with a breakeven at $3.50 might start selling some corn at $3.75 as a beginning safety net and sell more to take advantage of any price increases. Keep tabs. If theres a rally, get on it, he said, encouraging farmers to manage risk. Bennett said $3 corn and $7 beans could happen in 2021. Whats your plan? he asked. Co-Creator Idris Elba attends the press night after party for "Tree" at The Young Vic on August 1, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images) Idris Elba has praised fellow actor Tom Hanks for his transparency after he tested positive for COVID-19 and says he was motivated by the Oscar-winning star to do the same over concerns people may try to stigmatise sufferers. Elba released a statement to say he had tested positive after finding out he may have come into contact with the virus, despite not having any symptoms. He has now issued an update to say he and wife Sabrina Dhowre Elba are "doing good" and to praise actor Hanks for being amongst the first high-profile celebrities to reveal they had tested positive. Read more: Idris Elba tests positive for COVID-19 Elba admits he was concerned about being stigmatised for testing positive for the virus but says how Hanks handled it influenced his own actions. In a video released on Twitter, Elba said: "I'm really proud of Tom Hanks who's also someone in the public eye. NEW YORK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 16: Sabrina Dhowre and Idris Elba attend the world premiere of "Cats" at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center on December 16, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Taylor Hill/FilmMagic) I was definitely motivated by Tom's move there, but also I think, there's some transparency given to the situation when someone like Tom or myself is in this situation. "I'm worried that people aren't talking to each other about it, I'm worried that people are going to stigmatise other people, I'm worried that we're gonna panic and send the whole world into a spin." Latest coronavirus news, updates and advice Live: Follow all the latest updates from the UK and around the world Fact-checker: The number of COVID-19 cases in your local area Explained: Symptoms, latest advice and how it compares to the flu Elba, who has asthma, went on to reassure fans he hasnt had any restrictions breathing and his life-long respiratory condition is okay. He said: "My temperature is fine. I don't have a fever. "I have asthma, so I fit in the high category of most at risk. I have a respiratory issue and I've had asthma all my life, so catching corona was definitely not on my bucket list at all, but even my asthma is okay. I don't feel any restriction within my breathing or my lungs." Story continues There had been some uproar Elba had been able to secure a test, which arent readily available to the general public, despite not having any of the listed symptoms. But the 47-year-old took the opportunity to acknowledged how lucky he was to take the coronavirus test. Read more: Idris Elba tells fans 'this is serious' after testing positive for coronavirus He said: "We are supremely aware that not many people can get tests," he said before adding he hopes self-isolation can be used as a chance to stop and think about what's going on in our world, think about the energies that we're putting out to each other" He concluded: "This disease doesn't see any borders and doesn't discriminate. So, I think that's really important that we take a moment." As the numbers of new coronoavirus cases have increased each day, and social distancing reshapes daily life, everyone wants to know whether the sacrifice is paying off. Are we flattening the curve enough to prevent a surge of critically ill people needing hospital care? Is it working at all? That answer is hard to find right now. With limited testing, the data collected is incomplete and makes studying and modeling the trajectory of the virus more challenging, public health experts and officials say. But were getting closer to at least knowing whether the extraordinary measures are having an effect. For Dr. Matthew Cartter, the state epidemiologist, its explicitly practical: if the hospital system is not overwhelmed, then social distancing is working. Without interventions, everyone who will get sick will do so in a short period of time, and the curve, or increasing number of cases, will accelerate steeply exceeding the capacity of the healthcare system. Flattening that curve, by limiting contact, means spreading the number of cases out over a longer period of time and reducing the overall number of cases. Thats the goal of social distancing, to make it possible for those who need to be hospitalized to be hospitalized and receive the kind of treatment they can only get in a hospital, he said. Thats the outcome we want. Theres no time frame on that goal, Cartter said; its a week-by-week question. Dr. Michael Parry, Chair of Infectious Diseases at Stamford Hospital, said declining numbers of positive tests will be a sign that efforts to slow the spread are working. Other information, like hospital occupancy information and emergency room visit data, will also help determine whether social distancing is moving the needle, he said. But that will take time - probably at least a month to see. I think we probably need to go through at least two incubation periods to see if theres an impact, he said. The incubation period of the novel coronavirus, or the time it takes from exposure to showing symptoms, can range from 5 to 14 days, Parry said. Two full incubation periods would mean up to 28 days before hed expect to see data showing whether theres any impact from distancing. As of Friday, 194 people had been diagnosed with COVID-19 from the novel coronavirus in Connecticut, and 40 had been hospitalized. Both numbers have climbed each day, and there are thousands of people who are already infected and may not know, Cartter said. Testing As of Friday, more than 2,000 tests had been completed in Connecticut. That number is increasing, as more labs become able to test on their own, but not everybody needs to be tested, Cartter said. Right now, testing needs to be focused on people who need to be in the hospital, he said, an people with symptoms who havent been tested should assume they have the virus. If you've got a fever and cough and feel like youve been run over by a truck, stay home and take care of yourself. Cartter estimated that for every positive test, there could be 100 more people who have the virus who havent been tested or arent showing symptoms. That number is based on how the virus is spreading in the state, he said. We would not be seeing this kind of transmission unless there were thousands of people already infected. Parry said that is probably a little high, but he and several other epidemiologists all agree that there are many more cases that havent been diagnosed. Limited access to tests has been the primary driver of that issue, though there could also be others avoiding testing, for fear of stigma or ostracism. We dont actually have an understanding of how much the disease is in the community currently, Yale School of Public Health epidemiologist Daniel Weinberger said. Knowing if efforts to slow COVID-19s spread are working is a critical question, said Dr. Ted Cohen, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the Yale School of Public Health. We would like to have our surveillance system set up in such a way to associate changes in policy and observed behavior with decreases in the reproductive number, Cohen said. Thats been the case in past epidemics, like SARS in 2003 and with seasonal flu, he said. With more widespread testing, real-time modeling and analysis were possible, which helped show whether the reproductive number was decreasing. How quickly a virus spreads is measured by its reproductive number, or the number of new cases that one person is expected to generate, said Donna Spiegelman, an expert in biostatistics and epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health. That number varies based on the biology of the virus and the context in which its spreading, Cohen said. From studies done so far, estimates are that each coronavirus case generates 2.1 to 2.7 more cases, he said. Social distancing, closing schools, isolating sick people and putting their households in quarantine are ways to reduce that number and reduce the spread. Data from the outbreak in Wuhan, China seems to show that initial restrictions to enforce social distancing didnt change the slope of the curve of the diseases growth, but that more extreme quarantine restrictions resulted in a drastic decline, Spiegelman said. Thats the most likely, but not necessarily proven, conclusion. A study released this week by researchers at Imperial College London, which reportedly spurred action from officials in the U.S. and United Kingdom, said interventions including social distancing for the entire population, home isolation of known cases, and school and university closures are needed to suppress the virus. Those policies may need to remain in place until a vaccine is developed, which could take more than a year and a half, the authors wrote. In places where suppression appears to have been successful so far, like China and South Korea, its not yet clear if thats possible long-term. Without any control measures or behavior changes, they estimated that 81 percent of the U.S. and British populations would be infected over the course of the epidemic, with a peak in daily mortality after about three months. In an unmitigated epidemic, they predicted approximately 2.2 million deaths in the U.S., not accounting for the potential negative effects of health systems being overwhelmed on mortality. Novel ways to track a novel coronavirus Things have progressed here in a way that has outstripped our very limited diagnostic capacity, Cohen said. Were going to need to figure out novel ways to understand better where we are in the epidemic, to be able to understand things like are things working, which things might be working, and when can we start letting up on some of these restrictions. Some of that is being done with proxy measures, in existing forms of data collection that arent specific to Covid-19 cases. That includes syndromic surveillance and emergency room data thats used to track influenza-like illness. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention collect weekly data from more than 2,000 healthcare providers around the U.S. on patients with fevers and coughs, and many emergency rooms report data on the same symptoms. While influenza and the coronavirus are quite different, theyre transmitted in similar ways, have similar symptoms and can be slowed by the same protective measures, like hand-washing and social distancing, so its possible to use similar methods to study how theyre spreading, said Shweta Bansal, a professor of biology at Georgetown University. According to Connecticut data from both CDC survillance and emergency room data collected by the Department of Public Health, reports of flu-like symptoms had declined for the last few weeks, after peaking in February. But in the last week, those have spiked upward. Thats not because of influenza, Cartter said. Theres enough COVID-19, we have widespread transmission that were picking up in our syndromic surveillance. Understanding the extent and trajectory of the epidemic in the U.S. can help structure responses, Bansal said. That surveillance of Covid-19 that we can do is going to be absolutely crucial to planning and targeting intervention strategies, like social distancing, and improving our resource allocation for hospitals around the country, which is of course an absolutely critical problem at the moment, she said. Hundreds of millions of people worldwide kicked off the weekend under a lockdown, as the global death toll accelerated sharply and the warned young people they were "not invincible". The pandemic has completely upended lives across the planet, sharply restricting the movement of huge populations, shutting down schools and businesses, and forcing millions to work from home -- while many have lost their livelihoods entirely. While President Donald Trump insisted the United States was "winning" the war against the virus, individual states dramatically ramped up restrictions, with New York and Illinois joining California in ordering residents to stay home. The virus death toll surged past 11,000 worldwide, with 4,000 alone in worst-hit Italy where the daily number of fatalities has shot up relentlessly over the past week. While the elderly and those with pre-existing medical conditions are the hardest hit by the virus, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that young people were also vulnerable. "Today I have a message for young people: you are not invincible. This virus could put you in hospital for weeks -- or even kill you," Tedros said. "Even if you don't get sick, the choices you make about where you go could be the difference between life and death for someone else." China on Saturday reported no new local infections for a third straight day, and the WHO said the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus emerged late last year, offered a glimmer of "hope for the rest of the world". But there are growing concerns of a new wave of "imported" infections in the region, with Hong Kong reporting 48 suspected cases on Friday -- its biggest daily jump since the crisis began. Many of them have a recent history of travel to or from Europe. Across Europe, governments continued to rigorously enforce lockdown measures as the continent's most celebrated boulevards and squares remained silent and empty even as warmer spring weather arrived. Italy reported its worst single day, adding another 627 fatalities and taking its reported total to 4,032 despite efforts to stem the spread. The nation of 60 million now accounts for 36 percent of the world's deaths and its death rate of 8.6 percent among confirmed infections is significantly higher than in most other countries. France, Italy, Spain and other European countries have told people to stay at home, threatening fines in some cases, and Bavaria became the first region in Germany to order a lockdown. Britain, falling in line with its neighbours in the European Union, also announced tougher restrictions, telling pubs, restaurants and theatres to close and promising to help cover the wages of affected workers. With virus fears gripping the United States, its largest state California -- with over 1,000 cases and 19 deaths -- told its 40 million residents to stay at home. New York state, which has reported over 7,000 cases and 39 deaths, followed suit on Friday, ordering its nearly 20 million residents to do the same from Sunday evening. Trump applauded the New York and California decisions but said he did not think a nationwide lockdown was needed. "Those are really two hotbeds," he said. "I don't think we'll ever find (a US-wide lockdown) necessary." Shortly after the president spoke, the governor of Illinois ordered residents of the midwestern state to stay at home and the Connecticut governor did the same. The stay-at-home orders put the three most populous cities in the United States -- New York, Los Angeles and Chicago -- under lockdown. Trump also announced Friday that the US and Mexico have agreed to restrict non-essential travel across their border beginning on Saturday. Meanwhile, a staffer in the office of US Vice President Mike Pence, the pointman for Washington's response to the outbreak, tested positive for the France said more than 4,000 people were fined on the first day of confinement and ministers described those breaking the rules as "idiots". The strict measures follow the template set by China, as a lockdown imposed in Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital, appeared to have paid off. Europe now accounts for more than half of the world's fatalities linked to COVID-19. Accurate figures are difficult to come by, however, as many of those who die suffer from other illnesses and infection rates are uncertain because of a lack of testing in many countries. The shadow of the virus is lengthening across Africa and the Middle East too. Gabon confirmed sub-Saharan Africa's second known death, with reported cases across Africa standing at more than 900 and rising fast. In Iran, both supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani promised the country would overcome the outbreak -- but still refused to join the rest of the world in imposing heavy restrictions. In Latin America, Cuba and Bolivia both announced they were closing their borders, and Colombia said it would begin mandatory isolation from Tuesday. The pandemic has sparked fears of a global recession, battering the world's stock markets and prompting governments to push huge spending plans to limit the damage. The global sporting calendar, shredded by the pandemic, still has one major event coming up that has not yet been called off -- the 2020 summer Olympic Games in Tokyo. SANDUSKY, Ohio Cedar Point, celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2020, will delay its opening this year until mid-May, at the earliest, due to concerns about the spreading novel coronavirus pandemic. Kings Island, near Cincinnati, also will delay its opening until mid-May. In a letter to guests posted to the parks websites, Cedar Fair CEO Richard Zimmerman said that all Cedar Point resort properties, including hotels and the marina, would open in mid-May, or as soon thereafter as possible. We believe this decision is in the best interest of our associates, our guests, and our communities, he wrote. He also noted that extra days would be added to the parks original operating calendar to accommodate demand from season passholders. Additionally, 2020 season passholders will enjoy added-value benefits to be announced at time of parking opening, he wrote. Cedar Points original opening date was set for May 9, with numerous pre-season events to be held the first week of May. Kings Island, meanwhile, was scheduled to open April 11. Kings Island is set to debut Cedar Fairs biggest ride investment in 2020 -- a new steel roller coaster, Orion, with a 287-foot first hill. Cedar Point has several anniversary events and attractions scheduled for this season, including a nighttime parade and party, Celebrate 150 Spectacular, and Snake River Expedition, a river ride. Guests with early-season tickets can request refunds or re-bookings at cedarpoint.com/contact-us or visitkingsisland.com/help/contact-us. Earlier this month, in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine banned mass gatherings of more than 100 people throughout the state, although some businesses were excluded from the order. Also this month, Cedar Fair temporarily closed Knotts Berry Farm in Southern California, and delayed openings at several other parks, including Kings Dominion in Virginia and Carowinds in North Carolina, because of coronavirus concerns. Meanwhile, Disney World in Florida, Disneyland in California and Universal parks remain closed while the United States deals with the coronavirus pandemic. Read more: Cedar Point announces 150th anniversary details: Snake River Expedition, Celebrate 150 Spectacular, admission for life Ohios hotel, tourism industry facing huge losses during coronavirus crisis Many out of work due to virus arent eligible for unemployment Cleveland Hopkins airport could see up to 50% drop in air traffic due to coronavirus-related reductions Tourism to Cleveland, region, likely to drop due to coronavirus concerns Many out of work due to coronavirus arent eligible for unemployment benefits Walt Disney World in Orlando is closing Monday due to concern over coronavirus The Deputy Chief of Staff who doubles as the NPP Parliamentary Candidate for the Damongo Constituency, Lawyer Samuel Abu Jinapor, has supported the fight against the deadly Coronavirus in Damongo, the Savannah Regional Capital. As part of effort to help residents adhere to the preventive measures spelled out by the Ghana Health Service, he donated boxes of Carbolic Soap to all the health centres dotted across the constituency. The Constituency Organiser of the NPP, Mr. Abu Seidu in donating the items revealed that the soap was the immediate and first support from the office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, adding that, more were yet to follow. "This is the first and immediate measure to prevent the disease from spreading should there be a confirmed case, God forbid though. Our Parliamentary candidate will soon supply some hand Sanitizers, nose and mouth mask, gloves among others when they are available to all health centers in the Damongo Constituency," he said. He admonished all residents to adhere to the preventive measures spelled out by the Ghana Health Service to combat the spread of the virus. In receiving the items, Mr.Francis Salia, who is coordinating the COVID 19 response team at the West Gonja Hospital thanked the Deputy Chief of Staff for the kind gesture. In charges of the various health facilities in the constituency who were present received their share of the soap. They collectively pledged to use the donated items for the intended purpose. So far, Ghana has recorded sixteen (16) confirmed cases of the deadly Coronavirus. President Akufo-Addo as part of measures to curtail the spread of the virus, announced a ban on public gathering such as religious service, funerals; closure of schools; travel restrictions for people coming from countries that had recorded 200 or more confirmed cases of COVID-19; designated isolation and treatment centres at some health facilities, screening of travellers with thermal scanners at the country's points of entry, among others. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the deadly virus has claimed 8,988 lives with 220,843 persons infected globally. Ever since the outbreak of the virus,many residents have called on authorities to close down the Mole National Park at Damongo temporally,since it's a potential source of spread of the virus Source: Ananpansah B Abraham By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. airlines have canceled hundreds of flights at three major U.S. airports this week after a series of coronavirus cases involving air traffic control personnel. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) temporarily closed the air traffic control tower at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York early Friday before reopening it around 11:30 a.m. ET (1530 GMT). The FAA also shuttered part of the Indianapolis Air Route Traffic Control Center for cleaning after workers tested positive for the coronavirus. The FAA said a technician at JFK had tested positive and air traffic controllers had been operating earlier from an alternate location on airport property. American Airlines Group Inc said it canceled 20 of its 68 scheduled departures from JFK on Friday due to a reduced incoming arrival rate after traffic control was shifted to the other location. In Indiana, after an air traffic control supervisor tested positive, the FAA vacated work areas at the Indianapolis Air Route Traffic Control and flights through the airspace handled by those sectors were rerouted. Air traffic control towers remain closed at Chicago Midway and Las Vegas airports after other coronavirus cases were reported earlier this week. Airlines have canceled more than 700 flights on Thursday and Friday at Las Vegas and more than 800 over the last two days at Midway, according to flightaware.com. Southwest Airlines has resumed operations in Chicago after canceling more than 200 flights on Thursday. The airline said it had also canceled another 150 flights at Chicago and more than 165 flights at Las Vegas airport on Friday. On Thursday, the FAA placed a temporary flight restriction over Midway to allow only commercial flights and other authorized flights after a number of local private pilots began using the airport for touch-and-go landing practice. (Reporting by David Shepardson; Additional reporting by Tracy Rucinski; Editing by Bill Berkrot, Chris Reese and Richard Chang) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. The State of NJ's new website, covid19.nj.gov , uses natural language processing (NLP) to understand the questions people ask about the coronavirus, then delivers answers using data collected from multiple NJ state agencies, federal resources like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Federation of American Scientists "Ask a Scientist" interactive tool. "Getting the right information out to people can help save lives," said Howard Lerman, Founder and CEO of Yext, "The State of New Jersey is providing a critical service to its residents, and we're committed to supporting them with Answers and our resources during this unprecedented time." "Access to accurate and timely information is critical in combating the COVID-19 pandemic," said New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy. "I want to thank Yext for stepping up at this crucial moment and donating services and assistance that are further enabling us to provide our residents with vital information from numerous sources seamlessly and in a centralized location." "Over the last few weeks, we've been able to use our platform for good, and our collaboration with the State of New Jersey highlights how Yext can help any local, state or federal government agency in a moment of crisis," said Brian Distelburger, Co-Founder and President of Yext. "In just a few days we were able to implement Yext Answers on the State's new information hub, and together we now help give New Jersey residents the information they need to make important, potentially life-saving decisions about their health." As part of Yext's commitment to helping government agencies and businesses provide verified information during the COVID-19 pandemic, the company is offering its Yext Answers product for free for 90 days. The trial includes Yext's COVID-19 Knowledge Graph plug-in, which adds Frequently Asked Questions about coronavirus sourced directly from the CDC to a website's search experience. Learn more about the Yext Answers trial at www.nowronganswers.com. About Yext The customer journey starts with a question, and every day consumers search for answers about brands. However, they are increasingly served false or misleading information from sources other than the brand. Yext (NYSE: YEXT), the Search Experience Cloud company, exists to help brands regain and maintain a direct relationship with their customers. With a mission to provide perfect answers everywhere, Yext puts businesses in control of their facts online by delivering brand verified answers straight from the source wherever their customers are searching. Companies like Taco Bell, Marriott, Jaguar-Land Rover, and businesses around the world use Yext to take back control of the customer journey, starting on their own website. Yext has been named a Best Place to Work by Fortune and Great Place to Work, as well as a Best Workplace for Women. Yext is headquartered in New York City with offices in Amsterdam, Berlin, Chicago, Dallas, Geneva, London, Miami, Milan, Paris, San Francisco, Shanghai, Tokyo, and the Washington, D.C. area. SOURCE Yext, Inc. Related Links http://www.yext.com NHS staff have spoken of their 'genuine fear' as they are forced to buy their own protective equipment. Healthcare providers are also resorting to reusing disposable items due to a lack of supply. The lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) has prompted concern for the safety of doctors and nurses on the front line. NHS staff have spoken of their 'genuine fear' as they are forced to buy their own protective equipment Without adequate provisions, healthcare staff are at heightened risk of infection. One senior doctor in West Yorkshire told the i there was 'genuine fear' among workers who are being left without necessary kit. The consultant told of buying equipment from a DIY store to protect against transmission of COVID-19. They said: 'We are having issues of shortages for operating theatre areas, and I have lost faith in that being rectified. It has prompted me to buy goggles from Wickes to go with my own backup respirator mask. 'As a department we have bought our own reusable masks and sterilisers with our own cash. We have now been advised not to throw away the single-use visors we are supposed to have - but didn't have today - as they will instead be cleaned for re-use.' NHS guidelines state medical staff are to have protective FFP3 masks 'fit-tested' to ensure adequate resistance against infection. If the masks do not fit, a respiratory hood should be supplied to protect them. NHS guidelines state medical staff are to have protective FFP3 masks (pictured) 'fit-tested' to ensure adequate resistance against infection Speaking to the i, the doctor told how this procedure has now been abandoned. 'We've been told to just press the masks on hard. 'I saw genuine fear in my staff today - they are fully aware that they are not as protected as they could be.' Another consultant in the North East told the i items such as masks were 'gold dust' in their hospital due to shortages. This comes after nurses at a major London hospital posted photographs of themselves wearing clinical waste bags on their heads for protection. The staff are from Northwick Park hospital in Harrow, which yesterday became the first hospital in the country to say it had no critical care beds left as it was overwhelmed by coronavirus patients. Dr Jenny Harries, deputy chief medical officer for England, said the country has a 'perfectly adequate supply of PPE at the moment' Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, a nurse at the hospital, who did not wish to be named, issued a plea for gowns, gloves and proper masks. She said: 'We need proper PPE kit now, or nurses and doctors are going to die. It's as simple as that.' Dr Jenny Harries, deputy chief medical officer for England, said the country has a 'perfectly adequate supply of PPE at the moment' during a press conference at Downing Street yesterday evening. She added: 'There have been some differential deliveries in some areas. That is completely resolved now.' A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: 'We will continue to give our NHS and the social care sector everything they need to tackle this outbreak and we have central stockpiles of Personal Protective Equipment. 'We are working closely with industry, the NHS, social care providers and others in the supply chain to ensure these medical products are delivered to the frontline as quickly as possible, helping to minimise any risks to patients and staff.' Usually reserved for floods and storms, Manitobas decision Friday to trigger its Emergency Measures Act goes beyond targeted public-health actions, giving the province almost unlimited power. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/3/2020 (662 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Usually reserved for floods and storms, Manitobas decision Friday to trigger its Emergency Measures Act goes beyond targeted public-health actions, giving the province almost unlimited power. Why did Manitoba declare a state of emergency? Premier Brian Pallister said Fridays state of emergency allows the province to shut down businesses that allow more than 50 people to gather, in light of official advice to avoid spreading COVID-19 through mass gatherings. "This is not something we take lightly," Pallister said. This is not something we take lightly." Premier Brian Pallister Cant public-health officials do that anyway? Jack Lindsay, emergency studies chairman at Brandon University, says the Emergency Measures Act is intended to be wide-reaching, while the Public Health Act is more focused on individuals and particular sites. Province declares state of emergency Click to Expand MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Premier Brian Pallister announces a state of emergency in the province of Manitoba at the Manitoba Legislative Building in Winnipeg on Friday, March 20, 2020. Winnipeg Free Press 2020 Posted: 12:26 PM Mar. 20, 2020 The Manitoba government has declared a provincewide state of emergency to reduce the spread of COVID-19, giving legal force to social-distancing directives by provincial health authorities. Effective 4 p.m. Friday, the province limited the size of indoor and outdoor public gatherings to no more than 50 people for a period of 30 days. Read Full Story Health officials can shut down individual restaurants for cleanliness. They can restrict someones movements in order to quarantine or decontaminate them, or even get their identification to track the spread of a disease. Friday's declaration goes further, closing all gyms and prescribing limits on other businesses. How has this been used? The province last declared a state of emergency during Octobers ice storm. It allowed Manitoba Hydro to access supplies and help from different jurisdictions. It could have also let Hydro workers enter private backyards and remove trees blocking electrical lines. "We havent done this before in Manitoba, apart from allowing mutual-aid agreements," Pallister said Friday, adding it was the first time the Emergency Measures Act was used for a ministerial order. Before last fall, the act was last used during the 2014 Assiniboine River flood. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Pallister stressed Friday he expects Manitobans will act in the public interest, and that his officials wont need to curtail civil liberties. How far can this go? "It can go really far, which is of course why people are nervous about it," said Karen Busby, a University of Manitoba constitutional-law professor. "The language is very open-ended and it gives seemingly unlimited power." The province can spend beyond its current budget, and can compel municipalities to do the same. It can prohibit Manitobans from travelling to different places or from being in groups. It can relax qualifications for certain professions, such as nurses with outdated credentials or specialists from other provinces or American states. It can go really far, which is of course why people are nervous about it... The language is very openended and it gives seemingly unlimited power. Karen Busby, a University of Manitoba constitutionallaw professor The government could designate certain professions as a "critical service provider," which would give them certain privileges like child care or priority for protective equipment. That could include public-utility employees or even grocery-store staff, as some American states have recently done. The province can also compel cities to take certain actions, and make them pay for it. Officials can seize private property and livestock, and enter homes without a warrant, as long as its in the interest of avoiding deaths or damage to the environment. Citizens can be eligible for compensation but there are limits to their ability to challenges measures or seek greater compensation. Police officers can detain people without charge in order to stop them from committing harm, such as intentionally trying to spread the virus. People who breach an order restricting travel between cities could be jailed for a year and fined $10,000, a fine that rises to $50,000 for those who refuse an evacuation order. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS The state of emergency allows the province to spend beyond its current budget, and the province can compel municipalities to do the same. It can prohibit Manitobans from travelling to different places or from being in groups. Isnt that drastic? "It is the only way the government can legally suspend certain civil rights," Lindsay said, though he suspects Friday's news is as much about tools as it is about falling in line with other provinces. "Its also symbolic; it's showing the provincial government isnt holding anything back." Pallister stressed Friday he expects Manitobans will act in the public interest, and that his officials wont need to curtail civil liberties. "We do not intend to implement the full intent of the act, in its initial application," he said. "We respect the individual rights and freedoms of all of our citizens, and always will." We do not intend to implement the full intent of the act, in its initial application. We respect the individual rights and freedoms of all of our citizens, and always will. Premier Brian Pallister What about other provinces? Ontario was the first province to declare a state of emergency Tuesday, hours before federal officials said they were most concerned about spread in that province. British Columbia and Alberta both did so hours later, having already declared a public-health emergency, which involved more precise powers. Those three provinces have been the hardest hit with cases B.C. with 271, Ontario with 258 and Alberta with 146, as of Friday morning. By comparison, Manitoba has 17 cases. Cities like Calgary have taken similar moves to declare a state of emergency, to close recreational centres. Jen Zoratti | Next A weekly look towards a post-pandemic future delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Saskatchewan and New Brunswick issued states of emergency Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, to limit all restaurants to take-out only and close public pools. The remaining provinces only have public-health orders in place. All three territories have declared states of emergency despite having no COVID-19 cases, in order to limit flights from southern Canada and allow officials from afar to come help if needed. The federal Liberals are consulting on using the federal Emergencies Act if they feel provinces arent stepping up to the plate. However, theyve called this a last resort. Lindsay said Ottawa likely wont invoke the act because it requires an inquiry at the end of the emergency on why the government invoked it, unlike Manitobas own legislation. Download Manitoba's Emergency Measures Act dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca Dubai carrier Emirates Airlines announced Saturday it would suspend flights to dozens more cities, taking its total route closures past 100, in a bid to forestall the spread of coronavirus. The United Arab Emirates on Friday announced its first two deaths from the disease. Total recorded infections in the UAE stood at 153, of which 38 have recovered. The latest suspensions by Emirates Airlines take the carrier's total closed routes to 111. The airline normally serves 159 destinations. "In response to the latest developments in the COVID-19 outbreak around the world, Emirates is taking extra steps that go above and beyond industry and regulatory requirements to ensure our customers' health and comfort," the company said in a statement. Emirates said flights to some destinations would be suspended for up to three months while others, including to Paris, Frankfurt and Islamabad "until further notice". Gulf countries have imposed various restrictions to combat the spread of coronavirus, particularly in the air transport sector. The UAE has stopped granting visas on arrival and forbidden foreigners who are legal residents but who are currently outside the country from returning. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) New Instagram, Facebook series 'The Bible Quarantine' helps teens stay spiritually healthy Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment As many Americans self-quarantine amid the coronavirus outbreak, Nick Hall, the founder of the millennial-led evangelism movement PULSE, has launched a new Instagram TV series to help millennials and teens stay spiritually healthy. Titled The Bible Quarantine, the social media series explores relevant topics such as the meaning of church when people physically cannot meet together for worship and how to deal with fear in the face of the uncertain. Each episode, available on both Instagram and Facebook, is seven to eight minutes long and is posted every night at 9 p.m. ET. The series first episode, Closed on Sunday, received an initial 11,400 views across all platforms. If Im honest, this started as a goofy idea. I posted an image of a show idea called The Bible Quarantine with the caption Because man shall not live on Netflix alone. I was half-joking, but it got a very strong response because people are looking for hope and encouragement during this time of uncertainty, Hall said in a statement shared with The Christian Post. According to Hall, the episodes are designed to encourage you, make you laugh, and challenge you to make the most of this pause in our busy lives. Lets stay connected to Jesus and each other while we practice wisdom during this season. Who knows what will God say to us when we pause and let Him speak?, Hall added. Leveraging technology for the Gospel amid social distancing, PULSE also released Move Closer, a mobile app featuring devotional content, Scripture study plans and videos to engage users in uplifting discussions on a variety of topics. We have a choice, Hall said. We can sit in fear or we can use this forced Sabbath as a time to slow down and come back to what matters. ... I think Gods Word is going to speak to us during this time and I believe this can be a life-defining season if we invite God in. As of Saturday afternoon, the number of novel coronavirus cases has topped 266,000 in 182 countries and territories with 11,100 deaths, according to the World Health Organization. President Trump declared a national emergency on March 13 and on Monday urged the public to avoid gatherings of more than 10 people. The administration's call for at least 15 days of social distancing has prompted many churches to provide online alternatives to on-campus worship. Its important to be spending time in community with Gods people even if its online, Max Lucado, pastor at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas, told The Christian Post. Recognizing that many churches arent equipped to livestream their entire service, Lucado opted to host a weekly Facebook live service, something he said is easily accessible for most people with an internet connection. Every week, we do a 15 to 20 minute message and a time of prayer and reflection, Lucado told CP, adding he will continue to do so for as long as this lasts. I think this is a time where we need to be feeding our faith, he continued. If you feed your faith, your fears will starve. If you feed your fears, your faith will starve. Our tendency is to feed our fears. We have to do intentional things to feed our faith. Megachurch pastor Joel Osteen also canceled all his worship services at Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, to help contain the coronavirus. The pastors message was instead broadcast on Facebook, YouTube, Roku, AppleTV and online at JoelOsteen.com and saw record-breaking numbers. We saw 4.51 million people tune in throughout the weekend across platforms, the church shared with CP. This broke our previous record of 4.17 million in November of last year when we broadcast Kanye Wests Sunday service from Lakewood. This number could increase throughout the week. President Xi Jinping meets with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Brasilia, capital of Brazil, on Nov 13, 2019. [Photo/Xinhua] China vows closer international cooperation with Russia and other countries to control the novel coronavirus pneumonia pandemic, which experts say further demonstrates its vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind. In a phone conversation on Thursday night with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, President Xi Jinping said that the epidemic broke out ferociously, and China had to rise to the challenge and respond to it bravely. That is because it not only concerns the lives and health of the Chinese people but also the public health security of the whole world, he said, calling for closer international cooperation in epidemic prevention and control, experience sharing on containment and treatment and facilitation of joint research. Xi stressed that at this special moment when both countries are fighting the illness, China and Russia have been supporting each other and cooperating closely, which has demonstrated the high level of China-Russia relations in the new era. Putin said that remarkably effective measures taken by the Chinese government have not only contained the spread of the disease inside China but also made important contributions to safeguarding the health of people in other countries. Russia greatly appreciates and is pleased with China's efforts, he said, adding that China has set a good example for the international community by lending a helping hand to other pandemic-affected countries in a timely manner. What China has done represents a resounding answer to the provocation and stigmatization by a certain country over COVID-19, the Russian president said. Li Yonghui, a researcher of Russian studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that the virus can be defeated only by concerted efforts. "Joint efforts such as cooperation in vaccine development, providing assistance across borders and sharing of epidemic information are a reflection of the connotation of the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind," Li said. Ruan Zongze, executive vice-president of the China Institute of International Studies, said the pandemic further enhances the global community's understanding of this vision. "The epidemic concerns people's health and lives, regardless of borders or skin color. The most powerful weapon against it is solidarity and cooperation," Ruan said. The Chinese government has announced it would provide assistance, including testing kits, masks and protective suits, to 82 countries, and the World Health Organization and the African Union, with many shipments having already arrived in recipient countries. "China is practicing its vision with actual deeds by providing assistance within its ability to other countries," Ruan said, "and this will further improve and enhance China's relationship with international society." Meanwhile, a certain country that is trying to politicize the pandemic, label the virus and stigmatize China is running into opposition from the global community and such attempts are contemptible, Ruan added. On hold: Adrian Farrell with his fiancee Gillian Deane and their son Lorcan Farrell As Covid-19 continues to spread across Ireland, those who were due to celebrate major milestones have had to think outside the box. From virtual parties to seaside strolls, people who have had to unfortunately cancel events are still finding ways to enjoy themselves. It may not be what they envisaged, but they're maintaining a positive outlook while prioritising the safety of friends and family. When Gillian Deane's fiance suggested having their wedding around her 30th birthday, she anticipated a week of double celebrations. But both parties have now been put on hold as the nation battles against the coronavirus. Gillian turned 30 on Wednesday and was due to tie the knot with her partner Adrian Farrell surrounded by loved ones on Friday. The couple, from Belmullet, Co Mayo, have instead found themselves social distancing in the west. While it was devastating having to call off the wedding, Gillian is grateful they were able to secure another date for their big day after liaising with the hotel and various suppliers. It's now due to go ahead in November on Friday 13. "I know it's a superstitious day but if we can survive the coronavirus, I'm sure we can survive Friday the 13th," she said. "In the lead-up to the wedding, we realised this isn't what it was meant to be about, it's meant to be a time of enjoyment and happiness, not stress and worry. "We want to be able to have our friends and family around us without worrying. "We know we're very lucky, we live in the west and our rent isn't colossal, it's affordable and we've no mortgage at the moment. "We used to always give out about being isolated in Belmullet, but we're glad of it now. "There are people who are seriously sick and that puts it into perspective I'm laughing one minute and crying the next. "There's a group of us who are all due to turn 30 around this time so we're not cancelling the celebrations, we're just postponing them." Other people celebrating big milestones have also had to think alternatively. Amanda Lacey had organised a big 30th birthday party in a cocktail bar in Dublin and will now instead be celebrating at home with her nine-year-old daughter, Jade. "I've stocked up on decorations for it so I plan on decorating the place and making it as special as possible by going back to basics with a cake and a little tea party, and maybe crack open the vino, who knows." Amanda, who works with recruitment company Indeed, has been working at home for the last three weeks, so is well adapted by now. Expand Close Amanda Lacey has been working from home for three weeks and plans to enjoy a few tipples with friends virtually / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Amanda Lacey has been working from home for three weeks and plans to enjoy a few tipples with friends virtually Indeed was one of the first major companies to ask its global workforce to work from home "to protect the health and safety of all employees and clients". "I think once Jade pops to bed I'll send around a link and have a virtual party with the gang to celebrate after. "I know things may possibly get worse and I don't want to put anyone under pressure or increase risk. "I will have a bigger celebration when all this blows over as I think people will definitely want something to look forward to." Sara O'Brien turned 30 on Sunday and found out only on the day that a surprise party had been organised for her - when she was told it had been cancelled. Expand Close Sara O'Brien / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Sara O'Brien "I had no idea a party was being organised for me until they told me it was off, so I just spent my birthday in my mam's house with my fiance and brother and far too many vinos. "The 30th is still going ahead at some stage, but it won't be a surprise any more, obviously. "My best friend was supposed to come over from Madrid which I only found out about on the day too but obviously couldn't." Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel says the country is temporarily barring tourists in order to prevent the introduction of more cases of coronavirus. Diaz-Canel and Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz said in an announcement on state television that only residents of the island would be allowed to enter for the next 30 days starting Tuesday. As of Friday, Cuba had announced 16 cases of COVID-19 and one death, all in people who had traveled overseas or been in direct contact with a traveler. Diaz-Canel and Marrero said exceptions would be made for people involved in commercial importation, like crews of merchant ships, and for tourism industry workers who need to help tourists leave the country. Marrero said there were about 60,000 tourists in Cuba as of Friday evening. The Cuban economy is heavily dependent on tourism, which had already slowed dramatically due to U.S. sanctions tightened by the Trump administration. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. The vast majority of people recover from the new virus. According to the World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to recover. The coronavirus has infected more than 271,000 people and killed more than 11,000. Almost 87,000 people have recovered so far, mostly in China. "Serving in the military changes you. The shades and degrees of change vary for everyone, but no one is ever the same as... Copyright 2020 Albuquerque Journal SANTA FE With just 45 days until voting starts, New Mexico is exploring how quickly it could move entirely to a vote-by-mail system for this years primary and general elections amid the coronavirus outbreak. Legislative approval in a special session would almost certainly be required to abandon early and Election Day voting sites, election officials said, a potential barrier to launching a mail-in system before the June 2 primary. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has already informed legislative leaders that she expects to call a special session this year to consider budget adjustments, economic relief and other emergency measures. But it isnt clear yet when it would start. Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver who oversees elections run by county clerks throughout New Mexico said she expects, at the least, to encourage people to cast absentee ballots by mail for the primary. To that end, her office established an online portal Friday allowing voters to request absentee ballots about a month earlier than usual. Unless theres a change in the law, in-person and absentee voting for the June primary will begin May 5, or four weeks before Election Day. But Toulouse Oliver said she and county clerks are exploring the possibility of legislative action to allow elections by mail either for both of this years elections or just the general election. Even though its going to be challenging, Toulouse Oliver told the Journal on Friday, our election officials here in New Mexico are deeply committed to making sure we conduct a free and fair election, that it happens on the day its planned and that we have as minimal disruption for voters as possible. One challenge the state must confront: Most of the temporary workers who staff polling locations in New Mexico are 60 or older, putting them in the group most at risk of COVID-19, which can cause severe respiratory problems. Toulouse Oliver, a Democrat and former Bernalillo County clerk, said state officials are examining ways to recruit a broader pool of people to staff the election, perhaps encouraging workers who lost jobs at restaurants, hotels and other businesses amid the pandemic. County clerks will need election workers regardless of whether the elections are conducted by mail. Frankly, it seems like a good opportunity to help some folks out there who are going through really tough economic times, Toulouse Oliver said. Dona Ana County Dona Ana County Clerk Amanda Lopez Askin estimated that half to two-thirds of the countys 275 election workers are 60 or older. Their health and safety, she said, is a priority as the primary election grows closer. For now, Lopez Askin said, she plans to strongly encourage absentee voting, which is permitted for any eligible voter upon request. Were fortunate in New Mexico to have a no-fault absentee ballot process, Lopez Askin said. New election rules in the state, she said, should also make it easier to handle a larger influx of absentee ballots than usual. Legislation approved last year allows counties that receive a certain number of absentee applications, Lopez Askin said, to begin processing the ballots 14 days before the election, rather than just a few days before. That will give workers a bigger head start on qualifying ballots a process that involves checking signatures and handling other work thats necessary before votes can be counted. Many challenges Moving entirely to mail-in ballots in New Mexico would require election officials to consider many potential challenges including the security of the ballots themselves and getting them to and from voters, especially in remote areas. Rep. Greg Nibert, R-Roswell, said a mail-in election would require New Mexico to clean up its voter rolls. Many voters never update their registration when they move, he said, meaning ballots would be sent to the wrong address. Before moving entirely to mail, Nibert said, the state might also want to consider delaying the primary election to ensure legislative leaders have enough time to properly evaluate any proposed changes. The primary, he said, is an ideal time to try out changes because of the reduced turnout. If we need to go this direction, Nibert said, we need to do it pretty quickly. There are plenty of other questions, big and small. Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto, an Albuquerque Democrat and executive director of the Clerks Affiliate of the New Mexico Association of Counties, said the capacity of the postal system to handle an influx of ballots is one consideration. But election officials might also consider what kind of envelopes to use and whether it would be possible to avoid having voters seal their envelopes with a lick, he said. The length of the outbreak including any peaks and valleys in the spread of the disease is another factor. No one knows what the landscape will look like this fall, much less in May and June. Nonetheless, Ivey-Soto said, the United States has a long history of voting amid wars and other emergencies. Clearly, he said, we can have an election during a health emergency. We just need to make sure that we do it in a way that doesnt propagate the virus. Toulouse Oliver said election officials are still researching their options, but at this point, they think it would take a change in the law to move to a 100% mail-in election. In New Mexico, this years ballots will include races for president, an open U.S. Senate seat, all 112 state legislative seats, district attorneys and judicial officers. As it stands now, on May 5 clerks will begin mailing absentee ballots to those who request them. Thats also the same day people can fill out and cast absentee ballots in person at their county clerks office. Broader early voting begins May 16. North Korea has fired what are believed to be two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea off its eastern coast, the military in the South said. The projectiles were fired from North Pyongan province into the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea, the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement, without providing further details. 'The military is monitoring for additional launches and maintaining readiness,' it added. North Korea has fired what are believed to be two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea off its eastern coast, the military in the South said Photos showed rockets in mid-air after they caused fireballs by being blasted out of their launchers. The country's leader Kim Jong-un was seen watching the launch on a grassy bank with a group of his generals. Japan's defence ministry said the North launched what appeared to be 'ballistic missile-like object(s)', adding there had been no indication of anything coming down in Japanese territory or its exclusive economic zone. Earlier this month, the nuclear-armed North carried out similar launches on two occasions - Pyongyang said they had conducted 'long-range artillery' drills, but Japan said the projectiles appeared to be ballistic missiles. The latest launch comes amid a prolonged hiatus in disarmament talks with the United States. The projectiles were fired from North Pyongan province into the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea, the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement, without providing further details. Pictured: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watches the missile launch The North has been continuing to refine its weapons capabilities, analysts say, more than a year after a summit between its leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump broke down in Hanoi. Shortly before the launch, the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that the country would convene its rubber-stamp parliament, the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA), on April 10 - despite the coronavirus pandemic. Saturday's launch came weeks after Kim sent a personal letter to the South's President Moon, offering 'comfort' for the coronavirus outbreak in the country. The country had been the hardest-hit by the virus outside China. There have been 8,779 cases in the country, with 102 deaths. However, Seoul appears to have largely brought the outbreak under control - while Pyongyang insists it has not had a single case. The North's claim that it has kept coronavirus entirely at bay has been treated with scepticism given that the virus originated in neighbouring China. Japan's defence ministry said the North launched what appeared to be 'ballistic missile-like object(s)', adding there had been no indication of anything coming down in Japanese territory or its exclusive economic zone China has had more than 3,200 deaths from the global pandemic and so experts said it was 'impossible' that North Korea has not had a case. Kim Jung Un had claimed that a 30-day quarantine, a closed border and the suspension of trade with China had kept the nation free of coronavirus. But Jung H. Pak, a former CIA expert on North Korea, said to Fox News, 'It's impossible for North Korea not to have a single case of coronavirus. Pak said the unrealistic brag from Un is likely his way of drawing attention away from North Korea's economy, human rights violations and other criminal acts. Leaders in North Korea's largest city of Pyongyang claim the country has been able to stave off coronavirus infections by fighting for 'national survival.' Officials in North Korea said they found no coronavirus infections among the more than 5,400 people who were released from quarantine. Earlier this month, the nuclear-armed North carried out similar launches on two occasions - Pyongyang said they had conducted 'long-range artillery' drills, but Japan said the projectiles appeared to be ballistic missiles General Robert Abrams, a commander of U.S. Forces Korea, points to the low level of recent military activity in North Korea as one hint that coronavirus likely infected the country. 'It is a closed-off nation, so we can't say emphatically that they have cases, but we're fairly certain they do,' Abrams said. He added, 'What I do know is that their armed forces had been fundamentally in a lockdown for about 30 days and only recently have they started routine training again. As one example, they didn't fly an airplane for 24 days.' Some experts think North Korea's massive malnourishment problem, which can weaken the immune systems of many of its citizens, could contribute to a massive spread of coronavirus. But the country's repressive regime, ironically enough, could help curb the spread of the disease, whatever the true number is. 'There's no human rights or social freedom concerns, there's probably no concern for people starving to death,' Thomas Byrne, president of the Korea Society, who teaches international affairs at Columbia University, told Bloomberg. The latest launch comes amid a prolonged hiatus in disarmament talks with the United States 'They can really enforce social distancing.' A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department has said the United States is worried about the susceptibility of the North Korean populace to widespread infections. 'The United States is deeply concerned about the vulnerability of the North Korean people to a coronavirus outbreak,' said Morgan Ortagus, department spokesperson. South Korea, on the other hand, has been praised by other countries for its handling of coronavirus. The spread of the disease has steadily tampered off and is currently around 8,300 confirmed cases. It has tested over a quarter of a million of its citizens for coronavirus, representing roughly one of every 200 South Koreans. In the hopes of getting the same results, the United States and other nations are looking to adopt similar testing methods. As of Tuesday night, there were more than 197,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus worldwide with nearly 8,000 deaths. Pyongyang is under multiple sets of sanctions by the United Nations and the United States over its weapons programmes. The North carried out a series of weapons trials late last year, the last of them in November, which it often described as multiple launch rocket systems, although others called them ballistic missiles. Heightened tensions in 2017 were followed by two years of nuclear diplomacy between Pyongyang and Washington, including three meetings between Kim and Trump, but little tangible progress was made. The Odisha government Saturday directed the press no to disclose the identities of the COVID-19 patients, their relatives, and even the doctors and nurses treating them. "No media shall publish the names and the addresses of the persons infected by the coronavirus, their parents, relatives, the doctors treating them and the assisting medical staff, obtained through any source," said Subroto Bagchi, the state governments chief spokesperson on COVID-19. The state government has issued the directive under Section-2 of the Epidemic Disease Act, 1897 and in conformity with Rule-17 of the guidelines issued by the Press Council of India, he said. No media shall interview any patient affected with COVID-19, his/her parents/relatives/treating doctors, assisting medical staff, in any form, Bagchi said, quoting an official notification. Any violation will be punishable, he added. Meanwhile, a notification issued by the Health and Family Welfare Department excluded the press from the regulations under the near total lockdown imposed from March 22 to March 29 in five districts and eight major towns in the state. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A passenger wears a face mask as a precaution against the spread of the new coronavirus as he waits at the international departures check-in area of the Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City. AP Photo Montevideo: Cuba and Bolivia announced on Friday they were closing their borders while Brazil drastically slashed its growth projections for 2020 over the coronavirus pandemic. Latin American countries continued to ramp up measures to contain the virus outbreak with deaths from the COVID-19 disease jumping to 33 and total cases soaring over 3,000. In Cuba, President Miguel Diaz-Canel finally closed the borders to non-residents after long bucking a regional trend. The measure will come into effect on Tuesday and will last for 30 days. There are 60,000 tourists currently in Cuba. Cuba has seen 21 cases with one Italian tourist dying. The Brazilian government drastically downgraded its growth projections for 2020 by 2.1 percent to practically zero (0.02 percent). The Economy Ministry had already dropped its expectations from 2.4 percent on March 11 in an initial re-evaluation based on the impact of the deadly virus. Brazil had only recorded 34 coronavirus cases at that time and no deaths. But the virus has accelerated since then to more than 900 cases and 11 deaths. Bolivia announced it was closing its borders and suspending international, inter-departmental and inter-provincial transportation by land and river until the end of the month. The country has recorded only 15 coronavirus cases but is due to hold a general election on May 3. Mexican foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard contradicted US President Donald Trump in denying that Mexico had suspended flights from Europe. However, he acknowledged the country was studying the option adding that "there needs to be different types of restrictions." Mexico has seen 164 cases with one death. In Columbia, President Ivan Duque submitted to a coronavirus test after coming into contact with a mayor who contracted the virus. Colombia has had 145 cases so far. Another audio clip on coronavirus and the advise this lady is giving is fake India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, Mar 21: An audio clip that dishes out advise on how to fight coronavirus has gone viral. It has been forwarded several times and a lady is heard giving advise on how to fight COVID-19. The lady says that this was forwarded to her by a colleague whose friend works at a reputed hospital. She says that the message is in Spanish and hence she would be translating it in English. The clip begins with the lady saying that the Chinese now understand the behaviour of COVID-19. She speaks about a medicine and says that in order to apply it one has to unblock the airways in the body. The lady then goes on to speak bout the safeguards. The first safeguard is about drinking hot liquids such as warm water, coffee, tea and soup. Coronavirus cases in India; State-wise breakup She says one needs to take warm water every 20 minutes as this would wash away the virus. Gargle with anti-septic liquid such as vinegar. This is the point that the audio needs to be debunked. This is not the first time that such theories have been floated around. While it is true that COVID-19 infects the respiratory system by directly entering the body through the mouth or nose, there is no evidence to support the notion that sipping water will prevent or kill the virus. There is however some good advise that the lady gives out. She says that wash hands every 20 minutes and try to avoid getting the common flu. Both are very good advise and have been recommended by the World Health Organisation. However at the end of the clip she says that if you feel discomfort in your throat, attack the virus immediately by following the above mentioned steps. The steps being suggested by the lady do not work and if at all you feel discomfort, then it would be advisable to seek medical help.New Delhi, Mar 21: An audio clip that dishes out advise on how to fight coronavirus has gone viral. It has been forwarded several times and a lady is heard giving advise on how to fight COVID-19. The lady says that this was forwarded to her by a colleague whose friend works at a reputed hospital. She says that the message is in Spanish and hence she would be translating it in English. The clip begins with the lady saying that the Chinese now understand the behaviour of COVID-19. She speaks about a medicine and says that in order to apply it one has to unblock the airways in the body. The lady then goes on to speak bout the safeguards. The first safeguard is about drinking hot liquids such as warm water, coffee, tea and soup. She says one needs to take warm water every 20 minutes as this would wash away the virus. Gargle with anti-septic liquid such as vinegar. Coronavirus cases in India rises to 258 This is the point that the audio needs to be debunked. This is not the first time that such theories have been floated around. While it is true that COVID-19 infects the respiratory system by directly entering the body through the mouth or nose, there is no evidence to support the notion that sipping water will prevent or kill the virus. There is however some good advise that the lady gives out. She says that wash hands every 20 minutes and try to avoid getting the common flu. Both are very good advise and have been recommended by the World Health Organisation. However at the end of the clip she says that if you feel discomfort in your throat, attack the virus immediately by following the above mentioned steps. The steps being suggested by the lady do not work and if at all you feel discomfort, then it would be advisable to seek medical help. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said Crown was no longer exempt from social-distancing rules. Credit:AAP Crown Resorts will close the main gaming floor at its flagship Melbourne casino after it was stripped of its exemption from social-distancing rules aimed at arresting the advance of coronavirus. The Victorian government had provided Crown's Southbank casino complex with a controversial exemption from the rules limiting indoor gatherings to 100 people. The James Packer-backed casino giant offered its own suite of policies such as deactivating every second poker machine and limiting attendance numbers at restaurants, bars, ballrooms and conference facilities. But Premier Daniel Andrews said on Saturday the chief health officer had revoked the exemption. "We're not confident the measures that were in place and were appropriate are appropriate now," Mr Andrews said. Private airlines SpiceJet and IndiGo and Bhutan's flag carrier Druk Airways have suspended their flights to airports in Assam in wake of the coronavirus outbreak, a top AAI official said on Saturday. However, all 12 airports in the Northeast will remain open during the 'Janata Curfew' scheduled on Sunday, Airports Authority of India (AAI) Regional Executive Director for the region, Sanjeev Jindal said. Druk Airways suspended its flight from Bhutan's Paro to Singapore via Guwahati from Saturday till March 29, he said. SpiceJet suspended its four flights from Kolkata to Guwahati and Dibrugarh from March 24 till March 30, while IndiGo cancelled its Agartala-Chennai flight via Guwahati from Sunday till March 28, the official said. Jindal told reporters that airports being an essential service will remain operational during the 'Janata Curfew'. "All 12 airports in the Northeast will remain functional with most flights operating. We have spoken to taxi operators, unions and associations and they have assured us to run their services," he said. So far, not a single case of coronavirus infection has been reported in the Northeast, the official said. "We are trying our best to remain in that category. We are conducting the screening of passengers with assistance from state governments. "We are sanitising the airports and providing necessary equipment to CISF and airlines personnel," Jindal added. By Express News Service HYDERABAD: Telangana recorded its first locally-transmitted case of COVID-19 on Saturday. The case is a 21-year-old male, who was the primary contact of another person designated as Patient-14, a Dubai returnee. This increased the total number of COVID-19 positive cases by two, to a total of 21 positive cases in the state. The second new case is of a 35-year-old male who is employed on a cruise ship in the US and had a travel history from Dubai. The 21 positive cases in the state include 10 Indonesians who had arrived in Karimnagar on March 13 in Sampak Kranti Express from New Delhi. Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler has vehemently defended herself against allegations of corruption after it was revealed she sold off $3.1 million in stocks in the days after she attended a coronavirus briefing for senators on January 24. In an appearance on Tucker Carlson Tonight Friday, Loeffler, who is the junior senator from Georgia, claimed her financial advisors handle her stock transactions, and tend to her vast fortune. Loeffler told Carlson that she did not know about the sales of her stocks until February 16, and thought little of it. 'I don't get involved there, I don't have a say, I don't want to have a say,' Loeffler stated. The 49-year-old is married to Jeffrey Sprecher, the chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, and the pair have an estimated net worth of $500 million. Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler defended herself on Tucker Carlson Tonight after it was revealed she sold off $3.1 million in stocks in the days after she attended a coronavirus briefing for senators on January 24 She also claimed she had familiarized herself with The Stock Act before she took her senate seat, and has always acted within the law. The Stock Act stops lawmakers from using non-public information for stock trades. Meanwhile, Loeffler also asserted that the economic fall-out from the coronavirus crisis has been fast-moving, and contended that coronavirus wasn't at the top of her mind when her stocks were sold off between January 24 and mid-February. 'It comes down to the timeline, this is a fast-moving situation... None of us believe today what we believed today on February 1st. February 1st we were locked down in impeachment, we were heading into the State of the Union, we were having the Prayer Breakfast, there was a million things going on,' Loeffler told Carlson. She continued: 'Nothing was locked down, other than President Trump rightly said we need to seal off flights from Wuhan, China'. Carlson disputed the claim, saying he had checked his date book and had met with a Washington official on February 3, where they discussed the seriousness of the coronavirus. 'I mean it was out there,' Carlson claimed, appearing incredulous. 'It doesn't help anybody to point fingers retroactively, but people want to think that their leaders are putting the people's interest before theirs, and I wonder if that's always happening,' he pondered. Loeffler also stopped short of criticizing three of other senators who also sold off stocks following the private coronavirus meeting. 'I've been in the senate for 11 weeks, I didn't advise my colleagues on how they manage their financial situation,' she stated. The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Sen. Richard Burr, knew of the coming coronavirus crisis three weeks ago and divulged details of the chaos that would ensue to a group of well-heeled constituents Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr sold up to $1.7 million worth of stock on February 13 in 33 separate transactions after offering public assurances the government was ready to battle the virus. His financial filings were first reported by ProPublica. Burr has agreed to be questioned by the Senate Ethics Committee. Republican Senator James Inhofe and Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein also sold stock, according to filings, but both said they were not involved in the transactions. Inhofe said he has divested most of his stock and is not involved in investment decisions. Feinstein's money is in a blind trust. Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez led the calls for the resignations of both Koeffler and Burr shortly after the news broke on Thursday Critics on both ends of the political spectrum called on Burr and Loeffler to consider resigning or at least explain the sales. 'Senator Burr owes North Carolinians an explanation,' fellow North Carolinian and Republican Senator Thom Tillis wrote on Twitter. 'His self-referral to the Ethics Committee for their review is appropriate, there needs to be a professional and bipartisan inquiry into this matter.' Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted, 'It is stomach-churning that the first thoughts these Senators had to a dire & classified #COVID briefing was how to profit off this crisis.' Ocasio-Cortez is a prominent member of the party's progressive wing. Activist groups demanded federal officials and securities regulators investigate all four senators. The controversy swirled as negotiations continued on a rescue plan for the reeling economy, after Republicans made a $1 trillion opening bid that included payments of up to $1,200 for many Americans. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he wanted a deal by the end of Friday. That would allow for Senate passage on Monday, sending the bill to the House of Representatives and clearing the way for Trump to sign it into law early next week. However, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Friday evening that the talks could spill into Saturday. The Democratic House leader, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was involved in the talks on behalf of the House. Aid to small businesses hard-hit because customers are staying at home appeared to have the broadest level of agreement, according to Republican Senator Marco Rubio. But serious disagreements weighed on the talks over issues including Democrats' demand for a major expansion of the unemployment insurance system and state governors' call for a $150 billion fund to help them respond to the virus. Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday said the state government should utilise the cess fund for construction workers to provide relief to daily wagers during the current novel coronavirus outbreak. In a statement, he said steps needed to be taken for daily wagers at a time when major cities like Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Nagpur etc are under lockdown. Mumbai and its surrounding metropolitan area has 50 lakh construction workers and the cess fund for them is worth Rs 4,000 crore which can be utilised for food and wages, he said. "There are many other workers whose livelihood depends on daily earnings. NGOs can be roped in and a standard operating practice (SOP) needs to be prepared and guidelines should be formulated for this purpose," Fadnavis added. He asked the state government to ensure municipal corporations give extension for various taxes that need to be paid by March 31. Fadnavis said labourers were moving from cities to their native villages and steps must be in place to ensure the virus doesn't spread to those regions. Thermal screening should be done at railway stations, adequate police bandobast should be maintained, and medical facilities should be enhanced in places where they are headed to, he added. Speaking on Sunday's Janta curfew, Fadnavis said, "It is important to break the cycle. I have asked BJP workers to cooperate with the state government. This is a national calamity and we need to unitedly fight it," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) ABCs The View has had to undergo some changes due to the coronavirus outbreak, with co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar staying home to practice some social distancing. Sunny Hostin and Meghan McCain are holding down the fort, with Hostin serving as moderator while Goldberg is on the show via video. As an attorney, Hostin is the resident legal authority on the daytime program and often speaks lovingly of her two children with her husband, Manny. Few may know that while Hostin has made her mark in the legal and broadcasting fields, her spouse is well-known in the medical community. The Views Sunny Hostin | Bruce Glikas/WireImage From Court TV to ABC Hostin received her law degree from the University of Notre Dame on scholarship and soon began her career as an attorney, though she admitted she truly aspired to be in broadcast news. I studied journalism at Binghamton University, even interning for NBCs longtime anchor Carol Jenkins, Hostin wrote in an article for Marie Claire last year. Before graduation, I told my parents I wanted to pursue broadcast journalism. They were incredulous: Carol is a needle in a haystack, they said. No one looks like you on TV. Hostin ended up working in Washington, D.C., where she lived with her husband, Dr. Emmanuel Manny Hostin. Once she became pregnant with their first child, the daytime co-host knew she had to make some changes. My husband and I had tried for a long time and eventually resorted to IVF. I was on bed rest for most of my pregnancy [in 2001] and knew I couldnt tackle my career with the same intensity, Hostin wrote in an article for Marie Claire. We moved to New York to be close to family, and I tried being a stay-at-home mom. While Hostin is a devoted mom, being at home full-time turned out not to be a great fit for her or those around her. I drove everyone around me crazy, so I started dabbling with a few flexible law jobs, she shared. Her different legal gigs led her back to her first love TV news. I did a presentation about work-life balance at a conference, and a producer for Court TV told me I should do television, which led to legal reporting for Court TV, Fox, CNN, and now ABC, she revealed. Now serving as Senior Legal Correspondent and Analyst for ABC News, Hostin earned her seat at The Views table as a regular panelist in 2016. Married to a surgeon Dr. Hostin and The View co-host tied the knot in 1998. According to U.S. News & World Report, Dr. Hostin is an orthopedic surgeon in New York and is affiliated several top Manhattan hospitals, including Mount Sinai Morningside and Mount Sinai West Hospitals and Lenox Hill Hospital. He received his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and has had his New York State Medical License since 2002. The couple welcomed son Gabriel in 2002, and daughter Paloma in 2006. Hostin is thankful for the early hours on the daytime talk show, allowing her to be there for her childrens activities. The View ends at noon, so I go to every track meet and every game, she told USA Today in 2019. I look at my calendar and if my kids have an activity, I often just dont make it to other things. Medical missions trips After the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Dr. Hostin traveled to the ravaged isand several times to bring medical aid. Most residents were poverty-stricken and would give the physician needlepoints to show their appreciation. He did whatever he could and most people could not pay him. These needlepoints are often some of the most expensive things people owned, Hostin told LoHud in 2016. For them to give these to my husband was incredibly meaningful. They are priceless. This August, the couple will celebrate 22 years of marriage. National Conference Provincial President Devender Singh Rana on Saturday expressed serious concern over the structural cracks that have developed in the building under construction for Government Degree College in Jindrahhere. He urged the government to institute an inquiry into the poor and substandard quality of work, fix responsibility and punish those responsible for the "gross negligence". "It is intriguing how a building has developed structural cracks during the process of construction which speaks volumes about the expertise and material being used," Rana said in a statement here. Releasing a set of pictures showing visible cracks in the structure, Rana said the quality of the building has shattered the confidence of the people who were awaiting shifting of the college to a new complex. "This is disgusting, more so because the building was to be used by young students, whose safety would have been in tremendous jeopardy had such cracks developed after functioning of the college," he said while pleading for stopping the work forthwith till a safety audit is conducted by experts in the field. "The quality-cum-safety audit of the building is imperative for the larger interest of people," he said, hoping that the administration would take cognisance, fix responsibility and ensure safety norms and quality control, even if it entails dismantling of the structure. There can be no compromise with regard to safety of precious human lives, Rana added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) UTICA, N.Y. -- An unconscious man was saved by passerby and firefighters Friday evening after a two-car crash in Central New York. The accident happened just after 6:05 p.m. in Utica. Kyle Hart, 35, of Dolgeville, was driving north on North Genesee Street near Wurz Avenue when his car crossed over the divided median and crashed head-on into a southbound car, said the Utica Police Department in a news release. Passing civilians stopped to help Hart, who was unconscious, police said. A passenger in the car then told emergency responders that Hart was under the influence, Sgt. Michael McCurley said. Hart was revived with Narcan, McCurley said. Police couldnt immediately confirm what substance Hart was on, McCurley said: No contraband was found in the mans vehicle. Hart was rushed to St. Elizabeths Hospital, where hes in stable condition. His passenger and the driver of the other vehicle involved in the crash were taken to St. Elizabeths with non life-threatening injuries. Hart has been charged with: driving while under the influence of drugs, aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and several traffic infractions. Police thanked the people who stopped to help after witnessing the crash. Thanks for visiting Syracuse.com. Quality local journalism has never been more important, and your subscription matters. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work. Have a tip, a story idea or a comment? You can reach me at shouse@syracuse.com. The NTD report speaks to journalist Andy Ngo at CPAC 2020 about the nature of Antifa, and the still unresolved case against Antifa members who attacked Ngo last June. In June 2019, in Portland, Oregon, Ngo was covering an Antifa protest when he was mobbed and beaten on the head and the face, leaving him hospitalized with traumatic brain injury. Ngo says that so far no individual has been charged in the case and hes disappointed by the lack of action by Portland police. Ngo is now an editor-at-large with The Post Millennial. District Collector K Rajamani on Saturday carried out an inspection at Walayar on the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border following stoppage of inter-state vehicular traffic due to the coronavirus outbreak. In an official release, Rajamani said essential supplies like milk, vegetables, medicines and gas cylinders and ambulance are exempted from the ban. However, vehicles returning from Kerala will be strictly screened and sprayed with disinfectants, he said. Similarly, the borders at nearby Nilgiris district are also closed for vehicles coming from Kerala and Karnataka, official sources said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Phoenix Hill Sports Park in the capital of Southwest Chinas Sichuan province hosted the 2021 Chinese FA Cup final as its inaugural event Sunday. Covering an area of 128,000 square meters, the park consists of two world-class sports venues, a retail and hotel complex, and a public plaza. It will be one of the venues of the 31st Summer World University Games Jan 12, 2022 05:45 PM United Airlines and Delta Air Lines planes at Los Angeles International Airport. Adrees Latif/Reuters The current makeup of the modern-day airline industry is the result of numerous high-profile mergers and acquisitions that took place over the past two decades in the US. Consolidation of the nation's airlines saw airlines grow larger than ever and established a new group of dominant carriers including American, United, and Delta. With the coronavirus pandemic crippling the industry and airlines asking for bailouts, consumers are asking how the airlines with billion-dollar profits can find themselves in such dire straits. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. As the coronavirus pandemic continues to plague the global aviation industry, the big three US airlines have all been asking the government for assistance in surviving the downturn, despite each earning billions in profit in previous years. American Airlines, United Airlines, and Delta Air Lines make up the big three as the largest airlines in the country, with 2018 full-year pretax profits of $2.8 billion, $2.7 billion, and $5.1 billion, respectively. Just 20 years ago, the profits weren't as large and the aviation landscape in the US was vastly different, with more names being seen at the nation's airport back then as opposed to today. The first high-profile airline merger occurred between American Airlines and Trans World Airlines shortly after the turn of the century, kicking off what would be a trend in American aviation as consolidation would take over a weakened industry rocked by the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, and the 2008 financial crisis. In the 19 years since the two carriers merged, the US saw eight more mergers and acquisitions shaping the current industry and setting the stage for record profits as some airlines grew larger with each transaction. The result from years of mergers and acquisitions became three dominant carriers in the US with smaller carriers operating in their shadows and in the gaps, leaving the American public with fewer options. Story continues With the US aviation industry on the brink of collapse due to falling demand amid COVID-19 fears, take a look at the most important mergers that shaped our current aviation industry. 2001: American Airlines and Trans World Airlines American Airlines and Trans World Airlines merger Markus Schmal and Eliyahu Yosef Parypa / Shutterstock.com Just months before the September 11, 2001 terror attacks would shake the aviation industry to its core, American Airlines had acquired Trans World Airlines, one of the oldest names in American Aviation. TWA had endured years of poor management, labor disputes, and bankruptcy filings, according to CNN. American Airlines had already acquired TWA's London routes, The New York Times reported, using them to set up shop on what would be its flagship routes in the years to come, but now American had taken out a competitor and acquired most of its planes, gates, hubs, and slots across the US. The deal was valued at around $500 million at the time. 2005: America West Airlines and US Airways America West and US Airways merger Robert Sarosiek and Ivan Cholakov/Shutterstock.com In what was then the ultimate East Coast-meets-West Coast merger, 2005 saw America West Airlines and US Airways merge in a $1.5 billion deal to create a nationwide airline under the US Airways name. US Airways had, at the time, filed for bankruptcy for the second time of the century and was ripe for acquisition, especially as previous mergers with United Airlines had failed due to antitrust concerns, The New York Times reported in 2005. The two airlines, one based in Tempe, Arizona, and the other in Crystal City, Virginia, were among the top ten largest airlines in the country at the time of the merger, according to the Times. The combined network would give the East Coast-based US Airways a hub in the west that it never had, with Arizona positioned squarely in the American Southwest and a quick hop to most major cities on the West Coast without the congestion of Los Angeles or San Francisco. 2008: Southwest Airlines and ATA Airlines ATA Airlines and Southwest Airlines merger Carlos E. Santa Maria and Markus Schmal/Shutterstock.com As the 2008 financial crisis loomed, Indianapolis-based ATA Airlines abruptly ceased operations and filed for bankruptcy protection in April that year. The loss of an important military charter contract helped bring about its ultimate demise, the Chicago Tribune reported at the time. Once the dust settled, Southwest Airlines announced a $7.5 million bid to acquire the airline's slots at LaGuardia Airport that enabled Southwest to get a foothold in New York City beyond Long Island's MacArthur Airport. The two airlines were close before ATA's closure, according to Southwest's records, with the two having a codeshare agreement that allowed Southwest to have an international network through the airline. ATA was Southwest's long-haul arm as the Dallas-based low-cost airline didn't start international operations itself until 2014, mostly serving Central America and Caribbean destinations with its fleet of medium-haul Boeing 737s. 2008: Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines merger Markus Schmal and Ivan Cholakov/Shutterstock.com Shortly after the two emerged from bankruptcy in 2007, a $3.1 billion merger was announced between Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines to form the world's largest airline at the time, The New York Times reported. The newly-merged airline would see Delta prevail as the dominant carrier with CEO Richard Anderson taking charge of Delta during and after its merger. Delta Air Lines would acquire a sizeable European and Asian route network thanks to Northwest Airlines' foreign hubs in Amsterdam and Japan. Delta maintains extensive operations in both cities today, though it is no longer the world's largest airline. 2009: Frontier Airlines and Midwest Airlines Frontier Airlines and Midwest Airlines merger Markus Schmal and Ivan Cholakov/ Shutterstock.com After both carriers were acquired by Republic Airways, regional carriers Frontier Airlines and Midwest Airlines were merged to form a single airline, CNN reported. The Midwest Airlines brand would be shuttered and the new airline would take the Frontier name, with bases in Denver and Milwaukee. In 2013, four years after the merger, Frontier Airlines was later sold by Republic Airways to the airline investment firm Indigo Partners. Its new owners would convert the airline into an ultra-low-cost carrier one of the largest in the US. The Milwaukee hub would be downsized with a focus on a Denver hub and secondary bases across the country. 2010: United Airlines and Continental Airlines United Airlines and Continental Airlines merger. Eliyahu Yosef Parypa and Bjoern Wylezich/Shutterstock.com Four years after emerging from bankruptcy, United Airlines announced a $3 billion merger with Continental Airlines in 2010, according to The New York Times. United Airlines had been hungry for expansion, expressing interest in a merger with US Airways at the beginning of the century shortly before the carrier declared bankruptcy. The merger with the Houston-based Continental Airlines had made the newly-combined United Airlines the world's largest airline at the time, ousting Delta from the top spot. The newly merged partners combined the United name with the Continental logo, livery, and branding-style. United acquired Continental's East Coast European gateway in Newark, the Latin American gateway in Houston, and the Micronesian gateway in Guam. 2010: Southwest Airlines and Air Tran Airways Air Tran Airways and Southwest Airlines merger Markus Schmal and Carlos E. Santa Maria/Shutterstock.com Two-years after the acquisition of ATA Airlines' remaining slots at New York's LaGuardia Airport, Southwest Airlines announced the purchase of Air Tran Airways, a small Atlanta-based carrier. The deal gave Southwest valuable Air Tran assets including gates at Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson Airport and Boeing 717 planes, the latter of which were sold to Delta Air Lines. The acquisition expanded Southwest's route network and paved the way for international expansion in 2014. Southwest is now the fourth-largest airline in the US and the largest without any intercontinental service. 2013: American Airlines and US Airways American Airlines and US Airways merger Eliyahu Yosef Parypa and Ryan Fletcher/Shutterstock.com Falling short to United and Delta, the two largest airlines in the world at the time, and two years into bankruptcy, American Airlines announced it would be merging with US Airways in 2013. The smaller US Airways would acquire American Airlines, though the latter's name would be maintained due to better brand equity at home and abroad. The new American Airlines, which had emerged from bankruptcy as a result of the merger, became and remains the largest airline in the world in terms of fleet size. True to its name, American would greatly expand its network in two key cities, Washington and Philadelphia, with the latter becoming American's East Coast launching pad and connecting point for flights to Europe. 2016: Alaska Airlines and Virgin America Alaska Airlines and Virgin America merger Philip Pilosian/Shutterstock.com Virgin America launched flights in 2007 and just 11 years later the airline had disappeared from the skies. Another eccentric airline operating under the Virgin Group brand, Virgin America had bases in California with a focus on West Coast and transcontinental routes, making it ripe for a takeover as it matured and gained market share on popular routes. Before it could be known nationwide, Alaska Airlines and JetBlue Airways approached Virgin America with purchase offers. Though JetBlue seemed like the most compatible in terms of fleet and the opportunity for a more sizeable West Coast route network, Alaska Airlines ultimately bought Virgin. Integrating Virgin's all-Airbus fleet and Alaska's all-Boeing fleet under the Alaska Airlines name, the merger established Alaska as the West Coast's dominant carrier with bases from Seattle to San Diego. Read the original article on Business Insider New Delhi: PM Narendra Modi has urged the people to follow the Janata curfew on March 22 amid the outbreak of Coronavirus rising in the country. PM Modi has urged people that on March 22, in the evening, you should express your gratitude to the doctors, policemen, media personnel, sanitation workers, home deliverymen by clapping, thali or ringing the bell and making people aware. Difference in leadership, PM Modi stands with country and Imran gives excuses After this request of PM Modi, former Congress President, and MP from Wayanad Lok Sabha seat, Rahul Gandhi has made a sharp attack on him and demanded cash assistance to the people. Rahul Gandhi wrote in tweeting that 'Coronavirus is a tough attack on our fragile economy. Small, medium businessmen and daily wage workers are the worst affected. Clapping won't help them. Today, a huge economic package is needed such as cash help, tax breaks, and debt repayment. Take quick steps.' Corona: 200 Indians stranded at Malaysia airport, sought help from Indian government Earlier, Rahul Gandhi had tweeted, saying that the central government is unable to take decisive decisions, which the entire country will have to bear. He said that we need to take immediate action to fight the coronavirus, but the Indian government is unable to do so, which will cost India dearly. Amid coronavirus pandemic, North Korea fires missiles The Mumbai Metro One will suspend its operations on Sunday to support Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for 'janata' curfew in wake of coronavirus outbreak. The transport body announced the move through its official Twitter handle @MumMetro. "In continuation of our fight against #Covid19 and in support of Hon'ble PM's appeal of #JanataCurfew, #MumbaiMetroOne suspends operations on 22/03/2020 (Sunday) for the entire day, to encourage people to stay at home and make 'Janta Curfew' an unprecedented success," it said. The Mumbai Metro One, which runs between Ghatkopar and Versova, is widely used by Mumbaikars to cut travel time between western and central suburbs. Maharashtra has so far recorded 63 positive cases of Covid-19, the highest in the country. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) According to experts in human resources, even joining of new graduates is likely to be staggered as companies are expected to onboard staffers after gauging the demand scenario. Image used for representational purpose. Photograph: Adnan Abidi / Reuters. Hiring of fresh engineering graduates from college campuses by IT services companies is likely to see a decline owing to uncertainties arising out of the global spread of coronavirus. According to experts in human resources (HR), even joining of new graduates is likely to be staggered as companies are expected to onboard staffers after gauging the demand scenario. We anticipate delay in joining dates for the freshers holding offer letters. Dishonouring letters of appointment may also happen if the user industries in the US and Europe continue to reel under the impact of the virus for the next eight weeks, said Aditya Narayan Mishra, chief executive officer of staffing firm CIEL HR Services. He said hiring of engineering graduates might fall by 20-30 per cent if the virus was not contained in the next few weeks. In anticipation of demand, the top four IT firms of India added more than 50,000 freshers last year. Hiring of fresh graduates is also part of the initiative of most firms to rightsize their employee pyramid, which has become mid-level employee-heavy in recent years. Among IT firms, market leader Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has added around 30,000 fresh graduates in this financial year. The companys management has said it will increase this number to 39,000 in the next financial year (FY21). While Infosys has made 18,000 offers this financial year, Wipro has said it will onboard around 20,000 fresh graduates. Joining of fresh graduates is likely to be staggered now as companies are expected to turn cautious due to likely demand slowdown. So, it can happen over batches, said Pareekh Jain, an IT outsourcing advisor and founder of Pareekh Consulting. The real impact will be on hiring for next year (2021), which will depend on the demand outlook amid spread of coronavirus. The IT industry is staring at a demand slowdown as many developed countries, including the US, have started to shut down establishments for imposing social distancing to fight the spread of virus. As a result, the companies are already witnessing delay in wining large deals, with reports suggesting that deal signings worth around $3-4 billion have been deferred in this month alone. While fresher hiring hinges on the demand outlook, even job interviews for lateral hiring is getting delayed as companies are not able to conduct face-to-face interviews. The biggest issue is that none of the companies in India have complete e-onboarding process, so even after selection, candidates are not getting onboarded. As of now, most clients have deferred joining to the first week of April, said Sunil Chemmankotil, head (specialised staffing) at TeamLease Digital. As the impact of COVID-19 rages on in Alabama, the future of the states restaurant industry remains uncertain, although mass layoffs seem all but certain. Until that happens, at least one restaurateur will do everything he can to keep his people afloat. Charles Morgan owns seven restaurants in Alabama including the popular Chucks Fish and Five Bar, named in honor of his father, a famous Birmingham civil rights attorney. We first spoke to him on Monday, when his and other restaurants hoped to close for a short period of time. But, as the virus spread and social distancing became paramount to slowing it within just a few days, the outlook went from cautiously optimistic to grim. He employs a total of 460 people, and he dreads delivering the bad news they expect. Ive been doing this for more than 40 years and I bet Ive fired five people in my entire life," Morgan said on Friday. "Were in the process of laying off hundreds of people. This is a total nightmare and by far the most difficult thing weve ever faced. His restaurants closed their dine-in operation in the affected counties starting Tuesday at 5 p.m., though they have continued to offer carry-out and curbside service. Each location will offers a limited menu during normal hours of service. The staff continues to follow CDC best practices for food handling and preparation, thoroughly cleaning all kitchen surfaces, tables, chairs, door handles and bathrooms. Earlier this week, the Alabama Department of Public Health banned on-premise consumption of food and beverages at restaurants, bars and breweries throughout the six-county area that includes Jefferson, Tuscaloosa, Walker, Blount, St. Clair and Shelby counties. On Thursday, the state health department extended those restrictions to all 67 counties in Alabama. [5 ways to support your local Alabama restaurants during the COVID-19 outbreak] In the meantime, Morgans nonprofit organization American Lunch, which delivers hot meals to people in need, will continue to run as long as it can. The meals, which consist of hearty soups, bread, and iced tea, are served during the week from their mobile food trucks throughout the community. These are challenges weve never faced before, Morgan said on Monday. Sometimes for all of us, life has a tendency to get a little boring. This is certainly not one of those times. Were gonna do everything that we can do to ensure our staff stays healthy and customers are healthy, and were gonna follow all guidelines of CDC and government agencies. Were gonna get through this. Oh well get through it and be stronger then before, Im not sure about that, but I do know that well get through it, and we will learn a lot. Morgans top priority became taking care of his staffs, as best he could. We have a support system for people who work with us that has enabled us to maintain a remarkable workforce over 40 years in the restaurant business, he said. In this instance, particularly since we have a whole lot of younger people in the industry, the support system that were going to have is going to be anchored by me. Thats one thing I can do to ensure our people are taken care of, and I will do that. The next instinct: Stay open for as long as possible to feed people. Morgan also owns Harbor Docks in Destin, where he said they gained a reputation in the midst of crisis. We are the last restaurant open when were facing a storm or hurricane, and were the first ones to reopen, he said. That has nothing to do with making money. It does allow us to serve, as weve done after a lot of storms. Somebody needs a place to go. We have always been aggressive without breaking any laws. Wed stay open during a hurricane if theyd let us and we could do it safely. Its in our DNA. But he said he understands this situation is markedly different. There will be mandates that prohibit that from happening. We dont anticipate being open too much longer, to be honest with you, he said. The next 48 hours here in Florida, in Alabama and Georgia, I assume well be limited to takeout food or not able to be open at all, and we will abide by whatever the authorities tell us to do. This is one of those rare situations where things are changing every hour. Our approach is to be upbeat and be flexible and move quickly. Were not a huge corporate chain operation, and were to be light on our feet and move quickly. Were gonna adjust and react and were gonna do it in good spirits and with the understanding that these are very strange times. And that can be a curse or something you learn from, and well learn from this. [Huntsville restaurants adapt, face uncertainty with coronavirus] "The restaurant industry, like most businesses, it is a very competitive industry, he said. And despite no one knowing what the states food supply will look like in the coming days and weeks, everyone is in it together and all face the same challenges. Were gonna take deep breaths and work our way through this, he said Monday. Most of all, were going to do it with empathy and sense of compassion for those people who are in tougher situations than we are. Were a strong group of restaurants. Weve got great people. Thats not changing. We will have restaurants that are thriving again one day. When that is I dont know. For now, deep breaths. One foot in front of the other, and this will pass. Then came the ADPH ban came, and everything changed instantaneously. The Chucks Fish restaurants will continue curb service from 5-9 p.m. every day, while Five Restaurants are closing altogether until further notice. The American Lunch effort continues, operating every day from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m., with employees from both restaurants contributing. The curb service is something were doing to help people that need food and to keep people working. That is not a profitable effort, as you can imagine. As for workforce morale, Morgan said its tough. He set up a fund to help employees for as long as he can, or in his words, until he goes broke. They are encouraging all hourly workers to file for unemployment while exploring other avenues to keep their salaried people afloat. They will have a restaurant-wide meeting on Monday to make decisions about the future. On Monday, Morgan was pragmatic in saying this whole thing is different than anything theyve faced, but he was also optimistic about getting through it and learning from it. When asked what was encouraging him by Friday, after a week of changes that cast even more doubt on his restaurants futures, he took a long pause. Its hard to continue to be confident and to try to encourage people about a future that is so undecided. This is a difficult future to predict, he said. All segments of society, particularly in the world of business, face different challenges, and its hard to address challenges before they arise. You do your best, but the restaurant industry in general is in for some very, very difficult times. Not even sure on so many different levels when this will be over. Is it going to be over in a month? Not likely. Is it going to be over in 18 months? Possibly. What will the restaurant industry look like then? Will people in all segments of life have expendable money to go out to eat, to take vacations? He mentioned the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, when President George W. Bush encouraged Americans to get back to work, spend money, go to restaurants and bars and do it all together while remaining vigilant and cautious. Now in the wake of a deadly and contagious virus, the message is diametrically opposed. Do not go out. Do not gather. Do not rally. Socially distance yourself. There are way more questions than answers at this point, he said. Im an optimistic guy, and I think that our group is smart enough and hard-working enough and kind enough to get us through this, whatever they throw at is. Thats certainly my hope. File image The Reserve Bank of India, on March 21, extended the restrictions on the Punjab and Maharashtra Bank until June 22. The restrictions earlier enforced by the central bank on September 23, 2019, under Section 35 A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, were to end on March 23, 2020. The RBI in a release dated March 21, 2020 said: Reserve Bank has been closely monitoring the situation and has been holding regular meetings with the Administrator and the Advisory Committee of the bank. The Reserve Bank has also been, directly and through the Administrator, discussing with various authorities on expeditious sale of securities and recoveries of loans. Due to various factors including legal processes, tangible outcomes are taking some time. RBI PMC bank March 21 order It must be noted that unlike in the case of commercial banks, the Reserve Bank has no powers to draw up an enforceable scheme of reconstruction of a cooperative bank. Nevertheless, in the interest of the depositors and the stability of the cooperative banking sector, the Reserve Bank of India, in consultation with various stakeholders and authorities, is trying to work out a scheme for revival of the bank. In order to take this forward, it is considered necessary to extend the aforesaid Directions for a further period of three months. Accordingly, it is hereby notified for the information of the public that the validity of the aforesaid Directive dated September 23, 2019, as modified from time to time, has been extended for a further period of three months from March 23, 2020 to June 22, 2020, subject to review. All other terms and conditions of the Directives under reference shall remain unchanged. The restrictions as per an RBI circular dated September 23, 2019 curbed the bank's functions like lending and withdrawals by customers. During this period, the co-operative bank was restricted to grant or renew any loans and advances, make any investment or incur any liability including borrowing of funds and acceptance of fresh deposits. It was also stopped to disburse or agree to disburse any payment whether in discharge of its liabilities and obligations or otherwise, as per the circular. The RBI had raised the withdrawal limits for depositors from Rs 1,000 from first order in September to Rs 50,000 by November. According to the RBI, as of now, 78 percent of the depositors of the bank were in a position to withdraw their entire account balance. Newly-purchased iPhone 11 in hand, I opened up Grindr in Williamsburg hoping to see the guy whose ass I'd eaten a few months ago that I knew lived around the corner from the Verizon store I'd just left. But when the app loaded, I was no longer logged into my account, and every attempt I made to recover my password failed. That was annoying, because it meant I'd have to set up an entirely new account, and all the men I'd blocked literally hundreds, not an exaggeration would regain access to my profile. But what I didn't think about was that I'd need to reupload all my profile photos and wait for them to be approved. After all, they'd been approved once, so why would it be an issue now? I selected my go-to Grindr pics, a mix of lightly Facetuned selfies and photos taken in various hotel bathrooms around the world (I travel a lot for work and never pass up the opportunity to use a well-lit bathroom). When it comes to dating apps, I always make sure to use my second-tier photos, ones where I look good, but not my absolute best (I'd always rather meet someone and have them think I look better in person, because the other way around is not fun). Obviously, as Grindr is primarily a hookup app, my photos show a bit more skin than ones I'd use on Tinder or OKCupid, but that mostly means a strapless dress or short skirt. Photos uploaded, I waited for them to be approved. An hour later, I opened the app again to find that the same images I'd been using for months had been rejected. One of them, a photo I'd taken in a bathroom mirror during a trip to New Orleans in which I'm wearing a dress that comes to mid-thigh, was blocked for being "sexually suggestive." What was sexually suggestive about this photo besides the fact that it was posted on Grindr, an app for soliciting sex? Taking my frustration to Twitter, as I am usually wont to do, I asked, "why can gay men show everything but hole in their profile photos but trans women can't even post photos in bathing suits? Smells like misogyny to me." A stream of replies and DMs flooded in from other trans women who have had similar experiences on the app. Theodosia Markarian, a 36-year-old trans woman from Canada, used Grindr on-and-off for years before rejoining in 2018 after starting her transition. Her photos, once she rejoined, were rejected for nudity. "Both photos that were rejected were the same, just cropped differently. It was a mirror selfie with me in a black bra, no top, with my head and torso visible and the photo cut off about an inch below my belly button. It was rejected so I cropped it to slightly above my waist and it was rejected again. I stopped trying to upload anything other than fully clothed or face pictures after that." Markarian felt this was a double standard, as male Grindr profiles are given far more leeway when it comes to showing skin and being sexually suggestive, including aggressive bulges, visible pubic hair, hands in underwear, ass cracks etc. "Even when I was using the app as a gay man, I could upload more sexually explicit photos than I could as a woman." Gay men I spoke with who use Grindr have also had photos rejected, but by-and-large these photos features visible pubic hair and bulges. Still, all of them were able to post photos in underwear or swimwear once they'd cropped out pubic hair and "dick prints." According to Grindr, who supplied a statement for this story rather than responding to specific questions, photos are reviewed by "a team of human moderators" which "helps us ensure that all photos follow our guidelines and terms as well as the requirements of the app stores." Apple prohibits developers from allowing "explicit descriptions or displays of sexual organs or activities intended to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings." From Grindr's perspective, this means "users may not post photos that are considered sexually suggestive or that show genitalia, regardless of gender. Photos may be considered sexually suggestive if the user is posing in a way that is overly sexual (i.e. touching themselves or another person) or the user's pants sit low and show the pubic region. Users may also not post photos in swimwear unless they are in an outdoor setting (i.e. at the beach, at the pool)." Yet when I have tried to post photos in a bathing suit clearly at a pool, those photos have been rejected. When pressed, Grindr refused to clarify whether they evaluate photos differently for men and women, saying only that they "recognize that questions around nipple exposure are particularly challenging, especially for our trans and non-binary community members. We cherish the ongoing opportunity and responsibility we have to be part of the bigger cultural conversation around this." Related | My Year With Big Lips "It's hard for me to say [Grindr isn't] targeting trans women based on my experiences and what I have seen others get away with," Markarian rebuts. "I know Apple has strict standards regarding what apps can show and that does result in blanket policies but they aren't applied evenly. I don't know if identifying myself as [a] trans woman on the platform opened me up to greater scrutiny or led to my photos being flagged for review automatically but I wouldn't be surprised if it did." Of the many dating and hookup apps on the market, there are few that exclusively cater to trans folks, and those that do are scarcely populated. Originally launched as a hook-up app for gay men, Grindr has reoriented itself in recent years to be more inclusive of the entire LGBTQ+ spectrum. In 2013, a new version of the app launched with a feature that allowed users to add their profile to a particular tribe: Twink, Bear, Daddy, Discreet, etc. This included a Trans tribe, making it easier for trans folks to be found by trans-amorous users. What that means is that Grindr is the easiest place to find casual sex as a trans woman, especially if you're attracted to men, because that's where trans-amorous men (or, less kindly, chasers) know they can most easily find us. So it's incredibly frustrating that, on the app where trans women have the best chance of finding safe casual sex with partners specifically looking for trans women, the app seems to unfavorably restrict the way women present themselves. As there's no algorithm in place scanning photos, human moderators must be making these calls, suggesting an internal policy with double standards based on gender. At Tinder, which isn't an explicitly queer dating app, human moderators are also crucial when it comes to trans women's profiles, but they aim to be more helpful than restrictive. Thehe dating app introduced the More Genders options in 2016, allowing users to select from a list of 37 genders or write in their own. Soon after launching those options, the company decided against allowing users to opt out of seeing the profiles of trans people. This decision was a double-edged sword, leading to an increase of profiles being reported. "Trans people continue to be reported at higher rates by cisgender members simply for being who they are," the company stated in a blog post last November. To counteract this, the company has redirected more of their support staff to handling these reports. While Tinder's moderators are actively trying to improve the experience of trans users, most trans people who have used the app are all too aware that it simply isn't trans-friendly. If I have my profile marked with my gender, I rarely match with people. If I don't, I get more matches, but when I inevitably disclose that I'm trans, men immediately unmatch with me. Other trans women have similar experiences on apps like Hinge and Bumble. And that leaves me right back where I started: on Grindr, an app where I have the best chance of finding casual sex or maybe a date, but where I know I'll be subjected to censorship that doesn't apply to the men who also use the app. On March 6, news broke that Grindr's Chinese owners, Beijing Kunlun Tech, had sold it to San Vicente Acquisition under a government mandate (the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States had concerns about data safety and gave owners a June 2020 deadline to sell). Under new ownership, perhaps the restrictions placed on trans women will change but I'm not holding my breath. Scientists have found six substances strongly linked to bladder cancer in the urine of people who had used electronic cigarettes, and sometimes other tobacco products, a finding that may lead to new clinical recommendations for those who vape. The review research, published in the journal European Urology Oncology, assessed the results of 22 different studies which analysed the urine of e-cigarette users, or those using tobacco products like cigarettes. In the study, the researchers, including those from the University of North Carolina (UNC) in the US, checked for evidence of cancer-linked compounds, or biomarkers of those compounds. "Smoking is the No.1 modifiable behavioral risk factor for bladder cancer," said Marc Bjurlin, study co-author from UNC. "There is now evolving literature showing that people who vape may have similar carcinogens in their urine as combustible cigarette users," Bjurlin said. While public health agencies including the US Food and Drug Administration, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have warned that there are health risks of vaping, their safety profile has not been "definitively characterised," the scientists noted. "The first and foremost side effects that we're seeing from electronic cigarette use are lung and pulmonary related," Bjurlin said. "We won't see the side effects for these other kinds of carcinogenic pathways until much later down the exposure pipeline," he added. In the study, the researchers analysed possible exposure to substances that can cause bladder cancer in particular, since carcinogens could be processed in the body and then passed in urine. Bjurlin and his colleagues reported 40 different compounds in vapes that can be processed in the body to produce 63 different toxic, cancer-causing chemicals, or carcinogens. According to the researchers, six of the chemicals have a strong link to bladder cancer. Some of the studies they analysed noted that e-cigarette users had "significantly" higher levels of several carcinogens that can be converted in the body into substances linked to bladder cancer in their urine. "This finding shows us that people who vape will be exposed to a variety of different carcinogens," Bjurlin said. "People who have decades of exposure to these carcinogens from vaping may be at risk for developing malignancies, especially bladder cancer," he added. However, the researchers said they do not know the levels of all of the cancer-causing substances in the urine of users from the studies. "The study population was quite heterogeneous, meaning that often studies looked at dual users, meaning those who used e-cigarettes and combustible cigarettes," Bjurlin said. "That made it difficult to assess whether the carcinogen found in the urine was actually from the e-cigarette use or from the cigarette use," he added. While there is no definitive case linking bladder cancer to vaping yet, the scientists believe it is reasonable to suspect that decades down the road after exposure to the byproducts, e-cigarette users may be at risk of developing bladder cancer. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Trump said he was tapping the Defense Production Act to order American businesses to manufacture and send supplies, like testing kids, ventilators and masks, to hospitals preparing to be overwhelmed by a wave of coronavirus cases. But he gave conflicting accounts as to when he officially invoked the rarely used order and did not specify which companies he was marshaling for the effort. Trump had said earlier in the week he would tap the act as needed; he then added Friday that he has put that in gear. OTTAWA, March 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) is prepared to help Canadians who have been outside of Canada for an extended period and are heeding the advice of the Government of Canada to return home. At land borders, Canadian citizens and permanent residents not exhibiting any symptoms of Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) will be provided with important health advice from the Public Health Agency of Canada and must isolate for 14 days. Those exhibiting symptoms will be provided a mask and be referred to a health professional when seeking entry to Canada. In exceptional circumstances, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, some Canadians may need to cross the border in a United States (U.S.)-plated vehicle in order to get home. The CBSA will facilitate entry for Canadians driving U.S. plated vehicles by permitting the temporary import of U.S vehicles without paying duties and taxes, subject to the following terms and conditions: the vehicle is only to be used to get you from the border to a specified destination in Canada and return; and return; the vehicle may remain in Canada for a period not exceeding 60 days from the date of importation; and for a period not exceeding 60 days from the date of importation; and during this time, the vehicle cannot be used for any local use, for touring purposes, or for other leisure activities in Canada . If you are coming home with a U.S.-plated vehicle, this is what you can expect at the border: A border service officer will explain the terms and conditions of temporarily importing your vehicle and if you agree, the officer will grant you a Temporary Admission Permit (E29B). While the vehicle is in Canada , you must always have this permit available in the event that you are asked about its importation. (E29B). While the vehicle is in , you must always have this permit available in the event that you are asked about its importation. If you are unable to return the vehicle to the U.S. within the specified time period or have any questions regarding its importation, contact the nearest CBSA office before the expiry date indicated on your E29B permit. Please note that the time limit may be re-evaluated as the COVID-19 situation evolves. If you wish to use your U.S.-plated vehicle while you are in Canada , please make that known to the border service officer, who can help you permanently import your vehicle. , please make that known to the border service officer, who can help you permanently import your vehicle. The CBSA Memorandum D2-4-1 provides additional information concerning the temporary importation of vehicles by residents of Canada . Not sure? Ask the CBSA officer. The single best thing you can do to save time entering Canada is to simply be open and honest with the CBSA officer. Don't hesitate to ask, the officers are there to help you. Associated Links Temporary Importation of Conveyances by Residents of Canada Regulations U.S.-Canada joint initiative: Temporary restriction of travelers crossing the U.S.-Canada border for non-essential purposes Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Follow us on Twitter (@CanBorder), join us on Facebook or visit our YouTube channel. SOURCE Canada Border Services Agency Related Links http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/ The Trump administration issued a Major Disaster Declaration for the state of New York meaning it is now eligible for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) aid as it battles a growing coronavirus crisis. The designation allows New York to access billions of dollars in aid from the Disaster Relief Fun and came shortly before Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that the number of coronavirus cases in the state had crossed the 10,000-mark. The state now has conducted 45,437 tests and has a total of 10,356 COVID-19 cases, accounting for more than half of the total in the United States, Cuomo said. In New York City alone, more than 6,000 have tested positive. The more tests you take, the more positives you find, he said, a day after issuing a decree calling on New Yorkers to stay inside. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In hospitals around the state, health workers warned that the surge in cases they had been expecting had arrived and ventilators were already starting to run short along with other much needed supplies, including masks. Even as authorities had warned the surge was possible, the speed at which cases increased was still shocking to those on the front lines. The most striking part is the speed with which it has ramped up, Ben McVane, an emergency room doctor at Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens told the New York Times. It went from a small trickle of patients to a deluge of patients in our departments. Officials have said that the number of available hospital beds in the state would need to double to 100,000 and New York is short as many as 25,000 ventilators. State officials are now considering setting up temporary hospitals on college campuses and Cuomo called on businesses this week to help the state deal with the shortage of supplies. If you can make them, we will give you funding to do it, he said. And we will give you funding to get the right equipment, to get the personnel, etc. Im asking businesses to be creative. State authorities expect as many as 80 percent of New Yorkers will be infected with COVID-19 at some point. Every major car maker in the UK has halted or slashed production because of the coronavirus crisis. Jaguar Land Rover became the latest to announce its factories were temporarily closing, follow- ing in the footsteps of Vauxhall owner PSA Group, Nissan, Honda, Toyota and BMW, which builds the Mini in Oxford. Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders, warned that the British car industry 'stands on the precipice'. Jaguar Land Rover became the latest to announce its factories were temporarily closing, follow- ing in the footsteps of Vauxhall owner PSA Group, Nissan, Honda, Toyota and BMW, which builds the Mini in Oxford JLR said its sites at Solihull, Castle Bromwich and Halewood would not reopen until April 20 at the earliest. And Volkswagen-owned Bentley Motors said work was being postponed at its Crewe factory until the same date. JLR's move leaves only lowervolume car makers such as Aston Martin active during the corona- virus outbreak. Ford will bring forward part of the summer shutdown for its British engine plants to Easter. It will temporarily stop produc- tion from March 23 at its London site and from the end of March at its Welsh facility. Dealerships' firm Pendragon had warned earlier this week that visitors to showrooms were expected to fall as customers stayed indoors. However, Jaguar's manufactur- ing plants in Brazil and India are continuing their operations, while its Chinese operations reopened at the end of February after a period of closure. The company said showroom visits in China were returning to normal as the country, where the coronavirus first began, recovers from the outbreak. In the US, Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler have all announced shutdowns of various degrees. Tesla, in California, has been ordered to shut down. Vincent Fusco, one of the victims, died at Central State Medical Center in Freehold, one day after his mother and brother passed away. Fusco's family sought a legal advisor who is Roseanne Paradiso Fodera, Mrs. Fusco's cousin for the said incident and his sister died after. After Vincent passed away, two more members from the family were confirmed to have been infected by the coronavirus. Mrs. Fusco, 73, died on Wednesday night at CentralState Clinical Center. Meanwhile, at St. Luke's University Hospital-Bethlehem Campus in Pennsylvania her son Carmine Fusco, a New York and New Jersey horse racing trainer died on the same day. Rita Fusco-Jackson, Mrs. Fusco's 55-year-old daughter, also died on the same day. The family learned she had coronavirus. Family members are now urging federal health agencies such a the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to conduct a post-mortem examination to determine how the infection killed Rita. Mrs. Fusco died unaware of the death of her eldest son and daughter. Three different Fusco family members are hospitalized and are in critical condition as of Wednesday. Nineteen other relatives are being tested for the virus and have observed self-isolation as they await their test results. John Brennan, a horse trainer living at Little Ferry, was said to have attended the gathering. His relationship with the family is unclear. Also read: Coronavirus Scare: Cops in Masks and Hazmat Medics Seen Outside Buckingham Palace Dr. James Matera, the chief clinical officer of CentraState Medical Center, examined the uniqueness of treating such a large number of individuals from a similar family with the state's wellbeing chief and authorities at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In addition to the individuals who tested positive for the coronavirus at CentraState, 27 community individuals who have been tested for the coronavirus waiting for the results were hospitalized as their cases stay under investigation. Patients who are negative for the coronavirus, and sufficiently healthy enough to leave the hospital are instead being kept for isolation. If the results returned fast, more patients could be discharged. Two main considerations in this pandemic are individuals without any indications effectively spreading the infection and issues with testing in New Jersey. The Fusco's relatives also believed that speedier test results could have rescued her from her disease. At least 742 people are infected in New Jersey including nine deaths from coronavirus, and across the nation, at least 10,822 people over each state, in addition to Washington, D.C., and three U.S. territories have tested positive for coronavirus. At least 172 people died because of the virus. The quantity of coronavirus cases in New Jersey has jumped every day, pushing medicinal services authorities and political pioneers to find a way to prevent the coronavirus. Experts even doctors are telling everyone, even if they are not positive with coronavirus to stay at least six feet away from one another and avoid social gatherings. Related article: Favilavir First Drug Approved as Possible Treatment for COVID-19 @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury and Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler held a news conference at 7 p.m. Friday to talk about safety measures in Oregon in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. STORY HERE: Oregon leaders: Stay home unless its essential. Its time to sacrifice for urgent collective good President Trump says border closures are in consultation with neighbouring governments. The coronavirus pandemic has hit another grim milestone, with global deaths passing 11,000. In Italy, more than 600 people lost their lives in the past 24 hours. In Spain, the army is on the streets. The number of confirmed cases in the US has reached 19,000. In an hour, the borders between the US with Mexico and Canada will close to all non-essential travel. Al Jazeeras Mike Hanna reports from Washington, DC. A John Deere tractor is on display at the Husker Harvest Days farm show in Grand Island, Neb. Deere & Co. reports earns on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020. Read more Vietnam, looking to allay the Trump administration's wrath over its soaring trade surplus with the U.S., is committing to buy $3 billion in farm products from Nebraska. The agricultural shopping spree is part of a campaign to address complaints about the trade surplus and difficulties U.S. companies face in accessing Vietnamese markets. "We see a lot of room to increase purchases from America, and that will significantly help narrow our trade gap with the U.S.," said Nguyen Do Anh Tuan, the agriculture ministry's spokesman, who was part of a recent Vietnamese delegation to meet farm-product producers in the U.S. "Our demand for American farming products is very high." Vietnamese companies signed 18 agreements with American producers to buy about $3 billion of farm products in the next two to three years, Tuan, director general of the agriculture ministry's international cooperation department, said in an interview. The deals include purchases of 100,000 cows, 3 million tons of wheat and barley worth as much as $800 million, and fruit, corn and soy animal feed, according to Tuan. "We will have regular meetings with these Vietnamese companies to give them timely support in implementing the signed MOUs," Tuan said. "We also want to buy more high-tech equipment from the U.S. to make more value-added farm products in the future." Vietnam's leaders are doing all they can to avoid China's fate after U.S. President Donald Trump, asked in June 2019 if he wanted to impose tariffs on Vietnam, described the Southeast Asian nation as "almost the single worst abuser of everybody." Vietnam's exports to the U.S. reached $61.3 billion in 2019, widening the trade gap to $47 billion from $34.8 billion in 2018, according to Vietnamese customs data. The U.S. Census Bureau reports a $55.8 billion trade deficit with Vietnam for 2019 and $39.5 billion for 2018. In an interview last year, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc promised that Vietnam would buy more U.S. products, such as Boeing Co. aircraft. In August, state-run Vietnam National Coal-Mineral Industries announced it was negotiating to buy U.S. coal for the first time, from Xcoal Energy & Resources LLC. Vietnam is cracking down on fake labeling of Chinese goods being routed through its territory to bypass U.S. tariffs. Meanwhile, the central bank and government ministries have vowed to address U.S. concerns about Vietnam's monetary policy and trade surplus with the U.S., after the Treasury added Vietnam to a watchlist of countries being monitored for possible currency manipulation. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said last year that Vietnam needs to resolve "market access restrictions related to goods, services, agricultural products, and intellectual property." Vietnam is working to address Lighthizer's concerns, Tuan said. We will work on changes in some relevant regulations to make it easier for American companies to sell more in Vietnam, he said. We are trying to create opportunities for businesses of the two countries to boost trade exchange in a fair manner. This will surely help the bilateral relations between Vietnam and the U.S. A sex attacker who raped a teenager earlier today is being hunted by police amid fears he may strike again. Police say the victim, in her late teens, was dragged into bushes before being raped in a 'horrific attack' that occurred in Bromley, south east London. The young woman suffered a head injury and two black eyes, and was taken to hospital after being treated by paramedics at the scene. Officers, sniffer dogs and the air service searched the area, but there was no trace of the attacker. The 'horrific' attack occurred near Bromley, in south east London and police are appealing for witnesses to the event or for anyone who fits the description of the attacker The suspect is described as a black man, about 5 foot 8 inches, of muscular build, aged no older than 30. He was wearing a grey jumper during the attack at 00.39 on 20 March in Turpington Lane in Bromley,. Detective Sergeant James Ivens from the Met's South Area' Safeguarding team, said: 'This was an absolutely horrific attack on a young woman and we are doing all we can to support the victim and find who is responsible. 'However, we also need the public's help. If you witnessed anything at all in the Turpington Road area, no matter how insignificant you think it might be, please contact my team as a matter of urgency. 'Understandably, this incident is going to cause concern in the local community - but please be assured that crimes of this nature are extremely rare in Bromley. 'Nevertheless, I'd urge women who are walking alone to remain vigilant and to report anything suspicious to police - always call 999 in an emergency.' Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101 quoting CAD 181/20MAR. Alternatively, contact independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at crimestoppers-uk.org. Gov. Noem lauds state economy, but big legislative fights are coming Noems speech flowed between business and economic development, lifestyle issues and social issues that were united by their conservative themes. As California directs residents statewide to stay home as part of the country's most sweeping effort to slow the spread of coronavirus, physicians nationwide are intensifying this warning: Vital supplies need replenishing soon. The nation also is grappling with the economic consequences of encouraging people to stay home. While federal lawmakers on Friday consider a stimulus bill that may give checks to some Americans, Goldman Sachs economists are predicting the number of US unemployment claims this week will be the highest on record. As thousands more Americans get tested, the number of reported coronavirus cases has climbed to more than 13,000. At least 195 people in the US have died. California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday night told the state's nearly 40 million residents to generally stay at home, with a few exceptions. The order will last until "further notice," the governor's office said. The state has had at least 995 coronavirus cases and 19 deaths. The order won't be enforced by police, Newsom said, but instead, by social pressure that will "encourage people to do the right thing." "Every state will head this way," CNN national security analyst Juliette Kayyem said Friday morning. "People need to prepare themselves that this gets harder before this gets easier." Spurring the order, Newsom said, were models showing that the virus could sicken 25 million of California's nearly 40 million people in eight weeks. That could require the hospitalization of more than 19,000 people beyond the state's current capacity, he said. Doctors and state and local politicians nationwide are warning that hospitals do not have sufficient supplies of masks, ventilators and other equipment needed to protect physicians and help patients. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio warned Thursday that his city's hospitals were two to three weeks away from running out of critical supplies, with 3 million more N95 masks and 15,000 ventilators needed. "Where the hell is the federal government?" de Blasio said to CNN on Friday. "If the President would just act, there's still time to save us and a lot of other people in the country." While companies have indicated they're ramping up production, President Donald Trump on Thursday cautioned that the "federal government's not supposed to be out there buying vast amounts of items and then shipping." But states and hospitals can't successfully procure all that's needed by themselves, said Dr. Megan Ranney, a Rhode Island emergency physician and researcher at Brown University. "That would be like saying that you're sending your troops to war and that you're letting them get their own body armor and helmets," she said Friday morning. "We need the federal government to stand up a response to distribute this appropriately." While the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is reviewing drugs such as the antimalarial chloroquine as potential treatments, one of the country's top health officials says he thinks Americans should avoid crowds for several more weeks. "If you look at the trajectory of the curves of outbreaks in other areas, it's at least going to be several weeks," Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told NBC's "Today" show on Friday. Other leaders resist similar statewide orders San Francisco paved the way for orders directing residents to stay put. Throughout California, similar directives went into effect by multiple counties this week, leading to the governor's sweeping measures. The orders still allow residents to step outside -- as long as they are practicing social distancing -- as well as take care of essential needs like grocery shopping, getting gas and picking up medications. Meanwhile, in New York -- where at least 5,298 people have tested positive for the virus and 32 have died -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo has refrained from issuing similar orders but has encouraged residents to stay home. "We are at near panic levels, so what you say and how you communicate is very important," he told CNN Thursday. "Should everybody stay at home? Of course. Are we imprisoning people? No." The remarks came days after de Blasio, the New York City mayor, told residents to prepare for a shelter-in-place order. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp also announced Thursday he wasn't issuing a statewide mandatory quarantine or ordering businesses to close. "To stop the spread of coronavirus, we must follow the guidance from federal and state health organizations and leaders: regularly wash your hands, practice social distancing, protect the elderly and chronically ill, and stay home, especially if you are sick," Kemp said. The governor said Thursday he was encouraged by news coming out of the White House that "vaccine development and anti-viral therapies are moving quicker than I originally expected." Economists predict 2.25 million in US filed initial unemployment claims this week The country is only just beginning to understand the economic consequences of the pandemic. Although a government report showed 281,000 Americans filed for their first week of unemployment benefits last week -- a 33% jump over the week before -- economists are predicting the next weekly report will be much worse. Goldman Sachs economists predict next week's report will show 2.25 million Americans filed for their first week of unemployment benefits this week -- eight times the number of people who filed last week and the highest level on record. Medical supply shortages loom as more tests return positive Health care facilities that are facing a "crisis" should consider options to combat shortages, even if those options "are not commensurate with US standards of care," the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in new guidance. That includes using masks beyond their designated shelf life and reusing masks during encounters with different patients, cautioning however that not all types of masks can be reused. As a last resort, the agency said health care providers could consider using "homemade masks" -- such as bandanas or scarves -- to care for coronavirus patients, ideally in combination with a face shield. The guidance comes as hospitals and medical care workers have begun to sound the alarm on a rapidly vanishing inventory of supplies. Governors highlighted those concerns Thursday to the President, many saying their main worry was that there isn't enough personal protection equipment available in their states -- like masks, disposable gowns and other supplies. Trump responded that states should be working to get whatever equipment they need on their own and the federal government would help if it could. "Try what you can -- do the best you can to get what you can actually get," Trump said. Worries remain on looming shortages as health officials maintain the number of known coronavirus cases will continue to dramatically increase as more test results return. "The number of test positives are increasing," said Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator. "That is a dramatically important signature that everyone is doing their job." Just in New York, Cuomo said Thursday morning 8,000 tests were done overnight. "When you do 8,000 tests," the governor said, "the numbers are going to go up exponentially." De Blasio said the city will need the federal government's help in getting enough supplies to respond to those numbers. "I said very clearly that for the month of March, we have the supplies that we need, the city has very strong reserves of the kind of supplies that I talked about," he said. "It is going into April that I'm worried about. I don't have the perfect day for you, we're assessing all the time but it is a day, two weeks from now or three weeks from now where we must, by then, have had a very substantial resupply." The most practical fix is to make voting by mail a clear and free option for every eligible voter in the country. This means, at a minimum: printing tens of millions of mail-in ballots and envelopes; ensuring that all registered voters receive one automatically, can request a replacement if they dont, and can return it by Election Day; and finally, having the human and technological resources, like ballot scanners, available to count those votes quickly and accurately. The good news is that we already have evidence that voting by mail works well. In five states Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah and Washington, most or all votes are cast by mail; in three others more than half are. In all, nearly one-quarter of all voters cast ballots by mail in 2016. The experiments in the states have yielded several key findings: First, turnout is significantly higher nearly everywhere voting by mail is used. Second, voters of all political persuasions use it and like it. Third, its safe and secure. Bar codes allow for ballot tracking and validation. And states that use vote-by-mail have encountered essentially zero fraud: Oregon, the pioneer in this area, has sent out more than 100 million mail-in ballots since 2000, and has documented only about a dozen cases of proven fraud. The success of mail-in voting in these states is encouraging, but to pull it off on a national level, preparations must begin today. In 2018, 31 states had fewer than 15 percent of their ballots cast by mail. Switching to all or nearly all voting by mail will require printing at least 70 million additional ballots. These ballots will have to be ready to go out by Labor Day, less than six months from today. They must be postage-paid, so that no one has to pay a penny to vote, and there need to be enough machines and poll workers available to start counting ballots as soon as they come in. Signature-matching software can help ensure ballots are coming from the voters they were sent to, without introducing partisan bias into the process. And where signatures dont match, voters should have an opportunity to fix the problem and cast a provisional ballot if necessary. Whos crowing about corona? View(s): My dear Coronavirus, I thought I must write to you because the entire world is talking about you. You seem to have brought the planet to a halt with your infection. What I wanted to write to you about though, was the effect you were having on us, the brave citizens of Paradise, who dont seem to take much notice of you. There was a time, when you decided to attack humankind by starting your epidemic in China, when you had us worried. The impact on the rest of the world was not that significant at that time but we in Paradise were scared you will destroy us, so we took every possible precaution to remain safe. There was the Chinese tourist who fell victim to you while in Paradise. We took care of her and saw to it that she was cured. Our Devi even made an appearance and gave her a hug when she was released from hospital. Whats the risk of an infection if you can get your face in the news, after all? Why, we even sent a special aircraft to Wuhan in China and retrieved a few dozen of our citizens who were stranded there and were one of the first countries to do so. At that time, everyone was happy because, after a few years of no one being in proper control, matters were being dealt with properly. Then, you escalated your attack on the world in places as far flung as Italy, Iran and Korea. People began dying by their hundreds. One would have thought that we would put up shutters to the rest of world like some other countries were doing and ensured that the citizens of Paradise remained safe. For some reason, we didnt. That reason, is called a general election. It is a process by which we choose those who govern us usually not by any particular criteria but by a process through which an assorted array thieves, bank robbers and drug dealers and general ignoramuses get chosen. What you may not know, coronavirus, is that in this Paradise of ours, elections mean everything to many people. It determines how we live and die for the next five years. We just had one a few months ago but that chose only one person we had all of two hundred and twenty-five more to elect! Elections mean meetings and many people getting together. That would have been a fertile breeding ground for you to spread yourself. Somehow, our chaps who made decisions didnt see it that way. Why would they, when a low-key election was a great opportunity to get a two-thirds majority? So, even with your attacks staring us in the face we carried on as if nothing had changed. The Archbishop ordered church services cancelled but the pilgrimages to Adams Pak continued merrily because someone said our ancestors had been doing that for centuries, corona virus or not. We held big matches. The big man attended his big match. The very next week he was complaining that the biggest big match went ahead despite his objections. That made us wonder whether Sirisena is still in charge, instead of Nandasena, because of this they dont listen to me now excuse! Asked about a lockdown for Paradise, Nandasena got very annoyed, saying that even during the war when thousands were dying, there was no lockdown. I wonder why no one advised him that the way in which people died during the war and during the epidemic you have caused is very different! Our fellows who returned from lands where you had run amok were allowed in, instead of forcing them in to quarantine from the airport like what they did for those returning from Wuhan. They are trying to find them now but that is like trying to close the stable door after the horse has bolted. In other countries, you faced resistance from doctors who spoke out about the measures needed to stop you. Not in Paradise, though. Their trade union which used to speak on anything from trade deals to ambulances made only a whimper. Perhaps they didnt want to upset the big man they backed. It was our lady looking after our health, the Devi who hugged the Chinese lady who let the cat out of the bag. Asked why elections were not being postponed when common sense told us that they should be, she simply smiled and said because we will win. At least, she gets full marks for honesty! Finally, it took one man to have the courage to say enough is enough. Having watched all this unfold, perhaps he too was wondering whether it was still Sirisena in charge rather than Nandasena. He has now declared that there will be no election until you go away. That man is our Maco. Most of last week was a holiday because of you, coronavirus, but when people got back to work on Friday, a curfew was suddenly announced and they had to rush home in cramped public transport the best way to spread the infection. With friends like our decision makers, you dont need enemies! Now that the election has been postponed, everyone will demand that everything be in lockdown. Already, the doctors union have woken up from their slumber and are asking for drastic action. You, however, have nothing to be alarmed, coronavirus, you are well and truly amongst us now! Yours truly, Punchi Putha PS- Last Easter, deadly bomb blasts devastated us because those in charge didnt do their job properly. Hundreds died. Coronavirus, if there is a deadly Easter this year too because those in charge didnt do their job properly because of an election we can only hope the death toll wont be in the thousands! Ahead of the 'Janta curfew' announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 22, the city police on Saturday cautioned people that action will be taken under certain sections of law if they venture out unnecessarily. Requesting citizens to stay at home by observing the 'curfew' to fight the spread of COVID-19, Bengaluru Police chief Bhaskar Rao cautioned people against venturing out unnecessarily. Stating that security and control room at the Commissioners office will be open, while others will be on streets to implement 'Janta Curfew', he said everyone should stay at home. "Or else IPC section 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) and 270 (malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life), also Epidemic Act and 31(L) of the Karnataka Police Act will be brought in to force," Rao said. "Though this 'Janta Curfew' is voluntarily, police through social media and media are requesting people that they should stay at home. Coming out unnecessarily for fun, or to see how the situation was, or going for picnic should not be done," Rao said. People should take things seriously, understand their responsibility and stay at home, he told reporters, adding that unnecessarily venturing out for walking or to see someone should not be done. Calling for "resolve and restraint" to fight coronavirus, Prime Minister Modi during his address to the nation on Thursday asked the country to observe 'Janta curfew' on Sunday from 7 am-9 pm. Modi said no citizen, barring those in essential services, should get out of their house, and asserted that it will be a litmus test to show how much India is ready to take on the challenge of the coronavirus pandemic. Rao also requested women to see to that their children and husband stay at home. "This is my request to sisters. Stay at home, no work is important than life. Understand it, if things cross a level it cannot be controlled; now we are at a stage where we can control," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two men were remanded in custody last week charged in connection with a daylight aggravated burglary in Portmarnock. Hughie Cash (29) and Edward Cawley (20) appeared before Swords District Court last Tuesday, March 10. The accused, who have addresses at Daletree Place, Ballycullen in Dublin 24, were charged in connection with the aggravated burglary at around lunchtime on Monday, March 9 at a house in the Beech Park area of Portmarnock. Detective Garda James Carolan gave evidence of arresting, charging and cautioning both men at Coolock Garda Station. He said Cash replied 'No comment' when the aggravated burglary charge was put to him after caution. He said Cawley made no reply after caution when the charge was put to him. It is alleged that approximately 1.35pm an occupant of the house discovered two men downstairs, one allegedly armed with a hammer. The two intruders fled the scene in a vehicle before abandoning the vehicle and continuing to flee on foot. Gardai later arrested two men after a pursuit. Det Garda O'Donoghue said he had objections to bail due to the seriousness of the charge. Barrister for Eddie Cawley said his client is not making a bail application and consents to be remanded in custody. Barrister for father-of-three Hughie Cash was willing to abide by any and all bail conditions set by the court. However, Judge Miriam Walsh declined to grant bail in the case arising out of the seriousness of the charge The judge remanded both accused in custody to appear before Cloverhill District Court last Thursday, March 12 at 10.30am. Britain's NHS secures private hospital capacity 'en bloc' to fight coronavirus FILE PHOTO: Britain's Health Secretary Matt Hancock talks about coronavirus at the annual conference of the British Chambers of Commerce in London By James Davey and Guy Faulconbridge LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's National Health Service (NHS) will have more ventilators and thousands of extra beds and healthcare staff on hand from next week to fight coronavirus after it struck a deal with the independent hospital sector. NHS England said on Saturday that nearly 20,000 fully qualified staff from the private sector will be joining the health service's response to the pandemic, helping manage an expected surge in cases. So far, 177 patients have died in the United Kingdom after testing positive for coronavirus. On Friday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered pubs, restaurants, theatres, cinemas and gyms to shut their doors in a bid to slow down the accelerating spread of the virus. "Under the agreement, the independent sector will reallocate practically its entire national hospital capacity en bloc to the NHS," said health minister Matt Hancock. "It will be reimbursed, at cost, meaning no profit will be made for doing so." The deal includes the provision of 8,000 hospital beds across England, nearly 1,200 more ventilators, more than 10,000 nurses, over 700 doctors and more than 8,000 other clinical staff. In London, it includes more than 2,000 hospital beds and over 250 operating theatres and critical beds. "We're dealing with an unprecedented global health threat and are taking immediate and exceptional action to gear up," said NHS chief executive Simon Stevens. On Tuesday, NHS England said NHS hospitals across the country were taking a range of additional actions to prepare for the spread of the virus, including freeing up 30,000 of the overall 100,000 beds available by postponing non-urgent operations and providing care in the community for those who are fit to be discharged. It also said it was sourcing up to 10,000 beds in independent and community hospitals, which Saturday's deal largely delivers. The extra resources secured by the NHS will not only be available to treat coronavirus patients, but will also help the health service deliver other urgent operations and cancer treatments. (Reporting by James Davey and Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Alexander Smith, David Holmes and Helen Popper) Tiffany & Co. TIF posted fourth-quarter fiscal 2019 results. During the quarter, both earnings and sales improved year over year and the bottom line beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Notably, sales improved in most regions, apart from Japan. Also, disruptions in Hong Kong weighed on Asia-Pacific sales to an extent, though it was compensated by strength in the Chinese Mainland. Tiffanys fiscal 2019 show reflected a positive impact of product introductions. To this end, it remains encouraged with the product additions made to the mens category. Also, the company is enhancing its Tiffany T collection. These efforts along with a focus on store expansions have been bolstering its performance. However, the COVID-19 outbreak has caused the retailer to undertake store closures or limit hours of operations in some stores. This, in fact, has largely dented the companys operations in the Chinese Mainland region. Well, management did not provide any business guidance due to its pending transaction with LVMH Moet Hennessy - Louis Vuitton SE (or LVMH). Shares of this Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) company have lost 5.6% in the past three months compared with the industrys decline of 17.5%. Q4 Highlights The company posted adjusted earnings of $1.80 per share that cruised ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.72. In the year-ago period, the companys adjusted earnings came in at $1.60 per share. Including costs related to the proposed takeover by LVMH, Tiffany reported fourth-quarter fiscal 2019 earnings of $1.66 per share compared with $1.67 reported in the year-ago period. Lower gross margin, increased SG&A expenses and higher effective tax rate could be accountable for the decline. Tiffany & Co. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise Tiffany & Co. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise Tiffany & Co. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Tiffany & Co. Quote Net sales rose 3% to $1,357.8 million compared with the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1,360 million. Also, the companys comparable sales (comps) grew 3% year over year. At constant currency, both metrics rose 3% each. Further, excluding the Hong Kong market, worldwide net sales and comps grew 5% each. Sales improved 6% and 2% for Jewelry collections and Engagement jewelry, respectively, while Designer jewelry sales remained flat year over year. Lets Delve Deeper Geography-wise, sales in the Americas rose 4% to $640 million and comps grew 3%. The company witnessed higher sales across most parts of the region, courtesy of higher spending by loyal customers. In the Asia-Pacific region, sales grew 8% to $342 million, while comps rose 7%. This was attributable to improved wholesale sales. Further, sales remained sturdy in the Chinese Mainland, partly offset by strong disruptions in Hong Kong. Also, increased spending by local customers was somewhat countered by soft spending by foreign tourists. In Japan, sales decreased 8% to $180 million and comps declined at the same rate. Sales were hurt by customers response to the increase in consumption tax imposed on Oct 1, 2019. In Europe, sales advanced 4% to $168 million, with comps growing 5%. Sales were boosted by growth across most parts of the region on higher spending by local as well as foreign customers. Other net sales declined 9% to $26 million due to soft wholesale sales of diamonds, while comps rose 11%. Gross margin contracted 50 basis points to 63.3% in the quarter under review, on account of changes in sales mix toward higher price point jewelry. SG&A expenses rose 3% to $590.4 million primarily due to increased merger-related costs, greater labor and incentive compensation expenses, and higher store occupancy and depreciation charges, somewhat negated by lower marketing spending. Excluding merger-related costs, SG&A costs dipped 1% in the quarter. Store Update During the fiscal, this designer and retailer of fine jewelry opened nine company-operated stores and shuttered four. As of Jan 31, 2020, the company operated 326 stores (124 in the Americas, 91 in Asia-Pacific, 58 in Japan, 48 in Europe and five in the UAE). Other Financial Details Tiffany, which shares space with Signet SIG, ended the quarter with cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments of $897.4 million and total debt of $1 billion, reflecting 31% of stockholders equity. In fiscal 2019, the company repurchased roughly 1.8 million shares for $163.4 million. Tiffany did not make any buybacks in the fourth quarter owing to restrictions described in the merger agreement with LVMH. 2 Stocks You Cant Miss Macys M has a long-term earnings growth rate of 12% and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Costco COST has a long-term earnings growth rate of 8.4% and a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Today's Best Stocks from Zacks Would you like to see the updated picks from our best market-beating strategies? From 2017 through 2019, while the S&P 500 gained and impressive +53.6%, five of our strategies returned +65.8%, +97.1%, +118.0%, +175.7% and even +186.7%. This outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. From 2000 2019, while the S&P averaged +6.0% per year, our top strategies averaged up to +54.7% per year. See their latest picks free >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Tiffany & Co. (TIF) : Free Stock Analysis Report Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) : Free Stock Analysis Report Signet Jewelers Limited (SIG) : Free Stock Analysis Report Macy's, Inc. (M) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research I am sure anyone reading this has already read a lot of news regarding the novel coronavirus which causes COVID-19. I wanted to use my column this month to talk about the virus, precautions we can be taking, and information that is important to know; What is coronavirus (CoV)? According to the World Health Organization, CoV are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/3/2020 (662 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. I am sure anyone reading this has already read a lot of news regarding the novel coronavirus which causes COVID-19. I wanted to use my column this month to talk about the virus, precautions we can be taking, and information that is important to know; What is coronavirus (CoV)? According to the World Health Organization, CoV "are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV)." Common signs of infection: According to the Government of Canada website: "Those who are infected with COVID-19 may have little to no symptoms. You may not know you have symptoms of COVID-19 because they are similar to a cold or flu. "Symptoms may take up to 14 days to appear after exposure to COVID-19. This is the longest-known infectious period for this disease. Scientists are currently investigating if the virus can be transmitted to others if someone is not showing symptoms. While experts believe that it is possible, it is considered to be rare at this point. "Symptoms have included: fever, cough, difficulty breathing, and pneumonia in both lungs. In severe cases, infection can lead to death. Those most at risk are those with an already compromised immune system." Flatten the curve: Many of you have likely heard discussion around the terms "curve" and "spike" being used in reference to COVID-19. These terms are used to explain the rate at which COVID-19 is spreading and what our systems can handle. If we can slow down the spread of the virus, we will have the resources health care workers, hospital beds and respiratory equipment to manage the pandemic. However, if it is spread too rapidly, we wont have the resources and this could ultimately be very harmful for individuals in our society. Stay informed The latest updates on the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 delivered to your inbox every weeknight. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. So this begs the question, what can we do to slow the spread of the virus? What can you do? Some of the things we can all do include: minimizing interaction-time and frequency; avoiding physical touch (hugs, handshakes, etc.); disinfecting commonly touched surfaces (door knobs, keys, etc.); and avoiding crowded places. All Canadians are being asked to remain in the country and to avoid any unnecessary travel. You can find a more thorough list here: https://www.gov.mb.ca/covid19/socialdistancing.html If you suspect or have any reason to believe you could be a carrier through recent travels, encounter with a traveller, or have any symptoms self-isolate immediately. Manitoba does not currently have the resources to test for COVID-19 unless you are experiencing symptoms. The most important thing you can do, especially if you are in good health, is be aware of others. Just because you are feeling good, this does not mean others can handle the virus. Do not risk spreading it. Things you shouldnt do: Remember, we are friendly Manitoba. Do not hoard resources. This will only make it harder for others to buy the essentials they need. We must look after our most vulnerable, and they are often only able to buy what they need when they need it. Last, do not fear-monger. We are in this together and it is important we are only spreading truthful and useful information. I want to thank those of you who have taken the time to reach out to me. I have received many emails and phone calls regarding precautions, general inquiries, employment insurance and jobs remaining open. Until further instruction, I will not be at McDonalds on Saturdays. However, if you have a question, or a thought you would like to share please do not hesitate to email me at cindy@gocindy.ca or call 204-615-9961. Breathe Easier As we collectively undertake social distancing in an effort to flatten the curve of the COVID-19 pandemic, medical cannabis patients face the question of whether to change our cannabinoid delivery method in response to coronavirus. While the benefits of cannabis use are many, smoking plant material is definitely the least healthy way to ingest cannabis. Smoke of any kind irritates the cilia, which work to expel mucus, dirt, bacteria, viruses and other irritants from the lungs, predisposing one to communicable illnesses like COVID-19. If youre not a fan of vaping, all is not lost. In fact, even vaping isnt the greatest idea right now because (although its probably better than old-school Bic-flicking combustion) it is also harmful to cilia. For medical cannabis patients who are willing to venture into the world of cannabis edibles, beverages, concentrates, oils and sublingual tinctures and extracts, this pandemic could prove an ideal opportunity to update your cannabis consumption method to something less smoky and more sustainable over the long-term. Leafly reports that these unprecedented times lend credence to the notion that everyone ought to consider giving their lungs a break right now, regardless of age, underlying condition or other COVID-19 risk factors. The publication quotes Dr. Alexander Krotty on the subject: Inhalation of particulate matterwhether due to cigarettes, marijuana, coal burning, stove burning, or pollutionhas always led to diminished lung function and increased susceptibility to lung infections. Sheltering in Place NPR reports that San Franciscos recent shelter in place order mandated that only essential businesses, like gas stations, pharmacies, banks and grocery stores could stay open during the COVID-19 public health emergency. Cannabis dispensaries werent on the citys list of those essential businesses. But that medical access snafu was rectified a day later, when San Francisco Mayor London Breed held a press conference to announce the oversight. Breed noted that, In terms of the cannabis dispensaries, the Department of Public Health today clarified that since cannabis has medical uses, dispensaries will be allowed to operate as essential businesses, just as pharmacies are allowed to do. Meanwhile, in Baltimore, Md., the citys top prosecutor moved to dismiss charges against people for traffic and drug crimes to combat the spread of COVID-19. As Marijuana Moment reports, Maryland State Attorney Marilyn Mosby outlined a number of offenses that should not result in incarceration. Mosby maintains that charges such as drug possession, attempted drug distribution, prostitution, traffic offenses and public urination shouldnt land people behind bars right now: Putting these individuals in jail could exacerbate the public health crisis by exposing inmates to the virus. This policy is in place for now as an attempt to save lives. We will assess the policy at a later date and time when this global pandemic is over, said Mosby. Jaipur, March 21 : Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday ordered complete lockdown in the state in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Everything, except essential services, shall remain shut during this period, the CHief Minister said, adding that all government and private offices, shops, shopping malls, factories and public transport shall remain under lockdown. "It's important for people to stay indoors at this time to combat this dreadful world epidemic," Gehlot said. The Chief Minister was addressing a meeting to review the arrangements been made in the state to check the spread of the dreaded virus. "The government stands with the people in these testing times. People should follow all the guidelines issued by the government to ensure that the situation doesn't go out of control," he said. A core group has been formed to take daily decisions, which shall visit the deprived and poor section of the society to check on their needs during the lockdown period. Families connected with the National Food Security Act (NFSA) shall get free wheat for two months. The street vendors and daily workers, who are out of the NFSA list, shall get food packets free of cost for two months from April 1. The CHief Minister also appealed to all factory workers to ensure that they are being paid their salaries during the lockdown period. Also, they should not be terminated from their jobs during this period. Crude oil pipeline equipment at the Department of Energy's Strategic Petroleum Reserve in Freeport, Texas. / Reuters WASHINGTON The Trump administration said Thursday that it is seeking $3 billion from Congress to top up the countrys strategic petroleum reserves, potentially propping up U.S. oil producers after crude prices crashed globally. President Donald Trump had directed the Energy Department last week to fill the United States emergency stash of crude oil to the top, over objections from congressional Democrats who said he was favoring climate-damaging fossil fuels and the profits of oil giants. Plummeting crude prices benefited U.S. consumers filling up their cars, Trump said Thursday. But on the other hand, it hurts a great industry, and a very powerful industry," Trump told reporters. West Texas crude prices fell below $21 a barrel Wednesday after oil producers Russia and Saudi Arabia stepped up pumping, threatening the market share of U.S. oil, and as the coronavirus moved the world toward recession and tamped-down consumer demand for energy. Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette told reporters Thursday that the move was about filling up the countrys 713.5 million barrel Strategic Petroleum Reserve at a time of cheap oil, not about throwing U.S. oil producers a lifeline in rough markets. The reserves are stashed underground in Texas and Louisiana. Its a common-sense move. Everyone whos done any personal investment knows you do your best to buy low and sell high, Brouillette said. Brouillette also denied the United States was intervening against market forces to boost U.S. oil prices. Pointing to Russia and Saudi Arabias surge of production, he said the purpose of the nations strategic oil reserves is to mitigate this type of disruption. Though the oil industrys major trade association, the American Petroleum Institute, says it does not want a government bailout, some in the industry are pushing for embargoes or tariffs. Harold Hamm, executive chairman of Continental Resources, a major shale oil company, asked the Commerce Department to investigate what he contends is illegal dumping of below-cost crude oil onto the market by Saudi Arabia and Russia. He also asked for an embargo, hoping that would halt some of the flow of cheap oil onto the market, at least in the U.S., saying the two countries are trying to put Americas shale oil drillers out of business. Story continues Its unfortunate that both of these countries chose and this was an action they thought about this particular time, while we have this global pandemic, to do something like this, Hamm said. Hamm has close ties to Trump, having donated to Trumps campaign and served on a team of economic advisers. Trump said Thursday that Saudi Arabia and Russia were in a fight" on oil prices and output. And at the appropriate time, I'll get involved," he said. He did not say how. Congress has to approve the money for the administration's petroleum buy. The administration must overcome opposition from some Democratic lawmakers. House energy committee Chairman Frank Pallone, a New Jersey Democrat, said the Trump administration was using the coronavirus as cover to try to save U.S. oil producers from the results of their own market-flooding overproduction. I refuse to put the American people on the hook for rescuing oil companies from a crisis that they themselves had a hand in creating, Pallone said. The U.S. has been selling down some of its reserves, so filling the reserves back up when oil is cheap makes sense, said Ryan Fitzmaurice, energy strategist at Rabobank. But it wont have much impact on the imbalance of supply and demand because Saudi Arabia is ready to ramp up production by 3 million barrels per day next month. Its not going to change the balance too much, and the Saudis are going to increase supply by far much more than we can buy, Fitzmaurice said. The U.S. would seek to buy 30 million barrels of U.S.-produced crude initially and a total of 77 million barrels eventually, Brouillette said. Because the price is so low, the U.S. will use less taxpayer money to fill up the reserves. But the question is whether, with everything else thats going on, its a good idea to spend $3 billion of taxpayer money, said John MacWilliams, senior fellow at Columbia Universitys Center on Global Energy Policy. I would be targeting high unemployment, he said. Related Video: Click here to See Video >> Bengaluru, March 22 : To ensure citizens comply with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call to observe janata or people's curfew on Sunday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. to avoid being affected by coronavirus, city police would detain and quarantine its violators, an official said on Saturday. "If citizens move around the city without a specific purpose or on a non-essential service on Sunday, they will be detained and quarantined in the nearest police station till 9 p.m. and let off later," an official told IANS, citing Bengaluru Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao's warning to the people about the janata curfew. Reiterating Modi's call to the people across the country, especially children and senior citizens to stay at home, Rao said every citizen was bound to abide by the advice as it was in the interest of all and to prevent the contagious virus affecting them or spreading to others. "Janata curfew offenders can be booked and detained under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) 269, the Karnataka Police Act 30 (section L) and the Epidemic Act, as they are meant to prevent spread of communicable disease dangerous to life," asserted the police official. In a nationwide televised address on Thursday night, Modi urged the people across the country to stay at home on Sunday from early morning to late night and avoid moving out for commuting or travelling out of the city, social gathering or crowding in public places to be safe and healthy. The tech city of over 10-million denizens is already under partial lockdown since March 14 to March 31 as a preventive measure to minimise the fallout of the fatal disease sweeping across the world over and claiming lives in thousands. As all malls, theatres, markets, shops, restaurants, eateries, parks, grounds and tourist spots will remain shut, the official said the people need not stir out of their homes for errands or leisure activity. "Metro rail service will be suspended for the day. The state-run transport corporation will operate limited bus services on select routes to discourage commuting in the city and travelling across the state or neighbouring states," the official pointed out. As the railways has also cancelled several passenger, express and mail trains and decided to operate a few suburban services on need base, the people will have no reason to travel out of the city. Auto-rickshaw, taxi and private bus associations have also decided to suspend their services on Sunday to support Modi's call for the people's curfew. As the curfew is not imposed by the police, it will not be enforced but sought to be observed voluntarily by the people for the welfare of all. "I have advised my staff to be polite with the people, check reasons for coming out of their homes and advise them to go back. If they don't abide and argue with the police, they will be detained and booked for violating the law," Rao told news channels in Kannada. Rao also urged women not to allow their children come out of homes to play or have fun on the streets. Elders also should not be allowed to for walk or even small errands, as they are vulnerable to the COVID-19 symptoms. "Even the police commissioner's office in the city centre will remain closed on Sunday to avoid the public visiting it for their grievances. The control room will be operational for the people for enquiries or information. The public can file complaints online than risk going to police stations in their jurisdiction," the official added. Ravi Gopalakrishnan Indian equity markets have been experiencing extreme volatility in the last few weeks. This volatility is reflective of the conditions in global markets. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), a measure of volatility in equity markets that is tracked widely, has been at multiple year highs and has been extremely volatile in the last couple of months. Two important developments have affected market sentiment and contributed to the volatility as well as correction in the global markets, including India. The novel coronavirus continues to spread in multiple countries. Governments and health organisations have been ramping up efforts to combat the infection as well as limit the spread of the outbreak to the extent possible. There is a significant human and economic cost of the measures taken to curb the infection and this impact (largely unknown at the moment) is spooking the markets. The United States and several other governments along with European Union have announced a raft of fiscal and policy measures to mitigate the impact on the larger population and the economy. But, so far, these steps have failed to calm financial markets. These fears, in our assessment, will subside once governments get a better controlboth spread as well as progress in finding a cure or a vaccine. Governments have put out travel advisories, restricting movement of people across countries and continents to contain the highly contagious virus. The volatility has been compounded by the developments in the oil market. OPEC and Russia met on March 6 to discuss output cuts in continuance of their price-defence strategy in place since 2016. The two sides could not agree on production cuts. Subsequently, Saudi Arabia announced a large price discount for its Asian customers and threatened to increase production to defend its market share, unravelling the four-year-old oligopolistic alliance. These moves have unnerved the oil market and crude prices are hovering at 18-year lows. We believe that the markets maybe over-correcting and once the infection is under control, equity markets would potentially recover. Valuations in Indian equity markets have become attractive on the back of recent corrections. The 12-month trailing Price to Equity (P/E) and Price to Book (P/B) Ratios are at multi-year lows. While the P/E ratio is at levels last seen in early 2016, the P/B ratio is at levels last seen in 2009. The equity yields are trading at attractive levels vis-a-vis bond yields. The huge correction in oil prices, if sustained over the next few quarters, can potentially provide significant fiscal headroom to the government to boost consumption as well as expenditure. It is estimated that a $10 per barrel decline in crude oil prices on an annualised basis reduces CAD by about $15 billion or 50 basis points of GDP. A $10 decline in crude oil prices increases the fiscal headroom by $1.9 billion (approximately Rs 14,000 crore) due to reduction in cooking fuel subsidies. Another factor that can potentially benefit India in the medium term is the shift of manufacturing business out of China due to the US-China trade war and the disruption in global supply chains on the back of the coronavirus. India can potentially benefit from a higher share of the incremental FDI flows into manufacturing from global companies and investors. The recent market correction provides an opportunity to buy quality businesses. Short-term volatility does not significantly impact the investment hypothesis for most of the companies in our portfolio. Current valuations across sectors are attractive for long-term investments. Given the steep correction in equity markets, we believe it is an appropriate time to start investing again in the equity markets. Investors should invest an initial amount and then probably stagger their investments over the next two to three months, given the volatility in the market. The author is HeadEquity at Principal Mutual Fund. Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by experts on moneycontrol.com are their own and not those of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions. A "For Sale" sign sits in the front yard of a townhouse in northeast Washington on Jun. 23, 2015. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images) Homeowners Can Put Off Mortgage Payments Amid Outbreak Homeowners struggling to make ends meet as the COVID-19 pandemic takes its toll on the U.S. economy will be able to postpone their mortgage payments for up to 12 months, according to mortgage backers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The two government-sponsored enterprises said in a press release that loan servicers could suspend payments for up to a year for mortgage holders facing financial duress amid the CCP virus outbreak. The Epoch Times refers to the novel coronavirus, which originated from Wuhan, China and causes the disease COVID-19, as the CCP virus because the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) coverup and mismanagement of the outbreak fueled its spread throughout China and across the world. Other forbearance measures include waiving penalties or late fees against borrowers, payment delays not being reported to credit agencies, and special loss mitigation options typically only available in context of natural disasters, like loan modifications. These measures are effective immediately and apply to borrowers who are unable to make their mortgage payments due to a decline in income resulting from the impact of COVID-19, regardless of whether they have contracted the virus, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said in the joint release. The two agencies, which back millions of mortgages, indicated in the release they would be suspending all foreclosure sales and evictions for 60 days. The suspension of evictions may be extended beyond May 17, 2020, if necessary, the release states. Fannie Mae, along with our lending and servicing partners, is committed to ensuring assistance is available to homeowners in need, said Malloy Evans, senior vice president at Fannie Mae. We encourage residents whose employment or income are impacted by COVID-19 to seek available assistance as soon as possible. The forbearance applies to all borrowers, regardless of whether their property is owner-occupied, a second home or an investment property. Meanwhile, Wells Fargo said on Friday it would be suspending residential property foreclosure sales, evictions, and involuntary automobile repossessions due to the outbreak. The company is offering fee waivers, payment deferrals, and other expanded assistance for credit card, auto, mortgage, small business, and personal lending customers who contact the bank, it said in a statement. As we continue to navigate the rapidly evolving COVID-19 situation, our first thought is for the safety and well-being of all individuals and businesses impacted by these difficult circumstances. In these unprecedented times, it is important that we come together to support all those impacted, said Chief Executive Officer Charlie Scharf, in a statement. The bank also said it is temporarily closing some branches, adjusting operating hours of other branches and relocating employees, while also increasing its charitable donations to $175 million. Scharf told Congress last week that roughly 62,000 of the banks employees were already working remotely. Kudlow: COVID-19 Stimulus Package Now Worth $2 Trillion White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Saturday that the size of the COVID-19 economic relief package has swelled to around 10 percent of the countrys gross domestic product, or $2 trillion, according to multiple reports. The package is coming in at about 10 percent of GDP, Kudlow told reporters on March 21, according to a tweet by Bloomberg reporter Laura Litvan, who noted that when fellow Bloomberg reporter Jack Fitzpatrick asked Kudlow to confirm whether the package would come in at over $2 trillion, the director of the National Economic Council replied in the affirmative. According to The Hill, Kudlow called it a very large package. A key plank of the plan is a direct payment of up to $1,200 for individuals and $2,400 for couples below a certain income threshold, along with $500 for each child in the family, a Senate Finance Committee statement said. The maximum payments would be for those individuals earning no more than $75,000, and $150,000 for a couple, it said. Above those levels, payments would be reduced, and totally phased out at $99,000 for an individual and $198,000 for couples. President Donald Trumps chief legislative aide, Eric Ueland, told reporters that he expected efforts to draft the aid package would speed up on Saturday, with the goal being to finalize the draft by that afternoon. Were going to be partnering with Republicans and Democrats as they draft the legislation tomorrow, while we continue to work on finishing and closing the deal because the American people expect a resolution here, as do the markets, Ueland said, according to RollCall. And we get that. Preliminary Senate votes are set for Sunday. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the goal is passage by Monday. According to reporter Jennifer Shutt, Ueland said, The leader has laid out a schedule of legislation to be drafted today and hopefully turned in to him later on today, so were working against that very tight clock and very aggressive clock. The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. Huge fire damages 40 rai in Cherng Talay PHUKET: A huge fire that broke out in an open dry space in Srisoonthorn yesterday (Mar 20) challenged firefighters who took six hours to combat the blaze. environmentweather By The Phuket News Saturday 21 March 2020, 01:36PM One of the fire trucks sprays water to douse the fire. Photo: Cherng Talay Tambon Administration Organisation (OrBorTor) The smoke from the fire rises high. Photo: Cherng Talay Tambon Administration Organisation (OrBorTor) Srisoonthorn Municipalitys Fire department was notified around 1pm that there was a fire in the area behind the Honda Marine showroom at Moo 3, Srisoonthorn. Firefighters were dispatched with two water trucks and arrived at the scene within 15 minutes. The fire had spread fast, so officers called for additional assistance from nearby Municipality offices. Six more water trucks attended the scene. It took firefighters six hours to douse the blaze which damaged around 40 rai. When asked for the cause of the fire, an officer from Srisoonthorn Fire Department told The Phuket News said the heat and dry weather was almost certainly the reason. If anyone sees a fire, please inform 199, the officer added. The Alabama Department of Labor says charges will be waived against those employers who file partial unemployment compensation claims on behalf of their employees. Labor Secretary Fitzgerald Washington has temporarily ordered that relief be offered to employers whose employees must file unemployment compensation claims due to coronavirus-related issues. ADOL is encouraging all employers who can file on their employees behalf to do so. This waiver means that employers experience ratings will not be affected by COVID-19 related claims, the department said in a statement. Employers will need to answer yes when asked if the claim is COVID-19 related when they file partial unemployment claims, beginning on Monday. Any claims filed during this week through March 20 will be addressed on a one-by-one basis. Employers unable to file partial claims on their employees behalf should notify the agency that they waive their right to respond to any Request for Separation information, otherwise known as the BEN 241. The BEN 241 will still be mailed to employers, however they will need not to respond to it if they notify the department in writing that they are waiving this right. Employers can notify the agency by emailing Ben241waiver@labor.alabama.gov or by faxing (334) 309-9098. The statements should be on company letterhead, and should include the state unemployment insurance account number. These methods of contact will be available on March 23. Both measures will expedite the processing of their employees unemployment compensation claims. Unemployment benefits are paid with contributions from employers. Employees do not pay any portion of unemployment insurance taxes. Information regarding partial claims and how to file them is available here. Brief relief next week and then extreme caution heat By Shaadya Ismail View(s): View(s): The Department of Meteorology warned that despite an expected fall next week the heat index would rise to Extreme Caution level by April due to the suns overhead position over the island. The heat index calculates the temperature felt by the human body when relative humidity is combined with the air temperature. Extreme Caution levels would be experienced in the North-Western Province and in the Mannar, Vavuniya, Anuradhapura and Monaragala districts. On the other hand, there will be showers and thundershowers in parts of the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central, Uva and North-Central provinces and in the Galle and Matara districts, meteorologist Kasun Pasqual said. Reports issued by the Disaster Management Centre state the drought conditions have deprived 34,880 families of drinking water and water used for household purposes and of being able to gain a livelihood from farming. The Sabaragamuwa, Central, Western, North-Western, and Southern provinces are affected by drought. Health officials warned that if people failed to pay attention to their immune system they could contract all kinds of diseases. The Head of Nursing at the National Hospital, Pushpa Soysa, refuted rumours that coronavirus was unable to spread during hot weather, saying, Its a new virus and its too early to draw a connection between the weather and the virus because countries with very hot weather have also contracted the virus. She said staying hydrated by drinking a lot of water was key during this period, as was avoiding long periods of exposure to the sun, especially from 11am to 3pm due to the danger of heatstroke. The Ministry of Power and Energy said daily power demand had dropped to 40 gigawatt hours. During the first week of March the daily demand of the country was 49, almost nearing 50 gigawatt hours per day, the ministrys Director of Development, Sulakshana Jayawardena, said. Water capacity at the main six reservoirs stood at 56.1 per cent on March 20, he said. Capacity at the Castlereagh reservoir was 40 per cent; at Maussakelle, 41.8 per cent; Kotmale, 42.3 per cent; Victoria, 69.8 per cent; Randenigala, 76.7 per cent and Samanalawewa, 46.4 per cent. The Ministry of Agriculture said while the coronavirus pandemic had not yet affected cultivation, seed distribution to farmers had been temporarily halted due to the curfews imposed island-wide. If the curfews continued seed stocks might not reach famers in time to make the Yala harvest successful, the ministrys Director of Socio-Economic Planning, Dr. R.M. Herath, said. Two JetBlue planes sit at the John F. Kennedy Airport in New York on March 13, 2020. in New York City. President Donald Trump cancels all flights between Europe and the United States this Friday, due to the expansion of the Covid-19. Flights into major New York City-area airports were briefly halted on Saturday, as the coronavirus continues to cause staffing issues at air-traffic control facilities around the country, the Federal Aviation Administration said. An air traffic controller-trainee based at a control center on Long Island tested positive for the virus, COVID-19, the FAA said. The trainee hadn't been in the facility since March 17 but the agency is working with local health authorities to sanitize and clean affected areas. The center is operational, it said. Flights were delayed or canceled after FAA closed other air traffic-control facilities around the country, including towers at Chicago's Midway International Airport and McCarren International Airport, after technicians and others tested positive for the virus. Commuters pack a subway train in Taipei, Taiwan, on Wednesday. (Paula Bronstein / Getty Images) In January, as Singapore racked up the highest numbers of coronavirus infections outside China, an alarmed Shasta Grant searched for flights back home to Indianapolis. The 44-year-old American writer, who moved to this island city-state with her family eight years ago, worried that their adopted home would be ravaged again by a runaway disease and that the school where her husband teaches and their 12-year-old son studies would be closed. She feared food shortages, overwhelmed hospitals and travel bans. But her husband persuaded her not to flee. Two months later, Singapore and other Asian nations have largely corralled their outbreaks; meanwhile, the virus roars across North America and Europe, leaving Grant dumbstruck by how quickly the U.S. went from a distant spectator of the epidemic to one of its primary victims. It feels very strange to say that I feel safer here than in my home country, Grant said. That sinking feeling that it was really going to get awful, that we were all going to get infected, that just didn't happen. Things never really got bad in Singapore, and obviously theyre a mess in America. In Asian countries that initially faced the gravest risk from the coronavirus, the shambolic U.S. response to the pandemic has elicited confusion, horror and even a measure of pity. Suddenly, it seems, the U.S. is the basket case, an aloof, inward-looking power that had already weakened its alliances and failed to lead on global emergencies such as climate change, and now was shrinking in a crisis. The U.S. was quick to restrict travel from China in the early weeks of the outbreak; now travelers from the U.S. and other Western countries are exporting a "second wave" of infections to China, Hong Kong and Singapore. President Trump, who once said the virus would disappear like a miracle, has watched it explode in California, Washington state and New York while vigilant testing and contact tracing brought it under control in Taiwan and South Korea. Story continues People walk past the Marina Bay Sands resort in Singapore on Feb. 3. (Roslan Rahman / AFP/Getty Images) As commercial shutdowns and shelter-in-place orders grind life to a halt in the United States' biggest cities, restaurants, bars, shopping malls and subway trains have operated virtually without interruption in Singapore and Taipei, Taiwan the occasional mask and thermometer gun the only obvious signs of a pandemic. Emerging outbreaks in India and Indonesia, huge populations where little testing has been done, now worry experts more than China and its immediate surroundings. Though the number of confirmed infections in the U.S. now exceeds 43,900, health experts warn that many more coronavirus cases are going unrecorded because of a scarcity of tests. Hospitals nationwide lack enough ventilators, beds and medication to treat an expected onslaught of critically ill patients. Herve Lemahieu, an Asia expert at the Lowy Institute, an Australian think tank, drew comparisons to Hurricane Katrina, another calamitous emergency response that laid bare the cracks in the U.S. political system and the widening inequities in American society. That was the first time that the world saw images broadcast from the U.S. that resembled those of a developing country, and thats something that for most of us was surprising, Lemahieu said. These kinds of moments have a psychological impact on the way the U.S. is perceived abroad. They are having a financial impact, too, as fears of a prolonged U.S. slump drag down Asian stock markets, threatening to plunge some of the worlds fastest-growing economies into recession. This stock market fall is serious, said Freddy Lim, a legislator in Taiwan, where the stock exchange has lost 20% of its value over the last month. So we hope the U.S. will get this under control as soon as possible. Stock markets across Asia, including in Tokyo, have plunged during the coronavirus pandemic. (Clive Rose / Getty Images) That the U.S. would look riskier in a pandemic than parts of Asia would have been unthinkable not long ago. In 2002 and 2003, an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, killed almost 800 people nearly all in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore and erased an estimated $40 billion from the global economy. Aggressive public health measures helped stop the disease before it spread in the U.S., while chastened leaders in China and Singapore pledged to invest in health infrastructure and epidemic surveillance. Although China initially concealed the extent of this coronavirus outbreak as it did with SARS the Communist Party swiftly blanketed the epicenter of the virus, Hubei province, in a draconian lockdown that the World Health Organization praised as extraordinary in slowing the virus. Through a mixture of strict quarantining, contact tracing, temperature checks and diligent testing, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong also bought time for other governments to prepare. A man crosses an empty highway in Wuhan, China, on Feb. 3. (Getty Images) Health officials say the U.S. and other Western governments failed to anticipate the coronavirus reaching their shores. Just because Singapore or Hong Kong experienced SARS while other places didnt, theres still lessons to be learned, said Dale Fisher, a Singapore-based expert on infectious disease who traveled to China last month as part of a WHO-led mission. You dont have to be in a car accident to know that car accidents happen. Im saddened that the world couldnt use that lead time to prepare better. Others were blunter. Trump was saying this virus is no big deal, and now suddenly hes changed his tune, said PN Balji, a veteran Singaporean journalist and commentator. It shows a callous disregard for your own citizens and, to a certain extent, the world. Taiwan, less than 90 miles from the Chinese mainland and visited by as many as 2,000 Chinese tourists daily, had recorded 195 infections as of Friday or roughly 1 in every 120,000 people, among the lowest rates of any of the more than 170 countries affected by the virus. Compare that with the U.S., where 1 in 7,500 Americans has tested positive for the virus, add universal healthcare, and its easy to see why Taiwans president, Tsai Ing-wen, urged her citizens this week to stay in Taiwan because it was safer than traveling overseas. Taiwan has a very robust health system, said ruling party lawmaker Lo Chih-cheng. This is one area where I think the U.S. can learn from Taiwan. Students enter Taipei American School in Taiwan on Wednesday. (Paula Bronstein / Getty Images) Sean Kramer, a 32-year-old from the Seattle area who teaches at a junior high school in Taiwan, said friends and relatives messaged him in January to ask whether hed be safe there. For a while, he considered flying home. But then he watched the numbers of infections in China skyrocket while those in Taiwan stayed flat. He saw people on the street instinctively don masks, the Taiwanese administration roll out a succession of helpful messages and authorities quickly decide to extend Lunar New Year holidays for three extra weeks in February. All the steps that appeared to Kramer like overreactions seemed to keep a lid on the epidemic. As the virus spreads across his home state, he tries to do his part for his family by logging on to Amazon from Taipei to buy masks and hand sanitizer for his sister in suburban Seattle. We never got the whole lockdown status, so seeing everyone react at home now, I cant relate to their emotions or their fear, Kramer said. Thats the scary part for me as an American. The U.S. stumbles have also thrown a lifeline to Chinese President Xi Jinping, who was facing a rare spasm of dissent at home following his governments initial attempts to paper over the outbreak in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei. As the total number of infections for the rest of the world has soared past those in China, Beijing has gone on a diplomatic and humanitarian offensive, pledging masks and medical equipment to dozens of countries including the U.S. in a bid to regain its global standing. Last week, Chinese billionaire Jack Ma sent a shipment of 1 million masks and 500,000 coronavirus test kits to our friends in America. The first shipment of masks and coronavirus test kits to the US is taking off from Shanghai. All the best to our friends in America. pic.twitter.com/LTn26gvlOl Jack Ma (@JackMa) March 16, 2020 Such moves and Trumps repeated references to the Chinese virus highlight how the outbreak has become yet another arena of competition between the two leading global powers. Both countries appear to be covering up their mishandling of the crisis, said Lemahieu of the Lowy Institute, who called the war of words pathetic and unappealing on both sides. Yet many Asian leaders retain faith that the U.S. will get a handle on its outbreak once social distancing orders and ramped-up health measures take hold, allowing it to resume a position of leadership in the global response. The United States has got enormous resources at its disposal, Singaporean Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan told CNBC last week. Its a matter of getting it organized and getting it delivered. So lets wait and see. You know, I would never count the Americans out. Special correspondent Ralph Jennings in Taipei contributed to this report. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday appreciated the leaders of Nepal and Bhutan for the monetary contributions made by the two nations to the COVID-19 Emergency Fund proposed by Modi. "Deeply appreciate PM @kpsharmaoli's announcement of contribution of NPR 10 crores to the COVID-19 Emergency Fund. It reflects Oli Ji's commitment and support to the collective fight of SAARC countries against the pandemic," PM Modi said in a tweet on Friday. Nepal has committed NPR 100 million to the SAARC emergency fund proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help combat the coronavirus pandemic in the region. The announcement in this regard was made by Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli during his first address to the nation after undergoing a kidney transplant. PM Modi also hailed Bhutan Prime Minister Dr Lotay Thsering for his decision to contribute $100,000 to the COVID-19 Emergency Fund on behalf of the Bhutanese Government. "Gratitude to @PMBhutan Dr. Lotay Tshering for his decision to contribute $100,000 to the COVID-19 Emergency Fund on behalf of the Bhutanese Government. It is wonderful to see SAARC leaders taking initiatives that are adding strength to the collective fight against Coronavirus," said PM Modi. Earlier, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bhutan said the country has welcomed the establishment of the COVID-19 emergency fund as proposed by India at SAARC video conference and has decided to make an initial contribution of 100,000 US Dollars. On March 15, during his interaction with leaders of SAARC countries through video conferencing, PM Modi had proposed the creation of a COVID-19 Emergency Fund based on voluntary contributions from all the countries, with India making an initial offer of US $10 million for the fund. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Coronavirus: How is IARU adjusting to COVID-19? Don Beattie G3BJ provides an update on how the IARU is dealing, as of March 19, with the restrictions now in place to slow the spread of COVID-19 On the IARU-R1 site he writes: The ITU has cancelled some meetings, postponed others, and converted still others into E-meetings with no in-person dimension. ITU Headquarters in Geneva is not accessible to visitors until April 17 'at the earliest.' IARU representatives are adjusting their plans accordingly. The largest amateur radio gathering in Europe, Ham Radio in Friedrichshafen, Germany, is still scheduled for June 2628 and plans are going forward for a two-part IARU stand, including a dedicated one for youth. Whether the event will take place is unknown at this time. The IARU Region 1 Executive Committee was scheduled to meet April 1719. A series of virtual meetings will be held instead. IARU Region 2 was planning workshops on Emergency Communications and Satellite Communications in Trinidad & Tobago, May 3031, but has announced that the workshops will be held online instead. Interest and registrations have surged since the announcement. These workshops will be held in English but preparations are underway for workshops in Spanish to be held later. IARU Region 3 has cancelled its first Youngsters on the Air (YOTA) Camp that had been planned for Rayong, Thailand, in early October. Reminder: World Amateur Radio Day, April 18, is just a few weeks away! Help us celebrate amateur radios contributions to society, the 95th anniversary of the founding of the IARU, and that amateur radio is the best way to practice social distancing! Source IARU Region 1 https://www.iaru-r1.org/2020/how-is-iaru-adjusting-to-covid-19/ A CNN reporter says she was racially abused as she was preparing to go on air to talk about the coronavirus pandemic. Kyung Lah, the broadcaster's senior national correspondent, was getting ready to discuss California's stay-at-home order when a passerby insulted her. She tweeted: "A hateful guy, while I was waiting to do a live shot, said some racist s*** to me about being Chinese. a) I'm not Chinese, I'm Korean-American (accuracy w/your racism pls) and b) wtf. It's been a long time since I've heard this to my face, America." Asked about it by CNN anchor Jake Tapper she said: "It's something that you see on social media frequently, especially if you're an Asian-American reporting on controversial or even non-controversial news items. "So we were standing there preparing for live shots this morning, just hours ago, and a man walked up and used a racial slur. "I was so surprised and so taken aback and that I asked him to repeat it because I couldn't believe it. So it is something that is happening. And what I find most surprising is that it is happening in front of our faces, directly at people. That is something that have not experienced in a very, very long time in this country." Donald Trump and other conservative figures have been criticised for constantly referring to Covid-19 as the "Chinese virus". Photographs of his notes for a White House briefing showed that at one point the president had even crossed out "corona" and written in "Chinese". Rosemary Bryant Mariner Captain Rosemary Bryant Mariner (April 2, 1953-January 24, 2019) was an American aviator. She was the first female military aviator to fly a tactical jet and the first to achieve command of an operational aviation squadron. (She should not be confused with Marie Rossi, also designated as the first woman in American military history to serve in combat as an aviation unit commander.) The difference between the two ladies was that Marie did NOT fly combat jet fighters, rather she flew helicopters. Rossi died in combat when her helicopter hit a microwave tower in Saudi Arabia in 1991. Mariner would die in 2019 at the age of 65 after battling cancer for five years. Mariners maiden name was Rosemary Ann Bryant and she was born in Harlingen, Texas and grew up in San Diego, California. Rosemary always had a keen interest in flying as her father, Captain Cecil James Bryant, served in the Army Air Corps during World War II and the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War as an attack pilot. Captain Bryant was killed in a crash in 1956. Rosemary was only thee years old when her father died in combat. Graduating from Purdue University in December 1979 at the young age of 19, she was the first woman to finish the newly created aeronautical program. Prior to joining the navy, she had already achieved FAA flight engineer and pilot ratings. Early in her career in the navy she earned a Masters degree in National Security Strategy from the National War College. Joining the navy prior to her marriage in 1973, she was selected as one of the first eight women to enter U.S. navy pilot training. She completed Officer Candidate School in Newport, R.I., then was transferred to Pensacola, Florida for basic flight training. Bryant was designated a naval aviator in June 1974. Bryants talent gave her the command of an aviation unit in the U.S. navy. She became the first woman to command an aviation squadron in the navy. During Operation Desert Storm, she commanded Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron Thirty-Four flying the EA-6B prowler. Promoted to Captain Mariners final military assignment was as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staffs Professor of Military Studies at the National War College. Mariner retired from the navy at the end of 1997 and became a resident scholar in the Center for the Study of War and Society and a lecturer in the Department of History at The University of Tennessee-Knoxville. For the first time in history, at Mariners funeral on February 2, 2019, the United States Navy conducted a flyover using only female pilots. The pilots conducted a Missing Man Flyover over the cemetery in Tennessee. This maneuver involves four aircraft flying in a V-shaped formation until one separates, flying sharply upward. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. ANN ARBOR, MI The number of confirmed coronavirus COVID-19 cases in Washtenaw County is continuing to climb as theres evidence the illness is spreading locally. The countys case count nearly doubled again, jumping from 16 to 29 as of noon Saturday, March 21, as the Washtenaw County Health Department reported 13 new cases. Two days earlier, the number doubled from seven to 14, the health department reported. The new cases reported Saturday include seven women and six men, and one is hospitalized, said health department spokeswoman Susan Ringler-Cerniglia. Its hard to predict if our count will keep doubling, she said. Moving forward, much depends on how well we as a community observe the restrictions and recommendations already in place. We do know that we have a lot of tests pending. Many more than have been completed to date. Assume coronavirus may be present in public places, Washtenaw health officer warns The health department is not disclosing which parts of the county have had confirmed cases or how many have been in Ann Arbor, but the Michigan Daily has reported two cases at downtown Ann Arbor student apartment high-rises by the University of Michigan campus. A person in the UM campus community who had access to the East Quad dining facility tested positive for coronavirus, UM dining services officials said. Location information isnt meaningful and everyone should be taking precautions, Ringler-Cerniglia said. Statewide, Michigans case count jumped from 549 to 787 on Saturday, with five deaths so far, the state reported. That includes three Detroit deaths, one Oakland County death and one Wayne County death. Last Sunday, the state had 53 confirmed cases. By Friday, it was more than 10 times that. Washtenaw County Health Officer Jimena Loveluck released a video Friday warning residents to take precautions and assume the virus may be present when theyre in public places. Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor also released a video urging residents to stay home with few exceptions, such as going out to exercise or get food. Stay at home, Ann Arbor mayor tells residents in new coronavirus video update In addition to washing hands and regularly touched surfaces, officials recommend practicing social distancing, assuming anyone may be carrying the virus, keeping at least six feet away from others and working from home if possible. We will get through this by working together as a community, Loveluck said. Most people who get ill will recover at home without medical care, but some will get seriously ill. We must do everything we can to protect our community members and prevent our health care systems from being overburdened. Of the 29 cases in Washtenaw County so far, two have required hospitalization one person in the 50-64 age range and one person in the 65-79 age range while one person has recovered, according to the health department. There have been no Washtenaw County deaths from COVID-19. Additional background, such as recent travel history, was not immediately available for the 13 new cases Saturday. MORE FROM MLIVE AND THE ANN ARBOR NEWS: Complete coronavirus coverage in Michigan. Saturday, March 21: Latest developments on coronavirus in Michigan Michigan coronavirus cases climb to near 800, with 5 deaths GM partners with medical company to make ventilators during coronavirus pandemic Kent County coronavirus cases climb from 12 to 21 Vietnamese students returning from Europe are waiting to move to concentrated quarantine areas. (Photo: VNA) They are All Nippon Airways flight NH831 from Tokyo to Ho Chi Minh City on March 17, and Emirates flight EK392 from Dubai to Ho Chi Minh City on March 16. The ministry called on all passengers on the flights to contact disease control centres of cities and provinces for guidance on health monitoring. Airline ticket agents are responsible for notifying the passengers who bought tickets for those flights. Vietnam recorded 91 COVID-19 cases as of March 20 night, of which 17 have been cured and discharged from hospital. Australian authorities urge passengers of cruise ship to self-isolate after 3 COVID-19 cases detected People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 14:32, March 20, 2020 SYDNEY, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Australia's New South Wales Health Minister Brad Hazzard said on Friday that three people among the 4,000 passengers and crew onboard a cruise ship were tested positive for COVID-19. Hazzard told reporters that doctors did 13 tests on board the "Ruby Princess" which docked in Sydney and found three COVID-19 cases, including one crew member. Some 2,700 passengers left the ship when the testing were still conducting. Those passengers had been asked to leave their contact details before they disembarked on Thursday. Hazzard urged them to self-quarantine for 14 days. "Our big concern is that those people came off the cruise with no knowledge of COVID being on the ship, and if they think it's OK to be wandering around, the clear message from me as NSW health minister is: No, it's not, put yourself immediately into quarantine," Hazzard said. "Put yourself in a self-isolation. Follow the rules, and if you're feeling ill, any of the symptoms that might be related to COVID-19, then make sure you contact a medical practitioner, either your local GP or the local ED in the hospital, and then take advice on what you should be doing." Hazzard also told reporters on Friday that the COVID-19 cases in New South Wales had reached 382, with 75 new cases overnight, which was the biggest single day increase in the state. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Fraudsters are increasingly impersonating officials, knocking on the doors of the elderly and scamming them during the coronavirus crisis, a body has warned. Exploitative criminals are committing burglary or fraud by pretending to be Government, council or medical officers, the Local Government Association (LGA) said. People are also being targeted with phishing emails offering quick remedies and vaccination kits, while others are asked to donate to fake charities. And emails which appear to be from travel companies are asking people about cancelled holidays in a bid to get their payment details. Elderly residents in isolation should be extra vigilant of strangers offering them unsolicited services as criminals are targeting pensioners in their homes and on the phone Other vulnerable residents are paying over the odds online for essential goods, such as hand sanitiser, only to never receive the product because it was being sold on a fake platform. It comes as reports of scams increased by 400 per cent within the space of a month in the City of London. The police force said there had been 105 reports to Action Fraud, the UK's national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime, with total losses reaching nearly 970,000. The LGA is urging elderly, isolated residents not to accept services from strangers who offer to run errands, such as collecting prescriptions or shopping, if they ask for cash or card details upfront. Councillor Simon Blackburn, chairman of the LGA's Safer & Stronger Communities Board, said: 'By tricking elderly and vulnerable people in self-isolation to part with their cash, fraudsters are playing roulette with the lives of those most at risk. 'Keeping the elderly and those with underlying health conditions safe is every councils' top priority and councils will do everything in their power to prosecute fraudsters and seek the toughest penalties for criminals taking advantage in this despicable way. 'Councils have plans in place for dealing with the very challenging circumstances presented by the coronavirus and will continue to review how best to use their staff and mobilise community resources to ensure that the elderly and vulnerable are given the support they need.' Scammers would offer hand sanitizer and face masks on fake websites with victims never receiving their orders as fraudsters capitalise on the fear of the general public Charity braced for rise in child sexual abuse reports after school closures Experts are preparing for a spike in public reports of child sexual abuse on the internet as schools across the UK close during the coronavirus pandemic. The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) is concerned children might be at greater risk of being groomed and coerced into making explicit content, given that many will undoubtedly spend more time online from Monday. Susie Hargreaves, the charity's chief executive said increasingly videos and photos are taken by the children themselves, who have been targeted by 'ruthless predators' under false identities. 'Heartbreakingly, we see more and more of this material being filmed by children themselves on devices, sometimes livestreamed from their own bedrooms in the family home,' she said. 'My fear is that, with more young children being sent home from school, more of them will be spending a lot longer online, possibly exposing them to some of these criminals.' In 2019, the charity - which is responsible for finding and removing videos and images of children suffering sexual abuse from the internet - looked into a record of 260,400 reports, up from the 229,328 it investigated the year before. Of those in 2019, 132,700 were confirmed to be of images or videos of children being sexually abused, an increase on the 105,047 in 2018. The charity says its hotline will continue to operate while other staff members are forced to work from home to prevent the spread of Covid-19. 'We are bracing ourselves for a spike in reports,' Ms Hargreaves said. 'The pandemic is forcing more and more people to stay indoors, and a lot of people are going to be spending much more time on the internet and at home on electronic devices. 'More people alone in their homes, and more people spending longer online sadly means we are likely to see more people stumbling across criminal material involving child sexual abuse on the internet. 'We are also expecting criminals to be more active on the internet during the coming months. 'This could mean we'll see an unprecedented number of public reports to our hotline as more people spot things that are not right and report it to us.' The charity urges parents to trust their children but have a frank conversation with them about the dangers. Advertisement Examples of exploitation include scammers impersonating officers at Rochdale Borough Council and offering to run errands for the vulnerable. Birmingham City Council has prosecuted a retailer selling harmful hand sanitisers, while a neighbourhood watch group in Lewisham and Blackheath reported people knocking at doors of elderly people saying they are from the Health Authority doing mandatory testing for coronavirus. It comes as Age UK launched an emergency fundraising appeal to raise 10 million so it can help older people through the pandemic. Its helpline has seen a 30 per cent increase in demand, while another service, the Silver Line helpline, has seen 40 per cent more calls. The charity said its biggest worry is for the millions of older people who do not have family and friends to rely on. Laurie Boult, fundraising director at Age UK, said: 'The reality is that in the weeks and months ahead older people are going to need Age UK in huge numbers, and to an extent we have never seen before. 'We are determined to rise to the challenge and be there - to provide comfort, hope and practical support. But we can only do it if we have the funds that it will take.' Action Fraud has given the public advice as to how to avoid being scammed by fraudsters during the coronavirus crisis: 1. Watch out for scam messages Don't click on the links or attachments in suspicious emails, and never respond to unsolicited messages and calls that ask for your personal or financial details. 2. Shopping online If you're making a purchase from a company or person you don't know and trust, carry out some research first, and ask a friend or family member for advice before completing the purchase. If you decide to go ahead with the purchase, use a credit card if you have one, as most major credit card providers insure online purchases. 3. Protect your devices from the latest threats Always install the latest software and app updates to protect your devices from the latest threats. Anyone who thinks they may be a fraud victim should speak to their bank immediately and contact Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040. Graeme Biggar, Director General of the National Economic Crime Centre, said: 'We have already seen fraudsters using the COVID-19 pandemic to scam people looking to buy medical supplies online, sending emails offering fake medical support and targeting people who may be vulnerable or increasingly isolated at home. 'The advice is simple, think very carefully before you hand over your money, and don't give out your personal details unless you are sure who you are dealing with.' Superintendent Sanjay Andersen, Head of the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, said: 'Fraudsters will use any opportunity they can to take money from innocent people. This includes exploiting tragedies and global emergencies. 'The majority of scams we are seeing relate to the online sale of protective items, and items that are in short supply across the country, due to the COVID-19 outbreak. 'We're advising people not to panic and to think about the purchase they are making. When you're online shopping it's important to do your research and look at reviews of the site you are buying from.' [March 20, 2020] GoFundMe CEO Updates GoFundMe Community Outlining Ways To Give And Get Help REDWOOD CITY, Calif., March 20, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, GoFundMe CEO Tim Cadogan released a letter to the GoFundMe community outlining measures GoFundMe is taking to help those in need. People around the world are facing social and work isolation, financial hardship, or even the loss or hospitalization of a loved one. Many are coming to help those in need and lending a helping hand. To read the full letter, please visit: https://medium.com/gofundme-stories/helping-our-community-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic-147dccd07403 To date, more than 22,000 COVID-19 related fundraisers have been created in the past few weeks, raising over $40 million for causes all around the world, including hospitals and medical staff employees, local businesses that have been forced to close, and organizations on the ground helping those impacted. Additionally, the company has committed to donating $1.5 million to provide direct relief to communities affected by this pandemic and organizations helping on the front lines. "At no other time in GoFundMe's ten year history have we seen such an urgent need or such an incredible outpouring of support in such a short time," says Cadogan in the letter. "This global crisis is also bringing out the very best of humanity, with people coming together to support one another in every conceivable way: an entire community in Milan, Italy joined together to provide hospital ICU units with crucial medical supplies ; Boston neighbors are rallying to support their favoite bookstore ; Hollywood workers are supporting their fellow staff while production halts; Teachers are ensuring their students have lunch even though school is not in session; and restaurant owners are paying their wait staff while doors are closed. We are proud to provide the global community a take action button, making it easy to help people around the world." GoFundMe has organized new resources and a centralized hub identifying fundraisers for individuals and organizations looking for ways to help or seek support for themselves during this pandemic. How to help: Help stop the spread of COVID-19: Follow government and local authority directives, stay home whenever possible and practice social distancing. Follow government and local authority directives, stay home whenever possible and practice social distancing. Offer a helping hand: Consider delivering food or calling a neighbor isolated by COVID-19. Check sites like NextDoor to join a volunteer group in your area. Consider delivering food or calling a neighbor isolated by COVID-19. Check sites like to join a volunteer group in your area. Donate: Find a GoFundMe that moves you, or give to the COVID-19 General Relief Fund . a GoFundMe that moves you, or give to the . Fundraise: Start a fundraiser to support an individual, small business, or nonprofit affected by this pandemic. a fundraiser to support an individual, small business, or affected by this pandemic. Spread the word: Share fundraisers with your network to bring awareness to causes that matter to you. You can see hundreds of COVID-19 related fundraisers on our centralized hub . About GoFundMe Started in 2010, GoFundMe is the world's largest free social fundraising platform. The GoFundMe community has raised over $9 billion from more than 120 million donations for people, causes, and organizations. GoFundMe is changing the way the world gives. Find us on Twitter , Facebook , and Instagram . View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gofundme-ceo-updates-gofundme-community-outlining-ways-to-give-and-get-help-301027795.html SOURCE GoFundMe Minority leader in Parliament, Haruna Iddrisu, has called for clarity on plans the government has put in place to deal with the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic in Ghana. Confirmed coronavirus cases in Ghana currently stand at 19 . To date, the Executive has shared no such a plan with Parliament and, regrettably, does not as yet appear to have one, Mr, Idrissu noted in a letter dated March 20 and addressed to the Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Mike Oquaye. He cautioned that the moment in which Ghana finds itself calls for a proactive plan that goes beyond occasional lists of reactionary measures. For Parliament to move forward on a bipartisan basis it will be necessary to debate a comprehensive, multi-sectoral, national response plan We will need to review the underlying epidemiological and statistical analyses that inform the proposed interventions, and the same applies to the strategic plan for executing those interventions, the letter said. Mr. Iddrisu also said the Minority was committed to a bipartisan approach to dealing with the virus. In this matter of our national response to the COVID-19 pandemic, our desire is for Parliament to speak with one voice. We urge the rapid development of the necessary consultative protocols to facilitate this, the letter said. The Minority Leader suggested equitable safety nets for the disabled and the elderly, unemployed persons and daily wage workers, and all other persons whose financial security may be jeopardized by the necessary social distancing measures. He also recommended cost-of-living interventions like the provision of rent subsidies or freezes and deferrals of tax payments. In light of reports of hoarding and price hikes globally, he also suggested: retail market interventions to suppress hoarding, price speculation, and other opportunistic behaviours, including price-fixing and rationing of food and basic supplies if necessary. Since the letter was written, Parliament had passed the Imposition of Restrictions Bill which allows the President to declare public restrictions in times fo emergencies. Mr. Iddrisu described it as unnecessary and said a single draconian measure of this kind is limited in its utility and myopic in its constitutional considerations. Find below further recommendations from the Minority leader The full letter can be viewed here RECOMMENDATIONS Our caucus has had extensive discussions of these matters internally, and we have sought the counsel of a nonpartisan, multisectoral and multigenerational team of experts from the many fields that will be required to implement a national action plan. Their technical expertise informs the Minority's views on the nature and needs of a national response to the COVID-19 threat. It is our view, consequently, that any national response plan must be consistent with the known epidemiology of the virus and the resulting disease. It must be rooted in the best available medical science, considerate of our nation's political economy, and contextualized for the culture of our society. Without in any way seeking to preempt Executive Privilege in this matter we wish to propose, through your Office, the following priorities for consideration: The national plan must prioritize and cost responses over a realistic analytical horizon that reflects the epidemiology of the disease and the projected therapeutic timelines. The best available information suggests that this pandemic will only truly end with the discovery of a vaccine or a cure, and the present estimates of either product range from 12 to 18 months. The underlying strategy must be costed with this timeframe in mind and must be accompanied by a detailed rationale for the specific appropriations. It must also be clear on any and all additional powers that Government may need that are not enshrined in Act 851. Our caucus is committed to approving the justified legislation, borrowing and spending within that temporal and constitutional framework. By PTI NEW DELHI: On Sunday, when people will thank health care providers and emergency responders, many in the national capital will clap, ring bells, and raise slogans from their homes demanding the government to rescind its decision to update the NPR in view of the new coronavirus pandemic. Civil society group United Against Hate has urged people to protest against the National Register of Citizens, National Population Register and amended citizenship law at 5 pm on Sunday from their balconies, windows and gates. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged people to remain inside their homes under a self-imposed curfew on Sunday and thank health care providers and emergency responders who are on the frontline combating the pandemic by clapping and ringing bells. "First we will thank our sisters and brothers who are at ground zero taking care of the infected, supplying essentials...and then we will hold anti-NRC, anti-CAA placards in our balconies and windows and demand the government to roll back its decision to start the NPR exercise from April 1," Nadeem Khan from United Against Hate said. ALSO READ: COVID-19 LIVE Khan said the government's priority should be countering the virus threat and "we are all in this together". He said while the prime minister has urged people to remain inside their homes from 7 am to 9 pm on Sunday, "we urge him to rehabilitate people who have lost their homes in the riots in northeast Delhi and are putting up in relief camps". Irkan Chaudhary, who will also be a part of the protest, complained that around 1,200 people who lost their homes in the riots have been living in unhygienic conditions at a shelter in Mustafabad. "The prime minister has asked people to remain inside their homes. What about those whose houses have been burnt and looted? They have no option but to live in cramped, unhygienic relief camps where social distancing goes for a toss and the risk of infection is high," he said. ALSO READ: Stable patients to be discharged from civic hospitals in Mumbai Parwez Alam, a social worker, said the entire world is battling a health emergency and the government should focus on it first. "I welcome the prime minister's initiative and will follow the 'Janta Curfew'. But we will also protest against NPR and CAA by beating utensils," he said. Two days before asylum seekers were due to arrive in Cahersiveen, some nasty comments started to circulate on social media. Helen Richmond, who has lived in the south Kerry town for over 30 years, wasn't having any of it. "Not on my watch," she said. "I thought, well, someone has to make them feel welcome." Because of the Covid-19 crisis, the Department of Justice has had to move 150 asylum seekers from emergency accommodation in Dublin to new dedicated Direct Provision accommodation at the Skellig Star Hotel in Cahersiveen. On Monday, locals there found out that a 12-month contract had been signed to accommodate 150 migrants in the local hotel. Everybody got two days' notice before the first 43 people arrived on Wednesday. Ms Richmond said there were some "rather mean spirited comments on good old Facebook", so she started messaging friends on social media herself to see how they could welcome the new arrivals from a safe social distance. Using the backs of old election posters from Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and a Healy-Rae, "whatever was lying around", locals started making signs saying "WELCOME" and "Cead mile failte" which they could stand back and hold from a safe distance as the migrants arrived. A crowd of locals gathered to wave through the windows at the new arrivals. A total of 105 people arrived in Cahersiveen this week, and the other 45 people will follow in the coming weeks. Of the 105 people who have arrived, there are 17 families with children. Word spread to the primary school across the road from the hotel there were new families on the way. Local Aoife Murphy (27) said she was "absolutely gobsmacked" at the reaction. "My son is not even six yet, but when I explained to him that there are families moving into the hotel that don't have a lot of personal belongings, he was absolutely delighted to gather up toys and clothes to donate. We went to the discount store and bought some drawing paper and colouring pencils, as well as some feminine hygiene products, soaps, toothbrushes, toothpaste and a few other essentials," Ms Murphy said. Under normal circumstances, she would have wanted to let her son hand over the donation but Covid-19 restrictions won't allow it. "Covid-19 has definitely made it difficult, I think a lot of people in the area would like to be more actively involved," she said. After asking hotel management what else they could do from a distance, locals started gathering cots and baby clothes to donate. A lot of people in the town have skills and experience that they want to share, and they've asked to be more involved in welcoming the migrants. There had been a small number of objections to the new asylum seekers, including from some people associated with far-right political movements. Suzan Turan, who runs a local shop, said fears about the coronavirus had also made some locals nervous and some had been asking if the asylum seekers had been tested. "Well, we haven't been tested," Ms Turan said. "We are just as likely to be the ones infecting them. "I'm sure it's even more frightening for them to be coming to a town during the coronavirus. We see ourselves now what it means to have your freedom restricted or curtailed. We want to make it clear to them that the community will be there when the conditions allow us to be in closer contact." There are plans to develop what locals had described with traditional Kerry humility as "the most beautiful greenway in Europe" near Cahersiveen. The Skellig Star Hotel is the first one that someone would meet coming off the greenway. Norma Moriarty, a Fianna Fail councillor, said it was important for local politicians to "set the tone" before a fear of the unknown turned people against the asylum seekers. Rahul Khanna is charming and funny in equal measures. The actor took to Instagram on Friday to poke fun at his pal Malaika Arora and accused her of stealing his "look." The actor posted a collage of his and Malaika's pictures, where the two of them were seen sporting a similar pose. While Rahil was seen in a white bathrobe touching his face with black nail-paint on, Malaika was seen in a white T shirt along with a face-mask and red nailpaint. There you go copying my look again, Malla! Rahul captioned his Instagram story, adding Hope everyones staying safe and self isolating. Malaika also reposted it and wrote, Avoid touching your face pls." Malaika's picture was a screengrab of a group voice-call between her, sister Amrita Arora and BFF Kareena Kapoor, while the three of them were under self-isolation. "The best way to catch-up," she captioned the story. Although under isolation, Malaika has not ceased to inspire her followers to get healthier. Urging her fans to practice Yoga at home, she wrote, As the world fights against a public health scare, we must do our best to ensure we stay safe and calm in every little way so our friends, families, colleagues dont panic. Ensure youre constantly following the WHO recommended safety and hygiene steps and staying indoors as much as possible. Its the time to come together in spirit and do our bit to avoid the infection, ask our loved ones to keep calm and most importantly, each one of us needs to be reponsible for ourselves, first. Its all these little steps thats going to be the change. Stay safe, stay healthy. Follow @News18Movies for more Chinese novelist Fang Fang in 2012. (David Levenson / Getty Images) Locked down in Wuhan for a week, then a month, then two, Fang Fang sought solace in words. The novelist has called Wuhan home for more than 60 years. On Jan. 23, when the coronavirus outbreak that would soon become a pandemic was spinning out of control, China quarantined her city of 11 million. Many residents panicked, flocking to supermarkets or fleeing to other towns before the lockdown began. Hospitals were already under strain. Coughing, feverish patients crowded hallways as doctors struggled with insufficient protective gear and testing equipment. They were running out of beds too. All eyes in China turned to Wuhan's unfolding disaster. What erupted there would spread as the rest of the country began sequestering as well. On Jan. 25, Fang Fang started her diary. What began as a reflection on her own sorrow, anger and anxiety has become a window into life and death in Wuhan. Her musings have more than 4 million followers on Weibo, the Chinese blogging platform, and many more on WeChat, the social media app where thousands of comments flood each of her entries the moment they are posted. Hers is a voice of rare authenticity, an antidote to the flood of Chinese propaganda celebrating the countrys victory over the coronavirus. She weeps, she shouts, she describes corpses in bags, dragged away and burnt while their loved ones mourn alone. She curses those who concealed the truth and wont apologize even as thousands die. While state media trumpets hero stories and upbeat slogans, Fang Fang speaks plainly of her peoples suffering. A man cross an empty highway road on Feb. 3 in Wuhan in China's Hubei province. (Getty Images) Readers from across China say they wait past midnight every day, refusing to go to bed before they read Fang Fangs posts. Some of them are censored by the morning. Fang Fang begins almost every entry the same way. Today is the third, the twenty-second, the fifty-sixth day of lockdown, she notes. (Sometimes she adds: Heavens, has it been that long?) Then she talks about the weather: snow, or wind, or gentle sun, the kind that makes Wuhan so lovely in the spring. Story continues One day, it's cloudy and sunny back and forth, "just like my diary," she quips. "Open one moment, blocked the next." She describes what she's seen and heard that day, often referencing conversations with doctor friends who remain unnamed for their protection. One morning, she wakes up to a dramatic drop in Wuhans official infection numbers and gets three texts from a doctor. Its already under control, incredible! he says. But a short while later, he writes: Its too fast, right? Too incredible! Im scared to believe it. And an hour or so later, he tells her: I looked more closely, the Wuhan numbers dropped because they changed the diagnosis standards Pay attention to tomorrows numbers. This is how revelations come, a few lines at a time. Fang Fang is a pen name for Wang Fang, originally from Nanjing but raised in Wuhan from age 2. She lived 30 years south of the Yangtze River and 30 years north of it, she says in one entry, surviving the Cultural Revolution, doing hard labor as a porter, then attending university and working as a reporter, an editor and an author. She won the Lu Xun Literary Prize in 2010, and was chair of the Hubei Writers Assn. for a time. She loves Wuhan. You could place all the worlds cities before me and I would only know this one, she once said in a documentary. Its as if, in a crowd of people walking towards you, among countless strangers faces, only one face smiles, letting out a laugh that you recognize. That face is Wuhan. A worker sells masks at a pharmacy in Wuhan in January. (Associated Press) She feels deeply for its people. In an entry on Feb. 11, she wrote: Those carefree, straightforward Wuhan people who love to laugh without any reason; those Wuhan people who talk so fast and loud others think they are fighting." But today, many of them are suffering," she continued. "They are wrestling with the god of death. And I, or we, have no power to help at all. At most, I can only carefully ask on the internet, is everyone OK? And sometimes I dont dare to ask, for fear there will be no answer. Even before the outbreak, Fang Fang had drawn criticism from radical leftists in China, who tend to be ideological hardliners when it comes to nostalgia for the days of Mao Tse-tung. She has been scorned for her realist portrayals of China: accepting neither the utopia of Communist Party textbooks' version nor the land of brainwashed masses that critics abroad sometimes describe. She instead explores a complex country filled with flawed individuals struggling to survive under immense political, social and economic pressure. In 2016, Fang Fang won a literary award for her novel "Soft Burial," featuring a family of landowners who commit suicide amid Maos 1950s land reform campaign, when hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of landlords were killed by peasants under the leader's exhortation. In 2017, after criticism from party hardliners, the novel was banned. For readers in quarantine, Fang Fangs diary traverses the familiar and the unbearable: in one paragraph, she lies in bed scrolling through her phone. She notes rising vegetable prices. She wonders if anyone is at the park. She runs out of food for her dog. In another paragraph, her high school classmate the only other girl in the school band, who once shared a desk with Fang Fang dies. Her neighbors cousin dies. Her acquaintances brother dies. Her friends parents and wife die, and then her friend also dies. Li Wenliang, the Chinese doctor who was silenced by police for trying to share news about the novel coronavirus long before the country's health authorities disclosed its full threat, died Feb. 6 from the disease. (Weibo) She writes of doctors dying on the front lines, of elderly living alone struggling to survive without caretakers, of the 6-year-old child found one day locked at home with his dead grandfather, too afraid to go outside because of the virus. The measure of a nations civilization is not how high its buildings, how fast its cars, how strong its military, how advanced its technology, or how many tourists it can send out to consume the whole worlds goods are, she posted on Feb. 25. There is only one test for you: how you treat the weak and vulnerable, she wrote. In Wuhan, virtually everyone is traumatized, she wrote in another entry that was later censored. The people need to vent, to weep loudly, to speak of their sorrows and to be comforted. The pain of Wuhans people cannot be relieved by yelling a few slogans. In recent weeks, Chinas coronavirus outbreak has come under control, with less reported infections while cases skyrocket in the rest of the world. Chinese diplomats and propaganda have begun portraying China as a savior that can impart wisdom, test kits and protective gear to other countries. Fang Fang has continued to seek accountability for those who rebuked Wuhans doctors, covered up the outbreak and prioritized face-saving politics over negative news. Accountability is necessary. Or else how will you make it up to the thousands who have died, and more Wuhan people who have suffered? she wrote this week. The WeChat account that shares her entries has been censored repeatedly. Every few days, the account shares a post that asks readers to click and follow a new account as the current one is blocked from posting. Chinese President Xi Jinping, wearing a protective face mask, waves as he inspects the novel coronavirus pneumonia prevention and control work on Feb. 10 in a Beijing neighborhood. (Pang Xinglei / Associated Press) The diary is not smearing those who sacrifice and give of themselves, its just reminding those on top that were still far from the time to start singing praises. Why do you have to keep deleting over and over? one commenter wrote on a censored entry. Isnt this just an obvious lack of self-confidence? Are you feeling guilty? This week, an open letter to Fang Fang from an "anonymous high schooler" emerged on the internet. The writer claimed to be a 16-year-old completing a school assignment. Then he criticized Fang Fang for exposing the negative sides of the epidemic in Wuhan and failing to be grateful to her motherland. "My mom told me that I shouldn't air our family's dirty laundry outside. Auntie Fang Fang, did your mom ever teach you that?" he wrote. One could ignore Western countries when they wrote critically of China because "a human can't reason with an animal," he said. "But you, Auntie Fang Fang ... you were born in the new China, raised under the red flag, you live on Wuhan grain and Yangtze water! Young people can be excused for saying strange things about their country because they are ignorant. You are 65, why are you different from others?" Fang Fang's response was a recollection of her teenage years during China's Cultural Revolution, a time when young Maoists criticized, tortured and killed their elders, teachers and intellectuals, tearing the country apart. "Child, I must tell you: When I was 16, times were much worse than yours," she wrote. "I had never even heard of the term 'independent thought' ... I'd never been an independent person, only a screw in the machine." She never expected that another Chinese generation would have to endure such things. But she wished an awakening for the "high schooler" and others like him: "You will clean out the trash and poison that was poured into your brain in your youth ... Every round of cleaning is a round of liberation." Like many other of Fang Fang's responses to critics, her reply sidestepped their arguments and insults, instead spotlighting systemic problems that have led to catastrophe for Chinese people and suggesting the possibility of change. "Arrogant power always tries to cover things up, but Fang Fangs diary removes those covers. Clear, simple, gentle speaking, yet it has the power to move ones heart and soul, wrote one commenter. Every night, with both grace and defiance, Fang Fang writes of Wuhan, her city of splendor, lies and sorrow. Her city of words. By Express News Service PARADIP: Acute shortage of triple air masks has hit efforts to check the spread of coronavirus at Paradip port.A New Delhi-based private company, entrusted with supplying protective gear to the port authorities, has delayed providing the masks. In such a situation, employees of the ports marine department and medical teams are apprehensive of participating in screening of vessels and crew members and other coronavirus awareness programmes. A total of 15,000 to 20,000 triple air masks are required for screening and awareness programmes in the port area. However, the company has so far supplied only 3,000 masks. All the masks have been distributed and only 400 remain in the stock now. These masks will last only for a few more days. Expressing serious concern over the delay, Paradip Port Trust (PPT) officials said the shortage of masks will affect the entire operation to prevent the virus spread. Sources said the private firm is demanding bribe from PPT authorities to supply masks to the port. An official on conditions of anonymity said despite frequent reminders, the agency is yet to supply the required number of masks. Instead of supplying the masks to the port at a lower price fixed by the Union Government, the firm is reportedly selling them in the market at a higher rate. The PPT authorities have put in place various preventive steps to curb the spread of coronavirus in the port. Vessels which arrived at the port from China, South Korea, Japan, Iran, Italy, Hong Kong, Macau, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, UAE, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Philippines and Singapore have been quarantined at the anchorage till 14 days. Nearly, 800 crew members of 65 ships have been screened by both the Marine department officials and medical team of the port. PPT Chairman Rinkesh Roy admitted to the shortage of masks and said, I have approached the Government for supply of adequate masks. Besides, PPT has engaged local self help groups (SHGs) to supply masks to tide over the crisis. Meanwhile, PPT authorities have installed non-contact infrared thermometer at the main gate of the ports administrative building to check the temperature of those visiting the office. Thermal screening is being done at Gate No 5, port hospital and other locations in Paradip. HURON COUNTY When someone calls for Huron County emergency services, they speak with a dispatcher located in their Bad Axe office to either talk them through a situation or call the police or fire department. Those people on the other end of the line go through a lot on their job, burdened with the responsibility of keeping other people safe, yet do not get a lot of recognition for it. Among them are Mary Krohn, the deputy director of emergency services for Huron County, who helps supervise day-to-day operations for the dispatch center. She has also spent the past 30 years as part of the dispatchers. Among Krohns other duties as the second in charge of the center, behind Director Randy Miller, are scheduling shifts, updating the countys street address guide for the state, records management, and overseeing the use of the Michigan Law Enforcement Information Network, which is how dispatchers track the calls police and firefighters make. Krohn first heard there was a job opening in the dispatchers office back in 1990, when she was working as a shipping clerk in a Bay Port factory. Her brother told her about the job saying, You can do that, all you have to do is answer the phone and type. Krohn was not hired right away. Two people came and went before she was brought on board, working part-time until 1993. After a few months on the job, she told him, You are so wrong. Theres so much more than answering the phone and typing. When Krohn started, all she had was the LEIN and a typewriter, where she would type out the logs received that are now procedurally generated. There was also a microphone to talk on, a marine radio to speak with boats, a phone that went to the state police, and a phone that went to the road commission. When I started, there were no computers, Krohn said. Everything you did manually. Like everything else, it keeps changing with technology. Among other changes Krohn has seen are cell phones increasing the number of calls the dispatchers received by triple, changes in the number of people on a shift, and the dispatchers office moving from the Huron County jail to its current location on Soper Road. Despite her long tenure as a dispatcher, Krohn feels that the people in her role never get the proper credit they are due. She said the way dispatchers are depicted in the media is not accurate. Were not as busy as you see on TV, with shows about dispatch centers, Krohn said. I know that in the media, you have a housefire and the Bad Axe fire department is there. When they list the people there, Bad Axe fire is there, Elkton fire is there, State Police are there, Huron Central Ambulance is there, the Sheriffs department is there. Dispatchers are never mentioned. We are the first ones on the scene. We take the call. Thats always something that bothered me, Krohn continued. I can see how that can be overlooked; we are behind the scenes. But you only hear all the bad stuff that happens with dispatchers. You never hear about the good stuff. The dispatchers are always looking to improve their skills and gain new ones. Krohn said that a few weeks ago, they had an hour-long training for how to tell someone how to do CPR over the telephone when a person is experiencing cardiac arrest. Later that same day, one of the newer part-time dispatchers received a phone call from a man experiencing cardiac arrest, so she got to use her new skills immediately by telling the mans wife how to do CPR. He only lived for a few more days, but it was a few more days to spend with family, Krohn said. Even in her own time as a dispatcher, Krohn would have wanted to know how difficult the job can be sometimes. Twice, she has had people die on the phone when talking to them, including a Huron County Sheriffs deputy in 2000, which Krohn says is the most memorable thing that ever happened to her on the job. At 62 years old, and with 30 years at the dispatchers office, Krohn felt that now was the time to retire. She had planned on retiring seven years ago, but decided to keep going, along with her husband. He retired in September due to his own health issues. I was going to retire earlier this year, but it will have been 30 years this July, Krohn said. I felt that if I worked 29 years, eight months, it looks like Im a quitter. So, I decided to stay the whole 30 years then retire in August. There is no replacement lined up for Krohn yet, but she has been busy training other dispatchers her job duties so the transition will be as smooth as possible. A former professional hairdresser has created three revolutionary hair products that claim to build texture and volume in seconds, and he sold 10,000 units in his first week online. Christopher Rea, 28, who is based in Adelaide, South Australia, left school in Year 10 to pursue a career in hairdressing, initially in his parents salon as an apprentice. At 16 he knew that he would create his own range of products, but it took seven years from when he moved into his own barbershop for his dream to be realised. Sculptr was born out of a desire to create a line that anybody could use, no matter what type of hair, style or concerns they had. Sculptr was born out of a desire to create a line that anybody could use, no matter what type of hair, style or concerns they had Christopher Rea (pictured), 28, who is based in Adelaide, South Australia, left school in Year 10 to pursue a career in hairdressing, initially in his parents salon as an apprentice 'In the beginning I did my research and I reached out to multiple companies within the industry,' Mr Rea told FEMAIL. 'My primary focus revolved around trialing and tweaking what we could create, then moving into the testing of the scents, the hold and the texture of the product; all in order to create my overall idealistic styling product range.' It took more than two years to create his signature Sculptr Clay ($35) and the Sculptr Styling Dust ($25) which promise to give volume to the majority of hair types on the market. Mr Rea also created a texture spray ($30) for those who are looking to keep their summer locks in check all year round. It took more than two years to create his signature Sculptr Clay ($35) and the Sculptr Styling Dust ($25) which promise to give volume to the majority of hair types on the market How do you avoid greasy hair? Greasy hair is never a good look. The best recommendation that I can give is to begin your morning routine with our Sculptr Dust, distributing throughout the hair, but focusing more so on the roots, rather than the ends. You want to work this throughout the roots, and then move onto our Sculptr Clay, applying majority of this product throughout the ends of the hair, and this time, avoiding the roots. The great benefit of using the Sculptr Dust is that it will act as an absorber and it will help draw out any of that oil or excess moisture from the roots, with the Sculptr Clay then being applied to help finalise the style and give that matte finish to the look. Advertisement 'One of the unique qualities of Sculptr is that all of the styling products can be used in conjunction with one another, which allows different styling looks to be made for whatever the mood,' he said. 'We are almost at the stage of being plastic-free with all of our packaging, with the next range we released to be completely glass.' Mr Rea is adament that his products will always be animal cruelty free and vegan. 'Our overall aim is to simplify styling, making it easier for the individual to achieve that salon style, in their own home,' he said. 'Our overall aim is to simplify styling, making it easier for the individual to achieve that salon style, in their own home,' he said So far the entire product range is selling 'extremely well', with 10,000 units bought during the seven days after the website launched. 'The definite favourite is the Sculptr Clay, which makes sense to me as a barber, because the majority of men are after that natural looking finish, but also a product which enables that pliable but firm hold,' he said. 'My favourite thing about our clay is that it is a super malleable product; it supports the style you are trying to achieve.' In the future Mr Rea has his sights set on creating a hair retention shampoo and conditioner. The Zimbabwean government on Friday, March 20, reported its first case of coronavirus. Health Minister Obadiah Moyo, who made the announcement on state television ZTV, said the coronavirus case is a man who returned to his home in the tourist resort town of Victoria Falls from Britain last weekend. He said: This is the first case of COVID-19 in Zimbabwe. The patient is a 38-year-old Caucasian man who had travelled to Manchester in the UK on the 7th of March and returned to his home in Victoria Falls on the 15th of March via South Africa. READ ALSO COVID-19: Make Vitamin C Your Best Friend Stephanie Linus AFP reported that though the countrys public health system has been suffering for years from a lack of equipment and drugs, the Zimbabwean government has announced a raft of steps to prevent the virus from spreading and they include the cancellation of public and sporting events and constraints on gatherings. Schools will also close on Tuesday, March 24. PR-Inside.com: 2020-03-21 17:50:25 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 872 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / March 21, 2020 / Mota Ventures Corp. (CSE:MOTA)(FSE:1WZ:GR)(OTC:PEMTF) (the "Company" or "Mota") is pleased to announce that since the launch of the Pure Herbal Immunity Blend under the First Class brand on March 14th, 2020, it has had an exceptional reception, acquiring 1,838 new customers.The all-natural Immunity Blend is made from 100% pure essential oils, including cinnamon leaf, lemon, clove bud, lime, eucalyptus globulus, rosemary, peppermint, spearmint and oregano. Due to customer demand for pure and efficacious products to support the immune system, the Company will be launching an Immune CBD oil, along with an Elderberry Gummy product on Monday, March 23rd. The new Immune CBD product contains CBD, B3, B12, Vitamin C and Zinc. Based on the success of the launch, First Class will be increasing marketing efforts throughout the US.The Company plans to offer similar immune products in Europe through its Sativida brand, which currently retails product in various jurisdictions in Europe, including Spain, Portugal, Austria, Germany, France and the United Kingdom.The Company anticipates the completion of the Sativida transaction in the next seven days. Further to its January 10, 2020 news release, the Company will acquire the intellectual property and trade names of Sativida from VIDA BCN LABS SL (Spain) and Sativida OU (Estonia) (collectively, "Sativida"). The Company will license both back to Sativida in exchange for a royalty associated with the gross revenues generated by Sativida."As our customers around the globe face challenges in their daily lives, we are working diligently to provide products to help families with natural health needs. Our supply chain is operating uninterrupted and we are quickly working to expand our immune support product line. We stand ready to continue to adapt to market changes and innovate new products to take advantage of the numerous opportunities ahead", states Ryan Hoggan, CEO of the Company.About Mota Ventures Corp.Mota is seeking to become a vertically integrated global CBD brand. Its plan is to cultivate and extract CBD into high-quality value-added products from its Latin American operations and distribute it both domestically and internationally. Its existing operations in Colombia consist of a 2.5-hectare site that has optimal year-round growing conditions and access to all necessary infrastructure. Mota is looking to establish sales channels and a distribution network internationally through the acquisition of the Sativida and First Class CBD brands. Low cost production, coupled with international, direct to customer sales channels will provide the foundation for the success of Mota.About SatividaSativida is a producer and online retailer of CBD and branded CBD products in various jurisdictions in Europe, including Spain and the United Kingdom. Sativida currently develops and retails a vast range of organic CBD oils and cosmetics across Europe and is currently expanding its distribution network internationally. For more information on Sativida, readers are encouraged to review their website, www.sativida.es ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORSMOTA VENTURES CORP.Ryan HogganChief Executive OfficerFor further information, readers are encouraged to contact the President of the Company, Joel Shacker, at +604.423.4733 or by email at IR@ motaventuresco.com or www.motaventuresco.com Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release, which has been prepared by management.Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking StatementAll statements in this press release, other than statements of historical fact, are "forward-looking information" with respect to the Company within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including with respect to its completion of the acquisition of Sativida, the expansion of Sativida's business, its plans to become a vertically integrated global CBD brand, its plans to cultivate and extract cannabis to produce CBD and high-quality value added CBD products in Latin America for distribution domestically and internationally. The Company provides forward-looking statements for the purpose of conveying information about current expectations and plans relating to the future and readers are cautioned that such statements may not be appropriate for other purposes. By its nature, this information is subject to inherent risks and uncertainties that may be general or specific and which give rise to the possibility that expectations, forecasts, predictions, projections or conclusions will not prove to be accurate, that assumptions may not be correct and that objectives, strategic goals and priorities will not be achieved. These risks and uncertainties include but are not limited those identified and reported in the Company's public filings under the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com . Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise unless required by law.SOURCE: Mota Ventures Corp. Jacksonville Police ARRESTS, CITATIONS Two juveniles were cited on city ordinance violations for disorderly conduct after fighting in the dining hall at MacMurray College, 447 E. College Ave., at 5:41 p.m. Thursday, according to police. Vanessa N. Rupe, 33, of Jacksonville was cited on a charge of driving while license is suspended after a traffic stop at 2:02 a.m. Friday at West Morton Avenue and Libby Lane. A 14-year-old boy was arrested at 4:21 a.m. Friday on a charge of criminal damage to property after police said he threw a rock through the window of Presbyterian Church Day Care at 870 W. College Ave. A 14-year-old boy was cited on a curfew ordinance violation at 4:53 a.m. Friday in the 800 block of West College Avenue. ACCIDENTS Ezzealldin Abbas Al-Mosawi, 28, of Jacksonville was cited on charges of disobeying a stop sign and having no valid drivers license after the car he was driving and one being driven by Mary A. Elmore, 21, of Jacksonville collided at 5:36 p.m. Thursday at North East and East Wolcott streets. Al-Mosawi was treated at the scene but declined further treatment, according to a police report. Elmore was taken to Passavant Area Hospital for precautionary treatment, police said. She was being cited on a charge of having no valid drivers license, according to the report. VANDALISM Someone threw a gallon of red paint in the back of a construction trailer in the 200 block of East State Street, according to a report filed at 8:59 a.m. Friday. Compiled by David C.L. Bauer Former Congress MLAs whose resignations led to the collapse of the Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh returned to Bhopalon Saturday evening. Most of these legislators, all supporters of Jyotiraditya Scindia, were camping in Bengaluru as an 18-day long political drama unfolded in Madhya Pradesh. Earlier in the day, they joined the BJP in New Delhi at the residence of saffron party's national president J P Nadda. From there they returned to Bhopal in three chartered flights, sources said. "Twenty-one (now former) MLAs of Congress reached Bhopal after joining BJP in New Delhi in the presence of Nadda and Scindia. Another former MLA Suresh Dhakad could not go to Delhi due to the sudden demise of his daughter," Pankaj Chaturvedi, a close confidant of Scindia, told PTI. BJP leaders welcomed them at Bhopal airport. Dr Prabhuram Choudhary, one of the rebel MLAs and a former minister, said, "We were never under any pressure as being alleged. We and our leader Jyotiraditya Scindia were sidelined by Kamal Nath. Our leader was even told to hit the streets. "We worked for the Congress for a long period. If we had not been pushed to the wall, why would we have taken this step?" he asked. After landing in Bhopal, the former MLAs also visited BJP leader and former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's house. Following the resignation of former Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, 22 Congress legislators in his camp resigned from the Assembly. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) By Associated Press PHILADELPHIA: Newscasts bring word of "hot zones" and "lockdowns". Conversations are littered with talk of "quarantines" and "isolation". Leaders urge "social distancing" and "sheltering in place"and "flattening the curve". In an instant, our vocabulary has changed - just like everything else. It seems like just days since people were looking up "caucus" for clarity on the American political process or "acquit" to decode the Senates verdict in President Donald Trumps impeachment. Now, those turning to online dictionaries are parsing the difference between epidemics and pandemics, ventilators and respirators, seeking some black-and-white answers in the face of total uncertainty. "Words matter. They provide comfort and order amid chaos. They provide solidarity in an age of social distancing," says John Kelly, a senior research editor at Dictionary.com. A look at the fast-evolving lexicon of the coronavirus pandemic: WARTIME METAPHORS Trump, who spent weeks brushing off the severity of the crisis, is now touting himself as "a wartime president" leading the fight against the virus. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is equating ventilators to "missiles" in the battle. French President Emmanuel Macron has bluntly declared: "We are at war." Around the world, words typically used in relation to nuclear fallout, active shooters, deadly storms and war are now being deployed to discuss disease. John Baugh, a linguist at Washington University in St. Louis, says doctors are desperate to shake the public to attention, using metaphors they think can convey the seriousness of the problem. Politicians may be doing the same - or may be trying to capitalize on catastrophe. "They are intended to grab attention, whether its politically motivated or for some other reason," Baugh said. SHIFTING DEFINITIONS After the virus gripped China, onlookers saw a "lockdown" at the outbreaks epicenter of Wuhan, with public transit coming to a halt, monitors enforcing orders keeping people inside and officials going door-to-door searching for infected people to be forced into quarantines. As COVID-19 moved west, though, the meaning of such terms has morphed, and leaders definitions of disaster jargon has been as varied as the public's interpretations. Cuomo, whose state has the largest number of virus cases in the US, created a "containment zone' in New Rochelle last week. Paired with an order dispatching the National Guard - though only for cleaning and food distribution - the phrase conjured images of mass quarantine even as businesses remained open and people were free to come and go. Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio have subsequently aired different messages on the possibility of more severe restrictions in the biggest American city, with the mayor urging residents to prepare to "shelter in place" and the governor criticizing the idea and the language. Cuomo has dismissed "shelter in place' as a relic of the Atomic Age, when people were trained to get to an interior windowless room until they got an "all clear" message. "Now, that's not what people really mean, but that's what it sounds like. Communicate what you mean without using terms that nobody understands and only incites panic," he said. With people clamoring to know what's next, it's important that a San Francisco "shelter in place" not be confused with a Wuhan "lockdown," but it's hard to get the same message projected everywhere. "People are using different terms somewhat interchangeably," said Dr. Irwin Redlener, an expert on disaster preparedness and public health at Columbia University. The tug-of-war over terminology echoes the patchwork of measures that state and local governments have taken, he said. VIRUS VOCABULARY Kathleen Hall Jamieson cringes when scientists toss out statements of "morbidity' and "mortality" in the same breath, when public officials warn of "asymptomatic" people posing a threat, and when news conferences are peppered with words like "vector" and "transmission". "They are incomprehensible to many in the public," said the University of Pennsylvania communications expert, who co-edited "The Oxford Handbook of the Science of Science Communication". "Public health officials need to translate their technical language into intelligible language," she said. That means saying something like "not showing any symptoms" instead of "asymptomatic", using simple verbs like "spread" versus "transmit", and opting for the clarity of "hand-washing" over "hygiene". But Hall Jamieson marvels at how Dr. Anthony Fauci and others have managed to get the public to grasp a complicated medical concept with the phrase "flattening the curve", often accompanied by visual hand cues. And many see "social distancing" to be the greatest pandemic-era addition the vernacular yet easily understood phrasing thats helped communicate to millions that they need to keep a safe berth to avoid spreading the virus. "Thats really taken off and (it's) a term that probably will have a life that outlives this outbreak," says Eric Acton, a linguist at Eastern Michigan University. REBRANDING, OR SEEKING LEVITY "We now have a name for the disease," the head of the World Health Organization, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced on February 11, declaring it coronavirus. It doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, and no obivous acronym like AIDS or SARS or MERS has arisen as a replacement. Seeking to rebrand, Trump and his allies have taken to calling it the "Chinese virus", which many consider racist. Alaska Rep. Don Young played on the coronavirus' linguistic similarity to a libation often consumed with a lime wedge, dismissing it as a beer virus overblown by media hysteria. And others bored with the limitations of COVID-19 and the even clunkier name of the virus that causes it - severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 - have come up with their own shorthand. "One of my students just referred to the virus as 'The Ronies'," Acton said on Thursday after a research group meeting conducted virtually. Online, where people are chronicling their quarantini mixology (typically Emergen-C and a favored spirit), "Rona' is being popularized to refer to the pandemic. There are doubts it will gain widespread use. "The genies out of the bottle. Its either COVID-19 or just the coronavirus," says Dr. Scott Ratzan, editor-in-chief of the Journal of Health Communications. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Asip Hasani (The Jakarta Post) Tulungagung, East Java Sat, March 21, 2020 16:00 662 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad206c73a65 1 National IllegalAnimalTrade,dolphin,protected-animals,East-Java,Tulungagung,police,Fisherman Free Tulungagung Police in East Java arrested a fisherman for catching nine long-beaked common dolphins from the sea to be sold to a local fish trader. The dolphin is included in the list of protected plants and animals in a 2018 environment and forestry ministerial regulation. The suspect, identified as Sunar, 49, was apprehended at his home in Sine hamlet, Kalidawir district in Tulungagung on Friday. A few hours earlier, investigators seized nine dead dolphins from a trader at a nearby fish market. Their fins had already been butchered. "I didn't mean to catch dolphins. I found them dead, entangled in my fishing nets," Sunar told journalists during a press briefing at the Tulungagung Police headquarters on Saturday. Read also: How you can help conserve Indonesia's endangered species Tulungagung Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Eva Guna Pandia said the police had gathered sufficient evidence they believed indicated that the fisherman had intentionally hunted dolphins. "Fishermen know where to catch dolphins or mackerel fish, he said. If we only found one or two dolphins, we may have believed him. However, we found nine. Eva said the police would investigate further to discover whether there was a black market of protected animals operating along the southern coast of Tulungagung. The police also arrested Febri, a fish trader accused of buying the dolphins from Sunar. According to the police, Febri paid Rp 5,000 (32 US cents) per kilogram for the dolphins. Each dolphin weighed about 30 kg. Febri is accused of selling the dolphins at a market on Sine Beach, about 30 kilometers south of Tulungagung. A 1990 law on natural resources conservation law restricts all people from catching protected species. Anyone convicted of violating the law faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison, as well as a fine of Rp 100 million. (kuk) Satellite operator OneWeb lofted 34 more spacecraft today (March 21) to beef up its burgeoning broadband constellation. The satellites launched atop a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 1:06 p.m. EDT (1806 GMT; 10:06 p.m. local Baikonur time). All 34 spacecraft were successfully deployed into low Earth orbit by 3 hours and 45 minutes after liftoff, OneWeb representatives said. Deployment from the Soyuz, which is operated by French company Arianespace, occurred at about 280 miles (450 kilometers) above our planet. The 325-lb. (147 kilograms) satellites will now cruise up to their operational orbit, which lies at an altitude of 745 miles (1,200 km). Video: Watch Soyuz launch 34 OneWeb satellites into orbit! In photos: OneWeb launches new global satellite internet constellation An Arianespace Soyuz rocket launches from Baikonur Cosmodrome on March 21, 2020, carrying 34 internet satellites for the company OneWeb. (Image credit: Roscosmos via OneWeb) This was the third launch for OneWeb, which lofted six satellites in February 2019 and 34 more last month , also aboard Soyuz rockets. And many more missions are coming: The company, which has headquarters in London and Virginia, intends to build an initial network of 650 satellites, which will provide internet service to people around the world. That service will begin soon, if everything goes according to plan. "OneWeb's first customer demos are scheduled for the end of 2020, and availability of commercial services, for sectors such as maritime, aviation, government and enterprise, [is] scheduled for the end of 2021," company representatives wrote in a prelaunch statement . OneWeb has dedicated its third broadband satellite launch to the memory of the world's first spacewalker, cosmonaut Alexei Leonov. The launch comes 55 years after Leonov's spacewalk. (Image credit: OneWeb) That statement also revealed that OneWeb had dedicated this launch to cosmonaut Alexei Leonov , who in 1965 performed the first-ever spacewalk. Leonov died in October 2019 at the age of 85. OneWeb isn't the only company with satellite-internet ambitions, of course. SpaceX has already launched 360 spacecraft for its Starlink broadband constellation , which could eventually harbor tens of thousands of satellites. And Amazon wants to loft several thousand internet craft of its own. Such projects are fundamentally changing the orbital population and also, many astronomers worry , the night sky. Humanity has launched just 9,300 objects to space in all of history, according to the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs , and Starlink may end up dwarfing that number all by itself. This story was updated at 6:45 p.m. EDT on March 21 with news of successful satellite deployment. Mike Wall is the author of " Out There " (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate ), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall . Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook . Imagine walking the deserted city walls in Dubrovnik, having the Adriatic all to yourself. Or waiting in complete silence to see if Nessie shows up in the Loch. A tiny foolhardy monster inside me is regretting the fact that I should have travelled to some remote romantic place to be marooned during this pandemic. But youre smarter than that and we are all now looking to flatten that curve and beat the virus. Before you sigh, let me show you how you can travel the world without having to leave your home. Of course, were starting with Valhalla Murders. Its a straightforward murder mystery that takes you to miles of snow and startles you with blood and more blood. Sometimes, its just good to sit back and enjoy a good mystery up in snowy climes. Wait, what?! Youre hungry already? We just got started with our what to watch list! Fine! Someone Feed Phil! Its a show that will have you clicking the pause button and getting something to eat from your pantry groaning with all that overstocking! From the crab omelette to a mangosteen Phil will try anything. And hes a lot like us: We go where the good food is! Why would you want to eat the same ole daal chawal when you can have snake soup or gumbo? COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show Speaking of gumbo, let me take you to Korea for a taste of Bibimbap - which if I may say so - is a distant cousin. The flavours and the choice will keep you licking those chopsticks! And soju, of course. If you watch as many Korean TV dramas as I do, youd be well advised to open up a bottle of soju when you watch these shows. I'm sure youve binged on The Stranger and fallen in love with the marvelous way in which the justice system and the police work in Korea. Its time to watch a new cop show. Its called Voice. This time an intrepid cop teams up with a voice profiler and solves the murder of No, I'll let the sounds on this one help you decide. Just as I binge watched the entire season! If we travel to the lands in the news for all the wrong reasons, then you will find shows like Fauda, which literally means Chaos but there is some really great content coming out of the Middle East. I watched Justice which has a woman lawyer who shows up in Abu Dhabi and makes her mark in a male-dominated system with the help of everything that she learnt in law school in the US and a whole lot of grit. But its a straightforward and predictable show. If you want to put a smile on your face, watch Alis Wedding. It is a showcase of culture that is so similar to our own, you wish more people would see it. Yes, it is silly in parts, but then why do we need to see murders and horrors only? So I went ahead and watched so many silly comedies from the Middle East I thought I had time traveled to the times when Monty Python did sketch shows and we watched the videotapes on a VCR borrowed from the neighbourhood uncle (Dad just hated those things! Sketch comedies and VCRs). By the way, theres so much of Monty Python available on Netflix youd be happy to watch it one after the other. And yes, its okay to not want to choose your favourite film: Life or Brian or Monty Pythons Holy Grail. I even love the Python documentaries. Speaking of documentaries, my attention has been often captured by something everyone should understand: Dirty Money. Season 2 has just dropped on Netflix, and it truly is an eye opener. To what lengths will you go to fill your coffers? I am amazed at how the bottom line drives banks and car companies and yes, people, to lie, jump through loopholes and even murder to hide their misdeeds. These stories of greed are so jaw dropping, you will want to step back and be grateful to the whistleblowers who do the right thing. How far can banks go to protect and even launder drug money? Will the son-in-law of the American president ever be brought to book? Will the man responsible for making essential drugs beyond affordable ever repent? Both seasons of the docu series are fascinating. Both Netflix and Amazon Prime are making your forced homestay more interesting. But the last time I wholeheartedly recommended a show on Amazon Prime it was a Neil Gaiman series called Good Omens. But Netflix has now breached into Africa, and have come up with something simply incredible. The series is called Queen Sono. It opens up a whole new continent of content. You get a glimpse of life as you would imagine it. Plus the protagonist is a sassy woman. There is action and characters you think you know, and surprises galore. This is one show you just cannot miss. Until the next week then! Stay safe, stay socially distanced and yes, lets flatten this curve and beat this unseen enemy that is keeping us all at bay. Manisha Lakhe is a poet, film critic, traveller, founder of Caferati an online writers forum, hosts Mumbais oldest open mic, and teaches advertising, films and communication. A 24-year-old post-graduate student was stabbed to death and her two sisters seriously injured when they were attacked on Saturday allegedly by a youth who had been stalking her in Talera town of Bundi district. The deceased has been identified as Pooja Goswami (24), a resident of Shivaji Nagar who was studying in Bundi government P.G. college. An autopsy showed she had received 21 critical injuries in the murderous attack. The accused youth, identified as Mahesh Rathore, fled from the spot after the crime and efforts are underway to nab him, Talera police station DSP Deepak Garg said. Rathore, who lived in the victims' neighbourhood, had been stalking Pooja for some time and had allegedly hit her on March 16 following which she had filed a complaint at Talera police station but the cops allegedly took no action against him, according to sources. Pooja and her younger sister Priyanka (22) were on their way to market from their home in Shivaji Nagar at around 3 pm on Saturday when Rathore accosted them. He thrashed Pooja repeatedly and then lashed out at her multiple times with a sharp weapon, her killing her on the spot, they said. When Priyanka tried to protect her elder sister, the accused also attacked her with the sharp weapon and then entered the girls' house where he targeted their sister Rekha (26). The eldest sibling, Renu, managed to save herself by fleeing towards the railway station. The three injured sisters were rushed to government hospital in Talera where the doctor declared Pooja brought dead. Priyanka, who suffered critical injuries, was referred to New Medical College hospital in Kota, where she is undergoing medical treatment, police said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) By Express News Service CHENNAI: Health Minister C Vijayabaskar on Saturday sought more cooperation from people in carrying out measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus. He expressed concern over the continuous movement of people in large numbers through flights, trains and buses even after the State government was creating awareness about the need for preventing the spread of the disease. Though the government had made all arrangements for screening everyone arriving by various modes of transport, the number of travellers did not recede. The Minister said this while replying to Leader of the Opposition MK Stalin during the zero hour in the Assembly. He said there would be no dearth of funds for preventive and precautionary measures against Corona and already the Chief Minister had allocated `60 crore towards this. Every day, I have been updating the press and media in a transparent manner about the number of persons tested positive for Coronavirus, the number of persons screened and the number of persons who have been home quarantined as well as in isolation wards, he added. He also said that already, 1,120 beds were available for isolation wards. During Saturdays discussions, directions have been given to triple the number of beds for isolation wards. Similarly, the number of ventilators would also be increased significantly. The procedure for buying new ventilators and other equipment have been relaxed so that they could be bought quickly. All preventive measures have been taken on a war-footing. Orders for buying a large number of personal protective equipment, including one lakh N95 masks and 10 lakh triple layer masks, have been placed. Retired doctors who are willing to serve now on a voluntary basis are being contacted by a committee of experts, he said. PM greets CM for measures to prevent spread of COVID-19 Chennai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday called up Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami over telephone and congratulated him for the measures being taken to prevent the spread of Coronavirus in Tamil Nadu in an efficient manner. Thanking the Prime Minister for the gesture, the Chief Minister explained in detail the precautionary and preventive measures being taken. Palaniswami also informed the Prime Minister that his nine point advisory to keep Corona away would be adhered to strictly in the State during Janta curfew on Sunday. HC judge donates months salary Chennai: Justice S M Subramaniam of Madras High Court on Saturday donated his one month salary (Rs 2.25 lakh) to the State government to provide solace to the poor and people working in unorganised sectors, who will face hardships due to loss of income on account of lockdowns. Chennai Metro only for people on essential duty till March 31 Chennai: Furthering its COVID-19 precautionary measures, Chennai Metro Rail has announced that its services from March 23 to 31 will be open only for people who are on essential duty. On these days, Metro services will be unavailable between 4:30 am and 6 am, 10 am and 4 pm and 8 pm and 10 pm. Metro Rail Services from 6 am to 8 am, 8 am to 10 am and 4 pm to 8 pm are for those on essential duty. Metro trains will not be operated on Sunday due to the curfew. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Coronavirus testing in New York City will be focused primarily on hospitalized patients under new guidelines announced Friday, and no tests for asymptomatic people will be conducted, even in the case of first responders and healthcare workers. The recommendations come as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases continue to increase in the city; by Saturday morning, updated totals showed a 90% jump in 24 hours. On Friday evening, City Hall said the Department of Health would direct healthcare facilities to immediately stop testing non-hospitalized patients for the virus unless test results impact the clinical management of the patient," which the city says gives medical facilities some discretion if they feel a test is vitally important. City Hall also said the Department of Health would start advising providers and hospitals to stop testing asymptomatic people including healthcare workers and first responders. But Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbott told reporters during a press conference Friday that testing asymptomatic people ultimately was a waste of time and the city was focused on testing people with chronic underlying illnesses that are not getting better. We actively discourage asymptomatic people from getting tested because it's squandering scarce resources, not only in terms of tests, but also in terms of the personal protective equipment that's required by health care workers when doing these tests, which include masks, gowns, gloves, all of which we will desperately need, as this epidemic continues, Barbot told reporters. We are only at the very beginning, and so it's incumbent on us to protect those valuable resources, and testing asymptomatic people is a waste of time, she continued. STATEN ISLAND CONFIRMED CASES GROW City Hall said Saturday morning that the number of confirmed coronavirus cases citywide stood at 7,530 (up from 5,151 on Friday morning), which includes 375 cases on Staten Island (up from 242), and 45 deaths across the city -- a 73% increase in deaths citywide from a day earlier. The Advance reported on Friday that at least two Staten Islanders have died from COVID-19 related illness at Staten Island University Hospital. According to sources, the deaths were a man and a woman, each in their 80s. Officials have cautioned that an increase in confirmed cases is tied to the states increased testing capacity. On Thursday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the state had conducted 8,000 coronavirus tests, which he predicted in turn, would drive up the number of confirmed cases exponentially. The jump in new cases both on the Island and around the city comes on the heels of the opening of the boroughs first drive-through coronavirus testing site in Ocean Breeze on Thursday. The site, located at 777 Seaview Ave., will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week. De Blasio has said drive-through sites will be reserved for serious cases only and not for everyone. But Mayor Bill de Blasio has made it clear that drive-thru test sites are reserved for serious cases only and not for everyone. The city or state is working on a priority basis and a reservation basis," the mayor told reporters Friday of the new testing sites. What we have all agreed to is on the testing centers weve announced around Health + Hospitals facilities, you call, you speak to a clinician, they determine if you need testing. If youre a priority person, you get a reservation, he continued. This is the way its going to go for testing for the foreseeable future until and unless we have a really, really substantial supply of testing and we can have different standards. But that is clear. FOLLOW SYDNEY KASHIWAGI ON TWITTER. RELATED COVERAGE: *** CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF CORONAVIRUS IN NEW YORK *** Coughs, sneezes, surfaces: Heres how coronavirus is and isnt spread How the coronavirus hit Staten Island: A timeline of the pandemic in our borough Governor seeks to limit coronavirus impact on hospitals NYPD Commissioner: Cooperation, not closures, expected for ban on dining at restaurants and bars A child carries home a meal given out as part of Stamford Public Schools' "Grab and Go Meals for Kids" program, which is part of the city's response to the coronavirus pandemic on March 17, 2020 in Stamford, Connecticut. (Photo: AFP/Getty Images/John Moore) The WFP pointed out that more than 860 million children - roughly half the world's student population - were having to stay away from schools and universities due to shutdowns aimed at halting the spread of COVID-19. In addition to missing out on learning, hundreds of thousands of children are now missing free school lunches, the UN agency said. The WFP said nearly nine million children out of the 18 million the organisation itself feeds through school meals across 61 countries were no longer receiving them. The agency said it was looking into alternative ways of providing children out of school with food, including take-home meals. "Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, some 300 million primary schoolchildren are now missing out on school meals on which they depend," WFP spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs told reporters in an online briefing from Geneva. She warned that the number of children deprived of WFP-provided school meals "is set to rise in coming days and weeks". "In countries where schools are closed, WFP is evaluating possible alternatives. "This includes providing take-home rations in lieu of the meals, home delivery of food and provision of cash or vouchers," she said. Byrs stressed that without alternative solutions, many children around the world blocked from attending school would otherwise go hungry. She said the idea of take-home rations would benefit not only children but their families too. The governments of wealthy countries such as the United States, Britain, France and Canada have adopted special mechanisms to ensure that their poorest schoolchildren will not go hungry. But the situation is much more precarious for children living in countries plagued by extreme poverty, armed conflict, and whose health systems are weak or almost non-existent. "We can shift to online learning, but not online eating. Some solutions are needed," Carmen Burbano, director of the WFP's school feeding division, told AFP. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. Civil Court in West Brighton was shut down Friday after officials learned a Manhattan-based lawyer who died earlier this week of complications related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) had been at the courthouse 10 days ago. Attorney Richard Weber Jr. appeared for a No-Fault proceeding at the Castleton Avenue courthouse on March 10, said Lucian Chalfen, a state court spokesman. Court officials contacted the Health Department on learning Friday that Weber had been in the courthouse last week, said Chalfen. *** CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF CORONAVIRUS IN NEW YORK *** The Health Department recommended anyone who was exposed to Weber stay home for seven days, practice social distancing and wash their hands frequently, said the spokesman. All judicial and non-judicial personnel will be contacted and informed of the appropriate precautionary measures, Chalfen said. The Department of Citywide Administration will thoroughly clean the building, said the spokesman. On Friday, signs were posted on the buildings entrances instructing court users to go to the Staten Island Courthouse at 26 Central Ave., St. George. The boroughs main court facility, it houses the Civil and Criminal Terms of state Supreme Court, as well as Criminal Court. An alert on the state court web site www.courts.state.ny.us said Civil Court operations have been relocated to the Staten Island Courthouse until further notice. Weber, 57, was a partner at the New York- and New Jersey-based law firm of Gallo Vitucci Klar, according to a report in Law.com. He was based in lower Manhattan. RELATED COVERAGE: There are now 242 confirmed coronavirus cases on Staten Island, a 223% spike over a 2-day period Coughs, sneezes, surfaces. Heres how coronavirus is and isnt spread. How the coronavirus turned S.I. upside down: A timeline of the pandemic here Governor seeks to limit coronavirus impact on hospitals Noida: A new coronavirus positive case was reported in Noida on Saturday (March 21, 2020). The patient belongs to Supretech Capetown Society located in Sector 74. The society has been currently sealed to avoid the spread of virus after District Magistrate's order. The entry and exit of vehicles have also been banned in the sector for three days - March 21 to March 23. The district administration has requested people to stay in home quarantine as a preventive measure in the emergency situation. Noida police on Friday imposed section 144 in the city and ordered closure of all malls to avoid gathering. Meanwhile, in a major step to prevent the spread of virus the Uttar Pradesh government on Saturday (March 21, 2020) announced that his government will give Rs 1,000 each to 15 lakh daily wage labourers and 20.37 lakh construction workers to help them meet their daily needs. CM Adityanath appealed to people not to panic and believe in rumours of lockdown and shortage of esential commodities due to fear over coronavirus and urged people to maintain social distancing and adhere to 'Janta curfew' called by the Prime Minister on Mrach 22. A total of 23 people have been found to be infected with coronavirus in the Uttar Pradesh. The number of cases in India has gone up to 258 as per the Ministry of Health. Researchers at the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC), working with an international network of scientists, have identified an inflammatory regulatory circuit in the eye controlled by a subtype of endothelial cells, the cells that line the interior of blood vessels. The discovery was made by analyzing gene expression in 8000 cells of the choroid--the vascular layer at the rear of the eye between the retina and the sclera. The results, published today in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, open new perspectives on the study and treatment of retinal vascular diseases and inflammatory disorders that affect the choroid. In the retina, photoreceptors capture the light energy entering the eye and convert it into electrical pulses that give rise to visual perception, explained Ignacio Benedicto, CNIC researcher and study coordinator. "The activitiy and survival of photoreceptors depends on the choroid. The blood vessels that irrigate the choroid are essential for correct retina function because they provide oxygen and nutrients to the photoreceptors and remove waste products." Enrique Rodriguez-Boulan, investigator at Weill Cornell Medicine and study codirector, said: Failure of choroid function is associated with the development of ocular diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (called AMD), which causes blindness and affects 8.7% of the world population and 25% of people older than 80 years". In Spain alone, there are an estimated 700,000 people with AMD, and this blindness-linked disease is set to become increasingly common in the future due to progressive population aging. Unfortunately, the most frequent form of AMD is incurable, and little is known about what causes the disease. This is in part due to the limited state of knowledge about the cell components of the choroid and the mechanisms of molecular communication between them. The study published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine provides valuable information about how the endothelial cells in the choroid may regulate the development of inflammatory and vascular diseases in the retina. Three subtypes of endothelial cells The authors analyzed the choroid of adult mice using the 'single cell RNAseq' technique, which allows analysis of gene expression simultaneously in thousands of individual cells. This analysis revealed that the choroid contains at least three types of endothelial cells. "One subtype is located specifically in the vessels closest to the retina and expresses the gene Indian Hedgehog at levels 300 times higher than are observed in endothelial cells from other organs," said Benedicto. Indian Hedgehog encodes a protein called IHH, which is secreted to the cell exterior. The research team therefore wanted to identify the cells that respond to this endothelial signal. First author Guillermo Lehmann, currently an investigator at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, explained: "Thanks to the use of transgenic mice, we were able to show that IHH acts on a population of pluripotent perivascular cells whose existence in the choroid was undocumented until now. In response to IHH, these cells regulate the numbers of a type of immune cells called mast cells in the choroid." The team also found that when they eliminated the expression of IHH in the endothelium, choroidal macrophages reduced the expression of the anti-inflammatory marker CD206. Retinal damage in these mice provoked an exacerbated inflammatory response and a more pronounced vision loss than seen in similarly treated control animals. The results open new perspectives on the study and treatment of retinal vascular diseases and inflammatory conditions affecting the choroid. The Parsons Sun is offering access to its coronavirus stories with no payment required. To continue supporting our reporting, please consider a digital subscription. If you have traveled to Johnson County since March 15, the Labette County Health Department now requires you to be in self-quarantine for two weeks. The department added Johnson County, where COVID-19 is spreading through community contact, on the travel warning list in Labette County. Other places on that list include California, Florida, New York and Washington state, as well as Eagle, Summit, Pitkin and Gunnison counties in Colorado. Cruise, river boat or international travel remain on the list as well. Local health and emergency management officials say the guidance is that if you are within 6 feet for 10 minutes of a person with COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, you could get the disease and will need to be quarantined for two weeks. Labette County, as of Thursday, had six people in quarantine for various reasons. During a 14-day quarantine, the person should call the health department if he or she experiences symptoms (fever, cough, shortness of breath). She or he should take their temperature twice a day as well. If the person in quarantine did not get ill or have a temperature spike in that two weeks and feels fine, he or she will be released from quarantine without requiring a test for COVID-19, according to Charlie Morse, Labette County Emergency Management director. The Local Emergency Planning Committee met on Friday morning via video conference to discuss travel to Johnson County and other issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic as cases in Kansas grow. No positive cases have been found in Labette County yet. On Friday afternoon, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported 44 cases in Kansas. Only one death has been reported, a Wyandotte County man. Most cases are in Johnson County, 23. Wyandotte County has nine cases. Butler, Leavenworth and Morris counties have two cases each. Cherokee, Douglas, Franklin, Jackson, Linn and Sedgwick counties have one case each. A 52-year-old man in Columbus learned he tested positive for the virus on Wednesday night. He is in quarantine and is not hospitalized. Lisa Stivers, Labette County Health Department administrator, discussed how long the coronavirus lives once expelled from its host, based on a study released Thursday. She said the virus lives three hours in the air; four hours on copper-type surfaces; 24 hours on cardboard; and two to three days on plastic and stainless steel. Stivers said Labette Health has sent 34 samples for testing. Of those, 17 came from Labette County and 13 of those came back negative with four results pending. The rest of the samples came from clinics in other counties. She said Johnson County is no longer testing patients for COVID-19 unless they are in the hospital. If theyre sick and dont require hospitalization, theyre just saying stay home and you have to be 72 hours fever-free before you can leave your house, Stivers said. She said the decision to require quarantine for recent travelers to Johnson County (on or after March 15) resulted from consultation with Dr. Sonya Culver, the health departments medical director. Morse said cattle sales and agriculture auctions can continue if people maintain a distance of 6 feet and do not have closer contact for a period of 10 minutes. Gov. Laura Kelly approved many exemptions to her executive orders to allow certain parts of the economy to remain active. Committee members also heard that Kansas Department of Transportation will close its Altamont facility. A local KDOT official, Priscilla Petersen, said the Altamont and other KDOT offices in Southeast Kansas will be closed from March 24 to April 3 at Kellys direction in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. KDOT will continue to respond to emergencies as necessary. The agency will continue to inspect active construction projects during this time. The new coronavirus causes mild to moderate symptoms in most adults. Older adults and people with existing health issues can develop severe illness, including pneumonia. People with a fever of 100.4 degrees or higher, a cough and shortness of breath are encouraged to call their medical provider. The Italian who imported coronavirus into Nigeria has been discharged from the Infectious Disease Hospital in Yaba, Lagos. News Direct understands that the patient, who tested positive for the coronavirus disease on February 28, left the hospital on Friday evening. The man flew into Nigeria from Milan, Italy, on February 24. He had reportedly lodged at a hotel close to Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos, before moving to Lafarge Africa Plc, Ewekoro in Ogun state, the next day. He fell sick on the third day of his stay in the country and tested positive for the disease two days after. Subsequently, 39 people who had contact with him were quarantined but one of them tested positive for the disease while others were discharged but the Nigerian who contracted the disease later recovered. Post Views: 7 A couple of weeks ago, Google decided to cancel its annual developer conference, I/O, which was supposed to take place in California in May, because of concerns regarding the spread of the novel coronavirus. That cancellation referred to the physical event. The search giant wanted to hold it online instead. Now though, that's not happening either. The company has announced that the online version of Google I/O 2020 is canceled too. Google I/O 2020 is thus fully dead at this point. The company remains committed to sharing ongoing Android updates through its developer blogs and community forums. In the two weeks that passed since the initial cancellation, the COVID-19 epidemic turned into a global pandemic, and we're seeing unprecedented measures taken by governments to impose social distancing. In California, there's a "shelter in place" mandate put into place by the Bay Area government, and this is in part why Google has decided to kill I/O completely. Of course concerns for the health of its staff and local communities is the other part. Source Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-06 22:47:18|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close RABAT, March 6 (Xinhua) -- Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita held talks with his Liberian counterpart Gbehzohngar Findley on Friday in Rabat on ways to strengthen bilateral relations. Morocco and Liberia have regular contacts and permanent exchanges on the means to promote cooperation, said Bourita in a press briefing after the talks. A multidisciplinary Moroccan mission will be sent to Liberia to explore areas of bilateral cooperation, particularly in the fields of vocational training, energy and agriculture, he added. The two countries have agreed to further strengthen their coordination at regional and international organizations, he said. Eleven more persons were tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Punjab on Saturday, taking the total tally of those affected in the state to 14. Seven persons from the Doaba region, including six family members of the 70-year-old man of Banga in SBS district who died due to Covid-19 on Wednesday, tested positive for the disease. Among the fresh cases reported included three from Mohali and one from Amritsar. The family members of the septuagenarian victim include his three sons, 36-year-old daughter, 40-year-old daughter-in-law and a granddaughter aged 17. All the members were shifted to the SBS Nagar civil hospital on Friday night from their village Pathlawa where they were kept in isolation. They are in a stable condition, the health department said. The samples of the six family members were tested at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, while those of the Hoshiarpur man were tested at the Government Medical College (GMC), Amritsar. Garhshankar man came in his contact The seventh positive person is a 68-year-old man of Moranwali village in Hoshiarpur districts Garhshankar subdivision who was in contact with the elderly victim from Banga. After contact tracing, a health department team took him and five members of his family to the Hoshiarpur civil hospital on Thursday night. His samples were sent to the Government Medical College, Amritsar, and he was tested positive. The family members had objected to their quarantine and villagers even protested outside the civil hospitals emergency ward on Friday demanding their release. The family includes a two-year-old. After preliminary examination, the five family members were sent back to their village. They have been kept in isolation at home. Hoshiarpur civil surgeon Dr Jasbir Singh said the family is under specific observation. To prevent the spread of Covid-1 9, the SBS Nagar and Hoshiarpur district administrations have started pasting stickers outside the houses of suspected individuals who have been home quarantined. The SBS Nagar deputy commissioner issued prohibitory orders on home quarantine, making violation of conditions of the quarantine a punishable offence. The DC also directed that every non-resident Indian (NRI) will be kept under 14-day home quarantine and if anyone violates the order action will be taken under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code. Amritsar patient returned from UK on March 19 The patient found positive in Amritsar is a 36-year-old man who returned from the United Kingdom three days ago. He was tested positive in confirmatory medical tests, taking the number of confirmed coronavirus patients in Amritsar district to two. The 36-year old man is a resident of Guru Ki Wadali village in Amritsar district. He landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport on March 19. After landing, he checked in a hotel in Delhi and called his relatives in Amritsar. He informed them that he was suffering from cough and fever and therefore instead of taking a flight to reach Amritsar, he will come by the Shatabdi Express train, said civil surgeon Dr Prabhdeep Kaur Johal. The health department immediately took him to the isolation ward of Guru Nanak Dev Hospital (GNDH) and sent his blood and throat swab samples to the Viral Research and Diagnostic Laboratory (VRDL) at GMC, Amritsar, for testing. He is stable, Dr Johal added. The health department has started a drive to trace his co-passengers who were aboard the flight and the Shatabdi express train. Dubai-returned man tests +ve in prelim scan A Punjab-resident, who returned from Dubai two days ago, has been tested positive for coronavirus in his preliminary test conducted at the Government Medical College Amritsar, on Saturday. He has been admitted to the isolation ward of Guru Nanak Dev Hospital and his final report is expected to come on Sunday evening, said Dr Sujata Sharma, principal, GMC, Amritsar. 28 medical teams for NRIs check-up in SBS Nagar SBS Nagar additional deputy commissioner (ADC general) Aditya Uppal said 28 medical teams have been constituted for check-up of NRIs across the district. He said 3,749 NRIs who came to the district on Saturday. The Hoshiarpur district administration ordered setting up of police check-points around Moranwali and no one allowed to leave the village. Police personnel have been deployed to keep a vigil on the villagers. As many as 148 people, who came in contact of deceased have been home quarantined in three districts. Of these, 96 are from SBS Nagar, 44 from Hoshiarpur district and eight in Jalandhar. Pathlawa village in Banga remained sealed with medical teams continuously monitoring the situation. Markets closed in SBS Nagar, Hoshiarpur The SBS Nagar and Hoshiarpur deputy commissioners, Vinay Bublani and Apneet Riyiat, on Saturday ordered closure of all shops, except those supplying essential commodities, in the two districts till March 25. Hospitals, banks, ATMs, medical stores, departmental stores, dairies, fruits shops, fuel stations and some other services will remain operational. The DCs also ordered that restaurants and hotels can only provide takeaways. He directed senior superintendent of police (SSP), sub-divisional magistrates (SDMs) concerned to implement the orders with an immediate effect. A senior official in SBS Nagar said markets remained largely open despite an earlier appeal by the district administration for observe closure. Pilot Peter Weber is bidding farewell to his former employer Compass Airline as it is expected to shut down, citing COVID-19, the novel coronavirus, as a factor. The airline flew regional routes for American Airlines as American Eagle and Delta as Delta Connection officially said it will end operations on April 7. The 28-year-old Bachelor star not only reminisced on his time with the company but also encouraged his followers to take the pandemic seriously, in an Instagram post on Friday. Farewell: Bachelor star Peter Weber bid farewell to his former employer, Compass Airlines, in an Instagram post on Friday, as the airline will shut down on April 7 So sorry to hear @compass_airline is ceasing operations, Weber wrote. To all my brothers and sisters flying there, Im thinking of you today. He added: The memories made working with you will stay with me forever. In his photos, he posed with his co-pilots, co-workers and Terry Crews ahead of flights. Weber also included a photo of his Compass pilot wings with will remember you always, underneath. My heart is with you: So sorry to hear @compass_airline is ceasing operations. To all my brothers and sisters flying there, Im thinking of you today. he added: The memories made working with you will stay with me forever. In his caption, Weber went on to encourage his 2 million followers to take the novel coronavirus seriously. He wrote: People, please take this virus seriously and practice social distancing. This virus is causing businesses to close and severely affecting peoples lives. Stand strong and stay safe! COVID-19 has infected over 270,000 people worldwide and claimed over 11,000 lives. Many states and cities in the U.S. have been put on lockdown or social distancing measures, limiting all business operations to essential and encouraging people to stay in their homes unless completely necessary to leave. Friends and a famous face: In his photos, he posed with his co-pilots, co-workers and Terry Crews ahead of flights Never forget: Weber also included a photo of his Compass pilot wings with will remember you always, underneath Compass Airlines said, in a statement reported on in the Star Tribune, Radical capacity reductions left Compass without the ability to fly even minimally viable schedules. American Airlines, Delta and United Airlines have reported decreased consumer demand as a result of government travel restrictions. International travel has seen a 75 percent decrease, according to Fox News, as U.S. citizens have been encouraged not to travel abroad, and there are now travel bans in place with most of Europe, China, Canada and shortly Mexico. Sydneys charitable night of nights was due to take place last night at restaurateur Justin Hemmes waterfront mansion, Hermitage. But like so many events, the COVID-19 health crisis has forced organisers to push the Silver Party back a year. It is with deepest regrets, on behalf of the Sydney Childrens Hospital Foundation and the Kids Cancer Centre that we will need to postpone the Silver Party for 2020 until February 2021, a spokesperson confirmed last week. Justin Hemmes was due to host the 'Haute Boheme-themed' soiree last night at his waterfront mansion. Credit:Wes Nel Each year the whos who of Sydney society raises funds for sick kids at the soiree with a rotating committee including chair Maree Andrews, fashion designer Camilla Freeman-Topper, designer and chicken heiress Tamie Ingham and Airbnb property investor Marly Boyd. It's expected that another one of the city's famed charitable events, the Gold Dinner, which is due to celebrate its 23rd-year knees-up in May, will soon follow suit and be cancelled. Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Saturday contributed Rs one crore from his MPLAD Fund to Jammu and Kashmir for coronavirus prevention and health care to deal with the pandemic, officials said. Singh, who is a Lok Sabha MP from Udhampur-Kathua-Doda in the Union Territory, submitted a letter to the District Development Commissioner, Kathua, recommending Rs one crore from his Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLAD) fund as allocation to the Health Department for COVID-19 prevention and care, the official said. Earlier, on his arrival at the Jammu airport, the minister of state in the Prime Minister's Office was the first passenger to file his health declarationform and submit it to the health authorities. He also underwent thermal screening and complimented the doctors' team, that comprised of his former students, for the "excellent service" being rendered by them, the official said. Chairing a high-level meeting here to review the preparedness of the Union Territory in dealing with the pandemic, Singh said the fight against novel coronavirus is a shared responsibility and everyone has to play their due roles in tackling the contagion. The minister lauded the efforts of the medical fraternity of Jammu and Kashmir in combating the spread of the virus and sought the cooperation of all sections of society for the same. "All of us have to cooperate in an optimum manner and every person needs to take all necessary precautions and exercise individual and collective responsibility in this fight against the coronavirus," Singh said. The Union Minister also asked people to heed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for the 'Janata curfew' on Sunday to minimize social interaction to control the spread of the contagion. While emphasizing the need for upholding good personal hygiene by washing hands regularly, he also stressed the need for following the necessary guidelines that are being regularly issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare while discarding rumours and misinformation from unverified sources. Singh directed officials to restrict the number of attendants in hospitals and exploring the possibility of designated OPD hours for regular patients to avoid mass gatherings. While calling for proper care and attention of the people quarantined in hospitals, he said they should not be made to feel like prisoners. Advisor to the Lieutenant Governor, Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, said people should not panic and follow the government advisories in letter and spirit. He said COVID-19 patients need to be taken care of and every precaution should be exercised in dealing with the infection. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Wexford County Council are to look to other third level institutions in a bid to establish a new state of the art college campus in Wexford following the latest snub from IT Carlow. In a long running saga, IT Carlow had funding allocated for a new Wexford campus in 2015 and since pulled out of deals for sites at Ferrybank and Newtown Road. At a previous county council meeting, Cllr George Lawlor had blasted a lack of engagement from the institute on the project, after sites in Barntown and Killeens had been put forward as potential locations. He had asked that the council invite the President of the institute Dr Patricia Mulcahy to come to the next meeting and discuss their plans for Wexford. However, as councillors sat for their March meeting, they were disappointed to find that there had been no response to the invitation. 'We've discussed sites and are doing good work, but I don't think we're any closer on this than we were three or four years ago,' said Cllr John Hegarty. 'If they (IT Carlow) are not willing at this stage, then we need to look elsewhere and talk to other universities.' Cllr Leonard Kelly branded it 'a disgrace' that the institute hadn't even replied to the invitation Usually one to remain optimistic, the situation with IT Carlow even seemed to be testing the patience of the County Manager, Tom Enright. 'We made a substantial proposal to IT Carlow last October,' he said. 'We've had no response almost six months later. We will follow up on the invite given to the President to come and meet with us and maybe they'll give an update. Funding approval was given to the project back in September of 2015.' Mr Enright also confirmed that Wexford County Council are now actively talking to other third level institutions about locating a campus here. It was noted that Wexford has many connections to other universities, one notable one being that the Provost of Trinity College, Dr Patrick Prendergast is an Oulart native. Cllr George Lawlor vented his frustration that the topic had come up for discussion once again, still with no end in sight and no idea of what plans IT Carlow have for Wexford. 'I'm blue in the face from talking about this,' he said. 'I was the one who proposed that we invite the President of the college and their attitude towards Wexford is deplorable. Wexford has connections to some of the top universities in the world and with the new road we're only an hour away from Dublin. We are an excellent option for a campus, particularly with the cost of living etc being so high in Dublin at the moment. I think that we should treat IT Carlow with the same disdain that they've treated us.' Cllr Lisa McDonald agreed with her colleagues, stating that 'The cost of living in Dublin has put education beyond reach for some people in Wexford'. She added that there was a real opportunity for Wexford in terms of establishing a third level campus and that all options should be examined. 'We need to think big,' she said. 'We need to be ambitious. We shouldn't let IT Carlow off the hook.' MONTREAL, March 20, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - Dollarama Inc. (TSX: DOL) ("Dollarama"), Canada's leading value retailer with nearly 1,300 stores from coast to coast, reaffirms its commitment to maintain operations across its network. Dollarama offers a broad assortment of everyday necessities, including household and cleaning products, health and hygiene products, food products and pet products. ''As a weekly shopping destination for millions of Canadians, we will be doing everything possible to meet the needs of our customers in the days, weeks and months ahead,'' said Neil Rossy, President and Chief Executive Officer of Dollarama. ''Our intention is to keep our stores open and well-stocked so that we can continue to provide essential, everyday necessities to Canadians from British Columbia to Newfoundland.'' Dollarama anticipates hiring thousands of Canadians across the country over the coming weeks and months to support the ongoing demands of the business. Please apply at your local store. To protect its employees and customers, Dollarama has implemented additional cleaning and disinfecting procedures in its stores, distribution centre and warehouse operations. Dollarama encourages both employees and customers to follow hygiene guidelines recommended by public health authorities and to practice social distancing. Exceptionally, Dollarama store hours will be reduced to allow more time for sanitizing and re-stocking. This measure is effective immediately. Please consult the store locator on www.dollarama.com for updated opening hours. Dollarama is strongly encouraging that the first hour of operations each day be dedicated solely for the shopping needs of senior customers and those with chronic health conditions, to allow them to avoid busy and crowded shopping periods. Other customers are encouraged to plan their shopping trips around this window of time to allow the most vulnerable groups to the COVID-19 coronavirus the ability to shop during the first hour that stores are open. ''I take this opportunity to acknowledge the incredible efforts and dedication of Dollarama employees across the country who are doing their part to help Canadians through the current situation,'' added Mr. Neil Rossy. ''I thank also our customers for being kind and thoughtful to our employees and fellow customers.'' About Dollarama Dollarama is a recognized Canadian value retailer offering a broad assortment of consumable products, general merchandise and seasonal items both in-store and online. Our 1,271 locations across Canada provide customers with compelling value in convenient locations, including metropolitan areas, mid-sized cities and small towns. Select products are also available, by the full case only, through our online store at www.dollarama.com. Our quality merchandise is sold at select, fixed price points up to $4.00. SOURCE Dollarama Inc. Related Links www.dollarama.com Mumbai Municipal Commissioner Pravin Pardeshi on late Friday evening issued several orders to ensure social distancing to contain coronavirus as well as 'decongest' hospitals to prepare for any contingency arising out of the epidemic. Mumbai: Mumbai Municipal Commissioner Pravin Pardeshi on late Friday evening issued several orders to ensure social distancing to contain coronavirus as well as "decongest" hospitals to prepare for any contingency arising out of the epidemic. Click here to follow LIVE updates on coronavirus outbreak Maharashtra has recorded at least 52 cases of coronavirus infection so far. The commissioner restricted movement of vehicles in areas around isolation or quarantine centres at Kasturba Hospital, KEM Hospital and Seven Hills Hospital. He also ordered the immediate closure of schools, cinema halls, malls, gyms, swimming pools, pubs, discotheques, amusement parks, and banned public functions. Restaurants, dhabas, cafes and other eateries can continue to operate if they can self-impose fifty percent customer capacity and maintain a distance of three feet between two customers, the order said. All "private, corporate establishments" are to be shut down, the commissioner's order said. However, establishments or firms providing essential services such as drinking water, electricity, banking, sewerage, healthcare, media, port, telecom, vendors of food, groceries and vegetables, petrol pumps, IT services, data centres, e-commerce of essential items including food, among others were exempted from the closure order. The order further said that in order to "de-congest major hospitals" so that they can accommodate Covid-19 cases if the need be, all "stable patients" who do not need "tertiary" care shall be discharged, or shifted to "peripheral hospitals". All patients admitted for "elective surgery" shall be discharged. A distance of one metre shall be maintained between hospital beds; no sharing of beds will be allowed, the commissioner's order further said. A student at Morristown High School is presumed to be positive for the coronavirus after displaying symptoms, the Morris School District announced on Friday. The district said a member of the students household has already tested positive for the fast-spreading respiratory virus. Morristown High Schools last day of classes was March 13 before closing out of caution, and the district said the student attended classes through that day. It said the student had been exposed to the coronavirus before the school was shut down. The student in question was exposed to the virus prior to March 13 and was in attendance at school prior to March 13," the district said in a statement. "We have not received any reports of other students experiencing illnesses with symptoms resembling those of COVID-19. The symptoms of COVID-19 can be similar to the regular seasonal influenza and include fever, coughing, and shortness of breath. Some people have reported additional symptoms at onset, such as a runny nose and sore throat," the statement says. "Please be watchful for any of the above symptoms in members of your household, and if they develop, please contact a medical provider by phone to receive further instructions. Morristown High School joins a list of schools from across New Jersey with connections to positive tests for the coronavirus. Within Morris County, a Mount Olive Middle School employee and a nursery school employee at a pre-school associated with the Morristown Jewish Center have tested positive. As of Friday morning, New Jersey had at least 890 reported cases of the coronavirus with 11 deaths. Sign up for text message alerts from NJ.com on coronavirus in New Jersey: If you would like updates on New Jersey-specific coronavirus news, subscribe to our Coronavirus in N.J. newsletter. Tell us your coronavirus stories, whether its a news tip, a topic you want us to cover, or a personal story you want to share. Chris Ryan may be reached at cryan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisRyan_NJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Skopje: North Macedonia's President Stevo Pendarovski on Friday signed a final accession document required for the country to become the next member of NATO. Pendarovski signed the so-called instrument of accession after Spain earlier this week became the last alliance member to ratify the former Yugoslav republic's membership. People wave the old and present national flag in a protest against the change of the country's constitutional name, in downtown Skopje, in November 2018. Credit:AP Following the Spanish vote, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said he expected the formal accession to take place "soon" with North Macedonia becoming the 30th member of the alliance. The country's bid to join NATO had been held up over a long-standing dispute with neighbour Greece, when it agreed to change its name from Macedonia to North Macedonia. British banker hit with 14 million euro penalty in German fraud trial A sign is seen during a break of a trial against British banker By Matthias Inverardi and John O'Donnell BONN/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Two British bankers were handed suspended jail terms on Wednesday and one a 14 million euro ($14.97 million) penalty in Germany's biggest post-war fraud trial of a scam involving multi-billion-euro trades to get bogus tax reclaims. The ruling is the first criminal conviction for what judge Roland Zickler dubbed "a collective case of thievery from state coffers", activity that thrived during the years after the financial crash and as banks were bailed out by the state. "Do we all want to live in a world where everyone is ripping each other off?," Zickler said on Wednesday, addressing the defendants. The trial comes after a years-long probe into sham stock trading, fuelling a public outcry over the government's failure to stop a scam that cost Germany more than 5 billion euros. Experts believe most of the money will not be recovered. The conviction potentially paves the way for the prosecutions of others in the network of big global banks, hedge funds and investors who allegedly profited from the scheme. "There will be further trials," said Zickler. The German court is preparing to set up as many as nine court chambers to deal with a string of further expected trials, a person familiar with the matter said, although this will likely be delayed by the coronavirus outbreak. German state prosecutor Anne Brorhilker had outlined criminal charges against Martin Shields and fellow British banker Nicholas Diable, who she said organised a network of traders and lenders to make double tax reclaims with sham share trades. Brorhilker told the court the two men made large rapid stock trades in companies - including carmaker BMW and airline Lufthansa - to give the impression of numerous owners, triggering tax rebate vouchers. She outlined more than 30 instances of double-tax reclaims totalling 447 million euros. The court ordered Shields to pay 14 million euros, clawing back profits he had made. He received a suspended jail sentence of one year and 10 months. The judges imposed a one-year suspended jail term on Diable. "I have made mistakes," Shields told the court during the trial. "With the knowledge I have today, I would never have become part of the Cum/Ex nor dividend arbitrage industry ... I have learned my lesson." Story continues Shields cooperated with prosecutors during the trial. He gave detailed presentations to explain to judges how the scheme operated and told the court he would continue to help the German authorities with their work. His lawyer Hellen Schilling outlined this cooperation in court, and said that Shields has already voluntarily repaid 3 million euros. Diable told judges that his wedding, honeymoon, career and birth of his children had been overshadowed by the investigation, expressing regret that he had taken part in the so-called "cum-ex" scheme. Judges also ordered MM Warburg, a bank part-owned by one of Germany's oldest banking dynasties that profited from the scheme, repay 176 million euros. A spokesman for the bank said it would appeal the decision. 'ASTRONOMICAL' TRADES During the trial, Shields had told the court how he earned millions of euros from deals involving astronomical trades that prosecutors said were a means to make bogus tax reclaims. The former investment banker, said the trading, known as cum ex, thrived between 2005 and 2012, as investors from around the world made multi-billion-euro trades on German companies. That allowed them to generate multiple tax reclaims. The engineering graduate told judges he had earned 12 million euros from the trades that often were bigger than the entire market value of the companies they targeted. Shields said the trades involved were so vast it caused financial market mishaps because it was often not possible to find and match buyers and sellers in time. Throughout the trial, Diable, had described his work as that of a salaried technician with a focus on getting trades done rather than a mastermind. He told judges about his modest start in the City of London, inputting data, taking lunch orders and going through rituals such as running through the office as colleagues threw things at him. He said he had no reason to believe cum-ex was illegal. He later became a trader and worked with Shields at a German bank, before following him to Gibraltar, when Shields set up his own company. He told the court how he entertained customers and contacts in "bars and restaurants" in London and Germany's Oktoberfest beer festival. (Reporting By Matthias Inverardi and John O'Donnell. Editing by Jane Merriman and Rachel Armstrong) US Navy Adm. William McRaven speaks at a National Defense Industrial Association gathering in Washington in February 2012. Charles Dharapak/AP Photo In an opinion column published in The Washington Post, retired US Navy Adm. William McRaven compared his training experience to the ongoing efforts to combat the outbreak. "Hell Week is the worst week of the toughest military training in the world," McRaven said. "It is six days of no sleep, constant physical and mental harassment, and one 'special day' at the Mud Flats." McRaven recalled that "one voice began to echo through the night" one of the candidates began singing, albeit "terribly out of tune but sung with great enthusiasm." "The only thing more contagious than a virus is hope," he wrote. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. The retired US Navy Adm. William McRaven, a Navy SEAL who oversaw the raid that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in 2011, offered a message off hope to Americans as the US grapples with the coronavirus pandemic. McRaven, who served 36 years in the Navy before retiring in 2014, shared his experience during "Hell Week" an intense period in the Navy's 24-week-long Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) course in a column published in The Washington Post. "Hell Week is the worst week of the toughest military training in the world," McRaven said. "It is six days of no sleep, constant physical and mental harassment, and one 'special day' at the Mud Flats." The Mud Flats is a stretch of terrain between Tijuana, Mexico, and San Diego, California, where SEAL candidates are instructed to traverse and endure the mud, even throughout the night. "The mud consumed each man until there was nothing visible but our heads," McRaven wrote. "We were all exhausted, numb from the cold and desperate to hold on. The instructors told us that we could all leave the mud if just five men quit. It was the instructors' way of turning us against each other." Story continues McRaven recalled that "one voice began to echo through the night." One of the candidates began singing, albeit "terribly out of tune but sung with great enthusiasm." "One voice became two, and two became three, and before long the entire class was singing," McRaven said in the column. US Navy SEAL candidates during Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training in Coronado, California, January 23, 2018. US Navy/Petty Officer 1st Class Abe McNatt The SEAL instructors threatened that the candidates would continue to suffer in the mud if they continued, but nevertheless, "the singing persisted." "Those of us stuck in the mud believed that if one of us could start singing when he was up to his neck in mud, then maybe the rest of us could make it through the night," McRaven said. "And we did." McRaven compared the experience to the ongoing efforts to combat the coronavirus outbreak in the US. States have widely declared a public emergency and initiated complete lockdowns. At least 213 people died from the coronavirus as of Friday afternoon. Over 16,000 patients have also been reported in all 50 states US territories. "Today, the coronavirus has thrown us all in the mud," McRaven wrote. "We are cold, wet and miserable, and the dawn seems a long way off. But while we should not be cavalier about the dangers of this pandemic, neither should we feel hopeless and paralyzed with fear." McRaven said that despite the tribulations, "hope abounds," due to the US having "the greatest scientists in the world" and "an unmatched ability to mobilize when called to action." "More importantly, as we always have in times of crisis, Americans are rallying together, caring for one another, showing the compassion and concern that have always characterized this nation of good people," McRaven wrote. McRaven theorized that "the number of cases will rise" and "the markets will stumble," however, he believed "we will prevail, because the only thing more contagious than a virus is hope." "We are all up to our necks in mud," McRaven wrote. "It's time to start singing." McRaven's optimistic column is a departure from his others that were published in the New York Times and Washington Post in recent years. The former commander and book author has become one of the most influential and effective critics of President Donald Trump via several columns and criticizing him in interviews. It is already very unusual for retired military leaders to speak against a sitting president, and McRaven's comments have attracted significant attention due to his seniority, his accomplishments and his strident tone. McRaven spearheaded Operation Neptune Spear, targeting al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, in Pakistan. He retired from the Navy in 2014 and became the chancellor of the University of Texas system in 2015. Two years later, he said he would leave that job, citing health concerns. He has written several bestselling books about leadership, including "Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life ... And Maybe the World" and "Sea Stories: My Life in Special Operations." Read the original article on Business Insider The Trump administration has taken some heat for what many consider a delayed response to the coronavirus pandemic that's now sweeping through the country. But, The Washington Post reports, there were apparently numerous government officials who tried to warn the president about the repercussions as early as January. U.S. officials familiar with spy agency reporting told the Post the intelligence community issued warnings that China, where the new virus originated, was minimizing its own outbreak earlier in the year and that the U.S. could be facing a crisis. "Donald Trump may not have been expecting this, but a lot of other people in the government were they just couldn't get him to do anything about it," one official said. "The system was blinking red." Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar reportedly couldn't get Trump to speak with him about the virus until mid-January, two weeks after officials were alerted about its spread in China. Even then, Trump was reportedly more interested in when flavored vaping products were going to return to the market. In late January, Joe Grogan, the head of the White House Domestic Policy Council, argued the virus could cost Trump re-election, while Deputy National Security Adviser Matthew Pottinger began calling for a more forceful response in early February. But despite all that, Trump maintained his belief the threat would dissipate before it became serious in the U.S. Read more at The Washington Post. More stories from theweek.com 'Run them over:' Chinese Americans face growing hate in coronavirus outbreak Surgeon general offers 'dire' coronavirus message: 'This week, it's going to get bad' Amy Klobuchar's husband hospitalized with coronavirus UK regions traditionally desperate for tourists, on Saturday pleaded for people not to visit the coast or the countryside for fear of spreading the coronavirus. Cornwall, in the far south-west of England, has urged people to stay away amid fears there could be a mass exodus from London by people with second homes in rural regions following the UK government's decision to close down large parts of the capital. Steve Double, Conservative MP for St Austell and Newquay, tweeted and told Sky TV that people should keep away. "Please do not travel to Cornwall, we do not want to spread this virus any further," he said, amid "endless reports" that people were heading to the region. He said such journeys could "cost lives". Double's constituency, famous for its surfing, is one of the most highly-visited regions by UK holidaymakers. Official figures calculate that some four million tourists visit Cornwall every year. Tourism body, Visit Cornwall, also tried to dissuade people from heading there, saying potential visitors should stay at home "to protect themselves" as well as others. Cornwall County Council said people should be aware of the pressures they were adding to overstretched local public services by relocating. The British government has advised against non-essential contact or travel and ordered the closing of pubs and restaurants on Friday. However, walks are not prohibited and with the imminent return of sunny days, many are tempted to get some fresh air on the coast. The fears of people moving en masse to the countryside have been prompted by the numbers who have second homes in Cornwall, calculated by the council to be around 14,000 addresses. In Wales, MP Liz Saville Roberts urged on Twitter that anyone tempted to self-isolate in rural parts of the country should "think again", claiming it would put extra pressure on health services. So far, 177 people in the UK have died from COVID-19, and the numbers of those diagnosed as infected is nearing the 4,000 mark. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) According to the Chinese governments statements, the first Coronavirus patient - COVID-19s patient zero had contracted the virus on November 17th, 2019. Its been just over 120 days and close to 300,000 cases have been reported since then, and the global effect of this pandemic seems to have spread on a scale never seen before on Earth Reuters; A combination picture shows school children leaving the primary school of Omar El Mokhtar in Cairo, Egypt March 11, 2020. The school is closed following government efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus. From Times Square NYC to the skies of Mumbai, things are changing rapidly - and in ways that many of us wouldnt have expected. With the economy finding new and unusual ways to keep chugging along, public streets seem emptier - very few are fancying vacations with air travel regulations in place. Heres how the pandemic has switched things up, at key locations around the world: 1. The Johor-Singapore Causeway The causeway between #Singapore and #Malaysia is one of of the world's busiest border crossings. Here it is before and after Malaysia imposed a travel ban to stop the spread of the #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/ElwPwIjCS5 Aradhana Aravindan (@RDchatters) March 18, 2020 This immense 1,056-metre link between Malaysia and Singapore is crucial to the backbone of maritime Southeast Asia - being the busiest border crossing in the world with 350,000 travellers daily. After Malaysias government set forth a series of travel bans, not a single civilian vehicle has made the trip. 2. The Kaabah, Mecca (left) empty mecca source from the internet. (right) i took it before coronaoutbreak last month. pic.twitter.com/YMwaV5jYMk hazwanmatassan (@Hazwanbhm) March 19, 2020 The holiest land according to Islamic scripture, Meccas Kaabah brings in millions of pilgrims to worship each year - although in response to over 200 COVID-19 cases in Saudi Arabia, the country announced that the customary five prayers and weekly congregations would be on hold while combating the virus, halting a religious tradition that has continued through centuries. 3. St. Peters Square, Vatican City Similarly, the Vatican City has seen none of its usual crowds at St. Peters Square, the large plaza facing St. Peters Basilica, the largest and perhaps most artistically significant cathedral in the world - before the devastating outbreak in Italy, the grounds would draw over 50,000 people each day. 4. Traffic Hotspots, Bengaluru If youve driven a vehicle in Bengaluru, its likely that youve been acquainted with the citys mortal enemy - traffic. According to recent reports, however, Bangaloreans were stunned to see the jams calm down from 30-50 per cent since Coronavirus quarantine measures were imposed. 5. Bandra & Worli Skies, Mumbai Dont remember Mumbai Sky looking like this in last 10 years. pic.twitter.com/zpsx9tyWMc Dhiraj (@dhirajwrites) March 19, 2020 Mumbaikars this week also found themselves pleasantly surprised - while the city usually deals with hazy, lifeless skies due to local pollution, the Coronavirus outbreak has preceded a surprising drop in pollution levels - leading to social media exploding with photos of bright blue skies, a rare occurrence in the city. 6. ISKCON Temple, Delhi A deserted view of ISKON Temple as the temple has been closed for the general public due to coronavirus outbreak at Kailash Colony. In Delhi, 9 positive cases of #COVID19 have been reported so far. Track updates here https://t.co/fliRRu2d1N (Pictures by @sanchit2294) pic.twitter.com/xf4UmMvTWE HT Delhi (@htdelhi) March 18, 2020 ISKCON's Krishna temples have also been hit by the virus, with the religious society choosing to turn to medical precautions and technology to keep things running. While it has shut doors and preached the importance of social distancing, resident devotees continue to run aartis and special prayers that are being broadcasted on ISKONs website. 7. Times Square, New York City Ballet dancer and performer Ashlee Montague of New York wears a gas mask while she dances in Times Square as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak continues in Manhattan. Photo by Andrew Kelly pic.twitter.com/kcJG3tfpOL corinne_perkins (@corinne_perkins) March 19, 2020 One of the most recognisable landmarks in the world, the glowing neon signs of Times Square usually shine on 330,000 people each day - and are now hauntingly empty, allowing artists to take to the streets in search of creative inspiration. 8. Taj Mahal, Agra #India Pictures show tourists visiting the Taj Mahal on January 3, 2018 (L) and the same view of Taj Mahal with low number of tourists on March 16, 2020, amid concerns over the spread of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus, in Agra. Pawan Sharma @dofaget pic.twitter.com/FelNMSzYw9 AFP Photo (@AFPphoto) March 17, 2020 The Taj Mahal was already in the process of limiting its 70,000 daily visitors to 40,000 due to safety and conservation concerns, yet the COVID-19 outbreak brought that total down to 0, with it shutting doors this Tuesday. 9. Ibiza, Mediterranean Sea Ibiza deserted by Coronavirus pic.twitter.com/zBjrhnDaND Sheikh Haidar (@sheikh_haidar) March 15, 2020 Part of countless songs, music videos and party references, it now seems like no one's too excited at the famous Mediterranean party destination. Bars, clubs and pubs all fold in front of the lack of tourists and outbreak concerns from locals. 10. Central London The surrealness of the coronavirus crisis has really hit home after seeing the streets of central London totally deserted bar homeless people and Deliveroo drivers at 10pm on what turned out to be a very eerie Friday night walk pic.twitter.com/lXj3GQ2bio Maya Oppenheim (@MayaOppenheim) March 20, 2020 Perhaps even eerier than New York Citys streets are Londons - 10 PM isnt anywhere close to early in the city on usual days, yet Londoners are finding their neighbourhoods desolate and quiet. Hows your neighbourhood looking since the outbreak began? Share your thoughts in the comments. New York: Close to one billion people worldwide were confined to their homes on Saturday as the global coronavirus death toll shot past 11,000 and US states rolled out lockdown measures already imposed across swathes of Europe. The virus death toll surged past 11,000 worldwide, with 4,000 alone in worst-hit Italy where the daily number of fatalities has shot up relentlessly over the past week. An estimated 900 million people are now confined to their homes in 35 countries around the world -- including 600 million hemmed in by obligatory government lockdown orders -- according to an AFP tally. While the elderly and those with pre-existing medical conditions are the hardest hit by the virus, the World Health Organization warned that young people were also vulnerable. "Today I have a message for young people: you are not invincible. This virus could put you in hospital for weeks -- or even kill you," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. "Even if you don't get sick, the choices you make about where you go could be the difference between life and death for someone else." China on Saturday reported no new local infections for a third straight day, and the WHO said the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus emerged late last year, offered a glimmer of "hope for the rest of the world". Italy reported its worst single day death toll Friday, adding another 627 fatalities and taking its reported total to 4,032 despite efforts to stem the spread. The nation of 60 million now accounts for 36 percent of the world's coronavirus deaths and its death rate of 8.6 percent among confirmed infections is significantly higher than in most other countries. An arson attack on a Northern Ireland nightclub may have been motivated by homophobia, a court has been told. Polish man Sebastian Szczap (21) appeared at a special sitting of Londonderry Magistrates Court on Saturday charged with the arson of the Envy Nightclub in the Strand Road area of the city in January. A police officer told District Judge Ted Magill that she believed there was a risk that because the nightclub was an LGBT-friendly venue, the offence might have been motivated by hostility towards the LGBT community. A defence lawyer said there was no evidence the offence was motivated by hostility. Szczap, from Kular Court in Sackville Street, Derry, is charged with the arson of the nightclub on the night of January 9 this year. Damage to the building was estimated at 250,000. The District Judge said CCTV footage showed a man, wearing a hat, entering the nightclub through an unsecured rear door shortly before the blaze was discovered. The man was recorded on the footage throwing the hat away. It was later recovered by the police and, following a forensic examination, the defendants DNA was found on it. Clothes found in his flat upon his arrest were similar to those worn by the man on the CCTV footage. Opposing bail, the police officer said she believed the defendant, if released, would return to Poland because of the long custodial sentence he would receive if convicted of the arson. A defence barrister said his client had lived in Derry for the last four years with his mother and sister. Refusing bail, Mr Magill said the defendant had twice failed to attend court and he also took into consideration the police objections. Szczap was remanded in custody until April 16. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 17:08:21|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close KUALA LUMPUR, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia on Saturday announced the fourth death due to COVID-19, besides 153 newly confirmed cases to bring the total in the country to 1,183, according to the Health Ministry. The fourth fatality was a 50-year-old Malaysian man who had attended a large scale religious event held near the capital of Kuala Lumpur from late February to early March, Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah told a press briefing. Noor Hisham said of the new cases, at least 90 were traced to the same event. Out of the total cases, 114 have been cured and discharged from hospital, while 37 are currently being held in intensive care and 23 of those are in need of assisted breathing. He said the ministry is still working to trace those who have attended the religious event, which saw a gathering of thousands of participants from across the country and around the world. The number of cases in the country has spiked following the event. Malaysia is implementing a two-week "movement control order" including closing shops and schools as well as imposing travel bans, calling for residents to stay at home in an effort to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. Noor Hisham said the aim of the measures is to "flatten the curve" of the increased cases to prevent the country's health system from being overwhelmed. In South Africa, the government has warned of a long drawn out battle against the deadly coronavirus. Sub-Saharan Africa experienced its second coronavirus related death on March 20. According to reports, despite stringent measures like flight bans to school closures, there have been two deaths in three days in the countries south of the Sahara and the number of infected has tripled in a week. A dramatic rise in cases As per reports, the central African state of Gabon reported its first coronavirus death of a 50-year-old man, this was followed by the death of a 62-year-old woman in Burkina Faso. Both the victims had diabetes. The total number of cases across Africa has crossed 900 and continues to rise fast. Madagascar and Zimbabwe reported on March 20 that they had 3 and one cases respectively. South Africa has seen a drastic increase in cases, from only one confirmed case two weeks ago to 202 cases as of March 20. The country has the highest number of infected in the sub-continent. According to reports, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has warned that the virus could likely affect up to 60 per cent of the population. He also added that the infection will not affect 60 per cent of the population at the same time and all cases will not be serious. Read: China To Monetise Coronavirus With 'medical Observation Sites' For Overseas Travelers Read: Kerala Government Takes Preventive Measures Amid Surging Coronavirus Threat In The Country South African Airways has suspended all regional and international flights until the end of May, this move is in-line with a government-imposed travel ban that aims at curbing the spread of the virus. The novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, has claimed more than 11,421 lives across the world and has infected over 2,76,293 people globally since it first broke out in December 2019. China is the most affected country in the world as experts believe that the virus originated from a seafood market in Wuhan city, the epicentre of the disease, where animals were reportedly being traded illegally. Italy and Iran are the other countries that are most affected by the virus outbreak. Read: Odisha Govt Comes Up With Measures To Mitigate Coronavirus Outbreak; Read Here Read: South Africa's Poor Fear The Spread Of Coronavirus Youre seeing The Post and Courier's weekly real estate newsletter. Receive all the latest transactions and top development, building, and home and commercial sales news to your inbox each Saturday here. Survey: Homebuyer interest drops because of coronavirus outbreak Nearly half of Realtors 48 percent said homebuyer interest has decreased due to the coronavirus outbreak, according to a new survey from the National Association of Realtors. The percentage tripled from a week ago when it stood at 16 percent. About seven in 10 Realtors said theres no change in the number of homes on the market because of the pandemic.That's down from 87 percent a week ago. "The decline in confidence related to the direction of the economy coupled with the unprecedented measures taken to combat the spread of COVID-19, including major social distancing efforts nationwide, are naturally bringing an abundance of caution among buyers and sellers," said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun. "With fewer listings in whats already a housing shortage environment, home prices are likely to hold steady," he said. "The temporary softening of the real estate market will likely be followed by a strong rebound once the economic 'quarantine' is lifted, and it's critical that supply is sufficient to meet pent-up demand." The survey, conducted March 16-17, found 45 percent of Realtors said the stock market slide and lower mortgage rates roughly balanced out with no significant change in buyer and seller interest and behavior. Just over 60 percent reported no change in sellers removing homes from the market, down from 81 percent. Four in 10 members said home sellers have not changed how their home is viewed while it remains on the market. One week earlier, nearly eight in 10 members said that. More than half of commercial members, 54 percent, have seen a decline in leasing clients, up from 18 percent the previous week. To see the full Realtors report, click here: https://www.nar.realtor/research-and-statistics/research-reports/nar-flash-survey-economic-pulse. Want to receive this newsletter in your inbox every Saturday? Sign up for free. A study from 17 years ago said the Charleston region would swell to nearly 800,000 residents by 2030. They were a decade off the count. This week in real estate + Evictions halted: South Carolina's Supreme Court chief justice on Tuesday ordered a halt to all evictions statewide during the coronavirus crisis. + Foreclosures stopped: The state's top justice also said Thursday foreclosures have been stopped to keep people from losing their homes during the pandemic. + Relief Fund: Trident United Way is partnering with The Post and Courier to supply relief funds in response to the growing coronavirus emergency. The music salon in the Charleston Symphony Orchestra League's Designer Showhouse at 184 Ashley Ave. was all ready for visitors before the coronavirus pandemic. The showhouse has been suspended, and the league is asking that ticket purchases be considered a donation since it is the group's largest fundraiser of the year. Organizers hope to be able to open at a later date, according to a statement on the league's website. Meanwhile, the pre-pandemic story on the showhouse is included here. Did a friend forward you this email? Subscribe here. Craving more? Check out all of the Post and Courier's newsletters here. Brooklyn Bedding took to all media channels today, including social media, to ask for the public's help in reaching the right officials, with the right authority, to order supplies for state and federal governments. The company has set up a dedicated email address at [email protected] for all leads that would enable the company to produce critical inventory. "We produce mattresses for the largest dot.coms in the nation as well as our own retail channels," said John Merwin, Owner and Chief Executive Officer at Brooklyn Bedding. "We find ourselves in a unique position to help Americans, to provide viable solutions, at this very critical time in our history. As 25-year veterans in the mattress and sleep accessories industry, we know how to build things and we understand logistics. We doubled our production capacity last year. All we need is the government's attention to get started." Brothers John and Rob Merwin are no strangers to overcoming adversity. What began as a small, mattress liquidation business in 1995 faced closure when overstock provider Montgomery Ward filed for bankruptcy in 2000. The brothers quickly realized, in order to stay in business, they needed to learn to make their own mattresses. The end result was a steady build to a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Phoenix, Arizona where every aspect of production remains vertically integrated. John Merwin also sought a way to tap into ecommerce in 2008, with the economy in a downward spiral. He became the first to import the Teknomac roll pack machine from Italy, pioneering the bed-in-a-box concept and selling the brand's first mattress on Amazon shortly thereafter. "The American spirit is in our DNA: we're American dreamed, American owned and American made," said John Merwin. "This is the greatest challenge our country has faced since World War IIwe're ready to roll up our sleeves and do our part." Company executives will be monitoring [email protected] for all legitimate leads for government contacts. Customers should continue to reach Brooklyn Bedding using the online chat feature at BrooklynBedding.com, or by calling toll free at 1.888.210.8751. ABOUT BROOKLYN BEDDING Brooklyn Bedding is an American made manufacturer of mattresses, differentiated by master craftsmanship, a wholly owned state-of-the art manufacturing facility and exceptional customer service. Family owned since 1995, the company originated with two brothers delivering mattress products direct to customers' homes. Known as the "mobile mattress guys," John and Rob Merwin evolved their business by learning every aspect of the mattress making process. They tenaciously used every material in their inventory to pass savings on to customers, purchasing high grade manufacturing equipment and pioneering bed-in-a-box online delivery in 2008. Today, the company owns world class expertise in mattress engineering, achieved through meticulous attention to detail, cutting edge equipment and patented materials created with advanced technology. Brooklyn Bedding designs and creates its entire line of high quality bedding, on demand, in its manufacturing facility in Arizona. Remaining true to its roots, the company still goes the extra mile to ensure customer satisfaction, offering its expertly crafted mattresses, sheets and pillows at an affordable price with free online shipping, a generous 120-day trial period, and a 10-year hassle free warranty period on mattresses. SOURCE Brooklyn Bedding Related Links https://www.brooklynbedding.com Parents of Indian students, belonging from Andhra Pradesh, urged the Centre on Saturday to pay immediate attention in bringing their children back to the country from Kazakhstan as India has suspended all international flights in a bid to contain the rapid spread of the coronavirus. Kanneganti Veeraiah, the father of one student, K Venkateswara Rao, who studies 3rd-year medicine in Kazakhstan, said that the children are ready to get screened and tested as well as stay in quarantine centers. "The universities are closed due to the virus outbreak. The students are stranded at Almaty airport. They say that the Indian government is not giving permission for any flight. There are almost 50 students, 25 of whom belong to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. We request the Government of India to please rescue those students," Veeraiah said told ANI. The Indian government on Thursday banned commercial international airlines to operate to India for a week from 22 March, following an effort to curb the outspread of Covid-19. "No scheduled international commercial passenger aircraft shall be allowed to land in India from March 22, 2020, for one week," the government said in an advisory. Meanwhile, Kazakhstan has announced lockdown from March 23rd to April 15th in the wake of the corona pandemic. According to media reports, the central Asian country has so far reported more than 40 confirmed cases of coronavirus infection. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 21) Agricultural groups assure there is more than enough supply of local pork and poultry products that can meet consumer demand while travel restrictions are in place under the government-imposed enhanced community quarantine. The Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) adds there is a supply "surplus" of these food products that can last up to five months. Punung-puno ng mga alagang baboy ang mga farms natin, ganundin ang manukan natin, said SINAG chairperson Rosendo So in a statement released on Saturday. (Translation: Our hog raisers have an abundance of pigs, and our poultry farms have plenty as well.) So added that the latest inventory of frozen pork in accredited cold storage facilities "remains at a high" of 43,398 metric tons, while chicken stock is at 56,521 metric tons. Yan ay mga accredited pa lang, punung-puno pa ang mga ibang cold storages across the country, he added. (Translation: Those are just the accredited ones, there are other cold storage plants across the country that are also still full.) The Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines, Inc. (ProPork) also gave the assurance of enough meat supply to the public. "We have more than enough supply. And we continue to work hard to make sure the Philippines has food resiliency and we as producers can put safe food on the tables of every Filipino," ProPork president Edwin Chen said. Agriculture Secretary William Dar earlier assured enough food supply in Metro Manila amid the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine. RELATED: Food, cargo shipments allowed despite travel restrictions in Metro Manila amid COVID-19 threat DTI We have enough food supply. In terms of food like rice, we have excess supply, good for 80-day rice inventory, said Dar. For SINAG, self-sufficiency in food is essential to feed Filipinos in these trying times. The group added this is the perfect time to support and patronize local industries. We should trust and only rely on our own farmers, raisers, fishers, suppliers, and local agri industries for our own food needs, stressed So in his statement. Livestock and poultry data compiled by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) indicate that in 2019, Central Luzon remained the nation's top hog and chicken-producing region, with 472,552 metric tons of pork and 658,909 metric tons of chicken. Bulacan, in Central Luzon, was named by the PSA as the top hog- and chicken-producing province, accounting for 259,677 metric tons of pork and 188,269 metric tons of chicken. Both areas are covered by the enhanced community quarantine declared by the national government on March 16 to combat the spread of COVID-19. Philippine National Police spokesperson Brig Gen. Bernard Banac said delivery trucks carrying basic commodities and emergency supplies can now easily pass quarantine checkpoints due to the lower number of vehicles entering areas under strict travel restrictions. Lahat ng mga delivery trucks, lahat ng mga basic commodities at emergencies ay tuluy-tuloy na pong nakakadaan, said Banac in the Laging Handa press briefing Saturday. (Translation: All delivery trucks, which carry basic commodities and [products for] emergencies, can now smoothly pass [the checkpoints].) Banac assured that trucks carrying basic commodities and other items including raw materials are qualified to pass the checkpoints at ease. "Ipakita lang po ninyo ang inyong mga IDs at certificates or kahit anong karatula na nagsasabing kayo ay may dalang essential or basic commodities. Huwag po kayong mag-alala, ang mga PNP personnel na nakatalaga riyan ay nabigyan na po ng guidance ukol dyan, he added. (Translation: Just show your IDs and certificates or any sign that says you carry essential or basic commodities. Don't worry, PNP personnel assigned [to quarantine checkpoints] have been given guidance on that.) Last March 18, the Department of Agriculture issued its Food Safety Protocol for the unimpeded entry of food items and farm inputs in Luzon in response to the region-wide enhanced community quarantine. RELATED: DA sets rules for easier entry of food items and farm inputs in quarantine area Jabalpur: Today, the whole world is becoming the victim of the outbreak of Corona. Where people are making different kinds of rumors about this virus. More than 10,000 people have died due to the virus. And scientists still have not been able to remove any special break from this virus. All the precautions being taken in Jabalpur regarding Corona were caught on Friday evening when three people from the family of a bullion trader from the city who returned from Dubai were found infected. Apart from this, the fourth patient is from Civil Line who has come from Switzerland. This news went viral on social media and people started seeing it. Still feeling free from corona infection, the townsfolk suddenly started running towards medical shops to buy masks and sanitizers. Corona outbreak in Italy, 627 deaths in one day There was a lot of discussion in the medical field about the Corona infected patients referred to the isolation ward of the Medical College Hospital from Victoria last Thursday. Some people said that possibly the patients were not informed about the report, so some of them roamed the tea-shops outside the hospital after being admitted. However, medical doctors say that patients were instructed to remain in the isolation ward. Even after that, when they reach the shops, after checking this, they will also be examined by marking the concerned traders where the allegedly infected patients had reached. Italy in grip of Corona, army deployed for funeral After finding 4 patients simultaneously, the team of administration, police and health department started searching for those people, reports came after the infected patients reached the city. People with whom I came in contact with. It is said that the number of employees in jewelry business establishments is about one hundred and fifty. Many members also reside in the house together. It has been known that hundreds of customers come and go every day. Efforts are being made to trace the other passengers on board in the train in which they traveled. In the cities where they are residents, they will also be isolated by giving information to the administration. The police had prepared a list of people who have come in contact with infected people till late at night. Big statement of researchers, "It is necessary to know its effect on children to prevent corona" West Bengal Tourism Minister Goutam Deb said a total of 170 people were not allowed to enter India from Nepal on Saturday after the thermal screening. Though the India-Nepal border in Panitanki area in Darjeeling district is open, visitors to both the countries are being screened in wake of the novel coronavirus outbreak, he said at a press conference. Deb said visitors to Nepal from India are also being screened. He urged people returning from abroad to get their health examined and go in-home quarantine, failing which strict action will be taken against them. Alan Edwards, a 23-year-old financial analyst in St. Paul, Minn., made several visits to a nearby urgent care office. The staff there instructed him to return if his fever worsened or if he developed respiratory symptoms. After developing a cough and tightness in his chest one Saturday, he went to the emergency room, because the urgent care center was closed. The Visit Experiences varied. Some people were able to walk right into the waiting room, while others were told not to enter the premises without a health care worker in protective gear coming to retrieve them. One visit took just 10 minutes, but none took longer than about an hour. All patients had to review their symptoms several times with receptionists, nurses or doctors. When Mrs. Quiros and her husband arrived at the walk-in clinic, they were met by a nurse who handed them masks and forms that asked three questions: whether they had had a fever over 100.4 in the last four days; if they had had a new rash, cough or cold-like symptoms that included runny, stuffy nose, sore throat or difficulty breathing in the last four days; and if they had been in close contact or traveled outside of the United States or Canada in the last 30 days or been exposed to someone with Covid-19. After checking in with a receptionist and making their co-payments ($30 for Mrs. Quiros and $50 for her husband), they were asked to return to their car to wait until an exam room was ready. Rachel, who asked to be identified only by her first name, underwent a drive-through exam in Alaska. She had been told she first needed a referral from her primary care physician, but wasnt told where to send it or what it needed to say. After trying her darnedest but failing to get ahold of her doctor, she went to the drive-through site. The process was straightforward, she said, and took only about 10 minutes. If you get out of your car, they will send you home, she wrote in a Facebook message. The Test Almost all of those who spoke with The Times said that they were first given a rapid flu test, whose results come back within 15 minutes or so. When those came back negative, the medical team proceeded to administer a Covid-19 test. (Though Mr. Edwards asked for a flu test, he was told the hospital had shut down flu testing to increase its capacity for Covid-19 tests.) TORONTO, March 20, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mandalay Resources Corporation ("Mandalay" or the "Company") (TSX: MND, OTCQB: MNDJF) reports today on business continuity protocols in place to manage ongoing risks posed by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Management has taken measures to reinforce safe work procedures, and all site leadership teams remain committed to the health and wellbeing of employees, contractors and their families. The priority remains the safety of workplaces and the ability for employees to conduct their work safely. To date, COVID-19 has not impacted production or the supply chain. The Coronavirus outbreak is present in all countries in which the Company operates, with cases being reported in Canada, Australia, Sweden and Chile. None of our employees and contractors have been diagnosed with having contracted the virus. At this time, the Company has activated business continuity practices across all sites, including its corporate office in Toronto, Canada, that is now closed, with all employees working from home, in keeping with Public Health Ontario guidelines. Management will continue to monitor developments across all jurisdictions and will adjust its planning as necessary. The Company confirms sites are abiding by all local government guidelines and will work in cooperation with public health authorities if required. The following protocols are in place at our Costerfield mine in Victoria, Australia, and Bjorkdal mine in Skelleftea, Sweden, as well as sites that are non-operating: The Company has instituted a company-wide restriction on international travel to limit risk of exposure. Domestic travel is only permitted if necessary and essential. Local fourteen-day self-isolation procedures are in place and monitored at all sites for any employees returning from an international trip; Sites have established clear policies for any workers displaying signs of illness. Employees or contractors cannot come to work if displaying symptoms of the influenza or coronavirus; Story continues Where possible, employees are encouraged to work from home, and flexible work arrangements are in place to reduce contact between persons and maintain social distancing guidelines. All non-legislated training has been postponed. Where possible, employees are meeting virtually, and limitations on face-to-face contact are in place; All sites have reviewed hygiene and sanitization protocols and increased frequency in cleaning of common and high-traffic zones. Communications with employees has increased on sanitization and social distancing; Sites are currently implementing intermittent temperature screening at the mining operations upon arrival and will follow all local government guidelines with respect to reporting of symptoms related to COVID-19 to public health authorities; Sites are implementing risk management processes for crew shift changes to ensure social distancing protocols and reduction in movement of employees between crews; Sites are restricting visitors to essential visitors only, and only for immediate and work-related activities; Where relevant, ongoing and transparent communications are being held with unions on protocols during COVID-19; and The Lupin site, currently managed by a third-party contractor, is following all federal and territorial guidelines with respect to COVID-19 and has instituted policies for its employees. The Company confirms it is in regular contact with its customers to monitor product shipments at both of the Companys mining operations. For critical spares and supplies, each site is reviewing its inventory and ensuring sufficient supplies and stock are in place. For business continuity, the Company is managing current impacts of the pandemic carefully and reviewing the potential for more severe impacts resulting from the virus and regulations imposed, and site-specific contingency plans are being developed should they be required. For Further Information: Dominic Duffy President and Chief Executive Officer Edison Nguyen Manager, Analytics and Investor Relations Contact: 647.260.1566 About Mandalay Resources Corporation: Mandalay Resources is a Canadian-based natural resource company with producing assets in Australia and Sweden, and care and maintenance and development projects in Chile. The Company is focused on growing production at its gold and antimony operation in Australia, and gold production from its operation in Sweden to generate near-term cash flow. Forward-Looking Statements: This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including statements regarding the New Credit Facility and the repurchase or redemption of outstanding Gold Bonds. There is no assurance that the proposed transaction will be completed on the terms set out in this press release or at all. Actual results and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by these statements depending on, among other things, changes in commodity prices and general market and economic conditions. The factors identified above are not intended to represent a complete list of the factors that could affect Mandalay. A description of additional risks that could result in actual results and developments differing from those contemplated by forward-looking statements in this news release can be found under the heading Risk Factors in Mandalays annual information form dated March 28, 2019, a copy of which is available under Mandalays profile at www.sedar.com. In addition, there can be no assurance that any inferred resources that are discovered as a result of additional drilling will ever be upgraded to proven or probable reserves. Although Mandalay has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The COVID-19 pandemic has shaken energy markets to the core this year, creating incredible volatility for fuel prices. The one energy source that hasnt blinked though is coal, a fuel that may come out stronger through the current crisis, a Rystad Energy analysis shows. The price of coal was already depressed before the corona virus crisis, and the demand curtailment in China during the lockdowns was accompanied by a domestic production drop, balancing the market. Oil, which is used as a fuel in coal mining, has grown cheaper and is seen by Rystad Energy as reducing coal output costs by a few dollars per ton. With ARA prices already so low, any cost decrease will potentially give struggling producers selling to Europe a little breathing room, rather than allowing prices to move down any further, says Steve Hulton, Rystad Energys Head of Global coal research. The large falls in the currency of the major coal exporting countries like Australia and Russia is a significant, but often overlooked factor with regards to coal prices and margins. In mid-March, the Australian dollar hit a 17-year low as international investors sought the traditional safety of US dollars; the Russian ruble has also reached new record lows due to the collapsing oil price. International coal trades are priced in US dollars, whereas the majority of production costs are generally denominated in local currency terms. Therefore, a weaker exchange rate versus the US dollar usually means higher local currency revenues (or lower costs when converted to US dollars). (Click to enlarge) Either way, the higher sales margin gives producers maneuverability to accept lower US dollar coal prices if needed, says Hulton. However, foreign exchange movements wont help any US-based coal producers, and further export price weakness (plus ongoing local demand destruction due to gas competition) will only serve to hasten their demise. Story continues A possible outcome of the Covid-19 crisis could be an unexpected subtle shift in public opinion and policy regarding the speed of transition towards a low carbon power generating future. In a post-pandemic world coal, while having lots of problems, is considered to be a cheap and reliable source of energy to rebuild the economy. Also, in economies struggling to bounce back, there may be less scope for absorbing the unemployment associated with the end of coal mining and power generation. These factors could potentially lead to a slowing of the rate of the energy transition. China is an example: Coal mining capacity is now reported as moving quickly back towards full capacity, and power generation is returning to normal levels. Thermal coal import demand into China, which rose initially on the back of domestic production shutdowns, is likely to total close to the 2019 annual numbers, though reports indicate that some ports have already reached their 2020 annual quota limits. By Rystad Energy More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Read this article on OilPrice.com Spain's coronavirus death toll surpasses 1,300 The latest death toll is an increase from 1,002 on Friday, according to the health ministry. Spains death toll from the coronavirus epidemic soared on Saturday to 1,326 from 1,002 on Friday, according to the countrys Health Ministry latest data. SPAIN IS IN THE FIRST WEEK OF A NATIONWIDE LOCKDOWN The number of registered cases in the country rose to 24,926 on Saturday from 19,980 in the previous tally announced on Friday. It is true that in serious patients that belong to high risk groups, the number of fatalities is going to be higher, said Fernando Simon, director of Spains Centre for Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies. We are trying with the autonomous regions and with the health ministry to guarantee the highest amounts of survival, but in some cases this cannot be guaranteed." People are only allowed to leave their homes for work that cannot be done from home, grocery shopping, and to care for pets or vulnerable persons in the country. By Trend Azerbaijans ruling New Azerbaijan party highly appreciates the measures taken by the government, which are being implemented upon the instruction of the President for prevent the spread of coronavirus, the partys press service told Trend. The party considers the creation of the Fund to Support Fight Against Coronavirus on March 19 upon the decree of President Ilham Aliyev as an important step in fighting against this dangerous infection. The New Azerbaijan Party has made a decision to donate 200,000 manat to the Fund. Aside from that the all local structures and party members have been recommended to render support to the Fund to Support Fight Against Coronavirus whenever possible. COV?D-19 continues to spread rapidly in many countries. The Operational Headquarters under the Cabinet of Ministers has said that due to the long incubation period of the virus, the high rate of spread and the lack of vaccine, the state had to tighten the measures. Taking into account that the World Health Organization has declared coronavirus a global pandemic, and based on its recommendations and requirements, a number of emergency measures in the country became necessary. In this regard, all mass events were canceled within a month. Public and private entities, as well as citizens, are required to comply with special rules. German Finance Minister and Vice-Chancellor Olaf Scholz addresses the second day of French employers' association Medef's summer meeting in Jouy-en-Josas on August 29, 2018. Germany is readying stimulus measures requiring about 156 billion euros ($166.83 billion) in net new borrowing and additional debt authorization of up to 200 billion euros to fight the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak, according to a draft law and senior officials. The package will include a supplementary government budget of 156 billion euros, 100 billion euros for an economic stability fund that can take direct equity stakes in companies, and 100 billion euros in credit to public-sector development bank KfW for loans to struggling businesses, the sources said. The combined sum of possibly 356 billion euros in new debt would represent roughly 10% of Germany's gross domestic output. Final details of the measures are being discussed by ministers over the weekend, the sources added. Finance Minister Olaf Scholz was expected to give a statement later on Saturday. Chancellor Angela Merkel has vowed to do "whatever it takes" to counter the epidemic's economic impact and the government has promised an initial half a trillion euros in liquidity guarantees for affected businesses via KfW. Merkel's cabinet is set to back the package of fiscal measures on Monday. A government source had told Reuters on Friday that a 150 billion euro supplementary budget was underway. Justice delayed, but justice served. After seven years, the Nirbhaya rape case finally came to a befitting end as the four convicts - Pawan Gupta, Akshay Kumar Singh, Vinay Sharma, and Mukesh Kumar - were finally hanged for their brutal crimes yesterday morning. The entire country had been waiting for years for the culprits to get what they deserve and I'm pretty sure everyone was happy that the victim's family finally got justice after a long battle. But nope, the convicts' lawyer is still out there, spewing his venom and trying to malign the victim's character. In a video going viral on Twitter, he's seen angrily questioning the victim's mother about her daughter's whereabouts. Delhi 2012 gang-rape case: Convicts lawyer questions the victim's mother about her daughter's whereabouts, faces flak. pic.twitter.com/RpdD1Xqacg Hindustan Times (@htTweets) March 20, 2020 And of course, this isn't the first time. He's also been quoted by News-18 saying, "Should I not ask what the girl was doing with the boy so late at night? It is part of the evidence. I wasnt saying they had a brother-sister relationship or they were out to celebrate rakhi. All I said was that they are friends. Now in their society, boyfriend-girlfriend relation must be laudable, but not in the culture I come from." So, she deserved to get raped because she didn't fit your culture's standards? Or does your culture views being out in public, minding your own business a worse offence than rape and murder? Oh, the show didn't end there as he had some even worse comments. He had previously said, "If my daughter or sister engaged in pre-marital sex and disgraced herself and allowed herself to lose face and character by doing such things, I would most certainly take this sort of sister or daughter to my farmhouse, and in front of my entire family, I would put petrol on her and set her on fire." Are you saying that you're okay with murder if you daughter or sister engaged in consensual sex? AP Singh, I hope you know you're a monster. Such regressive thinking is why women are not safe in this country. Obviously, he got backlash for him comments, but the scary part is that there were a few people actually agreeing with him. Queue the 'shame' sequence from GoT. Shame on Ap singh. Just hear his statement. How can he be so inhuman about this case. He is so fucking shameless person after the 6 criminals of nirbhaya case. Being the lawyer of criminals he has also adapted the language of criminals. SHAME ON AP SINGH SHAME #NirbhayaJustice pic.twitter.com/AHhmWQFUNR Pranab Raj Kumar (@iAmPranabRaj) March 20, 2020 #APSingh is saying that "Ask nirbhaya's mother what she was doing till 11.30?" Abbey fucking loser time has nothing to do with rape ,women even get raped during the day. And even if a girl is out at night Do men get the freedom to rape her?What bullshit is this #NirbhayaCase Tae (@Tae68136336) March 19, 2020 Hes a freak why are we giving him a platform.. gross disgusting man https://t.co/OxZPoeBamm Sonam K Ahuja (@sonamakapoor) March 20, 2020 Kyu rape 12 baje ke baad legal ho jata hai ? Ya phir 12 baje ke baad character gir jata hai ? Ya so called characterless hone par rape hamare indian mardo ka right ban jata hai? Indian (@Bilalah88862561) March 20, 2020 It matters not why she was out, what she was doing or what she was wearing. She had every right to be out and about just like every Indian regardless of gender. Those men should have been bought up better to respect those rights. Total Mumbaiite (@Mumbaikaralways) March 20, 2020 How shamelessly Adv. AP Singh is trying to delay the death warrant of Nirbhaya Case Victim. When asked if Nirbhaya was his own daughter, he shamelessly tells that females of his family are given good upbringing. Today he again murdered Nirbhaya mercilessly & ruthlessly. Shame. pic.twitter.com/QOCZCIybQT Chaitaney Mor (@chaitaney) March 19, 2020 Dear Police, please book this lawyer for encouraging rape on our daughters outside house post midnight. #APSingh#JusticeForNirbhaya#NirbhayaCase pic.twitter.com/CeXM06UH3x Dinks (@daloveofpeople1) March 19, 2020 Exact mentality and reasoning as that of the rapists-Obviously, punishment must be served for going against the rules! Reiterates how they don't give a FLYING. FUCK. about our safety. Curfews and clothing constraints have always been about exercising control over women. https://t.co/YTXhp09Roo Joann Elizabeth Panicker (@joann_panicker) March 20, 2020 Mankind is appalled at the statement of the defense lawyer AP Singh in Nirbhaya case. He is worse than convicts. His low level mind and thoughts are fully evident and should be debarred. https://t.co/3LDODY4xKD Kamya Chaturvedi (@tok2kamya) March 21, 2020 Like I said before only criminals defend such criminals,he is openly saying he will burn his daughter or sister if they engage in premarital sex which is not even illegal,that was his reason to defend rapists, should he be roaming around freely like this ? https://t.co/pY191xME9k Rangoli Chandel (@Rangoli_A) March 20, 2020 I guess rape becomes legal at night.Disgusting.I'm scared these kinds of people exist.Hmm.Guess who deserves to be punched in the face.Please.Always.Definitely needs to be debarred.A criminal in disguise. The coronavirus pandemic has many in Tinsletown ditching their usual glamorous looks. And Ariel Winter was no different, with the 22-year-old sporting a makeup-free visage while out for a grocery trip in Los Angeles on Friday. The Modern Family star also appeared to go sans-bra as she ran her errands. No makeup no worries: Ariel Winter sported a makeup-free visage while out for a grocery trip in Los Angeles on Friday The Sofia The First voice actress went casual for the trip, wearing dark sweatpants tucked into studded boots on her lower half. Up top, Winter covered a gray sweatshirt with a heavy gray hoodie. Her recently colored flame-haired tresses were swept back into a high, loose bun. A gray day: The Sofia The First voice actress went casual for the trip, wearing dark sweatpants tucked into studded boots on her lower half Californian Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday issued an unprecedented statewide 'stay at home order' directing the state's 40 million residents to hunker down in their homes for the foreseeable future in the face of the fast-spreading coronavirus pandemic. The directive, effective immediately, marks the largest and most sweeping government clampdown yet in the worsening public health crisis brought on by the COVID-19 outbreak, which he predicted could infect more than half the state within eight weeks. Meanwhile, the White House strongly discouraged any gatherings of 10 or more people during a press briefing Monday. China has not reported any local coronavirus cases for the third consecutive day but the country is facing a sharp increase of COVID-19 cases from abroad, a health official said on Saturday. Seven more fatalities reported from the virus' epicentre of Hubei province, taking the death toll in the country to 3,255, China's National Health Commission (NHC) said on Saturday. The coronavirus death toll has gone up to 11,397 with more than 275,427 cases reported in over 160 countries and territories, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Italy has overtaken China as the worst-hit with over over 4,000 deaths reported so far. The NHC said on Saturday that no new domestically transmitted cases of COVID-19 were reported on the Chinese mainland for the third day in a row on Friday. On Friday, seven deaths and 36 new suspected cases were reported on the mainland, with all the deaths reported from the virus' epicentre Hubei province and its capital Wuhan, it said. The overall confirmed cases on the mainland have reached 81,008 by the end of Friday, which included 3,255 deaths, 6,013 patients still undergoing treatment, 71,740 patients who have been discharged after recovery, the NHC said. Facing a sharp increase of COVID-19 cases from abroad, China will take strict measures to prevent imported cases, spokesman of the NHC Mi Feng told media here on Saturday. He said the total number of imported cases to the Chinese mainland increased by 216 per cent to 269 from March 11 to 20. He also noted that the mainland reported no new domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases for the third day in a row on Friday, and provincial-level regions except the hard-hit Hubei province had been clear of indigenous cases for nine days. He called for unswerving efforts in preventing the COVID-19 epidemic from rebounding. The NHC said 41 new confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported on the Chinese mainland on Friday from the people arriving from abroad, taking the total number of imported cases to 269. While reporting about a steady increase in imported cases, the NHC did not specify whether the infected persons were foreigners or Chinese nationals returning from abroad. China has imposed strict quarantine measures for all those returning from other countries. Hong Kong reported 17 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 20 preliminary positive cases on Saturday. With the 17 newly confirmed cases, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Hong Kong has risen to 273. Meanwhile Wuhan, which is under lockdown since January 23 as part of attempts by the government to isolate the COVID-19 epidemic, will reopen commercial outlets to residents in an orderly manner, local authorities said. Commercial outlets in residential communities and villages without existing confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases can resume business, state-run Xinhua agency quoted Wuhan municipal bureau of commerce as saying. Those outlets mainly include supermarkets, convenience stores, fresh food shops, fruit and vegetable shops and others that supply daily necessities. Each household can send one person a day to go shopping with a one-time pass certificate or an electronic health code. Each shopping trip will be limited to within two hours, it said. China is speeding up construction on major infrastructure projects to mitigate the economic impact of the novel coronavirus epidemic. The country, which came to a grinding halt since January third week due to the coronavirus scare, has resumed the construction in nearly 90 per cent of 11,000 key projects from March 20, Ou Hong, an official with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), told media here. In a breakdown, 97.8 per cent of the 533 key transportation projects supervised by the NDRC have been under construction, with all the major railway projects resuming operation, said Zheng Jian, another official with the NDRC. The construction on some 97 per cent of major highway and waterway projects, 87 per cent of airport projects, and 86 per cent of water conservancy projects also resumed, Ou added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Thumbs up to the men and women out there thousands locally in Central Virginia and tens of millions across America doing their darnedest to keep some semblance of normal life up and running for the rest of us as we practice social distancing or self-quarantining. The store workers who keep shelves of toilet paper (really ... really, people??), hand santizer, bread and other necessities of daily life stocked. The public school bus drivers who are out every day delivering breakfast and lunch to students, taking nourishment for body and soul to children desperately in need of both these days. The public safety workers police, firefighters and EMS personnel who are always there when needed. The doctors and nurses on the front lines of this battle and who, in many cases, are putting their lives on the line for the greater community. The sanitation workers, whose jobs are almost as dangerous as front-line medical personnel, clearing away the mounds of garbage from our hunkering down at home. The school teachers busy trying to keep their students on track academically via online instruction and enrichment packages. These are strange times were living in, and theyre likely to get stranger in the days ahead, if were honest with ourselves. A global public health crisis is something hardly anyone alive today has seen since the 1918 flu pandemic killed tens of millions of people. We dont know what to think, where to turn or what to do. Were told the nations of the world are in a war, but its not against a visible enemy, rather its an unseen killer methodically spreading around the globe. We see financial markets from Hong Kong and Frankfurt to London and New York City shedding trillions of dollars in shareholder value. And it all is terrifying. Yet these men and women in jobs most of us dont give a second thought to in normal times suddenly take on added importance when it is normal times that were searching for. So when you see someone restocking the Charmin or the trash truck comes down your street, shout out a hearty Thank you! but from a safe distance. * * * Thumbs down to Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, for withholding vital information about the COVID-19 pandemic from the public while sharing that very information with a group of connected and wealthy constituents last month in Washington. Speaking to the Tar Heel Circle at a Washington event in February, he shared with them information how bad the pandemic and containment measures were likely to get. At the same time, publicly Burr was telling everyday citizens all was under control, writing newspaper op-eds to the point. To make matters worse, about the same time Burr unloaded almost $1.7 million in stocks and other assets whose value would sink if the worst-case scenario played out in America. Shame on you, senator. Shame. A 17-year-old on trial in the shooting death of a 16-year-old boy during a car-to-car pursuit didn't appear worried Friday as he lightly stepped on the toes of a female corrections officer shortly before jurors started to deliberate whether or not he was guilty. At 1:30 p.m. Friday, jurors convicted Zachary Jacob McCall of premeditated first-degree murder, felony first-degree murder and criminal discharge of a firearm at an occupied vehicle. On May 27, McFall will be sentenced on one count of first-degree murder and the criminal discharge of a firearm. McCall was tried as an adult. McFall was convicted in the death of Joaquin McKinney, 16, who was fatally wounded on July 25, 2019, near S.E. 37th and Adams. McFall was 16 when McKinney was fatally shot. Besides premeditated first-degree murder or felony first-degree murder, jurors could convict McFall of intentional second-degree murder of McKinney. "There is no doubt what happened on July 25, 2019, no doubt," Chief Deputy District Attorney Dan Dunbar told jurors. "There were layers and layers and layers of evidence to prove" the case. Before the fatal shooting of McKinney, five to eight gunshots were fired from a white Mercury Grand Marquis in the air on S.E. Irvingham before the car chase in which McKinney was killed, Dunbar said. Something was going on between two groups of young men, Dunbar said, and it doesn't matter whether the dispute focused on a girl or guns. Someone in a blue car driven by McFall said, "Let's get 'em." McFall is the driver of the blue car, and he is "the classic example of an aider and abettor ," Dunbar said, referring to a murder that occurs during a bank robbery in which the driver of the robbers' car is as guilty as the gunman who kills the victim. The evidence is "overwhelming" that McFall was involved in the case, Dunbar said. At least 20 shots were fired from a semiautomatic rifle, and five 9mm rounds were fired from a semiautomatic pistol, Dunbar said. Defense attorney James Chappas told jurors that McFall was presumed innocent, and Shawnee County prosecutors had the burden to prove the guilt of McFall. "Make the state prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt," Chappas told jurors. On Wednesday, a prosecution witness pointed to McFall to identify him as the driver of the car carrying a gunman who fired shots at a second car, fatally wounding that car's driver. On Tuesday, jurors saw dash cam video in an ambulance that showed a gunman's car speeding after a white car as shots were fired by what a witness said was a gunman armed with a semiautomatic rifle leaning out a car and triggering what sounded like 30 rounds during the fatal shooting of McKinney. A short time before the fatal shooting, an older witness was working in a yard at S.E. Fremont and Irvingham when he saw a man in a white car extend his arm out of the car and fire five shots, then drove from the area. On Wednesday, jurors saw a trajectory rod that police used to illustrate how a rifle bullet fired from one car punched a hole through the rear window of a car driven by McKinney, punctured a head cushion and struck McKinney in the head, killing him. Dr. Alan Martinez, deputy Shawnee County District Coroner, testified the bullet struck the back of McKinney's head, causing a star-shaped wound that was lethal. McKinney also suffered a second gunshot wound that passed through his right thigh, traversin from side to side, said Martinez, a forensic pathologist. That wound would have been survivable. Two other co-defendants, Lavonte Deshone Johnson, 23, and Danny Kaye Williams, now 17, also are charged with premeditated first-degree murder, felony first-degree murder, and criminal discharge of a firearm at an occupied vehicle. A dog has been outfitted with a mask for its walk in a park in Beijing on March 9. Photo: IC Photo A second dog in Hong Kong has tested positive for traces of the virus that causes Covid-19, even as six other quarantined animals have continued to test negative. The positive results from the second dog deepen a mystery about the new coronavirus that has frightened pet owners and baffled scientists trying to figure out how household pets can repeatedly test positive for the virus even though experts say there is no evidence they can transmit it to humans or fall ill themselves. Hong Kongs Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) said Thursday a German shepherd with an infected owner had repeatedly tested positive for the virus, prompting the department to call on sick pet owners to hand over their dogs and cats to be quarantined and tested. No positive results have been obtained from the other quarantined animals, which include a mixed-breed dog from the same household in Pok Fu Lam, a French bulldog from Tseung Kwan O and three short-haired cats from a house in Yau Tong, according to the AFCD. None has shown signs of the disease. Positive nucleic acid tests such as those performed on the animals can confirm the presence of traces of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes Covid-19, but do not mean the virus is whole, alive, transmissible or causing disease, experts say. Pet owners should always maintain good hygiene practices and under no circumstances abandon their pets, the AFCD said. The fresh case follows the death on Monday of a Pomeranian quarantined on Feb. 26 that tested weak positive for the virus five times, before testing negative on March 12 and March 13. It was returned to its owner on March 14. The amount of virus in the sample from (the German shepherd) was higher than that of the Pomeranian, the AFCD said. Like the other animals, the Pomeranian did not exhibit symptoms associated with infection in humans during its two-and-a-half weeks in quarantine. Its cause of death was undetermined because the owner had been unwilling to allow an autopsy, an AFCD spokesperson said, but the dog was geriatric and (had) chronic illness. Experts say theres no way of knowing what symptoms a dog might display if it somehow contracted Covid-19. Investigators who sequenced viral samples from the Pomeranian and its owner found the sequences were very similar, and concluded the owner had infected the dog. The news prompted some dog-lovers in coronavirus-stricken areas to start fitting their pets with face masks. Sanjaya Senanayake, a virus expert at the Australian National University, told Caixin previously that it was likely the dog was not actually infected with the disease, but had simply licked up some bits of virus that its infected owner had coughed and sneezed around the house. But Thomas Sit Hon-chung, assistant director of inspection and quarantine at the AFCD, pointed to the longevity of the virus traces in the dogs system, and the fact tests were based on both oral and nasal swabs, suggesting more than just surface contamination. If it was contamination, the dogs nasal or oral mechanism should have a way to clean (the body of) the viruses, Sit said. Blood tests for antibodies that would have shown the Pomeranians immune system fought the infection returned negative, the AFCD reported on March 12. But the samples were taken on March 3, which the department noted may have been too early in the course of infection for such antibodies to develop. Furthermore, in rare cases humans infected with other types of coronavirus do not develop antibodies, it said. The German shepherd was tested again Friday but the results are not yet known. All the animals are quarantined at a government facility at the Hong Kong Port of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. The AFCD said it would continue to test the animals. In total, 11 dogs and cats had been quarantined at the facility as of Friday, with four returned to their owners after their tests came back negative. None has showed any sign of the disease. Those so far released include a shiba inu and an exotic shorthaired cat. Sick pet owners should restrict their contact with animals, but there is no evidence pets can transmit SARS-CoV-2 to humans or be sickened by the virus, the AFCD said. Despite testing thousands of samples from domestic dogs and cats, U.S. veterinary diagnostic company IDEXX Laboratories Inc. announced last week that it had found no positive results in any of them. Contact reporter Flynn Murphy (flynnmurphy@caixin.com) and editor Michael Bellart (michaelbellart@caixin.com) Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller has asked Catholic churches in the Archdiocese of San Antonio to limit attendance at daily Mass to no more than 10 people, citing the latest state and city public health orders seeking to limit the spread of coronavirus. Even though churches are exempt from the orders, the archbishop asked all parishes to follow the guideline for daily Masses for community health reasons in a decree issued Friday afternoon. If parishes are unable to limit the size of the congregation to that number, they are asked to cancel the public liturgy and celebrate the Mass without a congregation, he noted in the decree. The Mass should be shared with congregations via live-stream whenever possible, he said. On ExpressNews.com: Get the latest update on coronavirus and a tracking map of U.S. cases The prelates decree came after announcements that two members of two different Catholic churches on the Northwest Side had tested positive for COVID-19. One is a parishioner at Our Lady of the Atonement Catholic Church, according to a letter that pastor Mark W. Lewis sent to church members Thursday. That parishioner attended two Masses last weekend one at 10 a.m. March 14 and another at 11 a.m. March 15, the pastors letter said. The church member is also a parent of a student at The Atonement Academy. The symptoms indicate the parishioner was exposed to the virus recently, Lewis letter stated. That parishioner is now in self quarantine. The other person is an employee at St. Lukes Catholic Church. Garcia-Siller said Father Eric Ritter at St. Lukes and his staff are communicating with church members about the situation. The church, its school, the school office and the parish office are closed. In asking the faithful to adhere to the limit of no more than 10 people at any gathering, the archbishop recognized the effect it would have on Easter, which falls on April 12 this year. The citys public health emergency order stands through April 18 and could be extended again if necessary. Garcia-Siller said the Easter Triduum sundown on Holy Thursday to sundown on Easter Sunday still should be celebrated in every parish but there must be no more than 10 people in attendance at any one time. The services should be made available to the rest of the congregation via live-streaming if possible, he said. Sunday Masses at Catholic churches throughout the archdiocese have been suspended through at least March 31. But daily Mass tends to draw smaller numbers of people. On ExpressNews.com: Coronavirus prompts many San Antonio churches to cancel services The 10-person size limit also will greatly affect celebrations of weddings and funeral Masses, the archbishop noted. Pastors have been asked to meet with families and couples who have planned such services and to explain the need to follow the new restrictions in the interest of public health. Those planning Catholic funerals may consider having a committal service instead of Mass, Garcia-Siller suggested. Once the coronavirus crisis has passed, a Memorial Mass could be celebrated. Wedding couples may already be faced with a cancellation by their reception venue, the archbishops decree noted. However, baptisms will continue. Attendance at such events will be limited to 10 people. I, as your shepherd during this most difficult time, again ask you to think of what you can do for others, Garcia-Siller said. Pray also for the civic leaders, health professionals, volunteers and all who are offering their valuable work for others at this time. The Lord is with us during these difficult moments. Peggy OHare reports on the census, demographics and occasionally crime and general assignments in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | pohare@express-news.net | Twitter: @Peggy_OHare By Timothy Gardner and Jennifer Hiller WASHINGTON/HOUSTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration plans to send a special energy envoy to Saudi Arabia to work with the kingdom on stabilizing the global oil market, officials said on Friday, as the U.S. scrambles to deal with a price crash so deep that regulators in Texas considered curbing production there for the first time in nearly 50 years. Oil prices have lost more than half their value in the last two weeks as Saudi Arabia and Russia kicked off a price war and the coronavirus pandemic destroyed demand. U.S. oil now trades at less than $23 a barrel. The crash has shocked the oil industry as a pact among OPEC and non-OPEC producers to cooperate imploded, triggering a production free-for-all. The United States is sending a special representative to negotiate with Saudi Arabia, officials said Friday, after the kingdom unleashed production following years of touting its role as a stabilizing force for markets. Saudi Arabia and Russia are locked in a war for global oil market share after their three-year deal to restrain output collapsed this month. The kingdom has vowed to increase production to a record 12.3 million barrels per day, and has chartered numerous tankers to ship oil around the world, pushing prices to near 20-year lows this week. U.S. officials believe Saudi Arabia's move to flood oil markets compounds the global economic crash during a crisis caused by the pandemic. A senior Energy Department official will be sent to Riyadh for months at least to work closely with State Department officials and the existing energy attache, the senior U.S. officials said, on condition of anonymity. Trump administration officials said Saudi Arabia has for decades been a steadfast leader of stability in the global oil market. The energy representative would help the countries return to a path of stability, they said. The price crash is also devastating to U.S. oil producers, some of which have already begun putting employees on furlough. The hope is that President Donald Trump could negotiate with Saudi Arabia and Russia and convince them to match cuts with a similar cut in production in Texas, said Ryan Sitton, a commissioner with the Texas Railroad Commission, the body that regulates the state's oil and gas industry. Story continues Sitton said production limits could be implemented quickly, though no one who works at the agency was around the last time the state limited production, in the early 1970s. "We need to take the time to hear from everybody," he said, adding that he was not yet advocating for the cuts. But "if we can help (Trump) get a deal done, then I think that's when we do something." Sitton said on Twitter that he spoke with OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo about an international deal "to ensure economic stability as we recover from" the coronavirus outbreak. Sitton said Barkindo was "kind enough to invite me to the next OPEC meeting in June." Barkindo told Reuters that he and Sitton discussed their "perspective on current developments, and the possibility of future cooperation" in a teleconference. Barkindo and OPEC ministers have, in the past, met with shale-industry executives at annual conferences. A senior State Department official said the federal government does not have the ability to restrict the Texas regulator from any work with OPEC to cut production. "Those are wholly within state matters ... from a federal level we have no ongoing engagements with OPEC, it's a cartel," the official told reporters in a teleconference. U.S. INDUSTRY UNMOVED Some U.S. industry representatives were skeptical that Texas should intervene in the market. U.S. oil producers have long resisted such a move, and the industry's largest trade association did not sound convinced on Friday, either. "Our view is simple. Quotas are bad," said Frank Macchiarola, senior vice president of policy, economics and regulatory affairs at the American Petroleum Institute. "They've been proven ineffective and harmful. There's no reason during this time to try to imitate OPEC." In the last several years, shale operators using the innovative hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, technique, have boosted U.S. oil output to nearly 13 million barrels per day, making it the world's largest producer. Since 2016, as OPEC restrained production, the United States has taken market share from Saudi Arabia, Russia and other nations. Russia has been slower to come on board with OPEC's continued efforts to bolster prices, and the country's largest oil producer, Rosneft , has been an opponent of the deal with OPEC to cut supply. Units of Rosneft, and its managers, were recently sanctioned by the United States due to its trade relationship with Venezuela. Trump administration officials will continue to reduce global oil output with sanctions on what the officials called bad actors in Iran and Venezuela, both of which are OPEC members, and their shipping networks, the officials said. To the extent that Russia is involved in marketing Venezuelan oil, it will be sanctioned, the officials said. A group of nine Republican U.S. Senators, mainly from oil producing states, urged Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross late on Friday to investigate whether Saudi Arabia and Russia were excessively dumping oil on global markets. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner and Jennifer Hiller; additional reporting by Stephen Kalin in Riyadh and Rania El Gamal in Dubai; Editing by Tom Brown, Leslie Adler and Daniel Wallis) GRANBY, N.Y. -- New York State Police are seeking the publics help in finding a person pictured in security camera photos in connection with an Oswego County stabbing. On Monday night, New York State Police responded to Pit Stop, a gas station and convenience store, located at 433 County Route 3 in Granby. Troopers found a 27-year-old man who had been stabbed in the stomach during a fight, police said. At the time, the 27-year-old was in stable condition at Upstate University Hospital. Police ask that anyone with information call state police headquarters at 315-366-6000. Got a tip, comment or story idea? Contact Chris Libonati via the Signal app for encrypted messaging at 585-290-0718, by phone at the same number, by email or on Twitter. Thanks for visiting Syracuse.com. Quality local journalism has never been more important, and your subscription matters. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work. WASHINGTON Lora Shiao, a career U.S. intelligence officer, will be named as acting director of the National Counterterrorism Center, two people familiar with the matter said. Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell is expected to make the announcement on Monday. Shiao will be the first woman to hold the post. Shiaos appointment, which also means shell become the agencys deputy director, will come as a relief to members of the intelligence community amid fears that Grenell dismissed her predecessor in the acting role, veteran counterterrorism official Russell Travers, as part of a political purge. One of the people denied that claim, saying Grenell had offered Travers several possible positions but that hed chosen to retire instead. Grenell is also expected to name Clare Linkins, another career staffer, as executive director. Shiao is expected to be acting director until President Donald Trumps nominee for the NCTC job, Christopher Miller, a Pentagon special operations and counterterrorism official, is confirmed. But with the U.S. in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic and elections set for November, that could take months, if it happens at all. Shiao has been executive director of the NCTC since March of 2019 and has over two decades of experience in the intelligence community. Much of her work had focused on terrorist plotting against the US and terrorist activities in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe, according to her official biography. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. FREDERICTONThe number of COVID-19 cases continues to climb in Atlantic Canada, leading the countrys smallest province to impose new restrictions in an effort to stem the spread. As of Saturday, anyone arriving on Prince Edward Island who has travelled within Canada is asked to self-isolate for 14 days a step beyond the federal governments request to those who have travelled internationally. Dr. Heather Morrison, P.E.I.s chief public health officer, said there were no new cases on the Island Saturday. There are still two positive cases, both travel-related. She repeated her message to passengers who were on-board Air Canada Flight 7564 on March 11 from Toronto to Charlottetown to self-isolate until March 25. Those who develop any symptoms should call 811. New screening measures are being put in place for the next 10 days at all entry points into the province, including the Charlottetown Airport, Confederation Bridge and Magdalene Island Ferry dock in Souris. I want clarify that we are not closing the airport, bridge or ferry. We are simply setting up screening at each of these entry points for all individuals arriving in P.E.I. Islanders and visitors alike, Morrison said. Morrison said the screening includes asking questions on travel and providing information on self-isolating. Newfoundland and Labrador imposed similar restrictions on anyone entering that province earlier in the week, but announced a number of exemptions Saturday. They would include people like truck drivers that provide food services to our province, sometimes it could be crews on airplanes, and some of the oil and gas workers that work in Newfoundland and Labrador on our offshore rigs would be another example, said Premier Dwight Ball. Newfoundland and Labrador reported two new presumptive cases a woman who returned from international travel and a woman who returned from a cruise. That brings the provincial total to six presumptive cases. Chief medical officer of health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald said contact tracing for the two latest cases is ongoing. Health Minister John Haggie stressed the need for social distancing, but said some people are not co-operating. Cab drivers in St. Johns last night tell me that their Friday night was as busy as most Friday nights, only instead of going to pubs and clubs they were taking people to house parties, Haggie said. This is not social distancing. Ball said international military flights were continuing to land and depart from Happy Valley Goose Bay, but military officials were isolating crews and ensuring proper cleaning procedures are followed. All the rules, policies and procedures have been developed by the base in Happy Valley Goose Bay and Canada will, and should, continue its role in national security, Ball said. New Brunswick reported six new presumptive cases of COVID-19 on Saturday. Four had been on a cruise ship, while the other two were close contacts to travel-related cases. There are now seven confirmed cases and 10 presumptive cases for a provincial total of 17. Residents of New Brunswicks Campobello Island must travel through part of the State of Maine to get to the New Brunswick mainland, and Premier Blaine Higgs said exceptions have been made to allow them to travel for essential services by going direct between Lubec and Calais, Maine. Additionally they will be able to travel from St. Stephen to Campobello Island, directly through the United States, as they have done, Higgs said. Nova Scotia also reported six new cases of COVID-19 all are travel-related. The province has nine confirmed cases and 12 presumptive cases of COVID-19, for a total of 21. The individuals affected range in age from late-teens to mid-70s. This is just the beginning for Nova Scotia and we all need to stay vigilant, practise good hygiene and social distancing, and self-isolate for 14 days if you have travelled outside Canada or are feeling unwell, Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotias chief medical officer of health, said in a statement. As of Saturday, dentists in Nova Scotia can no longer practice dentistry in their offices unless it is for an emergency procedure. Read more about: Canada invites 668 Express Entry candidates to apply for permanent residence Invited candidates had provincial nominations granting them an additional 600 CRS points Canada invites 668 Express Entry candidates to apply for permanent residence Invited candidates had provincial nominations granting them an additional 600 CRS points The Government of Canada has released the details of this weeks Express Entry draw, inviting 668 candidates to apply for permanent residence. Invitations were received on March 18, however official details of the draw were released today, March 20. This draw brings the total number of invitations to apply (ITAs) issued so far this year through Canadas Express Entry system to 19,368. The minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score requirement was 720. The score requirement may seem high compared to the last Express Entry draw that required a score of 471, however, this draw only included candidates that had provincial nominations aligned with Express Entry. Despite COVID-19 measures slowing down Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) services, Canada is still striving to meet its immigration targets set for 2020. Many of those are allotted to obtain permanent residence through Canadas Express Entry system. Express Entry manages the pool of candidates for Canadas three Federal High Skilled economic immigration programs the Federal Skilled Worker Class, Federal Skilled Trades Class and Canadian Experience Class. Eligible candidates are ranked in the Express Entry pool based on a score awarded under the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS), which provides points for factors such as age, education, skilled work experience and proficiency in English or French. A set number of the highest-ranked candidates are issued an invitation to apply for Canadian permanent residence through regular draws from the Express Entry pool, which typically take place every two weeks. Find out if you are eligible for any Canadian immigration programs Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) applied a tie break of March 19, 2020, at 02:04:06 UTC. This means that all candidates with CRS scores above 720, as well as those with scores of 720 who entered their profile in the Express Entry pool before this date and time, received an ITA. Whereas Canada welcomed 320,000 newcomers in 2018, and 341,000 immigrants in 2019, it is again targeting the admission of 341,000 immigrants this year. New immigration targets were unveiled last week in the federal governments 2020-2022 Immigration Levels Plan. The vast majority of Canadas newcomers are set to arrive under the economic class, with 58 per cent set to arrive through Express Entry programs, the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP), Quebecs programs, and other federal streams such as the Atlantic Immigration Pilot (AIP). Express Entry candidates with scores below todays cut-off who want to improve their score may have a number of options for doing so, from improving their language scores to obtaining a provincial nomination for Canadian permanent residence. Express Entry candidates with a provincial nomination receive an additional 600 CRS points and are effectively guaranteed an invitation to apply for Canadian permanent residence. The last few weeks have seen Express Entry-aligned provincial nominee programs in Saskatchewan, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, and Prince Edward Island issue more than 5,000 invitations to Express Entry candidates. Saskatchewan has now invited more than 1,750 Express Entry candidates through the Express Entry sub-category of its immigrant nominee program since the beginning of the year. In January, Ontario issued invitations to 954 Express Entry candidates with work experience in six tech occupations. Alberta selected Express Entry candidates with CRS scores as low as 300 in a selection round held February 20 through the Alberta Express Entry Stream. Earlier selection rounds held through this stream this year have also seen Express Entry candidates with scores as low as 300 invited to apply for a provincial nomination from Alberta. The following are hypothetical examples of candidates who would have obtained an ITA in the March 18 draw: Arun and Lisa are married and are each 35 years old. They each hold bachelors degrees, have been working as software developers for five years and each has demonstrated an intermediate English language proficiency. They submitted an Express Entry profile with Lisa as the principal applicant and initially had a CRS score of 304. The Canadian province of Alberta invited them to apply for nomination, and their score increased to 904. They received an ITA in the March 18 Express Entry draw. Jo has been working in Canada as a network technician for a year and a half. He is 38 years old and wrote the CELPIP and scored a 5 in each category. Jo did not have his foreign education assessed and none of his prior foreign skilled work experience took place in the past 10 years. He entered the pool with a CRS score of 125 and obtained a provincial nomination on March 10. His CRS score increased to 725 and he was invited to apply for Canadian permanent residence in the March 20 Express Entry draw. The first step to being considered for a provincial nomination through one of these streams is to enter a profile in the Express Entry pool. Find out if you are eligible for any Canadian immigration programs 2020 CICNews All Rights Reserved By Express News Service CHENNAI: Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, on Friday too rejected strong requests by Leader of Opposition, MK Stalin and Congress floor leader KR Ramasamy to postpone the ongoing Assembly session considering Coronavirus threat. He said only because the Assembly was in session, MLAs and leaders could convey the issues faced by the people and they were being discussed. The people have elected us to serve them. There is no need to fear that we will contract the disease just because we gather here. The disease due to Coronavirus comes from those who arrive from foreign countries and not from people living here. Since the government is fully engaged in preventing the spread of this virus, there is no need to panic, he reiterated. Referring to the view of KR Ramasamy that the virus had played havoc in the United States and Italy, Palaniswami said, In those countries, the virus spread because preventive measures were not taken. But, in Tamil Nadu the situation is entirely different. No one living in Tamil Nadu has contracted this virus till now. However, the Business Advisory Committee chaired by Speaker P Dhanapal discussed the duration of the ongoing session. Sources said the Chief Minister, during the meeting, promised to ensure full protection to the Members, healthwise. The five-day Budget Session of the Delhi Assembly will now be held on a single day on March 23 in view of the coronavirus pandemic, a government official said on Saturday. It will be the first time when in a single day the budget will be presented as well as passed. According to the original schedule, the session was to be held from March 23-27. "Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia will present the budget of Delhi government on March 23. On the same day, it will be passed," the official said. He said on March 23 the government will also present in the Delhi Assembly the 'Economic Survey 2019-2020' of the city and the status report of 'Outcome Budget' (up to December 2019). The 'Outcome Budget' assesses the performance of various departments of the Delhi government, including various programmes, schemes and projects run by the Aam Aadmi Party dispensation. The number of coronavirus cases in India rose to 283 on Saturday, the Union Health Ministry said. The contagion has claimed one life and infected over 20 people in Delhi. Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that gatherings comprising more than five persons will not be allowed in order to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the national capital. During his first-ever digital-only press conference, Kejriwal said those receiving ration from fair-price shops would get 50 per cent extra for next month. The chief minister also doubled the pension for widows, the differently-abled and elderly for this month. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Advertisement Hospitals could run out of ICU beds by April as the number of coronavirus cases in Australia soars past 1,000. Health authorities warned up to 1.6 million people in New South Wales could contract coronavirus during the first wave of a statewide outbreak. Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said preparations were underway for 20 per cent of the state's eight million residents to catch COVID-19. She said forecasts showed five per cent of residents affected by coronavirus - or up to 80,000 people - would require intensive care. According to a 2018 report by Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society (ANZICS), NSW only has 874 ICU beds Hospitals could run out of ICU beds by April as the number of COVID-19 cases in Australia soars past 1,000 NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant (pictured) said preparations are underway for 20 per cent of the state's eight million residents to catch COVID-19 But according to a 2018 report by Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society (ANZICS), NSW only has 874 ICU beds. The report said Australia had 8.92 beds per 100,000 population and a total of 2,229 ICU beds. Based on these figures, James Cook University statistics lecturer Megan Higgie suggested the country could be without spare ICU beds by early April. 'With the current worst-case scenario of exponential growth of COVID-19 cases, Australia may run out of ICU beds between 7 and 9 April,' she and co-author Andrew Kahn wrote. The dates are based on the assumption all ICU beds are only used by COVID-19 patients and that Australia has not added new ICU beds since the 2018 report. The research is also based on understanding that five per cent of COVID-19 cases become critical. 'We have seen anecdotal reports of six to 10 per cent of people requiring ICU beds,' Ms Higgie wrote. 'Obviously this would bring the actual date much sooner. We have also seen reports that it may be less than five per cent.' Ms Higgie wrote there were two further important points to consider. The number of COVID-19 cases in Australia soared past 1,000 on Saturday CORONAVIRUS CASES IN AUSTRALIA: 27,244 Victoria: 20,269 New South Wales: 4,273 Queensland: 1,161 Western Australia: 692 South Australia: 473 Tasmania: 230 Australian Capital Territory: 113 Northern Territory: 33 TOTAL CASES: 27,244 ESTIMATED ACTIVE CASES: 269 DEATHS: 897 Updated: 5.31 PM, 11 October, 2020 Source: Australian Government Department of Health Advertisement 'There is a large lag between becoming infected and being ill enough to require medical attention. This lag is on average 1014 days,' she wrote. 'Given that April 7 is 19 days away, we only have five to nine days to take the serious action necessary to prevent this human disaster in Australia.' The second point is that the majority of infections are passed to another person before symptoms appear. 'This is a much under-appreciated fact and explains why Australia is still experiencing exponential growth in spite of quarantining people once they are sick,' she wrote. Dr Chant told a NSW budget estimates hearing last Thursday that NSW Health was planning to double the state's intensive care unit capacity and double the availability of ventilators. The response is in relation to both COVID-19 and the start of the flu season. 'We think doubling is prudent in the first stage,' Dr Chant said. 'But if we have to do more, that's fine.' In Italy - where more than 4,000 people have died from coronavirus - doctors have been forced to choose who will not survive. Italian hospitals are so overwhelmed by the number of cases that doctors must choose who is to receive treatment. Factors include the patients age and the condition of their health. There are 1,073 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Australia. New South Wales has the highest amount of cases in the country at 436. Six of the seven COVID-19 deaths have been in the state. Panaji, March 22 : The Goa government has shut down its borders for mass passengers and tourist vehicles, in a bid to crackdown on inter-state movement as a precautionary measure in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. "Some stringent measures are required to be taken to ban the movement of passenger vehicles - maxicabs (12+1), all heavy passenger vehicles like contract carriage, stage carriage, All India Tourist buses, playing from the state of Karnataka and Maharashtra states, with immediate effect until further orders as per the Goa Epidemic Disease, COVID-19 Regulations, 2020 to contain the spread of COVID-19 disease," reads an order issued by the District Magistrates of South Goa and North Goa. Vehicles carrying essential goods have been exempted from the inter-state travel ban. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant also held an all-party meeting at the State Secretariat in which he spelled out the measures taken by his government vis a vis precautions being taken against the viral pandemic. "Even though there has not been a single positive case in Goa, considering the critical phase the country is going thru in the COVID-19, it is necessary to be more vigilant and take all preventive measures that are required to prevent the community transmission of the virus," Sawant told reporters after the meeting late on Saturday. "Attended an All Party Meet convened by @goacm @ Secretariat on steps being taken to prevent #CommunityTransmission of #Covid_19 in #Goa.On behalf of @Goaforwardparty have expressed support & gratitude to Govt's efforts in the interest of health and well-being of #Goem & #Goemkars," Opposition MLA Vijai Sardesai said after attending the meet. Earlier on Saturday, prohibitory orders were issued across Goa under section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which debars mass assembly as well as circulation of malicious and unfounded rumours about the coronavirus disease. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) A trader reacts during the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on February 28, 2020 at Wall Street in New York City. Photo by Johannes Eisele | AFP | Getty Images We are all exhausted and depressed, having experienced this week one of the worst stock market declines in modern history. I was there for the first one, on Oct. 18, 1987, when I stood with my colleagues around our communal Quotron screen while the market took a 20% jack-knife. Let's try to evaluate where the stock market might bottom. This involves creating some framework to assess the implicit assumptions in the market, the business sustainability, cash flow and balance sheets of the companies in which we invest. At the current price of 2,300, around 32% below the Feb. 19 peak, the S&P trades at about 14 times earnings for 2019. If we assume that 2020 is a washout, and next year recovers to the 2018-19 level again of $165 per share, the market is still at 14 times forward earnings, which is generally not a rich multiple when considering 10-year Treasury rates are less than 1%. One might ask, "Is this multiple too high and is that earnings estimate too optimistic?" The market traded at 14.5 times forward earnings during the last correction at the end of 2018 but has bottomed at much lower multiples in history, including touching down 11 times forward earnings on March 9, 2009, the bottom during the financial crisis. We might conclude that we're in the range, not outside the perimeter, but not at the low end. There are still risks: In the last two weeks before the lowest close of that bear market, in 2009, the S&P plunged 20%, which represented a drop from 14 times to 11 times forward earnings. But, it rebounded quickly. How about the earnings for the composite of $165 per share next year? Since the key to predicting the rebound after a recession, is forecasting how long the recession lasts, we need to think through key variables. Estimating earnings with economy at a halt The duration of the coronavirus pandemic will determine the length of the recession. It won't become clear if social distancing works for a few weeks. Even with the precautions being taken by the public, the rate of daily growth in new cases is 35% to 50%, either end of which results in a range of 2.6 million to 26 million total cases nationwide in only three weeks, thanks to the powerful effect of compounding. This is why we are in for a very tough situation in the next few months. Any outcome of this magnitude will grind the domestic economy to a halt. However, new cases in China and South Korea have dropped dramatically. June 30 is still over a quarter away, with a third more days than the entire time since China officially recognized the virus' existence. Friends who live in Shanghai report that factories and commerce in China will be fully operational by mid-April, although the countries to whom they export goods will be hampered for many months. If we extrapolate to the U.S. from China, where the negatives of dense pollution and heavy smoking that exacerbated the virus uptake were balanced by highly restrictive isolation that reduced the incidence, this suggests that the spread could fall significantly in less than two months, or by mid-May. If commerce and demand resume in the second half, China will be ready to ship products and corporate earnings will begin to rebound in 2021. Comparing to past recessions How does this compare to other recessions, such as 2008? The financial crisis was precipitated by reckless behavior of a small number of financial institutions employing millions of people. This recession will be triggered by the forced shutdown of millions of innocent small businesses employing much smaller work forces. It was much easier to get bankers Jamie Dimon, Ken Lewis, and John Thain in a room with then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and then-New York Federal Reserve President Timothy Geithner to negotiate one massive bailout for nine giant banks than to distribute funds so that every restaurant, bar, hair salon, and retailer (those still hanging on for dear life) receives some relief for their business and their staff. The scenario that I feel most optimistic about is where we see a meaningful reduction in the virus growth rate over the next month, we relax some of the work and gathering restrictions and gradually bring back commerce and education. A huge bailout is an essential element for multiple constituents. Over 10,000 was seized at Ireland West Airport Knock after it was deemed to be the proceeds of crime, Sligo District Court has heard. Robert McGuinness of Customs and Excise made an application to the court for the retention of 10,025 which was seized at Ireland West Airport Knock on January 16th, 2019. The court was told the cash was seized from a woman with a Greek address at the airport as it was believed it was being exported directly or indirectly and represented the proceeds of crime or was intended for the use in connection with criminal conduct. The application for the retention of the cash by Customs and Excise for a period of three months was granted. The Russian Investigative Committee asked Canada to provide criminal case materials against a former Canadian citizen - 96-year-old Helmut Oberlander, a former interpreter of the SS Sonderkommando, that in 1942, massacred orphans in Kubans Yeisk, the analyst of Vestnik Kavkaza, Andrey Petrov said in the National Question program on Vesti FM. According to the analyst, in order to form an opinion on Helmut Oberlanders and other Nazi centenarians cases, we need to find the answer to several questions. "First, is it worth continuing the persecution of these old people, who are over 90, literally, on the verge of their death? My answer: yes. War crimes and crimes against humanity have no statutory limitations. If the guilt of such a criminal is proven, no matter how old he is - he must be punished. People say crime has no nationality - so, its worth saying that the crime doesnt have an age either: decades have passed, but Oberlanders and others guilt hasnt become less, Andrey Petrov said. And the point here is not only that the war continues until the last war criminal is punished, although this, of course, is important. The point is that justice over the last Nazis is necessary to consolidate the very principle of non-application of statutory limitations in international law. "Second, what to do with Helmut Oberlander? My answer: to extradite to the place of trial and serving a sentence, which is quite logical. The worst crime in which he participated - the killing of orphans in Yeysk in 1942, which means he must be sent there since we are talking about a war crime. The Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don will determine his punishment. There is no death penalty in Russia, so you should expect a life sentence. The penal colony closest to Yeisk is in the village of Akhtarsky, there are no special conditions, " the expert stressed out. Third, is it worth expecting that Canada will extradite Oberlander? My answer is no. The Simon Wiesenthal Center put Canada on the list of countries that are not investigating the activities of Nazi criminals: Ottawa openly obstructs justice and drags out any procedures. I believe that Canada will simply wait until Oberlanders death. And then, as I said, the principle of the statute of limitations for serious crimes will once again be discredited, " Andrey Petrov concluded. The spread of the coronavirus around the world is continuing to accelerate. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Europe is now the worst affected part of the world by the disease. But the people living in refugee camps on the Greek islands have been left to fend for themselves. The overcrowded internment camps on Lesbos, Chios, Samos, and Kos will thus quickly be transformed into death camps. The aid organisation Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warned in a March 12 statement about the danger of an uncontrollable spread of coronavirus throughout the camp after a resident on Lesbos was diagnosed with COVID-19. It would be impossible to suppress an outbreak in a camp with conditions like those on Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Leros, or Kos, stated Hilde Vochten, medical coordinator for MSF in Greece. We have yet to receive a credible emergency plan that would allow the people living there to be protected and treated. The situation got worse on Monday. In the Moria camp on Lesbos, a fire broke out, claiming the life of a six-year-old girl. The fire brigade was unable to reach the fire immediately, resulting in the fire continuing to burn for an hour due to the closeness of the containers used as living quarters. The intolerable hygienic conditions in the internment camps prevent even the most basic protective measures from being adopted. In the Moria camp, which the European Union (EU) established for 3,000 people to live in while their asylum applications were processed, 20,000 people are vegetating without any escape route if the coronavirus breaks out. In some parts of the Moria camp on Lesbos, there is just one water tap for 1,300 people, and no soap is available, said Vochten. Five- and six-person families barely have three square metres of space. There are no permanent structures for accommodation, and most refugees spend the night under plastic sheeting. For the refugees there it is simply impossible to follow the recommended measures by washing their hands regularly and maintaining distance from others, continued Vochten. But it's not only that: There is absolutely no functioning healthcare system in the camp, never mind a plan to identify, treat, and isolate infected people. Doctors Without Borders is therefore demanding the immediate evacuation of the Greek camps. Florian Westphal, operational head of Doctors Without Borders in Germany, said, "It was already irresponsible to allow asylum seekers to live under such conditions as part of the European policy of deterrence. But it is now bordering on an act of criminality if nothing is done to protect them. But precisely the opposite is taking place. The Greek healthcare system, which was devastated by EU-imposed austerity, is in no position to provide sufficient tests to identify those infected, never mind treat COVID-19 cases. In this situation, the refugees are being scapegoated and exposed to draconian police measures that are unprecedented since the downfall of the Greek military junta. Conditions resemble warfare Immediately after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced he would allow refugees to travel on to Europe in late February, the Greek government declared it would suspend the right to asylum. This represents a gross breach of the Geneva Convention on Refugees and a violation of the European Union's founding charter. The EU fully backs this ruthless and illegal approach. EU Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen praised Greece as our European shield. According to the Greek authorities, 43,000 refugees have been pushed back across the border without being able to exercise their right, guaranteed under the Geneva Convention on Refugees, to file a claim for asylum. Around 300 refugees who managed to cross the border were arrested by the Greek police and transported back to Turkey. Conditions resembling a war zone predominate at the Kastanies and Pazarkule border crossings. Greek security forces target refugees with tear gas, flash grenades, rubber bullets, and even sometimes live ammunition. Around 10,000 people continue to huddle in makeshift tents in no-man's-land without any provisions. Since the Turkish police refuses to let them back into Turkey, they are left totally exposed to violence. At least seven people have been seriously injured due to shots fired by Greek snipers. Three refugees, Muhammad al-Arab, Muhamad Gulzar, and Mohammed Yaarub were shot and killed, according to independent media reports. Volkan Pirincci, operational coordinator of the aid organisation Support to Life (STL), told Evangelische Pressedienst, I've never seen a scenario worse than this. The refugees are in great danger of losing their lives. Detained refugees have been forced to undress down to their underwear. Telephones, money, and jewelry were confiscated before they were forced back over the border. These illegal pushbacks have been carried out by the Greek police for years, but they have now reached a qualitatively new level. The Monitor television show on German public broadcaster ARD reported on secure refugee camps where detained refugees were immediately brought before a judge and charged with illegal border crossing. Margaritis Petritzikis from the UN Refugee Agency told Monitor that many refugees are being sentenced to multi-year prison terms in rushed legal proceedings. This is a new practice, and we are very concerned because families are being separated. For example, the father may get sentenced to three years in prison while the mother and child are sent to a refugee camp. Petritzikis estimated that some 50 such trials have taken place with a typical prison sentence of four years. The criminal prosecution of asylum seekers and refugees for illegally crossing borders is explicitly prohibited by the Geneva Convention on Refugees. Additionally, an investigation by the New York Times revealed the existence of secret prisons on the Turkish-Greek border, run by the Greek government. The Syrian Somar al-Hussein told the Times that he was brought to a camp and confined to a room with dozens of other refugees. His phone was confiscated. We were like animals for the Greek guards. The refugees were not provided with any provisions before being forced across the Evros River back to Turkey the following day. The hellish conditions on Lesbos The situation on the island of Lesbos is particularly perilous. Unhindered by the police, gangs of fascist thugs have taken over control of parts of the island. They have established roadblocks and attack all occupants of cars identified as non-Greeks. Reception centres belonging to the UN Refugee Agency, such as the One Happy Family centre, have been burned down by right-wing thugs. The police joined in the witch-hunting of refugees, forcing them into the port of Mytilini, the main town on the island. Some 500 refugees are crammed together there in inhumane and humiliating conditions on the cargo deck of a warship. They are set to be taken to a secure camp on the Greek mainland before swiftly being deported to Turkey without ever receiving the chance to file a claim for asylum. The aid organisation Human Rights Watch described this practice as an arbitrary denial of freedom. The refusal to grant the people in custody the opportunity to apply for asylum and the explicit threat to send them back to their persecutors stand in stark contrast to the legal obligations to which Greece has committed and the values and principles it claims to stand for, stated Bill Frelick, director of refugee and migration law at HRW. The Greek authorities subsequently refused to grant HRW workers access to the refugees in Mytilini. Development Minister Adonis Georgiadis, who is also deputy leader of the governing New Democracy, told Die Zeit in an interview, The refugees will be permanently held in the secure camps. Anyone who thinks they can come through Greece to get to Europe is making a big mistake. Nobody will make it to Europe through Greece. The refugees are therefore being detained indefinitely in these camps at the behest of the EU, without ever being charged, having access to legal representation or applying for asylum. But even those lucky enough to secure refugee status face further hurdles. Immigration Minister Notis Mitarkis declared his intention to cut all benefits paid to asylum seekers and leave them to survive with nothing. Mitarkis told Sky, Our goal is to ensure that those who are entitled to asylum get it within two or three months, then cut all welfare benefits and accommodation, because these measures are encouraging people to come into the country and exploit them. The police repression against refugees is being accompanied by attacks on refugee aid organizations. The Greek government adopted a measure in February to regulate aid organisations, which Greek politicians describe as criminal parasites. The attacks on refugees are also being supported by the pseudo-left opposition. Former Syriza Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told an interview with Mega-TV that the government acted correctly by closing the border. Tsipras also closed the Greek-Turkish border during 2015-16, but spoke about it less in public than his right-wing successor. Faughart: Dance schools cancelled - Kilcurry Resource Centre have cancelled the dance scheduled to take place this Saturday 14th March, due to our concern for the welfare of our dancers amid the current outbreak. This cancellation is purely precautionary, however, we feel it is necessary, during the ever-changing situation. We hope to see you all again soon when our dances resume, but in the meantime please take care. Bowls Club Due to the serious issues with covid19 all bowling is to cease with immediate effect. By order of the I.I.B.A. School contact details Faughart Community National School are currently enrolling across all classes, so we would welcome any enquiries on 0429371931 or faughartcns@lmetb.ie or express an interest in enrolling on enrolment page of our website www.faughartcns.ie St Vincent de Paul We all find ourselves in times of need, throughout our lives. If you or your family are in that situation today, why not contact St Vincent de Paul Society on 0872520382. No social group meeting Faughart Social Group will have no meeting on Mon 16th March. School Enrolling Scoil Phadraig Naofa Kilcurry are now enrolling. Email sclphadr@gmail.com or phone 0429339310. Kilkerley Dancing Dancing in the Community Centre on Sunday nights has been cancelled until further notice in line with recommendations issued by government regarding the Corona Virus. Parish News Advice on Corona virus from Archbishop Eamon Martin. Until March 29, the following measures, motivated by care for the common good will take place. Each Christian community should be acutely aware of the responsibility to care for those who are most at risk. For example, even where it may not be appropriate to visit the elderly, a simple telephone call to enquire about their needs could mean so much to them. All non-essential pastoral gatherings and meetings such as formation gatherings, retreats and seminars are cancelled. All Confirmations are postponed until further notice. Every Catholic is entitled to a dignified Christian burial. Attendance at funeral services and Masses should be limited to close relatives and must not exceed 100 attendees within the church building. Similarly, Church weddings and baptisms may be celebrated on condition that the attendance in Church does not exceed 100 . Churches will remain open at the usual hours each day for prayer. In the current emergency situation, all are dispensed from the obligation to physically attend Sunday Mass. Live Streaming: Fortunately we are blessed to have a Live Streaming service in both churches-Please note the times Masses will be streamed: Kilkerley 6.00pm on Saturdays; Knockbridge 11.30am on Sundays. Log into: MCN Media, scroll to Rep. of Ireland then Co. Louth and then you click on the image of St. Mary's Church, Knockbridge or Church of the Immaculate Conception, Kilkerley. Remember in your prayers, Marie Kampes, Bay Estate, Muriel Clarke, Ashling Park, Mary Murphy, Ard Easmuinn, Shane McMahon, Carrickmacross, Billy Campbell, uncle of Fr Gerry. . Baptisms take place every second Sunday of the month at 10.00am mass. 7.00pm. Best wishes to parishioners who are hospitalised or unwell at home presently. First Holy Communion for 2020, will take place on May 23. A reminder that all dead flowers/wreaths, excess waste from graves should be taken home and not left around Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament takes place in the Church each Friday evening from 6.00pm to the cemetery. Birthdays Best of birthday wishes to Grainne Wynne, daughter of Gerry and the late Mary Wynne from Plaster, on celebrating her thirtieth birthday last weekend. Lotto Kilkerley Emmets Lotto Draw Week 3, March 10, 2020. Jackpot 6,100. Numbers Drawn-16, 20, 21, 26-no winner. Winner of 100 ticket for Louth GAA County Board Pick a House Draw - Andrew McGuill. Lotto continues on Tuesday of this Week, March 17, for Jackpot of 6,200. There is a change this session which is attracting huge interest. In the case where jackpot is not won, normally 5 individual envelopes would be drawn out and each would get 20, this time for a period up to the Louth GAA Board House Draw date , just one envelope is drawn out and that lucky person wins a Ticket worth 100 for the County Board 2 House Draw. So for 2 you could end up winning entry to the Louth GAA Pick a House Draw or the Jackpot. Thanks to all who supports the club lotto and those that promote and assist at draw each Tuesday night. Funds raised go to the weekly costs of running the club. Lourdes Committee Kilkerley Lourdes committee wish to sincerely thank all the volunteers who worked in their Pop Up Shop in the Longwalk Shopping Centre recently. Thanks also to all those who donated items to sell in the shop and of course everyone who supported us. The shop was a great success. Baptism Welcome into the community Jack Thomas Fegan, Rathmore who was baptised recently. Enrolment Any parent/guardian who wishes for their child to be considered for enrolment in the next school year 2020/2021, in Scoil Mhuire Gan Smal should contact the school office on 042 9337187or secretary@kilkerleyns.ie Emmets GFC All club activities have been suspended to March 29, pending further updates and decisions by Government and GAA. In light of the current COVID19 situation, Kilkerley Emmets men and ladies senior teams are offering a service to anyone in our Community, Member or Non-Member, who needs help with collecting groceries, prescriptions, etc. All requests will be treated in confidence. Contact 0858783433. The first round on the intermediate league is at home to Gaels on Sunday, April 4, at 3.00pm. The Ladies team lost 3-13 to 3-4 to Stabannon. Bowls Bowls continue in the Community Centre from 7.45pm each Wednesday night. New members very welcome. Bus Service LH 501 Kilkerley to Dundalk Local Link Bus Service runs each Friday with pick up points-The School 9.00am, Quigley's Cross 9.05am, Hackballscross 9.10am, Little Mills 9.30am, Carrick Road 9.35am, arriving in Dundalk at 9.40am. The return journey begins at 12.30pm in Dundalk. Travel Pass holders travel free. Contact number is 046 9074830. Check www.locallinklmf.ie Badminton Badminton takes place in the Community Centre beach Monday night from 8.00pm. Medjugorje Trip 7 nights from June 16, 2019. 100 fee reduction if fee is paid before December 15, 2019 and 50 reduction if paid by February 15, 2020. Details from Phyllis Mulligan on 087 2028492 or 042 9336705. Foroige The Foroige Club resumes each Friday evening at 8.00pm in the Community Centre as does Lady Birds and Girl Guides both at 6.00pm and Brownies at 7.00pm. Text Alert If you want to receive text messages from Kilkerley Community Alert 'Text Alert' then text your full name, address and mobile number to 089 472 5650 Knockbridge CE Scheme There are vacancies for environmental workers for Knockbridge Parish, 19.5 hours per week. Contact CE Supervisor Tommy Reilly on 042 9374926 at Old School Building, Tallanstown, or email-midlouthceltd@gmail.com St Brides GFC Lotto draw on Monday of last week March 9, had a jackpot of 20,000 of which there was no winner. Numbers drawn were 01, 11, 24, 29. There was three Match 3 Winner who got 70-Alan Meehan c/o Cluskeys, Rosie Quigley c/o Shop, Catherine Turnbull Online. Lotto continued on Monday of this week March 16, for a jackpot of 20,000 along with bonus draw for a ticket for the Louth GAA Board Pick a House Draw. Tickets on sale (Priced 2) from MacNamee's Bar, McGuinness's Bar Dundalk, McKeown's Bar Dundalk, Giovanni's Chipper, Brodigan's Shop, Cluskey's Bar, Finnegan's Foodstore, Louth, Harrys Bar Dundalk, any Committee Member/Player or play online at www.stbridesgfc.com. Membership for 2020 is now due: Adult Player 100; Adult non Player 50; OAP 25; Juvenile 40; Family 100 (2 Parents and 3 children U-18). Can be paid online at www.stbridegfc.com or to Paul Smyth. Parish News Advice on Corona virus from Archbishop Eamon Martin. Until March 29, the following measures, motivated by care for the common good will take place. Each Christian community should be acutely aware of the responsibility to care for those who are most at risk. For example, even where it may not be appropriate to visit the elderly, a simple telephone call to enquire about their needs could mean so much to them. All non-essential pastoral gatherings and meetings such as formation gatherings, retreats and seminars are cancelled. All Confirmations are postponed until further notice. Every Catholic is entitled to a dignified Christian burial. Attendance at funeral services and Masses should be limited to close relatives and must not exceed 100 attendees within the church building. Similarly, Church weddings and baptisms may be celebrated on condition that the attendance in Church does not exceed 100 . Churches will remain open at the usual hours each day for prayer. In the current emergency situation, all are dispensed from the obligation to physically attend Sunday Mass. Live Streaming: Fortunately we are blessed to have a Live Streaming service in both churches-Please note the times Masses will be streamed: Kilkerley 6.00pm on Saturdays; Knockbridge 11.30am on Sundays. Log into: MCN Media, scroll to Rep. of Ireland then Co. Louth and then you click on the image of St. Mary's Church, Knockbridge or Church of the Immaculate Conception, Kilkerley. Baptisms take place every fourth Sunday of the month at 11.30am mass. Remember in your prayers May Marry, Newtown, Michael Geoghegan, Crossabeigh, Mary Murphy, Ard Easmuinn (nee Malone, Grange), Sheila Sweeney, Grange, Maureen Purcell, Louth, Tom Smith, Ealing UK, Margaret Bailey, Manchester, Patricia Harris, Dublin, Glenn Holland, Carrickmacross, who died recently. Employability If you would like to full or part time, due to unemployment resulting from and accident, illness, injury, disability, we can help you seek employment. For further information on this service please contact Employ Ability Service, Louth on 042 9386718 or 087 6386885. Bus Service Flexibus Local Link is running a bus service from Knockbridge to Dundalk every Friday. The pick up time for this service is 9.00am and the return time is 12.30pm. For more information on this service or to book a seat ring 1800 303 707. Yoga Yoga Classes continue each Tuesday evening in Knockbridge Community Centre from 7.00pm to 8.00pm. Set Dancing Classes continue each Monday from 8.30pm - 10.00pm. Bingo Bingo takes place in the Parish Centre on Thursday nights at 8.30pm. In need From time to time families and individuals can find themselves in real need. It may be big or small, short or long term, so if you find yourself in that space why not contact St Vincent de Paul Society on 0873518684 Parish Centre Those wishing to book the Parish Centre for Funerals and other occasions, must contact: Jean Myers directly at 042 9338670. Fr Gerry has asked a Sub Group and a few others to explore the upgrading of the Centre. Louth Tidy Towns AGM The Louth Tidy Towns held their A.G.M. recently. The meeting which was very well attended reviewed another successful year. They appealed for more help in keeping the village tidy and looking well. They also discussed new projects which they have ear marked for the coming year. Elected were chairperson Paul Mc. Ardle, Secretary Mary Mc. Donnell Joint Treasurers Mary Finnegan and Mary Mc. Donnell. Committee members are Pauric Mc. Ginn, Sheila O' Reilly ,Leonard Heatrick, Barry Eaton, Edel LKennon, and Delores Crawley. We thank and congratulate the committee on their fine work to keep the area looking well and wish them well for the coming year and we should help them in any way we can. Tractor run The Louth Abbey Vintage club held their Tractor and Car run in aid of Ardee Hospice last Sunday and like all events they hold it was a complete success. This was the run that had to cancelled because of the inclement weather. Chairman of the club Tony King handed over a cheque of 2,200 to Chairperson of Ardee Hospice Briege Mc. Donnell who thanked the club for their effort and generosity . We congratulate the club on another successful event. It is very disappointing that their annual parade had to be cancelled this year. Congratulations We send our congratulations to popular local lady Josephine Byrne who was joined by her family and friends to celebrate a special birthday last Friday night. We know all enjoyed the party. Again congratulations Josephine. Club shuts down In line with Croke Park instructions all activities at St. Moctas are cancelled until further notice. This includes the clubrooms and the Gym but please note the main gate will remain open for use of walking or running track. We would ask all using the facility to respect it. Masses cancelled As per instructions from the Arch Bishop all Masses in the Parish are cancelled for the foreseeable future. However the Church will remain open during normal hours. The city of New Orleans, La. issued an emergency declaration over the coronavirus that gives the city the emergency authority to limit or ban outright the sale or transportation of firearms, explosives or combustibles during the emergency period. Democratic New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell added a proclamation to the emergency declaration on Monday that allows for limits on the sale and transportation of firearms and other items deemed a potential safety threat within her jurisdiction. The emergency authority is hereby empowered, if necessary, to suspend or limit the sale, dispensing, or transporting of alcoholic beverages, firearms, explosives and combustibles, the proclamation reads. The term emergency authority is described in the proclamation as Superintendents of Police and Fire under the supervision of the mayor. Open source The International Monetary Fund will provide Ukraine $ 5 billion in gratuitous assistance to fight against coronavirus. This was stated by MP from the faction "Servant of the people" Yevgen Shevchenko on the air of 112 Ukraine TV channel. Now the IMF has allocated money to fight against coronavirus for countries like us. It's about 60 billion, and, as far as I know, 5 billion free aid ... should now receive Ukraine. It's about five billion dollars, and this is not a loan, this money will not need to be returned," Shevchenko said. According to him, the IMF is providing similar assistance to all countries that have fallen into a similar situation with coronavirus. Related: 80% of those to be affected by coronavirus disease will have it in mild form, - Ukraine's Ministry of Health At the same time, the MP could not name a specific date when Ukraine will receive money from the IMF to fight the Covid-19 epidemic. I wont be able to say when its for sure, but we were in the faction, the president confidently declared that we would receive this money. Negotiations are underway on it, and there will be a 99% chance, the politician said. We recall, as of 23:00 on March 20, 41 cases of coronavirus infection were recorded in Ukraine. As you know, the IMF conditionally approved the provision to Ukraine of a new loan program in the amount of 5.5 billion dollars. Payments depend on the results of Kyiv reforms. Gathering storm clouds: Deutsche Bank said on Friday the UK could be heading for the 'worst recession in a century'. (Richard Baker/In Pictures via Getty Images) The UK could experience potentially the worst recession for a century this year as a result of Covid-19 and efforts to contain its spread. Deutsche Bank (DB) economists Sanjay Raja and Oliver Harvey on Friday warned that, in a worst case scenario, the UK economy could shrink by 5.5% this year. That would be the worst performance since 1920. Relative to Italy and China, it's clear that the spread of the virus remains merely at its nascent stage, Raja and Harvey wrote. With the UK government moving closer to enforcing self-quarantine measures, disruptions to the economy will hurt households and businesses severely. Even if the worst case is not realised, Raja and Harvey said their base case what they believe is most likely to happen is a 4.2% contraction in UK GDP. That would make it the worst year since the global financial crisis in 2009. The growth impact from the coronavirus looks likely be to be deeper and more protracted than we previously expected, the pair wrote in a note sent to clients on Friday. Raja and Harvey said efforts to contain the spread of novel coronavirus would likely lead to the biggest drop in quarterly growth on record in the second quarter of 2020. The economy is predicted to shrink by 7.5%, as people stay home, businesses shut, international trade slows, and supply chains are disrupted. Unemployment is forecast to peak at over 8% later this year, over the double the current rate. Most economists are now expecting the world to fall into recession in 2020, with the UK one of the most exposed nations to any downturn. Some are less pessimistic than Deutsche Bank. Goldman Sachs (GS) expects the economy to shrink by just 1.1% this year, while Bank of America (BAC) on Friday cut its forecast for UK GDP growth this year from 0.3% to only -2%. However, others are more pessimistic. Morgan Stanley (MS) this week said the UK economy could shrink by 7.9% in a worse case scenario. The only worse economic contraction recorded in modern times was in 1921, when the economy shrank by 9.7%. Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at economics consultancy Pantheon Macroeconomics, said on Thursday a sharp recession was now unavoidable as emergency measures to slow the Covid-19 outbreak impede households spending. As Zimbabwe reports first coronavirus case, fears are rising over the countrys capacity to cope with a major outbreak. Harare, Zimbabwe Officials in Zimbabwe have reacted indifferently to South Africas announcement that it planned to erect a fence along the border with its neighbour as part of measures to stem irregular migration and contain the spread of the new coronavirus. Some people build durawalls around their houses, fields or properties and some put up fences. This is a choice people make on how to show their boundaries, Nick Mangwana, spokesman for Zimbabwes government, told Al Jazeera on Friday. The type of demarcation they choose is their sovereign right. The same applies to international boundaries. His comments came as Zimbabwe on Friday confirmed its first case of COVID-19, the highly infectious disease caused by the new coronavirus. South Africa has reported 202 cases to date. The planned 40km (25-mile) fence is to be erected on both sides of the Beitbridge Land Port of Entry to ensure that no undocumented or infected persons cross into the country, Patricia de Lille, South Africas public works minister, said in a statement on Thursday, adding that the move could not be viewed as xenophobic. At the border post now, youve got health inspectors and youve got environmental professionals and they are doing the testing and screening at the border. But if somebody just walks over the border, there are no such facilities, she said. Thousands of Zimbabweans have for years been entering South Africa, the continents most industrialised country, via undesignated and other points along the border to escape a deepening economic crisis at home. With unemployment hovering around 30 percent, South Africa has long been meaning to reduce what it perceives as irregular migration from Zimbabwe and a threat to local jobs but it has been hesitant to take bold action on the issue. Zimbabweans interviewed by Al Jazeera in the capital, Harare, were unperturbed by South Africas announcement. I dont think there is a problem if they [South Africa] are trying to ensure that people use designated border points to enter, Anesu Gutsa said. I think we will have a problem when they close the border completely to us. Should the border be closed, that could affect Zimbabweans in a big way. We rely on South Africa products as a country. In recent weeks, an increasing number of countries have been tightening controls at borders, or outright sealing them off, as well as banning travel from certain countries in a bid to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. More than 271,000 people worldwide have been confirmed as having contracted the coronavirus and 11,280 have died, according to figures by Johns Hopkins University. Some 87,000 people have recovered. The outbreak reached Africa later than other continents, but almost 40 countries have now confirmed cases. In Zimbabwe, fears are rising that the country could descend into crisis amid a major outbreak owing to a lack of preparedness and a collapsing healthcare system. The countrys nurses and doctors have been striking since last year. Zimbabwes economy plunged in the aftermath of its controversial land reform exercise at the turn of the new millennium to correct what the government of the late Robert Mugabe viewed as historical imbalances on land ownership. Norman Matara, secretary of the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights, expressed dissatisfaction over the countrys COVID-19 preparedness, saying only 16 people have been tested to date. Commenting on South Africas announcement, Matara said its decision could be informed by the fact that there are no diagnostic kits at Beitbridge border post. By limiting people coming into the country, the South African government is trying to protect their own people. That is the mandate of any government. But this is every bit as much about human behavior as about public health. It is absolutely essential in the months ahead that political leaders retain peoples trust not an easy task even in normal times. If the restrictions are draconian, they could boomerang. People may panic or be tempted to disobey. That would in turn threaten further spread of the virus. Political leaders must allow a society to breathe, not only fresh air in parks and playgrounds, but also to go about life as normally as possible, to have access to groceries, banks, pharmacies and other essential services. It is important that leaders retain credibility so that the next time they ask for emergency action, they are heeded. Up to 50 million jobs in the global travel and tourism sector are at risk because of the coronavirus pandemic. Up to 50 million jobs in the global travel and tourism sector are at risk because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council. In Mexico, the Easter holiday is a critical time for many peoples livelihoods. Al Jazeeras John Holman travelled to the coastal town of Acapulco to show us how the income of many is in jeopardy. A Newtown man was afraid his flight home would be delayed as Benidorm went into lockdown at the weekend. Paul Lee of Newtownmountkennedy was part of a group trip over to Benidorm and feared his return flight on Saturday would be cancelled as the popular tourist-destination went into lockdown. 'We thought we would be stuck there for at least two weeks. I think we got lucky. If the flight had been any later than Saturday then we would have to had stayed for longer. At that stage there was already talk of shutting down the airport on Sunday,' said Paul. Everything appeared calm in Benidorm up until Friday night when a curfew was announced. 'We were watching Cheltenham on TV when the lady in the bar mentioned that they were talking on the news about shutting down Benidorm. Then around an hour later she told us everything was shutting up and that we had to be back in our hotel by 10 p.m. There was a police presence as well patrolling people back to their hotel rooms. The whole strip was pretty busy.' Paul didn't notice the same levels of hysteria setting in that he has witnessed in Ireland since his return. 'Things there still appeared pretty calm. You didn't have the same panic in Benidorm that you have here. The shops weren't cleared of stock and things were relatively normal. Maybe it has gotten a little worse over there since but there wasn't the same level of paranoia over in Spain that you are getting here. You didn't see row after row of empty shelves in the shops and and the panic buying you have in Ireland, at least not when I was there.' Paul was also shocked at the lack of temperature checks and screenings carried out at Dublin Airport as passengers returned to Ireland. 'The flight crew handed us a leaflet on Covid-19 when we were leaving and that was it. I didn't notice any HSE or airport officials there to give out any advice or to update people. 'There weren't even any hand sanitizers, while the airport in Spain was full of them. We thought for certain that we would be delayed while they swab us or take our temperature, but there was nothing like that. We had heard that if you had a temperature you were immediately put into quarantine but no tests were carried out on any of us. We just walked straight through customs and out of arrivals. We were all very surprised.' Upon his return to Newtownmountkennedy, Paul has been residing with a friend as the relative he normally lives with has an underlying medical condition which could put them at risk if they contact the virus. 'It's just as precaution because these are such worrying times. You have to do everything you can to try and stop the spread. It must be particularly frightening if you have elderly people staying with you. 'I still don't think there is enough information being provided, which probably fuels some of the paranoia out there.' The process of following up on a confirmed case involves identifying infected people the two came into contact with. Health officials also look at the timelines between the infected person and when symptoms start showing, Felton said. As COVID-19 cases grow in the state, hospital staff are taking special precautions while on the job and when they go home, said Dr. Michael Bush, chief medical officer for St. Vincent Healthcare. Staff are monitoring themselves for symptoms like fever, cough and shortness of breath and have been asked to remain home if they are sick and work through the occupational health departments for testing and treatments. Both Billings hospitals are trying to preserve personal protective equipment, and staff have been taught how to properly wear equipment and how to disinfect themselves at home. Before health care workers touch surfaces in their cars, officials ask them to use hand sanitizer. Staff is also asked to quickly remove work clothing once inside their home and to wash them. The issue really is that this is a brand new virus that jumped from the animal world and into the human population, Bush said. We have no immunity that we have developed over time to this. Wynnstay Group Plc (LON:WYN) stock is about to trade ex-dividend in 4 days time. You will need to purchase shares before the 26th of March to receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 30th of April. Wynnstay Group's next dividend payment will be UK0.094 per share. Last year, in total, the company distributed UK0.14 to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Wynnstay Group has a trailing yield of 6.5% on the current stock price of 2.15. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. So we need to check whether the dividend payments are covered, and if earnings are growing. View our latest analysis for Wynnstay Group Dividends are usually paid out of company profits, so if a company pays out more than it earned then its dividend is usually at greater risk of being cut. That's why it's good to see Wynnstay Group paying out a modest 45% of its earnings. That said, even highly profitable companies sometimes might not generate enough cash to pay the dividend, which is why we should always check if the dividend is covered by cash flow. Thankfully its dividend payments took up just 26% of the free cash flow it generated, which is a comfortable payout ratio. It's encouraging to see that the dividend is covered by both profit and cash flow. This generally suggests the dividend is sustainable, as long as earnings don't drop precipitously. Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends. AIM:WYN Historical Dividend Yield, March 21st 2020 Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing? Businesses with shrinking earnings are tricky from a dividend perspective. If earnings fall far enough, the company could be forced to cut its dividend. So we're not too excited that Wynnstay Group's earnings are down 2.6% a year over the past five years. The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. In the past ten years, Wynnstay Group has increased its dividend at approximately 8.0% a year on average. Story continues Final Takeaway Should investors buy Wynnstay Group for the upcoming dividend? Earnings per share are down meaningfully, although at least the company is paying out a low and conservative percentage of both its earnings and cash flow. It's definitely not great to see earnings falling, but at least there may be some buffer before the dividend needs to be cut. While it does have some good things going for it, we're a bit ambivalent and it would take more to convince us of Wynnstay Group's dividend merits. So while Wynnstay Group looks good from a dividend perspective, it's always worthwhile being up to date with the risks involved in this stock. Case in point: We've spotted 2 warning signs for Wynnstay Group you should be aware of. We wouldn't recommend just buying the first dividend stock you see, though. Here's a list of interesting dividend stocks with a greater than 2% yield and an upcoming dividend. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading. Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks at a campaign rally in Ann Arbor, Mich., on March 8. (Associated Press) If there's any proof that nature has a way of asserting itself in our discourse no matter what had been capturing our attention, it's how suddenly and overwhelmingly the number of letters discussing the coronavirus eclipsed those written in response to the Democratic presidential primary. Of course, that doesn't mean our writers have forgotten there's an election going on; in fact, one of the most discussed pieces in the L.A. Times this week was a letter from a supporter of Bernie Sanders who vowed not to vote for former Joe Biden against President Trump if the former vice president didn't select the Vermont senator as his running mate. That letter drew howls of protest from other readers; here are some of their responses. Peter Ambrose used a common pejorative for Sanders enthusiasts: As I read the letter written by a Sanders supporter, I became nauseated. As I watch our country slipping ever so inevitably toward authoritarianism, I am appalled at the stupidity and selfishness of some of the "Bernie Bros." They would rather watch Rome burn than get Trump out of the White House. The scorched-Earth attitude is hopefully held by just a limited number of those who voted for Green Party nominee Jill Stein in Michigan and Pennsylvania in 2016 and elected Trump with his minority of votes. Thankfully, the writer lives in California, and his vote or lack thereof will have no impact here. But if his attitude is more widespread, we are looking at "four more years." Cheryl Kelly of San Clemente compares Bernie-or-bust voters to young children: It's attitudes like the one expressed by a letter writer on March 17 that gave us Trump in the White House in 2016. A good portion of Sanders supporters in 2016, so vexed that their guy wasn't the nominee, stayed home or voted for a third-party candidate. Now, this letter writer says that if Biden does not select Sanders as his running mate, he's staying home even if it means another four years of Trump. Story continues Sounds like a five-year-old taking his ball and leaving the playground if he doesn't get his way. Ray McKown of Torrance believes a second Trump term poses a unique threat to the world: Only slightly less depressing than the coronavirus news was the letter from a reader who declared he would not vote for Biden unless he picks Sanders for vice president. His reasoning: He has figured out that Trump "isn't the problem." Such a stunning lack of judgment and concern for the damage that type of protest vote can cause greatly disturbs me. My hope is that most young voters, whether Sanders supporters or not, are much more clear-eyed about the damage another four years of a Trump presidency would inflict on our country and the world, regardless of who controls the Senate. MERRILLVILLE Business has been slower at many restaurants, but Mr. Greek Gyros stayed busy on Friday by serving up some appreciation to local health care personnel. The Merrillville restaurant prepared and donated dozens of meals for emergency room staff at Methodist Hospitals Southlake Campus. "Our emergency department staff is on the front line, and we appreciate Mr. Greek Gyros recognizing their hard work, dedication and commitment during this time, said Matt Doyle, acting CEO of Methodist Hospitals. Alexander and Niki Gagianas, the owners of Mr. Greek Gyros, said it was their way of thanking the workers who put themselves in harms way. They deserve it, Niki Gagianas said. Theyre working tirelessly. Like his wife, Alexander Gagianas is appreciative of the efforts of the health care workers during this time, and he said thats what led to his gesture on Friday. Just trying to help out, he said. Alexander Gagianas also said he feels fortunate to have been in business for 20 years, and hospital employees are among his regular customers. The unnamed Italian was discharged on Friday night after receiving treatment for nearly a month in Lagos, the state governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said Earlier in the week, Nigerias health minister Osagie Ehanire said the patient had tested negative and that further tests would be carried out before he could be allowed to go home. As the COVID-19 Incident Commander for Lagos, I am glad to inform you that the index case; the Italian gentleman is now negative, Sanwo-Olu said. Sanwo-Olu said the index patient donated one unit of white blood (plasma) before he was discharged on Friday. The blood plasma is rich in antibody proteins that target #COVID19 virus. He said the white blood plasma has been frozen in the states bio-bank and will be beneficial for the treatment of new patients in the absence of a defined therapeutic drug for #COVID19. Nigeria has recorded 11 more cases of the coronavirus since the Italian was diagnosed on February 27. One of the cases had contact with the Italian. He has also tested negative for the virus. The patient arrived in Lagos, Nigeria, on Monday from Milan and was reported ill on 26th February. He was transferred to Lagos State Biosecurity Facilities for isolation and testing. We have a traveller that began his journey in Milan on Monday, 24th February. He transited through Instanbul on Turkish Airlines and arrived in Lagos on Monday night, Lagos State commissioner for health Prof akin Abayomi said at a press conference on February 28. Abayomi said the Italian spent the night a hotel closed to the airport and travelled to for business engagement at Lafarge Africas plant in Ewekoro in Ogun State on Tuesday morning. He carried out business in Ogun State within the confines of that company on Tuesday and in the early part of Wednesday. By afternoon, he started to develop symptoms for high fever and body pains. Abayomi said the patient was isolated and an investigation of the symptoms began at the medical facility owned by the company because of the Italians travel origin. He said the patient was isolated overnight on Wednesday and was transferred to Lagos State on Thursday morning. He immediately he arrived, he was put straight into isolation and the appropriate test was ordered. Within hours, we received the signal. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates Dundalk and its hinterland is stippled with archaeological stuff. Truly it's everywhere in the town and out of the town. Were so used to it that its peripheral to our lives. You cant eat the view my grandmother would say when strangers (looking over her half door) marvelled at the vista of Rostrevor, Warrenpoint, Omeath, Carlingford - The Lough. But thats no longer entirely true. Larry Toolin was from Ardoyne, he was our boss in Newry; and a great team leader. It was the mid 60s; he took us to Newgrange. Well he started to take us to Newgrange. Ten or twelve of us, we got as far as The White Horse Inn in Drogheda and thats as far as we got. Sometime later Stasia and I did go to Newgrange. Looking back it was wonderful. Archaeologists working there took us down the tunnel, showing us the engravings and stone crucibles and explained the significance of the alignment. Then for fear that wasnt enough they invited us to come with them to Knowth and Dowth. There we scrambled down ladders and they told us of their work. Imagine that happening now. Friends who visit us from the north of Scotland are very taken with Carlingford; there's nothing like it up there. I have a long association with the place. As a child Id be there most Sundays in summer. My father loved Carlingford; long before it became the tourist draw it is today we would come over the lough with Danny Tinnelly in his boat. Donal Tinnelly and I, were two small boys. Stuff they took back: I recall long strips of tobacco that would have to be cut onto one ounce plugs; but my abiding memory is half hundred weight bags of onions. Onions; I have no idea why, surely we could have grown them on our side, but for whatever reason onions it was. Recently it was suggested to me that onions were for a time a replacement crop for potatoes in Cooley. On our return from Carlingford my mother always cooked an exquisite Sunday supper meal. She fried a big full pan of onions and at some stage in the cooking placed halved farls of home baked soda bread on top. And then a big saucepan lid was put on top of that. It simmered for a time. The repast of soda bread soaked in the juice and essence was delicious. Im told by the in-house authority that a rasher in with the onions may have enhanced the dish. Around the middle of the 1990s I worked in Cooley for Canon John McGrain and the Architect Gerald Fay. I mapped Cillmhuire (in Templetown), and Grange chapel and its surrounds. Cillmhuire is an ancient church and graveyard associated with The Knights Templar. St. James Church Grange is very old itself. It existed from the 1700s and was worked on by James Gallagher architect and builder from Ravensdale in the early 1800s. Gallagher went on to be very successful in all places - New Orleans. Seems he designed all the important structures in the area. Such was his importance that the Town Hall in that city is called The Gallier Town Hall. And now I come to the bit that I find fascinating - and it may well be because I have travelled so little myself. In the 1990s when Grange church was repaired Gerald Fay was the architect and he went to New Orleans to have a look at Gallaghers work. I couldnt believe it! Gerald Fay went to New Orleans so he could get a feel of the architecture of that city and bring it back to Grange. And what a job he, Canon McGrain and the team of craftsmen made of it. St James Church is a one off. With three balconies a tiled floor and a bevelled roof. Light streams through the arched windows on the altar that is central to the people whether they be tens or hundreds. The floor, shades of dark brown, the woodwork old fashioned blue green. Theres a wonderful modern celtic design granite baptismal font. Grange Church is exquisite in its simplicity ; it doesnt need me trying to describe it - you really need to see it for yourself. Millions of medical masks arrived in Belgium on Friday, transported from China on a Belgian military plane, to be used by doctors, nurses and healthcare workers in the fight against the new coronavirus. Belgiums health authorities remain confident the country has enough hospital beds to weather the coronavirus crisis despite the recent surge of confirmed cases. According to the latest figures released Friday, 2,257 people have been diagnosed with the deadly virus, including 37 patients who have died. The health ministry said 837 persons have been hospitalized - 214 of them over the past day - and 164 patients were in intensive care. The average age of patients admitted to intensive care is 60. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. The vast majority of people recover from the new virus. According to the World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to recover. U.S. hospitals face a critical shortage of protective equipment and top federal officials have called for a halt to non-emergency surgeries amid the coronavirus pandemic. But some hospitals are ignoring the directive, raising concerns that patients and medical staff are at risk. Hospitals including University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington and Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami as of Friday afternoon were still performing elective surgeries, such as for orthopedic problems, cataracts and other non-essential medical issues. Nearly 300 doctors, nurses and other UPMC employees signed a letter that went to members of management last night urging the health system to "postpone procedures that can be performed in the future, and prepare for the influx of patients that will urgently need our care in the coming weeks." Elective surgery is a medical procedure scheduled in advance because it does not involve an emergency. Frequently, they are not a medical necessity. Examples include knee replacements or nose jobs. Dr. Linda Alvarez, secretary-treasurer of the Service Employees International Union Committee on Interns and Residents, said medical residents across the country have contacted her with complaints that their hospitals are still performing procedures that aren't essential. "What is crazy too is that these same residents are saying there is limited availability of N95 masks," said Alvarez, referring to the special masks that can protect against contracting COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus. "To be using this personal protection equipment in ways that are not judicious or addressing the concerns of the general public safety is appalling." Get daily coronavirus updates in you inbox: Sign up for Coronavirus Watch The U.S. reached more than 278 deaths and over 23,000 confirmed cases Saturday, according to the Johns Hopkins University data dashboard. The global death toll now exceeds 12,000, with almost 300,000 confirmed cases. Story continues Pennsylvania, which announced its second death Saturday, had 371 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 31 of them in Pittsburgh's Allegheny County. When asked Friday about performing elective surgeries, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's Dr. Graham Snyder told reporters his area is one of "relative calm." "The health center's job is to take care of patients, not to put them at risk, said Snyder, UPMCs medical director for infection prevention and hospital epidemiology. We are not northern Italy. We are not Wuhan right now. Taking the level of risk in our community, we have to balance that while still providing care." Some states have reported few cases, but that's because of the slow pace of testing, experts say, and many more are thought to be infected. Federal officials say masks, gowns and other protective equipment, along with ventilators, should be conserved for medical staff and an expected onslaught of coronavirus patients. Hospitals already are reporting supply shortages. Space also is a looming issue. While many elective surgeries don't require overnight stays, many do, especially if there are complications. Nearly two out of three of U.S. hospital beds may already be in use, a report out Friday from the Urban Institute and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found. The analysis of the country's 728,000 hospital beds also showed availability of unoccupied beds per 1,000 people varied significantly across urban and rural areas, states and counties across the country. Coronavirus is spreading in the US: Here's everything to know, from symptoms to how to protect yourself A USA TODAY analysis out last week showed if the nation sees a major spike in COVID-19 patients, there could be almost six seriously ill patients for every existing hospital bed. Vice President Mike Pence, who heads the White House's Coronavirus Task Force, asked hospitals last week to stop doing elective surgeries and reiterated the call Wednesday at a White House news conference. The same day, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued "voluntary recommendations" for elective surgeries to encourage cancellation of non-essential procedures until the COVID-19 outbreak is past. "We're asking every American, and our medical community leaders, and hospitals to partner with us in delaying elective procedures across the country and our healthcare system to ensure that medical supplies and medical capacity go where they're needed," said Pence. In addition to those concerns, Alvarez noted the procedures create yet another patient who is at higher risk for contracting COVID-19 because having surgery suppresses the immune system. (People with chronic health conditions and those older than 60 also are at higher risk of contracting the illness with serious symptoms.) Sick at home with COVID-19:How to care for your loved ones infected with coronavirus Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams and the American College of Surgeons also have asked hospitals to stop elective procedures. Adams' office issued a statement to USA TODAY saying its request was "in sync with current CDC recommendations for healthcare facilities." Dr. Adams and the Presidents Coronavirus Task Force have encouraged healthcare facilities to consider rescheduling non-urgent outpatient visits and elective surgeries, as necessary, due to the demands on our healthcare system during the COVID-19 pandemic," said the statement. "Were facing an unprecedented threat and its important we preserve critical hospital resources, like PPE and staff to ensure an adequate response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Hospital associations have pushed back against blanket recommendations. The American Hospital Association said such decisions "should be determined at the local, community level in consultation with hospitals and the clinical recommendations of physicians and nurses." "It is important to recognize the definition of elective procedures includes important life saving measures that will continue to be necessary," AHA said in a statement. Pregnant and worried about coronavirus?'The hard part is we just don't have the data' University of Southern California Medical Center in Los Angeles, one of the last major hospitals in the state still doing elective procedures, announced Thursday "many elective inpatient and outpatient surgeries will be rescheduled on a case-by-case basis." Spokeswoman Meg Aldrich said that means no elective procedures will be performed, but did not know when the policy was effective. Jimmy Lewis, CEO of the rural hospital group Hometown Health based in Georgia, said less than 5% of his members are still doing elective surgeries, though he added most are acute care hospitals that do few such procedures. "They stopped doing it unless they looked at a facility to see if a certain operation could be fit in without exposing other patients," Lewis said. "If you decide to do one $5,000 surgery, you have to do an analysis of having a contaminated patient come into the hospital versus the $5,000." U.S. Surgeon General Vice Admiral Jerome M. Adams, right, bumps elbows with Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont as they meet for a visit the Connecticut State Public Health Laboratory, Monday, March 2, 2020, in Rocky Hill, Conn. Lewis tells members it isn't worth it because of the "obvious ethical" issues, along with the "fear of liability." If hospitals decide to do an elective surgery, and a patient dies of coronavirus, plaintiff attorneys will come in later. "They're going to ask, 'Why did you do an elective surgery that killed momma?'" Five people who work at hospitals spoke on condition their names and employers not be used, but USA TODAY confirmed with hospitals the status of their elective surgeries. Hospitals still performing elective surgeries as of Friday included: University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Some facilities had busy elective schedules Friday and physicians were performing hernia repairs, cataract surgeries and orthopedic procedures known as scopes that involve small incisions to view and repair joint problems, according to two health care workers at the health system. "Balancing our patients ongoing clinical needs with the avoidance of unnecessary exposure requires a nuanced approach not an across-the-board cancelling of clinics and procedures," UPMC said in a statement Friday. "We continue to serve our patients whose procedures our clinicians believe are not medically responsible to delay. Our careful triaging of upcoming elective procedures on a case-by-case basis meets the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services guidance. "We have a multidisciplinary team of experts closely monitoring the situation and will adjust accordingly." UPMC's Children's Hospital was doing elective dental procedures on Friday. CMS targeted dental procedures in its recommendations Wednesday because they always require "personal protective equipment" that's in short supply and because they "have one of the highest risks of transmission due to the close proximity of the healthcare provider to the patient." Virginia Hospital Center. The Arlington-based hospital on Friday had many patients recovering after elective surgeries, according to three people who work at the hospital and asked that their names not be used for fear of retribution. Every other hospital in the Washington, D.C area had stopped the procedures, a USA TODAY review found. "Virginia Hospital Center is still performing elective surgeries," said spokeswoman Anne Kelsey. "While nationwide shortages exist, we have not had any reason to deviate outside of those guidelines." Kelsey added the hospital is being "cautious and mindful about the allocation of all of our resources." Saturday night, several hours after this article posted, VHC spokeswoman Maryanne Boster emailed a "clarification of the answer," that restated that it is using cautito allocate resources. She added VHC has "rescheduled most elective procedures. However, some procedures cannot be postponed, including those such as cancer cases involving tumor removal or biopsies." USA TODAY confirmed some surgeries taking place on Friday and scheduled this week were neither cancer-related nor urgent medical needs. Meanwhile, the medical staff is reusing the N95 masks that protect against COVID-19, using cleaning rags with bleach-based solution instead of disposable bleach wipes, reusing masks after dealing with patients and not getting masks at all unless they have face-to-face contact with patients, according to two of the hospital workers. Jackson Memorial Hospital. The trauma hospital is based in Florida's Miami-Dade County, which now has the highest number of deaths in the state, with more than 100. The hospital said in a statement to USA TODAY Friday afternoon that "physicians have been given some discretion as to whether to cancel or proceed." The hospital was "continuing to perform all emergent and urgent surgeries, procedures, and clinic appointments for now," the statement said. At 7 p.m., more than three hours after Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order requiring all "nonessential medical procedures be postponed," the hospital said it was "immediately complying with this order." Jackson also said it has "sufficient PPE on hand for current and anticipated volumes," and "have enough ventilators and have rented additional to be prepared for future demand. We also have open orders to secure even more." Alvarez said hospitals that have so much protective gear that they can afford to do elective surgeries should consider sharing with less well supplied hospitals. "I think hospitals should assess their communities, and the impact they are expecting to face not only in their area but in the surrounding areas as well, and use this to appropriately plan their need for PPE," said Alvarez. "It is also important now, more than ever, we come together in the medical community to promote patient and worker safety." Got a story idea or tip? Email Jayne O'Donnell at jodonnell@usatoday.com and request her secure Signal information if preferred. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hospitals doing elective surgery despite COVID-19 risk, short supplies Beate Sander, the Canada research chair in economics of infectious diseases, is seen in this undated handout photo. (Ho/The Canadian Press) Dire Scenario for Intensive Care Even if COVID-19 Rate Drops A study by Toronto epidemiologists suggests that Canadas largest province could run out of intensive care beds and ventilators by late April, even assuming a sharp drop in the current infection rate. Researchers from the University of Toronto, University Health Network and Sunnybrook Hospital have released a model showing Ontario could run short of machines and space to ventilate very sick patients in just over five weeks. In work led by Beate Sander, the Canada research chair in economics of infectious diseases, even a conservative scenario assuming a lower rate of infection than is currently occurring would lead to serious shortages. That scenario assumes the average daily rate of infections over the 37 days would be 7.5 per cent, the rate Japan has experienced, compared with the 26 per cent daily rate that has been experienced recently. It also assumes that hospitals would succeed in holding 25 per cent of the provinces 2,053 existing intensive care beds for COVID-19 patients, though most experts say typically 85 to 90 per cent of the beds are occupied by patients with other illnesses. A more optimistic model predicts that if the province manages to increase capacity for COVID-19 patients by adding more than 2,000 beds and 600 ventilators, the system could hold up for 60 days, but there may still be a critical shortage of ventilators. That would assume the province manages by then to keep about three quarters of its intensive care beds free for COVID-19 patients. The study assumes the average stay in the intensive care unit would be eight days. The models havent yet included factors with a potential to slow the spread of the CCP virus, such as the impact of the recent border restrictions or the closure of schools. The Epoch Times refers to the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19, as the CCP virus because the Chinese Communist Partys coverup and mismanagement allowed the virus to spread throughout China and create a global pandemic. Over the past week, some provincial health ministers have been announcing plans to purchase ventilators while others have said supplies are adequate. Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott told reporters on Wednesday, We certainly have an adequate supply for what were dealing with right now. She then noted the province had ordered 300 more ventilators that it expected to receive shortly and said automobile parts manufacturers are looking to retool so they can produce some ventilators in Ontario. We know with many borders shutting down, we need to find our own source internally, she said. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said, Alberta Health Services advises us that they have adequate supplies to deal with this crisis, and said the province had ordered 50 ventilators. Quebec Premier Francois Legault said his province has enough ventilators and will acquire more if demand increases. In the short term, we have all the equipment we need, he said Thursday. In British Columbia, Health Minister Adrian Dix declined to say how many ventilators had been ordered but said he would make the number public when they arrived. He noted the province currently has a total of 1,272. In Manitoba, Health Minister Cameron Friesen told journalists on Thursday 27 additional ventilators are on the way, which would the provinces total to 270. In Saskatchewan, as of Wednesday, the Saskatchewan Health Authority says it has 91 ventilators for critical care, another 80 ventilators for subacute care and has ordered 50 more. In Newfoundland and Labrador, health officials said in the province has 156 ventilators and 20 more have been ordered. In Prince Edward Island, there are 19 ventilators and the province says it is attempting to reach a supplier to order more. Nova Scotia has ordered 140 ventilators which would bring its supply to about 240. But epidemiologists say these kinds of figures may fall far short unless much more extreme social distancing and other public health measures occur across the country. David Fisman, an epidemiologist at the University of Torontos Dalla Lana School of Public Health, said Sander is a fantastic modeler but worried the 37-day projection is optimistic. We crash into a cliff much faster than that in our estimates, he said. If people say Beates projections are dire, please note that there are non-ridiculous projections that are somewhat worse. A study using data from 2010 found that nationally there were about 3,170 intensive care beds capable of operating ventilators. Those figures are being updated, says Dr. Robert Fowler, a Sunnybrook Hospital researcher and physician. He said that figure has gone up since 2010, probably by hundreds, but he wont know for at least another week what the total is. Fisman said one key question thats unclear is how long patients will remain in hospital on the breathing machines, and how many intensive care beds will be occupied by patients with illnesses other than COVID-19. Because people who have this disease stay in the ICU a long time and lock up a ventilator bed, that means it doesnt take a very big epidemic to completely log jam our health care system as it stands, he said. We dont have enough ventilators. We cant have enough . Thats why we have to stop this virus in the community, Fisman said. Epoch Times staff contributed to this report Advanta Seeds, the UPL seed company, puts its commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into action. The company promotes sustainable agriculture and focuses on delivering high-quality seeds and new technologies to support food production while facing climate change and fast population growth. Hunger is a daily reality for almost one billion people. The global population expects to grow by a further two billion people, precisely in those geographies where there is already food shortage as the UN reports. Advanta Seeds is focusing on farmers who need the most support to grow more nutritional food. This focus is on countries where a majority are smallholder farmers. Supporting smallholders with quality seeds is crucial for global food security, shared Bhupen, Global CEO of Advanta Seeds. Access to Seeds Index 2019 ranked Advanta Seeds as No. 4 in South and Southeast Asia and No. 5 in the world for contributing to UN Sustainable Development Goals by providing access to quality seeds and enhancing smallholder farmers' productivity. This inspired the company to embed sustainability into Advanta's DNA and to empower its employees to drive meaningful contributions to sustainability. Advanta Seeds' parent company UPL supports sustainability and is very active in contributing to the UN SDGs as well as a signatory of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. UPL addresses the global challenges of food security, climate change and environmental degradation with a proactive and long-term sustainability strategy. Advanta Seeds contributes to the UPL sustainable strategy with a clear focus on farmers' prosperity and food security. Almost 80% of food in Asia, Africa, and South America is grown by smallholder farmers. We understand their challenges and their struggle with resources and a lack of knowledge to be productive. Making quality seeds and new technologies available to smallholder farmers is our mission. We understand that smallholder farmers need to increase their production, secure food for their families and provide for the communities, stated Benjamin Marolda, Global Strategic Marketing & Sales Excellence Manager for Advanta Seeds. Responding to smallholder farmers' needs and developing climate-smart and nutritional crops are high on Advanta's sustainability agenda. To demonstrate Advanta Seeds' responsiveness to farmers' needs, the company partnered with Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT to address pressing issues for tropical corn growers. Corn growers in tropical geographies of South America, Asia, and Africa have struggled with emerging warm pests as a result of changing biodiversity. Advanta Seeds actively responded and partnered with the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT to disseminate a guide on emerging pests. Expert presentations from the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT to farmers supported a publication arranged by Advanta Seeds across Colombia and Bolivia. This allowed farmers to monitor and prepare to manage pests and insects to prevent crop infestation. Advanta Seeds aims to distribute the guide in all tropical geographies. Agricultural research should focus more on providing practical tools that make it easier for farmers to face phytosanitary problems impacting their yields. The collaboration with Advanta Seeds for sharing essential agricultural research results is important in helping farmers cultivate healthy crops. For the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, it is important to make available agronomy research to farmers,shared Jairo Rodriguez CH., Research Associate, The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT. Advanta Seeds realizes that a focus on smallholder farmers, and continued support to their contributions to food security, as well as taking actions to contribute to the UN SDGs through collaborative and innovative solutions is an excellent opportunity for growth. Advanta Seeds Advanta Seeds is a global seed company committed to sustainable agricultural practices and enhancing farmer prosperity with high quality, hybrid seeds. As part of UPL Group, Advanta Seeds aims to delivers the quality seeds best suited for the region with excellent agronomic practices and crop protection solutions through UPL. Advanta Seeds operates in over seventy countries with our partner brands Alta Seeds and Pacific Seeds. Advanta holds a leadership position in tropical and sub-tropical geographies. Worldwide, we offer growers hybrid seeds in tropical and temperate corn, grain and forage sorghum, sunflower, canola, rice, and a variety vegetable. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is the latest regional agency to ask federal officials for a bail out, citing coronavirus related travel losses at all its facilities. The request for $1.9 billion was made in a letter to members of the New Jersey and New York congressional delegation Friday, citing a drop in traffic volume or ridership at all of its facilities as the reason. The coronavirus related fall off comes after the authority reported record volumes of traffic the its six bridges and tunnels, four airports, PATH rail system and cargo ports in 2019. Traffic volume fell over 22% at the bridges and tunnels, and PATH ridership is down 75%. Passenger volumes at airports fell by more than half when compared to March 2019 average weekday levels and threaten to continue to decline, officials said. Cargo volume at the ports is forecasted to decrease by 30 percent in March, when compared to March 2019 average weekday levels, although officials said they hope for a rebound in April. The Lincoln tunnel Friday morning at 9a. Had to come into the city and this is just bizarre to me. Not a problem keeping distance in here. Cc @CommutingLarry pic.twitter.com/U2Cs2myQkM Alex (@RealAlexNovelo) March 20, 2020 We are facing precipitous drops in passenger and cargo volumes, officials wrote. Additionally, our tenants are requesting fiscal relief from rents and charges as their industries contract under the strain of this pandemic. The request come as airlines are cutting back flights. On Tuesday United Airlines announced it cut 42 percent of its domestic and Canadian flights and 85% of international flights. In a letter to airline crews, JetBlue officials said they expect reduction to cut at least 40% of its flights in April and May and could make substantial cuts in June and July. Federal assistance will ensure that we can continue serving the more than 20.5 million people, Port Authority officials wrote. The request comes as more than 6,000 travel industry and related organizations sent a joint letter to congressional leadership requesting aggressive and immediate financial assistance on Friday. That letter asked for $150 billion in federal grants to travel-dependent businesses to maintain employment at pre-coronavirus levels, $150 billion in unsecured loans and loan guarantees for travel industries and $10 billion in airport grants, the U.S. Travel Association said. The Port Authority request follows the lead of NJ Transit, which saw ridership fall by 90%, Gov. Phil Murphy said on Friday. NJ Transit officials asked for a $1.25 billion federal bailout for lost fare revenue in fiscal year 2021. New Yorks MTA made a similar request for a $4 billion bail out due to ridership loses New Jersey has at least 890 coronavirus cases statewide, including 11 deaths, as officials announced 155 new positive tests during an update on the outbreak Friday. Tell us your coronavirus stories, whether its a news tip, a topic you want us to cover, or a personal story you want to share. If you would like updates on New Jersey-specific coronavirus news, subscribe to our Coronavirus in N.J. newsletter. Sign up for text message alerts from NJ.com on coronavirus in New Jersey: Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @commutinglarry. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips.Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. Recently, our local and state politicians told us no outbound cruise ships were allowed at the port of Charleston due to COVID-19. At the time, I thought it odd inbound ships werent mentioned. Well, sure enough on March 16, a Carnival ship docked at our downtown cruise terminal. It was an inbound ship, and more than 3,000 people got off it. None of these passengers was checked for illness as they filtered out into the city. In a time of extreme importance, our leaders cant be trusted. Right now, we dont need sleight-of-hand politics. We need leaders who dont think this city is a doormat. RUSSELL GUERARD South Battery Charleston Disparaging remarks In the age of President Donald Trump disparaging journalists as the enemy of the people, why dont reporters stick up for one another? During the March 13 news conference regarding the deadly virus plaguing us all, Trump berated a reporter, labeling her question nasty. He often refers to women as nasty. The PBS reporter was perfectly polite. His response was nasty. Why didnt the next reporter ask Trump why he felt a need to be abusive toward reporters? Trump complains about being attacked while bullying others. This is called projection and must be called out in real time. Journalism is a noble profession, and its members should be treated with respect and common decency. ELAINE TANAY Scalybark Road Summerville More progress needed Despite some victories in recent years, much progress needs to be made in the United States and the Palmetto State when it comes to LGBT rights. Even though, according to the Public Religion Research Institute, 69% of Americans and 58% of South Carolinians favor LGBT nondiscrimination laws, there is no such law in place nationally or statewide in South Carolina that prohibits LGBT discrimination. While there are some city and county ordinances that bar discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, they are few and far between and leave the vast majority of South Carolinas roughly 137,000 LGBT citizens unprotected and vulnerable to discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations. A national LGBT nondiscrimi-nation law would be a great step forward, but there is no reason why South Carolina should wait for our gridlocked and inefficient Congress to pass legislation like this that is long overdue. Twenty-one other states, including Illinois, Iowa and Nevada, already have. If South Carolina wants to be on the right side of history, we need a statewide LGBT nondiscrimination bill, and soon. DONOVAN BURTON Berkeley Ridge Drive Columbia Cunningham ads A progressive political action committee in Washington, D.C., has been running some deceptive ads in support of U.S. Rep. Joe Cunningham. With the way theyre puffing up Cunninghams resume, youd think he was the House Majority Whip. The ads say things like Joe Cunningham passed a bipartisan bill to ban offshore drilling and When politicians tried to raise their own pay, he stopped them. Freshman congressmen do not pass bills. They vote yea or nay for a bill. As for a congressional pay raise, does anyone really believe Cunningham stopped career politicians? We know the answer is no, so why all the exaggeration in these ads? The PAC is House Majority Forward. They have been running similar ads for other Congress members in swing states, members who won their seats in 2018 despite voters in their districts voting for President Trump in 2016. House Majority Forward doesnt have to reveal its donors. So when it purchases ads like these in the Charleston market for Cunningham, its dark money paying for the ads. Its fascinating that Cunningham renounces PACs while benefiting from them. Whats also misleading about these PAC ads is that they leave 1st Congressional District voters believing the bills Cunningham voted for are now law. They fail to mention the bills will likely die in the Senate. Cunningham should issue a statement clarifying the exaggerations and misrepresentations these PAC ads are creating. ED HAAS Oakhurst Drive Mount Pleasant Johnson and Reeder got through immigration in about an hour and a half and went to their hostel. The next morning, they went to the U.S. Embassy in Lima to ask what they should do. "It was me and Lexi and about five other Americans frantically waiting for information," Johnson said. "The U.S. representative told us not to expect any aid from the U.S. government. Not to expect a charter flight. We asked if we could get access to the commissary or any emergency financial assistance. She basically said we were on our own and urgently told us to get out of the country as fast as we could." But this proved impossible, as all flights out of the country have been cancelled. They were stuck. "We're just fortunate that we're in Lima as opposed to Cusco [where Machu Picchu is]," Johnson said. The two joined a Facebook group called "Americans stuck in Peru." "It has around 500 members now. And there are around 300 in Cusco," Reeder said. "There are hundreds of elderly people and children. Some are running out of necessary medicines, like insulin. We're getting fairly nervous for all of them." They have been self-isolating in their luxurious LA home amid the coronavirus pandemic. But Ashley Tisdale stepped out on Friday with her husband Christopher French to stock up on groceries. The actress, 34, cut a low-key figure in a pink beanie hat and showcased her flawless complexion by going make-up free for the outing. Casual chic: Ashley Tisdale stepped out on Friday with her husband Christopher French to stock up on groceries in LA Staying comfy, the beauty wore a shearling denim jacket paired with dark grey denim jeans. Ashley wore a perplexed expression on her face when greeted with surprising long queues at Erewhon Market and eventually left empty handed. The duo then stopped by their favourite local coffee shop for a takeaway coffee, and urged fans to support local businesses over Instagram. Natural beauty: The actress, 34, cut a low-key figure in a pink beanie hat and opted to go bare faced and natural for her outing Ashley's musician husband, 38, looked equally casual in his ensemble. He teamed a black beanie with a vintage denim jacket over a shirt and cords. The hunk affectionately wrapped his arm around his wife of five years when leaving the market. Earlier this week, the former High School Musical star took to Twitter to thank Alcoholics Anonymous for their action during the coronavirus outbreak. Confused: The star wore a perplexed expression on her face when greeted with surprising long queues at Erewhon Market and eventually left empty handed She shared a public thank you message to the organisation on Saturday as their streaming service allowed her husband to attend his meeting while at home. She penned: 'Thank you #AlcoholicsAnonymous for having a streaming service at your meetings 'My husband was able to stream his favourite meeting. Anyone else who doesn't feel great about leaving the house check out the Zoom app.' Christopher replied to his wife's tweet, adding: 'Yeah, it's kind of an amazing resource to be able to connect with 12-step recovery meetings from home.' A worker loads customer orders into a waiting tractor-trailer inside the million-square foot Amazon distribution warehouse that opened last fall in Fall River, MA on Mar. 23, 2017. Amazon said its doubling hourly wages for its associates working overtime in its U.S. warehouses as demand continues to grow due to the coronavirus. "All hourly associates working in the U.S. Ops network will receive double their regular hourly rate for every overtime hour worked in a workweek," Amazon said in a statement to CNBC. "This temporary increased overtime pay is effective March 15, 2020, and will continue through May 9, 2020." Reuters was first to report the news. Amazon said hourly workers will qualify to receive double pay after 40 hours. The announcement follows a similar one on Monday, when the e-commerce giant hiked the hourly rate for associates from $15 to $17, which will remain in effect through the end of April. Additionally, the e-commerce giant said it has plans to hire 100,000 warehouse and delivery workers in the U.S. amid a surge in online orders to the coronavirus outbreak. Amazon encouraged people whose jobs have been lost or furloughed as a result of the massive shut down of restaurants and stores due the outbreak to apply. "We want those people to know we welcome them on our teams until things return to normal and their past employer is able to bring them back," Amazon said in a statement Monday. On Thursday, Amazon temporarily closed one of its warehouses in Queens, New York after a warehouse worker tested positive for coronavirus. It was the first known case of an Amazon warehouse worker in the U.S. Five Amazon workers in Europe have contracted the disease. On March 15th, Amazon warned customers that its running out of stock on some popular household staples amid the dramatic increase in orders and some delivery times will be longer than usual. Earlier this month, Amazon also advised its global employees who are able to work from home to do so through the end of the month. It will also provide up to two weeks of pay to all employees diagnosed with COVID-19 or placed into quarantine, effective immediately. Donita Jose By Express News Service HYDERABAD: Over 300 passengers who landed in the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport from UAE and other Gulf nations were released from quarantine on Friday after they protested unhygienic conditions at the Rajendranagar centre. They were released with ink stamped on their hands reading- TS Home Quarantine Till 2-4-2019. The travellers staged a hunger strike and blocked food vans from entering the National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management till their demands were met. Speaking to Express, one of the travellers alleged that two-three members were forced to stay in one room. There werent enough soaps and sanitisers to go around. Some rooms had no mattresses. Some had one soap for three members. There was no government official to complain to, the person said. One woman, sister of a person quarantined at the centre posted on Facebook, the various issues people there faced. Mosquitoes, bed bugs, non-functional toilet flushes, lack of ACs, no western commodes, lack of spoons were among the list of grouses. The Central government had notified that travellers from UAE , Qatar, Oman and Kuwait would be quarantined if they departed from the place of origin after 12pm GMT on March 18. However, some travellers say they started from their destinations before the deadlifrom their destinations before the deadline. The quarantined lot even blocked the entrance to the centre with thene. The quarantined lot even blocked the entrance to the centre with their luggage. At 12.30 am on Friday. Update:12:55 Fianna Fail's Michael McGrath says Government measures for coronavirus support do no go far enough Fianna Fail's Spokesperson for Finance said that government support for businesses and workers impacted by the coronavirus outbreak is "not adequate and further steps are urgently needed." Michael McGrath said: Fianna Fail supports 100% the national battle against Covid-19 and will use every opportunity to reinforce the key public health messages being advocated by the authorities." However, the Cork South-Central TD said that "the response of the Irish government to date for the workers and businesses affected by the economic fallout from Covid-19 falls well short of what might reasonably be expected." Mr McGrath believes that comparisons with other EU countries highlight "starkly the inadequacies of what has been done so far here." He said: "The Irish governments response for workers and businesses has been weak and is way out of step with the response from other countries including the UK." Mixed messages have been given on issues such as whether interest will apply to loans deferred or whether employers wanting to pay their employees more than the 203 emergency payment could be facilitated. Meanwhile, the Department of Finance says it is considering options whereby employers can 'top up' the incomes of employees who have been temporarily laid off due to coronavirus. Hundreds of thousands of workers have so far been let go in sectors like retail and hospitality, as businesses shut indefinitely. The government's confirmed it will allow employers to pay more than the 203 euro a week support being made available. Earlier 'Rebooting the economy': Calls to coordinate Covid-19 policy with economic recovery plans Businesses will need to return to normality extremely quickly. File picture. The Irish Exporters Association wants the Government to start planning for the economy's recovery now. They say a cabinet sub-committee needs to be set up to be able to act when the threat of Covid-19 has passed in the next couple of months. Simon McKeever, CEO of the organisation, says the recovery plan needs to work in tandem with the fight against the illness. He said: "So at some stage, we will get through this and we will come to the end of the worst of this from a public health point of view." "But businesses will need to get back up and functioning extremely quickly, rebooting the economy in the aftermath of the Covid-19 virus," he said. Mr McKeever's comments follow severe disruption to Ireland's economy with some working practices dramatically changed. The National Recruitment Federation says the coronavirus could end up leading to a "remote working revolution" in Ireland. T he death toll from an outbreak of coronavirus in Italy has leapt by 793 to 4,825, officials said on Saturday, an increase of 19.6% . This is by far the largest daily rise in absolute terms since the contagion emerged a month ago. On Thursday, Italy overtook China as the country to register most deaths from the highly contagious virus. The total number of cases in Italy rose to 53,578 from a previous 47,021, an increase of 13.9%, the Civil Protection Agency said. A medical worker wearing protective clothing looks on as she treats a patient suffering from coronavirus in Italy (Reuters) / REUTERS The hardest-hit northern region of Lombardy remains in a critical situation, with 3,095 deaths and 25,515 cases. Streets and roads deserted as Brits hunker down amid coronavirus crisis Of those originally infected nationwide, 6,072 had fully recovered on Saturday compared to 5,129 the day before. There were 2,857 people in intensive care against a previous 2,655. Italy surpassed China for coronavirus related deaths on Thursday. It reached the bleak milestone the same day that Wuhan, the Chinese city where the coronavirus first emerged three months ago, recorded no new infections, a sign that the communist countrys draconian lockdowns were a powerful method to stop the spread of the virus. Brooke Meehan and Jase King have been married for nearly 20 years but this week was their first experience of effectively being co-workers. Ms Meehan, who works in banking, and Mr King, a web developer, both usually work in offices in the Sydney CBD but have been sent to work from home to help stem the spread of coronavirus. Brooke Meenhan and Jase King are both working from home in Frenchs Forest. Credit:Nick Moir It's a scene being played out in living rooms and home studies all over Australia. Some joke it could cause a baby boom (a generation that will be known as the coronials or the quaranteenies), more cynical types predict a spike in the divorce rate, and the novel scenario is sparking dozens of humorous memes. One post shared widely on Facebook said: "Pro-tip for couples suddenly working from home together: Get yourself an imaginary co-worker to blame things on. In our apartment, Cheryl keeps leaving her dirty water cups all over the place and we really dont know what to do about her." Describing the provinces efforts to battle COVID-19 as piecemeal and ineffective, one of Ontarios 34 regional medical officers of health is urging his colleagues to band together and use more powerful measures to contain the pandemic than provincial leaders have yet endorsed. In an email obtained by the Star, Dr. Shanker Nesathurai wrote Thursday that Ontarios response has undermined the provinces attempt to contain the outbreak, as businesses remain open and travellers ignore advice to self-isolate. He writes that many other medical officers of health, who are leading the regional response to the pandemic, believe Ontario needs to take a more assertive response. Nesathurai called on his colleagues to use their legal authority to require businesses to close and people to stay home.We do not have the luxury of time, wrote Dr. Nesathurai, the medical officer of health for Haldimand Norfolk Health Unit. As the coronavirus pandemic continues to sweep the globe, there is hope that Canada is better positioned to confront this crisis than many other Western nations. In a new Lancet article published Friday, David Naylor one of the countrys leading pandemic response experts said changes implemented after the 2002-03 SARS crisis have vastly improved Canadas ability to confront outbreaks like COVID-19. But the email is one of several signs that cracks are appearing in Ontarios response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The email was sent to Nesathurais three dozen regional counterparts and copied to Drs. David Williams and Barbara Yaffe, Ontarios chief and associate chief medical officers of health. Frontline health-care workers are working furiously to prepare for the coming onslaught. The wave became visible Friday: at least 22 of Ontarios 318 reported COVID-19 cases are hospitalized, and Toronto announced new cases in a paramedic, a resident of a long-term care home, and a person who uses the citys shelter system. Many argue that Ontario should be prepared for this. The province had a glimpse 17 years ago at how a new infectious disease could rapidly sink its health-care system, when it battled SARS. The pandemic is an unprecedented situation for everyone involved and Yaffe stressed that she and everyone else is learning every day. Were all in this together, she said. Were all trying our very best. Here is a look at three critical areas of Ontario pandemic response: clear communication, rapid detection and hospital preparedness. COMMUNICATIONS At a news conference on Monday, Torontos medical officer of health Dr. Eileen de Villa put it bluntly: there is evidence in Toronto of community transmission. That means the novel coronavirus is now spreading from person to person locally, rather than just being imported by travellers and passed only to their close contacts. De Villa told reporters two days ago that Toronto was investigating 11 cases of community transmission. The same afternoon, the provinces top public health officials were holding their own news conference. And when questioned about the same issue, the response was much more muddied. To be conservative, were saying we cannot rule it out at this point, said Yaffe. There are some that do not seem to have a travel history or a contact case at this stage, Williams, chief medical officer, added. Neither Yaffe nor Williams have offered a firm number on community spread. Health-care workers question why the province wont just declare there is community spread, which many already consider to be a reality on the ground. Yaffe believes people are applying different definitions to what constitutes community spread and cant understand why people are so caught up with that term. But she agreed there are a small number of cases where its unclear where they got it and the situation is worrisome. Were trying very hard to be transparent with all the information we know and dont know. Critics say such inconsistent messaging has confused Ontarians, a problem in fighting an outbreak like COVID-19. People have to understand the threat facing them if they are being asked to undertake strict social distancing, which carries a heavy personal and financial toll. For Dr. Michael Warner, medical director of critical care at Michael Garron Hospital, the statements from the provinces top health officials have been frustrating to watch. There is community spread in Ontario and they just need to say it, he said. If people know that, they might take things more seriously. Ontarios incremental response adding new voluntary measures piece by piece has been ineffective, Nesathurai suggested in the email circulated to the provinces medical officers of health. Businesses big and small remain open; unnecessary social contacts continue. The medical officers of health should act together and use their legal authority to require closures. It would be better for the province to make this determination, he wrote. But decisions from the province and its complex governance structure are too slow. These stricter measures are necessary to stifle the outbreak, he says, citing modelling data that suggests hospitals and their critical care units will be overwhelmed by the increase in cases. Asked for comment on his email, a spokesperson for the Haldimand Norfolk Health Unit said Nesathurai is in constant dialogue with the provinces other medical officers, who as a group are regularly discussing a wide range of items related to COVID-19 containment. The private email that you viewed is just a part of that larger, ongoing discussion, in which there are many active participants. Dr. Nesathurai recognizes the social disadvantage of enhanced self-distancing strategies, however in the context of this public health emergency, he believes that enhanced, assertive policies are necessary to control this pandemic. TESTING Last year, the Ford government proposed a $13-million cut to Public Health Ontario. The agency hosts the provinces public health laboratory, where millions of tests for infectious diseases and other pathogens are processed every year. The agency had already experienced several years of flatlined funding, and had warned the province that this was impacting the labs ability to process high volumes of tests. Laboratory testing volumes at PHO continue to increase and the need for quality and timeliness of testing remains paramount, the agency wrote in its 2017-20 business plan. Fiscal challenges are resulting in increased operational pressures at PHOs testing sites. The Ford governments budget brought the agency to its lowest funding level since 2010-11. Public Health Ontario (PHO) currently has a head count of 895; in the 2015-16 fiscal year, it was 998. The $13-million cut was restored for one time this fiscal year. The government just announced $50 million in funding for COVID-19 testing and screening through public health. Dr. Brian Schwartz, vice-president of PHO, says the province has not provided further details on the funding, so we dont have any further information on this. Asked about reports of days-long delays in COVID-19 test turnaround, Schwartz said on Friday the earliest samples in the lab were from Tuesday, and that along with unprecedented test volumes, global shortages of chemicals needed to process the tests was part of what is hindering the turnaround time. At present, we do have enough PCR machines to conduct the tests. That said, we also recognize that the demand for testing will likely increase and we are adding more equipment. The SARS commission, a panel of experts convened by the province to probe how the novel infectious respiratory disease swamped the provinces health care system, wrote about how difficult it is to add capacity in the middle of an outbreak. Laboratory capacity is much like the rest of public health: its importance is not appreciated, nor the impact of its inadequacies felt, until there is an outbreak and then it is too late. SARS illustrated dramatically the urgent need for sustained resources [for the public health laboratory system], without which Ontario will continue to be unprepared for the next outbreak of infectious disease. On March 5, Stan Grossman, a 72-year-old Toronto lawyer, had two long meetings with a friend who had just returned from Washington, D.C. The following day, the friend attended a bris (a Jewish circumcision ceremony) along with some 50 other people. Grossman had dinner with his extended family, making sure to get extra snuggling time with his three-week-old grandson. By the end of the weekend, Grossman had also visited his synagogue and two long-term care homes when he got the phone call from Patient 31. They just told me I tested positive for the coronavirus. When Grossman developed a cough and other flu-like symptoms five days later, Toronto Public Health directed him to the nearest COVID-19 assessment centre, where he waited nearly five hours along with hordes of people hacking and sneezing. He was told his test results would return in 48 hours; one week later, he is still waiting. I am frustrated with this province and their inability to do their job, Grossman said. It does not give me faith in the governments ability to confront this. HOSPITAL PREPAREDNESS As he watched the coronavirus sweep across China and Italy and finally North America, Dr. Michael Warner believed that absolute Armageddon was headed for his critical care unit at Michael Garron Hospital. But Warner never imagined that mere days before an anticipated surge of cases across the province, he would find himself spending hours on the phone with veterinarians, cosmetic surgeons and construction companies. He was begging them for their ventilators, anesthetic machines, and any N95 masks they could spare. All crucial equipment that he feared would quickly run out as the virus spread begins to pick up speed. We will run out of beds, we will run out of ventilators, we will run out of doctors, we will run out of nurses, he said. The level of anxiety is high and I think people are scared. Warner believes that leadership has been lacking in the province, because you need people who make decisions anticipating whats going to happen, not waiting until its so obvious (youre forced) to make a decision. He wants to know: Where are the stockpiles of personal protective equipment, like face masks? Where is the mass training of health workers who can take over for doctors and nurses who fall ill? And who will take care of them when that inevitably happens? His concerns reflect a broader sentiment amongst health-care workers, many of whom are increasingly speaking out as the outbreak worsens across the country. On Friday, a petition co-signed by 62 physicians called on all levels of government to implement a warlike effort to scale up production of protective gear, collecting more than 60,000 signatures. Our front-line health care workers are already running out of personal protective equipment, states the petition, which was started by Dr. Melissa Yuan-Innes, an emergency physician at the Glengarry Memorial Hospital north of Cornwall. This is unacceptably dangerous for health care workers and, in turn, the public. The Ministry of Health did not respond to questions about the email, funding levels for the public health lab and doctors concerns about protective equipment. By Trend Georgia has confirmed three new cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) bringing the total number of the infected to 47, Trend reports via Georgian media. The updated data is available on stopcov.ge/en, launched by the government of Georgia, which aims to inform the population of the situation in the country amid the new coronavirus outbreak in the world. According to the latest data, 1,966 people remain under quarantine, while 251 are in hospital under supervision. Only one patient recovered from the virus. The first case of novel coronavirus was confirmed in Georgia on February 26. The outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan - which is an international transport hub - began at a fish market in late December 2019. The symptoms include cough, headache, fatigue, fever, aching and difficulty breathing. When our social workers become aware of any person or family in need, they will wrap them with resources that are available or reach out in the community for help, school district social worker Carolyn Lewis said. Popular Nollywood actor, Gbenga Ajumoko has reportedly passed away after a long time battle with kidney problems. Information Nigeria recall the actor reached out to well-meaning Nigerians in October, 2019 to beg for financial assistance after he was diagnosed with diabetes and hypertension which later took a toll on both of his kidneys. Read also: Popular Singer Kenny Rogers Dies At 81 According to reports, he was being treated at an hospital in Sagamu Remo, Ogun state until the ailment got worse and he had to be taken to a private hospital at Ibadan Garage, Ijebu Ode. Unfortunately, he didnt make it as he gave up the ghost on Friday. Hundreds of businesses, tourist locations and county buildings in the Bay Area have closed in an effort to slow down the coronavirus outbreak, bringing the region to a standstill. But the San Francisco immigration court remains open despite shelter-in-place policies and concerns from advocates who fear it could expose many people to the virus. Organizers, politicians and union groups across the country including unions representing immigration judges and government prosecutors have called on the Executive Office for Immigration Review to close the countrys 68 immigration courts. But officials havent budged. As of Friday, the immigration review a branch of the Department of Justice that oversees U.S. immigration court has closed only 11 courthouses. Many judges and court staff, concerned that theyll get exposed to the virus and infect people in their communities, are calling in sick to stay home. Thirteen judges and 22 staff members at San Francisco immigration court called in sick Thursday, according to Dana Leigh Marks, former president of the National Association of Immigration Judges. Weve been working tirelessly to try to get all courts closed, said Marks, who spoke to The Chronicle as a member of the union. At least just to take a pause to understand better how the infection is spreading so that we can take sensible measures related to the science behind it. At 65, Marks is considered at risk for the virus. Shes chosen to stay home to reduce her risk. Weve only been told basic due process concerns are what is driving these decisions, she said, referring to the Executive Office for Immigration Reviews decision to keep most courts open. Theyre being made at high levels in the Department of Justice. The Executive Office for Immigration Review said its reviewing information from local, state and federal officials on the coronavirus. The agency continues to evaluate the dynamic situation nationwide and will make decisions for each location as more information becomes available, said spokeswoman Kathryn Mattingly in a statement Friday. At this time, immigration courts have postponed all non-detained hearings, and some immigration courts are closed. Mattingly did not answer questions about why the San Francisco court remains open despite city and state shelter-in-place policies and did not provide a total estimate on the number of judges and court staff who called in sick this week. The immigration court in San Francisco is split in two: The courthouse on Sansome Street holds hearings for people who are detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. The courthouse on Montgomery Street holds hearings for non-detained immigrants. Immigration review canceled non-detained hearings in San Francisco and other places, which has slowed down foot traffic. But the courthouse remains open for other business, and staff is required to work normal hours. Immigration courthouses are generally much smaller than criminal courtrooms, and immigrants, attorneys, judges, witnesses and interpreters often share tight spaces. This would make it easy for the virus to spread, they say. In an unprecedented move, unions for immigration judges, immigration lawyers and ICE prosecutors said the Justice Department has failed to adequately protect the public and court personnel during this public health crisis. Our nation is currently in the throes of a historic global pandemic, the group said in a letter this week. The Department of Justices current response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its spread is insufficient and not premised on transparent scientific information. The judges union said it consulted with Dr. Ashish Jha, a professor of global health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and expert on COVID-19, who said immigration courts should not be holding hearings. He explained that it is impossible to determine which individuals who attend hearings are ill with COVID-19 virus, and stressed that people can infect others even though they are asymptomatic, the letter said. In the face of inadequate national testing, Dr. Jha said it is irresponsible to do anything other than close our courts until sufficient testing has been conducted. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. Meanwhile across the country, advocates and families are calling on ICE to release at-risk people from detention facilities, fearing an outbreak will ravage the large populations held in these cramped facilities. On Friday, 150 advocacy organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the San Francisco Marin Medical Society and Immigrant Defense Advocates called on Gov. Gavin Newsom to release immigrants from detention, halt the expansion of ICE facilities and suspend the transfer of individuals from state prisons to ICE. Shelly Clements of Sacramento said shes concerned for her partner, Charles Joseph, whos been detained at the Mesa Verde Detention Facility in Bakersfield for nearly a year. Its kind of worrisome because its related to respiratory problems and he does have asthma and uses an inhaler, she said. I dont even know if they have a doctor there that theyre able to see. ICE said it has comprehensive protocols to ensure detainees are not exposed to the virus, in accordance with CDC guidelines, including the use of protective gear. Detainees who are at risk of exposure to COVID-19 are housed separately from the general population, ICE said. Immigrants with fever or other respiratory symptoms are put in a single medical housing room or in an airborne infection isolation room, the agency said. ICE said it is lessening enforcement at this time but has not released anyone. Tatiana Sanchez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tatiana.sanchez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TatianaYSanchez. The Redmi K30 Pro has been frequenting the rumor mill for a good two months now. Xiaomi has definitely been doing its best to fuel the hype as well, constantly putting-out teasers , with bits and pieces of information on the device. In the latest such development, Redmi product director, Wang Teng Thomas now offers a really up-close look at the impressive internal design of the K30 Pro in a disassembly video. The clip is intriguing for quite a few reasons. As you have probably already heard, the Redmi K30 Pro will pack a high-end Snapdragon 865 chipset, complete with a 5G setup and all of the big and complex antennas that go along with it. Also taking up space on the inside is an alleged beefy 4,700 mAh battery, with 33W fast charging. Also a total of four main camera modules, two of which, 64MP IMX686 units, complete with OIS. On the front a notchless OLED display, made possible through the inclusion of a periscope-style motorized selfie camera. Thats a lot of hardware to pack inside a phone, making for a rather interesting tour of the internals in the video. One curiosity, we get to see, is the sandwich style main motherboard solution. The PCBs themselves are not only extremely dense in terms of the chips they pack and their overall surface area, but the pair are also stacked on top of each other in a rather clever manner. Another thing the clip shows-off is the K30 Pros impressive cooling setup. This includes, what is said to be the largest vapor chamber on a smartphone to date, measuring 3,435 mm. Its cooling job is assisted and facilitated by a rather large heat transfer area, as well as a massive heat conductive sticker. Both of which can also be seen in the clip. As far as we currently know, the Redmi K30 Pro is on track and expected to arrive in the end of March, with March 24 cited as the most probable date. Source (in Chinese) | Via Taiwan has said the World Health Organization (WHO) ignored an alert it shared with the international health agency in December about person-to-person transmission of the new virus in China, which indicates that the infection is highly contagious, and slowed the global response to the pandemic, according to Financial Times. The WHO has been charged with praising Chinas handling of the coronavirus pandemic despite accusations of an initial cover up, which included threatening whistleblowers with arrest on account of talking about the pandemic that has since then infected around 250,000 people and killed at least 10,000. According to FT, Taiwan vice-president Chen Chien-jen said its doctors had heard from mainland colleagues about medical staff getting ill, which is a sign of human-to-human transmission, and Taipei officials reported this on December 31 to both China and International Health Regulations (IHR), a WHO framework for exchange of epidemic prevention and response data between 196 countries. The alert was ignored. Chinas health ministry confirmed human-to-human transmission of Covid-19 on January 20. While the IHRs internal website provides a platform for all countries to share information on the epidemic and their response, none of the information shared by our countrys [Centers for Disease Control] is being put up there, Chen Chien-jen, vice-president of Taiwan, told FT. Taiwan is not a part of the WHO because China claims it as part of its territory and does not want it treated as an independent state. As late as January 14, just two weeks before WHO declared Covid-19 a global health emergency, the global health agency tweeted that preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in #Wuhan, #China. Since then, the novel coronavirus has been named Covid-19. The first case of someone in China suffering from Covid-19, the disease caused by the Sars-Cov2, can be traced back to November 17, according to government data seen by the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post. Chinese authorities have identified at least 266 people who were infected last year, all of whom came under medical surveillance at some point, it said. HT reached out to the spokesperson of the embassy of China in New Delhi, who said, Taiwan is a part of China. There is no Vice President there. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Pakistan has confirmed that the total number of Coronavirus cases has crossed 500 with 47 new cases and 3 deaths. As per reports, Pakistan recorded its third death from the coronavirus on Friday, with the nationwide tally crossing 500 after new cases were reported from Gilgit-Baltistan, Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan. The total number of cases in Gilgit-Baltistan stood at 30, in Sindh at 252, in Punjab at 96 and in Balochistan at 92 with rise in the number of cases. According to reports, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday asked people to self-quarantine for at least another 45 days as the country reported its third death due to the virus and the total number of confirmed cases rose to 464. READ: Pakistan Can't Afford Nationwide Lockdown To Prevent Coronavirus Spread: PM Imran Khan Sindh Health Department is looking for doctors from #Sindh to work on a 6 month contract basis during the #COVID19 emergency. Please send in your documents on the address mentioned below if you meet the criteria. #SindhHealth #CoronaInPakistan #CoronaVirusPakistan pic.twitter.com/5YnjhAE9Bc Health and Population Welfare Department, Sindh (@SindhHealthDpt) March 20, 2020 238 confirmed cases in Sindh Province The third death was reported from Sindh Province where the number of confirmed cases rose to 238, according to provincial spokesman Murtaza Wahab. Already two patients have died in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa where the number of positive cases has increased to 23, provincial health minister Taimur Jhagra said. However, Pakistan cannot afford a lockdown amid Coronavirus outbreak as the countrys economic situation is not the same as that of Europe, a Pakistani news channel quoted Sindh Governor Imran Ismail as saying on Thursday. READ: Pakistan Reports Third Coronavirus Death As Confirmed Cases Jump To 464 Do we realize that the only way the Chinese controlled the virus, was after a absolute lock down of many Chinese cities. Italy delayed, Spain delayed, America delayed everyone is paying a major price. Lets be ahead of the curve on #CoronaVirusPakistan Fakhr-e-Alam (@falamb3) March 20, 2020 PM Imran Khan monitors situation After observing the preparedness at Karachi airport, the Sindh Governor told the local media that poor people and daily wage workers will be affected if cities are put under lockdown. Prime Minister Imran is monitoring the situation on a daily basis. There is no confusion between provinces and federation, added Imran Ismail. He added that Pakistan can overcome Coronavirus by following the precautionary measures announced by the government. He advised the nation to avoid all kinds of gatherings to restrict the spread of the virus. READ: Shoaib Akhtar Recalls His Relationship With Late Pakistan Coach Bob Woolmer; Read READ: ABSURD: Pakistan Guv Turns Quack, Says 'hot Water' Prevents Lung Damage By Coronavirus (Pic Credit: PTI) Testing for coronavirus in California has expanded significantly since midweek, with 23,200 tests completed as the number of cases of COVID-19 grew to more than 1,200, state health officials said Friday. Coronavirus testing increased by more than 84% since Wednesday, when Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state had tested about 12,600 people. The increase is due in large part to more labs being able to handle the tests throughout the state, data show. Public, commercial and private labs performed the tests, state health officials told The Chronicle. By Friday, nearly 11,500 tests were returned, with 11,700 results pending. Across California, 22 state and county labs are conducting tests, on top of a growing number of commercial and private labs, the officials said. The result is that testing capacity the number of samples that labs can analyze has risen considerably in just a few days. Still, many people have complained of difficulty obtaining tests even nervous health care workers, who say delays in getting tested could put them, their colleagues and other patients at risk. Adding capacity to perform more tests will prove crucial in the coming days, health experts said, as the state and the nation struggle to understand how many people could be infected and try to strike a balance between resources and need. As of Friday evening, California had 1,206 confirmed coronavirus cases, including 515 in the Bay Area. Even though the state is processing more coronavirus tests, by weeks end California health officials could not say how many test kits were available at a time when demand for them is swelling. There is no centralized maker or distributor of the tests, which are now coming from a growing list of private companies, private labs and public and private universities. Vulnerable populations including people over 65 and those with existing respiratory ailments are given priority, and the San Francisco Department of Public Health said it is working on expanding its testing capabilities even further. Still, even frontline workers with fevers, coughs and aches and even one with known contact with a COVID-19 patient have said they are having a hard time getting access to a test. An emergency room nurse at San Francisco General Hospital said her manager told her she could still come to work this week, even though she felt sick after having had contact with a patient who tested positive for the virus last weekend. It was annoying and frustrating because I feel like all of these protocols are just for show, said the nurse, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, in accordance with The Chronicles ethics policy. I dont feel like they have mine or my co-workers back. The nurse, who complained of a sore throat, piercing headache and a cough, was told by Occupational Health Services that she was medium-to-high risk for the virus. So she pushed back repeatedly and was finally tested this week at a public health clinic. She is still waiting to receive the results. Now Playing: Test figures for the state of California as of Friday afternoon Video: SFGATE Brent Andrew, a spokesman for San Francisco General Hospital, said he could not comment on an individual case. He said nurses are being tested in line with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, and those with known contact with a COVID-19 patient are supposed to self-quarantine and contact their physician or the employee health clinic for a test. Nearly all coronavirus tests are performed at the behest of a doctor. The CDC has issued guidelines for who should seek a doctors recommendation for testing, including people showing symptoms of COVID-19 fever, cough and shortness of breath. Those who have had contact with a COVID-19 patient should also be given priority, as well as those who have symptoms of pneumonia but test negative for that ailment, the guidelines say. Whenever we get a positive test, we are really careful about identifying every one of our staff who had contact with that person, he said. And, typically, they are put on administrative leave during that incubation period. We are very attentive to staff safety. Andrew said it wouldnt be smart to test people without symptoms, as then there may be a situation where there are false negatives, where people believe they dont have the disease when, really, it just hasnt incubated yet. But other ER nurses told The Chronicle that the hospital should be eager to test them, because they are at high risk for spreading the virus to vulnerable patients. An ER nurse, who also asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, said she developed a cold last weekend after working a shift late last week. She said she didnt bother asking for a COVID-19 test because she knew she didnt meet the standard. More Information California testing by the numbers 23,200 Total tests administered throughout California 11,500 Test results returned 11,700 Test results still pending 1,206 Confirmed positive tests, including 515 in Bay Area Note: Test figures from state health officials and confirmed cases from county reports are as of Friday afternoon. See More Collapse Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. She felt uneasy, she said, because so few of the patients she interacts with are getting tested, either. Were not testing so many other people that walk in the door. ... I cant say they were incorrect in not giving me a test, she said. But there is a huge delay in the return, which means you have all these patients who were potentially exposed but you just dont know it yet. Dr. Robert Wachter, chairman of UCSFs Department of Medicine, tweeted Friday that shortages of swabs, gowns and masks are presenting big problems for the team of clinicians there. Even as testing expands, he said, it is amazing that a lack of swabs could be a hurdle. Christa Duran, an emergency room nurse at San Francisco General, said she started to feel a sore throat and fatigue two days after working a shift on Sunday. By Wednesday, she had a fever of 101.4 degrees. But when Duran called her manager and the hospitals employee health clinic and asked for a COVID-19 test, she was told to wait and see whether her fever broke on its own. Then if she didnt have symptoms for seven days, she said, she was told she could go back to work. Were running out of personal protective equipment, and were not flattening the curve if were being told to come in and not know if were carrying it, she said. Rachael Kagan, a spokeswoman for the San Francisco Department of Public Health, said that testing has expanded, with commercial and hospital labs now testing in addition to the departments lab, which began doing so March 2. But she said that she hopes the testing resources will continue to expand. Supplies are still limited, however, she added. Chronicle staff writer Catherine Ho contributed to this report Trisha Thadani and Dominic Fracassa are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: tthadani@sfchronicle.com dfracassa@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TrishaThadani @dominicfracassa Senior citizens walk past empty shelves as they shop at Sainsbury's Supermarket on March 19, 2020 in Northwich, United Kingdom. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images) The environment secretary has told panic-buyers who are stockpiling food and other supplies they are making life harder for frontline NHS workers battling the coronavirus pandemic. In the governments daily media briefing on Saturday, the public were also told that theres plenty of food available, but the problem is getting it to the shops. Environment, Food and Rural Affairs secretary George Eustice urged people to be responsible when they shop but stopped short of saying rationing would be needed to keep shelves stocked. Read more: Supermarkets create thousands of jobs as UK panic-buys Eustice said that it was for retailers to agree what the appropriate limit was on goods such as toilet paper. "All of the major retailers are working together and exercising their own judgment on where it's appropriate to put limits - item limits - on certain issues," he said. "Toilet roll is one, where, for reasons that are not really known, there was a spike early on, despite the fact that toilet roll is made in this country and they are able to expand production very quickly. "That is an item where, to make sure the goods stayed on the shelves, the supermarkets took the decision of putting an item limit." Eustice also said the government keeps "a close eye" on profiteering amid concerns some products have been sold online for inflated prices. Read more: Tories under pressure to support millions of struggling self-employed workers The British Retail Consortium's Helen Dickinson said retailers would implement policies that would make the most difference to the vulnerable. Ms Dickinson added: "There is a billion pounds more food in people's houses than there was three weeks ago, so we should make sure we eat some of it." NHS England's Stephen Powis said shoppers should think of NHS staff before buying more than they need. He said people should be "ashamed" of themselves for panic-buying, and urged people to think of struggling NHS staff. "I would like to make a plea on behalf of all my colleagues in the NHS, nurses, doctors, paramedics and many, many others who are working incredibly hard at the moment to manage this outbreak of coronavirus," he said. "It's incredibly important that they too have access to food, to those essential supplies that they need." I am writing this to you in almost the middle of the night on day seven of my self-quarantine. Despite coming from Pakistan where women mostly live in quarantine anyway (with all the family), it has not been easy. I should have been used to it, But probably, some things do not come easy even if you have grown up doing those. Same is the case with me and this social isolation. To be honest, despite being perceived as an extrovert by people, I have always found solace is solitude. I thought social distancing would come naturally to me. But it has not really been the case. Not that I am craving to meet people outside my house, I just want to be out and about. This period has made me realize the importance of all the things that I took for granted before. Enjoying outdoors It is the autumn season which most of the Australians had been looking forward to after all the scorching months. However, seemingly there is not much choice now. Not constantly worrying for my parents who are in Pakistan They say COVID-19 is most dangerous for the elderly. Although my parents in Pakistan are in good health and spirit, they are above sixty and thinking of them being there with no adequate healthcare that can treat them well in the time of adversities is a constant source of anxiety. The freedom to travel at my own By this, I do not mean travelling down the ruins of the Roman Empire or Swiss Alps. Even having the freedom of travelling on the local train to the nearby suburb where they make the best Belgian waffles is a dream now. Shopping from the organic markets I have never been a mall person. Going to the organic markets and shopping the fresh produce straight from the farm has always been my hobby. The fear of catching and spreading COVID-19 stops me from dreaming of that pleasure anymore. Having McDonalds Chocolate Sundae whenever I want No matter how many desserts are available in this world. I will always remain a fan of McDonalds soft-serve ice cream which melts every woe in my heart. For now, I can only dream of it. Crunching in the gym Maybe not many people would believe me saying this but I am a complete gym buff. Melting myself down crunching with the heavy dumbbells always made me the happiest. I did get myself an endurance mat and some dumbbells to stay fit at home. But obviously, the vibe is missing. Going to the cinema Despite all the streaming platforms available today, I will always and always remain a big screen person. Cinema creates the world the filmmaker actually wants you to dive in. I cannot even express how much I miss being in the cinema. First day, first show! Testing makeup products before buying I am sure most of the girls can relate to this. More than buying the new makeup testing different products to find that one appropriate shade and then clicking the selfies is what I dearly miss. Hugging the people I love There is something magical about hugging. The healing power of a hug is beyond the measures of the worldly jurisdiction. However, social distancing makes you miss those hugs even more. A somewhat less toxic social media Waking up to read about many people dying across the world is a nightmare I want to shake off. Sadly, in the days of COVID-19, this is our reality. Although social media was never pleasant, it is deadly now. As much as I cannot wait for the COVID-19 pandemic to fizzle out, I am also counting days to get back to my normal life and thank God for all the things I have always taken for granted. Actor Kangana Ranaut said that the memorials should be constructed in the name of rape victims. "I think there should be memorials on the names of the girls who are rape victims because we need to change the thinking and mindset. Those thinking of commiting crime like rape and acid attack must think that society will not accept them," she said. Four rapists who were convicted in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder, the horrific incident that took place in Delhi on December 16, 2012, were hanged to death early morning on Friday. "Our judicial system is quite old and unfair. It took seven long years for our judicial system to give verdict on a horrific rape and murder case that shook the entire nation," the 32-year-old actor said. Recalling the candle-light march she had took part in during the time of shoot for the film 'Queen', she further said, " There should have been quick justice for such brutal crime. Indirectly we have tortured Nirbhaya's mother and the entire family for seven long years." The 'Panga' actor also stated that she feels related to Nirbhaya's mom's name Asha Devi since her mother's name is Asha. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) One of Kelly Loefflers most appealing traits to Republicans who embraced her for a coveted Senate appointment her ability to self-fund a competitive election this fall through immense wealth is suddenly looking like a serious liability for her and the GOP. Loefflers rivals in a special election pounced on revelations that the recently appointed senator dumped millions of dollars in stocks after a classified Covid-19 briefing in January damaging her bid against a formidable GOP opponent in Rep. Doug Collins, a close ally of President Donald Trump. Collins is seizing on the stock trades by Loeffler, whos married to the head of the New York Stock Exchange. Collins told POLITICO in an interview Friday that Loeffler needs to explain to Georgians and Americans what happened here, and why it happened. To have sold and then bought stocks that benefit them personally is just very, very frustrating, Collins said. "And it's very disheartening for those of us who have been in public service." This is just not something you want to see, being perceived as profiting off a crisis, Collins added, though he did not call on her to resign or face an Senate Ethics Committee investigation. Loeffler denied doing anything inappropriate, saying the stocks were sold by third-party financial advisers, and that she did not use information from private briefings about the coronavirus to benefit herself financially. She reported selling between nearly $1.3 million and $3.1 million worth of stocks owned jointly with her husband between late January and mid-February. She also reported jointly purchasing between $200,000 and $500,000 of stock in two technology companies. I don't direct the activity. I'm not involved in the investment decisions, Loeffler said in an interview on CNBC Friday afternoon. I made that decision many years ago for the position I had in financial services that I would not get involved in investment decisions." Story continues The Georgia special election is already perilous for Republicans, given that it is an all-party contest that will go to a January runoff if no candidate receives a majority in November a likely outcome given the crowd of contenders. Three Democrats are in the race currently: Rev. Raphael Warnock; former U.S. Attorney Ed Tarver; and Matt Lieberman, son of former Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.). Warnock has endorsements from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Stacey Abrams, the former gubernatorial candidate. Loeffler has the backing of the National Republican Senatorial Committee and Gov. Brian Kemp, who appointed her to the seat to replace Sen. Johnny Isakson, who resigned late last year due to health concerns. But Collins also has some significant allies in the state, and he is running an insurgent campaign attempting to outflank Loeffler as an ally to Trump, who has not taken sides in the race. One Georgia Republican operative, who requested anonymity to speak candidly, said Loeffler was in a perilous political situation caused by the revelations about her stocks specifically because, in the all-party November contest, another Republican was on the ballot. They can't just appeal to partisan loyalties and say, 'Don't believe these storylines. This is a media attack,' the operative said. People have somewhere else to go if they're uncertain about her, and that's a really dangerous place to be. The accusations of self-dealing while the U.S. copes with the unprecedented coronavirus crisis combined with reports that other senators, including Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.), also sold off stocks before the market crashed represent a major early test for Loeffler, a first-time political candidate on whom Republicans are counting to keep a contested Senate seat in GOP hands as Democrats mount a charge to retake the chamber in this year's elections. Some Democrats immediately called for Loeffler's resignation following the initial report from The Daily Beast about the transactions, which came in the days and weeks following a private briefing for senators on the coronavirus. Others called for an investigation by the Ethics Committee. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., speaks with reporters on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2020 in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Lieberman said in a statement that Loefflers actions were incredibly disappointing and shameful. Warnock, national Democrats' preferred candidate in the race, called the transactions deeply disappointing and said they should be investigated. Tarver, the former U.S. attorney, said Loeffler should resign. This is more than just poor judgment, Tarver said. This is downright wrong and everything thats wrong with Washington. Were in the middle of a pandemic the likes of which many of us having never seen. We need honest leadership in Washington, and its clear were not getting that with Sen. Loeffler. Stephen Lawson, a spokesperson for her campaign, said Loeffler "has done absolutely nothing wrong" and hit both Collins and Democrats for "spending their time launching baseless attacks" against the senator. Burr, who also faced swift condemnation for his sale of stocks in recent weeks, asked the Ethics Committee to review the matter. Loeffler, who did multiple cable news interviews Friday to push back on the reports, said in the appearance on CNBC that she was happy to answer any and all questions and would submit to whatever review is needed, but she has not called on the Ethics Committee to look into the matter. I think we have to make sure that all the rules and laws are followed, Loeffler said on CNBC. I think they are being followed, at least in my case I know they are. I can't speak for other people. But that's certainly what securities laws are for. That's what ethics rules are for. That's what I'm very confident we are complying with, have always complied with and will continue to do." The Times Union has lifted the paywall on this developing coverage to provide critical information to our community. To support our journalists work, consider a digital subscription. Officials are urging everyone over 65 to stay at home as much as possible. Here are some tips, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state Department of Public Health and other sources, on what older adults need to know during the COVID-19 pandemic. Older adult or senior citizen are loose terms, but are generally interpreted during this crisis to mean anyone over 60, which is considered a more vulnerable age group for serious complications from the coronavirus. Health care: Hospitals and doctors offices were already busy handling the normal flu season, but with the onset of the coronavirus they are now advising that everyone cancel or delay routine medical appointments. Older people who suspect they have COVID-19 main symptoms include fever, shortness of breath and a cough should stay at home and call their doctors or local public health departments first to get screened over the phone, then go in for a swab test for the virus if asked to. The doctors office or department will advise where to go for the test. One alternative for non-coronavirus health care consultations is to do them remotely by tele-medicine techniques involving Skype or other means. Ask the doctors office or county health department for advice. Medications: Family members or close friends should know what medications are necessary for their older loved ones, and check in frequently to monitor if seniors are taking them on time or need refills. Its a good idea to stock up on some prescriptions seniors should contact their health care providers to see if an extra supply would be warranted in case they need to stay home for an extended period. Shopping: Seniors should ask a friend or relative to shop for them, and leave the groceries at the door to limit exposure to the virus. Stocking up with a two-week supply of nonperishable food items is recommended in case an extended home quarantine is needed. If possible, clean the carrying parts of the delivered package, such as the handles, with santitized wipes or spray. As a last resort, seniors can shop but should do so carefully and quickly, leaving 6 feet of distance between themselves and other people, wearing gloves or using hand sanitizer liberally after every interaction. Caregivers: Visiting nurses, home health aides and other caregivers should take extra precautions, including using gloves or washing hands regularly and wiping down surfaces often. Seniors or their family or friends should talk with caregivers about this, and make sure they have contact information for the caregivers and vice-versa. They should also have a backup plan in case a caregiver becomes ill and cant show up. Long-term care facilities: Nursing homes and other long-term care facilities should bar all visitors, with the possible exception of emergency or end-of-life visits from family, and severely restrict trips out. Isolation: Its important for older people and their family and friends to stay connected by phone, email or video such as Skype, to help stave off worry and feelings of loneliness. Travel: Avoid travel on airplanes, cruise ships, public transit or other settings where exposure to the virus will be heightened. Scams: Beware of phone calls and emails offering cures or preventatives for the coronavirus. Take advice on such matters only from a doctor or health department. Calling the doctor or department directly is the best way to do that. Also, be wary of anyone emailing, calling or coming to the door unsolicited such as people saying they are representing charities seeking donations, or an organization that will cut off service unless it gets money. Criminals ramp up scams in times of crisis like this, and the best solution is to disengage and, if need be, find the legitimate contact information independently and reach out that way. Chronicle staff writer Greg Thomas contributed to this report. Kevin Fagan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kfagan@sfchronicle.com External Article 21 March 2020 (CNN) Countries around the world have imposed sweeping travel bans and advisories to stem the spread of coronavirus within their borders and beyond. Advertisements President Donald Trump said Friday that non-essential travel across the US-Mexico border will be restricted. The US State Department on Thursday raised its global travel warning to the highest level Level 4: Do Not Travel, advising citizens to avoid all international travel. "In countries where commercial departure options remain available, US citizens who live in the United States should arrange for immediate return to the United States, unless they are prepared to remain abroad for an indefinite period," the advisory warns. Canada and the US will close their border to non-essential travel, US President Donald Trump confirmed on Twitter Wednesday. Non-essential travel to the European Union has been banned for 30 days, the European Council announced Tuesday. Repatriation of EU citizens, "where necessary and possible," will also be arranged, the council said. The United Kingdom's Foreign Office has advised against all non-essential international travel for 30 days because travelers "now face widespread international border restrictions and lockdowns in various countries," UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on Tuesday. President Trump on Monday advised Americans to avoid groups of more than 10, to stay away from bars and restaurants and to avoid discretionary travel. Western Australia's chief health officer has told people they should visit cafes and pubs despite coronavirus safety restrictions. Dr Andrew Robertson said that people should be living their lives normally as that 'keeps society functioning' despite Queensland's premier giving the exact opposite advice on Friday. Dr Robertson told The West Australian that as long as restrictions about the number of people allowed in venues is followed, then he would 'strongly encourage' people to support local businesses. 'They should be going to cafes, they should be going to the supermarket, If they're involved in community sport, they should be doing all of those things. Going to the pub if they want to,' he said. Western Australia's chief health officer has told people they should visit cafes and pubs despite coronavirus safety restrictions (pictured are revellers out in Bondi on Saturday) Dr Andrew Robertson said that people should be living their lives normally as that 'keeps society functioning' despite Queensland's premier giving the exact opposite advice on Friday 'We still need to have businesses operating. Food, medicine, electricity, water, freight are all critical aspects of our society and we have to be able to maintain those. They will become more and more critical as this continues.' Queensland's Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, however, told residents in her state they should stay indoors. 'Now, I know many of you would be thinking: It's a Friday afternoon. it's beautiful weather. I'm going to have a big night out,' she said. 'Guess what? Now is not the time to do it. I'm sorry to the pubs out there right across the state. I don't want you to be having a big night out this weekend.' 'This is the time now we need everybody to go home, be with your family, sit on your back deck, have a glass of wine, spend time with your kids, talk to your friends.' Prime Minister Scott Morrison earlier this week announced that indoor venues must limit the number of patrons to 100. He also advised Australians to practice social distancing by keeping 1.5 metres away from other people. When asked about even stronger suppression measures for slowing the spread of COVID-19, Dr Robertson said that if they were brought in it would not be for a few weeks but rather for months. He said the coronavirus would re-establish itself in the population if the suppression measures did not last long enough. He said the aim of the these precautions is to prevent a spike in the number of cases which could then overwhelm the healthcare system. Queensland's Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, however, told residents in her state they should stay indoors ScoMo's new social distancing rule: Patrons at pubs and restaurants will have to sit further apart under a further crackdown on indoor spaces - as he urges Australians NOT to take domestic flights Australians must sit apart from one another in bars and restaurants in drastic new social distancing rules to help stop the spread of the coronavirus, the government has announced. The number of people allowed in an indoor venue, such as a cafe, will be dictated by the size of the venue, Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed. Announcing the new crowd restrictions, Mr Morrison said there will be a maximum limit of 'four square metres provided per person in an enclosed space'. Patrons have a drink in a near empty pub in Melbourne's CBD on March 18 (pictured) as major cities start to go into lockdown When in a venue, patrons should try and sit a minimum of 1.5 metres away from one another. He also warned unprecedented restrictions may be brought in on domestic travel next week ahead of the school holidays - and pleaded with holidaymakers not to fly. With a national spirit unseen since the Second World War, families will live with drastic restrictions on their everyday lives for the next six months, as the country continues its COVID-19 fightback. Addressing the nation on Friday, Mr Morrison said he needed people 'to keep going' and 'do their bit for their fellow Australians'. Advertisement NORWALK The district announced Thursday it would close schools for an additional two weeks, due to the states escalating coronavirus outbreak. As we navigate as a school district, state and nation through the COVID-19 pandemic, our district and the state overall have had to make difficult decisions based on what is best for our students, staff and community, a message to parents and the school community stated. Norwalk schools spring break was scheduled for the week of April 6. The additional two-week shutdown would take them through that week to April 10, which is Good Friday. Students are expected to continue distance learning during the originally scheduled break, to provide consistency and learning momentum, according to the message. Superintendent of Schools Steven J. Adamowski said at a Tuesday Board of Education meeting that he was personally hoping to resume instruction after April break, but said there was a chance schools could be closed longer. The district implemented the distance learning model for all its students beginning March 16, for a two-week period that was to end March 27. Before closing, school buildingsadditional Chromebook laptops were given to middle and high school students, and 10-day instructional packets were distributed to elementary school students, to complement online learning. The district has not said whether an additional instructional packet would be distributed for elementary school students, but signaled more information would be available on their April distance learning plan later Friday. In its first week of distance learning, during which time students get daily instruction from 8 a.m. to noon, the district is reporting a 96 percent participation rate. During the same period, the district is reporting nearly 12,700 meals delivered to Norwalk students, who can pick up free breakfast and lunch at their regular bus stops, on a two-hour delay schedule. Teachers, administrators, staff and students have done a wonderful job responding to these challenging times, the message states. Thank you for your support and cooperation. This story will be updated. justin.papp@scni.com; @justinjpapp1; 203-842-2586 People hospitalized with severe symptoms from the coronavirus are given medicine to bring down the fever and fluids to keep them hydrated, generally by intravenous tube. Some patients are connected to a ventilator: a mechanical device that helps them breathe. This menu of treatments is called supportive care, and despite the lukewarm-sounding name, there is no question that it saves lives. But as for waging a direct attack against this virus, and most other viruses, there are no drugs. The human immune system is on its own. The reasons involve biology and, to a lesser extent, money. Drug companies have developed treatments for a handful of viruses in the last few decades, such as HIV and the flu, but the arsenal is minimal when compared with all the antibiotics we have for treating bacteria. Remember that viruses are not bacteria, so antibiotics are no help. The main difficulty is that viruses are technically not alive, instead depending on the machinery inside human cells to reproduce, said Zachary A. Klase, associate professor of biology at the University of the Sciences. So a drug that targets any part of that parasitic cycle could harm the patient in the process. You want something that targets the sickness and not you, he said. You need to look for the special things that only the virus is doing. A few of the enzymes used by various viruses are distinct enough from their human counterparts that they can be targeted without harming the patient, said Megan Culler Freeman, a fellow in the pediatrics department at the University of Pittsburgh. That is how antiviral drugs work against HIV, for example. But even then, such drugs do not eliminate the virus, but instead keep it under control, she said. Another reason viruses are so hard to treat with drugs is their wide variety, Klase said. Bacteria all are related to each other, at least distantly, and share some common characteristics, such as having a cell wall. So a drug that works against one kind of bacteria, say, by disrupting that cell wall, often works against another. (That is what is meant by broad-spectrum antibiotics, though lately, those tried-and-true weapons have been overused, leading certain bacteria to develop resistance.) Certain classes of viruses, on the other hand, are fundamentally different from each other. Some use RNA as their genetic code, for example, while others use DNA. Some are surrounded by an envelope, others not. A good analogy is to imagine that bacteria are about as similar to each other as various kinds of cars, Klase said. Various classes of viruses, on the other hand, can be as distinct from each other as cars and boats. Thats where the money issue comes in. Developing a new drug for each unrelated virus requires a fresh commitment of time and resources. A drug company would rather have one drug thatll cure everything than to have to have 100 drugs that theyre going to have to sell a bit of at a time for each different problem, Klase said. That has not kept pharmaceutical companies from testing drugs for one virus to see whether they work against another. With the new coronavirus, for example, scientists have been testing a drug called remdesivir, which was originally developed to treat Ebola. But it did not work very well against Ebola, and results so far against the coronavirus are unclear. The interest in a coronavirus treatment is so keen that misinformation has a way of spreading much like the microbe itself. Earlier this week, Johnson & Johnson issued a statement to dispel rumors that one of its antiviral drugs showed promise. The company said that it was screening a variety of antiviral compounds against the coronavirus, but that so far there is no evidence that darunavir, the drug that sparked the rumors, has any effect. In fairness to the scientists, they have not been at this problem for very long. Bacteria were first observed under a microscope in 1683. The existence of viruses, which can be less than one-tenth the size of bacteria, was not verified until more than 200 years later. And even then, scientists could not see them. In 1892, Russian scientist Dmitri Ivanovsky reported he had extracted fluid from a diseased tobacco plant and run it through a type of filter that was known to remove bacteria. He then demonstrated that the filtered fluid could be used to infect healthy plants. Some invisible agent which would not be seen until the advent of electron microscopes a few decades later was somehow transmitting disease. Effective antibiotics have been around for close to a century. Antiviral drugs have come along only in the last few decades, and only for a handful of serious threats. And they do not always help. Timing is important. Antiviral drugs can lessen the duration of the flu, for example, but only if given early in the course of the disease. By the time a person develops severe symptoms, antiviral drugs are of little use, said Freeman, the Pitt physician. That might also hold true for the new coronavirus, but more research is sorely needed, said Freeman, who studied the biology of a different coronavirus, SARS, while a Ph.D. student at Vanderbilt. Its important to be able to learn these things ahead of a disaster so well have tools in our toolbox, Freeman said. Multiple teams of researchers also are at work on vaccines for the new coronavirus, teaching the human immune system to make its own medicine: antibodies. The first stages of safety testing already are underway, but it will be at least a year before such a vaccine is approved for widespread use, experts predict. For now, that leaves supportive care. But as University of Pennsylvania medical historian David Barnes has found, nurses and doctors have been making that concept work for a long time. At the Lazaretto Quarantine Station, a hospital on the Delaware River used to treat immigrants with yellow fever in the early 19th century, patients were more likely to survive the illness than were many in the general population, he said. The regimen was straightforward: clean bedding, rest, adequate food and drink, and palliative medicines to ease the worst symptoms, said Barnes, who is writing a book on the topic. There are actually plenty of cures for viral illnesses, he said. We just dont think of them as cures. Were still kind of myopically fixated on finding a cure, when what we really should be doing is getting adequate basic nursing care for all patients. That may yet prove to be a challenge in the coronavirus outbreak. The nations hospitals have fewer than 70,000 adult intensive-care beds, while epidemiologists say the number of U.S. coronavirus patients with severe symptoms could reach the hundreds of thousands. If they all get sick during a short period of time, then even what Barnes calls the care cure may be in short supply. The Gorakhnath temple in Uttar Pradesh's Gorkahpur city has been closed for devotees till March 31 in wake of the coronavirus pandemic. According to temple authorities, the decision has been taken after Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to the people to practice social distancing to contain the spread of the deadly disease. "The temple has been closed for devotees till March 31. However during this period, the daily morning and evening 'aarti' will be performed as usual by designated priests only," the temple's PRO Vinay Gautam said. The number of coronavirus cases in India rose to 283 on Saturday, according to the Union Health Ministry. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Evgen_Prozhyrko/iStock(PENSACOLA, Fla.) -- The remains of an 11-year-old Colorado boy missing since Jan. 27 were found nearly 1,400 miles away from his home Friday, confirming his family's worst fears. Gannon Stauch's body was found near Escambia River Bridge on Interstate 90 near Pace, Florida, by a Florida Department of Transportation construction crew, said Sgt. Rich Aloy of the Santa Rose County Sheriff's Office. Pace is 15 miles north of Pensacola. The news was devastating to Gannon's mother, father and younger sister. "They're distraught with this information," said El Paso County Senior Deputy District Attorney Michael Allen. "They were still holding out hope that Gannon would come home alive." The discovery of Gannon's remains led Colorado's El Paso County District Attorney's Office to file nine additional charges against his stepmother, Letecia Stauch, who was arrested for Gannon's murder on March 2 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Stauch was the last person to have seen Gannon in late January when she told police he stayed home from school. She told them he went missing that afternoon after leaving the family home to play with a neighborhood friend. Surveillance video from that day captured by one of Stauch's neighbors revealed that she left with the boy in a truck and returned four hours later in what appeared to be an empty vehicle. For weeks, searchers combed fields and streams in the area near Gannon's home by horseback and on foot with no luck. The new charges against Letecia Stauch include one count of first-degree murder after deliberation and eight counts of committing a crime of violence, an enhanced charge that would be used to increase punishment. "I filed eight counts of crime of violence, for the alleged use of a firearm, a blunt instrument, a knife or other sharp object," Allen told reporters Friday during a televised news conference. Allen would not elaborate on what he believes happened to Gannon. Florida authorities said they're assisting with the Colorado investigation to find out if Stauch was in Florida during a specific time, posting to Facebook, "Anyone who has seen Letecia Stauch in Pace or Pensacola, Florida between Feb. 3-5 is asked to call the El Paso County Sheriffs Office tip line at 719-520-6666. Stauch's mother, Landen Hiott, told ABC News that she will bury her son in South Carolina, where he spent most of his life. Letecia Stauch faces life in prison without parole if convicted of first-degree murder. Her next court appearance is set for April 14 in Colorado Springs. Copyright 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. Minister of health, Osagie Ehanire, yesterday insisted that Nigeria has not recommended the use of chloroquine for the treatment of coronavirus in the country. This, Ehanire said while answering questions from journalists on the status of Covid-19 in the country. He noted that chloroquine has not been proven as the treatment of Covid-19 patients. According to him, the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines should be followed, not the recommendations of U.S. president, Donald Trump. We no longer use chloroquine in Nigeria. Donald Trump made this announcement but we are not following that announcement. We look at what the WHO recommend and we also ask our scientists here what for their recommendations. So far, what has been said about chloroquine is it was active in vitro test (test performed in a test tube, or elsewhere outside a living organism) and not in vivo (in the living organism) that is what we know so far about the chloroquine but the situation might change tomorrow, he said. Mr Ehanire said the country is not going to necessarily look at that but we are not ignoring that either possible option. He said for the cases Nigeria has had so far, they did not require the use of chloroquine or any medication. He said it had largely been supportive treatment. Share this post with your Friends on You are here: World Flash For the first time, the blockaded Gaza Strip ruled by the Islamic Hamas movement, has replaced mosque preachers with doctors to present the weekly Friday sermon. The specialized doctors warned the prayers of the COVID-19 outbreak, which is spreading in the world, calling on them to abide by the precautionary measures released by the Palestinian Ministry of Health. So far, the Gaza Strip with a population of over 2 million people is free of the coronavirus, according to Gaza Health Ministry. However, local government announced a state of emergency in the Gaza Strip following a set of precautionary measures. Rafah crossing with Egypt and Erez crossing with Israel are closed, while all travelers who passed through both crossings are now under obligatory quarantine. Schools and universities are also closed, and all public events are suspended amid callings on Palestinians to avoid crowds and stay at homes. Jamil Motawea, a pediatrician from the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, delivered the Friday sermon at the White Mosque in Gaza City, explaining the correct ways to follow the precautionary measures. The 65-year-old pediatrician told Xinhua that the pandemic is a medical crisis, so it requires a doctor, instead of a preacher, to deliver related information for the people. He added that the Gaza Strip is free of coronavirus because its residents take their responsibilities and abide by the precautionary and protective instructions. Motawea's sermon included important instructions focusing on hygiene, avoiding unnecessary gatherings, washing hands with water, soap, and sterilizers, and abandoning shaking hands and kissing. Mahmoud Baroud, a 52-year-old prayer from Gaza City, said he was surprised when he saw a doctor present the sermon instead of a preacher. "We need to learn more about the precautionary measures," Baroud said. Mohammed Ghorab, 28, said that is was a great step to let doctors spread the essential instructions among the people. "Those measures give people reassurance and safety," he said. "Palestinian people are considered as conscious about how to protect themselves from the pandemic." Earlier on Friday, Palestine announced a new case of COVID-19 and the recovery of 17 others in the West Bank. Palestinian Health Minister Mai al-Keileh said in a press conference held in Ramallah city that the new case was a Palestinian returning from Pakistan. The total number of confirmed Palestinian coronavirus cases have climbed to 48 in the West Bank. SALEM, Ore. -- Marion County is reporting their first COVID-19 death, making this the fourth death in the state of Oregon. In a statement they say: "We are saddened to report the death of a community member from COVID-19. Commissioners Willis, Brentano, and Cameron express their deepest sympathies with the individuals family and loved ones during this difficult time." Marion County Health and Human Services say they will continue to take necessary, carefully considered steps to slow down the spread of the disease and to protect those at greatest risk. Marion County says they will not be releasing any patient information for the family's privacy. Along with selling in department stores, he has a flagship store on West 54th Street in Manhattan, which is now closed due to the crisis. The window to where the US will be with coronavirus in 12 days is where Italy is now. The US has five to six times the population of Italy. The US has far more cases than the 18,500 that are the official count. The lack of US testing means there are an iceberg of cases below the lack of testing surface. The US could have fewer deaths than Italy. This will not be because of better containment. It will because Italy has the second oldest population in the world. It will be because more Italians live in multi-generation households. We need to see Italys daily new cases trend back down to about 3000 per day instead of nearly 6000 per day. Getting down to 3000 or 2000 cases per day or half of whatever the peak becomes would be promising that they were bending the curve on the disease. The US has less than 200 coronavirus deaths while Italy has over 4000. There are some countries that are even worse than Italy. The islands of Iceland and San Marino are worse in terms of cases per 100,000 people. The serious or critical case number is what will overwhelm the medical system. If the US numbers get to 20,000 and they are still doubling every 15 days, then it would likely overrun the medical capacity in two more doublings. One state or regional capacity could be overrun at a lower number. The doubling without the shelter in place is about 4-7 days. There is the hope that this first wave burns itself out in 3 months in each country or that warm weather in April or May helps to reduce the spread. It was the second wave of the Spanish flu which caused the most deaths. We need to have drugs (anti-malarial, anti-viral, anti-inflammatory) that can alleviate the worst COVID-19 difficulty in breathing symptoms. This would greatly reduce ventilator and ICU shortages. We would hope for useful vaccinations for the later part of this wave or at least for the next wave. The extreme shelter in place is not economically sustainable. We will have to transition to targeted sheltering of the old and the most at risk. They will need better food delivery and better living conditions while still being safe. We will need upgraded hygiene that does not disrupt economic activity. We will need automated temperature checks multiple times per day. (Entry, break, lunch, break and end of day) so that people can work but still have fast response upon detection of a case. Here is a chart of possible waves of COVID infections. SOURCES John Hopkins, Worldometers.info, databrew.cc, Analysis by Brian Wang Written By Brian Wang, Nextbigfuture.com. Brian is working with a coronavirus mitigation startup. Tuoumne County Sheriff Bill Pooley and SPD Chief Turu VanderWiel View Photo View Video Sonora, CA Tuolumne County Sheriff Bill Pooley and Sonora Police Chief Turu VanderWiel have released statements to the community regarding the governors stay at home order and its impact on the community. Sheriff Pooleys statement: Many of you received information last night from Governor Gavin Newsom regarding the state of emergency, specifically, Executive Order N-33-20. We received some inquiries last night via social media regarding how the executive order affects Tuolumne County. We are reaching out to provide you the most accurate information regarding the Sheriffs Office responsibilities pertaining to the order. First and foremost, the Sheriffs Office is an essential function to our community that remains unchanged by the governors executive order. Some people have asked if there are consequences for violating the executive order. The short answer is, yes. Violating portions of an executive order can be punishable under the law; however, nothing in the executive order changes the Sheriffs authority to utilize discretion, spirit of the law and common sense when protecting our county. Our primary focus will be to educate people, not rush to enforcement. We value the intent of the executive order for providing extended authority to best protect all of us from potential infection, especially our elderly, young children and those with compromised immune systems. This shall be the driving force in all decision making associated with enforcement of the executive order. Our community is strong, and we take care of each other, we always have, and we always will. We dont anticipate a rise in calls for service in response to the executive order; however, we are prepared to take swift action on those who wish to do harm or see this as an opportunity to commit crimes while people are vulnerable. Our patrols remain constant and we are available to serve you. This is our community and it will take all our efforts to protect our families, neighbors, and friends from illness. We will get past Covid-19 and back to the normal way of life together. We thank you for your continued patience and support, we will continue to provide updates as the situation changes. -Sheriff Bill Pooley Chief VanderWiels statement: The Sonora Police Department is in support of the Governors order to limit public interactions to those of necessary business and essential needs. Every order has legal consequences, but the Governor was clear that his order is not intended to be managed with traditional law enforcement means, but through social pressure, licensing enforcement and regulatory enforcement from a business perspective. We encourage all members of the public to respect the Governors order as we all live in this community with our families, and we must do everything we can to protect those of the highest vulnerability and the high-risk population. This is not a cause for panic or drastic behavior. If we all work together and act sensibly, we can get back to normal sooner than later. Regards, Turu VanderWiel Chief of Police Sonora Police Department 209-532-8141 LEWISBURG Will inmates from crowded New York City detention facilities be transferred to the Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary and elsewhere in Pennsylvania? The U.S. Bureau of Prisons is not saying but U.S. Rep. Fred Keller says he has been given assurance no immediate transfers are being planned. Lewisburg, the Allenwood prison complex and Canaan in Waymart are all in the Snyder County Republicans district. We have expressed our concern to the Bureau of Prisons about any future prisoner transfers, he said. However, reports of possible transfers have caused the president of the corrections officer union at Lewisburg, the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project and the Lewisburg Prison Project to express concerns about the possible spread of the coronavirus. They note there are close to 8,000 confirmed cases of the virus in New York City. There are a lot of unknowns, Andrew Kline, president of Local 148 of the American Federation of Government Employees at Lewisburg, said about the potential transfers. I thought I should sound the alarm, he said in explaining why he went public after hearing about possible transfers from sources in management. There are no reported cases of the coronavirus in the central Susquehanna Valley area but Kline believes the risk would increase if inmates are transferred from New York City. Prison staff after dealing with the new inmates would go home and be out in the community. Expressing grave concern in light of the COVID-19 pandemic were Su Ming Yeh, interim executive director of the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project and Angela Trop, board president of the Lewisburg Prison Project. People in prison are highly susceptible to contagious illnesses such as coronavirus, they say. Their close physical proximity also increases the possibility of inadvertently transmitting the virus, even if asymptomatic. Transfers could place current inmates at a greater risk of infection and increase the possibility of COVID 19 spreading into the community, they say in a letter to top BOP officials. Corrections officers at the Allenwood Federal Penitentiary also are concerned about the possible inmate transfers, said Brian Hart, president of Local 477. The Bureau of Prisons when asked if transfers are planned, did not respond directly. Instead it said due to COVID-19, it has instituted a comprehensive management approach that includes screening, testing, appropriate treatment, prevention, education and infection control measures. To migrate the spread of COVID-19, the BOP said it moves inmates under the guidance found on its website at https://www.bop.gov/coronavirus/covid19_status.jsp. that will re-evaluated and updated as needed. The reason transfers may be needed is the Metropolitan Correction Center and Metropolitan Detention Center in New York are nearing capacity, Kline and Hart explained. Lewisburg has space to accept transfers because it is being transitioned from a high-security to medium-security prison with a re-integration unit. It also will have house communication management units in which inmate telephone use, written correspondence and visits are monitored completely. Lewisburg has sufficient staff to handle 50 to 100 more inmates, said Kline who noted approximately 100 staff positions currently are unfilled. The BOP webpage lists the inmate population at Lewisburg excluding the camp outside the wall at 177. As recently as a year ago it was 861. Visits at federal prisons have been banned due to the coronavirus and beginning Friday, guards and staff were asked when they arrived for work about their health and had their temperatures taken. Anyone with a temperature higher than 100.4 was sent home, Kline said. HARTFORD Members of the Connecticut National Guard helped the state Department of Public Health distribute tens of thousands of protective material for those dealing directly with coronavirus. The agencies distributed 40,000 personal protective masks to ambulance companies and other first responders in all five emergency regions around the state on Friday. The Connecticut National Guard stepped in to help after Gov. Ned Lamont declared a state of emergency on March 10 in response to the pandemic. The national guard members are intended to provide logistical support to the DPH. This is about clearing the shelves and getting the supplies into the hands of the medical workers and first responders on the front lines of this event, said Capt. Dave Pytlik, a spokesman for the Connecticut National Guard. We are just here to help the cause, were not the lead effort, but we are happy to help the State with whatever it takes to keep health workers in the fight. The supplies from Fridays deliveries were sourced from a DPH stockpile intended for emergency usage. During his briefing on Friday afternoon, Lamont urged companies with extra protective medical equipment to allow the state to buy it. The state would also accept donations of these items, since there is a nationwide shortage. We did get a small allocation from the feds, Lamont said. We are getting that distributed now to our hospitals and nursing homes, but we have a long way to go there. If there are any companies that have the ability to manufacture this, well place an order, well help you get the incentives to get started, and Ive got fellow governors who will make that order even bigger. Lamont asked doctors and patients to call off elective surgeries to save the protective gear. Were going to get through this by working together and making sure each and every one of you takes so seriously what were trying to emphasize, he said. As painful as it would be for him, Mayor Ron Nirenberg should drop his admirable quest to improve public transit in San Antonio. Instead of asking voters to shift the one-eighth cent sales tax from Edwards Aquifer protection and linear creeks to VIA Metropolitan Transit to dramatically improve the bus system, Nirenberg, who has been exceptional at this moment, should ask voters to dedicate those funds to directly assist those who have lost jobs or seen significantly reduced hours in this crisis. Think rent, mortgages, utilities and food. There may be certain limits about what can be done, but the point is direct assistance. Such assistance could last either five years or be triggered to shift to the bus system when the unemployment rate hits a certain threshold. Before this crisis, these funds were projected to generate about $40 million a year, and while that number will be slashed in a recession, any money going into the local economy for relief would help. As the novel coronavirus spreads and a public health crisis blends with an economic crisis, many discussions around closures and social distancing have been framed in terms of weeks. Public schools initially extended Spring Break a week, and now they are closed until April 6, for example. But this crisis will last months, and its aftermath will be felt for years. British researchers recently produced a report that estimated it could take 18 months until a COVID-19 vaccine could be developed (and made dire projections about fatalities in the U.S. and Great Britain). Thats 18 months of potential disruptions (though not necessarily a lockdown) to travel, school and work, which points to the urgent need for testing for everyone and long-term assistance. We are in uncharted territory, but many people need assistance now, not after the November election. While some of that help will almost certainly come in the form of checks from the federal government (under negotiation as of this writing), many economists have said whats being discussed is inadequate. To that end, Nirenberg should ask City Manager Erik Walsh to craft a local financial assistance plan to begin ASAP. Nirenberg should also appoint a philanthropy czar to shepherd the private assistance effort. Weve seen incredible actions from USAA, H-E-B and others. But we need a champion from the business community who could guide continued discussions about corporate philanthropy. Someone who could launch private accounts for direct public assistance and establish clear guidelines about how funds could be distributed, who qualifies for assistance, and how regular households can donate. I would gladly donate to a fund that workers in the tourism and service industry could access to help cover expenses. Im sure many others feel the same way. Finally, with schools closed, city officials also should consider converting Pre-K 4 SA campuses into child care settings for all medical workers. When school resumes, this could be a template should there be a COVID-19 resurgence in the fall. At the state level, Gov. Greg Abbott could call a special session and tap the states rainy day fund to send checks to Texans, just as he could expand Medicaid. But as Mark P. Jones, a political scientist with Rice University, recently told me, such a move would likely split the Republican Party just before an election. Plus, oil and gas prices, the two sources for the rainy day fund, have cratered and lawmakers will need to plug holes in the next budget. But its raining now. All of this makes the case for more local action even if my ideas are inadequate or perhaps impossible for technical reasons. Like you, I have waited in line at the grocery store and been overwhelmed by the headlines. I worry about loved ones. Im obsessed about hospital beds and ventilators. I wonder how long my sons day care can pay teachers and other staff, even as its parent church has generously frozen tuition. I marvel at teachers sending online lessons to their students. I fret about the toll on San Antonio, the poorest big city in the country but the most generous community I have known. Like many others, my wife and I have donated to Meals on Wheels and the San Antonio Food Bank. We recently paid our cleaning lady, but told her to stay home. We have done our best to play teacher to our kids during the day and carry on with our jobs at night. My best advice is to take one day at a time. Savor small moments of joy. Treat others with compassion and love. At a moment of darkness and isolation, take solace in how this crisis has revealed how beautifully interdependent we are, which is why we need more direct assistance. jbrodesky@express-news.net A B-2A Spirit bomber is escorted by F-15C Eagles, and Royal Norwegian Air Force F-35A aircraft in support of Bomber Task Force Europe 20-2 over Keflavik, Iceland, March 17, 2020. US Air Force/Master Sgt. Matthew Plew Increasing geopolitical tension between NATO and Russia has renewed attention on the North Atlantic and the Arctic. Iceland sits between those two regions, and the latest trip there by US stealth bombers underscores how important the island is to military planners. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Six months after the US Air Force's B-2A Spirit made its first trip to Iceland, the stealth bomber made another flight over the island this week, teaming up with US F-15C fighters and Norwegian F-35A stealth fighters. Two B-2s, deployed for Bomber Task Force Europe 20-2 and operating out of RAF Fairford in the UK, made the flight on March 16, supported by F-15C Eagles out of RAF Lakenheath and by Norwegian F-35 Lightning IIs flying from Iceland. B-2s also took part in a Bomber Task Force deployment in August and September, during which the stealth bomber made its first stop ever in Iceland. The bombers don't appear to have landed in Iceland this time, but their flight over the island, photos of which you can see below, illustrates the increasing attention that the US and its partners are paying to the region. Bomber Task Force 20-2 kicked off on March 9, when the stealth bombers, from the 509th and 131st Bomb Wings based at Whiteman Air Base in Missouri, arrived at Lajes Field in the Azores. B-2 Spirit stealth bomber F-15 fighter jets Iceland US Air Force/Master Sgt. Matthew Plew BTF 20-1 wrapped up in mid-November, after 4 B-52 bombers spent four weeks flying all over Europe, including trips to the Arctic and the Middle East. The B-2s deployed for BTF 20-2 will also operate out of various military installations in US European Command's area of responsibility. "Strategic bomber deployments to Europe provide theater familiarization for aircrew members and demonstrate US commitment to allies and partners," US Air Forces Europe said last week. The bombers left Lajes Field and conducted bombing training runs over the UK's Garvi Island before arriving at RAF Fairford on March 12. Story continues B-2 Spirit stealth bomber F-35 fighter jets Iceland US Air Force/Master Sgt. Matthew Plew "Operating bombers from forward locations enables collective defense capabilities and provides the US and NATO the strategic and operational capacity needed to deter adversaries while assuring our allies and partners," Lt. Gen Steven Basham, deputy commander of US Air Forces in Europe and Africa, said in a release. RAF Fairford is the Air Force's forward operating location for the B-2 bomber, and despite describing Keflavik Air Base as "a forward location for the B-2" when they arrived there in August, "Iceland is not considered a forward operating location similar to RAF Fairford," US Air Forces Europe told Business Insider in September. The flight over Iceland on March 16 was part of an Icelandic Air Policing operation in which NATO military aircraft patrol Iceland's airspace, as it does not have its own air force. B-2 Spirit stealth bomber F-15 fighter jets Iceland US Air Force/Master Sgt. Matthew Plew NATO also conducts Air Policing missions over the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, which also lack their own air forces. Those missions frequently bring NATO aircraft into close proximity with Russian aircraft. NATO aircraft do not maintain a continuous presence in Iceland, as they do for the Baltic Air Policing mission. Norway's F-35s are in Iceland as part of what NATO calls its Airborne Surveillance and Interception Capabilities to meet Iceland's Peacetime Preparedness Needs mission, which started after the US withdrew from the island in 2008. B-2 Spirit stealth bomber F-15 fighter jets Iceland US Air Force/Master Sgt. Matthew Plew The four Norwegian F-35s arrived for the three-week deployment on February 19, bringing with them some 130 military and civilian personnel to work with the Icelandic Coast Guard at Keflavik Air Base. Norway's F-35s were declared initially operational in November, and the Iceland deployment is their first foreign mission, but Norway is only the second country to deploy F-35s to Iceland, after Italy's air force sent its fifth-generation fighters there in late September. "The world expects that NATO and the US continue to execute our mission with decisiveness, regardless of any external challenge," said Gen. Jeff Harrigian, head of US Air Forces in Europe and Africa. "Missions like these provide us an opportunity to assure our allies while sending a clear message to any adversary that no matter the challenge, we are ready." B-2 Spirit stealth bomber F-15 F-35 fighter jets Iceland US Air Force/Master Sgt. Matthew Plew Iceland has gotten more attention amid tensions with Russia because it sits in the middle of the Greenland-Iceland-UK Gap, through which the Russian navy and its submarines would have to pass to reach the North Atlantic. But China also has growing interest in the Arctic, where receding ice is making the region more accessible for trade and resource exploitation the latter is especially interesting for Beijing as its fleets travel farther afield for fish stocks. In 2018, the US moved to block Chinese infrastructure investments in Greenland that could've given it a military foothold off of Canada's coast. Read the original article on Business Insider Hey guys @TheKanikakapoor came back on the 9th. India was not self isolating but playing Holi. Sonam K Ahuja (@sonamakapoor) March 21, 2020 Yesterday, the news of Kanika Kapoor being tested positive for the corona virus didnt sit too well with people of our country. Many raised questions that why she didnt opt for self isolation instead of attending parties in the city of Lucknow.However, Bollywood actor Sonam Kapoor came out in support of Kanika claiming that the flack shes getting on social media is unnecessary. The actress took to Twitter and wrote, Hey guys @TheKanikakapoor came back on the 9th. India was not self isolating but playing Holi.Well, while it seems that Sonam does have Kanikas back, netizens still seem pretty upset about her carelessness upon returning from a foreign land where the number of coronavirus cases are way higher.In an interview with a leading daily, Kanika spoke about what happened at the airport. She said, So I reached Lucknow on March 11 by the morning flight. And one can check, at that time there was no advisory issued by the government on anyone travelling from abroad to be under self-quarantine. So how can one expect me to do it, especially when I had been screened and had no health issues till I left Mumbai? In fact, I developed the symptoms only four days ago. A St. John's woman stuck in Morocco hopes an announcement Friday by the federal government means she will be home in days, instead of months. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said a flight will be arriving in the north African country to take Canadians there home welcome news for Kim Larouche. "It's certainly good news. Of course, we are trying to make sure we are on that first flight or any flight really that leaves," said Larouche, a health consultant whose husband and two children are in St. John's. Larouche is with her sister and brother-in-law in Casablanca, all Canadian citizens registered with the Canadian consulate there. "We sent them an email in French and English saying we want to get on that flight but we don't know if it's going to Paris first and then Canada from there. So all we are doing is kind of waiting and hoping for the best," she said. Trudeau didn't provide much detail about the flight Friday when he announced it, but said the federal government is in discussions with Canadian airlines to help Canadians stranded abroad get home. Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press "We will have more details to share but the first flight will be picking up Canadians from Morocco this weekend," Trudeau said from outside Rideau Cottage in Ottawa, where he remains in self-isolation. A spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne told CBC News that Global Affairs Canada has heard from tens of thousands of Canadians looking to get home after the federal government announced a week ago that all travellers abroad should return to Canada and self-isolate for 14 days. The minister's office said the government is particularly concerned about travellers in Morocco and Peru, two destinations where a large number of Canadians are stranded. Peru is under martial law and has closed its borders to everyone looking to get in or out. Larouche has been in Morocco since March 8 with with a women's group to take part in a rally to raise money for a Moroccan community. The rally was cancelled because of coronavirus concerns. Story continues State of Emergency There are more than 40 cases of novel coronavirus in Morocco and the country has declared a state of emergency. Larouche was scheduled to leave Wednesday. She tried to get on a flight to Europe before Morocco cancelled all flights in or out of the country last Saturday but she was told all those flights were full. Larouche said she was feeling disheartened before Trudeau's announcement. "Thankfully we're all healthy, and I'm just really grateful that there are so many people trying to help us get back home safe," she said. Larouche said she will be in isolation for 14 days at her cabin in Whitbourne when she finally gets back to Newfoundland and Labrador. "I'm probably going to go straight to Whitbourne and I just want to keep everyone safe. After that I'm really hoping to hug my family and I want to see my in-laws and I miss my mother, who is in Gatineau, so hopefully I'll get to see her soon." Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador Supermarkets have been warned against inadvertently accelerating the spread of coronavirus in the elderly population by allowing potentially infected NHS workers to mix with them in reduced opening times. Many big stores have launched a so-called 'silver hour' where pensioners can shop in restocked aisles to avoid them falling victim to panic-buying. Frontline health staff have now also been allowed in at these times after a string of viral videos showed exhausted medics returning from work to find empty shelves. But a doctor has pointed out the scheme lumps together those most vulnerable to the disease with those most likely to be infected by it. Lisa Anderson, a consultant cardiologist at St George's Hospital in London, said that NHS workers were not being given the appropriate protective gear to fend off contamination. She this morning told BBC Radio 4: 'This is not just about the risk to ourselves and our families. We are travelling home on the Tube, on buses,' she told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. 'Sainsbury's this morning has announced that they are opening up the early hours to the frail, elderly and NHS workers. We are cross-infecting everybody at the moment.' Many big stores have launched a 'silver hour' where pensioners can shop in restocked aisles to avoid them falling victim to panic-buying The government has been accused of lowering the standards of required protective gear so they no longer matched World Health Organisation recommendations, which require medics to wear a full gown and visor (nurses at Northwick Park hospital pictured) Lisa Anderson, a consultant cardiologist at St George's Hospital in London, said that NHS workers were not being given the appropriate protective gear to fend off contamination. Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt lined up behind Ms Anderson and called on the government to 'sort this out' Ms Anderson criticised the government for lowering the standards of required protective gear so they no longer matched World Health Organisation recommendations, which require medics to wear a full gown and visor. She said that since Monday, staff in the NHS only had to wear a simple face mask, short gloves and a pinafore apron other than when they were fitting ventilators. In a damning account of hospital morale, she also said that 'doctors have no faith in what is going on'. The cardiologist said: 'There is a lack of protection for us which extends to a lack of plan of how to segregate patients clean and dirty, how to protect us and keep us away from the public. Doctors have no faith in what is going on.' She added: 'Whole wards of infected patients are being treated without protection... Staff are working 12 hours in bays of patients coughing all over them and then they're wearing the same uniform all around the hospital, and then back on the Tube, we're walking out, we're going to Pret, we're going to Sainsbury's with the elderly... this is a situation that can't continue.' Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt lined up behind Ms Anderson and called on the government to 'sort this out'. He said: 'We are asking people to put their own lives at risk on the NHS front line. 'It is absolutely heart-breaking when NHS front-line professionals don't have the equipment that they need. 'I think the Government has done a lot in the last week. I think they have unblocked the supply chains, but there is this question about whether it is the right equipment.' Sainsburys is following other supermarket chains and introducing a golden shopping hour for NHS and social care workers. From next week health and care staff will be able to shop at Sainsburys between 8am and 9am every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, alongside elderly and vulnerable shoppers. It comes after critical care nurse Dawn Bilbrough, from York, made a heartfelt plea for shoppers to stop stockpiling, in a video which circulated on social media on Thursday. In the video, she is seen crying after visiting a supermarket following a 48-hour hospital shift to find there were no fruit or vegetables. As thousands of customers stockpiled on products in a panic-buying frenzy, many were left facing empty shelves at the supermarkets. Tesco and Marks & Spencer have already announced they are giving health and social care workers priority shopping times. Sainsbury's is also consolidating its opening hours from 8am to 8pm, Monday to Saturday, in order to be able focus on restocking shelves. The Coronavirus pandemic presents to our nation an unprecedented public health challenge that is matched in its seriousness by the attendant social, economic, industrial, and financial risks. Ghana's defenses have been penetrated, and the moment finds us unprepared. There is still time to act, but our window of opportunity is narrow and closing. The decisions our national leadership makes at this critical juncture and the actions we take in our individual lives will determine what impact COVID-19 will ultimately have on our dear Ghana. If we are to prevail in the fight against this disease, we must all accept that there will be collective difficulties and a need for personal sacrifice. We must accept that some of the steps we must now take will have profound, long-term implications for the very organization of our society. And we must accept that these are extraordinary times, and that they call for extraordinary measures. We in the Minority, reflecting on our core values, believe that the nation is presented with an opportunity to rebuild solidarity, deepen our sense of community, revive our capacity for community self- organization, and to reassert healthy values. Importantly, this is an opportunity for our democratic institutions from Parliament to the District Assemblies to prove themselves worthy of the people's mandate, and to rededicate themselves to the people's cause. Our flagbearer, H.E. John Dramani Mahama, has previously averred the commitment of the entire National Democratic Congress, and his own personal resolve, to support President Akufo Addo and his government in this fight by availing all technical and logistical resources at our disposal. We assure your good self that the Minority will provide constructive, substantive, and proactive support for the appropriate policy and legislative measures that are required to preserve our society in the face of this 1|Page crisis. We extend that assurance, in sincerity and solidarity, to our colleagues in the Majority. In this matter of our national response to the COVID-19 pandemic, our desire is for Parliament to speak with one voice. We urge the rapid development of the necessary consultative protocols to facilitate this. We must state, however, our conviction that the introduction of the proposed Imposition of Restrictions Bill by the Presidency is premature and unnecessary. A single draconian measure of this kind is limited in its utility and myopic in its constitutional considerations. It fails the test of the moment in its lack of comprehensiveness and specificity with respect to the COVID-19 threat and its multi sectoral impacts, while assigning the Executive broad authorities that undermine the most basic principles of democratic jurisprudence. It is our view that the 2012 Public Health Act (Act 851) already delineates upon the requisite declarations by the Honorable Minister of Health all the necessary powers to manage the present crisis. In view of that, we remain open to discussing whatever supplementary legislation may be required to support those critical elements of an effective national response plan that are not adequately provided for in Act 851. For Parliament to move forward on a bipartisan basis it will be necessary to debate a comprehensive, multi-sectoral, national response plan. The moment in which Ghana finds itself calls for a proactive plan that goes beyond occasional lists of reactionary measures. We will need to review the underlying epidemiological and statistical analyses that inform the proposed interventions, and the same applies to the strategic plan for executing those interventions . We need to understand what financial and human resources are available for this campaign, as well as the applicable legal and institutional frameworks. We need clarity on the constraints to planning and implementing this national response, and we need a mechanism for monitoring and evaluation that will allow for informed adjustments as the situation evolves. Only the Executive Branch can provide such details of any plan. To date, the Executive has shared no such a plan with Parliament and, regrettably, does not as yet appear to have one. RECOMMENDATIONS Our caucus has had extensive discussions of these matters internally, and we have sought the counsel of a nonpartisan, multisectoral and multigenerational team of experts from the many fields that will be required to implement a national action plan. Their technical expertise informs the Minority's views on the nature and needs of a national response to the COVID-19 threat. It is our view, consequently, that any national response plan must be consistent with the known epidemiology of the virus and the resulting disease. It must be rooted in the best available medical science, considerate of our nation's political economy, and contextualized for the culture of our society. Without in any way seeking to preempt Executive Privilege in this matter we wish to propose, through your Office, the following priorities for consideration: The national plan must prioritize and cost responses over a realistic analytical horizon that reflects the epidemiology of the disease and the projected therapeutic timelines. The best available information suggests that this pandemic will only truly end with the discovery of a vaccine or a cure, and the present estimates of either product range from 12 to 18 months. The underlying strategy must be costed with this timeframe in mind and must be accompanied by a detailed rationale for the specific 2|Page appropriations. It must also be clear on any and all additional powers that Government may need that are not enshrined in Act 851. Our caucus is committed to approving the justified legislation, borrowing and spending within that temporal and constitutional framework. The national plan must address the requisite behavioral and medical interventions needed to contain the spread of the virus, and to mitigate its consequences for affected persons. This must necessarily encompass the following: an aggressive public education campaign on preventive behaviors that is centered on hand hygiene that details proper handwashing, avoidance of face touching, and the use of appropriate commercial or home-made hand sanitizers; a multilingual, contextually competent awareness campaign of the signs, symptoms and severity of a COVID-19 infection that communicates preparedness over panic; a nationwide procurement strategy for the urgently needed medical equipment and supplies to support the clinical case management of symptomatic individuals including logistics for testing, triage and intensive care that is appropriately tied to local industrial capacity; an emergency staffing and training plan for healthcare workers to boost their availability and preparedness around the country, and a set of guidelines for clinical admission and treatment protocols (including task shifting and deprioritization of elective care) that enhances flexibility of care delivery in the healthcare system; a revised infection detection plan that allows for rapid identification of potential cases at all points of entry, as well as tracking and tracing of community transmission events; an immediate plan for increasing the availability and capacity of isolation and quarantine centers, including a plan for operationalizing dormant capacity at specialized facilities such as the University of Ghana Medical Center and the Bank of Ghana Hospital. The national response plan must provide comprehensive and equitable safety nets for the disabled and the elderly, unemployed persons and daily wage workers, and all other persons whose financial security may be jeopardized by the necessary social distancing measures. The current rhetoric from the Executive, which recommends such alternatives as ordering food from restaurants, is overly focused on the lifestyle of the wealthy and well-connected. It must expand its scope to consider the the economic realities and living standards for many millions of our compatriots who do not share in that privilege, including such pro-poor measures as: cost-of-living interventions like the provision of rent subsidies or freezes, and deferrals of tax payments; retail market interventions to suppress hoarding, price speculation, and other opportunistic behaviors, including price-fixing and rationing of food and basic supplies if necessary. The national response plan must address the broad range of predictable economic impacts on small-, medium- and large-scale enterprises who may be exposed to disruptive supply and demand shocks. 3|Page The strategy should offer incentives to those businesses that provide essential goods and services such as the manufacture and supply of food, pharmaceuticals and communications. And it must consider monetary and fiscal impacts, including temporary relief measures for enterprises such as credit guarantees and temporary loan forgiveness. The national response plan must include a mass mobilisation programme that embraces the core competencies of democratic, traditional, religious and civic structures across all levels of our national life. This will necessarily involve engaging and empowering District Assemblies, Unit Committees, traditional and religious leaders, civil society organizations, and other appropriate entities. The national response plan must include a detailed communication strategy with both digital and traditional components. It must be focused on the efficient transmission of critical information, absolute transparency about the evolving situation, and responding to the proliferation of false information and fake cures. Ultimately, such a plan must strengthen solidarity, social responsibility and social engagement even in the face of social distancing. In view of the expert counsel we have received and the abovementioned recommendations thereof, we believe that the proposed Imposition of Restrictions Bill is uncalled for. It fails in its substance to address the clinical demands of the underlying public health emergency. It fails in its foresight by ignoring the predictable impacts COVID-19 will have on our social and economic life. It fails in its constitutional responsibilities by subjugating due process to the whims of a single individual. The most important priorities of the needed national response are completely unaddressed, while extraneous matters such as hate speech feature prominently. CONCLUSION Our call for a set of comprehensive measures will be a true test of our country's character. But in rising to that challenge, we have an opportunity to revive our self-confidence as a people, and to attain new heights in our national unity. We in the Minority sincerely believe that bipartisan Parliamentary cooperation and leadership along the aforementioned lines will determine Ghana's ability to meet the COVID-19 challenge successfully while minimizing the attendant social and economic consequences of the critical public health interventions. Our collective priority must be to safeguard our national social development and to preserve the lives of our people. This is no time for partisanship and political grandstanding, which the Governments proposal seeks to portray. We reiterate our resolve to work with our colleagues in the Majority, under your able leadership, to contribute our energies and efforts to this national endeavour. We are, of course, immediately available to engage on these proposals. Please accept our warmest compliments. citinewsroom Videos Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 20) A group of construction workers who were on their way to Pangasinan province from Valenzuela City in Metro Manila by foot, were rescued" mid-way in Tarlac, officials said Saturday. The Capas public information office said barangay officials came across 14 construction workers who said they were walking home to Mangatarem in Pangasinan which was approximately 13 hours away by foot from the municipality. [They said] they were promised to be fetched, said Capas PIO in a Facebook post. After receiving food and water, the workers were driven home by the Mangatarem government, it added. According to Google Maps, it would take one over 19 hours to walk from Valenzuela City to Capas, Tarlac. On the other hand, if the workers continued to walk all the way to Mangatarem, they would have completed a 33-hour trek. Luzon is currently under enhanced community quarantine due to the coronavirus disease pandemic, which has already killed 18 people in the country and infected over 200 others. The quarantine measure means movement within, to and from the island is restricted. Regions including Metro Manila have since imposed strict measures such as suspensions of work and mass transportation to ensure that residents would stay home. Only healthcare workers, accredited media workers and those based in supermarkets and establishments providing basic goods, among others, are exempted from the suspension. Meanwhile, local government units are expected to provide transportation to aid these workers, as all forms of public transport remains unavailable. It seems that nearly every community, especially those that surround our big cities, has been plagued by panic-buying amid the mass hysteria the media have whipped up around the Wuhan flu. People are frantically buying toilet paper, for example, as though the companies that produce such items are about to be shuttered. They are not, but people are stocking up anyway. Are they all fearful of catching this flu? Maybe some of them are, which is why we are seeing face masks on people in lines to get into grocery stores. But the shelves are full by morning, thanks to the truckers who deliver the goods and the employees who work through the night to stock them. But by afternoon, they are stripped bare meat, produce, milk and eggs, all gone. It all seems so desperate until, as in New York, California, Illinois, and Connecticut, the governors of those states have shut their states down! They've ordered all sit-down restaurants closed and all other non-essential businesses closed. Many of these establishments cannot survive even two weeks without customers. They've put millions of their own citizens out of work with a snap of their fingers. They've ordered people to "shelter in place," to stay home, cloistered away from all other human contact but close family. Now all this planning and hoarding seems very smart. Each of these states has a Democrat governor. These are the states with the most homelessness and the most ridiculous policies with regard to crime and the people who commit them; they are kind to criminals and thus cruel to their law-abiding citizens. Shutting everything down is just one more example of their inner authoritarianism. Where else are we seeing long lines? At gun stores. For at least a week now, there have been long lines at every gun store in California. Why? Probably because these states are releasing felons from prisons in the name of the virus and announcing that they would not be arresting anyone who commits a non-violent crime. San Francisco has been operating on this premise for a long time now, which is why its citizens suffer from car break-ins by the minute. Many of those suffering from Covid-19 in that city are homeless - drug addicts and the mentally ill with a host of other health conditions. So it stands to reason that people who have never before thought they needed a means of defense at home believe they may need a weapon now. Not so dumb and not at all deranged. They are citizens who know their rights and do not trust those governing their states. It's a safe bet that they are all Trump-supporters or about to be. It is enough to make one wonder whether these Democrat governors have ordered businesses closed because they want the gun stores closed. There are easily 300 million privately owned guns in the U.S. No matter how much Democrats like Joe Biden want them all confiscated, just as Hitler, Mao, and Pol Pot confiscated the guns from their populations before killing them, American gun-owners will never give them up without a firefight. It is quite likely that millions of previously Democratic voters are wising up to their party's big agenda. Perhaps they've been listening to Joe Biden, the presumptive nominee for the office of the presidency. He is vowing to confiscate guns, to stop all fracking, to get cars off the roads, to legislate open borders, etc. He is promising to be a one-man liberty- and economy-destroyer, or his handlers are; old Joe is way past his sell-by date. No sentient person will vote for this man. This black swan pandemic may actually mean the end of the progressive left. If this virus episode has proven anything, it is the proof of the terrible damage "progressivism" has done to this nation. Watching the crisis unfold in Italy and the rest of Europe should put to bed forever the notion that socialized medicine can work anywhere. It cannot. Like socialism itself, it has failed everywhere it has been tried. China's perhaps purposeful imposition of this virus on the rest of the world should be the last nail in the coffin of the Democrats' "Medicare for all." It is only because of President Trump's assembling a team of virologists and experts in logistics and recruiting massive help from private industry that this virus will be conquered sooner than any pandemic of the past. He has dispensed with a long list of ridiculous federal regulations that initially hampered the production of test kits, which has has sped up the fight against this particular flu, which still has not killed nearly as many people as the regular flu did in 20182019. Everything on the left's agenda exacerbates an epidemic: mass transit; urban, small space living; climate alarmism (viruses like cold weather, not hot). People are not individuals to the left, they are merely an inconvenience they must suffer to retain political power. They have no more respect for their own supporters than they do their opposition. But we natives are getting restless. This destruction of our economy must stop for it is playing right into the hands of communist China. It was national treasure Mark Levin who on his Friday radio program discussed this aspect of what has been called panic-buying and hoarding but may actually be a recognition of the authoritarian stupidity of their own governors. Not one of these wealthy men in power will suffer an iota of discomfort or lack of any supplies or income but they are patting themselves on the back for their state-wide shut-down orders which is entirely unnecessary. With men like this having power over us, we need to step up our resistance to this Democrat power grab and show our support for President Trump. The Democrats and their media have spent three years calling him 'Hitler' and now they are angry that he has not commandeered the national government like a dictator. He is leaving the states to their elected governors, perhaps to demonstrate that we should be more careful who we elect to run them. None of us should need to hoard anything but now it seems that planning ahead to survive the idiocy of our leftist governors is a very smart move. "It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near one." JRR Tolkien Image credit: Gage Skidmore, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0. The Morning Show KENOSHA WGTD (91.1 FM) is owned and operated as a public service of Gateway Technical College and is an affiliate of Wisconsin Public Radio. For an updated schedule, go to wgtd.org. The Morning Show airs every weekday morning between 8:10 and 9 a.m. Following is a schedule of show topics for the coming week: Monday, March 23: (Rescheduled from last Friday) The guest is Amy Shira Teitel, author of Fighting for Space: Two Pilots and their Historic Battle for Female Spaceflight. Tuesday, March 24: From the archives: Sean Manning is the editor of Bound to Last: 30 Writers on Their Most Cherished Book. This interview, recorded back in 2011, is a lovely celebration of books at a time when many of us in our Social Distancing are turning to books more than ever. Wednesday, March 25: The guest is Ginny Sassaman, author of Preaching Happiness: Creating a Just and Joyful World. This interview was recorded this past Friday, and includes some reflections from the guest on the COVID-19 Crisis. Thursday, March 26: From the archives: To remember a simpler time as well as the delightful and unique genius of Mark Twain, we revisit a 2012 interview with Bob Hirst, editor of a new edition of The Autobiography of Mark Twain. Friday, March 27: The guest is Hope Jahren, author of The Story of More: How We Got to Climate Change and Where to Go from Here. The interview was recorded last Friday and it includes some reflection from Jahren on what it is like right now in Norway, where she lives with her family. The Morning Show Podcast is available from all major podcast platforms, including Spotify, Google Podcasts and Apple Podcasts. Be sure to search for The Morning Show with Greg Berg. WGTDs Saturday programming includes Financial Overview at 9 a.m., Breakfast Bytes at 9:45 a.m., Education Matters at 10:30 a.m. and Community Matters at 11:15 a.m. Parkside Today SOMERS Parkside Today airs on WIPZ (101.5 FM) and streams live at WIPZ.org Tuesday and Sunday beginning at 4 p.m. Following is a schedule for the next few weeks: Sunday, March 22 (4 p.m.): The guests are members of the Kenosha Relay For Life Event leadership, Michelle Jenewein and Sharon Bernett, to talk about the upcoming kickoff celebration and open house event on March 23 in the UW-Parkside Grand Ballroom. This year, Relay For Life of Kenosha is celebrating its 25th Anniversary, and this is the 10th year that UW-Parkside has hosted the annual Relay For Life event. Host: John Mielke. Tuesday, March 24, and Sunday, March 29 (4 p.m.): For Episode 100 of Parkside Today, the guests are UW-Parkside Director of Athletics Andrew Gavin and Chancellor Debbie Ford. In this episode, they talk about the RangerVision 2020 project, a $5 million campaign to enhance the indoor Sport & Activity Center. Host: John Mielke. Tuesday, March 31 and Sunday, April 5 (4 p.m.): The guest is Adam Schemm, senior associate director of athletics for external relations at UW-Milwaukee. Schemm will be a panelist at the upcoming UW-Parkside Sport Management Conference on April 16 and will be awarded Parksides Alumnus of the Year award. Host: John Mielke. Listen to previous Parkside Today shows at uwp.edu/parksidetoday. WIPZ (101.5 FM) is a student-run organization at UW-Parkside. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 During a phone conversation, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky expressed condolences to Prime Minister of the Italian Republic Giuseppe Conte over the horrific scale of the coronavirus pandemic in Italy. The President expressed condolences over the horrific scale of the coronavirus pandemic in Italy, which claimed the lives of over three thousand Italian citizens, the press service of the Head of State reports. Zelensky and Conte agreed on the importance of coordinating efforts to combat the spread of the pandemic and overcome the negative socio-economic consequences of the coronavirus outbreak. The parties also noted the importance of ensuring continuous transport support for trade between the countries, in particular the supply of food, pharmaceuticals and equipment. The parties agreed to unite efforts to unblock the Italy-Ukraine freight traffic due to restrictions imposed by a number of transit countries. President Zelensky expressed gratitude to the Italian government for its assistance in organizing the evacuation of Ukrainian citizens who had been blocked at the border with Slovenia. In addition, the leaders discussed the issue of returning 125 Ukrainians, who are now in Rome, to Ukraine. Giuseppe Conte promised that they would arrive home by a special charter flight of Italian airlines on March 25. The President also asked about the situation of Vitalii Markiv, Ukrainian convicted in Italy, conveyed words of support to him and wished him to keep well. Additionally, given Italy's considerable experience in combating coronavirus, Volodymyr Zelensky noted Ukraine's interest in establishing an information exchange at the level of the healthcare services of the two countries in order to study new industry standards and recommendations implemented in Italy to combat the disease. The parties also discussed measures to continue the highest level political dialogue and implement the agreements reached during the visit of the President of Ukraine to the Italian Republic on February 7, 2020. According to the Italian Civil Protection Department, 37,860 cases of coronavirus infection were confirmed in Italy as of March 20; 4032 people died. ol The count of known COVID-19 cases in Ridgefield had risen to 90 about midday Friday, according to the town authorities, and the number of deaths in town from the disease remains at the 10 counted late Thursday. The emergency operations office postponed its planned 4 p.m. live update streamcast until there are actionable updates. The towns midday COIVD-19 update for Friday, April 3, said: Health Director Ed Briggs confirms that we have 90 COVID-19 cases reported with ages still ranging from 2-101. Our death toll remains at ten and is a sad reminder of how diligent we must remain in keeping our most vulnerable population safe. Please continue to isolate as much as possible, practicing social distancing when we must go out and following all the CDC recommendations. Ridgefields Emergency Operations Team will postpone the live stream COVID-19 originally planned for today and will resume when there are actionable updates available. Go to ridgefieldct.org for an archives of all previous updates. For questions, go to Facebook - Ridgefield oem or email selectman@ridgefieldct.org. To sign up to receive messages pertaining to Ridgefield, sign up for CTAlert.gov. For those without an email use: noemail@ridgefield.com. Be sure to put the town in the relevant field and check off how you would like to receive the message. Prioritize how to receive your messages or check phone only. CTAlert messages are delivered Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday or as needed. Ridgefield Responds, a charity under the Friends of Ridgefield (public 501c-3) has announced a residential rent assistance program for Ridgefield residents who have lost income as a result of COVID=19 and need help with rental payments. Details of this program are posted on the town website: ridgefieldct.org. Contributions can be sent to: Friends of Ridgefield - Ridgefield Responds, 400 Main Street, Ridgefield, CT 06877. Please notify employers who sponsor matching contributions. If you feel you have symptoms of COVID-19, CALL YOUR PRIMARY CARE PROVIDER, who will prescribe a test if needed. Immediately self-quarantine. If you test positive for COVID-19, please stay at home. Ask friends or family or one of the many volunteer organizations available to utilize takeout and curbside services. PLEASE quarantine within your home by following CDC precautions on how to protect others living in your household. Police are urging you to be aware of potential scams. No one will approach you and ask for information in order to receive your stimulus package. Do not give out information and if you have a question on whether something is legitimate, call the Ridgefield police department non- emergency line: 203- 438-6531. Thursday Death continues its dreary and frightening march, with 3 additional deaths at the Ridgefield Crossings assisted living facility announced by town authorities late Thursday. The 3 deaths bring the Ridgefields count of citizens lost to COVID-19 up to 10, nine of them residents of the Benchmark Senior Living at Ridgefield Crossings assisted living facility on Route 7. It is with great sadness that we report three more losses from one of our assisted care facilities. We know all of Ridgefield joins in sending our deepest condolences, said a release from town emergency management public information officer Gerri Lewis and First Selectman Rudy Marconi. Health Director Ed Briggs confirms that our numbers remain consistent with ages still ranging from 2-101, the towns April 2 release said. On Wednesday the towns count of confirmed cases of Covid-19 had been 84. The known cases of COVID-19 arent limited to the Ridgefield Crossings assisted living facility, where the first case was reported in mid March. First Selectman Marconi had reminded people on Wednesday morning, when the count of cases in Ridgefield was at 80, to remember that the coronavirus which cases COVID-19 is not on limited to Ridgefield Crossings assisted living facility, where the towns first case and Connecticuts had been living before going in mid March to Danbury Hospital, where he died. If you figure were at 80, and 16 are at the Crossings, youve got 64 that are spread out around town, ages anywhere from 2 to 101, Marconi said. Even if numbers plateau for a while, Marconi said hes expecting things to get worse. The next two weeks are going to be rough weeks, Marconi said April 1. Like the president said, like weve been saying for a while: middle of April is going to be a tough time. Fire Chief Jerry Myers said during Wednesday evenings streamcast to the town that the fire department had a reserve of personal protective equipment (PPE), and is continuing to seek additional supplies: If we had to go it on our own we could eek it out for a couple of months, Myers said. The towns Thrusday afternoon update again urged people whove tested positive for the disease to self-quarantine by not going out, and also to quarantine within the home to avoid infecting family members. People who feel symptoms should also stay in and avoid spreading the virus, except for medical journeys. Here is the remainder of the towns April 2 release: Ridgefield Responds, a charity under the Friends of Ridgefield (public 501c-3) has announced a residential rent assistance program for Ridgefield residents who have lost income as a result of COVID-19 and need help with rental payments. Details of this program will be posted tomorrow, April 3 on the town website: ridgefieldct.org. If you feel you have symptoms of COVID-19, call your primary care provider, who will prescribe a test if needed. Immediately self-quarantine. If you test positive for COVID-19, please stay at home. Ask friends or family or one of the many volunteer organizations available to utilize takeout and curbside services. Please quarantine within your home by following CDC precautions on how to protect others living in your household. Police are urging you to be aware of potential scams. No one will approach you and ask for information in order to receive your stimulus package. Do not give out information and if you have a question on whether something is legitimate, call the Ridgefield Police Departments non-emergency line: 203- 438-6531. First Responders (Police and Fire) are taking an abundance of caution as they respond due to the finite number of responders. They ask you not to be alarmed if you see them in protective gear and to remember they are still your community police and fire showing up to help you. Ridgefields Emergency Operations Team will provide a COVID-19 live update tomorrow, April 3 at 4 p.m. on ridgefieldct.org and Cable Channel 24 (Comcast) and on Monday, Wednesday and Friday of each week. The website also has archives of all previous updates. To sign up to receive messages pertaining to Ridgefield, sign up for CTAlert.gov. For those without an email use: noemail@ridgefield.com. Be sure to put the town in the relevant field and check off how you would like to receive the message. Prioritize how to receive your messages or check phone only. CTAlert messages are delivered Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday or as needed. Wednesday Ridgefield has 82 to 84 confirmed COVID-19 acres, and deaths from the disease remain at 7, according to town officials. To those of you who are testing positive and are at home, please self-quarantine for 14 days, and get yourself better, First Selectman Rudy Marconi said. Please don't infect others. We have no additional deaths thats the good news and were happy to report that, Marconi said. The number of active confirmed cases in town people whove shown symptoms and tested positive grew from 64 on Sunday to Monday afternoons count of 80, and on Wednesday morning, April 1, Marconi said the numbers indicated 82 to 84 cases in town. The numbers are provided by the state, which was having some difficulty with its reporting website Wednesday morning. The age range of the people testing positive for the disease close to as wide as it could get. Now, its from 2 to 101, said town Health Director Ed Briggs. The town announced that there will be a streamcasted selectmens meeting Wednesday night at 6:3-. fplloowing a 4 p.m. streamcast from First Selectman MArconi, which they will intend to conduct as zoom meeting people can connect with. A release from the tonw emergency operations office said: A Board of Selectman meeting on the budget will take place, tonight, Wednesday, April 1, at 6:30 p.m. It will be open to the public via live stream on ridgefieldct.org and on Comcast 24. We will try to take questions and we also have a zoom connection available. Check ridgefieldct.org for upcoming details. Please be patient as we find new ways to operate during the COVID-19 crises. To tune in by zoom: https://zoom.us/j/296298776?pwd=K3FMaHJJQ2tOR3BIeWd0cEtkWVNUUT09. A COVID-19 Update will stream live on ridgefieldct.org and on Comcast 24 today, April 1, at 4:00. Questions can be sent to selectman@ridgefieldct.org. In Mondays 4 p.m. streamcast on the town website (www.ridgefeildct.org) a questioner emailed in to Marconi asking: How many of the 80 people testing positive are in hospitals? That we can't tell. They dont give us that information, Briggs said.. I believe most of the positives are not hospitalized. said Emergency Management Director Dick Aarons. Were only testing people who are symptomatic. There are a lot of people who are not having symptoms, and are passing it on, Aarons said. The best advice is just to assume whoever you're with can pass it on. Monday midday Ridgefield is up to 74 COVID-19 cases, up 10 from Sundays count of 64 cases. No additional deaths in Ridgefield have been announced by town authorities, leaving a total of 7 known COVID-19 related deaths in town as of Monday afternoon. Town authorities continue to plead for anyone with symptoms, or who has come to town from New York in the last few weeks, to self-quarantine. They ask all people to stay at home, make no non-essential trips, and to practice social distancing. A livestream by First Selectman Rudy Marconi is planned at 4 and will likely have more information. Below is the afternoon release from the town emergency operations office: RIDGEFIELD, March 30, 2020: 2 p.m.: Health Director Ed Briggs confirmed 74 Covid-19 active cases in Ridgefield with ages ranging from 12-101. Our current town total death toll remains at seven. If you feel you have symptoms, PLEASE CALL YOUR PRIMARY CARE PROVIDER. Your primary care provider is your first line of defense and will prescribe a test if you need it. Immediately self-quarantine if you think you have symptoms. We ask that anyone who has moved here from New York City in the last couple of weeks to self-quarantine for 14 days. And, as we are all doing, please continue to take the necessary precautions of social distancing, washing hands, sanitizing, etc. A Board of Selectman meeting on the budget will be Wednesday night at 6:30. It will be open to the public via live stream on ridgefieldct.org and on Comcast 24. A zoom connection will also be available. The Golf Course continues to be closed to golfers but is open for hiking and walking. We ask that you pay close attention to social distancing and be aware that the tick season is underway so follow recommended precautions. Out of an abundance of caution, you can anticipate that the course will be closed until we can see some stabilization in the rise of cases. Please do not relax your efforts to stay at home, practice social distancing and wash hands regularly. Ridgefields Emergency Operations Team will stream today at 4:00PM COVID-19 live updates on Monday, Wednesday and Friday of each week at 4 pm on ridgefieldct.org and Cable Channel 24 (Comcast). The Website also has archives of all previous updates as well. Please share this information with those who do not have access to the Internet Ridgefield Responds, a charity under the Friends of Ridgefield (public 501c-3) is now taking donations. Send all contributions to: Friends of Ridgefield - Ridgefield Responds, 400 Main Street, Ridgefield, CT 06877. Please notify employers who sponsor matching contributions. Stay Home, Stay Safe and Stay Healthy. Sunday, March 29 Two more residents of the assisted living facility off Route 7 have died of COVID-19 as of Sunday afternoon, bringing the towns death toll to seven six of the seven deaths at the residential facility, Benchmark Senior Living at Ridgefield Crossings. Were up to seven unforutante deaths, First Selectman Rudy Marconi said Sunday afternoon. Six are at Ridgefield Crossings, the one was not. But all of them over 80, in excess of 80 years of age. Benchmark Senior Living at Ridgefield Crossings remains under lockdown, and extreme measures are being taken to protect those living and working there, Marconi said. Our health director remains in constant touch with Ridgefield Crossings and we continue to offer any assistance available, Marconi said. The number of people in Ridgefield confirmed to have the disease also continues to rise. Our cases went up from 59 to 64, Marconi said Sunday. Statewide Governor Ned Lamont said in his 7 p.m. update Sunday that Connecticut had increased 469 cases to a total of 1,993 cases of COVID-19, with 404 people hospitalized. Deaths had increased to 34 statewide. Marconi expressed concern about the supply of personal protective equipment or PPE, both locally and in general. The PPE, with masks, gowns and face shields for hospital workers and first responders are running dangerously low at a point, when were expecting the number of confirmed cases and sick people to rise quickly, he said. Fire Chief Jerry Myers said Friday that the Ridgefield Fire Department had about a two months supply of protective equipment, if the rate of use remained stable. As it stands right now, if we had an interrupted chain supply, we have about two months supply, based on the kind of activity we see right now, Myers said. We do have a supply chain and we are regularly receiving supplies. What we want to do is build a six-month buffer, for the town, the fire chief said. We have a about a two months supply, but we have a good, not great, reliable supply chain thats bringing in stuff slowly. Were trying to build up to a six month reserve level. Satuturday night, March 28 A fifth death in Ridgefield from COVID-19 was announced Saturday. It is the fourth death from the disease of a resident at the assisted living facility on Route 7, Benchmark Senior Living at Ridgefield Crossings. Sadly we have lost another resident of Ridgefield Crossings, now bringing our total death toll to 5, First Selectman Rudy Marconi said in a telephone message sent to homes around town about 7:15 Saturday evening. The deaths related to Benchmark include an 88-year-old man who died at Danbury Hospital Wednesday, March 18 said by state officials to be the first person to die from the coronavirus in Connecticut. Governor Ned Lamont reported 1,524 active COVID-19 cases in Connecticut on Saturday, with 33 deaths across the state and the disease continuing to hit Fairfield County hard. President Trump was reported Saturday to be considering an enforced two-week quarantine in parts of the New York metropolitan area, including areas of Connecticut. Ridgefield town officials have requested self-quarantining for 14 days by anyone who feels they may have symptoms and also by new arrivals from New York City. The total number of active COVID-19 cases in Ridgefield is 58, according to Marconis Saturday evening message. The active cases in Ridgefield ranged in age from 12 to 89 years old, he said. With children as young as 12 now getting the disease, Town Health Director Ed Briggs has advised that people use social distancing even within households. You also have to maintain social distancing at the house, Briggs said. If you have separate bathrooms, use separate bathrooms, he said. Try to distance yourselves. Briggs and Marconi have said in recent days that Ridgefield Crossings reports it is taking rigorous health and safety measures. And the facility remains closed to all visitors. Its on lockdown, Marconi said, no ones allowed in or out. We hope the people there who are seniors do make it through, Marconi said. Our prayers are with them. Marconi predicted there will be more COVID-19 cases in town. Its going to continue to climb; some of those cases will be severe, he said. Briggs has warned that the when town officials say there are a certain number of active COVID-19 cases 58 in Saturdays announcement thats only the known cases, people who have tested positive for the disease. Others may have COVID-19, or be carrying the coronavirus that causes it without yet showing symptoms. There is a background level in Ridgefield, Briggs said. In addition to assisted living Benchmark Senior Living at Ridgefield Crossings includes a memory-care facility for people with cases of dementia. The Benchmark facility shares some part-time nursing aides with Laurel Ridge Rehabilitation and Skilled Care Center, the nursing home that is next door but under separate management and ownership. In a statement earlier in the week, Benchmark Senior Living said they could not prevent workers from working at other companies that would take them outside of Ridgefield Crossings. The company said it has started asking employees if they do have a other jobs to manage the possibility they could be exposed to COVID-19. The company declined to say how many employees worked at other jobs or where they worked, citing the employees privacy . Officials at both Ridgefield Crossings and Athena Health Care Systems, which owns Laurel Ridge, said they are taking steps to halt the spread of the virus. Those include taking the temperatures of their employees daily and having them don protective equipment when they come back. State Health Commissioner Renee Coleman-Mitchell said the state is investigating all contacts between patients and staff at nursing homes in the state, but did not elaborate on the issue of part time workers. Gov. Ned Lamont has repeatedly brought up testing and monitoring at nursing homes as a concern. Lamont has expressed concern about preventing what happened in Washington state, where the virus raged through a nursing home near Seattle, where 13 residents have died. Saturday afternoon Ridgefield emergency management officials announced the rise to 58 cases of COVID-19 early Saturday afternoon. Their release said: RIDGEFIELD, March 28, 2020: 1:00 p.m. Earlier today Health Director Ed Briggs confirmed 58 Covid-19 active cases in Ridgefield with ages ranging from 12-89 and our death toll remains at four. The current number of tests underway indicate that our numbers will continue to rise significantly. If you feel you have symptoms, PLEASE CALL YOUR PRIMARY CARE PROVIDER. Your primary care provider is your first line of defense and will recommend if you need a test. Immediately self-quarantine if you think you have symptoms. We ask that anyone who comes in from New York to self-quarantine for 14 days before entering any public area in Ridgefield. The Governor has reduced the number of people allowed to gather with social distancing to five or fewer. Remember, any group gathering spreads the virus. Essential businesses are taking precautions, however, it is up to each of us as individuals to go the extra mile. Bring your wipes and sanitize as you go. We have had many calls regarding the golf course being closed. Unfortunately, it remains closed until we can be assured that it can be managed without encouraging groups to congregate. We have also had two positive cases there and while two weeks have passed since the diagnosis, we are acting out of an abundance of caution. Ridgefield Responds, a charity under the Friends of Ridgefield (public 501c-3) is now taking donations that will be used towards Ridgefields massive recovery effort and will specifically be used for those unemployed/laid off due to COVID-19 (for assistance with rents and mortgages due to layoffs associated with COVID-19). Send all contributions to: Friends of Ridgefield - Ridgefield Responds, 400 Main Street, Ridgefield, CT 06877. Please be sure to notify employers who sponsor matching contributions. To sign up to receive messages pertaining to Ridgefield, sign up for CTAlert.gov. For those without an email use: noemail@ridgefield.com. Be sure to put the town in the relevant field and check off how you would like to receive the message. Prioritize how to receive your messages or check phone only. Friday, March 27 A fourth coronavirus-related death in town the third at the Ridgefield Crossings senior living facility was announced Friday. In a 4 p.m. streamcast, First Selectman Rudy Marconi said in Ridgefield we have, unfortunately, an additional death so were up to four deaths. Benchmark Senior Living at Ridgefield Crossings, the assisted living facility that had three residents struck down by fatal coronavirus, is under strict limitations. Its on lockdown, Marconi said, no ones allowed in or out. We hope the people there who are seniors do make it through, Marconi said. Our prayers are with them. Marconi predicted there will be more cases. Its going to continue to climb; some of those cases will be severe, he said. There is a background level in Ridgefield. Dont think theres 54 cases in Ridgefield thats 54 tested cases in Ridgefield, Health Director Ed Briggs said. The age range right now from an age of 12 to in the late 80s, Briggs said. Theres a lot of tests being done ... A lot of them are negative, he said. There is also flu around town, he said. With kids as young as 12 now getting the disease, Briggs advised that people use social distancing not only with strangers, within households. One of the parents is also sick. They got it first, and then the child, Briggs said. You also have to maintain social distancing at the house. If you have separate bathrooms, use separate bathrooms, he said. Try to distance yourselves. Briggs said that Ridgefield Crossings reports it is taking optimal health and safety measures and the facility still remains on lockdown to all visitors at this time. The current number of tests underway indicate that our numbers will continue to rise significantly. We cannot release information for those who test positive, due to HIPAA laws. First responders receive limited information about positive tests due to future responses to those specific addresses. Thank you to those who responded yesterday by staying off the fields, which are now completely closed. Signs are now being posted at all public fields and you must adhere to this directive, Marconi said. We are asking all neighborhoods with recreation areas to also make sure their courts and fields are closed. The Governor has reduced the number of people allowed to gather with social distancing to five or fewer. Remember, any group gathering spreads the virus. Friday afternoon Earlier Friday afternoon, before the increase was known, the towns emergency management center had released the following: Earlier today Health Director Ed Briggs confirmed 45 Covid-19 active cases in Ridgefield with ages ranging from 19-89. Sadly, we have lost another resident from Ridgefield Crossings, bringing our death toll to four. They currently remain at 16 active cases, with the remaining cases spread throughout the community. Ridgefield Crossings reports that they are taking optimal health and safety measures and the facility still remains on lockdown to all visitors at this time. The current number of tests underway indicate that our numbers will continue to rise significantly. We cannot release information for those who test positive, due to HIPAA laws. First responders receive limited information about positive tests due to future responses to those specific addresses. Thank you to those who responded yesterday by staying off the fields, which are now completely closed. Signs are now being posted at all public fields and you must adhere to this directive, First Selectman Rudy Marconi and public information officer Gerri Lewis said. We are asking all neighborhoods with recreation areas to also make sure their courts and fields are closed. The Governor has reduced the number of people allowed to gather with social distancing to five or fewer. Remember, any group gathering spreads the virus. Ridgefield responds Ridgefield Responds, a charity under the Friends of Ridgefield (public 501c-3) is now taking donations that will be used towards Ridgefields massive recovery effort and will specifically be used for those unemployed/laid off due to COVID-19 (for assistance with rents and mortgages due to layoffs associated with COVID-19). Send all contributions to: Friends of Ridgefield - Ridgefield Responds, 400 Main Street, Ridgefield, CT 06877, Lewis said. Please be sure to notify employers who sponsor matching contributions. Ridgefields Emergency Operations Team will stream today at 4 p.m. COVID-19 live updates on Monday, Wednesday and Friday of each week at 4 p.m. on ridgefieldct.org and Cable Channel 24 (Comcast). The Website also has archives of all previous updates as well. Please share this information with those who do not have access to the Internet. To sign up to receive messages pertaining to Ridgefield, sign up for CTAlert.gov. For those without an email use: noemail@ridgefield.com. Be sure to put the town in the relevant field and check off how you would like to receive the message. Prioritize how to receive your messages or check phone only. Thursday, March 26 Ridgefield now counts 46 active cases of COVID-19 that have tested positive, up four from Wednesday with 29 active cases outside of the assisted living facility where two of the three residents who have died from the disease lived, Benchmark Senior Living at Ridgefield Crossings. Here is the release from town emergency management officials: RIDGEFIELD, March 26, 2020: 12:00 p.m. Earlier today Health Director Ed Briggs confirmed 46 Covid-19 active cases in Ridgefield with ages ranging from 19-89. In the last 24 hours we have had four new positive cases. Ridgefield Crossings remains stable at 17 with the remaining 29 spread throughout the community. Ridgefield Crossings reports that they are taking optimal health and safety measures and the facility still remains on lockdown to all visitors at this time. We cannot release information for those who test positive, due to HIPAA laws. First responders receive limited information about positive tests due to future responses to those specific addresses. Thank you to those who responded yesterday by staying off the fields, which are now completely closed. Signs are now being posted at all public fields and you must adhere to this directive. We are asking all neighborhoods with recreation areas to also make sure those courts and fields are closed. To sign up to receive messages pertaining to Ridgefield, sign up for CTAlert.gov. For those without an email use: noemail@ridgefield.org. Be sure to put the town in the relevant field and check off how you would like to receive the message. Prioritize how to receive your messages or check phone only. Ridgefields Emergency Operations Team is providing COVID-19 live updates on Monday, Wednesday and Friday of each week at 4 pm on ridgefieldct.org and Cable Channel 24 (Comcast). The Website also has archives of all previous updates as well. Please share this information with those who do not have access to the Internet. FOR ACCURATE INFORMATION: Center for Disease Control: (CDC): www.cdc.gov Connecticuts Official State Site: www.ct.gov Town of Ridgefield Official Site: www.ridgefieldct.org Town of Ridgefield Office of Emergency Management Social Media: Facebook: ridgefield oem Danbury Hospital COVID-19 Help Line: 888-667-9262 The following symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure: fever, cough, shortness of breath. If you develop emergency warning signs for COVID-19 consult your medical provider. Wednesday, March 25 Ridgefields death count from COVID-19 rose to three Wednesday morning, and the number of confirmed cases increased by eight from Tuesdays 34 to a total of 42 Wednesday morning. As of this morning, Ridgefield has 42 positive COVID-19 cases, First Selectman Rudy Marconi said Wednesday, March 25. Those positive cases range in age from from 19 years to 89 years of age. We have one new death, Marconi said. So now we have a total of three COVID-19 related deaths. The first two were from the facility on Danbury Road. This person is not repeat not from Ridgefield Crossing. We still have 17 positive cases at Ridgefield Crossing, and that facility appears to be doing an excellent job trying to contain and isolate those cases. While the number of cases at the assisted living facility has held steady at 17, those in the town in general have risen. The 17 remains a constant, it has not grown. The cases spread out around our town have increased by eight from 34 to 42, Marconi said. Marconi made a passionate plea for people including young people to take the health crisis seriously, and warned things will get worse. We are planning to gear up for a much more intense case load of this terrible virus and we dont want any more people to get sick than have already been stricken. So please, please, I beg you: maintain the social distancing and stay home, Marconi said. Even this morning, he said Wednesday, I received a call from a police officer about a group playing lacrosse at Tiger Hollow. This is exactly how the disease spreads, how the virus spreads. And I have to repeat to everyone in our community parents, young adults, everyone all of our fields are shut down. Our tennis courts are shut down. Our basketball courts are closed, he said. A release from the Ridgefield Emergency Management Operations said Wednesday morning that fields and courts would be physically closed off. Because Ridgefielders are not doing their part, we are now forced to use precious personnel resources to tape, chain and post signs at all town fields and courts. Even today, with all our messaging about the seriousness of this situation, kids were seen playing lacrosse at Tiger Hollow. Please stop and think about the lives you are endangering before you leave your house. We are asking all neighborhoods with recreation areas to also make sure those courts and fields are closed. Marconi sounded a little angry as he pleaded for people to stop getting together. For those people who continue to ignore our pleas to stop these group gatherings: You are the ones who are responsible for spreading this virus, Marconi said. Please stop now. Ridgefields Emergency Operations Team said it will be providing COVID-19 live updates on Monday, Wednesday and Friday of each week at 4 p.m. on ridgefieldct.org and Cable Channel 24 (Comcast). The website also has archives of all previous updates as well. Please share this information with those who do not have access to the Internet, the team said. Ridgefield Emergency Operations also reiterated: For accurate information, go to: Center For Disease Control: (CDC): www.cdc.gov Connecticuts Official State Site: www.ct.gov Town of Ridgefield Official Site: www.ridgefieldct.org Town of Ridgefield Office of Emergency Management Social Media: Facebook: ridgefieldoem Ridgefield Public Schools: www.ridgefield.org To watch for the disease, the town said: The following symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure: fever, cough, shortness of breath. If you develop emergency warning signs for COVID-19 consult your medical provider. Tuesday evening Statewide reports put Connecticuts death toll at 12, and 618 cases of COVID-19 reported statewide as of about 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 24. Marconi spoke in a phone call to homes around town shortly before 7:30 Tuesday. Earlier today Health Director Ed Briggs announced we have 34 COVID-19 active cases in Ridgefield, Marconi began. Seventeen of those cases are spread throughout our community and the balance are 17 cases that are located at one facility on Route 7, Marconi said. He said town officials cannot make details of who has tested positive public due to the federal health privacy law known as HIPAA. Governor Ned Lamonts executive order required all non-essential businesses to close as of 8 p.m. last night (Monday), Marconi said. For a complete list of all essential businesses, he said, go to ridgefieldct.org. Marconi urged Ridgefielders to diligently practice social distancing as recommended by health authorities such as the federal Center for Disease Control (CDC). Maintain a 6-foot separation from anyone youre speaking to outside of your family, outside of your home, Marconi said. Please use common sense. If you take a hike, or walk on Main Street, please practice social distancing. Its critical. Marconi sounded emotional in a plea to young people who have not all been taking the crisis seriously. Today we had an abundance of younger adults that were using basketball courts, tennis courts, fields, playing games, Marconi said. Unfortunately, in these times we just cannot tolerate that. As parents, as friends, do not allow this to take place. This is a highly contagious virus that we need to get under control. Unfortunately the only tool we have to defend ourselves is the social distancing, Marconi said. He reminded listeners that Ridgefields Emergency Management Operations Team is planning COVID-19 updates Monday and Wednesday and Friday, livestreamed at 4 p.m. on the town website ridgefieldct.org. All previous COVID-19 updates from the town are also archived there. Stay home and stay healthy. Marconi said. Thank you and good night. Tuesday morning UPDATE, Tuesday morning, March 24 Ridgefield is up to 34 active cases of COVID-19, town authorities announced about midday Tuesday, March 24. Half of the known cases 17 of the 34 who have tested positive are people living in the senior citizens assisted living residence on Route 7 that was also the home of the two Ridgefielders who have died of COVID-19, town authorities said. The death tolls increase to two was announced by First Selectman Rudy Marconi and town Health Director Ed Briggs in a streamcast to the town at 4 p.m. Monday, March 23. The first Ridgefield man who was a victim of the disease died last Wednesday The people who died are both in their 80s, Health Director Ed Briggs said. Here is Tuesdays statement from First Selectman Marconi, released through the Ridgefield Office of Emergency Management and public information officer Gerri Lewis. Earlier today health Director Ed Briggs confirmed 34 Covid-19 active cases in Ridgefield (17 are associated with a facility on Route 7), 17 cases are spread throughout our community and 2 previous deaths of senior citizens who resided at the facility on Route 7. The facility on Route 7 has assured me that they are taking optimal health and safety measures. The facility also remains on lockdown to all visitors at this time. We cannot release information for those who test positive, due to HIPAA laws. First responders receive limited information about positive tests due to future responses to those specific addresses. Per Governor Lamonts executive orders, non-essential businesses closed as of 8pm last night. For a complete list of essential businesses go to ridgefieldct.org. If you are not receiving emergency calls from Selectman Marconi please go to CTAlert.gov to register your information. If you dont have email you can provide this generic email: noemail@ridgefield.com in the required field. Please continue to adhere to social distancing request. Maintain a 6 foot separation from anyone you are speaking to outside of your family. Please use common sense, if you want to take a hike on our open trails, practice social distancing. Ridgefields Emergency Operations Team are providing COVID-19 live updates on Monday, Wednesday and Friday of each week at 4 p.m. on ridgefieldct.org and Cable Channel 24 (Comcast). The website also has archives of all previous updates as well. Please share this information with those who do not have access to the Internet. Stay home, stay safe, and stay healthy. FOR ACCURATE INFORMATION: Center For Disease Control: (CDC): www.cdc.gov Connecticuts Official State Site: www.ct.gov Town of Ridgefield Official Site: www.ridgefieldct.org Town of Ridgefield Office of Emergency Management Social Media: Facebook: ridgefieldoem Ridgefield Public Schools: www.ridgefield.org The following symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure: fever, cough, shortness of breath. If you develop emergency warning signs for COVID-19 consult your medical provider Mondays streamcast In Mondays streamcast Briggs and First Selectman Rudy Marconi were focused on limiting the spread from people who have the coronavirus. We have 15 active cases, Briggs said. The people were monitoring are 21 to 83 years of age. They emphasized that social distancing is the only tool in the toolbox to fight the spread of the disease as a society, and for individuals to protect themselves. Its something we must and have to abide by, Marconi said. Anyone 70 or older, should be sheltering in place. Stay at home, he said. And everyone regardless of age should avoid non-essential travel, they said. Before you leave your house, stop and think about where youre going and what youre doing. Is it truly essential? Marconi said. People who cannot avoid going out need to keep from getting too close to other people. Stay at least 6 feet apart from one another, Marconi said. This is a highly highly contagious virus, he said. The only way were going to stop the spread of the virus is social distancing. The virus can be picked up so easily people should simply stay home. Just going out, touching a surface, standing next to someone, Marconi said. You dont know who the person is that may be passing it on to you. If youre at a cash register at a supermarket, try to keep your distance to protect yourself personally, and so youre not breathing on top of each other, said Health Director Briggs. So people around you dont infect each other. The young, smokers The town officials warned that although older people and those with other medical problems are most vulnerable, the coronavirus is a threat to younger people as well. Among the 15 active cases are two people in their 20s, Briggs said. We have two people in their 20s, Marconi said. I wouldn't assume because you're under 21 your immune. Im hearing reports of young people around the country who are getting sick. They said groups of people at especially high risk to this disease which attacks the lungs arent just the aged and those with diabetes or heart disease. Those with underlying conditions smokers are vulnerable and need to be extremely careful, Marconi said. On social distancing seriously, Marconi emphasized the importance of being at least six feet apart. Yesterday morning I witnessed a group of about nine runners who felt it was OK to run about a foot apart in a group, Marconi said. This is exactly what we dont want to see. Stay at least 6 feet apart from one another, he said. Dont flush wipes The town officials raised a new problem that has come up. Marconi said the company that runs the towns sewer plant had contacted him and said theyd been having multiple problems of clogging and related difficulties due to sanitary wipes that people had been flushed down toilets. Wipes, often used on hands or to clean surfaces, are of firmer stuff than normal toilet tissue, which is made to be flushed. They cause real problems in the sewer lines and with the pumps in the sewage treatment plant not an area where the town needs major problems in the midst of a medical crisis. Please, Marconi said. The pumps are going to burn up! If you do use the wipes, said Briggs, put them in the garbage can, not down the toilet. Homeowners on septic systems should be concerned as well, and be careful not to flush the wipes that may clog their plumbing and cause problems in home septic systems. Essential, non-essential? The town leaders discussed Connecticut Governor Ned Lamonts order closing non-essential business, starting this week. Businesses that dont comply with the order can be fined. They gave a state telephone number 860-500-2333 that people could call to if they werent sure whether or not their business was considered an essential business that could be allowed to stay open during the state lockdown of all non-essential businesses. Marconi also offered town help clarifying the governors order. Essential, non-essential businesses: Ridgefieldct.org, he said. we have the full release, he said. If people have difficulty finding the state release on the website, he said, they can call his office at 203-431-2774, Well do all we can to help you out, Marconi said. The state order closing non-essential businesses generally applies to businesses that arent supplying food, gasoline, or medical supplies. Although automobile repair services are also exempt, and restaurants can continue to provide take-out service. How safe is take-out? Marconi asked Briggs said it was safe, with a few reasonable precautions. You just want to make sure you dont leave them (take-out bags) in your car an extended period of time, he said. You want to make sure the food isnt any lower than 135 degrees when you eat it, Briggs said. If it does go below 135, reheat it to 165 degrees, Briggs said. Marconi said the towns next planned streamcast on the emergency will be Wednesday, March 25, at 4 p.m. Were at 15 active cases, Marconi said, and not even two weeks into the crisis. He asked how long a trend Briggs anticipated. Its still in the beginning phase, the health director answered. Weve got a ways to go. Sunday evening update Ridgefields number of confirmed COVID-19 cases had risen from six to nine by Sunday evening, March 22, according to First Selectman Rudy Marconi. And Monday morning the Ridgefield Office of Emergency Management announed plans for a streamcast with Marconi at 4 p.m. Monday, while advising that all recreation areas, from pickleball courts to the dog park, are closed. The increase to nine cases was announced by Marconi in the following notification Sunday night: GOOD EVENING, THIS IS FIRST SELECTMAN RUDY MARCONI WITH YOUR LATEST UPDATES: Ridgefield is up to nine people who have tested positive for coronavirus and we do expect this number to continue to grow. Those who have tested positive range in age from 21-over 80. We are given the number of cases and the age range, but we are not given names or addresses due to HIPPA law. The CDC describes social distancing as staying away from mass gatherings and keeping a distance of 6 feetabout one body length from other people. Use common sense. Can you throw the ball around with your kids? Yes but dont invite the neighborhood over. When you use our beautiful town trails, do not run or walk in groups. It has been recommended by Governor Lamont that anyone over 70 years old shelter in place. We will provide a more a definitive list of essential businesses that will remain open by tomorrow afternoon. Before you leave the house ask yourself this questiondo I really need this but if you have a question about this think before you leave the house: Do I really need this? If not, stay at home. I cannot stress this enough. A live stream with updates will run tomorrow at 4 PM on the town website: ridgefieldct.org and also air on Comcast Chanel 24 at 4PM. our town officials and essential personnel continue to work on your behalf. Stay Home, Stay Safe and Stay Healthy. Monday morning update A live stream will run today at 4PM as well as Monday, Wednesday and Friday of each week at 4 pm on ridgefieldct.org and Cable Channel 24. Please share this information with those who do not have access to Internet. Please suspend all activities that encourage gathering. Use your common sense. If you want to take a hike on our open trails, practice social distancing. All recreation areas such as basketball, tennis, pickle ball and paddle courts are closed. All playgrounds are closed. The high school track is available for walking/jogging with common sense and social distancing, however, no group jogging is allowed. The Dog Park is now closed. The golf course is closed to play but open to walking/hiking with common sense social distancing. Do not participate in groups. Please be alert for CTAlert messages. Frontier users note: the caller ID says Potential Spam. Call your carrier or save the number into your phone book. Stay Home, Stay Safe and Stay Healthy FOR ACCURATE INFORMATION: Center For Disease Control: (CDC): www.cdc.gov Connecticuts Official State Site: www.ct.gov Town of Ridgefield Official Site: www.ridgefieldct.org Town of Ridgefield Office of Emergency Management Social Media: Facebook: ridgefieldoem Ridgefield Public Schools: www.ridgefield.org The following symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure: fever, cough, shortness of breath. If you develop emergency warning signs for COVID-19 consult your medical provider. Saturday night update Six cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Ridgefield, First Selectman Rudy Marconi announced shortly after 2 on Saturday, in an emergency phone call to homes all over town. He said: This is an emergency message from First Selectman Rudy Marconi. We have just been notified by the department of public health that we have six confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ridgefield. When we are informed we are not given names of individuals, or locations only that they are from Ridgefield. So, please stay at home. Do not socialize. Do not gather. Do not allow your kids to play with the neighborhood children. Stay in your own yard. There should be no play dates, socializing or gatherings. Period. The spread will be exponential, and we need to be prepared to do everything we can to control it. Everyone must protect themselves. And for those of you who experience symptoms, please call Danbury Hospital at 888-667-9262 For all other emergencies, please dial 911. Stay home, stay safe. And we will update you again. By Trend Turkey's export of electrical goods to China decreased by 36.3 percent to make up $25.6 million from January 2020 through February 2020, Trend reports with reference to the Turkish Trade Ministry on March 17. In February 2020, Turkey's export of electrical goods to China also dropped to make up $7.6 million, which is 25.2 percent less compared to February 2019. Turkey's export of electrical goods to world markets increased by 0.2 percent from January 2020 through February 2020 compared to the same period of 2019, amounting to $1.6 billion. During the reporting period, Turkey's export of electrical goods amounted to 5.7 percent of countrys total export. In February 2020, Turkeys export of electrical goods to world markets reached $865.5 million, which is 2.6 percent less compared to February 2019. Export of electrical goods from Turkey in February 2020 amounted to 5.9 percent of the country's total export. Turkeys export of electrical goods amounted to $11.2 billion from February 2019 through February 2020. The trillion-dollar economic aid package that GOP senators unveiled this week was widely savaged by both Democrats and some Republicans because its proposal to send Americans emergency cash payments would have cut smaller checks to poor families than the middle class. But as morally bankrupt as that feature may have been, the bill had even bigger failings. Most glaringly of all, it did nothing to significantly expand unemployment benefits. Well over a million Americans (possibly more than 2 million, if you trust Goldman Sachs) have likely lost their jobs this weekan all-time recordas states and cities have ordered businesses to shut down and Americans have been forced to stay at home. Sending checks to everyone will of course help those people too. But bulking up unemployment insuranceand making sure states have the resources to administer it as an avalanche of applications roll inis an absolutely essential step to target aid to people who need help most and to make sure they can keep paying basic expenses. The phase two bill written by House Democrats and signed this week by Donald Trump provided states $1 billion in extra support, but that amount now seems quaintly insufficient in the face of this escalating crisis. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Now, as negotiations over the stimulus bill continue on, and its potential price tag swells to a reported $2 trillion, Senate Democrats, led by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, are arguing that its time to put unemployment benefits on steroids. Jobless benefits are run and primarily funded by the states, and in most, they typically cover around half of a workers previous earnings and last up to 26 weeks. Democrats have asked to bump payments up to cover 100 percent of income and extend benefits for an extra 13 weeks. Its a bold position that seems like its mostly designed as a maximalist starting point for negotiations, but if Congress even covered 75 percent of workers previous wages, it would be a huge boon. That is our bottom line. It is our single most important issue, Sen. Ron Wyden said to reporters Friday about amping up unemployment insurance. The Democrats say they are pushing for other important changes as well; theyd like to waive the waiting time that some states require before applicants can start receiving benefits and create automatic triggers that increase aid as the unemployment rate rises. Advertisement Advertisement It seems likely that some increase in unemployment will make it into the bill, given that Republicans such as Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Mitt Romney of Utah have also supported bulking up these benefits. But the fight over how much to increase them might be the most important debate over this aid package during this weekends negotiations, especially since it already seems likely that Congress will tweak the cash aid proposal so it doesnt penalize the poor. Advertisement Some Republicans have reportedly raised concerns about juicing unemployment benefits because states are already having so much trouble dealing with a massive volume of applications, which has led to backlogged phone lines and crashing websites. One answer is of course to simply give states more resources to manage them. But its also important to keep a broader point in mind, which is that there wont be a silver bullet solution to this crisis. Any single proposal to ease the economic fallout of this pandemic is going to have shortcomings, which is why well need multiple, complementary programs to get families money and help people retain their jobs. Expanding unemployment insurance will help people who have already lost their jobs so that they can continue paying for basic necessities like rent and food. Getting aid to endangered small businesses so that they can keep people on payroll will limit the number of layoffs in the first place (the Senate bill already includes a promising loan program that will help on this front, though it could use some improvements). Sending people checks will make sure that everybody gets at least some help so that nobody falls through the cracks completely. None of these measures does everything necessary. But combined, they can limit the near-term economic damage and suffering while setting us up for a faster recovery. We need each piece of the puzzle. BAKU, Azerbaijan, Mar. 20 Trend: A number of government agencies in Azerbaijan will get a paid leave from March 29 to April 29. The decision was made by the Cabinet of Ministers, Trend reports with reference to the Operational Headquarters under the Cabinet of Ministers. The statement of the Cabinet of Ministers says that this measure was taken to prevent the spread of coronavirus infection. All employees sent on vacation will receive full salary. Hairdressers are reporting a surge in demand from women who want to get their hair done before being stuck indoors for weeks due the coronavirus pandemic. A spokesman for The National Hair and Beauty Federation, which represents thousands of salons, said: 'We're seeing a rush. Customers are trying like mad to get bookings because, let's face it, everyone feels better with good hair. 'But in many cases the salons have already closed or are about to close.' Hairdressers are reporting a surge in demand from women who want to get their hair done before being stuck indoors for weeks due the coronavirus pandemic (stock image) Danielle Zarebski, who runs Danielle's Level Headed in Barrowupon-Soar in Leicestershire, said: 'Women are coming in wanting their hair done so it doesn't become too wild if they are stuck indoors. I've been very busy as a result. 'I'm taking a lot of steps to keep customers safe, such as only using one apron per person, anti-bacterial spraying of the chair between appointments and mopping the floor every five minutes.' There are more than 40,000 hair and beauty salons throughout the UK and the industry is worth 6.6 billion a year. A typical high street salon charges around 50 for a cut and blow dry and about 100 for highlights or colouring. There are more than 40,000 hair and beauty salons throughout the UK and the industry is worth 6.6 billion a year (stock image) Psychologist Rachel Hudson said: 'Suddenly women are faced with having to provide families with food and care for an indefinite period. 'They are in full planning mode. They will be thinking ahead and trying to complete everything which normally needs to be done including their hair. Hairdressers may represent a last time for 'self' for many women. 'It is hard to imagine that women need to worry about their hair in these extreme and extraordinary times. At the same time women are expected to be well-groomed too.' President Donald Trump on Saturday continued to fuel optimism that a new combination of existing drugs could be used to combat the coronavirus, but infectious disease experts in Alabama and elsewhere say its too early to know whether the combination will do the trick. A French study published last week found that a small number of COVID-19 patients who received a combination of an existing malaria drug called hydroxychloroquine and an antibiotic called azithromycin showed a rapid recovery. HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE & AZITHROMYCIN, taken together, have a real chance to be one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine, Trump tweeted Saturday morning. HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE & AZITHROMYCIN, taken together, have a real chance to be one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine. The FDA has moved mountains - Thank You! Hopefully they will BOTH (H works better with A, International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents)..... Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 21, 2020 Trump went on to say that the drugs should be put into use immediately. However, experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Allergies and Infectious Disease and UABs Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo urged caution. Fauci said more clinical trials were needed to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the drug combination. Many of the things that you hear out there are what I have called anecdotal reports, Fauci said at a briefing Saturday of the White House task force on coronavirus. They may be true, but theyre anecdotal, so the only thing that I was saying is that if you really want to definitively know if something works that youve got to do the kind of trial that you get the good information." Early Saturday morning, Marrazzo tweeted a thread showing some shortcomings in the French study, saying My take: Sloppy analysis informs premature conclusions. The Twitter thread, compiled by Jason Pogue, an infectious disease researcher from Michigan, highlighted what he saw as problems with the French study, including that only 20 people participated in the study and only six of those received the combination of drugs Trump named in his tweet. Pogue points out that six patients were removed from the already small study because they did not participate for the full six days. One died, three were moved to intensive care while still positive for COVID-19, one withdrew because of nausea and another left the hospital. He also pointed out that the patients who received the drug combo showed lower levels of the virus in their system when they began the trial than some of the patients who took only hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), the anti-malaria drug. Pogue said the results of the study were encouraging but most certainly do NOT tell us that HCQ works nor do they suggest that HCQ + Azithromycin is some special cure all. Fauci has echoed the same message from the podium at White House briefings on coronavirus, even as Trump remains markedly more optimisic. The president is talking about hope for people and its not an unreasonable thing to hope for people, Fauci said. Ronald W. Lewis, founder of the House of Dance and Feathers museum and the Big 9 Social Aid & Pleasure Club second-line organization, died Friday in New Orleans. He was 68. UPDATE: New Orleans culture bearer Ronald Lewis died while sick with coronavirus, family confirms Lewis had been in poor health in recent years with diabetes-related illnesses, according to his son Rashad, but was hospitalized Wednesday and tested for the coronavirus. The family had yet to receive those results when he died. Lewis was an authority on African American parading customs. In a 2011 YouTube video, he described himself as a person who done lived this entire culture. Lewis was born to a large family in the Lower 9th Ward. At age 12 or 13 he became acquainted with Mardi Gras Indian masking through his friend Ricky Gettridge, "spy boy" of the Yellow Pocahontas tribe. Lewis eventually co-founded the Choctaw Hunters, but through the years he did not regularly strut in one of the Indians' magnificent feathered suits. Instead, his interest was mainly in helping create the laboriously pieced-together bead mosaics that adorned the suits of others, according to Rachel Breunlin, who co-authored the 2009 book The House of Dance and Feathers with Lewis. In a 2016 interview in Offbeat magazine, Lewis described his devotion to the Indian traditions as a cultural addiction. You never stop," he said. "You might stop making suits, but youre going to find some way to be involved. Now, my thing is telling our story. New Orleans bounce deejay Black N Mild, 44, dies after coronavirus infection Popular New Orleans bounce deejay and radio personality Oliver Stokes Jr., better known as Go DJ Black N Mild, was one of two coronavirus-rela In addition to his activities with Mardi Gras Indians, Lewis was a stalwart of New Orleans second-line parading traditions. In the late 1980s he was a co-founder of the Double 9 second-line parading group and later the Big 9 organization. Lewis resigned from his role as president of the Big 9s Second Division in 2019 after 28 years, but he remained active with the group. He also was a member of the Krewe du Jieux Carnival marching group and the Northside Skull and Bone Gang. In 2008, he was crowned king of the Krewe du Vieux downtown Carnival parade. Lewis was a primary character in the 2009 book "Nine Lives," which chronicled the travails of a variety of New Orleanians as they sought to put their lives back together after Hurricane Katrina. According to Rashad Lewis, his father worked for 31 years for the Regional Transit Authority, as a streetcar rail repairman. After he retired in 2002, he dedicated himself to parade culture full-time. Eventually his wife, Charlotte, became overwhelmed with his collection of costumes and memorabilia and legendarily evicted it from the couples Tupelo Street house. Lewis moved his treasures into a shed on the property, arranged it into displays, and his self-styled House of Dance and Feathers museum was born. The small museum, crowded with flags, costumes and photographs, gave visitors a year-round insiders view of a variety of interconnected parading traditions. In 2005 Lewis home and the museum were flooded during Hurricane Katrina, but with the help of volunteers, he rebuilt. Lewis was taken to Ochsner Medical Center on Wednesday suffering from a variety of symptoms, according to Rashad Lewis. His health had declined suddenly in preceding days, his son said, and he died Friday morning. Lewis had been hospitalized in 2019 for gallbladder and kidney troubles related to diabetes. Bourbon Street braces for bar and nightclub closures - 'I'm kind of in shock' By Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards' orders, the bars and nightclubs along Bourbon Street will close their doors at midnight on Monday (March 1 Upon receiving news of Lewis' death, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell issued a statement that read: "Ronald was the very definition of a culture bearer. Talk about a survivor. Ronald survived Hurricane Betsy and wouldnt bow down even after his house was consumed by 14 feet of water during Katrina. Over the years he told the world about the rich street culture of New Orleans, exhibiting at Jazz Fest and other spaces as he explained the complexities of the Black Indians of Mardi Gras. He survived so much, and gave us so much. May he rest in Gods perfect peace." Lewis is survived by his wife, Charlotte "Minnie"; two sons, Renaldo and Rashad; and several grandchildren. Ironically, Lewis' death would normally be cause for a second-line parade, but at present, such public gatherings are impossible. Plans for a private memorial service have not been finalized, Rashad Lewis said. Connecticut, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana and Ohio have postponed their state primaries because of concerns over the transmission of the coronavirus. Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island are scheduled for April 28 about the time the curve we are hoping to flatten may or may not be trending in the best of directions. It will be tempting for leaders in those states and others to postpone their primaries. Instead, in this hour of crisis, state officials understandably scrambling to secure their people should do all they can to hold their elections as soon as possible. The legitimacy of the eventual Democratic nominee could depend on it. History is on the side of proceeding in times of uncertainty. Theres something in the American character that has long insisted on pressing ahead with democracys fundamental task: the casting of ballots and the choosing of leaders. In addition to the Lincoln example, historians know that James Madison was re-elected amid the War of 1812; the midterm elections of 1814 took place not long after the British had invaded Washington; the 1918 balloting occurred despite the ravages of the Spanish flu; the 1932 election went forward in the face of the Great Depression; and Franklin Roosevelt was re-elected in 1944, during World War II. Even 9/11 delayed the New York City mayoral election only by a matter of weeks. We have world enough and time and, in several states, the experience to make the voting in November safe and secure. Colorado offers us perhaps the most promising model. A vote at home state (Hawaii, Oregon and Washington have forms of this, too), Colorado mails ballots to all registered voters well in advance of Election Day. Voters can either mail them back or drop them off at central locations at any point in the weeks-long window of time. Most people have chosen this option; think of it as curbside democracy. There are security issues, of course: ballots could be intercepted and illegally cast by people with access to a persons mail. There are, however, signature-checking safeguards in place. No system including the current one is perfect. But we cant let the perfect be the enemy of the good. This coming Monday, Senators Amy Klobuchar and Ron Wyden are introducing legislation to make mail-in ballots available to every voter in America. As the Covid-19 pandemic spreads, India is staring at an acute shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) like hazmat suits and N95 masks. To offset this, the Centre has in the last two months worked on a slew of measures to increase reserves for government workers who are part of the efforts to curb the spread of the virus. A significant outcome is that India has started indigenous production. Textile ministry officials said officials from health ministry contacted them about the shortage. The ministry then reached out to three international producers to acquire reserves. In all, about 20,000 suits were taken , said the official. PPE for medical workers include coverall bodysuits and N95 masks with respirators made from melt-blown material. For the general public, the masks are two or three-ply. But imports alone cannot meet demand. The ministry then roped in South India Textile Research Association (SITRA) to quality check some domestic producers, whose chairman Prakash Vasudevan said there are very few melt-blown fabric producers across the globe. The material needs to have a high resistance to viruses, and since India has never faced such an epidemic, we did not have an indigenous effort. Three Indian producers were tested by SITRA on technical parameters, and supply from one of these companies have started. Officials said equipment from three more companies is currently undergoing tests. Textile officials said as situation evolves, so does demand. Currently, demand is for 8 lakh bodysuits and N95 masks of the material. Orders for these have been placed, said the official. On Thursday, the directorate general of foreign trade banned export of textile material for masks and coveralls, under the Foreign Trade (Development) and Regulation Act. The textile commissioner of Mumbai, ministry officials said, will be made the nodal authority to look at all export matters. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The easiest way for the novel coronavirus to spread is by airborne droplets from an infected person's coughs or sneezes. But you can also get the virus if you touch a surface or object that has microbes on it and then touch your nose, mouth or eyes. According to a study published last week in the Journal of Hospital Infection, university students touched their face 23 times per hour, with 56 percent of the contact with skin, 36 percent with the mouth, 31 percent nose and 31 percent eyes. Stay up to date on the latest coronavirus news with mySA.com: As data is still being collected on SARS-CoV-2 (the novel coronavirus), the study examined the lifespan of the similar SARS coronavirus on various inanimate surfaces. At a temperature of 68 degrees, SARS lasted: Less than 8 hours on latex 2 to 8 hours on aluminum 2 days on steel 4 days on wood 4 days on glass 5 days on metal 5 days on ceramics 5 days on plastics (but one strain survived up to 9 days on plastic) Those findings likely also apply to SARS-CoV-2, Rachel Graham, an epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina, told Business Insider. In general, nonporous surfaces like doorknobs, desktops and airplane seat trays tend to transmit viruses better than porous surfaces such as paper money, human hair, rug pile and fabrics. The microscopic holes or spaces in porous surfaces can trap the microbes, preventing them from being transferred. One surface touched by people all the time is a great place for germs to hang out their cellphone. The glass and metal surface of a cellphone often harbors contagions, especially on phones that are carried into the bathroom. University of Arizona researchers found cell phones carry 10 times more bacteria than most toilet seats. The Journal of Hospital Infection study found that temperature changes have a major effect on the lifespan of viruses. SARS, for example, does not like heat at 86 degrees its survival on steel surfaces was cut by at least 50 percent. But it does thrive in high humidity, moderate temperatures and low-wind environments. The easiest way to kill coronaviruses like SARS-CoV-2, according to the study, is the most obvious with a disinfectant. Solutions containing 62% to 71% ethanol alcohol, 0.5% hydrogen peroxide or 0.1% sodium hypochlorite will do the trick within a minute. Wiping down a desk with hand sanitizer won't kill the virus because the alcohol content is not high enough. MORE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE: Mike Moffitt is an SFGATE Digital Reporter. Email: moffitt@sfgate.com. Twitter: @Mike_at_SFGate State of Yucatan orders temporary closures of bars, restricts restaurants Merida, Yucatan The Government of the Yucatan State has ordered the temporary closure of bars, casinos and nightclubs as part of prevention measures against the contingency for the coronavirus after state cases reach 13. Governor of the state, Mauricio Vila Dosal says that restaurants and cafes must suspend activities starting at 10 p.m., adding that people should utilize restaurant home deliveries to reduce the possibility of contagion. As for older employees who work as bag packers in stores and supermarkets, the state government is calling on companies to support these workers so that they do not have to work for the duration of the contingency, since they are a highly vulnerable population. The state has also suspended all mass gatherings and activities as well as classes and public services such as the current license plate renewals. The suspension of all activities in the archaeological zones of Chichen Itza and Dzibilchaltun remains in place. Vila Dosal reported that the suspensions will remain in place until further notice, reiterating that the service of bars, clubs and nightclubs are closed as part of the prevention measures against the contingency due to COVID-19. Data released by the National Epidemiology System says the contagion situation in the state of Yucatan is 42 registered cases of which 13 were positive, 7 are still under study and 22 have been ruled out. Of the 13 confirmed cases, they are stable, isolated in their homes and continually monitored by medical personnel from the Yucatan Health Secretariat. The Government of Yucatan has created a coronavirus website where people can find official information regarding COVID-19. Thai Lion Air cancels flights THAILAND: Thai Lion Air (TLA) has become the first low-cost carrier in Thailand to raise the white flag by deciding to suspend operations on all routes after being hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. CoronavirusCOVID-19healthtransporttourism By Bangkok Post Saturday 21 March 2020, 10:52AM The airline stops operations on Wednesday (Mar 25) and is expected to resume services on May 1. Photo: Bangkok Post All of TLAs 17 aircraft will be grounded for over a month after it stops operations on Wednesday (Mar 25). The airline is expecting to resume services on May 1. Passengers who had booked flights between March 25 to April 30 have been offered the option to reschedule, avail credits for later travel, or a full refund. In the announcement by the airline and a statement sent to the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) yesterday, the airline announced that all TLA routes, both domestic and international, will be temporarily suspended. The airline is suffering from reduced demand, according to one of its executives, especially after its Chinese market was severely hit. The airline was already suffering and reducing operations before the pandemic. TLA serves 13 domestic and 30 international routes, including China and India. Another blow which has pushed the airline to stop services is the governments decision to postpone Songkran. The source added that TLA still had around 40% of flights booked during the holiday period, however, since there is no Songkran now, it is now receiving even more cancellation requests. There has also been a rise in the number of no-show passengers which shows that people have lost confidence in travel. With the possibility of a lockdown looming, TLA decided to stop its services and operations as the cost of operation has become a burden, especially with reduced income. An executive from the aviation industry who asked not to be named also complained about insufficient aid measures for all airlines. WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - United Airlines Holdings Inc (UAL) announced Friday that it would reduce its international schedule by 95% for April due to government restrictions prohibiting travel in an effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The company specified that it will temporarily suspend all flights to Canada effective April 1 and drawing down its remaining trans-Atlantic, trans-Pacific operations. The company also noted that it will reduce its Mexico operation over the next five days. On March 17, United Airlines announced a 60 percent schedule reduction in April - this includes a 42 percent reduction across the U.S. and Canada and an 85 percent decrease in international flights. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. A California man was caught on camera kicking a coyote that was trying to attack his little dog. The home's surveillance video showed the horrifying moment when the coyote ran across a porch and attacked the small dog that had been resting on the deck in South Lake Tahoe, California. The video starts with the dog lying in a sunny spot on the deck while its occupied owner sits on a chair several feet away. A small dog is pictured here, sunning itself, just moments before it was attacked by a coyote. Its owner is seen sitting on a chair, just feet away from the dog The coyote runs onto the porch and rams into the dog, trying to grab it around the neck The quick-thinking man runs over to help his dog, preparing to kick at the attacking coyote The dog, alerted to something off screen, gets up and adopts a defensive posture just a split-second before the coyote runs into view and rams into the dog, attempting to grab and shake the dog by the neck. As this happens, the dog's owner leaps up from his chair and kicks the coyote, chasing it off the porch. The dog then wanders back into frame, seemingly unharmed by what just happened. The man then protectively picks up the dog and cradles it in his arms, as he keeps an eye out in case the coyote returns for another shot at the poor pooch. After a few moments, the man can be seen lifting up the dog, seemingly checking for injuries. The man can be seen here running back to his seemingly unharmed dog, before scooping it up After the attack, the man protectively holds his dog, while keeping an eye out for the coyote Coyotes are known to be very bold predators that have no qualms about attacking pets in the presence of their human owners, iheartdogs.com reports. The predators - which weigh just 20 to 50 pounds - are known for stalking their prey, then running at speeds of up to 40 miles per hour while attacking. Coyotes will often go straight for the kill, biting their preys' necks and compressing their windpipes. The first 15 seconds of the attack are said to be key, as any longer than that and the damage done to the pet's head, body and throat will be too severe to survive. In this particular incident, about five seconds passed between the start of the attack on the dog and when the coyote was scared off by the man. 7k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard Trump did not create the novel corona virus (COVID-19), but through his ineptitude, narcissism, and mendacious propaganda he weaponized it and aided its deadly spread throughout the United States. Any semi-intelligent person understands the necessity of reflecting on their, or others, past mistakes to avoid repeating a bad situation; particularly when that bad situation adversely endangers human life. Donald Trump cannot, and will never, come to terms with the fact that anything he does could be misconstrued as a mistake or wrong, because he thinks he is perfect. It is almost certainly why Trumps Surgeon General told reporters during a press briefing, likely on Trumps orders, to stop pointing fingers, criticizing, or assigning blame for the corona virus spread in America. For several weeks Trump and his nasty lackeys at Fox News accused Democrats and the media of weaponizing the COVID-19 virus by asking when he intended on taking action to prevent the virus spread. There was weaponizing of COVID-19, but the truth is actually the opposite of what Trump claimed. Trump used Democrats and the medias concerns for Americans health and well-being during a virulent global pandemic as a political weapon in his quest for reelection and filthy habit of self-aggrandizement no matter the issue. But unlike the media and Democrats simply asking questions Trumps weaponizing the pandemic is costing Americans lives. Trump has blood on his tiny hands borne of his incompetence, narcissism, and mendacious propaganda crusade. It is a months-long crusade of dishonest and misleading claims still being carried out by Republicans, evangelical fanatics and right-wing media. That Trump initiated the propaganda campaign was not only intrinsically evil, it successfully created an atmosphere that prompted many sane, but ignorant, Americans to spread the deadly virus throughout the population. According to no small number of imbeciles who are not Trump acolytes, the fear of the virus spreading was just political hysteria with no basis in fact; a claim this author heard three times on Friday. For Trumps hateful acolytes, particularly his evangelical devotees, their wanton spread of the virus is their way of combatting nasty leftists who are out to get Trump. Earlier in the week Trump said that he knew from very early on that the corona virus outbreak was a pandemic before the World Health Organization (WHO), and if that was indeed the case, his month-long propaganda campaign dismissing the pandemic as a Democratic hoax is even more despicable. He said: This is a pandemic. I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic. All you had to do was look at other countries. It is doubtful that Trump even understands what a global pandemic is, but he did know COVID-19 was as virulent as it is deadly he didnt even need to look at other countries and what actions they were taking to protect their own citizens. He was duly warned before COVID-19 became a thing, but it was more important to protect his image than American lives. Protecting Americans lives still doesnt figure in Trumps malignant mind. In fact, every day that Trump denied, dismissed, and diminished the threat to American lives increased the amount of blood on his hands. And whether it is those who have already succumbed to the virus or those who will become infected and lose their lives, their blood is on Trumps hands. Even before the news of the COVID-19 outbreak, there were several federal agencies sounding the alarm regarding how unprepared America was; whether it was a coordinated plan of action, adequate funding, or the lack of preparation, America under Trump was ill-prepared to protect American lives. As reported in a New York Times article, the potentially deadly consequences of failing to immediately address the lack of preparation are now playing out in an all-too-real fashion across the country. Trump knew well that America was unprepared for a pandemic and still did nothing except downplay the threat even while those consequences were being realized. It is certain that COVID-19 was going to come to America, but if Trump had heeded his own governments warnings and took immediate action the spread of the virus could have been reduced and lives would have been saved. In fact, even now the experts are warning that taking severe measures similar to those in some Democratic-governed states will greatly reduce the virus spread and save countless lives. A conclusion by Columbia University researchers is that, even if the country cut its rate of transmission in half, some 650,000 people might become infected in the next couple of months. There has been nothing from Trump to take severe measures because it will expose to the entire nation just how bad the infection rate is and how his incompetence resulted in the spread of the virus resulting in the loss of American lives. Trump is still attempting to downplay the dangers of the virus spread. His call to states to not report unemployment numbers is not about the stock market as much as it is burnishing his image as an economic genius. Trump will accept massive loss of American lives if it appears the stock market is doing well, and it is part of his weaponizing the virus to both attack Democrats and the media while feeding his nasty ego. Despite any officials call to avoid the blame game it is crucial to remind the population exactly why the country is in a place it could have avoided if the nations incompetent leader cared about Americans lives. Trump did weaponize the virus for his own benefit and doing so has, and will continue to, cost American lives. How many fatalities due to Trumps lack of regard for human life will likely never be known, but it is no stretch to say that by doing nothing in spite of knowing how unprepared America was, and still is, the dirty cretin has American citizens blood on his tiny hands. It is almost certain that if Trump had taken action as soon as he knew COVID-19 was a global pandemic, then his worthless media sycophants and cowardly Republican legislators would have supported his efforts. Instead, they wholeheartedly embraced Trumps weaponizing efforts making them as guilty as Trump for aiding a deadly rampage against American citizens. It is a fact that cannot be understated or allowed to go unpunished. Electronic bracelets and phones that report your whereabouts, text messages if you stray too far from quarantine and digital detectives tracking where you have been Asian countries have embraced innovative, if somewhat invasive, tech to counter the coronavirus pandemic. As Japan Times reports, when Hong Kong stylist Declan Chan flew home from Zurich earlier this week, he was greeted by officials who placed an electronic device on his arm. The wristband was connected to an app that he had to install on his phone as he headed into two weeks of compulsory self-quarantine at home. It allows authorities to check his location as Hong Kong tries to halt fresh infections from people returning from overseas after two months of making impressive headway against its own outbreak. Speaking by phone from home, Chan, 36, said he was getting used to having a tracker that alerts authorities if he leaves his apartment. Thats a bit mind-boggling, he said. But I would rather be in home quarantine than in a government center. Hong Kongs health authorities have held daily briefings on the outbreak. But the new bracelets were announced in a late night government press statement Monday with little fanfare. Some 5,000 wristbands were ready for use with another 55,000 on their way, authorities said. On Thursday, Hong Kong began ordering all arrivals from overseas to wear the bracelets. The city is not alone in using such measures. South Korea, China, Taiwan and Singapore all of which have had success in curbing the spread of the coronavirus have employed a range of technological solutions. Taiwans centralized epidemic control center links multiple government agencies and uses big data to look for potential carriers and monitor those quarantining. Smartphones with GPS capabilities are given to those isolating at home, with local officials tracking them via the Line messaging app. Warning text messages are sent to those who break quarantine and the tracking system is connected with local police departments. Transgressors risk a fine of up to 1 million New Taiwan dollars ($33,000) and having their names published. South Korea has a similar app, although it is voluntary. Singapore has a team of dedicated digital detectives monitoring those quarantining as well to trace where confirmed carriers have traveled to. Everywhere we go, we do leave a digital signature, be it from the cash we draw, or the use of the ATM card or the credit card, Leong Hoe Nam, an infectious-disease doctor in Singapore, told PRI earlier this month as he explained how the team worked. Both Singapore and Hong Kong release live details of which buildings have had confirmed COVID-19 cases. The measures are effective at slowing infections but raise privacy concerns. Maya Wang, a China specialist at Human Rights Watch, said even during crises laws to track people should meet three criteria: legality, proportionality and necessity. Transparent and democratic governments tended to have a better track record of checks and balances, she said. In places like China you see the most intrusive measures and the most arbitrary outcomes, she said. But she drew a comparison with the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States, when sweeping and often draconian anti-terrorism measures were enacted by many nations. Emergencies often provide the best opportunities for the subversion of democratic principles, she added. China has deployed the most sweeping and troubling tech to combat the new coronavirus. Various cities and provinces last month began introducing a system of colored QR codes that must be downloaded on mobile phones to aid in tracking peoples movements. Green indicates a clean bill of health, yellow means the bearer may have visited a high-risk virus area within the past 14 days and is subject to closer inspection, while red indicates that a quarantine of the person is necessary. There has been scant public explanation of how the information is obtained, other than vague references to big data, presumably by tracking a persons history of online payments, which have rapidly replaced cash in China. Government announcements have made clear that the coding system will remain in use in some form even after the pandemic subsides. Europe is also searching for technological options as it scrambles to halt spiraling infections. On Wednesday a team of experts at the University of Oxford announced they were working with several European governments to explore an app for instant contact tracing that could be deployed with appropriate ethical considerations. Current strategies are not working fast enough to intercept transmission of coronavirus, said professor Christophe Fraser from the universitys Big Data Institute. To effectively tackle this pandemic, we need to harness 21st-century technology. By William Schwartz | Published on 2020/03/20 On March 20th Moon Ji-yoon's remains were taken to be enterred at his final resting place. Though family had asked well-wishers not personally known for them to not be present due to COVID-19 fears, South Korean media was still on hand to document the event. Advertisement As expected all persons available were wearing masks to protect from possible transmission of COVID-19. Moon Ji-yoon himself did not die from COVID-19, despite rumors to that effect, but rather due to a rapidly devolving case of acute blood poisoning. Moon Ji-yoon had been admitted to Sanggye Paik Hospital at Inje University of March 16th and died at 8:56 in the evening on March 18th. Written by William Schwartz That's as of the morning of Saturday, March 21. Since the outbreak of the novel Covid-19 coronavirus, more than 276,468 people have contracted the disease that has already taken 11,417 lives, while over 91,954 patients have recovered. Most of the infected are still being observed in mainland China, especially at the epicenter of an outbreak of infection in Hubei Province's Wuhan. In China, some 81,000 cases have been confirmed, including 3,255 lethal ones, according to Worldometer. Read alsoUkraine's Health Minister predicts confirmed COVID-19 cases will be on the rise However, in the past few weeks, the spread pace has been on decline in China. For the third time, not a single local case of coronavirus infection has been confirmed there. The worst situation beyond mainland China is now in Italy, where record-high mortality is reported. A total of 4,032 deaths have been confirmed among over 47,000 cases. The second-largest number of confirmed cases is in Spain: over 21,500, including 1,093 lethal. Also, significant numbers are seen in Germany (some 19,800 infected and 68 dead) and the United States (some 19,600 infected and 264 dead). Iran recorded a sharp jump in coronavirus deaths: 1,433 of 19,600 confirmed cases. France, which also recorded a sharp jump in coronavirus deaths, reports some 12,600 cases, including 450 lethal. The next largest number of cases of Covid-19 is in South Korea, where 8,900 people contracted Covid-19, of whom 102 died. In Ukraine, meanwhile, the number of patients increased to 41, three of whom died. Moreover, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry reported that three Ukrainians had died from coronavirus abroad. As UNIAN reported earlier, an outbreak of a novel coronavirus was recorded in the most populous city of Central China, Wuhan (12 mln people), at the end of December 2019. The World Health Organization recognized it as a "global emergency", describing it as a multi-cell epidemic. A national quarantine has been announced in Ukraine, which will last until April 3. (Bloomberg) -- Google launched a website dedicated to information about Covid-19 a week after U.S. President Donald Trump touted the companys help in the fight against the pandemic. The internet giant said it worked with relevant agencies and authorities to roll out the site -- google.com/covid19 -- which went live on the web late Friday offering education, prevention and local resources related to the novel coronavirus. At the top of the site, theres an information box describing virus symptoms, treatment and prevention tips from the World Health Organization. Google also included links to state departments of health across the U.S., search trends related to Covid-19, and other resources for individuals, educators and businesses. Launching today in the U.S., the site will be available in more languages and countries in the coming days and well update the website as more resources become available, Google said in a statement. Along with our other products and initiatives, we hope these resources will help people find answers to the questions theyre asking and get the help they need. The coronvirus has spread around the globe, infecting more than 250,000 people and killing over 10,000. In the U.S., about a third of the population has been told to stay home, triggering a financial market crash and dire warnings of economic decline. As the distributors of most online information, Google and other internet giants have been called on to help by limiting misinformation and highlighting trustworthy sources. Disaster Declared in New York, States Shut Down: Virus Update On March 13, Trump said Alphabet Inc.s Google had roughly 1,700 engineers working on a virus website. At the time, no one was sure exactly what he was talking about. Verily, a health-care unit of Alphabet, has rolled out a triage website that offers a limited number of virus tests in Silicon Valley. But Google itself has been developing its own site, which launched this Friday. Story continues Google hopes to include a link on its website to a questionnaire from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that will ask people about any virus symptoms and direct them to testing locations and other resources. Under a resources tab on the left of Googles site, the company linked to many of its own services. A section for teachers on how to instruct students from home listed company offerings such as Google Classroom, Google Docs and Google Hangouts. A Google spokesman declined to say when the company began work on the website. Googles site also includes links to several YouTube videos, culled from channels the spokesman said the company will be curating. Google also created bespoke search pages to show people when they look for online information about Covid-19. The company will show no ads alongside these results. There will be a carousel of virus-related Twitter posts from vetted sources, too. The site and revamped search experience are some of the first major projects from Googles new health division. For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source. 2020 Bloomberg L.P. A woman aged around 23 years was detected with coronavirus in West Bengal on Fridat, taking the total number of positive cases to three. The woman who returned from Scotland s now admitted in the ID hospital. According to Ajay Chakraborty, director of Health services in the state, she landed in Mumbai on Friday and later in the day, she took a domestic flight to Kolkata. From the airport she directly went to the hospital as she had symptoms. She tested positive close to midnight. She didnt hide anything and told the airport authorities about her travel history. She had symptoms and insisted that she needs to get admitted, said Chakraborty. She is a resident of Habra in North 24 Parganas. Bengals first positive case is an 18-year-old resident of Kolkata who had returned from London. He tested positive on March 17. A 22-year-old man, a resident of south Kolkata who had also returned from London, became the second person to test positive on March 19. Follow live updates here. The two men are said to have roamed around freely before they tested positive for coronavirus. The conduct of the two men have raised fears of a rise in infections among their chain of contacts. Earlier this week, the West Bengal government invoked provisions of Epidemic Disease Act, 1897, created a fund of Rs 200 crore and extended the closure of schools, colleges and universities till April 15 among a slew of new measures to prevent the outbreak of coronavirus in the state. The Sri Lankan government on Saturday announced the extending of the two-day curfew as the country reported five fresh coronavirus cases, taking the total number of infected people to 77. Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi said that 245 more cases are under observation. The curfew which was to be lifted at 6 AM on Monday has now been extended until 6 AM Tuesday. It will be reimposed at 2 PM the same afternoon. The Election Commission announced that the parliamentary election scheduled to be held on April 25 and indefinitely postponed would not be held anytime before May 14. The date is to be issued later. The authorities said the curfew was meant to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and all essential services would be in operation. All services would be made available to the public whenever the curfew will be lifted. Newspaper organisation said they have stopped weekend issues due to problems caused by the lockdown. Police said they have arrested over 120 curfew violators. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 20, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bolt Metals Corp. (CSE: BOLT) (FRANKFURT: NXFE) (OTCQB: PCRCF) (the Company or Bolt Metals) has completed a debt settlement with three creditors (the "Debt Settlement"). The Debt Settlement will result in an aggregate of $300,000.00 of indebtedness being retired in consideration for the issuance of 999,999 common shares at a price of $0.30 per common share. The indebtedness is held by three arms length parties. The Debt Settlement is subject to Canadian Securities Exchange approval. The securities issued under the Debt Settlement are subject to a hold period expiring July 21, 2020. About Bolt Metals BOLT Metals Corp. is a Canadianbased exploration company focused on the acquisition and development of production grade nickel and cobalt deposits, key raw material inputs for the growing lithiumion battery industry. Visit https://boltmetals.com/ to find out more. Bolt Metals Corp. Ranjeet Sundher President and CEO (604) 922-8272 rsundher@boltmetals.com Steve Vanry CFO & Director (604) 922-8272 steve@vanrycap.com Sean Bromley Director & Investor Contact (778) 985-8934 sean@theparmargroup.com Reader Advisory Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Two missing kayakers found dead at Tulum lagoon Tulum, Q.R. Two national tourists who were reported missing Thursday evening have been found deceased by Tulum officials. Tulum Fire and Civil Protection personnel began searching for the pair at 6:30 a.m. Friday, after they were reported missing. The pair were kayaking on the 20 kilometer-long laguna Nopalitos with friends but failed to emerge by the end of the day. They were reported missing around 8:00 p.m. Thursday evening. Members of Bomberos and Proteccion Civil de Tulum reported finding the missing tourists deceased at the lagoon Friday morning using drones. According to preliminary information, Martin and Jose Arjona, along with two other friends, Jhony Gomez and Rodrigo Lopez, entered laguna Nopalitos for a day of kayaking, but did not show up to leave the lagoon as planned. The other two kayakers left the lagoon, but without their comrades. The bodies of the two men were found Friday by emergency personnel. The two deceased are Martin and Jose Arjona, both from Mexico. They are presumed to have drowned, however, an official autopsy is scheduled. (Newser) Coronavirus concerns took an ugly turn Thursday when two roommates got in an argument over government-imposed restrictionsand one shot the other dead, MLive reports. Details are scant, but officers responded just after 9pm in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and found one roommate dead from multiple gunshot wounds. Yet Ann Arbor Police Chief Michael Cox says the shooting is considered a "death investigation" rather than a homicide at this point. According to police, the suspect says he only opened fire after his roomie lunged at him with a crowbar. story continues below Meanwhile Ann Arbor's mayor has issued a statement about the virtues of staying at home. "Now, the virus is still spreading, as we knew that it would, and so I want to encourage all residentschildren, seniors and everybody in betweento stay at home," he said Saturday, per MLive. "Stay at home unless you need essential services such as food, medicine or other essentials." He didn't mention the shooting, but said outdoor exercise is still OK: "You can take a break," he said. "But as you do so, be safe." (Read more coronavirus stories.) One can pick out two incidents from author Isabel Allendes life that made her who she is, inadvertently influencing much of her writing. First, was a meeting with Nobel Laureate Pablo Neruda. In 1973, when Allende got the opportunity to interview Neruda, he famously told her, Youre too imaginative to be a journalist. You should become an author instead. And second, in that very year, when her uncle, the Chilean President Salvador Allende was overthrown by Augusto Pinochet in a successful military coup. Her familys life, suddenly, was in peril because of which they were forced to flee to Venezuela. Now, the 77-year-old author, with her latest release The Long Petal of the Sea, charts the pain that displacement inflicts on innocent refugees and a blossoming love story that lies in the heart of it for Death and love go hand-in-hand in life and in literature, as she says. Excerpts: Ironically, the tag - worlds most widely read Spanish-language author pits you against the great Gabriel Garcia Marquez. What do you make of that? Writing is a very private endeavour, it requires time, silence and solitude. Stories grow in the secret chambers of the mind and the heart. Public life and success happen in the outer circles of my world and dont affect the process of writing or my life. I live in small house with my husband and two dogs, I drive a small hybrid car, and I work at least 10 hours a day... I dont look like celebrity at all! A beautiful aspect of your new novel is that of love in the times of ruthless war. Thats such a universal occurrence, how did you make sure to portray the brutalities of war and yet, retain the tenderness and innocence of love? In extreme circumstances, like war or any catastrophe, the best and the worst of people emerge. You have villains and heroes; on one hand you have violence, destruction, cowardice and cruelty and on the other you have solidarity, courage and compassion. Death and love go hand in hand in life and in literature. It was not difficult to portrayed them in the novel because I have known both. When did you discover Pablo Nerudas works? How deeply has his life and works influenced you? I have read Pablo Nerudas poetry since I was a teenager. I cant say I have a fascination with his work but it has certainly accompanied me. I live and work in English (in California) but I write fiction in Spanish. Reading his poetry in my own language helps me to recover the vocabulary, the rhythm, the flavour and the imagery of my background. Pablo Neruda told me that he would never be interviewed by me, I was a lousy journalist, I could not be objective, I probably lied and if I didnt have a story I would make it up. He added that I should move to literature, where all those defects are virtues. Can you talk a bit about the meeting you had with him, when he advised you to become an author. Must have been like a dream to meet your idol I met Pablo Neruda in 1973, shortly before the military coup that toppled the government and installed a dictatorship in Chile for 17 years. At the time I was a journalist. Neruda invited me to his house he lived a small coastal village because apparently he liked a humorous column that I wrote regularly in a magazine. I was delighted that the Nobel Prize wanted me to interview him! But he told me that he would never be interviewed by me, I was a lousy journalist, I could not be objective, I probably lied and if I didnt have a story I would make it up. He added that I should move to literature, where all those defects are virtues. I wish I had followed his advice sooner. It took me eight years to write my first novel. Allendes latest book What was the literary scene like in Chile back in your formative years? It was rather limited when I was young, but in my twenties everything changed. I belong to the first generation of Latin American writers influenced by the great writers of the Latin American Boom, authors like Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jose Donoso, Octavio Paz, Julio Cortazar, Jorge Luis Borges, etc. Before my time, these great authors were published in their countries but their work was badly distributed. In the 1960s some publishing houses in Spain published their books and distributed in Latin America and the rest of the world. Of course, I read them all. Amazingly, they were all male. There were no feminine voices in the Boom. In extreme circumstances, like war or any catastrophe, the best and the worst of people emerge. You have villains and heroes; on one hand you have violence, destruction, cowardice and cruelty and on the other you have solidarity, courage and compassion. Death and love go hand in hand in life and in literature. A Long Petal of the Sea is a fascinating read. How did you make sure that you portray the brutalities of war, yet, retain the tenderness and innocence of love? In extreme circumstances, like war or any catastrophe, the best and the worst of people emerge. You have villains and heroes; on one hand you have violence, destruction, cowardice and cruelty and on the other you have solidarity, courage and compassion. Death and love go hand in hand in life and in literature. It was not difficult to portray them in the novel because I have known both. Allende was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by former US President Barack Obama in 2014. (PHOTO: AFP) Your first book, The House of Spirits faced resistance when it was released. But you, unknowingly, might have influenced so many whod have got interested in your work for this very reason. Have you ever met them? I have met some people who read The House of the Spirits in Chile in the early 80s, when the book was censored. Copies of the book were smuggled into the country with a different cover and passed around. What an honour for writer that is!! But soon my novel and several others that had been censored started to be pirated or sold under the table by daring booksellers. In some parts of the United States a few of my books have been censored by evangelical parents, they dont want them to be optional reading in high schools. Of course, curious teenagers manage to get them. I have often said the best way to have people read a book is to forbid it. Youve written almost two dozen books, and your first work faced some roadblocks before seeing the light of the day. How have all those experiences changed you as a writer? I submitted the manuscript of the House of the Spirits to several publishing houses in Latin America but they were not interested. When the book was published in Spain in 1982 it became an immediate success and was rapidly translated into almost all European languages. I was very lucky because most writers never get a break like the one I got. That book gave me a voice, made me a writer and paved the way for all the other books that I have written. Have you been to India? What do you make of the country and its literary alumni? I have been in India only once. It is such a fascinating and complex country that I would not dare to give an opinion about it. The Indian Railways has cancelled all passenger trains originating between Saturday midnight to 10 p.m. on Sunday and all long-distance mail/express and Intercity trains (including premium trains) originating between 4 a.m. and 10 p.m on that day. The changes have been made as part of the regulation of train service during Janata Curfew in the wake of COVID-19. "No passenger or express train will originate from any railway station on the country between Saturday/Sunday midnight to 10:00 pm on Sunday," said an order issued by Indian Railways. A press release said that the demand for rail travel will be vastly reduced during the Janata Curfew hours from 7 a.m to 9 p.m on Sunday. The Railways Ministry has also advised zonal railways to reduce suburban services, and the same in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, and Secunderabad will be reduced to bare minimum level on Sunday. It said the zonal railways have also been advised to cancel all passenger trains originating between Saturday midnight to 10 pm on Sunday. The zonal railways have also been advised that all long-distance mail/express and Intercity trains (including premium trains) originating between 4 a.m and 10 p.m on Sunday will be cancelled. Trains that had commenced journey already prior to the above timelines will run-up to their destinations. The release said that adequate arrangements will be made to facilitate a hassle-free refund to passengers affected by train cancellations. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Upon the passing of actor Moon Ji Yoon, there were speculations that he had similar symptoms to coronavirus infection. He died after being hospitalized for the diagnosis of acute septicemia, also known as blood poisoning. Acute septicemia occurs when a bacterial infection is in the lungs or skin that enters the bloodstream. At first, the actor's symptoms started with a sore throat, which eventually caused a fever. Then, it worsened and he was admitted to the hospital. Because of showing symptoms similar to the coronavirus (COVID-19), many people speculated that the actor had the viral infection and died from it. However, his agency clarified the speculations and stated that coronavirus was not the cause of his untimely death. Moon Ji Yoon tested negative from the virus, which was why he was admitted to the hospital and was not isolated. He was hurriedly taken to the emergency room after he acquired a bacterial infection from his sore throat. His symptoms worsened and became severe in the emergency room. Upon examining his condition, the doctors discovered that his organs were showing signs of abnormality. He was then transferred to the ICU. His fever, it seemed, severely damaged his organs. Two days before his hospitalization, the actor was having symptoms of sore throat. He struggled to fight the sickness on his own but his mother rushed him to the hospital when she found him at his home in serious condition. Moon Ji Yoon was always a healthy man. Moon Ji Yoon was very excited to launch his most recent project, which was a commercial just a few days before he passed away. The actor was always more than ever determined to go on and continue to grow as an actor, but sadly fell into an illness. The actor had just finished his commercial for a prestigious brand company and they can not divulge the company's name since the commercial has not been released yet. The filming of the said commercial was in Jeju Island and the actor was happy while traveling there. He happily told his companion that he wants to lose weight and work harder. Aside from the commercial project, there weren't any dramas or movies confirmed of the actor. For nearly two decades, Moon Ji Yoon has been a talented actor in the industry. His debuting role was in the 2002 drama "Romance" and continued to shine and star in many more famous series like "Iljimae," "Cheese In The Trap, "Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo," among others. May Moon Ji Yoon rest in peace. Alex Salmond could have been a "better man" but is not guilty of sexual offences, his lawyer has told jurors at his trial. Gordon Jackson QC, defending, said there was a "pattern" where "something that was thought nothing of at the time" has become a criminal charge in the High Court in Edinburgh, Scotland. Salmond (65) denies 13 alleged sexual offences against nine women, who were all either working for the Scottish government or within the SNP at the time. The accusations span a period between June 2008 and November 2014 and range from him stroking a civil servant's hair to trying to rape a former government official. Mr Jackson started his closing speech to the jury yesterday with a quote from one of the complainers. "I wish for my life the first minister was a better man and I was not here." "If in some ways the former first minister had been a better man, I wouldn't be here, you wouldn't be here, none of us would be here," he said. "I'm not here to suggest he always behaved well or couldn't have been a better man on occasions. That would be a waste of my time. "But I'm in a court of law and I'm dealing, not with whether he could have been a better man, because he certainly could have been better. "There's only to be guilt in these matters, not because someone could have been a better man." Mr Jackson suggested there was something "strange" about the allegations turning from being inappropriate to criminal, telling the jury the case "stinks". The trial, before Lady Dorrian, continues. The powerful head of Russia's largest oil company has downplayed the disagreement with Saudi Arabia that led to a dramatic fall in oil prices, and he predicted a quick rebound sometime this year as U.S. shale production is knocked out. Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin told state media in a televised interview on March 20 that the so-called OPEC+ group had lost its significance in balancing the global oil market as countries including the United States, Brazil, Norway, and Mexico raised production at its expense. "Is there any point in cutting production in the future if other countries are going to increase it?" he asked. At a meeting of OPEC+ members on March 6 in Vienna, Russia informed Saudi Arabia it would not agree to its request for another production cut to support oil prices amid a fall in global demand caused largely by the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Sechin, a close associate of President Vladimir Putin, was reportedly behind Russia's decision. Russia is a key member of OPEC+, which includes the 13-country OPEC cartel and several independent oil-producing states, but not the United States. Riyadh, angered by Moscow's stance, announced the following day it would ramp up production by about 20 percent, causing the biggest one-day fall in oil prices in nearly three decades. Riyadh's "shock-and-awe" move -- seen as an attempt to get Moscow back to the negotiating table -- has sent Russia's currency tumbling roughly 20 percent to a near record-low of 80 rubles to the U.S. dollar. Oil is Russia's top export commodity and accounts for a large portion of its budget revenue. Brent crude prices closed March 20 at $29 a barrel, down by more than half over the past month. Neither Moscow nor Riyadh has showed a willingness yet to give in to the other's demands. Sechin, who has faced some criticism at home for the decision, said in the interview that Russia's production costs were nearly as low as Saudi Arabia's and that Rosneft could maintain its production for another 22 years at current levels, even if it stopped exploration. He described Saudi Arabia's increase as market dumping. However, he predicted oil prices would return to a range of between $50 and $60 a barrel by the end of the year as U.S. shale producers are squeezed by the low-price environment. Some U.S. shale producers have high break-even costs of around $50 a barrel. "Several companies in the shale sphere are already cutting back on their work and that, of course, will also bring the market into balance," Sechin said. U.S. shale production has surged over the past decade and lifted the country's total oil output to 13 million barrels a day, surpassing Russia and Saudi Arabia for the top spot globally. That has opened the door to U.S. oil exports to Europe and Asia, traditional Russian markets. The 59-year-old executive said other factors were also impacting the oil market, including coronavirus and sanctions. Sechin called the virus a "serious problem," but said China was making progress on stopping its spread and cautioned against "dramatizing" the situation. He also claimed U.S. sanctions against Russia, which include financing and technology for the oil industry, had hurt American companies more than Russian companies. U.S. banks have had to close their credit lines with Russia's oil industry, depriving them of billions of dollars in interest, he said. On March 12, the prosecutors office in Russias Pskov region informed a local journalist, Svetlana Prokopyeva, that a criminal investigation targeting her had been completed and that she had been indicted on charges of publicly justifying terrorism. If convicted, Prokopyeva could serve seven years in prison. The prosecutors charge is misleading. A transcript of Prokopyevas commentary shows that her remarks were explanatory and not meant to endorse violence. Prokopyeva is a prominent journalist in Pskov, where she freelances for Radio Free Europe. (Disclosure: Voice of America and RFE are both independent news organizations funded by the U.S. government under the United States Agency for Global Media.) She has hosted a political talk show for a local affiliate of Ekho Moskvy radio and worked as an investigative reporter for the Pskovskaya Lenta Novostei news agency. The terrorist attack On Oct. 31, 2018, Mikhail Zhlobitsky, a 17-year-old student, walked into the office of the Federal Security Service (FSB) in the city of Archangelsk in northern Russia, took a IED (improvised explosive devise) out of his backpack and detonated it. Zhlobitsky died on the spot, and the blast wounded three FSB officers. The Russian National Anti-terrorism Committee called it a terrorist attack. Zhlobitsky, later identified as a member of an anarcho-communist national-radical group, reportedly left a manifesto saying he had decided to launch a suicide bombing because the FSB fabricates cases and tortures people. What did Prokopyeva say? On Nov. 7, 2018, Prokopyeva commented on the Arkhangelsk attack on her Ekho Moskvy Pskov program. Those comments became the basis of the criminal prosecution charge. A transcript of the program has been classified as extremist material and banned from distribution in Russia under the threat of prosecution. A full transcript of Prokopyevas original broadcast is available in Russian on Medium.com. According to Prokopyeva, parts of her radio commentary that upset the Russian authorities the most and figured in her prosecution include the following: A strong state. A strong president, a strong governor. A country wherepower belongs to the security forces. The generation to which the Arkhangelsk bomber belonged grew up in this atmosphere. They know that you can 't go to demonstrations they will disperse you, or even beat you, and then they will convict you. The many years of restricted political and civil liberties have created in Russia not just an unfree, but a repressive state. A state that is unsafe and scary to deal with. A state that is repressive towards its own citizens is now being met with a response. A young citizen who saw only prohibitions and punishments from the authorities could think of no other means of communication. Cruelty begets cruelty. A ruthless government has produced a citizen who has made death his argument. Lets hope he is an exception. In her broadcast, Prokopyeva made clear that she does not condone terrorism and violence, saying such acts are monstrous. Her employer at the time, Pskovskaya Lenta Novostei, published a full transcript of the broadcast. Two months later, in December 2018, the Russian state watchdog Roscomnadzor ordered Ekho Moskvy and Pskovskaya Lenta Novostei to take down Prokopyevas program and fined them for distributing extremist material. Three months after her broadcast, in February 2019, the Pskov regional prosecutors office launched a criminal investigation, and the Investigative Committee indicted Prokopyeva in September 2019. She has said the case is motivated by her critical coverage of the government. In an open letter published in October 2019, she called it banal revenge" by "offended siloviki" whom she blamed for the Arkhangelsk bombing. "I did not justify the terror attack, I analyzed its causes," she wrote, while the case against her is "the assassination of press freedom." The charges were based on Article 205.2 of the Russian Criminal Code, concerning public calls to commit terrorist activity or public justify terrorism. International human rights and media organizations have called the accusations against Prokopyeva bogus and demanded that Russian authorities drop the charges against her. Speculation over COVID-19s origin continues to grow, with some people demanding that the US government disclose more information on the closure of a US Army biological laboratory that may be connected to the outbreak. On March 10, a petition was launched on the White Houses website, asking the US government to publish the real reason behind the closure of Fort Detrick. (Screenshot of the White House website) On March 10, a petition was launched on the White Houses website, asking the US government to make public the real reason for the closure of Fort Detrick, a prominent military germ lab, and to clarify whether the laboratory is the research unit for the new coronavirus "COVID19" and whether there was a virus leak. The Fort Detrick lab is the US Armys top germ lab in Fredrick, Maryland. It studies deadly infectious material such as Ebola and smallpox, and was abruptly shut down in August 2019. According to media reports, the decision was made out of safety concerns after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found the organization had failed to put in place systems sufficiently capable of decontaminating wastewater and lacked periodic recertification training for workers in the biocontainment laboratories. The CDC could not provide more specific details due to national security reasons, the New York Times reported. The petition listed a series of conspicuous events in chronological order, showing unexplainable lab-related issues and a possible link between the lab and the coronavirus. For example, the pneumonia of undetermined origin was found in China in November 2019 right after the United States organized Event 201, a global pandemic exercise, with the participation of the Deputy Director of the CIA in October. The petition also noted that a large number of English news reports about the closure of Fort Detrick were deleted this month, displaying a 404 not found page. As of press time, the petition garnered less than 600 signatures, far from the 100,000-signature threshold required to receive an official response from the White House. On March 13, Zhao Lijian retweeted a website link that provided further evidence that the virus originated in the US. (Screenshot of Zhao Lijians Twitter) The petition came days before Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said on Twitter that the lethal virus could have been brought over to Wuhan by the US army. Zhao later retweeted a website link that provided further evidence that the virus originated in the US. The website speculated that the virus had gone from Ft. Detrick to e-cigarettes to Hawaii then to Wuhan. This article is very much important to each and every one of us. Please read and retweet it, Zhao tweeted. Why Fort Detrick military lab was shut down? Why flu-season came earlier all of sudden? What caused vaping pneumonia? Why not allow people to do coronavirus testing? What are you trying to hide? You own everyone an explanation, Twitter user Julius Ryde commented, directly addressing President Trump. In response to Zhaos claims, another Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang, said recently that the international community, including the United States, have different views on the source of the virus and that this is a scientific issue and requires scientific and professional opinions. At a press conference on March 18, Chinas chief medical advisor Zhong Nanshan rejected the widely held assertion that the virus originated in Wuhan and slammed such claims as irresponsible. The epidemic of the novel coronavirus pneumonia indeed took place in China, in Wuhan but it does not mean its source is in Wuhan, Zhong said. Jack Whitehall is said to have enjoyed a string of dates with stunning model Alexandra Schutz. According to reports, the comedian, 31, has been on several excursions with the brunette beauty since they first met in November. Although their romance is said to have been short-lived, a source told The Sun: 'Jack was besotted with her and you can't blame him, she's beautiful. Budding romance: Jack Whitehall is said to have enjoyed a string of dates with stunning model Alexandra Schutz 'The pair were really hot on each other for about two months and she went along to a few of his shows but it's a while since they have seen each other.' Alexandra allegedly travelled from Barcelona to London and Liverpool to see Jack during his stand-up tour late last year. The publication reported that, as well as being a model, Alexandra is a director of marketing and communications in the e-sports company Esportia. MailOnline contacted Jack's representatives, who declined to comment. String of dates: It has been claimed that the comedian, 31, has been on several excursions with the brunette beauty since they first met in November This comes after it was reported that Jack left Warner x Ciroc's BRITs bash at Chiltern Firehouse with Hana Cross after partying until 4am in February. The comedian headed to the after-party after hosting the awards ceremony at the 02 Arena and sent tongues wagging after pictures obtained by The Sun showed him chatting to Hana, 23, at the bar. A source told the publication: 'Jack was stood chatting to Hana at the bar for some time and they looked really into each other. 'They had some other friends with them but Jack and Hana kept getting drawn back together. Short-lived: Calling Jack 'besotted' with Alexandra, a source said they were 'really hot on each other for about two months... but it's a while since they have seen each other' 'He seemed very interested in her to be fair, she looked stunning. They seemed to be making each other laugh.' A spokesperson for Jack told MailOnline: 'Jack chatted to numerous people at the party and he and Hana left with a group of friends to go onto another party.' It was also recently claimed that the comedian is on the lookout for love and has signed up to celebrity dating app Raya. The comedian is said to join the likes of Rak-Su's Myles Stephenson, Ben Affleck and Harry Potter's Tom Felton on the exclusive programme, over two years on from his split from actress Gemma Chan. Also known as Tinder for A-listers, Raya is a members' only app which charges a fee for use and access. Jack called it quits from actress Gemma, 37 - who is now in a relationship with screen star Dominic Cooper - in December 2017 after six years together. Claim: This comes after it was reported that Jack left Warner x Ciroc's BRITs bash at Chiltern Firehouse with Hana Cross after partying until 4am in February Close: The comedian headed to the after-party after hosting the awards ceremony at the 02 Arena and sent tongues wagging after pictures obtained by The Sun showed him chatting to Hana (pictured), 23, at the bar At the time, an insider told the publication that the couple remain friends despite the break-up, and decided to go their separate ways after finding it more and more difficult to spend time together. Following his break-up from Crazy Rich Asians' Gemma, the TV star sparked romance rumours with Kate Beckinsale as they were spotted sharing a steamy embrace, before heading to a 2,000-a-night hotel. He was also linked with Dua Lipa after the pair were pictured hitting the dancefloor together at a Brits 2018 after-party. Melissa Migneault Dupont, a literacy instructor at East Greenbush Central School district, messages her high school students three times a day. Sometimes she'll send a lighthearted meme or just ask them how they're holding up. The teens, many of who struggle with language barriers or have special needs, rarely respond. "It's frustrating and sad," Dupont said. "I teach a population that is already behind the eight ball when it comes to education. They fall even farther behind when we can't keep their knowledge fresh." If teachers' jobs were hard before the novel coronavirus swept through the Capital Region, forcing schools to close and families to retreat indoors, last week was especially trying as they scrambled to create through a computer screen a sense of normalcy for the hundreds of thousands of children that were suddenly out of school. With COVID-19 cases on the rise in New York, schools have been ordered to stay closed through April 1 to slow the rate of infection, but local districts have had little time to get their teachers up to speed on remote learning tools like Google Classroom and Blackboard. Efforts have been made to get district-issued Chromebooks and WiFi hotspots into homes, but too many students still lack consistent internet access or a supervising adult to help them maneuver the online classroom, officials say. "Right now we are just trying to take this day by day and meet each challenge as it comes up," Albany Public School Teachers' Association president Laura Franz said. "We are all desperate to do what we love and connect with our students." School officials in Albany and East Greenbush have decided to delay introducing new material until all teachers and students are on board, citing equity concerns. They worry about widening achievement gaps, not to mention federal laws that require districts to provide students with disabilities an equal opportunity to participate in all the district offers. Instead, teachers have come up with "self-guided" or "parent-guided" lessons, a combination of optional assignments, online reading materials, and educational games to keep kids busy. LATEST ON THE CORONAVIRUS More Capital Region education and coronavirus coverage Here are the latest cancellations and postponements. For a detailed map, check out The Times Unions New York Coronavirus Tracker To get regular updates on our coverage, sign up for our coronavirus newsletter. In the city of Schenectady, teachers spent the last week trying to touch base with all 9,250 students, while homing in on the most vulnerable, students who live in poverty or are dealing with trauma at home, according to Juliet Benaquisto, a special education teacher and president of the Schenectady Federation of Teachers. "It's all hands on deck; everyone is trying to do everything," Benaquisto said. "I make contact with every student almost every day, whether it's through my Google classroom, email or by texting families, or getting on the phone with them to make sure they have internet." The state Education Department has provided some guidelines, and class formats can vary greatly. Teachers who had been using online learning platforms continue to use them, while others say they are still figuring out the technology. An ambitious few have tried to schedule a Google hangout or record videos of themselves speaking directly to students. Loudonville Christian School Educators are also finding it difficult to plan without knowledge of how long the closures may last. Some say they'd like to provide more structure and accountability for students, but they know many parents are preoccupied with keeping their own jobs and food on the table. It's still unclear the missed school days can be made up in the summer or if students will be held back a grade over the lost learning. On Friday, the Education Department announced that state standardized tests would be suspended this year so that schools could continue "focus on local school and community needs" during the closures. No one is sure what will happen with the Regents exams that are slated take place in June. "Until the Regents are canceled, I don't want anyone to not be prepared," said Mike Silvestri, a U.S. history and activism teacher at Schenectady High School. Silvestri, who is also an officer in the Schenectady teachers union, said instead of taking attendance, he posts a daily question on Google Classroom to gauge participation among students. Sometimes the prompt is class-related, other times it's "How's your day going?" A drop-down, multiple-choice menu makes it easy for students to respond. Some private schools in the Albany area have found ways to provide more structured online instruction, at least for older students. At Loudonville Christian School, students in grades four through 12 have largely resumed their old schedule by video conferencing most of their classes with Zoom. Band, physical education, and art are still done independently, and parents must sign off to give students credit. The classes and socializing have kept us on a regular schedule," said Katie Whitt, who has children in fourth, seventh and ninth grade at the school. "Without that schedule and normalcy, it would be a tougher time. For the younger grades, however, the Loudonville school has set up an online portal where teachers post daily activities and resources for parents. Online instruction doesn't always work as well for younger children, who require more hands-on support, schools are finding. In Schenectady and Albany, elementary school children were sent home last Friday with homework booklets and instructions to call a teacher if they need help. "We had packets ready with crayons, markers, pens, and pencils to hand out to the children," Arbor Hill Elementary School Principal Rosalind Gaines-Harrell said. "Our main concern is online access." As they wait out the crisis, teachers are tending to children's physical a social-emotional needs. Many have volunteered to distribute "grab and go" meals at designated pick-up locations. Bus drivers are delivering lunches to families who can't leave their homes. For parents who worry that their kids aren't getting much learning done, school leaders are asking for little patience as districts figure out a system that works for all students. "Real talk, there's a reason we go to school," Franz, the Albany union leader, said. "It's really important that instruction comes from a teacher to the students, and it's a construct that works. You can't just replace that by getting in front of a computer." With one positive case each from Panchkula and Sonepat, the total number of Covid-19 cases in Haryana rose to eight on Saturday. While four positive cases have so far been reported from Gurugram, one each from Panipat and Faridabad were reported on Friday. SONEPAT WOMAN RETURNED FROM UK 3 DAYS AGO The Sonepat case involves an MSc student who had returned from the United Kingdom three days ago. Sonepat principal medical officer Dr Adarsh Sharma said, The woman, a resident of Sector 14 in Sonepat, has tested positive for Covid-19. She is pursuing MSc (physics honours) from the Cambridge University, England, and had returned home on March 18. Initially she went into self isolation at her house but was admitted to Bhagat Phool Singh Medical College in Khanpur Kalan in Sonepat on Friday after she showed coronavirus symptoms. Her blood and throat swab samples were taken on Friday, which were reported positive by the National Institute of Virology, Pune. He added, All 14 members of the womans family had maintained distance from her but have been asked to stay under home quarantine for 14 days. Her family members are so far not showing any symptoms of the pandemic disease. There samples will be tested, if they also start showing any such symptoms of the Covid-19. We have sealed the lane near her house and a notice in this regard was posted outside her house. PANCHKULA WOMAN CAME IN CONTACT WITH CHANDIGARH PATIENT The case in Panchkula involves a 38-year-old woman who worked at a beauty salon that Chandigarhs first coronavirus patient visited on her return from London. The woman is a resident of Kharak Mangoli village in Old Panchkula adjoining Sector 1. She tested positive, while her son tested negative. The woman has been kept in isolation at the civil hospital in Sector 6, Panchkula. No need to panic, adhere to Janata curfew, appeals CM Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Saturday said that during the Janata Curfew on Sunday, all essential commodities, including grocery shops, petrol pumps and chemist shops would remain open. Urging people not to panic, Khattar exhorted them to adhere to Prime Minister Narendra Modis appeal to observe Janata curfew on Sunday for protection against the novel coronavirus. DCs TO CHECK SANITISERS, MASKS HOARDINGS Presiding over a review meeting with all deputy commissioners (DCs), district food and supplies controllers and grocery wholesalers, retailers and vendors through video conferencing here, he also directed the DCs to ensure that there was no shortage of any essential commodities especially sanitisers, masks and floor cleaning agents and there was no unnecessary increase in wholesale and grocery rates of essential commodities and that all necessary steps be taken to stop profiteering and hoarding. He also asked the DCs to discourage panic buying in their respective areas so that people did not buy excess goods and make the public aware that the normal supply of essential goods would continue. EMPLOYERS ASKED NOT TO CUT SALARIES Khattar also appealed to the people associated with all types of business to take special care of their employees who were on leave in this period and treat them as their families by following a humanitarian approach by not deducting their salary and providing them full support. PUBLIC DEALING RESTRICTED The government has decided to restrict public dealing in government offices across the state. An official spokesman said that as per the orders, public access to important government officers such as district and state secretaries would be restricted by all department and offices. All the departments would provide a telephone number for the general public so that they could seek any information and service from them during office hours. MEDICAL CERTIFICATE MUST Meanwhile, the school education department also issued an order for all its teaching and non-teaching staff returning from foreign country to get themselves medically examined by the district surgeon before joining duty. The employee would be allowed to join only after obtaining the medical fitness certificate from the civil surgeon of his or her respective district, the order added. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The number of confirmed cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus in South Africa has risen to 240. This is according to a statement released by Health Minister Zweli Mkhize on Saturday afternoon. This means that cases of the virus have risen by 38 from Friday. The highest number of new cases was observed in the Western Cape, which recorded 18 new people who have been infected with the virus. The province was followed by 16 cases in Gauteng, 3 in KwaZulu-Natal, and the first case in the Eastern Cape. The majority of cases was identified among persons over the age of 30, while the youngest case was a six-year-old. 70% could be exposed On Friday morning, Mkhize said that between 60% and 70% of South Africans are likely to be affected by the COVID-19 coronavirus. Speaking at a media briefing in Pretoria, Mkhize said that while most South Africans will get the virus, only about 20% will be seriously ill. We are in a battle now, Mkhize said. This enemy is rapidly spreading and we must mobilise our forces to target this. We want to make sure that we reduce the fatalities, we cant just have these numbers rising uncontrollably. According to a report in The Star, South Africa is potentially only days away from a complete national shutdown. Wits professor Alex van den Heever told the publication that if the number of new daily cases were to increase to between 100 and 200 per day, it was likely that an escalation would be needed in the prevention strategy. This escalation, as was the case in China, Italy and France, includes a national lockdown with strict self-isolation rules. Now read: National lockdown in South Africa looms Mauritius has recorded its first death from coronavirus, the health minister said Saturday, just the third in sub-Saharan Africa, as the archipelago nation imposed a lockdown to contain the outbreak. "There have been 14 confirmed cases so far, one of which died on Thursday evening," Health Minister Kailesh Jagutpal said, without providing details about the deceased patient. Mauritius, some 1,800 kilometres (1,100 miles) off the eastern coast of Africa, went into lockdown Friday, with the country's citizens told to stay indoors for 14 days. There were just three confirmed cases in Mauritius on Thursday when Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth appealed to the country's 1.3 million citizens to obey the order. "I ask the people of Mauritius to stay inside their home," he said in a televised evening address to the nation. Flights into the Indian Ocean nation of four volcanic islands had already been severely curtailed to curb the spread of the virus, with passengers from the EU -- a major market for tourists -- among those barred. Mauritius has evolved from a poor, agriculture-based economy to a relatively wealthy financial services hub and tourist beacon that prides itself as a stable democracy in a sometimes volatile neighbourhood. Just two other deaths from coronavirus have been recorded in sub-Saharan Africa: one in Burkina Faso and the second in Gabon. The total of known cases across all of Africa, compiled by AFP, stands at more than 900 and is rising fast after lagging other continents. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) WhatsApp. It is the best of us, and the worst of us. It is a place where we can chat instantly with family across continents, share jokes with old school friends, arrange holidays and weddings and dinner dates. It unites such disparate strangers as the parents of children attending the same school, sports club, scouts group. It allows school friends, college friends, old work friends to stay in touch long after they have moved out of each other's day-to-day lives. It is no overstatement to say that, in the 11 years since the encrypted messaging platform was invented by two former Yahoo employees, it has revolutionised how we communicate. And boy do we communicate. Last month WhatsApp hit two billion users globally. Here in Ireland, according to the latest Ipsos MRBI Social Messaging Quarterly, 79pc of Irish adults have WhatsApp on their phones, and three quarters use it daily. And, as we become increasingly isolated within our own homes ahead of the anticipated surge in Civid-19 infections, the numbers will continue to rise. Because as a mechanism for staying in touch and disseminating information - and misinformation, WhatsApp is peerless. Like most parents, I heard of the possible closure of the schools to slow the spread of Covid-19 at least 24 hours before it was announced by the Government - on a WhatsApp group. It was there I read the plea by a CUH paediatrician that we keep our kids at home, and watched the clip of the Galway doctor who reiterated that plea after receiving it. All were subsequently verified by journalists and it was on the advice of these doctors that I formulated my parenting plan for the duration of the schools closure. Expand Close People pass graffiti reminding people to wash their hands on the window of a bar in Dublin's city centre. Photo: Brian Lawless/PA Wire / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp People pass graffiti reminding people to wash their hands on the window of a bar in Dublin's city centre. Photo: Brian Lawless/PA Wire It is inevitable that as the Coronavirus spreads, fake news follows. It also was on WhatsApp that I read about the four young people in a serious condition at CUH, after taking ibuprofen whilst infected with Coronavirus. And where I read about the self-test one can administer to check if one's lungs have been damaged by the virus. And it is where I heard that the defence forces were on standby for the imminent code red lock down. And while all the aforementioned were strongly contested and debunked by the relevant bodies, compounded by a tweet from Taoiseach Leo Varadkar pleading with people not to share unsubstantiated Coronavirus-related content on WhatsApp, suspicions and misinformation inevitably linger and parenting groups all over the country continue to debate the safety of ibuprofen for fever. Even before the pandemic, it was impossible to rear children without WhatsApp. It has completely colonised child-related communications and no party, after-school activity, match, day out or play date has happened outside it for years. Pros and cons And WhatsApp parenting has its own peculiar pros and cons. The cons run from the mild, run-of-the-mill WhatsApp anxieties like - did you get the tone right when responding to the message from the neighbourhood mum who suggested that there should be a curfew for playing on the street as she liked to put her kids to bed at seven? Why was your post to the class group that your daughter had nits met with deafening silence and not grateful remarks lauding your altruism? Could you not have thought twice before sending the joke about spreading Coronavirus in response to the reminder to buy tin whistles? Why aren't the other mums thanking you for sending yet another link to home schooling resources? Psychologist Dr Malie Coyne explains it thus: "Unlike a face-to-face conversation, when communicating through WhatsApp, it can be difficult to know how one is expected to behave: Are you replying quickly enough when the sender knows their message has been seen (the infamous blue tick)? How often should you comment in a group? Have you shown enough sympathy with the right emoji? The problem is that you don't hear someone's tone of voice, see facial expressions or body language, which can give rise to massive amounts of misinterpretation." Expand Close WhatsApp / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp WhatsApp Add to that the fact that you hardly know these people, and probably couldn't pick out more than 20pc of them in a line-up. At the more extreme end of the con continuum is the misdirected message, which cannot, unfortunately, be explained away as misinterpretation. Take the dad who sent a d**k pic to the parents group of his kids GAA club, and was only made aware of it when he received a message from a fellow dad asking him to take it down. Or the mum who took a screen grab of the anxiety-ridden Coronavirus-related messaging from one of her mummy groups, captioned it pejoratively for the amusement of another of her groups, and sent it straight back to the group from which it originated. And of course, there is the downright bizarre. One mum friend tells a story of a parent in her child's class who posted a link to a news piece about a school in France that had refused to consider requests from Muslim parents to remove pork from the canteen menu, with, 'Yes! Victory!' and a punching the air emoji. Followed, inevitably, a few mins later by 'Sorry, wrong group...' "Which made me wonder," laughed my friend. "What was the 'right' group? 'White Supremacist Moms'? 'Parents For Pork'." The pros are pretty obvious. Aside from the obvious logistical benefits of being able to message all relevant parties with one click, parenting, particularly in the early years, can be a fraught and lonely time. What better than a tribe of people going through the same thing at the same time, available to you night and day? Parenting support Expand Close Parenting support: 'It is a brilliant [WhatsApp} group,' says mum-of-one Karen Murphy. 'I am on it every other day if not every day. There can be anything from 20 to 150 messages a day'. Photo: Mark Condren / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Parenting support: 'It is a brilliant [WhatsApp} group,' says mum-of-one Karen Murphy. 'I am on it every other day if not every day. There can be anything from 20 to 150 messages a day'. Photo: Mark Condren Mum-of-one Karen Murphy is a frequent user and strong advocate of WhatsApp as a parenting support. She belongs to a group for Single Mothers By Choice (SMBC) and she is also a member of a WhatsApp for mothers in her local area. The SMBC group is particularly important for Karen. She and some other solo mums who had met through Frolo - an App connecting single parents to others in their local area, came up with the idea of a WhatsApp group during a walk. "We have bonded over the fact of how we became mothers, we all have children of roughly the same age, and it is just nice to be able to connect and chat. To a degree it is power in numbers - you feel supported when you know that you are connected to, very locally, mums who had similar parenthood journeys. I feel it is really important for my son that I normalise this conversation as much as possible, so knowing that there are other children of the same age, with mums who made decisions to have children on their own reassures me that my son isn't going to be the only person in the neighbourhood with this kind of family background." Karen is still a member of the general maternity group she joined when her now toddler son was three months old - there was a significant waitlist as the group is constantly hovering around the WhatsApp group member limit of 256. "It is a brilliant group - I am on it every other day if not every day. There can be anything from 20 to 150 messages a day - covering anything from 'I am displaying these symptoms, do you think it is mastitis'; to 'my radiator is leaking and I need an emergency plumber!' I have been able to get names of builders, plumbers and architects. And because things are covered far beyond babies, I don't want to leave. It is great for local events, advice on good places to go with kids on holiday - but also things like neighbourhood watch." Clinical Psychologist Claire Hayes agrees that such groups can be useful. "They can be very helpful if people are honest - if someone says, 'I haven't slept, I have been up all night with the baby, I want to scream' - that can be comforting to others in the same position." On the flip side, if contact never moves beyond the virtual, she believes that for some, feeling deeply connected to people they have never met can increase isolation. And if you have mums in the group who are more performative than supportive (we all know one!), it can create anxiety. "Anxiety is spiralling anyway - but WhatsApp is another tool that feeds into our sense of anxiety, which generally comes from one of two places. Did we make a mistake or are we not good enough? WhatsApp is a wonderful tool to reinforce these anxieties." Psychotherapist Stella O'Malley agrees. "Technology has brought with it a whole range of new ways to become anxious. Once we send a WhatsApp message, we are immediately vulnerable to being 'ghosted'. It's a rational fear as this is the method that many people use to discard unwanted peers. We have built a complex etiquette around our social media messaging that makes for a relentless pressure to answer every email, every WhatsApp, every message that comes to us across the various platforms and it means that many of us feel permanently 'on' as a result. "We have become communication junkies but it's all about the output - we are disregarding the equally important input - the need to listen and understand others. In many ways, all this communication creates a false intimacy." This false sense of intimacy and perhaps the fact that WhatsApp is encrypted end to end - meaning that the only people who can see a message are the sender and the sendee - appears to give users a false sense of security. Offensive messages Last year it was reported that an Irish senior executive was fired in 2018, along with seven of his UK-based colleagues, for sharing offensive messages about fellow employees on a WhatsApp group of senior managers at a large company. The messages were examined by the company after a protected disclosure by another staff member. The Irishman appealed the sacking, claiming at the Workplace Related Commission that his exemplary record and mitigating factors weren't taken into account. He gave evidence that he stayed in the group as it was a place where managers shared ideas and he feared leaving would mean he was out of the loop. He said he felt pressure to contribute or he would not be seen as trustworthy. He was awarded 7,000 by the commission, though they ruled that he contributed to his dismissal by posting the offensive messages. Even more frightening is the fact that a career can be destroyed by being the recipient of a WhatsApp message. A woman in Dublin was convicted this year of possessing child pornography, making it impossible for her to pursue her dream of a career in childcare, after she had been sent a clip depicting a child being abused on WhatsApp. The woman deleted the video as soon as she realised what it was, but unbeknownst to her it remained on her phone and was discovered during an unrelated investigation on her home. And there is the recent case in England, of a decorated police officer who was prosecuted for receiving indecent material featuring a child on WhatsApp. The clip, which the officer claimed was unopened and unwatched, had been sent to her by her sister purportedly in an attempt to have the perpetrator caught. The judge accepted that the video hadn't been watched and that there was no sinister intent in sending the video, and yet the officer is now a convicted sex offender with her career in ruins. Criminal content aside, it is astounding what some people consider appropriate to share to large groups of people, some of whom are no more than passing acquaintances. Most, if not all of the men I spoke to for this piece, reported being in at least one group - be it work pals, a sports-related group or a group of friends - where they received unsolicited porn. Dave (not his real name) says that he regularly receives unwanted pornographic pics and clips from WhatsApp acquaintances. "There is one guy in particular, we used to work together 20 years ago when we were starting out, and one of the other lads started a WhatsApp group for us to keep in touch. Most of the stuff that gets posted is pretty normal - comments about the rugby, shoutouts for pints, and then in the middle of all the normal messages this guy will post a picture of an old lad with a sheep, or something else equally strange and pornographic. I had to turn the auto-save function off as my wife threatened to ring him, or post into the group pretending to be me, if she saw one more porn pic in my gallery." Why not ask him to stop? "I'm not going to do that. What would the lads think?" Or leave the group? "But I like the group. It reminds me of starting out, of the good old days." And perhaps this is the real reason that we are addicted to the messaging app. We are, all of us, complex multi-faceted creatures and WhatsApp allows us to embody all the many different parts of ourselves on one platform - we can relive our childhoods with school pals, trade reminiscences with college buddies, stay in touch with the family, bitch and share jokes with our most trusted friends, reconnect with old colleagues and forge connections with the new people that come into our lives. Just be careful that you are messaging with the right alter ego. Did we ever tell you about the GAA dad who sent the d**k pic? The people we meet on WhatsApp PFS parent Generally found in the family group, this new mum or dad suffers from Precious Firstborn Syndrome and posts multiple pics of their offspring and long, long videos of junior reaching each milestone. Inappropriate sibling Causes shockwaves in the family WhatsApp group by dropping misogynistic jokes and dodgy pictures into the otherwise wholesome feed of baby pictures, reports of children's activities and other family-related fare TMI grandparent Prone to long rambling and often formal messages largely irrelevant to the family group, featuring personal medical updates and in-depth reports on golf games, the weather, bridge tournaments, and community births, marriages and deaths. The porn bomber So so clueless, always male and found in large friend groups, prone to posting graphic clips. Lol The organiser Always the one to suggest meet ups when the whole point of WhatsApp groups is that you can keep in contact and maintain friendships without making any effort at all. The noticebox Generally found on school groups, loves to complain about the most innocuous requests from the teacher/weight of the schoolbags/amount of homework/ and so on, Currently complaining about having to do the teacher's job while they are on 'paid leave' The humble bragger Most effective on maternity groups when participants are feeling most vulnerable. Posts about how hard it is for her that her 9-month-old is walking/talking/reading or how she can't keep up with her school age child's quest for knowledge now that school is closed The detective Features on neighbourhood groups and school-related groups mostly, regularly posting about suspicious white vans and strange men with beards lurking around the kids The fake news spreader Particularly active at times like the present - 'debunks domestic experts with spurious online sources. Before the pandemic, it was all about the dangers of vaccines and the benefits of detox. BAKU, Azerbaijan, Mar. 21 By Tamilla Mammadova - Trend: The European Commission has put forward a proposal for the long-term policy objectives of the Eastern Partnership beyond 2020 to increase trade, strengthen connectivity and deepen the economic integration with Eastern Partnership countries, including Georgia, Trend reports via Georgian media. Ambassador of the European Union to Georgia Carl Hartzell said that for Georgia this means continued strong support to the economy, job creation. According to him, the new strategy sets out new, ambitious targets for the Eastern Partnership. "Economic development, connectivity and job creation will remain top of our agenda, alongside with support to strong democratic institutions. Among the novelties we find an increased emphasis on the environment and health, which I personally warmly welcome, as I know that Georgia stands well prepared to profit in these areas," he said. As he noted, EU should be able to do more on the digital agenda, helping an advanced partner like Georgia to go further and faster in modernizing its economy and society. "We are looking forward to continue discussing all these issues in the run-up to the next Eastern Partnership Summit in Brussels on June 18," he said. The European Union and Georgia enjoy an excellent relationship. Relations are based on the EU Georgia Association Agreement, including a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA), which entered into force in July 2016 and strives for political association and economic integration. The Eastern Partnership (EaP) is a joint policy initiative which aims to deepen and strengthen relations between the European Union (EU), its Member States and its six Eastern neighbors: Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and Armenia. We are not done looking for those responsible. This was the warning given by the Head of the Special Operations Response Team (SORT) Supt Roger Alexander yesterday during the Beyond the Tape TV programme on TV6. Earlier in the day, Alexander was part of several units which went searching for kidnap victim Mattie Maraj in the eastern division. Responding to the need of medical cannabis patients during the COVID-19 quarantine, Mana Supply Co., a Maryland-based medical dispensary company with two area locations, today opened what's believed to be not only the first drive-thru medical cannabis dispensary in the State of Maryland, but the entire mid-Atlantic. The drive-thru is set up to protect medical cannabis patients, many of whom have suppressed immune systems. Remaining in their cars allows them to avoid what are typically close interactions inside the dispensaries. According to experts, there are less than two dozen drive-thru medical cannabis dispensaries in the country. When scouting locations for the company's first dispensary in 2015, owners Christopher Jensen and Matt Volz spotted the former bank building just south of the South River on Solomons Island Road and knew it would be perfect for one day converting the drive-thru bank teller lanes to accommodate a drive-thru dispensary to serve patients in the same way that the CVS location does next door. It was a project more than three years in the making. Mana knew that it would be held to a higher standard than a drive-thru pharmacy. Although the dispensary has full-time armed security consisting of off-duty or retired police officers, a year ago Mana installed high-speed garage doors for privacy and placed high-resolution cameras inside and outside the enclosures for security. "Our security system provides visibility all the way around the building and inside the secure delivery area. The technology investment affords our patients a safe, secure, and discrete process for our patients," Volz said. "We realized that a high percentage of our patients are elderly, handicapped or have reduced immune systems, and we wanted to protect them and make their lives easier." The team first sought approvals from County officials, and once secured, they had been working to get regulations approved by state officials on the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission (MMCC). When the virus hit, that day came much sooner than expected. Medical dispensaries are, like pharmacies, considered essential businesses during quarantines but heavy regulations around cannabis also force the patients to come inside and check into a state system. Since the COVID-19 crisis, the MMCC has been working with dispensaries on ways to effectively protect patients while maintaining a safe delivery system. Working closely with state regulators, Mana worked round the clock to get the drive-thru open. Patients can pre-order via platforms and aren't required to leave their automobiles or enter Mana. They use an intercom system to interact with Mana staff and their medicines are delivered safely sealed in packaging through a secure drawer at the teller window. "I'm truly grateful to the leadership provided by Governor Hogan, Anne Arundel County Executive Pittman, and MMCC Executive Director Will Tilburg," said Jensen. "Their no-nonsense approach to this crisis is saving lives." Jensen also said it is part of Mana's mission: "Figuring out the medical cannabis world can be daunting from a patient perspective, so we try to take some of the pain out of that process," Jensen said. "Many of our patients suffer from enough pain. We make folks feel as confident, empowered and comfortable as possible. The drive-thru is one more step toward that goal." Mana is a multi-state operator (MSO) thriving in Maryland, Colorado and Missouri. Investor inquiries to Christopher Jensen, [email protected], 202.251.1284 or PR inquiries to Brady Prauser, [email protected], 504.717.9632. SOURCE Mana Supply Holdings, Inc. Drive-in church seemed like a joke. And then, in a moment, it didnt anymore. The idea was a novelty in the 1950s, promoted as the church of the future. But its time didnt come, and never came, and then it was gone, and the whole thing seemed silly. There were still a few drive-in churches around, of course, but they were curiosities, fading roadside attractions, dingy and decaying outside of town, monuments to bygone Americana. Nik Baumgart, the pastor of an Assemblies of God congregation in a suburb of Seattle, certainly never dreamed of having a drive-in church. He had thought of a lot of ways to reach people, grow his church, and meet the spiritual needs of his congregation, and honestly the idea of a drive-in church never came up. But then the staff of The Grove Church in Marysville, Washington was having a meeting to try and figure out what to do in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Normally, the church would have about 1,200 people gather in the sanctuary on a Sunday, but health officials were discouraging any groups over 50. There was talk of social distancing, requiring healthy but possibly infectious people to stay at least six feet away from each other, reducing human contact to limit the spread of the coronavirus. But how do you have church with people more than six feet away from each other? A lot of groups were moving everything online. Was that what they should do? Jon Rich, the administrative pastor, thought of something funny. Maybe we should look into drive-in church, he said, and the staff all laughed. There was a beat. Then Baumgart said the sentence again: Maybe we should look into drive-in church, he said. It wasnt funny this time. It was an idea that seemed like maybe it was perfect. Maybe its time had come. Within a few a minutes, Baumgart told Christianity Today, the staff had embraced the concept they had never taken seriously before and moved to the technical challenge: how do you actually do a drive-in church? How does that work? What equipment do you need? Pastor Bob Kemp-Baird spent his week fielding questions like that at the Daytona Beach Drive-in Christian Church in Daytona Beach, Florida. The Disciples of Christ church has been in operation for 66 years and Kemp-Baird has been pastor for eight. He confesses hes still not an expert at low-frequency FM radio broadcasting, but he says it's actually pretty simple. Its not all that difficult to do, he told CT. Its not like theres a lot of equipment that you need beyond what churches have anyway to amplify the message. A low-frequency trasmitter sends out a signal that can be received for half-a-mile to a mile. It costs a few hundred dollars and can be plugged directly into the churchs existing sound board. People can tune in on their radios. Most states do not require licenses for that limited broadcast. The bigger challenge of a drive-in church, according to Kemp-Baird, is that it can feel like youre preaching to a parking lot. See Beyond the Cars Ive come to adapt my preaching and my mindset as well, to know that there are people behind those windshields, he said. Im not speaking to cars. Im speaking to people. Kemp-Baird talks a lot about the people in the cars. Who they are. Why they come. Why a drive-in church meets their specific needs in ways other churches cant. It used to be that when people asked Kemp-Baird about drive-in church, they asked him how it could possibly be a good thing to have a church where people were so isolated from each other, each in their separate cars. This week, though, as Kemp-Baird supervised the volunteers preparing communion for Sundaymaking sure they all washed their hands and wore gloves as they filled the single-serving cups and individually wrapped the wafers to hand to drivers as they pulled into the church for worshipthe phone kept ringing, and pastors kept calling with questions, but no one asked him to justify the idea of drive-in church. They just wanted to know how to do it. Churches are trying to find any way they can to gather people together, Kemp-Baird said. Theyre really feeling from their congregants, we want to come together to worship, but we recognize the health risks. So what do we do? Originally, according to Kemp-Baird, the Daytona Beach Drive-In Christian Church served vacationers. People would drive to Florida to spend their vacation at the beach and they would want to go to church on Sunday, but not dress up. They could stay in their cars in their shorts and swimsuits, hear a good message, and then go right to the beach. That was similar to the idea behind Americas most famous drive-in church, started by Robert Schuller in 1955, according to sociologist Gerardo Marti, who has a forthcoming book on Schuller and megachurch ministry, co-authored with sociologist Mark Mulder. The slogan for Schullers drive-in church in Southern California was Come as you are in the family car. Churches are incredibly inventive, Marti told CT. Schuller contrived a way for strangers to come to church and come to church without having to know people and be concerned about how you present your self. People felt like they could just come. And that was emphasized. You dont have to worry about anything else but can I get there? Schuller, a minister in the Reformed Church of America (RCA), had great success with his church and promoted the idea far and wide. Some thought the novelty of church-in-cars could only work in Los Angeles, but Schuller disagreed. This was the revolutionary thing that was going to reinvent the denomination, Marti said. He felt the entire culture was moving to automobiles, with the federal investment in highways, and the new drive-in restaurants you had being developed by Ray Kroc and others. You had all this convenience around automobiles, so building around automobiles was a compelling vision. By 1971, there were at least a dozen RCA drive-in churches around the country. But then there was an oil crisis in 73 and gas prices shot up, making it more expensive to spend time in your car. Cars became smaller, in subsequent years, and less comfortable, and everyone agreed that people didnt want to sit in their cars for church. The drive-ins faded, another fad of the 50s passed. Meeting Needs They Didnt Know to Expect Except in some places, it continued. And the drive-in churches that kept going found they were meeting a need they hadnt planned on meeting. We provide community for people who have a hard time accessing it in other ways, said Traci Parker, pastor of the Woodland Drive-In Church, an RCA ministry in Grand Rapids, Michigan, that started more than 50 years ago. A lot of people who come to the drive-in come here because it means they have that option to stay a bit more separate from other people. Parker said she knows drive-in churches have seemed like a punchline. But spend a little time at a drive-in church, Parker says, and youll see a beautiful community of people who dont feel like they fit anywhere else. Its hard to describe to people whove never seen it, she said. The first time I came here to preach, I didnt know what to expect. Youre preaching to cars. And it was December, so it was cold and snowy. But there was so much community People wanted to know your name, and they wanted to know your story, and they wanted to know if you would care for them. Parkers email inbox has been flooded with pastors asking her about drive-in church in the last week. She hopes they try. And hopes it actually has a long-term impact. Anytime the churches can see people they didnt see before, who they werent looking for, she said, thats a good thing. Hope for Revival That was the idea that convinced Scott Thompson to start a drive-in ministry at University Parkway Baptist Church, in Johnson City, Tennessee. He was on vacation with his family in Florida, about five years ago, when he saw the Daytona Beach Drive-In Christian Church. On the drive back to Tennessee, he and his father-in-law, another Southern Baptist minister, made a list of all the people who might not go inside a building for church who could go to a drive-in service. They thought of people undergoing chemotherapy treatment, people with anxiety issues, people who struggle to walk in from the parking lot, soldiers with post traumatic stress, moms with new babys they dont want everybody touching, and grieving people who arent ready to brave all the well-intentioned questions. The list is very long, Thompson said. When we got home from that vacation, my father-in-law said, Well your church is crazy enough to try it. You should try it. Thompson brought it to the church staff meeting, thinking they would laugh and that would be it. But it didnt seem like a joke, and pretty quickly the church was talking about the technical aspects of how to do it. The biggest challenge was the transmitter, figuring it out, Thompson said. But its just one input. You plug it into the sound board. Thompson is excited about the possibility that the public health crisis, brought on by coronavirus, could bring about the revival of drive-in churches. For years hes been telling everyone who would listen that they should try this. But no one would listen. Now hes gotten so many phone calls he cant return them all before Sunday, and hes trying to direct people to his explainer video on Facebook. Sometimes it takes hard times for revival to come, he said, for political walls to come down, and personal walls to come down, and church walls to come down. And now the church has to go outside the walls. A lot of people have been praying for revival, and this could be the time. According to Thompson every church could have a drive-in service set up by Easter. If theyre thinking about it now, he said, theyre just in time. MONTREAL, March 20, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - (NYSE: CAE) (TSX: CAE) RBC Capital Markets will host a conference call with CAE's leadership team on Monday, March 23 at 11 a.m. EDT. Marc Parent, CAE's President and Chief Executive Officer, Sonya Branco, CAE's Chief Financial Officer, and Andrew Arnovitz, CAE's Vice President, Strategy and Investor Relations, will participate on this call, which will be moderated by Steve Arthur, Equity Analyst at RBC Capital Markets. The session is intended to provide insights on the potential impact of the rapidly evolving COVID-19 situation, along with mitigating actions being implemented. The discussion will focus on the resiliency of CAE's business model, balance sheet status and flexibility, as well as operational and financial measures being taken across CAE, during these unprecedented times. The meeting will be webcast live at this address : https://www.veracast.com/webcasts/rbc/meetings/5zfdM1kv.cfm Shortly after the session, the replay will be available on CAE's website until March 30. Event: In conversation with CAE management: Navigating through unprecedented times Date: Monday, March 23, 2020 Time: 11 a.m. ET About CAE CAE is a global leader in training for the civil aviation, defense and security, and healthcare markets. Backed by a record of more than 70 years of industry firsts, we continue to help define global training standards with our innovative virtual-to-live training solutions to make flying safer, maintain defense force readiness and enhance patient safety. We have the broadest global presence in the industry, with over 10,000 employees, 160 sites and training locations in over 35 countries. Each year, we train more than 220,000 civil and defense crewmembers, including more than 135,000 pilots, and thousands of healthcare professionals worldwide. www.cae.com Follow us on Twitter @CAE_Inc SOURCE CAE INC. Related Links http://www.cae.com/ Judge Puts Hold on House Lawsuit for Trumps Tax Return to Await McGahn Ruling A federal judge has put a House Democrat lawsuit seeking access to President Donald Trumps tax returns on hold after an appeals court agreed to rehear a different case that raises similar legal issues to the case at hand. U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden issued a stay on March 20 in the tax records case, pending further orders from the district court. In this case, the House Ways and Means Committee is seeking Trumps tax return information and has requested that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) provide that information. After the treasury secretary refused to comply, the committee issued subpoenas to the Treasury Department and the IRS. McFadden had previously put the case on hold in January, saying that he would wait for how the Washington Circuit Court would act in a separate lawsuit over a House subpoena of former White House counsel Don McGahn. The McGahn case raised similar issues about subpoena enforcement. It also raised issues about whether a court has the power to referee on disputes between Congress and the Trump administration. In the March 20 order, McFadden cited that there were still uncertainties in how the Washington Circuit Court would act in the McGahn case given that the court had agreed to rehear the case. The D.C. Circuit granted rehearing en banc in McGahn, so all the reasons for a stay still hold, McFadden, a Trump appointee, wrote in his order. The subpoena-enforcement issue is unsettled for now. And piecemeal litigation would be an inefficient use of resources. The Court will await further proceedings in McGahn before it acts on either the subpoena-enforcement claim or the 6103(f) claims. In February, the Washington Circuit ruled 21 that McGahn was not required to testify, agreeing with the DOJs argument that the Constitution bars federal courts from resolving disputes between the legislative and executive branches. Then on March 13, the full panel of the appeals court granted the Houses request for rehearing en banc (before all the judges of a court). The Ways and Means Committees lawsuit is one of the many legal efforts the House Democrats have employed to try to obtain access to Trumps tax and financial records. In the case at hand, cited as Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives v. U.S. Department of the Treasury et al., the House Democrats challenge stems from one count of a subpoena-enforcement claim and seven counts from the Committees purported right to the tax return information under a section of the federal tax code. The U.S. Supreme Court also will consider three separate cases seeking Trumps financial records. The oral arguments for those cases were scheduled for the March session but have been since postponed in response to the CCP virus pandemic. Two of the cases stem from subpoenas that were issued earlier in the year by three House committees as part of their probes into the presidents dealings. Meanwhile, the third case deals with a criminal investigation in Manhattan. Avec la situation sanitaire liee au coronavirus, le Ministere des Finances a etendu lenvoi des propositions pour lexercice budgetaire 2020/2021 pour le 10 avril 2020. The Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Development is hereby informing Business and Trade Associations, Professional Bodies, Trade Unions, NGOs, Civil Society Organisations and other stakeholders that the date for submission of proposals in the context of the Budget 2020/2021 has been extended to Friday 10 April 2020. The proposals may be submitted: i) to the Secretariat of the Financial Secretary, Government House, Port Louis ii) through e-mail: prebudget@govmu.org; and iii) on the online platform: www.mauritiusbudget.com. Amid severe coronavirus crisis and fervent calls for social distancing to check the spread of the disease, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Raos daughter Kalvakunta Kavitha recently organised a dinner party with more than 500 people at a resort in Hyderabad. The event happened at a time when the chief minister has himself has called for self restraint and urged people to not make social contacts to prevent spread of the virus that has been declared a pandemic by the World health Organisation. Indias Covid-19 positive cases touched 298 of whom four have died and 23 have recovered. For Rao's press conference on Saturday, the seating of media personnel was arranged with the distance of about a metre. Kavitha is slated to contest as a candidate of the Telangana Rastra Samithi (TRS) for the legislative council from Nizamabad. TRS leaders hosted the event on behalf of the CMs daughter and invited all the elected representatives of zilla parishads, mandal parishads and municipalities of her constituency along with their family member. A video of the get-together has been shared in social media. The state BJP leadership has hit out the TRS for hosting the event at the time when the country is grappling to keep the COVID-19 spread under check. Nizamabads BJP MP Dharmapuri Aravind uploaded the video on twitter and wrote, Weddings to public exams cancelled across the country. The footage is a political campaign organised by Ms. Kalvakuntla Kavitha, daughter of CM of Telangana, for her mere MLC election, risking more than 500 people & their families (exponential if their social contacts are considered). Your browser does not support the audio element. Authorities in Ho Chi Minh City are looking for people who have been to a local bar in the last two weeks as a British man had attended a party there before he was diagnosed with the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) this week. The Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control (CDC) announced on Saturday afternoon that authorities are calling on customers who have visited the Buddha Bar&Grill at No. 7 Thao Dien Street in Thao Dien Ward, District 2 within the past 14 days to urgently contact the nearest local health authority for medical checkups and instructions on infection prevention. In addition, all persons who may have been in contact with customers of the bar within the past 14 days and are currently present in Vietnam are also advised to contact the nearest local health authority for the same purposes. Those who live in Ho Chi Minh City can reach the hotline numbers of district health centers or the CDC for support and instructions. The announcement was made after the center had confirmed that a Saint Patrick's Day party was organized at Buddha Bar&Grill on March 14, before the venue was ordered to close for COVID-19 prevention. Vietnam's Patient No. 91, a 43-year-old British man who works as a pilot for national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines and resides in District 2, was among the attendees of the event. Authorities in Ho Chi Minh City began to close all cinemas, clubs and bars, massage parlors, karaoke shops, and online game centers from 6:00 pm March 15, one day after the party was held. The closures will last until the end of March to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Vietnam has confirmed 92 cases of COVID-19 infections so far, with 17 having fully recovered and been discharged from the hospital by Friday. No death has been reported in the country so far. Ho Chi Minh City currently has 23 patients confirmed to be carrying the virus. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! ROHNERT PARK (BCN) Wellness checks for older residents are being offered by the Rohnert Park Senior Center during the shelter-in-place order, the city announced Friday. Residents who know a senior who could use a social wellness call can contact Cindy Bagley at (707) 588-3452 or cbagley@rpcity.org to have them added to the center's phone list. "Social distancing is important, but it could also affect the health of the elderly, isolating them when they may be most in need of assistance, the senior center said in an announcement. "The city is making calls to seniors to say hello and check in on them every few days." The wellness checks will continue through the shelter-in-place order. Copyright 2020 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. According to the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, the latest person to test positive for COVID-19 is a a member of the judicial branch who works in Kanawha County. Officials say the employee is under 40 years old and from Putnam County, but has been working in the judicial building. They are isolated at the hospital and in stable condition, the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department says. The Court has contacted the family and offered any help and support needed. The Kanawha County Commission, under the direction of Kanawha Charleston Health Officer Dr. Sherri Young, ordered that the Judicial Building close to the public immediately. This order followed the notice that the individual that tested positive for COVID-19 had significant access to the building. The Judicial Building houses the Circuit Court, Magistrate Court, Family Court and the offices of the Kanawha County Circuit Clerk. For the time being, public and employee access to the building will be allowed only by the Sheriff of Kanawha County, Michael Rutherford, under the direction and advice of the Chief health Officer of the Kanawha Charleston Health Department, Dr. Sherri Young. The Court is working closely with the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department to directly contact all co-workers who may have been in contact with the individual. The coworkers are being notified of all recommended health and safety protocols. "I cannot express my sorrow for the family and the patient and ask for all Kanawha Countians and West Virginians, in your thought and prayers support all families and victims of this terrible virus," Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper said. "We have been planning for a contingency where we might have to severely restrict access to the courthouse. It is not a decision we take lightly but one that must be done to protect the public and our employees." According to the state Department of Health and Human Resources, 12 positive cases have been reported in West Virginia, the results of 385 tests have come back negative and the results of one test is still pending at the state lab. Officials say all cases are travel related. So far, 397 residents have been tested for COVID-19 The counties with positive cases include: Jackson (1), Jefferson (2), Kanawha (1), Marshall (2), Mercer (2), Monongalia (1), Putnam (1), Tucker (2). All test results, including those processed through hospitals and commercial laboratories, are reportable to DHHR and are included in the positive and negative case counts. Tests pending only includes those tests processed through the state public health lab. Gov. Jim Justice is scheduled to host a statewide address on COVID-19 response at 7 p.m. Saturday. You can watch the governor live on WSAZ, WSAZ.com and the WSAZ app. The SouthDoc centre in the grounds of Fermoy Hospital is among those closed down by the service The HSE has been urged to bring pressure to bear on South Doc to reverse its controversial decision to close down a number of its centres, including those in Fermoy, Kanturk and Macroom. In a statement SouthDoc said that, due to the ongoing effects being experienced by as a result of COVID-19, it has implemented a "consolidated model of out of hours service delivery", which came into effect as of last Saturday morning. As a result, its centres in Fermoy, Kanturk and Macroom as well as others around the county have been locked down, leaving SouthDoc operating from just six centres in Cork - Mallow, Bandon, Bantry, Castletownbere, Midleton and Kinsale Road. In Kerry, the service will be operating out of centres in Killarney, Tralee, Dingle and Caherciveen. In an email to members, SouthDoc board chair Joanne Montgomery said the closed centres would be "locked up and sterile in case required". "We are in unprecedented times. We are doing this to protect the health of us, the members, and our staff and thus being able to provide a continued service," wrote Ms Montgomery. "The reason for the consolidation in treatment centres is we expect a reduction in staff and doctor numbers as times goes on due to illness/self isolation." The statement posted on the SouthDoc website moved to reassure the patients they would be dealt with and that "no patients will be left untreated" as a result of the closures. "SouthDoc is conscious of the inconvenience this may cause you. However, it is both necessary and in the best interests of all concerned,"it read. It went on to say that all calls would be dealt with in the first instance by advice from a doctor and, should a consultation be required, patients will be asked to go to a treatment centre and, after checking in, wait outside the building until they are called. "This measure is to ensure the protection of the health and wellbeing of the doctor, the patient and staff. Under no circumstances will any person be allowed access to a treatment centre without first speaking to a doctor," read the statement. "All contact to the service remains unchanged at 1850 335 999." Cork East TD Sean Sherlock was among a number of public representatives to question closure of the centres. "This is causing major upset, and GPs themselves are perplexed by the move. I do not see any logic for it. The reasons given don't appear on the face of it to stand up to scrutiny," said Deputy Sherlock. "This decision raises more questions than answers. As a funder of the service, the HSE must put pressure on the board of SouthDoc to change the decision." Speaking on C103, Fermoy-based GP Dr Paddy Burke said the closure of the local SouthDoc centres would mean a large part of north Cork would be left without any cover, except for Mallow. He said local GPs were already under "enormous pressure" and the closure of the Fermoy centre would add to that. Dr Burke said that while every call GPs now get was a potential threat due to Covid-19, other patients also needed to be catered for. "Other people will get sick, other people will need Acute medical care, and we need to be located approximate to our patients," he said. A team of six medical experts from South China's Guangdong province departed from Guangzhou on Saturday afternoon for Serbia to assist the Balkan country in its fight against the COVID-19 epidemic. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] A team of six medical experts from South China's Guangdong province departed from Guangzhou on Saturday afternoon for Serbia to assist the Balkan country in its fight against the COVID-19 epidemic. The team includes Guo Yubiao, director of Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, and Xiong Yan, deputy director of Emergency Department of First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, and Hou Cailan, director of Psychology and Psychiatry Department of Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital. Peng Zhiqiang, deputy director of infectious disease control and prevention department, and Long Qisui of AIDS control and prevention department of Guangdong Provincial Center of Disease Control and Prevention, and Lin Bingliang, deputy director of the infectious department of Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, are also accompanying the team. On board the charted plane from Serbia, they are carrying with them medical supplies. The Serbian embassy in China opened a social media account on Weibo on Wednesday, listing 15 items of medical supplies urgently needed in Serbia, including ventilators, surgical masks, COVID-19 test kits and medicines. Could anti-malaria drugs be used to treat coronavirus? Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Drugs already approved to treat malaria might be effective in treating the symptoms of mild-to-moderate cases of the coronavirus, according to multiple reports. The United States Food & Drug Administration announced Thursday that they were investigating the usage of the drug chloroquine to treat mild-to-moderate COVID-19 cases. Chloroquine has already been approved to treat malaria, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis, with the FDA stating that they hope it can be used to potentially reduce the duration of symptoms, as well as viral shedding, which can help prevent the spread of disease. Studies are underway to determine the efficacy in using chloroquine to treat COVID-19, explained the FDA. While there are no FDA-approved therapeutics or drugs to treat, cure or prevent COVID-19, there are several FDA-approved treatments that may help ease the symptoms from a supportive care perspective. French researchers also published a recent study which found that hydroxychloroquine, sold under the brand name Plaquenil, might also help in treating COVID-19. Amanda Woods of the New York Post reported Wednesday on the study, which was led by Didier Raoult of lInstitut Hospitalo-Universitaire in Marseille. The study had 36 participants, comprised of 20 treated persons and 16 infected controls, in which the treated group was given 600 mg of Plaquenil daily. Researchers found that half of the treated group went from positive to negative for the virus by day three and then by the day six, it increased to 70 percent. Despite its small sample size our survey shows that hydroxychloroquine treatment is significantly associated with viral load reduction/disappearance in COVID-19 patients and its effect is reinforced by azithromycin, explained the study. Research had previously been done on using a pill containing anti-HIV drugs to treat the virus. However, results showed it to be ineffective, according to the New York Post. The investigation into using anti-malaria drugs to treat COVID-19 comes as a doctor has stated that he might be a month from developing a way to stop the coronavirus. Distributed Bio co-founder and CEO Dr. Jacob Glanville explained on a recent episode of the Fox News program "The Story with Martha MacCallum" that his team was working on a way to neutralize the virus. What my company is doing is adapting antibodies to recognize and neutralize the novel coronavirus, explained Glanville, as reported by Fox News. Instead of giving you a vaccine and waiting for it to produce an immune response, we just give you those antibodies right away. And so within about 20 minutes, that patient has the ability to neutralize the virus. According to Glanville, once engineered, the treatment will be sent to the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, with human experiments expected by July. In Donald Margulies 2010 play, Time Stands Still, that delicate balance is seen through the playwrights usual lens of the moral dilemmas of the culturally elite, as in Dinner With Friends and Collected Stories. Elements of the former are on display as two couples in Brooklyn deal with shifting dynamics in the wake of a crisis. The latters central conflict how much can an artist take from anothers life before its an invasion of privacy? is reflected through the career of Sarah, a war photographer who has returned home after surviving a car bombing in Iraq. The federal government is mulling further financial support for the aviation sector as Qantas, Virgin Australia and regional carriers bear the brunt of an unprecedented industry downturn due to the coronavirus crisis. The pandemic and resulting travel restrictions have thrown airlines around the world into chaos, with Qantas and Virgin cutting domestic capacity by around 60 per cent and planning to ground their international fleets entirely. Qantas and Virgin around grounding their international fleets and around half their domestic flights. Credit:Bloomberg The federal government announced a $715 million rescue package this week, consisting of waived fees and levies, however airlines have continued to push for more help, according to industry sources. A bailout could take the form of loans or loan guarantees. The New Zealand government on Friday announced a bailout for flag carrier Air New Zealand in the form of a $NZ900 million ($891 million) loan. 20 countries and territories are looking to buy thousands of Vietnamese Covid-19 test kits, the director of a firm making them said Tuesday. The kits, which utilize molecular biology techniques, including reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), were developed by the Vietnam Military Medical University and the Viet A Technologies firm, funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology and approved by the Ministry of Health. They can detect the new coronavirus in specimens of droplets obtained from the respiratory tract and blood samples. There are enough materials to produce around 3,600 kits right now (a kits good for 50 tests) and Viet A is importing more materials to produce another 2,400, the science ministry said. The firm can produce more if it imports more materials from the U.S. and other countries, the ministry said. Vietnam can rely on its own kits to perform tests, even if the epidemic spreads widely in the country, Pham Cong Tac, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology said at a Tuesday meeting that discussed measures against the Covid-19 epidemic. Phan Quoc Viet, director of the Viet A firm, said 20 countries and territories are currently negotiating purchase of the kits from Vietnam. They would export kits to Iran, Finland, Malaysia and Ukraine first, he said. Hanoi is also ordering 400 kits for its own use and to gift them to Italy, now the second-worst Covid-19 hit country after China, said Viet. Viet had said earlier that his company could make 10,000 kits a day, and triple the capacity if needed. The Vietnamese test kits provide quicker results and are easier to use than those used by the U.S. Center for Disease Control and the World Health Organization, according to the science ministry. The country currently has 30 facilities capable of doing the Covid-19 test, three of them approved by the World Health Organization: the National Institute Of Hygiene and Epidemiology in Hanoi, the Pasteur Institute in Saigon and the Pasteur Institute in south central Nha Trang. Vietnam has so far recorded 61 Covid-19 patients, 16 of whom have recovered and been discharged. Among those currently under treatment, a 69-year-old British man and a 64-year-old Vietnamese woman, both in Hanoi, are in critical condition. The Covid-19 outbreak has thus far spread to 162 countries and territories, with the death toll climbing to over 7,300. Nepal Police on Saturday arrested a youth for allegedly spreading rumours about deaths by COVID-19 in a private hospital here, which went viral over social media. The Cyber Crime Bureau of Nepal Police arrested 20-year-old Bibek Thapa Magar from Sipadol, Bhaktapur, confirmed Nabindra Aryal, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP). "He has been arrested for allegedly spreading false information causing public fear amidst the rising threat of COVID-19," Aryal told ANI. Magar has also been found to be operating an online portal without getting it registered with the Press Council and Department of Information and Broadcasting defying standard procedures. "Investigation into the case is underway," Aryal added. An audio recording was rotating on social media from late Saturday evening claiming a total of eight people have tested positive for coronavirus and were admitted to Norvic International Hospital. After the audio went viral over the social media, the Norvic International Hospital on Saturday afternoon issued a release, declining any such report. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former national security advisor Susan Rice: Win McNamee/Getty Images Former national security advisor Susan Rice has accused Donald Trump of failing to properly prepare for a global pandemic despite ample warnings. Ms Rice, who played a key role in the Obama administrations response to the Ebola crisis, said her team had briefed incoming Trump officials about the risk of another pandemic during the transition. As part of that effort, her team held an exercise that explored what to do in the case of a global pandemic, she claimed. We knew this was a serious and impending risk, she told CNN. Thats why under the Obama administration we set up an office for global health security and biodefence. We staffed it with a senior person and made sure they could report directly to the national security advisor and the homeland security advisor. Two years ago that office was dismantled. The Trump administrations decision to disband that office in 2018 has been cited as one reason for the governments delayed response to the coronavirus outbreak. Even current Trump officials have said the office had served a useful purpose. It would be nice if the office was still there, Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases at the national institute of health, told Congress last week. I wouldnt necessarily characterise it as a mistake (to eliminate the unit). I would say we worked very well with that office. Mr Trump has defended his administrations response by claiming the coronavirus pandemic blindsided the world and came out of nowhere. Ms Rice, who was also US ambassador to the United Nations, said that claim was false. When you have the president of the United States stand up almost daily and say: Who could have imagined this? Who could have predicted this? We had no idea this could come. Thats just false. Not only did we know it could come, we should have prepared for it to come as we did in the Obama administration, and we gave them the wherewithal to do so in the Trump administration. BUENOS AIRES (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st March, 2020) Russia promised to provide Venezuela next week with humanitarian aid amid the pandemic of COVID-19, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said. "Russia told us that it would send special humanitarian aid, which will be received by our country next week," Maduro said on late Friday. According to the Venezuelan president, Russia will provide Caracas with medical equipment. The number of people infected with COVID-19 in Venezuela has already reached 42 with no fatalities. - The world is currently in a state of gloom as the novel coronavirus has become a pandemic that is plaguing most countries - Africa, particularly Nigeria, recorded no victims of the virus but as days go by, the number has begun to increase and even threatens to reach high places - According to reports, a popular Nigerian celebrity has now tested positive to the virus and he attended the recently held AMVCA where he interacted with a lot of people The COVID-19 also known as the coronavirus is undoubtedly causing panic in most parts of the world and the number of infected persons in Nigeria is currently increasing as time continues to go on. Despite the grave and dangerous nature of the coronavirus, a number of people in Nigeria still have doubts about the existence of the disease but it seems their doubts are about to be cleared. News has been making the rounds on social media that a popular Nigerian celebrity has tested positive for the virus and that he attended the recently held Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards (AMVCA), where he mixed and interacted with a lot of other stars. Controversial journalist, Kemi Olunloyo, was the first to share this information with the public and now other people who seem to be in the know have followed suit. A lady identified on Twitter as Ifeoma Chukwuogo (@Fizzy Thatcher) warned people who attended the event to self-isolate and watch themselves for some days. She also said information has reached her that the infected person has already reported himself and she would delete her tweets to avoid further panic. See her tweets below: Another popular blogger, Stella Dimoko-Korkus, also corroborated the claims. According to her, the person is a popular photographer and he has also advised people to stay quarantined till he gets his result to confirm his status. See her post below: Nawa o. In other news, YEN.com.gh reported that popular British actor, Idris Elba, has tested positive for the deadly coronavirus. The coronavirus started in Wuhan, China, and has now spread to all but one continent in the whole world. As it stands, not even popular personalities are safe from the pandemic as top people in different fields of life have also tested positive to the disease. Source: YEN.com.gh Actor Johnny Depp and his former wife Amber Heard settled their divorce out of court in 2017, with Ms Heard donating her $7m (6.6m) settlement to charity Johnny Depp's libel claim against The Sun newspaper over allegations that he was violent toward his ex-wife Amber Heard has been postponed due to the coronavirus crisis. The Pirates Of The Caribbean star is suing the tabloid's publisher, News Group Newspapers (NGN) and its executive editor, Dan Wootton, over an April 2018 article which referred to Mr Depp as a "wife-beater". A two-week trial was due to start in London on Monday, at which the actor, Ms Heard and a number of Hollywood figures would have had to give evidence. Reluctant However, Mr Justice Nicol said yesterday that he had "reached the reluctant conclusion" that the trial would have to be adjourned. The judge said two of Mr Depp's legal representatives have already had to self-isolate, adding: "No one can predict whether others involved in the case, and I do not exclude myself, will either become infected or need to self-isolate." He said travel restrictions between the UK and France, where Mr Depp (56) is currently, and the US, where Ms Heard lives, were a further factor. The judge also said it would be more difficult to assess key witnesses over video-link and that having evidence heard in different ways would be "most undesirable". There would also be problems with witnesses in California giving evidence "in the middle of the night", given the time difference, he said. He said the Lord Chief Justice had announced that new criminal trials lasting three days or longer would be adjourned, and that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had raised the prospect of further restrictions on the transport network. The judge said it had been said that libel trials should take place as quickly as possible to either provide vindication to the claimant for damage to their reputation, or to dismiss their claim, but "these are not ordinary times". Keen At a hearing on Wednesday, Adam Wolanski QC, for NGN, said his client was "extremely keen" for the trial to go ahead. The judge said he also received a statement from Ms Heard (33), in which she confirmed "her very strong wish" for the trial to continue and was willing to give evidence over video-link from the US in the early hours of the morning. Mr Depp's lawyers said he would not be able to give evidence over video-link from his "remote location". Mr Depp has brought separate libel proceedings against Ms Heard in the US, which are "ongoing". In May 2016, Ms Heard obtained a restraining order against Mr Depp after accusing him of abuse, which he denied. The couple settled their divorce out of court in 2017, with Ms Heard donating her $7m (6.6m) settlement to charity. Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid has thanked the team of Indian doctors and paramedics that has been in the island country to help the government of Maldives fight the novel coronavirus. "Extending our appreciation and gratitude to composite #Covid_19 medical team from India, for sharing experience and knowledge with us. Thanks once again, PM Modi and EAM S Jaishankar for this timely assistance and support as we try to combat this global challenge," Shahid said in a tweet. Earlier, the spokesperson of the Indian Army Col Aman Anand on March 16 confirmed, "A team of Indian Army comprising of six doctors and eight paramedics has been in the Maldives since March 13 to set up a viral testing lab." Furthermore, Maldives also participated in the SAARC leaders' video conference on coronavirus. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) As the entire nation is gearing up for the Janta Curfew called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to combat the deadly Coronavirus, the Himachal Pradesh administration has sent back more than 35 tourists including Nepali and Israeli nationals on Saturday in an effort to control the tourist influx during the crisis situation. The district administration said people had come from different places and were on their way to Manali. "All the tourists were sent back including 20 people from Nepal, five from Kerala and six others from abroad. With the help of the local police and medical team, the buses were checked and people were sent back," said Rahul Chauhan, Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of Sundernagar, adding that eight tourists were sent back from Shimla on Friday. The state government has already closed all educational institutions, Anganwadi centres, and play-way schools from March 14 till March 31. On Friday, two fresh cases of Coronavirus were reported in Kangra district. READ | Consumer Affairs Ministry Caps Prices Of Masks, Hand Sanitisers Amid Coronavirus Outbreak Nation under lockdown The entire nation is under a near lockdown situation with different state governments imposing closure of offices and other establishments to combat the spread of the virus. Only essential services such as pharmacies, medical clinics, grocery stores, among other essentials are open. However, different states have adopted different strategies in complete coordination with the central government to combat the virus. While some states such as Punjab and Haryana have shut down public transportation system in their states, other state governments such as Maharashtra and Delhi have drastically curtailed down public transport. READ | Coronavirus LIVE Updates: MPs Enter Isolation As Fear Reaches Parliament; Cases Cross 200 'Janta Curfew' Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced a 'Janta Curfew' on March 22 and appealed to all the citizens to go under self-quarantine and not stepping out of their homes on Sunday from 7 am to 9 pm. Addressing the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi talked extensively about the challenges caused due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He stressed that resolve and restraint were the two most important things to be followed. PM Modi also appealed to every to pay tribute to all essential officials like doctors, government officials, journalists, etc who were working. READ | The Coronavirus Story Every Indian Must Hear: Survivor Details How He Trumped COVID-19 A day after his address to the nation, PM Modi also chaired a video conferencing with chief ministers of various states to fight the pandemic. The total number of Coronavirus cases in India stands at 258 including 39 foreigners according to Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. While four deaths have been reported in the country, 22 cases have fully recovered and discharged. (With ANI inputs) READ | Kerala HC Fines Rs 50,000 On Petitioner Seeking Online Delivery Of Liquor Amid Coronavirus Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday announced a ban on gatherings of more than five people in the capital in a significant reduction from the previous cap on gatherings exceeding 50 people in the wake of coronaivrus spread in the country. He also cautioned that a lockdown could be considered in future if the situation demands. Delhi has reported more than 30 cases of positive covid19 infections including one death so far and the government has shut down most public places including schools, colleges, cinemas, malls, restaurants, swimming pools etc to prevent community transmission of the disease. Any gathering of more than 5 people will not be allowed in Delhi. An order will be issued soon, announced Kejriwal among several other measures to combat the wide-spread impact of the disease. Delhi government has also cut down on presence of government staff in offices except for those employed with the essential services and also urged private firms to allow staff to work from home. Chief minister said the government had not imposed a lockdown for now, but it would have to do if the need arises in the view of the coronavirus outbreak. In other measures Kejriwal government decided to conduct all its press conferences online to protect journalists from the infection that has killed four people in the country so far and sickened 268 people. The Delhi government also announced a 50% increase in ration from fair price shops in the capital keeping in mind the impact on daily wage earners who are believed to be the hardest-hit from the curtailment in economic activity. It also announced doubling up of the pension for widows, differently-abled and elderly for the month of March. He added that seventy-two lakh people in Delhi get ration from fair price shops. The government also announced a waiver on GST charges on hotel bills for quarantine patients in Delhi. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Update: 12:41 'Ring a relative': Stay in contact but respect social distancing says Simon Harris Minister for Health, Simon Harris has encouraged the public to stay in contact with friends and relatives but respect social distancing rules. In a message on social media, Health Minister Simon Harris urged people to keep their distance: "Pick up the phone and ring a relative," the Minister for Health said, "ring your mom, your dad, your granny, your grandad." Mr Harris added: "Just because we can't be physically close to each other, it does not mean we can't keep in touch." I'm also from hearing from people around the country that lots of people are now baking and cooking food and leaving it on neighbour's doors "I'm not very good at cooking, but maybe you are, so if you have a few minutes today perhaps do that and leave a meal on someone's door so they know you are looking out for them," Mr Harris said. Another 126 people tested positive for coronavirus in the Republic yesterday, bringing the total to 683. As of Wednesday, half of the cases are in Dublin - while Monaghan is the only county that is yet to have a diagnosis of Covid-19. Dr Sarah Doyle urges people to supervise children when outside and be responsible. File picture. Earlier 'Keep safe, keep sane': Dr Sarah Doyle cautions public to observe social distancing The HSE continues to urge people to keep their social distance if they are leaving the house this weekend. 126 new coronavirus cases were confirmed yesterday, bringing the total in the Republic to 683. More than a third of people who have tested positive so far are under 34 and over half are in Dublin. Dr Sarah Doyle, consultant in Public Health Medicine with the HSE, says people need to observe social distancing this weekend. "My own feeling is that I think it is really important that people can get out for a walk, or you know get outside, get out and do some gardening," she said. "Just everybody knows it is keeping your distance .... supervise the children, go out and maybe in twos and threes, make sure you keep your distance," she said. Keep safe, keep sane. Social distancing does not have to mean social isolation Social distancing doesn't have to mean social isolation, according to a mental health expert. People are being encouraged to get out of the house this weekend, but in the midst of a pandemic, to use common sense when it comes to their interactions with others. Psychologist Mark Smyth says keeping a distance from loved ones for a long period will be a challenge, so it's important to manage that. Mr Smyth said: "Rather than leave things to chance, we need to arrange and schedule opportunities where we can socially connect with others." So for our kids arranging virtual play dates on whatsapp where there are times where they can all join in on video chats. "But think tomorrow again for Mother's day, to arrange a time to phone or video chat with mums or grandmothers so that they know that it is coming," he said. Earlier 'Use a bit of common sense here': Simon Harris warns over social distancing this weekend People are being encouraged to have "common sense" when leaving home this weekend. The Health Minister said yesterday he is nowhere near satisfied with social distancing efforts in the country. Despite being told to get out for a time over today or tomorrow - Simon Harris says that does not mean congregating in big groups. He said: "When you decide you are going to go for a walk with the kids, go for a walk with the kids but observe social distancing." Don't go for a walk and bring five other kids with you and all get into a packed public park. "So we have to use a bit of common sense here," he finished. Meanwhile, Tanaiste Simon Coveney has urged people to confront families, peers, and communities if they are not taking rigorous social distancing seriously, which if done properly, will save thousands of lives. Both ministers' public statements followed news that a further 126 new cases of the virus were confirmed yesterday a fall from the 191 new cases announced on Thursday which brings the total to 683 cases in the Republic. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 18:45:14|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close MOGADISHU, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. military confirmed Saturday that more than 15 al-Shabab militants were killed in airstrikes in southern Somalia this week. The U.S. Africa Command (Africom) spokesman Karl Wiest said no civilians were injured or killed as a result of five airstrikes which were carried out in coordination with Somali security forces near Janale on Monday and Tuesday. The command currently assesses these airstrikes resulted in the deaths of over 15 al-Shabab militants, Wiest said in a statement. Janale town that lies about 90km south-west of Mogadishu had been the hub for militants' operations and activities. Now, the town with about 30,000 people is currently under the full control of the joint forces -- African Union Mission in Somalia and Somali National Army. Two patients with COVID-19 died due to complications, the Ministry of Health (MOH) confirmed on Saturday (21 March). These are the first deaths from COVID-19 that the Republic has seen since confirming its first case of the virus infection in January. The patients are a 75-year-old Singaporean woman and a 64-year-old Indonesian man. The Singaporean woman, identified as Case 90, was linked to the cluster at The Life Church and Missions Singapore. She was said to have a history of chronic heart disease and hypertension. She had been admitted to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) on 23 February for pneumonia and was confirmed to have Covid-19 the same day. She died after 26 days in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at 7.52am on Saturday. deaths from covid-19 Both deaths from COVID-19 are due to complications and underlying health issues. | Image source: iStock The second patient, identified as Case 212, was a 64-year-old Indonesian man with a history of heart disease. He was admitted in critical condition to NCID on Mar 13, after arriving in Singapore from Indonesia on the same day, and was confirmed to have COVID-19 the following day. According to MOH, the patient developed serious complications and died after nine days in the ICU, on Saturday at 10.15am. The health agency also said that the patient had been hospitalised in Indonesia for pneumonia. prior to his arrival in Singapore. Patients families have been informed The MOH and NCID have reached out to their families and are extending assistance to them. Minister for Health Mr Gan Kim Yong said, We are deeply saddened by their passing. Our thoughts are with their families during this difficult time. We will render all necessary assistance to their families. I understand that Singaporeans will be affected by this news. But we must take courage and continue to play our part to fight this virus. PM Lee expressed condolences to the families In a Facebook post on Saturday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong expressed his condolences over the deaths from COVID-19 and said Singapore has to prepare itself for more deaths from the virus. Story continues As we get more COVID-19 cases, more patients will need ICU care, and we must brace ourselves for more losses, he said. Our healthcare workers are doing their best to care for their patients. So far 131 of 385 cases have been discharged. Most are gradually improving. Mr Lee assured the public that the government is doing all we can to slow the spread of the virus. PM Lee expresses condolences over the deaths from COVID-19 in Singapore. | Image source: Screenshot/Lee Hsien Loong Mr Lee also called on Singaporeans to support and comply with the measures that have been put in place. Public urged to follow stricter safe distancing measures To reduce the risk of further local transmissions, authorities urged the public to observe stricter safe distancing measures. New safe distancing measures were introduced for events, public venues, and workplaces. Under the new measures, gatherings with 250 or more participants in attendance at any one time must be suspended until 30 June 2020. This is an expansion of the previous requirement for ticketed cultural, sports and entertainment events to be limited to fewer than 250 participants. Public venues such as shops and restaurants to ensure separation of at least 1m between customers. Meanwhile, workplaces are strongly advised to put in place measures to reduce close physical interactions amongst employees, such as telecommuting, and staggered working hours. The post Singapore Reports First 2 Deaths From COVID-19 appeared first on theAsianparent - Your Guide to Pregnancy, Baby & Raising Kids. The Federal Ministry of Health has confirmed ten new cases of COVID-19 in Nigeria; 3 new cases in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and 7 new cases in Lagos State. This brings the total number of confirmed cases in Nigeria to twenty-two. The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire disclosed this on Saturday in a press statement. According to Dr. Ehanire All 10 (ten) new cases are Nigerian nationals; 9 (nine) of them have travel history to the Canada, France, Netherlands, Spain and United Kingdom. They returned to the country in the past 1 (one) week; the 10th case is a close contact of a previously confirmed case. The 3 (three) cases in the FCT are being treated at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital (UATH), Gwagwalada while the 7 (seven) new cases in Lagos are being treated at the Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH), Yaba. All 10 (ten) new cases have mild to moderate symptoms and are currently receiving treatment. The Minister said the Federal Government remains committed to working with states to provide optimal care for all confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country. Dr. Ehanire said the Ministry of Health through the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) will maintain a real-time update on new cases through the website: covid19.ncdc.gov.ng. We will continue to provide updates as and when they become available. The Federal Ministry of Health reiterates its commitment to ensure the control of the COVID-19 outbreak in Nigeria, he added. - Photos of five men who were seen inside a large dog cage went viral in social media - They allegedly violated the curfew and were taught a lesson - The barangay official said that they didn't want to follow the guidelines of the curfew - Two of the men who were caged were minors PAY ATTENTION: Click "See First" under the "Following" tab to see KAMI news on your News Feed A photo of five men inside a dog cage has been going viral on social media. As per ABS-CBN's report, these five men allegedly violated the curfew imposed in Sta. Cruz, Laguna. In the photo, it could be seen how the five men were huddled closely without any space in between them. Abante reported that two of the men caged were minors, and as the men were inside the dog cage, the photo showed another man standing outside the cage. It was confirmed that it was a barangay captain, as per Mayor Edgar San Luis, the mayor of Sta. Cruz. Politics also mentioned that the mayor admonished the said barangay captain. 5 men placed inside dog cage for allegedly violating curfew in Laguna (Photo: Screenshot Facebook) Source: Facebook KAMI learned that the parents of the minors have already filed a case against the barangay captain. The said Barangay Captain was also warned about violating human rights in these times. Here's the report from ABS-CBN: PAY ATTENTION: Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news! In a previous report by KAMI, the government faced problems when they imposed the initial community quarantine, which was elevated into the now ongoing enhanced community quarantine. It also suspended transportation causing massive problems with commuters. The coronavirus outbreak started out in Wuhan, Hubei Province of China. Scientists believed that the virus came from an animal at one of Wuhan's wet markets. At present, the Philippines is under a state of calamity while the entire Luzon is under an enhanced community quarantine. Please like and share our amazing Facebook posts to support the KAMI team! Dont hesitate to comment and share your opinions about our stories either. We love reading about your thoughts and views on different matters! Are you an avid fan of a celeb? You might want to challenge yourself and see if you can guess the voice of celebs through recordings. Check out all of the exciting videos and celebrity interviews on our KAMI HumanMeter YouTube channel! Source: KAMI.com.gh Hudson, NY (12534) Today A mix of clouds and sun during the morning will give way to cloudy skies this afternoon. High around 35F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Overcast. Low near 25F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. The small Brisbane music venue's co-owner paces out four square metres, spreads out his arms, looks around and shakes his head. He's weighing up what's next after the federal government announced a cap of one person per four square metres in indoor venues, in a bid to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Robyn and Jamie Simmonds co-owners of West Ends Bearded Lady say the new four-square-metre rule is ridiculous for small venues and will force them to close. Credit:Tony Moore "I can't get a band in here anymore with that ratio. And I would only be getting about six or seven people in here," Bearded Lady co-owner Jamie Simmonds say, gesturing to the tight space in front of the West End bar. "And these people sitting here [in the booths] are now too close together. ANN ARBOR, MI College campuses across the country have closed buildings and temporarily halted certain services to students as the coronavirus pandemic continues to grow. Its posed serious questions as to how universities can still provide essential services to students, many of whom are at home and taking classes online. At the University of Michigan and Michigan State University, their respective counseling and psychological services (CAPS) departments are still working to help students receive the care they need in uncertain times. I feel like were in limbo:' Coronavirus complications leave UM, MSU seniors anxious about future Like all other UM and Ann Arbor programs and services, we have been busier in the sense of adapting to our new reality, taking safety precautions, developing new and amended ways of doing mission-critical work and developing new student mental health supports virtually, said Todd Sevig, director of CAPS at UM. Sevig said CAPS was ready in many ways due to prior emergency planning, but some updates have been needed for new technologies, as many campus services have moved online. UM has asked its students to go home if they are able, and Sevig said thats the main reason CAPS has seen a decline in in-person services over the last two weeks. University of Michigan transitioning to remote classes through end of semester due to coronavirus However, we, like most college and university counseling centers around the country, are doing a fair amount of tele-counseling with current and new clients, Sevig said. Mark Patishnock, director of CAPS at MSU, said he has seen a similar trend at MSU. They had a system in place that saw an average of 50 students walk in each day to initiate new services, but because a majority of those students are now at home, those in-person services have declined drastically, especially since the building is now closed. Somber St. Patricks Day feels surreal to University of Michigan, Michigan State students Patishnock said that doesnt mean the needs of students have lessened. Students in college tend to have a lot of concerns, and during this time of a pandemic when a lot of things are changing quickly, we anticipate that our students would be experiencing the same amount of mental health concerns, if not more, Patishnock said. He said MSU CAPS is offering phone consultations, and the center hopes to implement Zoom, a video conferencing service, in the near future for more in-depth remote consultation. Michigan State University offering students more than $1,000 to move out early Our goal here, regardless of the status of the university, is that were psychiatrists and psychologists and counselors and social workers, Patishnock said. We have an ethical obligation to our patients and our clients, and so we cant abandon them and we have to do everything we can to make sure we engage in the continuity of care and that were checking in with them. Many of the inquiries MSU CAPS has received have been about getting connected with counselors in a students home town, wherever that may be. At UM, Sevig said students have sought treatment for psychological shock, anxiety, isolation and boredom. Sevig said the UM CAPS center is open both physically and virtually. Students can call the center or go online, and Sevig said the theyre offering a modest amount of in-person clinical services, as well as tele-counseling. Both MSU and UM have postponed their spring commencement ceremonies, as well as many other events on campus, and Sevig said the UM student community is experiencing a shared loss in some ways. With one coronavirus case on each campus, UM and MSU urge students to go home As we talk with students, CAPS is encouraging them to lean on the community in creative ways video chats, scheduled video gaming nights or celebrating milestones in a modified way through live video, Sevig said. While most students and faculty may have left campus by now, Sevig said all the remote interaction provides a unique opportunity to find something positive in the impacts of the pandemic. We have, ironically, a wonderful opportunity to capitalize on the other side of the coin in this global pandemic to augment how we are connected to each other, how we rely on each other, how important self-care and self-compassion is to our mental health; how altruism helps others and helps ourselves; and how we need to help each other and ourselves in order to have a mentally healthy community, Sevig said. MSU students in crisis can call CAPS at 517-355-8720 and press 1 when prompted. More information on MSU CAPS can be found here. More information on UM CAPS can be found here. UM students can call CAPS at 734-764-8312. UM CAPS After Hours is available when CAPS is closed at 734-764-8312 and press "0 when prompted. PREVENTION TIPS Michigans State Emergency Operations Center is coordinating state-government resources and the response to the coronavirus spread. It has shared the following tips: What you can do to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases: Always cover coughs or sneezes with a tissue or sleeve. Stay home if you are sick and advise others to do the same. Avoid close contact with people who are sick. Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands. Wash your hands often with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds. Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol, if soap and warm water are not available. Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces(computers, keyboards, desks, etc.). Its not too late to get your flu shot! While the influenza vaccine does not protect against COVID-19 infection, it can help keep you healthy during the flu season. Read more on MLive: Complete coverage at mlive.com/coronavirus University of Michigan ramping down research activities amid coronavirus outbreak Person with access to University of Michigan dining facility tests positive for COVID-19 University of Michigan cancels spring commencements amid fight against coronavirus spread Thursday, March 19: Latest developments on coronavirus in Michigan Two more coronavirus deaths reported in Michigan Coronavirus has closed liquor stores in other states, but Michiganders will likely still have alcohol access As coronavirus closures abound, here are 10 things still open in Michigan Michigan releases interactive map locating free meals for children during coronavirus school closures You are the director of the intensive care unit in a major Australian hospital. Every bed in your ICU is occupied, and every ventilator you can get your hands on is keeping alive a patient who would otherwise be dead. You get a call from the emergency room downstairs. A 40-year-old woman is critically ill, and likely to die unless you admit her. One of your ICU patients is over 80, and others have medical conditions that, with the best care you can give them, still leave them with a life-expectancy of less than five years. What do you do? Medical staff wearing protective masks work at one of the emergency structures that were set up to ease procedures at the Brescia hospital, northern Italy. Credit:AP When Helga Kuhse and I were at the Monash University Centre for Human Bioethics, we ran an annual course in bioethics for a group of healthcare professionals often including directors of ICUs at which we presented our participants with situations like the one I have just described. The discussions were lively, but, those working in ICUs told us, the scenarios were not entirely realistic. Almost always, there was a way between the horns of the dilemma. If no ICU bed was available in the hospital to which the patient had come, a bed could usually be found in another hospital somewhere not too far away. Italy currently has over 40,000 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus known as COVID-19. More than 3000 have died. That is, in proportion to the size of Italys population, 10 times as many cases and almost 20 times as many deaths as China. There are not enough ICU beds and ventilators in Italy to cope with the number of patients who need them. The situation we discussed in our bioethics course has become agonisingly real. Even as things fall apart, doctors warn other doctors. They send messages from the front lines, dictated and sent, or tapped into phones. One from Seattle circulated here a week ago. The ones from New York have been circulating in Canada in the last couple days, in Toronto. One reads, The adult ER is literally a war zone. Canada isnt there yet. Extraordinary measures are being taken in this country, but Torontonians were still lining up at EB Games to buy Animal Crossing on Friday and riding the TTC, because the reality of this hasnt broken all the way through yet. Politicians up to and including the prime minister use escalating language about social distancing and challenges every day, but Canadians have not been told what this truly is yet. Canada has not been told that in a way, this is a war. We recognize that the efforts we are going through are unprecedented, said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. These are historic times in which we need to do everything we can to support Canadians, and support Canadians in smart ways. There are people who are talking about historical echoes, whether it was wartime or the Great Depression, we're focused on what we need to do right now. We know that Canada has never faced a situation like this. We will face through it together." Canada is handling its response in a stereotypically Canadian way: not too loud, a little too polite. But there are still too many Canadians not acting like this is an emergency, so that is not enough. We need to be told, in plain and genuine language, what this is. Canada had 500,000 unemployment claims in the past week. Thats the most in the nations history, and a months worth during the Great Depression. That is the start, and people are scared. We see and doctors and nurses and other health care workers see what is happening to Italy. Doctors on the ground in Ontario are warning that medicine is operating in a world of protocols and liability concerns, and that will need to change. Every single minute counts, said one Ontario ER doctor. We need to become very nimble, very efficient, need a chain of command, and be able to make decisions happen immediately. And we need every Canadian to understand the urgency of getting away from one another, now. The letters from Seattle and New York tell of surges that come from nowhere; of equipment and staff shortages; of exhaustion and sickness and tents for COVID-19 screening or treatment. One warning from New York, a different one, read in part, the surge starts suddenly ... dont be lulled by the lull. Community spread of the virus is happening in our cities, and we do not know how extensively; the testing lag in Ontario continues to grow. Canada is in the lull, right now. The federal government needs to adjust the message. The Stars Alex Boutilier detailed the idea of invoking the Emergency Measures Act. It is a massive thing, a power grab. It seems inevitable. Canadians need to be alarmed and reassured, worried and psychologically prepared. They need to trust this government. Trudeau and deputy PM Chrystia Freeland have been heavy on reassurance, which isnt bad. Now they need to explain to Canadians that this is a war. Not in terms of nationalism, not in terms of Trumpian bravado, but in terms of something that approximates the response that will be required: social discipline, collective mobilization, trust. You can say Canada has your back and We know that Canada has never faced a situation like this, and some people will still hear typical speeches and line up at EB Games. Almost none of us have ever been asked for societal shared sacrifice before, unless you remember the Second World War. Few of us do. So dont just say everything is on the table. Explain plainly how much danger our economy is in, and our hospital workers are in, and we are in. Watch Emmanuel Macrons speech to France, in which he said we are at war six times in 20 minutes while claiming extraordinary powers. He said things like, many of our convictions will be swept away. Watch Gov. Andrew Cuomo just sit down and talk to New Yorkers: He recently talked about how he and his daughter, who is in isolation, spoke more deeply than they ever had, about love and their regrets. Cuomo sent every non-essential New Yorker home Friday. He did the best he could to prepare them and explained what mattered, and the stakes. Western society doesnt do much of a job of making us feel like were all in something together. The permanent partisan war in America has leaked up here, and Canadas budgets have let the bonds of social democracy fray over the years. And even now, with daily briefings from the prime minister on down, were not all the way awake yet. They need to connect. The truth is that were all interconnected and in this together, says Frank Snowden, a Yale professor who wrote the book Epidemics and Societies: From The Black Death To The Present. And as (Nobel Prize-winning microbiologist) Joshua Lederberg said, in the contest with microbes the only advantage and resource that human beings have is their intelligence. I would say their intelligence and their ability to cooperate with one another. Tell us the realities as you know them. The federal government has been responsible, data-based, available. But tell it straight. Explain it in terms anyone can understand. Canada is a country fighting a plague, and it is the closest thing to a war. Doctors tell us that war is coming. The government should, too. Correction - March 24, 2020: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly referred to Frank Snowden as a Harvard University professor. Read more about: WASHINGTON Citing the threat of the coronavirus to the American public, the Trump administration said on Friday it would begin rapidly sending people who illegally cross the United States borders to their home countries and would halt the processing of undocumented migrants at ports of entry. Chad Wolf, the acting secretary of homeland security, said the United States would also close the legal entry points along the border with Mexico and Canada to tourism. American citizens, lawful permanent residents and those crossing a border to seek medical treatment or attend educational institutions would not be affected. Commercial traffic would remain open, but port officers would stop processing those without legal authority to be in the United States, including asylum seekers. Mr. Wolf said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had issued the order to turn away any people who crossed the southwestern border illegally instead of taking them to a detention center where they could ask for asylum in the United States. President Trump has sought such a restrictive policy for years, but the courts have blocked it as a violation of due process. Were trying to limit the amount of contact we have with these individuals, said Mr. Wolf, adding that many migrants who cross the border often lack documents to prove their medical history. Its going to be very rapid. One Delhi Police constable received an out of turn promotion and five other personnel were conferred with the Asadharan Karya Puraskar for their exemplary work, officials said on Saturday. Constable Rajiv, posted in Dwarka district, has got an out of turn promotion while Assistant Sub-Inspector Ravindra, posted in Central District, and Head Constable Joginder Singh, HC Vijay, HC Sanej and HC Krishan, all posted at Mundka police station in Outer District, were conferred with the Asadharan Karya Puraskar by the Delhi Police Commissioner, they said. Rajiv was patrolling in Dwarka Sector-26 on the intervening night of March 15 and 16. After getting information from a security guard about firing at an L&T construction site, he reached the spot and nabbed one of the accused persons whose three associates fled from the spot. Later, they returned and opened fire at Rajiv. The constable sustained a bullet injury on his face during the incident, police said. On Tuesday around 8.30 PM, Ravinder heard a sound of firing and saw three people scuffling. He stopped his bike and caught two persons near Noor-E-Illahi, Anand Sagar Road after a brief chase, they said. Joginder Singh, Vijay, Sanej, and Krishan have been conferred with Asadharan Karya Puraskar for putting their lives in danger in the line of duty, officials added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Please just stay home, Grasso said. If you must go out, for example to buy groceries, consider asking your neighbors or your friends if you can pick up a few essential groceries they might need and leave them at their door (and leave a note reminding them to sanitize or wash any items you leave). This spirit of kindness will cut down the need for others to go out. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, conversation has turned to "shelter-in-place" orders after six San Francisco Bay-area counties put them into effect on Tuesday. It was rumoured that New York would follow suit after mayor Bill de Blasio warned residents that an order may come this week. However, governor Andrew Cuomo's office were swift to deny the claims, saying that "the emergency policies that have been issued are of statewide impact, and the governor is making every effort to coordinate these policies with our surrounding states. "Any blanket quarantine or shelter in place policy would require state action and as the governor has said, there is no consideration of that for any locality at this time." Mr de Blasio insisted that he had been misunderstood and told reporters that "some people interpreted it as like closing the bridges or closing the border, you know, this kind of thing. That's not what I meant. I meant a model that is all about only doing what's essential and staying home, otherwise, not doing a lot of the optional things that people are still doing in New York City." With 7m people currently under the order in California, everything you need to know about a shelter-in-place order is below. What is a shelter-in-place order? Yale University's guide to emergency management describes a shelter-in-place order as "finding a safe location indoors and staying there until you are given an "all clear" or told to evacuate. You may be asked to shelter in place because of an active shooter; tornado; or chemical, radiological, or other hazard." Although coronavirus is not as immediate as an active shooter, the US government is attempting to stop the spread of the disease, so forcing residents to stay in doors is an evolution of social distancing. In San Francisco's case, the order gives residents the opportunity to leave their residences for essential needs. What counts as an essential need could vary from state to state, but the City and County of San Francisco say that "everyone else is required to stay home except to get food, care for a relative or friend, get necessary health care, or go to an essential job." They add that "it is OK to go outside for walks or bike rides if you are not in a group," and that people should "stay at least 6 feet apart when leaving your home for essential activities." Those who are elderly or have underlying health conditions have been advised to stay inside until 7 April when the order is scheduled to end. How does it differ from a lockdown? In a lockdown, citizens are still able to leave their house, but they are not allowed to leave the area that has been locked down. What this means in practice varies from place to place, but all agree that large gatherings and the continued opening of pubs and restaurants are not permitted. In Italy, residents in lockdown are allowed to leave their residence to go to work or for health reasons, but have a set curfew of 6pm. Is an order to stay at home different? An order to stay at home is theoretically different to a shelter-in-place order, because in the former residents are allowed to leave their residence for essential needs. However, the way San Francisco have adopted the shelter-in-place order, there is effectively no difference. On Friday night, Illinois governor JB Pritzker announced their would be a stay at home order put in place in the state. The order is similar to San Francisco's and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said: "I want to say to be clear, this is not a lockdown, it's not martial law. "There's absolutely no need to change your normal purchasing habits. Please, the grocery stores will remain open and stocked. So please be mindful of your neighbors and do not hoard. Remember, this is the new normal, for now." In theory a stay at home order is different to a shelter-in-place, but officials seem to be using the terms interchangeably. In practice they effectively mean the same thing; Stay at home, but leave for essential needs. By Yuddy Cahya, Umit Bektas and Abdi Sheikh JAKARTA/ISTANBUL/MOGADISHU (Reuters) - The coronavirus stopped communal Muslim prayers for the first time in living memory in many mosques from Indonesia to Morocco on Friday, but in some places believers have defied medical advice to join together in worship. In Islam's holiest sanctuary in Mecca, the usually crowded courtyard around the Kaaba in the Grand Mosque, towards which all Muslims pray, was silent and empty. At Riyadh's massive al-Rajhi mosque, only the imam, the muezzin who sings the call to prayer, and other staff were praying inside instead of the thousands who normally attend. "This feeling is indescribable ... the minarets are crying. The mosques were once full of worshippers," said the muezzin, Nasser Mohammed, weeping. The Blue Mosque of Istanbul, with its pencil minarets and cascading domes, Jerusalem's Dome of the Rock under its gilt roof, and the massive Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca with its ornate square minaret had all shut their doors. But in Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city, mosques were crowded as a cleric told his congregation via loudspeaker: "We are not too weak to let this one virus empty our mosques." Elsewhere, Muslims flocked to mosques from Cairo to Mogadishu, whatever the risks. "I am not telling you to reject the preventative measures, but there is too much exaggeration of coronavirus," Sheikh Abdi Hayi in Mogadishu said in his sermon, as people prayed on the street, unable to join the throng within. Prayer is one of the "five pillars" of Islam, performed five times a day by the devout, but enjoined as a communal activity only at noon on Fridays. But as the pandemic spread, some governments suspended communal prayers or closed mosques entirely, leaving many of the world's 1.6 billion Muslims to pray at home, at work, in parks or in the street. A religious gathering in Malaysia last month, attended by 16,000 people, generated 670 coronavirus cases in four countries in southeast Asia. Weekly prayers were later called off in Malaysia Story continues Crowded shrines in Iran, drawing pilgrims from that country and Shi'ites from other nations, helped accelerate the spread of one of the largest outbreaks of the coronavirus so far. 'I'M NOT RUNNING AWAY FROM CORONA' Many Muslims in the Indonesian capital Jakarta prayed at home, and Southeast Asia's biggest mosque, the Istiqlal, stopped prayers. Its imam, Nasaruddin Umar, cited an edict from the country's clerical council. "There's enough of a reason to avoid such religious gatherings," he told a news conference. However, elsewhere in the world's most populous Muslim country, people crowded into their mosques. "Allah is protecting those who abide by their obligations," said Aswin Jusar, 76, in the town of Depok, south of Jakarta, as he prepared to attend Friday prayers despite a call from the mayor for religious activities to be suspended. Outside the Fatih Mosque in Istanbul, named for the 15th century Ottoman sultan who captured the city from the Byzantine empire, 85-year-old Mustafa Emin Ozbakan stood bereft. He has been praying there since 1941. "I'm not running away from corona. Even if I ran, if death is in your destiny, you can have a traffic accident or die some other way," he said. 'ISLAM PROMOTES LIFE, NOT DEATH' In Cairo, where mosques stayed open, religious authorities urged imams to shorten sermons and prayers and said the faithful should perform their ritual ablutions at home. But Mohamed Mosleh, a 31-year-old praying at the al-Azhar mosque, said he was not concerned. "Why should I be afraid to go out, shop, work, pray or go anywhere else? But only after taking precautions, taking care of my hygiene, and all those rules that Islam dictates," he said. But from Morocco to Libya, governments have shut mosques, a step never before taken even in times of war or revolution. Some mosques broadcast an altered version of the call to prayer, exhorting the faithful to stay at home. An Algerian expert in Islamic law, Mohamed Mouloudi, said it was the right decision: "Islam promotes life, not death." In Jerusalem, where the Dome of the Rock and the neighbouring al-Aqsa have closed, clerics allowed prayer in the sacred compound that contains the two mosques. Some worshippers scuffled with Israeli police, who tried to limit the numbers. In Syria, already stricken by war, the Ummayad Mosque in Damascus closed for the first recorded time in over a thousand years. Buthaina, 44, who had prayed there for years, felt as if she had lost her home. "I don't want to leave. I just want to sit here a bit," she said after praying outside. In Nairobi, Kenya's biggest mosque was also closed. "We, as Muslims pray to God to help us overcome this disaster because as you can see, we are praying on the verandas, all the mosques are closed, said worshipper Abdalla Hakim. (Reporting by Yuddy Cahya in Jakarta, Joseph Sipalan in Kuala Lumpur, Gibran Peshimam in Karachi, Nael Shyoukhi in Riyadh, Amr Abdallah Dalsh in Cairo, Abdi Sheikh in Mogadishu, Stephen Farrell in Jerusalem, Umit Bektas in Istanbul, Kinda Makieh in Damascus, Omar Mohammed in Nairobi and Lamine Chikhi in Algiers; Writing by Angus McDowall in Tunis; Editing by Giles Elgood) Please register or log in to keep reading. No credit card required! Stay logged in to skip the surveys. Religious services will take on a very different form tomorrow as churches follow health advice over social gatherings. Churches across Northern Ireland will be embracing technology to spread the word, using live streaming and pre-recorded messages on websites and social media platforms. The Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, Rt Rev William Henry, will begin a series of Sunday worship services that will be available on the PCI website. He said: "While you are not able to meet in that place that has been so familiar to you, that place where God has drawn alongside you, I know that many congregations will be live-streaming their service of worship this weekend. "If your own church isn't, we want you to be able to connect with what our own denomination will be putting on the PCI website. I want to encourage you to check in over the next few months and I want to take a lead in bringing our people together. Worship is not cancelled." The service was pre-recorded in Maze Presbyterian near Lisburn and will be available on PCI's website and Facebook page from 6am on Sunday morning. The Catholic Church in Ireland has already started to reach out to the community, with national broadcaster RTE screening Mass every weekday at 10.30am from St Eunan's and St Columba's Cathedral, Letterkenny, on the RTE News Now channel, available on Sky channel 521, Virgin Media 200 and via the RTE Player. The broadcasts will continue at least until March 29 and RTE will also continue to broadcast a diverse range of Christian worship every Sunday at 11am on RTE One. The Church of Ireland will be live-streaming worship from several churches around the country. St Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, All Saints in Antrim, Downpatrick's Down Cathedral, and St Mark's in Armagh are among those involved in the broadcasts. Details are available via the Church of Ireland website at www.ireland.anglican.org American Pickers is returning to Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont this summer, to film episodes of the hit series American Pickers, from the middle to end of July 2020. American Pickers is a documentary series that explores the fascinating world of antique picking on the History channel. The hit show follows Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz, two of the most skilled pickers in the business, as they hunt for Americas most valuable antiques. They are always excited to find sizeable, unique collections and learn the interesting stories behind them. As they hit the back roads from coast to coast, Wolfe and Fritz are on a mission to recycle and rescue forgotten relics. Along the way, the Pickers want to meet characters with remarkable and exceptional items. The pair hopes to give historically significant objects a new lease on life, while learning a thing or two about Americas past along the way. Wolfe and Fritz have seen a lot of rusty gold over the years and are always looking to discover something theyve never seen before. They are ready to find extraordinary items and hear fascinating tales about them. American Pickers is looking for leads and would love to explore your hidden treasure. If you or someone you know has a large, private collection or accumulation of antiques that American Pickers can spend the better part of the day looking through, send your name, phone number, location and description of the collection with photos to: americanpickers@cineflix.com or call 855-OLD-RUST, or on Facebook: @GotAPick A group of academics has urged the government to 'implement' social distancing by stopping people from moving around different regions of the UK amid the coronavirus pandemic. Six health experts warned Britain is losing a 'very small window of opportunity' to help prevent the spread of the disease and a 'health system collapse'. The appeal to ministers was made in a letter signed by six professors, including Julian Peto, Nisreen Alwan, David McCoy, Helen Ward, Martin McKee and Elio Riboli. Helen Ward (left), professor of public health at Imperial College London and Julian Peto (right), professor of epidemiology at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) David McCoy (left), professor of global public health at Barts and London Medical and Dental School and Martin McKee (right), professor of European public health at LSHTM The experts referred to London specifically when giving examples of areas where movement between and within should be restricted. In a letter to The Times, the six academics wrote: 'Sir, the UK is losing a very small window of opportunity to minimise the disease burden from Covid-19 and prevent a health system collapse.' They added: 'We recognise the severe constraints on capacity for testing but, while that is being addressed, the government must implement social distancing, extensive case finding and contact tracing to reduce community spread to give time for the health system to prepare and cope. 'Hence we urge the government to enforce restrictions on movement between and within areas with high and low rates of infection, such as London, while ensuring that the most vulnerable in society are supported.' It comes as the UK coronavirus death toll surges by 56 in one day, bringing the total fatalities to 233. A 41-year-old is thought to be the youngest victim in Britain since the outbreak began. The total number of confirmed cases in the UK has hit 5,018. Nisreen Alwan (left), associate professor at Southampton University and Elio Riboli (right), professor in cancer epidemiology and prevention at Imperial College London All new victims in England had underlying health conditions and the eldest was 94. Wales's death toll has risen to five, Scotland's now stands at seven and Northern Ireland's remains at one. The rise comes as the government today scolded 'shameful' panic-buyers and pleaded with the frenzied shoppers to consider more vulnerable people before emptying the nation's supermarkets. Environment Secretary George Eustice told people to 'calm down' and claimed there is 'more than enough food to go around'. But he said that many Britons, including frontline NHS staff, were being deprived because of a sharp upswing in stockpiling. President Muhammadu Buhari says his administration is still very committed to the welfare of Nigerians, especially with ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The president said this on Friday while receiving the management of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) in State House. President Buhari said: I am pleased that you are working with the Ministry of Health on protecting our citizens from Covid-19 virus. You must work to guarantee the safety and security of our pilgrims. As a government, this is now a key priority for us. I, therefore, enjoin you to ensure that adequate medical provisions and other welfare requirements are afforded our pilgrims, he added. Buhari expressed delight with the operations of the commission so far, especially the reduction to up to 15 per cent in Hajj fares. Read Also: Coronavirus: Comedian I Go Dye Postpones Comedy Show I am pleased to hear of the progress you have made thus far especially in reducing Hajj fares by up to 15 per cent. I am also impressed that you are still working to further bring down the cost next year. This is commendable now especially with the recent global events that have impacted on the economy. Such savings will be timely and most welcome to the pilgrims as well as to Nigerias economy, he said. A Chevy showroom. AP Photo/Carlos Osorio Automakers are extending financial support to customers stressed by the coronavirus pandemic. Honda joined Ford, General Motors, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Hyundai, Nissan, and Toyota in offering varying levels of support. Measures range from payment delays to 90-day, no-payment terms on new purchases to o% financing deals. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. The finance arms of major automakers have been extending offerings of support to customers hit hard by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. The most recent company to lend support was American Honda. On Thursday, the company said "We have been monitoring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic very closely and today are announcing a series of proactive steps to help reduce any hardships or disruption in service to our customers and automobile dealers in the United States." According to Honda, "Existing Acura and Honda Financial Services account holders could request "[p]ayment extensions and deferrals of up to 60 days, as well as late fee waivers." The company would also contribute $500 toward buying a new Honda and $1,000 toward a new Acura." (Acura is Honda's luxury division.) Honda also outlined a 90-day-deferred payment program on new financing. Honda joined Ford, General Motors, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Hyundai, Nissan, and Toyota in offering varying levels of customer support. Ford Credit said that stressed customers could request payments delays and also laid out a 90-day no-payment plan for new purchases. GM Financial offered assistance to customers, directing them to several resources at a dedicated coronavirus site. Hyundai and its Genesis brand also provided assistance. Hyundai Motor North America and Hyundai Capital said last week in a statement that they would "make up to six months of payments for new owners who lose their jobs and have purchased or leased their vehicle between March 14 to April 30, 2020 through Hyundai Capital." Story continues The carmaker added, "Additionally, for select new purchases through April 30 financed by Hyundai Capital, Hyundai is deferring payments for 90 days at the customer's request." The program is called "Assurance Job Loss Protection" and was originally used during the financial crisis. Read the original article on Business Insider The Plainview ISD School Board convened for an emergency meeting Friday afternoon to decide what actions will be taken within the district as people across the state, including in Plainview, isolate themselves as a precaution against the spread of COVID-19. During a meeting that lasted almost two hours (which included an almost hour-long executive session), Superintendent H.T. Sanchez said the districts administrative team had been working all week to come up with a comprehensive plan to cover employee salaries, food for kids who might not otherwise have access, discuss student credits and answer other questions community members have been asking of the district. Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued an executive order on Thursday forcing school districts across the state to temporarily close for at least two weeks. Sanchez said leaders had already been working on a plan to do just that prior to the announcement. Compensation The first major item Sanchez mentioned as he addressed the board is that employees would still be paid. Employees who hold temporary and/or hourly positions, such as lunch monitors and crossing guards, will be paid for the next two weeks based on the average hours and pay they received in January and February. If the governor was to extend it to a third week, we would extend it to a third week, Sanchez said. If the governor said all school is canceled for the 2020 school year, at that point, wed pay everyone out until the last day they were to report in May. The main message Sanchez hoped to get across is: theres a plan in place no matter what route the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic takes. He mentioned there are currently people in the middle of the hiring process for the district. As new information is being released daily and new guidelines are handed down, the district is working to remain flexible through its hiring and on-boarding process. Teachers will also be given designated time next week by their principals to access their classrooms and gather any items they want or need for the next two weeks. The districts police department and its maintenance and custodial staff will also be around conducting patrols, maintaining campus landscaping and ensuring the facilities are clean. Student grades Throughout the next two weeks, educators will be providing learning materials to students electronically. The district will release instructional links for students to access. Those who do not have internet access or computer access will have an opportunity to make arrangements for the district to provide them a district-issued laptop. Students will not be graded for this work, but the goal is to help retain information theyve already gone over so theyll be up to speed when and if normal classes resume before the end of the school year. Over the next week, beginning Monday, well spend the entire week planning what that is going to look like, Sanchez said. Next week is virtually an extended spring break. He also noted that all EOC tests have been canceled. If a senior is passing classes and meets all other requirements, theyll be eligible to graduate without those tests. He did add that students who were sent to the Ash Program to make up credits will be contacted by school officials to figure out what needs to happen for them. All ACT and SAT testing has also been suspended, Sanchez said, though as of Friday, AP still plans to administer those tests. He also said dual credit is still ongoing since those classes are regulated through the colleges. Because of the fact that theyre weighted classes and in order to be fair to students as far as calculating grades, Sanchez said the valedictorian, salutatorian and top 10 percent graduates would be decided based on the GPA calculations from the first semester. Grades from the 2020 spring semester would not be factored in. Everybody had the opportunity based on December, Sanchez said. Feeding Students The district is also working on finalizing plans to feed local kids while the campuses are closed. The districts food provider, Southwest Foodservice Excellence, will provide food and distribute it to students starting next week. The food will be distributed by curbside service to comply with guidelines of not gathering more than 10 people in a space, Sanchez said. District officials are aware that not every family has a form of transportation, he noted. The district is working on another plan to be able to provide food by creating a bus route and having First Student, the districts transportation company, deliver the meals. Meals will be delivered to kids as long as theyre 18 years old and younger. These plans will depend on demand. He encourages families who would like to take part in these services to call the district so arrangements can be made. Events Several questions have been asked regarding the fate of this years prom, graduation and other significant milestone celebrations. Sanchez said virus information and recommendations are changing too frequently for the district to focus beyond the next two weeks. District officials will continue to monitor the situation as it unfolds and will provide updates on whether or not itll be able to conduct celebrations for those much-anticipated events. If the ordinance limiting gatherings to less than 10 people is still in place past these next two weeks, he doesnt foresee the district being able to host those events. He concluded his remarks asking for prayer that the end of the next two weeks brings back a bit of normalcy. We dont want to give anybody false hope, Sanchez said. Following his remarks, the school board voted unanimously to accept the two-week plan he presented. Iran has agreed to release French researcher Roland Marchal, held since June 2019, in a prisoner swap for an Iranian engineer wanted by the US over sanctions charges. Marchal's colleague, French-Iranian Fariba Adelkhah, remains in prison in Tehran. Marchal is due to arrive in France around midday on Saturday, a French presidency official said. French President Emmanuel Macron urged Iran to also release Fariba Adelkhah, who is still imprisoned, the official added. Adelkhah also holds French and Iranian passports. Iran and France agreed to swap Marchal, held on security charges, and an Iranian detained by Paris over alleged violations of US sanctions against Tehran, Iranian state media reported on Friday. France has released Jalal Ruhollahnejad, an Iranian engineer wanted by US authorities over sanctions charges, state broadcaster IRIB has reported. France had demanded that Iran release Marchal, a senior researcher at Sciences Po university whose arrest was reported by Paris in mid-October. In May, a French court approved the extradition of Rouhollahnejad to the United States to face charges of attempting to illegally import US technology for military purposes on behalf of an Iranian company which US officials said was linked to the elite Revolutionary Guards. The detentions have coincided with a protracted standoff with Western powers prompted by a US decision to withdraw from an international agreement to curb Iranian nuclear activities. Their Paris-based support group and the French foreign ministry have sounded the alarm over the health of both detainees -- Adelkhah went on hunger strike for 49 days and Marchal's health was said to be deteriorating. The support group has repeatedly claimed that the two are innocent of the charges they face. Adding to concerns for the welfare of the prisoners, Iran has been hard hit by the novel coronavirus pandemic, behind only Italy and China in number of fatalities. Iran this week temporarily released 85,000 prisoners with 10,000 more slated to receive pardons, as fears mount the new coronavirus could sweep through the country's overcrowded prisons. Story continues British-Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert, who was being held alongside Adelkah, was not been listed among those to be freed. British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, held since was among those who received furlough. (with agencies) The United States and the world face down one of the most challenging tests in modern history in the coronavirus pandemic. Timely implementation of bold decisions can substantially stem the spread of the coronavirus and significantly limit the havoc it may wreak on mankind. To help prevent an uncontrollable outbreak in the United States, it is essential that President Trump immediately stop outgoing passenger flights from JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark, in light of the quickly spreading virus in New York and New Jersey. President Trump has proven himself to be a courageous leader time and again, announcing multiple restrictions designed to protect and preserve the lives of Americans in the face of partisan criticism and criticism from other governments. These actions include his Proclamations of Jan. 31 banning foreign nationals from entering the U.S. from China, of Feb. 29 banning the entry of all foreign nationals for 14 days after having been in Iran, and of March 11 banning foreign nationals from Europe. In addition, the Pentagon now bans troop movements from countries with outbreaks, including China, South Korea and Italy. President Trump has taken many additional actions that have helped significantly reduce the rate of the coronavirus outbreak. These proactive steps by a highly engaged president have played an important role in slowing the spread of the virus, saving many American lives. Though these actions are critically important in the battle against the spread of coronavirus, more aggressive actions need to be taken without delay to prevent the coronavirus from getting completely out of control and wreaking additional havoc on the health and financial well-being of Americans. A major cause of the coronavirus explosion in NYC was the reckless delay by Mayor de Blasio in closing down bars, restaurants and schools, after it was already obvious that the virus was spreading out of control in NYC. A day before his order, de Blasio said, I am not ready today at this hour to say, let's have a city with no bars, no restaurants, no rec centers, no libraries I'm not there. On March 16, shortly before the closure of gyms, de Blasio went to his favorite gym in Brooklyn, setting a dangerous example for a coronavirus-stricken NYC. De Blasio delayed implementation of his order until after the weekend, when the damage was already done. While Mayor de Blasio has significantly endangered public health, President Trump has led from the front. In addition to his many substantive actions, in coordination with state governments, he should order lockdowns of all uncontrolled coronavirus hotspots in the United States, with the exceptions of necessary personnel and supplies. This must include a ban on entry to, and exit from, any hotspots where the rate of spread is effectively out of control. At present, the top states that would fall into this category are New York and New Jersey, or at least the more affected counties therein. In light of this, all passenger flights, with the exception of those flights that are essential (e.g., for medical reasons), should be banned immediately from all airports in those hotspots. This would be in line with President Trumps March 14 declaration that he is considering significant limits on travel from domestic hotspots. This would also be in line with Governor Ron DeSantis request from March 14 to stop domestic travel from hotspot locations, such as New York, particularly in light of the likelihood of such travel significantly exacerbating the spread of the coronavirus outside of those hotspots. New York has seen by far the most rapid and out of control rise in cases in the country. In fact, as of March 19, New York had 38.8% of the confirmed cases in the United States (5,367 out of 13,816) and was responsible for 51.1% of the total increase in confirmed cases from the previous day (2,329 out of 4,557). As of March 19, New York had at least 5,367 confirmed cases with a rise of 1,332 cases from March 17 to March 18 and an additional breathtaking increase of at least 2,329 cases from March 18 to March 19. In addition, New Jersey had 742 cases as of March 19, up at least 315 confirmed cases from the previous day, and Connecticut has seen more than a doubling of cases in the past day (up 103 to 199). (Michigan has also seen a worrying rise in cases with at least 336 cases as of March 19, up 217 confirmed cases in one day). New York is the main driver of coronavirus cases in the United States and is now Ground Zero for coronavirus. In light of the rapid rise of confirmed cases in the United States, largely on account of it being significantly more contagious than the flu and rapidly spreading, and only partly on account of a dramatic increase in testing, it is essential that immediate action be taken. In fact, since the beginning of March, there has been an exponential rise in cases in the United States. On March 2 there were 100 confirmed cases, there were 994 confirmed cases as of March 10, and 9,259 confirmed cases as of March 18, or about a tenfold increase every 8 days. This means, that short of additional far-reaching government actions, the total confirmed cases may reach 100,000 around March 26, 1 million around April 3, and so on. It is essential that aggressive governmental actions be taken to ensure that the rise in cases is significantly stemmed while it may still be manageable. To provide further perspective, as of March 19 New York City had 3,615 confirmed cases of coronavirus or about 428 cases per million, while New York State had about 268 cases per million. Bergen County, New Jersey had 207 cases per million. This means that currently, New York State has a higher rate of coronavirus than the hotspots of Germany, France, and South Korea, while NYC has a higher rate of coronavirus than Spain. In fact, on March 11, when President Trump proclaimed a ban on travel from Europe to the United States, Italy, the worst-hit country in Europe, had 207 cases per million, significantly less than New York State, and proportionally well under half of the cases in NYC. Out of control coronavirus could quickly lead to hospitals becoming overwhelmed and cases not being tracked, allowing the virus to continue its rapid rise even more. To prevent this, additional actions are needed, including, but not limited to, closing JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark to all outbound passenger flights and all other nonessential flights. The Trump administration should also consider limiting all nonessential outbound vehicular traffic from New York, New Jersey, and other hotspots. It is also imperative that all local and state governments with outbreaks impose limited lockdowns within their states, akin to the statewide lockdown of California that Governor Gavin Newsom ordered effective immediately on March 19, to prevent the potential of a nightmarish outbreak. Governor Cuomo must change his position and similarly order a lockdown of New York. This is especially important in light of a recent study published on March 16, which estimated that in Wuhan, people with mild or no symptoms transmitted 79% of coronavirus cases. Therefore, with many likely carriers of coronavirus who are asymptomatic in close proximity in the airports and on flights, there is a high risk of spreading coronavirus, not only to people in other states, but to fellow passengers. In addition, airplanes have been shown to be a very germ-friendly environment. And according to research published on March 17 in The New England Journal of Medicine, coronavirus can live for up to 3 days on surfaces. The coronavirus outbreak will likely be recounted in history as one of the greatest tests in modern history for the people of the United States and of the world. It is at these times that leaders prove their mettle, and with bold leadership and the help of God, save countless lives. The world looks to the United States and President Trump for continued guidance and leadership and can expect to get just that. Image credit: Andy Choinski de Pixabay">Andy Choinsky / Pixabay / public domain During his live conference Friday morning, President Donald Trump labeled the City of Miami in south Florida as one of the COVID-19 epicenters in the United States. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis also applied this moniker to Miami-Dade and its surrounding counties on Tuesday, ordering that all nonessential businesses closed for at least 30 days. More than 200 new cases were reported in Florida between Thursday and Friday, and the death toll rose to 10. The majority of cases are currently in the southern Florida counties: 124 in Broward County, 113 in Miami-Dade County, and 34 in Palm Beach County. The next highest counts outside of south Florida are to be found in central Florida: 30 in Hillsborough County, where Tampa is located; and 22 in Orange County, where Orlando is located. Thirty-six of the states 67 counties have at least one confirmed case. Reports show that 19 long-term care facilities either have suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19, and one of those cases has killed a 77-year-old man. To date, the state has only performed 3,416 tests, and they are currently awaiting the results of 1,026 of those tests. Most counties do not yet have drive-through testing available. One center opened in Palm Beach County Friday morning, and another is planned to open at the Orange County Convention Center next week. Aside from the closing of nonessential businesses in south Florida, DeSantis and government officials have taken some further measures to slow down the spread of the virus in the state: All testing in K-12 schools has been cancelled, and schools are to remain closed until April 15. All university courses are to be moved online until the end of the current semester. All gatherings of 10 or more people are banned for 30 days. All bars are to be closed, and all restaurants are to limit their capacities by 50 percent for 30 days. All spring-break activities are to be shut down, and all beaches and concert venues are to be closed. One of the greatest concerns has been the health of the many inmates residing in Floridas prison and jail system. Florida has the third largest prison population in the United States, with over 100,000 in state prisons and thousands more in county jails. The incarceration rate of the state prison system is 513 inmates per 100,000 adult residents, higher than the national average of 471. The state corrections department has placed transfers of inmates from local jails to state prisons on hold until March 30, which has resulted in many jails maxing out and exceeding their capacities. Several counties have begun releasing inmates who are being held on nonviolent charges, and others are reconsidering bond amounts to reduce their numbers. Volusia County plans to release 88, Lake County has released 44, and Hillsborough County has released 164 of their 2,700 inmates. Pinellas County has come under the most scrutiny and has received criticism on a national level for the number of incarcerated it is currently holding in its jail. According to recent reports, more than 200 inmates are being forced to sleep on the floor on rubber mats, and this has solicited a joint statement signed by 31 elected prosecutors from across the country to call for some inmates to be released. Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri has stated that he will consider other options before releasing inmates, including moving them to the jails of other counties. He sent an email to Pinellas County officers on Monday, asking them to use good judgment and decision-making on whether to make an arrest that would result in a jail booking. He asked, but has not ordered, that they consider other options, such as giving notices to appear in court. The State of Florida has 21 juvenile detention facilities, and Governor DeSantis ordered that all juvenile lockups be closed to visitors until April 15. This order does not apply to attorneys, medical staff, law enforcement or teachers. Many local activists have called for the state to release all children currently being detained in such centers. Due to the necessary closing of nonessential businesses and the limitation on larger gatherings, Florida workers are already losing their jobs in large numbers. Leisure and hospitality jobs, which see their most business during the spring break weeks, account for nearly one in seven jobs in Florida. The states unemployment call center reported that it received more than 76,000 calls between Monday and Wednesday, up from about 28,000 the previous week. The center has stated that they will hire 100 additional workers to answer calls and guide applicants, and the center will be open seven days a week beginning March 23. Through last Friday, Florida saw a 17 percent increase in claims. Florida has some of the worst unemployment benefits in the United States. Fewer than one third of qualified applicants actually receive benefits, which places the state at the bottom of rankings, and those who do receive benefits are only entitled to $3,300 over the course of 12 weeks, or $275 per week. Twelve weeks is the shortest amount of time that one can receive unemployment benefits in the country, and the amount is among the five lowest. These low numbers are the result of legislation made in 2011 under the administration of Governor Rick Scott, who lowered the benefits from $7,150 over 26 weeks, which was what available during the Great Recession of 2008-2009. This was done with the claim that it would eliminate debts that the state accrued to the federal government, which it borrowed from during those years. The Tampa Bay Times reported Friday that a company that distributes smart thermometers to track the flu has observed an unusually high spike in influenza-like illnesses in Florida, even though national flu levels are declining. A spokesperson for this company stated that they believe that it is related to COVID-19 and that the illness level in Florida is about 2.4 percent above what they normally observe. Jacom Stephens/Getty Images A 25-year-old man was killed in a Wednesday night shooting in San Franciscos Mission District and two suspects were arrested after a police pursuit, officials said. Officers responded to a report of shots fired around 10:30 p.m. near 21st and Shotwell Streets where they found a man with gunshot wounds, according to San Francisco police. I went shopping at Costco in the height of COVID-19 anxiety on Friday. I wasnt trying to prove anything and I believe in the science of self-isolation. But I didnt shop much before the grocery shelves were left barren by the panic buying last week. So, out of necessities like bread and fruit I decided to venture out to restock my cupboards at a local market to offer support and at Costco to check out the safety measures I heard were put in place. The fate of small and large businesses, independent and corporately-owned, has been on my mind since Premier Doug Ford declared a state of emergency and many operations in Ontario were closed. I was once a retail and restaurant manager who closely counted results on a profit and loss statement each month. I agonized over numbers then. I couldnt imagine what it would be like now. So I ventured out to my local farmers market to get a few items. I kept safety in mind. I put on a mask and filled a bag with items I wanted. The vendor, anxious for a sale, inspected it without touching and took payment wearing gloves. At another vendor, I paid with debit card and used the tap function, avoiding contact. I was never closer than three feet to any person. Feeling more confident that social distancing was possible, I headed to Costco with my membership card-carrying mom in tow. It was apparent the shopping experience was going to be different as soon as we arrived at our local Ancaster, Ont. location. The front entrance was blocked off with shopping carts. Two employees and two police officers directed us to a line. Customers were required to take a cart, increasing the social distance between us as we waited, and given wipes to clean our hands and the cart handles. We were allowed into the store in waves to keep order and prevent crowding around cashiers. No one could enter until someone had left. It will be sparse inside but we want a safe shopping experience, a worker directing foot traffic told me. Once inside, another employee inspected my moms membership card from a distance without touching it and gestured to a sign that outlined what was not in stock. It included Lysol wipes, toilet paper, gloves, soft soap and Tylenol. Good to know. I wish businesses did that all the time. The shoppers went separate ways from there, increasing the distance between each other and obviously conscious of respecting the space. Almost everyone headed to the food department which appeared to be well stocked (minus the previously mentioned items). Most shoppers did not wear masks or gloves. The other aisles clothing, furniture, home decor items, etc. were pretty much void of shoppers. Some nonfood departments were closed, including jewelry, mobile phones and the hearing aid centre. It made sense. You cant get fitted for a watch or a hearing aid without close contact. There were no food hoarders or hustlers buying everything available as there had been last week when coronavirus and closure fears soared. It appeared like almost any other day. Although I did notice customers were choosing packaged items over prepared foods. And there were orange pylons along one aisle creating space for a lineup for paper products. Toilet paper (when in stock) and paper towels were kept behind caution tape. A worker dispensed one item per person. I was surprised the small Costco food court was open, though the menu was limited and seating had been removed. Condiments were prepackaged and cups had lids and sealed straws. The membership desk and return counter was also open, which seemed risky to me. I didnt see many people talk to each other, though everyone was cordial. When I asked different workers questions, they all maintained a respectable distance. I was a little touched by one person. He clearly took pride in how the modified operation was unfolding. My mom and I headed for a cashier 30 minutes after we arrived. To increase space between customers and workers, only every other register was open and workers were on hand to direct traffic. While the usual help was available, the employees wore gloves, would not touch membership cards and we had to bag our own groceries, which we were asked to do outside the store. At the exit, where customers normally line up to have purchases inspected, we were waved through and directed to more wipes. The visit was quick and efficient. I am not a health professional, but both my mom and I felt safe doing our shopping and that we had not put ourselves at risk. Read more about: JACKSON, MI At a time when many are wondering how they will help those in need during the novel coronavirus pandemic, the Consumers Energy Foundation is hoping to provide some answers. The Foundation announced is awarding a $250,000 grant to both the Food Bank Council of Michigan and the Michigan Association of United Ways. The money will help support children, senior citizens and others effected by COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. For many, the coronavirus pandemic is more than just a disruption to daily life, Brandon Hofmeister, Consumers Energy Foundation president, said in a news release. Families with kids who are food insecure, the elderly and those who live paycheck to paycheck are especially vulnerable. "With schools and businesses closed and many grocery store shelves left bare, local nonprofits are playing a critical role in helping those in need. Both organizations will receive the grants within the next week, Carolyn Bloodworth, Consumers Energy Foundation director, said. The United Way plans to split the money up among its locations in Consumers Energy service areas that are already working on emergency responses to the coronavirus, the release said. The organization is still working on locating and totaling branches who will receive funds statewide, President and CEO Mike Larson said. The United Way will also partner with Michigan 2-1-1 to reach more communities in need. Now and always, United Ways are doing what we do best coordinating community partners, responding to emerging needs, and adapting our role to best serve all Michigan residents, Larson said in the release. The Food Bank Council of Michigan plans to help more schools provide meals to students and others who will need food as the coronavirus pandemic continues. It will start by focusing on schools that dont have programs in place yet. A friend is someone who walks in when the rest of the world walks out, Phil Knight, Food Bank Council of Michigan executive director, said in the release. Consumers Energy walked in big time. Consumers Energy also announced it will match all employee donations to food banks and pantries, homeless shelters, community foundations and the United Way through May 31, without restriction. Based on previous times of crisis, Bloodworth anticipates $100,000 or more in donations total, she said. For full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak visit https://www.mlive.com/coronavirus/ PREVENTION TIPS Michigans State Emergency Operations Center is coordinating state-government resources and the response to the coronavirus spread. It has shared the following tips: What you can do to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases: For statewide and national information on the virus, visit Michigan.gov/Coronavirus or CDC.gov/Coronavirus. Depp and Heard attend a premiere during the Venice Film Festival in 2015, nine months before Ms Heard obtained a restraining order against her actor husband Johnny Depp's text messages from the time of the breakdown of his marriage to Amber Heard were at the centre of the latest High Court hearing in his libel case against 'The Sun' newspaper over allegations he was violent and abusive towards his ex-wife. The 'Pirates Of The Caribbean' star (56) is suing News Group Newspapers (NGN), the publishers of 'The Sun', and the newspaper's executive editor Dan Wootton over an April 2018 article which referred to him as a "wife-beater". A two-week trial was due to begin in London on Monday, at which Mr Depp, Ms Heard and a number of Hollywood figures were due to give evidence. But Mr Justice Andrew Nicol adjourned it because of the Covid-19 pandemic. At that hearing, Adam Wolanski QC, for NGN, read out a text from Mr Depp to his sister Christi Dembrowski in June 2016, in which he says: "I want her replaced on that WB film." Mr Wolanski said the text was a reference to the Warner Brothers film 'Aquaman' which featured Ms Heard. He added: "There now exists online a petition for Ms Heard to be removed from the role which has generated 400,000 signatures. Her sole fault appears to be that she crossed Mr Depp, one of the most influential and revered people in Hollywood." The barrister read out another text, sent by Mr Depp to his friend Christian Carino on August 15, 2016, the day after Mr Depp and Ms Heard "executed an agreement resolving issues around the dissolution of their marriage". The text read: "She is begging for global humiliation. She is going to get it." But Mr Justice Nicol said yesterday he had "reached the reluctant conclusion" that the trial would have to be adjourned as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The judge said two of Mr Depp's legal representatives have already had to self-isolate, adding: "No one can predict whether others involved in the case, and I do not exclude myself, will either become infected or need to self-isolate because... they have come into contact with someone who has or may have the virus." He said travel restrictions between the UK and France, where Mr Depp is currently, and the USA, where Ms Heard lives, were a further factor in his decision. The judge also said it would be more difficult to assess key witnesses over video-link and that having evidence heard in different ways would be "most undesirable". There would also be problems with witnesses in California giving evidence "in the middle of the night", given the time difference, he told the court. The judge said that, while "social-distancing" measures could be taken to ensure that lawyers, members of the public and press attending court sat apart, there were other factors to take into consideration. He said the UK's Lord Chief Justice had announced earlier in the week that new criminal trials lasting three days or longer would be adjourned, and that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had raised the prospect of further restrictions on the London transport network. Mr Justice Nicol added: "I recognise that I am not conducting a criminal trial, but the large number of lawyers involved, as well as the public and press who wish to attend, mean that the numbers involved would be no different." He said it had been "said many times" that libel trials should take place as quickly as possible to either provide vindication to the claimant for damage to their reputation, or to dismiss their claim, but that "these are not ordinary times". At a hearing on Wednesday, Adam Wolanski QC, for NGN, said his client was "extremely keen" for the trial to go ahead as planned. The judge said he also received a witness statement from Ms Heard (33) in which she confirmed "her very strong wish" for the trial to continue and was willing to give evidence over video-link from Los Angeles during the early hours of the morning. She also said she was willing to fly to the UK if possible - despite not knowing if she would be able to return to the US and the current 14-day quarantine period put in place by the US government for those returning from Europe. Mr Depp's lawyers said he would not be able to travel to the UK because of the current lockdown in France, and would not be able to give evidence over video-link from his "remote location" in the south of France. The libel claim against NGN and Mr Wootton arises out of publication of an article in 'The Sun' in April 2018, under the headline "Gone Potty - How can JK Rowling be 'genuinely happy' casting wife-beater Johnny Depp in the new 'Fantastic Beasts' film?" Mr Depp has brought separate libel proceedings against Ms Heard in the US, which the court has previously heard are "ongoing". The pair met on the set of 2011 comedy 'The Rum Diary' and married in Los Angeles in February 2015. In May 2016, Ms Heard obtained a restraining order against Mr Depp after accusing him of abuse, which he denied. The couple settled their divorce out of court in 2017, with Ms Heard donating her $7m (6.5m) settlement to charity. A spokeswoman for Ms Heard said: "As she has demonstrated, Amber is willing to give evidence on what she was subjected to, no matter the obstacles involved, and from the other side of the Atlantic. "Mr Depp, on the other hand, will not even make the effort to leave his palatial estate in the south of France. That speaks volumes." The Islamic world is not suffering from COVID-19 the way non-Muslim nations are, because Islam naturally makes Muslims "cleaner" than infidels. Such is the contention Muslims around the world are triumphantly making. Thus, the recent article, "Coronavirus an Islamic Perspective," opens up as follows: Allah has blessed us with a religion that is complete and perfect for all times and places. Allah tells us in the Qur'an: "This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favour upon you and have approved for you Islam as your religion" We also have in the Prophet (sall Allahu alayhi wa sallam), the best of examples, as Allah says in the Qur'an: "Surely there was a good example for you in the Messenger of Allah" Whatever problem or issue a Muslim is facing [the article goes on to talk about coronavirus], he returns back to Allah and his Messenger for guidance; there is nothing that happens in the life of a Muslim except that his religion has a solution to it. The idea is that those who follow Allah's commandments (as captured in the Koran) and the prophet's example (as captured in the hadith) have a much better chance of evading, say, diseases, than infidels do. Muslims everywhere are certainly boasting that this is the case, considering how little the coronavirus has spread among Islamic nations. They attribute this boon to Islam's ritual washing (wudu); they are also quoting a hadith where Muhammad reportedly said, "Cleanliness is from belief," as proof that, the more a Muslim submits to the teachings of Islam, the "cleaner" and therefore healthier a Muslim becomes. Certainly, any teaching or axiom that extolls cleanliness is beneficial. However, mainstream Muslim scholars (ulema) have concluded that this particular hadith is weak (da'if), meaning that Muhammad most likely never said it. This raises the question: what did Muhammad say about cleanliness, washing, or anything else that touches on the topic of avoiding diseases and viruses in the authentic (or sahih) hadiths, particularly the two most canonical, Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim? For starters, we learn that the reason for ritual washing has nothing to do with hygiene. According to Abu Hurreira, "[t]he Messenger of Islam said that 'Allah will not accept any of your prayers if you have an occurrence without performing wudu."' When Hurreira was asked what constituted an "occurrence," he replied: "silent or loud farts" (Sahih Bukhari, Kitab al-Wudu). Flatulence has nothing to do with contracting or preventing diseases, though in Islam it clearly has theological significance that of annulling prayers unless "washed" away. What about washing simply for good hygiene? Does Islam prescribe that? According to another sahih hadith, apparently not: "We were with the prophet, and he went to defecate. Food was presented to him upon his return, and he was asked, "O Messenger of Allah, will you not wash?" He replied, "Why? For prayer?" In a slightly different and more explicit version, he responded, "I wash only for prayer." Both hadiths are contained in the authentic collection of Sahih Muslim, Kitab al-Hayd, under a chapter (baab) the very title of which is transparent enough: "Permissibility for whoever has defecated or urinated to eat without performing wudu immediately." In that same chapter appears this hadith: "The Prophet went to the bathroom. Food was [then] presented to him, and he did eat, without [first] touching any water." Then there are those authentic hadith that seem to extol practices that most certainly do spread disease. "The prophet never hacked and spat out phlegm without it falling in the palm of one of them [his companions]. Whoever caught it would [then] rub his face and skin [with it]" (Sahih Bukhari, Kitab al-Wudu). His companions also used to "fight over the [dirty] water he had performed ablution with" whether to rewash with or drink is unclear. Here it seems safe to observe that if Muhammad had any virus including the coronavirus all of his companions would have contracted it from him. In another authentic hadith, Muhammad had no problem if someone expectorated in a mosque so long as it was not in "Allah's face," meaning while facing the qibla, and so long as the one spitting expelled his phlegm out to his left (never right) side. If unable to do so, the prophet demonstrated what he should do by "spitting on his robe and rubbing one part against the other," apparently in an effort to smear the stain out (Sahih Muslim, Kitab al-Masajid). So much for "cleanliness is from belief." Then there's this: "Sneezing is from Allah, but yawning from Satan" (Sunan al-Tirmidhi), and "Allah loves sneezing but hates yawning." The reason? Because "Satan laughs at whoever yawns" (Sahih al-Bukhari, Kitab al-Adab). Thus, and despite the fact that sneezing is a known germ-spreader, whereas yawning is innocuous what comes out of, not goes in, a man more often leads to ill here is Muhammad decreeing the opposite: that sneezing, which explodes germs in all directions, is a splendid thing literally loved by Allah and therefore certainly not something to avoid, whereas yawning, which has zero effects on health, is to be zealously guarded against. It should be stressed that this exposition is less about shaming Muslimsmany of whom are unaware of the aforementioned hadithsand more about deflating ongoing Muslim boasts that, the more someone follows Islam (belief), the cleaner and thus less prone to catching a disease he becomes. That this is demonstrably false is obvious in other ways: in 2012, only Saudi Arabia the home of Islam and its holy cities was plagued by another form of the coronavirus (MERS-CoV), which spread from camels (whose urine Muhammad recommended drinking). A whopping 40% of the more than one thousand Saudis who contracted it died. No, when it comes to diseases, it seems we are all more or less in the same boat, or, to quote a wise king, "time and chance comes to them all." Note: All hadith translations in this article are my own and based on the original Arabic. Special thanks go to Brother Rachid, a former Muslim well acquainted with Islam and author most recently of The Ideology behind Islamic Terrorism. Raymond Ibrahim, author of Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West, is Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, Judith Friedman Rosen Fellow at the Middle East Forum, and distinguished senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute. Out of the four convicts who were hanged to death in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case, 26-year-old Vinay Sharma received the maximum punishment for violating jail rules, officials said. The four -- Vinay, Akshay Singh (31), Mukesh Singh (32) and Pawan Gupta (25) -- were hanged to death on Friday. Vinay, who took painting lessons in Tihar Jail, received 11 'punishments' for not following rules, Pawan eight, Mukesh three and Akshay one punishment during their seven years in jail, they said. The punishment ranges from curtailing visiting rights of family for a small fight to changing the barracks for creating serious trouble, a jail official explained. In 2015, Vinay took admission in a one-year bachelor's degree programme which he could not complete. The year after, Mukesh, Pawan and Akshay took admission in Class 10 in 2016, and appeared for the exam but could not pass it, according to a jail official. Vinay has earned Rs 39,000, Akshay Rs 69,000 and Pawan Rs 29,000 while Mukesh did not involve himself in any work in the jail, he said. The daily wages earned by the convicts for basic and everyday jobs done in the jail were handed over to their family. Akshay did tailoring and grinding 'atta chakki', Pawan worked in the jail canteen and Vinay worked as a 'sahayak' (helper) during the seven years they spent in the jail, he said. The four men were executed for savagely raping a 23-year-old physiotherapy intern, who came to be known as Nirbhaya, on December 16 in Delhi in 2012. The woman died in a Singapore hospital a fortnight later. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Four Ukrainian soldiers wounded amid nine enemy attacks in Donbas in past 24 hours Russia's hybrid military forces mounted nine attacks on Ukrainian Army positions in Donbas over the past day, with four Ukrainian soldiers reported as wounded in action, the press centre of the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) has reported. "Russia-led armed forces violated the ceasefire nine times on March 20. Four Ukrainian soldiers were wounded as a result of enemy shelling attacks," the JFO staff said in its update on Facebook Saturday morning. The enemy opened fire, employing proscribed 120mm and 82mm mortars, grenade launchers of various types, heavy machine guns, and small arms. Ukrainian positions near the towns of Maryinka and Krasnohorivka, and the villages of Shyrokyne, Novotroyitske, Krymske, Luhanske, Khutir Vilny, Novhorodske, and Novotoshkivske came under attack. The British embassy in Madrid has recently updated its coronavirus crisis travel information aimed at tourists from the UK still in Spain. The information covers the situation regarding hotels, which have been ordered to close across Spain by next Thursday, as well as travel options for returning to the UK. Here are the latest instructions issued by the embassy. The most recent video message from the British ambassador, Hugh Elliott, can be viewed here. Hotels "The Spanish Government has ordered that hotels and short-stay accommodation must close by midnight on 26 March. These instructions do not apply to long-stay accommodation where people can cater for themselves. The local authorities may ask British travellers to move hotels, as guests are grouped into smaller numbers of hotels, but they have underlined that no-one will be left without accommodation. We advise British tourists in Spain who wish to return to the UK to make travel plans to do so as soon as possible," informs the embassy. Travel "Flights are still operating between Spain and the UK, albeit at reduced levels. If you need to book a new flight or bring your return journey forward you should check the airlines websites and flight comparison sites. You may need to be flexible about your destination airport in the UK. Airlines and ferry companies are experiencing a high volume of calls. Check their websites for the latest information. We are working closely with airlines to ensure that flights continue to operate and that British nationals can get home as soon as possible," continues the update. Driving through France "Spain is not restricting land border crossings from Spain to France. To drive back through France, the French authorities require that you fill in a declaration to explain your reason for travel, you should also have evidence of your onward travel plan (ie ferry/rail ticket). Please check our travel advice page for France for the latest information. If you do not have access to the printer, you can write the declaration by hand. https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/france," informs the embassy. Ambassador's message British Ambassador Hugh Elliott said: As part of the effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the Spanish Government has ordered the closure of all short-stay accommodation by Thursday 26 March. I want to reassure you that the Spanish authorities have told us very clearly that no one will be left without accommodation, however, it does make it even more important that you arrange your return journey as soon as possible. Flights are still operating from Spain to the UK and tens of thousands of British citizens have successfully returned to the UK in the past few days. Do consult your airlines website for the latest information and if you need to book a new flight you can also try comparison websites. I know that in some places this is proving difficult. We are continuing to liaise with the airlines and Spanish authorities as the situation evolves. We will update our advice regularly. Thank you for your continued patience and understanding. As well as the video, a Q&A to address some of the most frequently asked questions can be found at www.facebook.com/britsinspain President Donald Trumps proposed NASA budget of $25.2 billion is heralded as one of the strongest budgets in NASA history, including a hefty $6.3 billion for science. But it lacks funding for a few key missions, prompting scientists to look to Congress for support. Its not an uncommon dance. Practically an annual ball at this point as Trump has previously sought to cut items only to have Congress add them back in. For fiscal year 2020, which will end Sept. 30, Trumps administration proposed $6.4 billion for NASAs science budget and Congress ultimately approved $7.1 billion. Its impossible to predict exactly how that will come out, Craig Tupper, director of NASAs Science Mission Directorates resource management division, said during a community town hall meeting on Friday. But many of us are pretty confident, at least that theres a good chance, that we will end up funded in the end by Congress at something close to this years level. On HoustonChronicle.com: Trump proposes big boost in NASA funding to get back to the moon The proposed budget includes funding for more than 40 missions being planned, including money to return samples from Mars and for lunar science and technology that would complement NASAs Artemis program seeking to return humans to the moon in 2024. The budget is strong but has some flaws, said Casey Dreier of the Planetary Society, a nonprofit that seeks to get more people engaged with space. Terminating the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope, which the astrophysicist community in 2010 named a top priority for the decade, would be detrimental. The telescope could help scientists better understand topics such as dark energy, an unexplained pressure that makes up 68 percent of the total content of the cosmos and might be a contributing factor to why the expansion of the universe seems to be accelerating. Two missions studying the Earth are also on the chopping block in the proposed budget. NASAs Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem mission is planned to advance the assessment of ocean health by measuring the distribution of phytoplankton that sustain the marine food web. And the Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory Pathfinder mission is planned to take highly accurate measurements of sunlight reflected by Earth and the moon to better understand Earths changing climate. Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASAs Science Mission Directorate, praised the budget for strengthening collaboration between science and human exploration. This isnt the first time in his career that NASA has created a plan like Artemis, but he said it is the first time where this is done not by wiping out entire parts of the agency elsewhere. David Alexander, director of the Rice University Space Institute, is a proponent of human spaceflight and also applauded the proposed funding increase for getting people to the moon. But a strength of NASA since its founding has been an ability to balance human spaceflight missions with scientific endeavors that further humanitys understanding of the universe and the Earth, and Alexander wants to see that tradition upheld. And as an educator, Alexander is sad to see that the presidents budget would terminate NASAs Office of STEM Engagement. He acknowledged that each of NASAs missions has its own educational component, but an official STEM office is a good general starting point for those unfamiliar with the mission-specific educational components. George W.S. Abbey, senior fellow in space policy at Rice Universitys Baker Institute for Public Policy and a former director of NASAs Johnson Space Center, also emphasized the importance of a balanced budget. including money for aeronautics. He said NASA programs need to be scrutinized to see if theyre spending money the right way and if there might be less expensive approaches, such as continuing to work more closely with the commercial sector and sharing more costs with international partners. The proposed budget does include commercial elements, including a proposition to launch the Europa Clipper spacecraft on a commercial rocket. This spacecraft is expected to conduct a detailed survey of Jupiter's moon Europa to determine whether it could have conditions suitable for life. Abbey also said Trumps proposed budget, released in February, is likely to look very different by the time its enacted. It was submitted in a different time, Abbey said. In an era where we didnt have this dramatic effect that has happened with the (new) coronavirus. On HoustonChronicle.com: NASA suspends production and testing of its moon rocket, spacecraft hardware Zurbuchen did address COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, during Fridays teleconference. He acknowledged that the vast majority of hardware missions are not receiving hands-on work at the moment, and that it would have consequences. But he reminded listeners that science can inspire, too. As were sitting her by ourselves in our rooms, Zurbuchen said, lets not forget the power science has to really help humans but also to expand their horizons. andrea.leinfelder@chron.com Twitter.com/a_leinfelder Meghan Markle is one of the most unpopular royals because of the backlash she has weathered in the U.K. From the Sussexes' strained relationship with Prince William and Kate Middleton to the latest "private jet" scandal, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have soldiered through a fair share of negative press over the last few weeks. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have taken to social media to ask for "compassion" in the advent of public criticism. The couple posted the request on their official Instagram account, which featured a quote by the Dalai Lama. Their Instagram message asked for unity and compassion during the coronavirus outbreak with cases that topped 200,000 worldwide. The hopeful message was posted upon daily life dramatically changing in several countries due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The message came while Harry and Meghan are observing quarantine in Canada. The pair wrote in a lengthy Instagram caption, "These are uncertain times. And now, more than ever, we need each other. We need each other for truth, for support, and to feel less alone during a time that can honestly feel quite scary." "There are so many around the world who need support right now, who are working tirelessly to respond to this crisis behind the scenes, on the frontline, or at home. Our willingness, as a people, to step up in the face of what we are all experiencing with COVID-19 is awe-inspiring." Also Read: Self-Isolation Amid Coronavirus Pandemic Could Lead to Other Illnesses Prince Harry and Markle told the public that they will be informing the public of safe and healthy practices and will share credible news from trusted sources. Starting at the end of March, the Sussexes will no longer use their royal titles and pursue financial independence from the Royal Family in North America. A website suggested that it would be more effective if the Duchess of Sussex showed compassion, instead of just telling the public to practice it. They said they will be sharing information and resources from credible experts and inspiring stories. These inspiring stories highlight "how so many of you around the world are connecting in ways big and small to lift all of us up." The couple also pointed out the empathy that some celebrities seem to be lacking at the moment. "We often speak of compassion. All of our lives are in some way affected by this, uniting each of us globally. How we approach each other and our communities with empathy and kindness is indisputably important right now." They also aim to serve as a support system to the general public, reminding others that "we are all in this together" no matter what, as we strive to "build a digital neighborhood that feels safe for every one of us." The Dalai Lama quote they posted said that the key to a happier and more successful world is the growth of compassion. They featured the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, a spiritual leader and a man of peace. Related Article: Kate Middleton Seen Crying in Public, Here's Why @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Ideally, your overall portfolio should beat the market average. But in any portfolio, there will be mixed results between individual stocks. So we wouldn't blame long term Greater China Financial Holdings Limited (HKG:431) shareholders for doubting their decision to hold, with the stock down 65% over a half decade. See our latest analysis for Greater China Financial Holdings Greater China Financial Holdings isn't currently profitable, so most analysts would look to revenue growth to get an idea of how fast the underlying business is growing. Shareholders of unprofitable companies usually expect strong revenue growth. As you can imagine, fast revenue growth, when maintained, often leads to fast profit growth. In the last half decade, Greater China Financial Holdings saw its revenue increase by 21% per year. That's well above most other pre-profit companies. Unfortunately for shareholders the share price has dropped 19% per year - disappointing considering the growth. This could mean high expectations have been tempered, potentially because investors are looking to the bottom line. Given the revenue growth we'd consider the stock to be quite an interesting prospect if the company has a clear path to profitability. The company's revenue and earnings (over time) are depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers). SEHK:431 Income Statement, March 21st 2020 We consider it positive that insiders have made significant purchases in the last year. Even so, future earnings will be far more important to whether current shareholders make money. Dive deeper into the earnings by checking this interactive graph of Greater China Financial Holdings's earnings, revenue and cash flow. What about the Total Shareholder Return (TSR)? We'd be remiss not to mention the difference between Greater China Financial Holdings's total shareholder return (TSR) and its share price return. The TSR is a return calculation that accounts for the value of cash dividends (assuming that any dividend received was reinvested) and the calculated value of any discounted capital raisings and spin-offs. Greater China Financial Holdings hasn't been paying dividends, but its TSR of -48% exceeds its share price return of -65%, implying it has either spun-off a business, or raised capital at a discount; thereby providing additional value to shareholders. Story continues A Different Perspective Although it hurts that Greater China Financial Holdings returned a loss of 11% in the last twelve months, the broader market was actually worse, returning a loss of 26%. Of far more concern is the 12% p.a. loss served to shareholders over the last five years. While the losses are slowing we doubt many shareholders are happy with the stock. While it is well worth considering the different impacts that market conditions can have on the share price, there are other factors that are even more important. For instance, we've identified 3 warning signs for Greater China Financial Holdings (1 is concerning) that you should be aware of. There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying. Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on HK exchanges. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading. With the Coronavirus disease beginning to adversely affect Odisha economy and particularly the pooer sections of the society, the Odisha government today decided to give 5 kg of rice at Rs 1 a kg to 5 lakh poor and deprived people. The food supply and consumer welfare department in a notification said the 5 lakh new beneficiaries would get the rice under states food security scheme that was started in October 2018. The addition of the 5 lakh new beneficiaries would take the total number of beneficiaries under the State scheme to 25 lakh. The government would spend Rs 96 crore for the 5 lakh new beneficiaries. The state government today announced lockdown in 5 of its districts and 8 major towns for next 8 days to prevent community transmission of the Coronavirus. Yesterday during a video-conference meeting with PM Modi, Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik had sought financial support from the Centre for people like NREGS workers, beneficiaries of the National Food Security Act, farmers and construction workers due to restrictions imposed to contain the spread of the virus. During the videoconferencing Patnaik demanded that NREGS workers be paid wages of at least 50 days in advance. He also sought additional instalments for farmers under the Centres income support scheme called PM Kisan. Having announced Covid-19 a state disaster, Patnaik has sanctioned Rs 225 crore form the state disaster response fund to take up measures like developing quarantine facilities, arranging temporary accommodation, food and medical care for the people sheltered in quarantine camps, setting up of additional testing labs and procurement of essential equipment to deal with the situation. To ensure the availability of cash with old age people the state government has already announced to distribute old-age pensions of four months (April-July) in advance. Meanwhile, the School and Mass Education department announced that dry ration will be given to students of Class I to VIII of government and government aided schools for next 90 days. The department asked the district collectors to provide dry ration of 3 kg rice per month to the primary student (Class I-V) and 4.5 kg rice per month to each upper primary student (Class VI-VIII) through Fair Price Shops/ PDS outlets. The headmaster of each school will give a coupon to parents/ guardians certifying that the student is a bonafide student of the school. ECU Physicians Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jason Foltz discusses symptoms with a patient as he conducts a virtual visit from his office. Virtual Visit FAQs Is a virtual visit right for me? If youre a current ECU Physicians patient exhibiting symptoms of cough, fever and/or shortness of breath, you should contact your doctors office to discuss whether a virtual visit would be a good option for you. How do I get a virtual appointment with an ECU Physician? If youre concerned that youre exhibiting symptoms of coronavirus which include cough, fever and shortness of breath call your normal ECU Physicians office. A nurse will discuss your symptoms and help you determine if a virtual visit is right for you. If so, the nurse will send instructions via email to connect with an ECU Physician for a virtual visit. How do virtual visits work? If youre exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19, or are concerned you may have been exposed, call your current ECU Physicians office. Youll speak with a nurse to discuss your symptoms and your options for care. If the nurse decides a virtual visit is right for you, youll be sent an email that provides instructions on how to see your doctor using your phone or tablet. What do I need for a virtual visit? Youll need a smartphone or a tablet to connect with an ECU Physician for a virtual visit. Why should I choose a virtual visit? Virtual visits help our physicians provide care while limiting your exposure to others. This helps reduce the potential for you to transmit the virus to others and reduces the potential for others to transmit the virus to you. Do I have to be a current ECU Physicians patient to get a virtual appointment? Yes, at this time, only current ECU Physicians patients are able to use the virtual visit technology. What if I need testing? If the physician you interact with on your virtual visit feels further testing is needed, theyll provide information on how to obtain testing from your primary care office. A nurse will meet patients outside the facility to administer testing. Will my virtual visit be covered by my insurance? Medicare, Medicaid, Blue Cross Blue Shield, United Health, AETNA and Cigna insurance have all agreed to cover virtual visits and testing related to COVID-19. In some cases, the insurance payors have also agreed to waive co-pays. What if I dont have insurance? The base charge for a virtual visit for uninsured patients is $30, but individuals may qualify for discounts based on financial need. Recent legislation passed by Congress and signed by the President also sets aside money to cover testing for uninsured individuals. If youre a current ECU Physicians patient exhibiting symptoms of cough, fever and/or shortness of breath, you should contact your doctors office to discuss whether a virtual visit would be a good option for you.If youre concerned that youre exhibiting symptoms of coronavirus which include cough, fever and shortness of breath call your normal ECU Physicians office. A nurse will discuss your symptoms and help you determine if a virtual visit is right for you. If so, the nurse will send instructions via email to connect with an ECU Physician for a virtual visit.If youre exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19, or are concerned you may have been exposed, call your current ECU Physicians office. Youll speak with a nurse to discuss your symptoms and your options for care. If the nurse decides a virtual visit is right for you, youll be sent an email that provides instructions on how to see your doctor using your phone or tablet.Youll need a smartphone or a tablet to connect with an ECU Physician for a virtual visit.Virtual visits help our physicians provide care while limiting your exposure to others. This helps reduce the potential for you to transmit the virus to others and reduces the potential for others to transmit the virus to you.Yes, at this time, only current ECU Physicians patients are able to use the virtual visit technology.If the physician you interact with on your virtual visit feels further testing is needed, theyll provide information on how to obtain testing from your primary care office. A nurse will meet patients outside the facility to administer testing.Medicare, Medicaid, Blue Cross Blue Shield, United Health, AETNA and Cigna insurance have all agreed to cover virtual visits and testing related to COVID-19. In some cases, the insurance payors have also agreed to waive co-pays.The base charge for a virtual visit for uninsured patients is $30, but individuals may qualify for discounts based on financial need. Recent legislation passed by Congress and signed by the President also sets aside money to cover testing for uninsured individuals. As the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to spread throughout the world, ECU Physicians will begin utilizing telehealth technology to serve patients concerned about coronavirus symptoms and exposure by offering patients the ability to meet with their providers via virtual visits.Beginning Tuesday, March 17, ECU Physicians virtual visits will allow for doctor-patient interactions using video conferencing from the patient's smartphone or tablet. These measures will allow those concerned about their coronavirus symptoms an opportunity to discuss them with a licensed provider without leaving their homes, potentially further spreading the virus or exposing themselves to other potential carriers of the virus.said Dr. Jason Foltz, chief medical officer for ECU Physicians.ECU Physicians patients exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 - which include fever, cough and shortness of breath - should call their primary care physician's office. Over the phone, nurses will discuss the symptoms the patient is experiencing and determine whether their situations are appropriate for a virtual visit. If they are, the nurse will schedule the appointment for the virtual visit and the patient will be sent additional information on how to connect with their physician via email.ECU Physicians - the medical practice of the Brody School of Medicine - serves patients throughout eastern North Carolina and has been developing the technology necessary for virtual visits for nearly a year, Foltz said. Recent changes announced by the federal government to combat the coronavirus pandemic have helped to accelerate the process and remove barriers to launching the platform.Foltz said.If the physician recommends testing, they will provide the patient with directions on where to go and provide a phone number to call upon their arrival. A nurse will meet patients outside the facility to administer testing.Foltz said.Physicians will instruct patients exhibiting low-grade symptoms to return home and will follow up with them via phone regarding test results and next steps.Foltz said. Short of stature and with a strangely expressionless face, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin seemed the image of a boring bureaucrat when he was elected Russia's third president 20 years ago. Yet today Putin has become the Godfather of a vast Mafia state and to do that he has combined the dirty skills of a former spy with a close knowledge of Russia's violent underworld, according to a new three-part documentary that starts tomorrow night on Channel 4. Putin: A Russian Spy Story shows how much of the Russian's political career was informed by his time as a KGB officer in the late 1980s and, later, as a fixer at the heart of corrupt local politics and the criminal underworld of St Petersburg. Over the past two decades, Putin has put everything he learned from his days as a spy and fixer into devastating practice. The rule of law in Russia has been rendered almost meaningless by his embrace of corruption and the killings of opponents As Vladimir Kara-Murz, a leading opposition politician, says: 'Putin's background is the Soviet KGB one of the most repressive organisations in the history of humanity. He's doing what he was taught to do. Manipulate. Lie. Recruit. Repress. He seems quite good at his job.' In 1985, Putin was posted to Dresden in East Germany along with his wife Lyudmila and their newborn daughter. His KGB duties are said to have been humdrum, involving assembling press reports and attending official dinners. But the excitement was to come with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. After helping to destroy incriminating KGB documents, Putin drove back with his family to a more uncertain future in his home city, St Petersburg. How, then, in just eight years, did this 39-year-old ex-spy become the Acting President of Russia? His KGB duties are said to have been humdrum, involving assembling press reports and attending official dinners. But the excitement was to come with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 The answer lies in Putin's ability to act as a cunning middleman between the worlds of politics, money, and criminality. Putin found St Petersburg in chaos, with bombings and contract killings a part of daily life. As one observer puts it, it was like Chicago in the 1930s but far, far worse. He honed his skills as a power broker by acting as an adviser on international affairs to the corrupt mayor, Anatoly Sobchak, and as an intermediary between the city's gangs, politicians, and what passed for its legal system. 'There was a cosy relationship between local democrats and gangsters,' says Gleb Pavlovsky, a former political adviser to both Putin and Boris Yeltsin. 'People went easily from the mayor's office to so-called 'mob summits'.' In 1996, Sobchak was voted out of office which meant Putin was out of a job. The shock made him realise two things that democracy hampered his activities, and his future no longer lay in his home city. It was when he was offered a job in Moscow in the legal department of President Yeltsin that his extraordinary ascent began. He made himself indispensable and in July 1998, he was appointed head of the FSB the successor to the KGB. Putin would turn the FSB into an organisation that could be hired by any gangster, criminal or corrupt businessman. Doubtless, it made Putin rich, although he always presented himself as a modest man in his ill-fitting suits. One of his sternest critics was one of his officers, a young man called Alexander Litvinenko, who complained: 'We don't want to kidnap people, carry out contract killings, and participate in all that.' He is pictured above in 1983. Putin: A Russian Spy Story shows how much of the Russian's political career was informed by his time as a KGB officer in the late 1980s and, later, as a fixer at the heart of corrupt local politics and the criminal underworld of St Petersburg Litvinenko would be killed by radioactive poisoning in London in 2006. Putin also used his position to produce 'kompromat' compromising material about Yeltsin's enemies. Yeltsin rewarded Putin by making him prime minister in August 1999. Within a few months, Putin became acting president when Yeltsin resigned on New Year's Eve. Over the past two decades, Putin has put everything he learned from his days as a spy and fixer into devastating practice. The rule of law in Russia has been rendered almost meaningless by his embrace of corruption and the killings of opponents. He has established and enjoys the support of a network of some 1,000 very wealthy individuals who rely on him for their riches and status. After he came to power, Putin reflected on his future, saying: 'I do believe some day I'll have a future as a private citizen, that I will live the life of a normal person.' Such sentiments were clearly false. For this month, Putin announced he would approve changes to the constitution allowing him to remain in power until 2036. Putin has always wanted to be a monarch and now his power is as awesome as that of any Tsar. Putin: A Russian Spy Story starts tomorrow at 9pm on Channel 4. Tuolumne County logo View Photo Update at 6:15 p.m.: Tuolumne CountyGovernment is making further changes to its operations. The latest department office closures to the public including the District Attorneys office. Board of Supervisor Chair Sherri Brennan offered this statement to the public regarding the closures, Tuolumne County wants to the best of our ability to protect the health and safety of both our employees and the public at large. For those reasons we are instituting the following procedures and protocols. Below is the release from the county outlining all the current changes: March 20, 2020 In response to the Governors March 19th executive order, which included a statewide stay at home order, Tuolumne County is making reductions to non-essential services to limit the potential exposure for staff and the public to COVID-19. These changes will go into full effect Monday, March 23, 2020. As always, Public Safety will continue to be a top priority as we work through the COVID-19 pandemic. Public Safety The operations of the Tuolumne County Sheriffs Office will continue without any significant changes. Tuolumne County Fire Department will also continue as normal with the only change being no public access to the Striker Court facility. For non-emergency phone contact, the public can call 209.533.5118. The Health and Human Services Agency, which includes the Department of Social Service, Behavioral Health, and Public Health will continue with no significant changes. 209.533.5717 The lobby at the Tuolumne County Probation Department will be closed to the public to limit unnecessary contact. The office is staffed and will be responding as needed. Appointments will be prearranged and referrals from the Court will be seen. If you need to speak with someone or have a specific question, please call 209.533.7500 and immediately press 0. The Tuolumne County District Attorneys Office and Victim Witness Office are closed to the public, but staff is continuing to work and is available by phone. District Attorneys Office: 209.588.5450 Victim Witness: 209.588.5440 The Tuolumne County Public Defenders Office will also continue to provide service and their office will be open to the public. We do ask that you call to make an appointment 209.533.6370 Tuolumne County Animal Control services will continue; however, their lobby will be closed to the public. Appointments can still be made by calling 209.694.2730. Public Works The Tuolumne County Public Works Department offices will be closed to the public but staff will be available by phone or email (full staff directory is available on the County website https://www.tuolumnecounty.ca.gov/Directory) Roads/Fleet and Engineering: 209.533.5601 GIS: 209.533.5629 Surveying: 209.533.5626 Solid Waste: 209.533.5588 Airports: 209.533.5685 Community Development Department The A.N. Francisco Building will be closed to the public. Applicants will be notified of approved Building, Environmental Health, and Land Use permits. Applicants will be contacted to make an appointment for pick up. For the week of March 23, plan submittal is suspended for land use, Building, and Environmental Health. Check the Community Development website for updates on the process for plan submittal in the future. Environmental Health and Building inspections that are deemed essential, will continue as long as social distancing can be maintained and applicants on site do not exhibit signs of illness. To contact us, call 209.533.5637 to reach the Community Development Department front counter. If no one answers, please leave a message and someone will contact you as soon as possible. For environmental health emergencies, call 209.533.5665. For building emergencies, call 209.533.5637. Inquiries can also be submitted via email at communityresources@tuolumnecounty.ca.gov General Administration: All of the offices, which are listed below, located within the Administration Building at 2 South Green Street will continue to operate with only essential staff. However, the building will only be open to the public between the hours of 9:00 am and 12: 00 pm. Outside of those hours, staff will be available by phone. County Administrators Office/Office of Emergency Services: 209.533.5511 Recorder: 209.533.5531 Assessors Office: 209.533.5535 County Auditor: 209.533.5551 County Clerk: 209.533.5573 Elections: 209.533.5570 Treasure Tax Collector: 209.533.5544 Office of Revenue Recovery: 209.533.5920 Human Resources: 209.533.5566 County Counsel: 209.533.5517 Board of Supervisors: 209.533.5521 Office of Business Assistance and Innovation: 209.288.4030 Other Services Tuolumne County Agriculture Weights and Measures offices will be closed to the public. Staff can be contacted by phone at 209.533.5691 between the hours of 8:00am and 1:00pm. Air Pollution Control will continue to operate; however, the office will be closed to the public. Staff will be available by phone between the hours of 8:00am and 1:00pm at 209.533.5693. Non-essential Services The Tuolumne County Archives will be closed to the public until further notice. All Tuolumne County Libraries are closed until further notice All recreation programs are canceled until further notice. Tuolumne County Youth Centers and Community Halls are also closed until further notice. Tuolumne County Museum is closed until further notice Original post at 3:45 p.m.: Sonora, CA With the governors order to stay at home due to COVID 19, the county is updating its operating procedures to comply with some of those changes including court appearances, jury duty, libraries, and the county clerks office. Court: Regarding the Tuolumne County Superior Court, officials relay that court locations will remain open and that persons who have court appearances or other business with the court, such as filing legal papers, are not subject to the governors order. The court will be implementing these preventative actions to minimize public interaction during the coronavirus pandemic: Court Preventative Actions: 1. The Court requested an Emergency Order from the Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court allowing it to take emergency steps from 3/23/20 until 4/22/20. In the request, the Court sought authority for actions that may be implemented in the future, if necessary, and for actions to be taken immediately. Below are the actions the Court will take immediately. 2. Beginning 3/23/20 and until 4/22/20, all jury trials will be rescheduled and persons summoned for those trials do not need to report for jury duty. The Court will be notifying persons summoned that they do not have to report for jury duty. 3. On a case-by-case basis, for uncontested court cases where possible, the Court will continue the matters to a date past 4/22/20. 4. For all court cases that need to proceed, where possible the Court will do the following: a. Allow persons to appear for court cases telephonically using CourtCall. b. Allow only 25 persons in the Courtroom at any time, all other persons will be sent to another Courtroom for the matter to be heard or asked to return at a later time. 5. Beginning 3/19/20, the Courts civil counter at the Historic Courthouse at 41 W. Yaney Ave., Sonora, will be closed to the public and all persons needing to do civil filings will be directed to use the civil drop box or go to the criminal counter at the Courts building located at 60 N. Washington Street, Sonora. The criminal counter at our Washington Street location has a window and intercom system which protects both the public and the staff from possible coronavirus exposure. Persons needing civil forms for divorce, small claims and other civil matters may pick those up at the first floor of the Historic Courthouse where a table in the public lobby has the forms available for the public. 6. Beginning immediately, the Self Help Center will be physically closed to the public and all persons needing self-help assistance will be directed to call the Self Help number to receive assistance by phone. 7. Beginning immediately, the Court will stop providing mediation services in person. Instead, persons will be provided mediation services by phone, video or online. 8. Beginning immediately, guardianship and conservatorship interviews and/or investigations will be rescheduled and/or done via video/Skype/phone alternatives. 9. Beginning immediately, for all non-mandatory appearance citations, like traffic tickets, where the defendant requests to appear, appearance dates will be set 90 days out. Libraries: County Library officials have announced the closure of all branches. In addition, all late charges for materials will be waived. They remind that the digital library is always open, click here. County Clerk/Elections: The County Clerk and Auditor-Controller Office will be closing for in-person services on Monday, March 23rd. Mandatory essential services will be provided only by mail and or online. Any services below not listed in the guidelines provided by the clerks office are not available at this time: County Clerk: Fictitious Business Names filings and renewals by mail Elections: Voters may update their registration online at https://registertovote.ca.gov/ Election results are available online at https://www.tuolumnecounty.ca.gov/elections Phone, mail and E-mail assistance contact: County Clerk & Auditor phone and e-mail information services will remain available: Auditor-Controller 209 533 5551 auditor-controller@tuolumnecounty.ca.gov County Clerk Elections 209 533 5573 or 209 533 5570 elections@tuolumnecounty.ca.gov President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has urged all Ghanaians to observe Wednesday, 25th March 2020 as a national day of fasting and prayers for God to save the nation from Coronavirus. In a third broadcast to the nation following the outbreak, the President said: "I urge all of us also to seek the face of God; so on Wednesday 25th March 2020, I appeal to all Ghanaians, Christians and Muslims to observe a national day of fasting and prayer. Let us pray to God to protect our nation and save us from this pandemic" Meanwhile, the President has ordered the closure of Ghanas borders from Sunday, March 22, 2020. Watch full video below Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Australian oil and gas giant Woodside has stood down hundreds of offshore contract workers without pay, as it scales back staffing levels on rigs to reduce the risk of a coronavirus outbreak. Union representatives for workers on Woodside rigs off the north-west coast of Western Australia said the company summarily stood down 410 contract workers on Friday. The number of job losses has not been verified by Woodside. Woodside has stood down contracts on its North Rankin and Goodwyn platforms in the North West Shelf. Credit:Reuters As big energy producers implement crisis-response plans to minimise the risk of an infection disrupting their workforces and imperilling the nation's power and fuel supply, Woodside boss Peter Coleman said the health and safety of staff and maintaining gas supply to customers were the company's highest priorities. "To comply with expert health and government guidance we are reducing the number of people at our facilities and working with our contractors, suppliers and communities to minimise the impact of the pandemic," he said. Streaming Your Sunday Service Isnt Enough NEWS PROVIDED BY The MENA Collective March 21, 2020 WASHINGTON, March 21, 2020 / Christian Newswire / -- Rev. Justin Murff, FRSA, Executive Director of the MENA Collective, submits the following and is available for comment: With all of the uncertainty surrounding the current crisis, one thing churches and pastors can be sure about is that streaming your online service is simply not enough. As ministers of the Gospel, we have a tremendous opportunity and responsibility to shepherd and care for the people that God has entrusted to us. Thankfully we live in the digital age where technology can be the most important tool at our disposal. Even a few weeks ago, the idea of the digital Church was a mystery and was also scoffed at by many as an inferior expression of the Body of Christ. That was before the Corona outbreak took its rapid escalation globally. As more and more Americans are requested to isolate themselves, the Church must not have a defeatist mentality; rather, we should view this as an opportunity that could potentially position the Church for its greatest evangelistic growth in generations. People are scared and confused; anxiety abounds; this is where we have the chance to share the words of Christ and encourage the people not to fear. This is also the time for Christians to remind each other that not only do we serve a risen Savior, but we also serve the great Physician. Realistically, now is also the time for Churches to prepare prudently for the coming days ahead. Loneliness and isolation can be dangerous breeding grounds for depression. Shortages in stores also present an opportunity to love our neighbors in new and unprecedented ways. Now is the time where the Church can really be the good Samaritan to the communities we have been called to serve. The reality is beginning to sink in for most Christians around the world that for the first time in the 2,000 years since Christ left this earth, the majority of the Church will not be able to celebrate a risen Savior together, at least physically. Even the early Church has its catacombs. We have to not only move our Sunday services online, but we need to be thinking about building an intentional community online as well. We can't stop religious formation, catechesis, Sunday school, small groups, and community life as we know it simply because of quarantines. No, we can use many tools and resources at our disposal to turn this season into one of the most intentional opportunities for discipleship the Church has seen. Ministries like Churches across Europe are beginning to grapple with the difficulties of conducting services, particularly funerals, in an age where people cannot gather and find closure, comfort, or a shoulder on which to cry. Even at the most conservative of estimates, the reality is that almost every Church in the country may very well experience at least someone they know who is sick with the virus. Pastors may even be called on to conduct funerals virtually in the coming weeks and months ahead. We cannot afford not to build the type of community online that provides comfort to the hurting, peace to the distressed, and hope to the hopeless. Ministries like RightNow Media , which has tremendous online discipleship resources, have begun to make their content available online for free. People can find the comforting words of scripture on almost any device, thanks to YouVersion . Using these great Bible studies coupled with Facebook groups or Zoom, we can continue to provide excellent discipleship opportunities for our communities. Just because we can't meet face to face doesn't mean the Church gets a pass on our obligation to be the ministering hands and feet of Jesus, offering hope, life, and love to a hurting world. For years, persecuted Christians in the Middle East have had to resort to using the digital Church as their only means of gathering and worshiping freely without fear of death or persecution. Now, their ministry experience presents tremendous learning opportunities for churches in the West to learn just how to build an authentic, Christian community online.Churches across Europe are beginning to grapple with the difficulties of conducting services, particularly funerals, in an age where people cannot gather and find closure, comfort, or a shoulder on which to cry. Even at the most conservative of estimates, the reality is that almost every Church in the country may very well experience at least someone they know who is sick with the virus. Pastors may even be called on to conduct funerals virtually in the coming weeks and months ahead. We cannot afford not to build the type of community online that provides comfort to the hurting, peace to the distressed, and hope to the hopeless. The conversation around digital churches has been going on for years. In 2019 a group of digital church pastors and theologians from across the Christian tradition had been gathering and discussing how the future of the digital Church would look. This conversation has included scholars such as Dr. Daryl Boch from Dallas Theological Seminary, Jay Kranda, the online pastor at Saddleback Church, Dr. Jonathan Armstrong from Moody Bible Institute, and a host of other scholars and pastors. These conversations have also included futurists like Pastor D.J. Soto, who leads Virtual Reality Church, and Daniel Herron, who pastors the Robloxian Christian Church on the Roblox PC game. These conversations have included everyone from Anglicans to Southern Baptists, Roman Catholics to Pentecostals, and just about every other tradition in between. It is also included a number of pastors and leaders from the Middle East who are experiencing and leading the digital church movement in their region out of the necessity because they have been so effective at reaching the majority populations in their country who do not come from a Christian background. From this group of leaders, a tremendous resource called the Digital Church Guidebook has been created, and it is freely available and can be accessed The conversation around digital churches has been going on for years. In 2019 a group of digital church pastors and theologians from across the Christian tradition had been gathering and discussing how the future of the digital Church would look. This conversation has included scholars such as Dr. Daryl Boch from Dallas Theological Seminary, Jay Kranda, the online pastor at Saddleback Church, Dr. Jonathan Armstrong from Moody Bible Institute, and a host of other scholars and pastors. These conversations have also included futurists like Pastor D.J. Soto, who leads Virtual Reality Church, and Daniel Herron, who pastors the Robloxian Christian Church on the Roblox PC game. These conversations have included everyone from Anglicans to Southern Baptists, Roman Catholics to Pentecostals, and just about every other tradition in between. It is also included a number of pastors and leaders from the Middle East who are experiencing and leading the digital church movement in their region out of the necessity because they have been so effective at reaching the majority populations in their country who do not come from a Christian background. From this group of leaders, a tremendous resource called the Digital Church Guidebook has been created, and it is freely available and can be accessed here We are entering into an unprecedented new era for the Church. How we approach the next few weeks and months will determine just what type of Church we are. Are we focused on buildings, budgets, or people? Many of the resources required to develop an online community need little to no funding to get started. The finances saved from electric bills and air-conditioning costs of our churches could be turned into resources to provide food and much-needed supplies to our emergency responders and local hospitals. Now is the time for the Church to be the kind of resilient Church that best represents a risen Savior as we move into this Easter season. Rev. Justin Murff, FRSA, is the Executive Director of the MENA Collective, a ministry that resources more than 150 ministries throughout the Greater Middle East and North Africa. He also leads the Institute for Digital Ecclesiology SOURCE The MENA Collective CONTACT: Justin Murff, justin@themenacollective.org Related Links www.themenacollective.org digitalecclesiology.org digitalecclesiology.org/resources/digital-church-guidebook Share Tweet : Madras High Court judge Justice SM Subramaniam on Saturday donated his one month's salary to the Chief Minister's relief fund to help workers of the unorganised sector affected by shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. The High Court judge said he was donating his one month's salary of Rs 2.25 lakh for the purpose of distribution of wages and salaries for workers in the unorganised sector, who would suffer loss of income due to the lock-down following the Covid-19 spread. The Judge met the Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary at the Secretariat here today and handed over a cheque for Rs 2.25 lakh, which is his one month's salary. Speaking to PTI, Justice Subramaniam said, "People in the unorganised sector would be affected more if the lock- down to contain COVID-19 is prolonged. We don't know for how many days or months the situation will be dragged. "In such circumstances, only the government must feed the marginalised. I don't think government alone could do this. Therefore, people who are employed in organised sectors, who draw monthly salary and rich should contribute to help the poor," he added. The judge further said since no one had come forward to start the initiative he decided to take the first step and done his one month's salary. "Since so far, no one has come forward to begin the initiative, I decided to take the first step and donate my one month's salary. I thought this would be a message to encourage people like actors, politicians and the rich to contribute," Justice Subramaniamadded. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela confirmed six new cases of the novel coronavirus on Thursday, for a total of 42 cases, while President Nicolas Maduro's government thanked its ally China for sending 4,000 diagnosis kits to test for the infection. Maduro's administration has implemented a nationwide quarantine and restricted travel between states in an attempt to contain the outbreak, which has raised alarm due to the collapse of Venezuela's health system during a six-year economic crisis. The government on Thursday said the Chinese diagnosis kits would serve to test 300,000 Venezuelans. "From Venezuela's soul, we want to thank the People's Republic of China and President Xi Jinping for this generosity," Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said during a televised event at Caracas's international airport to receive the aid. In a separate measure to contain the spread of the virus, Venezuela's INEA maritime authority has prohibited crews aboard ships docking in the country's ports from disembarking, according to a March 17 document seen by Reuters on Thursday. The order also prohibited new personnel from boarding the tankers. The move was not expected to affect oil exports from the OPEC nation but could complicate logistics, such as delivering food to crews, according to a person familiar with the matter. (Reporting by Angus Berwick and Vivian Sequera in Caracas; Additional reporting by Mircely Guanipa; Editing by Daniel Wallis) The US retreat from Afghanistan is delayed, troops have pulled back from Iraq, crucial readiness exercises are cancelled, and soldiers are confined to bases: coronavirus is handicapping the world's most powerful military. The Pentagon this week admitted that the global pandemic is a formidable foe like none other that it has confronted. Proud of its ability to project force to the furthest corners of the globe and to react instantly to any threat, the US military has been forced to curb operations and promote social distancing to ensure its two million-plus active and reserve fighting force, along with hundreds of thousands of civilian employees, stay healthy. The usually crowded halls of the Pentagon have thinned, with thousands told to work from home -- a shift that has introduced new security challenges. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and his deputy secretary, David Norquist, and their staffs are no longer meeting in person, to ensure at least one national leader and his team stays healthy. Despite dozens of coronavirus cases striking military personnel on bases and at least three on naval ships, Esper said this week that there was no reduction in the readiness of US troops to respond to threats. "Mission number one for the United States military remains ensuring that the American people, the country and our interests abroad are protected. I can assure the American people we are well on top of that," he said on Fox But regular operations have been disrupted. The Central Command, which oversees operations in the Middle East, said it is "redeploying" troops from Iraq and Syria. "To prevent potential spread of COVID-19, the Iraqi Security Forces have suspended all training. As a result, the Coalition will temporarily return some of its training-focused forces to their own countries in the coming days and weeks," Centcom said in a statement. Centcom also pulled back troops from some of the smaller bases in Iraq, where they were more vulnerable to the recent rocket attacks by pro-Iranian militias. Even as they continue the fight against the Islamic State group, "looking ahead, we anticipate the Coalition supporting the Iraqi Security Forces from fewer bases with fewer people," they said. On the other hand, in Afghanistan, where the United States has committed to withdrawing some 5,000 troops in the near term as part of the peace deal with the Taliban, troop movements have halted. The Pentagon does not want to risk moving people around the world in ways that could increase COVID-19 infections. "To preserve our currently healthy force, Resolute Support is making the necessary adjustments to temporarily pause personnel movement into theater," said General Austin Miller, US forces commander in Afghanistan. Esper has also been forced to suspend key joint exercises and war games in South Korea, Africa and elsewhere. On March 11, the Pentagon decided to slash its participation in what would have been the largest joint US-Europe war games in 25 years, the Defender-Europe 20 exercise. The US military was to send more than 20,000 soldiers to Europe to take part. The exercise will go ahead, but has now been cut by more than half, according to Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy. At its hundreds of military bases across the country and around the world, US forces are prevented from traveling and outsiders are carefully screened before being allowed entry. Soldiers, sailors, and airmen remain living in close quarters, and Esper said they will continue to hold large gatherings for training as needed "at this time," Esper said this week. "I trust the commanders to lead their units and take care of them appropriately," he said. "My view is the commanders have the authorities they need to take whatever precautions, while at the same time ensuring the readiness of the troops and the capabilities of our formations." Travel between bases, domestically and internationally, has nevertheless been banned, even for family visits. Also hobbled: the recruitment of new troops, an activity that normally accelerates at this time of year as students near the completion of their studies. "We are going to, basically, virtual recruiting," said General James McConville, the Army chief of staff. "Much of that is done on social media and that allows us to protect our soldiers and also protect the new recruits," he said. While clearly constrained by the pandemic, the Pentagon has played down its impact, noting that its adversaries face the same challenge. "They're very, very concerned about this virus also in Iraq, in Afghanistan, certainly in Iran," said McConville. "And that's affecting everyone's operations. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) As the coronavirus pandemic freezes populations in lockdown and pushes the world towards recession, a number of major governments have unveiled unprecedented stimulus packages. Most of the emergency measures boast numbers rarely seen in peacetime. In the United States, the price tag for the government's coronavirus response package is at $1 trillion-plus, a source estimated on Tuesday. In the UK, a 330 billion ($400 billion) plan was announced, and various badly hit countries in Europe have also unveiled 12-figure packages this week. But even with such dramatic funds being pumped into the world's leading economies, experts warn that some groups could be left behind. And there are concerns the packages could further widen economic inequality. United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed into law a coronavirus relief package. Its speedy passage in the House and Senate represented a rare showing of partisan unity, although Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Senate Republicans were critical of the legislation. But "there are clearly people that are left out" from many of the bill's contents, Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Washington DC-based Economic Policy Institute, told CNN. "The measure for paid sick days actually have some gaping holes in it -- one is that they don't apply to large employers." Certain measures were scaled back when the bill was considered in the Republican-controlled Senate, including sick leave provisions. The bill provides many workers with two weeks of paid sick leave if they are tested or treated for coronavirus, or have been diagnosed with it. Also eligible are those who have been told by a doctor or government official to stay home because of exposure or symptoms. Under the revised bill, however, those payments are capped at $511 a day, roughly what someone making $133,000 earns annually. The original measure called for workers to receive their full pay but limited federal reimbursement to employers to that amount. Workers with family members affected by coronavirus and those whose children's schools have closed will still receive up to two-thirds of their pay, though that benefit is limited to $200 a day. The new legislation isn't the only economic package expected. The White House also appears to favor a plan to pay Americans checks directly, an idea that has some bipartisan support. The total cost of the first wave of checks would be $250 billion, a source familiar with the matter told CNN. "I don't think you can go too big here," Gould said of the plan, suggesting the first individual payments should be as high as $2,000. "I care about the effect on the economy, but I also care that people are getting evicted from their apartments," Gould told CNN, urging that the approach -- if adopted -- is done on a monthly basis. As with other major economies, service workers in the US are among the most economically vulnerable as bars and restaurants shutter. The American Hotel & Lodging Association on Wednesday urged government assistance for hotels, saying that industry is facing a crisis "already more severe than anything we've seen before." United Kingdom Even before the pandemic paralyzed Europe, signs were emerging that Boris Johnson's government was moving away from the decade of austerity and tightened public spending that his Conservative Party has become known for. But the crisis has accelerated that approach, with Johnson announcing a 330 billion ($386 billion) coronavirus package to help businesses stay afloat. Johnson told Britons he was acting as though he was in charge of a "wartime government," announcing a raft of government-backed grants, loans and tax holidays for companies. But the UK's positive employment figures are driven partly by casual workers, people on zero-hours contracts and freelancers, and it remains to be seen how many will lose work in closed pubs, clubs and restaurants. Johnson didn't go as far as French President Emmanuel Macron in assisting families and renters, and some groups have warned people will slip through the net. "As it stands, statutory sick pay will not cover the majority of rent payments, meaning renters who fall ill risk losing the roof over their heads," Kat Wright, of the Acorn union that represents renters, told CNN. A three-month mortgage holiday "misses out huge swathes of the population," she added. The government has indicated further legislation will deal with renters. The number of tenants has risen dramatically in recent years, especially for millennials. There were 4.5 million rented households in the UK in 2017, the latest year for which figures are available, compared with 2.8 million in 2007. "Some landlords will be given a break on their mortgage payments but their tenants will still be forced to pay them rent should they become infected," Wright said. "This means millions of renters risk homelessness in the midst of one of the biggest public health crises of our time." Homelessness rates have also spiraled amid the housing crisis, and campaigners say rough sleepers and those in temporary accommodation could be missed by the measures. On Tuesday, 3.2 million ($3.7 million) was pledged to provide accommodation for rough sleepers who need to self-isolate. But whether the amount can cover Britain's homeless population, and for how long, remains unclear. France France unveiled arguably the most wide-reaching measures in Europe on Monday, waiving rent and utility bills for smaller firms and guaranteeing 300 billion ($324 billion) worth of loans. "No French company, whatever its size, will be exposed to the risk of collapse," he said, also urging businesses not to lay off staff. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire also signaled a willingness to intervene in individual situations, telling RTL Radio: "If we see, case by case, that some companies have difficulties to pay their charges, they won't have to pay them." The announcements have led politicians in other countries to point to France's example and demand similar measures. "Emmanuel Macron has suspended gas, electricity and rent payments for small businesses in France. Today the British government must announce further measures to protect the high street and workers who depend on it," UK Labour MP David Lammy said. Analysts at Dutch bank ING said Monday that the "drastic" measures taken by Macron could limit the economic contraction in France to 1% this year. Spain Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said his government will "spare no expense" in its economic response to the crisis, promising to leave no citizen behind. On Tuesday, he unveiled a 200 billion ($216 billion) aid package, which he said amounted to about 20% of the country's GDP and marked "the biggest mobilization of economic resources in Spain's history." Alongside a moratorium on mortgage payments for homeowners, some of the measures targeted those in insecure situations: Self-employed workers were given easier access to unemployment benefits, and 600 billion ($648 billion) was earmarked to provide aid to vulnerable groups. But Spain's unemployment rate sits among the highest in Europe, leaving pockets of society financially vulnerable. And evictions in Spain soared since the outbreak of the 2008 financial crisis, leaving uncertainty looming over many of the country's tenants. It is "particularly important" to keep employment levels steady in Spain, said Angel Talavera, the head of European Economics at Oxford Economics. "The labor market is much more reactive to downturns in economic activity than anywhere else in Europe, which means that a sharp contraction in GDP -- even if it's temporary -- could result in a big loss of employment," Talavera told CNN. Spain went into lockdown on Monday, shutting bars, restaurants and shops. Some 47 million Spanish residents have been banned from leaving home -- with the exception of those going to work, buying food, going to a hospital, or supporting an elderly person or child in their care. "Small businesses, which typically have very small cash buffers, and those in sectors that will be particularly hit by the containment measures -- hotels, restaurants, tourism -- are particularly vulnerable," Talavera said. Karnataka Health Minister B Sriramulu on Saturday chaired an emergency meeting with officials of the Health Department here and said the decision to close the state's border with Maharashtra will be taken only after a discussion with Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa. "A decision to close the Karnataka-Maharashtra border will be taken after we discuss the matter with Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa," said Health Minister B Sriramulu. The minister also visited hospitals and inspected the isolation facilities. He assured that all the facilities would be provided for the safety of the people. The total number of positive cases of coronavirus has climbed to 283, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday. Four people have died including one each in Delhi, Karnataka, Punjab and Maharashtra. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Friday launched a helpline number for students to create awareness on the coronavirus pandemic. The facility is available on 1800 11 8004 from 8 am to 8 pm, initially up to March 31, the CBSE officials said. On Wednesday, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) directed the CBSE and all educational institutions in the country to postpone all exams including JEE Mains till March 31 in view of coronavirus outbreak. The total number of COVID-19 cases in India has now climbed up to 223, including 32 foreigners, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday. As many as 23 people have been cured of the infection in India.The disease has claimed over 10,000 lives globally. The Health Ministry has issued an advisory on measures to enforce social distancing and suggesting shut down of all educational institutions, gymnasiums, museums, cultural and social centres, swimming pools and theatres till March 31.The government has also tightened the lockdown on the spread of coronavirus cases with travel restrictions prohibiting entry of all passengers from the European Union, European Free Trade Association, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Philippines, and Afghanistan.The centre has also banned the operations of international commercial passenger flights in India from March 22 to March 29. Nepal has imposed a partial lockdown with the government suspending international flights, long-distance transport services and closure of education institutes to tackle the coronavirus outbreak which has claimed more than 11,000 lives globally so far. The ?Nepal Communist Party-led government has also halted non-essential services by both private and public sectors starting from March 23 to April 3. In a live telecast address to the nation on Friday, Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli said long-journey transport services will be suspended indefinitely from March 23. International flight operations at Tribhuvan International Airport have been shut from March 22 till March 31. All schools and colleges have been closed and examinations postponed. Oli said the government would coordinate with neighbouring countries to set up health desks at major border points to ensure no traveller was affected. He said the government would encourage work-from-home system in the private sector. The prime minister warned of stern action against those involved in black-marketing, hoarding and creating artificial shortages in the market. Nepal has had just one confirmed case of coronavirus, but it is at risk due its location between China and India. Thousands of people living temporarily in Kathmandu have started leaving for their homes in rural areas with growing fears of COVID-19. Around 3 lakh people have already left Kathmandu since Tuesday. Meanwhile, special worship at the Pashupatinath temple here has been suspended. However, regular worship will be conducted as usual, the Pashupati Area Development Trust said. The trust authorities have also stopped 'bagmai aarati', a worship ritual on the banks of Bagmati River in the premises of Pashupati temple. The number of devotee footfalls has declined at the temple amid virus fears. In a statement, the temple trust said a group of more than 25 people will not be allowed at once at the temple to worship. Hand sanitizers have been made accessible on the temple premises. In a separate incident, police arrested a 20-year-old youth for allegedly spreading rumours on social media regarding COVID-19 cases being hidden by a hospital here. Cyber Bureau of Nepal Police arrested Bibek Thapa Magar of Ramechhap district, currently residing in Bhaktapur, according to Senior Superintendent of Police Nabindra Aryal. Magar was arrested for allegedly spreading false information and causing public fear. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) President Donald Trump at a press briefing with the coronavirus task force. Associated Press In a break from his standard decorum, CNN anchor John King called "bulls---" on President Donald Trump's attacks on the news media during Friday's White House briefing on the coronavirus pandemic. King defended NBC News reporter Peter Alexander after Trump called him "a terrible reporter" for asking the president on Friday to address Americans who are scared by the pandemic. King said Trump's was "reprehensible" and that Alexander's question was "perfectly valid." Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. In a break from his usual decorum, CNN anchor John King called "bulls---" on President Donald Trump's attacks on the news media during Friday's White House briefing on the coronavirus pandemic. King defended NBC News reporter Peter Alexander after Trump called Alexander "a terrible reporter" for asking the president on Friday to address Americans who are scared by the pandemic. "I sat in that room for just shy of 10 years; it was a perfectly valid question," King said on his program shortly after Friday's contentious briefing. "And what the president did to Peter Alexander was reprehensible." King added, "This is a Trump trademark. It was striking that this came that this, forgive me, bulls--- attack on 'fake news' came just moments after the secretary of state said that the American people have to be careful about where they get their information." He added, "That was a 100% legitimate question with no hype, no shade, no bias [Trump] just wanted to attack." Alexander pushed back on Trump's positive spin concerning drugs that may be used to treat coronavirus patients. Trump said he didn't know whether the drugs would be effective but insisted he had a "good feeling about it." Story continues "What do you say to Americans who are watching you right now who are scared?" Alexander asked. "I say that you're a terrible reporter; that's what I say," Trump responded. "I think it's a very nasty question, and I think it's a very bad signal you're putting out to the American people. The American people are looking for answers, and they're looking for hope." Trump went on to defend his positive spin. "Let's see if it works. It might and it might not," he said of the drugs. "I happen to feel good about it, but who knows? I've been right a lot." CNN White House reporter Kaitlan Collins challenged Trump's remarks about Alexander later in the briefing. "Do you really think going off on Peter, going off on a network, is appropriate when the country's going through something like this?" Collins asked. "I do," Trump responded. Alexander later responded with a statement defending his question, which he called a "softball." "I was trying to provide the president an opportunity to reassure ... millions of Americans," he said. "I think it does sort of reveal a frustration, perhaps an anxiety of his political prospects, about a situation that is hard to keep in control as we witnessed it continue to spiral at this time." Read the original article on Business Insider Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has refused to impose a nationwide lockdown despite the cases of coronavirus in the country crossing 500. There have been three COVID-19 deaths in Pakistan so far and the total number of confirmed cases has gone up to 501, Geo News reported. Sindh is the worst-hit province with 252 cases. Analysts have suggested a complete lockdown of Pakistan, including suspension of flights in view of the increase in the number of infections. "Lockdown means curfew-like situation, which will create unrest in the country and we cannot afford that. It would make poor people more vulnerable," Khan said. Khan said that the government was working on an economic package that will be announced on Tuesday. "We cannot compete with other countries of the who are announcing economic packages," he said. "However, we will protect our lower and labour class against the effects of the coronavirus. This package will do so." A lack of necessary medical equipment such as masks, test kits, and ventilators, is limiting the scope of prevention, testing and treatment of the disease in Pakistan. Doctors have threatened to go on strike until the equipment is provided. Meanwhile, the Bank and the Asian Development Bank have announced help to economically stricken Pakistan by providing USD 588 million for its emergency response to fight the coronavirus and to address the socio-economic impact of the pandemic. Reports of the lack of adequate screening procedures and squalid living conditions at the quarantine camps at the Taftan border crossing with Iran have further raised concerns of the surge in the number of infections. Similarly, hundreds of people from PoK belonging to Sudhnoti and Rawalakot, working alongside the Chinese workers, face a difficult situation given the lack of screening procedures. People are demanding that all employees working with Chinese workers be screened. Several residents of Lahore have complained that some hospitals are charging over PRK 9,000 for the coronavirus test, against the government's claims that the tests were being carried out for free. Dozens of families living in the Leepa Valley have left for other parts amid coronavirus concerns, despite assurances that the Army was capable of handling the situation. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Corruption, as Peter Schweizer has repeatedly noted in his many books on the topic, is a bipartisan affair. But not if you read the press. According to the New York Times: Senator Richard Burr Sold a Fortune in Stocks as G.O.P. Played Down Coronavirus Threat After the sales in February, the North Carolina Republican warned a group that the virus could soon cause a major disruption in the United States. Three other senators also sold major holdings around the same time. Funny how those other three weren't seen as newsworthy enough to mention. Burr, of course, is powerful as chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee. But, ahem, so is Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Senate Democrat who brought us the #MeToo spectacle against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh until the whole thing fell apart as false, and she later admitted was a partisan maneuver. Between her husband (who manages her 'blind' trust investments, which don't sound all that blind given that she presumably lives with the guy) and herself, she may have dumped as much as $6 million in Allogene stock, which is a cancer research company. The stock reportedly rose after his sales, which might be exonerating, given that it wasn't profit-taking, but it has since fallen, as this chart demonstrates, suggesting the reason for the sale might just have been inside knowledge of the coming the market downturn, same as the other three. In any case, the press is focused on Burr, and his sidekick, Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Georgia), who's married to the chairman of the New York stock exchange, and was appointed to the position by the governor of Georgia against President Trump's recommendation, both of whom come out looking plenty bad indeed. Loeffler sold her hotel stock and bought home office teleconferencing stock? Doesn't sound kosher. Mollie Hemingway notes that Burr was a very lousy Republican, same as President Trump's view of Loeffler. There was also Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, who's been around long enough to know the rules and the loopholes, but has never been involved in corruption in the past. He says this was the act of his advisors and he had no knowledge of it. One can hope that explanation comes out true. But somehow Feinstein, who skipped scrutiny for her dishonest Kavanaugh show, as well as her employment of a likely Chinese communist government agent as her driver for 20 years, never suspecting a thing, looks to be escaping the same kind of scrutiny Burr and Loeffler are getting. Might that be because of her political party? Sure seems like it. Very early the press is laying down markers as to who gets negative coverage and who skates. In reality, none of them should skate. A bird sits in the deserted baggage claim area at Philadelphia International Airport on March 16. Read more It took a single week to remake one of the nations most walkable cities with its vibrant restaurant scene into a shelter-in-place society. Home to 1.6 million people, Philadelphia was also typically visited daily by thousands of tourists and suburban commuters. We studied Googles pedestrian foot traffic data from Thursday to learn how a pandemic has quickly altered daily routines across the city. 30th Street Station Its iconic grand concourse, bustling a week ago with people grabbing lunch on the go as they boarded SEPTA or Amtrak, has lost more than half its foot traffic. Philadelphia International Airport Forget snaking security lines and elbow-to-elbow waits to board planes. Foot traffic is down dramatically every hour of the day. The airport, one of the nations busiest, was set on Thursday to lay off hundreds of subcontracted workers. City Hall Far fewer passersby are walking the wide sidewalks beneath Philadelphias 548-foot tower centerpiece with the William Penn statue. Normally, tourists, marriage license seekers and thousands of others crisscross its central courtyard. The Rocky Steps High on the bucket lists of tourists, the footrace up the 72 stone steps in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art symbolizes the willpower of fighter Rocky Balboa of the movie fame. Foot traffic has tanked. LOVE Park Robert Indianas vibrant, uplifting LOVE sculpture was a Philadelphia selfie spot decades before the iPhone. With few people in Center City, the parks daily foot traffic has plummeted. Independence Hall March is typically a slow month for visitors to this iconic redbrick hall, where the United States Constitution and Declaration of Independence were adopted. It is closed due to the virus outbreak. What little foot traffic Google is capturing could be people out for fresh air or scouting for milk and bread at the Wawa across the street. Wawa, 500 S. 2nd St. The global pandemic has not kept Philadelphians from visiting Wawa, officially declared a life-sustaining business that can remain open. This store, just off South Street, lost its morning rush of foot traffic but the afternoon was normal on Thursday. Reading Terminal Market Before the coronavirus, local shoppers shuffled shoulder to shoulder with wide-eyed tourists. Fewer walked the aisles Thursday, with the Markets website saying it is stocked, open and safe. Acme, 1001 South St. Supermarkets, like this Acme (pronounced ACK-a-me if youre a local), were inundated with people hoarding toilet paper, hand sanitizer and just about anything else on the shelf. Food shoppers broke out of their grocery routines, the data show. People are going both earlier and later, perhaps trying to avoid crowds as fears of getting sick mount. (To determine popular times, Google uses aggregated and anonymized data from users Google Location History. Popular times are based on average popularity over the past several weeks.) Dark days: The unthinkable is currently being discussed among senior officials. Where do you locate temporary morgues to house the dead bodies of coronavirus victims when hospital facilities are full? The sensitive and appropriate location of such a facility is part of the planning process currently under way, with Dublin expected to need additional temporary morgues if the Covid-19 outbreak grows, a source confirmed to the Irish Independent last night. Leo Varadkar frightened the bejesus out of Fine Gael TDs this week when he told his tele-conferenced parliamentary party meeting that in Italy elderly people from nursing homes weren't going to hospital when Covid-19 spread in their facility, just to the morgue. He warned he didn't want that to happen here and everything possible had to be done to slow the virus. "Once it got into a nursing home, it wasn't getting out of there and you didn't make it through. He scared the f*** out of people," a TD said. Expand Close Reputation restored: Health Minister Simon Harris has performed well since the crisis broke. Photo: Gerry Mooney / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Reputation restored: Health Minister Simon Harris has performed well since the crisis broke. Photo: Gerry Mooney As a fan of quotes from Winston Churchill, Leo Varadkar will no doubt be aware of the Bulldog's reaction to the tide of the war turning in November 1942 with Allied victories at El Alamein and Stalingrad: "This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." We haven't even reached the end of the beginning yet. "It's like a film you are watching and we're all in it. S**t is happening so fast. The vibe generally is the anxiety levels are very high among the public. People are in a trauma. It's about keeping people calm," a senior official said. Varadkar's St Patrick's night address to the nation was well received this week as it set out the stall, showed someone was in control and sought to quell the sense of panic. Rehearsing his lines just before 9pm on Tuesday, observers say Varadkar was calm. "There was no clutter of noise, if that makes sense. There was nobody fussing around him. You'd know he was in charge." However, the speech had its drawbacks. He put noses out of joint on the Opposition benches, particularly in Fianna Fail, by not making any reference to the cross-party political support the Government is getting and will need in the coming months. It has also created a clamour for the spotlight, both in the Dail and among ministers who are due to be dropped from the Cabinet. "The country had gone into an absolute Armageddon mood so he had to calm the waters. It landed really well. It's made it more political than it needed to be and now every politician wants a part of it." His colleagues have seen how Simon Harris's political fortunes have been revived. A motion of no confidence in the Health Minister prompted the general election, where he was largely hidden away by his party. Now he's centre stage again and there is sympathy among colleagues of his plight in the health portfolio over recent years. On the plus side, changes are happening rapidly within the public service that would take years under normal circumstances. Departments and agencies are volunteering to assist in whatever way they can, tearing up the normal red tape. The lead is coming from the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET), headed by chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan. "He's the real deal. He is a gentleman. He's just a very trusted kind of uncle. He is not playing one minuscule of politics. Whatever he says goes. Nobody challenges anything he says. He has full authority, autonomy and respect. He is the nucleus with a team around him, who are earnest and the people you want to be in charge," an official said. Dr Holohan reports to the Department of Health, which in turn has the HSE underneath. Some tensions are being reported between the different arms of the health service but nothing major. "Even the most cynical f***ers aren't trying to undermine anybody," an official said. The Department of the Taoiseach is co-ordinating the response, with several groups chaired by Liz Canavan, the assistant secretary general, who reports directly to the country's leading civil servant, secretary general of the Department of the Taoiseach, Martin Fraser. The SOG (Senior Officials Group) is made up of the senior civil servants from relevant departments, which ensures policies are implemented as decided by Government. The Cabinet sub-committee on Covid-19 is made up of the Taoiseach, Tanaiste Simon Coveney, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe, Health Minister Simon Harris and other ministers as required. Dr Holohan also briefs ministers directly and is held in some regard. "He's calm, he's sound and he's very focused. He doesn't give you mixed answers. Everything is consistent," a minister said. Porridge comes off the shelf There were only stern faces on view inside the Simon Vierpyl Room of the City Assembly House. Ministers and advisers met at Fine Gael's temporary base in Dublin on February 3. The party's private research was backing up what a succession of opinion polls was saying: the main government party was heading for a hammering at the end of the week in the general election, despite the economic, job creation and Brexit performances. There was little enough fight left. Richard Bruton said the party was thought of by voters "as the porridge on the cereal shelf" as it sought to do serious policy work in government in a strong and steady fashion and was always there when needed in a crisis. On the same day, the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak had claimed more lives than the Sars epidemic of 2003. The porridge was about to come down off the shelf. After spending the election warning of an impending crisis around Brexit, instead they got another crisis. Brexit has a silver lining as the plans put in place across a range of sectors are now adapted to Covid-19. "Hard Brexit was only a theory, this is the real world," an adviser said. Logistical plans around food supply, storage and transport were all put in place in case the hard Border went up. "There's two things people want: their bellies fed and their tablets. After that, we'll get by," a minister pragmatically said. Supports for business to increase production or downscale their operations for a while were thought out. These are now being implemented for coronavirus. The funding will be allocated to the most viable businesses. "There are some businesses that won't come out of this," another minister noted. Six weeks after the election, many of the cast who were powerless as Fine Gael went down in flames were involved in a decision to virtually shut down the country. Varadkar was at the American Ireland Fund dinner when word came in from Dublin that the situation was worsening. The rest of the guests in the National Building Museum were distracted by Donald Trump's US travel ban. Varadkar went to a private room to consult with Fraser and top political adviser, chief of staff Brian Murphy, who were with him in Washington. They headed back to Blair House, the guest house for visiting dignitaries across the road from the White House. Trump is building his own wall in Washington, with a new 13-foot-high fence going up around the White House, turning Pennsylvania Avenue into a building site. The discussions with officials back home went on into the early hours of the morning, with officials in the Department of Health finishing up at 4am and resuming early the following morning. "Senior officials, Fraser, Murphy, were in constant contact with officials as the situation was evolving quickly. The European advice significantly ramped up and there was a change in tone and urgency." Bright and early, Varadkar announced that schools, colleges and childcare facilities would close for a fortnight because of Covid-19. The signal of the announcement had sparked a wave of panic-buying. Back in Dublin, ministers and officials went between meeting rooms in Government Buildings. The Sycamore Room overflowed as Coveney and Harris prepared to explain the decision. "You could take out half the Cabinet if you coughed. You'd be sick of the smell of hand sanitiser. It's everywhere you go," an adviser said. Time will tell where it goes from here. Fianna Fail figures are getting fed up waiting for Fine Gael to take the talks seriously, but feel the virus has focused minds. Visit our Covid-19 vaccine dashboard for updates on the roll out of the vaccination program and the rate of Coronavirus cases Ireland The Government will have to pass a massive emergency powers package next week in a last chance to pass laws for months to come. The Seanad won't be able to sit until the new Taoiseach nominates 11 members after the new government is formed. Government sources say omnibus laws will grant ministers extraordinary powers to take action down the line as there will be no going back to the Oireachtas. Election promises made at the start of this year will be wishful thinking now. The Green Party seems to have taken itself off the pitch, but the Independents still pose problems. The possible inclusion of the Labour Party with Alan Kelly as leader is regarded as an "underrated possibility". "Michael Lowry is still the most connected man in there. Having Lowry and Verona Murphy could make it nigh-on impossible to get it through the party. Verona did untold damage to the party. Lowry, we'd get killed for five years if we have him in a formal arrangement. Noel Grealish was a pariah for six months." Sinn Fein leader Mary-Lou McDonald noted in the Dail: "In years to come, we will talk about life before the coronavirus and after the coronavirus." By Reuters Staff BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's imported coronavirus cases have risen to a record 228, data showed on Friday, as infected travelers spread to ever more provinces, adding pressure on authorities to toughen entry rules and health protocols. For a second day in a row, China found no domestically transmitted cases of the virus that emerged in its central province of Hubei late last year, according to new daily figures registered on Thursday. By Reuters Staff BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's imported coronavirus cases have risen to a record 228, data showed on Friday, as infected travelers spread to ever more provinces, adding pressure on authorities to toughen entry rules and health protocols. For a second day in a row, China found no domestically transmitted cases of the virus that emerged in its central province of Hubei late last year, according to new daily figures registered on Thursday. Fears of a second wave of infections are growing just as China brings its epidemic under control, with the spread of the virus in Europe and North America spurring a rush homewards by Chinese expatriates, many of them students. "The number of imported cases in China has further increased, and so the pressure to be on guard has also increased," Wang Bin, an official of the National Health Commission, told a news conference in Beijing on Friday. Mainland China had 39 new imported infections on Thursday, the commission said. Fourteen of these were in the southern province of Guangdong, eight in the commercial hub of Shanghai and six in the capital, Beijing, it said in a statement. The main entrypoints for infected travelers have been key transport hubs such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong, including the city of Shenzhen, near Hong Kong. A smattering of imported cases were also reported in the city of Tianjin and the provinces of Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Shandong and Gansu in the north, as well as in the provinces of Zhejiang, Fujian, Sichuan, and the region of Guangxi further south, taking China's total imported infections to 228. The commission did not say where the cases were believed to have originated, but provincial authorities said some of the travelers had been in Britain, Spain and the United States. "Everyone is being very vigilant about those coming back from abroad. We must absolutely not let our guard down," Cao, a Beijing resident who gave only his surname, told Reuters. "We cannot relax this vigilance so much that we see a rebound." In Gansu, five officials were punished for picking up travellers returning from overseas without permission, including two who have tested positive, the official Xinhua news agency said. As concern grows over infected arrivals from overseas, the foreign ministers of China, Japan and South Korea held a video conference on Friday to discuss cooperation to rein in the pandemic. NO SYMPTOMS The new imported case in Tianjin, a city of 11 million, was a 23-year-old woman studying in London who came home via Zurich, Tokyo and Beijing, Xinhua said. The northeastern city of Shenyang said its first imported case was a traveler arriving from London via Seoul, who displayed no fever or respiratory tract symptoms at the airport on March 16. Many outbreaks overseas were caused by travelers from China who were pre-symptomatic and so had not been screened or isolated, the Yale School of Public Health said in a study. China has long recommended self-isolation by returning travelers, but authorities in some regions now enforce 14 days in quarantine in a medical facility for people returning from any of 24 badly-hit nations, to limit the risk of spread by those not yet showing symptoms. For a second day, there were no new cases in the outbreak epicenter of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei, the National Health Commission said. Mainland China's tally of infections stands at 80,967, with the death toll at 3,248 by Thursday, an increase of three from the previous day. Globally, 245,000 people have been infected and more than 10,000 have died. This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. WASHINGTON Groups representing major automakers and suppliers asked U.S. lawmakers on Friday to consider new tax relief and delay the start of a new trade deal as auto sales decline as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The proposals come as major automakers are temporarily closing plants and cutting production. On Friday, BMW became the latest to announce a production halt. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation representing General Motors, Volkswagen, BMW, Toyota and others and the Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association (MEMA) in a joint letter seen by Reuters backed "key actions" by U.S. lawmakers to help "ensure that sufficient liquidity remains available in the markets." The auto groups endorsed proposals supported by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and others to create "credit facilities to provide loans and loan guarantees to employers with more than 500 employees experiencing loss of revenue due to COVID-19." Automakers and suppliers back a series of actions to boost the industry including delaying the planned June 1 entry into force date for the new USMCA North American trade deal. Automakers warn the fast approaching date puts undue compliance pressures on them to comply with new rules of origin. The letter supports lawmakers giving large companies a tax deduction or credit to maintain workforce, delay or defer 2020 quarterly federal tax payments, a temporary employer payroll tax holiday and to expand or extend expensing for equipment and machinery. In a separate letter to Congress on Friday seen by Reuters, Japanese automaker Honda also supported the industry tax proposals. "The auto industry, like so many industries is going to be severely harmed by the dramatic economic downturn over the coming months," Honda executive vice president Rick Schostek wrote, adding that companies based outside the United States but with significant American operations should not be "arbitrarily barred from any federal assistance or regulatory relief." Story continues On Thursday, MEMA asked lawmakers for emergency grants "to keep the doors open," tariff relief and other assistance to "prevent bankruptcies in the vital manufacturing sector." Estimates for how deeply U.S. and global vehicle sales could drop vary widely. Morgan Stanley analysts said in a note Thursday they were evaluating the impact of as much as a 90% drop in U.S. sales over three months. The industry letter said automakers had seen a "steep drop in retail sales over the last 10 days." The Assam Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, on Saturday approved the Autonomous Council bills for the Kamtapur, Moran, Muttock and the Bodo-Kacharis. The cabinet also approved the Assamese Language Learning Bill, 2020, a spokesperson at the Chief Minister's Office told PTI. The Assam Elementary and Secondary (Regulations of Posting and Transfer) Bill, 2020 was also approved. It also decided to waive off the VAT on natural gas for 15 years for Brahmaputra Cracker and Polymer Limited (BCPL) and therefore the state government will incur an expenditure of Rs 1,714 crore. The Guwahati Building Bye-Laws have also been approved by the cabinet and after it is ratified in the assembly, it will pave the way for construction of houses under the Chief Minister's Easy House Building Scheme. The bills are scheduled to be passed in the ongoing session of the Assam Legislative assembly which is scheduled to meet on March 24 after a recess of twelve days. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The U.S. Army has selected Textron (NYSE:TXT) and Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) to battle to build its new Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA), with the prize a potential $40 billion-plus contract to replace the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. The Army has awarded Lockheed's Sikorsky unit, which is working with Boeing (NYSE:BA), $97 million to refine its Defiant design, while Textron's Bell division won $84 million to put to work on its V-280 Valor. The two aircraft will compete in a demonstration phase expected to run two years, with the winner expected to be selected during the government's fiscal 2022. The stakes are huge. The U.S. Army might not replace all of the more than 2,100 Black Hawks currently in service doing mostly troop transport, air assault, and medical transit, but the service is expected to purchase at least 700 of the winning design at an estimated sticker price of more than $50 million apiece. Add in development costs and the program will run at least $40 billion. The award isn't a surprise, as the Pentagon telegraphed in its February budget request that the FLRAA program continues to be a top priority. But it is a huge vote of credibility for two new, and relatively untested, designs, and could provide a much-needed spark to Textron. Here's a look at how the finalists stack up. The V-280 is already turning heads Bell's V-280 and the Defiant are graduates of the Army's Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator program, an effort by the Pentagon to modernize helicopter design and introduce new technologies. The V-280 has been airborne since 2017 and has logged significant flight hours. The tilt-wing design is intended to give the V-280 higher speeds and better range while still allowing it to perform helicopter maneuvers including landing and taking off without a runway and hovering in place. The V-280 can hit airplane-like speeds, with the company touting a cruising speed of 280 knots (hence the name) and a top speed approaching 300 knots. The V-280 was airborne well before the Defiant and has had a chance to show its strengths to the Army. The V-280 in December flew autonomously during a demonstration before an audience that included Army Secretary Ryan D. McCarthy and Congresswoman Kay Granger of Texas. Autonomous capabilities are not expected to be a requirement in any upcoming helicopter competitions, but it is an area that the Pentagon is interested in pursuing. The issue with the V-280 is what it isn't: a helicopter. While the aircraft has impressive credentials, the winged design limits its ability to navigate into tight areas the way the current Black Hawk can. The Defiant needs to play catch-up Lockheed Martin's Defiant design looks much more like a traditional helicopter, but with a few noticeable differences: The aircraft employs a dual-rotor system, designed to improve stability and allow for higher speeds, and a rear-mounted pusher propulsor to generate that added velocity. The coaxial rotor design has been around for a century, but it is tough to get right because the amount of torque created causes significant turbulence and maneuverability issues. Sikorsky, working with Boeing, has attempted to use software to minimize these, but design difficulties caused the aircraft's first flight to be delayed by two years. If the new design works to plan, the two blades working together provide the stability to allow for higher speeds -- purportedly as high as 240 knots -- while maintaining a helicopter's advantage of operating in confined spaces. Sikorsky is well behind the V-280 in terms of total flight time, and the company has a lot of work to do to prove the endurance of its design before it can even demonstrate features, like autonomous flying, that the V-280 has already shown. But if the new design works as planned, it could offer the speed of an airplane without the design compromises. May the best bird win The V-280 and Defiant now have about two years to show the Army what they can do. On paper the V-280 would appear to be the front-runner because it seems more adept at taking over the Black Hawk's traditional role of transporting troops and cargo and flying long-range missions, but the Defiant design has great potential if Sikorsky's engineers can get it flying to its potential. One thing that is clear is that the Army is going to be spending a lot of money on helicopter replacements in the years to come. In addition to competing for the FLRAA program, Lockheed and Textron are also among five teams, along with a separate team from Boeing and competitors backed by Northrop Grumman and L3 Harris, for the separate Army Future Attack and Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) award to replace the Army's Apache attack helicopter. A good showing by the Defiant in the FLRAA competition could help prove the potential of the dual rotor for other competitions. The FARA competition will likely be narrowed to two teams in the months to come. They will compete for a total contract value perhaps half that of the FLRAA, but it would still be a significant prize for whichever defense contractor is the eventual winner. More broadly, the competitions will say a lot about how the Army views competing visions of what the future of helicopter operations looks like. Bell needs success to give its parent Textron a jump start, while Sikorsky, if successful, would go a long way toward justifying the $9 billion Lockheed paid for it in 2015. The O.C.s Seth Cohen (Adam Brody) wanted nothing more than to leave Orange County, Calif., where he grew up getting bullied at his elite private school by jocks for being different. Seth read comic books, liked to skateboard, and listened to Death Cab for Cutie. The one thing that got him through had been the idea that one day hed leave the O.C. for a place where hed fit in; Brown University. Life changed for Seth Cohen when Ryan Atwood moved in Seth spent his teenage years as a loner until one day his dad, Sandy Cohen (Peter Gallagher), a public defender, came home with one of his clients, Ryan Atwood (Ben McKenzie), a young man from Chino, Calif., who had been arrested for stealing a car. Seth and Ryan became fast friends and soon, life among the O.C.s water polo players wasnt so bad. What had been a temporary stay for Ryan became permanent when the Cohen family formally adopted him. He had been a top student From the start of The O.C. in 2003, Seth had been known as the smart, sarcastic character who took nearly every advanced placement class. He studied, went to class, and got good grades in the hopes of one day going to Brown. Adam Brody and Peter Gallagher on Oct. 29, 2004 | Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic for Us Weekly Magazine Seth Cohen didnt get accepted at Brown When it came time to apply for college, the pressure got to be too much for Seth. He skipped out on his interview with a scout from Brown and later learned he didnt get accepted to the Ivy League school, according to The O.C.s Season 3 Wiki on Fandom. Meanwhile, his girlfriend, Summer Roberts (Rachel Bilson), did. Seth, not wanting to ruin Summers future, broke up with her following a conversation they had when they first applied, during which Summer said she wouldnt go to Brown if he didnt get in. Ultimately, Summer committed to attending Brown after graduating from high school while Seths future remained uncertain. He went to the Rhode Island School of Design While on a campus tour of Brown, Seth crossed paths with his former love interest and friend, Anna Stern (Samaire Armstrong), who encouraged him to apply to the Rhode Island School of Design, or RISD. Anna landed Seth an interview to showcase his drawing skills, which secured him a spot at RISD. Adam Brody outside the set of The O.C. on Oct. 14, 2004 | J. Emilio Flores/Corbis via Getty Images Throughout the series, Seth had a knack for drawing. He famously created a comic book, Atomic County, with one of Summers short-lived love interests, Zach Stevens (Michael Cassidy). Their work had been so good it got the attention of graphic novel executives who wanted to publish it. After Seth had a breakdown at their first meeting, they got a second chance to pitch their comic book and it became a graphic novel. Meanwhile, throughout all of Seths college woes, Ryan applied and got accepted to the University of California, Berkeley the alma mater of Sandy and Kirsten Cohen (Kelly Rowan) and so did his girlfriend, Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton). Watch all four seasons of The O.C. by streaming the Fox drama on Hulu. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 23:12:05|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close MOSCOW, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov on Saturday called on the United States to abandon its unilateral sanctions against Iran, as the country is plagued by the coronavirus outbreak. The U.S. sanctions are "inhumane" as Iran is faced with an acute shortage of means to solve urgent healthcare problems caused by COVID-19, Ryabkov said in a statement. "Washington is well aware of the difference between one-off deliveries of humanitarian aid and Iran's lack of ability to earn export revenues, which are important for the financing of relevant programs, due to many years of unprecedented harsh sanctions from the U.S. side," he said. By West Kentucky Star Staff Mar. 10, 2020 | 05:50 PM | MARSHALL COUNTY On March 8, Marshall County deputies responded to a multi-vehicle crash that resulted in the death of two individuals. Deputies suspected that the driver, Kevin R. West, was driving under the influence at the time of the crash. West was not arrested at the time of the accident, but was taken to Vanderbilt Medical Center for treatment of his injuries. West left Vanderbilt after treatment, and he has been sought since then on numerous charges including manslaughter and DUI. The Marshall County Sheriff's Office said that they located and arrested West in Marshall County on Friday. West's full list of charges includes second degree manslaughter, second degree assault, DUI, careless driving, first degree trafficking in a controlled substance (drug unspecified), first degree trafficking in a controlled substance (methamphetamine), possession of drug paraphernalia, and third degree possession of a controlled substance (drug unspecified). A wanted Benton man was arrested Friday on charges related to a March 8 collision that claimed the lives of two people__________Previous story: The Marshall County Sheriff's Office is looking for a man involved in a collision Sunday afternoon that claimed the lives of two people.Marshall County deputies responded to a multi-vehicle crash Sunday afternoon at the intersection of US 68E and Moors Camp Highway. When deputies arrived, they learned that several people from two different vehicles had sustained injuries and were being taken to local hospitals by ambulance and helicopters.Deputies say that their investigation led them to believe that the driver of one of the vehicles, Kevin R. West of Benton, was under the influence at the time of the collision. West was not arrested, but was transported to Vanderbilt Medical Center for treatment. Deputies did, however, initiate a DUI investigation.A passenger in West's car, 59-year-old Randall Massey of Calvert City, died Sunday as a result of his injuries. Deputies learned Tuesday that 82-year-old Youlane Cathey of Benton also passed away at a medical facility. Cathey was one of four people in the other vehicle.Deputies say West has left Vanderbilt Medical Center and is being sought on numerous charges, including second degree manslaughter, second degree assault, DUI, careless driving, first degree trafficking in a controlled substance (drug unspecified), first degree trafficking in a controlled substance (methamphetamine), possession of drug paraphernalia, and third degree possession of a controlled substance (drug unspecified).Anyone with information on West's whereabouts is asked to call 911 or the Marshall County Sheriff's Office at 270-527-1333. WASHTENAW COUNTY, MI - Residents all across Washtenaw County continue to find ways to adjust and provide help and services to each other amid the coronavirus pandemic. Two additional cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Washtenaw County, bringing the official total to 16 as of Friday, March 20. Washtenaw County health officials have said they believe community spread is likely. Coronavirus in Michigan cant always be traced to travelers anymore. Heres what that means Two more COVID-19 cases in Washtenaw County brings total to 16 As the situation evolves, businesses and organizations that provide everything from baby supplies to bike repair are bending over backwards to assist the community during the outbreak. Here are another four things that residents are doing across Washtenaw County, as well as one from Livingston County. 5 things that give us hope amid the coronavirus pandemic in Washtenaw County 5 more things that give us hope amid the coronavirus outbreak in Washtenaw County If you have a story of a business, organization or person creatively dealing with social distancing and home isolation, or are going above and beyond to help others, please email Samuel Dodge at sdodge@mlive.com. Artwork by Pathways students is displayed in the windows of BD's Mongolian Grill, 200 S. Main St. in Downtown Ann Arbor Wednesday, March 12 2019.MLive.com BDs Mongolian Grill sends food to Ann Arbor homeless shelter BDs Mongolian Grill, 200 S. Main St. in Ann Arbor, is taking its signature stir-fry dishes to a local homeless shelter. The restaurant bagged and delivered more than 400 pounds of cooked meat for staff at the Delonis Center, 312 W. Huron St., to serve in the future. At least 100 shelter residents received cooked lunches from the restaurant Tuesday, March 17 and Wednesday, March 18, the general manager said. The restaurant also works with Food Gatherers, an Ann Arbor-based food distributor. It provided 25 stir-fry meals earlier this week. The program works with several local restaurant, including Cottage Inn Pizza in Ann Arbor, which donated 25 ready-to-bake pizzas and garlic cheese bread on Tuesday night. Food Gatherers confirmed last week that it will continue its operations and distribute food to people in the community during the coronavirus outbreak, as it does with other emergencies. Our services may be expanded and/or modified to best address our communitys needs as the public health situation develops, but we will continue providing food, the agency said in a message Friday, March 13. There are several ways to assist Food Gatherers, including: Donating funds for emergency food needs online at foodgatherers.org/donate or by phone at 734-761-2796. Donating food between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. at its 1 Carrot Way location in Ann Arbor. For more information, visit foodgatherers.org/givefood Lunches with Love: These are pre-packed meal bags the community can pick up. Volunteer help is needed, so to support this initiative, visit foodgatherers.org/lunches or foodgatherers.org/volunteer Refer someone looking for food to foodgatherers.org/needfood or have them call Food Gatherers at 734-761-2796 to point out locations serving emergency meals. Free heating repairs throughout Livingston County assist elderly, disabled residents The recent spring warmth is giving way to colder temperatures throughout the southern Michigan area, said MLive meteorologist Mark Torregrossa on Friday, March 20. That means theres still an immediate need for working heating systems. Enter Sharons Heating & Air Conditioning, 31776 Cowan Road in Westland. The store is providing free repairs to heating system issues that cost up to $300, said employee Nicholas Trackwell. The service is aimed toward people who need to stay isolated indoors, such as elderly and disabled customers, he said. Trackwells grandmother Sharon Klicker is the stores owner. Repairmen will help those in need in the Fowlerville area and all across Livingston County, Trackwell said. We know its hard on everybody to be outside of work right now, he said. Were just trying to do the best we can to help our community. An ice-glazed bicycle on South Fifth Avenue in Ann Arbor Tuesday, Feb. 12 2019.Jacob Hamilton Curbside bicycle repair, purchasing by appointment to limit COVID-19 spread in Ann Arbor For many in bike-friendly Ann Arbor, a pair of wheels is the best way to stay active during these isolating times. Sic Transit Cycles, 1033 Broadway St., is making sure those needs are met while maintaining social distancing. The bicycle store is providing curbside repair services and bike purchasing by appointment, said Kevin Sanchez, the stores services manager. Patrons can pull up to the store with their bikes and call for a repairman by phone, Sanchez said. That service provider picks up the request and sanitizes the bike at all the contact points with rubbing alcohol, he said. Appointments allow for one-on-one consultation, rather than a crowded store, he said. Despite the precautions taken, Sanchez said the work queue is still pretty packed. We are extremely busy the last two weeks, he said. Im constantly on the phone and directing people where to go... Its great were able to do this while limiting the contact between customer and staff. Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital welcomed the first baby of 2020 at 12:19 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 1, Spectrum said in a press release. (Photos provided to MLive from Spectrum Health | Credit: Taylor Ballek)Spectrum Health Beat Deals on baby clothing, other supplies available online through Ann Arbor store Babies get bigger, whether or not theres a COVID-19 outbreak keeping them indoors. Little Seedling, a baby products store at 2121 W. Stadium Blvd. in Ann Arbor, is offering online ordering and curbside pickup to continue providing clothes and more over the next several weeks. Orders over $35 are shipped for free, and curbside pickups come with a 10% discount when customers use the code CURBSIDE on their website. They also offer personal consultation over the phone and via video. You can call the store at 734-418-2392 or through Google Voice for face-to-face interaction over a mobile device at 734-726-0297. The store stock includes car seats, strollers, games and puzzles for all ages, toys and books, as well as clothing options such as pajamas, shoes, boots and more. United Way Emergency Relief Fund aims for $250,000 The United Way of Washtenaw County launched an emergency relief fund to support emerging needs for food, medical care, loss of income and shelter. With initial support from the Song Family Foundation, the organization seeks to raise more than $250,000 to offer emergency relief and ensure resources are available throughout the county. The entire haul, even if it passes the funding goal, will go to nonprofits across Washtenaw County to meet the needs of the vulnerable populations, according to the countys COVID-19 support website. The organization has already reached $150,000, according to a press release. To continue helping this cause, you can visit the website here. To read more on MLive: Complete coverage at mlive.com/coronavirus Sorry, but your browser does not support frames. Sorry, but your browser does not support frames. Sorry, but your browser does not support frames. PREVENTION TIPS Michigans State Emergency Operations Center is coordinating state-government resources and the response to the coronavirus spread. It has shared the following tips: What you can do to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases: For statewide and national information on the virus, visit Michigan.gov/Coronavirus or CDC.gov/Coronavirus. Larry Kudlow, director of the U.S. National Economic Council, speaks during a news conference in the briefing room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Friday, Jan. 17, 2020. The stimulus package under negotiation in the Senate to combat the economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic will likely total more than $2 trillion, White House Economic Advisor Larry Kudlow said on Saturday. The package is equal to about 10% of U.S. economic output, Kudlow told reporters as he went to a meeting with Republican senators on Capitol Hill. It's a major escalation at roughly twice the size of the package the administration requested only several days ago. "We're just trying to cover the right bases," Kudlow said. He also said that small businesses would receive a payroll-tax holiday, though it's unclear whether that's been agreed upon or is an item on the agenda. The Senate has been under immense pressure to finish a relief plan with the House and administration as quickly as possible. Lawmakers this weekend are pushing to meet the Trump administration's Monday deadline of coming to an agreement. The proposed $2 trillion package is the third coronavirus relief package. President Trump this week signed a $100 billion aid package that includes provisions for emergency paid leave for workers and free testing. That came after he signed a $8.3 billion package earlier in the month to provide federal aid to government health officials and vaccine research and development. Unemployment claims next week could total three million, Bank of America said this week, as some workers get laid off without severance, paid leave or health insurance. Hospitals are also facing equipment and staff shortages amid the crisis. The Trump administration is under pressure over the shortage of important medical supplies. President Trump at a Saturday press briefing said he hasn't used the Defense Production Act, which would order private sector manufacturing of supplies like masks and ventilators, because the administration has seen some corporations volunteering help. Asked about the potential $2 trillion price tag for the latest relief package, the president said: "I've spoken directly or indirectly to everybody many, many times...I think the Democrats and the Republicans are going to come up with a package that's going to be really something." Across the U.S., millions of Americans are being told to isolate themselves as coronavirus cases in the country pass 19,000, killing at least 260 people so far. Forty-five states have shut down all schools, and bars and restaurants have also closed in many areas as governments ban group gatherings. California and New York, among the largest economies in the U.S., have shut down all nonessential businesses indefinitely in an effort to contain the spread of the virus. Similar drastic measures have been taken or are planning to be taken in New Jersey, Illinois and Connecticut. Neighborhood-centric social networking app Nextdoor is getting two new features dubbed Nextdoor Groups and Help Map starting this week, recent reports say. The tools are primarily intended to aid users in creating localized groups as well as assisting other users when thats needed. In part, the launch of the features is linked to the ongoing spread of coronavirus. The Nextdoor Groups feature has already been in place in some regions prior to the announcement but will now be available globally. Thats because the number of groups created since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak has been growing. In fact, its doubled every day over the past week. Nextdoor indicates that one of the most popular group types right now are those that are designated for organizing volunteers. Advertisement Groups here work similarly to Facebooks identically-named feature. They serve as a central virtual gathering place and a way to share posts, updates, and news. They also serve as a discussion and announcement forum for get-togethers and localized events. Users can create a group directly from any active conversation thread. Nextdoor will prompt users to make the transition at the click of a button. What do Nextdoor Groups and Help Map have to do with coronavirus? Beyond the usefulness of the new tools in day-to-day life, Nextdoor says its Groups and Help Map should prove particularly useful right now. More directly, it says that it found inspiration in the global response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The goal, Nextdoor says, is to help users stay connected to each other. But more than that, the features should help as users begin to isolate in order to slow the viruss spread. Especially when it comes to finding or providing help for others. Advertisement To that end, while the above-mentioned Groups feature will undoubtedly aid users who want to respond proactively, Help Map will go much further. Thats because Help Map is an interactive map of a users neighborhood that can essentially be marked up. The company goes on to describe the feature as a tool for creating a screenshot of the neighborhood but also of its resources. Thats because, according to Nextdoor, users can mark themselves so that neighbors know who can pitch-in. Users can add themselves to the map. Then they can mark themselves up with an outline of any errands or other help they can provide for their neighbors. Other users can then view the map directly in-app if they happen to need assistance. For example, they might request help obtaining groceries if theyre under self-quarantine. Advertisement Where and when is this rolling out As noted above, the Nextdoor Group feature has already been available but will now be available worldwide. So, as long as Nextdoor is available to download and use in a given region, Groups should be too. But Help Map is an entirely new feature. That means that Help Map will be a bit slower to reach everybody. Its already rolled out in the US as of Wednesday. Over the course of the next week, Nextdoor expects the feature to become available internationally helping the app hold its position among the best social networking apps around. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The Staten Island Ferry will see reduced service as part of the ongoing battle against the coronavirus outbreak. Mayor Bill de Blasio said Friday that ferry ridership is down 70% when compared to this time last year, and that weekday schedules will be reduced from four to three boats during rush hour effective Sunday at midnight. There simply isnt a ridership to justify the kind of frequency we have now, and we have to be smart about that, de Blasio said. Every resource right now has to be used best to fight coronavirus. Every part of the city government has to support every other part. Borough President James Oddo tweeted his support for the move as the city battles the coronavirus, but vowed to ensure that trip frequency is put back in place once the crisis has ended. Oddo worked to ensure that ferry service runs every half hour in his last few months as a city councilman, after years of long waits in off-hours. Staten Island will do its part & accept these SI Ferry service reductions during this crisis, but well never allow this or any administration to undercut my Local Law mandating 1/2 hour service 24/7/365, he wrote. Were team players today & during this crisis, but we do not trust (the city Department of Transportation). A later email from Oddos office attributed his statement to the entire delegation of Staten Island elected officials. Staten Island will do its part & accept these SI Ferry service reductions during this crisis, but we'll never allow this or any administration to undercut my Local Law mandating 1/2 hour service 24/7/365. We're team players today & during this crisis, but we do not trust @NYC_DOT Jimmy Oddo (@HeyNowJO) March 20, 2020 The mayor did not mention any further service changes at his Friday press briefing apart from the rush-hour reductions. A spokesman for the city DOT said a press release will be coming from City Hall with further details. *** CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF CORONAVIRUS IN NEW YORK *** Similar changes will be coming to the NYC Ferry system that serves the other four boroughs. Changes to MTA buses are also set to go into effect on Monday. Customers protected under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act will continue to board express, local, and SBS buses as usual. All other customers will be expected to board from the back on local and SBS buses, and will continue to board as usual on express buses, which will have its first three rows clear in an effort to keep bus drivers at a proper social distance from riders. Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman and CEO Pat Foye said the changes are part of the authoritys efforts to better protect riders and their employees. While Governor Cuomo has ordered non-essential workers beginning Sunday night to remain in their homes and not take mass transit, we are taking aggressive action to protect our thousands of frontline employees who are delivering a critical service to New York, moving the healthcare workers, first responders, utility workers, and essential employees who are protecting us from this public health crisis, he said. According to the MTAs press release, regular fares remain in effect wherever on-board payment boxes or SBS off-board ticket machines continue to be accessible. For most riders, fares will be excused for local buses, SBS riders will be expected to pay at off-board ticket machines, and express bus fares will remain in place. However, multiple exchanges with the MTA have not clarified whether disabled riders who board local buses at the front will be expected to pay, since they will have access to the fare boxes. *** Be the first to know: Sign up for our newsletters; and get breaking news and top stories pushed to your phone with the SILive.com mobile app. RELATED COVERAGE: Staten Island parents scramble to obtain technology for online learning College of Staten Island campus reopens: Operating with minimal staff Parents fear lapse in special ed services: I am not a trained therapist Coronavirus: New York suspends state reading exams Wagner College closing residence halls for remainder of semester College of Staten Island remains closed Tuesday, Wednesday Key details on SAT, ACT college exam cancellations Police cars were on both sides of Lema Road at midday Friday, to resolve a standoff. Rio Rancho Fire Rescue personnel waited, in case needed, on the north side of Western Hills Drive. Rio Rancho Police Capt. Andrew Rodriguez said officers believed a woman was barricaded in a home in the 2300 block of Lema. RRPDs SWAT team and State Police tried to negotiate with her to come out, but had to enter the home that afternoon. Rodriguez said the woman was believed to have shot a man earlier in the day, causing non-life-threatening injuries. Although the standoff ended, detectives were still investigating at press time, and he said he couldnt release more information at the time. No danger to the public remained. Conductor Christian Vasquez and the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra face the crowd on Feb. 22, 2020. (Gerardo Gomez/Prensa FundaMusical) As is shockingly happening in so many places around the world, Venezuela ordered a national lockdown Monday after confirming 33 cases of COVID-19. And like so many other music institutions around the world, El Sistema, Venezuelas comprehensive and internationally influential music education program, began streaming concerts Thursday on its new sala virtual. The first, posted on YouTube, is an extraordinary performance that took place on Feb. 22 of Mahler's Second Symphony by the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra as part of Sistemas 45th anniversary celebrations. Extraordinary can mean a lot of things, especially when it comes to Venezuela. It is far too obvious an understatement to say that the country, in economic decline and politically unstable, is horrendously unprepared for a pandemic under Nicolas Maduros troubling regime. Since coming to power, Maduro has used El Sistema as a political propaganda tool, and yet the core of the program has been maintained through not only thick but also the thin of the last few years. A social program funded by the executive branch of the government, El Sistema has continued to provide safe haven and fulfill basic needs for close to a million children throughout the country, including in the poorest and most remote regions. Making and listening to music is seen in Venezuela as something that makes a community whole, that brings together people on different sides of whatever aisles they are on. Some members of El Sistema favor Maduro, and some are part of his growing opposition. Still, they play together. Dissent may be discouraged, but this is a petri dish for it when things arent right and a social experiment in working things out. There is no question, however, that much has radically changed from when I visited Caracas eight years ago. Gustavo Dudamel, the programs international figurehead and at the time one of Venezuelas most beloved personalities has not been able to return to his country after Maduro publicly attacked him for advocating democracy (he remains in close contact with Sistema, nevertheless, from afar). A mass exodus of musicians from Venezuela has decimated the Simon Bolivar Symphony. March 24 will mark the second anniversary of the death of Sistemas mastermind and the mentor of everyone notable associated with it, Jose Antonio Abreu. Story continues Yet the Bolivar ensemble at the Sala Bolivar appeared just as big as ever, which can be as many as 175 players. A very large chorus filled the benches behind the orchestra, and two children's choruses took over the side seats above the stage. The conductor was Christian Vasquez, who was in the first class of Los Angeles Philharmonic Dudamel fellows in 2009, the year Dudamel became music director. Vasquez went on to build an international career, stepping down last year as music director of the Stavanger Symphony in Norway after six seemingly successful years. These Bolivars are clearly not the Bolivars of yore. As the players in the youth symphony for which Dudamel had once been a concertmaster and then music director aged, they became professional with extensive touring, regular collaborations with the L.A. Phil and recordings. It is hard to tell from the video how many, if any of the old Bolivars are playing in this Mahler performance. I didnt recognize a single one. Close to a half of the orchestra are now stodgier, older musicians, likely instructors. The youngish musicians who fill the ranks do, however, have some of that old Bolivar swagger that can be so appealing. Women dont hesitate to wear low cut tops and moderately short skirts. Men might sport ear studs and a braggadocio virtuosity. But the overall orchestral mood is far more subdued than it was in the exciting Dudamel days. Mahlers Second, which is known as the Resurrection, is a longtime Bolivar and Dudamel specialty (he conducted the symphony with the L.A. Phil as recently as last summer at the Hollywood Bowl). It was more than fitting for last months occasion in Caracas and full of symbolism that can be interpreted in more ways than one. In the symphony, which with its two vocal soloists, chorus and off-stage bands lasts well over an hour, Mahler works out his own crisis of faith. The first movement is a huge funeral oration. The three middle movements are Mahler's attempt to apply nostalgia as a weapon against hopelessness, but he sinks into an awful funk. Anguished orchestral grief followed by a terrifying Dies irae open the last movement. Finally, there is a horrifying crie de cour , so seeming that loud it could be heard across vast Caracas, and often described in the analytical literature as The Last Trump (Im not making this up). The flutes and piccolo imitate the The Bird of Death. The dead then arise new and whole, a believably triumphant vista that is one of the most inspiring finales in all of music. The camera panning around the Sala Bolivar showed performers and audience who looked like those in any concert hall. This could well be an attempt by the powers that be to project normality for a country where there has been so much suffering already and with so much frightening insecurity ahead. In today's Venezuela, resurrection cannot come without first unimaginable pain. Although another Abreu protege, Vasquez is not the kind of charismatic conductor Dudamel is. He doesnt show emotion. He is more like an unsmiling but determined general leading troops into a dangerous battle. The funereal first movement is unusually slow and exceptionally solid, as if the players were doing everything they could to keep their feet on the ground and fight dread. The playing here is solid and sober. The middle three movements prove problematic. There are moments of Venezuelan flair, but the ensemble playing is not cocky and often rough. Hope feels out of reach, the battle for optimism being lost, a public that is seen on the streets beaten down. Vasquez begins the last movement with cold, steely determination. He amplifies alarm. Even watching and listening on the computer, you can sense the ground shaking under your feet in what becomes an uncompromising emotional earthquake followed by an explosive resurrection of remarkable power. Watching the orchestra will not tell you who is on Maduros side or who is on that of opposition leader Juan Guaido. There can no longer be demonstrations on the streets outside because of the coronavirus. People are scared. Mahlers Second wont save anyone. But it can inspire. The sheer force of will of that climax goes far beyond politics. It reveals a magnificent example of the spirit of a people, of what it means not to give up. A desperate Venezuela is asking the international community for aid. Let Mahler not Maduro be our guide. Washington: Two influential Republican lawmakers on Friday urged Twitter to ban the Chinese Communist Party from using its platform for spreading "propaganda and whitewash" the entire history of its alleged coronavirus cover-up. "While the coronavirus pandemic is afflicting families, governments, and markets around the world, the Chinese Communist Party is waging a massive propaganda campaign to rewrite the history of COVID-19 and whitewash the Party's lies to the Chinese people and the world," wrote Senators Ben Sasse and Congressman Mike Gallagher in a letter to Twitter CEO Jack Dorse. The widespread use of Twitter by communist officials of the People's Republic of China (PRC) during this crisis emphasises the contradiction in officials from governments that deny their citizens access to social media platforms like Twitter having access to those same platforms, oftentimes to spread disinformation, they alleged. "By banning Twitter in China, the Chinese Communist Party is keeping its citizens in the dark," the two lawmakers said. "By putting propaganda on Twitter, the Chinese Communist Party is lying to the rest of the world," the Senators wrote. "We believe that the propaganda campaign Chinese government officials are currently waging on Twitter -- especially during the current global crisis -- merits the removal of these individual accounts from the platform," the letter said. In an accompanying statement, Sasse and Gallagher said that it is clear that the Chinese Communist Party officials are using Twitter to "disseminate propaganda" in the midst of a dangerous global crisis. "Even worse, this propaganda obscures and confuses users over the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and potentially undermines efforts to contain and control the outbreak. We believe this behaviour more than warrants their removal from the platform," they said. "Additionally, given the humanitarian importance of free and open access to the internet, we believe that access to social media platforms should be denied to government officials from countries that prohibit their own populations from accessing this very content," the two lawmakers wrote. TROPHIES Many individuals, businesses and organizations in the Lehigh Valley and Warren County are helping people who want to stay connected and receive essential services and food in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Three business owners in the Phillipsburg area, in conjunction with Phillipsburg Mayor Todd Tersigni, are offering free meals to kids in need who are missing out on government-supported lunch programs. Among those offering free hot-dog or pizza lunches are Tobys Cup in Lopatcong Township and Roccos Pizza and Italian Restaurant in Phillipsburg. Garas Pizzeria in Lopatcong is offering free dinners (6-8 p.m.) as well as lunches. Kids should bring their school IDs. Brothers Before Others, a charitable organization made up of retired and active law enforcement officers, is donating $1,000 toward helping those in need, which can be used for lunches. The owner of Beckys Drive-In Theater, a long-time landmark in Lehigh Township, is allowing two churches to provide open-air services to their parishioners. Hope Lutheran Church ( 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. Sunday), and Bethany Wesleyan Church (10:45 a.m. Sunday) have booked services, which will allow people to worship together and maintain a recommended social distance. Those attending are expected to remain in their cars during the services. Many restaurants are taking advantage of an exemption in mandated shutdowns of nonessential businesses, providing takeout service and delivery of meals. This isnt just a stop-gap measure to keep some revenue flowing in and keep some employees working its a public service for people limiting their exposure to others and staying in their homes. Many restaurants are offering these services. The Easton Farmers Market, recognizing the demand for fresh produce, has switched from a biweekly winter schedule to weekly hours, starting today at its site on the 300 block of Church Street, behind the Easton Public Market. The hours are 9 a.m. to noon, with the first hour reserved for those 55 and older. The inside of the Easton Public Market will be closed, but many of the markets vendors will be offering curbside pick-up service. A special child care program for the families of first responders and medical staff is being offered by the Greater Valley YMCA at four of its locations Easton/Phillipsburg, Nazareth, Bethlehem and Allentown. While most child care programs were ordered closed as a precaution against coronavirus, the Greater Valley YMCA received an exemption for services to emergency workers. The Here for You program will start Monday for the children (kindergarten through sixth grade) of doctors, nurses, technicians, other medical staff and first responders. The cost is $100 a week. Contact Olivia Wiebel at oliviawiebel@gv-ymca.org, or go to the Greater Valley YMCA website to download enrollment paperwork. With hand sanitizer and other disinfecting items in short supply, some businesses are adapting their production lines to help consumers. One of those is Eight Oaks Farm Distillery in New Tripoli, Lehigh County, which has switched its output from spirits and cocktails to hand sanitizer and cleaning products. CEO and founder Chad Butters said he hopes to have the products available soon, and is looking to deliver within a limited region in Pennsylvania. TURKEYS Dozens of Alpha Borough residents received water shutoff notices last weekend for nonpayment. The boroughs water utility said service would be terminated unless they brought their accounts up to date, starting March 26 despite an ongoing state of emergency to combat the spread of COVID-19. When contacted Tuesday by lehighvalleylive.com, Public Works Director Peter Pettinelli said the decision to send out the notices was an error. He and other borough officials agreed that service will not be shut off during the pandemic period. Many of the states water utilities have agreed to temporarily suspend shutoffs to protect public health as residents shelter in place and practice frequent hand-washing. Looking for shows to keep you glued to your couch or at least keep you entertained enough not to venture outside unnecessarily? Here you go. A doctor on the frontline of Britain's coronavirus outbreak has revealed how staff must wear wafer-thin paper masks, plastic aprons and gloves instead of full protective gear. They had high-tech masks to cover the nose and mouth when the first suspected coronavirus patients arrived two weeks ago but, as supplies have depleted, they were switched to water-proof masks and, now, to paper masks. Staff have been left exhausted and overstretched, with seven doctors off sick due to the virus. Extra nurses have also been drafted in including two with asthma and one with severe diabetes, conditions which put them at greater risk if they catch coronavirus. Princess Alexandra hospital in Harlow, Essex, is grappling to contain the virus and currently has four patients in intensive care and at least nine patients that are suspected to be suffering from coronavirus. A doctor on shift at Princess Alexandra hospital in Essex was given a paper face mask to wear 'Imagine walking into a closed environment which is full of patients who have got this virus, suspected or confirmed,' a doctor at the Essex hospital, speaking on condition of anonymity, told MailOnline, 'and (paper face mask, apron and gloves) is all we've got'. 'When we started we had that FFP3 mask. We had to go and get tested to see if the mask fits our face because it provides excellent cover against aerosol and droplets and ways the virus can get in. 'That was standard if you even come into contact with a suspected coronavirus patient. But that's gone out now, for the paper masks. 'The guidance is that unless you are in contact with a confirmed coronavirus and you work in intensive care you're not supposed to wear the full protective equipment. 'While you're dealing with a suspected coronavirus patient no matter how ill they are you are supposed to have the mask, gloves and apron on. That's it. So surgical masks, the masks you see on the street, are gone completely.' Tests for coronavirus take between 24 to 48 hours to complete, according to Public Health England, leaving doctors exposed to likely cases before they are diagnosed. The hospital has at least eight full-body protection kits, known as PPE, according to the doctor, but these can only be used when a patient is deteriorating rapidly and going into arrest in line with government guidance. The hospital is suffering from staffing shortages, with seven doctors calling in sick due to coronavirus 'It just doesn't make any sense if you know that the patient you're dealing with has pretty much obviously got symptoms then why are you not protecting staff pretty much as soon as they come in?', the doctor said. 'The ambulances bringing patients in they are pretty much in full gear and full equipment, they've got masks and everything. 'They are bringing the patients into resuscitation area and we are just bringing that mask and apron. It's not very good.' A shocking picture of the doctor on the ward shows them wearing just a paper face mask as they attend to patients. 'It's just not right to put NHS staff at risk so if we just have enough equipment then we would be very very happy, and also the staff or the patients who come in they get reassured as well that we are treating them in a well and safe environment,' they said. 'We already know, people working in the NHS, that the NHS is not prepared. 'We are looking after the emergency patients very well but what about our staff members and what about other patients who are being left alone in the community without enough care. It's not very well organised. 'For the management, this needs to be looked into.' Stephanie Lawton, chief operating officer of The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust, told MailOnline: 'Along with hospitals across the country, we are following national guidance issued by Public Health England and the Government on the use of PPE and we are receiving daily deliveries of additional PPE that is available across the hospital for our staff. 'The health and safety of our staff is paramount and we are proud of their hard work and commitment to safe patient care.' There are reportedly shortages of face masks across NHS trusts, and especially in the London area where the UK's outbreak is concentrated. It comes after NHS staff at Northwick Park Hospital were pictured wearing bin bags on their heads to protect themselves, due to alleged equipment shortages. One nurse at the hospital urgently appealed for PPE kits, saying that they are all at risk of catching the virus. 'We're treating our own colleagues on the ward after they caught the virus from patients,' she said. 'How can that be right?' NHS Supply Chain said yesterday it would ease restrictions on its PPE supply chain following a wave of criticism from overwhelmed trusts. A spokesman told the Health Services Journal: 'The demand management controls that were placed on some PPE products have been removed as of Thursday morning to simply the ordering process. 'We are asking customers that the quantities they order of PPE products are in line with the guidance published by Public Health England. We will continue to monitor all orders to ensure that stocks are fairly managed for all of our customers.' The UK has so far recorded more than 4,000 cases of coronavirus and 178 deaths due to the disease. In Italy, at the epicentre of Europe's outbreak, healthcare staff were left without adequate protection meaning at least 10 per cent were hospitalised. Several Italian doctors have also died from the virus. Nurses are forced to wear BIN BAGS to protect themselves at major UK hospital that is first in UK to shut intensive care as it is overwhelmed by coronavirus By Luke Andrews for MailOnline Nurses have been pictured wearing clinical waste bags on their heads and feet at an NHS hospital that has been overwhelmed by coronavirus. Northwick Park hospital, in Harrow, London, declared an emergency situation on Thursday after all of its critical care beds were filled with patients. It took 24 hours for the hospital to stand down - after hurriedly transferring patients to nearby hospitals - but desperate nurses have issued an urgent plea for proper masks, gowns and gloves amid fears of an inadequate supply. The hospital has reported six deaths due to COVID-19, and has dozens of patients in intensive care. Nurses have been pictured wearing clinical waste bags on their heads at Northwick Park hospital, which declared an emergency on Thursday when it ran out of critical care beds Nurses pictured wearing clinical waste bags on their heads at the hospital, prompting fears it may have an inadequate supply Shocking photos of exhausted nurses wearing yellow-coloured waste bags on their head at Northwick hospital have been shared on social media. 'We are so disheartened with what we face day by day, night by night,' read the caption. 'Improvising PPEs (Personal Protective Equipment) to at least try to protect us from our infectious patients, buying our own wellington boots that is said to be re-imbursed. This is how our prime minister says that we are stockpiling PPEs! 'We have to stay brave for our colleagues who are off sick, families and our patients. It just made us cry inside but we show brave and smiling faces to everyone.' One nurse, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Daily Telegraph they started using waste bags as they had 'no choice'. 'We could catch the virus ourselves,' she said, 'We need proper PPE kit now, or nurses and doctors are going to die. It's as simple as that. 'We're treating our own colleagues on the ward after they caught the virus from patients. How can that be right? 'There are so many younger people here on ventilation - many with asthma or diabetes. They can't stop coughing, they just cough and cough and cough and they can't help it.' The nurse also said even her own family doesn't want her to come home, in case she's carrying coronavirus. Northwick Park hospital, which was overwhelmed with coronavirus patients, is shown above The hospital, which is run by London North West University Healthcare Trust, is expected to be overwhelmed again within hours. Queen Elizabeth Hospital and University Hospital Lewisham, which are run by the same trust on the south-east side of the city, are reportedly unable to admit all critically ill patients to intensive care. Dr Lisa Anderson, a consultant cardiologist at St George's hospital in London, told BBC Radio 4 this morning that critical staff are not getting the protection they need. 'The government changed the guidelines for protection equipment on Monday,' she said, 'and they're no longer complaint with WHO recommendations'. 'So whereas the WHO says you have to wear a full gown and a visor, we only have to wear a simple face mask, short gloves and a little pinafore apron when we're dealing with patients up to 12 hours at a time. 'The equipment has arrived but because they have changed the rules where you can only wear that equipment... patients are being treated without protection.' She denied rumours that the NHS has run out of essential equipment. To help units handle admissions, it is thought they may have to impose a clinical threshold of 60 years old for admissions in order to hold back da flood of patients. London is at the epicentre of the UK's spiralling outbreak and yesterday recorded 18 more deaths, taking its total to 69 out of more than 1,200 cases. Many trusts around the capital are reportedly already at capacity or exceeding it, at a time when the outbreak is meant to have barely started. Barnet, Lewisham and Greenwich, Epsom and St Helier, North Middlesex and Hillingdon, are all reportedly struggling. A senior director at an unnamed London health trust has told the Health Service Journal that the situation is already 'f****** petrifying'. 'The thing people aren't really talking about yet is that we are going to have to quickly agree some clinical thresholds for admissions to intensive care,' he said, 'This is what the Italians had to do, and whether it's set at (a maximum age of) 60 or whatever, we are going to have to do something similar. 'There's no way we're going to be able to scale up to the level we need otherwise.' Lewisham and Greenwich hospital was reported to be turning away patients yesterday due to a lack of capacity, but a spokesman said this was untrue. A spokesman for London North West University healthcare trust said: 'We can continue to provide our staff with appropriate Personal Protective Equipment, in line with national guidance from Public Health England. 'We are frequently writing to our staff to remind them what protective equipment they should be weareing and how they can access it, and will be issuing a reminder to ensure that all our teams have the most up to date information.' Public Health England does not advise nurses to wear foot covers to care for patients with COVID-19. NHS strikes massive deal with private hospitals for 20,000 extra staff, 8,000 beds and 1,200 ventilators in fight against coronavirus By Milly Vincent for MailOnline NHS England has struck a deal with the nation's private hospitals to ensure more beds, ventilators and thousands of extra healthcare staff will be made urgently available from next week to aid the fight against coronavirus. Nearly 20,000 fully qualified staff will be joining the NHS response to the pandemic, helping manage the expected surge in cases, in the first ever deal of its kind. The extra resources, now secured by the health service, will not only be available to treat coronavirus patients, but will also help the NHS deliver other urgent operations and cancer treatments. NHS England has struck a deal with the nation's private hospitals to ensure more beds, ventilators and thousands of extra healthcare staff will be made urgently available from next week to aid the fight against coronavirus. Pictured: Boris Johnson in the cabinet room today Up to 8,000 additional hospital beds and nearly 1200 more ventilators will be provided across England. While 10,000 private sector nurses, 700 doctors and over 8,000 other clinical staff will rush to the aid of the currently nearing capacity NHS. In London the deal will see over 2000 hospital beds, and over 250 operating theatres and critical beds made available. The deal has been made with the UK independent hospital group, Spire Healthcare , who will assist NHS England from Monday 23 March, for a minimum period of 14 weeks, and then on a rolling one month's basis. Spire Healthcare will use the first week to prepare its colleagues and facilities for full use by the NHS, while it continues to treat NHS and private elective patients where appropriate. Nearly 20,000 fully qualified staff will be joining the NHS response to the pandemic, helping manage the expected surge in cases, in the first ever deal of its kind. Pictured: NHS staff outside a hospital in London From 30 March the group will make available the entire capacity of its 35 hospitals in England to the NHS. NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens said: 'We're dealing with an unprecedented global health threat and are taking immediate and exceptional action to gear up. 'The NHS is doing everything in its power to expand treatment capacity, and is working with partners right across the country to do so. 'But it is absolutely vital that this is matched by successful and comprehensive adoption of the public measures needed to cut the spread of the virus. The extra resources, now secured by the health service, will not only be available to treat coronavirus patients, but will also help the NHS deliver other urgent operations and cancer treatments. Pictured: A man wearing a mask walks past University College Hospital's A&E department in London 'We all have to play our part to help offset the enormous pressure that our nurses, doctors and other specialists will otherwise face.' Matt Hancock, Health Secretary said: 'I know how hard the NHS have been working to secure extra beds and staffing. NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens said: 'We're dealing with an unprecedented global health threat and are taking immediate and exceptional action to gear up' 'This is great news for the hospitals and staff doing everything they can to combat Coronavirus. I want to pay particular tribute to those heroes returning to front line to support their colleagues and help as many patients recover from the virus.' On Tuesday NHS England announced that NHS Hospitals across the country are taking a range of action to prepare, including freeing up 30,000 of the overall 100,000 beds available by postponing non-urgent operations and providing care in the community for those who are fit to be discharged. The NHS is also sourcing up to 10,000 beds in independent and community hospitals, 8,000 of which this deal now delivers. Under the agreement, the independent sector will reallocate practically its entire national hospital capacity en bloc to the NHS. It will be reimbursed, at cost - meaning no profit will be made for doing so. 'Open book' accounting and external auditors will verify the public funds being deployed. David Hare, Chief Executive of the Independent Healthcare Providers Network said: 'Independent hospitals are boosting emergency capacity to put at the disposal of the NHS over these coming weeks. We have worked hand-in-hand with the NHS for decades and will do whatever it takes to support the NHS in responding to this pandemic. 'This significant additional capacity across the country will be a major boost to the NHS's efforts to treat those patients that need hospital care over the coming period and the independent sector stands ready to maintain that support for as long as needed.' Earlier this week, professional health bodies also wrote to 55,000 former doctors and nurses who have left the NHS in the last three years for them to re-join the workforce. Today NHS staff spoke out over their 'genuine fear' as they are forced to buy their own protective equipment while fighting coronavirus. Healthcare providers are also resorting to reusing disposable items due to a lack of supply. The lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) has prompted concern for the safety of doctors and nurses on the front line. Former Tory health secretary Jeremy Hunt joined calls for the Government to 'sort this out', adding: 'We are asking people to put their own lives at risk on the NHS front line. 'It is absolutely heart-breaking when NHS front-line professionals don't have the equipment that they need. 'I think the Government has done a lot in the last week. I think they have unblocked the supply chains, but there is this question about whether it is the right equipment. He spoke after Lisa Anderson, a consultant cardiologist at St George's Hospital in London, said the Government had changed the rules so they were no longer compliant with World Health Organisation recommendations, which require medics to wear a full gown and visor. She said that since Monday, staff in the NHS only had to wear a simple face mask, short gloves and a pinafore apron. Current infection and death rates in the UK due to the COVID-19 outbreak 'This is not just about the risk to ourselves and our families. We are travelling home on the Tube, on buses,' she told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. 'Sainsbury's this morning has announced that they are opening up the early hours to the frail, elderly and NHS workers. We are cross-infecting everybody at the moment. 'There is a lack of protection for us which extends to a lack of plan of how to segregate patients clean and dirty, how to protect us and keep us away from the public. Doctors have no faith in what is going on.' Responding to the comments, Public Health England said its guidance was designed to ensure healthcare workers treating suspected or confirmed Covid-19 cases are protected. A woman who was so drunk she could not stand when gardai found her outside a hostel maintained she was sitting on the ground because she suffered back problems. Liene Rudzite (45) insisted she only had a couple of drinks but was in pain from her back at the time. Rudzite, of Swords Manor Grove, Swords, was found guilty of public intoxication but acquitted of threatening, abusive and insulting behaviour. Judge Marie Quirke said she would leave her without a conviction if she made a 100 charity donation, and adjourned the case. The prosecuting garda told Dublin District Court he was on duty outside the Generator Hostel on Smithfield Square last June 27. When he spoke to the accused, she was unable to stand, was slurring her words and urinated on herself. Abusive The garda also alleged Rudzite was swearing, abusive and loud, and said: "You will be f**ked in one second. I want all of your jobs, you are all s**ts." He could not remember her saying anything about her back. The accused said she was a resident in the hostel on the night and had had a couple of drinks. She was suffering from "terrible back pain" and could not go far without her friend's help. She was sitting in front of the hostel because of her back, she said, adding that she told gardai this when they asked why she was sitting. Rudzite denied she was so drunk she was a danger to herself or others, and denied using the words alleged by the garda. Rudzite had a business degree but was out of work due to health issues, defence solicitor Jenny McGeever said. Judge Quirke said "people can't go around behaving like this". Noting that "precaution and prevention" were amongst the most effective remedies against coronavirus, Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Saturday called for testing all cases under surveillance and sought a comprehensive sector-wise relief package to deal with the economic impact of the threat of disease on various sections. In a statement, Gandhi urged people to stay indoors unless very necessary and not panic. She also sought a relief package for the agriculture sector and incentive for doctors, nurses and supporting staff. She said India appears to have underutilized its public and private sector capacities for COVID-19 testing despite early warnings. "Testing is the key to prevention. In a nation of 130 crores, only 15,701 samples are reported to have been tested so far. Despite ample time, early warnings and lessons from other nations, we appear to have underutilised our public and private sector capacities. This must change. We must begin by testing all cases under surveillance and expand to all other symptomatic cases and those coming into contact with the ones testing positive," she said. The Congress chief suggested a dedicated portal that will have information on the number of beds, isolation chambers, ventilators, dedicated medical teams, and medical supplies. Gandhi said that the government has to put in place broad-based social protection measures including direct cash financial help to daily wage earners. "After demonetisation and slowing down of Indian economy, COVID-19 has been a huge setback to millions of daily wage earners, MGNREGA workers, ad hoc and temporary employees, labourers, farmers and those in the unorganized sectors. Even for regular employees, reports suggest massive lay off and retrenchments. Government has to put in place broad-based social protection measures including direct cash financial help to these sections," she said. The Congress chief said that the government and the RBI must consider a deferment of EMIs for the salaried class. "All businesses, especially the Micro, Small and Medium businesses, are under huge stress on account of COVID-19. Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. A comprehensive sector-wise relief package needs to be announced forthwith by the government including necessary tax breaks, interest subvention and deferment of liabilities. For the salaried class, Government and the RBI must consider a deferment of EMIs," she said. She said that the government must consider a special relief package for the agriculture sector. "COVID-19 has also impacted the biggest employment generator - the agriculture sector. Our farmers, cultivators and farm labourers are bearing the brunt. To top it, the unseasonal rains and hailstorms across India have added to their woes. The government must consider a special relief package for the agriculture sector also," the Congress leader said. She said reports suggesting scarcity of Personal Protection Equipments (PPEs) including N95 masks, gloves, face shields, goggles, head covers, rubber boots, disposable gowns for medical teams engaged in dealing with infected or those suspected to be infected were of great concern. She said the country was proud of its doctors, nurses and supporting staff. "I strongly feel that grant of special financial incentives for them in these trying times is equally important. Currently, both of these are lacking. As the numbers grow, non-availability of sufficient protective gear and lack of incentives can be a huge deterrent," she said. Gandhi, who is MP from Rae Bareli, said reports of artificial shortages and black marketing of hand sanitisers, face masks and even liquid soap were "alarming". "It is the bounden duty of the government to ensure adequate supply and take corrective action. What is more unnerving is the fact that prices of essential commodities like vegetables, pulses, rice, etc. seem to be rising unchecked daily," she said. The Congress chief said COVID-19 pandemic was causing grave concern and consternation across the country, endangering lives, affecting livelihoods as also everyday lives of millions of people. "In this hour of uncertainty, it is my unflinching belief that we will overcome this huge challenge with resilience and determination. Let's not forget that precaution and prevention are amongst the most effective remedies," she said. Gandhi appealed to people to stay at home and said special care needs to be taken of the elderly. "I appeal to all fellow Indians to stay at home unless urgency and exigencies demand otherwise. Special care needs to be taken of the elderly and children to keep them insulated," she said. Gandhi said that the decision to remain at home will restrict the transmission of this virus. She said it is only natural to be anxious under the present circumstances. "At the same time, it is important not to be frightened or panic. India will not bow to this painful crisis. Let us stand united in braving this challenge. Together, we will overcome this," she said. She said people must spread awareness that frequent hand washing, not touching the face and reporting all flu and influenza-like conditions to medical helpline or a doctor need to be adhered to. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for Janta Curfew on Sunday as part of efforts to check the spread of coronavirus. The number of positive cases of coronavirus has reached 283 in the country . (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Ghanas largest bank, GCB Bank Ltd has provided GHC100,000.00 support to the Government of Ghana in the fight against the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country. The donation which is the first of its kind by a financial institution in the country was made through the Ministry of Health. The Managing Director of GCB, Mr. Anselm Ray Sowah, presented the cheque to the Minister of Health, Mr. Kwaku Agyemang-Manu in Accra. The MD said, as the only financial institution with offices and branches across all the 16 regions of Ghana with some of our branches and Agencies located at the border towns or entry points we seek to protect our staff, their dependants, our cherished customers and all Ghanaians from a diverse background across the nation. He said GCB as Ghanas largest and indigenous bank has been following the challenges confronting Ghana in the wake of the Coronavirus outbreak and pandemic. The Bank with Ghanaian heritage, we have been concerned with the confirmed cases in Ghana our motherland, Africa and the world at large. We are indeed not in normal times. But there is hope, he said. GCB, Mr. Sowah said, is obliged to contribute to the campaigns and Governments efforts to control the spread in our beautiful country. Quoting from the lyrics of the late popstar Michael Jackson song, USA For Africa We Are The World the MD said We are the ones who make a brighter day, so let's start giving. GCB is known for our good corporate citizen hence our decision to donate. The Minister of Health, Mr Agyemang-Manu said, I am grateful to you MD, the Board, your staff and the Bank for such a gesture of immense support to enable us fight the disease. We will get ourselves into a close relationship, partnership and eventually become friends. He urged other financial and corporate institutions to emulate the good example of GCB Bank by donating to government. He asked Ghanaians to use alternate platforms such as G-Money, internet banking and other digital means in performing banking transactions instead of trooping to banking halls. Russia's prime minister has warned companies to keep people employed and pay them their salaries even as they struggle amid a growing economic crisis caused by the coronavirus and the plummet in global oil prices. Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin told a government meeting on March 21 called to deal with the impact of the virus that firings should only be "an extreme measure." Companies that cut staff will be closely watched and could face inspections, he said. "If someone is tempted to use the noise around the coronavirus to solve their current problems by firing staff, such enterprises will be visited by the labor inspection, federal tax service and the prosecutor's office," he said. Russia temporarily halted inspections of small and medium-size businesses as one of the measures to support the economy. However, the moratorium could be lifted if salaries aren't paid on time or people are fired, he said. Enterprises should seek to move employees to shorter work days or have them work from home, he said. Mishustin said the government will be monitoring the labor market in the regions on a weekly basis, especially in cities and towns that have one major employer or industry. Many major Russian towns in the Urals and Siberia are dependent on one industry, such as steel, coal, and iron, and have suffered significantly in previous downturns as large unemployment pressures the local budget. Raspadskaya, a Russian producer of coking coal for the steel industry, said it was preparing for a possible halt to sales for six months to a year. Separately, Mishustin said the Central Bank was launching preferential lending programs to help companies caught in a liquidity crunch. Economy Minister Maksim Reshetnikov said his ministry was preparing an aid package for restaurants and tour operators, which have been among the hardest-hit sectors. He also said his ministry was preparing a bill that would impose a moratorium on bankruptcies. With reporting by Vedomosti and Interfax With more than 210,000 cases reported worldwide and a death toll of 9,000, each day brings a new and tragic milestone, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. Although older people are hardest hit, younger people are not spared. Data from many countries clearly show that people under 50 make up a significant proportion of patients requiring hospitalisation, Tedros told a virtual press conference. Today I have a message for young people: You are not invincible, this virus could put you in hospital for weeks or even kill you. Even if you dont get sick the choices you make about where you go could be the difference between life and death for someone else, he said. But for the first time the central Chinese city of Wuhan, the outbreaks epicentre, reported no new cases on Thursday, providing hope for the rest of the world that even the most severe situation can be turned around, Tedros said. Amid global shortages of protective gear for health workers and diagnostic tests, Chinese producers have agreed to supply the WHO, he said. Arrangements are being finalised and shipments coordinated to restock its Dubai warehouse to ship supplies where they are needed most, he added. Air bridges will be needed to expedite supplies to countries for vital health workers, as many regular flights have been cancelled, according to Dr. Mike Ryan, the WHOs top emergency expert. The WHO has distributed 1.5 million lab tests worldwide and it may need potentially 80 times that for the pandemic, he said. Ryan, asked about Iran - which is celebrating the Persian New Year as it battles the coronavirus which has killed more than 1,400 people and infected nearly 20,000 there - said that such celebrations need to be modified. Mass gatherings cannot only amplify the disease but they can disseminate the disease very far away from the centre, he said. So they can be very, very, very, very dangerous in terms of epidemic management. Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a news conference on the situation of the coronavirus (COVID-2019), in Geneva, Switzerland, February 28, 2020. The WHO has shifted to recommending physical distance instead of social distancing to help prevent transmission of the virus, officials said. We are changing to say physical distance and thats on purpose because we want people to remain connected, said Dr. Maria Kerkhove, a WHO epidemiologist. So find ways to do that, find ways through the Internet and through different social media to remain connected because your mental health going through this (pandemic) is just as important as your physical health, she said. As part of the measures to curb the spread of coronavirus, the Lagos State Government has restricted religious and social gatherings to 20 people. The government made the announcement on Saturday via its verified Twitter handle. The state government had banned gatherings of over 50 people, explaining that it would be easier to trace that number of people if the need arises. But with the confirmation of 10 new cases of coronavirus in Nigeria, with 7 in Lagos State, the government has now urged the people to adhere strictly to the new directive. The Lagos State Government has banned all religious or social gathering of over 20 people within the State. It is important we all adhere to this directive, the statement released on Saturday stated. However, Nigerias coronavirus cases are now 22. Nine of the 10 new cases confirmed on Saturday have travel history to Canada, France, The Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom while the tenth case is a close contact of a previously confirmed case. The federal government has now placed travel restrictions on 15 countries and barred international flights coming into Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, and Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja. All passenger train services have also been shut down till further notice. C Shivakumar By Express News Service CHENNAI: After feeling ignored by their country and fearing getting infected with coronavirus, Indian fishermen stranded in Kish Island in Hormozgan Province in Iran, finally had reason to cheer. Food supplies were provided by the Indian embassy in Tehran on Friday morning. This comes after Express highlighted their plight of living on dwindling supplies and being ignored by the Indian embassy in Iran and Consulate in Bander Abbas. Iran has more than 18,000 persons infected by coronavirus. Captain Johnson Charles, secretary for Meenavar Orunganaipu Sangam, in Kanyakumari, said while the supplies were sent through a driver, none of the officials met the fishermen. The supplies would last them only for a week, he said, adding that the embassy should provide the stranded fishermen with medicines also. Ramesh, a fisherman from Ramanthurai in Kanyakumari district, told Express from Kish Island that the supplies arrived in the morning. We thank the Indian embassy in Iran, the Union and state governments for helping us with necessary supplies, he said, while urging the government to make arrangements soon to bring them back home. There has been a rise in coronavirus cases on the Island, a tourist spot in Iran. We are scared and living in our boats, he said. Johnson said discussions are on for the fishermen to sail home.We have requested that the fishermen be brought back by ship from Bander Abbas port since the nearest airport is 1,000km away and Iran is under lockdown.From Bande Abbas, it will take seven days to sail to Cochin airport or less if the fishermen are taken to Kandla where they can undergo quarantine.Fishermen also said that there is no harassment from the boat-owners. A few days ago, some of the fishermen were threatened arrest as boat-owners pressurised them to go fishing. The 783 fishermen had sent in a SoS to the embassy to rescue them. Its quite an understatement to say that this week has been a challenging one. With schools, daycares and some workplaces closing because of the COVID-19 pandemic, its been pretty hard to think positively. But through these hard times, many Alabamians are inspiring us through their good deeds. This is just a small fraction of them all. (Please let us know of anyone you think should be featured!) These students who wrote encouraging letters to nursing home residents A letter from a student in Carey Arensberg's fifth-grade class, which wrote letters to the senior citizens who live at Little Sisters of the Poor, a Catholic nursing home in Mobile. Students all over the state earlier this week wrote encouraging notes and letters to people who live in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Walnut Grove Elementary fifth- and sixth-grade teacher Lori Alexander told AL.com, "It started off as a writing and learning assignment, but I wanted my kids to see that theres a much bigger picture and to see how other people are being affected (by the coronavirus). So, I wanted them to encourage residents who arent able to see their loved ones at this time. Read more about that here. This sweet south Alabama school that refused to quit morning announcements School at Home - Day 3 Important: Morning Announcements from Dr. Stan Stokley - School at Home Day 3 UPDATE for Parents: post pictures of your students on your page, add #abcChallenge to posts, and tag Saraland City Schools and @saralandelementary as you RISE to the challenge! #ExpectMoreAchieveMore Posted by Saraland Elementary School on Thursday, March 19, 2020 The administration at Saraland Elementary School decided that not being in school anymore didnt mean that morning announcements should stop. So now they host them on their Facebook page, led by Principal Stan Stokley. But the videos dont just bring normalcy and reassure the Saraland Elementary students -- people across the world are inspired by the lively videos. Read the sweet story here. And really, lets thank teachers everywhere. Amy Lachina, the director of the WEE Center of First Baptist Church Trussville, has posted several videos on the preschool's Facebook page this week. (Photo courtesy Amy Lachina) Classes may not be in session, but teachers across the state are still inspiring students. Many of them have started hosting live reading sessions on social media where they read some of their favorite books. Its not only pretty entertaining, but it allows routine and structure in students lives. Amy Lachina, director of the 320-student WEE Center of First Baptist Church Trussville, said, We cant not do it, she says of using social media to communicate with children. I miss my sweet world of preschoolers. Read more about this here. An Alabama couple made the most of a canceled wedding Bailey King and Eric Griffin, whose wedding was planned for March 21, postponed it until July 18 because of the coronavirus pandemic. (Facebook photo) Bailey King and Eric Griffin spent 14 months planning their dream wedding day. But since the big day is today, they had to cancel. But since they already had their flowers, they wanted to do something special with them -- so they donated them to Knollwood Pointe, an assisted living and memory care facility in Mobile. Read more about this here. How about this community that made sure a veteran had a happy birthday? When Carl Cooper turned 100 on Wednesday, his community made sure the retired Marine Corps veteran got a proper birthday celebration. His neighbors in Vestavia Hills stood at the end of the driveway and sang Happy Birthday to him. Read more about that here. And how about the restaurants and volunteers helping feed students? Sixth grade math teachers Andrea Perry, left, and Katie Arnold pack bags of food into Perry's car to deliver to students in Madison County. After Alabama schools closed in response to the coronavirus outbreak, community volunteers are stepping in to make sure they get meals. (Anna Claire Vollers / avollers@al.com) So many people across Alabama have joined in to feed children who no longer have access to school lunches. Restaurants like Guss Fried Chicken in Birmingham have offered free bagged lunches to Alabama students. (Read about that here.) But thats not all. Teachers and other volunteers are banding together to make sure students are being fed. Read more about that here. (And if youre wondering about ways to help your favorite restaurants during this uncertain time, look here.) Alabamians are finding ways to help truck drivers Eufala police officers are offering to help get food for truck drivers who pass through the city looking for a bite to eat. (Eufaula Police Department) Truck drivers are working overtime these days to ensure stores have everything they need. But finding food is harder, now that dining in restaurants is prohibited and they cant fit their big rigs in drive-thrus. Thats where the Eufaula Police Department comes in. Theyve ensured all truckers driving through their towns that theyll make sure theyre fed. "We will either go get something for you or give you a ride to the nearest drive-thru (if you dont mind riding in the back seat,) the department posted on Facebook. If manpower is such that we cannot assist, we will secure someone that can. Read more here. This Pelham resident gave much-needed supplies to people who need them There are people throughout the state who are physically unable to leave the house, and Pelham resident Kylie Anderson is ensuring that they have all the supplies they need to combat COVID-19. Ive driven to a lot of peoples homes and dropped off supplies at their doors," she told Shelby County Reporter. "Like people with cancer who are going through chemotherapy right now, elderly people, single moms who are working and unable to pick up groceries or meals for their kids. Ive really just been giving away stuff to people like that or to people who can find the things they need in stores. Find that story here. Distilleries are shifting focus to manufacture hand sanitizer Father and son John (left) and Jimmy (right) Sharp, co-owners of John Emerald Distilling Company in Opelika Earlier this week, John Emerald Distilling Company in Opelika announced that theyre shifting gears (in conjunction with Auburn-Opelika Tourism) to convert their facilities to temporarily make hand sanitizer to combat the countrys shortage. Heres more about that partnership. Other Alabama distilleries have announced the same thing, including Dread River Distilling in Birmingham. (Read more here.) Bollywood celebrities are finding unique ways to interact with their family, friends and neighbours while practicing self isolation amidst the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Recently, Anupam Kher returned to India from the United States and chatted with his buddy Anil Kapoor from his house balcony. Anupam shared a video of Anil telling him that his wife Sunita Kapoor won't let him visit them. Anil even serenaded his dear friend with their favourite childhood song. Take a look! Anupam Kher shared a video on Saturday telling his fans that he would normally visit Anil Kapoor, who lives close by, as soon as he returns from a trip. However, he couldn't do that this time as social distancing has become the norm. He captioned the video, "In normal circumstances when I return from abroad before coming to my house I go to my neighbour & best friend @anilskapoor 's house. But things are different nowadays. It is important to observe social distance. Hopefully he will come out to show me his face soon," (sic). In another video that Anupam shared on Twitter, he wrote, "Thank you dear @AnilKapoor for coming to your house gate and singing our childhood time song to me. Very nice of you. I just know- This too shall pass. Till then. Jai Ho!! #SocialDistancing #AkSeesAk," (sic). Thank you dear @AnilKapoor for coming to your house gate and singing our childhood time song to me. Very nice of you. I just know- This too shall pass. Till then. Jai Ho!! #SocialDistancing #AkSeesAk pic.twitter.com/R2XEiKn9xw Anupam Kher (@AnupamPKher) March 21, 2020 Anil can be heard asking Anupam how he is doing and how India is treating him. When Anupam complains about not being received by his friend, Anil says that his wife Sunita will not let him enter the house. Then he sings a popular song, 'Ek Ghar Banauga Tere Ghar Ke Saamne', delighting Anupam. Anil replied to Anupam's tweet, "Tum bulao aur hum naa aaye that will never happen!! So glad to see you (from a distance)," (sic). Well, extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures! ALSO READ: Sidharth Malhotra's Advice On Isolation Amid Coronavirus Outbreak Is Useful ALSO READ: Exclusive: Karan Johar Cancels Takht Italy Schedule Due To Coronavirus Pandemic The BRO opened a 360-foot-long bailey suspension bridge on the Teesta river, near Chungthang in Sikkim, for traffic on Saturday, according to a statement issued by the government. "In a relief to the residents of Lachen in North Sikkim, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) today opened for traffic 360 feet long bailey suspension bridge over Teesta River in Munshithang near Chungthang town," the statement said. "The 86 Road Construction Company (RCC) of 758 Border Roads Task Force (BRTF), under Project Swastik, commenced the construction of the bridge in October 2019 and completed it in January 2020," it noted. The approach roads to the bridge have also been constructed. In June last year, a 180-foot steel bridge at the same location was completely damaged due to a massive cloudburst, resulting in severing the lines of communication in North Sikkim district. Connectivity was kept open by routing the traffic through restricted Army land, the statement said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Nothing like a morning walk through North Beach to get a feel for how San Francisco is handling the big lockdown. No techies hustling down Columbus Avenue to work. No elderly Chinese practicing tai chi in Washington Square Park. Even the pigeons were keeping 6 feet apart. But the place was still buzzing in its usual, slightly nonconforming way. The first shot of the new reality hit me at Caffe Greco on Columbus Avenue, where I joined two other people in the space-correct line. The counter guys, both wearing latex gloves, cheerfully served up a takeout only cappuccino and then just as cheerfully showed me the door. With cup in hand and a sunny sky overhead, I headed down the avenue, where I came came across a crew of telephone workers tearing up the pavement near Stockton Street. Guess phone lines are still essential. And you can get twice the work done with no traffic. A stones throw away on Stockton, a water department crew was digging up the street in front of North East Medical Services. Its the third time theyve done it this year, the security guy at the medical center said. Some things never change. In the block between the two work crews, a row of restaurants sat empty. All had signs saying theyd be closed until at least April 7. One exception was Maras Italian Pastry, which was doing a bit of sidewalk business selling coffee to workers milling around the front door. You guys dont look like youre following the 6-foot rule, I said. Im following it, said one burly hard hat. Im over 6 feet tall. Over 6 feet tall and 6 feet wide, too, joked one of his co-workers. Right about then, an unmarked police car rolled up with three uniforms inside, two in front and one in the back. Hey, I said. You guys are definitely not 6 feet apart. Arent you afraid of the virus? Are you kidding? the cop in the passenger seat shot back. This cars already got every virus in the world, and then some. The slapdash application of the 6-foot rule was really on display at Piazza Pellegrini. Yesterday the police told us nobody can eat their takeout at the outside tables, said owner Dario Hadjian. So I asked, where are they supposed to eat? They said they can sit across the street on the park benches. Sit together on a park bench or at a table? Whats the difference? But that is what they say. The only store fully operational, but empty of people, was Cole Hardware on Vallejo. I picked up two rolls of paper towels, two rolls of toilet paper and one bottle of cleanser, just to be safe. Do I get a senior discount? I asked as the clerk rang up the $13.90 bill. Maybe, the clerk said dryly. You got proof of age? Another wise guy. Like I said, in North Beach some things never change. Even in a pandemic. On hold: The coronavirus has pretty much frozen the Democratic presidential race in place. No rallies, no debates and no final word about Sen. Bernie Sanders exiting the race. And I dont expect to hear a final word for some time. Sanders, however, does seems to have been knocked off center. He didnt jump at the chance to match former Vice President Joe Biden and say he would name a woman as a vice presidential candidate in last weeks debate. To my mind, that means Sanders isnt on his game. Meanwhile, the pandemic is really taking a toll on President Trump. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. After three years of being able to call the shots and ridicule his opponents, Trump finds his presidency hanging on a disaster that has zero predictability. The coronavirus crisis seems to have destroyed his bluster and his confidence. He is no longer flippant and is looking more and more like a guy who knows he could lose. Gov. Gavin Newsom is in a bind as well. Newsom loves statistics. He loves data. He can go on and on about probabilities of the virus spreading, about plans for money to be spent fighting the problem and the like. But all those numbers only confuse people. They expect talk about probabilities from experts. But they want answers from leaders. The want to know what they are facing and when it will be over. And if you cant tell them, you lose them. The problem is, of course, is that this time theres no answer. His order for the whole state to shelter at home is his most definitive action to date. But I dont think it will be the last. Man, am I glad not to be a public official in this mess. Viral: The virus has prompted a number of people to call and write me. Erin Nolan Smith has been homeschooling her 6-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son. She tells me the experience has made her an advocate for teachers to be paid a million dollars a year. And thats after just one week. And a buddy of mine, Frank Borges, former Connecticut treasurer, called to say he was self-quarantining on a small island off the coast of Cape Cod. We have a months supply of everything, he said. We have so much stuff that if they lift the ban early, Ill able to open a Walmart. Want to sound off? Email: wbrown@sfchronicle.com The Republic of Togo has shut her borders to passengers on the Abidjan-Abuja Corridor to prevent the spread of the COVID-19. The closure of the countrys land borders at midnight of Friday, March 20, came hours after the shutdown of the National Airport in Lome following reports of increasing imported cases of the virus in the country. The closure, which is expected to be in force for two weeks, formed part of measures to contain the COVID-19. The measures include the prohibition of visits by persons to the beach, ban on religious activities and funerals, closure of schools and suspension of gathering of more than 15 people that the Government announced to enable the West African country to contain the pandemic. The Ghana News Agency (GNA) gathered that the number of confirmed cases in Togo, as of Friday evening, shot up to 45 from the earlier eight cases, necessitating governments measures. The closure has left travellers stranded at both sides of the Ghana-Togo border as they cannot cross into either Ghana or Togo, even though Ghanas border remains open. Mr Noah Ahomka Yeboah, the Deputy Sector Commander, Aflao Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), told the Ghana News Agency that haulage trucks and cars carrying goods were being permitted to cross over the borders into both countries. He disclosed that two Togolese who attempted transiting through Ghana to Zurich on Friday dawn after the Lome Airport was shut were turned away. Mr Yeboah added that since the directives by President Akufo-Addo on Sunday, the Aflao Sector had refused a number of travellers entry into Ghana because they were coming from countries affected by the travel ban. Given the speculated rate of infections in Togo, its likely that persons coming from there may soon be affected by the travel ban, he said. Meanwhile, travellers who spoke to the GNA complained that the closure had negatively impacted their activities as they least expected it. Madam Abla Kudoh, a resident of Keta, who had travelled with a relative to the Aflao Border on Saturday in anticipation to cross into Togo for a funeral, was disappointed about the closure and said there should have been pre-information on the closure to inform travel decisions. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Since the time, Kanika Kapoor has tested positive for coronavirus, she has become a target of trolls. People are demanding her arrest. Meanwhile, two FIRS -- in Bihar and in UP -- has been registered against her for negligence. Celebrities are calling her idiot for her irresponsible behaviour. In her defense, Kanika Kapoor says she is being treated like a criminal. "There are these silly rumours that I hid in the washroom to skip screening. Tell me, how is it possible for a person to skip screening at immigration while coming on an international flight? I was properly screened at the Mumbai airport and I stayed in the city for a day," she told The Times Of India in an interview. BCCL She says there was no work so she travelled back home to Lucknow where her parents live. At that time there was no advisory issued by the government on anyone travelling from abroad to be under self-quarantine. So how can one expect me to do it, especially when I had been screened and had no health issues till I left Mumbai? In fact, I developed the symptoms only four days ago. She is not happy with the treatment she is getting. Complaining about the hospital condition, she said, "I've been here since 11 am and all I've been given is a small bottle of water to drink. I've been asking these people to give me something to eat but I've only been given two small bananas and an orange that had flies on it. Twitter I am so hungry, I haven't even taken the medicine that I was supposed to till now. I have fever, I've informed them, but no one has attended to me. The food I brought with me has been taken away. I can't even eat anything that's given to me as I am allergic to some foods. I am hungry, thirsty and I feel miserable here." Kanika says the room she is staying in is quite dirty. Twitter "It has mosquitoes and is full of dust. I am being ill-treated here and it feels like Im in jail. They are behaving as if I am a criminal for no fault of mine." Bccl Meanwhile, UP Health Minister Jai Pratap Singh and 28 others who came in contact with Kanika Kapoor in Lucknow have tested negative for coronavirus. On Thursday, Singh was in Greater Noida to address a press conference to talk about the BJP-led state government's achievements over the past three years. Three MLAs -- Pankaj Singh, Dhirendra Singh and Tejpal Nagar -- some administration officials and several journalists who were present at the press conference also went into self-isolation after it became known that the minister had come in contact with Kapoor. Looking back at rare sports moments in the first part of 2021 Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) McDonalds Philippines has announced it will be releasing 500 million-worth of assistance fund to provide for its employees and help the communities it serves amid the coronavirus pandemic. The company said it will provide special benefits for its employees, and donate part of the funds to help communities. The salaries of restaurant crews, managers, and head office employees will be released for the period of the quarantine whether they are able to come to work or not, a McDonald's Philippines statement said. It also said that a "special premium package" will be given to store managers and crews who are able to come to work in select stores that remain open in order to serve the communities in areas under enhanced quarantine. Special benefits will also be provided like face masks, alcohol, and vitamins to ensure the safety of its employees in the workplace, the company said. The company will also donate food to frontliners, healthcare workers, local government workers, non-government organization volunteers, and those who are most affected with food security during this crisis. Amidst any crisis, people must come first. We do what we can to ensure their welfare. We also have a responsibility to our partners to ensure that they can continue doing business and be able to care for their own people. Finally, as a Filipino company, we have a duty to be a partner of the government in serving the public in whatever way we can, said McDonalds Philippines chairman and founder George Yang. The industry is bleeding and we need all stakeholders to come on board to ensure survival. The hotel occupancy rate is now at 7,3 percent per day, down from around 45 to 55 percent that is usually the case during this time of the year, he said. Sunday Mail The U.S. military said it is working to convert buildings into hospitals and could potentially provide 10,000 hospital beds in New York, as the coronavirus pandemic escalates. Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, the head of the US Army Corps of Engineers, said Friday that retrofitting hotels or dormitories into temporary hospitals to alleviate the burden on civilian hospitals caused by the virus could be done relatively quickly. "We would like to think we can do this in three or four weeks and try to go as fast as we can," Semonite told reporters at the Pentagon on Friday. He said the Army Corps of Engineers had developed a standard design and contract in order to help facilitate the process. "This is an unbelievably complicated problem, and there is no way we're going to be able to do this with a complicated option -- we need something super simple," he said, adding that they were aiming to turn empty hotels, college dormitories and other buildings into hospitals capable of providing intensive care, adding that the state would be responsible for identifying the buildings and staffing them. Related video above: National Guard prepared to respond to states' needs New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo had asked for the Corps to retrofit buildings into hospitals to help alleviate the burden on hospitals treating a major influx of coronavirus patients. Asked about New York, Semonite said, "We're talking about over 10,000 (hospital beds) that we are looking at right now, FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) has to make a decision and we will exercise whatever FEMA tasks us to do." Semonite confirmed that the Corps had looked at buildings including the Javits Center, which is a major convention center in Manhattan. "We did the Javits Center yesterday, and we were in to some of the SUNY schools yesterday," Semonite said. As of late Friday morning, there were more than 7,000 confirmed coronavirus cases in New York state, with 35 deaths. Multiple states seeking support Semonite acknowledged that multiple states were seeking similar support. "We can't do everywhere so we are really asking for the federal government to be able to help prioritize our efforts, with (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) to be able to send us to the right place. This has to be weeks; this can't be months," he said. "We're looking very hard at California, the state of Washington, we've already been to New Jersey ... we're really looking at where's the biggest demand so we go to those states first," Semonite added. President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that the Corps was prepared to assist New York. "The Army Corps of Engineers is ready, willing and able. We have to give them the go-ahead; if we find that it's going to be necessary, we think that we can have quite a few units up very rapidly," Trump said at a White House news conference. On Sunday, Cuomo penned an op-ed in The New York Times asking for the military to have the Army Corps of Engineers build hospitals to alleviate the burden on civilian hospitals. "This is exactly what they do. Deploy the Army Corps of Engineers to come work with states to build temporary medical facilities. Get us backup beds so when the hospital is overwhelmed, we can have some of the people who are in the hospital beds go to a backup medical facility," Cuomo said at a news conference Monday. "If you don't do it, you know what is going to happen: You're going to overwhelm the hospitals," he added. The US military has been providing an increased amount of support to the government's response to the pandemic, including ordering two hospital ships to be deployed and putting several field hospital units on alert. Earlier on Friday, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said that more than 4,000 National Guard troops have been activated by state governors in 31 states to help support efforts to combat the virus. National Guard officials expect that number to grow considerably in the coming weeks. New York's Medical Aid in Dying Act is the key that would open Pandora's box. For centuries, most medical professionals took a Hippocratic Oath to "first, do no harm" and "never administer a poison to anybody when asked to do so, nor suggest such a course." One of the first principles of morality is to never intentionally take the life of any innocent human being. Once we break from this absolute standard, we open a door that leads down a very dangerous road. Proponents of physician-assisted suicide are often highly critical of the "slippery slope" argument, but these are not theoretical concerns. Some European countries now allow full-scale euthanasia and assisted-death for individuals who do not even have a terminal illness. In Switzerland, no medical condition is required to request assisted suicide. According to a 2013 article in the Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 25 percent of patients who die by assisted suicide there do not have a serious or terminal illness, but are simply elderly or tired of life. In the Netherlands, euthanasia can be requested for patients as young as 12, and the Groningen protocol allows doctors to euthanize ill newborns at the parents' request without fear of legal prosecution. This is not at all surprising. The most dangerous thing about assisted suicide is its logical conclusions. The requirements for assisted suicide are so subjective as to make it virtually impossible to draw the line in which circumstances physician-assisted suicide could be allowed. Each person has a different capacity for pain. At what level would pain warrant assisted-suicide? Pain is unquantifiable. The "terminal illness" standard is just as arbitrary. Sometimes, patients live long past their diagnosed death expectancies. Under New York's proposed legislation, a patient would need to be expected to succumb to their illness within six months. But if it is acceptable at six months, then why not at seven, or 12, etc.? If so much weight is given to the personal choice of the individual, there is no logical reason why they would be unjustified in ending their lives decades ahead of their prospective natural death. Truthfully, life itself is terminal, and if we apply the logic of assisted suicide, anyone with or without an illness could justify suicide by arguing that death is inevitable anyway. Proponents of assisted suicide argue that individuals have a human "right to their own bodies" and a "right to die." Most people believe that human rights are not subject to circumstance. If this is the case, anyone can claim a right to suicide regardless of their mental state or any illness. If anyone finds life unenjoyable for any reason, what is to stop them from ending it by using this line of reasoning? Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. Two indisputable facts of life are that people are fallible and death cannot be undone. A patient who dies by assisted suicide extinguishes any possibility of being cured and any possibility of regaining the will to live. As amazing as our medical professionals are, they are still human, and humans make mistakes. When it comes to assisted suicide, medical organizations give a resounding no. The American Medical Association takes the position that "permitting physicians to engage in assisted suicide and euthanasia would ultimately cause more harm than good. Physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia are fundamentally incompatible with the physician's role as healer, would be difficult or impossible to control, and would pose serious societal risks. Euthanasia could readily be extended to incompetent patients and other vulnerable populations." Similarly, the American College of Physicans' position is that "assisted suicide is problematic given the nature of the patient-physician relationship, affects trust in the relationship and in the profession, and fundamentally alters the medical profession's role in society." This is echoed by the World Medical Association, whose code of ethics states: "Physician-assisted suicide, like euthanasia, is unethical and must be condemned by the medical profession. Where the assistance of the physician is intentionally and deliberately directed at enabling an individual to end his or her own life, the physician acts unethically." We are not our own. We have duties to others that cannot be discarded and life is a gift that is not ours to dispose of. There is no such thing as a "right to die." Our civilization was founded on the principle that everyone has equal intrinsic value because we are created in a divine image. This means that this value is not relevant to the circumstances of our lives. Every person's life has meaning because God intended them to be here. True dignity is reminding patients that they are still loved, and making sure they know that if they still have a pulse, then God still has a purpose. Victor Gelfuso lives in Richfield Springs. By Express News Service SIVAGANGA: With several nations, including China, Iran and Israel, having begun to implement cyber technologies to ensure that victims of COVID-19 do not violate the quarantine rules, Sivaganga Superintendent of Police Rohit Nathan Rajagopals proposal to the Union government to use geofencing technique to monitor quarantined persons has been acknowledged. The proposal, which is a joint effort made by the IPS officer and his wife Kaveri Subbiah, was sent to the Home Ministry through the office of Director General of Police a few days ago, sources said. We were discussing on how to mitigate the spread, and we came up with the idea of using geofencing, a technique used by police department, Rohit Nathan told TNIE. The officer, a fortnight ago, demonstrated the technique before the Union government officials in New Delhi and the officials acknowledged that it is a better technique to monitor the victims. Elaborating the technique, the SP said: In addition to detecting a person if he/she violates the virtual boundary (in this case, a quarantine ward), the technique also helps in zeroing in on those who came into contact with the quarantined persons, Nathan added. By doing this, we can identify people who may have the virus and put them in quarantine, he said. Will it affect digital privacy? Laws like Sections 260 and 270 (Negligent or malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) of IPC, The Tamil Nadu Public Health Act, 1939, Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, Disaster Management Act, 2005, are in favour of taking such measures during epidemic and pandemic crisis. Hence, when the larger welfare of society is at stake, issues like individual privacy should take a back seat, Nathan said. Moreover, quarantined persons should give an undertaking that they would abide by the quarantine rules and it becomes the duty of the State to monitor them, Rohit Nathan added.On governments response to the proposal, he replied, The government is very positive about the idea and is looking into the legal aspects on how it can be taken forward. Any decision on this would be taken only after the Centres nod, the IPS officer said. Political leaders are calling on the government to support your local media, to ensure our survival through this coronavirus crisis. Along with many of our business colleagues, we too are impacted by the sudden, sharp blow it has dealt the local economy. Labour Party Leader Brendan Howlin has urged the Government to help struggling local newspapers through ad buys, and urged the public to support their local and national titles by buying a copy. Deputy Howlin said: I welcome the action by the government to suspend the BAI levy for local radio stations giving some immediate relief in the face of collapsing advertising revenues. However assistance and recognition is also needed for local papers during the Covid-19 slowdown. They too are a reliable and trusted source of information for many. The Government should look at supports such as extensive advertising in local papers and radio to get the key messages out. This would be an important way to support advertising revenue sustaining people in jobs while also providing the public with essential news. Similiar supports may also be needed for independent national broadcasters and newspapers if this is an extended crisis. I would also call on the public to support their local and national newspapers by buying a copy when they can. We all need to be reading reliable information sources. There are also great community efforts underway to support elderly people and those at risk in self isolation with deliveries to their homes. Adding a copy of your local paper to those supplies is another way to boost their sales. The economic consequences of the coronavirus will impact numerous sectors in our society and when problems are identified we must move quickly to provide support and assistance. Sinn Fein spokesperson on Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Waterford TD David Culliane, also called on the government to take out local newspaper advertising to support the industry. Gov Depts can help local newspapers & print media by taking out adverts to disseminate important information. We can counter misinformation by using trusted local publications. It will help boost their revenue at a difficult time. We need to protect local print & broadcast media David Cullinane TD (@davidcullinane) March 20, 2020 He also Tweeted: "I have contacted Minister Richard Bruton asking that he and other Gov Depts consider taking out adverts in local newspapers - to help financially support them and to assist in disseminating important COVID-19 info. Hoping for a positive outcome." Chinese Premier Li Keqiang inspects the preparation of essential medical supplies and daily necessities, the progress on the work and production resumption, and the implementation and coordination of macro policies in Beijing, capital of China, March 20, 2020. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen) BEIJING, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Premier Li Keqiang on Friday called for efforts to stabilize and support market entities to strengthen the engines for economic recovery. He stressed a stronger sense of urgency on the work and production resumption as well as the recovery of economic and social order. Li made the remarks when inspecting the preparation of essential medical supplies and daily necessities, the progress on the work and production resumption, and the implementation and coordination of macro policies. The premier called for attention on giving play to market mechanisms and implementing all-round measures to secure the supplies to meet the demand from epidemic prevention and people's daily lives. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the main contributors of employment and key components to ensure the smooth operation of industry chains, Li said, adding that leading enterprises should work with SMEs to resume work and production, and more financing support should be provided to the SMEs. People shop in a market in Taiyuan, north China's Shanxi Province, March 20, 2020. Life and production have gradually resumed here in Taiyuan under strict measures to prevent and control the novel coronavirus epidemic. (Xinhua/Chai Ting) Li urged lifting unreasonable restrictions that hinder the resumption of work. With effective prevention and control measures, necessary health monitoring and emergency response forces in place, epidemic prevention and work resumption can be advanced in a synchronized way. Li also stressed the importance of timely spring plowing and sufficient supply of agricultural materials for bumper harvest. The coordination mechanism of macro policies should track the changes in the global economy and finance, as the epidemic is spreading in the world and international market is undergoing volatility. A policy mix of expanding domestic demand and boosting opening up should be optimized to facilitate economic recovery and stabilize employment, he said. The Karanataka Health Department on Saturday confirmed five fresh coronavirus cases in the state, taking the count to 20. "Till date 20 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state which includes one death. 18 positive patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and are stable," the Health Department said. As per the department, three who tested positive for the lethal infection are from Bengaluru, while the other two are from Chikkaballapura and Mysuru. The patients from the city who tested positive include a 53-year-old woman. The other two are a 39-year-old man, who had returned from Amsterdam, on March 19, and a 21-year-old man, who had returned from Edinburgh, Scotland on March 17. A 35-year-old man from Mysuru has also tested positive. He had returned from Dubai. A 31-year-old man from Chikkaballapura with a travel history to Mecca has tested positive. He had returned to India on March 14. The other is a 35-year-old man from Mysuru who returned from Dubai. A total 1,377 samples were collected for testing out of which 996 were tested negative and 170 alone were collected on Saturday. Of these 26 were reported negative. The Union Health Ministry on Saturday said that a total of 283 cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the country. Out of the total number, four people have died and 22 others have recovered. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Crude oil fell below the $20 level during trading Friday for the first time since February 2002, the result of reports that Russia will increase its oil production, underscoring its commitment to its price war with Saudi Arabia. The Associated Press reported that benchmark crude settled at $22.43, a decline of $2.79, or 11.1 percent, from Thursdays close. Prices began the week at $28.70 a barrel. After the plunge in oil prices, Ben Shepperd, president of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association, told the Reporter-Telegram by email, We are truly in unprecedented times. We have been working with the leadership of both states as well as members of Congress. We are working with both the New Mexico secretary of energy, Sarah Probst and Adrienne Sandoval, Oil Conservation Division director discussing areas where they can be flexible with industry regarding operational issues during these times, he said. We are also working with the Railroad Commission and they understand the challenging times and will continue to regulate while being pragmatic about industry challenges. Shepperd said the association sent letters to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham requesting that the oil and gas industry be included in any definition of critical industry should any further restrictions be required. On a side note, the PBPA is gathering masks and other items for the VA Medical Center in Big Spring to help ensure our heroes and those who care for them have necessary items, he said. Brent crude oil, the international standard, fell $1.49, or 5.2 percent to $26.98 a barrel, according to the Associated Press. Wholesale gasoline fell 8 cents to 61 cents a gallon. Heating oil fell 3 cents to $1.01 a gallon. Natural gas fell 5 cents to $1.60 per 1,000 cubic feet. Editors Note: This story was edited to reflect the correct closing prices on Friday. T he number of Londoners applying to foster a pet has spiked as people stay at home in the battle against coronavirus. Battersea Dogs and Cats Home said that is has seen an increase in the requests for pet fostering during the coronavirus pandemic. The London-based charity has now said that, while applications to permanently rehome animals are being accepted, temporary fostering requests are not. The organisation is focusing its efforts on looking after the animals in its care as the country battles against the growing Covid-19 outbreak. Working from home with pets during Coronavirus 1 /18 Working from home with pets during Coronavirus More than 100 of its employees and its extensive network of volunteers are fostering animals during the pandemic. Globally, more than 250,000 people have been infected with coronavirus, more than 10,000 have died and around 89,000 have recovered. Those in self-isolation have been increasingly looking for companionship during the coronavirus pandemic / AFP via Getty Images Head of operations Rob Young told the Standard that, as many people prepare to spend a significant amount of time at home over the coming weeks, it is only expected that some may be thinking about the companionship a pet could offer. People in the capital have now been urged to avoid travel unless it is essential, and Boris Johnson on Friday ordered all pubs, clubs, cafes and restaurants to close. Mr Young said: Battersea centres are currently still open for rehoming. However, all enquiries need to come in online as our centres are now closed to visitors unless for pre-booked rehoming appointments. Our staff are still working hard behind the scenes to help as many of our animals go to new homes as possible and we are pleased to say we have seen increased interest in rehoming. "Over the last week we have rehomed nearly 100 animals, with 26 animals rehomed across our three centres yesterday alone. Loading.... He added: We appreciate that there are many people willing to temporarily foster our animals and thank them for their generosity. "However, Battersea has now suspended new applications to foster while we prioritise working with existing staff and volunteers to provide ongoing care for our dogs and cats during the Covid-19 outbreak. We have over 100 staff who have come forward to foster our animals in addition to our network of volunteer foster carers. The charity said it is in the process of arranging the collection of dogs and cats that are currently on reserve, so there might be some delay" in responding to new enquiries. Battersea Dog home urges anyone looking to bring a little joy in to their lives during these uncertain times to make an appointment online at one of its centres. The best way you can support Battersea currently is by making a donation to help us continue to be here for every dog and cat, he added. Hours before he was due to be hanged to death at 5.30am Friday with three other convicts in the December 16 gang rape and murder case, Vinay Sharma sat painting two images of a Hindu god in his cell in jail number 3, some 100 yards from the hanging courtyard. They were gifts, one for his mother and one for the jail superintendent. As the clock ticked and their lawyers ran from one court to another hoping to get the death sentence delayed, or commuted, the four convictsSharma (26), Pawan Gupta (25), Mukesh Singh (32) and Akshay Thakur (31)did not sleep a wink, said jail officers. The additional inspector general and the deputy inspector general, no.2 and no.3 in the jail hierarchy, were also running from the high court to the Supreme Court to attend hearings related to the execution. Only the prison chief, director general Sandeep Goel, stayed inside Tihar Jail. Officers said this was the first time that such hearings were ongoing till hours before the execution was due to be held. The preparations were complete by Thursday evening and though the hangman had been called from Uttar Pradesh 48 hours in advance, it wasnt until 2.30am Friday did he know if hed pull the lever. Around the same time, as Sharma finished his paintings, Gupta, Singh and Thakur were restless inside their separate cells; they were getting real time updates about their case from the prison guards. Before being taken from the cell where they were lodged, Sharma handed his paintings to the jail superintendent. He had painted them Thursday night. He gifted one to the jail superintendent and asked the other one be sent to his mother. He also gave a Hanuman Chalisa for his mother, said a prison officer. Only Mukeshs family came to meet him Thursday; he was cheerful. By Thursday afternoon, the lower court had refused to stay the hangings, but maybe they knew that their counsel would approach the higher courts till late at night. The jail officers were giving them real time information, the officer said. Till Thursday evening, the four had believed the hanging would be stalled, prison officers said. A second prison officer, who did not wish to be named, said that at around 4.30am, the prison doctor told them that the process of their execution had begun and started the process of examining the convicts. At around 5 they were told to walk to the gallows. Before leaving for the gallows, only Vinay opted to take a bath. Initially, he cried and argued with the guards, but he did not resist. He prayed before leaving his cell. Pawan, too, shouted at the guards but he did not lose his composure. We thought the four men would protest or refuse to abide by courts order, but by the time they came to the phansi kotha (hanging courtyard), it seemed they had accepted their fate, the officer said. A body found this week in the Florida Panhandle has been tentatively identified as Gannon Stauch, the 11-year-old boy who went missing from his Colorado Springs home in January, officials said Friday. The remains were found Wednesday in Pace, roughly 15 miles northeast of Pensacola, a press release from the El Paso County Sheriff's Office in Colorado said, An autopsy tentatively identified the remains as Gannon's, the release said. Gannon was reported missing January 27 after his mother told police he left home and never came back. He was pronounced dead on March 2, the same day his stepmother, Leticia Stauch, was arrested in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Stauch was charged with first-degree murder of a child under 12 by a person in a position of trust, child abuse resulting in death, tampering with a deceased human body and tampering with physical evidence. In the release, the sheriff's office asked for anyone who saw Leticia Stauch in Pace or Pensacola 'during the time frame of February 3-5, 2020' to call the sheriff's office at 719-520-6666 or email tips@elpasoco.com. Californias governor issued an executive order Thursday requiring a shelter in place across the state. On Friday morning, New Yorks governor followed suit saying the state was on PAUSE or Policies Assure Uniform Safety for Everyone. Friday afternoon, Illinois issued similar orders. Whatever the terminology, it translates to each state requiring all non-essential residents to remain home. Friday afternoon, Gov. Charlie Baker dispelled any questions about a possible shelter-in-place order in Massachusetts. We are very much in social distancing and in shutdown mode here in Massachusetts, based on what weve already done, Baker said. Im not going to do it just because somebody else did it. What does shelter in place mean? Its as simple as residents not working in essential occupations being required to remain in their homes. In California, essential services included: Gas stations, pharmacies, grocery stores, farmers markets, food banks, convenience stores, take-out and delivery restaurants, banks, laundromats/laundry services. Its not all that different than the restrictions currently implemented by Baker. In New York, workplaces must allow employees to work from home when applicable. Those who dont comply with the order will face civil fines or mandatory closure of businesses, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday. This is not life as usual, Cuomo said. Deal with it. Cuomo refused to use the term shelter in place, saying the term is outdated and invokes fear. Cuomo called the move PAUSE," -- Policy that Assures Uniform Safety for Everyone. Like Californias mandate, New Yorks order excludes trips to receive essential services, including groceries and pick up medication. Restaurants are also allowed to offer take-out and delivery services. Essential employees also include mass transit employees. Illinois shelter in place has similar restrictions. How has coronavirus affected the states ordering all residents to remain home? California has more than 1,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus with 21 deaths according to the Los Angeles Times. In New York, the number of positive cases jumped to 7,102 on Friday. There were 29 fatalities in New York City alone. Massachusetts announced its first coronavirus-related death on Friday. The Department of Public Health also announced 413 coronavirus cases within the state. So the numbers in New York and California dwarf those of Massachusetts. However, Illinois 585 cases and five coronavirus deaths, according to the Chicago Tribune, arent far off from Massachusetts. Friday afternoon, Illinois followed the actions of California and New York, calling for all non-essential residents to remain home. Sign up for free text messages about important updates on coronavirus in Massachusetts Related Content: When it comes to wealth, men still tend to come out on top. Only 15% of Americas self-made millionaires are women, according to a 2013 study by BMO Private Bank, and they make up just a third of millionaires overall. American women who have attained significant wealth through their own hard work are standing on the shoulders of a little-heralded figure an African-American woman who built a haircare empire at the turn of the 20th century: Madam C.J. Walker. Shes widely credited at the first female self-made millionaire and is the subject of a new four-part Netflix miniseries, Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker, with Octavia Spencer in the title role. But who was the real Walker? Madam C.J. Walker was born to recently freed slaves Madam C.J. Walker driving her car | Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images Sarah Breedlove who would eventually be known as Madam C.J. Walker was born in 1867 on a cotton plantation in Louisiana. Her parents were recently freed slaves, and she was the first of their children who was not born into slavery. Sarahs parents died when she was young and she went to live with her sister and her husband in Mississippi, where she worked picking cotton. She married at 14 and gave birth to a daughter. After her husband died, she and her child moved to St. Louis, where her brothers lived and worked as barbers. A personal problem leads to a business idea In the 1890s, Sarah developed serious hair loss. She explored different ways to treat the problem, trying out both store-bought products and her own concoctions. Eventually, she began selling hair products on commission for a woman named Annie Turnbo Malone. While working for Malone, Sarah decided to go into business for herself. In 1905, Sarah married Charles J. Walker, who worked in advertising. She adopted his name, eventually founding the Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company, which sold hair care products and cosmetics specifically for black women. The products were a hit, with Walker developing innovative strategies for promoting and selling the items she sold. In the process, she became very wealthy. She used her fortune to support organizations like the NAACP, was active in the fight to preserve Frederick Douglass home in Washington, D.C., and protested segregation in the armed forces during World War I. Important figures in the Harlem Renaissance regularly gathered at her mansion north of New York City. Walker died in 1919 at age 51. The company she created continued to operate until 1981, when it when out of business. Fact vs. fiction in the Netflix series Tiffany Haddish and Octavia Spencer in Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker | Amanda Matlovich/Netflix Self Made is inspired by Walkers life as detailed in On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker. The 2001 book was written by Walkers great-great-granddaughter ALelia Bundles. But the Netflix series does take a few liberties with Walkers story. For instance, the real-life Annie Malone, herself a successful businesswoman, has been replaced by a fictionalized character named Addie Munroe, and the show plays up the conflict between the two women. Walkers lawyer never gambled to raise the money to build her factory, Bundles told Indianapolis Monthly. And in the show, Walkers husband cheats on her because her success made him insecure, which one critic says is a mischaracterization of what really happened. In short, as the shows title says, its inspired by history, not a straight retelling of facts. Bundles has mixed feelings about that. It is amazing to have the story of a black woman told in four parts with a cast of well-known actors and so much devotion from people behind the scenes. I respect the hard work that so many people have done, Bundles said. But I also feel an obligation to tell Madam Walkers story and who she really was. Ive spent decades trying to tell this story and to dispel the myths. And I do feel there will be a new set of myths created about her after this show airs. Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker is currently streaming on Netflix. My friend is a lawyer who works in the Dublin Docklands and I've often heard her moan about the sameness of the offering in the restaurants in that part of town. Chicken wings, burgers... beetroot and goat's cheese salad if you're lucky. She says it goes with the demographics of the customer base - and if you've ever had lunch in the area, you'll understand what she means. Whatever about the gender breakdown of the workforce, it's still clear - based on empirical observation - that in D2 more men than women go out for mid-morning coffees and sit-down lunches. And I don't mean boozy lunches, I'm talking about the get-out-of-the-office-and-away-from-your-desk lunches that are good for head-clearing and perspective. (There's a theory that women don't do this, choosing to eat at their desks, working through lunch, because there's an expectation that they are the ones who will leave the office early so that they can get to the creche for pick-up, or home to make dinner and supervise baths, and that men prefer to work late so that they can avoid... the rush hour. But I couldn't possibly comment.) When I hear about As One, I think it may be the answer to my friend's lunchtime prayers. I've looked at the menu online and there isn't a burger or chicken wing to be seen. Instead, there's what reads like healthy, tasty food made with good-quality ingredients - the kind of food that many of us would prefer to eat, particularly at lunchtime when food serves a more practical purpose that it may in restaurants in the evening, when caution can get thrown to the wind. The kind of food that we'd make at home if we had access to top-notch produce and the time to cook from scratch every day. Amongst the suppliers is Kylie Magner in Fethard, Co Tipperary, whose pasture-reared eggs are something else - I visited the Magner family's farm last year and can confirm that their girls are the happiest layers in Ireland. The organic smoked salmon is from Niall Sabongi's Sustainable Seafood Ireland and all the chicken is organic. Given the prices - which are no higher than any number of restaurants in Ireland serving cheap eggs, conventionally farmed salmon and chicken from the cutting houses of Holland - this is seriously impressive. As One is a purpose-built unit on the ground floor of an office building. It's a large modern space with a bare, industrial aesthetic flooded with natural light. At the moment, it's a daytime-only operation, opening Monday to Friday breakfast from 7.30am, and seguing through brunch and lunch until mid-afternoon. It's also open for brunch on Saturday. A vegan miso broth of wild mushrooms and greens with silken tofu and soba noodles is pleasantly soothing, while a dish of slow-cooked lamb shoulder mixed with 'smoky' aubergine, chickpeas and tomato, with minted Irish yoghurt served on naan bread reads well but underwhelms on the flavour front. There's not enough smokiness or depth, but it would be a simple dish to elevate with some tweaking. It's a similar issue with a pasta dish of (sustainable) prawns and pappardelle, with a good cashew and Parmesan pesto but a fermented harissa and garlic tomato sauce that verges on the bland. Owner Mark Cashen describes the offering at As One as 'food with purpose' and his commitment to healthy food cooked from scratch on the premises is both evident and laudable. Our bill for lunch for three, with a side of spinach (yum!), one of King of Kefir's delicious (and low-calorie) water kefirs, an organic kombucha from Irish company Hola, a couple of sparkling waters and a coffee, comes to 58.48 including a 15pc tip. As One is a fine addition to the docklands, a place that's already getting very many things right. It will be even better when the kitchen ramps up the flavours. THE RATING 7/10 food 8/10 ambience 9/10 value 24/30 ON A BUDGET At breakfast, porridge (organic, Irish, gluten-free oats soaked overnight, finished with oat milk and topped with teff grain, caramelised banana and seasonal fruit) - costs a fiver. ON A BLOWOUT Steak and eggs - with potatoes, sauerkraut and spinach - will cost 29 for two. THE HIGH POINT Top-notch provenance. THE LOW POINT The kitchen needs to turn up the flavour dial. In great times of need, from terrorist attacks to natural disasters, people have done their part to donate blood in order to take the pressure off the health care system and provide better care for patients who have trauma, cancer, or have been in accidents. But with the COVID-19 crisis leading to a significant decrease in blood drives, American Red Cross officials locally and statewide are warning of another potentially calamitous problem: A lack of blood to provide to hospitals and health care facilities. Samantha Pollard, American Red Cross communications manager for blood services in Nebraska/Iowa, said that hundreds of blood drives across the two states had been canceled due to the virus exponential spread across the country, with seemingly no end in sight. She said that drives were being canceled not because people were postponing them outright, but social distancing measures made it difficult for the Red Cross to find buildings to place them in. People arent canceling drives outright because of the virus, its because theyre having to cancel school or work, Pollard said. Offices are being cleared out, people arent going to church even, and those are where we hold blood drives. Pollard said that there were 150,000 fewer blood donations due to COVID-19, with more than 1,300 fewer in Nebraska alone. Pollard mentioned that without blood donations, a second public health crisis could come after COVID-19 peaks. Those of us who are feeling well right now need to go out and give blood if were eligible to do so, Pollard said. We can avoid a second public health crisis, which would be not having blood available for patients who need it. In Columbus, a blood drive is still scheduled from 12:30-6:30 p.m. next Wednesday at Hy-Vee, but Kyle Jensen, an account manager for the Red Cross based in Columbus, said that three separate drives had been canceled on account of the virus spread. Still, he did say that people were interested in coming in and donating blood and that many drives had been supportive of peoples concerns. We have had a busy week, not only in Columbus but also around Columbus in some of the smaller communities, Jensen said. Its been amazing to see the support still come in to donate (blood). Both Pollard and Jensen said that Red Cross blood drives will be as safe as possible, as sterile as possible and conform to state and federal social distancing guidelines. Jensen said that donating blood can be one small thing to help people who may be struggling with COVID-19 and other illnesses. Youre still allowed to go grocery shopping and do things, so this is just another way to get out and be a part of potentially saving a lot of lives," Jensen said. Pollard noted that there is an additional need for people to host drives, something that may become important once the spread of COVID-19 dissipates. Just like after crucial periods in American history, like 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, blood donations will be a key to the recovery period when it is all said and done. The need for blood never stops, Pollard said. Even when there is a global pandemic happening, people are still in the hospital experiencing trauma, massive blood loss from complications (and) they need blood for surgeries. The need for blood still goes on. Zach Roth is a reporter for The Columbus Telegram. Reach him via email at zachary.roth@lee.net. California Gov. Gavin Newsom gives an update to the state's response to the coronavirus at the Governor's Office of Emergency Services in Rancho Cordova on Tuesday. (Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press) Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday deployed the California National Guard to assist food banks statewide serving residents whose needs have not been met due to food shortages during the novel coronavirus pandemic. Newsom said the short-term deployment will initially assist a food bank distribution warehouse in Sacramento County and will also assess the needs of other California counties that have requested assistance with their food bank programs. Its in these times of crisis that Californians are at their best, coming to the aid of those in their community who are most in need. Food banks provide a critical lifeline for families, and are needed now more than ever," Newsom said in a statement released Friday night. "Families across our state are suddenly losing work, and millions of Californians most vulnerable to COVID-19 are staying home to protect their health and the health of others." Newsom put the guard on alert earlier this week, saying it would focus on both humanitarian and public safety needs. Newsom specifically pointed out that the state wanted to ensure that "food delivery is happening appropriately" and expressed concern about grocery stores overwhelmed by customers hoarding food and other essential household goods. PHOTOS: California and the coronavirus | Mayor issues 'safer at home' order California's National Guard force of roughly 22,000 troops has often been activated in times of disaster and crisis, particularly in response to devastating wildfires and earthquakes. Then-Gov. Pete Wilson deployed the guard after the 1992 Los Angeles riots, when troops patrolled streets and enforced a night-time curfew. Earlier this month, a California National Guard helicopter delivered supplies to the Grand Princess cruise ship when it was held off San Francisco until some of the passengers and crew could be tested for the coronavirus. The ship eventually docked in Oakland. More than 25 states have already called in their national guard troops in response to the pandemic. Story continues Newsom said that due to the coronavirus crisis, food banks throughout California have been affected by a decline in volunteers. The California National Guard will play a temporary role until assistance can be provided by other public service groups, including AmeriCorps, California Conservation Corps and Local Conservation Corps members, Newsom said. The California National Guard could later be called on to provide medical and logistical support to deal with the spread of the coronavirus throughout California, which state officials expect to overwhelm the state's hospital system. The guard could also assist local law enforcement if needed to enforce the governor's executive order to have most Californians stay at home and businesses deemed nonessential to remain closed. Representative image A member of US Vice President Mike Pence's office has tested positive for the coronavirus but neither President Donald Trump nor Pence have had close contact with the individual, Pence's press secretary Katie Miller said in a statement on Friday. Miller said Pence's office was notified on Friday evening about the positive test. The statement did not name the individual. "Further contact tracing is being conducted in accordance with CDC guidelines," she said, referring to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Pence is leading the White House task force formed to combat the outbreak. The vice president's office did not immediately respond to a request for further details and whether Pence would now be tested. White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said last week that Pence did not require testing after dining with a Brazilian government official who later tested positive for the disease. COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show President Donald Trump has tested negative for the coronavirus, his doctor said last week. Two members of the US House of Representatives, Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida and Ben McAdams of Utah, said on Wednesday they had tested positive, becoming the first members of Congress known to have contracted the respiratory illness. By PTI LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh government said on Saturday that eight out of the 25 novel coronavirus patients in the state who were undergoing treatment have completely recovered. "So far, 25 corona-positive cases have come to light in the state," Amit Mohan Prasad, principal secretary, health, told PTI. "They are undergoing treatment at various hospitals. Of this, 8 patients have completely recovered." In a statement, Prasad asserted that the state government had made all arrangements to contain the spread the spread of the deadly COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019). "Mass awareness programmes are going on, in which people are being told about how to sanitise themselves, and also adhere to social distancing, Prasad said. "There is no need to fear or feel afraid of this disease, only alertness has to be maintained." Testing centres have been increased from three to six. In the next two days, the number of testing centres will be increased to eight, the official said. "Our effort will be to increase the number of testing centres to 10." Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has appealed to the people not to move out of their houses during 'Janata curfew' on Sunday, according to the Prasad. "During the curfew, the health department, urban development department and the Panchayati raj department will undertake comprehensive cleanliness drive. Mock drill on treatment for coronavirus will be conducted at all the hospitals in the state," Prasad said in the statement. Chinese doctors to share experience of countering COVID-19 with Ukrainian colleagues during TV linkup next week A TV linkup will be held next week for Chinese doctors to share experience of fight against coronavirus (COVID-19) with Ukrainian colleagues, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal has said. "We are preparing for further worsening of the situation with the spread of coronavirus. I have had a phone conversation with Ambassador of China to Ukraine Fan Xianrong. I addressed him with a request for practical assistance in overcoming the disease," Shmyhal said on his Facebook page on Saturday. China kindly agreed to hold a TV linkup for Chinese doctors to share their experience of fight against COVID-19 with Ukrainian colleagues, he said. "The TV linkup is preliminarily scheduled for Tuesday. I am sincerely grateful to Mr. Xianrong and China for their support," the prime minister said. At gun stores from California to New York, the American people are stocking up in enormous numbers, almost as if the end was near. "Trying to buy ammunition because of everything that's going on with the virus and stuff, it's horrible and I don't want to take any chances," Angel Colon told ABC News affiliate WPVI in Spanish. People are arming themselves. They are lining up outside gun stores. Or going online. In February, the internet retailer ammo.com reported a 309% increase in revenue and a 222% surge in transactions. The group is calling the sales unprecedented. MORE: US Army scientists are on the front lines in fight against coronavirus The increased gun sales come as police departments are being forced to pare down operations due to the novel coronavirus outbreak. Some police Departments are responding to only calls that involve emergencies calls like fender benders and lost items are being handled over the phone or people are required to go and give a statement at the police station. Tune into ABC at 1 p.m. ET and ABC News Live at 4 p.m. ET every weekday for special coverage of the novel coronavirus with the full ABC News team, including the latest news, context and analysis. National figures on gun sales that are monitored by the FBI will not be available until early April. But the anecdotal evidence is hard to miss. In Virginia, where the State Police track background check numbers, there was an 86% increase in requests in January compared to January of 2019. Authorities attribute some of that uptick to Virginias lobby day when gun enthusiasts descended on Richmond in opposition to proposed new restrictions. But the trend continued in February, when over 64,000 buyers underwent checks, compared to 39,300 the previous February. And in March, Virginia saw 35,383 background checks conducted, which is just 10,000 background checks than the entire month of March 2019. PHOTO: Finished AR-15 rifle barrels are stacked on shelves at Delta Team Tactical in Orem, Utah on March 20, 2020. - Gun stores in the US are reporting a surge in sales of firearms as coronavirus fears trigger personal safety concerns. (George Frey/AFP via Getty Images) In Colorado, more than 14,000 background checks for firearms transfers have been received in the last week, compared to about 7,000 checks conducted in the same timeframe last year, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation said in a statement on Tuesday. Story continues In Pennsylvania, police said this week that a surge in requests to the state's background check system for firearm purchases twice resulted in the system shutting down for hours-long periods. On one day alone, March 17, the Pennsylvania Instant Check System completed 4,342 transactions. That day in 2019, they only ran 1,359 checks, according to Major Gary Dance, director of the Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Records and Identification. MORE: Dow loses 1/3 of value in a month as another brutal trading week ends "The Pennsylvania State Police is working with its vendor to increase processing power to avoid future backlogs and will adjust staffing as needed to meet demand," Dance said. Across the Northeast, lines have snaked out the doors of local gun shops. Kimber Zerweck told ABC News station WPVI in Philadelphia that lines have been out the door since Thursday. "In five years I've owned this place, I've never had lines out the door," said Zerweck, who owns Delias Gunshop in Mayfair, Pennsylvania. "It's a mixture of people who know what they wanna buy and other people who wanna buy because they're afraid of what's going on with the criminal element. There was a similar scene in upstate New York where Peter OMalley was on his way to his campus when he saw the crowd outside Hempstead Guns and Ammo. When I first saw it looked like it was just like, you know, a line of probably 10, 15 people, OMalley said in an interview. And then it was probably a line of 20, 25, 30 and it wrapped all the way around the back part of the parking lot. Kyle Harrison, an employee at Top Gun in Houston, told ABC affiliate KTRK that customers are buying literally everything. They're buying firearms and ammunition and accessories, Harrison said. ABC News' Alexander Mallin and Eli Finkelson contributed to this report. Gun sales on the rise as coronavirus concerns spread originally appeared on abcnews.go.com Delhi Police on Saturday dismissed claims that Rs 11,000 fine would be imposed on those who violate the 'Janata Curfew', an initiative announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 22 in the wake of coronavirus outbreak. "We have spotted this fake notice being circulated purportedly issued by Delhi Police. We have not issued any such advisory on imposition of a fine on March 22. Please tell your family and friends that this is false and fake," Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) South Delhi tweeted along with a picture of the fake notice. The response of Delhi Police came after a notice made rounds on social media stating that on March 22, 2020, those who are found to be roaming around in the capital without a big reason, those opening shops or those trying to go outside the city, they will be fined by Rs 11,000 as roaming outside will lead to nothing but spreading of the virus even more. However, Delhi Police has called it a fake notice. The DCP South Delhi further wrote, "Let's make #JanataCurfewMarch22 a success." The Prime Minister has also given a call for a 'Janata Curfew' from 7 am to 9 pm on Sunday in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak to prepare for challenges of the future. It has called upon the people to express their gratitude those who were working tirelessly in medical and service-oriented professions in the time of difficulty. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has said that the total number of positive cases of coronavirus now stands at 271 in the country. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Federal agents have already opened investigations into possible scams amid the coronavirus pandemic, an FBI agent said Friday, and residents should be on guard. I think that the chance of fraud coming from this is greater, said Mike Doyle, a supervisory special agent with the FBI in Newark. While hes not seen an increase in scams so far, he said the fear spread by COVID-19 nationwide did increase the risk. State and federal officials have raised the alarm in recent days about fraud. Inspector General of Social Security Gail Ennis recently reminded people not to believe that Social Security benefits were threatened by the virus, despite fraudulent letters saying otherwise. New Jersey police have told residents that anyone knocking on doors saying theyre from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are imposters. Scams, especially on the internet, have been on the rise for years. About $3.5 billion was lost to internet crimes just last year, according to a federal report. Doyle has spent more than two decades with the FBI, according to an agency spokesperson, and hes focused especially on white-collar crime and health care fraud. He offered advice Friday for how residents can protect themselves. Fact check the red flags Residents should be skeptical of anyone asking for money or personal information, Doyle said. If you get an email purporting to be from a government agency, especially if theres a link to click, dont call any number listed in the message, he said. Find a number for the office online and call to ask if the emails real. Charities can be researched on Charity Navigator and GuideStar. You should also be wary of promises of a COVID-19 cure, Doyle said, or the opportunity to invest in vaccine research. If its too good to be true, its likely fraud," he said. While the vast majority of scams happen by phone or online, people should also verify the identities of anyone on their doorstep, he said. If someone says theyre from the FBI, call the FBI before you let them in if they dont have a warrant. We encourage that, he said. Check on the elderly The elderly can be especially vulnerable. The risk of isolation amid social distancing is concerning, he said, and could cut people off from those that can protect them. Call family members regularly, Doyle said, which can head off scammers posing as sick relatives pleading for money. What if Im a victim? Fraud can be reported online to the Federal Trade Commission, and internet crimes to the FBI. Investigators are better able to put the pieces together the more information they have, Doyle said, allowing them to focus on the worst actors. Sometimes you can even get your money back. If we get allegations regarding this, we will pursue them aggressively, he said. Tell us your coronavirus stories, whether its a news tip, a topic you want us to cover, or a personal story you want to share. If you would like updates on New Jersey-specific coronavirus news, subscribe to our Coronavirus in N.J. newsletter. Sign up for text message alerts from NJ.com on coronavirus in New Jersey: Blake Nelson can be reached at bnelson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BCunninghamN. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 05:29:53|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close People go shopping in a Sainsbury's in London, Britain, on March 20, 2020. Cafes, bars, pubs and restaurants must close from Friday night across Britain in a bid to contain the spread of COVID-19 outbreak, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Friday. As of 9 a.m. local time (0900 GMT) Friday, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Britain reached 3,983, according to UK's Department of Health and Social Care. As of 1 p.m. (1300 GMT), 177 patients who tested positive for COVID-19 have died. (Photo by Joe Newman/Xinhua) LONDON, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Cafes, bars, pubs and restaurants must close from Friday night across Britain in a bid to contain the spread of COVID-19 outbreak, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Friday. Night clubs, theatres, gyms, cinemas and leisure centers must also close on the same timescale, said Johnson during his daily briefing in Downing Street. Co-chairing the press conference with Johnson, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak outlined the government's highly expected new package to protect workers and their employers from the novel coronavirus. Describing the economic intervention as "unprecedented", the chancellor announced that the government will step in and help pay wages to protect jobs for the first time in British history in the "coronavirus job retention scheme". The government will cover 80 percent of wages for employees who are unable to work due to coronavirus, up to 2,500 pounds (about 2,910 U.S. dollars) a month, Sunak added. "Today I can announce that for the first time in our history the government is going to step in and pay people's wages," he said. "Let me speak directly to businesses: I know it's incredibly difficult out there - we in government are doing everything we can to support you,"said Sunak, adding that "The government is doing its best to stand behind you and I'm asking you to do your best to stand behind our workers." Responding to the new measures, Carolyn Fairbairn, director general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), said on Twitter, "This is a landmark package for business, people and jobs. Rishi Sunak's offer of payroll support and fast access to cash will support livelihoods of millions." "Today marks start of UK fightback - enterprise & government, people & unions working together," tweeted Fairbairn. Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said "The Chancellor's unprecedented package of emergency funding and tax support will come as a huge relief to automotive companies of all shapes and sizes as they battle to safeguard their businesses and support thousands of workers and their families who otherwise face hardship." "Ninety-nine percent of UK automotive output is now halted meaning thousands of businesses are counting their future, not in months or weeks, but in days," said Hawes, adding that "We need these measures implemented swiftly and will work closely with government and our members to keep this critical and fundamentally competitive sector alive." Catherine McGuinness, policy chair at City of London Corporation, tweeted: "Today's strong unprecedented measures by Rishi Sunak will help cushion the economic impact of COVID-19 for businesses and workers alike." "In particular, the deferral of VAT for Q2 and move to pay 80 percent of wages for employees not working will help struggling businesses retain staff," McGuinness added. As of 9 a.m. local time (0900 GMT) Friday, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Britain reached 3,983, according to UK's Department of Health and Social Care. As of 1 p.m. (1300 GMT), 177 patients who tested positive for coronavirus have died. (1 pound = 1.16 U.S. dollars) Photo credit: Ricardo D. Ochoa / EyeEm - Getty Images From Popular Mechanics Earlier this month, a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association noted that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, can be detected live in feces, meaning it can be transmitted through fecal matter. Biobot, a wastewater analytics company, says it will begin analyzing sewage samples from across the U.S. To help track the spread of COVID-19, the startup wants to create a map of sewage systems that have poop testing positive. In the U.S., COVID-19 (coronavirus) testing is woefully infrequent, making it much more difficult to track community spread. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) along with public health laboratories have only administered about 54,000 tests since the outbreak arrived stateside in January. By comparison, South Korea can complete 10,000 COVID-19 tests in one day. Researchers from MIT's wastewater analytics spinout Biobot, Harvard University, and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston have come up with a different way to identify cases of COVID-19. They've launched a pro bono program to test community sewers. They'll be looking for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in people's poop. It's not a gimmick. Earlier this month, three researchers from China found that SARS-CoV-2 really can be found live in fecal matter, making it possible to transmit the virus through sewage systems. They published their findings in the Journal of the American Medical Association. "We are establishing protocols to test sewage for SARS-CoV-2. If successful, this data will give communities a dynamic map of the virus as it spreads to new places," Biobot notes on its website. The team is made up of biologists, epidemiologists, data scientists, urban planners, and engineers. Sewage data will be able to assist with the following, according to Biobot: Measure the scope of the outbreak independent from patient testing or hospital reporting, and include data on asymptomatic individuals. Provide decision support for officials determining the timing and severity of public health interventions to mitigate the overall spread of the disease. Better anticipate likely impact on hospital capacity in order to inform hospital readiness and the necessity of public health interventions. Track the effectiveness of interventions and measure the wind-down period of the outbreak. Provide an early warning for reemergence of the coronavirus (if it does indeed have a seasonal cycle). Story continues Here's how it will work: First, Biobot will ship a sampling kit and sample collection protocols to sewage facilities. Those plants will collect 24-hour composite samples, meaning the samples were taken at regular intervals over a 24-hour span. Sewage plants send the samples back to Biobot, where they are processed. Next, the researchers apply an RT-PCR protocol. This stands for reverse transcription and polymerase chain reaction, and it's the same method used in U.S. COVID-19 tests. Finally, Biobot will communicate the test results back to the relevant municipalities. All of the work is pro bono, but Biobot asks communities to cover the costs of the sampling kit, plus shipping, which comes to about $120. The company recommends collecting one or two samples each week. If these fees aren't feasible, though, your community can contact Biobot to apply for support from the company's partners. Get Your Community Tested First, identify the wastewater facilities that serve your community. They should have access to a 24-hour composite sampling device for the testing. If you represent a government or municipality, you can then proceed to order a sampling kit from this page (fill out the form at the top). If you're a concerned citizen and would like your local government to test its wastewater facilities, you should also fill out the form so a member of the Biobot team can help you encourage your community to send in samples. Biobot will then send a sampling kit and instructions out to the wastewater facilities. Everything required to transport one sewage kit is included. The expected turnaround time should be about three days. Program enrollment is currently live, and Biobot will be sending out sampling kits starting March 23. Research and development will begin at Biobot, MIT, and Harvard to figure out how to incorporate the incoming sewage data into a set of forecast models. You Might Also Like The number of coronavirus cases in Maharashtra has risen to 63 after 11 more tested positive even as a shutdown began in the states major cities to prevent the virus from spreading, officials said Saturday. The number of positive cases of coronavirus in Maharashtra has risen to 63, ANI quoted the states health minister Rajesh Tope as saying as the countrywide count of cases reached 258. Maharashtras number is the highest in India. The state government is pulling out all the stops and has directed all district administrations be ready for the crucial period in the state. The state government has already announced a shutdown of major cities from Saturday to contain the spread of the virus. Public transport has been excluded from the shutdown. All offices, shops and establishments in Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Pune, Pimpri, Chinchwad and Nagpur will be closed till March 31 following an announcement by chief minister Uddhav Thackeray. Only essential services and establishments involved in selling essential commodities have been excluded from the shut down. The government has also cancelled the examinations for classes 1 to 8 for the schools affiliated to the State board and deferred the examinations of class 9 and 11 till April 15. The state government has increased its testing capacity at Kasturba Hospital, Mumbai and will soon start testing laborataries at JJ Hospital and a few private hospitals in Mumbai. During a review meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, Thackeray had requested the Centre for permission for more testing centres and laboratories to ensure the spread of coronavirus was effectively contained. He also has pushed for effective quarantine of the Indians expected to return in the next two days. They are in thousands and will try to rush to their hometowns as soon as they land on the airports. Many of them are from Maharashtra. We need to quarantine them for 14 days with an effective plan in place, Thackeray urged the PM during the video conference on Friday. Thackeray has also said that the golden hour of the virus spread has begun in the state and the district machinery need to be on their toes. During a video conference with the divisional commissioners and district collectors on Friday evening, Thackeray said, Our resolve is to contain the spread at stage-2 and not allow it to advance further. We have taken some strict steps like shutting down major cities. Next 15 days are crucial for the state and the state machinery need to pull up the socks during this golden hour. While ensuring that the people stay home, the district administrations should also see to it that essential services are operational, Thackeray said. In another address to the state through Facebook on Friday afternoon, Thackeray said that staying at home is the only weapon against the fight on Covid-19, which he again termed as war-like situation. This is not a holiday, it is a shutdown in your interest so avoid venturing out, the CM said adding train and bus services will have to be stopped if the crowds did not go down substantially. Health minister Tope said that the state will review the shutdown for the next two days. If the number of people venturing out does not drop significantly, the state will be forced to suspended train and bus services. We are seeing the response for the next two days. If the passengers in trains and bus do not reduce, we will have no choice but to shutdown the lifeline of Mumbai, while keeping emergency services on track, he said. Tope had also said that five of the positive patients have recovered fully and will soon be discharged. Meanwhile, with an anticipation of cases related to Coronavirus increasing, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) plans to utilise space for isolation wards and quarantine in its major civic hospitals in the city apart from the two civic hospitals and other private hospitals. It is also scouting for space in government run college hostels, if possible. The BMC has been managing the flow of patients at Kasturba Hospital and Seven Hills Hospital in Andheri for admitting patients requiring isolation wards and quarantine. Currently, two hospitals - Kasturba and KEM are testing samples but preparations are on start testing at private hospitals too. In a circular issued by Municipal Commissioner Praveen Pardeshi on Friday late night, Pardeshi states, It is essential to take measures to decongest major hospitals in view of coronavirus. Pardeshi has chalked out several measures to shift patients to peripheral civic hospitals from major civic hospitals in order to ensure more space for dealing with Coronavirus. These measures include of all stable patients, requiring further hospital stay but can be managed by the peripheral hospitals, to be transferred to the peripheral hospitals located within 5 km of the residential address of the patients by proper coordination between both hospitals. Pardeshi also directed that OPDs dealing with hypertension, asthma, diabetic, thyroid, hematology etc to be suspended in major hospitals till further notice and such patients shall be directed to approach the nearest dispensary or peripheral hospitals located in their vicinity. Several appointments of routine surgeries are ordered to be deferred for next to two to three weeks. All civic hospitals have been directed to conduct small group blood donation camps to develop amble reserves of blood for future contingency. The BMC has also decided to not keep those patients in civic hospitals who can manage home quarantine for 14 days, and on Friday announced that it will manage buses and taxis to ferry these passengers to their hometown, ensuring they do not travel in public transport. Jon Shapley, Staff / Houston Chronicle Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton, one of three officials elected to regulate the oil and gas industry in Texas, has been invited to attend OPEC's next general meeting in June. In a Friday afternoon statement, Sitton reported that he spoke with OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo by phone. The conversation, Sitton reported, ended with him being invited to oil cartel's general meeting in Vienna in June. The coronavirus pandemic is forcing senior doctors in Britain's National Health Service to contemplate the unthinkable: how to ration access to critical care beds and ventilators should resources fall short. The country's public health system, the NHS, is ill-equipped to cope with an outbreak that is unprecedented in modern times. Hospitals are now striving to at least quadruple the number of intensive care beds to meet an expected surge in serious virus cases, senior physicians told Reuters, but expressed dismay that preparations had not begun weeks earlier. With serious ... Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 20:18:31|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) holds talks with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, March 25, 2019. (Xinhua/Ju Peng) Xi said the Chinese government and people firmly support France's efforts against the COVID-19 epidemic, and stand ready to boost cooperation with France and jointly win the battle through mutual support and help. BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping said China stands ready to work with France to boost international cooperation in epidemic prevention and control and build a community of common health for mankind. Xi made the remarks in a recent message to French President Emmanuel Macron, in which he extended sincere sympathies on behalf of the Chinese government and people to their French counterparts over the COVID-19 outbreak in the European country. China and France have a fine tradition of helping each other and sharing weal and woe in bilateral relations, said Xi, who thanked the French government and society for their support of and sympathies with China's all-out battle against the novel coronavirus disease. Pointing out that public health security is a common challenge faced by humanity, he said the Chinese government and people firmly support France's efforts against the COVID-19 epidemic, and stand ready to boost cooperation with France and jointly win the battle through mutual support and help. Both as permenant members of the UN Security Council, China and France share the important responsibility of safeguarding the lives and health of the entire human race, Xi stressed. China, he added, is willing to make concerted efforts with France to enhance international cooperation in epidemic prevention and control, support the United Nations and the World Health Organization playing a core role in improving global public health governance, and build a community of common health for mankind. Xi stressed that he attaches great importance to the development of China-France relations, and stands ready to work with Macron to properly coordinate all aspects of work related to epidemic control and bilateral relations, so as to ensure that the China-France comprehensive strategic partnership will ride out the COVID-19 test and continue to move forward. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleged on Saturday that the railways was not ensuring proper screening of passengers entering the state through long-distance trains. She claimed that migrant workers from the state, particularly those in Maharashtra, were being packed off in trains and sent back without medical checkups. "I have been saying this for the last one month. Now India is entering the third stage (of the coronavirus outbreak), which is very dangerous. The next two weeks are extremely important. I have asked the chief secretary to tell the railway authorities to immediately stop all long-distance trains," the chief minister told Bengali television channel "ABP Ananda". "I have also been urging the Centre to stop all international flights coming to the country for a long time," she said. On the availability of masks and hand sanitisers, Banerjee said the priority of the government was to supply these items to the health workers, cleaning staff and police personnel first. "The small-scale sector of the state is manufacturing around 6,000 litres of alcohol-based hand sanitisers everyday. We will first supply it to those who are in the priority list and then it will be made available to the public," she said. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo accused the Centre of not making enough masks and hand sanitisers available to the state. She also urged people to avoid large gatherings. "Some organisations are organising large gatherings even now, which should be completely avoided. I urge them not to play with fire at this point in time," the chief minister said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) With 12 new cases testing positive for Sars-Cov-2 in Maharashtra, the state machinery has geared up to restrict the spread of the virus, which causes Covid-19. Maharashtra has the highest number of cases in India. State health minister Rajesh Tope said there was no evidence of community transmission, but the state is preparing for an increase in the number of reported cases. Out-patient departments (OPDs)at eight private hospitals have been added to the list of hospitals that may be approached by those exhibiting symptoms of the disease. A 41-year-old woman in Pune was among the 12 in the state who tested positive for Sars-Cov-2 on Saturday. She has no travel history to a Covid-positive country. However Tope said, There is no case of community transmission in Maharashtra, be it Nagpur or Pune and Im saying this after talking to all the higher authorities. We are trying to ascertain the reason of the Pune case where the 41-year old woman, without having any travel history, got infected. Speaking about the other 11 patients, Tope said, Of the eight in Mumbai, six have international travel history while one had visited Gujarat and one is employed at airport. The one from Yavatmal visited Congo and is admitted in Mumbai, while the cases in Kalyan and Ulhasnagar had travelled to Dubai. In Pune, the 25-year old youth who tested positive had visited England and Ireland. Around 80% of the positive cases in Maharashtra are from Mumbai, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad and Nagpur, which have been placed under partial shutdown since Saturday. School education minister Varsha Gaikwad on Saturday announced the indefinite postponement of Class 10 exams, which were scheduled to take place on Monday. Tope said the state would decide on Monday if public transport in these cities needs to be shut down. On Saturday, 811 persons with suspected symptoms of Covid-19 were tested in Mumbai and 138 suspected patients were admitted to isolation wards across the city. At present, the virus is spreading by local transmission (stage 2), which means the source of the virus can be identified (in case of Sars-Cov-2, this means people with history of travel to Covid-positive countries). The state administration hopes the partial shutdown of the major cities will prevent the outbreak from advancing to community transmission (stage 3), when the source of the infection can no longer be pinpointed. We are working hard to ensure to contain the virus at stage 2, said Tope. During a meeting with divisional commissioners and district collectors late on Friday evening, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said Our resolve is to contain the spread at stage 2 and not allow it to advance further. We have taken some strict steps like shutting down major cities. The next 15 days are crucial for the state and the state machinery needs to pull up its socks during this golden hour. While ensuring people stay home, the district administrations should also see to it that essential services are operational. The term golden hour refers to the period immediately after an incident during which it is critical that the patient get proper medical care in order to survive. Chief secretary Ajoy Mehta also held meetings to review the situation in the state. The state government has appointed a special task force of four senior officers to handle non-medical aspects of the outbreak. Additional chief secretary Rajiv Jalota has been entrusted with the responsibility of inter-departmental coordination while principal secretary Bhushan Gagrani will look into the industrial and business-related aspects on the sidelines of the outbreak. Secretary Prajakta Lawangare has been asked to handle the help pouring in from various corporate houses and philanthropic institutions. IPS officer Manoj Patil will coordinate law and order issues across the state, said a senior Mantralaya officer. The state government demanded more assistance from the Centre to combat the outbreak during a video conference between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Thackeray, on Friday, Thackeray asked for financial help for the industrial sector which is likely to feel the impact of the shutdown and said Maharashtra may need medical help in terms of masks, ventilators and testing kits. The Centre recently granted permission to open more Sars-Cov-2 testing centres and laboratories in the state. On Saturday, the state also directed all public hospitals to postpone scheduled surgeries so that available resources, including machinery, are focused on treating Covid-19 patients. We are preparing for any kind of emergency situation and hence have decided to postpone surgeries in government hospitals that can be rescheduled. We have also set up 250 isolation wards and has kept over 7000 beds reserved for quarantine facility as part of the preparedness plan. We are also decided to rope in private hospitals for the tests, besides the ones at Kasturba and KEM Hospitals, said Tope. The state public health department also issued an order directing all government hospitals, including medical colleges and municipal corporation hospitals, to conduct a mock drill for emergency response and handling of Covid-19 cases today. At present, Mumbai is the worst-hit city in Maharashtra with 19 cases. After Sundays Janta Curfew, a fresh review of the situation will be taken on Monday to decide if public transport in these cities [Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad] needs to be completely shut down. We are also thinking of restricting public transport to the employees associated with essential services, said a government official privy to developments. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporations (BMC) commissioner Praveen Pardeshi issued a circular on Friday night in which he said, It is essential to take measures to decongest major hospitals in view of coronavirus. Pardeshi has chalked out several measures to shift patients to peripheral civic hospitals from major civic hospitals in order to create more space for Covid-19 cases. The BMC is also looking to arrange space in government-run college hostels. The civic body has also intensified its search-and-track operations. As of now, 1,20,000 people have been tracked in 1,600 housing societies. According to a senior health official, the BMC will devote more manpower to track people at ward levels. Special teams will be created to check on people exhibiting symptoms of Covid-19 like cough, cold and fever. Additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani said, If needed, I have given instructions to quarantine forcefully. Those who can home quarantine have been instructed to do so for 14 days instead of staying at civic hospitals. A large number of tuberculosis patients have also been identified as a result of the tracking operations and they were advised to get admitted to Kasturba Hospital. Moreover, the BMC has also roped in the out-patient departments (OPDs) of eight private hospitals: Lilavati Hospital, HN Reliance Foundation Hospital, Hinduja Hospital, Fortis Hospital, BPT Hospital, Jaslok Hospital, Nanavati Hospital, and SL Raheja Hospital. One extra OPD has been added to existing OPD facilities at KEM Hospital, Sion Hospital, Nair Hospital, and Cooper Hospital. Daksha Shah, civic body deputy executive health officer, said, Any persons showing flu like symptoms can approach any of the above hospitals. Doctors here will check them, and further guide them. Isolation beds are also available at Kokilaben Ambani Hospital, Jaslok Hospital and HN Reliance Hospital. On Friday, the BMC announced buses and taxis for passengers from Maharashtra who have travel history to Covid-positive countries but are not from Mumbai. They will be ferried to their hometowns by these special buses and taxis so that they do not use public transport. NEW YORK CITY (dpa-AFX) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) disclosed in a regulatory filing that its Chief Executive Officer received David Solomon $27.5 million in compensation for 2019, up from $23.0 million compensation in 2018. His pay package includes annual base salary of $2 million, a $7.65 million cash bonus and $17.85 million long-term incentive, the company said. Further, John Waldron, President and COO, got $24.5 million in 2019, higher than $20.0 million last year. The company's Chief Financial officer Stephen Scherr salary also rose to $22.5 million from $18.0 million last year. Separately, the company specified that the 2020 Annual Meeting, which is scheduled on April 30, will be held in a virtual meeting format only, via the Internet, with no physical in-person meeting due to Coronavirus. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. Hungary's government has submitted a bill to parliament that would enable sweeping rule-by-decree powers to tackle the coronavirus under an extended state of emergency, as well as introducing jail terms for spreading "fake news". According to the draft posted on the parliament website late on Friday, the bill would enable the government to indefinitely extend the state of emergency and its associated powers of rule by decree, removing the current requirement for MPs to approve any extension. Hungary ordered a state of emergency on March 11 as part of protective measures aimed at stemming the spread of the Covid-19 virus, which have included the closure of borders to non-national passenger traffic. According to the draft bill, during the period of the state of emergency the government could "by decree suspend the use of certain laws, diverge from statutory provisions, and introduce other extraordinary measures, in the interest of guaranteeing the stabilisation of the lives, health, personal and material security of citizens, as well as the economy". Critics of Prime Minister Viktor Orban's right-wing government worry that this clause might allow it to arbitrarily regulate by force of decree. Another clause in the draft raises the possibility of a "forced parliamentary break," prompting concerns that the government could suspend the current assembly session. The draft also proposes criminal code changes to levy stiff jail terms for violating quarantine orders or for spreading what Budapest has called "fake news" about its measures and the coronavirus. The penalties include eight-year sentences for causing death by breaching disease control measures, and five years for "anyone publicly disseminating a false fact or falsifying an actual fact (...) preventing or frustrating the effectiveness" of anti-virus orders. The bill could come before parliament next week where it will need a two-thirds supermajority to pass. Hungary has so far reported 103 cases of the infection, and four virus-related deaths. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) JERUSALEM Israels prime minister Saturday said he is ready to step down next year as part of a proposed power-sharing agreement with his chief rival meant to steer the country through the coronavirus crisis and end a year-long political deadlock. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made his proposal during a nationally televised interview, calling for the formation of a three-year emergency unity government with the rival Blue and White Party. Netanyahu told Channel 12 TV that he would remain as prime minister for the first year and a half, and allow Blue and White leader Benny Gantz to assume the post for a second year-and-a-half term in September 2021. He said each party would have an equal number of seats in the Cabinet. I will give up the prime ministers post in another year and a half, Netanyahu said. Yair Lapid, a senior Blue and White leader, dismissed Netanyahu's unity offer as insincere. Next week, we will go to choose a new parliament speaker and work to battle coronavirus for the good of the people, he said. Israel is facing a growing threat from the coronavirus pandemic. It has detected nearly 900 cases and on Friday reported its first death. With the public largely confined to their homes, the economy appears to be in great danger, with tens of thousands of people losing their jobs. Blue and White has accused Netanyahu of using the coronavirus crisis to undermine the countrys democratic institutions and try to derail his scheduled trial on corruption charges. Senior members of Gantz' party have expressed skepticism at previous power-sharing overtures by Netanyahu, concerned that he would not follow through on his promises to cede power. Israel this month held its third inconclusive election in under a year. Netanyahus Likud emerged as the largest single party, but fell short of securing a required parliamentary majority. A slim majority of lawmakers has endorsed Gantz as their choice for prime minister, though it is unclear whether he will be able to cobble together a governing coalition either. Gantz now has just over three weeks to form a new government. In the meantime, he is trying to push through legislation in parliament that would in effect prevent Netanyahu from serving as prime minister in the future. The legislation would impose term limits on the prime minister and bar a politician indicted on criminal charges, like Netanyahu, from being prime minister. Last week, parliament Speaker Yuli Edelstein, a member of Likud, suspended the parliaments activities, preventing the newly elected legislature from choosing a new speaker and forming the committees needed to push through Blue and Whites legislative agenda. Netanyahus hand-picked justice minister last week also shut down most of the court system, delaying the prime ministers trial until at least May. Netanyahu's opponents have accused him and his surrogates of undermining the country's democratic institutions. Blue and White planned to file a Supreme Court challenge on Sunday requiring parliament to resume its activities. With the public ordered to stay at home, tens of thousands of people tuned in on social media late Saturday to a virtual protest, accusing Netanyahu of endangering the countrys democratic foundations. Former directors of the Mossad and Shin Bet security agencies were among the speakers. Benjamin Netanyahu, get yourself together and release us from being your hostages, said Yuval Diskin, a former Shin Bet director. Do it for the good of the country and the people. More than 275,000 people have been infected by the coronavirus worldwide. The virus has killed more than 11,000 people, while more than 88,000 have recovered. Most people only experience minor flu-like symptoms from the coronavirus and recover within a few weeks, but the virus is highly contagious and can be spread by those who appear well. It can cause severe illness, including pneumonia, in some patients, particularly the elderly and those with underlying health problems. U S President Donald Trump was accused of having a "meltdown" after he hit out at a reporter and publicly disagreed with the country's top doctor on live TV over coronavirus guidance. Overnight #TrumpMeltdown was trending on Twitter, as people criticised the president's outburst. NBC News White House correspondent Peter Alexander asked Mr Trump what he would say to the Americans who are scared of the huge impact of Covid-19. Mr Trump responded: "I say that you're a terrible reporter." Donald Trump was criticised over his conduct / REUTERS The president went on to accuse Mr Alexander of "sensationalism", describing the reporter's question as "very nasty" and "a very bad signal... to the American people." He added that he called NBC parent company Comcast "Con-Cast". Mr Trump had a public disagreement in the same press conference with Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Dr Fauci said that the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine could not be used to fight coronavirus - despite Mr Trump naming the drug as a possible solution that could be ready "almost immediately" on Thursday. But when reporters questioned the president about hydroxychloroquine on Friday he didn't back down Mr Trump said: I think without seeing too much, Im probably more of a fan of [hydroxychloroquine]... "Its a strong drug. So, well see. The president also added that Dr Fauci was "100 per cent right." Hydroxychloroquine has reportedly had some success in fighting coronavirus in small "test tube" trials, which don't involve humans. But scientists have warned that this doesn't mean that it can be used for treating humans. More than 40 European countries were hit by COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. Italy, Spain, Germany and France were the four hardest-hit, with each reporting more than 10,000 confirmed cases. In Italy, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Thursday that the nationwide lockdown, which has been in place from March 10 to April 3 to stem the spreading coronavirus, will be extended. Other government officials said further tightening on movement could be on the cards. FOUR NATIONS WITH 10,000-PLUS CASES In Italy, a total of 427 COVID-19 patients had died in 24 hours, taking the country's death toll to 3,405, according to new data released on Thursday by the Civil Protection Department. The cumulative number of coronavirus cases reached 41,035, making Italy the hardest-hit country outside China, since the epidemic first broke out in its north on Feb. 21. Spain recorded the second most cases among European countries after Italy. Spanish health authorities said the number of COVID-19 infections rose to 17,147 on Thursday, a 25-percent increase on Wednesday's figure of 13,716, with 767 deaths from the virus. During a press conference, Health Minister Salvador Illa said Spain is approaching the peak in the number of COVID-19 cases. "We are reaching the hardest moments, in which we will see an increase in cases as we close in on the peak" of infections, he said. Germany and France reported more than 10,000 COVID-19 cases on Thursday for the first time. Data from Germany's disease control agency Robert Koch Institute (RKI) showed the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 has risen to 10,999 on Thursday, with 20 new deaths, bringing the death toll to over 40. French Director General of Health Jerome Salomon announced on Thursday that France has detected 10,995 cases of coronavirus infection. And 108 patients lost their lives in the past 24 hours, he noted, adding that 1,122 patients are currently in intensive care while 1,300 have recovered. He urged people to strictly respect the confinement order and cut contacts with others to curb the accelerating spread of the virus. MORE DRASTIC MEASURES Conte said that the nationwide coronavirus lockdown in Italy will be extended beyond its initial April 3 deadline. "We have avoided a total collapse of our system," the prime minister said in broadcast comments. "But the rigid measures taken by the government to counter the coronavirus emergency... will be extended beyond the deadline." Italian government officials have been complaining for days that the current restrictions -- which include the closing of schools, restaurants, bars, tourist sites, offices, cinemas, or any other places where crowds may gather in close proximity -- have not been followed closely enough as Italy tries to curb the spread of the coronavirus outbreak. Now the limits will be extended and more strictly enforced, local media reported. In neighboring Slovenia, the government announced partial lockdown with a decree, which bans gatherings and other events in public areas and restricts people's movement. According to the decree, people will only be allowed to leave home to go to work, the pharmacy and to buy daily necessities at their closest shop. People will also be allowed to go outdoors and to parks, but only alone or with people living in the same household. French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday pledged to invest EUR5 billion (US$5.35 billion) over the next decade to boost scientific research against the coronavirus pandemic. The decision came as scientists and pharmaceutical companies are racing to develop vaccines to protect against the novel coronavirus, which has already claimed over 9,000 lives and infected more than 200,000 people globally. Also on Thursday, the Finnish Minister for Basic Services and Health Krista Kiuru announced that the government is applying a ban to visits to hospitals and care homes to minimize the risk of older people becoming infected with COVID-19, urging people aged over 70 to avoid unnecessary social contact. MORE AID PACKAGES The European Central Bank (ECB) on Wednesday (March 18) night announced an emergency bond-buying program of EUR750 billion (US$800 billion) to counter the coronavirus risks. "Extraordinary times require extraordinary action. There are no limits to our commitment to the euro. We are determined to use the full potential of our tools, within our mandate," ECB President Christine Lagarde tweeted following Wednesday's announcement. The German government plans to support freelancers and small businesses with a maximum of 10 employees with financial funds of up to EUR50 billion to dampen the negative economic effects of the coronavirus, according to German newspaper Handelsblatt on Thursday. The Greek government will support the economy with at least EUR10 billion, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Thursday after announcing the 6th death of the novel coronavirus in the country. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 23:15:18|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Soldiers of Jordanian army stand guard at a checkpoint after the start of the nationwide curfew in Amman, Jordan, March 21, 2020. On March 21, Jordan started imposing a curfew as part of the measures to limit the spread of coronavirus. (Photo by Muhammad Abu Ghosh/Xinhua) AMMAN, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Jordan's government on Saturday askes the public not to leave their homes as hundreds of people have been arrested for violating the curfew. Jordan's Minister of State for Media Affairs said, "We know that the curfew is a tough decision but it is for the overall good of all...we are serious about implementing the curfew and it seeks to protect all the residents of the country." "Countries that succeeded in dealing with the coronavirus are the ones that took tough measures at the beginning such as imposing curfews and these are successful measures," he said in a statement. Legal actions will be taken against all violators, he said. Mukhles Mefleh, spokesperson of the Jordan Armed Forces, said a total of 392 violators were arrested. On March 21, Jordan stared imposing a curfew as part of the measures to limit the spread of coronavirus. An Easy Jet 'rescue flight' ready for departure at the John Paul II Krakow-Balice International Airport (Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images) EasyJet (EZJ.L) to press forward with a 174m ($202m) dividend payout to shareholders despite appealing to the UK government for taxpayer help to deal with fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. The budget airline said last week it could need credit or loans from the government to cope with the crisis. But on Friday night it said this wouldnt affect the share payout, 60m of which will go to founder, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou. The Times reports that easyJet hasnt indicated that it would ask its investors to help the business. Read more: Union backs Virgin Atlantic bosses plea for 7.5 billion UK airline coronavirus bailout The airline reportedly took legal advice on whether it could withdraw or postpone the dividend. EasyJets chief executive, Johan Lundgren, told BBC radio on Saturday that the payment was something that we are legally obliged to do. Scores of other stock market listed companies are withdrawing or reconsidering their annual payouts. Since 2012, the airline has paid some 1.8bn to shareholders, including this latest dividend. Sir Stelios - who controls 34% of easyJet - and family interests have received almost 650m, the Times reports. A spokesman for Easyjet said the airline wasnt looking for a taxpayer bailout. Mr Lundgren said: We are looking for loans on a commercial basis. We are not asking for free money. European travel restrictions have led easyJet to ground more than 100 aircraft and start to save money by putting its staff on unpaid leave. Read more: Gatwick Airport announces job losses and runway closure amid coronavirus pandemic Yahoo Finance UK has approached easyJet for comment. By Trend: Citizen of the Islamic Republic of Iran, journalist, Mirghasem Momeni addressed a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs asking for a removal of his name from the List of foreign citizens illegally visited the occupied territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Trend reports citing Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry. In his letter, Mirghasem Momeni emphasized his respect to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Azerbaijan within its internationally recognized borders, as well as to the rules and regulations in force in the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan and also stressed that this visit in no way shall give a meaning of his disrespect to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. Mirghasem Momeni also underlined in his appeal that he was unaware of the consequences of the visit. Appeal by Mirghasem Momeni was appropriately considered and the decision was made to remove his name from the mentioned list. If there was ever any doubt, this week we had more proof of just what a tiny, tiny man with a massively inflated ego this president is. Just compare President Donald Trumps recent remarks with those of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Mr. Cuomo made clear the seriousness of this health crisis and on March 20, set forth a decisive plan to address it in his state, stressing that he would accept full responsibility for his actions. These are the words of a true leader. Donald Trump, on the other hand, congratulated himself on doing a great job with a broken system that he inherited from former President Barack Obama, and complained that he is not receiving proper credit. President Trump has repeatedly refused to take any responsibility for his tragic mishandling of the crisis, even though his administration dismantled the pandemic response team President Obama had left him, has irresponsibly endangered the public by spreading misinformation about the crisis, and, at this writing, has still not taken sufficient steps to provide the vital equipment that health workers are going to need. These are the words and actions of a man with no moral code. This country has a true crisis of presidential leadership at the worst possible time. Ralph Turek, Strongsville Two new COVID-19 cases confirmed in Phuket PHUKET: Two new cases of people being infected with the COVID-19 coronavirus in Phuket have been announced by officials, bringing the total number of people on the island confirmed as infected to seven. Saturday 21 March 2020, 01:38PM The news came via a table released by the Phuket office of the Public Relations Department (PR Phuket) this morning (Mar 21). The total number of people in Phuket to have been found infected with the virus as of yesterday was five, after Phuket Governor Phakaphong Tavipatana was forced to publicly admit the infection of a family of three Danish tourists on holiday in Phuket. (See story here.) The Danish family remain in hospital receiving treatment. The other two, Governor Phkaphong explained, were Chinese tourists from ground zero Wuhan, where the outbreak began in December. According to the table released this morning, health officials have checked 1,210,945 people at the airport and a further 38,327 checked at other ports. So far 565 people have been put under observation for possible infection of the virus, said the table. Of these were nine new cases. Of the 565, 543 Persons Under Investigation (PUI) had been checked and gone home. The remaining 22 remain in hospital under observation. Of those 22 still in hospital, 17 are waiting for test results to confirm whether they have COVID-19. No other details have been provided. The table released is marked as correct as of 7pm yesterday (Mar 20). The table was released directly to reporters late this morning. It has yet to be posted publicly on the PR Phuket official Facebook page. (Click here.) In other developments regarding COIVD-19 in Phuket, Phuket Governor Phakaphong yesterday declared that fitness centres are to be closed under the current shut down across the island to prevent the spread of the virus, despite a national order issued on Thursday announcing that fitness centres are not to be ordered to close, providing they follow specific health guidelines. In a major development, the Bihar state board of religious trust on Saturday ordered the closure of around 4500 temples across the state till March 31, in an apparent bid to avoid congregation of devotees resulting in the possible spread of the coronavirus disease. Following the order, the Mahavir Mandir at Patna Junction, one of the busiest temples in the state capital in terms of footfalls of devotees, has decided to close premises from Sunday morning till March 31. In the order, all temple management associated with the trust, numbering close to 4500, have been asked not to organise events during the Chaita Navratra and Chaita Chhath (Hindu festivals) and keep the premises closed till March 31st. The order says the Mahant or head priest are allowed to offer prayers as per rituals every day with a limited number of people. Patna DM, Kumar Ravi said the district administration had also issued an order banning the observance of Chaita Chhath at the Ganga ghats and asked the devotees to perform the rituals at their homes. Chairman of the Bihar state board of religious trust board Akhilesh Kumar Jain could not be contacted for his comment on this order, despite repeated calls. Former chairman of the trust board and secretary of Mahavir Mandir trust, Patna Kishore Kunal said the order of the religious trust board had come a bit too early. In Mahavir Mandir, we have already taken large scale preventive measures and planned to take more steps to regulate the crowd during the coming festival. If a complete lockdown had been announced, such a step would have had more meaning, he said, adding the temple would be closed for the general public from tomorrow morning. Bihar is one of the few states to have not reported any positive cases so far, according to the health ministry website. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anirban Guha Roy A journalist for 21 years, Anirban covers RJD, legislature and government beats. Has extensive experience in covering elections and writes regularly on finance, land reforms, registration, excise and socio-economic issues. ...view detail A study has uncovered a new neurodegenerative disorder in which children experience developmental regression and severe epilepsy. The study, led by the Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI) and published in The American Journal of Human Genetics, found a variation in a gene causes a severe childhood-onset neurodegenerative disorder that has never before been described. MCRI and Victorian Clinical Genetics Services (VCGS) Associate Professor Sue White said this newly discovered condition was different from other chronic neuroinflammation implicated in other neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and frontotemporal dementia. Associate Professor White said the study participants started with normal or mild developmental delay, and the onset of seizures started within the first year of life. All had a severe and progressive developmental regression following a seizure, she said. The study looked at six children from four families with the gene variant who had a similar degenerative condition, the cause of which was unlocked by genomic testing. The genomic testing and data analyses were conducted for four participants at VCGS in Melbourne and one each at Ospedale Pediatrico Bambino Gesu in Italy and at Baylor College of Medicine in the US. Associate Professor White said the disorder, with features suggestive of neuroinflammation, appeared to require two copies of the defective gene, meaning both parents had to be carriers of one altered copy. In our study, the same gene variant was identified in three children of the same ethnic background. While the families do not report that their two families are directly related, they are presumed to be distantly related due to the overlap of their family histories, with common ancestors originating from the same town." Sue White, Associate Professor, MCRI and Victorian Clinical Genetics Services (VCGS) The researchers used advanced molecular techniques to dissect the likely cellular pathway affected by the mutation in the NRROS gene. By inserting the gene into cells in the laboratory, they identified other molecules that NRROS interacts with. These molecules are crucial for a number of brain cell functions, including adding the insulating layers around nerve fibers and producing brain immune cells. "In line with these laboratory findings, our study participants had neurodegenerative symptoms with difficult to control epilepsy, developmental regression, and delayed myelination," Associate Professor White said. "The myelination process is vitally important to healthy central nervous system functioning, enabling nerve cells to transmit information faster and allows for more complex brain processes." MCRI Professor John Christodoulou said the outcomes of this research highlighted the power of new genomic sequencing technologies that had ended a diagnostic odyssey that for some families may take years. "Now that we know the causative gene, we are in a better position to understand the underlying biology behind the disorder, which we hope in future may translate to targeted treatments specific for the disorder," he said. Tollywood actor Prabhas was recently in Georgia along with co-star Pooja Hegde, director and other members of the crew. The movie tentatively referred to as Prabhas20 is titled Jaan. The makers had built a special set in a flea market. The movie is being directed by Radhakrishna. Even before the crew wrapped up the schedule, the film's leading lady Pooja Hegde had put put out an story on the photo sharing app Instagram saying she would soon go into self-isloation soon as she returns home. She was seen wearing a face mask and woollen clothes. A picture of Saaho actor Prabhas sporting a face mask on the streets of Georgia too was doing the rounds on social media. Now, the crew is back in town after wrapping up the shoot in Georgia and the entire crew has decided to go into self-quarantine as a precautionary measure. Prabhas released a statement saying, "After safely rteurning from my shoot abroad, in light of the increasing risks of Covid19, I have decided to self-quarantine. Hope you all are also taking the necessary precautions to be safe." Check out his Insta post Another actor Priyadarshi who is also part of the movie too has announced a-day quarantine as a safety measure and vowed to comply with the government regulations and practice social distancing. Prabhas20 was shot in parts of Italy and Hyderabad. It is a period flick. UV creations and Gopikraishna movies have jointly bankrolled the project. Prabhas20 is all set to hit theatres sometime this year. In a latest development, within days after the Jaan team returned home, Geogia declared a state of emergency on Saturday after the situation turned grave following coronavirus. Portland patrol officers can check out 2-ounce bottles of hand sanitizer at the start of their shifts, as well as four sanitary wipes to clean off their cars steering wheel, door handles and radio to try to stem the spread of the coronavirus. The bureau has distributed new canisters for officers gas masks. Police Chief Jami Resch this week suspended roll call meetings and halted police classroom training. She also stopped officers from using the bureaus shooting ranges to maintain their firearms qualifications. And the citys Fire and Police Disability and Retirement Fund drafted new rules for COVID-19 medical claims. But the one thing officers need most of all isnt happening, said Daryl Turner, head of the rank-and-file police union. We need to be tested, Turner said. Were out there in the front lines, dealing with people who are vulnerable, he said. Were at risk of becoming infected also and carrying it back to our co-workers and families. I think were behind the 8-ball in this state, compared to other states in terms of testing. Can you imagine if we lost 20 percent of the police force? Police in Portland and nationwide are changing the way they respond to calls to try to reduce their own and the publics exposure to the new coronavirus. Earlier this week, for example, the Seattle police chief sent an email to the department, confirming an officers positive test and sharing an action plan to decontaminate any police buildings, equipment or cars that an employee or community member who tested positive for the virus had contact with. The department also is producing a daily updated list of employees in quarantine or isolation. In Portland, Resch said Friday that shes unaware of anyone from the bureau who has tested positive or has been tested for COVID-19 as no widespread testing has been available. If a bureau member does test positive, she expects the officer or civilian employee to report it to the bureau. In the past two days, about 2.5% to 3% of the bureaus force - about 30 to 40 members of the more than 1,200-member bureau - has been out sick, which is consistent with this time of year, she said. Resch said she has encouraged all employees to stay home if they dont feel well. The bureau on Monday activated a coronavirus incident management team led by a commander that is making plans to handle the expected eventuality that officers will be out of work because coronavirus symptoms. This is a very real possibility, and we are planning for that, Resch said. The team is working closely with Multnomah Countys mental health department, the countys emergency operations center, 911 dispatchers and Portland Fire & Rescue Bureau, but is currently in a support role, she said. Officers from the Detective Division, Gun Violence Reduction Team, Operations Support Services or other units may be asked to fill patrol shifts if officers get sick and are out of work. The chief said the bureau is still having officers respond to all calls for service, but they have been told to avoid as much face-to-face contact as possible and to ask residents to come outside to speak with them. The bureau also has asked people to report nonemergency calls online or by phone. Two of its three precincts have been closed to the public. The new measures are challenging for officers, Resch said. We really value the face-to-face interactions we have with the community, the chief said on conference call with reporters. This is not only an effort to try to prevent our members from becoming ill and reducing their ability to respond to calls for service, but we really do not want to be unintentional spreaders of the virus and unknowingly passing it on. The bureau reported a 14.6% drop in calls for service this week, compared to last week. But the emergency calls are up 6.3% over this time last year, the chief said. Officers are handing out citations for all misdemeanor crimes and taking only people facing felony charges or mandatory arrests, such as in domestic violence cases, to jail in an effort to reduce the citys jail population. Portlands Fire and Police Disability and Retirement Fund has adopted new rules providing medical benefits and lost time to active officers with COVID-19 symptoms or who have come into contact with an infected person. They are supposed to seek medical advice within 48 hours. Officers will be presumed to have contracted the virus through their required work via hands-on contact with the public or co-workers, unless the preponderance of evidence suggests its not job-related. Disability benefits will be paid to active officers who are required to be quarantined. The bureau has encouraged any civilian staff who are able to work from home to do so and has offered others flexibility in their shifts. In some units, the bureau has limited how many people are working together in an office, divvying up staff with half working one day and others working another. At Portlands Bureau of Emergency Communications, 911 dispatchers and call takers are sitting farther apart and their work spaces are being cleaned more frequently. New dispatchers and call takers are being trained in a simulation room so they can distance themselves, with different teams training at different times, said Dan Douthit, a spokesman for the Emergency Communications Bureau. In all police and emergency spaces, deep cleaning is happening more frequently, and hand sanitizers and disinfecting wipes are offered to officers and staff. However, we are closely monitoring those because we understand that theyre in a very limited supply, Resch said. And we need to be very mindful of how we are using those. The bureau isnt taking enforcement action to ensure restaurants or bars follow Gov. Kate Browns order that they close except for take-out or delivery service. Officers might encourage businesses to follow the restrictions or alert the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, the appropriate regulatory agency, the chief said. Officers are also driving by businesses that are temporarily closed, just to make sure no suspicious activity is occurring at the locations. With Portlands protest season approaching, Resch was asked how the bureau would respond to any demonstrations. Given the current coronavirus statewide restrictions, the chief said, I would highly encourage no gatherings at this point. Later in the day, the bureaus public information officer Lt. Tina Jones added by email that despite all the coronavirus preventive measures, "We are still actively hiring.'' -- Maxine Bernstein Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212 Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. Subscribe to Facebook page Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday's ace investigator, fighting readers corners, revealing the truth that lies behind closed doors and winning victories for those who have been left out-of-pocket. Find out how to contact him below. Arrest: Gal Barak, the Israeli thought to be behind Xtraderfx, has been linked to a raft of crooked firms M.F. writes: I was contacted by investment company Xtraderfx and told that it would transfer my frozen credit balance of 680 to my NatWest credit card. I agreed and gave my card details, but as a precaution I also asked NatWest if a credit was pending. I was told that in fact two debits were in the pipeline, one for 680 and a second for 5,000. I had authorised neither, but the bank said they could not be stopped, and the money was taken. Xtraderfx was a cryptocurrency scam that hid behind Gpay Limited, a Bulgarian-owned business based in Slough, Berkshire. The Financial Conduct Authority put a warning on its website in 2018, saying that it was unauthorised, so operating illegally. You told me you invested 6,000 followed by a further 2,000, but by early 2019 there was only 680 left. Last September, you were suddenly contacted again by Xtraderfx, which offered to return the cash to your NatWest card, but instead it helped itself to a further 680 and then 5,000. When you telephoned the bank and explained that you were expecting a credit, not two debits, NatWest allowed the funds to be charged to your card. However, when you received your monthly statement, it showed that the total of 5,680 had been handed over to a company called Cauri. This is a real payments firm, authorised by the FCA, but it is also a firm you had never heard of, and which you had certainly not authorised to collect a penny. Unravelling this has taken several months. NatWest told me the payments had already left your account when you called, and it produced recordings of some of your conversations with the bank but admitted that others, including your very first call when you say you tried to stop the payments, had not been recorded. I argued that even if you had authorised payments to Xtraderfx, it was not acceptable to see the cash go to a different firm with which you had absolutely no relationship, even if it said that it was collecting the money on behalf of Xtraderfx. Eventually, NatWest agreed to try to claim a chargeback not because you had been cheated by Xtraderfx, but because an intended credit might have 'accidentally' turned into two debits. But even then, things did not go smoothly. The bank asked you for your password for Cauri, despite being told you had never heard of it. Chargeback rules allow 45 days for objections to be raised, and just as the 45 days came to an end, Cauri raised an objection and clung on to your cash. But by this stage, even NatWest had grown suspicious. The bank told me: 'Cauri rejected our attempt at a chargeback, claiming that a cryptocurrency account had been credited. We believe the cryptocurrency account belongs to a scammer and have shared our concern with the merchant acquirer.' A NatWest spokesperson explained: 'We sympathise with Mr F, who has been the victim of a scam, and appreciate that this has been a very distressing experience for him.' In light of this, despite not being able to snatch back your money, NatWest itself is refunding it to your card as a gesture of goodwill. As for Xtraderfx, it was really run from Sofia in Bulgaria, not from Slough. Its alleged boss, Israeli businessman Gal Barak, has been arrested and held for extradition to Austria, where police have been investigating a network of crooked investment companies said to be linked to him. If you believe you are the victim of financial wrongdoing, write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TS or email tony.hetherington@mailonsunday.co.uk. Because of the high volume of enquiries, personal replies cannot be given. Please send only copies of original documents, which we regret cannot be returned. iStock(NEW YORK) -- Schools around the country are shutting down in an effort to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus, but with the closures come a challenge for parents: how to keep order and routine with children confined at home. Most teachers will send home assignments or direct older kids to online learning so they don't fall behind in their studies, but those options don't solve the problem for parents on how to execute home-based learning in ways that won't lead to conflict. Good Morning America asked education experts how to keep order in the home during this uncertain time. Key takeaways: Avoid the snow day mentality and think more long term. Get dressed "We all do better with routine which sets expectations," education expert Avivit Ben-Aharon, founder and clinical director of online speech therapy company Great Speech told GMA. "While it may be tempting to lounge in your pajamas and allow your children to do the same, the lack of routine for everyone can be confusing, particularly when it lasts more than a few days." Create the space Pam Roggeman, dean of College of Education at University of Phoenix, said its as important for kids to have a designated work space as it is for adults. "Use the homework area as an area to work on lessons, arts and crafts, etc., while students are out of school," she said. Set a schedule "Most students thrive on the structure they receive in school when they know what to expect with their daily schedule and routine," said Melissa Scatena who runs an education services company called Scattered Solutions. Prepare your child for the transition by working together to create their schedule. Ask them to share with you what their day typically looks like in school and empower them with ownership over creating their schedule for home," she said. Use timers "The timer is the equivalent of the school bell which helps children of all ages define the class 'period,'" said Ben-Aharon. "Try to model their day at home to their day at school with specified times for different activities." Don't rush it Elizabeth Kanna, author of Homeschooling for Success, cautions against the immediate pull to "create a school at home." "By doing so, you will put tremendous pressure on you and your child," she told "GMA." "If your child is required to be logged in at set times to attend virtual classes, make sure that gets done." But don't think you need to keep the kids engaged in academics 6 to 8 hours a day. "Most of the time children spend at school consists of waiting. Design a homeschooling learning schedule and plan that works for your family and be prepared to scratch the schedule several times until you find the right one for your family." Shuffle the shelves Chances are you have much more to entertain your kids than you think you do. Think beyond their current favorite toys and activities and see what's been cast aside. "Put away all the books and toys and then take out five each day to match your theme or your mood," Ben-Aaron said. "This way old toys and books will feel new and you will avoid the temptation of ordering new ones." Stay in sync If you will be working from home, make sure to discuss the expectations when you are at your desk working or on a call, said Scatena. Make sure your schedules line up so that they are working on tasks they can complete independently without adult assistance when you need to be working. Expand the definition of learning In todays busy world, many kids are simply too over-scheduled to learn how to do basic household tasks. This is an opportunity to change that. There is a lot of life skill learning that can take place and this is an opportunity for kids to develop a sense of responsibility for the household, said Dr. Chaye Lamm Warburg founder of Pediatric Occupational Therapy Services, LLC. There are appropriate chores for kids of every age, from preschoolers to teens, including making their beds, loading the dishwasher, sorting socks and silverware and vacuuming. Copyright 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. BAKU, Azerbaijan, Mar. 21 By Tamilla Mammadova - Trend: Qatar Airways has suspended its operation in Georgian aviation market until May 31 due to the threat of a coronavirus, said TAV Georgia Deputy Director General, operator of Tbilisi and Batumi international airports, Tea Zakaradze, Trend reports citing Georgian media. Tea Zakaradze noted that Qatar Airways will make its last flight this month and will stop flying to Georgia until May 31. Qatar Airways has been operating in the Georgian market since February 2012. Summing up the five-year activity of the airline in Georgia, the regional director of Qatar Airways in Eastern Europe, Giovanni Simonini, called this period successful and fruitful. Qatar Airways is on the list of seven airlines with the highest five-star rating, according to the British agency Skytrax. Qatar Airways covers more than 140 destinations worldwide. At the same time, the company has one of the most modern fleets consisting of 158 aircraft. As of today, Georgia has 44 confirmed cases of COVID-19. The outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan - which is an international transport hub - began at a fish market in late December 2019. The symptoms include cough, headache, fatigue, fever, aching and difficulty breathing. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Mila61979356 New Delhi, March 21 : The KLM-operated flight with over 100 Indians which was not allowed to land in India was in contravention to already issued travel advisory, sources said on Saturday. According to highly placed sources, the airline was informed in advance over the advisory which banned the entry of any passenger from EU or in transit from there into India from March 18. "Despite the advisory, the airline proceeded with the flight. The advisory clearly stated that all passengers (from or in transit) from EU will not be allowed to enter India from March 18, 5.30 p.m. onwards," sources said. Subsequently, the aircraft was sent back to Schipol Airport, Amsterdam, where the flight originated as it was denied permission to land in India. The incident took place on Friday. Albany, N.Y. There has not been a confirmed case of novel coronavirus in Oswego County, according to the county health department, despite Gov. Andrew Cuomo saying that the county had confirmed cases of the virus. Cuomo announced during his daily briefing Saturday morning that Oswego and Steuben counties had seen their first confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus. However, both the Oswego County Health Department and Oswego County Legislature Chairman James Weatherup issued statements denying that, saying that as of 11:58 a.m. Saturday, there had been no confirmed cases in the county. In the statement, Weatherup stated he believed the governors office conflated Hastings-on-Hudson, a village in Westchester County, with Hastings, a town in Oswego County. The Westchester area has been strongly impacted by coronavirus, with 294 new cases from Friday to Saturday and 1,385 cases total. As of 4:20 p.m. Friday, Oswego County had tested or were scheduled to test 69 people, along with 54 people being monitored by the Oswego County Health Department. As of March 21, there are 10,356 confirmed coronavirus cases in New York, a jump of 3,254 cases from Friday to Saturday. Cuomo said the increase was due to an increase in testing. So far, New York has tested 45,437, more people per capita than China, South Korea or any other state. MORE ON CORONAVIRUS Taken together, the reports and warnings painted an early picture of a virus that showed the characteristics of a globe-encircling pandemic that could require governments to take swift actions to contain it. But despite that constant flow of reporting, Trump continued publicly and privately to play down the threat the virus posed to Americans. Lawmakers, too, did not grapple with the virus in earnest until this month, as officials scrambled to keep citizens in their homes and hospitals braced for a surge in patients suffering from covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. It was just before Christmas 1970 - 50 years ago this year - when Gabriel Silva Cardoso (44), a native of Cape Verde, off the west coast of Africa, lost his life. He was on board the Friars Craig when he fell into the hold as it prepared to sail from Drogheda port. He was rushed to hospital but died the following day, Christmas Eve. He was a married father of six. In January 1971, the Corporation met and proposed a vote of sympathy with his relatives and friends and also thanked all who had helped him, both at the port when the accident happened and in the Lourdes hospital. Gabriel was buried in St Peter's Cemetery, but without any family. Now, 50 years on, Michael Twohig wants to honour his old friend with a permanent memorial on his grave. 'I was 21 when Gabriel died. He was a saint of a man, from Cape Verde, a Portuguese colony at the time. 'In the summer of 1970, I was on the Friars Craig with him and we hit a storm off Lands End. We travelled two miles in seven hours, but managed to get around and into Penzance, but the boat was wrecked,' he stated. He was later shocked to learn about Gabriel's death and he didn't know where he was buried until he began a search for the grave, recently returning to Drogheda to see it. Gabriel was married with six kids and Michael wondered what became of them after his death. 'I hope to put a stone up to him as he's 50 years there,' Michael added. The Friars Craig was skuttled off Barbados in 1985 and today is a spot where divers come to explore the ocean. PORTLAND - Call it one-stop comforting. Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz came to Portland Friday to highlight the efforts being made to feed students and children during the surging coronavirus pandemic. She expressed concerns about ensuring that seniors and the homeless are also being provided with emergency food aid during the crisis. Bysiewicz also spread the word about the necessity of all residents filling out the census forms which should have in the mail this week. Data from the once-every-decade census, which was established in the Constitution, is used to determine federal funding to states and their cities and towns. Undeterred by the nasty weather it was a raw, damp day with occasional sprinkles of rain Bysiewicz visited with parents who queued up at the front door of Portland High School to receive pre-packaged breakfast and luncheon meals. She was accompanied by First Selectwoman Susan S. Bransfield, Selectman James K. Tripp, state Rep. Christie Carpino, and Portland Town Clerk Ryan J. Curley. Superintendent of Schools Philip B. OReilly instituted the grab-and-go program after the schools were closed in an abundance of caution as part of the effort to fight the virus. As they waited for the lieutenant governor to arrive, the local contingent - which also included IT director and town photographer David Kuzminski adhered to the new normal by keeping well away from one another. Arrayed on the sidewalk in the front of the school and standing closer to 10-12 feet from one another rather than the recommended six feet, the officials looked like life-sized chess pieces. That was especially the case when one person wanted to talk to another person who might be standing 20 feet away. The breakfast and lunch packages are prepared by the Sedexo Co., which has the food contract with the school system. Operations Manager for, Anita Lacasse, said she and a team of four employees begin putting together the packages at 8 a.m. each day. In response to a question form Bysiewicz, Lecasse said the number of students receiving packages has climbed every day this week. On Thursday, we served about 150 people, Lecasse said, Bysiewicz said approximately 130 out of 170 school districts within the state are providing similar food programs. We appreciate what youre doing, she told Lacasse. In response, Lecesse said, Were very glad were doing this. To get the packages a parent (or an older child) walks up to the door at the front of the school. A table is stretched across the of the doorway. A Sodexo employee stationed behind the table asks how many packages are needed and hands them to the parent. The program runs for two hours a day, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday. Bysiewicz ventured inside the doorway and wound up in in a conservation with Alexandra Rucz, the mother of two children, one in kindergarten, the other in the third grade. As she expressed thanks for the program, Rucz said her children look forward to the program, while she welcomes even the short ride from home to the school and back again. The very fact so many families are house-bound is a positive for filling out the census forms, Bysiewicz observed. Residents have until May 13 to fill out the form and return it. The absolute deadline for having the forms filled out is July 31, Bysiewicz said. The more we can get these forms filled out, the better, she said. She obliged her press secretary, Juliemar Ortiz, by leading a Count them All! cheer with she and the Portland officials each holding up a census reminder poster. Ontario has recorded its third COVID-19 death as the provinces chief medical officer pleads with travellers returning from March break vacations abroad to self-isolate at home for two weeks. We just need to do it and do it well, Dr. David Williams told a news conference Saturday, voicing concern about people coming from other countries who could be incubating the virus or unknowingly had direct contact with infected persons. Well start to see some numbers rising, he warned, noting the soaring number of cases in vacation hotspots in the United States. The latest victim of the global pandemic taking growing hold in Ontario was a man in his 70s who died at Royal Victoria Hospital in Barrie. He was a close contact of a man of similar age who died at the hospital on March 11, after himself coming in contact with another person who had tested positive for the new coronavirus. His death is a tragedy and underscores the seriousness of this pandemic, Royal Victoria president Janice Skot said of the latest victim. A date of death was not revealed by the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit, which flagged another case of note a woman in her 30s is in serious condition after going to Southlake hospital in Newmarket on Tuesday. Health unit officials said it appears the woman caught the virus in the community, not through travel. Ontarios case count rose by 58 on Saturday to almost 380, including six who have recovered and been cleared after follow-up tests. The backlog of tests, however, has now grown to more than 7,200 as more people return to the province from trips or go to assessment centres. That has led to delays of four to seven days for those anxiously awaiting results. With the provincial health lab and other laboratories running around the clock, Williams said 3,900 tests were processed yesterday with a goal of reaching 5,000 a day within a week or two. Recommendations to Premier Doug Ford on whether to request more stores to close -- or other measures -- to limit the spread of COVID-19 are not solely being made on test results that present an outdated picture, Williams said in response to a question. Its not the only metric, he added, noting his office is also getting regular reports from dozens of assessment centres and statistics on emergency room visits across the province. Its not all a week old. Williams said he does not have an updated figure on the number of patients now in hospital with COVID-19. The tally was 22 on Thursday with four patients in critical care on ventilators to breathe for them. Toronto medical officer Dr. Eileen de Villa said Saturday 193 of the provinces cases are in Toronto, with 10 of them in hospital. The city of Toronto also issued a plea for travellers to self-isolate. In terms of a possible wider shutdown, as several hard-hit U.S. states have ordered, Williams said the province is developing a list of essential services that would have to continue regardless, including grocery stores and pharmacies. That effort is being co-ordinated with the federal government to provide more consistency amid criticisms there is not enough standardization in measures by various provincial governments. A growing number of retail chains have decided to shut down voluntarily, including Winners and Ikea. Such was the demand online for Masses that the web service carrying the Diocese of Kerry's multiple feeds crashed amid thousands countywide clamouring for spiritual succour. Those who tuned in witnessed unprecedented scenes before the site went down - of the former Bishop of Kerry Dr Bill Murphy and other clergy in a host of churches celebrating Mass before row upon row of empty pews. But the Diocese worked fast to rectify the situation, with Masses streaming live from at least ten churches on St Patrick's morning without trouble. The Catholic diocese, as with the Church nationally, moved fast to close the door on large gatherings as part of the national fight to slow the spread of COVID-19. "Many of those who regularly attend are in the vulnerable category," Bishop of Kerry Ray Browne said in a statement released last week. "In solidarity with them we want that no one will be coming out to Mass. Every person minimising social contact is key. If this saves even one life..." he added. However, churches remain open to the public throughout the week - with all asked to maintain the minimum 'social' distance while praying. "Priests will continue to celebrate their Masses, without a congregation, for all the people of the diocese. "Where possible this will be broadcast via parish radio or webcam/streaming. People are asked to consider setting aside a few minutes for prayer at 11am on Sundays and St Patrick's Day," Bishop Browne said. He said the Diocese would decide on the next steps by Thursday of this week: "Meanwhile the diocese will seek to consult widely and by Thursday will make decisions regarding the next few weeks. This gives us time to pause and make good decisions." It is not expected there will be any change to the current closed-door Masses within the next few weeks at least. "Our parishes need time to think things through: serving all the faith-needs of the people; a special care for the health of those with underlying conditions and those advanced in years; proper guidance for priests and key parish workers, regarding Funerals and Baptisms. It is important for the functioning of each parish that our priests do not contact the virus." The Bishop said the Church would be taking its lead from the measures the government is urging everyone implement to stem the virus tide. "I encourage everyone to follow all their recommendations. Together, looking out for each other, we can come through the days and weeks ahead well. Be a good neighbour. Who around you needs a phone-call?" the Bishop asked. Meanwhile, he assured all those who were to make their Confirmation of rescheduled ceremonies 'in time'. "Did we think we would be looking to the Holy Spirit so soon to lead and guide us all during this pandemic? We seek consolation and peace in the Word of God," he said, citing Romans 12 and Matthew 11:28 where Jesus exhorts: "Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest." Though Masses are now behind closed doors, many churches are witnessing a surge in numbers of people praying at a safe distance from one another throughout the day as people seek comfort. Pope Francis has meanwhile expressed his sympathies with those experiencing the difficulties of cabin fever. "I am thinking of families who are cooped up", Pope Francis began morning liturgy on Monday. "May the Lord help them to discover new ways, new expressions of love, of living together in this new situation. It's a beautiful opportunity to creatively rediscover affection Let's pray for families so that the relationships within the family at this moment might flourish always." The internet of things (IoT) is disrupting industries, creating new ways of doing business but also posing technical challenges for IT executives. In the Middle East, a growing number of public administration and major smart city initiatives, particularly in the Gulf Cooperation Council region, has fueled adoption of IoT and related edge network, machine learning and 5G technology. IoT networks combine IT and OT (operational technology) including edge-network sensors, control systems, back-end servers and a wide range of applications. 5G connectivity plays a big part in Middle Eastern IoT deployments, and the GSMA predicts that 5G adoption will reach 16% in the GCC by 2025. Government-funded applications are putting some cities in the region on the cutting-edge of IoT deployment globally. The regions IoT industry is booming, with spending on related technology expected to hit nearly $18 billion by 2023, according to IDC. Competition to serve the region is heating up with Silicon Valley giants such as Microsoft and Amazon entering the market. When tech vendors and IT leaders from private and public enterprises gathered in the swanky Armani Hotel located in Dubais famous Burj Khalifa skyscraper at the 5th IoT Middle East conference last year, much of the discussion revolved around the idea that IoT systems are expected to generate a trillion dollar market in the coming decade, with far-reaching impact on areas such as energy, consumer electronics, telecommunication and industrial manufacturing. IoT devices collect data, they create a mesh network, (and) they send the data using cellular connectivity to the cloud and then from there on to the analytics and applications, explained Janne Kilpelainen, the senior vice president of IoT engineering company Haltian at the Dubai summit. Most of the IoT adoption in the Middle East is for the creation of public administration applications and major projects for smart cities, some of which are being built from the ground up. City planners use IoT networks to monitor and control infrastructure, devices and the flow of data, with the overall goal of optimising public services, enabling business opportunities and improving the standard of living for residents. For example, data can flow into machine-learning systens that can then do predictive analysis for maintenence planning for essential public utilities. MENA smart cities market alone is expected to hit $2.7 billion by 2022, according to a report released by KPMG at the sixth Annual Arab Future Cities Summit. CIO Middle East takes a look at some of the notable IoT-based projects, deals and infrastructure build-out in the region as it braces for a rapid shift in its technological landscape. The projects listed offer a look at how IoT will deployed to offer a wide range of new services. UAE transport, identity management projects The UAEs Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) and Etisalat signed an initial deal that opens more prospects for using 5G and IoT in a variety of applications related to RTAs business. The agreement calls for initiatives to improve mobility and transit safety in Dubai, and joint efforts to explore the use of 5G internet in transport and communication, the RTA said in a press release. UAEs second-largest telecom operator, du, has partnered with Indias Wipro to offer a purpose-built IoT Identity and Access Management platform for the Arab country. It will deliver secure outcomes for businesses needing trust and identity management at the centre of their operations, Wipro said. In 2018, the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) adopted General Electrics IoT platform Predix to enable the regulator to collect and analyze data in real time in order to enhance the speed and efficiency of its operations. The UAE continues to be an industry leader in IoT and smart city development. Recently, the RTA announced it would be host of the World Congress of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS World Congress) in 2024. This will be the first time that the ITS World Congress will convene in the region since its inception in 1994. Saudi Arabia focuses on 5G Zain Saudi Arabia and Nokia signed two important memorandum of understanding agreements that will enable the Middle East telecom operator to launch IoT services and provide end-to-end solutions to enterprises in the Kingdom. Zain will leverage Nokias Worldwide IoT Network Grid (WING) to launch the services and the move is expected to accelerate Saudi Arabias smart cities initiatives, the companies said in a press release. Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) signed an agreement with Zain Group to offer digital transformation services to customers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Under the initial deal, HPE will help Zains business customers tap 5G for IoT, big data and AI applicatiions. Early this year, the kingdom revealed its plans for a new smart city project. Dubbed The Line, the 170-kilometer development aims to be powered entirely by renewable energies, and will be hyper-connected through a digital framework incorporating artificial intelligence and robotics according to the projects public website. The Line will be the first development in Neom, a planned $500 billion city. Egypt builds New Administrative Capital Honeywell and Etisalat Misr, a unit of Etisalat UAE, formed a partnership to deliver city management services for citizens at Egypts New Administrative Capital, expected to be one of the worlds largest smart city projects. The U.S.-based industrial conglomerate will deploy IoT software and hardware solutions for a City Operations Center (COC) platform. IoT services come to Israel UKs Telit has announced a partnership with Israeli IoT security solutions firm Sternum to offer real-time embedded cyber visibility and security for IoT devices. Meanwhile, Microsoft plans to set up the companys first cloud region in Israel, with data centres equipped to handle IoT applications. The Israel cloud region expands the tech giants global cloud infrastructure to 56 cloud regions in 21 countries, with the new Israel region expected to be available starting with cloud services platform Azure in 2021, followed by Office 365. Azure offers IoT in addition to computing, networking, databases, and analytics. Gulf public cloud data centres offer IoT TDT | Manama His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa was given a grand welcome yesterday on his return to Bahrain from Germany after achieving a full recovery. Welcoming HRH the Prime Minister on his arrival in Bahrain was His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister. HM King Hamad congratulated HRH the Prime Minister on his safe return to the Kingdom and prayed to Allah the Almighty to protect him and bless him with abundant health, happiness and wellness. HRH Premier expressed deepest thanks, appreciation and gratitude to HM the King for his sincere noble feelings, as well as constant keenness to get reassured about his health, which, he said, had a positive impact on him. HRH Premier also expressed thanks and appreciation to HRH the Crown Prince for his kind visit, interest and noble feelings, wishing him abundant health and wellness. HRH the Prime Minister expressed profound thanks, gratitude and appreciation to all citizens and residents for their feelings of love towards him and keenness to get reassured about his health, which, he said, confirms the distinctive values of loyalty and authenticity enjoyed by Bahrainis. Such immense emotions and sincere supplications are a source of pride and appreciation and have a good impact on the soul. They embody the feelings of love and loyalty that bring all Bahrainis together, HRH Premier said. HRH the Prime Minister said: Bahraini society has been and will always remain a role model for cohesion, solidarity and love. We are resolved to continue exerting more efforts that develop the nation and its people. We are confident that Bahrainis are capable of attaining more achievements that consolidate the status of their nation at various gatherings, HRH Premier added. HRH the Prime Minister expressed thanks and appreciation to leaders and senior officials of Arab, brotherly and friendly countries for their good feelings towards him. I have dozens of half-read emails in my inbox about coronavirus from schools, airlines and other organizations. I sincerely believe that most of the senders had clear objectives for these messages and clear facts they wanted me to understand. Unfortunately, something got lost between their intentions and my comprehension. As a behavioral scientist, I study how people make decisions and process information, and I develop communications to change behavior for the better. And if there's one lesson all the coronavirus email writers should take, it's this: Messages should be as easy to understand as possible. This is difficult in normal times -- and is no doubt much more so with facts on the ground changing as rapidly as they are. But it also requires recognizing that human beings face several constraints. First, people have limited attention. This means our attention can be depleted and derailed, and that we cannot focus on several things at once -- even though we think we can. Given this, when people are faced with a long, convoluted message, the chances are slim that they will read it, understand it and remember it. Additionally, people have limited time. We are in the midst of a epidemic of busy-ness, as we race from one task to the next to the next. Add to that anxiety about this health pandemic, and it is not surprising that we do not read the latest treatise from our company, school or government about coronavirus. And people differ in how accessible written words are to them. Many messages are written in superfluous erudite verbiage (read: unnecessary fancy words). This is a problem when one in seven American adults struggles with literacy. Add to that that one in five people living in America speaks a language other than English at home. As an illustration of how potent simplifying messaging can be, Carly Robinson at Harvard, Jessica Lasky-Fink of the University of California, Berkeley, Hedy Chang of Attendance Works and I conducted an experiment with a large school district, in which we rewrote a state-required notification about attendance. All schools in California are required to send a truancy notification to families after a student is late or absent three times. The state legislature offered recommended language for the notice that was written at a college-reading level and contained 342 words in seven-point font. We rewrote the letter at a 5th grade reading level, in 14-point font and with half as many words. We then randomly assigned 131,312 families to either receive the state-recommended language or a version of our simplified letter. The best version of our simplified letters was an estimated 40% more effective at reducing absences during the subsequent 30 days than the state-recommended language. Writing with an understanding of how humans work turns out to be more effective than writing with the sole goal of complying with the delivery of mandatory written information. So, what can be done to make coronavirus messages, so critical to the functioning of our country right now, easier to understand -- and more likely to be read? Write in the most accessible way possible. Use the Flesch-Kincaid readability test (built into Microsoft Word and Google Docs) to test the reading-level complexity of your writing. Use as few words as possible. Shorter messages are more likely to be read (see the long email in your inbox from three months ago that you still have not read). Write in a larger font. This makes long messages look ridiculous and makes it easier to read for recipients with eyesight issues. It also reduces the chance of the accidental -- but way too common -- occurrence of emails appearing in inboxes with absurdly small font. Eliminate gratuitous borders and images. These can often distract from the message you are trying to send. Use a clear structure. People skim, so help them. As opposed to a multi-paragraph email written in normal prose, consider categorizing information under headings like, "What we want you to know" (or just "KNOW") and "what we would like you to do" (or, concisely, "DO"). Consider putting content within each category in bullet points. French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal once apologized in a letter to a friend: "I am writing you a long letter because I don't have time to write a short one." While such a faux pas may have been accepted in 17th century personal correspondence, today we should demand better -- particularly for conveying critical information about health, schools, and work. Communicators, please don't forget that your readers are human, and adjust your messages accordingly. On Wednesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared an Economic Stability Shield package for business totaling 100 billion Turkish liras (US$15 billion). Named after Turkeys latest invasion of northern Syria, Operation Spring Shield, it focuses above all on forcing workers to continue production despite the coronavirus pandemic. Before this program was announced, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Turkey was 97. It reached 191 and four deaths on Wednesday, and then 670 cases and 9 deaths on Friday, according to Health Minister Fahrettin Kocas report. The exponential increase in cases has created enormous anxiety among scientists and doctors, as neighboring Iran is an epicenter of the pandemic, with nearly 20,000 cases and at least 1,433 deada crisis vastly exacerbated by US and European sanctions. Just before a special meeting with ministers, business leaders and trade-union executives in Ankara, Erdogan advised workers to rely on patience and prayers. Though the virus threatens millions, Erdogan stressed he was not overly concerned: If we can manage these few weeks well and inform the nation well and keep the virus under control, we anticipate a good outlook, better than we had hoped. The focus of the measures Erdogan unveiled after the meeting is not to contain the pandemic, but bolster business against any fallout from the pandemic on Turkeys crisis-ridden economy. While he said nothing about providing adequate testing and medical care, Erdogan pledged to distribute protective masks and cologne for people older over 65even though many medical workers complain this equipment is lacking in hospitals. Already, two doctors have reportedly contracted the disease. Erdogans proposals were hopelessly self-contradictory. None of our citizens must leave their homes or get into contact with anyone, unless absolutely necessary, until the threat disappears, he said, while adding: Our top priority is that production and employment are not interrupted. He did not attempt to explain how production in industrial sectors not critical to fighting the virus could be maintained without workers leaving their homes, however. The government also plans to postpone debt payments and slash tax bills for corporations. It also is postponing for six months the April, May and June value added tax and social security payments of retail, iron-steel, automotive, logistics-transportation, cinema-theatre, housing, food-beverage, textile-garment and event-organization sectors. Ankara will grant financing assistance to exporters to guard against a potential fall in exports and so they can maintain capacity. Moreover, the state-owned Halk Bank will postpone credit, interest and debt payments for 3 months of businesses and small businessmen impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Businesses can delay credit and interest payments to the banks at least three months, and can receive additional financial liquidity if needed. Tax breaks and credit assistance are available to the tourism, airlines, and construction industries. The 20 measures include just two miserly ones for working people. While the minimum pension will be raised to just 1,500 Turkish liras ($230, compared to a minimum wage of 2,300 Turkish liras), just 2 billion lira ($308 million) from 100 billion lira package will be provided as financial aid to poor families. Business leaders welcomed the bailout. The opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP) criticized the handouts to business only as inadequate, as Istanbul deputy Gursel Tekin said: To support the economy, Germany allocated 600 billion dollars, Britain 400 billion, and the EU Commission 480 billion dollars. Erdogan's package is 15 billion [dollars]. Insufficient. With most workers still on the job, there are no measures to improve Turkeys health infrastructure to deal with an emerging coronavirus outbreak. In fact, it does not include any of the measures necessary to stop the spread of the disease, paving the way for a rapid spread as in Europe. A key element in this malign neglect policy is the refusal until last Sunday to test or quarantines of at least 15,000 people returned from pilgrimages or visits abroad. Official statements on the pandemic provoke broad popular distrust. While the health ministry still refuses to give details on the locations of the cases, individuals shared information via social media. According to a video released last Tuesday on Twitter, the first case in Turkey was from the Grand Bazaar, a historical and crowded tourist area in Istanbul. This information was hidden from the public and the area kept open without notifying other shop owners for several days. Scientists and doctors all warn that there has been no large-scale testing to prevent a rapid spread of the disease. As of Thursday, only 10,000 people have been tested in Turkey, a country more than 83 million people. Gaye Usluer, a clinical microbiologist and infectious disease expert at Eskisehir Osmangazi University, said on Monday: According to the official statements, the number of the cases is 18. The biggest factor in the low number of cases is that the diagnostic test is being applied to a very limited extent. That same day, Turkish Medical Association Chairman Prof. Dr. Sinan Adyaman declared, The number of patients is greater than stated, criticizing the government for delaying measures against the pandemic, in particular on the pilgrimage issue. On Wednesday, he again pointed to inadequate testing: For example, 20,000 tests were carried out daily in South Korea. Eight thousand is very low. We repeat, the number of tests, the centers where they are conducted should be increased and be free. Health Minister Fahrettin Koca, who owns a private hospital, only declared on Thursday that they would launch daily tests on 10,000 to 15,000 people beginning from Saturday. Professor Dr. Alpay Azap, a member of the health ministrys Coronavirus Science Council, warned Wednesday on Twitter: Considering that we are able to run [coronavirus] tests for very few patients and only 20 percent of them come to hospitals for diagnosis, it is possible that we reached the critical level for rapid spread of the virus many days ago. We should make all our efforts to not become Italy, where the virus has spread so fast due to the insufficient measures to prevent it. The day before, Azap had warned on television that there could be 5,000 to 30,000 cases in three or four weeks. Yesterday, Muhammet Emin Akkoyunlu, a doctor from Kocas hospital, declared on television that Turkey already has over 140,000 undiagnosed cases. On Wednesday, a video spread on social media showing a doctor from a university hospital in Ankara explaining, at a meeting of medical workers, that the situation in Turkey is very bad, and that there are thousands and not hundreds of cases, as officials claim. Tukeys public health system has been systematically gutted and privatized over the past two decades. While Turkey has 25,466 adult bedsalmost half in private hospitalsin its intensive care units, it has just 187 doctors per 100,000 people. This figure is 399 in Italy, the worst-affected country in Europe, and 607 in Greece, which has more than 400 cases now. Clearly anticipating a worsening situation, the Health Ministry issued orders Friday declaring all private hospitals pandemic hospitals to support public hospitals against COVID-19. The situation facing workers in Turkey is not different from that in Europe and beyond. While coronavirus spreads in the population, companies increase layoffs and forced unpaid leaves, or seek to maintain profits by forcing workers to stay on the job under unsafe conditions. Against this reckless policy, workers should raise critical demands to fight the further spread of the virus and to save millions of lives. Amid wildcat strikes in Italy, France, Canada and the United States, a demand that all non-essential workplaces be shut down immediately, with full pay for all workers, is critical. Necessary measures must be taken to protect refugees and prisoners. The pandemic requires full testing, free and equal health care for all, and a massive reallocation of resources internationally to fight the virus. TDT | Manama Bahrains Labour Market Regulatory Authority yesterday announced major changes to its application procedures and working hours as part of the newly introduced precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak in the Kingdom. Effective tomorrow, the authority said its main office, as well as branches, will function from Sunday to Thursday, from 8:00 am to 3 pm, only. The authority also requires to make all transactions via its Expat Management system (EMS). The move falls in line with the 11-point recommendations of the Government Executive Committee chaired by HRH Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister to ensure social distancing. As of now, the committee has limited public gathering to 20 people or fewer and requires a commitment to staying at home as much as possible, and go out only for necessity. Earlier, announcing the decision, HRH the Crown Prince said: Citizens who actively follow precautionary measures are the Kingdoms greatest ally against Coronavirus (COVID-19). As of yesterday, according to the Ministry of Health, Bahrain has tested 18,188 people for Coronavirus in the Kingdom. There are 174 active virus cases here, with 171 of them in stable condition and 3 in critical condition. The authority has discharged 110 people from quarantine. The ministry of health has also begun announcing contact tracing information on its portal. The data includes precautionary information regarding the locations visited by active cases of Coronavirus, including the dates of visit. Anyone who happened to be in the presence of one of their relative or acquaintances at a listed location should contact the ministry on 444. Citizens and residents returning from Iran during February or returning from Italy, South Korea, Egypt or Lebanon during the past 14 days, must register for medical examinations online or by calling 444. Richard Burr. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Republican Sen. Richard Burr called for an investigation into his own actions on Friday. ProPublica revealed on Thursday evening that Burr dumped as much as $1.72 million in stocks on February 13, days after reassuring the public that the US was well prepared to handle the novel coronavirus. Burr said in a statement Friday that he "relied solely on public news reports to guide my decision regarding the sale of stocks on February 13." "Understanding the assumption many could make in hindsight, however, I spoke this morning with the chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee and asked him to open a complete review of the matter with full transparency." Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Republican Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina is calling for an investigation into his own actions. On Thursday, ProPublica published a bombshell report detailing how Burr dumped as much as $1.72 million in stocks on February 13, days after reassuring the public that the Trump administration was well prepared to handle the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. "I relied solely on public news reports to guide my decision regarding the sale of stocks on February 13," Burr said in a statement Friday. He added: "Specifically, I closely followed CNBC's daily health and science reporting out of its Asia bureaus at the time. Understanding the assumption many could make in hindsight, however, I spoke this morning with the chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee and asked him to open a complete review of the matter with full transparency." Burr is the chairman of the powerful Senate Intelligence Committee, which has access to the federal government's most classified and sensitive information. According to Reuters, Burr's committee was getting daily briefings on the threat of the coronavirus around the time he dumped his stock. In a February 7 op-ed for Fox News, Burr along with Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee acknowledged that "Americans are rightfully concerned about the coronavirus" at a time when the number of cases in China were still skyrocketing. Story continues The senators added, however, that "Thankfully, the United States today is better prepared than ever before to face emerging public health threats, like the coronavirus, in large part due to the work of the Senate Health Committee, Congress, and the Trump Administration." According to Burr's financial disclosure form, he started dumping stock on February 13, six days after writing that op-ed. He made a total of 33 separate transactions, unloading anywhere from $1,001 to $100,000 worth of stocks in different companies. ProPublica's report came hours after NPR reported it had obtained a recording that features Burr raising dire concerns about the coronavirus to members of a private Washington club. "There's one thing I can tell you about this: It is much more aggressive in its transmission than anything we have seen in recent history. It's probably more akin to the 1918 pandemic," Burr said in the recording, according to NPR. "Every company should be cognizant of the fact that you may have to alter your travel," Burr added. "You may have to look at your employees and judge whether the trip they're making to Europe is essential or whether it could be done on video conference. Why risk it?" After ProPublica published its report, it surfaced that several other US senators had also dumped millions in stocks right before the markets plummeted amid fears of the coronavirus. Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler of Georgia sold off shares after a closed-door briefing on the outbreak on January 24. Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe and Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson also unloaded stocks in the weeks after the briefing. Read the original article on Business Insider (Photo : Screenshot From Kazinform Agency Facebook Page) North Korea Missiles In a previous article by Techtimes, North Korea has "unidentified projectiles" towards Japan earlier this month and it seems that Kim Jong Un has decided to do this again! With the whole world dealing with the coronavirus (covid-19) and North Korea claiming zero cases despite recently building a new "modern" hospital, Kim Jong Un has decided to launch another set of two projectiles which appear to be short range ballistics! Kim Jong Un's sister Yo Jong scolds South Korea for its "perfectly foolish" condemnations regarding the tests that happened earlier this month. South Korea and Japan reports the incident Just recently, North Korea has fired two different projectiles which are believed to be short-range ballistic missiles to the sea off of the country's east coast according to Seoul's military. The projectiles were launched from North Pyongyang province into the great Sea of Japan which is also known as the East Sea South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff has given their statements about this matter including "The military is monitoring for additional launches and maintaining readiness," but has withheld further detail as to the specifics of the event. Read Also: Former CIA Analyst Says North Korea Has Coronavirus: Kim Jong Un Still Denies While Building New Hospital The defense ministry of Japan has just stated that North Korea has launched "ballistic missile-like objects" following their statement by adding that there are still no indications of anything intruding Japanese territory or even its exclusive economic zone. The similar events which happened this month leading to the current launch In this very same month, North Korea has just deployed similar launches on two different occasions. Pyongyang had already said that they had conducted "long-range artillery" drills but Japan clarified that the projectiles appeared to be ballistic missiles. The launch happened during prolonged disarmament talks with the United States after more than a year between the meeting of both Kim Jong Un and president of the United States, Donald Trump, in Hanoi. Right before the projectiles launched, North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency or KCNA has just reported that the whoule country would convene its rubber-stamp parliament known as the Supreme People's Asssembly or SPA on April 10 despite panic of the coronavirus. Read Also: MISSILES LAUNCHED: North Korea Fires "Unidentified Projectiles" towards Japan! The Coronavirus is not the Only Thing to Worry About A personal letter was sent to the South's very own President Moon by Kim Jong Un which offered "comfort" for the raging covid-19 outbreak within the country. During the time of the letter, South Korea was hit heavily by the global pandemic and was one of the alarming countries aside from China. Seoul has reported to have the pandemic brought under control while Pyongyang still insists that there is not a single case that exists in North Korea. The United Nations and United States on North Korea Pyongyang is now under multiple sets of sanctions being upheld by the United Nations as well as the United States over their very own weapons programs in existence. North Korea has already carried out a series of trials for their weapons around late last year, the last of them being on November 2019. The heightened tension way back 2017 was followed by two years of diplomacy between Pyongyang and Washington which included three meetings between Trump and Kim, so far, there is very little tangible progress. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Even before Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued a stay-at-home order effective March 21, nonprofit organizations were forced to cancel fundraising events and have expressed concern that donations will suffer because of COVID-19. In order for many nonprofits and charities to help people, they need finances. Here are a few places you can help. By Marc Jones LONDON (Reuters) - Agitating bondholders have written to Argentina's government, accusing it of not doing enough to allow the country's crucial debt restructuring negotiations to make progress, according to bondholder sources involved in the process. Two sources told Reuters on the condition of anonymity that the three main creditor groups had sent letters in recent days saying that they wanted to contribute to an "orderly resolution" of Argentina's debt challenges. However, the creditor groups said they were concerned there was "a shortfall in collaboration" on the part of the government. They said they had received no response to a request earlier in the month for key information about the state of the economy and the government's plans. "We don't want an adversarial process but didn't receive any response - good faith negotiations require an exchange of economic and financial information and also depend on feasible economic policies," one of the bondholder sources said. Argentina's economy ministry declined to comment on whether it had received the letters or on the debt process. However, Economy Minister Martin Guzman in a presentation to creditors on Friday pledged to "intensify" engagement with bondholders. "We need cooperation on all sides to avoid a lose-lose situation," he said. Argentina is seeking to restructure nearly $70 billion in debt with international bondholders - including the likes of BlackRock, Fidelity, Pimco and Ashmore - to avert a damaging sovereign default that would block the giant grain producer's access to global markets. One of the sources said the government had replied to some creditors on Friday. The government response, he said, vowed that information would be forthcoming and the government would reach out to creditors for feedback. It may later reach out for input in defining the restructuring offer due in the next two weeks. Story continues Guzman told Reuters last week that the country will need "substantial relief" as it restructures the debt. "We will not accept anything that is not sustainable. We will be absolutely firm on that," Guzman said, adding that any deal would have to avoid putting more fiscal austerity on Argentina's recession-hit economy. "Clearly Argentina has no capacity to service interest over the next few years." One bondholder source who spoke to Reuters said recent talks with the government had not gone well and the worry was that the government was planning a "kamikaze" offer many investors were likely to reject. "We are here to negotiate in good faith under the IIF (Institute of International Finance) fair restructuring principals. We want a consensual solution that benefits the country," the source said. "The concern is that they might be seeking a unilateral approach that would fail." Argentina - a serial defaulter - settled long-standing court cases with creditors in 2016 under ex-President Mauricio Macri after a 2002 default left the country a pariah with investors. New Peronist President Alberto Fernandez has said that the country cannot pay its debts until given space to revive growth and has ruled out imposing fiscal austerity measures to help pay debts. (Reporting by Marc Jones in London, Additional reporting by Eliana Raszewski in Buenos Aires, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien) An AP report finds that the shortage of medical supplies in the United States correlated with the drop in imports, mainly from China. Why it matters: Emergency rooms, hospitals, and clinics are starting to run out of key supplies needed to protect health care officials and test potentially sick individuals, AP notes. The state of play: The Trump administration is considering lifting some of the tariffs against China with the support of U.S. businesses and health care officials, The Wall Street Journal writes. The latest delivery of medical-grade N95 masks arrived from China on Feb. 19, and 13 shipments of non-medical-grade N95 masks have reached the U.S. in the past month, per AP. These masks filter out 95% of all airborne particles. Hand sanitizer and swab imports dropped by 40%. Swabs are needed for a variety of reasons, but they help test for the coronavirus as well. Over-the-counter medical shipments have dropped, with only 5 shipping containers of medical thermometers arriving in the U.S during the last 30 days. Thought bubble: Axios' Sam Baker says this helps explain why President Trump invoked the Defense Production Act, an emergency tool that allows the government to bolster domestic manufacturing. But it also makes it even more surprising that the U.S. has not actually used that tool yet. Go deeper: China's coronavirus outbreak prompts congressional scrutiny of health supply chain This blog covers software patent news and issues with a particular focus on wireless, mobile devices (smartphones, tablet computers, connected cars) as well as select antitrust matters surrounding those devices. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 21/3/2020 (662 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ADRIAN WYLD Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Monday that Canada was closing its border to all non-citizens or non-permanent residents, except for Americans. It was a week that shook Manitoba, Canada and the world. A week of uncertainty, fear and isolation, but also of charity, resilience and hope. A week where news flew so fast it was almost impossible to follow, where situations changed hour by hour, and where all of a sudden nothing seemed solid. It was the week that everything became different. Here, glimpses of how some Manitobans lived it. Monday, March 16 In news that will send shock waves throughout Canada, the prime minister announces the nation is closing its border to non-citizens or non-permanent residents, except for Americans. As for Canadians, "if you are abroad, it is time for you to come home," he says, although anyone with COVID-19 symptoms will not be allowed in. Manitoba confirms its eighth presumptive case, a man in his 80s who had recently travelled. 3 p.m. Kristian Enright is grateful that his boss made the phone call personally, although the news still comes as a shock. He'd worked as an events facilitator at McNally Robinson in Grant Park for five years, and the bookstore was like home to him. He expected his hours would be cut back, but not severed. Now, along with most of the store's part-time staff, he is laid off. It happened so fast. "Its just this weird evacuation feeling of reality that is so unsettling," he says. "Its very uncanny in some ways. Everything is closed. It feels so sudden. Not that its not done for good reason, we obviously want to prevent this thing from becoming worse, but its just been so immediate." MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES The McNally Robinson Booksellers store at Grant Park Shopping Centre laid off most of its part-time staff, Monday. For now, he is enduring. As a writer, he does not fear isolation. It has been a good friend to him at times. He has an apartment he can hole up in comfortably, he has tutoring gigs and he can work as an editor. "Im luckier than a lot of other people," he says. "Because we really dont know the duration of this thing, itll feel very different if it persists beyond a couple of months, but other people have it way worse. I have things I can fall back on." Still, he worries about finding enough human contact the longer it goes on. He thinks about what the lack of it will mean: the value of sharing a meal with a friend, for instance. And he worries about folks living with depression or anxiety, as he has. It's hard enough navigating life without this "huge meta-narrative hanging over it," he says. "Im hoping to get more of a communal sensibility about it, and more of a citizenship-of-the-world feeling," Enright says. "We are all in this crazy thing together. Its not an anger about my situation, it's just a realization that, 'Wow, this is hitting my life quite personally.'" In the days that follow, a wave of layoffs will sweep across Canada as businesses shut down or scale back hours while social-distancing measures set in. Tens of thousands are out of work within days. Some economists predict it will be the worst single-month loss of jobs in Canadian history. Enright reaches back to a quote by author William Gibson. It seems to capture the moment. "When you want to know how things really work, study them when they're coming apart." Tuesday, March 17 The province announces that casinos will close at midnight. Licensed daycares and preschools will close Friday afternoon. Ontario announces its first death from COVID-19. There are seven new cases in Manitoba, bringing the provincial total to 15. Alberta, B.C. and Ontario declare states of emergency. 8 a.m. The first grocery store Carlos Sosa took his client to didn't have any toilet paper. The second one didn't, either. It wasn't until they got to the third, a big-box outlet near Polo Park, that they found 24 rolls of no-name brand paper, the most affordable option on the client's thin Employment and Income Assistance budget. RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Carlos Sosa is an activist with the disabled community. Sosa worries about his clients. There are three of them, all adults with intellectual disabilities who live on their own. Some are more vulnerable than others. One has good family support and he'll be fine in the long run, Sosa thinks. But there is another client who has nobody else in his life, really. He relies on Sosa for support. Even in normal times, that client is isolated. His main points of connection to the wider community are the regular visits he makes to local swimming pools and the Millennium Library. Both are closed now, and the client doesn't really understand why his comforting routine is gone. He is becoming more anxious. Just as concerning are the empty shelves. Last week, another of Sosa's clients needed toilet paper; stores were out of all but the priciest brand. He tried to explain that to the client, who became frustrated: he can't afford expensive things with his paltry EIA support. Sosa wishes the people hoarding essential goods would understand that it puts vulnerable people at risk. And as a longtime advocate for people with disabilities, he is worried about what will happen to those who need the most help. "Its absolutely critical that (all three levels of government) understand that people with intellectual disabilities, or disabilities in general, are a marginalized population," Sosa says. "A lot of these individuals were already very isolated, theyre even more isolated right now. Theyre so vulnerable." 12:45 p.m. On a window at Fionn MacCool's there are five words, applied to the glass in old-fashioned gold letters. "We're all in this together." Over the nearly three years since the pub opened, co-owner Jay Kilgour has walked past that phrase every day, but never really paused to think about it. The words were just part of the esthetic of the place. Now, as he wrestles with the decisions he's had to make, they have come into stark focus. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Jay Kilgour, owner of the Fion McCool's franchise at Grant Park in Winnipeg. It is lunchtime on St. Patrick's Day and the pub is clad for the occasion. Green-and-white garlands are draped over the booths, while tables are resplendent with sprigs of metallic foil clover. It should have been bustling with people; just 48 hours earlier there were 40 reservations booked for lunch and a big party was anticipated in the evening. Now, it's closed to everything except takeout and delivery. In the morning, Kilgour helped cook even as he blinked back tears: he'd just had to lay off about 70 staff from Fionn's two locations. The best thing he could do for them, he thought, was make a firm decision so that they could start applying for Employment Insurance quickly. The decision wasn't easy. On Sunday night, Kilgour knew the pub would have to close soon; when Canada's chief public health officer Theresa Tam recommended limiting gatherings to no more than 50 people, he thought briefly about hiring security to keep the St. Patrick's Day crowd within that limit. But then he thought about videos people would take partying at his pub, even as Canada braced to withstand the crisis. He thought about the dangerous message that would send. And he knew that, even though the St. Patrick's Day revenue is crucial for venues such as his, it wasn't as important as doing the right thing. "Even if we were following those rules, it would appear careless," he says. "It would have been very easy to close at end of day today, but that would have been irresponsible just to capture a little bit of sales. For the safety of our staff and our guests, it just made sense. God forbid somebody get sick in here. Id have to live with that." On the same day, dozens of other Winnipeg restaurants made the same decision. Kilgour, like others, went on to donate unused food to chef Ben Kramer's charity effort, making meals for Main Street Project and other non-profits. "Its tough to take a stand, but its easier when you do it with other people," he says. "The community is really tight in Winnipeg, and Winnipeggers, especially, recognize things like that." In some ways, Kilgour has had a unique window onto what a pandemic can mean. His wife, Erin Schillberg, is an epidemiologist: in 2014, she spent months on the ground in Sierra Leone, working to battle the ebola epidemic. "That weighs very heavily on me," he says. "Ive witnessed what its done to communities in places shes worked, and how some of them have never recovered. Theres all these debates about whether COVID-19 should have this much media around it thats the wrong argument right now. Lets just get it taken care of. "All these alarms are being sounded for a reason. And if we can learn from the places its hit harder, then we should." Wednesday, March 18 Canada and the U.S. announce that the border will close Friday to all non-essential traffic, which now includes Americans coming to Canada. Ottawa unveils an $82-billion emergency package. An elderly man in Quebec becomes that province's first death from the virus. Saskatchewan declares a state of emergency. An Ottawa Senators player becomes the first NHLer to test positive. Two new cases in Manitoba are added to the total. 11 a.m. As the beat of the music begins to rise, Hannah Rose Pratt climbs on the bike. Her legs start to pump forward. She calls out to her audience, giving directions: roll those shoulders back, she says. Hear the melody building. Picture it like a wave of water, pooling at your feet, building some of the connection everybody's been missing. On a normal day, the riders in this spin fitness class might answer as they push their bodies through the movement, connecting with Pratt's message. But today the vault as Wheelhouse Cycle Club calls the dark, candle-lit space is empty. Anyone riding along with her is watching at home on their phone. JESSE BOILY / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Hannah Pratt, left, and Casey Lanxon-Whitford live-stream their spin class at Wheelhouse Cycle Club in Winnipeg. It's strange to teach a class on live Instagram video like that, she says. It feels more tiring than usual, because the vault itself doesn't feel so alive: she just has to trust that people are watching and feeling the vibe. "I just had to think about the audience through the phone and sort of remembering the energy that we would feel in the room, so I could evoke that in myself," Pratt says. "Its this reciprocal conversation when youre leading a class. Youre getting energy from the riders, youre saying words that resonate with them, and they start cheering." On Monday, when Wheelhouse announced it would close, Pratt sat down and cried. She wholeheartedly supported the decision and she has a day job, so she'll be fine; but four times a week, she finds her own peace in the vault, in connecting with the riders, in building a community through fitness. That part, at least, she can keep doing. On Tuesday, the studio announced it would rent out its bikes and lead classes on Instagram. Within minutes, all 41 bikes were claimed. A few recipients cried when the bikes were delivered to their homes; they'd be able to keep riding. It's not just the fitness. So many of the riders aren't there just for the workout. Pratt, who openly advocates for mental health, says many have approached her to say the classes help them get through rough patches. "To lose that as a part of your routine, its almost like a lifeline for some people," she says. "To all of a sudden have that sucked away... that part of this whole thing is so daunting. We dont know how long its going to last or how well get through it. "So trying to create some sense of normalcy, and access people where they are and make sure they feel connected even if theyre not physically there, is important." Thursday, March 19 The head of Saskatchewan's medical association tests positive. He believes he got it at a curling bonspiel for medical professionals the previous weekend in Edmonton. In Manitoba, teachers arrive to classrooms nearly emptied of students. At one school, so few kids show up they combine what used to be five classes into one. 1:09 p.m. Jennifer Dame taps out a Facebook post and hits send. It's a message to the group We Got This Winnipeg, which sprung up as a place to offer and receive help as pandemic containment measures spread. Dame joined the group earlier in the week, and she and her mom, Susie Dame, had spent two days helping deliver supplies. SUPPLIED Susie and Jennifer Dame helped deliver needed supplies to self-isolating Winnipeggers before taking time to isolate themselves. Now, feeling rundown after hopping in and out of stores all week, the pair are deciding to self-quarantine. "I almost feel like, maybe everybody should do that," Dame says. "Go help for a couple of days and then self-isolate." But she still has supplies she wants to offer the group, to anyone able to pick them up: some soap, a few bottles of cleaning spray, toothpaste and toothbrushes. Things that she and her mom picked up on their own dime, hoping it could help folks struggling to find supplies, or who are isolating at home. Their week's nine deliveries took them all over the city from Charleswood to Transcona, from Elmwood to St. Vital. They never met the people they helped, many of them single mothers which resonated; Susie was a single mom they left the items on porches. When Jennifer thinks about what inspired them to do it, her voices catches a little in her throat. "Its scary, and we just felt like somebody has to help," she says. "There has to be helpers. My mom and I thought, 'There's a lot of people who need help right now, and at this time were healthy and able, so lets do that.'" Friday, March 20 The global death toll from COVID-19 passes 10,000. Manitoba declares a 30-day state of emergency. The province will now enforce a 50-person limit on gatherings. It also announces a $27.6-million fund to support child-care efforts, especially those for essential workers. 2 p.m. Nancy Greenwalt cradles her pipe in her hands, and begins the sacred ceremony. She is at home, but she is not alone; across North Point Douglas, others are doing the same, joining together in prayer as they do at the cusp of every solstice and equinox, feeling the resonance of their shared connection. In normal times, they would have done this together at the Gonzaga School gymnasium. Organizers moved the pipe ceremonies there, after the gatherings grew so popular that the cozy North Point Douglas Women's Centre could no longer fit them; in this community, many people find healing through traditional ways. These are not normal times. Last week, the centre's Women's Warrior Circle had its usual Thursday-night meeting. There's no way to know when they will see each other again and the loss is keenly felt. "It really made me heartsore because a lot of us depend on each other for that companionship and those teachings," Greenwalt says. "Were unable to give hugs anymore. We cant see each other's faces. All of us are so bonded and miss each other greatly right now." Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. After the meetings were suspended, Greenwalt thought of the upcoming spring equinox pipe ceremony. At 64 and with existing respiratory health complications, the Anishinaabe elder has been self-isolating at home. Still, she knew that now, more than ever, her community needed that connection. They've been so resilient already. Over the last week, she's seen on Facebook how North Point Douglas residents have come together, helping each other by delivering groceries or dropping off diapers. Theirs is not a wealthy neighbourhood; they will need to lean on each other to ride out this storm. With that in mind, Greenwalt, along with other grandmothers and pipe carriers of their circle, extended an invitation: they couldn't come together at Gonzaga School, as they usually would. But they could still hold their pipe ceremony at the same time in their own homes, feeling each other's presence through the spirit of prayer. Now, she prepares her pipe, knowing others are doing the same along with her. "It gives people hope," she says. "It gives people a sense of security that ceremonies are still happening. Theyre being supported in that way through prayer, and through the ceremony itself, by getting it done. It brings comfort." melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca Melissa Migneault Dupont, a literacy instructor at East Greenbush Central School district, messages her high school students three times a day. Sometimes she'll send a lighthearted meme or just ask them how they're holding up. The teens, many of who struggle with language barriers or have special needs, rarely respond. "It's frustrating and sad," Dupont said. "I teach a population that is already behind the eight ball when it comes to education. They fall even farther behind when we can't keep their knowledge fresh." If teachers' jobs were hard before the novel coronavirus swept through the Capital Region, forcing schools to close and families to retreat indoors, last week was especially trying as they scrambled to create through a computer screen a sense of normalcy for the hundreds of thousands of children that were suddenly out of school. With COVID-19 cases on the rise in New York, schools have been ordered to stay closed through April 1 to slow the rate of infection, but local districts have had little time to get their teachers up to speed on remote learning tools like Google Classroom and Blackboard. Efforts have been made to get district-issued Chromebooks and WiFi hotspots into homes, but too many students still lack consistent internet access or a supervising adult to help them maneuver the online classroom, officials say. "Right now we are just trying to take this day by day and meet each challenge as it comes up," Albany Public School Teachers' Association president Laura Franz said. "We are all desperate to do what we love and connect with our students." School officials in Albany and East Greenbush have decided to delay introducing new material until all teachers and students are on board, citing equity concerns. They worry about widening achievement gaps, not to mention federal laws that require districts to provide students with disabilities an equal opportunity to participate in all the district offers. Instead, teachers have come up with "self-guided" or "parent-guided" lessons, a combination of optional assignments, online reading materials, and educational games to keep kids busy. LATEST ON THE CORONAVIRUS More Capital Region education and coronavirus coverage Here are the latest cancellations and postponements. For a detailed map, check out The Times Unions New York Coronavirus Tracker To get regular updates on our coverage, sign up for our coronavirus newsletter. In the city of Schenectady, teachers spent the last week trying to touch base with all 9,250 students, while homing in on the most vulnerable, students who live in poverty or are dealing with trauma at home, according to Juliet Benaquisto, a special education teacher and president of the Schenectady Federation of Teachers. "It's all hands on deck; everyone is trying to do everything," Benaquisto said. "I make contact with every student almost every day, whether it's through my Google classroom, email or by texting families, or getting on the phone with them to make sure they have internet." The state Education Department has provided some guidelines, and class formats can vary greatly. Teachers who had been using online learning platforms continue to use them, while others say they are still figuring out the technology. An ambitious few have tried to schedule a Google hangout or record videos of themselves speaking directly to students. Loudonville Christian School Educators are also finding it difficult to plan without knowledge of how long the closures may last. Some say they'd like to provide more structure and accountability for students, but they know many parents are preoccupied with keeping their own jobs and food on the table. It's still unclear the missed school days can be made up in the summer or if students will be held back a grade over the lost learning. On Friday, the Education Department announced that state standardized tests would be suspended this year so that schools could continue "focus on local school and community needs" during the closures. No one is sure what will happen with the Regents exams that are slated take place in June. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. "Until the Regents are canceled, I don't want anyone to not be prepared," said Mike Silvestri, a U.S. history and activism teacher at Schenectady High School. Silvestri, who is also an officer in the Schenectady teachers union, said instead of taking attendance, he posts a daily question on Google Classroom to gauge participation among students. Sometimes the prompt is class-related, other times it's "How's your day going?" A drop-down, multiple-choice menu makes it easy for students to respond. Some private schools in the Albany area have found ways to provide more structured online instruction, at least for older students. At Loudonville Christian School, students in grades four through 12 have largely resumed their old schedule by video conferencing most of their classes with Zoom. Band, physical education, and art are still done independently, and parents must sign off to give students credit. The classes and socializing have kept us on a regular schedule," said Katie Whitt, who has children in fourth, seventh and ninth grade at the school. "Without that schedule and normalcy, it would be a tougher time. For the younger grades, however, the Loudonville school has set up an online portal where teachers post daily activities and resources for parents. Online instruction doesn't always work as well for younger children, who require more hands-on support, schools are finding. In Schenectady and Albany, elementary school children were sent home last Friday with homework booklets and instructions to call a teacher if they need help. "We had packets ready with crayons, markers, pens, and pencils to hand out to the children," Arbor Hill Elementary School Principal Rosalind Gaines-Harrell said. "Our main concern is online access." As they wait out the crisis, teachers are tending to children's physical a social-emotional needs. Many have volunteered to distribute "grab and go" meals at designated pick-up locations. Bus drivers are delivering lunches to families who can't leave their homes. For parents who worry that their kids aren't getting much learning done, school leaders are asking for little patience as districts figure out a system that works for all students. "Real talk, there's a reason we go to school," Franz, the Albany union leader, said. "It's really important that instruction comes from a teacher to the students, and it's a construct that works. You can't just replace that by getting in front of a computer." One year ago, this column focused on another unprecedented event. Nebraskans all across the state suffered catastrophic losses as a result of the floods of March 2019. Dozens of Nebraska communities declared disaster. Thousands of homes were impacted. For small businesses, farms, ranches, and governmental services including schools, healthcare and basic infrastructure, the effects were profound and in some communities, are still being felt. March 2019 was unparalleled, but even those events couldnt have prepared us for the extraordinary circumstances we face in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now that community spread (viral spread not connected to travel) has been confirmed in Nebraska, it is only a matter of time before COVID-19 appears in every Nebraska hometown. Health experts are telling us that the most vulnerable, especially elders, are at especially high-risk from COVID-19. It is projected that five percent of all COVID-19 patients will need to be hospitalized. If that happens in a short period of time, our healthcare infrastructure will be overwhelmed and unable to help everyone who needs care. Prolonged school closures, along with the other dislocation and disruption, will put a strain on all of us. In a 2015 doctoral dissertation for the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Kristin Watkins examined the history of the 1918 flu pandemic in selected smaller Nebraska communities (Wayne, Red Cloud, Anselmo, Valentine, Scottsbluff, and Gering) and surrounding rural areas. Watkins said, It is clear that rural location did not provide protection from the virus. One lesson, she concluded, was that rural communities should not be lulled into a false sense of security by their geographical isolation. But panic is not productive. Altruism and action are the answers. I said it in March 2019, and Ill say it again: Nebraskans are amazing. The qualities and values that make us unique love of community and concern for our neighbors are precisely the principles that will help us navigate the chaos and fear that surround us. At Nebraska Community Foundation, we sum it up with these four words: Together a Greater Nebraska. Community building, at its essence, is creating a culture of care, belonging and shared sacrifice. For years Nebraska Community Foundation has been encouraging the 1,500 community volunteers we work with to build relationships before you need them. Now is when those existing relationships can be beneficial to every one of us. Now is the time to activate our relationships and capacity to benefit every Nebraskan and every Nebraska hometown. This pandemic is proof that community unrestricted endowments are a critical tool for Greater Nebraska hometowns. Flexible, locally controlled capital that can be used to address unanticipated challenges and opportunities that are guaranteed to arise. We are asking communities and volunteers in the NCF network to initiate conversations with local education, healthcare and public health leaders. How can local grantmaking help alleviate the pressures being felt as a result of COVID-19? In our globally interconnected world, the likelihood of the COVID-19 virus impacting your community this year is almost assured. We hope that is not the case, but hope is not a plan. Please reach out if we can be of service in helping our Nebraska hometowns respond in these unprecedented times. Together a Greater Nebraska. Jeff Yost is President and CEO of Nebraska Community Foundation. Feel free to contact him at jeffyost@nebcommfound.org. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 In the winter of 20022003, the deadly SARS coronavirus exploded out of Chinas wet-blood wildlife markets. SARS infected over 8,000 people worldwide and killed almost 800. Yet post-crisis, China laxly enforced bans on the offending markets, only to permit them to flourish soon thereafter. Todays COVID-19 is the deadly and avoidable legacy of Chinas recklessness. U.S. secretary of state Mike Pompeo has proclaimed that COVID-19 stems from just such Chinese wet-blood markets. While Beijing has praised them as protein sources, their unsanitary practices have long been identified as perfect viral melting pots for zoonotic diseases diseases that jump from animals to man. In COVID-19s wake, China shut down cities and shuttered the offending Wuhan markets for now. Today the world strains to curtail COVID-19, mourn losses, and salvage livelihoods. Tomorrow it must prevent a like recurrence and account for damage done. Tomorrows tasks regrettably require forthrightly identifying and addressing Beijings wrongful, unnecessary, and repeated misdeeds. As many, including Dr. Bill Karesh of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, have shown, readily affordable measures, including refrigeration and culturally sensitive regulation, could replace Chinas lax and dangerous wet-market practices. Yet Beijing persisted, even after SARS illustrated the international risks. That disturbing record proved a breeding ground for COVID-19 and may recur. Despite a vast treasury and a world-leading economy, the Chinese Communist leadership has neglected necessary reforms, spending lavishly instead to further hegemonic ambitions in Asia and beyond, as well as its hold on China. To expand her geo-political reach, Chinas Belt and Road Initiative throws money at infrastructure projects from South Asia to the North Atlantic and from the South China Sea to Palau. National Bureau of Asian Research currently estimates BRI to cost around $1-1.3 trillion (USD). Over the past decades, Chinas defense spending increased on average roughly 10 percent per year, a rate vastly exceeding any competitor. For a pittance of such expenditures, China could have avoided todays pandemic and helped prevent future ones. Story continues Internally, the CCP has spent millions viciously repressing multi-child families, Internet use, Muslim Uighurs, Hong Kong democrats, and the Dalai Lamas Tibet, to name a few. Food stalls would be child play. Who suffers from CCP leaders prioritizing international hegemony and party supremacy? The world. Sadly, after COVID-19 began to spread, China exacerbated its wrongful conduct: first covering it up; then hindering others abilities to understand, halt, and mitigate the disease; and finally blaming its victims. In a recent interview, National Security adviser Robert OBrien suggested that Chinas cover-up of the coronavirus outbreak delayed the global response by two months. Chinese authorities, he noted, actively suppressed doctors warnings. Once word got out, China then barred health experts from China, where they had hoped to study the disease and its spread. These lost months were costly. All the while, unwitting travelers spread the virus. Lost weeks delayed gathering medical supplies, readying facilities, and developing countermeasures. Having unnecessarily caused and exacerbated a worldwide pandemic, untouchable Chinese officials added their next outrage blaming America. Beijing shamelessly poses as both victim and savior, seeking disproportionate praise for sharing genome information, casualty data, and, relative to the harm, limited supplies. In any just and lawful setting, actors who recklessly pursue hazardous activities would be held accountable for foreseeable harm caused to others. It would not matter if the wrongdoers did not intend such harm; it would be enough that they knowingly persisted. Exacerbating harm by concealing it and retarding mitigation only increases such liability. Prevention and simple justice require that Beijing accept consequences facing any other wrongdoer including an end to dangerous practices and extending at least partial compensation to those so grievously harmed outside China. International diplomacy, legislation, executive action or legal proceedings here and abroad should seek to ensure Beijing acts responsibly. Yes, China, too, has suffered from its irresponsible practices. Many Chinese have tragically died, and Beijings guided economy has stumbled from Beijings misguided choices. However, the free world groans under horrendous losses of Beijings making. The unnecessary deaths will be staggering and financial losses crippling. According to assessments by the UN and others, this outbreak could cost the world between $1 to $2.7 trillion. As of mid-March, the U.S. stock market has dropped almost 30 percent from its mid-February high, wiping out nearly $3.7 trillion from the U.S. market alone. As families cower amid Lysol wipes, businesses reel from disrupted supply chains and operations. Recession looms, forcing states worldwide to introduce stimulus packages, with the U.S. debating a $1 trillion plan. Over the years, the self-appointed rulers of China have escaped not just domestic, but international liability for their wrongdoing. Over the years, their thefts of intellectual property, wrongful trade practices, ruthless domestic oppression, support of rogue regimes, proliferation of nuclear technology, and unlawful conduct in the South China Sea have been excused or effectively ignored. Certainly, China has never suffered setbacks commensurate with what it sought to gain. Why do Chinese leaders think they can get away with such wrongs? As President Trump warned Americans years ago, because they have. He added, shame on us for letting them do so. To his enormous credit, President Trump has said, Enough. His administration has made great strides reversing the worlds complacency toward Beijings misdeeds. As the president and leaders like Senators Cotton and Rubio turn to bolstering U.S. defenses and preventing future devastation, American and world leaders alike should find ways to ensure that this time, China does more than temporarily close a market. Otherwise, the next wet-blood pandemic awaits. More from National Review The good news is that parking is going to be free for a while in Easton, but most of the other news in an emergency declaration issued Friday night by the citys mayor is decidedly bad. Mayor Sal Panto Jr. says in the declaration that the city is projecting a loss of at least $1 million every four weeks as long as the coronavirus pandemic continues forcing businesses to stay closed. The mayor tells lehighvalleylive.com that the projected revenue loss will largely come from three areas: the city is no longer collecting an amusement tax because Crayola Experience and other attractions arent open; far less money is coming in from the parking garages because people arent visiting downtown; and a pool of funding that comes to the city from the Wind Creek Casino in Bethlehem has dried with the casinos closing. I have also signed onto letters with my fellow elected officials across this great country that any bailout of large corporations should be accompanied by relief for small businesses and local municipalities, Panto says in a summary of the declaration. Our small businesses and residents will not be able to incur increased taxes to offset the projected loss in revenue. Postponing payments on small-business loans is one of the measures the federal government could take to provide relief, the mayor says. Locally, there are also several ideas being discussed, including the possible use of Community Development Block Grant funding to help offset small business losses. As for what the city can do directly to offset its losses, the emergency declaration puts a moratorium on all purchases and projects with an exception for costs associated with responding to the pandemic. The declaration also addresses several other immediate needs, including COVID-19 protocols for city directors and their employees and how to handle city councils obligation to conduct its business in open public meetings at a time when health officials are advising against gatherings. Panto says the city is working on new technology that will allow residents to watch the meetings remotely, and hopefully give them the option to call in for public comment. The next city council meeting is scheduled for March 25 and must be held in order to extend the emergency declaration. Further details on how the public can access these public meetings will be forthcoming, he says in the declarations summary. Other changes that kick in as a result of the declaration include: Allowing for free parking in the citys garages until March 30. Curtailing the booting of vehicles through March 30. Curtailing any residential municipal utility shut off that may have been scheduled. Also, Panto has authorized the city to put up signs providing free 15-minute parking in spots in front of any small businesses that are offering curbside pick-up. Many Lehigh Valley businesses, particularly restaurants, have begun the service because of Gov. Tom Wolfs orders prohibiting dining in and closing all non-life-sustaining businesses. The orders are aimed at curbing the spread of coronavirus. Nick Falsone may be reached at nfalsone@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickfalsone. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. (SIMON WEISENTHAL CENTRE) A new document containing the details of 12,000 Nazis who fled to Argentina has been published after it was discovered in an old storage space in Buenos Aires. The US-based Simon Weisenthal Institute, which has been instrumental in tracking down Nazis, published a few pages of the document on Monday. The NYC based centre says that many of the people listed had Swiss bank accounts - shining new light on the finances of war criminals who are said to have stolen from persecuted jews. In a statement, the centre said: We believe that these long-dormant accounts hold monies looted from Jewish victims. Soldiers from the US Army hold items of looted art treasures hidden by the Nazis. (Getty Images) Following the collapse of the dictatorship, known Nazis fled mainland Europe to avoid being brought to justice for their crimes - with many heading to Argentina. What were the Ratlines? The "Ratlines" were a system of escape routes for Nazis and other fascists fleeing Europe in the aftermath of World War II. In 1930-1932 Argentina had a pro-Nazi military regime led by President Jose Felix Uriburu - nicknamed "Von Pepe" - and his successor Agustin Pedro Justo from 1932-1938. Read more: The fearless, forgotten hero who humiliated the Nazis on horseback Argentine army general Juan Peron, who later became President for three terms, secretly ordered diplomats and intelligence officers to establish escape routes - which later became nicknamed ratlines. The routes were designed to go through ports in Spain and Italy, in order to smuggle thousands of former SS officers and Nazi party members out of Europe to South America. The Simon Weisenthal Center claims the newly unearthed documents show Credit Suisse could have held the accounts of thousands of Nazi sympathisers and SS members. (PA) Argentina: The Nazis' "Cape of Last Hope" Argentina had an affiliation with the Axis of dictators in Europe, because of the countrys close cultural ties with Germany, Spain, and Italy, with many of the countrys citizens of European descent. Reports and archives states claim wealthy Germans and Argentine businessmen of German heritage were willing to pay the way for escaping Nazis. Read more: The Hanau shooting shows how Germany is returning to its Nazi past Story continues The Weisenthal Centre, which published the documents, it alleges that Argentine banks with ties to Germany took the money stolen from the regime's victims and transferred them to what was then called Schweizerische Kreditanstalt - now known as Credit Suisse. In response to a request from AFP, Credit Suisse said that between 1997 and 1999, an independent commission of experts, chaired by Paul A. Volcker, investigated Credit Suisse and sixty other Swiss banks with the aim of identifying accounts that may or may have belonged to victims of Nazi persecution. Josef Mengele fled to Argentina after the collapse of the Third Reich. (Getty Images) A host of top ranking figures in the Nazi regime sought to escape South America. Josef Mengele, the doctor nicknamed the Angel of Death, who conducted experiments among the prisoners at the Auschwitz death camp, fled to the country. Read more: Jewish-German pensioner 'lived next door to Hitler' during rise of Nazi Party Josef Schwammberger, a leading SS commander in charge of three labor camps in the Jewish ghettoes of Nazi-occupied Poland during WWII, also escaped to Argentina. Walther Rauff, who invented the infamous gas chambers used to kills millions of Jews, fled using the ratline to Quito, Ecuador, before arriving in Chile. Adolf Eichmann Who Is One Of The Founders Of Gas Chambers And Other Extermination Equipment In Oswiecim (Auschwitz) After Arrest In Israel. World War Ii. (Photo by: Sovfoto/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) Were they brought to justice? Most of the Nazis who went to Argentina looked to remain low key, fearing repercussions if they were too vocal or visible from hunters. dedicated to tracking down war criminals. Many high profile figures in Hitlers regime were among those who entered Argentina. Adolf Eichmann, one of the architects behind the Holocaust, was snatched off a street in Buenos Aires by a team of Mossad agents and whisked off to Israel where he was tried and executed. Read more: Former neo-Nazi leader arrested in swatting scheme Other wanted war criminals remained cautious: Josef Mengele drowned in Brazil in 1979 after having been the object of a widespread manhunt for decades. But unfortunately, some escaped their crimes altogether. West Germany requested the extradition of Walter Rauff in 1963 but the request was expired under Chile's statute of limitations. Rauff became a wealthy food producer and died of a heart attack on May 14, 1984. POPE PIUS XII - UNDATED - (AP-PHOTO) What's happening today? There is speculation that the Catholic Church turned a blind eye to the Nazi regime, with some claiming the church helped to facilitate the escape of Nazi war criminals to South America. Critics say Pope Pius XII - labelled "Hitler's Pope" during his tenure at the time of WWII - knew Nazi Germany was murdering Jews but failed to act. But on Monday, church historian Hubert Wolf together with a team of historians said they planned to spend the next four months combing through archived Vatican documents from the papacy of Pius XII. An employee opens the Vatican Secret Archives area on the pontificate of Pope Pius XII in Vatican City, Vatican. (Getty Images) It is the first time the Holy See has published the archives from Pius' tenure - with some hoping it will offer a chance to investigate the role of the church in the escape of Nazis from Europe when the Third Reich collapse. The University of Munster professor told DW."It's an incredible opportunity to answer several pending questions from the era, and a huge challenge. We're talking about 300,000 - 400,000 documents of 1,000 pages each." "It may transpire that the pope knew nothing of any concrete help and that some people ruthlessly exploited that. Or Pius knew all about it, and turned a blind eye. Dubai (AFP) - Dubai carrier Emirates Airlines announced Saturday it would suspend flights to dozens more cities, taking its total route closures past 100, in a bid to forestall the spread of coronavirus. The United Arab Emirates on Friday announced its first two deaths from the disease. Total recorded infections in the UAE stood at 153, of which 38 have recovered. The latest suspensions by Emirates Airlines take the carrier's total closed routes to 111. The airline normally serves 159 destinations. "In response to the latest developments in the COVID-19 outbreak around the world, Emirates is taking extra steps that go above and beyond industry and regulatory requirements to ensure our customers' health and comfort," the company said in a statement. Emirates said flights to some destinations would be suspended for up to three months while others, including to Paris, Frankfurt and Islamabad were stopped "until further notice". Abu Dhabi's carrier Etihad also announced on Saturday it was suspending flights to some 40 cities in China, India, Saudi Arabia, Spain and Italy. Gulf countries have imposed various restrictions to combat the spread of coronavirus, particularly in the air transport sector. The UAE has stopped granting visas on arrival and forbidden foreigners who are legal residents but who are currently outside the country from returning. And on Saturday the UAE announced it was temporarily closing beaches and other public areas, including parks, movie theatres and gyms, to contain the spread of the virus. Restaurants and cafes, however, could remain open if they provide a home-delivery service and limit client capacity to 20 percent, the National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority said on Twitter. The new measures would remain in effect for two weeks, pending review, it added. House of Dagmar was established in Stockholm in 2005 by Karin Soderlind, Kristina Tjader, and Sofia Wallenstam, three sisters on a mission to create truly sustainable, low-impact fashion meaning, unlike much of the competition, theyre not just throwing around buzz-words. On their website, theres a timeline of Dagmars accomplishments, from the introduction of certified mulesing-free merino wool in 2008 to the revolutionary launch of what the brand calls animal-friendly fur, or mohair wool that is sewn onto cotton, not unlike how wigs are made. The brand has used the technique, continuously adapting it (cruelty-free shearling, anyone?) ever since. Theyre also open about the fact that the journey to sustainability is just that a process. Sometimes it feels like we dont know anything, either, said Wallenstam, the youngest of the sister trio, as she and her older sister Karin walked me through their spring 20 collection in the brands Stockholm showroom. Instead of letting the unknown get them down, the brand began measuring their eco footprint in 2017, which they post to their website each year, in order to learn how they can improve it. By calculating the brands specific water and waste consumption, as well as their carbon footprint, they were able to learn details about the fabrics and practices that they were utilizing, including information that could reflect negatively on Dagmar. We always thought that natural fibers were good, but then you learn that the production of it is not good, so you have to keep learning, Wallenstam continues. Its fun to try new things and keep people informed with our products, whether its creating down jackets out of recycled bottles or coming up with new ways to manufacture leather, both of which the brand has done over the years, designing puffer coats from recycled PET-bottles and leather pants using chrome-free leather. Because chrome is really damaging to the environment and also cancer-causing for the workers, weve started using chrome-free leather, Soderlind explains. Truly sustainable manufacturing considers the people, the environment, and the animal, so thats what we try to do here. For the leather, we use better vegetable oil and chemicals, as well as a closed-loop system a system that keeps chemicals from being released into the environment to avoid the chrome from entering into nature and putting the workers in danger. Story continues The brand is also busy experimenting with sustainably produced viscose, which, when made with natural wood, often uses dangerous chemicals that are damaging to the environment. Theyve also just opened a new store in Stockholm, which only sells pieces from the brands Good Choice label, a subset of the brand that was created in 2019 to help customers identify sustainable pieces from Dagmar. All pieces from the brand that are made from ethically produced and environmentally friendly materials wear a Good Choice label. Now, a store dedicated solely to those pieces will be housed in Swedens capital. And its something theyve been working on since the beginning, Soderlind told me. When we started the company, there were three goals that we had in mind all of which boil down to what in todays terminology is called sustainability. When we started in 2005, that wasnt really around at all. Many of todays top brands are struggling to implement sustainable practices into their production, but a widespread change in protocol will never be necessary for House of Dagmar. For us, its just been so certain and in our bones all along. After just a few years, we were like, oh wait, what were doing is sustainability. Just for their pieces to be sustainable isnt enough, though. The goal for Dagmar is bigger than that. If we can make other brands out there feel as if were at the forefront not that its a competition because this is one of the only things that you dont want to compete with anyone about then itll make our competitors want to fight to keep up with us. If that happens, the world will be better, Soderlind says. People need a little kick in the ass. And thats exactly what Karin Soderlind, Kristina Tjader, and Sofia Wallenstam are prepared to dole out. Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here? This Fashion Startup Is Disrupting The Sale Cycle Shiona Turini On How To Build A Career In Fashion The Women-Run Fashion Houses Changing How We Dress Copyright 2020 Albuquerque Journal Nearly 11,000 New Mexicans have filed initial unemployment claims in the past week, more than any week during the Great Recession. No one on our staff ever remembers it being this high in a week, Workforce Solutions Secretary Bill McCamley told the Journal on Friday. From Sunday through Thursday, McCamley said, the Department of Workforce Solutions received 10,879 initial unemployment claim requests. By comparison, McCamley said, the department received around 800 such requests the week before. The spike comes as New Mexico and other states are working to control the spread of the new coronavirus. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has ordered all restaurants, breweries and bars to close, except for takeout and delivery orders for food. Additionally, she has ordered indoor shopping malls and movie theaters to close. The orders have prompted mass layoffs in the affected industries, as business owners look to adjust to the new normal. As other states make similar rules across the country to slow the spread of the virus, experts have predicted a similar spike nationwide. In a note to investors, an economist with Goldman Sachs predicted as many as 2.25 million unemployment claims could be filed nationwide by Saturday, according to CBS News. During the height of the Great Recession, McCamley said, around 60,000 New Mexico residents received unemployment benefits, although those came in over several years. As far as anyone can remember, this situation is unique, McCamley said. New Mexicos seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 4.8% in January, the most recent month for which data is available. From now on, the Department of Workforce Solutions intends to release initial unemployment claim totals for the previous week on Friday mornings, after the U.S. Department of Labors national claim report is released. McCamley encouraged individuals filing a claim to do so through the agencys website for maximum efficiency. Were digesting information on a daily basis, he said. The grim toll of coronavirus deaths in Italy, the world's worst-hit nation, surged past 4,000 on Friday as New York and other US states joined California in ordering a lockdown to try to bring the pandemic under control. While new infections were being detected around the planet, there was a glimmer of hope in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the pandemic began in December, with no new cases reported. As Italy reeled from its worst single-day toll with more than 600 deaths, worldwide fatalities swept past 11,000, with the number of infected people topping 258,000, according to an AFP tally. Governments and central banks continued meanwhile to throw huge sums of money into the economic battle, hoping that a deep global recession could somehow be dodged. Mohammad Nor Azwan Ishak, 27, and Nuramiraalia Noorbashah, 25, wear face masks as a preventive measure against the novel coronavirus as they pose for pictures at a traditional ceremony before their wedding in Lanchang, outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. By Mohd RASFAN (AFP) US President Donald Trump applauded decisions by the governors of New York and California to order residents to stay home but said he did not think a nationwide lockdown was needed. "Those are really two hotbeds," Trump said. "I don't think we'll ever find (a US-wide lockdown) necessary," he said, adding optimistically that the United States was "winning" the war against the virus. Shortly after Trump spoke, the governor of Illinois ordered residents of the midwestern state to stay at home and the governor of Connecticut did the same. The stay-at-home orders put the three most populous cities in the United States -- New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago -- under lockdown. Britain, falling in line with its neighbors in the European Union, also announced tougher restrictions, telling pubs, restaurants and theaters to close and promising to help cover the wages of affected workers. Italy reported its worst single day, adding another 627 fatalities and taking its reported total to 4,032 despite government efforts to stem the virus spread. California has told its 40 million residents to stay at home. By MARIO TAMA (GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP) The nation of 60 million now accounts for 36.2 percent of the world's coronavirus deaths and its death rate of 8.6 percent among those registered with infections is significantly higher than in most other countries. France on Friday reported 78 more deaths over the last 24 hours, bringing the death toll there to 450. 'Hope' In encouraging news, Wuhan reported no new cases in 24 hours. The Basilica di San Miniato al Monte illuminated with the colors of the Italian flag in Florence, Italy. By Carlo BRESSAN (AFP) "Wuhan provides hope for the rest of the world that even the most severe situation can be turned around", said World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Hours earlier, California, among the worst-hit US states with over 1,000 cases and 19 deaths, told its 40 million residents to stay at home. New York state, which has reported over 7,000 cases and 38 deaths, followed suit on Friday morning, ordering its nearly 20 million residents to do the same from Sunday evening. "We're all in quarantine now," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said. Illinois issued a similar stay-at-home order. Across Europe, governments continued to rigorously enforce lockdown measures. By SEBASTIEN BOZON (AFP) "Left unchecked, cases in Illinois will rise rapidly, hospital systems will be overwhelmed, protective equipment will become scarce," Governor J.B. Pritzker said. "They are taking strong steps. I applaud them," Trump said, referring to Cuomo and California Governor Gavin Newsom. Trump also announced Friday that the US and Mexico have agreed to restrict non-essential travel across their border beginning on Saturday. He said the move, similar to one already announced with northern neighbor Canada, was necessary to prevent the "spread the infection to our border agents, migrants, and to the public at large." Across Europe, governments continued to rigorously enforce lockdown measures as the continent's most celebrated boulevards and squares remained silent and empty even as warmer spring weather arrived. Wuhan -- the Chinese metropolis where the COVID-19 pandemic began -- reported no new cases in 24 hours. By STR (AFP) France, Italy, Spain and other European countries have told people to stay at home, threatening fines in some cases, and Bavaria became the first region in Germany to order a lockdown, imposing restrictions on going out for two weeks. 'Idiots' France said more than 4,000 people were fined on the first day of its confinement and ministers branded those breaking the rules as "idiots". Graphic showing largest number of daily cases of COVID-19 from March 13 to 19. By (AFP) The strict measures follow the template set by China, as a lockdown imposed in Hubei province where the virus first emerged appeared to have paid off. China's death count was steady at 3,248, according to an AFP tally. Europe now accounts for more than half of the world's fatalities linked to COVID-19. Accurate figures are difficult to come by, however, as many of those who die suffer from other illnesses and infection rates are uncertain because of a lack of testing in many countries. The shadow of the virus is lengthening across Africa and the Middle East too. Gabon confirmed sub-Saharan Africa's second known death on Friday, with reported cases across Africa standing at more than 900 and rising fast. A member of the Bolivarian National Guard checks a woman's temperature outside a market in Caracas, Venezuela on March 20, 2020. By Federico PARRA (AFP) In Iran, both supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani promised the country would overcome the outbreak -- but still refused to join the rest of the world in imposing heavy restrictions. The pandemic has sparked fears of a global recession, battering the world's stock markets and prompting governments to push huge spending plans to limit the damage. The central banks of the United States, Japan, Britain, Canada and Switzerland joined forces on Friday in a new bid to keep money pumping through the world economy. In the United States, senators began negotiations over a $1 trillion emergency stimulus package to help Americans ravaged by the virus outbreak. The US package -- coupled with a European Central Bank plan to buy 750 billion euros in bonds -- saw stock markets across Asia and Europe rebound in Friday trading, but Wall Street finished sharply lower. The global sporting calendar, shredded by the pandemic, still has one major event coming up that has not yet been called off -- the Olympic Games, set to take place in Japan in the summer. burs/cl/acb Illustrative image (Photo: VNA) The 88th case is a 25-year-old female resident of Hanois district of Ha Dong. A student in the UK, she came back through Noi Bai airport on March 12 and underwent a self-quarantine at home until March 16 when she felt difficult breathing. Her sample test later turned out to be positive, and she is now being under quarantine with stable health conditions. The 89th is a 22-year-old female resident of Ho Chi Minh City. She travelled from New York, Boston of the US to Japan and from Japan to Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City on March 17 night on Flight NH831. Entering Vietnam, she showed no symptoms of the disease but her sample was taken on March 18 early morning and later tested positive. The patient is now quarantined in the citys Cu Chi district. The 90th is a 21-year-old female resident of Ho Chi Minh City. Over the past one month, she came to Barcelona in Spain and on March 15, she headed to Dubai from Barcelona on Flight EK188. She arrived at Tan Son Nhat airport on March 16 on Flight EK 392. Entering Vietnam, she had a light fever and cough. Her sample tested positive later. Lastly, the 91st is a 43-year-old British pilot of Vietnam Airlines residing in Ho Chi Minh City. He was a passenger on Flight VN10 from London to Vietnam on February 8, but could not recall his subsequent itinerary and international and domestic flights. He served as a pilot on Flight VN272 from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi on March 16 and Flight VN607 from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City the same day. From March 13-18, he stayed in Ho Chi Minh City and visited a number of eateries and recreation establishments. On March 17, he started to have a fever and cough and on March 18 afternoon, he was admitted to the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases with a lung problem. His sample tested positive on March 18 night and March 20, and he is now being treated at the hospital. Mike Pence and his wife Karen Pence will be tested for Covid-19 after a member of his staff contracted the novel coronavirus, the vice president said in a White House press briefing on Saturday afternoon. Standing next to key members of Donald Trumps administration and several of the nations leading health experts, the vice president confirmed he was going to be tested after reports indicated a member of his team contracted the virus earlier in the week. Mr Pence said the aide had not been to the White House since Monday, and that neither he nor the president had direct contact with the staff member. Both I and my wife will be tested later this afternoon, the vice president said. He also said his aide was doing well after having tested positive for the virus, adding that he experienced mild, cold-like symptoms. The vice president said that he decided to get tested based on his unique position leading the administrations task force and overseeing the federal governments response to the global pandemic. Mr Pence advised Americans not to get tested for the coronavirus if they dont show symptoms for the illness, which include runny nose, coughing and respiratory issues, a fever and other more severe complications in some circumstances. The president has also previously received testing for Covid-19 and said those results were negative. On Saturday, Mr Trump said he was tested again. "I feel fine," he told reporters. "I hope I look good." Mr Pence also said the US was on day six of what the administrations task force has described as a 15-day window to slow the spread of the virus, as tens of millions of Americans have been ordered to stay at home and governors across the country declare states of emergency. Health officials said the pandemic would likely impact the US for as long as 18 months, as a federal plan of action to deal with the crisis warned of outbreaks coming in multiple waves. Mr Pence said on Saturday that testing is expanding rapidly throughout the country. He added: Among the number of more than 195,000 that have been tested, it's important to remember that only 19,343 at this momenthave tested positive for the coronavirus. Coronavirus cases in India have now climbed to 283 after a positive case was detected in Noida. The residential complex in Noida, where the latest case has been found, has been shut for next 2 days. As the novel coronavirus aka COVID-19 continues its outward progression, a Noida residential complex went into state-imposed lockdown on Saturday for the next 2 days after one of its residents was detected positive. Reports have confirmed 5 cases in Noida so far, taking the total number of positive cases to 271 in India. Globally, COVID-19 has infected more than 2,50,000 people and has claimed over 11,826 lives. Initiated by Gautam Buddha Nagar District Magistrate BN Singh, doctors and the society management, the 2-day lockdown began at 10 am and will be in force till Monday 7 am. An official told media that societys sanitation is underway and till then people have been directed to stay inside to be safe. No person would be allowed to enter or exit the apartments during the lockdown, added an official. People violating the direction would be penalised under Epidemic Diseases Act-1897 section 2, the notice said. The total number of COVID-19 positive cases in Uttar Pradesh has now gone up to 25. Till now, 9 cases have been reported in Lucknow, 8 in Agra, 5 in Noida, 2 in Ghaziabad and 1 in Lakhimpur-Kheri. On Sunday, a 14-hour Janata Curfew will be in force from 7 am to 9 pm. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called for the measure on Thursday to curb the spread of the virus. PM said India is all set to tackle the pandemic and urged people to support the self-quarantine measure at this crucial time. He requested people to stay indoors, avoid traveling, public gatherings for next a few days. He advised people to wear masks, wash hands at regular intervals with soap or clean them with sanitizers to avoid infection. In cognizance of the situation, the Uttar Pradesh government has shut restaurants, gyms, pubs, clubs, malls and cinema halls till March 31. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has been monitoring the situation continuously. The Ayodhya Ram Navmi Mela has also been a scalled down as Yogi government banned entry of pilgrims from other states. Holy dips at saryu kund are also banned in view to infection risk. So an *official* order on #RamNavamiMela at Ayodhya finally comes. 1) Ayodhya administration has BANNED entry of devotees 2) hotel bookings cancelled till April 3) dip in Saryu banned 4) devotees told to observe Navratras at home Outrage that never was? Padmaja joshi (@PadmajaJoshi) March 21, 2020 Similarly, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala, Telangana and other states have also decided to head towards a partial lockdown. Talking to the media, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal had said that hospitals and medical centres are prepared to deal with the situation and keep positive cases, suspects in isolation. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal: I appeal to all of you to discontinue your morning walks for some time and stay at home. We are not doing a lockdown currently but we might in future, if necessary for your betterment and safety. pic.twitter.com/xIHQ3FYRUj ANI (@ANI) March 21, 2020 Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has banned public gatherings and urged people to cooperate as COVID-19 can be curbed only by self-isolation. He has also shut down the Mumbai Metropolitan Region barring essential services. Telangana CM K Chandrashekhar Rao also asked people to avoid crowded places and postpone weddings, other functions as the threat looms. For all the latest National News, download NewsX App Drew Jones (L), 16, killed 58-year-old Mark Winchcombe with one punch (Picture: South Wales Police) A teenager has been detained for four years for killing a pub landlord with a single punch. Mark Winchcombe, 58, went to the aid of another person who was being attacked when he was hit by 16-year-old Drew Jones. He suffered fatal injuries in the incident in the early hours of 1 September 2019, outside the Smiths Arms pub in Neath, South Wales. Jones, of Waunceirch, Neath, denied manslaughter but was convicted by a jury at Swansea Crown Court following a trial earlier this month. A judge lifted an anonymity order following an application by journalists from WalesOnline. Read more: Home Office releases 300 from detention centres amid Covid-19 pandemic Drew Jones was detained for four years (Picture: South Wales Police) In a victim impact statement read to the court, Mr Winchcombes widow Christine said her husbands death had changed her familys life forever including losing her home and business. She described him as the life and soul of the pub and said his passing had a profound effect on the community. Mrs Winchcombe said: Mark was a much-loved man, he was always on hand to help anybody. Thats what Mark was doing on that fateful night and he paid the ultimate price with his life. It is only with the love and support of my wonderful family and friends from the pub that my son and I have got through the last six months. Read more: McDonald's uses tape to create coronavirus social distancing boxes We were married for 23 years. Not only did I lose my husband, I lost my best friend and the man I could turn to about anything. He was the protective figure to my son and I he made us feel safe. He was a loving and generous man, and I saw my whole future with Mark. Mrs Winchcombe said her husbands mother Joan took his death particularly hard. Detective Superintendent Darren George, of South Wales Police, added: Marks life was needlessly cut short after he went to the aid of another person in the street. This case yet again sends out a clear message of how disorderly behaviour can end in tragedy. Our Divisions Copyright 2021-22 DB Corp ltd., All Rights Reserved This website follows the DNPA Code of Ethics. Actor Priyanka Chopra and her American husband Nick Johas took to Instagram to reassure fans in difficult times of coronavirus spread. They wished all to stay safe and take care of each other. Sharing the video, Nick wrote: Love you all. @priyankachopra. In the video, Nick says that it was unsure times for all. He said: Hi everyone, I know its an unsure time for all of us. Hope youre doing okay. Sending you positive vibes. Priyanka then said: Lets just take care of each other. I hope every is safe out there. Lots of love. Both Priyanka and Nick are doing their bit as celebrities, creating awareness and asking fans to practice social distancing in times of coronavirus, while insisting that it is the best way to stop the spread of this pandemic. Like many other celebrities across the world, Priyanka has also self quarantined herself and is in self isolation with Nick Jonas. However, she is doing her bit online to create awareness. On Wednesday, she urged her followers to rely on authentic sources of information about coronavirus and arranged an Instagram live with top personnel of the World Health Organization (WHO) to raise awareness about the pandemic. The 37-year-old actor documented her videos on Instagram stories where she expressed the importance of only relying on authentic information about the highly contagious disease. The Sky is Pink actor started the video by saying a hello and went on to say how life seems to be upside down. Also read: Robert Downey Jr willing to return as Iron Man for less money after Dolittle flop: report Priyanka joins a long list of celebrities including Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Shah Rukh Khan, Alia Bhatt, Madhuri Dixit, Ayushmann Khurrana among many others who are warning fans against coronavirus outbreak and requesting them to take all the necessary measures. (With ANI inputs) Follow @htshowbiz for more Moderate tremors were witnessed in parts of Bastar and Sukma districts in Chhattisgarh on Saturday, an official said. However, no casualties or damage to property were reported, he said. "An earthquake with a magnitude of 4.2 on the Richter scale hit parts of Bastar and neighbouring Sukma district at around 11.15 am. The epicentre of the quake was 34 km away from Jagdalpur in southeast direction close to Chhattisgarh- Odisha border," a meteorologist at Meteorological Centre here told PTI. The tremors triggered panic in the largely forested region, with people coming out of their houses in villages and towns. According to the local administration, no loss of life or property was reported and officials were instructed to monitor the situation closely. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A media video camera electronic viewfinder shows a passenger wearing a face mask and a makeshift plastic visor as a precautionary measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus after arriving at Hong Kong's international airport, March 19. Anthony Wallace/AFP via Getty Images Hong Kong reported 48 cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, on Friday. Of the newly infected people, 75% had a recent travel history. Facing a potential surge of infections over the next several weeks, the city is considering whether to bar outsiders from entering the city, according to the South China Morning Post. "This is the worst time to relax because we're at the highest risk since this began," said University of Hong Kong medical dean Gabriel Leung. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Hong Kong could face a new surge in cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, experts warn. The semi-autonomous city, which shares a border with mainland China, reported 48 new cases of the virus Friday. It's the largest increase in infections over a single day since testing began. Thirty-six or 75% of the newly infected people had recently travelled, according to Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection. One of them is a cab driver who had made trips to and from the airport. All but one of 48 are Hongkongers. Some health authorities warn that unless city officials restrict travel, the virus could spread quickly. Health Minister Sophia Chan Siu-chee told legislators to consider preventing non-Hong Kong residents from entering the city, according to the South China Morning Post. "As some of the cases had travel history a few days before ... with the incoming number of residents returning to Hong Kong, we may see a high number of cases for at least two weeks or more," Dr. Chuang Shuk-kwan, chief of the Centre for Health Protection, told the Post. A passenger wears a face mask as a precautionary measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus as he travels on the city linked train to Hong Kong's international airport on March 19. Anthony Wallace/AFP via Getty Images Hong Kong now has 256 COVID-19 cases, 98 of which are recovered. But the spate of new cases is a warning sign that the virus could continue to spread quickly. The Hospital Authority, which oversees government hospitals in Hong Kong, said it might jettison additional non-urgent services to prepare for another outbreak. Story continues "This is the worst time to relax because we're at the highest risk since this began," Professor Gabriel Leung, the dean of the University of Hong Kong's medical faculty and a member of Chief Executive Carrie Lam's expert panel on the epidemic, told the Post. "It is absolutely critical especially as we have this influx of Hong Kong returnees starting from a few days ago and continuing for the next few days. This is the highest risk and we must be extra vigilant," Leung continued. Another expert at the university, microbiologist Ho Pak-leung, warned that 200 new cases could emerge in the coming weeks from travellers alone. "When one patient passes the virus to two people in the community to form an unknown number of hidden transmission chains, then it's very likely that we will have 400 to 600 cases in the next two weeks," Ho told the Post. A massive number of travellers enter the city each day. On Thursday, more than 13,100 people arrived in Hong Kong, over 90% of whom are residents. Read the original article on Business Insider Archbishop of Goa Filipe Neri Ferrao cancelled the Sunday mass at all churches in support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for "janata" curfew to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. No mass with congregation should be celebrated at places of worship on Sunday, the spokesman from Archbishop's Palace said in a statement released here. "Priests are instructed to celebrate their mass without congregations with the intentions of their flock. This mass could be used to reach the faithful by using the modern means of communication at our disposal," he said. The coastal state, which witnesses a heavy footfall of foreign tourists, has not reported a single positive case of coronavirus so far. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) For more coverage, visit our complete coronavirus section here. A San Francisco telehealth startup has launched an at-home COVID-19 test for people experiencing symptoms of the disease. Nurx, which is known for its birth control and sexually transmitted infection testing, devoted all its resources in the last two weeks to ramping up production of the test after the federal Food and Drug Administration cleared the way for certified labs to provide testing for the novel coronavirus. The company consulted with its lab partner, Washington state-based Molecular Testing Labs, frequently while developing the test. The extent of COVID-19 infection in the United States remains unknown in the wake of the Trumps administrations failure to roll out widespread and accessible testing. The nation has lagged behind every other country with a high proportion of coronavirus cases, testing fewer than 28,000 people as recently as Sunday. That number has improved through the week. On Friday afternoon, the COVID-19 Tracking Project reported that 138,500 people had been tested. Its better than nothing, for sure, Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute, told STAT. But were two months late. Its a small attempt to help a little bit. Its not worthless, but its so little, so late, its embarrassing. People who want to be tested can use Nurxs mobile app or website and fill out a survey inquiring about their symptoms. We dont look for the severity of symptoms, only the presence of them. They can range from mild to severe, said Nurx spokeswoman Allison Hoffman in an email. But, people with truly severe symptoms should also seek immediate care In terms of temperature in particular, we determine a fever is 100.4 plus. A Nurx provider reviews the questionnaire responses and decides if testing is warranted. If it is, a test kit is sent to the patient via expedited shipping. The patient completes the test, including taking a throat swab and returns it to Molecular Testing Labs. The lab then runs a polymerase chase reaction (PCR) test to determine if the patient has COVID-19. Hoffman said results should be available within 48 hours of the lab getting the sample. The service currently costs $181, including shipping charges. Hoffman said Nurx does not bill insurance for the test but encourages patients to submit receipts to their insurance plan for partial reimbursement. Nurx is initially focusing on people who have been directly exposed to the virus people who work in hospitals, nursing homes, medical clinics and schools or daycare facilities, Hoffman said. For those who are at high risk, our clinical team will be recommending in-person care, she added. Nurx attributes the fast turnaround on developing the test to its experience with in home testing paired with online consultations and its close relationship with Molecular Testing Labs, which is Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) accredited and College of American Pathologists (CAP) licensed. MORE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE: Sign up for 'The Daily' newsletter for the latest on coronavirus here. --- Mike Moffitt is an SFGATE Digital Reporter. Email: moffitt@sfgate.com. Twitter: @Mike_at_SFGate STEPANAKERT, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijani Armed Forces violated the ceasefire regime more than 250 times in one week (March 15-21) and fired around 1900 shots from various caliber small arms at military positions of Artsakh, the Defense Ministry of Artsakh said in a news release. The Defense Ministry added that the Artsakh military maintain full control in the frontline and continue confidently fulfilling their combat mission. It did not report losses. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan About 12 years after the US government bailed out General Motors and Chrysler, Washington policymakers are debating how to throw Boeing a lifeline as it reels from dual crises over the coronavirus and 737 MAX. The aerospace giant, which manufactures the US presidential jet Air Force One in addition to defense and commercial aircraft, has asked for USD 60 billion in federal support for the US aerospace industry, but it is not yet clear how such a bailout would function. "Boeing is on the brink," prominent hedge fund investor Bill Ackman said this week. "Boeing will not survive without a government bailout." Boeing's financial picture was already under pressure even before the coronavirus. The 737 MAX, which had been the company's top-selling plane, has been out of service for more than a year following two deadly crashes. The lengthy grounding has cost the company upwards of USD 18 billion, a figure that is expected to rise. The coronavirus has now worsened that picture considerably, obliterating demand for flying and putting Boeing's airline customers in financial distress. The situation has pummeled shares of Boeing, leaving its market capitalization Friday at around USD 54 billion. Also Friday Boeing announced that it was suspending its dividend until further notice and that Chief Executive Dave Calhoun and Chairman Larry Kellner would forgo pay until the end of the year. The company, which had previously announced it was suspending share buybacks, said the program would remain paused indefinitely. Boeing's dual crises would threaten the survival of other companies, but it still retains considerable support in Washington because of its importance to the US economy, with about 130,000 employees. And that figure does not include a much larger group workers employed by Boeing's 17,000 suppliers. President Donald Trump on Tuesday endorsed aggressive measures to assist the companies, telling reporters at a briefing, "we have to protect Boeing and help Boeing." In a securities filing Thursday, Boeing said there are a "variety of approaches" currently being discussed to support the US aerospace industry, but the company declined to comment further on the options. Aid for aerospace is not included in the USD 1 trillion stimulus package now being crafted on Capitol Hill, although it does including help for airlines. One option that has been discussed is for the government to take an equity stake in Boeing. "Taxpayers should receive equity in a company in return for assistance so that the public benefits from its investment when the company is fiscally stable," said Oregon Democratic Representative Earl Blumenauer. If Boeing follows the model set by General Motors and Chrysler after the 2008 financial crisis, it would file for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 and restructure its finances. The auto bailout was launched by former president George W. Bush in 2008 under the Troubled Assets Relief Program, and carried through by Barack Obama's administration. The federal government injected USD 81 billion into two of Detroit's "Big Three" automakers and took equity stakes in the companies, and then sold those shares in December 2013. GM filed for bankruptcy in June 2009 and received USD 50 billion in support that allowed the government to take a 61 percent stake in "new GM." The company was effectively nationalized, although officials avoided that term. The restructuring cost shareholders USD 11.2 billion, but saved some 1.5 million jobs, according to the Center for Automotive Research. Scott Hamilton of Leeham News, which specializes in aviation, said a US takeover of Boeing could pose competitive concerns in the defense industry. "Boeing is the nation's number two defense contractor. How would this affect defense contract bids? I imagine Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman might have some concerns," Hamilton said. "I don't think there's much of a rationale for a US stake in Boeing," said Richard Aboulafia of the Teal Group, a research consultancy focused on aviation and defense. The government also could make aid conditional on splitting the company into two entities, one focused on commercial planes and the other on defense, experts said. Another possibility could be a merger of Boeing into one of the other defense giants, experts said. Lockheed Martin did not respond to queries, while Northrop declined comment. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Around the world, the coronavirus outbreak is taking its toll on countries' national health systems and impacting dramatically on the public's way of life. In Italy, doctors say hospitals are on the brink of collapse as they struggle to deal with the number of patients. In the US, Illinois and New York state have joined California in ordering all residents to stay in their homes. In Australia, Bondi Beach in Sydney has been temporarily closed after thousands of people flocked there. Yesterday, deaths in Italy surged by 627 in a day to 4,032 - by far the largest daily rise since the coronavirus outbreak emerged. The reported age profile of patients in Lombardy, the region worst affected by the virus, has also decreased according to Cremona Hospital. Dr.Lorenzo Grazioli, an anaesthetist at the hospital, says governments should not wait until the infection rate gets as bad as Lombardy. He said: "If you can see what has happened in another country or another part of your country, (waiting to do) something is now not an option. "Maybe at the beginning when we didn't know exactly what would happen...but now we know," he added. Dr Grazioli believes a lockdown is the only viable option to properly tackle the disease. In the US, a number of states are ordering shutdowns and telling residents to stay at home. New York state, Connecticut and California have all asked people to avoid non-essential activities. Gavin Newsom, California's state Governor said the state's 40 million residents should stay home indefinitely and venture outside only for essential jobs, errands and some exercise The move, the most sweeping by any US state so far, came amid warnings that the coronavirus threatens to overwhelm Californias medical system. I can assure you home isolation is not my preferred choice. I know its not yours, but its a necessary one, Mr Newsom said at a news conference streamed on social media. Governor @GavinNewsom issued a stay at home order to protect the health and well-being of all Californians and to establish consistency across the state in order to slow the spread of #COVID19. What does that mean? Find more information here: https://t.co/pTtYNN5DHE Office of the Governor of California (@CAgovernor) March 20, 2020 The Governor's instructions followed a contentious press conference held by US President Donald Trump. President Donald Trump lashed out at reporters as he defended his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Mr Trump said he was using the Defence Production Act to order American businesses to manufacture and send supplies, like testing kits, ventilators, and masks, to hospitals set to be overwhelmed by a wave of Covid-19 cases. But he gave conflicting accounts as to when he officially invoked the rarely used order and did not specify which companies he was marshalling for the effort. Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said yesterday that all cafes, pubs, bars and restaurants will close across the UK from tonight. The closed premises will be allowed to provide take away facilities, however. The speed of our eventual recovery depends entirely on our collective ability to get on top of the virus now and that means we have to take the next steps on scientific advice, he told the UK's daily Covid-19 press conference. And, following our plan, we are strengthening the measures announced on Monday. We need now to push down further on that curve of transmission between us. And so following agreement with all the devolved administrations, we are collectively telling cafes, pubs, bars and restaurants to close tonight as soon as they reasonably can and not to open tomorrow. In Australia, Bondi Beach in Sydney has been temporarily closed after thousands of people flocked there. David Elliot is the policing minister in New South Wales - and says flocking to the beach breaks rules on outdoor gatherings. He said: "What we saw this morning here in Bondi Beach was the most irresponsible behaviour of individuals that we have seen so far." "(Closing the beach) is not something we are doing because we are the fun police - this is about saving lives," he added. New York, March 21 : The US will close the southern border with Mexico to non-essential travel on Saturday because of the coronavirus pandemic, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced. He said on Friday that the two countries had worked together on the closure plan in order "to limit the spread of the virus" while ensuring "that commerce that supports our economy continues to keep flowing". On the north, Canada and the US announced their plans on Wednesday to close the border. Acting Homeland Security Security Chad Wolf said: "Neither of these agreements with Canada or Mexico applies to lawful trade or commerce. Essential commercial activities will not be impacted." He said that the border would be open to those travelling for medical purposes, to attend educational institutions, for emergency response, public health services and cross-border trade. Mexico is the biggest trading partner of the US with $614.5 billion in trade last year, overtaking China. The US depends a lot on Mexico for food imports. Agricultural workers coming in from there under a visa system for them are the backbone of farm labour in California. Pompeo said that they would not be affected by the new restrictions. Tens of thousands of people seek asylum at the Mexican border and the border closure will affect them. Many thousands also cross the border illegally to the US and many of them seek asylum. From midnight Friday, Wolf said that those arriving without documentation would be immediately returned to Canda, Mexico and other countries. Trump said that those who are not Mexicans would be returned to their own countries, adding, "why would Mexico take people that aren't from Mexico? We're sending them back" to their own countries. Wolf said that his department was acting under the orders of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to not allow in anyone without proper documents. He said the Department apprehended people from 120 countries, many of which have the coronavirus trying to enter the US. "Many of these individuals arrive with little or no identity, travel, or medical documentation, making public health risk determinations all but impossible." ompeo said that Mexico had agreed to stop people coming in from the 28 European countries, China, South Korea who may try to circumvent the ban on their entry to the US by traveling through Mexico. (Arul Louis can be contacted at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter @arulouis) Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 04:31:50|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close TEHRAN, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Friday urged the American people to press the U.S. government to lift sanctions against Iran as the country is fighting against COVID-19, according to Iran's presidential website. "U.S. sanctions have targeted major sectors of Iran's financial and economic system, which has inflicted hundreds of dollars of loss to Iran's economy and people," Rouhani said. "U.S. government sanctions have made many ordinary Iranians lose their health, jobs and income. Besides, the U.S. sanctions have drained Iran's power in the fight against the novel coronavirus," said Rouhani. He stressed that it is the time for the American people to urge their government to remove sanctions against Iran. On Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that the U.S. "inhuman" sanctions are "killing Iranian citizens" amid the novel coronavirus outbreak in the country. Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education said on Friday that a total of 19,644 people have been infected with the novel coronavirus, of whom 1,433 have died. Singaporean actors Joanne Peh and Elvin Ng in Mediacorp's romance drama series Heart To Heart. (Photo: Mediacorp) SINGAPORE Streaming platform Viu and Singapore broadcaster Mediacorp have tied up to provide more than 600 hours of Mediacorp-produced content to users throughout Indonesia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand from today onwards. Viu is a leading OTT video service from Hong Kongs PCCW Media Group that is available across Asia, the Middle East and South Africa. It initially focused on Korean dramas but has diversified its offerings to include a range of Asian content. The platform has more than 41 million monthly active users. The collaboration offers Viu viewers access to drama and lifestyle programmes from Mediacorp, including these programmes: My One In A Million (2019), recent Mandarin rom-com hit series A World of Difference (2019), a social issue-focused dystopian drama Happy Prince (2020) and Heart to Heart (2018), romantic drama titles Psychodramas Doppelganger (2018) and The Driver (2020) Seasons three and four of the popular police procedural series C.L.I.F. (2014-2016) All Around You (2020), a youth-centric drama featuring the finalists of Star Search 2019 Asia Contents Awards 2019 Best Asian Drama winner Faculty (2017) Seasons one and two of tech-driven thriller Zero Calling (2014 - 2015) Food Heroes (2016), a showcase of Singaporean gastronomic gurus Virginia Lim, Vius Chief Content Officer, told Yahoo Lifestyle SEA, Mediacorp in Singapore produces high-quality content that is consumed by Singaporeans, but it has also been well received in the Southeast Asia region, such as Malaysia and Thailand. So we think that those content will be able to appeal to the other Southeast Asian markets. And because Viu has a very strong OTT platform, we are in a very good position to be able to bring made-in-Singapore content out of Singapore to the digital viewers in the region. Content shared under the deal includes a mix of Mandarin and English language shows, but will include subtitles in English, Bahasa Melayu, Traditional Chinese and Thai subtitles on an as-available basis. Doreen Neo, Mediacorps Chief Content Officer, said, Partnering with Viu will extend the reach and recognition of our content to a wider regional audience, and attests to the universal appeal and storytelling strength of Mediacorp productions. We are excited to introduce our proudly made in Singapore content to new audiences across Asia. Due to the growing severity of the coronavirus outbreak, many have opted to self-quarantine as a means of preventing the virus' spread. But Paris Jackson, daughter of Michael Jackson, braved the open air sans face mask and gloves on Saturday morning, while running errands in her Los Angeles neighborhood. The 21-year-old kept it comfy for her solo outing in a striped, hooded poncho and a pair of tie-dyed leggings. Brave: Paris Jackson, daughter of Michael Jackson, braved the open air sans face mask and gloves on Saturday morning, while running errands in her Los Angeles neighborhood Paris rocked a noticeably makeup-free face and let her golden brown tresses flow about naturally. She accessorized her casual ensemble with a variety of boho inspired necklaces and a pair of moccasin Mou boots. Though the aspiring musician did not appear affected by the pandemic panic, she did attempt to inspire some positive - and permanent - vibes on Thursday, when she shared her latest ink on Instagram. Located on her neck was a freshly tattooed inscription from author J.R.R. Tolkien's historic trilogy The Lord Of The Rings. Casual cutie: The 21-year-old kept it casual in a hooded poncho and a pair of tie-dyed leggings for her solo outing Natural beauty: Jackson flaunted her flawless complexion, while her wavy brunette tresses flowed about naturally as she walked around in Mou boots The crimson toned tattoo was delicately transcribed in Tolkien's fictional Elvish language and read: 'a light from the shadows [shall spring].' In the photo shared to social media, Jackson can be seen holding back her brunette tresses, as she proudly showed off her newest piece of body art. The musician also thanked the parlor where she had the ink done, Tattoo Mania on the Sunset Strip near West Hollywood, California. Jackson recently spoke about the pandemic panic with news outlet TMZ, where she shared her thoughts on how to best stay positive during this uncertain and fear riddled time. New addition: On Thursday, Paris took to her Instagram to show off her latest ink, which featured a quote from her favorite author J.R.R. Tolkien 'I think it helps that we live in a day and age when education is so easy so you can talk to talk to someone on the other side of the globe that definitely helps to stay connected with other people.' She added, 'Don't emotionally isolate. 'I think this is pretty tricky because as humans by nature we are social creatures which is why we have lived in communities and tribes,' said the beauty while wearing a hoodie on a street in Hollywood. 'There are a million different ways to handle anxiety and everyone's coping skills are different but I encourage everyone to try,' Paris concluded "It was busy for takeaway this morning as people come out to get what they need then go home to self isolate," Chiaplias says. "But now we have five staff and five customers for what would be the lunch rush." Chiaplias is desperately trying to keep her business afloat and her 14 staff employed by offering delivery and driving the orders around herself. Kirsty Chiaplias is now delivering food to customers herself. Credit:Paul Jeffers "I am just going to try my best to keep everyone working," Chiaplias says. "I think this week is going to be the teller for what happens. We are doing meals for the Red Cross from this afternoon because I want to keep the momentum up in the kitchen and there are going to be other people suffering more than me." Casey Castro is offering live streaming at her yoga studio. Credit:Steven Siewert At a yoga class in Bondi last week at Sydney Yoga Collective for the first time ever not a single person turned up. "We were growing exponentially," owner Casey Castro says. "This week after the constant stream of government announcements it has put everyone in a state of fear and our attendance has just diminished." Castro is offering online streaming of classes to members in a bid to enable them to keep practising and to keep the studio's yoga teachers in work. "Yoga teachers get paid by class so if there are no classes they don't get paid," she says. "I still have the same overheads with rent, insurance, all those costs don't go away. I want to continue to stay in business and come out the other side." Kathryn Anderson is the owner of Viva Physiotherapy which has seen a 40 per cent drop in business. Kathryn Anderson, the owner of Viva Physiotherapy in Melbourne's central business district, is also looking to pivot her business online offering remote consultations and ergonomic assessments by video link. "There's been a big reduction in the people travelling in the city to work, many CBD businesses are asking their workforce to work from home so normal people who would come in for classes or for an appointment are not really around," she says. Viva Physiotherapy employs nine staff and turned over under $1 million last year but Anderson says business has fallen by about 40 per cent already. She is determined to do everything she can to keep her staff employed, particularly the casuals. "The world is changing rapidly so Im just trying to minimise the impact on me and my employees," she says. "There is an opportunity for us as a society to rise up and say 'Let's do what is maybe not best financially, but what keeps our community together'." Northcote bookshop owner Leesa Lambert is also focused on keeping her staff employed. Customers are still coming into Neighbourhood Books while they can but patronage is waning. "Our strategy has been to run events to bring people into our spaces, that has been a critical part of our business plan, but we have had to stop that," she says. Lambert employs six staff and turns over around $1 million a year normally but says turnover has dropped by 20 per cent already. "If we have to close our doors obviously our retail staff couldn't work from home which would be heartbreaking as they are like family to us," she says. "We have fixed expenses like rent and a business loan so we'd probably have to close down." Leesa Lambert has started doing deliveries by bike and van at Neighbourhood Books. Credit:Justin McManus Lambert is trying to keep customers on board and her staff employed by offering free delivery of books in the local area by bike or van. "It's something we have always talked about doing so now is the time to do it," she says. But travel agent Belinda Farrelly who owns 40 year old family business APP International doesn't have anywhere to pivot her business to with no new bookings coming in. "I have four women who work for me," she says. "I thought it was bad and you think it can't get worse and today it got worse." Farrelly has been working 15 hour days up until 2am trying to organise to get her clients home from overseas. "I haven't really slept for a week," she says. "Some customers are so appreciative they have been dropping around meals as they know my kids are probably living on McDonald's but we have been getting abuse as well." Farrelly says she is not taking any income from the business until 1 July at the earliest. "We will only survive because we own our premises, we will be hanging on by a thread," she says. "All my staff work on commission, they are not going to have any sales, if anything they will lose money as they will be giving money back to clients." WASHINGTON President Trump was getting ready to declare the coronavirus a national emergency, but inside the White House last Thursday, a tense debate erupted among the president and his top advisers on a far different subject: whether the United States should escalate military action against Iran, a longtime American rival that has been devastated by the epidemic. One group, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Robert C. OBrien, the national security adviser, urged a tough response to rocket attacks that had killed two American troops at a base north of Baghdad, arguing that tough action while Irans leaders were battling the coronavirus ravaging the country could finally push them into direct negotiations. But Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper and Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, pushed back. The Pentagon and intelligence agencies did not have clear evidence that the attacks, launched by the Shiite militia group Khataib Hezbollah, had been ordered by Iran, they argued, and warned that a large-scale response could draw the United States into a wider war with Iran and rupture already strained relations with Iraq. The militarys position prevailed, at least for the time being. Mr. Trump authorized airstrikes against five militia weapons depots inside Iraq, carried out at night to limit the possible human toll. The United States has long loved its drive-ins and drive-throughs: for movies, fast food, pharmacies and banking. Now the coronavirus pandemic has added a new one: Catholic confessions. With his church closed due to the outbreak, Scott Holmer turned to the tried-and-tested method in this nation of car-lovers. Every day except Sunday, and if the weather permits, he sits on a wooden chair in his priestly robes in the parking lot outside his Maryland chapel and does a contact-free confession and blessing. Two lines of traffic cones and a sign guide cars outside St Edwards Church in Bowie, a small town around 20 miles (30 kilometers) outside of Washington. The drivers lower their windows and confess their sins to Father Holmer who, after a few words of encouragement to return to the path of the Lord, grants absolution. Despite the drive-through's all-American pedigree, Father Holmer came up with the idea last week after seeing South Korea organize drive-through tests for the coronavirus. "The diocese canceled all masses to tamp down the spread of the infection. But the decision about confession was kind of up in the air," he told AFP. "So I said, I'll just get in the parking lot, and that way I can avoid getting it myself and people can avoid any transmission. It's more open air, so there's like air flow and all that good stuff." Holmer takes care to keep a safe distance from his flock and asks parishioners to stay in their vehicles. With couples or families, each person takes their turn sitting in the driver's seat. For those wishing an anonymous confession, the priest covers his eyes with a bandana. - 'God is with us now' - On the third Friday before Lent, a day of fasting and repentance, the line of cars quickly grows long and a seminary student is pressed into service as a traffic marshal. "It's a weird thing to think about the spiritual and the physical at the same time," admits the priest, who sometimes asks drivers to cut their engines to maintain the secrecy of the confession. "?You don't want people to overhear each other so we've got to keep cars at a certain distance," he said. He said people had been very grateful to be able to receive the sacrament. "People are so happy to see that we are still able to be on their side even if we are not able to celebrate mass," the priest said. "There's more gratitude than there is fear. When they drive up to the priest at their window they're feeling God is with us now." Father Holmer says he does not believe he has been infected with the virus that is causing mass lockdowns and social distancing around the world. Aged 40, he is not in the highest risk group in any case. "If I get it, I'll just quarantine myself, I've been to confession myself last week, so I'm good to go," he said with a smile. Awaiting his turn at the wheel of his car, Steven Irving praised the priest's "great idea." "We have a young and energetic and innovative priest," said Irving, a man in his sixties who had come with his wife. "I had an opportunity today to fulfill my religious obligations" during Lent. The priest plans to carry on with his drive-through confessions until the church reopens. But he misses the direct connection with his flock. "Not being able to be physically present is just brutal," he said. Father Scott Holmer holds drive-through confessionals in Maryland, with his church closed due to the coronavirus Father Scott Holmer is careful to keep a safe distance from his flock and asks parishioners to stay in their vehicles Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 11:59:45|Editor: xuxin Video Player Close Workers unload medical supplies donated by China at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Pasay City, the Philippines on March 21, 2020. The 100,000 COVID-19 test kits and other medical supplies, which China donated to the Philippines to help the country fight against the coronavirus pandemic, arrived in Manila on Saturday. The 100,000 test kits, 10,000 personal protective equipment, 100,000 surgical masks and 10,000 N95 masks were handed over at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. (Xinhua/Yang Ke) MANILA, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The 100,000 COVID-19 test kits and other medical supplies, which China donated to the Philippines to help the country fight against the coronavirus pandemic, arrived in Manila on Saturday. Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian handed over the 100,000 test kits, 10,000 personal protective equipment, 100,000 surgical masks and 10,000 N95 masks to Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin at Ninoy Aquino International Airport. China chartered a cargo flight to bring the medical supplies to the Philippines. "We firmly believe that with our joint efforts in fighting the virus hand in hand, the China-Philippines relationship will be further deepened and strengthened," Huang said in a speech at the turnover ceremony. Huang voiced hope that the Philippines will win its fight against the deadly viral disease. Locsin thanked China for its "tremendous help" amid concerns that the Philippines is running low of supply of COVID-19 test kits. The Philippines has reported 230 COVID-19 infections so far, including 18 deaths. At least 381 people have pending test results as of Friday, the Department of Health said. Locsin lauded China for being a global model in the fight against COVID-19. "(China) is a model for what the rest of the world should be doing. Instead of blaming each other for what's happening, we should all start working together to help each other," Locsin told reporters. "This is how we tackle a common threat to humanity; together we help each other as much as we can," he added. Specifically, Locsin said the lockdown measure that China imposed at the start of the outbreak was "the right thing" and made "a lot of sense". More than 58 million people living on the main island of Luzon, including Metro Manila, are subject to a stringent, police-enforced lockdown ordered by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte earlier this week. Four Kashmiri PhD scholars of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) who was put in quarantine had escaped from the facility under mysterious circumstances. Reportedly, the Jammu and Kashmir authorities have now traced three of the four students who had escaped from the quarantine facility. Journalist Aarti Tikoo Singh had reported three Kashmiri PhD students of the Aligarh Muslim University, who had travelled to UAE in the first week of March were quarantined two days ago. However, in an act of willful negligence, three students had run away from the medical facility. BREAKING @ians_india: Three Kashmiri Ph.D scholars at Aligarh Muslim University, who had traveled to UAE in first week of March and were quarantined two days ago, are now absconding. #CoronaVirus pic.twitter.com/522dl3maY7 Aarti Tikoo Singh (@AartiTikoo) March 20, 2020 On 19 March, Dr Shariq Ali, the Chief Medical Officer at AMU wrote to the Dean Students Welfare of the AMU stating that three Kashmiri students had visited UAE from 4 to 9 March and had been admitted to the UHS Isolation Ward at 4:00 pm on 18 March for quarantine. The dean added that all three Azad Ahmad Wani, Mohammad Iqbal Rather and Bilal Ahmad Rather, who returned from Dubai were absconding since 9:45 pm on 18 March. Three students had returned from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), while the fourth absconding student Zahoor A Rather had travelled to Taiwan from 15th February to 14th March. However, the authorities have now managed to trace the three students and have been shifted to Health Centers for examination, reported Rising Kashmir. Following the scare, the Jammu and Kashmir Police, the Central Industrial Security Force and the Railway Police, and also a screening facility near Qazigund on the Srinagar-Jammu highway, had been asked to immediately arrest the four scholars for necessary quarantine. The fourth AMU student who escaped from the facility after visiting Taiwan is yet to be traced. Bolivia's Supreme Electoral Tribunal announced on Saturday it was indefinitely postponing May's general election due to the coronavirus pandemic. Voters were due to head to the polls on May 3 to elect a permanent successor to former president Evo Morales, who resigned in November. Interim President Jeanine Anez had announced earlier on Saturday a two-week total quarantine to begin on Sunday. The court said in a statement that it hoped for a "broad and pluralistic dialogue with all the political organizations participating in the process" to determine "a new date" in 2020. October's general election was annulled after an audit by the Organization of American States found clear evidence it had been rigged. Socialist Morales had controversially won the election but that led to three weeks of at times violent protests before he resigned and fled the country. Conservative Anez, who had been the Senate vice-president until then, assumed the interim presidency with a mandate to organize new elections. Morales has been barred from standing for president again or seeking a seat in the Senate. Most of the eight presidential candidates had suggested the election be postponed and even suspended campaigning to prevent the congregation of large groups of people. Luis Arce, the opinion poll leader from Morales's Movement for Socialism party, and centrist Carlos Mesa, second in the most recent poll, both rejected the idea of postponing the vote. Bolivia, a country of 11.5 million people, has recorded 19 coronavirus cases. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Copyright 2020 Albuquerque Journal Hiring is on pause at one of the largest employers in the state, Albuquerque Public Schools. The district recently closed its Background and Fingerprinting Department, a move to beef up social distancing amid the COVID-19 pandemic. That effectively suspends all new hires and halts incoming volunteers, according to Todd Torgerson, chief of Human Resources and Legal Services. APS conducts background checks on prospective employees, contractors and volunteers who may work unsupervised with kids. Chief of APS Police Steve Gallegos said all incoming employees must get a background check, which is still the standard during the Background and Fingerprinting Department closure. APS spokeswoman Johanna King said the department typically processes about 40 people a day, or roughly 200 people a week on average. Of those 200 people, about 50 are new hires, with contractors and volunteers making up the rest. But with ramped-up efforts in New Mexico to slow the spread of the coronavirus, including a state order to close schools, hiring efforts are largely suspended. Background and fingerprinting is essentially shutting down because of social distancing. So what that does is kind of put a de facto pause on hiring right now for APS, Torgerson said. Given that this is happening toward the end of the 2019-20 school year, Torgerson projects that the district will have enough time to hire people for next school year. Hiring of substitute teachers in APS is also on pause during the fingerprinting facility shutdown, according to the agency that manages APS subs, Kelly Education. King said hiring may commence and the department could open for a temporary window to fill critical positions. For instance, if APS needs to hire more custodians, it would. Custodial staff are a crucial piece of the workforce now more than ever as schools are being deep-cleaned during the mandatory three-week closures across the state, which began Monday. Torgerson said the vacancy rate for custodians is about a 2.4%, low compared to previous years. He also said there is a pool of prospective workers who have already gone through the background check process and could move forward with the hiring process. The Background and Fingerprinting Department is at APS administrative offices in the Uptown area, which is also largely closed to visitors. Contact APS personnel by phone or email if necessary. Health Minister Simon Harris said that public health advice on social distancing during the coronavirus outbreak is "not being taken seriously enough", as he noted the number of cases is about to soar. Yesterday, 126 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in Ireland, bringing the total to 683 - a daily increase of 23pc. Mr Harris said that Irish people have an inflated sense of our reaction to the outbreak and need to take social distancing measures more seriously. "I wouldn't have a national slap-ourselves-on-the-back campaign in terms of social distancing," he said. "I know lots of people are making efforts, but I am nowhere near satisfied that we're taking social distancing seriously and if you look at some of our parks -and it's absolutely appropriate for people to go home, get some fresh air, take some exercise, that's actually good for you - but it's not good for you to be in crowded parks. "It's not good for the teenagers to be getting together. This is not the summer holidays. "We do need people to take social distancing seriously and what that means is, there should be two metres between you and other people. Redouble "We need people to take this social distancing much more seriously, and maybe when we talk about social distancing, it's a phrase we're not very familiar with. "We need people to stay away from each other. "We need people to keep their distance, no matter where you are, you should be trying to stay two metres away from other people. "I quite frankly just don't think people are taking it seriously enough right now, and I really need people to try and redouble their efforts on us." Experts warned that up to 15,000 people could be infected in Ireland by the end of the month. Mr Harris said that he wants to reassure the public, but there will be a "significant increase" in the number of cases in the coming weeks. "We very much expect to see a very significant increase in the number of cases of the coronavirus diagnosed in Ireland," he said. "We've gone from a situation whereby until recent days we were only really testing people who'd come back from certain parts of the world - largely Italy and China - to now many GPs referring people for tests on the basis of symptoms. "So we're gone from a situation of a couple of hundred people a week being tested to a situation where many thousands a day could be tested. "But the numbers are still a cause for concern, and we know they're going to go up." Speaking on The Pat Kenny Show, Mr Harris did, however, say that Ireland is in a good position in terms of medical equipment, including 39,000 testing kits arriving in Ireland. "So far, the ICU rate is about 2pc, so seven people who have been admitted ICU, and so far there's been 31pc of cases hospitalised - but that figure is a bit skewed because up until last Thursday we were hospitalising everybody with the diagnosis," he said. "On the issue of ventilators, this country has some of the biggest global companies in the world producing ventilators based here in Ireland. "It would be most bizarre, if not unethical, that you'd have a situation whereby ventilators were being produced in Ireland, and we weren't able to access them here in Ireland. "The HSE has about 500 already. "On top of that, we will have 250 ICU beds with ventilation and the private hospitals, which we're in talks with, and talks that need to continue quickly. "They have 164 ventilation rooms. "We're about to reach a commercial agreement that we will receive about 300 more ventilators, plus 80 more a week," he added. Government of Maldives has decided to contribute USD 200,000 to the COVID-19 Emergency Fund while responding to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call to SAARC nations to create an emergency fund which will help the nations to unite against the virus and collectively fight against the pandemic. Taking to Twitter, PM Modi has appreciated the contribution of Maldives and joining in the fight against the dreaded virus that has taken the world hostage. Deeply appreciate contribution of USD 200,000 by Government of Maldives to the COVID-19 Emergency Fund. It strengthens our resolve in this collective fight against the pandemic. @ibusolih Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 21, 2020 READ | Consumer Affairs Ministry Caps Prices Of Masks, Hand Sanitisers Amid Coronavirus Outbreak India pledges USD 10 million On March 15, while addressing a SAARC conference to battle the dreaded pandemic, PM Modi took the initiative to battle the pandemic Coronavirus (COVID-19) and announced setting up a common 'COVID-19 emergency fund' and pledged USD 10 million as India's contribution to it. Clarifying that any one of the seven nations could withdraw funds to use battle the pandemic, he said that India is also assembling a Rapid action team of doctors at the disposal of the neighbours. Moreover, he said that India can share its Disease Surveillance software with the SAARC countries. READ | Coronavirus LIVE Updates: ICMR Revises Testing Strategies As Cases Cross 200 While Maldives pledged USD 200,000, Bhutan contributed USD 100,000 to the fund. The Ministry of External Affairs on Friday stated that the SAARC Emergency Fund has been operationalised. The video conference that was chaired by PM Modi was attended by Bhutanese Prime Minister Lotay Tshering, Bangladesh premier Sheikh Hasina, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, Nepalese Prime Minister Oli, Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani and Special Assistant to Pakistani Prime Minister on Health Zafar Mirza, participated in the conference. READ | The Coronavirus Story Every Indian Must Hear: Survivor Details How He Trumped COVID-19 Janata Curfew on March 22 In a bid to contain the spread of the deadly virus in India, PM Modi has called for a Janata Curfew on March 22. While addressing the nation on March 19 the prime minister appealed to all the citizens to go under self-quarantine and not to step out of their homes on Sunday from 7 am to 9 pm on Sunday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi talked extensively about the challenges caused due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He stressed that resolve and restraint were the two most important things to be followed. PM Modi also appealed to every to pay tribute to all essential officials like doctors, government officials, journalists, etc who were working. A day after his address to the nation, PM Modi also chaired a video conferencing with chief ministers of various states to fight the pandemic. The total number of Coronavirus cases in India has risen to 298 in the country with four deaths, while 22 cases have fully recovered and discharged. READ | Kerala HC Fines Rs 50,000 On Petitioner Seeking Online Delivery Of Liquor Amid Coronavirus Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, has inaugurated a high-powered Response Team for prevention and control of coronavirus in the state. The high powered.committee is headed by the Deputy Governor, Alhaji Usman Umar Kadafur, with the State Commissioner of Health as Secretary. The inauguration took place at Musa Usman Secretariat in Maiduguri on Friday after Governor Zulum received the technical Response Plan adopted by a multi-stakeholder group made up of UN Agencies, federal establishments and affected ministries who on Thursday met with the Chief of Staff, Dr Babagana Wakil, during which they came up with the plan after critical review of the state. The committee has since commenced work and expected to reconvene on Saturday, 28th March, 20202 as well to fully implement the Plan, with the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Alhaji.Babagana Wakil as the Vice Chairman. Other members of the committee include senior officials of World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, UNHCR, WFP, UN-OCHA, IOM, ICRC, international Non-Governmental Organizations (iNGOs) involved in humanitarian interventions in the.state. Others include Heads of Maiduguri International Airport, Nigerian Immigration Service, Borno State Emergency Management Agency and Commissioners for Education, Higher Education, Information, Transport, Finance, Religious Affairs, Local Government and Emirate Sffairs. The Committee also has two Special Advisers on Sustainable Development, Partnerships and Humanitarian Affairs and that of Public Relations and Strategy, Malam Isa Gusau. The Chairman of the committee however thanked members of the committee for the work they have already started while tasking them to ensure that very firm measures were deployed to clean and sanitize IDPs camps where a case can trigger wild fire effect with adverse consequences at the camps. Kadafur also charged the State Commissioner of Education and Chairman of the Borno State Universal Education (BOSUBEB) to change academic calendar of all the primary, secondary and tertiary institutions by bringing exams time table backwar so that schools can close within one week instead of the scheduled date in order for the schools to close in two weeks time earlier based on the academic calendar. If we are to close schools, what do we do with IDP camps which is far less organized than schools? I am aware that our schools have two weeks to close but we should change the calendar and close in one week. But even at that, we must take serious measures in all schools and more importantly in our IDP camps and in land border communities where people can come into Nigeria through some of our LGAs, Kadafur said. Hotel rooms are available during the era of coronavirus confusion. They were removed from the list of non-life sustaining businesses in Pennsylvania, which were required to close physical locations as of 8 p.m. Thursday, according to John Longstreet, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Restaurant and Lodging Association. Gov. Tom Wolf announced Thursday the types of businesses he thinks should stay open and ones he thinks should close for now. "Yesterday, Governor Wolfs office put forth an order, stating that all non-life sustaining businesses in Pennsylvania close their physical locations, he said. The PRLA would like to clarify on behalf of the hospitality industry, the Governors office has now indicated that hotels are, in fact, deemed life-sustaining. The updated list can be viewed here, as well as an updated list of business types that may continue operations "Hotels play a major role in the continued operations of many life-sustaining businesses, including truck, rail, and air transportation, as well as to essential personnel, including healthcare providers and grocers, to provide necessary shelter at a critical time, Longstreet said. Additionally, there are a number of hotels that house long-term residents who rely on them for housing. Hotels will continue to operate with limited staff, in accordance with the guidelines set forth by the CDC. As part of the associations pushback to stay open, Longstreet said 28,701 direct hotel-related jobs would be lost during the pandemic, as well as 95,534 total jobs lost supporting the hotel industry. Several in the industry raised their voices to object, among them was Keith Komon of Mechanicsburg. As a hotelier in Pennsylvania, I have experienced firsthand the financial impact that this crisis has had on our industry, Komon said. We have already experienced a significant decline in business revenue with increased cost to provide proper cleaning and protocols to protect our guests and co-workers. We are now facing difficult decisions on the impact on our workforce and how we can employ them in the near future. Text PennLive to 717-745-7532 to sign up to have breaking news and essential updates about the coronavirus delivered right to your mobile device. Data and messaging rates may apply. This photo taken on February 28, 2020 shows workers producing face masks at a factory in Handan in China's northern Hebei province. The Trump administration on Friday said it was soliciting public comments on lifting additional tariffs on Chinese imports that could help the United States battle the coronavirus pandemic, showing some flexibility in its trade war against Beijing. The U.S. Trade Representative's (USTR) office said it would allow members of the public, businesses and government agencies "to submit comments if they believe further modifications to the (Section) 301 tariffs may be necessary." It said the move was part of an effort "to keep current on developments in our national fight against the coronavirus pandemic." The USTR has in recent weeks granted "Section 301" tariff exclusions for certain medical products from China, including medical masks, examination gloves and antiseptic wipes. But as it battles to try to keep the U.S. economy from collapsing amid quarantine orders and halted commerce, the Trump administration so far has been resistant to broader removals of tariffs imposed over the past 20 months on some $370 billion worth of Chinese imports annually, despite calls from industry that this would be an instant tax cut worth tens of billions of dollars. Trump considers his trade pressure on China among the biggest achievements of his presidency and a top argument for re-election in November. The trade war has hit a vast range of Chinese goods with tariffs, from machinery and chemical feedstocks to semiconductors, printed circuit board and consumer goods. In return, China has hit U.S. farm and other products with retaliatory tariffs, but has pledged to vastly increase purchases of these goods under a "Phase 1" trade deal that took effect Feb. 15. USTR did not specify a deadline for submitting comments to a federal website. "This comment process does not replace the current exclusion process and supplements that process," USTR said. "Submissions are limited to comments on products subject to the tariff actions and relevant to the medical response to the coronavirus." RESIDENTS in inner city Dublin have set up a bingo hall outside of their apartment blocks, social distancing style. Video footage shows a bingo desk and microphone set up in the centre of several apartment blocks in Ringsend, with residents participating from their balconies. The numbers are called out on the microphone, meaning that all residents can get involved from the comfort of their home. The footage has garnered thousands of views online, with many commentators applauding the clever idea. Westerly, RI (02891) Today Partly cloudy. High 41F. Winds SW at 15 to 25 mph. Higher wind gusts possible.. Tonight Partly to mostly cloudy. Low 28F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. The Airport Authority of India (AAI) officials are undertaking comprehensive measures to curtail the spread of the Covid-19 at Chennai report. Apart from the usual cleaning, every individual, whether an airport employee or a passenger, is being thermally scanned and along with this luggage trolleys, handrails and other areas are being disinfected. The passengers are also being asked to fill a self-reporting form to provide relevant information to the authorities. Special smart hand sanitizing machines have been installed inside the premises of the airport as WHO guidelines suggest that regular hand washing with soap or using alcohol-based hand sanitizer effectively curtails the spread of the deadly virus. Earlier, the Central Government banned the operation of international commercial flights in India from March 22 to March 29. This comes at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday urged the citizens to restrict their movement and refrain from stepping out of their houses According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the total number of Covid-19 cases are 258, this includes 39 foreigners. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Veteran actor Anupam Kher who returned from New York to Mumbai after four months on Friday, decided to keep himself in self-isolation as a precautionary measure amid the coronavirus pandemic. The 65-year-old actor who is quite active on social media took to Instagram and shared the face-time video he had with his mother. He has decided not to meet her for a few days. In the video, his mother is initially seen getting angry at him for not meeting her despite being in India, but later understands his stance. "Mom facetime: As a precaution, I decided not to visit Mom after coming back from NY. So face-timed her instead. initially, she got angry but soon understood the importance of social distance. In this case mother-son distance. Both of us felt bad. Par kya kare? Aajkal ke mahol me yeh zaroori hai. But #DulariiRocks...Always," the caption read. Earlier on Friday, the actor took to Instagram and updated about his journey to India. In the video, he gave a detailed view of the activities happening inside the Mumbai airport and lauded the authorities for their responsible acts with 'strictness and cleanliness'. "The kind of arrangements, the kind of strictness that is followed, whether you are a known person or not, is really amazing," he said. "I'm relieved people are following rules," he added. Self-isolation is adopted by many as a precautionary measure to help check the spread of COVID-19. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) With schools closed during this COVID-19 situation, and with no real end in sight, some high school students are planning to take their prom celebrations online. TIME: And while schools in Los Angeles are only shut down for two weeks so far, students at the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies (LACES) are looking to technology for social distancing-friendly ways to celebrate the end of the school year with their friends. LACES seniors Zack Monterosso and Colin Wire and junior Wakie Haque tell TIME that they're currently planning to host a virtual party on the video conferencing service Zoom, dubbed a "Zoom rager," as a test run for virtual prom in Struthers, Ohio, Jessica Ludovici, a senior at Struthers High School, tells TIME that she's planning to host prom in her living room while FaceTiming her friends. "We're all going to do a huge group FaceTime. I'll put on music and we'll go in the expensive dresses and tuxes that we already bought to get ready for prom," she says. "I tweeted and was just like, 'This is what's going to happen. It's going to be in my living room, you guys can send me a song for the playlist and that will be your ticket. You can invite whoever, I don't really care because we're all just going to be on a group FaceTime.'" Left alone, he spends the day admiring the sea, inhaling the pure air, collecting wood, preparing his meals and -- of course -- posting on Instagram. "I get bored, so I kill time taking photos of the beaches, the wildlife and scenery, editing shots and then sharing these on social media and Instagram," he says. "I have a lot of followers." The wild-bearded sea dog thinks the virus shutdown, if it continues, means tourists will be staying away at least until July, but the prospect of a quieter summer doesn't scare him. Morandi has a few tips for people now forced into solitude in Italy and elsewhere by the pandemic. He says a few weeks holed up inside is nothing to get upset about but is instead an opportunity to practice some soul searching. He speaks, he says, from experience. Despite having an entire island to himself, even Mediterranean winters can be tough and he spends many months in confinement. "I spend each winter shut in my house, for months on end I hardly wander across the island, but instead I kill time on the front porch under the canopy. So what the heck, people can't stay at home for two weeks? That's absurd." Amid rising cases of coronavirus in the country, the Mani Ram Das Chhavni Peeth, the ashram from where the Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas operates in Ayodhya, on Saturday appealed to devotees not to come to the town for the Navratri festival and announced scrapping of the Ram Navmi mela on April 2. During the nine-day long Navratri from March 25 to April 2 and Ram Navmi mela (April 2), around 15 lakh devotees come to Ayodhya from all across the state, especially adjoining districts. Uttar Pradesh has so far recorded 33 positive cases of coronavirus. Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, chairman of the Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Tirath Kshetra, heads this Peeth. His heir Kamal Nayan Das told reporters that there is no need for devotees to show up at Ayodhya for Navratri. Track coronavirus updates here. There is no need to come to Ayodhya on Navratri in view of outbreak of disease (coronavirus). We must celebrate the festival with full festive fervor in our respective homes, Mahant Kamal Nayan Das said. There is no need to organise Ram Navmi mela in Ayodhya in larger interest of devotees. We must celebrate Ram Navmi in our homes. There is a national crisis and nations safety comes first and we must support the government to fight the disease, Kamal Nayan added. Also read: Coronavirus update: State-wise breakup of Covid-19 cases in India, total climbs to 258 This appeal has come as a breather for the Ayodhya administration which had advocated postponing Ram Navmi mela. In view of Prime Minister Narendra Modis appeal for Janta Curfew on March 22 to check outbreak of coronavirus, the special puja ceremony at the Ram Janmabhoomi on Sunday has also been postponed. Now, this two-day ceremony will start from March 23. This special puja is being performed before the deity of Ram Lalla is shifted from the makeshift temple at Ram Janmabhoomi to another a pre-fabricated temple in the same premises on early on March 25, first day of Navratri. However, there will be no participation of public in these rituals and shifting of Ram Lalla also will not be a public event. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath is likely to be in Ayodhya on March 25 for shifting of the deity. Earlier in the day, general secretary of Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Tirath Kshetra trust Champat Rai also issued an appeal to people to celebrate Navratri in their homes instead of coming to Ayodhya. Anuj Jha, district magistrate of Ayodhya, released a video of Rai on Saturday morning in which the VHP leader is requesting devotees to avoid coming to Ayodhya Navratri. We are celebrating Navratri for centuries and in future also this festival will be celebrated. But in this hour of crisis we must help the government to fight this threatening disease (coronavirus), Rai told reporters in Ayodhya. The entire country is fighting to avoid this disease. We must support the government and remain vigilant. In such a situation we must perform puja in our homes instead of coming out, said Rai. Rai is also international vice president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Living through a time of plague By Prof. Alan de Costa View(s): View(s): High above the city, I contemplate the sea, the mountains and the evening sky. I can see planes coming into land in the airport and as the sun sets over the range, the hills turn gold, and the sky is hot with colour. Here in Cairns, Australia, we seem to be in our usual state of contentment. But the sense of unease, of anxiety as the nation faces this uncertain foe lies just beneath the surface. We look with alarm at what is happening in Italy, where the beast has leapt the barriers. Our numbers are still thankfully low, but community transmission is occurring. So what are the implications? What we know from the Chinese experience is that one infected person may transmit the virus to two others (with measles the R is 16). But our communities have never been exposed to the virus so natural immunity is negligible. The initial figures suggested that the distance the virus can leap from an infected person is 1.5 metres. In economy class that means four people. Some people who catch this may be asymptomatic, but can still transmit it. Most will have mild disease if anything. But for the elderly and vulnerable it may be very different. The mathematical modelling depends on assumptions which are themselves in evolution. But I think it fair to say that there is a likelihood, acknowledged by government, that there will be a sharp increase in transmission over the next month, and most of the population may have been exposed to the virus in a year or 18 months. In Cairns we have been working on infrastructure, ICU beds, ventilators, test kits, protective gear, and the myriad other necessities to deal with a sharp increase in the numbers of sick people. There are protocols being developed to receive, process and admit patients, as well as protecting health care workers. It is an expensive business and the Federal Government has just pledged two and a half billion dollars towards this effort across hospitals in Australia. Perhaps in a year an effective vaccine will be available. Perhaps by then a significant proportion of the population would have been exposed to the virus (only a small proportion of this exposed population will be tested using present technologies) and a degree of community immunity will have been developed. Transmission will then decline, and like the previous respiratory viral threats (H1N1, Zika, SARS, MERS) will disappear. But where to? Bats, civets, pythons. The poor plodding Pangolin? Are animals the problem? Many of the remarkable tools of molecular biology have helped to develop new sciences. Phylogenetics is one of them. Measles, (lets keep in mind this causes more than a 100,000 deaths yearly worldwide, despite good vaccines being available) evolved from the cattle rinderpest virus about a 1000 years ago. What about the common influenza A (HINI)? This Spanish Flu probably evolved close to that time from pigs, via birds. It caused 500 million human infections worldwide, 10% of whom died. The flu virus is deceptively simple consisting of 8 strands of RNA. One method of replication of RNA is by an enzyme RNA polymerase which is prone to inaccuracy, and there is no back-up. So mutations occur frequently. There are two genes in particular which confer aspects of virulence and infectivity on the virus, HA and N and mutations at these points explain the changes. The original Spanish strain seemed to disappear after 30 or 40 years, to be replaced by others, but then has reappeared. It is this strain that mutates from year to year and place to place, and is the cause of influenza vaccines being far less than perfect in providing immunity. Bird Flu (H5N1 or Avian flu) emerged in 1997, and can be transmitted to humans and other animals. This seems to have disappeared, but the virus was lethal to humans, and is a continuing source of alarm to virologists and Public health physicians. Novel corona viruses are continuously evolving in bats, well shown in the months before COVID-19. We are finding out how expensive it is to treat epidemic illnesses, compared to preventing them. One of the pleasures of working in a major teaching hospital is the Grand Round. This is an institution held weekly for all hospital staff, and the most interesting presentations are given, usually by experts in their field. Last month we had a remarkable presentation from a Cairns Hospital contribution to the International Medical Task Force to Samoa to combat their awful measles epidemic of late 2019. In June of 2018 two small children in Samoa died immediately following the standard MMR vaccination. There was public outrage strongly pushed by the anti-vaccination lobby in Samoa, but also from Australia. Tragically the Samoan government went along with this, and vaccination ceased. It was shown subsequently that the vaccine was mixed with a solution of muscle relaxant which was stored in the vaccine fridge rather than saline. A tragic mistake, which eventually led to charges and a conviction. But the vaccination programme was not restarted. The expected measles epidemic in Samoa began in September 2019, and rapidly reached crisis proportions. A remarkable international response led by Australia arrived in Samoa by early November. By the time the epidemic had been controlled 3% of the population of 200,000 had been infected with 83 deaths the majority in children. The epidemic was halted by a mass vaccination programme made compulsory by the government who declared a state of emergency to do this. The Australian Emergency Response Team was led by one of our Cairns senior Emergency Physicians. At one stage it had an international force of over 150 people, doctors, nurses, technicians and logistics experts. They had to set up a Paediatric Intensive Care unit, and the team had to deal with the awful consequences of 83 deaths in a month, and the grief of parents who had to come in and remove their dead and dying children. The team completed their mission as viral transmission ceased after the vaccination programme. The cost would have run into many millions of dollars. Senior members of government got it hopelessly wrong, with awful consequences. Remarkably, there is a robust and powerful lobby against vaccination. This began to receive publicity after a famous paper published in The Lancet in 1998, which suggested a link between MMR, autism and bowel disease by Dr Andrew Wakefield, a London Gastro-Enterologist. He went on to publicise these associations and campaigned against vaccination. He was stripped of his registration to practise medicine by the GMC in England in 2010. He has since re-located to the US where his movement has support among the highest in the land. Sri Lanka is a success story being declared measles free in 2019. Our good National Health Service ensures vaccination programmes are carried out. But it was also declared Measles free in 2011. So we can never relax with vaccination. So what about COVID 19? A hopefully effective vaccine may be six months or a year away. In the meantime health services worldwide have to prepare to treat large numbers of patients sick with the virus. Italy was unprepared. China seems to have turned things around. Restrictions on travel and gatherings are designed to delay the onset of the first wave.f wave of cases, and Australia seems to have achieved this while it is gearing up the resources required in Hospitals. Are there any lessons to learn? A very reasonable assumption is that this novel corona virus evolved in a Chinese wet market in Wuhan. Clearly the commercial exploitation and butchery of wild and farmed animals in proximity to human populations is a hazard. This should be subject to the highest standards. Despite the Chinese proclivity for exotic foods, this awful trade in wet markets mainly in China but also elsewhere in South-east Asia should cease. The next virus, and there is likely to be one, may be much nastier than COVID 19, unless we act to minimize these risks. Our pangolins, after all, are also precious We have taken for granted the ease and lack of restrictions on international travel. Things may never be the same again. At its most basic is the requirement that people who are travelling must be seen to be immune or vaccinated against the bugs du jour. Perhaps a bar code rather than the old fashioned vaccination certificate. Ultimately we rely on strong government. Even in democracies difficult choices must be made. (The writer is Associate Professor of Surgery, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland, Australia) Indias premier film studio Terribly Tiny Talkies has released its latest short film titled Ved & Arya today. Starring Nakuul Mehta & Sanaya Irani and directed by Ritesh Menon, this is TTTs 40th short film and is powered by OkCupid as part of TTTs latest property Streedom. The announcement of Nakuul and Sanayas first project together as TTTs Ved and Arya has already created Twitter Trends (#SanayaNakuul) across India, UK & Egypt with over 20K tweets in record time. TTTs short films are regarded as the best in the country, having received awards and worldwide recognition at festivals such as Clermont Ferrand, Filmfare and Jagran. Known for making films that nudge the audience to rethink social norms, Ved & Arya is another heartfelt story that explores the challenges of modern-day dating as the two protagonists carefully navigate the tricky waters without judgement. Their conversation and understanding of each others history forms the crux of this film that is dedicated to learning about, accepting and celebrating love. Sharanya Rajgopal, Studio Head, Terribly Tiny Talkies mentions, For the past few years, our films have focused on telling stories that celebrate relationships in their most authentic versions. Our characters help arouse profound realizations about life and living, providing answers to questions we don't always look deeply into. With Ved and Arya, we chose to shift our focus to a night in the life of these two characters and the dynamics of their intense relationship with each other, capturing the challenges of finding love in todays times. The leads Nakuul and Sanaya breathed life into the characters we can't wait for the audience to watch the actors in a never-before-seen avatar. It also happens to be our first collaboration with director Ritesh Menon, whose ability to look at nuance is incredible, second only to the energy he brings to the set and ultimately, on screen. We hope this is the first of many collaborations with all these powerhouse talents that we've worked with! Speaking about the association, Nakuul says, I have been a fan of TTTs shorts for a very long time. The idea was to make a film as a part of their property called Streedom around International Women's Day, a cause which I have forever been a champion of. I feel that with 'Ved & Arya', it fell in to place in a beautiful manner as we ended up having a great time making it with friends! Albeit our first time working together, Sanaya and I had a great time working with dear friend and storyteller extraordinaire, Ritesh Menon, who has directed the film in association with TTT. Sanaya and I have known each other since much before we both made our TV debuts, hence this simple film was the perfect opportunity for us to partner, as we feel its large-hearted message will resonate with our audience. Adding to this, Sanaya Irani mentions, Working on this film was a fabulous experience. We had so much fun all through. The vibe and the energy of working with such creatively charged minds was incredibly joyful. I'm so glad to be Arya and can't wait for everyone to see this short film. It's a sweet film with a big heart. I'm certain this is the beginning to a long work association with TTT. Also, this project is special for more reasons than one as this film is full of firsts for me, including working with Nakuul who has been a friend for so many years now. And of course, how could I not be part of TTT's Streedom campaign! In a bid to capture the voice of the modern woman, the first edition of Streedom is a powerful IP that has already reached over 14 million people in the last 12 days and shows that women just have to be themselves to change the world. Aiming to connect with a much wider audience through a powerful story, Ved and Arya forms the culmination of the same campaign where audiences watch in awe as Arya (Sanaya Irani) turns up unannounced at Veds (Nakuul Mehtas) home on a Friday night with an agenda. Its not her usual surprise. This is a bad idea, and an unnecessary one. New York law didnt allow such discretion before the reforms. Criminal justice experts say that is likely to worsen racial disparities in the courts. And for years in New York, judges used their discretion to regularly set bail poor people couldnt afford. Rolling back these reforms is almost certain to lead to an increase in the number of people in New Yorks jails. In normal times, that would be unacceptable. But as New York stares down one of the worst public health crises in a century, it is unthinkable. Just ask the people who work in the jails. On Tuesday, the New York City Board of Correction, which oversees the jails, requested that the city and state drastically reduce the number of people in custody, which this week hovered around 5,400. The board asked the city to begin with the most vulnerable people in custody, and those serving sentences of under a year. Over the past several days, a total of about 65 people were released from the citys jails. The task may not be a simple one, but to make an impact, Mayor Bill de Blasio, along with the citys prosecutors, who are involved in the process, will have to work much faster. They need help from Governor Cuomo, who can move to release state offenders who are in local jails because of technical parole violations. This is not just a New York concern. Montanas chief justice on Friday issued a letter to judges across that state asking them to take similar measures. We ask that you review your jail rosters and release, without bond, as many prisoners as you are able, especially those being held for nonviolent offenses, Mike McGrath, chief justice of the Montana Supreme Court, wrote. These ratios track closely with the results of a Quinnipiac University poll and an Axios/Survey Monkey poll taken in the first 10 days of March. And even the Democrats surveyed seem excessively optimistic. Polls in the field today are likely to reflect greater alarm and greater caution as the number of cases and the number of deaths continue to grow along with the list of states more or less shutting down to try to prevent contagion. Lets hope they also are reflecting a narrowing of the partisan divide. Paris: Iranian authorities have released French academic Roland Marchal, who has been imprisoned in Iran since June 2019, a French presidency official said on Saturday. Marchal is due to arrive in France around midday on Saturday, the official said. French President Emmanuel Macron urged Iran to also release French citizen Fariba Adelkhah, who is still imprisoned, the official added. Adelkhah also holds an Iranian passport. Iran and France have agreed to swap Marchal, held on security charges, and an Iranian detained by Paris over alleged violations of US sanctions against Tehran, Iranian state media reported on Friday. France has released Jalal Ruhollahnejad, an Iranian engineer wanted by US authorities over sanctions charges, state broadcaster IRIB has reported. France had demanded that Iran release Marchal, a senior researcher at Sciences Po university whose arrest was reported by Paris in mid-October. In May, a French court approved the extradition of Rouhollahnejad to the United States to face charges of attempting to illegally import U.S. technology for military purposes on behalf of an Iranian company which U.S. officials said was linked to the elite Revolutionary Guards. The detentions have complicated ties between the two countries during a period when Macron was seeking to defuse tensions between Washington and Tehran. Iran Revolutionary Guards have arrested dozens of dual nationals in recent years, mostly on espionage charges. The detentions have coincided with a protracted standoff with Western powers prompted by a U.S. decision to withdraw from an international agreement to curb Iranian nuclear activities. Life under lockdown, March 18 For years, we have been encouraged to be isolated, as in caring only about ourselves, focusing only on our own well-being, which we are told is solely in our own hands. We have been encouraged to think of ourselves as islands, our health, happiness and prosperity are independent of the larger community, society or country, never mind the world. This way of thinking has naturally led to constant arguments against having efficient and caring governments, paying taxes, and public funding even for health and scientific research. It is unfortunate that it takes something like COVID-19 to convince us, hopefully once and for all, that as human beings, we can never be independent of each other, and our health, well-being and prosperity is very much in each others hands. COVID-19 once again shows the importance of our collective thinking and acting, of the importance of paying taxes and a fair tax system, of good governments, of public funding and of science and research. It is not the corporations and the myth of trickle-down economics that can save us from common threats, but good governments, public health systems and collective support. With individual and collective responsible spirit and actions, we can prevent the spread of the coronavirus and eventually defeat this pandemic. Maria Sabaye Moghaddam, Ottawa Twenty years from now, we will look back and say, Thank goodness for this coronavirus! What we are witnessing is the beginning of a complete and far-reaching restructuring of life, business and communication. COVID-19 has removed 80 per cent of the vehicles from the streets in a manner that no environmental activist could. It has removed 90 per cent of the people from buses, trains and subways. What caught on as a convenience has now become the only way business can be conducted during this period of social distancing. We are talking about working from home. It is safe to estimate that half the labour force can and is now working from home at some level and to some extent. The big question is how entrenched will this practice become post-coronavirus. This is as good at time as any to think carefully about what our priorities should be in the future. COVID-19 gives us an opportunity to break away from business as usual. It gives us the ability to embrace of new paths; more sensible paths. A possible path that could see us reducing vehicular emissions so much that Greta Thunberg would be proud of us! The curse of this coronavirus becomes a blessing for those who would use this opportunity to be courageous. Greg McKnight, Brampton Coronavirus is a test run for global warming. Mother nature is showing us what we are capable of and what kinds of actions we have to take in extreme situations. Now that we know we can do it, lets fight global warming the same way. Wolfe Erlichman, Godfrey, Ont. Suddenly the world has become a science-fiction movie and we are all actors in that eerie movie. There are some who play their parts like true stalwarts: doctors, nurses and scores of front-line health workers. But what happens to the countless lonely, frightened and paranoid people? Will they fall victim to severe mental health and emotional problems in the wake of COVID-19? For them, its an enormous risk and challenge, and self-isolation may prove just as deadly as the disease. Even the experts have little clue as to when this nightmare will end. In the meantime, the actors must keep playing their parts to the best of their ability. As for this sci-fi movie, its cost is beyond reckoning. Dina Austin, Brampton In 2003, Toronto was hit by SARS, a coronavirus. Toronto had the second largest SARS outbreak in the world. Patients and health-care workers became ill, two nurses died. There was much discussion about how SARS was spread. The conventional wisdom suggested it was spread through contact with heavy droplets. Others suggested lighter, smaller droplets were suspended in the air, and inhaled. No one was sure. The Ontario Nurses Association knew that to ensure worker and patient safety, nurses must have respiratory protection to keep SARS from being inhaled. The minimum protective respiratory standard for nurses was a face mask with at least N95 certification. After SARS ended, a thorough investigation, led by Chief Justice Archie Campbell, was carried out. His final report cited a sharp criticism of Ontarios health-care system, and the failure to protect front line nurses, and included many recommendations. A key result to ensure the safety of Ontarios nurses was the subsequent practice that every nurse be annually tested for the fit of an N95 respirator, which would be readily available if needed. Fast forward 17 years to COVID-19, a highly contagious coronavirus very similar to the original SARS. Once again, some argue that this new virus is spread by droplets. Growing evidence suggests it may be airborne, as well. The science is not certain, and a surgical mask does not protect the nurses airway. The Ontario government is now insisting that surgical masks are adequate, but nurses know that is not true. Give nurses the N95 needed to protect their airways. We must not lose another nurse. Barb Wahl, past president, Ontario Nurses Association In the face of the escalating global pandemic, there has been some confusion in Canadian communities about how to respond. With every passing day, the reality of the crisis is becoming more apparent as schools and public places are shut down in places across the country, and more precautionary measures for social isolation are rightfully implemented. Such circumstances, while about maintaining public safety first and foremost, also take a toll on public morale. As anxiety levels and fears about the uncertain future escalate, faith organizations have a major role to play. Not only do thousands of Canadians turn to their faith organization for guidance, essential services and consolation, such groups are also a source of leadership for directing worshippers to responsibly follow public health directives. More than ever before Canadians must come together as one nation to protect our most vulnerable. Police could patrol Sydney's most popular beaches as the NSW government attempts to enforce a limit of 500 people, following outrage at the dense crowds of beachgoers who flocked to Bondi on Friday and Saturday amid the coronavirus pandemic. Waverley Council has temporarily closed Bondi, Bronte and Tamarama beaches after NSW Police Minister David Elliott said the NSW government would enforce restrictions on crowds at beaches, with lifesavers to withdraw from the beaches and alert police when crowds exceed that number. The flags come down at Bondi Beach. Credit:Steven Siewert Mr Elliott condemned the crowds who descended upon Bondi Beach on Friday and flouted social distancing guidelines, which are in place to manage the pandemic. "What we saw this morning at Bondi Beach was the most irresponsible behaviour of individuals that we've seen so far," he said. SACRAMENTO Governor Gavin Newsom today directed more than $42 million in emergency funding to expand Californias health care infrastructure and secure equipment and services to support Californias response to COVID-19. Of this amount, $30 million will allow the state to lease Seton Medical Center in Daly City and St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles for a three-month basis. Seton Medical Center is currently operating and will expand capacity to provide care for up to 120 COVID-19 patients beginning as soon as next Wednesday. Verity will operate Seton Medical Center on the states behalf. St. Vincent Medical Center closed in January, but California is readying the facility to begin providing care for up to 366 COVID-19 patients as soon as possible. This builds on Californias previous work, in partnership with local officials, to reopen Community Hospital in Long Beach for the specific purpose of accepting patients transferred from other hospitals in the area. The hospital will begin accepting transfer patients on Saturday and has a capacity of 158 beds. California is mobilizing every part of government to support our health care delivery system, its workers, and those among us who are most vulnerable to COVID-19, said Governor Newsom. California is making historic investments to strengthen our health care delivery system: $30 million to lease and operate two facilities and to expand the states hospital capacity. Seton Medical Center in Daly City. St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles. $1,420,000 to expand capacity of the states public health lab in Richmond. $8,647,000 to purchase new ventilators, as well as IV fusion pumps, and refurbish additional ventilators. $2 million to contract with American Medical Response to provide patient transportation. This past week, California began receiving shipments from a prior request from the Strategic National Stockpile. The request included: Personal Protective Equipment: 358,381 N95 masks 853,730 surgical masks 162,565 face shields 132,544 surgical gowns 678 coveralls 471,941 gloves In addition, California this week requested the following additional supplies from the Strategic National Stockpile: Personal Protective Equipment: 20 million N95 masks 10 million surgical masks 600,000 surgical gowns 600,000 face shields 600,000 gloves 300,000 goggles 100,000 coveralls Medical Supplies: 10,000 ventilators Lab and Diagnostic Supplies: 2 million swabs 200,000 RNA extraction kits California Expands Tele-Health Options This week, California acted to remove barriers to telehealth services for 22 million Californians. Increasing access to medical and behavioral care through telehealth allows individuals to receive the care and treatment they need remotely while isolating at home and practicing social distancing, thus limiting potential exposure to COVID-19 and unnecessary impacts to the health care delivery system during this time when we want to preserve the system for our sickest and most critically ill neighbors. Commercial and Medi-Cal managed care plans were directed to allow members to obtain health care via telehealth when medically appropriate to do so. Providers will be reimbursed at the same rate, whether a service is provided in-person or through telehealth. For example, if a provider is paid $100 for an in-person visit, they will be paid $100 for an equivalent visit done via telehealth. Removing barriers to telehealth will improve access and help ensure that hospitals and health systems can focus on providing care to those who need it most. Since the coronavirus hit, Cappuccinos life has become, literally, a walk in the park. Only two weeks ago, the nine-year-old spoodle was a dog often on the verge barking at anything that moves, tearing up the house, and exploding into cries every time his owner would leave the house for work. But that all changed when his owner, Christina Caddy-Gold, began to do her job partly from home, last week, as a result of the spreading virus. Christina Caddy-Gold with her daughter Avalon and two of their pets, Atlantis the cat and Cappuccino the dog. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer When someones not home the whole day, he gets separation anxiety, so hes always calmer when people are around, says Caddy-Gold, manager of a social work department at a Sydney non-profit organisation. Hes great, he just chills out, hes very happy. It is perhaps the silver lining we didnt see coming: that with the increasing numbers of people practising self-isolation and social distancing from other humans, pets around the world which, according to the latest evidence, cannot spread the virus are now living their best lives. SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in Onondaga County increased from 13 to 34 between Friday and Saturday, according to County Executive Ryan McMahon. Two of the people with the illness are hospitalized. One of them is in critical condition. The other is stable. The increase in cases was expected as the county continues testing people showing symptoms. McMahon said 700 tests have come back negative, along with the 34 positives. That means less than 5 percent of the people tested are infected. There are 80 people in mandatory quarantine, which means theyve had close personal contact with someone who has tested positive. Of the 34 people diagnosed with coronavirus, 13 are under the age of 40. The two people in the hospital are both over 60 and have underlying medical conditions. Were going to start to talk about recoveries at some point, too, McMahon said. Most people recover from this. McMahon said little is known yet about the 21 new cases today. Health Department investigators are just beginning to contact the people and those close to them. If there are gaps in those investigations that could put the public at risk of exposure, the county will notify the public. Such was the case with a person who works at Americas Best Contacts & Eyeglasses and had regular contact with customers. Testing for COVID-19 is continuing at the Syracuse Community Health Center, which has a drive-through testing site, McMahon said. While other counties are rationing tests because of a shortage, Onondaga County has enough test kits for at least the next few days. But McMahon said hes working on getting more. Anyone who has symptoms and has a doctors referral can get tested here, McMahon said. The number of people being tested at the drive-through site has decreased in recent days. There were 227 samples taken Thursday, 174 Friday and as of early Saturday afternoon, 60 people had been referred to the clinic. Onondaga Countys test sites serve more than just the county. People come from the surrounding counties to get tested, since Syracuse has some of the areas best and biggest medical facilities. McMahon said hes heard of people coming from the Albany and Buffalo areas to get tested here, since there are test kit shortages there. McMahon said the county would not turn anyone away, and couldnt if it wanted to, since there are no borders to our region. But hes repeatedly urged the state and federal governments to treat Onondaga County like its a region of 1 million people, not just the 465,000 who live here. He said Syracuse medical facilities are treating a population more similar to Westchester County than Onondaga County. As other parts of the state have not been able to do testing, theyre popping up at our triage center, McMahon said. We have no problem being on the front lines for all of our neighboring communities. We just need to be treated like a community of over a million people, not a half-million people. What we know so far about the people who have tested positive: 19 female 15 male At least 13 under the age of 40 At least nine between 40 and 60 years old At least nine older than 60 Two people hospitalized Information on three other cases wasnt yet available Saturday afternoon Previous reports list the early patients as: A couple in their 70s, with no travel history, who contracted the virus locally (first 2 reported cases) Two who traveled from New York City, a 23-year-old woman and 39-year-old woman (3rd and 4th cases - reported Wednesday) A woman, 57, who traveled from Spain (5th case - reported Wednesday) A man, 26, who came from New Jersey (6th case - reported Wednesday) A woman, 37, who contracted the virus locally (7th case - reported Thursday) MORE ON CORONAVIRUS Chris Baker is a public affairs reporter for syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Contact him via email at cbaker@syracuse.com or follow him on Twitter. Thanks for visiting Syracuse.com. Quality local journalism has never been more important, and your subscription matters. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work. >>> SMS campaign launched to support COVID-19 prevention >>> Medics provided with training to perform coronavirus testing >>> Entry process at Noi Bai Airport set at maximum of 2.5 hours According to the ministry, as of Thursday afternoon (Mar 19), the 18th patient undergoing isolated treatment at Ninh Binh Provincial General Hospital is now completely healthy and eligible for discharge. Several other cases have also showed negative test results for the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, one to two times. Only two cases in critical condition the 19th patient (Vietnamese, 64 years old) and the 26th patient (British, 69 years old) are still receiving active treatment at the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases base 2 in Hanoi. The MOH confirmed nine more cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection later on Thursday night, raising the total number of COVID-19 patients in Vietnam to 85. Among the 85 confirmed cases in the country so far, 16 have fully recovered. Phuong Nam Resort in Cu Chi District, Ho Chi Minh City, starts welcoming guests into medical isolation there on March 19. (Photo: NDO/Manh Hao) * Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi said that on March 19, the airport welcomed more than 1,900 arrivals from 26 flights returning home from Japan, Thailand, Hong Kong (China), Singapore, Malaysia, Laos and Turkey. From March 19, passengers coming from the epidemic zones through Noi Bai will be divided and transferred to concentrated isolation camps, with their medical declaration and sample tests to be taken at their isolation locations. For guests on the remaining flights (not from the epidemic-hit areas), medical and entry declaration shall be made in accordance with regulations. An aircraft returning 98 passengers home from Japan at Van Don Airport, Quang Ninh Province. (Photo: NDO/Quang Tho). * The Government has decided to temporarily suspend unilateral visa exemption for citizens from Belarus, Russia and Japan from March 21 as part of the efforts to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On March 19, the ministry said that the validity of visa exemption certificates granted to Belarusian, Russian and Japanese citizens of Vietnamese origin and their relatives will be also temporarily halted. The decision will take effect from 12:00 on March 21. Diplomatic and official passport holders from the three countries will not be included in this decision, it noted. Under the decision, citizens of these countries holding ordinary passports are still allowed to enter Vietnam if they have a proper visa. Entrants from Belarus, Russia and Japan are requested to strictly abide by Vietnams preventive medicine regulations. * The Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee has raised over VND282 billion (over US$12 million) since its fundraising campaign was launched on March 17. On March 19, President of the committee Tran Thanh Man received funds worth nearly VND40 billion (US$1.7 million) from agencies, organisations and individuals at home and abroad. He said the committee will quickly transfer the funds to support those who are directly involved in the prevention of the pandemic and the treatment of patients. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Maharashtra jumped to 64 on Saturday with 12 more persons testing positive for the infection, Health Minister Rajesh Tope said. Out of these 12 new patients, eight were from Mumbai, two from Pune and one each from Kalyan (a town near Mumbai) and Yavatmal, he said. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has issued directions that "community spread" of the virus be checked, the minister informed. Six out of eight new patients from Mumbai had overseas travel history, one is airport staff while another had traveled to Gujarat, Tope said. The patient from Yavatmal, who is admitted in a Mumbai hospital, had recently traveled to Congo in Africa. The patient in Kalyan is the brother of a woman from neighbouring Ulhasnagar who tested positive for the virus infection two days ago. Both had returned from Dubai. In Pune, a 25-year-old man who had traveled to Ireland and England tested positive. The other person in Pune who tested positive on Saturday was a 41-year-old woman who has no overseas travel history, the minister said. As per the latest figures, he said, Pimpri Chinchwad near Pune has 12 coronavirus patients, while in Pune city there are 11 patients. In Mumbai, the number of patients is now 19, highest in the state. Nagpur, Yavatmal and Kalyan have four Covid-19 patients each. Navi Mumbai has reported three cases, Ahmednagar two, and Panvel, Thane, Ulhasnagar, Aurangabad and Ratnagiri one each. One coronavirus patient died in Mumbai last week. Earlier in the day, when the number reached 63, the minister had said that rise from 52 to 63 within one one day was "big". Among the patients detected in Maharashtra so far, over a dozen were ones who had come in contact with infected persons while others had foreign travel history, he said. "The spread has been largely because of people who came from outside. I appeal to the people not to venture out. They should exercise self-discipline by maintaining social distancing and hygiene," he said. "If there is no reduction in crowding in public transport, a shut-down will have to be put in place. There is also the option of allowing people in public transport after checking their I-cards," he said. The suburban trains in Mumbai will function for essential activities, he added. "If people don't listen and continue to use public transport unnecessarily, we may have to think otherwise," he said, adding that we are in Phase-2 and heading towards Phase-3 of virus epidemic when number of patients spurts. The World Health Organisation and the Centre's guidelines say that the virus survives longer in cooler places, he said. "So, not just government offices, but people (at home and offices) should also follow the advice not to use air conditioning systems," he said. He also said that the rush of migrant labourers at railway stations to head back to their home states is something to worry about. "We have asked for increasing the number of outstation trains," he added. As to crowding in local trains, he said, "We are in observation and appeal mode as of now. Even the Centre feels that the public transport in Mumbai needs to be shut down. This was conveyed to (NCP chief Sharad) Pawar by Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan," he said. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Pawar were in touch with the Centre, Tope added. "Private labs should be given permission to conduct testing and even medical college hospitals can do it. This will reduce the waiting period for reports," he said. "Planned surgeries in civic-run and medical college hospitals have been put off. As many as 7,000 quarantine beds have been added in the state," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rahul Gandhi has dismissed erstwhile colleague Jyotiraditya Scindias complaint that he never took his calls, saying: He was a friend of mine. He could walk into my house any time. Sadly, that has not always been the case. Former Congress leader Natwar Singh in an interview to news channel NewsX pointed out that even the late Sheila Dikshit had to wait for days before being granted a meeting with Rahul Gandhi and when he finally met her he barely gave her a hearing. She was a three-term chief minister. And Dikshits case was hardly an exception as the ... GM suspends operations at San Luis Potosi plant San Luis Potosi, Mexico General Motors de Mexico says it has suspended operations due to coronavirus. Beginning immediately, the automaker will suspend operations for two weeks at its plant in San Luis Potosi as a measure against the spread of the coronavirus. The suspension is in line with General Motors announcement to systematically and orderly halt its manufacturing operations in North America due to market conditions and to thoroughly clean facilities and continue to protect people from the coronavirus. The General Motors plant in San Luis Potosi has about 6,300 workers in addition to 4,000 business partners. Popular Ibadan-based broadcast journalist, Edmund Obilo, is currently being quarantined of coronavirus diseas at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Oyo State. Nigerian Tribune quoted a source saying the journalist was admitted on Thursday evening following which his samples were taken and forwarded to Lagos for confirmation of his status. Edmund Obilo result of his test is expected to be released on Saturday, March 21, while he was saidd to be complaining of the condition of where he was quarantined. The hospital confirmed on Friday that it had on admission a suspected case of coronavirus but did not disclose the identity of the patient. KanyiDaily had reported that Nigeria currently have 12 confirmed cases of the dreaded coronavirus. Eleven in Lagos and one in Ekiti. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Andi Hajramurni (The Jakarta Post) Makassar Sat, March 21, 2020 09:07 662 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad206c6012e 4 National COVID-19,coronavirus,outbreak,South-Sulawesi,Gowa,Makassar,manokwari,heart-disease Free A man who had traveled to Pakkato village, Gowa regency, South Sulawesi, to participate in a suspended international Islamic mass gathering reportedly died on Friday afternoon. The gathering committee chairman Kahar Munir confirmed the news, saying the man came from Manokwari, West Papua. The cause of death is yet unknown. His family told us he had heart disease, Kahar said. Neither the Gowa administration nor the Gowa Police were immediately available for comment. Meanwhile, Bontoromannu district head Muhammad Sabir said the administration was still looking for further information regarding the death. We have sent a team to confirm the news. The gathering, initially scheduled to be held from Thursday to Sunday, was canceled by the South Sulawesi provincial administration over heightened concerns about COVID-19. It was suspended after more than 8,000 participants had already arrived at the site, 474 of whom were foreign nationals. Congregation members from the province were immediately sent to their respective homes. Meanwhile, people from outside South Sulawesi and foreigners attending the gathering were allowed to stay in Makassar and leave the province according to their trip schedules. They are to depart from Sultan Hasanuddin International Airport and the Soekarno-Hatta seaport in Makassar. (aly) Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said the Modi government will announce an economic package for the coronavirus-hit sectors "as soon as possible". Without mentioning a tentative date by which the package could be announced, the FM said several ministries were coming up with their suggestions and that the task force will analyse all those proposals. The Finance Minister under Sitharaman will also hold a meeting today to decide its action plan. Speaking to the media after meeting ministers and officials of civil aviation, animal husbandry, tourism and MSME ministries, the FM said: "I had a meeting with tourism, MSME, civil aviation, animal husbandry sectors. These ministries presented an assessment of their sector after consultation with their stakeholders. We had a detailed discussion in the presence of the Finance Secretary and Economic Affairs Secretary. We are compiling their suggestions." The FM said the Economic Task Force announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was yet to be formed. "Taskforce is not yet constituted but keeping in mind the sense of urgency, the ministry was holding this meeting. Of course, when the task force is constituted it will also get the benefit of these meetings. Other ministries are also sending us their suggestions," she said. She also said the government, at the moment, was collecting inputs from ministries and that the picture on the economic package would clearer soon. On providing the relief package to the financial sector, the FM said: "SEBI has come up with a list of regulations which will also sort of keeping the markets a bit stable. But I can't say what I am doing for the markets. At the moment, we are at a critical stage of collecting everybody's inputs and also the ministry is working in detail about all the inputs which have come." The special COVID-19 economic task force announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday will likely work on an economic package for the sectors most affected by the coronavirus outbreak, including informal sectors. He said the task force would ensure that all necessary steps were taken to reduce the economic difficulties arising out of the crisis. He also urged the FM-led task force to implement them effectively. As per experts, the task force will have to take drastic steps like relaxation in NPA (non-performing assets) norms, deferral of tax payments and the announcement of income support to the people working in the unorganised sector. Notably, travel, tourism and hotel industries are some of the worst-affected sectors due to travel bans, social distancing and suspension of business activities. While other related sectors like fuel minerals, electricity and water and rubber, plastic, coke and petroleum products, etc are also likely to be impacted adversely. Coronavirus outbreak has disrupted the global economy, and countries, trade blocs are taking fiscal measures to overcome the crisis. While India is yet to come up with a rescue package in wake of coronavirus crisis, major economies of the world have announced billions of dollars worth bailout packages to offset losses due to the COVID-19's outbreak. Also read: Coronavirus: PM Modi launches Covid-19 Economic Response Task Force The strain of managing the Governments response to the coronavirus pandemic has led to claims of tensions between two of the most senior Ministers tackling the crisis. Colleagues say that Michael Gove is vying with Health Secretary Matt Hancock to be Boris Johnsons chief executive on Covid-19 by leading the Cabinets approach. Both Mr Gove, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and Mr Hancock chair one of four committees set up to tackle the virus, as well as sit on the daily C-19 super-committee, chaired by the Prime Minister, which draws the four committees findings together in a pan-Whitehall operation. Michael Gove MP is vying for a senior position to help the coronavirus pandemic effort They also take part in the regular emergency Cobra meetings on Covid-19, also chaired by Mr Johnson, attended by senior members of the security services. Mr Hancocks responsibilities on the health committee extend to critical decisions about boosting NHS capacity before the peak of the epidemic hits, while Mr Gove is focusing on the rest of the public sectors preparedness. They are joined on C-19 by Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who is in charge of helping Britons caught up in the crisis overseas, and by rising star Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, who some commentators argue has stolen the limelight from all of them by masterminding the Governments multi-billion-pound Covid-19 bailout package. One source claimed that it was obvious that Michael is vying with Matt and itching to take over, saying: He sits in the Cabinet Office, which is the natural place to pull all the different strands of a crisis like this together. He has also made some typically double-edged remarks in meetings about the performance of Health in recent weeks. Health Secretary Matt Hancock arrives at 10 Downing Street in London on Friday Another said: Both Michael and Matt seem to be listening for the first cough from Boris and wondering which of them will step up when he is self-isolating. The new ministerial structure was set up by Mr Johnson last week after he told the Cabinet that the pandemic was a war that must be won. The dramatic decisions in recent days, including the shutting of all bars and restaurants and the giant Treasury bailout, were taken after C-19 and Cobra heard that the upward curve of the epidemic was not being flattened by the Governments measures and without further action the UK would be heading for a situation potentially as serious as that in Italy and Spain. However, last night a source close to Mr Gove said that he was happy for Mr Hancock to be the lead Cabinet Minister. The source said: Matt is obviously leading the response with the PM. Michael is just chairing a committee on public-sector readiness. And a source close to Mr Hancock said: There is no vying just a lot of work. In line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for Janata Curfew from 7 am to 9 pm on March 22 (Sunday) to contain the spread of coronavirus, the nation on Saturday readied itself for the 14-hour unprecedented shutdown. People have been urged to voluntarily stay indoors to check the spread of coronavirus while public transport will be suspended or curtailed and all markets and shops except those dealing in essential items will be closed on the day. PM Modi had on Thursday called for the 'Janata curfew' from on March 22, saying no citizen, barring those in essential services, should get out of their houses, and asserted that it will be a litmus test to show India's readiness to take on the coronavirus challenge. Cutting across party lines, chief ministers and others leaders urged the people to follow the self-imposed curfew from 7 am to 9 pm, noting that "social distancing" was key to breaking the chain of infection, as the number of coronavirus cases rose to 283 after 60 new cases were detected on Saturday, the highest so far in a day, and states like Maharashtra, Odisha and Bihar imposed partial lockdown till March-end. No passenger train will originate from any railway station in the country from midnight to 10 pm on March 22 while all suburban train services will be reduced to a bare minimum as well. Metro services, including in Delhi, will remain suspended for the day. Air carriers like GoAir, IndiGo and, Vistara have announced that they will be curtailing domestic operations. Traders' body Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has announced that they will keep their establishments shut across the country. From suspending regular prayers in shrines of various faiths, including Sunday mass, to disallowing jail inmates from meeting their families on the day, organisations and institutions in every sphere have announced restrictions for March 22. Describing it as the need of the hour, Union Home Minister Amit Shah asked everyone in the country to support the step. In a series of tweets, Shah also asked all citizens to express gratitude to those who are working round the clock to keep the country safe and healthy amid the pandemic. Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu too made a fervent appeal to the people of the country to confine themselves to homes on Sunday. He said that since the virus spreads through physical contact, social distancing is an effective measure to contain its spread by avoiding contact during the incubation period of the virus. "Janata curfew should be seen in the largest context of the initiative to insulate people with their voluntary involvement. It is a matter of great assurance that people have responded very positively to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal. People remaining indoors and social distancing are part of measures to curb the contagion virus," said Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. In Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said 50 per cent of the buses will ply on roads on March 22 considering some people may have to travel due to an emergency. Autos and taxis will, however, be off roads in the national capital as several unions including the Delhi Autorickshaw Sangh, Delhi Pradesh Taxi Union, Delhi Auto Taxi Transport Congress Union and Delhi Taxi Tourist Transport Association, have decided to join the 'Janata curfew'. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath appealed to the people of the state to stay indoors. "Metro trains, roadways buses and city buses will not operate on Sunday," the statement said on behalf of the chief minister. "Coronavirus is in the second stage all over the country. It will convey a big message to the entire world if we are successful in stopping this at this stage. To curb this infection, we are working on a war footing. Isolation wards have been set up in every district hospital and medical college. So far, 23 patients have been identified in the state, out of which nine have completely recovered. There is no need to panic, but prepare yourself to fight against this challenge," the UP chief minister said in the statement. Leaders also urged the traders not to hoard essential items and the people to purchase only necessary things. Archbishop of Goa Filipe Neri Ferrao cancelled the Sunday mass at all churches in support of the call for "Janata" curfew to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. In Delhi too, St Peter's Mar Thomas Syrian Church, Patparganj and Cathedral Church of Redemption in central Delhi have cancelled Sunday mass and all services for next week, sources said. Prominent Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband in Uttar Pradesh said it will remain closed on March 22 and asked its students not to go outside. The Jammu and Kashmir Waqf Board announced the suspension of regular prayers at mosques and shrines affiliated to it in the Kashmir valley as a preventive measure to contain the spread of the coronavirus. On Saturday, the prime minister thanked various organisations and business bodies for their efforts to contain the spread of coronavirus. "Never forget -- precautions not panic!" he said adding that it is not only important to be home but also remain in the town/ city where you are. Unnecessary travels will not help you or others. In these times, every small effort on our part will leave a big impact," PM Modi said reacting to tweets by people on the virus. This is the time we should all listen to the advice given by doctors and authorities, he said. "All those who have been told to stay at home quarantine, I urge you to please follow the instructions. This will protect you as well as your friends and family," he said. The prime minister also shared a video which showed how the virus spreads and ways to check its outbreak taking small precautions. The Odisha government has announced a "near-total" shutdown in five districts and eight other prominent towns for a week. These districts are Khurda, Ganjam, Cuttack, Kendrapara and Angul, while the towns include Puri, Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Balasore, Rourkela, Bhadrak, Jajpur Road and Jajpur. The Bihar government ordered shutting down of bus services, restaurants and banquet halls across the state till March 31. All schools and malls are already closed in the state. Authorities have already ordered a shutdown in Maharashtra's major cities like Mumbai, Pune, Thane and Nagpur. The Akola district administration also ordered a lockdown between March 22 and 24. Medical TV dramas such as Grey's Anatomy are donating equipment including masks, gowns and gloves to emergency workers tackling the coronavirus pandemic. The shows are emptying their prop rooms of materials that are in increasingly short supply as the rapid spread of the disease threatens to overwhelm resources. Grey's Anatomy, a long-running ABC show, has 'a backstock of gowns and gloves which we are donating,' said executive producer Krista Vernoff. Some medical equipment is in increasingly short supply as the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus threatens to to overwhelm resources. ABC's The Good Doctor is pictured Karen Law, an Atlanta-based rheumatologist, posted an image on Instagram of medical supplies outside the Grady Memorial Hospital, thanking Fox's The Resident for the donation Firefighter drama Station 19, from the same network, donated around 300 masks to the Ontario Fire Department in Canada after learning they were running out and fire stations were forced to re-use masks. 'At Station 19 we were lucky enough to have about 300 of the coveted N95 masks which we donated to our local fire station,' Krista Vernoff, executive producer of Grey's Anataomy and Station 19 said in a statement. 'They were tremendously grateful. At Grey's Anatomy we have a back-stock of gowns and gloves which we are donating as well. We are all overwhelmed with gratitude for our healthcare workers during this incredibly difficult time, and in addition to these donations, we are doing our part to help them by staying home.' Grey's Anatomy, pictured, is another show that has donated masks, gowns and gloves to medical workers and hospitals in need Fox's The Resident made a big donation of gowns and face masks to an Atlanta hospital Another popular ABC medical drama, The Good Doctor, shoots in Vancouver, where it has handed over hundreds of masks, gowns, disposable booties and isolation suits. Karen Law, an Atlanta-based rheumatologist, posted an image on Instagram of medical supplies outside the Grady Memorial Hospital, thanking Fox show 'The Resident' for the donation. 'Yesterday, I had a serious discussion with the residents about how, though supplies are low, a magical shipment of masks is unlikely to arrive,' she wrote. 'And yet, a magical shipment of masks DID arrive.' Dr. Dallas Weaver, left, and his wife Janet Weaver will put their masks and gloves in the oven and clothes in the dryer after walking on Huntington Beach Pier. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) The number of coronavirus cases in Orange County rose to 78 Saturday as residents coped with statewide restrictions on movements. An Orange County firefighter at Station 4 In Irvine has tested positive for COVID-19 but is "feeling fine," officials said Friday. The Orange County Fire Authority has placed 24 other firefighters who associated with the sick firefighter into self-isolation. Here is a breakdown of the Orange County cases: 35 Travel-related. 8 Person-to-person. 29 Community-acquired. 6 Under investigation. The call for social isolation is causing the temporary closure of several gathering places for older residents across Orange County. For Bob Harrison, 80, that includes the Orange County Model Engineers. Since the organization temporarily closed its train operations a couple of weeks ago, Harrison isnt going to Costa Mesas Fairview Park as much. Instead, he made a rail yard a little closer to home: in his living room. My wifes upset with me a little bit, he said. Harrisons age and previous bouts with pneumonia put him in the high-risk category for the coronavirus. He stocked up on groceries a couple of weeks ago and has since kept close to home. To stay busy, hes tinkering with the model train adding a rail here and there, running the engine. It reminds him of his days growing up on a farm and driving to the railroad tracks to watch the trains roll by. He plans to return to the Fairview Park rail yard next week but only to unlock the door for a termite inspector. For the most part, hes spending his time cleaning out old magazines, teleconferencing for International Society of Automation meetings and chatting through the door with his twin 11-year-old grandsons, who live down the road. Im not doing a lot of things, but Im not going to give up seeing those two little boys grow up, Harrison said. Courtney Wight said she forgets sometimes. A neighbor was giving things away Tuesday and Wight left her Laguna Beach home to see what was available. But as people came up and talked to her, she remembered I shouldnt be here, she thought. Story continues The next day, Wight, 82, returned to self-isolating in her home in accordance with state recommendations for people 65 and older to stay home to help curb the spread of the coronavirus that causes the respiratory disease COVID-19. When Orange County ordered this week that bars and restaurant dine-in services be shut down, Mario Marovic locked up Malarkys, his popular Irish pub in Newport Beach. But he didnt stop working. On Friday, he set up a one-day-only drive-through toilet paper operation at the shuttered establishment on Newport Boulevard. He brought 4,000 rolls, selling them for $5 for 10 rolls. On Thursday, he teamed with Newport Beach Mayor Will ONeill to deliver 1,100 rolls to the Oasis Senior Center for distribution to low-income senior facilities. March 21 : The festival of Gudi Padwa, the Marathi New Years day, will be celebrated on March 25. This traditional festival is celebrated by the people of Maharashtra by dressing up in traditional ensembles. Check out these traditional outfits that will brighten up the festivities. Ananya Pandays yellow kurta worn with sharara bottom will firmly root into your festive closet. You must take cues from her vibrant ethnic ensemble that featured a yellow strappy kurta, styled like a tunic. It can be worn with sharara pants and a dupatta like the young actress. Sara Ali Khans elegant white kurta with Chikankari work is a perfect outfit for the traditional festival. Dressed in a similar pristine white kurta with matching bottom and dupatta can never fail you to impress your near and dear ones. This traditional yet trendy outfit is a must in your festive wardrobe. Ethnic saree styles for women to wear on this Gudi Padwa Take inspiration from Karisma Kapoors gorgeous red traditional kurta set with criss cross patterns in print. The ethnic silk set featured a short frock-style kurta and a matching pair of salwar. Reds always brighten up festivals and you can notch it up further with ethnic jewelleries and juttis. Kangana Ranaut is always seen ruling the ethnic scene. This simple yet elegant outfit is apt for the traditional festival. The actress teamed a beige kurta with blue and white striped linen palazzo pants and a white cotton dupatta. The comfortable ethic outfit can be styled with diamond studs and heels. This elegant ethnic outfit worn by Mouni Roy is definitely a graceful choice for Gudi Padwa celebrations. Mouni paired her blue ethnic suit with a contrast peach organza dupatta. The kurta set features some delicate embroidery work, and can be accessorised with traditional gold jhumkas. Ethnic styles for men to wear on Gudi Padwa A Spanish couple whose planned wedding was ruined by the countrywide lockdown due to coronavirus found a unique way to go ahead with their plans. According to the Guardian, the couple spent months to plan their elaborate D-day, but all of it was ruined soon after COVID-19 cases spiked in Spain, leading to total lockdown. Source/Guardian Diaz, who is a wedding planner by profession had planned every meticulous detail of the wedding. And then on March 20, the couple realised that they could not carry on with the wedding. The wedding would have involved too many people in a very small space. But the couple didn't let the lockdown state of mind deter their spirit. Alba Diaz and Daniel Camino decided to get married leaning out of their apartment balcony and got their neighbour to help while maintaining social distance. According to reports, it was Camino who first suggested that the couple go ahead with the wedding despite their circumstances. They decided that they would get married from their window itself. They recruited the help of their next door neighbour to lead the ceremony while other people from their balcony were enlisted to be witnesses. The bride after the ceremony threw the bouquet to a friend who lived opposite her. The couple's honeymoon will be at home as the pandemic has led to travel bans. In stark contrast to the Spanish couple who respected the lockdown and still held the wedding, is this Telangana man who breached the social distancing protocol and invited 1,000 guests for the event. A wedding guest said the event was well-attended and that neither the groom nor the bride or anyone else wore masks or followed any precautions recommended for those put under quarantine. According to reports, the groom was sent back to quarantine, and the reception ceremony slated to take place on Friday stands cancelled as of now. The groom had returned to Hyderabad from France along with a friend on March 12 and both of them were put under house quarantine. If necessary,the authority will strengthen mobile groups of doctors to conduct tests among patients at home Open source 80% of those who will be affected by coronavirus disease will suffer it in a mild form. Ukraine's Deputy Minister of Health, Chief State Sanitary Doctor of Ukraine Viktor Lyashko stated this during a broadcast on one of the Ukrainian TV channels. The Ministry of Health of Ukraine reports this in the Telegram channel. It is reported that, if necessary, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine will strengthen mobile groups of doctors to conduct tests at patients at home. Lyashko noted that only 5-7% of those who fell ill came from the experience of Italy and Spain, requiring resuscitation and intensive care. He also urged citizens to stay home and monitor their health closely. As we reported before, the World Health Organization is working with scientists from around the world on about 20 different coronavirus vaccines. This was stated by the technical director of the WHO emergency program, Dr. Maria Van Kerchove, at a press conference at the organizations headquarters in Geneva on Friday. Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's, Morrisons and other supermarkets including the Co-op, Aldi and Lidl have hired more staff to deal with soaring demand during the coronavirus outbreak. (PA) UK supermarkets are hiring thousands of extra staff to cope with unprecedented demand during the coronavirus pandemic. Leading supermarkets are urgently seeking permanent and temporary staff as they struggle to cope with shoppers clearing shelves. The scale of panic buying has forced companies and the UK government to urge the public not to stockpile more than they need. READ MORE: Supermarkets announce three-item limit on groceries Supermarket leaders are holding daily talks with government officials, giving vulnerable and elderly shoppers priority and ramping up recruitment. Many are seeking to hire some of the estimated 500,000 staff who have already lost their jobs in the hospitality sector. Job losses are likely to continue to mount after the UK government imposed a shutdown on venues on Friday. However, new worker protection measures have been put in place that could help keep a number of people on the payroll, even if their work is on pause during the pandemic. But for those looking for employment right now, the supermarkets present opportunities for thousands of people. Tesco: 20,000 workers Tesco (TSCO.L) announced that it will recruit 20,000 temporary workers for at least the next 12 weeks. It also currently lists more than 7,000 vacancies on its website. Many of the newest roles including store jobs are marked as immediate start. With the COVID-19 situation evolving every day, and unprecedented high demand, we urgently need to recruit extra temporary in-store colleagues, one advert says. Aldi: 9,000 jobs Aldi is advertising for 4,000 permanent roles and 5,000 temporary roles at stores and distribution centres. It says staff will start immediately, with a minimum of 9.30 an hour, and encouraged anyone affected by the outbreaks economic toll to apply. Asda: 5,000 jobs Walmart-owned Asda (WMT) plans to hire 5,000 temporary workers who have lose their jobs due to COVID-19. It is working directly with 20 national firms who are slashing roles to take on their staff. Story continues It said in a post on its Facebook page: Weve asked our colleagues to spread the word so if family and friends need work, they can contact their local Asda and we will try to help. It has also asked struggling local food firms to provide on-site catering for its staff. Co-op: 5,000 jobs The Co-op Food is creating 5,000 roles in stores, aiming its jobs at former hospitality workers. It says it has temporary and permanent roles available, and will simplify its recruitment process to get staff working as soon as possible. Lidl: 2,500 jobs Lidl is recruiting 2,500 new staff it wants to start immediately on four-week temporary contracts. Lidl is also particularly keen to hear from workers who have lost their jobs Morrisons: 3,500 jobs Morrisons will hire 1,000 distribution centre workers and around 2,500 pickers and drivers to expand home deliveries. It will also launch a call centre to help take orders over the phone from customers who do not shop online. Sainsburys Sainsburys (SBRY.L) is urging potential applicants to support us in feeding the nation. It is recruiting an unspecified number of staff on fixed-term contracts in its stores, urging potential applicants to ask about opportunities at local branches. The company is urging firms considering laying off workers to get in touch about redeploying workers. Actor-Politician Rajinikanth on Saturday urged people to participate in the 'Janata Curfew' on March 22, an initiative by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to avoid COVID-19 spread in the country. He took to Twitter and said, "I urge everyone to rise to the occasion and participate in the Janata Curfew by strictly staying indoors and practicing social distancing." Cautioning the public he said that Italy tried implementing similar nationwide curfew to prevent stage 3, but due to lack of support from the citizens, the efforts failed, resulting in the deaths of thousands of people to the pandemic. "We don't want such a crisis in India," he said. He said that in this crucial time let us also remember and thank the selfless service of all the doctors, nurses and medical workers by participating in the nationwide appreciation and prayers at 5 pm on March 22. The total number of positive cases of coronavirus has climbed to 271, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Washington In an extraordinary exchange, President Donald Trump and the government's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, publicly sparred Friday on whether a malaria drug would work to treat people with coronavirus disease. The scene played out on national television during the daily White House briefing on the outbreak. Anxious for answers, Americans heard conflicting ones from a just-the-facts scientist and a president who operates on gut instinct. Reporters asked both men first Fauci, then Trump if a malaria drug called hydroxychloroquine could be used to prevent COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. A day earlier, when Fauci wasn't with him at that briefing, Trump had called attention to the drug. On Friday, Fauci took the reporter's question and got right to the point. "No," he said. "The answer ... is no. "The information that you're referring to specifically is anecdotal," Fauci added firmly. "It was not done in a controlled clinical trial, so you really can't make any definitive statement about it." He went on to explain that the Food and Drug Administration is looking for a way to make the drug available to patients for emergency use, but in a manner that gives the government data about whether it's safe and effective. Fauci is director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at NIH and in more than 30 years has handled HIV, SARS, MERS, Ebola and now the new coronavirus. Currently, there is no medicine specifically approved for treating COVID-19. But Trump stuck to what his gut was telling him. As the two men took turns at the podium, Trump said he disagreed with the notion that there is no magic drug for the coronavirus disease. "Maybe and maybe not, " he said. "Maybe there is, maybe there isn't. We have to see." He struck an upbeat note, while trying not to directly challenge Fauci. "I think without seeing too much, I'm probably more of a fan of that ... maybe than anybody," he said. "But I'm a big fan, and we'll see what happens. And we all understand what the doctor said is 100 percent correct. It's early. "You know, I see things that are impressive ... we're going to know soon," the president added. "And it's very effective. It's a strong it's a strong drug. So, we'll see." Hydroxychloroquine and a similar drug chloroquine are available now and can be prescribed off-label by doctors in the United States. They may interfere with the coronavirus being able to enter cells, and some scientists have reported possible encouraging signs in test-tube and other small studies. Other scientists are skeptical that those promising test-tube results will translate to benefits for patients. Fauci has a history of being the fact-based counterpoint to the Trump administration's upbeat assessments of the coronavirus outbreak. After Fauci said weeks ago that, even with all deliberate speed, a vaccine could take a year to 18 months, Trump told a political rally one could be ready "relatively soon." As administration officials repeatedly assured the public that coronavirus tests were rapidly becoming available, Fauci at a congressional hearing said the lack of widespread testing was "a failing" of the system. Although Fauci has publicly supported Trump's travel restrictions to try to keep the virus out, he warned the public the worst was coming even as Trump suggested the crisis was under good control. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. On Friday at the White House podium, Fauci's caution did little to dampen Trump's enthusiasm. "Look, it may work and it may not work, and I agree with the doctor," Trump said. "It may work, it may not work. I feel good about it. That's all it is. Just a feeling. You know, I'm a smart guy. I feel good about it. And we're going to see. You're going to see soon enough." The two even debated the safety of the malaria drug, with Trump saying it has a proven record and Fauci cautioning that safety has to be validated again because it would be used to treat the coronavirus disease, which is different. In the end, the scientist seemed to be trying to find a way to avoid a direct confrontation with the president. "No, there really isn't that much of a difference in many respects with what we're saying," Fauci tried to explain. "The president feels optimistic about something. His feeling about it. What I'm saying is that it might it might be effective." It wasn't just Trump with whom Fauci took issue. In answer to a reporter's question, he called a suggestion by Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin that the administration was overreacting, given that thousands of people die on the highways every year, a "false equivalency." He added: "I don't think with any moral conscience you can say, 'Why don't we just let it rip and happen and let X percent of the people die?'" And asked about economist Kevin Hassett's suggestion that all Americans be tested so that uninfected people can get back to work, Fauci said, "I don't connect the dots there." Even if it might be nice to know the test results, it will take social distancing to slow the spread. For most people, the virus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. BRASILIA, March 21 (Reuters) - Brazilian retailers Riachuelo and Marisa Lojas are to close all their stores nationwide due to the coronavirus outbreak, meaning more than 600 outlets across the country will be shut. Riachuelo, a chain of fashion stores belonging to the Guararapes group, said in a statement late on Friday that all its 323 stores in Brazil will be closed effective Saturday. Its stores in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo were already closed following recent decrees from local authorities there. Marisa Lojas said in a securities filing on Saturday that its stores will be closed indefinitely as from Sunday, March 22, but that its online operations will continue. It has some 300 outlets nationwide, according to its website. On Thursday, retailer Lojas Renner announced the indefinite closure of all its stores in Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. As of Friday, at least 11 people had died from the virus, according to the health ministry, and now more than 900 people are infected across the country. (Reporting by Jamie McGeever in Brasilia and Aluisio Alves in Sao Paulo; editing by Diane Craft) School closings are a drastic change for kids at this challenging time, and childrens authors whose normal routines are also disrupted are finding ways to reach their readers in different ways. Dozens of book festivals, tours and events have been canceled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, and some writers are turning to social media to engage with their fans, offering readings of their books, art classes and other activities to keep them entertained. Heres what theyre doing. Gene Luen Yang When Gene Luen Yangs tour for his new graphic novel, Dragon Hoops, was canceled as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, I felt disheartened and helpless, he said. In lieu of an in-person tour, he held a Facebook Live session to discuss the book. Hes also touring as a cartoon on his Instagram page, where he will take reader questions and respond in a comic strip. As a former teacher, Yang said, he has a special place in my heart for all the parents who are now unexpectedly home schooling their kids, and will be working with his publisher to develop resources to help them with this monumental task. By PTI KOLKATA: Four inmates of the Dumdum Correctional Home here were injured in a clash with prison guards on Saturday over the state government's decision not to allow them to meet their families till March 31 due to coronavirus outbreak, officials said. The inmates pelted the guards with stones and set jail property on fire following which police personnel burst tear gas shells to quell the violent stir, a top prison official said. Family members of an under-trial prisoner, however, alleged that the prisoner was killed with a bullet injury. State Correctional Administration Department Minister Ujjal Biswas, however, dismissed the claim. "Four inmates were injured during the clash. They were admitted to the R G Kar Medical College and Hospital. There are no reports of any death so far," Biswas told PTI. The minister said the inmates started agitating when authorities stopped them from meeting their relatives on Saturday to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus. In the morning, some inmates insisted that they be released on parole, but when the authorities refused to accept their demand, they launched a violent agitation, a top prison official said. The stir soon turned into a clash between the inmates and prison guards, he said. RAF personnel and policemen managed to bring the situation under control after some time, the official said. Several fire tenders were pressed into service to bring the fires under control, he said. "The situation is under control. We are trying to identify the inmates behind the incident," the official said. Sporadic incidents of clashes between inmates and prison guards were also reported at the Presidency Correctional Home, a senior police officer said. However, there are no reports of any serious injury and the situation has been brought under control, he said. A senior official of the West Bengal Correctional Services Department had said on Friday that allowing inmates' families to wait outside the prison was against the concept of social distancing, which is the key to prevent the spread of coronavirus. "Keeping this in mind, a decision was taken not to allow the meetings till March 31," he said. In view of the coronavirus outbreak, a family member of an inmate can now only call up the prison authorities to enquire about his or her health. Meanwhile, the state government removed Director General of Correctional Services, Arun Gupta and named Peeyush Pandey as the new ADG & IG of the state correctional services, a government notification said. To adhere to the Janta Curfew on Sunday to reduce the spread of coronavirus, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) will hold its meeting at local units before or after the restriction sets in. RSS general secretary Suresh Bhaiyaji Joshi said in a statement on Saturday that keeping in mind Prime Minister Narendra Modis call for a public curfew on Sunday, shakhas will be held before 6.30am or after 9.30pm on Sunday. Volunteers can gather and pray in their area, locality or society as per their convenience, Joshi said. Shakhas are the local units where volunteers gather for exercises, prayer and other interactive events. The Prime Minister had in his address to the nation asked people to stay off the roads and public places during the Janta Curfew, which will be in place for 14 hours from 7am to 9pm on Sunday. Today, I am seeking one more support from every citizen. It is Janta Curfew - a curfew for the people and imposed by people themselves, PM Modi had said. Also read: RSS calls off annual meeting amid coronavirus outbreak The RSS had earlier called off the meeting of its highest decision-making body, the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha, last week after the governments directions to cut down on large gatherings to prevent the spread of the virus that is now a global pandemic. According to an RSS functionary, instructions have been issued to all state units to follow the government guidelines to check the spread of the virus. Since shakhas are held on a daily and weekly basis where volunteers congregate, the Sangh leadership has issued instructions to follow the norms of social distancing, said a functionary. In some areas, district or state units have drawn up programmes to be followed on Sunday at all shakhas. The government said the number of Sars-Cov-2 cases in India rose to 258 on Saturday after 22 fresh cases were reported in various parts of the country. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON ABOUT THE AUTHOR Smriti Kak Ramachandran Smriti covers an intersection of politics and governance. Having spent over a decade in journalism, she combines old fashioned leg work with modern story telling tools. ...view detail Delhi to ease restrictions, if Covid cases come down in next 2-3 days: Health Minister Lata Mangeshkar health update: Doctor says,'She in ICU with Covid-19 and pneumonia, will be under observation' PM's call for 'Janta curfew' need of hour: HM Amit Shah India oi-PTI New Delhi, Mar 21: Describing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for a 'Janta' curfew on Sunday as the need of the hour, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has asked everyone in the country to support it and encourage others to join the movement to prevent the spread of coronavirus. In a series of tweets, Shah also asked all citizens to express gratitude to those who are working round the clock to keep the country safe and healthy amid the pandemic. "Prime Minister @narendramodi ji's appeal for a Janta Curfew is need of the hour. As #IndiaFightsCorona, let us do our bit to defeat COVID-19. Stay indoors on 22 March from 7am to 9pm. Encourage your friends and relatives too. This is our movement, we will win, together!," he said. Shah also said no one should forget to show support and gratitude on Sunday at 5 pm for the people who have been constantly working to keep the country safe and healthy. "Come out in your balconies with your family and cheer for them! Your applause can make a big difference!," he said. The Prime Minister on Thursday called for 'Jant'a curfew on March 22 from 7 am-9 pm, saying no citizen, barring those in essential services, should get out of house. He also said that at 5 pm on March 22, we should thank people like doctors, medical personnel, cleaning staff, for their service during the coronavirus outbreak. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, March 21, 2020, 18:35 [IST] The Russian Ministry of Health has obliged state and private medical institutions to register all doctors and nurses in the Unified Identification System on the government services portal and on the agencys website. The telegram signed by the deputy head of the department, Pavel Pugachev, was sent to the medical organizations on March 18. The order was necessary to be executed within two days, by March 20, RBC reports. The prescription encourages medical centers to connect to the EGISZ, the unified state information system in the field of healthcare, the assistant to the head of the Ministry of Health, Aleksey Kuznetsov said. jayanth p By Express News Service VIJAYAWADA: The Energy department has drafted the Renewable Energy Export Policy proposed to boost the renewable power plants in the State. Officials said that the draft policy would likely to be put before the next State Cabinet meeting for approval. According to sources, the new export policy, touted to be the first-of-its-kind, is aimed at creating a conducive environment to investors who want to set up renewable energy generation units in Andhra Pradesh. The policy broadly has three major aspects, a top-ranking official told TNIE. Firstly, it provides a chance for the existing firms with whom we have a power purchase agreement (PPA) to go out (export) on an open access mode, given the interstate transmission system (ISTS) waiver. "Second aspect would be to exporting renewable power by setting up hybrid (two or more renewable sources) plants. Finally, setting up of new units only for exporting purpose like in Rajasthan, the official explained. For the record, Rajasthan has a policy through which an investor could set up a wind or a solar or other renewable energy plant and export it entirely to other States. Even though the State, during the past five years, went all out for the establishment of green energy plants, the power generated in the State has not been exported. Unlike in Rajasthan, our State has made agreements for purchase of all the wind and solar power generated here. So, let alone exporting what is generated here, we are burdened because of buying such green power at higher prices, another official explained. Andhra Pradesh has 7,600.35 megawatt (MW) of cumulative capacity of renewable energy plants commissioned as of February 29, 2020. While wind energy capacity is 4,079.37 MW, solar energy accounts for 3,520.99 MW of the total capacity. The officials expect that the new renewable export policy will boost the green power investments in the State. It may be recalled that the State governments move to renegotiate/review solar and wind PPAs met with severe backlash not just from within India but across the globe. Investors were spooked and even complained to the Union government, which has advised the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government to drop its plans of reviewing legally bound pacts. The State officials now hope that the new policy would also clear the apprehensions among investors. There is a lot of potential for renewable investments in AP. We expect that the new policy will boost investments in the State. In fact, some of our partners with whom we have renewable PPAs already approached us to explore the options for exporting power, the top-ranking official explained. Sources said that the existing firms have sought certain exemptions to explore exportable power. Ensuring that minimum or no financial loss to our Discoms, if we dole out exemptions, is our priority. We are examining the proposals and will take a decision on them shortly, the official noted. Big boost to clean energy The new export policy is aimed at creating a conducive environment to investors who want to set up renewable energy generation units in AP Major aspects UPDATED Saturday 1:09 p.m. Oregons fourth known death from the new coronavirus was announced Friday evening, as Marion County officials confirmed a woman had died from the virus. Marion County Commissioners Sam Brentano, Kevin Cameron and Colm Willis said they were saddened to report the death and offered sympathies to the persons family. Oregon Health Authority reported on Saturday that the woman, 72, tested positive on March 15 and died on March 20 at Kaiser Permanente Sunnyside Medical Center. She had underlying medical conditions. The woman was one of 17 Marion County residents who have tested positive for the virus so far, and one of 115 in Oregon. Three others have died, including a Lane County woman, 60, a Multnomah County man, 70 and a Washington County man, 71. Marion County announced its first presumptive positive case of coronavirus on March 8. On March 16, the city of Turner, a small Marion County town, announced that it had closed its city hall after the husband of an employee tested positive for the virus. Oregon saw its biggest spike in cases yet on Friday, with the state and county officials reporting more than two dozen new cases of the virus across nine counties. There are now known coronavirus in 17 of Oregons 36 counties: 31 in Washington , 19 in Linn , 17 in Marion, 12 in Multnomah, 10 in Clackamas, two each in Benton, Jackson, Lane and Umatilla, and one each in Douglas, Grant, Josephine, Klamath, Polk and Union. Of the positive cases so far, 66 patients are older than the age of 55, 34 patients are between ages 35 and 54, six are between 25 and 34, four are between 18 and 24 and four others are under 17, according to state figures. Updated to include the age and gender of the patient. Jayati Ramakrishnan; 503-221-4320; jramakrishnan@oregonian.com; @JRamakrishnanOR Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. At an extraordinary meeting on March 20, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine allocated means from the state budget reserve fund for the implementation of a number of measures to combat the spread of COVID-19 disease in Ukraine and return of Ukrainians from Italy. A sum worth UAH 35.6 million was allocated to the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, UAH 3.6 million for providing personal protective equipment to employees involved in the implementation of anti-epidemic measures was allotted to the Ministry of Justice (for the State Criminal Enforcement Service), the Government portal informs. The Government also allocated UAH 639,000 from the state budget reserve fund to the Ministry of Infrastructure to reimburse expenses related to the emergency evacuation of citizens of Ukraine and their families from the coronavirus spread zone in Italy. As of 10:00 on March 21, Ukraine confirmed 41 cases of COVID-19. Fifteen new cases were detected in the last 24 hours. ol Highlights The director of IIT Delhi, Professor Ramgopal Rao shared a Facebook post The post details how IIT Delhi found a genius way to tackle the hand sanitiser shortage The post has now gone viral The coronavirus pandemic has caused a shortage of essentials across the world as people have turned to panic buying basics. In India too, several people have reported a shortage of face masks and hand sanitisers. However, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi found a genius way to tackle the shortage. They turned to their lab and created hand sanitisers of their own. Now, a Facebook post about this is going all kinds of viral. The director of IIT Delhi, Professor Ramgopal Rao, has explained in his Facebook post how the institute was finding it difficult to procure hand sanitisers in large quantities. Even when they were available, vendors were charging exorbitant amounts and quality was suspect, he says in his post. Frustrated with the situation, Rao asked one of the chemistry professors if he could prepare some for the college. He replied, for such a small thing, you dont need an IIT Professor, it can be done by our technical staff, he says in the post. Lo and behold, in flat two days, we have 50 litres of hand sanitisers meeting WHO standard (certified by IIT Profs). All at a negligible price, he adds. They subsequently sent out an email to other departments asking them to take some in case they needed it. That is the spirit needed to fight Corona, he says, expressing gratitude to those involved in the feat. Raos post, since being shared on March 20, has collected over 11,000 reactions and more than 3,200 shares. People are extremely impressed and saying so in the comments section. I salute you for this commendable action by IIT Delhi in these days of crisis, says a Facebook user. Real heroes, says another. This is incredible. Can IIT Delhi donate sanitisers to relief camps? wonders a third. IIT Delhis website has also shared details about the sanitisers. The formulation contains three chemicals along with Aloe Vera and the major component is isopropyl alcohol (around 75%), it says on the website, adding, The advantage of hand sanitisers is that when soap and water are not readily available, it comes for ready use. Washington Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., is asking for an ethics review after coming under criticism for selling off as much as $1.7 million in stocks just before the market dropped in February amid coronavirus fears. Senate records show that Burr and his wife sold between roughly $600,000 and $1.7 million in more than 30 separate transactions in late January and mid-February, just before the market began to fall and as government health officials began to issue stark warnings about the effects of the virus. Several of the stocks were in companies that own hotels. In a statement Friday morning, Burr said he had asked for the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate the matter, "understanding the assumption many could make in hindsight." There is no indication that Burr, who is not running for reelection when his terms ends in 2022, had inside information as he sold the stocks. The intelligence panel he leads did not have any briefings on the pandemic the week when most of the stocks were sold, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person declined to be identified to discuss confidential committee activity. Senators did receive a closed-door briefing on the virus on Jan. 24, which was public knowledge. A separate briefing was held Feb. 12 by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which Burr is a member of. It's unclear if he attended either session. The stock sales were first reported by ProPublica and The Center for Responsive Politics. Most of them came on Feb. 13, just before Burr made a speech in Washington, D.C., in which he predicted severe consequences from the virus, including closed schools and cutbacks in company travel, according to audio obtained by National Public Radio and released Thursday. Burr told the small North Carolina State Society audience that the virus was "much more aggressive in its transmission than anything that we have seen in recent history" and "probably more akin to the 1918 pandemic." Burr's remarks were much more dire than remarks he had made publicly, and came as President Donald Trump was still downplaying the severity of the virus. Burr was not the only lawmaker to sell off stocks just before the steep decline spurred by he global pandemic. Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler, a new senator who is up for reelection this year, sold off hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of stock in late January. In the weeks that followed, Loeffler urged constituents to have faith in the Trump administration's efforts to prepare the nation. California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, also reported that her husband sold off between $1.1 million and $5.5 million worth of stock in Allogene Therapeutics more than a month ago. Feinstein, who also sits on the intelligence panel, said in a statement that she didn't attend the Jan. 24 briefing and had no input in her husband's decisions. Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe also sold off anywhere between roughly $395,000 and $850,000 worth of stock he held in multiple companies in late January and early February, according to a disclosure. Inhofe tweeted that he has no involvement in his investment decisions after asking his financial adviser to move him out of stocks and into mutual funds "to avoid any appearance of controversy." The government of Ghana has announced the closure of the Kotoka International Airports VIP lounge to all diplomatic missions, international organisations and honorary consulates, as part of measures to control the spread of the coronavirus. The announcement was made in a circular by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration. It explained: In light of the foregoing, it has become mandatory for all inbound and outbound passengers, including emergency cases, to use Terminal 3 of the KIA and go through laid-down arrival and departure protocols, adding: Services at the VIP Lounge would be restored when the situation normalises. Meanwhile, the number of people infected by the coronavirus in Ghana has increased by three more to 19. The latest cases, all imported, according to the Ghana Health Service, were confirmed on Friday, 20 March 2020. They were picked up in the Greater Accra and Ashanti Regions.Two of the three latest patients are UK-based Ghanaian women who returned to Ghana two weeks ago.One is 55 years old while the other is 84 years old. The third is a 27-year-old Chinese man who touched down in Accra. As part of efforts to combat the spread, President Nana Akufo-Addo has announced a few restrictions including a ban on social gatherings. Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video By Engen Tham and Yilei Sun SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) - China reported a record rise in imported coronavirus cases on Friday as students and expatriates returned home from the United States and Europe, sparking fears of a second wave of infections just as the country recovers from the initial outbreak. All 41 of the new confirmed cases in China were imported from overseas, the country's National Health Commission said on Saturday, bringing the total number of such cases to 269. There were no locally transmitted cases for the third consecutive day. Beijing and Shanghai were the main entry points for the returnees, many of whom are students studying abroad. They have come back after many campuses in the United States and Europe shut down to stem rapidly rising infection rates there. Also returning in a flight to safety were China-based expats, as businesses begin to reopen. While there is no reported transmission of the virus from people arriving from abroad to local communities, authorities across China are tightening public health measures. "Since March 11, when the World Health Organization characterized the epidemic as a pandemic, the cumulative number of imported cases (in China) has risen from 85 to 269, up by 216% and outpacing the 98% increase in the cumulative worldwide confirmed cases during the same period," Mi Feng, spokesman of the National Health Commission, said at a regular press briefing. China must strictly prevent the import of the virus from overseas and a rebound in cases, Mi said. Of the 14 new imported cases in Beijing on Friday, five were Chinese students returning from abroad. Among Shanghai's record nine cases, five were students flying back from Britain, France and Switzerland. The southern provinces of Guangdong, Fujian, and the eastern provinces of Shandong and Zhejiang, as well as Shaanxi and Sichuan, all reported cases. Guangdong's health commission said on Saturday travelers who enter Guangdong province from abroad will be subject to a 14-day quarantine on arrival either in personal residences or at a centralized quarantine center at the expense of the traveler. Story continues Infected people have also entered China through the major transport hub of Shenzhen, including people making their way back to the mainland from Hong Kong by land. RECOVERY While the influx of infections from overseas remains modest, they present a potential threat to Chinese authorities keen to restart factories and get consumers to spend again. Analysts have slashed forecasts for China's first-quarter gross domestic product to levels not seen since the Cultural Revolution ended in 1976, with all sectors of the economy hammered by the coronavirus outbreak this year. The total number of confirmed cases in mainland China stood at 81,008 at the end of Friday, the health authority said. The death toll was 3,255, up by seven, a much slower rate than at the height of the crisis. The lack of locally transmitted cases for the third day running underscored a recovery that has prompted officials to relax restrictions, even in the virus epicenter of Wuhan. On Saturday, the official Xinhua news agency said commercial outlets in residential communities and villages without existing cases of virus can resume business, citing the municipal bureau of commerce. The first phase of a clinical trial of a vaccine has kicked off, state-backed Science and Technology Daily reported on Saturday. The first batch of 36 volunteers, comprising Wuhan residents aged between 18 and 60, will undergo a 14-day quarantine at a centralized location. (Reporting by Engen Tham in Shanghai and Yilei Sun in Beijing; Additional reporting by Min Zhang and Ryan Woo in Beijing; Editing by Daniel Wallis, Leslie Adler and Jane Wardell) The UNAIDS Country Director for Ghana, Angela Trenton-Mbonde says Ghana has made giant strides towards the elimination of Mother-To-Child Transmission (MTCT) of HIV by the end of 2020. Speaking at the commemoration of the International Womens Day by Alliance for African Women International (AFAWI), she said, UNAIDS is in collaboration with the Ghana AIDS Commission and the First Lady of Ghana to ensure Ghana meets its target by end of 2020. The commemoration was under the theme: Market queens a success story of grassroots governance. Dr Mbonde in a presentation said, "Market queens can harbour support and solidarity for pregnant and healthy mothers living with HIV which will ensure that they overcome perceived stigma and other challenges and stay on anti-retroviral drugs to enable mothers deliver their babies, stay alive and healthy. According to her, market queens have the ability to influence women to know their HIV status. Market queens can encourage pregnant women in markets and communities to know their status and to seek treatment if positive". She said Ghana is likely to join countries that have attained the elimination of Mother To Child Transmission at the end of 2020 if continuous effort is made. Dr Mbonde whiles encouraging the market queens to collectively advocate for the Prevention of Mother To Child Transmission (PMTCT), she further admonished the general public to reach out to the National AIDS Control Program, the Ghana AIDS Commission and the UNAIDS with ideas and proposed actions for effective implementation. She observed, that women are the most vulnerable in regards to HIV infection, therefore requires that women get tested and be advocators of PMTCT. Managing Director of Alliance for African Women Initiative (AFAWI), in an interview indicated that, the commemoration of the 2020 International Womens Day (IWD) is aimed at engaging market queens to listen to their success stories and challenges towards the achievement of gender equality. I think that market queens play a very important role in the development of our nation. These women are used as a means of collecting taxes even at the local level, therefore without them, it is difficult to collect taxes from women who are operating within the market setting and we believe that they have a lot of influence to be able to pass on certain information, wisdom and knowledge to their fellow women within the community and to help develop the women agenda, that is why we targeted them to get their success stories, challenges and to see how best we can work with them as an organization to influence the positive change we need in our communities. He said, the attainment of socio-economic growth involves efforts of both genders in society through gender mainstreaming and that, the subordination of women must be avoided. In his view, although gender equality is being championed across, Ghana needs to continuously engage communities in the advocacy of gender mainstreaming. Adding that, policy makers must consider the implementation of policies that address challenges of gender inequality to empower women in the development spheres. The International Womens Day (March 8,) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating womens equality. The commemoration brought together society, representatives and leaders of various women groups, non-governmental organizations, queen mothers as well as market queens and other dignified women in Africa and the diaspora. A 30-year-old Uttar Pradesh resident was detrained at Kalyan railway station by patrolling security personnel on Saturday as a a precautionary measure against the novel coronavirus outbreak as he had travelled to Dubai, an official said. He had returned to Mumbai on March 17 and would have needed home quarantine as part of protocol set in place for those coming back from a select group of countries. The incident took place around 11.30 am on platform no 5-6 where long distance trains halt, an official said. "During patrolling, Railway Protection Force staff S N Mundey found a passenger, a resident of Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh, with travel history to Dubai and who had came to Mumbai on March 17," he said. "The man was made to alight the train and then sent to government-run Bai Rukminibai Hospital in Kalyan. Authorities have been informed about the incident," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The YouTube app logo is seen on a smartphone in this illustration By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) - YouTube and Amazon Prime will sacrifice streaming quality in the EU to help avert internet gridlock as tens of millions of Europeans, confined by the coronavirus outbreak, switch to working from home. Alphabet Inc's YouTube and Amazon joined Netflix in responding to a call by European Union industry chief Thierry Breton to cut picture quality to prevent overload. While mobile networks are coping so far they could come under increased pressure as lockdowns to slow the pandemic become stricter and broader. Streaming video can account for 60% or more of traffic on fixed and mobile networks and the planned March 24 launch of Disney+ in Britain, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria and Switzerland could create a new pain point. Carriers have been told by the EU not to prioritise traffic as this would violate its net neutrality rules. "We are making a commitment to temporarily switch all traffic in the EU to standard definition by default," YouTube said in a statement after Breton spoke to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki. A spokesman said the decision includes Britain, which is leaving the EU, and will initially be for 30 days. Breton welcomed YouTube's step. Amazon Prime followed suit on Friday, saying it supported the need for careful management of telecom services to ensure they can handle the increased internet demand with so many people now at home full-time due to COVID-19. "Prime Video is working with local authorities and Internet Service Providers where needed to help mitigate any network congestion, including in Europe where weve already begun the effort to reduce streaming bitrates whilst maintaining a quality streaming experience for our customers," a spokesperson said. Disney, which has 28.6 million users, had no immediate comment. It is already sending out teasers for a launch that will feature the opening two episodes of 'The Mandalorian' and the final season of 'Star Wars: The Clone Wars'. Story continues Experts warn that reducing streaming rates may only give temporary relief and the dilemma of whether to discriminate between essential and non-essential traffic will resurface. "In an ideal world, network operators would obviously upgrade their infrastructure and invest," said Eric Broockman, chief technology officer of Extreme Networks , a U.S. network management company. "In the short term, what network operators could do to reduce the pressure on their networks and ensure connectivity for all is to deprioritise non-essential traffic." DATA SPIKE Telecoms providers from Vodafone to Deutsche Telekom have reported a spike in data traffic, forcing Breton to issue his pre-emptive call. He wants networks to be able to run essential services such as healthcare and online learning for house-bound children during the coronavirus outbreak. Netflix said it would reduce bit rates, which determine the quality and size of its audio and video files, across all its streams in Europe for 30 days, in effect cutting its traffic on European networks by around 25%. Orange CEO Stephane Richard called in an interview with Le Figaro for the Disney+ launch in France to be delayed so as not to overload networks. But Deutsche Telekom said it was sticking to its launch plans in Germany, where it is offering Disney+ for free to subscribers to its Magenta TV product for the first six months. In Austria, which has imposed regional lockdowns in areas hardest hit by the coronavirus, Drei Austria said it was seeing a 50% increase in voice telephony and 15% in peak data loads. Drei, a unit of Hutchison <0001.HK>, welcomed the moves by Netflix and YouTube. While it had not yet made use of traffic management measures, it said it would keep that option open. "We hope that Disney, like Netflix & YouTube, will also reduce its transmission quality, at least during the crisis," Drei told Reuters. Not all networks are stretched, with Dutch cable operator VodafoneZiggo saying it had ample capacity and was offering its paid film channel, plus a kids film and a comedy channel, for free. (Additional reporting by Sarah White, Kirsti Knolle, Nadine Schimroszik and Toby Sterling; Writing by Douglas Busvine; Editing by Alex Smith and Louise Heavens) - A lot of netizens planned to report the controversial Facebook page of Mocha Uson - They decided to mass report it after an intriguing statement against Vico Sotto was posted there - The said government official immediately learned about the plan of her critics - She issued a statement addressing the threat that her Facebook page will be turned down PAY ATTENTION: Click "See First" under the "Following" tab to see KAMI news on your News Feed Mocha Uson was aware of the plan of some netizens to mass report her controversial Facebook page so that it will be shut down already. KAMI learned that the said action of many social media users even trended in the Philippines and in the whole world. According to some critics of the said government official, every 8 in the evening is the time for them to report the page named Mocha Uson Blog. However, on the first day of the planned mass report, the page of the controversial celebrity is already unavailable on Facebook. It was not clear if the social networking site already turned down the account or it was Mocha who deactivated it because of the threats. PAY ATTENTION: Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news! As soon as she learned about the plan of netizens, she posted a frank statement that directly addressed the issue. She revealed that if her page will be turned down by Facebook, she will use another bloggers account to post her opinions about societal matters. Napag alaman po natin na may planong sabay sabay irereport itong page ng MUB ng mga troll, Mocha said. Kung sakaling mawawala po ang ating page, sa BANAT BY page muna ako magpopost. Maraming salamat po! she added. Screenshot via Fashion Pulis Source: Facebook In a previous article by , Ethel Booba slammed Mocha for negative post against Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto. Mocha Uson is a famous celebrity in the Philippines who acquired a government position after Rodrigo Duterte won as President. She is currently the Deputy Executive Director of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA). POPULAR: Read more news about Mocha Uson! Please like and share our Facebook posts to support KAMI team! Dont hesitate to comment and share your opinion about our stories either. We love reading about your thoughts! TikTok dance challenges are taking over social media. We are always on point in asking passers-by to dance to famous songs together with our host Andre! Dont forget to subscribe to HumanMeter! Source: KAMI.com.gh AMN Healthcare Services CEO Susan Salka, in a one-on-one interview with CNBC's Jim Cramer Friday, unveiled two recent acquisitions her company made and is applying in the effort to stop the spread of the deadly coronavirus. The hospital staffing company purchased b4health in December and closed on the purchase of Stratus Video in February. The latter equipped AMN Healthcare with telehealth capabilities. "We quickly pivoted and added capabilities so that our clients could use that platform for COVID-19 triage purposes," Salka explained, adding clinicians "wouldn't necessarily have to be in the same room with their patients and it can be used in a variety of other ways." COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus, which originated in China and has infected more than 18,000 people and killed nearly 230 in the United States. There are more than 271,600 global cases as of Friday evening, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Stratus Video is a provider of health-care video remote language interpretation services. AMN Healthcare purchased the company for $475 million. The acquisition is timely as governments around the world have put their countries on lockdown as health officials try to combat the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on their citizens, hospitals and overall economies. Shares of Teladoc Health, a virtual on-demand doctor service, have gained about 20% since the authorized expansion of telemedicine services of telemedicine services on Wednesday. AMN Healthcare shares, meanwhile, are up less than 1% year-to-date. The company also added b4health to its portfolio in December. B4health is a vendor management software for shift management and workflow organization. The system an match qualified staff with the institutions that need their services, Salka said. "We're working with various state associations right now to try to equip them with that technology so that they can more easily move around the very precious workforce that we have," she said. The numbers include 546 new deaths in Italys epicentre Lombardy region, as cities across the world are locked down. The death toll from the new coronavirus has surpassed 6,000 in Europe, with Italy, Spain and Germany reporting a steep rise in infections. Worldwide deaths surged past 12,000 on Saturday, according to data collected by the Johns Hopkins University in the United States. More than 299,000 people have been infected, while some 91,500 have recovered. Italy announced 793 more deaths on Saturday, the second day in a row of the biggest day-to-day increase in the countrys four-week epidemic, after surpassing Chinas death toll on Thursday. The total number of deaths in Italy has now reached 4,825. Spains death toll has also increased to more than 1,300, while in Iran, the number of deaths hit another grim milestone of 1,500 as the country marks the beginning of the Persian New Year. Here are all the latest updates: Saturday, March 21 20:45 GMT Bolivia suspends presidential election An electoral court had postponed Bolivias general election over the coronavirus, according to local media. Voters were due to head to the polls on May 3 to elect a permanent successor to former president Evo Morales, who resigned in November. Bolivias congress will have to enact legislation in order to select a new date for the elections, according to Salvador Romero, president of the Supreme Election Tribunal. 20:15 GMT Turkeys coronavirus death toll rises by 12 to 21 Turkeys coronavirus death toll has risen by 12 to 21 while the number of confirmed cases rose by 277 to 947, the health minister said. A total of 2,953 tests were conducted in the previous 24 hours, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said. 19:45 GMT US approves rapid coronavirus test with 45 minutes detection time The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first rapid coronavirus diagnostic test, with a detection time of about 45 minutes, the tests developer, California-based molecular diagnostics company Cepheid, has said. Cepheid said in a statement it had received an emergency use authorisation from the FDA for the test, which will be used primarily in hospitals and emergency rooms. The company plans to begin shipping it to hospitals next week, it said. Under the current testing regime, samples must be sent to a centralised lab, where results can take days. 19:30 GMT Dutch government bans flights from Spain until April 4 The Dutch government has said it would halt all passenger flights from Spain to the Netherlands until at least April 4 in an effort to limit the coronavirus outbreak. The government said it would only make an exception for flights to repatriate Dutch people from Spain and for medical staff. 19:05 GMT Ireland reports 102 new cases of coronavirus, total now 785 Cases of coronavirus in Ireland have climbed by 102 to 785, the department of health said on Saturday. As of Friday, three people had died of the illness. 18:55 GMT North Korea says Trump wrote Kim, offered coronavirus cooperation US President Donald Trump wrote to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and expressed his desire to cooperate on combating the coronavirus, according to North Korean state media. Trump expressed his intent to render cooperation in the anti-epidemic work, saying that he was impressed by the efforts made by the Chairman to defend his people from the serious threat of the epidemic, North Korean state news agency KCNA reported. It did not say when the letter was received. 18:50 GMT Qatar says it will take measures to protect expat workers Qatar has said it is making every effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and protect its residents, including millions of expatriate workers, a day after a rights group criticised the Gulf state over its handling of the crisis. A statement released by the Qatari government on Saturday said it is working closely with employers in the country to ensure the welfare and medical needs of the residents are met. At least 480 cases have been reported in the country. Read more here. As part of #Qatars efforts to prevent the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19), His Excellency Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa Al Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, has decided to take precautionary measures and ban all forms of gatherings by law. #YourSafetyIsMySafety pic.twitter.com/5Y62EwN94i (@GCOQatar) March 21, 2020 18:45 GMT Eritrea confirms first coronavirus case, an arrival from Norway Eritrea has confirmed its first coronavirus case, a traveller arriving from Norway, its information minister said on Saturday. The Ministry of Health announced this evening the first confirmed case of a coronavirus patient who arrived at Asmara International Airport from Norway with Fly Dubai at 7:00 a.m, Yemane Meskel said on Twitter. He added that the 39-year-old was an Eritrean national with permanent residence in Norway and was undergoing treatment. 18:40 GMT US flight authority briefly halts flights to NYC, Philadelphia The Federal Aviation Administration briefly halted flights to New York City-area airports because of coronavirus-related staffing issues at a regional air-traffic control centre. In an alert posted online, the agency advised air traffic controllers to stop all departures from JFK, LaGuardia, Newark and other airports in the region. The directive also affected Philadelphia International Airport. 18:30 GMT French coronavirus death toll rises by 112 to 562 France has recorded 112 coronavirus deaths in a day, taking its total to 562, the health ministry has said. There have been 14,459 confirmed cases, the ministry said in a statement. It said 1,525 people were in severe condition out of the 6,172 who were currently in hospital. Half the severe cases were people aged under 60. 18:20 GMT Qatar bans gatherings, closes parks and beaches Qatar has announced a ban on all gatherings and the closure of public parks and beaches. The government has said that all forms of gatherings, including weddings and funerals, are banned. Qatar has recorded 481 cases, but no deaths. The Supreme Committee for Crisis Management said a hotline had been set up for people to report breaches of the ban, and that violators would be arrested. The government said food outlets, pharmacies and delivery services would operate normally. People wearing protective masks in Souq Waqif as the number of coronavirus cases rises in Doha, Qatar [Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera/Al Jazeera] 18:10 GMT Sao Paulo to lock down for two weeks Brazils largest state Sao Paulo will essentially shut down for two weeks to help fight the coronavirus, its governor said on Saturday, as President Jair Bolsonaro again claimed that hysteria over the outbreak could cause more harm than the virus itself. Sao Paulo state Governor Joao Doria said a statewide quarantine order would take effect on Tuesday and last through April 7. All but non-essential businesses and services, including bars and restaurants, will remain closed across the countrys most populous state, which includes its financial hub, for the duration. 17:50 GMT Coronavirus death toll in England up 53 to 220 A further 53 people have died in England after testing positive for the coronavirus, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths to 220, the National Health Service has said. The patients who died were aged between 41 and 94, and all had underlying health conditions 17:45 GMT Lebanon PM orders security forces to enforce virus curfew Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab has asked the countrys security forces to enforce stricter measures to keep people indoors and prevent gatherings to curb a coronavirus outbreak. In a speech, Diab said this would include patrols and checkpoints, calling on the Lebanese to stay home and only go out if absolutely necessary. 17:40 GMT Pence says he will be tested for coronavirus after aide tests positive US Vice President Mike Pence said he and his wife will be tested for coronavirus after a member of his staff tested positive. The White House doctor has indicated he has no reason to believe that I was exposed and no need to be tested, Pence told the daily briefing at the White House. Given the unique position I have as vice president and as the leader of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, both I and my wife will be tested for the coronavirus later this afternoon. 17:30 GMT UAE shuts beaches, parks, pools, cinemas and gyms The United Arab Emirates is shutting beaches, parks, pools, cinemas and gyms from Sunday for two weeks over coronavirus concerns, the state news agency WAM has said. Restaurants and cafes will be allowed to operate for the same period at 20% of capacity, and as long as customers are at least two metres apart, and for delivery services, subject to review 17:15 GMT Italy coronavirus deaths surge by 793 in a day, lifting total death toll to 4,825 The death toll from an outbreak of coronavirus in Italy has leapt by 793 to 4,825, officials have said, an increase of 19.6 percent, by far the largest daily rise since the contagion emerged a month ago. The total number of cases in Italy rose to 53,578 from a previous 47,021, an increase of 13.9 percent, the Civil Protection Agency said. The hardest-hit northern region of Lombardy remains in a critical situation, with 3,095 deaths and 25,515 cases. 17:00 GMT Algerias coronavirus cases rise to 139 with 15 deaths The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Algeria has risen to 139 from 95, with 15 deaths, the ministry of health has said. Algeria has stopped international and domestic travel, closed mosques, cafes and restaurants and told half of state employees to stay at home to try to limit the spread of the virus. 16:45 GMT Guatemala orders eight-day curfew Guatemalas President Alejandro Giammattei has ordered an eight-day curfew starting Sunday as part of measures aimed at containing the coronavirus. At least 17 people have been infected in the Central American nation. 16:40 GMT Turkey imposes curfew on elderly, chronically ill citizens Turkey has imposed a partial curfew for citizens over the age of 65 and those with chronic diseases, effective as of midnight, as part of measures against the coronavirus outbreak. Details of the curfew would be announced later, the interior ministry said in a statement. Earlier on Saturday, Turkey suspended flights with 46 more countries and banned picnics and barbecues, as the number of cases has roughly doubled every day for a week. 16:30 GMT Libyas LNA welcomes call for truce in light of pandemic Libyas eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA), lead by general Khalifa Haftar, has said that it welcomed a call for a humanitarian pause in fighting to allow the country to focus on the danger from the coronavirus. The United Nations and some individual countries had called on warring parties to stop fighting to make it easier to deal with the virus, although no cases have yet been confirmed in Libya. The LNA has been trying since last year to capture the capital Tripoli, the seat of the internationally recognised Government of National Accord, which had already endorsed the ceasefire. 16:15 GMT Death toll in Italys Lombardy jumps by 546 The death toll from an outbreak of coronavirus in the northern region of Lombardy, which has borne the brunt of Italys contagion, has risen by 546 in a day to 3,095, officials said. It is the highest daily increase in the region since the outbreak emerged. Lombardys head of welfare, Giulio Gallera, said the number of cases in the region, which includes Italys financial capital Milan, had increased by 3,251 to 25,515. On Friday, Italys death toll stood at 4,032, the highest in the world. 16:00 GMT Bolivia announces total quarantine from Sunday Bolivias government has announced a complete quarantine from Sunday in a bid to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Its a tough but necessary decision, said interim President Jeanine Anez, we must be at home for 24 hours a day. Bolivia has so far registered 19 cases, far fewer than neighbouring countries such as Brazil, with more than 900, and Chile, with more than 500. 15:50 GMT Nigeria to shut Lagos, Abuja international airports Nigeria will close its two main international airports in the cities of Lagos and Abuja from Monday night, its civil aviation regulator has said, as the number of coronavirus cases in the country almost doubled. The airports, which join three others around the country, will be shuttered for one month, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement. The closure comes as Nigerias number of confirmed coronavirus cases rose on Saturday from 12 to 22, three of them in Abuja, the capitals first positive identifications. 15:45 GMT Amazon raises overtime pay for warehouse workers Amazon said it is raising overtime pay for associates working in its US warehouses, as the worlds largest online retailer tries to meet the rapidly growing demand for online shopping from consumers stuck at home, according to Reuters news agency. All hourly associates working in the U.S. Ops network will receive double their regular hourly rate for every overtime hour worked in a workweek, the company said in a statement. This temporary increased overtime pay is effective March 15, 2020 and will continue through May 9. 2020, the announcement said Amazon workers in France protested at one of its sites on March 18, calling on the online retailer to cease operations or make it easier for employees reluctant to work during the coronavirus pandemic [Mourad Guichard/Reuters] 15:40 GMT US Senate coronavirus package worth more than $2 trillion: White House adviser The coronavirus stimulus package being negotiated by the US Senate would be worth more than $2 trillion, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow has said The package is coming in at about 10 percent of GDP, Kudlow told reporters. Asked if that amounted to more than $2 trillion, Kudlow said: Thats correct. 15:30 GMT Bosnia reports first coronavirus death A Bosnian man became the first to die of the coronavirus in the country, the manager of a hospital in the northwestern town of Bihac said. Bosnia has declared a nationwide state of emergency over the coronavirus outbreak. The country has so far reported 90 cases. 15:25 GMT Britains NHS strikes deal with private hospitals Britains National Health Service (NHS) has struck a deal with the countrys independent hospitals that will see more beds, ventilators and thousands of extra healthcare staff made available from next week to fight the coronavirus outbreak. NHS England said on Saturday that nearly 20,000 fully qualified staff will be joining the health services response to the pandemic, helping manage an expected surge in cases. 15:20 GMT Armenia closes all malls and shops, except grocery stores Armenia will close all malls and shops except for grocery stores and liquor shops from March 22 until April 14, Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan has said. Bars, cinemas, clubs and casinos will remain closed as well to prevent the spread of virus. Armenia has reported 160 cases of coronavirus so far. 15:10 GMT Portugals death toll doubles to 12 The death toll from the coronavirus pandemic in Portugal doubled overnight to 12, the countrys national health authority DGS has said. The number of confirmed cases rose to 1,280 from 1,059 the previous day, it said, adding that 35 people were in intensive care. Portugal declared a state of emergency to stem the spread of the virus on Wednesday 15:00 GMT Germany preparing $160bn supplementary budget German Minister of Finance Olaf Scholz said the government is readying a supplementary budget of $160bn as part of a broader funding package to tackle the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak. A hundred and fifty billion (euros) is a large amount, but it gives us the flexibility that we now need, Scholz said. We are laying the ground for various other institutions to take the steps necessary to stabilise our companies, he told a news briefing. 14:45 GMT Angola confirms first case Angola on Saturday confirmed its first two cases of coronavirus. The first infections were two male Angolan residents who flew back from Portugal on March 17 and 18, Health minister Silvia Lutucuta told a news briefing. 14:35 GMT Olympics Brazil calls for Tokyo Games to be pushed back to 2021 The Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB) has called for this years Tokyo Olympics to be suspended because of the coronavirus and proposed they be held on the same dates in 2021. Athletes are worried about keeping fit and being able to compete in qualifying events and other competitions ahead of the scheduled Games from July 24 to August 9. Every athletes dream is to go to the Olympics in top form, said COB president Paulo Wanderley. Its clear that right now maintaining the games for this year will impede this dream from being fully realised. 14:25 GMT Egypt shuts mosques and churches Egypt has ordered mosques and churches to close their doors to worshippers in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus, after calls for the government to follow steps taken by neighbouring countries. Egypt, which has over 100,000 mosques, has so far registered 285 confirmed coronavirus cases, eight of whome have died. The Ministry of Islamic Endowments said it would close all mosques for two weeks for the necessity of preserving souls, but will allow them to broadcast prayer calls through loudspeakers. 14:15 GMT Britain hires ex-Nestle executive to run food security war room: report The British government is hiring former Nestle executive Chris Tyas to oversee a war room set up to ensure the countrys food security as the coronavirus crisis deepens, Sky News reported on Saturday. 14:05 GMT Bulgarian Orthodox Church tells faithful to pray at home Bulgarias main Orthodox Church has urged Christians to stay away from churches and pray at home as the country tightens measures to contain the spread of coronavirus. Bulgaria banned access to parks and playgrounds as well as non-essential travel between major cities in the country of 7 million people on Friday after closing schools, bars and restaurants to ensure social distancing. As of Saturday, Bulgaria had 142 cases, with three deaths. 14:00 GMT Albania deploys army to enforce curfew Albanias government has deployed the army to enforce a strict 40-hour curfew to fight the coronavirus after people widely flouted previous measures aimed at stemming its spread. About 120,000 Albanians came back from Italy just before Albania severed air and sea links with its neighbour across the Adriatic Sea 12 days ago. So far, 76 people have tested positive for the coronavirus with two deaths recorded. 13:55 GMT Mauritius reports first death as cases rise Mauritius has recorded its first death from coronavirus, the health minister said, the third in sub-Saharan Africa, as the archipelago nation imposed a lockdown to contain the outbreak. There have been 14 confirmed cases so far, one of which died on Thursday evening, Health Minister Kailesh Jagutpal said, without providing details about the deceased patient. Mauritius, some 1,800 kilometres (1,100 miles) off the eastern coast of Africa, went into lockdown Friday, with the countrys citizens told to stay indoors for 14 days. 13:45 GMT US track and field body calls for Olympics postponement USA Track and Field (USATF), the governing body of American athletics, has joined USA Swimming in calling for a postponement of the Tokyo Olympics. The federation, in a letter to US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) Chief Executive Sarah Hirshland, asked the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to postpone the Games, which are scheduled from July 24-Aug. 9. We certainly understand the ramifications of this request, and the realities of trying to coordinate the logistics of a postponed Olympic Games but the alternative of moving forward in light of the current global situation would not be in the best interest of our athletes, USATF chief executive Max Siegel said in the letter. 13:40 GMT German infections rise to 16,662 with 47 deaths The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany has risen by 2,705 within a day to reach 16,662, the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases has said. It said a total of 47 people had died after testing positive, an increase of 16 from a tally of 31 published on Friday. 13:35 GMT Netherlands cases rise to 3,631 with 136 deaths The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the Netherlands has risen by 637 to a total of 3,631, Dutch health authorities said in their daily update on Saturday, with 30 new deaths. The total death toll in the Netherlands now stands at 136, with victims aged between 63 and 95 years old. 13:25 GMT Finland confirms first coronavirus death Finland has confirmed its first coronavirus death, according to national public broadcaster YLE. The patient was an elderly individual who lived in the Helsinki and Uusimaa hospital district, according to the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL). As of Saturday, 521 infections had been reported in the country. 13:20 GMT Switzerland infections rise to 6,100, with 56 deaths Switzerland has reported 6,100 coronavirus infections, some 25 percent more than a day earlier, and 56 deaths, the Swiss health ministry said, as hospitals in the canton of Ticino, bordering hard-hit Italy, came under intense pressure. The situation in Ticino is very tense, said Daniel Koch, head of the Federal Office of Healths communicable diseases division. The latest tally nationwide is up more than 1,200 cases in a day, while the deaths were up 13 from Friday. 13:15 GMT Vietnam to bar entry of foreigners Vietnam will bar entry for all foreigners from Sunday, except for special cases, as the Southeast Asian country seeks to contain the spread of coronavirus, the government said. Those entering the country on diplomatic and special purposes will be subject to quarantine and approval from the ministries of police, health and foreign affairs, the government said in a statement. Vietnam had earlier said it would suspend all inbound international flights. Vietnams coronavirus cases rose to 94 as of late Saturday, with no deaths, the Ministry of Health said 13:10 GMT Four ministers infected as Burkina Faso reports new deaths Four government ministers are among the latest cases of coronavirus in Burkina Faso where two new deaths were reported by the health emergency response operations centre, Corus. According to press releases issued by their respective departments, the ministers of foreign affairs, interior, education, and mines and quarries have all tested positive for COVID-19. Two deaths (have been) recorded today, bringing the number of deaths since the start of the epidemic to three, the report from Corus said. Burkina Faso now has a total of 64 confirmed cases. 13:00 GMT Hi, this is Joseph Stepansky taking over from Tamila Varshalomidze in Doha. 12:45 GMT Georgia declares state of emergency Georgia declared a nationwide state of emergency, allowing the government to regulate prices for food and medicines if needed. The situation is grave and is expected to worsen, President Salome Zurabishvili said in a televised address to the nation, saying the state of emergency will last for one month. A number of rights guaranteed under the constitution will be limited during the state of emergency, including the rights of movement and assembly, Zurabishvili said, adding that there would be no restrictions on freedom of expression and the media and that the government was not planning to impose a curfew. 12:33 GMT Singapore reports 47 more cases after first deaths Singapore reported 47 new cases of coronavirus, most of which were imported, taking the city-states tally to 432 infections. Of the new cases, 39 were imported and had a travel history to Australia, Europe, North America and Southeast Asian nations, the health ministry said in a statement. A majority were returning residents and long-term pass holders. Singapore also reported two virus-related deaths of people with underlying health conditions, marking the first deaths in the city-states widely praised battle against the infection. 12:27 GMT Iraq Shia defy curfews to commemorate revered imam Tens of thousands of Iraqi Shia turned out to commemorate a revered imam, defying curfews imposed to stem the spread of the coronavirus. On foot, they streamed to the golden-domed mausoleum of Imam al-Kadhim in Baghdad, where authorities kept an outer gate open to allow pilgrims into the surrounding courtyard. The inner shrine remained closed despite some pilgrims pressing authorities to let them in, a shrine official told AFP news agency. 12:11 GMT Turkey suspends flights to 46 more countries, bans picnics Turkey suspended flights with 46 more countries, including Canada and the northern part of Cyprus, and banned picnics and barbecues. Ankara had already banned flights to 22 countries, closed schools, cafes and bars, banned mass prayers and indefinitely postponed matches in its main sport leagues. On Saturday, it extended the ban to picnics and barbecues, as well as barbershops and beauty salons. A tourist wearing a protective mask in central Lisbon, Portugal [Rafael Marchante/Reuters] 12:07 GMT Portugals death toll doubles to 12 The death toll from the coronavirus pandemic in Portugal doubled overnight to 12, the countrys national health authority DGS said. The number of confirmed cases rose to 1,280 from 1,059 the previous day, it said, adding that 35 people were in intensive care. Portugal declared a state of emergency to stem the spread of the virus on Wednesday. 11:48 GMT Egypts Coptic Orthodox Church shuts churches Egypts Coptic Orthodox Church ordered all its churches to shut their doors and suspend masses for two weeks over coronavirus fears, it said in a statement. The church also banned visits to monasteries and closed condolence halls attached to churches. Each parish will name only one church for funeral prayers, and services will be restricted to the family of the deceased. 11:40 GMT Emirates suspends France, Germany, Nigeria and some US flights Emirates, one of the worlds biggest airlines, is suspending all flights to France, Germany, Nigeria, and New York and New Jersey in the US due to the coronavirus outbreak, according to internal emails seen by Reuters news agency. France, Germany and Nigeria flights will be suspended from March 23 until further notice, according to one email. Flights to New Yorks JFK and New Jerseys Newark EWR will be suspended from March 24 until further notice, another email said. Congolese policemen wear masks in Goma, eastern DRC [Olivia Acland/Reuters] 11:35 GMT DRC reports first virus death The Democratic Republic of the Congo reported its first coronavirus death, along with five new cases that brought the total to 23. All are Congolese. Our teams are taking care of them, Eteni Longondo, the countrys health minister, said on Twitter. Though Congolese authorities did not offer information about the deceased patient, local media said he is a close relative of an unnamed minister who has herself tested positive. 11:31 GMT UKs Smiths makes ventilator available to other producers British technology firm Smiths Group said it was making one of its ventilators available for other manufacturers to produce, part of a coordinated attempt to tackle a shortage of life-saving equipment as coronavirus spreads. The groups Smiths Medical unit was providing intellectual property and advice to other companies to make its PARAPAC Plus lightweight ventilators, and it was ramping up its own production at its site in Luton, just north of London. Smiths said it was also talking to contract manufacturers to add production capacity in the US and elsewhere. 11:27 GMT Spains deaths surpass 1,300 Spains death toll from the coronavirus epidemic soared on Saturday to 1,326 from 1,002 on Friday, according to the Health Ministrys latest data. The number of registered cases in the country rose to 24,926 from 19,980 on Friday. A woman is seen at a shopping mall in Taipei, Taiwan [Paula Bronstein/Getty Images] 11:07 GMT Pakistan suspends international flights for two weeks Pakistan suspended all international flights for two weeks in a bid to contain the coronavirus pandemic, the civil aviation authority said. The Government of Pakistan has decided to suspend operation of all international passenger, chartered and private flights to Pakistan, effective from 21st March 2020 (2000 hrs PST) to 4th April 2020 (2000 hrs PST), it said in a statement. Cargo and diplomatic flights are exempt. Pakistan has reported three deaths and 617 confirmed cases of the coronavirus. 10:40 GMT Hong Kong postpones university entrance exams Hong Kong said it would postpone university entrance exams until April 24 as the city tries to contain a surge in coronavirus cases as people return from overseas infected with the disease. The government said civil servants would work from home and urged employers to be flexible with work-from-home arrangements. Schools will remain closed until further notice, it added. Hong Kong has 273 confirmed cases of coronavirus, which has killed four people in the city. 10:35 GMT Mauritius reports first death from coronavirus Mauritius has confirmed its first death from the coronavirus, while the number of confirmed cases has risen, a health ministry official said. Mauritius has registered its first death linked to COVID-19. Actually, some 13 patients have been tested COVID-19 positive. Their state of health is stable, and they are being treated in isolation, Kavish Pultoo, adviser on information matters at the Ministry of Health, told Reuters news agency. 10:30 GMT Georgias PM asks president to declare emergency Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia said he had asked the countrys president to declare an emergency situation due to the coronavirus outbreak. Gakharia said the measure, which is due to be approved by parliament after the presidents approval, would be introduced for one month. Georgia reported 47 cases of coronavirus as of Saturday. One patient recovered. 10:25 GMT Coronavirus cases reach 52 in Palestinian territories Palestinian Minister of Health Mai Kaileh confirmed four new cases of coronavirus in the Palestinian territories, bringing the total to 52. Kaileh told Palestinian news agency WAFA that three of the new cases were Palestinian students from Ramallah who returned home from the UK and the fourth a physician from Hebron who contracted the disease while working at the Israeli Hadassah Ein Karem hospital. Most of the cases are in the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem and its area towns, including the 17 recoveries. The other six were in Ramallah, along with the three new cases, two in Tulkarm, two in Nablus, one in Salfit and one in Hebron. A Palestinian groom and his bride leave her family home in Beit Jala in the occupied West Bank [Mustafa Ganeyeh/Reuters] 10:05 GMT Angola announces first two cases Angolas Health Minister Silvia Lutucuta confirmed the countrys first two cases of coronavirus. Today we received results confirming two cases of patients infected with COVID-19, Lutucuta said at a briefing on national broadcaster TPA. 10:01 GMT Vietnam to suspend all inbound flights Vietnam will suspend all inbound international flights to contain the spread of coronavirus in the country, the government said in a statement. [Vietnam] will suspend all the flights carrying foreign passengers to minimize the number of people coming to the country, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said, without giving a timeframe. Vietnams coronavirus cases rose to 92 as of Saturday, with no deaths, according to the health ministry. 09:57 GMT Coronavirus cases rise to 271 in India Indias health ministry says the country has a total of 271 confirmed cases, including 22 recoveries and four deaths in Delhi, Karnataka, Punjab and Maharashtra states. India is due to impose a national curfew on Sunday. 09:30 GMT Iran reports 123 new deaths Iran says the number of confirmed cases of the new coronavirus reached 20,610 in the country, while the death toll was 1,556 after 123 more deaths. Fire brigade crews wearing protective masks carry out disinfection work in Tehran [Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu] 09:19 GMT Philippines confirms 45 new cases The Philippine health ministry reported 45 more cases of coronavirus, bringing Saturdays tally to 77. With the latest addition, confirmed cases in the Philippines totalled 307. It announced 32 new cases earlier in the day and the 19th death related to the coronavirus. The government has placed more than half of the countrys population under strict home quarantine to stem the spread of the coronavirus. 09:13 GMT Bangkok shuts malls, schools, restaurants Bangkok Governor Aswin Kwanmuang signed a shutdown order effective from March 22 to April 12, affecting establishments in the Thai capital. The order will see the closure of restaurants, department stores, markets, schools, barbers, stadiums, golf courses, and massage parlours, among others. The announcement makes exceptions for takeaway sections in restaurants, supermarkets, drug stores, and fresh food markets which are considered important to sustain life. 09:03 GMT Indonesia confirms 81 new cases, 6 more deaths Indonesia has announced 81 new coronavirus cases and six more deaths, bringing the total number of cases to 450 and deaths to 38, a health ministry official told reporters. A traveller wearing protective clothing and a full-face mask at Beijing Railway Station [Thomas Peter/Reuters] 09:02 GMT Oman reports four new cases Omans health ministry said the sultanate registered four new cases of the new coronavirus. All of the patients are Omani citizens, two had contact with previous cases and the other two had returned from the UK and Spain. The total number of cases stood at 52, including 13 recoveries, the health ministry said in a statement carried by Omans ONA. 08:31 GMT Kuwait announces five more recoveries Kuwaits Minister of Health Sheikh Basel al-Sabah said five more patients had recovered from the new coronavirus, bringing the total number to 27. Al-Sabah said that laboratory tests and x-rays proved that the five cases were cured of the coronavirus, Kuwaits KUNA reported. The recovered people will be moved to the recuperation ward of the hospital specialised in treating COVID-19, pending discharge in the coming days, he said. 08:18 GMT Rouhani expects restrictions to ease in three weeks Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that social distancing measures, including travel restrictions, will apply for only two to three weeks as he expects the crisis to ease by then. Iran has to do everything necessary to return economic production to normal, he said in comments broadcast on state TV. He also accused counter-revolutionaries of plotting to shut down economic production. 08:13 GMT UAE confirms first two deaths The United Arab Emirates has announced the death of two coronavirus patients, the first to be reported in the country. Read more here. 08:04 GMT Turkey announces new measures Turkey has beefed up its measures to stem the spread of coronavirus, including new measures for hotels, restaurants, dormitories and nursing homes. Hotels and other accommodation facilities must now get detailed information on where their guests recently travelled to and their future travel plans, said the health ministry. In restaurants, to reduce the risk of infection, tables must be set at least one metre apart, it said. If nursing home and elderly care centre residents show symptoms consistent with coronavirus, all the residents will be closely monitored, it said. 07:44 GMT East Timor confirms first case East Timor reported its first case of coronavirus, its ministry of health said, adding that the case was someone who had just returned from overseas. In an official Facebook post, the ministry said the patient posed little risk to the public, as he immediately consulted with doctors after showing symptoms and isolated himself immediately after. The ministry did no give details of where the patient travelled from. 06:26 GMT Central Asia tightens restrictions In Kazakhstan, where 52 cases have been confirmed, authorities said they were closing all parks in Almaty, the countrys biggest city, which was put in lockdown this week along with capital city Nur-Sultan. In Uzbekistan, with 33 confirmed cases, the government said it was shutting down all entertainment venues and tea houses and banning large wedding parties and other family ceremonies. A worker wearing a protective face mask carries meat at a local food market, also known as bazaar, in Almaty, Kazakhstan in March [Pavel Mikheyev/Reuters] In Turkmenistan, which has so far reported no coronavirus cases, locals travelling to and from the capital, Ashgabat, said that officials at checkpoints around the city informed them non-essential travel was banned. The government of Kyrgyzstan, where the number of coronavirus cases doubled overnight to 12, said it was locking down the provincial districts where the infection had been diagnosed. A policeman stands in front of a mosque after closing it to the worshippers in Amman, Jordan [Muhammad Hamed/Reuters] 06:24 GMT Jordan sounds sirens for start of nationwide curfew Jordan sounded sirens to signal the start of a nationwide curfew, limiting the mobility of its 10 million citizens indefinitely to combat the spread of the coronavirus, witnesses and officials said. Anyone violating the curfew, which severely restricts movement beyond emergencies and essential services, will be jailed for up to a year, the army said. The curfew is in place until further notice. Read more here. A Royal Thai Army soldier sanitises streets in Bangkok, Thailand [Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters] 06:21 GMT Thailand reports 89 new cases in highest daily jump Thailand reported its largest daily increase in coronavirus infections, with 89 new cases taking the national tally to 411. Taweesin Wisanuyothin, a Public Health Ministry spokesman, said the new cases were linked to earlier infections from a boxing match, an entertainment complex and a religious gathering in neighbouring Malaysia. Of those infected, 366 are currently being treated, while 44 have recovered. Thailand has reported one death in the outbreak. 06:17 GMT IMF sees severe impact of pandemic on global economy The impact of the global coronavirus pandemic will be quite severe, but a long expansionary period and high employment rates mean the global economy should weather the current shock, a top International Monetary Fund official said. Martin Muhleisen, who heads the IMFs strategy policy and review department, said in an IMF podcast that the main goal for governments should be to limit the spread of the virus in a way that provides confidence that the economic shock will be temporary. He said banks and governments have taken unprecedented measures to provide liquidity to markets and keep them functioning, and maybe more will be needed, but such steps should be coordinated internationally to amplify their effect. 06:13 GMT Hello, I am Tamila Varshalomidze in Doha, taking over the blog from my colleague Ted Regencia in Kuala Lumpur. A makeshift barricade blocking an entrance in Manila, Philippines [Ezra Acayan/Getty Images] 05:00 GMT Philippines reports 32 new cases The Philippines Department of Health announced on Saturday 32 new cases of coronavirus, pushing the total number of cases to 262. It also reported at least one more death, of a leading professor at the University of the Philippines, who died early on Saturday, bringing the total to 19. 05:05 GMT Colombia imposes mandatory lockdowns Colombia is joining a growing list of nations that have imposed mandatory lockdowns on citizens in an effort to contain the coronavirus. President Ivan Duque announced that Colombians will be required to isolate in their homes from Tuesday until April 13. Peru, Ecuador and Venezuela are among other Latin American countries that have taken similar measures. Police officers fit a mask on a woman they found alone in a street of downtown Bogota, Colombia on Friday [Ivan Valencia/AP] Colombia has confirmed 158 cases so far, with no deaths, and officials are hoping that imposing drastic measures now will help reduce the number of cases in the weeks ahead. Colombias capital, Bogota, began its lockdown on Friday, leaving the citys usually traffic-filled streets largely empty. 04:30 GMT Australia shuts Bondi Beach after crowds defy order Australian officials closed Sydneys iconic Bondi Beach on Saturday after thousands of people flocked there in recent days, defying social distancing orders, amid an unusually warm autumn spell. Health Minister Greg Hunt said the crowds on the countrys most famous strip of sand were unacceptable as he reported the number of infections across Australia had risen to 874. The death toll was seven, unchanged from a day earlier. Beachgoers enjoy a sunny day at Bondi Beach despite growing concerns about the spread of the coronavirus [Loren Elliott/Reuters] New South Wales state Minister for Police David Elliott announced Bondis closure, warning this is going to become the new norm if people did not comply with regulations banning non-essential gatherings of more than 500 people. This is about saving lives, Elliott said in a televised news conference. 04:10 GMT Filipino professor and China expert dies A University of the Philippines professor and leading expert on China-Philippines relations has died of coronavirus early on Saturday, according to the university. Professor Aileen San Pablo Baviera, former dean of the universitys Asian Center, died at San Lazaro Hospital in Manila of severe pneumonia caused by COVID-19. As of Friday, there were 230 confirmed cases in the Philippines, with at least 18 deaths. The government has been criticised for the slow pace of testing, following reports that there were only 2,000 initial test kits for the country of more than 100 million people. The government has vowed to ramp up testing with the promised arrival of 120,000 kits from different countries in coming days. 03:50 GMT Singapore reports first two deaths Singapores Ministry of Health reported on Saturday the first two deaths linked to the coronavirus. The first was a 75-year-old female Singaporean, while the second was a 64-year-old man from Indonesia. At least 16 patients are in critical condition, the health ministry said. Before the announcement on Saturday, there were 385 cases confirmed in Singapore 131 have recovered and 16 are in critical condition [Ee Ming Toh/AP] Before the announcement, there were 385 cases confirmed in Singapore, 131 of whom have recovered. 02:40 GMT Canadian man from Diamond Princess dies in Japan Japans health ministry says a Canadian man who was a passenger infected with the coronavirus on board the cruise ship Diamond Princess died of COVID-19 pneumonia on Saturday. The ministry offered its condolences, identifying the deceasaed only as a man in his 70s. The ship, one which the infection was detected early in its voyage, returned to its home port of Yokohama near Tokyo in early February. The Canadian man, who died on Saturday, is the eighth confirmed death from among those on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship, where 712 people were infected [File: Eugene Hoshiko/AP] The 3,711 on board remained on the ship for a two-week quarantine that was much criticised as ineffective and allegedly making the vessel an incubator. The Canadian is the eighth confirmed death from among those on the ship, where 712 people were infected and transferred to hospitals during the quarantine. A total of 551 have recovered. 01:49 GMT South Korea reports 147 new cases South Korea reported 147 new infections on Saturday, according to Reuters news agency quoting the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The new cases bring the countrys total to 8,799. Saturdays reported cases rose above 100 from 87 recorded on Friday, halting a downward trend in new cases from the peak of 909 reported on February 29. At least 100 people have died of the disease in the country. 01:21 GMT New Zealand confirms first local outbreak For the first time in New Zealand, health authorities say there might be a local outbreak. Health authorities on Saturday announced 13 new cases, bringing the number of confirmed cases to 52. They say two of the cases cannot be linked immediately to overseas travel, as has been the situation for all previous cases, according to an AP news agency report. In a rare address to the nation, New Zealands Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern urged people aged over 70 to stay home and all other New Zealanders to avoid nonessential travel. She introduced a new alert system, placing the country at 2 on a scale where 4 is the highest. The country has already closed its borders to everybody but citizens and residents and placed restrictions on public gatherings. Ardern said most schools will remain open, for now. 01:15 GMT Mexico cases rise to more than 200 Mexicos health ministry said on Friday that its confirmed coronavirus cases now total 203, up by nearly a quarter from the previous days tally of 164, according to a Reuters news agency report. On Friday, US President Donald Trump announced that the US border with Mexico would be closed to non-essential travel to help contain the spread of the disease. Pedestrians pass the Gateway International Bridge after entering the US state of Texas from Mexico on Friday [Eric Gay/AP] 00:50 GMT No new cases in Wuhan for third straight day The virus outbreaks epicentre of Wuhan in China reported no new or suspected cases again for a third consecutive day. Overall, China on Saturday reported 41 new cases detected over the previous 24 hours, all among people travelling from overseas, and another seven deaths, six in Wuhan. China now has recorded 81,008 cases and 3,255 deaths. A total of 71,740 people have been declared cured. 00:10 GMT Cuba imposes temporary ban on tourists Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel says the country is temporarily barring tourists to prevent more cases of coronavirus, the Associated Press news agency reported. Diaz-Canel and Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz said in an announcement on state television that only residents of the island would be allowed to enter for 30 days starting Tuesday. As of Friday, Cuba had announced 16 cases of COVID-19 and one death, all in people who had travelled overseas or been in direct contact with a traveller. The Cuban economy is heavily dependent on tourism, already dramatically impacted by to US sanctions tightened by the Trump administration [Ramon Espinosa/AP] Exceptions would be made for people involved in commercial importation, like crews of merchant ships, and for tourism industry workers who need to help tourists leave the country. Marrero said there were about 60,000 tourists in Cuba as of Friday evening. The Cuban economy is heavily dependent on tourism, which had already slowed dramatically due to US sanctions tightened by the Trump administration. 23:45 GMT Friday Trump invokes wartime act to fight coronavirus US President Donald Trump announced on Friday he had put the wartime Defense Production Act into action to aid the fight against coronavirus after saying earlier this week he would invoke the measure when needed. The measure is meant to allow the US government to speed production of masks, respirators, ventilators and other necessary equipment. Trump said he put the measure into action on Thursday evening. Asked why he was doing so now, he told reporters it would be used to ensure that US states could get the equipment needed to fight the virus. 23:15 GMT US vice presidents staff member tests positive The White House has announced that a member of Vice President Mike Pences staff has tested positive for coronavirus. Pences spokeswoman, Katie Miller, said Friday that the staff member, who is not being identified, did not have close contact with either the vice president or President Donald Trump. Miller says Pences office was notified Friday evening of the positive test result. Members of Spains Military Emergency Unit disinfect Madrids subway on Friday in a bid to prevent the spread of coronavirus, which has killed more than 1,000 in the country [Manu Fernandez/AP] 20:23 GMT Turkeys death toll rises, 670 confirmed cases The death toll in Turkey due to the coronavirus rose to nine, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said. The number of confirmed cases increased to 670 from 359 Koca said 3,656 tests had been conducted in the past 24 hours, 311 of which came back positive. 20:11 GMT Israel reports first death from coronavirus Israel reported its first death from the coronavirus, an 88-year-old man who also suffered from previous illnesses. The health ministry said in a statement the man had been brought to the hospital about a week ago in serious condition. Israel has reported 705 cases of coronavirus, the large majority with mild symptoms. About 10 patients are in serious condition, and 15 have recovered completely. I am Ted Regencia in Kuala Lumpur with Al Jazeeras continuing coverage of the unfolding coronavirus pandemic. For all the updates from yesterday (March 20), please click here. SEOUL, South Korea North Korea on Saturday fired two presumed short-range ballistic missiles into the sea, South Koreas military said, as it continues to expand military capabilities amid deadlocked nuclear negotiations with the Trump administration and a crippling global health crisis. South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff said the projectiles were fired around 6:45 and 6:50 a.m. from an area around the county of Sonchon, western North Korea. They flew 255 miles cross-country on an apogee of 31 miles before landing in waters off the eastern coast. South Korea and the U.S. were analyzing the launches. Seouls military urged the North to immediately stop its very inappropriate military demonstrations when the world is struggling to cope with the coronavirus pandemic. Japans Defense Ministry said the projectiles didnt reach Japanese territory or its exclusive economic zone. Image: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits a drill of long-range artillery sub-units of the Korean People's Army, in North Korea (KCNA / Reuters) The North conducted two previous rounds of similar short-range launches and other military exercises this month after leader Kim Jong Un entered the new year vowing to bolster his nuclear deterrent in face of gangster-like U.S. sanctions and pressure. While the North is clearly determined to advance its missile capabilities, Japans Defense Minister Taro Kono said Pyongyangs demonstrations could also be aimed at bracing the regime together amid the coronavirus crisis. It wasnt immediately clear what North Korea tested. Flight data released by the South Korean and Japanese militaries suggest that the North could have tested one of its new mobile, solid-fuel missile systems it first demonstrated last year. Military analysts say such weapons, which are designed to overwhelm missile defense systems with their maneuverability and low-altitude flights, potentially strengthen the Norths ability to strike targets in South Korea and Japan, including U.S. bases there. North Korea in recent months has also demonstrated what it described as a super large multiple rocket launcher, which experts say was likely tested earlier this month. Story continues North Koreas state media earlier reported that Kim supervised an artillery firing competition between army units in the countrys west on Friday. The KCNA said Kim expressed satisfaction over the exercise that was aimed at evaluating combat readiness. The report didnt mention any direct comments by Kim toward Washington or Seoul. Pyongyangs official Korean Central News Agency also said on Saturday that the North has decided to hold a session of its rubber-stamp parliament on April 10. It wasnt immediately clear what would be discussed. Nuclear talks have stalemated since the collapse of the second summit between Kim and President Donald Trump in early 2019, when the Americans rejected North Korean demands for major sanctions relief in exchange for a partial surrender of its nuclear capabilities. Following the breakdown in talks, the North ended a 17-month pause in ballistic activity and conducted at least 13 rounds of weapons launches last year while pressuring Washington and Seoul for concessions. Those weapons also included a developmental mid-range missile that could be launched from submarines. Some experts say the lull in North Korean launches between November and March could have been caused by the coronavirus pandemic, which started in mainland China in December. Although Kim has vowed to build up his nuclear arsenal and achieve a frontal breakthrough against sanctions while urging his nation to stay resilient in a struggle for economic self-reliance, some experts say North Koreas self-imposed lockdown amid the coronavirus crisis could potentially hamper his ability to mobilize people for labor. North Korea has not publicly confirmed a single case of the COVID-19 illness, but state media have described anti-virus efforts as a matter of national existence. Experts say an epidemic in North Korea could have dire consequences due to the countrys poor health system and shortage of medical supplies. The country has banned foreign tourists, shut down nearly all cross-border traffic with China, intensified screening at entry points and mobilized health workers to monitor residents and isolate those with symptoms. In a country such as Brazil, which has more than 1,000 confirmed cases as of Saturday by far the most in Latin America public health professionals say it wont be long before the disease reaches the favelas, if it hasnt already. The first confirmed cases were wealthy Brazilians who contracted the disease while traveling abroad. But the classes here mix so regularly the poor work in wealthy households as doormen, laborers and domestic employees that its soon expected to be everywhere. Rio states first reported coronavirus death was that of a 63-year-old maid who apparently caught it from her boss after the womans return from Italy. March 20, 2020 News By C. Todd Lopez Defense.gov Coronavirus Slows Eucom Exercise but Fails to Affect Readiness In the U.S. European Command area of responsibility, where approximately 35 cases of COVID-19 have been reported among the 72,000 service members assigned there, some participation in Exercise Defender-Europe 20 has slowed but readiness to participate in the defense of the continent hasn't changed at all, said the Eucom commander. "We in the military plan for tragic events like this often, and we continue to adjust not in weeks, not in months, but in days and in hours," said Air Force Gen. Tod D. Wolters, Eucom commander, who dialed into a teleconferenced press briefing at the Pentagon today. "As we currently sit, based [on] the trajectory of the virus spreading across Europe, we're in a position, based [on] the commanders in the field at all components and in all domains, to be able to sustain the current readiness posture that we have." Wolters said planners in Eucom are preparing for "worst-case scenarios" in regard to the spread of coronavirus. A worst-case scenario, he said, might mean having to call on U.S. forces from outside Eucom to pick up the mission there. "At this point, we don't forecast that to occur, but conditions in the environment will dictate that in the future." For now, Wolters said, he thinks Eucom will be able to handle its mission on its own and continue to effectively participate in the defense of Europe, along with partner nations. "Based on all the factors that we've been able to embrace, we should be in a position to where we can sustain our force at a readiness level to effectively deter on [the] continent," he said. While readiness remains, Wolters said, Exercise Defender-Europe 20 activities have been slowed. The exercise, which runs February through May of this year, is in part meant to demonstrate the U.S. military's ability to deploy a large combat force to Europe in support of both U.S. and NATO objectives there. As part of the exercise, more than 20,000 U.S. service members were expected to deploy from the U.S. to Europe. "What we're going to wind up getting when it's all said and done is approximately 5,000 to 6,000 additional U.S. Soldiers to be able to accommodate the pieces and parts of Defender-Europe 20," Wolters said. "We've had to cancel some exercises that were live-play exercises that extended out of Poland and that extended outside of Germany." Nevertheless, Wolters said, portions of training will continue inside of Germany and Poland. "We've been able to take the forces that we have up to this point, and we'll be in a position to where they'll get some part-task training on shoot, move and communicate within the confines of Germany and Poland," he said. "And they'll certainly get the basic gunnery training requirements filled that they need to get." As a result of coronavirus concerns, Wolters said, Eucom will see less of Defender-Europe 20 that it had hoped but there will still be some gains. "We've been able to get 30% or 40% accomplished, and as time goes on between now and the middle of May, and we continue to fine tune the number of forces that we have, we'll be able to get part-task training completed to the point to where, at least from a large exercise like Defender Europe 20, we'll wind up with a 40% to 45% readiness gain as a result of what we're able to do," Wolters said. When it comes to partnerships involving the fight against coronavirus, Wolters said there's been no reduction at all. There, he said, the partnerships between the U.S. and NATO nations on the continent are strong. "I would contend that the solidarity that I've witnessed for NATO and NATO partners has been incredibly powerful," Wolters said. "I don't think there's any shortage of energy for the nations to come forward and join hands to make sure that we're all doing all we can to beat this virus." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Syria, already shattered by nine years of war, has banned entry for foreigners arriving from many countries hit by the coronavirus as part of widening measures to combat the epidemic. Although the government says it has yet to document any infections, Syria is seen at high risk. "We have vulnerable populations in camps, refugees, slum areas at the outskirts of large urban centres," the World Health Organization's Syria representative, Nima Saeed Abid, told Reuters. "If we take the scenarios in China or even in Iran, we are expecting we may have large number of cases and we are preparing accordingly." Coronavirus infections have also yet to be recorded in the large parts of Syria outside government control - the east, northeast and northwest. The rebel-held northwest was already facing a major humanitarian crisis with nearly one million people displaced by fighting in the past few months as the Russian-backed government mounted an offensive. U.N. political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo said on Friday that she had heard from sources on the ground about the potentially devastating impact of coronavirus in Syria. "If anyone - incredibly - still needed a reason to stop the fighting there, this is it," DiCarlo posted on Twitter. The entry ban announced overnight by Damascus followed the closure of schools, parks, restaurants and various public institutions. A health hotline is being launched, Health Minister Nizar Yazigi said. He also responded to suggestions of a cover-up. "The health ministry is the only source of information about this matter and not rumours circulating on social media," the state news agency quoted him as saying on Thursday. "When there is an infection, it will be announced." Still, Kurdish-aligned authorities that govern much of northeastern and eastern Syria are not convinced. "We took decisions to close all crossings with the regime," said Ghassan al-Yousef, head of a council that administers areas of Deir al-Zor province east of the Euphrates River. He cited fear of the virus crossing from government territory west of the Euphrates River, particularly areas controlled by pro-Damascus Shi'ite militias that are backed by Iran and recruit from countries where the virus has spread. The Kurdish-led administration has banned movement between towns in its region starting from Saturday and a curfew will begin Monday. In the opposition-held northwest, rescue workers whose usual role is to respond to government bombardments have been sanitising classrooms. Medics in the northwest fear the virus would spread very quickly in crowded camps for the displaced. All the countries bordering Syria have coronavirus outbreaks. Also read: Coronavirus Live Updates: Positive cases spike to 258; fresh cases from Kerala, Rajasthan Also read: China reports zero local COVID-19 infections for third day A 37-second-long excerpt from a press conference held by US President Donald Trump on the coronavirus outbreak is now being shared online with a false claim. It says that President Trump announced that Roche Diagnostics, a pharmaceutical company, has succeeded in developing a vaccine for coronavirus. It further claims the vaccine will be launched by next Sunday. In the video, Matt Sauce, president and CEO of the North-American division of Roche Diagnostics thanks the concerned authorities for their rapid approval of the coronavirus test not vaccine. In the video, Sauce says Thank you, Mr. President. So, from Roche, we want to thank the FDA for their rapid approval of our coronavirus test. We really appreciate the partnership with the CDC and the FDA to get that to market as fast as possible because its critical for us to make that available to help patients in need, and working with laboratories to get it up and going in the near future, which will bring hundreds of thousands of tests available to patients in need in the United States. So, thank you. After his speech Trump says, And you can do it. You can do it. A great company. Here a Twitter user who shared the video with the misleading claim. Now, Donald Trump announced that Roche Medical Company will launch the vaccine next Sunday and millions of doses are ready for it.. The end of the play.#CoronavirusOutbreak pic.twitter.com/euQhkmg5Xq Naheed Tariq (@NaheedTariq5) March 16, 2020 People are also forwarding it on Whatsapp: We found a video of the entire press conference as shared by the White House. The scene that plays out in the 37-second-long video is also seen in this video. The news about the test kits was also shared by the company on their official Twitter handle: Roche #SARSCoV2 test kits on a FedEx truck get a police escort to Indianapolis International Airport. Theyre headed to customers and the patients they serve. Learn more about the Roche test, including FAQs, here: https://t.co/NS1upW340w#RocheProud #coronavirus #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/OlNH5CIzS2 Roche Diagnostics USA (@RocheDiaUSA) March 15, 2020 US senator Rand Paul also tweeted about the company developing test kits. So, the claim that President Donald Trump announced coronavirus vaccine will be launched by next Sunday is false and misleading. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caucus in the House of Representatives has criticised President Muhammadu Buhari over what it describes as his poor handling of the coronavirus outbreak in Nigeria. The lawmakers in a statement by their leader, Kingsley Chinda, on Saturday said Nigeria is yet to come up with any tangible plan for its citizens unlike other countries ravaged by the virus. Nigeria is one of the African countries that have reported at least a case of coronavirus on the continent. Nigeria currently has 12 cases although one has fully recovered according to the authorities. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caucus in the House of Representatives has followed with amazement, the poor response of the Federal Government and the lacklustre attitude of President Muhammadu Buhari to the outbreak of the Covid-19 virus in the country, Mr Chinda said in his statement. He said since the country reported its index case, the Buhar-led Federal Government has failed in its response to the virus, which has been declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Neither has President Buhar thought it expedient to address the citizens of Nigeria, to assure them of governments commitment to protect them in such a frightening situation Nor has he taken any firm and positive palliative step to cushion the effect of the pandemic on our vulnerable citizens. Calls by Nigerians and the Nigerian Senate for the leader of the nation to offer words of assurance and to lead the battle against Coronavirus from the front has been met with a rebuff and haughty words for the Senate by Presidency. It is saddening to note that while governments of other countries have braced up to the challenges of the outbreak of the deadly virus, and provided their citizens palliative measures to cushion the effects of the shutdowns, Nigeria is yet to come up with any tangible plan for its citizens. The United States government has released $1Trillion Emergency stimulus to pay each citizen $1,000; the United Kingdom released 330 Billion Business Loan Package: Germany released $600 billion stimulus; Canada released C$20 Billion Economic Relief Package and stopped payment of rents and Italy released 26 billion and will pay rent, while the federal government of Nigeria only reduced the pump price of fuel by N20 only, less than 50 Cents. He said the fuel price reduction intervention is cosmetic and cannot offer succour for the pending hardship the generality of Nigerians, especially the poor. About 85 per cent of our population are likely to suffer following the scary combination of the drastic fall in oil prices and the Ccronavirus pandemic and its devastating consequences as recorded in advanced economies. READ ALSO: Also, taking into account the ravaging effects of the virus on the health of the people, responsive leaders in addition to shutting their borders to other countries, have consistently addressed and reassured their citizens, while the Nigerian President remains tight-lipped and MISSING IN ACTION, even as it took a public outcry for the government to impose travel restrictions on 13 countries with over one thousand cases despite the gradual but steady increase in the number of infected persons in the country. The lawmakers called on the president to as a matter of urgency address the nation and reassure Nigerians on its state of preparedness. Open up free testing and treatment centres in all zones in the country, the statement said. Step down VAT and make reasonable reduction of pump price of fuel to a sum prorated to the reduction in crude oil price. Make electricity available and free for citizens within the period and disburse the sum of N5 billion as business loans in every state of the federation to stimulate SMEs and business in the country. Outbreak Nigeria recorded its first case of coronavirus on February 27, in an Italian businessman who had flown into the country for business. The man had spent two days within the country and visited Lagos and Ogun states before he fell ill and was diagnosed of COVID-19. He has since recovered and discharged from the isolation facility. Despite sky-high demand for COVID-19 tests, Harris Countys first government-backed testing site got off to a crawling start Saturday in Baytown. The site opened at 1 p.m., reserved exclusively for pre-screened first responders and medical workers, who officials said were given priority amid a national shortage of testing capacity and medical supplies. Mac McClendon, who leads preparedness and response for Harris County Public Health, told news media earlier in the day that they had a capacity to test 250 people per day at the site and expected to use it. County officials asked news organizations not to disclose the Baytown sites location, fearing members of the general public would show up unprompted. They said they notified qualifying people using an email distribution list of health care employees and first responders. Were expecting 250, probably a little more, McClendon said of the anticipated crowd. Instead, hardly anyone came. Around 4 p.m., one sheriffs deputy driving from the sight said just eight people had been tested. There werent many more in the next few hours, before workers started packing their things at 7 p.m. Medical workers in long-awaited protective gear were reduced to waiting idly in white tents while prized nasal swabs went mostly unused. Harris County Public Health said it couldnt confirm a count, though it acknowledged the site wasnt busy. Officials didnt answer questions about whether they should have opened the site to the public, or at least seniors, given the paltry attendance and the advance warning that the screening process would seemingly have provided. At a similar site opened by Houston Health Department, officials said they tested 159 people Friday. Like the county site, that was limited to pre-screened first responders and health care workers. It expanded Saturday to include seniors over 65 with certain symptoms, and officials said they would allow people with chronic conditions as well on Sunday. People who think they qualify can call 832-393-4220 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. to start that process. The county plans a similar expansion in coming days, though it couldnt confirm Saturday night whether seniors would be allowed tests on Sunday. The county is opening a second site in Katy as well. The screening line is 832-927-7575. Private groups, like United Memorial Medical Center and Legacy Community Health, are offering tests for members of the general public with symptoms. Pre-screening is required for those sites as well, and more information is available on their websites. Legacy, for one, said it had tested 500 people at its four sites at the close of business Thursday. Sen. John Cornyn. R-Texas, said on Twitter that the federal Department of Health and Human Services was also opening a new site Saturday in Cypress. But Texas, Harris County and Houston health officials said they either didnt know about that site or werent involved in its operations. It wasnt clear if one actually opened. Officials have warned that increasing testing capacity will uncover a dramatic spike in the number of confirmed cases. As of 8 p.m., the statewide total had climbed to more than 600 cases, including more than 130 in the eight-county Houston region. The city is also expected to open a second site, though its not yet clear when that will take place. The few Baytown tests will be shipped overnight to labs operated by Quest Diagnostics and LabCorp, under an agreement with the federal government. To avoid overwhelming the labs, each site has a cap of 250 samples per day. A shortage of protective gear for the workers who staff the site had delayed the rollout. McClendon said the gear used here came from a national stockpile and was delivered Thursday. Gear from that stockpile was sent to select sites across the country, he said. dylan.mcguinness@chron.com Dr. Roberto Sanchez recieving the certification There is no doubt that our marine mammals care and welfare is the top priority. The Dolphin Company, the largest Dolphin family in the world and the largest Park Operator in Latin America, proudly shared that during the past annual meeting held by the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums (AMMPA), Dolphin Discovery Vallarta-Nayarit, Dolphin Cove Cayman and Dolphin Connection, were recertified by this international association. Alliance represents the parks dedicated to preserving marine life, aquariums, zoos, research centers, and professional organizations worldwide. Its main objective is to set the highest standards on marine mammals care, through education, science research and support to each other among their members. There is no doubt that our marine mammals care and welfare is the top priority. At Dolphin Discovery we not only offer interactive and educational programs to guests visiting us, but we also work hard to improve the quality life of our species, by creating environments that exceed the highest standards demanded by international associations, commented Dr. Roberto Sanchez, Director of Veterinary Care of The Dolphin Company. Dolphin Connection in Florida, USA, was certified for the first time in 2003, with this one, it has now completed 17 certifications in a row. On the other hand, Dolphin Discovery Vallarta-Nayarit received its 11th certification, receiving the first one back in 2009. Dolphin Cove Cayman has been certified since 2014, obtaining its 7th certification now in 2020. It is worth to mention that Alliance certification comprises a very strict accreditation program, compelling its members to reach and maintain the standards and guidelines to ensure the marine mammals care. This is a thorough process as it observes relevant aspects such as their feeding, care, nursing, medical records, the training and interaction programs, among others. The Dolphin Company: For 25 years, The Dolphin Company has contributed to the research and preservation of marine mammals, creating both love and respect bonds through the best experiences of interaction with these species. Millions of people had visited the 31 parks and habitats that are currently part of The Dolphin Company in Mexico, the Caribbean, the United States of America, Argentina and Italy. Africa has confirmed 905 cases of COVID-19 in 36 countries on the continent as of March 20, compared with 147 cases one week ago. Although the region has seen a significant increase in confirmed cases recently, there are still fewer cases than in other parts of the world. Countries affected include Ghana 16, South Africa 202, Algeria 90, Morocco 66, Tunisia 54, Senegal 38, Burkina Faso 40, Cameroon 20, Democratic Republic of the Congo 18, Egypt 256, Rwanda 11, Cote dIvoire nine, Nigeria 12, Ethiopia nine, Kenya seven, Seychelles seven. The others are, Equatorial Guinea six, Congo three, Gabon three, United Republic Of Tanzania six, Benin two, Liberia two, Mauritania two, Namibia three, Sudan two, Zambia two, Central African Republic two, Chad one, Djibouti one, Eswatini one, Gambia one, Guinea one, Somalia one, Togo nine, Angola one, Niger one. Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa, said The rapid evolution of COVID-19 in Africa is deeply worrisome and a clear signal for action. But we can still change the course of this pandemic. Governments must draw on all of their resources and capabilities and strengthen their response. This was contained in a post on the WHO portal. It said twelve countries in the African region are now experiencing local transmission. It is crucial that governments prevent local transmission from evolving into a worst-case scenario of widespread sustained community transmission. Such a scenario would present a major challenge to countries with weak health systems. Africa can learn from the experiences of other countries which have seen a sharp decline in COVID-19 cases through rapidly scaling up testing, isolating cases and meticulously tracking contacts, said Dr Moeti. Understanding how the COVID-19 pandemic will evolve in Africa is still a work in progress. The response will need to be adapted to the African context the demographics on the continent are very different from China, Europe and the USA. Africa has the worlds youngest population and it appears that older people are more vulnerable to COVID-19. However, preliminary analysis finds that people with underlying conditions are at higher risk. Across the region, nearly 26 million people are living with HIV. Over 58 million children have stunted growth due to malnutrition. So it is possible that younger people will be more at risk in Africa than in other parts of the world. WHO has been supporting governments with early detection by providing COVID-19 testing kits to countries in Africa, training lab technicians, and strengthening surveillance in communities? Forty-five countries in Africa can now test for COVID-19: at the start of the outbreak, only two could do so. WHO is also providing remote support to affected countries on the use of electronic data tools, so national health authorities can better understand the outbreak in their countries. Personal protective equipment has been shipped to 24 countries, and a second shipment is being prepared for countries with confirmed cases. COVID-19 is one of the biggest health challenges Africa has faced in a generation, said Dr Moeti. We can only stop this virus through solidarity. And the world is coming together. Donors are stepping up to the plate and providing funding while the private sector in many countries are offering their support as well. Lessons learnt in addressing previous epidemics are being used as a foundation to respond. Basic preventative measures by individuals and communities remain the most powerful tool to prevent the spread of COVID-19. For this reason, WHO is helping local authorities craft radio messaging and TV spots to inform the public about the risks of COVID-19 and what measures should be taken. WHO is also conducting rumor management in all affected countries, and is guiding countries on setting up call-centers and hotlines to ensure the public is informed. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Exploration of ideas to incentivize more cattle to be marketed on the cash market, thereby increasing true price discovery and transparency in the marketplace. NC policy encourages cash negotiated trade levels reach 50% of fed cattle marketed. A USDA increase in monitoring of packer bids and take swift action if undue price manipulation exists. Herz said Nebraska Cattlemen staff and leaders remain in daily communications with elected officials on the state and federal levels, as well as governmental agencies on the local, state and federal level to ensure that cattlemens business continuity is a top priority. The coronavirus is dominating news headlines, including those related to global trade, according to the U.S. Meat Export Federation. Federation President and CEO Dan Halstrom said the virus has had an impact on red meat exports, but a number of supply and demand fundamentals and market access improvements have underpinned continued strong export volumes. A woman who tested positive for coronavirus gave birth to a healthy baby at an Athens hospital, Greek media reported on Thursday. The 24-year-old woman and her partner had both tested positive before the delivery on Wednesday, but the first test on the baby came back negative for COVID-19. Follow live developments of the coronavirus pandemic here "The virus is not transmitted by the placenta," the director of maternity at Attikon Hospital told Greek national broadcaster ERT. The hospital had prepared for the birth by installing a confined area in the ward and the doctors all wore three pairs of gloves, protective glasses and masks to perform the caesarean section. "It was a unique experience," an obstetrician told ERT. Follow Live Updates of Coronavirus Cases in India Here The mother must remain in isolation for the next 14 days and will only be able to hold her baby at the end of that period. To halt the COVID19 spread, the authorities of Indian Coffee House here at College Street have decided to shut down the cafe till March 31. "It is hereby to notify all our customers and patrons that the Indian Coffee House, Main Hall 15, Bankim Chattrejee Street, Kolkata will remain closed from March 21 to March 31 due to coronavirus," the Indian Coffee House said. As a precautionary step to fight against coronavirus, various state governments in the country have closed bars, restaurants and pubs. In several states, restaurants including cafes cannot serve food in-house and only takeaways will be allowed. In order to keep coronavirus infection at bay, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee suggested people to use a cloth to cover their mouth and nose in case of scarcity of face masks. "Since there is a scarcity of masks, people can use a cloth to tie around their faces as it is soft. However, I am not sure, people should consult doctors," Banerjee said on Friday Union Health Ministry on Saturday said that a total of 283 cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the country. Out of the total number, four people have died and 22 others have recovered. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Union health ministry on Saturday carried out training for critical care management at 1,000 places through video conference, and said it will conduct nationwide mock drill on Sunday for emergency response to handle coronavirus cases cases. Health ministry joint secretary Lav Agarwal told reporters that guidelines for coronavirus tests have been revised, directing that asymptomatic direct, high-risk contacts of confirmed cases should be tested once between day 5 and day 14 of coming in contact with an infected person. The government is likely to issue guidelines for private labs for the test later on Saturday, he said, adding that people should not go for coronavirus tests "out of fashion" or as a confidence-building exercise. Protocols are in place and that will be followed, he said. At a briefing, officials also said that the government is working to ramp up production of masks and sanitisers with states asked to allow deodorant manufacturers to produce sanitisers. There is no shortage of these items and people should not indulge in panic-buying, one official said. There is a lot of misinformation about masks as not everybody is needed needed to wear them and that social distancing is more important, Agarwal said. He said over 262 people, mostly students, will be evacuated from Rome on Saturday. The government of India has so far brought in over 1700 Indians from abroad. Asked whether cases of community transmission have been found out, he said people will be told when it happens and, he added, official agencies across the country are involved in tracing over 7000 persons who are suspected to have come in touch with the infected patients. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Three men were arrested Friday night after authorities seized more than 1,000 grams of fentanyl and cocaine in Worcester following a months-long drug trafficking investigation, prosecutors announced over the weekend. Thirty-six-year-old Amin Ventura Polanco Mena and 31-year-old Yoerlyn F. Merejo-Mercado, both Worcester residents, were charged with trafficking 200 grams or more of fentanyl. They were also accused of trafficking between 36 and 100 grams of cocaine, conspiring to violate drug laws and trafficking more than 10 grams of fentanyl, Worcester District Attorney Joseph Early said in a statement Saturday. Lester Deleon, a 25-year-old Lawrence resident, was charged with trafficking more than 10 grams of fentanyl as well, according to Earlys statement. All three suspects are in custody and will be arraigned Monday before a Worcester Central District Court judge via video conference, the statement said. Massachusetts State Police detectives, the Worcester Police Vice Squad and the federal Drug Enforcement Administrations Tactical Diversion Squad worked together on the investigation, which was funded through state Attorney General Maura Healeys office, according to Early. Search warrants led to the seizure of approximately 950 grams of bagged fentanyl and approximately 120 grams of bagged cocaine. An undetermined amount of cash also was seized, the district attorneys statement said. John Lewis Partnership has announced it has made the 'difficult decision' to temporarily close all 50 John Lewis shops at close of business on Monday as a result of the impact of coronavirus. The shop has never before closed its stores apart from when the flagship John Lewis on Oxford Street was bombed in 1940 during World War Two, and even then partners retained trade by setting up a desk outside the shop and took orders to other shops. The announcement comes as the UK has been rocked by Prime Minister Boris Johnson's announcement to close all pubs, restaurants, cafes, gyms and cinemas in a bid to stop the spread of coronavirus. John Lewis joins a number of other high street retailers to temporarily close their doors, including Harrods, Apple stores, Calvin Klein, IKEA, TK Maxx and Sir Philip Green's Arcadia group comprising Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Miss Selfridge. John Lewis Partnership has announced it has made the 'difficult decision' to temporarily close all 50 John Lewis shops at close of business on Monday as a result of the impact of coronavirus Shops have already suffered a massive drop-off in customers as numbers fell by a third at the weekend. This continued yesterday, with the normally packed Bluewater shopping centre in Kent, for example, near empty. Britain's once busy and bustling streets have been left desolate since the public has been encouraged to stay indoors as much as possible to prevent the spread of Covid-19. High-street shops have been hit hard by the virus outbreak and many are struggling to stay afloat. Shares in shops, bars and restaurants plunged yesterday as bosses warned they were bracing for sales to drop by up to 50 per cent. John Lewis's website will continue to operate as normal and Waitrose shops and website will also continue to function. In an announcement on the John Lewis website they company said: 'This will be the first time in the 155-year history of the business that it will not open its shop doors for customers. 'As a consequence, Waitrose food offers within department stores at Watford, Southampton and Bluewater will also close but johnlewis.com, which generates half the brand's business, will continue to operate as normal.' Over 2,000 John Lewis Partners are already working in Waitrose shops to assist with the unprecedented demand for grocery and other essential goods and wherever possible, John Lewis Partners will be redeployed to provide additional support to Waitrose and johnlewis.com for our non-food online business The shop has never before closed its stores apart from when the flagship John Lewis on Oxford Street was bombed in 1940 during World War Two (pictured) Excluding public holidays, localised closures and a direct bombing of John Lewis Oxford Street, in 1940 and on Knight and Lee and Tyrell and Green, Southampton in 1940 and, Weston-Super-Mare's Lance and Lance in 1942, John Lewis has never closed a store. Chairman Sharon White, said: 'The welfare of our customers, communities and Partners is always our absolute priority. 'While it is with a heavy heart that we temporarily close our John Lewis shops, our Partners will, where possible, be taking on important roles in supporting their fellow Partners, providing critical services in Waitrose shops and ensuring our customers can get what they need through johnlewis.com, which is seeing extremely strong demand.' She added: 'I also want to give my personal thanks to every single partner for their extraordinary efforts, I am truly grateful. And to the wider community for pulling together with us during such unprecedented times.' All 338 Waitrose shops in England, Scotland, Wales and the Channel Islands will remain open as will waitrose.com. Over 2,000 John Lewis Partners are already working in Waitrose shops to assist with the unprecedented demand for grocery and other essential goods and wherever possible, John Lewis Partners will be redeployed to provide additional support to Waitrose and johnlewis.com for our non-food online business. All 338 Waitrose shops in England, Scotland, Wales and the Channel Islands will remain open as will waitrose.com The company, which opened its first store in 1864 on Oxford Street in London, was recently thrown into turmoil after its first female boss was sacked and staff feared loss of their annual bonus amid warnings of 'significantly lower' profit. The group had a dismal Christmas and is on course to post significantly lower profits for the year. Critics said their annual festive advert, which this year featured a dragon called Edgar, didnt work after the company posted a 2 per cent drop in sales in November and December. As the crisis raged, managing director Paula Nickolds, who has been at the helm for three years, has been sacked. Mrs Nickolds, who started at the retailer in 1994, has already overseen the first half-year loss in the companys 155-year history. The high street retailer was also threatening to cancel its annual staff bonus for the first time since 1953. The dire figures come amid a crisis on the high street. Chancellor Rishi Sunak 'saves 800,000 jobs with employer bailout' Rishi Sunak's has promised to underwrite employees' wages and is expected to save 800,000 jobs during the coronavirus epidemic. The Chancellor told a Downing Street press briefing a new grant would cover 80 per cent of workers' salaries - up to a maximum of 2,500 a month each - if firms kept them on. Analysts who were forecasting 1.5million increase in job losses because of the health crisis cut their prediction to 700,000 unemployed just minutes after the announcement. But his lifeline to employees - wrapped into the government's third emergency economic package in just over a week - is set to plunge the UK into further billions of pounds of debt. Institute for Fiscal Studies director Paul Johnson said that if the wage support was claimed for 10 per cent of employees it could cost the government 10billion over three months. He said: 'The cost of the wage subsidy package is unknowable at present but will run into several billion pounds per month that it is in operation.' 'It is clearly a policy designed in haste and will require considerable speed and flexibility from HMRC to deliver. As a result there are obvious concerns about its design.' The breakneck speed at which the measures were compiled meant the Treasury has not yet released an exact costings calculations, leading to differing estimates from forecasters. The Financial Times calculated that the scheme would cost 3.5billion every three months for every one million workers affected. Flanking Boris Johnson in Number 10, Mr Sunak hammered home the seriousness of the economic fallout and unveiled the 'unprecedented measures for unprecedented times'. He said: 'The truth is we are already seeing job losses and there may be more to come. I cannot promise you that no one will face hardship in the weeks ahead.' Paul Dales, chief UK economist at Capital Economics, told The Times: 'This is quite frankly a spectacular package that involves the government directly paying the wages of millions of employees. 'It won't stop the unemployment rate from rising from just under four per cent now. 'But without this package we thought that it would shoot up to the financial crisis level of eight percent.' Mr Sunak also allowed businesses to hold on to 30billion of VAT, which they would normally pass on to tax authorities. He said: 'Combined with our previous announcements on public services and business support, our planned economic response will be one of the most comprehensive in the world.' Advertisement This week, the British Retail Consortium which represents two thirds of the sector said that last year was the worst for its members since at least 1995. And as recently as February Dame White was warning that the company was not generating enough profit to fund investment. She reflected on previous warnings that earnings would be 'significantly lower' than last year's. Profits have fell from 541million in 2017 to 162million last year, and are expected to be significantly lower in the year to January 2020 when the latest results are published. It has lost 100million of profit from its biggest-spending customers deserting the brand, White said, and its famous customer service appears to be in decline with 23million spent on goodwill payments for angry customers. Some of the staff of John Lewis's store in Oxford Street, sorting goods salvaged from the store after it had been damaged by bomb World War Two Even after the Oxford Street store was bombed (pictured here in 1945), partners set up a desk outside the shopfront and took orders to other shops The first John Lewis store was opened in 1864 on Oxford Street in London and there are now 51 stores throughout the UK. On January 1, 2008, the Oford Street store was awarded a Royal Warrant from Queen Elizabeth II as 'suppliers of haberdashery and household goods'. The John Lewis Christmas advert was first launched in 2007 and its annual release has since become a tradition in the UK and signals the countdown to Christmas. The Oxford Street store began as a drapery shop. In 1905 John Lewis acquired a second store, Peter Jones in Sloane Square. His eldest son, John Spedan Lewis, created the John Lewis Partnership in 1920 - just two years after he created the Gazette (the partnership's in-house magazine). The partnership purchased its first store outside London in 1933 at Jessop & Son in Nottingham. Workers clear wreckage at John Lewis's department store in Oxford Street, London, after a Nazi air attack in 1940 Jessops only formally rebranded itself as John Lewis on October 27, 2002. In 1940 the partnership bought Selfridge Provincial Stores. The group of 16 department stores included Cole Brothers in Sheffield, George Henry Lee in Liverpool, Robert Sayle in Cambridge and Trewin Brothers in Watford. Waitrose, which was made of just ten shops, was taken over by John Lewis in 1937. The first John Lewis store that was constructed as part of a shopping centre was a new site for Jessops in Nottingham. It has been in the Victoria Centre since its opening in 1972. Before the relaxation of UK Sunday trading laws in 1994, John Lewis stores closed on Mondays to allow staff a full two-day 'weekend'. The partnership was the first department store group in the UK to adopt central buying with own-brand merchandise in 1937. Investment has been made across the group in the 21st century. This has included the renovation of Peter Jones at a cost of 107million, completed in 2004. The original Oxford Street shop is still the flagship and largest branch in the partnership. A complete refurbishment of the building was completed in late 2007 at a cost of 60million. This introduced the new 'Place To Eat' restaurant and a brasserie and bistro in the store. A 'John Lewis Food Hall from Waitrose' opened in the shop's basement on 3 October 2007. A second Food Hall opened at the John Lewis Bluewater store on 6 August 2009. On 4 September 2018, John Lewis underwent a major rebrand to become John Lewis & Partners. Waitrose underwent a similar rebrand. In October 2018, recruitment website Indeed named John Lewis & Partners as the UK's eighth best private sector employer, based on millions of employee ratings and reviews. Day One in Lockdown UK: High streets and shopping centres are deserted as Britons' way of life is ripped up without pubs, cafes and gyms as Boris Johnson thanks little girl for cancelling her birthday party twice due to virus Britons today were getting used to a New World defined by stockpilers and panic-buyers, pub and restaurant closures, Government orders to self-isolate, and tremendous socio-economic uncertainty. The country is lurching towards an unprecedented peacetime lockdown, with once-bustling city centres - from London and Bristol to Glasgow and Cardiff - deserted as people are spooked into Social Distancing. Boris Johnson, who ordered a 14-day closure of public social centres like pubs and gyms, made time to reply to a seven-year-old girl today who told how she cancelled her birthday party twice due to the viral outbreak. The PM wrote back to Josephine, from Hampshire, saying he was 'glad to hear you are staying at home, though I am sorry to hear abut your party' amid fears of Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Mr Johnson told the little girl: 'We have all got to do our bit to protect the NHS and save lives, and that is exactly what you are doing, so well done! You are setting a great example. 'We are working round the clock to keep people safe, and if we work together we can send coronavirus packing. And once we have done that you can DEFINITELY have a party with your friends!' The PM, who is expecting a baby with fiance Carrie Symonds, added: 'In answer to your question - I'm regularly washing my hands with soap and water for 20 seconds: the time it takes to sing Happy Birthday twice!' The heartwarming letter comes as the Pandemic Crisis brings sweeping change to British society, as people adjust to Government efforts to slow the spread of the bug afflicting 180 countries and territories. Communities around London were also empty on what would normally be a busy and bustling day for Saturday shoppers. Many high street stores have shut even though they are allowed to stay open High street stores closed this weekend even though they could remain open, as people have been spooked into voluntary self-isolation, remote work, and social distancing amid Covid-19 paranoia. London - one of the world's biggest capital cities, with a population of nine million - seems otherworldly as residents stay clear of the city centre, including Waterloo Station, Oxford Street, and Leicester Square. Shopping malls up and down the country - from Leicester and Windsor to Southampton and Cardiff - are shadows of their busy former selves, while TK Maxx stores across the UK closed. City Hall and Transport for London have reduced Underground services across all Tube lines, storing trains which are no longer in use in the east. The move follows days of criticism from commuters fearful of overcrowding on the train carriages after many people continued to go into the office for work. The scenes of eerie desertion come as YouGov revealed nearly 75 percent of people they polled admit to having changed their behaviour in response to Government guidance on coronavirus. Commissioned by Imperial College London's Patient Experience Research Centre, almost half believe they will become infected, while 93 percent said they took at least one protective measure. Although the drastic social restrictions ordered by the UK Government do not apply to supermarkets, where - early today - shoppers queued outside to get their hands on supplies - many stores closed voluntarily. People have attempted to adapt to a new way of life, without many of their normal routines. Some have taken to the streets to exercise after gyms and leisure centres were closed by the PM. Stark pictures have emerged of empty city centres and roads in Nottingham, Leicester, London and Southampton as people abide by new government rules. Pictured is the Westquay shopping centre in Southampton A cul-de-sac in Gloucester at the end of Chestnut Road was transformed into a temporary gym for more than 20 people People across the country are adapting to a new way of life without their normal routines as some have even take to the streets exercise. Pictured: a coronavirus workout in Gloucestershire People keep their distance from each other during a group workout class in Hyde Park, London, this morning The town centre of Windsor was deserted this morning as the Castle shut its gates for the foreseeable future and people stayed away from the high street A cul-de-sac in Gloucester was transformed into a temporary gym for more than 20 people this morning, after personal trainer Sarah Burford put a call out on Facebook for a free workout session. One street market in Lymington, Hampshire continued to sell their wares today, continuing with business as usual - as it has done for more than 600 years and through previous crises. Meanwhile, police will seek out premises instructed to close which have remained open, and forcibly shut them down using powers granted by the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime, and Policing Act 2014. Britain could remain on lockdown for one year, according to the scientists who told the Government to impose panicked and draconian Social Distancing Orders upon millions of Britons. Documents published by the Government's Scientific Advisory Committee for Emergencies suggest the extraordinary measures will need to be in place longer than mere weeks to prevent a mass outbreak. They state: 'It was agreed that a policy of alternating between periods of more and less strict social distancing measures could plausibly be effective at keeping the number of critical care cases within capacity. 'These would need to be in place for at least most of a year. Under such a policy, at least half of the year would be spent under the stricter social distancing measures. The triggers for measures to be enacted and lifted could be set at a level of UK nations and regions (for example London).' Nottingham's Old Market Square and the surrounding streets were completely empty this morning as people stayed clear A TK Maxx store in Cardiff is left empty after the company shut its UK stores yesterday due to coronavirus panic A McDonald's in Windsor today was empty after the new rules announced by the Government last night Cinemas and pubs (pictured in Leicester) will have no customers today as the country goes into lockdown following the PM's announcement last night The Bluewater shopping centre in Kent was empty today as many shops shut there doors due to the lockdown announced London Underground trains not being used in east London on Saturday morning as the train service is cut back due to the coronavirus outbreak The carpark of the East Midlands Designer Outlet was quiet today as people stay at home to stop the spread of the virus Elsewhere, families escaped the Cabin Fever of self-isolation by taking a long walk up Pen y Fan, the highest peak in southern Britain, as a gloomy week concludes with glorious weekend weather. The coronavirus death toll rose by 40 on Friday to 177, with almost 4,000 infected, although the Government on the advice of its scientific advisers speculate that the real figure is greater than 10,000. Yesterday a sombre-looking Mr Johnson demanded that pubs, restaurants, cinemas, gyms, and sports centres must close 'as soon as they reasonably can and not reopen' for at least two weeks. He said that measures outlined on Monday for people to voluntarily self-isolate now had to go further as he ordered certain businesses to close their doors for an initial 14 days. Meanwhile Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced that the Government will cover 80 percent of salaries of up to 2,500 each month, with workers staying on the books, and there will be no limit on the total cost. The scheme will be up and running by April 1 and be backdated to the start of the chaos. The Chancellor will also defer 30billion of VAT bills and boost welfare payments by 7billion. Mr Sunak was panicked into two major interventions after economists criticised him for the smaller measures unveiled in his Budget - and trade unions slammed his 350billion package for not helping workers. Experts now forecast that Mr Sunak's intervention could save up to 800,000 jobs in Britain's workforce for if and when the country emerges through the Pandemic Crisis. Walkers on the route up to Pen y Fan, the highest peak in southern Britain, as the UK lurches towards a lockdown Large numbers of parked cars on the A470 leading to the walk up to Pen y Fan, the highest peak in southern Britain Walkers on the route up to Pen y Fan, the highest peak in southern Britain, as the UK lurches towards a lockdown A closed pub in New Cross, south London, after the government ordered the closure of bars, clubs and restaurants due to the coronavirus outbreak In-demand items, including face masks, latex gloves, hand sanitizers, soap and toilet roll are seen on display in a shop window in Brighton Despite the nationwide lockdown some couples still got married today. Pictured: Joshua Bicknell, 32, and Jessica Coates, 31, stand at the entrance to Islington Town Hall following their civil partnership ceremony The extraordinary closure of leisure and hospitality venues, which does not include shops, came into effect at closing time last night. Restaurants, bars and cafes will be allowed to remain open as takeaways. The restrictions will be reviewed on a monthly basis. Mr Johnson warned those going out could become 'vectors of the disease for older relatives with potentially fatal consequences'. Yesterday, Mr Johnson told the daily live broadcast from Downing Street: 'You may be tempted to go out tonight and I say to you please don't, you may think that you are invincible - but there is no guarantee that you will get it. 'But you can still be a carrier of the disease and pass it on.' He added: 'I do accept that what we're doing is extraordinary - we're taking away the ancient inalienable right of freeborn people of the United Kingdom to go to the pub.' Corona Panic: Half of adults believe they will be infected and 93 percent one measure to protect themselves from Covid-19, YouGov poll reveals Almost three-quarters of people say they have changed their behaviour in response to Government guidance on coronavirus, with almost half believing they will become infected, a survey found. The YouGov survey, commissioned by Imperial College London's Patient Experience Research Centre, was carried after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced new social distancing measures to control the spread of Covid-19. The survey, which aimed to capture public sentiment towards the recommendations announced on March 16, found that 93 percent of adult respondents took at least one measure to protect themselves from infection. However, while 83 percent reported washing their hands more frequently, only half said they avoided social events, while 36 percent said they avoided public transport and 11% avoided going to work. The survey of 2,108 UK adults on March 17 and 18 found that 88 percent of people would be willing to self-isolate for seven days if they were advised to by a health professional. But while 60 percent of professional and managerial workers said they could work from home, only 19 percent of manual, semi-skilled and casual employees reported that they could. National Institute for Health Research senior investigator Helen Ward said: 'The survey shows that most people are listening to Government advice on hand washing, and indicate a willingness to self-isolate if needed. However, people were less convinced about the effectiveness of social distancing measures, and fewer were acting on these. 'While it is encouraging that people are aware and taking some steps to protect themselves and others, there is a need for everyone to take far more action on social distancing if we are to stem the epidemic.' The survey found that 77 percent of people were concerned about the coronavirus outbreak in the UK, with 48 percent of adults who have not tested positive for Covid-19 believing it is likely they will become infected. Almost 60 percent of respondents said they had taken some measures to prepare for self-isolation, with 39 percent stocking up on food and more than a quarter purchasing extra toiletries. While 71 percent said they had changed their behaviour in response to Government guidance, the figure was lower for people aged 18 to 24, at 53 percent. Hand washing and avoiding people with symptoms were more likely to be perceived as 'very effective' measures to prevent disease spread, compared with measures such as not going to work, the survey found. As part of new social distancing measures introduced on March 16, the Government advised people in the UK to stop all non-essential contact with others, end all unnecessary travel and work from home where possible. Dr Michael Head, senior research fellow at Southampton University, said it was 'good to see relatively high proportions of people making efforts to promote good public health practice, for example, with increased levels of handwashing.' But he added: 'Their data shows that 77 percent of people are 'worried' about the COVID-19 outbreak in the UK. It would be intriguing to understand the viewpoints of the 23 percent who do not describe themselves as worried. 'Are these people calm and composed and accepting of the current situation, or is there a significant level of complacency resulting in less compliance with social distancing and handwashing?' Advertisement And still they come! Hundreds of shoppers queue all around Tesco car park before 6am waiting for it to open as police step in and supermarkets hire security guards to stop selfish stockpilers amid coronavirus panic Hundreds of shoppers were spotted queueing around the entire carpark of a Tesco at 6am today. Shocking drone footage revealed the true extent of panic buying amid the coronavirus pandemic. The same Tesco in New Malden, London, saw a gigantic queue snake around its carpark at 5.50am yesterday. Some supermarkets have introduced dedicated hours where NHS workers and the elderly are allowed to shop without other members of the public getting involved. However, younger shoppers were spotted selfishly pushing past elderly people to continue with the panic-buying which has taken over across the nation. Police were yesterday forced to step in to stop selfish stockpilers from barging past pensioners and ransacking supermarket shelves. Some supermarkets have hired security guards to try and level the playing field for those who are more vulnerable and haven't had a chance to buy essentials during the coronavirus pandemic. A Marks & Spencer shop in Cribbs Causeway, Bristol, was among the first shops to call in police to help ensure older shoppers could use the hour set aside for them. Asda and Aldi have hired a sports security firm, Showsec, to protect against panic-buyers. And some other 118 stores across the UK have also requested to protection from customers who flout advice to stop panic-buying. The staff, who are usually escorting boxers to the ring, have been employed to work from 5am to midday. One Shosec worker told The Sun: 'They cannot handle the trouble. They're calling us in to try and get some order back but it's going to be a mammoth task.' Supermarkets are desperately trying to keep up with the demand in order to prevent the elderly and NHS staff and emergency workers from having to go without as a result of other selfish shoppers. Tesco is even hiring 20,000 shelf stackers on 12-week contracts, while Aldi is aiming for 9,000 and Asda for 5,000. Most supermarkets have started limiting purchases and are trying to get shoppers down to just two or three items of food, toiletries and cleaning products. Waitrose has started a 1million community support fund to ensure essential items are delivered to care homes. And others have taken measures to allow NHS staff priority access after a heartbreaking video of a crying care nurse was released yesterday. Dawn Bilbrough, 51, from York, had just completed a 48-hour shift before visiting her supermarket to pick up basic food items for the next two days when she was left having a 'little cry'. After discovering there were no fruit and vegetables for her to sustain a healthy living amid the COVID-19 outbreak, the healthcare worker made a tearful plea to the public urging them to 'just stop it'. The nurse took to Facebook from the seat of her car to tell the nation: 'So I've just come out the supermarket. There's no fruit and veg and I had a little cry in there. I'm a critical care nurse and I've just finished 48 hours of work and I just wanted to get some stuff in for the next 48 hours. 'There's no fruit, there's no vegetables and I just don't know how I'm supposed to stay healthy. 'Those people who are just stripping the shelves have basic foods you just need to stop it because it's people like me that are going to be looking after you when you are at your lowest and just stop it please!' NHS workers can visit large Tesco stores an hour before the usual opening time every Sunday from tomorrow. And Marks & Spencer is now dedicating the first hour on Tuesdays and Fridays to emergency workers and the first hour on Mondays and Thursdays will be dedicated to elderly and vulnerable customers. The Royal College of Nursing and Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association wrote to store chiefs suggesting the measures. Chief nursing officer for England Ruth May said: 'We're asking all supermarkets to allow all of our healthcare workers easy access to buy their food and vegetables.' The RCN urged supermarkets to provide priority access to people working in health and care - and to hold back certain items such as toilet paper for all nursing staff. The HCSA, the hospital doctors' union, has asked supermarkets to allow medical staff to place orders that they can collect later when they are off shift. Susan Maple, aged 77, wiped back tears as she waited outside an Iceland store in Harborne, Birmingham. She was trying to buy supplies for her 90-year-old neighbour who 'can't get out'. Fellow shopper John Merrill, 76, said: 'I've got some things here which I couldn't get earlier like margarine and toilet rolls. People don't need to stockpile, it's just stupid.' Social media users have been heaping scorn on shoppers who are taking more than their fair share of precious groceries using the hashtag #stophoarding - calling on their countrymen to be considerate. Pret A Manger to close all 400 of its UK stores from TONIGHT along with Starbucks - while Caffe Nero and Costa Coffee go takeaway only By NICK ENOCH for MailOnline Pret A Manger will temporarily close all 400 of its UK stories from tonight in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. It comes after coffee chain Starbucks, which has around 1,000 outlets in Britain, announced yesterday that it too has closed its doors for the time being. The drastic measures come despite the stores technically being allowed to remain open and sell takeaways under Boris Johnson's Covid-19 lockdown plans. Meanwhile, Costa Coffee and Caffe Nero today stated they will become takeaway only for now. Pret A Manger will close all 400 of its UK stores from tonight in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic A message posted on social media today by Pret CEO, Pano Christou, in which he thanked his 'amazing teams' It comes after coffee chain Starbucks, which has around 1,000 outlets in Britain, announced yesterday that it too has temporarily closed its doors The drastic measures come despite the stores technically being allowed to remain open and sell takeaways under Boris Johnson's Covid-19 lockdown plans The news comes as the death toll from the killer virus in the UK has hit 233 after a further 53 people died in England alone. Pano Christou, CEO of the food chain Pret, said in a statement posted on social media: 'I want to thank our amazing teams for serving you with so much passion and kindness over the recent weeks, including more than 100,000 NHS workers. 'Pret's first value is Happy Teams, Happy Customers and my priority is always to protect our teams as much as we can. A sign posted in a Costa Coffee shop at London's Paddington station yesterday Costa Coffee will become takeaway-only for now, and have a more limited food range during the coronavirus lockdown 'For this reason, we will be closing all our UK shops temporarily from this evening. 'We will of course ensure any excess food goes to those who need it most. 'We look forward to being a part of your daily lives again soon. 'Until then, stay healthy and look after each other.' Other stores affected by the coronavirus include John Lewis and Topshop. John Lewis, one of the biggest names on the British high street, is to temporarily close its 50 UK department stores, it said Saturday. Caffe Nero has also announced changes to the way it will operate for the moment A post on social media from the coffee chain added, 'You can still come and grab your coffee, we are here for you' The employee-owned retailer will shut the stores on Monday for the forseeable future, the company said in a statement. 'The welfare of our customers, communities and partners is always our absolute priority,' said John Lewis chairman Sharon White. The group-owned supermarket Waitrose, which has more than 300 stores across the country, will remain open, she added. White said the move was done 'with a heavy heart' even though the department store's website would remain operational. The move comes after Boris Johnson said on Friday that cafes, restaurants and pubs had to close to slow the spread of the virus. Earlier this month, John Lewis cut its annual staff bonus to its lowest level in more than 50 years owing to a drop in profits. Topshop employees today said they have been laid off after the Arcadia Group closed its 300 UK stores an hour before the government announced its coronavirus job retention plan. The group owned by billionaire Sir Philip Green said in an emailed statement: 'In line with many other retailers, the Group has made the difficult decision to close until further notice all of our stores from 4pm this afternoon.' This includes the chains Topshop, Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Miss Selfridge and Wallis. The statement added: 'All store staff remain employees during this time and will be paid their normal pay for March plus any outstanding overtime payments, after which we will review this situation and will be keeping our store teams updated.' It come after Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a colossal relief package for employers, saying the government would cover 80 per cent of wages for staff being paid up to 2,500 a month. Advertisement Police now have power to shut down ANY pub still open in Britain after drinkers enjoyed one last night out and panic-bought alcohol following Boris Johnson's closure of all bars, cafes, restaurants and gyms due to coronavirus Police from today will be able to close any pubs or bars that refuse to comply with the government's shutdown of social venues in the latest string of measures aimed at slowing the spread of coronavirus. Under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, officers have been granted the power to revoke operating licences for several different types of venues if they are deemed to be playing a role in disorder. It comes after drinkers across the country enjoyed a final pint and panic-bought alcohol from supermarkets following Boris Johnson's order for all pubs, clubs, theatres, cinemas, gyms and sports centres to close 'as soon as they reasonably can and not to reopen tomorrow'. Last night out: A group of friends pose for a picture and shout 'Coronavirus!' instead of 'Cheese' on Broad Street in Birmingham after Boris Johnson ordered pubs and nightclubs to close due to COVID-19 crisis Make mine a double! Patrons were seen dancing at the Lord Stamford public house in Stalybridge on Friday night after the Prime Minister announced the unprecedented move to close all pubs to stop the spread of the coronavirus Police forces were mobilised to enforce the shutdown, with Chief constables engaging civil contingencies designed to respond to rioting and terrorism, allowing longer shifts and making more officers available. Ken Marsh, head of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said: 'It's very simple. Under licensing laws we can revoke their licences, and then they are breaking the law.' Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt this morning welcomed the government's shutdown of pubs and restaurants, although he suggested the measures should have been enforced sooner. But thousands of Friday night revellers ignored the government's advice on social distancing as they danced the night away despite the coronavirus death toll rising by 40 on Friday to 177, with almost 4,000 infected, although the real figure is believed to be greater than 10,000. A sombre-looking PM said that measures outlined on Monday for people to voluntarily self-isolate now had to go further as he ordered premises to close their doors for an initial 14 days, after which it will be reviewed. 'We're taking away the ancient, inalienable right of free-born people of the United Kingdom to go to the pub, and I can understand how people feel about that,' Mr Johnson said.The Prime Minister's words were beamed out to revellers throughout Britain who had headed to the pub after a week at work, while others rushed to the supermarket to stock up on booze. Wake up and smell the coffee! Customers hug as they meet and sit outside celebrity hangout Daylesford Cafe in London's exclusive Westbourne Grove despite PM's coronavirus ban By RYAN FAHEY for MailOnline Customers hugged each other as they met and sat outside a West London celebrity hangout cafe today despite Boris Johnson's coronavirus ban. Daylesford cafe, a celebrity hangout in Notting Hill, has been photographed with people sitting outside on chairs, eating and drinking, almost a day after Johnson ordered all pubs, bars, restaurants in the UK to shut down in the hopes of slowing the spread of the coronavirus. When asked why people were sitting outside at Westbourne Grove, an employee at Daylesford's Pimlico branch told the MailOnline: 'I don't know why they're doing this. People can be seen sitting at Daylesford cafe, a celebrity hangout in Notting Hill, West London, today as the venue defies Boris Johnson's order to close down to stop the coronavirus spread A popular cafe with celebrities, Daylesford in Westbourne Grove defies Boris Johnson's orders to close and to have no seating today 'An email was sent round to all stores yesterday telling us to follow the government's advice and to remove all seating from outside the store. 'And, not to encourage eating on the premises. I don't know why they're not following what's been advised,' he added. As a farm shop and a cafe, Daylesford premises are allowed to remain open for shoppers looking to buy food to take home. However, their restaurant facilities should not be up and running, the employee said. Yesterday, police announced they would be on the alert to close any pubs or bars that refuse to comply with the government's shutdown of social venues. Police forces were mobilised to enforce the shutdown, with chief constables engaging civil contingencies designed to respond to events such as rioting and terrorism, allowing longer shifts and making more officers available. Under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, officers have been granted the power to revoke operating licences for several different types of venues if they are deemed to be playing a role in disorder. Above, the popular cafe today. Meanwhile,former health secretary Jeremy Hunt this morning welcomed the government's shutdown of pubs and restaurants, although he suggested the measures should have been enforced sooner It comes after drinkers across the country enjoyed a final pint and panic-bought alcohol from supermarkets yesterday following Boris Johnson's order for all pubs, clubs, theatres, cinemas, gyms and sports centres to close 'as soon as they reasonably can and not to reopen tomorrow'. Ken Marsh, head of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said: 'It's very simple. Under licensing laws we can revoke their licences, and then they are breaking the law.' Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt this morning welcomed the government's shutdown of pubs and restaurants, although he suggested the measures should have been enforced sooner. But thousands of Friday night revellers ignored the government's advice on social distancing as they danced the night away despite the coronavirus death toll rising by 40 on Friday to 177, with almost 4,000 infected, although the real figure is believed to be greater than 10,000. The Metropolitan Police and Daylesford Cafe have been contacted by MailOnline for comment. Unfortunately for some shareholders, the Spirit AeroSystems Holdings (NYSE:SPR) share price has dived 71% in the last thirty days. Given the 79% drop over the last year, some shareholders might be worried that they have become bagholders. For those wondering, a bagholder is someone who keeps holding a losing stock indefinitely, without taking the time to consider its prospects carefully, going forward. All else being equal, a share price drop should make a stock more attractive to potential investors. In the long term, share prices tend to follow earnings per share, but in the short term prices bounce around in response to short term factors (which are not always obvious). So, on certain occasions, long term focussed investors try to take advantage of pessimistic expectations to buy shares at a better price. One way to gauge market expectations of a stock is to look at its Price to Earnings Ratio (PE Ratio). A high P/E implies that investors have high expectations of what a company can achieve compared to a company with a low P/E ratio. View our latest analysis for Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Does Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Have A Relatively High Or Low P/E For Its Industry? Spirit AeroSystems Holdings's P/E of 3.67 indicates relatively low sentiment towards the stock. If you look at the image below, you can see Spirit AeroSystems Holdings has a lower P/E than the average (12.7) in the aerospace & defense industry classification. NYSE:SPR Price Estimation Relative to Market, March 21st 2020 Its relatively low P/E ratio indicates that Spirit AeroSystems Holdings shareholders think it will struggle to do as well as other companies in its industry classification. While current expectations are low, the stock could be undervalued if the situation is better than the market assumes. It is arguably worth checking if insiders are buying shares, because that might imply they believe the stock is undervalued. How Growth Rates Impact P/E Ratios Probably the most important factor in determining what P/E a company trades on is the earnings growth. If earnings are growing quickly, then the 'E' in the equation will increase faster than it would otherwise. And in that case, the P/E ratio itself will drop rather quickly. A lower P/E should indicate the stock is cheap relative to others -- and that may attract buyers. Story continues Spirit AeroSystems Holdings's earnings per share fell by 10% in the last twelve months. But it has grown its earnings per share by 15% per year over the last five years. Remember: P/E Ratios Don't Consider The Balance Sheet Don't forget that the P/E ratio considers market capitalization. That means it doesn't take debt or cash into account. Theoretically, a business can improve its earnings (and produce a lower P/E in the future) by investing in growth. That means taking on debt (or spending its cash). Spending on growth might be good or bad a few years later, but the point is that the P/E ratio does not account for the option (or lack thereof). How Does Spirit AeroSystems Holdings's Debt Impact Its P/E Ratio? Spirit AeroSystems Holdings has net debt equal to 27% of its market cap. While it's worth keeping this in mind, it isn't a worry. The Bottom Line On Spirit AeroSystems Holdings's P/E Ratio Spirit AeroSystems Holdings's P/E is 3.7 which is below average (11.8) in the US market. Since it only carries a modest debt load, it's likely the low expectations implied by the P/E ratio arise from the lack of recent earnings growth. Given Spirit AeroSystems Holdings's P/E ratio has declined from 12.7 to 3.7 in the last month, we know for sure that the market is more worried about the business today, than it was back then. For those who prefer invest in growth, this stock apparently offers limited promise, but the deep value investors may find the pessimism around this stock enticing. When the market is wrong about a stock, it gives savvy investors an opportunity. If it is underestimating a company, investors can make money by buying and holding the shares until the market corrects itself. So this free visual report on analyst forecasts could hold the key to an excellent investment decision. But note: Spirit AeroSystems Holdings may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with strong recent earnings growth (and a P/E ratio below 20). If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading. As school closures this week went from voluntary to mandatory across Texas, the states education agency streamlined food services for parents and students who rely on schools for meals. A new Texas Education Agency website, that includes a searchable database and a map of available food pick-up locations and times, has been added to a website usually used for campus accountability scores. That information is available at TXSchools.gov. The move comes after districts across Southeast Texas rolled out their own food plans in recent days. A TEA official said the rollout of the site was an effort to help introduce normalcy back into the lives of parents and students as they transfer to online or distance learning classes following an executive order that closed all schools until next month. The site was launched by the TEA in partnership with the Office of the Governor and Texas Department of Agriculture, according to a written release, and is designed to help parents and students easily find school meals during the unprecedented disruptions caused by COVID-19. In areas where 50 percent or more of students are eligible for free or reduced-priced lunch, free meals will be available for every student. This includes districts such as Beaumont ISD, Bob Hope Charter School and Port Arthur ISD. In places below that threshold, closed enrolled sites can be established to target individually-eligible students, according to the TEA. The agency said following the issuance of Thursdays executive order, the state is taking the lead to ensure that our students will continue to have uninterrupted access to meals, no matter how long school campuses are closed. Port Arthur ISD was one of many that rolled out their meal service plans this week, just days after announcing the closure of their schools. About 45 students took advantage of free breakfast during the first dispersal day at Port Arthur schools Wednesday, with 141 showing up for lunch. We understand parents are just trying to get through all of this, Port Arthur ISD spokeswoman Kristyn Cathey told The Enterprise. If we feed one student, we are doing our job. Other districts rolled out delivery meal services this week, including Little Cypress-Mauriceville ISD. We are serving brown bag lunches to all of the districts children who want the meals, Community Relations Coordinator for the district Sherry Combs said. Our Transportation Department bus drivers pick up the sack lunches from each campus kitchen and then run their usual bus routes. The TEA website will be updated twice daily as more campus locations are added and cleared by the State Department of Agriculture. isaac.windes@hearstnp.com twitter.com/isaacdwindes Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Budi Sutrisno and Ni Komang Erviani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta and Denpasar Sat, March 21, 2020 09:58 662 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad206c62dfc 1 National Bali-tourism,COVID-19,Achmad-Yurianto,outbreak,tourism Free As Jakarta braces for a soft lockdown after recording more than 200 COVID-19 cases with 18 deaths, Bali, a hot spot for international tourists, has reported only four confirmed cases. And not a single of them is a local transmission. In the first weeks since the Health Ministry announced the first case of local transmission of the novel coronavirus on March 2, both the ministry and Balinese authorities had insisted the province only had one case: a British tourist known as Case 25 who died at Sanglah Hospital and was only known to have COVID-19 after her death. She was defined as an imported case, not a local transmission. The dearth of cases on the resort island, which receives more than 5 million foreign tourists annually, including from Chinas Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, has baffled many, given the fact that it was heavily exposed to the disease. On Friday, when it became clear that a community spread had taken place in Jakarta and its satellite cities, the government finally announced that Bali had recorded three new confirmed cases, but they were all from outside the province. The first case is a foreign tourist from France, the second is Balinese who just returned from Italy and the third case is Balinese who just returned from Jakarta. The capital, meanwhile, recorded the highest number of new cases at 32, bringing its total to 215 or about 58 percent of the total cases nationwide. The number of cases in Bali is scientifically odd, an expert says. Gusti Ngurah Mahardika, a virologist at Udayana University in Bali, doubted both the governments transparency and its ability to detect COVID-19, saying the low number of cases in Bali did not seem right given how infectious diseases work. Read also: With low test rates, COVID-19 spreads in shadows If we look at the pattern of the disease, it is impossible [for Bali] not to report any local transmissions at this stage, as it is impossible for infected patients not to have had direct contact with other people while in Bali, he told The Jakarta Post on Friday. Before the government announced the countrys first two COVID-19 cases on March 2, Bali was the first region in Indonesia to have been linked to a number of confirmed foreign cases. A week before Jokowis announcement, New Zealand confirmed its first coronavirus case of a female citizen in her 60s who had traveled from Tehran to Auckland via Bali. A Chinese national identified as Jin reportedly visited Bali in late January and tested positive for COVID-19 days after he went back to his home country. Sterilization: A worker sprays disinfectant at Sanur Beach, Denpasar, Bali, on Sunday, March 15, 2020. The Bali administration carried out simultaneous sanitation efforts in cities and regencies across the province by spraying disinfectant in ports, terminals, hotels, markets, tourism objects and public spaces as part of its effort to contain the spread of COVID-19. (JP/Zul Trio Anggono) Bali has been hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak, with many tourists canceling their trips to the resort island despite earlier claims that it is virus-free. Read also: Tour guides hit hard as COVID-19 strangles tourist destinations Mahardika said there were likely more undetected cases spread across Bali and argued that the government should have a more rigorous contact tracing method to suppress possible local transmissions. It is like the tip of the iceberg. The pattern for infectious diseases like this is that many cases do not show clinical symptoms, only about 10 percent do, he said. The academic said the government needed to open up all of its data, including how many tests it had carried out in each province. It was also important for it to detail the imported and the community transmissions in each province, he added. The Health Ministrys disease control and prevention director general, Achmad Yurianto, confirmed that the three new cases in Bali were not local transmissions, saying that one of them was a Balinese who had returned from Jakarta after his office closed. While Bali has yet to report a single local transmission, the province, like Jakarta, has been suspected of exporting cases to other regions. A resident doctor from the University of Airlangga has tested positive for COVID-19 after working at Sanglah General Hospital, the main referral hospital for the disease in Bali. The doctor worked at Sanglah Hospital in Denpasar between March 2 and 15. The doctor had been hospitalized at the Dr. Soetomo Regional General Hospital in Surabaya, East Java. Sanglah Hospital reported the death of a 53-year-old British woman from COVID-19 on March 9. However, Bali Health Agency head Ketut Suarjaya said it could not conclude whether the doctor had contracted the disease from her. "We cannot make that conclusion," Ketut told the Post via text message on Friday. "We are currently conducting contact tracing." Health workers wearing protective gear take part in an exercise in handling a suspected patient at Sanglah hopital in Denpasar, Indonesia's resort island of Bali, on February 12, 2020. (AFP/Sony Tumbelaka) The Bali taskforce for COVID-19, which held a press conference shortly after Yurianto in Jakarta, initially reported only one case in the province. Of the 69 suspected cases whose tests have been concluded, 68 tested negative and one tested positive, said Dewa Made Indra, who leads the task force. About 20 minutes later, the task force held another press conference confirming reports from the Health Ministry, saying it had traced the close contacts of all three new cases in the province. Made revealed that the close contacts were currently self-quarantined at home and their swab samples had been sent out for testing. We came across 199 people during the trace. We educated them on how to follow the [COVID-19] protocol. We hope they will take care of their health and limit themselves from others, he said. Bay Area health care workers have been pleading for more protective gear, saying some hospitals are forcing them to reuse masks because the nation is running out. A few local companies have responded with massive donations. They range from the famous, like Facebook, the giant Menlo Park social network, to the less well known, like Flexport, a San Francisco startup ideally positioned to assist because its software helps with global supply chains. The donations come as President Trump called on American manufacturers over the weekend to switch their assembly lines to making ventilators. Facebook plans to donate 720,000 masks a combination of the coveted N95 respirators and more basic surgical masks and 1.5 million pairs of gloves to health care workers around the world. Facebook officials said they bought the masks for their offices emergency disaster kits following wildfires in California. Facebook has already donated 375,000 masks and 867,000 pairs of gloves to county officials in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties, who are expected to distribute them to hospitals. As the situation continues to change, our commitment to our community will only get stronger, Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg wrote to employees in an internal memo Saturday. Last week, Flexport donated 60,000 masks and other supplies to San Francisco health care workers, and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said it would donate 950,000 masks to hospitals across the state. Facebook also said it has donated $650,000 worth of food to more than a dozen Bay Area senior centers, schools and other organizations, including Food Runners SF, Peninsula Volunteers Meals on Wheels and the East Palo Alto Senior Center. Meanwhile, the company sent $250,000 to the Sequoia Union High School District in San Mateo County to pay for 2,000 Wi-Fi hotspots and a year of Wi-Fi for low-income students who need to complete their work online during shelter in place but dont have a reliable connection. The company, which is the dominant employer in its headquarters city but also has large offices in San Francisco, Mountain View and other Bay Area cities, also pledged to give $500,000 to multiple homelessness prevention organizations in the Bay Area and promised more local support. We greatly appreciate Facebooks support in helping us to make sure our front-line health workers are protected as they do the critical work to save lives, said San Francisco Mayor London Breed. Im proud that the city is coming together in the face of this unprecedented crisis, and I know we will get through this incredibly challenging time. The donation from Flexport, which uses software to make international trade more efficient, includes 60,000 surgical masks, 34,000 gloves, 2,000 surgical gowns and 50 thermometers. Breed announced the delivery Saturday in conjunction with Supervisor Catherine Stefani, who served as an intermediary. Officials said they would put the supplies to immediate use in San Franciscos Emergency Operations Center. Our front-line health care workers and first responders are doing heroic work to protect people and save lives during this crisis, Breed said, noting the need for more equipment as the city braces for a surge of COVID-19 cases. Hospitals throughout the country are confronting a scarcity of masks and other gear, which became so dire in Washington state that medical workers made 500 masks out of vinyl, tape, foam and elastic purchased at Home Depot. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidelines, allowing workers to use bandannas, scarves and homemade masks as a last resort. Experts cited several reasons for the shortage, including the rapidly spreading virus which quickly stripped hospitals of their supplies and a consumer buying spree. Also, hospitals rely on manufacturers from China and Italy for their supplies, said Brent Andrew, spokesman for San Francisco General. Both countries were hit hard by the coronavirus, which led to disruptions. In San Francisco and elsewhere, concerned citizens have rallied hospital donations online while elected officials work behind the scenes. I was thrilled but not surprised to hear that Flexport is stepping up to deliver thousands of much-needed surgical gowns, gloves, masks, and more to our local efforts to flatten the curve, Stefani said. When we all step up, theres no challenge too great for San Francisco. Around the country, factories that crank out cars and trucks were looking into making much-needed ventilators. Distilleries intended for beer, whiskey and rum transformed to instead turn out hand sanitizers and disinfectants. And an electronics maker that builds display screens was repurposed for surgical masks. All are answering the call of duty amid a pandemic that has so far claimed more than 14,000 lives and sickened 335,000 people globally. But redirecting plants to make completely different products will take a long time and a huge effort possibly too long for some companies to help with medical gear shortages that become more acute every day. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes When you are repurposing a factory, it really depends on how similar the new product is to the existing products in your product line, said Kaitlin Wowak, a professor at the University of Notre Dame who focuses on industrial supply chains. Its going to be a substantial pivot to start producing an entirely different item. On Friday, President Trump said he invoked the Korean War-era Defense Production Act, which allows the government to marshal the private sector to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. But he did not give examples as to how he was using it. No automakers, however, are building ventilators at present. GM announced on Friday that it is working with ventilator maker Ventec Life Systems to ramp up production. The automaker said it would help with logistics, purchasing and manufacturing, but stopped short of saying it would make ventilators in its own factories, which have been idled for two weeks after workers whod been fearful of contagion put pressure on the company. Crosstown rival Ford, which also suspended factory production along with other automakers with operations in North America, confirmed that it too was in discussions with the Trump administration about helping. Were looking at feasibility, Ford spokesman T.R. Reid said. It may be possible, but its not you go from Rangers (small pickups) one day to ventilators the next. Were figuring out what is possible now. Other industries may be better equipped to help with the virus. Rum producer Bacardi, for example, said its distillery in Puerto Rico has shifted to making ethanol needed to produce hand sanitizer. Anheuser-Busch said Saturday it would start producing and distributing sanitizer. Even though it may take time and a monumental effort to switch factories to medical products, that may have to be done if the virus outbreak lasts for several months or longer, said Notre Dames Wowak. I think given the circumstance and how critical it is for these surgical masks, ventilators and gloves, I think there is going to be a lot of organizations, government, private, trying to increase (factory) capacity, she said. Maybe the government recognizes how critical of an issue this is. San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Dominic Fracassa and the Associated Press contributed to this report. Janelle Bitker and Rachel Swan are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: janelle.bitker@sfchronicle.com, rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @janellebitker, @rachelswan A local Arklow councillor has called for more restricted movement measures to be put in place immediately by the Government. Independent Councillor Peir Leonard urged the Government to follow the example of other European countries. She said, 'as you know we are now in the midst of a pandemic. With the numbers of confirmed cases of Covid-19 growing daily on the East Coast and given our proximity to Dublin, I feel we need to expedite measures to restrict movement and slow down the spread of this virus immediately. 'With a large part of our community commuting daily to the city for work, I feel there is a window of opportunity at this point in time to curtail the spread if we act now and implement extreme measures like other European countries have now put into place.' Cllr Leonard also thanked Arklow's community 'who once again have pulled together in time of need. I also want to assure anyone feeling vulnerable or self isolating during this period of time that there are a whole cohort of people putting in place support measures to ensure everyone in our community can access support throughout this time. 'For families and parents of young children who are struggling at this time to keep the social distancing measures in place, please keep up your good work, what you are doing is very important. 'Teenagers especially are finding it difficult during this time. I'd like to extend a special word of thanks to them for showing great maturity throughout this time in abstaining from social gathering to protect their families and the wider community. Well done, I know it's not easy.' Cllr Leonard added she wished to 'commend all the local businesses that have taken the financial hit for the good of the wider community. We will never forget this as a community. Thank you. 'Lastly, I want to thank each and every front line worker throughout this period including the staff of essential community services and volunteers who are now putting themselves at risk daily for the good of others.' Cllr Leonard also urged members of the community to stay safe and look after each other at this worrying time. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, 146 Ukrainians are currently in lockdown abroad, and three died due to the Chinese coronavirus. The Foreign Ministry published such data on Facebook in the evening of March 20. "Three citizens of Ukraine have died abroad," the report said. In total, 146 Ukrainians are quarantined in connection with the coronavirus; 101 are in Poland, 16 in Brazil, 7 in Germany, 3 in the UAE, 2 in the USA, Australia, Moldova and Great Britain, 7 in Vietnam, one each in Romania, Cuba, China and Israel. 15 are being treated for coronavirus outside Ukraine. Six Ukrainians abroad recovered from this disease. In total, 45,989 Ukrainian citizens returned to their homeland with the assistance of diplomatic agencies. As of 22:00 on March 20 in Ukraine, 39 cases of infection with the coronavirus Covid-19 were recorded. "As of 22:00 on March 20, 39 cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in Ukraine. 10 new cases were recorded in Chernivtsi region," the report said. The Delhi government on Saturday said it had not imposed a lockdown for now, but would have to do if the need arises in wake of the coronavirus pandemic.. During his first-ever digital-only press conference, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said restrictions due to COVID-19 were causing terrible financial stress to the poor. He announced that those receiving ration from fair-price shops would get 50 per cent extra for next month, and also doubled the pension for widows, differently-abled and elderly for this month. The government has also reduced the size of social, religious and political gatherings to not more than five persons. It has not imposed a lockdown in Delhi for now, but will have to do it if need arises, Kejriwal said. Kejriwal said only 50 per cent buses would ply on roads in Delhi during the Janata curfew on Sunday. Rs 4000-5000 pension will be paid to 8.5 lakh beneficiaries by April 7, he said. Seventy-two lakh people in Delhi get ration from fair price shops. Ration per person being increased by 50 per cent. It will be provided free, the chief minister said. We are extremely concerned about daily wagers, labourers amid coronavirus crisis; dont want anyone to go hungry, he said, adding that food would be provided for homeless in night shelters. A mother gently prods her daughter who just started a new career in Britain to leave everything and come home. A newlywed couple who met online and remain thousands of kilometres apart wonder when theyll be able to embrace each other again. Parents wrestle over the question: Is it safe for our kids to play together? Children plead with their father vacationing in Florida to stop dithering and take the coronavirus pandemic seriously. A mother raised in Albania tries to impart to her daughter Communist-era advice, including what to do when the toilet paper runs out. As Canadians hunker down in their homes to try to thwart the spread of COVID-19, they are turning to their phones to stay on top of the latest information and keep in touch with friends and loved ones, memorializing in hastily thumbed texts their anxieties, frustrations and resolve. In an effort to get a snapshot of the ever-shifting mood of the nation, the Star asked readers to share excerpts of some of their intimate texts. The submissions capture poignant expressions of concern, as well as humorous moments of levity to get through an uncertain time. Leave immediately The Khozema family After completing a six-week internship with the CBC in London, England, last fall, budding journalist Zahra Khozema landed a dream job at a magazine in the city. I genuinely love my job, she told the Star. As the COVID-19 outbreak worsened and travel restrictions started to be imposed last week, the 24-year-old from Markham, Ont., had a critical decision to make: return to Canada or stay? Some friends urged her to get on a plane. Like rioting and s--- its gonna happen soon, her friend Nabeel Malik wrote in a text. No way, Zahra replied. Ur being crazy. Her younger sister, Batool Khozema, who lives in Ottawa, also weighed in. Are you coming back, she inquired. No I dont think so, Zahra wrote. You have to keep mom calm. OK Ill try, the younger sibling said. But Trud(eau) says to come home so Im not sure what you wanna do. She added that health care in Canada is by far the best. Zahras mother, Zainab Khozema, sent a separate text. Baby very worried about u, she wrote. Hi mama, Zahra replied. Whats wrong. Her mother got to the point. Just worried about ur health. Leave everything n come back or go to karachi. (Zahra was born in Pakistan and her father lives there). Mom Ill be fine, she wrote back. To soften the blow, she posted a picture of a mug that she plans to send to her mom for Mothers Day. MUM, WE ALL KNOW IM YOUR FAVOURITE, it says on the side. Zahra told the Star she slept on it and ultimately made the decision to stay put. It was not easy. Her mom is a brain cancer survivor and lives alone. But when she learned that her younger sister was going to ride things out back at the family home, it gave her peace of mind. She calls or texts her mom daily. With self-isolation and a time difference, texting is everything, especially for my mental health. Not only do we update on coronavirus news, but it helps me check in and calms my anxiety knowing my mom is OK when I see her responding. Are you doing play dates? Kas Lingenfelter & Natasha Upal Kas Lingenfelter of Toronto says shes been doing her best to explain to her nine-year-old autistic son why their weekly routines trips to the therapist and visits to the library have come to an abrupt stop. On top of that, she has a restless 12-year-old son who wants to go to the movies and hang out with his friends. Being in a house all day has been challenging, she told the Star. This is a whole new world for us now. One of the big questions shes had to contend with is whether to allow any form of social interaction with other kids. Last week, she texted a friend, Natasha Upal, inviting one of her kids to come over to play Xbox. Are you doing play dates? Upal responded. Were not : ( They said it was safe to keep small and safe circles where nobody has travelled, Lingenfelter replied. So not a group of kids you dont know. But Upal was skeptical. Yeah Im not really taking what they say at face value right now Nope, really trying to minimize all exposure. Lingenfelter cited an article quoting an epidemiologist who said play dates for young children should be small, but that school-age kids could gather in larger groups since they usually practise better personal hygiene. But Upal said community spread was growing and social distancing was critical. Keep off the play structures where multiple hands are touching, Upal wrote. Bike rides etc are good. Upal, who has three children between the ages of six and 12, told the Star it has been a bit socially awkward having to turn down play dates. Her younger kids also havent grasped how long the restrictions could last. They see it as very temporary, she said. But we have been very open and transparent and told them that there is a virus that lots of people are getting sick from, so we can all do our part by staying inside and away from others. Its frustrating because experts seem to be sending out mixed messages, Lingenfelter said. I feel like its a lot to keep up with. After allowing her 12-year-old to go to a friends house Sunday, she is now playing it safe. Outdoor play is limited to the backyard. Even bike rides are off-limits, since kids might stop to chat with one another. Theyll do family walks on Yonge Street, but only when its quiet and always maintaining a safe social distance. Were being very vigilant theres as little contact as possible and not bringing things into the house. Please can dad stay in the basement The Ruberto family Give it to the Ruberto family for finding moments of levity in a global pandemic. As Maurizio Ruberto was vacationing in Pompano Beach, Fla., last week with his snowbird parents, his family back home in Woodbridge, Ont., was urging him to cut the trip short. New COVID-19 cases were being reported in Florida and local states of emergency were being declared. Tell your parents to pack up and come home babe, his wife, Cathy, wrote in the familys group chat titled Famiglia. But with people still crowding the beaches, Maurizio wasnt taking things too seriously, his daughter Samantha told the Star. We banter back and forth quite a bit in the family group chat and at the dinner table it stems from my dad really, hes the goofy one. To convey the urgency of the situation back home, Cathy texted images of barren shelves at the grocery store. No food. No meat, she wrote. Samantha, a student at the University of Guelph-Humber, chimed in. Please can dad stay in the basement when he returns home, she wrote. How about u stay in the basement since u not going to school or work for 2 weeks, he wrote back. Last Saturday, the day before he was to fly home, Samantha texted again the importance that her father go into quarantine upon his return. Dad please dont hug or kiss anyone when you get home. In a response that would turn into a running joke in the family, Maurizio, who isnt the best speller according to Samantha, replied: Why dont you corinti urself. Julia, one of Maurizios other children, couldnt resist a dig. Why dont you corintini yourself. Corintini a la vodka She suggested he stay in the shed and cook corintini for a bit. (Corintini is not an actual pasta.) The dad jokes didnt stop there. Heeding his familys advice, Maurizio donned gloves after getting off the plane in Toronto. But it didnt dawn on him that he should probably ditch those gloves before he got into his car. So when he texted a picture of himself driving back home with his gloved hand on the steering wheel, it once again led to mocking from his family. He had just touched half the airport with them, Samantha said. My sister Julia was the one that was, like, Oh god, Dad. Good try. With the entire family sequestered in the same house now, the constant jabs have helped calm the angst, Samantha said. Earlier this week at the dinner table, Maurizio asked for the corintini, she said. We said he can go to the basement to get it. Is this short term? We dont know Paul and Saori McClure Paul and Saori McClures love story sparked, flourished and took flight online. Now, with an ocean between them and coronavirus-related travel lockdowns seemingly expanding by the day, thats where their relationship will stay. The couple was married just last month, and Saori, who lives in Japan, has applied for permanent residency in Canada, but doesnt have it yet. So for now, they message. Dozens of notes a day zip back and forth across the Pacific: When they wake up, have a lunch break, or just get a spare moment to breathe. Thats in addition to two or three phone calls a day. Before all this stuff happened, when we were dating, I kept saying short term pain for long term gain, Paul says. In the year the couple has been together, theyve met in person just four times, and had been eagerly looking forward to moving into Pauls Oakville condo together. Its harder now, because is this short term? We dont know. Just a couple of months ago, Saori and Pauls messages were just like any other couple, as they chatted about work stresses and the playlist for their wedding. Mentions of a new global illness began to creep in. Then, as Paul phrases it S- hit the fan, with news that Sophie Gregoire Trudeau had tested positive. Oh my! Really? came Saoris immediate response. Living in two different countries means theyve experienced the spread of the illness differently, Paul says. While Canada committed to social distancing, it hasnt been pushed as hard in Japan. While taking pains to stay at home in Ontario, hes been watching Japanese news to stay up to speed. This week he watched, incredulously, as the Olympic flame was flown in from Greece and handed over no social distancing required to Japanese officials. Im just worried that they may have a spike, he says. In a recent Facebook post, Saori echoed his concern and questions why people in Japan arent required to stay home more. There are still people on the train, going out and eating and drinking, she writes in Japanese. Im worried about it. But, a silver lining is that he and Saori are well versed in the art of keeping a relationship afloat via text, a challenge many around the world will face in the coming months. Even though its hard right now, still make plans, Paul advises others who may be in the same situation he refuses to cancel Saoris flight for a planned trip in July, just in case. Dont be afraid to cry, even if youre feeling down and dont want to upset them they need to know how youre feeling. The couple has begun discussing names for their future kids theyre hoping for girls. Theyre also reading the same book, Smart Couples Finish Rich, he in English, she in Japanese. For now, the messages continue. Shes crying some days, Im crying some days. Its tough waking up alone. Its extremely comforting in a way I didnt know I needed The Harito family People around the world are panicking about toilet paper, but not Merita Harito. You could say shes been training for this her whole life. I have a bookcase full of books in the basement that will come in handy if I run out of toilet paper, she recently wrote in a playful WhatsApp message to her daughter Lori, who owns a communications agency in Toronto. During military training in high school, she continues, she used leaves as toilet paper for two weeks. The communist system has trained me well for survival! Lori describes her mother as the kindest person, and someone who has always taken care of others, something that hasnt changed with the spread of coronavirus. Shes very busy chatting and texting and checking in with all of us and bless her, shes just discovered emojis, Lori laughs. Lori grew up steeped in family traditions, eating garlic and drinking bone broth as was once common in Albania, but she said she never quite grasped the full context of her mothers stories of hardship until now. Merita grew up in communist Albania, where life was defined by always looking over your shoulder, her daughter Lori explains. Fear was everywhere: fear of the government, of running out of food, of being seen as being disloyal to the state. Still, people learned to be creative with food and with cleaning products, which were always in short supply. Now, as people are urged to stay home to prevent the spread of coronavirus and panicked buyers strip grocery store shelves, Lori says her mom has been using her experience of life under communism to help her family. I keep telling her, Mom, Im stressed! I dont know whats going to happen, Lori says. And shes just very calm. Shes treating it as being able to take a step back and doing what you can with the resources that you have. In her message, Merita suggests using cucumber skin and peaches (lekure kastraveci dhe pjeshke) on your face or olive oil (vaj uliri) for rashes. Theyre practical tips to be sure, but theyre more than that, too. Her mothers stories have built a tangible bridge to the past, and reminded Lori that hers is just the latest chapter in her familys story. Her grandmother survived wartime, her mother lived under a dictatorship, and this, too, will pass. She just keeps reminding us that everything comes in waves and there will be ups and downs and that as a family, were very resilient and can handle it, she says. Its extremely comforting in a way that I didnt know I needed. Cmtemplates.com scored 40 Social Media Impact. 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High values are a sign of site importance over the web and on web engines. Facebook link FACEBOOK PAGE LINK NOT FOUND The description of the Facebook page describes website and its services to the social media users. The URL of the found Facebook page. Facebook Timeline is the new layout of Facebook pages. The type of Facebook page. The total number of people who tagged or talked about website Facebook page in the last 7-10 days. A Facebook page link can be found in the homepage or in the robots.txt file. The total number of people who like website Facebook page. Twitter account link TWITTER PAGE LINK NOT FOUND In order to help contain the spread of coronavirus, Noida Police on Friday ordered the closure of all malls, spa-centres in the region, informed Rannvijay Singh, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP). The police has also imposed section 144 in the region, the official informed. Only chemist shops, general stores, vegetable and fruits shops are allowed to function. All the major markets of the area would remain closed till April 2. The total number of COVID-19 cases in India has now crosses up to 200, including 32 foreigners, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Washington Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., is asking for an ethics review after coming under criticism for selling off as much as $1.7 million in stocks just before the market dropped in February amid coronavirus fears. Senate records show that Burr and his wife sold between roughly $600,000 and $1.7 million in more than 30 separate transactions in late January and mid-February, just before the market began to fall and as government health officials began to issue stark warnings about the effects of the virus. Several of the stocks were in companies that own hotels. In a statement Friday morning, Burr said he had asked for the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate the matter, "understanding the assumption many could make in hindsight." There is no indication that Burr, who is not running for reelection when his terms ends in 2022, had inside information as he sold the stocks. The intelligence panel he leads did not have any briefings on the pandemic the week when most of the stocks were sold, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person declined to be identified to discuss confidential committee activity. Senators did receive a closed-door briefing on the virus on Jan. 24, which was public knowledge. A separate briefing was held Feb. 12 by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which Burr is a member of. It's unclear if he attended either session. The stock sales were first reported by ProPublica and The Center for Responsive Politics. Most of them came on Feb. 13, just before Burr made a speech in Washington, D.C., in which he predicted severe consequences from the virus, including closed schools and cutbacks in company travel, according to audio obtained by National Public Radio and released Thursday. Burr told the small North Carolina State Society audience that the virus was "much more aggressive in its transmission than anything that we have seen in recent history" and "probably more akin to the 1918 pandemic." Burr's remarks were much more dire than remarks he had made publicly, and came as President Donald Trump was still downplaying the severity of the virus. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. Burr was not the only lawmaker to sell off stocks just before the steep decline spurred by he global pandemic. Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler, a new senator who is up for reelection this year, sold off hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of stock in late January. In the weeks that followed, Loeffler urged constituents to have faith in the Trump administration's efforts to prepare the nation. California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, also reported that her husband sold off between $1.1 million and $5.5 million worth of stock in Allogene Therapeutics more than a month ago. Feinstein, who also sits on the intelligence panel, said in a statement that she didn't attend the Jan. 24 briefing and had no input in her husband's decisions. Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe also sold off anywhere between roughly $395,000 and $850,000 worth of stock he held in multiple companies in late January and early February, according to a disclosure. Inhofe tweeted that he has no involvement in his investment decisions after asking his financial adviser to move him out of stocks and into mutual funds "to avoid any appearance of controversy." Nguyen Kim Trang, 48, gathers wild grass and rice plant roots that have been affected by the salinity to feed her cows. "People here will all starve to death, she warns. The rice crop has died due to the salinity. Yet leaving all this behind to find jobs in the city is not a choice as everyone is scared of the ongoing epidemic [Covid-19] and no one dares to go. My husband has found a temporary job as a bricklayer while I stay home and tend two cows. Meteorologists had warned that this month the delta would suffer from higher saltwater levels than in 2016, rising between March 6 and 10, peaking in the middle of the month and slowly decreasing in April. Between March 11 and 15 salinity levels did rise above 2016 levels, according to the hydrological forecasting department for central and southern Vietnam and the Central Highlands at the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting. Vietnam has temporarily suspended visa-free travel for the citizens of Russia, Belarus and Japan as a measure to counter the spread of COVID-19 in the country, the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry said on Thursday, adding that the decision would be in force beginning on Saturday MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th March, 2020) Vietnam has temporarily suspended visa-free travel for the citizens of Russia, Belarus and Japan as a measure to counter the spread of COVID-19 in the country, the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry said on Thursday, adding that the decision would be in force beginning on Saturday. "From 12:00, 21 March 2020, [Vietnam] temporarily suspended unilateral visa waiver for citizens of Belarus, Russia and Japan and holders of visa exemption certificate for people of Vietnamese origin and their family members," the ministry said in a press release, adding that diplomatic passport holders would still be able to enter Vietnam without a visa. Earlier in March, Vietnam suspended visa-free travel for citizens of South Korea and nine European countries Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark. Visitors from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states are still eligible for visa-free travel to Vietnam, but travelers are required to self-quarantine for 14 days. Vietnam has so far confirmed 85 coronavirus cases in the country. Meanwhile, Japan has confirmed more than 900 cases, Russia 199 cases, and Belarus 51 cases. Manchester United can't negotiate over Pogba anymore Real Madrid Contract is winding down Paul Pogba's value has plummeted recently, with Manchester United demanding close to 200 million euros in the summer when Real Madrid were interested, and that turned Florentino Perez off his signing despite Zinedine Zidane's wishes. Pogba is one of the best midfielders around and boasts supreme technical ability as well as an impressive physique, but he's had a disastrous season at Old Trafford because of injuries. It all started last July when problems between the player and his club really began. The player considered his second spell in England to be over and he wanted to join Real Madrid, but nothing went to plan. Even then, though, the worst was yet to come. Just four games into 2019/20, he suffered an injury that marked his season. He's returned twice, but relapsed on both occasions and eventually had to undergo surgery in January. He's played eight games in all this season - seven in the Premier League and one in the Carabao Cup - but he hasn't scored yet and has two assists. Pogba hasn't renewed his deal at United yet and it expires in June 2021, meaning from January on he'll be able to negotiate with any club for free. The English side, then, will have to start discussions with clubs in the summer if they are to sell him, but it'll now be at a significantly lower price than what they wanted last summer. Now Pogba probably can't move for any more than 60 million euros, and even that relies on him regaining his fitness before the transfer window opens. Fede Valverde's emergence has cooled Real Madrid's interest as well, though they could make a move should his price drop enough. What's clear now though is that United no longer have any power in negotiations for Pogba. The country, which has 140 cases to date, has introduced restrictions on arrivals but not imposed confinement measures. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has announced the deaths of two coronavirus patients, the first such fatalities to be reported in the country. The Ministry of Health and Prevention said in a statement late on Friday that one of the two individuals was a 78-year-old Arab national who had come from Europe. The cause of death was a heart attack, coinciding with complications from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. The second patient was a 58-year-old Asian national and resident of the UAE, who had prior chronic illnesses, including heart disease and kidney failure, which further complicated their ability to fight the virus. The new coronavirus was first detected in the central Chinese of Wuhan late last year and has since spread to at least 164 countries and territories. Earlier this month, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a pandemic. According to data compiled by the US-based Johns Hopkins University, the death toll now exceeds 11,000 of more than 258,000 confirmed cases. Some 87,000 people have recovered. Despite the rising number of cases and deaths, most who become infected suffer only relatively mild symptoms. There are 140 cases of the coronavirus reported in the UAE to date. Like other countries around the world, the UAE has introduced restrictions on passenger arrivals, but has not so far imposed confinement measures, with public spaces, such as shopping centres and restaurants remaining open. More than 1,300 coronavirus infections have been detected in the Gulf region, with most cases initially identified among travellers returning from Iran, one of the worlds hardest-hit countries. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. Market Definition: Calcium silicate is a powder procured from limestone and diatomaceous earth. It is extensively used across different end-user industries and is likely to witness rising applications in the years to come. Market Research Future (MRFR) has conducted an analysis recently which states that the global calcium silicate market is poised to expand at a moderate CAGR over the assessment period 2016 to 2023. The growth pace of the market can be accredited to the key advantages offered by the product such as passiveness towards the fire. Study Infographics @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/infographics Get a Free sample of This Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/5712 Market Scenario and Growth Factors: Calcium silicate has paved its way across the construction sector which is poised to influence the revenue growth of the market primarily. It is anticipated to catalyze revenue creation for the players of the calcium silicate market over the next few years. In addition, the implementation of favorable regulatory laws for protecting the health of the workers at construction sites are also projected to support the expansion of the market in the forthcoming years. In addition, rapid industrialization has also unleashed developmental opportunities to the calcium silicate market. The use of the product for insulation in industries is likely to lead the proliferation of the market in the years to come. Calcium silicate is expected to observe an upsurge in demand for the production of sealants. It helps in sealing micropores which are anticipated to expedite demand generation across the projection period. In addition, it is also likely to gain popularity as an anti-caking agent in food preparation. Also, the product is poised to pave its way across the food & beverage industry as a food additive. These factors are poised to accelerate revenue creation for the participants of the Calcium Silicate Market Analysis over the next couple of years. The product is expected to witness proliferating applications across industries such as paints & coating materials, pharmaceuticals, fertilizers & insecticides, etc. The growth of these industries is anticipated to boost revenue growth over the next few years. Competitive Dashboard: The key players operating in the global Calcium silicate market and profiled in this MRFR report are: Promat International NV (Belgium) American Elements (U.S.) Morgan Advanced Materials (U.K) Spectrum Chemical Manufacturing Corp. (U.S.) Prochem, Inc. (U.S.), Materion Corporation (U.S.) Mil-Spec Industries Corporation (New York) Associated Ceramics & Technology, Inc. (U.S.) Pyrotek (India), ZIRCAR CERAMICS (India), Skamol (Denmark), Industrial Insulation Group, LLC (U.S.) Market Segmentation: The global Calcium Silicate Market has been segmented on the basis of application for a detailed segmental analysis. Based on application, the segments include insulation, building materials, sealants, pharmaceuticals, food additive, and others. Regional Analysis: On the basis of region, the global calcium silicate market has been segmented into five regions viz. Asia Pacific, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East & Africa (MEA), and North America. Asia Pacific is expected to retain the leading position over the next couple of years. The regional segment resonates strong growth potential and is anticipated to strike a healthy growth rate in the years to come. Rapid industrialization and urbanization are the key factors expected to encourage the growth pace of the calcium silicate market in the region across the projection period. Fast-developing nations such as China and India are prognosticated to contribute significantly to the development of the regional segment in the foreseeable future. In addition, the growth of the end-user industries such as paints & coating, construction, adhesives & sealants, etc. is also anticipated to catapult the regional segment on upward trajectory. North America and Europe are also significant growth pockets expected to expand at a substantial pace in the forthcoming years. Technological innovations and increasing consumption levels are forecasted to favorably influence the expansion of the calcium silicate market in these regions. Watch Videos @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/videos Study Complete Report Details @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/calcium-silicate-market-5712 Dennis Lewis, 73, owns Lewis Bros. Air Conditioning, Refrigeration, Inc. in Coleman. Lewis Bros. provides sales and service of refrigeration, heating, and cooling products for residential, commercial, and industrial customers. There are 10 employees. Dennis is a native of Coleman. He's been married to Wanda for 46 years. They have one son and two grandchildren. 1. How long have you owned your business? I became a partner in 1972, began the buyout in 1976. Started by my Dad, Carl, and his brother, Clarence, in 1938. Two other brothers worked for them, Elmer and Vernell. (Dennis's son, Corey, is the president). 2. What inspired you to own this business? I didn't know any different (laughs). I grew up in it. We also own the laundromat (Coleman Laundryland), and we owned Yesterday's Depot, the train station we remodeled into a restaurant. 3. What makes the Coleman area a great place to own a business? Just the fact that I'm a hometown guy and this is where the business I bought was established. We also serve customers outside of Coleman, in Clare, Mt. Pleasant, Midland, and Beaverton. Also work for several school systems. 4. What are some ways your business is active in the local community? We probably support every knock on the door for money and services. I played on the Lewis Bros. Little League team and my grandson has to. Also give back (via) school scholarships, sports. We help out. 5. What are some of your interests and hobbies? My wife might tell you work. Other than work, I've been going to South Dakota pheasant hunting for over 30 years. I'm on year 54 as a volunteer firefighter. Have served as chief. We do over one run per day. I was in the first EMT class out of Mid Michigan Community College. I was the director of our ambulance service at one point. 6.What are some local businesses you work with that help make your business a success? Local contractors, we work hand in hand with them. 7. Other thoughts? It's been kind of a wild ride. Different experiences, the ambulance and fire services. This business is 24/7. It's those contacts that have afforded me the opportunities I've had. I spent a tour of duty in Southeast Asia (Vietnam War) that made Coleman not such a bad place. I couldn't believe how smart my Dad got that year. Absence wakes me. No planes. Six am, midweek, inner west and theres the usual gentle potpourri of birdsong, kids, chooks, cars and neighbours, but the urgent, rhythmic pre-dawn baseline of landing and take-off is absent. What. Have we given up flying for Lent? Well yes, kind of. Were halfway through the six-week season thats meant to teach humility via penance, mortification of the flesh, repentance for sin and denial of ego. Of course, we dont believe in humility any more, certainly not denial of ego. Yet here we are, having our flesh mortified for us by disease, by lockdown, by deprivation. Is someone trying to tell us something? Illustration: Dionne Gain Credit: Under the escalating panic its hard not to suspect some kind of punishment. Perhaps humans are the plague and the worlds immune system is trying to shrug us off, force a moral reset. Some cultures achieve humility, to paraphrase Shakespeare's Malvolio. Some have it thrust upon them. Call it the world. Call it life, nature, providence or god. Call it cosmic standover. Doesnt matter. Question is, what is its demand? What are our requisite Lenten relinquishments? CECC imposes highest travel warning on all overseas destinations ROC Central News Agency 03/20/2020 06:50 PM Taipei, March 20 (CNA) Taiwan will place all foreign countries and territories under its highest Level 3 travel warning starting Saturday, but the move became largely symbolic after a 14-day home quarantine was imposed on all inbound travelers starting Thursday. The Level 3 warning, which previously applied to 101 countries and territories covering virtually all of Europe and Asia, will be extended to reflect the global spread of COVID-19 to regions including Latin America, Africa and Oceania, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said at its daily press briefing Friday. The CECC discourages all non-essential travel to locations under a Level 3 warning and requires people who have traveled in or transited through such areas to home quarantine for 14 days. The CECC had already mandated a 14-day home quarantine for all travelers arriving in Taiwan and a ban on entry by foreign nationals, with some exceptions, under tightened border controls that took effect Thursday, minimizing the impact of the new warning. However, travelers who make unnecessary trips to an area under a Level 3 warning may not apply for the government's NT$1,000 (US$33) daily home quarantine subsidy, according to CECC regulations. The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Taiwan has surged from 50 on March 13 to 135 following the announcement of 27 new cases Friday. In a televised address Thursday, President Tsai Ing-wen () said the country is entering a "critical" second stage in its prevention efforts, as the virus spreads across the Western Hemisphere from its initial epicenter in China. To prepare for an estimated 14,000 travelers who will return to Taiwan in the coming days, the CECC said surgical face masks will go on sale Saturday in duty-free shops at five Taiwanese airports. The packs of three adult-size or five child-size masks will cost NT$50 or US$2 each, with a limit of one per customer, and will be logged into the government's mask rationing database to prevent repeat purchases, the CECC said. Based on anticipated arrival numbers, the CECC said it has allocated 70,000 adult-size masks and 10,000 child-size masks for Taoyuan International Airport, along with smaller amounts for Songshan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung airports. (By Sunrise Huang and Matthew Mazzetta) Enditem/ls NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Scott Morrison has launched a second bailout package to save thousands of jobs and companies as the coronavirus fallout cripples the economy and forces him to admit: 'There is a lot of pain coming.' The prime minister will today announce a second round of drastic rescue measures worth around $66billion, including grants of up to $100,000 to help small businesses pay their staff. Alongside the cash payments, the government is launching a massive loan scheme worth $40billion under which it will guarantee 50 per cent of cheap loans given from banks to struggling companies to keep them from going under. Scroll down for video Scott Morrison (right, last week) has launched a second bailout package to save thousands of jobs and companies As thousands of casual and full-time workers in retail, hospitality, tourism and other sectors face losing their jobs, Mr Morrison is expected to temporarily increase the Jobseeker payment. The government is also likely to hand hundreds of millions of dollars to aged care homes to help them retain staff to cope with the pandemic, which is more dangerous to the elderly. The second round of measures, combined with $17.6billion announced last week and $105billion given to banks for lending, mean the stimulus measures so far total $189billion, or 9.7 per cent of GDP. This is considerably less than the UK's rescue package of more than $800billion - around 18 per cent of the country's GDP - which includes a government plan to pay 80 per cent of the wages of millions of workers. However, Daily Mail Australia understands the prime minister is plotting a third round of measures to save the economy from collapse. 'We want to help businesses keep going as best they can or to pause instead of falling apart,' Mr Morrison said. 'We want to ensure that when this crisis has passed Australia can bounce back. There is a lot of pain coming but we're going to cushion the blow as best we can.' It comes as the number of coronavirus cases in Australia soars past 1,000 with seven deaths amid warnings the nation's hospitals will be overwhelmed in two weeks. What's in the second stimulus package? CASH TO KEEP AUSTRALIANS IN JOBS Eligible businesses that withhold tax to the ATO on their employees' salary and wages will receive a payment equal to the amount withheld, up to a maximum payment of $100,000. Eligible businesses that pay salary and wages will receive a minimum payment of $20,000, even if they are not required to withhold tax. This new measure is worth $25.2billion. It is open to businesses with turnover under $50million and will now also be available to eligible not-for-profit charities It will benefit around 690,000 businesses employing around 7.8 million people and 30,000 not for profits SUPPORTING SMALL BUSINESSES WITH LOANS A new Coronavirus SME Guarantee Scheme will be able to be accessed by eligible banks and non-bank lenders The Commonwealth will guarantee 50 per cent of an eligible loan to small businesses that have been impacted by the coronavirus The Scheme will have the capacity to support lending of $40billion to SMEs SMEs that have less than $50m turnover per year will be eligible under the Scheme Loans will be used for working capital purposes and be unsecured and it will be for loans granted within 6 months starting 1 April 2020 The Scheme will apply to new or existing customers of banks and non-bank lenders. It will be repayment free for 6 months The maximum loan will be $250,000 for a term up to 3 years It will not apply to re-financing of existing customers. Those already have existing loans that will benefit from the ABA announcement Advertisement In the first package of measures, announced on March 12, Mr Morrison announced that a quarter of Australians would be given $750. The cash will be handed out to 6.5million people including 3.6million pensioners, 1.1million students and working-age welfare recipients and 1.5million others including veterans and parents who receive family tax breaks. The payments totalling $4.8billion will be begin on 31 March and will be transferred automatically through the tax system. 'Australians will spend that money and that money will encourage economic activity,' Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said. In the first package, the government vowed to hand out tax-free cash grants of up to $25,000 to 7,000 small businesses who turn over less than $50million and employ people. This has now been raised to $100,000 and extended to charities, taking the cost of the measure from $7billion to $32billion. Mr Morrison also announced a 50 per cent wage subsidy for 117,000 apprentices worth $21,000 per apprentice. The cash will be paid to companies so they can afford to keep their young employees in work. Thousands of casual and full-time workers in retail, hospitality, tourism and other sectors face the sack Instant asset write offs will be expanded so tradies can buy trucks and other equipment worth $150,000 on the taxman until 30 June. The previous limit was $30,000. Mr Morrison also vowed to make sure casual workers who can't find work due to the virus will not have to wait to access the dole. There is also a $1billion fund to help tourism businesses affected by the downturn, similar to a disaster recovery fund. The ATO is also allowing affected businesses to delay their tax obligations for four months. The Prime Minister said the first package is worth $17.6billion over the next four to six months, giving the economy a boost worth $22.9billion or 1.2 per cent of GDP. Who gets $750? Recipients on Newstart, the disability support pension, carers' allowance, youth allowance, veterans support payments, family tax benefits and Commonwealth senior health card-holders. Australia's 2.4million aged pensioners are also getting the payment. The payments will be begin on 31 March and will be automatically deposited into bank accounts. The government has promised 90 per cent of the funds would be delivered by mid-April. Advertisement In addition to the stimulus packages, the government is reducing the deeming rate - which is used to assess pensioners' and veterans' assets - by 0.5 per cent so they can receive more money. This measure will cost $600million and benefit 900,000 Australians, including 560,000 aged pensioners. It comes after some experts feared the coronavirus crisis could cause Australia's unemployment rate to almost triple to Great Depression levels of the 1930s. Qantas is already temporarily retrenching two-thirds of its 30,000 staff as the airline suspends international flights until at least the end of May, like its rival Virgin Australia. Casual jobs in retail and hospitality have also gone as the government bans indoor room gatherings of 100 or more people in a bid to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. Digital Finance Analytics principal Martin North, an economist, said that in a 'worse case' scenario, Australia's unemployment rate could surge from 5.1 per cent now to 14 per cent in 2021. 'People aren't going to buy stuff, people aren't going to buy houses, people aren't going to be building stuff - GDP is about activity and fundamentally, we are going to see activity right down to very, very low levels,' he told Daily Mail Australia. The government is also likely to hand hundreds of millions of dollars to aged care homes to help them retain staff to cope with the pandemic, which is more dangerous to the elderly Should his prediction come true, Australia would have the highest jobless rate since 1932, at the height of the Great Depression, when unemployment peaked at 19.75 per cent. It would also surpass the 9.9 per cent jobless rate experienced during the last recession in early 1991 and the subsequent jobless rate of 11.2 per cent by December 1992, which saw almost 1million Australians out of work. This would see the number of jobless people in Australia skyrocket from 699,100 in February 2020, when the first cases of coronavirus outside China were confirmed, to 1.9million within little more than a year. The parents of students who returned to Kashmir from Bangladesh are at loggerheads with the authorities in the Valley over the issue of quarantine, as the former have alleged that the administration was flouting the WHO and Central government guidelines related to COVID-19. Around 200 students from the Valley who have returned from Bangladesh in the last few days were isolated at the Srinagar airport and taken to various quarantine facilities set up by the administration. The officials at some of the quarantine facilities said the parents, many of them influential, were putting pressure on them to release their wards from quarantine. However, the parents have alleged that the facilities were not well-equipped and the administration was flouting the guidelines laid down by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and various ministries of the Central Government. "The guidelines clearly say that these students have to be home quarantined. Why are they being taken to some facility which is against these guidelines," one of the parents said, wishing not to be identified. He said the quarantine facilities for the students were not well equipped and in some cases even lacked basic amenities. "They are facing various issues like food, infrastructure, etc. These facilities are not well equipped," he said. Another parent said the students at these facilities were being kept together rather than isolated which increased the chances of infection. "Bundling them together like this is only going to increase the chances of infection. If anyone of them has infection, then the others are likely to catch that," he said. A reputed doctor at the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) here the Valley's premier tertiary care hospital said the measure taken by the administration was not in consonance with the guidelines laid down by the Central government. "I can tell you what they are doing viz-a-viz these students from Bangladesh is not in consonance with the advisories and guidelines of the Government of India, it is against those advisories. I think there is some confusion in the administration as these kids need not be quarantined at some facility. They have to be home quarantined, the doctor, wishing anonymity, told PTI. Saying that the administration has "compounded" the issue, the doctor expressed apprehensions that the students travelling from foreign countries would hide their travel history because of such actions. "Now that these students are wary that they will be taken to some quarantine facility rather than home, many of them may hide their travel history or take surface transport or things like that. This has compounded the issue. The administration unfortunately is stretching its resources," he said. Asked whether there were chances of spreading more infection by way of holding the students together at a facility, the doctor said "definitely". "They are imperiling their (students') health," he added. An official in the Srinagar administration said the authorities had "invented" a problem where none existed. "It is because of red-tape that we have invented a problem where there was none. The move violates the guidelines of Union Health Ministry. This is criminal negligence," the official said. Srinagar Mayor Junaid Azim Mattu also criticized the administration's decision, saying it was "needless and unscientific". "Am I happy with the needless, unscientific 'quarantine' of students flying in? NO! Is it a violation of WHO, Health and Civil Av Ministry guidelines? YES! Am I raising my voice about this? YES! REPEATEDLY BUT INTERNALLY! Don't let THIS be a distraction - help by STAYING HOME! (sic)," the Mayor posted on Twitter. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 21 Trend: Azercell Telecom LLC joins the initiative of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Company transfers 2 million manats to the Fund to Support Fight Against Coronavirus. The geographical and human coverage of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization, is growing rapidly. In order to support national economy and welfare of the population in the current tense global situation, Azercell Telecom LLC, the leading mobile operator in the local market, continues its social responsibility initiatives. Thus, the company has allocated 2 million manats to the Fund to Support Fight Against Coronavirus, established by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated March 19, 2020 to contribute to the measures to prevent the spread of the disease in the country. It should be noted that, Azercell is the first mobile operator, which has provided free calls to the Hotline service of the State Agency on Mandatory Health Insurance (1542). At the same time, the company uploaded the amount of AZN 50 to the balance of active roaming subscribers who are currently in the countries with limited transport conditions with Azerbaijan. In addition, Azercell recently announced that Call Center and Online Customer Service of the company also operate in an enhanced working mode. The company expressed its readiness to provide all necessary assistance to its subscribers in roaming by helping them to contact with relevant embassies and Hotline service of the State Agency on Mandatory Health Insurance. ABC News Tennis world No. 1 Novak Djokovic is apologizing for an "error of judgement" related to an in-person interview he conducted last month after being exposed to COVID-19 as he continues to fight to stay in Australia and compete in the first major of the year. Djokovic, who is tied for first all time with 20 major wins, released a new statement Wednesday midday local time in Melbourne explaining the timeline of several public appearances around when he tested positive for COVID in December -- which he says should allow him to compete in the Australian Open despite apparently not being vaccinated. "I want to address the continuing misinformation about my activities and attendance at events in December leading up to my positive PCR COVID test result," he wrote in an Instagram post. Kamakura, a coastal town in Kanagawa Prefecture is popular for its beach and provides visitors with a glance into Japans extensive history, with many temples, shrines and other historical monuments. Kamakura was historically known as the political capital of Japan in the 11th century, during the feudal political system. It has played an important role as the centre of Buddhist temples. One of the biggest indicators of this period is the monument of Great Buddha, which stands at 11.4 metres tall and weighs 121 tonnes. This icon is one of the most famous statues in Japan and is often termed as a national treasure. Another attraction in Kamakura is Komachi Street. There are many shops, cafes and restaurants along the street. It is the best place to eat out and shop for souvenirs. A lot of shops offer snacks which you can enjoy while exploring the place. Yuigahama Beach is a 3.2-kilometre-long beach located on the south coast in Kamakura City. The beach here is a hotspot for residents and tourists all year round. It can be accessed from Kamakura station after walking for 20 minutes. It is a paradise for surfers during all seasons. Some tourists enjoy horse riding on the beach. In addition to that, Shimokitazawa is an area known for its shopping hub with many vintage, second-hand clothing and interior goods shops, theatres, live houses and cafes available for tourists to explore. The town was once a farming village and has now been turned into a residential area, with a thriving young creative community. People in this area are very open-minded -- they accept any fashion or style. It is common to see famous people in this area as they like to come here. The residents here and shop owners welcome the presence of live houses and other creative artists. After surviving air raids in World War II, this neighbourhood was turned into a US second-hand market for soldiers during the occupation period. Parts of that market still exist today. The most famous thing to do in this area is to explore second-hand shops, which offer a great variety of styles and sizes. There are a lot of shops with good prices. (This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.) Follow more stories on Facebook and Twitter SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON As the coronavirus spreads across the world, hospitals, public health experts and hospital intensive care units are faced with a huge challenge of catering to patients who require ventilators. For the uninitiated, people who contract the COVID-19, tagged as dangerous viral pneumonia, need the help of bedside ventilators. According to Dr. William Graham Carlos a pulmonary critical care specialist, at Indiana University School of Medicine, ventilators supply higher levels of oxygen and also help push air into the lungs to open them up. Air is delivered through a tube in the patients windpipe into the lungs, mimicking the way we breathe naturally. However, amid the pandemic and the rise in the number of COVID-19 patients, theres a global shortage of ventilators. To deal with the crisis, medical professionals have been sharing hacks to increase ventilator capacity to help multiple patients in this time of crisis. A Twitter user named and rural physician Alan Drummond shared a post about a Canadian doctor named Dr Alain Gauthier, who rigged up a ventilator with do-it-yourself mechanics to treat nine patients instead of one. In the post, Drummond who is Dr Alain Gauthiers colleague wrote, So in ten minutes the evil genius who is one of our GP anaesthetists (with a PhD in diaphragmatic mechanics) increased our rural hospitals ventilator capacity from one to nine!!! So in ten minutes the evil genius who is one of our GP anaesthetists (with a PhD in diaphragmatic mechanics) increased our rural hospitals ventilator capacity from one to nine!!! pic.twitter.com/yNmuCCDbWd alan drummond (@alandrummond2) March 17, 2020 According to a Mail Online report, Dr Alain Gauthier, who is an anaesthetist at the Perth and Smiths Falls District Hospital in Ontario and holds a PhD in respiratory mechanics, got the idea after watching YouTube videos created by two Detroit doctors in 2006. To perform the task, patients have to be paired who have similar lung size and capacity. Then, multiple hoses are attached to the one ventilator so it is running at several times its normal power, reports Mail Online. According to the Canadian Press, Dr Gauthier says the idea has tried once before, for victims of the mass shooting in Las Vegas in 2017. Soon after Alan Drummond tweet went viral, people started posting multiple examples of medical professional employing a similar hack with ventilators. Even billionaire and founder of Tesla and SpaceX, Elon Musk took noticed of the thread and lauded the professionals. Interesting thread Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 20, 2020 In another example, another Twitter user shared a video of an emergency medicine physician who invented a way to connect four patients to a single ventilator, a solution that could significantly help overburdened hospitals. Babock is now an emergency medicine physician at a hospital in Detroit, Michigan and posted a YouTube video on March 14 describing the technique. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, many healthcare providers are struggling with a situation where they may have more than one patient needing ventilation and not enough ventilators to go around, Babcock said in the video. Thats why Im putting this YouTube together. So I can show you how to modify one ventilator to ventilate more than one patient. Another example shared by Twitter user is of a man named John Strupat who a retired respiratory therapist in London who devised a respiratory for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. In 2007, the agency was looking for a life support device that could run on batteries and be deployed cheaply and effectively. According to CBC News, Strupat explains that his device called the "pandemic ventilator" is a standard from the 1970s and requires a patient be intubated, the medical word used to describe putting a tube through someone's mouth and into their airway. According to the report, it also serves as a cheaper alternative a conventional ventilator found in a hospital costs about Rs 18,90,565 for one unit, his design would cost about Rs 37,811 a unit and with a couple of modifications. In a similar initiative, group of volunteers in Italy 3D printed 100 expensive valves used for life-saving coronavirus treatments in a day after a hospital ran out of them. Complimenti a Cristian Fracassi, @temporelli73 e tutte le persone che lo hanno aiutato nella impresa di stampare in 3d le valvole mancanti per i respiratori dell'Ospedale di Chiari a Brescia. (qui l'articolo completo https://t.co/QYZu6x9X1T) #SolidarietaDigitale #iorestoacasa pic.twitter.com/dF3G2RJY8S Paola Pisano (@PaolaPisano_Min) March 15, 2020 3D printing business Isinnova reportedly lent a hand when the original supplier could not produce the valves quickly enough and managed to develop a prototype in three hours. The Northern Territory has joined Tasmania in locking down its borders as the number of coronavirus cases across the nation rockets to 1,073. Prime Minister Scott Morrison banned non-residents from entering the country after 9pm on Friday and advised Australians to reconsider 'non-essential' domestic travel as the country desperately attempts to control the deadly outbreak. But states and territories are now taking matters into their own hands, with Tasmania and the Northern Territory imposing a 14-day quarantine for anyone who crosses their borders. It comes as all the beaches in Sydney's eastern suburbs shut for the weekend after thousands flocked to the sand and breached self-distancing guidance. New South Wales has the highest amount of cases in the country at 436. Six of the seven COVID-19 deaths have been in the state. Scroll down for video The Northern Territory has joined Tasmania in locking down their borders as the number of COVID-19 cases around the country rocket to 1,073 NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner announced the tough restrictions on Saturday. They will be implemented from 4pm on Tuesday and apply to entrance by road, rail, air and sea. 'The government is announcing these new measures today to give Territorians as much confidence as possible that we are taking every step possible to keep you safe,' Mr Gunner said on Saturday. 'This is an unprecedented action for the Northern Territory. But these are unprecedented times.' The action came after five people were confirmed to be infected with COVID-19 in the NT. 'Whether you are local or not, this applies to you,' Mr Gunner said. 'People that come to the Northern Territory and break this law will be punished.' It comes after Tasmania imposed similar strict border measures for all arrivals. Northern Territory Chief Minister Michael Gunner said the borders will be closed from 4pm on Tuesday and those who cross will be quarantined All of the beaches in Sydney's eastern suburbs will be shut for the rest of the weekend amid growing concern swimmers who hit the waves on Thursday and Friday were not taking the threat seriously. Pictured: Bondi Beach on Friday CORONAVIRUS CASES IN AUSTRALIA: 27,244 Victoria: 20,269 New South Wales: 4,273 Queensland: 1,161 Western Australia: 692 South Australia: 473 Tasmania: 230 Australian Capital Territory: 113 Northern Territory: 33 TOTAL CASES: 27,244 ESTIMATED ACTIVE CASES: 269 DEATHS: 897 Updated: 5.31 PM, 11 October, 2020 Source: Australian Government Department of Health Advertisement All 'non-essential' travellers who arrive from midnight on Friday are required to stay in quarantine for two weeks. Premier Peter Gutwein said people in quarantine will receive daily texts or calls reminding them of their obligations. 'We will be doing some spot audits,' he told reporters. 'We will work with police, biosecurity Tasmania and public health to do what we can to ensure people understand. 'These restrictions, and I make no apologies for them, they will be difficult for some people but we need to ensure that we keep Tasmanians safe.' Authorities in both the NT and Tasmania advised the community that lockdowns would not impact supermarket stock. 'As we have reiterated, do not stockpile goods. More will come in quickly to replace anything that has sold out in the supermarkets,' Tasmania's Minister for Transport Michael Ferguson said. There were 16 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Tasmania on Saturday evening. Tasmania have imposed strict border measures for all arrivals. All 'non-essential' travellers who arrive from midnight on Friday are required to stay in quarantine for two weeks Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt hit out at the hundreds of beachgoers that descended on Bondi on Friday, ignoring new rules on social distancing measures aimed to stop the virus spreading. 'If you are breaking these rules you are putting, not just yourself, but you are putting other Australians at risk,' he told reporters on Saturday. The NSW government shut Bondi Beach on Saturday afternoon. Police minister David Elliot said: 'This is the most irresponsible behaviour we've seen so far. 'This is not something we're doing because we're the fun police, this is about saving lives. 'We cannot have an area where more than 500 people are gathered. 'If the community does not comply, this is going to become the new normal.' NSW Police were seen at Bondi Pavilion on Saturday after state officials made the decision to shut down the world-famous beach Randwick City Council announced they would close all their beaches on Sunday in response to government measures to 'limit the number of people on any beach to 500'. 'This is to encourage good social distancing practices put in place to reduce the impact of coronavirus on our community,' the council said in a statement. 'Favourable weather conditions on Sunday means we're likely to see more than 500 visitors to our beaches. 'To keep our community safe and healthy we have decided to close all beaches, including Clovelly, Gordon's Bay, Coogee, Maroubra, Malabar, Little Bay, Congwong, Frenchman's Bay and Yarra Bay.' Waverley Council has also closed Bondi, Tamarama and Bronte beaches until further notice. Pictured: A couple at Bondi Beach smile as they emerged from the surf on Friday Waverley Council have closed Bondi, Tamarama and Bronte beaches until further notice. 'We'll review conditions each day so please keep an eye on our website and Twitter for daily beach updates,' Randwick City Council said. It came as NSW Health scrambled to contact thousands of people who were onboard four cruise ships which visited Sydney this month, carrying passengers infected with coronavirus. The number of confirmed cases in Victoria increased by 51 overnight to 229. They included a police officer in Melbourne and a second Melbourne University staff member who returned from overseas before the government's mandatory quarantine period for travellers. Western Australia reported 26 new cases as travellers returned home from overseas, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 90. Cases of COVID-19 in Queensland jumped to 221 on Saturday, with 37 more cases. On Friday controversial MP Bob Katter called for the entire of North Queensland to be quarantined to halt the spread of coronavirus On Friday, controversial MP Bob Katter called for the entire of North Queensland to be quarantined to halt the spread of coronavirus. Katter said the alarmingly spread of the virus in Italy, along with a personal close-call with the pandemic, had shown him quickly it could potentially infect the state. 'There are 41,300 cases in Italy, 3,405 people have died so you can't take this lightly,' Katter said. 'This is not some backward country, this is northern Italy, with one of the most sophisticated economies on earth along with Germany.' Ten people from a US tour group are among 17 new positive coronavirus cases in South Australia. The new cases bring the state total to 67. The tourists are part of a larger group of 18 from the US who are all now in isolation at their accommodation in the Barossa Valley, north of Adelaide. Premier Steven Marshall is now considering locking down the state's borders to combat the COVID-19 spread. He told the Sunday Mail the state government are 'actively considering all measures to slow the rate in South Australia as much as possible'. 'We are now increasingly concerned about the rate of infection coming from sources interstate and we will look at this very closely over the next 24 hours.' 'There's still no evidence in South Australia of community transmission and this is something that we must protect.' A group of 18 tourists from the United States are being isolated after ten members of their tour group were found to have coronavirus while in the Barossa Valley (pictured) LATEST RULES TO CONTROL CORONAVIRUS SPREAD On Friday, Scott Morrison announced new rules for indoor spaces. It means the number of people in a venue is dictated by the size of the room. There needs to be four-square-metres per patron. This means that if a venue is 100-square-metres, 25 people are allowed inside. Event then, Australians are asked to try and keep 1.5 metres apart from one another. Advertisement Mr Morrison on Friday said the government could consider locking down suburbs where COVID-19 outbreaks are more common. 'There will be, as we have already seen, parts of cities or places that will be more susceptible because of quite localised outbreaks,' Mr Morrison said on Friday. 'What we've asked for advice on is the density of those cases - how many cases in a particular area that triggers actions over and above what these general rules are that apply to those areas. 'And that would be staged up according to the level of that outbreak, and what needs to be done wherever possible to shut that down.' It came after health officials announced the country's seventh coronavirus death. An 81-year-old woman with COVID-19 died in New South Wales on Thursday night. Mr Morrison continued: 'Now the reason I say that is we need a consistent approach to how this would scale up in the event of outbreaks in particular parts of particular areas.' 'Because that means just because you might see, under those rules, something being done in Tuggeranong or somewhere else, that rules don't necessarily apply ... somewhere else. 'There will be advanced measures that would need to be put in place and we need a clear set of rules across states and territories to make those rules and that advice will be coming forward on Tuesday evening.' The government have banned outdoor events of more than 500 people and restricted indoor gatherings restricted to 100. BMW Earlier in the week we looked at five FTSE 100 companies that had fallen into five-star territory, which means they are the most undervalued of the stocks Morningstar analysts cover. Now we cast the net wider to look at European companies that have been caught up in the global sell-off but still have an economic moat, or significant competitive advantage. They come from a wide range of industries, from banking to jewellery, and countries including Denmark, Switzerland and Ireland. While these are highly uncertain times for consumers and investors, the current market turmoil has hit valuations for companies we think could stay the course: Euro stocks Five Companies to Weather the Storm Orsted (ORSTED) 4 Stars Narrow Moat Danish wind farm and energy trading company Orsted is trading at 610 Danish krone, below its fair value of DKK640, according to analyst Tancrede Fulop. One of the key criteria for Morningstar analysts is strong company leadership, and on this score, Orsted is exemplary. Fulop says the company is a the undisputed global leader in wind energy, a market which is expected to increase fifteen-fold to 2040, according to the International Energy Agency. One great feature of the company, Fulop argues, is that it has gone into this crisis with low debt. He expects the coronavirus outbreak to delay the commissioning of new wind farms, but the upside is that Orsteds competitors oil giants that have moved into renewable energy have a serious cash flow problem at the moment, which will weaken them in the near term. The company has a unique combination of high earnings growth, sustainable returns, and a low carbon footprint, Fulop says. Julius Baer (BAER) 5 Stars - Wide Moat Analyst Johann Scholtz thinks Swiss banking firm Julius Baer is less exposed to the financial fallout from coronavirus because it has limited lending and excellent liquidity. If you look through the downturn, this is a great time to pick up Julius Baer, he argues, noting that in the 2008 crisis, clients sought out the bank as a safe haven as clients switched away from Swiss banking giants UBS and Credit Suisse. Story continues And longer-term, the trend for wealthy individuals seeking investment advice is in the firms favour. The demand for bespoke financial planning and wealth management services will continue to be strong, he notes. Julius Baer is a prized firm from Morningstars point of view because it is rated as five stars, meaning it is significantly undervalued, and has a wide economic moat. Just two FTSE 100 firms under Morningstar coverage have a five star rating and wide moat, and they are both tobacco companies. Richemont (CFR) - 5 Stars - Wide Moat Luxury stocks have been in the eye of the storm in this crisis for many reasons: their exposure to China, the fear that an economic crisis will crimp disposable income and the drop in demand as people stop going to shopping centres. But Cartier-owner Richemont is well placed to survive the current malaise, says Morningstar luxury analyst Jelena Sokolova, who thinks the company is highly undervalued and holds significant advantages over rivals. Richemont has one of the strongest brands in the industry with high barriers to entry and good growth prospects, says Sokolova. Most of the groups brands are at least a century old, have iconic collections lasting 40 to 80 years, and have historically commanded significant pricing power." There are very few recession-proof consumer companies but the argument is that people who can afford watches worth 5,000 or more are less exposed to a downturn than most. Demand for luxury goods held up during the last recession, for example, especially as affluent investors put their money into tangible assets such as watches and jewellery rather the stock market. Sokolova praises Richemonts strong cash position and 4%-plus dividend yield. The company is trading just below SFr50, against a fair value of SFr88. Kerry Group (KYGA) 4 Stars - Wide Moat Kerry Group is one of the best-positioned ingredient suppliers in the fragmented food ingredient industry, says Morningstar analyst Ioannis Pontikis. Like Orsted, analysts rate the companys stewardship of investor capital as exemplary. The group has strong growth prospects due to its dominant position in emerging markets and Pontikis forecasts annual profit growth of 10% over the next two years, despite the current crisis. Its competitive advantage stems from partnerships with loyal customers and from the strength of its well-known brands such as Wall's sausages and Dairygold butter. Headquarted in Ireland and listed on the London Stock Exchange, the company is a much sought after "10-bagger" in that its share price has gone from 10 to 100 in around 20 years. Shares have been turbulent in the recent sell-off but have held up reasonably well over six months, remaining above 100. The food industry isn't a cyclical one (people still need to eat, regardless of the economic environment) so the stock has defensive qualities in current market conditions. Analysts also think its ingredient division will benefit from the "wellness" trend as consumers increasingly demand to know what goes into their food. BMW (BMW) - 5 Stars - Narrow Moat The share price of German automotive giant BMW has been caught up in the market sell-off in the year to date the price is off 45% from 73 to 40. This has pushed the stock, which according to analysts has a narrow moat, into five-star territory. The logic is hard to argue with at this point: a Europe-wide recession could crush demand for high-end cars and put the regions already stretched automotive industry under severe pressure. BMW has just reported results for 2019 which were solid, but it is understandably cautious about making 2020 forecasts. Autos analyst Richard Hilgert is more optimistic looking beyond this year: While we would be hesitant to catch a falling knife, at some point, for long term investors, we view BMWs reduced valuation from Covid-19 as an opportunity to own shares. He thinks the stock market is valuing BMW as if the company is in a permanent economic slump. While the firm has a high uncertainty rating, he maintains the 118 fair estimate for the shares for now the 66% discount to fair value makes BMW one of the most undervalued stocks in Morningstar's European coverage. Tarn Taran police on Saturday arrested six persons, including owners of four marriage palaces, for defying the restrictions imposed on mass gatherings amid coronavirus outbreak. The ban order of the district magistrate prohibits gathering of more than 20 people. Police said they have registered six separate cases in various police stations of the district after finding gathering of more than 20 people at six marriage palaces, including UK Palace at Sarhali village, Bhathal Palace at Naushehra Pannuan village, Sutlej Palace in Harike, Kabila Palace in Tarn Taran city, Lime Light Palace in Bhikhiwind town and Dhillon Palace at Jiobala village. The owners of these marriage palaces have been booked under Sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Senior superintendent of police Dhruv Dahiya said following the ban order issued by Tarn Taran district magistrate Pardeep Kumar Sabharwal, a team has been formed under the supervision of superintendent of police (SP investigation) Jagjit Singh Walia for regular checks in the district to stop gathering of more than 20 people. Around 80 people were attending a wedding function at UK Palace, around 70 at Bhathal Palace, 100 at Sutlej Palace, 70 at Kabila Palace, 500 at Dhillon Palace and 200 at Lime Light Palace, reads a statement issued by the Tarn Taran police. Police said UK Palace owner Gurinder Singh of Sarhali village and his two employees Lovepreet Singh and Lovepreet Singh (who also shares the same name) of Muradpura locality in Tarn Taran were arrested on the spot. Similarly, Bhathal Palace owner Jatinder Singh of Bhathal Bhaike village, Kabila Palace owner Gaurav Rampal of Rasoolpur village, Dhillon Palace owner Paramjit Singh of Jiobala village have also been arrested. Dhillon Palace manager Gurdev Singh of Jiobala village, Lime Light Palace owner Avjit Singh of Bhikhiwind and manager Tarsem Singh of Udhoke village, Sutlej Palace owner Roshan Lal and manager Jaspal Singh of Harike are absconding. PALACE OWNER, SHOPKEER BOOKED IN NURMAHAL A shopkeeper in Nurmahal was booked for selling sanitisers at more than the prescribed rates while a marriage palace owner was booked for defying the restrictions on gathering of more than 20 people. During the checking, teams of food and civil supplies department along with the police detected Dhandh Medical Hall in Nurmahal for selling sanitiser more than the MRP. The police have registered a case under Section 188 of the IPC and provisions of the Essential Commodities Act. The rural police booked the owner of Cheema Palace, Nurmahal, for allowing gathering of more than 20 persons. The palace owner has also been booked under Section 188 of the IPC. The salient question appears amid this pandemic is that whether we are anymore living in a world where the so-called revered democratic values can uphold in a time of crisis beyond human control. by Punsara Amarasinghe and Eshan Jayawardane At this moment the world has indeed been witnessing a plague which looms before humanity as an unmitigated disaster beyond continents, races, religions and all the other so-called social and economic boundaries including the global North-South division. The deplorable conditions in Europe currently portray a nightmare where the congenial lifestyle of Europeans has come to a virtual end. From a vantage point, the state emergency and the other strict regulations implemented in Europe has raised some questions among liberal intellectuals and leftists to challenge the legitimacy of key pillars of Western democracy. On the other hand, Coronavirus serves to justify the legitimize the measurements adopted by European states that had been till now unthinkable in Western democratic societies. The locking down of Italy appears to be a realization of a nightmare which shunned the whole sets of civil liberty enjoyed by a nation which is known for Western democratic ideals. Furthermore, the constitution of Italy remains vague in curtailing the civil liberties of the citizens except Article 78 which stands for the right to wage the war. In some circumstances, this article has been implicitly regarded as a legal justification to curtail the constitutional rights when circumstances urge to do so. Nevertheless, the executive decree adopted by Italy amid the crisis is akin to a totalitarian regime and ironically Italian political philosopher Giorgio Agamben, the one who developed State of Exception as a coherent theory criticized the growing tendency to use state of exception as a normal governing paradigm. The salient question appears amid this pandemic is that whether we are anymore living in a world where the so-called revered democratic values can uphold in a time of crisis beyond human control. It is blatantly evident that when China was confronting the virus threat by locking down whole Wuhan as the place where the virus emerged, the reaction arose from the leading world news agencies took a rather cynical attitude towards China. China was depicted by most of the news agencies like a state adopting a draconian method to curtail the civil liberties of the citizens. On the other hand, such claims were always bolstered with Chinas problematic history of making strict measurements to its citizens. However, the rapid intensity of Corona across Europe, in particular in Italy finally compelled European states to declare a state of emergency and strict regulations to prevent the epidemic from reaching a catastrophic stage regardless of undermining the civil liberties. Achille Mbembe, the political theorist who coined the phrase Necropolitics described his whole concept as an approach analysing how people can be exposed to death or right to enslave the whole society. Yet, the situation we are facing now is another inclusion for the whole concept as it has shown how liberal democratic rights can perish before purely a non-political incident such as Coronavirus. The other notable factor that virus unveiled to the world is the nakedness of the European Unions solidarity. The deceptive mantra propagated by EU as a symbol of regional harmony has been challenged in this situation as no European state responded to Italys appeal regarding health assistance, that blows all the sanguine hopes on EU paving the path to boosting nationalist rhetoric. The populist propaganda in central Europe had already begun to spread their ultra-nationalist projects even before the outbreak of Corona and the imposition of the state of emergency, locking down of countries and its borders amid the current pandemic have accelerated the populist praise on authoritative governments. The way how Italian plea for medical assistance was spurned by fellow European governments has simply marred its image on solidarity as a hoax by creating a vacuum for altruism. Moreover, the state obsession on protecting borders has shown its futility with the intensity of spreading the virus. The new equilibrium emerged after the outbreak of Corona has shown the impossibility of using state sovereignty as a precautionary method in dealing with a pandemic. From a cynical standpoint, one can define the virus as a beneficial infection that would purge the already chaotic world order as it causes to get rid of the ageing population and also the fear created by the rapid spread of the virus has sabotaged the nightlife and the intrinsic nightlife of Europeans. But such a morbid fascination will not have a long life in making a realistic assessment of the repercussions which are likely to arise near future. Mainly, it seems to be inevitable to witness a global recession as an offshoot of the virus. Secondly, the xenophobic sentiments sprang during the Corona outbreak has exacerbated the tension between China and West revealing the unending difference based on civilizational habits. It is a fact beyond a conjuncture that Coronavirus became a global issue in the backdrop of a tough trade war between the USA and China. This geopolitical tension has played a catalytic role since the outbreak of the Coronavirus until it reached a level of a global pandemic. The Sinophobia arose from Coronavirus depicting China as the scapegoat has already created an unpleasant situation globally and this hostility towards China is likely to continue even after the extinction of the pandemic. The grim circumstances brought by COVID-19 or Corona have disoriented the concepts such as sovereignty, solidarity and civil liberties by creating a path for the globalized state of exception. Perhaps, from a sheer existentialist perspective, we can take the whole situation as an undeniable reality and wait. Punsara Amarasinghe is a visiting research fellow at Center for global legal studies at University of Wisconsin Madison in the USA. He is a PhD researcher at Institute of Law and Politics at Scuola Superiore Sant Anna in Pisa, Italy and previously held one-year research fellowship at Department of International Law, Faculty of Law at Higher School of Economics in Moscow, Russia. He can be reached at punsaraprint10@gmail.com Eshan Jayawardane is an independent researcher lives in New Zealand and he holds MA in International Relations from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. He can be reached at eshan.jay@gmail.com The Mossad intelligence service brought 100,000 coronavirus test kits to Israel from abroad on Wednesday night, with plans to bring in millions more, according to reports. The Mossad was brought in to help locate and bring in the roughly four million test kits from several unidentified countries, which will make their way to Israel soon. However speaking with Jerusalem Post, the Health Ministry deputy director-general Itamar Grotto, Unfortunately, what they brought is not exactly what we were lacking, said. A man holding an umbrella, wearing a protective face mask beneath another mask showing the face of late physicist Albert Einstein, and a hoodie sweater quoting a verse from the biblical book of Isaiah, while another waves an Israeli flag and another Israeli flag with the colours inverted during a protest outside the Knesset (parliament) in Jerusalem on March 19, 2020. AFP/File The Mossad searched for test kits wherever possible and procured the 100,000 from two different countries, Ynet reported. Later, Al Jazeera quoted a source at Reuters who said the kits came from one of the Gulf states that do not recognize Israel but coordinates with it at low level on issues related to security challenges in the region, such as Iran. In the last few years, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have had some contact with Israel, although ties have not been formalized. The Mossad mission was revealed Thursday by N12 and was independently confirmed by other media outfits in Israel. The report came the same day that the Health Ministry committed to increasing the number of tests conducted daily in Israel to at least 3,000 and soon to as many as 5,000. This is an unusual event in which the countrys intelligence and other security agencies are working together and mobilizing to assist efforts to curb the spread of the virus, N12 wrote in its report. Beyond the Mossad, the Defense Ministry has been stepping up efforts to support the fight against the coronavirus. Defense Minister Naftali Bennett orchestrated the opening of two coronavirus hotels one in Jerusalem and one in Tel Aviv for people who have mild cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. In addition, he authorized the mobilization of 2,500 IDF reservists to help deal with the continued spread of the deadly virus. President Emmanuel Macron announced Saturday that Iran has freed a French researcher imprisoned in the Islamic republic after France released an Iranian threatened with extradition to the US. Macron "is happy to announce the release of Roland Marchal, imprisoned in Iran since June 2019" but he "urges the Iranian authorities to immediately free" fellow researcher Fariba Adelkhah, his office said. France has for months demanded that Iran release Adelkhah, and her partner Marchal, who were detained last year accused of plotting against national security. Their trial began in early March. Adelkhah is a citizen of both Iran and France, but Tehran does not recognise dual nationality. Iran has in recent months carried out prisoner exchanges with the US, Australia and Germany. Marchal is due in France later Saturday, according to Macron's office. The Iranian judiciary's agency Mizan Online reported Iranian Jallal Rohollahnejad had been freed by France on Friday. Iranian state TV later said he was already on a flight back to Tehran. Rohollahnejad, "an Iranian engineer incarcerated for more than a year in French prisons and accused of circumventing American sanctions against Iran, has been freed today," the agency added. The French Court of Cassation had on March 11 approved "the request to extradite Rohollahnejad to the US, but the French government freed him, changing this decision", it added. "Taking into account the cooperation of the (Iranian) judicial system's intention to release a French detainee through reducing sentences, the French government" freed the Iranian engineer "in an act of mutual cooperation", according to the report. Adelkhah, 60, an anthropologist and expert on Shiite Islam, faces charges of "propaganda against the system" and "colluding to commit acts against national security", according to the researchers' lawyer, Said Dehghan. Her colleague Marchal, 64, a specialist on East Africa, is accused of the same national security charge, said the lawyer. Their Paris-based support group and the French foreign ministry had sounded the alarm over the health of both detainees -- Adelkhah went on hunger strike for 49 days and Marchal's health is said to be deteriorating. The support group has repeatedly said that the two are innocent of the charges they face. "We welcome with relief the arrival of Roland Marchal in Paris after nearly nine months of arbitrary detention in very difficult conditions, but only half of the path has been taken," said Jean-Francois Bayart, a member of the committee and a professor at the Geneva-based Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies. He said "the fight continues" to secure Adelkhah's release. Adding to concerns for the welfare of the prisoners, Iran has been hard hit by the novel coronavirus pandemic, behind only Italy and China in the official number of fatalities. Iran said Saturday that 123 more people had died from coronavirus, raising the country's official death toll to 1,556. Ahead of Iran's celebration of the Persian New Year starting Friday, authorities had released a number of international prisoners. US Navy veteran Michael White was freed on Thursday. He was handed over in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad to a team from Switzerland, which represents US interests in the absence of diplomatic relations, and flown to the capital Tehran, the US State Department said. Iran this week also freed for two weeks Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian dual national who worked for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the media organisation's philanthropic arm. Iran is still holding US citizens Siamak Namazi -- who was convicted on charges that include espionage and collaboration with the US government -- his father Baquer and environmental expert Morad Tahbaz. The Islamic republic in December freed Xiyue Wang, a US academic, in an exchange for scientist Massoud Soleimani and said it was open to further swaps. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pub landlords Rob and Donna Taylor said a weight had been lifted from their shoulders after the Government announced its ambitious plan to pay staff wages. The couple, who run The Compasses Inn in rural Kent, said the stimulus package could prove 'massive' for the survival of small businesses. Despite expecting to be hit by the coronavirus outbreak, Mr Taylor, 38, said he was 'shellshocked' when Boris Johnson ordered the closure of Britain's pubs yesterday. Pub landlords Rob and Donna Taylor said a weight had been lifted from their shoulders after the Government announced its ambitious plan to pay staff wages He said: 'It's a massive shock and we are still trying to figure out exactly what it will mean for us.' The Taylors had kept their award-winning gastropub, outside Canterbury, open this week in an attempt to pay the wages of their three full-time staff and other part-time workers. Mrs Taylor, 45, said the move provoked a 'backlash' from some, but they mitigated concern by implementing social-distancing measures and training in how to deal with the virus. 'Our mindset from the beginning was that we would stay open to make enough for the staff, to support them and make sure they weren't out of a job,' Mr Taylor said. 'The announcement that wages might be covered is a bit of weight lifted off our shoulders. 'It is a massive move because there is no way we would have been able to cover their pay.' The couple, who run The Compasses Inn in rural Kent, said Mr Sunak's stimulus package could prove 'massive' for the survival of small businesses Following the Government's announcement last night, the couple held a 20-minute meeting with staff to discuss their futures. Speaking of the months ahead, Mr Taylor, who is the pub's head chef, said: 'It's very uncertain ground for us and I still do not know if we will be able to reopen.' The publican said he hoped to take advantage of a grant and said the pub's ultimate owner, the Shepherd Neame brewery, had offered a 'huge relief' by suspending rent payments. 'All of these little things will be very helpful and with any luck could give us time to regroup, look at what we are doing and to come back stronger,' he said. (Bloomberg) -- New York state ordered non-essential workers to stay home, a move followed hours later by neighboring New Jersey and then by Illinois. Italy reported 627 fatalities, the most in one day anywhere, as the death toll in Europes epicenter topped 4,000. President Donald Trump banned all non-essential travel from Mexico, exempting commerce. He also deferred student loan payments. The U.K. and the U.S. warned that social distancing may be in place longer than expected. The European Union said the looming recession may be much worse than previously anticipated. It took three months to reach 100,000 cases but only 12 days for the next 100,000. Key Developments: Cases top 250,000, more than 10,000 deadInfections rise to almost 20,000 in both Spain and IranBiennial Farnborough Airshow postponed until 2022Four U.S. senators sold stock after virus briefings in JanuaryNew York City reports 5,151 cases of Covid-19, 29 fatalitiesLatin America isnt ready for the virus onslaught headed its way Subscribe to a daily update on the virus from Bloombergs Prognosis team here. Click VRUS on the terminal for news and data on the coronavirus and here for maps and charts. For analysis of the impact from Bloomberg Economics, click here. To see the impact on oil and commodities demand, click here. Illinois Issues Shelter-in-Place Order (4:20 p.m. NY) Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker ordered residents to shelter in place starting Saturday, following California, New York and New Jersey in restricting the movement of residents to combat the coronavirus. Earlier this month, Pritzker closed schools, dine-in service at bars and restaurants and banned gatherings of more than 50. Chicago earlier ordered sick residents to remain home. N.J. to Shut Nonessential Businesses (4 p.m. NY) New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said he will sign an executive order requiring all nonessential businesses closed to help slow the spread of the virus. Murphy said he would give more details when he signs the order Saturday. Story continues The only way were going to beat this darn virus is if we literally stay home and stay away from each other, Murphy said at a news conference in Paramus. World Needs 80-100 Times More Tests, WHO Says (2:30 p.m. NY) The number of coronavirus tests needed in coming months is probably 80 to 100 times the 1.5 million that the World Health Organization supplied so far, said Mike Ryan, the agencys head of health emergencies. Governments need to step up their commitments because there are more than 26 million health-care workers around the world who need to have protective gear, he said. The greatest tragedy for me among all the tragedies were seeing is the prospect of losing a part of our workforce, those doctors and nurses and hygienists and others who put themselves in the front line, Ryan said. Nigeria to Conduct Trials of Chloroquine (2:30 p.m. NY) Nigerias Lagos State government plans to conduct a clinical trial on the effectiveness of the malaria drug chloroquine in the prevention and management of coronavirus infection, according to Health Commissioner Akin Abayomi. The trial will be carried out against the fast spreading news that chloroquine could be effective in preventing and managing Covid-19, Abayomi said in emailed statement on Friday. U.S. President Donald Trump touted the drug at a press briefing Thursday, urging regulators to approve its use for the coronavirus. U.K. to Help Pay Workers Wages (1:30 p.m. NY) The U.K. government said it will step in and help pay its citizens wages during the coronavirus pandemic for the first time in the nations history. The state will cover 80% of the salary of workers that firms cant afford to retain as a result of the crisis. That is up to a total of 2,500 pounds ($2,900) a month, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak told reporters on Friday. You will not face this alone, Sunak said. Read full story here. Crowds Swarm New Jersey Test Site (1:23 p.m. NY) New Jersey closed its first drive-through test site to people beyond the 1,000 already in line, and even they may not get swabbed today. The line had grown too long less than four hours after its planned 8 a.m. opening at Bergen Community College in Paramus. The site was to get 2,500 new coronavirus test kits, with supplies replenished weekly. Read full story here. Brazilian Lawmakers Hold First Remote Voting (12:45 p.m. NY) Brazils Congress held its first-ever remote voting session as part of efforts to proceed with crucial legislative work while restricting movement of people in Brasilias often-crowded parliament. In a video conference broadcast on their official website, senators approved a calamity decree allowing President Jair Bolsonaro to increase anti-virus spending. Cuomo Orders All Non-Essential Workers Home (12:20 p.m. NY) Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered New Yorkers to stay at home for the foreseeable future, except for essential services like grocery stores and mass transit. He said the new orders would go in place on Sunday. The states death toll has reached 35. New York has more than 7,100 coronavirus cases, the most in the U.S. This is the most drastic action we can take, Cuomo said. Read full story here. First Virus Deaths in Peru (12:15 p.m. NY) Three people died on Thursday after becoming infected by the coronavirus, Perus Health Ministry says on Twitter. Two men -- one 47 and the other 69 -- died in Lima after visiting Spain. The third victim was a 78-year-old man. Medical experts worry that Latin America, which has so far reported relatively few cases, is unprepared for a larger outbreak. London Pubs, Restaurants Set to Be Told to Close (11:27 a.m. NY) Londons pubs, restaurants, leisure centers, and cinemas will be told to close to stop the spread of coronavirus, under plans expected to be agreed to on Friday, a British official said. Social Distancing Will Last Several More Weeks (11:08 a.m. NY) Americans will have to practice social distancing for at least several more weeks to mitigate U.S. cases of Covid-19, Anthony S. Fauci of the National Institutes of Health said Friday. If you look at the trajectory of the curves of outbreaks in other areas, its at least going to be several weeks. I cannot see that all of a sudden next week or two weeks from now, its going to be over. I dont think theres a chance of that. I think its going to be several weeks, Fauci said on The Today Show. FAA Closes Airspace Near Indianapolis (10:26 a.m. NY) The FAA has vacated three airspace work areas in Indianapolis after an air traffic control supervisor tested positive for COVID-19. Flights through the airspace handled by those sectors were rerouted, according to FAA in emailed statement IRS Moving Tax Day to July 15 (10:25 a.m. NY) U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says people and businesses will have more time to file and make payments without interest or penalties. American Air Flies First Cargo-Only Flight in 36 Years (10:22 a.m. NY) American Airlines Group Inc. is shifting some of its biggest idled jets to ferry just cargo -- the carriers first flights without passengers in nearly four decades. The Boeing Co. 777-300s will fly medical supplies, military mail, e-commerce packages and high-demand office equipment as more people work from home, the airline said in a statement. The wide-body flights begin Friday, with two round trips over four days between Frankfurt and the airlines home base at Dallas-Fort Worth airport. Read full story here. Brazil Bans Visitors from Europe and Asia (10:17 a.m. NY) Brazil will bar travelers from about three dozen European and Asian nations from entering the country. The ban doesnt apply to Brazilians or foreigners living in the country and will last for 30 days starting Monday. Dutch Death Toll Jumps to 106 (9:15 a.m. NY) The Netherlands reported 30 more deaths, the biggest daily increase since the first coronavirus case was confirmed at the end of February. The total number of fatalities now stands at 106, according to Dutch health authorities. Frankfurt Airport Operator Furloughs Thousands (9:10 a.m. NY) Fraport AG put at least 18,000 of its 22,000 employees in Frankfurt on furlough until the end of May to offset the coronavirus impact. The company said in a statement that Frankfurt airport will also shut the shortest of its four runways, but intends to maintain flight operations and continue work on its new terminal. Amazon Prime Slows Europe Streaming (9:05 a.m. NY) Amazon.com Inc.s Prime Video will follow Netflix and Googles lead in reducing the speed of streams across Europe to ensure networks can handle increased use amid the coronavirus outbreak, which has sent thousands of workers home and shut schools. Social Distancing Could Be Needed Most of Year: U.K. Advisers (8:42 a.m. NY) U.K. governments scientific advisers say social distancing measures to suppress the coronavirus outbreak may be necessary for at least most of a year. In documents published Friday, the U.K. scientific committee said: It was agreed that a policy of alternating between periods of more and less strict social distancing measures could plausibly be effective at keeping the number of critical care cases within capacity. In an NBC interview, National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci said social distancing may be needed for at least several more weeks. I cannot see that all of a sudden next week or two weeks from now, its going to be over, Fauci said. Commerzbank Sticks With Target as Impact Unforeseeable (8:37 a.m. NY) Commerzbank AG said its too early to quantify the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy and its own outlook for the year. In its annual report published Friday, the German bank kept its forecast for a profit this year, while warning of numerous risks that could affect the 2020 profit forecast to a considerable, though not reliably quantifiable, extent should events take an unfavorable turn. Gileads Likely Remdesivir Approval Prompts Piper Upgrade (7:20 a.m. NY) Piper Sandler raised Gilead to overweight from neutral and said President Donald Trumps comments on remdesivir at a Thursday press conference show the tremendous pressure to approve the Covid-19 drug within days. Separately, Sorrento Therapeutics says it has produced a pre-clinical batch of STI-4398 protein to immediately begin testing its neutralization and blocking activity in preventing SARS-CoV-2 virus from infecting ACE2-expressing cells. Singapore Suspends Large Events, Steps Up Social Distancing (7:17 a.m. NY) Singapore will prohibit events and gatherings of 250 or more people as it steps up measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The government said there were 40 new virus cases as of 12 p.m. on Friday, taking the total to 385. Thirty of the new infections came from abroad, the majority of them Singapore residents returning home. Cases Rise to Almost 20,000 in Spain, Iran (6:50 a.m. NY) Iran reported 1,237 new coronavirus cases and 149 deaths, bringing the countrys total to 19,644 cases and 1,433 fatalities. The health ministry also noted that 6,745 people had recovered from the virus so far, adding that 13 provinces have had a noticeable decrease in new cases. In Spain, cases rose by 2,833 to 19,980 and the death toll surged by 31% to 1,002. WHO Suspects Thailand Community Transmission Rising (6:40 a.m. NY) The WHO is concerned about the possibility that the transmission of the virus is more widespread in the community following recent increases in the daily confirmed cases. Thailand reported 50 more cases earlier on Friday, taking its total to 322 -- of the countrys total new cases, 41 are related to existing cases from Thai boxing stadiums and the nightlife sector. Disease Is Doubling at Even Faster Rate Now (6:15 a.m. NY) While the number of cases doubled to 200,000 cases in the 12 days through Thursday, on Friday the tally already was halfway to the 300,000 mark. The number of cases in France has doubled in four days, said Christian Lindmeier, a spokesman for the World Health Organization. When countries dont have enough tests, they should triage, he said. The WHO said it developed new guidelines to investigate the extent of infection among the population with antibody tests. Thirteen countries have begun to implement some of the investigation protocols, and another 18 said they plan to do so. More widespread testing would give better information about the disease. The United Nations plans to give details next week about a humanitarian response as 100 million people in war zones face extreme risks related to the outbreak, said Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the UN humanitarian office. Altria CEO Tests Positive (6:11 a.m. NY) Altria said CEO Howard A. Willard III contracted the Covid-19 virus and is taking a temporary medical leave of absence. Chief Financial Officer William F. Gifford Jr. will take over Willards responsibilities until he returns. For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source. 2020 Bloomberg L.P. A lack of testing swabs and sampling containers has become the latest problem expected to delay access in Oregon to 20,000 coronavirus tests promised by Gov. Kate Brown this week, a top aide told The Oregonian/OregonLive on Friday. State officials have no idea when theyll be able to tap coronavirus tests from Quest Diagnostics, said Nik Blosser, Browns chief of staff. Quest only processes test samples at its laboratories, Blosser said. The company doesnt provide the swabs and containers used to collect those samples from patients and Oregon doesnt have enough right now to increase its testing volume, Blosser said. State officials said theyve been told 4,000 swabs will arrive from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at an unknown date. Beyond that, theyre trying to get collection kits from private manufacturers but prospects arent great. Were working really hard to figure out how to get more, Blosser said, but I dont know where well get them right now. He said Quest has reserved the capacity to analyze the samples once it gets them. What they dont have, and what they actually dont produce, are these collection kits, he said. Blosser took responsibility for providing unclear information to the public earlier this week. When the governor Wednesday touted the agreement with Quest, Blosser said Oregon should get the first 5,000 of the 20,000 test kits any day now. But now, he said, Ill just admit, I should have gone into more detail. I should have understood it better. The predicament represents the latest challenge to increase testing capacity in Oregon amid a global pandemic that has infected more than 16,500 Americans and killed more than 200 nationwide. Testing is scarce across the country but is considered a front-line defense to help identify people who are infected, so they dont spread the virus to others. Oregon reported its first coronavirus case Feb. 28 but testing didnt dramatically increase until the past seven days as private labs and hospital systems joined the Oregon State Public Health Laboratory in processing tests. The increase has been stark, according to Blosser, jumping in new tests analyzed each week from about 125 to about 500 to more than 1,500. Im glad its ramping up at this rate and hope we can keep it going, said Blosser, who is spearheading Oregons efforts to increase testing capacity. Of the roughly 2,100 tests completed to date, more than 40 percent were analyzed at a location other than the state health lab, officials disclosed Friday. So far, 115 Oregonians have tested positive for the new coronavirus. Oregon hopes to eventually increase testing capacity to about 2,000 tests per week, a top state health official told lawmakers earlier this week. But it remains highly uncertain when Quest will help Oregon reach that target while collection kit supplies are scarce. The federal government notified Oregon in an email Thursday that it would receive 4,000 viral testing swabs compliments of the Department of Health and Human Services. But Blosser said an aide called Friday seeking clarity about when those would arrive. She received none. They said we dont know, Blosser recounted. And I said, Can you give me something better, like days or weeks? And she said they didnt give any timeframe. When those collection supplies arrive, however, they wont necessarily be used to obtain patient samples that can be sent to Quest. Blosser said some would be kept for the Oregon Health Authoritys state lab and some would be directed to Quest, but he didnt have details. Im asking OHA for that exact clarity myself, he said. The allocation matters. The state is processing tests at its lab only for people it considers most at risk, while the Quest tests were to be allocated more broadly, including for first responders and health care workers with symptoms, Blosser said earlier this week. The state eventually hopes to have clear, unified criteria for who is eligible for testing no matter which lab processes a sample, he said. Our goal is to align the criteria, so its one set of screening criteria across the hospital labs, the state lab and Quest, he said. Blosser said state officials on Friday also attempted to contact collection-kit manufacturers to secure supplies. They did so on the advice of federal officials, who provided a list of the companies a day earlier. The administration actually yesterday sent states a list of suppliers for swabs and said, Good luck, Blosser said during an earlier conference call with reporters. Every state now is calling these poor four suppliers to see what we can get, and thats really the limitation. Blosser told The Oregonian/OregonLive that officials put in an order with one of the suppliers but its been delayed by two to three weeks. Another company is facing a delay of up to eight weeks. The final two have zero available, he said, and cant help. State officials say the Oregon Health Authority attempted to get collection-kit materials from companies before Thursday but could not immediately provide details. If the state isnt quickly able to obtain more collection kits, beyond the 4,000 from the federal government, that will further delay sending additional samples to Quest as part of the labs pledge to offer 20,000 tests for Oregonians. Meanwhile, there was one bit of optimism on the testing front. Providence Health & Services earlier this week became the first hospital system to begin processing coronavirus tests at its own lab, with the capacity to analyze samples for 500 to 600 of its patients each day. On Friday, the hospital system opened two pilot drive-thru testing sites. For three hours, workers collected samples from 45 health care workers or patients who were referred by a doctor, spokesman Gary Walker said. For day one of a pilot, he said, it went really smooth. -- Brad Schmidt; bschmidt@oregonian.com; 503-294-7628: @_brad_schmidt Green MP Caroline Lucas broke House of Commons rules when she charged 150 for a tour of parliament, an investigation has revealed. The party's only MP, who represents Brighton Pavilion, placed the 30-minute 'personal guided tour' on a crowdfunding site to raise money during her general election campaign. Tours of parliament cost 26.50 for adults, but British citizens can arrange one free of charge. Caroline Lucas offered the tours as a crowdfunding initiative to raise money in the election The parliamentary commissioner found that it was 'inappropriate' for an MP to 'tout for donations' using the House of Commons. They also said it could give her an 'unfair advantage' over other electoral candidates. The code of conduct for MPs clearly states that they must not offer tours of parliament in raffles or auctions. It adds that use of publicly funded resources should 'not confer any undue personal or financial benefit on themselves or anyone else, or confer undue advantage on a political organisation.' Ms Lucas initially argued that she could offer the tour as it was about 'someone accessing my time and experience'. However, she has accepted the outcome of the investigation and apologised for the breach of standards. The House of Commons pictured above on March 18, when many members stayed away due to coronavirus fears 'In order to raise funds for my local party in the recent General Election Campaign, I made an offer on a crowdfunding site of a personal tour of those areas of Parliament which are special to me,' she said. 'When I did so, I did not believe I was breaking parliamentary rules, which I had interpreted to mean that what was prohibited was offering something that was otherwise "freely available".' The Green Party said it had returned the money to the supporter who made the donation. ~ 1 confirmed case, 13 being monitored by CPS.~ PHILIPSBURG:--- Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs who is also the chair of EOC was visibly upset during her national address on Friday afternoon as she plead with residents of St. Maarten to respect and follow the recommendations given by her for a period of two weeks in an effort to contain the spread of COVID-19 on St. Maarten. Jacobs said that EOC and the Government of St. Maarten stands ready to reinforce more stringent measures if necessary to ensure that the spread of the virus is contained. She said based on what she has seen thus far residents are not taking the necessary measures to protect themselves, families and the community because they are not adhering to the recommended guidelines on social distancing. As of March 21st, 2020, businesses that are currently allowed to remain open and conduct business must shut shops by 8 pm in order to keep people indoors. Regulation is currently being worked on that will legally regulate the guidelines given out by her as the chair of EOC. Jacobs said a stimulus plan is being worked on for those affected by the shutdown and downturn of the economy. The Prime Minister explained that discussions were had with Raymond Knops whose intention was to update the Kingdom Council of Ministers the need of the Caribbean Islands. She said the Minister of Kingdom Relations guaranteed the Overseas Territories that some assistance will be forthcoming. Besides that, the Ministry of VSA is busy working on social assistance for the recipients of social assistance which will be continued along with social packages. HEALTHCARE The St. Maarten Medical Center is working on finalizing the pavilion which will house 10 beds and workspace for patients tested positive for COVID -19. Currently, containers are being used at SMMC. Jacobs said the second test conducted on the one case St. Maarten has returned positive, making him the first and only confirmed case at the moment while the spouse of the victim has been tested negative. While St. Maarten only has one case thus far CPS is busy monitoring 13 including one person that has been tested positive from the French side. The Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) has arrived on St. Maarten today including stock for the BES islands. Jacobs warned returning passengers that they must remain isolated for a period of 14 days after returning to the island. She said those persons who refused to stay in isolation willingly will be forced to do since it is for their own benefit and the benefit of the island residents. Those returning passengers will be monitored by CPS with strict guidelines Jacobs said. ESF 10 is busy accessing how the shut down of businesses is affecting the economy and the island in general if necessary additional measures will be implemented for those that have not been in full compliance. Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs National Address on COVID-19 MARCH 20, 2020 People of St. Maarten, Today March 20th, I come once again, to address you as Prime Minister and Chair of the EOC, to update you on the latest developments regarding COVID-19 developments on St. Maarten. I will be bringing to you, an overview in couple of aspects. The first being the social affairs aspect. Social Affairs A social stimulus plan is being finalized for persons who will be directly affected by the economic downturn as a result of the COVID-19 developments. We are in constant contact with our Kingdom counterparts; The Netherlands, Curacao, Aruba, who together, during video conference held yesterday, March 19, 2020, confirmed our commitment to work together to alleviate the challenges that have already started to rise as a result of the COVID-19 virus which is a National Health Emergency of International concern. Our Dutch Kingdom partner, in the person of Minister of Interior and Kingdom Relations (BZK) Raymond Knops, assured he would highlight the needs of the Caribbean islands in todays Kingdom Council of Ministers meeting which was already held in The Netherlands. Kingdom members in the caribbean have highlighted to Minister Knops, our immediate, as well as projected needs for the rest of 2020. Minister Knops has assured all 3 countries that some form of assistance, which will be formalized during the coming week in bilateral discussions will come forth. St. Maarten has already expressed in this quadripartite meeting between the 4 countries of the Kingdom, that its financial needs for financial assistance have an immediate effect. As a basis for the social stimulus plan, a social assessment report will be conducted by Emergency Support Function 7 (ESF 7) and the ministry of VSA to determine the impact from a social perspective. ESF 7 has already identified that the approximately 1500 persons currently receiving social welfare will continue to do so, and plans are already underway to deliver care packages to them should the need arise before the end of the month. They are in constant contact with their clients and making plans for the expected increase in persons requiring social assistance. Health Care The St. Maarten Medical Centre (SMMC) is currently expanding its capacity to be able to offer triage for COVID-19 patients at the Emergency room, as well as working on the finalization of the Pavilion together with Government, which the Steering Committee has approved the use of $2.5 million via the NRPB trust fund which will outfit the Pavilion. The Pavilion will then contain 6 rooms, of which 5 will be quarantine rooms holding 2 persons each. Therefore, equipping it with 10 beds for quarantine purposes and the last space being a workspace for medical personnel. This effort, has been ongoing for some weeks, and I am very happy to announce that the specifications of the quarantine rooms have been approved and ordered. We expect that they will be here shortly while the Pavilion is being constructed. Containers are also being used by SMMC to expand their capabilities for immediate care for COVID-19 related patients. I must reiterate, that as of today there is still one COVID-19 positive patient and I must update that the second confirmatory test has also come out positive. However, the spouse of COVID-19 patient 1 has tested negative. Contact tracing of persons returning to St. Maarten or suspected of being exposed to the virus has been heightened by CPS (ESF6). 13 persons are currently being monitored as a result of both COVID-19 case 1 (St. Maarten) and the positive COVID-19 case from the French side. These persons will continue to be monitored according to CPS approved protocol which will be explained further. Persons who have been identified as having traveled from countries with COVID-19 clusters are required to fill in a form that is being provided to them by the immigration officer/Pubic Health officials currently stationed at the airport informing them of what will be required in the next 14 days. They will receive a letter signed by me, and sign a document agreeing to carry out the necessary protocol at home. These documents may now be found on the governments website at www.sintmaartengov.org/coronavirus. I would like to take this time to explain to persons what is meant by self - isolation Isolation is a medical term used to refer to the separation of ill patients from other persons to ensure the health safety of persons not ill. Quarantine is forpersons who may have been exposed to ill persons but are not exhibiting symptoms. As we know although we are currently expanding our capacity to deal withextensive COVID-19 outbreak, we minimize capacity for such. Hence, the shut-down of travel from visitors. Therefore, persons are required to self-isolate in order to protect your loved ones and the rest of the population. To all residents who have gotten the opportunity to return home this past week from March 13th, and have not received the letter, please call CPS at 914 or your family doctor. Passengers coming in as of today are required to fill in the forms that will be handed to them by immigration officers, requiring self-isolation. In addition, COVID-19 suspected passengers and their family must sign a mandatory isolation document wherein the isolation rules and obligations are stipulated. Passengers who have traveled to St. Maarten from Friday March 13, should download this document and to make themselves known to CPS. You are hereby also asked to voluntarily self-isolate in order to ensure the protection of your family and the population. Finally, I would like to update you that, the shipment of PPEs (personal protective equipment), masks, etc. were received from the Netherlands via Bonaire today for further distribution by ESF 6. They are intended for St. Maarten, Saba, St. Eustatius. Business Affairs ESF 10 is conducting an assessment to determine the frequency of movements and compliancy in terms of social distancing at supermarkets and throughout other public areas and whether other measures should be taken. A regulation for social distancing for persons making use of public transportation, business and public areas will be implemented within short and published for all to know. Let me be very clear and transparent. We are currently unaware when this crisis will be over. We plan and hope that within two weeks the worst would have subsided. However, that remains to be seen. In the meantime, we, as a country sharing a border with French St. Maarten are trying to have some form of normalcy and ensure the safety and security of our population. This is why social-distancing has been implemented and will be enforced. If for whatever reason the recommended social distancing is not being adhered to, EOC will decide to upscale measures, which will lead to a total shut down and minimum mobility for the population for at least 2 full weeks. Businesses allowed to be operational according to our list of our essential business will now be mandated to close at 8 pm to minimize movement and the spread of COVID-19. This goes into effect, tomorrow Saturday, March 21, 2020 (ESF 10). Public order and Government services Public order is being maintained and monitored by ESF 5. Chief Carl John has updated me that there have been no unnecessary activity and there will be more patrols to ensure that the minimized movement is upheld. Essential government services such as Labor & Social Affairs, Receivers, and the Civil Registry Department will be provided with a hotline to be accessible for emergency cases as well as to schedule appointments in the coming days. If the proper protocols which we have put in place to protect our civil servants are not adhered to, all public services will then be moved to -appointments only- service to avoid much as possible contact. A communique with the changes in hours of operations from our government operations and how to access government services, will be communicated in my next press conference, until then the services will be provided. Government is recommending all essential businesses that have been allowed to remain open will designate the first hour of services to senior citizens as well as vulnerable persons such as pregnant women and persons with children. We believe that we are keeping the COVID-19 virus properly contained, but we are relying on you, the people of St. Maarten to do what we have to do. Each and every business, and service and institution which has been granted the opportunity to be open, to maintain the highest level of hygiene for themselves, their clients as well as their staff and to ensure that social distancing is being practiced in and around the establishment. I hope to have properly informed everyone about the steps Government is taking. Realize that we need you, and you are part of the solution as well as part of the problem. I look forward to hearing continuous good news from each of my ESFs and I thank the ESF coordinators for the contributions they are making for the EOC. I also thank all the Ministers in my cabinet as well as Parliament who have continuously given great suggestions to improve upon, regulations that have been put in place already. Today, March 20th, we are yet with one case. We pray to God that this continues and that each one of us does our part to ensure that. God Bless St. Maarten! Be Safe. (Newser) There have so far been nearly 265,000 coronavirus cases worldwide, with more than 11,000 deaths, and the numbers keep rising. That's why scientists around the globe are working fervently with the World Health Organization on at least 20 different coronavirus vaccines to combat the virus, CNBC reports. The work that's being done in what the New York Times calls a vaccination "global arms race" has advanced rapidly, with some vaccines already in clinical trials after just eight weeks, thanks to a foundation of knowledge from the SARS and MERS outbreaks. The Guardian notes credit can also be given to China for sharing in early January the virus's genetic sequencing. Still, researchers warn a vaccine on the market could still be up to 18 months away due to safety approvals and clinical trials, which are necessities, per Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of WHOs emergencies program, who notes the only thing more dangerous than a bad virus is "a bad vaccine." story continues below The safety factor isn't the only one officials are contending withCNBC notes the "logistical, financial, and ethical hurdles" also swirling. "There has to be fair and equitable access to that vaccine for everybody," Ryan says. "How do we ensure we get enough of that vaccine in time, how do we ensure ... we can distribute that vaccine to populations all over the world, and how do we convince people to take the vaccine?" The Times notes that even though there's been cooperation among companies that are usually competitors, there's also another issue looming: "a nationalistic approach that could give the winner the chance to favor its own population." Pharma execs say that's the wrong approach. "It would be completely wrong to fall into nationalist behavior that would actually disrupt supply chains and be detrimental to people around the world," Severin Schwan, CEO of Roche, says. (Read more coronavirus stories.) To aid those affected by the halt of film and TV shoots because of coronavirus pandemic, Netflix has announced a $100 million relief fund for workers in the worldwide creative community. This community has supported Netflix through the good times, and we want to help them through these hard times, especially while governments are still figuring out what economic support they will provide, Ted Sarandos, Netflix's chief creative officer, said in a statement. The majority of the fund will support the hardest-hit workers on Netflix's own productions around the world and will supplement the two weeks of pay the company already agreed to pay the cast and crew on suspended productions, Sarandos said. Electricians, carpenters and drivers who were given hourly wages and were hired on project basis are jobless at the moment, he said. In an effort to support the broader film and television industry, $15 million of the fund will be distributed to third parties and nonprofits providing emergency relief to out-of-work crew and cast in the countries where we have a large production base, according to the statement. Netflix Watch Party In the US and Canada, Netflix said it will donate $1 million each to the SAG-AFTRA Covid-19 Disaster Fund, the Motion Picture and Television Fund and the Actors Fund Emergency Assistance in the United States, and $1 million between the AFC and Fondation des Artistes. Elsewhere, including Europe, Latin America and Asia, Netflix is coordinating with industry organizations to create similar relief efforts, Sarandos said, with announcements planned next week on funding those efforts. In India, Producers Guild of India has set up a relief fund for affecting daily wage workers of the film industry. Producers Guild of India sets up Relief Fund for workers affected by production shutdown owing to the COVID-19 epidemic-Official Statement#SiddharthRoyKapur @kulmeetmakkar #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/OGARZbDWxl producersguildindia (@producers_guild) March 17, 2020 "In light of the complete shutdown of all production related activity for the foreseeable future due to the COVID 19 outbreak, there is bound to be a significant impact on the lives and livelihoods of daily wage earners in the industry. The Producers Guild has decided to set up a relief fund to help support those most affected by the shutdown. We would encourage the entire fraternity to contribute to the fund, to ensure that we can do all we can to minimise the disruption in the lives of our valued colleagues and associates in this difficult time, Siddharth Roy Kapur, president, Producers Guild of India, said in a statement. Similarly, Karnataka Film Workers, Artists and Technicians Federation has also set up a relief fund. We have decided to request the Chief Minister and our film stars to contribute to the fund so that we can at least ensure supply of groceries, medicines and give out small loans to daily wage earners who have lost their livelihoods due to the shutdown, Ashok, president, Karnataka Film Workers, Artists and Technicians Federation was quoted as saying by The Hindu. Reuters According to the World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to recover. Gina Shakespeare is a film and television producer from New Zealand. Over the past 15 years, she has produced and directed hundreds of hours of content, including TV commercials, programs, and corporate video for a wide variety of clientele; and has authored 3 short films. She is currently the producer and host of "Declassified," an investigative news program by The Epoch Times. The fight against the coronavirus has swollen in cost to reach almost 10 per cent of Australias annual economic output, far greater than some other countries but falling short of some demands for greater action. The Morrison government estimates the full suite of economic measures will be worth at least $189 billion including a new fiscal stimulus to be announced on Sunday. Beanbah Expresso cafe owner Craig Dixon said business declined by about 40 per cent last week as more people work from home. Credit:Louise Kennerley The spending includes $17.6 billion in government spending announced two weeks ago as well as a $90 billion lending facility from the Reserve Bank and $15 billion in linked measures from the federal government announced last Thursday. The second wave of stimulus is worth an additional $66 billion and will be revealed in full on Sunday with a combination of direct spending and debt. Tucker Carlson is seen in the studio on the set of his Fox News program on Oct. 1, 2018 in New York. (Jennifer S. Altman / For The Times) Like other journalism organizations, Fox News has gone into overdrive to cover the coronavirus crisis in recent weeks, hiring medical experts and expanding its live broadcast hours to give viewers up-to-date information. The network has also moved aggressively to protect the health of its employees as of Monday, four have tested positive for COVID-19 allowing most of its anchors to broadcast from their homes. It's a sharp turn from the attitude of its prominent conservative opinion hosts on the network such as Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, who earlier in the month were saying the COVID-19 outbreak was being overplayed by the media and used as a political weapon by Democrats against President Trump. Fox Business Network anchor Trish Regan, who described the pandemic as an "impeachment scam" on March 9, has been put on hiatus. But their colleague Tucker Carlson took a different path after a government official warned him that the pandemic was potentially dangerous and devastating. He warned his viewers of the dangers of the virus while steering clear of criticizing the Trump administration. When it didn't appear that the White House was listening, Carlson went to the president in person to deliver the message. While conservative and provocative his problematic remarks on immigration have alienated many major advertisers from his nightly program Carlson has become the least predictable cable news talking head. He spoke to The Times on Friday from his Florida home where he has been broadcasting in recent weeks. Youre getting a lot of attention because youre really the first opinion host of Fox News to say, "Hey, this is not a hoax, its time to take this seriously." Were you concerned about some of the things you were hearing on your own network such as that this was not that serious? Im not much of a TV watcher, so I wasnt responding to that so much as I was responding to the internal voice I had that said, "This was probably something to worry about." Weve been following it since January, and my view was then and I said it on the air at the time a lot of the stories that were getting saturation coverage at that moment that were not really relevant to anything and that they were distracting us from a lot of things happening in the country and in the rest of world, and this was one of them. Story continues The first week of February that was Trumps impeachment trial and my view was we knew what the outcome was going to be. So its irresponsible to spend all your time covering something that you can explain in two minutes and yet the other channels were absolutely wall to wall on this. Meanwhile, there was this epidemic rising in eastern China. And the Chinese, who are pretty good at controlling their own population, couldnt get it under control. And that seemed very ominous to me. I was just enraged that no one was covering it. Were you concerned that your own network was downplaying it and using the word "hoax" to describe it? Its not my job to get involved in that. My feeling is that the cost of lying in news coverage for three and a half years and making every story about Donald Trump and how he is a bad person, which everyone in the news media has done, has made 40% of the country deaf to what youre saying. No one believes the media because every story rotates around the axis of Trump. And its just ludicrous. Im not saying Donald Trump is blameless. Ive criticized him many times on my show. ... I wasnt pivoting against my own network. I was pivoting against the entire news establishment which was ignoring this because Donald Trump was on trial in the Senate. But isnt skepticism toward the president understandable because he does not always have a precise grasp of the facts? My position for the last three and a half years has been our problems are basically bipartisan problems. I went after a Republican Senate committee chairman last night [Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, who sold stock holdings after being briefed on the severity of the coronavirus]. I think what he did is wrong a very common attitude among people in charge which is, "I dont care about you; I care about me." I dont think thats a partisan thing. I dont think its a Republican versus Democrat problem at all. You watch MSNBC or CNN. The Democrats are saintly and anyone on Trumps team is evil. They are liars because they are telling viewers that its that simple. Its not that simple. Its not one party is on your side and the other is against you; its the people with power dont care about you. Thats my view and it always has been. But a lot of people on your network were saying that the coronavirus is not that big a deal and was being used to get Trump. That was happening. Youre the one who covers TV. You can handle that because you have a better sense of it than I do. I just felt I understood what our viewers thought on the 8 oclock show. And their view was, "If [the mainstream media] is telling me Trump must lose because of some virus from China, they are probably overstating it because they hate Trump." And I dont think that it is an irrational thing to conclude. I felt I knew what they were thinking. My opinion was, "I understand why you feel that way. Im not calling you names. Im not judging you. I get it. I think, in this specific case, youre wrong." And people on your own network were wrong. Anybody who imagined that this was just media hype turned out to be wrong. Feb. 3 is the day that it was confirmed to me by a U.S. government official that this was a huge problem and that a lot of people could die. Thats when I learned it. And thats the night we went on the air and said, "Wow this is something you really need to worry about." Was there anybody else in politics on either side who was standing up in public and saying, "Drop what youre doing and worry about this? I just dont remember that there was." You mentioned earlier how you suggested Sen. Richard Burr should resign. Why didnt you cite him by name on your program Thursday night? I didnt say his name for a couple of reasons. One, it was not a segment, it was a tease of [Fridays] show. Two, there was a nagging feeling at the back of my mind. I was mad about it but I didnt want to be unfair. I didnt have time to metabolize it. He had not issued a statement yet. You also didnt mention President Trump by name when you opened your show in March and raised questions over the way the administration was dealing with the coronavirus. You seem to avoid any criticism of him directly. But clearly you were not happy with his performance on the issue. Was it unclear? It wasnt unclear. But you always know what youre doing and I want to know why you didnt mention his name when youre critical of the administration? My job is to communicate what I think is true and what I think is happening. My job is to do that in the most effective way. It may not be in the way you would choose. But its the way that I think is most effective, and thats just the bottom line. Its the way I think people can hear it. As I write my scripts every day, I think, "How can I write my show in a way so that people can clearly understand what Im saying?" It was reported that when you attended a party in Mar-a-Lago earlier this month, you met with President Trump to tell him he needed to take the coronavirus more seriously. Does it fundamentally concern or trouble you that you had to take it upon yourself to do that? I will tell you this, I knew I shouldnt be doing it. I wasnt going as a Fox News employee. I would have been highly embarrassed if anyone I worked for found out because its not my role. It wound up in the New York Times. I tried to hide it. I told my executive producer and my wife and thats it. But why were you driven to do that? I had become convinced that this was a big deal. I thought, "Ive got to do everything I can to make sure everyone who can have an effect on the outcome knows this." At the last minute I didnt want to do it. I thought it could be embarrassing to Fox, and they havent OKd it. Im under contract, and I cant do stuff like that, and I dont. I thought Id get in trouble with Fox. I tell my wife this and she says, "What? No. Of course you have to do this. Its your duty." Shes a very fervent Episcopalian and shes all about duty. So she kind of bullied me into it. How did Fox News executives feel about your visit with the president? Not one person has mentioned it to me. I hope theyre not mad. Maybe Im getting fired. I dont know. [Laughs] Does the misinformation that comes out of the presidents daily briefings on the coronavirus concern you? It depends on what specifically you are talking about. Saying a malaria drug had been approved by the FDA [for coronavirus treatment] when it wasnt. Saying everyone can get a test for COVID-19 when they cant get a test, which you know from personal experience [Fox News attempted and failed to get a test for Carlson after he attended the Mar-a-Lago party, where a number of attendees had been exposed to the virus. He said he has no symptoms and feels fine]. There is great deal of misinformation out there. The World Health Organization told us at the beginning that the disease could not be spread from person to person. One of the perils of focusing everything on Trump is that you miss the fact that Trump is a symptom, not the cause, and the whole system is rotten and everyone in charge is an idiot. Thats my view. More specifically, the one thing I remain upset about in the administrations response is the testing. I think thats held us back. I dont know if you had universal testing that youd save many lives. But you would alleviate some level of anxiety. Youve referred to COVID-19 as the "Chinese Virus." Is it wise in a heated situation like this to attach an ethnicity to the disease? Chinese is a nationality. [China] is a nation state that is responsible for the spread of this virus. I think its essential to call it that because its true. You shouldnt lie at a time like this. The medias attempt to make the rest of us lie at gunpoint, denouncing us as bigots for not lying, is really shocking to me. This virus spread because the Chinese government lied about it. We know for a fact that China prevented international health inspectors from coming into their country. We know they lied about the transmission of the disease. We know that they silenced doctors in China during the early stages. They are part of the reason the rest of the world wasnt prepared for this. I dont know why its racist to say that. Its not. Despite nearly two weeks in lockdown, Italy has seen the numbers of dead and infected hitting record highs. European countries such as Italy and Spain are struggling to stem new coronavirus infections, despite unprecedented lockdowns. Now the United Kingdom has ordered the closure of cafes, pubs, gyms and other businesses. Al Jazeeras Paul Brennan reports from London. (Bloomberg Opinion) -- California Governor Gavin Newsoms stay-at-home order may well be necessary as a matter of public health in the face of the new coronavirus I will leave that to epidemiologists to determine. But viewed as a legal declaration, its a total mess. Most worrisome, the order fails to create an exception to the stay-at-home requirement for the free press to function an exemption that is certainly mandated by the First Amendment. Instead, the order creates exceptions by referring to a federal list of 16 critical infrastructure sectors a list that itself fails to say that a free press is a constitutionally specified form of critical infrastructure, without which we cannot hope to cope with a pandemic like Covid-19. The order is also drafted so badly that it creates contradictions with the states own website explaining it; with the governors own speech rolling it out; and with common sense. As written, the order does not say clearly that Californians can leave their homes to buy food or medicine or other necessities. It doesnt say whether they can go out to help family members or friends who are themselves vulnerable or otherwise in need. It is silent on going out for exercise. Although context suggests all these may be permitted, the formal legal implication of the text would be that all are prohibited. The governors executive order works like this: Technically, it enforces a separate order of the state public health officer. In that document, the public health officer says that he order[s] all individuals living in the State of California to stay home or at their place of residence except as needed to maintain continuity of operations of the federal critical infrastructure sectors as specified in the federal list. The federal list, in turn, was not written with a pandemic specifically in mind. Its a list produced by the Department of Homeland Securitys CISA, a cyber-infrastructure agency. The purpose of the list is to identify sectors that should be given special governmental protection against external threats because they are so vital to the United States that their incapacitation or destruction would have a debilitating effect on security, national economic security, national public health or safety. Story continues The list of sectors includes, in alphabetical order: chemical; commercial facilities; communications (e.g., satellites, wired and wireless technology); critical manufacturing; dams; defense industrial base; emergency services; energy; financial services; food and agriculture; government facilities sector; healthcare and public health; information technology (e.g., hardware and software); nuclear reactors, materials and waste; transportation systems; and water and wastewater systems. In a document released last night, CISA issued a statement updating this list to broaden the communications sector to include "workers who support radio, television, and media service, including, but not limited to frontline news reporters." However, CISA's website has not been updated, and the updated information is extremely hard to find, which just adds to the confusion over which workers are truly exempt. Note that as drafted, the California executive order would not seem to allow people to go out of their houses unless they work in one of the specified sectors. Yet it seems highly unlikely that the order is intended to block people from shopping for food and drugs and other basic necessities because no system is in place to deliver those things to all Californians. An associated California state website talks about going to the grocery store. The order does say that the supply chain must continue, and Californians must have access to such necessities as food, prescriptions and healthcare. Then it says that when people need to leave their homes or places of residence whether to obtain or perform the functions above, or to otherwise facilitate authorized necessary activities, they should at all times practice social distancing. This language at least hints that Californians are allowed to leave their homes under some conditions, like maybe to buy food. But strictly speaking, it doesnt say so. It only says that people should engage in social distancing if they need to leave home to obtain the functions above technically speaking, those functions in the 16 critical sectors. Thats incoherent as a matter of legal drafting. If people could leave home to obtain the services delivered by these critical sectors, they could leave home for almost any reason at all. If they can only leave home to perform these functions, then they cant leave home for food or medicine. This incoherence is not trivial. An order like this is only useful if people know what it means. The order even omits the exceptions that were specified in the seven similar stay-at-home orders issued in the Bay Area this week. Those orders allowed people to go out to care for people in need and to exercise. Arguably, the omission of these exceptions in the state-wide order means theyre not included even though in his speech announcing the order, Newsom mentioned dog walking. Then theres the absence of an explicit exception for the press to do its essential job of conveying information to the public a job that is not only crucial for sharing public health information and information on the pandemic, but also for overseeing the government during an emergency, a time when state and federal powers are enhanced. The First Amendment certainly requires such an exception for the press. Its highly doubtful that the state of California could constitutionally block the press from moving about in order to report and write and publish. And certainly, the press cant be treated worse than the 16 critical infrastructure sectors the state has explicitly exempted. The DHS/CISA list of critical infrastructure sectors should, of course, have included the press, which is certainly a critical infrastructure sector whose undermining would deeply damage functioning democracy. But even if we can forgive DHS/CISA for its shortsightedness, Newsoms order cant be sustained constitutionally without a press exemption. The order, as it stands, is incoherent at best and outrageous at worst. The best solution would be quick amendments to clarify its reach and protect the free press. Otherwise, confusion and even litigation seem inevitable. Thats not what we need during a public health crisis. (Updated the seventh and 13th paragraphs to reflect evolving CISA guidance on essential industries. ) This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners. Noah Feldman is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist and host of the podcast Deep Background. He is a professor of law at Harvard University and was a clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter. His books include The Three Lives of James Madison: Genius, Partisan, President. For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source. 2020 Bloomberg L.P. - Uhuru is leading the country in national prayer day aimed at helping the country overcome the coronavirus pandemic - Religious leaders from different denominations have been invited to preside over the function - Strict measures were put in place to ensure there was no close conduct among leaders and guests in attendance - Deputy President William Ruto and Opposition leader Raila Odinga are among leaders present President Uhuru Kenyatta is leading a host of leaders and Kenyans at large in a national prayer being held at State House in Nairobi. The prayer is meant to seek divine intervention in the country's efforts to combat the deadly coronavirus pandemic which has killed more than 11, 000 people globally. READ ALSO: Self-styled prophet Owuor says world should prepare for worse calamity than covid-19 President Uhuru leading a host of leaders in national prayer day at State House in Nairobi. Photo: State House. Source: Facebook READ ALSO: Coronavirus: Italy deploys military to enforce lockdown Strict measures were put in place to ensure there was no close conduct among leaders and guests invited to be part of the functions. Before accessing the venue, every person was screened by a team of health officials to ensure no one exhibiting coronavirus-like symptoms was allowed in. Church leader being screened before ushered in for Nationa Prayer Day. Photo: State House. Source: Facebook Hand washing sanitisers and running water stations were also set up to ensure attendants wash their hand regularly as advised by health service providers. Church leaders washing their hands with running water and soap before proceeding to the main dias to lead the country in national prayers. Photo: State House. Source: Facebook At the venue, the sitting arrangement was designed to comply with the one-metre social distancing directive. The executive wooden seats decorated with sparkling rays of brown and silver of trinkets were arranged in rows and columns of at least one metre apart. Kenya has so far confirmed seven cases of coronavirus with all the patients said to be in stable condition. Globally, 284,008 cases have been reported, 11,838 deaths recorded and a total of 93,564 recoveries. As it stands, Italy is the most affected with a recent update indicating the country has lost 4,032 people to COVID-19. China, where the virus originated, has so far recorded 3,255 deaths. Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly. God is punishing Kenyans with Corona Virus: Corona Virus in Kenya | Tuko TV. Source: TUKO.co.ke New Delhi: India will observe an unprecedented shutdown on Sunday following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal for a 'Janata curfew', with people being urged to voluntarily stay indoors from 7am to 9pm to check the spread of coronavirus. Public transport will be suspended or curtailed and all markets and establishments, except those dealing in essential goods and services, will remain closed for the day. The number of coronavirus cases rose to 283 after 60 new cases were detected on Saturday, the highest so far in a day, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) late on Saturday night said the number had touched 315. States like Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan and Bihar have announced a partial lockdown till the end of the month. No passenger train will originate from any railway station in the country from midnight to 10pm on Sunday while all suburban train services will be reduced to a bare minimum as well. Metro services, including in Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai, will remain suspended for the day. Air carriers like GoAir, IndiGo and Vistara have announced they will curtail domestic operations on Sunday. Traders' body Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) announced they will keep their establishments shut across the country. From suspending regular prayers involving large gatherings in shrines of various faiths, including Sunday mass, to disallowing jail inmates from meeting their families on the day, organisations and institutions in every sphere have announced restrictions. Modi on Thursday called for the 'Janata curfew' from 7am to 9pm on March 22, saying no citizen, barring those in essential services, should get out of their houses, asserting this will be a litmus test to show India's readiness to take on the coronavirus challenge. Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla asked chief secretaries of all states to ensure the 'Janata Curfew' is observed properly and to see that local bodies, fire services, police and civil defence blow sirens or ring bells on Sunday evening to express gratitude towards those involved in tackling the disease. "We are looking for unity in isolation," said Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Health Lav Agarwal. Describing it as the need of the hour, Union Home Minister Amit Shah asked everyone in the country to support the step. Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu also made a fervent appeal to the people to confine themselves to homes. He said since the virus spreads through physical contact, social distancing is an effective measure to contain its spread by avoiding contact during the incubation period of the virus. In Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said 50% of the buses will ply on roads on Sunday considering some people may have to travel due to an emergency. Autos and taxis will, however, be off roads in the national capital as several unions have decided to join the curfew. Leaders and other prominent personalities also urged the traders not to hoard essential items and the people to purchase only necessary things. Entire humanity seems to be in danger, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said, adding social distancing is the best way to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. The Bihar government ordered shutting down of bus services, restaurants and banquet halls across the state till March 31. All schools and malls are already closed in the state. The voluntary curfew should not seen as a burden, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said. Except emergency services, including medical, fire services and electricity, others should close down voluntarily and people should stay home for 24 hours in the interest of their own families, state, country and humanity, he said. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan also asked the people of the state to cooperate with the curfew and engage in cleaning their home and surroundings. (With inputs from PTI) SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Police have identified the man killed this week in a shooting in Syracuse. Ronald F. Russell, of Syracuse, died after he was shot in the head Thursday on the citys South Side, said Sgt. Matthew Malinowski, Syracuse Police Department spokesman. He was 39 years old. Russell was the second person killed in a homicide in Syracuse this year. The deadly shooting happened around 5:40 p.m. Thursday. Officers responded to the 600 block of West Onondaga Street after gunshots were reported, Malinowski said. When officers arrived, they found Russell wound outside, he said. Russell was rushed to Upstate University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Information about potential suspects cannot be released at this time, Malinowski said. Police have asked anyone with information about the homicide to call (315) 442-5222. Thanks for visiting Syracuse.com. Quality local journalism has never been more important, and your subscription matters. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work. Have a tip, a story idea or a comment? You can reach me at shouse@syracuse.com. Diamond-encrusted rock samples discovered on a Canadian island come from an ancient continent that was probably 10 per cent larger than has always been thought, geologists say. The fragments of the North Atlantic Craton a vast land mass which stretched from Europe to North America were found on Baffin Island. Scientists stumbled on them as they sifted the area for diamond samples. The fragments, bearing a mineral signature matching other portions of the North Atlantic Craton, are thought to be some 150 million years old. Finding these lost pieces is like finding a missing piece of a puzzle, Maya Kopylova, a geologist with the University of British Columbia said in an article published on the institutes website. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty She added that such evidence of the ancient crust, which has also previously been found in Scotland and Greenland, was much sought-after. The samples were taken from deep below the Chidliak Kimberlite Province on the south of Baffin Island. Recommended Geologists have discovered a lost continent in the Indian Ocean Previous reconstructions of the North Atlantic Craton had been based on shallow rock samples formed at depths of up to six miles. But, because the new rock samples were found far deeper into the earth, it suggests the land mass may have been even bigger than previously thought. With these samples were able to reconstruct the shapes of ancient continents based on deeper, mantle rocks, Ms Kopylova said. We can now understand and map not only the uppermost skinny layer of Earth that makes up 1 per cent of the planets volume, but our knowledge is literally and symbolically deeper. The samples were initially found by provided by Peregrine Diamonds, a Canada-based mineral exploration company, and are now being kept at UBC for research. Texas is postponing its May 26 primary runoff elections to mid-July to help prevent community spread of COVID-19, Gov. Greg Abbott announced on Friday. State officials had been trying to decide whether to convert that election to an all-mail-ballot, but Abbott on Friday said the state will instead move the election. Holding the runoff in May would cause the congregation of large gatherings of people in confined spaces and cause numerous election workers to come into close proximity with others, a statement from Abbotts office said. This would threaten the health and safety of many Texans. The election will be moved to July 14 with early voting starting on July 6. Get the latest: Map of coronavirus cases across Texas One of the key races still to be determined is for the U.S. Senate. Democrats MJ Hegar and Royce West finished in the top two spots in the March 3 primary, but neither won 50 percent of the vote. That requires a runoff election to determine who will face U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican, in November. On Wednesday, Abbott issued a proclamation allowing local governments to postpone their May 2 elections until November. The May city and school board elections across Texas are scheduled within the eight-week window during which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recommended against mass gatherings. I strongly encourage local election officials to take advantage of these waivers and postpone their elections until November, Abbott said. Right now, the state's focus is responding to COVID-19 including social distancing and avoiding large gatherings. By delaying this election, our local election officials can assist in that effort. For subscribers: Why Gov. Abbott lags behind cities and other states in coronavirus response Some lawmakers had been pushing Abbott to convert the May runoff election into an all-mail election. Because the turnout out is typically low, they said Texas could easily get ballots to people who want to vote in the runoffs. Texas has limited use of mail voting. While voters over 65 years of age can use mail ballots in any election, those under that age must either be sick or disabled, expected to be out of the county for the duration of the early voting period or be in jail but still allowed to vote. Texas is the latest state to move an election for the coronavirus. In Louisiana, the primary election day has been moved from April 4 to June 20. In Georgia, the March 24 primary is now on May 19. For subscribers: Matthew McConaughey joins Gov. Abbott in urging Texans: Stay home Other states have shifted to a mail-only elections. In Wyoming, which was scheduled to vote in the presidential primary on April 4, in-person voting has been canceled in favor of a system of picking up and sending in ballots. In Wisconsin, the state elections commission is halting in-person voting assistance at nursing homes and instead is sending mail-in ballots to those facilities for the April 7 primary. Tired or stressed businessman sitting on the walkway in panic digital stock market financial background This years off to a dreadful start and the way things are going now, its difficult to not see a recession coming at some point in 2020. For investors, it means that there could be more volatility and bearishness to come. There are three industries in particular that investors should avoid in 2020, or at the very least, be extra careful and diligent before deciding to invest in them: 1. Retail Knowing how long the coronavirus may last is anyones guess at this point but one things for sure: itll have a significant impact on retailers in 2020. Soft performances in March, April, and however longer will translate into softer earnings reports to come. Not only that but there can be ripple effects throughout the industry where companies with tight margins have to shut down some of their locations. A chain like Canadian Tire Corporation Limited (TSX:CTC.A) that attracts a lot of people who are taking on home renovation projects and non-essential tasks, is more likely to experience a greater slowdown. Grocery stores provide consumers with necessities, but Canadian Tire doesnt. Thats why its more of a discretionary expense and an easier one to justify cutting back on. And the longer that the virus keeps people away, the more cash the company will burn through and the higher the losses that it may accumulate. The danger is that at some point, whether its Canadian Tire or other retailers, they may have to start cutting their losses, and that can mean shutting down stores to save on expenses. They may also decide to reduce capital spending, which can impact growth in future quarters, extending the impact of the virus well into 2021. While Canadian Tire would have a legitimate excuse for disappointing quarterly results, thats not going to strengthen its share price. 2. Oil and gas Avoiding oil and gas is an obvious choice for many reasons. Shares of Enbridge (TSX:ENB)(NYSE:ENB) were finally gaining ground as the company received news that it can move forward on its Line 3 pipeline project. And then investors learned of an oil price war involving Saudi Arabia, Russia, and effectively, the rest of the world. Investors have already had plenty of reasons to be down on Canadian oil gas stocks. Protests and difficulty getting pipelines approved have kept many investors away. A low price of oil means that were headed for even more uncertainty. Companies are starting to cut back spending. But if oil prices remain low, more drastic measures will be taken. Story continues The oil and gas industry is likely to see more layoffs and bankruptcies this year. The industry is battered and beaten, making Enbridge and many other oil and gas stocks very risky investments today. With a very negative outlook, its one industry investors should stay far away from, despite its attractive dividend. 3. Airlines Warren Buffett may not be avoiding airline stocks, but hes also a billionaire who can afford to incur some losses. For regular investors, buying shares of Air Canada (TSX:AC) could prove to be a dangerous investment. Airlines are cutting back on their operations and could be hit even harder than retail. Countries are locking down travel during the COVID-19 pandemic and there are going to be fewer planes in the skies. Airline stocks could suffer big declines in 2020 even if the virus is contained within a couple of months. The busy summer travel season is only a few months away. If health officials gave consumers the green light, they would still need time to make travel plans. Air Canada and other airlines would also need time to make the necessary resources available. Theres a lot of lead time involved for both consumers and airlines when it comes to travel. Thats bad news for Air Canada stock as it means the impact of COVID-19 is likely to last for several months, at least. The post 3 Industries to Avoid Like the Plague in 2020 appeared first on The Motley Fool Canada. More reading Fool contributor David Jagielski has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Enbridge. The Motley Fools purpose is to help the world invest, better. Click here now for your free subscription to Take Stock, The Motley Fool Canadas free investing newsletter. Packed with stock ideas and investing advice, it is essential reading for anyone looking to build and grow their wealth in the years ahead. Motley Fool Canada 2020 Celebrities, theyre just like us, eh? Well, yes and no. What do you mean? Its true a lot of celebrities are practising social distancing and self-isolating like we all are during the coronavirus pandemic. The difference is theyre making sure we all know about it. Thankfully, theres been no recorded sightings of celebrity food hoarding yet, just Natalie Portman making a beetroot and potato salad on Instagram. Handy tip: you can use the beetroot juice as blush and lipstick, just like her make-up artist did in the 1994 film Leon. Natalie Portman, pictured at the Oscars, has been making salad on Instagram. Credit:FilmMagic Phew! That will save me a trip to Priceline. What else are they teaching us? That theyre just as bored as we are. How so? Well, talk show host Ellen DeGeneres filmed herself attempting a 4000-piece jigsaw puzzle (she failed). Then she lay on her very large sofa and cold-called celebrities. Becoming a parent is a life changing event for anyone, but for the royals, its one which is lived in the public eye. From the Queen to Diana, to Kate and Meghan, the mothers of the royal family have each approached their roles differently but with equal love for their children. Yahoo Style looks at what royal couples have said about parenting and how mothers are bringing up baby in the palaces. Prince William and Kate The Duchess of Cambridge, Kate, is mother to three children - Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. She and her husband Prince William have been hands-on with parenting. When they have to appear on the steps of the Lindo wing to show their newborns to the waiting world, its often Kate who holds the baby as the proud parents smile. William and Kate with Prince George outside the Lindo Wing in 2013. (Getty Images) The Duke of Cambridge carries his new son, Prince George to the car. (Press Association) But William is then the one to take on the next scary move - strapping in the car seat and driving home. In a podcast with Giovanna Fletcher, the duchess admitted that William practiced this with a doll in a car seat before Prince George was born. She also said she was terrified when she had to step out that day. William plants a kiss on his son's cheek as George gets ready to meet his younger sister Charlotte. (Getty Images) And William proved himself an affectionate dad when he brought his eldest son George to hospital to meet his younger sister Charlotte and planted a kiss on the little boys cheek. George and Charlotte have also joined their parents on royal tours, showing the family prefers to be together when they can. Photos from some of their private events also show they are close. George, Charlotte and Louis were all seen playing with their mum during a polo event in the summer. Kate laughs as Louis pulls faces during a family day out. (Getty Images) George and Charlotte hang out with their mum and little brother at the charity polo day. (Getty Images) Kate wasnt able to drop Prince George at school on his first day because she was in hospital. During all of her pregnancies she has suffered hyperemesis gravidarum and was receiving treatment while pregnant with Louis. But she made sure she was there for Princess Charlottes first day, alongside George and dad William. She has taken longer off in maternity leave each time she has had a child, returning to work just six weeks after George was born in 2013. Story continues But with Charlotte she took four months, and six months for Louis. However she did make some appearances during this time, for example for Trooping the Colour. Kate spoke about feeling mum guilt during the Happy Mum, Happy Baby podcast, and she hinted that she had learned a lot, saying there were things she would have done differently which could include how long she took off with her children. William and Kate took George and Charlotte for the Christmas Day service in Sandringham for the first time in 2019. (Getty Images) With the two oldest Cambridge children in school, there are fewer family appearances these days. But there was a Christmas Day treat for royal watchers when George and Charlotte joined mum and dad for the service in Sandringham. Kate also gives hints about how the children are getting on when she is on tour. Shes previously revealed that George is learning to play the guitar, Charlotte is getting into gymnastics, and Louiss favourite song is happy birthday. One of Louiss first words was Mary, because TV cook Mary Berrys books are at his height in the family kitchen, Kate told Berry during a BBC documentary. Kate told Mary Berry that one of Louis's first words was her name. (Getty Images) She is a surprisingly strict mum too. In November 2019, she and William attended the royal variety performance, where she revealed shed had to tell George and Charlotte they couldnt go because it was a school night. But theres a loving balance - shes told the children hugs are important, and frequently talks about how much she values the five of them spending time together, outdoors if possible. They both tie in their work in mental health support with parenting too. Kate has previously spoken about encouraging her children to speak about their feelings and know theres no shame in any struggle. Princess Charlotte's first day at school was a family affair. (Getty Images) Kate laughs at a cheeky moment from Charlotte. (Getty Images) Shes also talked about values like kindness, saying (before Louis was born): My parents taught me about the importance of qualities like kindness, respect and honesty. I realise how central values like these have been to me throughout my life. That is why William and I want to teach our little children, George and Charlotte, just how important these things are as they grow up. In my view, it is just as important as excelling at maths or sport. George and Charlotte have a family day out with William and Kate. (Getty Images) In their work, the Cambridges also reflect support for parenting and carers. The duchess supports lots of family focused charities, like Family Action and East Anglias childrens hospice. Prince Harry and Meghan Prince Harry has one son with his wife Meghan - Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor. The family is much more private than William and Kate. They did not step out with baby Archie in the same way as the Cambridges, choosing a quieter first family moment at the palace in the days after his birth instead. Harry carried baby Archie out for their first photocall. (Press Association) Harry was carrying Archie when he and Meghan introduced him to reporters in St Georges Hall in Windsor Castle. Since then, we often see Meghan carrying him in public, with dad Harry doting nearby. Archies christening was a private affair, with no details of his godparents released officially. But Harry and Meghan did take Archie on tour with them to South Africa, where he charmed Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Read more: How the palaces' meticulous diary plans stop one royal upstaging another They occasionally put out new images of him, including one at Christmas as he peered straight down the camera, and another over New Year of Harry holding him. Harry, Meghan and Archie meet Archbishop Desmond Tutu on their first tour as a family. (Getty Images) Before Prince Harry became a father he was open about wanting children of his own one day. According to an article in The Daily Telegraph, he would joke with his friends that he wished he could become a father without having to get married. Three years before becoming a father he said: Of course I would love to have kids. He was also a doting uncle to his two nephews and three nieces. Speaking about being bumped down the line of succession, he said he could never mind when it was because he was an uncle three times over, and said the trio were amazing. An official christening photo released by the Sussexes. (Reuters) Harry wears an I Am Daddy jacket in the Netherlands. (Getty Images) Harry clearly took to his new role with glee too. When he was in the Netherlands after Archies birth, he was given a new Invictus Games top which had the word Daddy underneath the logo, which highlights I am in yellow writing. Meghan was also long wishing for her own children. In a 2015 interview she talked about balance and said she wanted to be anchored to something adding: Raising a family will be a wonderful part of that. The following year she said she couldnt wait to start a family but that it would happen in due time. Shes already preparing to pass on something special to a future daughter. When her show Suits was commissioned for a third series she bought herself a Cartier watch and had it engraved, and said she will pass it on to her daughter one day. Unlike his older brother, it seems Harry wants to keep to two children, saying thats the maximum they would have for the planets sake. Meghan held Archie close to her during a family day out at a charity polo match. (Getty Images) The first time Meghan spoke about motherhood, she said she had the two best guys in the world of Harry and Archie. Since then, she also admitted she had struggled with the limelight, talking about it being a tough time in a documentary about their time in South Africa. She showed she is a hands-on mum with her tales of Archie growing up. When back in the UK for her final engagements she said he was into everything. Meghan was able to benefit from advice from none other than Michelle Obama when she was pregnant too. The former first lady told her to savour it all when it came to her first child. For the first US Mothers Day, Meghan and Harry shared a picture of Archies feet against a floral backdrop, and shared a poignant comment which remembered Harrys mother Diana. It said: Paying tribute to all mothers today - past, present, mothers-to-be, and those lost but forever remembered. Noting it was the duchesss first Mothers Day as a mother, they shared a quote from a poem which read: My mother was my first country; the first place I ever lived. Princess Diana and William and Harry William and Harry lost their mother Diana at a young age when she was killed in a car crash in France. They have not spoken about her frequently, but gave a final interview about her 20 years after her death, in 2017. At the time they expressed the regret they had at rushing what turned out to be the last phone call they had with their mother. Read more: International Women's Day: The Royal Family's most feminist moments They had been busy in Balmoral when she had called, and finding themselves spending too much time on the phone with her or their father, were blase about it. Diana with her sons William and Harry during a holiday with the Spanish royal family at the Marivent Palace in Palma de Mallorca, August 1987. (Getty Images) Diana with William and Harry in their garden in Highgrove. (Getty Images) Diana with both princes on Harry's first day at Wetherby School in London, September 1989. (Getty Images) Despite that weighing on their minds, they also have plenty of memories of their fun-loving and hands-on mother. Harrys own approach to parenthood may well be influenced by his memories of his affectionate mother. In the documentary he said: Even talking about it now I can feel the hugs that she used to give us and I miss that. I miss that feeling, I miss that part of a family, I miss having that mother to be able to give you those hugs and give you that compassion that I think everybody needs. Diana taking William and Harry on carriage ride during their ski holiday in 1993. (Getty Images) William and Harry have both echoed her attempts to give her sons a normal life. Harry added: If that means taking us for a burger every now and then, or sneaking us into the cinema, or driving through the country lanes with the roof down of her old-school BMW listening to Enya I think it was... All of that was part of her being a mum. William also said his time with her set the importance to him of the early years of his childrens lives. He said he puts them to bed and tells them about Diana so they know they have two grannies. Diana with William and Harry at Thorpe Park. (Getty Images) In 2019, Harry did give one more comment about his mother, fittingly at the Diana Awards. He said: My mother, Princess Diana, was a role model to so many, without realising the impact she would have on so many lives. Photos of William and Harry as children with their mother show she was affectionate and loving with them. Dianas own words during her life show her love and devotion to her children. Writing to a friend in 1982, she said: William has brought us such happiness and contentment and consequently I can't wait for masses more. She is also quoted as saying: A mother's arms are more comforting than anyone else's. On another occasion she reportedly said: I live for my sons. I would be lost without them. Duchess of Cornwall and William and Harry While William and Harry will also treasure their memories with their mother Diana, they do also have a step-mother in Camilla, their fathers second wife. Naturally it was never going to be completely plain sailing. But it does seem that there is a good relationship between the two princes and their fathers wife. Meghan and Camilla catch up at Royal Ascot. (Getty Images) Meghan with Charles and Camilla at Charles' 70th birthday garden party in 2018. (Getty Images) The Evening Standards royal correspondent and author Robert Jobson said the princes were likely to feel acceptance when their father announced his engagement rather than truly being delighted, as was said in the official statement. In her book The Firm, author Penny Junor said: Accepting Camilla as a fixture in their fathers life has been difficult for them. Although they have been genuinely pleased to see him so happy, and genuinely like Camilla and her children the issue is complicated. But time has changed things. A source told Vanity Fair that Camilla was a pillar of support for Harry and Meghan as the duchess adjusted to royal life. William sat next to Camilla at his brother's wedding to Meghan Markle in 2018. (Getty Images) The four looked close at the opening ceremony for the 2014 Invictus Games. (Getty Images) Camilla was said to be fond of Meghan, and potentially someone to seek advice from, because she went through lots of negative press as well. Documentary producer Juliet Rice said William and Harry adore Camilla, and that her children from her first marriage get on with the princes too. In a book called Conversations with the Prince, Harry is reported to have said: Shes not a wicked stepmother. Look at the position shes coming into. Dont feel sorry for me and William, feel sorry for her. Camilla seems to share a joke with William after a service for the Diamond Jubilee. (Getty Images) Camillas down-to-earth personality and dry sense of humour may have helped the group get along. They are often caught whispering and giggling at events and engagements. Charles, Camilla, William and Kate were seen at a rare engagement together in February, the first in nine years, and proved they have a strong bond. Camillas biological son Tom Parker Bowles has previously revealed that Camilla is a good cook, particularly praising her scrambled eggs. Read more: The Duchess of Cambridge's style evolution: recreate Kate's top looks She also talked about how much she enjoyed being a grandmother in a documentary in 2018. She said: Its very nice because you havent got the full responsibility. You can give them a wonderful time, spoil them, give them all the things their parents wont allow them to have and then give them back again. The Queen and her four children Queen Elizabeth II has four children, two of whom were born while she was still a princess and two who were born when she was queen. Shes not spoken as much about motherhood as her descendants now have, but her role as matriarch is essential to keeping the whole Royal Family together. The Queen visiting a young Zara Phillips at her school. (Getty Images) The Queen with her grandson Peter Philips when he was at school. (Getty Images) In her silver wedding anniversary speech in 1972, she said: If I am asked what I think about family life after 25 years of marriage, I can answer with equal simplicity and conviction, I am for it. In 2012, when receiving an honour, Kate Winslet talked of how she loved being a mother. The monarch replied: Yes. That's the only job which matters. Shes also proved herself to be a doting grandmother and great-grandmother. In the Queen at 90 documentary, Kate said the queen regularly leaves presents for George and Charlotte in their rooms when they come to stay. She passed on her love for horse racing to her oldest granddaughter Zara, and William and Harry admitted they take the mickey a bit, and do see her as a normal grandmother, even though shes the queen. The Queen with a young William and Harry. (Getty Images) The Queen passed on her love of horse racing to Zara. (Getty Images) There has long been speculation about the Queens relationship with her children, particularly her oldest son Charles, who became heir apparent when she acceded to the throne. Historian Robert Lacy, who served as an advisor on The Crown, said the Queen believed her children would be better off at home when they had to go off on their royal tours. He told Town and Country Magazine: She had been brought up in that style herself, after all, with her parents leaving her at home and entrusting her entire schooling to a governess and home tutors. Read more: Who are the Queen's grandchildren? An authorised biography of Prince Charles in 1994 also quoted the prince as saying it was inevitably the nursery staff who saw his first steps and disciplined him. The Queen, while still Princess Elizabeth, with a baby Prince Charles in Buckingham Palace. (Getty Images) But his younger sister Princess Anne stuck up for her mother in a rare interview in 2002, amid rumour she was a distant mother. Anne said: I simply don't believe that there is any evidence whatsoever to suggest that she wasn't caring. It just beggars belief. She added: I don't believe any of us for a second thought she didn't care for us in exactly the same way as any other mother did. Lacy also says theres evidence that when the Queen had her youngest two sons she had become warmer and more flexible. Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward waving to the crowds from the balcony at Buckingham Palace, during the Trooping of the Colour. (Getty Images) Princess Elizabeth with her husband Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh and their children Prince Charles and Princess Anne. (Getty Images) He said: Early in the 1960s, Her Majesty decided that she had done her duty by her country, and took the best part of eighteen months off work to produce and enjoy her second family, the young princes Andrew and Edward, born in 1960 and 1964 respectively. Charles and the Queen have appeared to have a good relationship in adult life, and her sincere hope that he take over the Commonwealth role from her is a good indication that she loves and trusts her son. A senior NHS doctor is fighting for life after being infected with coronavirus, which may have happened during a routine appointment with a patient. The 52-year-old ear, nose and throat consultant from the Midlands had been 'fit and well' but was last night on a life-support machine. News of the medic's plight came as NHS colleagues warned many more staff will fall ill or even die from coronavirus because of a chronic shortage of protective equipment. A paramedic in Cheshunt at the back of an ambulance as the spread of the coronavirus disease worsens A senior NHS doctor is fighting for life after being infected with coronavirus, which may have happened during a routine appointment with a patient. Pictured: A coronavirus public notice sign outside a London hospital The UK's coronavirus death toll has skyrocketed by 56 bringing the total fatalities to 233 in the worst 24 hours the country has seen yet Medics wear protective suits, face masks and goggles as they work in Nuova Poliambulanza hospital, Italy NHS chief executive Simon Stevens (pictured) yesterday announced an 'unprecedented deal' which will see private hospitals hand over their entire England-wide capacity of over 8,000 beds and 1,200 ventilators to the health service Meanwhile, hospitals were scrambling to avoid meltdown amid a 'tsunami' of severely ill patients, many of them struggling to breathe. And in a stark illustration of the desperate hunt for life-saving kit, health bosses have been forced to ask vets for ventilators designed for animals. Angela and Robert Walsh, who own Corner House Equine Clinic in Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire, said their local hospital had got in touch to ask about ventilators. Writing on Facebook, Mrs Walsh said: 'This brings home how serious this pandemic is. Never before have the vets of Britain been asked to provide equipment for humans.' Mrs Walsh told The Mail on Sunday that Christine Middlemiss, the UK's Chief Veterinary Officer, has written to every vet in the country asking for an inventory of their respiratory equipment. In hospitals, operating theatres are being frantically converted into intensive care wards and regular patients are being discharged to make way for a massive surge in coronavirus cases. Hospitals were scrambling to avoid meltdown amid a 'tsunami' of severely ill patients, many of them struggling to breathe. Pictured: Boris Johnson in a coronavirus cabinet meeting today NHS chief executive Simon Stevens announced an 'unprecedented deal' which will see private hospitals hand over their entire England-wide capacity of over 8,000 beds and 1,200 ventilators to the health service. The NHS will pay 'cost price', so private hospitals will not make a profit. Official figures seen by this newspaper show that at midnight on Thursday, 163 Covid-19 patients were being treated in critical care units across England 106 of them in London. Of those, 70 per cent were men and only one in ten had severe underlying health problems. London is so far the hardest pressed area. One hospital, Northwick Park in Harrow, briefly ran out of intensive care beds on Friday. Elsewhere in the capital, doctors including those at some of the country's most prestigious hospitals admitted they may be only days away from the same fate. One consultant at a major Central London hospital told The Mail on Sunday: 'What's going on up the A40 at Northwick Park is going to land right smack in our face. 'Our whole hospital is pandemonium. It's managing, but it's about to stop managing.' As the epidemic gathers pace in London and spreads across the rest of the country, he predicted similar problems elsewhere. 'Northwick Park will invariably happen in each hospital, one by one. We are expecting this because of what's happened in Italy and Spain.' Hundreds of coronavirus patients are now being treated in hospitals across London, where around half of the 233 deaths have been. An intensive care specialist in South London predicted grimly: 'A tsumani is coming soon and there will be a time when we won't be able to help everyone who needs an intensive care bed.' He added, however, that staff were making 'a superb effort', adding: 'I think it's fair to say we have saved around a dozen patients' lives in the last week, who wouldn't have made it but for our work.' The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) yesterday issued updated treatment guidance that said those deemed 'mildly frail' or worse could be denied intensive care because they have the lowest chance of surviving. Those with better underlying health should be prioritised. In Italy, almost a tenth of patients in hospital with the virus have been healthcare workers a statistic that has sent a chill down the spines of NHS medics. The Italian experience shows it is not just those treating Covid-19 patients who are at risk, but also those working elsewhere in hospitals many of them with less protection. The Central London consultant, who does not work in intensive care, said: 'I have major concerns about our safety, not only for our own sakes, but because if we can't function, we can't look after people. I work in a very high profile trust in Central London and currently many staff have no personal protective equipment [PPE]. 'My colleagues are telling me, 'Forget PPE. There's not even basic normal surgical masks, hand wash and hand gel in many areas where it's really needed.' He said one NHS worker had been reduced to 'driving around B&Qs buying up dust masks' because no facemasks had been provided at work. 'It's like sending us to put out a huge fire wearing no protective equipment, while asking every else to stay at home,' the consultant added. Dr Lisa Anderson, a consultant cardiologist at St George's Hospital in South London, said staff risk 'cross-infecting everybody' due to the lack of kit. She said the equipment the NHS was handing out did not meet World Health Organisation guidelines. It is feared the stricken ear, nose and throat (ENT) doctor may have picked up the virus through a routine appointment while not wearing PPE. Mark Watson, president of the British Laryngological Association, wrote to members: 'It does appear that ENT specialists are particularly prone to virus exposure, and we have two examples of severe infection within the UK: two ENT consultants have required intensive care unit admission this week.' And in a stark illustration of the desperate hunt for life-saving kit, health bosses have been forced to ask vets for ventilators designed for animals. Pictured: People wear protective face masks outside Northwick Park Hospital in London Mr Watson told The Mail on Sunday that the most seriously ill doctor was on an 'artificial lung' machine. The other consultant, in his 40s and from Yorkshire, is on a ventilator but is improving. Patrick Magennis, chairman of the British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, said doctors should wear heavy-duty protective kit, including a sealed mask, before 'close face-to-face contact' with any patient. 'To do otherwise is to be playing a very high risk health lottery,' he warned. Meanwhile, the Confederation of British Surgery has called for all cosmetic surgery to cease. Founding member Mark Henley said surgeons are at 'an increased risk during these hazardous times'. Crooks target elderly in 'epidemic of scams' By Abul Taher Security Correspondent Callous criminals are exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to target the elderly and vulnerable in their homes by posing as NHS workers and Good Samaritans. Several police forces have warned that thieves are stealing cash and bank cards after offering to buy groceries for isolated pensioners. Meanwhile, millions of Britons are being targeted by bogus online firms offering to sell face masks and hand sanitisers. The scammers are trying to extract personal and bank details through a blizzard of emails purportedly from the World Health Organisation and the taxman. In one case, a hospice said hackers had stolen the medical data of more than 1,000 terminally sick patients and their next of kin. Yesterday, a 59-year-old man appeared in court charged with making fake coronavirus treatment kits and mailing them across the world. Frank Ludlow, from West Sussex, was arrested in a Post Office near his home on Friday and appeared in Brighton Magistrates' Court. The investigation was triggered after US customs intercepted a package last Wednesday containing 60 fake kits labelled 'anti-pathogenic treatment', the court heard. Ludlow was remanded in custody until April 20. Three police forces and Action Fraud last night warned the public to be vigilant against an 'epidemic of scams'. Meanwhile, millions of Britons are being targeted by bogus online firms offering to sell face masks and hand sanitisers (stock image) Kloe Burrows, from West Midlands Police economic crime unit, said: 'Times like these can bring out the best and worst in people. While some will be looking out for vulnerable relatives and friends, we know a small minority will be looking to profit from the worry and concerns caused by coronavirus.' Scotland Yard and Greater Manchester Police said they had received reports of criminals posing as NHS workers who had come to carry out Covid-19 testing. Once let in, they robbed their victims. Elsewhere, fraudsters posed as kind-hearted locals offering to buy groceries. But instead of returning with the shopping, they simply fled with the money. Action Fraud said it had been inundated with complaints about cons totalling almost 1million in recent weeks, including a medical company that lost 15,000 after it ordered a batch of face masks from a bogus online firm. Ellenor hospice in Gravesend, Kent, was targeted by hackers just as the coronavirus was taking a grip in the UK. In a letter to patients last week, chief executive Vikki Harding, said: 'I am writing to inform you of a recent data breach incident that occurred on February 7, 2020, at Ellenor hospice. 'I am writing to you because some of your personal information may have been accessed. I am so sorry that this happened and any distress it may cause you.' Mimecast, an online security company, said it had detected more than one million scam emails every day. And internet security firm Proofpoint, which has seen hundreds of thousands of phishing emails, said most were coming from Eastern Europe, Russia and the former Soviet states, but also from African countries including Nigeria. Keep calm and carry a dog... how British life goes on SING UP! Crooner Steve Linn entertains the residents of a Dorset care home from the safety of their garden Advertisement Covidiots! The 'ignorant' revellers defying Boris By Mark Hookham Spaying a bottle of fizz in the street, drinking in groups outside and cavorting together in a shopping trolley, young revellers risk catching and spreading coronavirus by defying orders not to visit pubs or clubs. Bars and clubs remained packed throughout Friday evening as revellers sought a final fling before a government ban came into effect at closing time. But critics described the merrymakers many in their 20s or early 30s as 'morons' for flouting Government advice on 'social distancing'. Bars and clubs remained packed throughout Friday evening as revellers sought a final fling before a government ban came into effect at closing time. Pictured: A woman pops a bottle outside the O Bar in Birmingham In an unprecedented move, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Friday that bars, pubs, cafes and restaurants must close within hours as part of the drive to slow the spread of the virus. He urged the public to avoid the temptation to go out for a final drink, saying: 'Listening to what I have just said, some people may be tempted to go out tonight. But please don't.' But his plea was ignored in many town and city centres across Britain. Young revellers were pictured hitting the dance floor at closing time at the Lord Stamford pub in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester. Some bars, including the busy O Bar in Birmingham, remained open until midnight. Boozers staggered home in Newcastle and people queued at the door of the Orange Tree in Altrincham, Cheshire, to have one last tipple. But critics described the merrymakers many in their 20s or early 30s as 'morons' for flouting Government advice on 'social distancing'. Pictured: Drinking in a pub in Stalybridge Drinkers gathered for a final pint in the Globe pub in London's Borough Market, O'Neill's in Clapham, London, and The Cambrian Tap in Cardiff. And in Birmingham's Broad Street, a group of six friends posing for a photo shouted 'coronavirus' instead of cheese. Actor Stephen McGann, who plays Dr Patrick Turner in the BBC drama Call The Midwife, yesterday accused the revellers of spreading the deadly virus. He tweeted: 'Last night, all over the country, a virus returned from the pub in the bodies of people too selfish to believe that their own self-amusement was subordinate to the health of others. 'This morning, that virus will shed from their hungover bodies and begin to kill people.' Rich Gill, a PE teacher, wrote on Twitter on Friday: 'Pubs shut tomorrow. However the pub next door to me is packed now. Folk aren't taking this seriously and aren't following govt advice. Ignorant, selfish and unintelligent.' Mother-of-two Lizzy Beynon, from Wales, wrote: 'To all the people that went out last night in the pubs for one last "hurrah!" You are all absolute morons. Potentially infecting so many other people to fill your selfish greed.' And TV presenter Richard Osman tweeted: 'People still congregating in busy spaces saying "It's the Dunkirk spirit", need to understand that in this scenario they are actually being the Luftwaffe.' Tim Martin, boss of pub chain J.D. Wetherspoon, was criticised after he claimed without any evidence that 'there's hardly been any transmission of the virus within pubs'. Mr Martin, 64, had warned that a shutdown policy would be 'over the top' but later said his chain of 900 pubs would comply with Mr Johnson's announcement. The Prime Minister has said the ban will be reviewed each month, and restaurants, bars and cafes will still be allowed to offer takeaway services. Police warned they would enforce the shutdown if any establishments attempted to open before the ban was lifted. 'It's very simple,' said Ken Marsh, head of the Metropolitan Police Federation. 'Under licensing laws we can revoke their licences, and then they are breaking the law.' LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday (March 21, 2020) announced that his government will give Rs 1,000 each to 15 lakh daily wage labourers and 20.37 lakh construction workers to help them meet their daily needs via direct benefit transfer in the wake of the situation due to the coronavirus outbreak. ''Rs 1,000 each will be given 15 lakh daily wage labourers and 20.37 lakh construction workers to help them meet their daily needs,'' CM Yogi Adityanath said in a press conference in Lucknow. The UP CM also appealed to people not to panic and believe in rumours of lockdown and shortage of esential commodities due to fear over coronavirus. ''I appeal to people to not panic over coronavirus. We've sufficient stock of essential commodities and medicines in the state. So please don't rush to shops to buy things and hoard commodities,' the Chief Minister said. The Chief Minister also urged people to maintain social distancing and adhere to 'Janta curfew' called by the Prime Minister. ''We all must adhere to 'Janta curfew' called by the Prime Minister. All metro rail, state and city bus services in the state to remain closed tomorrow,'' CM Yogi said. Sharing more details, the Chief Minister said that a total of 23 people have been found to be infected with coronavirus in the state. ''Out of the total cases, nine people have recovered. We have the sufficient number of isolation wards in the state,'' the CM added. The total number of positive cases of coronavirus in India now stands at 258 including 39 foreigners, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Four people have died in the country so far due to the deadly virus. One each in Delhi, Karnataka, Punjab and Maharashtra. While addressing the nation on Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had urged citizens to follow 'Janata Curfew' from 7 am to 9 pm on Sunday to contain the spread of the coronavirus. US Urges End to Afghan Political Rift to Advance Peace, COVID Fight By Ayaz Gul March 20, 2020 The United States on Friday urged Afghan leaders to end a lingering political dispute and work together to advance peace-building efforts, with officials stressing the emerging coronavirus threat required a "coordinated, proactive response." The Trump administration's top diplomat for the region pleaded with leaders in Afghanistan to press forward with a pause in violence after suspected Taliban "infiltrators" within the ranks of Afghan government forces killed at least 37 security personnel in the southern Zabul province. "With the threat of COVID-19 growing around the world, (Afghan) leaders need to prioritize people over politics more than ever," tweeted Alice Wells, the U.S. principal deputy assistant secretary. The political feud Wells referred to stems from the contentious Sept. 28 Afghan presidential election. The Afghan Independent Election Commission last month declared incumbent President Ashraf Ghani the winner, but his rival, Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah, rejected the outcome as fraudulent, and both held competing presidential inaugurations more than a week ago. The political rift and continued insurgent violence have apparently thrown into turmoil the February 29 agreement the United States signed with the Afghan Taliban that aims to end the Afghan war. Zabul insider attack An Afghan security official, while sharing details of Friday's deadly violence with VOA, said on condition of anonymity that the "insider attack" happened at a base in Zabul that was being jointly manned by soldiers and policemen, not far from the provincial governor's office. Several "infiltrators" connected to the Taliban reportedly opened fire on fellow security personnel as they slept. The shooters later fled the facility along with military equipment and vehicles of the slain men. Atta Jan Haqbayan, the head of the provincial council, told VOA the suspected "infiltrators" went into action shortly after Taliban insurgents assaulted the base. He said nine Afghan forces went missing after the attack, suspecting they were the assailants and rejoined insurgent ranks. The Taliban has neither denied nor claimed responsibility for the attack. NATO's senior civilian representative to Afghanistan, Nick Kay, denounced the violence. "I condemn the savage Taliban attack on the Afghan security forces in Zabul. What kind of people can order and do this to fellow Afghans on the day of Nowruz, in the midst of a global pandemic & after professing commitment to peace? Shameful," Kay tweeted. The NATO envoy referred to the Nowruz new year celebrations ongoing in Afghanistan. The violence came a day after Afghan Defense Minister Asadullah Khalid said the Taliban had intensified attacks across the country, prompting the government to order security forces to assume a more aggressive, active defense" posture against the insurgents group. Khalid said his forces had been on a "full defensive" posture since the signing of the U.S.-Taliban agreement, He also urged the Taliban to declare a cease-fire to help Afghans tackle the coronavirus outbreak. US-Taliban deal The Ghani-Abdullah presidential rift has effectively crippled governance in Afghanistan and prevents the Afghan side from forming a united, inclusive team of negotiators to engage in peace talks with the Taliban on a permanent cease-fire and power sharing as has been outlined in the deal Washington sealed with the insurgent group in Qatar. The proposed intra-Afghan negotiations were scheduled to begin on March 10, subject to a prisoner swap between Kabul and the Taliban. The agreement required the Afghan government to free up to 5,000 Taliban prisoners in exchange for 1,000 detainees, mostly Afghan forces, in insurgent custody. Kabul refused to release the prisoners altogether, saying it would set them free in batches subject to the opening of talks with the Taliban and guarantees the released men would not return to the battlefield. But the Taliban rejected the plan as a violation of its deal with the U.S., saying it would not engage in intra-Afghan negotiations until all insurgent prisoners were set free unconditionally. The U.S. and allied forces have agreed to withdraw from Afghanistan within 14 months and U.S. service members have already begun drawing down as their part of the pact with the Taliban. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US President Donald Trump has said he greatly respects China and shares a "very good" relationship with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, but termed it "unfortunate" that the coronavirus began in the Communist nation and got out of control. Speaking at a press briefing on Friday, Trump said he considered Xi as a friend and and asserted that the Chinese President respects the US. "I have a very good relationship with China and with President Xi. I have great respect for President Xi. I consider him to be a friend of mine. It is unfortunate that this got out of control," he said. Trump reiterated that coronavirus originated from China. "They (coronavirus) came from China, it got out of control. Some people are upset. I know - I know President Xi. He loves China. He respects the United States and I have to say I respect China greatly and I respect President Xi," he said. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the same press briefing that China's delay in sharing information about the virus had created risks to people worldwide. "We need to know immediately. The world is entitled to know. The Chinese government was the first to know of this risk to the world, and that puts a special obligation to make sure that data gets to our scientists, our professionals," Pompeo told reporters at a White House news conference on Friday. "When you see a delay in information flowing from the Chinese Communist Party to the technical people who we wanted to get into China immediately to assist in this, every moment of delay connected to being able to identify this risk vectors creates risk to the people all around the world," he said. Pompeo, a known critic of China, said he was not blaming Beijing, but the Chinese government was the first to know about the risk the virus presented. "This is about moving forward to make sure that we continue to have the information we need to do our jobs," he said. "We need to make sure that even today the data sets that are available to every country, including data sets that are available to the Chinese Communist Party, or made available to the whole world. It's an imperative to keep people safe," Pompeo said. "We talk about the absence of data sets, not being able to make judgments about what to do. This is also about transparency, this real-time information sharing isn't about political games or retribution. It's about keeping people safe," he insisted. US Health Secretary Alex Azar told the reporters that China informed America about the coronavirus in January. "In January within two weeks of China's notifying the WHO about the virus and with only 45 cases in China we began screening travellers from Wuhan. Then over time as the outbreak evolved the President restricted travel from China, Iran and Europe. Our health experts say that these measures have been truly effective at slowing the viruses spread to our shores," Azar said. Trump criticised China over the coronavirus this week, saying Beijing should have acted sooner to warn the world and dismissing criticism that his labelling it the "Chinese virus" was racist. The Trump administration has rejected attempts by Chinese officials to blame the virus on the US military. A total of 230 people had died in the US due to the fast-spreading coronavirus pandemic by Friday evening. The number of confirmed cases has jumped to over 18,000, an increase of over 10,000 in less than 50 hours. Coronavirus cases have been reported in all the 50 States in the US and District of Columbia as well as Puerto Rico. Globally, the death toll from the virus has risen to 11,397 with more than 275,427 cases reported in over 160 countries and territories, according to Johns Hopkins University tracker. Clashes broke out in the Dum Dum central jail in the northern fringes of Kolkata on Saturday after prisoners attacked jail officials with bricks, ransacked furniture and set fire in some places alleging that neither were they being produced in court nor were they being allowed to meet their family members. A senior police officer who didnt wish to be named said that tear gas shells had to be fired to bring situation under control. Some persons were seriously injured in the clash. Because of coronavirus outbreak courts are closed and family members are not being allowed inside the prisons as a precautionary measure. The inmates want that they should be released and have resorted to violence. We are looking into the matter, said Ujjwal Biswas, correctional home minister of West Bengal. Also read: Coronavirus: Indias Covid-19 count rises to 271, ICMR changes testing norms The prison inmates had also demanded masks and sanitisers because of coronavirus. The clashes broke out around 12 noon. A large contingent of police, Rapid Action Force personnel and fire brigade tenders were rushed to the prison. Senior jail officials, police officers and the state fire minister Sujit Bose rushed to the spot. Locals said that they saw smoke billowing out of the jail and even heard sounds of gunfire but the police are yet to confirm whether any shots were fired. Also read: No trains, metros, buses: Here is how India is gearing up for Janta Curfew on March 22 Fire tenders are working. Not all places could be accessed. We are trying to bring situation under control, said Sujit Bose, state fire minister. Kolkata has recorded three positive cases of coronavirus so far. Two of them had returned from London, one from Scotland. Many states are quarantined right now due to the coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic, and churches are not meeting due to the governments guidelines of not meeting in groups larger than 10. It can be hard to practice social distancing unless you get half a pew to yourself or put several chairs in between you and the next person. And due to the coronavirus being airborne its better for most churches to meet virtually and host live streams for their congregations and those watching from afar. If your church does not have a live stream here are seven great suggestions from different denominations that you can watch this Sunday. We have provided bonus resources at the bottom as well. Here they are in no particular order: 1. Redeemer Presbyterian Church with Rev. John Lin Redeemer is a large church in NYC with multiple campuses: Downtown, East Side, West Side, and Lincoln Square, among other affiliate churches. Well-known author and speaker, Dr. Timothy Keller started Redeemer Church in 1989 as a church plant in NYC. Dr. Keller is well-known for his books and lectures; he is also the co-founder of thegospelcoalition.org. He retired from the position of Senior Pastor at Redeemer in 2017 but is continuing in his other endeavors for the gospel. Redeemer.com shares, The Redeemer family of churches and ministries exist to help build a great city for all people through a movement of the gospel that brings personal conversion, community formation, social justice, and cultural renewal to New York City and, through it, the world. Details: Denomination: PCA (Presbyterian Church of America) Style: Classical eclectic and contemporary eclectic Senior Pastors: Rev. John Lin (downtown), Michael Keller (Lincoln Square), Rev. Abraham Cho (East Side), David Bisgrove (West Side), Justin Adour (East Harlem). Resources: 2. McLean Bible Church with Dr. David Platt David Platt, well-known for his books on gospel mission and former president of the IMB (International Mission Board), took over as Senior Pastor at McLean Bible Church in 2017. The large church has five locations in Northern Virginia, right outside DC (Tysons, Arlington, Loudoun, Montgomery County, Prince William). McLeanBible.org relays, We are not a building. We are not an event. We are a family, Gods family. We come from all walks of life and over 100 nationalities. Our mission is to glorify God by making disciples, and multiplying churches among all nations, beginning in greater Washington, DC. Details: Denomination: SBC (Southern Baptist) Style: Contemporary Senior Pastor: Dr. David Platt Resources: Livestream Sundays at 9:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., and 5:00 p.m. EDT. Livestream URL Archived Sermons *Youll especially want to check out last weeks sermon: Peace in the Middle of a Pandemic, Pt. 1 3. First Presbyterian Church with Dr. Derek Thomas Dont let the Welsh accent fool you, hes located in Columbia, South Carolina and pastors an ARP (Associate Reformed Presbyterian) church of 2,500 members. Its also the oldest congregation in Columbia. If youve read any of Sinclair Fergusons books or heard him speak, he is a former pastor of First Presbyterian. Dr. Derek Thomas, the current Senior Pastor, has written books and contributed to online sites such as Ligonier, desiringGod, and Crosswalk among others. Details: Denomination: ARP (Associate Reformed Presbyterian) Style: Traditional Senior Pastor: Dr. Derek Thomas Resources: Livestream Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. EDT led by Dr. Thomas Livestream Sunday evenings at 6 p.m. EDT led by Dr. Fluhrer Livestream URL Download the app (search the app store for fpc cola) Archived sermons & Bulletins *Dr. Derek Thomas is also providing daily video devotionals for encouragement, which can be viewed via their website or YouTube. 4. Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship with Dr. Tony Evans Dr. Tony Evans, pastor and author, has served at the church in Dallas, TX for 40 years; it started with ten people in 1976 and now has over 10,000 members. In addition to preaching, Dr. Evans has written many books and has an ever-expanding ministry to bring biblical truths to the masses. Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship states, As a pastor, teacher, author and speaker, he serves the body of Christ through his unique ability to communicate complex theological truths through simple, yet profound, illustrations. While addressing the practical issues of today, Dr. Evans is known as a relevant expositor. Details: Denomination: Non-denominational Style: Contemporary Senior Pastor: Dr. Tony Evans Resources: Livestream Sundays at 10 a.m. CDT Watch live on YouTube or Facebook 5. Bethlehem Baptist Church with Dr. Jason Meyer Before his retirement from the pastorate, well-known author, speaker, and founder of desiringGod.org, John Piper was the Lead Pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, MN. The current Senior Pastor is Jason Meyer who succeeded Piper in 2013. What began as the First Swedish Baptist Church of Minneapolis in 1871 with 22 people, is now a multi-campus church with thousands of members inspired to reach the city and surrounding areas for the gospel. Details: Denomination: Reformed Baptist, affiliated with Converge (formerly the Baptist General Conference). Style: Contemporary Senior Pastor: Dr. Jason Meyer Resources: Livestream Sundays 9:30 a.m. CDT Livestream URL Archived Sermons 6. Saddleback Church with Dr. Rick Warren Saddleback Church (started 35 years ago) is a large, contemporary church in Orange, CA with multiple campuses (15 locations in CA and four international locations). Pastor Rick Warren is the author of The Purpose Driven Life and The Purpose Driven Church among several others. Saddleback.com shares: Ten years ago, a trip to Rwanda literally changed the trajectory of Pastor Ricks life and mission. God gave him a vision for The PEACE Plan, a mission to fight the five giants of spiritual emptiness, self-serving leadership, poverty, pandemic disease, and illiteracy that devastate the lives of men, women, and children around the world. He and Kay consider it their lifes work to empower local churches and local leaders to create sustainable change that gives a voice to the voiceless and help to the helpless. Details: Denomination: Non-denominational Style: Contemporary Senior Pastor: Dr. Rick Warren Resources: Livestream available Saturdays any time after 4:00 p.m. PDT Livestream URL The Church App 7. Hope Church with Dr. David Dwight Hope Church is a large church in Henrico, VA offering contemporary services. Hope is led by Dr. David Dwight (Senior Pastor) and Pete Bowell (Associate Pastor). They also have a second location in Richmond, VA. The church seeks to draw people from all walks of life together in community to celebrate and worship Christ. The Details: Denomination: EPC (Evangelical Presbyterian Church) Style: Contemporary Senior Pastor: Dr. David Dwight Resources: Livestream Sunday morning at 9:30 a.m. EDT Easter livestream available 8 a.m., 9:30 a.m., & 11:00 a.m. Livestream URL Videos on Vimeo Other Livestreams to Check Out Parkside Church with Alistair Begg, livestream on YouTube First Baptist Atlanta with Charles Stanley Shadow Mountain Community Church, with Dr. David Jeremiah The Moody Church, livestream on YouTube Second Baptist Church, with Dr. Ed Young Harvest Christian Fellowship with Greg Laurie East Point Church with Anthony Carter, livestream on Facebook Shandon Baptist Church with George Wright Ligonier Ministries Free Content until June 30 In addition to churches livestreaming, Ligonier Ministries is also making their library of teachings available for free until June 30th. Here is what they shared: For the first time ever, we have made our entire library of hundreds of teaching series free to stream. Download the free Ligonier app today and stream thousands of messages from R.C. Sproul, the Ligonier Teaching Fellows, and other gifted pastors and teachers. Or browse more than 2,500 messages on our website. This represents 1,000+ hours of time-proven trusted teaching covering topics in biblical studies, theology, church history, Christian living, and worldview thinking. Our entire video and audio teaching series library will remain open until at least June 30. We hope this list of resources has helped you as you continue to pursue God, His Word, and His gospel during this uncertain time. Know that though things are changing every day, our God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is sovereign over the world and your life, He can be trusted in all things and through all things. EDITOR'S NOTE: This article has become a resource for many as we face growing fear and anxiety due to the Coronavirus pandemic. God is ALWAYS our source of protection, strength and peace during unknown times. In addition, the following articles may offer more encouragement for all to remember as we face the trials of COVID-19 together: Photo credit: GettyImages/monkeybusinessimages The coronavirus epidemic exists only to the extent it has been clinically confirmed in people who have been tested for it, a fact worth repeating in the Indian context. Its the only means we have of understanding how much and how fast the disease has spread God has been kind. We are not in the stage of community transmission (of COVID-19). This was the reassuring claim made on 12 March by Lav Agarwal, a joint secretary in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, in an official press briefing held to announce decisions taken by the high-level group of ministers formed under the directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to monitor the coronavirus pandemic in India. Going by the Health Ministrys statement, India is still in Stage 2 (local transmission) of the epidemic and not Stage 3 (community transmission) an all-important difference that determines the level of alertness and actions taken to contain its spread. "As soon as we get any information on community transmission we will be the first to inform you," Agarwal added on Saturday. But, the ministrys own prior statement, issued as early as 5 March, said otherwise. "Since, in addition to COVID-19 cases related to travel, some cases of community transmission have also been observed, it has been decided to involve district collectors and states have been asked to form rapid response teams at the district, block and village levels. Why the discrepancy? By definition, community transmission describes the stage where the disease has already been spread by first or second level contacts into the wider community. Aggressive random testing of the population is the only way to detect this, given that COVID-19 is contagious even when 'asymptomatic', ie, the disease doesn't produce any visible symptoms in the infected, especially the young, but they are still able to pass on the infection. As the World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said: "We have a simple message to all countries test, test, test. All countries should be able to test all suspected cases, they cannot fight this pandemic blindfolded." But not only has India conducted fewer tests than most other countries in terms of absolute numbers (14,811 tests), India also has one of the lowest test rates in the world, with 10.5 tests per million people as of 21 March. The result is a situation where, India, with its low 271 (as on March 21st) confirmed cases, is broadly in the same league as the UAE, which has 140 confirmed cases, but the UAE is testing at a rate of 1,200 times more than that of Indias. (The global record for testing number of tests per million is presently held by Iceland, which is testing at a rate more than 2,500 times higher than India). The governments stance on community transmission has been questioned by several public health experts. In a recent interview with Huffington Post, T Sundararaman, former director of the National Health Systems Resource Centre, spelt out exactly what was wrong: "They have put criteria that more or less makes it mandatory to test only these people (people who have come from abroad and those they have contacted). So, anyone walking in with common cold-like symptoms or viral fever, asking to be tested, will not get tested." Echoing this view, Yogesh Jain, founder of public-health NGO Jan Swasthya Sahyog, recently said, The explanation offered by the ICMR is that there is no evidence of community transmission in the country. This rationale or lack thereof reminds me of an old aphorism: the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." Ramanan Laxminayanan, director and senior fellow at Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy, had this to say to the Hindustan Times: Community transmission began in India two to three weeks ago, around the same time as other countries. India is not an exception to the way the virus behaves. We just havent tested a representative sample that the countrys population of 1.34 billion demands. The ICMRs position on the lack of community transmission is derived almost entirely from the results of its sentinel surveillance programme, implemented until now by 51 designated research and diagnostic laboratories (VRDLs) spread across the country. Only 826 samples of people suffering from severe acute respiratory illnesses have been tested under this programme, initiated way back on 15 February. Its a low sample size for any country in the world, and much more so for the worlds second-most populous nation, and a highly mobile one at that. As per latest reports, 111 labs across the country will be functional from Saturday. This approach remained in place even as cases exploded in countries where the earliest cases were detected around the same time as India. For example, the first case in Italy, the country regarded as the worst-hit, was recorded on 31 January, a day after India confirmed its first case in Kerala on 30 January. The ICMR and health ministrys positions hint that India's testing rate may be a matter of policy. Speaking to NDTV, a senior official at ICMR, Dr Raman Gagankhedkar, went on to list all the problems that may be brought up with massive testing, including, that of the tests leading to the discovery of more cases. Gagankhedkars views were backed up by his boss and the head of the ICMR, Dr Balaram Bharghava, who has reiterated the Health Ministrys logic on community testing saying that India hasnt detected community transmission, and therefore, it does not need to significantly increase testing. The latest media reports indicate that a sudden jump in cases 50 new cases were confirmed on Friday may have prompted the government to open up testing to all and to rope in the private sector for testing. However, the latest revision of testing guidelines issued on 20 March does not specify such an open to all policy, which means theres still no official sanction for mass random testing thats immediately required to detect community transmission. The COVID-19 epidemic exists only to the extent that it has been clinically confirmed in people who have been tested for it; an obvious enough fact, but one worth repeating in the Indian context. Its the only means we have of understanding how much the disease has spread, and how fast, above all. Everything else screenings, travel restrictions, shutdowns, social distancing is a precautionary measure which must necessarily be based on the number and nature of confirmed cases. So far, the Centres approach has been to simply ignore the question of mass testing, and thereby deny the existence of community transmission. Fuel outlets in the megapolis and the suburbs will remain open but with skeletal staff on Sunday and will operate only from 7 am to 7 pm from Monday till March 31 as the city is under lockdown. The curtailed operations on Sunday is in response to the voluntary curfew call to public by the prime minister, the city's dealers body said. "The timing will be revised at the end of this month," the Mumbai Petrol Dealers Association said on Saturday. Curtailed time is an attempt to reduce risk of exposure to the pump attendants and yet keep the essential service open to the public albeit in limited hours, the statement said. "No employees will lose their salaries for reduced working hours," the statement added. The 213-odd fuel pumps normally operate 20 hrs a day. It can be noted that Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray had ordered closure of all private offices and shops selling non-essential items in Mumbai, and the adjoining metropolitan areas, Pune, Nagpur and other major cities of the from the midnight of Friday through March 31 as the state continues to top the number of Covid cases. The state was the second to report a casualty in the country when a Mumbai resident died of the virus last week. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Across China: Love goes on, Chinese hospitals donate medical supplies to Italy NANJING, March 20 (Xinhua) -- A hospital in the city of Nantong, eastern China's Jiangsu Province, along with many other hospitals in China, has donated medical supplies worth over 310,000 yuan (about 43,850 U.S. dollars) to support Italy in its fight against the coronavirus. The supplies, including medical masks and protective suits, have been sent to the Hospital of Siena University in Italy's Siena, a sister city of Nantong, according to the Nantong Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). The Nantong Hospital of TCM has been collaborating with the Italian hospital on training programs since 2016 and formed a sister-hospital relationship last year. Shen Hao was among the first batch of exchange doctors. He spent three months studying at the Hospital of Siena University in 2016. He felt that he had to do something when he learned the news that the Italian hospital was in urgent need of medical supplies. Shen and his colleagues initiated a donation in their hospital's WeChat group, and surprisingly, more than 200 doctors from over 100 Chinese hospitals joined the donation group. Nearly 190,000 yuan was raised in the group, and some doctors and hospitals donated medical supplies worth of 40,000 yuan, the hospital in Nantong said, adding that it also donated medical supplies worth of 80,000 yuan. Shao Rongshi, president of the hospital, specially formulated TCM prescriptions and organized medics to make 4,000 TCM sachets for the Hospital of Siena University and local residents in Siena. The Chinese hospital said they will also set up a medical team to assist their Italian sister hospital. Valtere Giovannini, president of the Hospital of Siena University, recorded a video clip to express his gratitude to his Chinese friends. "In such a difficult time, Chinese people have offered great help to Italians. Chinese experts have shared valuable experience. I believe we will win the fight against the coronavirus together," Giovannini said in the video. Georgia on Saturday declared a nationwide state of emergency over the novel coronavirus pandemic, allowing the government to regulate prices for food and medicines if needed. "The situation is grave and is expected to worsen," President Salome Zurabishvili said in a televised address to the nation, saying the state of emergency is effective immediately and will last for one month. She praised her cabinet for successfully containing the pandemic but added that the time had come to prepare for a "second wave that will be acute." The Black Sea nation of some 3.7 million people has so far reported 48 cases of COVID-19, while some 2,000 people are under quarantine. "A number of rights guaranteed under the constitution will be limited during the state of emergency, including the rights of movement and assembly," Zurabishvili said. She said however there would be no restrictions on freedom of expression and the media and that the government was not planning to impose a curfew. Earlier on Saturday, Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia said new measures under the state of emergency would include a ban on public gatherings of more than 10 people, and criminal liability for a repeat breach of quarantine. He said the government would regulate prices on food and medicines in the case of shortages or "speculative price hikes." Georgia's medical authorities have said the country's hospitals are coping with the current scale of the pandemic, but warned of an imminent "exponential increase" in new cases as the virus begins to circulate in communities. They have also announced plans to launch "aggressive testing" of the population for the virus. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Officials in Nigerias Kebbi state have revived the Argungu Fishing Festival, which was halted in 2009 because of threats from Boko Haram terrorists. Authorities say with security progress against the Islamist group, the festival can resume and provide jobs and income to thousands. (Ammoland.com) - "Bay Area orders 'shelter in place,' only essential businesses open in 6 counties," the San Francisco Chronicle reported Monday. "Businesses that do not provide 'essential' services must send workers home. Among those remaining open are grocery stores, pharmacies, restaurants for delivery only and hardware stores." What about gun stores? If we're talking that which is essential, what is it the Founders deemed "necessary to the security of a free State"? How is that not relevant in this situation that has developed into what we are being told is a national and global state of emergency? We've already seen government has been utterly incapable of protecting the populace, and it appears things are only going to get worse and resources more strained. What do we do if civil order collapses, those resources are triaged and most areas are essentially left to fend for themselves? I sent a copy of the City and County of San Francisco order to a prominent name in the "gun rights" movement with resources to file legal actions and was essentially dismissed when he replied, "since there are no gun stores left in San Francisco it is of no consequence." ..... New Delhi, March 21 : BJP MP Gautam Gambhir has dubbed PM Modi's much anticipated 'Janta Curfew' as 'Care for You', while appealing to citizen to stay indoors through Sunday as a measure of social distancing. Earlier on Thursday night, PM Modi appealed to the people to mark this Sunday as 'Janta curfew' from 7am to 9pm. "Don't look at it as a curfew, look at it as a 'care for you' initiative," said the BJP MP. "I appeal to all of you to support Janata Curfew by staying in your homes tomorrow, March 22, and participate in the fight against corona," said Gambhir. "Tomorrow at 5p.m, come out to your balconies and clap and ring to show support all the corona warriors." Reiterating that the only way to beat the corona menace is by rigid practice of social distancing, Gambhir said only a collective effort alone can yield results. At least 283 corona cases have been confirmed in India so far, the Union Ministry of Health and family welfare said on Saturday. Of the 283, 244 are Indian nationals while 39 are foreigners. As many as 23 individuals have recovered from the infection and discharged from the hospital while one has migrated to other country. Four casualties have also been reported from across the country. Latest updates on Howdy Modi Houston Pret, Starbucks and West Cornwall Pasty Co are among businesses to have shuttered stores as the government ramps up efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic. The Prime Minister last night (20 March) instructed businesses including pubs, restaurants and cafes to close to help delay the spread of Covid-19. The government also announced a series of financial measures to support affected businesses. Many bakery and coffee shop chains had already started voluntarily closing dining areas as part of step being adopted across much of the industry, including a move away from cash payments and the use of customers own coffee cups. Here we look at the current trading position (10am 23 March) of the countrys largest chains: Costa Will be closing all stores from eveingof 23 March. Plans to keep hospital sites and Costa Express machines available. Subway All stores to close from tonight (23 March). Greggs All stores to close from evening of 24 March. Starbucks It appears all company-owned stores will be closed completely, while franchise stores may be open for take-away. (British Baker has reached out to Starbucks for confirmation) Caffe Nero All stores to close from evening of Wednesday 25 March until further notice. "In the face of this unprecedented challenge, it is our belief that we have to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our baristas, customers and communities, and as such we must close our doors," said Gerry Ford, founder and group CEO. Pret A Manger All stores to close temporarily from tonight (21 March). Stephens Bakery Has closed all shops and direct vans from the respective closing times on Monday 23 March. "We have done this to protect our shop staff, their families and our local community, to allow easier and stricter implementation of social distancing," the company said. It is working with local foodbanks to redistribute unsold products to those in need. Patisserie Valerie All stores closed Sayers the Bakers The Poundbakery and Poundcafe operator, which was acquired out of administration last December, says it is working very hard to ensure shops stay open for as long as possible. Cooplands Has closed its 12 cafes but continues to trade from all 162 shops. "We intend to continue to serve our local communities through the coming weeks and months including opening two new shops next week," said Cooplands CEO Belinda Youngs. "We are looking at new ways we can help those in our communities that are unable to get to us." Krispy Kreme Moving to take away, drive-through and delivery, and serving all products in take-away packaging Coffee#1 Stores open offering a take-away only service. Cafe W (Waterstones) All Waterstones stores to close from evening of 23 March. Birds Bakery Had closed seating areas and toilets. Closing shops at 3pm to allow staff to do daily deep clean. Greenhalghs Stores open for take-away as usual. Free drinks for emergency and health workers West Cornwall Pasty Co Has temporarily closed all high-street stores. This decision has not been easy, but we feel we have had to take decisive action to protect our customers, our colleagues, our communities and our business, stated the company. 10.2k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard CNNs John Kings defended NBC Newss Peter Alexander after Trump attacked him during the coronavirus press briefing by calling Trumps attack bullsh*t. After Trump attacked NBCs Pete Alexander for asking him what he would tell scared Americans, King said, I sat in that briefing room for ten years. It was a perfectly valid question, and what the President did to Peter Alexander was reprehensible. The American people are looking for answers. They do want hope. They do want support, Mr. President. That was a very fair question. The CNN anchor continued, This is a Trump trademark. It was striking that this came, forgive me, this bullshit attack, on fake news came just moments after the Secretary of State said that the American people needed to be careful about where they get their information and go to a source they can trust. I get that there at times disagreements; there are, at times, tension between politicians and reporters. That was a one hundred percent legitimate questions with no hype, no shape, no bias. He just wanted to attack. Video of King: Wow. Heres John King describing Trumps attack on Peter Alexander as bullshit pic.twitter.com/7HvcMgwENb Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 20, 2020 King was right. In political terms, it was a softball, and any normally mentally functioning human being would have responded by easing the fears of the American people with a message of reassurance. Trump was mad about a previous question about him giving false hope to people, so he couldnt control himself and lost it. It is good to see the corporate media establishment finally challenge Trump, and not back down to his bullying. John King was right. Trumps attack was BS. Trump is failing the coronavirus crisis has spiraled out of control, and he is taking it out on anyone around him. For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group. Follow Jason Easley on Facebook Saturday, March 21, 2020 Overall Circumstances between candidates and the military take many forms. Statistically the correlation between military spending and political power is powerful and direct. Nothing is more easily distributed among states than the military budget, with key committees and leaders holding great power based on their ability to allocate military funds. This is why presidential candidates usually flourish thanks to the military in their home states and districts, which among other things jobs in military industries pay about one third more than comparable jobs in American industry, and foreign policy experience ranks very high in presidential candidate success. Hence Joe Biden is running away with the Democratic nomination. Campaign Compromised? Long before the current campaign all elected U.S. presidents during the Cold war (46 years) came from above average per capita military spending home states, and congressional leaders, cabinet members, and Supreme Court Justices are about 80% from high military spending states. So it is a good question whether military support compromises a political candidate. Bernie Sanders has more donations from the active duty military than any other presidential candidate (Rolling Stone). But it may not be so simple in his case, because 47% of the military are opposed to Trump as an erratic commander in chief, and Bernie's one major accomplishment is a Veterans overhaul bill when he was chair of the Senate Veterans Committee. Bernie opposition to the Iraq War has become a general opposition to Asian land wars in general. The B-35 base in Burlington, Vermont is an example of Sanders having a typical liberal bias against wars but in favor of home state military spending. Sanders straddled this issue in 2016 with about a dozen proposals on his official campaign website all funded by taxes and none funded by defense cuts. In 2020 he has been willing to cut military spending, so he has improved. Perfect Campaign Undermined While the field of Democrats was much larger Sanders and Warren jointly took on all comers in an early summer debate defending Medicare for all, both looking very good. But when Warren was leading in the polls in the Fall, the misogyny of the Bernie Bros came out when these online trolls took her down calling her an elitist. Perhaps it all was inevitable that name familiarity from prior presidential campaigns led to Biden and Sanders becoming the final two. Biden's foreign affairs "expertise" looks like a comfortable fit for a president who is really an emperor. Our Madison Wisconsin office of the Warren campaign led the nation in phone calls, and one late rally of Warren looked almost exclusively Women and girls on C-SPAN. One C-SPAN call-in one morning started out with several Warren calls in a row. Warren ran a campaign against corruption and her wealth tax was adopted by Sanders. Last summer in Madison the Democratic Party table at the popular farmer market Warren had five times the votes of any other candidate in the race. Even James Carville did not understand what went wrong with her campaign, as he praised her many attributes. Great Cycle Virus Again and again press references suggest similarities between the so-called Spanish flu of 1918 and this year's coronavirus, 102 years later. My scientific broadening of Kondratiev's long economic cycle theory to include the war and natural cycles suggests every other 54-year cycle is geographically similar, alternating from Southern Hemisphere led to Northern Hemisphere led and back again. The two great flu viruses both occur in Southern/Ocean led cycles, with ocean dominance affecting coastal areas more than interior continental areas. The double cycle is 108 years with expected major wars in 1916 and 2024. Thus the 108-year cycle was two years late last century and four years early this century. Furthermore, this event has turned out to be a recession, following Clement Juglar's investment cycle of mostly 8 to 10 years and occasionally 7 to 11 years. Since three-year inventory economic cycles have disappeared in the U.S. after 1980, the Juglar cycle has dominated with recessions in 1982, 1991, 2000, 2009, and now 2020. That's four nine-year cycles in a row until this 11-year cycle. Sorry social scientists but numbers and patterns are important and not so easily dismissed as many do. Summary Many things go into the evidence of compromise, but the basics are simple: Military spending as a drag on the manufacturing economy is clear in my many studies. Bias in favor of military spending states economy candidates in politics is very strong and explains much of politics. Good candidates don't always win, but name familiarity from prior runs often dominates. And just as health issues correlate inversely with high military spending countries and states, the natural long cycle has many components like economics, war, civil rights, and now a major health issue. Main Ideas Summary: https://www.academia.edu/33884446/Main_Ideas_Summary_July_2017_7_pages Please cite this work as follows: Reuschlein, Robert. (2020, March 21), "Evidences of Compromise" Madison, WI, Real Economy Institute. Retrieved from: https://www.expertclick.com/NewsRelease/Evidences-of-Compromise,2020229326.aspx Dr. Peace, Professor Robert Reuschlein, Real Economy Institute, Nobel Peace Prize nominee 2016-2020 with accelerating interest from Norway. Intense interest in an unusually consistent pattern shows up on my website as their following my work, hard looks per year went from 2 to 3 to 48 to 128 to 223 (estimated). Contact: bobreuschlein@gmail.com Info: www.realeconomy.com By Express News Service HYDERABAD: The Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Raos proposed tour to Karimnagar on Saturday has been postponed. Earlier in the day, Rao decided to visit Karimnagar to oversee arrangements made by officials to stop the spread of Covid in the city, in the wake of seven Indonesians testing positive at Gandhi Hospital. However, Rao decided to postpone the tour, as his visit may hamper the work being taken up by officials. Karimnagar district officials too requested the CM to cancel his tour. On Friday, BC Welfare Minister Gangula Kamalakar said that around 70 persons had come in contact with the Indonesian nationals in Karimnagar and tests for all of them have turned out negative, but all of them are under quarantine. The State conducted a door-to-door survey over the last two days to trace people who came in touch with the Indonesians and visited 13,428 households, surveyed around 50,910 people in Karimnagar city. Two suspected Covid cases have been sent to Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad, Kamalakar added. One had returned from Thailand, and another person was in touch with the Indonesians. Their test reports are awaited. Also, about 375 foreign returnees appeared in the survey, of whom 70 belonged to Karimnagar city. All of them are under home quarantine. They all travelled to Karimnagar from RGIA. Those under home quarantine are being stamped with the message Proud to Protect Karimnagar, Home Quarantined till March 31, 2020 on their hands. VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA / ACCESSWIRE / March 21, 2020 / Glenbriar Technologies Inc. (CSE:GTI.X) (the "Company") is pleased to announce the closing of its previous announced non-brokered financing. The Corporation raised proceeds of $400,000 through the sale of 40,000,000 equity units. The placement consists of units priced at $0.01 each, with each unit consisting of one share and one warrant exercisable for 2 years from closing at an exercise price of $0.05. After this issue, the Company will have 211,037,508 shares issued and outstanding. Proceeds will be used for working capital and review of possible acquisitions. Securities issued on this closing shall be subject to resale restrictions to July 21, 2020. A total of $10,000 and 1,000,000 finder's warrants were issued to one finder on this transaction. The finders warrant are on the same terms as the warrants forming part of the units The Issuer is also issuing a total of 23,308,000 units pursuant to a shares for debt transaction. The units are being issued to shareholders who were subscribers to an earlier private placement for Common Share Units at a subscription price of $0.05 per Unit, on a 2 for 1 consolidation basis. As the consolidation was not carried out, these extra units are required to be issued at a deemed price of $0.025 per Unit. Each Unit consists of one share and one warrant exercisable for 2 years from closing at an exercise price of $0.05 in the first year and $0.15 in the second year. Securities issued pursuant to this transaction shall be subject to resale restrictions to July 21, 2020. For further information, please contact: Doug Taylor, CEO Investor Relations Telephone: 1 (778) 724-1301 E-mail: irglenbriartech@gmail.com Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Certain statements contained in this release may constitute "forward-looking statements" or forward looking information" (collectively "forward-looking information") as those terms are used in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and similar Canadian laws. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected", "estimated", "anticipates" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Company's current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Actual future results may differ materially. In particular, this release contains forward-looking information relating to the business of the Company, financing and certain corporate changes. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof and the Company is not obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Because of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions contained herein, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained herein. SOURCE: Glenbriar Technologies Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/581926/Glenbriar-Announces-Closing-of-the-Private-Placement Four persons were arrested for allegedly hoarding hand sanitisers worth over Rs 6 lakh in Maharashtra's Jalna city, police said on Saturday. Acting on a tip-off, officials of Jalna police's crime branch and the Food and Drug Administration raided a shop on Old Mondha road, an official said. The shop owners couldn't produce bills for sanitisers that were kept in the shop's storage unit, inspector Rajendrasingh Gaur said. The police arrested four persons and registered a case against them under section 420 (cheating) and other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code, he said. In wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the police and FDA have launched a severe crackdown against people hoarding and manufacturing uncertified hand sanitisers. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Im going to work every day with the general public and coming over to look at my kids, and I know Im giving her those germs, said Askelson, who declined to name her employer because she wasnt authorized to speak publicly. Were supposed to be standing 6 feet away, but I work in the self-checkout where you have to be right next to the customer. A shop owner has said his staff were traumatised after a man entered his premises with a stick and smashed bottles and abused staff. Niall Kearns, the owner of the Centra store in Caltragh told Sligo District Court he was still dealing with the affects of the criminal damage to his shop and the assault of a staff member by Rafal Pittner formerly of Rusheen Ard, Caltragh. At the court Pittner pleaded guilty to criminal damage and assault at the Centra store on March 26th, 2018. The court was told Pittner had a disagreement with a Centra staff member about a product and left the shop. Mr Kearns told the court Pittner returned a time later and became abusive towards staff and got aggressive. He came into the shop with a stick and smashed bottles. Following this incident he was seen outside the shop staring at staff and being quite intimidating, according to the shop owner. Mr Kearns explained Pittner had not been happy with the pricing of goods and was not happy with answers he got from staff regarding this. Representing the Polish national, Mr Martin Burke, solicitor, told the court his client had offered an apology to Mr Kearns, offered to pay for the goods damaged and wrote a letter of apology. Compensation for the goods was given to Mr Kearns who told the court he would be giving the money to the staff member effected by the incident. The court was informed Pittner had no previous convictions and had lived in Ireland for 16 years and had always been employed. Mr Burke said one week before the incident took place Pittner lost a High Court defamation case and did not take it well. He said Pittner was on medication for his mental health and 'went into a spiral' following the High Court decision and took 30 sleeping tablets and drank whiskey. Mr Burke said his client had a mental breakdown and fully accepted his behaviour. He said his client did assault a staff member with an umbrella but did not know if it was intentional or not. Judge Kevin Kilrane said Pittner was 'out of his mind' and entered the shop several times and caused 'absolute mayhem' and terrified staff. The judge noted Pittner has expressed remorse for his actions.Pittner told the court he was sorry for what he did and he was in bad mental health. Mr Kearns said he tried to provide a safe place for his staff to work and said the staff member who experienced the incident is still nervous when working by herself. He said the staff member forgave Pittner. Judge Kilrane convicted him of criminal damage fining him 300 and struck out the assault charge. The Library of Congress also offers a selection of free classics you can read online. Many of the choices are kid- and adventure-oriented, like Jack and the Beanstalk and Treasure Island. After Cambridge University Press made more than 700 textbooks free through the end of May, demand was too high for their website to withstand. There may still be a chance to cozy up with a copy of Psychopathology or Nietzsche, however. The press is working to reinstate free access as soon as possible. Health bosses let thousands of cruise ship passengers disembark in Sydney even though 158 were feeling sick during the coronavirus outbreak. The passengers - including 13 with high temperatures - disembarked The Ruby Princess in Sydney Harbour on March 8. The ship then picked up 2,700 new passengers and set sail for New Zealand just hours later. In the following days, only nine of the 158 passengers were tested for COVID-19. All were negative. On 19 March the ship docked again at Sydney Harbour after the New Zealand trip and this time four passengers tested positive for the deadly virus. Four people on-board the Ruby Princess cruise ship have tested positive for the coronavirus (pictured at Circular Quay on Thursday) after it docked in Sydney The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in Australia surged over 1,000 on Saturday Two of those cases were a couple who flew to Darwin before testing positive. When the ship arrived on 8 March after the first voyage, the captain told NSW Vessel Traffic Services there were 'no ill passengers or crew on board', according to an email seen by The Australian. But the ship reportedly logged the 158 sick passengers into the government's biosecurity portal, Maritime Arrivals Reporting Systems (MARS). The Port Authority is concerned that it cannot trust on the captains of ships when they say nobody is ill. CORONAVIRUS CASES IN AUSTRALIA: 27,244 Victoria: 20,269 New South Wales: 4,273 Queensland: 1,161 Western Australia: 692 South Australia: 473 Tasmania: 230 Australian Capital Territory: 113 Northern Territory: 33 TOTAL CASES: 27,244 ESTIMATED ACTIVE CASES: 269 DEATHS: 897 Updated: 5.31 PM, 11 October, 2020 Source: Australian Government Department of Health Advertisement The email sent by a Port Authority General Manager on 13 March expressed 'concerns about whether we can, in general, rely on the declaration from the Master of the vessel.' The ship's owner is reviewing how the discrepancy came about. An NSW Health spokesman, said: 'NSW Health met the ship on March 8, conducted an on-board assessment for Influenza and COVID-19 on more than 360 people who identified as feeling unwell or who presented a recognisable risk through their travel history at the time. 'Nine people who showed potential COVID-19 symptoms were isolated, tested for COVID-19, and these tests were negative.' NSW chief medical officer Kerry Chant said the ship had been considered 'low risk' before the diagnoses. When the ship docked on March 19, doctors tested 13 unwell patients for COVID-19. Four have tested positive. MARCH 20, 2020 UTSA is responding to the COVID-19 outbreak with a commitment to supporting the safety of the university community while enabling the academic progress of students. Here is your daily digest of campus updates. MESSAGE FROM PRESIDENT EIGHMY A special message of support and encouragement to everyone at UTSA as the Roadrunner community returns after spring break. COMMUNICATION EMAIL YOUR STUDENTS: UTSA held a virtual Student Town Hall this week for students, and some of them asked questions about plans for how virtual instruction will commence next week. Faculty, please communicate with your students as soon as possible about any specifics for your courses related to the upcoming transition to online classes, which resume Monday. GET THE ANSWERS: If you couldnt attend the virtual town halls this week for faculty and staff about UTSA business operations, telecommuting and online instruction, the broadcasts are online. Watch the Faculty Town Hall video recording. Watch the Staff Town Hall video recording. GET READY FOR NEXT WEEK: We will have a special Sunday edition of the Daily Digest this weekend to help you get prepared for the week ahead of online instruction. Keep an eye for it in your email inbox. GRAD SCHOOL PREP: To accommodate students who may encounter problems in taking standardized tests due to COVID-19 related issues, The Graduate School is temporarily suspending the use of GRE and GMAT test scores as a criterion for admission considerations to all our graduate programs until further notice. ONLINE LEARNING & ACCESS VIRTUAL UTSA: As the university moves to online instruction and a remote workforce beginning Monday, Academic Affairs and Business Affairs have shared guidelines with faculty and staff on how to transition to telecommuting. TECH HELP: Need to help to hold meetings, share documents or deliver online instruction? Review UTSAs inventory of available Technology Resources for faculty and staff to find the best choice for you. Also, remember to contact 210-458-5555 for help if you need it. CAMPUS OPERATIONS Access to computers, complete with internet and web browsers, Microsoft Office, SPSS, Adobe Creative Cloud and other productivity software Access to the AirRowdy wireless network Access to PrintSpot printing Access to KIC scanners Access to the Adaptive Technology Computer Lab To encourage social distancing and promote everyones safety, some services will not be available: Group study rooms Group spot A & B Faculty Center common seating area Physical circulation of materials, including reserves and tech gear In-person reference Faculty Center reservations and events UTSA Librariesas the university begins online instruction and its move to a primarily telecommuting workforce. Both the John Peace Library and Downtown Library will be open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. These services will be The AET Library, Special Collections Reading Room and Special Collections Library at Hemisfair Campus will be closed to the public. Visit UTSA Libraries for a full schedule of hours and to view available resources. DOWNTOWN HOURS: Downtown Campus offices will close daily at 6 p.m. and will be closed on weekends. MAIL AND SHIPPING SERVICES: Central Receiving and Mail Services will remain open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. for pick-up and drop-off of mail and packages. Deliveries to offices will be unavailable. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the government is doing all it can to help bring home Canadians who are stranded abroad due to COVID-19 travel clampdowns, but conceded it won't be able to help everyone. The global pandemic has led to closed airspace and travel restrictions around the world, making it difficult for people trying to get home. "It is an extremely difficult situation, but the lockdowns in various countries, the limits on travel, the logistical capacities of our airlines means that we are unlikely to be able to bring everyone home," he said during a news conference outside his home at Rideau Cottage in Ottawa Saturday. "So we're going to ask people to stay safe, to make smart choices, and do the best they can in a situation that is unprecedented, exceptional and very difficult." The government has facilitated a flight to bring Canadians home from Morocco today. That flight is expected to arrive in Montreal this evening. The government is also working to help organize flights to bring home Canadians trapped in Peru and Spain, and flights from other countries are expected as well. As flight and travel restrictions ramp up around the world, some governments in Canada are imposing their own rules. The Northwest Territories, which just confirmed its first case Saturday, is banning travel into the region to try to prevent infections of COVID-19. In Newfoundland and Labrador, Premier Dwight Ball said anyone who has travelled outside the province whether within Canada or internationally will be required to quarantine for 14 days. P.E.I.'s chief public health officer announced similar rules today. PM urges Canadians to stay home Asked if the federal government will move to restrict travel within Canada, Trudeau said the message already is for everyone to avoid going to see neighbours, whether they are in the U.S. or other provinces. He urged people to self-isolate to protect themselves, and the health-care system and its workers. Story continues "We're asking people to stay home as much as possible, to avoid non-essential travel," he said. Calling it a "live issue" with federal and provincial governments, Health Minister Patty Hajdu said she understands why some provinces want to take steps to stop the spread of infection beyond "hot spots." "We do believe there's some value in regional containment, but we also want to do it in a way that doesn't disrupt our domestic supply chains, domestic needs to get goods and services from one part of the country to another," she said during a news conference in Ottawa. Hajdu stressed the importance of measures such as social distancing and self-isolation, and said officials will have a better sense of how well they are working to slow the spread of COVID-19 in seven to 10 days. But she said stronger measures such as widespread quarantines are not warranted based on the current scientific evidence. "It doesn't make sense to put an entire country under lockdown if we don't have the need to do so from a science perspective," she said. Deputy Chief Public Health Officer Howard Njoo said it's vital to maintain a supply of goods and services across the country and every Canadian has a role to play in what can be compared to a war-time effort. "I think at the end of the day, we're all Canadians. We're not Ontarians or Quebecers, we're all on the same team, Team Canada," he said. Flights to bring home stranded travellers will prioritize people who are Canadian citizens, permanent residents of Canada, or immediate family members of Canadian citizens. Only people who show no signs of symptoms will be allowed to board, and all passengers will be told to self-isolate for 14 days after arriving in Canada. The government is working with Air Canada and other airlines to assess needs and ensure that stranded Canadians can get home at a reasonable commercial price for their ticket. Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said at today's news conference that "tens of thousands" of Canadians are registered abroad. Some want to come home, and others prefer to stay put, he said. He said the government will do what it can to help people get home, and the rest will be provided consular services. "We will continue to support Canadians the best way we can," he said. Champagne said Canadians who do want to get home should be making arrangements as quickly as possible because commercial options are becoming fewer and fewer. He also reminded travellers that the government has established a new emergency loan program where people can access up to $5,000 for a ticket or accommodations due to a price spike or an extended stay due to travel restrictions. On Twitter this morning, Champagne said he has had conversations with his counterparts in Australia, Brazil, Germany, Morocco, Peru and Turkey about "plans to facilitate the return home of nationals." Champagne said he has been given reassurance from Peru that a Canadian flight would be allowed to bring people back home, even though the Peruvian defence minister said Saturday would be the last day the country allows foreign flights. There are 4,300 Canadians registered in Peru with Global Affairs Canada, though not all of them want to travel. The government is helping to cover some of the costs for these flights, but passengers are expected to pay a reasonable commercial price. Bach Mai Hospital (Photo: VNA) The 86th patient is a 54-year-old nurse at the HIV Outpatient Clinic of the Bach Mai Hospitals Centre for Tropical Diseases. She went on a vacation with her family from Hanoi to Con Dao island in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau on March 6. They boarded flight VN7209 from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City and flight VN8059 from HCM City to Con Dao. After returning to Hanoi on March 8, the nurse went to work as usual one day later without any symptoms. On March 11, she started to feel tightness across her chest, without cough and fever, and was admitted to the Bach Mai Hospitals Heart Institute (C4) to get treatment for hypertension and tightness at her chest for four days. She was discharged from the institute on March 19. But as she was confirmed to have been in close contact with the 87th patient, she was given a COVID-19 test the same day, and the result was positive. On March 20 afternoon, her second test also showed the positive result. She is now being treated at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases No. 2 in Hanois outskirt district of Dong Anh. The 87th patient is a 34-year-old nurse who is in charge of receiving people to a quarantine area of the Bach Mai Hospital's Centre for Tropical Diseases. She exhibited symptoms like fatigue, cough and fever on March 18, and tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 at the Bach Mai Hospital. The patient was then transferred to the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases No. 2 and her second test was also positive. Inpatients currently being treated in the Bach Mai Hospitals Centre for Tropical Diseases have been transferred to the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases for further treatment. As this pandemic reigns in the world today, everyone is affected. Workers were forced to stay at home or work from home. But many workers have stopped their job because they cannot bring their work home. So employers must come up to a solution to at least address their needs. And as this is a global problem, Facebook employees are also very affected by it. It is not a secret that Facebook needs thousands of workers for it to run smoothly and cope up with the people who are using it around the world. It is somehow considered as one of the humans' necessities. Facebook is not only for communicating use, but this has become the source of information about what is happening around the globe. And because this is into the Millenials, Facebook has also become their source of income by advertising their brands and negotiating clients. READ: Use These Games to Kill Time While You're Stuck Indoors So the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, has come up with a solution and informed his employees of around 45,000 that he is going to give them a six month bonus and an additional $1,000 bonus to help them survive the Coronavirus outbreak. Each employee will get both bonuses for them to be able to supply and sustain all of their families' necessities during the lockdown and the quarantine. Facebook will also send thousands of its content moderator home, but their payment will continue. Zuckerberg said that he had come to a realization that all employees need more time to be away from work to be able to focus on the needs of their families and children. ALSO READ: Mobile Phone Sanitizers to Protect Against Coronavirus He also realized that they would need extra money to set up their home for them to be able to work at the same time to support their family. Hence the additional $1,000. The news was reported after the company's chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg announced to the public that Facebook would be investing $100 million in order to help and support small businesses in 30 countries. She also added that the company heard them and understood that they need financial support to sustain and remain under operation and can compensate their workers who cannot come to work. This effort has been labeled as the most aggressive step an American company has ever done to ease the financial problem of the coronavirus outbreak. The need to get the financial assistance to the workers is needed as soon as possible and that they are pushing this to come into reality. READ MORE: 3D-Printed Homes Offer Affordable Solution To Homelessness Because as days go by, a lot of families are getting hungry due to lack of food supply in their homes for they cannot go to the grocery store, afraid that they may be exposed to the virus and get infected, much worse they can transmit it to their loved ones. This has been a big help not just for the business owners but also for the community. They had helped lessen their burden in providing shelter and food. And these workers who are not able to work can focus on keeping their family safe. Read The Stars live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic here. This story is no longer updating. 8 p.m. The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board is recommending its 56,000 members stop holding in-person open houses during the COVID-19 pandemic. TRREB says it will suppress open houses on its websites because the practice is not conducive to social distancing. The board says the decision to hold open houses ultimately lies with the real estate brokerage, but the organization is strongly recommending they stop. 7:30 p.m. The Quebec government forbids most indoor and outdoor gatherings in its effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. 7:27 p.m.:There are 1,333 confirmed and presumptive cases in Canada. British Columbia: 426 confirmed (including 10 deaths, 6 resolved) Ontario: 377 confirmed (including 3 deaths, 6 resolved) Alberta: 226 confirmed (including 1 death) Quebec: 181 confirmed (including 5 deaths, 1 resolved) Saskatchewan: 25 confirmed, 19 presumptive Nova Scotia: 9 confirmed, 12 presumptive Manitoba: 18 confirmed, 1 presumptive New Brunswick: 7 confirmed, 10 presumptive Canadians quarantined at CFB Trenton: 13 confirmed Newfoundland and Labrador: 3 confirmed, 3 presumptive Prince Edward Island: 2 confirmed 7:15 p.m.: Alberta health officials say an enforcement plan for social distancing in the province will come next week and could involve police. This follows suit with Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan. On Friday, provincial police in Ontario warned that people will face fines for violating orders to close certain businesses and to limit gatherings. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe suggested citizens who know of anyone not self-isolating after returning from international travel should call police. In Quebec City, police arrested a woman Friday who was infected with the virus and who was walking around outside after being mandated to stay indoors. 6:00 p.m.: Health officials in Alberta believe 16 of the provinces COVID-19 cases could be the result of community transmission. Alberta is reporting 31 new cases of the disease, bringing the provinces total to 226. Of those cases, 11 people are in hospital and six are in intensive care. 3:45 p.m.: British Columbia has announced its 10th death due to COVID-19, as well as 74 new cases. B.C.s 10th death is another case related to the Lynn Valley Care Centre, a North Vancouver care home that has seen a total of nine deaths linked to the virus. 2:30 p.m.: Muskoka officials confirm a man in his 70s has died in Barrie after contracting COVID-19. Officials say he had close contact with an individual with COVID-19 who died March 11. I am urging everyone to follow social distancing recommendations and follow public health measures so that we can flatten the curve of this disease, said Dr. Charles Gardner, Simcoe Muskoka District Health Units medical officer of health. 1:58 p.m.: Quebec Premier Francois Legault says there are now 181 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the province, up from 139 yesterday. Legault also announced four new deaths, meaning theres a total of five deaths in the province. Legault says the four new deaths all came from the same seniors residence. The premier says the jump in cases was to be expected, as the province has increased its testing capacity. 1:30 p.m.: P.E.I. is asking anyone who has travelled internationally or within Canada to self-isolate for 14 days when coming to the Island. New screening measures are in place at all entry points to P.E.I. including the Confederation Bridge, ferries and airport, but the province is not closing its boundaries. The screening includes asking questions and providing information on self-isolating. P.E.I. chief public health officer Dr. Heather Morrison says there are no new cases of COVID-19 to add to the two previously reported on the Island. 1:27 p.m.: Italys tally of coronavirus cases and deaths continues to soar, with officials on Saturday announcing new day-to-day highs: 793 dead and 6,557 cases. The country, at the heart of western Europes rampaging outbreak, now counts 53,578 known cases. More than 60 per cent of the latest deaths occurred in the northern region of Lombardy, whose hospitals have been reeling under a staggering case load that has left intensive care beds hard to find and respirators in dire supply. The new increases come nearly two weeks into a national lockdown in a desperate bid to contain the contagion. 1:11 p.m.: In a news conference Ontario premier Doug Ford says the province can be the workshop for Canada in the fight against COVID-19. Premier wants manufacturers to mobilize to help fight the pandemic. The Ontario Government is launching Ontario Together, a new website that will help businesses and their employees work with the province to meet the challenges of COVID-19, they announced in a press release. This initiative will remove barriers allowing Ontarios manufacturing sector to redeploy capacity towards the production of essential equipment like ventilators, masks and swabs. 12:49 p.m.: New York is scouring the globe for desperately needed medical supplies and scouting field hospital locations in New York City and its suburbs as confirmed coronavirus cases soared above 10,000 statewide, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Saturday. The goal is to quickly boost the states hospital capacity from around 50,000 beds to 75,000 beds, Cuomo said at a news briefing. The state has already hospitalized 1,600 people due to the outbreak. 12:20 p.m.: The latest numbers of confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases in Canada: There are 1144 confirmed cases in Canada (33 presumptive, 1111 confirmed including 13 deaths, 12 resolved). Ontario: 377 confirmed (including 2 deaths, 6 resolved) British Columbia: 348 confirmed (including 9 deaths, 5 resolved) Alberta: 195 confirmed (including 1 death) Quebec: 139 confirmed (including 1 death, 1 resolved) Manitoba: 17 confirmed Saskatchewan: 8 confirmed, 18 presumptive Nova Scotia: 5 confirmed, 10 presumptive New Brunswick: 7 confirmed, 4 presumptive Canadians quarantined at CFB Trenton: 10 confirmed Newfoundland and Labrador: 3 confirmed, 1 presumptive Prince Edward Island: 2 confirmed The Territories: No confirmed cases 11:32 a.m.: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said at a press conference that The federal government is working with commercial airlines to repatriate citizens. Air Canada is set to have flights leave for countries like Peru and Spain, with the first flight leaving to Morocco this weekend. Those who return will have to isolate for 14 days, those with symptoms will not be permitted to board flights. Were asking people to stay home as much as possible ... people should be self isolating with their family members so we can all get through this and make sure we keep our health care workers safe so we can handle capacity. This includes urging Canadians to avoid all non-essential travel within the country and between provinces. 11:29 a.m.: The Northwest Territories is planning to ban non-essential travel into the territory. In a news release, the N.W.T. says chief public health officer Dr. Kami Kandola will make an order under the territorys Public Health Act effective today. Residents returning to the territory will be required to self-isolate in Yellowknife, Fort Smith, Hay River, or Inuvik. The news release says disobeying the order is punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 and six months in jail. 11:08 a.m.: York Region Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Karim Kurji confirmed a woman in her 70s has tested positive for COVID-19 at Markhaven Home For Seniors in the City of Markham. The long-term care home had been experiencing a respiratory outbreak and York Region Public Health Inspectors visited and ensured all proper protocols in place were being strictly adhered to, he said in a statement. An investigation on the source of the infection and implementation of additional measures are ongoing, Kurji said. 10:30 a.m.: Ontario is reporting 58 new cases of COVID-19, with one recovery, bringing the total confirmed cases in the province to 377, with 6 resolved and 2 deaths. All are now listed as self-isolating and one is hospitalized.There have been 23,384 people in Ontario tested for COVID-19, the latest figures show and 15,768 have tested negative for the virus. Of the 58 new positive cases announced today, at least nine were related to travel. Most of those people have a recent travel history to places such as the United States, Ecuador, the Philippines, and Europe, or they are close contacts of other confirmed cases. Of the 58 cases, 45 did not include any information about where patients were from nor how they got the virus. But 7,239 cases are still under investigation. Six patients have recovered, while two people with COVID-19 have died in Ontario. 9:57 a.m.: Australia plans an additional A$66 billion ($55 billion Cdn.) in stimulus for the coronavirus-stricken economy, including cash payments of as much as A$100,000 ($83,000 Cdn.) to small businesses, in a second package aimed at averting recession and savings jobs. The plan, to be announced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Sunday, will provide A$25.2 billion ($20 billion Cdn.) in support to businesses and not-for-profit charities. It will also partially guarantee loans to support A$40 billion ($33 billion Cdn.) in lending to small and medium-sized firms. Further details of income support measures are also expected later Sunday. The new measures dwarf the governments initial A$17.6 billion ($14 billion Cdn.) stimulus package announced on March 12. As the crisis continues and the economic impact becomes clearer, the government expects to announce a third fiscal injection. 9:49 a.m.: We will get more cases as well, Dr. Wajid Ahmed, Windsor-Essex medical officer of health told media Saturday morning after Fridays news that a man in his 60s became Windsors first case of COVID-19. The man developed symptoms March 11, one day after returning from a Caribbean cruise. The City of Windsor declared a state of emergency on Friday as a proactive measure, Ahmed said. 8:45 a.m.: The University Health Network has joined other Ontario hospitals in moving to a no visitor policy, with exceptions on compassionate grounds and special safety needs which include end of life, critical care and pediatrics. UHN announced screening is in effect at all hospital doors and some entrances may be closed or have reduced access. The new measures took effect at 12:00 a.m. Saturday. 7:52 a.m.: The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 recorded in Africa rose above 1,000 Saturday, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At least 40 of Africas 54 countries now have cases. More than 275,000 cases have been confirmed globally, including over 11,000 deaths, according to a running tally by Johns Hopkins University. At least 88,000 have recovered. 7:49 a.m.: Air raid sirens echoed across Amman, Jordan Saturday to mark the start of a three-day curfew, the latest mass lockdown in the Middle East aimed at containing the coronavirus, which has claimed another 123 lives in Iran. The latest deaths bring Irans overall toll to 1,556 amid 20,610 confirmed cases, according to figures released by the Health Ministry. Iran has faced widespread criticism for its lagging response to the outbreak, which has even infected and killed some senior officials. In one of the strictest measures yet, Jordan has ordered all shops to close and all people to stay off the streets until at least Tuesday, when it plans to announce specific times for shopping. Anyone caught violating the curfew faces up to one year in prison. 7:13 a.m.: The border between Canada and the U.S., the worlds longest undefended international border, has closed to all non-essential travel. The closure took effect Friday evening at 11:59 pm. The closure does not affect the movement of essential goods and workers, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Donald Trump have said. However, travel for tourism and recreation will not be allowed. 4:00 a.m.: The latest numbers of confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases in Canada as of 4:00 a.m. on March 21, 2020: There are a total of 1,085 cases (33 presumptive, 1,052 confirmed including 13 deaths, 11 resolved) Ontario: 318 confirmed (including 2 deaths, 5 resolved) British Columbia: 348 confirmed (including 9 deaths, 5 resolved) Alberta: 195 confirmed (including 1 death) Quebec: 139 confirmed (including 1 death, 1 resolved) Manitoba: 17 confirmed Saskatchewan: 8 confirmed, 18 presumptive New Brunswick: 7 confirmed, 4 presumptive Canadians quarantined at CFB Trenton: 10 confirmed Nova Scotia: 5 confirmed, 10 presumptive Newfoundland and Labrador: 3 confirmed, 1 presumptive Prince Edward Island: 2 confirmed The Territories: No confirmed cases 4:00 a.m.: An Air Canada flight bringing a group of Canadians home from Morocco is expected to land in Montreal today. The repatriation flight departing from Casablanca was arranged with the help of the federal government. Thousands of Canadians stranded abroad are becoming increasingly desperate as countries close borders and airlines cut flights due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more about: Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 21:57:27|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close A staff member disinfects a classroom at the No. 1 High School of Kuitun City in Kazak Autonomous Prefecture of Ili, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, March 21, 2020. Students in primary schools, senior and junior high schools and vocational colleges in Xinjiang will return to school on March 23 after a series of precautions against the COVID-19, as the coronavirus spread has been basically curbed. (Xinhua/Sadat) A debate over whether Texas regulators should intervene in a historic oil industry downturn continues to intensify while crude prices dipped as low as $19.46 Friday. The price of West Texas Intermediate settled at $22.43, with some producers are intensifying calls for the Railroad Commission of Texas, the state agency that regulates the industry, to invoke a power that has not been used in nearly 50 years to cut statewide production potentially raising prices by at least a few dollars. Parsley Energy CEO Matt Gallagher has found himself as a leader of a small group of producers asking the Railroad Commission to order the production cuts, a power the agency hasnt used since 1973, while the industry is hammered by a global oil glut and plunging demand. Were firmly in support of free markets but during wartime, such as what were experiencing with COVID-19, we have to put all the options on the table, Gallagher said. Oil &Gas: Railroad Commission considers production cuts as crude prices fall Austin-based Parsley is among those feeling the overwhelming effects of two challenges that have plunged oil to near 20-year lows. A price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia has created a global oversupply while the coronavirus pandemic has dramatically cut demand for oil industry products as millions of people around the world shelter in place to help slow the pandemic. Meanwhile, Parsley, like others in the industry, is shutting down hundreds of low-producing wells those that produce less than 15 barrels a day and that have become unprofitable over the past week as the price of crude plummeted. Any well thats actively above the cost of production, were shutting in, Gallagher said. Its an economic no-brainer. Fuel Fix: Get energy news sent directly to your inbox Texas has 143 confirmed cases of coronavirus infections with more than half in the Houston area, where tens of thousands of people are working from home to slow the transmission of the disease. Bars and nightclubs in the area remain closed while restaurants offer only take-out and delivery. Supermarkets and pharmacies remain open but many retailers have temporarily closed stores. Even as the industry faces the crushing fallout of the war against the outbreak, the Railroad Commission is led by three elected officials who describe themselves as free-market Republicans. Railroad Commission Chairman Wayne Christian and commissioner Ryan Sitton said they would listen to both sides of the debate over state-led production cuts while commissioner Christi Craddick has remained silent on the issue. In a Friday statement, Christian praised the Trump administration for issuing an auction to buy 30 million barrels of oil to refill the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve but said that he has a number of reservations about the agency using its production cuts power. First, Texas does not operate in a vacuum, Christian said. If we prorate our oil, there is no guarantee other nations, or even states, will follow suit. From a practical standpoint, the Railroad Commission has not prorated oil in over forty years. We do not have staff at the agency with experience in this process and our IT capabilities to handle this process are limited at best. Oil & Gas: Parsley Energy CEO debuts shale new deal The Railroad Commission canceled its March 31 meeting in response to the coronavirus outbreak, so the soonest the commission could discuss the issue would be at its April 21 meeting. In a tweet, Sitton said OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo invited him to attend the oil cartels general meeting in Vienna in June. In the meantime, record low crude oil prices may soon trigger a tax credit for more than 200,000 wells across Texas for the first time in four years. Under state law, there is a 4.6 percent tax on oil produced at each well, but in 2005 lawmakers created exemptions for wells producing less than 15 barrels per day when prices fall below certain levels for a prolonged period of time. The Texas Comptroller's Office manages the oil well tax exemption and is expected to issue a ruling in early April. The agency exempted more than $8 million of taxes on thousands of wells during five months at the height of the 2016 oil bust. More: Read the latest oil and gas news from HoustonChronicle.com There are more than 200,000 qualifying wells producing an estimated 580 million barrels of crude and 3 trillion cubic feet of gas in 2019, data from the Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association shows. The association supported the 2005 bill that introduced the tax exemption and supports its activation under current market conditions. The program has been an effective tool in providing relief during more extreme periods of market volatility, including many small businesses that own marginal wells in Texas, TIPRO President Ed Longanecker said. sergio.chapa@chron.com @SergioChapa on Twitter Pakistan on Saturday suspended the operations of its national flag-carrier PIA and curtailed train services as the coronavirus cases surged to 510 in the country after more pilgrims who returned from Iran tested positive for the deadly virus, which has turned into a major global crisis. The measures came a day after Prime Minister Imran Khan ruled out total lockdown but asked people to reduce unnecessary travel and go for self-quarantine for at least another 45 days to help tackle the coronavirus crisis which has killed over 11,000 people and infected 250,000 worldwide. Pakistan International Airline (PIA) said that its air operation will remain suspended from March 21 to 28 while Railway Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad ordered to reduce the number of trains running in the country from March 25 until the middle holy month of Ramadan, which would start around April 25. We have decided to suspend 34 trains out of total 142 running in the country while another eigh trains will be suspended from April 1, he said. Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan said the government might also close down all international air operations to Pakistan for all airlines. The total number of COVID-19 patients in the country rose to 510 with 267 cases in Sindh; 92 in Balochistan; 96 in Punjab; 23 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa; 21 in Gilgit-Baltistan; 10 in Islamabad; and one in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. In the worst-affected Sindh province, 15 new cases were reported on Saturday, the provincial health minister said. So far three patients have died in Pakistan while five have recovered. Pakistan reported the third casualty from the virus in Karachi on Friday, two days after two men both pilgrims returning from Iran and Saudi Arabia died of the coronavirus in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.The 70-year-old who died in Karachi was a cancer survivor. He had other medical problems like hypertension and diabetes but did not have any travel or contact history, officials said. Pakistan, despite its close proximity to China, remained unscathed by the virus until February 26 when a man from Karachi tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the Express Tribune reported. The man, in his twenties, had returned from Iran, which is also one of the worst-hit countries. After a brief pause following the first case, COVID-19 cases witnessed a sharp surge as more pilgrims returning from Iran tested positive despite the fact that they were quarantined for 14 days at the Pak-Iran border crossing of Taftan in Balochistan. Amid an imminent threat of the spread of coronavirus, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has ordered the release of under-trial prisoners detained in Rawalpindis overcrowded Adiala jail in minor crimes and directed the Islamabad police not to make arrest in petty matters, the Dawn reported. The Lahore High Court (LHC) has summoned the first meeting of its Crisis Management Committee on March 24. The government has exempted the import of 61 diagnostic support and personal protective equipment from all duties and taxes for a period of three months in order to reduce the rising prices in the domestic market. The government has also allowed the use of the non-utilised amount of the World Bank-funded projects worth USD 40 million for the purchase of COVID-19 equipment. The provincial government of Balochistan has decided to impose a 21-day partial lockdown across the province to control the spread of highly contagious disease. Under the lockdown, which is similar to the restrictions imposed by the Sindh government, all major shopping centers, markets, and food restaurants will remain closed. However, food delivery will be allowed during the lockdown. Pakistan Prime Minister Khan while addressing the media in Islamabad on Friday had said the countrys strategy is a little different from a complete lockdown, considering Pakistans socio-economic realities.Pakistan isn't a rich country like Italy, where people can get through a sustained period without economic activity," he said. In Deep Delta Justice (Little, Brown, May.), journalist Van Meter revisits an unsung victory in the battle for civil rights. What made you decide to write this book? I was taking a criminal procedure class at Columbia Law School and when we got to the right to jury trials, the professor told a version of the story of Duncan v. Louisiana, the case the book is based on. I went online to see who wrote the book about it, but it wasnt on Amazon, or in the Columbia librarythere was no book. That day I knew what I was going to do. That was almost exactly five years ago. What was the greatest challenge in writing it? The book is a little bit of a bait and switch: you come for the Supreme Court case and end up staying for the characters and the broadening context. And that was the biggest challengehow to start out. Its this junky little misdemeanor caseyou know its headed to the Supreme Court, and you think thats the whole story, but its not. The most interesting parts of the book, to me, have everything to do with the people and how they fought their battles. You interviewed people who were on both sides of the racial divide in the 1960s. Did their views of the past diverge? I think so, yes and no. The black community, quite rightly, remembers the pain of the disrespect and disenfranchisement and how hard they had to fight to win the rights that were guaranteed by the Constitution. And the white community does not have firsthand experience of that, for the most part, but they understand what was going on. There was agreement that it wasnt good. Youre sympathetic to most of the players involved, with the exception of segregationist leader Leander Perez. Have you received any criticisms that youre too kind to the white community in southeastern Louisiana? No, although I imagine I will. And I dont think theyll be exactly wrong. Its something Ive thought about. But I also know these people and I think their greatest sinas is true for so many of us who are in power, culturallywas not sticking up for what they probably, on some level, knew was right. In the realm of sins against society, I think thats one that, if we dont forgive people for it, there wont be a whole lot of people left. When it comes right down to it, the miracle of Plaquemines Parish is not how ugly it was during integration. The newspapers, particularly the black press, fully expected it to erupt into violence, but it didnt, and it ended up being this real success story, particularly after the time frame of the book. I think theres something hopeful in thatit takes more than one hateful, hardworking bigot to turn a community into a monster. As the unprecedented outbreak of deadly Coronavirus has now spread to over 180 countries, Taiwan has accused the World Health Organisation of not communicating an early caution about human-to-human transmission and slowing the drastic spread of the pandemic. Financial Times has reported on March 20 that health officials in Taipei had alerted the United Nations health agency at the end of December about the risk of the pathogen being transmitted between humans. However, the officials also said that their concerns were not passed on to other countries. According to reports, the Taiwanese doctors had learned from their colleagues in mainland China where the fatal virus was originated in December 2019 that the medical staff were falling ill from then-unnamed Coronavirus. It was the signal that the COVID-19 was being passed among humans and the WHO was made aware of the same on December 31. However, it was not communicated to other countries who later struggled to stem the spread of Coronavirus. Read - Gorakhnath Temple In UP To Remain Closed Till Mar 31 Amid Coronavirus Scare China has forbidden international organisations such as WHO, of which it is a member, to recognise Taiwan as a member in its own right. Chinese health officials later confirmed the human-to-human transmission on January 20. Taiwans Vice President Chen Chien-jen reportedly said that even though WHO gives a platform for all countries to share information on the pandemic and its response, any information presented by Taiwan was not made public. Read - Coronavirus: Updates On COVID-19 Crisis Around The World Chen further reportedly said that the UN health agency could not receive first-hand information about the Coronavirus being transmitted among human, and because it waited until it was confirmed by China, the information was delayed for rest of the world. While responding to the accusations on its actions, WHO reportedly said that it needed to have frank and open discussions on sensitive issues and it also calls for the respect of the confidentiality of those communications. Read - Coronavirus: Mom Finds Toddler Covered In Paint During Quarantine, Netizens Go ROFL China can be held legally accountable After United States President Donald Trump and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, now Israel-based attorney has said China can be 'legally held accountable' for 'cover-ups' related to Coronavirus outbreak. Trump had earlier called the COVID-19 as the Chinese Virus because it had originated from the mainland and Pompeo had blamed China, Russia and Iran for spreading misinformation about the virus. According to international media reports, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner has said that an argument can be made in a similar way it is made for terrorism which is legally actionable. According to the Israel-based attorney, any government that engages in reckless disregard and negligence and covers up an epidemic which has a potential to spread to the entire world can be held legally liable. Nitsana, who has a specialization in suing terrorist regimes and state sponsors who practice a violation of human rights on behalf of the victims, was quoted in a report by an international media outlet. Read - Ireland-Bangladesh Cricket Series Postponed Due To Coronavirus Read - Richa Chadha And Other Celebrities Seen Exploring Nature Amid The Coronavirus Crisis It is hard to remember now what it was like before the virus, the fear, the panic, the rumors. It seems like long ago, when people went to work, and later met friends for dinner. Another world. But one morning this last week I woke up with a start. The sun had risen as it usually does, and there were fluffy clouds. The headline in The Chronicle told it all: Stay home. That headline will be a collectors item someday, I thought. If there is a someday. A day or so later, I had enough of house arrest. I decided to go for a walk. Thats allowed, they said, as long as you keep away from other people. I could use the exercise and the fresh air. And besides, I wanted to see if the world was still there. So I walked up to the top of Bernal Hill, which is the center of our neighborhood. Its not much of a hill, but its important to us Bernalese, as we sometimes call ourselves. It is made of red rock radiolarian chert, formed millions of years ago, when this part of the world was at the bottom of an ancient sea. The rocks are folded in layers, like stone blankets laid on end. The rocks are easy to see where humans have cut the hill to build roads. The hill is as green as Ireland in winter and spring, and a tawny brown the rest of the year. Men are always doing something to the hill. There was a quarry on the south side once, and years ago the phone company built some kind of electronic complex on the very top. It is surrounded by a chain-link fence with razor wire topping. That doesnt stop people from going almost to the top. There is a famous view: Mount Tamalpais across the Golden Gate. Mount Diablo to the east. The Santa Cruz Mountains to the southwest. On a clear day, you can see almost forever. But the main attraction is the city itself at the foot of the hill Potrero Hill, where I grew up; the Mission District, where I went to school; the glittering towers of the new city. You have to admit, despite all the mistakes, we have built a beautiful city, especially on a spring morning. There was a brisk March breeze, but not much sound rode the wind. Normally you can hear the steady hum of the freeways. Up on the hill you could look right down the streets and see the traffic, but the streets were almost empty. The city, all cities, make sounds, like an urban roar, that you can hear even in the country when the wind is right. But San Francisco was quiet; the people were inside, hiding from the virus. I was reminded of a book I read years ago called Earth Abides, by George R. Stewart. The UC Berkeley professor wrote several acclaimed books, among them Ordeal by Hunger about the Donner Party, Storm about California storms, and Fire about California wildfires. Most of them are out of print, but Earth Abides is available on Kindle. Earth Abides is about how a killing type of virus strain suddenly arises by mutation and spreads quickly because of air travel all over the world. It kills millions of people. Only a handful survive, and one of them is a Berkeley graduate student with the unlikely name of Isherwood Williams, who tells the tale of the end of the old world and the beginning of a new one. Williams is not so much a hero as he is a survivor. With his partner, Emma, an African American woman he meets in the East Bay, he is the ancestor of a new tribe of people. He lives to a great old age and is the only one who remembers the old ways. He is the last American. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. Its science fiction, of course, 1949 style, but in Stewarts hands it is engrossing. Not just science fiction, the Boston Globe said, but among our very best novels. Much of it is set in the Bay Area, particularly Berkeley. The survivors live near the UC campus, and a big rock possibly Indian Rock in the Berkeley hills, has a particular significance to the tribe. There is no miracle cure for the virus, no dashing heroes. The electricity goes out. The dark ages were closing in, Stewart writes. All the trappings of modern life fade away. Natural forces take over, like storm and fire. There are plagues of insects and rats. The tribe has to move away from wildfires in search of fresh water. They live very much like the native people who lived here before European contact only 250 years ago. The last chapter of the book ends on the Bay Bridge, still standing but streaked with rust generations after the virus. You raise your eyes from the book and see your own landscape, imagining how it would look without humans, Graham Sleight wrote in a review of Earth Abides in Locus magazine. Stewarts title comes from the first book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament: Men come and go, but Earth abides. Carl Nolte is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cnolte@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @CarlnolteSF Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Editorial Board (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, March 21, 2020 07:59 662 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad206c57927 1 Editorial #Editorial,COVID-19,medical-practitioners,nurse,doctor,hospital,safety,infectious-diseases Free Since mid-February, Indonesias health workers, doctors and nurses, have been working overtime to treat COVID-19 cases, suspected or confirmed, braving great risks to their health as the front-liners in the battle against the new virus. They have worked in isolation rooms, in clinics, in regular hospital wards and in the morgues, sometimes without proper protection. Some handle patients wearing cheap, thin plastic raincoats modified to resemble hazmat suits. Our sources say nurses and doctors fear not only for the patients well-being, but also their own and that of their family members. After working overtime, they come home and sleep in different rooms from their loved ones for fear of spreading the virus. One source revealed one shocking fact: The current government is not being transparent, not only with the public but also with health workers. The source, who has been working as a nurse for years said that she had experienced two bad outbreaks during her career, the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and bird flu outbreaks in the early 2000s. COVID-19 is the worst, she said, because the government did not make it clear to the medical workers whether they were treating infected patients or not. During the bird flu I knew exactly which patients were confirmed positive with the disease. [] But now [] [w]e do not really know who the suspected COVID-19 patients are or who are the positive ones, said the nurse, who preferred not to reveal her name. It makes me really worried. So as a result, we are being asked to treat all of them in the ICU room as patients who have tested positive for COVID-19. When on March 12 a nurse died of COVID-19, the first known medical worker to fall victim to the virus, the government did not acknowledge her profession or, consequently, the risk Indonesian medical workers face daily amid the pandemic. In the first two months the government was busy dealing with the economic impact of the virus while dismissing the threat of the virus itself. Consequently, the government has yet to respond properly to medical workers pleas to provide them with proper equipment. Indonesian Nurses Association (PPNI) chairman Harif Fadhillah said that nurses across the nation conveyed their fears of being unprotected while treating patients with COVID-19. Harif said that while health workers must wear hazmat suits, gloves, goggles and masks when in contact with COVID-19 patients, implementation was not that easy. Worse, government spokesperson for COVID-19 Achmad Yurianto jokingly likened nurses, especially those in private hospitals, to hotel room boys, in a viral podcast with celebrity Deddy Corbuzier. Yurianto had criticized private hospitals as a business, for reportedly rejecting COVID-19 patients. President Joko Jokowi Widodo finally thanked the COVID-19 front-liners on Thursday, a week after the nurse died in Jakarta. I give my thanks and highest appreciation to doctors, nurses and all hospital workers who are working hard, full of dedication in serving the patients infected by COVID-19, he said. Yet he must do more. Protect our front-liners. Provide them with adequate equipment and ensure their working environment is safe enough for them not to fall victim to the virus. According to a tweet released on March 19, 2020, on the Official Twitter account of US Army, the US Army completed a new test of the Extended Range Cannon Artillery system (ERCA), hitting a target over 40 miles (65 km) away. The ERCA (Extended Range Cannon Artillery) itself is a massive undertaking in that everything is under development at the same time and its a platform that needs to be compatible with multiple howitzer configurations, multiple projectiles and multiple missions. Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) during trial tests. (Picture source U.S. Army) The ERCA program has been testing various components of its system for about four years. The newest component undergoing testing is a five-round limited capacity autoloader. It holds five projectiles and five propellant charges. In the past ERCA Howitzer Test Bed (HTB) systems have been built on modified M109A6 Self Propelled Howitzers. Testing of the limited capacity autoloader is being conducted from a prototype M109A7 which has been modified and integrated with the ERCA Armament System. In July 2019, U.S. Army has awarded BAE Systems $45 Million contract for Extended Range Cannon Artillery prototype. This prototype phase will address capability gaps in the Armys indirect fire systems and improve the rate and range of fire with the development of power distribution software and hardware integration solutions. ERCA will be integrated onto the M109A7 and will require the M109A7s current 39-caliber turret to be replaced with a 58-caliber, 30-foot long gun barrel with the objective of creating firepower double the current range. The development program aims to provide extended range while maintaining the weight found in current systems to minimize performance impacts on the chassis. Under separate contracts, BAE Systems is also developing precision guidance kits with anti-jamming capabilities (PGK-AJ) that can operate in the challenging ERCA firing environment. PGK-AJ is compatible with existing and new long-range rounds for multiple firing platforms, including the M109 self-propelled howitzer. Development work on ERCA Self Propelled Howitzer takes place at the Armys Picatinny Arsenal and BAE Systems facilities in York, Pennsylvania; Sterling Heights, Michigan and Minneapolis, Minnesota. South Korean stocks are expected to rebound next week on the back of monetary easing programs around the globe, although investors are still fretting over the spread of the new coronavirus, analysts said Saturday. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed at 1,566.15 points on Friday, plunging 11.5 percent from a week ago, as virus panic selling gripped the market. On Monday, Seoul shares lost ground on fears over bigger-than-expected and drawn-out economic fallout from the global spread of the novel coronavirus despite the U.S. Federal Reserve's unexpected rate cut. On Sunday (local time), the Fed trimmed its key rate by 1 percentage point to a range of zero to 0.25 percent and rolled out a quantitative easing program worth $700 billion. Investors, however, were apparently more concerned about further economic jitters from the COVID-19 outbreak. The South Korean market continued to lose ground throughout the week as a panicky selling spree eclipsed stimulus packages released around the globe. On Thursday, South Korean stocks extended their free fall to a seventh consecutive session to hit their lowest level in almost 11 years. The market managed to rebound by more than 7 percent on Friday buoyed by Washington's currency swap lines with nine economies around the globe, including Seoul. Seoul and Washington have signed a $60 billion bilateral currency swap agreement in a move expected to relieve a liquidity crunch caused by the global spread of the new coronavirus. Foreigners offloaded a net 3.38 trillion won this week, while retail investors scooped up a net 2.8 trillion won. Institutions bought a net 86.8 billion won. Next week, analysts said the market is expected to rebound, with the benchmark index tipped to touch the 1,600-point threshold. But virus angst may grip investor sentiment. "The monetary easing from the Fed is a positive factor for the market, but the U.S. dollar's strength is expected to weigh down on growth," Kim Byung-yeon, an analyst at NH Investment & Securities Co., said. The Korean won closed at 1,246.50 won against the U.S. dollar on Friday, up 39.20 won from the previous session, when it closed at an 11-year low. This week, nearly all segments lost ground, including tech, cars and chemicals. (Yonhap) The announcement of health emergency measures followed by a lockdown triggered a wave of panic buying in Moroccan supermarkets on Friday as citizens rushed to buy more than needed in terms of food and gas. The government reassured that there was no need for such a shopping spree and that the country has enough reserves for the upcoming months. Industry and Trade Minister Moulay Hafid EL Alami said that the logistics chain in Morocco is uninterrupted and that reserves cover Moroccos needs for up to six months including Ramadan where demand is usually high. He said the government watches the market closely to avert any speculation and sanction any speculators who attempt at taking advantage of the high demand on goods in these exceptional times. The government also allowed farm product producers to sell directly to vendors in different markets without going through wholesale, a measure that would bring down prices and avert speculation as well as gain time for goods to reach citizens. The agricultural ministry had issued a statement last week saying that farm products produced in Morocco more than cover domestic consumption needs in terms of fruits and vegetables. In terms of gas, Morocco has enough cooking gas to cover needs of Moroccan households for the next 40 days and more supply is on its way to the country, energy minister Aziz Rebbah said. National electricity agency ONEE said that supply is steady as Morocco last year exported surplus to Spain. The Delhi government will conduct all its press conferences online to protect journalists from the coronavirus pandemic which has claimed one life and infected 20 others in the national capital. "All Delhi Govt. press conferences will be conducted digitally now. It's very important that all journalists, who are on the forefront of our battle against Corona, also protect themselves as they are in a high exposure environment," Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted. Kejriwal will brief the media on the threat at 4 pm Saturday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) By Bart Biesemans and Jeremy Audouard WICHELEN, Belgium (Reuters) - A Belgian distillery has switched from producing gin to disinfectants after medical authorities sought additional supplies to cope with coronavirus spreading in the country. The Belgian government said on Friday it would provide 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) urgently to help hospitals face the crisis, with 2,257 cases confirmed so far and 37 deaths recorded. In the town of Wichelen, the Rubbens distillery decided to play its part: it started treating the alcohol that normally goes into gin and genever - a juniper-flavoured liquor - with ether, producing a disinfectant liquid for hands and surfaces By Bart Biesemans and Jeremy Audouard WICHELEN, Belgium (Reuters) - A Belgian distillery has switched from producing gin to disinfectants after medical authorities sought additional supplies to cope with coronavirus spreading in the country. The Belgian government said on Friday it would provide 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) urgently to help hospitals face the crisis, with 2,257 cases confirmed so far and 37 deaths recorded. In the town of Wichelen, the Rubbens distillery decided to play its part: it started treating the alcohol that normally goes into gin and genever - a juniper-flavoured liquor - with ether, producing a disinfectant liquid for hands and surfaces. "Hospitals started calling us to ask if we had alcohol," said the company's manager, Hendrik Beck. "Last week, we were bottling gin. Now, we're filling up disinfectant alcohol. It's pretty unreal for us, but we are happy to help out people." Rubbens normally produces around 4,000 litres of liquors a day - now, it's 10,000 litres of the disinfectant instead. As the country went into a lockdown to try contain the disease, Beck said the distillery was among the many businesses hit, and selling the newly made liquid went only some way to offset the damage. "Our company is suffering economic losses - our bar and restaurant are closed, and our clients are also affected a lot," he said. "We can compensate for this a bit now, but we wouldn't want anything else but for everything to go back to normal." The Belgians are not alone. LVMH, the conglomerate behind Louis Vuitton, has said perfume factories in France, which normally turn out fragrances and cosmetics for Christian Dior, Guerlain and Givenchy, would start producing sanitiser gel to be distributed free to hospitals and health workers. (Writing by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Giles Elgood) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Women radio hams majority in LABRE-MA board LABRE MA, the amateur radio society in the Brazilian state of Maranhao, has announced its new board, the majority of whom are women A translation of the announcement on the LABRE site reads: I don't remember seeing a board with its majority formed from YL. Congratulations and our best wishes for success. According to the election held on March 6, 2020, at the headquarters of LABRE / MA, the following were elected for the 2020/2022 biennium, as follows: Chief Executive Officer: Alcy PU8MAF Vice-President: Ana PR8ANA Chairman of the Board: Erinet PR8MEF Vice-Chairman of the Board : Maria da Gloria PR8GL Social Director: Inglide PU8MIN Administrative Director: Jheniffer PU8OJC Council Secretary: Ely PU8OES Financial Director: Lima PR8DX We invite everyone to visit our website www.labre-ma.org.br there you will find all the other directors. Jheniffer - Inglide - Gloria - Erinet - Ana and Alcy Source LABRE https://tinyurl.com/BrazilLABRE Argentina went into full lockdown mode on Friday, with streets in Buenos Aires largely deserted, while workers and school kids in the capital logged on remotely to offices, classrooms and even digital dancing lessons, after a mandatory quarantine was imposed. On Thursday President Alberto Fernandez announced the isolation measure to keep all but essential workers in their homes until the end of March in what he called a fight against an invisible enemy to save lives. In the face of this crisis there is no place for individualistic attitudes, we need to maintain social distancing by avoiding leaving our homes Faced with this threat, we are all responsible. Our destinies depends on each other. Argentina has so far registered 128 confirmed cases and three deaths of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus. The government has shut borders to non-residents, restricted long-distance domestic travel and curtailed large events. NTD refers to the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19, as the CCP virus because the Chinese Communist Partys coverup and mismanagement allowed the virus to spread throughout China and create a global pandemic. In the capital few cars circulated with some buses running to allow people involved in essential sectors including health care and food to get around. Some small shops were open for groceries and medicines. Geraldine Cunto, 38, a television executive at the citys famous Hipodromo race track, said she had moved in with her parents, both 73, when Fernandez announced the quarantine. This is the house I grew up in, so last night when the quarantine countdown was on, they asked me to please be with them. I packed my things and left immediately to what feels like going back 25 years in time, Cunto said. Living under the same roof for the first time in years had so far been an interesting experience. My mom probably cleaned the house 100 times in 10 hours and will have to understand the concept of relaxing! she said. The lockdown was a shock for others. I spend much of the day outside normally. From here to a week without leaving it will affect me a lot, said 36-year-old lawyer Gonzalo Miri. It totally changes my routine. Alejo Ortega, a 44-year-old business development consultant, said he was already struggling to juggle helping noisy kids with digital homework, cooking for the family, dealing with bumpy internet connections and focusing on his day job. Monica Tepfer, a 37-year-old lawyer, said however she had all the tools to maintain in part her normal life. Yesterday I took a digital class from my masters degree and today I even had my dance lesson online. By Nicolas Misculin, Eliana Raszewski, Cassandra Garrison, Maximilian Heath, and Walter Bianchi NTD staff contributed to this report. PALA ALTO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / March 20, 2020 / ADARA, the world's travel data co-op and leading provider of traveler intelligence, today announced a new upward trend in data relating to China travel. China was the first global market that was impacted by COVID-19, and travel both to and from China started declining beginning in mid-January. ADARA analyzed anonymized behavior of travelers on air and hotel bookings for 2020 year to date, and has found that there are promising signs for a rebound in flights to and from China depending on the trajectory of the pandemic. Travel to China: The number of global unique travelers searching for flights to China ("searchers") declined during three weeks in February to only one third the number of searchers that we saw in early January. In the past two weeks ADARA has seen an uptick in the number of searchers. Global unique searches were up +29% for the week of March 8 compared to the week of March 1st. The number of total searches follows a similar pattern. The total number of searches for flights to China is currently 55% of the volume of searches seen the week of January 5th, up from a low of 34% in mid-February. The average number of searches per searcher has increased in the past month, with an average of 5-6 searches per unique searcher. Global flights being booked to destinations within China are also rebounding, but at a slower pace. They are currently at about 30% of the level of flights that were booked to China in early January. Based on February 2020 data, time from initial flight search to booking data is an average of 13 days, so ADARA expects that this trend will continue upward. Those who have booked flights to China in the past several weeks are purchasing tickets with shorter booking windows. 58% of flights purchased were with a 0-15 day advanced booking window vs. only 38% of flights in early January. In addition, the percentage of flights booked for business travel has almost doubled since pre-COVID 19 levels (38% vs. 20% in early January). As the Chinese government ramps up its efforts to boost the economy, these shorter booking windows and increased flights for business travel are expected. Chinese Travel Bookers: Flight bookings from travelers in China have yet to rebound, but ADARA has seen a small uptick in the number of flight searches from Chinese travelers. "We are seeing subtle but meaningful changes across flight bookings and searches for China travel. While it is too early to predict any long term patterns, these insights serve to help travel brands better understand how quickly the market shifts as the Coronavirus evolves," said Carolyn Corda, CMO at ADARA For frequent data updates and insights and to get alerts on the impacts of COVID-19 please go to The ADARA COVID-19 Resource Center About ADARA ADARA enables consumer brands to make better decisions by delivering critical customer intelligence on intent, spend and value linked to an identity graph. We apply our proprietary machine learning and AI capabilities to ethically-sourced and ethically-deployed data from over 270 global data partners. ADARA drives how our clients personalize interactions with their customers at every stage of the lifecycle optimizing the revenue potential of each individual. CONTACT: Emily Riley WIT Strategy 914-330-1128 eriley@witstrategy.com SOURCE: ADARA View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/581870/Adara-Covid-19-Resource-Center-Finds-Upward-Trends-From-Travel-to-China Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ni Komang Erviani (The Jakarta Post) Denpasar Sat, March 21, 2020 12:27 662 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad206c6a1f9 1 National Bali-tourism,COVID-19,French,tourism Free Balinese authorities have confirmed that a French national who died on the resort island six days ago tested positive for COVID-19 post-mortem. His body was found on top of a motorcycle on a sidewalk on Jl. Imam Bonjol in Denpasar on Sunday. It was the foreign national who was found on Jl. Imam Bonjol, Sanglah Hospital official I Ketut Sudartana told The Jakarta Post on Saturday . It was confirmed after a PCR [polymerase chain reaction] test that he was coronavirus-positive. It was initially thought that the 72-year-man had a seizure and died of a heart attack. His body was recovered by medical workers wearing hazmat suits. We are now communicating with the [French] consulate general regarding his cremation, the head of Bali's COVID-19 taskforce, Dewa Made Indra, said, adding that the consulate would contact his family. Reports of the circumstances of the French nationals death came amid concerns that Bali has been underreporting COVID-19 cases. As of Friday, Bali reported only four confirmed cases, none of which were cases of local transmission, officials said. The first case was a British national who died at Sanglah Hospital. Like the French national, she was confirmed to have had the coronavirus after her death. The other two cases are Balinese residents who returned from Italy and Jakarta, two regions that are struggling to contain the virus. Experts have said that the low number of cases was scientifically odd. Bali has been hit hard by the global pandemic, which has hurt global tourism. However, the resort island only decided to close its tourist sites yesterday after an instruction from the central government. It also decided to limit congregational rituals for Nyepi (Day of Silence). (mfp) Editor's note: The article has been updated to correct the attribution of the first direct quote. By Philip Giraldi March 20, 2020 " Information Clearing House " - Now that the Democratic Party has apparently succeeded in getting rid of the only two voices among its presidential candidates that actually deviated from the establishment consensus, it appears that Joe Biden will be running against Donald Trump in November. To be sure, Bernie Sanders and Tulsi Gabbard are still hanging on, but the fix was in and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) made sure that Sanders would be given the death blow on Super Tuesday while Gabbard would be blocked from participating in any of the late term debates. It is widely believed that the abrupt withdrawal of candidates Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg on the eve of Super Tuesday that targeted Sanders was arranged through an intervention by ex-President Barack Obama who made a plea in support of party unity, offering the two a significant quid pro quo down the road if they were willing to leave the race and throw their support to Biden, which they dutifully did. Rumor has it that Klobuchar might well wind up as Bidens vice president. An alternative tale is that it was a much more threatening offer that couldnt be refused coming from the Clintons. Tulsi meanwhile was marginalized after being smeared by Hillary Clintons claim that she was a Russian asset being groomed by the Kremlin. She was then denied her rightful place in the March 15th debate by a sudden and unexpected rules change in the format which was deliberately designed to exclude her. So much for the internal democracy of the so-called Democratic Party. Now that the line-up for November seems set, the discussion has moved to specific policy issues. Foreign policy did not play much of a part in the Democratic Party debates, but it is expected to be more visible in the presidential race, particularly in light of some of the more visible blunders committed by Donald Trump and his associates. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter The latest mistake by the White House, the January 3rd airstrike in Iraq that killed Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani and eight Iraqi associates is still resonating, having just last week produced an attack on a U.S. base that killed two American and one British soldiers, followed by a retaliatory bombing by U.S. forces directed against Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah, which is reported to be supported by Iran but has also been integrated into the Iraqi armed forces. The U.S. unilateral action is taking place without Baghdads consent and in spite of Iraqi government demands that Washington close its bases and withdraw its remaining troops, numbering approximately 5,000. Ironically, killing Soleimani and the consequences is unlikely to be a theme picked up on by the genial but muddled Biden as both major parties are firmly in the grip of the Israel Lobby and are unlikely to complain about killing a senior Iranian official. Nor will the next president, whoever he is, reverse the disastrous Trump decision and rejoin the JCPOA agreement of 2015 which was intended to monitor Irans civilian use nuclear program. Both Trump and Biden might reasonably described as Zionists, Trump by virtue of the made-in-Israel foreign policy positions he has delivered on since his election, and Biden by word and deed during his entire time in politics. When Biden encountered Sarah Palin in 2008 in the vice-presidential debate, he and Palin sought to outdo each other in enthusing over how much they love the Jewish state. Biden has said that I am a Zionist. You dont have to be a Jew to be a Zionist and also, ridiculously, Were there not an Israel, the U.S. would have to invent one. We will never abandon Israel out of our own self-interest. [It] is the best $3 billion investment we make. Biden has been a regular feature speaker at the annual AIPAC summit in Washington. Trump might be described as both paranoid and narcissistic, meaning that he sees himself as surrounded by enemies and that the enemies are out to get him personally. When he is criticized, he either ridicules the source or does something impulsive to deflect what is being said. He attacked Syria twice based on false claims about the use of chemical weapons when a consensus developed in the media and in congress that he was being weak in the Middle East. Those attacks were war crimes as Syria was not threatening the United States. Trump similarly reversed himself on withdrawing from Syria when he ran into criticism of the move and his plan to extricate the United States from Afghanistan, if it develops at all, could easily be subjected to similar revision. Trump is not really the man who as a candidate indicated that he was seriously looking for a way out of Americas endless and pointless wars, no matter what his supporters continue to assert. Biden is on a different track in that he is an establishment hawk. As head of the Senate Foreign Affairs committee back in 2002-2003 he green lighted George W. Bushs plan to attack Iraq. Beyond that, he cheer-leaded the effort from the Democratic Party benches, helping to create a consensus both in Washington and in the media that Saddam Hussein was a threat that had to be dealt with. He should have known better as he was privy to intelligence that was suggesting that the Iraqis were no threat at all. He did not moderate his tune on Iraq until after 2005, when the expected slam-dunk quick victory got very messy. Biden was also certainly privy to the decision making by President Barack Obama, which include the destruction of Libya and the killing of American citizens by drone. Whether he actively supported those policies is unknown, but he has never been challenged on them. What is clear is that he did not object to them, another sign of his willingness to go along with the establishment, a tendency which will undoubtedly continue if he is elected president. And Bidens foreign policy reminiscences are is subject to what appear to be memory losses or inability to articulate, illustrated by a whole series of faux pas during the campaign. He has a number of times told a tale of his heroism in Afghanistan that is complete fiction, similar to Hillary Clintons lying claims of courage under fire in Bosnia. So, we have a president in place who takes foreign policy personally in that his first thoughts are how does it make me look? and a prospective challenger who appears to be suffering from initial stages of dementia and who has always been relied upon to support the establishment line, whatever it might be. Though Trump is the more dangerous of the two as he is both unpredictable and irrational, the likelihood is that Biden will be guided by the Clintons and Obamas. To put it another way, no matter who is president the likelihood that the United States will change direction to get away from its interventionism and bullying on a global scale is virtually nonexistent. At least until the money runs out. Or to express it as a friend of mine does, No matter who is elected we Americans wind up getting John McCain. Goodnight America! Delivering military warships is a national need that is unwavering and crucial to national security and requires Mobile-based Austal USAs employees during the COVID-19 pandemic, a high-ranking Navy official said Thursday. Assistant Secretary to the Navy James Geurts, in a letter to Austal President Craig Perciavalle, instructed the company to inform the Navy of problems that might arise while the company continues building ships at its Mobile-based facility. The company employs around 4,000 people and builds its warships in a facility located across the Mobile River from downtown Mobile. Given the missions essential functions you perform, while ensuring the safety and well-being of the workforce, I cannot stress enough the importance of accomplishing the missions, and notifying the government of any impediments that are considered likely to interfere with timely accomplishment of this missions, Geurts wrote. He said he the Navy understands the coronavirus pandemic presents a challenge and that the military branch is dedicated to working closely with Austal to ensure workforce safety. Craig Savage, a spokesman with Austal USA in Mobile, said the company has six ships under various phases of construction. He said that the company is adhering to the strict safety guidelines from Centers of Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization by taking significant steps to distance the workforce for large gatherings. Austal USAs primary concern is the health and well-being of our workforce, said Savage. Austal remains open and operating under close care. He said the companys precautions include travel restrictions for non-essential employees, review of recently traveled employees, comprehensive facility sanitization, social-distancing, and moving to virtual meetings whenever practical. Were continuing to monitor developments and updating our response accordingly, Savage said. Austal, as a defense industry contractor is considered an essential critical infrastructure employer, as defined by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Other industries considered critical include medical and health care, food and agriculture, telecommunications, information technology systems, transportation and logistics, energy, water and wastewater, law enforcement and public works. Follow our live updates. Find all of our coronavirus stories. A continuously updated vital information post. A free text-messaging service so you can receive the most urgent coronavirus updates on your cellphone. And ask questions. To sign up, subscribe to Alabama Coronavirus Urgent Alerts. A new weekday newsletter is available. You can subscribe here. Also, download our mobile app where you can receive on-the-go notifications. The task force has compared the need for ventilators, masks and other protective equipment against the current supply and knows the nation is far short, the people said. More discussion and efforts to boost supply are expected this weekend. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has guidance on its website for how hospitals can stretch out the use of equipment such as eye protections, gowns and masks. Peter Helliar has many titles - working as a TV personality, writer, director, stand-up comedian, author, podcast creator and radio host, as well as being a family man. So, it is no surprise the multi-talented 44-year-old felt he almost suffered 'burnout' last year, after attempting to juggling his commitments for too long. The Network 10 star admitted to Stellar there were drawbacks to being in demand. 'I was exhausted': The Project co-host Peter Helliar (pictured) revealed how he nearly suffered 'burnout' last year 'I was exhausted and as close to burnout as I'd ever been,' he told the publication. Peter isn't slowing down any time soon though, having a jam-packed schedule ahead of him in 2020. 'Yeah, there's a bit going on,' he said, listing off his timetable for the next three months - including a national comedy took and two book releases. Many hats: Peter Helliar works as a TV personality, writer, director, stand-up comedian, author, podcast creator and radio host and is a family man. Pictured on The Project with Lizzo His side ventures are squeezed around his 'regular job', co-hosting The Project alongside Waleed Aly and Carrie Bickmore. Aside from his co-hosting duties, Peter made guest appearances on Hughesy, We Have a Problem, and on stage at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. During his time off from the popular talk show, Peter started filming season two of How to Stay Married, with co-star Lisa McCune. No surprise: The multi-talented 44-year-old felt he almost suffered 'burnout' last year, after attempting to juggling his commitments for too long But despite sounding like some people's worst nightmare, Peter revealed the busy schedule was what he always wanted as a career. 'I always envisaged or dreamt of having a career that wasn't just about one thing. I've liked the idea of being challenged by different things.' Peter first rose to fame alongside Rove McManus' titular show Rove Live, which ran from 1999 to 2009. ALBANY Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Saturday said the spread of coronavirus is continuing and that New York has more cases of COVID-19, the infectious disease caused by the virus, than any state and nearly half of the cases in the nation. "The number of new cases is only reflective of the number of cases you are (testing)," Cuomo said at the Capitol. "We're actually looking for positives. The more tests you take the more positives you will find." But the governor said the rate of infection in Westchester County, which has been a hotspot in New York for the infectious disease, "is now slowing and that's very good news." There were 294 new cases in Westchester County overnight Friday, pushing the total number of cases in that county to 1,385. In another positive sign, Cuomo said, the rate of hospitalizations in New York is down to about 15 percent, with 1,603 people hospitalized. Still, the rate of confirmed cases is surging in New York and prompted the state Department of Motor Vehicles on Saturday evening to order all of its state and county offices to shut down. "To ensure there are no unintended consequences for New Yorkers who are not able to visit the DMV during the closure, any driver license, non-driver ID or registration set to expire on or after March 1, 2020 will be extended until further notice," the agency said in a notification. "The current 45-day temporary vehicle registration issued by auto dealers will also be extended. This extension does not apply to insurance coverage requirements." New York's 10,356 cases at 11 a.m. Saturday far exceeds other states, including California (1,402) and Washington (1,261). Most counties in New York have confirmed cases, with Oswego and Steuben counties reporting their first cases overnight. By late Saturday afternoon, New York's confirmed cases had swelled to 11,645, with 56 deaths. The high rate of confirmed cases, Cuomo said, is due in part to New York having conducted 45,000 tests more than any other state and more per capita than South Korea and China. California has conducted 23,200 tests and Washington 23,343. "I believe it is going to be a matter of months, but, we are going to get through it," Cuomo said. "A crisis really brings out the truth about ourselves, first of all, and about others. You see society's strengths and you see society's weaknesses ... both the beauty and the vulnerability." The state is working aggressively with federal officials to become a test site for off-label trials of certain drugs, hydroxycholoroquine and Zithromax, that are showing promising results in people afflicted with COVID-19. The Food and Drug Administration is accelerating the distribution of 10,000 doses of those drugs to New York, Cuomo said. LATEST ON THE CORONAVIRUS Here are the latest cancellations and postponements. For a detailed map, check out The Times Unions New York Coronavirus Tracker To get regular updates on our coverage, sign up for our coronavirus newsletter. The state has also purchased 6,000 more ventilators from "around the globe" that will be delivered in the coming weeks, Cuomo said, and many of those will be delivered to hospitals in New York City and Long Island. The sprawling Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on Eleventh Avenue in Manhattan is being eyed as a location to house four federal field hospitals, which can hold 250 patients each, and an Army Corps of Engineers mobile hospital. The effort is to increase the number of New York's hospital beds from roughly 53,000 to more than 75,000. Elective surgeries have been ordered suspended to help free up hospital beds, and the rate of flu in New York may be slowing, which has also resulted in hospitalizations. Several universities and other downstate facilities also are being considered as locations for makeshift hospitals, and Cuomo said he is scheduled to visit those sites on Saturday afternoon, including SUNY Stony Brook and the Westchester County Convention Center. The state is sending 1 million N95 respirator masks to New York City health facilities, and another 500,000 to Long Island, but the governor said it will not be enough. Cuomo said that he has not been tested for the virus. "Because I have not been exposed to anyone who is positive," he said. "I don't have a fever; I don't have any symptoms and I don't want to waste a test." This week, a member of Cuomo's press staff who had been at the Capitol tested positive for the virus and is in quarantine. The governor said he is also planning to visit a New York City park on Saturday afternoon because he wants to view the situation where many people, especially young people, are ignoring social distancing directives and congregating in crowd situations. "We do have an issue with younger poeple who are not complying," he said. "It has not gotten better. You can have your own opinion, you cannot have your own facts." The governor said that 54 percent of the people infected in New York are between the ages of 18 and 49. "There is a significant amount of non-compliance, especially in New York City, especially in the parks," he said. "It has to be stopped because you are endangering people. ... This is a public health crisis and you cannot be endangering other people's health." It is estimated that worldwide between 40 and 80 percent of the population could be infected with coronavirus. Cuomo said the challenge is to slow the spread so that medical facilities are not overwhelmed. "I understand there is anxiety and stress but ... society functions, everything works, there's going to be food in the grocery stores," he said. "There's no reason to buy a hundred rolls of toilet paper .... and by the way, where do you put 100 rolls of toilet paper?" Cuomo on Friday ordered all employees of "non-essential" businesses to stay home, an edict that goes into effect Sunday. Essential businesses that will remain open include grocery, convenience and liquor stores, as well as banks, farmer's markets, beverage stores, gas stations, pharmacies, home-improvement and hardware stores, auto repair shops and medical offices. A complete list of the business restrictions can be found here. Cuomo as well as neighboring governors Phil Murphy of New Jersey, Ned Lamont of Connecticut and Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania also ordered barbershops, hair salons, tattoo or piercing parlors, nail salons, hair removal services and other personal care businesses to close after 8 p.m. Saturday. Delaware has also joined the multi-state cooperative agreement, Cuomo said. Indoor malls, restaurants, bars and other businesses that attract crowds were directed this week to close until further notice. Many restaurants are still delivering food and providing take-out orders. State Health Department Commissioner Howard Zucker said the New York deaths have been "primarily senior citizens." Nationwide, the rate of fatalities is about 1.4 percent for those who contract the infectious disease, far below the fatality rate in many other hard-hit nations including Iran and Italy. Lionel Messi (33 years old in June), Luis Suarez (33), Sergio Busquets (32 in July) and Gerard Pique (33) are beginning to enter the final years of their playing careers. It was Suarez himself whod warned Barcelona about the situation, urging the club to sign a replacement for him last year. All four players are hard to replace; just look at the problems Barcelona have had in merely trying to find a partner for Pique in defence. Clement Lenglet is the only centre-back whos fitted in well alongside the defender, while there are doubts over Samuel Umtiti. Yerry Mina wasnt the answer either and Jean-Clair Todibo is in the Bundesliga trying to gain some experience, although Schalke do have the option to buy him. As for the midfield, Frenkie de Jong is the natural successor to Busquets in the holding role, with the Dutchman currently having to make do with a more advanced position. Meanwhile, Barcelona know they must sign a replacement for an ageing, injury-prone Suarez up top. Its replacing Messi that is going to be the problem, logically. Youre not going to find another player like him but, realistically, Neymar is probably the next best thing. The Blaugrana still have time to re-sign the Brazilian as Messi comes into his final seasons at the Camp Nou. PV: 0 Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, March 21, 2020 09:03 662 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad206c5f154 1 National Friday-prayer,COVID-19,penyakit,novel-coronavirus,coronavirus,virus,mosque,masjid,Jakarta-administration,health,pandemic,outbreak Free The Jami' Ar-Rahmah mosque located in East Tebet subdistrict in Tebet, South Jakarta, insisted on gathering dozens of local residents for Friday prayer, even though the subdistrict had one confirmed case COVID-19. Friday prayer is obligatory for Muslim men in place of zuhur (daily midday prayer). It is also accompanied by a mandatory sermon that can last up to 45 minutes. The mosque also went against an Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) fatwa issued on Monday that called on Muslims to pray at home and avoid congregating in areas where COVID-19 had spread uncontrollably, including skipping Friday prayers in those areas until the situation returns to normal. Ahmad, a 35-year-old caretaker of the Jami Ar-Rahmah Mosque said the Indonesian Mosque Council and the subdistricts office had approved the Friday prayer, adding that the mosque had been cleaned and sprayed with disinfected beforehand. The people were eager to attend Friday prayer, so we still held it, Ahmad told The Jakarta Post on Friday. Jami Ar-Rahmah was one of the many mosques still compelled to hold Friday prayer despite the ulema councils warning. Caretakers of the Great Al Azhom mosque in Tangerang, Banten, said the mosque still held Friday prayer with a shorter sermon than usual while also advising people to bring their own prayer mats. Because as of now, Tangerang is not a red zone. So, we chose to still have Friday prayer, Chaerudin said on Friday as quoted by kompas.com, adding that the mosque had already been disinfected and people attending the prayer would have their temperatures checked. Tribunnews.com reported on locals and authorities from Lampung, Bangka Belitung and Riau provinces choosing to disinfect their mosques and conducting the weekly prayer. The Great Mosque of Palembang in South Sumatra even gave out pamphlets containing information about COVID-19 to attendees. Indonesia has reported 369 positive COVID-19 cases with 32 fatalities as of Friday. Al Azhar Mosque in South Jakarta also went ahead with the weekly event. Some mosques have chosen to heed the MUIs warning and canceled Friday prayer, including prominent ones such Istiqlal Grand Mosque, Sunda Kelapa Mosque and Baiturrahim Mosque in the State Palace compound, all in Central Jakarta. In addition to the MUI fatwa, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan also announced on Thursday that the city would limit Friday prayer and all other mass religious activities for the next two weeks after a discussion with the Jakarta Religious Harmony Forum and all religious leaders in the capital. With 210 cases, Jakarta has the highest number of COVID-19 infections from the 17 provinces that have reported the disease. "We agreed to suspend all communal worship activities for two weeks. We urge people to pray at home during this time," Anies said during a press briefing at City Hall on Thursday. After the administrations warning, Istiqlal Mosque agreed to suspend Friday prayer for two weeks after insisting on holding the event. Istiqlal high imam Nasaruddin Umar also advised Muslims across the country to avoid all forms of congregational prayers during the pandemic. We are strongly encouraged to prevent everything that is harmful, he added. Preventing harm is more important than pursuing benefits. (mfp) The Telangana government on Saturday constituted a committee of experts to study the measures needed to control incidence of coronavirus in the state and to suggest steps based on successful models from the world over. Members of the committee include Rakesh K Mishra, Director of Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, B Karunakar Reddy, Vice Chancellor of Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences (KNRUHS), Warangal; S Chandrashekhar , Director of Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), Hyderabad, T Gangadhar, Professor in Nizams Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS), Hyderabad and Balaji Utla, Former Founder, CEO, HMRI (Health Management and Research Institute), according to a Memo issued by Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar. The committee shall study the measures taken by various countries in the world and suggest steps to the state government to control the disease based on successful models from all over the world, it said. State Health Minister E Rajender held a meeting with the expert committee, official sources said. The minister called for alertness as the first case of a man, a city resident, being infected after coming in contact with a foreign-returned person who tested positive earlier, has been reported in the state on Saturday, the sources said. With two fresh cases being reported on Saturday, the number of positive cases reported till date in Telangana rose to 21. Separately, The Epidemic Diseases Act 1897, was invoked in Telangana on Saturday. In exercise of the powers conferred under the Act, the state government framed certain regulations to prevent the spread of the virus. The regulations include empowering the Director of Public Health, all district collectors, commissioners of police, district superintendent of police and certain other officials to take such measures as may be necessary to prevent the outbreak of COVID-19. The regulations, called 'The Telangana Epidemic Diseases (COVID-19) Regulations, 2020, shall come into force immediately and remain valid for a period of one year, according to a Government Order issued by Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Dewaina Scafidi, a hairstylist at Matisse & Picasso Salon in Happy Valley, tried to take every precaution possible to protect her clients from the novel coronavirus. She took her temperature each morning, distanced herself from other stylists in the salon, used hospital-grade disinfectant to clean surfaces in between appointments, provided every client with a fresh cape and asked anyone exhibiting signs of illness to stay home. But ultimately she felt those measures werent enough. After seeing a customer Wednesday morning, she informed the rest of her clients that she would be canceling all future appointments. It felt like it was too much of a risk, Scafidi said. Youre within just feet of your clients face. Its not a situation where you can practice social distancing I felt like as long as you let people keep coming, they will because they think their hair is that important. I had to shut it down. Oregon service workers whose jobs require them to work closely with clients are facing tough choices amid the coronavirus pandemic. Governors in other states, including Washington, California, and New York, have mandated that non-essential businesses, such as hair and nail salons, tattoo parlors and gyms, close to stem the coronavirus outbreak. But Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has suggested -- not mandated -- that businesses close if they cannot serve customers in a way that minimizes interpersonal contact, forcing workers to choose between the potential health and safety of themselves and their clients and their own livelihood. Businesses that work with clients dealing with medical issues, including physical therapists, face particularly hard choices as they balance the need to social distance with the health and well-being of their patients. Joshua Kernen, a physical therapist and co-owner of Bridgetown Physical Therapy & Training Studio, said that his clinic remains open at this point, but is limiting appointments to patients that need immediate care and is planning to transition to a fully online platform through telehealth by next week. Kernen said the biggest obstacle he was facing in moving services online was that many private insurance companies werent yet covering telehealth appointments in the same way that they covered in-person appointments. Medicare and other insurance providers have changed their protocols amid the coronavirus outbreak and California mandated earlier this week that health plans reimburse providers at the same rate, whether a service is provided in-person or through telehealth. Kernen is pushing for Brown to institute a similar mandate, so that he can provide online services to patients in need without putting a greater financial burden on the patients or his office. Right now, we support patients over the age of 65, Kernen said. We support people that are immunocompromised, like people recovering from cancer. Were trying to create that social distancing through telehealth for those patients who we can communicate with over the phone or through a portal, so we can have contact with them and guide them through their treatments during this time that we cant see them in-person. Service workers in other industries are risking tremendous financial hardship by shutting down amid the coronavirus outbreak to protect the health and safety of their customers. Jose Estrada, the owner of Primo Barbershop in Keizer, closed his shop this week after determining that he could not safely operate given recommendations that people maintain a three- to six-foot distance amid the outbreak. While Estrada is worried about his own financial situation and continuing to pay the lease on the barbershop, he is more worried about the hairdressers that work in his shop, all of whom are independent contractors and dont qualify for unemployment insurance benefits at this time. They just had to go home, like that, Estrada said. They cant file for unemployment. Its horrible. Its really bad. Ive contacted so many people trying to find out what we can do for them -- the governor, the mayors of Keizer and Salem. So, far theyve told me to stand by, theyll give me some information. I havent got any yet, so Im just waiting. Aric Roman, a personal trainer that recently moved to Portland, is also worried about staying afloat as he self-quarantines and practices social distancing. He said he was feeling sick about a month ago, but was unable to secure a coronavirus test after going to two separate doctors. As a precaution, he moved his business fully online, offering clients video tutorials for a fraction of the price that he usually charges for in-person sessions. With limited money coming in, he has already been forced to sell his car. Rich West Blatt, a massage therapist who works out of an office in Northwest Portland, said he worked with clients who were dealing with pain management or muscular issues and had hoped to stay open to continue helping them. But after being fully booked last week, he stopped accepting most clients this week because there was no way for him to work while adhering to the social distancing protocols coming from health professionals and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He doesnt know when, or if, he will be able to reopen his business. Quite frankly, its terrifying, Blatt said. I have been working very hard over the last year and a half, two years to build a business that can support me and to create something that Im proud of. Its a real possibility that I could be completely wiped out. -- Jamie Goldberg | jgoldberg@oregonian.com | @jamiebgoldberg Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. 1. Yes. The downtown area needs a good draw. Some quality taverns would be a plus. 2. Yes. Too many storefronts are vacant. Bars could help to bring in needed revenue. 3. No. Putting a number of bars downtown is just asking for trouble. Dont change things. 4.No. Several churches have located downtown. Putting bars close by would be a bad fit. 5. Unsure. It would depend on how the law is written and what standards are enacted. Vote View Results The Department of Justice has been urged to shut down the courts by attorneys, immigration judges as well as the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) who pointed out all the other risks posed by individuals being detained in public places. Yet even with local jurisdictions closing certain courts and the Supreme Court rescheduling oral arguments and closing to the public, several Immigration Courts stayed open for trials in the midst of the crisis. A large alliance of immigrant activists and advocacy groups are pushing the Trump administration to shut down all immigration courts and free vulnerable migrants from jail because of the emerging coronavirus pandemic in compliance with procedures. On Tuesday, Ashley Tabaddor, an immigration magistrate in Los Angeles and the president of the National Association of Immigration Judges union, had said on a media conference: "The scientific, evidence-based opinion of public health experts can only lead to one conclusion for us all who are connected with the immigration court system, and that is to immediately and temporarily close all of the immigration courts nationwide," The Executive Office for Immigration of the Department of Justice Tabaddor also criticized communication difficulties and has said that alerts have been usually announced late in the evening and on Twitter. Tabaddor has said that everybody in the legal system would have to go to work, even with the mass transit in the lengthy security queues, walking in crowded lifts as well as sitting in small waiting rooms with crowds overflowing in the edge of the courtrooms. The organizations had said that a prosecutor from Denver had indications of coronavirus as well as the lawyer from Atlanta has self-reported positive test results for the virus. Whenever an immigrant with such a persistent case may not appear in court, it can be ordered by a judge in absentia to deport them. The Executive Office for Immigration Review at the Justice Department announced late Tuesday night that, as of Wednesday, all proceedings would therefore be delayed for those not in custody, and therefore some courts would close. Such courts, as per the office, include those in Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, New York, New Jersey and California, although some remain open. The union of the immigration judge had said that even though temporary closures have been a great step forward, the office had been criticized for having almost no justification and implementing the order in a surprise midnight shift. The association has also appealed for trials to be suspended indefinitely for arrested migrants and many others in the "Remain in Mexico" initiative. "Remain in Mexico" is the initiative of the United States under which refugees stay in Mexico as they wait for their US court proceedings. In addition to this, the department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The government stated late Sunday that all preliminary deportation proceedings for unarrested immigrants set for Monday to April 10 will all be delayed. All the other proceedings would go on, they stated, however by April 10 the Seattle Immigration Court would stay closed. A surge of immigration rights activists has already been asking the government to free immigrants who might be more susceptible to coronavirus as the demands to shut the courts intensify. Related Articles: Representatives of the Nigeria Governors Forum on Saturday visited the Abule Ado explosion site in Lagos for an on-the-spot assessment of the devastating effects of recent gas explosions that claimed many lives and destroyed several properties worth billions of naira. Led by the NGF chairman and Governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, the three-man team comprised the Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje, and Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, and were received Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu. Mr Fayemi expressed shock at the magnitude of devastation in comparison to the casualty figures. He thanked God that the number casualties did not exceed what was recorded, saying with what they met on ground, more lives would have been lost. The NGF chairman praised the Lagos State governor for setting up a relief fund that would help mitigate the hardship of the victims. After his visit to the scene on Monday, Mr Sanwo-olu announced the establishment of a N2 billion relief fund for the victims. He said the Lagos State government had already committed N250 million to the fund. Mr Fayemi commended the Lagos State government for the decision to take immediate action and ensure that the issue of building on pipelines corridors are averted. The NGF chairman, however, blamed the incessant explosions on the disagreement between States and Federal Government on ownership of land. While commending the Lagos State Government for the attention given to the place, he promised that such issues would be addressed going forward. While announcing a donation for the sum of N200 million on behalf of the Nigeria Governors Forum, Mr Fayemi expressed satisfaction that a more decent and modern community will evolve from the misfortune. The governors sympathised and commiserated with those who lost loved ones and properties destroyed by the unfortunate incident and expressed hope that it never occurs again. Earlier, Governor Sanwo-Olu took the visiting governors round the explosion site, explaining what led to the disaster and how the state government plans to avert a re-occurrence in the future. Also in the delegation were the Director-General of the NGF, Asishana Okauru, and NGFs Head, Media and Public Affairs, Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo. Im putting meals outside the door like for a dog, Melissa Thornton of Madison, Ala., said Saturday. Its really horrible when somebody you love is not feeling well and you keep reading more and more alarming things and youre not able to take care of them. Shes talking about her husband, 59-year-old engineer Mark Thornton. Hes been quarantined over the garage at their home in an office-turned-loft for a week. Mark Thornton felt horrible when he came home from business travel March 14, and he got a coronavirus test from his doctor on March 16. He was still waiting for the results on Saturday. The Thorntons story is what can happen when a traveling professional meets a national health crisis and a system thats overrun. Mark Thornton works for a large defense contractor in Huntsville and has been in Arizona, Colorado and Washington, D.C. over the last month for his job. I was just coming home and had a killer headache, Thornton said Saturday, and I woke up the next morning with chills. I didnt really have a cough. He felt better Sunday, March 15, but he had no energy and the cough came back. Not a violent cough like the flu, he said, just sort of a nagging little cough. His fever would come and go. Monday, he called me (at work), Melissa Thornton said. Shes the communications director at the Princess Theater in Decatur. He was driving himself to the doctor. I called my (general practitioner) and he said he had five kits, and I was the fifth person, so he said come on in, Thornton said. He said just stay in the car and park under the awning. You pull under the thing and theyre geared up and theyve got more stuff than they can hold in their hands. Hes very nice and does a good job, Thornton said. He had me wear a mask to come in to take the test. Im sitting in the truck, and he pulls the mask down to get a swab of my nose. Then, essentially, leave. Thorntons physician told him the results would be back in 24-48 hours. They werent. Hes been calling daily ever since. Im not upset with them or anything, Thornton said. Their practices and procedures are not set up for this. When you call them, the first disclaimer on the phone is if youre having some kind of emergency, call 9-1-1. The Thorntons wont say which lab got his sample to test. Its one youve heard of and probably used, Thornton said, but his wife said they dont want to throw them under the bus. But, still. Were like, well, whats happened? Has it gotten lost? How do we follow up? Melissa Thornton said. I dont think anybodys being malicious, but the system is overwhelmed. I dont want to take another test, when there seems to be a shortage of them, Thornton told his wife. They now hope to hear Monday, but theyve been told the possible wait for results after Monday is now two days, not just one. Thornton spends his days working on Americas defense. Its a job that involves travel and back-to-back teleconferences when hes in the office. Ive been able to do that here, he said of his loft. My company is well-equipped to do that, but generally we meet face-to-face with another company. Thornton has done a lot of research in his loft on the crisis and Americas response, and he isnt angry. Whats to get mad about? he said. These are circumstances beyond anyones control. In this country, we dont build capacity, because capacity costs money. So, everything is sized to what the need and demand is. When something interrupts that flow, were just unprepared for it. Were also very much a just-in-time society, as well, so when I need it, Ill go get it, Thornton said. So, we find ourselves in a situation where doctors only have five of the kits. I have a wonderful wife, Thornton said to end the conversation. Im staying in a loft above the garage, and shes just been an angel to provide food for me, emotionally and spiritually, as well. But his wife said Thornton is feeling the strain. Hes not sleeping because hes concerned, she said. Even if its a mild case and he gets through to the other side, we dont know how long he needs to stay out of circulation. If its the flu and hes over another strain of it, great. But we dont know that, either. Six-time Formula One World champion Lewis Hamilton on Saturday revealed that he has been self-isolating but has 'zero symptoms' of novel coronavirus despite attending an event where two people were latest tested positive. The 35-year-old Mercedes driver was pictured at an event earlier this month in London with actor Idris Elba, who was subsequently diagnosed with the coronavirus. However, in a statement released on Saturday Hamilton revealed that he is still 'feeling healthy'. "I wanted to let you know that I'm doing well, feeling healthy and working out twice a day. I have zero symptoms, and it's now been 17 days since I saw Sophie and Idris. I have been in touch with Idris and happy to hear he is ok," Hamilton said in a tweet. "I did speak to my doctor and double-checked if I needed to take a test. There is a limited amount of tests available and there are people who need it more than I do," he added. Hamilton also urged everyone to wash hands with soaps regularly and practice social distancing as it is the most important thing to do right now "The most important thing everyone can do is stay positive, social distance yourself if you need to, and regularly wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Thank you for all the messages. I'm sending you positivity and love from afar. Keep safe," he said. Earlier, Automobile Club de Monaco (ACM) announced the cancellation of the Formula One race due to the coronavirus pandemic. F1 also confirmed that the Dutch and Spanish Grand Prix have also been postponed. Both the races were slated to go ahead in the month of May. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) When the Texas Supreme Court announced it was halting evictions statewide, it came hours after Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo announced a similar move and three days after Bexar County. On Thursday, Gov. Greg Abbott announced all bars and restaurants would close in Texas it was three days after Harris County and Houston took that step and a day after San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg did the same. And when Abbott announced Thursday all schools would remain closed until April 3, it was days even more than a week in some cases after similar announcements at many Texas districts. Get the latest: Map of coronavirus cases across Texas Even when Abbott announced his disaster declaration on March 13, it was six days after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, nine days after California Gov. Gavin Newsom and 12 days after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. More than 30 other states made disaster declarations before Texas did. Texas Republicans dont see a problem, saying the governor weighs the economic impact of such moves more carefully than his peers. Some Texas Democrats, too, dont blame Abbott. Some might say slow, but I say Texas is just being more deliberative, said Matt Mackowiak, the Travis County Republican Party chairman. David J. Phillip, STF / Associated Press He said Abbott is carefully weighing impacts on the economy with each move. Texas Take: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox Its a difficult balance between being aggressive against the outbreak versus the economic disruption each move results in, Mackowiak said, adding that the drop in oil prices complicates Texass economy in ways other states dont feel. Texas has also been one of the slowest states in testing for the virus. On Friday morning, despite being the second-most populous state in the nation, Texas was not even in the top 10 states for reported cases. While Texas was reporting 236 confirmed cases at the start of the day, New York was reporting over 7,000 and California and Washington state both had over 1,000. Even Georgia and Louisiana each with populations a fraction of the size of Texass were reporting more confirmed tests than Texas. The Texas Department of State Health Services reported on Friday that Texas has tested 5,277 people. By contrast, New York has tested 32,000 people and 10,000 just on Thursday night. Abbott said earlier in the week that the state was ramping up testing and would have 10,000 tests per day by the end of the week, a number the state struggled to hit. Democratic U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia of Houston blamed the Trump administration for being behind the curve especially on things like testing and getting medical equipment out, saying its hard for a governor to stay ahead when the people you depend on are behind. Abbott could scream and yell for more tests but if the administration doesnt have them ready, then he can scream and yell until hes blue in the face, Garcia said. Abbott on Thursday night in a statewide town hall meeting said that Texas is doing everything it can and has been preparing for months to deal with the coronavirus. We are working with federal and local officials to respond to this, Abbott said. We were ready in January. Earlier in the week he praised local government leaders for their actions. At a briefing on Tuesday he said that is the way the structure works in the state of Texas where local governments make the best decisions for their local communities. State emergency management chief Nim Kidd on Thursday backed up Abbott during a statewide town hall meeting. Our mayors in Texas and county judges are by state law the emergency management directors, Kidd said. But there are rumblings from Democrats in Texas who say the state just isnt providing enough direction and is too slow when it does finally react, which has created a patchwork of measures that has been confusing for the public. Instead of following the lead of other states and the guidelines recommended by the CDC, Gov. Abbott continuously passed this health crisis off to local and county officials, said Manny Garcia, the executive director of the Texas Democratic Party. In the absence of federal and state leadership, our counties and cities have stood up and delivered the aggressive measures necessary to protect Texans and ensure that we begin to flatten the curve. While the state was behind Houston and San Antonio in closing restaurants, bars and gyms, local leaders such as Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner say they are grateful to see Abbotts latest actions for bringing more consistency statewide in addressing community spread of the virus. It has to be unified in order to be meaningful and impactful, Turner said. That uniformity will benefit all of us, whether youre in rural Texas or urban Houston. While Sylvia Garcia gives Abbott a break on the testing delays, she said there have been times when his slow action has left her disappointed. For instance, she said she has been getting calls from constituents wondering when theyll know how long school would be out. Others have called and said theyve been unable to get emergency disaster loans from the Small Business Administration something Abbott only requested Texas have access to on Tuesday. I was disappointed, and its a lot of small business owners who reached out to me and all the delegation, she said. Parents kind of want to know should they make plans. I dont know what he was waiting for, she said. I don't know what his criteria was for stepping in and doing more. Abbott spokesman John Wittman said the state had been working on its request earlier but was able to expedite the process once the SBA relaxed its requirements Tuesday. Dylan McGuinness, Taylor Goldenstein and Ben Wermund contributed to this report. Roswell star Shiri Appleby provided fans with some major nostalgia on Friday, when she shared a recent photo of herself with co-star Jason Behr. Just trying to brighten your day. Sending love from Jason and I [alien emoji] #Roswell wrote the 41-year-old actress to her more than 166,000 Instagram followers. Behr and Appleby played star-crossed lovers in the WB science fiction drama that premiered in the fall of 1999. Reunited: Roswell star Shiri Appleby provided fans with some major nostalgia on Friday, when she shared a recent photo of herself with co-star Jason Behr on Instagram Roswell lasted a total of three seasons - two of them on the CW and the final season on WPN. The series, inspired by the conspiracy theories surrounding the famed Roswell UFO incident, centered around the complex relationship between humans and aliens. Appleby played the role of Liz Parker who, in the series pilot episode, experienced first-hand the extraordinary gift wielded by fellow teen Max Evans (played by Behr) and others like him. After saving Parkers life during a disagreement gone wrong, Evans is eventually forced to confess the truth of his existence, which includes outing those around him who are also alien life forms. On-screen love: Behr and Appleby played star-crossed lovers in the WB science fiction drama that premiered in the fall of 1999 The cult classic also starred Greys Anatomy alum Katherine Heigl, Colin Hanks, and Hollywood veteran William Sadler. The show stemmed from the popular young adult books Roswell High written by Melinda Metz. After 61 episodes, Roswell came to a dramatic close in May of 2002, when UPN decided to cancel the series. A little light: Just trying to brighten your day. Sending love from Jason and I [alien emoji] #Roswell wrote the 41-year-old actress to her more than 166,000 Instagram followers on Friday Roswell came in direct competition with the networks other popular series Buffy The Vampire Slayer starring Sarah Michell Gellar, but could not hold onto viewership like Buffy. Nearly twenty years later, the CW spawned the spin-off series Roswell, New Mexico, which premiered in January of 2019. Since wrapping Roswell, Appleby has gone on to star in a plethora of acclaimed television and film projects, including the Lifetime series Unreal and the Tom Hanks-led film Charlie Wilsons War. Chris Kiple, CEO of Ventec Life Systems, a ventilator manufacturer in Bothell, Washington, that has seen a large increase in demand since the coronavirus pandemic. / Reuters General Motors announced Friday evening it was joining with a Seattle-area medical device manufacturer and StopTheSpread.org, a nationwide private-sector coordinated response to the coronavirus pandemic, to help ramp up production of critically needed ventilators. GM said it will provide support in the form of purchasing, manufacturing expertise and logistics to Ventec Life Systems, based in Bothell, Washington. The company says it has introduced 10 respiratory devices and holds more than 40 patents. We are working closely with Ventec to rapidly scale up production of their critically important respiratory products to support our countrys fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra said in a statement. We will continue to explore ways to help in this time of crisis. The move comes after the White House held discussions earlier this week with both GM and Ford about helping produce more ventilators. President Trump on Wednesday invoked the 1950 Defense Production Act, a civil defense and mobilization law passed during the Korean War aimed at boosting private industry production of supplies needed during times of crisis. According to The Seattle Times, Ventecs 18-pound VOCSN ventilator is the first and only multi-function ventilator, consisting of five different, integrated medical devices. Its priced up to $50,000 for a version used in intensive-care units of hospitals. The Society of Critical Care Medicine projects a need for 960,000 hospital-grade ventilators in the U.S., which it estimates has only around 200,000. There are currently confirmed 19,285 cases of COVID-19 in the U.S., and 272,362 globally, according to Johns Hopkins University. With GMs help, Ventec will increase ventilator production, said Chris Kiple, Ventec Life Systems CEO. By tapping their expertise, GM is enabling us to get more ventilators to more hospitals much faster. This partnership will help save lives. Story continues Ford has also signaled a willingness to help increase ventilator production in the United States. Governments in Italy and the U.K. have also asked auto manufacturers including Ford for help making more ventilators, which are in short supply in many countries. You Might Also Like "Lost" actor Maggie Grace and her husband Brent Bushnell are set to welcome their first child together. The 36-year-old actor took to Instagram to share the "In the midst of these uncertain times, we've been blessed with a joyful reminder of what's most important. Our first little one will be joining us this summer. "Sending love to you and your families, may you stay safe and healthy. #isolatingbutihavecompany! #saferathomeCA #istayhomefor #letstakecareofeachother #grateful," Grace wrote. The couple tied the knot in 2018 in Ojai, California. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) President Trump announced the United States-Mexico border will be temporarily closed to non-essential traffic, but the new rules will not apply to cargo and trade. Trump said sharply limiting travel across the U.S.'s borders with Canada and Mexico are necessary to stop the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. "We are implementing the same measures at our southern border that we have with our northern border (Canada); our borders are being treated equally," President Trump said during a press conference from Washington, D.C. on Friday. "These actions taken with America's North American partners will save countless lives." The new travel limitations apply to recreational and tourist travel and are similar to limits the U.S. and Canada put in place earlier this week. President Trump said there would be no ban on people traveling for work or other essential activities across borders. He added that Mexico is also suspending air travel from Europe. The new restrictions on travel between Mexico and the U.S. will begin on Saturday, March 21, according to Chad Wolf, acting secretary for Homeland Security. "We have reached an agreement with both Canada and Mexico to limit non-essential travel across our land borders," Wolf said. "Neither of these agreements with Canada or Mexico applies to lawful trade or commerce. Essential commercial activities will not be impacted. We will continue to maintain a strong and secure economic supply chain across our borders." Mexican officials said they worked closely with the Trump administration to work on a cross-border agreement. "We have made a catalog of essential activities that should not be affected," said Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard on Friday from a press conference. "It includes all the activities of commerce, transportation of merchandise, logistics movement that have to do with commercial activity." Mexico was the U.S.'s largest trading partner in 2019, with more than $614 billion in two-way trade, according to census data compiled by WorldCity Inc. Story continues See more from Benzinga 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. The latest developments around the region related to the novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, as of Saturday morning include: Santa Clara County is running a stockpile drive for medical equipment as healthcare workers prepare to handle large numbers of patients when testing begins to ramp up in the region. LOS ANGELES Before he went in to audition for a role in Council of Dads, actor Clive Standen was told he needed to read the first script. I sat down at my computer and I got to page 21 and I was crying my eyes out, he says. I rang my manager and said, I really want to meet these people. Sarah Wayne Callies, who plays the dramas mom, says the crying continued through the first seven episodes and finally she had to ask for boxes of Kleenex just to get through a table read. So why the tears? Based on the bestseller, Council of Dads, the new series follows a family when the father (played by Thomas Everett Scott) is diagnosed with a potentially fatal illness. Before it advances, he calls upon three friends to step in as back-up dads if hes not there to do it himself. The first episode, which airs March 24 on NBC, covers a year in the life of the Perry family. During that time, viewers get to see how those three friends (played by Standen, Michael ONeill and J. August Richards) fit in. The message: Your capacity to love is what makes your family, says Richards. It really hits me in a place where I live, which is that family is really not limited to race, sexual orientation, not even genetics. Surprises and there are many are as big as the ones in This Is Us, the series that opened the door for these kinds of dramas. I think people like to see real family stuff on TV, says Executive Producer Joan Rater. Well-told, recognizable family stories are always going to resonate with people. Veering from the book that inspired it, Council of Dads borrows plot points from the writers own lives. Unlike This Is Us, Council of Dads wont traffic in flashbacks. Episodes going forward will play with time, but we dont span a year with every episode, says Executive Producer Tony Phelan. There are some episodes that take place over a day or two. The dads have outside lives as well. Richards character, for example, is an oncologist who works with Callies character. He has a husband and a 13-year-old daughter who is best friends with the Perry children. ONeill, who plays the quiet pillar of strength, saw the shows it takes a village concept play out in his own life. My wife and I had three children in 18 months and I got cast in a film in Savannah, he explains. I had to go away for four months. A woman with stage four cancer came to my home every night and helped my wife bathe and feed those babies. So we had a community of people who were incredibly generous to us. Standen says Council of Dads is really reflective of the modern family. Its not about blood, he says. Its about love and the people who show up every day and the people who are probably closer to you than some of your immediate family. I was raised by (my stepdad), a man who took me on eight years into my life because someone didnt want to stick around. Phelan and Rater, who are married, say their version of the council borrows plenty from their own life. If you put the four of us on our Christmas card, you wouldnt necessarily say, Oh, I get that family, Phelan says. Increasingly, thats the way family looks in America. The couples daughter was adopted from China; their son is transgender. All of Council of Dads is not sad, the producers say. There are key moments that also bring a lot of laughter. I think the idea of reaching out to the people around you and bringing them in to help in a time of crisis feels very personal, Phelan says. Adds Callies: This is the best seven episodes of television that Ive ever had the opportunity to be a part of. Ive never made it through reading a first draft of something without being like, Oh, god, here we go. But you laugh, too. Theres the balance. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Staying in? We've got you covered Get the recommendations on what's streaming now, games you'll love, TV news and more with our weekly Home Entertainment newsletter! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Ear, nose and throat specialists in the UK have identified the sudden loss of sense of smell or taste as a new symptom of coronavirus. The British Association of Otorhinolaryngology (ENT UK) said the new symptom was found in the absence of other symptoms of coronavirus, and patients experiencing it could be hidden carriers of the highly contagious disease. The organisation, which represents ear, nose and throat surgeons, said in a statement that there was good evidence from coronavirus patients in South Korea, China and Italy who developed the symptom, called anosmia. Professor Claire Hopkins, president of the British Rhinological Society, and Professor Nirmal Kumar, president of ENT UK, said in a joint statement that there had been a sudden rise in cases of isolated anosmia in the UK, US, France and northern Italy. I think these patients may be some of the hitherto hidden carriers that have facilitated the rapid spread of Covid-19, it said. Unfortunately, these patients do not meet current criteria for testing or self isolation. It was recommended that the new symptom could be used as a screening tool to identify patients who did not show other signs of being infected with Covid-19, such as a fever or dry cough. There is potential that if any adult with anosmia but no other symptoms was asked to self-isolate for seven days we might be able to reduce the number of otherwise asymptomatic individuals who continue to act as vectors, not realising the need to self-isolate, ENT UK added. Prof Kumar told Sky News: In young patients, they do not have any significant symptoms such as the cough and fever, but they may have just the loss of sense of smell and taste, which suggests that these viruses are lodging in the nose. The statement from ENT UK comes after the organisation revealed two of its specialists were being treated for coronavirus and were most likely infected while carrying out daily clinical work with asymptomatic patients. They called for full personal protective equipment (PPE) to be provided to frontline staff. Prof Kumar said: At the present time PPE is available only in limited quantities and will be reserved for use only when patients presenting as emergencies show up. Iran's President Hassan Rouhani says a "counter-revolutionary conspiracy" has been hatched to "suspend work and economic activity" amid the coronavirus epidemic in Iran and it should be countered by "normalizing production." He made the statement on Saturday March 21 at a meeting of the Coronavirus Control Task Force which is the body that decided to shut down schools and limit social activity in a bid to curb the spread of the virus. Ironically, the state TV footage showed that Rouhani was the only official at the meeting who was not wearing a mask and did not cover his mouth while coughing. Meanwhile, contradicting himself, Rouhani warned the people to avoid gatherings and travelling around or going to shopping centers. This is not the first time Rouhani speaks contrary to the Task Force and the Health Ministry's decisions. During the past weeks while the task force was begging the people not to travel to other cities, he opened a new highway encouraging the people to travel and once insisted that things were going to be normal within a few days. But the president's allegation today about a mysterious counter-revolutionary plot indicates that not imposing quarantines early on to limit the spread of the virus was driven by economic considerations. While government officials have said that Iran must still fight the COVID-19 outbreak for weeks before the worst of the contagion is over, Rouhani said on Saturday "Everything will be normal by the end of the Iranian New Year Holidays on April 1." It is still not clear if Rouhani is accusing his own team of being counter-revolutionaries. The government and in particular the Planning and Budget Organization Chief Mohammad Baqer Nobakht and Vice-President Es'haq Jahanagiri said last week that the government is going to extend financial assistance to business that have closed as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, and in the less than a week Rouhani is expressing his opposition to closures. He also claimed that the Ministry of Intelligence has put an "extensive document" about the "conspiracy" at his disposal. It appears that Rouhani has been rationalizing to defend his decision against imposing quarantines to control the spread of the virus. While Rouhani has repeatedly insisted that lockdowns are not needed, health ministry officials as well as local authorities have been insisting on the need for quarantine measures to stop the spread of the virus. A deputy health minister warned recently that up to 70 percent of Iranians may be affected by the virus during the next two months. Last week, while Rouhani said only he can decide about restrictive measures and travel bans, and forbade local governors to announce travel restrictions, local officials and the people overruled Rouhani's order and control measures are already in place in provinces such as Khuzestan and Hormozgan where locals do not allow entry to vehicles coming from other parts of the country. In other provinces orders by local officials are slightly different. The governor general of Kerman province also announced on Friday that his officers will not allow the entry of passengers suspected of carrying the virus. In mid-March, nearly all Iranian provincial officials announced that hotels and tourist sites will be closed and warned visitors not to travel if they do not want to be stranded. The governor of Hormozgan province has said that traffic control officers have returned several thousand cars before their entry into the province during the past day. Meanwhile, Rouhani claimed that thanks to his measures New Year travels were reduced by 50 to 60 percent. In another development which indicates Rouhani's advisers feed him with disinformation, he said he has seen pictures that show heavily armed police officers protecting toilet paper shelves in a supermarket in a European country. He said the picture has been sent to him by a friend in "an important European country where people did not listen to the government's advice." The doctored photos allegedly showing police protecting toilet papers in Europe. Rouhani's friend may have been pulling his leg as the picture is so obviously photoshopped. Rouhanis allegation about counter-revolutionaries trying to bring Irans economy to a standstill remains a mystery. US Defence Secretary Mark Esper on Friday held a telephonic conversation with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and praised Indias COVID-19 initiative for SAARC countries, the Pentagon said. The two leaders discussed the COVID-19 pandemic and underscored their commitment to close communication during this period in order to maintain momentum on initiatives that reinforce their comprehensive global partnership, the Pentagon said in a readout of the call. During the call, the two leaders also discussed bilateral defense priorities, including the ongoing regional cooperation and initiatives to enhance military-to-military engagement and defense trade, it said. Esper expressed his appreciation for Indias leadership in coordinating COVID-19 related relief efforts among South Asian countries and conveyed his intent to visit India at the earliest opportunity, the Pentagon said. In the wake of the coronavirus crisis, Esper had postponed his scheduled travel to India this month. He has been roped in by President Donald Trump to combat the coronavirus that has so far infected more than 13,000 Americans claimed 230 lives. AMMAN, Jordan - Air raid sirens echoed across Jordans capital Saturday to mark the start of a three-day curfew, the latest mass lockdown in the Middle East aimed at containing the coronavirus, which has claimed another 123 lives in Iran, home to the regions worst outbreak. The latest deaths bring Irans overall toll to 1,556 amid 20,610 confirmed cases, according to figures released by the Health Ministry. Iran has faced widespread criticism for its lagging response to the outbreak, which has even infected and killed some senior officials. In one of the strictest measures yet, Jordan has ordered all shops to close and all people to stay off the streets until at least Tuesday, when it plans to announce specific times for shopping. Authorities have already arrested 392 people accused of violating the curfew, said Amer Sartawi, a spokesman for the Public Security Directorate. He warned that anyone violating the orders would face legal action. Several countries in the Middle East have closed schools, universities and nonessential businesses. Many are threatening fines or jail time to those caught violating the decrees. In the Gaza Strip, the Health Ministry early Sunday confirmed the first two cases of coronavirus in the blockaded Palestinian territory. The development added to fears of a potential outbreak in crowded Gaza, which has an overstretched health care system after years of an Israeli-Egyptian blockade, cross-border conflicts with Israel and Palestinian political division. Egypt announced that all museums and archaeological sites, including the famed pyramids at Giza, would be closed from Monday until the end of March. Mostafa Waziri, head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said authorities would sterilize all sites during the closure. Egypt also announced the temporary suspension of Friday prayers and other congregations in all mosques. The Coptic Orthodox Church cancelled all services and wedding parties, and said funeral processions would be limited to family members of the deceased. Egypt has reported 285 cases and eight deaths, and there are increasing calls for a curfew. The most populous Arab nation is home to more than 100 million people. Cairo, the capital, is one of the most densely populated cities on earth, with more than 20 million residents. Iran has been much slower to take action against the virus. It has urged people not to travel during the Persian New Year, a major national holiday, but many appear to be ignoring the guidance. Health Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said the number of cases has increased in many popular tourist destinations. Iran has not ordered businesses to close, though many have done so on their own. Authorities only began closing popular religious pilgrimage sites earlier this week, long after the first virus cases were detected. There are concerns the countrys health care infrastructure, weakened by severe U.S. sanctions, could be overwhelmed. Most people only experience minor flu-like symptoms from the coronavirus and recover within a few weeks, but the virus is highly contagious and can be spread by those who appear well. It can cause severe illness, including pneumonia, in some patients, particularly the elderly and those with underlying health problems. More than 275,000 people have been infected worldwide. The virus has killed more than 11,000 people, while more than 88,000 have recovered. Israel reported another 178 infections, bringing its total to 883, the second highest number in the region behind Iran. But that appears to be the result of stepped-up testing. Israels Health Ministry has only reported one fatality and says only 15 patients are seriously ill. The ministry says it has tested more than 17,000 people. Saturday is Mothers Day in the Middle East, and many took to social media to lament the fact that they would not be able to visit family members. Others thanked mothers who spent the holiday working as doctors or nurses at hospitals. One popular online greeting card praised mothers as the original advocates of hand-washing. In Iraq, Lt. Gen. Othman al-Ghanimi, the army chief of staff, ordered a 50% reduction in on-duty personnel. Officers already on leave were instructed not to return until March 31, and women were granted extended leave. Iraq, which has reported 193 cases and 14 deaths from the coronavirus, is still battling remnants of the Islamic State group. In war-torn Syria, which has yet to report any cases, the military said it was distributing masks and gloves to soldiers and suspending group sports as a precautionary measure. It said it was also suspending all recruitment until April 22. In the United Arab Emirates, the countrys National Media Council announced a temporary ban on the distribution of all print newspapers, magazines and marketing material beginning Tuesday, saying it was a measure to stop the spread of the virus. It said subscribers and shopping centre outlets would be exempt. Dr. Farida al-Hosani, a spokeswoman at the Ministry of Health and Prevention, separately asked the public to stay away from malls and restaurants, which remain open in the UAE. The tiny, energy-rich nation of Qatar meanwhile warned citizens and residents to honour home quarantine rules. The state-run Qatar News Agency said authorities captured 10 people who broke the rules. It said those who disobey the orders could face prosecution. In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Palestinian security forces arrested 20 Muslim preachers for allegedly violating a ban on holding Friday prayers, the Voice of Palestine reported. The Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West Bank, has closed mosques and barred all group prayers. The Palestinian Authority has reported 52 confirmed cases, including 17 who recovered. Jordan has reported 85 infections, including one who recovered. Qatar has reported 460 cases, including 10 who recovered. Even authorities in eastern Libya, who have yet to report any cases, suspended all public transportation and ordered the closure of nonessential businesses. The government there is allied with Khalifa Hifter, whose forces control much of the war-torn country. The U.N.-supported government in the west, which also has no reported cases, declared a nightly curfew starting Sunday in areas under its control, including the capital Tripoli. It announced all mosques, educational facilities and shops would be closed and banned wedding parties, funerals and public transportation. Yemen also has reported no cases but the internationally recognized government announced a temporary suspension of Friday prayers and congregations in mosques in areas under its control. ___ Associated Press writer Omar Akour reported this story in Amman and AP writer Nasser Karimi reported from Tehran, Iran. AP writers Joseph Krauss in Jerusalem; Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah, West Bank; Samy Magdy in Cairo; Sarah El Deeb in Beirut; Samya Kullab in Baghdad and Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report. ___ The Associated Press receives support for health and science coverage from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content. ___ Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak. Ben Affleck took a break from self-isolating with his new girlfriend, Ana de Armas, on Saturday morning. The pair stepped out together for a romantic stroll around Pacific Palisades together. It looked like things were going well for the couple, as the 47-year-old sipped on his coffee while the 31-year-old beauty walked her little pooch. Going strong: Ben Affleck was seen in high spirits on Saturday morning with his new girlfriend, Ana de Armas, during a dog walk around Pacific Palisades Ben dressed casually in a black graphic T-shirt and pair of jeans for the outing. Ana stunned in a knitted cropped top that kept her modest with its design. She teamed the look with a pair of high-waisted white trousers and sneakers of the same color. Loved up: Ben and Ana put on a loved up display while out in public No stress look: Ben dressed casually in a black graphic T-shirt and pair of jeans for the outing Ana's brunette hair was styled out and sleek for the morning stroll. She appeared to be wearing very little to no makeup and was in high spirits as she walked along. At one point the pair stopped on the footpath to enjoy a loved up embrace. Ben and Ana first set sparks alight when they were seen vacationing in Cuba together. The actors first met in November 2019 on the set of their new movie, Deep River. Met on set: The actors first met in November 2019 on the set of their new movie, Deep River Last week saw the Cuban-Spanish actress make things Instagram official with the father-of-three. She shared a series of photos taken by Ben during their vacation, and while not tagging him, he left a cheeky comment: 'Photo credit pls.' Since then, the Batman and Knives Out stars have been inseparable. Ben has had quite a few relationships since his split from ex-wife Jennifer Garner in 2015. The pair wed ten years earlier and continue to amicably co-parent their children, Violet, 14, Seraphina, 11, and Samuel, eight. North Korea fired two projectiles that appeared to be short-range ballistic missiles into the sea off the east coast of the Korean peninsula, South Koreas military said on Saturday. State media KCNA also said on Saturday North Korean leader Kim Jong Un guided an artillery fire competition between combined units of the North Korean army on Friday, displaying photos of him watching with high-ranking military officers, all unmasked. It was unclear whether Saturdays launch was part of the drill. The launch follows two earlier this month, when North Korea launched short-range missiles and multiple projectiles, according to South Koreas military. The suspected missiles were fired from North Pyongan province, South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff said. The province is above Pyongyang on the northwest corner of the Korean peninsula, bordering China. Japans coast guard said on Saturday that North Korea appeared to have fired a missile, which landed outside Japans exclusive economic zone waters. Earlier on Saturday, North Korea announced it will hold in April a session of the Supreme Peoples Assembly, its rubber-stamp legislature, in Pyongyang, which analysts had said would involve gathering almost 700 of the countrys leaders in one spot as the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus spreads worldwide. NTD refers to the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19, as the CCP virus because the Chinese Communist Partys coverup and mismanagement allowed the virus to spread throughout China and create a global pandemic. If it goes ahead, it would be the ultimate show of (North Koreas) confidence in managing the coronavirus situation, Rachel Minyoung Lee, of the North Korea monitoring website NK News, said on Twitter this week. North Korea has not reported any confirmed cases of the CCP virus that was first detected in China late last year. By Joyce Lee NTD staff contributed to this report. The organisers of the Sundays in Spring series are sorry to announce that the first concert planned for the 2020 series, The Manning Trio on 5th April, has had to be cancelled due to the restrictions put in place nationally to delay the spread of the Covid-19/Coronavirus. We look forward to bringing Aisling, Julie Anne Manning and their cousin, Deirdre Brenner, back to perform for us at Carlingford Heritage Centre at a later date. The remaining concerts in our programme are unchanged. We hope to see you back with us hail and hearty after these days of necessary isolation. In the meantime, keep well. This too will pass. Our Sundays in Spring programme has become one of the early year attractions for many visitors to Carlingford and a firm favourite for local patrons. For our 2020 edition we still have an exceptional selection of artists and performers from traditional Irish, world and classical music. Carlingford Lough Heritage Trust is grateful to Create Louth and Louth County Council for their support. We are delighted once again to invite young musicians from Music Generation Louth to open each Sunday afternoon concert in harmony with the programme to follow. And of course, since attendance at a concert will be a question on the Leaving Cert Music Syllabus and examination, classmates and parents will have another good reason to join them in the audience. The series will now open after Easter on Sunday 19th April in the company of two exceptional musicians from the traditional and world music scene in Ireland today, guitarist Steve Cooney and accordionist, Dermot Byrne. Australian born, Steve was recently featured on the much acclaimed TG4 series Se Mo Laoch as a hero of the Irish traditional music scene. He will be joined by former Altan member, Dermot Byrne, from West Cork, another master of tradition, one of Ireland's most outstanding traditional accordion players. The next concert of the series on Sunday 26th April sees the return by popular demand of the irrepressible Sands Family from County Down. It is always a pleasure to see and hear Anne, Tommy, Colum and Ben perform in their own inimitable way - master musicians, gifted songwriters and storytellers with a humorous and always human insight to our worlds. There are some new Sands songs in the offing - a session not to be missed. On Sunday May 3rd, we are privileged to welcome Andy Irvine, another legend of Irish music, back to Carlingford Heritage Centre. Andy has a busy schedule of performances over the next months, playing at the Waterfront in Belfast, Vicar Street Dublin, Kilkenny, Castlebar, Limerick and places in-between. We bet there'll be nowhere more intimate and unplugged for this giant of Irish traditional music and song than the Carlingford Heritage Centre. The 2020 Spring series will finish with a flourish on Sunday 10th May when County Louth soprano Roisin Bradley and London-based baritone, Aris Nadirian, join forces with one of Ireland's most gifted and versatile pianists, performer and musical arranger, Brian Connor, for a programme of operatic arias, airs and graces. We will share concert details as soon as we hear from these three wonderful artists so at ease in their musical space. The revised dates are Sunday 19th April, 26th April, 3rd May and 10th May, taking place from 4pm to 5.15pm at Carlingford Heritage Centre, Old Holy Trinity, Carlingford, Louth. Admission 12 (10 with concession). Enquiries to Carlingford Heritage Centre, 042 9373454 or 00 353 42 9373454 or e-mail: info@carlingfordheritagecentre.com. Concerts are kindly supported by Create Louth. Many of the Chinese who arrived are students who studied in the United States and Europe Open source The National Health Commission of China announced a record growth in imports of coronavirus, which reached over 200 people in one day. It is reported by Reuters. Students and expatriates returned home from the United States and Europe, sparking fears of a second wave of infections just as the country recovers from the initial outbreak. Beijing and Shanghai were the main entry points for the returnees, many of whom are students studying abroad. They have come back after many campuses in the United States and Europe shut down to stem rapidly rising infection rates there. Also returning in a flight to safety were China-based expats, as businesses begin to reopen. While there is no reported transmission of the virus from people arriving from abroad to local communities, authorities across China are tightening public health measures. Since March 11, when the World Health Organization characterized the epidemic as a pandemic, the cumulative number of imported cases (in China) has risen from 85 to 269, up by 216% and outpacing the 98% increase in the cumulative worldwide confirmed cases during the same period, Mi Feng, spokesman of the National Health Commission, said at a regular press briefing. China must strictly prevent the import of the virus from overseas and a rebound in cases, Mi said. Smile Doctors, the largest US based Orthodontic DSO (Dental Support Organization), with over 220 locations in 17 States, has signed a deal with Dental Monitoring to use its suite of AI powered remote monitoring solutions to provide industry leading patient access and convenience. Importantly, the original partnership agreed after several months of pilots and testing, has been expanded and accelerated to include all patients eligible with immediate effect this week, due to the Coronavirus national situation. All eligible Smile Doctors patients will therefore be able to start or continue their treatment remotely with Dental Monitoring. Dental Monitoring will provide access to and training for all Smile Doctors specialist orthodontist clinics nationwide to all DM products, including SmileMate, Vision and Dental Monitoring. SmileMate enables virtual consultations with prospective new patients at home, offering an almost instant oral health assessment through photos taken with the patients own smartphone. Vision uses AI to produce within seconds an instant simulation of the patients face with different orthodontic appliances and also generates state-of-the-art simulation of post-treatment smiles, using the actual details of the patients teeth and gums, helping the patient choose their treatment with more confidence. Dental Monitoring uses AI to allow the Doctor to remotely monitor the progress of the patients treatment through photos taken by the patient using the DM app on their own smartphone, with a DM ScanBox. The Dental Monitoring solution allows real time communication between the Doctors team and the patient. Commenting on the deal, CEO of Smile Doctors, J. Hedrick explained: I am delighted to have achieved this partnership with Dental Monitoring, which I am certain will be to the extreme benefit to all of our patients. Dental Monitorings AI technology and patient user experience is second to none, and has brought dentistry up to speed with patients expectations in a digital world. The initial reception by both clinical team and patients in our pilots has been extremely positive, and we believe we have a unique differentiator in our offering to our Smile Doctors patients. CEO and Co-Founder of Dental Monitoring, Philippe Salah, added: Smile Doctors for us is the ideal partner as we accelerate our growth in the US. We have established a true partnership where we will help Smile Doctors to fully utilize the full suite of DM products. We enable their orthodontists to address the needs of new patients, allow more of them to say yes to treatment, and then monitor their treatment progress efficiently, using our DM proprietary AI engine. On the acceleration of the partnership due to the current Coronavirus crisis, J. Hedrick said: We decided to fast track our implementation of DM full heartedly throughout our entire network to make sure we could continue to serve our patients with the best clinical care. Dental Monitoring has been a unique and essential partner for us, and we are excited to be rolling out this service at such speed to respond to the crisis. I am grateful to Philippe and the DM team for really working side by side with us on this 24/7 in the interests of our patients. About Dental Monitoring (www.dental-monitoring.com) Founded in 2015 by Philippe Salah, Dental Monitoring is the first AI-based company to target dental professionals needs. The DM software suite is designed to address the needs of dental professionals all along the patient journey: before treatment to increase the patients engagement, during treatment to improve the quality of care provided by the doctor, and after treatment to ensure the stability of the treatment outcome. The company currently operates in Europe, the United States and Asia-Pacific. It employs a team of about 250 employees across its 5 offices located in Paris, Austin, London, Hong Kong, and Sydney. For more information, please visit www.dental-monitoring.com. About Smile Doctors, LLC (www.smiledoctors.com) Smile Doctors, LLC is the largest orthodontic dental support organization with more than 200 affiliated practices in 17 states. Based in Georgetown, TX and founded by Dr. Scott Law, Scotte Hudsmith, Dr. Dana Fender, and Dr. Greg Goggans, Smile Doctors focuses exclusively on developing and growing affiliated orthodontic practices. Orthodontists can focus on patient care while receiving the support of experienced professionals who are committed to the growth and success of their practices. Support provided by Smile Doctors includes services related to operations, accounting, marketing, and revenue cycle. For more information, please visit www.smiledoctors.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200320005353/en/ rarrarorro/iStock(WASHINGTON) -- Utah Rep. Ben McAdams, the second member of Congress to test positive for the novel coronavirus, told ABC News on Friday that he's still not feeling up to par. His announcement came just an hour after Florida Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart told the public he too had been infected with COVID-19. McAdams said last night his temperature was 102 degrees. The lawmaker is still experiencing a fever and breathing difficulties, he said. "It feels like I've got a belt around my chest that's tightened up. I can't take [a] full breath. McAdams told ABC News Amy Robach on Friday. "The muscles in my torso are sore, so when I cough, I feel pain." The Utah lawmaker told ABC News that he started to feel mild symptoms after flying home to Salt Lake City on a commercial airliner from Washington, D.C. on Saturday evening -- feeling even worse on Sunday. He immediately isolated himself in his house so he wouldnt expose anyone else. McAdams' doctor told him there are limited tests available and his symptoms didn't rise to the level that warranted a test, but that he should self-quarantine. By Monday night, he said his symptoms worsened. He began to have labored breathing, a dry cough and his temperature rose to 103. Then, his doctor suggested that due to his aggressive symptoms, he should get tested. McAdams and his family had been practicing social distancing prior to him testing positive. "When I tested positive, we locked the doors and are just hunkering down at home, hoping that nobody else in the family comes down with it," he said. On Friday, March 13, Diaz Balart decided to self-quarantine in D.C. and not to return home, because his wife,Tia, has a preexisting condition that would put her at a higher risk of falling victim to the COVID-19 virus, his office said in a statement. The Florida lawmaker's symptoms consisted of a fever and headache that began on Saturday evening, and soon after, he learned he had tested positive for the virus. "I want everyone to know that I am feeling much better," he wrote in a statement. It has not been confirmed how either member of Congress became exposed to the virus. The coronavirus pandemic has claimed the lives of more than 11,150 people worldwide -- mainly in Italy and China, recent data shows. There are over 16,600 diagnosed cases in the U.S. across all 50 states, with at least 225 deaths, according to statistics compiled by ABC News. The World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 as a pandemic on March 11. Copyright 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. It was Zeeks Sinha at Doon School who taught me there are two Indian monarchs we can legitimately consider Great, Ashoka in the 3rd century BC and, 18 centuries later, Akbar. I took his word for it. As I grew older and read more widely I realised he was right. But now a biography of Akbar has revealed just how astonishing this emperor actually was. Today I want to share some of the insights Ive gleaned from Ira Mukhotys Akbar: The Great Mughal. By the end of the 16th century Akbars was the greatest empire on earth and greater than any previous Indian kingdom bar the Mauryan Empire. With an annual income estimated at 100 million pounds Akbar was by far the richest ruler in the world. However, what made Akbar great was not his power or the size of his kingdom. It was his amazing personality. For our time the most striking quality is Akbars ecumenism. He believed all religions are either equally true or equally illusory. Mukhoty writes: In his quest for spiritual truths he prostrated himself in front of many gods he prayed to the sun, he whispered mantras, he worshipped fire, he kept fasts and he examined his conscience. His young son Murad was entrusted to the Jesuits for an education, taught the sign of the cross and to take the names of Jesus and Mary at the beginning of lessons. His Rajput Hindu wives were not required to convert to Islam. They had complete freedom to exercise their own religion. He abolished the jiziya and aware of the sentiments of his people prohibited the slaughter of cows and the eating of their flesh. On weekends, he was vegetarian. Though his proud lineage stretches back to Chengiz Khan and Timur, Akbar often wore a dhoti of fine silk rather than the usual pyjamas. Mukhoty adds he began appearing in the diwan-e-aam with a tilak on the forehead and a rakhi on the wrist, tied by a Brahmin, as a blessing. This open-hearted liberalism was also reflected in the decor of Fatehpur Sikri. There were frescoes painted of Christ, Mary and the Christian saints in the private chambers and Akbars dining room had images of Christ, Mary, Moses and Muhammad. In 1582, he had the Mahabharata translated from Sanskrit to Persian. Thereafter the Ramayana, Rajatarangini and the story of Nala and Damyanti. Not surprisingly, he chose his courtiers on the basis of talent not faith. Mukhoty calls this Akbars genius. So Todar Mal and Man Singh were as powerful and influential as Bairam Khan and Shirazi. Indeed, for a while Man Singh was the highest paid mansabdar of the land, hindu or muslim. Perhaps more tellingly by 1580, 24 years into his reign, out of 272 mansabdars, 43 were Rajput, 47 Persian, 44 Indian Muslim whilst his own Turani were marginally ahead at 67. After all this, it hardly merits saying Akbar was also a great general. He disregarded all the old rules of warfare, writes Mukhoty, and used speed, fury and firepower in such a manner that it appeared as though he was able to bend the very forces of nature to his will. Among his innovations were ingenious rockets and lightweight canon. Yet and this is the paradox Akbar was effectively unschooled and practically illiterate. As a child, he was distracted, undisciplined and rambunctious. Mukhoty says: In the parlance of the 21st century, (he) may have suffered from attention-deficit disorder. Other historians have said he was dyslexic. However, let me end with what makes Akbar so pertinent today. In Mukhotys words its his determination, in a complex and complicated land, to negotiate a place of dignity for each person and every creed. Thats so different to the men who rule us today. They want to rectify the perceived wrongs of the past by revising and reinterpreting history. If only they would open their eyes and heed Akbars lessons instead. It might make India great again. Karan Thapar is the author of Devils Advocate: The Untold Story The views expressed are personal SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON ABOUT THE AUTHOR Karan Thapar Karan Thapar is a super-looking genius whos young, friendly, chatty and great fun to be with. Hes also very enjoyable to read. ...view detail Dr. Anthony Fauci speaks as President Donald Trump listens during the daily press briefing on the Coronavirus pandemic situation at the White House in Washington on March 17, 2020. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images) We Dont Have Definitive Proof That it Works: Fauci on Efficacy of Chloroquine Against CCP Virus Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), said on Friday that theres no definitive proof that chloroquine, an anti-malaria drug, works against the CCP virus. The top immunologist clarified that he didnt dismiss the effectiveness of chloroquine and is open to testing as its been suggested anecdotally that it may be effective. What I said it that we dont have definitive proof that it works. So what we need to do, since there are suggestions anecdotally that it works, try to get it available but to do it in the context of a protocol where we accomplish two things, he said during an interview with Fox News. We make something thats maybe hope and promising for someone. At the same time, we determine whether or not its safe and whether or not it actually does work. I wasnt dismissing it. I was saying we need to be careful. He mostly aligned with what he said during the White House Coronavirus Task Force briefing on Friday. President Donald Trump said hes optimistic about the effectiveness of chloroquine during the briefing. The Coronavirus Task Force is talking with the governors about making the drug available, but theyre waiting for final approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It may work and it may not work, he said. I feel good about it. Thats all it is. Just a feeling. Fauci appeared to refer to the research (pdf) conducted by a group of French researchers who say the combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin could change the test results for the CCP virus from positive to negative. The research was conducted on a small group of 36 people, with 14 of them treated with hydroxychloroquine, 6 with hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, and 20 in the control group. The Epoch Times could not verify that the study was peer-reviewed. The FDA announced on Thursday that they are investigating if chloroquine can be used to treat patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP virus, and potentially reduce the duration of symptoms and viral shedding. They are also trying other approaches to discover a potential cure for the widespread disease, including an investigation into antiviral drug remdesivir from Gilead Sciences. About 250 patients have been granted access to remdesivir, the agency said. Therapies including convalescent plasma, hyperimmune globulin, and antibody-rich blood products taken from blood donated by people who have recovered from the virus are also under evaluation to see if they can shorten the length, or lessen the severity of the illness. However, the FDA reaffirmed that there are no FDA-approved therapeutics or drugs to treat, cure, or prevent COVID-19. The Epoch Times refers to the novel coronavirus, which originated from Wuhan, China and causes the disease COVID-19, as the CCP virus because the Chinese Communist Partys coverup and mismanagement allowed the virus to spread throughout China and create a global pandemic. According to data collected by Johns Hopkins University, there are near 300,000 confirmed cases around the world as of Saturday afternoon, with 22,177 of them in the United States. The number is regarded to be highly underestimated because of the underreporting of cases from Mainland China. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has ordered the suspension of all international flights to Vietnam amidst restricted entry into the country by air, road and sea. The drastic move follows an increase in the number of new infections to 75 over the past two weeks, 24 of them foreigners and the majority having returned from Europe or passed through pandemic-stricken countries. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and overseas embassies should recommend that Vietnamese living abroad not "return home if it is not really necessary," Phuc said. The government will make a list of overseas Vietnamese and students who need to return home and organize flights for them, he said. "All people who enter Vietnam must be strictly quarantined and violators will be heavily punished," Phuc said at a meeting Friday to discuss measures against the Covid-19 pandemic. Vietnam suspended visas for all foreign arrivals starting Wednesday and demand that all be put in quarantine for two weeks on entry starting Saturday. There is still one week of the golden period left to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, Phuc said, adding: "if we stop it then we will succeed, otherwise we will fail." He urged people to increase online transactions, use more phones at work and less direct communication to avoid the risk of infection. Believers should pray and practice religious at home while wedding anniversary and crowded parties must not be held, Phuc said, adding that all agencies must "deal with affairs as though it was wartime." The health sector has been tasked with early detection of infections, prompt isolation of Covid-19 positive patients from the community and protection of doctors and medical staffs to prevent them from getting infected. The Ministry of National Defense will buy 10 mobile vehicles to provide Covid-19 testing services in the community. National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines has announced to suspend all international flights by March 25. Budget airline Vietjet Air, which had already suspended all flights to China and South Korea, also halted flights to Southeast Asian countries starting Friday. Currently, the airline still operates flights to India, Taiwan and Japan. Noida: One more person has tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Noida, taking the number of Covid-19 cases to five, district officials said on Saturday. The man recently returned from a Europe trip along with his wife. The couple had left their children with their grandparents who had come down to take care of the kids. The person stays in Supertech Capetown in Sector 74 and the district administration has announced a lockdown of the residential society, which has thousands of residents, from 10am Saturday till 7am on Monday for sanitisation, the officials said. During this period nobody would be allowed to get in or go out of the society except only in very essential cases. Everybody is requested to stay indoors, district magistrate BN Singh stated in an order. Except any emergency situation no vehicle or person will be allowed to leave the premises or enter. We have started the sanitisation work of the society after one person has been found positive for Covid-19. The persons wife has been put under home quarantine. The decision on closing the nearby area as a precautionary will be taken as per the situation and further course of time, he added. Officials have also made it clear to the residents and others that any violation of the orders of the DM related to the ban on entry and exit of people from the society will call for a legal action under section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code. The person had come back to the society on March 9 after visiting multiple countries with his wife in Europe. The person didnt even inform anybody after coming back from abroad. He had visited Switzerland, France, Italy and a few other countries. The couple didnt even quarantine themselves after coming back. We came to know about his travel history from his neighbours after which we requested him to keep himself in quarantine but it was already quite late, said Arun Sharma, president, residents welfare association, Supertech Cape Town society. According to officials, the person had contacted concerned authorities after getting symptoms of the virus and gave his sample. Officials took him along with themselves on Friday night itself but we were informed in the morning (Saturday), added Sharma. Officials have put the wife and children of the person under home quarantine and have started sanitising the society. Officials are awaiting reports of the Covid-19 patients wife before shifting her to an isolation ward. Advertisement A shattered bride-to-be who was forced to postpone her wedding to her American fiance has celebrated her hens night in style despite the chaos amid the coronavirus pandemic. Tamara Bilic, 24, was surrounded by friends and family on Saturday night at Hotel Ravesis in Bondi celebrating what should have been a perfect night. But the 24-year-old is yet to set another date for her dream wedding that was planned for June 14 in San Diego. Due to the spread of the killer disease, Ms Bilic's flights were cancelled and her boyfriend is unable to come to Australia after Scott Morrison shut the borders to foreigners at 9pm on Friday. Bride-to-be Tamara Bilic, (centre with friends at her hens do) has been forced to postpone her wedding in San Diego after her flights were cancelled Tamara Billic is pictured with her American fiance after he proposed in January The 24-year-old celebrated her hens night at Hotel Ravesis on Saturday night despite not knowing when she will be able to have her dream wedding 'My wedding has been called off, my flights have been cancelled. I don't know when I'll be able to fly over, I don't know when I'll be able to see my boyfriend,' Ms Bilic told Daily Mail Australia. She said that while Australia has been hit with a string of regulations amid the global crisis, everyone deserved to have a good time. 'Everyone needs to have some fun. If you're sick or have a cough just stay at home,' she said. 'I just don't think you should have to put your life on hold for COVID-19 like mine was. 'I'll continue to go out but only for events not just for the sake of it.' In the wake of the outbreak, Australians have been encouraged to 'socially distance' themselves from each other. A couple is seen kissing outside a takeaway store in Bondi on Saturday night despite the government encouraging social distancing Groups of people are seen walking along a busy street in Bondi on Saturday evening Customers are seen dining at a popular restaurant in Bondi despite advice to social distance Despite many too cautious to leave their homes, some diners still flocked to popular bars across Bondi LATEST RULES TO CONTROL CORONAVIRUS SPREAD On Friday, Scott Morrison announced new rules for indoor spaces. It means the number of people in a venue is dictated by the size of the room. There needs to be four-square-metres per patron. This means that if a venue is 100-square-metres, 25 people are allowed inside. Event then, Australians are asked to try and keep 1.5 metres apart from one another. Advertisement At venues across the country, the government has restricted limits to 100 people recommends and recommends everyone should be at least one metre apart. But many walking the streets of Bondi didn't give it a second thought. Couples were seen kissing outside takeaway shops while others walked hand in hand. Groups huddled together at bars and restaurants while the virus forced some to shut up shop for good. On Saturday afternoon hundreds of beachgoers were forced off Bondi Beach after authorities shut it down. It came after thousands of sun-bakers were pictured on the sand on Friday, breaking the rule of more than 500 people in a public space. Speaking from Bondi Beach on Saturday afternoon, police minister David Elliot said: 'This is the most irresponsible behaviour we've seen so far. 'This is not something we're doing because we're the fun police, this is about saving lives. 'We cannot have an area where more than 500 people are gathered. 'If the community does not comply, this is going to become the new normal.' People are seen walking in Bondi on Saturday night after the popular beach closed just hours earlier Staff are seen wearing face masks as they tend to diners in a restaurant in Bondi Families and couples shook off their towels and headed back up to the hill with some going to Bondi Icebergs for a drink. Life savers have also been instructed to stop patrolling beaches where there are large numbers of people, which could include popular spots such as Coogee, Manly, Maroubra and beaches in the Sutherland Shire. Lydia Atwood, a foreigner staying in Bondi said the beach was unrecognisable after the closure. 'Being at the beach today is nothing like it was yesterday. Yesterday was taking the piss but today everyone was practicing social distancing,' Ms Atwood said. I live around the corner, and the government advice is to go for a walk. Outside of going to the beach I am practising social distancing. I am working from home.' One Australian slammed the behaviour of beach-goers on Friday. Within hours, the once-packed beach resembled a ghost down after hundreds of sunbathers were told to leave Beachgoers are seen at Bondi Beach on Friday (pictured) despite the threat of coronavirus 'We didn't go to the beach today but when we heard it was closed we wanted to come and check out the reaction,' Lara, a school teacher, said. 'Yesterday's behaviour was just plain stupid. I'm a school teacher and I'm already exposed to the virus enough.' English traveller, Lauren Ellis, is in Australia for a working holiday visa but is worried about her family back home. 'I think the reason a lot of people are here (at Bondi) are because they want to make the most of it knowing they won't be able to do this in a couple of days,' she said. 'I'm not worried about getting the virus - however I am concerned about the financial repercussions and work. 'I have only been here for three months and my working holiday visa is only a year so I won't go home. However I am scared in case something happens to my family and I can't go back home to see them.' A cyclist wears a face mask as he rides his bike to deliver food in Bondi on Saturday night Another group of friends that were kicked off the beach said they've had to cut their time in Australia short. 'My group of friends and I flew into New Zealand on Feb 26 before we flew to Australia on March 13,' Backpacker Mary said. 'We were very lucky because it was just days before the Prime Minister announced mandatory self isolation. 'I was meant to leave on March 30 but now I am going home tomorrow since they are cutting domestic flights. We were meant to fly to Cairns and Port Douglas to see the reef. 'I don't know what awaits me when I fly back to San Francisco.' Hours after people were kicked off the beach, persistent surfers stayed in the water until dark despite orders from lifeguards and even threats to call the police. But by 7pm on Saturday, Australia's busiest beach turned into a ghost town with no announcement of when it will be re-opened. By ANI MANDI: More than 35 tourists including Nepali and Israeli nationals were returned from the district on Saturday as part of the government's efforts to check tourist inflow to help contain the spread of coronavirus. The district administration said people had come from different places and were on their way to Manali. "All the tourists were sent back including 20 people from Nepal, five from Kerala and six others from abroad. With the help of the local police and medical team, the buses were checked and people were sent back," said Rahul Chauhan, Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of Sundernagar. FOLLOW CORONAVIRUS LIVE UPDATES HERE Chouhan said eight tourists were sent back from Shimla on Friday. The state government had on March 14 closed all educational institutions, Anganwadi centres, and play-way schools till March 31. Two fresh cases of coronavirus were reported in Kangra district on March 20. Meanwhile, the total number of positive cases of coronavirus in India now stands at 258 including 39 foreigners, said Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday. US Defence Secretary Mark Esper on Friday held a telephonic conversation with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and praised India's COVID-19 initiative for SAARC countries, the Pentagon said. The two leaders discussed the COVID-19 pandemic and underscored their commitment to close communication during this period in order to maintain momentum on initiatives that reinforce their comprehensive global partnership, the Pentagon said in a readout of the call. "During the call, the two leaders also discussed bilateral defense priorities, including the ongoing regional cooperation and initiatives to enhance military-to-military engagement and defense trade," it said. Esper expressed his appreciation for India's leadership in coordinating COVID-19 related relief efforts among South Asian countries and conveyed his intent to visit India at the earliest opportunity, the Pentagon said. In the wake of the coronavirus crisis, Esper had postponed his scheduled travel to India this month. He has been roped in by President Donald Trump to combat the coronavirus that has so far infected more than 13,000 Americans claimed 230 lives. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Massachusetts Department of Correction reported Saturday the first case of an inmate in the commonwealth with the coronavirus. Staff at the Massachusetts Treatment Center in Bridgewater are taking heightened precautions after a prisoner tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday. The incarcerated mans roommate has not shown symptoms, but both have been quarantined from each other and the facilitys general population since Thursday, DOC said in a statement. The inmate diagnosed with the viral respiratory infection is serving a life sentence, according to the agencys statement. MTC is a medium-security facility that separately houses criminally sentenced men identified as sex offenders and those who have been civilly committed as sexually dangerous people. "There are no other positive COVID-19 cases reported within the inmate population at this time, DOCs statement said. A list of people who have had direct contact with the sickened person has been forwarded to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. It is unclear whether those individuals have been tested or will be monitored for possible infection. News of the prisoner who contracted the illness comes as advocates and some public officials in Massachusetts call for a release of selected groups of incarcerated individuals to help protect against the spread of the coronavirus. Currently, 19,624 cases of the disease have been reported nationwide, and 413 patients have been positively diagnosed in the commonwealth. U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley and Sen. Elizabeth Warren urged President Donald Trump on Friday to reduce the number of people in federal custody, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts demanded that Gov. Charlie Baker grant commutations to certain prison populations, including people whose sentences end in the next year. Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollinss office also announced Thursday the prosecutor plans to release inmates who may be particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 and who pose no meaningful risk. Family and friend visits have been temporarily suspended at each of the states 16 correction facilities to minimize the risk of transmission, authorities said. The department has expanded phone call access and offered two free phone calls per week to all inmates as well. Calls have also been increased to 30 minutes in duration, and phone privileges for inmates serving a loss of phone sanction have been reinstated. Reinstatement of visits will continue to be evaluated on an on-going basis, officials said. Attorney visits will not be impacted and will be permitted during this time. The agency continues to monitor the spread of the virus with its contracted inmate medical provider, Wellpath. Wellpath will meet with prisoners who have presented symptoms consistent with disease, authorities said. All outgoing and incoming inmates are being surveyed to see if they had contact with the coronavirus or if they show symptoms. Staff at MTC have been using personal protective equipment when interacting with a quarantined inmate, according to DOC. Officials said the agency is committed to making sure those who are incarcerated receive health care that is in line with or exceeds national standards. MADOC staff are working with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) to prevent further introduction into MADOC facilities, and to quickly engage, contain, and treat any outbreak, the agencys statement said. DOC is working to comply with DPH and CDC recommendations. Staff continue to conduct additional cleaning, disinfecting high-touch areas and transport vehicles. Employees are also using designated spaces to address individuals who are symptomatic, authorities said. Access to soap and running water is available to inmates as well. In the event an inmate runs out of these items they would absolutely be provided such items, officials said. Inmates may also purchase their favored brands through canteen if they wish. Cleaning and disinfectant are also readily available for inmates and staff. Related Content: The news and public relations department, the Indian Red Cross Society and the Karnataka State Labour Studies Institute have invited volunteers for the programme to provide real-time information to people to avoid spreading rumours and misinformation about coronavirus. This is an opportunity to join hands with the Karnataka government and fight coronavirus. These volunteers will be known as the "Corona Warriors", who will be entrusted with the job of monitoring social media sites to check rumours that are being spread across all taluks in the state. They will also take steps to provide proper information. Applications are already being shared online and registered volunteers will be provided with appropriate training, security kits and identification cards at all district offices of the Department of Information and Public Relations. At least four volunteers will work in four shifts per day in each taluk of the state. There are about 120 volunteers in Bengaluru city and about 3,000 Corona Warriors are expected to register from across the state. Over 400 volunteers have registered via online application on the first day. Fifteen people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the state, said Karnataka Health Minister B Sriramulu on Friday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hospital capacity is another area we are focusing on identifying resources and ways to increase our bed capacity in Illinois to treat those who contract the novel coronavirus," she said Friday at Pritzkers daily briefing on the coronavirus pandemic. The state has been working with other jurisdictions and businesses to reopen recently (closed) hospitals. We are currently doing assessments at different hospitals in Illinois to determine the condition of the facility, the medical resources available, staffing levels and what else might be needed to reopen these facilities in order to provide medical care for individuals with COVID-19. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Dian Septiari (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, March 21, 2020 13:02 662 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad206c6c7db 1 World Iran,COVID-19,New-Year-Celebration,Nowruz,Persian-new-year Free If there was one thing that Mohammad Azad was supposed to do in his first year as Iranian Ambassador in Jakarta, it would have been to host a gathering of compatriots, colleagues and like-minded friends to celebrate the Persian New Year. But the senior diplomat ultimately decided against it amid the heightened risks of COVID-19 infection, which has spread to more than 246,000 people worldwide. The Persian start to the calendar, commemorated globally as the International Day of Nowruz, can be literally translated as "New Day". It is an ancient celebration and the biggest national holiday in Iran, where families gather in high spirits to dine and exchange gifts. In their homes, Iranians would assemble their haft sin, a traditional tabletop arrangement of seven items marking the celebration of the holiday. The names of the seven items must begin with the Persian letter seen (s) and each item represents a different hope for the New Year. The four most common items are sabzeh (grass), symbolizing rebirth and renewal; senjed (dried fruit), symbolizing love; sib (apples), symbolizing beauty and health; and seer (garlic), symbolizing medicine and self-care. In 2010, Nowruz was recognized by the United Nations General Assembly as a spring festival of Iranian origin that has been celebrated for more than 3,000 years. It has become a public holiday in several other countries, including Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. However, this year's celebration, which falls on Saturday, has been overshadowed by the global COVID-19 pandemic, as Iran becomes one of the world's hardest-hit countries with an infection rate of 50 people per hour and a death toll of 1,284 that continues to climb at a rate of one person every 10 minutes, Reuters reports. Meanwhile in Indonesia, there are 369 people who have tested positive for the disease and 32 who have died as of Friday afternoon, making it the highest fatality rate in the world barring all unconfirmed or probable cases. This situation has driven Azad to decide that instead of hosting the customary gathering of the Iranian community and other friends at his official residence in Menteng, Central Jakarta, he would send them well wishes through letters, voice notes and phone calls. Because of the new situation, I have sent voice notes and messages to our Iranian communities. In my message, I said that because of the coronavirus we have to be careful and to manage that, we are going to have this exchange of messages, the envoy told The Jakarta Post on Friday, referring to the virus that causes COVID-19. The Iranian people celebrate Nowruz the way Idul Fitri is celebrated in Indonesia, by visiting relatives and friends. Many people usually extend their holidays for up to two weeks, using that time to visit friends and family and travel out of town to tourist spots and/or religious sites. I hope that when we have managed [to contain] the coronavirus, we can have another festival maybe after Ramadan and during Idul Fitri. Hopefully, [by] that time we can [...] have face-to-face interactions, Azad said. Idul Fitri is the biggest holiday on the Islamic calendar, which celebrates the victory of the spirit at the end of a month-long fast undertaken globally during the holy month of Ramadan. This year it will likely fall on May 28. Meanwhile in Iran, millions of people are now confined to celebrating the New Year within their own walls, although the police have said that many still defied warnings from health officials to stay home and avoid crowds by heading to the Caspian coast, a favorite destination during the Nowruz holidays, according to Reuters. Indonesia has imposed a temporary travel ban for people with a history of travel to Iran, together with countries like Italy and South Korea that have been hit the hardest by COVID-19, in its efforts to curb the spread of the disease in the archipelago. Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi called her Iranian counterpart on Wednesday, expressing condolences for the deaths caused by the COVID-19 outbreak in Iran, said the ministrys director for Middle East affairs, Achmad Rizal Purnama. Retno also conveyed the importance of international cooperation in handling the outbreak, he said. The international cooperation aspect in overcoming this problem must continue to be encouraged, Rizal told reporters on Thursday. From the Iranian side, Azad said his minister also used the opportunity to ask the Indonesian government not to follow the unilateral [...] and inhumane sanctions" that the United States has imposed on the people of Iran, particularly given the spread of the pandemic. He said the sanctions have had an effect on the country's ability to procure the medical equipment required to respond to the public health emergency, on top of the massive pressure it puts on Iran's economy. Reuters reported Friday that the US imposed new sanctions this week, arguing that its maximum pressure campaign to curb Irans nuclear, missile and regional activities does not stop the flow of humanitarian goods. The Donald Trump administration blacklisted five companies based in the United Arab Emirates, three in mainland China, three in Hong Kong and one in South Africa for trade in Irans petrochemicals. Spain ramped up its battle against the coronavirus Saturday, mobilising 52,000 additional health workers and racing to finish construction of field hospitals as its death toll jumped by a third. "We must prepare ourselves emotionally and psychologically for very hard days ahead," Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told the nation in a televised address as Spain reported 1,326 more deaths, the second-highest in Europe after Italy. The number of infections across the country also shot up to 24,926, the health ministry said in a statement, adding that the capital Madrid remains the hardest hit. "The cases are rising and are going to continue to rise in the coming days," ministry spokeswoman Maria Jose Sierra told journalists, saying nobody knew when the outbreak in Spain would peak. Those who had died were mainly people over 70 and particularly the over-80s, she said. "Nearly 70 percent of patients placed in intensive care units are more than 60 years old," she added. Nevertheless, between one and two percent of those hospitalised were under 20 years old. Authorities have called up 52,000 extra workers to help the country's health service as it struggles to contain the virus, including 14,000 retired doctors and nurses. The new numbers follow a fresh spike in both deaths and infections on Friday. Spain has issued lockdown orders for some 46 million people who are only permitted to leave their homes for essential work, food shopping, medical reasons or to walk the dog. Around 2,800 soldiers have been mobilised to disinfect train stations and airports and to bring help to elderly, vulnerable people, said General Miguel Villarroya, chief of the defence staff. Madrid and Barcelona announced Friday they would set up field hospitals in their biggest exhibition halls to deal with the anticipated growth in the number of patients. The IFEMA conference centre would be fitted with 5,500 hospital beds, part of it dedicated to an intensive care unit, while a section of the Fira de Barcelona centre would be similarly equipped, city authorities said. Officials have distributed hundreds of thousands of surgical masks, adapted hotels to treat the sick and produced hundreds of thousands of test kits. The shutdown in Spain has emptied the streets of the main cities, such as Barcelona Increase in the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in Spain, as of March 21 The problem started immediately: busy bars, packed streets, crowded beaches, ironic admonitions about social distancing. Millennials heeded expert advice to stay indoors and socially isolate themselves about as well as their high school financial literacy class before taking out a six-figure loan for a four-year saturnalia at a posh private university. "St. Patrick's Day partiers hit the town over officials' pleas amid coronavirus outbreak," read one headline in the Chicago Sun-Times. Some money-conscious, health-heedless Millennials see adventurous opportunity amid the mass hibernation, buying up cheap flight fares. Former Disney channel starlet Hillary Duff reprimanded her peers for refusing to abide by the quarantine convention, issuing a vulgar PSA to her fishbowl-eyed Instagram followers: "To all you young millennial a------- that keep going out partying: go home. Stop killing old people please." The Wall Street Journal, which probably has a Millennial readership on par with Reader's Digest, ran a piece "A Generational War Is Brewing over Coronavirus," about youthful defiance of COVID-19 closings. Feeling immune from the worst effects of coronavirus (its fatality rate, namely), young adults flocked to bars and nightclubs, refusing to take seriously warnings to stay home. The Journal reports: "illegal 'lockdown parties' popped up in France and Belgium, and campuses in the U.S. lit up for end-of-the-world dorm parties." A typical Friday night at any given college, in other words. Then came the crackdown. Seeing that social nudging and shaming weren't enough to keep watering holes dry, state authorities are shuttering all businesses but groceries and pharmacies. Millennials will have to belt their cheap pilsner swill from the comfort of their shared apartments. The reluctant shut-ins are now bargaining with the clock to make the minute hand move faster. Many are complaining of the modern affliction of listlessness, otherwise known as boredom. A cottage industry of advice columns on how to deal with coronavirus-induced malaise has cropped up. My Millennial coevals have increased their social media postings in frustrated response to excess time, spitballing ideas on how to fill the empty hours. Most are mundane, make-work chores: repainting rooms, hanging wall adornments with kitschy hang-in-there phrases, alphabetizing bookshelves. Some are picking up where they left off in learning an instrument. But all are admitting to a condition they haven't felt since their primary-school days: feeling bored. In a depressing way, this lack of pressing concerns is worse than contracting a potentially fatal pathogen. The Millennial drug of choice isn't cocaine or Adderall or psychotropic pills or any of the addictive substances you hear about on the nightly news. It's distraction distraction with friends, distraction with devices, distraction with tossing back craft brews, distracting with racking up "likes" on pictures of their warmed-over Scotch egg at brunch. Theodore Dalrymple describes boredom as a "much-underestimated cause of social pathology" that can lead to destructive behavior, like violence and substance abuse. In this case, after causing reckless disregard for the immuno-compromised (a sciency word for those with weak constitutions), boredom is making Millennials unveil the shallows of life they lap around, fretting over superfluities. Instead of using the forced sabbatical to brush up on Elia Kazan's cinematic classics or peruse Tom Stoppard's stage oeuvre or even taking a stab at completing a Trollope novel (my preferred method of "wasting" time), the young are whiling away the minutes, aimlessly tossing them into the black void of the internet. The naked confessions of ennui are revealing of another worrisome Millennial trend: a lack of adult responsibility. School closures have parents scrambling to find care for their school-free children. Mandatory telework sounds great until you have a toddler bawling to be read If You Give a Mouse a Cookie for the twenty-seventh time in a half-hour. And what about around-the-house upkeep? Honey-do lists are inexhaustible; newly freed up blocks of time could be used to make a dent in them. There are still leaves from last fall in a sylvan patch of my backyard that won't decompose for another century. Perhaps I'll have a chance to clear them out now. Or fructify the beds of soil that line the front of our house. Or trim the azaleas, to use that hackneyed phrase. Most Millennials don't have such prosaic concerns, mainly because their rate of homeownership continues to lag behind older age groups. Without proper property and progeny, their responsibility extends as far as keeping hunger and the landlord at bay. A dearth of duty means more time and money for going out, testing the limits of their livers' alcohol-processing enzymes. When the pandemic eventually passes, and the "weak piping time of peace" returns, Millennials who found themselves at a loose end for much of the confinement will re-enter the world, hardly for the better. They may feel slightly more grateful to fill a bar stool once again, a pang of guilt for taking simple pleasures for granted. But they'll set to distracting themselves with effulgent marquees and novelty cocktails. This opportunity for introspection will be wasted. Interior Minister Marcel Vela announced on Saturday evening that a military ordinance was issued, providing several measures, among which the temporary suspension of activity in dental medicine cabinets. According to the ordinance presented by the minister, by exception, the emergency stomatologic interventions are allowed.Vela pointed out the measure in question is to be enforced as of 22 March, 22,00hrs. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 21) The military has converted an island off Basilan province into a quarantine area for Filipinos from Sabah, Malaysia who were earlier refused entry to Western Mindanao due to fears they might have contracted the coronavirus disease. The Western Mindanao Command on Saturday released a video of Sibakil Island in Lantawan town, which now has tents for more than 200 Basilan residents. They are among 413 Filipinos who returned from Sabah on board two private vessels, arriving at the ports of Maluso town and Isabela City on Tuesday. "They ended up [there] since no Local Government Unit (LGU) would accept them fearing that they might be infected [with] the virus," Lt. Gen. Cirilo Sobejana earlier said in a statement. Following President Rodrigo Duterte's directive that all returning Filipinos should be allowed entry to the country, the military decided to use the uninhabited island as a quarantine area, Sobejana said. He added that the local government of Basilan allowed 282 of the passengers to disembark since they are residents of the province. They were brought to Sibakil Island on Friday and will stay there for the 14-day mandatory quarantine period, said Major Arvin Encinas, spokesperson of the Wesmincom. "They were provided with food packs, sleeping kits, hygiene kits, drinking water, movable tents, sacks of rice, and other basic commodities," Encinas said in a statement, adding that the military will ensure the residents' safety. As of Friday, the remaining 131 people, including 10 children remained in the boats, Sobejana said. Duterte has placed the entire area of Luzon under enhanced community quarantine, restricting people's movement, to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease. Other areas in the Visayas and Mindanao have also shut their borders amid the threat of COVID-19. There are now 307 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Philippines. Of this number, 19 have died while 13 have recovered. The Gambia has banned the internet and international phone calls as presidential elections are held in the West African state. Officials have also banned demonstrations to prevent unrest after the elections. Estate agent Adama Barrow is challenging President Yahya Jammeh, who says divine intervention will give him a fifth term. The Gambia has not had a smooth transfer of power since independence. The Gambia has a unique way of voting for the president. Instead of using ballot papers, voters put a marble into a coloured drum for their candidate. The system is aimed at tackling illiteracy and preventing rigging. In the 2011 election, only two votes were declared invalid after people placed their marbles on top of drums. For a country that has known only two presidents since independence from the UK 51 years ago, its mostly young population is yearning for change. The economic challenges besetting this small West African nation have forced many to make the perilous journey to Europe, with some drowning on the way. President Jammeh has said he will rule for a billion years if Allah wills. Mr Barrow says he wants to bring the country back from the brink and restore human rights and true democracy. Mr Jammehs supporters say he has spread education and health care to remote parts of the country. However, his critics accuse him of repressive tendencies with many dissenting voices either killed, jailed or forced into exile. Gambian officials opposed the presence of Western observers, but the EU says it is staying away out of concern about the fairness of the voting process. The African Union, however, has despatched a handful of observers to supervise the vote. The Gambia, a tiny country with a population of less than two million, is surrounded on three sides by Senegal and has a short Atlantic coastline, which is popular with European tourists. The results of the election are not expected to be announced immediately. Mr Jammeh took power in a 1994 coup. Ahead of the vote, rights groups expressed concern over a possible flare-up of violence. However, campaigning passed off almost smoothly without a major incident. On Tuesday Mr Jammeh warned his rivals against contesting the outcome of the vote. Our election system is fraud-proof, rig-proof, you cannot rig our elections, he said. There is no reason that anybody should demonstrate. [Demonstrations] are the loopholes that are used to destabilise African governments. Mamma Kandeh of the Gambia Democratic Congress is also in the race. Source: BBC The grocery chain Stop & Shop and the retail company Target joined the ranks of Whole Foods Market and other businesses in announcing they would be increasing their employees wages during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Stop & Shops more than 70,000 workers in New England, New York and New Jersey will now receive a 10% pay raise. All union members employed by the company and by Peapod Online Grocery will also get an additional two weeks of paid sick leave, according to a statement from United Food and Commercial Workers, which represents roughly 1.3 million grocery and retail workers. "This essential pay and benefit increase will not only protect these hard-working men and women, it will help protect the food supply throughout our communities, UFCW International President Marc Perrone said in the statement. "Every supermarket, grocery store, and food retail employer - union and non-union - in the Northeast and across America must follow the example that Stop & Shop has set and follow their lead. Target announced Friday it would be bumping up its employees wages by $2 per hour until at least May 2 in recognition of the significant contributions its frontline team members are playing during an incredible time of need, the company said in a statement. The company is also offering paid leave to employees who are 65 or older, pregnant or have underlying medical conditions. Target announced bonuses for 20,000 workers who manage individual departments as well. We continue to experience incredible demand across our business, and Targets ability to help our guests in this unprecedented time would not be possible without the strength of our team. I am proud and humbled by the dedication and humanity they show to our guests every day, Target CEO Brian Cornell said in a statement. The number of cases of the viral respiratory infection COVID-19 jumped to 413 in Massachusetts on Friday. Nationally, 19,624 positive diagnoses have been reported. The pandemic has prompted countries and states to lock down, tens of thousands to self-quarantine and several businesses to close. UCFW international and local unions have been negotiating with employers across the country to get wage increases for food workers, officials said. The supermarket chains Safeway and Whole Foods as well as individual businesses like River Valley Co-op in Northampton have announced they are raising employees pay by $2 per hour. Several grocers, including Stop & Shop and others, also adjusted their hours of operation amidst the public health crisis and started allowing windows of time for at-risk demographics like the elderly and those with pre-existing medical conditions to shop. Related Content: The CEO of Ebro Foods, S.A. (BME:EBRO) is Antonio Hernandez Callejas. This analysis aims first to contrast CEO compensation with other companies that have similar market capitalization. Next, we'll consider growth that the business demonstrates. And finally - as a second measure of performance - we will look at the returns shareholders have received over the last few years. This process should give us an idea about how appropriately the CEO is paid. View our latest analysis for Ebro Foods How Does Antonio Hernandez Callejas's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies? At the time of writing, our data says that Ebro Foods, S.A. has a market cap of 2.8b, and reported total annual CEO compensation of 2.5m for the year to December 2018. While this analysis focuses on total compensation, it's worth noting the salary is lower, valued at 1.0m. As part of our analysis we looked at companies in the same jurisdiction, with market capitalizations of 1.9b to 6.0b. The median total CEO compensation was 937k. Now let's take a look at the pay mix on an industry and company level to gain a better understanding of where Ebro Foods stands. Speaking on an industry level, we can see that nearly 54% of total compensation represents salary, while the remainder of 46% is other remuneration. Our data reveals that Ebro Foods allocates salary in line with the wider market. Thus we can conclude that Antonio Hernandez Callejas receives more in total compensation than the median of a group of companies in the same market, and of similar size to Ebro Foods, S.A.. However, this doesn't necessarily mean the pay is too high. We can better assess whether the pay is overly generous by looking into the underlying business performance. You can see a visual representation of the CEO compensation at Ebro Foods, below. BME:EBRO CEO Compensation, March 21st 2020 Is Ebro Foods, S.A. Growing? On average over the last three years, Ebro Foods, S.A. has shrunk earnings per share by 12% each year (measured with a line of best fit). Its revenue is up 6.3% over last year. Story continues Unfortunately, earnings per share have trended lower over the last three years. The modest increase in revenue in the last year isn't enough to make me overlook the disappointing change in earnings per share. So given this relatively weak performance, shareholders would probably not want to see high compensation for the CEO. It could be important to check this free visual depiction of what analysts expect for the future. Has Ebro Foods, S.A. Been A Good Investment? With a total shareholder return of 0.2% over three years, Ebro Foods, S.A. has done okay by shareholders. But they probably wouldn't be so happy as to think the CEO should be paid more than is normal, for companies around this size. In Summary... We compared total CEO remuneration at Ebro Foods, S.A. with the amount paid at companies with a similar market capitalization. As discussed above, we discovered that the company pays more than the median of that group. Earnings per share have not grown in three years, and the revenue growth fails to impress us. While shareholder returns are acceptable, they don't delight. So we doubt many shareholders would consider the CEO pay to be particularly modest! On another note, we've spotted 1 warning sign for Ebro Foods that investors should look into moving forward. Arguably, business quality is much more important than CEO compensation levels. So check out this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading. The 18th Independent Congress on Economics of University Students in Turkey was held in Istanbul from March 5-7 with more than 150 students attending from several universities. Several student groups from different universities and cities across the country organize this event on different topics each year. The main theme this year was Globalization and Searching for Ways Out. It included subheadings such as From the economic crisis to the popular uprisings, International trade wars, and The war economy and the Middle East that cannot be shared. This year, supporters of the Sosyalist Esitlik (Socialist Equality Group), the sympathizing group of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) in Turkey, and the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE Turkey) made a Trotskyist political intervention at the conference. A Sosyalist Esitlik supporter made a presentation titled Thirty years of war and the US drive for global hegemony. Contributions and questions raised by IYSSE supporters drew great interest and generated a lively discussion. Based on A Quarter Century of War: The US Drive for Global Hegemony 19902016 by David North and perspectives produced by the ICFI, this presentation outlined a historical analysis of the imperialist war drive, advancing a socialist perspective based on the international working class. The speaker explained that the current fighting between Turkey and Syria is the end product of reckless wars Washington and its European allies have waged in the Middle East since the Stalinist dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It is the latest episode in the imperialist proxy war against Syrian President Bashar al-Assads regime since 2011, in which the Turkish government has functioned as a tool of the NATO imperialist powers. The dissolution of the Soviet Union was not the failure of socialism, however, but of the national program of Stalinism, and it reflected an existential crisis of the entire post-war nation-state system. The speaker quoted the preface to A Quarter Century of War: The ICFI anticipated that the breakdown of the established postwar equilibrium would lead rapidly to a resurgence of imperialist militarism. It stated in August 1990 that the Bush administrations war against Iraq marks the beginning of a new imperialist redivision of the world. The imperialist wars, military interventions and proxy wars of the three-decade US drive for global hegemony has only produced disasters. The speaker pointed to war preparations by Washington against Iran, Russia and China, explaining that other imperialist powers are no less ruthless than US in pursuit of their interests. The German ruling class has turned to a militarist foreign policy abroad, promoting far-right forces against deeply rooted anti-war sentiments in the working class, the speaker explained, referring to the analysis presented in Christoph Vandreiers book, Why Are They Back? The speaker explained three stages of the Syrian war and the continuing collaboration between Ankara and Al Qaeda-linked forces, both for regime change and to prevent the formation of a Kurdish state on Ankaras southern border. The latest Turkish invasion targeting the YPG, Washingtons main proxy force in Syria, has displaced hundreds of thousands of primarily Kurdish civilians. Their records shows that both the Turkish and Kurdish bourgeoisie are reactionary accomplices of US-led imperialist war in the Middle East; no faction of the capitalist class opposes imperialist war. At the end of the presentation, the speaker stated that Under conditions where all the imperialist and capitalist states are preparing for a world war with nuclear weapons this time, the question of how to stop this enormous danger is of great importance. As to the roots of the war threat, he quoted from the ICFIs 2016 statement, Socialism and the Fight Against War: The essential cause of militarism and war lies in the deep-seated contradictions of the world capitalist system: 1) between a globally integrated and interdependent economy and its division into antagonistic national states; and 2) between the socialized character of global production and its subordination, through the private ownership of the means of production, to the accumulation of private profit by the ruling capitalist class. Explaining that there is no national solution to any great problemsuch as war in the Middle East, or the Kurdish questionthe speaker argued for an internationalist socialist perspective based on Leon Trotskys Theory of Permanent Revolution, citing four principles presented in the ICFIs 2016 statement as the foundation of the building of a new international anti-war movement. The presentation sparked many questions from the audience, including about Stalinism and the struggle of Leon Trotsky and the Fourth International to defend the traditions of the October 1917 revolution against the Stalinist degeneration of the Soviet Union and the Communist International. Another question was on the perspective of the Socialist Federation of the Middle East advanced by the speaker as the only progressive response of the working class to imperialist war and reactionary bourgeois factions across the region. The speaker stressed that Turkeys history powerfully demonstrates that, as Leon Trotsky explained in his Theory of Permanent Revolution, there is no national solution to problems facing workers and oppressed people, like independence from imperialism and democratic questions like the Kurdish question. While the presentation elicited great interest from the audience, it also provoked a frenzied response from students linked to the Albanian-Stalinist Labour Party (EMEP), who had also tried to prevent Mehring Yaynclk (Mehring Books) from setting up a bookstand outside the event. They repeated discredited Stalinist lies, denying that Leon Trotsky was assassinated by a Stalinist agent and falsely claiming that Vladimir Lenin supposedly developed the Stalinist theory of socialism in one country in 1916. The speaker refuted these Stalinist lies, stressing the historic struggle of Leon Trotsky and the Trotskyist movement against Stalinism and for the enduring significance of Marxism. As they tried to block the bookstand, it became clear that they wanted to censor Mehring Books because it is a Trotskyist publishing house. It is no coincidence that the EMEP endorsed the bourgeois opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP) candidates in Turkeys largest cities in municipal elections last year. The Sosyalist Esitlik defended its rights to freedom of expression and political activity based on democratic principles and against censorship. This principled stance gained support from other members of the regulatory board and from the majority of the audience. When an EMEP supporter walked up in a rage to a Sosyalist Esitlik supporter, students defended him and publicly denounced the EMEP supporters. The Mehring Yaynclk bookstand remained open up to the end of the congress. The event testified to the enormous power of the Trotskyist perspective developed by the ICFI and the World Socialist Web Site. It underscores how the Trotskyist movement can win the support of youth and workers against pseudo-left parties of the affluent middle class, based on a principled defense of socialist internationalism and democratic rights. The author also recommends: After the Turkish elections: How the pseudo-left rallied behind the CHP [2 October 2019] Getting paid is now a lottery for thousands of workers hit by the economic devastation caused by the pandemic. Whether those laid-off or still working in hard-hit industries are on full wages, a portion of them, or nothing at all, it largely comes down to decisions being taken by individual employers. Public servants and private sector workers in unaffected industries where many are working from home are still on full pay, but elsewhere anything goes. Trends are emerging in some sectors like aviation where Ryanair and Aer Lingus have cut pay by 50pc. Previously, many airlines had been asking their crews to volunteer for unpaid leave. Big high street chains like the Arcadia Group are largely laying off staff but have guaranteed them full pay for the next two to three weeks. Beyond that, anything is possible, including the worst-case scenario that they may be forced to claim State support. Cavan-based insulation maker Kingspan is halving its executives' pay, and its other workers' wages by 40pc. Many staff are being let go with nothing bar the State's new 203-a-week pandemic payment on which to rely. By contrast, the British government has announced it will pay up to 80pc of wages for employees unable to work due to the coronavirus pandemic, worth up to 2,500 (2,700) a month. Yesterday, there was confusion when it emerged that the Government would not refund employers for paying the 203 rate as part of a new scheme - if they topped it up. But last night it did a U-turn and Minister Regina Doherty said businesses could pay their staff more if they wanted. The amount the State is offering is coming in for huge criticism. It's the same as the usual jobseeker's payment, but more than 100 lower than the enhanced illness benefit on offer to those advised to self-isolate. Businessman Ben Dunne has described the 203 payment as an "insult". He is giving his gym staff full pay this month and 60pc of their wages next month. It is unclear whether workers can apply for rent allowance while they are on pandemic pay. This could lead to big problems when a ban on evictions is lifted. ICTU leader Patricia King has asked the Taoiseach for an emergency wage subsidy scheme. Ibec agrees. Siptu says it should make up 75pc of pay. Arguments are also being made for extra pay for the unsung heroes of this crisis. General secretary of the UNI Global Union Christy Hoffman this week called for "hazardous duty pay" for grocery store workers. Imagine what it's like being the one everyone looks towards at times like this, the one entrusted with guiding us through what is on course to being officially labelled 'unprecedented times'. You'd wonder if people in Leo Varadkar's position anticipate situations like this as they scale the ladders of their political careers and edge closer to the pinnacle, or if they envisage themselves addressing the nation about a global emergency on live television. Doubtful. Not in Ireland. Not in our time. We are lucky in that our country operates on a basis that is generally vacant of external threat or serious conflict. So times of mass uncertainty and fear that leave us looking towards the government for guidance and reassurance are rare. Most Taoisigh see out their time without ever being required to fill that role. Perhaps that is why we lean towards lambasting their efforts and questioning their worth. We don't see them leading us. The handling of 'crises' in times of normality that get criticised can seem trivial in comparison to the ones we face now. The actions of a leader during times like this are critical; the decisions they make, the laws they enforce. But there is something else of importance that we register, possibly without realising it: his demeanour. Apart from the cherry-picked information, we are fed throughout the day and the disposable hearsay that spins through our group chats, we have little else to base our judgment on. In instances like Tuesday night, demeanour can serve as a vague window into a place beyond what we are being told. Every syllable, every clearing of the throat serves a potential signal to mean something else. With five million sets of eyes glaring at you, there's little room to manoeuvre. Having this in mind, which we can assume Leo did, wouldn't help in alleviating the pressure already mounting on his shoulders. All things considered, Leo did well. He seemed honest and wasted little time in presenting us with the hard facts. We were desperate to know how bad it was and he told us. The 15,000 number was shocking. With speculation rampant throughout the week, many projections likely surpassed the one we were ultimately given. But hearing the official number, straight from the top, made it suddenly feel extremely real. There was indirect reassurance for the many concerned about their financial situation in hearing: "I am confident that our economy will bounce back, but the damage will be significant and lasting." The speech continued with an almost Buddhist slant, as Leo then looked forwards. Acknowledge the truth (we all die, in the case of the Buddhist), accept it, then focus on what you can do. Whether or not he finds inspiration in ancient-eastern philosophy remains to be seen. But what we can say for sure is, he is giving us hope. Tears were shed in our house early on, even before the words, "Let them say when things were at their worst, we were at our best" had left his mouth. A deep sentiment, which undoubtedly rallied the effort everywhere it was heard. Andrew McGinley Address with editor Wash hands and leave gloves for professionals Can we, the good people of Ireland, stop wearing single-use disposable gloves as we go about our restricted daily business amidst the Covid-19 pandemic? While intentions are good, the risks associated with wearing disposable gloves beyond single use are high. We need to remember frontline healthcare professionals are trained in the use of gloves and are well equipped with the clinical decision-making skills to determine when to don gloves and when to remove. Gloves are a weapon in the armoury of frontline healthcare workers, because they know how and when to wear them and most importantly when and how to remove contaminated gloves safely, without risk to self or others. Washing our hands frequently - more frequently than usual - and following the advice on hse.ie to wash hands with soap and water or a hand sanitiser is the best advice. Dr Liz Kingston, Lecturer Department of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Limerick Social distancing doesn't turn us into lonely islands No woman or man is an island, entire of itself. Every woman and man is a piece of this earth - a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, we are all the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if my home, or any home of your friends or of my friends were. Every woman or man's death diminishes us - be it in China, Iran, Italy, Spain or Ireland; be it close to home or far away - because we are all connected to one another. So in these difficult days of social distancing and isolation, let us constantly remind ourselves of what the poet John Donne once said - we are not islands and the distances that we have been forced to put between us will bring us safely back together in the end. Prof Chris Fitzpatrick Coombe Hospital, Cork Street, Dublin 8 Here's a tale that really wags the dog On my daily walk, I met a man with two small dogs on leads. Keeping my distance (of course), I asked if they were Jack Russells. "No, they're mine," he replied. Tom Gilsenan Beaumont, Dublin 9 Government of FF, FG and Greens is answer Following An Taoiseach's address to the nation, and the way it was received at home and abroad, it cannot be long before a new Government is formed. Despite Leo's speech being a little Churchillian, I would not be surprised to see him supported for Taoiseach by the Green Party in a coalition of Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Greens. Sinn Fein and their ilk may claim "this is not what people voted for" but the fact remains Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Greens garnered more seats and in my view would provide a stable government as we battle Brexit, Covid-19 and a downturn in the global economy. David Ryan Co Meath Beware opportunists who will deprive those in need At a time when our politicians and health professionals and many others have performed so well it is important to remind ourselves that there are people amongst us who will again try to take unfair advantage of various supports and schemes. Those of us who pay our way, some with a struggle, are well aware of people who, for instance, reneged on mortgage payments while being well able to afford them. The missing payments ultimately cost the taxpayer and the compliant because of the reduced capacity of banks to repay the State and to provide mortgages to hardworking families. We can, and should, find common cause with those who struggle with income loss leading to difficulties with mortgages, rent or utilities. But fairness and the need to avoid widespread resentment among the struggling and hardworking demands that we do not make it easy for those wishing to exploit the current crisis. Pat O'Mahony Dalkey, Co Dublin 'Social engineering' finds a whole new definition Leo Varadkar describes the system to be introduced of looking after the elderly in their own homes as "cocooning". This term was first used in this sense four decades ago by the futurist Faith Popcorn (sic). While Popcorn was prescient in this forecast, her prediction that a cultural trend toward more physical contact would necessitate "mechanised hugging booths" is yet to be fulfilled. Blair Noonan Rathgar Road, Dublin People of Iran should be rescued from sanctions During this international pandemic crisis, shouldn't all countries becoming together to resolve this crisis. And that includes helping the people of Iran. No matter what people might think of the Iranian regime, all medical assistance they need should be given to the people of Iran. The international community needs to ignore the sanctions President Trump is placing on Iran. It shouldn't be allowing such a narcissistic, vindictive man to block vital medicine getting to the people. It's bad enough he's not doing enough for his own people, but to let him do it to another country. Alan Fairbrother Knocklyon, Dublin 16 Susan Sarandon doesnt read the attacks that come her way. But I know when things have gotten very bad, she says with a snigger, because people say, Dont worry, we love you, weve got your back! Oh boy. Something must be cooking now, if everyones declaring theyve got my back. I guess my back is in danger. The 73-year-old actor and activist does find herself in the firing line more than most. Not for her films her formidable career includes Atlantic City (1980), Thelma & Louise (1991), Lorenzos Oil (1992) and The Client (1994), all of which earned her Oscar nominations before she finally won for Dead Man Walking (1995) but for her politics. Around the time of the last presidential election, the long-time left-wing campaigner fiercely supported Bernie Sanders. So much so that when he was out of the race, she refused to vote for Hillary Clinton, deeming her very, very dangerous. In another interview, she seemed to suggest there was a silver lining to a Donald Trump presidency that maybe he would bring the revolution immediately. Some applauded her radical position. Others felt that it was people like her who helped get Trump elected. Debra Messing declared war. People dont read an article, they just read clickbait, says Sarandon now, her smoky New York drawl unmistakable even down a crackly phone line. That worries me, because it shows how all this misinformation is becoming so powerful. Youve got opinions and hatred based on clickbait and not on an actual article. When Ive been attacked violently, then thats kind of shocking. People ask, How could you have said that? and I never said it. Seriously, go look at the clips, and youll see. I didnt mean for the conversation to go this way. In fact, Ive been asked not to bring up politics which works well until she brings it up herself about five minutes in. Were here to discuss John Turturros sprawling Big Lebowski spin-off, The Jesus Rolls, out on demand on Monday. Turturro got permission from the Coen brothers to take his character from the 1998 cult film, and turn him into a star. This time around, Jesus, an oleaginous bowling ball-licking registered sex offender with a hairnet and a catchphrase Nobody f***s with the Jesus has transformed into a loveable goof on the run. It is a road movie full of capers and oddballs: Jesuss partner-in-crime Petey (Bobby Cannavale); Marie (Audrey Tautou), the uninhibited, unfulfilled girlfriend of a hairdresser they pissed off; and, briefly, Susan Sarandons melancholic Jean, newly released from prison. Liberated: Sarandon as the melancholic Jean in The Jesus Rolls (Screen Media Films) Sarandon doesnt exactly have much to do, but anything John asks me to do, I do it, she says. He is lucky to have her. Since 1971s Lady Liberty, Sarandon has barely put a foot wrong. With her all-consuming eyes and brisk, unerring delivery, she adds a flintiness to even her gentlest roles as the spiritual adviser to a man on death row in Dead Man Walking, or the philanthropic matriarch Marmie in Little Women (1994) and a tenderness to even her most unsympathetic. Most recently, as Bette Davis in the fabulous 2017 miniseries Feud, which followed the famous rivalry between Davis and Joan Crawford, she was at once snarky, conniving and deeply damaged. And so, unsurprisingly, she makes the most of what little Turturro has given her to do in The Jesus Rolls. A particularly impassioned exchange with a waitress is one of the films best moments. Shes been incarcerated for a long time, says Sarandon of Jean, so when she gets out, its almost like landing on a different planet. But shes liberated, little by little, by these funny but respectful guys, who think shes beautiful. Respectful is the operative word here. The Jesus Rolls is loosely based on Going Places (1974), the controversial French film described by film critic Roger Ebert as the most misogynistic movie I can remember, whose hatred of women is palpable and embarrassing. Sarandon knew this would be different. John loves women, she says. The women are always pretty much in charge. The womens choices might be unusual, but theyre in charge of their lives and I think he treats them with dignity and respect. Even if I wasnt speaking to Louise herself, it would be hard to discuss a road movie about two companions on the run without mentioning Thelma & Louise. I hadnt thought of the crossover! says Sarandon when I raise Ridley Scotts feminist American masterpiece. Thats funny! She was at a charity screening of the film the other day, and saw it on the big screen for the first time in a long time. Its so beautiful. I think it holds up. Access unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows with Amazon Prime Video Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up More relevant today: Sarandon and Geena Davis in Thelma & Louise (1991) (Moviestore/Shutterstock) Beautiful it may be, but it is not always easy to watch. On a trip to the Arkansas mountains, Thelma (Geena Davis) is sexually assaulted by a man at a roadhouse bar. Louise (Sarandon) shoots him dead. Could they explain to the police that he tried to rape her, asks Thelma? Whos gonna believe that? shoots back Louise. We just dont live in that kind of world. The scene, says Sarandon, is even more relevant today now that were actually bringing people to trial and talking about whether or not women will be listened to, or whether or not men will understand that this behaviour is unacceptable. To hear that now Whos gonna believe us? resonates much more strongly than it did 30 years ago. Her co-star, who founded the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media long before rallying against underrepresentation made it into the mainstream, talked recently about the initial response to Thelma & Louise. One very common theme in the press, she said, was, This changes everything. Now there are going to be so many female buddy pictures, so many female action figures. This just completely rewrites everything. And it didnt. The really short answer is, it didnt do s***. The way Sarandon sees it, its more difficult for male executives, awards voters, even viewers, to connect with female leads. But women have no trouble putting themselves in the shoes of male ones. Why is that? Maybe women just have more fluid imaginations, she says. Because its a male-driven, patriarchal society, men havent had to adjust. Maybe they just havent been challenged in terms of their imagination. Younger men are different, she adds. They have more fluidity of imagination, and are questioning a lot of male stereotypes. Sarandon has two adult sons, Jack and Miles, with the actor Tim Robbins (the couple separated in 2009), as well as a daughter, Eva, with her previous partner, the Italian film director Franco Amurri. A few years ago, Miles wrote a piece for The Huffington Post about his decision to wear dresses onstage. The piece went viral. That was surprising! says Sarandon. The socialisation process is pretty horrific for boys. More so than young girls, because girls are pretty much ignored in terms of power structure thats their problem. Boys are corrupted from these sweet, open, gentle children into these hardened, often misogynistic men. Theres some sense of entitlement that crashes in when theyre about 30. Theres just so many pressures on young boys to be men in a way that closes down their imagination. I mean, thats been my experience having two boys. Youre just fighting every day for their soul. Hopeful: Sarandon sits with US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders in 2016 (Eric Thayer/Getty) (Eric Thayer/Getty Images) She says things are changing, though. Ive been travelling around the country campaigning for Bernie Sanders, and there are all kinds of young people of different colours and ages who have been knocking on doors trying to connect with people. That has blown my mind. Bernie says, I want you to look out and find the person that doesnt look like you, that you dont know, and tell that person that you will fight as hard for them as you will fight for yourself. I think thats the moment we have to be in right now, in order to stand up against the normalisation of hatred and racism and Islamophobia and all the phobias that are happening. As well as using the old-fashioned door-to-door technique, Sarandon implores her 650,000-odd Twitter followers to vote for Bernie although she insists she doesnt use it as an opinion-making thing. She makes it clear what side shes on, though. I dont use it to give my opinion, she repeats, I use it to put out facts that arent in the mainstream media. I use it to give a voice to organisations that dont have huge budgets, or health stats, or environmental stats. Is it getting harder, in the age of the internet, to distinguish whats true and what isnt? No, I think facts are facts. And so you go to the facts and you look them up and those are the facts. Fair enough. But Im not gonna tell people what to think. Shes hopeful these days about where the world is heading. I really feel like the bubbles are bursting, she says. You can have fluidity of thought and imagination and a role. That makes me very, very optimistic, because thats what the futures going to be if were going to survive. The Jesus Rolls is available on demand from 23 March Doting granny Jenny von Hofe has started packing a new item for her weekly Wednesday as carer for her 21-month-old grandson, Rory. She brings alcohol wipes, not to clear up spills but to swipe over play equipment before and after Rory climbs on it. As a career theatre nurse (and a diabetic), and despite the fact many Melbourne families are wrestling with whether grandparents should continue to provide childcare, Ms von Hofe feels so well versed in hygiene she need not fear to spend the day with a toddler also at childcare raises her risk of exposure to COVID-19. Grandmother Jenny von Hofe cares for her grandson Rory one day a week while his mother, Janique, works as a teacher. Credit:Simon Schluter "I love it for the bonding; he sees me and he's so excited, I look forward to it," says Ms von Hofe, of Bayside Melbourne, whose daughter, Janique, is a teacher. Janique says the time her mum spends with Rory is precious as Jenny "gets to see his milestones happening in real time" and for Rory, his day with granny is "the highlight of his week". She is following current advice that it is safe for the demographics to be in close contact, but is ready to act if this changes. While global bodies such as the World Health Organization are actively fighting COVID-19 misinformation on the Internet and social media platforms through fundraising and awareness campaigns, it is the responsibility of every media owner to fight misinformation and rumour mongering that are being deployed opportunistically. In an earlier report, Adgully had showcased how opportunistic brands are pandering to #CoronaVirus fears and misleading consumers into buying their product. Media watchdogs such as the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) are doing their part in taking action against such bad actors but as the age of saying goes precaution is better than cure. Print players have banded together in a concerted effort to fight fake news and misinformation and between Saturday 21st March and Sunday 22nd March all major publishers will release a joint communication. Dainik Bhaskar Group has developed the initiative which has been taken up by the brand and marketing heads of all the newspapers in the logo line. English dailies, The Times of India (17th March), The Hindu (20th March), and Hindustan Times (19th March) have released a tactical communication addressing the situation. The Hindu communication is directed at marketers, companies and individuals urging them not to use misinformation for personal gain. The HT copy reads the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) entails responsible individual, social and institutional behaviour. The ToI report reads to avail special rates for any message, product or service around COVID-19, inviting people who want to make public service announcements to advertise in the newspaper. Regional players, Dainik Jagran (20th March), Dainik Bhaskar (20th March), Amar Ujala (4th March), Lokmat and Mathrubhumi have also released public service announcements or full page editorials dedicated to COVID-19, specifically to raise awareness amongst their readers. These communications are more focused on what individuals can do to curb the spread of the virus. Also Read: PRCAI launches online campaign to raise awareness on COVID-19 Newspapers won't infect you with COVID-19 assures BCCL's Raj Jain Ministry of External Affairs on Saturday issued various country-wise travel advisories for Indian nationals returning home and the foreign nationals who are stranded in India. As per the advisory for Finland and Estonia, Indian students studying there have not been asked to vacate student accommodations and residence halls. Universities and colleges are providing distance learning and digital learning. The Embassy of India in Helsinki is open and will continue to support the Indian students in these countries. For Indians in Finland, the MEA has made certain numbers available for assistance and addressing travel queries. +358-44 936 9316, +358-46 841 2040, +358-44 937 9316 are the numbers operational during the working hours. The emergency helpline number +358-447579259 has been made active for any queries after office hours. The MEA has also issued certain e-mails for Indians in Finland. visacons.helsinki@mea.gov.in and cons.helsinki@mea.gov.in are e-mail IDs that can be used. The Indian Embassy in Tokyo has also released helpline numbers and emergency email IDs to assist Indians stranded in Japan. The Indian Embassy in Tokyo tweeted: "Due to #COVID19, for any queries related to travel advisories or emergency visas, consular service related matter, plz contact @IndianEmbTokyo Helpline number (24x7): +81 80 3301 5242 [not for routine passport, visa or consular queries] or send email to sscons.tokyo@mea.gov.in" Indian Embassy in Israel has also released notices asking Indians to restrict all non-essential travel out of Israel. The Indian Embassy in Israel has also tweeted: "All Indian nationals in #Israel are requested to avoid non-essential travel out of Israel. Travel to #India for one week, starting 22 March will not be possible. This is a temporary measure, which is being reviewed regularly at the Ministerial level." The Indian Embassy in Vietnam has also issued hiplines numbers and email Ids for assistance. The Indian embassy in Hanoi tweeted, "Embassy of India, Hanoi: Dr Ch V Sastry, SS (Consular) mob: +84-914991424/+84-948853067 email: cons.hanoi@mea.gov.in Consulate General of India, Ho Chi Minh City: Shri Sumit Chaudhary mob: +84-917180776 email: cons.hcm@mea.gov. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) EAST GREENVILLE, Pa., March 20, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Knoll, Inc. (NYSE: KNL), a constellation of design-driven brands for the workplace and home, announced today that effective at midnight the Company is temporarily suspending production of certain workplace products at its East Greenville, Pennsylvania manufacturing site. This action complies with the March 19 executive order of the Governor of Pennsylvania to shut down non-life sustaining government offices and businesses to halt the spread of COVID-19. The East Greenville site employs approximately 350 hourly associates. The Companys warehouse and distribution centers, including KnollTextiles, are not impacted by the Governors order; increased health and safety measures will be in place at these locations, including temperature checks. The Company said that it is working to seek a waiver to the production halt as it provides workplace products to the United States government and healthcare organizations. Andrew Cogan, Knoll Chairman and CEO, stated We are committed to the health and safety of our associates and protecting their families and the community, and look forward to working with government leaders to reopen our East Greenville site as soon as possible. At the same time, our customer service teams are working closely with our clients on contingency plans as we also work with suppliers and distribution partners to assess the impact of this situation to our business, he added. Knoll manufacturing and distribution facilities in Toronto, Canada; Buffalo, NY and Michigan are currently operational with care to keeping employees safe; these facilities are manufacturing open plan office systems, height adjustable tables, conference tables and other ancillary furniture. The Companys Italian sites are scheduled to be closed from April 1- 13 as a precautionary measure, consistent with other plant closures in the area. The Company noted that: Ready-to-ship workplace and residential furniture, textiles, leathers, felt and accessories from the Companys constellation of brands, including Muuto, Fully, KnollTextiles, Spinneybeck | FilzFelt and Edelman Leather, are available for purchase; the assortment includes products for a healthy home workplace. Its sales associates and distribution partners, including Knoll workplace dealers, are meeting with clients via video, web and audio conferencing, continuing to bring an innovative mindset to develop plans for workplace and residential projects. Customer service operations continue to be staffed by associates working remotely from home to ensure that project needs are being assessed. Looking beyond this crisis, we expect that the time away from the workplace will only make people appreciate even more the benefits of the social interaction that the workplace provides, and we look forward to working with clients to plan inspiring spaces, Cogan added. About Knoll Knoll, Inc. is a constellation of design-driven brands and people, working together with our clients to create inspired modern interiors. Our internationally recognized portfolio includes furniture, textiles, leathers, lighting, accessories, and architectural and acoustical elements. Our brands Knoll Office, KnollStudio, KnollTextiles, KnollExtra, Spinneybeck | FilzFelt, Edelman Leather, HOLLY HUNT, DatesWeiser, Muuto, and Fully reflect our commitment to modern design that meets the diverse requirements of high-performance workplaces and luxury interiors. A recipient of the National Design Award for Corporate and Institutional Achievement from the Smithsonian`s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Knoll, Inc. is aligned with the U.S. Green Building Council and the Canadian Green Building Council and can help organizations achieve the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) workplace certification. Our products can also help clients comply with the International Living Future Institute to achieve Living Building Challenge Certification, and with the International WELL Building Institute to attain WELL Building Certification. Knoll, Inc. is the founding sponsor of the World Monuments Fund Modernism at Risk program. Contacts Investors: Charles Rayfield Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Tel 215 679-1703 crayfield@knoll.com Media: David E. Bright Senior Vice President, Communications Tel 212 343-4135 dbright@knoll.com The following question-and-answer was provided to the Reporter-Telegram from the city of Midland, which stated it was sent out by the Texas Governors Office. In answer to all questions: The executive orders issued related to COVID-19 mitigation in Texas are effective statewide as of midnight Friday and end at midnight on April 3, unless extended. These orders to aid in the states efforts to stop the spread of the coronavirus in Texas and to save lives are in accordance with federal guidelines issued by the President and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), which include avoiding social gatherings of 10 or more people, practicing social distancing of 6 feet, and employing frequent, thorough hand washing, and surface disinfecting. It is important to note that these orders do not mandate sheltering in place. We want and need businesses to continue operating. Offices and workplaces may remain open, but employers should only require essential employees to report to the place of work and should, where feasible, allow and encourage employees to work from home or other remote sites. Employees who do go to work should also practice good hygiene as well as best health practices to minimize exposure to and transmission of COVID-19. The more Texans do to reduce their public contact, the sooner COVID-19 will be contained, and the sooner these executive orders will expire. Do the governors executive orders apply to churches and houses of worship? --Churches and houses of worship are not social gatherings. Places of worship are especially important in times of great community and personal need. --We rely on all local and community leaders to prioritize the health of those they serve and to protect public health. --Churches are capable of engaging in social distancing and the recommended hygiene and sanitizing standards. --As long as federal and CDC guidelines are followed, individual churches, congregations and houses of worship may determine their own operating hours and service offerings. Many are already offering services online. Do the governors executive orders apply to day care centers? --Day care centers are critical to working Texas families, and the state deems them an essential service. --We rely on day care operators to prioritize the health of the children and families they serve and to protect public health. --Because peace of mind is critical for parents when it comes to their childcare needs, the Texas Department of Health and Human Services has issued strict standards for daycare operations to protect the health of the children, families and communities served. --As long as the HHS guidelines are strictly followed, daycare centers and licensed individual providers may continue operating. --And the state of Texas has identified expanding day care options as a high priority, especially for essential workers such as healthcare professionals. Do the governors executive orders apply to all private businesses? --We rely on all businesses to prioritize the health of their employees and their customers and to protect public health. --We want and need businesses to continue operating. Offices and workplaces may remain open, but employers should only require essential employees to report to the place of work and should, where feasible, allow and encourage employees to work from home or other remote sites. --Employees who do go to work should also practice good hygiene as well as best health practices to minimize exposure to and transmission of COVID-19. --As long as federal and CDC guidelines are followed, private businesses may determine their own operating hours and service offerings. --For common work areas or lunch rooms, businesses must follow federal guidelines: no groups of 10 or more people, allow social distancing of 6 feet, and ensure frequent, thorough hand washing and surface disinfecting. Do the governors executive orders apply to all public and private schools from pre-K through elementary, high school, community college and university? --Yes. All schools in Texas are temporarily closed through April 3 or later if extended by order. --STAAR testing requirements have been waived for this school year. --However, learning is not suspended. Schools are encouraged to offer online and other distance-learning options. --The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is providing guidance to public school districts. --TEA has created a Texas Students MealFinder Map. --The Higher Education Coordinating Board is providing guidance to public institutions of higher education. --Questions should be directed to local school districts, community college districts or university systems. Do the governors executive orders closing bars and dine-in restaurants apply to walk-in pickups or the drive-through at restaurants? --No. --We rely on all businesses to prioritize the health of their employees and their customers and to protect public health. --As long as federal and CDC guidelines are followed no groups of 10 or more people, allowing social distancing of 6 feet, and ensuring frequent, thorough hand washing and surface disinfecting restaurants may offer walk-in pickups and drive-through service. --And we continue to evaluate best public health practices. Do the governors executive orders apply to salons, barbers and hair stylists? --No. --We rely on all businesses to prioritize the health of their employees and their customers and to protect public health. --As long as federal and CDC guidelines are followed, private businesses may determine their own operating hours and service offerings. --While maintaining social distancing of 6 feet is difficult for personal services businesses such as salons, barbers and hairstylists, all other precautions can and should be taken by customers and service professionals. --We continue to evaluate best public health practices. The governors executive orders apply to gyms. Do they also apply to personal trainers? --No. --We rely on all businesses to prioritize the health of their employees and their customers and to protect public health. --As long as federal and CDC guidelines are followed, private businesses may determine their own operating hours and service offerings. --While maintaining social distancing of 6 feet is difficult for personal services businesses such as personal fitness training, all other precautions can and should be taken by customers and service professionals. --We continue to evaluate best public health practices. Do the governors executive orders apply to weddings and funerals? --Even in times of emergency, it is important that we mark important milestones and celebrate as family. --As long as federal and CDC guidelines are followed no groups of 10 or more people, which can be fulfilled through separation of groups and allowing social distancing of 6 feet, while ensuring frequent, thorough hand washing, and surface disinfecting wedding and funerals can be held. --Sharing services online is also encouraged. Do the governors executive orders apply to dentists or other medical providers? --No. Medical health services are essential. --We rely on all medical providers to prioritize the health of their employees and their patients and to protect public health. --All federal and CDC guidelines should be followed. --Dentists and medical providers may determine their own operating hours and service offerings. Closing: Finally, these executive orders do not prohibit you from going to the grocery store, gas station or bank. All critical infrastructure will remain open and operational. Domestic travel will be unrestricted. Government entities and businesses will continue to provide essential services. And we want and need businesses to continue operating safely. Working together, we must defeat COVID-19 so that we can get back to work and enjoy the blessings of this great state. No one responds to challenges better than Texans. We are #TexasStrong. We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form Several South Asian governments have announced curfews and border control measures in an effort to tackle the deadly Coronavirus pandemic. Pakistan on March 21 suspended all international flights for two weeks. Authorities in Bangladesh have tightened control over the borders while Sri Lankan police have arrested more than two dozen people violating a nationwide curfew. 'Effort to stop the virus' Authorities in Pakistan have asked people to self-quarantine themselves for another 45 days, this order comes just as the country reported its third Coronavirus death. Reported cases of Coronavirus in Pakistan have gone over 500. Read: South Actor & UNICEF Brand Ambassador Trisha Shares Preventive Measures Amid COVID-19; See As per reports, South Asia has been relatively less affected by the coronavirus than other nations but the rate of new infections in Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, India, and Sri Lanka have accelerated. As a whole, the region has registered over 800 Coronavirus cases and seven deaths. In Bangladesh, jail authorities have limited the number of visitors and also banned the arrival of all flights from midnight except China, Hong Kong, and Thailand. As per reports, authorities at the Dhaka airport have begun to mark the hands of the passengers that must go into home quarantine. Read: South Korean Airline Heiress Gets Support From Activist Fund In Succession Feud In West Bengal, inmates launched a violent protest at a jail after it was revealed that authorities were banning all visitors due to the coronavirus pandemic. In Sri Lanka that has reported over 70 Coronavirus cases, authorities have arrested some 30 people from various parts of the country for violating the curfew. As per reports, the curfew has been imposed till March 23. India also plans to observe a day-long curfew on March 22 which was promoted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an effort to practice social isolation and stop the spread of the virus. The novel Coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, has claimed more than 11,421 lives across the world and has infected over 2,76,293 people globally since it first broke out in December 2019. Read: Dale Steyn Reveals South African Teammate He Would Love To Be Isolated With Read: South Africa Criminalises Spreading False Information About Coronavirus Nobel prizewinning Mario Vargas Llosa, a literary lion in the same league as Tolstoy and Twain and a splendid libertarian champion of freedom has never been popular with dictators. (He does, after all, think it's OK to kill them.) Hugo Chavez couldn't stand him. Castro went into apoplexy at the very mention of his name. One of Vargas Llosa's best novels, Feast of the Goat, is all about the depredations of the Rafael Trujillo regime of the Dominican Republic. He's always been toxic to dictators. He's also been hard on the dictator-coddling left. Vargas Llosa fought with academic and intellectual leftists, even once belting Gabriel Garcia Marquez one, likely for general left-wingery. He's relentless in de-glamorizing left-wing guerrillas and urban terrorists so beloved of the left, such as Peru's Sendero Luminoso and Colombia's FARC Marxist narco-terrorists. His son, Alvaro Vargas Llosa, wrote a book with two co-authors called The Guide to the Complete Latin American Idiot, which entertainingly describes the disgustingness of the Latin American left. Now he's got the Chicoms after him. According to the Bangkok Post (emphasis mine): LIMA: China hit out on Monday at Peru's Nobel literature laureate Mario Vargas Llosa for allegedly expressing "irresponsible and prejudiced opinions" over the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. The writer penned an article for Spain's El Pais newspaper and La Republica in Peru in which he said the coronavirus outbreak would have played out differently if China was a democracy. "No-one seems to be remarking that none of this could have happened in the world if popular China was a free country and democratic rather than a dictatorship," said the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature winner. According to PEN America, a writer's group: Among other points, Vargas Llosa noted that the virus had originated in China, and went on to note that China had censored at least one of the doctors who had originally detected the virus. Vargas Llosa, who has previously received the Nobel Prize for Literature, concluded that China's censorship meant that "the presence of the plague was recognized only when the virus was already spreading true progress is always crippled when it is not accompanied by freedom." In response, China's embassy to Peru released a statement accusing the author of "a series of absurd and baseless criticisms of China," and accused the author of "discriminatory and defamatory statements" as a result of his identifying the virus as originating from China. El Pais has since reported that, in the aftermath of Vargas Llosa's column, the author's books have "mysteriously disappeared" from major Chinese e-book platforms. So it's not just Trump pointing out that the virus came from China. Vargas Llosa is doing it, too and the Chinese have cranked out their propaganda machine to yell "foul" against him, just as they have against Trump. The Chicoms have also engaged in sleazy indirect censorship. Not having the cojones to ban Vargas Llosa's works outright, they're just "disappearing" them from the internet so Chinese people can't read them. In a conversation I had with Vargas Llosa a few years ago, he emphasized he was all in for the translation of his work beyond Spanish. The Chicoms obviously know a dangerous guy when they see one. Vargas Llosa emphasizes that China's real problem is that it's a communist hellhole, and if the plague it's unleashed on the world is ever going to be fixed, China is going to have to become a free country. Those are major fighting words, a mortal threat, words the Chicoms would find terrifying to hear, given that they haven't heard such talk coming from the West in decades. They come as China descends into a state of dry rot, with millions of angry Chinese people being repressed and censored and only growing angrier. The citizen-journalists who defied China's censors and posted film clips of people dropping dead in the streets of Wuhan on Twitter are a perfect indicator of the kind of willingness to defy the regime that is out there now in China. The Hong Kong defiance has also likely heartened the Chinese, too. Vargas Llosa's statement + China's angry, defiant people = dead communist dictatorship. The Chicoms know. Pity that our mainstream media, mouthing Chicom propaganda, do not. As noted earlier, the Chinese haven't heard this kind of talk in years from the West. Vargas Llosa is taking on the big Chicom beast now, and in some way, he is already slaying it. Image credit: Monica Showalter, Instagram. Hemlock Semiconductor Operations (HSC) is offering 30 scholarships for Great Lakes Bay Region high school students interested in attending Michigan Technological University's Engineering Scholars Summer Youth Program from July 19-25. The $1,000 scholarship will fully cover tuition, classroom supplies, housing, meals and round-trip charter bus transportation from the Great Lakes Bay Region to Michigan Tech's campus in Houghton in the Upper Peninsula. Applications will be accepted from students attending school in Midland, Saginaw, Bay or Gratiot counties until 5 p.m. April 10. Summer Youth Program Scholarships provide funding for students in grades 9 to 11 to attend a week-long program at Michigan Tech that will fully immerse them in STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) and help them explore careers in engineering and related disciplines. "The strong relationship between HSC and Michigan Tech offers a great way for area students to learn more about STEM," said Andy Ault, HSC vice president of manufacturing. "The scholarship is HSC's way of encouraging young talent in the Great Lakes Bay Region to explore engineering and to think about a career that could include HSC." Students who are selected for this competitive scholarship program will: Explore engineering by constructing a building strong enough to withstand an earthquake, create an artificial intelligence army and much more. Get inside information from role models working in engineering fields. Work in teams to solve engineering problems and complete group projects. Experience college life by staying in a residence hall, exploring campus and meeting others with similar interests. Enjoy team competitions, a variety show and many outdoor activities in Michigan's beautiful Keweenaw Peninsula. "Since 1972, the Summer Youth Programs we've been running here at Michigan Tech have given students an interactive glimpse into the engineering world," said Amanda Jackson, assistant director of the Center for Pre-College Outreach at Michigan Tech. "We appreciate the support HSC gives students so they can attend the program without having to worry about the cost." Twenty-two high schools have had students who have benefitted from the scholarships since they've been available starting in 2010. Between Dow Corning Foundation and HSC, 201 scholarships have been awarded. Of the students who attended the Summer Youth Program on one of those scholarships, 38 ended up attending Michigan Tech, 30 attended Delta College, 24 attended the University of Michigan, 19 attended Michigan State University, and 18 went to Saginaw Valley State University. In addition, Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan universities each attracted seven students and four attended the University of Michigan-Flint. Several others attended Central Michigan University, Oakland University or Lawrence Technological University. More than 100 ended up studying some type of engineering or computer science. More information about the program and the HSC scholarship, as well as the application form, can be found at: www.mtu.edu/syp/discover/competitive-scholarships/esp-app-2020-web1.pdf. Highlights Sam Sokol, a journalist in Jerusalem, shared this video on Twitter The almost 20-second-long video shows a fluffy white dog going for a walk However, its not its human who is walking the dog The World Health Organization says that animals cannot transmit COVID-19. But that doesnt mean that their general health and well-being isnt being disrupted by the spread of this virus. As people stay indoors and self-isolate to reduce chances of the infection, pets may feel lonely as their outdoor playtime is cut short. In this case, one dedicated human found a way to restore normalcy into his doggos life. Sam Sokol, a journalist in Jerusalem, shared this video on his Twitter on March 19. The approximately 20-second long video shows a fluffy white dog, who looks like a big ball of cotton just grew some paws and a snout, going for a humble walk. However, its leash is not attached to his humans hand but a drone. Wow, talk about technology coming a long way. The video currently has more than 4.1 million views and over 1.5 lakh likes. Additionally, it has almost 41,000 retweets. Twitter was amazed by this innovative use of technology. An Israeli man walks his dog via drone (source: Facebook) pic.twitter.com/tLt5VVD94u Sam Sokol (@SamuelSokol) March 19, 2020 One person said that Robert Zemeckis did it first when referencing this scene from the film Back to the future. Back to the future did it pic.twitter.com/8NtIRmQ9vp Naaman Stavy (@NaamanStavy) March 19, 2020 While another Twitter user herself got creative about maximising the technological efforts. She said: Just need a smaller drone to follow to scoop the poop and I think this is a win! Cassandra Curates Calamity (@DovedSimon) March 19, 2020 Most people were highly impressed by the method, like this one Twitter user who said: This is amazing! Tara Setmayer (@TaraSetmayer) March 19, 2020 But some were sceptical about the long-term logistics of this new dog walking technique. A person commented: Lovely dog, but wait until the dog sees a ball or a cat, and runs for it. I am sorry to say that the drone will be smashed into pieces. Phil Martin - Ex-seed employment for ex-offenders (@PhilMartinUK) March 19, 2020 While another responded with: Or worse if the drone should be programmed wrong and goes higher edward price (@EdwdPrice) March 19, 2020 Its hard to say how full proof this futuristic dog-walking technique is. However, were glad this human is making such a strong effort to keep his little ball of cotton in shape while following the advice given by health officials. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON New Delhi, March 21 : Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said there is no plan for a lockdown in the city as of now, but the government may go for it if needed, as he limited the public gatherings to five people. "More than five people will not be allowed to gather at one place. However, if they gather, there should be a distance of one meter between them. Even in a queue, keep one-metre distance," Kejriwal said. He said this was the only way the people can save themselves from coronavirus. "No one else can. Follow all the instructions of the government." He said there is no plan to "lock down" the city. "No lockdown as of now. But of needed, we may go for it. All steps are being taken for the people's safety." Kejriwal said he would be holding digital-only press conferences in view of coronavirus. "All Delhi government press conferences will be conducted digitally now. It's very important that all journalists, who are in the forefront of our battle against corona, also protect themselves as they are in a high exposure environment," Kejriwal had said before his first digital press conference. Kejriwal said Delhi has reported 26 corona cases with one death. "Four cases were local transmission, 22 cases were of the people who came from abroad. So the local transmission is not very much in Delhi. But we need to take precautions." The Chief Minister said the city night shelters would also provide food to all, the homeless too can come. "There will be no questions asked." "For the homeless, we are arranging lunch and dinner in all our night shelters. This will be open to all. Anybody can come and have the meals." He said he sincerely appeals to all senior citizens to stay indoors as far as possible. "As the most vulnerable group, we need to take special care of the elderly so that they remain free from infection. I urge you to skip your morning/evening walks for the time being." Explained: Is it time to use military force to fight COVID-19? India oi-Ajay Joseph Raj P New Delhi, Mar 21: In a bid to fight against the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, the central government has urged military and paramilitary forces to provide quarantine facilities. For instance, the India Army's southwestern command has set up a quarantine centre in Jaisalmer. While several people think that this move by the centre and the armed forces is right, but in general, it would turn to be a bad idea. It turns out to be a bad idea as the people who are placed in the quarantine centres behave irresponsible. And chances of them spreading the virus is high. Why should the army be kept as a reserve source? The reason why the armed forces should be kept in good health and reserve is due to the need of support the nation requires that they could be in need for public order. Explainer: Will African countries be spared from coronavirus? As the family members of the people who are affected by coronavirus crowd the hospitals, the army personnel can be stationed there to maintain law and order. If these personnel are exposed to the virus, the nation might probably lack in security for obvious reasons. Military troops can be used for people who tried to escape quarantine centres: In recent days, it can be seen that the number of people who have avoided quarantine centres and hospitals has taken a major responsibility for the spread of the virus. If the forces are placed in such situation, the suspected coronavirus patient would be in the quarantine centres with no place to escape. The number of novel coronavirus cases in India climbed to 250. The new cases were reported from Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odisha. The 'Janata Curfew' will not be so voluntary in East Sikkim as the district magistrate issued an order, directing all residents to stay indoors from 7 am to 10 pm on Sunday. "All (residents) are directed to refrain from leaving their homes except emergency situations between 7 am and 10 pm tomorrow," East Sikkim District Magistrate Raj Yadav said, in an order that he issued by exercising powers under Section 34 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005. A complete ban has also been imposed in the district on the movement of vehicles, except those on emergency duty, he said. All hotels, restaurants, bars and shops will also remain closed, Yadav said, adding that all industries, manufacturing units and private companies will also shut operations. All petrol pumps and medicine shops, barring four of them, too have been ordered to remain closed, the district magistrate said. In continuation with the prohibitory orders imposed on March 19, gathering of more than five people at a place will remain banned in East Sikkim till April 15, he said in a separate order. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made a fervent appeal to all Indians to observe "Janata Curfew" on Sunday from 7 am to 9 pm, urging them to stay indoors. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Enniskerry: Parish of Powerscourt with Kilbride - Services of Worship in Powerscourt for this Sunday - The Fourth Sunday in Lent: 8.30 a.m. - Holy Communion One (Said); 11.30 a.m. - Morning Prayer. These Services may be subject to cancellation at short notice - keep an eye on the parish website for updates. Services of Worship in Kilbride for this Sunday - The Fourth Sunday in Lent: 10 a.m. - Morning Prayer Two. This Service may be subject to cancellation at short notice - keep an eye on the parish website for updates. Irish Trefoil Guild - Guiding for Life: Calling all former leaders of the Irish Girl Guides in Bray and the surrounding area. There is now a Trefoil Guild in Bray. Contact Anne at - braytrefoilguild@gmail.com. St Mary's Church Parish Website: The parish of the Immaculate Heart of Mary has its own website. Please check out 'Enniskerryparish.ie' for the latest information about our parish. Important Notice - Suspension of Masses: Due to the ongoing coronavirus (Covid-19), all Masses and Services for Enniskerry Parish and the Bray Pastoral Area including Enniskerry, Kilmacanogue, Curtlestown and Glencree, are suspended till at least and including Sunday, March 29. While Masses are suspended, the voice of prayer should not be silent. We know that many will want to our churches and pray privately and this will be accommodate where possible. In challenging times like this, people find strength, consolation and hope in prayer. We rediscover the value of the traditional prayers such as the Rosary, the Memorare, St Patrick's Breastplate etc. We will be working to put prayer resources on our website in the coming days. The Archbishop of Dublin has announced that everyone is dispensed from the obligation to physically attend Sunday Mass while the present emergency persists. Check the RTE schedule for broadcast Mass times. Mass is also brought broadcast through EWTN, Radio Maria, channel which can be found in Saorview and Channel 210. Lenten Sacred Space: Parishioners are invited to click through to our Lenten Sacred Space on the parish website. There will be some lovely reflections and links on the website during Lent. Volunteers Sought: St Vincent de Paul Society urgently need volunteers in the areas of Dublin, Wicklow and Kildare to work in assisting individuals and families once a week. This will be for about three hours, day or night (whatever suits you best). Full training and support provided - for more information Tel: 01 8198405 or email volunteer@svp.ie. Parish of Immaculate Heart of Mary Fund Raising Appeal: Parishioners have received an invitation to donate to the Parish Fund Raising Appeal either by increasing their Direct Debit/Family Offering Envelope donation or by donating through our website. Envelopes are available at the rear of church. Useful Help Lines: Society of St Vincent de Paul: 01 8550022; Samaritans: 1850-609090; Recovery: 01 6260775; Accord: 01 5053112. History Society Last Thursday night's meeting of the Enniskerry History Society, which meets the guidance of its president, John Callan, scheduled to take place in the Powerscourt Arms Hotel, Enniskerry, had to be cancelled as a public health measure and the inconvenience that this sudden cancellation caused is regretted. This was scheduled to be the final meeting in the Spring 2020 programme of the Enniskerry History Society and it hoped to hold this lecture by Tom Conlon on 'The History of St Michael's Hospital, Dun Laoghaire' in the autumn when hopefully the currently public health crisis has passed. John Callan wishes to thank Brian White and James Scannell, who present the January and February lectures respectively, and the management and staff of the Powerscourt Arms Hotel for their assistance with facilitating meetings. Further information about the Enniskerry History Society available from John Callan at 01 2867853. Enniskerry Library The library is closed till further notice as a public health measure to prevent the spread of. The Coronavirus (Covid-19).Books may be renewed online and late-return fees will not apply. Enniskerry 125 At the Wednesday, March 29, 1905, meeting of the Rathdown Board of Guardians, chaired by Mr Thomas Clarke, Mr Wogan, Enniskerry, wrote stating that at a previous meeting he was awarded so many contracts that he could accept them. It was resolved to award these contracts to the next lowest tenderer. Laragh-Glendalough Note from the Brockagh Resource Centre. As you may already know the Brockagh Centre is officially closed till March 29 following our goverment guidelines now and after March 29. All classes and events are cancelled. Laragh GAA have kindly offered help in the community on their Facebook page. There are Emergency CoVid19 Forms for Unemployed outside the Brockagh Resource Centre front door and we have left some in Willies McCoys Shop for the community to use. Stay safe and be mindful of others. Tidy Towns The Tidy Towns AGM will be cancelled this month hoping to reconvene in the not too distant future. Stay safe everyone. St Kevin's Parish Glendalough. Owing to the Coronavirus the parish pastoral council have decided that Masses on Saturday evening and Sunday morning and St Patrick's Day will be cancelled. This is to comply with national spacing guidelines. Week day Masses will continue as normal. This situation will be reviewed again at the end of the month. Roundwood GOODBYE It is with a tinge of sadness that I tell you that these are the last Roundwood notes I will bring to you. I've been doing the Roundwood notes for over 20 years and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank my readers and subscribers who have supported me all this time and to the staff of People Newspapers, who have been courteous and easy to deal with. I've really enjoyed bringing you the notes every week and I will miss your items being dropped in and the phone calls and emails but I'm very happy to be handing over the reins to Margaret Bolger, who is taking over from next week, Wicklow People issue of March 25. As we know these are very strange times and I never thought I would be writing this with nothing happening in our village for this period and into the future and it feels quite surreal as the notes probably will be quite small for the time. I am saying goodbye in a time never ever seen before and I am certain that we will all look back on this difficult phase in our life the better people for it as we are a good community who look after each other and may that continue. Margaret is now your contact at 087 6472413 or mgtbolger@gmail.com You can contact Margaret about dropping in notes to her etc. And I will enjoy getting my Wicklow People on a Wednesday and sitting back reading all the great things that will be going on in the village when we all get back to some form of normality. Stay safe everyone and look after the elderly and vulnerable and keep washing your hands and social distancing. Slan agus beannacht leat. FAMILY FUN TABLE QUIZ Stagebratz Starz Family table quiz and Monster Raffle are postponed till further notice in the interest of keeping everyone healthy and safety but we are looking forward to getting back into Show Mode ASAP. PLOUGHING MATCH Unfortunately due to present circumstances with the Coronavirus this year's Ploughing Match which was originally planned to take place on February 22, but due to bad weather, was rescheduled to Saturday, March 21, has now been cancelled following consultations with the NPA Apologies to Richard Turner, The Roundwood Inn, and Kavanagh's for any inconvenience caused. HISTORICAL SOCIETY Roundwood and District Historical and Folklore Society invite you to a History of Roundwood Ploughing Association, by John Byrne of Knockatemple. Monday, March 30, at 8 p.m., in Kavanagh's Lounge (Vartry House). Adm: Member - 3, non-members 5. KNOCK PILGRIMAGE The pilgrimage to Knock sadly has had to be cancelled because of the Corona virus situation as we all have to do our bit not to spread it. Maybe later in the year we can rearrange. BADMINTON Badminton is cancelled on Tuesday mornings for the foreseeable future. WHIST RESULTS The results of the whist are as follows: Top Score: May Kenna, Top Gent: Anne Pierce, Second Gent: Richard Cullen, First Lady: Patricia Byrne, Second Lady, Kitty Kennedy, First Half: Marie Magee, Second Half: Monica Brady, Lowest Score, Mary Pierce and Longest Sitting Maura McHugh. There will be no more whist till the Corona Virus is under control. LOTTO RESULTS The lotto has been suspended for the moment. CANCER SUPPORT The Roundwood Cancer Support centre is closed to the public for the moment. If anyone needs to make any enquiries please telephone our confidential phone number 087 6062072. MEDJUGORJE A pilgrimage To Medjugorje will take place on October 7 for seven days at a cost of 679 fully inclusive; 200 deposit secures booking. This trip will be accompanied by a Spiritual Director the accommodation is close to the church. For more information and booking Contact Mary King at 087 2185067. T V presenter Fiona Phillips has become the latest celebrity to reveal that she has contracted Covid-19. However, the former GMTV host told her followers that she was not suffering... Its fine, despite suffering a sore throat and dry cough. Phillips, 59, tweeted: "I am in bed with #coronvirusuk It's not a very pleasant bedfellow, but nothing more than sore throat, dry cough, headache & tiredness. As long as it stays that way....DON'T panic!" Eamonn Holmes, Phillips's former GMTV co-host, was among those wishing her a speedy recovery. He said: "Get well soon Miss Fyona [sic]. Keep us posted x" Eric Yuan, founder and chief executive officer of Zoom Video Communications Inc., center, celebrates during the company's initial public offering at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York on April 18, 2019. Victor J. Blue | Bloomberg | Getty Images With people across the country stuck indoors as the coronavirus spreads, they're turning to video calls to chat with friends, family members, colleagues, classmates and customers. There are any number of free services at their disposal, but Zoom is increasingly the one they're choosing. Zoom sits atop Apple's rankings of the most popular free apps in dozens of countries, according to data from analytics company App Annie. Investors love it, at least for the moment. The stock sells for 58 times revenue, compared to a price-to-sales ratio of 8 for Microsoft, and it's gained 26% since Feb. 19, while the S&P 500 has plunged 32% over that stretch. "It's interesting how quickly it's become a verb in Silicon Valley," Jonathan Heiliger, a general partner at Vertex Ventures, which has offices in San Francisco and Palo Alto, California, told CNBC on Thursday. He and his colleagues keep in touch on Zoom. Recently people have also tuned in to weddings, bar mitzvahs and meditation sessions on Zoom. School teachers, musicians and yoga instructors are using it, as are universities, which have gone remote since COVID-19 became a global crisis. Reliable and easy to use The question is: Why Zoom? Zoom is known for its reliability, avoiding long outages that discourage repeated use, and it doesn't have the latency that makes some services painful for extended conversations. Unlike Apple's FaceTime for iOS, Zoom is also available on Android and on any laptop. It's also designed to make IT departments comfortable, and people can start video calls for free, as long as they're kept under 40 minutes and below 100 participants. There are also features designed for fun. When you use Zoom, you can upload a picture or a video to create a virtual background. It's so popular that on Thursday Microsoft said it's adding a similar tool to its Teams service. Zoom founder and CEO Eric Yuan has been lauded for the company's efforts to help out schools and other organizations during the crisis. On March 13, Zoom started removing the 40-minute call limit for free accounts at tens of thousands of schools in the U.S. and other countries. Like airports around the world, the global pandemic is gradually emptying out Winnipegs Richardson International Airport. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/3/2020 (662 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Like airports around the world, the global pandemic is gradually emptying out Winnipegs Richardson International Airport. WestJet had announced it would suspend international and domestic flights as of Sunday night while Air Canada said it would gradually suspend the majority of its international and U.S. transborder flights by March 31. As governments called for people to stop non-essential domestic travel, airlines slashed their schedules. "Its like slow rolling into quicksand," said Barry Rempel, the CEO of Winnipeg Airports Authority, the not-for-profit entity that owns and operates the airport. With things changing by the hour for the air travel business no one can say with certainty what will happen next week. But Rempel said hes pretty sure plane traffic will be well below 50 per cent of normal activity in and out of Winnipeg by next week. For starters, only Delta Airlines intends to keep flying to the U.S. with one or two flights per week to Minneapolis and thats only until it gets an official ruling on what governments mean by essential travel between Canada and the U.S. The airport is a self-contained economy that typically employs about 4,000 people. No one knows how many will need to be there by next week, but it is likely to be a small fraction of that. Neither Air Canada nor WestJet, the Winnipeg airports largest partners/customers, have said precisely what their schedules will be like next week. Rempel said hes afraid to speculate because the reality has been different from the information hes already received from the airlines. "Im not saying they are lying. Thing are just changing so quickly," he said. As well, its not clear what is happening with the airlines workforces at the airport. A union official said on Friday that Air Canada is laying off more than 5,000 flight attendants. Airlines have not made any official statements about their workforce and did not respond to media queries on Friday. As for the terminal tenants, Rempel said that by Monday about 80 per cent of the concessions will be closed. Before the weekend, Stellas on the arrivals side had closed as had the Plaza Premium lounge. Tim Hortons in the arrivals area and the outlet inside the domestic security are likely to stay open. A person who answered the phone at the Winnipeg offices of airport food services master franchise operator, SSP, said Prairie Bistro and Urban Crave will remain open inside security. Harveys was still open in the arrivals areas on Friday. The 175 Winnipeg Airports Authority staff are mostly still on the job. Rempel said that so far only a few contract employees working on planning for capital projects have been let go. Thats because the athority has decided to postpone most of the $70 million in capital projects on the books. But unlike airlines that in normal times can re-deploy assets to busier markets, the WAAs cost structure cant change much based on revenues. "We cant move a runway to another city because it makes more money there. We cant not plow the runways," Rempel said. "We have to keep the runways clear for one flight or 1,000 flights." Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Rempel has been through a few industry crises but because the rules of engagement are changing every day, he said this one is unlike any hes seen. "About five days after 9/11 people were talking about how to get things moving again," he said. "This one appears to be fundamentally different in part because it is this rolling effect. Its like changing the wheel while were driving. Two weeks ago, we thought there would be a 15 per cent impact. It has shifted quickly." While theres already talk about bailout strategies for airlines around the world, the airport is effectively on its own. In addition to shelving capital projects such as reorganizing the east side cargo area Rempel said they have identified potential cuts to about 15 per cent of the operating budget. He would not go into specifics but said it involves mothballing parts of the facility, which would reduce maintenance costs. martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca Copyright 2020 Albuquerque Journal Two firefighters with Albuquerque Fire Rescue are at home and in quarantine after potentially coming into contact with novel coronavirus nine days ago. The Bernalillo County Fire Department, meanwhile, had a tense eight hours on Tuesday after a crew member started experiencing symptoms, prompting the department to quarantine five of its firefighters inside a station. Health officials determined that the crew member didnt have the virus, and the quarantine was lifted. Its the new reality first responders face these days as the COVID-19 pandemic sweeps the world. In New Mexico, the Governors Office announced eight new cases on Friday, bringing the states total to 43. Three of those new cases a teenage girl and two men in their 40s are from Bernalillo County. Others that tested positive include: A man in his 20s in Dona Ana County, a man in his 30s in McKinley County, a teenage girl and a man in his 80s in Sandoval County and a woman in her 70s in Taos County. Officials say no first responders have tested positive for COVID-19 in Albuquerque or Bernalillo County, but its a concern that is on everybodys mind. The last thing I want to hear is that my crews are contaminated, said BCFD Deputy Chief Brian Rose in an interview Wednesday. Im worried about them, then Im worried about the delivery of service to our citizens. Everything escalates and its a domino effect all the way down the line. Across the nation as cities go on lockdown, gatherings get canceled and businesses, schools and churches shutter their doors, first responders are still out there doing their jobs, going into homes and coming into close contact with people who may be infected. Many cities now have fire crews and police officers in quarantine or who have tested positive, putting additional stress on the system. In San Jose, California, officials announced Thursday that 11 members of the citys fire department tested positive for coronavirus and 76 others may have been exposed and are being monitored. And the Washington Post is reporting that in D.C. around 70 firefighters, paramedics and emergency medical technicians are in self-quarantine after a potential exposure. Screening protocols Both Albuquerque and Bernalillo County dispatchers have changed the way they screen 911 calls over the past several weeks. And if a patient possibly has COVID-19, firefighters, paramedics and emergency medical technicians from both agencies suit up in a hospital gown, gloves, a mask and eye protection and ask the patient to step outside and put on a mask if they can. During a news conference Friday, AFR Chief Paul Dow said the department has two firefighters who are in quarantine at home after coming into high risk contact with someone who may have COVID-19. He said its imperative that patients let dispatchers know if they are exhibiting symptoms. We do have two firefighters who on March 12 were exposed, Dow said. It was a high risk exposure level because of some miscommunication Its not that the department did anything wrong, but we have to get accurate information through our dispatch. BCFD Deputy Chief Rose said the county dispatch center changed its screening protocols after AFRs firefighters were exposed. On Feb. 3, the county dispatch center started asking anyone who called 911 because they are sick or having breathing problems if they had traveled from China a hot spot in the past 21 days, if they had contact with someone who had traveled from China in the past 21 days and if they had contact with someone who had the flu or flu-like symptoms, said Marcelino Martinez, a BCFD spokesman. He said about a month later, more countries were added to the hot spots list, including Iran, Italy, Japan and South Korea. Then, on March 16, five days after the first positive cases were announced in the state, county dispatchers began screening all medical calls and no longer asked if a person had traveled, Martinez said. Now they are just asking for symptoms or whether the patient had been in close contact with someone who had coronavirus. He said between Monday and Thursday firefighters responded to 33 cases of potential positives in the county. Both AFR and BCFD said there has not been an increase in call volume overall, although there have been more sick calls. A dangerous profession On Tuesday, Rose said, a BCFD firefighter working out of a station northeast of the city came down with a fever. He went home, and his four crew members plus a member of another crew who showed up for work early were quarantined in the station for eight hours until the New Mexico Department of Health determined the symptoms were not COVID-19. We decided we had to quarantine the crew, too, because we do have a more elderly population in the Northeast Heights, Rose said. We didnt want to risk any transmissions there so we quarantined them temporarily. Our AFR partners were able to cover that region effectively so there wasnt any loss of service. Rose said the department has designated two stations to act as quarantine stations if crews are exposed. He said the other worry is running out of personal protective equipment masks, gowns, eye protection and gloves as the whole country experiences a shortage. This means, his crews cant all be wearing the disposable sets at the same time. Plus, Rose said, he expects the area to start to see more and more cases in the next couple of weeks. He expects the agencies will adjust as time goes on and new problems or issues arise. Its a dangerous profession and people die, Rose said. We always use a risk model and risk what we have to risk. Even in these situations were using that same risk model when going into a suspected COVID patients house. By the Numbers Tested in NM 3,814 Number of negative tests 3,771 Number of positive tests 43 COVID-19 hotline 1-855-600-3453 Non-health related COVID-19 hotline 1-833-551-0518 Source: NMDOH Agencies staffed to face pandemic There are 681 uniformed members of Albuquerque Fire Rescue with 165 on duty each day, according to a spokesman. Chief Paul Dow said Friday that there are 135 members of different divisions who can act as reserve crews. He said in addition to the two firefighters who were quarantined after a high-risk exposure on a call, three others have been quarantined for 14 days after traveling. There are 244 firefighters employed by Bernalillo County Fire Department, with about 63 on duty each shift. Deputy Chief Brian Rose said the department has 17 members in reserve in case a crew gets quarantined. None have been officially quarantined yet. There are about 300 deputies with the Bernalillo County Sheriffs Department. A spokesman said none have been quarantined. There are 660 officers with New Mexico State Police. A spokesman said 48 officers were quarantined for 14 days after traveling. Albuquerque Police Department spokesmen did not respond to questions about how many officers are on the force and how many have been quarantined. However, the Journal has previously reported APD was nearing 1,000 officers. At the news conference Friday, Police Chief Michael Geier said a couple of officers have been quarantined due to contact with family members who may have been exposed. Elise Kaplan Barely one week after a fatal explosion at the Abule Ado area of Lagos, another fire outbreak occurred in the early hours of Saturday at L Close, 7th Avenue Festac Town, Lagos. The fire which started at 2 a.m. affected many shops and buildings in the area, witnesses told PREMIUM TIMES. Shakiru Amodu, the spokesperson of Lagos State Fire Service, told PREMIUM TIMES that shanty buildings in the area were engulfed by the fire. The fire started around 2 a.m. but we got the call around 2:27 a.m. We were able to completely put out the fire after two hours of combating it, precisely 5: 35am, Mr Amodu said. Mr Amodu said the fire outbreak was as a result of careless handling of combustible materials and it took a combined effort of the Lagos State Fire Service and the Federal service stationed at Festac to put it out. It was due to careless handling of combustible materials, people were doing some things over the night before the fire emanated from them. We are taking time to do proper enumeration of the number of structures affected because it was a shanty area, the spokesperson said. We are also trying to conclude on the cause of the fire and the careless attitude that led to it, they are still trying to hide some facts from us, but generally, it is careless handling of combustible materials, he added. PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported how a fatal explosion occurred at Abule Ado area of the state last Sunday, causing the death of no fewer than 20 persons and destruction of properties. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said that the explosion occurred when a truck hit gas cylinders stacked in a gas processing plant located close to the pipeline. Hundreds of people whose properties were destroyed by the fire became displaced, while many were injured in the fire. The fire also rendered the community uninhabitable due to the level of destruction. Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen, have tested negative for the coronavirus. The vice president's press secretary, Katie Miller, tweeted the results of the tests Saturday night. Pence had announced earlier Saturday that, out of an abundance of caution, he and his wife would be tested for the virus. A member of the vice president's staff had tested positive for the virus. The vice president had said the staffer, who did not have close contact with either the president or vice president, was doing well. Still, Pence stood just a few feet from President Donald Trump at the podium during their press conference. Mike Pence and his wife Karen tested negative for coronavirus on Saturday because of his 'unique position' as vice president and as the leader of the White House coronavirus task force The Vice President's press secretary reported news that Mike and Karen Pence tested negative Speaking about the staffer who had shown symptoms for COVID-19, Pence said, 'I'm pleased to report that he's doing well. He had mild cold-like symptoms for about a day and a half, has not been to the White House since Monday.' Pence reinforced previous statements that he and President Trump had not had close contact with the infected individual but said he would take a test due to his prominent role in the nation's response to the outbreak. 'Neither the president nor I had direct contact with that staff person. We worked immediately with the White House physician and the CDC. We've done all contact tracing and the White House doctors indicated that he has no reason to believe that I was exposed,' he said. Pence's announcement that he was getting tested came just moments after he told the rest of the American public 'don't get tested if you don't have symptoms'. He told people to save resources amid ongoing concerns that there are insufficient tests for those who may need them. 'We want to remind Americans as Dr. Fauci will emphasize in a moment: if you don't have symptoms don't do a test,' Pence said. 'It is another way that the American people can make sure that we are preserving the resources that our healthcare workers need to minister and support those who are dealing with the coronavirus and other illnesses.' Pence did not mention that he or his wife had any symptoms. He has appeared at Trump's side daily at the White House press conferences to announce developments in the US fight against the outbreak. His announcement that he was getting tested came just moments after he told the rest of the American public 'don't get tested if you don't have symptoms' Pence's test came after a staffer in his office tested positive for the illness on Friday. Pence did not say that he or his wife have any symptoms The vice president's office confirmed that one of its staffers had tested positive for the virus on Friday. Pence's press secretary Katie Miller said: 'Neither President Trump nor Vice President Pence had close contact with the individual. Further contact tracing is being conducted.' This was the latest case of coronavirus to brush the inner circle of US leadership. An attendee at a political conference last month featuring Trump and Pence tested positive for the illness, and multiple political figures who regularly meet with the president and vice president have gone into preventive self-quarantine. The president tagged the FDA and FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn (above) in his tweet Trump tested negative for virus last week. He had agreed to take the test after coming into contact with several members of a Brazilian presidential delegation visiting his Florida resort who have since been found to have the virus. Saturday's press conference came just hours after Trump tweeted the Food and Drug Administration urging them to speed up approval for a malarial drug and an antibiotic to treat coronavirus patients. 'HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE & AZITHROMYCIN, taken together, have a real chance to be one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine,' Trump wrote in a tweet on Saturday morning. 'The FDA has moved mountains - Thank You! Hopefully they will BOTH...be put in use IMMEDIATELY. PEOPLE ARE DYING, MOVE FAST, and GOD BLESS EVERYONE!' he continued. Trump noted that 'H works better with A,' referring to the drug combination, and cited a small French study published in the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents. The president tagged the FDA and FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn in his tweet, apparently urging them to action. An FDA spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment from DailyMail.com. The French study, carried out on 20 patients earlier this month, is highly preliminary and was non-randomized. However, it did find that six patients who received a combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin had their viral load reduced faster than those on either hydroxychloroquine alone or neither of the drugs. Hydroxychloroquine is a high-power drug used to treat malaria, which is a parasitic infection, as well as some non-infectious inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. Azithromycin is a fairly common antibiotic that is used to treat a number of bacterial infections, such a strep throat. Neither drug has been previously indicated to treat a viral infection such as coronavirus, although there were anecdotal reports of hydroxychloroquine being used successfully to treat SARS, a close relative of coronavirus. Though both drugs are common, with side effects that are well understood, the combination of the two drugs is novel and its unclear what interactions they may have. The green line shows Yutu 2's route from the landing site. The yellow illustrates the new drive plan. China's Chang'e 4 mission has started its 16th lunar day of work on the far side of the moon, with the Yutu 2 rover beginning a journey in search of new areas. Both the Chang'e 4 lander and the Yutu 2 rover and their science payloads are in good operating condition, despite the spacecraft spending over a year in the harsh conditions on the lunar surface. Yutu 2 awoke on March 17 following sunrise over its position in Von Karman Crater, with the lander following 16 hours later on Mar. 18, according to the China Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP). Related: China releases tons of amazing Chang'e-4 images from moon's far side The lander will continue its low-frequency radio astronomy observations, but a new plan has been formulated for the Yutu 2 rover, which has already provided insights into the composition of the surface and what lies below. Li Chunlai, deputy director of the National Astronomical Observatories of China (NAOC), told the state-run news outlet CCTV+ that the Yutu 2 team are targeting distant areas. The white line represents the landing site and Yutu 2 drive route. The area circled in red is a targeted basaltic area. (Image credit: BACC/Our Space) Yutu 2 has been driving across an area covered in ejecta from impact craters, but reaching new ground would be insightful. "If it can enter a basalt zone, maybe we can better understand [the] distribution and structure of ejecta from meteorite impacts," Li said. "The distance may be 1.8 kilometers [1.1 miles]. I think it may take another one year for the rover to walk out of the ejecta-covered area." An image from the lunar far side showing Yutu 2's tracks, released March 2020. (Image credit: CNSA/CLEP) The plan was formulated after the discovery of a previously unseen crater, forcing the team to abandon previous drive plans to head southwest. The resilient rover, which has far exceeded its design life time of three months, or three lunar days, would need to greatly boost its average drive distances to reach the area, however. Image of a small impact crater on the lunar far side, released March 2020. (Image credit: CNSA/CLEP) Yutu 2 has averaged 88 feet (26.7 meters) per lunar day for the 15 days so far, it would need to start covering around 492 feet (150 m) per day. Even if Yutu 2 does not reach this area, the rover will further contribute to our understanding of the lunar surface and subsurface with its science payloads, Ian Crawford, professor of planetary science and astrobiology at Birkbeck College, University of London, told Space.com in an email. He adds however that the "extreme slowness of these small rovers is a strong argument for a human return to the moon." A panoramic shot from Yutu 2 during lunar day 12. (Image credit: BACC/Our Space) "The Apollo 17 astronauts traversed about 35 kilometers (22 miles) in three days, which was actually only about 22 hours of Extra Vehicular Activity time," Crawford notes. China is planning a lunar sample return mission, Chang'e 5, for later this year. Subsequent missions are expected to target the lunar south pole before potential crewed missions in the 2030s. NASA meantime is developing its Artemis program to return astronauts to the moon by 2024 to 2028. Follow Andrew Jones at @AJ_FI. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook. I have posted the video of yesterdays White House task force briefing in its entirety at the bottom (transcript here). One couldnt help but notice that President Trump is optimistic about the use of chloroquine against the Wuhan virus, both as a treatment and preventive. Trumpss optimism emerged at several points. It was offset by Dr. Anthony Faucis caution that we lack a clinical trial of the drug against the virus. So why, we might wonder, is there no question on expediting the necessary clinical trials? That would be a good question. The Boston Heralds covered the exchange in Trump peddles coronavirus hope, media peddles partisan hype. This is how it went down: Q Mr. President, about the possible therapies yesterday, Mr. President, you said that they were for, quote, immediate delivery. Immediate. We heard it from doc- THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, well, we were ordering yes, we have millions of units ordered. Bayer is one of the companies, as you know. A big company. A very big, very great company. Millions of units are ordered, and were going to see what happens. Were going to be talking to the governors about it, and the FDA is working on it right now. The advantage is that it has been prescribed for a totally different problem, but it has been described [sic] for many years, and everybody knows the levels of the negatives and the positives. But I will say that I am a man that comes from a very positive school when it comes to, in particular, one of these drugs. And well see how it works out, Peter. Im not Im not saying it will, but I think that people may be surprised. By the way, that would be a game changer. But were going to know very soon. But but we have ordered millions of units. Its being ordered from Bayer, and there is another couple of companies also that do it. Q For clarity, Dr. Fauci said there is no magic drug for coronavirus right now, which you would agree. I guess, on this issue then THE PRESIDENT: Well, you know, I think we only disagree a little bit. Q so let me just ask, though: Is it possible that sorry. THE PRESIDENT: I disagree. Maybe and maybe not. Maybe there is, maybe there isnt. We have to see. Were going to know. Were going to know soon. Q Is it possible it possible that your impulse to put a positive spin on things may be giving Americans a false sense of THE PRESIDENT: No, I dont think so. Q hope, and misrepresenting the preparedness right now? THE PRESIDENT: No. No, I dont think so. I think that I think its gotten Q The ship is not yet ready to sail. The not-yet-approved drug THE PRESIDENT: Such a lovely question. Look, it may work and it may not work. And I agree with the doctor, what he said: It may work, it may not work. I feel good about it. Thats all it is. Just a feeling. You know, Im a smart guy. I feel good about it. And were going to see. Youre going to see soon enough. And we have certainly some very big samples of people, if you look at the people. You have a lot of people that are in big trouble. And this is not a drug that obviously, I think I can speak for a lot of from a lot of experience, because its been out there for over 20 years. So its not a drug that you have a huge amount of danger with. Its not like a brand-new drug thats been just created that may have an unbelievable monumental effect, like kill you. Were going to know very soon. And I can tell you the FDA is working very hard to get it out. Right now, in terms of malaria, if you wanted, you can have a prescription. You get a prescription. And by the way and its very effective. It works. I have a feeling you may and Im not being overly optimistic or pessimistic. I sure as hell think we ought to give it a try. I mean, theres been some interesting things happened and some good very good things. Lets see what happens. We have nothing to lose. You know the expression: What the hell do you have to lose? Okay? Q So what to do you say to the units that were ordered the units that were ordered. THE PRESIDENT: John, go ahead. Q Ill just follow up. Nearly 200 dead. What do you say to Americans who are scared, though? I guess, nearly 200 dead; 14,000 who are sick; millions, as you witness, who are scared right now. What do you say to Americans who are watching you right now who are scared? THE PRESIDENT: I say that youre a terrible reporter. Thats what I say. Go ahead. Q Mr. President, the units that were just declared THE PRESIDENT: I think its a very nasty question, and I think its a very bad signal that youre putting out to the American people. The American people are looking for answers and theyre looking for hope. And youre doing sensationalism, and the same with NBC and Con-cast. I dont call it I dont call it Comcast, I call it Con-cast. Let me just for who you work let me just tell you something: Thats really bad reporting, and you ought to get back to reporting instead of sensationalism. Lets see if it works. It might and it might not. I happen to feel good about it, but who knows. Ive been right a lot. Lets see what happens. John? Q Can I get back to science and the logistics here? THE PRESIDENT: You ought to be ashamed of yourself. Q The units that were ordered, are they for clinical trials or are they for distribution to the general patient population? THE PRESIDENT: We are going to as I understand it, we are going to be taking samples in New York. Governor Cuomo very much is interested in this drug. And they are going to work on it also, after they get a certain approval. Were waiting for one final approval from the FDA. Well see what happens. But well use it on people that are not doing great, or even at the beginning of not feeling well. Q So this would sort of fall under the modified auspice THE PRESIDENT: And, John, what do we have to lose? Q So this would sort of THE PRESIDENT: Wait, John its been out there for so long. We hear good things. Lets see. Maybe it works and maybe it doesnt. Q I understand all of that. Im just thinking the application here. So that would be under, sort of, a modified compassionate access? THE PRESIDENT: Were doing that, I guess. And thats thats what its called. Yes. Q I would like Dr. Fauci, if you dont mind, to follow up on what the President is saying. Should Americans have hope in this drug right now? And, sir, I would like to follow up on Peters question here. Could you please issue address Americans in this country who are scared right now? This is a very valid concern that people have. DR. FAUCI: No, there really isnt that much of a difference in many respects with what were saying. The President feels optimistic about something his feeling about it. What Im saying is that it might it might be effective. Im not saying that it isnt. It might be effective. But as a scientist, as were getting it out there, we need to do it in a way as while we are making it available for people who might want the hope that it might work, youre also collecting data that will ultimately show that it is truly effective and safe under the conditions of COVID-19. So there really isnt difference. Its just a question of how one feels about it. Q Is there any reason to believe its not safe? DR. FAUCI: Well, certainly as a drug any drug, John, has some toxicities. The decades of experience that we have with this drug indicate that the toxicities are rare and they are, in many respects, reversible. What we dont know is when you put it in the context of another disease, whether it is safe. Fundamentally, I think it probably is going to be safe, but I like to prove things first. So it really is a question of not a lot of difference. Its the hope that it will work versus proving that it will work. So I dont see big differences here. THE PRESIDENT: I agree. I agree. With a health care system thats already stressed and facing a pandemic that will test all its limits, its difficult to think of legislation in the context of normal times. But there will be a day when health care returns to something resembling a pre-coronavirus state. And the virus is providing a daily reminder, in case anyone needed one, of all the ways our current health care system falls short. Exhibit A is insurance. More than a decade after the passage of the Affordable Care Act, health insurance remains a problem for people who are not covered by employee plans. The state exchange can work well for those who qualify for subsidies, but too many people who fall outside those limits say the only plans available to them are prohibitively expensive and dont cover what they need. Too many health care plans, both employer-based and privately purchased, function more like catastrophic coverage than health insurance. With high deductibles and premiums, they may keep a person who suffers from a surprise illness or accident from losing everything, but they dont serve to improve their daily health by promoting wellness and prevention. That needs to change. Comptroller Kevin Lembo, who knows more about health insurance than maybe anyone else in the state, is again pushing this session a public health insurance option, which would phase in availability in the state employees health insurance plan first for small business and, eventually, everyone in the state. It would limit costs by reducing the huge overhead associated with private plans, and improve outcomes with state oversight. Gov. Ned Lamont has previously supported versions of a public option, but has changed his mind. The insurance industry, which has shrunk but continues to play a dominant role in Hartford political discussions, is vociferously against the proposal, which would function as a competitor with private plans and, if it works, drive down costs for everyone, whether theyre on the public option or not. No one is questioning that the obstacles are serious. Wrangling enough votes to get its passed would be hard. Getting enough to overcome a possible veto could be insurmountable. But lawmakers need to try. Everything is on hold as the state endures a lockdown of indeterminate length to weather the coronavirus threat, but this should give legislators time to consider how important it is that everyone in the state have access to quality, affordable health insurance. The public option is a major step in that direction. Its doable and affordable, and Connecticut could be a trailblazer for the nation. Lawmakers need to make it happen this year. Italys death toll from coronavirus has risen by 793 in 24 hours to 4,825. The daily increase is the largest since the contagion began and comes two days after the nation overtook China as the worst-hit country for fatalities. Confirmed cases also surged by 14 per cent from 47,021 to 53,578, according to the civil protection agency. The northern region of Lombardy is the most badly affected, with 3,095 deaths and 25,515 cases. Of those originally infected nationwide, 6,072 had fully recovered on Saturday compared to 5,129 the day before. There were 2,857 people in intensive care against a previous 2,655. Italy was among the first in Europe to deploy widespread travel restrictions to stem the pandemic and continues to impose a nationwide lockdown. More than 70,000 people have been caught violating the measures introduced to slow the spread of coronavirus since 11 March, with nearly 10,000 people reported by police on Friday alone. Nearly 2,000 business owners have been suspended for breaching the lockdown. Italian doctors have urged other countries to impose similar measures after struggling to cope with the increase in patients and a shortage of intensive care beds and respirators. Footage recorded in Bergamo in the Lombardy region of northern Italy the epicentre of the epidemic in Europe shows patients, whose faces are obscured or blurred out, gasping for air. Officials said that on Sunday, a team of 65 Cuban doctors and nurses with experience in battling Ebola outbreaks will arrive in northern Italy to help in the hard-hit Lombardy town of Cremona. Silvio Brusaferro, the head of the national Superior Health Institute, said that they were working to reduce the time delay between emergence of symptoms and diagnosis, which was currently running at five days. Additional reporting by agencies Advertisement Scott Morrison has announced a ban on all 'non-essential travel' within Australia and vowed to take 'draconian' and 'more severe' measures to enforce social distancing. The prime minister said Australians would still be able to travel for work-related activities, but said people who had interstate trips planned for the upcoming school holidays should cancel them. Even within states, people should scrap travel which isn't part of their standard routine, Mr Morrison said. Federal and state leaders will meet again on Sunday evening to discuss stronger measures to deal with local outbreaks, as the amount of confirmed coronavirus cases in Australia rises to 1,285 on Sunday. The discussion comes after thousands of selfish people flocked to Bondi Beach in Sydney's eastern suburbs to soak up the sun on the weekend. 'What happened at Bondi Beach yesterday was not okay, and served as a message to federal and state leaders that too many Australians are not taking these issues seriously enough,' Mr Morrison said. 'People cannot be cavalier about these things and must take them extremely seriously, because lives and livelihoods are at stake.' Hundreds of surfers and sunbakers ignored authorities and flocked to Bondi again on Sunday morning, despite the iconic beach being closed to slow the spread of the coronavirus outbreak. Scott Morrison said he will enforce 'draconian' measures for Australians who ignore social distancing rules At least 50 surfers ignored warnings and took to Bondi Beach on Sunday morning despite closures Hundreds of people have ignored authorities and flocked to Sydney's famous Bondi Beach on Sunday despite it being closed to slow the spread of the coronavirus outbreak NSW Police Minister David Elliott says about 450 people who showed up to the iconic beach on Sunday morning will be told to leave All beaches in Sydney's eastern suburbs have been closed on Sunday, including Bondi, Tamarama, Maroubra and Coogee. Pictured: Surfers leaving Bondi on Sunday morning NSW Police Minister David Elliott said about 450 people who showed up to the iconic beach on Sunday morning were told to leave. 'We are not doing this because we are the fun police. We don't close these public spaces because we want to punish people,' he told Channel 7. 'Some people are just stupid and want to take the risk. Some people think they are above the law.' Mr Morrison pleaded with Australians to do their bit when it comes to social distancing and respecting the rules. 'It is important that serves as a wake-up call for the entire country to ensure they take these social distancing policies very seriously. 'The states are moving quickly to mandate and enforce them, and they will be taking even stronger measures in particular areas, and potentially more widespread.' All beaches in Sydney's eastern suburbs have been closed on Sunday, including Bondi, Tamarama, Maroubra and Coogee after thousands of people flouted government advice to practice social distancing. NSW Police on patrol at Bondi Beach on Sunday morning after beachgoers drew condemnation on Friday when tens of thousands of people flouted social distancing rules The warning didn't seem to make it to Balmoral Beach, on Sydney's Lower North Shore, where hundreds of sunbathers were spotted packed closely together by the water on Sunday Under regulations introduced to control the spread of the deadly virus, outdoor gatherings of 500 people or more have been banned. Mr Elliott on Saturday said beaches across the state that did not meet public gathering regulations would be closed and beachgoers who did not comply would be removed by police. Waverley Council responded by closing Bondi, Tamarama and Bronte beaches until further notice. Randwick Council has also closed its beaches on Sunday. But despite the closures, crowds ignored social distancing rules and gathered at Bondi's famous Icebergs on Sunday morning, while rangers were called in to move defiant swimmers off the beach. The warning didn't seem to make it to Balmoral Beach, on Sydney's Lower North Shore, where hundreds of sunbathers were spotted packed closely together by the water on Sunday. 'Given the sunny weather forecast of 27 degrees for Sunday, it is highly likely that beach numbers will exceed the 500 person cap,' Randwick Mayor Danny Said said on Saturday. 'For everybody's own health, I urge people not to come to the beach on Sunday as you are potentially putting your health and the health of others at risk.' Crowds gather at Bondi's famous Icebergs while blissfully ignoring social distancing recommendations on Sunday morning Rangers were on hand at Bondi moving people off the beach and out of the water at Bondi Icebergs on Sunday morning A lifeguard can be seen asking a surfer and a swimmer to leave Bondi Beach on Sunday morning, after the beach was closed due to coronavirus A beachgoer was seen ignoring red and white tape urging people not to enter Bondi Beach NSW on Saturday had recorded 83 new COVID-19 cases within 24 hours, with the state total reaching 436. Health Minister Brad Hazzard urged young people to take the COVID-19 threat seriously, saying 'the problem is just over the horizon, on the basis of the numbers that we're now seeing'. 'It's a serious matter. Save yourself and save your family,' Mr Hazzard told reporters on Saturday. Despite the 500-person maximum imposed for outdoor gatherings, shocking pictures showed thousands of sunbathers ignoring health warnings at Bondi Beach on Saturday. Australia's national total of coronavirus cases has hit 1,073 - prompting calls for people to do their bit to stop it spreading further. But the spiralling health crisis was clearly of little concern to the beachgoers, with health minister Greg Hunt accusing them of 'putting others at risk'. NSW Police were seen at Bondi Pavilion on Saturday after state officials made the decision to shut down the world-famous beach after outdoor gatherings of 500 people or more were banned Hundreds of beachgoers were seen packing up and leaving shortly after the announcement was made on Saturday Police - along with NSW Lifesaving - were seen ordering sunbathers off the beach on Saturday. They were back at Bondi on Sunday to order hundreds of locals off the beach Within hours, the once-packed beach resembled a ghost down after hundreds of sunbathers were told to leave on Saturday afternoon Speaking from Bondi Beach on Saturday afternoon, police minister David Elliot said: 'This is the most irresponsible behaviour we've seen so far. 'This is not something we're doing because we're the fun police, this is about saving lives. 'We cannot have an area where more than 500 people are gathered.' 'If the community does not comply, this is going to become the new normal.' On Saturday, the NSW government made the decision to shut the beach completely, following the national crowd rules - after it became swamped with revellers this week as they flocked to enjoy the 30C temperatures. Under regulations introduced to control the spread of the deadly virus, outdoor gatherings of 500 people or more have been banned. As part of that, lifesavers will have the power to close beaches and ask people to move on if a crowd of 500 or more is gathered at the same spot. Lifesavers will have the power to close beaches and ask people to move on if a crowd of 500 or more is gathered at the same spot A group of friends are seen leaving after being booted off the beach on Saturday Pictures of crowds soon emerged on Instagram showing a lack of concern for social distancing rules, with many of the young sun-worshippers even making jokes about the virus. LATEST RULES TO CONTROL CORONAVIRUS SPREAD On Friday, Scott Morrison announced new rules for indoor spaces. It means the number of people in a venue is dictated by the size of the room. There needs to be four-square-metres per patron. This means that if a venue is 100-square-metres, 25 people are allowed inside. Event then, Australians are asked to try and keep 1.5 metres apart from one another. Advertisement The shocking images prompted criticism from across the world, with many incensed by the revellers lack of awareness about the virus. Sunbathers ignored 1.5metre social distancing guidelines on Friday and Saturday as they lay together on the sand and helped each other apply sunscreen. Following the announcement, NSW Police were seen working alongside NSW Lifesaving to remove sunbathers off the sand. Within minutes, the once-packed beach resembled a ghost town. 'I don't really speak English that well so I didn't realise what was happening. They [the rangers] came up to me to say it was closed. I am guessing it is the virus,' one resident, who did not want to be named, told Daily Mail Australia. 'Yesterday's behaviour was just plain stupid. I'm a school teacher and I'm already exposed to the virus enough,' Bondi resident, Lara, added. Lauren Ellis, from England, said people were likely taking advantage of the beach before the coronavirus pandemic escalates further. 'I think the reason a lot of people are here are because they want to make the most of it knowing they won't be able to do this in a couple of days,' she said. Life savers have also been instructed to stop patrolling beaches where there are large numbers of people, which could include popular spots such as Coogee, Manly, Maroubra and beaches in the Sutherland Shire. Critics slammed the beachgoers for being ignorant about the coronavirus threat, after they flocked in droves to Bondi Beach (pictured) on Saturday One beachgoer poses for a photo during warm weather in Sydney on Friday (pictured) despite the threat of coronavirus Hundreds of people packed onto the grass next to Bondi Beach (pictured) and were clearly not socially distancing on Friday Waverley mayor Paula Masselos had earlier been forced to issue a public plea for people to stay indoors amid the coronavirus pandemic and away from beaches. 'The public must at all times keep a minimum safe distance from each other in public places and if you don't need to be out in public, please consider staying at home,' Ms Masselos said. 'We all have a role to play in preventing the spread of COVID-19 and I am frustrated that people continue to ignore health advice about social distancing as observed yesterday at Bondi Beach.' Ms Masselos asked for people to heed advice from NSW health including practising social distancing and following hygiene rules. 'No-one is immune to COVID-19 and behaving irresponsibly puts the entire community at risk,' Ms Masselos said. A couple at Bondi Beach on Friday (pictured) smile as they emerged from the surf to join the packed crowds on the beach Beachgoers are seen at Bondi Beach on Friday (pictured) despite the threat of coronavirus Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt also hit out at beachgoers who flouted social distancing advice and risked spreading the virus. CORONAVIRUS CASES IN AUSTRALIA: 27,244 Victoria: 20,269 New South Wales: 4,273 Queensland: 1,161 Western Australia: 692 South Australia: 473 Tasmania: 230 Australian Capital Territory: 113 Northern Territory: 33 TOTAL CASES: 27,244 ESTIMATED ACTIVE CASES: 269 DEATHS: 897 Updated: 5.31 PM, 11 October, 2020 Source: Australian Government Department of Health Advertisement 'What happened in Bondi was unacceptable, and the local council must take steps to stop that from occurring,' Mr Hunt told reporters in Melbourne on Saturday. 'Each of us as individuals, as families, as groups, as councils, as state governments, as a national government has responsibility.' 'This now is a pandemic ... a vast majority are doing the right thing,' he added. 'If you are breaking these rules you are putting, not just yourself, but you are putting other Australians at risk.' The crowds were seemingly unfazed by the threat of coronavirus as they embraced on the shoreline, splashed in the waves and played beach volleyball. New South Wales Health Minister Brad Hazzard said the 'thousands of people' who gathered at Bondi should be following the 1.5 metre recommendation. Those who flocked to Bondi Beach on Friday (pictured) have been accused of putting lives at risk by ignoring social distancing 'We are in a different time,' he said on Friday. 'We need to behave in different ways and that is to keep your distance. The recommendation is at least 1.5 metres. That is a sensible recommendation that people should sensibly take on board.' While residents can 'by all means' visit the beach, they must stick to the strict advice given by health authorities. Shockingly, many of the beachgoers took to social media to boast proudly of their day in the sun - even making jokes about the global pandemic, which has killed more than 10,000 people across the world. 'Two weeks behind the rest of the world,' was the caption of one group photo as 16 young people hung off each other. 'Solid social distancing,' wrote one commenter, making light of the new guidelines which are designed to keep people from spreading the virus. Two friends dip their feet in the water at Sydney's Bondi Beach on Friday, despite guidelines to exercise social distancing (pictured) A couple embrace at Bondi Beach, in Sydney's eastern suburbs, on Friday as the temperature soars above 30C (pictured) A man and woman ignore social distancing guidelines as they embrace in the water at Sydney's Bondi Beach (pictured on Friday) 'If you can't beat 'em, join 'em,' wrote a young man on a picture of him pointing at a Corona beer with a group of friends, 'I would just say that it doesn't matter where you are. Whether you are on Bondi or in a church, separate by 1.5 metres,' Mr Hazzard said on Saturday. Government advice reads: 'Social distancing is important because COVID-19 is most likely to spread from person-to-person.' 'So, the more space between you and others, the harder it is for the virus to spread.' The crowds come as Australia prepares to lock its borders to non-residents at 9pm on Friday in a desperate attempt to stop the spread of COVID-19. Victoria Premier, Daniel Andrews, warned that unless infection rates drop, hospitals will soon become overwhelmed. Two women smile for the camera as they hit the surf at Sydney's Bondi Beach on Friday (pictured) despite concerns over the global pandemic Beachgoers play a game of volleyball on the sand as the government urges residents to exercise social distancing (pictured on Friday) 'If you're in any doubt of how serious this is, switch your TV on and see what's happening in other parts of the world,' he told reporters on Saturday. 'People are dying. We are going to get to a dark place.' Mr Andrews announced a $550 million business relief package to help those struggling to stay afloat during the crisis. A payroll tax refund will be made available to 24,000 businesses small and medium-sized businesses. It is hoped the cash will help keep about 400,000 workers employed. Sunbathers ignored 1.5 metre social distancing guidelines by helping each other apply sunscreen and lying together on the sand (pictured on Friday) Crowds also gathered at the rocks lining Bondi Beach despite the growing threat of COVID-19 (pictured on Friday) On Friday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison introduced tough new social distancing measures, which are designed to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The number of people allowed in an indoor venue will be dictated by its size. Announcing the new crowd restrictions, Mr Morrison said there will be a maximum limit of 'four square metres provided per person in an enclosed space'. When in a venue, patrons should try and sit a minimum of 1.5 metres away from one another. He also warned a unprecedented ban may be brought in on domestic travel next week ahead of the school holidays - and pleaded with holidaymakers not to fly. Addressing the nation on Friday, Mr Morrison said he needed people 'to keep going' and 'do their bit for their fellow Australians'. The warm weather has lead to crowds flocking to Bondi Beach (pictured earlier on Friday) despite coronavirus concerns When Bondi Beach reopens, the police minister confirmed there would be patrols in place to ensure there are no more than 500 people on the sand. 'We are relying on the laws of common sense. They will be asked to move on if there are more than 500 people on the beach,' he said, adding that 'headcounts for 500 people have been done before. 'In consultation with the police and Surf Life Saving NSW, we will now see beaches across the state that do not comply with the regulations close,' Mr Elliot explained. 'If people to not comply, the police will have the power to 'move on' individuals. This is because we want you to be safe. I for one am disappointed,' Mr Elliot went on. 'I cannot sit by and watch the community not only ignore the laws but blatantly flout them,' he said of the images of thousands of sunbathers on Bondi Beach on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. 'This is called a pandemic because people's lives are in danger.' In order to keep coronavirus infection at bay, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee suggested people to use cloth to cover their mouth and nose in case of scarcity of face masks. "Since there is a scarcity of masks, people can use a cloth to tie around their faces as it is soft. However, I am not sure, people should consult doctors," Banerjee said on Friday. The West Bengal CM also asserted that the international flights should be banned with immediate effect. "Why should international flights be shut from March 22 ? This needs to be done immediately, we said this at the conference (Prime Minister's video-conference with Chief Ministers)," Banerjee said in a press conference here. Earlier in the day, Banerjee had attended the video-conference meeting called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss measures to tackle the deadly virus. Amid coronavirus pandemic, the central government has banned the operations of international commercial passenger flights in India from March 22 to March 29. The circular was issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Thursday. The total number of COVID-19 cases in India has now climbed up to 258, including 39 foreigners, according to the Union Health Ministry on Saturday at 9 am. While four deaths have been reported due to the infection, 23 people have also been cured in the country. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Coronavirus has short-circuited life as Americans have come to know it across the country, but on Friday it began to cast a shadow on death itself. The Department of Veterans Affairs said it would suspend military honors with burials at the nations 142 veterans cemeteries starting Monday and limit the number of people who could attend graveside services to 10 immediate family members. The decision applies only to VA cemeteries across the United States and in Puerto Rico, and not to burials in private cemeteries. Fort Sam Houston Cemeterys director, Aubrey David, said the service branches will provide honors for a deceased veteran at any cemetery at the family's request as long as the service has the manpower. He added, however, that he did not know if Defense Department practices had changed because of the coronavirus pandemic. Final honors include the firing of three rifle volleys and the playing of taps, with a service detail folding the flag that draped the casket and presenting it to the family of the deceased. The VA, in a statement, said all of its cemeteries would remain open though parts of them might close, including public information centers or chapels. Family members could witness interment by request. Those wanting to make burial arrangements at any VA national cemetery can call the national cemetery scheduling office at (800) 535-1117. VA national cemeteries will continue to perform our essential function - to inter veterans and eligible individuals, said Randy Reeves, the agencys undersecretary for memorial affairs. We trust the public understands that we must place priority on the health and safety of veterans and families and our team members who serve them. The last burials with military honors at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery for the duration of the pandemic crisis took place Friday. On any given day the cemetery, one of the busiest in the United States and the ninth-largest with more than 160,000 people buried there, conducts on average 16 burials . Fort Sams assistant director, Roshanda Bost, said direct burials in which a funeral home or family would take remains to the cemetery for interment without services would begin Monday. Families also can arrange to schedule services after the coronavirus threat ends. Any family that has a direct burial during this time frame can call us back after coronavirus is over and they can schedule a memorial service at one of our committal shelters so they can render military honors, David, the cemetery director, said. It wasnt immediately clear if the VA had ever before stopped holding services with honors at its cemeteries. The only time I can remember a cemetery being closed was when we had a hurricane in Houston, and that was only a day, said David. We did some tree removals off the streets so the cemetery was accessible and then the very next day we were conducting committal services. sigc@express-news.net Shiv Sena MP self quarantines after sitting beside BJP MP Dushyant Singh in Parliamentary Committee meet 'Please stay where you are', PM Modi urges citizens Section 144 to be imposed in state, says Puducherry CM Assam reports first coronavirus case, four and a half year old girl tests positive Medical officers wearing protective suits. Italy has no respite from the deadly coronavirus as the death toll in the European nation reported 632 deaths on Saturday. Over 4,000 people have died in Italy despite the government working hard to contain the covid-19 outbreak. Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, has not reported any new cases of coronavirus which led to WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus saying that the worst situations can be turned around. Governors of US cities California, New York and Illinois ordered the cities residents to stay at home as coronavirus cases surge in the US. India's health ministry reported that there are 315 people who have coronavirus in the country. PM Modi also posted a series of tweets highlighting the need of technology and internet to tackle misinformation and spread awareness as coronavirus pandemic creates fear in the hearts of the citizens. Here are the LIVE updates on the coronavirus outbreak: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday asked people to self-quarantine for at least another 45 days as the country reported its third coronavirus death and the total number of confirmed cases rose to 481. The third death was reported in Pakistan's biggest city Karachi, the capital of the Southern Sindh province which has reported the highest number of coronavirus cases in the country. Sindh Health Minister Azra Fazal Pechuho confirmed the death of a 77-year-old man and said the patient was a cancer survivor and had other medical problems like hypertension and diabetes but didn't have any travel or contact history. The number of confirmed cases in Sindh province rose to 249 on Friday, provincial spokesman Murtaza Wahab said. Earlier two patients died in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa where the number of positive cases has increased to 23, provincial health minister Taimur Jhagra said. At least 16 more cases were reported in Punjab where the tally touched 96, according to a notification issued by the provincial health department spokesperson Qaiser Asif. More cases surfaced in Balochistan where the number of infected persons is 81. Another 21 were in Gilgit-Baltistan, 10 in Islamabad and one in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Prime Minister Khan while addressing the media in Islamabad on Friday said people should self-quarantine for at least another 45 days to help tackle the coronavirus crisis. Commenting on future course of action to contain the outbreak, Khan said, Our strategy is a little different from a complete lockdown, considering Pakistan's socio-economic realities . "Pakistan isn't a rich country like Italy, where people can get through a sustained period without economic activity," he was quoted as saying by the Express Tribune. He announced partial opening of border with Afghanistan to let trucks pass carrying different supplies. Despite global pandemic of COVID 19, we remain committed to supporting our Afghan brothers & sisters. I have given instructions to open the Chaman-Spinboldak border & let trucks crossover into Afghanistan. In time of crisis, we remain steadfast with Afghanistan, Khan tweeted. Pakistan also sent 17 tonnes of cooked food to its stranded student in Chinese city of Wuhan, according to Special Assistant on Information Firdous Ashiq Awan. "We thank the Chinese government for taking care of the Pakistanis in Wuhan, just like their own citizens," Awan said. As the financial problems of common people increased due to virus, the Council of Islamic Ideology asked people to start doing charity even before the holy month of Ramadan, which is due to start next month and when people are often more generous in giving alms. Meanwhile, Southern Sindh province Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah asked people stay at home for the next three days in a bid to stop the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Chairing a meeting of the provincial task force on coronavirus, Shah said, "The concern is the fast spreading of local cases of coronavirus and that is why it is important that people stay at home for the next three days." "People must understand the severity of the situation. They must not only protect themselves but also their children and family members," he added. Also read: Janta curfew: What is PM Modi's new formula to fight coronavirus? Also read: PM Modi speech on coronavirus well calibrated, say CP Gurnani, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw Ana Avila was inside one of about a dozen cars waiting to enter the new coronavirus testing site outside of Citizens Bank Park. She had been nervous since learning one of her patients had been in contact with the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia cardiologist who tested positive for coronavirus. The 24-year-old mental health worker from North Philadelphia thinks her patient could be positive, too. After treating the patient, Avila got sick the next day. She had a dry cough, a fever around 104, and shortness of breath symptoms of the coronavirus. Avila went to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania last Thursday and she says she was told she had pneumonia and was sent home. She was not tested for the coronavirus. Now, more than a week later, her symptoms continue. She hoped the new site, which opened Friday outside the Phillies home, would be able to test her. Its one of 20 sites in the Philadelphia region, Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said, and the first government-sponsored site in the city. The Citizens Bank Park site started with 2,500 testing kits, Farley said, making it the largest in the city in terms of capacity and its footprint in the large parking lot. Avila wore a mask while she waited in her car. There were other people in line who said they didnt have symptoms but were hoping to get tested just to be sure. One man said he was nervous because he has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. A 61-year-old Lyft driver, Kenneth Thompson, said he wanted to be tested because he believed he was in the high risk category because of his age. He doesnt really have symptoms, like a cough or fever, but he just feels like he is getting sick. As much as we can clean our cars, as much as we can wash our hands, as much as we can protect our faces its still unknown, the proximity it needs to get to another person, and I am one of those people who will always try to do the right thing, Thompson said. "So if Im in this line wrongly Im going to find out very soon. Joe Marsh, 40, an Amtrak train dispatcher from Deptford, was also wearing a mask in his car. His doctors office gave it to him, along with a script to be tested for the new coronavirus. This is the worst Ive ever felt, honestly, Marsh said. It feels like an elephant is sitting on your chest. He has spent four days with symptoms like shortness of breath and coughing. His fever is 100.4. He said his tongue is gray, he is losing his sense of taste, and struggles to keep food down. He has no idea how he got sick. This is not the common flu, Marsh said. Jean Peters, 65, has a temperature around 100 and shortness of breath. A few weeks ago, her husband was sick with aches and coughing, but recovered. They dont know if he was infected with the new coronavirus, but Jean Peters is now worried she might be. Their family physician recommended she get tested at a Penn site, but she couldnt be tested there until Monday. So they thought theyd try here first. Its just stressful not knowing, Jean Peters said. So it would be nice to know one way or another if we really need to watch ourselves to eliminate the unknown. Theyve been pretty much isolating themselves anyway and she hopes she is cleared so she can visit her 30-year-old twin daughters again. Avila, like all the other people waiting to get tested, some with tissue boxes on their dashboards, pulled her car into the parking lot, following the orange cones toward Emma Ewing, a 19-year-old Temple University sophomore who was volunteering. She wore a mask and held a sign with gloves that read: Dont get out of your car. READ MORE: This is what its like being tested for the coronavirus Soon, Avila would approach the first tent, with more volunteers outside holding up instructions:. Put your car in park and turn it off at each station Only lower your window to eye level. This would be the pre-screening station where medical volunteers will determine if she is eligible for testing. Because Avila described her symptoms and confirmed she is a healthcare worker, she would be permitted to continue. The drive-through testing is only available for health care workers and people older than 50 who are showing symptoms of the virus, officials said. Then she would pass through a second station, answering questions like her name, date of birth, address, phone number, health insurance, job, and any chronic health conditions. At the testing tent, clinicians in personal protective equipment, like surgical gowns, gloves, face masks, and a face shield, would then swab her for the coronavirus test. The entire process should take about 15 minutes. Now she is waiting again. Farley said results could take two to five days. Avila hopes this sickness is not the coronavirus. Shes been calling off work since last Wednesday and has been financially supporting herself with her savings. It does scare me, Avila said. I just feel like its really easy to spread. Its spreading everywhere even without symptoms you could possibly still have it. I just advise people to stay away from people, like its not worth it. Staff writer Laura McCrystal contributed to this report. Nollwood star actress, Bukunmi Oluwashina has opened up on being a lesbian. The Yoruba thespian has come out to inform the public tha... Nollwood star actress, Bukunmi Oluwashina has opened up on being a lesbian. The Yoruba thespian has come out to inform the public that even though she dresses like a Tomboy she is not in any way a lesbian. According to her, she has numerous boyfriends. Gbolahan Adetayo. The actress who recently became a producer cum director after she worked on her personalproject titled Traffic, made the statement in a chat with blogger,Gbolahan Adetayo. Tom boy does not mean you are a lesbian, as a matter of fact, I dont get to keep girlfriends (Female friends) closer like I do keep my boy friends. The closest people around me are all guys, plenty. And all we do is to discuss businesses not prick (Laughs). Productive conversation is the only thing that can get me addicted to someone. Im not that romantic like people think. Im a freaking introvert She told him But When its time for you all to meet my man, when he shows up, you probably see him. Not promising though because I love a private life. I always dont like talking about or posting the most beautiful part of my life on the media, because people ruin beautiful things. I kinda have anthropophobia. But God would help me when that time comes sha. The most important thing now is hustle, she added The Environment Ministry has put all meetings of its expert appraisal committees (EAC), responsible for issuing green clearances, on hold till March 31 amid a spurt in new coronavirus cases across the country, a top environment ministry official said. "We have put all (meetings of) EACs on hold due to the situation. No meeting will take place till March 31. One meeting means 50-60 people coming together. So we will not have that," the official said. Among the projects pending before the committees is a proposal to construct a new Parliament building, a part of the government's ambitious plan to redevelop the Central Vista. Asked about the Central Vista project, the official said, "We don't have the entire project seeking clearance. Only the new Parliament building proposal has come to us. But all meetings have been put on hold for now." The new coronavirus has claimed five lives in India with the number of infected cases above 200 as on Friday. The Central Vista plan proposes a new Parliament building with the existing one being converted into a museum. It envisages a triangular Parliament building, a common Central Secretariat and the revamping of the three-km-long Rajpath - from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate. The prime minister's residence and office are likely to be shifted near the South Block and the vice-president's new house will be in the vicinity of the North Block as per a blueprint prepared by the government. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Enniskerry: Parish of Powerscourt with Kilbride. Services of Worship in Powerscourt for this Sunday - The Fourth Sunday in Lent: 8.30 a.m. - Holy Communion One (Said); 11.30 a.m. - Morning Prayer. These Services may be subject to cancellation at short notice - keep an eye on the parish website for updates. Services of Worship in Kilbride for this Sunday - The Fourth Sunday in Lent: 10 a.m. - Morning Prayer Two. This Service may be subject to cancellation at short notice - keep an eye on the parish website for updates. Irish Trefoil Guild - Guiding for Life: Calling all former leaders of the Irish Girl Guides in Bray and the surrounding area. There is now a Trefoil Guild in Bray. Contact Anne at - braytrefoilguild@gmail.com. St Mary's Church Parish Website: The parish of the Immaculate Heart of Mary has its own website. Please check out 'Enniskerryparish.ie' for the latest information about our parish. Important Notice - Suspension of Masses: Due to the ongoing coronavirus (Covid-19), all Masses and Services for Enniskerry Parish and the Bray Pastoral Area including Enniskerry, Kilmacanogue, Curtlestown and Glencree, are suspended till at least and including Sunday, March 29. While Masses are suspended, the voice of prayer should not be silent. We know that many will want to our churches and pray privately and this will be accommodate where possible. In challenging times like this, people find strength, consolation and hope in prayer. We rediscover the value of the traditional prayers such as the Rosary, the Memorare, St Patrick's Breastplate etc. We will be working to put prayer resources on our website in the coming days. The Archbishop of Dublin has announced that everyone is dispensed from the obligation to physically attend Sunday Mass while the present emergency persists. Check the RTE schedule for broadcast Mass times. Mass is also brought broadcast through EWTN, Radio Maria, channel which can be found in Saorview and Channel 210. Lenten Sacred Space: Parishioners are invited to click through to our Lenten Sacred Space on the parish website. There will be some lovely reflections and links on the website during Lent. Volunteers Sought: St Vincent de Paul Society urgently need volunteers in the areas of Dublin, Wicklow and Kildare to work in assisting individuals and families once a week. This will be for about three hours, day or night (whatever suits you best). Full training and support provided - for more information Tel: 01 8198405 or email volunteer@svp.ie. Parish of Immaculate Heart of Mary Fund Raising Appeal: Parishioners have received an invitation to donate to the Parish Fund Raising Appeal either by increasing their Direct Debit/Family Offering Envelope donation or by donating through our website. Envelopes are available at the rear of church. Useful Help Lines: Society of St Vincent de Paul: 01 8550022; Samaritans: 1850-609090; Recovery: 01 6260775; Accord: 01 5053112. History Society Last Thursday night's meeting of the Enniskerry History Society, which meets the guidance of its president, John Callan, scheduled to take place in the Powerscourt Arms Hotel, Enniskerry, had to be cancelled as a public health measure and the inconvenience that this sudden cancellation caused is regretted. This was scheduled to be the final meeting in the Spring 2020 programme of the Enniskerry History Society and it hoped to hold this lecture by Tom Conlon on 'The History of St Michael's Hospital, Dun Laoghaire' in the autumn when hopefully the currently public health crisis has passed. John Callan wishes to thank Brian White and James Scannell, who present the January and February lectures respectively, and the management and staff of the Powerscourt Arms Hotel for their assistance with facilitating meetings. Further information about the Enniskerry History Society available from John Callan at 01 2867853. Enniskerry Library The library is closed till further notice as a public health measure to prevent the spread of. The Coronavirus (Covid-19).Books may be renewed online and late-return fees will not apply. Enniskerry 125 At the Wednesday, March 29, 1905, meeting of the Rathdown Board of Guardians, chaired by Mr Thomas Clarke, Mr Wogan, Enniskerry, wrote stating that at a previous meeting he was awarded so many contracts that he could accept them. It was resolved to award these contracts to the next lowest tenderer. Laragh-Glendalough Note from the Brockagh Resource Centre. As you may already know the Brockagh Centre is officially closed till March 29 following our goverment guidelines now and after March 29. All classes and events are cancelled. Laragh GAA have kindly offered help in the community on their Facebook page. There are Emergency CoVid19 Forms for Unemployed outside the Brockagh Resource Centre front door and we have left some in Willies McCoys Shop for the community to use. Stay safe and be mindful of others. Tidy Towns The Tidy Towns AGM will be cancelled this month hoping to reconvene in the not too distant future. Stay safe everyone. St Kevin's Parish Glendalough. Owing to the Coronavirus the parish pastoral council have decided that Masses on Saturday evening and Sunday morning and St Patrick's Day will be cancelled. This is to comply with national spacing guidelines. Week day Masses will continue as normal. This situation will be reviewed again at the end of the month. Roundwood GOODBYE It is with a tinge of sadness that I tell you that these are the last Roundwood notes I will bring to you. I've been doing the Roundwood notes for over 20 years and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank my readers and subscribers who have supported me all this time and to the staff of People Newspapers, who have been courteous and easy to deal with. I've really enjoyed bringing you the notes every week and I will miss your items being dropped in and the phone calls and emails but I'm very happy to be handing over the reins to Margaret Bolger, who is taking over from next week, Wicklow People issue of March 25. As we know these are very strange times and I never thought I would be writing this with nothing happening in our village for this period and into the future and it feels quite surreal as the notes probably will be quite small for the time. I am saying goodbye in a time never ever seen before and I am certain that we will all look back on this difficult phase in our life the better people for it as we are a good community who look after each other and may that continue. Margaret is now your contact at 087 6472413 or mgtbolger@gmail.com You can contact Margaret about dropping in notes to her etc. And I will enjoy getting my Wicklow People on a Wednesday and sitting back reading all the great things that will be going on in the village when we all get back to some form of normality. Stay safe everyone and look after the elderly and vulnerable and keep washing your hands and social distancing. Slan agus beannacht leat. FAMILY FUN TABLE QUIZ Stagebratz Starz Family table quiz and Monster Raffle are postponed till further notice in the interest of keeping everyone healthy and safety but we are looking forward to getting back into Show Mode ASAP. PLOUGHING MATCH Unfortunately due to present circumstances with the Coronavirus this year's Ploughing Match which was originally planned to take place on February 22, but due to bad weather, was rescheduled to Saturday, March 21, has now been cancelled following consultations with the NPA Apologies to Richard Turner, The Roundwood Inn, and Kavanagh's for any inconvenience caused. HISTORICAL SOCIETY Roundwood and District Historical and Folklore Society invite you to a History of Roundwood Ploughing Association, by John Byrne of Knockatemple. Monday, March 30, at 8 p.m., in Kavanagh's Lounge (Vartry House). Adm: Member - 3, non-members 5. KNOCK PILGRIMAGE The pilgrimage to Knock sadly has had to be cancelled because of the Corona virus situation as we all have to do our bit not to spread it. Maybe later in the year we can rearrange. BADMINTON Badminton is cancelled on Tuesday mornings for the foreseeable future. WHIST RESULTS The results of the whist are as follows: Top Score: May Kenna, Top Gent: Anne Pierce, Second Gent: Richard Cullen, First Lady: Patricia Byrne, Second Lady, Kitty Kennedy, First Half: Marie Magee, Second Half: Monica Brady, Lowest Score, Mary Pierce and Longest Sitting Maura McHugh. There will be no more whist till the Corona Virus is under control. LOTTO RESULTS The lotto has been suspended for the moment. CANCER SUPPORT The Roundwood Cancer Support centre is closed to the public for the moment. If anyone needs to make any enquiries please telephone our confidential phone number 087 6062072. MEDJUGORJE A pilgrimage To Medjugorje will take place on October 7 for seven days at a cost of 679 fully inclusive; 200 deposit secures booking. This trip will be accompanied by a Spiritual Director the accommodation is close to the church. For more information and booking Contact Mary King at 087 2185067. When a person gets an appointment and gives a swab in one of the centres, they must wait up to 48 hours for lab analysis. Photo: Ben Birchall/PA The delays at various stages of testing for the coronavirus are causing concern. How long can a patient referred by their GP for a test expect to wait? GPs are reporting five to 10 days. A patient who thinks they might be infected must first ring the GP who asks them a series of questions about symptoms like cough, fever or trouble breathing. If they decide the patient needs a test, they recommend them for a swab and send the request off electronically. Is it the case that the problem seems to be the length of time it takes for the patient to get an appointment for the swab test? The GP requests the appointment, but it is the HSE which then contacts the patient by phone. Many patients who rang GPs on Monday had still not received an appointment yesterday. They are waiting to be told what testing centre they go to in order to provide a swab. Is it correct that once a GP recommends the test for a patient they are a suspect case and must self-isolate? They must self-isolate and need to guard against infecting others. The fear is that while people are waiting for several days they may not be following the rules and infect others. When they get an appointment and give a swab in one of the centres, they must wait up to 48 hours for lab analysis. What are GPs saying about this? Dr Padraig McGarry, president of the Irish Medical Organisation and a GP in Longford, said yesterday he had still not received results for patients he referred for testing on Monday. The GP is not told of the appointment date for the patient's swab test. This is given to the patient. The GP should receive the test result after it has been analysed by a lab, he explained. He said if a patient is positive they may need to go to hospital but most stay in their home and self-isolate. Timeframes appear to be different for the test around the country. What advice does he have for people waiting for the test? He emphasised the need to self-isolate and take whatever medical advice the doctor has given to the patient. Are healthcare staff who want a test affected? Several have reported delays and this is stopping them going back to vital work. The WHO said "test, test, test", so why is there a wait? Criteria for testing widened recently to include people with high temperature, cough, aches and pains, and other potential symptoms. From Monday, GPs have been able to directly refer the patient for the test. GPs have been flooded with patients and this has created bottlenecks. Is it that there are not enough testing centres? The HSE has now expanded it to 29 centres. They are located in different facilities, including Croke Park which operates drive-through testing for patients referred by their GP. They have had to be staffed and equipped. Is there a shortage of swab kits? The HSE was running low on them earlier this week and received a consignment of 39,000 on Thursday. But it promises to ramp up testing to 15,000 a day. The HSE said it has a contract for continuity of supply. Are there enough labs to analyse the tests? Originally it was only the UCD laboratory doing the work, but it has now been expanded to nine hospital labs across the country. In its defence, the HSE has had to put the arrangements in place very quickly and at short notice. The hope is that the waiting times will improve. The Netherlands' KLM Airlines on Saturday said its Amsterdam-Delhi flight with 120 Indians on board was turned back due to "conflicting" information on flight restrictions imposed by the Indian authorities. According to sources, the plane had transit passengers from the US and the UK too, and there was confusion over whether such passengers can disembark on Indian soil as they were not taking direct flights and their segregation could be difficult. The Central government has announced that it would not allow any international commercial passenger flight to land in India from Sunday onward for a period of one week. "On March 20, FlightKL871from Amsterdam to Delhi had to be redirected to Schiphol due to conflicting information on entry restrictions in the country. 120 passengers on board this aircraft are residents of India, who were on their way to Delhi via a transfer at Schiphol, and are now on airside at Schiphol," the Dutch airline said in a statement. In the current situation with government regulations changing rapidly,KLM said it "ensures to abide and respect" the regulations put in place by the Indian authorities. The airline said it will fly these passengers only if afinal agreement is provided by the authorities in India. "KLM is committed to doing everything it can torepatriate as many travellers as possible," the statement said. "KLM will re-operate flight KL872 for the passengers in Delhi who were supposed to return to Amsterdam on the above mentioned flight for a departure on the night of March 22," it added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The coronavirus is striking, and felling, more Italian men than women, and some experts are warning that being male may be a risk factor for the illness, just as older age is. The Italian trend mirrors one seen in China, where men were more likely than women to die of Covid-19. In Italy, more men than women have been infected, and a higher proportion of infected men have died. Some 8 per cent of male patients died, compared with 5 per cent of female patients, according to a Higher Health Institute of Rome analysis of 25,058 cases. Being male is as much a risk factor for the ... Alabama prison officials announced Friday they are halting intake of inmates from the states county jails for the next month. ADOC spokeswoman Samantha Rose said prison officials are working closely with Gov. Kay Iveys Coronavirus Task Force, the Alabama Department of Public Health and infectious disease control experts to mitigate the spread of the virus. The 30-day moratorium includes, but is not limited to, new commitments, court returns, and parolees and probationers who are revoked or sanctioned. Rose said during this time, ADOC will continue to receive inmates with severe medical or mental health conditions, subject to the usual review process by the Departments Office of Health Services. However, additional health screenings will be implemented at the facility level to ensure any inmate is not symptomatic prior to entry. Additionally, she said, they are implementing system-wide preventative measures to keep the virus from entering the prisons. Effective immediately, the ADOC will extend both inmate yard time and snack line services at all our facilities. Other protocol adjustments remain under consideration for possible implementation. ADOC officials on Thursday announced that an administrative employee tested positive for COVID-19. All those who were in direct contact with that employee remain in a 14-day self-quarantine and are being monitored by health authorities. The department has not announced any inmates testing positive for the virus. Oregon lawmakers are exploring strategies to support people during the coronavirus pandemic, from changing health insurance rules to expanding who qualifies for unemployment insurance and suspending some loan repayments. Lawmakers on the Joint Special Committee on Coronavirus Response spent more than four hours Friday discussing potential legislation. They plan to reconvene Monday and Tuesday mornings to continue discussing how to respond to the states needs. With the Capitol closed to the public, a handful of the committee members assembled in a hearing room in the building with plenty of distance between them. Other lawmakers participated by phone and video conference. It would take a special session to enact most of those ideas, and lawmakers signaled they hope to call one or have the governor call one in the coming weeks. Gov. Kate Brown has also said she wants a special session soon to respond to the coronavirus public health crisis and economic repercussions. The ideas lawmakers are looking at include: A moratorium on all for-cause residential and commercial evictions An increase in rental and mortgage assistance Approving more spending on food stamps, grocery assistance for mothers and young children, and the Oregon Food Bank Increasing financial assistance directly to utilities in exchange for those utilities charging less to low-income residential customers and small businesses Requiring health insurance companies doing business in Oregon to extend the grace period for customers to pay premiums and allow payment plans Redirecting the corporate kicker tax rebate from the state school fund to the unemployment insurance fund Amending the Oregon Family Leave Act to cover leave for parents during statewide public health emergencies Requiring all state-chartered banks and other lenders to accept interest-only payments for the duration of the states emergency declaration and 30-days after. Lawmakers also touched on the financial straits the state government could eventually find itself in, as the severity of the sudden economic slowdown becomes clearer. For example, Sen. Arnie Roblan, D-Coos Bay, said the corportate kicker tax rebate the Legislature might considering moving from the state school fund to the unemployment insurance fund would be the rebate from the last biennium, rather than the current two-year budget. The other one, we cant expect that its gonna be there, Roblan said, referring to the likelihood corporate tax receipts could plummet. Sen. Brian Boquist, R-Dallas, said state revenue from capital gains could surge as it did around the time of the Great Recession more than a decade ago, due to stock selloffs as the market plunged. Last time, it was about $900 million, Boquist said. -- Hillary Borrud; hborrud@oregonian.com; @hborrud Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's government declared a state of emergency on Friday in Kiev and two more out of 25 regions due to the coronavirus outbreak. Ukraine, which reported 26 coronavirus cases and three deaths, had previously declared a state of emergency in two other regions with coronavirus patients. (Reporting by Natalia Zinets, writing by Maria Tsvetkova, editing by Louise Heavens) Wicklow Uplands Council members have expressed disappointed that no announcement is forthcoming from the Department of Heritage, Culture and the Gaeltacht regarding the controlled burning season this year. The Heritage Act 2018 introduced a two-year pilot, which would allow for the use of controlled burning in the month of March should circumstances such as adverse weather conditions require it, however this is subject to ministerial approval. The current permissible dates are from September 1 to the last day in February and although an announcement has been widely anticipated, the department has stayed silent on this issue. Recent figures released from Met Eireann confirm that the month of February saw record breaking rainfall across the country, with some of the records broken dating back as far as 1850. The country was battered by three storms, Ciara, Denis and Jorge, contributing to new wind records for February being set at 11 different locations. The farming communities across the country have reported that land and vegetation remain saturated and that the weather conditions required to safely undertake controlled burning, did not materialise. Wicklow Uplands Council continues to advocate for the need to permanently extend the permissive controlled burning season to more realistic and workable dates and have been in correspondence with the Department to convey this. Data supports the conclusion that the month of March offers much more favourable conditions, which is reflected in Northern Ireland's use of April 15 as the final day of its season. The Roundwood-based organisation continues to support the provisions contained within the Act that promote the use of controlled burning which aids upland biodiversity and prevents the spread of wildfires during the drier summer months. Controlled burning is an effective land management tool, with farmers and land managers carrying out burning activities within the permissive season. Speaking about the promotion of controlled burning practices, Brian Dunne, coordinator of Wicklow Uplands Council, said: 'In the debate over controlled burning in the uplands, the fact that these are semi-natural habitats which need to be managed appropriately is often overlooked. Vast areas of mature vegetation which can be subsequently wiped out by summer fires are devastating to upland habitats. 'It should be recognised that there is a significant difference between the destruction caused by uncontrolled wildfires compared with the use of controlled rotational burning. Used correctly, it offers the opportunity to reintroduce a mosaic of vegetation which supports extensive farming, habitat quality and biodiversity, and reduces the chances of a wildfire taking hold during drier periods.' A key project being undertaken by Wicklow Uplands Council is the SUAS Pilot Project, one of the 23 EIP projects currently operating across Ireland. The five-year project is seeking to address many of the challenges faced by upland farmers and through innovative practices support healthier habitats across the Wicklow and Dublin Uplands. As part of the project's scope, the farmers of each site work closely with an independent ecologist to determine a medium to long-term land management plan that includes vegetation management techniques such as controlled burning if needed. A number of training events took place in February 2019 during a rare period of dry and suitable weather conditions, however despite months of preparation, no events were possible in 2020. Declan Byrne, project manager of SUAS project, stated: 'Despite having optimum areas selected for controlled burning, fire-breaks set up and all the required permits in place, there was no window of opportunity for controlled burning activities this winter. The areas selected for controlled burning are specifically chosen as part of an agreed management plan to improve the overall quality and condition of the participating sites.' QUEENSBURY The former director of Lake George Watershed Coalition was convicted of six of eight charges Friday, convicted of grand larceny and tax counts but acquitted of the weightiest charge. Decker sat stoically as the jury forewoman responded guilty to felony counts of grand larceny, scheme to defraud and four charges of offering a false instrument for filing as she was polled Friday afternoon. He faces up to 5 to 15 years in prison when sentenced June 11 by Warren County Judge John Hall and was sent to Warren County Jail, pending sentencing. The verdict ended a trial that lingered over a span of four weeks, with nearly four full days of deliberations, as prosecutors presented a case that showed years of massive fraud and mismanagement of the environmental organizations state and federal grant funding. The charges alleged he stole more than $250,000 between 2012 and 2016. The jury sat in the courtroom for nearly 10 minutes after rendering the verdict, as defense lawyer Karl Sleight asked Hall for a meeting at the benchs sidebar. He took issue with an unspecified issue, and after a few minutes Hall could be heard directing Sleight to make a post-jury motion, and the conference ended. Hall praised the members of the jury for sticking through the trial as the country went through tumult over the spread of COVID-19. I think a lot of juries would have said, I dont care, Im out of here, he said. Sleight said the verdict would be appealed, and he planned to go to the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court to seek Deckers release from jail, pending that appeal. He said Friday night the appeals court agreed to release him on his own recognizance, and he was expected to be released later in the evening. Warren County District Attorney Jason Carusone praised the work of Assistant District Attorney Ben Smith and Christine Stevens, an attorney with the state Department of Taxation & Finance who assisted during the trial. It definitely was a team effort, he said. There were a lot of agencies involved, the (Warren County) Sheriffs Office, Comptrollers Office, Tax & Finance. They worked really hard on this case. Carusone praised Travis Whitehead, the Queensbury taxpayer advocate who made a complaint to the Warren County Sheriffs Office after questions raised by Warren County Treasurer Michael Swan prompted Whitehead to make Freedom of Information requests. Whitehead said later Friday, Im just glad justice was served. State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli praised the verdict later Friday. From sham companies to fake invoices, Mr. Decker took advantage of his position to enrich himself at the expense of the communities he was appointed to serve, DiNapoli said. I thank District Attorney Jason Carusone and the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance for their exemplary work and partnership with my office to bring Decker to justice. David J. Decker, 69, of Burnt Hills was on trial for alleged theft while he was executive director of the Watershed Coalition, which until his 2017 arrest was a loose-knit, unofficial consortium of environmental groups and municipalities, headed by the state Department of State, that obtained state and federal funding for more than a dozen environmental projects to protect Lake George. Among them was a manmade wetland that was part of the Charles Wood Park project. The professional engineer was arrested by Warren County sheriffs officers in March 2017, after Swan and Whitehead questioned unpaid bills and financial irregularities in Watershed Coalition projects. An investigation by state agencies and the Sheriffs Office concluded that more than $440,000 was stolen. Decker was ultimately indicted on 22 charges, but Warren County prosecutors dropped 14 charges in preparation for a trial based on complicated state laws and thousands of pages of documents. Decker eventually faced eight felony charges, including counts of grand larceny, scheme to defraud, corrupting the government and offering a false instrument for filing. He was accused of creating a fake contracting company that existed in name only and funneling $99,300 to it and also taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from other project grants. He is also accused of failing to claim on his taxes the stolen money and hundreds of thousands of dollars from a youth basketball league he ran. Decker and Sleight claimed he did not steal money, as state contracts allowed him to take whatever money was left over when work was done. Warren County Assistant District Attorney Ben Smith, though, pointed out that Decker had made dozens of withdrawals of cash from the Watershed Coalition bank account at casinos and Saratoga Race Course, and seemed to submit numerous contractor invoices repeatedly for payment on different grants. The corrupting the government count was the weightiest charge, punishable by up to 25 years in state prison, but he wasnt convicted of that. He faces up to 5 to 15 years in prison on the weightiest charge for which he was convicted, second-degree grand larceny, and will also be ordered to pay restitution. Don Lehman covers police and court matters, Warren County government and the outdoors. He can be reached at 518-742-3224 or dlehman@poststar.com Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1 By Jonnelle Marte (Reuters) - The U.S. unemployment benefits program, a key part of the safety net for the labor market, is facing its biggest test in more than a decade. More than 2 million applications could be filed this week, economists said, as people who work for restaurants, bars, hotels and other businesses suddenly find themselves out of work because of the coronavirus. States that cut unemployment staff and benefits during better economic times may be unprepared for the deluge in applications, analysts say. Some are moving rapidly to hire new workers or reallocate staff to keep up with the demand. "States are just not in a position to respond to this," said Michele Evermore, a senior policy analyst at the National Employment Law Project in Washington, D.C. "They're at historically low levels of funding and they're moving into a state where there may be historically high levels of claims within a couple of weeks." The pandemic is dealing a blow to states already facing budget shortfalls. Twenty-three states were short on unemployment insurance trust funds as of last year, before the coronavirus shock, a Department of Labor calculation shows https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/large_carousel.asp?slide=4. Some workers who applied for the program this week were met with downed websites, long waits on phone lines and other delays. After being laid off from her job as a bar tender in New York City, Caitlin Ma, 29, went online to apply for unemployment and food stamps on Thursday. "But the systems are so bogged down," she said. To expedite her food stamp application, Ma will have to go physically to the offices, despite health officials' recommendations. Logins for the New York State Department of Labor are up 400% from the typical traffic and claims are up by more than 1000% in some areas this week, said Deanna Cohen, a spokeswoman for the department. The state is dedicating more than 700 staff members to deal with the increase, Cohen said. Making things worse, qualifications and benefits available may also vary based on where workers live. Story continues The U.S. Department of Labor, which sets federal guidelines for the program, recently gave states the flexibility to provide benefits to people temporarily out of work. But states administer the benefits, and not all have made the change. California made unemployment benefits available to people who had their hours cut because of the virus. New York waived the one-week waiting period for benefits for people who are out of work because of closures or quarantines related to the coronavirus. And Massachusetts is providing more leeway for people who are currently receiving benefits but miss a deadline because of the virus. North Carolina, where filings have already jumped, this week said https://files.nc.gov/governor/documents/files/EO118.pdf that anyone "separated from employment" by the virus, including having their hours reduced though still retaining a job, is entitled to unemployment insurance. But lawmakers in Mississippi did not agree on a bill to extend access to jobless benefits, and are now on recess until April 1, according to a report in Mississippi Today. https://mississippitoday.org/2020/03/17/coronavirus-in-mississippi-legislature-to-suspend-session-works-to-ensure-protections-for-local-government-workers Ten states, including Florida, Alabama, North Carolina and Georgia, have cut their maximum length of benefits over the last several years to be less than 26 weeks, which is the standard for most states. A bill passed by the Senate this week could increase funding for state labor departments and would make extended benefits available in the states where the unemployment rate rises by at least 10%. That funding could provide needed support to states that are now hiring rapidly to rebuild their staffs, Evermore said. Some hospitality workers in Miami said they were told that after submitting applications for unemployment benefits online that it would take up to 72 hours to be notified that everything is in order. Others said they expected to be waiting a week or more. On Friday, a message on the website for the state's labor department said the department is "experiencing higher than average wait times." "There's nothing to do other than wait," said Bri Thomas, 25, who was an events manager for a handful of hotel restaurants in Miami. Florida is planning to hire more than 100 staffers to help process claims, and starting next week, its call center will be open seven days a week, said Tiffany Vause, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. Broader access to unemployment benefits can help stabilize the economy after a downturn - and speed up the recovery - by providing people who lose their jobs with cash they can use to buy groceries, gas and other necessities. The changes some states are making may help lessen the blow to their local economies. "It's unfortunate that it takes a crisis for us to realize how important it is for people to have good unemployment insurance programs," said Dave Cooper, a senior economic analyst for the Economic Policy Institute in Washington D.C. Still, the recent adjustments may not fully close the gaps in the system. Self-employed people and contract workers who experience a drop off in business because of the virus may not be able to qualify for help, said Stephen Wandner, a research fellow at the W.E. Upjohn Institute. "There are all of these other people who are losing their jobs who are not covered by unemployment insurance in the first place," said Wandner. (Reporting by Jonnelle Marte. Additional reporting by Jessica Resnick-Ault and Zachary Fagenson. Editing by Heather Timmons, Chizu Nomiyama and Edward Tobin) Unfortunately, following this advice isnt as easy as it sounds. About 10 percent of all grandparents in the United States reported living in the same household as their grandchildren in 2018, with 5 percent of them saying they served as the primary caretaker, according to the AARP a number that may rise for parents who must be at work. Trisha Pytko, mom to 7-year-old Molly, worries that she may have been exposed to the new coronavirus during the second week of March at her job as a high school teacher in Stratford, Conn. Several of my students came in with bad respiratory-like symptoms but were unable to get tested, she said, adding that a student tested positive at another high school in town. But her mother, who is 66 and has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lives with her. Were trying to isolate her as much as we can, but its hard, when were all in the same house and were not going anywhere, Pytko said. Its frustrating, because Molly very much wants to spend time with her grandma and be with her. But until we know for sure that no one was exposed and has the coronavirus, I dont want either of us near her. Contact-limiting steps are especially important in the first two weeks after school and day care closings, since many people may have been exposed to the virus, said Dr. Cori Cross, M.D., a spokeswoman for the American Academy of Pediatrics and a pediatrician at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. But you should still take these precautions after a few weeks of social distancing, even if youve significantly curtailed your exposure to others. Its still not absolutely clear how contagious the coronavirus is, and how likely it is that asymptomatic people are spreading the disease, she said. Here are some tips to keep grandparents and everyone in your family safe: Swap in-person interactions with video chats, if you can The C.D.C. has very specific guidelines for older adults, which includes avoiding crowds and nonessential travel, keeping a good distance from others and, if the coronavirus is spreading within your community, staying home as much as possible. While grandparents may need their children to help run errands like grocery shopping or picking up medications, resist bringing young kids into their house, even for a brief moment. Older kids can get the concept of washing hands and staying six feet away, but toddlers and preschoolers will want to run up to Grandma or Grandpa and hug and kiss them, explained Dr. Roberto Posada, M.D., a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Mount Sinai Kravis Childrens Hospital in New York City. Even if your kids cant physically spend time with their grandparents, frequent even daily FaceTime or Skype chats are a good idea, Dr. Posada said. We know that social interaction is important for everyone, especially older adults who may be isolated right now alone in their home, he said. It may also reassure and calm your child to see the same familiar faces every day, even if theyre on video. Encourage parallel activities whenever possible for example, painting or drawing together, or reading to one another. But he has always been disdainful of the art of politics and had to be nudged into wooing even friendly Democratic leaders. As Ms. Warren relentlessly courted Ms. Ocasio-Cortez last fall, Ms. Ocasio-Cortezs advisers had to prod Mr. Sanderss aides into having him call her a conversation that eventually led to her endorsing him. Pushing Mr. Sanders to reach out to establishment Democrats whom he regularly taunted was even tougher despite the best efforts of even some of his staunchest supporters on the left. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez repeatedly urged the campaign to broaden Mr. Sanderss message and seek out new allies, outside his familiar base. (In a statement, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez denied any tension or major disagreements with Mr. Sanders.) RoseAnn DeMoro, the former leader of the nurses union who was one of Mr. Sanderss most ferocious surrogates in 2016, and the actor John Cusack, another ally, both pressed the campaign to refocus Mr. Sanderss pitch on a general-election audience, people familiar with their entreaties said. Mr. Cusack urged the Sanders campaign to address voters beyond its progressive base, proposing that the senator give a speech at St. Francis College in Brooklyn and citing its namesakes connection to environmentalism and fighting poverty. His campaign needs to create a unit that is charged with outreach to groups who do NOT identify as progressive, but have strong views that are aligned with his. EXPAND EXPAND EXPAND Mr. Cusack wrote to top Sanders allies and advisers, in an email obtained by The New York Times. Mr. Sanders was not interested in moving in that direction. Some advisers, who endured the divisive 2016 campaign, believed that it was only after seizing a dominant advantage that Mr. Sanders could attempt to make peace with a Democratic establishment that remained intensely wary of him. Arriving in Charleston, S.C., ahead of the Feb. 29 state primary, Mr. Weaver said the campaign had not yet sought a working relationship with figures like the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi because they wanted first to demonstrate the full sweep of their coalition on Super Tuesday three days later. He reached for a Civil War analogy to explain the muscle-flexing strategy. Abraham Lincoln did not issue the Emancipation Proclamation, Mr. Weaver said, until after Union troops turned back the Confederacy at the bloody battle of Antietam. The Week In Russia: COVID-19, The Constitution, And A Bitter Anniversary For Crimean Tatars By Steve Gutterman March 20, 2020 The Constitutional Court jumped through hoops to give an amendment that could keep President Vladimir Putin in power until 2036 a clean bill of health, while the coronavirus could hand a real-life test to a Kremlin often focused on imagery and optics. And the anniversary of Russia's takeover of their homeland shone a grim spotlight on Moscow's treatment of Crimean Tatars. Here are some of the key developments in Russia over the past week and some of the takeaways going forward. The Constitution And The Coronavirus Benjamin Franklin once wrote that nothing in this world is certain but death and taxes. In Russia this season, the same could probably be said of the coronavirus and the constitution two things that, maybe more than any others, have been at the forefront of the news and seem certain to stay there for weeks at least, possibly months or more. Often, they seem to go hand in hand, mentioned in almost the same breath: "Neither goes anywhere without the other," the newspaper Kommersant quipped the other day. That's in part because they could influence each other. Well, not exactly. It's unlikely that the Russian Constitution, or the amendments that President Vladimir Putin is pushing through, could change the situation with COVID-19, which by March 20 had sickened more than 250 people in Russia But the coronavirus could complicate Putin's plans for the constitutional changes, one of which would allow him to seek a fifth presidential term in 2024, if he chooses, and a sixth in 2030. With the number of Russian cases rising, along with suspicions that the official statistics do not correspond with reality, as they say, the prospect of holding a nationwide vote to seal Putin's new deal with the country could be causing jitters in the Kremlin. To Vote Or Not To Vote So far, Putin is doing what he normally does: moving forward as far he can, while leaving in place the option of retreat or a halt -- a pause to await the next opening. (For an example of how that can work, look at the front lines in eastern Ukraine: Russia-backed forces did not push westward beyond the Donbas a few years ago, when it seemed like they might, but they still hold a sizable chunk of Ukrainian land and two regional capitals.) On March 17, Putin decreed that the nationwide vote will go ahead on April 22 -- unless it doesn't. He left that possibility open, saying that it could be postponed "if the situation requires." Authorities are also making arrangements to allow people to vote from home, a method that Kremlin critics say increases the opportunities for the authorities to engage in ballot-stuffing and other falsifications. There is little doubt about the result, but a low turnout would undermine Putin's mandate to rule for years to come. The vote will be the final step in a process that began just two months ago, when Putin submitted some of what ended up being about 390 proposed changes in the wording of the 1993 constitution. The amendment that now seems most important -- and that some suspect was the whole point of all the others -- was not added until former cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova proposed it in a closely choreographed appeal in the State Duma, the lower parliament house, on March 10. Putin swiftly gave his consent to the change, speeding to the Duma for a kind of acceptance speech in which he said that the "annulment" amendment -- which would allow him to run again by resetting his term count at zero, instead of the four he has in fact served -- must only be added if the Constitutional Court ruled that it did not violate the existing constitution. There's Democracy And Then There's Democracy There was never any doubt that the court would give the "annulment" amendment a clean bill of constitutional health, of course, so the formal reasoning behind its ruling is beside the point. But it's worth reading -- as a source of black humor, perhaps, and a yet another window into the ways of the ruling class in a country where the head of the lower house of parliament said the other day that Putin -- not Russia's abundant reserves of oil and gas -- is the country's "advantage," its greatest asset. Vyacheslav Volodin also seemed to offer his own opinion -- or a hint -- about whether Putin will take advantage of the opportunity he is giving himself to run for president again and again, saying that the former KGB officer had "grabbed Russia from the point of no return and assumed a responsibility that would remain with him for life." In its ruling, the Constitutional Court said something pretty similar to that, in some ways. Setting presidential term limits is a question of seeking a "balance between different constitutional values," it said -- and went on to contrast one of those values, democracy, with another, narodovlastiye, which can be translated as democracy. Dropping the Greek roots and perhaps the gravity they convey, though, it can also be translated as people power, and the court seemed to imply, somehow, that democracy is worth little or nothing compared to people power. "On one hand, the constitutional characteristics of a democratic, law-based state suggestquite firm restrictions" on presidential terms, it said. "On the other hand, the constitutional principle of narodovlastiye implies the realization of the people's right to electthe individual they consider most worthy of the office of the head of state." In other words, if the people want Putin to stay, sure -- it's totally fine. But do they? In the midst of the push for constitutional change, but before the amendment allowing him to run again was proposed, a poll by the independent Levada Center showed that Russians' trust in President Vladimir Putin has fallen sharply in the past two years, dropping to its lowest level since 2013. President Or Pensioner? A survey by the same pollster in late January found that 27 percent of Russians wanted Putin to remain president past 2024, while 32 percent responded that he should be a pensioner, a private individual, or out of the public sphere -- a proportion that Levada director Lev Gudkov said "came as a surprise." "The increase in fatigue among people is visible," Gudkov was quoted as saying. The Constitutional Court went on to say that with the balance between democracy and, um, democracy as a backdrop, legislators addressing the issue of term limits can also take into account "concrete historical factors" including "the degree of threats to the state and society" as well as "the state of the political and economic system" and more. Translation, perhaps: Rules are made to be broken, and new ones can be made up when times are tough. Of course, Kremlin critics argue that the idea that Putin must remain in power to protect Russia from threats, or because the difficult economic or political situation makes change too risky, are evidence not of the need to keep him in power but of the opposite: that he has failed, over 20 years as president or prime minister, to make the country safe stable, and successful. Many analysts reject the idea -- put forward by pundits and others in the Kremlin's orbit -- that concerns about external factors and uncertainty in global affairs pushed Putin to give himself the option of staying on as president far into the future. Such rejections are far from guesswork: During two decades at the helm, Putin has repeatedly pointed to alleged threats from abroad when taking action that is widely seen as aimed at consolidating power, weakening opponents at home, and addressing perceived threats from within. Case in point: Moves that critics said curtailed democracy in Russia following terror attacks blamed largely on foreigners in 2004. COVID-19 The coronavirus pandemic, however, could potentially shape up as a real-life test like none Putin has faced before. He is armed with a massive arsenal for optics and image-making, but COVID-19 could test the limits of opinion-shaping tools such as state TV. In fact, fast-changing circumstances over the past several days have already revealed signs that the authorities are struggling not just with already strained health-care facilities and emergency responses but with how -- or whether -- to release information about the impact of the coronavirus on Russia. On March 19, Russia reported its first death from COVID-19 -- and then unreported it. The Moscow health department at first said that a 79-year-old woman who had tested died from pneumonia related to the virus, and city Mayor Sergei Sobyanin confirmed "the first loss from the coronavirus infection." Later the same day, though, health officials said an autopsy showed that she died from a blood clot. As for propaganda, one prominent victim of the coronavirus is 20 Questions For Vladimir Putin, a series of interviews -- meant to be Internet-friendly and appealing to young people -- that have enabled him to air his stated views, positions, and musings in the highly controlled format of interviews with TASS, one of Russia's two major state news agencies. TASS said on March 20 that the serial release of the interviews, which began in late February, would be halted and the rest of the episodes shown in full, all together, at a later date. The decision was made due to "cardinal changes in the news agenda, which goes against the idea of the project -- an attempt to evaluate together with Putin the changes in the country over the last 20 years -- and not current events," TASS said. Possible translation: There's no point sitting around making jibes at foreign countries and reshaping Russia's past if you want to look like a leader working hard for the people in the present. Benjamin Franklin made his remark about the certainty of death, taxes, and nothing else in the world in a 1789 letter to a Frenchman about the recently ratified U.S. Constitution, which he said "has an appearance that promises permanency." Meanwhile, In Crimea The Kommersant quip about the Russian Constitution and the coronavirus being fellow travelers of a kind came in an article about Putin's visit to Crimea on March 18, the date the Kremlin counts as the day the Black Sea peninsula became part of Russia -- a claim rejected by most of the world -- in 2014. For many Crimean Tatars, the seizure of their homeland marked the second time in 70 years that their fate and future had been wrenched out of their own hands by Moscow, and the start of a kind of isolation that contains none of the potential tranquility of self-quarantine. Russia took control of Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014 after sending in troops, seizing key facilities, and staging a referendum dismissed as illegal by at least 100 countries. Since then, rights groups and Western governments have denounced what they describe as a campaign of repression targeting members of the Turkic-speaking Crimean Tatar community and others who have spoken out against Moscow's takeover of the peninsula. In a 2018 report, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) said that "[in] Russian-occupied Crimea, the Russian authorities continued to kidnap, torture, and imprison Crimean Tatar Muslims at will." 'This Will Not Be Over In A Day, A Week, Or A Month' One Crimean Tatar behind bars is Seiran Saliyev, who was arrested in October 2017 and could be sentenced to 20 years in prison if convicted of terrorism and attempting to violently overthrow the government, charges he says are groundless. His trial is being held in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don. Russian authorities "are charging people who have lived and practiced their religion in Crimea for more than 20 years -- it is completely illegal," Saliyev's wife, activist Mumine Saliyeva, told RFE/RL's Russian Service in an interview. Saliyeva said that, in her eyes, the campaign against opponents of Russian rule came in February 2014, shortly before the takeover. "But the first blow aimed specifically at the Crimean Tatars came on March 3, when Reshat Ametov held a one-person protest. Later he was found mutilated. A person who did nothing but express his opinion was found dead, brutally murdered," she said. "Of course, that frightened everyone, and they understood that this would not be over in a day, a week, or a month." Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/week-in-russia-covid -19-constitution-bitter-anniversary -crimean-tatars/30499781.html Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / March 21, 2020 / Compare-autoinsurance.org (https://compare-autoinsurance.org/) is a top auto insurance brokerage website, providing car insurance quotes online from trustworthy agencies all over the United States. This website offers car insurance info about different coverage types, available discounts, and money-saving tips. For many, driving their vehicles is a necessity. To do that legally, they need car insurance. In some situations, car insurance can get too expensive and some drivers will drop their insurance. To protect themselves from sudden car insurance price spikes, policyholders can follow these tips: Make sure to respect traffic laws . Different traffic violations can lead to an increase in car insurance premiums. Drivers should follow the rules and avoid receiving traffic violations penalties. Shop around periodically. 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On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc. "Drivers can keep the price of car insurance under control and protect themselves from price spikes if they follow several smart and efficient methods," said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company. CONTACT: Company Name: Internet Marketing Company Person for contact: Gurgu C Phone Number: (818) 359-3898 Email: cgurgu@internetmarketingcompany.biz Website: https://compare-autoinsurance.org/ SOURCE: Internet Marketing Company View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/581909/How-to-Avoid-Getting-Really-Expensive-Car-Insurance-Premiums A member of US vice-president Mike Pences staff has tested positive for the coronavirus, a statement from the White House on Friday confirmed, adding that neither the President nor the vice-president had a close contact with the staffer. This evening we were notified that a member of the Office of the Vice President tested positive for the Coronavirus, Pences spokesperson Katie Miller said in a statement, adding, significantly, Neither President Trump nor Vice President Pence had close contact with the individual. More states in the US have issued stay-at-home orders on Friday locking down their residents barring essential services workers and trips to grocery and drug stores as the country witnessed a surge in new infections and fatalities. President Donald Trump had himself tested last week for possible exposure to the virus after a member of a visiting delegation from Brazil that he had hosted for dinner tested positive for the coronavirus.Trumps test turned up negative. But Pence, who heads the White House task force on the coronavirus outbreak, has not been tested yet. President Trumps handling of the outbreak came under fresh scrutiny as The Washington Post reported he ignored repeated warnings from US intelligence agencies about growing threats to the country as the outbreak spread to countries outside China, the epicenter, and that his own aides were unable to convince him of the severity of the situation until recently. At least 236 people have died and thousands have been infected so far amidst worries about the health systems capacity to cope with the outbreak. Illinois, Florida and Connecticut states joined California and New York Friday with stay-at-home and similar measures restricting movement of residents, non-essential businesses and workers. I dont come to this decision easily, Illinois governor J B Pritzker, a member of the family that founded Hyatt group of hotels. said at a news conference. I fully recognize that, in some cases, I am choosing between peoples lives and saving peoples livelihood. But ultimately, you cant have a livelihood if you dont have your life. New Delhi, March 21 : In the backdrop of the coronavirus outbreak, the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) has urged Chief Justice S.A. Bobde to consider declaring a four-week vacation in the top court beginning March 23. In a statement, SCBA Secretary Ashok Arora said the lawyers' body has requested the Chief Justice to adjust the lost days in the upcoming summer vacation. "The Executive Committee (EC) of the SCBA is elected to look after the welfare and well-being of the members of the SCBA and must take decisions accordingly, irrespective of the reservations that some members may have," said the statement. "The EC resolves to inform the court of its readiness to help the institution at any point of time," Arora said. Similarly, to curtail the spread of coronavirus, the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association (SCAORA) has urged the Chief Justice to close the top court for a period of at least two weeks beginning March 23. However, if this request is not accepted, the SCAORA has proposed various measures to prevent overcrowding in the court complex. "Filing of matters must be completely stopped except urgent cases pertaining to death warrants, bail/custody and habeas corpus petitions. In lieu of the loss of court hours, summer vacation may be curtailed in the month of May and if necessary the court may function on Saturdays," said SCAORA Secretary Joseph Aristotle. On March 13, the Supreme Court in a notification said that it will have limited functioning restricted to urgent matters. "the competent authority has been pleased to direct that the functioning of the courts shall be restricted to urgent matters with such number of benches as may be found appropriate," said the notification issued by apex court Secretary General Sanjeev S. Kalgaonkar. The apex court authorities took into account the office memorandum issued on March 5 by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. It also took cognizance of the World Health Organization (WHO), which declared novel coronavirus as a global pandemic and advised against mass congregation. Almost one billion people were confined to their homes worldwide Saturday as the global coronavirus death toll shot past 11,000 and US states rolled out stay-at-home measures already imposed across swathes of Europe. The fast-spreading pandemic has completely upended lives across the planet, restricting movement, shutting schools and forcing millions to work from home. Around 30 percent of Americans were adjusting to life in various phases of virtual lockdown -- including in the US's three biggest cities of New York, Los Angeles and Chicago -- and more states were expected to ramp up restrictions. Global spread of COVID-19, latest tolls and daily registered deaths/infections, as of March 21, 2020 at 1100 GMT. By (AFP) The virus death toll crossed 11,000 worldwide, with more than 4,000 alone in worst-hit Italy, while Spain reported a 32 percent spike in new deaths. An estimated 900 million people are now confined to their homes in 35 countries around the world -- including 600 million hemmed in by obligatory government lockdown orders -- according to an AFP tally. While the elderly and those with pre-existing medical conditions are the hardest hit by the virus, the World Health Organization has warned that young people are also vulnerable. California, New York and Illinois have announced coronavirus stay-at-home orders -- here, the empty Hollywood and Highland mall is seen in Los Angeles. By Agustin PAULLIER (AFP) China on Saturday reported no new local infections for a third straight day, and the WHO said the central city of Wuhan, where the virus first emerged late last year, offered a glimmer of "hope for the rest of the world." But there are growing concerns of a new wave of "imported" infections in the region, with Hong Kong reporting 48 suspected cases on Friday -- its biggest daily jump since the crisis began. Many of them have a recent history of travel to or from Europe. Italy reported its worst single day death toll Friday, adding another 627 fatalities and taking its reported total to 4,032 despite efforts to stem the spread. The nation of 60 million now accounts for 36 percent of the world's coronavirus deaths and its death rate of 8.6 percent among confirmed infections is significantly higher than in most other countries. France, Italy, Spain and other European countries have ordered people to stay at home, threatening fines in some cases, while Bavaria became the first region in Germany to order a lockdown. Italy is one of the hardest-hit nations in the coronavirus pandemic, with more than 4,000 deaths. By Piero Cruciatti (AFP) Britain, falling in line with its EU neighbors, also announced tougher restrictions, telling pubs, restaurants and theaters to close -- while promising to help cover the wages of affected workers. Australia's famed Bondi beach was also ordered shut after sunbathers crowded the hotspot in defiance of government orders to avoid non-essential outdoor gatherings. 'Months not weeks' With virus fears gripping the United States, New Jersey was expected to follow other several states, including California New York and Illinois, in telling residents to stay at home. President Donald Trump has said he does not think a nationwide lockdown is needed in the United States, but many state governors disagree. By JIM WATSON (AFP) The orders to stay indoors unless absolutely necessary affect around 100 million Americans -- or about 30 percent of the population of 330 million. Governor Andrew Cuomo warned New Yorkers on Saturday that the disruption is likely to last for months. "I don't believe it's going to be a matter of weeks," he said. US President Donald Trump applauded the New York and California decisions, but insisted on Friday that he did not think a nationwide lockdown was needed. A restriction on non-essential travel over the US borders with Canada and Mexico was due to come into force Saturday. US lawmakers resumed talks on Saturday to reach an agreement on a $1 trillion emergency aid package, amid fears of widespread economic fallout because of the pandemic. In sport, the US athletics federation joined mounting calls for the Tokyo Olympics to be postponed. "The right and responsible thing to do is to prioritize everyone's health and safety," USA Track and Field chief Max Siegel said in a letter to the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC). China help French officials have described those violating coronavirus measures as 'idiots'. By Martin BUREAU (AFP) The strict confinement measures follow the template set by China, as a lockdown imposed in Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital, appeared to have paid off. Europe now accounts for more than half of the world's fatalities linked to COVID-19. Accurate figures are difficult to come by, however, as many of those who die suffer from other illnesses, and infection rates are uncertain because of a lack of testing in many countries. In a sign of the shifting center of the crisis, China has sent medical supplies to European nations struggling to cope with the pandemic, including Greece, which received 500,000 medical masks from Beijing on Saturday. The shadow of the virus is lengthening across Africa and the Middle East as well. The Democratic Republic of Congo reported its first death Saturday, while Burkina Faso reported two new deaths, bringing the total number of fatalities in sub-Saharan Africa to five. Cases stand at more than 1,000 across Africa, where health care systems are fragile and social distancing is not possible in many crowded cities. In Iran, which reported 123 new deaths Saturday, both supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani promised the country would overcome the outbreak -- but still refused to join the rest of the world in imposing heavy restrictions. The country has more than 1,500 deaths and some 20,000 infections. In Latin America, Bolivia ordered citizens to stay at home from Sunday, and Colombia said it would begin mandatory isolation from Tuesday. Rio de Janeiro's beaches will be off-limits to sunseekers from Saturday, leaving street vendors worried how they will survive with limited government support. "As long as I can, I will continue to come here and try to sell cocktails. I still have not thought about what I will do when it is no longer possible," said Jorge Martins on Ipanema beach. burs-pdh/sst For Samuel Kopperoinen, living in the world's happiest country during the coronavirus pandemic isn't about short-term happiness. It's about the social safety net and other support s systems his country has in place before trouble strikes. Kopperoinen lives in Finland, which was named the happiest country in the world for the third year in a row on Friday according to the United Nations' latest World Happiness Report. Finland is followed by Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland and Norway. The report was released by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network for the United Nations on March 20, the UN's annual International Day of Happiness. Countries are ranked on six key variables that support well-being: income, freedom, trust, healthy life expectancy, social support and generosity. "A big part of well-being is good quality public health care," said Kopperoinen, a Helsinki contractor who's married with three children. Finnish people "have a sense that in case of ailments and disabilities we will get treatment. "We trust the quality and availability of it," he said, "and our social security network is important. It helps us if we lose our job, get sick or [our] kids get sick. We will lose income, but we can get compensation, which helps us survive and adjust our daily consumption." And it's not just the health care, child care, educational system and unemployment benefits that make for a good society, especially in an unsettling time as the coronavirus spreads across the globe. "Local municipalities and churches are organizing help and aid for their members," Kopperoinen said. There are also web-organized, peer-to-peer services like Nappi Naapuri, "where people can give and ask help from your neighborhood." 'It's a very tough regime' Happiness will not vaccinate these countries against the new virus, said report co-author Jeffrey Sachs, an economics professor and director of Columbia University's Center for Sustainable Development. "Nor are the health systems by themselves able to cope." "The key measures in the coming weeks will be social distancing, self-isolation, quarantine, shelter in place, and other measures to shut down, deliberately and systematically -- if well done -- key parts of social and economic life," said Sachs. "It's a very tough regime, hard to implement and follow, and one of high economic cost in the short term. It's all to avoid a mortality disaster," he said. "I am sure that well-functioning governments will end up doing better because this epidemic requires strong and effective governments and implementation." In contrast, the situation in the United States -- which ranks 18th on the World Happiness Report -- "is chaotic," he said. "In this case it reflects low trust of government and low performance and expectations of government by the public. We are thoroughly unprepared." People thrive in high trust societies When a pandemic like the coronavirus attacks the health and income of a country's residents, the residents of "a high trust society quite naturally look for and find cooperative ways to work together to repair the damage and rebuild better lives," according to the report. "This has led sometimes to surprising increases in happiness in the wake of what might otherwise seem to be unmitigated disasters. "The most frequent explanation seems to be that people are pleasantly surprised by the willingness of their neighbors and their institutions to work in harness to help each other," the report continued. "This delivers a heightened sense of belonging, and pride in what they have been able to achieve by way of mitigation. These gains are sometimes great enough to compensate for the material losses." Finnish history and civics teacher Ville Jaattela agreed. Jaattela doesn't think Finland's government is perfect, but the Tampere resident said he trusts the current administration to do its best during this crisis. "Maybe in retrospect one can find some things that should have been done earlier or later or left undone," he said. "But during a crisis like this, they have to operate with the information they have and they can't see the future. And not all developments can be estimated with 100% certainty. So I believe they will do their best and everything they can." Superpowers are not happy Even without the impact of the coronavirus, none of the world's largest economies made it into the top 10 rankings. The United Kingdom came in 13th place, up from 15th place last year, while Germany stayed in 17th place for the second year in a row. Japan came in 62nd place (down from 58th place); Russia came in 73rd place (down from 68th place); and China came in 94th place (down from 93rd place). And on the other side of spectrum, people in Afghanistan are the most unhappy with their lives, according to the survey of 153 countries, followed by South Sudan (152nd place), Zimbabwe (151st place), Rwanda (150th place) and Central African Republic (149th place). It began with Bhutan Bhutan proposed a World Happiness Day to the United Nations in 2011, which brought international attention to happiness as a measurement of well-being. In 2012, the United Nations General Assembly declared March 20 as World Happiness Day, recognizing "the relevance of happiness and well-being as universal goals and aspirations in the lives of human beings around the world and the importance of their recognition in public policy objectives." This report is the eighth to come out since 2012. The rankings of the world's happiest countries came from an analysis of data from surveys in 156 countries, including the Gallup World Poll. World's happiest countries 1. Finland 2. Denmark 3. Switzerland 4. Iceland 5. Norway 6. Netherlands 7. Sweden 8. New Zealand 9. Austria 10. Luxembourg World's least happy countries 1. Afghanistan 2. South Sudan 3. Zimbabwe 4. Rwanda 5. Central African Republic 6. Tanzania 7. Botswana 8. Yemen 9. Malawi 10. India Prince Wiliam and the former Prince, Harry are reportedly filled with anger toward each other and their feud intensifies amid the drama surrounding the royal family according to a recently published article. Prince William and Harry are known for their close bond even before their mother, Princess Diana, died in 1997. They protected each other from all odds they faced. This is the reason why they are of the most famous members of the royal family. However, the recent days were not as good as everyone expected for the royal family. They have been in the different headlines because of the drama that is happening right now inside the royal family. It all started with the "Megxit." Prince Harry and Meghan Markle decided to leave their royal duties and live in another country, Canada. They want to live independently. The decision of the royal couple was not well accepted by Prince William because for him it is a form of disrespect to the queen and the monarchy. READ: Queen Elizabeth II Strips Meghan And Harry's Titles Prince William and Prince Harry are both second in the line to the throne. That is why there are many questions about why Prince Harry decided to leave his royal duty and have a life in another country. This is a royal drama that no one expected to happen because of the close bond and relationship that the two Prince's are showing in front of the public and media. In another report, it was mentioned that Prince William and Prince Harry stopped trash-talking each other in front of the public in recent days but they are filled with anger behind close doors. According to a reliable source, he said: "Harry knows William's mad at him for uprooting and leaving him to pick up the pieces. But the way Harry sees it, Meghan's happiness is way more important....Harry's fed up with being judged or expected to act a certain way." ALSO READ: Royal Reunion: Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Heading Back to the UK Another reliable source also told a news outlet that "There's always been a part of Harry that felt like he was living in his brother's shadow. He doesn't envy the responsibility that comes with being the future king of England, but William's the 'golden boy' and Harry feels like he has a lot to live up to." The feud between the two brothers continues even after the drama surrounding the royal family. Leaving royal duties and living in Canada are two things that Prince William did not expect to happen in their family. Moreover, it was found out that the feud between Prince William and Prince Harry has been going on for more than one year. The fury of the Prince's started after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle released their documentary and was aired in October. During an interview with Prince Harry about the documentary show, the Prince said: "we're certainly on different paths and had good days and bad days." This means that Prince Harry acknowledges during that time there they re not in good terms with his older brother, Prince William. READ MORE: Fanboy Hugs Meghan Markle, Apologizes to Prince Harry the Next Day Another reliable source also said that "I heard from a very good source that Prince William was furious with his younger brother for doing this interview and let him know in no uncertain terms." The feud and rift of Prince William and Prince Harry are not just about the latter's' decision together with his wife to live their throne and live in Canada independently. Prince Harry also got upset because he feels that members of the royal family did not fully accept his wife. He also felt that the royals have abandoned his son, Archie. It is expected that the conflict of Prince William and Prince Harry will be resolved anytime from now because Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have moved in Canada. This move lessens the chance of the royal brothers to fix the conflict and problems they have. File image Sanjiv Kapoor, the former chief strategy and commercial officer (CSCO) of Vistara, has joined GoAir as an advisor. The appointment gains significance as the Wadia family-owned company - like the rest of the aviation industry - battles through a crisis arising out of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Kapoor confirmed the appointment, but declined to comment. The industry veteran had completed his stint in Vistara in December 2019. His stint of four years was when the joint venture airline between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines airline grew aggressively, both its fleet and network. Vistara also launched its international operations. He had moved to Vistara after a two-year tenure at SpiceJet. He wrote about some of the experience at the airline, something he said, "can be of great relevance today as the airline industry finds itself in a crisis of an unimaginable proportion due to the coronavirus outbreak." That will be especially true for GoAir, which earlier this week terminated the contracts of its expat pilots, part of its attempt to survive the crisis that the industry is facing. GoAir recently got a new CEO in Vinay Dube, who earlier headed Jet Airways. T housands more beds, ventilators and healthcare staff will be available from next week in fight against coronavirus thanks after the NHS struck a historic deal with private hospitals. Under the agreement, the independent sector will reallocate almost its entire national hospital capacity to the NHS and will be reimbursed at cost. The extra resources, including nearly 20,000 staff, will also help the NHS deliver other urgent operations and cancer treatments. The deal the first of its kind includes the provision of 8,000 hospital beds across England, nearly 1,200 more ventilators, more than 10,000 nurses, over 700 doctors and over 8,000 other clinical staff. The deal is the first of its kind / PA In London it includes over 2000 hospital beds, and over 250 operating theatres and critical beds. NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens hailed the deal with the private sector, saying: Were dealing with an unprecedented global health threat and are taking immediate and exceptional action to gear up. The NHS is doing everything in its power to expand treatment capacity and is working with partners right across the country to do so. Matt Hancock, Health Secretary said the deal was "great news". This is great news for the hospitals and staff doing everything they can to combat coronavirus", he said. David Hare, chief executive of the Independent Healthcare Providers Network, said the independent sector is ready to support the NHS for as long as needed. We have worked hand-in-hand with the NHS for decades and will do whatever it takes to support the NHS in responding to this pandemic", he said. Tens of thousands of pubs, bars, theatres and restaurants across the UK shut their doors overnight after Boris Johnson imposed a nationwide lockdown. The prime minister announced the closure on Friday as he warned the public they were risking lives by ignoring advice to reduce unnecessary social gatherings and slow the spread of coronavirus. Many bars and nightclubs not to mention betting shops, gyms and cinemas were already almost deserted as drinkers voluntarily stayed at home. However some people were determined to get one last pint before last orders at midnight, while others flouted guidelines on social distancing by seizing the chance for a final Friday night dance. My last shift in a pub where all the locals conglomerated for one last pint making it the busiest night weve had in the last week, commented one London bar worker on social media. Lost my job and might catch the virus. Mr Johnson had appealed for the country to take the ban seriously to protect the NHS and save lives but promised to review the measures each month I do accept that what were doing is extraordinary were taking away the ancient inalienable right of freeborn people of the United Kingdom to go to the pub, he said. And I can understand how people feel about that. But I say to people who do go against the advice that were getting, the very clear advice that were getting from our medical and scientific experts, you know youre not only putting your own life, the lives of your family, at risk youre endangering the community. Police forces have indicated that they could seek to revoke licenses allowing pubs, bars and clubs to sell alcohol or play music if a venue fails to comply with the lockdown. Meanwhile the hospitality sector welcomed the announcement from chancellor Rishi Sunak that the government would pay 80 per cent of wages for staff unable to work during the crisis, as the UK death toll from Covid-19 rose to 177 and the number of confirmed cases increased to 3,983. Emma McClarkin, the chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association, said: As a sector employing nearly one million people, the chancellors support package announced today on staff wages will safeguard thousands of livelihoods and help closed pubs try to get through this difficult period. Additional reporting by Press Association DEAL OF THE WEEK Patterson, Alexander Take on Ali Bestselling authors James Patterson and Kwame Alexander sold world rights to the middle grade book Becoming Muhammad Ali to Hachettes Jimmy Patterson Books and HMH Books for Young Readers. The title will be published jointly in October. Dubbed a biographical novel by the publishers, the book, they said, is fully authorized by the Ali estate. Hachette and HMH added that it will be written in both verse and prose and will explore Muhammad Alis life as a child before he was a household namewhen he was still known as Cassius Clay. Margaret Raymo at HMH Books for Young Readers will edit the book, which will feature illustrations by Dawud Anyabwile. Bob Barnett represented Patterson in the deal, while Arielle Eckstut at Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary Agency represented Alexander and Aevitas Creative Management represented the Ali estate. FROM THE U.S. Random House Joins Wilkersons Caste In a North American rights agreement, Isabel Wilkerson sold a narrative nonfiction work titled Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. Amanda Urban at ICM Partners brokered the deal with Random Houses Kate Medina. RH said the book, slated for August 11, explores Americas largely unseen caste system, with Medina calling it a reexamination of what lies under the surface of ordinary lives of the America of today. Wilkerson is the first African-American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for journalism, and her debut, 2010s The Warmth of Other Suns, was a National Book Critics Circle Award winner. Salaams Air Floats to Balzer+Bray Balzer + Bray acquired a YA novel by Yusef Salaam, one of the Central Park Five. Punching the Air, which will be written with National Book Award finalist Ibi Zoboi (Pride), was sold to Alessandra Balzer in a world rights deal brokered by Ammi-Joan Paquette at Erin Murphy Literary Agency. The HarperCollins imprint said the book, set for September 1, is about a wrongfully convicted teen (who is black and Muslim) and will be written in verse. In 1989, a 15-year-old Salaam was among a group of black and Latino young men accused of attacking a white woman in Central Park. He was wrongfully convicted and spent over six years in juvenile detention, until his sentence was overturned in 2002. Elaborating on the title, Salaam said it reflects not only my story but the stories of millions of young boys and girls of color who face the injustice of mass incarceration and the criminal justice system. ICM Partners is handling film and TV rights. Fisher Unleashes Disorder at LB After a six-house auction, Ben George at Little, Brown won world rights to Max Fishers debut nonfiction title, Social Disorder. Fisher is an international reporter for the New York Times and a Pulitzer Prize finalist; the book, LB said, offers a suspenseful, idea-driven narrative that uses groundbreaking research and intimate personal stories to lay bare the global crisis caused by social media giants. The publisher elaborated that the work also presents a dire picture of increased xenophobia, racial and ethnic violence, and detachment, set against the background of our current political climate. Jennifer Joelat ICM Partners represented Fisher in the deal. Hachette Buys Covid-19 Title For six figures, Sam Raim at Hachette Books bought New Scientist reporter Debora MacKenzies Covid-19: The Pandemic that Never Should Have Happened, and How to Stop the Next One. Hachette said the title will offer a big-picture look at how our failure to adapt during the last 20 years of pandemics led us to this current crisis moment, and what needs to change moving forward. The book does not yet have a pub date, but Hachette said its aiming to release a print edition in the summer, with the e-book edition publishing first. Max Edwards at Aevitas Creative Management UK handled the world rights agreement for MacKenzie. By West Kentucky Star Staff Mar. 20, 2020 | 05:34 PM | WESTERN KENTUCKY As part of his effort to curb the spread of COVID-19, Beshear requested that all public schools expand the closure of their in-person classes until at least April 17. In response to that, area schools are announcing their extended closures. Marshall County Schools announced they will remain closed to in-person classes until April 20. Students will have Non-Traditional Instruction (NTI) days from March 18 until April 3, then Spring Break from April 6-10. Students will then continue with Non-Traditional Instruction days from April 13-17. Paducah Public Schools says their NTI days are extended through Friday, April 17 as well. Students will have NTI days days from March 23 until April 3, then Spring Break from April 6-10, followed by NTI days from April 13-17. McCracken County Schools will continue with NTI classes from March 23 until April 3, then Spring Break from April 6-10, followed by NTI days from April 13-17. School officials say they are working to create additional NTI packets, and developing a plan to deliver those packets to those that need them. St. Mary School System will continue with NTI classes until April 17. School officials say all extra-curricular activities, athletic events, practices, and school events will be canceled during this time. Teachers will remain in contact with parents and students as they move forward with home learning. Area schools are extending their closures after a request from Governor Andy Beshear. Were urged to revive the spirit of the Blitz. But the Britain of World War Two didnt always pull together. We are in a war, Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, told the Commons on Monday. We are at war, Emmanuel Macron, President of France, said in his address on the same day to his compatriots, adding that this requires our general mobilisation. Macron was born in 1977, Hancock in 1978. In a piece for last weekends Sunday Telegraph, the Health Secretary declared: Our generation has never been tested like this. Our grandparents were, during the Second World War, when our cities were bombed during the Blitz. Despite the pounding every night, the rationing, the loss of life, they pulled together in one gigantic national effort. Well yes, there was a gigantic national effort. But there were also strikes during the Second World War in every major industry in Britain, including the mines, munitions factories, aircraft manufacturers and shipyards. The heroic version of the war is true, but not the whole truth. There were plenty of occasions when not everyone pulled together. Consider this account by W.F. Deedes, future Conservative MP, Cabinet minister and Editor of The Daily Telegraph, written in 1994 on the 50th anniversary of D-Day, about the embarkation from London Docks of the American-made armoured cars in which his Company of riflemen would fight their way through Normandy. Deedes was summoned to the Docks, where a problem had arisen: On arrival at our berth, my eye met a confused scene. All our vehicles were still on the quayside. The ship stood empty. The dockers, said Coleridge, say they cant handle it. He urged me to reason with them. Trouble is, mate, the dockers replied in the friendliest terms, we havent got the rate. The rate? Thats right, the rate for loading these ere vehicles. Never seen em before. Coleridge and I pleaded with them for a while. He then urged me to try a speech on the lines of Friends, Romans, countrymen Look, I said to the dockers, some of the men in the Normandy bridgehead are possibly sons, nephews, relatives of yours. They are hanging on by their eyebrows. Surely you want us there to back them up. The dockers nodded enthusiastically. Abso-ruddy-lutely, they said. Sooner you get there the better but, you see, we havent got the rate. After a long spell of this we reached a compromise. The riflemen would be permitted to load our vehicles, and a retired docker would be permitted to advise. Loading took a very long time, and the outcome was predictable. All our cars had been waterproofed, so that they could move through about three feet of sea water. In inexpert hands, they went into the ships hold like falling leaves So it came about that roughly a quarter of my Companys scout cars sank shortly after taking to the water. The crisis had exposed a pre-existing weakness labour relations in the docks which there was now no time to put right. Nor were these weaknesses limited to the home front, or to civilian life. The war highlighted the deficiencies of British commanders in the most embarrassing way. The rout which led to Dunkirk, the fall of Tobruk and the fall of Singapore are among the many humiliations for British arms which might be cited. Singapore, captured by the Japanese along with 80,000 British, Indian and Australian troops in February 1942, was supposed to be impregnable, and was well defended against attack from its southern, seaward, side, but owing to errors dating back to 1925 had no defences on its northern, landward side. Nor would Lieutenant-General Percival, commanding its defence, accept the urgent advice of his subordinate, Brigadier Simson, and his superior, General Wavell, that anti-tank defences must be constructed on the landward side while there was yet time. Percival said that to construct these defences would be bad for the morale of troops and civilians. What he meant, Norman Dixon suggests in On the Psychology of Military Incompetence, was that Percival would have to admit to himself the peril in which Singapore now lay. The dogma to which Percival and his predecessors subscribed, and which turned out to be nonsense, was that the Japanese would find it impossible to advance with tanks down the Malay Peninsula, owing to the impenetrable jungle. The fall of Singapore was described by Churchill in The Hinge of Fate, the fourth volume of his account of the Second World War, as the worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history. That volume covers the events of 1942, and Churchill remarks in his Preface that during that year we went from almost uninterrupted disaster to almost unbroken success. What catastrophes he and his colleagues had to withstand in the first two years of his wartime leadership. The retrospective glow conferred by victory obscures the truth that in 1940 many Conservative MPs felt a profound loyalty to Neville Chamberlain, and were furious that the gangsters, as Lord Halifax called Churchill and his band of outsiders, were now in control. So gentlemanly a figure as Lord Dunglass described those round Churchill as scum. Dunglass had entered the Commons in 1931 as Member for Lanark, had served as Chamberlains Parliamentary Private Secretary, and as Sir Alec Douglas-Home would serve as Prime Minister from 1963-64. Nor was Churchill universally popular with the voters. Here is Harold Nicolson, man of letters and National Labour MP, writing in his diary on 7th February 1944: I fear that Winston has become a liability now rather than an asset. This makes me sick with human nature. Once the open sea is reached we forget how we clung to the pilot in the storm. Poor Winston who is so sensitive although so pugnacious will feel all this. In the station lavatory at Blackheath last week I found scrawled up Winston Churchill is a bastard. I pointed this out to the Wing Commander who was with me. Yes, he said, the tide has turned. We find it everywhere. But how foul, I said, How bloody foul! Well you see, if I may say so, the men hate politicians. Winston a politician! Good God!!! The Wing Commander was right. The tide had turned against Churchill and in 1945 the people threw him out. So we should refrain from implying that some glorious state of unity existed during the war. Churchills critics were able to draw up a long charge sheet against him, dating back to Tonypandy and Gallipoli. But the wartime analogy does fit when it is used to suggest that extraordinary measures, unlike those which would normally be considered acceptable in peacetime, must be used to deal with the pandemic. Patience and resilience in adversity, rapid technological advance and the ability to learn from experience: these wartime characteristics are certainly needed now. Boris Johnson said in his opening statement at his press conference on Tuesday with Rishi Sunak that we must act like any wartime government and do whatever it takes to support our economy. That is correct, but in a free country it is also correct that the ministers taking those decisions remain subject to searching criticism and scrutiny, and to vulgar abuse. Trump blames China again for coronavirus pandemic Iran Press TV Friday, 20 March 2020 9:49 AM US President Donald Trump has blamed China again for the global coronavirus pandemic, also known as COVID-19, using the term "Chinese virus" again despite growing criticism that it is racist and anti-Chinese. "The world is paying a very big price for that they did," Trump said Thursday at a White House news conference. "It could have been stopped right where it came from, China," Trump added. Trump said US officials would have been able to act more rapidly if Beijing had fully shared information about the pandemic, which began around the city of Wuhan. "It would have been much better if we had known about this a number of months earlier," the president said at the daily coronavirus task force press conference. Trump had praised China's response to the coronavirus two month ago during the early weeks of the outbreak, saying that country "has been working very hard" to contain the virus. But in recent days, Trump has repeatedly called the coronavirus the "Chinese virus," and did so again at the beginning of his news conference. Photos of the sheet of paper containing remarks that Trump read from at the beginning of the news conference showed the word "corona" was crossed out and replaced with "Chinese." During a news conference Wednesday, Trump defended his use of that term, saying it was "not racist at all." "Because it comes from China," Trump said when asked why he continued using the term. "That's why." The US death toll from the coronavirus outbreak has reached 200 and the number of cases surged past 14,000, forcing the state of California to order a state-wide lockdown. As of Friday morning, at least 14,250 people across the US have tested positive for the coronavirus. More than 240,000 people have now been confirmed with the coronavirus globally, of which at least 85,000 have recovered, while more than 9,800 have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Italy has surpassed China in total deaths connected to the coronavirus, with the country reporting 3,405 fatalities as of Thursday. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Photo credit: Courtesy From Esquire Is it getting monotonous yet? The coronavirus pandemic, by forcing many of us into cocoon mode, is already making avid home cooks out of people who had never before attempted to boil water or toast bread. Recipes abound, and famous chefs like Massimo Bottura are offering quarantine tutorials on Instagram. But even for those of us who do have an abundance of experience at the stove, sheltering in place is reinforcing the truth in something that chefs like Bottura tell you all the time: Your cooking is only as good as your ingredients. And cooking gets pretty tedious when you keep using the same stuff for weeks on end. Maybe its absurdly obvious, but the mantra bears repeating. You can improve your rice and beans by using better rice and beans. You can elevate a simple dish of pasta, olive oil, and anchovies by using better pasta, olive oil, and anchovies. Stir-frying some vegetables? Premium soy sauce can make all the difference. Opting for better ingredients is not some exercise in bougie excess. From the perspective of personal edification, its a way to use your free time during this bizarre global stalemate to go granular and learn more about food. What makes this bean different than this other bean? What makes that olive different than the olives we ate last night? And from the standpoint of saving the world, well, making a concerted effort to stock your pantry with higher-quality ingredients can be a way to help small, independent farmers, purveyors, craftspeople, and entrepreneurs during a time when vast numbers are struggling. With that in mind, here we offer links to 12 of our favorite mail-order food sites that'll ship nationwide. Photo credit: Courtesy Gustiamo At a South Bronx warehouse in New York City, Beatrice Ughi and her team curate and collect the finest olive oils, vinegars, tomatoes, anchovies, olives, dried pastas, and holiday cakes from Italy. Trust us, you can conjure a few days of kitchen masterpieces using nothing but stuff that comes out of a Gustiamo box. Story continues Shop Gustiamo Photo credit: Courtesy Rare Tea Company A calming cup of tea may just be everyones cup of tea during these nerve-shredding times. Author and tea expert Henrietta Lovell has higher tea standards than anyone on the planetshes the exclusive supplier to restaurants like Noma in Copenhagen and the Momofuku empire around the world. Here she is standing by to introduce you to Lost Malawi English breakfast tea, Chinese peony white tea, and South African wild rooibos. Shop Rare Tea Company Photo credit: Courtesy La Tienda For a quarter of a century, this Virginia-based, family-owned company has been the go-to portal for the best products imported from Spain, from paella rice to chorizo to jamon iberico to Marcona almonds to the exquisite canned seafoods known as conservas. You havent lived until youve snacked on the Jose Andres razor clams. Shop La Tienda Photo credit: Courtesy Salty Pork Bits Pittsburghs Justin Severino might make the best charcuterie in Americaweve said so here at Esquire in the pastand through this website, you can have his morcilla anchorizada, his finocchiona, and his saucisson sec dispatched directly to your house. Shop Salty Pork Bits Photo credit: Courtesy Fly by Jing Look, those frozen Trader Joes dumplings are not going to elevate themselves. If your pantry doesnt include Jenny Gaos Zhong dumpling sauce or Sichuan chili crisp, youre missing out on sure-fire cures for boredom. Shop Fly by Jing Photo credit: Courtesy Russ & Daughters To borrow from an advertising campaign from the '60s and '70s, you dont have to be Jewish to love the Gaspe Nova smoked salmon (for my money, the best available anywhere), a 12-pack of potato latkes, and a dozen bagels (just freeze the ones you dont eat right away). And if youre feeling splurgy, theres that American caviar sampler. Shop Russ & Daughters Photo credit: Courtesy Zingermans This sprawling Michigan landmark sells, well, just about everything: cheeses, mustards, dried fruits, fresh breads, peppermint bark, bacons, marmalades, spices, coffees. A typical Zingermans shopping list is longer than Middlemarch. Forget cookingyou could spend a whole day just browsing around the site. Shop Zingerman's Photo credit: Courtesy Maryiza You think you know honey? Okay. But have you tried grawa honey and geteme honey and bissana honey and abalo honey? Devote a week to exploring the nuances in flavor from one rare Ethiopian forest honey to the next. Shop Maryiza Photo credit: Courtesy KimC Hey, weve got supermarket soy sauce in our fridges, toono judgmentbut once your palate has spent some time with the intense, handcrafted real stuff from these Korean-food specialists, youre going to find it hard to go back. Also, if youve never considered dipping a spoon into a jar of fermented bellflower and pear, now is the time (its supposed to help people suffering through colds). Looking for primo gochujang, doenjang, and fish sauce? Youve come to the right place. Shop Kim'C Photo credit: Courtesy Basbaas Hawa Hassan, who was born in Mogadishu, Somalia, is an evangelist for the flavors of East Africa. Her tamarind date sauce and coconut cilantro chutney bring a zing of life to anything you cook, whether it be a bowl of rice or a juicy grilled steak. Shop Basbaas Photo credit: Courtesy DArtagnan So where do chefs actually get all of that foie gras and Wagyu beef and Berkshire pork and Muscovy duck? They get it from Ariane Daguin, who supplies American restaurants (and supermarkets) with world-class meat products and runs D'Artagnan. Have you thought about using all of this extra lockdown time to experiment with making the Gallic dish known as cassoulet? Well, guess what? DArtagnan can sell you a whole cassoulet kit. Shop D'Artagnan Photo credit: Courtesy Salt & Straw As its religiously devoted followers know, Salt & Straw specializes in ice cream thats weird and wonderful. Bone marrow and smoked cherries! Pear and blue cheese! Strawberry honey balsamic with black pepper! Your kids might think these flavor combinations sound suspect, so, hey, keep the kids in the dark. Just serve up a few scoops and listen to the murmurs of delight. Shop Salt & Straw You Might Also Like Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, March 21, 2020 19:35 662 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad206c7ca9b 1 National COVID-19,coronavirus,virus-corona,outbreak,Achmad-Yurianto,health-ministry,chloroquine-drugs,face-mask Free Indonesian health authorities have recorded another spike in the number of COVID-19-positive cases in the country, as the government announces 81 new ones on Saturday, with a total of 450 reported nationwide. Health Ministry Disease Control and Prevention Director General Achmad Yurianto said the number of fatalities caused by the disease had also increased to 38, compared to 32 on the previous day. Meanwhile, 20 people had recovered from the disease so far. Yurianto, also the governments spokesperson for COVID-19-related matters, said Jakarta still recorded the highest increase of positive cases with 44, with the number of positive cases in the capital city becoming 267. Authorities reported 23 people had died of the disease in Jakarta. Other regions recording spikes in the number of positive cases were West and East Java with 41 and 11 new ones, respectively. We have given all this data to the heads of provincial health agencies, who forwarded the data to the hospitals where these patients are being treated, Yurianto said during a broadcasted press briefing on Saturday. The data has also been used by health offices in every district as material for contact tracing. He added that the contact tracing efforts would be followed by rapid testing, which could show results in minutes. The tests, however, were only used for preliminary detection of whether a person had been infected by the coronavirus. The government, Yurianto said, had been preparing to import chloroquine drugs. Yurianto claimed the medication was potent against COVID-19, although no medicine has been clinically proven to cure the disease. However, medical personnel in several countries have been using the drugs to treat the diseases symptoms in patients. Chloroquine is used to treat [the diseases symptoms], not prevent it; therefore, people should not hoard chloroquine, the spokesperson said. He went on to say that the government had prepared more than 12 million surgical masks and 81,000 N95 masks for hospitals treating COVID-19 patients. Hospitals needing such equipment should make a formal request to the local health agency. Yurianto urged people to stay at home and maintain social distancing from others to prevent possible virus transmission. (mfp) The world leading hospitality hotel group Accor has acquired Muscat international airport hotel and will revamp the property, Arabian Business reports. The France-based group entered into agreement with Sundus Investments, a mixed-use developer in the Middle East for the operation. The property will be rebranded Novotel Muscat Airport with the introduction of the groups midscale brand, Novotel. Accor will bring new decor and introduce changes to reflect Novotels brand experience, with further modifications including a reimagined lobby planned in the future, the Dubai-based media reports. Accord is already present in the Gulf Sutanate with two properties (323 keys). It also has nine other projects (2,179 keys) in construction. By AFP DELHI: A KLM flight from Amsterdam to New Delhi was turned around midair, an official and a passenger told AFP on Saturday, after apparent confusion about India's coronavirus regulations. Because of the pandemic, India has imposed a bar on flights from Europe and from Sunday a one-week complete ban on all incoming international commercial flights comes into force. Passengers on the KLM flight, which had been due to arrive in the Indian capital early Saturday, included a pregnant woman who needed medical treatment on returning to Amsterdam. The aircraft was told late Friday "to return to its point of departure due to operational reasons while it was still airborne," the official told AFP without wishing to be identified. "Delhi does not have permission to land (planes) so we don't know why KLM decided to fly out from Amsterdam despite a clear advisory from the Indian government." One of the 120 or so passengers, also speaking anonymously, said that the announcement that they were going back was made over Russia around four hours into the flight. FOLLOW CORONAVIRUS LIVE UPDATES HERE The Hindu daily reported that the aircraft had around 100 Indians on board who had started their journeys in the United States and Canada. The flight was also meant to bring home a number of Dutch citizens from India, it added. Despite the bar on flights from Europe, the Indian foreign ministry gave clearance to the KLM flight because the passengers were only transiting through Amsterdam, according to the Hindu. But India's Ministry of Civil Aviation thought otherwise and the plane was asked to head back to the Netherlands, the paper said. "We don't know what to do... Please help," one passenger said in a Twitter video, apparently shot at Schipol, carried by the Hindu. Tejus Vispute, the husband in India of the pregnant woman, said his wife had been admitted to hospital after landing back in Amsterdam and later discharged. "Once the flight turned back mid-air, my wife got really stressed out. She's around six months pregnant," Vispute told AFP. "The crew was very supportive." It was unclear how many other Indians wanting to come home are stranded around the world in the current crisis. The Indian foreign ministry was not immediately available for comment. India has so far confirmed 258 cases of coronavirus and four deaths. South Africa has become the latest country to see a sharp rise in confirmed cases of COVID-19, making it the hardest hit on the African continent. On Thursday, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize told the South African Medical Association (SAMA) that the spread of the coronavirus was only just beginning and that between 60 percent and 70 percent of the population were likely to be infected. His estimates echo those of the World Health Organisation (WHO). On March 15, in a national address, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus had reached 61a development which came as shock to many. By yesterday, the figure was 202, including 52 new cases in a single day. At least eight cases recorded by March 18 had no previous travel history. The African National Congress (ANC) governments response to the pandemic has been lacklustre and incompetentspending weeks doing nothing to prepare for the inevitable arrival of the virus. Despite declaring a national state of disaster, the measures Ramaphosa outlined were paltry and do not take into account the kind of action that organizations such as the WHO and other experts have said are needed to stem the spread of the virus. The address made no mention of plans for extensive testing and contact tracingthe two key measures required to halt the spread of the virus. Ramaphosa largely outlined such things as social distancing. Certain land, air and seaports were also to be closed, and a half-hearted approach to school closures was takenwith primary and secondary schools closed while universities were not addressedleaving them to decide when to close. Most did so haphazardly, cancelling graduations and angering many students. The secondary and primary school closures came only after it was reported widely that a Grade 9 student had tested positive for coronavirus. The government has now announced that it will focus on closing borders, including building a 40-kilometre fence along the border with Zimbabwe to stem undocumented migration, having already closed 35 of 53 land entry points. Zimbabwe has not yet reported cases of coronavirus. The crisis has fuelled hostility towards the government. Many workers and young people took to social media to voice their anger at this incompetence and indifference, both before and after the address. Some protested being forced to go to work as the virus spreads, noting that the taxi ranks on which many rely were overcrowded and unsanitary. Health workers took to social media to denounce the government for not doing enough to ensure their safety or to deal with the lack of much needed supplies, such as gloves and masksexacerbated by thefts from hospitals. A Science Magazine article titled A ticking time bomb, cited scientists concerns about coronavirus spread in Africa. The article notes that with the populations of many African countries disproportionately affected by HIV, tuberculosis (TB), and other infectious diseases and with most having weak health care systems experts worry the virus [will] ravage the continent. Additionally, [s]ocial distancing will be hard to do in the continents overcrowded cities and slums. The BBC reported on the situation in the informal settlements in Alexandra on the outskirts of Johannesburg, where people often live in cramped single rooms and share communal outdoor toilets. Electrician Nicholas Mashabele warned, If the virus comes here, its going to kill everyone We dont have money to buy hygiene [products] to protect ourselves. Were living in high risk. His wife, Shebi Mapiane, pointed to the wall of her house, saying, My neighbour is just here. If I catch it, hell catch it, and everyone will catch it. Dr. Alison Glass, a clinical biologist, commented, My biggest worry is... if this spills over into poorer communities where its more difficult to identify patients and to contain [the virus]. South Africa has the highest number of people living with HIV of any country on Earth, a direct result of the ANCs and former leader Thabo Mbekis criminal irresponsibility at the outset of the HIV epidemic. There are 2.5 million people living with HIV who are not on antiretrovirals, the drug used to fight the onset of Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). In those living with HIV, Professor Salim Abdool Karim, warns, [W]ere likely to see more severe infections. Those with AIDS, which brings with it pneumonia and recurring respiratory tract infections, face even graver danger. South Africa is riven by social inequality. The official unemployment rate stands at 26.7 percent6.7 million workersyouth unemployment is 57 percent, the highest in the world, and the rate of HIV infection is 15 percent, meaning the threat of this virus devastating the population is all too real. One only need recall Mbekis downplaying of the HIV epidemic to know what the attitude of the South African ruling elite will be. As the situation spiralled and HIV became the single biggest cause of death in South Africa, Mbeki cynically claimed that the reports of alarming number of deaths from HIV were a conspiracy by the World Health Organisation and others to attack his government. At one point he stated, Whatever the intensity of the hostile propaganda that might be provoked by the WHO statistics, we cannot allow that government policy and programmes should be informed by misperceptions, however widespread and well-established they may seem to be. It was Thabo Mbeki who fallaciously used statistics from a much earlier period, with much smaller figures, to downplay the HIV epidemic. One can already see in Ramaphosas response to the coronavirus pandemic a similar negligence, denial and cynicism. On the other hand, with the coronavirus only beginning to take hold, Ramaphosa is already making pledges to business and the corporations to implement bailout packages like those offered by his counterparts around the world. While workers are forced to keep going to work in unsafe conditions and risk exposing themselves and their loved ones to the virus, the profits of the bourgeoisie are treated with care and delicacy. Surely no harm must come to them. As Times Live reports, Ramaphosa told various political parties, All social partners, specifically government, business and labour, need to jointly develop and implement measures to mitigate the economic impact of Covid-19. Companies in distress need to be helped. This means business will be given billions to shore up profits, while the trade unions work to repress mounting opposition, as the police and military are readied for any serious resistance by the working class. In recent comments, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus scolded African governments, saying, Africa should wake up, my continent should wake up. As far as the fate of the working class is concerned, the African ruling elite will not heed this call. It was a sobering end to a serious speech. "My dear friends, our resilience will be tested, but our resolve will never be broken. Stay safe. Keep your loved ones safe. If you believe, pray. And if you don't, hope. Because better times will come. We will smile again and return to normality as soon as we are able to. Goodnight," said chief minister Fabian Picardo at the end of a televised address on Tuesday evening. If anything brought home the severity of the coronacrisis, that did. The situation in Gibraltar is constantly changing, with new measures continually being introduced according to Public Health advice. Restrictions on movement have now been imposed on people aged over 70, for their own protection. Some shops and businesses are closed. The government is giving daily briefings, and the Covid-19 statistics are sent by text message to all mobile phone users in Gibraltar every afternoon. Schools are open but children are not obliged to attend, and from Monday the schools will provide a safe environment for extended hours for the children of workers who are not otherwise able to make safe alternative childcare arrangements without involving relatives over 70 years of age. Currently, two people in Gibraltar have recovered fully from Covid-19, and eight cases are currently active. It has been a frenetic week for Gibraltar on other fronts, too. On Sunday Juan Manuel Moreno, the president of the Junta de Andalucia, announced that he had recommended to Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez that Spain close its borders to contain the virus. A Spanish newspaper assumed that would include the Gibraltar border, and said as much. It was picked up by other media and went viral. Gibraltar's Chief Minister spoke by phone to the Andalusian president, who insisted that he had not recommended closing the border, and he made a public announcement to that effect. On Monday, Spain, like other EU countries, announced that it was closing its land borders so that only Spanish citizens, legal residents, cross-frontier workers and those will documented justification could enter the country that way. This, of course, meant that workers from Spain would be able to cross into and out of Gibraltar. But then there were rumours that the border guards were to demand to see work contracts and other documents from people crossing from Spain to Gibraltar; Gemma Araujo, the former mayor of La Linea who is now an MP, investigated and reported that this was not the case. Everything appeared to be normal for the early part of the week, but there are reports that on Wednesday evening queues built up as the Spanish border guards wanted everyone crossing to show their NIE (foreigner identification number) and work contracts. The Gibraltar and Spanish authorities are also working together against Covid-19 and keeping border fluidity while respecting the State of Alarm in Spain and restrictions in Gibraltar. Oil prices have lost more than half their value in the last two weeks as Saudi Arabia and Russia kicked off a price war. The administration of United States President Donald Trump plans to send a special energy representative to Saudi Arabia, officials said on Friday. The White House is scrambling to respond to the global oil price crash as a regulator from the top US oil-producing state took the rare step of considering output cuts to help stabilise markets. Oil prices have lost more than half their value in the last two weeks as Saudi Arabia and Russia kicked off a price war, and the coronavirus pandemic destroyed demand. The crash has shocked the oil industry as a pact among OPEC and non-OPEC producers to cooperate imploded, triggering a production free-for-all. Texas regulators are considering the unusual step of intervening to curb output for the first time in decades, while the US is scrambling to negotiate with Saudi Arabia, which has unleashed production after years of touting its role as a stabilising force for markets. Saudi Arabia and Russia are locked in a war for global oil market share after their three-year deal to restrain output collapsed this month. The kingdom has vowed to increase production to a record 12.3 million barrels per day and has chartered numerous tankers to ship oil around the world, pushing prices to near 20-year lows this week. US officials believe Saudi Arabias move to flood oil markets compounds the global economic crash at a time of a crisis caused by the pandemic. A senior US Energy Department official will be sent to Riyadh for months to work closely with Department of State officials and the existing energy attache, the senior US officials told Reuters News Agency, on the condition of anonymity. Trump administration officials said Saudi Arabia has, for decades, been a steadfast leader of stability in the global oil market. The energy representative would help the countries return to a path of stability, they said. The price crash is also devastating to US oil producers, some of which have already begun putting employees on leave. The hope is that Trump could negotiate with Saudi Arabia and Russia and convince them to match cuts with a similar cut in production in Texas, said Ryan Sitton, a commissioner with the Texas Railroad Commission, the body that regulates the states oil and gas industry. Sitton said production limits could be implemented quickly, though no one who works at the agency was around the last time the state limited production in the early 1970s. We need to take the time to hear from everybody, he said, adding that he was not yet advocating for the cuts. [But] if we can help [Trump) get a deal done, then I think thats when we do something. Sitton said in a tweet that he spoke with OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo about an international deal to ensure economic stability as we recover from the coronavirus outbreak. Sitton said Barkindo was kind enough to invite me to the next OPEC meeting in June. Barkindo told Reuters that he and Sitton discussed their perspective on current developments and the possibility of future cooperation in a teleconference. Barkindo and OPEC ministers have, in the past, met with shale-industry executives at annual conferences. Frank Fannon, the US assistant secretary of state for energy resources, said that to his knowledge, the federal government does not have the ability to restrict the Texas regulator from any work with OPEC to cut production. Those are wholly within state matters from a federal level we have no ongoing engagements with OPEC, its a cartel, Fannon told reporters late on Friday in a teleconference. US industry unmoved Some US industry representatives were sceptical that Texas should intervene in the market. US oil producers have long resisted such a move, and the industrys largest trade association did not sound convinced Friday, either. Our view is simple. Quotas are bad, said Frank Macchiarola, senior vice president of policy, economics and regulatory affairs at the American Petroleum Institute. Theyve been proven ineffective and harmful. Theres no reason during this time to try to imitate OPEC. In the last several years, shale operators using the innovative hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, technique, have boosted US oil output to nearly 13 million barrels per day, making it the worlds largest producer. Since 2016, as OPEC restrained production, the US has taken market share from Saudi Arabia, Russia, and other nations. Russia has been slower to come on board with OPECs continued efforts to bolster prices, and the countrys largest oil producer, Rosneft, has been an opponent of the deal with OPEC to cut supply. Units of that company, and its managers, were recently sanctioned by the US due to its trade relationship with Venezuela. Trump administration officials will continue to reduce global oil output with sanctions on what the officials called bad actors in Iran and Venezuela, both of which are OPEC members, and their shipping networks, the officials said. To the extent that Russia is involved in marketing Venezuelan oil, it will be sanctioned, the officials said. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 09:19:35|Editor: ZD Video Player Close PHNOM PENH, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's Ministry of Health announced in a press statement late on Friday that four more people were tested positive for COVID-19, raising the total number of the confirmed cases in the country to 51. The new patients included two Cambodian men who had returned from a mass Islamic religious ceremony in Malaysia, a local man who had close contact with a COVID-19-infected friend, and a Malaysian missionary who came to teach Islam to villagers in Kampong Cham province, the statement said. A Cambodian patient lives in Phnom Penh, and the two other Cambodians live in Battambang province, the statement said, adding that the new patients have been put in isolation rooms in a designated hospital for treatment. According to the statement, of the 51 total cases, 25 of them had traveled to Malaysia for the mass Islamic religious ceremony. Among the patients in Cambodia are a Chinese national, three British nationals, 12 Malaysians, two French nationals, a Canadian man, a Belgian man, and 31 Cambodians. The Chinese patient had recovered and returned to China, as the rest have been quarantined at hospitals for treatment, the statement said. As COVID-19 continues to spread like wildfire and infect thousands worldwide, the first-ever anti-viral drug that can possibly be used to treat coronavirus, known as Favilavir, has been approved by the National Medical Products Administration of China. Last weekend, the drug which was initially formulated by a Chinese-owned pharmaceutical and is presently promoted under the label Avigan, was recognized by the City Government of Taizhou as the first medicine to be authorized to aid in the control of the coronavirus crisis. Hisun Pharmaceutical's Favilavir is one of the three drugs that have presented positive results during initial trials when tested against the latest strain of the coronavirus. The drug was reported to have hindered the virus from spreading, proving its capability to prevent further damage to health, according to China's Ministry of Science and Technology. Moreover, the drug was discovered to possibly be effective in COVID-19 treatments after it underwent a clinical test with 70 test subjects in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. There are some minor side-effects that have been reported after taking the drug, but this did not stop China from mass-producing the generic version of Favilavir. How Favilavir fights viruses Whilst Favilavir has shown a potential and possibly therapeutic results against COVID-19, before it can officially be recommended and regarded as effective treatment for the diseases, it still needs to be approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). At present, there are still trials that are being conducted to prove the effectiveness of Favilavir against COVID-19. Studies show that Favilavir's mechanism as an effective anti-viral drug works by attacking the Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) of the virus through inhibiting the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase or RdRp. The drug has been proven and widely used in China and Japan as a treatment for influenza. Read also: Is Ibuprofen Safe for Coronavirus Patients? Young Girl's Condition Worsens After Taking It Drugs that may work against COVID-19 Regulatory officials in China first publicized their approval of the use of the anti-viral drug for COVID-19 treatment in February. The said approval was based on the shown efficacy of the medicine during clincal tests in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Favilavir was initially developed as a drug to treat inflammation of the nose or throat. On the other hand, experts are also looking into another drug that may also be effective in warding off coronavirus. The drug called Remdesivir developed by a drug maker in the US known as Gilead. Remdesivir was originally made to treat Ebola, however, it was reported that an American that contracted COVID-19 took the medicine and has now fully recovered. As of the moment, the drug is still going through clinical tests and is yet to be approved before making any considerations if it is indeed effective for the treatment of both Ebola and COVID-19. On top of this, Korean doctors are also studying the use of the HIV combination drug lopinavir plus ritonavir which the marketed as Kaletra, in the possible treatment of COVID-19. Chinese researchers have already reached out to patients who have fully recovered from the virus to donate their blood, which will be used as an initial sample and aid in looking for a cure to the virus that shook the world. Related news: COVID-19 Finger-Prick Test Kit Can Detect Virus in 15-Minutes! @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. To thrive amidst your competitors in this digital age, you need to work on having an effective communication network, and blockchain technology is revolutionizing how businesses function due to its range of benefits. Industries including finance, healthcare, manufacturing, education and telecommunications have made its adoption a criticial priority. According to a Deloitte survey, 53 percent of fintech companies believe blockchain has become vital for their organization. PwCs 2018 global blockchain survey also confirmed that 84 percent of companies, including the likes of Amazon and Facebook, are already dabbling in it. And expectations are high that blockchain will become even more widespread over the next several years. Related: Celebrating Blockchain's Unsung Heroes For the uninitiated, blockchain is a distributed ledger technology that was launched in 2009. This ledger records transactions arranged in "blocks" and "chained" together. As such, blockchain offers traceability of records. The technology also backs cryptocurrencies and is used to validate the transfer and receipt of these assets. Aside from providing open-source traceable storage, blockchain offers benefits such as decentralization, security and immutability. As a consequence, this modern technology has surpassed its use for only cryptocurrencies, enabling businesses to transact and communicate seamlessly over the internet. Here are the ways in which blockchain is fundamentally transforming business-communication networks. Decentralization Blockchain cannot be controlled by a single node. Therefore, it is a decentralized ledger where blocks of information are stored across a network. What this means is that even if a single node goes down, other nodes can catch transactions that were missed. And the fact that every node processes transactions takes away the possibility for a single node to bring down the entire system. Further, there is no central control of the blockchain and, as such, neither government nor a central bank or higher authority can influence its use. Plus, those highly positioned in companies cannot make manipulations to the blockchain, thanks to its decentralized nature. For businesses, this means they can have secure peer-to-peer communication without relying on a central authority. Data Security Data security is everything for businesses, as it ensures that their records are not susceptible to an attack. Nonetheless, businesses have been hacked time and again for relying on traditional methods of storage. In 2013, there was a data breach on Yahoos database and three billion records were affected. Likewise, data pertaining to Capital One credit cardholders (100 million Americans and six million Canadians) was hacked in 2019. Blockchain, on the other hand, is a secure platform for storing information. It uses cryptographic techniques, Merkle trees, hash functions and public and private keys to make it difficult for a hacker to alter its content. The immutable nature of this technology ensures that stored content cannot be changed. Also, its high-level security makes it less susceptible to cyberattacks. Interestingly, there are many blockchain projects (e.g. Eximchain and Signal) working on enhancing how businesses would safely communicate data. Data Privacy While blockchain's content is open and accessible to anyone, there are permissioned and permissionless blockchains. The latter ensures that sensitive information is kept away from the public's eye. In this case, the data is encrypted and can only be accessed after permission has been granted. Further, a private/permission blockchain requires the owner or managements approval before participants are added to the network. For this reason, there can be centralized control over who can join the network, thereby offering enhanced data privacy. For instance, blockchain projects like Dust, Debrief and many more are working to increase data privacy and efficiency and also engage clients, reducing the potential for sensitive data to be accessed by unauthorized users. Transparency Blockchain has fostered singular trust among network participants, since transfers are guaranteed to be safe and secure. Much more, everyone on the network can see such transfers in real-time thanks to the transparency offered by blockchain. This helps to improve accountability and trust between business partners. The immutable nature of blockchain also offers data integrity, since its content cannot be changed easily. This means that business partners cannot challenge the legitimacy of such transfers, because they are able to monitor it. A real-life use case of this is evident in the healthcare industry, where the technology is used for revenue-cycle management and fraud prevention. Traceability Blockchain's content can be tracked in real-time, which has offered immense benefits to businesses. Its content is accurate at all times, and moreover, several participants of the network will see the same information irrespective of where they access it and when. It, therefore, enables large enterprises to communicate and coordinate supply chain and logistics information. It is worth noting that this traceability has aided in verifying the authenticity of rare and valuable products. In this aspect, customers can easily scan a barcode to determine if the raw materials used for the products were rightly sourced. It also gives consumers the confidence that they have purchased authentic products. Related: 10 Entrepreneurs Who Are Showing Why Blockchain Is Here to Stay Blockchain has transformed the business-communication network in more ways than one. The distributed ledger's features, including decentralization, security, privacy, immutability and traceability, have improved the way businesses communicate and relate. It also reduces costs significantly, all of which is why any company looking to promote its growth in the the long run, needs to adopt the blockchain system. Related: Goa Government And Innovaccer Launch App For COVID-19 Self-Assessment 1990 to 2020: 30 Major Changes in 30 Years of Digital Marketing 65 Free Tools to Help You Through the Coronavirus Pandemic Copyright 2020 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved Im a Catholic. There, Ive said it. It wasnt that hard really. The truth is that I dont always wear my Catholic badge with pride. There are things that I like and dislike about the Catholic Church, but I am a practising Catholic, and in a world where that isnt always the coolest thing to say, I dont mind saying it, out loud. Ive always been a believer, I was raised in a devoutly Catholic family. I remember the pride in my parents faces at church when a woman pointed at me and my brother and sisters, and said shed never seen a family so well-behaved at Mass. My faith had good foundations because of the people around me. My earliest memory of church is being taken to Benediction with my granny, nose pressed to the seat in front of me as I knelt, listening to the priest recite lines and lines of Latin phrases that I couldnt understand. The memory of my grannys wrinkled hand in mine guiding me through the Rosary beads, and the smell of incense is as real to me now, as it was then. As a teenager, I went to Mass every night, something I kept a closely-guarded secret from all my friends. I didnt want to be called a 'Holy Joe.' While my friends were all getting part-time jobs in what was the newly-opened Foyleside in the early 1990s, my first job was in the priests house, where there was always a stack of black shirts that needed ironed. After moving to Belfast in 1996 to attend Queens University, my faith seemed to drift. I did attend a few events in the University Catholic Chaplaincy, but the freedom of living away from home and the pub culture meant my churchgoing took a hit. It didnt bother me. I attended Mass sporadically over the years Christmas, weddings, funerals, and whenever my parents forced me to. I hadnt stopped believing, but that need to go to Mass just wasnt there anymore. I suppose as Ive got older I had been thinking about my faith more, and a chance opportunity to attend Lough Derg in 2015 changed everything for me. I was working as a journalist and was asked to attend with a group of pilgrims from the Derry Diocese along with Bishop Donal McKeown. I thought nothing more of it than that it would make a good story. The three days I spent on the island ended up being much more than research for a newspaper article. The peace of Lough Derg, and the break from the constant distraction of the modern world gave me the space to reconnect with my faith. I hadnt been to Confession for over 20 years believing it to be outdated and unnecessary, but at Lough Derg, I experienced a new, grown-up type of confession that differed from my childish practice of rhyming off sins. Now, aged 42, I hope I have a much more mature attitude to my faith. I dont hide the fact that I go to Mass, because I really dont care what other people think about that. But being a Catholic, and someone who is not afraid to say they are a Catholic comes with its own challenges. The Church has been through difficult years with issues that can never be brushed under the carpet. Friends of mine have told me theyll never return to Mass because theyll never trust the Church again. Many of my friends, while they dont share my faith, have the deepest respect for it. On a recent weekend away to England with buddies, I announced on the Saturday night that I was going to find a chapel to go to Mass. Instead of going alone, I ended up taking ten people along with me. Having faith isnt always something that comes naturally there are days when I feel Im just going through the motions and doubting everything, and there are other days when I feel completely connected to God. I know that in the most difficult situations in my life I have felt Gods presence with me. That can sometimes be a difficult statement to make, when being a card-carrying Catholic and a woman of faith is something that is so easily ridiculed in modern society. I cant say I do, or will ever agree with all aspects of the Catholic Church. The Church has much work to do. More recognition must be given to the vital role played by women, and I hope some day that church will be more accepting of same-sex relationships. Ive seen first-hand the upset caused to my gay friends who have felt abandoned by the church. My faith will always be important to me. Because Im so vocal about it, Im often stopped by people who ask me to pray for a special intention for them, light a candle, or even asked where is the nearest place they can buy a Mass card? Faith is something that should be cherished. I feel hugely grateful for having it in my life. I enjoy volunteering for my parish by the little bits and pieces I do to help. I am very grateful for the people around me who respect my faith, and those who share it with me. I suppose I still fear the 'Holy Joe' label, because I know Im far from a Holy Joe, but I suppose there are worse things I could be called. Erin Hutcheon is PR and marketing officer with the North West Regional College. She was previously a journalist with the Derry Journal. Nearing the end of another 16-hour day overseeing New Jerseys response to the coronavirus pandemic, Judith Persichilli pauses at the door of her crisis conference room to answer a final question. Persichilli, the state health commissioner, has become a familiar face in the state as the woman who calmly announces how many people have tested positive and died of COVID-19 disease each day. Behind the scenes, she is the health official who has been running the states day-to-day battle against the virus. But at age 71, Persichilli is squarely in the age range that experts are warning to be most cautious. Are you worried, I ask, that youll get the coronavirus eventually? She smiles. Im definitely going to get it. We all are, Persichilli says matter-of-factly. Im just waiting. It will probably be mild. Shell feel sick for a few days, then hopefully get better, she says. It may not be this month or this year. But, shes studied all the coronavirus pandemic algorithms and consulted the experts. Its coming for her and me. And you, she fears. The question now is how to best get New Jersey ready, she says. Persichilli, a nurse and veteran hospital executive, doesnt throw disaster scenarios around lightly. As the states highest-ranking health official, she has been thinking about COVID-19 disease for as long as anyone in New Jersey. She convened the first meeting with her staff on Jan. 24 to discuss what they saw happening in Wuhan, China. They began sketching out the first draft of a disaster plan that day in this room where Persichilli is standing the 8th floor conference room in the state Department of Health building in Trenton. It seemed that we were being cautious. We are really proud of ourselves. We said lets get our emergency preparedness plan. Lets get it documented. Lets make sure it gets to the governors office and that they know what were doing, Persichilli says. At the time, the state health department was planning for the coronavirus in New Jersey to be similar to the last H1N1 flu outbreak. Serious, but not stunning. Persichilli and her staff learned on Feb. 3 they had their first hint of the coronavirus in New Jersey a woman flying into Newark Liberty International Airport from China with symptoms. The traveller was quarantined for 14 days, then sent home. Now, just a few weeks later, Persichilli has appeared at more than a dozen news conferences announcing a dramatic rise in coronaviruses cases and deaths every day. Her calm demeanor as shes read the numbers hasnt wavered, even as the total cases began to skyrocket. The 8th floor conference room has turned into Persichillis crisis management team command central with a giant bottle of green hand sanitizer perched in the center of the long table. Poster size pieces of paper line three walls with handwritten plans and brainstorming ideas. On this day, there is a rough plan to pair up large and small hospitals to share expertise, an idea to turn empty schools into makeshift daycare centers for the children of health care workers and notes on hopes to distribute self-administered testing kits to the homes of New Jerseyans. Most of the lists on the walls are centered on this weeks two big goals setting up drive-thru testing sites and getting more hospital beds ready for the expected surge in critical cases. Persichilli, a former ICU nurse who grew up in a working-class Middlesex County family, is trying to be the calm at the center of this swirling storm even though shes only been health commissioner less than a year. All of my experiences through the years have prepared me to be here at this point in time, she says. Theres a reason for it. Theres a reason for it. Judith Persichilli, head of the New Jersey Department of Health, points to the handwritten plans for the state's coronavirus response that line the walls of her crisis team's conference room in Trenton.Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com Born in New Brunswick, Persichilli grew up in the small suburb of Dunellen as one of four children. Her mother was a legal secretary. Her father, a World War II veteran, worked in a leather goods factory in Perth Amboy. Persichilli and her twin sister have an older sister and a younger brother. Their Catholic parents were focused on education, she said. They sent the kids to Saint Peters High School in New Brunswick, a Catholic school then known for its rigorous academics. Persichilli, who said she always felt drawn to nursing, went to St. Francis Hospital School of Nursing in Trenton. She graduated in 1968 and happily began a career as an intensive care nurse, working with the most critical patients. She met her husband, Anthony Persichilli, in those early years in Trenton, and the pair both began to see their careers rise. Her husband worked at AT&T for 31 years in various human resources positions before becoming a vice president at Prudential Financial. Along the way, he was elected mayor of their adopted hometown, Pennington, and became the Mercer County boroughs longest serving mayor before retiring in 2018. Meanwhile, Persichilli earned her bachelors degree in nursing from Rutgers University and a masters from Rider University as she got bigger and bigger jobs in hospital administration. She found herself often as the first woman and the first nurse in a succession of hospital administration posts in an industry dominated by male executives. But, she says, she always knew her background working with ICU patients in life and death situations gave her an edge. It always made sense to me as a young nurse that individuals with clinical knowledge are in the best position to run hospitals, Persichilli said. She went on to become CEO at St. Francis Medical Center in Trenton, where she had earned her nursing degree, then head of Catholic Health East and and president emerita when Catholic Health East and Trinity Health merged in 2013. Along the way, she earned a reputation for being an unflappable administrator, showing the same sense of calm she showed earlier in her career when she cared for the most dire cases in the hospital as an intensive care nurse. She was semi-retired when Gov. Phil Murphy chose her as the independent monitor of University Hospital in Newark after the state-owned hospital got failing marks for safety and went through a series of other management controversies. State Health Department Commissioner Judith Persichilli talks about opioid use at a Warren County press conference in January, shortly before the coronavirus outbreak began to take over her job.Steve Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com Persichillis work getting University Hospital back on track led to Murphy selecting her as his health commissioner last June. But, within a month of her selection, her husband, Anthony, died of complications after a fall. He was 76. He died before she officially took the health commissioner job. He would have no idea of the challenges that would lie ahead for his wife in just a few months as she navigated the coronavirus outbreak while still mourning her husband of 49 years. We were lucky, Persichilli said, tears filling her eyes. We had a relationship that certainly now, in retrospect, people would be envious of. As the coronavirus pandemic has unfolded, Persichilli has found herself getting up around 4:30 or 5 a.m. to scan the overnight news and emails and sketch out the battle plan for the day. She gets into the office around 8 a.m., brings together her crisis team around 9 a.m. and begins the arduous task of gathering the coronavirus test results and death reports from around the state. She usually presents the numbers at a 2 p.m. news conference with Murphy, who has jokingly referred to her as one of the most famous faces in New Jersey these days. Persichillis presentations have not always gone smoothly. She has misspoken occasionally at the televised media briefings, and reporters and critics have questioned why her department failed in the early days of the outbreak to release more information about the hometowns and movements of people who had tested positive for COVID-19, so others would know if they had been exposed. Health care workers and union representatives have also questioned whether Persichilli and her department have moved fast enough to secure masks and other protective equipment for doctors, nurses and other people on the front lines. But union leaders have still given credit to Persichilli for doing a good job. New Jersey is in good hands during the COVID-19 crisis with Commissioner Persichilli leading the New Jersey Department of Health. Commissioner Persichilli is the first nurse to ever serve in this leading role and we are proud of her leadership during these challenging times, said Debbie White, a fellow nurse and president of Health Professionals and Allied Employees. Others have also given Persichilli good marks for the grace shes shown handling the crisis, so far, when less experienced leaders might have panicked. The communication, the collaboration, the responsiveness have been amazing, Robert Garrett, CEO of Hackensack Meridian Health, the states largest hospital network, said at a news conference Thursday. I could not think of a better person to be our health commissioner at this very, very difficult time. State Sen. Joseph Vitale, D-Middlesex, chairman of the Senate health committee, said Persichillis long history in New Jersey health care has been invaluable. I have known and worked with Judy for several years. First, serving on my Health Care Reform Working Group and now as commissioner, Vitale said. We are fortunate that she is leading the response. Linda Schwimmer, head of the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute, said Persichilli has always had a steady leadership style and that hasnt changed when faced with a crisis no one predicted. I know she will work tirelessly and creatively to save lives and to support those on the front lines of this pandemic, Schwimmer said. Persichilli admits she doesnt know when or how the coronavirus pandemic is going to end. She credits her staff, which has been working the same long hours as her even though many have families at home, with keeping her from feeling lonely as coronavirus continues to keep her working seven days a week. From the death of her husband to her appointment to the Murphy administration to her unexpected role leading in a statewide war against a virus, it has been a surreal year, she says. How will she know when things are getting back to normal? Well know that this particular crisis is over when someone asks me about vaping," Persichilli says with a tired smile, referring to the health issue that she thought was going to be her most-high-profile challenge when she took the job. Sign up for text message alerts from NJ.com on coronavirus in New Jersey: Kelly Heyboer may be reached at kheyboer@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @KellyHeyboer. Find her at KellyHeyboerReporter on Facebook. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 06:55:32|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close A man wearing a face mask walks past a closed shop in Sao Paulo, Brazil, March 20, 2020. The Brazilian Senate on Friday approved a request made by President Jair Bolsonaro to declare a state of emergency. (Photo by Rahel Patrasso/Xinhua) BRASILIA, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The Brazilian Senate on Friday approved a request made by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to declare a state of emergency. The decree authorizes the executive branch to abandon meeting this year's fiscal goals in favor of fighting the health and economic crisis caused by the novel coronavirus epidemic. The senators voted on the measure in the country's first ever remote session, chaired by Antonio Anastasia, vice president of the Senate, who announced that the request was unanimously approved with 75 votes, with some senators unable to vote due to connection failures. Anastasia led the vote after the president of the Senate, Davi Alcolumbre, was placed into home isolation after testing positive for COVID-19. Upon approval, the decree was put into effect immediately. According to the Presidency of the Republic, with the declaration of a state of emergency, the Brazilian government will be able to increase public spending and exceed the fiscal target set for this year, calculated at a deficit of up to 124.1 billion reais (about 24.5 billion U.S. dollars). The Brazilian government pursued the declaration of a state of emergency as attempting to fight COVID-19 while trying to meet the year's fiscal goal could paralyze the country. The bill was first approved by the Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday and Rodrigo Maia, president of the lower house, created a commission to monitor government spending during the emergency. British police seize toilet paper thieves Dozens of stolen toilet rolls and hand sanitizer were recovered by police amid supermarket shelves being emptied in coronavirus panic buying. British police said on Saturday they had discovered a haul of stolen toilet paper and hand wash products - in short supply due to the spread of coronavirus - after stopping a vehicle that had also been stolen. THREE ARRESTED Three men were arrested late on Friday for burglary offences relating to the dozens of packs of toilet paper and hand sanitizer, which have been hard to find in stores in Britain as shoppers rushed to stock up, and for the theft of the vehicle. Police officers always get a massive sense of satisfaction when we catch burglars... however we never expected to find this stolen loot in the boot, the Operational Support Group of police in Essex, a county northeast of London, said on Twitter. "Stolen items recovered and 3 arrested all within an hour of it being reported" it said. A Limerick couple have appeared before Naas District Court in connection with a series of alleged thefts from the Kildare Village Outlet. At the March 12 sitting of the court, Glen Houlihan, 41, of 124 Sycamore Avenue, Rathbane, Limerick, appeared before Judge Desmond Zaidan. The State is bringing eleven charges against Mr Houlihan. These include charges of taking goods from a large number of outlets at the Kildare Village on January 27 last. They include outlets such as Karl Lagerfield, Tommy Hilfiger, Diesel, Guess and others. It is also alleged that Lisa Kirby, 33, of 100 Hyde Road, Prospect, Limerick, took items in conjunction with Mr Houlihan. Garda Sergeant Brian Jacob told the court that it is being alleged that the the pair went on a crime spree going from shop to shop. It is alleged that property from 11 shops was taken to a car registered in Mr Houlihan's name. Sgt Jacob said the alleged value of the goods, in total, came to 1,300. Judge Zaidan asked how they they managed to leave the shops with the tags not setting off alarms. Sgt Jacob said it is alleged that they might be very good. Sgt Jacob said that all of the property was recovered. He told Judge Zaidan that gardai did not have directions from the Director of Publications (DPP) as of yet, due to the alleged value of the goods involved. The judge adjourned the matter to May 28 for DPP directions to be obtained. Speaking of the alleged theft and the accused, Judge Zaidan said: They seem to have expensive tastes. Ms Kirby was granted free legal aid but it was refused to Mr Houlihan. An old malaria treatment that has been tried with some success against the new coronavirus and was touted by U.S. President Donald Trump at a news briefing earlier on Thursday is in short supply as demand surges amid the fast-spreading outbreak. The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP), which maintains a list of drugs in shortage independent of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's list, added the generic malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to its list on Thursday. Four out of eight manufacturers of the drug are currently in shortage, it said. The new coronavirus, which causes the highly contagious COVID-19 respiratory illness, emerged in December in Wuhan, China and has spread throughout the world. There are currently no vaccines or treatments approved for the disease, but researchers are studying existing treatments and working on experimental ones. At the moment, most patients can only receive supportive care. Erin Fox, senior director of drug information at University of Utah Health, who maintains ASHP's shortages list, said pharmacists are unable to get the drug or fill prescriptions in full. Fox said that University of Utah's 12 retail pharmacies are not filling prescriptions for prophylactic use, and are preserving their stocks for inpatient needs. The FDA could not be reached for comment, but hydroxychloroquine is not currently on its drugs in shortage list. Trump called on U.S. health regulators to expedite potential therapies aimed at treating COVID-19, including hydroxychloroquine. "We're going to be able to make that drug available almost immediately," Trump said of the malaria drug at a White House briefing. Run On Pharmacies Fox and the FDA have been watching for drug shortages that could be due to supply chain issues with manufacturing in China and India. But surging demand in recent weeks is the issue with the malaria drug, which can also treat rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, according to online pharmacy, Honeybee Health. Its co-Chief Executive Jessica Nouhavandi sent a letter to prescribers earlier this week, urging them to be aware of potential hoarding of the drug that could deprives those who really need it. On Thursday, Nouhavandi said demand was its highest yet after Trump's comments. Jeff Bartone, who owns Hock's Pharmacy in Vandalia, Ohio, said he purchased five bottles of hydroxychloroquine this morning, but within an hour the company that distributes it to his pharmacy had run out. He said four backup prescription drug wholesalers were out of the drug as well. Bartone said he does not typically stock large amounts of the drug because it is not widely prescribed. Mylan NV (MYL.O) - one of the manufacturers ASHP said was in shortage - said it was ramping up production of the drug and expects to be in a position to begin supplying it more broadly in mid-April. It said with the raw materials on hand it can make 50 million tablets to potentially treat more than 1.5 million patients. Bayer AG (BAYGn.DE) said it would donate 3 million tablets of Resochin - a closely related drug known generically as chloroquine phosphate. Chloroquine is also in shortage, according to the ASHP. Online pharmacy Valisure said it too was unable to order any chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine as of Thursday from its four distributors. Valisure Chief Executive David Light said other potential treatments are also becoming difficult to obtain. "Kaletra and losartan are being rationed, meaning we are only allowed to order limited quantities at a time," he said. Kaletra, a combination HIV treatment sold by AbbVie ABBN.N, and the generic blood pressure drug losartan have been considered as potential treatments for the virus, although Chinese investigators reported this week that Kaletra failed to improve outcomes for seriously ill COVID-19 patients. Also read: Private labs to begin COVID-19 testing next week; Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw panel to work on modalities Also read: Soon an indigenous ready-to-use kit to test coronavirus for just Rs 500 TEHRAN, Iran, March 21 Trend: The Deputy Minister of Industries, Mine & Trade and Head of IDRO (Industrial Development & Renovation Organization) of Iran Mohammad Bagher Ali has announced the support measures by IDRO to supply and produce essential anti-coronavirus items including disinfectants, masks and test kits, Trend reports citing Fars News Agency. "IDRO has contracted to produce and supply of 130,000 liters of disinfectants, as well as 100,000 liters of hand sanitizing gel through its subsidiaries, which are in the process of obtaining alcohol quotas," Ali said. He also pointed to the conclusion of a contract to produce 10,000 isolation clothing in times of the rapidly spreading coronavirus disease. He went on to mention the support for knowledge-based companies working in the field of coronavirus detection kits. The World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11 declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Iran is one of the countries heavily affected by the rapidly-spreading coronavirus. According to recent reports from the Iranian officials, over 14,900 people have been infected, 853 people have already died. Meanwhile, over 4,900 have reportedly recovered from the disease. The country continues to apply strict measures to contain the further spread. Reportedly, the disease was brought to Iran by a businessman from Iran's Qom city, who went on a business trip to China, despite official warnings. The man died later from the disease. Following the reports of coronavirus spread in the Islamic Republic, several countries have taken measures, including closing borders and banning flights. The Islamic Republic only announced its first infections and deaths from the coronavirus on Feb. 19. NC president and Member of Parliament Farooq Abdullah released an amount of Rs one crore from his MPLAD funds on Saturday to combat the spread of coronavirus in Jammu and Kashmir. "The party president and Srinagar MP released an amount of Rs one crore from his MPLAD funds today to combat the COVID-19 threat in Jammu and Kashmir," a National Conference (NC) spokesperson said. He added that of the said amount, Rs 50 lakh have been earmarked for SKIMS, Srinagar while Rs 25 lakh each for Budgam and Ganderbal districts in central Kashmir. The Srinagar parliamentary constituency, which is represented by Abdullah in the Lok Sabha, is spread over the three districts of Srinagar, Budgam and Ganderbal. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) During Mass in Casa Santa Marta, streamed lived, Pope Francis praised the publican's prayer. People must approach the Lord with humility. people must pray with the naked soul, without make-up, without disguising one's virtues, the pontiff said. People must pray for spiritual communion. Vatican City (AsiaNews) In the Mass streamed live from Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis prayed this morning for "families who cannot leave home, forced into isolation by the coronavirus outbreak. Introducing the celebration, the pontiff said: Today I would like to mention families that cannot leave home. Perhaps the only vista they have is from the balcony, where we find the family, with the children, the kids, the parents: May they know how to communicate well, build family relationships based on love; may they know how to overcome the anxieties of this time together, within the family. Let us ask for peace for families today, in this crisis, and for creativity. Like many priests at such a time, Francis now celebrates Mass without people, expressing every day a special intention linked to the pandemic: for doctors and nurses, for those who die because of COVID-19, for prisoners, etc. ... In his homily he cited todays readings (Hosea 6: 1-6 and Luke 18:9-14), focusing mainly on the Gospel parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. In the Gospel, Francis said, Jesus teaches us how to pray. There are two men, a conceited one who goes off to pray in order to say that he is a good person, someone who likes telling God: Look, I am so good: if you need something, tell me, I will solve your problem". This is how he addresses God. What Conceit! ... Then there is the other one, the tax collector, who does not stand before the altar. No! He remains at a distance. Stopping at a distance, he dared not even raise his eyes heavenward, but instead beat his chest saying: God, have mercy on me a sinner. The Lord teaches us how to pray, how to approach, how we must approach the Lord, with humility, said Francis. There is a beautiful image in the liturgical hymn of the feast of Saint John the Baptist. He says that people are coming to the Jordan to receive the baptism, with naked soul and feet. Praying with the naked soul, without make-up, without disguising with ones virtues. He, we read at the beginning of the Mass, forgives all sins but needs me to show him the sins, with my nakedness. Praying like this, naked, with a naked heart, without covering up, without trusting even what I learnt about how to pray. today too, the celebration ended with Eucharistic adoration and blessing. Owing to the government ban on communal Mass, it has become very difficult to receive the Eucharist. For this reason, Pope Francis mentioned the possibility of spiritual communion, and recited the traditional prayer: My Jesus, I believe that You are present in the Most Holy Sacrament. I love You above all things, and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot at this moment receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen. Patriots defensive back Devin McCourty chose to return to New England over offers from both the Lions and Dolphins, according to Ben Volin of the Boston Globe. McCourty, 32, signed a two-year, $23 million deal to return to the Pats, receiving $17 million in guaranteed money. The Pats made it a priority to re-sign both McCourty and special teams captain Matthew Slater in free agency to preserve some continuity with Tom Brady departing for Tampa Bay. Its unsurprising that two teams led by former Patriots defensive assistants would pursue the veteran. Both Detroits Matt Patricia and Miamis Brian Flores have added their share of ex-Pats this week, with the Lions acquiring Duron Harmon and signing Danny Shelton and Jamie Collins and the Dolphins bringing in free agents Kyle Van Noy, Elandon Roberts and Ted Karras. McCourty, who has familarity with both Patricia and Flores, chose instead to return to the Pats, reuniting with his brother, Jason, and potentially securing that hell end his career with New England after a decade with the organization. It turns out the Lions and Dolphins cant poach every old Patriot, after all. It sure seems like Patricia and Flores are trying their hardest to see if they can. Mary Mallon was a great cook. So great that shed made a comfortable life for herself in the kitchens of the rich after arriving in New York City as a penniless teenager from Ireland. She was especially known for her peach ice cream. Later, she became known as Typhoid Mary, a moniker recalled over the weekend as young people flooded bars to celebrate St. Patricks Day, and a Nevada school board candidate wondered why she shouldnt eat at her favourite Red Robin restaurant amid the coronavirus pandemic. In 1906, it wasnt a chain restaurant that caught the attention of George Soper but Marys peach ice cream recipe. A doctor and sanitary engineer, he had been hired by a wealthy family to investigate a typhoid outbreak in the summer home they rented out in Oyster Bay. They were afraid that unless they found the source of outbreak, no one would ever rent it again. Soper was a diligent investigator. He suspected the outbreak had been caused not by a contaminated water supply, as was often the case with typhoid, but by contaminated food. Most of what the renters staff prepared that summer would have been safe to eat, because most of it was cooked at high temperatures. But not peach ice cream. Soper tracked Mallons job history back years, doing what epidemiologists today would call contact tracing. He found eight former employers; seven had experienced typhoid outbreaks while Mallon was in their service. One of them had even given her a bonus when she stayed late to nurse the sick, according to Judith Walzer Leavitt in Typhoid Mary: Captive to the Publics Health. Soper later said he was aware of research in Europe indicating that typhoid could have asymptomatic carriers people walking around shedding the virus who never appeared to get sick. He suspected Mallon might be one of them. All in all, Soper claimed she had caused two dozen illnesses and one death. In March 1907, Soper found the Park Avenue house where Mallon was then employed and demanded that she give him samples of her feces, urine and blood. She threw him out of the house. Next, he went to health department officials with his theory. Eventually, she was dragged kicking and cursing from the home by police and forced to give specimens at a hospital. She was full of the typhoid bacteria. Soper soon announced his findings at a physicians conference, and she became world famous. The media dubbed her Typhoid Mary, depicting her as a heartless serial poisoner flipping flapjacks full of germs. No matter that about a thousand New Yorkers got typhoid every year. Most of those were poor people with bad water supplies. The few dozen people that Mallon attacked were rich. Mallon refused to believe what the doctors told her and declined their offers to remove her gall bladder (thought at the time to be the source of her typhoid shedding). So she was declared a menace to society and sent to live in isolation on North Brother Island, between the South Bronx and Rikers Island in the East River. She was there for three years before her lawyers successfully petitioned for her release, under the condition that she give up cooking as a profession. And for a while she did. She got a job in a laundry, where the soap kept everyone safe and the pay, well, it stank. In 1915, Mallon was caught cooking under a different name at a maternity hospital. This time, she was blamed for another two dozen cases of typhoid with two deaths. TYPHOID MARY HAS REAPPEARED: Human Culture Tube, Herself Immune, Spreads the Disease Wherever She Goes, a New York Times headline announced. She was taken into custody and returned to her isolation bungalow on North Brother Island, where she remained for the rest of her life. She died in 1938 at 69. It is unclear how many people with COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, caught it from asymptomatic carriers, according to The Washington Posts William Wan, which is part of the reason health officials have suggested that even low-risk, asymptomatic people practise social distancing in the coming weeks and months. Given the highly infectious nature of coronavirus and how exponential growth works, it is possible an asymptomatic carrier could infect more people than Typhoid Mary ever did. The first case of Coronavirus in Nigeria, an Italian who flew into the country via Istanbul, has tested negative and certified fit to go home, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has declared. Mr Sanwo-Olu, who is the incident commander for COVID-19 in Lagos State, said in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Gboyega Akosile, on Saturday that after weeks of medical attention by health workers at the Infectious diseases hospital, Yaba that the patient has now tested negative to the virus and has been released to return home. As the COVID-19 Incident Commander for Lagos State, I am glad to inform you that the index case, an Italian gentleman is now negative. Through a combined effort of Lagos State, Ogun State and Federal Health Authorities, we were able to limit the transmission of the virus to a single contact. This involved aggressive contact tracing and containment strategies. Sanwo-Olu said. The governor said there are new imported cases, saying that he hopes that same contact tracing strategy method can be applied along with social distancing practices to slow down the outbreak which may be brewing from the new cases. Mr Sanwo-Olu said the index patient graciously donated a unit of white blood before he was discharged. He said the white blood, otherwise called plasma is rich in antibody proteins that target COVID19 virus. The white blood plasma, the governor said, is frozen in the States Bio-bank and will be useful in handling new cases. He said: the blood plasma will be beneficial for the treatment of new patients in the absence of a defined therapeutic drug for COVID-19. Governor Sanwo-Olu applauded the professional handling of the index patient by the Lagos State medical personnel, the EOC team and others who collaborated with the State Government and the Federal Government for the success recorded. Mr Sanwo-Olu, however, reminded all residents to keep safe, saying that the COVID-19 is real and its with us in the community but maintained that we can defeat it if we follow basic instructions as being sent out daily by the State and Federal Ministries of health. He enjoined the residents to scale up their personal hygiene habits, by washing their hands regularly with soap and water, avoid large crowds of more than fifty persons and practice social distancing. The statement said the index patient appreciated the care and support given to him by staff of the Mainland Infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba, and all members of the EOC and Lagos State Government. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 22:18:31|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close FUZHOU, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The city of Fuqing, eastern China's Fujian Province, will ship 700,000 donated face masks to countries including Italy, Britain and Japan to help overseas Chinese fight COVID-19, according to local authorities. The face masks were donated by enterprises and charitarians of the city, where over 1.6 million overseas Chinese are from. As the spread of the disease has become a pandemic, a number of countries and regions are running short of protective supplies including face masks, protective suits and disinfectants. He Wenjin, who is in charge of the city's overseas Chinese affairs, said overseas Chinese of Fuqing origin tried every means to purchase protective materials and mail them back to support their hometown to fight the epidemic, and now it is time to requite their love as overseas cases rose fast. Maharashtra SSC exam 2020 has been postponed in view of the coronavirus. Only one examination i.e., Geography was left that was scheduled for March 23 has been postponed. The new date will be announced after March 31. The education minister of Mahrashtra Varsha Gaikwad said, In view of the corona situation updates, school education department has now decided to postpone the class 10 SSC board exam scheduled for Monday March 23. The decision about rescheduling the exam date will be taken after March 31. On Saturday, students wrote their History paper. Examination centres provided them with hand santizers and masks in view of prevention of the coronavirus. The examination had begun on March 3, 2020. Maharashtra government had on Friday announced the cancellation of school examinations in state government schools for class 1 to class 8, postponed examination for class 9 and class 11. MPs came together at the Chamber of Deputies this Saturday at 2pm. Parliament voted in favour of the extension of the state of emergency, which could now last up to three months. The state of emergency was declared last Wednesday. It was approved by a Grand Ducal decree and was initially valid for 10 days. All MPs voted in favour of prolonging the state of emergency by up to three months. The parliamentary meeting as it unfolded Chamber President Fernand Etgen openend the parliamentary session at 2pm. He started by reiterating that Luxembourg's parliament will remain operational despite the state of emergency that was declared earlier this week. MPs will keep physical distance from each other (2 seats), Etgen explained. Despite the physical distance, he added, "we are closer together than ever" in these turbulent times. Parliament will continue to coordinate efforts with the government. Mars di Bartolomeo: it's the "most far-reaching project in decades" The draft bill for the extended state of emergency requires a two-thirds majority, Mars Di Bartolomeo explained. He stressed that drastic times call for drastic measures, and that Luxembourg has not been in a similar crisis since WWII. "But we have something that the virus doesn't have: our intelligence," he added. Determination, solidarity, and efficiency will be Luxembourg's key tools to win the race against the virus, Bartolomeo said. The state of emergency gives the government the power to take new measures as soon as possible, without having to run them by parliament first. Bartolomeo explained that this does not mean that parliament will become inactive. The Chamber of Deputies will continue to assists the government. He explained that, if the crisis is over before the three months come to an end, the state of emergency also ends. Parliament will maintain its legislative powers and remain able to interfere if necessary. Luxembourg's juridicial system will also continue to be operation. It would therefore be wrong to think that Luxembourg is no longer a constitutional state for the duration of the state of emergency, Bartolomeo underlined. Bartolomeo explained that the vote on the state of emergency was the "most far-reaching project in decades." But it is also, Bartolomeo added, a necessary step in the right direction. Martine Hansen: CSV in favour of prolonged state of emergency CSV MP Martine Hansen then took over from Bartolomeo. She stressed that resolution and quick reactions from the government's side are required to bring the situation under control. Hansen is not against a compete lockdown if the situation demands it. She cited the quick rise of new infections and coronavirus deaths in Luxembourg, which exemplify the acute seriousness of the situation. Hansen stressed that the threat of the virus for the entire population is unambiguous. At the same time, Luxembourg's normal legislative procedures are too slow to deal with the worsening crisis efficiently. Hansen concluded that it was therefore required to vote in favour of the prolonged state of emergency. "Anything else would be irresponsible," Hansen said. She conceded that it was a difficult decision, especially for the opposition party, to grant these exceptional powers to the government for the maximum period of three months. She lamented that many crucial questions still remained open. She concluded that the approval of the prolonged state of emergency would set a strong example of unity and collective political strength. Hansen nevertheless explained that the CSV's willingness to vote in favour of the extended state of emergency should not be misinterpreted as the opposition party's uncritical acceptance of the government's measures. She argued that many of the measures were simply too vague and, at times, contradictory. She concluded that critical scrutiny continue to be the mission of the opposition party and of the Chamber more generally. She cited a number of points that, according to her, the government has failed to illuminate. She for example cited Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, who had promised that the government would support each company negatively impacted by the virus. Minister of the Economy Franz Fayot, on the other hand, said yesterday that it would not be possible to help each business. Hansen stressed that similar internal contradictions should be avoided. She concluded that the state needs to "strengthen its immune system to embark on the race against the virus." Political responsibility should go hand in hand with personal responsibility. The CSV is in favour of the prolonged state of emergency, Hansen said. Gilles Baum: "each individual needs to take responsibility" The DP MP started by urging young people to stop meeting their friends and reduce social activity to a strict minimum. Baum again stressed the importance of personal responsibility and reiterated the importance of the various measures that the government took. He thanked the police, the army, the civil servants, those working from home, and everybody else involving in the fight against of spreading of the virus. Baum said the prolonged state of emergency was a necessity. Georges Engel: "a difficult time, but we're with you" The LSAP MP stressed that the key principle should still be "stay at home." He took issue with some of the points that the CSV raised. He explained that nobody could have anticipated the true extent of the crisis and therefore deemed some of CSV's criticism unfair. he underlined that the government acted as quickly as possible and implemented crucial measures. "We're not clairvoyants or magicians," he metaphorically explained. It is crucial for the entire population to respect the rules and measures, he stressed. Egoistic behaviour or ignorance should not jeopardize the lives of innocents. Engel explained that the LSAP welcomed the prolonged state of emergency but simultaneously stressed that MPs would continue to examine the government's future measures critically. Josee Lorsche: thousands of lives are at risk Lorsche began by outlining the political implications of the state of emergency (see above). She explained that it was understandable that this change could be misinterpreted as a restriction of democracy. The Chamber of Deputies, however, can interfere at any moment. The Greens are therefore in favour of the prolonged state of emergency, Lorsche explained. The alarming situations demands that the Chamber of Deputies vote in favour of the extension. Lorsche again stressed the importance of personal responsibility. Lorsche expressed hope that the coronavirus will open new doors in the future, notably to more solidarity, and a more just society. Fernand Kartheiser (ADR): "not ideal way to deal with crisis" Kartheiser argued that it was not an ideal solution but nevertheless stated that the ADR would support the prolonged state of emergency to save as many lives as possible. He argued that it was crucial for the government to justify the measures that are taken. The public needs to understand why the authorities may interfere with personal liberties, Kartheiser explained. "We need to protect the rights of the public," he emphasised. The best way of guaranteeing these rights is for the Chamber of Deputies to meet at least once a week. He argued that it was also necessary to reduce commercial injustices: large retailers (that primarily sell food) are for example still allowed to sell clothes while smaller clothes shops had to close. Kartheiser stressed that the government needs to tackle these injustices. Marc Baum (the Left): the situation is alarming "This is not a delegation of power from the Chamber to the government," Baum stressed. The Chamber will still have the power to invalidate measures deemed incorrect. Baum stressed that Luxembourg's parliament will remain critical and active. "The state of emergency is a dangerous state for a society," Baum explained. Doors for political abuse can easily be opened. It is crucial that Luxembourg remains a constitutional state, Baum stressed. In this context, it will be the Chamber of Deputies's role to remain vigilant. "We need to be careful that, once the crisis is over, our freedom has not been weakened, or vulnerable people left behind," Baum concluded. Sven Clement (Pirates): "an invisible threat" Clement argued that it was important for the government to have the power to act as quickly as possible in the best interests of society. The extraordinary circumstances demand extraordinary measures, Clement said. He added that it was with mixed feelings that the Pirates support the prolonged state of emergency - under normal circumstances the government should not have these powers. Clement lamented that many people are still failing to respect the new measures - despite the Pirate Party's generally more critical stance on repressive measures, Clement argued that fines were a legitimate way to protect the collective in these circumstances. Prime Minister Xavier Bettel - "we need to anticipate" Prime Minister Xavier Bettel similarly deplored that many people are still not following the new regulations. He stressed that the clock was ticking, and that the government would continue to consult the Chamber of Deputies. "We want to limit [the state of emergency] to the crisis," Bettel emphasised. "The law is not perfect, but we tried to find a solution as quickly as possible. [...] The government had no other choice," Bettel explained. Despite delays, Luxembourg is collecting larger amounts of medical equipment. Testing has gone up considerably - 1500 tests were carried out yesterday. Luxembourg is among the countries that test most actively, Bettel explained. The Prime Minister also explained that it was better for the public to use wifi rather than 4G networks. Bettel stressed that the government was determined to support all companies that are negatively affected by the virus. "I take great pride in the solidarity we have in Luxembourg," Bettel said. The vote All 56 MPs voted in favour of the prolonged state of emergency. The indefinite sit-in by about 50 women against the Citizenship Amendment Act at the Park Circus Maidan here will continue on Sunday, its organisers said, defying the call of Janata Curfew in wake of the coronavirus pandemic. A spokesperson of the organisers, who have been holding the protest on the lines of Shaheen Bagh in Delhi, said on Saturday that they are taking all precautions such as keeping adequate sanitisers, wearing masks, maintaining a distance between one another and avoiding a large gathering in wake of the coronavirus pandemic. "But there is no way we can lift the sit-in," the spokesperson said. The protest can be withdrawn only when there is a positive development with regard to withdrawal of the "discriminatory new citizenship law" and dispel the sense of fear and insecurity among bonafide citizens of the country, she said. Muzaffar Ali, a businessman and one of those attending the protest every evening, said it was discussed whether the sit-in will be withdrawn and it was decided there should not be any break in the agitation, which has been continuing since January. He said the protests will continue and it will be ensured that there is no large gathering. "Different NGOs and people of the neighbourhood and all over the city have been providing the sanitisers and other personal hygiene products and we will ensure the coronavirus guidelines are not flouted," he said. Reacting to it, BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha said that the protestors and their supporters should keep in mind the first and foremost job of every citizen now is to save the nation. "These people should not forget the fact that all of us will survive only if the country survives. Our immediate job is to pass through the coronavirus crisis. Our immediate job is to go by the prime minister's call," he told PTI. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has repeatedly urged people to avoid large gatherings but the state did not issue any directive for withdrawal of the protest. Trinamool Congress leaders and state ministers did not want to comment on the issue. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The following list includes recent reports from the Midland County Sheriff's Office and the Midland Police Department. Compiled by reporter Mitchell Kukulka. Wednesday, March 18 10:15 p.m. -- A 60-year-old Hope Township man reported someone threw rocks at his house but did not cause any damage. The man said he did not hear a car or see anyone run away. He agreed to call 9-1-1 again if he hears or sees anything suspicious. 10:08 p.m. -- A 43-year-old Hope Township man said he observed a white Pontiac four-door car shoot at his solar panels in his front yard with an unknown projectile. The vehicle continued west on Hull Road where the man lost sight of it. There was no damage to the solar panel. A deputy was in the area, but was unable to located the vehicle. 9:49 p.m. -- Deputies responded to a car-deer crash in Homer Township. 9:35 p.m. -- Deputies responded to a car-deer crash in Homer Township. 9:01 p.m. -- A deputy was dispatched to a Porter Township location for a report of a verbal argument. The deputy spoke to a 46-year-old woman and learned of a domestic assault that occurred a few days prior. The incident was investigated, and the deputy later arrested a 47-year-old male suspect for domestic assault. 3:40 p.m. -- Officers responded to a breaking-and-entering in the 1800 block of East Wheeler Street. 2:49 p.m. -- A deputy spoke with a 63-year-old Homer Township woman by telephone regarding a larceny. The 63-year-old said an unknown suspect had used her social security number to open a DTE Energy account in her name in the Detroit area. The account was opened in 2018 and closed in 2019. The unpaid balance of $2,000 was applied to the 63-year-old's unknown account and sent to a collection agency. 11:05 a.m. -- Officers responded to a vehicle crash in the 2500 block of North Saginaw Road. 10:30 a.m. -- A deputy was dispatched to a single vehicle crash in Warren Township. 12:33 a.m. -- An 18-year-old Mount Pleasant man was arrested for domestic violence after he assaulted his 17-year-old girlfriend. The girl did not suffer any injuries. Police in Virginia are not pressing charges against two teenagers identified as having filmed themselves coughing on produce in a grocery store and uploading the video to social media. Authorities are warning of the disturbing trend which has appeared on social media as the coronavirus pandemic worsened, calling on parents to monitor their childrens actions online. The incident in Purcellville, Virginia, some 55 miles from the White House, took place in a Harris Teeter store on March 18, the Washington Examiner reports, but police determined that there was no criminal intent involved. Videos have been emerging on social media such as this one where a person pretends to cough in a grocery store and the other reacts to it. Police cautioned against the videos Police revealed that there was no criminal intent with the videos and the teens were warned Purcellville Police Department released an update on Friday revealing that two teens involved in the incident were identified after being seen on Wednesday reportedly coughing on produce, while filming themselves and posting it on social media. The store quickly informed the police and removed the produce involved, taking measures to ensure the safety of their customers from the coronavirus. The two juveniles questioned admitted to their involvement, and it was determined that there was no criminal intent, the police statement read. The investigation concluded the teenagers were getting close to other patrons and coughing into their own sleeves, while filming it on their phones. After viewing the video footage, officers determined no actual customers or produce were spit or coughed on directly, but we appreciate the stores swift action in reporting the incident to police and removing any items in question to ensure the health of store patrons and employees. Due to the age of the minors involved, no names or video footage will be released, the statement added. With schools closed to allow for social distancing to lessen the spread of the coronavirus, police also asked parents to monitor their childrens activities, including activities on social media to discourage the promotion of any such fear-inducing behavior. With school closures in effect, this allows for more idle time among children, especially teenagers who are often not supervised as closely, police said. We have learned that this appears to be a disturbing trend on social media across the country, and we ask for help from parents to discourage this behavior immediately. In Facebook posts under the police statement, people questioned why more wasn't being done to keep children and teenagers at home when they are supposed to be social distancing. 'Went to walk on W&OD today and saw a group of 5 teens walking across from the library. Kind of defeats the notion of cancelling school- even if in a small way,' one man wrote. I live in Village Case neighborhood and the kids have been out every afternoon, walking, biking, skateboarding in groups. Mostly looks like middle school aged kids,' another woman added. 'I support getting out into fresh air every day but these kids are congregating and socializing which defeats the social distancing guidelines. I pray they all stay well.' Some people called for them to be arrested as police have done in other social media challenges: 'They should be arrested just as the people with the licking ice cream situation.' Schools around the country closed over the last two weeks to aid authorities in combating the spread of the coronavirus. While evidence from China, the country first hit by a major outbreak, suggested that younger people were not at risk from the virus as much as the elderly, the number of cases in the U.S. so far is suggesting that all young people may not be as safe from serious health complications as first believed. Social media videos show one person pretending to sneeze while the other runs away In this video posted to TikTok and posted under #coughingchallenge and #coronaviruschallenge, two people are shown shopping while one pretends to cough Purcellville police but did not cite any other examples where teens had been seen coughing on grocery store produce for social media challenges but searches under #coronaviruschallenge, #coughingchallenge and #grocerystorechallenge did reveal similar videos. In one video posted to TikTok, two people are seen inside a grocery store with one coughing and sneezing as he walks past the other shopping. Hes eventually handed some toilet paper to deal with the sneezes. Another filmed in a Canadian store jokes at the reaction people have if a person starts to cough amid the current pandemic. This video posted to TikTok showed one man running away when the other began to cough Many are posting the the #grocerystorechallange with their attempts to shop through crowds Some TikTok users are posting dances from grocery stores as they try to lighten the mood As one man pretends to cough, the other runs in the opposite direction down the aisle. Many of those posted under the hashtags are of customers attempting to shop amid the panic with long lines and empty shelves making the normal chore more of a challenge than it used to be. Others are performing dances within grocery stores to try and raise the spirits of those battling through the crowds to stock up. Education experts say the Higher School Certificate will go ahead this year although the coronavirus pandemic may force major adjustments such as delayed exams, a slimmed-down syllabus or even dumping examinations altogether and using assessments to calculate results. Schools say they are in limbo about the HSC and are calling for more information about potential options as year 12 students navigate the two-fold stress of studying for their final exams and worrying about their health. Emma Hooten is studying for her HSC this year. Credit:Steven Siewert The NSW Education Standards Authority board meets on Tuesday night but is unlikely to make any decisions, given there is so much uncertainty about how the coming months will unfold. "A lot of it depends on how things evolve and how long schools are able to stay open, and when they would reopen," said Craig Petersen, the acting president of the Secondary Principals Council. "If they have to close, as they probably will, what does that look like? PATNA: Bihar has been relatively better off so far amid the raging fear of novel coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak and the growing threat perception over potential community transmission. However, the state has a huge migrant population both at home and abroad, which is a cause for worry. At present, the focus is on creating awareness among people. Efforts are on to track the asymptomatic migrants returning home, mixing with large population in the countryside, where health care and testing facilities are, at best, basic. Rajendra Memorial Research Institute (RMRI), the only laboratory where testing of samples of Covid-19 suspects is done, has not reported a single positive sample so far. There is no reason to start community sampling. The government is focusing on people coming from Covid-19-affected countries and urging them to go for mandatory 14-day quarantine. Coronavirus is still in stage-2 and there is no evidence of stage-3 from anywhere in the state, said Dr Pradeep Das, director, RMRI. Bihara labour minister Vijay Kumar Sinha said, We dont know the exact number of migrants who have returned to the state, as reporting is not always done. The biggest problem is that the mobility pattern of a large section of migrant population is unknown. Pushpendra, director at the Patna centre of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), said that as per 2011 Census data, Bihars migrant population was 29 million. The states migrant population was 6.4% of the countrys migrant demography. Nearly 13% of the total migration was for work, business and education, and 62% on account of matrimonial alliances. The proportion of migrant households dependent on remittances is the highest in the country in both urban and rural areas, he said, quoting from a working paper of the institutes assistant professor, Dr Pinak Sarkar. In rural Bihar, the number of households reporting out-migration per 1,000 households was 745, which was nearly double of the national average of 365. In urban areas, the corresponding figure was 614 against the national average of 240. The fear of community transmission cannot be ruled out. There should be a mechanism for community testing, starting off with vulnerable areas, Pushpendra said. Major destination states for migrants from Bihar State % Delhi 19.34 Jharkhand 14.12 W Bengal 13.65 Maharashtra 10.65 UP 10.24 Haryana 7.06 Punjab 6.89 Gujarat 4.79 Rest of India 13.25 Source: Tata Institute of Social Sciences SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Dateline Factories Should not use COVID-19 as an Excuse to Sack Staff -- Ye Ni: Welcome to Dateline Irrawaddy! This week, well discuss the closure of factories and resultant redundancies. Chairman of the Confederation of Trade Unions in Myanmar (CTUM) U Maung Maung and U Nandar Sitt Aung, director of Our Generation Network, join me to discuss this. Im The Irrawaddy Burmese editor Ye Ni. Dozens of factories have closed and around 10,000 jobs have been lost. How worrying is this situation? Do you think there will be redundancies on a wider scale? Around 500,000 people are employed in the garment industry. Should they be worried? Maung Maung: It is a cause for concern for the entire country. It will not just affect the garment industry, but the entire country. The country that supplies our factories could not produce materials and the demand has fallen in markets like Hong Kong and Europe. So the garment industry in Myanmar was hit by cuts in both supply and demand. Around 17 CMP [cut-make-package] factories were forced to close and nearly 10,000 employees were made redundant. But the situation is worrying for the entire country. We are trying to take preventive measures. YN: In their statements, trade unions claimed that factories are closed not solely because of COVID-19, but there were also other factors. What do you say, Ko Nandar Sitt Aung? U Nandar Sitt Aung: Most of the 17 factories that closed had recent industrial disputes. There is a question about whether those factories have closed due to industrial disputes. Labor organizations have asked if those factories were closed due to shortages of supplies or if it was just an excuse. Taking a look at the recent interviews with factory owners, it appears that they had stocks to run until the end of April. If so, why have those factories closed? Another factor is there are political problems. The UN fact-finding mission report in August targeted investment from Myanmars military. For example, the Ngwe Pin Lel industrial zone is owned by the militarys Myanmar Economic Holdings. [The UN] called for a boycott of purchases from garment factories in the industrial zone. Garment factories there already had problems. They will be considering moving and changing their names. We also need to see if those factories closed because the tax exemption period is over. They may reopen under new names [to enjoy fresh tax exemptions]. These are problems related to investment procedures. The boycott urged by the UN fact-finding mission will be damaging. Chinese factories and those owned by Myanmar Economic Holdings will have to suffer. To avoid this, they will have to move to other locations and change their names. This might be a factor [in closures]. I urge them not to take advantage of COVID-19. They should be open about their difficulties and cooperate as it affects the national interest. Editors note: A plane carrying garment supplies arrived in Yangon on Wednesday. The government has also raised a 1-trillion kyats (US$700-million) fund with 500-billion kyats from revolving Union funds and 500-billion kyats from social security funds to provide loans to factories, hotels and other businesses. It has also postponed commercial taxes until Sept. 30. YN: What else would you like to add, Ko Maung Maung? MM: We called for employers to follow the law when closing or downsizing factories. Employers must state clearly why a factory needs to close. There must be transparency. We have no complaint if the closure is due to a real shortage of materials. But we will investigate if the supplies really ran out. I dont mean we will force our way into factories to investigate. Government agencies like the Commerce Ministry and Customs Department have the data. And Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association might have data too. We can check the data as well as if the factories received orders from their buyers. Famous brands like H&M have dozens of factories in Myanmar. They are still receiving orders. We will ask them which factories [are still operating]. Chairman of Shwepyithar Industrial Zone management committee U Aye Thaung recently said he could arrange jobs for some 7,000 people. I believe him. A factory in Hmawbi is recruiting. Factories have just opened in Bago and Hlegu industrial zones. There are job opportunities. Those previously working in Hlaing Tharyar may struggle to travel to Hmawbi for new jobs. But there are job opportunities for them. YN: What can the government do to help those who were made redundant? Governments normally intervene during economic recessions. NSA: There is a solution. However, concerns will grow as the pandemic spreads. We should be worried about our country if the pandemic continues until the end of April. If we cant find a temporary solution to import raw materials during that period, we will face a crisis. If the effect is limited to some parts of a particular industry, only those employed in that industry will have to suffer. But if the virus outbreak will result in the redundancies of the majority of employees across the country, it is a national crisis. There are social security funds to help employees in that case. Those funds are also the cause of arguments between Labor Ministry and labor organizations over the exact amount of those funds and how they will be used. If the virus outbreak has an impact on overall industries, the government should adopt a policy for how to use those funds for the employees. There are substantial social security funds, and the government should discuss how to use those funds, through tripartite meetings with employers and employees. This can be a temporary solution. As it is a global phenomenon, we cant avoid the impact. But we have a chance to find temporary solutions. YN: What would you like to tell the government? MM: We know that the government has reserve funds. Our leaders should determine whether to use those reserve funds now. There are social security funds but they are collected for health insurance and not for unemployment benefits. But if the Parliament submitted an urgent proposal to use those funds for unemployment benefits, I think we will be able to financially support those who have lost jobs for one to two months. We will discuss that. The Myanmar Chinese Chamber of Commerce said more than 30 percent of garment supply production has resumed in China. Recently, 60 containers of materials like buttons and zips arrived in Cambodia following bilateral talks. This is very good. We will hold talks with the Chinese Embassy this week and ask for help to prevent the garment industry collapsing. According to the chamber of commerce, there are around 300 [Chinese] factories in Myanmar, and it predicted around 7 percent of them would have run out of supplies. It expects the sector will recover after April. We must take action. On the issue of tax exemptions, if the factories consider changing their names and locations after enjoying tax breaks for eight years, the government can grant, for example, another eight years of tax exemptions and ask them not to close the existing factories. The Union and Yangon governments can also order landowners not to increase workers rents. It is reported that rice prices have increased in Hlaing Tharyar. Rice is grown in Myanmar. The price of rice should, in fact, have fallen because lower fuel costs means milling should be cheaper. The government can control the prices of basic foods like rice, onions and potatoes which are grown in Myanmar. It should be lowering the prices to reduce the impact on people. And the government can extend tax exemptions for factories. We have suggested that the government should not charge for electricity if it is difficult for employers to continue operations. If the government says it will not charge electricity bills, for example, for two years, then those factories will be able to continue operations. The government does not need to spend from its pocket to take these measures. If it takes such measures swiftly, it will be good economically. From the health perspective, we want to know what preparations the government has made. Suppose a suspected case is found at a factory and the patient is sent to the Waibargi infectious disease hospital. The government should have told us about what to do with the rest of the workers in that factory and their families. Only doing so will prevent panic. The government should organize drills. We have asked for support from the Union and Yangon governments. If we can control the Hlaing Tharyar industrial zone, which is crowded, this will help a lot. The Union and Yangon governments can take economic and health measures, without spending too much. YN: Employers have said they face a crisis. They called for postponing [Mays] increase to the minimum wage. They also called on employees not to protest. Employers are also having a hard time. How do you think trade unions should act? NSA: We started to engage in labor issues last year and, from our experience, we view industrial disputes as rule-of-law problems. According to our research, the majority of cases resulted from the denial of labor rights enshrined in labor laws. Employees usually said they were not given the minimum wage and overtime pay. Such cases were frequent in factories. There were around 900 industrial disputes in 2016 and 2017. Most of the cases involved the minimum wage and overtime pay with some factories seeing more than one case. There must be an effective labor dispute settlement system. There were calls in 2018 for prison sentences for employers who violated labor laws. It was clear that fines alone were not enough to make employers follow the labor laws. In industrial disputes, employers tended to go to arbitration bodies rather than engage with the government and employees. They will pay fines if they dont want to follow rulings in arbitration. They will pay fines rather than follow the law. The regulators find it difficult to control them. The amendment of the Labor Dispute Settlement Law has damaged negotiation mechanisms. It has become difficult to hold negotiations. Employers do not show up for negotiations and employees have to wait for months. As negotiations do not function, employees have resorted to strikes. If the protestors and labor activists violate the law, take action against them. Suppose the court rules that employers pay compensation, but in that case, employers are not punished at all because the compensation comes from benefits that the firm did not give to employees. Our organization has avoided strikes and adopted a policy to settle industrial disputes lawfully. But there are difficulties. There are delays in legal proceedings as employers did not show up. While the legal approach is not working, there are political pressures against staging strikes. So we are not out of this crisis. It is necessary to have an effective settlement mechanism, particularly during the current crisis. We will check if the factories have run out of stocks and there must be a mechanism to swiftly address this. No one normally wants to stage strikes or protests. But there is no other way out. What all the labor activists can say is that we all are faced with difficulties. YN: Ko Maung Maung, what else would you like to say? MM: People only see political changes but we need social reforms too. Labor law is taught only in the third year of law degrees. There are no labor law specialists in the country. It is a problem. Talking about labor law is like talking about federalism. Different ethnic groups have their own definitions of federalism. There is labor law but there are also different interpretations. We were not able to study it. In 1959, the Labor Ministry reported on its activities for the whole year ahead of meetings with the ILO [International Labor Organization]. When it returned, the ministry reported on the ILO discussions to the parliament. Lawmaker Daw San San of Seikkan Township told me about it as she was a Labor Ministry official who participated in the process in 1959. But today the authorities view it as a burden to submit annual reports to the ILO. That mechanism has existed since 1959. [The government] today has no institutional memory and it thinks the ILO is deliberately creating problems. This makes it more difficult to cooperate with the international community. Trade unions submitted recommendations when the law was being amended. The 2012 law says a township-level trade union can be formed if there are two basic-level trade unions in that township. But it was amended so now there must be five basic-level trade unions to form a township-level trade union. It has become more difficult to organize. Apart from in the Hlaing Tharyar and Mingaladon industrial zones, it is unlikely that there are five trade unions in any single township. This is a barrier to representation. We never have a chance to learn legal theories, we can only learn by experience. There should be more courses on labor law to help reduce industrial disputes. There are arbitration bodies at township, regional and national levels, but have they received any training? At the same time, trade union members who are involved in arbitration bodies should be impartial in performing their duties. There is still room for improvement in this mechanism. Industrial disputes are normal. They happen even in advanced economies like Germany, Canada and the US. Labor disputes will remain as long as there are employers and employees. Our dispute settlement system is poor and needs huge investment. You may also like these stories: Thailand to Shut One of Two Border Crossings With Myanmar Amid COVID-19 Concerns Combating Fake News in the Time of Coronavirus in Myanmar 21.03.2020 LISTEN Our attention has been drawn to a recent press conference convened by an amorphous group purporting to represent some voices in the Kwesimintsim Constituency during which event the spokespersons made several false, unmeritorious and unethical claims about Dr. Prince Hamid Armah who is contesting in the New Patriotic Partys primaries in the Kwesimintsim Constituency. Those baseless allegations have unfortunately been covered in some parts of the media without recourse to Dr. Armahs campaign team or any of our representatives for our reaction and clarification as required by sound journalistic standards and the provisions of the 1992 Constitution. We wish to put on record that these allegations are categorically false and a figment of the creative imagination of the gentlemen who held the event and their backers who for now remain faceless. Suffice it to say that Dr. Armah is a properly registered voter, a legitimate member of the New Patriotic Party and is in every way qualified to contest and become a member of Ghanas Parliament on the ticket of the party. The increasingly frantic machinations of this group of individuals will not change this simple fact. While we are reluctant to give any weight to these ridiculous allegations, we wish to make the following facts plain to all well-meaning Ghanaians, especially the delegates and members of Kwesimintsim Constituency of NPP who are yearning for quality and accountable leadership: That Dr. Prince Armah has been a registered member of the New Patriotic Party since attaining the voting age. He has held and contested for several party positions which by law and convention required that he must be a registered member of the Party. He has always held a party card, including the white cardboard and blue, hard cover booklet. The party itself, however, has on occasion, changed the card and manner of registration, requiring party members to update their membership. When it did so between 2016 and 2018, Dr Armah duly re-registered and was issued with a valid party card. A receipt of this can be accessed in the Partys records by anyone, including the responsible press and especially party officials eager to verify this fact. That when the current register was compiled by the Electoral Commission in 2012, Dr. Prince Armah registered as a voter in Agona Nkwanta which was the closest place he could do so from where he was then working. When the Electoral Commission opened a window for the transfer of votes in or around March 2019, he duly transferred his vote to his native Kwesimintsim Constituency and has since been on that register. During the exhibition exercise of September 2019, the fact was of this transfer was duly verified and cannot be controverted. That Dr. Prince Armah was born in Kwesimintsim which fact satisfies the necessary and qualifying conditions to be classified as a native. Even as he has travelled around the world for work and study, he has always kept a home there and his family is well known in the community. There is no reason for any person to state otherwise except for the obvious political motivations that drove this shameful exercise. It also very important to note that in their haste to wrongfully attack the candidacy of Dr. Prince Armah, these individuals committed an obvious forgery by creating their own Voter Card which they then pretended to have somehow discovered to be for Dr. Prince Armah. We take a very serious view of this and wish to alert the relevant security agencies to this palpable crime. We urge the security apparatus to get to the bottom of this matter to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to book. A copy of the said forged document is attached to this statement for ease of reference. Finally, we wish to point out that Dr. Prince Armah, having been duly vetted and approved, is now officially a candidate for the NPP primaries to all intents and purposes. He is now presenting his vision to the great delegates of Kwesimintsim NPP and will not be distracted by such devious intrigues from those desperately wishing to avoid accounting for their stewardship and are pursuing a scorched earth agenda that sublimates the fortunes of the Party to their own parochial ambitions. Such personalities would be well advised to at least look for a message because this attempt is doomed to fail rather miserably. We are grateful to the delegates and rank of file of our great Party who have shown themselves impervious to these tricks and are united in their desire to see the Kwesimintsim Constituency chart a better path. Sgd. Jojo Bossman 054 773 7759 Press Secretary and Spokesperson Dr. Armah 2020 The Uttar Pradesh government on Saturday announced that around 35 lakh labourers in the state will get Rs 1,000 each as financial aid while free ration for one month will be provided to 1.65 crore construction workers amid the coronavirus outbreak. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed officials for immediate release of payment to MNREGS workers in the state and to make foodgrains available to the poor in cities and villages, a statement issued by the UP government said. "In view of the precautions being taken throughout the country to prevent the coronavirus outbreak, the state government is alert and cautious. With immediate effect, the state government will provide Rs 1,000 per person for maintenance to 35 lakh labourers. This payment will be sent directly to their accounts through direct bank transfers," said the statement issued on Saturday. It said Adityanath has instructed officials to provide one month free ration in April to over 1.65 crore construction workers and daily labourers registered under the Antyodaya Yojana and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme (MNREGS) with the Labour Department. Daily wage labourers in urban areas who do not have ration cards will get the document on priority basis, the statement said. It said the chief minister has also directed officials that payment be immediately released to the MNREGS workers in the state. "Orders have been issued to provide food grains to those working in rural and urban areas in the state, especially to labourers, cart pullers and others," the statement said. Adityanath appealed to the people of the state to stay indoors during Sunday's 'Janata' curfew called for by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "A call for Janta curfew was given. Please stay in your homes. Metro trains, roadways buses and city buses will not operate on Sunday," the statement said on behalf of the chief minister. It said all metro services in UP will be closed Sunday and that bus services of Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation and city bus services will be closed from 6.00 am to 10.00 pm. "Coronavirus is in the second stage all over the country. It will convey a big message to the entire world if we are successful in stopping this at this stage. To curb this infection, we are working on a war footing. Isolation wards have been set up in every district hospital and medical college. So far, 23 patients have been identified in the state, out of which nine have completely recovered. There is no need to panic, but prepare yourself to fight against this challenge," the UP chief minister said in the statement. He asked traders to not hoard essential items and people to purchase only necessary things, assuring people that the state has enough food grain. He urged people to not crowd or stand in queues at shops to prevent the infection from spreading. Adityanath said coronavirus spreads through infection and that the disease has to stopped at any cost. Reminding people of the Prime Minister's appeal to citizens to avoid going to crowded places and not to hold any public gathering, Adityanath said as a precautionary measure the government has directed shutting down of all educational institutions, multiplexes, theatres and malls in the state and that unnecessary traffic has been stopped. The Chief Minister appealed that the public should not go to the markets unnecessarily during the Janta curfew on Sunday. "We should all stay at our homes. The government has enough medicines and food grains. There will be no shortage of necessary items in the market. Everyone will get goods, and they should not queue at shops, and hoard unnecessarily," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former Director Sandia National Laboratories I have led several large organizations, including one in the federal government, and have learned a number of hard lessons about responding to crises. I am distressed that the federal response to a major health emergency does not seem to reflect even the most basic management principles. Here are six things that could dramatically improve Americas response to the coronavirus outbreak: 1. It is what it is. The first priority is to understand what the problem actually is, versus what you want it to be. Talk to the experts and get as much data as you can about the situation today and where you are headed in the future. Hard numbers help avoid he said/she said debates. This does not imply that you only need to get the numbers and that decisions make themselves no seasoned leader believes that. But, it does mean that you have the best information at any given moment. You can try hiding from reality, but sooner or later it will catch up with you. 2. Over-communicate the facts. Tell people the truth and tell it often. If you dont know, say that you dont know and outline the steps that you are taking to get better information. Even bad news, effectively communicated, can have a positive effect on the listener. One of the worst things that can happen in a crisis is to lose the trust of people they will be reluctant to accept your recommendations in the future. 3. Be prepared. Understand what you might need and find ways to procure those items. For example, if hospitals think they will need ventilators, call a number of manufacturers of similar technologies and tell them to immediately shift production to ventilators. Give them simple designs from other manufacturers so they can start right away. If federal bureaucrats object that this violates procurement law, have the president sign exemptions to those regulations. If you are concerned about fraudulent suppliers, triple the penalties associated with false claims. All of this can be done in one day. 4. Think about the consequences of your actions. At first glance, a decision might seem obvious, but further thought could show that it is actually counterproductive. Limiting travel from other countries that have high infection rates is a good idea. However, jamming thousands of people from virus hot-spots into airports is guaranteed to communicate the virus among them and across the country. Think two, three, or even more moves into the future. 5. Get all the help that you can. Thinking that you are smarter than everyone else is a prescription for disaster. Rarely can one organization, even one as large as the federal government, solve problems on its own. Collaboration between the public and private sector is essential, but so too is collaboration between nations. Listen to what others have learned; dont repeat their mistakes. Buy products they may have on hand and even consider inviting some of their experts to help. 6. Look ahead to victory. Even while the United States was embroiled in the Second World War, it was planning what it would do when it achieved victory. Now is the time to think about how we will readjust to a new normal, how we will apply lessons learned in the current crisis, and how we will rebuild economic and social institutions following a traumatic event. None of this is magic. It is not even inspired leadership. It is nothing more than Management 101. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, our federal government seems challenged to apply these basic principles. We havent a moment to lose in changing that. Stephen Younger recently retired as director of Sandia National Laboratories, the nations largest engineering laboratory. He previous served as director of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and in other senior leadership positions. He holds a Ph.D. in physics and has written extensively on national security and other topics. He lives in Los Alamos. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 14:43:31|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close People wearing face masks are seen in Santiago, Chile, March 20, 2020. Chilean Minister of Health Jaime Manalich announced Friday that the country had 434 confirmed COVID-19 cases. (Photo by Jorge Villegas/Xinhua) MEXICO CITY, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths caused by the pandemic increased in Latin America on Friday, as some countries in the region began to take stricter measures to contain its spread. Brazil reported four people aged over 70 died of COVID-19, bringing the nation's death toll to 11. The total confirmed cases rose to 904 on Friday, according to the country's health authorities. The Brazilian Senate on Friday approved a request made by President Jair Bolsonaro to declare a state of emergency. A related presidential decree authorizes the executive branch to abandon meeting this year's fiscal goals in favor of fighting the health and economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The senators voted on the decree via the country's first-ever remote session. In Chile, Minister of Health Jaime Manalich announced Friday that the country had 434 confirmed cases, while Ecuador registered its fifth fatality from COVID-19 and raised the number of confirmed cases to 367, according to Director of the National Risk Management Service Alexandra Ocles. In Peru, President Martin Vizcarra announced that the number of confirmed cases rose to 263 in the country, and four deaths had occurred so far. The fourth death was a 75-year-old woman who had recently traveled to Spain, the Peruvian Ministry of Health reported Friday. In Argentina, the results of the mandatory quarantine ordered by the government will be seen in two weeks' time if the population respects the measure, Minister of Health Gines Gonzalez Garcia said on Friday. Argentine President Alberto Fernandez asked the people to unite and comply with the mandatory quarantine placed until March 31 to help combat the novel coronavirus pandemic. The country has so far reported 158 cases, three of which were fatal. In Colombia, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases increased to 145, the health ministry reported on Friday. On the same day, the capital city of Bogota began the mandatory isolation drill decreed by Mayor Claudia Lopez in order to prepare for a quarantine aimed at containing the COVID-19 pandemic. Lopez told local media that it is essential for citizens to understand the importance of social isolation and to identify their needs during confinement. The Dominican Republic reported 72 confirmed cases with two deaths so far. Honduras on Friday reported a total of 24 confirmed cases, which doubled the number of cases on Thursday, according to authorities from the National Risk Management System. The Honduran government Friday suspended the curfew for one day so that citizens could stock up on food, fuel, and medicine. Bolivian Minister of Health Anibal Cruz said that quarantine, curfew and labor restrictions will be applied and trade will be restricted in the context of the health emergency. The Cuban government announced new preventive measures on Friday, including new border entry restrictions. Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said that entry to his country will only be authorized for residents of the island, while the departure of foreigners and commercial activity will be permitted to continue. Two men suspected of deliberately running over a local school district police investigator who tried to break up a fight at an IHOP last year have been indicted on charges of capital murder of a police officer. Alfredo Martinez-Contreras, 29, and Jorge Amado Lopez, 23, are accused of killing Clifton Cliff Martinez, 50, a peace officer, while acting in the lawful discharge of an official duty on Dec. 21, release issued Friday by the Bexar County district attorneys office states. On ExpressNews.com: SAISD officer killed trying to break up restaurant brawl Theirs are among the 340 felony indictments returned by Bexar County grand juries this week. Although jury panels have been canceled because of the COVID-19 outbreak, the grand juries have continued to convene. We appreciate the dedication of our hard-working grand jurors, District Attorney Joe Gonzales said. They are a vital part of the criminal justice system who have chosen to continue reporting for service during this challenging time. Martinez, a 17-year veteran of the San Antonio Independent School Districts police force, was working an after-hours security job at an IHOP on the Southeast Side. Reports state that a fight ensued there between two men, and the officer and another person tried to intervene. Reports indicate several men entered the diner, one saying he had been attacked outside. An affidavit says Cliff Martinez attempted to keep the groups apart when Martinez-Contreras pushed the officer, who then tried to arrest him. Martinez-Contreras is alleged to have pushed the officer to the floor, and the struggle moved outside. On ExpressNews.com: Police arrest second man in San Antonio ISD officers killing Once outside the restaurant, Cliff Martinez is alleged to have been pushed to the ground by Martinez-Contreras, who then fled to a car with other passengers. The car ran over the officer, then backed over him as restaurant workers and customers pleaded with the driver to stop, an affidavit states. Once police arrived, Martinez-Contreras and another person ran from the vehicle. Cliff Martinez, who was pinned under the car, died at the scene. If convicted of capital murder of a police officer, each man faces either life in prison without the possibility of parole or death by injection. Elizabeth Zavala covers county and state courts in San Antonio. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | ezavala@express-news.net | Twitter: @elizabeth2863 ALLEGAN COUNTY, MI -- Gun Lake Casino near Wayland has extended its closure because of the coronavirus to April 13 and plans to pay all employees through that period. The casino announced the extension Friday, March 20. The initial closure was planned through March 30. Michigan confirmed coronavirus cases rise to 549 In an unprecedented move, and a show of dedication to being a premier employer in West Michigan, all Team Members will continue to receive these same benefits and compensation through April 13, 2020, totaling four weeks of benefits, according to a Gun Lake Casino Facebook post. Read all of MLives coverage on the coronavirus at mlive.com/coronavirus. Additional information is available at Michigan.gov/Coronavirus and CDC.gov/Coronavirus. PREVENTION TIPS Michigans State Emergency Operations Center is coordinating state-government resources and the response to the coronavirus spread. It has shared the following tips: What you can do to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases: Always cover coughs or sneezes with a tissue or sleeve. Stay home if you are sick and advise others to do the same. Avoid close contact with people who are sick. Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands. Wash your hands often with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds. Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol, if soap and warm water are not available. Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces(computers, keyboards, desks, etc.). Its not too late to get your flu shot! While the influenza vaccine does not protect against COVID-19 infection, it can help keep you healthy during the flu season. More from MLive HopCat closing entirely during coronavirus crisis West Michigan workers feel pain, uncertainty amid coronavirus pandemic Meijer expedites hiring process during coronavirus outbreak Saturday, March 21: Latest developments on coronavirus in Michigan The headquarters of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is seen in Silver Spring, Md., on Nov. 4, 2009. (Jason Reed/AP-File) FDA Warns of Fraudulent In-Home Test Kits for COVID-19 The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday issued a warning about unauthorized fraudulent test kits intended for home use for COVID-19, the disease caused by CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus. The Epoch Times refers to the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19, as the CCP virus because the Chinese Communist Partys coverup and mismanagement allowed the virus to spread throughout China and create a global pandemic. The agency is beginning to see unauthorized fraudulent test kits that are being marketed to test for COVID-19 in the home, the FDA announced. We want to alert the American public that, at this time, the FDA has not authorized any test that is available to purchase for testing yourself at home for COVID-19. The FDA warned that results from the kits could keep some patients from seeking care or delay necessary medical treatment, and reminded consumers to follow the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions guidelines and speak to their doctor if they have symptoms of COVID-19. The agency said that it is increasing checks at ports of entry, including International Mail Facilities, to help prevent fraudulent products coming to the United States. People who know of fake test kits for COVID-19 should also report to the agency, it said. We will continue to aggressively pursue those who place the public health at risk and hold bad actors accountable, the FDA said, adding that this may include issuing warning letters, seizures or injunctions. Earlier, the FDA issued warning letters to seven companies that were found to have been selling products claiming to treat or prevent COVID-19. The FDA reminded Americans to refer to President Donald Trumps Coronavirus Guidelines for America to help slow the spread of the CCP virus. Trump on Thursday declared that the Chinese communist regime is to blame for the CCP virus, which has spread to more than 160 countries and territories around the world, killing thousands. Human-to-human transmission of COVID-19 was occurring from at least mid-December 2019 in Wuhan, according to a paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Jan. 29. The paper found that there is evidence that human-to-human transmission has occurred among close contacts since the middle of December 2019. Chinese authorities did not confirm human-to-human transmission until Jan. 20almost three weeks after the disease was first officially reported on Dec. 31, 2019. The first patient reported with the virus exhibited symptoms on Dec. 1. The World Health Organization (WHO) stated there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission on Jan. 14. Cathy He contributed to this report. T he husband of a British woman who died after contracting coronavirus while on holiday in Bali said he has lost half of himself. Kimberley Finlayson underwent two emergency operations in an Indonesian government hospital before her death. Her husband Ken Finlayson said the couple were able to exchange goodbyes for a few minutes before she died on March 11 on the Indonesian island. Speaking about his wife, who has was diabetic, Mr Finlayson said he and his four children were absolutely devastated to lose the most beautiful wife and mother. The mum of four had underlying health issues / www.dentistry.co.uk Shes so generous, shes so full of life, shes so powerful, courageous, supportive of all of us. Ive lost half of myself, he told the BBC I talked to her. She said that she loved me and we exchanged that for a few minutes and looked into one anothers eyes. Mr Finlayson, who tested negative for the virus, cautioned other UK citizens when travelling overseas and urged them to be strong for their families in the months to come. Ken Finlayson spoke to the BBC about his wife dying after getting coronavirus while on holiday in Bali / BBC He said: The lesson for the British public to realise is that if you go to these places then people really mean well but youre giving up that level of care which we expect and you are playing Russian roulette with your lives if you become critical. Mistakes were being made. I dont believe if this had happened in Barnet Hospital, I believe our great NHS would have saved Kimberley. I dont think she would have been anywhere near as critical in the first place. Tragically in the UK there will be many people who will suffer, Im sure, over the months ahead. You need to be strong for your family and the memory of your loved one who died in such tragic circumstance. He added that there was an irony in the now-familiar phrase underlying health issues referring to his wife, who had diabetes. He said: I dont know many people in their 50s who havent received medication, havent had some health issues. My wife is the most incredibly generous, loving mum. Colleagues of Ms Finlayson, who was from Hertfordshire and the founder of a dental communications company, praised her passion, creativity and determination. An online statement said: Those fortunate enough to know her will remember a whirlwind of energy and ideas and an ability to make things happen that few can match. Ms Finlayson was reportedly the first British victim of coronavirus to be named. Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Mukhammedkalyi Abylgaziev on Saturday declared a state of emergency in the country, the government's press service said, Trend reports citing Xinhua. The decision was taken during a governmental meeting. The state of emergency will start on March 22 and last for one month, it said. Earlier on Saturday, the Security Council of Kyrgyzstan recommended the cabinet to introduce a state of emergency to prevent the further spread of coronavirus outbreak and develop an operational action plan. At the meeting, Abylgaziev emphasized that his government is starting to implement a plan which includes the entire list of actions of all related agencies as the emergency takes effect. The plan includes the deployment of roadblocks in the capital city and regions, formulation the routes for the delivery of essential goods and medicines, procedure for domestic flights, public transport, grocery stores and pharmacies, said Abylgaziev. A total of 14 cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Kyrgyzstan since March 18. Thirteen infected Kyrgyz citizens have been tested positive after returning from Saudi Arabia and one from France. According to data of the Ministry of Health, the first six patients were in contact with 2,330 citizens. A man charged with murdering two UDR members in 1972 can return home to Co Donegal because of Covid-19, a High Court judge ruled yesterday. John Downey's bail terms were varied after defence lawyers argued it was not suitable for him to continue staying with a Sinn Fein representative in Belfast due to his underlying health problems. Amid prosecution fears the move could increase the risk of flight, Mr Justice McAlinden warned how it would reflect on the party if the 68-year-old were to abscond. He said: "If this bail breaks down I think it's inevitable that senior members of Sinn Fein in this jurisdiction would suffer significant embarrassment and reputational damage, in that they were unable to abide by assurances and undertakings given on behalf of Mr Downey." Downey is facing prosecution for a car bomb attack which killed Alfred Johnston and James Eames in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh. The accused, of Creeslough in Co Donegal, was detained in 2018 under a European Arrest Warrant. He fought a battle against extradition from the Republic of Ireland before handing himself in to the authorities in October last year. Lance Corporal Johnston and Private Eames died in an explosion on the Irvinestown Road in August 1972. They were carrying out checks on a car when a command wire-initiated device was detonated, killing both of them instantly. The bomb went off as a truck carrying 13 off-duty soldiers approached, blowing it onto its side and injuring some of the troops inside. Downey is also charged with aiding and abetting an explosion likely to endanger life. A previous court was told his fingerprint was allegedly on insulating tape used to construct the device. In December last year he was granted bail to live at the Belfast home of a Sinn Fein councillor, with 225,000 in cash lodged as surety. Downey, who has a respiratory condition and other health issues, applied to vary those terms due to the coronavirus pandemic. The hearing proceeded by telephone conference to avoid lawyers having to attend court in person. Defence barrister Gregory Berry QC confirmed his client wanted to go back to Donegal until the public health emergency is over. Resisting the application, prosecution counsel Sam Magee QC said efforts could be made to locate a rural location for self-isolation within Northern Ireland. He claimed it was illogical for Downey to return home while his wife works in an intensive care unit during the crisis. "This virus will have no borders," Mr Magee stressed. But Mr Berry responded that all possible steps are being taken to protect Downey's wife from coronavirus. Meanwhile, he contended, the accused has been living in communal accommodation and depending on others for shopping. Insisting his client would have fled by now if he had any intention, the barrister said such actions would have "catastrophic" consequences. "There would be, bluntly, significant reputational damage for Sinn Fein if Mr Downey absconded," he agreed. Granting the variation, Mr Justice McAlinden ordered a member of the accused's family to lodge a further 5,000 cash surety. The judge also directed Downey must have Skype video calls with a PSNI officer twice a week to ensure he is at the bail address. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 21:18:30|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) meets with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Dec. 1, 2018. (Xinhua/Li Tao) China firmly supports Germany's endeavor in combating the epidemic and is willing to provide assistance within its capacity if there is a need from the German side, said Chinese President Xi Jinping. BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Public health crises pose a common challenge for humanity, and solidarity and cooperation are the most powerful weapon to tackle them, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a recent message of sympathy to German Chancellor Angela Merkel. In his message, Xi, on behalf of the Chinese government and people, expressed sincere sympathies to the German government and people over the recent COVID-19 outbreak in the Eurpean country. Xi recalled that not long ago the German government and various sections of German society conveyed via multiple means their sympathies with and support of China's epidemic prevention and control efforts. China firmly supports Germany's endeavor in combating the epidemic and is willing to provide assistance within its capacity if there is a need from the German side, he said. Upholding the principle that mankind is a community with a shared future, China stands ready to continue sharing information and experience with Germany, and strengthening cooperation in such areas as epidemic prevention and control, treatment of patients, and vaccine research and development, so as to jointly protect the health and well-being of people not only in both countries but in the rest of the world, Xi added. Xi stressed that China highly values the development of China-Germany relations, and is willing to work with the German side to deepen their all-round strategic partnership and promote the development of China-Europe relations. A book which sees the ultra-liberals as a threat. But doesnt recognise that theyre not having it all their own way. Remaking One Nation: Conservatism in an Age of Crisis by Nick Timothy Nick Timothy begins his book with his own crisis: At two minutes to ten, my world fell to pieces. It was the night of the 2017 general election, and his friend and colleague, Fiona Hill, had just shown him the exit poll. It indicated that instead of the greatly increased Conservative majority, which they expected when they urged the Prime Minister to go to the polls, there was going to be a hung parliament. Theresa May rang him: She was sobbing. I remember thinking she sounded like a child who wanted to be told everything was just fine. A year before, everything was just fine. May took over from David Cameron as Prime Minister and Timothy wrote the speech she delivered in Downing Street: If youre from an ordinary working-class family, life is much harder than many people in Westminster realise This goes down well, but another speech worked on by Timothy, and delivered at the party conference in the autumn of 2016, draws adverse comment because of Mays condemnation of citizens of nowhere. He remains angry and resentful about the criticism she incurred: It suited campaigners and political opponents to claim that Theresa had used this language to describe opponents of Brexit. But this was nonsense, as anybody listening at the time knew. Her targets were the more irresponsible and selfish members of big international business. The speech was absolutely clear. Today, she said, too many people in positions of power behave as though they have more in common with international elites than with the people down the road, the people they employ, the people they pass in the street. But if you believe youre a citizen of the world, youre a citizen of nowhere. You dont understand what the very word citizenship means.' To write, or indeed to speak, those words betrays a cloth ear. May, so far as we know, let them through without a murmur: she had a disconcerting habit of saying whatever her staff gave her. Timothy, over three years later, still cannot see the problem, which is that a citizen of the world may also have local loyalties and affections. The Hampstead liberal loves Hampstead with a passion, and joins every local organisation going, so felt infuriated to be told, by this unimaginative Prime Minister, if you believe youre a citizen of the world, youre a citizen of nowhere. Nor were citizens of the world the only ones to bridle at her remark. Backwoodsmen were huffy too. Those of us who love our own village, town or county may also aspire, however ludicrously, when we visit Paris, to pass ourselves off as citizens of the world, capable of speaking French and entering into the literature, art and manners of a civilisation into which we were not born. This is not a linguistic quibble. Language is of the essence. Timothy describes how, until his thirties, he was a fairly conventional conservative, but then started to reflect on the hostility many Conservatives feel towards the state: And the way I thought about policy became more unorthodox. Unorthodox, that is, to those modern Conservatives who have been enticed by liberal and libertarian ideology. In fact, my beliefs are entirely consistent with the long tradition of conservative philosophy. They are influenced by Burke, Hume, Smith, Disraeli, Oakeshott, Churchill, Macmillan and Thatcher. Seven of those eight figures used language in a wonderful way to convey political insights. Timothy draws most often on Burke and Disraeli, and whenever he does, his text gains in colour and power. Thatcher did not use language in a wonderful way. She knew, however, that finding the right language was an indispensable task for the practical politician, and she never stopped exhorting the best writers she could find to produce the right words. Composing speeches for her was agony. Often the drafts got worse and worse, with the best stuff long since discarded and her team barely able to keep their eyes open as she drove them on into the early hours of the morning, at work on the 33rd version of the text. All this is described to brilliant comic effect towards the end of Cold Cream, Ferdinand Mounts memoir. The greatest conservative writers manage at one and the same time to be profound and flippant; to care deeply about what they are trying to say, but also to admit the vanity of their endeavours, so the joke is often at their own expense, for striving so presumptuously to give coherent expression to a tradition which is fluid, inconsistent, at the mercy of circumstance, more a matter of intimation than of ideology, resourceful and creative and wise, but also at times quite plainly inadequate and barren. Mount spent some time in the Conservative Research Department, and so did Timothy. It offers a useful training in the composition of briefing papers which make the best case for whatever the Conservatives are doing or saying, without actually lying. One studies too the weaknesses of ones opponents, seizing with joy on any inconsistencies between what one Labour figure and another has said at any time in the last few years about their policies. But none of this wonkery amounts to adequate preparation for taking wider views, let alone for writing a work of political philosophy. Timothy has identified a crisis of liberal democracy that is driven by the excesses of ideological ultra-liberals: many liberals fall into the trap of believing that the historical, cultural and institutional context of government is irrelevant. Institutions and traditions that impose obligations on us can simply be cast off. All that matters, as far as government is concerned, is the freedom of the individual and the preservation of their property. The relational essence of humanity our dependence on others, our reliance on the institutions and norms of community life is ignored. From its earliest days, liberalism has taken both community and nation for granted, and had little to say about the obligations as well as rights of citizenship. Most readers of ConservativeHome will agree with this, as will many on the Left. As Timothy points out, it was when the sense of nationhood was particularly strong that the Labour Government led by Clement Attlee launched the National Health Service. By page 180 of his 228 pages of text, Timothy has worked round to an attempt to define Britishness, while also admitting that this is an impossible task. He lists, enjoyably enough, Wembley, Wimbledon, Bonfire Night and so forth, and says that our national identity is derived from stories, traditions and institutions and a reverence of particular places that are uniquely ours. This, he remarks, inevitably makes it exclusive. He does not go on to contemplate defining Britishness as the right to elect members of the House of Commons a right which once acquired, is thoroughly inclusive. The artificiality of that idea of Britishness makes it accessible to just about everyone. One of the things which immigrants often like about living in Britain is our tradition of privacy: if you dont want to participate in Wembley, Wimbledon or Bonfire Night, or indeed in a general election, you dont have to, and whatever you may choose to do in your own home is your own affair. We have the right to be left alone. Timothy says we need a revival of community, which is doubtless true, but in its earnestness, misses the pleasure to be derived from not joining in. He touches on the decline in church membership, but without expressing much in the way of regret, or developing anything like a Christian conception of politics. In his final chapter, Remaking One Nation, Timothy says conservatives must think more positively about the state, and more creatively about community, before ending with page after page of dreary exhortation: The world needs a new multilateralism, We need to make the most of our world-class universities, We need to do far more to support families, especially those who need the most help. Having identified ultra-liberalism as the threat, he is not particularly disposed to recognise that the ultra-liberals are not having things all their own way. The Conservative victory in the general election of 2019, on a promise to Get Brexit Done, was a crushing defeat for the ultra-liberals. Quite what the effect of the Coronavirus will be, one cannot yet know. But in each country, the need for a national response is felt, and national leaders will take the blame if they fail to provide it. Boris Johnson, lover of Latin and Greek, enthusiastic speaker of French, descendant of Ali Kemal, Elias Lowe and James Fawcett, is in some ways a citizen of the world, in others a stage Englishman, but what matters now is that he is a national leader, who will within months be seen as either a saviour or a scapegoat, or perhaps as some imponderable amalgam of the two. While Timothy was writing his book, the nation state was reasserting itself. What to read if one wants to understand something of the mentality of Johnson? The ultra-liberals know he is their enemy, but are too blinded by rage to see him steadily and see him whole. Oddly enough, a volume of only 63 pages springs to mind. It provokes laughter on every page, something Timothy does not attempt. Here is conservatism as a romantic and comic faith, not a platitudinous one, and here are glimpses of the paradoxes which went to form the most bizarre leader the Conservatives have ever had, and the only one to inspire the creation of a posthumous cult. The Sayings of Disraeli, edited by Robert Blake and recently reissued with a foreword by Alistair Lexden, is the most enjoyable and discerning book about politics I have come across in the last year. Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon and state Health Officer Dr. Alexia Harrist issued an order Thursday afternoon closing bars, gyms and most other public spaces across the state for the next two weeks as the novel coronavirus continues to spread in the state. The order is an effort to flatten the curve, or slow the rate of people being exposed to the virus to avoid overwhelming the states healthcare system. It orders a variety of establishments closed while imposing limits on many others until April 3. While the order has been deemed necessary for public safety by health officials, the ramifications are severe. After issuing the order, Gordon held a Facebook Live fireside chat in which he addressed the massive toll he anticipates the coronavirus will have on the state and national economy. You can tell, these are very difficult times, he said in the address. Indeed, the comment section of Gordons video lit up with more than 400 messages. We attempted to answer as many of the questions posted by those commenters as we could, as well as a few extra weve received. What happens after April 3? Gordons spokesman, Michael Pearlman, said via email nothing has been determined at this point about plans past the two-week order. That said, while the public health order goes until April 3, if the state health officer deems it necessary to extend the order, statute provides her that authority. What gives the governor the right to make this type of order? Technically the order comes from the state health officer, who submitted the order in conjunction with Gordon. Wyoming Statute 35-1-240 gives Harrist the authority to close businesses and forbid public gatherings when necessary to protect the public health. The full statute can be found in Chapter 35 of Wyoming state statute. What establishments does the order apply to? Directly from the text of the order, it applies to: Restaurants, food courts, cafes, coffeehouses, and other similar places of public accommodation offering food or beverage for on-premises consumption; Bars, taverns, brew pubs, breweries, microbreweries, distillery pubs, wineries, tasting rooms, special licensees, clubs, and other places of public accommodation offering alcoholic beverages for on-premises consumption; Cigar bars; Gymnasiums; Movie and performance theaters, opera houses, concert halls, and music halls. All child care centers and home daycares are ordered closed, except those providing care to essential personnel, it reads. All K-12 schools, colleges, universities and trade schools are also ordered closed, though many already had on the governors recommendation. Can restaurants still offer takeout and delivery? Yes, but takeout orders must be done curb-side. Restaurants are not allowed to open their doors to the public. Who counts as essential personnel? Essential personnel includes health care workers, first responders, law enforcement, school employees who cant work remotely (such as kitchen staff), grocery workers, postal workers and delivery drivers. The full list of essential personnel is outlined in the order. Are churches still open? Gordon and Harrist issued an additional order Friday afternoon forbidding any gathering of more than 10 people. Pearlman said via email churches are not exempt from the order. What about retail stores? Retail stores will still be allowed to operate. They are exempted from the 10-person limit, but people in the stores are expected to generally keep six feet apart. Grocery stores? Grocery stores, as well as any place offering food items not for on premises consumption, are still able to operate. This includes grocery stores, convenience stores, pharmacies, drug stores and food pantries. Theyre exempted from the 10-person limit. How will this be enforced? Natrona County Attorney Eric Nelson said he doubts a situation would escalate to that point, if a business refused to comply with the order, it could face criminal charges. If enforcement is required, Nelson said it would be done through the health department, the district attorney and local law enforcement agencies. Can my business get an exception? A business can appeal to their county health officer for an exception to the public health order, but only if it provides in writing that it has adequate cleaning practices, and that it can limit customers within the business to no more than 10 people, with six feet of space between each. Will rent payments be suspended? There has not been any order from any government official in Wyoming requiring landlords to suspend rent payments. Casper City Manager Carter Napier said the city didnt have the authority to impose rent suspensions on private landlords, so it would not be doing so. Meanwhile, Cheyenne Mayor Marian Orr has urged landlords to be lenient with rent collections. What about mortgage payments? According to NPR, federal regulators are ordering lenders to be lenient with homeowners whose mortgages are guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The order covers roughly half of all homeowners in the U.S. Outside of this, no orders have been made to suspend mortgage payments in Wyoming. Will there be travel restrictions between states? There are no plans for travel restrictions at this time, according to Pearlman. Follow local government reporter Morgan Hughes on Twitter @morganhwrites Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Anilkumar T By Express News Service KOCHI: The 12 UK citizens who tested negative for Covid-19 can return to their country without hassle and delay even as six members of the 19-member contingent who tested positive stay back in Kochi for treatment. The wife of the Covid-19 affected UK national will also stay in Kochi. H er test results were negative from the start,District Collector S Suhas told TNIE that the 12 UK residents can go back to their country once the procedures are completed. He said the travel documents will be returned to them. Since they tested negative, there is no point in restricting them from travelling. Some procedures have to be completed first. We are unsure whether we can send them back on the same flight (Emirates flight from Kochi to Dubai) in which they planned earlier. The government has to take a final decision, he said. Suhas said the condition of UK residents whose samples tested positive was stable. They are in the isolation ward of Government Medical College, Kalamassery. The five UK natives are in the age group 55-85. Their condition is stable and there is no need to worry, Agriculture Minister V S Sunilkumar told reporters here on Friday.However, the condition of the UK native who first tested positive for Covid-19 is not stable, Sunilkumar said. The 19-member tourist contingent from the UK had reached Kerala on March 6 via the Cochin International Airport, but it was only on March 10 that one of the members started showing symptoms, including fever, sore throat and excessive breathlessness. On March 14, 10.30 pm the UK team slipped out of the resort in Munnar where they were staying, before the results of the Covid-19 test came out.They boarded the Emirates flight early on March 15, but before it took off the authorities stepped in and offloaded the entire UK contingent. Alert in district after more new cases The state government has tightened surveillance after more Covid-19 cases were confirmed in the district on Friday. A meeting with 24 private hospital heads was held to adjust the isolation facilities of government hospitals. Around 197 isolation beds, 97 ICU beds and 35 ventilators have been kept ready to treat patients, the minister said. Traders at Broadway announce shutdown Kochi: Broadway Shop Owners Association, a body of traders at Broadway market, has announced a three-day shutdown in view of the social distancing call issued by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. More than 250 wholesale and retail shops will remain closed from March 22 to 24. We will remain vigilant to avoid the spread of Covid-19, said association president P A Sageer. HC closed on March 21, 28 Kochi: The High Court shall remain closed on March 21 and 28 following declaration of holiday for all government offices by the state government on Saturdays in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak. Having failed with the Russia hoax and the Ukraine hoax, the Democrat establishment slipped seamlessly into blaming President Trump for the coronavirus's entry into and affect on America. During his now daily press briefings, Trump is fighting back against the reporters and shining a light on their efforts to frighten, not inform Americans. On Friday, NBC's Peter Alexander decided to pick a fight with President Trump regarding repurposing existing drugs to see if they can speedily be put into place to fight the coronavirus. It began when the president said he was very pleased with the way in which Chloroquine was getting fast-tracked through the FDA to be used for a reason other than its approved usage as a malaria treatment. Trump pointed out the advantage of knowing all about the drug and its safety record. He did not say the drug is a magic pill. Instead, he said it should certainly be tried and that he feels optimistic that something good will come of the trial. Alexander was having none of that. Rather, he accused Trump of being too positive, an attribute that, in Alexander's twisted media mind, is frightening. After repeatedly interrupting and talking over the president, Alexander finally said people are sick, dying, and afraid and asked Trump what he was actually doing about it. Think about that: in Alexander's mind, all the things that President Trump has done fast-tracking possible medicines, working with America's governors, speedily closing the borders to new infections, educating and assuring the people, and myriad other steps since China finally admitted it had a problem isn't doing anything. How can a person like this be taken seriously? Fortunately, Trump does not take these stuffed suits seriously. He did not take Alexander's question at face value, which would have given it a legitimacy it didn't deserve. Instead, Trump lit into Alexander, calling him a "terrible reporter" and accusing him of failing to report the facts and, instead, just relying on sensationalism. "The American people are looking for answers," he said, "and they're looking for hope, and you're doing sensationalism." Listening to the debate between the two and seeing Alexander's rank disrespect for the American president, especially when contrasted with Trump's honest information and his willingness to be flexible that he showed about new treatments, should be a mind-opening experience. The drive-by media will show the footage to shame Trump, but they might discover that Americans, rather than disagreeing with Trump, think he's correct. By the way, be sure to watch the little pantomime in which Alexander engages when the president goes after him. "Who me?" he pantomimes. It's patently false outrage, which fits comfortably with everything else fake about this NBC "reporter." A two-year-old child was admitted to the isolation ward of the Burdwan Medical College and Hospital with fever, and cough and cold on Saturday, officials said. The child was admitted to the isolation ward as a precautionary measure, though no symptoms of coronavirus were found, they said. The child, a resident of Goghat in the Hooghly district, recently returned from Mumbai with family, hospital officials said. When brought to the hospital, it was advised that the child be kept in Level-1 isolation as a precautionary measure, the hospital's deputy superintendent Kunal Kanti Dey said. The child's condition was discussed in a meeting at the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED), he said, adding that doctors are currently observing the two-year-old's health. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) By Express News Service BENGALURU: While people were looking forward to the month of march for the festivities that were lined up, Covid-19 fear has been a dampener for celebrations. Navroz, the new year for the Parsi community, saw no celebrations on March 20. Unfortunately, we have cancelled all celebratory events, says Shereyar Dara Vakil, vice president, Bengaluru Parsee Zoroastrian Anjuman. He added, We were supposed to have a big function, with music, dance, and plays, followed by a community feast.But now, we will not be able to have the event. Most families have decided to keep it low-key this year. Given the condition in country for the COVID 19, we have cancelled all the congregation. Even if people want to come to the shrine to say their prayers, maximum two people will be allowed to enter the shrine, says Air Chief Marshal Fali H. Major, president of The Bangalore Parsee Zoroastrian Anjuman. He further added, Considering majority of the parsee population are senior citizen the risks are high. I myself am not making it to the Anjuman this year. Navroz usually a two-week celebration that marks the beginning of the New Year in Irans official Solar Hejri calendar. The festival also marks the celebration of spring time, which is usually filled with feasting. Everyone is celebrating Navroz at home, there are no large gatherings and other plans of celebration have also been cancelled. We should not be panicking and stay indoors for the next couple weeks, says chef Anahita Dhondy. Curfew extended till Tuesday View(s): The curfew that was due to end tomorrow at 6 am has been extended until Tuesday 6 am for the Colombo, Gampaha and Puttalam districts. In these three districts, the curfew will be re-imposed at 2.00 pm on Tuesday. In all other districts, the curfew will be lifted at 6 a.m. tomorrow and re-imposed at 2 pm on the same day until Tuesday 6 am. Meanwhile, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will today meet with the Task Force on Coronavirus and security forces officials to decide on the curfew situation, a spokesman for the Presidents Office said. The Presidents Office said the government had decided to close liquor shops even after the curfew was lifted. Police have been advised to allow the farming community to continue with their work. The Presidents Office said that were sufficient food supplies and persons should not panic. Meanwhile, Police and security forces arrested more than 130 people for violating the curfew. The arrests were made in Bandarawela (8), Haputale (1), Vavuniya (2), Dambulla (2), Tissamaharama (3), Pussellewa (2) and Walasmulla (2). Twenty fishermen were also arrested in the Puttlam district and Kochchikade areas for violation the curfew. Police also seized 10 motorcyles and four three-wheelers. Deputy Inspector General Ajith Rohana told the Sunday Times said the curfew violators would be produced before courts. Were being flooded with so much news about airline schedule revisions, and its coming so fast and furious, that its hard to keep up. Many of these changes affect travel to and from the Bay Area, both domestic and international. So this week, were presenting an airline-by-airline roundup of the latest changes. UDPATE Sunday Mar. 26: The biggest news is that United announced plans to to cut nearly all its international flying on Friday night, but then reversed its decision for a handful of flights on Saturday "in an effort to get customers where they need to be. This remains a fluid situation." Here's the latest list of reinstatements from United. As new restrictions on entry imposed by many nations including the U.S. the volume of air travel has fallen off a cliff in the past week or so, and it keeps going down. Thats why airlines are cutting so many flights. On Thursday, the U.S. Department of State issued a rare Global Level 4 Health Advisory urging U.S. citizens to avoid all international travel due to the coronavirus. Well start with North American airlines listed in alphabetical order, and then get into foreign carriers. Keep in mind that all airline schedules now are subject to change without notice. Please note that these are the latest schedule reductions from this week, in addition to those previously announced. NORTH AMERICA Air Canada. San Francisco will still have some Air Canada service. The airline said this week its overall capacity from April through June will shrink by 50 percent year-over-year, including a 75 percent reduction in transpacific markets. The reductions will happen in all key markets affected by COVID-19 or by travel restrictions, the company said. From April 1, Air Canada will reduce its transborder network from 53 airports to 13, subject to further reductions based on demand or government edicts, Air Canada said. The cities with continued service will be: New York (LGA and EWR), Boston, Washington, D.C. (IAD and DCA), Chicago, Houston, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale. Alaska Airlines. Alaska said this week it expects to reduce its overall capacity by 10 percent in April and 15 percent in May. It didnt identify any specific markets being dropped but said it would initially reduce flight frequencies on its busiest routes. American Airlines. From now through May 6, American is reducing international capacity by 75 percent. It will keep flying once a day to London Heathrow from Dallas/Ft. Worth and Miami and three days a week from DFW to Tokyo Narita. All other service to Asia not already suspended has now been cut. By March 23, American will have ended all Europe service other than the few routes mentioned above. To South America, AA has suspended service from New York JFK and Miami to Rio de Janeiro and Georgetown, Guyana; from JFK, DFW, Los Angeles and Miami to Sao Paulo; from DFW and Miami to Santiago, Bogota, Guayaquil, Quito and Lima; and from Miami to Brasilia and Manus in Brazil and to the Colombian cities of Barranquilla, Cartagena, Cali, Medellin and Pereira. (American said it will use some of its grounded widebodies for cargo-only flights on select internat4inal routes.) On the domestic side, American said its April capacity will be 20 percent less than last year, and May capacity will be down 30 percent. You can see all the details here, with additional specifics from Routesonline.com here. In addition, American has temporarily closed Admirals Club lounges at Paris CDG, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires as well as its Flagship Lounge at London Heathrow. Temporary lounge closures in the U.S. include the Admirals Clubs at Gate D15 in MIA, near Gate A20 at PHX, in Terminal 5 at LAX, Terminal E at DFW, and the G and L concourses at Chicago OHare. Delta. This week, Delta added more international service suspensions to the ones previously announced to Asia and Europe. It has discontinued Atlanta-Paris CDG flights, its last remaining service to France. To Africa, New York JFK-Accra, Ghana service has ended, and Deltas last Atlanta-Johannesburg flight will depart March 22. Atlanta-Santiago, Chile service will be suspended March 25 at least through April 1. From March 23-April 12, Deltas Costa Rica schedule will be cut in half between Atlanta-San Jose and LAX-San Jose; service to Liberia, Costa Rica will be suspended from LAX and Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Atlanta-Liberia will be reduced to two flights a week. All service to San Salvador, El Salvador has been cut through April 3; Bermuda flights from Boston and JFK are suspended through March 31; and service to Grand Cayman from Atlanta, Detroit and Minneapolis is suspended through mid-April. You can see a full list of Deltas current schedule changes here. Meanwhile, Delta said it is closing the majority of its Sky Club lounges until business picks up again. The airline has also posted an update to its change/cancellation policies. Hawaiian Airlines. For the month of April, Hawaiian is suspending its second daily frequency (using an A321neo) between San Francisco-Honolulu but will continue to operate one daily A330 flight; it is also cutting SFO-Maui schedules from seven flights a week to five. San Jose-Honolulu and SJC-Maui service will shrink from seven flights a week to five during April, and so will Oakland-Kauai service. Hawaiian is dropping April service between Las Vegas and Maui but will maintain daily LAS-Honolulu flights. Frequencies are being reduced on Hawaiians routes to Los Angeles, Phoenix, Boston, New York and Seattle, but other domestic routes are unaffected for now. (Note: Hawaiis governor this week asked visitors to postpone trips to the islands for the next 30 days.) JetBlue. In an announcement this week, JetBlue said it will ground some aircraft and will reduce its overall capacity by 40 percent or more in April and May, followed by substantial cuts in June and July. It didnt mention the impact on specific routes. We will be notifying customers of their specific cancellations in a phased approach so that we do not overwhelm Customer Support as they continue to receive exponentially more calls than they ever have before, JetBlue said. Southwest. In a financial filing this week, Southwest said it expects to cut its overall capacity by 20 percent or more from April 14 through June 5, with revised schedules to be revealed soon. It cited dramatic declines in March bookings and an unprecedented increase in close-in trip cancellations. United. As we reported earlier this week, United plans to suspend service during April from San Francisco to 18 U.S. destinations: Nashville, Baltimore/Washington, Columbus, Detroit, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Madison, Omaha, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Raleigh/Durham, San Antonio, St. Louis, Tampa, Mammoth (Calif.), Ft. Lauderdale, New Orleans and Fayetteville, N.C.. Across the northern border, SFO-Toronto flights are being dropped. At Mineta San Jose, non-stop United service to Houston and Chicago OHare is also getting the axe. However, access to all those points (except Mammoth) is still available by connecting through Denver or other United hubs. UPDATE: United announced plans to to cut nearly all its international flying on Friday night, but then reversed its decision a day later. This affects flights between SFO and Tokyo, Sydney, Frankfurt, Seoul plus more flights from Chicago and Newark. Here's the latest list of reinstatements from United. Original post starts here: United said late Friday that it is reducing its international schedule by 95 percent for April. It will first draw down its entire remaining trans-Atlantic operation by the end of March. It will reduce all remaining trans-Pacific flights by March 28, except for a few Guam island hopper flights. After March 24, it will only maintain a small number of daytime flights to certain destinations in Mexico, and it will also eliminate all its remaining Central and South America operations. The last southbound departures will take place March 24. And finally it will temporarily suspend all flying to Canada effective April 1. So basically, United will only offer domestic flights by the end of this month. INTERNATIONAL Chris McGinnis Aeroflot. Russian carrier Aeroflot this week suspended service from Moscow Sheremetyevo through April 30 to Los Angeles, Miami, and Washington Dulles, and cut back its New York JFK schedule from three daily flights to two. Air New Zealand. From March 30 through June 3, Air New Zealand will suspend flights from Auckland to San Francisco, Houston, Chicago, Honolulu and Vancouver as part of an 85 percent capacity draw-down. Its Los Angeles-London service is also being suspended on those dates. All Nippon Airways (ANA). In an update this week, ANA said it is continuing daily service from San Francisco to Tokyo Narita and three weekly flights from SFO to Tokyo Haneda. However, the start of its new daily service from San Jose to Tokyo Haneda has been pushed back to April 25. A second daily LAX-Haneda frequency has also been delayed to April 25. Chicago-Haneda and New York JFK-Haneda service has been suspended, and frequencies have been reduced between Seattle and Haneda from seven weekly flights to four. Air France. Effective March 23, Air France said, its only North American service will be to New York, Los Angeles, Montreal and Mexico City to enable French and European nationals to return home. Air Tahiti Nui. Long-haul service by Air Tahiti Nui between Papeete and Paris CDG via a stop in Los Angeles has been rerouted. Through April 13, the flight will now bypass LAX and stop in Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe in the French Caribbean. Austrian Airlines. From now through March 28, Austrian Airlines has suspended all service. Avianca. Colombian carrier Avianca on March 23 will suspend all international service and ground 132 aircraft. British Airways. According to Routesonline.com, British Airways has suspended its San Jose-London Heathrow flights through April 16, along with service between LHR and Las Vegas, Orlando, Tampa, Austin, Baltimore/Washington, Chicago OHare, Denver, Houston, Las Vegas, Nashville, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh and San Diego. Brussels Airlines. Lufthansa subsidiary Brussels Airlines has temporarily suspended all flights through April 19. Cathay Pacific. In its latest update this week, Cathay Pacific said it is cutting capacity by 96 percent in April and May, paring its international service down to a skeleton schedule and it doesnt include San Francisco. The airline will operate just three flights a week to 12 destinations, including Los Angeles and Vancouver in North America along with London, Sydney, and eight Asian cities. Egyptair. The Egyptian government has ordered an end to all international air traffic at the countrys Egyptian airports from now through March 31. That includes Egyptairs service from Cairo to New York JFK and Washington Dulles. Emirates. Dubai-based Emirates has canceled Athens-Newark and Dubai-Ft. Lauderdale flights through March 31 and Dubai-Milan-New York JFK service through April 3. French Bee has suspended all flights between San Francisco and Papeete, Tahiti and Paris through April 10. Japan Airlines. JAL said it is suspending flights to various North American destinations on specific dates through the end of March, including SFO service to Tokyo Haneda on March 21, 23, 25 and 27. You can see the dates for other routes here. LOT Polish Airlines. LOT said this week it has cancelled all service through March 28. However, service to the U.S. will remain suspended at least through April 13, including flights from Warsaw to New York JFK and Chicago and from Krakow to Chicago, and from Warsaw to Los Angeles, Miami and Newark, and from Budapest to JFK. Lufthansa. Starting March 23, Lufthansas U.S. schedule will include just three flights a week to Frankfurt from Newark and Chicago, essentially geared to the needs of European citizens who want to return to their home countries, the airline said, and its Swiss affiliate will operate three weekly flights from Newark to Zurich. Norwegian. Low-cost carrier Norwegian reported this week it has laid off 7,300 employees and grounded most of its fleet. All transatlantic flights are suspended effective March 21, and the airline will only operate a limited schedule within Scandinavia and Europe. Limited schedule will remain in place until at least April 17 but will be reviewed on a regular basis in line with changes in travel restrictions and demand, the company said. Late this week, the Norwegian government agreed to provide the airline with up to $278 million in aid subject to certain conditions. Don't miss a shred of important travel news! Sign up for our FREE bi-weekly email alerts Qantas. Last week, we reported that Qantas planned to axe its San Francisco-Brisbane and SFO-Melbourne flights from April 18 through mid-September. But now the Australian carriers cutbacks have gone way beyond that. This week, Qantas said it is grounding almost all of its widebodies and slashing international service by 90 percent. It is phasing out almost all of its international routes from next week through May 31, including San Francisco service to Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne; LAX-Brisbane, LAX-Melbourne, JFK-LAX-Sydney, Dallas/Ft. Worth-Sydney and Honolulu-Sydney. Royal Air Maroc. The Moroccan airline has halted all international service at least through April 30, including flights from Casablanca to New York JFK and Washington Dulles. Scandinavian Airlines. SAS said it has put most of its operations on hold until further notice. Singapore Airlines. The latest schedule update from Singapore Airlines shows cancellation of a substantial number of San Francisco flights on specific dates through June. You can click here for a listing of the dates when the airlines flights SQ1/2 and SQ 33/34 will not operate. (Ditto for LAX-Singapore flights.) South African Airways. Currently going through a financial restructuring, SAA said this week it has halted all international operations through May 31, including its flights to New York and Washington Dulles. It noted the South African government has issued a ban on passenger arrivals from high-risk countries, including the U.S., U.K. and Germany. TAP Air Portugal. From now through April 30, TAP has canceled service from Lisbon to San Francisco, JFK, Washington Dulles and Chicago, and from Porto to Newark. From March 23 through April 19, it will operate two flights a week from Lisbon to Boston, Miami, Newark and Toronto. Virgin Atlantic. In a statement this week, Virgin Atlantic said it will reduce its operations 80 percent by March 26. In its latest route revisions filed this week, we didnt see anything about San Francisco, but the airline does plan to end its London-Newark service permanently and to suspend LHR-Atlanta, Boston, Miami, Las Vegas, Seattle and Washington Dulles service through April 12, as well as Manchester flights from JFK, Las Vegas and Orlando. LAX-LHR frequencies will be cut from two a day to one through April 12, and Virgins JFK-LHR schedule will be scaled back from multiple flights a day to just one. Virgin Australia. On March 20, Virgin Australia is suspending LAX-Melbourne service through June 14. Then on March 30, it will eliminate the rest of its international routes through that same date, including LAX-Sydney. Read all recent TravelSkills posts here Chris McGinnis is SFGATE's senior travel correspondent. You can reach him via email or follow him on Twitter or Facebook. Don't miss a shred of important travel news by signing up for his FREE biweekly email updates! SFGATE participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites. Doctors, nurses and other health care professionals in the Portland area have a new option for childcare and other assistance while they work amid the coronavirus outbreak. Medical and dentistry students at Oregon Health & Science University and nursing students at the University of Portland are offering to watch children, run errands and go grocery shopping, free of charge, while their classes are suspended. The assistance program is open to all health care workers in the Portland area. A week after its creation, the program has initiated 64 childcare support pairings and has hundreds of would-be volunteers throughout the city of Portland and in suburban areas such as Gresham, Vancouver and Wilsonville. The program was the brainchild of Emily Lane, a third-year medical student at OHSU who said Saturday that shes been an advocate for childcare for both staff and students. When classes (at public schools) were canceled, the first thing I thought of was, all these people have children and whos going to watch them, she said. She decided to create a Google Form for requests and offers of assistance and, with the help of doctors, began spreading the word via Twitter. The Oregon Medical Association and the Oregon chapter of the American College of Physicians helped distribute the form as well. Two classmates who also had been involved in on-campus advocacy, Chris Graulty and Audrey Tran, quickly joined Lanes efforts. Graulty was doing a rotation in pediatric emergency medicine when coronavirus began spreading in Oregon. There was all this panic and stress in the (emergency department), particularly from nurses and doctors who were starting to have trouble getting childcare, he said. It caused this dilemma where healthcare workers were having to choose between coming in to care for patients and caring for their children. I was worrying about that when the rotation got canceled, and suddenly we were at home doing nothing. Then he saw Lanes form calling for volunteers. Tran said, Theres a part in all medical students: We feel like we just want to help. She said its been inspiring to see the outpouring of support for the assistance program. Graulty said the program is trying to make childcare and other support as accessible as possible. If you are an essential healthcare worker who has to keep working because of this crisis, sign up for the form, he said. OHSU employees can send texts to Graultys and Lanes pagers to get the form. Twitter users can send a direct message to Lane at @EmilyCALane. Theres also a program hotline: 503-383-9776. OHSU classes are currently scheduled to resume April 27. The medical students said theyre hoping the program can continue beyond that point. Were trying to build up a good infrastructure where it can adapt to whatever may come, Lane said. The program is also accepting donations to help student volunteers with limited finances, such as by reimbursing them for gas. Donations are being accepted through Venmo; search for the PDXCOVIDHEALTH account. Graulty said of working on the program, Its been challenging, and its actually turned out to be a really good educational experience. Tran said the program has shown that one person can make a difference. Dont be paralyzed by a sense of helplessness. (Ask) what else are other people doing, and maybe I can join? How can I meet the need? awang@oregonian.com; Twitter: @ORAmyW Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. Nigerian journalist, Kemi Olunloyo has alleged that a popular Nigerian musician in the UK has tested positive for coronavirus. According to Kemi, the musician flew in from New York. Read Also: Kemi Olunloyo Says Nigerian Celebrity Has Tested Positive For Coronavirus #BREAKING A popular Nigerian musician has caught #COVID19 in the UK and has been adviced not to return to Nigeria. The musician was transiting from New York spending time in Brooklyn an epicenter in the US. Nigerians coming home should self isolate for 14 days #CoronaVirusUpdate This is coming hours after she also talked about a Nigerian celebrity who has the virus attending the just concluded AMVCA. Almost 1,000 prison officers have gone into self-isolation and some security procedures may have to be halted if there are staff shortages amid the coronavirus outbreak, it is understood. Prison cell searches and drug tests for inmates might be scrapped in a bid to cope with absences during the crisis. Some 900 prison officers were off work and self-isolating on Thursday, the PA news agency understands. Two inmates at HMP Kilmarnock in Scotland have tested positive for coronavirus, it was revealed on Thursday 'Core security processes' will 'cease' and prisoners will need to be confined to their cells if jails in England and Wales do not have enough staff, according to official guidance seen by BBC News. Meals, medication, prisoner safety and family visits will be prioritised. The number of prison officers off work rose on Friday, sources told the BBC. The guidance is also said to advise against starting new offender behaviour programmes like those put in place for sex offenders. The news comes after a former chief inspector of prisons called for low-risk inmates to be released from prison to avoid them becoming 'incubators' for coronavirus. Speaking on the BBC's Newsnight programme, Nick Hardwick suggested prisoners with only a short amount of their sentence left to serve could be freed to help ease the pressure on the prison system. Prisons minister Lucy Frazer said prison staff were working closely with the Department of Health and the NHS to 'manage challenges' On Wednesday, the first case of an inmate being infected with Covid-19 was confirmed at HMP Manchester. Two inmates at HMP Kilmarnock in Scotland have also tested positive for the virus, it was revealed on Thursday. Last week the Government said it was 'striving tirelessly' to ensure the safety of prisons amid the coronavirus outbreak after campaigners urged officials to reveal how they would protect inmates. Prisons minister Lucy Frazer said prison staff were working closely with the Department of Health and the NHS to 'manage challenges' and urged anyone with symptoms of Covid-19 to avoid visiting a relative behind bars. Amid the coronavirus scare, Andhra Pradesh Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan on Saturday appealed people to be more vigilant and said that the joint partnership of the government and the society can prevent the spread of COVID-19. "Governor Biswabhushan Harichandan appealed to the people to be more vigilant in the fight against coronavirus. He said it is possible to prevent the spreading of the coronavirus with the joint partnership of the government and civil society," an official release said. Earlier the Governor held a held high-level review meeting at Andhra Pradesh Raj Bhawan in Vijayawada. The leaders who were present at the meeting include state Chief Secretary Nilam Sawhney, Special Chief Secretary of Health and Medical department Jawahar Reddy. On March 20, a man was tested positive for COVID-19 in Visakhapatnam who returned recently from Saudi Arabia. With that, the total number of positive cases in the state has climbed to three. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Saturday said that the total number of positive cases of coronavirus now stands at 271 in the country. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The organisation says the two workers were kidnapped in the southern city and later found dead. Two aid workers have been killed in war-torn Yemens south after they were kidnapped by unknown armed men, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) branch of the Red Crescent said. In a statement on Twitter, Emirates Red Crescent (ERC) said it expresses its deep regret and condemnation of the loss of Ahmed Fouad al-Yousefi, Coordinator of ERC Operations in Aden, and his fellow Mohamed Tareq in one of the worlds most vulnerable and complex humanitarian zones. The two were kidnapped in the southern port city of Aden and later found dead, according to the statement. The conflict in Yemen began with the 2014 takeover of the capital, Sanaa, by Houthi rebels. A Saudi-UAE led military coalition allied with the government intervened in March 2015. The war has since killed more than 100,000 people, including thousands of civilians, according to a database project that tracks violence. But a separate conflict has been raging in the south between government forces and southern separatists, backed by the UAE. The two parties signed a power-sharing agreement in Riyadh last November, with little sign of implementation on the ground. Security forces in the south have also come under repeated attack by both al-Qaeda and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) armed groups. The war in Yemen has triggered what the United Nations describes as the worlds worst humanitarian crisis, with 3.3 million people displaced and 24.1 million more than two-thirds of the population in need of aid. Images Sorry, there are no recent results for popular images. While most of us want to have a close relationship with our mums, could we work with them, too? Arlene Harris meets the mothers who share a passion for fashion with their offspring that has led to them going into business together Karen Yates and her daughter Ellen Karen and Ellen run Taylor Yates, a handmade luxury handbag business in Portstewart, Co Down. The duo started working together in 2016 and say they share the same vision and style "I feel so lucky to have the opportunity to work with my daughter and my sons also get involved when they can," says Karen. "It's not always easy [working with family]... I know I can be very impatient and also a bit of a taskmaster, but we also manage to have lots of fun. "Knowing we trust each other 100pc is huge as we are on the same page and want to grow the brand whilst giving back. We both believe that people, planet and purpose need to be at the centre of what we do. "I also know she has my back, even if it is midnight on a Tuesday that I need her help. I tend to keep going no matter what and sometimes forget to eat at lunchtime - but we need fun and space to breathe and sometimes I need patience. Ellen has taught me that." Ellen agrees that working with family is not always easy, and has required some adaptation. "It took a while for me to adjust to the sheer number of things there were to do and how mum's mind is always working which can be exhausting so sometimes, I have to tell her to stop," adds 23year-old Ellen. "It's regularly after normal work hours that we end up doing a lot of things, but we usually agree on new colourways and styles pretty quickly. "And we do have lots of fun. Even though people often wonder how it's possible to work with your mum. But we are very similar to the point of it being slightly scary, so we work quite well together on most things and balance each other out." Video of the Day While Karen makes most of the big decisions, the pair work in harmony and often end up sharing clothes - and bags - as they have a very similar style. "We tend to share more and more as time goes by - not everything, obviously, as Ellen is 5ft 10in and I'm not - but a lot of coats and tops," says Karen. "We usually like the same colours and Ellen definitely keeps me relevant. She has an ability to put a look together in an understated and cool way so when we go shopping, I always come home with something that I wouldn't have tried on without her." "Mum has quite the collection spanning right back to the late 1980s/early 1990s, which is always good to have a look through," adds Ellen. "She often steers me away from styles and colours which I might like but will definitely not suit me. She is also really good at knowing whether something is well-made or not, a skill which I am being well-trained on." Tess Purcell and her son Evan Expand Close Tess Purcell from Ennis, Co Clare and her son Evan. Pic: Don Moloney / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Tess Purcell from Ennis, Co Clare and her son Evan. Pic: Don Moloney Tess Purcell lives in Ennis, Co Clare, with her husband Steve Flaherty and their son Evan, both musicians. Always interested in fashion, the beauty therapist, who worked for Christian Dior for 16 years, trained as personal stylist when she became a mother and has involved her son in her work since the start "Evan has always been involved in the business," she says. "As an only child, mostly against his will, he was dragged along to boutiques to carry bags, help out backstage at fashion shows and work with me on events. He is no stranger to the ramp and from the age of four has modelled for me in many fashion shows. "As a teenager, he started to develop his own sense of style, which was not always easy on the purse strings, but he has a keen eye for fashion and knows what works for him. I always gave him the freedom to experiment but would express my opinion when I thought something was just not working. "Last year, I started www.stylenmind.com and Evan was the natural choice of partner. He has been a fantastic help working on social media while also filming and editing video clips for me. The industry has evolved with the introduction of social media platforms but I'm not a natural when it comes to these forums, so Evan brings his knowledge and experience to the table and was invaluable last year when I started rebranding and developing my website." And while 19-year-old Evan has been able to lend his tech skills to his mum, Tess has also been able to help her son out. "I think it is important to listen to each other and to make sure that both parties share their individual talents, so I was delighted to be called on when it came to developing his image and style him for his band's - Scoth - promo material," she says. "Even though right now he is focused on music, image is very much intertwined with this and I am delighted to have been involved in that journey with him." And Evan, who is pursuing a degree in music at BIMM, Dublin's 'school of rock', says he enjoys working with his mother and learning from her experience. "I believe the dynamic with me and mam is a good one," he says. "We always had a very good relationship so helping with www.stylenmind.com wasn't a chore for me in any sense of the word. I always had her help with my fashion choices and since I was a baby, she's been dressing me up in all sorts of things ranging from fluffy teddy bear outfits to corduroy overalls. She has influenced my style a lot and with her years of styling experience it was a huge help to have her opinion when I was heading out for the night, whether it be positive or negative. I think if someone has a good relationship with their mother then working together should be just the same and, in our case, it actually strengthened it." Jean Cronin and her daughter Alison Expand Close Jean Cronin with her daughter Alison. Photo: Owen Breslin / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Jean Cronin with her daughter Alison. Photo: Owen Breslin Jean Cronin and her daughter Alison Rooney run Jean Cronin Vintage and Contemporary in Powerscourt Townhouse, Dublin. The mother and daughter share a love of beautiful things and say that working together has shown them how much they have in common "My parents were antique collectors and I have always loved vintage, opening my first shop, Xanadu on King Street, in the 1980s," says Jean. "Five years ago, Alison and I decided to embark on our joint venture. We have such a close relationship and she has accompanied me all over the world, learning about textiles and antiques. We are so lucky we get on so well and can just look at each other and know what the other one is thinking. "We both share a love of silks and unusual vintage and while we have different tastes, Alison has introduced me to many small brands which has had a great influence on my personal style. And we both share the love of taking care of pieces we collect and then passing on our finds to the next person to care for them." Alison agrees and says she has learned a lot from her mother. "It's really great being able to share and have such enthusiasm when showing each other pieces we have sourced and curating the shop together with our finds," the 30-year-old says. "We make decisions together and every Monday meet for lunch somewhere different to organise and plan for the week ahead. We manage different elements of the business and when we're sourcing, tend to buy contrasting items from one another. This works really well as it provides a really eclectic mix for the shop. "But mum has definitely influenced my style and has given me such a passion for materials and fine fabrics. I really feel that we are so lucky that we get to do what we love every day and to share that with each other. "I think this is the key and would advise anyone who would like to work with their mum to figure out what is that they are passionate about and work that into their career path." PORTLAND, Ore., March 20, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- As COVID-19 has spread to every state in the U.S. and increased testing reveals exponential growth in the number of infected patients, Bright.md has helped health systems evaluate and treat tens of thousands of patients with its virtual care delivery platform, SmartExam. Allowing patients to be clinically managed from their own homes reduces the spread of the virus and, more importantly, gives valuable time back to providers to focus on the patients who need the most care. As of Friday morning, Bright.md's partner health systems have: Screened more than 27,000 patients with possible COVID-19 infection. Escalated more than 425 patients who have met Centers for Disease Control (CDC) criteria for further care or testing. Saved providers more than 8,000 care delivery hours. Using SmartExam, providers can deliver a diagnosis and treatment in less than two minutes, which means a single clinician can manage more than 200 patients each day. For comparison, in-person and video visits typically require more than 20 minutes of provider time, which means a single doctor has capacity for only 25 to 50 patient encounters each day, even when taking on exceptionally long shifts. "Overwhelmed health workers on the front lines of the global COVID-19 pandemic are working long hours to treat the growing number of patients who require screening and care for the virus," said Dr. Ray Costantini, co-founder and CEO of Bright.md. "By enabling at-home online care automation, we are seeing the number of patients accessing our services multiply exponentially each day, which means fewer patients will expose others to the virus and providers have more time to address the most serious cases." Bright.mdrecognized this week by CB Insights as one of 12 healthcare technology companies on the forefront of addressing the COVID-19 crisishas also announced a suite of products to help systems manage the demand on their clinical resources: Free COVID-19 Screening Tool: Last week, Bright.md made available a free COVID-19 screening tool based on its virtual care platform, SmartExam, which can be deployed in a few days, to hospitals nationwide. Last week, Bright.md made available a free COVID-19 screening tool based on its virtual care platform, SmartExam, which can be deployed in a few days, to hospitals nationwide. SmartExam Light COVID-19 + URI Care: A streamlined version of SmartExam that includes the COVID-19 Screening Tool, as well as the Upper Respiratory Infection (URI) module, which allows hospitals to screen for COVID-19 and deliver care in the case of more common upper respiratory infections (e.g., flu). This tool can be deployed in one to two weeks. A streamlined version of SmartExam that includes the COVID-19 Screening Tool, as well as the Upper Respiratory Infection (URI) module, which allows hospitals to screen for COVID-19 and deliver care in the case of more common upper respiratory infections (e.g., flu). This tool can be deployed in one to two weeks. SmartExam: Bright.md's flagship virtual care tool that helps deliver remote care for more than 450 conditions that drive more than 60% of primary- and urgent-care volume first integrated the COVID-19 assessment into its URI module in late January. Dozens of health systems already overwhelmed with patients have contacted Bright.md to deploy these digital triage tools in the next two weeks. Bright.md's dedicated COVID-19 team is continuously monitoring the evolving CDC guidelines about COVID-19 screening, updating all products within one business day. Bright.md's SmartExam is also still helping systems deliver care to people who have more mainstream medical issues, such as pink eye and bladder infections. "People have real concerns about going to the doctor right now, but non-acute conditions don't just go away during a pandemic," said Dr. Costantini. "If we can help healthcare systems keep those patients out of their doctors' offices by offering them high-quality evidence-based virtual care, their clinicians can attend to the sickest patients. It's a powerful way to help flatten the curve of COVID-19 impact." In addition to its recognition by CB Insights this week, Bright.md also banded together with nearly 40 other health tech companies to form the StartX Med COVID-19 Task Force , a group mobilized to provide government agencies, regulatory boards and healthcare systems with solutions for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the novel coronavirus. Dr. Costantini will be available for interviews and to share his insights with the industry on effectively deploying telehealth solutions and managing patient demand during global health crises. For more information, hospital systems can email [email protected] or visit www.bright.md . About SmartExam SmartExam can support care for the conditions that account for up to 60% of the visit volume in primary care, urgent care, retail and non-emergent emergency department (ED) settings. The AI-powered asynchronous care automation tool helps providers achieve up to 20x improvements in efficiency, reducing a 20+ minute in-person or video-based appointment to under 90 seconds. About Bright.md Founded in 2014 and based in Portland, Oregon, Bright.md is a leading healthcare automation company dedicated to modernizing direct-to-patient telehealth for healthcare systems with its AI-powered virtual-care platform, SmartExam. Bright.md partners with premier healthcare organizations in North America, including three of the top five not-for-profit health systems and five of the top ten health systems in the United States. These partners offer SmartExam to more than 10 million patients who are seeking convenient urgent and primary care online. Bright.md has been named a Gartner Cool Vendor in Healthcare, a Vendor to Watch by Chilmark Research, and is the preferred choice of AVIA's Virtual Access cohort. Bright.md is venture-backed by B Capital Group, Seven Peaks Ventures, Pritzker Group Venture Capital, Oregon Venture Fund and the Stanford-StartX Fund. For more information, visit Bright.md . SOURCE Bright.md Related Links http://bright.md Dhaka, Mar 21 (UNI) The World Bank on Saturday approved $170 million to improve sanitation services Dhaka city in Bangladesh benefiting around 1.5 million people. The Dhaka Sanitation Improvement Project will help improve Dhakas livability with safely managed sanitation services, particularly in its southern part of the city. The project will treat sewage and septage, which will help reduce inland flooding and water pollution. It will also provide 50,000 new household sewer connections. Further, to improve the quality of living in slum and low-income housing areas, the project will upgrade toilets and install communal septic tanks. About 3.5 million people living in Dhakas low-income communities, especially women suffer most from poor sanitation and high levels of pollution, said Mercy Tembon, World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh and Bhutan. This project will help ensure safe sanitation, which is essential for reducing public health risks as well as extreme poverty. The project will help construct a new Sewage Treatment Plant at Pagla area with a capacity of treating about 150 million litres of domestic waste water per day. By reducing the volume of untreated wastewater and fecal sludge into drainage canals and water bodies, the project will decrease the risk of inland floods and thus lessen the risks of water contamination, said Arif Ahamed, World Bank Team Leader for the Dhaka Sanitation Improvement Project. Dhakas 881 km sewer system is old and inadequate to serve the large population. Often untreated domestic sewage and industrial effluent are illegally discharged into rivers and canals causing pollution and flooding. Due to damaged and clogged sewer collection and transmission network, the existing sewer treatment plant can treatabout one-fourth of its capacityaround 30-40 million litre per day, which is below discharge standard set by the Department of Environment (DoE). The project will also support Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (DWASA) to improve efficiency in sanitation service delivery. In addition to the improvement of DWASAs commercial management i.e billing system, the project will help strengthen the management information system (MIS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) for sanitation and IT-enabled customer complaints management system. The project will also help provide trainings to DWASA officials. The project will receive a scale-up facility credit from the World Banks International Development Association (IDA), with a 34-year term, including a four-year grace period. The project also includes $170 million financing from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and $143 million financing from the Government of Bangladesh. The World Bank was among the first development partners to support Bangladesh following its independence. Bangladesh currently has the largest IDA program totaling $11.6 billion. Since Independence, the World Bank has committed more than $30 billion in grants, interest-free, and concessional credits to the country. UNI MAZ ASN 1135 Uh-oh! It could be you, or it could be us, but there's no page here. Advertisement Boris Johnson will today urge Britons to celebrate Mother's Day remotely by using video calls as he admits the NHS is on the brink of being 'overwhelmed' by the coronavirus outbreak. The Prime Minister's warning that 'the numbers are very stark and they are accelerating' came as the UK death toll soared to 233 up 56 in a day. Doctors warned that a 'tsunami' of severely ill patients was about to engulf them, describing near-apocalyptic scenes amid chronic shortages of basic equipment and fears that unprotected medics could either become desperately ill themselves or become carriers and infect others. As hospitals raced to convert operating theatres into intensive care wards and begged vets to hand over ventilators normally used for pets, Mr Johnson pleaded with the public to reduce social interaction, even with their mothers. In a powerful letter, he said: 'Today is Mother's Day. It is a day when we celebrate the sacrifice and the effort of those who gave us life. Across the country, I know that millions of people will have been preparing to do something special not just a card, not just flowers. 'I know that everyone's strongest instinct is to see their mother in person, to have a meal together, to show them how much you love them. 'But I am afraid that this Mother's Day the single best present that we can give we who owe our mothers so much is to spare them the risk of catching a very dangerous disease.' Boris Johnson will today urge Britons to celebrate Mother's Day remotely by using video calls as he admits the NHS is on the brink of being 'overwhelmed' by the coronavirus outbreak. Pictured: Mr Johnson and his mother Charlotte As of Saturday morning, the total number of confirmed cases in the UK hit 5,018 with 233 deaths. After his announcement, seven more deaths were announced in Wales on Sunday morning - bringing the total to 240 The Prime Minister's warning that 'the numbers are very stark and they are accelerating' came as the UK death toll soared to 233 up 56 in a day. Pictured: The PM in a coronavirus cabinet meeting today He added: 'The best thing is to ring her, video call her, Skype her, but to avoid any unnecessary physical contact or proximity. And why? Because if your mother is elderly or vulnerable, then I am afraid all the statistics show that she is much more likely to die from coronavirus... We cannot disguise or sugar coat the threat'. In a chilling reference to Italy, where the death toll rose by 793 yesterday to 4,825, the Prime Minister said that without a 'heroic and collective national effort to slow the spread', it was likely that 'our own NHS will be similarly overwhelmed'. The UK had 5,018 confirmed cases of Covid-19 by 9am yesterday, up more than 1,000 from the previous day. Officials said almost 73,000 people have been tested for the virus so far. To combat the threat, the Government yesterday signed a landmark deal with private hospitals to supply an extra 8,000 hospital beds across England, almost 1,200 more ventilators and 20,000 more staff, including 10,000 nurses and more than 700 doctors. The Government and health officials have also urged the 1.5 million people in England considered most at risk from the disease because of their health conditions to begin 'shielding' themselves by staying at home. Letters will go out this week 'strongly advising' them not to go out for at least 12 weeks from Monday. Doctors have described near-apocalyptic scenes amid chronic shortages of basic equipment and fears that unprotected medics could either become desperately ill themselves or become carriers and infect others. Pictured: Staff at a hospital in London The UK had 5,018 confirmed cases of Covid-19 by 9am yesterday, up more than 1,000 from the previous day. Officials said almost 73,000 people have been tested for the virus so far. Pictured: A woman wears a protective mask in Battersea Signs posted to the door of a pharmacy in Leigh on Sea state: 'We have toilet rolls and Paracetamol in stock'. It comes after a week of coronavirus panic buying Customers queue outside a Boots chemist in London as shoppers frantically try to get their hands on essential items Central London was left almost deserted on Saturday night as bars and restaurants closed their doors in a bid to slow the spread of deadly coronavirus London saw an incredibly quiet Saturday night after restaurants, bars and cafes shut as part of measures to slow the spread of coronavirus Two people wearing protective face masks pass a closed-down souvenir shop in Piccadilly Circus, London, on Saturday Harrods in Knightsbridge looked eerie as it stood lit with bright lights but with no people as the city went under lockdown NHS workers shouldn't be able to shop alongside elderly in special hours because they are 'cross-infecting everybody' Supermarkets have been warned against inadvertently accelerating the spread of coronavirus in the elderly population by allowing potentially infected NHS workers to mix with them in reduced opening times. Many big stores have launched a so-called 'silver hour' where pensioners can shop in restocked aisles to avoid them falling victim to panic-buying. Frontline health staff have now also been allowed in at these times after a string of viral videos showed exhausted medics returning from work to find empty shelves. But a doctor has pointed out the scheme lumps together those most vulnerable to the disease with those most likely to be infected by it. Lisa Anderson, a consultant cardiologist at St George's Hospital in London, said that NHS workers were not being given the appropriate protective gear to fend off contamination. She this morning told BBC Radio 4: 'This is not just about the risk to ourselves and our families. We are travelling home on the Tube, on buses,' she told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. 'Sainsbury's this morning has announced that they are opening up the early hours to the frail, elderly and NHS workers. We are cross-infecting everybody at the moment.' Advertisement In his letter, the Prime Minister added: 'Unless we act together in Britain, unless we make the heroic and collective national effort to slow the spread, then it is all too likely that our own NHS will be similarly overwhelmed. 'That is why this country has taken the steps that it has, imposing restrictions never seen before either in peace or war. We have closed schools, pubs, bars, restaurants and gyms, and we are asking people to stay and work at home if they possibly can. 'To help businesses and workers through the crisis, we have come up with unprecedented packages of support. All of this is putting our country, and our society, under enormous strain. 'But already this crisis is also bringing out the best in us all in the army of volunteers that has sprung up to help the vulnerable, in the millions of acts of kindness, in the work of all the people who are continuing to provide essential services from transport workers to supermarket staff to health and social care workers. 'Yes, this disease is forcing us apart at least physically. But it is also the crucible in which we are already forging new bonds of togetherness and altruism and sharing. This country will be changed by coronavirus, but there is every reason to think we will come through it stronger and better than ever before. 'And the more effectively we follow the medical advice, the faster we will bounce back to health medically and economically. 'So this Mother's Day let's do everything we can to show our respect and love to those who gave us life and minimise the risk to their own lives. Bit by bit, day by day, we are all helping to delay the spread of the disease and to give our amazing NHS staff the time to prepare for the peak. 'So follow the advice, send your love to your mother by phone or video-call. Stay at home, protect our NHS, and together we will save thousands of lives.' This morning London Mayor Sadiq Khan said more people would die unless Londoners started to stay at home afer many ignored social distancing measures over the weekend. London is the worst hit city in the UK and Mr Khan today claimed he has been lobbying Boris Johnson's government in order for stricter measures to be implemented across the capital. There have been 51 deaths in the capital and 1,221 confirmed cases of the illness. Customers sit at tables inside a pub in London on March 20 before they were ordered to close Speaking on the Andrew Marr Show this morning, Mr Khan was questioned on whether or not Londoners had understood how serious the situation in the capital currently is. 'I am clear, life has changed and we have to do things differently for a while now. 'Social interaction will spread the virus. Do shopping for elderly neighbours, only buy what you need.' He added that people needed to practice social distancing for their vulnerable loved ones and said if people didn't then they 'will die'. Marr said there had been a clear 'change in tone' after the government had initially allowed pubs and restaurants to continue to run before it ordered them to close on Friday night. 'My frustration with government is that only last Monday they allowed me to attend Cobra, things are worse in London, if we dont keep our social distance people will die. Im working from home and others should too.' Asked whether or not parks and other public places should be closed, Mr Khan said people need to recognise the severity of the situation. 'I have been lobbying the government. 'There are instructions and rules we need to obey to stop people dying. Making sure there is no confusion or mixed messages, people should not be leaving their homes unless they have to, they can walk dogs or exercise, but mixing socially leads to more people dying.' He added that emergency bills that will go through parliament next week will give additional powers to police in order to allow them to enforce stricter rules upon the public and social gatherings. 'Unless people stay at home and stop using public transport then more people will die. 'Please stop mixing and stay at home.' He said public transport should only be used for critical workers and said his office has now implemented an 'enhanced cleaning regime on all TfL estates'. 'The advice at the moment is not to give them masks, if the advice changes then of course we will change this. But the NHS still don't have what they need. 'Stay at home unless you have good reason to leave your home, it's important everyone works from home'. There has been much speculation on whether or not London, a 'city of super spreaders' would be locked down due to the rapid spread of the virus. Mr Khan added: 'We are a global city, we have connectivity around the country and density. All of us need to follow the advice, we are running a weekend service during the week. 'No one else apart from critical workers should be using public transport.' Celebs all over the country seemed to take the advice to heart, taking to social media to share poignant tributes to their mothers. Leading the way was Victoria Beckham, who uploaded a sweet flashback image of her children Brooklyn, 21, Romeo, 17, Cruz, 15, and Harper, eight, and 'sent the virtual hugs to all mums' Powerful message: Amanda Holden also shared a throwback snap with her daughters Alexa, 14, and Hollie, eight, as well as mother Judith, and urged her followers to follow UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson 's advice to 'stay safe' 'It's time to come together by being apart': GMB host Susanna Reid - who has been in self-isolation for two weeks after one of her sons had a 'persistent, dry cough' - revealed she wished her mum Sue a 'Happy Mothering Sunday' via FaceTime Leading the way was Victoria Beckham, who uploaded a sweet flashback image of her children Brooklyn, 21, Romeo, 17, Cruz, 15, and Harper, eight, and 'sent the virtual hugs to all mums' amid the coronavirus pandemic. Britain's Got Talent judge Amanda Holden also shared a throwback snap with her lookalike daughters Alexa, 14, and Hollie, eight, as well as her mother Judith, and urged her social media followers to follow UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's advice to 'stay safe' during the global crisis. Highlighting that the COVID-19 outbreak may keep children apart from their children this year, Posh Spice, 45 - who shares her children with husband David, 44 - penned: 'Today we celebrate a Mothers Day like no other in the experience of our generation. 'So many of us wont be able to see our mums today. Most of us will be sending them virtual love and gratitude, while thinking especially of the families with those on the frontlines taking care of others. 'We will all continue to be kind and resilient. Sending love to everyone today from us all x VB @davidbeckham @brooklynbeckham @romeobeckham @cruzbeckham #HarperSeven.' [sic] TV and radio presenter Amanda, 49, honoured the special occasion with a radiant family image, alongside the caption: 'Flash back to a day we were all together... stay safe , stay strong.' [sic] Former TOWIE star Dan Osborne expressed his gratitude towards his wife Jacqueline Jossa as he hailed her 'an amazing mummy' alongside a series of sweet images of their daughters Ella, five, and Mia, 20 months. Doting parent: Posh Spice, 45, treated her fellow Instagram users to family photos with her eldest sons Brooklyn (left) and Romeo (right) 'Today we celebrate Mother's Day like no other in the experience of the generation': The former singer highlighted that the COVID-19 outbreak may keep children apart from their children this year (pictured with mother Jackie Adams) The youngest of the Beckham brood: Victoria is no stranger to updating her fans with loved-up snaps of her nearest and dearest (Harper pictured left, Cruz pictured right) Fearne Cotton: 'Me face timing my mum this morning with her holding the phone up to her ear still! Nice seeing you mum. Happy Mothers Day. A particularly poignant one as so many of us cant actually see our mums in the flesh today. Also remembrance for all those mothers lost. We salute you all' Lucky mama: Peter Crouch's wife Abbey Clancy was overwhelmed with delight as she was treated to homemade cards and breakfast from her daughters Sophia, nine, Liberty, four, and sons Johnny, two, and Jack, nine months Dan, 29 - who fathers son Teddy, six, with ex Megan Tomlin - cheered on the former EastEnders star's role as a parent as he wrote: 'Happy Mothers Day Youre an amazing mummy & these babies absolutely adore you. Thank you for everything you do for all of the kids, youre appreciated and loved more than you could imagine .' [sic] Lucy Mecklenburgh marked her first Mother's Day alongside her fiance Ryan Thomas and their sweet newborn Roman Ravello. Dan's former TOWIE co-star , 28, shared a gorgeous photo to commemorate the day and penned: 'My first Mothers Day with my special little man- love you so much Roman'. [sic] Now doctors say people should be stopped from moving around within Britain 'without delay' and London MUST be locked down completely A group of academics has urged the government to 'implement' social distancing by stopping people from moving around different regions of the UK amid the coronavirus pandemic. Six health experts warned Britain is losing a 'very small window of opportunity' to help prevent the spread of the disease and a 'health system collapse'. The appeal to ministers was made in a letter signed by six professors, including Julian Peto, Nisreen Alwan, David McCoy, Helen Ward, Martin McKee and Elio Riboli. The experts referred to London specifically when giving examples of areas where movement between and within should be restricted. In a letter to The Times, the six academics wrote: 'Sir, the UK is losing a very small window of opportunity to minimise the disease burden from Covid-19 and prevent a health system collapse.' They added: 'We recognise the severe constraints on capacity for testing but, while that is being addressed, the government must implement social distancing, extensive case finding and contact tracing to reduce community spread to give time for the health system to prepare and cope. 'Hence we urge the government to enforce restrictions on movement between and within areas with high and low rates of infection, such as London, while ensuring that the most vulnerable in society are supported.' Advertisement During another day of dramatic developments: It emerged that a senior NHS doctor is fighting for life after being infected with coronavirus possibly during a routine appointment with a patient; NHS England national medical director Stephen Powis said panic buyers 'should be ashamed' of themselves for stripping supermarket shelves, adding that taking greater responsibility 'can save lives'; Tesco boss Dave Lewis pleaded with shoppers to search their conscience and ask themselves: 'Do I need everything in my trolley?'; Environment Secretary George Eustice insisted there was no shortage of food but refused to directly rule out rationing; Plans are being drawn up to recruit 30,000 students and people who have been laid off to pick fruit and vegetables because migrant labourers will not be able to travel to the UK; Ministers announced plans to write to Britain's 1.5 million most vulnerable citizens with advice on how to secure vital food and medicines; Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick said the Army would help with a challenge 'on a scale not seen since the Second World War'; GPs were told to stop seeing patients in their surgeries and replace consultations by phone calls and home visits; The public will be invited to stand on their doosteps and balconies to applaud NHS workers at 8pm on Thursday; The Government was poised to step back from plans to introduce emergency Covid-19 laws that would last two years after Tory MP David Davis demanded a fresh Commons vote on the plans within 12 months; Plans were being drawn up for the Government to buy shares in struggling British airlines with train companies also in line for a potential rescue; No 10 said negotiations were under way for the Queen to give a rare televised address to the nation; ITV was plunged into crisis as TV presenter Fiona Phillips, who is married to This Morning boss Martin Frizzell, tested positive for Covid-19; High Street chain John Lewis was among a string of retailers closing stores; Revellers defied a request by the Prime Minister to stay off the streets after he announced the closure of pubs, restaurants and clubs; Police were warned to avoid arresting suspects who may have coronavirus; Callous criminals exploited the pandemic to rob the elderly and vulnerable by posing as NHS workers and sending a blizzard of fake emails. Workers in London wear masks and gloves to protect themselves from deadly coronavirus as they talk to customers After London's Northwick Park Hospital (pictured) briefly ran out of intensive care beds on Friday, doctors voiced concerns that many more will crumble under the pressure of sick patients NHS England national medical director Stephen Powis (pictured) said panic buyers 'should be ashamed' of themselves for stripping supermarket shelves, adding that taking greater responsibility 'can save lives' After London's Northwick Park Hospital briefly ran out of intensive care beds on Friday, doctors voiced concerns that many more will crumble under the pressure of sick patients. WHO boss Tedros Adhanom tells youth to take coronavirus seriously The head of the World Health Organization has warned young people that they should take coronavirus warnings seriously as they are 'not invincible'. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the bug could put a young person 'in hospital for weeks' and could even be deadly while speaking in a virtual press conference in Geneva. Dr Ghebreyesus said: 'Today I have a message for young people: you are not invincible. This virus could put you in hospital for weeks - or even kill you. 'Even if you don't get sick, the choices you make about where you go could be the difference between life and death for someone else.' Advertisement One told The Mail on Sunday: 'Northwick Park will invariably happen in each hospital, one by one. We are expecting this because of what's happened in Italy and Spain.' In a chilling report from the front line, one NHS doctor writes in this newspaper today: 'I thought I had seen everything there was to see. But nothing could have prepared me for the terror that coronavirus would unleash.' There is particular worry over a lack of personal protective equipment such as gloves and masks with former Tory Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt last night joining calls for the Government to 'sort this out'. Hailing the deal with the private sector, NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens said: 'We're dealing with an unprecedented global health threat and are taking immediate and exceptional action to gear up.' Europe is firmly at the epicentre of the coronavirus crisis with the death toll exceeding 5,000 and a steep rise in new infections, totalling more than 13,000 across the UK, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Germany. Spain's death toll went up by 285 to 1,378 while Belgium's almost doubled yesterday and now stands at 67. In Germany 77 people have died, three more than in Switzerland. Globally, nearly 300,000 patients have tested positive and more than 12,000 have died. In America, Vice-President Mike Pence, who heads the White House coronavirus task force, said he will be tested after a member of this team tested positive. Tourists are warned to stay away from UK holiday destinations and beaches to limit the spread of coronavirus as the National Trust makes a dramatic U-turn and closes its parks and gardens By Amelia Wynne for MailOnline Tourists are being urged to stay away from beaches and other holiday destinations in the UK to limit the spread of coronavirus. Cumbria Police said despite Government advice to avoid non-essential travel, the Lake District and other tourist hotspots in the UK were experiencing an 'influx' of visitors. The force has now urged people from outside its county to keep away, stating that the Lake District is 'no longer conducting business as usual', with pubs, restaurants and attractions advised to close. It comes as yesterday the National Trust made a dramatic U-turn and closed all its parks and gardens - leaving many with no where to go for a Mother's Day walk today. Tourists are being urged to stay away from beaches and other holiday destinations in the UK to limit the spread of coronavirus. Pictured: a busy beach in Sandbanks, Poole yesterday Yesterday the National Trust made a dramatic U-turn and closed all its parks and gardens. Pictured: members of the public walk in the grounds of the National Trust's Dunham Massey Park in Altrincham on Friday In addition West Wittering Beach in Chichester, south-east England, has closed to the public after the number of visitors on Saturday 'far exceeded' expectations, the estate owners said. Meanwhile, the Visit Cornwall tourist board published a statement on Friday asking people to postpone their visits to a later date 'despite the lack of clarity from Government' around the situation. This morning in an interview with BBC Breakfast National Clinical Director for Scotland, professor Jason Leitch also warned against people flooding tourist sites. He said that UK holiday makers travelling domestically don't have to cancel plans but must continue to carry out social distancing. He added that healthcare services in the Scottish Highlands and islands are not ready for a huge surge in patients. He said: 'What we don't want is hoards of camper vans coming to Fort William because the health service will not be able to manage that, because some people will get sick.' In a statement on Saturday, Cumbria Police's assistant chief constable Andrew Slattery said: 'Whilst we are looking at all measures to limit the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus, I must urge people living outside the county not to visit. 'A national emergency shut-down of businesses and schools is not an excuse for a holiday. 'Cumbria County Council yesterday urged people to stay at home as far as possible to protect out NHS and save lives. I reiterate that advice and it is important that we all follow it.' In a statement, Mr Slattery said public services within the county, located in north-west England, are resourced to serve its population of 500,000 and will be 'stretched to breaking point' by the coronavirus pandemic. 'Large numbers of visitors will only place an additional burden on these hard-pushed professionals,' he added. 'These are unprecedented times and our first priority is the protection of life. People's lives must come first.' Elsewhere, the West Wittering Estate posted a message on its website to say its beach and car park would be closed as remaining open had 'encouraged an unacceptable movement of people' into the local community. 'We understand that the restrictions imposed by the government make us an attractive option for exercise, dog walking, and socialising, but we cannot in good conscience remain open to the public,' it said. The National Trust's move to shut premises comes just days after they said they would keep many of their gardens and parks open for free allowing people to 'relax and refresh'. National Trust director general Hilary McGrady said: 'Despite our desire to keep our outdoor spaces open, the health and wellbeing of our staff, volunteers and visitors has to be our top priority. 'Having observed the numbers visiting our properties today I am no longer convinced we can maintain social distancing over Mother's Day when numbers are likely to grow, and beyond.' On Friday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered pubs and restaurants across the country to close in a bid to impact the infection rate by reducing 'unnecessary' social gatherings by 75%. In a statement, the Visit Cornwall website posted: 'Despite the lack of clarity from the Government, Visit Cornwall is advising that visitors should not come to Cornwall at this time.' NHS doctor fights for life: Ear, nose and throat consultant, 52, is on life support amid fears many more medics will catch coronavirus A senior NHS doctor is fighting for life after being infected with coronavirus, which may have happened during a routine appointment with a patient. The 52-year-old ear, nose and throat consultant from the Midlands had been 'fit and well' but was last night on a life-support machine. News of the medic's plight came as NHS colleagues warned many more staff will fall ill or even die from coronavirus because of a chronic shortage of protective equipment. A senior NHS doctor is fighting for life after being infected with coronavirus, which may have happened during a routine appointment with a patient. Pictured: A coronavirus public notice sign outside a London hospital The UK's coronavirus death toll has skyrocketed by 56 bringing the total fatalities to 233 in the worst 24 hours the country has seen yet Medics wear protective suits, face masks and goggles as they work in Nuova Poliambulanza hospital, Italy Meanwhile, hospitals were scrambling to avoid meltdown amid a 'tsunami' of severely ill patients, many of them struggling to breathe. And in a stark illustration of the desperate hunt for life-saving kit, health bosses have been forced to ask vets for ventilators designed for animals. Angela and Robert Walsh, who own Corner House Equine Clinic in Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire, said their local hospital had got in touch to ask about ventilators. Writing on Facebook, Mrs Walsh said: 'This brings home how serious this pandemic is. Never before have the vets of Britain been asked to provide equipment for humans.' Mrs Walsh told The Mail on Sunday that Christine Middlemiss, the UK's Chief Veterinary Officer, has written to every vet in the country asking for an inventory of their respiratory equipment. In hospitals, operating theatres are being frantically converted into intensive care wards and regular patients are being discharged to make way for a massive surge in coronavirus cases. NHS chief executive Simon Stevens announced an 'unprecedented deal' which will see private hospitals hand over their entire England-wide capacity of over 8,000 beds and 1,200 ventilators to the health service. The NHS will pay 'cost price', so private hospitals will not make a profit. Official figures seen by this newspaper show that at midnight on Thursday, 163 Covid-19 patients were being treated in critical care units across England 106 of them in London. Of those, 70 per cent were men and only one in ten had severe underlying health problems. London is so far the hardest pressed area. One hospital, Northwick Park in Harrow, briefly ran out of intensive care beds on Friday. Elsewhere in the capital, doctors including those at some of the country's most prestigious hospitals admitted they may be only days away from the same fate. One consultant at a major Central London hospital told The Mail on Sunday: 'What's going on up the A40 at Northwick Park is going to land right smack in our face. 'Our whole hospital is pandemonium. It's managing, but it's about to stop managing.' Hundreds of coronavirus patients are now being treated in hospitals across London, where around half of the 233 deaths have been. Pictured: Medics outside a London hospital As the epidemic gathers pace in London and spreads across the rest of the country, he predicted similar problems elsewhere. 'Northwick Park will invariably happen in each hospital, one by one. We are expecting this because of what's happened in Italy and Spain.' Hundreds of coronavirus patients are now being treated in hospitals across London, where around half of the 233 deaths have been. An intensive care specialist in South London predicted grimly: 'A tsumani is coming soon and there will be a time when we won't be able to help everyone who needs an intensive care bed.' He added, however, that staff were making 'a superb effort', adding: 'I think it's fair to say we have saved around a dozen patients' lives in the last week, who wouldn't have made it but for our work.' The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) yesterday issued updated treatment guidance that said those deemed 'mildly frail' or worse could be denied intensive care because they have the lowest chance of surviving. Those with better underlying health should be prioritised. In Italy, almost a tenth of patients in hospital with the virus have been healthcare workers a statistic that has sent a chill down the spines of NHS medics. The Italian experience shows it is not just those treating Covid-19 patients who are at risk, but also those working elsewhere in hospitals many of them with less protection. The Central London consultant, who does not work in intensive care, said: 'I have major concerns about our safety, not only for our own sakes, but because if we can't function, we can't look after people. I work in a very high profile trust in Central London and currently many staff have no personal protective equipment [PPE]. 'My colleagues are telling me, 'Forget PPE. There's not even basic normal surgical masks, hand wash and hand gel in many areas where it's really needed.' He said one NHS worker had been reduced to 'driving around B&Qs buying up dust masks' because no facemasks had been provided at work. 'It's like sending us to put out a huge fire wearing no protective equipment, while asking every else to stay at home,' the consultant added. Dr Lisa Anderson, a consultant cardiologist at St George's Hospital in South London, said staff risk 'cross-infecting everybody' due to the lack of kit. She said the equipment the NHS was handing out did not meet World Health Organisation guidelines. It is feared the stricken ear, nose and throat (ENT) doctor may have picked up the virus through a routine appointment while not wearing PPE. Mark Watson, president of the British Laryngological Association, wrote to members: 'It does appear that ENT specialists are particularly prone to virus exposure, and we have two examples of severe infection within the UK: two ENT consultants have required intensive care unit admission this week.' And in a stark illustration of the desperate hunt for life-saving kit, health bosses have been forced to ask vets for ventilators designed for animals. Pictured: People wear protective face masks outside Northwick Park Hospital in London Mr Watson told The Mail on Sunday that the most seriously ill doctor was on an 'artificial lung' machine. The other consultant, in his 40s and from Yorkshire, is on a ventilator but is improving. Patrick Magennis, chairman of the British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, said doctors should wear heavy-duty protective kit, including a sealed mask, before 'close face-to-face contact' with any patient. 'To do otherwise is to be playing a very high risk health lottery,' he warned. Meanwhile, the Confederation of British Surgery has called for all plastic surgery to cease. Founding member Mark Henley said surgeons are at 'an increased risk during these hazardous times'. The look of panic among medics, patients failing to get oxygen in their lungs and dangerous under-dressing of staff: Frontline NHS doctor reveals how coronavirus has unleashed terror in hospital If we thought our health service was prepared for the coronavirus, the past few days have brought a shattering reality. Here, in a chilling dispatch from the front line, one doctor recounts the moment Covid-19 struck and overwhelmed a major London hospital and how doctors and nurses watched helplessly as patients died an excruciating death... Have you ever seen someone gasping for their last breaths? Not many have, but for those who have experienced it, you never forget the horror. I wish I could forget all the faces of the dying I saw last week. The look of panic across every face, the chugging sound people make as they desperately try, and fail, to get oxygen in their lungs. It doesn't leave you. I have been a doctor for more than a decade. In that time, I thought I had seen everything there was to see. But nothing could have prepared me for the terror that coronavirus would unleash. It was just after lunchtime on Saturday when the nightmare began. The siren sounded on my pager to tell me a patient had had a respiratory arrest and I rushed across the hospital to attend a man in his 70s with Covid-19 whose heart had stopped beating. A medical worker wearing a face make and protection gear tends to a patient inside the new coronavirus intensive care unit of the Brescia Poliambulanza hospital, Lombardy What I was met with when I arrived was sheer panic. The staff, through no fault of their own, were hesitant in exactly how we should respond. It was an early indication of how grossly under-prepared as a country we are for treating this virus. The compressions to resuscitate him proved futile. Along with two nurses, a senior doctor and an anaesthetist, who was managing his airway, we were powerless as Covid-19 cruelly claimed a victim right before us. He was gasping for breath with every ounce of life that he could muster. I could see the terror in his eyes. He knew. This was compounded by the terror in the faces of the staff present. They are all brilliant colleagues, respected professionals who have, like me, been doing their jobs for a long time. There shouldn't have been any fear for them. But there was. I could see it. And I felt overcome with it, too. I am a senior medical doctor covering all wards including high dependency at a busy hospital in London. We're used to being stretched and working long shifts without breaks to deal with any number of emergencies that come through the door every day. But last Saturday was different. A patient on a stretcher is transported by medical workers wearing protective suits at the Columbus hospital unit of the Gemelli hospital where the second Covid-19 emergency center has opened in Rome Yes, we knew that the virus was coming but we weren't prepared for this. A few hours before the first Covid-19 death at the hospital, we were suddenly forced to restructure our wards to accommodate the vast numbers of sufferers who were being admitted in critical conditions. I am a doctor. I am trained to block out the inner voice of panic that comes to all of us in times of extreme stress. But there was no blocking out this time. There it was, bellowing at me continuously: 'Oh my God, what is happening?' We knew this man was just the first one we would see die in this excruciating manner. The child in me was thinking: 'If only I can save him, perhaps all those people piling up in our wards will be OK, too.' But this, of course, is real life. Not a children's story. As he cruelly slipped away, my heart sank. There was no time to dwell, though. For we soon had a full ward of sufferers. What's more, despite restructuring the wards to ensure there was room for the coronavirus sufferers and that they would be totally isolated, it soon became apparent that the virus was already rampaging throughout the hospital. Not long after his death, my pager went off to attend someone on a regular ward who had taken a turn. Lying in an open bay, they were burning up with a serious fever. I could cry thinking about it. This individual had been admitted to hospital for something totally unrelated and now, here, lying before me, it was clear they had caught the virus in the very place they had every reason to expect would help them get better. My eyes darted around the ward. He was surrounded by other beds full of patients, as well as nurses and doctors who were not protected myself included. At this point I had been working for nine hours straight on an empty stomach, having only taken one toilet break. There would be no let-up. For he was merely the first discovery. Almost simultaneously sufferers began popping up, as my pager's siren went into overdrive. I rushed between wards, attending to alerts coming from all over the hospital. With each new discovery, all I could hear was my inner voice screaming louder with each new discovery: 'No, no, no, no. Please God, no.' For some of the population, I realise that this must be hard to comprehend. According to one graphic I have seen shared on social media, Covid19 is little worse than the winter flu. But let me tell you, it is so very much worse. Besides the far more aggressive lung disease it has the ability to cause, its ability to spread totally differentiates it from any flu. Many of you reading this might have assumed that the virus is only serious for those with 'underlying health issues'. It is a clever term, for it works to distance many of us from it. Yet I have seen first-hand how quickly it spreads. I lost count of the number of times I have found sufferers in different wards. Any hope we'd had of keeping Covid-19 sufferers separate from the rest of our patients became almost totally blurred as the influx just became greater, and greater, and greater. You instinctively know it is the coronavirus. There is no mistaking it. Patients who come in for totally different reasons do not just suddenly develop high fevers. When we think it's likely that someone is suffering from the virus on a non-isolated ward, we take them to a side room and swab them. It takes two days to get the results, which provides another logistical challenge. While we wait for test results the patient can't return to a normal ward in case they have the virus, but they can't be moved in with Covid-19 sufferers in case they don't. Me? I am asymptomatic, but I have been exposed to it frequently. I am, therefore, most likely carrying it, as are most medics up and down the country. Absurdly, I have not been afforded a test and the NHS's approach for staff is that until you have symptoms you don't self-isolate. Why? Because we simply do not have enough staff for them to be disappearing before symptoms appear, regardless of whether they are likely carrying it or not. As a doctor you should be saving lives. But for the first time in my career I have to face the fear that as a doctor I could be a silent killer. I have no choice but to block out that fear and just get on with it. Towards the end of last week, it became apparent that there is very little we can do to halt the spread of this aggressive and unrelenting virus. Many patients simply do not respond to treatment and oxygen masks and we are left with no choice but to make them 'comfortable'. Even with morphine and the sedative midazolam to help numb pain and ease breathing, the deaths have been excruciating. That is why I wish that I could forget last week, pretend it is some nightmare. But it isn't. It is now our new reality. The virus has forced doctors to do something we should never have to do: play God. Within the space of a few hours last Saturday, what I had known my job to be changed irrevocably. For we must now make ethical decisions on who to save and who to let die on a scale that no doctor alive today has ever faced. I would love to say that those ethical decisions are made with time, patience, and care. But last week? It was as quick as can be. No doctor should be forced to choose between patients. But we now have no other choice. It is never an easy task to tell someone's loved one their mother, father, wife or husband is not a candidate to go to intensive care because they have serious underlying health issues and, because of their old age, there is nothing we can do. Italy has already stopped intubating patients over 60. Whenever you call a patient's family to let them know that their loved one is dying, the first response is usually 'How long?' followed by asking if they can see them. Once a patient is in a critical condition with this virus, there is never more than a couple of hours before it kills. So far, we have been allowing individual visitors dressed in protective gear to say their final goodbyes, but for how much longer will this be the case if the death toll soars and protective equipment becomes in short supply? Several times this week, families have unfortunately not accepted their loved ones' fate and pleaded with us to keep trying to fight the virus off. Those conversations stay with you. There are now close to 150 known sufferers in the hospital but I suspect it could be many times more than that. We are at breaking point, with virtually no space to treat those suffering. And this is barely the tip of the iceberg. Little over a week on from that horrendous Saturday we are already on the cusp of declaring a critical incident, which means we physically have too many critical care patients and no room to take any more. There is at least one other hospital where this has already happened. As medics, we are all petrified of what we face in the coming weeks and months. Are we prepared? No. We do not even have enough protective clothing. These fears are compounded by the dangerous under-dressing of our staff because of shortages. And as for personal protective equipment, for some unknown reason Public Health England has said that it is fine for us to be wearing a surgical mask with air gaps rather than a full-protection mask with an air-filter system, a plastic apron and a pair of gloves. That might sound like enough, but, in reality, we are reduced to flimsy, long-sleeve aprons (some doctors at other hospitals have even complained about wearing sleeveless aprons), and a mask with effectively holes in it. Many saw the frightening scenes coming out of Italy's grossly overcrowded hospitals at the end of last week. The brutal truth is that we are facing exactly the same immediate future here. The virus is wanton in its destruction. Make no mistake, we are at breaking point and we are little more than a week in. It feels like we are trying to play some sort of computer game and with each day we enter a new, harder level. We simply cannot keep up. How much worse will it get? Truthfully, I shudder to think. Crooks target elderly in 'epidemic of scams' By Abul Taher Security Correspondent Callous criminals are exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to target the elderly and vulnerable in their homes by posing as NHS workers and Good Samaritans. Several police forces have warned that thieves are stealing cash and bank cards after offering to buy groceries for isolated pensioners. Meanwhile, millions of Britons are being targeted by bogus online firms offering to sell face masks and hand sanitisers. The scammers are trying to extract personal and bank details through a blizzard of emails purportedly from the World Health Organisation and the taxman. In one case, a hospice said hackers had stolen the medical data of more than 1,000 terminally sick patients and their next of kin. Yesterday, a 59-year-old man appeared in court charged with making fake coronavirus treatment kits and mailing them across the world. Frank Ludlow, from West Sussex, was arrested in a Post Office near his home on Friday and appeared in Brighton Magistrates' Court. The investigation was triggered after US customs intercepted a package last Wednesday containing 60 fake kits labelled 'anti-pathogenic treatment', the court heard. Ludlow was remanded in custody until April 20. Three police forces and Action Fraud last night warned the public to be vigilant against an 'epidemic of scams'. Kloe Burrows, from West Midlands Police economic crime unit, said: 'Times like these can bring out the best and worst in people. While some will be looking out for vulnerable relatives and friends, we know a small minority will be looking to profit from the worry and concerns caused by coronavirus.' Scotland Yard and Greater Manchester Police said they had received reports of criminals posing as NHS workers who had come to carry out Covid-19 testing. Once let in, they robbed their victims. Elsewhere, fraudsters posed as kind-hearted locals offering to buy groceries. But instead of returning with the shopping, they simply fled with the money. Action Fraud said it had been inundated with complaints about cons totalling almost 1million in recent weeks, including a medical company that lost 15,000 after it ordered a batch of face masks from a bogus online firm. Ellenor hospice in Gravesend, Kent, was targeted by hackers just as the coronavirus was taking a grip in the UK. In a letter to patients last week, chief executive Vikki Harding, said: 'I am writing to inform you of a recent data breach incident that occurred on February 7, 2020, at Ellenor hospice. 'I am writing to you because some of your personal information may have been accessed. I am so sorry that this happened and any distress it may cause you.' Mimecast, an online security company, said it had detected more than one million scam emails every day. And internet security firm Proofpoint, which has seen hundreds of thousands of phishing emails, said most were coming from Eastern Europe, Russia and the former Soviet states, but also from African countries including Nigeria. Covidiots! The 'ignorant' revellers defying Boris By Mark Hookham Spaying a bottle of fizz in the street, drinking in groups outside and cavorting together in a shopping trolley, young revellers risk catching and spreading coronavirus by defying orders not to visit pubs or clubs. Bars and clubs remained packed throughout Friday evening as revellers sought a final fling before a government ban came into effect at closing time. But critics described the merrymakers many in their 20s or early 30s as 'morons' for flouting Government advice on 'social distancing'. Bars and clubs remained packed throughout Friday evening as revellers sought a final fling before a government ban came into effect at closing time. Pictured: A woman pops a bottle outside the O Bar in Birmingham In an unprecedented move, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Friday that bars, pubs, cafes and restaurants must close within hours as part of the drive to slow the spread of the virus. He urged the public to avoid the temptation to go out for a final drink, saying: 'Listening to what I have just said, some people may be tempted to go out tonight. But please don't.' But his plea was ignored in many town and city centres across Britain. Young revellers were pictured hitting the dance floor at closing time at the Lord Stamford pub in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester. Some bars, including the busy O Bar in Birmingham, remained open until midnight. Boozers staggered home in Newcastle and people queued at the door of the Orange Tree in Altrincham, Cheshire, to have one last tipple. But critics described the merrymakers many in their 20s or early 30s as 'morons' for flouting Government advice on 'social distancing'. Pictured: Drinking in a pub in Stalybridge Drinkers gathered for a final pint in the Globe pub in London's Borough Market, O'Neill's in Clapham, London, and The Cambrian Tap in Cardiff. And in Birmingham's Broad Street, a group of six friends posing for a photo shouted 'coronavirus' instead of cheese. Actor Stephen McGann, who plays Dr Patrick Turner in the BBC drama Call The Midwife, yesterday accused the revellers of spreading the deadly virus. He tweeted: 'Last night, all over the country, a virus returned from the pub in the bodies of people too selfish to believe that their own self-amusement was subordinate to the health of others. 'This morning, that virus will shed from their hungover bodies and begin to kill people.' Rich Gill, a PE teacher, wrote on Twitter on Friday: 'Pubs shut tomorrow. However the pub next door to me is packed now. Folk aren't taking this seriously and aren't following govt advice. Ignorant, selfish and unintelligent.' Mother-of-two Lizzy Beynon, from Wales, wrote: 'To all the people that went out last night in the pubs for one last 'hurrah!' You are all absolute morons. Potentially infecting so many other people to fill your selfish greed.' And TV presenter Richard Osman tweeted: 'People still congregating in busy spaces saying 'It's the Dunkirk spirit', need to understand that in this scenario they are actually being the Luftwaffe.' In an unprecedented move, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Friday that bars, pubs, cafes and restaurants must close within hours as part of the drive to slow the spread of the virus. Pictured: A couple on the town in Newcastle Tim Martin, boss of pub chain J.D. Wetherspoon, was criticised after he claimed without any evidence that 'there's hardly been any transmission of the virus within pubs'. Mr Martin, 64, had warned that a shutdown policy would be 'over the top' but later said his chain of 900 pubs would comply with Mr Johnson's announcement. The Prime Minister has said the ban will be reviewed each month, and restaurants, bars and cafes will still be allowed to offer takeaway services. Police warned they would enforce the shutdown if any establishments attempted to open before the ban was lifted. 'It's very simple,' said Ken Marsh, head of the Metropolitan Police Federation. 'Under licensing laws we can revoke their licences, and then they are breaking the law.' India lacks China's culture of collective discipline, so what will provide the glue for people to co-operate rather than follow their raw survival instincts? asks Ravi Bhoothalingam. IMAGE: Medical workers check the temperature of a policemen for coronavirus infection in Poonch, Jammu and Kashmir. Photograph: ANI Photo The Mandate of Heaven is an ancient Chinese philosophical doctrine evolved during the Zhou dynasty in the first millennium BCE, to confer on an emperor the legitimacy to rule over his people. The popular theory runs thus: 'Heaven' -- the natural order in the universe -- wishes harmony on Earth, and seeks to establish this through conferring its 'Mandate' on the emperor. But conditions apply. The claimant must govern as a just and benign ruler, bringing prosperity to his people. If not, Heaven may withdraw the Mandate, leaving the field open to anyone who could claim that his superior governance would rectify the injustices of the previous regime. Before withdrawing the Mandate, however, Heaven customarily would convey its displeasure through warning signs like earthquakes, fires or floods, or calamities such as epidemics, riots and rebellions. It was hoped that these events -- and the signals they would send to citizens and potential rivals alike -- would cause the emperor to reflect and mend his ways, or else... Of course, even a cursory reading of Chinese history shows that there is no empirical validity in the doctrine of Heaven's Mandate. Bad emperors have -- quite literally -- got away with murder or worse, whilst good ones have often suffered. Still, popular beliefs die hard, so the rapid global spread of the coronavirus pandemic would naturally provoke some Chinese citizens to question their government. But the Mandate of Heaven speaks of the universal nature of governance, so every citizen of the world should pose such questions to their own government. As a global threat, covid-19 raises questions at five levels. First, early detection and isolation of the infected persons was obviously the first requirement. Here, the evidence at hand points to prevarication by the Hubei provincial authorities in accepting that a novel virus was afoot. Despite a brave whistle-blowing doctor, timid local officials were unwilling to rock the boat, and we will never know the true cost of this initial blunder. But now, when the virus is loose, we should ask ourselves whether our own disease surveillance systems and field forces are alert, robust and capable of detecting and reporting uncomfortable facts. Second comes containment. China has done a magnificent job in containing much of the viral ferocity by sealing off Hubei province through unprecedented measures. Their 'whole-of-government approach' implements policy directives consistently, starting from the party apex right down to local neighbourhood committees. Supplying Wuhan -- a city of more than 11 million people under lockdown -- with essentials and maintaining civic calm in an environment of great stress, shows remarkable administrative efficiency. China may spin this as an example of how 'socialism with Chinese characteristics' can deliver the goods. But we need not buy that narrative. After all, India's administration too has unparalleled achievements like the management of the mammoth Kumbh Melas. The real questions are: Do we have rehearsed protocols and drills to roll out a commensurate response if and when the virus strikes India in force, and have we used this respite to equip our hospitals appropriately? Third, a country's public health system is the frontline of its response to the virus. India's is not in particularly good shape, so this time round, we will have to muddle through as best we can. But given the increased frequency of novel diseases with epidemic potential -- SARS, MERS, Ebola, H1N1, H5N1, Zika and Nipah being examples in the last 20 years -- we should expect more such episodes in the future. More importantly, a comprehensive public health system is essential if India is to increase its human productivity rapidly enough to move our country into a high-income status. Do our Budgets and plans provide convincing evidence that establishing such an accessible and universal public health system is indeed a principal aim of our government? This brings us to the fourth (and broader) question, which is about the risk management strategies to be followed by any civilised society. Should not such societies prioritise human security which includes -- but is not limited to -- national security? Whilst the latter secures us against external aggression or terrorism, the former seeks to reduce risk through a sustainable level of prosperity, health, education and quality of life of its citizens. National security risks are upfront and dramatic, so they command public attention and demand resolution. Human security risks are more debatable and the negative consequences take time to play out. Thus, epidemics do not happen every day; and climate change is seen as happening only in the distant future. This makes effective political mobilisation around climate change a tricky issue around the world, as Greta Thunberg has forcefully pointed out. Simply put, how do we play the guns or butter dilemma? Fifth, as the coronavirus spreads into a community infection (as the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention warns is likely), a crucial success factor will be the cooperation of the general population in following sound public health practices like maintaining good hygiene, not hoarding masks, avoiding panic and not crowding hospitals with mild infections. India lacks China's culture of collective discipline, so what will provide the glue for people to co-operate rather than follow their raw survival instincts? It can only be a spirit of fraternity amongst all our people -- regardless of caste or creed -- and a common belief that only through a unified front can the threat be overcome. Sadly, the spirit of fraternity -- the least discussed of the trinity of the French Revolution (liberty, equality, fraternity) -- is in retreat around the world as attitudes are sharply polarised within and between countries as well as peoples. Is it too much to ask India to set an example? Experts tell us that the coronavirus will ultimately settle as an endemic, but seasonal infection. But how we -- as a country and as part of the planet -- emerge out of it will depend on the answers to these questions. Ravi Bhoothalingam is treasurer and honorary fellow, Institute of Chinese Studies, and an independent director on corporate boards. (Natural News) The situation in Italy over the continued spread of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) is becoming more and more grim as the government with the oldest population in Europe is now struggling just to keep up with the dead. As reported by the Sky News, Italians are dying at such high rates that the army has been called in to transport the bodies to crematoriums in long convoys of trucks: The Italian city of Bergamo, one of the worst-hit by the coronavirus outbreak, is having to transport its dead out of the city as its crematorium is struggling to cope. Army vehicles have been brought in to move dozens of coffins from Bergamo to other regions, according to Ansa news agency. The wealthy city north east of Milan, in the countrys Lombardy region, has logged at least 93 deaths from the coronavirus to date, but the casualty rate is climbing rapidly. In fact, the Sky News noted, there have been more COVID-19 deaths in Italy now than in China, where the virus originated. As of Wednesday, 3,405 people had died in Italy, a steep rise of 427 in a single day. No wonder the army is being called in. Giorgia Gori, the mayor of Bergamo, told Sky News that the actual number of dead from coronavirus could even be higher because many people who suffered from COVID-19 symptoms actually died before they were tested. Cases mounting in the U.S. as well Now, the city and the country struggle to process the bodies in Medieval ways. The crematorium of Bergamo, working at full capacity, 24 hours a day, can cremate 25 dead, a city spokesperson told Sky News. It is clear that it could not stand up to the numbers of the past few days, hence the need to haul the bodies away in army trucks, the official noted. Now, coffins are being transported to crematoriums in other cities including Modena, Acqui Terme, Domodossola, Parma, Piacenza, and others, Sky News reports. After the bodies are cremated, officials said the remains will be brought back to Bergamo. Journalists with Reuters reported witnessing two funerals per hour over a period of six hours on Monday. Many of the deceased were unable to have funerals as the demand is too high, and instead they were taken to a chapel inside a church within the cemetery, Sky News reported. The British news agency notes further that coffins containing dead coronavirus victims have filled up a pair of hospital mortuaries and a cemetery morgue as well. And while relatives have been allowed to come in and pay their last respects, they can only gain access in small numbers and with the recommended amount of distance six feet, according to the CDC to prevent further spread of COVID-19. The local newspapers obituary section, meanwhile, has expanded of late from 2-3 pages to 10 to accommodate all of the notices. As of this writing, there are more than 14,000 diagnosed cases of coronavirus in the United States and 207 deaths, with 108 people having recovered. U.S. health officials say that the number of infected continues to double every 2.5-3 days, which is too fast, hence the reason for the mass closure of businesses like bars, restaurants, gyms and office buildings. (Related: Noted investor warns Trump if he doesnt shut down entire country for 30 days due to coronavirus we will lose America as we know it.) The most cases, per state, are in New York, Washington, and California (1, 2, 3 respectively), according to World Meters. The fewest are in South Dakota, Alaska, and West Virginia (in order). It should also be noted that, according to the site which keeps records in near-real time the vast majority of cases (at this point 13,416 out of 13,480 known) are only suffering from mild virus conditions. Sources include: News.Sky.com WorldMeters.info NaturalNews.com WASHINGTON When Congress passed a coronavirus stimulus package this week, many lawmakers proudly said they had ensured paid sick leave for workers with the disease or those caring for an ill family member. In reality, however, the bill doesnt guarantee any leave for millions of workers. It contains two major loopholes: Companies with at least 500 employees are exempt, and those with fewer than 50 can apply for a waiver. Now, with a much larger coronavirus stimulus package racing through Congress, Democrats are looking at closing the exemption for bigger employers. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., called the exemption outrageous. She said any company that accepts government loans or assistance during the crisis should be required to provide all workers with paid sick leave, family leave and health insurance. Harris said the issue isnt just a matter of pay equity it could help slow the spread of the virus, by removing the economic incentive for sick workers to show up. About a quarter of workers dont have paid leave and face financial hardship if they stay home. That means if they stay home sick, they will not be able to feed their children or pay their rent, Harris told The Chronicle. Which choice do you think theyre going to make? Theyve going to go to work. Low-wage workers such as waiters, cooks and housekeepers are among the least likely to have paid leave, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Democrats agreed to the exemptions to win over Republicans. But the calculus could be different with the $1.2 trillion package being negotiated now. Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, but the bill will need at least 60 votes to pass. That gives Democrats some leverage. Progressive-leaning advocacy groups are leaning on them to use it, after the last bill was watered down multiple times before it finally passed. It got worse and worse, said Eileen Appelbaum, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C. How is this even possible in a civilized country? I dont understand. The bill that President Trump signed this week requires that employers provide two weeks of paid leave, up to $511 a day, for an employee who is sick with the coronavirus, under quarantine or experiencing symptoms and seeking a diagnosis. It offers a lower cap on paid leave, up to $200 a day, for employees who must care for a family member sick with the coronavirus or for a child whose school is closed. The exemption for large businesses means the bill doesnt cover about 53% of workers, census data indicate. Many large companies already provide sick leave for all workers, but not such well-known firms as McDonalds, Walmart, Burger King, Dollar General and Marriott. The bill also exempts large companies from a requirement to provide 10 weeks of paid emergency family leave, of up to $200 a day, for parents who must care for a child whose school is closed. Both the sick and family leave requirements can be waived for businesses with fewer than 50 employees if the labor secretary determines such requirements would jeopardize the viability of the business. House Democrats originally proposed to cover all workers, but Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, signed off on the compromise in the end. No one on the Democratic side, particularly the speaker, was satisfied with what we got, said Rep. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo. But its all she could get. The Republicans were in lockstep not to want to give any paid leave. Republicans said the original bill would either have forced a costly mandate on small businesses or stuck the government with a huge price tag. Employers will be reimbursed through a payroll tax credit. However, Speier noted that even with the exceptions, the bill guarantees paid leave for an estimated 87 million workers. Now, she said, Democrats will fight to ensure that any companies taking loans or other financial assistance from the government help their employees. The Democrats are in lockstep that were not going to give a dime to corporate America that isnt matched with a dime for small employers and hardworking Americans, Speier said. Dustin Gardiner is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dustin.gardiner@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dustingardiner (CNN) - Google launched an educational coronavirus website on Saturday that contains safety tips and authoritative information about the pandemic. The move comes a week after President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence announced that Google was building a nationwide testing website, where Americans could answer a questionnaire and be directed to their nearest testing locations. But Google never affirmed the administration's claims, and the website that launched Saturday does not include a testing screener. The website, google.com/covid19, is "focused on education, prevention and local resources. People can find state-based information, safety and prevention tips, search trends related to COVID-19, and further resources for individuals, educators and businesses," Google said in a blog post. Google's plans were delayed earlier this week, when it said that it hoped to link out to a screening tool developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That tool appears not to be ready yet, and it is unclear when it may be completed. The search giant also said Saturday that it will begin surfacing trustworthy information about the coronavirus directly in search results and Google Maps as Americans search for medical services. Verily, a sister company to Google that is owned by the same parent, Alphabet, launched its version of a testing website on Monday. Its features hew more closely to what the Trump administration has envisioned. But that website is not built or operated by Google. This story was first published on CNN.com, "Google launches educational coronavirus website" Pennsylvania reported 83 new coronavirus cases as of Friday, marking a significant uptick as the state follows the trends of neighboring states. That figure marked the largest one-day total so far in Pennsylvania. As of Friday afternoon, Pa. had the 12th-most confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. And you can probably expect that trend, apparent in the graph below, to continue. Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus outbreak: UPMC announces Dauphin Co. coronavirus testing site but you need a referral. The health system announced that it will begin testing patients for coronavirus Monday at an outpatient facility in Dauphin County. Toilet paper factory gets life-sustaining coronavirus exemption: report. Procter & Gambles largest American factory got an exemption from the Wolf administration to stay open. Worship goes online - and to the drive-thru - as churches adjust to coronavirus shutdowns. With gatherings of 10 or more people deemed a health risk, religious organizations reach out to their congregations through livestreams, Facebook Live and YouTube broadcasts of worship services - and even offer drive-through options. Working through it: Whats it like on the front lines of the workforce during the coronavirus pandemic. Businesses strive to keep workers well, and workers - while stressed - are happy to have the work as the economy wobbles. Questions about state government workers and the coronavirus answered. A number of questions have landed in PennLive email inboxes with questions from state employees who are worried about being labelled essential and have to report to work. We attempt to answer some now. Managing the coronavirus crisis: Former Pa. governors share thoughts, advice and reassurance. Former Pennsylvania Govs. Tom Ridge, Mark Schweiker and Ed Rendell faced crises of their own during their time as governor but none like the one Gov. Tom Wolf is facing with the coronavirus epidemic. PA National Guard to support COVID-19 testing site in Montgomery County. Approximately 80 member of the PA National Guard will assist at the drive-thru testing site at Temple Universitys Ambler campus. Talk of Lewisburg penitentiary getting inmates from New York City worries officials about coronavirus spread. The reports of the possible transfers have caused the president of the corrections officer union at Lewisburg, the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project and the Lewisburg Prison Project to express concerns. Coronavirus testing stymied by acute, serious shortages of testing supplies. Testing is a critical part of tracking and containing infectious diseases like COVID-19. But the U.S. effort has been plagued by a series of missteps. Laundromats in Pa. deemed life-sustaining as business closure list due to coronavirus evolves. Lt. Gov. John Fetterman broke the news on Twitter that laundromats in Pennsylvania have jumped from the non-life-sustaining business list to be included as a life-sustaining one and can remain open. Elective surgeries continue at UPMC despite calls to cancel them to free up resources for coronavirus. Meanwhile, an expected shortage of beds is causing state and hospital officials to consider creating hospital space in hotels. For the latest updates Text PennLive to 717-745-7532 to sign up for free updates from our team of reporters. Youll receive new information as cases are reported and also updates about whats open, what isnt, and more. Wallace McKelvey may be reached at wmckelvey@pennlive.com. Follow him on Twitter @wjmckelvey. Find PennLive on Facebook. Read the TAPPED OUT special investigation of drinking water. Thanks for visiting PennLive. Quality local journalism has never been more important. We need your support. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work. If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here Jesinta Campbell welcomed her newborn daughter, Tullulah, just last month. And this week, the model and WAG revealed on her app that she's been trying out 'the traditional art of postpartum belly binding.' The 28-year-old said that she's explored the practice with the help of her doula and rather than it being for 'aesthetics,' it's to 'support her body in the process of healing post-birth.' 'The internal changes while pregnant aren't spoken about': Jesinta Campbell revealed this week that she's been trying out belly binding to help with her postpartum recovery... after giving birth to newborn daughter Tullulah Jesinta - who is married to AFL star Lance 'Buddy' Franklin - shared pictures of the binding on her belly. She recommended to fans that they should use a $75 binder kit from Etsy shop, and said it's best to use organic and natural cotton muslin. 'Once completed the wrap feels like a warm hug, with my body feeling so supported,' Jesinta said on her app, adding that she has been getting her stomach binded daily. Her reasoning: Talking about why she was so interested in the practice, Jesinta said that the female body changes so much while pregnant Talking about why she was so interested in the practice, Jesinta said that the female body changes so much while pregnant. 'The growth of our bellies and breasts are visually obvious to everyone yet the internal changes taking place to accommodate the growth of a little human are the ones not commonly spoken about,' Jesinta said. 'Our abdominal muscle separates, our uterus grow, skin and muscles stretch, our cervix dilates and our hips and pelvis movejust to name a few.' She added: 'It takes time for a woman's body to heal and for her organs to return to where they were before baby.' Jesinta said that new mothers should always check in with their doctor before getting the binding done. She said that from her research, benefits can include a reduction of postpartum bleeding and fluid retention and it is said to help with abdominal separation. Advice: Jesinta said that new mothers should always check in with their doctor before getting the binding done Last month, Jesinta welcomed her first child with husband Lance 'Buddy' Franklin. 'Jesinta and Lance are thrilled to announce the arrival of their beautiful baby daughter, Tullulah Franklin,' a spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia at the time. 'They are both absolutely besotted with her.' The pair first announced they were expecting a child in August last year. Jesinta has previously said that her pregnancy had been challenging. Sub-Saharan Africa recorded its second coronavirus death on Friday as infections rose in South Africa, where the government warned bluntly of a long haul in the fight against the disease. Despite stringent restrictions ranging from flight bans to school closures, countries south of the Sahara have recorded two deaths in three days, and the case tally on Friday had more than tripled in the space of a week. The central African state of Gabon announced its first fatality from coronavirus -- a 50-year-old man, whose death followed that of a 62-year-old woman in Burkina Faso on Wednesday. Both had diabetes. The total of known cases across all of Africa, compiled by AFP, stands at more than 900 and is rising fast after lagging other continents. Madagascar, with three, and Zimbabwe, with one, recorded their first cases on Friday. Health experts have issued loud warnings, for most African countries are desperately short of intensive-care units, equipment and trained staff. The Sahel state of Mali has just a single respirator. - South African warning - Ballooning from one case two weeks ago to 202 on Friday, South Africa has the highest numbers in the subcontinent. Health Minister Zweli Mkhize pointed to established scientific projections showing that infections "ultimately can affect up to 60 percent of the population." But it "doesn't mean they will all be affected at the same time, doesn't mean that they will all have serious illness. It just means that the way the viral infection spreads, that will likely happen," Mkhize said. The virus is "going to be with us for quite a while," he warned. "It's a reality we must face, but it's not a reality that says we now face an apocalypse." Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula said South Africa had prevented foreign nationals who arrived Friday in 20 international flights from high-risk countries from disembarking. One of the flights was an Air China plane that landed at Johannesburg's O.R. Tambo International Airport from Shenzhen. Only South Africans were allowed to disembark while 68 Chinese nationals were refused permission to leave the aircraft. The country's flag carrier, South African Airways, suspended all regional and international flights until the end of May in line with government-imposed travel bans aimed at curbing the spread of the virus. South Africa has adopted slew of other measures, including banning gatherings of more than 100 people, shutting schools, and suspending major cultural and sporting events. Restaurants are limited to less than 50 people at time, no alcohol can be served after 6 pm, while peddling of fake news will attract a six-month jail term. - Lagos challenge - In Lagos, Africa's biggest city, authorities faced an immediate challenge in implementing limits on religious gatherings decreed just a day earlier. At the Zawiyat Sofwat El-Islam mosque, in a rundown part of the city, religious leaders struggled to restrict numbers gathered outside -- eventually the gates were flung open and around a thousand worshippers entered. The service proceeded swiftly, lasting less than 30 minutes. The chief imam announced the cancellation of a special Sunday service and directed the faithful to observe it in their homes. "I am here despite coronavirus to offer prayers to God. The Almighty Allah is the giver and taker of life. We should all pray and ask Him to take this strange disease from the world," said Alhaja Basirat Okeowo. Health officials in Lagos meanwhile reported cases of poisoning by chloroquine caused by self-medication, after US President Donald Trump touted the anti-malarial drug as a potential treatment for the virus. - East Africa tightens measures - In East Africa, Ethiopia, which announced three new cases Friday, taking its total to nine, said its state-carrier, the continent's biggest airline, would suspend flights to 30 countries. Ethiopian Airlines had been under pressure to follow other regional airlines, such as Kenya Airways, in suspending flights to China. Bars and night clubs will be shut to contain the spread. Kenya, which has reported no new cases in two days, also scaled up measures, ordering bars to shut by 7:30 pm from Monday. Supermarkets are being urged to limit numbers of shoppers, implement queue management, open for 24 hours and offer delivery services. "Our actions... will determine whether we shall go into a full blown crisis with grave human and economic consequences, or whether we shall limit the adverse impacts of this disease," said Health Minister Mutahi Kagwe. Uganda, host to some 1.4 million asylum seekers, has blocked entry to further arrivals over the next 30 days. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, a sprawling country the size of continental western Europe, 18 cases were reported as of Friday, all of them in the capital Kinshasa, a rise of four over Thursday. DRC music stars Fally Ipupa and Koffi Olomide on Friday posted videos on Twitter urging the public not to exchange kisses and handshakes and to wash their hands. burs-sn/spm Thirty soldiers of Information Battalion 610 were sent to work at the camp by Hanois Military Command at the end of February. They are divided into two groups, one helping out with daily needs while the other assists with other tasks. At 3 a.m. every morning, they get up and help cafeteria staff prepare food placed in boxes, sorting out tissues, chopsticks, spoons, and fish sauce for each portion. The meal boxes are then delivered to the gate of the quarantine camp. BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 21 Trend: The measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus infection in Azerbaijan are underway, Trend reports quoting the Operational Headquarters under the Cabinet of Ministers of Azerbaijan. Starting from March 22, the working hours of cafes, restaurants, tea houses, Internet clubs and other public catering enterprises operating in the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan are set from 09.00 to 15.00. Catering enterprises can deliver their products to addresses on the basis of online orders until 21.00 and sell food to citizens at home. The goal is to minimize the contact of citizens, as well as ensure the necessary nutrition. Enterprises violating the rules will be severely punished. COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A 91-year-old man was Cuyahoga Countys first confirmed death from coronavirus on Saturday, Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton confirmed. The state on Saturday recorded 247 confirmed cases of coronavirus, and three deaths related to the outbreak, including the death in Cuyahoga County. Erie County Health Department early Saturday announced an 81-year-old man was the second death in the state. The Toledo-Lucas County Health Department on Friday sent a news release about the states first death, noting the individual involved was a male in his 70s who had traveled to California in the last month. More coronavirus stories First Cuyahoga coronavirus death among 247 confirmed Ohio cases and 3 deaths: Gov. Mike DeWines Saturday, March 21 briefing Mapping Ohios 247 coronavirus cases Ohio Attorney General sends letters to 2 abortion clinics, telling them to stop all non-essential procedures You're not the only one. A lot of people including actor Ali Fazal and Jennifer Garner are frustrated with their parents because they are just not staying put. They are just not convinced to stay indoors. urbanasian.com British actor Riz Ahmed was also looking for ideas to convince his parents when he tweeted out this question to everyone. A lot of people including Ali Fazal responded. "I told them it's WW3," the Fukrey actor wrote. I told them its WW3 . https://t.co/LfBu8UJjXl Ali Fazal M / / (@alifazal9) March 20, 2020 Hollywood star Jennifer Garner says her parents William and Patricia have also refused to stay at home and practice social distancing amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. "The hard thing are teens and early 20s people and my parents. My parents are the hard ones. I'm like, 'Dad, Mom, the world is shut down to keep you safe.' And they're like, 'We think we're going to go to Sam's Warehouse.' Stay home, you have to stay home!" "I think I have the perfect age kids for this because they're big enough to understand and to have the conversations, 'Like, we're built for a challenge, we can do this, we're a tough team. Let's learn about a vacuum cleaner'... But they're not so big that they're just like, 'Well I don't care. I'm going to go'," she added. If you're parents aren't convinced too, approach the conversation in a loving way. Present them with facts and news, not your opinion or judgement. Tell them why it's important and focus on something they love and care about. If they still don't understand the seriousness of coronavirus, compare it with other pandemics, maybe that will help. Tell them it's hard for you too, but you're trying, and they shall too. Following public anguish over the handling of coronavirus situation by Pakistan government, the Prime Minister's Office on Saturday put out a message on social media assuring the people that adequate measures were being taken to combat the pandemic that has claimed over 11,500 lives globally. "The government is taking aggressive measures to counter coronavirus by screening travellers, setting up isolation and quarantine units for the infected and designating hospitals with facilities to cater the patients," Pakistan Prime Minster's Office (PMO) wrote on Twitter. This message comes amid Pakistani citizens' displeasure over Imran Khan-led government's handling of the coronavirus outbreak in the country. The people are urging Prime Minister Khan on social media to put the country under lockdown to prevent further spread of the virus. As the number of coronavirus cases in the country crossed the 600-mark, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah urged people in Karachi to self-isolate voluntarily for three days. The province has been under partial lockdown. The COVID-19 positive cases in Pakistan were 671 till March 21. Of these, 361 are in Sindh, 137 in Punjab, 104 in Balochistan, 31 in Gilgit-Baltistan, 27 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 10 in Islamabad and one in PoK. Three patients have died while five were discharged after treatment. The new cases have been detected among the pilgrims who had returned from Iran -- one of the worst-affected country-- and have been quarantined in Sukkur, according to a spokesperson for the Sindh health department. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Illustrative image (Photo: VNA) The 88th case is a 25-year-old female resident of Hanois district of Ha Dong. A student in the UK, she came back through Noi Bai airport on March 12th and underwent a self-quarantine at home until March 16th when she felt difficult breathing. Her sample test later turned out to be positive, and she is now being under quarantine with stable health conditions. The 89th is a 22-year-old female resident of Ho Chi Minh City. She travelled from New York, Boston of the US to Japan and from Japan to Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City on March 17th night on Flight NH831. Entering Vietnam, she showed no symptoms of the disease but her sample was taken on March 18th early morning and later tested positive. The patient is now quarantined in the citys Cu Chi district. The 90th is a 21-year-old female resident of Ho Chi Minh City. Over the past one month, she came to Barcelona in Spain and on March 15th, she headed to Dubai from Barcelona on Flight EK188. She arrived at Tan Son Nhat airport on March 16 on Flight EK 392. Entering Vietnam, she had a light fever and cough. Her sample tested positive later. Lastly, the 91st is a 43-year-old British pilot of Vietnam Airlines residing in Ho Chi Minh City. He was a passenger on Flight VN10 from London to Vietnam on February 8, but could not recall his subsequent itinerary and international and domestic flights. He served as a pilot on Flight VN272 from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi on March 16 and Flight VN607 from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City the same day. From March 13th-18th, he stayed in Ho Chi Minh City and visited a number of eateries and recreation establishments. On March 17th, he started to have a fever and cough and on March 18th afternoon, he was admitted to the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases with a lung problem. His sample tested positive on March 18th night and March 20th, and he is now being treated at the hospital./. Photo: Jason Briscoe on UnSplash I want to share my perspective on the mortgage market and how this virus might affect your mortgage and your ability to pay your mortgage due to layoff or other reasons. The spring market is still active, so Ive included some advice if you are either completing a home purchase or will be placing an offer on a home in the near future. It was announced this week that Canadas big banks will allow mortgage payment deferrals for up to six months. Other mortgage lenders, including credit unions and mortgage companies, have also put measures in place to assist clients that are in financial distress as a result of the virus. If you need assistance with your mortgage payments, please reach out directly to your lender. Most lenders have options available to skip a payment or put a hold on a payment. Each lender has different options. The phone lines are very busy, so please ensure you are prepared to answer their questions when you get through to discuss assistance and please have your mortgage number handy. Here are some guidance on how many lenders will be considering your request for payment relief as they will be reviewing on a case-by-case basis. If you have been laid off by an industry directly impacted by COVID-19 If your income has been directly impacted and you need immediate assistance, please reach out to your lender right away to discuss payment relief for up to six months. If you are still working but have other factors impacting your ability to make a payment You may have been financially impacted by COVID-19 and are still working but are in immediate need of assistance, please reach out to your lender immediately to discuss options which may include payment relief. Were you laid off from an industry not directly impacted by COVID-19? The lender may request further information regarding the lay-off, so please be prepared with that information. The lenders will work with you for a solution. Do you have questions, but arent facing immediate hardship? If you have a general question please either reach out to your mortgage broker for assistance or delay calling the lender to give them time to work with those who have immediate needs. If everyone follows the above guidelines, this will help alleviate the volumes and stress for all parties involved. Perhaps you are in the middle of a property purchase or will be making an offer soon. Here are a few items to consider that also might help relieve some of your stress. What is the source of your down payment and closing costs? If the funds are coming from upcoming wages, investment funds or are being gifted by a family member, please move the funds so they are easily accessible. Bank branches are closing. Earnings are being interrupted. The funds need to be available so you can get them to your lawyer in time for closing. Check your investment statements as the values have been impacted by the market conditions. Need a property inspection or appraisal? This is changing daily and some providers are no longer willing to enter homes. Your subject for financing date The lenders are extremely busy right now. Ensure that you have completed a pre-approval and all of your required lender documents are ready in advance of placing an offer. We are now recommending a minimum of 10-14 business days to finalize financing requests. Lawyers and notaries Please ensure that your lawyer or notary will be available to sign documents for you so give them a call. As of right now, this meeting has to be done in person. Everything is changing rapidly. Our lenders are adapting and modifying their policies to help everyone through these difficult times and will continue to do so as we move forward. All your professionals, including mortgage brokers, lenders, realtors, home inspectors and appraisers, etc. will do all that they can within their control to assist you. If you or someone you love has any questions about what to expect or other things to consider for your mortgage in the future such as an equity take-out, refinancing at todays low rates, consolidating debt, etc., please reach out to me directly as Im happy to assist. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Los Angeles, United States Sat, March 21, 2020 22:02 661 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad206c7e0a2 2 Entertainment greys-anatomy,television,series,coronavirus,COVID-19,donation,hospital,united-states,The-Good-Doctor,Station-19,The-Resident Free Medical TV dramas such as Grey's Anatomy are donating equipment including masks, gowns and gloves to emergency workers tackling the coronavirus pandemic. The shows are emptying their prop rooms of materials that are in increasingly short supply as the rapid spread of the disease threatens to overwhelm resources. Grey's Anatomy, a long-running ABC show, has "a backstock of gowns and gloves which we are donating," said executive producer Krista Vernoff. Firefighter drama Station 19, from the same network, donated around 300 masks to the Ontario Fire Department in Canada after learning they were running out and fire stations were forced to re-use masks. "They were tremendously grateful," said Vernoff. Read also: [UPDATED] Anti-COVID-19 initiatives: Helping Indonesia fight the outbreak Another popular ABC medical drama, The Good Doctor, shoots in Vancouver, where it has handed over hundreds of masks, gowns, disposable booties and isolation suits. Karen Law, an Atlanta-based rheumatologist, posted an image on Instagram of medical supplies outside the Grady Memorial Hospital, thanking Fox show The Resident for the donation. "Yesterday, I had a serious discussion with the residents about how, though supplies are low, a magical shipment of masks is unlikely to arrive," she wrote. "And yet, a magical shipment of masks DID arrive." An Instagram couple has bragged about tipping their Bali taxi driver $200 to drive them to the airport as they fled home to the Gold Coast. Mikaela Testa, 19, who was mocked online last year for her tearful video about Instagram's 'likes ban', and her boyfriend Atis Paul finally flew home on Friday. The couple were on the holiday island for several weeks and now will undergo the mandatory two weeks of quarantine at home in Queensland. Mikaela Testa, 19, and her boyfriend Atis Paul finally flew home on Friday after weeks on the Indonesian holiday island Mr Paul on Friday posted a photo of piles of Indonesia cash, adding up to about AU$200, that he said the couple were planning to give to their driver to the airport Mr Paul on Friday posted a photo of piles of Indonesia cash, adding up to about AU$200, that he said the couple were planning to give to their driver. 'My girlfriend and I are about to give this all to whichever lucky taxi driver drops us off at the airport today,' he wrote. 'Bali is really going to struggle for a while so that's gonna be one less family struggling.' The couple were roundly criticised online, both for attention-seeking during the coronavirus pandemic and for calling the driver 'lucky'. Mr Paul appeared to have just a week earlier been sick with coronavirus himself, according to his girlfriend. Mr Paul appeared to have just a week earlier been sick with coronavirus himself, according to photos posted by his girlfriend The couple were on the holiday island for several weeks and now have two weeks of quarantine to look forward to at home in Queensland Ms Testa shared a meme on March 12 reading 'my man has the coronavirus, dont touch him'. This was assumed to be a joke until she posted photos of Mr Paul in bed looking unwell and indicated that he did indeed have the virus. The Instagram boyfriend appears to have recovered from his illness to be well enough to return to Australia. Ms Testa went viral last year with her tearful rant about Instagram making the number of likes a photo has secret to anyone but the poster. 'If you think this is OK you can f*** off, it's actually a sad day for those who have Instagram as a job,' she said at the time. The Instagram boyfriend appears to have recovered from his illness to be well enough to return to Australia The couple shared many photos of their travels around Bali, and Europe before that 'Regardless of what you may think Instagram is a REAL job and those in the industry have worked hard to get where they're at. It's people that aren't even in the industry that think it's a f***ing joke. It's not, it's real damage out here.' Ms Testa later boasted she earned $12,895 a month from posting pornographic videos on onlyfans.com and had 50,000 subscribers. Indonesia has had 450 cases of coronavirus and 38 deaths and Bali has been transformed from a thriving holiday destination into a ghost town as people forego international travel due to restrictions on re-entry to their own countries. The price of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) will be reduced by 14 percent from March 21, sources told CNBC-TV18. As of March 1, one kilolitre of ATF was available in Delhi at Rs 56,859.01 and in Mumbai for Rs 56,400.74. Similarly, the price of one kilolitre ATF in Chennai was at Rs 58,875.63 and Rs 62,160. 48 in Kolkata. These prices are set to be reduced by nearly 14 percent from March 21 onwards. Conventionally, prices of ATF are revised on the first of every month. But, airlines have been appealing to the government to revise prices every week so that they can benefit from the decline in global prices of crude oil. ATF comprises the largest spend on the balance sheet of Indian airlines, constituting almost 35-40 percent of the total expenditure. COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show The move will bring some relief to airlines, which are suffering from a weak demand because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. To curtail the spread, most domestic carriers have suspended international operations as a result of visa advisories and other travel restrictions. Consequently, revenues have taken a hit and airlines are operating on a curtailed schedule. On March 20, budget carrier IndiGo had announced that it will reduce its domestic network by 25 percent. The Michigan Department of Education upset teachers, students and dismayed the governor Friday when it announced virtual learning conducted during COVID-19 coronavirus school closures wont count toward teaching requirements. I know it caused a lot of confusion and panic among schools, teachers, students, and families, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a release issued Friday night. "The memo does not mean that school work done during the mandatory school closure wont count toward grades, credits, or graduation. " ... I will be working in the coming days to ensure our seniors graduate and that no child is held back as a result of our ability to provide face-to-face instruction during the COVID-19 school closure." Whitmer, in an effort to combat the spread of COVID-19, ordered all Michigan schools, public and private, to close for at least three weeks beginning March 16. Our plan and hope is always that well be in a position to get back into school, Whitmer said Friday, but, of course, were very aware of what the science says and the experiences elsewhere and so we are working hard to ensure that we can give kids the education that they need while they are not physically in the classroom." Michigan law requires students to receive 1,098 instructional hours per year. School districts have varied in their response since the closures - some, including Ann Arbor Public Schools, have begun developing online learning plans by grade level and content area while schools are closed. Each district should determine what services and supports they are able to provide during this unprecedented crisis, she said. "Many are focusing on meeting basic needs and are working around the clock to provide breakfast and lunch for hungry students. Other districts have the ability to provide more learning support as a result of one-to-one technology initiatives. Since the statewide school closures, education organizations have been pushing the Michigan legislature to come up with a plan for forgiving school districts for the days of education missed due to COVID-19 closures and keep school employees paid. The Michigan Education Association teacher union is currently passing a petition urging legislators to forgive missed class time and ensure staff backpay. PREVENTION TIPS Michigans State Emergency Operations Center is coordinating state-government resources and the response to the coronavirus spread. It has shared the following tips: What you can do to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases: Always cover coughs or sneezes with a tissue or sleeve. Stay home if you are sick and advise others to do the same. Avoid close contact with people who are sick. Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands. Wash your hands often with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds. Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol, if soap and warm water are not available. Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces(computers, keyboards, desks, etc.). Its not too late to get your flu shot! While the influenza vaccine does not protect against COVID-19 infection, it can help keep you healthy during the flu season. Related stories: Friday, March 20: Latest developments on coronavirus in Michigan Number of people on life support with coronavirus, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says Looking for coronavirus case numbers in Michigan? Why official data lags Complete coverage at mlive.com/coronavirus People around the world have taken precautions and gone into self-quarantine amid the coronavirus pandemic and the royals are no different. Read on to find out whos in quarantine now and which royal has tested positive for COVID-19. British royal family | Anwar Hussein/WireImage Queen Elizabeth II leaves London Queen Elizabeth II has left her Buckingham Palace London residence amid the outbreak and is now in quarantine with her husband, Prince Philip at Windsor Castle in Berkshire, England. On March 19, the monarch took to social media with that announcement and said, Many of us will need to find new ways of staying in touch with each other and making sure that loved ones are safe. I am certain we are up to that challenge. You can be assured that my family and I stand ready to play our part. Prince William and Kate Middletons children being homeschooled Princess Charlotte, Kate Middleton, Prince George, and Prince William | Aaron Chown WPA Pool/Getty Images The queens grandson and grandaughter-in-law are spending more time with their children now as Prince George and Princess Charlotte are being homeschooled. Thomass Battersea in London switched its classes to remote learning on March 20. From this date the curriculum will be taught through online learning platforms and we have asked parents to keep their children at home and to access their lessons through this system, a spokesperson from the school said. This will ensure that children have continuity of learning when they are unable to attend school. On March 18, Kensington Palace released a video about a fundraising appeal launched by the National Emergencies Trust (NET) to help people during a time of a domestic disaster. I dreaded the day when it would be needed, Prince William stated in the clip. Sadly, with the outbreak of COVID-19, that day has come faster than any of us would have hoped. Prince Harry and Meghan hunker down in Canada Prince Harry and Meghan Markle | Kirsty Wigglesworth Pool/Getty Images After completing a string of engagements in the U.K. ahead of Megxit, Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, are taking precautions as well to keep themselves and their 10-month-old son, Archie, safe. A source told Us Weekly that the Sussexes are observing the quarantine at the residence they have been staying in on Vancouver Island. The couple has also offered coronavirus help to the public via their social media account. We will be sharing information and resources to help all of us navigate the uncertainty: from posting accurate information and facts from trusted experts to learning about measures we can take to keep ourselves and our families healthy, to working with organizations that can support our mental and emotional well-being. In addition, we will focus on the inspiring stories of how so many of you around the world are connecting in ways big and small to lift all of us up, they posted on Instagram. Prince Albert of Monaco tests positive Prince Albert II of Monaco | Ian Walton/Getty Images As for other royal families around the world, Norways King Harald and Queen Sonja went into quarantine on March 12 and Swedens Crown Princess Victoria called off celebrations for her name day, which were set to take place in Stockholm. The Danish royal family, meanwhile, has canceled all engagements until April. And King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain have tested negative for COVID-19, but Prince Albert II of Monaco has tested positive for the virus. The palace of Monaco said that the princes health at the moment is not worrisome and released a statement about the need to quarantine and social-distancing. His Serene Highness urges the people of Monaco to respect the measures of confinement and to limit contact with others to a minimum, the palace said in a statement.Only the strict observance of these confinement measures will make it possible to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Read more: Princess Beatrices Wedding Reception Canceled Due to Coronavirus Pandemic, But Will the Ceremony Still Take Place? Welcome to GMAT Club! You have very unique pros and cons and I definitely like your unique perspective. Here is the good thing, with a few over-hyped exceptions, campuses are very safe, gun-free areas that usually have pretty good healthcare. As an international student you will have to get health insurance. I don't know how it compares to Japan but as long as you don't need many treatments, works quite well despite Bernie's speeches.Realistically it is a choice between Japan and US. US has a lot of opportunities but can be a confusing and frustrating place for someone from the Japanese culture. I have had one classmate from Japan and he had a bit of a hard time adjusting, in part perhaps since his company was sponsoring his MBA and he never intended to settle in the US, so he did not make an effort. Of course he was a super nice person and a pleasure to be around, but he did not care about being in the United States per se and was waiting for his term to end. If you choose to go to the US, you have to embrace it - the good and the bad. It is a package and you will only succeed if you are all in. Granted, there are many Japanese communities and diverse cultures - it is very easy to coexist and be whatever you want to be (nobody is going to bother you) but to succeed and breakthrough, you have to play by the rules of the US game. Does that make sense? If you are not planning to play, don't both wasting your effort. It won't be enjoyable or productive and no reason to make yourself miserable.I have had a chance to spend 2 weeks in Japan (Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka) and I was blown away by the people, culture, and everything really. Japan has exceeded my expectations but as you mentioned there is a certain path for the MBA and I understand a certain set of rules you have to play by for advancement and career. Long hours and lots of hard work without as much of a credit but security and safety...As to your career and professional goals - consulting and IBanking are very competitive and hard-to-get into industries. You will have to interview quite a bit - 7 or maybe even more coffee chats, interviews, meetings. Are you extroverted enough to go through that? (it definitely will make you stronger but if you are not comfortable, it will be hard work and likely a frustrating outcome).P.S. Again, not knowing your particular background and situation, I can't know for sure, but for most, your main cons are not really a concern. Instead, it will come down to culture and your ability to leverage your MBA for employment. Without knowing your comfort level with these, I can't really give you a recommendation. However, keep in mind that UNC is a STEM-mba program that gives you a 3-year work permit after graduation with some hoop jumping but still it is 3 years!Welcome,BB._________________ UPDATE: Whitehall Township police Chief Michael Marks says in a late Friday night news release that a suspect was taken into custody after being located near a mall entrance. The suspect is not being identified at this time, Marks says. The chief gave the following account of the incident: About 6:30 pm on Friday ... Whitehall Township police officers responded for a report of a male who made bomb threats in the area of the Lehigh Valley Mall. The suspect was located in the vicinity of the mall entrance. The area around the mall was cordoned off for safety reasons. Lehigh County MERT (Municipal Emergency Response Team) along with the HNT (Hostage Negotiation Team), arrived on scene. After a dialog was established with the individual, he was eventually taken into custody without incident. The scene was cleared for explosive devices, without any being located. INITIAL POST: The Allentown Fire Departments bomb squad responded Friday night to the Lehigh Valley Mall at the request of Whitehall Township authorities, Capt. John Christopher said. Township police couldnt immediately be reached for details on the threat on the retail property, which is temporarily closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The initial call for a bomb threat came into Lehigh County emergency dispatch at 6:33 p.m., a supervisor said. The city bomb squad was called in on a mutual aid request, Christopher said. A special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Philadelphia said the agency was contacted but then told to disregard when local police determined the individual did not possess any explosives. The investigation was continuing, but the ATF wont be involved, the special agent said. It was unclear if an arrest was made at the mall or if the incident was ongoing at 9 p.m. The Morning Call reported on Twitter that an ambulance left just before that. Route 145 entrance to Lehigh Valley Mall remains closed due to an incident involving a male at the mall and bombs reported in the 100 block of North Second Street, Allentown, and possibly other locations, according to reports relayed through Lehigh County Communication Center. pic.twitter.com/Qo2181ihsI Andrew Scott (@AScottmcall) March 21, 2020 Bomb threats were checked out Friday night on the Eighth Street bridge in Allentown and Harrison-Morton Middle School at 137 North Second St. in the city, police Capt. Bill Lake said. Both locations were determined to be safe, Lake added. He couldnt immediately connect city incident with the threat at the mall in the township. Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. If theres anything about this story that needs attention, please email him. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. State Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli said Saturday officials are closely examining post-acute care facilities throughout New Jersey after three more patients in long-term care or rehab centers died from the coronavirus. The three deaths were part of five more announced Saturday, bringing the total to at least 16 known deaths from the virus in New Jersey. Gov. Phil Murphy also said the state now has at least 1,327 confirmed cases of the virus that has infected hundreds of thousands across the globe. Persichilli said Thursday coronavirus cases have been found in six nursing homes and long-term care facilities. Three deaths she announced Thursday occurred at nursing homes in Hudson and Essex counties. Persichilli said the number of deaths of people in post-acute facilities is a concern. Were looking very critically at that, she said. We will be looking at the long-term care facilities and rehab facilities a little bit more. Persichilli said she plans to contact the facilities where the deceased patients had been staying this weekend. She added that we want to curtail as many admissions as possible to long-term care. Life Care Center, a nursing home in Washington state, was one of the first coronavirus clusters in the United States, experts said. Two-thirds of the facilitys residents and 47 workers fell ill, and 35 people died from the virus. Murphy said he spoke with Washington Governor Jay Inslee Friday about this particular challenge that they faced I think before anybody. Murphy added that he or Persichilli may be calling for additional guidelines regarding post-acute facilities in New Jersey. Sign up for text message alerts from NJ.com on coronavirus in New Jersey: Tell us your coronavirus stories, whether its a news tip, a topic you want us to cover, or a personal story you want to share. If you would like updates on New Jersey-specific coronavirus news, subscribe to our Coronavirus in N.J. newsletter. Matthew Stanmyre may be reached at mstanmyre@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattStanmyre. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Ministers of Health, Finance Hold Joint Press Conference, on Challenges of Coronavirus Crisis Saudi Press Agency Friday 1441/7/25 - 2020/03/20 Riyadh, Mar 20, 2020, SPA -- Minister of Health Dr. Tawfiq bin Fawzan Al-Rabiah and Minister of Finance, who is also the acting minister of economy and planning, Mohammed Al-Jadaan, held here today a joint press conference, on the health and economic challenges, facing the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, due to the coronavirus crisis. At the outset, they thanked the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud for the speech, which the King has addressed the public, on Thursday evening, clarifying the government's concern for citizen safety, stressing that the health is the basis, as it is relating to providing the public with the basic services. --More 18:39 LOCAL TIME 15:39 GMT 0010 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 14:15:04|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close SUVA, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Fiji reported Saturday its second confirmed case of COVID-19 following a 27-year-old national flight attendant who tested positive on Thursday. Fijian Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama said in a statement on Saturday that the second confirmed case of this virus is the first patient's mother who developed symptoms soon after entering isolation in Nadi Hospital and her results came back positive on Saturday. This is the the first locally-transmitted case in the island nation. Like his son, who is in a stable condition in Lautoka Hospital, she remains in isolation in Nadi Hospital where she is in a stable condition. The prime minister confirmed that those including foreign nationals who came into contact with the flight attendant will have to remain isolated. And the testing on people who had come into contact with the first patient is continuing. The 27-year-old man, a Fiji Airways attendant, came back from Auckland, New Zealand on Tuesday. He had a history of being in San Francisco, the United States within 14 days. He had no fever on checking nor did he have any cough at the airport. His temperature was normal. He was at Lautoka hospital the same evening, saying he had a fall on the plane and had mild chest pain. His samples were tested positive on Thursday. To contain the spread of the virus, Fiji has taken a number of stricter measures, including the lockdown of Lautoka, the second largest city of the country. All measures will be reviewed after 14 days. An activist on Saturday urged the Maharashtra government to take temporary custody of the scam- hit Adarsh Housing Society in south Mumbai to create quarantine facilities and isolation wards for treatment of coronavirus patients. Talking to PTI, the Solapur-based activist, Dadarao Rote, said he will soon write to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in this regard. "The 31-storey building is vacant at present due to the court orders," he said, adding that the premises can be used to house thousands of patients. "This will help in better management of patients as they will be at one place," he said. The plush building at Colaba got embroiled in a controversy in 2011 with the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) ordering for its demolition for violating environmental norms and the Union Ministry of Defence claiming ownership of the land, where it stands. The appeals filed by the society against the April 2016 order of demolition passed by the Bombay High Court are pending in the Supreme Court. The society later also filed a representation before the MOEF seeking to regularise the building. The request is pending. The Army had in 2018 acted upon the orders of the SC and took possession of the building. The premises is, however, vacant. Congress leader and state minister Ashok Chavan, had served as the chief minister between December 2008 and November 2010, before he was asked to step down on charges of corruption in the Adarsh scam. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) on Saturday said it along with its member is working with the government, various pharma industry associations in India and other key stakeholders in the pharmaceutical supply chain to ensure that patients in India and the world continue to have access to medicines. The member are closely monitoring orders and inventories of medicines, it said. "With an adequate stock of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), finished product formulations and channel availability, we would be able to sustain the supply of medicines for the coming months, the IPA said in a statement. The pharma industry body also said that it is not aware of any medicines shortage, to date. "We are working closely with the International Generic and Biosimilar Medicines Association (IGPA), World Health Organisation (WHO) headquarters in Switzerland and its India office, Association of Affordable Medicines (AAM) USA, Medicines for Europe and several other country associations to assess international developments and any potential impact on supply of medicines globally," the IPA said. The IPA and its are aligned to government initiatives of containment measures and social distancing while meeting supply commitments in the essential services for availability of medicines, it added. The IPA is committed to providing quality medicines to patients in India and across globe as patient centricity and welfare is fundamental to us, the statement said. The Shopian police on Saturday detained Irfan Ahmed Kuttey for motivating Kashmiri youth to join banned terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Kuttey, a resident of Chotipora Sedow in Pulwama district, is motivating the youth of Imamsahib and adjoining areas to join the LeT, the police said. Upon learning that the arrested had motivated Adil Bashir Lone, a resident of Aaloora, the police constituted a force, along with the Indian Army, and apprehended both Kuttey as well as Lone. After questioning both the apprehended, it was learned that the duo was working as co-conspirators for the terror group. Kuttey also revealed that he has worked as an overground worker for one killed terrorist Zubair Turray in the past. He was introduced to Turray by Shahid Islam Naikoo, a resident of Bonbazar in Shopian, who is presently in detention under the Public Safety Act. Kuttey further revealed that he was also in constant touch with some terrorists operating in Pakistan through online messaging apps such as Telegram and Vpole. Lone, meanwhile, revealed that in November, last year, he came in contact with one former terrorist of LeT, Waleed, with whom he expressed his desire to join the group. Waleed took his contact number and asked Lone to wait for further information. After nearly one month, Lone received one WhatsApp call from +92 number which further directed him recruited to contact Kuttey. In this connection, case FIR NO. 07/2020 under sections 18 and 39 of the ULAP (Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, has been registered in the Imamsahib police station and further investigation is being conducted, the police said. During the interrogation, Kuttey also disclosed that he has hidden an AK47 in his cowshed. The arms have been recovered by the police in a raid. Further questioning of the detained terrorists is underway. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday held a telephonic conversation with his US counterpart Mark Esper during which the Secretary of Defense expressed his appreciation for India's leadership in coordinating COVID-19 related relief efforts among South Asian countries. Esper also conveyed his intent to visit India at the earliest opportunity. In a tweet, Rajnath Singh said: "We also reviewed the progress in bilateral defence cooperation as a part of India-US comprehensive global strategic partnership. India and the United States are committed to further deepen and strengthen the defence cooperation." The US Secretary of Defense too stated that he looked forward to the growing partnership between two countries. "Had a productive phone call with Indian DefMin Rajnath Singh to discuss ongoing efforts to respond to the #COVID19 pandemic, along with other defense cooperation activities. I look forward to the growing partnership between our two nations," Esper tweeted. The US Department of Defense said in a readout that during the telephonic conversation, the two leaders discussed "bilateral defence priorities, including ongoing regional cooperation and initiatives to enhance military-to-military engagement and defence trade". "They also discussed the COVID-19 pandemic and underscored their commitment to close communication during this period in order to maintain momentum on initiatives that reinforce our comprehensive global partnership. Secretary Esper expressed his appreciation for India's leadership in coordinating COVID-19 related relief efforts among South Asian countries, and conveyed his intent to visit India at the earliest opportunity," it said. The Indian Defence Ministry said the two Defence Ministers reviewed the progress in bilateral and multilateral defence co-operation and agreed to expand military-to-military engagements and defence trade and industry as part of India-US comprehensive global strategic partnership. "The two Ministers exchanged views on the grave situation arising out of COVID-19 and expressed confidence that through open communication and mutual support, the can overcome the pandemic. Both the Ministers agreed to remain in touch during this trying period," the Defence Ministry said. Singh "briefed Secretary Esper about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's initiative to coordinate COVID-19 relief efforts in South Asia". The Ministry said Singh invited Secretary Esper to visit India at the earliest convenient date. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has slammed beachgoers for not practicing social distancing as he called on local councils to enforce health and safety measures amid the coronavirus pandemic. Thousands flocked to Bondi Beach on Friday amid temperatures in the high 30s, with pictures of packed beaches going viral online. Photos of beachgoers ignoring social distancing measures have been harshly criticised by foreign media and on social media as the world attempts to slow the spread of the deadly virus. 'What happened in Bondi was unacceptable and the local council must take steps to stop that occurring,' Minister Hunt told reporters in Melbourne on Saturday. Scroll down for video Health Minister Greg Hunt told reporters in Melbourne that local councils needed to ensure people were observing health and safety measures Sunbathers ignored 1.5 metre social distancing guidelines by helping each other apply sunscreen and lying together on the sand on Friday Two friends dip their feet in the water at Sydney's Bondi Beach on Friday, despite guidelines to exercise social distancing 'Our message to the local council is this is all of our responsibilities. 'Each of us, as individuals, as families, as groups, as councils, as state governments, and as a national government, has responsibility. 'Where something like this is occurring, the local council must step in and that message is absolutely clear.' Mr Hunt briefed reporters on the latest measures being taken to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, as the number of confirmed cases in the country surpassed 1,000. On Friday Sunbathers ignored 1.5 metre social distancing guidelines as they lay together on the sand and helped each other apply sunscreen. The crowds were seemingly unfazed by the threat of coronavirus as they embraced on the shoreline, splashed in the waves and played beach volleyball. In an unprecedented move, NSW state officials closed the beach with immediate affect, following Friday's blatant disregard for health warnings. Beachgoers play a game of volleyball on the sand as the government urges residents to exercise social distancing A man and woman ignore social distancing guidelines as they embrace in the water at Sydney's Bondi Beach NSW Police David Elliott will announce the drastic measure at Bondi Beach on Saturday afternoon. CORONAVIRUS CASES IN AUSTRALIA: 27,244 Victoria: 20,269 New South Wales: 4,273 Queensland: 1,161 Western Australia: 692 South Australia: 473 Tasmania: 230 Australian Capital Territory: 113 Northern Territory: 33 TOTAL CASES: 27,244 ESTIMATED ACTIVE CASES: 269 DEATHS: 897 Updated: 5.31 PM, 11 October, 2020 Source: Australian Government Department of Health Advertisement Waverley mayor Paula Masselos had earlier been forced to issue a public plea for people to stay indoors amid the coronavirus pandemic and away from beaches. 'The public must at all times keep a minimum safe distance from each other in public places and if you don't need to be out in public, please consider staying at home,' Ms Masselos said. 'We all have a role to play in preventing the spread of COVID-19 and I am frustrated that people continue to ignore health advice about social distancing as observed yesterday at Bondi Beach.' Ms Masselos asked for people to heed advice from NSW health including practising social distancing and following hygiene rules. 'No-one is immune to COVID-19 and behaving irresponsibly puts the entire community at risk,' Ms Masselos said. New South Wales Health Minister Brad Hazzard advised we 'are in a different time, and 'need to behave in different ways.' While residents can 'by all means' visit the beach, they must stick to the strict advice given by health authorities. 'I would just say that it doesn't matter where you are. Whether you are on Bondi or in a church, separate by 1.5 metres,' Mr Hazzard said. Government advice reads: 'Social distancing is important because COVID-19 is most likely to spread from person-to-person.' 'So, the more space between you and others, the harder it is for the virus to spread.' A couple embrace at Bondi Beach, in Sydney's eastern suburbs, on Friday as the temperature soars above 30C As the number of cases across the country continue to soar at an alarming rate, $15.6million in funding will be provided for coronavirus testing and research, Mr Hunt revealed. Another $5million will help assist with respiratory medicine, for those who are most vulnerable to the virus. A further $2.6million is also being provided in four cutting-edge diagnostics research projects at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity. 'These projects will increase Australia's ability to conduct widespread testing for diagnosis and clearance of the coronavirus,' Mr Hunt said. Worldwide there are around 253,000 cases with the loss 11,000 lives. Mr Hunt insisted Australia has one of the highest testing for the COVID-19 in the world as Labor urged the government to make provisions for more. 'Our level of testing is now at 115,000 tests, which is one of the highest in the world and in particular one of the highest per capita rates of testing in the world,' Mr Hunt said. 'We are testing widely, more widely than almost any other country.' He said these tests have resulted in a 99 per cent negative rate. Veteran actor Anupam Kher, who returned from the US on Friday, said as a precautionary measure he will be self-isolating himself, amid coronavirus scare. Veteran actor Anupam Kher, who returned from the US on Friday, said as a precautionary measure he will be self-isolating himself, amid coronavirus scare. Click here to follow LIVE updates on coronavirus outbreak The actor said he tested negative for coronavirus upon his arrival in the country. I have just landed. I was tested at the airport and I was given a clean chit. But on my own I will be staying at home. I've to go on self-isolation. We must, Kher told Press Trust of India. The actor posted a video wearing a mask on Instagram. Check it out here The actor was filming for TV series New Amsterdam in New York City for the past several weeks before the show halted production due to COVID-19. The show is episodic. It was for 22 episodes but this time the 19th one is the final episode as everything is shut so we didnt shoot, he added. Khers co-actor Daniel Dae Kim announced on Thursday that he has tested positive for coronavirus. I have no idea (about this). I had no work with him, Kher said. The 65-year-old actor said it is time for everyone to behave responsibly and take precautions. It is time that celebrities behave responsibly because they are role models if they will do that and the world will follow them. You have to do that it is important. It is not only important for your personal health but it also shows you are a responsible citizen of the country, he added. Meanwhile, Shabana Azmi, who returned from Budapest, took to Twitter on Thursday and said she is under self-isolation. I have returned from Budapest on 15th March morn and am practising self isolarion till 30th March Azmi Shabana (@AzmiShabana) March 19, 2020 Legendary actor Dilip Kumar had on Monday said he is completely under isolation to avoid any infection due to coronavirus outbreak. The 97-year-old actor shared the health update on his Twitter account. He is fine (Kumar), he is at home. We all have to stay at home as a precautionary measure. May God keep all of us well, we are praying that the entire world is safe from this terrible calamity, it is a nightmare, Saira Banu told PTI. On late Tuesday night, megastar Amitabh Bachchan had tweeted a picture of a hand with a ''Home Quarantined'' stamp on it. "Stamping started on hands with voter ink, in Mumbai .. keep safe, be cautious, remain isolated if detected..," he had posted. According to the Health Ministry data, the novel coronavirus cases in India rose to 195 on Friday and Maharashtra has 47 cases. (With inputs from Press Trust of India) The coronavirus pandemic has seen mounted pressure on countries to protect their people, but Iran is facing a much larger crises as it struggles to control the spread of COVID-19, much due to US sanctions. Reuters The new virus kills at least one person every 10 minutes in Iran, the countrys health ministry has said, as shortages force medics to treat the sick without protective gear, while families say they are burying their loved ones in makeshift pits. "Based on our information, every 10 minutes one person dies from the coronavirus and some 50 people become infected with the virus every hour in Iran," Iran's health minister tweeted. The Asian country's has found it even more difficult to control the pandemic due to the sanctions in place. Iran is battling one of its worst crises in years and there is high risk that large proportion of population might be affected. AP Nearly 18,500 have been infected and at least 1,284 people have died of Covid-19 in the country, the highest death toll outside of China and Italy. As Iran battles, countries like Russia, China, and United Kingdom have called on the US to immediately lift sanctions on Iran as the country struggles to deal with the rapidly spreading virus. On Monday, China's Foreign Ministry asked the US to lift its sanctions, saying they were thwarting Tehran's efforts to counter the pandemic, officially known as COVID-19. AP "We urge the US to immediately lift unilateral sanctions on Iran. Continued sanctions are against humanitarianism and hamper Iran's epidemic response and delivery of humanitarian aid," spokesman Geng Shuang said. Russia's Foreign Ministry made a similar announcement, calling the sanctions "anti-human". "Illegal unilateral US sanctions, imposed since May 2018 as part of the 'maximum pressure' campaign, are a powerful obstacle to the effective fight against the infection," Russia's foreign ministry said. While humanitarian trade is exempted from US sanctions, many companies and banks around the world have been worried about engaging with Iran, fearing US secondary sanctions. 10k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard MSNBCs Joy Reid pointed out on Saturday that Donald Trumps disastrous response to the coronavirus outbreak in the United States could end up hurting his own supporters more than anybody else. As the MSNBC host noted, most of Trumps supporters are older and live in states that refuse to expand the Affordable Care Act, making them particularly high risk. One in eight Trump voters lives in a county with no ICU beds, the MSNBC host said. Many Trump voters live in states that refuse to expand the Affordable Care Act, so people without a lot of money dont have any health insurance. Not to mention the fact that Trump spent the early weeks of this outbreak downplaying the virus and suggesting that it was a hoax, which Fox News echoed repeatedly to its audience of older viewers. Video: Joy Reid points out that Trump supporters could end up being hurt most by the presidents disastrous coronavirus response. #ctl #p2 #maddow pic.twitter.com/Mjkz6uawiT PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) March 21, 2020 Reid said: The fact that we also have an outbreak where the president of the United States did not take seriously his own intelligence community saying no, this is going to be bad. Members of the intel committee in the Senate knew it was going to be bad, only told rich donors, didnt tell everyone else. Meanwhile, the president is downplaying something that his media, his affinity media picks up his line that its nothing, that its a hoax. Now these are the same people who tend to be older and who tend to live in states that dont have health care. Washington Post reports one in eight Trump voters lives in a county with no ICU beds. Many Trump voters live in states that refuse to expand the Affordable Care Act, so people without a lot of money dont have any health insurance. How lopsided could we wind up seeing this outbreak become because Donald Trumps own followers are now behind the curve. Worse news: Trump supporters likely wont care Donald Trump was right when he claimed he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and still not get his supporters to abandon him. But in this case, instead of a shooting, its a global pandemic. A virus is spreading rapidly across the United States, and the president spent weeks at the beginning of this crisis downplaying it, calling it a hoax. Polling shows that Trumps effort to dismiss the crisis to protect his own political fortunes has had an impact. According to Gallup, 73 percent of Democrats are worried about the outbreak, while just 42 percent of Republicans are. Some of Trumps most diehard supporters even believe that this deadly virus is no big deal, just another myth perpetrated by Democrats in an attempt to topple their dear leader. Ultimately, Donald Trumps refusal to be honest about this outbreak and take swift action to combat it will hurt all Americans, but it is his supporters who appear to be most vulnerable. Follow Sean Colarossi on Facebook and Twitter Three persons have tested positive for Coronavirus in Nigerias capital, Abuja. According to a report by The Punch, the capital index case is an official of the Federal Inland Revenue Service. He was one of the passengers on the British Airways flight that landed on March 13, 2020. Punch confirmed that a medical doctor who disclosed the index cases said that the three patients had been moved to the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates Such logic is impeccable. I only wish hed employed it to postpone the primary elections of last Tuesday. My wife tells me to let it go and move on. But I cant. Its quite likely that the people of this state were exposed to serve the personal ambitions of the political elites. And its that kind of elitist attitude that erodes confidence in government when we need it most. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 03:18:42|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close A man rides a bike under a bridge in Paris, France, March 19, 2020. (Photo by Aurelien Morissard/Xinhua) The past week, France saw rapid increase in both the confirmed cases and deaths from the virus. The country reported 108 new coronavirus deaths on Thursday, its biggest increase in a single day. PARIS, March 20 (Xinhua) -- France reported 108 new coronavirus deaths on Thursday, its biggest increase in a single day, fueling concerns notably over the hospitals' ability to cope with the pandemic. "We are in a race against time so as not to saturate hospitals, to allow scientists to work on a remedy and a vaccine," Health Minister Olivier Veran said on Friday. "We do our utmost to free up intensive care spaces, even where the virus is not yet circulating. We have assessed the future need for beds following the epidemic's evolution in order to organize the transfer of patients to the less strained areas," Veran told Le Figaro newspaper. The minister said that 1,200 respirators had been ordered to equip additional beds. A man wearing a mask takes the metro in Paris, France, March 19, 2020. (Photo by Aurelien Morissard/Xinhua) STRAINED HOSPITALS The past week, France saw rapid increase in both the confirmed cases and deaths from the virus. The country's General Director of Health Jerome Salomon warned that "infection cases double every four days," warning of an imminent lack of intensive care facilities. "We are in the red, the situation is extremely tense," said Damien Barraud, a doctor in the resuscitation unit in Metz, eastern France. "We are currently receiving two to three patients a day. If we consider that the containment measures will bear fruit in two weeks, we are sure that this number will continue to increase in the coming days." "What has happened in Italy and what is likely to happen here is to choose not to resuscitate someone so that another one would have more chance to survive by taking advantage of intensive care. It's a disaster medicine. It's unprecedented in France," he told le Figaro. People wearing masks are seen at the Gare de Lyon train station in Paris, France, March 19, 2020. (Photo by Aurelien Morissard/Xinhua) Ile-de-France, the heavily populated and most important economic hub around the capital Paris, is the worst-hit region with 3,384 cases. The situation is likely to deteriorate further next week when an influx of new patients is expected to flood the region's hospitals, said Professor Yazdan Yazdanpanah, head of the infectious and tropical diseases department at Bichat Hospital in Paris. "There are people who work hard, with great courage, to try to run hospitals. But we are going to go through complicated moments next week," Yazdanpanah told Europe 1 radio. According to local health authorities, there are 7,000 intensive care beds in France's hospitals, of which 2,000 are still available. A man wearing a mask is seen at the Montparnasse train station in Paris, France, March 19, 2020. (Photo by Aurelien Morissard/Xinhua) AP-HP, the university hospital group operating in Paris and its surroundings, said that up to 4,000 additional resuscitation beds are needed if the measures to mitigate the epidemic impact and confinement prove unable to relieve stress in the saturated health facilities. In Grand-Est near the German border, the situation is "dramatic," warned Professor Eric Maury, president of the Resuscitation Society. "All the resuscitation beds are occupied. There is a massive influx of patients in very serious condition every day who must be placed on an artificial ventilator, and there are no more places available," he said. SHORTAGE OF PROTECTIVE GEAR For several weeks, a dire shortage of face masks, gloves and other basic equipment has fueled anger among frontline medical staff. Workers in contact with the public, especially the police and firefighters, also cried alarm. "Three million health takers in France need five masks per day per person, which means 15 million masks are needed per day just to protect ourselves," Lamine Gharbi, president of the Federation of Private Hospitalization, told RMC radio. France's biggest police trade union Alliance Police nationale denounced the lack of masks and gloves its members need to enforce a country-wide lockdown. People wearing masks are seen at the Gare de Lyon train station in Paris, France, March 19, 2020. (Photo by Aurelien Morissard/Xinhua) "The situation is worsening. Police are just asking to work safely. They risk to be infected. So we called for a walking off the job unless security and hygiene conditions are met," said Stanislas Gaudon, national secretary of the Alliance Police nationale. The Ministry of Health said it had delivered 35 million masks from its strategic reserves of 145 million units to supply health services. On Wednesday and Thursday, two Chinese aircraft loaded with masks, gloves and other protective equipment landed at Paris Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport. A man wearing a mask waits for a tram at a station in Paris, France, March 19, 2020. (Photo by Aurelien Morissard/Xinhua) The masks are donations from two Chinese charities. "At the crucial moment of China's fight against the epidemic, France gave us precious support and help. Currently, while France and all of Europe are facing the serious challenge of the pandemic, China is ready to provide aid as far as possible," said Chinese Ambassador to France Lu Shaye. Government spokeswoman Sibeth Ndiaye admitted that France was facing "logistical difficulties." "There have been some logistical difficulties recently, but the masks have been arriving in pharmacies since yesterday," she said after a cabinet meeting on Wednesday. "We have put pressure on our production, which does not have extensive capacities. That is why we have a thrifty management of these masks with absolute priority given to the health workers," she said. People wearing masks arrive at the Montparnasse train station in Paris, France, March 19, 2020. (Photo by Aurelien Morissard/Xinhua) Government is to begin a mandatory quarantine of all travellers arriving at Ghanas airports and land in Ghana from tonight, March 21, regardless of nationality. Everyone who comes into the country before Sunday will be mandatorily quarantined and tested for the virus, President Nana Akufo-Addo disclosed in an address to the nation on Saturday evening. Following restrictions from recent travel protocols, the only admissible travellers into Ghana were Ghanaians and foreign nationals with residence permits in Ghana. These persons were to engage in a mandatory self-quarantine for 14 days. The President also announced the closure of the countrys border effective midnight on Sunday. All our borders; by land, sea and air, will be closed to human traffic for the next two weeks beginning midnight on Sunday, he added in the address. Ghana announced new travel protocols when the detected cases stood at seven. Travellers who had been in coronavirus-hit countries with cases exceeding 200 within the 14 days preceding their arrival were to be barred from entering the country. The admissible travellers who exhibit symptoms of the virus are to be quarantined and tested upon reaching Ghana. The government said airlines had been instructed not to allow such persons into the country. In general, the government said travel to Ghana was strongly discouraged until further notice. Confirmed coronavirus cases in Ghana currently stand at 22 . For most people, the coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough but severe illness can occur, especially in the elderly and people with pre-existing health conditions. More than 287,239 people have been infected worldwide with over 11,921 deaths. As the spread of the pandemic worsens, Countries around the world have been shutting down airports and imposing travel restrictions and completely sealing their borders. citinewsroom A 52-year-old man with travel history to Sri Lanka tested positive of coronavirus in Gujarat on Saturday, taking the number of such cases in the state to eight, officials said. The new patient is a resident Vadodara, they said. "A man with travel history to Sri Lanka, tested positive for coronavirus. He was part of a group that had recently travelled to Sri Lanka," Vadodara collector Shalini Agarwal said. "Another member of the same group, a woman, had tested positive on Friday," she said. This is the third positive case in Vadodara and eighth in Gujarat, Agarwal added. "The man has been kept in isolation ward at the SSG Hospital in Vadodara, which is treating the coronavirus patients," she said. Others, who travelled with them, have also been quarantined, she added. READ | ICMR Revises Testing Strategy To Fight Spread Of New Coronavirus READ | Kerala HC Fines Rs 50,000 On Petitioner Seeking Online Delivery Of Liquor Amid Coronavirus Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the F8 Developer Conference in 2017. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg via Getty Images Over the past few weeks, Facebook has been quick to launch a number of efforts to help combat the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, creating some much needed goodwill for the often embattled social media company. Since 2016, Facebook has faced a relentless wave of scandals, many of its own creation, that have eroded the public's trust in the company. But as the coronavirus has threatened the health of more than 250,000 globally and brought global markets to their knees, Facebook's efforts to help governments, emergency response organizations, small businesses, its employees and its users are going a long way to repair the company's fractured relationships. "We want to make sure we're doing what we can to help support the public health response," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on a media call on Wednesday. "Some of the work that these folks are doing is absolute heroic, and I'm personally very grateful for what they're doing." An active response Facebook has been actively helping with the coronavirus situation since Feb. 14 when the company used its Menlo Park headquarters to host the World Health Organization and leaders from companies like Google, Amazon and Salesforce to discuss what the tech industry could do to work together on solutions to the coronavirus outbreak. The social media company has kept up that tempo. With users, the company has been quick to ban ads for medical face masks, hand sanitizers, disinfectant wipes and COVID-19 test kits that could lead to scams or price gouging. On Wednesday, Zuckerberg announced that it would begin rolling out a coronavirus information center feature to be placed at the top of users' News Feeds, encouraging them to take social distancing orders seriously. With employees, the company has closed all of its offices and sent nearly all of its employees to work from home. The only employees who are still working at the office are those at its data centers who are there to ensure the company's infrastructure stays online for users. Additionally, the company has given each of its nearly 45,000 full-time employees a $1,000 bonus to help them with any costs for childcare of their work-from-home setups. Facebook has also offered its Portal video-calling devices to employees who request them. The company is also going to give every employee "exceeds expectations" performance ratings for the first half of 2020. This will result in each employee receiving more than their full bonus for the six-month period, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg told CNBC's Jim Cramer on "Mad Money" on Tuesday. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced pubs, cafes, nightclubs, bars, restaurants, theatres, leisure centres and gyms must close from Friday night to help halt the spread of Covid-19. Mr Johnson said the intention of the plan was to push "down further on that curve of transmission between us". Food outlets will still be able to provide takeaway services. First Minister Arlene Foster and deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill welcomed the move, with Mrs Foster saying that lives would be saved as a result. During the Government's daily press briefing, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced that "for the first time in our history" the Government will step in and help pay people's wages through a coronavirus job retention scheme. To all those at home, right now anxious about the days ahead, I say you will not face this alone Rishi Sunak "Employers will be able to contact HMRC for a grant to cover most of the wages of people who are not working but are furloughed and kept on payroll rather than being laid off," he said. "Government grants will cover 80% of the salary of retained workers up to a total of 2,500 a month - that's just above the median income." Read More At a glance: Coronavirus bailout Government to pay 80% of the salary of retained workers, up to a total of 2,500 a month Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme interest-free for 12 months VAT payments deferred to mid June for all businesses Universal Credit standard allowance and working tax credit basic element increased by 1,000 a year for 12 months Self-employed people to access, in full, Universal Credit at a rate equivalent to Statutory Sick Pay for employees. Local Housing Allowance to cover at least 30% of market rents It comes after First Minister Arlene Foster said that schools will remain open to provide childcare for key workers. Schools officially closed on Friday, but Mrs Foster said they would now be repurposed to help key staff attend work. At the daily press conference deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill also announced health staff who took part in industrial action to get pay parity will have their wages paid for the three days of strike action. The message came as nine new cases of coronavirus were confirmed in Northern Ireland. This brings the total number of confirmed cases in the region to 86 of those people who have been tested. On Thursday, one person who tested positive for the virus passed away in a hospital in the greater Belfast area. Here's how Friday unfolded: BAKU, Azerbaijan, Mar.21 By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend: Possibility for development of instant payment system is being considered in Kazakhstan, Trend reports with reference to Kazakh media. The draft of the corresponding law on regulation of digital technologies was presented by Kazakhstans Minister of Digital Development, Innovations and Aerospace Industry Askar Zhumagaliyev during the meeting of Kazakhstans Majilis (lower house of the parliament). Zhumagaliyev said that the document regulates norms of instant payments system introduction. "Creation of the system will give the opportunity to Kazakh residents, small and medium business to quickly and comfortable make money transactions any time in any place," he said. The minister also added that the document proposes to define terms such as digital asset, mining, token, block-chain technology on the legislative level, as well as to assign a digital asset to property. "Definition of the intellectual robot notion is overseen, as well as consolidation of responsibility of the person acting as the owner of the robot," he said. Zhumagaliyev noted during the presentation that these innovations will allow to strengthen competitiveness in area of digital technologies, as well as to create efficient feedback with the public. Kazakhstan is currently actively developing the Digital Kazakhstan state program, which is aimed at development, implementation and development of digital technologies in key sectors of the country's economy. --- Follow the author on twitter: @nargiz_sadikh Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce speaks at a press conference at Queen's Park in Toronto on Tuesday, March 3, 2020. Lecce says the government has reached a tentative contract with the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn WASHINGTON -- The Department of Veterans Affairs urged retired doctors Friday to come back to work as the health care system braces for a wave of coronavirus patients. VA recruiting tweeted to retired VA clinicians and federal health care providers, asking them to consider reemployment with the agency. The department is offering waivers for dual compensation. "Help us in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic," the tweet urged. The office of Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said earlier this week that lawmakers were working on ideas to bolster the VA's work force. One of their ideas was to bring in retired doctors. Lawmakers and advocates have expressed concerns about the VA's ability to handle an influx of coronavirus cases because of widespread staff vacancies. The VA health care system had 44,131 staff vacancies during the first quarter of 2020, according to the agency's website. The occupations with the most vacancies were nurses, medical support assistants and medical officers. Gainesville, Fla., had the most nursing vacancies out of any location, and Bay Pines, Fla., had the biggest shortage of medical support assistants. As of Friday afternoon, the VA was reporting 130 positive cases of the coronavirus across its , up from 83 on Thursday. The New Orleans VA Medical Center reported the most cases, with 42 -- up from 25 on Thursday and five on Wednesday. The hospital with the second most patients was New York City, with nine. The agency also reported another death Friday, which follows the death of a veteran March 14 in Portland, Ore. Details about the second death, such as the veteran's location, were not publicly shared Friday. The VA had boosted its testing this week after a slow start. While the agency had administered only 140 tests one week ago, the number of administered tests jumped to 1,192 by Friday. To slow the surge of patients, the VA prohibited visitors from its medical facilities, canceled elective surgeries and were urging veterans with potential coronavirus symptoms to call before showing up at a hospital or clinic. VA Secretary Robert Wilkie was confident this week, saying VA facilities had plenty of equipment and protective gear and had not yet experienced a surge of coronavirus cases. In addition to treating veterans, distributing benefits and running veterans cemeteries, the VA has a fourth mission: to support civilian hospitals and provide emergency medical care to all Americans in times of crises. Read more: COVID-19 coverage Three senators wrote to Wilkie on Thursday, asking that he activate that mission. Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Michael Bennet, D-Colo., said this was a "critical inflection point," and all federal resources should be activated to prevent the spread of the virus and treat the sick. Wilkie vowed Wednesday that the VA would serve as backup for the American medical system when called on by President Donald Trump and the Department of Health and Human Services. That moment had not come as of Friday afternoon. President Trump ignored warnings from US intelligence agencies about the threat of a coronavirus pandemic, according to a bombshell report in The Washington Post. One intelligence official and several Trump Administration officials spoke to the publication Friday on the condition of anonymity, claiming the President downplayed the COVID-19 threat in spite of growing anxiety from aides and members of his own cabinet throughout January and February. 'Donald Trump may not have been expecting this, but a lot of other people in the government were they just couldn't get him to do anything about it,' one official stated, adding: 'The system was blinking red.' Officials were first alerted to reports about cases of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China on January 3, after a director at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spoke with Chinese colleagues. 'Ominous, classified warnings' purportedly put together by the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence began to increase over the course of the month. 'There was obviously a lot of chatter in January,' one of the officials told The Post. President Trump ignored warnings from US intelligence agencies about the threat of a coronavirus pandemic, according to a bombshell report in The Washington Post Despite this, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar had trouble contacting Trump until January 18. Two officials told The Post that when Azar finally got a hold of Trump over the phone and attempted to discuss the coronavirus, 'the President interjected to ask about vaping and when flavored vaping products would be back on the market'. Meanwhile, the intelligence reports also warned that 'Chinese officials appeared to be minimizing the severity of the outbreak'. But on January 24, Trump took to Twitter to praise China for its 'transparency' about COVID-19 infections. 'China has been working hard to contain the coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In Particular, on behalf of the American people, I want to thank President Xi,' he wrote. On the exact same day, The Senate Health Committee held a private all-senators briefing about the coronavirus with a director from the CDC. As alarm bells continued to ring, White House aides became increasing anxious. The CIA declined to comment on The Washington Post report. Their headquarters are pictured Health workers are pictured ready to test patients for COVID-19 at a drive-thru center in Virginia on Friday Trump minimized the threat of COVID-19 on January 30, despite anxious chatter in The White House Trump continued to state that the virus was under control in late February Three days later, on January 27, several aides are reported to have gone to office of White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney to urge that senior officials do more about the threat of coronavirus. Mulvaney soon began setting up regular meetings about COVID-19, but Trump was allegedly 'dismissive' in the initial phases 'because he did not believe that the virus had spread widely throughout the United States.' As coronavirus continued to spread in February, and US agencies tracked its spread around the globe, Trump continued to publicly downplay the threat. On February 3, Trump banned people from entering the US who has been in China in the past 14 days, but publicly and privately remained confident that it posed little threat to the US. 'We have a very small number of people in the country, right now, with it,' he stated on February 14. It's like around 12. Many of them are getting better. Some are fully recovered already. So we're in very good shape.' Less than two weeks ago, Trump was still dismissing the potential impact of COVID-19 on his social media account. His tone reportedly changed after a meeting with Dr Deborah Birx Medical personnel in protective clothing work at a coronavirus testing location at Jones Beach State Park in Hempstead, New York earlier this week The number of infections has been rising dramatically since last weekend 'I think it's going to work out fine. I think when we get into April, in the warmer weather, that has a very negative effect on that and that type of a virus,' he said on February 19. On February 24, Trump tweeted: 'The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant counties. CDC & World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!' According to the sources who spoke with The Washington Post, the following day Trump complained to Secretary Azar that a CDC official 'was scaring the stock markets' by stating that COVID-19 could cause 'severe' disruption to American life. However, as the number of cases continued to rise slowly into March, Trump doubled down on Twitter. 'So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At the moment there are 546 confirmed cases of Coronavirus with 22 deaths. Think about that!' he wrote on March 9. Trump denied claims he did not take coronavirus threats seriously in a tweet shared Thursday However, in the past two weeks, as case numbers have exploded, Trump's perspective has dramatically changed. According to The Washington Post, Trump eventually changed his tone after being shown statistical models about the spread of the virus from other countries and hearing directly from Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force. However, Trump tweeted to his followers on Tuesday, that reports he dismissed the seriousness of COVID-19 is a 'new narrative' by 'the Fake News'. A spokesperson for White House spokesperson similarly told The Post in a statement: 'President Trump has taken historic, aggressive measures to protect the health, wealth and safety of the American people and did so, while the media and Democrats chose to only focus on the stupid politics of a sham illegitimate impeachment. 'Its more than disgusting, despicable and disgraceful for cowardly unnamed sources to attempt to rewrite history its a clear threat to this great country.' As of Saturday morning, 19,643 Americans have tested positive to coronavirus, and 262 have died. Unless the spread of coronavirus can be kept from spiking, hospitals in the greater Philadelphia and greater Reading regions do not have enough beds to handle the influx of patients, according to a database created by the non-profit news service ProPublica. Health professionals have been stressing the importance of measures to prevent infectious disease from spreading too quickly. Those measures include frequent hand-washing, resist touching your face; staying out of crowded places; maintaining a social distance of about six feet from others and staying home if you feel ill. The phrase flatten the curve is being used to help people understand the need to spread the influx of new cases over a longer period of time to prevent medical resources from being overwhelmed with patients arriving all at once. A search of the ProPublica database puts some sobering the numbers to that scenario for the region. To understand how hospital capacity could vary region to region during the pandemic, ProPublica used data that was modeled by Dr. Ashish Jha and his team of researchers from the Harvard Global Health Institute. What data was used to create the models? For the analysis, Jha and his team looked at various scenarios, in which 20 percent, 40 percent and 60 percent of the adult population would be infected with the virus, many of whom would have no or few symptoms. They then examined whether hospitals had the capacity to handle those three scenarios if the cases came in over six months, 12 months and 18 months. Hospital bed figures were derived from recent surveys conducted by the American Hospital Association and data compiled by the American Hospital Directory. The researchers divided the country into slightly more than 300 regions, also known as hospital referral regions, a technique that is common in health policy research. In most scenarios, vast communities in America are not prepared to take care of the COVID-19 patients showing up, Jha told ProPublica. Under the researchers best-case scenario, Americans act quickly to slow the spread of the virus through social distancing, and the infection rate among adults remains relatively low at 20 percent, or 49.4 million people over the age of 18. Thats less than twice the number of people who get the flu each year. But even under that scenario, hospitals in the eastern Pennsylvania region would not have enough beds to handle the most severe cases unless they can be spread out over a longer period of time, such as 12 or 18 months, the data shows. Many of the hospitals in Chester, western Montgomery and Berks counties are owned by West Reading-based Tower Health. Responding to MediaNews Groups first request for comment and input for this article, Tower Health spokesperson Jessica Bezler provided this sentence as the companys response: Tower Health is assessing bed count hourly to ensure the safety of our patients. Dr. Bob A. Czincila, the medical director of emergency medicine at Einstein Medical Center Montgomery, provided a little more insight in his response to the same data set in an article published Wednesday by Patch. The most important thing that we can do is to lower the curve, so we dont have that giant increase in cases; so we dont have people suffering; So we dont have a run of those cases where we dont have beds to take care of them, Czincilla said. He told Patch, deterring unnecessary visits to the hospital is crucial. If they can sequester, we might be able to get a handle on it, and get to the point where we can avoid the scenario of being inundated with an overwhelming number, he said. But there are many ways for that unpleasant scenario to unfold if we are not vigilant. Berks and western Montgomery counties As of 2018, ProPublicas figures show the greater Reading region, which includes all of Berks County and western Montgomery County, had 1,330 total hospital beds, including Pottstown Hospital. Of those beds, about 57 percent are occupied at any given time, potentially leaving only 560 beds open for additional patients. The bed count includes 99 beds in intensive care units, according to data from the American Hospital Association and the American Hospital Directory. Intensive care units are best equipped to handle the most acute coronavirus cases. The greater Reading region has a population of about 600,000 residents; 17 percent are over the age of 65. The experience in other countries has shown that elderly patients have significantly higher hospitalization and fatality rates from the coronavirus. In the moderate scenario, in which 40 percent of the adult population contracts the disease over 12 months, the Reading region would be among the regions that would not have enough beds and would need to expand capacity, ProPublica reported. It is estimated that about 8 percent of the adult population would require hospital care. In a moderate scenario where 40 percent of the population is infected over a 12-month period, hospitals in the Reading region would receive an estimated 39,300 coronavirus patients. The influx of patients would require 1,310 beds over 12 months, which is 2.3 times the available beds in that time period. The Harvard researchers scenarios assume that each coronavirus patient will require 12 days of hospital care on average, based on data from China. In the Reading region, intensive care units would be especially overwhelmed and require additional capacity. Without coronavirus patients, there are only 50 available beds on average in intensive care units, which is 5.7 times less than what is needed to care for all severe cases envisioned in the scenario. Hospitals further east The ProPublica database counts areas further east, in eastern Montgomery and Chester counties, including Phoenixville Hospital, as well as all of Delaware County, as part of the greater Philadelphia region. Here is how those numbers shake out: The Philadelphia region has a population of about 4.3 million residents; 15 percent are over the age of 65. The experience in other countries has shown that elderly patients have significantly higher hospitalization and fatality rates from the coronavirus. In the moderate scenario, in which 40 percent of the adult population contracts the disease over 12 months, the Philadelphia region would be among the regions that would need to expand capacity. It is estimated that about 8 percent of the infected adult population would require hospital care. In a moderate scenario where 40 percent of the population is infected over a 12-month period, hospitals in the greater Philadelphia region would receive an estimated 277,000 coronavirus patients. The influx of patients would require 9,240 beds over 12 months, which is 2.5 times the available beds in that time period. In the Philadelphia, region, intensive care units would be especially overwhelmed and require additional capacity. Without coronavirus patients, there are only 550 available beds on average in intensive care units in the greater Philadelphia region, which is 3.6 times less than what is needed to care for all severe cases. ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power and major issues and shares its reporting with other news operations. The Punjab government on Saturday granted permission to distilleries to manufacture and supply sanitisers in wake of the rise in coronavirus cases in the state. Punjab Food and Drug administration Commissioner K S Pannu said the permission was granted purely on temporary basis for a period of 10 days. Moreover, the manufacturers will supply the sanitisers to government institutions in Punjab only and no part of it will be supplied outside the state, a government release quoting Pannu said. It is also directed that the producer will use the standardised materials only and shall supply the material at a price which shall not be more than the price fixed by the Punjab government. Pannu further informed that the drug control officers of the area shall inspect manufacturing units on daily basis to take stock of quality, and quantity of production and its supply and the units have been asked to maintain proper record of the manufacturing and supply of the material. He said it has become necessary to ensure the availability of essential medical items required for the prevention of spread of virus. Apart from the other measures taken to contain COVID-19, it is essential to make hand sanitisers abundantly available for the use of public, health workers and other functionaries associated with the task of prevention and spread of the deadly infection. There are reports that the demand for hand sanitisers is growing day by day and the existing manufacturing facilities are not able to meet the expanding demand, he said, adding that taking advantage of the demand and supply mismatch many traders are indulging in black marketing of the product. Meanwhile, the Punjab government on Saturday said it will suspend bus services on select 50 routes on Sunday. Transport Minister Razia Sultana, in a statement here, said buses on 50 identified routes would be operational from Monday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Lawyers of the instigator of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, ex-President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan asked the chairman of the Yerevan city court to entrust another judge to consider the application for his release of personal guarantee, the spokeswoman for the team of lawyers of the former head of state, Elina Saakova informed. "Lawyer Hovhannes Khudoyan appealed to the chairman of the Yerevan court of general jurisdiction, Artur Mkrtchyan, with a request to transfer to another judge the consideration of the application for the release of personal guarantee as a preventive measure instead of arrest for Kocharyan, Saakova wrote in Facebook, adding that the decision will be made on March 23, RIA Novosti reports. A scathing new biography of John Bercow reveals the hypocrisy of the former Speaker for claiming to be a champion of diversity when, in fact, he was at the centre of numerous allegations of bullying women. Here, in the final part of our serialisation, we tell how he tried to salvage his legacy by sabotaging Brexit... Speaking to students at the University of Reading just months after the EU referendum, John Bercow said he was 'conscious that I am in office at a momentous time'. In an unprecedented move for a sitting Speaker, he shed light on how he voted, saying: 'Personally, I voted to Remain. I thought it was better to stay in the European Union than not.' A scathing new biography of John Bercow reveals the hypocrisy of the former Speaker for claiming to be a champion of diversity when, in fact, he was at the centre of numerous allegations of bullying women. Pictured: John Bercow alongside wife Sally His comments amounted to one of Bercow's biggest political gambles. Though sources argue that such events are usually carried out under the Chatham House rule ie off the record many of Bercow's university talks are later uploaded to YouTube. The comments would always have been made public and he knew it. In outing himself as a Remainer, Bercow left himself wide open to the charge of bias. Professor Vernon Bogdanor, of King's College London, says: 'He's the first Speaker, I think, ever to have expressed a view on a controversial public issue, and I think that's tainted his Speakership. 'His procedural judgments may be right or wrong, but they've been tainted by the fact that people think they're influenced by political opinions. The Speaker should be neutral, like the Queen.' Julian Lewis MP, Bercow's best man and close friend, was also taken aback. 'I've had to accept the fact that John has become over-committed on this,' says the Brexiteer. 'He did not consult me before taking that fateful first step which I think he should never have taken namely, to reveal to those students that he voted Remain. That, as far as I'm concerned, was a Rubicon.' Once out in the open, the issue refused to go away. A sticker attached to the windscreen of a car belonging to the Bercow family caused a sensation at Westminster. On it was written the battle cry of Remain campaigners: 'B******s to Brexit.' A sticker attached to the windscreen of a car belonging to the Bercow family caused a sensation at Westminster. There are insiders at Westminster who believe to this day that Bercow not only allowed his personal views to affect the debate, but even used parliamentary procedure to try to block Brexit On January 9, 2019, the Tory MP Adam Holloway raised a question in Parliament. 'This is a serious point about partiality,' he told the Speaker. 'Have you driven that car with the sticker in there?' Bercow responded by stating that the accusation was factually inaccurate. 'That sticker on the subject of Brexit happens to be affixed to, or in the windscreen of, my wife's car,' he said. 'I am sure the Honourable Gentleman would not suggest for one moment that a wife is somehow the property or chattel of her husband? She is entitled to her views.' There are insiders at Westminster who believe to this day that Bercow not only allowed his personal views to affect the debate, but even used parliamentary procedure to try to block Brexit. With the Cox Report [into the culture of behaviour in Westminster following claims of bullying and harassment] still fresh in the mind, a former No10 aide believes Bercow made a cool calculation: 'A cynic would suggest he had a choice to make, which is: do you want to be the guy who went down in history as a reforming Speaker, but also treated his staff badly and was rude and boorish, or do you want to go down as the guy who did everything they could to try to haul the Government over the coals in terms of Brexit and to play to a very particular audience?' Dominic Grieve, the former Attorney General, visited Bercow in the Speaker's apartment on January 8, 2019. The Tory MP for Beaconsfield, one of the Speaker's constituency neighbours, had become a vocal opponent of a No Deal exit from the EU. Although he proposed an amendment to an official motion outlining the Brexit timetable of the then Prime Minister, Theresa May, he knew he was chancing his arm. This was because, based on centuries of precedent, the view was that once the motion had been passed, it was not able to be altered, except by a Government Minister. This one had, after all, been approved by Parliament a month previously. 'I knew very well what I was doing when I tabled an amendment, and I thought he [John Bercow] would reject it,' says Grieve. Bercow asked to see Grieve in his study. 'This is a very interesting amendment,' said the Speaker, telling Grieve he would take a final decision the following day on whether or not it would be voted on in Parliament. 'I will need to reflect on it overnight,' he said. Surprised, Grieve told the Speaker: 'You do realise it's controversial?' 'Of course I know it's controversial,' replied Bercow. 'I will make up my own mind.' Grieve explains: 'I certainly did not want to lure him into doing something improper. I actually went out of my way to point out that there were good arguments that could be made for rejecting the amendment.' Grieve's amendment called on May to announce within three days rather than the three weeks she was allowed under the rules her Plan B for Brexit if MPs rejected her deal on January 15. The object of the amendment, say insiders, was to give MPs as much time as possible to debate the new Plan B, rather than allowing the Government to 'run down the clock' until the then Brexit date of March 29. The next day, Bercow ruled that he had decided to go ahead with a vote on the amendment and all hell broke loose. 'That changed everything,' says one former Cabinet Minister. 'That was when he really stepped into the fray and tried to redo things in a way that he had no real authority to do.' Within minutes, rumours that Bercow had ignored the advice of the Clerks of the House, whose job is to provide expert guidance on parliamentary procedure, were flying round Westminster. 'There was this massive row where the Deputy Speakers and the Clerks said, "You can't allow this," says an insider who spoke to one of the Clerks involved. 'Bercow said, basically, "I don't give a f***. I'm going to do what I want", and stormed out.' In the House itself the decision triggered a spectacular set-to between irate Tory MPs and Bercow. Over the course of an hour, the Speaker defended his decision, taking points of order from raging backbenchers. 'I have been here for 18 years and I have never known any Speaker to overrule a motion of the House of Commons,' said one, Mark Francois. Another, Crispin Blunt, said many MPs now had an 'unshakable conviction' that the Speaker was 'no longer neutral'. Defiantly, Bercow declared: 'If we were guided only by precedent, nothing would ever change.' But a Tory Minister says: 'He has no care for the consequences of what he's doing. He's doing it because he's motivated by dislike of government and he does it because it's all about him.' Seventeen rebels voted in favour of the Grieve amendment, which was passed by 308 to 297. May expressed her surprise at Bercow's decision, saying: 'Members of Parliament need to know that there is a set of rules in the House of Commons; they need to know that there will be a consistent interpretation of those rules so that they know how they can operate within the House.' Julian Lewis MP wrote to his old friend. He told the Speaker that his legacy had centred on being on the side of Parliament against the executive, but he now risked being on the side of Parliament against the people. Sally made Bridget Jones look a paragon of restraint John Bercow's wife Sally has proved to be an equally controversial figure in the national life of Britain. Bercow's friend Julian Lewis MP, spotting the young Sally Illman at a Conservative students' conference in 1989, poked Bercow in the ribs. 'That's the most beautiful girl at this conference,' he said. During a disco later, the friends danced with their new acquaintance. 'It was fairly obvious she was much more interested in John,' says Lewis. 'I don't think I ought to detail anything more about the remainder of that evening,' he continues. 'It's fair to conclude that they got together on that first occasion in a significant way.' Sally had attended Marlborough College but later said: 'I didn't really fit in with those girls in Alice bands and everyone coming from a house with a long drive.' She then dropped out of Oxford and worked in PR. Not long after they got together, Sally accompanied Bercow to constituency events as he began campaigning to become an MP. Initially, Bercow was largely unaware that Sally was, as she puts it, 'an alkie'. 'We were apart for long periods and I just didn't know. When we went to the pub, she drank more than I did,' he said in 2010. For her part, Sally said: 'With alcoholics, you think of people who have gin over breakfast. I wasn't like that. But I think formally I would be called an alcoholic.' She stopped drinking in 2001 after attending Alcoholics Anonymous, taking it up again years later. In the last week of June 2002, Bercow had proposed to her at a restaurant near Parliament. So in love was he, it's said that he sold his Buckinghamshire cottage, his home for four years, because of its low ceilings and doorways. He stands 5ft 6in while Sally is 5ft 11in. The couple married later that year in the Commons crypt. Six months after Bercow became Speaker, his wife gave her first media interview and spoke about her days at university, her struggles with alcohol and her relationship with her husband. Such was her candidness that the interviewer, Anne McElvoy, questioned how the conservative Bercow got together with a woman 'who makes Bridget Jones seem a paragon of restraint'. In February 2011, Sally contributed to a newspaper article in which she described how 'sexy' she found living under Big Ben. The article was accompanied by a picture of her wearing a bed-sheet, looking out of their living quarters over the Thames. Sally had told the broadcaster Iain Dale of the article and he asked what her husband made of it. 'Oh, I haven't told him. Do you think I ought to?' she responded. Dale says: 'I think his reaction was pretty volcanic. She just seemed to have no idea that this could be quite detrimental to him.' Sally later said: 'When I told my husband that I posed in a bedsheet, he kind of hit the roof. I really genuinely didn't expect the furore that it caused, but because of who I'm married to, it's not acceptable apparently. Well, sorry, no, I'm an individual in my own right. I am not my husband.' Long previously, she had renounced her Conservative sympathies and come out as a dyed-in-the-wool Blairite. Several years into Bercow's Speakership, their marriage was going through perhaps its most difficult phase. Sally had also been seduced by the lure of fame. 'It did go to her head a bit,' says family friend and MP Gillian Keegan. 'Becoming a public figure is a big deal.' In 2015, it emerged that she had been having an affair with her husband's cousin, Alan, a commercial litigation lawyer. She had moved out to a mews house in Battersea, where Alan joined her while Bercow was campaigning for the General Election. The affair was said to have lasted for almost a year. The pair bonded over 'a mutual appreciation of fine wine', it has been reported. But the Bercows decided to try to save their marriage and Sally moved back to the Palace of Westminster. The Bercows have always felt their marriage is worth fighting for. 'We've had periods of turbulence,' Bercow understatedly said last year. 'I didn't feel a great certainty, but I thought it was worth trying. I do [love her a lot], and I'm happier together than apart.' Advertisement Bercow's actions would now be subject to renewed scrutiny. As a result of the Grieve ruling, reports began to circulate that the Government would not now send Bercow to the House of Lords after he stepped down as Speaker a time-honoured convention. 'I can't imagine we would look favourably on those who've cheated centuries of procedure,' said a Cabinet source. Bercow's personal relationships would also come under the microscope. A picture of him dining with anti-Brexit Tory veteran Kenneth Clarke at a tandoori house in South London in February 2019 led to accusations of a 'poppadom plot'. Describing the reporting as 'gullible', Clarke says he often visits the restaurant with Bercow. 'I don't deny it. We're both very political animals,' he adds. 'We spend a very high proportion of the time talking about politics, but it's not in any purposeful plotty way. It's just very enjoyable, long political chat between two fairly obsessive political addicts.' A Labour MP who voted Remain says: 'On the issue of Brexit, he [Bercow] is not even-handed, far from it, and he has in part created this bloody impasse and mess that the country found itself in.' But Hilary Benn, the former Labour Minister, disagrees. 'He has come down on the side of the House of Commons being able to debate something, to consider a proposition, then it's up to the House whether to pass it or not,' he argues. The strength of Bercow's condemnation of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's attempt, last October, to prorogue Parliament [and thus narrow the timeline available to MPs to rein Johnson in] was his last throw of the dice. Despite being on holiday hundreds of miles away in Turkey, Bercow had released a statement within an hour: 'This move represents a constitutional outrage. However it is dressed up, it is blindingly obvious that the purpose of prorogation now would be to stop Parliament debating Brexit and performing its duty in shaping a course for the country.' He added: 'At this early stage in his premiership, the Prime Minister should be seeking to establish rather than undermine his democratic credentials.' The strength of Bercow's words was considered unconstitutional by his critics. 'That annoyed some: they said it wasn't for me to pronounce. But if the Speaker doesn't speak up for Parliament, it's hard to know who does,' he told an interviewer later. Andrea Leadsom, the former Business Secretary, who had served as the Speaker's sparring partner for the previous 12 months, had already confirmed that the Tories would run a candidate against him in Buckingham at the next General Election. 'Bring back an impartial Speaker,' she said. Bercow has argued that his only bias is towards the House of Commons itself, over any particular party or cause. Indeed, the Speaker's procedural creativity helped facilitate parliamentary debate at a time of impasse, and he was far from the only stakeholder guilty of deviating from convention. But if he were able to contain his views on Brexit, it would be easier to defend him. In a perfect illustration of this argument, just days after stepping down as Speaker last autumn, Bercow described Brexit as 'the biggest foreign policy mistake in the post-war period'. Few were surprised but for those who had defended Bercow against charges of partiality, such proclamations undermined the cause. While his forceful approach as Speaker could keep in check dissenting MPs, his divisive manner often exacerbated existing tensions in the Chamber, particularly during the final 12 months of his time in the chair. And the most concerning aspect of his personality relates to accusations of bullying particularly when it came to members of staff. While Labour MPs defended him, those allegedly on the receiving end were coming forward to talk about their ordeals. There are two sides to every story, but the number of people who had experiences of this nature with Bercow is notable. There is also a damning consistency across the accounts. T he fact that the bullying allegations were put on ice in the name of Brexit is of great shame to the Labour Party and many of its MPs. Likewise, his detractors on the Conservative benches did themselves and the alleged victims no favours by using the accusations for their own ends. For too many of them, the protection of members of staff was not the motivating factor. In these muddied waters, Bercow was able to survive for as long as he did. Even his resignation was confrontational. He announced that, bar a General Election being called prior to this date, he would stand down on October 31, 2019 the day the UK was due to leave the EU. He said: 'Throughout my time as Speaker I have sought to increase the relative authority of this legislature, for which I will make absolutely no apology to anyone, anywhere, at any time.' Breaking into tears, Bercow thanked his team in Speaker's House, the wider Commons staff and his family. 'From the bottom of my heart, I thank them all profusely.' He concluded: 'This has been let me put it explicitly the greatest privilege and honour of my professional life, for which I will be eternally grateful.' More than an hour of points of order followed, during which MPs from across the House paid tribute to the Speaker. Twelve Labour MPs, including Jeremy Corbyn, spoke, and six Conservatives. Among them was Michael Gove, who said Bercow's 'energetic efforts' are appreciated by 'those of us who may not always be the best behaved in class'. Farcical scenes followed into the early hours, as the Queen's representative arrived to shut down the Commons, as per the rules of prorogation. Bercow condemned what was about to take place: 'This is not a normal prorogation. It is not typical. It is not standard.' Earlier in the proceedings, he had lambasted Tory MP Graham Stuart for heckling from the backbenches. 'Mr Stuart, if you do not like it, you are perfectly entitled to your view. I could not give a flying flamingo what your view is!' Every story needs a hero and a villain. John Bercow's unique attribute is that he could appear to play both at the same time. Abridged extract from John Bercow: Call To Order, by Sebastian Whale, published by Biteback at 20. Offer price 13.50 (33 per cent discount) until April 30. To order, go to mailshop.co.uk or call 01603 648155. Free delivery on all orders no minimum spend. VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / March 21, 2020 / Mota Ventures Corp. (CSE:MOTA)(FSE:1WZ:GR)(OTC:PEMTF) (the "Company" or "Mota") is pleased to announce that since the launch of the Pure Herbal Immunity Blend under the First Class brand on March 14th, 2020, it has had an exceptional reception, acquiring 1,838 new customers. The all-natural Immunity Blend is made from 100% pure essential oils, including cinnamon leaf, lemon, clove bud, lime, eucalyptus globulus, rosemary, peppermint, spearmint and oregano. Due to customer demand for pure and efficacious products to support the immune system, the Company will be launching an Immune CBD oil, along with an Elderberry Gummy product on Monday, March 23rd. The new Immune CBD product contains CBD, B3, B12, Vitamin C and Zinc. Based on the success of the launch, First Class will be increasing marketing efforts throughout the US. The Company plans to offer similar immune products in Europe through its Sativida brand, which currently retails product in various jurisdictions in Europe, including Spain, Portugal, Austria, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. The Company anticipates the completion of the Sativida transaction in the next seven days. Further to its January 10, 2020 news release, the Company will acquire the intellectual property and trade names of Sativida from VIDA BCN LABS SL (Spain) and Sativida OU (Estonia) (collectively, "Sativida"). The Company will license both back to Sativida in exchange for a royalty associated with the gross revenues generated by Sativida. "As our customers around the globe face challenges in their daily lives, we are working diligently to provide products to help families with natural health needs. Our supply chain is operating uninterrupted and we are quickly working to expand our immune support product line. We stand ready to continue to adapt to market changes and innovate new products to take advantage of the numerous opportunities ahead", states Ryan Hoggan, CEO of the Company. About Mota Ventures Corp. Mota is seeking to become a vertically integrated global CBD brand. Its plan is to cultivate and extract CBD into high-quality value-added products from its Latin American operations and distribute it both domestically and internationally. Its existing operations in Colombia consist of a 2.5-hectare site that has optimal year-round growing conditions and access to all necessary infrastructure. Mota is looking to establish sales channels and a distribution network internationally through the acquisition of the Sativida and First Class CBD brands. Low cost production, coupled with international, direct to customer sales channels will provide the foundation for the success of Mota. About Sativida Sativida is a producer and online retailer of CBD and branded CBD products in various jurisdictions in Europe, including Spain and the United Kingdom. Sativida currently develops and retails a vast range of organic CBD oils and cosmetics across Europe and is currently expanding its distribution network internationally. For more information on Sativida, readers are encouraged to review their website, www.sativida.es. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS MOTA VENTURES CORP. Ryan Hoggan Chief Executive Officer For further information, readers are encouraged to contact the President of the Company, Joel Shacker, at +604.423.4733 or by email at IR@motaventuresco.com or www.motaventuresco.com Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release, which has been prepared by management. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statement All statements in this press release, other than statements of historical fact, are "forward-looking information" with respect to the Company within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including with respect to its completion of the acquisition of Sativida, the expansion of Sativida's business, its plans to become a vertically integrated global CBD brand, its plans to cultivate and extract cannabis to produce CBD and high-quality value added CBD products in Latin America for distribution domestically and internationally. The Company provides forward-looking statements for the purpose of conveying information about current expectations and plans relating to the future and readers are cautioned that such statements may not be appropriate for other purposes. By its nature, this information is subject to inherent risks and uncertainties that may be general or specific and which give rise to the possibility that expectations, forecasts, predictions, projections or conclusions will not prove to be accurate, that assumptions may not be correct and that objectives, strategic goals and priorities will not be achieved. These risks and uncertainties include but are not limited those identified and reported in the Company's public filings under the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise unless required by law. SOURCE: Mota Ventures Corp. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/581890/Mota-Ventures-Launching-Immune-Support-CBD-Line-Pure-Herbal-Immunity-Blend-Acquiring-1838-New-Customers-Within-a-Week Gov. Phil Murphy had his first get-the-hell-off-the-beach moment Saturday, urging people with part-time residences at the Jersey Shore to stay away as the coronavirus outbreak continues to spread. The directive comes in response to part-time residents who have been staying at their Shore homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. The local infrastructure, especially the healthcare infrastructure, and especially in off-season, is not prepared for the influx of part-time residents, Murphy said during a press briefing at Rutgers-Newark. Theres absolutely no excuse for a party at the beach. Please stay at your primary residences. Murphy also announced hes putting New Jersey into a virtual lockdown to combat the spread of the coronavirus, ordering New Jerseyans to stay at home except for necessary trips and mandating all non-essential businesses closed until further notice. The measures will go into effect 9 p.m. Saturday, Murphy said while announcing that the state now has 1,327 confirmed cases of the virus that has infected hundreds of thousands across the globe. There have now been 16 deaths from the virus in New Jersey. In addition to the lockdown, Murphy said hes urging those who have homes at the Jersey Shore to not go to them at this time. He added if folks are monkeying around, we will take action. Murphy went on to cite rumors of a large gathering at the Shore on Friday night. The police went in and made their presence felt, the governor said. It turns out there was no untoward behavior. But action was taken. In August 2011, Gov. Chris Christie famously told residents to get the hell of the beach as Hurricane Irene barreled toward New Jersey. Sign up for text message alerts from NJ.com on coronavirus in New Jersey: Tell us your coronavirus stories, whether its a news tip, a topic you want us to cover, or a personal story you want to share. If you would like updates on New Jersey-specific coronavirus news, subscribe to our Coronavirus in N.J. newsletter. Matthew Stanmyre may be reached at mstanmyre@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattStanmyre. Find NJ.com on Facebook. An official of Irans Food and Drug Organization said Saturday that constituent parts of a drug to fight coronavirus have arrived from China. Ali Razazan told the official government news agency IRNA the drug has been used in China and the material is now in customs and once released the medication can be produced within two days. Razazan has not revealed the name of the drug and has only said, it is an independent anti-viral medicine tested and produced in China that can help in treating people suffering from COVID-19. Currently, world health officials say there is no therapeutic drugs known to be effective against coronavirus and many countries are trying hard to see which existing medication can be help in treatment of patients. There have been no reports of a Chinese drug that can treat COVID-19. There have been reports of a Japanese influenza medication that Japanese media say seems helpful to patients. Razazan told IRNA that a scientific board will decide whether to mass produce the Chinese drug and if it will be used in combination with other medications. Reuters In the passenger seat of her car, Rachael, a hospice nurse in South Carolina, carries a Ziploc bag with two surgical masks inside. Every day, she dons one of the masks and wears it into nursing homes, hospitals, and private homes across the area, caring for her elderly patients. Twelve hours later, she takes what is supposed to be a single-use mask off, sanitizes it, and puts it back in the bag. It is the only equipment her employer has provided to protect her and her patients from the coronavirus, she said. It is meant to last her indefinitely. "I'm not worried about getting [the 2019 novel coronavirus.] I'm assuming that I will, said Rachael, who asked not to be named for fear of losing her job. But, she added, I would feel terrible if I found out I was the person who brought it into three different nursing homes. "It feels like a Third World country, she said. I never thought this would be the challenge we were up against." As has been previously reported, the exponential growth of the novel coronavirus in the U.S. has exacerbated an existing shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE), leaving hospitals to ration gear at levels many providers said they had never seen. The situation has become so dire that the Journal of the American Medical Association recently put out a call for ideas on how to conserve the supply of PPE and identify new sources. Around the country, providers are now reusing single-use gear and fashioning new equipment out of protective material. Interviews with an array of doctors and nurses on the frontline of a national crisis revealed widespread astonishment at just how ill-supplied they were in what was supposed to be the wealthiest country in the world. Will Americans Actually Comply With a Long-Term Lockdown? Peter Chai, an emergency physician at Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston, where two providers have already tested positive for COVID-19, compared the measures to using dirty bath water for multiple baths. Story continues Thats totally unheard of in America. Why would you ever have to do that?" he said. "Why would we ever run out of something so simple?" The Centers for Disease Control previously recommended using N95 masksa respiratory protective device that filters disease-carrying particles from the airwhen treating any patient suspected of having COVID-19. But the agencys recommendations have loosened as supplies dwindled. In guidance released this week, the CDC said providers should wear N95s only when performing procedures that might cause a patient to aerosolize the virus. In the latest guidance, the agency also suggested mask-strapped providers use bandanas or scarves as a last resort. In an advisory Friday, the commissioner of the New York City Department of Health warned of the rapidly diminishing supply of PPE. Providers were instructed to immediately stop testing most non-hospitalized patients for COVID-19 to preserve supplies. To stave off a complete shortfall, medical workers have resorted to creative measures, stapling plastic bands onto expired procedure masks and making splash shields out of plastic dividers and mounting tape, according to Twitter posts. Alli, an emergency nurse in Indiana who asked to be identified by her first name only, told The Daily Beast she used a single-use surgical mask so long it was wet from her breath when she took it off. When her mother heard about the shortage, she asked her quilting group to sew more masks for the hospital. While the masks likely dont meet medical standards, Alli said, I want to have these on standby for when worse comes to worse. And I fear we will get there. An emergency physician in Tennessee, who asked not to be named for fear of professional retaliation, told The Daily Beast she brought leftover N95 masks from a home construction project into work with her. A good friend, who works for an alcohol distilling company, donated a box from her distilling plant as well. Her sisters neighbor donated more than a dozen masks he found in his garage. In Boston, Chai said all the major hospitals have banded together to conserve supplies, borrowing masks and goggles from shuttered research labs and experimenting with other protective materials. "The large institutions that usually don't talk to each other, there's all of a sudden all of this coordination and cross talk, she said. It just took a virus to do it." Along with ingenuity, the situation has also spawned protests. Nurses at Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco demonstrated outside the hospital Thursday, waving signs reading, Protect nurse, patients, public health. More than 760,000 people have signed onto a Change.org petition asking hospital administrators for more protective equipment. Another group of physicians wrote an open letter to President Trump and Vice President Pence asking them to boost the supply and develop clear guidelines around sanitizing and reusing protective gear. The only institution with the power to require adequate production of protective equipment, to distribute the equipment effectively, and to create universal guidelines on its use, is the federal government, the physicians wrote. The federal government needs to step up, right now. The federal government has taken some measure to increase the supply of protective gear. The Department of Health and Human Services tweeted Thursday they were deploying equipment from the Strategic National Stockpilea repository of pharmaceuticals and medical products for use in a public health emergency. Trump this week invoked the Defense Production Act to accelerate production of supplies, and Pence noted that a coronavirus relief law would also protect manufacturers from lawsuits when selling protective gear to health care workers. The New York National Guard was also preparing to deliver a mix of protective gear, medication, and ventilators from two large warehouses in the state, a source there told The Daily Beast. "The scale of the supplies ordered is massive, the source said. The quantities of PPE items are in the tens of millions per item. The National Guard did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But the interventions came too late for some. One travel nurse told The Daily Beast that he and his wife chose to terminate their contracts when their hospital ordered them to repurpose single-use masks. The two moved home and have enough in savings to survive without income for a while, he said. Others werent so lucky. His roommate, a 53-year-old nurse, could not afford to stop working at the hospital. We all cried when we left, he said. Shes scared. The equipment shortages are also taking a toll on other, non-virus-related hospital procedures. The emergency physician in Tennessee said she recently treated a gunshot victim whose chest had to be cracked open in the ER. The disposable gowns usually used for such a procedure were nowhere to be found, she saidthey had been locked up in a separate room, stockpiled with the other protective gear. "There was blood everywhere, the doctor said. I don't think anyone got exposed, but it could have been a lot worse than it was." The same doctor said she had recently tried to order her own protective gear, for fear that her hospital would run out. When she went to check out, she learned the items were back-ordered until mid-April. She recently checked Amazon to see if they had any in stock, she said, and saw the same mask shed been eyeing for $25 was now selling for $70. Ordering protective gear is even more difficult for small, rural clinics. Dr. Surinder Sra, the owner of a freestanding clinic in Cherokee Village, ARpopulation 4,600said he had tried to order masks, goggles, and hand sanitizer to prepare for an outbreak in his town. The supplier cancelled his order, he said, telling him he did not order from them regularly enough to be prioritized. Sra told The Daily Beast his clinic was still getting by on the supplies they saved from last year. But if theyre not going to send us the new ones, he said, how am I going to continue to protect myself, my staff and my patients?" Chai said the situation is causing many providers to have these kinds of life-altering questions. His wife is also a provider, and he said they have started thinking about the best way to change out of their clothes when they get home, to prevent spreading the virus to their child. It's stuff you never wanted to have to think about, Chai said. But as an emergency physician this is my job. This is what I signed up to do. We're not going to run away from this. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now! Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo today announced that the state will be under lockdown starting Sunday evening at 8pm until further notice. Cuomos statement was issued the day after California Governor Gavin Newsom ordered his states 40 million people to stay home or at their place of residence. In both states, essentially all forms of social gatherings have been effectively banned in an effort to stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. These orders were mirrored by the governors of Connecticut and Illinois. By Sunday evening, some 75 million people and more than a fifth of the United States population will be under some form of state-level executive order to stay indoors. The only exceptions will be if they are getting essential supplies or employed in federal critical infrastructure sectors, as defined by the Department of Homeland Security. Workers forced to stay on the job include those in medical and health care, telecommunications, information technology systems, defense, food and agriculture, transportation and logistics, energy, water and wastewater, law enforcement, and public works. There are at the same time no provisions to provide the necessary personal protective equipment or sanitizer to prevent the spread of the coronavirus at these workplaces, placing these workers at great risk of infection and possibly death. Twenty-eight states have also mobilized parts of their Army and Air National Guard, according to the Military Times. While these units are ostensibly being used to collect virus samples and provide relief supplies, it is an indication that they will be used to enforce the orders of the governors if necessary. The coronavirus has now infected at least 276,000 people worldwide and killed more than 11,400, nearly double what these figures were a week ago. There were 30,000 new cases in just the past 24 hours. The United States itself has suffered a more than six-fold increase in cases since last Saturday, to 19,522, and a four-fold increase in deaths, now at 262. The number of new cases now exceeds that of Spain and Germany and rivals that of Italy, the new epicenter of the pandemic. Coronavirus cases are currently mostly concentrated in New York, with 8,402 cases and 46 deaths, followed by Washington, which currently has 1,524 cases and 83 deaths, and California, at 1,249 cases and 24 deaths. Twenty-three other states, however, have at least 100 confirmed cases and no state has less than seven. More than half have at least one death. New York City is currently facing a massive shortage in medical equipment, with Democratic mayor Bill de Blasio warning that the citys health system will run out of personal protective supplies in three weeks at most. He has asked for 3 million N95 masks, 50 million surgical masks, 15,000 ventilators and 25 million each of surgical gowns, gloves, coveralls and face masks to handle the surge of coronavirus cases that are expected to come in the next several weeks. For his part, US President Donald Trump continued his xenophobic characterization of COVID-19, again referring to it at yesterdays press conference as the Chinese virus. He also used the coronavirus as a further excuse to crack down on immigration, stating that weve had this problem for decades, but now with the national emergency we can actually do something about it. Trump continued, This is now at a level nobody has ever approached. Trump explicitly reassured corporations that trade and cargo would be unaffected. Amid a widespread shortage of respirators in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released guidelines advising medical professionals providing care to infected patients to use bandannas to protect themselves from COVID-19 when surgical masks are unavailable. This both places the health care providers at higher risk of becoming infected as well as allows the contagion to spread even further. The United States is critically behind other countries in terms of testing availability, and hospitals are encouraging suspected coronavirus cases, even if they have been in contact that has tested positive, not to show up at emergency rooms unless they have severe symptoms. By failing to carry out widespread testing, quarantines, and isolations, the US response risks a devastating expansion of the pandemic. Large scale physical distancing, movement restriction, are in a sense a temporary measure, noted World Health Organization Executive Director Dr. Michael Ryan yesterday. What they do is they slow down to some extent the spread of infection in communities and thereby take pressure off the healthcare system. They don't fundamentally deal with the problem of disease transmission, and if you want to get back to what countries like Korea are doing, Japan or China, Singapore, Hong Kong and others. If you want to get back to that then you really have to get back to the hard-core public health measures of case finding, contact tracing, quarantine, isolation. WHO spokesperson Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove continued, saying Ample testing ... isn't enough. We know that by finding those cases, isolating cases, and caring for those cases is critical. Quarantining of your contacts so that they cannot pass the virus onward is absolutely critical to stopping transmission moving between people. These statements followed warnings this week from Londons Imperial College and the Harvard Global Health Institute, which warned that even with large scale lockdowns and other interventions, more than 1.1 million people are likely to succumb to the disease in the US alone. Georgian Woman in NATO Military Base About Combating the Coronavirus - GeorgianJournal STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Two Staten Islanders have died from the coronavirus, or COVID-19, the Advance has learned. A Staten Island University Hospital (SIUH) spokesman confirmed to the Advance that two patients there have died from COVID-19 related illness. Patient privacy laws prevent any additional information about the two patients from being released. The spokesman said there are currently 26 COVID-19-positive patients being treated at the hospitals North campus in Ocean Breeze and 12 such patients being treated at the Princes Bay campus. Dr. Philip Otterbeck, chief medical officer at Richmond University Medical Center (RUMC), told the Advance that the hospital had 11 patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Of those 11, three were in the intensive care unit, he said. There have been zero deaths related to the coronavirus at RUMC, he said. As more patients are diagnosed and hospitalized, we could see some deaths, but right now, there have not been any, Otterbeck said. There have been 29 coronavirus deaths citywide, according to the latest data from City Hall. As of Friday afternoon, there are 242 confirmed cases of the coronavirus on Staten Island, according to City Hall. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday morning there were 7,102 confirmed cases in the state. *** CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF CORONAVIRUS IN NEW YORK *** 18 to 49 LARGEST AGE GROUP INFECTED Individuals aged 18 to 49 make up 54% of the citys confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) cases, according to data from the city Health Department. There are 2,117 people in that age range that have tested positive for coronavirus, according to the most recent data available. Individuals aged 50 to 64 have the second most confirmed cases, with 926 or 23%, followed by people 65 and older with 800 cases or 20%. There were 94 cases in people aged 5 to 17, and 14 cases reported in kids up to 4 years old. An age wasnt available for three other confirmed cases. NATIONALLY, 20% OF HOSPITALIZATIONS BETWEEN 20 TO 44 A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that was issued Wednesday said individuals aged 20 to 44 with confirmed cases of COVID-19 are being hospitalized at a rate as high as 20.8%. The less-susceptible age group appears to be 19 and under, according to the CDC. Coronavirus deaths were still occurring in people aged 60 or older with serious underlying health conditions. These findings are similar to data from China, which indicated (more than) 80% of deaths occurred among persons aged 60 years (or older), the report reads. These preliminary data also demonstrate that severe illness leading to hospitalization, including ICU admission and death, can occur in adults of any age with COVID-19. Be the first to know: Sign up for our newsletters; and get breaking news and top stories pushed to your phone with the SILive.com mobile app. (Bloomberg Opinion) -- How serious is Iran about its coronavirus epidemic? That depends on whether we believe the Islamic Republics words or actions and, in some crucial aspects of crisis management, its inaction. On the one hand, the regime in Tehran is asking for $5 billion in financial aid from the International Monetary Fund, ostensibly to fight the virus crisis. On the other, its proxy militias in Iraq have stepped up rocket strikes on military bases housing American and other NATO troops. President Hassan Rouhani has indicated more are coming. This egregious belligerence against a country that has unique sway over IMF decisions is so obviously foolish, you have to wonder about the sincerity of the aid request. More likely, the regime is counting on a U.S. veto, so it can deflect blame for the crisis away from itself and on to the ever-reliable bogeyman. Now, after weeks of denying the gravity of the crisis, the regime has begun to warn that it will kill hundreds of thousands and possibly millions of Iranians. State TV is citing a study by Tehrans Sharif University of Technology, which posits three scenarios: If people ignore official health guidance and travel restrictions, 120,000 will be infected and 12,000 will die; if there is medium cooperation with the warnings, there will be 300,000 cases and 110,000 deaths. If people ignore the guidance altogether, there will be 4 million cases, and 3.5 million deaths. State television did not explain the metrics used in the Sharif University study. The figures imagine mortality rates 10%, 36% and 87.5% so far in excess of the World Health Organizations estimate of 3.4% that they invite skepticism. At the same time, regime officials have stepped up a campaign to blame American sanctions for the crisis. The not-so-subtle message: These deaths will be on President Trumps head. Exaggerating mortality rates and attributing them to sanctions is a familiar tactic. In the 1990s, the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein claimed economic sanctions had spiked infant deaths. A 1995 letter to the respected medical journal The Lancet claimed that hundreds of thousands of children might still be alive were it not for sanctions. This claim was extrapolated from a Baghdad survey that relied on data from the Iraqi government. Two years later, after more fieldwork, the researchers retracted their previous results. Story continues But U.N. officials continued to cite the high numbers, nonetheless. And in a macabre twist, British Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2010 used the exaggerated figures to retroactively justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In 2017, a study by the London School of Economics concluded that reports of a doubling in Iraqs child mortality after sanctions were imposed in 1990 were a masterful fraud by Saddams regime, designed to provoke international condemnation and get the sanctions lifted. The study showed that child mortality in Iraq was nearly twice as high as those of neighboring countries, but there had been no spike between 1991 and 2003, when Saddam was toppled. Back to Iran: The Islamic Republic is unquestionably in the throes of a severe epidemic. The official figures, over 17,300 infected and 1,135 dead, bear this out. Nor is there any gainsaying that the country needs outside help although, as I have argued, this should be in kind, rather than cash. But the effort to exaggerate the crisis and to blame it on the U.S. suggests that the regime, even now, is unable to take the epidemic seriously. Other signs abound. The Iranian government has not yet declared a national emergency, or even imposed a lockdown on the capital, which has the largest number of reported cases. It is not clear who is to lead the fight against the virus Rouhanis civilian administration or the military under Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who has described the virus as a biological attack against Iran (no prizes for guessing the attacker) is exercising his perennial right to power without responsibility. The Iranian regimes actions and inaction in handling the virus crisis should guide the worlds response. This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners. Bobby Ghosh is a columnist and member of the Bloomberg Opinion editorial board. He writes on foreign affairs, with a special focus on the Middle East and the wider Islamic world. For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source. 2020 Bloomberg L.P. A London barista died of malaria after failing to get through to 111 six times over two days due to the volume of coronavirus-related calls before waiting nearly an hour and a half for an ambulance as his sister begged the 999 operator for help. Davide Saporito, 28, who had returned from a holiday in Zanzibar, was on hold for up to one hour and 48 minutes but could not get through as the service battled with a flood of other callers checking their symptoms amid the outbreak. His sister phoned to check up on him and heard he was mumbling incoherently so called an ambulance, ran to his flat and tried to knock down the door. She called 999 another two times as her brother was fell unconscious. He later died in hospital. Natalina Saporito, 38, told MailOnline: 'He probably would have suffered brain damage, maybe affecting his sight, maybe his legs or God knows what. But what took his life was all the time wasted.' Davide Saporito, 28, who had returned from a holiday in Zanzibar, waited for up to one hour and 48 minutes on calls to 111 but was unable to get through Mr Saporito first began feeling ill while working at Dropshot cafe in Southfields, south-west London, on Monday March 9, so went home early. A day later he developed a temperature and phoned 111 at 12.46pm but the call cut out. He tried a second time at 12.51pm but the line cut off with no answer, before trying a third time and waiting for 48 minutes before the same thing happened. At the time the non-emergency number was facing huge demand, with 373 people having tested for coronavirus and people urged to phone the line if they displayed symptoms. The advice has now changed, with people with suspected coronavirus told to only phone 111 if they are seriously ill. On Wednesday Mr Saporito felt better but unsuccessfully called 111 at 8.59am and 9.12am to ensure he had not contracted coronavirus and was clear to return to work. 'If only just someone could tell me he saw me, if he knew I was there next to him and I did not leave him by himself.' Natalina Saporito At 9.30am he eventually got through but a health adviser said he did not have Covid-19 symptoms so needed to phone again but the option for general calls. He tried to do so at 11.15am but spent one hour and 47 minutes on the line before hanging up in a state of exhaustion. At 2pm, contacted his GP but was told to ring 111 again. His sister, Natalina, who had been regularly checking up on her brother to see if he was getting medical help, sent a text at 4.10pm but received no reply, before following up with a call at 4.25pm to find him mumbling and incoherent. She immediately phoned Mr Saporito's flatmate, Danila, who was not in the flat but phoned an ambulance at 4.40pm. Mr Saporito, who was from Sicily, was remembered by friends for his 'infectious smile' and 'constant positivity' 'The ambulance wanted to know if he was breathing, but she explained that no one was at home and she did not know,' Natalina said. 'So they replied: 'If I don't know what his state is, the ambulance can take three and a half hours to get there. 'I took a taxi and managed to get there to his flat at 5.30pm. I knocked, punched, and kicked his front door but it did not open. 'I called the ambulance again and explained Danila had already called, but they went again to ask me home address, name and location where he had travelled to. 'Danila arrived at about 5.40pm with the keys. Davide was on the sofa with his eyes open looking nowhere, unconscious and unable to speak. I called the ambulance again and a man answered asking me again the same damn questions.' Natalina said at this point she got angry at the operator, who then shouted back at him. 'My brother was dying and I just wanted an ambulance,' Natalina said. 'He shouted back at me and I clearly remember his words: 'Are you being rude to me? Are you swearing at me? We have been busy all day'.' The barista was taken to St George's Hospital in Tooting but died two days later from cerebral malaria At 6.10pm the ambulance eventually arrived and took Mr Saporito to St George's Hospital in Tooting, where he died from cerebral malaria two days later. Natalina said: 'If only just someone could tell me he saw me, if he knew I was there next to him and I did not leave him by himself.' Dropshot manager Ed Savitt has started a crowdfunding campaign to pay for Mr Saporito's body to be repatriated to Sicily, where his family are in coronavirus quarantine. The money will also be used to help cover the costs of his funeral. In a moving tribute, Mr Savitt remembered his 'infectious smile and constant positivity'. 'It was just on Monday that you were working and none of this seems real,' he wrote. 'You lived life to the full, always laughing, joking, partying, travelling. Mr Saporito's colleagues are now raising money to repatriate his body to Sicily 'You loved your family and friends so much. And your talent making coffee and DJ'ing were undeniable. It's so hard to imagine that you'll never walk through the front door again. We all miss you so much brother.' Natalina's husband, Salvatore Cannuni, 39, said: 'We have been amazed by the amount of love we have received from his colleagues at Dropshot as well as the customers. We want to thank everyone.' Health officials have long expressed concerns about the ability of the NHS to cope with a pandemic, with already-stretched ambulance services and hospitals hit with a dramatic surge in patients. Today, an anonymous NHS nurse described working in a 'chaotic' 111 call centre and warned: 'With so few clinicians, so few ambulances, and a huge rise in callers, this nightmare's only going to get worse.' It comes as the number of UK deaths rose by 40 to 177 in the largest daily rise so far, and the number of people testing positive for the disease increased to almost 4,000. An NHS London spokesperson said: 'Our sympathy is with Davide's family at this distressing time. 'NHS staff are currently working round the clock to respond to the global coronavirus pandemic, whilst still ensuring that every patient who needs urgent care is seen as soon as possible, but as the chief medical officer has said, there is no doubt that NHS services are going to continue to come under pressure, which is why we need the public to help us to help everybody by going online to NHS.uk/coronavirus for help with minor symptoms of the virus, keeping our phone services available for people in serious ill health.' To donate to a fund to help his family repatriate Mr Saporito to Sicily, visit Just Giving. Daily COVID-19 updates on March 20 People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 10:33, March 20, 2020 BEIJING, March 20 (Xinhua) -- As the number of COVID-19 infections continues to rise worldwide, more regions and countries announced state of emergencies and called for supplies of personal protective equipment and diagnostic kits. World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Thursday in Geneva that a list of agreed suppliers in China is available now, but "the shortages will continue to be a challenge." As of Thursday evening, over 100,000 people across Europe had tested positive for the novel coronavirus. More than 40 European countries were hit by the disease. In Italy, a total of 427 COVID-19 patients had died in 24 hours, taking the country's death toll to 3,405, according to the country's Civil Protection Department. The cumulative number of coronavirus cases reached 41,035, making Italy the hardest-hit country outside China. Spain recorded the second most cases in Europe after Italy, with its number of COVID-19 infections rose to 17,147 on Thursday, with 767 deaths from the virus. In the Middle East, Iran is the worst hit with 149 new deaths from COVID-19 reported on Thursday. The death toll rose to 1,284 while its COVID-19 caseload climbed to 18,407. In Latin America, Brazil reported the most infected people with its caseload rising from 428 to 621 with six fatalities, followed by Ecuador rising to 260 and Peru's climbed to 234 nationwide. Several Asia-Pacific countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Cambodia and Myanmar, have closed their borders on Thursday to contain the spread of COVID-19. South Korea reported 152 more cases of the COVID-19 compared to 24 hours ago as of midnight Thursday local time, raising the total number of infections to 8,565. Japanese authorities said the number of COVID-19 infections nationwide had risen to 936 cases as of 6:30 p.m. local time (0930 GMT) Thursday. The U.S. State Department on Thursday raised travel advisory to Level 4, which instructs its citizens to avoid all international travel amid the global outbreak of the coronavirus. According to the latest update on Thursday by Johns Hopkins University, the United States registered 13,680 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 with 200 deaths. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday that after consultation with its neighbor, the U.S.-Canada border is expected to close, effective overnight on Friday. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Nellore:The Andhra Pradesh Rapid Response Team picked up seven youths who had returned from Abu Dhabi soon after they alighted at the RTC bus station in Nellore and shifted them to the quarantine ward in Government General Hospital in the city. According to joint collector Dr V Vinod Kumar, the youth landed in Chennai from Abu Dhabi early on Friday and reached Nellore at about 10.30 am. RTC regional manager Seshaiah alerted Dr Kumar after inquiring with them and learning that the group was returning from Abu Dhabi. The Rapid Response Force shifted them to the Government General Hospital after one of them was found with coronavirus symptoms such as running nose and sore throat. Dr Kumar said three among the youths belong to Visakhapatnam and four to Srikakulam. They had alighted at Nellore to board a bus to Visakhapatnam. He said that medical officers were examining them and would take a decision on allowing them to proceed to their native places. When Harvard University students got emails from the school giving them five days to pack and move out of residence halls, anxiety spiked. "I CAN'T go home to Jamaica, especially on such short notice," Harvard senior Hakeem Angulu wrote in a now-viral thread on Twitter. Harvard chaplain Greg Epstein responded. "This is what chaplains and other advocates are for," he wrote. "If anyone at Harvard gives you any crap about that whatsoever, that is when you call someone like me. Let me or others be your advocate." As American campuses close and move classes online to prevent COVID-19, chaplains and faith-based campus groups are smoothing the transition. Cornell University announced the end of day classes. Interdenominational Cru (Christian group on campuses nationwide) at Cornell focused on collecting moving boxes, driving students around, and finding storage spaces. "Helping students both move out and get settled seems like it's going to be a big part of our job over the next few weeks," said J.W. Betts, Cornell's Cru team leader. Betts said Cru will be on campus to help students who remain. Jewish students' group Hillel aids Cornell kids. "One of the core teachings of Purim is that we are not always in control," wrote Cornell Hillel's director, Rabbi Ari Weiss,in a message to members. Hillel is offering Shabbat campus dinners and coffee chats with rabbis. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. University of Lynchburg associate chaplain Nathan Albert in Virginia is sending students sign-up sheets for virtual pastoral care by Zoom video conferences, FaceTime and phone. "A lot of students are digitally connected, tethered to phones and social media," Albert said. "But there's something great about being on campus ... being in classes together." Albert will host meditations and prayer services over Instagram Live. Lynchburg's chaplains see it as their duty to advocate for students during administrators' crisis management meetings. Some students rely on campus jobs or come from abusive or financially fragile households and may not feel safe at home. Chaplains keep their food pantry, which serves students and locals, is stocked. "Whatever faith tradition our students find themselves journeying on, we want to offer an anchor, so when it seems like the seas are choppy, they're tethered to something," Albert said. Two patients from a nursing home at the epicentre of the USs coronavirus crisis appear to have made a recovery after having initially been tested positive for the disease. In a rare piece of good news on a day when the global number of deaths from Covid-19 passed 11,000 and the total number of infections soared to 260,000, a spokesman for the Seattle area care home said two patients who tested positive, had taken a second test after days of hospital treatment and were now considered negative. Its wonderful news for us, Tim Killian, a spokesperson for the Life Care Centre of Kirkland, told The Independent. We have not transferred anybody to the hospital since last Friday. He added: That is a bit of good news in what has otherwise been very dark news. The development at the facility, first reported by ABC News, came as officials across Washington state, continued to detail an increase in both infections and deaths. The Washington State health department, said it had confirmed 136 cases and seven deaths from COVID-19. King County health department confirmed the recoveries. "Two patients from the Life Care Centre of Kirkland nursing home who tested positive for COVID-19 have recovered and are now testing negative, nursing home officials announced Friday," it said. On Friday, that brought the total of confirmed cases to more than 1,500 and the number of deaths to 81. The bulk have taken place in King County, which includes Seattle. The Life Care Centre in the suburb of Kirkland has reported the deaths of 33 elderly residents since the outbreak struck, and one of its residents was the first person in the US to die from the virus. Officials said some of those 33 may not have had the virus. The facility currently has 42 residents, 31 of whom tested positive for coronavirus and 11 who tested negative, officials said. Mr Killian said staff at the centre would hoping it had marked a changing point. Story continues We hope there has been slowing, he said. Were cautiously optimistic about that. We cant positively say that this event has passed. Were still very much dealing with it within our facility. But yeah, these two patients Read more Trump failed to heed pandemic warnings, former top Obama official says Walmart to pay nearly $550 million in staff bonuses due to Covid-19 Trump pretends he doesnt know Sean Spicer during WH briefing YouTube and Amazon Prime join Netflix by reducing streaming quality By Express News Service KOCHI: Now, Government Higher Secondary School for Girls, Ernakulam South, will be powered by solar energy. On Friday, the 30-megawatt solar plant installed in the school campus was switched on by the ward councillor K V P Krishnakumar. According to principal Nalina Kumari V, the solar plant was installed as part of the Cochin Smart City Mission project. The solar plant can generate around 90 kW electricity if it receives direct sunlight for three to four hours, she said. According to Edwin Thomas, electrical engineer, Cochin Smart Mission Ltd (CSML), the maintenance and operation of the plant will be responsibility of Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd, which installed it, for five years. As per the current daily usage by the school, only around 18 KV electricity is required, he said. Meanwhile, Shibu P Chacko, PTA president, said, Excess electricity will be released to the KSEB grid. - 5 new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Ghana - All the 5 confirmed cases have been recorded in the Greater Accra Region, sending the total number of confirmed cases in Ghana to 16 - Out of the 5, three had no travel records, indicating they picked up the sickness right in Ghana Our Manifesto: This is what YEN.com.gh believes in Ghana has confirmed five new cases of the deadly coronavirus also known as COVID-19. All five cases have been reported in the Greater Accra Region with no deaths so far. In a report sighted by YEN.com.gh on the official Twitter handle of the Ministry of Information in Ghana, the five patients who tested positive have ranged between the ages of 29 and 53. The 16 cases are all to be treated in isolated conditions as contact tracing continues to find all people who have been in contact with them within the past days. READ ALSO: COVID-19: Ghana Medical Association calls on NIA to suspend registration with immediate effect See the information in the photo below: Out of the five people who have been newly confirmed of COVID-19, three of them had no history of travel with two out of these three having no record of contacting infected persons. This suggests that the three individuals contracted the disease right in Ghana with the two who had no records of contacting infected people, possible picking up the virus at public places. The other two people who were also confirmed positive recently arrived in Ghana from other countries. One of them came from Paris, France and the other landed from Amsterdam. READ ALSO: COVID-19: Creative man turns metallic drums into hand-washing sinks at bus stops In other news, the reportage of the coronavirus pandemic otherwise known as COVID-19 has come with many terminologies that have flooded news articles and social media in general. Sourcing Ctvnews.ca, YEN.com.gh takes a look at the real meanings and deep explanations behind the common terms that have been heard in these times. These include self-isolate, quarantine, social distancing among several others. Enjoy reading our stories? Download YEN's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Ghana news! One on one with the young Ghanaian genius Angela Tabiri who has a PhD in Mathematics | #Yencomgh Get interactive via our Facebook page. Source: YEN.com.gh In Puerto Rico, they are taking passengers temperatures at the islands largest airport. In Wisconsin, they escorted cruise ship passengers back to their houses for quarantine. In Florida, they are swabbing peoples noses near Miami to test for the coronavirus. At least 7,300 National Guard members are aiding in the coronavirus response in all 50 states, as well as in Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, as of Sunday morning, according to Army Maj. Rob Perino, a spokesman for the National Guard Bureau in Arlington, Va. He warned that the numbers could change rapidly as states modify their response to the virus, which continues to sicken more people each day. When Guard members have been deployed, the sight of camouflage-clad troops and military vehicles has prompted false rumors of martial law and military-enforced quarantines. But Guard members are currently being ordered to complete tasks that are much more mundane. In New Rochelle, N.Y., a suburb of New York City that has been hit hard by the virus, members of the Guard unloaded pancake mix and rice and cleaned public buildings. In West Virginia, they taught emergency workers how to properly use and decontaminate protective equipment. Budget 2020 proposed many amendments to tax laws that impact individual taxpayers. While some are favourable to taxpayers, others impose more taxes or obligations. Out of the many proposals, one that has caught the attention of taxpayers is the new provision regarding tax collected at source (TCS) on overseas tour packages. Most taxpayers are familiar with the concept of tax deducted at source (TDS), which refers to the payer of an income or a buyer of a service, withholding a certain percentage of that income or fees and depositing it with the tax authorities as TDS. TDS currently ... DES MOINES The COVID-19 pandemic that is forcing employees to work from home and school children to seek online instruction is shining a bright light on Iowas broadband challenges and possibly spurring some accelerated action to address it. State legislators already were moving bills to help finance incremental broadband expansion in underserved and unserved areas especially in rural Iowa and make other improvements. But because of efforts to mitigate the spread of the virus, legislators suspended their 2020 session until April. Sponsors of the bills say its unclear whether theyll bump up the current effort when they eventually are able to reconvene at the Statehouse. But they expect that the new normal on the other side of the global pandemic could create a momentum to bring internet statewide, much like the electrification of Iowa in the 1930s through rural electric cooperatives. I think that after were all said and done with this, I wouldnt be surprised if the Legislature and Congress devote far more resources to get everyone connected because they really now see the importance, said Dave Duncan of the Iowa Communications Alliance. Yes, it was a hot topic already this legislative session; yes, it was a hot topic in Congress already for the last year or two or three, added Duncan, whose association has 116 rural communications companies serving about 320 communities. But now it just takes it to almost a top primary concern of most policymakers. I know already that Ive experienced slow internet speeds in Des Moines because of the dramatic increase in the number of people who are teleworking, so in an area that perhaps is not served by as many and as strong of networks as we are in a bigger city, thats probably even worse, said Emily Piper, a lobbyist for the Iowa Association of School Boards. State Sen. Waylon Brown, R-St. Ansgar, said much of the immediate focus now is dealing with halting and mitigating the COVID-19 spread, addressing the needs of businesses being forced to scale back or close and the crush of workers losing their jobs and other urgent needs. But he said the newfound reliance on and immediate societal shift to online-based work activities, food ordering and delivery, educational instruction, medical communications and myriad other basic functions is framing the issue in a new context. What we were working on was intended to speed up the process and to make sure that more people had broadband, and this is going to bring a whole other layer into that conversation. It is going to bring the focus in as to the importance of making sure that all parts of Iowa are connected with broadband, Brown said. It is definitely showing us where our strengths are and where our weaknesses are and I think theres going to be a new focus on those issues like broadband to make sure everybody is connected. And the question is going to come. How do we get there in a quicker pace than what were already working out? he added. Its going to be one of the many challenges that we have to deal with. Matthew Behrens, the states deputy chief information officer, said his office created a state broadband availability map incorporating the latest data 2018 from the Federal Communications Commission. It shows only about 65 percent of Iowas 216,007 census blocks have access to broadband internet at speeds of at least 25 mbps download and 3 mbps upload. Because these areas are unserved by broadband speeds, they are likely to have more challenges shifting to online activities such as telework, he said. Within the 76,358 census blocks that are targeted service areas where no provider reported to the FCC that it facilitated broadband service at 25/3 or faster there are 93,865 households (and a total of 115,039 homes, schools and businesses), Behrens said his office estimates. However, the state has since authorized two rounds of broadband grants, in April and November last year, to improve availability, Many of those projects are underway, with the average time estimated by applicants to complete their projects being 658 days from the date the grants were awarded. Those projects still under construction with estimated completion dates by December 2022 are not reflected in any state or federal maps, he added. Although nearly 90 percent of Iowans have access to broadband speeds of more than 25 Mbps and more than 85 percent have access to speeds of more than 100 Mbps, large areas of Iowa still have no such access, industry officials report. Gov. Kim Reynolds requested another round of $15 million for broadband grants that is pending before the Legislature when it reconvenes. They grants would help fill significant gaps in high-speed internet coverage in rural Iowa. Lawmakers are looking to increase the maximum grant amount from 15 to 35 percent for communication service provider project costs that meet a minimum download speed of 100 Mbps and a minimum upload speed of 20 Mbps. Lawmakers would also change the definitions for underserved areas and what constitutes meaningful service. Grants of up to 15 percent pf the cost would be available for projects offering broadband at lower speeds. While the governors request would not resolve access disparities in every part of the state, Behrens said it would have a tremendous impact on many who currently struggle to connect to the internet. There is no immediate and short-term fix to connect all locations in Iowa to broadband service overnight, he said. Expanding access to every location will take ongoing planning, financial investment and community support. On Friday, state officials issued a statement indicating internet providers and software companies are stepping up to help Iowans as more people are needing to be online for work and school, noting a number of providers in Iowa took the FCCs Keep Americans Connected Pledge to provide internet during this pandemic. The pledge is a commitment for the next 60 days to not terminate residential or small-business accounts, waive late fees and open Wi-Fi hotspots to those who need them. Duncan said many of his associations Iowa-based-companies that predominantly are in rural areas have built fiber and adequate bandwidth to their customers inside and outside of town, and in some cases are boosting speeds to meet challenges posed by increased traffic because of the COVID-19 responses. With about half of Iowa schools located in rural areas, he said, some districts have reached out to companies to go outside traditional service areas to help students by hooking up their homes even though they werent existing subscribers. In some cases, companies also have employed boosters to beef up signals. However, Duncan noted that in terms of trying to hurry up and deploy new networks in the very short term, thats really going to be difficult for any of our providers because they are focused right now on their own business continuity problems that have forced some of them to close and lock their business offices of have had to suspend their customer service calls. On the education side, the state issued guidelines for schools abiding by the governors call to suspend the current K-12 school year until at least mid-April and close buildings. Iowa colleges also switched to online instruction, but the spotty availability has complicated that as well. Because of that and other concerns, state guidelines say online education wont count toward instructional requirements. But Piper noted many districts are providing online content options anyway to keep kids engaged and help parents and guardians essentially home-school children or keep them occupied. K-12 classwork cant be required due to varying bandwidth strength, availability of home computers, special-education provisions and the closure of public libraries, she added. It really comes down to the fundamental stance that this is an equity issue and whatever we do at the state it needs to be equitable for everyone in our public schools, said Mike Beranek, president of the Iowa State Education Association, which represents more than 30,000 Iowa teachers. It would be very advantageous if our state would provide the resources necessary to school districts to help find solutions to that, he said of the broadband challenges. As we continue to move forward in the 21st century and were more and more digitally connected, therell be more expectations for it to occur. Roark Horn, executive director of the School Administrators of Iowa, said broadband and internet access is only part of the challenge schools face because there are families within well-served areas that lack the hardware needed to use that access, Iowas schools would be better positioned to provide learning-from-home opportunities if pockets of underserved broadband and internet service areas did not exist, Horn said. Because they do, teachers and administrators need to be mindful of equity and make sure they are not creating learning haves and have nots. One short-term option to assist students and families might be for television stations in Iowa or border communities to offer their sub-channels for classroom instruction temporarily as a way to think outside of the box, said Sen. Liz Mathis, D-Hiawatha, a member of the Senate broadband subcommittee who has studied the issue and been part of the legislative discussions. After looking at Yantai North Andre Juice Company Limited's (SEHK:2218) latest earnings announcement (31 December 2019), I found it useful to revisit the company's performance in the past couple of years and assess this against the most recent figures. As a long term investor, I pay close attention to earnings trend, rather than the figures published at one point in time. I also compare against an industry benchmark to check whether Yantai North Andre Juice's performance has been impacted by industry movements. In this article I briefly touch on my key findings. Check out our latest analysis for Yantai North Andre Juice Commentary On 2218's Past Performance 2218's trailing twelve-month earnings (from 31 December 2019) of CN169m has jumped 23% compared to the previous year. Furthermore, this one-year growth rate has exceeded its 5-year annual growth average of 17%, indicating the rate at which 2218 is growing has accelerated. What's enabled this growth? Let's see whether it is merely because of an industry uplift, or if Yantai North Andre Juice has experienced some company-specific growth. SEHK:2218 Income Statement, March 20th 2020 In terms of returns from investment, Yantai North Andre Juice has fallen short of achieving a 20% return on equity (ROE), recording 8.9% instead. However, its return on assets (ROA) of 7.6% exceeds the HK Food industry of 6.2%, indicating Yantai North Andre Juice has used its assets more efficiently. And finally, its return on capital (ROC), which also accounts for Yantai North Andre Juices debt level, has increased over the past 3 years from 6.3% to 7.9%. This correlates with a decrease in debt holding, with debt-to-equity ratio declining from 31% to 0.08% over the past 5 years. What does this mean? Yantai North Andre Juice's track record can be a valuable insight into its earnings performance, but it certainly doesn't tell the whole story. Companies that have performed well in the past, such as Yantai North Andre Juice gives investors conviction. However, the next step would be to assess whether the future looks as optimistic. I recommend you continue to research Yantai North Andre Juice to get a more holistic view of the stock by looking at: Story continues Financial Health: Are 2218s operations financially sustainable? Balance sheets can be hard to analyze, which is why weve done it for you. Check out our financial health checks here. Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here. NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the trailing twelve months from 31 December 2019. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading. Only those triaged for risk through the app can take part in the collection of samples, at no cost, at the Fairgrounds beginning on Tuesday. They must arrive at their scheduled time and present an identification number given to them from the app. "This is not wide-open testing," said Dr. LouAnn Woodward, UMMC's vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine. Individuals found by UMMC Center for Telehealth providers to be at high risk for infection will receive a next-day appointment at drive-through tents at the Fairgrounds. Hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m., seven days a week. No one will get out of their vehicle; providers wearing protective gear will come to their window and swab their noses to retrieve specimens for testing to be performed at the Mississippi State Department of Health. UMMC will notify those tested of the results and give further instructions. Those without a smartphone showing symptoms and who want to be screened can call 601-496-7200. Anyone not experiencing symptoms is asked not to use the app or call. App users determined to be at low risk for infection won't receive an appointment for collection of specimens, but instead will receive instructions on social distancing, home isolation and self-care and told to call back if symptoms worsen. The app is downloadable March 23 from the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. Those who have already downloaded the existing C Spire Health telehealth app will need to make sure their app is updated Monday to reflect the UMMC Virtual COVID-19 Triage usage. Dr. Jonathan Wilson, UMMC chief administrative officer, said the drive-through collection site leverages the Medical Center's expertise in emergency services and telehealth to support a pressing health care need in the state. The first day of screening on Tuesday won't be perfect, he and other state medical leaders say. "There's not a clear playbook for this. We are using best practices from around the country, and we will change and adapt as we go. We will continue as long as we have specimen collection materials and good weather," Wilson said. "We don't have time to do a lot of practice runs. We need to do this sooner rather than later." "We are offering our disaster response experience and our state-of-the-art telehealth services to support the public health efforts of the Mississippi State Department of Health," Wilson said. "This field collection site will help the Medical Center continue to function as a tertiary hospital to care for the sickest patients, rather than consume its resources taking care of low-acuity patients." How it will work: Users of the app will be placed in a virtual waiting room to be picked up by a provider. They'll be asked if they have symptoms including cough, fever, shortness of breath or sore throat. If they are found to be at high risk, they will receive a next-day appointment for collection of samples at the Fairgrounds. Plans call for specimens to be collected from 128 people per day, said Dr. Alan Jones, UMMC chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine. If those appointments fill, callers will be asked to try back the next day for screening and a potential appointment. Appointment-holders will use only the High Street entrance, and they will follow clear signage under direction of troopers with the Mississippi Highway Patrol. Walk-ups and use of Uber, Lyft or other ride-sharing services are not allowed. C Spire will provide free Wi-Fi at the Fairgrounds to support the drive-through operation and the public. With the number of confirmed cases in the state up to 80 on Friday and one death, the outbreak is fast worsening, Woodward said. "I promised to you and others earlier this week that we would bring to bear the full resources of our academic medical center for this," Woodward said to media during an afternoon news conference. That includes swift development of testing technology by UMMC's scientists, a task with the capabilities of an academic medical center with full research capabilities, said Dr. Richard Summers, associate vice chancellor for research. It's hoped a test will be ready for use at UMMC in the next 10 days or so, Woodward said. The UMMC-led effort is a public-private initiative. The app's development was coordinated by UMMC, C Spire and the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. The drive-through field collection site is coordinated through UMMC, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, MSDH, the state Department of Agriculture and Commerce, the state Department of Transportation and the state Department of Public Safety. C Spire will provide free Wi-Fi at the Fairgrounds to support the drive-through operation and the public. The offices of Gov. Tate Reeves and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann are among the entities supporting the app and field collection. "As a Mississippi-based telecommunications and technology company, we care about our employees, our customers and the people of the Magnolia State," said Hu Meena, president and CEO of C Spire. "C Spire is prepared to do whatever it takes to help our state respond to and recover from this devastating public health crisis. "In times like these, communications apps and technologies are a critical lifeline for our schools, our churches, our state and nation to rely on." "UMMC's initiative is a great example of the joint effort between state agencies, the Institutions of Higher Learning, and hospitals as we respond and ultimately win the fight against COVID-19," said MEMA Director Greg Michel. The app's overarching purpose and that of the field collection is to provide quick and substantially increased access to testing, Jones said. "UMMC and its partners are poised to provide an unprecedented response. Our desire is that this telehealth option fills an important need for the citizens of this state, and that it answers their questions and concerns about this pandemic." "This is a somber time for Mississippians with our first COVID-19 death yesterday and the marked increase in cases we reported today," said Dr. Thomas Dobbs, state health officer. "We're going to see a lot more cases. We're at the front end of this thing. "We now have significant community-wide transmission, and that is why these type of mobile rapid testing centers are important. They allow testing of individuals while protecting the health worker. " Metro-area health systems including Baptist Hospital and St. Dominic Hospital plan to take part in some way in the process. Andy Gipson, the Agriculture and Commerce commissioner, called the Mississippi State Fairgrounds the "ideal location that will allow the public to drive up and get tested for the virus without spreading the disease through in-person contact. "There may be some dark days ahead, but we will defeat this. By working together and looking after one another, we will get through this crisis." About the University of Mississippi Medical Center UMMC is the state's only academic medical center. Its education, research and health care missions share the objectives of improving the health of the state's population and eliminating health disparities. Located in Jackson. UMMC encompasses seven health science schools, including medicine, nursing, health related professions, dentistry, pharmacy, graduate studies and population health. The Medical Center's health care enterprise includes the state's only Level I trauma center, only children's hospital, and only organ and bone marrow transplant program. The Medical Center also is home to a Telehealth Center of Excellence, one of two in the nation. For more information, visit www.umc.edu and click here to view news and features stories produced by UMMC Communications and Marketing. About C Spire C Spire provides a full suite of world-class, customer-inspired dedicated Internet, IP Voice, data, managed services, cloud services, value added resale and mobile communications to businesses and wireless, 1 Gigabit consumer Internet access and related home services for consumers. This news release and other announcements are available at www.cspire.com/news. For more information about C Spire, visit cspire.com or follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/cspire or Twitter at twitter.com/cspire. SOURCE C Spire Related Links http://cspire.com Photo credit: NASA From Popular Mechanics In order to meet the 2024 deadline, NASA has pulled its ambitious Lunar Gateway from the Artemis Mission. A NASA official announced the decision in a March 13 NASA Advisory Council Science Committee meeting. The agency is still planning to build the gateway, but it will be held to a different schedule. NASA announced this week that it will not rely on its ambitious Lunar Gateway, a space station designed to serve as a science outpost and launch pad to the lunar surface, to help astronauts to the moon after all. The associate administrator of NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, Douglas Loverro, told the NASA Advisory Council Science Committee on March 13 that the agency would be easing the lunar outpost's timeline, NASASpaceFlight.com reports. By taking Gateway out of the critical path for the lunar landing in 2024, I believe what we have done is create a far better Gateway program, he said. Photo credit: NASA The move is likely intended to alleviate concerns about Artemis' already pinched mission timeline and budget. Congress expressed concerns last year during a U.S. House Appropriations Committees commerce, justice, and science subcommittee meeting. Its hard to justify any extra spending on this effort in the current fiscal year when we dont know the costs down the road, committee chairman Rep. Jose Serrano (D-N.Y.), said in his opening statement. NASA is still going to build the Lunar Gateway, but it's just not likely to be a critical part of the Artemis Mission. Loverro stressed that international partners like ESA, Roscosmos, JAXA, and the Canadian Space Agencywhose contributions weren't going to be added until after NASA's 2024 lunar deadlinewill not be impacted by the shift. (They were given an official notice about the decision on March 16.) We can now tell them 100% positively it will be there because weve changed that program to a much more, what I would call, solid, accomplishable schedule, Loverro said during the meeting. If it gets behind schedule, no problem you can still maintain it being there." Story continues The agency recently announced the selection of two critical science payloads for the station, a NASA-built space weather instrument which will track charged particles burped out by the sun and an ESA-made instrument that will measure radiation levels in space. Additional payloads will be selected in the coming years. You Might Also Like Brexiteer hedge fund tycoon Crispin Odey has made 115million from this months stock market crash and now hes betting on a recovery. In an interview with The Mail on Sunday, Mr Odey revealed his bets on plunging share prices had netted him a fortune over the past three weeks. The investor who is a friend of Boris Johnson and donated to the campaign to leave the European Union said his flagship hedge fund was 12 per cent down for the year at the end of February. Optimist: Crispin Odey says markets will rebound. In an interview with the Mail on Sunday, he revealed his bets on plunging share prices had netted him a fortune over the past three weeks But huge falls in share prices since then have left him 20 per cent up for 2020, adding an extra 115million to the funds he manages. Mr Odey now thinks share prices are bottoming out and could rise soon. The stock market has to rally because a recession has now been priced in, he said. Im buying some shares now. Its a good time to be stock-picking. Mr Odey thought to be worth about 775 million hit the headlines in 2012 after spending 150,000 on a Palladianstyle coop for his chickens at his mansion in Gloucestershire. Traders, some in medical masks, work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on March 20. Trading on the floor will temporarily become fully electronic starting Monday (file photo) He has been predicting a market downturn since 2015 and suffered several years of poor returns as shares soared. But coronavirus has caused stock markets to slump, boosting socalled short-sellers such as Mr Odey, who profit from falling share prices. He made his fortune in the financial crisis a decade ago, betting against the shares of failing banks. Mr Odey, who has recently benefited from falls in firms such as Fevertree and Metro Bank, said: The big difference between now and 2008 is the machines (used by traders to sell automatically when the market dips). 'The machines just never stop selling when the market falls. Thats why you are seeing such big moves down. See Financial Mail, Page 103, for the full Crispin Odey interview A Delhi court on Saturday sent suspended AAP councillor Tahir Hussain, who is accused in the murder case of intelligence Bureau staffer Ankit Sharma during northeast Delhi violence, to 10-day judicial custody. Today, Hussain was presented before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Pawan Singh Rajawat on the completion of his earlier one-day police custody. Delhi Police has questioned Hussain in connection with Delhi violence and the murder of IB staffer Ankit Sharma. Hussain has been named in the FIR lodged over the alleged killing of IB officer Sharma whose body was recovered from a drain in Chand Bagh on February 26. The deceased's father, Ravinder Kumar, on whose complaint the FIR was lodged, named the AAP leader as an accused. He has alleged that Hussain, whose office is located near Chand Bagh Pulia, gathered men who were pelting stones and hurled petrol bombs during the violence which led to tension and fear among local residents. At least, 53 people were killed in the violence that rattled the capital last month. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) From left, Jalil Frazier, Tyrone Shoemake, Charles Horton and Jaleel King laugh and joke around with group facilitator Victoria Wylie after their survivors group meeting at the Carousel House in West Philadelphia on Monday evening, Nov. 18, 2019. Read more Jaleel King and Victoria Wylie were first on the video call. Next came the ever-upbeat Chuck Horton, Yo, whats up?.. .Whats up? Its Chuck. And then, the cheerful greeting from Corynna Martin: Hellllo. Hey, everybody! This weeks meeting of the support group for paralyzed gunshot survivors was canceled for the same reason the whole world has been put on pause: the coronavirus. Suddenly support groups that used to meet in church basements and recreation centers are having to find other ways to stay connected. Its a challenge for anyone who depends on these face-to-face lifelines. But for these men and women, the isolation that were told may be the only thing that saves lives is also what nearly killed them. Even after surviving the gunshots, they had to dig their way out of the mental and physical aftermath. Often on their own. Jalil Frazier nearly lost his life after he was shot while protecting three children during a robbery at a Philadelphia barbershop. Its been a roller coaster of a recovery since 2018. But now the young father who was confined to the first floor of his North Philly row home is mostly in a good place. The relationships hes forged with fellow survivors helped. Every month since July, a group of about 15 men and women have consistently gathered at the Carousel House recreation center. A fellowship of the mostly forgotten victims of Philadelphias gun violence. Some have been paralyzed for years; others, just months. READ MORE: They were paralyzed and alone. Heres whats happened since they started a gunshot survivor group. | Helen Ubinas In December, they held a Christmas party, complete with red tablecloths and lots of food. They brought their families. Last month they took their struggles and stories to City Hall. They planned some group outings when the weather got warmer. And then came the virus, potentially trapping them in situations from which many had used every ounce of grit to free themselves. While some are lucky to have ramps, chair lifts, even shower chairs, others are still grappling with the bureaucratic scavenger hunt for the most basic services. A few hours before the video chat, I checked in with Frazier. He was waiting on a scheduled delivery of catheters. Hed given a box to a young man who had recently been shot and paralyzed, and now he was short. Maybe because of the virus, he wasnt sure, the delivery was late and the supply company wasnt responding. If they didnt arrive soon, he told me, hed be forced to head to the emergency room. Frazier was heeding some of the coronavirus precautions, but he conceded that staying inside was a struggle. I be thinking too much if I have to stay in the house, he said. If I have to stay here, I definitely know that I will dip off into thoughts Ive been running from, and I cant go back there. I dont know if I can make it back if I go back there. You can only run so long. READ MORE: When social distancing and staying healthy are at odds | Editorial As the group waited on other members to join the call, they caught up. Horton, a longtime Philadelphia disability advocate who was shot 31 years ago, sent the group some tips for keeping their wheelchairs sanitized. They laughed when the jokester of the group, Ty Shoemake, sent a picture of himself in a mask. And then Martin, who was shot and paralyzed in 2013 by a man she knew, confided that she was worried that isolation might lead to depression. Ive worked so hard to get out of that sunken place that if I feel dormant, I can easily go back. Thats the truth. She didnt have to say much more. They all understood. READ MORE: During coronavirus outbreak, telemedicine is an answer if youre covered Horton encouraged the group not to text. Call, he said. FaceTime. Do whatever you have to do to stay connected, you know, safely. Wylie, the groups facilitator, said shed set up a video chat every week until they could meet in person again. I hope it wont be too long, Martin said. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 02:07:16|Editor: Shi Yinglun Video Player Close Czech Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Jan Hamacek (3rd L) speaks at the Prague Airport in the Czech Republic, March 20, 2020. A China Eastern airlines plane carrying 1.1 million respirators which the Czech Republic had purchased from China arrived at the Prague Airport on Friday. It was the second batch of medical supplies procured from China after a Czech military plane brought home 150,000 rapid COVID-19 testers from China on Wednesday. The Czech Republic, like many other European countries, has been hit by the COVID-19 outbreak over the past three weeks. As of Friday noon, the country has confirmed 774 cases of infection. (Xinhua/Yang Xiaohong) PRAGUE, March 20 (Xinhua) -- A China Eastern Airline plane carrying 1.1 million respirators which the Czech Republic had purchased from China arrived at the Prague Airport on Friday. It was the second batch of medical supplies procured from China after a Czech military plane brought home 150,000 rapid COVID-19 testers from China on Wednesday. "There will be many more flights ahead of us. We have built an air bridge," said Interior Minister Jan Hamacek at the airport. Hamacek said this batch is just the start, and medical supplies might arrive from China three times a week in the next few weeks. He noted that protective equipment and supplies from China would greatly help the Czech Republic ease its severe shortage. At the airport, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis and Hamacek thanked China for its support in bringing the supplies to the Czech Republic. Chinese Ambassador to the Czech Republic Zhang Jianmin was also at the airport. He stressed in his speech that countries around the world should work together in fighting the virus. "COVID-19 is a challenge to all countries, and we shoulder common responsibilities in fighting the virus. China has received help from the Czech Republic during the outbreak. We feel the pain for the Czech people, especially the medical professionals, caused by shortage of protective supplies," said the ambassador. Respirators delivered on Friday are in protective class FFP2, according to Hamacek. "These are the most used and most needed," said the minister, adding that he would discuss with the regional governors about how to redistribute the supplies later in the day. Qiu Jie, General Manager of Regional Office of the China Eastern Airline, said that the airline had previously stopped the direct flight because of the COVID-19 outbreak, adding "The reopening of the air route is a special arrangement made to bring the most needed medical equipment to the most needed countries." On the coming Saturday, the airline will bring another batch of 180 cubic meters of medical equipment to the Czech Republic, Qiu said. The Czech Republic, like many other European countries, has been hit by the COVID-19 outbreak over the past three weeks. As of Friday noon, the country has confirmed 774 cases of infection. On Friday morning, the four rapists, who were convicted in the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder, were hanged to death, thus ending a chapter in India's long history of sexual assault. Kangana Ranaut recently shared her views on the delayed justice and how these things need to be rectified as soon as possible. The actress said, "Our judicial system is quite old and unfair. It took seven long years for our judicial system to give verdict on a horrific rape and murder case that shook the entire nation. I remember taking part in the candle march for Nirbhaya at the time when I was shooting for Queen. There should have been quick justice for such brutal crime. Indirectly, we have tortured Nirbhaya's mother and the entire family for seven long years." "The judicial system has taken so long to deliver justice in this case that people have already forgotten about the case and moved on. I feel related to Nirbhaya's mom's name Asha Devi since my mother's name is Asha," said Kangana. Recalling the acid-attack on her sister Rangoli Chandel, Kangana said, "I still remember the time when my sister Rangoli had an acid attack and the accused had got bail, people used to question us on how we could let go the accused and keep quiet. Those were the times I used to feel angry on our judiciary as why the accused was granted bail and the victim suffered. Rangoli suffered ear burns and her eye was damaged. I got her retina transplanted but it was only possible because I was an actress, had it been any common man, it would have still remained the same. The times we tried to move on people came questioning us as why we were letting the accused go free." She further continued, "Just think about Nirbhaya's mother facing people for seven long years. People would not even let her emerge from the shock if she wanted to. We have tortured her family for seven long years and killed them indirectly. Think about it in a way that I show you my movie's start now and ending after a few days, how would it feel? Will it interest you?" "I think there should be memorials on the names of girls who are rape victims because we do not have to kill the accused but the thinking they have. Their minds should change by the thoughts that if I rape a girl or throw acid on someone, no one will accept me," said the Manikarnika star. Nirbhaya Convicts Hanged: Taapsee Pannu, Rishi Kapoor, Riteish Deshmukh And Others React! Kangana Ranaut On Nirbhaya Case: Such Criminals Should Be Hanged Publicly To Set An Example BAD AXE With stores and businesses closing in an effort to reduce spread of the coronavirus, many local grocery stores are going the extra mile to provide an essential service to their respective communities. At Caseville Family Market, manager Zach Engstrom has brainstormed ways to help out the community he serves in a time of need, and the store is actually opening its doors for longer than usual. One thing we did change to better serve our community is Wednesday we are opening one hour early, from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m., to serve our senior citizens, Engstrom said. That is dedicated to them, so they have a safer environment to shop in. Its a little less people, less contact. We are happy to be able to provide that hour. Hopefully some of our senior citizens take advantage. Caseville Family Market is otherwise continuing its standard winter hours, which are from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. from Monday through Saturday, and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. In terms of item availability, many stores are reporting empty shelves as customers are purchasing food and supplies quicker than stores can provide said items. We are just like everybody else, Engstrom said. Toilet paper, for whatever reason, is very difficult to come by due to the high demand for it. Bread is another one that we are seeing go off the shelves a little more quickly than usual, and eggs, of course. Those are the big three items we are seeing a limitation on being able to get. For the most part, we are trying to keep all of our nonperishable goods in stock," Engstrom said. "People are stocking up on those as well." While consumers are snagging items in higher volumes than normal, Engstrom explained that this is having side effects all the way up the production ladder. Supply chains are limited at this time, Engstrom said. Suppliers are trying to spread what they have around, so therefore we are seeing allocation of certain products. Just like everywhere you go, we are going to have a few holes. We are working on filling them. As stuff comes in, we will try to fill it up. This means that other stores are likely to experience similar difficulties in terms of keeping items on the shelves. At Browns Marketplace in Harbor Beach, manager Angela Talisman paints a similar picture. We are just trying to keep up with the supply and demand, Talisman said. We are having a hard time getting things in so far, and the minute we do get it in we turn around and sell it just as fast. At this point, Browns Marketplace is engaged in a game of playing catch-up with the purchasing demands of a community that is preparing to stock up for the indefinite future. They actually cut an entire delivery day out to try and catch up, and its still behind, Talisman said. What we were supposed to get on Wednesday, we were supposed to get today. Now they cut that, and I wont actually get my grocery truck for another 24 hours. Its frustrating for us, and its frustrated for the people that keep coming in and looking for the same things over and over again. From an inventory perspective, some items are flying off the shelves quicker than others. We havent had a hard time keeping fresh stuff in, Talisman said. Im sure theyre working a little harder to get that stuff out so it doesnt spoil. Weve gotten in every fresh truck that weve ordered from, however, what used to be one or two (items) out of stock is now 10, 20 or 30 out of stock. So, its definitely dwindling. We ordered 10 cases of bananas, and theyve already cut us down to half. At Pigeon IGA, general manager Shirley Ashmore said that toilet paper is one of the most in-demand products at her store as well. Much like Caseville Family Market, Pigeon IGA is extending the helping hand to a vulnerable portion of the population by opening its store an hour early on Saturday, a time to strictly be dedicated to senior citizens. Walmart, on the other hand, is another store that many people frequent for grocery items. The company issued a statement regarding its change in hours on its website on Thursday, March 19. This will help ensure associates can clean and stock products, the statement said. Now, Walmart will be open from 7 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. on a daily basis. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Based on estimates that between 40% and 80% of New Yorks population will at some point become infected with coronavirus (COVID-19), Governor Andrew Cuomo said Saturday the key is to slow the rate at which it spreads. The only question is, how fast is the rate and can you slow that rate so your hospital system can deal with it? said Cuomo at a press conference in Albany. The number of people who have tested positive in New York for coronavirus has topped 10,000, as of Saturday. In New York City, a total of 6,211 cases were reported, including 1,803 new cases. *** CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF CORONAVIRUS IN NEW YORK *** Officials have stressed that testing is an important part of slowing the increase, as people who know theyre positive can self quarantine. New York so far has issued 45,000 tests, which is almost twice as many as either California or Washington. Cuomo reiterated the supply chains for groceries and other essential items are intact, urging people against hoarding items. Theres going to be food in the grocery stores," said Cuomo. Theres no reason to buy 100 rolls of toilet paper. POSSIBLE TREATMENT Cuomo said officials are looking at a possible treatment for coronavirus engineered by Regeneron, a New York-based pharmaceuticals company. The Federal Drug Administration is acquiring 10,000 doses, which could help treat patients in New York who are in serious condition, said Cuomo. The treatment combines hydroxychloroquine, a popular anti-malaria drug, and antibiotic azithromycin. MEDICAL SUPPLIES, POP-UP HOSPITALS In an effort to boost the states patient capacity at hospitals from about 50,000 to about 75,000, Cuomo also announced plans for temporary field hospitals across the state. Multiple pop-up medical facilities erected by the Army Corps of Engineers at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan would able to house 1,000 patients. Meanwhile, staffs at Richmond University Medical Center (RUMC) and Staten Island University Hospital (SIUH) are aiming to maximize their capacity ahead of the potential surge in hospitalizations. Cuomo said state officials have gotten creative and aggressive," in their efforts to purchase key medical supplies from across the globe. One million N95 masks to protect medical workers are expected to arrive Saturday in New York City, with plans to purchase and distribute an additional one million. Healthcare workers also can expect 6,000 ventilators from across the globe to arrive in the coming weeks, as officials examine technology that potentially could allow two patients to share one ventilator. Addressing a shortage in hospital gowns statewide, a clothing manufacturer in New York City has offered to mass produce them, though officials still are searching for the material. FEDERAL FUNDING Cuomo is calling on members of Congress representing New York districts to address what he called a technicality in a House Bill to provide federal aid to states. As the bill currently is written, any state thats recently changed its Medicaid procedures-- which New York has-- is not eligible. If left unchanged, New York would miss out on more than $6 billion. Weve been changing (Medicaid) procedures since January, Cuomo said. We cant do a budget without changes to Medicaid. RELATED COVERAGE: Staten Island parents scramble to obtain technology for online learning 2 coronavirus cases confirmed at Wagner College College of Staten Island campus reopens: Operating with minimal staff Parents fear lapse in special ed services: I am not a trained therapist Coronavirus: New York suspends state reading exams Wagner College closing residence halls for remainder of semester College of Staten Island remains closed Tuesday, Wednesday Key details on SAT, ACT college exam cancellations Staten Island Catholic high schools extend remote learning timeframe Schools closed: 100 sites to open for first responder child care across NYC PARIS - A French researcher released from jail in Tehran as part of an apparent prisoner swap was flying home Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron said. Macron said in a statement he was pleased by the release of Roland Marchal, held by Iran for more than eight months on charges of violating state security laws. Marchal was turned over to the French Embassy in Tehran, Iranian state TV said late Friday, hours after French authorities released Jalal Ruhollahnejad, an Iranian held in France. French authorities did not comment on the case of Ruhollahnejad. France is also pushing for the release of a second French national detained in Iran, Marchals fellow researcher Fariba Adelkhah. In the French statement, the presidency urged Iranian authorities to free her immediately. Marchal was originally arrested in June and charged with spreading propaganda after he went to Iran to visit Adelkhah, a dual French-Iranian national who is a prominent anthropologist and often travelled to Iran for research on post-revolutionary Iranian society. Adelkhah had been arrested on espionage charges, and though those charges were later dropped, security-related charges remain against her. A Nigerian lady who arrived into the country on Friday evening has accused the port health authorities of poor and unprofessional treatment of travellers. Linda Ejimadu, 49, was a passenger on the British Airways flight which arrived from the United Kingdom through the Muritala Muhammed International Airport at about 5:30 p.m. on Friday. She said she came into the country to attend a burial ceremony in Owerri, Imo state, holding on Saturday. As at the time of filing in this report, Ms Ejimadu is still being held at the Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH), Yaba, Lagos State, on the grounds of suspected Covid-19. As part of measures to prevent more cases from coming into the country, the federal government announced compulsory screening for all returnees from countries battling the disease. As of Saturday afternoon, Nigeria has recorded 22 cases of Covid-19. The government also announced the restrictions of entry into the country for travellers from some high-risk Covid-19 countries with effects from Saturday, 21st March 2020. The United Kingdom is one of such countries. Lamentation Speaking to PREMIUM TIMES on the phone, Ms. Ejimadu lamented the poor treatment received at the airport. She said she was kept for too long without much explanation and medical care from the management. READ ALSO: When we got to the airport, they checked my temperature and it was 38.1. So the person attending to me said I have a fever. Then he asked if I have been coughing and sneezing and I told them No. He came back about 30 minutes later and said he went to talk to experts. And I asked who he is because he never really introduced himself. He said he is a doctor. He left again for several hours. During this period, I kept checking my temperature with my own thermometer and its reducing to 37.4. After five hours, nobody said anything to me. Later they took me in an ambulance to Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH), Yaba. This was already 2 am. My temperature was taken again and it was 36.5. Temperature was taken today, Saturday morning, and its still 36.5. All through this period, I wasnt given any medication. This morning the test was finally conducted and up until now, I am still waiting for the result. Im just sitting here, nobody is giving me any information. I didnt come all the way to Nigeria to play, she said. As at the time of filing in this report, the Lagos state Commissioner for Health, Akin Abayomi could not be reached for immediate reaction. Phone calls and text messages to his phone did not get any response. File image Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday said the state was currently in the "golden hour" of its battle against the coronavirus as it can stop the epidemic's progresss to stage 3. Thackeray held video-conference with divisional commissioners, district collectors and police officials on Friday evening about the measures to stop the spread of the virus. "We are in golden hour (at a point where the disease can still be cured). The need of the hour is to break the chain of virus infection so that its spread is stopped," the Chief Minister said. We must not allow the epidemic to progress from stage 2 to stage 3, he stressed. While asking the authorities to ensure that essential commodities and services such as healthcare, water supply, sanitation, rationing shops, vegetables supply are uninterrupted, he appealed people to stay at home. COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show The next fortnight was very critical, the chief minister said. Steps should be taken to ensure hospitals are not overburdened and non-emergency surgeries, if possible, should be postponed, he said. PTI MR KRK. North Branford Fire Chief William Seward was alarmed when he got the news: his department, which runs the towns ambulance service, would only receive one box of 35 respirators from the strategic national stockpile. Whats more, all of those masks which Seward picked up today in Essex are expired. Its beyond belief, Seward said. Although the town currently has enough supplies on hand, Seward worries about what will happen if COVID-19 cases spike a few weeks down the road, he said. North Branford is not alone. Two East Haven firefighters and their families were quarantined for two weeks Friday after the pair of first responders assisted a 79-year-old man who became the towns first confirmed case of COVID-19, the town said in a statement. East Haven Fire Chief Matthew Marcarelli is worried that if too many members of his team get sidelined because of exposure, they wont be able to fight fires, he said. The department is supporting them and their families and both firefighters are doing well, Marcarelli said. Marcarelli was told that all of the 144,000 respirators in the states strategic stockpile are expired by at least 10 years, he said, adding that his department was allotted 220 respirators. They were all expired, and they were all sized small, he said. And I dont know why any of this is coming as a surprise to the state, Marcarelli said. Theres been a pandemic plan since 2001. The state is a major source of the respirators, which are currently difficult to find, according to Marcarelli. Further down the Shoreline, Guilford got 110 respirators also expired, according to Assistant Fire Chief Michael Shove. A memorandum from Lisa Bushnell, strategic national stockpile coordinator for the Connecticut Department of Public Health, indicates that in terms of personal protective equipment, many towns in the state are only receiving expired respirators at this time. The Department of Public Health (DPH) is in possession of expired N95 respirators manufactured in 2006 that were not granted a shelf-life extension by the federal government, the memo says. We requested that the federal government consider an extension given the national PPE shortage, which was not granted. These expired Kimberly Clarke N95 respirators will not provide the appropriate protection factor of non-expired N95s, but are likely to minimally provide protection equivalent to a surgical face mask. Hearst Connecticut Media obtained a copy of the letter, dated Thursday. Bushnell directed press inquiries to DPH spokesman Av Harris, who did not respond to a request for comment. The state Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security divides Connecticut into five regions, according to its website. The memorandum about the expired respirators went out to Region 2 towns, according to an email to which the record is attached. Thirty Connecticut towns make up Region 2, according to the DEMHS website. Guilford Assistant Fire Chief Michael Shove confirmed that his town is also facing a challenge in terms of access to PPE. Eligible for 105 respirators, his department received more equipment than the North Branford Fire Department but, again, all those respirators were expired, Shove said. The state used each departments call volume to determine how many respirators they would receive, according to the email sent to Region 2 towns. But the North Branford Fire Department transports more than 900 patients annually, Seward said, adding that the respirators are not reusable. Whats more, medical experts today expanded the possible symptoms associated with COVID-19 so as to include certain gastrointestinal issues, according to Seward. That means personal protective equipment may be necessary for more calls, Seward said. Shove confirmed Sewards account. Although calls in North Branford are currently less frequent than normal, if COVID-19 cases surge, Seward said, the lack of personal protective equipment will be a challenge for us. And its not just respirators first responders need. They also require gear like gloves and gowns, Shove said. Shove hopes that Connecticut is able to prevent the surge in COVID-19 cases, or that manufacturers can ramp up PPE production, he said. Hes not worried about the next two weeks, but he is worried about having sufficient supplies thereafter. We could definitely use supplies, but theres nowhere to get supplies, he said, adding that many departments are in the same boat. All the chiefs have been vocal ... but the thing is, you cant change the past. Shoves team will make the most of what they have, he said. meghan.friedmann@hearstmediact.com; 781-346-5236; Mark Zaretsky contributed to this report. In light of the fact the many businesses have had to close their doors for awhile due to the COVID 19 pandemic, a little rent relief would be the right thing to do. As the big banks in Canada have on a case by case basis suspended mortgage payments for 6 months, so should the owners suspend or forgive a portion of the rent they charge to their tenants that have had to temporarily close their doors. This includes mall owners, and building owners that have leased offices or business spaces to their tenants. Seems to me that profiting off their tenants misfortune is not the Canadian thing to do. Please building and mall owners, consider what part you can play to help your tenants stay successful. This is only my opinion and is not meant to offend anyone at all. Thank you. Duane T. Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Public gatherings throughout the U.S. continue to be shut down in anticipation of the new coronavirus COVID-19. Churches, too, are widely canceling their weekly services. Last Wednesday, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear urged churches to cancel weekly services. Some questioned whether his advice targeted churches too specifically (he didnt mention similar events), especially considering that Kentucky had relatively few confirmed cases. On Monday, the White House recommended that Americans Avoid gathering in groups of more than 10 people for the next fifteen days. As state instructions to cancel gatherings become more common, urgent, and mandatory, how should churches respond? Desperate Times, Desperate Measures First, regular gatherings are not an optional part of the Christian life. Christians are commanded to meet together in Hebrews 10:25. Many New Testament commands on how Christians are to treat one another are difficult, if not impossible, to obey unless Christians are regularly gathering together. The New Testament describes the church as Christs body (Colossians 1:24); bodies cannot long exist while separated. Therefore, Christians should not abandon our typical church gatherings on a whim. The legal question of whether government may restrict religious gatherings is relatively straightforward. The Religious Freedom Restoration Act codified a specific legal test, under which the federal government may only substantially burden sincere religious belief when it has a compelling interest in doing so, and does so in the narrowest way possible. First Liberty Institute, a religious liberty legal defense group, noted temporary action to reduce the spread of a global pandemic is almost certainly a compelling reason. That said, most Christians are not lawyers. How can church leaders and members approach this issue wisely? Dual Responsibilities, Dual Authorities Western ideals of religious liberty are premised upon the idea that political and religious institutions have different responsibilities and, therefore, different authorities. The states responsibility is of this world (see John 18:36); the churchs responsibility is of the world to come. The state exists to establish order and execute justice so that humans may flourish. The church exists to proclaim the Word of God and build up the body of Christ so that people may be reconciled to God. Both institutions are good and gracious gifts from God. As a general principle, the states authority is of this world; the churchs authority is of the world to come. The state has the exclusive right to use force, taxation, laws, and judicial rulings to provide for national security, public health and safety, moral justice, economic prosperity, and more. The church has the exclusive right to determine dogma and membership and to distinguish false religion from true. This concept of religious liberty is rooted in Scripture. The Bible teaches that all authority is delegated by God Almighty, the King of Kings. God authorizes both the state (Romans 13:1-7) and the church (Matthew 18:15-20) to wield power in their appropriate areas, and he holds both state (Psalm 2:10-12) and church (Revelation 2:12-23) accountable. Domain of the Body, Domain of the Soul It is wrong for the state to usurp the spiritual authority of the church. Singling out churches for closing implies the states hostility. Thus, under normal circumstances, it is inappropriate for the state to dictate when a church can meet or how it can operate or maybe even impose requirements which negatively affect church operations and religious exercise. But emergencies are different. Certain foreseeable natural disasters (such as pandemics, hurricanes, etc.) can present temporary but substantial risks to public gatherings. The state has no control to prevent such disasters. By prohibiting public gatherings during such hazards, the state is properly fulfilling its duty to protect life in the best way available. Just as the state may not run the church, so the church may not run the state (though it must speak clearly on issues of right and wrong). Virology is not theology, nor is public health the same as public worship. If the state determines that the danger from a deadly pathogen is such that all public gatherings must be suspended, the church should not automatically second-guess or contradict that decision. Dont Be Reckless, Dont Be Fearful While Christians should be prudent, we should not be fearful. Our natural, God-given instinct can run amok if we heed the frenzied media coverage. This can lead to sin if we let our fear of the virus overtake our fear of God. Jesus reminded his disciples not to fear those who can only kill our bodies, but to fear God, who has power over both our bodies and our souls (Matthew 10:28). Christians have a duty to continue living as the body of Christ, even if we may not do so in large gatherings. This is more than a duty; its also our joy. God is glorified when his people stand out from the world, and nothing sets Christians apart like trials. Most importantly, Christians must never forget or abandon their central message: God came to earth as a man, lived a perfect life, and died as a substitute for us, satisfying the just wrath of God against mans wickedness. Those who trust in God for salvation are counted righteous, reconciled to God, and promised eternal life with him. The churchs good news of eternal hope, which is immune to viruses, economic woes, and any other worldly calamity, is a message sorely needed in these uncertain and scary times. In the days preceding the announcement of the quarantine, the governor had requested that people postpone their visits, but these arent people who will respond to a request, Ms. Ohashi said while sharing screen shots of heated online debates between incoming travelers and islanders and photos, including one of a tourist raising her middle finger to the protesters, and Facebook comments like Airline tickets are cheap. Its exactly why we booked just a week ago. See you soon In a letter to tourism industry leaders on Wednesday, Chris Tatum, the president and chief executive of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, referred to the islands limited medical capacity. As of March 21, the state had 48 Covid-19 cases. We are concerned about the limits of our health care system to adequately care for our community. Visitors putting their plans on hold for the next 30 days will allow our health care providers to manage this pandemic, he wrote. Thats the worry of many tourism-dependent communities that dont have the hospital beds necessary in the event of an outbreak. On March 16, the 17-bed Moab Regional Hospital in Moab, Utah, a popular adventure destination in southern Utah and the gateway to Canyonlands and Arches national parks, wrote to the Utah governor, Gary Herbert, asking him to shut down tourism businesses to deter visitors. The letter signed by five hospital executives, called the town small cruise ship small with similar isolation and limitations in resources. The next day, the Southeast Utah Health Department instituted a 30-day ban on overnight lodging for nonessential visitors. The parks remain open, and though visitors centers are closed, outside exhibits help visitors with logistics. Of those traveling, many are trying to shelter at second homes where social distancing might be easier than in a city. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Luc Olinga (Agence France-Presse) New York, United States Sat, March 21, 2020 09:10 662 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad206c601a7 2 Business Boeing-737-MAX,US,aerospace,trump,COVID-19 Free About 12 years after the US government bailed out General Motors and Chrysler, Washington policymakers are debating how to throw Boeing a lifeline as it reels from dual crises over the coronavirus and 737 MAX. The aerospace giant, which manufactures the US presidential jet Air Force One in addition to defense and commercial aircraft, has asked for $60 billion in federal support for the US aerospace industry, but it is not yet clear how such a bailout would function. "Boeing is on the brink," prominent hedge fund investor Bill Ackman said this week. "Boeing will not survive without a government bailout." Boeing's financial picture was already under pressure even before the coronavirus. The 737 MAX, which had been the company's top-selling plane, has been out of service for more than a year following two deadly crashes. The lengthy grounding has cost the company upwards of $18 billion, a figure that is expected to rise. The coronavirus has now worsened that picture considerably, obliterating demand for flying and putting Boeing's airline customers in financial distress. The situation has pummeled shares of Boeing, leaving its market capitalization Friday at around $54 billion. Also Friday Boeing announced that it was suspending its dividend until further notice and that Chief Executive Dave Calhoun and Chairman Larry Kellner would forgo pay until the end of the year. The company, which had previously announced it was suspending share buybacks, said the program would remain paused indefinitely. Boeing's dual crises would threaten the survival of other companies, but it still retains considerable support in Washington because of its importance to the US economy, with about 130,000 employees. And that figure does not include a much larger group workers employed by Boeing's 17,000 suppliers. President Donald Trump on Tuesday endorsed aggressive measures to assist the companies, telling reporters at a briefing, "we have to protect Boeing and help Boeing." Auto bailout a model? In a securities filing Thursday, Boeing said there are a "variety of approaches" currently being discussed to support the US aerospace industry, but the company declined to comment further on the options. Aid for aerospace is not included in the $1 trillion stimulus package now being crafted on Capitol Hill, although it does including help for airlines. One option that has been discussed is for the government to take an equity stake in Boeing. "Taxpayers should receive equity in a company in return for assistance so that the public benefits from its investment when the company is fiscally stable," said Oregon Democratic Representative Earl Blumenauer. If Boeing follows the model set by General Motors and Chrysler after the 2008 financial crisis, it would file for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 and restructure its finances. The auto bailout was launched by former president George W. Bush in 2008 under the Troubled Assets Relief Program, and carried through by Barack Obama's administration. The federal government injected $81 billion into two of Detroit's "Big Three" automakers and took equity stakes in the companies, and then sold those shares in December 2013. GM filed for bankruptcy in June 2009 and received $50 billion in support that allowed the government to take a 61 percent stake in "new GM." The company was effectively nationalized, although officials avoided that term. The restructuring cost shareholders $11.2 billion, but saved some 1.5 million jobs, according to the Center for Automotive Research. Scott Hamilton of Leeham News, which specializes in aviation, said a US takeover of Boeing could pose competitive concerns in the defense industry. "Boeing is the nation's number two defense contractor. How would this affect defense contract bids? I imagine Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman might have some concerns," Hamilton said. "I don't think there's much of a rationale for a US stake in Boeing," said Richard Aboulafia of the Teal Group, a research consultancy focused on aviation and defense. The government also could make aid conditional on splitting the company into two entities, one focused on commercial planes and the other on defense, experts said. Another possibility could be a merger of Boeing into one of the other defense giants, experts said. Lockheed Martin did not respond to queries, while Northrop declined comment. In televised address, Iranian president says it is crucial for sanctions-hit country to resume economic production. Irans President Hassan Rouhani has said he expects measures taken to combat the spread of the highly infectious coronavirus, including social distancing, to be eased within the next two to three weeks. Accusing counter-revolutionaries of attempting to shut down economic production, Rouhani said in a televised address on Saturday his country has to do everything to return economic activity back to normal. Iran is one of the hardest-hit countries worldwide by the virus, with an official death toll only behind Italy and China. On Saturday, the health ministrys latest tally said the death toll had risen by more than 100 to 1,556, while the number of infected people stood at 20,610. A total of 7,635 people have recovered in Iran. Al Jazeeras Zein Basravi, reporting from the capital, Tehran, said Rouhani tried to strike a balance between addressing the public health crisis and maintaining the countrys economic and sociopolitical stability going forward. This is a country that has lost patience with its own government over a series of crises that the country has experienced in the last few months, he said. Already reeling from years of economic sanctions following US President Donald Trumps 2018 withdrawal from a nuclear deal Iran had signed with world powers three years earlier, the countrys inability to procure badly needed medical equipment from international markets has hampered its efforts to combat COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. Since announcing its first two COVID-19 deaths in the holy Shia city of Qom on February 19, Iran has taken a series of steps to contain the virus. It has closed schools and universities until early April, as well as four key pilgrimage sites, including the Fatima Masumeh shrine in Qom. Iran has also cancelled the main weekly Friday prayers, and temporarily closed Parliament. Nowruz travel In a speech marking the start of the Persian new year, known as Nowruz, Rouhani on Friday defended the governments response to the outbreak in the face of widespread criticism that officials acted too slowly and may have even covered up initial cases before infections rapidly spread across the country. He also praised doctors and nurses for their courage in fighting COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Our nation has managed to reach its goals, despite difficulties Iran will overcome the coronavirus with unity, Rouhani said. Iranian authorities have asked people to avoid all travel during the Persian New Year holidays, which usually sees almost all citizens take to the streets. But the pleas have been ignored by many. According to the Iranian Red Crescent, about three million people have left the 13 worst-hit provinces by road since March 17. Health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said on Saturday there was a minority who did not follow the guidelines, warning that provinces popular with tourists would not welcome visitors for the Nowruz holiday. The daily swirl of press briefings by health officials, new announcements by government leaders and reports on the latest public spaces, businesses or borders being closed leaves little opportunity for the opposition parties to get a word in. That's assuming they have anything to say, or a platform on which to say it. Across the country, legislatures are shuttered as governments grapple with the global COVID-19 pandemic. So what is the role of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition in the midst of a national crisis? The House of Commons adjourned last week and is only scheduled to resume regular business on Apr. 20. Most provincial legislatures also have suspended sittings. Some, like those in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Prince Edward Island, are closed until further notice. The assemblies in New Brunswick and Quebec won't sit again until April (if then). In order to pass some of the measures announced by Finance Minister Bill Morneau this week, the Liberals have agreed with the opposition parties to briefly recall Parliament and ensure that enough MPs attend to make up a quorum and pass legislation. Ontario did the same on Thursday and Newfoundland and Labrador will follow suit this coming week. But so far, it appears that most opposition parties across the country are looking not to oppose but to collaborate with the governing parties and to keep partisanship to a minimum. After weeks of speculation about whether opposition parties would gang up to defeat Premier Blaine Higgs' government in New Brunswick, a budget was passed and all parties co-operated to cram weeks' worth of legislative business into 17 minutes of voting. In Nova Scotia, Opposition Leader Tim Houston tweeted that he would suspend "the production and release of all original content to avoid complicating public discourse." He then directed his followers to the provincial government's health website. Marc Tanguay, Quebec Liberal house leader, had this to say of Premier Francois Legault: "I think, honestly, the reaction of the government has been very good." Story continues It isn't all smiles and sunshine everywhere, of course. The Manitoba New Democrats used procedural manoeuvres to delay the introduction of Premier Brian Pallister's budget for more than a week. In Alberta, a brief moment of solidarity in the legislature between Premier Jason Kenney and NDP Leader Rachel Notley was notable only because it represented a short armistice in ongoing hostilities between their two parties. But there is an inherent political risk in being partisan in a time of national crisis particularly if voters think a government is doing a good job. A Leger poll for Le Devoir found that 85 per cent of Quebecers were satisfied with how the Legault government was handling COVID-19. Only 10 per cent were dissatisfied. Remarkably, support for Legault's performance was sky-high among supporters of the opposition parties. Roughly four-fifths of Quebecers who said they would vote for the Liberals, Parti Quebecois or Quebec Solidaire were satisfied with Legault's performance. In Quebec, at least, there appears to be little appetite for the opposition's traditional role of criticizing the government. 'Great spirit of co-operation' The federal Conservatives seem to have come to the same conclusion. The party's official Twitter account is usually busy posting attacks on the Trudeau Liberals, but since the adjournment of the House it has instead tweeted information about the measures being taken by the federal government to assist Canadians during this crisis. Opposition Leader Andrew Scheer has also toned down his rhetoric significantly. In an interview on Wednesday with Vassy Kapelos, host of CBC News Network's Power and Politics, Scheer said he supports pandemic response measures that put money in the hands of Canadians and his only concern is about those who might fall through the cracks. Asked to comment on the massive spending required by a government already in deficit, Scheer said that, while the Conservatives had warned the Liberals about the dangers of mounting debt, "we are today now in the world in which we live, so we are going to be supportive of measures to help Canadians get through this difficult time. We can have those conversations about what to do when things return to normal." Watch: Andrew Scheer speaks to Power and Politics host Vassy Kapelos on Wednesday On CTV, Scheer called a conversation he had with Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland "productive" and spoke of a "great spirit of co-operation". Yves-Francois Blanchet, leader of the Bloc Quebecois, put out a statement this week expressing satisfaction with the measures the federal government has taken, although he expressed a concern about the delay in getting support to those who need it. In a recent interview with Catherine Cullen for CBC Radio's The House, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said he thinks "that people want people to work together." "They want politicians, they want leaders to work together. They want to see collaboration. There's a common threat and it's scary," Singh said. "I believe that the prime minister announced some really strong measures that were welcomed and good signs," he added. "But the big concern that I've heard from people is a lot of those supports won't actually reach people until the end of April or beginning of May ... That is something that is just simply untenable for too many people." On Thursday, Singh wrote an open letter to the prime minister spelling out how the New Democrats would help the government fast-track legislation that would get support to Canadians as quickly as possible. But the NDP's tone has been a little sharper than that of the other parties in recent days, having issued statements calling on the government to take measures to help workers in the gig economy and to put "Canadians ahead of Credit Card companies." Listen: Jagmeet Singh speaks to The House guest host Catherine Cullen on Friday Leaving them wanting more It's all part of the general message coming out of opposition parties across the country at both levels of government one that cautiously welcomes measures being taken by their opponents in office while urging them to do more, and to do it faster. That might be the extent of the criticism most opposition parties feel Canadians are willing to hear for the time being. But how long can this detente last? It's not unusual for opposing parties to come together in the face of a crisis. With the Germans marching across France in August 1914, Wilfrid Laurier then leader of the opposition rose in the House in support of Robert Borden's Conservative government. "We raise no question," he said, "we take no exception, we offer no criticism, and we shall offer no criticism so long as there is danger at the front." The Laurier Liberals continued collaborative relations with the government for a good part of the First World War; they didn't contest byelections for seats vacated by Conservative MPs and agreed to delay the 1916 election by a year. National Archives of Canada/The Canadian Press It didn't last. Laurier and Borden broke over conscription, leading to the creation of a Unionist government that included pro-conscription Liberals and an extremely divisive wartime election in 1917. It's an example of how government and opposition can work together to deal with a national crisis until the government decides on a course the opposition can no longer support. We might be a long way from that kind of break. But that doesn't mean we won't hear some expressions of dissent. Earlier this week, Kenney pleaded with the federal government to "stop doing harm" and "throw us a lifeline here on additional costs" like the carbon tax. Scott Reid, a Conservative backbench MP from eastern Ontario, wrote an open letter on Thursday proposing that a special oversight committee be formed to review the emergency legislation that the House of Commons will be asked to pass next week a reminder to his fellow opposition members that they still have a role to play in providing parliamentary scrutiny of the government's decisions. Failure to do so, he said, would be a "gross abdication of responsibility". The coronavirus pandemic is uncharted territory for governments. Opposition parties are also trying to figure out the best way forward. They won't always strike the right tone, provide constructive proposals or successfully make governments address flaws or gaps in their efforts to fight COVID-19. But so far, during this crisis, it seems like political partisanship is doing some social distancing of its own. Canada's Foreign Minister Francois-Phillipe Champagne, who had self-isolated after experiencing flu symptoms, has not contracted the coronavirus, he said Friday. "My #COVID19 test results came back negative," he said on Twitter. Champagne, 49, announced on Thursday that he had placed himself in isolation and had been tested for the coronavirus as a precaution after experiencing flu-like symptoms less than 14 days after returning from a trip abroad. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, 48, also has been in isolation for a week after his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau tested positive for the coronavirus and was placed in quarantine. Two other government ministers also had been isolated as a precaution in recent weeks, but they too tested negative for the COVID-19 virus. As of early Friday, Canada had 870 confirmed cases of the virus and 12 deaths, according to official figures released by provincial authorities. The governments of several countries -- Spain, France, Britain, Iran, Poland, Norway and Morocco -- have one or more members affected by the virus, which has spread around the world since emerging in China in late 2019. Despite the many dark sides aspects of the coronavirus, as a community people are showing what being compassionate means. From many coming out to their balconies to sing their hearts out to others collectively lauding the dedication of those who are working in essential services, and some providing free food and masks to those in dire need, it's this innate human nature of being kind that stands out in these trying times. Here are some ways in which people are encouraging each other amid the pandemic: 1. A flight crew held an impromptu graduation for students whose ceremonies were cancelled When four senior college athletes got word that their graduation ceremony would be cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, the cabin crew on their flight surprised them with a sweet ceremony in the sky. The random act of kindness occurred on WestJet flight 655 from Toronto to Edmonton, Canada. Twitter The flight attendants wrote out each graduating student's degree on a meal container lid and handed them to them like diplomas, along with barf bags full of goodies like Kit Kats. 2. US Students made get well soon cards for people in isolation Fourth, fifth, and sixth graders at St. Anthony's Home and School in Columbus, Nebraska, made get well soon cards for people affected by the coronavirus. The hospital posted a photo of the cards on its Facebook page, sharing how they brought joy to patients. ' This is just about the nicest thing ever! Kids at St. Anthony's School in Columbus sent get-well cards for all of our people in the National Quarantine Unit being monitored for the coronavirus. We can't say thanks enough!,' read the Facebook post. 3. Neighbours sang happy birthday for an 80-year-old under quarantine An elderly woman in a coronavirus lockdown in Spain was brought to tears after her neighbours surprised her with a cake for her 80th birthday. Her birthday had fallen just days after the Spanish government announced the entire country would go into lockdown in drastic measures to stop the spread of the virus. 4. People thanked 73-year-old doctor treating coronavirus patients A septuagenarian emergency room doctor was praised for his resilience while treating coronavirus patients. Story about the doctor was shared on Twitter by his daughter. She wrote, 'This is my Dad. Hes a 73-year-old Emergency Room physician in Texas who loves his job and will never retire. He texted me this picture tonight after Id asked him how he was doing, and I burst into tears the second I saw it. My reaction came out of nowhere.' This is my Dad. Hes a 73 year old Emergency Room physician in Texas who loves his job and will never retire. He texted me this picture tonight after Id asked him how he was doing, and I burst into tears the second I saw it. My reaction came out of nowhere... pic.twitter.com/YOiMT5sImy Kristin Fisher (@KristinFisher) March 17, 2020 Medical practitioners across the globe are working selflessly to treat patients infected. People expressed gratitude for this doctor, who despite his age took the risk to help people suffering from the deadly disease. 5, Indian entrepreneur, Ronnie Screwala pitches for a free COVID-19 treatment facility in Mumbai Indian entrepreneur and founder of educational start-up upGrad, has pitched for a free facility to help COVID-19 patients in the wake of increasing numbers. @zarinascrewvala , me & @WeAreSwades - identifying a large private hospital in Mumbai to work with them/contribute/donate do whatever It takes - build testing and treatment facilities for the Virus - treatment to be free- we all need to be prepared for the long haul Ronnie Screwvala (@RonnieScrewvala) March 21, 2020 In a tweet Screwala wrote,' identifying a large private hospital in Mumbai to work with them/contribute/donate do whatever It takes - build testing and treatment facilities for the Virus - treatment to be free- we all need to be prepared for the long haul.' He also urged citizens to strictly adhere to PM Modi's Janta curfew directive scheduled for March 22 saying, 'Tomorrows curfew is an imp test for the entire country - whether we have DISCIPLINE to respond to call for action -yes we r a resilient nation but today the call is to show DISCIPLINE.' To support Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for 'Janta Curfew', Mumbai Metro One has decided to suspend its operations on March 22. The move is expected to encourage people to stay at home in order to mitigate the spread of the deadly coronavirus. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday urged citizens to follow the concept of 'Janta Curfew' on March 22 from 7 am to 9 pm. He said that no one apart from those involved with essential services is supposed to venture out of their homes. India has reported 271 cases of coronavirus so far, according to official data. Maharashtra is the worst-hit state in the country with 63 cases and one fatality. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Italian man who brought coronavirus to Nigeria has tested negative to the deadly disease the second time and as such, he has been discharged. This was made known by Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the Lagos state governor via his official Twitter handle. As the COVID-19 Incident Commander for Lagos, I am glad to inform you that the index case; the Italian gentleman is now negative. Read Also: Sanwo-Olu Takes Lagos Explosion Pictures To Buhari In Abuja Through a combined effort of Lagos, Ogun State and Fed Health Authorities, we were able to limit the transmission of the virus to a single contact. This involved aggressive contact tracing and containment strategies. However, we now have several new imported cases and we hope we can apply the same contact tracing strategy along with social distancing to slow down the outbreak which may be brewing from these new cases. The index patient consented to donating one unit of white blood (plasma) before he was discharged today. The blood plasma is rich in antibody proteins that target #COVID19 virus. The white blood plasma is frozen in our Bio-bank and will be useful in handling new cases. As the COVID-19 Incident Commander for Lagos, I am glad to inform you that the index case; the Italian gentleman is now negative. Through a combined effort of Lagos, Ogun State and Fed Health Authorities, we were able to limit the transmission of the virus to a single contact. pic.twitter.com/PDvAsLLAnP Babajide Sanwo-Olu (@jidesanwoolu) March 20, 2020 This involved aggressive contact tracing and containment strategies. However we now have several new imported cases and we hope we can apply the same contact tracing strategy along with social distancing to slow down the outbreak which may be brewing from these new cases. pic.twitter.com/Gk5nVFgVfw Babajide Sanwo-Olu (@jidesanwoolu) March 20, 2020 And last month, the United States Embassy in Nairobi warned of a possible terrorist attack against a major hotel in the Kenyan capital that is popular with tourists and business travelers. The warning did not specifically mention the Shabab, but intelligence officials said the threat bore the hallmarks of such an operation. The Defense Intelligence Agency told the Pentagons inspector general in a recent report that the chances of the Shabab attacking the United States remained relatively low, but the analysts noted that the group had made clear its intentions to kill Americans at any location. One threat could be home grown, from radicalized Somali-Americans living in cities like Minneapolis or Columbus, Ohio, which have large Somali-American communities, analysts said. Another could be from Shabab militants in East Africa, who have pilot training and might be able to slip into the United States a much more difficult feat now than when the original Sept. 11 plotters entered the country in 2001. For now, Shabab threats against Americans remain highest in East Africa. In September, a suicide bomber detonated a car packed with explosives at the gate of a military airfield in Bale Dogle, Somalia, injuring one American service member. Afterward, according to the Pentagons inspector general report, the Shabab and other Qaeda-related groups released near-simultaneous messages on social media, suggesting a coordinated media strategy among the Qaeda branches. This is what we struggle with, Brig. Gen. Dagvin R.M. Anderson, the commander of American Special Operations forces in Africa, said in an interview last month on the sidelines of a counterterrorism exercise in Mauritania. Their intent is clearly stated. The question is, are they able to develop a safe haven to plan, fund and plot these attacks against the U.S.? Whats their timeline? How do we and our partners keep them off balance? It is unclear how the Shabab might try to exploit the spread of the coronavirus pandemic on the continent, where many countries face huge challenges responding to the crisis, General Anderson said on Friday in a separate telephone interview from his headquarters in Germany. There are also now about 500 American troops in Somalia. Most are Special Operations forces stationed at a small number of bases across the country. Their missions include training and advising Somali army and counterterrorism troops and conducting kill-or-capture raids of their own. A basic income is a bad idea in search of a reason to be implemented. So no wonder that the coronavirus pandemic has revived this zombie policy. The economic damage wrought by the disease is so great that huge and innovative responses are required, and a basic income, which is an attractive option in normal times, seems an obvious answer. A regular income paid by the state to every citizen regardless of their circumstances sounds like just what is needed at a time of catastrophic loss of jobs and earnings from casual work. Andrew Yang, a US Democratic presidential hopeful who dropped out of the race five weeks ago, for whom a basic income was the signature policy, has said: I told you so. Rebecca Long-Bailey, a Labour prime-ministerial hopeful, has called for a temporary basic income. As has Layla Moran, a Lib Dem leadership hopeful. Ian Blackford, of the Scottish National Party, called for it at Prime Ministers Questions this week. Yesterday, they were joined by 170 other MPs and peers. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 12:01:38|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close NICOSIA, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades has expressed his gratitude for China's tangible support for his country's fight against COVID-19. "We are deeply grateful to President Xi Jinping, the Government of People's Republic of China and the Ambassador Huang ( Xingyuan) for the tangible support in providing us with medical supplies and sharing their scientific expertise in the common fight against COVID-19," Anastasiades wrote on his twitter account. Whenever we go through a national crisis, we tend to believe that the trauma has changed us in some profound, lasting way. Sometimes it's true, as when World War II compelled six million women to join this country's civilian work force, and forever altered gender roles in our society. At other times, its just prisoner-of-the-moment presumption, as when several pundits responded to the 9/11 terrorist attacks by falsely suggesting that the killing of nearly 3,000 Americans and the leveling of the World Trade Center towers would bring on the end of irony. With the COVID-19 outbreak currently forcing Americans to self-quarantine, a natural question is whether being forced to temporarily work from home will permanently change the way we approach our work days. Will we become so accustomed to working from home that well perceive it as the new normal after our public-health emergency passes? Of course, its important to point out that if youre grappling with the adjustment of working from home, youre one of the lucky ones in our society. The coronavirus pandemic has shut down much of the American economy, with restaurants, bars, hotels and airlines among the most devastated. Jobless claims rose by 33 percent last week (281,000 total claims) and economists warn that U.S. unemployment could reach as high as 20 percent. Also, there are many jobs for which working at home is simply not an option. You cant work a construction project from your living room and you cant stock the shelves of a grocery store by Skype. Working from home has seen a slow but steady growth in this country over the past 40 years, essentially tracing the rise of personal computers. A 2017 Gallup survey found that 13 percent of U.S. workers spent at least 80 percent of their work time at home and 43 percent said they worked from home at least occasionally. Working from home makes sense on some pretty fundamental levels. It spares you the wasted time of driving to and from work, saves you gasoline (which benefits the environment) and reduces traffic congestion. In our city, which is expected to add roughly a million people over the next two decades, thats a major consideration. But its always carried the so-called FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) factor, the sense that by working in isolation at your own residence, youre getting left out of the loop. In our COVID-19 season of social distancing, however, thats not really an issue, since most of our co-workers are going through the same thing. Over the years, theres been a near-religious fervor to some of the arguments made in favor of working from home. Beverly Neuer Feldman, a Los Angeles-based educator, said this in 1984: Its a return to the nest for women and men, which is the way it should be. I think it is artificial to work in an office. In fact, I think it is wrong. Sarah and Paul Edwards were work-from-home advocates who, in the 1980s, founded the Association of Electric Cottagers, an organization for people who worked at home with computers. The couple started made the lifestyle switch after discovering that their 7-year-old son, who was polite with them, had a habit of rude behavior with his babysitter. They argued that people had grown tired of a daily driving-to-work grind that never left enough time for themselves or their families. But even the Edwards recognized the potential hazards of working from home. They cited snacking, sleeping late, procrastinating, talking on the phone, watching television, spending all day in your pajamas and drinking while working. Just when they had me sold on the concept, they also warned about the possibility of working too much, because it becomes harder to differentiate between personal and work time. Many of us found ourselves reeling this past week as we tried to acclimate ourselves to the idea of carrying out our jobs while hunkering down at home. As we go forward, however, some of us might start to question the previously unquestioned necessity of going to an office to execute tasks we could just as easily do from home. In the early days of the work-from-home movement, Nicholas Johnson, a former member of the Federal Communications Commission, penned an op-ed arguing that working from your own residence was a sure ticket to marital strife. Do we want to work at home every day? Of course not, Johnson wrote in the 1982 Gannett column. Previously married couples would be divorced for sure if they were together 24 hours a day. I dont buy that argument, but I do relate to what Desmond Coffrey, a self-employed British marketing consultant, told The Guardian in 1981 about the adjustment to working from home. Its hard to get over it at first, Coffrey said. You panic about whether you are going to be able to prove that you exist. Were all struggling right now with trying to prove that we exist. Well make it, though, and we might end up seeing our lives in a new way. Gilbert Garcia is a columnist covering the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | ggarcia@express-news.net | Twitter: @gilgamesh470 Solano County Supervisor Skip Thomson was livid. Coronavirus was rapidly spreading in the Bay Area, and county health leaders were uniting in unprecedented orders to the public: stay at home. It started Monday, with six of the nine Bay Area counties issuing orders San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa and Marin. On Tuesday, Sonoma County joined, and Napa signaled it would soon join. But Solano County was a holdout. I had a talk with our county administrator, on Tuesday, Thomson said. I told her my thoughts about sheltering in place. She said We dont want to alarm the public. County Administrator Birgitta Corsello called Thomsons recollection inaccurate, but she did not elaborate, according to spokesman Matthew Davis. On Tuesday, Solano County Health Officer Bela Matyas released a statement to the public about the coronavirus and the shelter-in-place orders other counties had issued. He conveyed the message via a YouTube video posted on the countys official website. In the video, Matyas sat at a desk with his sleeves rolled up and delivered a nine-minute monologue over looped guitar music. He dismissed the shelter-in-place orders as essentially just social distancing orders that mirrored guidelines the state and federal government already put out. For those of you who are familiar with the concept of shelter in place, its used in situations when its dangerous to go outside because the air is dangerous, so if theres been a toxic chemical spill or a fire with smoke, Matyas said. He added that shelter in place was not the right terminology for whats actually social distancing. Over the next few hours, emails poured into Thomsons inbox. Most of them came from perplexed or frustrated residents, questioning why Solano County was not taking action. By the end of the next day, Wednesday, the county did an about-face, issuing an order instructing residents to stay in their homes as much as possible. By Friday, Matyas video was made private, so the public could no longer view it. Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Erin Hannigan said she asked that the video be taken down. It wasnt helpful anymore, she said. It needed to be altered. There were some statements he made that were no longer true ... and I couldnt stand the music. Davis added that the video understandably, wasnt tracking well with the public. It drew a string of comments on YouTube and the county Facebook page, some of which were not supportive, he noted. Thomson said that after talking to the county administrator Tuesday, he emailed Hannigan requesting a special meeting to plan for the pandemic. He said Hannigan did not respond. When he complained to Assistant County Administrator Nancy Huston, she told him the county would not hold a special meeting. Its next regular meeting is scheduled for March 24. What kind of message does that send to our residents? Thomson asked. Hannigan said later that she did reply to Thomson, but that there was no need for the board to meet. Top county officials were already having a conversation behind the scenes about an order we would put out, she said. We wanted to make sure the nomenclature was correct. In the meantime, constituents were flooding Thomson with emails that showed an overwhelming sense of confusion and a lack of confidence in the county government. I am shocked at the utter lack of proactive response that is being taken by our county health officer Bela Matyas, Vacaville resident Heather Smolen wrote in an email shared with The Chronicle. In the video he recently posted online he stated that a shelter in place would cause people to overreact. I beg to differ, I feel that a shelter in place for Solano County would cause people to finally take the risk of coronavirus seriously. Thomson began forwarding the emails probably 70 of them, he said to Huston. Other supervisors said they were also getting slammed. I received a lot of calls from people asking why we werent adopting a shelter-in-place (order), Supervisor Jim Spering said. I passed that on to the county administrator. Matyas was not available for comment Friday. Davis said all the supervisors were feeling pressure from their constituents to issue orders, and that Corsello and Matyas were trying to act as quickly as possible. Yet many residents sensed there was no urgency to act in their county. Some were baffled by Matyas reluctance to enact strict interventions, in part because Solano County was the first county in the nation to report a case of coronavirus that couldnt be traced to overseas travel or contact with an infected person. It also houses Travis Air Force Base, a quarantine center for Americans repatriated from trips abroad, and for passengers of the Grand Princess cruise ship. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. So far 14 Solano County residents have tested positive for the virus, though none have died. The notion that Solano County was still open for business troubled Vallejo Mayor Bob Sampayan. He said many Vallejo residents worried that people from other counties would flock in, causing the virus to spread more quickly. Residents were also mystified by the stark disconnect between Matyas video and the advisories that Vallejo was posting on its own social media channels, telling people to stay inside. I received concerned correspondences from constituents, Sampayan said. Folks were saying, Look, the governor and the CDC are telling us one thing, and then were getting this other message. He surmised that the public outcry caused Matyas to rethink his stance. Spering defended Matyas. He was wary of the shelter-in-place edicts, since they force people to miss work and disrupt the economy. Although some people called him to demand more aggressive measures, others were distraught about losing their jobs. Ive been getting calls from moms who have two kids, work in two restaurants, and 40% of their income is tips, Spering said. We have a lot of people living paycheck to paycheck. Still, as a longstanding politician, Spering knew hed feel pressure to eventually deliver a shelter-in-place order. Thomson remains frustrated. He never bothered to watch Matyas video. Once the first six counties announced that order, it seemed like we should follow suit really quickly, he said. But then it took us (three) days to figure it out. Ive been vindicated, he added. But thats not really my purpose. Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has issued an additional State Public Health Emergency Declaration effective immediately that provides additional regulatory relief to Iowans impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic public health disaster. The declaration suspends collection of penalties and interest on property taxes, limits evictions, allows restaurants and bars to sell alcohol to-go and allows government entities to hold public meetings electronically. During a Friday livestreamed press conference, Reynolds said the moves will help prevent an unnecessary level of disruption to peoples lives, while assisting businesses impacted by COVID-19 and encouraging social distancing. The proclamation: Temporarily suspends penalties and interest as it relates to the collection of property taxes until the end of this proclamation. Temporarily suspends some evictions under the Iowa Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act or the Manufactured Home Communities or Mobile Home Parks Residential Landlord and Tenant Act in certain circumstances. Extends expiration deadline for a permit to carry and a permit to acquire a firearm and additional measures. Permits the sale of carryout, delivery, drive-thru of alcohol for unopened bottles of alcohol for bars and restaurants and suspends some fees. Permits public meetings or hearings by electronic means to improve the functions of government while maintaining social distancing practices. Suspends certain regulations to ease the transportation of agricultural supplies and commodities, food, medical supplies, cleaning products and other household goods on all highways in Iowa. The proclamation also allows related state agencies to implement the states public health emergency plan. The state has 45 cases of novel coronavirus. During the press conference, Iowa Workforce Development Executive Director Beth Townsend said the department is working to help people that have lost their job during the pandemic. The department has waived a number of unemployment insurance requirements for individuals and businesses. We are seeing an unprecedented number of unemployment claims, Townsend said. Its pretty staggering to see the number of claims were seeing. Townsend said as claims are processed the department is working to release the number of claims next week. Jessica Dunker, president and chief executive of the Iowa Restaurant Association told the Sioux City Journal earlier this week that she expects to around 80,000 restaurant workers to file for unemployment in the aftermath of closing restaurants and bars to public use. We are the second-largest private-sector employer in the state of Iowa and we will need assistance, Dunker said in an interview with the Journal. If we receive no assistance, it would be likely that we would see 2,000 to 3,000 establishments fold under permanently. Reynolds said Friday she plans to put together an economic recover task force to talk about how we stand back up this economy, noting shes looking at using some of the $20 million in emergency spending authorized by the Legislature to assist the food and beverage industry. Three more people in Punjab have tested positive for the new coronavirus, taking the total in the state to six, an official said on Saturday. "Three more people have tested positive in Mohali," Deputy Commissioner Girish Dayalan said. Among the fresh cases is the sister of a 69-year-old Mohali woman who tested positive on Friday, he said. Another person who tested positive had come in contact with a Chandigarh-based23-year-old coronavirus patient, Dayalan said. The other person is a 42-year-old resident who had recently returned from the United Kingdom and was admitted to a government hospital in Sector-16 in Chandigarh, the official said. The first coronavirus positive patient in Punjab had a travel history to Italy and the second person, who died on Wednesday in Nawanshahr, had returned from Germany via Italy. Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday had asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a fiscal package to combat the coronavirus crisis and permission to get tests done at private hospitals and labs in the state. The CM had expressed grave concerns over the escalating COVID-19 crisis during a video conference convened by the PM with all the chief ministers to review the situation. Singh has asked the deputy commissioners and the district police chiefs to chalk out a comprehensive strategy for containment of the disease. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Clackamas County assisted living center employee has tested positive for the new coronavirus, the womans employer confirmed. The coronavirus patient works as a full-time caregiver in at The Springs at Clackamas Woods in Milwaukie, said Tracy Darchini, a company spokeswoman. The caregiver reported to work Monday with no symptoms, had her temperature checked as part of a recently implemented screening process, and showed no sign of fever or other symptoms, Darchini said. She said the worker did not show any symptoms at any point when she was with residents. The employee didnt feel well before work Tuesday, so she called in sick and went to the doctor. She did not return to work. On Thursday, she received her positive test results, Darchini said. She is recovering at her home. The virus has proven to be especially dangerous at care facilities, where it can spread quickly in close quarters and infect people who are most vulnerable to death from the disease. At least 35 deaths are connected to a single facility in Washington. A veterans home in Linn County has been linked to 15 coronavirus cases, mostly among residents older than 70. Oregon officials said Tuesday that they believe the virus may have already reached more than 30 nursing homes statewide. Fee Stubblefield, chief executive officer of The Springs senior living facilities, said as soon as the company learned an employee had tested positive, executives went into full lockdown protocol, limiting residents movement to their own rooms. He said the company had already implemented several preventative measures, including screening all residents and employees for symptoms of the virus. We decided well worry now, so that we dont have to worry later, he said. Stubblefield said the company limited employees to work in only one of the facilitys several buildings to reduce the risk of exposure to residents in case someone did get the virus. The facilitys 12-unit buildings house residents for independent living, assisted living or memory care programs. The employee who tested positive had been assigned to a 12-unit assisted living building. Staffers also started logging residents cold, cough and fever symptoms every day, and the company did the same for employees checking their temperature and asking them about travel before every shift. They also restricted non-essential visitors and screened all visitors who did enter the buildings. Stubblefield said the Clackamas County employee was the first one to test positive for the virus. Several other employees were sent home during the screening process, because they had a fever or werent feeling well, he said. Those people were also tested, and he said those tests came back negative. He said the company has implemented an employee benefit program extending their sick pay, to encourage workers to stay home if they thought they had symptoms of the virus. CORONAVIRUS IN OREGON: THE LATEST NEWS So far, he said none of the residents have shown symptoms of the coronavirus, and none are suspected to have contracted it. He said none of the residents have been tested for the virus, either. We have been monitoring all residents for three weeks, more recently including temperature checks twice a day, Darchin said. Kathy Schwab said her 82-year-old mother lives in the building where the employee who contracted coronavirus works. She said the facility has been proactive by following all the state and local guidelines to protect against the virus. I had to go to the store last week and buy stuff for my mom and hand it off to someone at the door, Schwab said. She said facility employees have kept regular contact with relatives of residents and sent out calls and emails as soon as they found out about the employee who had tested positive. Nobody did anything wrong theyre following all the rules," she said. But I think it was unavoidable. We have to go out to the store and do things. Because theres no testing, theres no way to find out whos transmitting the virus. She said shes kept in touch with her mom through phone calls and text. Her mother, like many other residents, is anxious about the virus. The residents are quarantined to their room for at least 14 days. She found her mother an online service to check out audiobooks. They feel kind of trapped," she said. They dont get the regular socialization theyre used to, so theyre kind of stuck in there watching the news, which makes them more anxious." Stubblefield said employees are trying to help residents stay engaged by offering them tablet computers and encouraging them to stay in touch with family through video calls. Schwab said despite the facilitys steps to prevent the spread of the virus, shes worried Oregon residents are not taking it seriously. The asymptomatic carriers are making this worse than it needs to be, she said. What were being asked to do now is not enough. Unless they quarantine people, its going to keep spreading. Jayati Ramakrishnan; 503-221-4320; jramakrishnan@oregonian.com; @JRamakrishnanOR Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. Prince William and Kate Middleton were reported to share a more glamorous picture to ramp up the number of their followers on Instagram according to a recently published article. Prince William and Kate, were said to be at war on social media with the Duchess of Sussex by posting a more glamorous picture in an attempt to increase their followers according to the royal expert Sophia Money-Coutts. Prince William and Kate Middleton took a picture of them showing their passionate love with each other during their trip to Ireland. Followers of the Duchess of Cambridge were astounded and surprised after each of them shared their photos in their personal profile. It is believed that what triggered the royal couple to share their captured photo is Harry and Meghan Markel's millions of followers. They are believed to be in an Instagram war by boosting their followers. It is no longer a question as to why Harry and Meghan Markle are the most followed personalities in the world. This is an accolade Prince William and Kate Middleton have somehow yet to achieve. At present, Harry and Meghan Markle have accumulated a total number of 17,867,162. It is also important to note that each of them has 11.2 million followers. Harry and Meghan Markle launched their profile in May 2018 and it remains to be the most followed Instagram account. It is not a surprise anymore because Meghan Markle was once a Hollywood actress before she turned into a Duchess. Meanwhile, to increase also the number of Instagram followers of Prince William and Kate Middleton, they shared their loving picture taken in Ireland. According to Money-Coutts during, she said: "There was one of the Ireland pictures of Kate and William, they had their arms around each other." She also added that the photo of Prince William and Kate Middleton is something unusual compared to Harry and Meghan Markle who keep their followers updated by posting pictures of them holding hands all the time. For the royalty expert, it seems that the Duchess of Cambridge wants to say "so can we, we're in love." This also surprised the royal expert because not indulging in smushy PDAs seems like a royal protocol. An example of this is Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip where it is very rare that you see them hold hands with anyone while in front of the public. This is also what Prince William and Kate are following until today. Prince Wiliam and Kate are known to have been private about public displays of affection. However, things are changing now because the two of them have slowly grown more casual over the years. Meanwhile, the fact remains that Meghan Markle is still the media's favorite muse and she always finds a way to be on a tabloid. Her way of fashion and life that somehow change the traditional practice of royal families led her to be in the spotlight. In fact, there are many books, videos, and audio material about Megan Markle on Amazon. She is known as a feminist, influencer, and humanitarian. It's also one of the reasons why she has more than 11 million followers. Moreover, Prince William and Kate's photo in Ireland was described by the royal expert as: "It's sweet, it's a lovely, lovely picture but I just can't imagine they would have done that maybe a few years ago." Read related articles: Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis: - More than 11,000 dead globally - ======================At least 11,737 deaths have been recorded since the virus first emerged in December, according to an AFP tally compiled at 1230 GMT (1800 IST) on Saturday based on official sources. There have been more than 277,106 infections reported in 164 countries and territories. Italy has recorded 4,032 deaths out of 47,021 cases, with 5,129 recoveries. China has 81,008 cases, including 3,255 fatalities and 71,740 people recovered. The worst affected countries after Italy and China are Iran with 1,556 deaths, Spain with 1,326 deaths, and France with 450 deaths. - Nearly one billion people confined to homes - ============================= An estimated 900 million people are now confined to their homes in 35 countries around the world -- including 600 million hemmed in by obligatory government lockdown orders -- according to an AFP tally. Colombia will impose obligatory confinement on Tuesday evening. The same will begin across Tunisia on Sunday. In the US, seven US states have issued orders to stay home -- California, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut and Nevada. In total, one in five people in the US are affected by stay-at-home orders. - Toughening measures - ================ Switzerland, which has so far not followed other countries in ordering full confinement, announces it will ban all gatherings of more than five people, and that anyone standing closer than two metres to others risks a fine. Haiti, Dominican Republic, Jordan and Burkina Faso introduce curfews. - Borders closing - ============ Cuba, which is largely dependent on its tourism revenue, will close its borders to non-residents on Tuesday, for 30 days. The Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso close their borders as of this weekend. Brazil will close its borders as of Monday to all visitors from Europe, Australia and several Asian countries. - Businesses hit - =========== Smartphone shipments take a historic plunge in February, the industry tracker Strategy Analytics says, dropping to 61.8 million, a 38 percent dip from the same month a year earlier. Air Canada and Air Transat announce they will temporarily lay off some 7,000 staff. Boeing announces it will suspend its dividend until further notice and that its chief executive and chairman will forgo pay until the end of the year. Guatemala announces a partial halt to industrial production as of Monday but says this will not affect food and pharmaceutical sectors. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 39-year-old woman who was 'in good health' has died days after she was tested for coronavirus - after she initially turned down a test because she thought she was low-risk. Natasha Ott, of New Orleans, was found dead on her kitchen floor Friday by her longtime partner, Josh Anderson, while she was still awaiting her Covid-19 test results. Anderson shared the heartbreaking story in a Facebook post Saturday, stating: 'The time for joking about Covid-19 is over. Now is the time to keep yourself, your loved ones, and everyone else safe.' Anderson explained that Ott first came down with cold symptoms on Tuesday, March 10. Ott, who was a social worker and a Peace Corps alumni, told her partner in a text message that it felt 'like a respiratory cold' and that she felt she had 'a tiny fever.' Natasha Ott, of New Orleans, was found dead on her kitchen floor Friday by her longtime partner, Josh Anderson, while she was still awaiting her Covid-19 test results Ott was able to obtain a coronavirus test through her place of employment, where she worked as a counsellor for HIV positive patients. However, as she was young and heathy, Ott believed she was low-risk and turned down one of the five test kits available so more vulnerable people could use them. She instead went to her local doctor to take a flu test, which came back negative several days later. Ott texted her boyfriend Friday, March 13th and wrote: 'Hey, they don't think I need to get tested unless I develop a fever. All looks well.' However, over the weekend Ott became heavily fatigued and feverish, and texted Anderson Sunday night: 'Hey, I'm not feeling so hot still. I may be testing at work tomorrow. I'm probably fine. I just tried to drink some medicinal whiskey and feel unwell. I'm ok. I love you.' Ott took the COVID-19 test on Monday, March 16, but was told test results could take several days to come back. Two days later, still waiting to hear back about her test results, Ott texted Anderson: 'I don't want to be sick anymore' and 'I just don't understand why I don't feel much better yet.' Ott first came down with cold symptoms on Tuesday, March 10, but initially turned down a Covid-19 test available through her work as she wanted to leave them for more vulnerable people On Thursday, March 18, Ott said she was feeling better than she had in days, and Anderson came by her house so the couple could take her dog for a walk - although they maintained spatial distance from one another. Anderson wrote on Facebook: 'She had more energy than she'd had in days, and she ended up walking [her dog] Zola with me. She did complain that she felt like 'something' was in her lungs. She also mentioned that her Coronavirus test results were delayed, and likely wouldn't come back until Monday'. On Friday morning, Ott texted Anderson: 'Good morning! I love you.' Anderson replied: 'Morning, sunshine, How you feeling? 'A little better and hopeful,' Ott replied, adding: 'The herbs seem to be working.' Throughout Friday, Anderson continued to send text messages to Ott, but they went unanswered. More than 26,000 people have tested positive to Covid-19 in the United States, and 346 people have died 'Natasha was a profoundly kind, passionate, funny and loving 39-year-old woman in good health': Heartbroken partner Josh Anderson shared a heartbreaking tribute on Facebook Anderson explained on Facebook: 'I called twice, with no-reply.' 'I wrote: 'I'm getting nervous. Just called twice. Text or call me soon. If I don't hear from you within the hour I'm coming over there to check on you.'' Hearing nothing back, Anderson went to Ott's home on Friday evening. He entered the home to find her dead on the kitchen floor. 'Seeing a woman I knew to be so full of life lying on the floor lifeless was devastating. I was afraid to touch her. I held her anyway,' he emotionally wrote on Facebook. Paying tribute to his longtime love, he continued: 'Natasha was a profoundly kind, passionate, funny and loving 39-year-old woman in good health... she loved those who were fortunate enough to be close to her with every ounce of her heart.' He added: 'The absolute least-interesting thing about her was the way that she died, but I'd like to talk about that here now because I'd like everyone to wake-up to the reality of what we are facing.' Ott's coronavirus test results are still pending, and are not expected to be released until Monday. Disturbing new research published by the CDC reveals that are not immune from the impacts of COVID-19. Among 508 American patients known to have been hospitalized between February 12 and March 16, 38 percent were between ages 20 and 54. And roughly 47 percent of 121 patients taken to intensive care units were under age age 65, the CDC found. A NEW CORONAVIRUS TEST KIT? On Friday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the first 'point-of-care' coronavirus test which can be used in hospitals and emergency rooms, delivering test results in 45 minutes. The new test was developed by the company Cepheid which plans to have it on sale by the end of March. The FDA granted the California-based company 'emergency use authorization' for the test rapid molecular test which will decrease the testing process by days. By cutting the wait for results down to 45 minutes, doctors can almost immediately decide on the best treatment for patients which will 'help alleviate the pressure' on struggling healthcare facilities flooded with large numbers of cases and people requiring testing. 'You can collect a specimen, it can be out of a car or anywhere but then it gets batched with another batch of specimens and gets sent to the reference lab and that takes time,' explains Cepheid's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. David Persing, of the current testing system. 'And then the reference lab takes time to build up the batches and all of that adds up to days or turnaround time so it's not quick.' 'For real-time patient management systems to be made in hospitals, what's really needed is a test to determine rapid status of infection on site when patients are being seen and admitted. 'What we need now is a way to identify somebody who has SARS CV2 quickly who represents in a similar way in a relatively severe presentation who's going to likely be admitted,' he added. 'What we've developed is a reference lab quality test which can be run at the point of care in about 45 minutes or less.' While the test can be used in a doctor's office it will go to hospitals and emergency rooms first when it goes on sale at the end of the month. The test has been developed to work with Cepheid's GeneXpert Systems of which there are 5,000 located around the U.S. and 23,000 around the world. People fill out forms as they wait for a coronavirus test in Queens, New York Advertisement ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ America's voice of reason: How straight-talking Dr. Anthony Fauci, 79, is earning the trust of the public during the coronavirus outbreak If Dr. Anthony Fauci says it, you'd be smart to listen. As the coronavirus has upended daily life across the globe, Fauci has become the trusted voice in separating fact and fiction. The fear and confusion of outbreaks aren't new to Fauci, who in more than 30 years has handled HIV, SARS, MERS, Ebola and even the nation's 2001 experience with bioterrorism - the anthrax attacks. Fauci's political bosses - from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump - have let him do the explaining because he's frank and understandable, translating complex medical information into everyday language while neither exaggerating nor downplaying. If you quizzed former presidents about who influenced their views on infectious diseases, 'Tony's name would be first on the list, and you wouldn't have to remind them,' said former health secretary Mike Leavitt, who worked with Fauci on bird flu preparedness. Fauci was born in Brooklyn in 1940, the son of pharmacy owners whose parents migrated to the US from Italy. President George W. Bush, who in 2008 awarded Fauci the Presidential Medal of Freedom, noted that even as a boy he showed an independent streak: In a neighborhood full of Brooklyn Dodgers fans, Fauci rooted for the Yankees. And despite being short in stature, Fauci captained the basketball team at the prestigious Regis High School, which he attended on a scholarship. He went on to College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts, before completing an MD at Cornell University. 'My interest in medicine stems from my keen interest in people, in asking questions and solving problems,' Fauci told the NIH Historical Office in a 1989 interview. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, has emerged as the most trusted public official during the coronavirus outbreak. He is seen right next to President Trump at the White House on Saturday For his contributions, Fauci was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Bush in June 2008 At 79, the government's top infectious disease expert is by age in the demographic group at high risk for COVID-19. But he's working round the clock and getting only a few hours of sleep. Yet his vigor belies his age, and he credits it to exercise, including running. 'Getting outside in the day and hearing the birds and smelling the grass is kind of a very pleasing thing for me,' he stated in 2016. Fauci runs long distances , and completed the 1984 Army Corps Marathon in 3 hours 37 minutes. While the top doctor usually runs daily, 'rail, hail, or shine' - the demands of his current role in the White House Coronavirus Task Force means he is now taking long walks on weekends. Fauci became head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in 1984, when the nation was in the throes of the AIDS crisis. He's recalled the huge frustration of caring for dying patients in the NIHs hospital with nothing to offer. After hours, hed chat with then-Surgeon General C. Everett Koop about what scientists were learning about AIDS, influencing Koops famous 1986 report educating Americans about the disease. However, the midst of professional stress, workaholic Fauci found solace in his personal life. In 1985, at the age of 44, he tied the knot to nurse Christine Grady. The pair went on to have three daughters: Jennifer, Megan and Alison. Shareholders might have noticed that China Distance Education Holdings Limited (NYSE:DL) filed its quarterly result this time last week. The early response was not positive, with shares down 6.5% to US$7.20 in the past week. Revenues of US$51m came in a modest 2.7% below forecasts. Statutory losses were a relative bright spot though, with a per-share loss of US$0.051 coming in a substantial 27% smaller than what the analyst had expected. Following the result, the analyst has updated their earnings model, and it would be good to know whether they think there's been a strong change in the company's prospects, or if it's business as usual. So we collected the latest post-earnings statutory consensus estimate to see what could be in store for next year. Check out our latest analysis for China Distance Education Holdings NYSE:DL Past and Future Earnings, March 21st 2020 Taking into account the latest results, the most recent consensus for China Distance Education Holdings from sole analyst is for revenues of US$246.5m in 2020 which, if met, would be a meaningful 12% increase on its sales over the past 12 months. Per-share earnings are expected to shoot up 43% to US$0.75. Yet prior to the latest earnings, the analyst had been anticipated revenues of US$258.4m and earnings per share (EPS) of US$0.89 in 2020. The analyst seem less optimistic after the recent results, reducing their sales forecasts and making a real cut to earnings per share numbers. What's most unexpected is that the consensus price target rose 15% to US$15.00, strongly implying the downgrade to forecasts is not expected to be more than a temporary blip. These estimates are interesting, but it can be useful to paint some more broad strokes when seeing how forecasts compare, both to the China Distance Education Holdings's past performance and to peers in the same industry. It's pretty clear that there is an expectation that China Distance Education Holdings's revenue growth will slow down substantially, with revenues next year expected to grow 12%, compared to a historical growth rate of 16% over the past five years. Compare this against other companies (with analyst forecasts) in the industry, which are in aggregate expected to see revenue growth of 19% next year. Factoring in the forecast slowdown in growth, it seems obvious that China Distance Education Holdings is also expected to grow slower than other industry participants. Story continues The Bottom Line The most important thing to take away is that the analyst downgraded their earnings per share estimates, showing that there has been a clear decline in sentiment following these results. Unfortunately, they also downgraded their revenue estimates, and our data indicates revenues are expected to perform worse than the wider industry. Even so, earnings per share are more important to the intrinsic value of the business. We note an upgrade to the price target, suggesting that the analyst believes the intrinsic value of the business is likely to improve over time. Keeping that in mind, we still think that the longer term trajectory of the business is much more important for investors to consider. At least one analyst has provided forecasts out to 2021, which can be seen for free on our platform here. It is also worth noting that we have found 2 warning signs for China Distance Education Holdings that you need to take into consideration. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading. Officials at Yosemite National Park took the extraordinary step of closing the landmark wilderness Friday because of concerns about the coronavirus. Neighboring Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks followed suit with a closure of the main entrance station late Friday afternoon while other national parks in California and across the country debated whether to take the same drastic measure. Over the past week, fears about the spread of the coronavirus have prompted piecemeal shutdowns of visitors centers, hotels and other facilities in parks nationwide. Park officials have faced pressure from local and state authorities to limit large gatherings and help contain the worldwide pandemic. But, until now, the giants of the National Park Service had resisted large-scale closures. The health and safety of our visitors, employees, volunteers, and partners at Yosemite National Park is our number one priority, read a statement from Yosemite on Friday. We will notify the public when we resume full operations and provide updates on our website and social media channels. Roads into Yosemite were shut down at 3 p.m., visitors were prohibited from entering and those in the park were being notified that the park was closing. Park officials did not say how long the closure would last. While four people who work in Yosemite are being tested for the coronavirus, no cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed there. Health officials in the region said the closure was prompted not out of fear that the virus would spread in the park but because the rural area does not have adequate medical resources should someone get sick. Yosemite officials did not respond to requests for comment on the closure, but the parks statement said the move came at the request of the local health department. Given the limited services and really the limited medical community, it would be unfortunate to have a serious case of COVID-19 in the park, said Dr. Eric Sergienko, the head of the Mariposa County Health Department, who recommended the shutdown. It creates a public safety issue that goes beyond the day-to-day falling off of cliffs. Sergienko also said that should someone get ill, the region is not equipped to trace the origin of the virus and make sure it is fully contained. None of the counties along Yosemites western border Mariposa, Tuolumne and Madera have reported a case of COVID-19, which Sergienko said bodes well for the park. The likelihood of a case in the park is not zero but less than in the Bay Area, he said. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. Yosemite remained open only to employees and people who live in the park. Officials at Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks closed the areas main entrance station at Ash Mountain on Highway 198. The parks Big Stump entrance near Grant Grove on Highway 180 remained open because it also serves national forest lands, though all park facilities there were shuttered. The Bay Areas Golden Gate National Recreation Area shut down many parts of the park earlier in the week, including Alcatraz Island and visitor centers in the Presidio and at Lands End, the Marin Headlands and Muir Woods. It remained to be seen whether the closure would be extended to public lands and trails. Many employees and advocates of the National Park Service have been asking park officials to broaden the shutdowns in the interest of public safety and protecting natural resources. Amid Californias shelter-in-place directive, the National Parks Conservation Association urges national parks in the state to follow Yosemites lead and consider stronger closures, said Ron Sundergill, senior regional director for the NPCA, in a statement. Protecting park staff, visitors, resources and surrounding communities is paramount. Kurtis Alexander is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kalexander@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kurtisalexander A coalition of Ohio Agriculture groups reminded Gov. Mike DeWine of the importance of farming as his administration continues responding to the COVID-19 outbreak. Ohio agricultural commodity groups and the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation sent a joint letter March 18 to the governor, asking him to designate the agriculture commodity community as an essential service should he decide to enforce a widespread shelter in place or quarantine order. The groups asked that DeWine recognize the critical infrastructure involved in the food supply chain. Things like taking care of livestock and poultry, producing and processing feed for animals, planting and harvesting, agricultural supply businesses and the transportation networks between all of those supply points. One thing is certain as we all navigate short term disruptions in the food and agricultural industry, we will remain a resource to help identify solutions, help spread needed messaging, or highlight areas of concerns to make sure our farmers in Ohio will continue to help deliver a safe and abundant food supply, the letter read. The letter was signed by the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, Ohio Poultry Association, Ohio AgriBusiness Association, Ohio Sheep Improvement Association, Ohio Cattlemens Association, Ohio Pork Council, Ohio Corn & Wheat Growers Association, Ohio Dairy Producers Association and Ohio Soybean Association. The DeWine administration already ordered restaurants and bars to stop dine-in service and closed a variety of businesses like gyms, movie theaters, bowling alleys, recreation centers, hair salons, barbershops and tattoo parlors. Weve seen in the news steps that have been taken by other states in regard to the closing of additional businesses. We continue to work to find the right balance, DeWine said in a March 20 press conference. But the governor said between balancing his responsibility to protect the people of Ohio and keeping the economy moving, he will air on the side of protecting people. Ohio reported its first death related to COVID-19 on March 20, a man from Lucas County. The Department of Homeland Security designated agriculture and food production as a critical industry in a March 19 memorandum. The department developed a list of essential infrastructure workers to help state and local officials as they continue to make decisions on how to keep their communities safe. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf declared agriculture and food supply businesses to be life-sustaining, excluding them from his March 19 order that all non-life-sustaining businesses close. Additionally, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture released guidance for farms, on-farm stores and farmers markets and food supply businesses to stay safe while staying open. [Read more about Pennsylvanias guidance to farmers] The letter to DeWine went on to list major agricultural issues with which we will remain engaged. That included ensuring inspections continued as normal and that Ohio Department of Agriculture laboratories stay open, keeping livestock auctions open and addressing possible labor shortages. The coalition is especially concerned about travel restrictions impacting the transportation of agricultural supplies and livestock or the movement of farmers, farm workers or other food supply chain employees getting to their jobs. If transportation restrictions are put in place, we need to make sure that farm supplies are considered essential, the letter stated. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Starting Sunday at 8 p.m., the state of New York will pause in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19). Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Friday that hed signed the Policies that Assure Uniform Safety for Everyone (P.A.U.S.E.) Executive Order, effectively closing all non-essential businesses throughout the state and limiting certain activities for residents. What I do will effect you and what you do will effect me, Cuomo said during a press conference. We need everyone to be safe, otherwise none can be safe. Confirmed cases in New York have climbed to 7,102, with 46 deaths; the number of people with positive test results on Staten Island reached 285 Friday, with two deaths. The P.A.U.S.E. executive order puts these regulations in place for individuals: Only workers providing essential services can be outside their homes in groups and they must use social distancing Non-essential gatherings of individuals of any size for any reason (e.g. parties, celebrations or other social events) are canceled or postponed at this time Individuals can leave their homes, but they must be six feet from others at all times Outdoor recreational activities must be non-contact and people should avoid any activities where they come into contact with other people Public transportation must be used only when absolutely necessary. Distancing rules must be applied on public transportation as well Those who feel sick should leave their homes only to receive medical care and only after they have assessed their medical status with a telehealth visit Young people must practice social distancing and avoid contact with vulnerable populations Businesses that are considered essential and are allowed to remain open must implement social distancing rules On Friday, Cuomo also signed Matildas Law -- named after his mother -- to outline specific rules for the vulnerable populations, which include people over the age of 70, those with compromised immune systems and people with underlying illnesses. Rules for vulnerable populations include: Remain indoors Limit outdoor activity to solitary exercise Pre-screen all visitors and aides by taking temperature Wear a mask when in company of others Do not visit households with multiple people Everyone in presence of vulnerable people should wear a mask Stay six feet from other people Do not take public transportation unless absolutely necessary. At a press conference on Friday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said that the city will enforce these rules, and Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said that New Yorkers should expect to see a continued high visibility policing throughout New York City in order to discourage the formation of groups. Ill use the word enforcement, but its not enforcement. Its engagement throughout the city, Shea said of the NYPD approach to keeping groups from congregating. The groups are appearing to be smaller and smaller, but theyre going to inform them of this order and theyre going to politely ask them to disperse, Shea said. The top police brass added that overall the NYPD has seen a cooperative response from New Yorkers. New Yorkers adapt like nobody else, Shea said. Exercise is sometimes a fine line between a gathering, but what we cant have is large groups, gatherings. It goes against everything that were trying to accomplish through this social distancing. So thats what you can expect to see. WHAT IS AN ESSENTIAL SERVICE? Under Cuomos executive order, essential workers include the following: Health care operations Research and laboratory services, hospitals, walk-in health care facilities, veterinary and animal health services, elder care, medical distribution, home health care workers/aides, doctors and dentists, nursing homes or residential facilities, and medical and equipment providers. Infrastructure Utilities, including power generation, fuel supply and transmission; public water and wastewater, telecommunications and data centers, airports and airlines, and transportation infrastructure, such as bus, rail and for-hire vehicles. Manufacturing Food processing, chemicals, medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, safety and sanitary products, telecommunications, microelectronics, agriculture and paper products. Retail Grocery, including food and beverage stores; pharmacies, convenience stores, farmers markets, gas stations, restaurants and bars for takeout and delivery, and hardware and building material. Services Trash and recycle collection, mail and shipping, laundromats and dry cleaning, building and cleaning maintenance, child care, auto repair, warehouse and distribution fulfillment, funeral homes, crematoriums and cemeteries, and animal shelters. Financial Banks, insurance, payroll and accounting. Individuals are allowed to leave their homes to go to businesses deemed essential by the state -- for example, taking your pet to the veterinarian or go to the grocery store -- a spokesman for Cuomos office confirmed to the Advance/SILive.com. Social distancing should be implemented. *** CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF CORONAVIRUS IN NEW YORK *** RELATED COVERAGE: Coughs, sneezes, surfaces: Heres how coronavirus is and isnt spread How the coronavirus hit Staten Island: A timeline of the pandemic in our borough Governor seeks to limit coronavirus impact on hospitals NYPD Commissioner: Cooperation, not closures, expected for ban on dining at restaurants and bars Theatre course to create an all-round artiste View(s): Shakespeare centre Sri Lanka is calling applications for the academic years 2020 2021. Started as a general course in 2014, study programme is collaborated with the Royal Shakespeare company and the western Australian academy of performing arts and now it is developed to a graduate study programme. The course is free of charge and classes are conducted on Sundays, Poya days and public holidays in Colombo. The course includes lectures and studies of the annual inter-school Shakespeare challenge and the participants are getting opportunities to plays in Shakespeare Centre productions like Hamlet, Julius Caesar (Sinhala), Othello, Macbeth (English and Sinhala) which would be performed during the Shakespeare theatre festival in 2020. A midsummer Nights dream, The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet are the other research and practical plays included in the course of studies. The participants also will get an opportunity to study cinema, with Centres cinematic production Hamlet which is to be filmed in 2020. The course includes subjects such as theatre and drama with studies on works of Shakespeare in English medium, theatre and drama in Sinhala medium, ballet, opera, acting, cinema, voice training, singing, technical activities, Shakespeare drama, applied theatre, educational drama, street drama, mirror acting, fencing and patterns of the acting. Dr. Rahul Perera who is the vice president of the Shakespeare centre Sri Lanka said that this course will help to make an educated, intelligent, ideological and disciplined artistes. Details to join the course could be obtained by writing to Obinamuni Gamini De Silva, the president, Shakespeare centre Sri Lanka, 327, Darley Road, Colombo 10 or by calling 077 8516 123. US National Lockdown is Not Under Consideration at This Time - Trump Sputnik News 16:06 GMT 20.03.2020(updated 16:57 GMT 20.03.2020) New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said earlier in the day that he would enforce an order directing residents to stay indoors to the greatest extent possible in order to slow down the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19). US President Donald Trump has stated that he doesn't think a national lockdown will ever be necessary. The US president also stated that the country is closing the southern border for all non-essential travel amid the coronavirus pandemic. "As we did with Canada, we are also working with Mexico to implement new rules at our ports of entry to suspend non-essential travel. These new rules will not impede trade and commerce", Trump said. The US president also stated he invoked the Defence Production Act on Thursday night to get the needed medical supplies to the front lines of the coronavirus outbreak. Trump's statement comes after New York Mayor Bill De Blasio urged the US president to order a full military mobilisation amid the coronavirus outbreak. The number of deaths across New York state from COVID-19 complications has reached 35, according to Cuomo. As of 20 March, the number of COVID-19 cases in the United States had reached 13,680, with 200 people having died of the disease, according to John Hopkins University. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Even before the first appearance of coronavirus was confirmed in Olmsted County, another viral outbreak began here: the spread of unfounded and sometimes sketchy information. Chief among the rumors was the frequent assertion that Mayo Clinic held and holds more cases of COVID-19 than the official tally reflects. Additionally, there have been rumors about public exposures that were not disclosed. Why is the Post Bulletin not reporting this information? One reason is that the rumor seldom, if ever, includes any information that makes it possible to track down and verify. "I heard it from a friend who knows somebody who works with..." That sort of thing. Even in pandemic, hospitals are bound by patient confidentiality laws. But they do have a legal and ethical obligation to report active cases of COVID-19 to the Minnesota Department of Public Health "as soon as we know," said Bob Nellis, a spokesman for Mayo Clinic. ADVERTISEMENT And MDH has been turning that information around in daily, and sometimes twice-daily, media updates. Olmsted County Public Health has regularly shared information, too. As of Friday afternoon, when I'm writing this, the pinpointing of the daily COVID count seems increasingly beside the point. Doug Schultz, of MDH, explained: "Now that we have evidence of community transmission, the confirmed positive cases that we are reporting on our website represent only a portion of the cases out there. They are only the more serious ones, those among higher risk groups or those that have clinical diagnosis and specimens taken. This is the same reporting practice used for other diseases. If there were only 100-some actual cases in the state, we wouldnt need to be taking the drastic public health measures that we are taking." The pandemic that began 7,000 miles away is here now. We are in it. The reporting that is most useful now includes information about how to protect yourself and help others; that helps you maintain your connection to our wider community. Now, more than ever, we all need accurate and useful information, and stories of our fellow people. That's what we at the Post Bulletin will provide. It's essential The essential nature of information collected and reported by professionals has been recognized at the highest levels. In response to a Minnesota Newspaper Association request, Gov. Tim Walz stated Friday that he considers news media to be an essential public service. An official declaration would allow our reporting staff to maintain freedom of movement during an emergency quarantine. We can't very well report the news from our own homes. We have to be able to go out and find it. I'm pleased the governor sees the value of what we do, and is willing to use his authority to protect it. Closing doors That said, the Post Bulletin is closing its office to the public, already effective by the time you read this, until further notice. If you have an obituary to deliver, wish to place an ad or speak to a reporter, you'll have to call or email us. Our main number is 285-7600. Other contact information is found on the bottom of page A4, and every reporter's email address appears with their byline. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Rina Chandran and Emeline Wuilbercq (Reuters) Bangkok/Addis Ababa Sat, March 21, 2020 12:07 662 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad206c69db5 2 World Internet,internet-shutdown,coronavirus,COVID-19,human-rights,human-rights-groups,United-Nations,UN,India,Bangladesh,Myanmar,Ethiopia Free Internet shutdowns cannot be justified at a time when access to information is critical to containing the deadly coronavirus pandemic, human rights groups have warned. The outbreak has infected more than 245,000 people worldwide and the death toll now exceeds 10,000, according to a Reuters tally. "Internet access is critical at a time of crisis," David Kaye, United Nations special rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, said in a statement. "Especially at a time of emergency, broad restrictions on access to the internet cannot be justified on public order or national security grounds." Authorities in Indian-administered Kashmir this week extended internet restrictions first imposed after sweeping constitutional changes last year until March 26, saying these were "absolutely necessary" because of recent terror activities. With internet speed restricted to 2G, Kashmiris have struggled to work from home or attend online classes like others in India, which by Friday had 171 active coronavirus cases, according to the government. Doctors in Kashmir, which has four confirmed cases, have been stymied in getting information on the virus. Avinash Kumar, executive director of Amnesty International in India, said access to information was a crucial part of the right to health. An inability to access information "can heighten the sense of helplessness, anger and frustration, undermine the public health response, put the health of others at risk, and may constitute human rights violations," he said. Global digital rights group Access Now this week called on the governments of Ethiopia, Myanmar, Bangladesh and India to end "all deliberate interference with the right to access and share information" about the epidemic. Read also: Kenya, Ethiopia join expanding list of African states with coronavirus "One of the ways that (these governments) are trying to fight the spread of the virus is through sharing credible and timely information," said Berhan Taye, a senior policy analyst at Access Now. "If there is a population in your specific country that is not having access to this credible information ... all the efforts ... (will) be multiplied by zero," she added. Bangladesh's government bans the sale of mobile SIM cards to the nearly 1 million Rohingya refugees living in camps. Last year it blocked high-speed data services, citing security concerns. Bangladesh has reported more than a dozen coronavirus cases and aid agencies say the refugees are particularly vulnerable as they live in confined spaces with few amenities. In Myanmar, authorities in February reimposed an internet shutdown in the two conflict-torn states of Rakhine and Chin, citing "security requirements and public interest". Ethiopia's government also imposed a communications shutdown across much of western Oromia region in January, leading to an information blackout for more than 3 million people. As of Friday, Ethiopia had nine active coronavirus cases, according to the ministry of health. "The government should not be gambling with people's health," said Laetitia Bader, Horn of Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "At the very least it should restore phone and internet access and allow families to warn their loved ones about the basic steps to take to prevent infection." Coronavirus has turned our world upside, shutting down workplaces and schools, and making tens of thousands temporarily unemployed as fears for our health mount. But it has also proved that the country has a strong sense of social cohesion, and is capable of an enormous community response in a crisis. It is not yet clear how many people have joined the volunteer army assisting in the community battle to cope with the spread of the virus. That is because much of this help is offered informally between neighbours along streets, in townlands and in apartment blocks all across the country. Expand Close Members of the public queue to buy bottles of hand sanitiser made and sold at Listoke Distillery and Gin School in Tenure, north Dublin / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Members of the public queue to buy bottles of hand sanitiser made and sold at Listoke Distillery and Gin School in Tenure, north Dublin Over 3,000 people came forward within a matter of days to offer assistance at Volunteer Ireland, which supplies volunteers to a range of organisations. They will help emergency responders, older people, community groups and those with disabilities during the Covid-19 crisis. Separately close to 7,000 people have joined a volunteer movement initiated on social media by the former broadcast executive and recent returned emigrant Helen O'Rahilly, using the hashtag #selfisolationhelp. Volunteers help with the delivery of groceries and medicines. O'Rahilly says this week the response had been stunning and the strength of community spirit is enormous. "[There is] such goodwill towards neighbours and strangers." she says. "Ireland has the heart to respond to this crisis. The strength is in the people." There are similar initiatives all across the country, frequently organised in local WhatsApp groups or on Facebook. Expand Close Boxes packed with bowls delivered to the staff in St Jamess Hospital as part of the 'Feed The Heroes" campaign. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Boxes packed with bowls delivered to the staff in St Jamess Hospital as part of the 'Feed The Heroes" campaign. The organisation Alone, which helps elderly people, also reports a huge response from the public with people across the age spectrum coming forward to help with grocery deliveries, medical supplies and to offer telephone support. Alone spokeswoman Grainne Loughran says: "We have been inundated by new volunteers contacting us on social media, by email and in phone calls. It has been phenomenal." Wexford hotelier John Paul Hanrahan is typical of the numerous individuals who have taken their own initiative across the country. Even though his hotel at Curracloe is facing the imminent threat of closure and Hanrahan can only employ a skeleton staff, he posted a message offering meals to be delivered to vulnerable people in his immediate area. The service is aimed at those who are elderly and those with pre-existing medical conditions. The hotelier told Review this week: "If everybody looks out for each other during this crisis, well and good. I believe that's human nature. Expand Close People adhere to social distancing guidelines as they take part in an exercise class on Dollymount Strand in Dublin. Photo: Brian Lawless/PA Wire / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp People adhere to social distancing guidelines as they take part in an exercise class on Dollymount Strand in Dublin. Photo: Brian Lawless/PA Wire "It's a hotel, we have food here - so why wouldn't we help? Older people are having to stay at home in the current crisis and who can blame them? My own parents are heading towards seventy." There are two aspects of the community response in the current crisis that are important as the authorities try to stop the spread of the virus. Voluntary effort Firstly, there is the voluntary effort of thousands who want to help their neighbours as they are forced into self-isolation and often devoid of human contact and assistance. Secondly, there is the community response to entreaties from the government and public health officials to behave in a certain way. The behavioural economist Professor Pete Lunn of the Economic and Social Research Institute has studied what kind of strategies work best in prompting good behaviour and he has been encouraged by the response of the republic. We have been encouraged to wash our hands, cut down the number of social interactions, engage in the practice of social distancing, and isolate ourselves if we have symptoms. "If we are looking for collective action it is very important that there is a clear message that we are all in this together" says Professor Lunn. "The evidence shows that public-spirited behaviour is much more likely when there is frequent communication of how we can best help each other." Professor Lunn says the majority of people will usually pull together in a crisis and make sacrifices for the public good, provided they see others doing the same. If they see a significant number of others not behaving well, they themselves may not cooperate. According to the economist, a key to the success of the public health authorities in encouraging a positive community response is good communication. "Co-operation is increased by clear statements, articulated by leaders and repeated by others, of a desired collective behaviour that is in the group interest." Language and leadership are crucial in getting the message across. Where behaviour is about "we" and "us" rather than "I" or "you", more public-spirited responses are likely, according to Professor Lunn. "The message should be - this is what we have to do and we all have to do it together." In his broadcast to the nation on Tuesday night, the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar conveyed that message and related the crisis to his partner and family. Professor Lunn says the message from the public health authorities has been clear and it has got steadily stronger as the crisis has become deeper. "The messages have been repeated again and again, and as a result they have been effective in changing behaviour," he said Of course, not all the behaviour of the public has been positive and at some stages in the crisis there has been frantic panic buying. There was also outrage when a video appeared on social media showing revellers drinking cheek by jowl in a crowded pub in Temple Bar, going against the principles of social distancing. Professor Lunn says a certain measure of social disapproval can help to change this type of behaviour, but it does not work if the punishment is too strong. "We had panic buying in supermarkets but it didn't last too long because there was social disapproval and people saw that the shelves quickly filled up again. People perhaps realised that vegetables are not going to stop growing in Ireland and cows will still have to be milked. "I saw some people giving filthy glances to people who were stocking up on too many goods, and I think that social disapproval worked." By Thursday of this week, there had been no significant outbreaks of public disorder similar to the incident during the Storm Emma snowstorm, when a Lidl supermarket in Tallaght was attacked and looted. Spreading Goodwill By early this week, we saw the goodwill spreading through communities faster than the dreaded virus itself. In one of the numerous initiatives, more than 50,000 was raised in a day to help feed staff in Irish hospitals who are working to treat and contain the Coronavirus. The 'Feed the Heroes' campaign was set up by Cian O'Flaherty after he saw a post on social media on Sunday morning, telling how an anonymous member of the public had dropped a large takeaway order into staff working at the Mater Hospital. Over 24,000 people were reported to have contacted the HSE after the government launched a recruitment drive for health workers to help tackle the Covid-19 pandemic. Many came out of retirement or are set to return from abroad to help out in the current crisis. It is not just the hospitals that are under pressure. Homeless and Disability charities this week put an urgent appeal to ask members of the public to register as emergency staff. A number of organisations have come together in the Crisis Cover Initiative to urge the public to become 'ordinary heroes' to prevent services to vulnerable people from having to shut their doors during the pandemic. A range of skills and roles are required, including reception and cleaning staff, as well as specialist supports such as disability care workers, healthcare workers, and project workers. One of the leaders of the initiative, Anthony Staines, Professor of Public Health at Dublin City University, says: "We are looking for people who may have lost their job last Friday or have time on their hands. They could offer service in a whole range of roles." The reason we are doing this is that people who use these services are vulnerable to catching the Coronavirus, and staff may also get it from neighbours, families and friends. "They don't have surplus staff and they are desperately trying to keep their services open." Professor Staines is encouraged by the response of the public to the present crisis and believes it could play an important role in stopping the spread of the disease. "If we can mobilise the Irish community it will make a very big difference," says Professor Staines. "Getting this community response off the ground is tough, but sustaining it is going to be tougher." Many have responded to the requests to be cocooned at home for the past week, but will they be so compliant a month or two down the line? With fine sunny weather and spring flowers in full bloom, it would be easy to let our guard down and there is still an air of unreality about the crisis. The insidious virus is creeping stealthily and invisibly through the population, as hikers stroll in parks and along hillsides in the sunshine. Clearer message Professor Pete Lunn says the message delivered here by the authorities is a lot clearer than in Britain, where they kept the schools open until yesterday and big gatherings continued into this week. "In Britain it has not been easy to see what the strategy is: Some people seemed to believe that the disease should spread but only among the non-vulnerable, and then there are announcements of measures to slow down the spread of the disease. It looks like a contradiction. "You cannot get people to rally around a message that is contradictory or unclear." Professor Staines says the British communication of information on the Coronavirus has been a shambles, when compared to the approach of our authorities. The professor of public health says: "There is no guarantee that our approach will work, but it is certainly worth trying instead of staying around in the middle of the road waiting for a bus to run us over." Tips for volunteers Volunteer Ireland gives advice to those wanting to help out during the current Covid-19 crisis. Before considering taking on a role ask yourself - 'Am I well enough to volunteer?' Your safety and limiting the spread of the Coronavirus should be a priority. Volunteer centres urge volunteers to stick to HSE instructions on how best to avoid Covid-19, both in the work environment and at home. www2.hse.ie/conditions/coronavirus/protect-yourself.html One option is to contact and register with your local volunteer centre. The network of Volunteer Centres across Ireland are expecting many Covid-19 roles to be listed on their database on their database i-vol.ie in the coming days. Some roles will be directly related to Covid-19 support. Other roles for volunteers may be related to helping community organisations to keep normal services running. Another way of helping out is to volunteer informally in your own community.If you know people in your community who may be vulnerable and can contact them safely (e.g. phone call, WhatsApp, drop a note through letterbox), just let them know that you are available and can assist with shopping or other deliveries. Do not assume that someone needs help or call directly to someone's house unannounced, as some people may be very anxious about making face-to-face contact, particularly if they have a medical condition or are living alone. What if someone asks me to do something I can't actually do? In this case, you should let the person know that you cannot help and recommend that the Volunteer Centre may be able to assist in finding a solution. Everyone can volunteer. What is important is finding a volunteering role that suits your skills and abilities. Through i-vol.ie you can see the wide range of volunteer opportunities that exist both locally and nationally. Many volunteer roles may require Garda vetting, particularly if they involve children or vulnerable groups. The process is being streamlined at the moment to take account of the Coronavirus crisis. Curfew-like restrictions on the movement and assembly of people will be imposed in Kashmir as part of the Prime Minister's appeal to observe 'janta curfew' on Sunday to contain the coronavirus outbreak, police said. Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kashmir, Vijay Kumar said extra police force will be deployed in the valley to ensure that strict restrictions are imposed. He appealed to people to cooperate with the police and other security forces. "It may be janta curfew by name, but the history of Kashmir is such that whatever the situation is, the restrictions cannot be imposed without the police or security forces enforcing them," he told reporters at a press conference. He said the motive of the curfew is to break the chain of the spread of the novel coronavirus. When asked whether the restrictions would continue on Monday, the IGP said that would be communicated to the people as and when required. Kumar also said that bulk SMS services would be started Saturday evening to allow the spread of awareness messages to the people through the medium. Divisional Commissioner Kashmir Pandurang K Pole appealed to the people to comply with the curfew call. He said the government is alert and prepared to contain the spread of the virus. Pole said Kashmir has two facilities to check for coronavirus and samples were being collected at five locations in the valley. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Photo: The Canadian Press President Donald Trump, left, listens as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a coronavirus task force briefing at the White House, Friday, March 20, 2020, in Washington. Mexico and the U.S. announced Friday that they would prohibit all non-essential travel across their shared border as part of efforts to control the spread of the coronavirus. Both countries and Canada also agreed to immediately turn back anyone trying to cross their borders illegally, with U.S. officials saying that the unchecked entry of people from around the world poses a potential health risk because of the rapidly spreading virus. The actions we are taking together with our North American partners will save countless lives," President Donald Trump said in announcing the measures. Trump administration officials and Mexican Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard outlined restrictions similar to those put in place earlier this week along the U.S. and Canadian border. The ban would apply to people who cross for tourism or recreation and other activities deemed non-essential. Everyone else is not expected to have any difficulties," Ebrard told reporters in Mexico City. "We're not talking about closing it. The ban, which takes effect at 11:59 p.m. Friday, does not include commercial traffic and remains in place as long as needed, officials said. By excluding commercial traffic from the ban, the two governments substantially softened the economic effects. Also, fewer Americans are heading south because of a statewide stay-at-home order in California and a State Department warning advising Americans not to travel abroad. Still, the restrictions are a major development along the world's most heavily crossed border. Mexican shoppers are the lifeblood of smaller U.S. border towns, and it is common for people in both countries to cross frequently to visit family and friends. As news of the ban spread, people like 68-year-old El Paso resident Silvia Shadden rushed to cross even if her reason could meet the definition of essential. Walking with a crutch, she returned from getting a weekly vitamin injection from a doctor in Mexico's Ciudad Juarez that costs a fraction of what it does in the U.S. "I went to Juarez to see the doctor and get my injection," Shadden, who suffers from a vitamin deficiency that causes muscle atrophy, said as she returned from the U.S. border checkpoint. In San Diego, an outlet mall catering to shoppers at the nation's busiest border crossing was closed and people made the last of what would be considered non-essential trips under the new rules. Robert Booker, a lifelong San Diego resident, returned from a quick trip to his tailor in Tijuana before the shutdown. I wanted to make sure I have my clothes, he said with a laugh. Turning serious, he said he understood the rationale for the new restrictions. We want the pandemic to be eradicated, so whatever it takes for the safety of all the people, thats what we have to do, Booker said. Christina Rodriguez, a college student from Washington state, returned from a visit with family in Mexico a trip that wouldnt be allowed as of Saturday. Everythings up in the air, she said. People are just trying to go where they need to be during the isolated time. Acting U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf told reporters at the White House that the restrictions were aimed at eliminating non-essential travel while preserving essential economic activity" at the border. American citizens and permanent legal residents would still be allowed to return to the United States. John Lewis has announced it is to temporarily close all of its stores amid the coronavirus pandemic. This will mark the first time the retailer has closed the doors of its shops ever since being founded in 1864. In a statement released on Saturday 21 March, the firm stated that the John Lewis Partnership has taken the difficult decision to temporarily close all of its 50 John Lewis shops at close of business on Monday 23 March as a result of the impact of coronavirus. The companys chair, Sharon White, said that the decision to close all of John Lewis stores was made with a heavy heart. The Partnership has traded for over 155 years, during which time we have faced many difficult periods, including two world wars and the 2008 financial crisis, Ms White said. On every occasion, thanks to our customers and Partners, and the long standing relationships with our suppliers and stakeholders, we have emerged stronger. While all John Lewis stores will be closed, this doesnt mean the retailer will stop trading. The John Lewis website which generates half the brands business, the news release outlined will continue to operate as normal. The Waitrose supermarket website will also continue running, as will Waitrose stores, with the exception of Waitrose food offers in department stores at Watford, Southampton and Bluewater. Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Show all 26 1 /26 Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town An empty street in Manhattan borough following the outbreak of coronavirus disease in New York City Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town A cab drives down at Seventh Avenue in Times Square Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Syracuse University campus is seen almost empty as number of universities are moving all classes to e-learning, due to the coronavirus outbreak Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan Empty street is seen near Lincoln tunnel Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan An empty restaurant Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan Empty chairs are seen near Hudson yards Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan An empty restaurant Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town A mobile souvenir shop sits in an empty parking lot at Allianz Field as a match between the New York Red Bulls at Minnesota United FC is postponed USA Today Sports/Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan An empty Jacob K Javits Convention Center Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Syracuse University A person sits in an empty eating hall Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan Empty parking lots Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan Jacob K Javits Convention Center Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Seventh Avenue Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan Empty retail stores Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan Empty street is seen outside the New York Times building Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan Empty parking lots Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan Reuters The food halls within John Lewis Oxford Street and Waitrose shops which share premises with John Lewis space at Kingston, Ipswich, Stratford, Horsham, Basingstoke and Canary Wharf will remain open, along with all other Waitrose branches and Waitrose.com grocery deliveries, the statement added. Ms White stated that the Partners who work in the John Lewis stores being closed will be taking on important roles that will see them provide support to their colleagues, provide critical services at Waitrose shops and help customers get what they need through the John Lewis website. Over 2,000 John Lewis Partners are already working in Waitrose shops to assist with the unprecedented demand for grocery and other essential goods and wherever possible, John Lewis Partners will be redeployed to provide additional support to Waitrose and johnlewis.com for our non-food online business, the chair said. John Lewis is one of several retailers to have closed its shops in light of the coronavirus outbreak. Earlier this week, it was reported that Primark had closed shops in Italy, France, Spain and Austria. Meanwhile, Inditex, the firm that owns Zara, recently announced it was shutting 3,785 stores across the globe. Friday nights edition of Lou Dobbs Tonight opened with a message from fill-in host David Asman. Lou is in self-quarantine tonight, Asman told viewers. We just learned that one of his team members has tested positive for COVID-19. After wishing that Fox employee a speedy recovery, he added, Lou feels well, he has no symptoms, but out of an abundance of caution, he and his team are taking the necessary precautions. Dobbs appears to be taking the coronavirus threat to his own health seriously after weeks of following the Fox News line that appeared to claim the virus was an overblown hoax perpetrated by the media. He only changed his tune to start praising President Trumps response to the crisis earlier this week when it was no longer possible to ignore the reality on the ground. Hannity, With a Straight Face, Claims He Has Always Taken the Coronavirus Seriously Less than two weeks ago, even as he reported that the virus had infected 113,000 people in 111 countries and territories around the world, Dobbs was accusing the national left-wing media of playing up fears of the coronavirus in order to drive down the stock market. More recently, he had taken to echoing Trump by referring to COVID-19 as the Wuhan virus and lauding the president for causing a brief market increase with his national emergency declaration a week ago. On Wednesday of this week, he put up a poll on his screen that asked viewers to rate Trumps leadership on the Wuhan virus. He gave them three options: Superb, Great or Very good. Meghan McCain Calls Out Elisabeth Hasselbeck for Trying to Pray Away Coronavirus Read more at The Daily Beast. Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now! Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more. BAKU, Azerbaijan, Mar. 20 Trend: First Vice-President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva has made a post on her official Instagram page in which she congratulated the people of Azerbaijan on Novruz holiday. In her post, the First Vice-President said: "Dear fellow countrymen, I express my deep gratitude to each and everyone of you for the warm congratulations and best wishes that you have extended to me. On the occasion of the holiday, I offer my sincere congratulations to the whole people of Azerbaijan and wish everyone the best of health, happiness and festive mood. May this holiday, which embodies the awakening and renewal of nature, fill everyone`s heart with pure intentions and good feelings, as well as bring happiness and health to every home, and peace, well-being and success to our country." Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment As Americans, we are fiercely independent. We are not like a collectivist society like China, which can mandate the behavior of an entire nation (note the quote here about China from a S. Korean professor.). We are individualists, and we prize our freedoms. How, then, should we respond when our government restricts these freedoms in the name of public safety? Is this an infringement of our constitutional rights? Or is it an opportunity to love our neighbor? Before answering these questions, we would do well to consider what is at stake. The New York Timespaints this grim picture from Italy: Hospital morgues there are inundated. Bergamos mayor, Giorgio Gori, issued an ordinance that closed the local cemetery this week for the first time since World War II, though he guaranteed that its mortuary would still accept coffins. Many of them had been sent to the Church of All Saints in Bergamo, located in the closed cemetery, where scores of waxed wooden coffins form a macabre line for cremations. And what, exactly, does this look like? Unfortunately, we dont know where to put them, said Brother Marco Bergamelli, one of the priests at the church. He said that with hundreds dying each day, and with each body taking more than an hour to cremate, there was an awful backlog. It takes time and the dead are many. This is what happens when the coronavirus is not checked in time. This is what we could be facing in America. One more glimpse from the Times: At around midnight on Wednesday, Renzo Carlo Testa, 85, died from the coronavirus in a hospital in the northern Italian town of Bergamo. Five days later, his body was still sitting in a coffin, one of scores lined head-to-toe in the church of the local cemetery, which is itself closed to the public. His wife of 50 years, Franca Stefanelli, would like to give him a proper funeral. But traditional funeral services are illegal throughout Italy now, part of the national restrictions against gatherings and going out that have been put in place to try to stem the spread of Europes worst outbreak of the coronavirus. In any case, she and her sons could not attend anyway, because they are themselves sick and in quarantine. Would you like this to happen to your family? Your city? In short, this is not about me or my freedoms. It is about caring for my neighbor. Consequently, if the government feels the need to put reasonable, mandatory restrictions on the populace in order to save lives, then as much as possible, I will comply. I am willing to be restricted so as not to be a potential carrier of the disease to others. But, someone will surely say, this opens the door for the government to do anything. This is just a trial run to see how we will respond. There is nothing random or unplanned about it. The restrictions are part of a larger, national (or, even international) plot. (For related thoughts from an evangelical leader, see here.) To be sure, I do not put absolute trust in our government. Not a chance. I do not believe in Washington the way I believe in God. (Not within a million miles.) But do we honestly think that President Trump is part of this conspiracy? That his entire administration is part of a plot to steal our liberties and subject us to a one-world government? That Trump will be coming for our guns next? I could understand some conservatives being up in arms if George H. W. Bush were our current president, with his frequent references to a New World Order. And I could understand more skepticism from the right if this was happening under President Barack Obama (or, more scarily, under a President Bernie Sanders). But lets be realistic. This is happening under Donald Trump. He is nobodys puppet. And he is no friend of the New World Order. It was Germans Angela Merkel who complained about the damage Trump was doing to this very order. And the Foreign Policy website noted on December 27, 2018 that, From his earliest days on the campaign trail, U.S. President Donald Trump made clear his disdain for the international organizations that have regulated trade, promoted human rights, and advanced international peace since the end of World War II. Thats why I reject the idea that the restrictions being placed on us are part of a larger, nefarious plot. Its possible that some leaders want to exploit this crisis to advance their own, controlling agendas. (That is certainly the case in China.) But I truly believe that our health experts are doing their best to prevent millions of deaths and our national leaders are doing their best to respond with wisdom. For people of faith, though, the restrictions raise another issue. Many of us wonder, Arent these restrictions based on fear? And isnt faith the opposite of fear? We dont run from the conflict and the crisis. We run to it. To be sure, during times of plague and pestilences, Christians have often served the sick and dying, even at the loss of their own lives. As recounted by Glen Scrivener, summarizing the research of historian Rodney Stark, In AD 260, while Marcus Aurelius was emperor, a plague struck (some have thought it was smallpox). Over a 15-year period, it killed a quarter to a third of the Roman Empire. Stark estimates that at this time there were 45,000 Christians in existence, just 0.08 percent of the empire. Despite their numbers, their response to this pandemic won admiration and a greater following. Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, reported: Most of our brother Christians showed unbounded love and loyalty, never sparing themselves and thinking only of one another. Heedless of danger, they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need and ministering to them in Christ, and with them departed this life serenely happy; for they were infected by others with the disease, drawing on themselves the sickness of their neighbors and cheerfully accepting their pains. Many, in nursing and curing others, transferred their death to themselves and died in their stead. That is an extraordinary demonstration of the love of Christ, and I have no doubt that many frontline caregivers today are Christians, willing to sacrifice their wellbeing for the wellbeing of others. At the same time, even if I am not concerned about my own health, I run the risk of becoming infected carrying the virus to someone else. And so, when hundreds of us gather together for a church service, unless we can guarantee that every person there has sufficient faith not to be infected, then our gathering presents a health hazard to others. Thats why I do not see this an infringement of our rights as much as an opportunity to love my neighbor. There is also the question of wisdom, and the same God who gives faith also gives wisdom. As it is written in Proverbs 22:3, The prudent see trouble and take cover, but the naive keep going and pay the penalty (my translation). Whats interesting is that the Hebrew word translated here with take cover comes from the same root (s-t-r) found in Psalm 91:1, speaking of God being our hiding place. And this is the psalm famous for its promise of protection during plague. The same God who provides us a with a spiritual hiding place also provides us with a natural hiding place. It is not either-or. It is both-and. For me, personally, fear does not affect my ministry decisions. If I am called by God to go into a dangerous area and preach, I will do it. At the same time, the Lord can warn us in advance not to go into a certain area precisely because it is dangerous. It is obedience, not fear, that dictates our actions. It is also wisdom that shows us what to do. Thats why, when we are driving on the highway and there are ice patches forming all over the road, we slow down. Thats why, when there is a hurricane coming, we shutter up the windows. Thats also why we lock our doors at night. And why we dont let our 5-year-old child wander around the neighborhood. Its called wisdom. Let us, then, be people of wisdom and people of compassion. As for exercising our faith, lets do it by sharing what we have with others. By praying for God to intervene in the pandemic and to heal the sick and dying. And by not giving place to our fears. If and when the government illegitimately seeks to steal our rights, we will stand up say, We must obey God rather than man (Acts 5:29). This, however, is not that time. By IANS CHENNAI: Actor-turned-politician Rajinikanth on Saturday citing the thousands of deaths in Italy due to coronavirus urged the people to stay indoors, practice social distancing and participate in the 'Janata Curfew' on March 22 as called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In a tweet, Rajinikanth said India is preparing to avoid the crucial Stage 3 community transmission of coronavirus in the country. "Italy tried implementing similar nationwide curfew to prevent Stage 3, but due to lack of support from the citizens, the efforts failed, resulting in the death of thousands of people to the pandemic," Rajinikanth said. "We don't want such a crisis in India and I urge everyone to rise to the occasion and participate in the Janata curfew by strictly staying indoors and practising social distancing," he said. He also called upon people to remember and appreciate the selfless service rendered by the medical personnel by participating in the nationwide appreciation and prayers at 5 p.m. on Sunday. As the Long Beach Unified School District commits to keeping classes in-person, the city a new testing site opens for LBUSD employees and students only. The city is also ramping up its own testing efforts with a new 3,000-person per day testing site. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has berated President Muhammadu Buhari over his response to the senate for calling on him to address Nigerians over the scare of coronavirus. Speaking in a statement via its official Twitter handle, the Party also lampooned the president for failing to address Nigerians over the deadly disease. Full statement below: Covid-19: PDP Slams Buhari For Insulting Senate, Refusing to Address Nigerians The @OfficialPDPNig berates the @MBuhari Presidency for insulting the Senate for joining in the patriotic call to President @MBuhari to personally address the nation on the fight against the spreading Covid-19 in the country. Read Also: Buhari Commiserates With Ben Bruce Over Death Of His Wife The party said it was shocking and totally unacceptable that instead of rising up to the challenge and leading in the fight, like other world leaders, Mr. President had allowed his aides to haul insults on the legislature to the extent of describing the lawful resolution of the Senate as cheap politics. The party says this development amounted to a gross misconduct on the part of Mr. President, who had demonstrated a clear dereliction of duty and total disregard to the lawful resolution of the legislature, in violation of the provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended). Having failed in his expected leadership role at a critical time like this, President @MBuhari should know that the call by the Senate is a direct reflection of the view of the totality of Nigerians, who, like citizens of other countries, look up to the occupier of the seat of the President, personally, for direction and reassurances at a time of heighten public apprehensions and fear. The Presidencys discourteous response to the Senate is, therefore, an unpardonable slap on the faces of the totality of Nigerians, whom the @NGRSenate represents, and further demonstrates the Presidencys insensitivity to the plight of Nigerians. Our party considers the Buhari Presidencys response to the @NGRSenate as an absurdity and a total disdain for our democratic institutions and collective sovereignty as a people. It is instructive to note that this arrogant display of insensitivity by the @MBuhari Presidency is symptomatic of regimes that have no regard for the people. Such regimes always wait to be reminded of their responsibilities and when duly reminded, they usually resort to insults, abuses and harassments. The @OfficialPDPNig recalls that it had earlier called on President @MBuhari to address the nation on the Covid-19 to no avail. Our party, therefore, stands with Nigerians and the @NGRSenate in holding that President @MBuhari is duty bound to personally address the nation and stop pointing to activities of other agencies of government. He must lead from the front and the buck must stop on his table. The party charges President @MBuhari to wake up and end his Presidencys lethargy to serious issues as manifested in his failure to visit Abule-Ado but preferred to sit in the comfort of.. The party charges President @MBuhari to wake up and end his Presidencys lethargy to serious issues as manifested in his failure to visit Abule-Ado but preferred to sit in the comfort of Covid-19: PDP Slams Buhari For Insulting Senate, Refusing to Address Nigerians The @OfficialPDPNig berates the @MBuhari Presidency for insulting the Senate for joining in the patriotic call to President @MBuhari pic.twitter.com/3et8B2XOl5 Official PDP Nigeria (@OfficialPDPNig) March 20, 2020 to personally address the nation on the fight against the spreading Covid-19 in the country. Official PDP Nigeria (@OfficialPDPNig) March 20, 2020 The party said it was shocking and totally unacceptable that instead of rising up to the challenge and leading in the fight, like other world leaders, Mr. President had allowed his aides Official PDP Nigeria (@OfficialPDPNig) March 20, 2020 The party said it was shocking and totally unacceptable that instead of rising up to the challenge and leading in the fight, like other world leaders, Mr. President had allowed his aides Official PDP Nigeria (@OfficialPDPNig) March 20, 2020 to haul insults on the legislature to the extent of describing the lawful resolution of the Senate as cheap politics. Official PDP Nigeria (@OfficialPDPNig) March 20, 2020 The party says this development amounted to a gross misconduct on the part of Mr. President, who had demonstrated a clear dereliction of duty and total disregard to the lawful resolution of the legislature, in violation of the provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended). Official PDP Nigeria (@OfficialPDPNig) March 20, 2020 Vatican City, March 21 : The Vatican has issued guidelines for Catholics celebrating Easter and advised processions be delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic. Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, said in the statement on Friday that processions and other devotions of popular piety should be postponed until later in the year, suggesting September 14 and 15, reports Efe news. Any processions already suspended in the coming Holy Week could be celebrated on those dates, if the bishop approves. It said the Chrism Mass (a religious service held in Roman Catholicism, Lutheranism, and Anglicanism) can be postponed but not the rest of the acts of Holy Week. "Easter is the heart of the entire liturgical year and is not simply one feast among others," the guidelines stated, adding that the Easter Triduum "cannot be transferred to another time". "The faithful should be informed of the times of the celebration so that they can prayerfully unite themselves in their homes," it said and suggested events be broadcast on live television or over the internet. Priests can celebrate a mass on Holy Thursday without the public but feet washing should not be carried out, according to the advice. They were also urged to hold services on Good Friday and to hold universal prayers including a devotion for the sick, the dead and anyone feeling lost or bereaved. The Vigil mass, which is celebrated on Saturday, and procession which normally takes place after lighting candles should be omitted. It has been reported that Holy Week celebrations will be carried out without any faithful in attendance in the Vatican, although it has not yet been announced how Pope Francis will mark them. Italy has so far recorded 4,032 coronavirus deaths, surpassing the fatalities in China, where the virus first emerged last December, according to data provided by John Hopkins University. The country, which has been under a lockdown, has a total of 47,021 cases. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More The past week saw two new SUV launches but they almost went unnoticed. Hyundai and Volkswagen launched the new Creta and T-Roc respectively but they were overshadowed by news emerging due to coronavirus. That aside, Hero Motocorp quietly appealed to the SC for relaxation in the deadline of exhaustion of BS-IV stock. In todays automotive wrap find out why the company became the only one to do so even as its rivals appear to have managed their own BS-IV inventory better. But first here are the top headlines from the world of auto this week:- Hyundai launches new Creta at Rs 9.99 lakh Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) launched the new Creta on March 16 at an introductory price of Rs 9.99 lakh (ex-showroom, all-India). HMIL offered the new SUV with three BS-VI compliant engine options 1.5 litre petrol, 1.4 litre petrol and 1.5 litre diesel with price starting at Rs 9.99 lakh, Rs 16.16 lakh and Rs 9.99 lakh respectively. Volkswagen launches T-Roc SUV at Rs 19.99 lakh Volkswagen first debuted the T-Roc at the 2020 Auto Expo and has now launched the SUV in India. The T-Roc will be Volkswagens second SUV in India after the recent launch of the Tiguan Allspace. The T-Roc, just like the Allspace, will come to India via the completely built-up (CBU) route under the 2,500 car per year import rule. The company is however just offering a single, fully-loaded variant of the T-Roc in India. Apollo Tyres management takes a pay cut The top management of Apollo Tyres has taken voluntary pay cut taking into account the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the automotive industry, the company informed the exchanges on March 20. Chairman and Managing Director Onkar S Kanwar and Vice CMD Neeraj Kanwar have taken a pay cut of 25 percent each while the senior management will be taking a 15 percent hit in their salaries. Ashok Leyland to acquire 19 percent in the group finance company Ashok Leyland touched a fresh 52-week low of Rs 50.15, falling 22 percent intraday on March 19 after the company approved the acquisition of up to 19 percent additional equity shares in Hinduja Leyland Finance from the existing shareholders in tranches. The company is to acquire a stake in Hinduja Leyland Finance for a consideration not exceeding Rs 1,200 crore subject to approvals, consents, sanctions and permissions of the appropriate authorities. Tata Motors shuts down UK plant Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) on March 20 announced a temporary production suspension at its UK plants in light of the social distancing underway to combat the coronavirus pandemic, which has led to 144 deaths in Britain. The UK's largest carmaker said the suspension would come in place from next week and last at least until April 20, when it will be subject to a review of the rapidly-changing circumstances. Tata Motors may shut down Pune plants due to virus scare With Maharashtra recording the highest number of confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in India, Tata Motors is preparing for one-week complete shutdown of its Pune plant. Tata Motors is the biggest automotive sector employer in Maharashtra with two manufacturing plants, a research centre and multiple offices in Mumbai and Pune. Hero appeals to SC for 3 months time after failing to cut down production This week Indias largest two-wheeler maker Hero Motocorp became the first and only automotive company to approach the apex court seeking an extension of the deadline set for sale and registration of Bharat Stage IV (BS 4) models. The company has sought three months for exhausting the soon to be obsolete BS-IV stock. In other words, the maker of Splendor and Maestro seeks time till June to sell the last of the BS-IV model it has in its inventory including those which are lying with its dealers. The company has filed an interlocutory application before the Honble Supreme Court of India seeking relaxation of the deadline set for sale or registration of BS-IV vehicles i.e. 31.03.2020. In view of the completely unforeseen developments that have arisen out of the prevailing force majeure situation on account of COVID-19, we have prayed for an extension of time for a period of three months, as this has hampered all aspects of our industry, Hero said in a statement released to BSE. Despite the known sluggishness in demand Hero kept producing and pushing BS-IV grade models into the market right till the middle of February even though the industry was going the other way. As per data shared by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) Hero Motocorps supplies to its dealers came down by just 5.6 percent in December and 14 percent in January as against 17 percent and 16 percent recorded by the industry during the same two months, respectively. This means that even as the industry cut down production of BS-IV grade models Hero continued to produce more than the industry standard. The company ignored the telltale signs, which is evident from the statement made by one of its senior executives during an analyst conference call. As far as inventory is concerned we were down to close to six weeks at the end of December. And by January-end we are down to five 5 weeks of our retail. So effectively, inventory is a non-issue. And pretty much we're geared for a transition, said a Niranjan Kumar Gupta, CFO, Hero MotoCorp. The executive also admitted that much of this inventory was BS 4 grade although no precise split between the two technologies was shared by the company. Only in February did Hero cut down on its supplies to dealers with sales dropping 20 percent compared to 17 percent of the industry during the same month. While Hero said it had planned to start retails of BS 6 models only in March its rivals such as TVS Motor Company and Honda started selling BS 6 models months ago. TVS stopped production of BS 4 in January itself while Honda moved to 100 percent BS 6 in the last week on February. By February Bajaj Auto , the Pune-based maker of Pulsar motorcycles, continued to produce BS-IV grade models though much of its inventory was replaced by BS 6 upgrades. The company said that by first week of March all of its BS 4 stock will be liquidated. Air raid sirens echoed across Jordan's capital on Saturday to mark the start of a three-day curfew, the latest mass lockdown in the Middle East aimed at containing the coronavirus, which has claimed another 123 lives in Iran, home to the region's worst outbreak. The latest deaths bring Iran's overall toll to 1,556 amid 20,610 confirmed cases, according to figures released by the Health Ministry. Iran has faced widespread criticism for its lagging response to the outbreak, which has even infected and killed some senior officials. In one of the strictest measures yet, Jordan has ordered all shops to close and all people to stay off the streets until at least Tuesday, when it plans to announce specific times for shopping. Anyone caught violating the curfew faces up to one year in prison. Iran has been much slower to take action against the virus. It has urged people not to travel during the Persian New Year, a major national holiday, but many appear to be ignoring the guidance. Health Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said the number of cases has increased in many popular tourist destinations. Iran has not ordered businesses to close, though many have done so on their own. Authorities only began closing popular religious pilgrimage sites earlier this week, long after the first virus cases were detected. There are concerns the country's healthcare infrastructure, weakened by severe U.S. sanctions, could be overwhelmed. Most people only experience minor flu-like symptoms from the coronavirus and recover within a few weeks, but the virus is highly contagious and can be spread by those who appear well. It can cause severe illness, including pneumonia, in some patients, particularly the elderly and those with underlying health problems. More than 275,000 people have been infected worldwide. The virus has killed more than 11,000 people, while more than 88,000 have recovered. Several countries in the Middle East have closed schools, universities and nonessential businesses. Many are threatening fines or jail time to those caught violating the decrees. Saturday is Mother's Day in the Middle East, and many took to social media to lament the fact that they would not be able to visit family members. Iraq, which has reported 193 cases and 14 deaths, has struggled to maintain a weeklong curfew in Baghdad as religious pilgrims have continued to try to visit a major Shiite Muslim shrine in the capital. The tiny, energy-rich nation of Qatar is warning citizens and residents to honor home quarantine rules. The state-run Qatar Agency said authorities captured 10 people who broke the rules. It said those who disobey the orders could face prosecution. In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Palestinian security forces arrested 20 Muslim preachers for allegedly violating a ban on holding Friday prayers, the Voice of Palestine reported. The Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West Bank, has closed mosques and barred all group prayers. Abdallah Kmail, the governor of Salfit, said a village in the northern West Bank was locked down after a man who returned from Pakistan and tested positive for the virus participated in prayers held in violation of the ban. The man was an adherent of Salafism, an ultra-conservative interpretation of Islam, Kmail told the Voice of Palestine. The governor said 250 people from the village of Qarawa Bani Hassan will be tested Saturday. The Palestinian Authority has reported 52 confirmed cases, including 17 who recovered. Jordan has reported 85 infections, including one who recovered. Qatar has reported 460 cases, including 10 who recovered. In Egypt, which has reported 285 cases and eight deaths, there are growing calls for a more general lockdown. Health Minister Hala Zayed urged the public to stay at home and practice social distancing after large crowds gathered for Friday prayers in different parts of the country. Such gatherings are very serious, she said in televised remarks late Friday. People should do their part. It's not only their lives, but also the life of the community and the state itself." Lawmaker Mohammed Fouad called on the government to impose a curfew. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Midday traffic is lighter than usual on Highway 101 in San Francisco on March 20, 2020. With the entire State of California under order to shelter in place, traffic on Bay Area freeways is extremely light. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Over 70 Million Americans Ordered to Stay Home as States Tighten Travel Restrictions Amid CCP Virus Outbreak More than 70 million Americans were ordered to stay at home unless they have essential reasons to go out, as Illinois and New York joined California to issue stay-at-home orders in response to the CCP virus, also known as the Wuhan coronavirus. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker announced on Friday afternoon he signed a statewide stay-at-home order to keep new CCP virus cases from increasing rapidly. The order (pdf) will take effect Saturday at 5 p.m. and will expire on April 7. Schools across the state will remain closed until April 8. There are more than 12.6 million residents in Illinois. I fully recognize that in some cases I am choosing between saving peoples lives and saving their livelihoods, the governor said. But ultimately, you cant have a livelihood without a life. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (L), announce a shelter in place order to combat the spread of the COVID-19 virus, as Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot, right, listens, during a news conference in Chicago on March 20, 2020. (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP Photo) Earlier on Friday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the New York State on PAUSE executive order, which will be effective from 8:00 p.m. Sunday. It mandates 100 percent of the workforce stays home, excluding essential services, and temporarily bans all non-essential gatherings of any size. Cuomo also enacted Matildas Law, adding extra protections for New Yorkers aged 70 and older. The Epoch Times refers to the novel coronavirus, which originated from Wuhan, China and causes the disease COVID-19, as the CCP virus because the Chinese Communist Partys coverup and mismanagement allowed the virus to spread throughout China and create a global pandemic. According to data collected by the Johns Hopkins University, there are over 280,000 confirmed cases around the world as of Saturday morning, with 19,624 of them in the United States. The number is regarded to be highly-underestimated because of the underreporting of cases from Mainland China. Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci at a news briefing at the White House in Washington, on March 16, 2020. (Leah Millis/Reuters) Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), praised the states moves. Fauci said there are two elements that will enhance the capacity of the United States to slow the spread of the CCP virus. One is to stop the infections from coming into the United States from outside. Weve been very successful in doing that with China and with Europe. Now we have the northern and southern border issues, he said. Theres a fundamental public health reason for doing that, because we cannot be preventing people from coming in from one area when they can actually go into the other. On the other hand, states and regions which are hot zones should take strict restrictions to stop the spread. He praised the stay-at-home orders by California Gov. Gavin Newsom and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Governor Newsom made some very important, difficult decisions. Today, Governor Cuomo did the same thing, the top immunologist said. I want to say I strongly support what hes doing. The Associated Press and Epoch Times reporter Mimi Nguyen Ly contributed to the report. The largest craft operating out of XWA currently hold 76 passengers, but Dudas it is possible that the latest landing could pave the way for other airlines to begin utilizing larger craft at the facility. Dudas said the airports superior infrastructure sets it apart from Sloulin Field, specifically in terms of the terminal, taxiways and runways, which were built with larger aircraft in mind. The new terminal is almost 10 times the size of the one at Sloulin Field. The Executive Director of the Henry Djaba Memorial Foundation, Dr. Otiko Afisah Djaba has observed that the ongoing public campaign by the Government against the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) seems to discriminate against or properly not targeting persons with hearing impairment. She said if conscious measures were not taken to also target the vulnerable groups in the mass education with the right communication mechanisms, the disease can cause serious destruction. She, therefore, appealed to the Government to come out publicly to announce the kind of precautionary measures put in place to protect and sensitize the hearing impaired about the deadly Coronavirus so that their lives were not put at risk. In a statement issued in Accra by her Foundation, Dr. Otiko Djaba drew the attention of the Ministry of Information, NCCE, Duty Bearers and the Media to make information about the COVID-19 accessible to all, especially to the hearing impaired in Ghana. She indicated that persons with hearing impairment were faced with language and communication barriers, and had difficulty in accessing information through audio, radio and television unless the information was given in alternative formats such as sign language, captioning on television, easy to read information or infographics on social media, print and other formats. According to the former Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, the Coronavirus is a widespread deadly disease that can affect anyone, regardless of colour, gender, age, social standing, disability or otherwise. Adding that, over 246,762 cases and over 10,000 deaths have been reported to date, and still counting globally. These are urgent and desperate times and persons with hearing impairment should have rapid and easy access to information in sign language on regulations and directives to prevent and protect, know what to do, where to go and how to get supplies or health assistance. In addition, Sign Language Interpretation is urgently needed and required on all communication nationally and at the community level on the updates, hand washing, emergency telephone numbers, social distancing, physical isolation, quarantine and testing centers, and daily accurate news to enable them identify fake news and discount myths to reduce the risk of infection. Dr. Otiko Djaba who has for the past years devoted her time, energy and resources to protecting and defending the rights of persons with disability in Ghana and Africa, noted that, the hearing impaired also had real concerns and fears with regards to the spread of the Coronavirus, and the lack of accurate and adequate access to information in the communities makes it worse. She, therefore, implored the duty bearers, in particular the Ministry of Information, NCCE and media houses to provide sign language interpretation at all times for all communication, to ensure that persons with hearing impairment are accurately and adequately informed on Coronavirus. The Executive Director of Henry Djaba Memorial Foundation also expressed concern about how children are appropriately being communicated to, on the Coronavirus. How adequate is the communication for persons with sight impairment, street children, kayayei, hawkers, mental health patients and beggars on our streets? We are in this war against coronavirus together and so the needs of each group of our society should be addressed. The Government Committee for Religious Affairs on Friday asked religious organizations and places of worship to stop organizing festivals, conferences, and activities for large crowds. The committee urged specific events to be cancelled, including the Easter festival and the Khmer New Year (Chaul Chnam Thmey festival) in April, Vesak in May, as well as the Congress of Cao Dai followers, and annual meeting of the Bahai Religious Spirit Council. The committee has also warned against religious organizations against sending followers to events in other countries and accepting visitors coming from coronavirus-hit areas. Organizations should increase online services and interactions instead, the committee has directed. Places of worship at risk of any coronavirus infection or suspicion of infection must inform authorities for disinfection and closure. Anyone visiting these places must wear face masks. The committee also asked Vietnamese followers of different faiths to refrain from repatriating during the pandemic period and only do so when it is really necessary, following due precautions. The cancellation of religious festivities has come after a Saigon mosque was shut down Tuesday following six Muslims who prayed there coming into close contact with a Covid-19 positive Vietnamese man. The man, a native of south central Ninh Thuan Province, tested positive on returning from a religious event in Malaysia, becoming Vietnam's 61st Covid-19 patient. All passengers arriving in Vietnam from abroad will be automatically quarantined for 14 days starting Saturday as authorities try to limit the spread of Covid-19. In early February, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc had requested all festivals, either still in preparation phase or already launched, to reduce their scale in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. The opening ceremonies of many large festivals in northern Vietnam were therefore called off. Vietnam has confirmed 91 infection cases, 17 of whom have been discharged from hospital. Most of the new cases are people coming in from Europe and the United States and those that came into contact with them. By The Associated Press Mar. 20, 2020 | 06:58 PM | WASHINGTON The scene played out on national television during the daily White House briefing on the outbreak. Reporters asked both men first Fauci then Trump if a malaria drug called hydroxychloroquine could be used to prevent COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. A day earlier, when Fauci wasn't with him at that briefing, Trump had called attention to the drug. On Friday, Fauci took the reporter's question and got right to the point. No, he said. The answer ... is no. The information that you're referring to specifically is anecdotal, Fauci added firmly. It was not done in a controlled clinical trial, so you really can't make any definitive statement about it. He went on to explain that the Food and Drug Administration is looking for a way to make the drug available for emergency use, but in a manner that gives the government data about whether it's safe and effective. Fauci is director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at NIH and in more than 30 years has handled HIV, SARS, MERS, Ebola and now the new coronavirus. Currently, there is no medicine specifically approved for treating COVID-19. As the two men took turns at the podium, Trump said he disagreed with the notion that there is no magic drug for the coronavirus disease. Maybe and maybe not, he said. Maybe there is, maybe there isn't. We have to see. He struck an upbeat note, while trying not to directly challenge Fauci. I think without seeing too much, I'm probably more of a fan of that, he said, referring to the malaria drug. And we all understand what the doctor said is 100% correct. Then the president added, It's a strong drug. So, we'll see. Hydroxychloroquine and a similar drug chloroquine are sold around the world under a variety of brand and generic names. They can be prescribed off-label by doctors in the United States. They may interfere with the coronavirus being able to enter cells, and some scientists have reported possible encouraging signs in test-tube and other small studies. Other scientists are skeptical that those promising test-tube results will translate to benefits for patients. Fauci has a track record of calm and persistent repetition of the information he thinks his audience whether the public or physicians needs to know. Weeks ago, after Fauci said that even with all deliberate speed a vaccine could take a year to 18 months, Trump told a political rally one could be ready relatively soon." As administration officials repeatedly assured the public that coronavirus tests were rapidly becoming available, Fauci at a congressional hearing said the lack of widespread testing was a failing of the system. Although Fauci has publicly supported Trump's travel restrictions to try to keep the virus out, he warned the worst was coming even as Trump suggested the crisis was under good control. He stepped up to the podium Friday to say hes not ruling the drug out, but that it must be studied before making any promises. Trump wasn't dialing back his enthusiasm. Look, it may work and it may not work and I agree with the doctor," Trump said. I feel good about it. That's all it is. Just a feeling. You know, I'm a smart guy. I feel good about it ... You're going to see soon enough. The two even debated the safety of the malaria drug, with Trump saying it has a proven record and Fauci cautioning that must be validated again for coronavirus disease. In the end, the scientist seemed to be trying to find a way to avoid a direct confrontation with the president. You know, Im not dismissing it at all, and I hope that that interpretation wasnt widespread, Fauci said later on Fox News. What I said is that we dont have definitive proof that it works. For most people, the virus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. President Donald Trump and the government's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, had differing viewpoints Friday on whether a malaria drug would work to treat people with coronavirus disease. While the meetings on Friday were preliminary discussions, it is learnt that sectors like tourism; hospitality; aviation; micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs); and livestock have sought deferring loan repayments and temporary tax holidays in specific cases to help them tide over the steep fall in economic activity. IMAGE: Minister of State for Culture and Tourism (independent charge) Prahlad Singh Patel (2nd from right) meets Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman and her team, to assess the economic impact of covid-19 on the tourism sector, in New Delhi on March 20, 2020. Photograph: ANI Photo. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday met her ministerial colleagues and bureaucrats of various departments to assess the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. In multiple meetings, the ministries discussed the problems in their sectors, which are some of the worst-hit, and presented memorandums from stakeholders. While the meetings on Friday were preliminary discussions, Business Standard has learnt that sectors like tourism; hospitality; aviation; micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs); and livestock have sought deferring loan repayments and temporary tax holidays in specific cases to help them tide over the steep fall in economic activity. Fridays meetings were a precursor to the meetings of the Covid-19 Economic Response Taskforce, which is yet to be constituted. Officially the task force has not yet been constituted. We are holding the meetings because of the urgency of the situation. We have started work, and the work that we are doing right now will go into the task force as well, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters after the meeting. In his address to the nation on Thursday, the prime minister had announced the formation of the taskforce, to be led by Sitharaman. In four meetings, Sitharaman met Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri, Animal Husbandry Minister Giriraj Singh, and Tourism Minister Prahlad Patel. The MSME ministry was represented by its secretary. Also present were Finance Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey, Economic Affairs Secretary Atanu Chakraborty, and the secretaries to the other ministries. We held discussions with these ministries in detail. They had brought memorandums from the stakeholders in their respective sectors. We are in the stage of compiling all their demands, Sitharaman said. A top official aware of the deliberations in the meetings said the ministers spoke about the difficulties being faced by their sectors and the possible measures that could be taken by the government and regulators. Loan repayment and tax relaxation were among the measures sought by industries in their memorandums. There will be many meetings over the coming week once the task force is notified. Only after that may a detailed relief package be announced, the official said. Sitharaman said senior policymakers in the finance ministry would meet on Saturday morning to discuss the way forward. Through its memorandum, the more than $14-billion Indian poultry industry asked for deferring all instalments on loans taken by poultry companies and small players for one year and working capital support to tide over the immediate crisis. We dont want our loans to become non-performing assets after 90 days if we are not able to repay our instalments as serving them is getting difficult with each passing day, an executive of the sector said. He said the poultry industry, which is one of the biggest employers of small and marginal farmers in India, was suffering a daily loss of almost Rs 2,000 crore due to a massive slump in demand in view of false rumours that consuming non-vegetarian food hastened the Covid-19 infection. This is absolutely untrue and despite best efforts and repeated advice sent by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), demand hasnt picked up. The poultry industry directly employs almost 1 million small and marginal farmers whose livelihood is at stake due to the drop in demand, the person said. We hope the finance minister will consider our demand because our survival is directly linked to the survival of small and marginal farmers and unorganised sector workers, said another senior representative of the Indian poultry industry. In the last few weeks, millions of chicken and eggs have been destroyed due to a sharp drop in demand over rumours surrounding Covid-19. Weak demand from the poultry sector has resulted in a sharp decline in feed prices too, with both soybean and maize prices falling by nearly 25 per cent in the past two months. The poultry market consumes around half the soybean and maize production in India. Finance ministry officials say that while the situation is fluid and there will be many meetings before a decision is taken, it still remains to be seen if loan repayment and tax relaxations will be provided for as much as a year. A call will also be taken on whether such relaxations will be sector-specific or not, or whether they will be for only MSMEs. OShea, a lawyer and publisher, has worked from home for 15 years, but Priors income is derived from gourmet tours of France. Their plan is to set up a cooking school in the new country house. To cope with the isolation, on Friday night they held a virtual happy hour with friends in The Hague and Paris over Skype. It was a lot of fun, Prior said. We had the French husbands give us lessons on how to cut cheese, talked about loads of things, new friends were introduced to each other and we played two truths, one lie, which was fun. Drank too much wine, of course, and ate too much cheese. Their lesson: It might take longer now to establish the cooking school. But honestly, Im grateful for what I have, rather than what I dont, Prior says. Sally Dominguez, US Highlight: Working out. Sally Dominguez, right, and her daughter Olivia, at their makeshift home gym in San Francisco. I teach exponential strategy as my day job and I could see how the exponential spread of this virus was going to go as soon as I saw the figures in Italy and China, says Dominguez, an Australian living in the San Francisco Bay area, by way of accepting her locked-in status. She has complied with a shelter in place order since March 16, but admits it has cost her some $60,000 in cancelled work contracts. Dominguez, her husband Simon and her daughters, Olivia and Jemima, spend time studying and working, each in their own space. They have assembled a makeshift gym for daily workouts and meet at night for a movie together. Working out has been a huge part of my daily routine and mental health wellness, Dominguez says. Turns out an empty gas cylinder is a great kettle bell! Dominguez also produces the podcast Daily Future with futurist Mark Pesce, launched last week from home. Their lesson: Keep active to keep well, and give each other space. Roberto Serafinelli, Italy Highlight: Books and records, including AC/DC. Astrophysicist Serafinelli, 35, has been holed up in his Milan apartment since the national quarantine was enforced on March 10, unable to venture onto deserted streets that are patrolled by police, except for necessities. Roberto Serafinelli outside in Milan before the lockdown started. If Serafinelli wants to go out, he too must fill out a form, printed from the governments website, to declare he is not ill and is going only to the supermarket for essentials. We stay home, this is what were told to do, he says. Serafinelli has not seen his parents, who retired to their hometown of Gradoli, since the virus outbreak gripped northern Italy. Last week, he went to the supermarket, where security guards ensure people stand a metre apart in queues. The queue was so long, he went home and ordered a kebab from Deliveroo instead. He now passes most days reading books biographies of Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, and even Michael Crichtons Jurassic Park waiting to hear news that todays death toll was less than yesterday's. Roberto Serafinelli is passing time with books and music while locked up at home in Milan, Italy. Hes also listening to his favourite rock records, Australias own AC/DC albums among them, and meeting with his pub pals over Skype for a beer. We call it Skyperitivo. His lesson: Do what youre told. A lot of people here were sceptical about the danger, until the damage was real. - By Marissa Calligeros Ketan Joshi, Norway Highlight: Family time together. Ketan Joshi, his wife Kim and 15-month-old daughter Amelia are in home quarantine in Oslo, Norway, because the parents have minor cold and flu symptoms. The normal operation for life with a childcare kid, says Joshi. You can still walk outside, shop and [theres] no curfew, but you cant have minor social contact ... [and need] to keep 1.5 metres away from everyone. Ketan Joshi, right, and his wife Kim play with their daughter Amelia in home quarantine in Oslo, Norway. Joshi, who writes on climate change, is losing work as fewer outlets are interested at the moment, but they are lucky Kims work at the University of Oslo guarantees good support for employees and their kids. They spend most of their days playing with Amelia and coming up with fun games. They dont know how long theyll need to stay in quarantine he says rumours are putting it at between two weeks and a year. I am desperately hoping there are some ways to both maintain reduced transmission of the disease while increasing social contact for kids and adults, and increased work activity, he says. Their lesson: Have little moments to yourself, do a bit of work, and make many video calls a day. Antoine Vialle and Kristy Ettel, Spain Antoine Vialle, from Brisbane, and Kirsty Ettel, from Japan, spent their anniversary in lockdown in Valencia, Spain. Highlight: Having the city to themselves. Ettel had just arrived from Japan and Vialle, having moved from Brisbane, was a week into his new and barely furnished flat in Valencia when Spain shut down. We were staying in a hotel in the city for our anniversary and we couldnt go out for dinner, Vialle says. I was looking forward to our special booking. The next day, the lovebirds carried on with their plan to explore the city by bike and, despite being stopped by police twice, enjoyed the empty streets. We were riding in the middle of the main roads, he says. It was a really cool experience. But it was short lived. They are now passing their time working he works from home for a data analysis company, she is studying interpreting online or watching movies. Loading He says neither had time to prepare by stocking up on books or board games for time away from screens so are really bored, but they very much look forward to the evenings when, at 8pm, city dwellers assemble by their windows to clap health workers. Its a really great atmosphere. Even though everyone is confined, it brings them out. His lesson: If the world can take such drastic action to rectify a grave situation, what if we did that for climate change? What if the world got together to solve other issues? Tata Duarte and John Meredith, Peru Highlight: Learning salsa and Portuguese. Thais Duarte and John Meredith are stuck in Cuzco, Peru, and hope to continue their trip to New Zealand to start a new life together. Duarte and Meredith are in a predicament. She has lived in Australia for the past four years and was on the way back from a trip to her native Brazil to a new life in Rotorua, New Zealand, home to her fiance, John. They are stuck in Cuzco, Peru, where the airports are closed, and can only leave their Airbnb apartment for a trip to the pharmacy or supermarket. Both are waiting on evacuation flights by their respective embassies but are resigned to the fact they may have to go in different directions because, as they arent yet married, she doesnt qualify to fly with him. To keep busy, Duarte, a primary school and sports teacher, says she has been teaching Meredith to dance salsa and giving him one-hour Portuguese lessons each day. Hes learning well, hes smart, she muses. Hes also correcting my English. She remarked on how calm and accommodating Peruvians had been since the lockdown was decreed at the weekend. Theyve been great, so polite. Their lesson: Respect the orders, theres no point fighting this. Dominique Hong-Thao Renault, Belgium Highlight: Time for introspection and sharing. Dominique Hong-Thao Renault has taken the time for introspection and to work on helping her three children, above, understand the need for isolation. Renault lives in Brussels with her three kids aged 12, nine and three. For her the strangest thing about the government deciding everyone should stay home was that time stood still. It was a weird sensation, but also interesting. Time stopped. No more running for work, she says. Renault says the hardest thing was to explain the virus, the risks and the need to isolate to the children. They were a little afraid, but they understood, she says. "The mind is still free": Dominique Hong-Thao Renault is in lockdown with her three children in Brussels. She can go out for groceries only one person in the store at the time and can take the kids out for air, but not to walk or linger. The police are there to make sure we respect that. As a consultant psychologist, shes without income but says the government has promised to help with unemployment benefits. But it is a big problem; we dont know what is going to happen and how to pay the bills. As businesses and services grind to a halt or dramatically alter how they operate to ensure directives from health officials are being met, the message about reducing the spread of COVID-19 is starting to land with flight schools. Some driving schools are also finding it hard to ensure the proper social distance within the confines of a car, and they're hitting the brakes on lessons. Pacific Rim Aviation Academy in Pitt Meadows was still taking students into the air on Friday with thorough sanitary precautions but decided late in the day to halt instruction beginning Monday morning. According to Masa Tsujino, chief flight instructor at the academy, many students were already cancelling lessons, but the school has taken a cue from other flight schools in the region and decided to shut down. At Langley Flying School, chief instructor David Parry said on Friday that lessons were still underway, with careful precautions. Parry said there was a declaration form at the entrance that students had to fill out each day stating whether they had any risk factors for COVID-19. The students also had to thoroughly disinfect the cockpit, touch points and controls before each lesson. The tight shoulder-to-shoulder cockpits don't allow for much space between instructor and student, though, and Parry said the school was ready to shut down at any moment. Konwicki Marcin/Shutterstock "We're doing the best we can do, and if health officials say we should discontinue operations, flight training, small operations, we would do so," he said, adding that the one-on-one situation of a flight lesson is much different than that of a crowded restaurant or bar. Parry said he's tuning into provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry's daily briefings to take direction from her. Driving lessons also put on hold Young Drivers of Canada also shut down on Friday, cancelling 1,600 lessons over the next two weeks. Greater Vancouver regional education manager Kurtis Strelau said business had already slowed, as students and instructors opted to avoid the close quarters of the vehicles. Story continues "In keeping with community-based social distancing measures to mitigate the spread of disease, we've decided to suspend in-class and in-car lessons," said Strelau on Friday. He said the company was carefully sanitizing the vehicles and maintaining social distance in the classrooms, but the time had come to put things on hold until the coronavirus situation improved. He said some Young Drivers franchises in Ontario had already stopped giving lessons. "It's time. We didn't take the decision lightly, but we thought it was the right thing to do," said Strelau. He said instructors were being paid for late cancellations, but now they'll all have to be laid off until business resumes. Strelau pointed out that ICBC has already suspended road tests due to the pandemic. If you have a COVID-19-related story we should pursue that affects British Columbians, please email us at impact@cbc.ca. Do you have more to add to this story? Email rafferty.baker@cbc.ca Follow Rafferty Baker on Twitter: @raffertybaker Total cases Note: The map shows the known locations of coronavirus cases by county. Circles are sized by the number of people there who have tested positive, which may differ from where they contracted the illness. Some people who traveled overseas were taken for treatment in California, Nebraska and Texas. Puerto Rico and the other U.S. territories are not shown. Sources: State and local health agencies, hospitals and C.D.C. Data as of 11:45 p.m. on Friday, March 20. It started two months ago, just north of Seattle. A young man who had returned from China tested positive for the coronavirus, the first known case in the United States. At first, the virus was detected only in a handful of cases, and mostly in those who had traveled outside the United States. There were lone patients in Arizona, in Massachusetts, in Wisconsin. Married couples in Illinois and California were infected. Groups of Americans evacuated from overseas received treatment in California, Nebraska and Texas. But in the past three weeks, everything has changed. As testing expanded and the virus spread, cases have been confirmed by the dozens, then by the hundreds and thousands. By Friday night, more than 17,000 cases of the coronavirus had been detected across all 50 states and Washington, D.C., and more than 200 people had died. New York, California and Washington State have been the hardest hit. Number of New Confirmed Cases Each Day State 123 Total cases New cases each day Date of first case The climb in the number of cases has been rapid, in part because of more testing. This week saw five times more cases than the previous one, more than 6,000 of which were in New York, which has the most cases in the country. Change in the Number of New Confirmed Cases The chart shows the percent increase in confirmed cases from March 15 to 20. States with at least 50 cases on March 15 are shown. See our maps tracking the coronavirus outbreak around the world. The precautions taken to stem the spread of the coronavirus have already left some Wyoming communities in a financial pinch. Several businesses, workers and families are wondering what comes next. The state has several resources to address these needs. Heres a guide to where you can find relief from unemployment benefits and rent assistance to health insurance or small business loans. If you lost your job You have options. The Wyoming Department of Workforce Services continues to offer its services at 20 locations across the state. If you need immediate assistance, you can file a claim online with the unemployment insurance program or call 307-473-3789. I encourage individuals who find themselves out of a job through no fault of their own to explore their options with our capable DWS staff, Director of the Department of Workforce Services Robin Sessions Cooley said. DWS Workforce Centers are ready and willing to assist individuals who need help now. Because of high call volumes and the need for social distancing, Workforce Services encourages individuals to file applications for benefits online at wyui.wyo.gov or call 307-473-3789. Listen to Director Robin Sessions Cooleys message to Wyoming workers here. If you need work Visit WyomingatWork.com. This is a Wyoming-specific employment search engine. Department of Workforce Service specialists are available to help you navigate this, too. You can call them at 307-473-3789, but you may have to wait. Workforce Centers have been receiving a high volume of calls. While many places of business are shutting down because of the coronavirus, grocery stores are seeing a need for new workers as shoppers stock up for self-isolation. Albertsons and Smiths have both announced theyre hiring. You can apply at albertsonscompanies.com or smithsfoodanddrug.com, or visit the physical stores. Albertsons in the Hilltop Shopping Center is located at 2625 E. Second St., and Albertsons in west Casper is at 1076 CY Ave. Smiths is also on the west side of town at 2405 CY Ave. (Safeway is also hiring, if youre looking for work outside of Casper: careersatsafeway.com.) To apply for a job with the state of Wyoming visit the application portal at governmentjobs.com/careers/wyoming. If you need help paying rent or bills While many communities are working to ease the burden on renters, there are several housing organizations around the state that can offer guidance in securing rent assistance. You can find some resources throughout the state at rentassistance.org/wyoming-programs.html. A list of housing counseling agencies approved by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development is also available on the HUD website to help guide you through in the instance your bank or lender is not offering mortgage forgiveness or if you lose your home. In Casper, local resources include: Community Action Partnership of Natrona County, 800 Werner Court, Ste. 201, 307-232-0124. CAP will be open Friday from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. for individuals to fill out or drop off applications. Staff will be available by phone to work with individuals on a case-by-case basis. Follow their Facebook page for the latest updates. Casper Housing Authority, 145 N. Durbin St., 307-266-1388, chaoffice.org. Wyoming House Network, 2345 E. Second St., 307-472-5843, whninc.org. A number of resources across the state also provide emergency funds and other services to help offset costs for people without income. The Yellowstone Community Action Network, in the northwestern corner of the state, offers a number of leads for residents of Big Horn, Hot Springs, Park and Washakie counties needing help paying their utility bills, rent or for burials. Other organizations around the state include: Family Promise of Cheyenne, which provides homeless families with emergency and ongoing shelter, meals and supportive services through a partnership with various local faith communities. The First Stop Help Center, which serves as a compassionate resource to empower Fremont County residents experiencing emergency needs like eviction. Interfaith of Natrona County, which provides emergency services for shelter, food, clothing, prescriptions, bus tokens, personal care items, case management and supportive services. The Youth Emergency Services Foundation, which focuses on youth needs in Gillette. Legal Aid of Wyoming is still open and providing services for low income people, including people who have been financially displaced during the pandemic. You can apply for these services by calling 877-432-9955 Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. or visit their website at www.lawyoming.org. Legal Aid of Wyoming has offices statewide in Cheyenne, Casper, Gillette, Cody, and Lander. The Lander office also serves southwest Wyoming residents. For other bills, Black Hills Energy and Rocky Mountain Power will temporarily be suspending nonpayment disconnections for customers to minimize the effect of the pandemic. Black Hills also asks that any customers with coronavirus-like symptoms wait 48 hours until theyve passed to make non-emergency calls. Crews will respond to all emergency calls wearing protective equipment. Black Hills is making other adjustments for its employees safety, including having many work from home and providing paid leave for those who test positive or are put under quarantine. The company suggests people go to blackhillsenergy.com to see what their options are if theyre struggling to pay their bills. Some internet providers, like Comcast and AT&T, offer essentials packages at a significantly lower cost than traditional service providers. Verizon Wireless is waiving late fees from March 16 to May 16 for customers experiencing hardships due to the coronavirus. It will not terminate customers who have been impacted by the virus during that time. (You should call their customer service team or visit verizonwireless.com/support if this applies to you.) The company is also offering free international calling to countries identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as level 3 impacted by the coronavirus, through the end of April. Verizon is also waiving activation fees on new lines and upgrade fees. Additionally, some municipalities, such as Evansville, are temporarily waiving late fees and water shut-offs for unpaid bills. The Foundation for the Episcopal Diocese of Wyoming announced Saturday it has committed $1 million in relief to those negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in Wyoming. While the specifics of where the relief will go had not yet been decided, local Episcopal churches may have a role in its distribution. ANB Bank is offering options that may help customers affected by the pandemic: Customers can contact their loan officer directly or call the customer care center at 1-866-433-0282. "Ensuring that borrowers with floating rate, prime-based loans receive the full impact of the Federal Reserve Banks two emergency rate reductions, which total 1.5 percent, by reducing ANB Banks prime borrowing rate and temporarily removing interest rate floors through Dec. 31, 2020. "Offering a three-month deferral of payments for all consumer and commercial term loans that require a monthly principal and interest payment. This includes installment loans, mortgages, home equity loans, commercial real estate loans, equipment loans, and any other loan that requires a monthly principal and interest payment. All customers are eligible; there is no fee or penalty; and there are no requirements to prove need or impact from the coronavirus. "Working directly with our customers if they are experiencing financial difficulties and need assistance beyond the two actions noted above." If you need health insurance You can apply for health insurance on the federal marketplace at enrollwyo.org. The federal Medicaid website offers guidance for anyone who may have lost their health insurance coverage, particularly for children. Log on to insurekidsnow.gov and see what suits you. Your local 211 is also available to help connect you with resources in your community. If you own a small business Own a small business? The Wyoming Small Business Development Center has a number of experts available to help guide you through the process of securing assistance, as well as a wealth of resources to help you find grants to bolster your finances during the COVID-19 crisis. The Small Business Administration also offers a number of loans of up to $2 million at 3.75 percent interest rates over 30 years. (Nonprofits are eligible for the same deal at a 2.75 percent interest rate.) The breadth of the lending program could potentially be expanded with a new round of funding from Congress. You can learn about the various grant options at sba.gov, email the organization at disastercustomerservice@sba.gov or call 1-800-659-2955. One note: These do not operate in a similar fashion to traditional small business loans they are forgivable, processed through private lenders and can be used to cover your employees salaries, rent or mortgage payments without incurring any debt. Staying open during this time, but having trouble finding customers? Private businesses like Facebook are planning to offer up to tens of millions of dollars in business support and advertising credits to help companies extend their reach during social isolation periods. You can sign up for updates on that effort at facebook.com/business/boost/grants. You can contact your Wyoming Business Council regional director for help, too. If you run a nonprofit The Wyoming Nonprofit Network offers a number of resources to help identify funding resources and offer guidance during the crisis. There are also some organizations that can assist you in providing for clients in instances where there may be funding gaps. One such organization is the Wyoming Rapid Response Fund, which operates out of Sheridan but serves nonprofits in counties across the state. (Note: You need a referral from a case manager to access these funds.) The National Institute on Nonprofits also offer resources specific to COVID-19 at councilofnonprofits.org. If you are hungry The Natrona County School District has established a program to feed students while its schools are closed. Any person 18 and under can get a free lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday, at any of the following locations: Verda James Elementary, Paradise Valley Elementary, Midwest School, Lincoln Elementary and the Casper Recreation Center. For Natrona County residents whose jobs or finances have been affected by recent closures, the Poverty Resistance Food Pantry, Natrona County Community Action Partnership and Joshuas Storehouse are available to provide aid: Poverty Resistance Food Pantry: 307-215-4732, 450 S. Wolcott St. Natrona County Community Action Partnership: 307-232-0124, 800 Werner Court No. 352. Joshuas Storehouse: 307-265-0242, 334 S. Wolcott St. The Wyoming Hunger Initiative the food security initiative helmed by first lady Jennie Gordon also features a for free meals for children on its website. If you are sick Natrona County residents who fear they have COVID-19 or another respiratory illness are encouraged to call Wyoming Medical Centers new clinic, which was established specifically for the issue. The clinic will only test those patients who do not have the flu and who physicians believe may have COVID-19. The clinic, which accepts walk-ins but asks you to call ahead, can be reached at 307-233-0291. Its located at 245 S. Fenway St. in Casper. Patients who believe theyre sick are asked not to go to the emergency room to avoid overwhelming the facility. They are asked to either call Wyoming Medical Centers clinic or their normal health care providers. Only patients who are having trouble breathing should go to the ER. The Casper-Natrona County Health Department has established a local hotline that potential patients can call for information about COVID-19: 307-577-9892. The state also has a hotline for those outside of Natrona County. That can be reached by dialing 211. If you need a ride Casper Cabs is providing free rides to seniors to shop for groceries from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. Call 307-577-7777 to pre-schedule a ride. The offer is restricted to grocery store trips. More resources Are we missing anything? Email nick.reynolds@trib.com, camille.erickson@trib.com or editors@trib.com and well add it to the list. Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Camille Erickson Energy and Natural Resources Reporter Camille Erickson covers the state's energy industries. She received her master's degree at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. Before moving to Casper in 2019, she reported on business and labor in Minneapolis, Chicago and Washington. Follow Camille Erickson Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today A young Tralee woman and Cystic Fibrosis (CF) sufferer has called on the public to take the government's directives on self-isolation seriously. Ashe Spillane, who this week celebrated her 28th birthday, is one of those most at risk from the ongoing, deadly spread of the COVID-19 virus. Additionally, her brother also suffers with CF, while her dad has Multiple Sclerosis (MS). She took to social media on Sunday morning in a bid to highlight the importance of why - for the sake of people like her, her brother and dad, and others at risk - people should be taking the measures seriously. The following is what Ashe wrote on Facebook, which The Kerryman will share to raise further awareness: "So last week I was asked to self-quarantine for my safety due to COVID-19. As most people following me are aware, I have Cystic fibrosis. It is a disease that mainly affects the lungs, so keeping myself away from the public right now is so important. "So what's it's like being in self-quarantine you ask? It's HARD. Already, I miss seeing my family and friends. I miss going to work and having the chats with the girls. I miss my random trips around the shops, going to the gym and just being around people. Even if it's a stranger in a coffee shop. "Every night I write out a list of things to do the next day so I can keep myself preoccupied. It's so easy in a time like this to stay in bed late, not get dressed and procrastinate around the house all day. I encourage ye all to write your own list to help ye keep busy during this time. "In a few days I will be celebrating my 28th birthday. Not as I planned, but will celebrate all the same... "Every day since I was born, with the help of my parents, I've worked hard to stay alive. Especially for the last five years. The standard measures most people are taking with COVID19 are the measures Cystic fibrosis patients or other people with compromised immune systems have taken every day all their lives. So as you can imagine ,the measures we are taking now are even greater. "I see on social media a lot of people dismissing this and not taking it seriously. Going out having 'the craic'. Not engaging in social distancing. I could rant on about the ignorance and how angry it makes me, but I will just leave it at this: "I did not spend 28 years of my life working hard to keep myself well only to contract a virus because some people didn't have the common decency to adhere to the guidelines given and to look out for those who are most vulnerable. "I would really like to see my 29th birthday, so I ask, please: Be decent. Be smart. Above all, be kind, and look out for people. It's times like these we need it most," she added. In the midst of all this chaos, there was something reassuring about Thursdays joint meeting of five Southeast Texas county judges and other mayors and public leaders. They were different people with different backgrounds and different politics. But they came together for one very important goal helping everyone in this region get through this crisis as best as possible. Many of these officials have done something like this before, when floods or hurricanes or plant explosions threatened people in Southeast Texas. With the coronavirus, however, no one is exempt from the threat. Its not a question of being on high ground or being outside of the blast zone. The best way to counteract a threat like that is do what these leaders have done unite and help each other get residents tested to find out if they have the virus. Weve banded together over the years, said Jasper County Judge Mark Allen. Rita, Ike, Harvey, Imelda and numerous other storms, and we weathered them together. God bless you, he said to all Southeast Texans. We will endure. Hes right, and this struggle will need all of us. The county judges kicked off this cooperative effort with plans to streamline screening and testing. A hotline (409-550-2536) has been set up for everyone in Hardin, Jasper, Jefferson, Newton and Orange counties who thinks they may have the virus. The hotline is the first step to getting tested. Those who pass the screening process will be instructed to get further testing and given the address to a testing site, one of which will be a drive-through. There, they will be screened for flu and, if necessary, coronavirus. The address of the testing site is not being publicized to prevent people from just showing up. Beaumont Mayor Becky Ames said there are enough tests for those who need them, but not necessarily for everyone who might want one. Private testing at clinics independent of this effort are also available, such as one that opened this week at Legacy Community Health, 450 N. 11th St. in Beaumont. This is an important first step, and we hope that others will follow. Social distancing is important for individuals at this time, but we need the opposite of distancing with the government agencies and health care providers who can stop the spread of this disease. With this step, Southeast Texas is no longer on the defensive in this crisis, waiting to see how we are affected. Thanks to proactive measures by our public leaders, were stepping up to this challenge. Lets all continue that momentum. Representative image Fearing loss of pay and jobs due to the coronavirus outbreak, an association representing the private security industry has sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention in saving the livelihood of its members. With a workforce of over 85 lakh and an annual growth rate of 22 per cent, the private security industry is one of the largest employment-providing sectors in the country and one of the largest contributors to corporate and social security taxes (GST, PF, ESI, income tax etc.), it said. "Like everyone else in the world and in India, coronavirus is posing its lethal risk to every private security person," Central Association of Private Security Industry (CAPSI) chairman K Vikram Singh wrote in a letter to the prime minister. Also, its adverse impact on the economy is affecting the industry with a much greater intensity and ferocity, the letter said. "The closure of malls, showrooms, theatres, hotels etc. has led to a situation, wherein the clients are asking to remove all security guards from their locations, leaving only one guard at these sites, and they have also made it clear that they will only pay for the drastically reduced strength. Now what happens to the others? Where do the other guards go? Who pays them their salaries for this period?" asked the CAPSI. It said going on a back-to-back arrangement and temporarily laying off their workers -- a practice that is not only unethical and illegal but also brings forth a catastrophic and disastrous effect on these unfortunately placed private security guards and their families -- may be the likely emerging scenario. COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show "We, therefore, seek your intervention to save lakhs of chowkidars and 23,000 security entrepreneurs from the disastrous situation. The ESI, PF and GST departments may be asked to defer their tax collection date by giving adequate time so that guards can be paid wages to take care of their families," the association said in the letter to the prime minister. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 12:12:26|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- China's electricity consumption, a key barometer of economic activity, dropped by 7.8 percent year on year in the first two months of 2020, while recovery gained visible momentum since the beginning of this month, according to the top economic planner. Specifically, power use by the secondary and tertiary industries was down by 12 percent and 3.1 percent, respectively, and that by the first industry grew 3.9 percent from the same period a year ago, said Meng Wei, a spokeswoman with the National Development and Reform Commission. Eight provincial-level regions registered growth, with electricity consumption in Inner Mongolia and Yunnan up by over 5 percent. Meng said both indicators of power generation and consumption had posted faster growth in March. National electricity output reached 17.8 billion kWh on March 16, marking a 9.9-percent rise from the 16.2 billion kWh registered at the end of February. New data on electricity use pointed to highly recovered vitality across sectors. The nonferrous metals industry saw power use back to the normal level of last year, while the pharmaceutical, chemical and electronic industries saw their electricity use back to 90 percent of the normal level. By PTI NEW DELHI: The telecom department on Saturday wrote to chief secretaries of all states, urging them to allow movement of field staff of telecom companies and infrastructure providers, and give other permissions to ensure uninterrupted operation of critical communications networks amid coronavirus outbreak. In a letter to the chief secretaries of all states and union territories on ensuring "operational continuity of telecom services in view of the threat of Covid-19 outbreak", the Telecom Department said that in case of restrictions being contemplated for containment of coronavirus, all critical telecom infrastructure should be permitted to remain operational. Moreover, all critical telecom infrastructure should be permitted to be manned by the staff of telecom service providers/telecom infrastructure providers, it said. "For accessing critical telecom infrastructure locations, the movement of the staff of telecom service providers/telecom infrastructure providers be permitted," the letter said. The Department of Telecom (DoT) has also said that the movement of vehicles carrying diesel for the DG sets at critical telecom infrastructure should be allowed and that sufficient diesel availability should be ensured. It has also sought states' cooperation for ensuring the availability of power supply to critical telecom infrastructure. ALSO READ | Coronavirus: Air India to send re-employed engineering staff on 'leave without pay' till March 31 "The support of police and disaster response forces be provided to telecom service providers/telecom infrastructure providers, if necessary," it said. The DoT underlined that at this juncture a robust telecom infrastructure is critical for providing access to emergency services. "Ensuring uninterrupted operation of critical telecom infrastructure is of paramount importance," the DoT said. Critical telecom infrastructure includes telephone exchanges, mobile switching centres, network operation centres, transmission centres, data centres, telecom tower sites, call centres of telecom service providers and warehouses where maintenance spares of telecom service providers are stored. The latest moves come after the telecom department on Friday met telcos and associations to discuss critical issues around business continuity of communications networks, as industry sought government intervention for allowing movement of essential field staff and sought other waivers to keep services up-and-running amid the coronavirus outbreak. Representatives from industry bodies like COAI and Tower and Infrastructure Providers Association (TAIPA) as well as telecom operators like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea, Reliance Jio and state-owned telcos had attended the meeting called by senior telecom department officials. As such, the government has initiated a slew of measures to contain the spread of coronavirus and create awareness around the global pandemic. It has launched a chatbot on messaging app WhatsApp to address any queries that people may have about coronavirus. Sources said the chatbot has been developed and implemented by Jio Haptik Technologies, a conversational AI platform and a subsidiary of Reliance Industries. 'MyGov Corona Helpdesk' can be accessed by sending a Whatsapp message to +91 9013151515. It is equipped to resolve various FAQs pertaining to the novel coronavirus including necessary precautionary measures, symptoms, helpline numbers, affected cases in the region, Government advisories (including travel) amongst others. New Delhi [India], Mar 21 (ANI): In the wake of the ongoing coronavirus threat in the country, the National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) will minimise dope testing of the athletes to combat the spread of the disease. NADA takes help from government doctors to conduct dope tests but all medical officers are busy in the wake of rising in coronavirus cases. "The doctors we have in NADA are government employees and they work with us as part timers. Whenever we need, we call them otherwise. They are already in the hospital. Due to the coronavirus, they are overburdened and so we do not want to disturb them for this work. So, we have minimised the dope testing. When it is really required, we will do the test," NADA Director General and CEO Navin Agarwal told ANI. Agarwal stated that the Tokyo bound-athletes will be tested as prior as they are on "high risk" category. "The testing will go on only for Olympics athletes who are on high risk. Otherwise, we are not doing any testing as of now. Due to the logistics, there would also be various issues in the transportation of samples and other things," he said. The NADA Director General and CEO added that social distancing is the best way to prevent oneself from being contracted and all the dope testing officers and athletes will take proper precautions. "The most important thing is social distancing. So, we are keeping everything in mind. It should not be transmitted from athletes to doctors or vice-versa. The health and protection of athletes and dope control officers are paramount. The entire dope testing programme has been thoroughly minimised," he said. Asked about what precautions will NADA take, Agarwal said, "Of course, we have issued instructions wherever tests are to be carried out. They will use all the protective measures and equipment. WADA has also issued guidelines and DCO himself has to be free of all symptoms." NADA will support Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal to thank healthcare providers by clapping from their homes on March 22 at 5 pm. "For the last two months, millions are working day and night in hospitals and airports, and those serving others by not taking care of themselves. On March 22, at 5 pm, we should stand on our doorways, balconies, in our windows and keep clapping hands and ringing the bells for five minutes to salute and encourage them," Modi had said on Thursday while addressing the nation. Agarwal further said, "You know the strain on the health care system of the country. It is quite tremendous, doctors should be applauded. We all will be applauding our doctors and service personnel who are working despite the threat to their own safety tomorrow at 5 pm." Following government instructions, the NADA had asked its 50 per cent employees to work from home. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Arya Dipa (The Jakarta Post) Bandung Sat, March 21, 2020 12:33 662 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad206c6ba8f 1 National West-Java,mobile-app,mobile-application,COVID-19,novel-coronavirus,coronavirus Free West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil launched a mobile application named Pikobar on Friday designed to publish information and updates related to the transmission of COVID-19 in Indonesias most populous province. "The purpose is for the residents to get accurate information," Ridwan said on Friday. The app, which is currently available for Android-based smartphones only, shows the latest data of patients positive for COVID-19, as well as people under general monitoring and patients under surveillance. As of Saturday morning, 41 people have tested positive in West Java, with seven fatalities. The app also shows that 1,506 people are currently under general monitoring and 136 patients under surveillance. The app displays a link that connects to the provinces COVID-19 information and Coordination Center website. Besides displaying COVID-19 data in West Java, Ridwan said, the application was also connected to other open source-based websites that showed national and global data. "So, people will understand that this is not just an issue in West Java and Jakarta but a national and global issue. Hopefully, this will raise peoples vigilance," he said. Users can also find emergency contact numbers and the referral hospitals tasked to handle COVID-19 cases. The app also provides various informative COVID-19 related videos. Ridwan explained that Pikobar was also linked to kitabisa.com, a crowdfunding site to help procure health supplies. Health workers in hospitals, community health centers (Puskesmas) and the other clinics who need masks or personal protective equipment can directly apply for assistance. "There are 70,000 Puskesmas [in West Java]. They just need to [fill in] the form and we will submit it to the suppliers," the governor said. The administration also welcomes criticism about the information services, which is collected through a survey feature in the app. Pikobar is also connected to Jabar Saber Hoax to help people check the validity of any COVID-19 information circulating on social media. Other features that are still under development include the use of artificial intelligence to describe COVID-19 symptoms and a question and answer section with a physician. (aly) Queensland candidates and their campaigners will be prevented from gathering outside polling stations in a bid to reduce the number of people at pre-polling and election-day booths. Local Government Minister Stirling Hinchliffe said the Electoral Commission of Queenslands second directive would minimise static interaction while enabling ECQ officials to display candidates' how-to-vote information inside polling stations. To expedite voting and maximise safety, candidates and their campaigners will be barred from loitering outside polling stations. Credit:Lucy Stone ECQ's first directive on Thursday banned the handing out of how-to-vote cards. Earlier this week, Redland City Council removed all volunteers from pre-polling booths, while Brisbane City Council reduced the number of workers in attendance. Sri Lanka hotels likely to close View(s): Some Sri Lankas hotels are likely to close by the end of the month or until tourists leave the country while some others opt to remain open. We are currently staying open and we and most others too are open till the end of the month, (after that) we might be shutting down, a decision we are still debating, Sri Lanka Hotels Association President Sanath Ukwatte told the Business Times on Friday. He noted that there would be no point of having hotels open; some staff will be sent on paid and unpaid leave as weddings and other events have either been postponed or cancelled. Currently there are only a few guests and whoever wishes to leave can do so and those willing to stay on will be accommodated, he said. At present, SriLankan Airlines, Emirates, Edelweiss and Qatar Airways are among those operating flights to and out of the country. However, some hotels like the Jetwing group are looking at staying open with a skeletal staff in operation even though guests may leave. I think we need to do a complete lockdown and clear this mess otherwise this will get out of hand. We need to get this out of the way and people must take it seriously, Jetwing Chairman Hiran Cooray said. He noted that while they have a few guests waiting to get back they will not close the hotels and would remain open since rooms need to be cleaned, staff will not be asked to leave and they will continue to be paid and be granted their normal leave for those wanting to take it. Some tourists are facing issues since they dont have flights to go back and they will continue to stay, Mr. Cooray said. (SD) Mum Jacqueline McGovern died after being struck by a car A man has been charged with robbery and endangerment of life following a crash in south Dublin when a woman was fatally struck by a car minutes after an alleged shop raid. Darren Rowe (34) appeared in court yesterday charged in connection with the incident in which Jacqueline McGovern (54) was hit by a car as she walked on a footpath in Killiney. Ms McGovern, a mother-of-three and special needs assistant, died, while a second woman who was also struck did not suffer life-threatening injuries. Mr Rowe, of Dunedin Terrace, Monkstown, is charged with endangerment of life at Avondale Road in Killiney on March 10, as well as robbery of the Centra store on Barnhill Road in Dalkey of 806 on the same date. Judge Grainne Malone remanded him in custody for a week after no bail application was made on his behalf. He is the third man to be charged in connection with the incident - yesterday, two others appeared in court accused of robbery and were also remanded in custody. Detective Garda Brian Davoren gave evidence at Dun Laoghaire District Court of arresting and charging Mr Rowe. Substantial "I am not making any bail application today," defence solicitor Sandra Frayne said. The accused spoke only to nominate his solicitor when Judge Malone asked who he wanted to represent him. Applying for free legal aid, Ms Frayne said Mr Rowe was on disability benefit and in receipt of 213-a-week. She handed a statement of his financial means in to court. The judge granted legal aid as there was no garda objection. Ms Frayne said her client might be making a bail application next Friday. Judge Malone remanded Mr Rowe in custody, to appear in Cloverhill District Court on March 27. The charge against him alleges he created a "substantial risk of death or serious injury to another". On Thursday, father-of-one Edward Andrews, of Belarmine Hall, Stepaside, Co Dublin, and Terry Meegan (27), from Ridge Hall, Ballybrack, were both charged with robbery. Mr Andrews was refused bail, while Mr Meegan made no bail application and their cases were both adjourned to Cloverhill District Court on March 26. During Mr Andrews's bail hearing at Dun Laoghaire District Court, Det Gda Robert Clifford said in the alleged robbery, two masked raiders entered the store at 9.20pm and threatened staff. Three tills were opened and just over 800 was allegedly taken. It was alleged the raiders fled to a waiting car. A couple of minutes later a collision happened and two women were knocked down, one was injured but the second died, Det Gda Clifford said. Mr Andrews's solicitor Ronnie Lynam said the evidence "is seriously challenged by the accused and he maintains his right to do so, and he is pleading not guilty to this matter". At Dublin District Court on Thursday, Garda Deirdre Finn told Judge Miriam Walsh that Mr Meegan replied "no comment" to his robbery charge. JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. You should upgrade or use an You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.You should upgrade or use an alternative browser (Natural News) The Taiwanese government has announced it will begin manufacturing and shipping up to 100,000 hospital protective face masks to the United States beginning immediately. The news is going to be welcomed especially by American medical personnel who are struggling to find enough of them just to be able to function and do their jobs safely, thanks to massive shortages of PPE personal protective equipment like masks, latex gloves and gowns that normally come from China. We have enough capacity to cooperate with the U.S., an official at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO), Taiwans de facto embassy to the United States, told the Washington Examiner. Granted, the decision wasnt without some calculation. Taiwan remains essentially isolated, diplomatically, from most of the world because countries dont want to upset China, which considers the island democracy just a renegade province and has threatened to invade if Taipei should ever formally declare independence. That said, the U.S. is Taiwans most important ally, which has been strengthened under President Donald Trump. So clearly, the decision to ramp up mask production also involves geopolitics. As the Washington Examiner notes: Chinese President Xi Jinping has ratcheted up pressure on the island government and succeeded in inducing other nations to cut diplomatic ties with Taipei, but Taiwanese officials now are positioned to expand their cooperation with Western powers not only by providing hospital masks, but also as a source of reliable information on the new contagion. And of course, the offer by Taiwan comes as new tensions between Washington and Beijing arise over the outbreak of Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19). President Trump, to the consternation of the pro-Beijing U.S. media, routinely refers to the disease as the China virus, which angers the Communist government. But its true, nonetheless, since thats where the disease originated. In any event, Taiwans donations will go a long way towards addressing major shortfalls in masks that have led federal officials to recommend healthcare workers use homemade masks (e.g. bandana, scarf) if they run short or completely out of medical-grade masks due to the pandemic. Masks are in short supply because of China Its just one part of a wider plan to share best practices and cooperate on a range of activities, said a joint statement released Wednesday by the Taiwanese mission in D.C. and the American Institute in Taiwan. Meantime, the U.S. will be reserving 300,000 hazmat suits for Taiwan in the event that it requires them in exchange for the masks, local reports stated. The island government has been limiting masks since early February while placing orders for factories to ramp up production to more than 8 million per day. (Related: Advanced knowledge? CDC started hiring QUARANTINE program managers last November to cover quarantine centers in Texas, California, New York, Washington, Illinois, Massachusetts and more.) Seeing how the production rate has increased, the government will also be adjusting the rationing system accordingly, Taiwanese Premier Su Tseng-chang said in early March. Masks are in extremely short supply globally because China where the vast majority of them are made has restricted their export in order to save them for domestic use. That has left countries like the U.S. scrambling to find replacements, even as the virus just begins to spread. In order to fix the problem both short- and long-term, President Trump on Tuesday invoked the Defense Production Act, a Korean War-era law that gives him authority to instruct U.S. manufacturers to bolster the output of certain products (like PPE) ahead of others to fill needs during a national emergency. We will exchange the research and the production about the vaccines and the medicines, the TECRO official said. We want to be a responsible member in the international community, and now if Taiwan has capacity and ability, we want to help countries and the world. In the future, we expect a large portion of these items to be made in the USA so we dont have to go through this again the next time a strange, deadly new virus breaks out in China. Sources include: WashingtonExaminer.com TaiwanNews.com NaturalNews.com The Central government on Saturday announced a slew of measures including production-linked incentives to make India a hub of electronics and pharma sectors in a bid to generate manufacturing revenue potential of Rs 10 lakh crore by 2025 and direct and indirect employment to around 20 lakh people. The decisions were taken at the Cabinet meeting, which took place on Friday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Addressing a press conference here, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said: "The Cabinet took decisive decisions to make India a manufacturing hub. Two long-term policy decisions have been taken to make India a hub of electronics and pharma manufacturing sectors." "During 2014-15, the manufacturing of worth Rs 1,90,000 crore was done in the country, which went up to Rs 4.58 lakh crore in 2018-19. There is a compound growth rate of 25 per cent," said Prasad. "Now India's contribution to global manufacturing has increased to three per cent from 1.3 per cent in 2012. Around 20 lakh people have been employed. When our government came, there were only two mobile manufacturing factories. Now there are 260 units," he added. The minister said that the government has decided to come up with new policies to increase the manufacturing of mobile, electronic and components. "For this, we have taken three decisions. In 2018, the government came up with the Electronic Policy. We are also planning to invest Rs 20 lakh crore in the electronic manufacturing sector and employ around Rs 25 lakh people," he said. Prasad announced production-link incentive schemes for the promotion of manufacturing of electronic components, semiconductors and manufacturing cluster "Under the production-linked incentive, we request global companies to come to India and invest here. They will get 4-6 per cent incentive on the basis of their investment and their incremental sales. This incentive is linked to its production in India. We also want to make 3-4 Indian companies 'Champion Companies'. We will allot Rs 40,950 crore for production linked incentive in five years," he said. He also said that an incentive of 25 per cent will be given on capital expenditure for manufacturing firms. "For the promotion of electronic component and semi-conductor manufacturing, if India wants to move ahead in the field of electronic, then the country should also be the centre of component manufacturing. We will give 25 per cent incentive on capital expenditure, machinery, equipment, technology, and R & D support," he said. The minister said: "In mobile, consumer electronics, industrial electronics, automobile electronics, medical electronics, power electronics, telecom electronics, there will be an incentive of Rs 3,285 crore on capital expenditure." Speaking about the scheme for manufacturing cluster, Prasad said: "A big company will come in the cluster along with all the associated value chain to make the finished product a big one. There will be global and domestic companies as well. There will be a cluster of 200 acres and 100 acres in northeast and hilly areas. Those who make a minimum investment of Rs 300 crore, we will give them an incentive." "Because of all these three schemes, we hope to generate manufacturing revenue potential of Rs 10 lakh crore by 2025 and generate direct and indirect employment to around 20 lakh people. 57 mobile manufacturing factories have come up in Noida and Greater Noida," he said. The Cabinet has approved four schemes with an incentive outlay of Rs 9,940 crore and Rs 3,820 crore for bulk drugs and medical devices respectively to boost their domestic production and for the promotion of 'Make in India' and exports while substituting their imports. Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said that the Government of India will spend Rs 1,000 crore for bulk drugs parks. "Whichever state offers 1,000-acre land, the park will be established there. If private units manufacture bulk drugs, they will get 20 per cent incentive for five years," he said. He said the Cabinet has approved a scheme to create common infrastructure in three Bulk Drug Parks, which will address 'Drug Security' of the nation. "We will establish four medical device parks in four states. We will give Rs 1,000 crore to those states, which develop medical device parks," the minister said. Mandaviya said that a production-linked incentive scheme for domestic manufacturing of medical devices has been approved by the Cabinet for targeted sectors like radiotherapy, radiology, anaesthetics, implants, etc., to promote 'Make In India' and import substitution of Rs 61,593 crore. "A majority of medical devices of cancer, radiology, anaesthetic and cardiorespiratory and heart are being imported. Those companies which manufacture these medical devices, they will get 5 per cent incentive," he said. "A scheme has been approved by the Cabinet to set up medical device parks for domestic production of medical devices with an expected rate of 14.8 per cent CAGR. These parks will provide centres and labs for manufacturing of medical devices for targeted segments," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Businesses across Fingal are bracing themselves for the financial impact of Covid-19, as the outbreak of the virus continues to affect not only human health, but the future of local enterprise, particularly those in the hospitality sector. For Antonio Schiru, owner of The Brick Room restaurant in Balbriggan, the outbreak of the virus was already having dire consequences last week: 'It is really affecting us, there's not many people around so it's very quiet. 'It's really today that's affecting us, yesterday was just as normal. I think it's going to continue like that, and I think it's going to get worse next week. 'I'm Italian so I've been following this virus problem, and it looks like we are just about ten days behind Italy, so whatever happens in Italy is going to happen here, and it's going to get worse in the next few weeks. 'We are probably going to have to close everything. We are ten days behind Italy so next Wednesday probably, we're going to close down everything.' Antonio said he was checking his insurance policy to see if closure of his restaurant was covered under its terms, and was also contacting social welfare to determine staff entitlements should the restaurant close. He said he was not sure how the issue was affecting other restaurants in Balbriggan, but that he could only see the situation getting worse. Wayne Lynch, bartender with The Cock Tavern in Swords said that, for now at least, it was business as usual, but that the business anticipated the situation would get worse in the weeks to come and his comments had a lot of foresight, as by the weekend, pubs were already taking the difficult decision to close around Fingal until the Taoiseach appealed for pub closures on Sunday night. Britain's Chancellor Rishi Sunak, (L) and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson give a press conference about the ongoing situation with the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. (Photo by Matt Dunham/Getty Images) The government is coming under increasing pressure to provide a financial lifeline to the six million self-employed people in Britain whose incomes have vanished because of the coronavirus pandemic. MPs have warned that chancellor Rishi Sunaks bold plan to underwrite 80% of the wages of workers who face being laid off as economic activity dries up does nothing for the millions of freelance, contractors and self-employed in the UK workforce. Ex-Tory cabinet minister David Davis warned the economy could face a near fatal seizure if they werent protected. But, Treasury chief secretary Stephen Barclay said ministers were concentrating on measures which could be rolled out quickly to keep the economy going. Read more: EasyJet pays founder 60m while asking for UK state aid Experts warned that assessing the incomes of self-employed people who are outside the PAYE system would be difficult and would take time to work out. Trade unions broadly welcomed Sunaks announcement on Friday that the state would pay up to 80% of the wages of employees, up to 2,500 a month, if companies agreed to keep them on the books. Mr Davis said it was vital that the Chancellor found a way of extending that support to the self-employed. "It is absolutely necessary. Without this the whole of the British economy will have a seizure - almost a fatal seizure in economic terms," he told the BBC. "It is great for those who have got jobs but it does miss out a pretty important sector of the economy - namely the self-employed - and he (Mr Sunak) is going to have to find a way of replicating this for the self-employed as well." Read more: UK hospitality leaders fear coronavirus has already cost 500,000 jobs His call was backed by TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady who said the trade union movement would be "pushing really hard" on the issue. "We have got members in industries from construction to the creative industries and this will cause real hardship unless we get to grips with it," she told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme on Saturday. Story continues Mr Barclay said the issue for the Government was about "operationally what is difficult to do and what can be delivered to the timescales were are working to". He said the self-employed were being helped through measures such as the deferral of self-assessment tax requirements, payment holidays for mortgage payers and the strengthening of the welfare "safety net". We are looking at operationally what we can roll out to people," he told the Today programme. For Labour, shadow chancellor John McDonnell said: "It's dawning on people that there are huge gaping holes in the Chancellor's statement. "We must urge him to shift once more to protect the wages of the self-employed by including them in the jobs retention scheme and to raise the level of sick pay to the real living wage." Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 20:49:22|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close NINGBO, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation said on Saturday they will donate medical supplies to another 10 countries in Asia to assist their fight against the novel coronavirus. A total of 1.8 million masks, 210,000 COVID-19 testing kits, 36,000 pieces of protective suits and other materials like ventilators and forehead thermometers will be delivered to Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. "Delivering fast is not easy, but we'll get it done," Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba Group, posted on his Twitter account. "Go Asia!" The foundations on Thursday announced that they will donate 2 million face masks, 150,000 testing kits and 20,000 protective suits to Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. As Covid-19 cases surge, Amanjeet Singh Salyal talks to Dr Jagat Ram, director, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, about the state of preparedness and shortcomings therein at the institute and in the region. He claims the premier institute is all prepared to tackle the situation, but cautions neighbouring states to do their bit. Do we have enough Covid-19 testing facilities? At the PGIMER, we can test samples of 100 people a day. On an average, 50 tests are being conducted daily, right now. The reagents (mixture for use in chemical analysis) are being procured on a regular basis from the National Institute of Virology, Pune, and Indian Council of Medical Research. If the number of cases spike, the region will need more testing facilities. The load should be shared, as the capacity here is limited. To start with, Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh should test all their cases (they are testing some) at their own healthcare facilities. Similarly, Government Medical College and Hospital in Sector 32, Chandigarh, should push for starting a testing facility at the earliest. We are experiencing a minor shortage of N95 masks and personal protection equipment. Orders for 5,000 PPE have been placed. They are expected by Monday. We have recently procured more than one lakh masks and gloves, says Dr Jagat Ram. (HT Photo) Do we need a more aggressive approach towards testing as the fear of community transmission is rising? We have not reached the stage of community transmission, and I dont feel that the time is ripe for random sampling. The PGIMER has been asking people who feel to be symptomatic (showing symptoms of coronavirus infection, such as cough, fever and breathlessness) to call on the helpline number provided by the administration and not come directly to the hospital. However, we do have a screening clinic at the institutes entrance. Also, if a person has returned from abroad and is having symptoms, they are immediately isolated and tested for Covid-19. Even contact tracing is conducted for that patient, and those who show symptoms or are at high risk (such as the elderly) are confined and tested. For asymptomatic patients, strict home quarantine is advised. What kinds of requirement are there on infrastructure front? Sufficient infrastructure is available, and more will be created, as per the requirement. The extension block of Nehru Hospital will be converted into an isolation facility if the need arises, which is quite a possibility. In that block, we have 30 beds and 10 ventilators. The present isolation ward at Nehru Building has 15 beds and four functional ventilators. For children, an isolation facility with five ventilators has been secured at the advanced paediatric centre. No demand has been put forth to the central government as of now. What are the preparations on workforce front? Hundred doctors from the internal medicine department will be the front-line force. Thirty-five others in the emergency ward are also on alert. As far as nurses, paramedics and allied staff are concerned, a total of 120 have been assigned duties for Covid-19 patients. They will work in shifts. Besides this, 100 more faculty members from different departments form the second line, who will be pressed into service when the need arises. Your suggestions to the authorities in neighbouring states? Contain the patients locally. Dont let them travel to the PGIMER. We appeal to the authorities in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir that people should not be referred to Chandigarh, as it may further spread the infection. Do you have enough protective gear for the staff? We are experiencing a minor shortage of N95 masks and personal protection equipment (PPE). Orders for 5,000 PPE have been placed. They are expected by Monday. We have recently procured more than one lakh masks and gloves. Clinical support technician Douglas Condie extracts viruses from swab samples so that the genetic structure of a virus can be analysed and identified in the coronavirus testing laboratory at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, in Glasgow, Scotland, on Feb. 19, 2020. (Jane Barlow/Getty Images) Heres Why the CCP Owns This Pandemic The Chinese Communist Partys lies led to the global pandemic and untold number of deaths Commentary As the pandemic continues on its deadly path around the globe, some crucial facts are being pushed aside by the media and international organizations that wish to preserve their relationship with China. As a result, the narrative of this global disaster has been changing dramatically under the guidance of the Chinese regime. Therefore, lets refocus on some key facts. The pandemic began in Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei Province, in China. Furthermore, the virus did not come from Wuhans wild animal market. Rather, that which we prefer to call the CCP virus likely came from Chinas one and only national biosafety laboratorythe only Level 4 facility in China that handles coronaviruses. And just where is that lab located? In Wuhan. How do we know that the outbreak came from the lab? Chinese leader Xi Jinping said so himself. At a meeting in Beijing in February, he talked about the necessity of setting up a national system to contain coronaviruses to prevent future epidemics and limiting biosecurity risks, to protect the peoples health, because lab safety is a national security issue, China expert Steven W. Mosher wrote in the New York Post. If the outbreak came from the wild animal market, why would Xi mention laboratory safety? The only reason could be that the Wuhan lab was the source of the outbreak. Furthermore, Maj. Gen. Chen Wei, Chinas leading biowarfare expert in the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA), was dispatched to Wuhan in January. Chens job was to contain the outbreak, according to Mosher. As the world now knows, she failed. Chinas Deadly Virus Leaks Whats more, coronavirus outbreaks are nothing new in China. Theres knowledge of at least two leaks of coronaviruses since 2003, both from a Beijing lab. However, we do know that Chinas contagious pathogen is a new form of coronavirus, which is why some referred to it using the novel coronavirus label in the beginning weeks of the outbreak. But others, including almost every major American news outlet, referred to the virus as the Wuhan virus, because it came from Wuhan. The Timeline Is Damning Depending on the source of information, the first cases were in October, November, or December 2019. The South China Morning Posts source is a Chinese government report that puts the first case on Nov. 17, 2019. By Dec. 15, there were 27 cases. By Dec 20, there were 60 cases. On Dec. 27, Wuhan health authorities were informed by doctors of a new virus spreading quickly. With a city of 11 million people to infect, the disease spread rapidly. By Jan. 1, 2020, there were 381 confirmed cases. But the Chinese regime and local authorities in Wuhan still insisted that there was no human transmission of the disease, even though the number of cases had doubled in two days. On Jan. 25, Chinas authorities allowed millions of people to leave Wuhan for the 40-day Lunar New Year celebrationthe greatest mass movement of people on Earth. Hundreds of millions more would travel throughout the country and some to the rest of the world, carrying a deadly virus with them, infecting people, cities, and nations wherever they went. The Chinese regime knew this in advance, did nothing to stop it, and warned nobody. Throughout January and February, more cases, more deaths, were covered up by authorities. When doctors and medical personnel tried to sound the alarm that patients were sick and dying from a new kind of virus or novel coronavirus, they were arrested and forced to sign confessions that they were lying. Eventually, the word got out to the world. For over a month, the United States and WHO offered to send experts who could be there within 24 hours. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) expected to go, but China refused. Deflecting the Blame Instead, China invited the heavily politicized World Health Organization (WHO). Their main contribution was to praise Chinas leadership and change the name of the disease to COVID-19 as a way of insulating the Party leadership from blame. It was a lie of omission and complicity then, and remains so now. The agencys rationale is that the virus doesnt discriminate by race, creed, or nationality, and, therefore, calling it the Wuhan virus, the Chinese virus (as President Donald Trump calls it), or the CCP virus is inaccurate or even racist. If the president is a racist for insisting on blaming the pandemic on China and, more specifically, the CCP leadership, then so are millions of Chinese who also blame the Party. That would include the founders of The Epoch Times, who, as far as I know, are still Chinese. Is blaming the CCP for the pandemic thats bringing suffering, death, and economic ruin to the entire world fair and accurate? As a recent report points out, if China had acted just three weeks earlier, 95 percent of the spread of the disease could have been contained. But that didnt happen, did it? The world is worse off today and will be going forward because of the CCP. In effect, the Party signed the death warrants for thousands and thousands of people. But then, thats quite familiar territory, isnt it? The Epoch Times refers to the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19, as the CCP virus because the Chinese Communist Partys coverup and mismanagement allowed the virus to spread throughout China and create a global pandemic. James Gorrie is a writer and speaker based in Southern California. He is the author of The China Crisis. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. As COVID-19 cases spread across Harris County multiple nonprofit service organizations have begun adjusting to meet the needs of their clients during the pandemic or reeling back on activity to weather the unexpected event. Northwest Assistance Ministries welcomed a 40-ton food donation from The Church of Latter-Day Saints on March 18 to stock their food pantry. We would like to thank The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and President Sam Bickman for offering NAM all of this wonderful food, Les Cave, president and CEO of NAM, said. The shelves in our Nutrition Center are starting to go bare because more people have been coming to NAM for help with food. Due to the outbreak of coronavirus, NAM said last week it was staying open but taking precautions as well. Seniors are receiving hundreds of Meals on Wheels from the organization and seniors who attended lunch at NAM will have it delivered to them Brian Carr, chief advancement officer for NAM, said. We have also delivered two weeks of shelf stable meals to our clients in case of an interruption in service, he said. Our Pediatric Health Center has all of the necessary protocols in place to continue seeing pediatric patients. I hope you and those close to you are all healthy and protected during this unprecedented public health nightmare. NAM is committed to staying open and serving the community. We are still handing out food to families on a daily basis. NAM has suspended its Wellness Fair to a later date and is asking for volunteers to help during this time of need. For more information about NAM, visit www.namonline.org/ . Cypress Assistance Ministries Cypress Assistance Ministries, a nonprofit helping families in need in the Cy-Fair area, has modified their hours to continue providing food and assistance for their clients. CAM said as of last week that their food pantry would remain open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. The client assistance offices, operation jobs, administrative offices, Angels Attic Resale Shop and donation center will all be closed temporarily. Looking to the future, as our community begins to return to a new normal, many people will need a helping hand, Janet Ryan with CAM said. Financial donations are critical, donation of food for the Food Pantry and household goods for the resale store will be very appreciated, and giving of your time to volunteer will be key in helping CAM serve our community during recovery. Individuals interested in employment services can sign up at the Food Pantry and will be contacted once Operation Jobs is again operational. Items CAM requests for donation can be viewed on their Facebook page, www.facebook.com/cypressassistance. On HoustonChronicle.com: The shock is very different: Texas unemployment claims jump as economic turmoil from virus hits TOMAGWA Healthcare Ministries As of March 16, TOMAGWA Healthcare Ministries, a ministry healthcare clinic for uninsured and low-income individuals in Harris, Waller and Montgomery counties, has stopped all onsite patient care services according to a press release. TOMAGWA will now deliver medication through touchless delivery services and will provide house calls for chronically ill patients who do not have COVID-19 symptoms. TOMAGWA is in need of donations due to costly medication and supplies. As a result of COVID-19, TOMAGWA is facing a sudden and unexpected shock as it serves our most vulnerable populations including the homeless, the working poor and the unemployed, said Timika Simmons, CEO of TOMAGWA. Resources have become severely drained due to drastic decreases in donations, volunteers, patient contributions, scarcity of supplies, price gouging and an increase in costly regulations from State Boards, local health agencies and the CDC. Simmons said a significant number of TOMAGWA patients are diagnosed with illnesses designated by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention as having higher infection and mortality rates. These diseases include diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and respiratory disease which could be direct effects from Hurricane Harvey, TOMAGWA said. TOMAGWA provides lab services, prescription medication, dental work and more for their clients. To learn more about TOMAGWA or to donate, visit http://tomagwa.org/home. HOPE Haven HOPE Haven is continuing to provide supplies and information to their homeless clients who may not understand how serious the pandemic is. Kristyn Stillwell, executive director of HOPE Haven a northwest Houston-based nonprofit that provides services for homeless individuals, such as procuring identification and job readiness said the organization is continuing to serve their clients with food. We have been bringing out survival food packs (to clients) that include 60 servings of food, she said. We are doing this in case they do a lockdown on Harris County and our clients living homeless wont have a way to get food. HOPE Haven is also checking in on clients in their success community, who now live in homes. HOPE Haven is being cautious by refraining from hugging and shaking hands with clients. Stillwell said the nonprofit is also attempting to educate homeless individuals about coronavirus and COVID-19. We have found that many of (the homeless) are totally unaware of what is going on, Stillwell said. We are educating our clients on the magnitude of the crisis and how best they can protect themselves (and alerting) them of some potential quarantine measures we may be facing so they can be prepared. For more information about HOPE Haven, including information on items needed for clients, visit hhaven.org. Tomball Emergency Assistance Ministries Tomball Emergency Assistance Ministries is operating with limited resources according to community relations manager Karen Guiles. As of Thursday, the TEAM resale shop closed and will not be accepting resale donations until further notice. Food donations like canned vegetables, fruit, beans, rice, cereal and small jars of peanut butter are still needed, Guiles said, and are being accepted at certain times on Wednesdays and Fridays. For more information about TEAM visit www.teamtomball.com. chevall.pryce@chron.com Exaggeration and outright lies. Trump has claimed that there are plenty of tests available (there arent); that Google is very quickly rolling out a nationwide website to help manage coronavirus treatment (the tech giant was blindsided by the premature claim); that the drug chloroquine, approved to treat malaria, is a promising cure for the virus and were going to be able to make that drug available almost immediately. (It hasnt been approved for this use, and there is not yet enough evidence to demonstrate its effectiveness in fighting the virus.) Ukraine's Cabinet allocates over US$1.4 mln from reserve fund to combat coronavirus 17:40, 21.03.20 857 Some US$22,986 was also allocated for the evacuation of Ukrainians from Italy. Police in Cau Giay District, Hanoi said on Friday they had detained a local taxi driver for taking a traffic police officer for a several-kilometer ride on the hood of his cab the day before, trying to avoid a penalty for violating traffic laws. The driver is identified as 22-year-old Ha Quoc Huy, who lives in Son Tay Town in the Vietnamese capital. A traffic police patrol team found Huy breaking traffic laws while driving on Pham Hung Street in Cau Giay District at around 3:00 pm on Thursday. At that time, Lieutenant Nguyen Hoang Quan signaled Huy to pull his cab over but the driver revved his engine and drove off, forcing the officer who was standing right in front of the car to jump onto its hood. The driver took Quan for a ride on the hood of his car for several kilometers along Pham Hung and Khuat Duy Tien Streets in Thanh Xuan District and To Huu Street in Ha Dong District. A video captures a traffic police officer clinging onto the hood of a running taxi in Hanoi, March 19, 2020. Quan was only able to jump off the cab on To Huu Street while the driver kept on driving, heading in the direction of National Highway 32 that passes Phuc Tho District. The traffic police force in Cau Giay District collaborated with police in Phuc Tho District to look for the driver. It was not until Thursday evening that the driver showed up at the headquarters of Phuc Tho District Police to confess and was taken to the headquarters of Cau Giay District Police to surrender himself. Cau Giay Police have detained him for acting against an official on duty. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! HARRISBURG Under fire from business groups and Republican lawmakers and facing lawsuits over a broad shutdown order designed to slow the spreading coronavirus, Gov. Tom Wolfs administration defended its actions as critical to preventing hospitals from being overwhelmed, but it also made a series of concessions. Wolf defended the order issued late Thursday to sharpen an earlier directive by saying in a video news conference Friday that the restrictions are necessary to prevent Pennsylvanias hospitals from becoming overwhelmed with people stricken by the virus. By Friday evening, Wolfs administration issued new guidance that granted exceptions to the timber industry, coal mining, hotels, accountants, laundromats and law firms permitted by the courts. Wolf also said theres a robust waiver process for businesses that believe they should be exempt from the shutdown order. A news release from the Wolf administration reads: "Due to the high volume of waiver requests, the Wolf Administration is delaying enforcement of Governor Tom Wolfs order and the Secretary of Healths order that all non-life-sustaining businesses in Pennsylvania must close their physical locations to slow the spread of COVID-19. "Businesses that were non-life sustaining were ordered to close their physical locations on March 19, at 8 p.m. This order stands, only the enforcement timing will change and become effective on Monday, March 23, at 8 a.m." Even before Thursdays order, skyrocketing unemployment compensation filings in Pennsylvania this week smashed the state record, underscoring how many businesses had already closed or shed workers. Wolf, a Democrat, said his heart goes out to everybody in our commonwealth, but he also said that difficult decisions made now will make it easier on health care workers later as new cases continue to surge. These are uncharted waters and, in this situation, were not going to do everything perfectly, but were going to do the best we can to prevent our hospital system from crashing, Wolf said. On Thursday evening, Wolf directed all non-life-sustaining businesses to close their physical locations and said state government would begin to enforce the edict starting early Saturday. It was among the toughest actions by a U.S. governor to combat the spread of COVID-19. Wolfs order drew loud complaints that it threatened critical supply chains and economic devastation, and a law firm and a gun store challenged it in court. Still, it remained unclear Friday whether cities, counties or towns would go along with the order and use police or sanctions to close businesses that defied Wolfs order. CASES AND HOSPITALS The Health Department reported a sharp rise in the number of confirmed cases on Friday, adding 83 in the past day for a total of more than 260. There has been one death from COVID-19 in the state. Health Secretary Rachel Levine said cases will continue to surge and that the Wolf administration is working with hospitals to determine their capability to handle such an increase and looking at every option to add bed space, staffing and supplies. Levine also said they are looking at whether beds for patients with less serious ailments can be created in hotels. Wolfs administration also has told hospitals to postpone elective procedures. Still, western Pennsylvanias biggest hospital system, UPMC, on Friday said that it would not put off elective surgeries, and Dr. John Williams, chief of the division of pediatric infectious diseases at Childrens Hospital of Pittsburgh, said it did not see widespread community transmission yet. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. The vast majority of people recover. Meanwhile, schools have been shut down through March, at least. JOBLESS CLAIMS Pennsylvanias jobless claims filed this week set a state record, the state Department of Labor and Industry said. It did not immediately say what the previous record was. But a review of weekly data going back to 1987 shows a high point of 61,000 in early 2010, when the effects of the Great Recession were taking hold. The department said that it had fielded more than 170,000 claims filed Monday through Wednesday, including 70,000 on Tuesday alone. The agency is not releasing figures for Thursday and Friday, saying that the federal government told them that the figures for this week are embargoed until next Thursday. LAWSUITS A lawsuit filed by a Harrisburg-area law firm challenged Wolfs right to shutter law offices throughout the state. By ordering law firms to close their doors, Wolf deprived citizens of their right to counsel, lawyer William Costopoulos argued in court papers. Costopoulos petition said the high court, in ordering the closure of state courts this week, created several exceptions for emergency petitions involving custody, protection from abuse and other matters. In an interview, Costopoulos also said the executive branch doesnt have a right to meddle in the judicial branch. The governor, though his intentions are well meaning in light of this pandemic, does not have the authority to usurp either the Supreme Court or the constitution when it comes to the practice of law, Costopoulos said. In the second suit, a law firm, a gun shop and a would-be gun buyer asked the Supreme Court to stop Wolf from shuttering businesses determined to be not life-sustaining, arguing he lacks that authority under state law. The suit said the states gun shops have been left with insufficient guidance as to their potential status as life sustaining. It also challenges Wolfs order on Second Amendment and other constitutional grounds, saying the right to bear arms is the epitome of life-sustaining. The high court ordered the Wolf administration to file a response by late Friday. ENFORCEMENT Wolfs order Thursday night said more than 150 types of businesses had to close their physical locations. By Friday, that shrank to about 140. Fridays guidance said closures are enforceable through criminal penalties, including under health, safety and liquor laws, and that discipline would be progressive that begins with a warning, and focused on businesses where people congregate. OPEN AND CLOSED Among those allowed to stay open are gas stations, grocery stores, beer distributors, drugstores, funeral homes and building materials stores. It also clarified that emergency building, highway, utility and bridge repairs are still permitted. Restaurants and bars can continue to offer carry-out, delivery and drive-thru food and drink service, but not dine-in service. Businesses under shutdown orders range from vending machine operators to building contractors to many types of manufacturers, along with professional offices, such architects and engineers. Retailers ordered to close include car dealers, bookstores, clothing stores, furniture stores, florists, office supply stores and lawn and garden stores. One category went from open to closed: civic and social organizations. Even within the shrinking number of retail outlets, practices were changing rapidly. Convenience store giant Wawa said Friday that its coffee and fountain drinks were no longer available as self-service. Wits COVID-19 Update (14): Most students have left residences Message from the Wits Senior Executive Team. Dear Colleagues and Students We would like to inform the University community about the developments around the evacuation of students from our residences. As you know, this decision was made based on the advice of scientists and experts, who have indicated that Wits should evacuate residences while the risks are still low. This is in line with decisions made by other universities around the country. As at 16:00 today, Friday, 20 March 2020, 85% of all Wits residents had left the University. Most of the remaining residents are due to leave this weekend, aside from those who have requested special assistance from the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs. The University has put several measures in place in order to assist students as they make their way home. In agreement with the Students Representative Council, Wits processed an extra stipend payment at the end of March for both NSFAS- and donor-funded students, so that students receive it in March instead of April. April stipends will be paid as usual at the end of the month. The University has also assisted some students by paying for their transportation costs. The challenges of students who are unable to travel, like international students, or those who may face particular difficulties, are being assessed on a case-by-case basis. The University has endeavoured to provide the appropriate support to these students based on the need of each individual. Feeling anxious, worried or need help? Students are reminded that the Wits Student Crisis Line is fully operational from anywhere in South Africa and in all official South African languages on 0800 111 331. Staff counselling services are available via 0861 635 766 or dial *134*928# or send a please call me to 072 620 5699 email asknelson@kaelo.co.za The Department of Healths WhatsApp number is 0600123456 and provides additional information about COVID19. The NICD website (www.nicd.ac.za) is a credible source of information on COVID-19. Conclusion As advised by scientists and experts, we urge all students to leave the residences as soon as possible, aside from those who have made special arrangements with the Dean of Students. This is in the best interests of all students and is part of an official response to tackling the the COVID-19 global pandemic. At this moment in time, we have to think beyond our own interests and act in concert for the wellbeing of our community and broader society. We underscore the important statement made by President Cyril Ramaphosa last Sunday: This epidemic will pass. But it is up to us to determine how long it will last, how damaging it will be, and how long it will take for our economy and our country to recover. It is true that we are facing a grave emergency. But if we act together, if we act now, and if we act decisively, we will overcome it. We wish all those who are travelling home a safe journey. SENIOR EXECUTIVE TEAM 20 MARCH 2020 (17:00) Beyond creating the global health emergency of our time, the spread of the novel coronavirus has had many unexpected peripheral effects on life in 2020. Homeschooling has never been so widespread, pollution is at record low levels, video happy hours are now a thing, and with quarantines in place across the country, couples have never spent so much time together. Will these more intimate times lead to a spike in the birthrate next year? Are we headed for more divorces? Or is there just going to be a lot more binge-watching and naps? On HoustonChronicle.com: Texas Coronavirus Map: See the latest numbers on our interactive tracker Some companies in the sex industry have seen opportunities for growth in this downturn. Last week online porn giant Pornhub offered Italians free access to its premium site as they weathered containment. German sex toy manufacturer Womanizer announced that their sales are soaring, attributing new demand from some of the countries hardest hit by the pandemic, including Italy, the U.S. and Japan. Beyond couples spending all day together in makeshift home offices, nearly all evening social activities like going to bars, going out for dinner and catching a movie at the theater are now out of the question. Family planning clinics are aware of the possibility and have started taking steps to extend birth control services. The nonprofit Maine Family Planning is moving to extend prescriptions for three months to make sure families don't see an interruption in birth control. We wanted to accommodate our patients. For women and families, there's already enough anxiety, so the idea that you can't get access to birth control is just too much, Maine Family Planning's Evelyn Kieltyka told the AP, adding that other family planning clinics across America are taking similar steps. Planned Parenthood started promoting PPDirect this week, an app that allows people to get birth control pills without leaving their house. On HoustonChronicle.com: Texas' confirmed COVID-19 cases jump as testing ramps up Leslie Root, a PhD candidate in demography at UC Berkeley who studies fertility and childbearing decisions, considered the possibility of a corona baby boom, "I think when people are envisioning this scenario they're thinking about people falling into bed and letting nature take its course, but the reality is that most sexually active people use some sort of protection unless they're actively trying to get pregnant." There's also a possible reverse effect, Root said, with less people meeting and mingling in the city, "unexpected one-night stands are probably less frequent at times like this. That said, the U.S. has a relatively high rate of unintended births for a developed country, so it's a little more likely here than elsewhere." The most noteworthy baby boom in America occurred after World War II when marriage and fertility soared as couples found post-war job opportunities, leading to the famous boomer generation. The baby craze slowed in the '60s as Americans desired more material objects and an economic downturn kicked in. After that slowdown, however, boomers grew up and showed increased fertility, known as the echo boom, leading to the millennial generation. These booms of the 20th century were mostly caused by economic changes and relief from war, although smaller birthrate spikes resulting from people being unable to leave their houses have also occurred, such as the bump that happened in 1998 in New Hampshire after an ice storm shut down parts of the Northeast. On HoustonChronicle.com: Coronavirus live updates: Two Port of Houston terminals close as worker tests positive for COVID-19 However, if a recession is on the horizon, which is seeming more likely by the day, this may lead to a lowering in the coming birthrate. "We clearly saw the results of the last recession in a lower U.S. birthrate. So I'd imagine that if anything, people will be even more careful about using contraception properly at a time like this," Root said. With quarantines and shelter-in-place orders extending through the coming months, there may be little else to do at night but get intimate. Only time will tell if a generation of corona babies emerges in 2021. Andrew Chamings is a digital editor at SFGATE. Email: Andrew.Chamings@sfgate.com | Twitter: @AndrewChamings In exceptional cases, a person may be given permission to cross the line in critical life circumstances, with supporting documents for such circumstances. Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation Headquarters (JFO HQ) has announced that the passage of citizens through the line of demarcation at entry/exit checkpoints with Russian-occupied Donbas will be temporarily halted overnight March 22. Read alsoUkraine's Cabinet allocates over US$1.4 mln from reserve fund to combat coronavirus "In order to effectively counteract and prevent the spread of coronavirus infection into the territory controlled by the Ukrainian government, the crossing through the demarcation line of persons and vehicles will be terminated from 00:00 (Kyiv time) on March 22, 2020. The admission of representatives of the monitoring missions of the OSCE, UN, and ICRC will be carried out in line with the established procedure," the JFO HQ wrote on Facebook on March 21. In exceptional cases, a person may be given permission to cross the line in critical life circumstances, with supporting documents for such circumstances. The JFO HQ asks citizens to take the information into account when planning their trips. As UNIAN reported earlier, the Cabinet of Ministers on March 11 decided to introduce quarantine across Ukraine from March 12 to April 3. As of the morning of March 21, some 41 confirmed cases of the novel COVID-19 coronavirus was reported in Ukraine, including three lethal. Bill Smith, a clarinetist and composer who forged collaborations with some of the pre-eminent jazz and classical artists of the 20th century, including an especially long and close alliance with the pianist Dave Brubeck, died on Feb. 29 at his home in Seattle. He was 93. His wife, the painter Virginia Paquette Smith, said the cause was complications of prostate cancer. When he was a teenager, Mr. Smith both led a jazz ensemble and performed with the Oakland Symphony, an early sign of the double musical life that marked his career. As William O. Smith, he pioneered unorthodox techniques for his instrument and developed ways to notate them for other players. Composers like Luigi Nono, Pauline Oliveros and Gunther Schuller fashioned works that took advantage of Mr. Smiths uncommon virtuosity. His own compositions were performed and recorded by eminent artists like Mr. Schuller, Andre Previn and Marni Nixon. As Bill Smith, he enjoyed a lively career as a jazz clarinetist. He was admired for his bright tone and buoyant swing, most visibly in bands led by Mr. Brubeck. In the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, two positive cases of coronavirus have come after the administration's gross negligence has come to light. Foreigners hailing from Nepal, Kerala, Bihar, and Israel entered Himachal Pradesh due to non-checking of buses at Scissor Turn, the entrance to the state in Bilaspur district. SDM Rahul Chauhan said that information was received that the buses coming from outside in Swarghat were not being investigated. Corona Virus: Normal OPD Closed in Hospitals, Patients Shocked After this, from 30 in the morning to 7:30 in the morning, the administration in Sundernagar highway and bus stand, along with the police and health department, blocked about 30 tourists and other transport corporations coming towards Manali and have checked the buses. During the investigation, the documents of the people boarding the buses were examined and during this time around 60 people including 26 foreign nationals have been sent to Chandigarh. Goa: People will not be able to pray in church On the other hand, it includes 34 citizens from outside states. The administration has borne the fare up to the borders of Himachal. It was reported at 7:30 in the morning that the investigation of buses coming from outside in Swarghat has started. After this the block was lifted. During this time, along with SDM Rahul Chauhan, a large number of police personnel and health personnel were present, including block health officer Dr. Avinash, senior medical officer of Sundernagar civil hospital and in-charge Chaman Singh Thakur, police station in-charge Kamal Kant. Salman Khurshid's demand amidst Corona's havoc, says, 'Government to defer CAA and NPR' House Veterans Affairs Committee members are demanding daily and weekly updates from the Department of Veterans Affairs on its response to the novel coronavirus outbreak, along with the answers to 49 questions. In a bipartisan letter to VA Secretary Robert Wilkie released Wednesday, 27 lawmakers said they are concerned about staying up-to-date as the number of COVID-19 cases rapidly increases across the country. As of Friday, 130 veterans in the VA system had been diagnosed with the illness. "As this public health emergency evolves almost hourly, Congress must be informed so it can act immediately to protect the health and safety of veterans who may be at significant risk during this pandemic," the March 18 letter states. "We need reporting on what VHA, the nation's largest government healthcare system, is experiencing on the ground." The request includes daily updates on the number of COVID-19 test kits available, the number of veterans and employees tested, criteria for testing them, and data on the how long it takes to complete testing. Lawmakers asked for weekly updates on the number of beds and ventilators available, the supply level for protective equipment and pharmaceuticals, and current staffing levels, including those out sick. Related: VA Home Loan Relief for Those Impacted by COVID-19 Lawmakers posed nearly 50 questions to be answered by March 25, in addition to asking for regular updates. Among the questions: Has the VA created an internal task force or team to coordinate responses to the COVID-19 outbreak? Are veterans being charged co-payments for COVID-19 testing and treatment? Does the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) anticipate canceling any disability examinations? Will VBA suspend any time-sensitive deadlines for disability claims and appeals, specifically for those associated with rating reductions or subsequent development letters? How many National Cemetery Administration employees are currently teleworking? How will VA classify courses whose terms have yet to begin and are traditionally in-person, but will be taught solely online because of the COVID-19 outbreak? In a White House press briefing Wednesday, Wilkie countered scrutiny that the department hadn't released its plan to support the federal government in times of natural disasters and pandemics. VA officials have said it is screening patients before they enter facilities and offering free tests to those who qualify. It is providing updates to the public on this webpage. -- Dorothy Mills-Gregg can be reached at dorothy.mills-gregg@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @DMillsGregg. Read More: The Military's COVID-19 Response Special flights were expected to bring back Indians from France, the Netherlands and Italy before a week-long suspension of all international flights even as authorities provided support to 120 nationals stranded at the airport in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday. Early on Saturday, KLM flight 871 carrying some 100 Indians from Amsterdam was turned back because of confusion over the interpretation of travel advisories issued by the government. The aircraft was carrying mainly travellers stranded while in transit from destinations such as the US and Canada, but civil aviation authorities refused to allow it to land in New Delhi as the entry of all passengers from European countries had been banned. Approvals were subsequently obtained and the flight took off on Saturday. A total of 327 Indians who cleared medical screening were being flown back from Italy in a special Air India flight while more Indians stranded in transit in Paris were being brought back in a Qatar Airways flight via Doha, people familiar with developments said. All the flights were expected to reach India before the beginning of a week-long ban on all international flights from March 22. Hundreds of Indians stranded at the airport at Kuala Lumpur in Malaysian were taken to hotels, hostels and other facilities by the Indian high commission after being provided food and other provisions. The mission worked with local NGOs and diaspora organisations to provide food and shelter to the stranded travellers, the people cited above said on condition of anonymity. Indias envoy to Mridul Kumar and other officials interacted with the stranded Indians and urged them to follow the restrictions imposed by Malaysia under its Movement Control Order for their own safety, the people said. The stranded travellers will have to stay put for now as these are very challenging times. Indian missions will try their best to help people who are facing problems, said a person. At places with large numbers of stranded Indians, the envoys were reaching out to NRIs and disapora organisations to assist them, the people said. Reports continued to come in of Indian nationals stranded in several cities, including more than 50 students of British universities who were provided shelter at the high commission in London. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON There have been no documented cases so far of the transmission of coronavirus between community members in Missoula County, according to Cindy Farr of the Missoula City-County Health Department. She's the incident commander for the local COVID-19 Incident Response Team, and she and other community leaders held a press conference Friday afternoon to address their strategy for dealing with what might be a "surge" in new cases over the next few weeks or months. "All four cases in Missoula County are related to travel outside our Missoula area," she said. "So we do not have community spread that we know of." Of course, she said, hand washing and social distancing are still extremely important. She said the county is not releasing the travel history of the four people with the virus to protect their identities. She also said the county isn't releasing the number of tests for coronavirus that have been conducted because the number is "changing literally by the minute." The county has no plan for closing child care centers or places of worship, although they're recommending that places of worship conduct services via video or hold sessions with fewer people, she said. Data from across the globe indicate that children aren't affected by the coronavirus as severely as adults, she said. Mayor John Engen said the city's infrastructure and service systems are safe, intact and staffed. "The water supply is safe, clean and backup systems allow us to operate in the event that we don't have power, which I think is extremely unlikely, for weeks," he said. "Most of our systems are redundant, especially our utility systems. You can expect the services you receive from the city to continue." Dean French, the CEO of Community Medical Center, and Joyce Dombrouski, the chief executive of Providence Montana Health, each addressed their hospital's strategies. "I would first like to thank the health care workers in this community," French said. "They're working hard." He said Community Medical Center is asking many health care workers to "retrain on the spot as the situation becomes more fluid" so they can reposition the workforce to be prepared for "what's to come." "Hopefully it doesn't come," he said. They've been talking to biotech firms in town to try to come up with a plan to expand testing for the coronavirus. They've also set up a COVID-19 unit with airborne isolation rooms and are planning for a secondary unit in case there's a large surge in cases. Providence St. Patrick has a similar unit, Dombrouski said. Community has set up another screening location for children and their parents at Community First Care at 323 E. Front. Dombrouski said that St. Patrick Hospital has a licensed capacity of 254 beds, and it uses about 160-170 on any given day in normal times. She said on Friday, because the hospital has postponed all elective procedures and surgeries, only 100 beds are being used. That means 154 beds are available in case there's a "surge" in new cases. "That capacity is our surge planning," she said. French said Community is licensed for 154 beds at full capacity and averages 90 full beds per day in normal times. Right now, only 70 beds are full so Community has 84 beds as a surge capacity. Dr. Josh Christensen, an infectious disease specialist with Providence Montana, said that Italy has about an 8.5% fatality rate, but that country has an older population. He noted that Denmark, with a smaller case load, has a fatality rate of about .5%. Right now in the United States, he said, the fatality rate is about 1.3%, which is similar to the roughly 1% fatality rate that occurred during the 1918 influenza pandemic. He said it's very important for Americans to practice social distancing, because that means the rate of new infections will slow and thus not overload the health care system's capacity. Christensen also said he considers take-out food and food delivery to be safe, as long as the cooks and service people and drivers aren't sick. He noted that stomach acid will probably kill the virus if it's eaten, but the risk comes if someone transfers it from their hand to their eye. That's why hand-washing is extremely important. "I don't plan on stopping ordering take-out food or delivery," he said. The Missoula hospitals are learning a lot from places like Seattle, he noted, and are sharing resources. "I think we're going to be OK," he said. "It's going to be rough, but I'm not losing sleep over it. The governor's call to shut down bars and stuff is the right move." Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The Indian embassy in France has issued an advisory for its nationals who wish to travel back home before India's week-long ban, imposed to contain the spread of the deadly novel coronavirus, on international commercial flights comes into force on March 22. The Indian embassies in several other countries also issued advisories and started emergency helplines for the distressed Indians, assuring them all possible help. The embassies among others included from Canada, Greece, Finland and Estonia, Israel, Japan, Vietnam, Bulgaria and North Macedonia, Russia, Cuba, Brazil and Switzerland. The Indian embassy in France in a tweet on Friday provided details of the Qatar Airways flight that will operate from Paris before the Indian travel deadline sets in. "Qatar airways is operating the flight. It is advised to all the Indian nationals stranded during transit at CDG airport Paris to book this flight immediately. Failing which it'll be difficult for Embassy to make any alternative arrangements," it said. The mission also requested Indians who wish to travel to "keep the certificate issued by the embassy handy for further travel." The Indian embassy in Greece in an advisory on Friday asked Indians to maintain patience and calm in the prevailing situation. The embassy is "your home away from home and is trying its best to help and guide its citizens," it said. "It is our request to our fellow citizens, including students, in Greece to look after themselves and stay safe wherever they are and follow the instructions issued by the Indian and Greek authorities from time to time," it tweeted. The Indian embassy in Kazakhstan asked the Indian students waiting for flights to India at Almaty airport to return to their hostels in view of the travel restrictions. "We took up the matter with authorities in India. However, due to heavy pressure on air traffic, it has not been possible to accept requests for operation of additional flights from Almaty," it said in a tweet. "We have asked all universities and educational contractors to continue running the hostel facilities," it said in a tweet. The Indian embassy in Israel too requested all Indian nationals to avoid non-essential travel out of the country. "Travel to India for one week, starting March 22 will not be possible. This is a temporary measure, which in being reviewed regularly at the ministerial level," the embassy tweeted. The Indian High Commission in Canada assured its nationals that the consulates have been liaisoning with Canadian government and authorities of universities/colleges for the well-being of Indian students in Canada due to the COVID-19 pandemic. "Host institutions have been providing useful information to students. Please follow the instructions and public health advisories/announcements, remain calm and ensure your and other's safety," it said in a tweet. The Indian embassies in several other countries, including Russia, Brazil, Cuba, Bulgaria and North Macedonia, Finland and Estonia, Japan, Vietnam and Mongolia started emergency helplines for distressed Indians. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, India on Thursday announced it will not allow any international commercial passenger aircraft to land from March 22 to March 29. The novel coronavirus cases in India rose to 258 on Saturday after 35 fresh infections were reported from various parts of the country. According to the Johns Hopkins coronavirus tracker, the death toll from the virus globally has risen to 11,397 with more than 275,427 cases reported in over 160 countries and territories. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker listens to a question after announcing a shelter in place order to combat the spread of the CCP virus, during a news conference in Chicago on March 20, 2020. (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP Photo) Illinois Imposes Stay At Home Order, Joining California, New York Amid CCP Virus Pandemic Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Friday afternoon a stay at home order for all state residents, except for essential activities, joining similar measures underway in New York and California in efforts to limit the spread of the CCP virus. The order (pdf) will take effect Saturday at 5 p.m. and will expire on April 7. Schools across the state will remain closed until April 8. There are more than 12.6 million residents in Illinois. If there are actions that I can take that will save lives in the midst of this pandemic, no matter how difficult, then I have an obligation, Pritzker said on Friday, adding that the measure may prevent potentially tens of thousands of deaths. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announces a shelter in place rule to combat the spread of the CCP virus, during a news conference in Chicago on March 20, 2020. (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP Photo) For the vast majority of you already taking precautions, your lives will not change very much, he said. He added that people can continue to shop for groceries and visit pharmacies, gas stations, and banks. They can also still pick up meals from restaurants and exercise outdoors. The Epoch Times refers to the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19, as the CCP virus because the Chinese Communist Partys coverup and mismanagement allowed the virus to spread throughout China and create a global pandemic. Related Coverage Editorial: Giving the Right Name to the Virus Causing a Worldwide Pandemic The Illinois governor said that law enforcement will take action to enforce the order in individual cases, if necessary, but that to be honest, we dont have the resources, the capacity, or the desire to police every individuals behavior. The order exempts people who work in many essential industries, including health care, manufacturing, transportation, and food production or sales, including at grocery stores and restaurants. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (L) announces a shelter in place order to combat the spread of the CCP virus, as Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot (R) listens, during a news conference in Chicago on March 20, 2020. (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP Photo) Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she agreed with the decision. You must stay home, she said. This is not a lockdown, or martial law. Think of this as safer at home, she also said. The Illinois governor previously ordered all schools in the state to shut down through the end of March, as well as limiting group gatherings to 50 people. He also ordered all restaurants and bars to close but still allowed drive-through and pickup services. The governors of California and New York have issued similar orders. California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered all state residents to stay home on Thursday, while New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that all nonessential workers should stay at home. Governors of Connecticut (pdf), Nevada and New Jersey have also said that most residents of the respective states should stay at home. As of Friday afternoon, Illinois has 585 cases of COVID-19 in 25 counties, an increase of 163 cases from the day prior. The state reported one more death Fridaya woman in her 70s from Cook Countytaking the states toll to five. Trump on Thursday suggested that the Chinese communist regime is to blame for the virus, which has spread to more than 160 countries and territories around the world, killing thousands. Human-to-human transmission of COVID-19 was occurring from at least mid-December 2019 in Wuhan, according to a paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Jan. 29. The paper found that there is evidence that human-to-human transmission has occurred among close contacts since the middle of December 2019. Chinese authorities did not confirm human-to-human transmission until Jan. 20almost three weeks after the disease was first officially reported on Dec. 31, 2019. The first patient reported with the virus exhibited symptoms on Dec. 1. The World Health Organization stated there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission on Jan. 14. The Associated Press contributed to this report. The Premier League has been postponed until at least the end of April amid fears over the coronavirus pandemic which had infected some key players. And during the extended break, Raheem Sterling was spotted picking up some essentials from Waitrose his fiancee Paige Milian on Saturday. The Manchester City player, 25, cut a casual figure as he pushed his trolley through the car park back towards his vehicle during the outing in Cheshire. Stepping out: Raheem Sterling was spotted picking up some essentials from Waitrose his fiancee Paige Milian on Saturday Raheem looked cool in a white graphic print hooded jacket with a pair of slim-fitting tracksuit bottoms and a pair of colourful trainers. Meanwhile, Paige was also dressed down in a grey hooded jacket and wore her her brunette swept back into a low ponytail while going make-up free. The couple were seen loading their Mercedes GLC 250 with a couple of shopping bags from their trolley. Relax: The Manchester City player, 25, cut a casual figure as he pushed his trolley through the car park back towards his vehicle during the outing in Cheshire The Premier League has been postponed until at least April 30 with players being advised to self-isolate at home to avoid the deadly virus. Before the cancellation the entire Arsenal team were told to quarantine after their manager Mikel Arteta contracted the disease. Three unnamed Leicester City players were also confirmed to have tested positive as well as Chelsea player Hudson Odoi. Low-key: Meanwhile, Paige was also dressed down in a grey hooded jacket and wore her her brunette swept back into a low ponytail while going make-up free On March 13, UEFA announced all Champions League and Europa League fixtures scheduled are postponed, as well as the quarter-final draws for both competitions. UEFA hope to conclude the competitions in the summer but no dates are yet set. Raheem and Paige met during his time at Queens Park Rangers and she moved to Liverpool with him when he began his spell at the club. They now live together in his 3.5 million home in Cheshire after he joined Manchester City on a 49 million transfer in 2015. The couple, who got engaged in 2018, share son Thiago, three, together and he has a daughter, Melody Rose, from a previous relationship. Police are appealing for help to find a woman missing from a Melbourne nursing home on Saturday. Jan Velezis, 81, was last seen at an aged care centre in Queens Parade, Fitzroy, about 1.30pm. Police are appealing for public assistance to help locate missing woman Jan Velezis. Credit:Victoria Police She was wearing dark pants, a light-grey zip-up top with a hood, light-grey shoes with white soles, and was carrying a black handbag. Police and family have concerns for her welfare due to medical conditions including dementia. Copyright 2020 Albuquerque Journal When he announced his bid last year to replace fellow Democrat Tom Udall in the U.S. Senate, New Mexico Congressman Ben Ray Lujan crisscrossed the state to meet with potential supporters in all 33 counties. Former television meteorologist Mark Ronchetti also found himself traveling all over the state, attending meetings trying to introduce himself as a Republican candidate for the Senate seat after announcing his candidacy earlier this year. And former Republican State Rep. Yvette Herrell made it a priority to meet with people face to face and talk about her experience in her bid to win the 2nd Congressional District seat now held by Democrat Xochitl Torres Small. But the COVID-19 outbreak, especially with government recommendations and restrictions on mass gatherings, has most candidates rethinking their campaign strategies and moving away from some traditional methods of getting their messages out. Weve canceled a number of large political and fundraising events out of an abundance of caution, said Mike Berg, campaign manager for Republican 2nd Congressional District candidate Claire Chase. When we do attend events, we are following CDC guidelines to avoid contracting COVID-19. The same is the case with GOP rival Herrell and Senate candidates Lujan, Ronchetti and Ronchettis Republican rivals Elisa Martinez and Gavin Clarkson. And that has made Clarksons job a little harder, campaign spokesman Stephen Sebastian said. He said the cancellation of gun shows made it harder for Clarkson to collect signatures to secure a spot on the Republican U.S. Senate ballot, but he said the former New Mexico State University professor would have enough signatures to qualify. Martinez and Ronchetti are guaranteed spots on the ballot after their top-two finish at the GOP pre-primary convention. Martinez is working with event hosts and sponsors to eliminate health risks, campaign manager Ryan Lynch said, and using phone and videoconferencing to get her message out. Lujans campaign is rescheduling meetings or moving to teleconferencing. Members of the campaign staff are working from home and working on innovative ways to get his message out, a campaign spokesman said. Ronchetti has already been using social media such as Twitter to encourage people to practice safe habits during the outbreak. And Chase and Herrell were already advertising on radio, television and through social media. With restrictions and precautions put in place due to the outbreak, our campaign will focus on taking our message to New Mexico voters in ways that limit in-person exposure, Herrell campaign manager Dakotah Parshall said. But their rival for the Republican nomination doesnt plan on moving away from traditional methods. Las Cruces businessman Chris Mathys said he would continue to go door-to-door until I have visited every neighborhood in southern New Mexico. He accused state government of fearmongering. He said that schools should not have been closed and that people should be allowed to go to work and church without government interference. Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing the nation on coronavirus outbreak urged everyone to follow a self-imposed curfew tomorrow. He asked people to stay indoors between 7am to 9pm to observe janta curfew. In fact, several states have taken major steps like suspending public transportation for the day. Amid these, Twitter is flooded with posts using the hashtag #JantaCurfewMarch22 - so much so that it is now trending on the micro-blogging site. Tweeple are sharing how they are ready to stay inside and stand in solidarity to fight the novel coronavirus. Heres one Twitter user who shared a video of Honble Governor Shri Arif Mohammed Khan of Kerala appealing to people to make the curfew a success. In her caption she wrote that the virus has been the biggest humbling experience for the entire humanity. This virus has been the biggest humbling experience for the entire humanity.We will definitely follow the #JantaCurfewMarch22 but can we extend it for 1 week to contain the spread. Out of our own will and resolve. pl retweet if you agree! https://t.co/XlcGLPdUZU Shazia Ilmi (@shaziailmi) March 21, 2020 Retired IPS officer-turned-politician Kiran Bedi also shared an awareness video using the hashtag: "Take no infection-leave no infection" while picking up essentials from the market. Situation of social distancing far better today than yesterday. This will help observe total #JantaCurfewMarch22 tom in Puducherry. @PMOIndia @DDNational @AkashvaniAIR @ANI @PTI_News pic.twitter.com/ENBpKlTIA6 Kiran Bedi (@thekiranbedi) March 21, 2020 Heres another Twitter user sharing how they will observe janta curfew: Then there is this Twitter user who shared a handwritten note urging everyone to observe the day: Someone tweeted that its not a curfew, its care for you. In his speech, PM Modi also asked people to stand in front of their houses or in balconies at 5 pm tomorrow and clap or ring bells. He mentioned this is a gesture to show respect and thank the emergency workers who are working in the frontline amid the crisis. Several people decided to do it today too and heres what theyre sharing on Twitter. People in balcony of Gaur City , Greater Noida "Clapping today evening " Best Form of Gratitude , preparations for tomorrow ie 22 nd March at 5 Pm . #JantaCurfew #IndiaFightsCorona #ISupportJantaCurfew #JantaCurfewMarch22 pic.twitter.com/3Gq9gl6jkm Kuljeet Singh Chahal (@kuljeetschahal) March 21, 2020 In India, 283 confirmed cases of coronavirus are reported till now and four people died because of the pandemic. COVID-19 is one of the biggest public health threats in recent times. Authorities, around the world, are asking people to follow social distancing and self-quarantine to prevent the spread of the virus. A prominent North Jersey general surgeon wants to debunk what he calls a myth" surrounding the coronavirus: Its not just reserved for older people. The real horrifying thing about COVID-19 is that people thought it was going to really only affect the elderly, and instead this is anything but," said Dr. Stavros Christoudias, who chairs the New Jersey Doctor-Patient Alliance. Im at four different hospitals, and Id say that less than half of the people that are critical with the coronavirus are over the age of 50. This is alarming. At least two of the 11 deaths in New Jersey due to COVID-19 were men in their 30s, according to the state. Christoudias statement is further supported by a federal study released earlier this week that reports nearly 20% of the people hospitalized with coronavirus in the United States are young adults between the ages of 20 and 44. The report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, released Wednesday, shows the risk of dying is significantly higher in older people, yet younger people comprise a large portion of hospitalizations. The fatality rate is highest among people over the age of 85, ranging from 10% to 27%, according to CDC data on outcomes for U.S. COVID-19 patients. The rate ranges from 3% to 11% among people 65 to 84. It drops to 1% to 3% among people 55 to 64 and to less than 1% for people 20 to 54. The report, which tracked 4,226 cases between Feb. 12 and March 16, noted there were no fatalities among people 19 or younger. However, a troubling discovery was found in the hospitalizations data. Twenty percent of the 508 patients known to have needed hospital care were between the ages of 20 and 44. People 85 years and older made up 9%. Those 65 to 84 accounted for 36%, the 55-64 age range made up 17% and patients 45 to 54 comprised 18%. LATEST CORONAVIRUS UPDATES FROM NJ.COM Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, cautioned young people about the coronavirus pandemic even though their fatality rate is low. You yourself could be in harms way, Fauci said in an interview on CNN. Youre not out of danger." Other top U.S. health officials also noted younger people can suffer serious illness due to the coronavirus. There are concerning reports coming out of France and Italy about some young people getting seriously ill, and very seriously ill in the ICUs, said Dr. Deborah Birx, head of the White House coronavirus task force. We think part of this may be that people heeded the early data coming out of China and coming out of South Korea that the elderly or those with preexisting medical conditions were at particular risk. It may have been that the millennial generation will carry us through for the next multiple decades, (but) there may be a disproportional number of infections among that group. And so even if its a rare occurrence, it may be seen more frequently in that group and be evident now. The reports show younger people in Italy and France may have been exposed to the virus because they werent concerned about the risk, Birx said. Were looking at that information very carefully, she said. We have not seen any significant mortality in the children, but we are concerned about the early reports So, again, Im going to call on that generation thats part of that (millennial) group. We need them to be healthy." If you would like updates on New Jersey-specific coronavirus news, subscribe to our Coronavirus in N.J. newsletter. Tell us your coronavirus stories, whether its a news tip, a topic you want us to cover, or a personal story you want to share. Sign up for text message alerts from NJ.com on coronavirus in New Jersey: Keith Sargeant may be reached at ksargeant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @KSargeantNJ. Illegal armed formations have violated the ceasefire regime three times in Donbas on Saturday, March 21, the Defense Ministry of Ukraine said. "Since the beginning of the day, as of 12:00, Russia-led armed formations have violated the ceasefire regime three times. At 03:00 a.m., Russia-occupation forces attacked the positions of the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) near Novhorodske using a 120mm mortar to launch 15 shells," the spokesperson for the ministry, Oleksandr Motuzianyk, told a press briefing in Kyiv on Saturday. The enemy also mounted an attack near Krasnohorivka using a tripod-mounted anti-tank grenade launcher. Ukrainian defenders responded the attack. Another attack was registered near Novotroyitske, the enemy used a hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher. "As of now, the situation is stable and is controlled by Ukrainian detachments. No casualties were reported among Ukrainian soldiers since the beginning of the day," the ministry said. What began on the night of December 16, 2012, ended on the morning of March 20, 2020. Four convicts of the brutal Delhi gang rape and murder case one that brought young people across the nation out on the streets in protest and ensured the overhaul of laws governing crimes against women were hanged to death on Friday at 5.30 am inside Tihars jail number 3. Outside the gates of the 400-acre prison complex, a crowd of over 200 people waited for news of the hanging, many of them carrying Indian flags and placards thanking the judiciary. They were there since midnight. At 5.34 am, the prisons director general Sandeep Goel issued a press statement via WhatsApp: All 4 convicts hanged at 5.30 am. An officer, who was at the hanging courtyard, said the four men showed little emotion before the execution was carried out. One of them gifted paintings to his mother and the jail superintendent. He also gifted a Hanuman Chalisa to his mother. They did not express any last wish, said the officer, who asked not to be named. About 40 minutes later, at 6.10 am, the four men Mukesh Singh, 32, Vinay Sharma, 26, Pawan Gupta, 25, and Akshay Thakur, 31 were declared dead by the prisons resident medical officer. This was the first time that four death row convicts were hanged simultaneously at Tihar. Seven years and three months ago, they, along and two other people Ram Singh, who died in custody; and a minor who was later sentenced by a juvenile court gang-raped and brutally assaulted a 23-year-old paramedic student inside a moving bus in south Delhi. Prison officers said that while they had completed the preparation for the hangings weeks ago, it was not clear if the execution would take place till the night before. The defence counsel, who filed multiple petitions across courts over the past two months, knocked the doors of the Delhi high court and the Supreme Court between Thursday night and Friday morning (until three hours before the hanging), seeking a stay on the hanging on technical grounds. The two courts refused. The four were first sentenced to death by a trial court in September 2013. The decision was upheld by the Delhi high court in March 2014 and later by the Supreme Court in May 2017. Hours after the hanging, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: Justice has prevailed. It is of utmost importance to ensure dignity and safety of women Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said that it had taken seven years to get justice for the woman. In the backdrop of the convicts availing legal remedies that led courts to change the hanging date three times, he said, We have to work together to address the various loopholes in our judicial system that favours the culprits. At the Dwarka home of the womans family, neighbours met her parents, Asha Devi and Badrinath Singh, with sweets to congratulate them. Everyone is so happy, and for us, it is a load off our chest, Singh told reporters outside his house. The two were also present in high court around midnight, and Supreme Court till 2.30am, when the counsel of the convicts made a last attempt to seek stay on the hanging. The young womans mother told reporters that March 20 would be remembered as a day in honour of all the women in the country. She thanked the Indian judiciary, the President, and said that though there was delay, they had finally got justice. Today, she got justice and girls of the country got justice.... The execution of the four convicts will be a message for the entire country and that families will start teaching their sons and use the hanging as an example. The loss can never be repaired but I hope to help others and continue living, she told HT. In another part of the city, inspector Anil Sharma, who was the investigating officer of the case in 2012, said the execution of the four men ensured he fulfilled a promise made to the young woman while she was fighting for her life at Safdarjung Hospital. But Sharma said he has to live with one regret: I couldnt save her life. The woman died on December 29, 2012, in a Singapore hospital. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON ANN ARBOR The streets of Ann Arbor were dramatically bare on Friday afternoon after restaurants and businesses closed and residents hunkered down at home during the nationwide outbreak of the novel coronavirus. Sidewalks were particularly sparse as seen from the air. Check out the video below for views of Main Street, Liberty Street, South University and the University of Michigan campus. Last Sunday, Michigan had 53 cases of coronavirus COVID-19. By Friday, it was 10 times that 549 cases with four deaths attributed to the virus, all in Southeast Michigan. Washtenaw County Health Officer Jimena Loveluck issued an update Friday, encouraging residents to take precautions. Residents can assume there is a possibility the virus may be present when they are in public places in the community, she said in a new video update. The health department is not announcing evidence of community spread to cause panic, but to reinforce that people should be taking all recommended prevention measures. Mayor Christopher Taylor issued a statement Friday night urging residents to stay at home except for essential purposes like obtaining food or medicine. Stay at home, Ann Arbor mayor tells residents Saturday, March 21: Latest developments on coronavirus in Michigan Head of Ministry announces border restrictions in place for US, Mexico Mexico City, Mexico The head of the Ministry of Foreign Relations for Mexico says that the northern border with the US is not closed for trade, but that restrictions have been placed to reduce the spread of coronavirus. In a Mexico CIty press conference, Marcelo Ebrard, Secretario de Relaciones Exteriores de Mexico, says that the northern border of Mexico will not close for trade with the US, but there will be restrictions. We have had talks with the United States regarding our northern border and the measures that are being taken to reduce the possible spread of the virus which does not affect the economic activity of people, said Ebrard. Ebrard explained that the Trump government contacted them to agree on what could be done at the border. What has been agreed upon for a coronavirus risk reduction does not affect economic activities, he said, adding that before making the decision, the two countries cataloged essential activities including people who work in the United States along with essential services and emergency services, among others. The Foreign Affairs head also urged people living along the border to refrain from making trips that are not essential. The agreement is to promote that people in the border areas abstain from making non-essential trips, he said. Ebrard also clarified that there are no air restriction agreements. He says the idea is to curtail travel, adding that there is no ban on people traveling between the U.S. and Mexico for work or other essential activities and there would be no halt to commercial traffic. By excluding commercial traffic from the ban, the two governments substantially softened the economic effects. Everyone else is not expected to have any difficulties, he said. Were not talking about closing it. Fewer Americans are heading to Mexico due to a State Department warning about non-essential travel. Earlier this week, the state of California also implemented a stay-at-home order. By Waruna Karunatilake and Asif Shahzad COLOMBO/ISLAMABAD, March 21 (Reuters) - One prisoner died and three others were injured when fighting broke out on Saturday in a Sri Lankan jail over rumors of coronavirus, as governments across South Asia tightened restrictions on movement to try to stem infections. The pandemic appears to have been slow to take off in the region, home to 1.9 billion people, but the rate of infections in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Afghanistan is increasing. As a whole, by 1400 GMT on Saturday, the region had registered 957 coronavirus cases and eight deaths. Instructions to stay indoors are a challenge for millions of day laborers who can scarcely afford to stay at home, and there are fears that the region will prove particularly vulnerable because of its poor health facilities and overcrowded infrastructure. In Sri Lanka, which has confirmed 76 cases, police arrested 110 people from various parts of the country for violating a weekend curfew, a police spokesman said. In Anuradhapura prison, scene of frequent protests against ill-treatment in recent years, inmates fought staff, fearing that the virus had entered the jail. "Contrary to rumors floating around, no one has tested positive at the Anuradhapura prison," said lawmaker Namal Rajapaksa. FLIGHTS SUSPENDED At Dum Dum, the largest jail in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal, police fired tear gas after prisoners attacked wardens and tried to start a fire after visits were banned because of the virus, a prison official said. In neighboring Bangladesh, all incoming flights except those from China, Hong Kong and Thailand were to be banned from midnight onwards after 20 people tested positive, a senior civil aviation official said. At Dhaka airport, authorities started marking the hands of passengers who had been instructed to follow home quarantine. Pakistan, with 534 confirmed cases and three deaths, suspended all international flights for two weeks. Officials there said a self-quarantine program would continue for at least another 45 days. Story continues In India's towns and cities, people were scrambling to buy essential commodities ahead of a day-long curfew on Sunday promoted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a way of practicing social isolation. India is also banning all incoming international flights from 2001 GMT on Sunday. With over 1.3 billion people, India has confirmed 283 cases of coronavirus, but has tested only 15,000 samples in 70 state-run labs, according to a senior health ministry official in New Delhi, one of the lowest testing rates in the world. "At this point we really don't know what is the extent of the spread," the official said, on condition of anonymity. Indian Railways, which carries more than 25 million passengers every day, said some people had tested positive after traveling by train, forcing officials to try to track down fellow passengers. Confirmed COVID-19 Cases in South Asia: Pakistan - 534 India - 283 Sri Lanka - 76 Afghanistan - 24 Bangladesh - 24 Maldives - 13 Nepal - 1 Bhutan - 2 ---------------------- TOTAL - 957 (Additioanl reporting by Rajendra Jadhav in Mumbai, Ruma Paul in Dhaka; Devjyot Ghosal in New Delhi; Editing by Rupam Jain) STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- New York City public schools are closed until at least April 20, and educators, parents and students are preparing for a new reality of remote learning, which is set to start Monday. Some teachers said they are feeling overwhelmed. Some students said they are unclear about what their online learning schedule will look like. And some parents expressed concern that their children wont get the same learning experience that they would normally have at school. As a teacher, I am very overwhelmed, said Lisa Peghi, a kindergarten teacher at PS 54 in Willowbrook. Directions were given as to what is expected from us in order for us to conduct remote teaching, but there was a lot of confusion as to how to get all the necessary materials and information into a conducive learning environment. Despite differences in readiness, every school has been focusing on transitioning core learning and instruction to a remote-based model, according to the city Department of Education (DOE). School staff members have been participating in three days of professional learning this week, and were engaged in remote planning on Friday. *** CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF CORONAVIRUS IN NEW YORK *** Peghi said she has been assuring parents she will help them as best she can, as she is learning how to move to remote learning along with them. A majority of grades at her school are using Google Classroom -- an online learning tool. She said teachers spent the last three professional development days designing lessons that will continue current curriculum, but will also be conducive to online learning. She said she plans to post lessons daily with due dates of the same day. We are allowing them the whole day rather than an hourly timeframe, since we are aware that not all of the students can get to a device or even receive assistance during a specific time frame, said Peghi. We are not assigning any assessments, but we are asking the parents to take photos of the childs work and upload it to Google Classroom. DOWNSIDES TO LEARNING ONLINE Many schools on Staten Island will be using Google Classroom for remote learning, including students at Tottenville High School in Huguenot. Senior Alexa Gravitch said she will be expected to do schoolwork at home, but will follow the same schedule as she would if she were in school. I feel somewhat prepared, but there really is no way to properly prepare for remote learning under these circumstances, she said. She said she isnt yet sure what her online learning model will look like -- if she will be attending virtual lectures or given online assignments. She said a downside to remote learning is that she cant ask her teacher a question immediately -- like she could if she were at school. And there wont be any group work, because well be at home, she added. Ill learn much worse I think, because I rely on group work in classes like calc [calculus] and bio [biology] to help me understand concepts. SOME CLASSES CANT BE DONE REMOTELY Alex said remote learning is great in theory -- but certain classes just cant be done remotely. The biggest issue is chorus, she said. Were working on songs for our spring concert, and now we cant practice together and we wont have a concert at this rate. We are doing remote musical training exercises, but not group practice. She added: When we cant meet, we arent a chorus. Were just people singing random melodies and harmonies. NO OTHER WAY Jessica Frazier, the parent of an eighth-grader at Rocco Laurie Intermediate School (I.S. 72), New Springville, said she is grateful her son is tech-savvy. I feel like there is no other way at this point, I am glad that they (DOE) were able to set up so fast, she said. I dont think it will be an issue for him, but I am worried about how he will do having to teach himself through remote learning without an actual teacher to teach him. She said that his teachers have set up classes and assignments on Google Classroom, a tool he has used in the past for other assignments. I dont think hell get the same education, because theres nothing like hands-on learning from a teacher face-to-face, she said. I think some of the students can handle the remote learning, and some are going to have trouble keeping up. But I hope they will be able to get a good education along the way. STUDENTS FACE UNCERTAINTY I teach kindergarten, and its so hard for these babies to deal with the uncertainty of it all, said Peghi. They dont have any closure. They left school one day, and werent allowed to come back or even say goodbye. She said she has a few surprises planned for her students on Google Classroom that she hopes will brighten her students days. I wish my students health and wellness, and Ill be checking in often through our classroom texting app Remind, she said. I want them to know that I am still here for them, even if I cant physically be with them. In addition to regular curriculum, Peghi said she wants to make sure her students can still see and hear from her, even if it isnt physically. I will be adding some videos of myself just giving the children some daily motivation and reassurance so they dont feel so alone, she explained. But despite being able to provide learning tools remotely, Peghi said shes going to miss her students while schools are closed. I enjoy seeing their little faces every day and seeing their reactions to lessons, especially when they light up because they finally understand something or they are able to complete it on their own, she said. I will miss the 900 diversions during reading lessons because they just have to tell me something. I will miss their hugs immensely! We are a family and now our family is broken. FUTURE OF SENIOR ACTIVITIES UNKNOWN Tottenville senior Alexa said shes really upset that the coronavirus may lead to extended school closures and cancellations. Its my senior year, and I wont be able to spend it at school. I was looking forward to being a senior in chorus, graduation, prom, after-prom, my senior trip to Europe, she said. Frazier said her son is upset about the possibility of not being able to celebrate his senior activities. Hes been with most of these children for the past three years and he was looking forward to these experiences with his classmates and his friends. Everything was already set up. We had the dates to plan around and the locations. To have to take that all away is so sad, and its time that hell never get back, she added. PARENTS SCRAMBLE FOR TECH This week, some parents were trying to secure electronic devices to allow their kids to participate in online learning, which is set to begin on Monday. A staff member at PS 44 told parents waiting outside the school on Thursday that there were very minimal amounts of laptops" for students, and asked that parents who genuinely need the technology to take one, depending on availability. Some of the parents who arrived at PS 44 early to pick up other resources were able to snag one of the limited laptops available onsite. Families who are in need of technology and have been unable to obtain the proper tools at a school site should fill out a request form with the DOE, which is working to deliver 300,000 Apple iPads to students in need across the five boroughs. The first 25,000 iPads are expected to be given out next week, according to the DOE. In a series of tweets, the DOE said on Twitter that it is making sure every public school student who needs a device has one to learn remotely. Parents can fill out this online form here, https://coronavirus.schools.nyc/RemoteLearningDevices, to sign up for a remote learning device. Using the contact info provided, the DOE will get in touch with families to discuss when and where to pick up a device. Priority will be given to students most in need, and all devices are granted on a temporary basis. There is a limit of one device per student. NYC SCHOOLS ACCOUNT Ursulina Ramirez, chief operating officer for the DOE, said during Sundays press conference that the DOE will purchase 300,000 iPads from Apple at a reasonable price to distribute to students. The agency will also work with T-Mobile, Verizon, and Spectrum to provide internet access. Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza asked parents to sign up for the NYC Schools account, which will be critically important as the DOE pushes information out and resources for remote learning needs. You can go to www.myschools.nyc for more information. *** Be the first to know: Sign up for our newsletters; and get breaking news and top stories pushed to your phone with the SILive.com mobile app. 53 The coronavirus life in New York City: The new normal RELATED COVERAGE: Staten Island parents scramble to obtain technology for online learning 2 coronavirus cases confirmed at Wagner College College of Staten Island campus reopens: Operating with minimal staff Parents fear lapse in special ed services: I am not a trained therapist Coronavirus: New York suspends state reading exams Wagner College closing residence halls for remainder of semester College of Staten Island remains closed Tuesday, Wednesday Key details on SAT, ACT college exam cancellations Staten Island Catholic high schools extend remote learning timeframe Schools closed: 100 sites to open for first responder child care across NYC Staten Island Catholic elementary schools closed until April 20 Coronavirus: NYC schools closed at least until April 20; S.I. cases rise to 16 Coronavirus: Wagner College moves to online learning for rest of semester With NYC schools closing, parents and teachers prepare for new normal NYC offering students free meals: What you need to know St. Johns University students return home: Its difficult Latest on NYC school closures: Child care to be available for first responders Coronavirus case confirmed at St. Ritas School FOLLOW ANNALISE KNUDSON ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER. Opposition groups accuse President Alpha Conde of planning to amend constitution and run for third term. Voters in Guinea will head to the polls on Sunday to elect members of parliament and vote on a proposed constitutional reform against the backdrop of deadly street protests and the coronavirus pandemic. Opposition groups have called for a boycott of the delayed vote, originally planned for March 1, accusing President Alpha Conde of planning to use the constitutional referendum to extend his stay in office. Conde has ruled the West African country since 2010; his second and final five-year term will come to an end in December. Under the countrys current constitution, the 82-year-old leader is not allowed to seek a third term. Opposition leaders argue that Conde, the countrys first democratically elected leader, is planning to use the new constitution as a reset button on the current two five-year term limits. Alpha Conde is trying to change the constitution to stay in power for life, Cellou Dalein Diallo, leader of the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UFDG) party and the main opposition leader, told Al Jazeera. Many of our people have been killed protesting this decision. It is their constitutional right to protest against his decision, added Diallo, a former prime minister. A proposed draft for a new constitution does not explicitly state whether Conde would be eligible for the 2020 election but the president has refused to rule out running again. It is for the party to decide. For the moment, it is not my concern, Conde told Radio France International. For the changes to the constitution to be approved, more than 50 percent of the votes cast need to be in favour. Since October, at least 30 people have been killed in clashes between security forces and protesters [Michael Tewelde/AFP] The polls are due to take place even as several countries in the region and across the continent have banned public gatherings to stop the spread of the new coronavirus. Guinea has confirmed two cases to date. Since October, opposition supporters have been taking to the streets demanding Conde step down after his term comes to an end this year. More than 30 people have been killed in clashes between security forces and demonstrators. We are protesting because Alpha Conde has decided to carry out a coup detat against the Guinean constitution, Abdoulai Oumou Sow, an activist and one of the organisers of the street marches, told Al Jazeera. We are not scared. They can kill us all if they want. We believe that by protesting, the military will join us and remove Conde from office and organise clean and fair elections in the country, Sow said. Human rights groups have called on the authorities to show restraint when dealing with the protesters. Guineas government needs to ensure that police and gendarme exercise restraint and discipline when policing opposition protests, Corinne Dufka, West Africa director at Human Rights Watch, said. Guineas authorities need to conduct credible investigations of allegations of abuses and punish those responsible. Poll credibility concerns The international association of French-speaking countries (OIF) cast doubt over the credibility of the electoral register. OIF said in February that 2.4 million problematic names, in a country of 12 million, were on the voting register, including individuals who have died, people who are too young to cast their ballots and duplicate names. Amadou Salif Kebe, head of the electoral commission, disputed the claim, saying: We think that our electoral roll is sufficiently credible. Last month, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he was concerned about Guineas electoral process. We question whether the process will be free, fair, and transparent and accurately reflect the will of all eligible voters, Pompeo said in a statement. Internet connectivity in the country will be disrupted this weekend after the company that manages the service said work would take place on an undersea fibre-optic cable. MTN, one of Guineas main phone networks, also said some internet and phone services would be down. Analysts say the vote will only lead to more problems for the mineral-rich West African country, which has experienced at least two coups since gaining independence from France in 1958. This election will not lead to any stability because everything has been done in the interest of the government and Conde, Isaac Kamano, an analyst based in the capital, Conakry, told Al Jazeera. The government needs to bring everybody on board, including civil society groups, the opposition and human rights groups, before holding an election, Kamano added. On the streets of the seaside capital, no significant campaigning has taken place, unlike previous elections. Many voters told Al Jazeera they will heed the oppositions call for a boycott. Im not going to bother to vote because the electoral process is corrupted. It is better not to vote. They are ready to steal our rights, Abdoul Aziz Ben Raman Diallo, 33, said. Some voters said they will not be voting after they found their names twice on the electoral register. The last elections, I voted, but with this referendum elections how can I vote with two voter ID cards on my name, Aissatou Sow told Al Jazeera. Youssouf Bah has contributed to this report from Guinea. Hong Kong recorded 17 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, with 20 more people testing positive, including a 20-month-old child. Ten of the 17 confirmed patients which take the city total to 273 have travel history to countries including US, Canada, Peru, Bolivia and Singapore. The new cases were revealed after health experts warned of a surge in imported and community-spread infections, as Hongkongers returned home from abroad amid the global pandemic. Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable disease branch of the Centre for Health Protection, said the total could rise later in the day with 20 people also initially testing positive. In the regular coronavirus press conference on Saturday, Chuang said the toddler and a total of six students were among the 37 newly confirmed as infected or testing preliminarily positive. The 20-month-old child was among a group who had attended a wedding in March 14. The toddlers parents and the groom have been infected. Three more people who visited Canada and Bolivia on a tour were also confirmed, taking the total number of those infected in the group to five. Two other participants have tested initially positive. Dr Linda Yu Wai-ling, a chief manager from the Hospital Authority, said three more Covid-19 patients had been discharged in the past 24 hours. So far 101 people have recovered. Yu said as of 3pm on Saturday, 88 people who arrived at the airport with respiratory symptoms had been referred for further Covid-19 checks at a temporary test centre at AsiaWorld-Expo, which was opened to handle the influx of people returning from overseas. Another 13 people were sent to the other temporary centre at North Lantau Hospital. Six of the total tested across both centres were confirmed as infected. Purchase the China AI Report 2020 brought to you by SCMP Research and enjoy a 20% discount (original price US$400). This 60-page all new intelligence report gives you first-hand insights and analysis into the latest industry developments and intelligence about China AI. Get exclusive access to our webinars for continuous learning, and interact with China AI executives in live Q&A. Offer valid until 31 March 2020. Story continues More from South China Morning Post: This article Coronavirus: 17 new infections confirmed in Hong Kong with 20 more people testing positive first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2020. By Trend During the visit of the First Vice President of the European Bank for Development and Reconstruction Jurgen Rigterink to Azerbaijan, three main directions have been discussed with the Government, Head of the EBRD Representative Office in Azerbaijan Ivana Duarte told Trend. So, according to Duarte, efforts were discussed to promote the diversification of the Azerbaijani economy by supporting the development of the private sector in the non-oil sector and strengthening the management of private and state-owned companies; further expanding access to finance for local enterprises by encouraging lending by banks and non-banking financial institutions and helping to strengthen the local currency and capital markets, as well as supporting the country's green economy, including financing for renewable energy sources, improving energy efficiency and cleaner transport and sustainable infrastructure. "We observe an encouraging progress in the "green zone" of our cooperation. The authorities are strongly committed to the development of renewable energy, and we strongly support this commitment. As the leading source of financing renewable energy in our region, we are leading efforts to introduce competitive renewable energy tenders through auctions in the country," the EBRD head for Azerbaijan said. The Banks management representative noted that the EBRDs work is aimed at helping Azerbaijans Ministry of Energy determine real market prices for specific renewable energy sources and create a fair, transparent auction process with a view to financial participation, and after creating a new legislative framework to support renewable energy sources. "We have just started cooperating with the city of Ganja, which was the first in Azerbaijan to join our successful program of sustainable urban development called the Green Cities of the EBRD. My colleagues visited Ganja on March 10 and together with the citys authorities began the process of determining the first investment project, within which we are considering the possibility of modernizing street lighting, urban transport and solid waste management," she said. "The city will also benefit from the support provided by the EBRD to the "green cities" to develop the Green City Individual Action Plan (GCAP), which addresses environmental issues, prioritizes and links them to sustainable infrastructure investments and policy measures," Duarte noted. Taliban 'infiltrators' kill dozens of Afghan troops, policemen in attack on army base Iran Press TV Friday, 20 March 2020 10:33 AM At least two dozen Afghan security forces and policemen have been killed and several others are missing after "Taliban infiltrators" attacked them in an army base in southern Afghanistan. The attack on a joint police and army headquarters near Kalat, the provincial capital, killed at least 14 Afghan army forces and 10 policemen, Zabul provincial council chief Ata Jan Haq Bayan said on Friday. Four other members of the Afghan security forces were also missing, he added. Bayan said that the attackers, who "had connections with the Taliban," fled in two military Humvee vehicles, along with a pickup truck, weapons and ammunition. Zabul governor Rahmatullah Yarmal, who also confirmed the death toll, described the attackers as "infiltrators." The attack has become the deadliest since the Taliban signed a deal with the United States in the Qatari capital, Doha, late last month. Under the deal, the Taliban have agreed to sever ties with al-Qaeda and other terror groups and sit down for peace talks with the Afghan government. In return, Washington will start a phased withdrawal of troops. The Afghan government was a party neither to the negotiations nor to the deal that was primarily aimed at reducing violence in the war-torn country. Since it was signed, however, violence has escalated with the militants carrying out dozens of deadly attacks across the country. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address A British woman who flew to Palma on Saturday was refused entry to Spain for not complying with the restrictions dictated by the State of Emergency, according to the State Security Forces and Corps. The woman whos from London is not a resident of the Balearic Islands nor does she have a permanent address in Majorca. The Officers said she had the keys to a friends house in Andratx and was planning to stay there for a few days. The British Consulate has been informed of the incident and the woman will spend the night at the airport facilities before being repatriated to the UK on Sunday. A total of 234 people arrived at Son Sant Joan Airport on Friday and 2,361 left the island on scheduled flights. Monitoring Devices on Roads The Guardia Civil, National and Local Police have set up checkpoints on 4 major roads in Majorca to stop people travelling to second homes this weekend. Detentions The 7th day of the State of Emergency "passed without significant incidents accord to the Government Delegation. On Friday a man was arrested for "repeated" disobedience after he was caught breaking the coronavirus restrictions a third time, "without justification". Three other men were arrested at dawn on Saturday for the alleged attempted robbery of the Es Murterar thermal power plant in Alcudia. Apex industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has sought infusion of over Rs 2 lakh crore into the economy in times of crisis emanating from the coronavirus outbreak in India. "A fiscal stimulus of around 1 per cent of GDP amounting to Rs 2 lakh crore is needed to put money in the hands of people through Aaadhar based Direct Benefit Transfer," the industry body said, in an action note on COVID-19 and its impact on industry and economy, to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). The body maintained that the government would have fiscal room with global oil prices going down. "With every $10 decline in the oil price leads to a saving of $15 billion in the oil import bill," the note stated. Suggesting a temporary one-time measure to boost consumer demand, the CII said via DBT, the Centre can transfer Rs 5,000 to people with income less than Rs 5 lakh per annum. "This can be for all persons greater than 18 years of age. For more vulnerable persons above 60, it can be raised to Rs 10,000," the body said. It said with a budget of Rs 2 lakh crore, as many as 20 crore people could be compensated with a transfer of Rs 10,000 each or 40 crore people with a transfer of Rs 5,000 each. The industry body said data on workers in different categories showed that there were roughly 20 crore casual labourers employed in India right now and that they could certainly be compensated from the government's fiscal resources. Also read: Coronavirus outbreak: FM says economic package to be announced 'as soon as possible' The CII also suggested distributing a month's ration to those below the poverty line and to daily wage earners using food stocks available with the Food Corporation of India. It sought tax-related relief of 10 per cent in long-term capital gains tax (LTCG) and keeping overall tax rate on dividends at 25 per cent. Other relief measures suggested by the industry include clearing of government dues to the private sector; waive off of taxes for most affected sectors like civil aviation, hotels, SMEs, real estate and commercial infrastructure; making GST payable on collection of proceeds instead of raising of invoices; and the postponing of rules on the eligibility of NRIs and OCIs under the Income-Tax Act by one financial year. The CII also asked the government to articulate that the spending on activities related to Covid-19 mitigation would be earmarked under Corporate Social Responsibility work of the corporate sector. "Allow companies to give advance CSR funds of next two years allocation in Prime Minister Relief Fund to support expenses for combating COVID," it said. The body has suggested a series of monetary policy measures for the Reserve Bank of India to make sure there's enough liquidity in the system. It sought at least 50 basis point cut each in both repo rate and cash reserve ratio and change in the definition of NPA (non-performing assets) recognition from 90 days to 180 days till September 30. The coronavirus outbreak has disrupted the global economy, and countries, trade blocs are taking fiscal measures to overcome the crisis. Travel, tourism and hotel industries are some of the worst-affected sectors in India due to travel bans, social distancing and suspension of business activities. To offset the economic impact of the deadly virus outbreak, the special COVID-19 economic task force announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday is expected to announce an economic package for the most-affected sectors. While India is yet to come up with a rescue package in wake of coronavirus crisis, major economies of the world have announced billions of dollars worth bailout packages to offset losses due to the COVID-19's outbreak. The US alone has set aside over $1 trillion in a bid to protect the economy from COVID-19. UK, Switzerland, China, Sweden, Austria, and Japan, have also taken fiscal measures, including offering support to local businesses. Also read: Coronavirus: PM Modi launches Covid-19 Economic Response Task Force Home and Community Care Ireland (HCCI) the national membership organisation for companies that provide home care services has today called on elected representatives in Leitrim to support its COVID-19 home care action plan. The plan sets out six urgent recommendations for government and the HSE to ensure home care providers can continue to provide essential care services to vulnerable people in Leitrim and across Ireland during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to HCCI, home care services will play a crucial role in the coming months in alleviating pressure on hospital beds. Read Also: Independent TDs say emergency Covid-19 legislation must include increased ministerial powers Commenting today, Joseph Musgrave, Chief Executive of HCCI, said: We are calling on all TDs in Leitrim to support our COVID-19 action plan, which is a framework of measures to protect clients and carers across the country, as well as to increase capacity in an already overburdened healthcare system. Firstly, we need to stabilise our sector to ensure it can fully play its part in the midst of the current crisis, providing essential care services to people in Leitrim and across Ireland. COVID-19 is an unprecedented challenge to our country, and our normal way of life. The Taoiseachs words in this weeks Ministerial Broadcast spoke both to, and for, our country. "Our frontline care staff are immensely brave, and particular mention has to be made for the more than 50 care staff that our members employ, who are self-isolating upon the advice of public health. Their service is courageous. Almost 1000 existing home care clients are choosing to self-isolate, including from their home carers. The current HSE policy is that, where clients choose to self-isolate, including from carers, pay for their carers is limited to the first two days of the self-isolation. As a result, home care staff whose clients are self-isolating over several weeks are going unpaid. This threatens their job security and, indeed, the viability of our entire sector. We propose the current payment for carers whose clients self-isolate be extended from two days to up to six weeks. The current limit unfairly penalises both carers and clients who may lose their home care package if they voluntarily self-isolate. An extended period of pay for carers would be more in line with government announcements on the COVID-19 sick leave policy and COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment. The second aim of our action plan is to boost capacity in the home care system, thereby alleviating pressure on hospitals nationwide. We are calling on government to amend social welfare limits that currently deter people from entering the caring profession or expanding their working hours as carers. If we can increase capacity in our sector now, we can move more people out of much-needed hospital beds and into home care settings. The HCCI Action Plan recommendations are as follows: Suspend the following social welfare rules to free up more working hours among current staff: Suspend the requirement that limits employees on the Community Employment programme to 19.5 hours of work per week. Suspend the rule that employees must earn 184 or less per week in order to retain their entitlement to a Medical Card. Suspend the rule that limits employees from working over 38 hours in a two-week period if they wish to qualify for the Working Family Payment. Suspend, for the duration of the COVID-19 emergency, the requirement for new carers to shadow an existing carer for five hours. Amend the current policy of paying providers for only two days if a client self-isolates voluntarily or upon the advice of public health, so that payment is extended from two days to up to six weeks. Issue more detailed national guidance for home care providers on caring for clients during the emergency. This should include detailed guidance on dealing with clients suspected to have COVID-19 and how to limit the risks to carers at this time. In tandem, issue a national directive that, if the need arises, sufficient Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) will be issued to all home care providers with attendant training. Expand Revenue guidance issued on 13th March 2020 to include payments, interest and penalties on PAYE, USC and PRSI, and extend this until the COVID-19 emergency is over. Employers will continue to file all returns as normal. HSE to immediately settle all outstanding invoices issued by HCCI members. HSE to put in place a robust invoice payments system that will operate efficiently throughout the period of the COVID-19 crisis. Read Also: Drumshanbo's The Shed to distribute alcohol based hand & surface cleaner across the region Over the past week, we have been attempting to engage proactively with the authorities to prepare a robust plan for the home care sector in the face of the COVID-19 crisis, said Joseph Musgrave. We have been in constant contact with the HSE, the Department of Health and our own members since the onset of COVID-19. To date, the authorities have issued some basic clinical guidance to home care providers and announced the damaging self-isolation pay policy, which caps pay at two days for affected carers. We all have our part to play in this national emergency, and without the support of TDs in Leitrim, we could see a deepening crisis in our sector, as well as a missed opportunity to support the work of hospitals across Ireland. HCCIs proposals are ready for implementation, subject to government agreement. We are calling on government to implement our action plan now to ensure our sector is operating at full capacity and effectiveness when it is needed most. In addition to frequent and sometimes deadly rocket attacks, U.S. troops at Camp Taji, Iraq, have had to cope with potential burn pit exposure to toxic waste dumped by a contractor, according to the Defense Department's Inspector General. To make matters worse, the contractor was overpaid by $116 million. The IG's audit, released Friday, said that Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve, the command for U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq and Syria, "paid $116 million more than necessary" for services from SoS International LLC (SOSi), headquartered in Reston, Virginia. In addition, CJTF-OIR and the Army failed to follow U.S. Central Command environmental guidance and allowed the contractor to dump solid waste at a site in Camp Taji, which is shared with the Iraqi security forces. The Iraqis then would burn the waste, the audit said. "This solid waste disposal method may have contributed to the exposure of U.S. and coalition personnel to potential longterm health effects from the burn pit smoke," the IG's report states. Related: 3 US Troops Wounded in Renewed Rocket Attacks on Iraq's Taji Base Camp Taji, about 15 miles north of Baghdad, has been the target of periodic attacks by 107mm Katyusha rockets in recent months. Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, commander of CENTCOM, has blamed the attacks on the Iranian-backed Kata'ib Hezbollah militia. A March 11 attack killed Army Spc. Juan Miguel Mendez Covarrubias, 27, of Hanford, California, and Air Force Staff Sgt. Marshal D. Roberts, 28, of Owasso, Oklahoma. British Royal Army Medical Corps Lance Cpl. Brodie Gillon, 26, also was killed in the attack. The IG's report said that SOSi was contracted to provide Basic Life Support (BLS) services at Camp Taji, including meals, water, fire response and power. However, as a result of "poorly defined contract requirements, inadequate pricing structure, and lack of invoice oversight, CJTF-OIR paid for services that it did not use" -- to the amount of $116 million, the report states. In discussing the overpayments, the report said, "CJTF-OIR officials relied on contractor population counts" for the base "and did not know whether they were paying for support for the correct number of personnel." In response, CJTF-OIR "stated that its staff members disagreed with our characterization of the solid waste dumping sites as burn pits and that U.S. and coalition personnel were exposed to burnpit toxins," the report said. The IG's office disagreed with the disagreement. "We disagree that our characterization of the hostnation burn pit was inaccurate," the report states. -- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com. Read more: The Military's Coronavirus Response Health specialists from China have warned Italians they are risking lives by not taking a government-imposed lockdown seriously, as Italy's coronavirus death toll surpassed China's. Chinese scientists also rejected the herd immunity approach proposed by Dutch and British authorities. Here in Milan, the area hardest hit by Covid-19, the lockdown measures are very lax, said Chinese Red Cross vice president Sun Shuopeng, who visited the northern Italian city with a team of specialists flown in from China. Italy, with 3,405 coronavirus deaths, is the country with the most casualties, overtaking China with 3,248 casualties. In spite of a draconian lockdown, Italy's numbers have continued to soar over the past week, reaching 41,035 cases yesterday, compared to China, where infections seem to have stabilised at 81,000. Unlike China, Italy does not seem able to implement the strict lockdown. I can see public transport is still running, people are still moving around, having gatherings in hotels, and they are not wearing masks, said Sun, warning that public resistance to the lockdown will prove deadly. I don't know what people here are thinking. We really have to stop our usual economic activities and our usual human interactions. We have to stay at home and make every effort to save lives. It is worth putting every cost we have into saving lives, he was quoted as saying. Dictatorship China, which is ruled by an authoritarian communist dictatorship, is extremely well positioned to mobilise large numbers of people. Since the Communist takeover in 1949, mass mobilisation has been a trusted tool of the Chinese Communist Party in organising millions of people to work for a common goal. Before the 1978 capitalist revolution, Beijing's mass mobilisation resulted in disasters like the Great Leap Forward, and the Cultural Revolution. But the principles the central leadership issues a decree, which is then transmitted to the grassroots and implemented by local police, party cells and thousands of neighborhood committees have remained the same ever since 1978, when Deng Xiaoping started his capitalist reforms. In today's China, foreigners are often flabbergasted to see the short time it takes for the authorities to empty entire cities, as happens yearly during party celebrations. In 2003, all cities and most villages in China's countryside were locked down as a result of the Sars-1 epidemic. The policy is implemented swiftly and without much consideration or discussion, and, as recorded by human rights organisations, accompanied by ruthless censorship, police brutality and unnecessary suffering of many people. Critics of the Beijing regime claim dissidents and other hostile elements are also rounded up in the process. Herd mentality In spite of criticism of its draconian measures, China now prides itself on having successfully contained the coronavirus outbreak. As a result, there has been widespread shock about plans by some European countries to counter the epidemic by using so-called herd immunity, where large segments of the population are exposed to the virus to be cured by the natural autodefence system of individuals. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, in his speech on 15 March, said that the virus will be among us for a long time to come a large part of the population will be infected. While the Netherlands' health authorities advised precautions such as washing hands, keeping a safe social distance and reporting to a medical service if showing symptoms, they did not impose a hard lockdown. Protective wall The more people who get infected, Rutte argues, the more people will achieve immunity, resulting in a protective wall. The policy the Dutch government has chosen is one of controlled spreading of the disease, and only among those who are not in risk groups, such as the elderly or chronically ill. These groups will be completely isolated. The alternative, proposed and implemented by China, and now in force in Italy and France, is complete lockdown, minimising contact between people. Rutte rejected this saying it would lock down the country for at least a year without a guaranteed success. Rutte was echoing the UK's chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, who told the local media that the British would aim to achieve herd immunity, claiming that once 60 percent of the population (40 million people) contract the coronavirus, the resulting pool of natural immunity will limit the impact of the infection. The remarks caused a tsunami of anger and ridicule on Chinese social platforms. Social Darwinism Critics said the UK and other proponents of the ''herd immuninty theory were promoting nothing less than social Darwinism, or the survival of the fittest. This shows just how scientifically astute developed nations' approaches to virus prevention are, reads one ironic response on Chinese social media. Combatting the virus by employing the Darwinian model of natural selection highlights the unique appeal of modern science. Your browser does not support the audio element. Vietnam will temporarily bar entry to all foreign nationals, including persons of Vietnamese origin and their relatives who hold visa exemption documents, as part of more drastic measures to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The ban, pursuant to the conclusion of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at a government meeting on COVID-19 prevention and control on Saturday, will come into effect from 00:00 Sunday, March 22. Visas will be issued when necessary to those entering Vietnam for diplomatic purposes, official duties, or other special cases. Such persons have to undergo compulsory inspection procedures, medical declaration, and appropriate isolation upon entering the country. The ban will be applicable to all foreign arrivals -- by sea, waterways, road, and air. Earlier, Vietnam suspended its visa issuance to all foreigners for 30 days starting from Wednesday, March 18. The Vietnamese government continues to recommend that overseas Vietnamese carefully reconsider and refrain from flying home, and strictly follow official instructions on COVID-19 prevention issued by their host countries. Overseas Vietnamese who are in dire need of returning to Vietnam are from now required to register with the country's aviation authority, which will arrange for them to board commercial flights home. The government expects all returnees to strictly follow regulations on health declaration, immigration, and quarantine. The Vietnamese government is also trying to limit and reduce the frequency of incoming flights transporting passengers from foreign countries into Vietnam while creating favorable conditions for departure flights carrying foreign nationals leaving the country. Vietnam advises its citizens to adjust their regular habits and routine, increase online transactions, avoid going out, limit gatherings of over 50 people, and temporarily close recreational facilities. Provincial and municipal authorities, as well as competent departments and agencies, are tasked with providing citizens with more information on how to prevent infection, stay alert for the disease, and avoid spreading information that might cause pessimism, fear or discrimination against people infected with or suspected of carrying the disease. Vietnam has confirmed 94 cases of COVID-19 infections so far, with 17 having fully recovered and been discharged from the hospital by Friday. No death has been reported in the country to date. A majority of active infections reported over the past weeks in Vietnam are imported cases -- people arriving or returning from foreign countries. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 21:51:33|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of Finance (MOF) has taken multi-pronged efforts to spur funding for infrastructure construction as the government seeks to restore economic activities that had taken a heavy blow from the novel coronavirus outbreak. The ministry has quickened fund allocations to local authorities for public infrastructure construction including roads, ports and airports, MOF official Song Qiuling said at a press conference on Saturday. It has allocated more than 250 billion yuan (about 35.2 billion U.S. dollars) of vehicle purchase taxes, 7 billion yuan of port construction fees and 24 billion yuan of development funds for civil aviation ahead of schedule. Over 20 billion yuan has been appropriated to the China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. to support work resumption on the railway network, according to Song. So far, the MOF has allocated 1.85 trillion yuan worth of new local government bonds quotas ahead of schedule this year to shore up the economy, along with a wide range of tax cuts to reduce business burdens. As of Friday, local government bond issuance reached 1.4 trillion yuan, accounting for 76 percent of the allocated quotas, Song said. The MOF also pledged to take further efforts to stimulate the participation of the private capital. Earlier MOF data showed China's fixed-asset investment declined 24.5 percent year on year in the first two months of 2020 partly due to the epidemic. Covid-19 fears have not stopped a surge of migrants risking their lives trying to cross to the UK in dangerous inflatable boats. More than 100 people have been intercepted by border patrols as they attempted the treacherous journey this week, with many more possibly slipping through. Migrants wearing face masks, apparently as an attempt to guard against coronavirus, were reportedly seen at the Port of Dover in Kent. Bella Sankey from Detention Action called for migrants to be given safe accommodation, instead of indefinite detention and the means to self-isolate if they need to. Men thought to be migrants are met by Border Force officers in Dover (Gareth Fuller/PA) Fears were raised this week that 3,000 migrants living in northern France in desperate conditions were at high risk of contracting Covid-19. Care4Calais founder Clare Moseley said it was only a matter of time before the virus swept through migrant camps. Migrants intercepted in the Channel and brought to the UK are being closely monitored for symptoms of coronavirus, the Home Office said. Additionally it said that Border Force and all operational staff have personal protective equipment (PPE) available to them. More than 100 migrants were intercepted in a number of incidents this week, including: On Monday French authorities intercepted 16 migrants five nautical miles off Dunkirk after being contacted by a ferry at about 8.30am. The next day,at about 4.30am, Border Force rescued 16 migrants and took them to Dover. Also on Tuesday, at about 8.30am, nine migrants were found aboard an inflatable boat and taken ashore in Dover. On Thursday, in the first of five incidents, French authorities intercepted 16 migrants 5.5 nautical miles north-east of Calais. Men are met by Border Force officers (Gareth Fuller/PA) At 7am UK authorities were alerted to an inflatable boat on a beach at The Warren, Folkestone. Five lifejackets were found but no migrants were located. At 9.30am Border Force picked up a boat outside the Port of Dover which had 15 migrants aboard who said they were Iranian nationals. Story continues Also at 9.30am, another boat carrying 24 individuals including seven children was intercepted. The migrants presented themselves as Iranian and Iraqi nationals and were taken ashore in the UK. And at 5pm French authorities intercepted 12 migrants including seven children and took them to a French port. In total 108 migrants are known to have been intercepted by UK and French authorities, with 64 of those being taken to the UK. Bella Sankey director of charity Detention Action, told the PA news agency: The desperation of those making death-defying crossings during a global pandemic is self-evident. She added that following the Windrush report, the Home Secretary says she wants to put fairness, dignity and respect at the heart of the Home Offices mission and put people before process. If this is true, those seeking sanctuary here will be provided with safe accommodation, instead of indefinite detention, and given the means to self isolate if that is necessary. I got tested for the new coronavirus Thursday. If I do have it, it seems right now to be a mild case, and I have self-isolated since the onset of my first symptoms. I was tested through the Baylor system, which had just started their mass testing in earnest, one patient every 15 minutes. My guess is that by Saturday, there will be a giant spike in confirmed coronavirus cases in Houston. I first called Baylor Wednesday, and they gave me an office appointment for Thursday. Even though I was feverish and tired, it sounded wrong to me that Id be allowed into a doctors waiting room. I kept calling, leaving messages with secretaries, because I thought a contagious person shouldnt really be where they might infect other patients and staff. This also made me think about the previous protocol: The CDC had mandated you had to test negative for two other panels of sicknesses before theyd test for the coronavirus. I imagined all these patients jumping through hoops, infecting whole offices of medical workers and staff. What a mess. I got my point across after the third call, when my appointment was just an hour away. A nurse finally told me Id have to have a tele appointment with Dr. Horsfield, my longtime physician, the best in all of Houston. When he called, he said it was his first such call. I was prepared for the kinds of roadblocks Id read about people having, and that Id seen my father experience just the week before fitting the exact symptom list but not the travel condition. But Dr. Horsfield didnt take convincing. Hes always joked that he knows Im not a hypochondriac because I never come in, so I think he knew if I was calling for a test with all the symptoms, I probably needed one. It was easy and human, and I was grateful to Baylor for that. Even if youve tried before, the tests are here. Call your doctor. Theyll direct you. One weird thing: Baylor operators said they didnt know if insurance would pay for the tele appointment, and I had to acknowledge that three or four times. So I hope it wasnt a $3,000 phone call. My illness had crept up steadily. Id been tired awhile from another illness, so had fatigue. I had diarrhea one day, but thought it was a bad salad. When I woke with a sore throat (it came with a really acrid taste), I worried a little. But Id already worried for two months that I had the coronavirus I was afraid Id infect my dad or in-laws so I minimized it. That night I had teeth-clattering chills and a fever. I looked up online whether psychosomatic chills and fever exist. An hour later the fever hovered around 101 degrees, and a headache arrived. This turned into a migraine, which obliterated all the other symptoms. When I the headache subsided, I still had a fever. Then it went away suddenly, and I was coughing and had mild respiratory problems. The whole time I thought I was faking being sick. I couldnt believe I really had all those symptoms. But I self-quarantined at the first sign of fever and stayed locked in a bedroom away from my family until the morning of the test. Baylor sent me to a parking garage where theyre administering tests for their patients. I had to paste a secret eight-digit number pleasantly filled with only eights and nines to the dashboard of the car and drive towards what looked like a construction zone. There were maybe twenty people there, several of whom were covered head to toe. They reminded me of the evil scientists in ET, but these folks were heroes. Besides the covered personnel, there were a handful of people in suits who I assumed were executives, observing this first day of rapid testing. They all looked very brave and very proud to me, and I felt so grateful I wanted to hug them. But of course I couldnt hug them. A couple of women had been waving handwritten 8x11 signs at me since the moment I arrived that said DO NOT OPEN YOUR WINDOWS! I waited in my car until a lady in the most intense suit out there stepped over to me. Her face was covered in hard plastic and I was allowed to roll my window down for her. She said, This is going to be uncomfortable, but Ill let you have a break between nasal swabs. . It was uncomfortable. She said she hoped I felt better soon. The whole process had taken maybe four minutes. I rolled up my window and drove home. They said it takes 24 hours for results .Im still waiting. Arnold, owner of Grackle and Grackle writing studio, is the author of the novel Sweet Land of Bigamy. Central government has approved a production-linked incentive for electronics companies in a cabinet meeting on Friday to take mobile manufacturing in the country to the next level. The provision is aimed to boost domestic manufacturing and attract large investments in mobile phone manufacturing and specified electronic components said minister Prakash Javadekar. Minister of communications and electronics Ravi Shankar Prasad said the decision was in keeping with the target of making India a big hub of manufacturing. Two long term policy decisions have been taken to make India a big hub of manufacturing, first in the case of electronic and second in the case of Pharma, as also medical devices, said Prasad, who was present among the ministers at the briefing. Prasad said the NDA government had made record progress in the area of electronic and mobile manufacturing, From Rs 1,90,000 crore in 2014-2015 , electronic manufacturing in the country has risen to Rs 4,98,006 crore in 2018-19. There is a compound growth rate of 25%. Indias contribution has increased from 1.3% from 2012 to 3% now. Almost 20, lakh people work in this industry, Prasad said. He added that there were only two mobile making factories when the government came into power but now, there are 260 companies. The government also announced its nod to the inclusion of the Ayush Health & Wellness Centres part of the Ayushman Bharat in National Ayush Mission. It said it is aimed to reduce the burden on secondary and tertiary health care. 12,000 new Ayush wellness and health centres will be made at the existing 12,500 centres and sub-centres of the Ayush ministry and this provision was being funded with Rs 34,000 crore, Javadekar said. In other big decisions taken by the Union cabinet, an extradition treaty between India and Belgium was approved. The treaty would enable extradition for offences relating to taxation, or revenue or of a fiscal character. The treaty will ensure that offenders from both countries could be extradited, Javadekar said. President Donald Trump is reportedly mulling a plan that would call out the National Guard to enforce a two-week quarantine of all Americans if they don't follow his social distancing guidelines for helping to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Trump would require all to 'stay at home,' in a developing plan which wouldn't be announced until next week, a source told the Washington Examiner. Most businesses, except for grocery stores and pharmacies, also would close. Other sources inside the administration say the president also wants to ground all US airline flights. President Donald Trump is mulling a plan that would call for a two-week quarantine of all Americans if they don't follow his guidelines for helping to contain the spread of the coronavirus. He is pictured speaking at a coronavirus task force briefing Trump's plan would require calling out the National Guard to enforce the quarantine. Members of the Missouri National Guard are pictured The president would require air carriers to suspend operations in an effort to limit people's interactions with each other and travel around the country, the Examiner reported. There have been more than 19,000 confirmed cases in the US of the deadly flu-like virus, also known as COVID-19, which also has been blamed for at least 260 known deaths. Women wear face masks and a scarf to protect their mouths and nose to protect against coronavirus infection as they walk in New York Friday. So far, 230 people across the country have died from the deadly outbreak Senior administration officials say the plan is among dozens of radical ideas that are being considered as Trump moves quickly to protect the country from the outbreak. While the president has praised the public for following the guidelines he set forth earlier this week, the additional quarantine plans signal his administration has noticed some Americans are not taking the threat seriously. Spring Breakers enjoyed the sand and surf on Florida's beaches in defiance of closures and warnings to avoid crowds. While Trump praised the public for following the guidelines he set forth for slowing the spread of coronavirus, the additional quarantine plans signal his administration has noticed some Americans are not taking the threat seriously, including Spring Breakers (pictured) 'They don't realize that - they're feeling invincible,' said President Trump of young people. 'But they don't realize that they could be carrying lots of bad things home to their grandmother and grandfather and even their parents. 'So, we want them to heed the advice ... and I do believe it's getting through.' The National Guard is already out enforcing 'stay in place' orders in Washington, DC, as the nation's capital on Friday extended school closings until the end of April. Wisconsin also activated the Guard. Troops are also being put to use in Florida, New Jersey, and Arizona. National Guardsmen are see assisting a coronavirus drive through testing lab in Miami, Florida Guardsmen were put on notice in California as well after Goveronor Gavin Newsom all residents to stay at home until further notice. Illinois has done the same, while parts of New York have been shut down. Federal officials are hedging on putting a 'stay in place' order, but say the administration has alerted Congress, states, and industry leaders about a potential shutdown of the country that could start next week, and after Trump enacts the Stafford Act, which some say would pave the way for a national quarantine. Department of Homeland Security officials are telling states that it is ready to mobilize the National Guard and dispatch them with US military and first responders, says a knowledgeable source. Perhaps the Michelle Lujan Grisham administration really believes it has met the state constitutional requirements of what then pro-tem Judge Sarah Singleton said were needed to provide a sufficient education for English learners, Native Americans, low-income and other at-risk students. Or, perhaps it has come to understand the folly in not appealing that 2018 decision to the state Supreme Court Lujan Grisham promised on the campaign trail that she wouldnt and the realization that in all likelihood it can never do enough to satisfy the plaintiffs who brought the case. Whatever the reason, the Public Education Department filed a 116-page motion this week asking that the case be dismissed because, it argued, the state has substantially complied with the ruling by sharply increasing education funding and revising programs aimed at helping at-risk students. Singleton, who presided over the trial and issued a lengthy opinion, has since died and the case has been reassigned to Judge Matthew Wilson of Santa Fe. A hearing is set for next week. The state has pumped a lot more money into K-12 education about $664 million over the past two legislative sessions. A good chunk went to teacher raises, but there have been questions and criticism over how the rest of the money was spent and whether it reached targeted kids with effective programs. Rep. Patty Lundstrom, D-Gallup and chair of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, said last year lawmakers needed to take a firmer hand in directing how school districts spend the money that flows to them through complex formulas. And, she said, administrators and legislators needed a clear standard for measuring the progress of school districts. This years Legislature enacted some measures designed to force better accounting of the funds by the school districts, but teacher unions and the districts generally have been successful in fending off attempts by lawmakers and the executive branch to fund specific programs. Its generally up to each individual district around the state to decide how to spend the money. The state motion to dismiss the lawsuit follows an earlier filing by the plaintiffs who argued the state had failed to comply and the courts needed to continue their oversight role of K-12 education. The Governors Office believes education policy should not be guided by third parties, but by elected officials and experts thus the states motion. Rep. Christine Trujillo, D-Albuquerque and chairwoman of the Legislative Education Study Committee, said she thinks the lawsuit has done its job in making education a priority and that its time for the court to back off. I believe that our efforts have gone a long way to address the concerns, she said, before undercutting her own argument by adding, We still have a long way to go but I dont think a lawsuit anymore is the direction we need to go in. Perhaps it never was, and if the courts are going to have this much control over public schools it would have been prudent to get the Supreme Court to provide guidelines as to what constitutes a constitutionally adequate education and whether cost can even be considered. Not surprisingly, the plaintiffs arent persuaded by the state argument that public education in New Mexico is substantially different from the system in place during the trial. (Some could argue its actually worse since the current administration and Legislature have dismantled most of the meaningful accountability measures.) Gail Evans, lead counsel for one group of plaintiffs, said the state has done nowhere near enough. The court has to intervene when politics fail and politics have clearly failed New Mexicos children for decades, she said. Santa Fe Public Schools Superintendent Veronica Garcia chimes in with Evans. She says her district still doesnt have enough resources and that its important that this case is not dismissed. Not mentioned in all the legal wrangling is the fact that the oil and gas boom that allowed for the huge surge in funding in education and across state government just went bust thanks to the coronavirus and a fight between Saudi Arabia and Russia over oil production. The next state budget is based on oil at $50 a barrel. It was trading at $20 this week. In theory, the plaintiffs dont care about all that. They would argue that the state needs to find the money somewhere to meet the requirements of Singletons ruling. Even though the state motion to dismiss may be a bit of a legal Hail Mary, its worth raising this issue before the court. And if the judge tosses the states request, perhaps it can be a vehicle to get the case before the Supreme Court, where it belonged in the first place. This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers. Evan Barna and Tiffany Thomas, of New York City, enjoying a vacation in Peru before things took a turn. (Photo courtesy of Tiffany Thomas) UPDATE 03/23/20: Tiffany Thomas and Evan Barna were able to get two spots on a flight from Lima to Washington, D.C. on March 20 that was intended to transport Peace Corps. volunteers and people with medical needs, after some expected passengers did not show up. Says Thomas, Evan politely but aggressively kept in communication with the hardworking U.S. Embassy workers, and after they boarded the majority of the plane, they found us and said, Well put you on a wait list. They made it on. We decided to drive to Ohio to be with family instead of going straight to NYC, Thomas adds. Were very lucky and thankful we were able to get on the flight and hope the rest of our Americans can be brought home ASAP! On March 12, Tiffany Thomas, 28, and Evan Barna, 29 Ohioans living in New York City, where Barna is pursuing his masters degree at New York University went on a much-anticipated trip to Peru for his spring break. Within a few days, they became two of about 1,500 Americans who have found themselves stranded there following President Martin Vizcarras sudden announcement that he was closing the countrys borders. This is their story, as told, by Thomas, to Yahoo Lifestyle. We booked our trip back in September. Evan is getting masters degree at NYU, and this was spring break and our first international trip abroad together. Hes always had Machu Picchu on his bucket list. The plan was to fly to Lima and then to Cusco to do Machu Picchu, and from there wed go to Colombia to have a relaxing trip at the end. As the day approached, a lot of people were like, Dont cancel your trip, its safer down there! We definitely just thought we would be out of it down here. We flew to Lima on Thursday March 12. The Newark airport wasnt overly crowded, but the plane was completely booked, jam-packed, and some people were wearing masks. De-boarding took a while because had to fill out a specific paper about traveling abroad, did we have any symptoms, and then when we exited the plane these people were there in hazmat suits taking our temperature. It was alarming. But I thought they were just being precautious. Story continues I think the next day is when they banned the Europe travel, so that was alarming. I did get notification from work, as a change-management consultant for retailers, that I might have to be quarantined for 14 days upon return. [Evan, along with working towards his masters degree, works in real-estate finance investment.] Once in Lima, there was no concern over the virus here really nobody was talking about it. We were in Lima for two days, we did a tour, we went to the beach, there didnt seem to be any worries. On Saturday we flew to Cusco, again on a full flight, and they took our temperature when we landed there, but there were no travel restrictions. On Sunday we did a Sacred Valley tour and our guide was like, Its OK, Peruvians are not going to get this, it wont live in this kind of altitude, this is crazy. So, all day Sunday we were like, OK, everythings good. We were kind of in la-la land because no one was concerned. But then friends started reaching out, asking, Everythings still OK there, right? and I was like, Are we really out of the loop? The couple at the start of their vacation in Peru, where they are now stranded after the president ordered borders closed. (Photo courtesy of Tiffany Thomas) That evening back at our Airbnb, our host told us the Peruvian president [Vizcarra] was coming on to give an announcement. At around 10 p.m. she texted me and said that the announcement was ambiguous but that they were closing borders in and out midnight the next day, less than 24 hours away. We were supposed to go to Machu Picchu Monday the whole reason why we came and she said, Surely they wont shut down tourism, you should still try to go. Go get your train to Machu Picchu. She was said the message wasnt clear, and thought surely [Vizcarra] would come back and reexplain. We woke up at 3:30 am to walk to get our train and they were like, Nope, closed. Then we went back to our Airbnb to pack up and go straight to airport, the Cusco airport, which is very small. We got there around 4:30 a.m. and there were already lines outside of the airport, and I would say thousands of people. It was such a shock. (Trying to get to the back of the line was confusing, Barna adds. People were screaming, people were touching each other, and it was the perfect storm for coronavirus to spread. Some people got there for their flights and didnt even know the president had made an announcement.) We waited in several lines for several hours. Supposedly we were waiting to just get on a waitlist to eventually get on a flight. It was obviously mayhem. We met a Canadian couple, and this local man came up to us and said, We can get you on a flight to Lima, and that was our main goal. He said, Its going to cost you $500 each for a one-hour flight. We were like, You promise this is real? The Canadians went first, and once they were on their flight, texted us it was real. As we were paying him, he upped his price to $600. I dont know how he did it. We even went through the official Latam Airline desk. He must have had someone booking it behind the scenes. Our original flight was, like, $20, but we were like, Get us to Lima. I was having an anxiety attack that the ticket would be fake, but it all worked out. We waited for two hours for our flight and were looking up any scenario we could think of to get out of Peru we heard if we went to Chile we could potentially get to Miami, which wouldve been another $2,000 or 43,000, but anytime we went to click transact it would say, error. Things were changing moment by moment no, you cant go to Chile. If you go to Colombia youll be stuck until May 31 So, we get to Lima, they didnt take our temperature, which was weird, but then, again, were thousands of people at the airport. We got in line and they say, The only flights we have left are to Cusco. While walking out of the airport we met an American girl who had traveled there for a wedding. We all took a taxi together to the U.S. Embassy, which was about a 30- to 40-minute ride. We didnt know if there would be enough food, and there was a lot of panic in the air. As we pulled up to what was a basic, generic building, almost like a house, we saw a few armed guards, and one of them directs us to this little kiosk. The lady there said, Weve had several people here, and we dont know what to tell you. All we know is borders are closed. Related: Americans Stuck in Peru Trying to Find Way Home She added, Dont get in trouble, stay safe. Youre here for 15 days. Follow the quarantine laws. I just want to reiterate, because I feel like there are rumors going around that people missed their flights out, but that honestly makes my blood boil because theres nothing we couldve done. We paid a man to just be stranded. We couldnt do anything to get out of this country, and we even thought about driving to Bolivia. There are about 1,500 Americans here probably more in Cusco, just because they got stuck. So, people are stuck in areas where maybe theres not enough food. Here in Lima, we got an Airbnb with a gym and a pool in an outdoor area, but now those are closed, and the rules are super strict. You can be outside only from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m., and only to go to the grocery store, pharmacy or bank. Weve been carrying our grocery bags around just to get a walk in. There are scary armed guards. We cant even sit in the courtyard. You definitely cant go to the beach. So, every day we go to the grocery store and try to make up things to buy. I will say there has been a silver lining, which is that weve met a lot of great people. There are two different messaging groups, on WhatsApp and Telegram, both with people stuck in Peru, and through those we were able to give back, because a girl messaged in a group that her grandparents were in Lima and near us and couldnt leave their apartment to get food. So, we looked up their address and went to the grocery store and delivered food to them. They were yelling our names from the balcony when they saw us. I also woke up to 500 messages on the group chat. There are a lot of potential scammers. I heard of a potential flight but have no idea whats real and whats not, and it would cost $1,500 each. Its worth it to go home, but not worth it if its a scam. Still, I feel like everyones coming together to see how they can help each other. It does feel supportive. I think the uncertainty is whats killing us all. Were contacting our senators, our families are also contacting senators, and some say theyre working on it, but others say, Hold tight. Youll be there at least until April 1st. As far as supplies go, we are close to a big supermarket and it seems like theyre not running low. Yesterday they didnt have beans for the grandparents we were buying for, but thats it. We lost electricity and water for about 30 minutes on our first night, but just probably because theyre just not used to this many people being at home. A part of us is like, Should we have come? Hindsight is 20/20. But we had a great four days here that werent jaded by this virus. Were making the best of it cooking, playing games. And we do have a flight to Miami on the 1st, when the travel ban is set to end. But the U.S. might not allow flights in, and Peru could could very well extend the ban. Weve heard a lot of criticism, like, why would you travel? Why didnt you leave? But we didnt have time to leave. Its disappointing that people are saying things like, Dont pick them up, leave them there. This happy trip was not supposed to be this. For the latest news on the evolving coronavirus outbreak, follow along here. According to experts, people over 60 and those who are immunocompromised continue to be the most at risk. If you have questions, please reference the CDC and WHOs resource guides. Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle Want daily pop culture news delivered to your inbox? Sign up here for Yahoo Entertainment & Lifestyle's newsletter. The Delhi Metro services will mostly be closed, except for few a hours, on Monday as part of precautionary measures to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic, officials said on Sunday. Services from 8-10 am will be available at a normal frequency as on regular days. During this period, everyone can travel and no identification will be required at the time of entry, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) authorities said. Services from 6 am till 8 am will be available at a frequency of 20 minutes, only for people involved in essential services like hospitals, police, fire department, among others. They will be allowed to enter metro stations on the producing their identification cards to the security personnel, according to the official said. "Services from 10 am to 4 pm will not be available," the official said. "However, all the trains, which started at 10 am from originating stations of all lines, will continue to run till they reach their destination stations," the DMRC official said. Services from 4-8 pm will again be available, but will cease after 8 pm onwards. However, the last train service starting at 8 pm from originating station will continue to run till it reaches its destination, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Bank of Russia is preparing additional measures for mortgage loans, the head of the Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina, said today. "We are preparing more mortgage lending measures as they are needed additionally. We are working on it," Nabiullina said at the government meeting, RIA Novosti reports. Recall, on the eve of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, announced measures to maintain the availability of mortgage loans. Thus, for banks, premiums on risk ratios for mortgages and loans for financing under a shared construction agreement, which will be issued on April 1, 2020, were reduced. Governor Andrew Cuomo: "Trump will send a hospital ship to New York, the USNS Comfort" New York Governor Andrew Cuomo demanded President Donald Trump, dispatch the naval hospital ship "the USNS, Comfort" because of lacking hospital beds in New York. Governor Andrew Cuomo has measured how to make extra space for the unforeseen number of patients in the coming days and weeks on amid the coronavirus outbreak. He also warned the New York state hospitals that their current hospital system has only 53,000 beds available. He also added to increase the hospital capacity, then he tweeted after his press conference held. Governor Andrew Cuomo announced after, the construction of new hospitals to manage the coronavirus outbreak. He also announced that it will be deployed to the New York harbor and expected to arrive in mid-April after it's undergoing repair in its homeport in Norfolk, Virginia after a six-month tour in South America. But Defense Secretary Mark Esper said that the ship's capacities and, field medical clinics are centered around injury and trauma, rather than deadly diseases New York State presently has the most instances of coronavirus, or COVID-19, in the nation with more than 1,700 positive cases detailed by Wednesday morning, and 16 infection-related deaths. Field clinics and a fleet of hospital ships could be brought in to help with the patients who are infected with the coronavirus and the U.S. military are ready and capable of helping and defending the American people, protecting their nation. The number of infected cases in the U.S. could peak in 45 days, predicted by the Trump administration's coronavirus task force on Tuesday. Read Also: The USNS Comfort The USNS Comfort had a long history of being at the bleeding edge of wellbeing emergencies around the globe. It was sent to New York after the 9/11 incident and is expected to lend a hand once again. The ship was originally a class super oil tanker before it was turned into the USNS Comfort in 1987, the original name of the ship was SS Rose City and was launched from San Diego, California. it has 1,000 rooms on it. It has 1,200 Navy personnel from the medical staff and communications team along with 71 civilians that are based in Virginia's Portsmouth Naval Medical Center are deployed for a wide range of purposes. Also, the USNS Comfort's sister hospital ship, the USNS Mercy will be deployed and docked at San Diego in helping the infected people with the coronavirus. Inside the USNS Comfort are hospital beds and operating rooms that can be also seen inside hospitals, this includes digital radiological services, a medical laboratory plus satellite lab, a casualty reception, a pharmacy, a central sterile receiving, an optometry area, a computed tomography (also known as CAT scan), and two "oxygen-producing plants". It also features a helicopter deck for ambulances and other medical equipment to land and can accept patients via small boats while at sea. Related Article: Liberty Helicopter Offers "Stimulus Package" Amid COVID-19 Crisis @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Advertisement According to Frank, stimulants such as Ritalin increase the amount of dopamine released in the striatum, a key region in the brain related to motivation, action and cognition. Previous research has shown that dopamine, a "chemical messenger" that ferries information between neurons, can greatly influence cognitive and physical behavior.Several past studies have found, for example, that both rodents and humans are more motivated to perform physically demanding tasks with higher dopamine. What has remained unknown, though, is whether dopamine can have similar motivational effects on cognition -- and that's what a new collaborative project between Frank, Brown postdoctoral researcher Andrew Westbrook and Dutch neuropsychiatry scholar Roshan Cools set out to understand."We've known for a long time that when you give people these types of stimulants, you get enhanced performance," said Westbrook, the study's lead author. "But is that due to an increased ability, or is it due to increased motivation? We didn't know which of these two factors were contributing and to what degree."Frank's team had previously developed mathematical models suggesting that dopamine alters the degree to which the striatum emphasizes the benefits, rather than the costs, of completing physical and mental actions.Drawing upon these models, Westbrook worked with Frank and Cools to develop an experiment that examined how stimulants that elevated dopamine levels affected people's mental cost-benefit analyses.The researchers worked with 50 healthy women and men ages 18 to 43 in a lab at Radboud University in the Netherlands. First, they measured the natural dopamine levels in each subject's striatum using brain imaging technology.Then, they asked the subjects whether they would take part in a series of cognitively demanding tests, some easier and others more difficult, in exchange for certain amounts of money. Subjects who agreed to take the hardest tests stood to make the most money.Each of the subjects completed the experiment three times -- once after taking a placebo; once after taking methylphenidate, the generic version of Ritalin; and once after taking sulpiride, an antipsychotic that elevates dopamine levels when taken in low doses and is often used to treat symptoms of schizophrenia and major depressive disorder at much higher doses.The researchers used a double-blind experiment design, where neither they nor the subjects knew which pill was being given to each subject.The results largely matched Westbrook's computer-modeled predictions. Those with lower dopamine levels made decisions that indicated they were more focused on avoiding difficult cognitive work -- in other words, they were more sensitive to the potential costs of completing the task.Those with higher dopamine levels, on the other hand, made decisions that showed they were more sensitive to differences in the amount of money they could earn by choosing the harder test -- in other words, they focused more on the potential benefits.Westbrook said the latter held true whether the subjects' dopamine levels were naturally higher or whether they had been artificially elevated by medications.Westbrook said the results support the idea that, medication or no medication, dopamine typically acts as a motivation regulator for human brains."The thoughts that pop into our head, and the amount of time we spend thinking about them, are regulated by this underlying cost-benefit decision-making system," Westbrook said. "Our brains have been honed to orient us toward the tasks that will have the greatest payoff and the least cost over time."All of us have slightly different base levels of dopamine, said Frank, who is affiliated with the Carney Institute for Brain Science at Brown. Those who have lower levels tend to be more risk-averse, because they spend more time focusing on the potential costs of completing a difficult task. Those with higher levels tend to be more impulsive and active, because they focus more on the benefits.No single dopamine level is inherently better than another, Frank said -- an active, high-dopamine person may take fulfilling, happiness-boosting risks but may also be more prone to injury; a risk-averse, low-dopamine person may avoid injuries and disappointments but may also miss out on adventures.And dopamine levels don't necessarily stay the same from one day to the next: They may decrease in response to danger or lack of sleep, and they may increase when people feel safe and supported.In other words, Westbrook said, most people can trust natural dopamine levels to guide them toward the right decisions. Of course, previous experiments have made it clear that many people with particularly low dopamine levels -- including those who are diagnosed with depression or ADHD -- can benefit from dopamine-boosting stimulant medications.But he said those medications are never certain to improve the lives of those who are healthy and who choose to use them recreationally. Doing so could, in fact, lead some to make poorer decisions."When you raise dopamine in someone who already has a high dopamine level, every decision seems like it has benefit, which could distract from the real beneficial tasks," Westbrook said. "People might behave in ways that aren't consistent with their goals, like taking part in impulsive gambling or risky sex behaviors."Westbrook and Frank hope their study helps future researchers and medical professionals better understand cognitive mechanisms, allowing them to identify connections between dopamine levels and disorders such as anxiety, depression, ADHD and schizophrenia."We want to know, what are the drivers of what changes cognitive ability and function?" Frank said. "Our research is focused on carving nature at its joints, so to speak -- disentangling neural and cognitive functions to understand people's different thought processes and evaluate what's best for their needs, whether it's therapy or medication."Source: Eurekalert Wipro Limited, a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company, has announced the launch of its new Microsoft Business Unit. This initiative is an outcome of Wipros expanded global alliance with Microsoft to accelerate cloud adoption and digital transformation for its customers across sectors. The new unit will focus on the development and evangelisation of solutions leveraging Microsofts enterprise cloud services, said a statement from Wipro. Wipros Microsoft Business Unit consists of a team of trained and certified Azure consultants and specialists, it added. The new unit will offer domain-based solutions and solution accelerators, including the following: Wipros Cloud Studio which delivers migration for different workloads on Microsoft Azure, Data, Microsoft Dynamics 365. The studio is an as-a-service model for cloud transformation with standardized tools, technologies and processes. Wipros LiVE Workspace solution which leverages Microsofts Modern Workplace, Microsoft 365 as well as LUIS and the Power platform to help customers unbox an intelligent, future-ready workplace where apps and data can be accessed from anywhere, anytime and on any device. Wipros Data Discovery Platform (DDP) empowers customers with actionable insights by exploring varied data sources through sophisticated techniques such as pattern discovery, Auto ML, visual sciences and storytelling to simplify interpretation and decision-making. The core of this platform brings together the Wipro HOLMES Artificial Intelligence and Microsoft Azure. President and Chief Operating Officer BM Bhanumurthy said: Our newly formed Microsoft Business Unit will aid organizations in accelerating their innovation and modernization journey by leveraging Wipros deep domain expertise along with Microsofts futuristic enterprise-class offerings." "With this partnership, we will co-innovate in industry domain services focused on data, analytics, security and customer/employee experiences," he noted. Nitin Parab, Senior VP and Global Head, Technology Business Unit, said: We are excited to expand our partnership with Microsoft. By integrating our unique offerings such as Cloud Studio, DDP and LiVE Workspace with Microsofts Intelligent Cloud, we will be able to better address our customers digital goals. Wipro recently completed a cloud migration project leveraging Microsoft Azure for Mitie, a leading facilities management and professional services company headquartered in the UK. Wipro and Microsoft have been strategic partners for decades. Wipro has demonstrated its commitment to this relationship by investing in new industry leading solutions for customers on the Azure platform. Wipro is a Microsoft Gold Competency Partner. The successful migration of workload from on-premise to cloud environment helped the client achieve business flexibility, security and scalability, thereby improving the companys overall operational efficiency. Judson Althoff, Executive VP Microsoft, said: "At Microsoft, digital transformation is a core focus that enables organizations to improve how they engage customers, empower employees, optimize operations and transform products." "Our expanded partnership with Wipro will allow them to better serve customers digital needs by leveraging Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Dynamics 365," added Althoff.-TradeArabia News Service A bench warrant has been issued for the arrest of a 38 year old man who jumped out of a car while on the way to court. Kieran Harte of Rinnatruffare, Geevagh was due before Sligo District Court last Thursday for two charges relating to the trespassing of a house at Doongelagh, Geevagh and trespassing that same property to steal a bottle of scotch worth 40 on February 8th last. Mr Gerard McGovern, solicitor told the court his client was not present. He said Harte had initially abided by instructions of the court and went to alcohol addiction meetings, however, after six days he went to his girlfriend's house in Dublin and relapsed. A place was also got for him in St Columba's but he left after one day. He had also attended an addiction unit in Galway but had ran away and then left another detox unit following this. Mr McGovern said his client was 'running away from something' and had jumped out of his girlfriend's car while on the way to court. A bench warrant was issued for his arrest. The first trailer for the new season of Britain's Got Talent was released on Saturday, revealing that the show will return in April. Judges Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and David Walliams are back for the 14th season, as they made a brief appearance in the trailer alongside co-hosts Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly. The clip opened with a newspaper salesman seeing the front page of a publication that revealed the talent competition was coming back, he smiled brightly as gold confetti exploded above him. They're back! Amanda Holden stunned as she joined Simon Cowell, Alesha Dixon and David Walliams in new Britain's Got Talent trailer... as its revealed the show will RETURN in April With The Pointer Sister's I'm So Excited rang out in the background, several members of the public shared their delight at seeing the news, with the glittering decoration surrounding them in their moment of joy. Making their dramatic entrance, Simon, Amanda, Alesha and David walked through the lobby of a stunning hotel as onlookers watched in awe and took their photo. Amanda put on a stylish display in a light pink midi-dress that had pointed shoulder pads for a glamorous flair. Stunning: Amanda put on a stylish display in a light pink midi-dress that had pointed shoulder pads for a glamorous flair Her golden locks were styled into loose waves that cascaded over her shoulders, and she used a natural palette of make-up to accentuate her pretty features. Alesha, meanwhile, opted for an androgynous chic look to match Amanda's as she paired a light pink co-ord suit with a white crop top that showed off her taut abs. She wore her brunette tresses in a poker-straight style, and added a glittering touch to her look by accessorising with gold hoop earrings. Complementing each other: Alesha opted for an androgynous chic look to match Amanda's as she paired a light pink co-ord suit with a white crop top that showed off her taut abs Excited: Ant and Dec joined in the merriment, as they were seen in an elevator that had been covered with gold confetti up to their knees Simon wore his signature look of a black suit, aviator shades, and a crisp white shirt that was half-unbuttoned to show off a glimpse of his chest. Ant and Dec joined in the merriment, as they were seen in an elevator that had been covered with gold confetti up to their knees. Explaining what had happened, Ant said: 'He's quite excited.' Can't wait: Explaining what had happened, Ant said: 'He's quite excited' as gold confetti blew out of Dec's head to show his joy at the show's return Great news: The clip opened with a newspaper front page that revealed the talent competition was coming back, and a woman smiled brightly as gold confetti exploded above her Amid the coronavirus crisis, ITV have revealed that they intend to 'try and make the live shows work' for BGT, after postponing The Voice's live semi-final and final. In a statement, the channel explained: 'The Voice UK knockouts, which are pre-recorded, will continue to be broadcast this weekend and the Britains Got Talent audition shows are due to be broadcast in the next few weeks as planned. We have, however, taken the difficult decision to postpone until later this year The Voice UKs live semi final and final, which were due on air on the 28th March and 4th April, and are working to replace them in the schedule with some bespoke Voice specials. 'We are also working with our production colleagues to see how we can make the BGT live shows work in an ever changing situation and we will update on this in due course.' Happy: With The Pointer Sister's I'm So Excited rang out in the background, members of the public shared their delight at seeing the news, with the glittering decoration around them The governor of New Jersey on Saturday issued a stay-at-home order for nearly all of the state's 9 million residents in the fight against the spread of the coronavirus. Similar sweeping mandates have been made in California, Illinois, New York and Pennsylvania and other states. We must flatten the curve and ensure residents are practicing social distancing," New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said in announcing the new restrictions. But, he added, Even with this order in effect life in New Jersey does not have to come to a complete standstill. The governor told residents not to panic, but, he said, "We're at war." Starting at 9 p.m. Saturday, New Jersey residents must stay home and all nonessential businesses have to close indefinitely. All gatherings including weddings, in-person services and parties, are canceled until further notice, Murphy said. Businesses considered essential that can remain open include grocery stores and pharmacies, gas stations, banks and other financial institutions and laundromats. Employees who must report to work are encouraged to get a letter from their job indicating that they work in an "industry permitted to continue operations," according to the state's newly launched coronavirus website. New Jersey had 1,327 confirmed coronavirus cases as of Saturday with 442 new positive test results since Friday. The state has had 16 deaths. "We mourn the tragic loss of life," the governor said. But, he said, "The increase in the positive test results is completely expected" due to the state's aggressive testing. The more information the state has the better able it is to "break the back of this virus," Murphy said. New Jersey's announcement comes after Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Friday ordered his state's nearly 13 million residents to stay home. He said at a press conference that he did not come to the decision easily. I fully recognize that in some cases, I am choosing between saving people's lives and saving people's livelihood," he said. "But ultimately you can't have a livelihood if you don't have your life." Story continues Pritzker said residents will be able to leave their homes to buy food, or pick up a prescription at the pharmacy and can go out for a walk. He said the goal of the stay-at-home order is for people to maintain social distancing and for those who have already taken precautions their lives "will not change very much." The order is expected to become effective Saturday evening and will remain in place until April 7 but could go longer, Pritzker said. Also on Friday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered all nonessential businesses to cease operating outside the home and put new requirements in place for people over 70 or with underlying health conditions to avoid public transportation and stay home except for solitary exercise. The requirements also urge New Yorkers to practice social distancing and to stay in their homes as much as possible. Your actions can affect my health, that is where we are," Cuomo said at a press conference. Coronavirus cases in New York surged to more than 10,000 with 6,211 cases in New York City alone, Cuomo said Saturday. According to the governor, cases are slowing in Westchester County but are growing on Long Island. California Gov. Gavin Newsom also issued a stay-at-home order, which went into effect Thursday night and will remain in place until further notice. It says residents should leave their homes only when necessary. Pennsylvania and Connecticut either have or plan similar mandates. Gov. Tom Wolf ordered that all businesses in Pennsylvania that are not "life-sustaining" close, and Connecticut's governor is expected to order all nonessential businesses to shut down beginning Monday night, according to NBC Connecticut. Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont said businesses that don't comply with the order could face civil fines. Actor Nikita Dutta, who will be seen alongside Abhishek Bachchan in "The Big Bull", said she is grateful to have had the opportunity to be a part of this film. Nikita, who started her journey as a model and made her Bollywood debut with "Lekar Hum Deewana Dil", switched to television with shows like " Dream Girl Ek Ladki Deewani Si", "Ek Duje Ke Vaaste", "Haasil" and "Laal Ishq". She is returning to movies with the "The Big Bull". "I was fortunate that I was liked by the director and producer and that everything worked out well. I am grateful for it. Working with Abhishek has been a great experience. He is really fun to be around. I do have a prominent role in it. I look forward to more such experiences," Nikita told PTI. "The Big Bull" is directed by Kookie Gulati and backed by Ajay Devgn, Anand Pandit and Kumar Mangat Pathak. The storyline is said to be of stockbroker Harshad Mehta's life involving his financial crimes from 1990 to 2000. The film is scheduled to release in October this year. Nikita believes an artiste's struggle to prove his or herself is never ending. "I started off my journey from Miss India and I would get this comment often that Miss India can't act, models are too stiff. When I wanted to switch and become an actor, I was told I am too urban, I have to be desi. "When I was doing TV the biggest struggle was to switch from TV to films, there was this constant comment that TV actors can't act. This will keep on happening, it is a never ending process. The trick is to do what makes you happy and grab every opportunity that is good for you." She is also excited about her digital debut film "Maska", where she will be seen alongside Manisha Koirala. It will stream from March 27 on Netflix. "The best part is that the film is not just going to be there for a week or two, this is going to be on Netflix and you can watch it whenever you want. This is an advantage of OTT," she added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Six Indigo flights scheduled to operate from here on March 22 have been cancelled in view of the COVID-19 pandemic and Janata curfew, the Raipur Airport Director informed. 6E 245 Raipur - Indore, 6E 2409 Raipur - Delhi, 6E 473 Raipur - Hyderabad, 6E 2512 Raipur - Delhi, 6E 252 Raipur - Kolkata and 6E 7265 Raipur - Kolkata flights for March 22 stand cancelled. A Vistara Airlines flight UK 794 Delhi Raipur has also been cancelled. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday urged citizens to follow the concept of 'Janta Curfew' on March 22 from 7 am to 9 pm. He said that no one apart from those involved with essential services is supposed to venture out of their homes. India has reported 271 cases of coronavirus so far, according to official data. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Aer Lingus has increased its capacity on Spanish routes by 20% in an effort to bring as many Irish citizens home as possible before tonight's deadline of midnight. The deadline was originally set for midnight Thursday but had been extended due to the numbers involved. After seven-hour long suspense, 22 rebel Congress MLAs cancelled their return to Bhopal from Bengaluru, where they are staying since Tuesday. Six of them were to appear before the Assembly Speaker to inform whether their resignation from the House membership was voluntary or under pressure. The remaining MLAs were summoned in two batches on Saturday and Sunday. Speaker NP Prajapati said he waited for the MLAs for three hours. Acting on CM Kamal Naths recommendation, the governor has dismissed six ministers who are allegedly held hostage in Bengaluru. Anticipating trouble at the airport, heavy security arrangement was made. CISF jawans stopped Congress workers as they moved towards BJP workers who were raising slogans in support of Jyotiraditya Scindia. Congress Rajya Sabha member Vivek Tankha said the party will move Supreme Court for direction to rescue the MLAs if they are not immediately released. The latest reports indicate that graves are being dug in the hills at the bottom of the Khajeyar Mountains in order to cope with the number of bodies that have to be buried. Yet official announcements about the situation state that only five cases of Coronavirus have been recorded in the area, proving once again that the regime is concealing the facts. The images circulating of the graves being dug is very concerning to the people. Panic is ensuing and the upcoming weeks are looking very uncertain for many. Political prisoners across the country are also facing uncertainty and their treatment has been even more horrific than usual. Amir Hossein Moradi, one of the protesters that was imprisoned after being arrested during the November 2019 uprising has been put under immense pressure by prison authorities. He suffers from a condition called Paralyse and is having increasing nervous attacks because he was told that he would be imminently executed. On top of this, he was told, falsely, that he had tested positive for Coronavirus. An interrogator from the Intelligence Ministry said to Mr. Moradi that it was not economically viable for the prison to spend money on treatment for his condition. This is deeply worrying about psychological torture, though not surprising. There have been more than 8,200 deaths across Iran and the number is continuing to rise at an alarming rate. These figures have been gathered by the main opposition to the Iranian regime the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK) that has been working tirelessly to report accurately on the situation given that the regime cannot be trusted. Since the outbreak of Coronavirus started, the Iranian regime has failed to communicate clearly and honestly about the way forward. This is absolutely essential in order for the outbreak to be contained. video The presence of the virus in Iran was announced on 19th February but it has become clear that the Iranian regime knew about it for several weeks already at that stage. It held off admitting that cases of Coronavirus had been detected for selfish reasons. Firstly, it did not want to admit the truth because it was scared it would affect the pro-regime rally and the parliamentary elections. Secondly, the regime has been concerned about unrest in the country. It is fearful of another great uprising following months of significant unrest and it knows that its neglectful mismanagement of the health crisis would spark even more anger. The situation in Iran is concerning and it is imperative for the international community to take urgent action to not only protect the people of Iran but also to protect the wider region and the rest of the world. Read More: The Coronavirus, a Gift for the Iranian Regime and a Calamity for the People Biological Attack, the Iranian Regimes Excuse for Concealing Suppression and Crime Add to Phrasebook No word lists for English (USA) -> Persian Create a new word list Copy Add to Phrasebook No word lists for English (USA) -> Persian Create a new word list Copy State of Emergency To be Declared In Georgia - GeorgianJournal Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday deployed the California National Guard to assist food banks statewide serving residents whose needs have not been met due to food shortages during the novel coronavirus pandemic. ... Californias National Guard force of roughly 22,000 troops has often been activated in times of disaster and crisis, particularly in response to devastating wildfires and earthquakes. Then-Gov. Pete Wilson deployed the guard after the 1992 Los Angeles riots, when troops patrolled streets and enforced a night-time curfew. Earlier this month, a California National Guard helicopter delivered supplies to the Grand Princess cruise ship when it was held off San Francisco until some of the passengers and crew could be tested for the coronavirus. The ship eventually docked in Oakland. The Angel Moroni statue's outstretched hand appears empty after the trumpet held by the figure, on top of the Mormon Salt Lake Temple, toppled during a 5.7 magnitutude earthquake in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S. March 18, 2020. REUTERS (Photo : Reuters Connect ) Crews were dispatched to countless sites around Salt Lake County a day after the magnitude 5.7 earthquake occurred. They fixed and documented damages, despite substantial aftershocks that are still happening around Magna, the site near the epicenter. The Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County issued emergency proclamations Wednesday to access federal funding opportunities to cover the cost of earthquake damage. Damage reports The ramp to westbound Interstate 215 at Union Park Boulevard is closed for three to seven days until a full assessment can be completed. Salt Lake City's Parks & Public Lands building sustained significant damage, and that City Hall had some plaster damage that needs immediate fixing. The historic Rio Grande Depot, a building constructed in 1910, also sustained damage. Still, the extend of the damages is unclear. The building houses historical artifacts, which the department also reported had minor damage. The Utah Department of Health state laboratory was down but resumed operation on Thursday. Silver Crest Elementary School reported damage to the front of its building. Cracks on the ceiling on the University of Utah's Browning Building led to its temporary closure. FrontRunner trains between Murray and Salt Lake City operations were halted for two hours. The TRAX train service did not resume until Wednesday evening. The Salt Lake Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints reported damages in church facilities and will be closed for safety evaluation. The Cathedral Church of St. Mark, which dates back to 1870, sustained interior damage to the west transept of the nave and reported shifting organ pipes and cracked walls. The Episcopal Diocese of Utah kept people out until it is declared as safe. Displaced from shelter Homeless people displaced from the shelter facility that was damaged by the earthquake found themselves homeless again. The nonprofit organization, Rescue Mission of Salt Lake, said it would transport clients housed in their facility to the Ogden Rescue Mission while the Salt Lake City shelter is being assessed for damage from the quake. Salt Lake County and Salt Lake City sought alternative shelter facility as the Ogden Rescue Mission couldn't accommodate them. In West Valley City, at least 48 mobile homes had significant structural damages severing utilities, the city reported. A Red Cross evacuation center was opened at Valley Junior High School to accommodate the displaced residents. No danger from a chemical spill Kennecott Utah Copper halted operation to inspect any damages and account for its employees. A chemical spill was reported at the Kennecott warehouse, causing it to release a plume of hydrochloric acid into the air. The Utah National Guard deployed its 85th Civil Support Team to monitor the air after plumes, but The Utah Division of Air Quality later reported that the plume is not threatening to residents. Looming big earthquake rumors not true The Utah Emergency Management is dispelling rumors that a major earthquake will hit anytime soon. U.S. Geological Survey reports that there is a 1 in 300 chance of a magnitude 7 running in the coming days, while a magnitude 6 is a 3% likelihood. There is a 17% chance that magnitude 5 will occur. Emergency Proclamation in Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County The Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County issued emergency proclamations Wednesday to access federal funding opportunities to cover the cost of earthquake damage. It is the third emergency declaration in recent days, with the other two related to coronavirus pandemic. The quake struck as Utahns were rising from disruption from COVID-19 pandemic that has closed schools, churches, and establishments to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. Trish Hull, Magna mayor pro-tempore, lauded the first responders of the quake and the community who helped each other. Green, yellow, and red papers on each business building were put up to signal which ones are safe to enter. There are mounting calls from Julian Assanges family, along with journalists and defenders of democratic rights, for his immediate release from Londons Belmarsh Prison after the first coronavirus case was confirmed in the British penitentiary system on Wednesday. The British government responded to the demands for Assanges freedom, and for measures to protect the safety of all prisoners, with unconcealed indifference. A Prison Services spokesman told the Daily Mail on Tuesday: We are not planning to release any prisoners as a result of COVID-19. Assange in Belmarsh Prison sometime after his arrest on April 11 last year The statement came after a call from the Appeal charity for the release of hundreds of inmates, including remand prisoners charged with non-violent offences, those with underlying health issues and those aged over 70. Appeals director Emily Bolton stated: In this country, a prison sentence is supposed to be a deprivation of liberty; not a death sentence. Prisoners are part of families and our community, and those families and communities are desperately worried about their loved ones behind bars. The stark warning was followed by confirmation that an inmate at the Strangeways Prison in Manchester tested positive on Wednesday. Last week, Andrea Albutt, president of the Prison Governors Association, stated that prisoners will die as a result of the pandemic. Health experts have warned of a mass coronavirus outbreak under conditions of overcrowding, limited medical care and poor sanitation. The refusal to release Assange is particularly criminal. He has not been convicted of any offence, but is being detained in a maximum-security facility at the behest of the American government. He is a political prisoner, incarcerated solely to facilitate hearings for his extradition to the US, where he faces Espionage Act charges and life imprisonment for publishing evidence of war crimes. Assanges poor health, moreover, is well documented. Since last November, eminent doctors from around the world have warned that he is being denied adequate medical care. Their statements, warning that Assange could die if he is not moved from Belmarsh Prison to a university teaching hospital, have been ignored by the British government and the Labour Party opposition. The findings of United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer that Assange is exhibiting medically-verifiable symptoms of torture after ten years of persecution, also have been dismissed by the British and Australian authorities. As early as 2015, doctors treating Assange in Londons Ecuador embassy stated that his health was in such a compromised state that anything more than a mild illness could threaten his life. Since then, he has experienced an additional five years of government abuse and his medical condition has deteriorated further. Last week, Christine Assange, the WikiLeaks publishers mother, again called for his immediate release. She noted that some low-security prisons in the US had begun releasing non-violent detainees in response to the pandemic. My journalist son Julian Assange is detained in the UKs Belmarsh Prison without charge, she wrote, adding that he was weak from chronic ill health. He must be released too to save his life. More than 7,300 people have signed an online petition demanding Assanges immediate release. It notes that there is a high probability that prison authorities will shortly suspend all visits. This, it warns, would further affect Assanges psychological health, which has been damaged by prolonged periods of isolation during his arbitrary detention. The petition states: As a vulnerable prisoner whose health is already in jeopardy further isolation would be damaging in itself, let alone the threat that the virus breaks out inside the prison. The increased health risk means he should be released immediately. It continues: Releasing him and other vulnerable prisoners would reduce the risk of outbreak of the virus inside the prison. Julian Assange should be with his family during this time where he can prepare his defense against his extradition hearing. The petition was initiated after a statement by WikiLeaks ambassador Joseph Farrell, declaring: With the authorities about to end social visits its essential that Julian Assange be included in any release policy. His health is already in jeopardy and further isolation would be damaging in itself, let alone the threat that he might contract the virus itself. The sharpest comments were made on Twitter by Stefania Maurizi, a prominent journalist who has collaborated with WikiLeaks over the past decade. An Italian citizen who has commented frequently on the devastating impact of the pandemic in that country, Maurizi wrote: I am absolutely convinced we should get Julian Assange leaving Belmarsh Prison immediately and before it is too late for him. I am terrified he can die in prison due to the coronavirus epidemic. We know how terrible prisons are when it comes to health. Maurizi noted that Iran, which is frequently vilified by the British government, has released some political prisoners amid the spread of coronavirus. Even the authoritarian dictatorship in Azerbaijan had begun taking similar measures. Comments from health experts demonstrate that the warnings are no exaggeration. An article by three prominent British medical professionals on the Conversation today states: Prison environments can create a perfect storm for spreading disease. Inmates often live in unsanitary, overcrowded conditions with limited access to healthcare. It notes the high incidence of underlying diseases and health issues within the prison population, and the inability of prisoners to self-isolate. A 2018 parliamentary report, for instance, found that 15 percent of British prisoners suffered respiratory issues. Some 10 of 35 mens prisons failed to comply with minimum standards of cleanliness and hygiene. A prisoners mother, cited in the Guardian today, stated that despite the pandemic, inmates are being forced to use communal hot water for drinks, along with other shared amenities. The willful endangerment of Assanges life is a continuation of the attempts by the British, US and Australian governments to destroy the WikiLeaks publisher. This intent was exemplified in the first week of the US extradition hearings, which began on February 18. Assange was repeatedly strip-searched and handcuffed. His legal documents were stolen by prison guards and he was isolated in a bullet-proof glass box at the back of the court-room, preventing him from participating in the proceedings. As Craig Murray, a prominent WikiLeaks collaborator stated, the transparent purpose was to intensify the prolonged psychological torture to which Assange has been subjected. Murray noted that Assanges degrading treatment followed court-tendered documents warning that he was at risk of committing suicide. He wrote: I believe that the Hannibal Lecter style confinement of Assange, this intellectual computer geek, which has no rational basis at all, is a deliberate attempt to drive Julian to suicide. Hundreds of UK British nationals stranded in Peru due to the coronavirus pandemic could be flown home early next week, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has said. More than 400 British and Irish citizens are believed to be in the South American country, with some fearing they would be unable to leave following a Government lockdown. But the FCO said on Saturday that Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab had secured permission for a UK-organised flight to leave Peru for early next week following a call with his Peruvian counterpart. I spoke to my counterpart in Peru today, @GMeza_Cuadra and we committed to work together in the coming days, so Britons in Peru and Peruvian nationals in UK can return home, amidst the challenges of tackling Covid-19. Dominic Raab (@DominicRaab) March 21, 2020 In a Twitter post, Mr Raab said: I had a good conversation this afternoon with my opposite number in Peru, Gustavo Meza-Cuadra. Amidst all the challenges of tackling Coronavirus, we committed to working together in the coming days to enable UK nationals in Peru and Peruvian nationals in the UK to return home. The FCO said it would continue to work with the Peruvian government to arrange further flights in coming days. We are working round the clock to make flights available next week for British people who wish to leave Peru but who are currently unable to do so on commercial flights because of the travel restrictions that have been imposed, an FCO spokesperson said. UK nationals in Peru earlier said they felt let down by the Governments efforts to help them return home. Marcus Edgar, 48, who is working in Huanchaco in the north of the country, said 422 UK and Irish citizens had so-far registered on a database to say they were still stranded. Story continues Caia Daly, from north London, is among those stranded in Peru (Caia Daly/PA) The PR consultant, from Reading, told the PA news agency: The UK Government has done nothing so far and that is the frustration. There are no repatriation flights, and the only way (to get home) is to register your interest in charter planes, and that is ridiculous because they cost 3,000. Mr Edgar, who is due to return home on April 2, said a Whatsapp group and database had been created by British nationals in the country, with the details for each person passed to the UK embassy in the city of Lima. I think the general feeling from most people is that they feel let down by the lack of communication from the Government, he said. Peru is currently on lockdown, with borders closed and no flights allowed to enter or leave the country without government permission. A curfew is running between 8pm and 5am and all shops are closed except for pharmacies and those selling food. British nationals had been advised by the Foreign Office to find secure accommodation for the 15-day State of Emergency period. Caia Daly, 37, from north London, whose nine-month-old baby is recovering from pneumonia, is among those stranded. Ms Daly, who is originally from Dublin, Ireland, flew to Lima with her husband Carlos Abisrror and two young children in February for a four-week holiday and to see family. But their Air France flight home, which was scheduled for Friday night, was cancelled, and now they do not know how or when they will get back to the UK. (PA Graphics) To make matters worse, Ms Daly spent three days in hospital this week after her baby picked up a virus which led to pneumonia. Ms Daly told PA: If things get really bad here Im worried for my childrens health, particularly with the baby recovering from pneumonia. More UK nationals are reportedly stuck on board a cruise ship that has docked in Genoa, Italy, after the Spanish and French authorities refused to let them disembark. Guests of the Costa Pacifica, which left Argentina on March 3 and can hold up to 3,780 guests, are being held prisoner, the son of one of those on board has claimed. A scene from Blue Bloods. Credit: BLUE BLOODS 10.30pm, Ten Apart from the dark and broody hues in which this NYC police drama is washed, what sets it apart from its ilk is the way in which its characters are always seeking to better themselves, even if that means eating humble pie. Here it's district attorney chief, Erin Reagan (Bridget Moynahan), who conducts a moral inventory after she comes down hard on a psychiatric consultant. Meanwhile, her dad, Frank Reagan (Tom Selleck), battles the new Giuliani-style mayor. The Heights. Credit: THE HEIGHTS 8pm, ABC Roz Hammond has her first big scene with Rupert Reid, Marcus Graham's replacement in the role of Pav, the on-again, off-again, ex-cop lover of Hammond's ER doctor, Claudia. The setting for this awkward tete-a-tete couldn't be less romantic, but their exchange puts to rest any concerns about these actors' chemistry. Out on the street, new ride-sharing driver Ash (Phoenix Raei, who is tremendous in Stateless, 8.30pm, Sundays) does an amusing montage depicting the types of customers who patronise the service. Pooch Perfect host Rebel Wilson with judges and professional dog groomers Amber Lewin and Colin Taylor. Credit:Seven POOCH PERFECT Modern Family star Ty Burrell is teaming up with Salt Lake City, Utah, to provide a relief plan for workers who have been laid off in the food and beverage industry due to closures from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Burrell, who is a part owner of the Bar X and Beer Bar in Salt Lake City with his wife Holly, partnered with Mayor Erin Mendenhall and the Downtown Alliance to launch the Tip Your Server Program. Burrell has provided an initial donation of $100,000 to launch the program, which aims to provide $2,000 grants to employees of any Salt Lake City restaurant or bar who have been laid off due to the closures initiated as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic or the earthquake earlier this week, a press release said. Details about applying for a grant through the program will be available by March 25, and disbursements will be made as funds are available. In addition to the public health crisis caused by COVID-19, the Salt Lake City area also experienced a 5.7 earthquake on Wednesday that was followed by several aftershocks. Brian To/FilmMagic Ty Burrell Were hopeful that during this time, when so many restaurant and bar employees are facing uncertainty, that this effort can provide a small bit of relief, Burrell, 52, said in a statement. Salt Lake City is a truly special place and our heart is with you. Mendenhall added, I know the workers in the restaurant and bar industry are hurting right now and were working to help. Our hope is that this grant program will help food and beverage industry employees make ends meet while businesses are forced to make these incredibly difficult decisions, the mayor continued. Downtown Alliance President and CEO Derek Miller thanked Burrell for his contribution to the program. We are moved by Ty Burrells generosity and know that there are many others who want to pledge support for our food and beverage worker friends, Miller said in a statement, encouraging residents to support local restaurants by taking meals to go. Story continues Neilson Barnard/Getty Images Ty Burrell Additionally, I would like to challenge everyone to join me in taking the pick up pledge and pick up three meals this week from your favorite local restaurants, he said. Americans across the country are finding themselves unemployed as businesses shutter their doors to customers in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19. Last week, the Department of Labor reported the highest level of Americans filing for unemployment since September 2017, according to Buzzfeed News. The federal government is also taking steps to help workers impacted by the global pandemic. RELATED VIDEO: Womans Family Sings to Her Through Nursing Home Window on 100th Birthday amid Coronavirus Pandemic Woman's Family Sings to Her Through Nursing Home Window on 100th Birthday amid Coronavirus Pandemic Woman's Family Sings to Her Through Nursing Home Window on 100th Birthday amid Coronavirus On Tuesday, Donald Trump signed into law the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which includes provisions offering paid sick leave for impacted workers and free COVID-19 testing. Additionally, Americans could be receiving checks in the mail for $1,000 or more to help the economic blow many are facing amid the ongoing pandemic. Were looking at sending checks to Americans immediately, said Treasuring Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Tuesday, according to the Washington Post. Mnuchin said that the president hopes to send the checks out in the next two weeks. As of Friday, there are at least 15,650 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States, and 202 deaths from coronavirus-related illness. As information about the coronavirus pandemic rapidly changes, PEOPLE is committed to providing the most recent data in our coverage. Some of the information in this story may have changed after publication. For the latest on COVID-19, readers are encouraged to use online resources from CDC, WHO, and local public health departments and visit our coronavirus hub. The world has been stocking up on food amid the coronavirus outbreak. But Alessandra Ambrosio got one thing that was certain to brighten her day on Friday. The model, 38, bought beautiful orchids as she went grocery shopping with her boyfriend Nicolo Oddi and her daughter, Anja, 11, at Bristol Farms in Santa Monica. Fresh as a daisy: Alessandra Ambrosio picked up beautiful orchids while grocery shopping with her boyfriend in Nicolo Oddi and her daughter Anja in Santa Monica The beauty pushed the cart full of goodies outside of the busy store as her boyfriend followed close behind with his own jam-packed cart. Alessandra kept it casual in a leopard print jumpsuit, olive green sweater, and cool shades for the outing. Nicolo sported a red flannel jacket, shades, and a grey sweatpants. Though grocery shopping has been particularly stressful lately, Alessandra appeared in good spirits as she strolled across the parking lot with a smile. Smile! Ambrosio beamed with joy as she strolled through the parking lot The model was beaming as she pushed the cart though the parking lot. The catwalk star has been with Nicolo, who co-founded the Italian luxury knitwear brand Alanui with his sister Carlotta, for over a year. She was previously attached to Jamie Mazur, the founder of RE/DONE jeans. The couple got engaged in 2008 and welcomed their first child Anja the same year, with Noah following in 2012. It takes two: The catwalk star has been with Nicolo, who co-founded the Italian luxury knitwear brand Alanui with his sister Carlotta, for over a year Alessandra announced their separation in March 2018. Last month, she returned home to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to celebrate the South American nation's massive Carnival. The trip, taken before coronavirus fears had ramped up globally, also included breaks for work, and she posted stunning swimsuit photos taken while she was in Brazil to promote her GAL Floripa swimwear line. Alessandra's most prominent modeling position came with her 2004 ascension as a Victoria's Secret Angel, though she resigned from the position in 2017. By PTI JABALPUR: An FIR was registered on Friday in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur district against a man who, despite having travelled to a foreign country, allegedly evaded screening. He later tested positive for the coronavirus. Two members of his family also tested positive on Friday, and eight of his employees are suspected to have caught the infection as well, a senior official said. The man, who returned here from Dubai on March 16, failed to undergo screening and also did not isolate himself at home, said district collector Bharat Yadav. It is mandatory for people with a history of foreign travel to undergo screening before entering the district, he said. On Friday, Madhya Pradesh recorded its first cases of coronavirus with four persons testing positive in Jabalpur city. It included this man and two women in his family. As many as 22 persons who worked at the man's shop were examined, and eight of them had symptoms of coronavirus. Their test reports were awaited, Yadav said. A case was registered against the man under IPC sections 188 (defying lawful order of a public servant) and 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life), Yadav said. The administration is tracking down all those who came in contact with him, the collector added. The eight employees with virus symptoms were quarantined at the district hospital, he said. The district authority, meanwhile, has ordered the closure of all city markets and stopped bus and transport services except those engaged in the supply of essential goods. Burying the dead now harder for funeral homes under coronavirus restrictions Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment NEW YORK Frantic funeral homes across the country say they are struggling to keep up with the rapidly changing new regulations on public gatherings and how they impact the burying of the dead in the age of the new coronavirus. Some say they are just praying that the government doesnt ask them to shut down altogether. We are forced to limit only 20 people into the funeral home and no more. Churches are canceling the masses and were having a tough time, Andrew Williams of Williams Funeral Home in the Bronx told The Christian Post Wednesday. I hope they dont shut us down. Updated guidance released by the White House on March 16 suggests no public gatherings larger than 10 people for the next 15 days while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised against gatherings of more than 50 people for the next eight weeks. In a Facebook event on March 16, the CDC suggested that funeral homes limit attendance to select family and livestream funeral services for those who cannot attend. Services, they added, could also be recorded and the video shared with whomever the family deems appropriate. They further advised that those who are ill and are at-risk such as the elderly and immune-compromised be encouraged to stay away from funerals. Healthy habits such as social distancing, hand hygiene, and covering cough and sneezes were also recommended. Several other funeral home workers contacted by CP, who asked not to be identified in this story, revealed families were having a tough time with the new rules which have been changing rapidly over a short period. As of now, all of us are figuring it out, another New York worker said. Every day, every 12 hours, a new mandate comes down, Funeral Director Matt Hollebeek told Fox 17. Listening to families, and what they want us to do, and making arrangements based on that and then 12 hours later, its all unraveled. As of Thursday, more than 11,000 cases of the new coronavirus have been diagnosed in the U.S. and more than 170 have died as authorities increasingly lean on social distancing strategies and shutdowns to limit the spread of the pandemic that has infected more than 200,000 and killed more than 8,000 globally. County clerks are shutting down, doctors arent available. I still have the function of my job to do, which is bury or cremate the people who have died, Hollebeek told Fox 17. He said funeral directors are worried that if their workers get sick, they may eventually not even be able to do their job. At the recent funeral of World War II veteran John Gosciewski, a retired funeral director who ran the Gosciewski Funeral Home in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, for more than 50 years, said grieving was muted by the coronavirus, according to The Citizens Voice. Its your relatives and family. You cant touch and shake hands or hug, Gosciewskis daughter, Paula Tracy, told the publication. Your relatives have to be treated as strangers and some of these people you havent seen in years. There was distance kept. It was absolutely hands off. Karel Zubris, another of Gosciewskis daughters, said those who attended his funeral had to put up a false wall during their farewell. We did the elbow thing, air hugs. It was hard, Zubris said. Gosciewskis funeral was reported as one of the last funeral masses held at St. Peter and Paul Church in Plains Township before the Diocese of Scranton switched to the new rules limiting funerals to only immediate family members. The owners of Harold C. Snowdon Funeral Homes of in Pennsylvania also announced that they halted public viewings and services and were limiting attendance to select family members. They suggested that people could also delay the services to a future date to possibly get more room to mourn under relaxed rules. Other funeral homes may be able to meet your needs if you require more from us than we are now comfortable doing, the Snowdon family noted. That is your decision and we do not judge you for it. This is an awful situation. We are trying to do our part to limit the families that will be affected by this current crisis. Many museums and galleries have closed in attempts to slow the spread of the coronavirus, but the conversation about art keeps going and you can get your fix of the art talk (and also the gossip) through a growing number of art podcasts. Hosts include curators, art writers and artists. Here are my picks for 10 art podcasts worth subscribing to, from one in Los Angeles showcasing the music that moves local artists to another, out of Sydney, focusing on Aboriginal culture. Helen Molesworth gives some of the most incisive and insightful exhibition tours of any contemporary art curator of her generation, and her new podcast Recording Artists, produced by the Getty, puts this intellectual-storytelling skill set to good use. Here her subject is not one of her own exhibitions (she recently organized the Noah Davis show for the David Zwirner gallery), but six renowned artists Alice Neel, Lee Krasner, Betye Saar, Helen Frankenthaler, Yoko Ono and Eva Hesse whose audio interviews with the historians Barbara Rose and Cindy Nemser are now in the archives of the Getty Research Institute. Smart move: After introducing the artist and issues at hand, Ms. Molesworth brings in smart guests to weigh in, like Lari Pittman and Amy Sillman speaking on Krasner. Memorable moment: in one recording, Alice Neel, who lived a famously bohemian life and painted portraits of a wide cross-section of society, makes the surprising admission that she left Greenwich Village because there were too many very butch lesbians on the streets. Ms. Molesworth, who identifies as queer, says she respects the painters frankness. Besides, she adds, I think that I, or any artist I know, could have easily talked her out of this position. On Talk Art out of London, Russell Tovey, an actor-collector, and Robert Diament, a musician-turned-gallerist, host freewheeling and wide-ranging talks with some big visual artists (think KAWS, Tracey Emin, Grayson Perry) and bold-name creator-collectors (Lena Dunham, Michael Stipe). Its trendy, gossipy, fast-paced conversational fun, and occasionally frustrating for the tangents left unexplored. When Kaws admits to being arrested, could someone please follow up and ask him where and why? Produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), this radio show and podcast focuses on Aboriginal culture, including art, music, theater and film. Mr. Browning, of Bundjalung and Kullilli descent, was trained as a painter himself and it shows, in his strong profiles of contemporary indigenous artists who bridge the gap between traditional and experimental beliefs, processes and materials. Awaye! is also the perfect place to hear more about this years Sydney Biennale, which has indigenous leaders for the first time since the Biennale began in 1973. (At present, this exhibition has not been canceled and runs through June 8.) A chocolate business from Bonane in Kenmare has been named as the winner of this year's Kerry County Enterprise Award. Benoit Lorge, Lorge Chocolatier, took the top prize of 2,500 and will now represent Local Enterprise Office Kerry at the 22nd National Enterprise Awards in the Mansion House in Dublin in May. Lorge manufactures hand-made chocolates and confectionery, operates a chocolate and pastry cookery school and runs adult, children and family chocolate workshop activities. The awards were held at County Buildings, Tralee. Another winner on the day was Emily Brick, Athena Analytics, who won an award worth 1,000 as a finalist in the competition. Athena Analytics is based in Tralee and offers a suite of analytics tools for the education sector. Lorge Chocolatier will now be competing against 30 other finalists from every local authority area for a share of the 40,000 prize fund as national judging gets underway in April. Categories this year include 'Best Export Business,' 'Future Focus' and 'Innovation,' in addition to eight regional awards. The County Enterprise Awards took place as part of the successful Local Enterprise Week programme of events, which saw 300 events taking place across the country from March 2 to 6. "For the last two decades, the National Enterprise Awards have celebrated home-grown success stories from every corner of Ireland, putting their achievements into the national spotlight," said Kerry LEO head Tomas Hayes. "At the 2020 National Enterprise Awards, we are delighted to be represented by Lorge Chocolatier, yet another rural success story. The judges were particularly impressed by their ongoing commitment and innovation in their craft, their business strategy and ongoing job creation potential, combined with their market success. We wish them continued success with their job creation/company expansion plans," said Mr Hayes. A visitor at the Bronze Exhibition Hall. At present, nine of Shanghai Museum's exhibition halls are open, including the display of bronze, ceramics, calligraphy and paintings.[Photo by Gao Erqiang/China Daily] Museums in Shanghai have been reopening as the number of new COVID-19 cases continues to dwindle. Among the cultural institutions that reopened on March 13 were Shanghai Museum, Shanghai History Museum, Shanghai Natural History Museum, China Art Museum Shanghai and the World Expo Museum. As the outbreak has yet to pass, all of these venues have taken measures to control the flow of visitors and protect them from potentially getting infected with the virus. "We have placed a cap of no more than 2,000 visitors every day," says Li Feng, deputy director of Shanghai Museum, which used to receive as many as 8,000 visitors daily before it was closed on Jan 23 because of the outbreak. Li says that the construction of the East Wing of Shanghai Museum had also resumed on March 9. According to the protocols by the municipal commission of culture and tourism, all museum visitors must present a valid ID, have their temperatures taken and wear masks at all times when they are on the premises. Museums must also be sterilized regularly and control the flow of visitors. One of the ways that Shanghai Museum has attempted to control visitor traffic is by requiring everyone to make an appointment on the museum website or WeChat platform three days prior to their visit. On March 13, two museum employees stood at the gate of Shanghai Museum to ensure that visitors had valid appointments, IDs and their health QR codes which indicate how likely they are to be infected with COVID-19. More than 800 people visited Shanghai Museum on the first day, according to Sun Luyao, a spokesperson with the museum. "Half of those who made the appointments showed up," she says. "The upcoming two days were fully booked." Currently, nine of Shanghai Museum's exhibition halls are open, including the display of bronze, ceramics, calligraphy and paintings. The showcase of ancient sculptures, furniture and arts and crafts created by Chinese ethnic groups are still closed. One of the ongoing highlights is the special exhibition, A Blessing over the Sea: Cultural Relics on Jianzhen and Murals by Higashiyama Kaii from Toshodaiji. The exhibition is about Jianzhen, a Chinese monk in the eighth century who took six agonizing voyages eastward before arriving in Japan in 753. There, he founded Toshodaiji, head vihara of the Ritsu Buddhism in Japan. Jianzhen and the Toshodaiji temple have for centuries been a strong testimony of the links between China and Japan. In the 1970s, Japanese artist Higashiyama Kaii was commissioned to paint 68 murals for the temple's Mieido Hall, where a statue of Jianzhen is enshrined. There are seven people with COVID-19 in Worcester, city officials said Friday, up two cases from the previous day. City Manager Edward Augustus Jr. said during a news conference that the two people with newly identified cases will be monitored by the division of public health and will remain in isolation. Across Massachusetts, there are at least 413 cases of COVID-19, a disease caused by a new coronavirus, according to the state Department of Public Health. DPH data indicated there are 19 coronavirus cases in Worcester County, however, Augustus said during the news conference that there are 20 cases in the county. We expect that number to continue to rise over the days and weeks ahead as testing ramps up and the turnaround time for the results hopefully shrinks," Augustus said. The city manager said the citys first responders are starting to get coronavirus tests through a testing site opened by the state. Understanding that sometimes folks are asymptomatic, we want to identify if there is anyone who is positive, that theyre not in a setting where they can infect other people, so we will take advantage of that opportunity the state provided to first responders," Augustus said. Worcester Mayor Joe Petty said Friday that there are currently no plans to quarantine or shelter in the city and urged residents to continue to practice good hygiene. Gov. Charlie Baker on Friday said there are currently no plans for a statewide shelter-in-place order. Petty passed a message from the Worcester Fire Department, asking residents, landlords and property owners to be careful when smoking on their porch. The department has responded to several fires this week. Michael Hirsh, a UMass Memorial Medical Center doctor and the citys director of public health, said the number of tests is still limited, only some patients are being tested, and that some patients may be told to quarantine without a test. As we get more testing I think those criteria will be liberalized but were trying to do everything we can not to blow through all of our tests and all of our personal protective equipment now, Hirsh said. Hirsh said the numbers coming out now are about two weeks old and that Worcester hasnt seen a big wave yet. Its going to be sometime in April when we really get the big wave, he said. As such, I think that number of seven residents here in Worcester and 20 in the county are going to really go up and some of that is a reflection of us catching up with the testing, not that the virus is not among us already, I think it is, meanwhile people unfortunately are walking around without knowing it because so many are asymptomatic. Hirsh noted that many patients are asymptomatic and stressed the importance of social distancing. Earlier Friday, the city opened its first of several new satellite shelters for the citys homeless population. The city also said that Mass Hire and the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce have launched an online platform to connect residents seeking work to employers who have urgent, non-medical COVID-19 staff needs. The website is masshirecentral.com. Weve heard from a number of folks, whether theyre a cleaning company, whether theyre one of our hospitals who are actually trying to hire people, Augustus said. Related Content: Analysis banner Business Insider President Donald Trump speaks during press briefing with the coronavirus task force, at the White House, Thursday, March 19, 2020, in Washington. Vice President Mike Pence, left, and Surgeon General Jerome Adams at right. Evan Vucci/AP President Donald Trump presented himself as a victim during Thursday's press conference on coronavirus, complaining the media has not treated him "fairly." He accused the media of "siding with China" at the end of briefing intended to inform the US public on the viral outbreak and the response to this health and economic crisis. Trump has been widely criticized over his response to the coronavirus pandemic, particularly for repeatedly downplaying the threat and for not getting involved earlier on preparations in the event it reached the US. Public health experts have said that Trump's refusal to take coronavirus seriously early on has put the US way behind much of the world. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Throughout his presidency, Donald Trump has exhibited a remarkably consistent ability to make virtually any situation about him. This tendency was on display once again on Thursday, as the president presented himself as a victim during a White House press conference meant to focus on an escalating crisis made worse by his disastrous response to a pandemic that's killing more Americans every day. Rather than taking responsibility for early failures, or admitting that he downplayed the threat, Trump wrapped up Thursday's press briefing by complaining the media has not treated him "fairly." The US is well behind the rest of the world in testing for the novel coronavirus, which is due to faulty test kits sent out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last month. Though it's clear the US is still struggling to make up for lost time due to these early stumbles, Trump on Thursday insisted the government was always prepared. "We were very prepared," Trump said. "The only thing we weren't prepared for was the media. The media has not treated it fairly." Story continues As of Thursday, the US had conducted a little less than 100,000 tests nationwide, according to the COVID Tracking Project. Comparatively, South Korea, which reported its first case of coronavirus the same day as the US and has a much smaller population, has tested nearly over 290,000 people. South Korea took a far more serious approach to the novel coronavirus early on, and it's paid off new cases have dropped sharply in hard hit areas; the country has reported 7,500 cases and 53 deaths. Meanwhile, the number of people infected with and killed by coronavirus in the US has consistently moved up each day. As of Thursday, the virus was in all 50 states, with well over 11,000 infections and 165 deaths. Public health experts have excoriated Trump's general response to the novel coronavirus, warning that his lack of urgency early on could lead to deaths that were preventable. "The Trump administration's response has been abysmal. It's hard to imagine how they could've done it worse," Dr. Ashish Jha, the director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, told Insider earlier this week. "I don't use these words lightly, and it's incredibly painful for me to say it," Jha said, adding: "The cost of all of this is that tens of thousands of Americans are going to die unnecessarily ... It was wholly preventable, and not just preventable in hindsight it was preventable in foresight. Everybody said this is how it was going to play out if they didn't act." While Trump has shifted in tone somewhat over the past week since declaring the pandemic a national emergency, he has still continued to spread disinformation and is now attempting to rewrite the history of his response. And at the end of Thursday's press conference, his big focus was not on what's being done to prevent more Americans from being killed by this pandemic, but on how poorly Trump feels he's been treated. The president baselessly accused the media of being "dishonest" and "siding with China" in its coverage of coronavirus. "It amazes me when I read the things that I read. It amazes me when I read The Wall Street Journal, which is always so negative. It amazes me when I read the I don't even read The New York Times, we don't distribute it in the White House anymore and the same thing with The Washington Post," Trump said. These remarks came two days after the Chinese government announced it was expelling US journalists working for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post. Trump described these outlets as "corrupt news," and went on to say only he knows the truth. "Because you see, I know the truth," Trump said. "And people out there in the world, they really don't know the truth. They don't know what it is." Read the original article on Business Insider Blocks of methamphetamine confiscated by Chinese police during their latest crackdown on drugs are displayed at the Changsha Public Security Bureau in Changsha city, central China's Hunan province, March 18, 2013. North Korean restrictions on business activities and social movement to prevent the spread of coronavirus have driven already struggling traders to take up meth trafficking, sources in the isolated country told RFA. A resident of North Hamgyong province told RFAs Korean Service Wednesday that government bans on business activities are finding it difficult to make ends meet. They could barely keep their heads above water when they could do business, said the source. Now the number of people going into drug trafficking is increasing, the source said. The source said that North Koreas rumor mill was in full swing, with drug sellers touting their wares as medicine against the virus. Residents have always believed ice to be a cure-all drug, said the source, referring to methamphetamine by its local street name in North Korea, which has a history with the drug. Since the coronavirus outbreak, people are saying that it can prevent or even cure coronavirus, but nobody knows where this rumor originated, the source said. The people who make the drugs are adding fuel to the rumors, misleading people into believing ice is particularly potent on coronavirus. People believe it is true, because fevers, coughs and body aches will all temporarily disappear if a user inhales ice, the source said. The source said that underground meth labs are much more common in North Korea than they were in the past. North Koreas government once sponsored meth manufacturing as a means to generate foreign cash by selling the drug abroad. But once the government stopped doing this in the early 2000s, chemists who had been employed to make the drugs simply took their operations underground. Now that ice manufacturing methods are widely known among ordinary people, it is possible to make it anywhere with the right materials and equipment, the source said. Residents who are no longer able to run businesses because of the coronavirus crisis can make even more profit in a single transaction than they would doing their regular business, said the source. They can get 120 Chinese yuan (U.S. $16.92) per gram of ice, but with many residents not having cash to spare, they will sell it in smaller quantities, like a half, third or fifth of a gram. In the United States, a gram of meth costs about $80 on average according to the website Crystal Meth Addiction.org. The source said that with so many in the meth business these days the drugs availability is at an all time high. There used to be very few meth houses selling ice in one neighborhood, but there are so many these days so its possible to get a fix at anytime. Another North Hamgyong resident told RFA that coronavirus has also had implications for the international meth trade. Large-scale smugglers sell lots of meth in China with Chinese partners and are in collusion with border guards, the second source said. The authorities are aware of this and are trying to arrest them when it happens, but they are having trouble finding out who is doing it because they are so sneaky, the second source added. Until now, drug trafficking has been on the decline because of the watchful eye of the authorities, but with the outbreak of the epidemic, people are more willing to take the risk by trafficking drugs because they cant otherwise make ends meet when their businesses have been shut down, said the source. Drug smuggling will just increase more if these economic difficulties persist. Reported by Myungchul Lee for RFAs Korean Service. Translated by Leejin Jun. Written in English by Eugene Whong. In the past week, it is estimated that up to 140,000 jobs have been lost across the Republic of Ireland economy owing to the strict control measures put in place to tackle the Covid-19 outbreak. The total is expected to reach over 350,000 in the next few weeks. In Northern Ireland, despite less stringent measures, an estimated 10,000 jobs in the hospitality sector are expected to be lost already. To put this in context, over the course of the financial crisis from 2008 to 2012, the Republic lost 350,000 jobs, while Northern Ireland lost just over 40,000. While it is hoped the vast majority of these losses will be temporary, the long-term impact will very much depend on the actions we take now. Covid-19 is causing an economy-wide crisis that will require billions in emergency support from governments. The immediate economic priority should be to prevent large-scale job losses and a destruction of the economy's productive capacity. Achieving this goal will necessitate large-scale supports for small businesses and manufacturers to cover their wages and maintenance costs for the periods when they are shut down. There will be firms for whom activity has slowed dramatically and there will be those for whom activity has simply evaporated. For firms experiencing depressed demand, the Irish and UK governments should immediately introduce short-time work schemes to preserve jobs and skills within those that can continue to operate but at reduced levels. Such a scheme would allow for reduction of working hours while supporting the income of the workers. These schemes proved effective in Germany and other countries during the 2008 crisis. For firms who face closure, direct government grants of sufficient scale and a postponement of tax obligations should be available to all such businesses that commit to decent work and to retaining their workforce. Zero-interest loans should be made available to tide businesses and households with cash flow problems through the next few difficult months. The European Central Bank should open the taps across the euro area by selling Eurobonds equivalent to 15pc of the eurozone's GDP, and then allocating the funds on a proportional basis to euro area governments as a one-off grant. This would, of course, require emergency legislation as the ECB would become, in effect, the lender of last resort. Euro area governments could use these funds to provide liquidity support for households and firms. If the ECB fails to act, then the Irish Government should borrow the money directly. Borrowing costs are currently close to zero and the announcement by the ECB of a 750bn bond-buying programme should keep them there. For Northern Ireland, the UK government has indicated a willingness to extend borrowing to firms of up to 330bn (355bn, 15pc of UK GDP), though precise details remain painfully vague. Northern Ireland also needs greater clarity on the scale of supports it will be able to make available to firms, rather than relying on the drip-feed of measures adopted by the UK government. When we move past the emergency phase of the crisis, and where businesses and households can show permanent loss of income, then the debts owed to their respective governments should be cancelled. This would help deal with certain payments, such as mortgages, rents, utilities and insurance, without causing knock-on problems for other householders and firms that would arise from postponements or cancellations of these payments. Across Europe, there have been varied policy responses to deal with this crisis. In Denmark, the government and employers agreed to a 75-25 split in wage support for employees in impacted sectors. In France, the suspension of rental payments will significantly ease the burden on household incomes. However, almost all policy responses to date have emphasised the need to retain the connection between employers and employees. We have the potential to make a rapid recovery from this crisis, but it is dependent on keeping as much of our economic infrastructure in place as possible. We also have to acknowledge that while Covid-19 poses an unprecedented risk to life on the island of Ireland, the economic impact has the capacity to be fatal too. The speed and scale of the crisis that we are experiencing means that it will be very easy for a large section of our population to fall through the cracks of our welfare state and experience sudden and sustained poverty. If we move quickly and prevent this from happening, we not only prevent the immediate hardship, but also prevent a short-term recession from becoming a long-term depression. The Nevin Economic Research Institute is a research organisation for the achievement of a better, fairer society 3 1 of 3 Chris Marquette / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Nicole Zappone / For Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 3 of 3 WESTON Days after declaring a local civil preparedness emergency, First Selectman Chris Spaulding has confirmed the towns first positive case of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. I found out a few minutes ago that we actually have an identified positive case of COVID-19 amongst our community, Spaulding said in a WestonToday video on Friday. We need to do our part to basically make sure that this spread is controlled in Weston. With the aim to boost domestic manufacturing along with attracting investment in electronic component manufacturing, the Union Cabinet today has approved three schemes. Chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the cabinet has approved the Production Incentive Scheme (PLI) for Large Scale Electronics Manufacturing, financial assistance to the Modified Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMC2.0), and financial incentive of 25 per cent of capital expenditure for the manufacturing of goods. The Production Incentive Scheme (PLI) for Large Scale Electronics Manufacturing proposes production linked incentive to boost domestic manufacturing and attract large investments in mobile phone manufacturing and specified electronic components including Assembly, Testing, Marking and Packaging (ATMP) units. The total cost of the proposed scheme is approximately Rs 40,995 crore, which includes an incentive outlay of approximately Rs 40,951 crore and administrative expenses to the tune of Rs 44 crore. As electronic components are the basic building blocks for electronics manufacturing, the industry has been heavily relying on China. According to the Electronic Industries Association of India (ELCINA), the electronic components market in India has increased from Rs 68,342 crore in 2015-16 to Rs 1,31,832 crore in 2018-19. Domestic production of electronic components is valued at approximately Rs 63, 380 crore, of which around Rs 48,803 crore is domestically consumed. Kamal Nandi, President-CEAMA & Business Head & EVP Godrej Appliances says, "We welcome the array of schemes introduced by the Union Cabinet. In this difficult time where the industry is going through a tough phase, the steps taken by the government will help to boost domestic manufacturing and attract large investments in the electronics value chain. We are hopeful that the proposed schemes will aid in creating more job opportunities. This will also put an upward thrust on the economy by bringing in large scale electronics manufacturing to India. CEAMA is committed to promoting indigenous manufacturing of appliances and consumer electronics in the country. The announcement of the Production Incentive Scheme (PLI) for Large Scale Electronics Manufacturing, will assist in the necessary boost to the 'Make in India' initiative and support India into becoming an electronics manufacturing hub." "FICCI welcomes the Cabinet Approval of new scheme for electronics component manufacturing & semiconductors & also Production Linked Incentives. This will help in deepening the supply chain in the country & provide more opportunities for employment", tweeted FICCI by tagging Manish Sharma, Executive Officer, Panasonic Corp. President & CEO, Panasonic India & SA, and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. The Scheme shall extend an incentive of 4 per cent to 6 per cent on incremental sales (over base year) of goods manufactured in India and covered under target segments, to eligible companies, for a period of five years subsequent to the base year as defined. This is likely to benefit 5-6 major global players and few domestic champions, in the field of mobile manufacturing and Specified Electronics Components and bring in large scale electronics manufacturing in India. Also Read: COVID-19: Grofers, BigBasket cap grocery purchases, shun discounts amid anxiety buying Also Read: Coronavirus impact: CII demands Rs 2 lakh cr stimulus; DBT to poor, elderly Also Read: Coronavirus outbreak: FM says economic package to be announced 'as soon as possible' Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 09:33:07|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close SHANGHAI, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Shanghai reported nine newly confirmed cases of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) from other countries Friday, local health authority said Saturday. The municipal health commission said a total of 42 imported cases had been reported in Shanghai by the end of Friday, while 39 suspected imported cases are under quarantine for further confirmation. Among the nine new cases, seven patients are Chinese citizens returning from Britain, France, Switzerland and the United States, and the other two are French from France, according to the Shanghai municipal health commission. A total of 75 people in close contact with the patients on flights have been screened and put under quarantine. Shanghai saw no new indigenous COVID-19 infections on Friday. The municipality has reported a total of 338 indigenous confirmed cases, 326 cases of which have been discharged from hospital and 51 remained in hospital. There were three deaths. ANN ARBOR, MI The 58th Ann Arbor Film Festival will proceed on a digital platform this year, in an effort to help limit the spread of the new coronavirus. The festival, now online, is still scheduled for March 24-29, with films beginning at 5 p.m. Tuesday. With all the changes, the festival will now be free, but donations are accepted on the AAFF website, organizers said. A detailed schedule is available on the festival website, with 27 screening times, plus a winners night March 29. The festival will start three hours earlier than its previously scheduled time. Ann Arbor Film Festival in-person events canceled due to coronavirus concerns We decided to show just the shorts and features in competition and the juror programs, said festival director Leslie Raymond. They will not show the special programs on the website, which will allow for them to make the schedule simple. On the festival website, there is a First-Timers Guide that is modified for the livestreamed version of the festival. Question and answer sessions will follow the screenings. Awards will be presented to filmmakers, with a total of $22,500 distributed to winners. The decision to cancel in-person events was announced March 10, due to concerns over the spread of COVID-19. I know theres a lot going on in the world right now and people are having a lot of uncertainty and a lot of needs, but were hoping that making it available for streaming for free will help fill peoples needs for art, said Raymond. Complete COVID-19 coverage at mlive.com/coronavirus Michigan confirmed coronavirus cases rise to 549 Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer not enacting martial law; National Guard activated for coronavirus aid Friday, March 20: Latest developments on coronavirus in Michigan University of Michigan ramping down research activities amid coronavirus outbreak New marijuana shop offers discounts, curbside pickup and delivery in Ann Arbor Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer not enacting martial law; National Guard activated for coronavirus aid Person with access to University of Michigan dining facility tests positive for COVID-19 University of Michigan cancels spring commencements amid fight against coronavirus spread Coronavirus has closed liquor stores in other states, but Michiganders will likely still have alcohol access Michigan releases interactive map locating free meals for children during coronavirus school closures Detroit Zoo concessions manager claims he was fired for abiding by state ban on large gatherings PREVENTION TIPS Michigans State Emergency Operations Center is coordinating state-government resources and the response to the coronavirus spread. It has shared the following tips: What you can do to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases: Always cover coughs or sneezes with a tissue or sleeve. Stay home if you are sick and advise others to do the same. Avoid close contact with people who are sick. Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands. Wash your hands often with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds. Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol, if soap and warm water are not available. Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces(computers, keyboards, desks, etc.). Its not too late to get your flu shot! While the influenza vaccine does not protect against COVID-19 infection, it can help keep you healthy during the flu season. A transgender woman in federal jail who was awaiting trial on charges she and a partner swindled elderly women out of $600,000 to fund a lavish lifestyle says she has been repeatedly raped by male inmates. Tavoy Malcolm, 29, is suing the federal government for allegedly ignoring her repeated requests to be housed with female inmates while she awaited trial at Brooklyns Metropolitan Detention Center. Malcolm and Lorindo Powell, two Jamaican nationals, were arrested in 2017 after they allegedly conned several elderly women out of their life savings. Their alleged victims included an elderly Maryland couple with dementia, a 91-year-old in the final four months of her life, and a 77-year-old woman who ended up losing her house. Tavoy Malcolm, 29, is suing the federal government after she says she was repeatedly beaten and raped by two male inmates while awaiting trial in Brooklyn, New York Their scam allegedly involved tricking senior citizens into thinking they had won the lottery to get their banking details. Powell pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 51 months imprisonment and ordered to pay $770,632.50. In August 2017, Malcolm also pleaded guilty and was sent to jail while awaiting sentencing. At the time of her guilty plea, Malcolm said she was in the midst of a sex change, altering her gender from male to female. Malcolm claimed that authorities ignored the fact that she was undergoing hormonal therapy and breast augmentation treatments and housed her with male inmates, according to the New York Daily News. While in jail, she alleged that she was beaten and raped by two men over the course of two months. She said she took on the name Tiana Miller and asked to be housed with female inmates, according to The STAR of Jamaica. I served the first five months of my sentence on the male side because they needed some form of classification as it relates to my gender, although my documents state that I am a female, Malcolm told the STAR last year. Malcolm alleged that the government ignored her requests to be housed with female inmates at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn (above) while she was undergoing hormonal therapy and breast augmentation during her transition to a female I was sexually assaulted by other inmates it was very difficult. They didnt move me over to the female side when the abuse initially happened but they did when the guys had started fighting over me and after my lawyer got involved. Malcolm alleged in her lawsuit that even after she was moved in with female inmates, she was subjected to harassment and abuse by male correction officers. Only after plaintiff was assaulted and then raped did BOP (Bureau of Prisons) transfer plaintiff to a female housing unit, the lawsuit said. Even after her transfer, plaintiff continued to be subjected to harassment and intimidation by BOP correction officers. A 20-page visual booklet prepared by Delhis All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is the latest in a line of measures being taken by public health organisations to combat misinformation about coronavirus. Be careful, not fearful, says the advisory. The booklet now being circulated on social media, provides information on the disease, how it is spread, who is at risk, and how to protect against it. It also answers question such as whether people should use masks and when and how to use hand sanitizers. It also busts popular myths such as the disease being transmitted by eating chicken, eggs, and meat. The myth-buster section also tells people that pets do not pass on the disease and neither does the dead body of a person. Follow live updates here. With people panicking about the new viral illness, the booklet tries to ease the anxiety by informing people that almost 80% of those who develop the illness need no treatment and recover on their own, less than 20% need hospitalisation, and a smaller percentage further need admission in intensive care unit (ICU). Also read: Next 3-4 weeks crucial in fight against Covid-19: PM Modi to CMs We are making a Hindi version of the document as well. These can be widely disseminated on social media platforms to ensure that people get the authentic information. Apart from that, we are also making small videos on things like hand hygiene and cough etiquettes, which can also be shared on social media and will be played on the LED screens inside the hospital, said Dr Aarti Vij, chairperson, media and protocol division, AIIMS-Delhi. It is good that there are now several sources of authentic information rather than the forwards from unreliable sources that have been doing the rounds on WhatsApp. However, I feel that all government organisations, at least in India, should come together and coordinate their efforts instead of doing it individually. It saves resources too, said Dr Jugal Kishore, head of department of community medicine from Safdarjung hospital. The World Health Organisation on Thursday joined the messaging platform WhatsApp with the number +41-798931892 to provide real-time, accurate information about Covid-19. Apart from the latest numbers on how many people have been affected, the automated number provides information on how to protect oneself, travel advice, and even advice on how to cope with stress related to Covid-19. This is a very important step, if the WHO or the ministry of health puts up information on the messaging apps used by most, they will have a source they can rely on. These days there are so many messages all across WhatsApp that you do not know what is fake and what is real. And, if people are unsure about something, they now have a portal to cross-check it with. It is also useful for medical professionals there are so many trials and papers being published every day, we will be able to get the latest and best information, said Dr Atul Gogia, senior consultant of internal medicine at Sir Ganga Ramf hospital. Apart from that, the governments Press Information Bureau has also set up a WhatsApp and email fact-check service where people can forward the messages they have received to check whether it is a verified information. The messages can be sent on 8799711259 or can alternatively mailed to pibfactcheck@gmail.com. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Pakistan on Saturday suspended all international flights for two weeks and curtailed train services as the coronavirus cases surged to 730 in the country after more pilgrims who returned from Iran tested positive for the deadly virus, which has turned into a major global crisis. The government in a statement said all international flights are being suspended for two weeks to curb the spread of the virus. From 8 pm tonight, "all incoming international flights are being suspended for two weeks," a statement issued read. National flag-carrier PIA however will be allowed to bring back its planes. Cargo flights will also be allowed. Earlier, the PIA had said all international departures were being suspended till March 28. Railway Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad ordered to reduce the number of trains running in the country from March 25 until the middle of the holy month of Ramadan, which would start around April 25. "We have decided to suspend 34 trains out of total 142 running in the country while another eight trains will be suspended from April 1," he said. The government announced the measures as the number of confirmed cases in the country jumped to 730. The worst-affected Sindh province reported 90 new coronavirus cases, taking the provincial tally to 396. The new cases have been detected in pilgrims who returned from Iran and have been quarantined in Sukkur, according to a spokesperson for the Sindh health department. The number of COVID-19 patients in Balochistan rose to 104 with 12 new cases. After 41 new cases surfaced in Punjab, taking the total number of cases to 137, Chief Minister Usman Buzdar announced the closure of all shopping malls, markets and public places from 9 pm on Saturday till 9 am on Tuesday. However, pharmacies, petrol pumps and grocery stores will remain open. In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the number rose to 27 as new cases came forward, provincial health minister Taimur Jhagra said. Gilgit-Baltistan has 55 cases, Islamabad 10 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir one case. So far three patients have died in Pakistan while five have recovered. Pakistan reported the third casualty from the virus in Karachi on Friday, two days after two men both pilgrims returning from Iran and Saudi Arabia died of the coronavirus in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The 70-year-old who died in Karachi was a cancer survivor. He had other medical problems, like hypertension and diabetes, but did not have any travel or contact history, officials said. Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza has said that all provinces of the country now have laboratories where coronavirus tests can be done. Speaking at a press conference, Mirza said that the number of labs would increase in the future. Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday ruled out total lockdown but asked people to reduce unnecessary travel and go for self-quarantine for at least another 45 days to help tackle the coronavirus crisis which has killed over 11,000 people and infected 250,000 worldwide. Pakistan, despite its close proximity with China, remained unscathed by the virus until February 26 when a man from Karachi tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the Express Tribune reported. The man, in his twenties, had returned from Iran, which is also one of the worst-hit countries. After a brief pause following the first case, COVID-19 cases witnessed a sharp surge as more pilgrims returning from Iran tested positive despite the fact that they were quarantined for 14 days at the Pak-Iran border crossing of Taftan in Balochistan. Amid an imminent threat of spread of coronavirus, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has ordered the release of under-trial prisoners detained in Rawalpindi's overcrowded Adiala jail in minor crimes and directed the Islamabad police not to make arrest in petty matters, the Dawn reported. The Lahore High Court (LHC) has summoned the first meeting of its Crisis Management Committee on March 24. The government has exempted import of 61 diagnostic support and personal protective equipment from all duties and taxes for a period of three months in order to reduce the rising prices in the domestic market. The government has also allowed the use of non-utilised amount of the World Bank-funded projects worth USD 40 million for purchase of COVID-19 equipment. The provincial government of Balochistan has decided to impose a 21-day partial lockdown across the province to control the spread of highly contagious disease. Under the lockdown, which is similar to the restrictions imposed by the Sindh government, all major shopping centres, markets and food restaurants will remain closed. However, food delivery will be allowed during the lockdown. Prime Minister Khan while addressing the media in Islamabad on Friday had said the country's strategy is a little different from a complete lockdown, considering Pakistan's socio-economic realities. "Pakistan isn't a rich country like Italy, where people can get through a sustained period without economic activity," he said. Meanwhile, pressure mounted on the government to completely lockdown the country. Pakistan Peoples Party chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has urged the government to announce lockdown to combat the virus. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president and leader of opposition in parliament Shehbaz Sharif is returning to Pakistan from London after staying there for four months, party spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said. Aurangzeb said Shehbaz would arrive to "play his role in saving the nation from coronavirus". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana has written to the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire to seek the help of Cuba as the country has a drug that has so far proven effective in the fight against Coronavirus. Falana said We have confirmed that the Cuban drug known as Recombinant Human Interferon Alpha 2B developed by Cuba has so far proven to be the most effective weapon against COVID-19. Apart from the Chinese Government which has chosen Interfron Alpha 2B as one of the drugs for combating COVID-19, the Italian Government has adopted it and secured the services of Cuban doctors along with Chinese experts in combating the dreaded disease. According to Falana, the right wing Brazilian Government which had expelled Cuban doctors two years ago on ideological grounds had been compelled to request for the assistance of Cuban medical team amidst conovarious pandemic. Similarly, other Latin American, Caribbean and European countries are reported to have requested the Cuban drug and also help from Cuban medical professionals to fight the COVID-19 scourge, he said. In view of the foregoing, we call on you to use your good offices to confirm the efficacy of the Interfron Alpha 2B and recommend same for the treatment of COVID 19. Having regards to the selfless role of the Cuban medical professionals in eradicating the Ebola virus in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in 2017 we call without any further delay. The health of humanity should not be sacrificed on the alter of ideological disputation, he added. By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson In August, 50 horse trainers endorsed the Horseracing Integrity Act in a letter to members of Congress on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, citing an ongoing crisis of confidence in the sport. Photo by iStockphoto 611 shares The recent indictment of more than two dozen people, including racehorse trainers and veterinarians, in a widespread doping scandal has turned a red-hot spotlight on the horseracing industry. And in a welcome development, some long-overdue scrutiny is coming from stakeholders within the industry itself. In a hard-hitting op-ed last week in the Washington Post, two time Triple Crown winner and Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert called for the passage of the Horseracing Integrity Act, a bill that would create much-needed reform in an industry now beset by problems, including a tragic spate of racehorse deaths, in recent years. Horse racing is experiencing the most profound crisis in the long history of the sport, Baffert wrote. To emerge stronger, we must act decisively to protect the horses who are the stars of the show; nothing else will restore the confidence of fans, gamblers and the general public. And that means federal action. Baffert is the biggest name from within the industry so far to endorse change, but he is hardly the only one. In August, 50 horse trainers endorsed the Horseracing Integrity Act in a letter to members of Congress on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, citing an ongoing crisis of confidence in the sport. We are ready for change and will embrace it for the greater good, they wrote. Last year, in another positive move, the California Horse Racing Board launched an inquiry into 23 horse deaths at Santa Anita over a three-month period between 2018 and 2019, to see whether further safety improvements were warranted. Just last week, the board released a 77-page report that found nearly all the horses who died displayed evidence of preexisting conditions exacerbated by intense training, track surface, poor veterinary record keeping and oversight, and the prevalence of legal medication administered on or close to race day. The report recommends several steps be taken to protect racehorses, including continuing education for both trainers and veterinarians, compulsory testing and exams for racehorses, industry support for research to better understand the causes of injuries, veterinary procedures for safety, expanding the list of prohibited medications and practices, and improved oversight of training practices. Here is the nub. Around the nation today, public confidence in horse racing is at its lowest point. Reporting that an average of 10 horses die each week at the tracks, the Washington Post, in an editorial published the same day as Bafferts op-ed, called horse racing a sport that has outlived its time. If the horse racing industry wants to survive, it can start with strongly backing the passage this year of the Horseracing Integrity Act H.R.1754/S.1820 that would ensure that trainers in every state follow a uniform national standard regarding permissible drugs and stringent penalties for doping. The bill, sponsored in the House by Reps. Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., and Andy Barr, R-Ky., and in the Senate by Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Martha McSally, R-Ariz., would both ban race-day medication and substantially increase out-of-competition testing. The bill would also grant independent control over rule-making, testing and enforcement oversight regarding drugs and medication to a new authority created by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), an independent entity that oversees testing of athletes at Olympic competitions and many other sporting events held in the United States. Finally, the bill would create a uniform national standard for drug testing overseen by USADA. Horseracing today is in dire need of reform. Whatever its long-term prognosis, passing the Horseracing Integrity Act now would help drastically improve the welfare of the animals central to this industry. Please contact your federal legislators today. Urge them to cosponsor this important bill and do all they can to help secure its passage. Sara Amundson is president of the Humane Society Legislative Fund. Santa Clara County, California, the wealthy county encompassing Silicon Valley and San Jose, was among the first places to report cases of the coronavirus, and one of the first to take drastic steps to stem the pace of infection. Now its taking another: The Santa Clara County sheriff has said they need to immediately reduce the jail population in order to effectively quarantine people. Time is already running short. The Santa Clara County Jail, like every jail in the country, is expected to become an epicenter of the outbreak. Jails tend to be hotbeds for illness because they pack people into crowded, dirty spaces with scarce medical supplies and services. Its also not possible to fully seal facilities off from the rest of the world; they cannot function without guards and other staffers coming in and out every day. But COVID-19 poses a larger threat than the typical flu, and theres a growing consensus that the only way to stave off a public health disaster is to release people. Even as public officials in various places have started to realize this, the process has been slow going; its no easy task to reverse-engineer a system thats accustomed to processing thousands every day into incarceration into one that can let them out. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In Santa Clara, the threat of outbreak is forcing a rethinking of the typical calculus that decides who belongs in jail. Eighty percent of people currently incarcerated in the county jail have not been sentenced and are awaiting trial. Together, the offices of the public defender, the district attorney, the sheriff, and pretrial services are aiming to release at least 600 people20 percent of the jails current populationas soon as possible. Stealing a car is not worth a death sentence from dying in prison due to COVID . Max Zarzana Judges will ultimately make the call to release people, but the prosecutors stance is one of the biggest influences on decisions from the bench. In the face of the virus, that stance has undergone a radical change. Max Zarzana, a Santa Clara County prosecutor who is coordinating releases with the public defenders office and pretrial services, told Slate that while prosecutors will continue to oppose releasing people accused of the most serious crimeslike murder, rape, and arsonthey will no longer prioritize the safety of property over peoples freedom. Advertisement Advertisement Before, I might make a straight-faced and heartfelt argument to a judge that goes, You cant let this person out because as soon as he gets out, hes going to steal somebody elses car, said Zarzana. Im not making those arguments right now. Im making the opposite argument: Judge, look, I know that if you let this person out, he really might steal somebody elses car, but stealing a car is not worth a death sentence from dying in prison due to COVID or increasing the risk of exposure to other people. Advertisement Zarzana and Santa Clara County public defender Carson White negotiated a list of around 150 people who could be immediately released in a first batch, and a judge started signing release orders for this group on Thursday. Many are people the jail has identified as medically fragile. The rest came from a list of people whom pretrial services had originally recommended for release before the virus hit, but the DA had opposed. In many of these cases, Zarzana took a second look at the facts underlying certain crimes typically classified as violent. Robbery, for example, is defined as taking property by use of force, a broad definition that allows prosecutors to level a serious violent felony charge at a person who may have simply shoved someone and grabbed their backpack. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Stealing property, stealing a car, even breaking into somebodys house when its not occupied, using drugs, selling drugstheres a whole lot of crimes for which people are incarcerated that dont necessarily have anything to do with harming another individual, he said. Theres also the question of what to do with people who are serving their sentences in the county jail. The DAs office has agreed that people with less than 90 days left on their sentence should be released immediately, and in four months they can turn themselves back in to serve the rest of their sentenceor, if they do well over those four months, the rest of their sentence would be waived. People who are scheduled to start their sentence in the next few weeks would have their start dates pushed back six months. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As the coronavirus spreads, other DAs and judges will face the same choices. A letter signed by 31 prosecutors earlier this week urged mass releases, an end to cash bail, and a slowdown in new cases. Most of these decarceral steps are relatively modest and focus on people facing charges for low-level, nonviolent crimes. After coronavirus cases were confirmed in the Rikers Island jail complex, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday he had identified just 40 people he felt could be released out of the roughly 5,000 incarcerated in New York jails. The Los Angeles County Jail, similarly, has reduced its jail population by 5 percent. Experts say much more drastic action will be needed to head off disaster. Advertisement Zarzana said that while prosecutors should ensure the people they release are not going to harm, rape, murder, or kill, the bar for incarceration should be high. Everyone should keep in mind that there is no property crime for which we have the death penalty, he said. So if keeping someone in jail for a property crime or a drug crime might result in their death or the death of other inmates from COVID, I dont think thats a good prioritization. Advertisement Advertisement White hopes that once the threat of the virus is contained, this mass release changes minds about who really needs to be in jail in the first place. My position is that incarceration is always a question of life and death, she said. Advertisement The jails track record backs her up. Even after multiple federal consent decrees concerning treatment of mentally ill detainees, solitary confinement, and inhumane conditions, people have continued to die in the Santa Clara County jail system. Two years ago, three jail guards were convicted of murder for beating a mentally ill prisoner to death. Separately, the county recently paid out a settlement to the family of Walter Roches, who died after deputies shot him with a riot gun through the food tray slot in his cell door. The reality is there is always risk involved, White said. It may not be the coronavirus, but unemployment, housing, destabilization for the most vulnerable members of our communities, those struggling with mental health or substance abuse disordersthose things are always life-threatening. Advertisement Zarzana said recent bail reforms in California had already started to change prosecutors mindset on pretrial incarceration, but that the virus has greatly accelerated the process. Advertisement Advertisement Even while mass release is the most humane option, its not without its own secondary problems. Many people who will be released are homeless or have lost their homes while in jail, White said, and homeless shelters are facing their own overcrowding problems. Local organizers are working to find stable shelter for people being released. One such group, Silicon Valley De-Bug, has secured money for hotel vouchers and cellphones for everyone coming out of jail. Theyve also put together care packages with toiletries and soap. The public defenders office will give all the released clients a letter explaining why theyre being released and offering contact information for De-Bug organizers, social workers, and county hotlines for substance abuse and mental health, as well as information about picking up medicine they were taking in custody. When you incarcerate someone, when you tear them out of their lives, theres damage done, White said. So these people arent just safe now because we released them from custody. Many of them are still in dangerous situations and without whatever limited social safety net that there would normally be. Clay County commissioner beset by controversy will not run for another term Clay County Commissioner Luann Ridgeway announced on Friday she will not seek another term. Ridgeway, in an email announcement, said she will serve out her current term as Clay County eastern commissioner, which concludes early next year. Elections for her seat will be held in an August primary and November general election. An online bullying campaign that was really sponsored by a Northland political consultant worked . . . Here's the link tease cover story and a reminder that politics across the bridge are just as dysfunctional as the rest of the metro . . . Australia has seen an enormous overnight spike in coronavirus cases, taking the national total to 1,073. It comes as the Victoria Premier, Daniel Andrews, warned that unless infection rates drop, hospitals will soon become overwhelmed. 'If youre in any doubt of how serious this is, switch your TV on and see whats happening in other parts of the world,' he told reporters on Saturday. Australia has seen an enormous overnight spike in coronavirus cases, taking the national total to 1,073 Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews (pictured) warned citizens that hospitals could soon be overwhelmed 'People are dying. We are going to get to a dark place.' Victoria recorded 51 new cases overnight, taking the state's total to 229, while three more cases were confirmed in the ACT. CORONAVIRUS CASES IN AUSTRALIA: 27,244 Victoria: 20,269 New South Wales: 4,273 Queensland: 1,161 Western Australia: 692 South Australia: 473 Tasmania: 230 Australian Capital Territory: 113 Northern Territory: 33 TOTAL CASES: 27,244 ESTIMATED ACTIVE CASES: 269 DEATHS: 897 Updated: 5.31 PM, 11 October, 2020 Source: Australian Government Department of Health Advertisement Mr Andrews announced a $550 million business relief package to help those struggling to stay afloat during the crisis. A payroll tax refund will be made available to 24,000 businesses small and medium-sized businesses. It is hoped the cash will help keep about 400,000 workers employed. The refunds are part of a wider $1.7 billion economic stimulus package, designed in consultation with the national cabinet. 'The most important thing for businesses right now is cash to save them and their workers. This is all about helping businesses stay open and keeping as many people in work as possible,' Mr Andrews said. It comes as Australia's borders closed overnight, meaning only citizens will be allowed in the country. New social distancing rules were announced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Friday, meaning fewer people can gather in restaurants, pubs and cafes. 'Its not about criticism, its an appeal for people to do their civic duty,' Mr Andrews said. People wait in line outside the Royal Melbourne Hospital on March 10 (pictured) to be tested for coronavirus Horror graph shows how coronavirus cases have exploded over the past two months 'We cant have this spread more rapidly than would otherwise be the case. 'Weve got to take action to flatten the curve and make sure our hospital system doesnt collapse. 'Yes it will be an inconvenience, yes it will be frustrating, but it will save lives.' He also encouraged the public to keep following guidelines from health officials, including washing hands and self isolating. 'These sorts of things are simple but they make a powerful difference.' LATEST RULES TO CONTROL CORONAVIRUS SPREAD On Friday, Scott Morrison announced new rules for indoor spaces. It means the number of people in a venue is dictated by the size of the room. There needs to be four-square-metres per patron. This means that if a venue is 100-square-metres, 25 people are allowed inside. Event then, Australians are asked to try and keep 1.5 metres apart from one another. Advertisement The coronavirus death toll has topped 10,000 worldwide, doubling in one week, as the crisis continues to escalate in Europe. Almost half of all COVID-19 deaths have occurred in Europe, with Italy now having confirmed more victims than China. China, where the killer virus first emerged, accounts for a third of all victims, having battled the disease since December 2019. More than 245,000 cases of the coronavirus have been reported across the globe, soaring from the 100,000 reported just two weeks ago. Most patients (164,600) are outside of China, despite it originally reporting 90 per cent of all cases in the early days of the pandemic. On Friday, the Australian government introduced new social distancing rules to help combat the virus. The number of people allowed in an indoor venue will be dictated by its size, Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed. Announcing the new crowd restrictions, Mr Morrison said there will be a maximum limit of 'four square metres provided per person in an enclosed space'. When in a venue, patrons should try and sit a minimum of 1.5 metres away from one another. He also warned a unprecedented ban may be brought in on domestic travel next week ahead of the school holidays - and pleaded with holidaymakers not to fly. In drastic restrictions unseen since the Second World War, families everyday lives will be impacted for the next six months, as the country continues its COVID-19 fightback. Passengers wait to check-in at the departures hall at the international airport in Sydney on March 18 (pictured) 'The rise in the number of cases means we need to continue to take measures to flatten the curve,' Mr Morrison said. 'That means we have to work even harder to keep a healthy distance between us all. 'I know these rules will take some time for people to get used to, but I would ask people to move as quickly as they can. 'I know it means a lot of change for a lot of venues, whether they be cafes or restaurants or clubs or any of these other places of public gathering, including at this building here. 'Well be working to ensure that people know how many people can be in the various meeting rooms at this place.' The Ruby Princess (pictured) docked at the cruise ship passenger terminal at Circular Quay on Thursday A long queue of passengers waiting to check in for a flight, including some passengers wearing protective face masks (pictured), at Sydney airport on Friday It comes amid concerns about a cruise ship that was allowed to dock in Sydney on Thursday, with four passengers later testing positive for coronavirus. Around 2,700 passengers were allowed to disembark after the ship arrived in Sydney Harbour after a tour of New Zealand. One infected passenger was taken directly to hospital while another flew home to Tasmania. The ship had been deemed 'low risk' by the NSW government. Passengers have seen been told to self-isolate, but they could already have transmitted the virus into the community. More than 100,000 people have now been tested for coronavirus across Australia, with more than 900 confirmed cases. The Federal Department of Health told Daily Mail Australia on Saturday that the country has 'sufficient stocks' of coronavirus test kits to meet 'current demands'. Patients are seen waiting at a specialist coronavirus clinic in Sydney (pictured) as the national infection rate soared to 1,073 H undreds of British and Irish citizens are stranded in Peru after the country went into lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. More than 400 are said to still be in the region, with many fearing the window for repatriation is closing. Some feel let down by the Governments effort to fly them home and said they are effectively stuck. Marcus Edgar, 48, who is working in Huanchaco in the north of the country, said 422 UK and Irish citizens had so-far registered on a database to say they couldnt get out the country. US tourists also had trouble getting out of the country / AP The PR consultant, from Reading, said: The UK Government has done nothing so far and that is the frustration. There are no repatriation flights, and the only way (to get home) is to register your interest in charter planes, and that is ridiculous because they cost 3,000. Mr Edgar, who is due to return home on April 2, said a Whatsapp group and database had been created by British nationals in the country, with the details for each person passed to the UK embassy in the city of Lima. I think the general feeling from most people is that they feel let down by the lack of communication from the Government, he said. Highways are free of traffic in Lima after the Peruvian Government ordered a lockdown / AP Peru is currently on lockdown, with borders closed and no flights allowed to enter or leave the country without government permission. A curfew is running between 8pm and 5am and all shops are closed except for pharmacies and those selling food. British nationals have been advised by the Foreign Office to find secure accommodation for the 15-day State of Emergency period. Caia Daly, 37, from north London, whose nine-month-old baby is recovering from pneumonia, is among those stranded. Postcards from the global Coronavirus pandemic 1 /12 Postcards from the global Coronavirus pandemic Colosseum, Rome, Itlay AFP via Getty Images Berlin's Cathedral AFP via Getty Images Esplanade du Trocadero square near the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France AFP via Getty Images A food delivery man crosses the street in Times Square in Manhattan AFP via Getty Images Fushou, China Alamy Oslo Opera, Norway Alamy Stock Photo Red Light District, in Amsterdam ANP/AFP via Getty Images Melbourne, Australia Getty Images Ms Daly, who is originally from Dublin, Ireland, flew to Lima with her husband Carlos Abisrror and two young children in February for a four-week holiday and to see family. But their Air France flight home, which was scheduled for Friday night, was cancelled, and now they do not know how or when they will get back to the UK. To make matters worse, Ms Daly spent three days in hospital this week after her baby picked up a virus which led to pneumonia. If things get really bad here Im worried for my childrens health, particularly with the baby recovering from pneumonia, she said. Linda Scruggs and Mike Rustici are some of the Peru trapped tourists from around the world / AP Meanwhile, Sarah Baxter, from Bath, who is stranded in the city of Cusco in Peru, said the response from the UK Government had been extremely disappointing. The 42-year-old said: With so little time to react to the state of emergency, Brits stuck here had no choice, we would have left if able to do so. Other governments are working to get their residents out, and our Government has proven able to do this in the past. When will the UK step up its efforts? A spokesman from the Foreign Office said the UK is engaging with a number of international partners and commercial airlines to see how we can help Britons still in Peru. We are working intensively to help all those who wish to leave and actively exploring what further flight options can be made available, he said. They were however unable to confirm the number of UK nationals in the country. More UK citizens are reportedly stuck on board a cruise ship that has docked in Genoa, Italy, after the Spanish and French authorities refused to let them disembark. Guests of the Costa Pacifica, which left Argentina on March 3 and can hold up to 3,780 guests, are being held prisoner, the son of one of those on board has claimed. In an escalating row between the United States and Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Hua Chunying, in a tweet told US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to stop lying. The two countries have been in a bitter war of words over the past week. US has been accusing China of covering up information on coronavirus pandemic even though China said that they shared data with US thought the health crisis. #Pompeo said to Fox News "China has allowed hundreds of thousands of people to leave Wuhan to go to places like Italy that's now suffering so badly" . Stop lying through your teeth! As WHO experts said, China's efforts averted hundreds of thousands of infection cases. pic.twitter.com/kHGQqZK9wM Hua Chunying (@SpokespersonCHN) March 20, 2020 READ: Trump Uses Daily Coronavirus Briefing To Attack Reporter Huas comments came after Pompeo, in an interview with an international media outlet said that Beijing wasted valuable days after identifying coronavirus by letting hundreds of thousands leave the epicentre of Wuhan to places, including Italy, which has surpassed Chinas death toll. Pompeo reportedly said the Chinese Community Part didnt get it right and put countless lives at risk. China, on serval occasions, has been accused of covering up information on the novel virus. US President Donald Trump had also said that the world is suffering because of the cover-up. However, Beijing accused Trump of trying to shift the blame for coronavirus pandemic. While speaking to an international media outlet, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang reportedly said that some people on the US side are trying to stigmatise Chinas fight against the epidemic and shift the blame onto China. He further added that the approach ignores the great sacrifice made by the Chinese people to safeguard the health and safety of humankind, and slanders Chinas major contribution to global public health. READ: Trump Spars With Fauci, Reporter On Unproven Drug US-China blame game Meanwhile, Trump launched a scathing attack on China and said the world is paying a very big price for covering-up the facts on coronavirus. During a press briefing along with the members of White House Coronavirus Task Force, Trump said that if the threats of the virus would have been made public at an earlier stage, the virus could have been contained to the area where it started. Trump also accused China of suppressing the initial reports of the coronavirus outbreak and its severity which caused Chinese and international experts to miss critical opportunities to prevent a pandemic. Trump even justified the branding of the novel coronavirus pandemic as the Chinese virus. However, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has explicitly advised against it. While China has slammed Trump and other US officials for referring the virus as Chinese Virus or Wuhan Virus, the US President has been trying to justify the term. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio also lashed out at Trump for stigmatising a race and a particular community saying the US President doesnt need to incite a backlash against the already suffering Asian-American communities. READ: Trump Vs Fauci: President And Doctor Spar Over Unproven Drug READ: China Accuses US President Trump Of Trying To shift The Blame For Coronavirus Pandemic Mark Pennesi, M.D., Ph.D., who leads OHSU's involvement in the trial, center right, looks on as staff at Oregon Health & Science University's Casey Eye Institute perform the first-ever in vivo CRISPR gene edit procedure for the BRILLIANCE clinical trial. The study uses the gene-editing technology CRISPR to repair mutations in the CEP290 gene that cause a rare form of inherited blindness called Leber congenital amaurosis type 10. The trial is sponsored by Allergan plc. and Editas Medicine. (OHSU/Kristyna Wentz-Graff) First-Ever Gene Editing Inside Body Raises Questions About Future of Human Species NEW YORKThe genetics revolution has begun as scientists now have the ability to hack the code of all of life, including our own by manipulating the DNA that makes up the very foundation of our being, according to genome editing expert Jamie Metzl. Scientists two weeks ago altered the DNA of a patient inside the body for the first time, which is different from therapies used in the last few years where genes are edited outside the body. The procedure comes after a Chinese scientist, He Jiankui, was imprisoned in December for making gene-edited babies in 2018. Metzl, who is an adviser to the World Health Organizations committee on human genome editing and the author of the book Hacking Darwin, says there needs to be a society-wide discussion on the use of gene editing technology. We have to be part of that conversation, but to be part of it, everybody has to be educated because what were talking about is, in many ways, the future of our species, Metzl told NTD. Scientists performed the first procedure to edit a patients genes inside the body, or in vivo, at the Casey Eye Institute in Portland, Oregon, on March 4. They treated a patient, who has a rare form of inherited blindness, with a gene editing tool known as CRISPR in an attempt to restore the patients vision. The tool, CRISPR, is likened to a pair of molecular scissors that are able to cut strands of DNA. The tool was developed by mimicking the natural defense mechanisms of bacteria. This technology allows for a shift in the way health care is delivered, from a generalized approach to one specific to the individual, according to Metzl. Now were moving to this world of precision medicine and precision healthcare, where decisions will be made not just based on the fact that youre a human, but based on the fact that you are you, said Metzl. He predicts that billions of people will have their entire genomes sequenced in the future. Well have these massive genetic databases, and what are called phenotypic information in those databases, which is your life and health records, Metzl said. And we put those together, were going to use big data analytic tools that will transfer us from this world of precision health care, to predictive health care. The paradox is that for these predictive methods to be useful, large genetic databases are needed, but its important for individuals to be able to keep their genetic information private, according to Metzl. I think people are nervous and should be nervous, and we need more regulation. But we cant go all the way toward complete privacy, Metzl said. Privacy isnt the only concern surrounding gene editing technologyaccidental changes to the DNA may occur and that can be passed down to future generations. There are two types of gene editing: somatic and germline. Somatic edits are done on cells that are not part of the reproductive system and are not meant to be passed down. While germline edits to eggs, sperm, and embryos lead to heritable genetic changes. According to bioethicist Barbara Koenig, if a mistake is made in germline editing, it will be a mistake for all future generations. There is concern that once the damage is done, it may be irreversible. Koenig also says that somatic edits could have off target effects on egg or sperm. If scientists perform a somatic edit in which unintentional changes occur in the sex cells, then it would be passed on, according to Metzl. Metzl highlights the benefits to this technology, but recognizes the need for caution if it is used. We dont understand the vast majority of [our genetics], but we will understand more and more and that will give us greater opportunities to intervene in ways that can protect us. But because of the incredible complexity of biology, we need to be very cautious and careful and conservative when doing so, he said. Gene editing is not the only way in which human DNA is artificially manipulated. Clinics offer services where multiple eggs are fertilized in a lab and turned into embryos that are then screened for genetic defects. One of the embryos free from genetic diseases is then implanted into the mother to be a future child. When conception is carried out in a laboratory it is called in vitro fertilization or IVF. The procedure for screening the DNA of the embryos for genetic defects is called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis or PGD. Metzl predicts that if stem cells become safe for human use, it will be possible to create 10,000 human embryos and select one of them to implant into the mother. He says we may make a small number of changes to the DNA of the selected embryo to reduce health risks or enhance certain traits. Within 10 years, this technology may be advanced enough to change a persons eye color by editing the genes of the embryo, according to Metzl. The Catholic Church disapproves of in vitro fertilization, and any procedure that comes of it such as PGD or editing the genes of embryos. The separation of procreation from a sexual act in any way that thats done is disapproved, said Edward Mechmann, who is an attorney with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese in New York. He said conception should be the result of an act of love between a husband and wife, not a scientific act. One of the key things is we very much disapprove of a kind of eugenic mentality where theyre using any kind of gene editing to enhance characteristics, Mechmann said. Metzl described a scenario in which this technology is developed and falls into the wrong hands. You could imagine a kind of a North Korea-like regime that says, well, first were going to sort people, were going to sequence everybody at birth, and were going to sort them based on our sense of whats their capacity. So who gets to be in the military and who goes to the Olympic programs and who goes to physics school, Metzl said. I think that will certainly be doable. You could imagine those kinds of selections being made for docility in some kind of totalitarian state, he added. A potential problem with this type of artificial gene selection is that if parents choose similar traits for their children we could inadvertently reduce the genetic diversity of our species, Metzl said. That genetic diversityits not a nice to have, its a need to have. Its the foundation of our survival. It translates into our resilience. Metzl said that everyone needs to talk to their elected officials and ask them to focus on this important issue. He said one must ask if officials have a plan in place and ask how they will maximize the benefits and minimize the harms of this technology. Follow Kevin on Twitter: @KRHogan_NTD From The Epoch Times Hundreds of demonstrators protesting against the governments surveillance measures and the closure of the Knesset, Israels parliament, converged on the capital Jerusalem Thursday, in defiance of a ban on large gatherings imposed because of the spread of the coronavirus. They accused caretaker Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of using the pandemic to consolidate his own positionhe faces charges of bribery, corruption and breach of trust in three separate casesand establish a dictatorship. Their banners read, No to dictatorship and Democracy in danger. They called Netanyahu the crime minister. The police, in an effort to block the protesters entry into the city, turned cars away, leading to scuffles and five arrests. Opposition leaders accused the police of trying to stifle protests at the behest of an un-elected government acting without the Knessets authority, accusations the police denied. The rallys organisers said their aim was to save Israels democracy following Netanyahus announcement in the early hours of Tuesday morning that the cabinetnot the Knessethad approved a highly controversial measure that would allow the domestic security service, Shin Bet, to track Israelis phones to locate where carriers of the coronavirus had been, and then send a text message to everyone who may have been in the vicinity, telling them to self-isolate. It means that the same technology that Shin Bet and the police have long used to track Palestinian militants will now be used against Israeli civilians as a weapon against the pandemic. It would affect a great many people, not just those infected but those who are in their proximity. The Adalah legal centre and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) have filed a petition against the governments decision authorising Shin Bet to track Israelis phones on the grounds that the regulations violate the privacy of the citizens in a disproportionate way. They say, The usefulness of the draconian measures, obtained after sweeping restrictions on the public have already been imposed, is marginal compared to the serious violation of individual rights and the principles of the democratic regime. These measures are being imposed in the context of the terminal decay of Israeli democracy, which has collapsed in the face of the three-fold pressures of the decades-long military suppression of the Palestinian people, the rising social inequality within Israel itself, which ranks among the highest in the developed world, and now the health and economic crisis triggered by the pandemic. Netanyahu had fast-tracked the measures through the cabinet, using emergency laws, after the outgoing Knesset intelligence committee, led by former IDF chief of staff, Gabi Ashkenazi, refused to approve the proposal without a full discussion by the committee of the incoming Knesset. Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit approved the cabinets decision, promising that the information collected would be destroyed after 30 days. The emergency laws Netanyahu used to give the surveillance measures a veneer of legality were originally passed by the British Mandate government that ruled Palestine from 1918 to 1948. Following the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, they have been used extensively against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, and only occasionally against individual Israeli citizens, but certainly not in such a wide scale manner as is now proposed. On Wednesday, the Knesset Speaker and member of Netanyahus Likud Party Yuli Edelstein refused to convene the Knesset to vote for a new Speaker as required. He also refused to allow the Knesset to vote on setting up parliamentary oversight of the governments surveillance measures, saying he was locking the plenary, at least until next week. While he cited the need for unity talks with the opposition Blue and White bloc and coronavirus regulations that prevented gatherings of more than 100 people, this was widely seen as cover for holding on to his own position and paralysing parliament for as long as possible. His purpose was evidently to delay the selection of his successor, since that would be followed by legislation preventing an incoming indicted prime minister from serving and any oversight of the government during the most severe political crisis in the states 72-year history. The Knesset legal adviser Eyal Yinon ruled Edelsteins closure of the plenary into next week as out of order, while President Rivlin called Edelstein to tell him to reopen parliament. The Presidents Office said that Rivlin implored Edelstein to ensure ongoing parliamentary activity, even during the coronavirus crisis. The Blue and White party, for its part, filed a High Court petition against Edelsteins decision to close the Knesset, with Ofer Shelah, a Blue and White Knesset member saying that Netanyahu and Edelstein are not only trying to destroy Israeli democracy, but also to cause the election results to be disregarded. He added that Edelstein hijacked the Knesset by preventing a plenum vote on a new Knesset speaker, knowing there is a majority for replacing him. He said, We wont let that happen. Edelsteins closure of the Knesset, less than 48 hours after the new Knesset members were sworn in, is the latest manifestation of Israels deadlocked political system. Netanyahu was forced to announce elections in late 2018 after one of his coalition partners, Avigdor Liebermans nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel is our Home), quit the government. Since then, following three deadlocked elections in less than a year, he has ledor more precisely dominateda caretaker government that, unable to set a budget or pass legislation, in effect rules by decree without any effective parliamentary oversight. After the last election on March 2, President Reuven Rivlin called on the Blue and Whites leader, former Israel Defence Forces (IDF) chief of staff Bennie Gantz, to form a government. Despite being nominated by 61 members of the 120-seat Knesset, it is far from certain that Gantz will be able to do so. Netanyahu, in the meantime, has used the pandemic to press Gantz to join without hesitations in forming an emergency unity government so that together we will save tens of thousands of citizens. He made it clear, however, that an emergency unity government would not include the third largest party, the four Arab parties in the Joint List, telling Gantz that There is no place for supporters of terror, in routine times and during emergency. His Justice Minister Amir Ohana has declared a state of emergency in the justice system due to the coronavirus outbreak, thereby enabling him to postpone Netanyahus trial, set for March 17, to May 24. Netanyahu has exploited the coronavirus to cast himself as the only figure capable of responding to a national emergency. He has used his daily press conferences to sow fear. While introducing a series of sweeping restrictions that are no doubt justified by the threat of the pandemicrequiring all visitors and citizens returning to the country to self-quarantine for 14 days, closing schools and universities, banning gatherings of more than 100 people and ordering people to stay at homehe is utilizing the state of emergency to consolidate his dictatorial grip over the Israeli state apparatus. On Friday, the cabinet imposed further restrictionsagain bypassing parliamentary oversight by using state emergency regulationsmaking the restrictions imposed earlier in the week legally binding and enforceable. It ordered Israelis not to leave their homes or visit parks and beaches, other than for food, medicine, medical care and essential work. The health authorities confirmed 705 COVID-19 cases, of which at least 10 are in serious condition. Two ministers and two legislators are in quarantine after being in contact with someone who tested positive for the coronavirus. In the West Bank, there are 47 confirmed cases The health care system, neglected for years, has been the victim of repeated budget cuts, as Israels war machine took priority over everything, including a growing population, resulting in a service that was already on the point of collapse. It faces the current crisis totally unprepared, with serious shortages of necessary medical equipment to fight the outbreak. The staff at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv wrote to the hospital administrator saying that they did not feel properly protected from the coronavirus outbreak and they were beginning to fear for our health. Netanyahu, as befits the leader of a garrison state, promptly called on Mossad, Israels spy agency, to use its web of secret contacts around the world, including Arab and Muslim countries that were better supplied but with which Israel has no diplomatic relations, to find relevant medical supplies. Mossad announced that it had bought 100,000 test kits, only to find they were the wrong ones. Combined arms battalion becomes PLA Army's basic deployable unit PLA Daily Source: China Military Online Editor: Chen Zhuo 2020-03-20 22:40:53 By Qian Xiaohu and Han Cheng BEIJING, March 20, -- Recently, a PLA Army brigade conducted an offensive exercise by a combined arms battalion in the south of Fujian Province. Wu Min, commander of the 3rd combined arms battalion, together with the other four staff officers, mapped out ad hoc combat scheme on-site. They proposed various striking methods correspondingly to different battlefield targets and coordinated over 10 different arms units to launch rapid and fierce attacks against mock enemy positions. The commanding officer of this brigade stated that compared with the traditional infantry battalion, the combined arms battalion covers almost all the basic arms of the PLA Army. With the accelerating of the PLA Army's transformation, the combined arms battalion has become a brand-new basic deployable combat unit in maneuver operations and joined the battle order. "A combined arms battalion is characterized by the efficient control and integration of various arms, rather than simple convergence", said an officer from the training branch under the PLA Army's staff department. He also introduced that this modular, multi-functional force structure can be rearranged quickly and flexibly according to the battlefield situation, and the "plug-and-play" configuration can produce a variety of combat modes, bringing all integrated combat elements into full play . It is learned that after years of reform, the combined arms troops have become major combat forces of the PLA Army. Multiple new types of combined arms battalions including heavy-duty, light-duty, air-assault, mountain, amphibious ones, have been embedded into the PLA Army combat system as modules, achieving the multi-source perception of combat command and high integration of operational elements, with the operational space expanded to multiple dimensions. It serves to promote the PLA Army's capabilities of full-spectrum combat and fast maneuver, as well as three-dimensional offensive and defensive capabilities. Combination is changing the PLA Army's combat pattern and reshaping the PLA Army officers and soldiers of new generations. "In the past, the excellent infantries were usually "sharpshooters" or those with "toughened feet". While at present, a combined infantry battalion is composed of dozens of professions and more than 100 positions, and we need to re-explore and keep considering the standards for modern combat readiness", said Wu Min. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address A day after Himachal Pradesh reported its first two COVID-19 cases from Kangra, authorities imposed prohibitory orders under section 144 of the CrPC in the district on Saturday to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code bans assembly of four or more people in one place. Kangra Deputy Commissioner cum District Magistrate Rakesh Prajapati said section 144 has been imposed to ensure people maintain a social distance of at least one metre or 3.5 feet from each other to prevent the spread of coronavirus. The assembly of four or more people has been strictly banned everywhere except in hospitals or Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) buses, he added. The HRTC buses will run at one-fourth of their seating capacity, the district commissioner said, adding that all private and inter-state HRTC buses have been cancelled. Prajapati also asked people to take precautions while travelling in private cars and cabs. He said routine public dealing has been suspended in government offices and only emergency work will be done. Depositing power and water bills has been postponed till normalcy is restored. No penalty will be levied for late payments, he added. The district commissioner said all Kangra residents who had returned from a foreign country in the last 28 days should undergo a medical check-up. Such persons may also contact or any person may inform about such persons at toll free numbers 104 or 1077, he said. He warned that if any such person is found to have deliberately hidden this information then that person may be jailed for two years and fined Rs. 50,000 under section 270 (malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) of Indian Penal Code. Prajapati said an emergency control room has been set up in room number 710 of the district commissioner's office at Dharamsala. People can contact the control room at 01892-224970 and 01892-224976. A 32-year-old man from Harchakkian tehsil and a 64-year-old woman from Dohabe village in Shahpur subdivision with a recent travel history to Singapore and Dubai, respectively, have tested positive for coronavirus in Kangra, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said here on Friday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) 5 Shares Share Right now, we are all afraid. Were all afraid of something called COVID-19. Grocery store shelves are empty. People are fighting over toilet paper rolls. Its beginning to look a little like Armageddon. Youve seen the photos, heard the stories, watched the news coverage. COVID-19 is real. Its real, and the incredible infectivity of it is scary. Im in medicine. COVID-19 is one of the reasons I went into medicine. Not because of specifically, COVID-19, but because of something like COVID-19. I wanted to be on the frontlines, like the marines, except in medicine, fighting to help keep people safe from disease. But, now that its here, its frightening. Its frightening for people like us in health care because we risk our lives to see you, to take care of you. We wash our hands, we wear gloves, we limit our contact with you by practicing telemedicine, but were still on the front lines of this battle. Were working to keep you safe. Gowning up to swab your nose, answering your phone calls, emails, seeing you in the clinics, in the hospitals. Taking care of the sickest and critically ill in intensive care units. Most of us dont have the option of working from home, and if given a choice, we would still go to work, because thats what we signed up for. Thats why we went into medicine. We want you to understand, though, why we are advocating for social distancing. Social distancing does not only mean schools are closed; workplaces are allowing people to work from home, and restaurants are doing take out only. This is not a vacation, not free time off. Bars are crowded, yoga and gym studios active, stores packed with people. This is not social distancing. Social distancing is avoiding activities where you will be in contact with groups of people. So, instead of going to the gym, take a walk outside in your neighborhood. Video chat with friends. Spend time with your immediate family at home. We arent conditioned to practice this social distancing, but in these times, it is a necessity. We believe that the most contagious period of time is 5-7 days prior to showing symptoms. So, you may have it, not know it, but be spreading it to other people. While we dont want you to panic, we want you to take things seriously. Some of you may be thinking the United States is okay. We dont have many cases. While it is true we dont have as many reported cases, its not because its less prevalent in our country. Its because we dont have the swabs, the materials to test you for this COVID-19. Were very selective because we have to ration these swabs to the ones at most risk. People who have actual symptoms. The elderly, people in nursing homes, people who are immunosuppressed. It doesnt mean your health is less important, but there are groups of people who could die if they contracted this virus. Being young and healthy doesnt completely protect you from COVID-19, but you are at less risk. You should still take this seriously and practice social distancing. Dont fret, because we, in health care, are here to help you, but please do your part. Monitor your symptoms. Take care to wash your hands often. Stay away from high-risk populations and groups of people. Practice social distancing, so we can #flattenthecurve. Were in this together. Karen Yeter is a rheumatologist who blogs at Resuscitating You. Image credit: Shutterstock.com Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 14:43:11|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close MALE, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Two patients who tested positive for COVID-19 in Maldives have made a full recovery, local media reported Saturday. Minister of Health Abdulla Ameen said that the two COVID-19 patients have made a full recovery, reducing the number of active cases in the country from 13 to 11. Doctors said that both patients were tested twice according to standards set by the World Health Organisation. All results came in negative and the two patients will be discharged in the coming week. So far, all of Maldives' COVID-19 infections have been foreign citizens. Ameen appealed to the public to follow instructions of relevant authorities to protect citizens from the virus. Maldives is currently under a 30-day State of Public Health Emergency and the government has taken several steps to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. San Francisco, March 21 : An Indian-American teenager has created a GoFundMe page to raise funds to provide sanitation kits for the homeless community, it was reported on Saturday. Shaivi Shah, a sophomore at Tesoro High School in Rancho Santa Margarita, California, wanted to help after "constantly hearing about all of the catastrophes the coronavirus has been causing". "Because of its rapid growth, all types of people globally are being affected, especially the homeless community. They lack sanitation, money, and basic necessities, especially during this time where remaining clean and germ-free, is crucial," she told India-West news. "Also, the shortage of hygienic products and the continuous price increase is another hurdle these people are facing," she added. According to the New York Times, about 50 per cent of the homeless population is 50 or older which means they are at most risk for this virus causing severe health problems, Shah said. "For these reasons, I have created low-cost sanitation kits which include hand sanitizer, hand soap, lotion, and a reusable mask to help out the less fortunate," she told India-West. Shah has already delivered 150 kits to four different homeless shelters. The GoFundMe page, which was created to spread awareness for the cause, has raised nearly $1,600 with a goal of raising $2,000. "My hope is to expand this project and reach the eyes of many citizens so that I can not only donate in different parts of California but also other states that are in tremendous need," she added. As of Friday, the number of confirmed cases in the US stood at 19,624, while the death toll increased to 260. A staffer in the office of US Vice President Mike Pence, the pointman for Washington's response to the coronavirus outbreak, has tested positive for the illness, a spokeswoman said Friday. 'Neither President Trump nor Vice President Pence had close contact with the individual. Further contact tracing is being conducted,' Pence's press secretary Katie Miller said. Pence has appeared at Trump's side at the daily White House press conferences to announce developments in the US fight against the outbreak. It was the latest case of COVID-19 to brush the inner circle of US leadership. US Vice President Mike Pence and US President Donald Trump talk during a COVID-19 pandemic briefing at the White House in Washington, DC on March 16, 2020 An attendee at a political conference last month featuring Trump and Pence tested positive for the illness, and multiple political figures who regularly meet with the president and vice president have gone into preventive self-quarantine. Trump tested negative for the novel coronavirus last week. He agreed to the test after coming in contact with several members of a Brazilian presidential delegation visiting his Florida resort who have since been found to have the virus. The news came as COVID-19-linked deaths in the US rose to 216 -- more than doubling in three days -- with more than 16,600 confirmed infections, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. On Friday, New York and Illinois followed California in locking down to stem the coronavirus pandemic, effectively sealing off America's largest cities of New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. WASHINGTON - Canada's shared border with the United States is now closed to casual, non-essential travel in a bilateral effort to slow the spread of COVID-19 in North America. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/3/2020 (662 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. U.S. and Canadian flags fly in Point Roberts, Wash., on Tuesday March 13, 2012. President Donald Trump is confirming that the Canada-U.S. border will be closed "by mutual consent" to non-essential traffic. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck WASHINGTON - Canada's shared border with the United States is now closed to casual, non-essential travel in a bilateral effort to slow the spread of COVID-19 in North America. A mutual ban on recreational and incidental travel in both directions, like vacations and cross-border shopping trips, went into effect across the country at midnight ET. Agents with both the Canada Border Services Agency and U.S. Customs and Border Protection have been instructed to block tourists and bargain-hunters, while letting through long-haul truckers, health professionals and anyone else needing to cross for work. Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland has acknowledged the agreement was hastily reached, given the urgency of the global pandemic, and that there could be hiccups as the restrictions begin take hold. A man walks past the Peace Arch at the Canada/USA border in Surrey, B.C. Friday, March 20, 2020. New restrictions in effect at midnight Friday along Canada's shared border with the United States focus more on blocking tourists and bargain-hunters than on clearing the way for so-called "essential" travel such as truckers hauling freight, health professionals and others who live on one side and work on the other. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan She's calling on Canadians and Americans alike to be patient under the circumstances and is urging anyone who doesn't need to travel to stay put. Public Safety Minister Bill Blair says truckers, nurses and others being allowed over the border are being encouraged to take all the necessary precautions against being exposed to the novel coronavirus, which include extensive hand-washing, steering clear of groups of people and monitoring for symptoms. "These are extraordinary times," Freeland said Friday, acknowledging that both countries have been moving at an urgent pace that would be "neither possible nor advisable" under normal circumstances. "This is a global pandemic, so we need to act with agility and alacrity." Although the ban does not apply to cross-border trade, businesses that depend on ready access to both countries are watching nervously as the restrictions take effect. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce is urging both the federal and U.S. governments to keep a close eye on the border and act quickly if there are signs that people or shipments that need to get through are being turned away. "I have never had just the sheer volume of emails, phone calls, text messages from members, flagging concerns," said Mark Agnew, the chamber's director of international policy. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "There is going to be an element of probably getting it wrong along the way." The chamber is especially nervous about service providers, Agnew said particularly technicians who keep high-tech health equipment in good working order, as well as business executives who can't do everything over the internet and rail and shipping personnel who often have to "reposition" by travelling by car over the border in order to operate a train or a vessel. Students who hold valid visas, temporary foreign workers and anyone with valid work responsibilities are to be allowed to cross. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the border restrictions would be in place for the next 30 days, subject to change depending on the state of the pandemic, and would not apply to those travelling "for work or other essential purposes." "This will last as long as it has to, to protect the American people," he said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 21, 2020. Time is running out for hundreds of Canadians stuck in Peru, desperate to come home There is a new urgency for more than 1,000 Canadians in Peru desperately trying to make their way home amid the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic the country's minister of defence has announced that as of Sunday, Peru will no longer support the repatriation of foreigners. All borders and airports were shut down on March 16, but the Peruvian government continued to co-ordinate with foreign governments in Uruguay, Brazil, Mexico and elsewhere to get their citizens home. But now, the Peruvian government says it must do more to contain the spread of the coronavirus so foreigners have little time to leave the country. Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said Saturday afternoon on Twitter that he had spoken to Peru's foreign minister and Canadian travellers stranded there "can return home on agreed flights." On Saturday, some Canadians stranded in Peru posted on Facebook that they had received calls from the Canadian Embassy about arrangements to co-ordinate travel permits and flights to allow them to fly out. It's unclear exactly how the repatriations will work. Toronto resident Maria Andreeva is stranded in Lima, Peru's capital. The 39-year-old was on a 10-day retreat in the jungle near Tarapoto in the northern part of the country. But on March 16, the day she was supposed to head home to Toronto and back to her two boys, ages four and six the government announced it was shutting the border down effective at midnight. Andreeva arrived at the airport to find chaos. "That evening was stressful and scary," she said. "A lot of people like me looked really shocked and scared and lost." The country's military lockdown closed borders and stationed police on street corners in major towns and cities. President Martin Vizcarra also declared a state of emergency, calling for 15 days of mandatory quarantine. The only exceptions are to obtain food or medicine. WATCH / Canadian stranded in Peru: Story continues There are 4,300 registered Canadians in Peru, according to Global Affairs Canada. Stranded Canadians are using a Facebook group to share information, tips and encouraging stories of other overseas Canadians who are finding their way home. Greg Bestavros, 29, was one of the first to join, along with his fiancee Marina Fanous. They left Toronto for Lima on March 12 for a friend's wedding. "At the time, the Canadian government wasn't indicating we shouldn't go to Peru," Bestavros told CBC News. "But things quickly took a turn for the worse." Submitted by Greg Bestavros He and Fanous travelled to Cusco, an hour's flight southeast of Lima, on March 15 when they learned the country was closing its borders. "Being polite and patient while our government has dragged their feet has put us in a very scary and very real situation," said Bestavros. "We are prisoners here and have no chance to get home unless our government intervenes immediately." Adding to his frustration, says Bestavros, people from Mexico they met on their trip saw their government swing into action and get them home. He says two fellow travellers boarded a bus organized by the Mexican government, which drove them for nine hours to an airport in Arequipa, where a plane was waiting to get them home. Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Thursday he was working on bringing home a group of Toronto-area high school students in Lima. "There have been conflicting stories about that," said Niti Patel, a 25-year-old health-care worker from Calgary who was trekking through Machu Picchu when her hike was stopped short. She, too, is now stuck in Cusco, near the ancient city, with no way to get to the capital and, presumably, any flights out because of the lockdown. Submitted by Niti Patel Tensions are high, she told CBC News. The military is present at every intersection, restricting movement in the town of about half a million people. Ford's announcement only added to the frustration and confusion. "I've been hearing that Lima airport is completely shut down and they're not letting anyone through," she said. "I really don't know what to believe, which is really frustrating." When CBC News asked Ford's office for an update on the repatriation of the students, a spokesperson referred our questions to Global Affairs. Melissa Cortijo and her husband Raul, from Burlington, Ont., were on a trip in South America that started in Chile in February, making their way through Argentina and finally Peru. Submitted by Melissa Cortijo They arrived on March 13 and heard from family that the COVID-19 crisis was intensifying around and the government was urging Canadians to come home. They rebooked their Air Canada flights to come back several days early, but that flight was cancelled. "We need our government to take us home," said Cortijo. "They say there are going to be other planes being sent elsewhere, but they weren't specific as to where," said Cortijo, referring to what she has seen on the news. She and her husband are relying on the generosity of parents of her friends back in Canada who are hosting them. "That uncertainty is really causing a lot of angst and stress." Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said a flight has been arranged to bring home Canadians stranded in Morocco, and said his government is working with the airlines to bring more Canadians home. Bestavros and other Canadians in Peru received a notification on Thursday, asking them to fill out a form detailing things like passport information and whether they are residents or Canadian citizens. The notice said that the information collected "would be used to organize a possible return," from Peru. "We need support immediate action, before we become prisoners in Peru for an undetermined amount of time," said Bestavros. Got a COVID-19 story you want investigated? Contact us We laid it, we dedicated it: PM Modi after inaugurating Kanpur Metro Rail Project Explained: Did Chinese police brutally thrashed coronavirus victims in a metro station? India oi-Ajay Joseph Raj P New Delhi, Mar 21: In what comes as a major shock to the entire world, a video of Chinese police brutally thrashing and catching people affected with coronavirus has been widely circulated on social media. In this three-minute video, that is widely circulated on WhatsApp and Facebook with a short message claiming that the Chinese security personnel chased people at a subway, nailing them down and dragging them away as the virus-affected people rushed into a train to escape from the personnel. But, here is a twist. The video has nothing to do with the deadly coronavirus pandemic. This video was shot in September 2019 during Hong Kong's pro-democracy protest. Hong Kong has been witnessing a massive pro-democracy protest that began in June last year against the introduction of the Fugitive Offenders amendment bill by the Hong Kong government. Explained: Is it time to use military force to fight COVID-19? The protests took a serious turn when protesters blocked the roads and clashed with the police personnel. With coronavirus in the forefront, miscreants with least knowledge about the Hong Kong protests, assumed that the video was shot in China but it was factually shot at Prince Edward MTR Station, Hong Kong. Watch this video: It seems that working from home will be the new normal for many New Yorkers for the coming weeks and even months. Anxiety about the way of the world in the time of coronavirus can seem overwhelming at times, so its important to find ways not just to keep to a schedule at home, but to stay calm. For some, that means tuning into Gov. Andrew Cuomos daily press briefings. The govs cool-under-pressure and take-charge approach to the crisis has helped soothe some minds and has gained him considerablepraise. Its even made one journalist maybe fall in love with him. And if youre looking for creative ways to stay active, Cuomo can help with that too. People who turn on the governors livestream a few minutes early will be greeted by wait music that slaps perfect for a little impromptu dancing. New York reels As of Friday morning, the state had confirmed over 7,000 cases of COVID-19, an ever-growing number that Gov. Andrew Cuomo attributed to increased testing capability in the state. At the beginning of the week, Cuomo announced that bars, theaters, gyms and restaurants would close statewide, with the exception of takeout and delivery for food and alcohol. Cuomo coordinated his decision with the governors of Connecticut and New Jersey, and later Pennsylvania, who each announced the closings in their own states. All four states also jointly decided to close salons and tattoo parlors. Cuomo also banned social gatherings of any size on Friday, after previously limiting them to 50 people. Cuomo imposed a stricter work from home policy, mandating that businesses must have all employees work remotely, excluding essential jobs like health care workers, food service workers and grocery store employees. He urged everyone in the state to remain indoors as much as possible. Additionally, the state waived mortgage payments for 90 days, suspended student debt payments for at least 30 days and halted all evictions statewide for 90 days. New York City closes public schools Mayor Bill de Blasio decided to close schools on March 15, and schools closed their doors the next day. Early on March 15, Cuomo directed New York City as well as Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk counties to close their schools. In the first week that city schools were shuttered, teachers were trained on how to conduct their classes remotely, while students had those days off. Additionally, some schools remained open in order to provide free takeout breakfast and lunch, continuing the essential service of providing meals to students who need them. The city Department of Education also said that it would provide tablets with internet access to students who dont have a computer at home so that they can participate in online learning. Empty Albany, work gets done State lawmakers took a unique approach to legislating as they attempted to keep a safe distance from each other while still approving coronavirus-related bills. In the Assembly, legislators were only allowed into the chamber in small groups to cast their votes before returning to their offices. This comes after two Assembly members Helene Weinstein and Charles Barron tested positive for the coronavirus. After lawmakers left Albany, Assemblywoman Kimberly Jean-Pierre tested positive as well. In the state Senate, only party leaders were present in the chamber, with only those voting no allowed in, one at a time, to cast their votes. A quirk in the Senate rules allowed everyone else to have their yes vote counted without physically being there to cast it. The state Legislature passed two bills related to the epidemic. The first mandated that all large employers and public employers provide two weeks of paid sick leave for employees with COVID-19 or under mandatory quarantine. The other changed petitioning requirements, allowing candidates to appear on the ballot in upcoming state elections with dramatically fewer petition signatures than usual. Cuomo signed both bills on Wednesday. NYC not fully shut down De Blasio has continually raised the specter of a shelter in place order for New York City, but Cuomo has the final say on the matter and has confirmed multiple times that he has no plans to quarantine the city. De Blasio suggested using San Francisco as a model, which has prohibited people from leaving their homes except for getting groceries, going to work if necessary and exercise. At one point, the mayor said a decision could come within 48 hours. Cuomo repeatedly said that piecemeal quarantines make no sense, as people could simply go to another part of the state or region. He said that any such order would need to be carried out statewide for it to be effective. LANSING, MI -- The Big 3 have already or are preparing shut down, at least temporarily. U.S. automakers, including Michigan-based General Motors Corp, Ford and Fiat Chrysler, and their suppliers are suffering financially amid the coronavirus outbreak. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine teamed up to write a letter to President Donald Trump and Congress asking for help, the Governors Office said in a statement released Friday evening. As we only begin to understand the full ramifications of the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, we the undersigned governors write to voice our increasing concern about the rapid economic deceleration and the resulting impacts to some of our most important industries, the March 20-dated joint letter said. "What we do know is that this expected continued decline is likely to contribute to significant liquidity challenges for U.S.-based manufacturing, its suppliers, and workers throughout the entire automotive ecosystem. Absent swift action to confront these challenges, our states could see devastating job losses and disruptions throughout the supply chain."Thats why we made this request together today. The listed actions the governors are requesting include: Provide loans and loan guarantees to manufacturers experiencing substantial revenue loss; Allow banking regulators to temporarily suspend and review the Liquidity Coverage Ratio and other requirements to provide supervisory flexibility for banks extending credit; Allow companies to defer 2020 quarterly tax payments to preserve liquidity; Expand the Federal Reserve purchase program to include Asset Backed Securities as a priority; Reinstitute Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF); Expand purchases of commercial paper (CPFF-Commercial Paper Funding Facility) to benefit all issuers; and, Work with the Federal Reserve to utilize all available tools to ensure liquidity; specifically, consider utilizing Targeted Lending via sec. 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act and invoke unusual and exigent measures to lend to entities most adversely impacted by COVID-19. Read the full letter As of Friday, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services was reporting 549 confirmed cases of COVID-19 coronavirus, including three deaths. The total number of confirmed cases increased by 469 between Tuesday and Friday. The sharp increase is partially attributed to more tests and results coming from private labs or universities. Whitmer declared a state of emergency on March 10 after the first cases were identified. She has since closed schools, bars, restaurants and other establishments to prevent COVID-19 from spreading further. There have been nearly 15,219 cases of the coronavirus and 201 deaths in the United States, according to the Center for Disease Control. PREVENTION TIPS Michigans State Emergency Operations Center is coordinating state-government resources and the response to the coronavirus spread. It has shared the following tips: What you can do to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases: Always cover coughs or sneezes with a tissue or sleeve. Stay home if you are sick and advise others to do the same. Avoid close contact with people who are sick. Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands. Wash your hands often with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds. Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol, if soap and warm water are not available. Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces(computers, keyboards, desks, etc.). Its not too late to get your flu shot! While the influenza vaccine does not protect against COVID-19 infection, it can help keep you healthy during the flu season. Related stories: Friday, March 20: Latest developments on coronavirus in Michigan Number of people on life support with coronavirus, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says Looking for coronavirus case numbers in Michigan? Why official data lags Complete coverage at mlive.com/coronavirus Its difficult to keep track of which blow landed on which day. There have been too many. But Thursday managed to stand out. We learned that the city had its first confirmed cases of the coronavirus spreading from one San Antonian to another. Throughout Thursday, the first day when restaurants and bars were closed to in-house customers, reports flooded in about service workers being thrown out of their jobs. Most had no idea what they would do next. Lines formed for free food, and panic shopping at H-E-Bs continued unabated. That afternoon, Hyatt Regencys owner announced the hotel would close temporarily, starting Sunday. A few hours later came word that its sister property, the Grand Hyatt, would go dark as well. That shouldnt have come as a shock the Grand Hyatt is a convention hotel in a city that, for now, has no conventions. It shocked you nonetheless. San Antonios hospitality industry is decimated. A walk downtown at 8 p.m. Thursday confirmed it. You parked in one of the several open spaces in front of the darkened La Boulangerie on Broadway, your favorite bakery. A homeless man slept in the doorway. You headed south and cut over to Navarro Street, encountering four people just four on the sidewalk along the way. Seven vehicles were parked in the surface lot near the northeast corner of Navarro and Commerce streets. Two middle-aged women, one wearing a white florescent vest, the other a yellow one, chatted as they patrolled the mostly empty lot. The woman in the white vest carried two paddles. She stopped talking and clapped them together three or four times, hard. She meant to scare off the birds hanging out in the trees along Navarro so theyd stop pooping on the sidewalk. Does that work? you asked. Yeah, it works. It didnt. The birds didnt budge. You realized their chirping and the hiss of car tires on pavement were the only sounds. No murmur of people on the sidewalks, no music from the bars. One block south, you looked up at the faces of Hotel Contessa and Westin Riverwalk. For every 15 or so dark windows, there was one room light on, dimmed by curtains. You didnt see a valet at either entrance. STR, a firm that tracks the hotel business, reported that San Antonio hotel occupancy had plunged to an average of 58 percent the week before last. From the vantage point of Thursday night, that would count as a good week. Then you hit the River Walk, taking the stone stairway off Navarro. At street level, it was breezy and cool like spring. But the air around the San Antonio River was humid. There were a few panhandlers, a grimacing old man curled up on a stone bench and a couple of guys who were either exhausted, high or drunk. They nearly outnumbered the visitors whod gambled that their trip to San Antonio wouldnt turn out like this. At a distance, a couple carried bags of take-out back to their hotel. You imagined kids watching TV and waiting for dinner. In October, San Antonio ranked third on USA Todays list of best U.S. cities for tourists, based on affordability. Come for the inexpensive meals and drinks, the newspaper gushed, and dont forget: While there, you can see many of San Antonios hot spots and historic sites by biking, strolling or taking a river cruise along the River Walk. About 13 million people flock to the River Walk annually. A study conducted three years ago by the San Antonio River Authority put the destinations economic impact at $3 billion annually. Tens of thousands of jobs depend on it. Its long history of success, and your memories of its walkways so crowded you fretted about being bumped into the river, haunted you. They made the quiet even quieter. The hotels and buildings filled with restaurants, bars and shops that hem in the River Walk were mostly dark. One of the exceptions: an 18-story hotel thats under construction next to Esquire Tavern. The bottom few floors facing the river were open. Bright, work-site lights illuminated the steel bones of what will be guest rooms or maybe a dining room. The Canopy by Hilton thats what itll be called is one of at least nine hotels in planning or under construction downtown. You wondered how quickly tourism can claw its way back once the public health emergency is over, and whether some of the projects that havent broken ground yet will evaporate. As you followed the rivers bend, heading to the Houston Street bridge, you passed two men in T-shirts and baggy gym shorts sitting on a bench. One said to the other, incredulously, Its the most bull resume you could possibly imagine. Get used to it, you thought. A cascade of other resumes is headed your way whatever business youre in. As you approached the bridge, with Acenar Mexican Restaurants empty patio on your right, the only sound was the thrum of the big HVAC units in the buildings around you. The office building with the BBVA sign on top, white letters against a blue backdrop, loomed a few blocks to the north. Most of the floors had at least a few offices with the lights on, at least some of them peopled with executives trying to figure out what to do now. It was late by then, and you turned around to go home. On the way, you stopped to look at some graffiti youd noticed earlier. It was spray-painted on one of the plywood boards blocking off a little foot bridge thats being renovated. In pink letters, somebody somebody youd like to meet wrote: Its gonna be alright. greg.jefferson@express-news.net Annadale resident Joseph Laino takes the first bite at the unofficial 2020 pastry taste-off. Courtesy Joseph Laino STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Nothing keeps Joe Laino away from Italian pastries on St. Joseph's Day, not even COVID-19. Observing social distancing edicts in the wake of the coranavirus pandemic, the Annadale resident and his wife, Tricia, were forced to cancel their annual St. Joseph Italian Pastry Taste-Off on Thursday, March 19, instead settling for an intimate party of two. The cancelled event, dubbed "The Quest for the Best Italian Pastry," is held annually on March 19, and celebrates the Feast of St. Joseph. Laino hosts the annual event with his brother, Steve Laino, and his wife, Brenda, of Westerleigh. After a scrumptious dinner, last year held at Jimmy Max, Westerleigh, the Lainos' family and friends sample sfinges and zeppoles from different bakeries on Staten Island. In 2019, there were pastries from 34 bakeries. This year, because of the pesky pandemic, there were only seven bakeries represented: Annadale Bakery, Alfonso's, Buono Bakery, Belli Baci, La Dolce, Renato's and Sal's Bakery. Scroll down for photos of the luscious Italian pastries and insight to the Joseph Laino's annual tradition. And of course, the winner of the unofficial "Quest for the Best Italian Pastry." Don't Edit The 2020 pastries for "Quest for the Best." Courtesy Joseph Laino How "Quest for the Best Italian Pastry" tradition started Joseph Laino grew up in a close knit Italian-American Catholic family and is proud to be named after St. Joseph. Of the many traditions surrounding the saint's feast day, but Laino's childhood favorite was always the St. Joseph's pastry (Zeppole di San Giuseppe). "Extended family would come and visit and we would always celebrate all the Joes in the family," said Laino, a NYS licensed real estate salesperson for Cangiano Estates. "I would be in heaven when family would come and bring boxes from different bakeries. The the older family member loved to feed me and see 'little Joe' eat, and trust me I didn't disappoint!" Sadly, over the years, Laino's grandparents, aunts and uncles passed on, but Laino felt it important to keep the tradition alive. And the name "Quest for the Best" was borne out of water-cooler debates at which bakery had the best pastries. In 2012, March 19 took an even greater importance in Laino's life, when his brother and sister-in-law, Steve and Brenda Laino, received a long-awaited call: The home finder they were working with had an infant from foster care who needed placement and was placed in their care the same day. "Of course I came over immediately," said Joe Laino, "And of course I brought over Italian pastries." Today, that adopted baby is Arielle Laino, 8. Her biological sister, Alexis Laino, 6, rounds out the family. Joe is Arielle's godfather. "Since that phone call, St. Joseph's Day has taken on a grander meaning," said Laino. "Since 2012, it's also 'Arrival Day.'" Don't Edit Tricia Laino and her husband, Joseph Laino, of Annadale. Courtesy Joseph Laino Social media support The last few years, the "Quest for the Best" has been held at Jimmy Max, Westerleigh. "Jimmy McBratney has graciously let us hold it at his restaurant," said Laino. "What has made doing this even more enjoyable was while posting photos on social each year, I couldn't get over the amount of people genuinely interested and/or excited to see what the next year would bring." Over the years, friends and strangers have reached out to Laino to make bakery suggestions. "They would tell me places they liked or tell me of their tradition of that day," Laino added. "And when Dr. Gracelyn Santos started to covering the event for Staten Island Advance/SILive, the responses were overwhelming." Don't Edit Courtesy Joseph Laino COVID-19 derails 2020 "Quest for the Best" While planning this year's "Quest for the Best" event, Laino had one eye glued to the news and the developing coronavirus pandemic. "I was praying for the people of Wuhan affected by COVID-19, but continued on with preparations, never imagining that in a matter of a few months the virus would not only find its way here but has become a world-wide pandemic," Laino. "A little less than two weeks ago I reached out to family and said I wasn't sure if we should go through with this, thinking it might not be appropriate while so many were suffering." Over the next few days thereafter, it became clear the party had to be cancelled. "It is absolutely frightening how the COVID-19 has brought us to our knees," Laino said, adding that as a realtor, he is no longer showing properties. "The stock market is tanking, children can't go to school, adults cannot go to work and people are dying here and around the world at such a rapid rate," he said. "So many are are in complete panic mode." Laino hopes Staten Islanders can come together and help each other, something he does on his social media by posting funny jokes. "Even if it's as simple as giving people a moment of levity, it can be gratifying knowing you made someone smile." Don't Edit Courtesy Joseph Laino The "Quest" must go on Despite strictly observing social distancing, Laino decided to go to seven different bakeries, against the wishes of his wife, Tricia, and hold a mini- "Quest for the Best Italian Patry" event. The guest list? Just Joe and Tricia. "The past few weeks, so many people have been telling me how excited they were that the 'Big Day' was coming," said Laino. "I wanted to show in my own crazy way that life doesn't have to completely stop and we're stricken by fear. Laino said he also wanted to support the bakeries, the local small businesses who rely on our support to survive. "In my own little way I just want to believe that by doing this and posting on social media, people will be reminded to be cautious and safe, but also that life will go on. "There is a light at the end of this dark tunnel." Don't Edit Don't Edit Courtesy Joseph Laino And the winner of the 2020 "Quest for the Best" is... "All were very good but if had to break it down, I'd say Buono, LaDolce & Renato's were the top three," said Laino, adding this is not a slight to other bakeries. "Competition was strong. I give props to Belli Baci for most interesting new flavor with a chocolate cannoli cream with seven layer/rainbow cookie in the middle. OMG!" he added. Don't Edit 2019 memories: Members of the Laino family -- Brenda, Joseph, Arielle, Steve, Jennie, and Tricia -- are pictured at the 2019 St. Joseph's "Quest for the Best Italian Pastry" party at Jimmy Max, Westerleigh. (Dr. Gracelyn Santos/Staten Island Advance) Throwback to 2019 "Quest for the Best" Thirty-one bakeries were represented in the 2019 St. Joseph's Taste-Off, hosted by Joe and Tricia Laino of Annadale and Brenda and Steve Laino. The 34 bakeries included for consideration in last year's pastry taste-off by the Laino family included: From Staten Island: Alfonso's in Westereigh, LaBella's of Tottenville, Belli Baci, Top Tomato, Shop Rite, LaDolce Bakery, Annadale Bakery, Aunt Butchies in Tottenville, Montabano's of Rossville, Amici's Bakery, Holterman's, Mark's Bake Shoppe, Novelli's, Piece of Cake, Pasticceria Bruno, Royal Crown Bakery, Buono Bakery, Little Italy Gourmet, Filoncino's, Frank & Sal's, Pastosa's of Richmond Rd., Rispoli's Bakery, Moretti's Bakery, Renato's Bakery, Enzo & Tino's Bake Shop & Sweet Life Bake Shop. From Brooklyn: Grisman's Bakery on 86th St., Villabate Alba 18th Ave., Rimini Pastry Shop on Bay Pkwy, Reliable Bakery 18th Ave., Leske's on 5th Ave., Paneantico Bakery & Cafe on 3rd; and finally Jean Danet on 5th Ave. From New Jersey: La Bonbonniere of Woodbridge and Del Ponte's of Bradley Beach. Don't Edit Courtesy Joe Laino Arielle and Alexis Laino are all smiles after tasting some Italian pastries at last year's 2019 "Quest for the Best." Don't Edit Courtesy Joseph Laino A sampling of the Italian pastries at the 2020 "Quest for the Best Italian Pastry" event, one bakery of seven this year, compared to last year's pastries from seven bakeries. Don't Edit Courtesy Joseph Laino A sampling of the Italian pastries at the 2020 "Quest for the Best Italian Pastry" event, one bakery of seven this year, compared to last year's pastries from seven bakeries. Don't Edit Don't Edit Courtesy Joseph Laino A sampling of the Italian pastries at the 2020 "Quest for the Best Italian Pastry" event, one bakery of seven this year, compared to last year's pastries from seven bakeries. Don't Edit Courtesy Joseph Laino A sampling of the Italian pastries at the 2020 "Quest for the Best Italian Pastry" event, one bakery of seven this year, compared to last year's pastries from seven bakeries. Don't Edit Courtesy Joseph Laino A sampling of the Italian pastries at the 2020 "Quest for the Best Italian Pastry" event, one bakery of seven this year, compared to last year's pastries from seven bakeries. Don't Edit Courtesy Joseph Laino A sampling of the Italian pastries at the 2020 "Quest for the Best Italian Pastry" event, one bakery of seven this year, compared to last year's pastries from seven bakeries. Don't Edit Courtesy Joseph Laino A sampling of the Italian pastries at the 2020 "Quest for the Best Italian Pastry" event, one bakery of seven this year, compared to last year's pastries from seven bakeries. Don't Edit MANILA, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The 100,000 COVID-19 test kits and other medical supplies, which China donated to the Philippines to help the country fight against the coronavirus pandemic, arrived in Manila on Saturday. Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian handed over the 100,000 test kits, 10,000 personal protective equipment, 100,000 surgical masks and 10,000 N95 masks to Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin at Ninoy Aquino International Airport. China chartered a cargo flight to bring the medical supplies to the Philippines. "We firmly believe that with our joint efforts in fighting the virus hand in hand, the China-Philippines relationship will be further deepened and strengthened," Huang said in a speech at the turnover ceremony. Huang voiced hope that the Philippines will win its fight against the deadly viral disease. Locsin thanked China for its "tremendous help" amid concerns that the Philippines is running low of supply of COVID-19 test kits. The Philippines has reported 230 COVID-19 infections so far, including 18 deaths. At least 381 people have pending test results as of Friday, the Department of Health said. Locsin lauded China for being a global model in the fight against COVID-19. "(China) is a model for what the rest of the world should be doing. Instead of blaming each other for what's happening, we should all start working together to help each other," Locsin told reporters. "This is how we tackle a common threat to humanity; together we help each other as much as we can," he added. Specifically, Locsin said the lockdown measure that China imposed at the start of the outbreak was "the right thing" and made "a lot of sense". More than 58 million people living on the main island of Luzon, including Metro Manila, are subject to a stringent, police-enforced lockdown ordered by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte earlier this week. The Coronavirus has caused wide-scale disruption across the world. Fortunately, many celebrities are stepping up to do their part. Whether thats donating time or money, celebrities around the world have offered to help how they can with the COVID-19 pandemic. Kelly Ripa, a co-host on LIVE with Kelly and Ryan, and her husband Mark Consuelos, who plays the role of Hiram Lodge on Riverdale, are just some of the many celebrities who have contributed to the cause. Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos | Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic How the Coronavirus has impacted Hollywood As the nation continues to practice social distancing, COVID-19 continues to impact the economy. The Coronavirus pandemic has affected many peoples jobs and their access to food, with many businesses closing their doors to prevent the spread of disease. Hollywood has also been affected, with many movies and television shows halting production to prevent their cast and crew from contracting the virus. Riverdale is one of the many shows that suspended production after a crew member came in contact with someone who had contracted COVID-19. Other shows like Euphoria, The Bachelorette, and Survivor have all postponed their production until it is safe to start filming again. To the disappointment of many fans, these halts could mean some serious delays in the premiere of these shows. Mark Consuelos and Kelly Ripas Conronavirus donation New York has been hit pretty hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Just yesterday, The New York Times reported over 5,600 confirmed cases and 43 deaths. Conseulos and his morning show host wife have donated $1 million to help with coronavirus relief. A source told People that the contribution would be allocated in part to the New York Governors Office for the purchase of ventilators. Some of the funding is also going to be allocated toward WIN, an organization responsible for the operation of 11 womens shelters across New York City. Other celebrities helping with Coronavirus relief Many celebrities have extended a lending hand during this difficult time. From streaming live concerts to living room dance parties, celebrities all over the world are using their talents for good to inspire fans to stay inside and practice social distancing. Using the hashtag Alone Together, Jersey Shore star DJ Pauly DelVecchio hosted a live DJ set from his Las Vegas home. Coldplays Chris Martin, John Legend, and Bono have also streamed performances on platforms like Facebook and Instagram to take their fans minds off of the Coronavirus pandemic. Other celebrities, like Ryan Reynolds and his wife, Blake Lively, are donating money to help support the cause. Like Ripa and her Riverdale star husband, Reynolds and Lively announced their $1 million donation to food banks in the United States and Canada. Reynolds took to Instagram to share the news, saying: Covid-19 has brutally impacted older adults and low-income families. Blake and I are donating $1 million to be split between Feeding America and Food Banks for Canada. While theres no definite timeline for when the pandemic will cease, celebrities are hoping that their efforts will help make a difference in the way the virus impacts the world. Closing down the family law courts is not an option, the courts chief justice says as stress, social isolation and job losses are expected to lead to a spike in domestic violence during the COVID-19 pandemic. While courts across the country adjourn cases and move their work online, Federal Circuit Court and Family Court Chief Justice Will Alstergren said he cannot shut up shop. In times of crisis, there is greater propensity, unfortunately, for family violence, he said. We have to make sure we provide access to justice, we have to ensure people are properly cared for in those times. Chief Justice Will Alstergren said the courts had to maintain its services to at-risk women and children. Credit:Eddie Jim A national men's referral service say they are already getting calls about the virus' impact on their relationships, while services urgently plan how to support at-risk women and children in the event of a lock-down. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More With Maharashtra recording the highest number of confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in India, Tata Motors is preparing for one-week complete shutdown of its Pune plant. Tata Motors is the biggest automotive sector employer in Maharashtra with two manufacturing plants, a research centre and multiple offices in Mumbai and Pune. If it goes ahead with its shutdown from the indicated March 24 date, Tata Motors will become the first Indian automotive company to declare a lock down of manufacturing operations due to the pandemic. Several automotive companies such as Volkswagen and BMW have already shut their Europe plants. In a letter to the employees, managing director, Guenter Butschek said, "We have been monitoring the situation closely and all data seems to point out that Maharashtra has been the most impacted." "In the interest of safety of our employees in the state, we have decided to rapidly scale down activities at Pune site to get to skeletal operations by March 23-end (Monday) and be ready for a plant closure by March 24-end (Tuesday) as the situation warrants. We shall remain in this mode till March 31 and review it in due course," it said. At the time of publishing the article Maharashtra reported 52 COVID-19 cases with Pune and Pimpri and Chinchwad showing the highest count. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray-led government has announced near lock down of the state with all non-essential establishments ordered to remain shut till March 31. On March 20, CM Thackeray announced a further reduction in workforce to 25 percent in all government office from the earlier 50 percent and a complete shutdown for all private offices till the end of the month. Early on March 20, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran declared that the Tata Group companies will ensure full payment to temporary workers and daily wage earners for March and April even if they are unable to come to work due to quarantine measures or site closures. A plant closure by Tata Motors will also hit the businesses of its suppliers which are mostly based in Maharashtra as well. The company manufactures hatchbacks, SUVs, trucks, mini trucks, vans, pickups and vehicle engines from the Pune plant. The company also said it is closely watching the developments in other states where it has plants. "We shall continue to closely monitor the situation in all states where our offices and plants are located and make appropriate and proactive decisions should the need arise," added Butschek. Dubai: A Dubai-based Indian teen, who was stranded at Frankfurt Airport in Germany for over 24 hours, is finally returning to her parents here with the help of Indian and UAE authorities, according to a media report. Indian expats and long-time Dubai residents Arshad and Urvi Zaheer said their daughter Miha Zaheer, 18, a first-year student at University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, will board the next flight from Frankfurt to Dubai,Gulf News reported. Miha was stranded at Frankfurt Airport after she was not allowed to take the connecting flight to Dubai due to entry restrictions in the UAE. However, Miha's parents coordinated with Indian and UAE authorities in Frankfurt and Miha was given a letter by the UAE consulate saying she was good to travel. Miha's parents got a call from a UAE-based airlines in Frankfurt that their daughter Miha had been accepted on the flight and they are bringing her to Dubai. "We sincerely thank the airline, the UAE authorities and the Consulate General of India in Dubai and Frankfurt for patiently hearing us out and helping us in these very helpless and challenging times, the family said in a statement. As much of the western world descends into a COVID-19-induced panic, nations in close proximity to China have remained relatively calm. Foreign tourists wear face masks during a cyclo ride in Hanoi. VNS Photo Alexander McNab Ollie Arci By March 2, Viet Nam had registered only 16 cases of the virus, all of which had been treated successfully and released from hospital. The countrys 17th case, imported on a flight from London, kicked off a new wave of cases, which as of writing stands at 76. Even with a new wave of cases, the numbers are far from those witnessed in the western world. The issue has been taken seriously, with all suffering symptoms put in quarantine and tested, while their places of residence are locked down and sanitised. Viet Nam was one of the first nations to declare an epidemic and has been quick in its response, both in handling current cases and ensuring the spread of the virus is as limited as possible. The country has been putting in place preparations since January, knowing the potential impacts of the epidemic. From the start, Viet Nam has been ready to sacrifice economic gain for the greater good of a healthy population. It seems that readiness has worked. If strict, the measures have so far paid off with no deaths recorded, in stark comparison to the ballooning numbers in Italy and the rest of Europe. Many of these countries have now been placed under lockdown, and clips of sequestered residents singing from their balconies demonstrate a resilience of spirit, if not evidence of preparedness on the parts of their governments. It seems authorities in the west are playing catch-up, having displayed a sense of nonchalance in the early days and are now realising the error of their ways. For many, places like Viet Nam represent a form of sanctuary compared to their homes. Posts on Facebook say how expats are feeling safer abroad than in the UK, US or Canada. The transparency with which authorities have dealt with the situation has also been praised, helping cement public trust and stop undue panic before it starts. The reaction here has been nothing short of exemplary. As supermarkets in many countries are raided for essential supplies, shelves remain fully stocked and those in quarantined areas are helped through community efforts to supply food, water and other goods. There was no run on loo roll, perhaps due to the prevalence of the celebrated bum gun, or more likely because of trust in the authorities ability to manage the problem. A high level of consideration for others is pervasive, while announcements from the Government have been factual and prompt, adding to the prevailing sense of calm. The early declaration from Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc of waging a battle against the virus as if it were an enemy set the State up for an all-government effort against COVID-19. In addition to sober announcements and policy changes, light-hearted songs have captured the worlds attention and made the case that were all in this together. All for one While other nations are slowly closing schools and shutting down large-scale events, such action has been going on here for weeks. Bottles of communal hand sanitiser quickly popped up in public places, while signs, posters and ads are now common across major cities. Temperatures are also checked on entry to big buildings. Recent rules mandating the use of face masks may seem draconian, and the jury is still out on their efficacy, but the simple gesture is one demonstrating a level of seriousness towards the safety of the community as a whole. As a guest, it seems only right to adapt and embrace. The incredible, wide-reaching response is necessary for a country of nearly 100 million. But more incredible is the low number of cases despite the long border with China and the continuing efforts of global economic integration. Even the World Health Organization (WHO) has praised the efforts of the Vietnamese Government, saying: Early detection, early isolation, and active treatment is extremely important. Viet Nams early actions stopped the further spread of the disease, saving thousands of lives. The UK's National Health Service, much-vaunted and yet critically underfunded for years, was teetering on the brink long before the coronavirus reared its contagious head. If you thought Brexit was the final nail in the coffin, it could in fact be COVID-19 which pushes the overworked staff and creaking facilities into oblivion. In contrast, Viet Nam's public health service may not have the sheen of western counterparts, but has received funding over the years, allowing for a level of preparedness required for just such a crisis. A rapidly deployed plan has designated facilities across the country as quarantine and treatment centres, while doctors, nurses and other medical staff are ready at a moments notice to reach potential new outbreak clusters. Even tourists arriving in Viet Nam after immigration restrictions were implemented were full of praise despite being quarantined, with one couple writing in a letter posted on social media: We respect the fact that this is what had to happen in the circumstances and we are very thankful to the hospital and all the staff for looking after us so well. Other countries seem to be backpedalling frantically against their slow response, like Italy, or weighing options while citizens become frantic, like the UK. A far cry from the Blitz spirit. A British tourist shipped into quarantine on arrival said: while the rest of the world waited, Viet Nam has been preparing. Whether the stringent measures pay dividends over the long run is yet to be seen, but in terms of social sentiment, the east is definitely winning this war at the moment. VNS First day of face masks being compulsory comes into force in Hanoi Following the passing of recent legislation, all Vietnamese citizens and foreigners are now required to wear face masks when in public as of March 16, with the majority of people around the capital following the new rules. Richard Burr. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Richard Burr, Kelly Loeffler, James Inhofe, and Dianne Feinstein came under fire after reports emerged they had sold stock as coronavirus spread in the US. Burr was significantly criticized for selling at least $628,000 in stock while being part of a panel that had access to classified government information on coronavirus. The North Carolina Republican faced calls for his resignation. The revelations raised questions as to whether the senators moved to dump their stocks before a public health emergency that threw financial markets into a tailspin and erased trillions in wealth. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Four senators are coming under fire for selling massive stock holdings as the coronavirus spread across the US. Republican Sens. Richard Burr, James Inhofe, and Kelly Loeffler all dumped stock in late January and early February, around the time when the first diagnosed cases of coronavirus emerged in the US. Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein also sold a significant amount of stock. Here's how much each senator sold and the time period each transaction was completed: Burr's stock sales were first reported by ProPublica. The Daily Beast first published details on Loeffler's transactions. Read more: Goldman Sachs pinpointed these 15 must-own stocks it says are best positioned to weather an inevitable coronavirus recession Story continues The revelations raised questions as to whether senators had unloaded stocks before an outbreak that threw financial markets into a tailspin and erased trillions in wealth. The details around Burr triggered widespread outrage. Given his position as the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, the North Carolina senator was part of a panel that received numerous briefings on the threat from the coronavirus, Reuters reported. Burr also came under criticism after a secret recording first published by NPR on Thursday showed the senator striking a far more dire tone on the virus threat in a gathering with business leaders in late January compared to his public statements. In a statement directly addressing the financial disclosures, Burr said he "relied solely on public news reports" and cited CNBC's coverage. He also called on the Senate Ethics Committee to review his actions. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a prominent House Democrat, called on Burr to resign and accused him of misleading the public about the severity of the outbreak. Read more: The coronavirus crash has pushed a group of quality companies to the cusp of disaster and investors must now confront the 3 most dangerous letters in markets Some watchdog experts say his moves raise the possibility that he made money off information he had privileged access to. "We have huge concerns with this ethically. As a senator, he has a responsibility to his constituents first. The idea that he might be profiting off insider information is problematic," Lisa Gilbert, vice president of legislative affairs at the government watchdog group Public Citizen, told The Washington Post. The other senators also faced criticism. Loeffler tweeted about attending a Senate briefing on coronavirus on January 24, and began dumping stocks shortly after. The first stock was in a company named Resideo Technologies, which has shed half its value in the ensuing market plunge over coronavirus. Loeffer went on the defense in a tweet, calling the scrutiny "a ridiculous and baseless attack" and saying "third-party advisors" oversee the portfolio she shares with her husband Jeffrey Sprecher, the chairman of the New York Stock Exchange. Inhofe also echoed his Senate colleague in a statement released Friday, saying the allegations were "completely baseless and 100% false." He added he didn't have "any involvement" in investment decisions made by his financial adviser. "In December 2018, shortly after becoming chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, I instructed my financial advisor to move me out of all stocks and into mutual funds to avoid any appearance of controversy," Inhofe said. Read more: 'We have not had a single loser': An investment chief who's earned up to 90% per trade during the coronavirus crash breaks down his strategy and explains why it will profit through the election Feinstein is one of the longest sitting Democrats in the Senate, and also part of the Senate Intelligence Committee, which received several classified briefings on coronavirus last month. Three days before the first sale, Feinstein joined other Senate Democrats on January 28 to send a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services to express "deep concern" about the coronavirus spreading in the US. In a statement to Business Insider, the California senator said she wasn't at the January 24 Senate briefing on coronavirus and that she had put all her assets into a blind trust. She also said she didn't personally make the decision to sell any stock. "During my Senate career I've held all assets in a blind trust of which I have no control," Feinstein said. "Reports that I sold any assets are incorrect, as are reports that I was at a January 24 briefing on coronavirus, which I was unable to attend." She went on: "Under Senate rules I report my husband's financial transactions. I have no input into his decisions. My husband in January and February sold shares of a cancer therapy company. This company is unrelated to any work on the coronavirus and the sale was unrelated to the situation." Congress began mandating that members disclose all stock transactions in 2012 under the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, or STOCK Act. The law was designed to bar lawmakers from profiting on sensitive information they have access to. Transactions are reported in ranges on disclosure forms. Read the original article on Business Insider Patients halved at out-patient clinics of Delhis leading hospitals on Friday and Saturday after Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday evening urged people not to go to hospitals for routine check-ups. At the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), the out-patient clinics saw more than 5,800 people on Friday, which is almost half of the number of the close to 11,000 patients last Friday. Around 50% of patients who go for treatment at AIIMS are from outside Delhi. On Saturday, when out-patient clinics in government hospitals run till 1 pm, the clinics were even more deserted than the day before. Hospitals also cancelled all non-emergency surgeries beginning Friday to decongest hospitals and free up resources, including beds and health workers. All Delhi government hospitals were also directed to cancel all such non-emergency procedures from Saturday. India has recorded 258 Covid-19 cases and four deaths so far. In such times of crisis, we also need to be aware that the burden on our essential services, our hospitals, is continuously increasing. I urge you to as much as possible, avoid going to the hospital for routine check-ups, Prime Minister Modi said in his address to the nation. A person at the out-patient department registration counter at AIIMS said, There has been a decline in the number of patients coming into the hospital for a few days now. I think they are scared of the coronavirus. And the PMs speech must have convinced many others to stay home. Sharda Devi, 57, who had accompanied her son, Santosh, to the hospital on Friday, said that she had heard the PMs address but it was necessary for them to come. I saw what he said about this infection Corona on TV yesterday, but today he was scheduled for dialysis. So we had to come even though we were scared, she said. Both were wearing cloth masks. In fact, every other person in the hospital had a mask. Ganesh Shah, 64, bought one outside the hospital. I have heard about this new corona infection. I had covered my face with a gamchha in the morning. Here I found a guy selling masks and bought one. Now I will wear it at home too. What if this infection might come to Bihar too? he said. He travelled from Patna for his appointment for an assessment of his stomach cancer. Bihar has not reported any positive case of the infection. A day before the PMs address, the AIIMS started sending messages to its patients with an appointment for the next one month saying, In view of the increasing threat of corona infection, you are requested to postpone your appointment at AIIMS if it is not urgent in nature. This is for your safety and good health. One of the staff members at the medicine clinic said, There has been a decline in the number of patients coming to the hospital in the last two days. Today, it is almost half; almost all the patients received consultations by 12 oclock. This place is usually packed till 2 oclock. Earlier this week, other hospitals had also started taking measures to curtail the number of people coming to the hospital. When necessary, you could get the required guidance over phone from your known local doctor, family doctor, or some relative who is a doctor. In case you have a non-essential, elective surgery scheduled, I would urge you to postpone it by a month, the PM had said in his address. AIIMS performs around 100 routine surgeries across departments in a day, with the waiting period for surgeries varying from a month to a year. Safdarjung hospital across the street performs at least 50 surgeries a day. The hospital had cancelled all non-emergency surgeries two days ago and the out-patient clinics were restricted from Thursday. The hospital cut the registration time for the clinics by one and a half hours and closed its geriatric out-patient department for older patients. Satendra Singh, 62, travelled from South East Delhis Jaitpur to get his swollen and painful leg checked out on Friday. Today, there were only seven other people waiting in the queue with me. Usually, it is full, he said. He was wearing a mask that his son got from his company. Ajay Kumar, whose entire family were wearing masks, said, I heard the PM. I wouldnt have come, but my gall stone surgery was scheduled for today. I called the helpline number to check whether the date will be changed, but no one answered. So I came with my parents to check, he said. At central Delhis Dr Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) hospital, the out-patient departments and surgeries have not been cancelled or curtailed but announcements are being made asking people to come to the hospital only in the case of an emergency. This has resulted in a decline in the number of patients over this week, reducing by almost 50% today, said a hospital official, on condition of anonymity. Safdarjung and RML hospitals are the nodal centres for the treatment of Covid-19 in the city. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON ANN ARBOR, MI -- As hospitals across the U.S. prepare for a growing number of new COVID-19 patients, residents can help by donating new or unused protective medical gear, Ann Arbor health leaders announced Friday. Both the University of Michigan and St. Joseph Mercy medical systems will host donation drives for items used in healthcare treatment as more cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, are confirmed in Michigan. Health leaders say there are enough items in stock now, but want to prepare for any potential surges. Sixteen people in Washtenaw County have confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Friday, March 20. None of the cases require hospitalization, according the Washtenaw County Health Department. Michigan confirmed coronavirus cases rise to 549 Two more confirmed COVID-19 patients are being treated by Michigan Medicine, hospital officials said this week. Donations to Michigan Medicine will begin Saturday, March 21 and Sunday, March 22 from noon to 5 p.m., then continue daily from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday. Donations will be accepted at the North Campus Research Complex, 2800 Plymouth Road in Ann Arbor. Its truly incredible what we have heard from local residents and businesses, and people all over the state, in recent days. Weve received offers of supplies that they know are needed to care for COVID-19 patients, and our team has ramped up quickly to be able to accept them, said Janet Abbruzzese, who directs supply chain management for Michigan Medicine,in a statement. We have already had an amazing outpouring of supplies from scientific laboratories across the university, and now we are turning to the broader community. Ypsilanti Community Schools seeking donated school supplies to send to parents Michigan Medicine is accepting the following new or unused items: Disposable face masks N95 masks, sometimes called respirators Eye protection including face shields and safety goggles Disposable gowns Disposable gloves, especially non-latex Disposable surgical caps Disposable foot covers Wipes: bleach or antimicrobial Hand sanitizer PAPRs (powered air-purifying respirators) and PAPR hoods Nasal testing swabs Viral testing kits More information on what is not being accepted, as of March 20, is available here. Three St. Joes locations are also accepting supplies. Spokesman Bobby Maldonado said the donation centers come from an outpouring of requests from the community that wanted to support local health care workers. We decided to set up drop off centers as a way to address their wish to help make a difference in their local community, Maldonado said in a statement. We are blessed to be a part of such a thoughtful community, and thank everyone for their well wishes as we navigate these unique times together. Locations: St. Joes Ann Arbor: Towsley Health Building, 5361 McAuley Dr., Ypsilanti St. Joes Chelsea: Drop off at the white tent near the emergency department, 775 S. Main St., Chelsea St. Joes Livingston: Main Entrance, 620 Byron Road, Howell Donation Center hours will be 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, though hours may change based on staffing, officials said. Donation centers will also be set up at St. Joes locations in Livonia and Pontiac. St. Joes staff will accept the following unopened items daily beginning Saturday, March 21: PAPRs Regular masks N95 masks Face shields Gowns Hot glue sticks Surgical caps/protective caps Eyeglass shields/goggles Nasal testing swabs M4 Viral Media Lysol or Clorox Wipes Hand sanitizer Transparency sheets Stay up-to-date on the coronavirus pandemic in Michigan at mlive.com/coronavirus. PREVENTION TIPS Michigans State Emergency Operations Center is coordinating state-government resources and the response to the coronavirus spread. It has shared the following tips: What you can do to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases: Always cover coughs or sneezes with a tissue or sleeve. Stay home if you are sick and advise others to do the same. Avoid close contact with people who are sick. Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands. Wash your hands often with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds. Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol, if soap and warm water are not available. Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces(computers, keyboards, desks, etc.). Its not too late to get your flu shot! While the influenza vaccine does not protect against COVID-19 infection, it can help keep you healthy during the flu season. Friday, March 20: Latest developments on coronavirus in Michigan Number of people on life support with coronavirus, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says Michigan not considering coronavirus shelter-in-place order, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says Looking for coronavirus case numbers in Michigan? Why official data lags EDWARDSVILLE Third Judicial Court Chief Judge William Mudge on Friday announced that because of coronavirus concerns, only essential court matters and proceedings shall continue to be heard until further notice. All non-essential court matters and proceedings shall be continued or, when possible, conducted remotely via telephone, video or other electronic means. Essential court proceedings include: All matters with individuals in custody, including bond hearings; Criminal trials with speedy trial demands and those in custody; Summary suspension hearings, absent an agreed continuance; Emergency and plenary petitions for protective orders including orders of protection, stalking, no contact, civil no contact and firearms surrender order; Detention hearings for detained juveniles; Shelter care and other essential hearings for juveniles who may have been abused or neglected; Mental health hearings for involuntary commitment or treatment; Emergency hearings in family matters scheduled only with the approval of the court; and Any other emergency hearing scheduled and approved by the court. People will be denied entry to the courthouse if they: Have travelled within the last 21 days to any country designated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as high risk locations for transmission of COVID-19; Reside with or have close contact with anyone who has travelled to any country designated by the CDC as high risk locations for transmission of COVID-19; Have been directed to quarantine, isolate, or self-monitor at home for by any medical provider; Reside with or have close contact with anyone who has been directed to quarantine, isolate, or self-monitor at home by any medical provider; Have been diagnosed with, or have had close contact with anyone diagnosed with COVID-19; or Have flu-like symptoms, including fever, cough, or shortness of breath. Attorneys and litigants with a scheduled case, appointment or otherwise required to appear at the courthouse in connection with a court case but cannot due to the restrictions should contact the circuit clerk where the case is pending or visit their website. The court will continue to conduct hearings on only essential or time sensitive matters if the presentment of a motion or petition cannot be conducted remotely via telephone (or video in limited circumstances) or other electronic means. In such an event, at these proceedings, parties are required to remain seated at counsel table and maintain safe distance of at least six (6) feet between themselves, other counsel and courtroom personnel at all times. The Law Library/Self Help Center is hereby closed. Self-help forms will continue to be available from the Circuit Clerks Office. E-Filing requirements for self-represented litigants only is hereby suspended until further notice as access to the clerks E-Filing terminals for self-represented litigants will not be available at this time. Such persons may file paper pleadings with the Circuit Clerk. Staffing of the Circuit Court, its administration, the Detention Home and Probation and Court Services is being reduced in light of Supreme Court Order M.R. 30370 and this order. The Clerk of the Circuit Court is to notify all parties of record by posting on its website and emailing attorneys and by other appropriate means. It is further ordered that this order be filed in the Office of the Circuit Clerk of Madison County, Illinois and that said order be made available to the members of the bar and public. At any moment, Bob Begliomini can jump onto Lehigh Valley Health Networks new dashboard to check on its real-time inventory of masks, gowns, eye wear and hand sanitizer, all crucial supplies for healthcare workers on the front lines of the coronavirus epidemic. It is really cool, Begliomini, network senior vice president and president of LVHNs Muhlenberg campus, said of the dashboard created in response to the rapidly expanding outbreak, which has been taxing hospital supplies in many parts of the nation. We are good right now. Our supplies are good on a lot of things. But we dont know what the future is going to hold. Watching the volatile situation, Lehigh Valley Health Network is getting creative about keeping its supply shelves stocked while also working through its normal supply chain. The hospital is looking to replenish its stock of sanitizer from a surprising local source. When LVHNs Begliomini saw news reports about craft distillers pivoting to creating hand sanitizer, he reached out to South Bethlehems Social Still distillery and restaurant to see if they had extra alcohol on hand. We have our own in-house pharmacies and we have the expertise to make hand sanitizer if we have the alcohol, Begliomini explained. Social Still owner Adam Flatt was already trying to make his own hand sanitizer, but hed hit a roadblock: No one had any bottles available and it was getting tough to find the required glycerol. When he got Begliomini's call, Flatt was thrilled to donate 10 gallons. This isnt a joke when the local hospitals are contacting local distilleries, he said. ... Thats a blessing to feel that I have been asked to help. The health network was happy to provide Social Still with a stash of 300 bottles, so Flatt could start making his own sanitizer dispensers, Begliomini said. It was a good opportunity for us to be prepared for the future, he said of the stockpiling. It was a real nice exchange and a real nice way to partner with our community to help each other out." The alcohol was intended for Social Stills batches of craft vodka, but Flatt is happy to shift production. We just finished our first batch of social sanitizer. We are providing them to health care workers for now but hopefully we have something for the public by next week. Posted by Social Still on Friday, March 20, 2020 We are going to take on this challenge, he said. This commitment between businesses in the community to do what we can -- something as large as LVHN can reach out to someone as small as Social Still to solve a problem... its been amazing. To us this is an emergency and something that makes sense to keep the community safe." The distillery finished its first batch Friday morning and plans to first provide the sanitizers to health care workers, with hopes of offering some to the public next week. Pennsylvania Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine this week warned hospitals to prepare for a likely surge of ill patients" as the virus spreads. The Wolf administration is working with hospitals to determine their capacity to handle such an increase and looking at every option to add bed space, staffing and supplies. Levine also said they are looking at whether beds for patients with less serious ailments can be set up in hotels. The state has seen its number of confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, climb from just 12 a week ago to nearly 300 by Friday. The Lehigh Valley has 12 confirmed cases, including the states first death. Levine called the viruss spread exponential. Although, early counts were probably on the low side; numbers should rise as testing ramps up. Hospitals nationwide are preparing for a flood of patients, expecting many of them to need intensive care from an infection thats easily spread by droplets when an infected person sneezes or coughs. Some hospitals are already reporting or projecting shortages of the protective equipment nurses and doctors rely on to stay healthy while on the front lines of fighting the virus. Since the start of the pandemic, LVHNs established a coronavirus hotline and opened test and assess centers across the region in hopes its emergency rooms wont be inundated with suspected coronavirus patients. Thus far, the effort is working, Begliomini said. Both St. Lukes University Health Network and LVHN have put in strict visitor restrictions and canceled most elective surgeries to free up resources. St. Lukes declined to provide information about its stock of supplies several times this week. Experts say social distancing and widespread testing are among the best tools to avoid whats happening in Italy, a country with an elderly population and unchecked community spread thats allowed the virus to overwhelm the health care system. The pandemic has infected more than 207,000 people worldwide and killed more than 8,200, taking the worst toll in Italy, where healthcare workers without enough medical equipment are now forced to prioritize care for those most likely to survive. The world is experiencing such a shortage of surgical masks and respirators China is now sending supplies to Italy and France. And Americas mask supply is dwindling so fast the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is telling health care providers they can use homemade masks, like a bandana or scarf, as a last resort when face masks are not available. LVHN is not at a critical juncture, Begliomini said, but it is taking steps now to preserve supplies for a future patient surge. We are sufficiently stocked currently, but depending on what the future holds it is hard to say at what point we are going to be reaching out (for more supplies)," Begliomini said. We have talked to a number of companies, our local government leaders, so were constantly working on it. Asked if the network is altering its standards for employee use of masks and other gear, Begliomini said the network is trying to regularly emphasize the proper protective equipment to be wearing given the patient you are taking care of. The network does that through frequent emails laying out protocols, via educators on the floors and infection control practitioners who monitor and educate, he said. LVHN providers are being advised to reuse single use N95 respirators -- masks that are thicker and tighter than normal surgical masks, named for their ability to block 95% of small airborne particles -- in accordance with evolving CDC guidelines. Employees received detailed instructions this week on when to use the masks and how to properly store them for reuse. Currently, they are still being discarded at the end of shifts, but that could change, according to a communication with staff. LVHN is looking at what other hospitals are doing to preserve protective equipment and testing new methods, Begliomini said. We are doing our very best to preserve PPEs (personal protective equipment) and protect our staff, patients and visitors, Begliomini said. On Thursday, LVHN issued a warning that anyone who has recently traveled to New York City or been in contact with someone that has been to the city is at a higher-risk for contracting the virus. The number of confirmed cases in that city jumped to almost 5,200 this week. More than 1,000 health care workers came out of retirement to help fight the coronavirus, according to Mayor Bill de Blasio. On Friday, de Blasio requested 3 million N95 respirators from the federal government amongst other supplies, after warning Thursday of a looming shortage. Vice President Mike Pence promised that a new law will allow healthcare workers access to tens of millions more protective masks immediately, but the Washington Post reports it is unclear whether total production will meet demand. This week, 3M, which currently manufactures more than 400 million N95 respirators in the U.S. each year, said it has doubled its global output, aiming for nearly 100 million per month or over 1.1 billion per year. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com. If theres anything about this story that needs attention, please email her. Follow her on Twitter @sarasatullo and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Earlier this week, the State Department issued a dire warning against traveling abroad and urged any U.S. citizens visiting a foreign country to get home as soon as possible because of coronavirus. Its a directive New Orleans nurses Leigh Kalbacher and Elyse Bower, vacationing in Guatemala, had been trying desperately to heed. UPDATE: New Orleans nurses stuck in Guatemala due to coronavirus-related border closures work to get home Kalbacher and Bower, both 32, have spent the last several days holed up in their Airbnb in the colonial city of Antigua, going out only for needed supplies. They're constantly touching base with their colleagues who are gearing up to get slammed by COVID-19 cases, and relatives who are working any lever they can find to try to get the two women home. The uncertainty is really scary, Bower said in an interview Friday, six days after being told by a fellow traveler in a tiny resort village that the last flight to the U.S. had already left. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined this would happen so quickly, and Im sure thats how everyone else feels, Kalbacher said. The friends are just two of thousands of Americans hundreds of them in Guatemala marooned abroad by sealed borders, travel bans and canceled flights. Tickets are listed as being available at sky-high prices, though there are also cellphone videos posted on Facebook of guards blocking people who say they have plane tickets from entering the airport. Senate Democrats pressed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo earlier this week to clarify what efforts are being made to help stranded Americans. U.S. ambassadors have said guidance is coming, though it's not clear when. Military planes have in recent days picked up Americans stuck in Morocco and Peru, but for others, the days are filled with rumors, incomplete information and dashed hopes. In the meantime, all Kalbacher and Bower can do is endure the anxiety that comes with being separated from their families and their calling during a time of desperate need. Part of me feels sad not being there for my co-workers, because its very scary and stressful, Bower said. The more nurses the better, so I really just want to get back to help. Kalbacher and Bower asked that the names of the New Orleans-area hospitals where they work be left out of this article, citing company policies related to contact with the media. New Orleans, Bower said, is our home. We need to get back to take care of it. What was supposed to be a 12-day trip began on March 12. Kalbacher and Bower spent a few days in Antigua, taking in the sights, before heading to San Pedro La Laguna, a small town on the shores of Lake Atitlan, the following Monday. When they arrived at the resort after a three-hour drive, a traveler from Europe asked if they were American, and told them a friend had just gotten the last flight back to the States. Kalbacher said she had checked for travel advisories that morning and had seen nothing, and it wasnt until about 2 p.m. that the U.S. embassys website posted the border closure even though it had gone into effect two hours earlier. We were kind of in shock, Kalbacher said, noting the airport was four hours away. It was way too late for us to even attempt to get out. Vaccine news in your inbox Once a week we'll update you on the progress of COVID-19 vaccinations. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up They called home and work and began dialing the U.S. embassy, but no one answered. By their second morning in San Pedro La Laguna, they awoke to find the entire town shut down. Thats when it really hit me. I was like, Oh my gosh, we need to get out of here, Kalbacher said. They hired a driver and headed back to Antigua on Wednesday, and got stopped at a checkpoint along the way to have their temperatures taken. None had a fever, and they were waved on. Calls to the U.S. embassy continued to go mostly unanswered. The few times they did reach a live person, they were transferred to another unhelpful recording and no one picked up. Kalbacher and Bower heard some people were renting cars and driving for the U.S.-Mexico border, which has since been closed. But Bower and Kalbacher didnt think the roughly 30-hour journey would be safe for two women. Theres now a Facebook group called Stranded in Guatemala, just as there are for U.S. citizens stuck in scores of other countries. A group of missionaries is stuck there, and Bower and Kalbacher ran into a fellow American in the grocery store the other day who is trying to get home. Family members have been in touch with the federal government and members of New Orleans congressional delegation, including U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson. Scalise's office said Saturday that it has been working to help Kalbacher and Bower, among other constituents stuck abroad. Congressman Scalise and our staff have been working around the clock to get any of our constituents who are stranded in foreign countries home," spokeswoman Erin McBride said. "Our staff communicates with the State Department and our embassies around the world throughout each day to work on options for people to get home. Bower said she and Kalbacher have accepted that their stay will likely stretch into next month, because flights from Guatemala are suspended until at least March 31. +2 As coronavirus death toll climbs, nursing homes fear supply shortages, residents' isolation As the unfolding coronavirus crisis continues to spread, leaders at some of Louisiana's most vulnerable facilities nursing homes and senior There was a sliver of hope Friday after the embassy sent out an email about a possible charter flight, but it was not immediately clear how or when that could happen. Guatemala had only six confirmed cases of coronavirus as of Friday. Many Guatemalans are wearing masks, some scarce consumer goods are rationed at stores and restaurants are only doing takeout, much like in the U.S., though Bower noted no one there is hoarding toilet paper. It could be a lot worse, Bower said. Were healthy, were safe, but obviously we want to get home. Both women have been keeping up with the news back home. Neither has children. Bowers mother, younger sister and brother-in-law are all nurses, and Kalbachers mother and two two sisters are nurses. Im nervous about how long Im going to be stuck here, and what if one of my family members gets sick? said Kalbacher, whose twin sister works in Seattle, where the first coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. occurred. +10 In coronavirus fight, New Orleans companies transform themselves to make sanitizer, masks Earlier this week, the New Orleans distillery Porchjam was making its Bolden Vodka, while nearby the firm GoodWood NOLA was milling oak planks Kalbacher and Bower said that while coronavirus cases had cropped up in New Orleans before they left, none had been reported in Guatemala at the time. They always figured they could monitor the alerts and get home if they needed to. Worst-case scenario, well get a warning, we can leave, Kalbacher recalled thinking. Every time Ive gone out of the country Ive always been able to get back, she said. I never imagined I wouldnt be able to get back home. Nearly 187 people kept under house observation in the state. (AFP) Kurnool: As news spread that an Indonesian man, who is a coronavirus (Covid-19) suspect, was missing, it led to tense moments to the police and health officials here on Friday, and led to nine bus passengers, his co-journeymen, being taken to the isolation ward at Kurnool government hospital. Police at Veldhurti got information from the RTC managing director that a Covid-19 suspect was travelling in a bus from Dharmavaram to Kurnool. They were told to intercept the bus and detain the passenger. But the Indonesian passenger got down from the bus at Dhone, much before the cops could reach it. When a sub-inspector of police intercepted the bus, it had nine passengers, and all of them were taken to the Kurnool government hospital for observation and kept in isolation. They all reported that the Indonesian suspect was sneezing and coughing. The police intensified their search for him and learnt that he was travelling by the Sampark Kranti Express (Tirupati-Nizamuddin Delhi). They alerted the security at Kurnool railway station to detain him. The health team and police nabbed him and took him in an ambulance to an isolation ward at a government hospital. Dr Rama Giddaiah, district medical and health officer, said that the suspect has been kept in an isolation ward. Dr Giddaiah said that as of now, 187 people have been kept under house observation. Nearly 300 foreign returned people have been identified in the district, he said. The remaining 123 had either given a wrong address or were not available in the district, he said. A door-to-door survey was initiated across the district and all houses were being checked to account for foreign returnees, he said. Influx of religious preachers from Indonesia and Vietnam is proving to be a major problem in Kurnool district.. They said that mosques in the districts were regularly engaging services of Indonesia-based clerics to preach the congregations of religious Islamic scholars. It was learned that at least 10 Indonesian / Vietnamese origin religious teachers were found to have visited masjids in Kurnool district in the last few days. A health official said that they were kept in isolation wards created in masjids. A case was registered against a 34-year-old man for breaking mandatory home quarantine and leaving house in neighbouring Navi Mumbai on Saturday, the police said. The man, a resident of Kamothe area, had returned from Dubai a week ago, said a police official. He had tested negative for the coronavirus but was nevertheless asked to stay at home for two weeks. When civic officials visited his house on Saturday afternoon, they found he had gone to Vashi to meet his brother. He was summoned and a case under IPC section 188 (defying lawful order of a public servant) was registered against him at Kamothe police station, the official said. He and his family members, who too had been advised home isolation, were afterwards sent to quarantine centre in Kharghar, the official added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Bachelorette alum Hannah Brown suffered the wrath of keyboard warriors on Friday, when she dictated a questionable caption on her most recent bikini-clad Instagram portrait. Whats more contagious than a smile, wrote the 25-year-old reality star, who could be seen posing in a blue Onia two-piece before a slew of palm trees. Shortly after posting, Brown was quickly met with a hoard of replies referencing the current coronavirus pandemic as something literally more contagious than a smile. Yikes: The Bachelorette alum Hannah Brown suffered the wrath of keyboard warriors on Friday, when she dictated a questionable caption on her most recent bikini-clad Instagram portrait The reality star faced her critics head on, when she replied to one follower who bravely commented: The coronavirus, hannah, the freakin coronavirus. Shhh, spread love not fear, directed the blonde beauty, in the response seen by her 2.7million followers. Browns flippant remark did not slow down the flood of comments marveling at her captions tone-deaf nature. Shhh, spread love not fear, directed the blonde beauty in response to a commenter calling her out for the snap, in which she posed in a blue Onia two-piece before a slew of palm trees This is not the first time Hannah has found herself catching some serious coronavirus-related heat. On Thursday, the reality star, who is currently bunkering down at ex Tyler Camerons Florida home with a slew of their closest pals, occupied some of her idle time by creating some short form content on the popular app TikTok. Brown, joined by her housemates, created her own version of the popular Flip The Switch TikTok meme, which sees men and women swap clothing to the tune of Drake's 2018 single Nonstop. Viral: The group used their isolation time to create their version of the popular Flip The Switch TikTok meme Funny: Tyler showed off his abs wearing Hannah's outfit Though seeing Tyler try and squeeze into Hannah's tiny black tank top amused many, raking in 178k views in a little over two hours, others were not impressed. What riled up viewers was Browns use of the term Quarantine Crew in the caption of the clip, while blatantly engaging in a close contact activity. Earlier in the week former Bachelor Nick Viall appeared to slam the squad while appearing on influencer Claudia Oshry's Instagram Live on Wednesday. Offering some choice advice, the 39-year-old reality star said: 'Stay the f*** home. Stop doing TikTok videos with groups of people in the pool.' He didn't call out anyone by name when asked who he was talking about. 'Im just pointing it out,' said Viall. The White House strongly discouraged any gatherings of 10 or more people during a press briefing Monday. Meanwhile it has been said Hannah and Cameron have a good attitude about the attention theyve been receiving since deciding to quarantine together in Florida. An insider told Us Weekly on Thursday: 'Tyler and Hannah are very much aware of the attention thats been on them recently. 'They think its funny that people are so invested.' The on-off couple first sparked reunion rumors when the hunky Bachelorette runner-up was spotted picking the beauty queen up from the Palm Beach International Airport this past Saturday. Since then, it appears the pair have been inseparable, seen out almost everyday since. Cameron famously came in second place on season 15 of the ABC dating series The Bachelorette last year, but Hannah then asked him out after 'winner' Jed Wyatt was revealed to be somewhat of a fraud - discovered to have had a serious girlfriend right before his time courting Brown on the show. The USNS Comfort and the USNS Mercy are rushing to complete their scheduled maintenance and board teams of medical personnel. Once outfitted, the Comfort will sail to New York Harbor, and the Mercy will head off to the Port of Los Angeles. Despite being ordered to prepare, there isnt a realistic timeline for the ships' departure just yet, as they were both undergoing routine maintenance and repairs when the outbreak began. Read: There's No Timeline Yet for When Hospital Ship Comfort Will Deploy to New York Comfort and Mercy are by no means a silver bullet solution to the growing outbreak. In fact, they won't be handling anyone infected by the coronavirus, known as COVID-19, at all. Instead, the ships will treat other cases to take pressure off hospitals dealing with infected patients. Using the Comfort and Mercy for Coronavirus Response The sister ships are the third-largest vessels in the Navy, surpassed only by Nimitz-class and Ford-class aircraft carriers. Mercy began her life as a San Clemente-class oil tanker called SS Worth and was converted to a hospital ship in the mid-1980s. The Comfort is also a converted oil tanker, once known as the SS Rose City. Both Comfort and Mercy are essentially floating hospitals, each with a 1,000-bed capacity and complete with anything you'd find in a normal hospital, including blood banks, morgues and oxygen-production plants. The ships are designed to specialize in trauma cases, given their mission is to treat wounded troops. They are not designed to handle an infectious disease outbreak for many reasons. The ships have no way of isolating infectious patients; that's why they will deploy to support only non-COVID-19 cases. Further complicating their support of the outbreak, some of the patient beds aboard are actually stacked atop one another.The berthing beds for the crew are stacked three deep, and the ship uses metal handrails -- on which coronavirus can survive for hours. Some question whether the ships should be used at all. It wouldnt be the first time a hospital ship was less than helpful. Witnesses say the Mercy actually hit the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor while sailing dangerously close to it. Deploying the Comfort and Mercy What is unique about the two ships are the laws surrounding their status as non-combatants. They do carry weapons, but only defensive armaments, and they can't transport members of the Navy who hold combat specialties, such as naval aviators, special operations troops or submarine or surface warfare officers. Marine Corps personnel are also not stationed aboard the ships. As a result, they're most often crewed by civilians from the Military Sealift Command. Firing on the Comfort or the Mercy would be a war crime under the Geneva Conventions. The ships are in a reduced operating status in their home ports. Fewer than 75 crewmembers are aboard while the Mercy is at home in San Diego and the Comfort is docked at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia. Once activated, the ships are usually ready to be underway within five days, taking on a crew of about 60 civilian mariners and more than 1,200 military medical personnel. The biggest problem with staffing the hospital crews during the coronavirus response is that many of them are civilian reservists, and activating those specialties would remove them from the civilian population. he U.S. Military Sealift Command Hospital ship USNS Mercy, anchored off of the coast of Jolo City, Philippines. (U.S. Navy/Chief Photographer's Mate Edward G. Martens) Past Uses of the Comfort and Mercy Both Comfort and Mercy have seen their share of action. They both deployed in support of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Mercy, which operates primarily in the Pacific, deploys routinely for training exercises and in response to humanitarian disasters. Comfort historically sees a lot more action. It was deployed to support Operation Uphold Democracy, a U.S. military intervention in Haiti in 1992, and later supported the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Comfort also supports training and humanitarian exercises. This will not be the first time the ships have deployed inside the United States. Comfort responded to the 9/11 attacks, deploying to New York City to assist hospitals there. It also sailed for New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and to Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria. -- Blake Stilwell can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com. Want to Learn More About Military Life? Whether you're thinking of joining the military, looking for post-military careers or keeping up with military life and benefits, Military.com has you covered. Subscribe to Military.com to have military news, updates and resources delivered directly to your inbox. VIENNA, March 20 (Reuters) - Austria will extend its coronavirus restrictions until April 13, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Friday. The Alpine republic, which has reported more than 2,200 coronavirus cases and six deaths from the global pandemic, put severe restrictions on movement on Monday in response to the developments in Italy and a sharp increase in coronavirus cases in some of its regions. "Hold tight," Kurz addressed Austrians at a news conference. "We must not slow down. We must stick with the measures we have taken." (Reporting by Kirsti Knolle, editing by Thomas Escritt) STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Police say they received multiple 911 calls reporting a shooting Friday afternoon in Grymes Hill, but have found no victim so far. Cops are continuing the investigation after several callers dialed 911 to report multiple shots fired from a silver Infiniti sedan at around 12:10 p.m. on Longview Road, according to a spokesman for the NYPD. Callers reported that the sedan fled the scene, according to the spokesman. After a thorough search, police found no signs of a victim, but Emergency Services was called to the scene to search for ballistics, according to the spokesman. He did not have information on the results of that search. (Natural News) For weeks after it became apparent that the Chinese government did not have a handle on the outbreak of the Wuhan coronavirus, the World Health Organization said little to nothing about COVID-19 as it spread beyond Beijings control. Well, thats not entirely accurate; the organizations leaders said little to nothing negative about Chinas inability to contain the virus. As Natural News has reported, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has consistently downplayed the crisis in terms of both its severity and impact. The priority instead is one of propping up the all is well narrative to maintain business as usual, especially in communist China, where critical data is also being covered up to perpetuate the illusion that the situation is fully under control. Before Tedros finally declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic, he lectured people who attempted to tie it back to China and to impose travel and trade restrictions on the country despite the fact that it indeed originated there. Pathetic. But why? What is it about Communist China that WHO seeks to protect? Writing in the Epoch Times, Peter Zhang, a researcher on political economy in China and East Asia, noted that even Chinese citizens know that the WHO is deferential to the Communist government: Nicknamed Wuhan Health Organization by Chinese netizens, the performance of the World Health Organization, along with its Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has been raising serious questions these days in terms of politicizing the institution through its unblushing effort to please Chinese communist leadership, while Beijings coverups of the Wuhan virus continue. Zhang notes further that the WHO has a dismal track record of failures when it comes to dealing with deadly epidemics over the years. Back in 2015, for example, under the then-leadership of Beijing-backed Margaret Chan, the global health agency did admit that it was ill-prepared to handle the Ebola outbreak. Democrats are also covering for China WHO did eventually detail eight lessons that the agency allegedly learned from that outbreak, including communicating more clearly what is needed. Later, the agency proposed nine fixes that it said would enable officials to do a better job during future outbreaks, including the establishment of a Global Health Emergency Workforce. But overall, the agency has a record of not really doing much to impact global health in a positive way, perhaps because it tries to do so from a geopolitical viewpoint. And the same is true for the coronavirus, according to Zhang. This time, he writes, the failure of the global health organization isnt all about its incompetence, but also includes its less than subtle effort to trumpet Beijings narratives during the crisis. Thats been a big problem in and of itself because China hasnt been upfront or transparent about the scope of the outbreak and its true effects. Spoke today with Director Yang Jiechi about disinformation and outlandish rumors that are being spread through official PRC channels, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrote on Twitter Monday, in response to Beijings claims that the U.S. military spread the virus to China. The United States is sparing no effort to protect our people and contain the global #coronavirus pandemic. Beijing must acknowledge its role and be part of the solution. Axios even reported that the WHO was running interference for Beijing by imploring U.S. leaders to stop calling it the Chinese coronavirus (well, Left-wing Axios really is only blaming Republicans, but thats nothing new). This is in opposition to guidance from the World Health Organization, which requested back in February that the epidemic be referred to as coronavirus or Covid-19, rather than terms that could stigmatize individuals with Chinese ancestry, Axios Sara Fischer wrote. The WHO is fronting for Communist China, that much is obvious, and the group is getting support from American Democrats, as usual. Sources include: Axios.com TheEpochTimes.com NaturalNews.com The Houston Chronicle has lifted the paywall on this developing coverage to provide critical information to our community. To support our journalists work, consider a digital subscription. 8:45 p.m.: Chambers County reported its first positive case of the novel coronavirus on Saturday evening. A woman between 50 and 60 years old is in stable condition and quarantined at her West Chambers County home. Chambers County Public Health officials said the case may be related to travel, and is monitoring the woman's health. Health officials are investigating who had contact with the woman, and will notify those to be at possible risk of infection. The immediate risk to other residents of Chambers County remains low, officials said. Chambers County Judge Jimmy Sylvia earlier Saturday dispelled rumors on social media that the county will soon be placed under lockdown. "At this time, there are no plans for a shelter in place order for Chambers County," Sylvia said in a statement. I understand that Chambers County citizens are worried but please remember that spreading inaccurate information can cause real harm. 7:20 p.m.: Two cases of the novel coronavirus were reported in Southeast Texas on Saturday, Beaumont Enterprise's Chris Moore reported. Beaumont's A second Beaumont resident tested positive for COVID-19, a respiratory disease caused by the virus, the city's health department announced Saturday. He is cooperating with the health department and is quarantined at home, officials said. Beaumont Mayor Becky Ames said the man is "doing well" and said officials believe the case is related to travel, but declined to say where he had been. A Hardin County resident self-reported he had tested positive for the disease after taking a test in Louisiana, Judge Wayne McDaniel said Saturday. The county confirmed the resident's positive test result with health officials in Louisiana. Local officials found out about the case after the unidentified man posted his medical status on social media. After being notified of the post on Saturday morning, McDaniel said he urged the man to contact local health officials. Jefferson County has tested about 200 residents and Hardin County has tested 11 residents. 7:10 p.m.: Legacy Community Health's novel coronavirus testing clinics administered 61o tests between Monday and Friday, nearly half of which came on Friday. The clinics, which are located in Fifth Ward, Montrose, Southwest Houston and Beaumont, are open to prescreened residents who have ever, cough, shortness of breath and have either traveled recently or had contact with anyone diagnosed or suspected to have COVID-19. 6:35 p.m.: Fort Bend health officials reported five new coronavirus cases on Saturday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the county to 29. The new cases include: A man in his 70s who was hospitalized and released, and is now recovering at home A woman in her 20s with moderate symptoms and a history of travel to an area with many cases. She is recovering in isolation at home. A man in his 50s with moderate symptoms who is recovering at home. A woman in her 50s with moderate symptoms who is recovering at home. A woman in her 20s with moderate symptoms who is recovering at home. 6:10 p.m.: The Harris County Sheriff's Office reported two new coronavirus cases Saturday, bringing the agency's total number of confirmed cases to four. The first case is a male deputy in his early 30s who last reported for duty on March 19. He is now quarantined at home. The second case is a male clerk in his late 20s who last reported for work on March 6. He is being treated at a local hospital. The Sheriff's Office previously reported two confirmed cases, a male deputy in his late 60s and a female deputy in her late 20s. Both remain quarantined at home. None of the four cases had contact with Harris County jail inmates, and there is still no confirmed cases among the jail population. Harris County Public Health officials are investigating co-workers and members of the public who may have had close contact with employees. 5:35 p.m.: Brazoria County Health Department reported three new coronavirus cases Saturday afternoon, bringing the total cases to 14 in the county. The first case is a man between the ages of 25 and 35, and lives in Angleton. He is in stable condition and recovering in home isolation. The second case is a man between the ages of 55 and 65, and lives in Clute. He is in stable condition and recovering in home isolation. The third case is a man between the ages of 20 and 30, and lives in Rosharon. He is in stable condition and recovering in home isolation. Health officials are investigating the cases to determine if they are travel-related. 4:20 p.m.: Four additional cases of the novel coronavirus have been reported in the Greater Houston region, including three new cases in the Houston and the first case in Wharton County southwest of the city. The Houston Health Department reported three positive cases Saturday, bringing the city's total cases to 22. The new cases include a woman age 60 to 70 who had no known travel and is currently hospitalized; a man age 20 to 30 who traveled within Texas and is at home recovering; and a man age 40 to 50 who traveled to Costa Rica and is at home recovering. Health department officials are investigating potential contacts exposed to the virus from the new cases. Officials are not releasing any other patient information, citing privacy protection laws. Wharton County reported its first coronavirus case, a woman who was out of town and was tested positive after she returned to the county. 4:05 p.m.: Three hours after Harris County's new coronavirus testing center opened in Baytown, only a dozen to two dozen people have been tested, as of 4 p.m. Officials earlier Saturday told Chronicle Reporter Dylan McGuinness they expected to test as many as 250 people. The tests were limited to pre-screened first responders and medical staff, who were prioritized due to a continuing shortage of supplies. But halfway through the site's 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. day, few cars have shuffled through its tents. 3:40 p.m.: Health officials confirmed a 13th case of the novel coronavirus in Montgomery County. Montgomery County Public Health District said the case is a woman in her 30s who lives in northwest Montgomery County and has no recent travel history. She is currently isolated at home, Chronicle Reporter Catherine Dominguez reports. Despite rumors to the contrary, there is no lockdown, shelter in place or National Guard response in Montogmery County, Judge Mark Keough said. 2:55 p.m.: Two more positive cases of the novel coronavirus have been reported in Galveston County, bringing the total number of cases in the county to eight, according to local health officials. Galveston County Health District said the first case is a woman in her 30s who recently traveled within the U.S. She went to a local urgent care center and is now self-quarantined. The second case is a woman in her 60s who recently traveled within the U.S. She went to a local health clinic and is now self-quarantined. The health district is not releasing additional information about the two cases "for confidentiality purposes," officials said. The health district is conducting investigations to identify close contacts for the two cases. 1:50 p.m.: Retailers caught price gouging could see some steep fines, Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Saturday. Anyone caught selling necessary goods at "an exorbitant or excessive price," according to state law, could see fines up to $10,000 per violation and up to an additional $250,000 if the victims are elderly. Price gouging can be reported to the Office of the Attorney General at 800-621-0508, or online at http://txoag.force.com/CPDOnlineForm. 1:45 p.m.: MKT Distillery usually produces spirits, but it's a different kind of moonshine coming out of the Katy-based liquor maker this week. Its owners are producing hand sanitizer for the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office, who will distribute it to senior citizens, Chronicle reporter Claire Goodman writes. The public can also get hand sanitizer in exchange for a donation to help pay for the supplies needed to continue manufacturing it. The bottles are available at MKT Distillery, located at 5373 First Street in Katy from 12-6 p.m. on Saturdays. 1:15 p.m.: A Pearland resident has been diagnosed with COVID-19, marking Brazoria County's 11th case. County officials said the latest patient is a man in his 50s, who is quarantined at home. The case is not travel related. 12:40 p.m.: Up to 250 people can be tested at the Baytown site using technology from Quest Diagnostics and LabCorp, Chronicle reporter Dylan McGuinness writes. The cap is set so the companies aren't overwhelmed, officials said. Across the county at Butler Stadium, Mayor Sylvester Turner inspected the testing site, which had tested 79 people as of noon Saturday. "We've been through it several, several times," Turner said. "It's a highly resilient community." The number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus continues to skyrocket in Texas, with 544 known cases of the virus as of noon, according to a Houston Chronicle analysis, an increase of more than 120 cases from this morning. This includes 83 cases that the Texas Department of State Health Services have yet to assign to a county. Dallas County continues to be the most heavily affected county, with 95 known cases, according to the Dallas Health and Human Services Department. The Greater Houston region, meanwhile, has 107 known cases. There are confirmed cases in at least 47 Texas counties now. More than 6,500 Texans have been tested for the novel coronavirus, according to DSHS. The last two days have seen more than 4,000 Texans combined get tested for the disease. 12 p.m.: The second government-backed testing center in the Houston region is set to open Saturday in Baytown, Chronicle reporter Dylan McGuinness writes. The site, operated by Harris County, opens at 1 p.m. but will only test pre-screened first responders and medical workers who are experiencing symptoms or have come into contact with a positive case. County officials have asked news organizations not to disclose the sites location because members of the general public cant show up for a test. The people who qualify have been notified already, county officials said. Later, they plan to expand services for high-risk citizens showing symptoms. A similar site operated by the city has already begun offering tests for seniors over 65 with symptoms. There is a screening process including a questionnaire and a phone call before city officials grant permission to show up. Two more sites are expected one each for the city and county as more supplies become available. Private groups, including United Memorial Medical Center and Legacy Community Health, are also offering tests for people with symptoms. United Methodist Medical Center said in a statement Friday night that seven out of 105 tests came back positive. It is unclear whether those cases have been included in city and county counts. And as the Chronicle's Jordan Rubio explains in a chart, thousands of Texans got tested on Friday, a sharp reversal of declining testing numbers over the last week. 11:46 a.m.: Expect an increase in home electricity usage as more Houstonians stay home from work and school, the Chronicle's L.M. Sixel writes. Innowatts, a Houston-based energy analytics company, predicts that daily residential energy use during the coronavirus outbreak will increase by 6 to 8 percent as more people stay home from work and children are home from school. Overall, power use is expected to drop as restaurants, office buildings, retailers and other businesses close. Electricity demand from schools will likely drop by 30 percent, and commercial buildings are expected to cut their electricity consumption by 21 percent, according to Innowatts. 11:15 a.m.: Several Houston-area public health departments have set up call centers to ask questions about symptoms, testing and other COVID-19 information. City of Houston: 832-393-4220 (9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday) 832-393-4220 (9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday) Harris County: 832-927-7575 (9 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day) 832-927-7575 (9 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day) Fort Bend County: 281-633-7795 (8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday) 281-633-7795 (8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday) Montgomery County: 9365235040 9365235040 Brazoria County: 979-864-2167 (10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday) 979-864-2167 (10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday) Galveston County: 409-938-7221, option 1 10:51 a.m.: A fourth person has been diagnosed with COVID-19 in Matagorda County, according to the county regional medical center. The woman is between the ages of 75 and 85, and has not traveled outside the county. She is in fair condition, according to the Matagorda County Hospital District. Eight people in Matagorda County have tested negative and 42 tests are pending as of Saturday morning. 10:33 a.m.: An additional testing site is coming to Cypress, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn announced on Twitter. The site will be open on Saturday, he said. It will be run by state and local officials with the support from the federal government. The Texas Health and Human Services Commission is expected to open two more sites in Dallas and San Antonio next week. 10:15 a.m.: Houston resident Miah Arnold started feeling the chills and a migraine. Then, the three main symptoms of COVID-19: a low fever, cough and breathing problems. It took three calls, but a nurse finally got Arnold a telehealth appointment with her physician at Baylor. Not long after, he ordered her a drive-thru test. Arnold writes about what it was like to get a four-minute nasal swab test. 9:45 a.m.: Hospitals have increasingly barred or limited access to patients as COVID-19 spreads, forcing chaplains and others who minister to the severely ill or the elderly to move their conversations online, the Chronicle's Robert Downen reports. Technology has made it possible for chaplains to still connect with people at the end of their lives, but its work that relies on body language and other social cues that are particularly difficult to convey over a screen. More than anything, they worried about morale, and how to continue doing their work amid so much uncertainty and chaos. Not being with patients goes against my heart and soul, said one chaplain. The very thing that we are called to experience as human beings relationships is that which this virus is trying to diminish, said another. 9:00 a.m.: Houston's police chief blasted a Harris County judge's decision to release a person arrested on suspicion of murder on bond on Twitter. "Activism by officials places society and those previously detained at greater risk," Chief Art Acevedo said. A lawyer for 29-year-old David Cruz asked for a bond reduction on Monday, citing the chance that COVID-19 could "spread like wildfire," Chronicle reporter Gabrielle Banks writes. Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said Saturday morning the county jail system does not have "capacity" for intensive care, and limited space for quarantine. "We have no say in individual decisions judges make in their courtrooms," Gonzalez said in a tweet. 8:25 a.m.: Businesses across the state are closing to try and slow the spread of the new coronavirus. Texas' unemployment compensation fund may not be prepared for the resulting mass layoffs. As the Chronicle's Erin Douglas writes, federal data shows that the state has less than six months of reserves to pay unemployment insurance at recession-level rates. Between Sunday and Wednesday, Texas received more than 61,500 first-time unemployment insurance claims, according to the Texas Workforce Commission, more than four times the filings during a similar period in 2019. And nearly 30 percent of the claims came from workers in the greater Houston region. 7:45 a.m.: As of Friday, 107 people in the eight-county greater Houston area have tested positive for COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus, and 5,277 people in Texas have been tested for the virus, according to state data. The greater Houston region saw the largest single-day increase in cases on Friday with 33 new cases, including two new cases reported around 9 p.m. by Montgomery County officials The Houston Health Department is expected to expand testing at its first drive-thru testing site on Saturday. Seniors 65 and older who exhibit symptoms of a fever, cough and difficulty breathing can call the department for screening at 832-393-4220. You must receive a unique ID code from the department to go in for testing. For up-to-date tracking of the spread of the novel coronavirus in Texas, visit houstonchronicle.com/coronavirus. Pakistan on Saturday suspended all international flights for two weeks and curtailed train services as the coronavirus cases surged to 625 in the country after more pilgrims who returned from Iran tested positive for the deadly virus, which has turned into a major global crisis. IMAGE: A man wears a protective mask following an outbreak of the coronavirus disease while shopping at a market in Karachi, Pakistan. Photograph: Akhtar Soomro/Reuters The government in a statement said all international flights are being suspended for two weeks to curb the spread of the virus. "From 8 pm tonight, all incoming international flights are being suspended for two weeks," a statement issued read. National flag-carrier PIA however will be allowed to bring back its planes. Cargo flights will also be allowed. Earlier on Saturday, PIA had said all international departures were being suspended till March 28. Railway Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad ordered to reduce the number of trains running in the country from March 25 until the middle holy month of Ramadan, which would start around April 25. "We have decided to suspend 34 trains out of total 142 running in the country while another eigh trains will be suspended from April 1," he said. The government announced the measures as the number of confirmed cases in the country jumped to 625 on Saturday. The worst-affected Sindh province reported 90 new coronavirus cases, taking the provincial tally to 357. The new cases have been detected in pilgrims who returned from Iran and have been quarantined in Sukkur, according to a spokesperson for the Sindh health department. The number of COVID-19 patients in Balochistan rose to 104; 96 in Punjab; 27 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa; 21 in Gilgit-Baltistan; 10 in Islamabad; and one in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. So far, three patients have died in Pakistan while five have recovered. Pakistan reported the third casualty from the virus in Karachi on Friday, two days after two men -- both pilgrims returning from Iran and Saudi Arabia -- died of the coronavirus in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The 70-year-old who died in Karachi was a cancer survivor. He had other medical problems like hypertension and diabetes but did not have any travel or contact history, officials said. Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza has said that all provinces of the country now have laboratories where coronavirus tests can be done. Speaking at a press conference, Mirza said that the number of labs would increase in the future. Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday ruled out total lockdown but asked people to reduce unnecessary travel and go for self-quarantine for at least another 45 days to help tackle the coronavirus crisis which has killed over 11,000 people and infected 250,000 worldwide. Pakistan, despite its close proximity with China, remained unscathed by the virus until February 26 when a man from Karachi tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the Express Tribune reported. The man, in his twenties, had returned from Iran, which is also one of the worst-hit countries. After a brief pause following the first case, COVID-19 cases witnessed a sharp surge as more pilgrims returning from Iran tested positive despite the fact that they were quarantined for 14 days at the Pak-Iran border crossing of Taftan in Balochistan. Amid an imminent threat of spread of coronavirus, the Islamabad high court has ordered the release of under-trial prisoners detained in Rawalpindi's overcrowded Adiala jail in minor crimes and directed the Islamabad police not to make arrest in petty matters, the Dawn reported. The Lahore high court has summoned the first meeting of its Crisis Management Committee on March 24. The government has exempted import of 61 diagnostic support and personal protective equipment from all duties and taxes for a period of three months in order to reduce the rising prices in the domestic market. The government has also allowed the use of non-utilised amount of the World Bank-funded projects worth $40 million for purchase of COVID-19 equipment. The provincial government of Balochistan has decided to impose a 21-day partial lockdown across the province to control the spread of highly contagious disease. Under the lockdown, which is similar to the restrictions imposed by the Sindh government, all major shopping centres, markets and food restaurants will remain closed. However, food delivery will be allowed during the lockdown. Pakistan Prime Minister Khan while addressing the media in Islamabad on Friday had said the country's strategy is a little different from a complete lockdown, considering Pakistan's socio-economic realities. "Pakistan isn't a rich country like Italy, where people can get through a sustained period without economic activity," he said. Supports need to be put in place to keep businesses in Arklow and across Wicklow afloat Measures to deal with the unfolding public health emergency are expected to have a significant impact on local businesses, according to the Arklow and District Chamber of Commerce. The body, which represents local businesses, has echoed the Chambers Ireland's call for flexibility from State agencies towards SMEs in the coming weeks 'so that we may ensure business continuity through this crisis'. A spokesperson for the Arklow Chamber of Commerce said the local chamber fully supported the decision to close schools, pubs and limit public events, 'and we agree with the necessity of these actions to limit people's exposure to protect the most vulnerable in our society. We stand ready to support the State in whatever future actions prove to be necessary to overcome these challenging times. 'However, we do request as much clarity and flexibility as is possible from the State and its agencies in its dealings with the business communities, the majority of which are SMEs, over the weeks and months. 'Our businesses, which form our network, are deeply embedded in their communities across south Wicklow. As the number of cases of Covid-19 has increased, our network has felt its impact in the local economies they represent. The spokesperson highlighted that many SMEs and the self-employed have had work cancelled while non-food retailers also experience difficult trading conditions. The spokesperson added that 'extensive dialogue with our members' will continue, 'particularly in light of the speed at which circumstances, and the issues they raise, are developing on a daily basis.' The Chamber called for steps to cut the number of viable businesses which may collapse due to short term cash flow issues including the deferral of VAT, PAYE and PRSI payments, prompt payment from all State Departments, local authorities and public bodies and clear communication from bodies such as the Local Enterprise Offices and INTREO. The spokesperson said the local chamber urged the Government to 'support businesses to stay afloat during these unprecedented times.' Cotonou, Benin (PANA) The Chinese ambassador in Benin has offered the West African country about 1,500 test kits to support the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, sources close to the Health ministry said on Friday Kenny Rogers walked with a limp and spent much of his time sitting during a 2016 show at Stafford Centre. His voice wavered at times. But even then, he joked about his frail state. "I had a knee replacement. And I think they replaced the wrong knee. I can't stand. I can't walk," he quipped in front of a sold-out crowd. "I can see that you guys in the front row are frightened that I might fall. If I should fall, do not feel the need to come help me. I have Life Alert." CRAZY 8: Ranking the RodeoHouston 2020 concerts Rogers, a crossover icon and Houston native, died at 10:25 p.m. Friday at the age of 81, "peacefully at home from natural causes under the care of hospice and surrounded by his family." It was announced across social media by his family. "The family is planning a small private service at this time out of concern for the national COVID-19 emergency," read a statement. "They look forward to celebrating Kennys life publicly with his friends and fans at a later date." Rogers was born Aug. 21, 1938 in Houston. He attended Wharton Elementary School, Jefferson Davis High School and later the University of Houston. After stints with The Bobby Doyle Three, New Christy Minstrels and The First Edition, Rogers launched a solo career with the 1958 single "That Crazy Feeling. It became a local hit. His breakout was 1977's "Lucille," which topped the country chart, went top 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became his first of two U.K. No. 1 singles. It was followed by a string of pop and country hits: signature tune "The Gambler," "She Believes in Me," "You Decorated My Life, "Coward of the Country." The 1980 ballad "Lady" became his first No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. His alternately smooth and husky voice was matched by a silver mane of hair and one of music's greatest beards. Rogers' duets with Dottie West earned them a spot alongside classic county duos. His poppy pairing with Dolly Parton, "Islands in the Stream," remains a karaoke favorite. "We've Got Tonight," a duet with Sheena Easton, showcased another facet of his appeal. Between the hits, he appeared in a string of TV movies, including five of them inspired by "The Gambler." The bearded crooner returned to the top of the country charts in 1999, the first time in more than a decade, with "Buy Me a Rose," a sweet collaboration with Alison Krauss and Billy Dean. At the time, it made Rogers, at 61, the oldest person to have a No. 1 country song. His last album was " The Love of God ," a gospel collection released in October. He opened a chain of chicken restaurants, Kenny Roger's Roasters, in 1991 that was spoofed on an episode of "Seinfeld." The Gambler's Last Deal, his farewell tour, came through the Houston area in 2016 and 2017. "You can bet your ass when I get up," he said from his onstage seat. "It's gonna be important." Rogers is survived by his fifth wife, Wanda Miller, of 23 years and five children, including 15-year old twin boys. A new "Biography: Kenny Rogers" premieres April 13 on A&E. Joey Guerra is the music critic for the Houston Chronicle. Follow him on Twitter. Get experts picks for concerts, kids stuff, fine arts, movies and more by subscribing to the Preview entertainment newsletter. GREENWICH Town Hall will be closed to all employees effective Monday morning as the town works to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus, First Selectman Fred Camillo announced Saturday evening. Also as of Saturday morning, Greenwich Hospital reported 64 patients tested there had been diagnosed with the coronavirus, of whom nine were confirmed to be Greenwich residents. Of those who tested positive, 14 have been hospitalized, Greenwich Hospital announced. At Town Hall, Camillo closed the offices of the Planning and Zoning Commission and Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Agency after a town employee reported symptoms of coronavirus to department heads on Thursday. Employees in those departments were told to work from home on Friday, and the offices were cleaned. Camillo had already closed Town Hall to visitors last week and he is now extending that ban to all employees effective at 10 a.m. Monday. The change is in effect until April 22, in accordance with an order by Gov. Ned Lamont for state residents to remain at home. Despite the closure of the building, town business is expected to go on. All employees are expected to work from home and remain be available by phone and email during business hours, Camillo said. Town department heads and supervisors will provide guidance and responsibilities to employees based on operational needs, he said. Town Hall will be open for employees from 7 to 10 a.m. Monday so they can retrieve any items they need to telecommute. After that, access to the building will be granted only to town department heads and employees of the Health Department. As we continue to monitor the growing number of those infected with the COVID-19 virus, it is imperative that the town continue to operate as safely as possible and provide necessary services to our residents, Camillo said. To that end, we are making these temporary adjustments to our operations. He called it a difficult but necessary decision to ensure the health and safety of employees and residents. Town police officers and firefighters will continue to work their regular shifts, Camillo said. The towns sewer division will also continue to be staffed, with levels adjusted based on need, he said. I ask our residents to continue with their civility and patience as we navigate these uncharted operational waters, Camillo said. It may take longer than usual for us to respond to each query, but be assured we are doing our very best to maintain municipal services. The town urged any residents who has symptoms of the coronavirus to call their doctor or healthcare facility before going to the emergency room. The Greenwich Police Department asks that anyone with mild symptoms to call their doctor for instructions before calling 911 and to not go to the emergency room with mild symptoms. Yale New Haven Health, the network, which includes Greenwich Hospital, has set up a hotline for coronavirus questions at 833-275-9644. The hotline is open every day from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. A website is set up at www.ynhhs.org/patient-care/covid-19.aspx. kborsuk@greenwichtime.com Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 07:06:50|Editor: ZD Video Player Close Medical workers put on protective suits at a hospital in Barcelona, Spain, March 20, 2020. Spain has reported over 1,000 deaths of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, the Spanish Ministry for Health, Consumer Affairs and Social Services confirmed on Friday. According to the ministry, 1,002 people have now lost their lives from COVID-19, in comparison with the 767 deaths a day ago. (Photo by Francisco Avia/Xinhua) BRUSSELS/ROME, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The novel coronavirus is showing no sign of abating in Europe, as the continent reported a significant increase of new deaths on Friday, with Italy seeing the biggest day-to-day spike in fatalities. Also, more people across Europe tested positive for the coronavirus on Friday. The combined number of cases among European countries is approaching 130,000, accounting for almost half of the world's tally. The fast spreading of the virus called for a stricter implementation of anti-virus measures and more drastic steps by European nations. SPIKE IN DEATH TOLL In Italy, 627 patients died of COVID-19 in a 24-hour span on Friday, the highest single-day deaths, bringing the country's COVID-19 death toll to 4,032, according to official data. In the previous 24-hour span, 427 people had died in Italy. In addition, 2,655 patients were in intensive care, a small increase from 2,498 in the same category a day earlier, according to new data released on Friday by the Italian Civil Protection Department. The cumulative number of infection cases reached 47,021 in Italy, since the epidemic first broke out in its north on Feb. 21. Spain also recorded a steep rise in both death toll and infections on Friday. According to the Health Ministry, 1,002 people have succumbed to the COVID-19 disease by midday Friday, an increase of 235 deaths from a day ago. The number of confirmed cases in Spain is approaching the 20,000 mark, with 19,980 cases confirmed by midday Friday -- an increase of 2,833 cases from Thursday. Across Europe, the combined death toll from the coronavirus stood at around 6,000 by Friday evening. In France, 450 COVID-19 patients had died so far and total infections rose to 12,612. The virus had also claimed 177 lives in Britain and 106 in The Netherlands. STRICTER IMPLEMENTATION Italy announced on Friday that it would call up the military to help enforce the national coronavirus lockdown in the hardest-hit parts of the country. There have been widespread reports in the national media that the terms of the lockdown -- which prohibit people from leaving their houses unless it is for "essential" reasons, such as medical visits, trips to grocery store or pharmacy -- have not been respected strictly enough, especially in worst-hit northern Italy. On Friday, regional government officials announced that the military would be mobilized to help enforce the lockdown rules. At first, soldiers will only be deployed in Lombardy, the hard-hit region that includes Italy's economic capital of Milan. But the mobilization could be extended, officials said. Also on Friday, the Spanish government introduced strict controls on roads leading out of the country's main cities in order to keep people at home during the lockdown. According to the government, the Civil Guard will carry out control checks over the weekend to prevent people from traveling to their second homes in the countryside or at the beach. In London, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that cafes, bars, pubs and restaurants must close from Friday night across Britain in a bid to contain the spread of the virus. Night clubs, theatres, gyms, cinemas and leisure centers must also close on the same timescale, said Johnson during his daily briefing in Downing Street. Bavaria, the largest state in southern Germany, has decided to impose a limited curfew and further restrictions to public life in order to slow down the spread of the coronavirus, Minister President of Bavaria Markus Soeder, announced on Friday. "We are shutting down public life in Bavaria almost completely," said Soeder. Starting on Saturday, the population of Bavaria would be required to stay at home and only go out in exceptional cases during the next 14 days. WUHAN OFFERS HOPE In the Swiss city of Geneva, the World Health Organization (WHO) chief said Friday that Wuhan, the epicenter of COVID-19 outbreak in China, provides hope for the rest of the world that even the most severe situation of COVID-19 can be turned around. Calling it a "success", WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted that Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, reported no new cases for the first time since the epidemic outbreak started. According to the Health Commission of Hubei Province, no new infections or suspected cases were reported on Thursday in Wuhan, marking two days in a row of zero report in the city in the months-long battle with the virus. "The experience of cities and countries that have pushed back this virus give hope and courage to the rest of the world," Tedros said at a daily briefing. Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO health emergencies program, said it's a message of hope from China that the coronavirus can be suppressed, whose transmission chains can be broken through huge all-society effort, coordination, solidarity, commitment and workable supply chains, as well as engagement of activated communities and brave health workers. "That is a message of hope to many other countries around the world who have very low number of cases right now," said Ryan. Tedros said COVID-19 seems to reach a new and tragic milestone every day, as more than 210,000 cases, including over 9,000 deaths, have been reported globally. "Every loss of life is a tragedy," Tedros said, calling it "motivation" to double down and do everything people can to stop transmission of the virus and save lives. Pridecrest, Mandeville and Its A Horse, who have each had victories at the top rung at this meet, square off in Saturday nights featured $6,700 Open Trot. The headliner will go as the fifth contest on an 11-race Watch and Wager LLC program and things will underway at 6:10 p.m. Pridecrest scored three straight Open victories between January 24 and February 15, then had to settle for third after a first-over trip while leaving from the demanding No. 10 slot in last weeks get-together at the head of the class. An eight-year-old son of Angus Hall, Pridecrest is owned by Heather Mathews, is conditioned by Steve Wiseman and has Mooney Svendsen guiding from the outside post in the field of seven. He comes into this assignment with 38 wins from his 150 lifetime trips to the post, with $318,000 in his bank account and a 1:53.2 standard that was established here three years ago. Mandeville got the job done with these last week in coast-to-coast fashion with Gerry Longo in what marked his third start back since a slight vacation. Longo owns and trains and Nick Roland will drive the Majestic Son gelding this weekend. Its A Horse packs a big punch in the stretch and deserves plenty of respect for owner Ray Alan Miller, trainer Marco Rios and pilot Dean Magee. His most recent victory came in the Joe Lighthill Trot on December 13 over a sloppy track. Dougs Hobby Horse, Majestic Lady Jo, Windsun Galaxie and Big Hero complete the field. After a couple of runner-up finishes following some time off, Mandeville returned to his winning ways last week in the Open Trot. With his owner/trainer Gerry Longo in the sulky, Mandeville went right to the top, withstood a strong challenge from Pridecrest turning for home and went on to a length victory over the sloppy track. He will be guided by Nick Roland for this weekends assignment. It was the 24th lifetime tally for the Majestic Son gelding and pushed his career earnings over $226,000. He set his 1:54.2 lifetime mark last season at Saratoga. I bought him in Kentucky late last year after he won back-to-back Opens at that new track, Longo explained. When I first got him, his feet were in pretty bad shape and he was racing with glue-on shoes. Between myself, the blacksmith Louie and my groom Oscar, we did lots of work with him and his foot finally grew out. In addition to Its A Horse, who was runner-up in last weeks Open, Mandeville will have to deal with Pridecrest. That one peeled off three straight victories at this level going into last weeks tour, where he left from the challenging No. 10 post and did his work in first-over fashion. (Cal Expo) Representative image The critical shortage of medical supplies across the US, including testing swabs, protective masks, surgical gowns and hand sanitizer, can be tied to a sudden drop in imports, mostly from China, The Associated Press has found. Trade data shows the decline in shipments started in mid-February after the spiraling coronavirus outbreak in China led the country to shutter factories and disrupted ports. Some emergency rooms, hospitals and clinics in the U.S. have now run out of key medical supplies, while others are rationing personal protective equipment like gloves and masks. The United States counts on receiving the vast majority of its medical supplies from China, where the coronavirus has infected more than 80,000 people and killed more than 3,200. When Chinese medical supply factories began coming back on line last month, their first priority was their own hospitals. The government required makers of N95 masks to sell all or part of their production internally instead of shipping masks to the U.S. The most recent delivery of medical-grade N95 masks arrived from China about a month ago, on Feb. 19. And as few as 13 shipments of non-medical N95 masks have arrived in the past month half as many as arrived the same month last year. N95 masks are used in industrial settings, as well as hospitals, and filter out 95% of all airborne particles, including ones too tiny to be blocked by regular masks. Governors across the country are becoming panicked as states run out of equipment. President Donald Trump has urged them to buy masks on the open market, but few if any are available. Without adequate protection, more of our hospital staff could become ill, which would mean there wouldn't be people to care for patients, said Nancy Foster, the American Hospital Association's vice president of quality and patient safety policy. Some hospitals are down to just a day or two of personal protective equipment, she said. The AP found that in the past month, hand sanitizer and swab imports both dropped by 40%, N95 mask imports were down 55%, and surgical gowns, typically sourced from China, were at near normal levels because the sourcing was shifted to Honduras. Typically, medical supplies are delivered along both coasts. But almost all the supplies that did arrive in the past month came into Newark, New Jersey, across the country from the earliest and most severe coronavirus outbreaks. The AP identified the falling imports by looking at shipment data maintained by ImportGenius and Panjiva Inc., services that independently track global trade. In mid-February, the World Health Organization warned that global demand for safety gear for medical providers was 100 times higher than normal. Prices were 20 times higher, stockpiles were depleted and there was a four- to six-month backlog. Despite this, federal contracting data shows there was no big effort at that point to submit orders. COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show Trade policies haven't helped. Tariffs on medical supplies made them more expensive, and they were only lifted March 5, even though health care associations asked the administration last year to exempt items like masks, gloves and gowns. And now countries including South Korea, India and Taiwan are blocking exports of medical supplies to save them for their own citizens, leaving the U.S. with fewer options. The lag time could be weeks. It could be upward of months, said Khatereh Calleja, CEO of the Healthcare Supply Chain Association. Doctors, nurses and first responders in the U.S. are resorting to spraying their masks with bleach at the end of each day and hanging them up at home to dry to use for another day, according to the American College of Emergency Physicians. There is a little bit of anxiety, as you can imagine, going to work and not knowing if you will have enough personal protective equipment, said Dr. David Tan, president of the National Association of EMS Physicians. The decline in swabs included multiple varieties, not just ones needed to test for COVID-19. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has for weeks warned state and local health departments about shortages of swabs, which are needed for the testing that is critical to containing the pandemic. Even over-the-counter medical shipments are decreasing. Ten shipping containers filled with medical thermometers arrived at U.S. ports a year ago this month. But in the last 30 days, there were just five. Hand sanitizer, also commonly sourced from China, has disappeared from U.S. stores, and it may stay scarce. Last year by this time, 223 shipments had arrived. This year, since January, just 157 shipments have come. The shortages affect patients because they can't get tested and their providers may be carrying the virus from one person to the next. But the far greater risk is to medical personnel: Already, there are reports of dozens of doctors, nurses and medical staff who have contracted the virus. A U.S. senator from Pennsylvania has joined others in voicing concern over reports the Bureau of Prisons intends to transfer inmates from out of state facilities to federal prisons in the commonwealth. Unlike others who have spoken out about the possible transfers, Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. in a letter Friday to BOP director Michael Carvajal claims he has heard the inmates may include those under quarantine for the coronavirus. Casey posed 17 questions he would like Carvajal to answer by next Friday about the possible transfers and potential lack of protective equipment for staff. A BOP spokesperson Saturday declined comment on the letter and said the agency would respond directly to Casey. The BOP would neither confirm nor deny reports inmates are to be transferred from two New York City detention centers to the Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary and possibly the Allenwood complex and the Canaan penitentiary in Waymart. Casey noted on March 13 the BOP released guidance detailing a number of measures being deployed throughout the federal prison system related to the coronavirus including suspension of inmate internal movement. Six days later, the Democrat lawmaker said, the BOP changed the guidance to permit transfers to better manage detention bed space with the proviso inmates to be moved must be in BOP custody longer than 14 days. Reports he has received are that transfers will include those in quarantine who have not been in BOP custody for 14 days, he said. Casey in his letter to Carvajal pointed out numerous experts have recommended limiting travel to prevent the spread of the virus. The reported transfers of from out-of-state facilities to multiple prisons in Pennsylvania raise serious questions related to the well-being of BOP employees, the general prison population and Pennsylvanians at risk for contracting and spreading the virus, he wrote. U.S. Rep. Fred Keller, a Snyder County Republican in whose district the Lewisburg, Allenwood and Canaan prisons are located, also has voiced concern to the BOP about future prisoner transfers. He says he has been given assurance no immediate transfers are being planned. However, reports of transfers caused Andrew Kline, president of the corrections officer union at Lewisburg, to sound the alarm because he said there are a lot of unknowns. Lewisburg has the space to for transfers because it is being transitioned from a high-security to low-security facility and has only 177 inmates excluding those in a camp outside the wall. Su Ming Yeh, interim executive director of the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project and Angela Trop, board president of the Lewisburg Prison Project, also have written Carvajal expressing grave concern about transfers due to the COVID-19 pandemic Inmates are highly susceptible to contagious illnesses and their close proximity increases the possibility of transmitting diseases, they wrote. Casey also wants Carvajal to address reports of a shortage of protective masks, gloves, hand sanitizer and medical gowns in the prison system. READ: What if Pennsylvania residents are ordered to shelter-in-place? PARIS, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese experts and officials on Thursday shared their experiences on fighting the novel coronavirus and their latest pathological findings with their European counterparts in a video conference. "China has accumulated rich and valuable experience in the prevention and control of this epidemic, which can help Europe avoid detours," Jean-Pierre Armand, an oncologist at the Gustave Roussi Oncology Institute in France, told Xinhua after attending the conference. In Europe, now the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, infections have been reported in more than 40 countries, with cases surpassing 100,000 as of Thursday, prompting European governments to unleash more anti-viral measures. The French oncologist noticed that Chinese doctors in their fight against the virus tried a variety of clinical treatment methods, including the use of antimalarial and other drugs, as well as traditional Chinese medicine. Information on the dosage and effects of the drugs trialed have proved very helpful for doctors in Europe, he said. In his country, deaths from the coronavirus jumped to 372 on Thursday, up 108 in 24 hours, with confirmed infections totalling 10,995. "The number of cases double each four days," according to the French Health Ministry. About 50 percent of recently detected coronavirus cases in Europe are in patients aged under 60 years of age, said Armand. For him, there is a particularly urgent need to learn the treatment experience of younger patients in China. Liya Ju, chief executive officer of Paris-based Europe PreciMed Platform, said that China's experiences have proved that large-scale testing and screening, as well as effective isolation and treatment, are good ways to curb the epidemic. "When Europe was hit by the flu more than 100 years ago, doctors had to fight alone in their own country. Nowadays, European and Chinese experts can share experience thousands of miles apart, which in itself is a strong support for an early victory over the epidemic," she said. Officials and experts from some 10 European countries including Denmark, Switzerland, Ireland, Portugal and Albania also attended the conference. Photo: Bruce Glikas/WireImage In response to New York Governor Andrew Cuomos attempts to limit the spread of coronavirus, Broadway shuttered its theaters on March 12 for 32 days, a duration that looks to stretch on indefinitely in response to new social distancing restrictions. Like other industries, however, Broadway will not simply be able to throw open its doors and restart its season where it left off. To whit, Martin McDonaghs Hangmen, which was set to open at New Yorks Golden Theatre March 19, wont be opening on Broadway at all following the coronavirus outbreak, despite performing 13 preview shows. Because of the current health crisis which has created circumstances beyond our control, it is with deep regret that we are not able to resume performances of Hangmen, the plays producers announced in a statement Friday. With no definite end in sight of the governments closure and Broadways suspension, we have no alternative but to release the actors from their contracts and close the production. Given our shows budget and capitalization, we do not have the economic resources to be able to continue to pay the theater owners, cast and crew through this still undefined closure period, they continued. Therefore, in the interests of all involved, we regretfully have no choice but to close the show. We are all extremely disappointed that we cannot give Martin McDonagh and our fabulous director, cast and team the celebrated opening they all deserve. Hangmen, written by the Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri director and directed by Matthew Dunster, deals with an executioner-turned-barkeep named Harry Wade, and his reaction to the United Kingdoms abolition of hangings in 1965. Hangmen won the Olivier Award for Best Play in 2016, following its West End premiere. 21.03.2020 LISTEN Mr Kennedy Agyapong, Member of Parliament for Assin Central on Friday appealed to President Akufo-Addo put in place stringent measure for the use of commercial vehicles. He said with the current practices of commercial vehicle drivers to load their cars fully with passengers before moving, if such practices are not stopped, it could trigger the spread of COVID-19 pandemic. Commercial Vehicles' practices in the face of the COVID-19, especially the non-observation of the preventive measures and social distancing, was dangerous and should be stopped immediately. The President is the only one to avert the situation and he should act in Ghana's crucial moments, Mr Agyapong said when he presented 3,000 pieces of face masks to the Greater Accra Regional Hospital(Ridge Hospital) to help protect the health personnel. The MP said though the transport sector would lose business, it would save lives and it would not halt the country's economy. He advised people infected with the disease to avoid the use of public transport, isolate themselves from their relatives, and the communities to avoid the situation where more persons would be infected. Instead they should call the Ministry of Health lines or the National Ambulance Service to be conveyed to the hospitals. He urged the citizenry not to shun or stigmatise family members who were living with the disease, but they should show love, whilst they also took care of themselves. ---GNA What is the coronavirus? A coronavirus is a type of virus which can cause illness in animals and people. Viruses break into cells inside their host and use them to reproduce itself and disrupt the body's normal functions. Coronaviruses are named after the Latin word 'corona', which means crown, because they are encased by a spiked shell which resembles a royal crown. The coronavirus from Wuhan is one which has never been seen before this outbreak. It has been named SARS-CoV-2 by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. The name stands for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2. Experts say the bug, which has killed around one in 50 patients since the outbreak began in December, is a 'sister' of the SARS illness which hit China in 2002, so has been named after it. The disease that the virus causes has been named COVID-19, which stands for coronavirus disease 2019. Dr Helena Maier, from the Pirbright Institute, said: 'Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that infect a wide range of different species including humans, cattle, pigs, chickens, dogs, cats and wild animals. 'Until this new coronavirus was identified, there were only six different coronaviruses known to infect humans. Four of these cause a mild common cold-type illness, but since 2002 there has been the emergence of two new coronaviruses that can infect humans and result in more severe disease (Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronaviruses). 'Coronaviruses are known to be able to occasionally jump from one species to another and that is what happened in the case of SARS, MERS and the new coronavirus. The animal origin of the new coronavirus is not yet known.' The first human cases were publicly reported from the Chinese city of Wuhan, where approximately 11million people live, after medics first started publicly reporting infections on December 31. By January 8, 59 suspected cases had been reported and seven people were in critical condition. Tests were developed for the new virus and recorded cases started to surge. The first person died that week and, by January 16, two were dead and 41 cases were confirmed. The next day, scientists predicted that 1,700 people had become infected, possibly up to 7,000. Where does the virus come from? According to scientists, the virus almost certainly came from bats. Coronaviruses in general tend to originate in animals the similar SARS and MERS viruses are believed to have originated in civet cats and camels, respectively. The first cases of COVID-19 came from people visiting or working in a live animal market in Wuhan, which has since been closed down for investigation. Although the market is officially a seafood market, other dead and living animals were being sold there, including wolf cubs, salamanders, snakes, peacocks, porcupines and camel meat. A study by the Wuhan Institute of Virology, published in February 2020 in the scientific journal Nature, found that the genetic make-up virus samples found in patients in China is 96 per cent identical to a coronavirus they found in bats. However, there were not many bats at the market so scientists say it was likely there was an animal which acted as a middle-man, contracting it from a bat before then transmitting it to a human. It has not yet been confirmed what type of animal this was. Dr Michael Skinner, a virologist at Imperial College London, was not involved with the research but said: 'The discovery definitely places the origin of nCoV in bats in China. 'We still do not know whether another species served as an intermediate host to amplify the virus, and possibly even to bring it to the market, nor what species that host might have been.' So far the fatalities are quite low. Why are health experts so worried about it? Experts say the international community is concerned about the virus because so little is known about it and it appears to be spreading quickly. It is similar to SARS, which infected 8,000 people and killed nearly 800 in an outbreak in Asia in 2003, in that it is a type of coronavirus which infects humans' lungs. It is less deadly than SARS, however, which killed around one in 10 people, compared to approximately one in 50 for COVID-19. Another reason for concern is that nobody has any immunity to the virus because they've never encountered it before. This means it may be able to cause more damage than viruses we come across often, like the flu or common cold. Speaking at a briefing in January, Oxford University professor, Dr Peter Horby, said: 'Novel viruses can spread much faster through the population than viruses which circulate all the time because we have no immunity to them. 'Most seasonal flu viruses have a case fatality rate of less than one in 1,000 people. Here we're talking about a virus where we don't understand fully the severity spectrum but it's possible the case fatality rate could be as high as two per cent.' If the death rate is truly two per cent, that means two out of every 100 patients who get it will die. 'My feeling is it's lower,' Dr Horby added. 'We're probably missing this iceberg of milder cases. But that's the current circumstance we're in. 'Two per cent case fatality rate is comparable to the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918 so it is a significant concern globally.' How does the virus spread? The illness can spread between people just through coughs and sneezes, making it an extremely contagious infection. And it may also spread even before someone has symptoms. It is believed to travel in the saliva and even through water in the eyes, therefore close contact, kissing, and sharing cutlery or utensils are all risky. It can also live on surfaces, such as plastic and steel, for up to 72 hours, meaning people can catch it by touching contaminated surfaces. Originally, people were thought to be catching it from a live animal market in Wuhan city. But cases soon began to emerge in people who had never been there, which forced medics to realise it was spreading from person to person. What does the virus do to you? What are the symptoms? Once someone has caught the COVID-19 virus it may take between two and 14 days, or even longer, for them to show any symptoms but they may still be contagious during this time. If and when they do become ill, typical signs include a runny nose, a cough, sore throat and a fever (high temperature). The vast majority of patients will recover from these without any issues, and many will need no medical help at all. In a small group of patients, who seem mainly to be the elderly or those with long-term illnesses, it can lead to pneumonia. Pneumonia is an infection in which the insides of the lungs swell up and fill with fluid. It makes it increasingly difficult to breathe and, if left untreated, can be fatal and suffocate people. Figures are showing that young children do not seem to be particularly badly affected by the virus, which they say is peculiar considering their susceptibility to flu, but it is not clear why. What have genetic tests revealed about the virus? Scientists in China have recorded the genetic sequences of around 19 strains of the virus and released them to experts working around the world. This allows others to study them, develop tests and potentially look into treating the illness they cause. Examinations have revealed the coronavirus did not change much changing is known as mutating much during the early stages of its spread. However, the director-general of China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Gao Fu, said the virus was mutating and adapting as it spread through people. This means efforts to study the virus and to potentially control it may be made extra difficult because the virus might look different every time scientists analyse it. More study may be able to reveal whether the virus first infected a small number of people then change and spread from them, or whether there were various versions of the virus coming from animals which have developed separately. How dangerous is the virus? The virus has a death rate of around two per cent. This is a similar death rate to the Spanish Flu outbreak which, in 1918, went on to kill around 50million people. Experts have been conflicted since the beginning of the outbreak about whether the true number of people who are infected is significantly higher than the official numbers of recorded cases. Some people are expected to have such mild symptoms that they never even realise they are ill unless they're tested, so only the more serious cases get discovered, making the death toll seem higher than it really is. However, an investigation into government surveillance in China said it had found no reason to believe this was true. Dr Bruce Aylward, a World Health Organization official who went on a mission to China, said there was no evidence that figures were only showing the tip of the iceberg, and said recording appeared to be accurate, Stat News reported. Can the virus be cured? The COVID-19 virus cannot be cured and it is proving difficult to contain. Antibiotics do not work against viruses, so they are out of the question. Antiviral drugs can work, but the process of understanding a virus then developing and producing drugs to treat it would take years and huge amounts of money. No vaccine exists for the coronavirus yet and it's not likely one will be developed in time to be of any use in this outbreak, for similar reasons to the above. The National Institutes of Health in the US, and Baylor University in Waco, Texas, say they are working on a vaccine based on what they know about coronaviruses in general, using information from the SARS outbreak. But this may take a year or more to develop, according to Pharmaceutical Technology. Currently, governments and health authorities are working to contain the virus and to care for patients who are sick and stop them infecting other people. People who catch the illness are being quarantined in hospitals, where their symptoms can be treated and they will be away from the uninfected public. And airports around the world are putting in place screening measures such as having doctors on-site, taking people's temperatures to check for fevers and using thermal screening to spot those who might be ill (infection causes a raised temperature). However, it can take weeks for symptoms to appear, so there is only a small likelihood that patients will be spotted up in an airport. Is this outbreak an epidemic or a pandemic? The outbreak was declared a pandemic on March 11. A pandemic is defined by the World Health Organization as the 'worldwide spread of a new disease'. Previously, the UN agency said most cases outside of Hubei had been 'spillover' from the epicentre, so the disease wasn't actually spreading actively around the world. This image, provided by the Gangwon Province office, shows tweets of Gov. Choi Moon-soon promoting unsold potatoes. While businesses across South Korea are struggling to survive the fallout from the new coronavirus, which has affected more than 8,000 here, provincial governors have come up with creative ideas to help local farmers. Gov. Choi Moon-soon, who calls himself the "governor who sells potatoes" on his Twitter profile, is one of them. As potato farms in the mountainous region suffered from plunging sales, the governor decided to sell potatoes himself. "Potatoes on major sale, Gangwon's clean potatoes in full stock as potato stew is not selling due to the mean coronavirus. Farmers concerned on full scale (this sort of rhymes)," the governor wrote in a witty March 11 tweet, announcing plans to sell a 10-kilogram box of potato for just 5,000 won ($4). Unsold potatoes were piling up in warehouses as people increasingly began to eat at home and demand at school kitchens almost disappeared as schools postponed the new school year. Thanks to the bargain price, similar to what a cafe latte at a local Starbucks costs, the potatoes became an instant phenomenon. The 10,000 boxes that are up for sale each day at 10 a.m. usually sell out in less than a few minutes. The popularity of these potatoes have even developed into a meme. Choi affectionately calls the Gangwon-harvested potatoes PTS after the global sensation boy band BTS. Some people have come up with the term "pocketing," mixing "potato" and "ticketing," reflecting the cutthroat clicking race to get these potatoes in hand. The Gangwon governor is not the only provincial chief selling local products online. Gyeonggi Gov. Lee Jae-myung used his Instagram account to advertise boxes of organic vegetables that were meant to be sold to schools if not for the coronavirus. The province charged 20,000 won for a 4-kilogram box, which consisted of 11 different types of vegetables, including spinach and perilla leaves. The first batch of 7,000 boxes sold out in two hours. Other provinces and cities are also helping local farmers promote products that are going bad. Many local government offices, including the southernmost resort island of Jeju, have been buying flowers to support flower sellers. While demand for flowers usually peaks in February and March in line with the graduation and entrance ceremony seasons, demand plunged this year as events were canceled due to the virus. The southwestern city of Gunsan developed its own delivery app to offer a free platform for local eateries to help ease the commission businesses pay for delivery apps. The moves come as small businesses are feared to take the brunt of the new coronavirus. On Thursday, South Korea announced a massive 50 trillion won financial support program, aimed at supporting small and medium-sized firms and people with low credit ratings. (Yonhap) Five fresh coronavirus cases have been reported in Karnataka on Saturday, taking the total number to 20 in the state, the Health department said. "Till date 20 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state which includes one death," it said in a bulletin. It said 18 positive patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and are stable. Sharing details of the new cases, the department said three are from Bengaluru, while the other two are from Chikkaballapura and Mysuru. The patients from the city who tested positive include a 53-year-old woman, a "high risk contact" of another person who tested positive earlier and was on strict home quarantine. The other two are a 39-year-old man, who had returned from Amsterdam, on March 19, and a 21-year-old man, who had returned from Edinburgh, Scotland on March 17. A 31-year-old man from Chikkaballapura with a travel history to Mecca has tested positive. He had returned to India on March 14. The other is a 35-year-old man from Mysuru who returned from Dubai. As per the bulletin, total samples collected for testing are 1,377, and on Saturday alone 170 were collected. A total of 996 samples have reported negative, with 26 reporting negative on Saturday alone. AdditionalChief Secretary(Health and Family Welfare and Medical Education) Jawaid Akhtar said, it has been decided to use services of 10 senior IAS officers as nodal officers to coordinate the COVID-19 containment activities. Speaking to reporters, he also suggested that in order to maintain social distancing, the daily press conference regarding COVID-19 bulletins can be held through video conferene from Monday. As part of monitoring, directions have been issued to set up teams of members belonging to revenue, police, municipality and health to visit all home quarantined passengers to stamp on the back of the left hand palm showing the date of end of the quarantine period, officials said. The department said a circular has been issued to Health and Family Welfare Department officials and staff at all levels to work even on Sundays and general holidays without fail till March 31 to control the spread of COVID-19. It said 48 government hospital and 35 private hospitals have been identified as first respondent hospitals for the case management of the virus cases. Officials said directions have been given to markets and malls to reduce peak hour crowding, maintain social distancing and initiate public information measures through displays and electronic media. Also, directions have been given to the management of online marketing services to provide masks and sanitisers to delivery executives. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) PG&E is donating nearly 1 million protective masks from the supply it keeps on hand for crews responding to fires and construction zones, to distribute to California hospitals and first responders, company officials said Friday. The 480,000 N95 masks and 470,000 surgical masks will go to the Governor's Office of Emergency Services, for hospitals and those on the front lines facing a critical shortage of protective equipment. The company maintains a supply of masks for utility crews working in construction zones or responding to wildfires, Andy Vesey, PG&E CEO and president said. PG&E is donating as many as possible to Cal OES, but maintaining sufficient numbers for field workers during the COVID-19 pandemic and to prepare for the upcoming fire season, Vesey said. In addition, PG&E employees also are collecting masks and other equipment from their personal emergency kits to donate to hospitals and emergency services responders in their local areas. The utility and the PG&E Corporation Foundation is also contributing $1 million to nonprofits that are helping people facing food shortages, as well as small businesses that are impacted by public health emergency. The donations come from shareholder funds, not customers, PG&E said. Copyright 2020 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. ISLAMABAD, March 21 (Reuters) - Pakistan on Saturday suspended all international flight operations for two weeks in a bid to contain the coronavirus pandemic, the civil aviation authority said. "The Government of Pakistan has decided to suspend operation of all international passenger, chartered and private flights to Pakistan, effective from 21st March 2020 (2000 hrs PST) to 4th April 2020 (2000 hrs PST)," it said in a statement. Cargo and diplomatic flights are exempt. Pakistan has reported three deaths and 481 confirmed cases of the coronavirus. (Reporting by Asif Shahzad, editing by Louise Heavens) Hyderabad: Even though researchers had found that the novel coronavirus had originated and spread through wet markets in China, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) does not appear to have any plans to improve hygiene in fish markets in the city. This apart, it has not taken any decision pertaining to the import of fish from neighbouring states including Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra and others where Covid-19 cases have been on the rise. On the flipside, fearing that the consumption of red meat, especially chicken, will spread Covid-19, citizens have been opting for fish. The average consumption during weekdays has increased from 120 tonnes to 160 tonnes and during the weekend, from 350 tonnes to about 500 tonnes. According to the official records of the Telangana state fisheries department, on an average about 120 tonnes of fish per day are exported to Hyderabad from Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal and the livelihood of about 10,000 fisherpeople depends on the markets in the city. People have been thronging in huge numbers to fish markets since other meat markets began seeing a slump with fears of coronavirus infections. Surprisingly, the city has only two operational fish markets at Begum Bazaar and Monda market in Secunderabad, which were constructed by the City Improvement Board (CIB) in the 1930s, during the erstwhile Nizam rule. Due to the lack of markets to sell fish, they are sold on the wayside and on bicycles travelling in the citys bylanes. While reports in Wuhan suggest that the coronavirus spread like a wild fire from wet markets, the authorities in the city are still ignorant about the fact. When queried whether the government was taking any measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus from neighbouring states through the import of fish, fisheries minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav told Deccan Chronicle that the government is yet to take a decision. However, the minister said that the government would certainly stop imports from August or September. Commissioner of fisheries Dr C Suvarna could not be reached despite multiple attempts to contact her. We have been already taking additional measures to curtail the spread of covid 19. However, we would have a special focus on fish markets and sellers, GHMC commissioner, D S Lokesh Kumar, said. He said that he would immediately hold a review meeting and give necessary instructions to the corporation staff. Interestingly, it was way back in February 2012, that Rs 9.9 crore was sanctioned for construction of four modern fish markets at Begum Bazaar, Domalguda, Nacharam, and Kukatpally with the government asking GHMC to construct them within a year. The National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) had also assured GHMC that it would bear 90 per cent of the construction cost. The NFDB had also released 50 per cent (Rs 4.4 crore) of the amount. Six years have gone by but the corporation is yet to build even one operational fish market. The only fish market for which construction began is in Begum Bazaar which is in its final stages of completion. Teachers, lecturers conduct education programmes on SLBC channels By Shaadya Ismail View(s): View(s): The Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) has taken an initiative to broadcast education programmes during the weekdays as a means of helping schoolchildren with their education activities during the Covid-19 crisis. In a letter to the Secretary of the Ministry of Mass Media, SLBC Director Chandrapala Liyanage has said the programmes that began on March 17 will cater to students from Grade One to the Advanced Level. An experienced panel of teachers and lecturers has been roped in for the programmes which will be aired over City FM, the Sinhala National Service, the Sinhala Commercial Service, Thendral and Radio Sri Lanka. Moreover, the SLBC has also made arrangements for students to access these programmes via its website www.slbc.lk, their YouTube channel and Facebook pages. The Indian Railways has found at least a dozen cases of passengers found flouting self-quarantine orders who have tested positive so far and has issued an immediate advisory to not travel by train. Railways has found some cases of Coronavirus infected passengers in trains which makes train travel risky. Please avoid train travel as you may also get infected if your co-passenger has Coronavirus. Please postpone all journeys and keep yourself and your loved ones safe, the ministry of railways said in its advisory issued Saturday. Railways has also begun contact tracing of passengers across all zones who could have come in contact. Among the first such cases who tested positive were eight passengers who had travelled AP Sampark Kranti Express from Delhi to Ramagundam in Telangana on March 13. Railways said that they had tested positive on Friday. In addition, four more passengers travelling on Godan Express (Train 11055) from Mumbai to Jabalpur on March 16 have also been tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday. We have begun contact tracing of all passengers. These four had a travelled to India from Dubai last week. They were travelling in coach B1 and all passengers are being contacted. We trace them through the registered details for their tickets and then take the help of local state authorities. As an immediate step we also stop the train and quickly sanitize the entire coach a railway ministry official said. The official said the coaches are also isolated following sanitation process. The national carrier, over the past week also had a slew of cases with passengers being caught with their home quarantine stamps and flouting their orders. A couple who was found with home quarantine stamps in coach B1 of the Bangalore- Delhi Rajdhani train were deboarded on Saturday. Railway ministry said the train was also stopped mid-way while the coach was immediately isolated. As per the information provided by on-board staff the two passengers identified were a newly married couple. The train had reached Kazipet in Telangana in the morning. There was a complaint by a passenger who was using the wash basin to wash hands and observed the seal on their hand and immediately informed the Travelling Ticket Examiner( TTE). The train was stopped and both the passengers were taken to the hospital in an ambulance. We have sanitized and locked the coach and the air conditioning has also been switched off, another senior ministry official said. On Wednesday, railways found four passengers traveling in coaches G4 and G5 of Garib Rath (train 12216) from Mumbai to Delhi and were deboarded at Palghar station when passengers raised an alarm after seeing their home quarantine stamps. The four passengers had flown down from Germany and were headed to Surat, Gujarat. They were taken to the government hospital at Palghar. They had undergone checking at the airport and had a seal mentioning home quarantine of 14 days. They were handed over to the district medical authorities, the ministry said. On Thursday six passengers with quarantine stamps were deboarded from Saurashtra Express today. They were to be in quarantine till April 1 according to their stamps and had defied the advisory to board a train to Surat. They were deboarded at the Borivali station in Mumbai, Maharashtra and had recently returned from Singapore. These men were supposed to be in quarantine till April 1. They defied the advisory and boarded a train to Surat. As many as 17 such cases of passengers flouting home-quarantine orders were deboarded from their trains. Total 17 passengers with home quarantine stamps deboarded from three trains of Western Railways today i.e. on 19th March, 2020 on Mumbai- NDLS Rajdhani Exp, Saurashtra Exp and Kutch Express. In addition to this one lady with quarantine stamp was not allowed to board the Avantika Express from Mumbai Central in the evening, according to a statement issued by the Western Railway zone. The national carrier on Friday has also announced nearly 3700 passenger and mail express trains will remain cancelled on Sunday till 10 PM following Prime Ministers call for a Janta Curfew. Till now, more than 200 long distance trains have already been cancelled by the railways. In a review meeting taken by the minister of railways, a slew of measures were announced for preventing the spread of the disease, including setting up of a six member COVID-19 rapid response team comprising six Executive Directors from Railway Board to coordinate with all railway zones. Prime Minister Narendra Modi told state chief ministers on Friday the next three to four weeks are crucial in the fight against SARS-Cov-2, which causes Covid-19, asked them to redouble efforts to crack down on the pandemic and assured them of all possible help from the Centre, according to people aware of what happened during the interaction. A day after addressing the nation on the issue, and emphasising the importance of social distancing and a Janta Curfew on Sunday, Modi interacted with all chief ministers for the first time on the pandemic through a video conference. The Prime Minister asked the states to work with the Centre and underlined that India finds itself at a critical milestone in the spread of the virus. He also said there was no need for any panic. Some chief ministers, including West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, requested the government to allow private hospitals to test for and treat the disease as pressure is mounting on the governments medical establishments. Indias health ministry plans to allow 51 private laboratories to start testing, although it has not actioned this yet. Health ministry officials also added that they are already in touch with private hospitals and will engage them if the need arises. Prime Minister Modi said the threat of the pandemic is common for all states and added that in this critical time the centre and all states must work together. According to a participant, Modi added that the participation of people is at the core of the success of any strategy. According to the people, the Prime Minister also spoke of the importance of social distancing and self-isolation. He requested the chief ministers to ensure effective implementation of all health guidelines and talked about the urgent need of capacity building of health care workers and infrastructure. Apart from the PM, the meeting was attended by all CMs and senior officials of the Prime Ministers Office (PMO). Union health secretary Preeti Sudan briefed the CMs about the steps taken so far and added that Modi is personally monitoring Indias response to the crisis. According to the people, Dr Balram Bhargava, director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research explained how India is currently in phase 2 of transmission or infection that originated elsewhere, which allows states to take action to stop the disease reaching phase 3 or community transmission. He also explained the benefits of quarantines and why quarantine facilities and isolation wards must be expanded, they added. According to PMO, all chief ministers thanked Modi for the Centres support. They also spoke about the positive impact of the Prime Ministers address to the nation on Thursday. Some CMs also pointed out that there is a shortage of virus testing kits and that ICMR must allow kits produced by private companies for use. They briefed the Prime Minister and others about their preparations to deal with the pandemic. During the course of their presentations, they requested for augmentation of testing facilities, greater support to vulnerable sections of the population, the advancement of financial disbursement for 2020-21 to the states and the use of private laboratories and hospitals. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Balochistan government has ordered a 21-day partial lockdown in the province to combat the spread of coronavirus which has claimed thousands of lives worldwide. "In pursuance of the decisions, made in the first meeting of the Core Committee for COVID-19 and in continuation of this Department's orders of even number dated March 13 and 17, 2020, the Government of Balochistan, is pleased to convey following instructions/directions for Balochistan Province with immediate effect...," an order from Home and Tribal Affairs Department of Balochistan government dated March 20 read. "...All shopping malls shall remain closed for three (03) weeks; all crowded markets shall remain closed for three (03) weeks; all restaurants shall deliver the food on take away pattern or home delivery service only; all Inter-Provincial public transport shall remain closed for three (03) weeks; all public transport (only buses) within the city shall remain closed for three (03) weeks," the order read. The development comes even as the number of cases of coronavirus in the country surged past 450 including 252 in Sindh, 96 in Punjab, 81 in Balochistan, 23 in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and 10 in capital Islamabad. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hundreds of partygoers attended several wedding events that held across Lagos on Saturday defying government advisory about potentially harmful implications of gathering in large numbers amidst coronavirus outbreak. A wedding programme held at an event centre in Ajao Estate and another in Alausa, two downtown Lagos neighbourhoods, on Saturday afternoon, according to people who attended. The programmes held despite Lagos imposing lock-down measures on March 19 as it scrambles to contain its rising number of COVID-19 infections. Lagos recorded the first case of COVID-19, a respiratory disease spawned by coronavirus, in Nigeria on February 27. The commercial city has continued to report additional cases since then, with federal health authorities putting the states case at 16 out of the total 22 cases confirmed in the country as of Saturday afternoon. As the growing number of COVID-19 infections across the country continued to stoke confusion amongst its nearly 200 million population, with limited treatment tools available, federal and state officials announced drastic restrictions aimed at containing the spread. After the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other renowned health institutions and experts identified social distancing as one of the pragmatic approaches to slow down the spread of the virus, Nigerian authorities urged citizens to observe the recommendation and restrict themselves to only essential movements. Lagos State was one of the earliest states to announce the closure of schools and prohibition of large gathering of more than 50 people. The state also asked club owners and event centre operators to shut down business for at least one month in the first instance. Health officials racing to contain the virus would use the period to appraise their efforts. But some of those who attended a wedding on Saturday said the advisory, while crucial and understandable, should be imposed gradually to enable them adjust to it. We know the virus is real and the population must be protected from contracting it, but that should not mean an emergency break should be applied to everything about our life, Tolulope Odunlami, who attended a friends wedding in Ikeja, told PREMIUM TIMES. Ms Odunlami said her friend had been planning the event since September 2019 and it would be traumatic for anyone to force her to cancel it in a two days notice. A lot of money has been sunk into this, it was unimaginable for us to even cancel it, she added. Lanre Adegunwa, whose stepbrother married in Ajao Estate, said the event held despite awareness of organisers of the prevailing restrictions. We have read in the news that weddings and other social activities have been banned and we also discussed it within the family, Mr Adegunwa said. But we concluded it was in our best interest to proceed with the wedding and face the consequences afterwards. Mr Adegunwa said all vendors for both perishable and non-perishable supplies, had already concluded their services for the marriage before the lockdown was announced. The government should have given at least two weeks notice for residents to cancel all planned events which would have exempted those who fall within that period, he said. But they decided to use the fire brigade approach in order to punish innocent citizens. At least 400 and 650 people attended the events in Ikeja and Ajao Estate, respectively, attendees told PREMIUM TIMES. Both figures greatly surpassed the 50 people cap on social gathering in the state. It was unclear whether people would be prosecuted for defying the other, not the least as the federal government has not formally announced a lockdown. Since the president has not announced a state of emergency, the action of state governments to restrict movement and association could be subjected to legal challenge, legal analyst Ibrahim Owolabi said. Mr Owolabi said the restriction was necessary but said its enforcement could be problematic because emergency powers have not been exerted by the president. But Lagos officials said all restrictions would be enforced and some of the identified venues of social activities have been closed on Saturday. We are closing down places where weddings are being held in defiance of existing order, Gbenga Omotoso, Lagos information commissioner, told PREMIUM TIMES on Saturday. Our officials at LASEPA [Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency] have started closing down event centres that defied the directive of the governor and health institutions. Advertisements The commissioner was unable to immediately say whether wedding organisers or event centre owners or both parties would be held legally liable for the alleged criminal disobedience of (a) lawful order. Lebanese militant group Hezbollah on Friday called the transfer out of the country of a U.S. citizen currently on trial a "blatant violation" of Lebanon's sovereignty. Lebanese-American Amer Fakhoury was flown out of a U.S. embassy on a warplane after a judge in Lebanon ordered his release. He was accused of allegedly torturing prisoners at a jail run by an Israel-backed Lebanese militia - charges Fakhoury denies. The judge ordered his release because more than 10 years had passed since the accusation. The decision to transfer Fakhoury to the U.S. has come under strong criticism, especially from Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah, who sought to distance himself and his group from the decision. Nasrallah said no deal had been made to secure Fakhoury's release, also claiming that numerous Lebanese politicians, judges and security and military figures have come under intense U.S. pressure to release him, including some who were threatened with sanctions. He laid out his frustrations in an 80-minute televised speech, more than half of which was devoted to the matter, saying he supports an investigation into the issue to determine responsibility. Fakhoury's case had put a significant strain on already troubled ties between the U.S. and Lebanon, as lawmakers in Washington had threatened to withhold critical aid to the country and impose sanctions on the Lebanese military, which is seen by the Trump administration as a bulwark against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement. Yoruba movie producer, Olaitan Sugar has rained serious curses on her bitter ex boyfriend in the comment section of her Instagram ... Yoruba movie producer, Olaitan Sugar has rained serious curses on her bitter ex boyfriend in the comment section of her Instagram page. This is coming after the award winning Nollywood actor took to her page to search for a girl, and her ex, who apparently proposed to her but she declined took to the comment section to call her out for advertising herself on Instagram. She wrote: Please who knows her whereabouts? I dont know why i cant just get my mind off her, funny enough i never met her but i love her and i remember casting her for my first movie in 2012 AREMO ITE but unfortunately all efforts in reaching out to her proved abortive. I just hope shes doing well Pls help reach out to her The ex boyfriend, Segun coomented: You no know any of her family members? She is a wise woman unlike you that advertise herself on social media, she is on low key building her home no distractions Olaitan replied, raining curses on him, saying it shall never be well with him Medical staff stand outside a coronavirus screening tent in Brooklyn, New York. AFP/VNA Photo NEW YORK The grim toll of coronavirus deaths in Italy, the world's worst-hit nation, surged past 4,000 on Friday as New York and other US states joined California in ordering a lockdown to try to bring the pandemic under control. While new infections were being detected around the globe, the World Health Organisation said the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the pandemic began in December, offered a glimmer of "hope for the rest of the world", with no fresh cases reported. As Italy reeled from its worst single-day toll with more than 600 deaths, worldwide fatalities swept past 11,000, with the number of infected people topping 258,000, according to an AFP tally. Governments and central banks continued meanwhile to throw huge sums of money into the economic battle, hoping that a deep global recession could somehow be dodged. US President Donald Trump applauded decisions by the governors of New York and California to order residents to stay home but said he did not think a nationwide lockdown was needed. "Those are really two hotbeds," Trump said. "I don't think we'll ever find (a US-wide lockdown) necessary," he said, adding that the United States was "winning" the war against the virus. Shortly after Trump spoke, the governor of Illinois ordered residents of the midwestern state to stay at home and the governor of Connecticut did the same. The stay-at-home orders put the three most populous cities in the United States -- New York, Los Angeles and Chicago -- under lockdown. Britain, falling in line with its neighbours in the European Union, also announced tougher restrictions, telling pubs, restaurants and theatrers to close and promising to help cover the wages of affected workers. Italy reported its worst single day, adding another 627 fatalities and taking its reported total to 4,032 despite government efforts to stem the spread. The nation of 60 million now accounts for 36 per cent of the world's coronavirus deaths and its death rate of 8.6 per cent among those registered with infections is significantly higher than in most other countries. France on Friday reported 78 more deaths over the last 24 hours, bringing the death toll there to 450. Hope In encouraging news, Wuhan reported no new cases in 24 hours. "Wuhan provides hope for the rest of the world that even the most severe situation can be turned around", said World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Hours earlier, California, which has over 1,000 cases and 19 deaths, told its 40 million residents to stay at home. New York state, which has reported over 7,000 cases and 39 deaths, followed suit on Friday morning, ordering its nearly 20 million residents to do the same from Sunday evening. "We're all in quarantine now," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said. Trump also announced Friday that the US and Mexico have agreed to restrict non-essential travel across their border beginning on Saturday. He said the move, similar to one already announced with Canada, was necessary to prevent the "spread the infection to our border agents, migrants, and to the public at large." Meanwhile a staffer in the office of US Vice President Mike Pence, the pointman for Washington's response to the coronavirus outbreak, tested positive for the illness Across Europe, governments continued to rigorously enforce lockdown measures as the continent's most celebrated boulevards and squares remained silent and empty even as warmer spring weather arrived. Idiots France, Italy, Spain and other European countries have told people to stay at home, threatening fines in some cases, and Bavaria became the first region in Germany to order a lockdown. France said more than 4,000 people were fined on the first day of its confinement and ministers described those breaking the rules as "idiots". The strict measures follow the template set by China, as a lockdown imposed in Hubei province where the virus first emerged appeared to have paid off. China's death count was steady at 3,248, according to an AFP tally. Europe now accounts for more than half of the world's fatalities linked to COVID-19. Accurate figures are difficult to come by, however, as many of those who die suffer from other illnesses and infection rates are uncertain because of a lack of testing in many countries. The shadow of the virus is lengthening across Africa and the Middle East too. Gabon confirmed sub-Saharan Africa's second known death, with reported cases across Africa standing at more than 900 and rising fast. In Iran, both supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani promised the country would overcome the outbreak -- but still refused to join the rest of the world in imposing heavy restrictions. In Latin America, Cuba and Bolivia both announced they were closing their borders. AFP The first cases of coronavirus were reported in Madhya Pradesh on Friday. Four persons from Jabalpur city in the state tested positive for the virus, said a senior official. These patients included three members of a family which had returned from Dubai recently, Jabalpurcollector Bharat Yadav said. The fourth person had returned from Germany, he added. : Two people who returned from Europe to Andhra Pradesh this week tested positive for coronavirus, taking the total number of cases to five, the state Medical and Health Department said on Saturday night. A 24-year-old man who returned to his native Krishna district from Paris via New Delhi and Hyderabad on March 17, tested positive, Special Chief Secretary (Health) K S Jawahar Reddy said in a release. Another 22-year-old who returned to Rajamahendravaram from London via Hyderabad on March 18 also tested positive on Saturday, he added. The first coronavirus positive case was registered in Nellore, followed by one in Ongole and another in Visakhapatnam, Jawahar Reddy said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Conn also said that he started to reach out to other Chicago theaters that maintain similar supplies. By Saturday afternoon, rushing to beat the stay-at-home decree, Court Theatre director of production Jen Gadda was on a similar quest to find protection supplies in the theaters shops, and word also had gone out to Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Steppenwolf Theatre Company and others. Amazon.com Inc., Netflix Inc. and YouTube are reducing the quality of their video streams across Europe to ensure networks can handle increased usage amid the coronavirus outbreak. The moves follow discussions between European Industry Commissioner Thierry Breton and Netflix Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings, and with Alphabet Inc. CEO Sundar Pichai and YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki. The three companies, along with Facebook Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Apple Inc., use more than 43% of all traffic volume on the internet, according to Sandvine, a network analysis firm. Google was the largest consumer, just ahead of Netflix in a Sandvine study last year. But recently, Googles YouTube video service has surged ahead, Sandvine reported this week. While we have seen only a few usage peaks, we have measures in place to automatically adjust our system to use less network capacity, YouTube said in a statement on Friday. We are making a commitment to temporarily default all traffic in the EU to Standard Definition. We will continue working with member state governments and network operators to minimize stress on the system, while also delivering a good user experience. Amazon in a statement on Friday said its working with local authorities and internet operators to help mitigate any network congestion caused by Prime Video, including in Europe where weve already begun the effort to reduce streaming bit rates while maintaining a quality streaming experience for our customers. Netflix announced Thursday it would begin reducing bit rates across all its streams in Europe for a month. We estimate that this will reduce Netflix traffic on European networks by around 25% while also ensuring a good quality service for our members, the Silicon Valley-based company said in a statement. The virus outbreak has shuttered schools, businesses and restaurants in much of the region, sending millions of people home where theyre using services like Netflix and YouTube. The amount of time people spent streaming spiked by more than 20% worldwide last weekend, including more than 40% in Austria and Spain. While traffic has increased, EU telecom regulators say there havent been any signs of congestion in Europe and operators appear able to cope with the situation. Still, the surge has left officials looking for ways to lessen the load. Breton said he welcomed the action taken by Netflix and YouTube to preserve the smooth functioning of the internet during the Covid-19 crisis. Now read: Coronavirus impacts WhatsApp and Netflix streaming quality Jaffna insistent on preserving zero virus count despite assault on officials By Sandran Rubatheesan View(s): View(s): Despite a violent confrontation, healthcare officials in the north, which has seen no confirmed case of coronavirus yet, are determined to keep up checks and public campaigns while closely monitoring 546 people in self-quarantine. With 76 coronavirus (COVID19) cases recorded in other parts of the country (by Saturday morning), northern healthcare authorities have mobilised staff to carry out an aggressive grassroots awareness and prevention campaign. Thousands of healthcare officers, including central, provincial and local government Public Health Inspectors (PHI), have been deployed. We have instructed our healthcare staff and PHI officials to keep tabs on those 546 persons who are in self-quarantine in their homes. After the quarantine period, they will be certified as non-infected and can re-engage with society, Jaffna District Secretary Kanapathipillai Mahesan told The Sunday Times. We are taking every possible step to ensure the safety of the people and we expect them to co-operate with us, he said, stressing the importance of people taking personal responsibility not to spread infection. On Monday, a Medical Officer of Health (MOH) and a friend assisting him were assaulted in Jaffna while engaged in an awareness programme. Kayts MOH Dr. P. Nandakumar and his friend, T. Sivaruban, a non-academic staffer at the University of Jaffna came under attack while questioning diners at a restaurant. While Dr. Nandakumar was able to escape from the scene, his friend was assaulted and needed treatment in hospital for minor injuries. The two had been asking a group of diners from overseas about their travel history when an argument broke out and an employee of the restaurant allegedly assaulted the doctor and his assistant. Three people, including employees from the restaurant, were taken into custody and remanded till March 31 after being produced at Jaffna Magistrate Courts. Later, police tracked down the visitors who had been in the restaurant and learned that they had arrived in the country a week previously, on March 8, and instructed the tourists to quarantine themselves for 14 days to ensure they were not carrying coronavirus. Condemning the incident, the Regional Directorate of Jaffna Health Services, Dr. R. Ketheeswaran emphasised that healthcare employees engaged in awareness campaigns are trying to prevent a possible outbreak of the coronavirus and that this work should not be discouraged. In Jaffna, out of 11 people admitted so far to a special hospital ward set up to handle coronavirus patients, only one remained with test results pending. To date, there have been no positive cases of coronavirus recorded in the region. The Director of the Jaffna Teaching Hospital, Dr. T. Sathiyamoorthy, said specimen samples of suspected cases were being sent to a laboratory in Anuradhapura for testing through Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), a technique used to test virus specimens in batches. We are expecting this PCR testing facility to be made available to our hospital by next week, Dr Sathiyamoorthy said, noting that Jaffna Teaching Hospital was the major state hospital in the region with adequate medical facilities. Among those tested for possible COVID-19 was former Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian S. Shritharan, who travelled to Geneva early this month to attend United Nations Human Rights Council sittings. He voluntarily subjected himself for testing. The test result on Thursday was negative. Despite government assurances of adequate stocks of essential goods, thousands of panicked people rushed to supermarkets and shops this week, disregarding government instructions to practise social distancing to reduce the possibility of infection. In Jaffna, hours after the three-day island-wide curfew was announced on Friday morning, people flocked into vegetable markets and state-run supermarkets. Consumers were told they could purchase only limited amounts for example, 1kg of dhal and two tins of fish at the controlled price introduced by the government this week. Many private vendors refused to sell at the controlled price, claiming their stocks had been purchased at the old price and they could not afford to sell it cheaper. Consumers accused vendors of making excuses in order to profit from the situation. On Friday, consumers flocked into Maruthanarmadam, one of the major markets in the north, for weekend grocery shopping and found that vegetable prices had skyrocketed following news of the curfew. Many lamented that there were no officials of the Consumer Affairs Authority or the Valikaamam Pradeshiya Sabha present to take action against profiteering vendors. WASHINGTON, March 20, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Earlier this week, the leadership of the United States Conference of Mayors sent an urgent request to lawmakers as they prepare the next phase of a federal response to the coronavirus outbreak. Now, 303 mayors from 48 states and the District of Columbia have signed onto the letter seeking $250 billion in localized resources to fight the coronavirus, maintain city services and protect families and local businesses from the economic fallout of this crisis. Mayors from cities large and small, Republicans and Democrats, are urging lawmakers to prioritize a local approach to distributing resources. The $250 billion in aid is needed to ensure cities have the equipment and personnel to fight the virus, while also providing resources to help displaced workers and shuttered businesses, and maintain critical city services. A full list of programs to be funded can be found in the full text of the letter linked here. In the letter to lawmakers, the 303 mayors write: "Cities are the front lines, immediately addressing this crisis and taking actions to protect public health and ensure public safety while continuing to provide core services to our citizens. But as you know, we are at the beginning of this pandemic, and further action must be taken to address the public health and economic impacts of this disaster Without significant federal assistance, we soon will be faced with having to make decisions that could include laying off employees, cutting budgets, and reducing or eliminating critically needed services." About the United States Conference of Mayors -- The U.S. Conference of Mayors is the official nonpartisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. There are nearly 1,400 such cities in the country today, and each city is represented in the Conference by its chief elected official, the mayor. Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/usmayors, or follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/usmayors. SOURCE U.S. Conference of Mayors Related Links www.usmayors.org Prabhas fans have always been excited to know more about their favourite Baahubali star. After all, the actor has created his universe of fans, who will never let him down when it comes to promoting his films on social media. However, Prabhas fans have recently been cheated by a fake account on social media. Apparently, the news is doing the rounds that the title of the Mahanati fame, Nag Ashwin directorial, that features Prabhas in the lead, will be out on Ugadi evening. On the other hand, director Radha Krishna Kumar already announced that 'O Dear' first look will come out soon and this new update has excited Prabhas' fans. However, the news is utter fake as it has not come from any reliable sources. In fact, the production house, Vyjayanthi Movies has a fake account and it tweeted that the 'title' of #Prabha21 will be out on Ugadi. Apart from that, the same fake Twitter account also shocked Jr NTR fans earlier, by announcing that Ashwini Dutt and Jr NTR are joining hands for a film like Baahubali. Notably, the official Twitter account of Vyjayanthi Movies is not a verified one. Hence, the fans got confused and started trending fake news. Sadly, after learning about the false news, Prabhas fans felt cheated and disappointed. The Baahubali actor has not yet reacted on the same. Also Read : Prabhas 20: First Look Of Darling's Next To Be Out On Ugadi As far as work is concerned, Prabhas will next be seen opposite Pooja Hegde in Radha Krishna Kumar's directorial venture. Based in the 70s European eras, the yet-to-be-titled romantic film is releasing in 2020. A day after they were chased away by a task force of the Federal Capital Territory Development Control and the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), food vendors, petty traders, and artisans on Friday returned to an open field in Wuse Zone 3, where they had been squatting for years. Officials said the field is on the path of the Abuja rail line on which work is already in progress. The squatters were violently dispersed by the officials accompanied by security operatives around 12 noon on Thursday. PREMIUM TIMES gathered from sources at the scene that the authorities gave no prior notice to the unauthorised users before swooping on them and vandalising their properties. However, as if nothing had happened, virtually all the evicted squatters returned to the field Friday morning, conducting business as usual. When asked why they returned despite the harsh treatment by officials of the task force just the day before, most of them claimed they had nowhere to go. They also claimed that they make a monthly payment to one Alhaji Ali who they called the agent of the FCTA. The land has been given to Alhaji Ali and we pay him every month. We pay N12,000 to him, one of the food vendors who refused to disclose his name, told our reporter. Tracking down Alhaji Ali took a while due to the reluctance of the traders to openly identify him. PREMIUM TIMES eventually found and spoke with him. This place was given to us as a park by the FCTA, he said. When we got here, this place was a bush. People used to come here to smoke under those trees and constitute a nuisance. We took over this place to operate, maintain and preserve it. He acknowledged receiving rent from the squatters but would not say how much. Mr Ali said different businesses have been thriving under the arrangement for years. There are about a dozen food vendors and scores of other businesses, all of whom pay monthly rents to Mr Ali. Muktar Habeeb is one of the petty traders. He said he pays N5,000 to Mr Ali and his boys every month to display his wares on the floor along a path that snakes through the field. Asked whether he remits rent into the FCTA coffers, Mr Ali said no. We took over this place to operate, maintain and preserve it till the authority has a need for it, he explained. The agreement we had with them (FCTA) was that we will vacate it whenever they need it for whatever purpose. I guess it is time they want to start the project. One of them approached us about three weeks ago that they will soon start construction here, he further explained. READ ALSO: His accounts contradict those of the anguished traders this reporter interacted with on Thursday as they gathered their belongings after the agency officials left the scene. Mr Ali did not reveal the name (s) or designation of the FCTA officials that gave him temporary approval to operate and allot space to squatters. Also commenting on the incident that led to the destruction of traders properties by the agency officials, he said he was not around when the incident occurred. But he said that he had warmed the traders to vacate the place when the signage of the project was erected early this week. They are operating here at their risk. When we tried to stop them earlier today from selling their goods, most of them were saying we have children to feed, he said. Both the AEPB acting spokesperson, John Udochukwu, and the Director of the Department of Development Control, Abuja Metropolitan Council (FCDA), Mukhtar Galadima, claimed they had no knowledge of the demolition when they were contacted on Thursday. Advertisements They also did not respond to subsequent calls or text messages on the latest development. A four-party coalition government took office in Slovakia on Saturday, with the coronavirus outbreak an immediate policy challenge. All those present at the swearing-in ceremony with President Zuzana Caputova wore protective face masks and gloves. Slovakia currently has 137 confirmed cases. The coalition government, which has a parliamentary majority, is led by Igor Matovic, whose center-right Ordinary People captured 25 per cent of the February 29 vote. The pro-western Matovic, 46, made fighting corruption the central plank of his election campaign. Matovic struck a deal to govern with the pro-business Freedom and Solidarity party; the conservative For People, a party established by former President Andrej Kiska; and We Are Family, a populist right-wing group that is allied with France's far-right National Rally party. Ordinary People will have eight members in the Cabinet, including the post of prime minister and the ministers of defense, finance, health and interior. Freedom and Solidarity and We Are Family will control three ministries each while For People will have two. We Are Family chairman Boris Kollar became Parliament's speaker. The election ended the long dominance of the scandal-tainted Smer-Social Democracy, a left-of-center party led by former Prime Minister Robert Fico. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Gardai have issued a warning in relation to a number of Covid-19 related scams which have emerged since the crisis began. In one incident a woman transferred 30,000 to a bank account in Germany after receiving what, she believed, was an email from her husband who was attending a medical appointment. When she made her husband aware the transfer had been successful, they realised they had been scammed and defrauded of 30,000. They immediately reported the matter to local Gardai and the bank. In addition they contacted Garda National Economic Crime Bureau seeking assistance said a garda spokesperson. As a result of cooperation between An Garda Siochana and the Financial Intelligence Units of Ireland and Germany, all of the money was recovered. Gardai say people should also beware of visitors who call to their homes during the crisis and they are reminding householders that HSE staff (nurses, paramedics, doctors) will not call to homes unless they have been contacted. Beware of emails, online requests, and online advertisements offering Covid-19 related tests and products. If in doubt about anyone contacting you, confirm their identity, if you havent requested the service be extra careful. Always double check with another person before transferring any money or buying any product, said a garda spokesperson. Members of public are also being encouraged to always report any activity which they think might be unusual or fraudulent. Authorities in Doha to make every effort to prevent the spread of coronavirus and protect its residents. Qatar has said it is making every effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and protect its residents, including millions of expatriate workers, a day after a rights group criticised the Gulf state over its handling of the crisis. A statement released by the Qatari government on Saturday said it is working closely with employers in the country to ensure the welfare and medical needs of the residents are met. More than 480 COVID-19 cases have been reported in Qatar, the highest in the Arab Gulf region. There has been no death in the country so far. On Saturday, Qatars ministry of municipalities and environment said it is closing parks and public beaches until further notice to contain the spread of coronavirus. Industrial Area lockdown A majority of Qatars cases have been located in what is called the Industrial Area, a commercial hub outside capital Doha where many of its migrant workers live. The area is under complete lockdown since last week to check the outbreak. In the quarantined area, individuals are being seen by doctors and medical personnel, with regular testing and monitoring for all individuals, Qatars Government Communications Office (GCO) said in a statement to Al Jazeera. Those testing positive or displaying symptoms are kept under close medical attention and are transported to a hospital if necessary. The statement followed a report by rights group Amnesty International, which said migrant workers in Qatar are at a particular risk of exposure to the virus. Labour accommodation camps are notoriously overcrowded, and lack adequate water and sanitation, meaning that workers are inevitably less able to protect themselves from the virus, Amnesty said. Workers proximity to one another in cramped camps also does not allow for any type of social distancing. On Friday, The Guardian newspaper reported that Qatars migrant workers were living in a virtual prison where they were held in an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty. The Guardian report alleged that some workers were being put on unpaid leave until further notice. Qatari authorities, however, said they were ensuring the salaries of the workers were paid amid the lockdown. Food, water, masks and hand sanitisers are being regularly distributed. In coordination with companies, the Ministries [of Labour and Public Health] are ensuring that workers daily needs are met and salaries paid on schedule, the GCO said. It added that there have been no deaths from coronavirus in Qatar and more than 90 percent of cases are in good and stable condition . So far, 27 people have already recovered from COVID-19, including four Qatari citizens, according to the health ministry. Qatar said all its residents or visitors who have confirmed or are potential cases of COVID-19 since March 16 have been placed in quarantine and are receiving medical care and accommodation under the direction of its Ministry of Public Health. Amid growing fears of the spread of the virus, Qatar last week banned entry of foreigners and suspended all incoming flights. On Tuesday, it also announced the closure of all shops and bank branches, except for food stores and pharmacies. Eighty percent of government employees have also been ordered to work from home. Inslee declared his candidacy for the Democratic nomination on March 1, 2019. He said combating the enormous threats posed by climate change would be the signature focus of his campaign and his presidency. By mid-August, he was out of the race. Former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper was gone a week ahead of Inslee. Montana Gov. Steve Bullock suspended his candidacy by early December. Former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick, who announced late, barely left a trace. Donald Trump seemingly contradicted his own claims about China's lack of transparency surrounding Covid-19, saying he wished the country "would have told us earlier" before defending statements he made praising its response to the pandemic. The president criticised China for what he described as a lack of transparency over its coronavirus outbreak, telling reporters during a press briefing on Saturday afternoon I just wish they couldve told us earlier about the the virus that is believed to have originated in a live animal market in Wuhan, China. All of the people the talent that we have would have loved to have had three or four months of additional time, Mr Trump said at the White House. They didnt have that time. They read about it in the newspapers like everybody else. He added: China was very secretive. Very, very secretive. And thats unfortunate. But the presidents tone was much different in late January, as one reporter in the room noted, who asked why he tweeted on 24 January: China has been working very hard to contain the virus. The US greatly appreciates their transparency. It will all work out well. Mr Trump said he posted that tweet four days after the US confirmed its first case of the novel virus because its true, adding: They were transparent at that time. I have great respect for that country, he added, but I wish they ... would have told us earlier." The president has taken aim at China in recent weeks over the global pandemic, calling Covid-19 the Chinese virus despite the term's controversial connotations. While he has continued those attacks amid the surge of US and international cases, Mr Trump also credited China for having worked very hard to get its outbreak under control. Chinas not a beneficiary here, he said. China has lost thousands, thousands of people. China has gone through hell over this. Reports indicated that US intelligence officials were aware of and had been warning about a potential oncoming pandemic from January and February, as life in Washington and across the country remained virtually unaffected by the virus. It was not until 13 March when Mr Trump declared a national emergency to help combat the spread of the coronavirus nationwide. States throughout the US have meanwhile forced bars and restaurants to shutter to the public and tens of millions of Americans are ordered to stay home. Some hospitals in Lagos State are receiving patients suffering from chloroquine poisoning in their quest to fight coronavirus, the senior special assistant on health to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Oreoluwa Finnih, has said. Ms Finnih, in a Twitter post Friday evening, said there had been reports about massive consumption of chloroquine as a measure to fight coronavirus in Lagos hospitals. She tweeted: Coronavirus: Lagosians urged against massive consumption of Chloroquine Hospitals across Lagos State have started receiving patients suffering from Chloroquine poisoning. #LASG #FORAGREATERLAGOS pic.twitter.com/8nSpayjAUi Oreoluwa (@Oreoluwa_Finnih) March 20, 2020 She described how the massive consumption of chloroquineas a measure to fight Coronaviruswas caused by the circulation of unverified information. There is a lot of unverified information in circulation about the pandemic, and that it was important for people to be sure of their facts before taking any medication, she said. READ ALSO: The upsurge in demand for chloroquine intensified on Thursday after the United States President, Donald Trump, approved its usage for treatment of coronavirus in the U.S. However, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) a federal agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, countered Mr Trumps approval of the use of chloroquine to treat the dreaded coronavirus. The commissioner of the FDA, Stephen Hahn, contradicted the president, saying chloroquine was undergoing clinical testing in order to gauge its effectiveness. We want to do that in a setting of a clinical trial, Mr Hahn said, according to CNN. I have great hope for how we are going to come out of this situation. Whats also important is not to provide false hope. Caution In a phone interview with PREMIUM TIMES on Saturday morning, Mrs Finnih lamented the pathetic situation. When asked to give a detailed number of the drug poisoning cases recorded so far, she told PREMIUM TIMES that she had no detailed record at hand. I dont have it, she said. In another phone interview with PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Sanwo-olus chief press secretary, Gboyega Akosile, also said he had no details to give at the time. What matters most is that people should stop using chloroquine to fight the virus, he added. He said the government was on top of the situation. We are looking into the matter, I can assure you, he told PREMIUM TIMES. Mr Akosile, however, warned against the high in-take of the drug that is yet to be approved by the right authorities in Nigeria. While the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on Friday, approved the production of Chloroquine for clinical trials in tackling COVID-19, the agency warned Nigerians against using it for the treatment of the disease. NAFDAC is not approving Chloroquine as a product that has can be used for Coronavirus because there is no submission to us for registration but because it is under clinical trials, NAFDAC approves medicines meant for clinical trials, the Director-General, NAFDAC, Mojisola Adeyeye told journalists in Lagos. Also, Minister of State for Health, Olorunnimbe Mamora, said there is no certain acceptable drug in the treatment of the new disease as lots of clinical trials are still ongoing. Despite the 25 per cent success recorded during the drug testing in France, the World Health Organisation (WHO) is yet to make a statement about the place of chloroquine or its effectiveness in the treatment of the disease. By PTI KUALA LUMPUR: Officials here said that hundreds of Indians stranded in Malaysia due to restrictions in view of the coronavirus pandemic were on Saturday taken to different hostels and hotels. Malaysia has so far reported 900 cases of the deadly coronavirus, the highest figure of any Southeast Asian country. The Indian High Commission here, in close coordination with local NGOs and community organisations, moved the people to safer locations, according to the High Commission. "Hundreds of Indians stranded in Malaysia waiting at KLIA2 taken to different hostels, hotels etc. by @hcikl in close coordination with local NGOs and community organizations," the official Twitter account of High Commission of India in Kuala Lumpur said in a post. Earlier, the Indian mission said that it was working closely with local NGOs along with others to provide shelter, food and other supplies to needy stranded Indians in Malaysia during the lockdown period. In a tweet, it posted pictures of Indians with a caption: "relieved Indian passengers being taken to safe locations". In Malaysia, people have been told to stay at home and all schools and most businesses have closed. Malaysians are barred from travelling overseas and foreigners from entering the country. The country said that it will deploy the army to support police in enforcing tough restrictions to halt the spread of the coronavirus as many people are flouting isolation rules. At least 11,737 deaths have been recorded since the virus first emerged in December. There have been more than 277,106 infections reported in 164 countries and territories. The Fauquier Times is honored to serve as your community companion. To say thank you, we are excited to offer 4 weeks FREE Digital & Print access to all subscribers new and returning alike. We are dedicated to continuing providing reliable, high quality journalism. This is possible with the trust and support of our subscribers in the community we are proud to serve. City Manager Erik Walsh discouraged city employees and their families from leisure travel Friday, ordering those who travel to other counties that have confirmed community spread cases of the novel coronavirus to self-quarantine for two weeks. Keeping employees safe is a priority for us so that we can continue to provide services to the residents of San Antonio, Walsh said. Employees whose dependents living at home travel to those counties also must self-quarantine, his memo states. If the employee isnt authorized to work from home, they will have to use personal leave for the workdays off, except in limited cases of military and emergency-related travel. On ExpressNews.com: Get the latest update on coronavirus and a tracking map of U.S. cases The order came as San Antonio health officials confirmed Saturday that nine local COVID-19 cases were transmitted from person to person within the community, rather than being acquired from outside. That was up from six Thursday. Ten new cases were reported Saturday, pushing the Metropolitan Health Districts count of confirmed cases to 39. Sixteen are travel-related, up from eight Thursday. Five stem from close contact with one of those travelers, and nine are still under investigation to determine the cause of infection. Statewide, Dallas, Houston, Austin and Laredo are among the cities that have confirmed cases of COVID-19 caused by community spread. Walshs order doesnt apply to workers who typically commute from outside Bexar County. Walsh canceled all city travel last week and told employees who had traveled abroad to self-quarantine for 14 days. About 165 employees have isolated themselves, Walsh told City Council members Thursday. Walsh hasnt required city workers to work from home but has said he wants to allow employees to do so if possible. About 1,200 of the citys 12,500 employees are telecommuting, some of those in administrative roles, city spokeswoman Laura Mayes said. But a large number of the citys workforce has jobs that cant be done from home, Mayes said. For example, police officers, firefighters and EMS responders cant work from home, and they make up more than a third of the citys employees. Solid waste workers, airport employees and Animal Care Services officers also must be on site, she said. Many city workers have been sent to other jobs to help deal with the coronavirus outbreak, Mayes added. The public libraries are closed until mid-April, so several library employees are helping with Metro Healths COVID-19 hotline, she said. On ExpressNews.com: New coronavirus cases reported in area counties Friday The city has taken steps to maintain the recommended social distance within the workplace, such as meeting via conference calls, Mayes said. Offices are equipped with hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes. In his Friday memo to employees, Walsh said the city is trying to allow them to work remotely where possible. The city is first prioritizing remote work for employees who need to self-quarantine because of recent travel, those who have dependents to care for and those who have self-identified as high risk because they are at least 60 years old or have underlying health conditions such as diabetes or heart disease. Next in line are employees who already have work-from-home capabilities, including high-speed internet and computers with up-to-date operating systems and virus software and access to the citys network. Supervisors must clear employees to work from home. Those who have jobs that could be done remotely but havent yet been cleared by a supervisor need to get that approval to work from home, Walsh said. Joshua Fechter is a staff writer covering San Antonio city government and politics. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | jfechter@express-news.net | Twitter: @JFreports The country went into lockdown on Friday night as the government ramped up plans to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. And while most of the population adapted to life indoors, Carol Vorderman, 59, debuted her new darker hair as she arrived at BBC studios in Cardiff, Wales, on Saturday morning. The presenter stepped out clad in skin-tight leisurewear to host her weekly radio show and help to keep the country informed and entertained amid the global crisis. Gorgeous new 'do: Carol Vorderman, 59, debuted her new darker hair as she arrived at BBC studios in Cardiff, Wales, on Saturday morning Carol looked as happy as ever, flashing a wide smile as she strolled along in black leggings and a coordinating top. Ensuring she was warm, the former Countdown host layered up with a dark green padded jacket and black gloves. Adding a splash of colour to her look, Carol slipped into a pair of turquoise blue trainers. Keeping it casual: The presenter stepped out clad in skin-tight leisurewear to host her weekly radio show amid the global coronavirus crisis The mother-of-two wore her darker tresses down in a disheveled 'do and shielded her eyes with a classic pair of shades. The outing came just hours after the government told people to 'stay at home' in a bid to tackle the current COVID-19 (coronavirus) crisis that has swept the globe. The prime minister has warned UK citizens not to leave their homes unless absolutely necessary amid the global pandemic, with the exception of key workers. Carol recently revealed she stays in shape by trekking for 15 miles twice a week, adding she likes to focus on her famous derriere. She told Mailonline: 'I've always had a huge a**e. I promise I haven't had bottom implants. It's the same old bottom.' 'In my family, loads of us have it: the Vorderman A**e. My daughter Katie has it. My nephew has it. We're all sticky-out-bottom people. 'And I've been working out for decades, so the shape of mine is down to years of keeping fit. 'I walk seven miles a day and I try to do a 15-mile walk once a week as well, up the Brecon Beacons or along the River Cam. It makes me so happy.' Carol added that while she keeps in shape she doesn't focus on numbers on the scale, confessing she hasn't weighed herself since 1999. She told HELLO!: 'I don't actually know how much I weigh and I don't care because I go on my dress size, thank god for lycra!' she said. 'I'm probably about a size 8 to 9 at the moment. I've always had a small waist, I think I'm about 25 inches around my waist.' A few weeks ago, I started to seriously fantasize about a springtime trip to Ghent, the Belgian city hosting the most comprehensive exhibition ever of the works of Jan van Eyck, the artist who perfected oil painting. Now, like most people, my travel ambitions are limited to a walk around the neighborhood. Even if I were in Ghent, I could not see the show because the museum hosting it is closed, along with thousands more museums around the world, including in Philadelphia. Its little wonder that a phenomenon has been bubbling up all over the internet and spreading on social media the virtual museum experience. It seems like every online publication and newsfeed has been touting on-screen art-viewing, without crowds, from the relative safety of your own home. Nearly all museums have spent the last couple of decades digitizing their collections, and the amount of art available to be seen online and even downloaded to your computer is staggering. In addition, Google Arts & Culture has partnered with more than 2,500 museums of different sorts around the world to present thematic slideshows, detailed discussion of single works, and museum walk-throughs. Several local institutions are included, though not impressively. Near and far doesnt matter in cyberspace. You might as well see everything. Art through a curators eye Indeed, there is so much available it is impossible to say where to start, let alone to draw conclusions. I explored impulsively, letting one thing lead to another, as things do on the web. I can report, though, that many of the sites offer interpretation and documentation difficult to find elsewhere. They really enable you to see an artist through the eye of a top curator. Their drawback, of course, is that you are not seeing the works with your own eyes, noticing things for yourself in the presence of a handmade object. Online art viewing offers plenty of detail, expertise and fun facts, and even animation. The arts emotional content the reason I suspect many are turning to art in this difficult moment is more elusive. I started out hating the entire experience, mostly because it took me a while to figure it out. One virtual walk-through kept me on the ramp of New Yorks Guggenheim Museum without being able to get down the ramp or looking at any art. Another had me wandering around the exterior of the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain, without being able to find a way in, though I should note that this sometimes happens to me at real museums. And while exploring Brazils Museu de Arte Sao Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, which features an enormous open room in which paintings are mounted on Plexiglas panels, all facing the same direction, I found myself stuck only looking at the paintings backs. But when I switched from my desktop to my tablet, after installing the Google Arts & Culture App, I was able to walk around my bedroom while on-screen I toured the museum. It was fun, but to really see the works of art, you need to leave the walk-through and peruse the high-definition images on the site. While each museums website is unique, the Google app standardizes the experience so you can quickly see whether an institution offers virtual walk-throughs and slideshows, which the site calls stories, in addition to selections from the collections. There is no real relationship between the size of the museum and its online offerings. Vermeer at your leisure For example, Viennas Kunsthistorisches Museum, one of the largest in the world, offers only one story. But it is an important one, a discussion of Johannes Vermeers The Art of Painting. As the viewer scrolls down, the camera moves over the surface of the painting and captions appear describing the painters methods, possible meanings of the painting, and the clothes and artifacts to be seen. You probably spend more time with this painting in this virtual version than if you make the trip to Vienna and had to dodge the shoals of tourists brandishing selfie sticks who converge on this canvas. (Im still glad to have done so.) This museum, like most, offers images of some of its most important works, and I couldnt leave without taking a look at some of the great paintings of Pieter Bruegel the Elder such as Childrens Games, The Peasant Wedding, and The Tower of Babel. These are incredibly complex works, full of symbolism and incident, humor and warning. They reward time and patience, and it might be easier to immerse yourself in these paintings and on-screen than it is standing and looking at them in a museum. The Tower of Babel, that quintessential story of misplaced confidence, misunderstood communication, and monumental failure, seems resonant with our moment. As you stare at the screen you can see the beauty of the edifice, the swarms of workers, and the king who is giving orders, oblivious that the building is falling down even as it rises up. And since our digital devices are tools of distraction as well as exploration, I was soon looking at the analysis of Bruegels The Fall of the Rebel Angels from the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium. The slideshow does a great job of explicating one of the painters darkest canvases, which combines images of the beginning of time with the end of the world and teems with monsters and grotesques. Bruegel in VR On the Google Arts & Culture home page, I found a link for the museums virtual reality film of the work. In A Fall With the Rebel Angels, St. Michael and his heavenly allies flap their realistic birdlike wings as they grapple with dark demons, while fantastical creatures float past. It takes place in an apparently three-dimensional space. If you tilt the viewing angle, you can see almost all the way to heaven. This is not an improvement on Bruegel, but it is engaging, which is what the internet is designed to be. Seeing that I was in virtual Brussels, I decided to click my way to virtual Ghent. The website there is essentially a promotion for the now-shuttered show, but it contains several good slideshows that at least hint at what makes Jan van Eyck such an uncannily precise yet spiritual painter. I love knowing that a blue brooch worn by an angel in one of the panels of the Ghent Altarpiece shows the reflection of a specific window at its original location, and the reflection is optically correct. Like the best of what I discovered online, it gives me something to think about when I can get out of the house and start looking at art for real. Farooq Abdullah, who was released from his detention last week, released an amount of Rs. 1 crore to combat the outbreak of COVID-19 in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday after the first case was reported on March 19. Strict restrictions on movement and assembly of people continued for the third consecutive day on Saturday in Kashmir to contain the spread of the pandemic. Out of the Rs. 1 crore donated by the National Conference (NC) chief and Srinagar MP Rs 50 lakh has been earmarked for SKIMS Srinagar and Rs 25 lakh each for Budgam and Ganderbal districts, the party announced through twitter. Party president and MP Srinagar Dr Farooq Abdullah today released an amount of Rs 1 Cr to combat #COVID19 threat in J&K from his MPLAD. Out of this, Rs 50 lakh has been earmarked for SKIMS Srinagar and Rs 25 lakh each for Budgam and Ganderbal districts. pic.twitter.com/faUhZuJfYZ JKNC (@JKNC_) March 21, 2020 READ| Farooq Abdullah calls on politicians to unite to bring back all detainees from J&K Only government and essential services employees with valid identity cards, media persons, and people with health emergency were allowed to move on streets in Kashmir. Police asked people to stay indoors and maintain social distancing through public address systems. Most markets across the valley were shut, public transport was off roads and train services were suspended. Educational institutes and public places such as gymnasiums, parks, clubs, and restaurants have been shut down. The measures have been taken after a 67-year-old woman from Khanyar area of Srinagar, who returned to the city on March 16 from Saudi Arabia after performing Umrah, tested positive for COVID-19. On Thursday, the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir wrote to PM to direct the J&K administration to restore 4G internet services in the Valley. He pointed out that with the restrictions imposed in the Valley, post abrogation of Article 370, students of the Union Territory were already finding it difficult to study. With the additional restrictions imposed in the Valley to fight Coronavirus (COVID-19), he said it was impossible for students and people to work/study from home without fast internet services. The valley has reported four cases - one positive. READ| Omar Abdullah meets with father Farooq Abdullah first time since Aug 5 Situation in Kashmir The Union territory administration has already declared COVID-19 an epidemic, imposing section 144 in certain areas. The administration has also barred all foreign visitors from visiting the Valley and stopped all pilgrimages to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine. Shutting down all schools, educational institutes, restaurants, hotels, gyms, swimming pools till March 31, the administration has also all foreign tourists or visitors arriving in J&K will be quarantined, including all travellers coming from Union Territory of Ladakh. Since the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019, the mobile internet speed in Jammu and Kashmir was increased on Friday in view of the growing demand for restoration of 4G services in the wake of coronavirus scare, officials said. On February 25, the 2G mobile internet services were extended in the newly turned union territory citing 'security concerns.' Earlier on Saturday, Hurriyat Conference's Mirwaiz Umar Farooq demanded the restoration of 4G internet in Kashmir in the wake of the outbreak. While former chief minister Farooq Abdullah was released from detention on March 13, other mainstream leaders including former CMs -Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti and others including Shah Faesel, Naeem Akhtar, Ali Mohammad Sagar, and Sarah Madni have been detained under the draconian Public Safety Act (PSA) by the Jammu-Kashmir administration for almost eight months now. READ| Sachin Pilot glad about father-in-law Farooq Abdullah's release; hopes Omar & Mufti follow According to rental site Zumper, median rents for a one bedroom in Downtown are hovering around $1,118, compared to an $832 one-bedroom median for San Antonio as a whole. So how does the low-end pricing on a Downtown rental look these days and what might you get for the price? We took a look at local listings from Zumper and Apartment Guide to find out what price-conscious apartment seekers can expect to find in the neighborhood, which, according to Walk Score ratings, is quite walkable, is relatively bikeable and boasts excellent transit options. Take a look at the cheapest listings available right now, below. (Note: Prices and availability are subject to change.) Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in this article may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions. 301 E. Travis St. Listed at $955/month, this one-bedroom, one-bathroom condo, located at 301 E. Travis St., is 14.6% less than the $1,118/month median rent for a one bedroom in Downtown San Antonio. The building has a swimming pool. The condo also has a dishwasher, a balcony and hardwood flooring. Pet lovers are in luck: This rental is both dog-friendly and cat-friendly. The rental doesn't require a leasing fee. (See the complete listing here.) East Nueva Street Here's a studio condo on East Nueva Street, which, at 547 square feet, is going for $1,020/month. The building features assigned parking. You can also expect to find a mix of hardwood floors and carpeting, a dishwasher and in-unit laundry in the apartment. For those with furry friends in tow, this property is pet-friendly. Future tenants needn't worry about a leasing fee. (See the full listing here.) 152 E. Pecan St. Then there's this apartment at 152 E. Pecan St., listed at $1,050/month. In the unit, expect to find a dishwasher. Good news for pet lovers: This property is both dog-friendly and cat-friendly. The building has an elevator. The rental doesn't require a leasing fee. (See the listing here.) This story was created automatically using local real estate data from Zumper and Apartment Guide, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Additionally, get free local real estate marketing ideas and tools for agents, brokers and more. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback. Facing a projected surge in patients due to the novel coronavirus outbreak, Walnut Creek's John Muir Health on Friday announced the closing of three urgent care centers in San Ramon, Orinda and Concord. "In order to provide care in the most safe and effective manner, we are temporarily consolidating our seven Urgent Care Center locations to four as of Friday. This change lets us move clinicians and staff to our four largest urgent care locations, which allows us to more efficiently and effectively provide care to our community," a release by the medical group stated. John Muir Health operates two main hospital centers, located in Concord and Walnut Creek. The group's other four urgent care locations, in Berkeley, Pleasanton, Brentwood and Walnut Creek, will remain open. Those sites have separate areas for respiratory and standard health urgent care. All patients will receive a mask upon entering the respiratory urgent care area. The group also announced that it is not taking walk-ins and is screening all patients via phone before scheduling any appointments. Patients are asked to call to schedule an appointment. There will be no Gilroy Garlic Festival in 2020, event officials announced Friday. The festival, already recovering from last year's tragedy involving a teenager who shot and killed three people, has been postponed until 2021 due to the novel coronavirus emergency. "Given the unprecedented national emergency we face and its unknown trajectory, we must put the health and well-being of our community first," the festival announced. "Sadly, this means we are unable to host the festival this year. The festival was founded in 1978 and this year's event had been scheduled for July 24 to 26. It is now set to return July 23 to 25, 2021. Officials around the Bay Area are warning residents to stay vigilant for potential online and phone scams that have begun popping up during the novel coronavirus outbreak. The Federal Trade Commission has warned that online scams could spike with millions of Americans working from home, going to school remotely or otherwise being stuck at home trying to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus. Public safety officials advise that residents use websites they are familiar with when doing things like online shopping. Scammers may try to set up fake websites or false claims of a product being available, so checking for a seller's contact information and ratings can be an important safety precaution. Should the federal government begin sending stimulus checks or direct deposits, residents will not be asked to pay fees, produce gift card codes or provide credit card or bank account information, the FTC and the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety said. The Hayward Police Department and Napa County District Attorney Allison Haley echoed that warning, adding that scammers have claimed they are trying to offer coronavirus treatments or a vaccine, neither of which have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Scammers have also launched fake charities in an effort to prey on philanthropic desires around the country and sent fake emails posing as officials from the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to Haley. Pacific Gas & Electric warned Bay Area residents to beware of scams as well, announcing that it has received several reports of scammers calling ratepayers and asking for immediate payment on past due utility bills. The San Francisco Sheriff's Office will release 26 inmates after the Superior Court on Friday signed orders to release the inmates in order to reduce the jail's population and minimize the risk of spreading the novel coronavirus, sheriff's officials said Friday. The Superior Court's order was prompted by the state's public health emergency and all of the inmates have already been sentenced and have less than 60 days left to serve, according to the sheriff's office. Although there haven't been any confirmed cases of COVID-19 within any of the city's three jails, the inmates' release will help remaining inmates and staff expand social distancing protocols that have already been implemented in the jails, as well as the office's intake and release centers. To ensure the well being of newly released inmates amid the statewide shelter-in-place order, sheriff's officials said they worked with the courts and community partners to find housing for them. As a result, 13 of the released inmates have been placed in supportive housing and behavioral health programs, while the remaining 13 have identified housing upon reentry. Last week, San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju called on Sheriff Paul Miyamoto to release inmates most at risk of contracting the coronavirus, including those over 60 years old, inmates with heart or lung disease, diabetes and those suffering from cancer, HIV or autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus or multiple sclerosis. Three new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in Monterey County bring the county's total to five, health officials said Friday. Tests for the new cases were performed at Monterey County's Public Health Laboratory, which began testing for COVID-19 on March 6 and has performed 202 tests thus far. All three newly diagnosed individuals presented to local emergency departments, health officials said. Confirmed cases of COVID-19 are isolated and monitored by the Monterey County Health Department according to the most recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance. The Monterey County Health Department continues to investigate the cases to identify other people who may have been in close contact with the cases in recent days to determine if additional people need to be tested, quarantined or isolated. Santa Clara County is running a stockpile drive for medical equipment as healthcare workers prepare to handle large numbers of patients when novel coronavirus testing begins ramp up in the region. The county's health system is planning for the weeks and months ahead, and while existing stock exists of necessary equipment, officials said there will be a need for more. While county officials won't say when exactly testing will grow exponentially, as is needed to test such a large population as that of the county, local medical departments must be stocked and ready to handle the need. At a news conference Friday outside the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, Silicon Valley Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said that a call for supplies and cash the previous day led to total donations of about 171,300 surgical masks, 4,000 pairs of gloves, 2,000 bottles of hand sanitizer, 2,000 hazmat suits, 1,200 respirators and $596,551 in cash. But that won't be enough, and the county's health system needs more supplies, officials said Friday. Specifically, medical staff is in need of face shields and surgical masks, gowns, gloves, and sanitizing wipes, among other items. A full list of needed supplies can be found at https://vmcfoundation.org/covid19list/. As stores shutter their doors and businesses grapple with staying open through the public health crisis, San Jose police will enforce the local and state shelter in place orders throughout the city. "It's important for all of us to stay home because it takes the pressure off our first responders to be out there having to respond having to interact with folks," San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said Friday morning at a news conference at the San Jose Police Department. "We know it puts them at risk and, more importantly, distracts them from the very important duties they have to keep us all safe, to keep us all healthy." The city has set up a 311 call line to take reports of noncompliance, and Liccardo encouraged people to use it if they feel the need to. Liccardo said: "We're going to need to ensure that everybody understands what activities are permitted and what's not. That's not always clear to folks and we want to make sure we're doing everything we can to educate. But in the meantime, we will be following up and then eventually there will be significant enforcement." The mayor was joined by police Chief Eddie Garcia, who said education of the shelter orders will turn to enforcement if noncompliance is rampant, but that the city doesn't expect there to be such a situation. "At this point, this is more educational in nature, with voluntary compliance," Garcia said. "We have not run into noncompliance, but should this happen a district supervisor will be called and then appropriate actions will then be made." He said the police department will enforce as needed. A gun store with two locations in Alameda County agreed on Friday to comply with the county health officer's order that businesses deemed to be non-essential move to minimum basic operations, according to sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Ray Kelly. The agreement by Solar Tactical, which has stores in Castro Valley and Livermore, apparently ends a Twitter feud that erupted on Thursday, although Solar Tactical owner Mike Addis couldn't immediately be reached for comment. On Thursday Addis wrote in a Twitter message, "Alameda County is trying to close down Bay Area gun shops. Your Second Amendment right (to own a gun) is no longer considered essential during forced shelter-in-place." Addis said, "Today we went to appointments only to avoid any large groups and only have 1 to 2 customers in the store at a time." He told his followers, "Please, share and get the word out. Call your local officials, news stations and the Alameda County Sheriff to let them know about your Second Amendment rights being taken away." In a video he posted on Twitter, Addis said many people in the community, including potential first-time gun buyers, are concerned because the sheriff's office, in coordination with the county's courts, district attorney and public defender, is releasing "criminals on the streets." Kelly has said the release only applies to low-level offenders who aren't considered a threat to the community. Addis said, "Just because we're in a crisis doesn't mean we have to suspend our constitutional rights." Addis posted a phone number for the sheriff's office with his message. Kelly responded on Thursday by writing on Twitter, "Solar Tactical you are not an essential business. Please move to minimum basic operations per the Alameda County health order." In a Twitter message on Friday, Kelly indicated that Solar Tactical has now agreed to comply. He wrote, "Thank you Solar Tactical for moving to basic minimum operations. We appreciate you supporting the community in the fight against COVID-19." El Cerrito police are investigating the shooting Friday afternoon of a bicyclist on the Ohlone Greenway. Police and paramedics responded shortly after 3 p.m. to a report about the shooting on the popular pathway beneath the BART tracks and located the 39-year-old rider just north of Blake Street near the Del Norte station. Officers were told that the rider came upon a male and female walking in front of him and that he got into an argument with one of them. The male took out a firearm and shot the rider in the leg. The pair then fled and a police search was unable to locate them. The shooter is described as a black male in his late teens to early twenties with a stocky build, wearing all black clothing. The woman is only described as in her twenties. The rider was hospitalized with injuries that are not considered life threatening. The state will stop staffing of bridge tollbooths on seven Bay Area bridges starting at midnight Friday and suspend collecting cash. The toll suspension is being enacted "to minimize toll collectors' and tollpaying customers' risk of exposure to Covid-19 during the current public health emergency," officials said in an announcement. Following a request from Gov. Gavin Newsome, Caltrans and the Bay Area Toll Authority have decided to shift to all-electronic toll collections on the Antioch, Benicia-Martinez, Carquinez, Dumbarton, Richmond-San Rafael, San Francisco-Oakland Bay and San Mateo-Hayward bridges. The Golden Gate Bridge adopted all-electronic tolling in 2013. Drivers who normally stop at a booth to pay cash are advised to continue through the toll plaza without stopping. Automated, high-speed cameras will capture images of customers' license plates, and the FasTrak? customer service center will process the images and then mail a toll notice to the address at which the vehicle is registered with the DMV. While these notices will include a heading that reads "Toll Violation Notice," these transactions will not be considered violations and the amount due on each notice will be for the toll amount only. The FasTrak customer service center will waive all toll violation penalties during the period in which cash collection is suspended, and also will suspend the escalation of penalties for previous unpaid toll crossings. This will include a temporary halt to referrals to the DMV for a hold on vehicle registration after a second toll violation notice has gone unpaid. Saturday will be partly cloudy. Highs will be in the upper 50s to the mid 60s. East winds will 5 to 10 mph before switching to south winds in the afternoon. Saturday night will be mostly clear before becoming partly cloudy. There will be a slight chance of rain after midnight. Lows will be around 50 degrees. West winds will be 5 to 10 mph before switching to north winds after midnight. Sunday will be partly cloudy in the morning before becoming mostly cloudy. There will be a slight chance of rain in the morning and a chance of showers in the afternoon. Highs will be in the 60s. East winds will be 5 to 10 mph before becoming south winds of 10 to 20 mph in the afternoon. Copyright 2020 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. New Delhi: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Saturday (March 21, 2020) appealed to everyone to be responsible citizens of Karnataka and to pledge to make Janata Curfew a success by staying indoors from 7 am to 9 pm this Sunday amid coronavirus outbreak in the country. Yediyurappa also added, "This one deed will go a long way in curbing the spread of Coronavirus in our state and country. Please remember to practice social distancing now otherwise as well." Karnataka CM took to Twitter and said, "Let us all, as responsible citizens of Karnataka, pledge to make #JanataCurfew a success by staying indoors from 7 am to 9 pm this Sunday. This one deed will go a long way in curbing the spread of #Coronavirus in our state and country. Please remember to practice #SocialDistancingNow otherwise as well. Let us all, as responsible citizens of Karnataka, pledge to make #JanataCurfew a success by staying indoors from 7 am to 9pm this Sunday. This one deed will go a long way in curbing the spread of #Coronavirus in our state and country#FightagainstCoronavirus#Covid_19Karnataka B.S. Yediyurappa (@BSYBJP) March 21, 2020 Earlier on March 19, PM Modi asked the nation to follow 'Janata Curfew' from 7 am-9 pm on March 22 to curb COVID-19 spread. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to ravage the economy, many industries have been forced to lay off workers. Hourly and part-time workers have been hit the hardest, with employees in the restaurant and specialty retail stores struggling to find work. Some industries, however, are seeing an unprecedented boom in business and are hiring immediately to meet the demand. Listed below are companies that are hiring for positions that do not require special skills or experience. Amazon As people stay inside their homes for quarantine, supply home delivery is more important than ever. Amazon is opening 100,000 new positions for drivers and fulfillment centers across the country. Both full time and part time positions are available. Full time salaries start at $17 per hour, which includes a $2 raise given to all employees to help them during the COVID-19 pandemic. Apply at amazondelivers.jobs. Fort Bend County Sheriffs Office The Fort Bend County Sheriffs Office is hiring civilian detention officers to ensure the safety of inmates while in the care, custody and control of the sheriffs office. The salary ranges from $1,253.60 biweekly to $1,441.60 biweekly based on qualifications. A high school diploma or GED is required, but no special training or skills are necessary. Apply online at https://external-fortbendcountytx.icims.com/jobs. Costco While customer lines that snake around the building, its no surprise that this overwhelmed retailer is hiring. Costco is hiring all positions, including cashiers, floor assistants and stockers. Hourly pay for employees ranges between $11.57 and $26.21 per hour. Costco offers benefits packages to full-time employees. Visit www.costco.com to apply. OakBend Medical Center OakBend Medical Center, an independent hospital with two campuses in Richmond, is hiring displaced service industry employees. Visit oakbendmedcenter.org to apply. Uber Eats, GrubHub and DoorDash Now that the government has mandated that all restaurants be carry-out only, the need for food delivery has increased. Using the Uber Eats, GrubHub or DoorDash apps, delivery drivers can set their own hours. The services also offer instant cashout, so theres no need to wait for a paycheck. Income varies. Visit www.ubereats.com, doordash.com or grubhub.com to apply. H-E-B Texas own grocery store has announced that it is hiring for several different short term positions that could last up to 60 days. The store is seeking employees to work inside the store as well as curbside pick up. H-E-B recently gave all its employees a $2 per hour raise as a sign of appreciation. H-E-B pay rate ranges from $10.09 to $19.92 per hour. Visit careers.heb.com to apply. Walmart and Sams Club Walmart and Sams Club have announced that it will be hiring 150,000 new employees to meet the explosive demand for goods. Starting salary starts at $11 per hour depending on experience and education. To apply at either retail store, visit careers.walmart.com Dominos Dominos dine in may have shut down, but the pizza delivery business is booming. The franchise is looking to hire 1,000 new team members in the Houston area. Apply at jobs.dominos.com Kroger Kroger announced on March 18 that it will be hiring 10,000 new jobs in the Houston area to meet the demand from customers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Starting salary is $7.90 per hour. Apply at jobs.kroger.com claire.goodman.com Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 21:48:40|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close File photo of Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) meets with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in Beijing, capital of China, April 25, 2019. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu) China firmly supports Serbia's efforts against the epidemic, Xi said, adding that China will provide Serbia with assistance in protective equipment and medical instruments, and help it purchase urgently needed supplies in China. BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- China will provide Serbia with assistance in protective equipment and medical instruments, and send a group of medical experts to help it better contain the COVID-19 epidemic, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a recent message of sympathy to his Serbian counterpart, Aleksandar Vucic. In his message, Xi, on behalf of the Chinese government and people, extended sincere sympathies to the Serbian government and people over the recent COVID-19 outbreak in the Balkan country. China and Serbia are comprehensive strategic partners, and the iron-clad friendship between the two countries and between the two peoples has stood the test of time and grown ever stronger, Xi stressed. Recalling that when the Chinese people was making an all-out effort to fight the novel coronavirus disease, the Serbian government and people offered China strong support through concrete actions, Xi said he is deeply grateful for that. China firmly supports Serbia's efforts against the epidemic, Xi said, adding that China will provide Serbia with assistance in protective equipment and medical instruments, and help it purchase urgently needed supplies in China. China will also send a group of medical experts to help Serbia better contain the epidemic, so as to protect the life, health and well-being of the Serbian people, he added. Xi said he attaches great importance to the development of China-Serbia relations, and believes that through the joint battle against the epidemic, the two countries' time-tested traditional friendship will gain more hearty support from their people, and their comprehensive strategic partnership will grow deeper and rise to a higher level. 1.4k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard UPDATE: News sources have not identified the staffer for Vice President Mike Pence who has tested positive for coronavirus. Pence has not been tested for the virus; his office says there are no plans to test him at this time. This isnt Pences first brush with the virus: He was present at the American Israel Public Affairs Committees Policy Conference in Washington, where two people tested positive for the virus. Two members of Congress tested positive for coronavirus this week and are currently self-isolating. ORIGINAL STORY: A spokesperson for Vice President Mike Pence has confirmed that a staff member in his office has tested positive for coronavirus. This evening we were notified that a member of the Office of the Vice President tested positive for the Coronavirus. Neither President Trump nor Vice President Pence had close contact with the individual, said Pences spokesperson, Katie Miller. Further contact tracing is being conducted in accordance with CDC guidelines. There will be more to come as this story develops. The vice president has been leading the nationwide response to the coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed the lives of at least 250 Americans, according to the most recent count. Speaking at a press conference earlier today alongside President Donald Trump, he said there would be a major procurement from the federal government of N95 masks announced over the weekend. Social distancing, self-isolation, travel bans and tight restrictions on public gatherings are some of the measures authorities have imposed to address the coronavirus pandemic. These precautions echo the drastic measures employed in Sydney to fight past epidemics such as measles, scarlet fever and smallpox in the 19th century and the bubonic plague, Spanish flu and HIV/AIDS in the 20th century. Wearing masks during the Spanish flu outbreak in 1919 in Sydney. Credit:State Library of NSW But Peter Curson, emeritus professor in the Department of Health Systems and Population at Macquarie University, says efforts to deal with past health crises have not always been effective. With the possible exception of HIV/AIDS, state and federal governments fought with each other over the best way to proceed and often produced control and containment measures which did little but heighten people's fear and anxiety, he says. Curson, the author of Deadly Encounters: How Infectious Disease Helped Shape Australia, also says governments have often relied too heavily on the medical profession when addressing epidemics. Rarely did they understand how ordinary people respond to such threats, how they regard risk and are influenced by the people around them and how the media presents information. Nollywood actress, Nse Ikpe-Etim is currently under self-isolation in Lagos State after arriving from the United Kingdom, which is one of the high risk countries with coronavirus. The actress, who disclosed this on her Twitter page, said even though she had no symptoms of coronavirus disease, she had to self-isolate for 14 days in line with governments approved standard. She wrote; Hi lovelies, Yesterday, in the morning, I returned to Lagos from the UK one of the countries listed as a COVID-19 hotspot by the Federal Ministry of Health. I am presently in Self-Isolation according to the directives of the NCDC and in constant communication with them. So far, I have not displayed any symptoms of the Coronavirus. However, I will maintain my isolation and keep people at bay till the coast is clear. I hope everyone is responsible enough to do the same. Avoid public gatherings as much as you can. Wash your hands and sanitize them often. Stock up your home with essentials, while being considerate to others so they too can and most importantly, dont panic. This too shall pass. Love, and Light. NS SEOUL, SOUTH KOREANorth Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast on Saturday in the countrys third weapons test this month, the South Korean military said. The missiles were fired from the county of Sonchon in North Pyongan province in the northwest, flying more than 400 kilometres to the northeast before landing in waters between North Korea and Japan, South Korean defence officials said. They provided no other details, such as the specific type of missiles launched, as they were still analyzing data. The Souths military said it was deeply inappropriate for the North to launch missiles as the world grappled with the coronavirus pandemic, saying it had urged the North to stop such acts immediately. The Norths leader, Kim Jong Un, has stepped up military activities this month as the pandemic has surged. Officially, the North has reported no coronavirus cases, but health experts fear that the isolated country might be hiding an outbreak. In its last weapons test, on March 9, North Korea fired various types of multiple-rocket launchers as part of a live-fire winter military drill overseen by Kim. The country conducted a similar drill on March 2. The tests have signalled a return to provocative actions by North Korea a year after a failed summit meeting between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump. Since then, Kim has warned that his country no longer felt bound by its self-imposed moratorium on testing nuclear weapons and long-range ballistic missiles. The North has not followed up on that threat with any long-range missile tests, but its military resumed a vigorous winter training schedule this month, South Korean officials said. On Friday, the North Korean military conducted a live-fire training exercise at an unidentified location, the Norths official Korean Central News Agency said Saturday. North Korea has resumed its military drills even as it remains highly vulnerable to epidemics because of the decrepit condition of its public health system and the international sanctions that make it difficult to ship aid there. In recent weeks, the Red Cross and other aid groups have made urgent pleas for the United Nations to grant exemptions so they can send medical supplies to the North to help fight the coronavirus. Read more about: Pat ONeill Ballinlough, Knockbridge, was a retired principal of Saint Marys School in the village and was a leading historian, Gaelic scholar and author of several books who attained legendary status in his adopted home village and used his many gifts for the service of others. He was just 23 when appointed principal, and served in that role for 34 years until he retired, following which, he had 18 years of active retirement with the last 18 years coping with illness and old age. He passed away peacefully at his home on January 19 last. He made Knockbridge his home and as school principal became a central figure in the life of the parish, known and respected far beyond its boundaries with his widespread involvement in his community and through his main spheres of interest and his love and knowledge of the Irish language and his engagement in native culture, Gaelic games and history, especially pertaining to his locality. The realm in which he was regarded was underlined when in 1994 he was voted Louth Man of the Year. It was a long way to come for a young boy, born on Saint Patricks Day, 1931 to Rosetta and Pete ONeill. The couple had five other children, of which the lone survivor is daughter Rosetta Herr. Pat and his siblings grew up in Blackrock, attending the local national school. He furthered his education in the CBS in Dundalk before moving on to train as a teacher in Maynooth. A student there at the time was the late Cardinal Tomas OFiaich and a mutual lifelong friendship developed, with the pair sharing a love of all things Irish and for story telling. Pats journey as a teacher took him first to Sheelagh in Hackballscross, then across into Monaghan to Lisdoonan, Donaghmoyne and a short distance then back into Louth. He met with Peggy Quinn in his first teaching position, and they went on to marry and spend almost 50 years together. Knockbrdge was his final step, and for which he, family and friends couldnt be more pleased as he integrated into the community where he endeared himself like few others. He earned a kind of still legendary status, remarked Father Gerry Campbell, chief concelebrant of Pats funeral Mass. His jocular, kind and helpful nature saw him engage in all manner of good deeds for neighbours, friends and indeed strangers from measuring lands to helping improve Irish language skills, or with ancestry. Countless were the stories that sympathisers had to tell about him over the course of Pats wake, Father Gerard Campbell PP pointed out in his eulogy Father Campbell pondered on all the changes he must have seen for the 34 years he taught here. He made his mark and people got to know him and if you didnt know him, you knew about him. Another huge aspect to Pat was the Irish language and Irish culture said Father Campbell .When he went to Ranafast in the late 1950s, he made his mark there too. In Ranafast he held the post of Cisteoir from 1973 to 1988 and Runai from 1983 to 1988. Father Campbell added that while in Ranafast he organised courses for students, especially scholarships for local students. Quite a few teachers also went to teach in Ranafast as a result of Pats influence. His love for the Irish language included playing an active role in the Dundalk branch of Cumann na Gaelge, as well as being a member of the County Louth Archaeological society. He actively promoted Gaelic games in Louth through Cumann Na mBunscoil, of which he was treasurer at one stage, and did much fund raising through schools in the county. Theres no doubt about it, the man had many irons in the fire. But not just that, he gave each his all. If Pat could help you out, he would. He did so many favours for people; thats why so many came back to him when he was ill. He had a huge circle of friends and carers and drivers that he was rarely alone. He enjoyed their company, reminiscing and being taken to matches. He was a true Brides man. People certainly returned his kindness one hundred fold, reflected Father Campbell Pat was one who used his high intellect in the service of his community. He was a keen writer; loved local history and was a consummate researcher. These resulted in him writing and producing a collection of books, among which were The Journal of Henry McClintock, A history of Knockbridge, a Miscellany of Knockbridge, and A Pictorial History of the village. He above all loved people, and loved socialising. His interests and hobbies were many. He enjoyed music and poetry, going to concerts. Pat certainly knew how to live life to the full. His life was a hive of activity, summed up Father Campbell. He was also not a one to lie down under the heaviest of blows, and he sustained two of those within a very short period. These both occurred in 2002 with the death of beloved wife, Peggy and then suffering a stroke. His greatest lesson was how to die with humility and dignity. During his illness he brought so many people together, reflected in the large congregation at his Mass, said Father Campbell. Pat was predeceased by his sisters, Nance and Kitty, brothers, Hugh and Thomas, along with his parents. He is survived and very sadly missed by his daughter, Padraigin, son, Diarmuid, sister, Rosetta Herr, daughter in-law, Helena, nephews, nieces, relatives and friends. After reposing at his home from the Sunday to Tuesday, Pats remains were taken to Saint Marys Church on the Wednesday. Saint Marys School and Saint Brides GFC provided Guards of Honour along the final part of his journey. Son Diarmuid and his nephews bore his coffin. Father Gerry Campbell PP concelebrated Mass along with Father Brian McCreesh CC and Father Michael Murtagh PP Dunleer. Father Campbell delivered the eloquent and fulsome eulogy. Symbols of Pats life, including his cap, the ONeill family tree, a copy of the pictorial history of Knockbridge and photographs of Pat in his teaching days in Saint Marys and in Ranafast were laid at the altar by Mamie Prendergast, Pat McGeeney, Declan Marry, Marie Bell and Ciaran Herr. The Readings were given by friends Lorcan OhUllachain and Martin Brennan. The Prayers of the Faithful were led by Niall Sloane, Declan Breathnach, Lucy Brennan, Joe McKenna and Colm Marry. The Offertory gifts were presented by Mary Conroy and Mary McArdle. Ava Brennan read a reflection. The music was provided by the Knockbridge and Kilkerley choirs under Fidelma Bellew, with nephew Ollan Herr playing the flute and tin whistle. Pat was laid to rest in the adjoining cemetery, where a graveside oration was given by Pat McGeeney which was composed by Brian Dooley. Refreshments were provided afterwards in the Community Centre by James Watters. Mention should also be given to Patrick Kieran and Brian Laverty, who organised parking during the wake and at the funeral. Morocco has declared a health emergency and asked citizens not to leave home unless they receive an authorization from local authorities to buy essentials or go to work, an interior ministry statement said Thursday. Movement will be restricted starting from Friday March 20 at 18:00 as a necessary measure after coronavirus cases started transmitting locally, the interior ministry said in a statement. People may only leave their homes to buy food or medicine or go to work after receiving a permit from their employer or authorities. Therefore anyone who wants to go to work, convenience shops or markets, banks, pharmacies, telecommunication agencies, gas stations and other essential shops will need an authorization from local authorities. The health emergency does not mean stopping the economy, said the interior ministry, noting that banks, gas stations and other critical businesses will be able to operate. The statement reassured that authorities will make sure that foodstuff and medicine supply will be ensured. The economic monitory committee on its part unveiled Thursday an economic rescue package to mitigate the corona impact on the countrys businesses and workers. Thus, Moroccan workers, who are covered by the National Social Security Fund (CNSS), will receive monthly payments of over $200 (2000 Dirhams), family allowances and health insurance benefits. Eligible Moroccan workers will also benefit from a four-month extension of the deadline of loan payments. For their part, SMEs and liberal professions will benefit from a moratorium on their social security payments, mortgages and rents. The task force will meet next Monday to look into ways of supporting those operating in the informal sector. Morocco has confirmed 66 cases of the coronavirus and three deaths as of this Friday. Most of the sick caught the virus abroad, but it has now also started to transmit within Moroccan cities. NYS WCB # G2029240, The Power of Evil ---My Written Statement to the Upcoming 03/27/2020 Hearing By Limin Wang March 21, 2020 WCBs correspondence received on 02/20/2020 states that the employer/carrier, claiming to have documentation of voluntary removal from the labor market, has made a hearing request on 02/10/2020, i.e., the date the WCB panel of three judges announced their rejection to my 10/31/2019 review appeal. I am eager to learn what kind of documentation it could be. My documentations of the real murder but fake justice system through workplace trap injury and then through further treacherous injuries from medical services should not be simply ignored or buried though. Then, WCBs postal mail received on 03/05/2020 sets the next hearing on 03/27/2020, 9:00 AM 30 Min, at the usual WCB hearing site 168-46 91st Avenue, 3rd Floor, Jamaica, NY 11432. The written PURPOSE states: Whether or not payments should be suspended or reduced. It is necessary for you to provide the Board with the most recent and up-to-date medical report from your treating doctor. Failure to produce this report may result in the reduction or suspension of your benefits. Further consideration of the neck and left elbow. Claimant to produce medical evidence of lost time, to consider attachment to the labor market. I do not quite get its complete meaning in plain and simple languages. I would like to answer this hearing plain and blunt. Its supposed by the WC Law that the treating physicians are required to submit the medical reports and billing forms such as C-4s to the WC Board. Its already so practically impossible for an injured worker to find a WCB-authorized physician to take and then unbiasedly diagnose and treat an injured-worker. Why this evil system is mounting almost every burden or blame on the injured worker? The last available treating doctor, from New York City Medical & Neurological Offices, still acts diagnosing and treating on me. Why there was no direct submission of the medical reports from NYCMNO to WCB shown in eCase Folder about my recent neurological visits? NYCMNO claims that they have submitted the reports to WCB. When I submitted these medical reports, whatever difference it had ever made to the LONG TOTAL SUSPENSION of compensation from Feb. 01, 2019 to Oct. 03, 2019? How the WCLJ reached a decision of temporary partial disability compensation of $150 (ONE HUNDRED FIFTY)/week on the Oct. 03, 2019 hearing? By 10/03/2019, the most up-to-date medical report I submitted to WCB about my 09/17/2019 neurological visit states 100% temporary total disability. Its the systems wanton play, not only on the compensation, but also on the authorization of medical diagnosis or treatment, against me the victim. The so-called no medical evidence for the beginning three weeks of uncompensated lost time is directly caused by such an irresponsible, ruthless, but meticulous system. Its a premeditated and coordinated murder attempt on me, and its sourced from state- or deep-state- level. The perpetrators use multiple means to make me not able to find any physician for real diagnoses and treatment. When I did see a new PCP on Jan. 29, 2018 about the injury, its my then representation attorney and the WCB system chose to ignore it. Its such a managed medical service system that premeditatedly and coordinatingly inflicts further physical, physiological, and psychological harm to me while removing the direct medical evidences of my serious injuries for the perpetrators. If I had recovered just by myself with the time, the perpetrators would have come back to mount me with medical bill balance because they had documented almost no direct evidence of injuries. When my health has been deteriorating, almost all these medical service professionals, through forms of fraud, only want to DECLARE their shameless OPINION that I am healthy, or that I have diseases, even psychiatric disease, but no injury. They know I will die of my serious injury quickly or suddenly without real treatments, but they know to even shamelessly write down 0 in the line of number of my dependents in the permanent impairment section. No judge or representation attorney would ever care or correct such blatant systemic fraud, because they are part of the fraudulent system. This system has already turned my wife into a sick burden living only on me for so many years. How my young children would be able to survive in this real cannibalism system? I have written so much so long to the WCB about my three wants: 1) honest and high-resolution MRI on my head and spine; 2) criminal investigation and punishment to the perpetrators; 3) financial compensation for temporary total disability. What has been done by the WCB? Has OSHA recovered the trap ladders set up by the perpetrators at B.Q. Wide Auto Body Parts Supply, Inc.? I can not trust these treating doctors tests results and their business-connected MRI facilities findings, because besides so many things, they even hold my shoulder steady to run their so-called balance test, deny the existence of an open-mouth view X-ray image, and give me blank or dysfunctional DVDs of MRI images while claiming in their findings NO INTRACRANIAL BLEEDING of any age. The government bureaucrats may be so eager to bring up laws of thousands-of-pages, but they dont show a smattering of patience to read what I the victim has written about this injury case. The NYS WCB and DOH OPMC are supposed to have officials with medical credentials, but they do not show a grain of care about the victim. The bureaucrats only ruthlessly brush away my plethora of symptoms from head trauma and tetraplegia; they ruthlessly refuse my request to have an honest and high-resolution MRI on my head and whole spine; they ruthlessly render their power to declare facts and decisions based on such a fraudulent system, with an eager to even discontinue the meager $150/week WC compensation and the $860/month SSD benefits. My NECK was injured in the Jan. 16, 2018 workplace trap fall, due to axial acceleration/deceleration compression, hyperflexion with a split second of total loss of consciousness, and hyperextension with a hearing of loud metal-like banging noise. And my NECK was further injured by Dr. Yazan Rajai Jabajis sudden and big rotation of my head & neck at New York Medical & Diagnostic Center on Feb. 17, 2018, under the cover of his first chiropractic treatment on me, and then electrically shocked through left arm to neck to head under the cover of SomatoSensory Evoked Potential (SSEP) test by an old Jew technician at NYMDC on Feb. 19, 2018. These days were supposed to be my first days to visit NYMDC, which was referred to by my then newly retained attorneys law firm Bangel, Cohen & Falconetti, LLP. Its NYMDC that denied the existence of an open-mouth view X-ray done on March 08, 2018 which CLEARLY shows fracture on the CRUCIAL C0-C2 area. Its the NYS governmental agencies that chose not to act actively on such medical conduct. Its NYMDC and their business partner Neighborhood Radiology that hindered an early MRI on neck and then tampered with the Apr/12/2018 MRI evidence. Its the WCB Judge Anthony Golden, together with my representation attorney Mr. Matthew T. Swansen from BCF and of course with the defense side, to set aside my neck, a CRUCIAL but injured site, as prima facie injury site, for further dispute, on the first hearing (pre-hearing) set on March 12, 2018. The Judge was citing the 02/16/2018 medical report from Dr. Benjamin Uh for this prima facie. How ridiculous is that such a report was not shown in the eCase Folder at all until April 2018? It was not shown during the hearing when I was silent but present. WHY Dr. Benjamin Uh DIDNT INCLUDE MY NECK in his 02/16/2018 MRI referral? Read the first hearing decisions exact treacherous phrasing! Sixty days after that hearing decision (file dated as March 16, 2018), its my representation BCF law firm that brought up a Request For Assistance on May 16, 2018 to want the dispute again on my Neck. The defense side didnt initiate any IME (Independent Medical Examination) of anything until late May, 2018, and their first set of two IMEs were not about the dispute of neck and left elbow! Instead, the IME vendor Brookside Consultants, Inc. sent out documents which have clearly included Neck as part of the established injury sites. Such documents were never sent to me by any parties, and such documents were DISGUISED in the WCB eCase Folder as medical narratives from a treating doctor, Dr. Mehrdad Golzad. By legal practice, these governmental and professional people are supposed to know that then the NECK and LEFT ELBOW are supposed to be considered as part of the Established Injury Sites too. They, including the NYS WCB, play their sophisticated treacherous coordination on and on, against me the victim. For some simplicity here, I will fast-track to year 2019. When I openly talked to them during the Jan. 03, 2019 IME about the premeditated and coordinated murder attempts, the WCLJ Anthony Golden and my representation BCF attorney Jeffery Feldman and the treating clinics NYMDC and NYCMNO, together with the defense sides, set me up for a no medical evidence decision to totally suspend the compensation during the Feb. 01, 2019 hearing. More than that, WCLJ Anthony Golden fabricated a March 15, 2018 IME in this Feb. 01, 2019 decision too. When I went for the March 14, 2019 IME with Dr. William B. Head, Jr. again, its the IME office that threw a pile of lies to me and then declared NO IME to me. I called WCB for the receiving lady to put a note in WCB record, and I called CCMSI insurance adjuster Lisa White. Lisa White told me to leave without the 03/14/2019 IME. Later, the defenses law firm Jones | Jones and the WCB kept claiming that I didnt go for the March 14, 2019 IME! The credibility of such government and business powers is at the same level of their twisted and distorted Hearing Minutes transcripts in the WCB eCase Folder. In the spring of 2019, I managed to find three neurologists or neurosurgeons, Drs. Ahmed Elfiky, Alfred A. Steinberger, John M. Caridi for diagnoses and treatments. The first two clinics required me to contact the WC insurance adjuster Lisa White who is always denying any responsibility or lability since the very beginning. Ms. Lisa White amazingly AUTHORIZED my medical visits in early March 2019. Then of course, the first two clinics had no interest in hearing my complaint of symptoms. Dr. Elfiky split my initial visits into two, the latter one on March 29, 2019, and his medical report was nowhere to be found or actually obtained yet a full year later. The earliest available appointment to Dr. AAS at Metropolitan Neurosurgery was April 03, 2019, to Dr. John M. Caridi at Mount Sinai Health System was April 04, 2019. Dr. AAS avoided to discuss the diagnostic images with me, and claimed the disks I brought there didnt have any X-ray images. Dr. AAS or his assistant never showed they were running the disks. Dr. AAS only gave me a referral note for a CT regarding ONLY the issue of odontoid process fracture. Peoples explanation to me whether its a CT with or without contrast is contradicting. Dr. JMC gave me a referral note of MRI on cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine, but pointing the diagnoses first at a crossed-out fibromyalgia and then at another disease --- degenerative disc disease, and without checking whether with or without contrast. On the April 05, 2019 hearing, its such a drama show! During the hearing, with a new WCLJ Lucky Enobakhare presiding, the defense attorney lady suddenly claimed she had Dr. AASs medical notes about me. She claimed Dr. AAS concluded that I can return to work without any restriction, and she arrogantly claimed Dr. AAS is my CONSULTANT doctor and so I need to pay for such a visit to Dr. AAS! I was not told by Dr. AAS that he would conclude such or send to the defense side such a conclusion. Its a complete shock to me. (Later days, they changed the handwritten document to a version with some typed pages, under the same Doc ID#. Weirdly, that file on my computer local drive has been replaced too.) Then, the strong-accented WCLJ Lucky Enobakhare doubted the 100% disability in the narrative report about my Mar. 14, 2019 neurological visit to NYCMNO, and set up two hearings to set up a phone cross-examination with my treating doctors. WCLJ Enobakhare said as if the defense attorney lady had to take a flight to Jamaica, Queens to attend such a hearing. Only by July 2019, I started to know that Jones | Jones LLC (5 Hanover Square, #1001, New York, NY 10004) has been representing the employer/carrier since the very beginning of this case, but such information had not been shown anywhere in the documents to me. In year 2018, WCB sent out mails claiming the carrier was either not responding or not found at the right email or fax # for treatment authorization requests. I dont see straight how a flight is required for an attorney to travel from Manhattan to Queens within New York City, and how the defense side could not be reached for business communication in modern USA. Such excuse was also used again and again by Dr. JMCs office. When I arrived by bus about twenty-minutes late for the June 10, 2019 hearing, the WCB at Jamaica, Queens called my former representation BCF attorney to the window, and then told me the hearing was already over because I was late. The WCB files claimed that I was not present, and such claim was made at the minutes AFTER I had arrived. On Aug. 30, 2019 hearing, WCB made me wait for extra hours past the hearing schedule time, literally making me the last injured-worker out of that floor that day. When I had extremely violent heart pain in early August 2019 and almost died of it, I pushed for the spine MRIs and a second head MRI. All the deniers lies and actions and no-actions still go their old ways. Who cares what! The three separate MRIs on my spine from Main Street Radiology were all paid full out of my own pocket, although MSR had collected both WC insurance and EmblemHealth insurance information. Besides, MSR DEMANDED me to sign a sheet prohibiting me from claiming reimbursement from the (WC) insurances, otherwise no MRI to me. There is no possibility of MRI in the USA without a doctors referral, and MSR was already claiming the 04/04/2019 MRI referral had already expired on Aug. 15, 2019. What a real sense of FREEDOM such a system provides to the general people? The cervical spine MRI images from MSR were not so clear, and the axial slices did not cover the CRUCIAL craniocervical junction. The thoracic spine was done in a very quick-through way. Its possible that the MRI facilities may have done extra scans on me without my consent or knowledge. Regardless, I dont have access to the most important direct medical evidence data. The MSR reports were pretty much aimed for degenerative disc disease. The deniers, including NYS WCB, wouldnt authorize the supposedly pre-authorized MRIs and wouldnt acknowledge any MRI findings on my spine. Dr. John M. Caridis office then claimed their help couldnt be available anymore. By September 11, 2019, IME vendor Brookside Consultants, Inc. started to take Neck off and to switch Back to Low Back in the list of established injury sites. When I talked to BCI, WC Insurance CCMSI, and WCB about such of their DISREGARD of facts, truth, or law, they all acted as if they either didnt hear from me, didnt understand me, or for WCLJ Lucky Enobakhare, angerly shut off my talk of such important issues during the hearings. Yes, as Judge says he is not my attorney, but why do such to me as an enemy? The hearing is preposterously for the claimant/plaintiff only to hear what all other parties to say. The deniers choose whatever they want to impose on me the injured worker/victim. The hearing decisions in 2019 were all VAGUE about the medical treatments, and no medical practice gives a damn to my injuries about such VAGUE decisions. The deniers called off the cross-examination and set up the IME with Dr. Robert S. April. When I filed a review appeal on Oct. 31, 2019, before the Nov. 2019 RSA IME. The Jones | Jones attorney wrote in her rebuttal to twist as if my review appeal had been made after the RSA IME, and portrayed me as Mandarin-speaking male while not mentioning I can generally talk and write in English. The conspirators imposed an interpreter on me for the IME but tried very hard to violate my rights of having my accompany for the recording of the IME proceeding. The Nov. 08, 2019 IME and its report were not only a psychological trauma but also a physical assault to me. Yet, the NYS WCB Board Panel Judges cite the deniers falsehood as FACTS and the RSAs opinion to inflict the psychological assault to me another time. Their review decision claims not only my neck is still a disputed site, but also the Back is also diminished to Low Back. Thus, the government bureaucrats, as business fraudsters, show exactly the same kind of DISREGARD of the ESTABLISHMENT too. There are SO MANY facts and evidences about what treacheries the multiple parties of the evil system have done to me. Its so easy for such kind of capitalism-footed evil and corrupt system to claim other systems or governments evil and corrupt. Please face the facts what the USA and special-colored China evil and corrupt systems have done or not done to me. Dont drag me further with this kind of SOPHISTICATED sham justice system, because the perpetrators have been actually dragging me to die of real murderous injuries to my central nervous system which has seriously affected all of my vital systems. Before my injuries from B.Q. Wide Auto Body Parts Supply, Inc., I had been working as a diligent and efficient slave at B.Q. Wide with pretty much two full-time slaves load and one slaves minimal wage rate plus a few hours overtime each week. Some people at B.Q. Wide, including some management and senior employees are malicious to me almost daily with unprovoked verbal assaults and physical threats. I want to live, with my life, liberty, and happiness. I want to seek the three justices. I first want to seek GENUINE medical diagnoses and treatments to my serious injuries. If the USA system can not provide it, then dont pretend it any more, just like the special-colored China gives a flat-out rejection of medical assistant to me the compatriot. I hope I can get the needed help from other countries such as North Korea. The Tamil Nadu government was considering providing a sub-quota for government school students clearing the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), Chief Minister K Palaniswami said on Saturday. The number of government school students joining medical colleges in the state after the introduction of NEET has come down, he informed the state Assembly. The government was already involved in a "legal battle" against NEET in the Supreme Court, he said. The government was mulling enacting a special law to enable a sub-quota for government school students from the state clearing the test, he said. This will apply for students who had studied from Class Class I to XII in government, corporation and municipality-run schools, among others, he added. A Commission headed by a retired high court judge would be set up to guide the government in the matter, the chief minister said. "The commission will comprise secretaries of School education, family welfare and law departments and two educationists appointed by the school department," he said. Medical director would be Member-Secretary of the Commission. The Commission would study the reasons for a dip in the number of government school students joining medical courses in Tamil Nadu and their economic background and make its suggestions to it within one month. Stating that admission of students to medical courses based on NEET qualification was implemented in 2016-17 academic year by the Centre, he said due to former chief minister late J Jayalalithaa's efforts, Tamil Nadu was given an exemption that year. "Amma government, public and the state strongly oppose NEET," he said, adding, a resolution was passed in the Assembly in 2017 opposing it. Palaniswami said the government has filed a case in the Supreme Court against NEET where the government was highlighting how it was affecting rural students. The Chief Minister said after implementing NEET, the number of government school students opting to study in medical colleges in the state has decreased. The government was firm that this should not continue, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) WESTPORT A large private party in Westport that led to more than 20 people contracting the coronavirus is attracting national attention with one of the attendees featured on the cover of Time magazine. Donning a facemask while staring outside the window of her Stamford home in the photo, 51-year-old Cheryl Chutter told Time magazine that after attending the birthday party earlier this month, she learned another guest tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, when he returned to his home country of South Africa. It is unclear where he contracted the virus. By then, Chutter had already visited a hospital and urgent care facility due to high fever, chills, body aches and exhaustion. But she told the publication she was only able to get tested after she discovered she may have been in contact with someone who had the coronavirus at the party. After receiving the positive test result on March 17 following an eight-day quarantine, Chutter said she felt one emotion in particular. Relief, I felt relief. I knew now that my dad can get tested. I just want to be safe. I want to take care of my son, be considerate to other people and I dont want to leave my house till quarantine is over, Chutter told Time magazine. The Time magazine feature comes as Westports coronavirus outbreak continues to grow. Mark Cooper, health director of the Westport-Weston Health District, said Friday that the March 5 party was attended by significantly more people than the 40 amount that was originally reported. As the situation unfolded, it quickly became clear that there were more than only 40 people involved, Cooper said in a statement on the health districts website. Cooper said the initial round of testing on March 12 did not capture everyone on the initial list of people, so, in an effort to get ahead of the virus, WWHD scheduled a second round of testing. The second round was completed on March 18, he said, and those tested will be contacted by the health districts staff once results are back. Potential exposures were many hundreds before it was even reported to the WWHD. Although our efforts could not contain the virus, the information obtained (20 initial positive test results from March 12 testing) was important because it demonstrated that the virus was, in fact, in our community, Cooper said. The widespread exposure caused schools in Westport and Wilton to be closed more than a week ago when more than a dozen people who attended the March 5 gathering many of them parents of children in those school districts started suffering flu-like symptoms. Since then, the number of coronavirus cases in town has reached 42, at least 20 of which were confirmed to be related to the party. The total comprises nearly half of the cases in Fairfield County. In this time of uncertainty, I want to assure Westporters that our public health and public safety officials are working diligently to provide accurate and essential information to you on a daily basis, and to keep everyone as safe as possible, First Selectman Jim Marpe said in a statement Thursday. We are all in this together and we must respond as a civil community. He added the number of positive cases are sure to rise as test results continue to be reported. COVID-19 is in the community and we cant stress enough the importance of self-isolation, social distancing, avoiding gatherings and practicing good hygiene, Marpe said. In a video statement on Friday, Marpe acknowledged his office had received numerous emails and calls about the party that precipitated the spread of the coronavirus in town, but asked the community not to cast blame. While I understand the inclination for some to know the numbers, know exact locations, and the identities of people involved, it is now passed the point where any of that is relevant, he said. The fact of the matter is that this could have been any one of us, and rumor-mongering and vilification of individuals is not who we are as a civil community. With more testing needed, the Westport-Weston Health District has now arranged in-car testing with Murphy Medical Associates, an area medical practice, in the parking lot of Bedford Middle School. Registration will be required for Westport and Weston residents to be tested. Residents can visit www.coronatestct.com or call 203-658-6051 to learn more and begin the screening process. Testing will take place on March 24, March 31 and April 7 from 8:30 a.m. to noon. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-22 00:41:46|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Brunei will increase its COVID-19 testing capacity by 10 fold with a new virology lab under construction, the country's Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah said on Saturday evening. In his special speech on the COVID-19 pandemic broadcasted nationwide, the Sultan called on the people in Brunei to deal with this pandemic collectively as a nation, asking his people to apply personal hygiene such as masks and hand sanitizer and prepare for a long-term fight. The Sultan said that the Ministry of Health is trying to increase the capacity of medical staff. And to increase testing capacity, a new virology laboratory is being built with the hope to increase the country's testing capacity by 10 fold to meet the testing need. Brunei's Ministry of Health reported five new cases of the COVID-19 on Saturday, bringing the country's total to 83 cases. As of Saturday, a total of 1,633 people have been ordered to undergo quarantine and 2,699 laboratory tests for COVID-19 have been conducted. The Sultan also asked people in Brunei not to do panic buying, saying the government has verified that national supplies such as rice and sugar are more than enough. He warned all retailers not to take the opportunity for price hiking as this is punishable by law. Kolkata, March 21 : A number of police personnel and prisoners were injured on Saturday after angry inmates of a correctional home indulged in arson and attacked security forces protesting against the bar on meeting family members and the increasing number of pending cases due to the temporary closure of courts owing to the coronavirus (COVID-19) scare, officials said. The police resorted to the use of tear gas shells after the prisoners brickbatted the jail guards and tried to demolish the prison walls in order to escape. The disturbances started on Saturday morning at the Dum Dum Central Correctional Home when a section of prison inmates staged a demonstration demanding they be allowed to meet their family members. They also expressed their displeasure over the number of pending cases for grant of bail continuing to mount due to the shut courts. The authorities have banned meeting of prisoners with their family members till March 31, as a preventive measure against the spread of the disease, declared pandemic by World Health Organisation (WHO). On the other hand, the West Bengal Bar Council has decided not to participate in judicial proceedings in any court in the state till March 31 for the same reason. The clashes began on Saturday morning with the agitated prisoners brick-batting the guards and trying to break a part of the high prison walls, prompting the police to burst the tear gas shells. After some police personnel sustained injuries, including head wounds, more reinforcements were sent from the Barrackpore commissionerate and paramilitary forces deployed to control the violence, the official said. There was also arson in a portion of the jail complex, following which fire tenders were rushed. State Minister of Correctional Administration Ujjwal Biswas and senior departmental officers are at the jail trying to reason with the prison inmates to control the situation. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. As we all adjust to the new normal of social distancing, and life in seclusion or on the front lines begins to take a toll on our sanity, a bright spot has surfaced to help us cope: Freebies. From online audiobook stores to food delivery apps, a number of U.S. companies are offering free subscriptions, services and support during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The goal is to help businesses stay afloat, parents and first responders stay sane and students stay connected in the face of a growing national health crisis. *** CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF CORONAVIRUS IN NEW YORK *** Here are a few of the companies offering free services or waiving fees during the medical crisis: Audible Audible announced on Thursday the launch of Audible Stories, a new service through which the company will be providing free audiobooks for small children and teens for the duration of the novel coronavirus pandemic. For as long as schools are closed, were open, Audible said in its announcement. Stories entertain. They teach. They keep young minds engaged. And they bring us together. Children can instantly stream a collection of stories, including titles across six different languages, that will help them continue dreaming, learning and just being kids, the company announced. The Audible Stories service is already live and available through web browsers or the Audibles official desktop and mobile apps. The Stories portal currently lists hundreds of audiobooks, from folk tales to small children's books, and from elementary school reading material to literary classics. Select titles include: Mary Shelleys Frankenstein; Herman Melvilles Moby Dick; Jack Londons White Fang; William Shakespeares Hamlet; A.A. Milnes Winnie the Pooh. Scholastic The educational company Scholastic has created a digital Scholastic Learn at Home website that offers free daily courses for students from pre-kindergarten through high school. The hub is designed to support virtual learning plans, and covers language arts, STEM, social studies and social-emotional learning. It is accessible on all devices, with no sign-up required. As more and more teachers, students, and families around the world are affected by the coronavirus, our priority is to support them in the best way we know how -- by providing them with rich stories and meaningful projects that will keep kids academically active, said Lauren Tarshis, senior vice president and editor-in-chief/publisher of Scholastic Classroom Magazines, in the companys announcement. Scholastic Learn At Home provides approximately three hours of learning opportunities per day, for up to four weeks of instruction, including writing and research projects based on non-fiction articles and stories, virtual field trips, reading and geography challenges, access to our new digital community for kids Scholastic Home Base. The digital hub will remain free and open indefinitely, the Scholastic announcement said. Headspace The meditation app Headspace has announced that it is making its premium tier free for all U.S. healthcare professionals who work in public health settings in an effort to support first responders who are hard hit and likely to be emotionally drained during the health emergency. Anyone who qualifies can redeem free access to Headspace Plus through the end of 2020 by entering their National Provider Identifier (NPI) and email address on the services site. Teachers, too, can gain free access to a Headspace account, which offers a guidelines on how to speak to young people about the coronavirus pandemic. Headspace offers the rest of us a Weathering the Storm playlist that is free for all who download the app, even without a subscription. Uber Eats, Grub Hub In response to many major U.S. cities restrictions on restaurants to only sell food by take-out and delivery, food delivery applications, like Grub Hub and Uber Eats, are waiving fees and making it quicker and easier for restaurants to get their money. As we face the uncertainty of this health crisis together with our restaurant partners, we are thinking about how best to support independent restaurants in the U.S. and Canada that have been most significantly affected, said Uber in announcing that its waiving its delivery fees. In another effort to support restaurants, Uber Eats is allowing merchants to opt into payments daily, rather than weekly. The company also said it is looking out for delivery people by providing sanitization products to keep themselves and their vehicles clean. Grub Hub also announced this week that it will waive commission payments from impacted independent restaurants nationwide. Be the first to know: Sign up for our newsletters; and get breaking news and top stories pushed to your phone with the SILive.com mobile app. RELATED COVERAGE: Staten Island parents scramble to obtain technology for online learning 2 coronavirus cases confirmed at Wagner College College of Staten Island campus reopens: Operating with minimal staff Parents fear lapse in special ed services: I am not a trained therapist Coronavirus: New York suspends state reading exams Wagner College closing residence halls for remainder of semester College of Staten Island remains closed Tuesday, Wednesday Key details on SAT, ACT college exam cancellations Staten Island Catholic high schools extend remote learning timeframe Schools closed: 100 sites to open for first responder child care across NYC Staten Island Catholic elementary schools closed until April 20 Coronavirus: NYC schools closed at least until April 20; S.I. cases rise to 16 Coronavirus: Wagner College moves to online learning for rest of semester With NYC schools closing, parents and teachers prepare for new normal NYC offering students free meals: What you need to know St. Johns University students return home: Its difficult Latest on NYC school closures: Child care to be available for first responders Coronavirus case confirmed at St. Ritas School Yves here. Recession strikes me as an optimistic take. But then again, the UN has long sugar-coated its downbeat messages. By Evelyn Leopold, a writing fellow and correspondent for Globetrotter, a project of the Independent Media Institute. She is an independent journalist based at the United Nations as resident correspondent. She was bureau chief for Reuters at the UN for 17 years, and is chair of the Dag Hammarskjold Fund for Journalists. She was awarded a gold medal in 2000 for UN reporting by the UN Correspondents Association. Produced by Globetrotter, a project of the Independent Media Institute The United Nations has shut down most of its meetings and all of its conferences, but the world body in New York stays open. There are peacekeeping missions to follow, conflicts around the world and the plight of the millions of refugees from wars that dont heal. But most of the work is done electronically with meetings conducted remotely. Despite the coronavirus (COVID-19), Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reports to work and telephones UN officials and world leaders from his office. Major summit conferences have been canceled, and travel bans have left many diplomats stranded. The 193-nation General Assembly, the global parliament, has had no meetings since March 6, and the 15-nation prestigious Security Council intends to meet only when there is no other way to discuss or vote on a measure electronically. On March 19, Guterres held a remote press conference with resident correspondents following sign-in instructions from the chief spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, who, along with his deputy, Farhan Aziz Haq, had appeared in person every noon until March 17. This time Melissa Fleming, the undersecretary-general for global communications, led the session but allowed few questions. UN Chief Talks of Recession The UN chief warned that current responses to the worlds common enemy, coronavirus, were inadequate because we are in an unprecedented situation and the normal rules no longer apply. This is a moment that demands coordinated, decisive, and innovative policy action from the worlds leading economies. We must recognize that the poorest and most vulnerableespecially womenwill be the hardest hit, Guterres said. Global Recession A global recessionperhaps of record dimensionsis a near certainty, he said. Guterres cited a report by the International Labor Organization that said workers around the world could lose $3.4 trillion in income by the end of this year. So far, as of March 19, there have been more than 219,000 coronavirus infections and an estimated 8,900 deaths. Guterres said he would participate in an emergency summit the following week, by teleconferencing, with the leaders of the Group of 20, major economic powers, who intend to respond to the pandemic. He appealed to them to have a particular concern with African countries and other countries in the developing world. Saudi Arabia called the meeting. A prime minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002 and chief of the UN refugee agency from 2005 to 2015, Guterres said governments and central banks have to guarantee there is liquidity in the financial system. Banks, he said, have to support their customers but apply that same logic to the most vulnerable countries by alleviating their debt. Infection On March 9, a diplomat from the Philippine mission to the United Nations had tested positive for the virus, the first case reported in New York. And more recently, one staff member, who was not identified, came down with the virus, and a close colleague of this reporter recently announced he had tested positive but was recovering. More than 20 UN officials worldwide have come down with the virus, Dujarric said. One was David Beasley, the executive director of the Geneva-based World Food Program. He is resting at his South Carolina home. What Was Canceled? The cancellations in the worlds largest multinational forum have been painful. The first was the 1,200-plus women from around the world expected to attend the annual Commission on the Status of Women events in mid-March. Their lobbying often changes the position of governments. They are also valued for making connections across the globe and participating in many side events. Among many other key events were at least two regional meetings to prepare for COP26 (Conference of Parties) in Glasgow, the UN climate change conference in November, which had promised some concrete action this year. Of course the United States has opted out of support for climate targets. Still, the UN is reeling from the cuts in daily meetings. To achieve an agreement or consensus on nearly every subject in the world, especially conflicts, diplomats need to talk to each other face to face. And most startling would be a postponement or cancellation in September for the UN General Assembly, the largest global multilateral forum that would also celebrate the world bodys 75th anniversary. Let Them Eat Cake, Says U.S. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO), a UN agency, has overcome some earlier criticism in shielding member states from bad news on AIDS and other epidemics. It now gives daily updates, has distributed testing and other equipment and has visited such danger spots as China and Iran to analyze the virus. The Trump administration is eyeing steep cuts to global health funds in its 2021 budget proposal, Foreign Policy reported. In 2020, the administration allocated $123 million to WHO. This would be cut to less than $58 million next year. The budget proposal also calls for slashing more than $3 billion from the more than $9 billion Congress approved for global health programs managed by the State Department and USAID, Foreign Policy noted. Perhaps Congress will stop this. The situation surrounding the coronavirus outbreak continues to develop quickly. To keep you up to speed, the Star-Tribune will update this page throughout Friday with the latest news regarding coronavirus in Wyoming. Confirmed cases in Wyoming: 22 Tests completed in Wyoming: 366 (as of 3 p.m. Friday: 274 at Wyoming Public Health Laboratory, 15 reported to state by commercial labs, one at CDC lab) Want to know what's closed or canceled? Browse our list here. Confused about the coronavirus? Read our explainer here. Need resources in Casper? We've got you covered here. All of our coronavirus coverage which can be found here is free to read. Albertsons announces 'appreciation pay' 8:14 p.m. Grocery chain Albertsons says it will give an additional $2 per hour worked in "appreciation pay" to all non-union and union front-line associates. It applies to the companys roughly 230,000 e-commerce pickers and drivers, store associates, distribution center associates, and manufacturing plant associates. The pay is in addition to regular pay and overtime, effective March 15 until at least March 28. Restaurants turn to takeout 8 p.m. After Thursday's order issued by Gov. Mark Gordon to close communal spaces such as bars and gyms while limiting restaurants to takeout and delivery, restaurants like the popular downtown Casper breakfast spot Eggington's needed to pivot to survive in difficult times. Read their stories here. Montana follows Wyoming's lead 7:45 p.m. Montana's governor ordered bars, restaurants, movie theaters, gyms and other gathering places statewide to close Friday and braced the state for an extended shutdown of many public functions in the rush to stem the spread of the coronavirus. Natrona County has first case 6:50 p.m. Natrona County is home to the state's 22nd confirmed case of coronavirus. Few details are yet known about the patient. Lander prison releases prisoners 6:30 p.m. Roughly 30 nonviolent inmates at the Fremont County Detention Center in Lander have been released to minimize health risks in the jail during the coronavirus pandemic. Want takeout for dinner? Take a look. 5:22 p.m. Our ad team has compiled a list of restaurants in town that are doing pick-up and/or delivery options during the COVID-19 crisis. If you're a business owner who would like to be included in this list, call 307-266-0569 or email Sean Johnson at sean.johnson@trib.com. Governor order speeds supply transport 4:11 p.m. Gov. Mark Gordon issued another order Friday, this time to expedite transport of supplies needed to fight COVID-19. The executive order waives certain fees and regulations for commercial vehicles hauling such supplies. It aligns with a similar declaration made two days ago by the feds. Lander woman infected with coronavirus had to wait days for test 3:51 p.m. Tesla Myers said her mother, a 63-year-old in the Lander assisted-living facility that has been affected by more than half a dozen cases, had to wait days to be tested for the virus. Her mother, Irene, has tested positive for COVID-19. She remains in the hospital. Read her story here. Douglas hospital opens respiratory clinic 3:44 p.m. Memorial Hospital of Converse County has opened a respiratory clinic at the Medical Office Building of the Douglas hospital. The clinic is open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. Non-emergency patients with respiratory symptoms are encouraged to visit the clinic or call a hotline at 307-358-7399. Patients without symptoms should not do so, the news release says. Symptoms include cough, trouble breathing, nasal congestion, runny nose, sore or scratchy throat or fever. The hospital is rescheduling elective surgeries as of March 23. Second Teton County case 3:41 p.m. As first reported by the Jackson Hole News & Guide, St. John's Health has announced a second case in Teton County. According to the hospital's website, the second case was first made public at 1:38 p.m. Twentieth case 3:32 p.m. The Wyoming Department of Health has announced the state's 20th case. This one is in Campbell County, the first identified there thus far. Still no Natrona County cases 3:11 p.m. COVID-19 timeline 3:08 p.m. With so many huge news stories whizzing by the past few weeks, it can be easy to lose your sense of time. We've put together a timeline of the biggest COVID-19 stories in Wyoming so you can look back at when the new cases were announced and when the biggest developments occurred. Undercounting is likely 1:03 p.m. The limited testing in Wyoming is making it harder for health officials to determine just how many people here have been infected with COVID-19. There is a nationwide shortage of the resources needed to test samples from possible coronavirus patients. There have been guidelines, both from the state and local level, to determine who should get tested and who shouldn't. Those that should are high-risk cases: the elderly, health care workers, those who've been in close contact with infected people. The more mild cases, which will make up more than 80 percent of the patients with the respiratory illness, are largely not being tested in Wyoming. Some experts say this could cause more problems down the line. Sweetwater County activates emergency group 12:49 p.m. Sweetwater County fully activated its Emergency Operations Center on Friday, which absorbs its previously created Sweetwater County Community Resiliency Task Force. "The EOC will serve as a centralized emergency management organization intended to help citizens and stakeholders to navigate the communitys response in combating the rapidly evolving global threat of the COVID-19 virus," the county said in a news release. "Led by Sweetwater County Emergency Management, the EOC consists of county and city government officials, public health authorities, local public service staff and business and industry representatives." A 311 hotline will go live at 2 p.m. as an extension of these efforts. The phones will be live from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily and prerecorded otherwise. It can also be reached at 307-212-5440. Assisted living facilities turn to technology 12:31 p.m. Two Casper assisted living facilities, Mountain Plaza Assisted Living and Shepherd of the Valley in Paradise Valley, are using technology during a lockdown caused by COVID-19 concerns to connect their residents with the outside world. Mountain Plaza has been trying to get residents and their families together using the technology at least every other day. Shepherd of the Valley in Paradise Valley said its residents have Skype and FaceTime available to them at all times. "We recognize the potential danger of spreading the virus but we are also taking away visits and the enjoyment the residents get from them. So we committed to using every medium possible to keep in touch," Mountain Plaza executive director Kenyne Humphrey said. "Isolation is really kind of scary as far as manifesting depression, and we are trying hard not to let that happen." We want to hear from you 12:16 p.m. DWS flooded with unemployment calls 11:26 a.m. The Wyoming Department of Workforce Services, which handles claims for unemployment insurance in the state, has been inundated with calls this week amid coronavirus-related business closures. With the restaurant and foodservice industry alone making up 10 percent of the state's workforce, accounting for 28,700 jobs in 2019, the number of Wyomingites out of work is expected to soar amid the governor's order for many businesses to close. Exact figures were not available for how many unemployment insurance claims the agency has received in recent days, because there's typically a 1-2 month lag on that data. People looking to file claims are encouraged to do so online at wyui.wyo.gov. Financial resources 10:59 a.m. If the widespread closures caused by the coronavirus outbreak have left you in a financial pinch, check out our list of resources to see where you can go for help. Wyoming ranked as least prepared state 10:23 a.m. QuoteWizard, a LendingTree website, ranked states based on their preparedness for public heath and natural disasters, such as the coronavirus, and Wyoming ranked dead last. The study considered factors such as hospital preparedness, public health funding, water security, paid time off, flu vaccination and patients safety. Wyoming's worst categories were public health funding (minus-6 percent), patients safety (0 percent) and water security (1 percent). Virginia, Connecticut and Colorado were the top-ranked states. Arizona, West Virginia and Arkansas were the three worst states besides Wyoming. Nineteenth case found 10:08 a.m. The Wyoming Department of Health updated its website Friday morning with a 19th confirmed case of COVID-19. The newest comes from Fremont County its ninth. According to the department's total testing numbers, the newest case came from a commercial lab. Black Hills Energy suspending disconnections Overnight Black Hills Energy will temporarily be suspending nonpayment disconnections for customers to minimize the effect the pandemic has on its customers. We take the health and safety of our customers and employees very seriously and are committed to making practical decisions to appropriately protect all parties as our communities deal with the COVID-19 threat, Dustin McKen, Wyoming director of operations, said in an announcement. We continue to closely monitor the frequently evolving environment and assess our processes alongside those developments. Black Hills also asks that any customers with coronavirus-like symptoms wait 48 hours until they've passed to make non-emergency calls. Crews will respond to all emergency calls wearing protective equipment. Black Hills is making other adjustments for its employees' safety, including having many work from home and providing paid leave for those who test positive or are put under quarantine. The company suggests people go to blackhillsenergy.com to see what their options are if they're struggling to pay their bills. Have a question about coronavirus that you want answered? Send us an email at editors@trib.com. The earth, solar system, entire Milky Way and the few thousand galaxies closest to us move in a vast "bubble" that is 250 million light years in diameter, where the average density of matter is half as large as for the rest of the universe. This is the hypothesis put forward by a theoretical physicist from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) to solve a conundrum that has been splitting the scientific community for a decade: at what speed is the universe expanding? Until now, at least two independent calculation methods have arrived at two values that are different by about 10% with a deviation that is statistically irreconcilable. This new approach, which is set out in the journal Physics Letters B, erases this divergence without making use of any "new physics." The universe has been expanding since the Big Bang occurred 13.8 billion years ago -- a proposition first made by the Belgian canon and physicist Georges Lemaitre (1894-1966), and first demonstrated by Edwin Hubble (1889-1953). The American astronomer discovered in 1929 that every galaxy is pulling away from us, and that the most distant galaxies are moving the most quickly. This suggests that there was a time in the past when all the galaxies were located at the same spot, a time that can only correspond to the Big Bang. This research gave rise to the Hubble-Lemaitre law, including the Hubble constant (H0), which denotes the universe's rate of expansion. The best H0 estimates currently lie around 70 (km/s)/Mpc (meaning that the universe is expanding 70 kilometres a second more quickly every 3.26 million light years). The problem is that there are two conflicting methods of calculation. Sporadic supernovae The first is based on the cosmic microwave background: this is the microwave radiation that comes at us from everywhere, emitted at the time the universe became cold enough for light finally to be able to circulate freely (about 370,000 years after the Big Bang). Using the precise data supplied by the Planck space mission, and given the fact that the universe is homogeneous and isotropic, a value of 67.4 is obtained for H0 using Einstein's theory of general relativity to run through the scenario. The second calculation method is based on the supernovae which appear sporadically in distant galaxies. These very bright events provide the observer with highly precise distances, an approach that has made it possible to determine a value for H0 of 74. Lucas Lombriser, a professor in the Theoretical Physics Department in UNIGE's Faculty of Sciences, explains: "These two values carried on becoming more precise for many years while remaining different from each other. It didn't take much to spark a scientific controversy and even to arouse the exciting hope that we were perhaps dealing with a 'new physics'." To narrow the gap, professor Lombriser entertained the idea that the universe is not as homogeneous as claimed, a hypothesis that may seem obvious on relatively modest scales. There is no doubt that matter is distributed differently inside a galaxy than outside one. It is more difficult, however, to imagine fluctuations in the average density of matter calculated on volumes thousands of times larger than a galaxy. The "Hubble Bubble" "If we were in a kind of gigantic 'bubble', continues professor Lombriser, where the density of matter was significantly lower than the known density for the entire universe, it would have consequences on the distances of supernovae and, ultimately, on determining H0." All that would be needed would be for this "Hubble bubble" to be large enough to include the galaxy that serves as a reference for measuring distances. By establishing a diameter of 250 million light years for this bubble, the physicist calculated that if the density of matter inside was 50% lower than for the rest of the universe, a new value would be obtained for the Hubble constant, which would then agree with the one obtained using the cosmic microwave background. "The probability that there is such a fluctuation on this scale is 1 in 20 to 1 in 5, says professor Lombriser, which means that it is not a theoretician's fantasy. There are a lot of regions like ours in the vast universe." HANOI -- Vietnams exports to the European Union (EU) in the first half of this year are forecast to fall 6-8 percet from a year earlier due to the coronavirus, the Ministry of Industry and Trade told local media on Friday. Restrictions imposed by some EU countries at their borders in response to the virus outbreak will slow down shipments of goods from the Southeast Asian country and also impact demand from European buyers, the ministry said. The EU is Vietnams second largest export market, after the United States. Key exports include apparel and footwear products, furniture and smartphones. EU lawmakers last month approved a free trade agreement with Vietnam, and Vietnamese trade minister said he hoped the deal would take effect in July. The pandemic, which has killed more than 10,000 people worldwide and infected 91 people in Vietnam as of Friday, has also forced the country to suspend all international flights and impose restrictions on foreign visitors. Exasperated French parents juggling the coronavirus lockdown with children at home will have some relief starting Monday, as state-run France Televisions begins broadcasing school lessons. Schools in France have been closed until further notice in order to curb the spread of the Coronavirus and parents have been tasked to help their children keep up with their studies at home. Public television station France 4 will be showing lessons from primary to secondary school, designed by teachers from the ministry of education. Dubbed Operation "Nation apprenante" (learning nation in English), France Televisions, along with Radio France and French-German TV channel Arte will broadcast programmes that have a special link to what students are currently working on from home. The broadcasts, which will address all levels, have been characterised as "fun", and will also be available online. Mornings will be devoted to primary school students: from 9 am, first year primary students will have a 30-minute broadcast of reading, then a 30-minute maths broadcast. From 11:00 - 12:00, second-year primary students will have access to Lumni House, one of the participating educational companies offering programming. A one-hour programme at noon, "C'est toujours pas sorcier" (It's still not difficult), a special add-on programme aimed at middle school students will be broadcast, while middle and high school students' programming will make up the afternoon. In an effort to cover as many subjects as possible, Tuesday evening programming and weekends will be devoted to historical documentaries. - The new cases included a 10-month-old baby whose father had tested positive of the COVID-19 disease - The baby's mother also tested positive - Two other cases had arrived in Rwanda from the Middle East with one having exhibited the symptoms at the airport - The country has suspended all flights in and outside Rwanda for an initial period of 30 days Rwanda confirmed six additional coronavirus cases on Friday, March 20, bringing the total to seventeen. The Ministry of Health said the six new cases included a 30-year-old French woman whose husband was a recently confirmed to have coronavirus. READ ALSO: Legendary Soukous star Aurlus Mabele is dead The Ministry further reminded the general public to maintain good hygiene practices by washing hands among others. Photo: The East African Source: UGC READ ALSO: Kind woman pays for nurses lunch as reward for battling Covid-19 A statement by the ministry showed the couple's 10-months-old son also tested positive. The second is a 32-year-old Rwandan man who arrived in Kigali on March 19, 2020, from Dubai and his symptoms were detected by airport screening upon arrival. Another case includes a male Swedish national aged 26 who arrived in Rwanda on March 3, 2020, and he exhibited symptoms on March 18, 2020. READ ALSO: State House deletes photos showing Ruto's presence at crucial Cabinet meeting The second 32-year-old man is reported to be a frequent traveller to foreign countries, but the ministry did not indicate whether he had travelled recently. He exhibited symptoms on March 18,2020. Another 24-year-old Rwandan arrived in Rwanda on Friday, March 20, via Doha-Qatar and exhibited the symptoms. READ ALSO: Coronavirus: Government seizes 8 brands of uncertified sanitisers in Nairobi, Nakuru Patients are being treated at the designated facilities. We are tracing for the contacts to take care of them in accordance with ministry of health instructions, the ministry said. The increase in imported cases informed the countrys decision to suspend all flights in and outside Rwanda for an initial period of 30 days effective Friday, March 20. READ ALSO: Medical staff plead for consideration during coronavirus crisis: "Help us" The decision, however, does not affect the cargo and aircraft in emergency operations. The Ministry further reminded the general public to maintain good hygiene practices by washing hands among others and to maintain a social distance. Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly Source: TUKO.co.ke Coronavirus has arrived at two of South Carolina's many military bases, and relatives of service members are concerned that not enough precautions are being taken to stop the spread of the deadly illness. On Friday afternoon, it was announced that a service member stationed at Marine Corps Air Station tested positive for COVID-19. On Wednesday, the Charleston Air Force Base confirmed an airman had contracted the virus. As of Thursday night, 15 tests have been administered at Joint Base Charleston, and half of them came back negative. The other half are still awaiting results. Most bases throughout the state have been reduced to essential personnel and operations only as a precaution. And despite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's guidance, as well as S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster's advice to limit large gatherings and increase social distancing, the Pentagon is choosing not to make it mandatory for America's bases. The short answer is 'no,' at least not at this time, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said this week at the Pentagon. I trust the commanders to lead their units and take of them appropriately. ... And that has not been raised to me as a problem at this point in time. The concern has trickled down to family members, too. Several family members of recruits and service members at the air base in North Charleston, the Naval Weapon Station in Goose Creek and Fort Jackson in Columbia reached out to The Post and Courier regarding concerns of cleanliness and social distancing. Many did not choose to share their names for fear of getting their family members in trouble. But Elizabeth Main, whose husband is an enlisted sailor in Goose Creek, said she is worried about the proximity the service members have to each other. "I know the base isn't like an Applebee's and you can't just shut it all down," she said. "But they're still having training and classes with other sailors, and that concerns me." Sgt. Jonathan Lovelady, a spokesman for Joint Base Charleston, said that training is up to the discretion of unit commanders. The command, which comprises the Air Force and Navy installations, has limited dining halls to carryout only. They have also closed fitness centers and other buildings not necessary for training. "We get a lot of questions asking 'Why is my spouse coming to work?'" Col. Terrance Adams, the commander of Joint Base Charleston said during a town hall Thursday. "We're still following Department of Defense priorities. ... One of those is readiness; our nation requires us to be ready." Fort Jackson is one of the Army's largest training bases, seeing more than 45,000 recruits each year. As the coronavirus continues to spread, the post has limited access to only essential personnel and is doing health screenings at the front gates. Additionally, leadership on the base has stopped all hand-to-hand combat training for recruits and issued them all personal hand sanitizer dispensers, too. If you enjoyed the previous two series of BBC Two travelogue Pilgrimage, you'll love the third. Hot on the heels of their famous predecessors, who journeyed to Santiago and Rome, seven new celebrities are set to embark on their own journey of discovery, this time to Istanbul. Taking part is journalist Adrian Chiles, a converted Catholic; former politician Edwina Currie, a lapsed Jew; Olympian Fatima Whitbread, a Christian; broadcaster Mim Shaikh and TV presenter Amar Latif, both Muslims; and two confirmed atheists: comedian Dom Joly and actress Pauline McLynn. Donning backpacks, the group will spend just over two weeks living as simple pilgrims following an ancient 1,000km military route, which has been transformed into a modern-day path of peace. Starting in Serbia's capital city Belgrade, the pilgrims will travel through Bulgaria and the mountainous Balkans, before crossing the border into Turkey, with their goal of reaching Istanbul and the Suleymaniye Mosque. So why did they sign up and how, if at all, has the experience changed their beliefs? We find out. EDWINA CURRIE (73) "First of all it's an area of the world I'd never been to; I knew it was beautiful, but it was stunning. And it's also an area that borders between countries with shifting allegiances, religions, so we were going to be exploring how people have treated each other over centuries. So I thought, 'This is going to be interesting!' "I learned that there's a heck of a lot of change going on in that part of the world that we're not aware of. We saw villages that were virtually empty, people had gone to work and live in other countries. We saw areas where a lot of effort is being made to raise standards, giving hope; and we learned some places, which are still very cut off like Serbia, are still in a mindset that we, perhaps, wouldn't find very comfortable." PAULINE McLYNN (57) "I can be 'got' for adventure and these were three countries I've never been to before! Mostly, which I was glad to see in the first episode, was just how funny it all was. We all did a master interview before we went off on our travels, and I'm afraid I quite shallowly said that I like walking, a little bit of an adventure and I was hoping to have a right laugh. That is indeed what happened. "All the trip did for me was cemented the fact that I really have no time for organised religion of any sort. We visited an awful lot of places where the most extraordinary atrocities occurred, and it's all in the name, really, of religion. Certainly the ones that we saw. I was glad to be an atheist at the end of it all." AMAR LATIF (45) "For the last 15 years, since I've become blind, I've travelled the world. Why I went on this adventure was because in our day-to-day lives we're working hard, and religion is just pushed to one side. So I thought, 'Wow, two weeks of going away from work and contemplating exactly my thoughts and exactly where religion falls into it, or it doesn't'. "Apart from the historical stuff that Pauline and Edwina alluded to, I felt I was experiencing such joy from most of the places that we went to. There was just a feeling of contentment. It just made me realise that religion does, in fact, bring people together." DOM JOLY (52) "I'm totally non-religious and I just wanted to spend two weeks arguing with religious people and telling them how ridiculous they were, but actually they were all quite reasonable, so that didn't really happen. "I travel a lot; I write travel books and I like dark tourism. I walked across Lebanon last year so I thought that I needed another walk and my big hero is Patrick Leigh Fermor, who walked in the 1930s from London to Istanbul, so the idea of being able to do the same-ish journey as he did was just unbeatable. "Everyone we met along the way was lovely and friendly, and yet you knew the things that they believed in are used to divide. That's my problem with religion. I think it's just the extraordinary contrast between the friendliness of the people but knowing that there's this really deep-set division underneath it." MIM SHAIKH (28) "I've got this curiosity about me of just wanting to learn about other cultures, religions and people, primarily, because I feel that's how I'm able to learn in the best way. I hoped that I would be able to feel something in regard to myself, where I'm pushing towards, what I want to do, and just seeing if I grow in any way. I felt like, as a Muslim who practises and who is devout, that I have a duty to show, 'Look, we're not all fundamentalists, we're not all extremists, we're good human beings'. It's our form of meditation or yoga or what everybody else is able to do. I realised that all of us, no matter what our religions are, there's more common in us than there is different." ADRIAN CHILES (52) "I just thought, 'Well, I do really like talking about faith' and I think there's a misconception that people who come on and talk about faith get hammered for it. I did a little series called My Mediterranean, which was about God, and I never got any stick for it at all. I'm quite relaxed talking about faith and I thought there would be interesting things to learn and discussions to have. "I found it spiritually dispiriting, if I can put it like that. Every place we stopped, there was evidence of unspeakable things that had been done to people in the name of religion. I've been asked, 'Could you be a Muslim? A Jew? But it's a meaningless question. It's not about which religion, it's where you are on the loony spectrum." FATIMA WHITBREAD (59) "I am Christian; however, I am not devout. I believe in God and a higher power. I find that praying helps me in times of need. This was a spiritual and eye-opening experience, both religiously and culturally. I thoroughly enjoyed the mountaineering, as well as walking through the villages and seeing local life in its simplicity. "Experiencing a religious journey first hand has deepened my faith but I feel that it hasn't changed me as such, it's just increased my understanding of other people's faith and increased my knowledge." Pilgrimage: The Road To Istanbul, BBC Two, Friday, 9pm MEDFORD, Ore. Many banks around Southern Oregon are joining financial institutions around the country in closing their lobby doors to help combat the coronavirus pandemic. People's Bank announced on Thursday that all of their branches lobbies would be closed to customers unless they schedule an appointment. This is to ensure both the safety of their customers and their employees. "We're still open for business," Ken Trautman, president and CEO of People's Bank, said. "All the things we normally do we're doing behind the lines, we're just trying to be more cautious. We want this to go as fast as it can and get over. We need to get back to normal business." In the meantime, banks are actively encouraging their customers to use the online banking tools available to them to help minimize person-to-person contact. Closing the lobby to customers is a way that bank executives around the U.S. agree to also help maintain appropriate social distancing. "There were 150 of us talking about what's the best thing we can do for customers and employees and this seems to be the standard that most banks are doing," Tautman said. By Trend Belarusian airline Belavia has temporarily suspended flights to Georgia in connection with the spread of coronavirus, Trend reports citing Georgian media. Flights will not be operated to the cities of Tbilisi and Batumi. The following flights to Tbilisi have been temporarily canceled: B2 735-736 - from March 22 to 28, 2020 B2 741-742 - from March 20 to 28, 2020 The following flights to Batumi have been temporarily canceled: B2 737 - from March 20 to 28, 2020 B2 738 - from March 21 to 29, 2020. The company turned to travelers with a request to check for updates on the airlines website about canceled flights, as the situation against the backdrop of the pandemic is constantly changing. Passengers can return money for tickets or change the departure date until December 31 of the current year. As of today, Georgia has 43 confirmed cases of COVID-19. Amid the new coronavirus outbreak, Georgia has suspended direct flights with China, Iran and Italy, which remain the largest centers of the outbreak. The outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan - which is an international transport hub - began at a fish market in late December 2019. The symptoms include cough, headache, fatigue, fever, aching and difficulty breathing. Indian Mission here on Saturday issued an emergency helpline for the Indian nationals amid coronavirus concerns. Issuing advisory, the embassy has asked people to take precautions and avoid "non-essential" travel. "All Indian nationals in Madagascar are requested to note contact details of our emergency helplines," tweeted the embassy. The 24X7 emergency mobile number is +261 333180001. The email is cons.aamarivo@mea.gov.in. "All are advised to take precautions, maintain social distancing and follow the guidelines issued by the Government of India and Government of Madagascar. Please avoid non-essential travel," read the advisory. "Please include your mobile numbers and e-mail IDs in all your queries," it further read. Coronavirus, which originated in Wuhan city of China, has so far claimed the lives of over 10,500 people globally and has infected more than 244,500 worldwide. The Indian government has announced that no international commercial passenger aircraft will be allowed into India from midnight of March 22 to March 29. All visas with some exceptions including diplomatic and official travel have been suspended. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 15:29:42|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese national political advisors convened a bi-weekly seminar on Friday to advise on getting rid of the bad habit of consuming wild animals among some people. Education and penalties should be both intensified to raise the public awareness of eliminating the eating of wild animals, said Wang Yang, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), who presided over the meeting and made a speech. Wang urged political advisors to do their part in resisting the consumption of wild animals and contribute their wisdom and strength on eliminating the wrong behavior in society. At the meeting, 12 political advisors and representatives from academia put forward their suggestions on the issue. Meanwhile, nearly 270 political advisors voiced their opinion through a mobile platform of the CPPCC National Committee. Political advisors suggested that content concerning protecting wildlife and safeguarding public health safety should be included in the compulsory education curriculum. They also called for efforts to improve relevant laws and regulations, establish a unified national public reporting platform and greatly toughen the penalties for illegal acts of consuming wild animals. Photo credit: Amanda Matlovich/Netflix From Good Housekeeping If you're looking for something new and inspirational to watch this weekend, consider Netflix's just-released historical mini series Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker. As suggested in the title, the four-part limited series, starring Octavia Spencer, chronicles the real-life pioneering work of Madam C.J. Walker, who is credited as America's first black female self-made millionaire thanks to her haircare business in the early 1900s. Inspired by On Her Own Ground, the book written by her great-great-granddaughter A'Lelia Bundles, the show highlights the many challenges the entrepreneur had to face, including post-slavery racial and gender biases and business pressures to revolutionize black haircare. While watching the new series, you may find yourself asking questions about the real Madam Walker. Starting from the beginning, she was born Sarah Breedlove to Owen and Minerva Breedlove in December 1867 on a cotton plantation in Louisiana. According to History.com, Owen and Minerva were parents of five children and former slaves who had just been freed before Walker's birth. Tragically, they died before their daughter turned seven. Photo credit: Michael Ochs Archives Walker, now orphaned, moved into her sister and abusive brother-in-law's home in Mississippi. To escape her brother-in-law, she married Moses McWilliams and soon after welcomed a baby girl, Lelia (later known as A'Lelia), in 1885. When she was 20, Moses died of unknown causes. And so, on a $1.50 per day salary, Walker did what she could to support herself and her young daughter. In 1894, Walker married her second husband, John Davis, who abused her. As she later explained, she was at a crossroads at this point of her life. "I was at my tubs one morning with a heavy wash before me, she told the New York Times years later in 1917. As I bent over the washboard and looked at my arms buried in soapsuds, I said to myself: What are you going to do when you grow old and your back gets stiff? Who is going to take care of your little girl? Story continues Around the same time, Walker had developed a scalp ailment that made her start losing her hair. As Bundles noted, Walker and other women were going bald because they washed their hair so infrequently due to the lack of indoor plumbing, leaving their locks susceptible to pollution, bacteria, and lice. To remedy the situation, Walker met up with black haircare entrepreneur Annie Turnbo Malone (her future business rival, known as "Addie" in Self Made). Soon after, Walker began working as a sales agent for Malone and married Charles Joseph "C.J." Walker, a newspaper sales agent. After their marriage, she began calling herself "Madam C.J. Walker," a title of dignity borrowed from women who had created French beauty and fashion industries. Harnessing her husband's promotional skills and taking what she had learned about haircare, Walker decided to leave Malone and develop and sell her own line of products called "Walker's Wonderful Hair Grower." Soon her door-to-door business developed into a mail-order one that would eventually expand into Cuba, Jamaica, Panama, and more. In 1910, Walker moved to Indianapolis, Indiana and built a factory, beauty school, hair salon, and task force of thousands of financially independent black women. Photo credit: George Rinhart At a time when unskilled white workers earned about $11 a week, Walkers agents were making $5 to $15 a day, pioneering a system of multilevel marketing that Walker and her associates perfected for the black market, Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. wrote in Time. More than any other single businessperson, Walker unveiled the vast economic potential of an African-American economy, even one stifled and suffocating under Jim Crow. Her work didn't stop there. Walker became involved in activism and philanthropy. She pledged $1,000 (equivalent to about $15,000 today) to construct a YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association) building. The amount stunned many, as no other black woman had ever contributed such a large amount to the YMCA before. She also sought to address the delegates of the 1912 NNBL convention and meet with its founder, Booker T. Washington. Despite a rather contentious exchange at the convention, the two leaders developed a mutual respect for one another over time while championing similar causes (Walker ended up covering tuition for students at Washington's Tuskegee Institute). In 1917, Walker and other black leaders asked President Woodrow Wilson to make lynching a federal crime (the Emmett Till Anti-lynching Act was passed by the House of Representatives in 2020). Photo credit: Craig F. Walker Perhaps her most noteworthy donation of all time occurred right before her death from hypertension in May 1919. Walker pledged $5,000 to the NAACP (roughly $75,000 today) for its anti-lynching fund the organization's largest gift back then. What's more, her will directed two-thirds of future net profits of her estate to go toward charity. Today, Walker's legacy lives on beyond the latest Netflix series. She is remembered as a trailblazing black female entrepreneur whose financial independence, business acumen, and philanthropic work will and should never be forgotten. You Might Also Like A 29-year-old man was arrested for allegedly firing at a shopkeeper in south Delhi's Sangam Vihar area, police said on Saturday. Radhey Shyam (52), who runs a grocery store in the area, was shot at by Ved Prakash and his associates on Friday, they said. Shyam received a bullet injury in the attack and was rushed to a hospital. He told police that an associate of the accused was killed by his son-in-law Pardeep due to personal enmity in December 2019. Prakash and his associates attacked Shyam to exact revenge for the killing, a senior police officer said. "After investigation, police nabbed Prakash who was previously involved in 11 criminal cases," Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Atul Kumar Thakur said. One country-made pistol, two live cartridges and a motorcycle were seized from his possession, the DCP said, adding that efforts were under way to nab the other accused. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Getty On Jan. 21, senators gathered in their chamber on Capitol Hill to formally begin the impeachment trial for President Donald Trump. For hours on end, they were unable to leave their seats let alone check their electronic devices or speak with staff. Consumed with listening to hours-long arguments, they paid little attention to much else other than the trial. Then, three days later, in a private briefing, Trump administration officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the State Department told a group of senators that they were growing increasingly concerned about a virus spreading throughout China. The administration first learned of the outbreak Jan. 3, officials have now said. But by the time they convened with lawmakers for the briefing, the novel coronavirus had killed 41 people and infected more than 1,200. According to two individuals with knowledge of the briefing, officials stressed to senators that the coronavirus was contagious, deadly, and would eventually spread beyond Chinas borders to the U.S., at which point it would pose serious challenges for the political system and the economy. It was clear that there would be significant economic effects, an individual with knowledge of the all-senators briefing said, adding that during the briefing lawmakers pressed for the administration to come up with a plan to handle the economic fallout. The briefing served as a wake-up call for senators who were at the time engrossed in the impeachment trial, spending eight hours a day stuck on the Senate floor for historic and weighty constitutional arguments and even more time off the floor strategizing about the presidents trial. For a lot of people it was like, why am I being asked to go to this thing? said one Senate aide. It was an insane time. The briefing was hosted by the Senate Health Committee. Afterwards, some members began to sound the alarm more about the spread of the virus. Others insisted that fears were overblown. And at least twoNorth Carolinas Richard Burr and Georgias Kelly Loefflerbegan selling hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars worth of equities. Story continues Sen. Kelly Loeffler Dumped Millions in Stock After Coronavirus Briefing The sales of between $1.2 million and $3.1 million in stocks jointly owned by Loeffler and her husband began the very day of the briefing, The Daily Beast first reported Thursday. On Friday, she insisted that the trades were entirely the work of a third party investment advisor with whom she shared no information and had no conversations about the transactions. Loefflers husband is Jeffrey Sprecher, the chairman of the New York Stock Exchange. Burr acknowledged individually selling between $600,000 and $1.7 million in mid-February, but said the sales were prompted purely by public news reporting on the coronavirus, not by nonpublic information gleaned through his official duties. Sources who spoke with The Daily Beast about the Jan. 24 briefing, and other congressional briefings over the last six weeks, said it was clear from what the administration officials said about the coronavirus that the U.S. would suffer financially, especially if there was community spread. There was a general sense conveyed of a rising crisis and uncertainty that might lead to someone wanting to sell everything, one person with knowledge of the conversations in the briefing told The Daily Beast. Another individual with knowledge of the Senate-wide briefings said administration officials spoke with senators about how the coronavirus could potentially limit things like cargo shipments and severely restrict essential supply chains. Some aides told The Daily Beast that in other early closed-door briefings, the administration was not providing much information that had not been made public at the time through news reporting. Still, many on Capitol Hill feel that having those briefingssome of which were unclassifiedin the open would have armed the public with the same information, coming directly from U.S. public health officials, that lawmakers were benefiting from at the time. Since the senators stock trading was reported on Thursday, Democrats have been swift with condemnation. More notable, however, has been the blowback from the right. On Thursday night, Fox News Tucker Carlson called for Burrs resignation, calling his action a moral crime. On Friday morning, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), a staunch ally of the presidents, tweeted that Stock Selloff Senators isnt exactly the most #AmericaFirst caucus to be forming in this time of crisis. Fox News Grills Sen. Kelly Loeffler on Her Stock Dump: How Was This Not Insider Trading? Even Burrs fellow North Carolina Republican in the SenateSen. Thom Tillis, who faces a tough re-election fight this falltweeted on Friday that Burr owes North Carolinians an explanation and supported a professional and bipartisan inquiry into the matter. In a press briefing Friday morning, President Trump told reporters that lawmakers who had been singled out for their sell offs, including Burr and Loeffler, were all honorable people. They say they did nothing wrong, Trump said. But in a possible bid to get out in front of the backlash, Burr announced that hed spoken with the GOP chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee, Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), and asked him to open a full review of his trading activity. Loeffler told CNBC on Friday afternoon that shed submit to an Ethics review, too. But its unclear when a review by the notoriously secretive Ethics panel will begin, or when it would end. The political ramifications of that probe are more acute for Loeffler than for Burr. The third-term North Carolina senator said his term, which expires in 2022, will be his last. Loeffler, who is expected to use a chunk of her estimated $500 million fortune to win the November special election for the seat she was appointed to on Jan. 6, has been constantly pummeled from both her right and her left over the trading news. People are losing their jobs, their businesses, their retirements, and even their lives and Kelly Loeffler is profiting off their pain? asked Loefflers primary opponent, Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA), on Twitter. I'm sickened just thinking about it. A Collins ally, the GOP Speaker of Georgias House, openly fretted on Friday about broader fallout, telling the Atlanta Journal Constitution that a lot of people are going to associate these activities with some very fine candidates running for the Georgia House and are going to hold that against us. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now! Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more. Colombia will go into compulsory general confinement from Tuesday until April 13 to stop the spread of the new coronavirus, President Ivan Duque announced Friday. "As part of the state of emergency, we will apply compulsory preventive isolation for all Colombians from next Tuesday," he said in an address to the nation. Nearly half of the population are already taking part in a full-scale isolation exercise from Friday to Monday midnight to test the effectiveness of such measures. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) As many Oregonians hunker down at home during the coronavirus outbreak, state parks from the Oregon coast to the high desert have continued to draw their usual spring crowds. Parks officials continue to encourage people to go outside as a way to relax during a stressful time, but does that mental health benefit outweigh the potential public health risk? Language used by public officials recently has left that issue unclear. On Thursday, the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department announced it would shut down all campgrounds from April 2 to May 8 in response to the coronavirus outbreak, allowing campers to keep their spring break reservations even as other state agencies shut down campgrounds as soon as this weekend. However, the parks department vowed to keep all day-use areas open to the public. The same day, local health officials urged people to take a staycation this spring break and stay close to home, but said a shelter-in-place mandate was not necessary to slow the spread of COVID-19. We do not want to risk people feeling trapped indoors or afraid to fulfill their essential needs, Clackamas County Health Officer Dr. Sarah Present said Thursday. As long as people stay at least six feet from each other, they should be free to enjoy the sunshine, she said. Federal officials from the U.S. Forest Service and National Park Service have also encouraged people to continue visiting parks during the coronavirus outbreak. On Wednesday, all national parks even waived entrance fees to make it easier for people to get out. Those declarations have led many Oregonians to travel freely at the start of spring, heading out to the coast, up to the Cascade Mountains and to favorite trails around the state. Park and public health officials alike have said that outdoor recreation is allowed because people can easily follow social distancing practices at large, outdoor spaces. However, its virtually impossible to avoid human contact completely. Hikers stop at Monkey Face Rock, with Mount Jefferson in the distance, at Smith Rock State Park in central Oregon.Jamie Hale/The Oregonian There are still many shared surfaces at state parks in Oregon. In public restrooms there are door handles, stall doors, toilet seats, and sinks. Playground equipment at state parks isnt sanitized at all. Railings and fences at parks are commonly touched items. And while its easy to maintain six feet of social distance from the person ahead of you on a trail, its impossible to maintain that distance with people who are passing from the other direction or crowding a viewpoint. Chris Havel, spokesman for the state parks department, said the onus is on people to commit to safe public health practices, including frequent hand washing, social distancing of at least six feet and staying home if ill. We just need to adapt in small ways now, and take personal responsibility and well be fine, Havel said. As Oregonians, as long as we react just enough to protect ourselves and our families, and not just ignore it, then well get through it. Not everybody has faith that people will make those good decisions. After the National Park Service waived its entrance fees, a group representing park employees, the Coalition to Protect Americas National Parks, came out against the decision. It is irresponsible to urge people to visit national park sites when gathering at other public spaces is no longer considered safe, Phil Francis, chairman of the group, told the Associated Press. On Friday, the Pacific Crest Trail Association told hikers to cancel or postpone their plans to tackle the 2,650-mile trail this year, out of fear of spreading the coronavirus. Canceling long-held plans might be a burden, the organization said, but these circumstances should not justify putting other lives at risk. Meanwhile, Oregon state parks continue to draw thousands of visitors every day to 256 park sites. In recent days, crowds have flocked to Fort Stevens State Park on the Oregon coast, a 4,000-acre park with miles of beach, bike paths and a 500-site campground. There have been some cancellations, but otherwise the campground is expected to remain busy until all state campgrounds close April 2. I think weve been seeing typical crowds for this time of year, no larger or smaller, said Justin Parker, district manager for state parks on the north Oregon coast. The crowds are dispersed, so theres not really any congestion. So, no concerns about people being close together or overcrowding at this point. The same was true at Smith Rock State Park in central Oregon, a popular high desert destination for rock climbers and hikers, which draws more than 400,000 people during its busy spring and summer season. Were used to it being busy all year, district manager Steve Memminger said. Smith Rock is one of those places where if the suns out, everybody loves to come out. Park officials cant do much to deter crowds, Havel said, other than persuade people to visit less-popular park sites or turn back home if a parking lot is crowded. During the coronavirus outbreak, theyre focusing instead on educating people about social distancing and hand washing, trying to make sure visitors are doing their part to keep everyone healthy. We need people to step up and start doing that on their own, he said. With many workplaces shuttered and kids out of school at least until the end of April, its no surprise that people want to get out of the house and enjoy a sense of normalcy at our beloved state parks. As long as state parks remain open, people will continue to go. But while other public places begin closing to the public, so far there are no plans in place to shut down state parks in response to the coronavirus. Were going to keep parks open as long as we can, Havel said. If that changes, and it could change quickly then well do our best to make that smooth and to make that really clear. --Jamie Hale; jhale@oregonian.com; 503-294-4077; @HaleJamesB Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. A little less than a year ago, I found myself at a secret location outside of a small town in Kansas, 15 floors underground a decommissioned army missile silo. I was there last April to tour a luxury survival bunker built for the rich and (what I thought at the time) paranoid, to withstand the end of the world, or just end-of-the world disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes, nuclear war, volcano eruptions, Ebola, Trump, Hillary... pretty much anything the Survival Condo founder Larry Hall said should require a contingency plan. A condo unit with a faux window LED screen Inside the bunker, there was a decontamination chamber (for pandemics or a nuclear emergency), three fully stocked armories filled to the brim with shotguns, AR-15s and sniper rifles, ammunition and a crossbow (for protection), medical equipment (for one of the owners, a doctor, to perform checkups and emergency surgeries) and a makeshift jail cell (to keep the owners in line). For sustenance, Larry had equipped the silo with its own "store," but instead of the products you'd find at a Whole Foods, Ship's Store, as the sign on a wall leading into the space read, housed boxes and boxes of canned goods and other non-perishables, as well as a self-sustaining food system, not functional at the time, that would eventually produce three different types of farmed tilapia, fresh plants and vegetables. There was also a gym, a movie theater, a shooting range, a rock climbing wall and a pool, among other amenities, with an adjacent "cafe," that would, under lockdown, be run by the owners, as would everything in the bunker, determined by an ongoing (and required) chore system. The survival condos themselves weren't that different from a small one or two-bedroom you might find in Stuyvesant Town or a "luxury" building in the Valley the difference is, they were 201 feet below ground. So, the windows weren't actually windows, but LED screens that could livestream the empty land above the silo, stock footage of a forest or beach, or, if you really wanted, pre-recorded video of anywhere in the world even Central Park, as one client had requested. At the time, I remember walking through the units and community spaces, thinking I could never imagine the 1% living in condos, let alone ones that were this confined and underground, while being forced to perform different kinds of manual labor. But Larry was convincing. He told me his owners weren't Doomsday preppers, conspiracy theorists or overly-suspicious "camo-wearing psychos" who had been stockpiling arms. "He told me his owners weren't Doomsday preppers, conspiracy theorists or overly-suspicious 'camo-wearing psychos' who had been stockpiling arms." "Our customers are doctors, engineers and international business people," he said at the time, also noting that A-list celebrities, Silicon Valley tycoons and other "self-made millionaires and billionaires" were not only now investing in these kinds of properties, but already had been. "Looking at everything going on in the world right now, honestly, I think it's crazier not to own [a survival condo]," he contended back then. "And it's only getting worse." The common room Fast-forward 11 months later and it seems Larry's words were prophetic. Due to Coronavirus, or COVID-19, people all over the world are being told to stay home and practice social distancing. In cities and countries where the virus has already spread, citizens are being forced by their governments to shelter in place. Both scenarios have led to last ditch trips to the grocery store where shelves are now empty and people are fighting over toilet paper. And Purell? It's sold out almost everywhere. While restaurants and bars are being closed, and festivals and conferences like SXSW have been cancelled, for Larry, pandemics mean big business. "I'm getting call after call every day," he said over the phone late last week. "Usually it takes a little arm-twisting to get people all the way out here [to Kansas] to see the units, but people are buying spaces after just looking at the pictures. They're thinking, 'How do I not already have one of these?'" For the people who do, Larry says, it's been a huge relief. Though none of the owners are currently living in their condos, two families have plans to come in April. Others, he said, have been shipping him items to get their places ready in case they do need to G.O.O.D., or "Get Out Of Dodge," in survival speak. Corona, he says, "has made them realize how badly they need something like this." In fact, that's why he was urging people to purchase them last April. "All of these calls I'm getting now, people are realizing [that] by the time something like [the coronavirus] happens, it's too late." "I had a feeling there were a lot of bad things on the horizon," he lamented, "which is why you have to have a plan in place. All these calls I'm getting now, people are realizing [that] by the time something like this happens, it's too late. Seeing an imminent threat that's exploding exponentially like this virus it really illustrates just how quickly the world can change." On a larger scale, he sees this as a chance for the US government to also implement more precautionary measures. "We've let so much of our national well-being be outsourced to other countries, and it's a national security issue," he explained. "What if we had an adversarial relationship with China, and they just stopped sending us our pharmaceuticals? Or they couldn't anymore, because of this virus? We don't have the ability to produce them for ourselves, and we wouldn't be able to take care of our people. So, it's a wake-up call for everyone, including the government." Hydroponics raft Back at the bunker, the hydroponics and aquaculture are fully functional. Since my trip, Hall said, they're now growing tomatoes, onions, celery, beets, radishes, peas, beans, squash, broccoli, strawberries and nine different kinds of lettuce. He's also updated the medical facility, thanks to a new owner who's an anesthesiologist, and the new facilities manager is a retired fire chief, who's also trained as an EMT. For Hall, it's really been about focusing on preventative maintenance and implementing an inventory control system to ensure that everything is running smoothly before there's an emergency. "Everything is working how we planned for it," he said, "and that's a really good feeling." "You can't be the guy trying to buy batteries in Florida during a hurricane." As for COVID-19, Hall told me he believes things are going to get far worse before they get better. "I hope it stays on the benign side," he said, "but we just don't have enough concrete data about the virus or its fatality rate. The numbers we're seeing, they're all over the map. I fully expect them to skyrocket once we get a clearer picture of the reality of this thing, and that's going to be an even bigger wake up call for people." Ship's Store That's part of the reason he's been hard at work on a second structure inside another missile silo in Kansas. Whether it's a global pandemic like Coronavirus, or the economic consequences he predicts it will have, or just the usual disasters of a natural or apocalyptic variety, the goal for him is to make sure people are not vulnerable and have the ability to be self-sustainable. "It's sobering for people when things like this happen, but you have to expect them," he urged. "And you have to be ready. That's why the condos provide such a peace of mind for the owners. Because you can't be the guy trying to buy batteries in Florida during a hurricane." The security room BAKU, Azerbaijan, Mar. 21 Trend: Operational Headquarters was under the Cabinet of Ministers has held another meeting on March 21, Trend reports. The current situation on preventing the spread of coronavirus infection was analyzed at the meeting. They discussed the work to be carried out in the field of health, preliminary results of the restrictions and other issues. Moreover, there were given instructions on the tasks to be carried out. By Timothy Gardner and Jennifer Hiller WASHINGTON/HOUSTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration plans to send a special energy envoy to Saudi Arabia to work with the kingdom on stabilizing the global oil market, officials said on Friday, as the U.S. scrambles to deal with a price crash so deep that regulators in Texas considered curbing production there for the first time in nearly 50 years. Oil prices have lost more than half their value in the last two weeks as Saudi Arabia and Russia kicked off a price war and the coronavirus pandemic destroyed demand. U.S. oil now trades at less than $23 a barrel. The crash has shocked the oil industry as a pact among OPEC and non-OPEC producers to cooperate imploded, triggering a production free-for-all. The United States is sending a special representative to negotiate with Saudi Arabia, officials said Friday, after the kingdom unleashed production following years of touting its role as a stabilizing force for markets. Saudi Arabia and Russia are locked in a war for global oil market share after their three-year deal to restrain output collapsed this month. The kingdom has vowed to increase production to a record 12.3 million barrels per day, and has chartered numerous tankers to ship oil around the world, pushing prices to near 20-year lows this week. U.S. officials believe Saudi Arabia's move to flood oil markets compounds the global economic crash during a crisis caused by the pandemic. A senior Energy Department official will be sent to Riyadh for months at least to work closely with State Department officials and the existing energy attache, the senior U.S. officials said, on condition of anonymity. Trump administration officials said Saudi Arabia has for decades been a steadfast leader of stability in the global oil market. The energy representative would help the countries return to a path of stability, they said. The price crash is also devastating to U.S. oil producers, some of which have already begun putting employees on furlough. Story continues The hope is that President Donald Trump could negotiate with Saudi Arabia and Russia and convince them to match cuts with a similar cut in production in Texas, said Ryan Sitton, a commissioner with the Texas Railroad Commission, the body that regulates the state's oil and gas industry. Sitton said production limits could be implemented quickly, though no one who works at the agency was around the last time the state limited production, in the early 1970s. "We need to take the time to hear from everybody," he said, adding that he was not yet advocating for the cuts. But "if we can help (Trump) get a deal done, then I think that's when we do something." Sitton said on Twitter that he spoke with OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo about an international deal "to ensure economic stability as we recover from" the coronavirus outbreak. Sitton said Barkindo was "kind enough to invite me to the next OPEC meeting in June." Barkindo told Reuters that he and Sitton discussed their "perspective on current developments, and the possibility of future cooperation" in a teleconference. Barkindo and OPEC ministers have, in the past, met with shale-industry executives at annual conferences. A senior State Department official said the federal government does not have the ability to restrict the Texas regulator from any work with OPEC to cut production. "Those are wholly within state matters ... from a federal level we have no ongoing engagements with OPEC, it's a cartel," the official told reporters in a teleconference. U.S. INDUSTRY UNMOVED Some U.S. industry representatives were skeptical that Texas should intervene in the market. U.S. oil producers have long resisted such a move, and the industry's largest trade association did not sound convinced on Friday, either. "Our view is simple. Quotas are bad," said Frank Macchiarola, senior vice president of policy, economics and regulatory affairs at the American Petroleum Institute. "They've been proven ineffective and harmful. There's no reason during this time to try to imitate OPEC." In the last several years, shale operators using the innovative hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, technique, have boosted U.S. oil output to nearly 13 million barrels per day, making it the world's largest producer. Since 2016, as OPEC restrained production, the United States has taken market share from Saudi Arabia, Russia and other nations. Russia has been slower to come on board with OPEC's continued efforts to bolster prices, and the country's largest oil producer, Rosneft , has been an opponent of the deal with OPEC to cut supply. Units of Rosneft, and its managers, were recently sanctioned by the United States due to its trade relationship with Venezuela. Trump administration officials will continue to reduce global oil output with sanctions on what the officials called bad actors in Iran and Venezuela, both of which are OPEC members, and their shipping networks, the officials said. To the extent that Russia is involved in marketing Venezuelan oil, it will be sanctioned, the officials said. A group of nine Republican U.S. Senators, mainly from oil producing states, urged Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross late on Friday to investigate whether Saudi Arabia and Russia were excessively dumping oil on global markets. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner and Jennifer Hiller; additional reporting by Stephen Kalin in Riyadh and Rania El Gamal in Dubai; Editing by Tom Brown, Leslie Adler and Daniel Wallis) Virus cases fall in 13 Iranian provinces but sanctions mar fight Iran Press TV Friday, 20 March 2020 8:40 AM Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says US sanctions against Iran have hampered the country's access to medicine and medical equipment amid the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. US sanctions are still the "main obstacle" to the country's effective fight against the coronavirus pandemic, Zarif told his Japanese counterpart Toshimitsu Moteg in a phone conversation on Friday. The bans are obstructing Iran's access to medicine and medical equipment, he added. The top diplomat demanded that the Japanese government increase its efforts to help remove Washington's unilateral and illegal sanctions against Iran. Zarif also thanked the Japanese government and nation for assisting Tehran in its ongoing battle to stem the COVID-19. Toshimitsu Moteg, for his part, highlighted the two nations' "friendly" ties, saying that Tokyo plans to donate Avigan, a drug used in Japan to treat new strains of influenza appeared to be effective in coronavirus patients, to Iran. Death toll rises to 1,433 in Iran Iran's deputy health minister Alireza Raisi said on Friday that the total number of infections had reached 19,644 in the country. "With 149 new deaths in the past 24 hours, the death toll from the virus has reached 1,433. Unfortunately, we had 1,237 new cases since yesterday," Raisi said on state TV. He also put the number of those so far recovered from the infection at 6,745. The deputy minister further said that the provinces of Tehran, Isfahan, and Gilan have registered the highest number of cases of infection while 13 provinces have seen a big drop. Recently, the Iranian foreign minister wrote a letter to the United Nations secretary-general, calling for the removal of US sanctions. Despite the high scientific standing of the Iranian health apparatus and its commitment to the ongoing fight against the coronavirus outbreak, the complications created by US sanctions "have faced Iran's fight with the COVID-19 outbreak with serious impediments," Zarif said in his letter. The US reinstated its sanctions against Iran in May 2018 after leaving a UN-endorsed nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries. Tehran sued Washington at the International Court of Justice afterwards. The tribunal ruled that the US should lift its sanctions on humanitarian supplies. The United States, which falsely claims that its "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran does not stop the flow of humanitarian goods, imposed new sanctions this week. The Trump administration blacklisted five companies based in the United Arab Emirates, three in mainland China, three in Hong Kong and one in South Africa for trade in Iran's petrochemicals. "Washington's increased pressure against Iran is a crime against humanity," Reuters quoted an unnamed Iranian official as saying. "All the world should help each other to overcome this disease." Some analysts suggested the Trump administration should do more to speed the flow of humanitarian goods into Iran, though they saw little evidence to suggest this was in the offing, Reuters wrote. "Our policy of maximum pressure on the regime continues," Brian Hook, the US Special Representative for Iranian Affairs, told reporters. "US sanctions are not preventing aid from getting to Iran," he claimed. On Monday, China called on the United States to give Iran sanctions relief for humanitarian reasons but US officials, foreign diplomats and analysts saw no signs of this. "America's sanctions are preventing Iran from getting necessary medicine and equipment to fight against this virus. They have to lift it," said dentist Arash Hosseini, 52, in Tehran. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address If you've eaten a McDonald's Quarter Pounder recently, you may have noticed that it tastes better than it used to. That's because in spring 2018, McDonald's swapped out frozen beef for fresh beef in most of its quarter-pound burgers in the United States and the improved product has been a hit. Sales of the burger have soared since the change. In the first three months of 2019, McDonald's sold 40 million more quarter-pound burgers in the United States than it did in the same period the year before, when it was still mostly using frozen beef. McDonald's reported in June 2019 that the change also helped its burgers gain US market share in what the industry calls the "informal eating out" category for the first time in five years. It may seem like a simple, obvious decision: Fresh beef gets hotter faster and tastes juicier, delivering a more appetizing burger. Through consumer insights, McDonald's knew that their customers would respond well to the upgrade. And the improved burgers could help McDonald's better compete with its rivals. So-called "better burger" chains like Five Guys and Shake Shack have gained traction, raising the bar for mainstream outlets. And the success of fast casual joints like Chipotle and Panera has pushed larger chains to switch to fresher ingredients. But it took about three years to make the change, and Marion Gross, chief supply chain officer for McDonald's in North America, initially balked at the idea. "I think I said, 'Not while I'm in this job,'" Gross told CNN Business's Rachel Crane. She was particularly concerned that introducing a new ingredient which has to be handled in a new way into McDonald's complex supply chain could also accidentally introduce new risks to food safety in restaurant kitchens. She was skeptical because "of the enormity of the change that had to be made." Gross is responsible for nearly $14 billion in food, equipment and packaging and oversees more than 15,000 restaurants in North America, including roughly 14,000 locations in the United States. The company's supply chain is the mechanism that enables those restaurants to sling burgers, fries and beverages to millions of people every day. It's a carefully calibrated system that includes suppliers, distributors, franchise operators and other stakeholders. Even small changes require a great deal of planning and consideration and convincing everyone involved that it's worth making the change. Any tweak to the system increases the likelihood of something going wrong. Gross, who stepped into the role in 2013, said that a former chair of the McDonald's board once called the company's supply chain a "daily miracle." Related: See the 20 Risk Takers pushing global business forward What he meant, Gross said, is that nobody notices when the supply chain is working properly. But they notice when it breaks down. "The only time that supply chain even sort of hits anybody's radar is when something goes wrong," she said. Making a change to one of McDonald's signature menu items is particularly risky especially if that change could introduce food safety concerns. From dream to reality By mid-2015, McDonald's was in a rough spot. Visits to restaurants were down, and same-store sales which measure the sales at locations open around a year had been down for two years running. The company decided to close 350 underperforming restaurants globally, which was a rare contraction. "Simply speaking, we need to be better at serving hot, fresh food," said then CEO Steve Easterbrook during a July 2015 call with analysts. So the company's leadership set to work on turning the business around. Those efforts included tapping people across the company for ideas on how to make better food. That year, McDonald's franchise operator Joe Jasper met with chefs, suppliers and McDonald's corporate employees from its business insights and menu marketing teams, among others. That "food journey" team, about 20 people altogether, was tasked with figuring out a way to make McDonald's burgers the best among all quick-service restaurants. During its first brainstorming session, the group came up with the idea for a hotter, juicier burger, Jasper said. But they didn't land on fresh beef right away. When Jasper, who at the time owned and operated 20 McDonald's locations in Texas, returned to his team, he brainstormed with them, as well. They agreed that if possible, fresh beef in a Quarter Pounder "would be amazing." So he set to work. Along with two others, Jasper spent three days in one of his kitchens, working about eight to ten hours each day. The goal was to cook up a hot, juicy burger without making major changes to the kitchen's operating system and without slowing down the drive thru. With those parameters in mind, Jasper and his team had to deliberate over every detail from the width and thickness of the patty to the amount of pressure cooks use to sear the burger without drying it out. "You change one parameter and it changes everything, and so you have to test over and over and over again," Jasper said. A few one-off successes weren't enough, he added. "You have to do something you can replicate. When you start doing the math, it's millions of times a day across our system." Once Jasper had figured out how to make the new ingredient work, he invited Gross a sponsor of his food journey team to one of his restaurants to try it out. When she tasted the fresh beef burger, Gross said, she went from being "a skeptic to a believer." But others remained skeptical. When McDonald's first started testing out its fresh beef burger in 2016, some franchisees reportedly said they were against the switch. One operator worried about "an uncaring employee doing something that puts the entire system at risk," CNBC reported, citing a survey of about 27 franchisees who together owned and operated roughly 200 restaurants. They pointed to Chipotle, which took a major financial and reputational hit after E. coli outbreaks at its restaurants sickened customers, as a cautionary tale. "We are the lightning rod," the franchisee said, according to CNBC. "Chipotle will be a walk in the park if we have an incident." Franchisees own and operate about 93% of McDonald's restaurants, so getting them on board with the idea was crucial to its success. Focus on safety Franchise operators weren't the only ones worried about food safety. That was Gross's main concern about making the switch, too. "I lost a couple of winks of sleep over that one," she said. Fresh beef is not inherently more difficult to prepare than frozen. But there are important differences between how fresh and frozen meat needs to be handled. Cooks must be mindful of contamination when handling fresh beef basically, they need to make sure that raw burger juice doesn't end up in other food or ingredients. For employees, the new ingredient meant re-learning a skill that may have become second nature, Gross said. "For years they were used to following the same procedures, and probably most of them could do it in their sleep," she noted. "This was a big change." With the guidance of a third-party food safety expert, McDonald's put new practices into place. It instructed employees to wear blue gloves when handling the fresh beef, to make sure that other food products weren't accidentally contaminated. Members of the corporate team made sure that employees at McDonald's thousands of US restaurants had been trained correctly before the launch. To prepare a fresh beef burger, employees take the patty from the fridge and place it directly on a flat iron grill. While it's cooking, the cook adds a pinch of salt and pepper to bring out flavor. The fresh burgers cook more quickly than frozen ones. Changes also had to be made on the supply and distribution side. Suppliers, used to sending frozen patties to McDonald's, needed new packaging equipment and refrigeration capacity, among other things, to make sure the fresh beef was handled safely. Lopez Foods was the first supplier to sell fresh beef to McDonald's. In order to accommodate the new product, Lopez had to build new lines. That meant new grinders and packaging equipment, among other tools. It converted one of its freezers into a refrigerator to store the meat. Switching from fresh to frozen also means Lopez has to be more nimble with its shipments. With a frozen product, they could plan far in advance for McDonald's promotions that would increase the number of orders. With a perishable product, that planning time shrinks. And Lopez had to make all of these investments up front, with no guarantee that the changes would yield results. "It's a big change for us, it's a big change for the restaurant operationally. And there were questions around whether that could be executed," said Ed Sanchez, CEO of Lopez Foods. "I had doubts along the way. But as it progressed along, it was less and less doubt. And there came a point to where it was crystal clear that we had to do this. The customer wanted it." Fresh beef has a shorter shelf life than frozen, noted Dale Rogers, professor of logistics and supply chain management at Arizona State University's W.P. Carey School of Business. This means that it needs to be brought from the suppliers to McDonald's more quickly than frozen beef. Technological innovations, like sensors, can help make it easier for McDonald's to ensure that the beef has been kept at the right temperature throughout its journey, said Rogers. Years ago, it would have been more difficult for McDonald's to make sure that the meat is properly refrigerated all the way through. Still, it's a major overhaul, he said. But If anyone can pull it off, it's McDonald's. "It's a very disciplined culture," he said. "McDonald's has had the same suppliers for many, many years," he added. "The relationship is extremely tight." When it comes to managing its supply chain, "McDonald's is one of the best of the best," said Dale. To get suppliers on board, Gross started small. "A lot of that up front was really just getting people comfortable with the idea of a change this big, a move this bold for a company with our scale and our size," Gross said. After getting Lopez Foods on board, "it was time to bring on the next supplier," said Gross. "We had all this learning from Lopez Foods that could very quickly be shared with supplier number two. Then they brought their production lines up and going, and they had a bunch of learning as well." Sanchez is pleased with the results of the switch, he said. "We were satisfied with our investment and our return on investment," he noted, adding, "it grew the business for us." Getting its suppliers to work together is a "competitive advantage," said Gross. "Their interests, like ours, is in the success of the McDonald's system." Constant improvement With its roughly 14,000 US locations and $38.5 billion in 2018 US sales, McDonald's far outpaces its competition. Wendy's, the next biggest burger chain according to QSR Magazine's most recent annual list, closed out 2018 with about 6,700 locations and nearly $10 billion in US sales. Burger King's 7,300 US locations also pulled in about $10 billion in US sales in 2018. With McDonald's so far ahead, it doesn't really need to worry about the competition, noted Sam Oches, editorial director of Food News Media at QSR magazine. What it does have to worry about is staying relevant. "You still want your customers to choose McDonald's over Wendy's and Burger King, but you also want your customers to choose McDonald's over Five Guys," Oches said. Better burger and fast casual chains started gaining momentum after the 2008 recession, when people were looking for spots that served higher quality meals than fast food chains but were less expensive than casual restaurants. By 2015, both the fast casual and better burger trends were well established. And burger chains like Wendy's and In-N-Out, which built their reputations on serving fresh beef, were shouting out their message. "The more that the mass audience is hearing these stories about fresh beef and better burgers, the more that old frozen patty really wasn't going to cut it," said Kara Nielsen, a food trend expert based in Oakland, California. McDonald's has experimented with high-quality and craft burgers, but pricey options haven't worked well for the brand. And complicated burgers may add to prep time, which can mean longer lines and wait times in stores. Still, McDonald's could have skipped this trend because of its massive scale. Speaking at the Sanford C. Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference in May 2018, Easterbrook, still CEO of McDonald's at the time, explained why it was so important to figure out a way to improve the chain's burgers. "We're a burger business at our heart," he said. "If you want to really get the core business growing day in, day out, what changes can you make to the items you sell most of that customers would value?" By making it's thickest burger, the Quarter Pounder, hotter and juicier, McDonald's can give customers the most bang for their buck. The fast food chain is constantly trying to improve its menu. "That includes enhancing or improving, making our iconic burgers and product offerings better too," Gross said, noting that making the shift to fresh beef "was probably the most difficult change that we made since we made the move to all day breakfast." For now, the risk is paying off. "The customers are voting by coming in and visiting us more often," said Gross. "It all goes back to listening to the customer, and what the customer wants, and how their needs and wants are changing," she said. "Then us being able to demonstrate that number one, we're listening to them. Number two, we're taking action and we're making the moves that are important to them, even with our iconic food product." Americans can no longer travel overseas or cross international borders. All Americans currently abroad must come home. On 11 March, United States President Donald Trump announced a travel ban on all persons traveling from Europe, with the only exception being United States citizens. In a little over a week, this travel ban has potentially extended to affect citizens of the United States, who have remained abroad. Also read: On Thursday, the US State Department issued a Level 4 travel advisory. This means that all international travel, during the pandemic is unprecedented. Americans can no longer travel overseas or cross international borders. All Americans currently abroad must come home. If coming home isnt possible, the State Department advises that such persons should stay in place and not cross any international border. The advisory reads: U.S. citizens who live in the United States should arrange for immediate return to the United States, unless they are prepared to remain abroad for an indefinite period. U.S. citizens who live abroad should avoid all international travel. Most Americans who are currently abroad have been caught in a limbo of fear and panic. Most are especially concerned about their return to the US, and many have raised questions about US government assistance for citizens stuck abroad. Also read: This question was answered in the advisory: Have a travel plan that does not rely on the U.S. government for assistance. Along with these new restrictions, passport companies are now only accepting passport applications from customers who are currently in life-or-death situations. These customers must plan to travel within the next 72 hours. For most former and current United States government official, they cannot recall the last time an advisory similar to this one has been made. I must share with you today the unwelcome, but not unexpected, news that a member of the University of Maryland, Baltimore community has tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Strict privacy rules prevent me from providing more information about this person or their condition, but rest assured that everything is being done to minimize the risk to others. At this time we are working to locate others with whom they may have been in close contact, and all areas where this person recently frequented are being thoroughly cleaned. We have also been in touch with public health authorities and are working proactively to assist them. I urge you to continue to observe safe practices at work and at home, if you are teleworking: Stay home if you feel sick with fever, cough, and shortness of breath, and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them. Do not return to work until at least five days from the onset of symptoms and only after you have been symptom-free for 24 hours. Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw away the tissue after you use it. If you don't have a tissue, sneeze into your elbow. Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you blow your nose, cough, or sneeze. If soap and water aren't available, alcohol-based hand cleaners with at least 60 percent alcohol are also effective. Avoid shaking hands with others and practice social distancing where you can. Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth. We are all facing new and often unprecedented situations, seemingly every day. That's why I am so proud to be a part of this University, this community. Because even as we confront new challenges and new concerns, we continue to advance our mission to improve the human condition and serve the public good of Maryland and society at-large through education, research, clinical care, and service. Jacinda Ardern has introduced a four-level alert system to allow for improved communication of public health measures as coronavirus spreads in New Zealand. The prime minister addressed the nation in a press conference on Saturday morning after the number of COVID-19 cases in the country jumped to 53 overnight. Ms Ardern urged New Zealanders to cut non-essential internal travel and asked older residents to stay at home to to help combat the spread of infection. Scroll for video Jacinda Ardern unveiled a four-level alert system to allow for improved communication of public health measures after the number of coronavirus cases in New Zealand jumped to 53 Like her Australian counterpart Scott Morrison, Ms Ardern appealed to Kiwis' sense of national pride. NEW ZEALAND'S CORONAVIRUS ALERT SYSTEM New Zealand is currently at level two. * LEVEL ONE - PREPARE When: Minor transmission from imported cases What: Border entry measures, contact tracing, self-isolation, testing, some gatherings cancelled * LEVEL TWO - REDUCE When: Transmission from imported cases What: Borders effectively closed, mass gathering clampdown, limit non-essential travel, encourage work from home, high-risk groups urged to stay home * LEVEL THREE - RESTRICT When: Community transmission or cluster breakout What: Affected educational facilities closed, travel limited in breakout zones, gyms, cinemas, food courts close, non-essential business recommended to close, elective hospital procedures deferred * LEVEL FOUR - ELIMINATE When: Widespread transmission What: People instructed to stay home, educational facilities closed, non-essential business to close, travel limited, major re-prioritisation of health services Advertisement 'We may not have experienced anything like this in our lifetimes,' she said. 'But, we know how to rally, and we know how to look after one another and right now what could be more important than that? 'Thank you for all that you're about to do. Please, be strong, be kind and unite against COVID-19.' Announcing a new alert system, Ms Ardern said New Zealand was at level two, where the virus is contained but the risks are growing as there are more cases. She urged those aged over 70 to stay home as much as possible. The 39-year-old leader said in a televised address that she will keep schools open for now, in a similar policy employed in neighbouring Australia. 'Schools will be closed if there is a case that affects a school, as we have been doing to date,' Ardern said. 'Sending children home at this stage, though, doesn't necessarily reduce transmission in the community,' she said, 'but I can assure you we are constantly monitoring these settings to keep children safe. As a mum, I can assure you that is my key consideration.' New Zealand may finally have recorded its first cases of community transmission of COVID-19, changing the country's response to the pandemic. Until Saturday, New Zealand had been one of the few developed countries not to experience transmissions within the community; a sign the virus could be set for a local outbreak. Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield confirmed 14 new positive tests for the virus - of which two have no clear link to overseas travel - bringing the country's tally to 53 cases. 'We always knew cases apparently not linked to imported cases would happen and we are prepared,' he said. A general view of the Parnell Baths which have now been closed as a result of COVID-19 on March 21 Ms Ardern urged New Zealanders to cut non-essential internal travel and asked older residents to stay at home to to help combat the spread of infection The government will implement a four-stage alert level to allow Kiwis to more easily understand the virus' spread in the community, with corresponding public health measures. Dr Bloomfield said two key planks underpinned New Zealand's public health response. The first is contact tracing, where any people to have had contact with confirmed cases are placed in self-isolation for a fortnight. The second is the importance of maintaining physical distancing while in the community. With unseasonal rains and hailstorms lashing parts of eight districts in Marathwada region of Maharashtra recently, the BJP has sought a review of the crop losses. Parts of Aurangabad, Jalna, Osmanabad, Latur, Beed, Nanded, Latur, Hingoli districts witnessed unseasonal rains and hailstorms at some places in the last couple of days. BJP state general secretary and a member of the Legislative Council, Surjeetsingh Thakur, on Friday sent a letter to the divisional commissioner, in which he demanded that the assessment of damaged crops be conducted immediately. "The unseasonal rains and hailstorms have ruined the standing crops of food grains and fruits. The region had faced severe drought in the recent past and now this rain has landed farmers in trouble," he said. "Therefore, the government agencies should undertake a survey of the losses immediately," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Raja Krishnamoorthi was the lone Indian American who advanced in the primary election in Illinois. The Democratic primary winner, seen here during a hearing on Capitol Hill Nov. 20, 2019 in Washington, D.C., will win a third term in the 8th Congressional District as no Republican is challenging him in the general election. (Samuel Corum - Pool/Getty Images) North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised an artillery firing competition between army units in the country's west on Friday, aimed at evaluating combat readiness. The firing competition came a day before the country fired two presumed short-range ballistic missiles into the sea, according to South Korean military. South Korean authorities say the projectiles were fired early on Saturday morning from an area in western North Korea. South Korea and the U.S. were analyzing the launches - Seoul's military urged the North to immediately stop its very inappropriate military demonstrations when the world is struggling to cope with the coronavirus pandemic. It comes as nuclear talks have stalemated since the collapse of the second summit between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump in early 2019, when the Americans rejected North Korean demands for major sanctions relief in exchange for a partial surrender of its nuclear capabilities. Following the breakdown in talks, the North ended a 17-month pause in ballistic activity and conducted at least 13 rounds of weapons launches last year while pressuring Washington and Seoul for concessions. North Korea has not publicly confirmed a single case of the COVID-19 illness, but state media have described anti-virus efforts as a matter of national existence. Experts say an epidemic in North Korea could have dire consequences due to the countrys poor health system and shortage of medical supplies. The shocking past of a 65-year-old man found guilty of murdering a pregnant teenage prostitute has been revealed. On Friday, Rodney Wayne Williams was found guilty of murdering Tiffany Taylor after meeting her for sex on July 12, 2015. It has now emerged that Williams stabbed a 75-year-old pensioner in a botched robbery in 1977. Court documents obtained by The Courier Mail show that Williams went to Doris Rodman's home in order to steal money. Mrs Rodman knew Williams and let him into her home where he punched her and stabbed her in the back. In 1977, when Rodney Wayne Williams (pictured) was 24 years old, he murdered Doris Rodman, 75, during a failed robbery attempt at her Hobart home 1977 More than 40 years after he murdered Mrs Rodman, Williams was found guilty of murdering 16-year-old Tiffany Taylor (pictured) after he picked her up from a motel on July 12, 2015, for paid sex Court records show Williams' attacked the elderly woman because he feared she would be able to identify him. The brutal stab wound did not immediately kill Mrs Rodman. Williams helped her into the bathroom, removed her clothing covered in blood, bathed her and dressed the stab wound. Williams fled the home and Mrs Rodman died several hours from her injuries. He was arrested and during an interview with police, he admitted to killing Mrs Rodman but argued at his trial it was a 'reflexive action' and her murder was not premeditated. Williams was found guilty sentenced to life in prison in 1978 at the Supreme Court in Hobart. He was granted parole in the 1990s but was taken back into custody after he committed a sex offence. In 1995, he was resentenced for the murder of Mrs Williams but was eligible for parole that year. Court documents show that Williams went to Mrs Rodman's flat on a September afternoon and tried to steal her money when he was 24 years old. Mrs Rodman knew Williams and let him into her home where he punched her and stabbed her in the back Almost 25 years after Williams was released for the murder of Mrs Rodman, he was found guilty for the murder of Ms Taylor at Brisbane's Supreme Court on Friday. The pair met on the Oasis dating website, where Ms Taylor was offering sex for cash which she needed to pay her rent and a phone bill. She listed herself as aged 21, despite being 16, and had over a dozen profiles including Hotsexylady1 and Sexybabe11232. During the trial, Ms Taylor's unemployed boyfriend, Gregory Hill, 45, who lived with her, denied pimping her out. The court heard how he had 300 messages about money and meeting men on his phone. The jury was shown a series of messages between Williams and Ms Taylor where he offered her $500, the ABC reported. But Williams' profile revealed something much more sinister. Williams said he was a 'master looking for submissive females.' 'I pride myself in the fact (that) I know more about the female body than most girls. 'Please girls say that you are willing to try anything for the first time, don't run and hide.' Almost 25 years after Williams was released for the murder of Mrs Rodman, he was found guilty for the murder of Ms Taylor at Brisbane's Supreme Court on Friday The pair met on the Oasis dating website, where Ms Taylor was offering sex for cash as she was trying to raise the money needed to pay her rent and a phone bill Williams met Ms Taylor at a motel in Logan where she was living with her boyfriend. The pair drove to Larapinta industrial park area where 'something happened', the court heard. Williams' car was then spotted in the Fernvale area, west of Brisbane, where police have since searched dams and bushland for Ms Taylor's body without success. Traces of Ms Taylor's blood were found in Williams' Hyundai sedan, prosecutor Philip McCarthy QC told the jury during the three-and a-half-week trial. 'On the glove box, on the headrest of the passenger seat ... on the front passenger seat, on the gear stick,' he said. 'It was this car that Rodney Williams used to collect Tiffany for a paid sexual liaison that was meant to take place and she has never been seen again.' He told officers he never had intentions of having sex with the pregnant teenager but Ms Taylor wanted to meet because he 'sounded interesting.' Williams' also argued the blood in the car was because Ms Taylor had a bleeding nose when he picked her up. They drove to Larapinta industrial park area where 'something happened', his trial heard. Williams' car was then spotted in the Fernvale area, west of Brisbane, where police have since searched dams and bushland for Ms Taylor's body without success Traces of Ms Taylor's blood were found in Williams' Hyundai sedan, prosecutor Philip McCarthy QC told the jury during the three-and a-half-week trial During his closing address, Mr McCarthy said Williams sent Ms Taylor a message 12 hours after he met her to try and cover his tracks. 'Sorry I didn't turn up. Decided I wasn't going to pay for it,' the message read. 'The first thing he's done is to create a false digital footprint, a false digital trail denying any physical contact with that girl,' Mr McCarthy told the court. 'A pretence to the world that he'd never met her. A pretence to the world that he thinks she's still alive. Williams pleaded not guilty to her murder but a jury on Friday found him guilty of intentionally killing the teen. Under Queensland's No Body No Parole laws, Williams will never be eligible for parole unless he tells police where Ms Taylor's body is located. An active weather pattern looks to deliver wet weather, and even severe thunderstorms through parts of the country, all before the conclusion of the first week of spring. A storm that will spread a spring snowstorm into the Northeast through Monday, will also be responsible for starting off the train of wet weather in the mid-Atlantic. "For those looking to take a break from being in their homes by taking a walk around the block or at a neighborhood park, unfortunately, Monday does not look like a good day to do so in much of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, "said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dan Pydynowski. "Following the cool spell over the weekend, chilly rainfall will soak the I-95 corridor from Richmond to NYC on Monday," added Pydynowski. Even on the southern side of the storm, rainy weather and thunderstorms may deter residents from heading outdoors on Monday. The approximate 24 hours of rainy weather will be enough for rainfall to total 0.5 of an inch to 1.0 inch from southern New England to the Deep South. However, there may be some pockets of heavier rainfall following the I-95 corridor from Raleigh to Boston. These areas may see some isolated rainfall totals as high as 2 inches. CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP Meanwhile, the next storm will be evolving in the central Plains, bringing some showers and thunderstorms from Nebraska to northern Texas by Monday afternoon. Thunderstorms will turn severe across much of this area on Monday night. "The biggest severe weather threat on Monday will wait until late in the day or nightfall. Storms sweeping from northern Oklahoma to south-central Missouri produce damaging winds as well as hail," said AccuWeather Meteorologist Tiffany Fortier. Thunderstorms will also be capable of producing an isolated tornado or two. Residents in this area should have severe weather alerts turned on their phones, and be prepared should they need to take shelter overnight. Story continues Periods of rain and even some thunderstorms will expand north of this area, affecting Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa Monday night and even into Tuesday. The core of the severe weather will shift eastward on Tuesday, threatening the southern half of Missouri and much of Arkansas to central Tennessee with more hail and damaging winds. Isolated tornadoes will be a concern on Tuesday across an area that has already been ravaged by tornadoes this season. Some gusty storms may continue eastward towards the Appalachians into Tuesday evening. "The storm will skirt east fairly quickly, moving from being centered over southern Illinois Tuesday afternoon to the Northeast by Wednesday afternoon," added Fortier. This will bring rain and thunderstorms across Tennessee and into the Carolinas, as well as into the Northeast. Less cold air will be in place across the Northeast come Wednesday, especially compared to the early week storm. Should this pattern hold, most of the region will end up with rain by the middle of the week rather than snow. Stormy weather looks to continue across much of the country through the latter half of the week and even into next weekend. As with the early part of the week, each region is likely to see at least a 12- to 24-hour break between rounds of wet weather before the next wave moves in. Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios. 21.03.2020 LISTEN The world celebrated 31st December 2019 in anticipation to a prosperous and blissful year, only to be faced with a masked virus, corona (COVID-19). This virus has brought China to her knees, Italy down to hewers, the UK in a state of panic, Ghana and other sister African countries began to (you know what we are doing here). In the grip of Charybdis and Scylla, a hard decision that will certainly cost you should be taken. This decision will certainly leave a scar but gives you the ultimate thing, life. We have and are still living in a country where we try to solve problems instead of taking precautions to avoid the problems. Several manholes on our roads never caught our attention but were patched three days after they caused glorious accident. Petrol and Gas shells in public places and residential areas never meant anything to us until we lost dozens of lives; we decided to hunt shell owners, how did it end? The same behaviour has caused us to record COVID-19 cases and several contacts who keep showing symptoms daily. Everyone wakes up to ask, How many cases so far? We had the power in our hold to close our borders to foreigners from high risked cases and quarantine Ghanaian coming in from those countries. As usual of us, we never closed the borders nor quarantined anyone until we recorded our first two cases. I know it would have had serious economical implications, but what is a stable economy if the workforce (citizens) are dying? Our Immigration service was busily checking temperatures of people coming into the country. I cannot tell whether they were aware that, temperature will only go high after the incubation period of 4-14 days. This means that infected persons can still have a normal temperature until they show signs and symptoms. Possibly they were not well educated or were not well resourced. His Excellency the President Nana Addo Danquah on Sunday 15th March 2020 based on the executive authority, addressed the nation on the pandemic and the directives from his office as follows; All school (public and private) be closed for four weeks All church activities are suspended for the same duration All gatherings involving more than 25 persons be suspended for the same duration Etc These were the best directives to have been given long before we recorded the first two cases, but it is better late than never. These directives were not pleasing to many Ghanaians as we still do not know what we are likely to face, but almost all Ghanaians under the power of the president obeyed the directives but one mighty institution which seems to be above the president and the law, NIA keeps operating in the Eastern region (the home of the president). An employee of the NIA indicated on Peace FM interview on the 20th March that, they (employees) asked their boss on their WhatsApp platform why they are still operating as there has been such an executive order to halt public gathering, their Boss told them he has not yet received any directives from his board of directors (bigger than the president). If gathering involving more than 25 persons has been suspended, how can gathering a whole region for Ghana card be overlooked? Schools and churches has been suspended, but classrooms and church buildings are opened for Ghana card registration. Wonderful country! Religious leaders, Health practitioners, cooperative societies and other political parties have had their say on the conduct of the political motivated NIA and its Ghana card. Your quest to win the next election is important to you, but please for Christs sake spare the lives of our poor parents and students who cannot afford the three square meal per day. One big problem we still face at the moment is the laboratory to handle the test procedures of the virus. We are still battling with transferring samples to designated laboratories to confirm cases. What is keeping us to institute emergency laboratories in all regional capitals? We have still not taught of establishing a quarantine center in all regions to prepare ahead of the unfortunate. We have completed hospitals in bushes yet to be commissioned, can we not use these as emergency centers? The Ghana Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists (GAMLS) has over the years, fought for laboratory policies which have been implemented in other African countries and it is working for them. The GAMLS embarked on a strike on those policies, but till now the laboratory policies are yet to be implemented; as if the implementation will benefit the laboratory, but not Ghana. In our health sector, we fight for dominance, Doctors trying hard to let everyone beg before the Medical and Dental Council (MDC) by fighting to dominate every sector of the health system. I am sure you are wondering how they do that. The medical Doctors are appointed by government as Minister of Health, Director for Health, and so on. They only approve what suits MDC. Ghana should consider autotomizing every unit of the health sector. As a Catholic Christian, I believe in prayers of the faithful, but I think our prayers should be accompanied with actions (attitudinal change). At this critical moment, people are selling sanitizers at about six times the normal price, others mixing water with glycerin and perfume to earn money. Many of those sanitizers out there has been proven by laboratory research to have no or little effects on microbes. What are we doing to ourselves? As a citizen, I think Ghana has seen a lot from our own intentional errors and we need to learn so hard and change our systems and ways as we continue to build a Cathedral for God and country. If you are reading this article, please spread the good news; Wash your hands with soap under running water frequently. Put on nose mask to avoid inhalation of the virus Use proper hand sanitizer Avoid touching your face If you cough, find it difficult to breathe or feel feverish with high temperature, report to the nearest health Facility. May GOD have mercy on us. LONG LIVE GHANA #SAVE OUR NATION LORD# NINWIENAANE MATTHEW +233543017315 [email protected] According to Dang Trong Duc, deputy general director of Khai Toan Group (KTG), this will be the second generation of KTG's factory, combining the factory, a pre-built warehouse, and 4.0 technology to create a digital convergence for industry and business functions and internal processes. The objective of the project is to achieve optimal management, effective operations, enhance environmental protection, and steer KTG's production towards sustainable development. Khai Toan Group started construction a ready-built factory in Nhon Trach 3B Industrial Centre This ready-built factory in Nhon Trach 3B Industrial Centre is now distributed by CBRE Vietnam. According to Le Trong Hieu, director of advisory and transaction service at CBRE Vietnam, KTG's 4.0 factory marks the evolution of the prefabricated factory to better meet customers' requirements. This new-generation workshop has upgraded design, better customer service software, more environmentally friendly operations, and is brought closer to potential tenants through a virtual reality experience as well as customer service software during the rental period, said Hieu. These characteristics are a definite competitive advantage for KTG to continue to develop its strength as a leader in the industrial property. Most importantly, the southern industrial real estate market has more than 60,000 square metres of new quality factories in Nhon Trach, Dong Nai province a hot growth area in recent years, attracting more investments for Vietnam. Apart from its Industry 4.0 features, KTGs factory is also the first green factory as it runs entirely on solar energy generated on-site certified for the LEED standard by the US Green Building Council. This is a pioneering international standard in evaluating energy-saving buildings and protecting human habitats, adhering to energy-saving standards and creating a green environment and improving the quality of the living environment, increasing the adaptability of the building to environmental change, and optimising the use of renewable energy. Bay of Plenty residents had an opportunity last night for a very clear viewing of the recently launched Starlink5 satellites as they soared overhead in single file across the night sky. Starlink 5 is due back again tonight, Saturday March 21, with the hope that the sky will remain clear of clouds. The easiest way to spot the long string of moving lights will be to find Venus - the extremely bright star-like object in the north-west - about 8.15pm and then wait a couple of minutes. Dave Gregg from the Tauranga Astronomical Society says that on Friday night, the latest-to-be-launched Starlink train, Starlink5, flew past around 8.13pm. Rising in the northwest to the right of Venus, it passed to the left of the three bright stars in Orions Belt, then to the left of the very bright star Sirius before reaching maximum elevation angle of 87 degrees at 8.16pm, as seen from Tauranga. Weather permitting, Starlink5 is expected to be visible tonight, Saturday 21 March from around 8.17pm, says Dave. Dave says that this time Starlink5 will rise in the northwest to the left of Venus and will pass across the south western half of the sky, reaching maximum elevation angle of 43 degrees at 8.19pm, as seen from Tauranga. It looks like there will be at least five satellites leading ahead of the main train tonight, says Dave. This pass will be easily visible throughout New Zealand but will be best viewed from near Wellington where it will pass directly overhead. Please allow an extra few minutes after the predicted times in case of changes due to the manoeuvring of the satellites. A view of SpaceX's first 60 Starlink satellites in orbit, still attached and awaiting deployment, after their launch on May 23, 2019. Image: SpaceX American company SpaceX successfully launched Starlink5 the new batch of 60 Starlink satellites into orbit on March 18. The launch flight also marks the sixth time a batch of Starlink satellites have been deposited into orbit, bringing the total number of satellites to more than 350. The company has several more Starlink missions planned for this year, with an additional 180 satellites due to launch. Starlink is a satellite constellation being constructed by SpaceX to provide satellite Internet access. The constellation will consist of thousands of mass-produced small satellites, working in combination with ground transceivers. According to the program's website, SpaceX plans on rolling out coverage to the United States and Canada sometime this year. With one more flight, the company could potentially have the minimum number of satellites to do so, as SpaceX CEO Elon Musk previously said that the company needs somewhere between 400 and 800 satellites in orbit to begin offering its service. Friday night, March 20, 2020: Map graphic: Heavens-Above.com Saturday night, March 21, 2020: Map graphic: Heavens-Above.com Mexican workers at General Motors are responding to the wildcat strikes which forced a shutdown in the US auto industry by appealing to US and Canadian workers for support in closing their own plants to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. During the national strike last fall by 48,000 GM workers in the United States, workers at GMs Silao Complex organized to oppose mandatory overtime and speed-ups that the company sought to use to undermine the effects of the strike north of the border. GM retaliated by firing at least a dozen workers and has retaliated with speed-ups and other abuses. An international defense fund then raised thousands of dollars for the struggle of the fired GM Silao workers for their re-installation. Silao autoworkers Even though General Motors, along with Ford and Fiat Chrysler, announced Wednesday that it would shut down production across North America, workers at the GM Silao Complex in Guanajuato have notified the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter that they are being ordered to continue working. The trade unions and the corporate media have completely blacked out news about the wildcat strikes, which spread to several Fiat Chrysler assembly plants in Michigan and Windsor Assembly in Ontario, Canada. These continued a global wildcat strike wave which began at auto plants in Spain and Italy. Workers in Mexico have indicated that the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter has been the only source reporting the strike wave. The Mexican government of president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has been widely denounced by health officials for its inaction and undertesting. Even so, cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the cities of Leon and Irapuato, where most workers at the Silao plant reside. A worker at the transmissions area in Silao (GRX) said that his team leader read an official document which declared that, even if cases were confirmed in the plant, the company will only disinfect and use masks, keep distance, and other things. The team leader ripped up the paper in disgust after reading it. Cleaning kit provided by management at the GM Silao Complex, March 18, 2020 These reports were confirmed yesterday by the Mexican daily El Economista, which wrote, General Motors, the largest automaker in Mexico, announced that its manufacturing operations in Mexico continue normally... Workers at the Silao assembly area indicate that management will only provide a cleaning kit composed of a spray bottle with chlorinated water and rags, and 10 minutes at the beginning of each shift to clean the workstations. Pregnant workers have been provided sick leaves. Currently, Audi, Fiat-Chrysler, Ford, Honda and Toyota have announced partial shutdowns of two to ten days at their Mexican plants. Their announcements cited, not the need to halt production until the danger of contagion passes, but adjustments to meet disruptions in the supply chain and lower demand. The 3,000 workers at the Honda motorcycle and spare parts factory in El Salto, Jalisco, will continue working, which was confirmed to the WSWS by a former employee. As reported in several articles by the WSWS, management at the GM Silao Complex is notorious for giving workers effectively less than ten minutes to eat their meals, not letting workers take bathroom breaks, rejecting requests for sick leaves and arbitrarily firing workers with medical issues. Its sad that being an international corporation, GM gives such scant resources to protect its workersmanagers are not coming to work, noted an assembly worker at the plant. Referring to the wildcat strikes internationally, she explained: There are fears here that [workers will] get fired and will lose sustenance for their families. She agreed about the need for a joint struggle internationally, adding: I agree because we are not only taking risks as workers. If we get exposed to being infected, we expose our families to the infection. The company doesnt care about our health, commented a co-worker. There is not even hand sanitizer on the eating tables, much less when entering the plant we are manipulating parts that come from other factories and even other countries, and we are eating with our hands totally dirty. Moreover, some workers are arriving sick, while the buses they take to the plant are packed with 40 people, she added. She then made a statement aimed at autoworkers in the US and Canada: Brothers, I ask for your solidarity through these difficult times globally with this pandemic that threatens all of humanity. At GM Silao, we are completely exposed to contracting the virus since we dont have the minimum protections. We ask for your support in demanding that the plants in Mexico get shut down through the gravity of this crisis, with full salaries to be able to afford our family expenses. And if someone were to get sick due to such negligence, demand compensation for the worker and their family, since we still dont know the implications of this illness. As a GM worker, I see the trade union as being totally indifferent to this issue, that is why I ask for your collaboration brothers. Please help us, demand that we are listened to about this necessity. I send my complete appreciation in the name of my fellow workers. Such international collaboration of the working class is as crucial for Mexican workers as it is for their American and Canadian counterparts to overcome the resistance some of the most powerful transnational corporations, their financial backers and the capitalist states. The automakers are postponing the shutdowns in the US and Canada as much as possible, while keeping some facilities such as parts warehouses open entirely, and planning to restart manufacturing as soon as their trade union stooges regain control and can prevent further walkouts. The Mexican government has worked incessantly to minimize the risk facing workers and their families, while reminding corporations that they are only legally required to pay minimum wages during emergency shutdowns. In other words, the government is condemning workers and their families to either the risk of infection or the starvation wage of 123 pesos$5 USD per day. The global pandemic can only be contained and its consequences mitigated if workers organize their collective strength internationally to defeat the policy of malign neglect of the capitalist governments and major corporations, which combines trillions of dollars to the banks and Wall Street with pennies to slow the spread of the virus or treat the infection. This must be done independently of the pro-capitalist and nationalist trade unions, which have worked hand in glove with the companies to keep workers on the job, on the basis of a fight against capitalism, which blocks a coordinated and rational use of societys resources to fight the pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted with particular urgency the need to expand and consolidate this cross-border collaboration of Mexican and American workers through an international network of rank-and-file committees to guarantee workers social rights and the protection of their lives, above any consideration of private profit. Supporters stood guard while a group of homeless and housing-insecure protesters took over several houses in El Sereno on Wednesday. (Los Angeles Times) For years, dozens of perfectly good houses in El Sereno and nearby areas have sat empty, even as Californias housing shortage has grown more and more dire. The houses are owned by Caltrans, the states transportation agency, which began acquiring them in the 1950s and 1960s to make way for the 710 Freeway extension. But the proposal to close the gap by building the final 4.5-mile stretch to connect the 710 to the 210 Freeway was finally and definitively killed in 2017. That left more than 400 properties, including houses, apartments, commercial buildings and vacant lots surplus. Some are occupied by tenants, but 87 single-family homes are vacant. Last week, a group of families that are homeless or at risk of becoming so decided to start moving into some of those empty houses. As of Friday, the group, which calls itself Reclaiming Our Homes, had taken over 12 houses. The occupations are both a plea for help for struggling families and a protest against the states failure to move faster to solve the housing crisis which is obviously an even greater concern at a time when Gov. Gavin Newsom has ordered people to stay at home to help slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. That order is meaningless for families who dont have a home, who are living in an RV or couch surfing with family and friends. Theres no way to shelter in place if you dont have reliable shelter. Are the reclaimers breaking the law? Of course. Theyre trespassing on state-owned land and essentially claiming public property as their own. Theres no utility service in many of the houses. Neighbors have warned of black mold and pest infestations in some of the houses, which may not even be safe for habitation. Squatting is not a sustainable solution. But activists saw their opportunity to push Caltrans to act, and they took it. It was bad enough that the state allowed houses to sit vacant for years during a growing homelessness and housing affordability crisis. Now, in the middle of a public health emergency, its unconscionable to allow so many empty, decaying homes to sit idle. Story continues Caltrans had long been criticized for being an absentee landlord, with some properties boarded up and covered in graffiti. Neighbors and community groups repeatedly called on the agency to hurry up and sell the properties. But the process has been sluggish at best. The agency has sold 10 properties since 2016; nine were bought by tenants at below-market prices. There are still dozens of vacant homes that could be sold or rented. This is part of a larger struggle underway in California to make sure housing doesn't sit vacant when there is a critical shortage. A group of homeless mothers called Moms 4 Housing drew national attention when they took over a house in Oakland that was owned by a company that buys, renovates and sells properties for profit. They were evicted in January, but after the governor and Oakland leaders got involved, the owner agreed to sell the house to a nonprofit and the mothers were expected to move in permanently. Their protest also inspired several proposals in the state Legislature, including Senate Bill 1079 by Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) that would give cities the power to fine corporations that let their properties sit vacant for more than 90 days, or to seize the properties and use them for affordable housing. There are legitimate debates to be had over how much the government should infringe on private property rights during a housing shortage. But the protesters in El Sereno have targeted a much easier-to-solve problem: The state cannot allow its own vacant houses or other public properties to sit unused and crumbling in a housing and public health emergency. Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi attends a special meeting via video conference on the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) with Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea (ROK) Kang Kyung-wha and Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi in Beijing, China, March 20, 2020. (Xinhua/Zhang Ling) BEIJING, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Upon the initiative of China, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi Friday held a special video conference on COVID-19 with Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha of the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi of Japan. Wang expressed his appreciation to the ROK and Japan for actively responding to China's initiative on holding a special video conference on COVID-19. He noted that this has reflected their firm determination to work together in the face of major challenges to overcome difficulties and their strong will to work hand in hand to fight the epidemic in a commitment to maintain normal exchanges and cooperation. Wang gave a briefing on the progress China has made in advancing epidemic prevention and control while pursuing economic and social development. He said that facing the sudden outbreak of COVID-19, it is a natural choice for the three countries to strengthen cooperation to tide over the difficulties together. China suggests that the three countries jointly take effective measures to consolidate their respective achievements in fighting the epidemic and resume economic cooperation and trade among the three countries in an orderly manner to contribute to promoting the regional and global economy. The three countries should also share their experience in fighting the epidemic with other countries and work with the international community to meet the challenges posed by COVID-19, he said. It is believed that with the concerted efforts of the three countries, they will be able to dispel the dark shadow of the disease at an early date and win a final victory. In the meantime, the friendship and mutual trust among the three countries will also be further deepened and cooperation be enhanced, he added. Kang Kyung-wha and Toshimitsu Motegi thanked the Chinese side for providing support and assistance to their respective countries in fighting COVID-19 and briefed Wang on the efforts and progress that the ROK and Japan have made in responding to the epidemic. They noted that the spread of COVID-19 around the world has endangered the well-being of the peoples of the three countries and beyond, therefore it is necessary for China, the ROK and Japan to get united, share information and assist each other to meet challenges together, prevent the spread of the epidemic and minimize the impact on the essential economic exchanges and trade among the three countries so as to uphold regional development, security and stability. Wang noted that the video conference was quite timely and successful. They had an in-depth exchange of views on jointly responding to COVID-19 and built new and important consensus on the basis of the previous tripartite meeting at the working level. They agreed to strengthen China-Japan-ROK cooperation to curb the spread of COVID-19. They agreed to explore a joint prevention and control mechanism to effectively prevent the cross-border spread of the epidemic. They agreed to seek mutually acceptable solutions to maintain necessary people-to-people exchanges related to economic cooperation and trade and stabilize the industrial chain and supply chain of the three countries. They agreed to hold a meeting of health ministers of the three countries as soon as possible to strengthen information sharing and carry out cooperation in drug and vaccine research and development. They agreed to take the joint fight against COVID-19 as an opportunity to keep enhancing the friendship among the three peoples. They also agreed to actively shoulder their international responsibility to improve global public health and work hand in hand to make due contribution to the global fight against COVID-19. The votes are in, and fans decided on a very chalky first round in our mock NCAA Tournament. The only upsets involved 9 seeds over 8s and 10s over 7s. There was a fair amount of support for other, bigger upsets, but not enough for a majority. Voting for the second round is now open, through midnight Sunday, at PlaytheTournament.com. When you vote, youll also have a chance to donate to coronavirus relief through the Center for Disaster Philanthropys COVID-19 Relief Fund. (We take no commission on donations.) In the first round of votes, No. 1 seed Dayton dominated its matchup in the East Region, grabbing 96 percent of votes against 16 seed Siena. The Flyers will face 9 seed LSU in the second round. Two other Ohio schools were also in the East: Ohio State advanced rather easily; 13 seed Akron was heavily out-voted by Maryland. Out West, the only upset was 10 seed Texas Tech over Arizona. Fans clearly had respect for the defending national runner-up. We'll have a regular-season rematch in Round Two, as 6 seed Michigan will face 3 seed Creighton. The Wolverines dominated East Tennessee State in voting. Kansas, the top seed in the West Region, will face 9 seed Marquette, a surprisingly easy winner over St. Mary's. Auburn smacked Cincinnati in the 5-12 game and will face Louisville next. Penn State, which hadn't made the NCAA Tournament since 2011, advanced against Richmond. In the Midwest, 10 seed Rutgers also made the most of its return to the Big Dance, crushing Colorado. Dukes less-than-expected support, as a 2 seed, suggests the Blue Devils could be vulnerable to an upset against Rutgers in Round Two. Michigan State, meanwhile, easily handled Hofstra. The top seed in the region, Baylor, advanced as well. Some trends emerged from the first-round voting. Fans liked the major conferences. ACC and SEC teams were each 4-0; the Big Ten was 9-1; the Big East and Big 12 were a combined 9-2. The Pac-12, at 1-2, was the outlier. The second round features more matchups between power-conference teams, including two Big Ten rematches: Ohio State vs. Maryland and Michigan State vs. Iowa. Other intriguing matchups include Markus Howard and Marquette against Kansas, a battle of the last two national champions (Virginia vs. Villanova), and Texas Tech against San Diego State. Voting is open through Sunday. Painesville Municipal Court Judge Paul Malchesky March 20 issued an administrative order laying out court modifications and requests in response to the public health crisis created by the novel coronavirus known as COVID-19. The courthouse is remaining open and functioning during the state of emergency, but will be open to the public with modified hours. Anyone who does not have business with the court will not be permitted to enter the court, per the order. Mondays through Wednesdays, the court will be open to the public from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., Thursdays and Fridays hours are 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. The court will remain staffed and available by phone (440-392-5901) 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays. Bonds can be paid over the phone by credit or debit card every weekday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Malchesky is encouraging court fees be paid either online (pmcourt.com), by phone (866-895-0198) or by mail. Eviction hearings where the plaintiff is seeking the premises returned to them are being continued for at least four weeks. Claims for eviction filed on March 20 or earlier will proceed as regularly scheduled, however. Malchesky told the News-Herald March 13 that he was waiting to receive more information from the Ohio Supreme Court before making a determination on how to proceed with eviction cases. Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen OConnor spoke March 19 during Gov. Mike DeWines daily news conference. She encouraged courts to temporarily stop most eviction cases. Malchesky previously said that eviction cases can draw in larger crowds in the courtroom than most other case types. Those who have weddings scheduled at the courthouse in the next two months are discouraged from having them at this time. For those who do decide to go forward, only six people may attend the wedding (in addition to the two people being married). More than six will be allowed if the weather permits the function to be held outside. The court is delaying acceptance of new marriage applications until the second week of May, according to the order. Night court is also being discontinued until the second week of May. The order also states that, except for cases where the defendant is being held in the Lake County Jail, all scheduled court hearings for criminal, traffic and civil cases may not shall be continued to specific dates to be determined as soon as practical. Other exceptions may be made on a case-by-case basis. Preliminary hearings will go forward as scheduled, but may be continued on a case-by-case basis. Continuance fees will be waived if the matter is continued for COVID-19 issues. All people doing business with the court are required to keep the court informed of current phone numbers, addresses and email accounts. The actions taken herein are being done for just cause during these unparalleled times, Malchesky wrote in the order. It seems as though not all press is good press after being identified as the ones that ravaged the entire department of animal proteins at Save on Foods. While there is absolutely zero tolerance for anyone making verbal threats for your personal health & safety, it is incredibly important that you realize what your actions have said more than your apologetic words ever could; We only care about ourselves. Around the country, there are three people that have been identified for excessive hoarding behaviour. The Lysol guy in Vancouver Manny Ranga, the Purell brothers in Tennessee Matt & Noah Colvin, and yourselves, the meat people from Lake Country. The stories have been shared in every new outlet in Canada and only gain traction as this virus environment progresses. At the end of the day, this country is basically at a standstill. We need each others help more than ever, and this type of behaviour, as Im sure you know and the community has illustrated, is unacceptable. So, where to go from here? Your business will likely suffer, and on behalf of human beings everywhere, cutting a guilt cheque to the food bank will not be enough to earn our business back. However, in the middle of difficulty lies opportunity, so I would challenge you to use your assets and financial means to reach out to those that may not be able to help themselves. Our elders are virus vulnerable and locked down, our homeless have nowhere to go, people have no paychecks. Be creative, put yourself out there, and earn back the respect you have traded for a freezer full of meat. Jack Jones In a span of 24 hours, one thousand retired and private practice doctors and nurses responded to City Hall's cry for help. The throng volunteered to join New York city's medical reserve and help treat their fellow local citizens struck with coronavirus. Mayor Bill de Blasio compared their bold decision to his parents' generation entering the war. "This is going to be like a war effort. Most New Yorkers haven't experienced what this city and this country is like in a full-scale war." The volunteers join the 9,000 medical professionals designated at the city's Department of Health acting as part of the Medical Reserve Corps. to answer their call of duty during times of emergency. De Blasio thinks that it is inspiring that many people are coming forward to help. Medical students are also being recruited and Blasio's team had asked the federal government for help from other parts of the country. "My parents both served in the war effort in WWII. I heard these stories from the youngest years of my life." The mayor added, "When the entire community, the entire city, the entire nation are in common cause, it's a different reality and everyone is going to have to work together to overcome this crisis, and we're going to use every tool, every building, every resource to get us through this." Also Read: Chloroquine, Potential Coronavirus Drug, Can Be Lethal to Children Herman Schaffer who is the assistant commissioner for community outreach at the city's Office of Emergency management is hoping to recruit more as they reached out to retired doctors and nurses and will be continuing to promote it. He noted that this is the first time they have built a staffing pool like this. The New York City mayor asked earlier this week for retired health care workers to enlist and he reaped good news. Other elected officials called on former health care workers last week to rejoin the workforce, including Colorado governor Jared Polis and New York governor Andrew Cuomo. The 9,000 members of the reserve corps were sufficient to conduct medical care during Hurricane Sandy. De Blasio called out for assistance to retired or private-practice doctors and nurses on Tuesday to provide treatment for coronavirus patients after NYC's caseload grew by 100 overnight. Polis said that former health care workers include anyone who is currently retired doctor or nurse or working in another field whose medical license is still active or can be reactivated. The frontliners have been struggling to balance providing care alongside the fear of exposing their families to the illness. The number of infected people was consistent in its depressing march upward, hitting 1,871 cases in the five boroughs alone. So far, there have been 11 fatalities. Some health care workers say they do not have the protective equipment they need. De Blasio said on Thursday, "We are two weeks or three weeks away from running out of the supplies that we need most for our hospitals." Aside from a lack of hospital beds especially in New York City, de Blasio said the city is looking to convert large spaces like hotels into health care facilities or logistics staging. Related Article: Coronavirus Positive Elders in Italy Left to Die As Number of Infections Rise @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. HMD Global just got done with its biggest launch earlier this week. Following its tradition, it ousted a flurry of Nokia-branded phones, including the Nokia 5310 that is a modern throwback at the Nokia 5310 XpressMusic from the noughties. HMD Global also introduced its first 5G phone, the Nokia 8.3 5G that comes with support for NSA and SA dual modes. The Finnish company also unveiled its budget and mid-range smartphones that will be available globally soon. But, there was a non-mobile product that is aimed to facilitate the international roaming. Here's a rundown of everything that HMD Global announced at its online event earlier this week. Nokia 8.3 5G Sitting atop the line-up is the Nokia 8.3 5G. HMD Global has leaped into the 5G club with the Nokia 8.3 5G and promised that it is the world's first future-proof phone. That claim is essentially based on the features that Nokia 8.3 5G packs. In addition to supporting the SA and NSA modes of 5G, the smartphone is said to bring in the best-in-class' speeds in the countries where 5G is available in the full-scale mode. The Nokia 8.3 5G is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G modular platform, coupled with up to 8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. It packs a 6.81-inch FHD+ PureDisplay with a punch-hole design. It packs a set of four cameras on the rear - a 64-megapixel main sensor, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle sensor, a 2-megapixel depth sensor, and a 2-megapixel macro sensor. For selfies, the Nokia 8.3 5G comes with a 24-megapixel camera. It is backed by a 4500mAh battery under the hood. The Nokia 8.3 5G starts at EUR 599 and will be made available this summer. Nokia 5.3 The successor of the Nokia 5.1 Plus, the Nokia 5.3 comes with a 6.55-inch HD+ Dual-gate' waterdrop-notch display with a 2.5D glass on top. The display has a resolution of 720x1600 pixels and an aspect ratio of 20:9. The Nokia 5.3 is powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 665 mobile platform, coupled with 3GB, 4GB, and 6GB RAM options. For storage, there are two options -- 64GB and 128GB -- with expandability via a microSD card of up to 512GB. For photography, the Nokia 5.3 has four rear cameras, including a 13-megapixel f/1.8 sensor, a 5-megapixel ultra-wide-angle sensor with FOV of 118 degrees, a 2-megapixel macro sensor, and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. There is an 8-megapixel front-facing camera with an aperture of f/2.0. The camera app comes with features such as Night mode, Portrait mode, and AI Scene Detection. The Nokia 5.3 has a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor. It is backed by a 4000mAh battery under the hood. The Nokia 5.3 costs EUR 189, which translates to roughly Rs 15,400. Nokia 1.3 The last smartphone that HMD Global announced at the event is the Nokia 1.3. The Nokia 1.3 comes with a 5.71-inch HD+ display with a resolution of 720x1520 pixels and an aspect ratio of 19:9. The smartphone is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 215 processor paired with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage, which can be expanded up to 400GB via a microSD card. It runs Android 10 (Go edition) out of the box. The smartphone is promised to get Android 11 (Go edition) as and when it becomes available. The Nokia 1.3 has an 8-megapixel autofocus rear camera and a 5-megapixel fixed-focus selfie camera. The smartphone is backed by a 3000mAh battery with 5W charging. The Nokia 1.3 is priced at EUR 95, which is roughly Rs 7,800. Nokia 5310 HMD Global has resurrected the Nokia 5310 XpressMusic this year. The feature phone, known for its audio playback capabilities, comes in a modern avatar while retaining its iconic features. The phone has dual front-facing speakers and comes with an MP3 player and an FM radio app. Nokia 5310 has physical buttons to control the playback on the phone. These buttons are given in a red-coloured rail and look gorgeous. There is a 3.5mm headphone jack as well on the feature phone. The Nokia 5310 XpressMusic has a 2.4-inch QVGA display and a T9 keyboard that has a navigation button in the centre. The phone is powered by Nokia Series 30+ operating system. Nokia 5310 costs EUR 39, which is roughly Rs 3,200. Will these Nokia phones arrive in India? HMD Global has announced that the Nokia 1.3, Nokia 5.3, and the Nokia 5310 will be globally launched. This means that the three phones will arrive in India sooner than later, sometime in March. Their pricing, if we go by what they will cost in Europe, is expected to be around Rs 7,000, Rs 15,000, and Rs 3,000, respectively. The predecessors of Nokia 5.3 and Nokia 1.3 are available in the sub-Rs 15,000 and sub-Rs 10,000 ranges, respectively. The Nokia 5310 will be the cheapest in the lot but its price is expected to be more than the group pricing of feature phones. Previously, the feature phones from Nokia have been priced a little higher than other feature phones in the market. We believe that Nokia phones will need to be priced strategically if the company wants to fight off the competition. Although HMD Global believes in prioritising the Android experience that its phones are claimed to offer, it will still face a challenge in pitching its smartphones in front of phones such as Realme 6 and Redmi Note 9 Pro. Nokia 5310 may enjoy a different fandom, thanks to the nostalgia factor HMD Global has been playing from the inception. BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 21 Trend: Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) is operating charter flights, as air traffic with a number of countries has been suspended in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus infection in Azerbaijan. Two charter flights were made to Lankaran International Airport to return Azerbaijani citizens, AZAL told Trend. On the night of March 21, AZAL transported 48 Azerbaijani citizens on a charter flight from Moscow to Lankaran and they have been quarantined. In addition, on March 21, AZAL made another charter flight from Istanbul to Lankaran to return 248 Azerbaijani citizens. More than 9,000 passengers have been transported to Azerbaijan by air from all over the world since March 15. In the current emergency situation that most countries in the world have encountered, we once again urge our citizens to show restraint and understanding. As every citizen returning to our country undergoes a medical examination and quarantines, the date of return of citizens to the country is determined in accordance with preparatory work of the Operational Headquarters under the Cabinet of Ministers. For example, the schedule of charter flights delivering our citizens from abroad is compiled in accordance with preparation of special treatment hospitals and quarantine places, testing of people coming from abroad, logistics for people sent to quarantine, and other details. We urge our citizens to follow the information on the flight schedule and plan their visits in accordance with this schedule, the message says. PHILADELPHIA Zach and Julie Ertz announced a donation through the Ertz Family Foundation of $100,000 to Philabundance, a Philadelphia-area food bank, to help those in need during the coronavirus pandemic. Today, @ZERTZ_86 and @julieertz along with the Ertz Family Foundation are proud to announce a donation of $100K to @Philabundance, a Philadelphia-area food bank, to provide meals to those in need during the #COVID19 outbreak. For more information, visit https://t.co/wLbqeQfrzn pic.twitter.com/XPyMZGuDGU Ertz Family Foundation (@ErtzFoundation) March 20, 2020 When we started our foundation two years ago, our goal was to be a light for our Philadelphia community, said Zach Ertz, the Philadelphia Eagles tight end, in a release. During these very challenging times, Julie and I are committed to acknowledging the issues at hand and to be a part of the solution. Philabundance has an unbelievable track record in our city and we believe there is no better partner to help us solve the food insecurity challenges presented by COVID-19. Julie and I are committed to being a part of the solution against COVID-19 in Philadelphia. The lack of access to food is something we want to help address. By partnering with Philabundance, we believe we can attack these issues. Click the link in bio to learn more pic.twitter.com/Y0YIzKXuUa Zach Ertz (@ZERTZ_86) March 20, 2020 According to the Ertz Family Foundation, which was co-founded by Zach and Julie Ertz two years ago, the donation will help provide more than 100,000 meals to families in need during the coronavirus outbreak. Philabundance is working with the city to supply emergency food, and the release also states that more than 50 of the 350 smaller agencies served by Philabundance were forced to close as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. One of our main goals during this process was to become better educated about the immediate impacts of COVID-19 on our community, said Julie Ertz, the U.S. Womens National Team defender, in a release. The increasing lack of access to food during the crisis is something we want to help to address. By partnering with Philabundance we believe we can attack these issues head on and partner with one of the great non-profit organizations in our city to make a difference. Read more of PennLives coverage of the coronavirus pandemic here. More coverage: Daniel Gallen covers the Philadelphia Eagles for PennLive. He can be reached at dgallen@pennlive.com. You can follow him on Twitter and Facebook. Follow PennLives Philadelphia Eagles coverage on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Thanks for visiting PennLive. Quality local journalism has never been more important. We need your support. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work. Three new COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in Karnataka, taking the total number of infections to 18, the state government said on Saturday. Earlier in the day, Health Minister B Sriramulu giving details about one positive case said, a 32-year old person from Gauribidanur in Chikkaballapura district, who has returned from Mecca has been confirmed for coronavirus infection. The person has been admitted in a designated isolated hospital for treatment, he said in a tweet. Details regarding the other two patients are still awaited. The mid-day situation update by the government also said a circular has been issued to Health and Family Welfare Department officials and staff at all levels to work even on Sundays and general holidays without fail till March 31 in view of COVID-19. A total of 48 government hospitals and 35 private hospitals have been identified as first respondent hospitals for the case management of COVID-19 cases, it said. Mental health counselling is being done for positive COVID-19 cases and suspects in the identified hospitals and quarantined persons at home and hospital. A total of 4,390 counselling sessions have been held till date, it added. Sriramulu in a tweet, also said the government as a precautionary measure is planning to install thermal test CC cameras at government offices and certain important places. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Neil Holland was serving as the Foreign Offices Director of Protocol and Vice-Marshal of the Diplomatic Corps when he sent the incendiary text message to a US counterpart last September One of Britains top diplomats has been removed from his post after it emerged he told the United States they should feel able to put fugitive spy Anne Sacoolas on the next flight out of Britain following the death of teenage motorcyclist Harry Dunn. Neil Holland was serving as the Foreign Offices Director of Protocol and Vice-Marshal of the Diplomatic Corps when he sent the incendiary text message to a US counterpart last September. It came just two weeks after the 19-year-old was killed in a crash with Ms Sacoolass 4x4 outside RAF Croughton, a US spy base in Northamptonshire. Ms Sacoolas admitted to police she caused the accident by driving on the wrong side of the road. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told the Commons this week that the Foreign Office had not acquiesced to former CIA agent Sacoolas leaving the UK after The Mail on Sunday last week revealed the existence of the smoking gun text message, which suggested she was free to flee. But the news that its sender has been relieved of duties raises fresh questions for Mr Raab over his handling of the case. The Foreign Office was forced to disclose secret communications between British and American officials in the days before Sacoolas fled on September 15 last year after the Dunn family launched a legal review into whether Ms Sacoolas had diplomatic immunity. One of Britains top diplomats has been removed from his post after it emerged he told the United States they should feel able to put fugitive spy Anne Sacoolas on the next flight out of Britain following the death of teenage motorcyclist Harry Dunn, pictured above They said the evidence handed to the High Court by the Foreign Office skewered Mr Raabs claims that Britain had done all it could to stop Sacoolas leaving. However, it is understood that even though Mr Holland has left his job liaising with the hundreds of Ambassadors and High Commissioners as a direct result of the scandal, he is still employed by the Foreign Office. On what would have been her late sons 20th birthday, Harrys mother today calls from Mr Holland to resign completely from the public service. Charlotte Charles, said: Harry is needlessly no longer with us and my family and I are going through hell. I would appreciate Neil Holland resigning from whatever position he holds now hes compounded my grief in an indescribable way. Last night, the Foreign Office said: We will not comment on ongoing legal proceedings, and we are responding to legal action in the judicial review in the normal way. We are confident we have acted properly and lawfully throughout. We have the deepest sympathy for Harrys family, and will continue to do everything we can to see justice done. Senior Samajwadi Party leader and former MP Ramakant Yadav has been booked for giving misleading statements pertaining to COVID-19, police said on Saturday. "The government is spreading rumours on coronavirus to divert attention from NRC, CAA, unemployment and price rise, so that people do not protest against the government," Yadav said at the party office here on Friday. He also claimed that coronavirus can infect people in other parts of the world, not India. "If there is any coronavirus patient, bring him to me. I will hug him, and get his medical treatment done," Yadav had said. DIG range Azamgarh, Subhash Chandra Dubey on Saturday said, "On one hand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is very serious vis-a-vis the outbreak of COVID-19, and utmost precautions are being taken, the statement made by Ramakant Yadav is misleading." He added that case has been registered against Yadav at Sidhari police station under IPC sections 505 (statements conducing to public mischief), 511 (punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other imprisonment), 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) and 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant). (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An ibis bird perches next to the Reserve Bank of Australia headquarters in central Sydney, Australia Feb. 6, 2018. (Daniel Munoz/Reuters) Australia Central Bank Buys $2.9 Billion of Bonds in First Round of Unlimited QE SYDNEYAustralias central bank bought A$5 billion ($2.87 billion) in local government bonds on Friday, in the first round of its unlimited quantitative easing program as it looks to cushion the economic shock from the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus. The Reserve Bank of Australias (RBA) operation is aimed at reducing the funding costs for banks so that cheap credit is freely available across the economy that is on the verge of its first recession in nearly three decades. The move brings the RBA into an uncharted monetary policy setting of controlling the yield curve that only Japan has so far attempted but with little success in stimulating its economy. During the 2008/09 global financial crisis, a combination of fiscal and monetary policy helped Australia dodge the recession that had enveloped most of the developed world, allowing the RBA to spurn unorthodox monetary policies. Analysts still expect Australias A$2 trillion economy to shrink this year, despite RBAs latest measures, with ANZ Banking Group estimating unemployment will surge to 7.8 percent from 5.1 percent now. Unfortunately we dont think these measures will be enough to prevent a contraction in the economy in Q2 But they will limit the economic damage to some extent and provide a better starting point for when the pandemic passes, ANZ economists wrote in a note. RBAs efforts prompted Australias major banks to announce a sweeping relief package for small businesses, offering hefty cuts of more than 100 basis points to lending rates as well as deferring repayments for those hit by the CCP virus. The Epoch Times refers to the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19, as the CCP virus because the Chinese Communist Partys coverup and mismanagement allowed the virus to spread throughout China and create a global pandemic. Australia now has nearly 800 cases of COVID-19, prompting the government to shut its borders and ban large public gatherings. The RBA is fully aware of the liquidity issues and so with the Yield Curve Control they plan to buy an unlimited number of bonds, said Jonathan Sheridan, chief investment strategist at FIIG. And the government has got to fund this with a fiscal response. Theyll have to do a lot more and theyll have to issue more bonds so that the RBA can buy the short-dated ones to keep the yield at 0.25 percent. The government is expected to unveil a second fiscal stimulus package within days. The RBA cut its cash rate to an all-time low of 0.25 percent on Thursday following an out-of-schedule meeting and said it would do whatever is necessary to keep yields on three-year government bonds low. The RBAs stimulus comes as global central banks took unprecedented steps this week to backstop financial markets with trillions of dollars of liquidity, joining governments in trying to mitigate the impact of the CCP virus. Yet, the coordinated policy steps have largely failed to stem a rout in financial markets, with many fearing a deep worldwide recession and more hemorrhaging of investments. Earlier, the RBA had proposed to buy up to A$5 billion in bonds maturing in July 2022, April 2023, November 2027 and May 2028. In response, Australias 10-year government bond yields slipped to 1.173 percent from near 1.3 percent after its announcement on Friday morning and as high as 1.647 percent on Thursday. Yields on three-year bonds eased further to 0.3 percent, not far from the RBAs newly set target of 0.25 percent. Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealands central bank offered three-to-six month loans to banks while providing additional liquidity in the FX swap market to ensure lenders have easy access to cheap credit. The RBA and its New Zealand counterpart have also re-instated swap lines with the U.S. Federal Reserve to help reduce dollar funding stress in money markets. The door remains open for more, including other measures if needed, said Su-Lin Ong, a Sydney-based managing director at RBC. By Swati Pandey Epoch Times staff contributed to this report During the past week it has become indisputably clear that the coronavirus pandemic is an event of immense historical significance. As the pandemic spreads across the globe, the global health emergency is rapidly evolving into a crisis of the entire existing world social order. As the death toll rises, major cities are in lockdown, and hundreds of millions of people are faced with the loss of their jobs and incomes, the social, economic, political, and, one must add, moral bankruptcy of the capitalist system is being utterly exposed. The social bankruptcy of capitalism: The criminal failure of the major capitalist governments to prepare for a pandemic is resulting in thousands, and potentially millions, of deaths. The number of cases is approaching 300,000 and rising rapidly. The number of deaths has surged past 11,000 and is increasing exponentially. A pandemic of this character was both foreseeable and foreseen. However, the most basic requirements to secure the health and safety of the population were ignored. Italy is in a state of social meltdown. The photographs of helpless patients lying miserably and awaiting death in Italian hospitals and other images of desperation and desolation have been seared into mass consciousness and will never be forgotten. The number of patients in a critical condition far surpasses the equipment available. Doctors are being forced to decide who will live and who will die. In Spain, hospitals in Madrid, a city with a population of more than six million, are on the verge of collapse. In France, all available space in Parisian hospitals has been converted to treat coronavirus patients, but there is still a critical shortage of ventilators and basic equipment. A person is taken on a stretcher into the United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, Texas after going through testing for COVID-19 on Thursday (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) In the United States, nurses and doctors have issued desperate pleas for more of the most basic medical equipment. The CDC issued guidelines this past week advising medical workers to use scarves and bandanas when necessary, due to the shortage of face masks. There are only 160,000 life-saving ventilators in the entire country, and close to a million may be required to treat the ill. It is two months since the first case of the virus was reported, and yet most people, even if they have severe symptoms, cannot even be tested. Seventy-five million Americans live in states that have imposed shutdowns of most businesses and social activities. Hundreds of millions of people are terrified about their jobs, their families, their children, wondering if they will even be able to purchase basic necessities, let alone get adequate medical care. Patients with other life-threatening illnesses are worried that they will not be able to get needed treatment and surgeries as the hospitals are overwhelmed. The psychological impact is incalculable. The economic failure of the capitalist system: For the second time in little over a decade, the world economy is in a state of breakdown, this time on a far greater scale than 2008. Investment bank Goldman Sachs announced on Friday that it expects the US economy to contract by an unprecedented 24 percent in the second quarter of the year (April-June), as production and service industries grind to a halt. This would be the largest quarterly contraction in US history, far surpassing even what took place during the Great Depression. The International Labor Organization reports that up to 25 million workers worldwide could lose their jobs over the next several months, but this is a vast underestimation. In the United States alone, 14 million jobs in the leisure and hospitality sector will be affected by mandatory shutdowns. Moodys Analytics reports that nearly 80 million jobs, or half of the US economy, are at risk. While the pandemic has triggered the crisis, the causes of the economic breakdown lie far deeper. The process of financializationthe systemic and unrestrained separation of the accumulation of staggering levels of wealth from real productive activitycreated a massively unstable global economy, based on the unlimited transfusion of liquidity by the central banks (i.e., quantitative easing) to drive up the equity markets to ever more unrealistic and unsustainable levels. The political failure of capitalism: The capitalist governments, first and foremost that of the United States, are exposed for their willful indifference and hostility to the lives of millions. The week came to a conclusion with the news that top congress membersincluding Republican senators Richard Burr and Kelly Loeffler and Democratic Senator Dianne Feinsteinsold millions of dollars in stock in January and February, even as they did nothing to prepare the population for what was to come. At the top of the state stands the sociopath Trumpwho epitomizes the corruption and ruthlessness of the American oligarchyand the parade of reactionaries in his administration. Trump again used his press conference on Friday to spew chauvinistic filth about the China virus, to make claims about an imminent vaccine that exists only in his imagination, to deny the scale of the crisis, and to promote the agenda of the financial and corporate oligarchy. Every day, new measures are announced that are focused on injecting unlimited cash and financial resources into the markets and corporations, while nothing is done to meet urgent social needs. The $1 trillion proposal being discussed in the US Congress will be a massive boondoggle for the corporate elite, with tens of billions going to the airlines and other industries, along with tax cuts, deregulation and more handouts to Wall Street. Cash payments to workers, if they are included in a final version, will be completely inadequate to deal with the massive social need. In a particular act of cruelty, Congress is proposing to means test applicants, with those who do not pay taxes because they are too poor receiving significantly less. The catastrophe that is engulfing the country is the product of the social arson that has been unleashed by the ruling elites, under both Democrats and Republicans, for four decades, tearing apart social programs and infrastructure to funnel money to the rich. The moral failure of capitalism: The capitalist system is being discredited in a society that subordinates everything to the obscene greed and corruption of the oligarchy. As the coronavirus spreads in New York and the state implements a lockdown, the super-rich from Manhattan are taking their private jets to the Hamptons, emptying stores of necessities, and in some cases infecting local communities with the virus. An indescribable level of selfishness, egotism and indifference to human life pervades the ruling class, which treats the lives of workers as dispensable. The United States is a society in which the richest 400 individuals have a collective wealth of $2.96 trillion, and where the richest three Americans have more wealth than the bottom 50 percent of the population. The resistance of the working class: Social opposition is growing. Wildcat strikes and walkouts in Michigan and Ohio forced a temporary shutdown of the North American auto industry, as workers refused to let the auto companies kill them on the line for the sake of profit. There is seething anger over the fact that many workers are forced to continue to work under unsafe conditions, while others are being thrown out of work with nothing to get by. The task in the days, weeks and months ahead is to build a conscious socialist leadership in the working class throughout the world. Every event of the past week has demonstrated the necessity of putting an end to capitalism and fighting for socialism. The pandemic exposes in concrete form the inability of a society based on private profit, on the endless accumulation of wealth, and on the antagonisms of nation-states to address any of the problems of mass society. As the Socialist Equality Party National Committee insisted in its statement of March 17, The essential principle that must guide the response to the crisis is that the needs of working people must take absolute and unconditional priority over all considerations of corporate profit and private wealth. The working class must demand universal testing and free and equal access to health care; the closure of all nonessential production, with full income to those affected; safe working conditions in industries essential to the functioning of society; and an emergency program to build health care infrastructure and ensure that all medical workers have access the necessary equipment. These demands, however, are not separate from, but rather connected to, the fight for the transformation of social and economic life. Without a socialist revolution, Trotsky wrote in 1938, in the next historical period at that, a catastrophe threatens the whole culture of mankind. These words were written on the eve of World War II, a catastrophe that cost the lives of tens of millions. But they acquire renewed and burning actuality in the present crisis. What confronts the working class and humanity as a whole is not only the fight against the pandemic, but, rather, against the capitalist system. The Socialist Equality Party appeals to workers, youth and all those who recognize the need to end capitalism and renew human civilization on a socialist basis to join the SEP and take up the fight for socialism. Kennedy Agyapong 21.03.2020 LISTEN From my WhatsApp page message received from one of my numerous contacts, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong (Honourable), Member of Parliament for Assin Central constituency in the Central region, is being mocked and nicknamed Kennedy Amma Agyaponmaa/Agyapong. This is because of his alleged acceptance of an apology from false Prophet Emmanuel Badu Kobi to cease fire, thus, not to continue to drag him to court and to prison following his evasion of duty payments on his imported cars into the country under former President John Dramani Mahama's NDC government. Kennedy had himself promised the nation on air that should he fail to pursue Prophet Emmanuel Badu Kobi until his arrest, prosecution and conviction to a jail term, he should henceforth be called Kennedy Amma Agyapomaa or Kennedy Amma Agyapong. Now that Badu Kobi has apologised and Kennedy has accepted it, will he drop all his criminal findings against him to not see him go to jail? If he does, then "It is nobody that killed Antwi, but Boasiako himself offered life to be sacrificed". Thus, Kennedy himself has brought the teasing name upon his head by his own vow and utterance as explained above. However, I call on Ghanaians not to be jubilant over the new name Kennedy risks having by his own utterances as by far he has helped to expose Badu Kobi for being a criminal. The rest is up to the Ghana law enforcement agents like the police, customs and Drivers & Vehicle Licensing Agent (DVLA) to continue from where Kennedy is about to end to ensure that the law deals with false Prophet Emmanuel Badu Kobi. It should not be an obligation for Kennedy to ensure that Badu Kobi is prosecuted. He has done his part. It is up to you and me to continue from there to teach Badu Kobi that "khaki no be leather", as a Nigerian determined to punish somebody will fervently warn. A Nigerian will say, "I will show you sey khaki no be leather" Kennedy Agyapong will always remain so, but not Amma, please. He has done, and continues to do, such a marvellous job for mother Ghana and you and me. How I wish most of the Members of Parliament would serve the country in same selfless capacity. Rockson Adofo Friday, 20 March 2020 Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at the El Paso, Texas port of entry removed a truckload of tampered cleaning products that were destined for the U.S. market. "In the current environment it is reprehensible that someone would attempt a scheme like this to prey upon the concerns and fears of our community, likely for financial gain," said Hector Mancha, CBP's director of field operations at El Paso, in a statement. The box truck arrived at the port of entry from Mexico on March 16. During an inspection by CBP officers, the truck driver showed a manifest stating that the shipment contained cleaning supplies and toilet paper, including 168 boxes of Clorox bleach (127 oz.), 75 boxes of Pinol cleaner (33.81 oz.), 28 boxes of Fabuloso cleaner (169 oz.), 23 boxes of Pinol cleaner (27.99 oz.), 9 boxes of Clorox cleaner (31.44 oz.), and 20 boxes of Adorable brand toilet paper. CBP officers, along with assistance from National Guard soldiers, found that many of the bleach bottles lacked safety seals, an indication of tampering. The bleach scent was also noticeably absent to the officers. "Initial field-testing showed that the products contained water," CBP said. A Clorox Co. (NYSE: CLX) representative also advised CBP that the Spanish labeled product was not permitted for sale in the U.S., the agency said. See more from Benzinga 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. Flags of G7 member nations are displayed at an entrance of the Peace Memorial Park for victims of the 1945 atomic bombing in Hiroshima on April 9, 2016. The latest plot twist is a stunner in our ongoing global drama, "Major Power Struggle in the Era of Coronavirus." President Xi Jinping, who just days ago seemed to have been put on the ropes by this killer pathogen, appears to have turned the tables on the disease, his critics, and his ideological adversaries. Some initially thought the virus might even cost him his job. Instead, his authoritarian colossus, the People's Republic of China, is rapidly leveraging its position of being the first country to emerge from the worst of the COVID-19. To be sure, China is still suffering its biggest economic hit since the Cultural Revolution of 1966-1976, with still incalculable damage to growth, industrial production and its role in global supply chains. Yet with head-spinning speed, President Xi is revving up his stalled economy with fiscal stimulus and is tightening the screws of his authoritarian surveillance state with new technologies. He is ramping up a domestic and international publicity campaign, trumpeting his triumph over the virus and donning the garb of the global champion working to protect others. At the same time, Chinese authorities are taking aim at the United States by tossing its top journalists out of Beijing, by wooing American allies from Tokyo and Rome in common cause, and by contrasting its perhaps draconian approach to COVID-19 to that of President Trump. "China can pull together the imagination and courage needed to handle the virus, while the US struggles," trumpeted the People's Daily, the Communist party mouthpiece. Xinhua news agency claimed that Xi's handling of the crisis has demonstrated his "pure heart, like a newborn's." Pure heart or not, Xi is demonstrating an iron will. This week he stepped up threatening flights near Taiwan, a warning that he won't abide any move toward independence. In the latest incident on Monday, Taiwan's Defense Ministry said it scrambled air reconnaissance and patrol aircraft to drive away Chinese J-11 fighters and KJ-500 early warning aircraft on nighttime missions. The not-so-hidden message to Washington: We know from our experience how long this virus will drain you and distract you from your external obligations. You also have your messy elections to manage. What better time than now to demonstrate to the world the advantages of China's system and embrace? Meanwhile, COVID-19's epicenter has moved to Europe where this week Italy surpassed China in the number of fatalities. It has spread in the United States to all 50 states, prompting an economic shutdown that could make the 2008-2009 financial crisis seem mild by comparison. It's hard to engage in long-term strategic thinking about the neighborhood when your house is burning. However, the Trump administration needs to do precisely that. U.S. policy makers need to wake up to the geopolitical perils of the coronavirus crisis. American global leadership has enjoyed a wide measure of acceptance not only because of military power or economic might. It also was perceived by its partners as defending larger, common interests and for convening global coalitions when required. It was precisely that brand of leadership that characterized the U.S. response to the financial crisis of 2008-2009. Even so, that crisis shattered much of the world's confidence in the United States' financial leadership. Mismanaging the coronavirus could accelerate further the end of the American era. "Beijing understands that if it is seen as leading, and Washington is seen as unable or unwilling to do so," write Kurt M. Campbell and Rush Doshi in Foreign Affairs, "this perception could fundamentally alter the United States' position in global politics and the contest for leadership in the twenty-first century." The authors in this must-read analysis remind us that global orders change gradually at first and then all at once. "In 1956," they remind us, "a botched intervention in the Suez laid bare the decay in British power and marked the end of the United Kingdom's reign as a global power." So how do United States policy makers avoid their own "Suez moment?" My column last week offered a starting point. It suggested that President Trump, instead of introducing a European travel ban unilaterally March 11, should have triggered NATO's Article 5 for the second time in history. That is the provision, crafted to deter the Soviet Union, that an attack on one member should be treated as an attack on all. Overly literal readers of that column argued such a response was either ill-advised because it would militarize U.S. response or impossible, as Article 5 was designed for response to an "armed attack." What both arguments missed was the symbolic significance of such a declaration, as was the case when Article 5 was triggered by U.S. allies after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. That's particularly true given current transatlantic divisions. Even if NATO could muster such political will, it would still be insufficient. As the current chairman of the G-7, the United States could convene a "Coalition Countering COVID-19" that would rally the seven leading industrial democracies, the European Union, NATO and, perhaps most importantly, the G-20. It would thus also involve China as a central and collaborative actor against a common foe. Yet no other country, including China, has the wherewithal to summon that sort of global response. Failing to do so would further erode U.S. legitimacy as a global leader, a position already damaged through trade wars with its allies and the failure to join galvanizing projects from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Paris Climate Accords. The need is all the greater given Europe's fragmented response even as the virus rages, with the significant exception of European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde's rallying this week of eurozone central bankers. "European solidarity does not exist," Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on his national television as he announced his country's state of emergency. "That was a fairy tale on paper. I believe in my brother and friend Xi Jinping, and I believe in Chinese help." We're only in the opening scenes of this epic COVID-19 drama, which will continue without intermission. The Chinese rebound could prove to be a welcome twist in the plot. Imagine the far-happier ending, however, if the United States and its allies manage to join forces globally even as they isolate socially. Frederick Kempe is a best-selling author, prize-winning journalist and president & CEO of the Atlantic Council, one of the United States' most influential think tanks on global affairs. He worked at The Wall Street Journal for more than 25 years as a foreign correspondent, assistant managing editor and as the longest-serving editor of the paper's European edition. His latest book "Berlin 1961: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and the Most Dangerous Place on Earth" was a New York Times best-seller and has been published in more than a dozen languages. Follow him on Twitter @FredKempe and subscribe here to Inflection Points, his look each Saturday at the past week's top stories and trends. For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter. Australia's number of confirmed coronavirus cases has surged past 1000, as the government says it has not ruled out locking down parts of Sydney and Melbourne to force people to adopt social distancing measure to slow the virus. NSW recorded 83 new cases of COVID-19, it was announced on Saturday, while a further 51 cases have been confirmed in Victoria, 37 in Queensland, 17 in South Australia and 26 in Western Australia. Australia's coronavirus cases surges past 1000 on Saturday. Credit:Louise Kennerley Just 11 days ago, the total number of cases Australia-wide passed 100. Sudhir Suryawanshi By Express News Service MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government has finally decided to go for complete lockdown by suspending the local train services in Mumbai for general public from March 22 to further order. The Konkan Divisional commissioner issued the order on Saturday informing the suspension of the local train services from March 22. While the local train services have never been halted, this will be first time that it will be restricted for the general people. "Those, who are working for the essential services including government workers will be allowed to travel in Mumbai local trains. At every station the ID card of people will be checked," stated a notification. ALSO READ| Don't abandon pets because of coronavirus fear: Maharashtra minister According to the notification, at every station there will be team of officers from police, GRP, revenue officer and health officer. "These teams will be deployed at the entrance and the exit of the stations. If there are loopholes to enter the stations, these locations will be also covered by deploying extra team of police and security guards. No one will be allowed to enter without verification and checking the ID card," stated in the notification. The health officer will be given thermal gun to check the temperature of the train's passengers. The revenue officer will check the ID card of the government staffers and make the note of it in his note book. The police will do do the verification and authenticity of the passengers. All the orders will be followed very is strictly. ALSO READ| Coronavirus in Maharashtra: State to have special control room, lockdown in Akola for two days In Mumbai, more than 75 lakh people commute everyday by using these Mumbai lifeline local trains which stop at more than 125 stations which will be safeguarded by police and other security officers. Parliamentary candidate for the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Effutu, Dr. James Kofi Annan has been granted a self cognizance bail by the Winneba District Court in the Central Region. A Ghanaian, Benjamin Ackah on March 18, 2020, lodged a complaint at the Winneba Police Command that, without his permission, an amount of GHS100, 000 had been transferred from his account into an account belonging to the NDC Parliamentary candidate. Kofi Annan was arraigned before the Winneba District Court to answer to charges of stealing, abetment of crime and dishonestly receiving. Subsequently, the Winneba Police Command headed by Chief Superintendent Samuel Aseidu Okanta indicated that the preliminary investigation they conducted turned out that the money was transferred to a bank account belonging to James Kofi Annan the NDC Parliamentary candidate. After several investigations, we found out that the bank account belonged to the NDC Parliamentary candidate James Kofi Annan, the Police Commander said. At the Winneba District Court, lawyer for the accused person, Edudzi Tamakloe prayed the court to grant his client bail. The court subsequently approved the request and granted James Kofi Annan a self cognizance bail. What I wanted was bail for my client and I got exactly that so we will prepare our defense and face them in court on April 21, 2020, Edudzi Tamakloe said. The case so far Benjamin Ackah had lodged a complaint that monies belonging to him had been stolen from his bank account. We were here when an individual by the name Benjamin Ackah lodged a complaint of stealing and we did our preliminary investigation and it turned out that the money was indeed transferred to a bank account at Winneba. I don't want to mention the name of the bank but it had the name of James Kofi Annan as the owner, Superintendent Samuel Aseidu Okanta, the Winneba District Police Commander said. According to the Police commander, they made several efforts to invite the NDC candidate to the Police station to answer questions related to the charges made by the individual adding that it took several days for him to show up. We were expecting that he will come and assist in investigation only to hear that he has had a press conference. So after the press conference, we waited for a while thinking that he will come to assist in investigation but he never showed up. So we moved to his radio station and then we had a copy of the press statement where he said so many things that are not known to the police so we reached him and asked him to come and assist in the investigation, Superintendent Samuel Aseidu Okanta said. ---citinewsroom comes from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who issued an order yesterday shutting down all non-essential businesses in the state. Of course, pretty much all businesses are essential to those who own them and work for them. But that isnt what Cuomo meant: I want to be able to say to the people of New York I did everything we could do, Cuomo said. And if everything we do saves just one life, Ill be happy. This is profoundly stupid. When you are dealing with the lives of millions of people, everything you door dont dohas consequences. When you drive thousands of businesses into bankruptcy, people die. When you unemploy millions of people, some of them die. When tens of millions live in more straitened circumstances, some of them die. There is robust social science research on this point. Shutting down New Yorks nonessential businesses will kill. How many, we will never know. So Cuomo wont have to take responsibility for his ill-advised action. And, of course, millions of lives will be blighted even when no one dies. The London Times quotes a mental health professional: The impact of social isolation on mental health could be worse than the toll of coronavirus itself, a charity has warned. Tony Giuliano, policy manager for the Mental Health Foundation Scotland, said businesses going under and loneliness could result in increases in depression, addictions and suicide. Mr Giuliano, who has been in self-isolation himself after returning from visiting family in Italy, said: The mental health implications are huge and unfortunately they are being a bit side-stepped. *** He expressed concern that job insecurity had been clearly linked with suicide. An international study, which looked at people who took their own lives in 63 countries over 11 years, found about a fifth were linked to unemployment. And suicide is just one of many ways in which economic decline causes loss of human life. A reader asks some good questions: Is Saturday Night Live an essential business? Is the New York Times? MSNBC? New York magazine? Not to mention the broadcast television networks. If the coronavirus caused the shutdown, even temporarily, of the New York Times and MSNBC, it would not be entirely in vain. But I dont suppose that is going to happen. Essential means different things to different people. A great-grandmother who contracted the coronavirus while a resident at The Life Care Center in Kirkland, Washington, where 35 people have died is now in recovery and may soon be released from isolation. Geneva Wood, 90, was among the two-thirds of the care home's residents who fell ill with the coronavirus and had said her goodbyes to her family before making a miraculous recovery last week. She believes it was the homemade soup that she asked medical staff for every day which aided her speedy recovery. After testing positive on March 6, she was taken off oxygen by March 17 and has now tested negative for the virus. She will need to continue to test negative before she is released from her isolation. Geneva Wood, 90, tested negative for the coronavirus this week after being brought to hospital from the Life Care Center in Washington at the center of the state's outbreak. She's pictured here in hospital in December before she became a resident of the care home Geneva Woods, pictured left, with her daughter Cami, right, and other members of her family The Life Care Center became the center of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States in February with 81 residents and 47 of its workers testing positive. They suffered their first deaths on February 26. As of Saturday morning, there are over 19,600 cases of the coronavirus in the U.S. and there have been more than 260 deaths. Wood first entered the Washington care facility in January after suffering a stroke that left her unable to talk, walk or use the right side of her body meaning that she couldn't feed or dress herself. She worked hard with medical staff and by February she had learned how to walk, talk and feed herself again. Her improvement was so great that her doctor planned to release Wood, originally from Texas, from the care home on March 2. 'When she had that major stroke, we thought we were going to lose her. She's come close to death and she rallies back, and that's my mom,' her daughter Cami Neidigh, 60, told WTHR. Yet the Saturday before her release, the coronavirus outbreak at Life Care Center had become so severe that it was placed into lockdown and Wood was to remain in until it was lifted having contracted pneumonia on February 18, according to the New York Times. The Life Care Center in Washington has suffered 35 deaths as a result of the virus Servpro cleanup crew wearing hazardous material suits prepare equipment inside the Life Care Center of Kirkland where almost two-thirds of residents contracted the coronavirus On March 5, the great-grandmother slipped and was brought to Harborview hospital where the family learned she had a fever and would be tested for the coronavirus. Her results came back positive the next day but her condition initially appeared to be stable. 'I'm going to fight this for my family and make everyone proud,' she told daughter Cami through a glass pane while in isolation at the hospital, Wood's granddaughter Kate Neidigh, 37, wrote in an article for Seattle Refined. 'We were stricken, and in shock. A virus that had only been a scary, ambiguous monster for us up until now was right here, in our family member,' Kate said. 'News and reports from local and national officials had us believing this was a death sentence. After all she'd fought through, this virus would be the thing to take her? 'Honestly, we were mad.' With five kids, 11 grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren, Kate added that Wood's family had always been a driving force for her recovery and they continued to be as close to her side as they could be during her isolation. Geneva Wood pictured here on January 20 making progress in the care home after her stroke Geneva Wood was set to be released from the care home but the contracted the coronavirus Her grandson James, Kate's husband, held up a sign that read 'I Love You' to the glass window of her door so she could see and the family gave her photos and a tablet to keep her entertained. 'It was just all these things to give her comfort,' her grandson James, 35, told Today. But her health began to worsen and the family could only speak to her for 15 mins at time before a coughing fit would take over and her oxygen levels would plummet. Woods condition quickly deteriorated to the point where her family were forced to say their goodbyes and she was brought into a private room with another positive patient where the family could not visit or even see her through a glass pane. Before she was transferred, Wood's four living adult children were allowed to visit her one last time wearing full protective gear while James kept his sign to the door. 'Everybody was surprised because she was in such bad shape. Nobody thought she was going to survive,' Cami said. 'She wanted us to be proud of her. She didn't want us to think she was going to give up. 'She has always been a survivor and very determined,' added Cami. 'When she fell and broke her hip, I knew she would be disappointed and be a bit down for a little while, [but] I knew that she would pull herself up again and get busy to get better. [But when] they took her to Harborview and put her in isolation is when I started to worry. 'She needs her family. She doesn't do well by herself. I was afraid this would be her straw and she would give up. She did. She declined until the doctor called with concerns that they felt she wasn't going to make it and for us to come to the hospital.' Geneva Wood, 90, said she wanted to make her family proud in fighting off the coronavirus The great-grandmother had to be separated from her family as her condition worsened Wood, pictured here with her daughter Cami, said 'I ain't dead yet!' even when her condition worsened and she was placed in a room where her family could no longer visit her Yet Woods kept fighting and was heard to say 'I ain't dead yet! I'm gonna die of thirst before I die of this Coronavirus!' by staff after being separated from her family. Wood is now testing negative for the virus after taking a nasal swab but is still coughing and her condition is being monitored. If she is asymptomatic for three days, doctors will take a throat swab. If that comes back as negative she may be released. 'She is absolutely tough as nails,' James said. 'She is definitely the type of person who could make it through anything.' And she puts her recovery down to the homemade potato soup she requested daily throughout her isolation and was the only thing she would eat, her daughter revealed. 'It's the Potato Soup!!! She knew that's what she needed to help her get better! It's working and the doctor and nurses are wanting the recipe!' Cami wrote in a Facebook update. 'I think I just exhaled.... Never underestimate the power of thoughts and prayers! Keep it up, it's working!' 'If anyone is going to kick this virus' ass it is her. She's always been so charismatic and a fighter,' her granddaughter-in-law Kate told Today. 'There is hope. There is a positive story here.' 'Getting this virus is not necessarily a death sentence for the elderly or anybody,' Kate added in her article but the family encouraged that people still engage in social distancing to keep those at risk safe. 'People need to protect their neighbors, their friends or family,' Cami said. 'We need to help each other and we need to stay positive. Forget the fear. But instead look at (staying at home) as an opportunity to just be able to help each other out.' 'Who are we to question the fighting spirit of a tough ol' Texas coot!' she added. 'If anyone's going to give the middle finger to a killer virus, it's her.' Barker It is the last coal-fired power plant in New York state. White steam trails from its smokestack like a banner flying in the wind, visible for miles across flat farm fields near Lake Ontario. But not for long. Sometime this month, the 44 remaining workers at the Somerset Operating Company will power it down for the last time. They have long planned to gather ceremonially in a cavernous hall, beside the plant's roaring turbine, as it goes quiet, but now coronavirus restrictions may deny them that moment of closure. "This plant is my life," Darlene Lutz, 60, said, then burst into tears. She started out shoveling coal, then rose to become the plant's first and only female operating-room engineer. Across the country, coal plants are going offline, priced out by natural gas and squeezed by regulations and incentives aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and moving to clean, renewable energy sources. This one comes as the state battles the economic headwinds of the nation's largest coronavirus outbreak. Here in the northwest corner of New York, about an hour's drive from Buffalo, the story is of the plant's unusually close-knit workplace gradually dissolving over the past decade; of a school district banking for survival on the plant owner's experimental new business model; and of nearby residents debating whether solar-panel farms and wind turbines should be the landmarks of the future. The plant's closure is also an early test of the state's new climate law, and whether it can get buy-in from some of the most affected New Yorkers. The law, passed last year, is supposed to transform the state's energy grid to carbon-free by 2040, something officials say cannot be done without eliminating coal power. The state has separately committed to eliminating it this year. "As the federal government continues to support the dying fossil fuel industry, deny climate change and roll back environmental protections," said Basil Seggos, commissioner of state's Department of Environmental Conservation, "the closure of New York's last coal plant makes good on our commitment."The climate law is also supposed to create thousands of new jobs, including high-paying union jobs like the ones the Somerset plant employees are losing. But state officials say the bulk of those jobs will be in retrofitting updating home-heating systems, for instance and will be more plentiful in more populous areas downstate. That means prospects are slim for the people who will lose or have already lost jobs at the Somerset plant, which at its peak two decades ago employed several hundred people. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. "It speaks to that feeling of upstate and rural communities, that somehow we matter a little less," said Robert G. Ortt, the state senator who represents the area. To help implement its ambitious goals, Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently issued rules that would make it easier to get permission to build renewable energy sites, including wind turbines and solar panels, allowing applicants to bypass zoning rules and other local regulations. But that, too, rankles in Barker and neighboring towns, where a local group called Save Ontario Shores used environmental and aesthetic arguments to head off a proposed wind turbine project. "It's like saying, we're closing this large employer in your community and putting something that you may not want in its place," Ortt said. He called on the governor to use his leverage to find union jobs for at least some of the 20-odd plant workers who are not yet of retirement age. "I just worry about the guys who are in their 40s," said John Mason, 60, the plant's operations manager. "Some of us are retiring, a few folks in their 20s are young enough to start over, but for those guys in the middle, it's tough." Lansdale Borough issued the following statement from Borough Manager John Ernst on Friday: As we all continue to adjust to the daily changes of our routine, the Borough is continually evaluating our role in helping residents and businesses deal with increasing uncertainty. The recent shut-down order of non-life sustaining businesses by Governor Wolf has created several challenges for all of us. Id like to share some of the steps we are taking to follow these mandates: I request all non-life sustaining businesses in the Borough to follow the governors mandate and close down until further directed by the authorities. If you feel there are businesses that remain open and dont follow these guidelines, you can call the Lansdale Police Department at (215) 368-1801 to file a complaint. That report will be turned over to the County Department of Health for enforcement. In cooperation with Discover Lansdale, the Boroughs Economic Development Committee is providing a map of businesses in the vicinity that are life-sustaining; you can find the map at this link. In an effort to assist all our residents and businesses, we will be suspending disconnections and waiving any new late charges for electric services within the Borough effective immediately, and we will be working with our customers to arrange payment plans should they be needed. We will provide more details later, but questions can be addressed by calling (215) 368-1691. All customers are encouraged to pay their utility bill by phone: 1-(888) 844-8371; online via the borough website, or by using the dropbox in the vestibule area in Borough Hall 24/7. Electric service applications can be submitted by email to: esa@lansdale.org or by appointment, please call (215) 368-1691 to schedule. All construction projects in the Borough will be shut down. This includes road paving and infrastructure replacement, the skate park and scheduled maintenance at our facilities. You may continue to see activity as contractors work to cleanup and secure jobsites for an extended period of closure. The Borough parks remain open and we encourage everyone to take advantage of our walking trails maintaining a safe distance, of course. The playground equipment and playing court facilities remain closed until further notice. The Borough continues to operate with essential personnel only. All public meetings for the remainder of March have been cancelled. We are exploring ways to accommodate public participation in upcoming meetings via remote access software. Finally, as a resident of the Borough for almost 30 years, and as the person responsible for keeping the business of the Borough running, this is as deeply personal for me as it is for all of you. I love this town and the people who live and work here. Here at the Borough we will continue to do our best to look for opportunities that help lessen the burden and uncertainties this current situation has presented. This path is new for all of us, and we need to work together to sustain a manageable way of life for as long as necessary. As the situation continues to change, I will encourage you to check the Borough website www.lansdale.org and Facebook page for updates. Be safe! Mayor Garry Herbert added the following: Understandably, these are hard pills to swallow for all local organizations and companies. However, we need to stay on this path together. That means continuing to operate as a community that values the lives of those around us until we have mitigated this crisis fully, Herbert said. I remain hopeful that Lansdale will endure this hardship with grace and that together we will return to the bustling community we were before this pandemic, he said. Police Chief Mike Trail added: The Lansdale Police Department is urging all non-life-sustaining businesses to close in accordance with Gov. Wolfs order on March 18. Failure to comply with these requirements will result in enforcement action that could include citations, fines, or license suspensions. The governor has directed the following state agencies and local officials to enforce the closure orders to the full extent of the law: Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board; Department of Health; Department of Agriculture; Pennsylvania State Police; and local officials, using their resources to enforce closure orders within their jurisdictions. Private businesses, local organizations and other non compliant entities that fail or refuse to comply with the governors orders that protect the lives and health of all Pennsylvanians will forfeit their ability to receive any applicable disaster relief and/or may be subject to other appropriate administrative action. Such action may include termination of state loan or grant funding, and/or suspension or revocation of licensure for violation of the law. Finally, in addition to any other criminal charges that might be applicable, the Department of Health is authorized to prosecute non-compliant entities for the failure to comply with health laws, including quarantine, isolation, or other disease control measures. Violators are subject to fines or imprisonment. Reports of businesses which are not in compliance can be made to the Lansdale Borough Police Department by calling (215) 368-1801, and reports will be forwarded to the county Health Department for enforcement proceedings. FOr more information visit www.Lansdale.org. Tired of being stuck inside with nowhere to go? It could be worse; you could own or work at one of the businesses closed by the State of Illinois. For the rest of us, the novel coronavirus situation is changing daily life. At this writing, the state of Illinois has restricted bars and restaurants from opening and limited them to pick up only. Churches are cancelling services or dispensing with the requirement to attend on Sunday. People are irrationally hoarding items, leaving store shelves empty and it needs to stop, folks, unless you want to see rationing in your future. I checked out the effect this virus is having on businesses and what they see for the near future. For the most part, they were busy dealing with the issue in real-time. I was referred to corporate headquarters for comments. Dont you just love corporate America? The people in the trenches who are dealing with reality cant comment but some guy in New Jersey Is on top of it. Right. While I was unable to reach the manager of Wal Mart locally, despite being on hold for an hour, the company issued a statement that essentially says that they are focused on keeping the store clean, stocked and encouraging sick employees to stay home. At the local 154-bed Anderson Hospital, visitors are now limited to one at a time and no children under 18 years old are allowed to visit patients, according to the hospitals website. Similarly, the Womens Pavilion is restricting patients to have one support person through delivery. Grandparents and siblings are not allowed to accompany an OB patient. Dierbergs spokesperson, Jamie Collins in St. Louis County, said the stores are extensively cleaning all surfaces regularly including door handles and checkout. She said they are adding portable hand-washing stations to each entrance of every store in Illinois and Missouri. In terms of restocking grocery shelves, they are doing the best they can and are in regular contact with suppliers, who only have so much to send to stores. She also encouraged shoppers to donate to Operation Food Search at check out to ensure those in need get food. Like other stores, Dierbergs is encouraging associates to stay home if they have symptoms. While businesses can handle this crisis, it is the frontline employees who will be hurt the most. You might even consider take-out purchases locally or even buying gift cards to be used after we are allowed to go back to the restaurants and bars in order to help keep people working. Jim Grandone is a long-time resident of Edwardsville. He was the architect of the East CountyIf You Only Knew marketing campaign promoting Metro East to businesses in St. Louis in the 1990s. Grandone holds a BA in political science from the University of Illinois at Springfield and was a Coro Fellow and serves on a variety of boards. He lives in Leclaire with his wife, Mary. A massive 4,000 nurses and 500 doctors have returned to the NHS since they were called to return to work to help battle coronavirus on Friday. Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced the figures in a video shared to Twitter today, but stressed the country 'needs many more'. In an impassioned plea, Mr Hancock called all recently-retired medics to come back to 'help in this unprecedented crisis' and said: 'Your NHS needs you'. The UK's coronavirus death toll skyrocketed by 56 in 24 hours bringing the total fatalities to 233. Health Secretary Matt Hancock revealed a massive 4,000 nurses and 500 doctors have returned to the NHS since they were called to return to work to help battle coronavirus on Friday Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced the figures in a video shared to Twitter today, but stressed the country 'needs many more' The total number of confirmed cases in Britain has hit 5,018. In the video, Mr Hancock said: 'With coronavirus calling, on Friday we put out the call asking recently-retired doctors, nurses, other health professionals to come back to the NHS to help in this unprecedented crisis. 'I'm delighted that in the first 48 hours, 4,000 nurses and 5,000 doctors have already signed up. 'But we need many more. It's easy to do and we will make sure that your service is put to best effect. In an impassioned plea, Mr Hancock called all recently retired medics to come back to 'help in this unprecedented crisis' and said: 'Your NHS needs you' 'The whole country needs the NHS right now. And if you're a retired doctor or a retired nurse, then your NHS needs you.' Mr Hancock's broadcast followed news that NHS England has struck a deal with the nation's private hospitals to ensure more beds, ventilators and thousands of extra healthcare staff will be made urgently available from next week. Nearly 20,000 fully qualified staff will be joining the NHS response to the pandemic, helping manage the expected surge in cases, in the first ever deal of its kind. The extra resources, now secured by the health service, will not only be available to treat coronavirus patients, but will also help the NHS deliver other urgent operations and cancer treatments. NHS England has struck a deal with the nation's private hospitals to ensure more beds, ventilators and thousands of extra healthcare staff will be made urgently available from next week to aid the fight against coronavirus. Pictured: Boris Johnson in the cabinet room today Up to 8,000 additional hospital beds and nearly 1200 more ventilators will be provided across England. While 10,000 private sector nurses, 700 doctors and over 8,000 other clinical staff will rush to the aid of the currently nearing-capacity NHS. In London the deal will see over 2000 hospital beds, and over 250 operating theatres and critical beds made available. UK independent hospital group Spire Healthcare is among those which will assist NHS England from Monday 23 March, for a minimum period of 14 weeks, and then on a rolling one month's basis. Spire Healthcare will use the first week to prepare its colleagues and facilities for full use by the NHS, while it continues to treat NHS and private elective patients where appropriate. Nearly 20,000 fully qualified staff will be joining the NHS response to the pandemic, helping manage the expected surge in cases, in the first ever deal of its kind. Pictured: NHS staff outside a hospital in London From 30 March the group will make available the entire capacity of its 35 hospitals in England to the NHS. NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens said: 'We're dealing with an unprecedented global health threat and are taking immediate and exceptional action to gear up. 'The NHS is doing everything in its power to expand treatment capacity, and is working with partners right across the country to do so. 'But it is absolutely vital that this is matched by successful and comprehensive adoption of the public measures needed to cut the spread of the virus. The extra resources, now secured by the health service, will not only be available to treat coronavirus patients, but will also help the NHS deliver other urgent operations and cancer treatments. Pictured: A man wearing a mask walks past University College Hospital's A&E department in London 'We all have to play our part to help offset the enormous pressure that our nurses, doctors and other specialists will otherwise face.' Matt Hancock, Health Secretary said: 'I know how hard the NHS have been working to secure extra beds and staffing. NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens said: 'We're dealing with an unprecedented global health threat and are taking immediate and exceptional action to gear up' 'This is great news for the hospitals and staff doing everything they can to combat Coronavirus. I want to pay particular tribute to those heroes returning to front line to support their colleagues and help as many patients recover from the virus.' On Tuesday NHS England announced that NHS Hospitals across the country are taking a range of action to prepare, including freeing up 30,000 of the overall 100,000 beds available by postponing non-urgent operations and providing care in the community for those who are fit to be discharged. The NHS is also sourcing up to 10,000 beds in independent and community hospitals, 8,000 of which this deal now delivers. Under the agreement, the independent sector will reallocate practically its entire national hospital capacity en bloc to the NHS. It will be reimbursed, at cost - meaning no profit will be made for doing so. 'Open book' accounting and external auditors will verify the public funds being deployed. David Hare, Chief Executive of the Independent Healthcare Providers Network said: 'Independent hospitals are boosting emergency capacity to put at the disposal of the NHS over these coming weeks. We have worked hand-in-hand with the NHS for decades and will do whatever it takes to support the NHS in responding to this pandemic. 'This significant additional capacity across the country will be a major boost to the NHS's efforts to treat those patients that need hospital care over the coming period and the independent sector stands ready to maintain that support for as long as needed.' Earlier this week, professional health bodies also wrote to 55,000 former doctors and nurses who have left the NHS in the last three years for them to re-join the workforce. Today NHS staff spoke out over their 'genuine fear' as they are forced to buy their own protective equipment while fighting coronavirus. Healthcare providers are also resorting to reusing disposable items due to a lack of supply. The lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) has prompted concern for the safety of doctors and nurses on the front line. Former Tory health secretary Jeremy Hunt joined calls for the Government to 'sort this out', adding: 'We are asking people to put their own lives at risk on the NHS front line. 'It is absolutely heart-breaking when NHS front-line professionals don't have the equipment that they need. 'I think the Government has done a lot in the last week. I think they have unblocked the supply chains, but there is this question about whether it is the right equipment. He spoke after Lisa Anderson, a consultant cardiologist at St George's Hospital in London, said the Government had changed the rules so they were no longer compliant with World Health Organisation recommendations, which require medics to wear a full gown and visor. She said that since Monday, staff in the NHS only had to wear a simple face mask, short gloves and a pinafore apron. 'This is not just about the risk to ourselves and our families. We are travelling home on the Tube, on buses,' she told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. 'Sainsbury's this morning has announced that they are opening up the early hours to the frail, elderly and NHS workers. We are cross-infecting everybody at the moment. 'There is a lack of protection for us which extends to a lack of plan of how to segregate patients clean and dirty, how to protect us and keep us away from the public. Doctors have no faith in what is going on.' Responding to the comments, Public Health England said its guidance was designed to ensure healthcare workers treating suspected or confirmed Covid-19 cases are protected. 'The NHS is not prepared': Coronavirus doctor tells how staff must wear paper masks, plastic aprons and gloves instead of full protective gear despite the risks on ward where SEVEN doctor are already off sick EXCLUSIVE By Luke Andrews for MailOnline A doctor on the frontline of Britain's coronavirus outbreak has revealed how staff must wear wafer-thin paper masks, plastic aprons and gloves instead of full protective gear. They had high-tech masks to cover the nose and mouth when the first suspected coronavirus patients arrived two weeks ago but, as supplies have depleted, they were switched to water-proof masks and, now, to paper masks. Staff have been left exhausted and overstretched, with seven doctors off sick due to the virus. Extra nurses have also been drafted in including two with asthma and one with severe diabetes, conditions which put them at greater risk if they catch coronavirus. Princess Alexandra hospital in Harlow, Essex, is grappling to contain the virus and currently has four patients in intensive care and at least nine patients that are suspected to be suffering from coronavirus. A doctor on shift at Princess Alexandra hospital in Essex was given a paper face mask to wear 'Imagine walking into a closed environment which is full of patients who have got this virus, suspected or confirmed,' a doctor at the Essex hospital, speaking on condition of anonymity, told MailOnline, 'and (paper face mask, apron and gloves) is all we've got'. 'When we started we had that FFP3 mask. We had to go and get tested to see if the mask fits our face because it provides excellent cover against aerosol and droplets and ways the virus can get in. 'That was standard if you even come into contact with a suspected coronavirus patient. But that's gone out now, for the paper masks. 'The guidance is that unless you are in contact with a confirmed coronavirus and you work in intensive care you're not supposed to wear the full protective equipment. 'While you're dealing with a suspected coronavirus patient no matter how ill they are you are supposed to have the mask, gloves and apron on. That's it. So surgical masks, the masks you see on the street, are gone completely.' Tests for coronavirus take between 24 to 48 hours to complete, according to Public Health England, leaving doctors exposed to likely cases before they are diagnosed. The hospital has at least eight full-body protection kits, known as PPE, according to the doctor, but these can only be used when a patient is deteriorating rapidly and going into arrest in line with government guidance. The hospital is suffering from staffing shortages, with seven doctors calling in sick due to coronavirus 'It just doesn't make any sense if you know that the patient you're dealing with has pretty much obviously got symptoms then why are you not protecting staff pretty much as soon as they come in?', the doctor said. 'The ambulances bringing patients in they are pretty much in full gear and full equipment, they've got masks and everything. 'They are bringing the patients into resuscitation area and we are just bringing that mask and apron. It's not very good.' A shocking picture of the doctor on the ward shows them wearing just a paper face mask as they attend to patients. 'It's just not right to put NHS staff at risk so if we just have enough equipment then we would be very very happy, and also the staff or the patients who come in they get reassured as well that we are treating them in a well and safe environment,' they said. 'We already know, people working in the NHS, that the NHS is not prepared. 'We are looking after the emergency patients very well but what about our staff members and what about other patients who are being left alone in the community without enough care. It's not very well organised. 'For the management, this needs to be looked into.' There are reportedly shortages of face masks across NHS trusts, and especially in the London area where the UK's outbreak is concentrated. It comes after NHS staff at Northwick Park Hospital were pictured wearing bin bags on their heads to protect themselves, due to alleged equipment shortages. One nurse at the hospital urgently appealed for PPE kits, saying that they are all at risk of catching the virus. 'We're treating our own colleagues on the ward after they caught the virus from patients,' she said. 'How can that be right?' NHS Supply Chain said yesterday it would ease restrictions on its PPE supply chain following a wave of criticism from overwhelmed trusts. A spokesman told the Health Services Journal: 'The demand management controls that were placed on some PPE products have been removed as of Thursday morning to simply the ordering process. 'We are asking customers that the quantities they order of PPE products are in line with the guidance published by Public Health England. We will continue to monitor all orders to ensure that stocks are fairly managed for all of our customers.' The UK has so far recorded more than 4,000 cases of coronavirus and 178 deaths due to the disease. In Italy, at the epicentre of Europe's outbreak, healthcare staff were left without adequate protection meaning at least 10 per cent were hospitalised. Several Italian doctors have also died from the virus. MailOnline has contacted Princess Alexandra hospital for comment. My father once asked his mother, the artist Annette Nancarrow, what she thought of Leon Trotsky. It wasnt a political question. He just wanted her impression of the exiled Bolshevik, whom she had first met in Mexico City in the late 1930s, in the studio of her close friend (and, my father suspected, future lover) Diego Rivera. Well, I was surprised to see the leader of the proletariat so elegantly dressed, she recalled, many decades after Trotskys murder by a Soviet agent in 1940. His attire was impeccable, and I was particularly struck by the Parisian calf-skin gloves he took off of his beautifully manicured hands. The answer was vintage Annette. As a painter, she saw the part of the surface that revealed the inner man the bourgeois fop within the fiery revolutionary. As a judge of character, she sensed why he had lost his power struggle with Joseph Stalin for control of the Soviet Union people who take care of their fingernails dont usually enjoy getting them bloody. And as a connoisseur of style, she appreciated good leather. Ive been thinking a great deal about my grandmother ever since I saw the Vida Americana exhibit at the Whitney Museum in New York. The exhibit showcases the work of Mexicos greatest muralists Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros and their decisive influence on their American contemporaries, including Jackson Pollock, Isamu Noguchi, Ben Shahn and Thomas Hart Benton. Pollock called Orozcos Prometheus mural at Pomona College the greatest painting done in modern times. Benton went further, describing the work of the Mexican masters as the only great art of our time. The 2019 sales report released in February by the Swedish Publishers Association and the Swedish Booksellers Association offered some good news for publishers. Overall, revenue for the Swedish trade book market rose a modest 1.1% last year over 2018. Normally, a small increase in annual sales would suggest a stable market. But not in this case. The report also showed that sales at Swedens bricks-and-mortar bookstores declined 4.4% in 2019. Online and book club sales decreased 5.2%. And the supermarket channel plummeted 9.9%. Countering those declines, publisher revenue from digital subscription servicesa fast-growing sector in which Swedish companies are taking the lead globallysurged 36.2%. The jump in publishers digital subscription revenue in Sweden is largely being driven by digital audio, which is by far the hottest sector in the trade book business worldwide. But e-books are also in the mix, making up about 8% of sales in the channel. And the 2019 report underscores just how important digital subscription has become for Swedish publishers. In 2019, four Swedish subscription platformsBokus Play, Bookbeat, Nextory, and Storytelwere responsible for nearly 21% of trade publisher revenue in Sweden. Without subscription services, trade revenue in 2019 would have declined 5.3%. With subscription services, not only was revenue up slightly but unit sales also rose 4.9% over the previous year. The question, of course, is whether the current model of all-you-can-eat digital subscription access is sustainable. And on that score, the Swedish market is serving as a lab for the wider publishing world. On one side of the debate, some publishers are concerned that digital subscriptions will cannibalize traditional book sales, hurting publishers by offering lower compensation for each unit sold and enabling heavy readers to spend less on books without bringing in enough new consumers to make up the difference. Penguin Random House took this view earlier this year when it pulled its titles out of these all-you-can-eat subscription platforms. On the other side of the debate are companies like Storytel, the leading Swedish subscription platform that is now present in 20 countries and counts more than 1.1 million customers. Storytel executives insist their subscription service is attracting consumers who would otherwise never be reached by the traditional publishing industry. The Swedish market is serving as a lab for the wider publishing world. In the 2019 annual report, Maria Hamrefors, chairwoman of the Swedish Booksellers Association, expressed concern about the rapid shift to subscription services. The statistical research shows that nearly half of all books are now sold via digital subscription services, and that sales of physical books are sinking, she wrote. The digital development has also resulted in a powerful devaluation of the book, and I believe this is really worrying. The average income per book read in these digital subscription services is about a quarter of the average price of a hardcover. The math gets even more complicated for publishers, considering that subscription platforms pay based on books consumed rather than books sold. Storytel, for example, divides its audiobooks into units of time, and a title is considered to be consumed (and thus paid for) when subscribers have listened to the total number of units an audiobook hasno matter which units, or which subscribers. In other words, if 10 separate readers each listen to one of the 10 units of the same audiobook, that accounts for one copy sold, just as it would if one listener had listened to all 10 units. Thats a potentially serious adjustment for the industry to navigate, as those with shelves of unread books know. Still, some observers contend there was no real cannibalization in the Swedish market in 2019only changes in the market share of the various channels. After all, publisher sales were up slightly for the year, suggesting that the growth in digital subscriptions is offsetting declines in the industrys traditional channels, at least for now, while also growing the consumer base for book content. Theres a case to be made on both sides. Its not unreasonable to believe that increased digital sales could have a negative impact on the sales of printed books, observed Isa Widerstahl, publisher at Albert Bonniers, in the 2019 Swedish annual report. At the same time, she noted, digital subscription makes more titles available to more consumers than traditional retailers ever could. One of the many nice things with digital audiobooks is that you can reach consumers at times when you would not otherwise reach them. Carlo Carrenho is the founder of PublishNews in Spain and oversees international projects for Word Audio in Sweden. Chief Minister of Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday sought the intervention of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to ensure the safe return of the Indian students stranded in Malaysia. In his letter addressed to Jaishankar, Vijayan requested the External Affairs Minister to pay 'immediate attention' to the condition of about 250 Indian students who are unable to return home from Kuala Lumpur due to the cancellation of international flights to India. 'They are stranded at the airport' "Dear Dr. Jaishankar ji, I would like to draw your immediate attention to the plight of the Indian students who are stranded in Kuala Lumpur. They are stranded at the airport because of the cancellation of flights to India. It has been reported that about 250 students in Kuala Lumpur are unable to return home," the letter read. "In this circumstances, I request your urgent intervention to help the students who are stranded in Kuala Lumpur and ensure their safe return while complying with all health procedures," it added. Malaysia reported a total of five deaths related to COVID-19 on Saturday, bringing the national death toll to eight. The country also reported 153 new positive cases, bringing the total number to 1,183. As of March 21, 37 cases are being treated in the intensive care unit. A total of 19 staff members of the Ministry of Health, as well as five private healthcare workers, have tested positive for COVID-19. READ | Here's how Kerala people are maintaining social distancing outside liquor shops; Watch READ | Kerala Police demonstrate how to break coronavirus chain through 'innovative' video Malaysia shut its borders to travellers Malaysia, this week, shut its borders to travellers and restricted internal movement from March 16 until March 31. The order bans public gatherings, and all religious, sporting, social and cultural events. Schools, universities and businesses will stay closed, but essential services such as supermarkets, banks and pharmacies will continue to operate during the two-week period. The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday said a total of 298 cases of coronavirus have been reported in the country so far. Of the total number, four people have died and 22 others have recovered. READ | Kerala HC fines Rs 50,000 on petitioner seeking online delivery of liquor amid Coronavirus READ | Kerala government takes preventive measures amid surging Coronavirus threat in the country (With ANI inputs) The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has explained its opposition to the Imposition of Restrictions Bill which has been laid before Parliament under a certificate of urgency. The largest opposition party says the Bill bears the hallmarks of authoritarian rule and it will give the President unlimited power which will be used to settle personal scores. Addressing the press on Friday (March 20), the International Relations Officer of the NDC, Mr Alex Segbefia said the bill is the most "egregious attack on our fundamental human rights and freedom since the inception of the 4th Republic". Parliament on Thursday night approved the report of the Constitution and Legal Affairs Committee, recommending that the Imposition of Restriction Bill 2020 is passed under a certificate of urgency. However, members of the Minority had demanded that the Bill should be withdrawn arguing that it did not meet the requirement of urgent business. Acknowledging the need for the State to take effective measures to fight the COVID19 pandemic, the NDC reiterated claims that President Akufo-Addo is using the excuse of the coronavirus "to complete the erection of the rigging infrastructure that he has been engaged in since he assumed office". "It is the type you would expect from dictators like Iddi Amin and President Bokasa of the Central Afica Republic who ended up crowning himself Emperor," Mr Segbefia said. The reach of the bill, including the power of the President to specify offences and penalties by an executive instrument, is so unprecedented that we are reminded of the dark days in our political history when our liberties counted for nothing". The party says it is concerned that Section3(1)(d) which deals with the purpose of safeguarding the people of Ghana has no mention of COVID-19. "Ladies and gentlemen, the powers President Akufo-Addo will assume under the bill are no different in substance from those that were granted by the Preventive Detention Act to our first President and the National Liberation Council under the Protective Custody Decree. "The current Act presented has at Section3(1)(d) the following: 'The President may impose a restriction under subsection (1) of section 2 where (d) the restriction is reasonably required for the purpose of safeguarding the people of Ghana against the teaching or propagation of a doctrine which exhibits or encourages disrespect for the nationhood of Ghana , the National symbols and emblems or incites hatred against other members of the community. Read the entire statement below; PRESS BRIEFING BY THE NDC ON THE IMPOSITION OF RESTRICTIONS BILL, 2020 Good morning to you our friends from the media. A few days ago, we learnt of a Bill titled Imposition of Restrictions Bill, 2020 presented to Parliament by the Honourable Attorney General, Miss Gloria Akuffo, on behalf of President Akufo-Addo for expeditious passage and implementation. The Bill is purported to be part of measures government is taking to manage the CODVID 19 pandemic. The NDC as a political party has no objections to laws that will assist our country to deal with the current COVID19 pandemic. We will even encourage and assist in drafting such legislation if required. However , the Bill before Parliament bears the hallmarks of authoritarian rule and the NDC would like to state right from the onset that we are totally opposed to it in its current form . We have therefore brought you here to share with you our concerns and give the reasons for our opposition to same. LADIES & GENTLEMEN of the media We acknowledge the need for the State to take effective measures to fight the COVID19 pandemic. It is that fact that makes this bill all the more alarming. Indeed, the present crisis requires a comprehensive set of policy measures that respond to its attendant public health, social and economic impacts. A single draconian measure like the proposed Restriction Bill is limited in its utility and myopic in its constitutional considerations. All Ghanaians including the NPP majority itself must be alarmed at the content of this bill. The bill gives to the President broad powers and authority devoid of any checks and balances. This bill is the most egregious attack on our fundamental human rights and freedom since the inception of the 4th Republic. It is the type you would expect from dictators like Iddi Amin and President Bokasa of the Central Afica Republic who ended up crowning himself Emperor. The reach of the bill, including the power of the President to specify offences and penalties by an executive instrument, is so unprecedented that we are reminded of the dark days in our political history when our liberties counted for nothing. Our skepticism over the intent of this bill is founded on the inconsistency and lack of candor displayed by the President in the enforcement of those measures needed to address this pandemic. In the first instance, the announcement of a $100 million allocation to that fight has turned out to be a political gimmick. The Finance Minister confirmed as much when he stated that those funds were not presently available, and would have to be sought from the IMF. As yet, there is still no clarity as to when these desperately needed funds may be available. Further, the response of the NIA and the EC to the Presidents directive on social distancing continue to undermine the urgent necessity for total compliance. The former, which is an agency under the Office of the President, was first to disregard the call and continues with its careless disregard for public safety. And although it is within the authority of the President to call the institution to order, no such action has been taken yet. The belligerence of the EC also undermines the public health response. At a time when all efforts should be directed at expanding awareness of the lethal virus and measures to prevent its transmission, the ECs behavior is distracting the public attention. And the expenditure associated with the compilation of the needless new register is a luxury this nation can ill afford in the face of an impending economic crisis. The insistence on this exercise reflects a dangerous lack of priorities that is also inconsistent with the demands of the emergency we face. Ladies and gentlemen, to quote Pastor Mensah Otabil, there is something on the prowl. We do not trust the underlying intent of this bill, and we do not trust this particular President to exercise the wide powers the bill seeks to grant him for the limited purpose of addressing the threat to public health that COVID-19 poses. In any case there is currently in our Statute Books pieces of legislation, namely, the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), the Public Order Act 1994 (Act 491) and the Immigration Act 2000 (Act 573) and together, these laws provide sufficient measures that the state can employ to address the challenge of the coronavirus pandemic. For example, the Public Health Act provides in adequate detail the powers that state authorities can exercise without the extensive threat to human rights that the bill under consideration is envisaging. In addition, the Public Health Act 2012 incorporates into our laws the well-measured, balanced and specifically tailored World Health Organizations International Health Regulations to help us confront this threat to our public health. The Immigration Act additionally equips the Immigration Department with sufficient authority to control movements in and out of the country without the sweeping powers granted the president in the bill to virtually toy with the lives of our countrymen and women. Again, the Public Order Act 1994 (Act 491) empowers the Minister of Interior to take certain actions in the interest of public safety and public health. Ladies and gentlemen, the powers President Akufo-Addo will assume under the bill are no different in substance from those that were granted by the Preventive Detention Act to our first President and the National Liberation Council under the Protective Custody Decree. The current Act presented has at Section3(1)(d) the following: The President may impose a restriction under subsection (1) of section 2 where (d) the restriction is reasonably required for the purpose of safeguarding the people of Ghana against the teaching or propagation of a doctrine which exhibits or encourages disrespect for the nationhood of Ghana , the National symbols and emblems or incites hatred against other members of the community. How does this section have any bearing on COVID19 or any other health issue for that matter. We are convinced, beyond all peradventure, that President Akufo-Addo will use these powers to settle scores, restrict the lawful activities of individuals, including opposition political parties and generally make it impossible for the tenets of democracy to thrive in this election year. In short, as far as the NDC is concerned, President Akufo-Addo is using the excuse of the coronavirus pandemic, which does not even receive a passing mention in the bill, to complete the erection of the rigging infrastructure that he has been engaged in since he assumed office. In any case, ladies and gentlemen of the media, Article 31 of the 1992 Constitution provides elaborate measures for how this country should be governed in a state of emergency. Those provisions give Parliament very wide powers of oversight such that rights guaranteed by the Constitution are not abused by a president with evident dictatorial tendencies. We in the NDC will not acquiesce in the deformation of a constitution that the people of Ghana approved for themselves and for their generations unborn. For a statute which is for a particular purpose, it is questionable why there are no time limits for its expiration. This unfettered power is unconstitutional. As hinted at earlier, this proposed law is virtually silent on the well-known and accepted constitutional procedures by which alone the dignity and freedoms of the Ghanaian citizens are protected. In conclusion, we call on civil society, religious leaders, the House of Chiefs and peace loving Ghanaians including those in NPP itself not to be complicit in their silence in the face of this latest assault on democratic rule by the President. We must all fight against the pernicuos legislation which will confer unfettered power on President Akuffo Addo and others who may come after him. The Imposition of Restrictions Bill has little to do with the fight against the coronavirus . The Bill is from the playbook of "wanabe" despots who capitalize on emergencies such as we have to muzzle dissent and suppress opposition in order to consolidate their hold on power. May God help us to resist oppresors rule with all our hearts and minds. Thank you all for coming. Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video "Having known these people for many years, I know their expertise, I know the care they take and I know how much information they process to bring their advice to government," Leask says. "The kind of expertise in the AHPPC is trustworthy expertise." On Twitter, Murphy is constantly derided as "dangerous", a "moron" and "way out of his depth". Leask understands why people have had their doubts. Communication and consistency are key elements in building trust. But official communications have been "a little bit wanting" at times. Leask says the apparent inconsistency is partly due to the huge quantity of information to convey and the fact authorities are pursuing a staged and proportionate response. "The principle of being proportionate underlines the pandemic plan for Australia," she says. Chief Medical Officer Professor Brendan Murphy on Wednesday. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Tania Sorrell, director of Sydney University's Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity and service director of infectious diseases at Westmead Hospital, is trying to assure people the AHPPC is not acting flippantly but responding to vast amounts of data-crunching and research. "Brendan Murphy is not speaking off his own bat," Sorrell says. "He's speaking off the expertise of representatives from all of the states, particularly experts in the area of clinical, epidemiological things to do with COVID-19. "The issue of trust is really important. That's why we need to have a group of people who can actually assess all the information, distil the correct information from the misinformation and have an agreed source of information that people can trust." Sorrell and Leask say the advice from Murphy and Prime Minister Scott Morrison at Wednesday's press conference was especially helpful. As well as explaining the decisions they were taking - such as a ban on indoor gatherings of more than 100 people - they explained why they were not taking other decisions, such as a lockdown or school closures. Murphy was emphatic: "A short-term, two to four-week shutdown of society is not recommended by any of our experts. It does not achieve anything. We have to be in this for the long haul. There is no way that we can lock down society, make everyone stay home, and then in a month's time undo that, because the virus will just flare up again without any real long-term benefit." Sorrell explains it in this way: "We really have to implement things not too late but not too early. Daily, we're considering what the new information is and how our public health responses are working. Australia has actually done pretty well. No country is the same as another country." In a key intervention last week, the Public Health Association Australia urged its members to rally behind Murphy and stop "second-guessing" his advice. Nevertheless, many citizens, GPs and other medical experts are convinced otherwise. Loading Leask says people like Bowtell and Swan are doing what they believe is right when they demand more drastic measures. This is an issue on which good people can disagree. But she also warns that people outside the official networks don't have all the information relevant to this particular virus. She stresses doctors are medical experts but they are not necessarily experts in public health. "You don't have the renal physician advising the heart surgeon how to do heart surgery," says Leask. Swan trained as a physician in Scotland but has spent four decades as a journalist in Australia, presenting Radio National's Health Report for the past 35 years among other things. He humbly recognises the trust Australians have placed in him during this crisis is fully a function of their trust in the institution of the ABC. He says his role as an authority figure has been "thrust" on him rather than him seeking it, and it is "not necessarily a pleasant one". Within the highest echelons of the federal government, Swan is seen as "dangerous" for fostering panic and diluting public trust in the official advice. Unsurprisingly, Swan doesn't see it that way. "I don't think I've sent people to the barricades," he says. "I think actually what I've done is settle them a little bit, because I've set them up with the knowledge to make their own decisions." Swan and others have also been proven right about some aspects of the crisis, such as their early calls to cancel Melbourne's Grand Prix. Motorsport fans were already lined up at the gates when authorities finally decided the event could not proceed with spectators, and it was cancelled. Loading Asked why the public should trust him rather than, say, the government, Swan finds it difficult to answer. "That wakes me up at three o'clock in the morning," he says. "I'm not an epidemiologist. That's a very good question that I've got no answer for apart from the fact that I know how to communicate." A striking feature of this crisis has been the way different demographics have placed their trust differently. Swan has noticed the huge following he has garnered online and on social media, and says there is no question young people are more engaged with the issue than older people. Normally, the more engaged and informed public has more trust in authority and government than people who are less engaged. This is true in most societies, but especially so in Australia, according to the 2020 Edelman Trust Barometer. Among the "informed public", average trust in authority was 68 per cent. In the "mass population", it was 45 per cent. That gap of 23 points was the highest of the 28 nations in the barometer - higher than Saudi Arabia and France (21 points), and much higher than the United States (eight points). But it is the highly engaged and highly informed who are more likely to accuse the authorities of mishandling the coronavirus crisis. They are examining the world and asking why Australia isn't copying the endeavours of countries such as Singapore. They are sharing charts of infection rates in Italy and Britain and screaming for the government to get Australia off the same trajectory. Indeed, former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has tweeted praise for Swan, while criticising authorities for not being clear enough on questions such as whether it was OK to shake hands. "The question as to whom to trust is a little complex," Turnbull tells The Sun-Herald and The Sunday Age. "People can be trustworthy - honest, well-intentioned and well-informed - but that doesn't mean that they are right. And we won't know who was right until it is all over. "The people we should look to for reliable advice are obviously the government health officers and the ministers who are relying on their advice. The key thing for them to do right now is deliver clear and consistent advice which people can follow and, where it is contentious, provide clear explanations of why a particular course of action is being followed. "Clarity and consistency are absolutely critical here because if you lack either, that undermines credibility." Professor of public health and risk communication Julie Leask. Credit:Louise Kennerley In this crisis, people have lost trust not only in the authorities but in their fellow citizens. Parents who have pulled their kids out of school are shaming others for allowing their children to keep attending. Social media is packed with people voluntarily self-isolating and harshly judging those who aren't. Young people are chastising their parents for continuing to socialise or go to events, despite there being no official advice to abstain (other than to practise physical distancing). Leask, the public health professor, wants that kind of shaming to stop. "I do not think that's a good idea," she says. "It's very easy for shaming and stigmatisation to happen around infectious diseases and it's very important that that is reduced and mitigated against. "We've seen it with stigmatisation of people from China in the early stages of this, or people of South-East Asian appearance. And we will see it with people who have had the disease and then recovered people still see them as risky." Ian McAllister, a professor of political science at the Australian National University, has tracked trust for decades. He says all things considered, the virus should act like most existential threats because it's seen to be a thing that comes at us from across our borders, like terrorism. In theory, that means trust in our own authorities should increase, not decrease. "When you get an existential crisis like this, you have an effect called 'rally around the flag'," says McAllister. "We saw it after September 11, we saw it in the Bali bombings. People support the government and the government is seen to be in charge and they're looking after everything." Loading There's just one big difference between then and now: the internet. Last year's federal election was the first time people got more information from the web than they did from traditional media like newspapers, McAllister says. He's agnostic about how the internet era will change this crisis. "I think that may well affect things," he says. "But whether it will affect things more negatively, I'm not sure. This is uncharted territory in that regard." Osman Faruqi, the host of Schwartz Media's daily news podcast, has noticed a stark divergence of the online world from the so-called "real world". A Millennial who is very active on social media, he also has strong links to what we might call the "establishment": his mother, Mehreen, is a Greens senator, and until recently, he worked at the ABC. "There does seem to be this dissonance between the extreme online space and the real world," says Faruqi. "Social media before this crisis was already a platform where the most extreme and shocking and scary things get way more traction than things that are measured and nuanced." Hence, he says: "Everyone I'm friends with online and on Twitter is really strongly advocating for social distancing. But walking outside, I see literally hundreds of people in big group gatherings. I see people in contact sport. I see picnics of 20 people. I see cafes and bars overflowing in the CBD." Faruqi believes the breakdown in trust will have implications for how our polity rebuilds after the coronavirus crisis. It's evident in supermarket scraps over toilet paper or pharmacy fights over the last remaining packets of pills. The collapse in trust and the increase in panic are related. "The veneer of how our society functions is kind of being peeled off," Faruqi says. "If people can't pay rent, if people can't buy food, I don't think panic buying is going to be the biggest of our problems. There might be much more real social unrest. "A lot of people think society is kind of falling apart a bit but governments will inevitably respond and rebuild the safety net. I don't think that's inevitable. I think it's just as likely we end up with a more authoritarian, more stratified, less equal society out of all this." At a seven-bed isolation centre in Mali's capital Bamako, medical staff are scrambling to prepare for an outbreak of the new coronavirus. There, they have the West African country's only respirator. Although no cases have yet been declared in the war-torn country, health authorities are bracing for an onslaught of patients with few resources to accommodate them. A total of some 20 isolated beds are available in Mali, out of reach to entire regions due to jihadist violence and inter-community conflicts. "We are preparing for the worst," conceded Prime Minister Boubou Cisse on Thursday. "The means we have do not allow us to be behind every Malian." The World Health Organization has called on the African continent to "wake up", after the first death in sub-Saharan Africa from the pandemic was announced on Wednesday in Burkina Faso, which borders Mali. Millions of people could die from the new coronavirus, particularly in poor countries, if it is allowed to spread unchecked, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Thursday, appealing for a coordinated global response. "Global solidarity is not only a moral imperative, it is in everyone's interests," he said. In Bamako, Dr Ilo Bella Diall said he did what he could to prepare as soon as the epidemic began to spread outside China. The director of Point G University Hospital had unused hospital buildings converted for isolating COVID-19 patients. "We are preparing for all possible scenarios," he said. But according to the Ministry of Health, Mali has only 600 litres of hydro-alcoholic gel despite a need for 500,000 litres, and 59 medical infrared thermometers, well short of the 20,000 needed. The country has only 2,000 test kits and no suitable thermal cameras to detect fevers. War on two fronts This vast country in the Sahel has already been grappling with a war for eight years: first against independence movements in 2012, then against a jihadist insurgency that has spread from northern Mali to its centre, as well as to Niger and Burkina Faso on its southern border. The fighting has caused thousands of civilian and military deaths. On Thursday, the army said around 30 Malian soldiers were killed and five more injured in a suspected jihadist attack. "Today, added to our classic challenges is that of succeeding in the war against the coronavirus," President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita said on Tuesday at a Defence Council meeting. A total of some 20 isolated beds are available in Mali, out of reach to entire regions due to jihadist violence and inter-community conflicts. By MICHELE CATTANI (AFP) The war is mostly one of awareness. Fear of the coronavirus has not yet taken hold in Bamako: tea glasses are still being shared and hands are still being shaken. In buses and taxis, customers still huddle together. It is only in the upper echelons of power that people greet each other with an elbow. "We have to communicate so that Malians become aware of the magnitude of the pandemic," said Seydou Doumbia, dean of the medical school in Bamako where 143 tests of the virus -- all negative -- have been carried out. The option of confinement has so far been ruled out in a country whose economy is heavily dependent on the informal sector, with the majority of the population earning a meagre day-to-day living. The government has, however, suspended flights from affected countries and closed schools in a bid to prevent the spread of the virus. Health systems not ready At the University of Sciences, Techniques and Technologies of Bamako, Doumbia runs Mali's only laboratory meeting the required biosafety standards to study the new disease. In the confined enclaves of the laboratory, built and maintained with American funding, 13 researchers tirelessly analyse samples. "Yesterday, we finished at midnight. Imagine when we get the first case," says one researcher, Amadou Kone. Three other laboratories, on a lower level, are planned to supplement this one if necessary. "Our health systems are not ready," acknowledged the minister of health, Michel Sidibe, former head of UNAIDS. Mali, ranked 184th out of 189 on the UN Human Development Index, has made a plea to its financial partners to release funds. Some $30-35 million will be given or lent to Bamako to fight against the virus in "the days and weeks to come," according to the government. At Point G University Hospital, the money will be most welcome. "If we have the means, we'll be able to start work very quickly and increase our reception capacity," says a hospital official. As a precautionary measure to contain the spread of coronavirus, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has decided to close all shops selling paan masala and tobacco till March 31, and doubled the fine for spitting in public places. "We have decided that till March 31, all the paan shops will remain closed... The penalty for spitting at public places has been increased from Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 starting Monday. FIRs will be registered against those who will not pay the fine," said Ahmedabad Municipal Commissioner, Vijay Nehra. He further stated that public transport and parks will remain shut on Sunday to support the 'Janata Curfew'. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-22 00:09:27|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close MACAO, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Center of China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) government on Saturday night reported one newly confirmed imported COVID-19 cases, bringing the number of imported cases to eight in March. A 50-year-old Macao resident arrived in Hong Kong by air from New York of the United States Saturday morning. She then arrived in Macao through the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Saturday afternoon and was found to have fever by Macao's medical personnel up on entering Macao. She was tested positive with the COVID-19 after being sent to Macao's hospital of Centro Hospitalar Conde de Sao Januario, and was quarantined and treated in the hospital. Macao has reported a total of eight COVID-19 cases in seven days, all of which were imported ones. The Macao SAR government has issued a level two travel alert to all overseas countries and regions, and strongly urged its residents to avoid non-essential travel during this period. Bhopal: After an ultimate showdown which resulted in Kamal Nath stepping down from the post of Chief Minister on Friday, MP Congress, in a cryptic tweet, said Nath would hoist the tri-colour on August 15 this year. Hours after Nath tendered his resignation to Governor Lalji Tandon, MP Congress used its official twitter handle on Friday evening to state that Kamal Nath would hoist the national flag as Chief Minister on Independence Day and receive a salute. Keep this tweet in record, urged the party. -15 2020 MP Congress (@INCMP) March 20, 2020 This was followed up by a resilient claim from Nath in his farewell address at the Chief Minister's House on Friday. Besides accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party of conniving with Jyotiraditya Scindia and his "greedy" MLAs for bringing down his government -- "mandated by public to last five years" -- Nath said today was always followed by tomorrow and day after tomorrow; hinting at some interesting things in store for the near future. The state Congress is perhaps deriving confidence out of the fact that following the resignations of 22 Congress MLAs and the acceptance of resignation of BJP lawmaker Sharad Kol, 23 seats have fallen vacant in addition to the two already empty seats post the demise of one BJP and Congress MLA, each. All these seats are due for by-polls and the Congress seems to be pinning its hopes on a favourable verdict. If the grand old party manages to keep all its seven allies intact, it could return to power with just 17 wins out of the 25 by-polls. However, acquiring these could be an uphill task for the state Congress, after the country witnessed its massive internal fighting and anarchy, said political experts. Meanwhile, after days of political acrimony, things have calmed down in Madhya Pradesh. Shivraj Singh Chouhan reached the assembly after Kamal Nath resigned. He met Speaker NP Prajapati and hugged him cordially. Known for his humility in political circles, Chouhan later paid a surprise visit to Kamal Nath. The two leaders put their bitterness on hold and exchanged cordial greetings. (Brought to you by Honda of Staten Island) The latest symptom of CoronaVirus is Cabin Fever. But fear not, if you are stuck inside for several weeks, there are many ways you can connect with people with just a click. Instead of social distancing, think distance socializing. Here are some ways people are reaching out online. Felipe Alonzo, NWNPhoto, a global agency for photographers with disabilities located in Spain, will offer daily images taken by their members who are isolated at home during the CoronaVirus outbreak. We have seven photographers, with different developmental disabilities, whose objective is labor inclusion through photography. Each photographer has an assigned day of the week to send a photograph about the social distancing caused by the CoronaVirus. Life-Wire News photographer Aaron Bialer also contributed a photo of a tree near his New Springville home to the project. Its been there for a long time, that tree, Bialer explained. Its the only tree thats in my neighborhood thats big. The photo project is a partnership with NWNPhoto and the Maria Jose Jove Foundation. You can follow the project at NWNPhotos instagram page. Lynda Behling, a New Brighton-based author, hosts interactive Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) games online over Discord, a robust chat service with voice capabilities or text. Players can use their physical or online books and even roll dice virtually. Dungeon and Dragons is a tabletop role-playing game where players interact with each other while navigating an overall story, Behling explains. Through voice chat, text chat, dice rolls, and detailed storyteller elements players are able to do more than just sit and talk with each other. To reach Behling about playing D&D online, you can email lynda414@gmail.com or through Facebook messenger. Lyndas books are online at Goodreads. You can also find D&D games on the Dnd Discord Servers page. A great way to relax and relieve stress is yoga. Certified yoga and meditation teacher Jessica Moroz of Tottenville will be offering live yoga instruction online. Jessica will also be offering group classes online as well as on-to-one healing sessions and private yoga/meditation lessons. During this hectic time of being housebound it is important to remember your spiritual practice which may include yoga, exercise, meditating or even going on nature walks, stated Moroz. Your spiritual practice will keep you rooted and grounded during this time of uncertainty. Turn to trust and faith, instead of fear and worry. This is what Yoga can help us with. Moroz will be hosting classes online via zoom every Monday 7:30pm and will have monthly moon circles and other events online as well. Please visit Jessicas website for more details : JessicaMoroz.com. Or contact Jessica at jess.moroz@gmail.com. -- Written collaboratively by Steven Filoramo, Sal DiBenedetto, and Aaron Bialer with Edward Gregory for Life-Wire News Service Learn more about the Advance/SILive.coms partnership with Lifestyles for the Disabled, sponsored by Honda of Staten Island. - Ikuenobe Jude was the man whose picture circulated online as the driver that drove the Italian coronavirus patient to Ogun state - Jude, who was identified in the fake news as Adewale Isaac Olorogun, says he almost took his own life when the news circulated - The man says he received a lot of death threats after the circulation of the fake news A Nigerian man falsely accused to be the driver that drove the first case of coronavirus in Nigeria to Ogun state has said he almost took his own life when the fake news circulated online. The man whose real name is Ikuenobe Jude said the fake news circulated because people wanted to tarnish his image. Jude was identified in the fake news as Adewale Isaac Olorogun and his picture was accompanied with it. Sharing his ordeal with BBC, he said nobody wanted to move close to him after the fake news was everywhere. Legit.ng gathers that the picture used for the fake news was from a Buzzfeed article about Jude's experience with modern-day slavery. Jude said: "I want to let the public know today that it's not me. I went, online I saw my picture in the news that I was the alleged Uber driver who drove the coronavirus patient that came from Italy to Nigeria, from Lagos to Ogun state. Ikuenobe Jude. Photo credit: BBC Source: UGC "It was shocking to me because my name is not Adewale Isaac Olorogun but my picture was there. The comments that were on the media were 'shoot him at sigh!' 'pour acid from distance!' throw stones from distance'. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read the best news on Nigerias #1 news app "My wife is telling me not to go out. My life is already at stake here. So if I'm moving around, I'm moving with friends and family so that anybody cannot just come somewhere and take my life." Jude, who said he is from Edo state and has not been to Lagos for the past two years, called on the government to fight fake news. Legit.ng previously reported that coronavirus scare in the country hit a frightening phase on Wednesday, March 18, as fives more cases of the global epidemic were reported, barely twenty-four hours after the Ministry of Health announced the third case. The new developments were confirmed by the special adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on new media, Tolu Ogunlesi. In a series of tweet, Ogunlesi said four of the victims are Nigerians who just came from the United States of America and United Kingdom. NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have updated to serve you better Coronavirus: Nigerians take advantage of every situation | - on Legit TV Source: Legit.ng It seems petty to calculate political advantage in the middle of a great economic crisis, but it is worth noting when leaders appear to rise to events and when they fall short. Rishi Sunak, who has been chancellor for five weeks, has been outstanding; while Boris Johnson, whose whole life has been a public preparation for such a moment, seems to be only just keeping his head above a rising tide of panic. Sunaks performance on Friday in No 10 the address, not the job was remarkable. He set out yet another escalation of the Treasurys response to the economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. Nine days earlier, at the Budget, he had spent 30bn; six days after that, he added another 350bn; on Friday he said the government would pay 80 per cent of the wages of anyone furloughed and kept on their employers payroll, with no limit to the amount of funding. He sounded like Gordon Brown at his best, taking decisive and dramatic action to meet the challenge of the financial crash. His approach was inclusive, consulting the Trades Union Congress as well as employers. Presumably, John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, didnt want to be consulted, and went on TV within minutes to complain that Sunak hadnt gone far enough or fast enough. This partisanship was in contrast with the reaction of Frances OGrady, the TUC general secretary, who praised Sunak for showing real leadership. Even Len McCluskey, McDonnells co-ideologue, said the chancellor had done the right thing. While it is true that Sunak is coming under pressure, even from his own MPs, over the relative paucity of help for the self-employed, and will probably act on that next week, I think McDonnell has judged the public mood wrongly, and OGrady and McCluskey have got it right. This isnt just about sounding good and engaging in bipartisan reasonableness, though. The measures themselves seem the right ones, and Sunak seems to know what he is doing; the policy detail is the work of heroic Treasury officials, but it helps to have a political leader who understands it. When Sunak was promoted in February, there was a lot of talk about how he would be a mere pawn of Dominic Cummings and the prime minister, but that was never likely. The Treasury is a powerful department that cannot be run from No 10, and in a crisis, it becomes more powerful still whoever the chancellors political advisers are. What was most striking about Fridays news conference, though, was Sunaks final paragraph, in which he seemed to find the words that the prime minister could not: We want to look back on this time and remember how we thought first of others and acted with decency, he said. There is a divisiveness about Johnson that he cannot overcome. Even if he had matched the stature of his hero Winston Churchill in the past few days, a large part of public opinion would not have given him any credit. Hard Remainers will never forgive him for Brexit, and see him through that prism. Opinion polls this week suggesting that more of the public approve of his handling of the crisis than disapprove have been hailed by his equally partisan supporters as evidence that his critics have misjudged the national mood. There is some truth in that, but Johnson is no Churchill. I have recently been looking through the earliest opinion polling in Great Britain, which started with Gallup in 1937. The figures for Churchill during the war are extraordinary. Gallup asked this question often: In general, do you approve or disapprove of Mr Churchill as prime minister? The figures for approve were between 82 and 93 per cent. Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Show all 20 1 /20 Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Top: Nabi Younes market, Mosul Bottom: Charles Bridge, Prague Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Grand Mosque, Mecca Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Sagrada Familia, Barcelona Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Nabi Younes market, Mosul Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Basra Grand Mosque, Iraq Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Charles Bridge, Prague Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Taj Mahal hotel, India Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Dubai Mall, UAE Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Beirut March, Lebanon Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Gateway of India, Mumbai Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Cairo University, Egypt Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Amman Citadel, Jordan Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Beirut March, Lebanon Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Cairo, Egypt Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Cairo University, Egypt Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Victoria Memorial, India Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Amman Citadel, Jordan Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Amman Citadel, Jordan Reuters Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world Sidon, Lebanon Reuters Compared with that, the 47 per cent who say Johnson has handled the coronavirus outbreak well, against the 38 per cent who say badly, is, well, lower. Of course, it is too early to make any definite predictions about Johnson and his future, or indeed Sunak and his. Although Sunak has made an impressive start in the second most important job in government, he is inexperienced and there may be hard times and hard decisions ahead. So far, all he has had to do is announce that he is giving away vast amounts of money paid for on the never-never, whereas Johnson has had to tell people some of their loved ones will die. Sunaks later decisions may involve sharing out economic pain rather than trying to alleviate it. And Johnson has shown, in a long career at or near the political front line, that he has good judgement. You could call it low cunning if you dont like him, and you could point out that he has sometimes been lucky I still dont know into which category to put Jo Swinsons decision to give him a general election in December but he is still in 10 Downing Street. I wouldnt bet against him still being there, with Sunak by his side, when all this is over. A screen displays the company logo for Uber Technologies Inc. on the day of it's IPO at the NYSE in New York DUBAI (Reuters) - Uber Technologies has suspended the option to book regular taxi services through its app in Saudi Arabia until further notice, a company statement said on Friday. Saudi Arabia is in virtual lockdown and has suspended regular, accredited taxi services as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. It has reported 344 cases of the virus. "As per the measures announced by the Ministry of Interior, we are suspending Uber Taxi in the Kingdom until further notice", an Uber spokesman told Reuters. Uber's ride-hailing services, which are carried out by individual drivers using their personal vehicles, have not been affected. Food delivery services are also unaffected. (Reporting By Alexander Cornwell; editing by Jane Wardell) When Tom Hartnett and his late wife Nina opened their small family shop in Banteer in October 1977, there were six shops in the Duhallow village. But as Tom closed the shop, located opposite the village church, for the last time on Saturday, the village was left without any shop at all, a telling sign of a changing Ireland. While the shop is closed, the post office part of it remains open for the foreseeable future, Tom told The Corkman as he reminisced over almost 43 years in the business. Against the trend in other villages, the shop did not become part of a franchise and remained independent or, as Tom puts it: "Basically we did our own thing and continued doing our own thing." It was back in 1976 that he and Nina bought what was then Buckley's Pub in the village. The bar had been closed for a number of years when they bought it. They were engaged at the time and they got married the following year. In April 1977, the newly married couple opened the post office and the shop followed in October of the same year. Tom's wife, Nina, died in 2001. A number of local women came in to help over the years - the late Cait O'Sullivan, Noreen Buckley and, finally for the past 13 years, Eileen Twohig, who was working in the shop until Friday. "I've seen a lot of changes in my time here," he said. "When we opened we had no cash register even, all our business was done with pen and paper "Now there's no shop in the village, the supermarkets have taken over and everything changed as a result," he said. One episode which stands out for the worst reasons was an armed raid on the shop in September 2013. An assailant entered the shop brandishing what turned out to be an imitation firearm. He demanded money and made off with the small sum that was in the till at the time. Tom recalls the incident as 'traumatic'. Though the shop is now closed, the post office remains open with the necessary Covid-19 caveats. "We don't know what's going to happen - I'm open all the time, 51/2 days a week at present." Tom is an active member of the local Tidy Towns committee and is involved on the local Community Council and threads the boards with the Glen Theatre Group, Banteer's acclaimed dramatists. He feels the community spirit in Banteer will get the village and surrounding area through the current emergency period. "There's no one happy with this but we can't take a chance," he remarked. "A text came out this morning from the Community Council offering delivery of meals and the likes for those that need it," he said. Maybe his days as a shopkeeper are over but Tom Hartnett is keeping busy in the heart of the Banteer community. The lessons for other countries to learn from Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea are that "testing early and extensively, and effective isolation, contact tracing and quarantining has been key to bringing epidemics under control". "Any country that hasn't been able to implement these measures quickly, for whatever reason, is at high risk of uncontrolled community transmission, as we're seeing now in a number of European countries and the US," Tam says. On the face of it, the recent cases in Malaysia are a particular concern - it has recorded rises of more than 100 cases per day for five days in a row, and more than two-thirds of the cases were linked to a three-day mass prayer gathering of about 16,000 people at the Sri Petaling mosque complex in late February. But Malaysia's health system is relatively advanced, its doctors and professors well trained and competent. It is better equipped than many nations in the region to handle the outbreak, and the closing of its borders to foreigners - while perhaps belated - will stop more cases being imported. Malaysia has introduced some of the strictest border controls - Malaysians can't travel overseas and foreigners cannot enter. Thailand and Singapore aren't far behind - Thailand banned visitors from several European countries, Singapore introduced 14-day quarantine for international arrivals while also banning arrivals from certain countries, and the Philippines has begun locking down entire cities including the capital, Manila. Tam says we will know in about two weeks if the new, strict measures introduced by Malaysia have worked to slow the spread. Taipei metro staff monitor the temperatures of passengers with a thermal scanner on Friday. Singapore and Hong Kong have had more successful approaches in battling the pandemic given their experience with SARS in 2003. Credit:Getty Images It's Indonesia, which has more than 50 times the population of Singapore and which has already reported 25 deaths - despite only confirming its first infection on March 2 - that is causing the greatest concern. The national government has been in denial about the problem for weeks, with the country having tested about 1500 out of 270 million people, compared to more than 80,000 people tested in Australia and 250,000 in South Korea. Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto claimed prayer had kept the country virus-free and a tourism campaign has been launched on social media to capitalise on the virus' alleged non-spread to the nation. People gather for Friday prayers at the Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia, on February 14. Credit:AP Some 500,000 rapid test kits reportedly ordered from China on March 10 have still not arrived because of Health Ministry red tape, as reported by major newspaper Kompas, while many of the hospitals across the country designated to treat coronavirus patients do not yet have the specialised equipment needed. Loading And it was only on Friday that Friday prayers at the Istiqlal Mosque, which can hold 200,000 people, were cancelled. On Thursday, President Joko Widodo finally ordered testing to be rapidly increased across the country to try to control and slow the spread of the virus. But if Joko's handling of the situation doesn't rapidly and markedly improve, the president could face calls to go, rather than to just sack his health minister as some moderate civil society groups are demanding. Meanwhile, sick people are already being turned away from hospitals, it can take days to get tested for the virus and the government has only just allowed laboratories other than its own lab in Jakarta to begin processing swabs, so concerned was it until now with controlling the flow of information. University of Queensland professor of virology Ian Mackay highlights several warning signs coming from Indonesia that signal the situation could be much worse than the publicly available numbers indicate. Loading "When you see a lot of deaths in a short space of time [as has happened], that suggests there has been a number of cases for quite some time. Also, we have seen many infected travellers coming out of Indonesia and thats another canary in the coal mine," he says. "They just haven't tested enough." The current death rate of around eight per cent of cases, too, is way higher than the international average - though this may simply reflect the proportionally small number of tests being undertaken. Griffith University lecturer Lee Morgenbesser, an expert in South-east Asian politics, says he doesn't trust the numbers being reported by regimes in Laos and Cambodia, for example. For every government in the region the coronavirus crisis is a competence test on a par with a financial crisis (likely coming), a major terrorist attack or a war, he says. Loading "This is a test against something you cant see and which you have very little control over, at least initially. What its testing is how transparent you are, accountable you are and how efficient the systems you have put in place are," he says. And while Singapore has proven itself already, other countries in the region are still playing catch-up. "Of all the countries in South-east Asia, its Indonesia Im most worried about," Morgenbesser says. "It's a powder keg. It has a massive population and an inefficient bureaucracy." The country's poor handling of the crisis is about to leave it badly exposed, he says. By Liz Dunphy, Noel Baker, Olivia Kelleher, and Juno McEnroe People have been urged to confront families, peers, and communities if they are not taking rigorous social distancing seriously, which if done properly, will save thousands of lives, Tanaiste Simon Coveney has said. Health Minister Simon Harris also pleaded with people to keep your distance. Doctors have the ability to save hundreds of lives but people have the ability to save many thousands of lives, he said at a briefing at the Department of Health. Fears that some pubs were not obeying the opening ban were raised before three men were found hiding out in a West Cork pub cold room. Gardai sent to investigate the premises following a tip-off first found a number of pints on the table but no customers. When they discovered the men in the cold room, one claimed that it was a safer place to escape Covid-19, Virgin Media News reports. It comes as a further 126 new cases of the virus were confirmed yesterday a fall from the 191 new cases announced on Thursday which which brings the total to 683 cases in the Republic. However, chief medical officer Tony Holohan warned a rise is still coming, and not to confuse this short-term dip with a retraction of the virus. Were still at the early stage, he said. These are small numbers compared to what we are likely to see. Three people have died from Covid-19 in the Republic. The first two had underlying health conditions but the third did not, he said. The median age of confirmed cases is 44. Dublin has the highest number of cases at 51%, followed by Cork at 15%, and Limerick and Wicklow have 3% of cases each. Mr Coveney urged anyone abroad who wants to come home to do so quickly, as there is no guarantee air routes will continue to operate for the coming weeks. Meanwhile, more children have been calling Childline since schools closed due to Covid-19, with an increase in people expressing heightened anxiety. The 24/7 service is operated by the ISPCC and is still running from its six units countrywide, with social distancing and other measures being observed. Emergency Covid-19 legislation has been passed, giving the State sweeping additional powers to detain those who do not self-isolate, to restrict travel, and to provide financial support throughout the crisis. Meanwhile, HSE CEO Paul Reid admitted Ireland is now fighting a war as volunteer groups mobilised an army of helpers to assist the vulnerable and isolated. It is a war against a very silent and dangerous enemy, he said. It is not one we can win with armed forces. It is one that we can win with communities. And Mr Harris called for private health services to open their doors to Covid-19 patients and said talks were under way with such operators and hotel owners. He said there were 500 public ventilators in Ireland, 1,000 other respiratory machines, and public hospitals were set to have 250 ICU beds. But private hospitals have some 1,900 beds and 164 ventilator rooms, he said. Meanwhile, a Dublin woman with a sick baby is appealing for help after getting trapped in Peru because of the pandemic. Caia Daly, 37, flew to Lima with her husband, Carlos Abisrror, who is originally from Peru, and their two children in February. Their nine-month-old baby is recovering after being hospitalised with pneumonia but their Air France flight back to London, scheduled for last night, was cancelled after the country closed its borders. If things get really bad here, Im worried for my childrens health, Ms Daly told PA. Were just really looking for a way to get out. The annual Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann which attracts 750,000 people and was scheduled for August in Mullingar, Co Westmeath, has become the latest event to be cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. GLENS FALLS Clarisse Courtoy dreamed about going to an American prom. She said it was one of her main reasons for deciding to leave her home in France to become an exchange student in Queensbury during this school year, other than learning English. However, that dream almost did not happen because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Queensburys prom was originally scheduled for April 4 and she was going to take her American boyfriend Oliver Caron. However, the prom was postponed until May 23. Courtoy was scheduled to return home to Nice on May 10 so she could take her college entrance exams. Her departure date was moved up with the rapidly changing world and would have to miss the prom. I was feeling really bad, that was awful. (At) the same time, my mom was telling me that I will maybe have to leave really soon, she said in an email on Friday back in France after returning home the previous day. Liz Mulshine, who just a week prior took Courtoy as an exchange student after she had to change families, saw how upset she was. It was one of the things she was really looking forward to, Mulshine said. Olivers mother, Val Burlett, wanted to throw together an event. Well put something on in the backyard have food, dancing, she said. The plans for a house party changed after the Mulshines happened to be having dinner on March 14 at Farmacy in downtown Glens Falls. (This was before the state order that prohibitied dining at resaturants effective on March 17 at 9 a.m.) The Mulshines had reached out to the owners of Farmacy, Christina and A.J. Richards and asked them if they could host a group of eight youths for dinner the following day. The owners did them one better and offered the students their two unused upstairs rooms for dinner and dancing. They even came up with a fixed price menu. A local disc jockey provided lighting and a local baker supplied cupcakes. The Queensbury Hotel let them take prom pictures in their lobby. All they had to do was clean out the rooms and decorate the space. Mulshine, her daughter Nora, Courtoy and Burlett worked hard and by 3 p.m., the rooms were ready. Caron said he had a really good time. I feel like it was perfect and Id take that over the actual prom in Queensbury because the people there were super nice. You had great food. There was a local DJ that brought over lights and we had a room to ourselves, he said. Courtoy said having the prom at the restaurant worked out even better than trying to transform one of their houses into a dance room. She said it was an American romantic story that touched her deeply. Courtoy said she arrived back in France to see closed restaurants and public places. When I came home this Thursday, that was really weird. Paris airport was empty! Thats not normal and its surprising, she said. She had wanted to travel and see the world but it was a really hard decision to leave her home. But Im really happy that I took it because I met a lot of awesome people, like people who decided to organize a prom in less than 24 hours, she said. Reach Michael Goot at 518-742-3320 or mgoot@poststar.com and follow his blog poststar.com/blogs/michael_goot/. Love 27 Funny 0 Wow 2 Sad 2 Angry 17 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang at the press conference on Tuesday Photo: Foreign Ministry website The spokespersons of China's Foreign Ministry aimed pointed questions at the US on Friday over the latter's hypocrisy. Geng Shuang said the US government has provided no funds to support China in the coronavirus battle while always touting its share of assistance. He also said the US banished Chinese reporters to hide its public from the truth; and labelling coronavirus "Chinese virus" to pass the buck to China. When asked if Chinese media organizations being cracked down by the US are government-sponsored, while US media organizations sanctioned by the Chinese government are "real media," Geng said that each country has its own way of managing media operations. "Why does the US baselessly judge other countries' media from its own ideological point of view, and why does it mislabel and slander Chinese media?" Geng asked. He added that the US has been using excuses to crack down on Chinese media and Chinese institutes on US soil, and expel Chinese reporters. "China has no intention to change the US political system, but it hopes the US could respect China's system," Geng stressed. Geng said if the US is a firm believer in its system, and it believes that Western democracy will finally prevail, "why is it afraid of the Communist Party of China and Chinese media?" When asked if China has been opaque in sharing coronavirus-related information with the rest of the world and then kicked out US reporters, Geng said "based on this logic, is the US expulsion of 60 Chinese reporters an attempt to keep its public in the dark on coronavirus updates? Are they afraid that China is going to open the buried fact that the US knew a month ago that the pandemic was going to hit US hard? What is the purpose of the US move, and what it is trying to hide?" US President Donald Trump was also caught by media replacing "corona" on his notebook, and deliberately changing it to "Chinese" virus. Geng said some people in the US have been linking the virus to China and engaging in slander, passing the buck to China, which is total ignorance of the facts. Hua Chunying, another spokesperson, also tweeted on Thursday that "China has been updating the US on the coronavirus and its response since Jan. 3. On Jan. 15 the US State Department notified Americans in China of the US CDC's warning about the coronavirus. And now blame China for the delay? Seriously?" In another tweet, Hua noted that US officials said they offered $100 million to China and other countries. "We thank the American people for their kind help. But as a matter of fact, we haven't received a dollar from the US government. By the way, has the US paid its dues to WHO?" Geng clarified that China never received any funds or support from the US government since the coronavirus outbreak, though US officials have expressed their intention to provide $100 million to China. The United States Agency for International Development claimed they would donate masks and protective gear to China, but only notified the latter on March 11 that those materials were ready. Considering the pandemic is receding in China, the Chinese side expressed gratitude to the agency and asked them to send those materials to a country in urgent need. The Western railway on Saturday (March 21, 2020) cancelled six train as a precautionary measure against the coronavirus outbreak in the country. The trains will remain cancelled till March 31, 2020. The Western railway department released the list of six cancelled trains - which include Ujjain-Dehradun (14309), Dehradun-Ujjain (14310), Madgaon-Nizamuddin (22413), Nizamuddin - Madgaon (22414), Mandsaur-Meerut city (29019), Meerut City- Mandsaur (29020). The Indian railways have till now cancelled around 245 pairs of trains after the coronavirus outbreak in the country. On Friday, Indian railways decoded to cancel all passenger trains on Sunday (March 22) in the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s appeal for a `janata curfew`. Notably, all long-distance mail or express and intercity trains originating between 4 am and 10 pm on March 22 will also remain cancelled, according to an Indian Railway's notice. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday appealed to citizens to follow "Janta curfew" on March 22 in the view of novel coronavirus outbreak. In his address to the nation, he said, "I am seeking one more support from every countryman today. This is a public curfew. Janta curfew means for the public, curfew imposed by the public on its own. Every citizen must follow Janta curfew on this Sunday, March 22, from 7 am to 9 pm." The number of coronavirus positive cases has reached to more than 200 in India and till now there are 4 deaths reported. Advertisement Spain today announced 324 new coronavirus deaths while the number of cases in the country surged nearly 5,000 up to 24,926. Spain's Health Ministry said today that COVID-19 deaths had risen to 1,326 from 1,002 in the space of 24 hours. The capital Madrid remains the hardest hit in the country, according to the tally reported by the ministry. The new numbers follow a fresh spike in both deaths and infections on Friday. Spain has issued lockdown orders for some 46 million people who are only permitted to leave their homes for essential work, food shopping, medical reasons or to walk the dog. Italy is Europe's worst affected country in terms of death toll, followed by Spain and France. News of the rising death tally comes as it was revealed that more than 31,000 people have been fined for flouting the lockdown rules announced by Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez last Saturday. Another 350 have been arrested nationwide, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska has revealed. People wait in line outside a supermarket from the Dia chain in Madrid, Spain today. Spain faces the seventh day of national lockdown in an effort to slow down the spread of the pandemic COVID-19 disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus vAn undated fourfold composite photo released today shows residents doing different activities on their balconies during the lockdown in Pamplona, Navarra, northern Spain A passer-by protected with a scarf walks during a rainfall in downtown Madrid today A handout photo made available by the Spanish Defence Ministry shows a member of the Spanish Military Emergency Unit disinfecting seats amid the spreading of coronavirus at the sea port of Malaga, southern Spain today. Spain faces the seventh day of national lockdown in an effort to slow down the spread of the pandemic COVID-19 disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus Catalan police officers wearing facemarks stop a car at a checkpoint as authorities control public movements in Barcelona, Spain today People walk past closed shops and restaurants near the La Sagrada Familia basilica, centre, in Barcelona, Spain on Wednesday Police stopped a couple caught having sex in a parked car in the street in the Madrid neighbourhood of Villaverde. They were told to go home after claiming they could not get intimate with each other where they lived because they shared with too many people. Several people were fined by police in Alicante after they discovered they were taking it in turns to walk the same dog. Another four people were fined after police aborted a rave at a hotel nightclub in Leganes near the Spanish capital in the early hours of Thursday morning. A woman gestures from her balloon-adorned balcony in the village of Santa Margarida de Montbui, Barcelona, Spain today. Each day at noon, the village's residents step out on their balconies to dance to the sound of music Members of the Spanish armed forces disinfect Puerta del Sol metro and train station as the country works to stop the spread of the coronavirus yesterday in Madrid, Spain A member of the Military Emergency Unit (UME) of the Spanish Army disinfects the main train station of Alicante, southeastern Spain last week A priest offers a holy mass to an empty church in As Caldas, Ourense, Galicia, northern Spain yesterday A South American man was arrested by police in Malaga on Thursday near the citys Maria Zambrano train station after going up to strangers in the street and hugging them without their consent. On Tuesday a 40-year-old woman was arrested near the northern Spanish city of Zaragoza for spitting at police officers called to her house following a disturbance. A coronavirus test on her came back positive on Thursday. The state of emergency introduced just before midnight last Saturday in Spain limits peoples ability to leave their homes. Going to work and supermarkets to buy food is allowed as is a short walk with your dog near your normal place of residence so it can relieve itself. Going for a jog or a cycle, even on your own, is not allowed. Several Civil Guard officers stand guard in a security control at an exit highway of Valencia, eastern Spain today Customers exercise social distancing in a queue, waiting outside of a market, in Pamplona, northern Spain, today. For many people the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, but for some it causes more severe illness, especially in older adults and people with existing health problems Spanish Civil Guard officer at a checkpoint to stop drivers who try to leave the city, in Pamplona, northern Spain, today Clothes shops, pubs, restaurants, theatres and cinemas are closed. The lockdown is due to last a fortnight but Spanish government ministers have already said they expect to have to extend it and warned the next few days will be the worst so far. German cases also rose dramatically today, up 2,705 to 16,662, according to the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases. It said a total of 47 people had died after testing positive, an increase of 16 from a tally of 31 published on Friday. Hundreds of millions of people worldwide kicked off the weekend under a coronavirus lockdown, as the global death toll accelerated sharply and the World Health Organization warned young people they were 'not invincible'. The pandemic has completely upended lives across the planet, sharply restricting the movement of huge populations, shutting down schools and businesses, and forcing millions to work from home - while many have lost their livelihoods entirely. While President Donald Trump insisted the United States was 'winning' the war against the virus, individual states dramatically ramped up restrictions, with New York and Illinois joining California in ordering residents to stay home. Director General of World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a news conference on the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Geneva, Switzerland, March 16, 2020 Dr Ghebreyesus said the bug could put a young person 'in hospital for weeks' and could even be deadly while speaking in a virtual press conference in Geneva. Pictured: A man buying food in a New York fast food restaurant yesterday Airport staff welcome members of a medical assistance team from Shenyang upon their return home after helping with the COVID-19 coronavirus recovery effort in Wuhan, in Shenyang in China's northeastern Liaoning province yesterday The virus death toll surged past 11,000 worldwide, with 4,000 alone in worst-hit Italy where the daily number of fatalities has shot up relentlessly over the past week. While the elderly and those with pre-existing medical conditions are the hardest hit by the virus, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that young people were also vulnerable. 'Today I have a message for young people: you are not invincible. 'This virus could put you in hospital for weeks - or even kill you,' Tedros said. 'Even if you don't get sick, the choices you make about where you go could be the difference between life and death for someone else.' China on Saturday reported no new local infections for a third straight day, and the WHO said the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus emerged late last year, offered a glimmer of 'hope for the rest of the world'. Chinese commuters wear protective masks as they ride on a bike at the end of the work day yesterday in Beijing, China. With the pandemic hitting hard across the world, China recorded its third day with no new domestic cases of the coronavirus today Chinese construction workers wear protective masks as they leave a site at the end of the work day yesterday in Beijing, China But there are growing concerns of a new wave of 'imported' infections in the region, with Hong Kong reporting 48 suspected cases on Friday - its biggest daily jump since the crisis began. Many of them have a recent history of travel to or from Europe. Across Europe, governments continued to rigorously enforce lockdown measures as the continent's most celebrated boulevards and squares remained silent and empty even as warmer spring weather arrived. Italy reported its worst single day, adding another 627 fatalities and taking its reported total to 4,032 despite efforts to stem the spread. The nation of 60 million now accounts for 36 per cent of the world's coronavirus deaths and its death rate of 8.6 per cent among confirmed infections is significantly higher than in most other countries. Shoppers with protective masks are pictured waiting to enter the supermarket, at safe distance, during the nationwide lockdown to control the coronavirus spread today Local Police officers performs checks on a road block in Salaria street, enforcing the emergency lockdown in Nomentana street, Rome, Italy today People wait in line in front of a supermarket on Prati Fiscali street in Rome, Italy today. The number of deaths from the pandemic COVID-19 disease caused by the SARS CoV-2 coronavirus in Italy has now surpassed the death toll for all of China, where the outbreak originated Police stop a pedestrian in a public park to check documents in the Martesana district as the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, in the Martesana district, Italy today France, Italy, Spain and other European countries have told people to stay at home, threatening fines in some cases, and Bavaria became the first region in Germany to order a lockdown. Britain, falling in line with its neighbours in the European Union, also announced tougher restrictions, telling pubs, restaurants and theatres to close and promising to help cover the wages of affected workers. With virus fears gripping the United States, its largest state California - with over 1,000 cases and 19 deaths - told its 40 million residents to stay at home. People use an outdoor gym at Oak Hill Park in north London, Britain, 21 March 2020. Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson has urged UK citizens to avoid unnecessary social contacts, to work from home where possible, and to close schools, pubs and restaurants A man wearing a protective face mask gets off a bus on Westminster Bridge, in central London on March 21, 2020, a day after the British government said it would help cover the wages of people hit by the coronavirus outbreak as it tightened restrictions to curb the spread of the disease New York state, which has reported over 7,000 cases and 39 deaths, followed suit on Friday, ordering its nearly 20 million residents to do the same from Sunday evening. Trump applauded the New York and California decisions but said he did not think a nationwide lockdown was needed. 'Those are really two hotbeds,' he said. 'I don't think we'll ever find (a US-wide lockdown) necessary.' U.S. President Donald Trump addresses the daily coronavirus task force briefing as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Vice President Mike Pence and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci listen at the White House yesterday COVID-19 advice signs can be seen at Times Square in New York City yesterday evening A commuter waits for an 'L' train during rush hour in the Loop yesterday in Chicago, Illinois. The train platform would normally be full of commuters at this hour but most companies have elected to have their employees telecommute to help curtail the spread of Covid-19 Shortly after the president spoke, the governor of Illinois ordered residents of the midwestern state to stay at home and the Connecticut governor did the same. The stay-at-home orders put the three most populous cities in the United States - New York, Los Angeles and Chicago - under lockdown. Trump also announced Friday that the US and Mexico have agreed to restrict non-essential travel across their border beginning on Saturday. Meanwhile a staffer in the office of US Vice President Mike Pence, the pointman for Washington's response to the outbreak, tested positive for the coronavirus. France said more than 4,000 people were fined on the first day of confinement and ministers described those breaking the rules as 'idiots'. French Police officers stop members of the public to inspect documents at the Concorde Square last night, while France is under lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus French soldiers prepare material for the installation of a military field hospital at The Emile Muller Hospital in Mulhouse, eastern France, today, on the fifth day of a strict lockdown in France to stop the spread of COVID-19, the novel coronavirus France said more than 4,000 people were fined on the first day of confinement and ministers described those breaking the rules as 'idiots'. Pictured: French Gendarmes checking a citizen's documents in Paris yesterday The strict measures follow the template set by China, as a lockdown imposed in Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital, appeared to have paid off. Europe now accounts for more than half of the world's fatalities linked to COVID-19. Accurate figures are difficult to come by, however, as many of those who die suffer from other illnesses and infection rates are uncertain because of a lack of testing in many countries. Fire brigade crews wearing protective masks carry out disinfection works due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, on Thursday in Tehran, Iran. The death toll in Iran from the coronavirus outbreak rose to 1284 Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei delivers a message of hope for the Iranian New Year, despite the surging rates of coronavirus in the country, yesterday Fire brigade crews wearing protective masks carry out disinfection works due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, on Thursday in Tehran, Iran Cubans wearing protective coverings over their face and gloves as a precaution against the spread of the new coronavirus, flag a taxi outside the Jose Marti International Airport, after their arrival in Havana, Cuba yesterday The shadow of the virus is lengthening across Africa and the Middle East too. Gabon confirmed sub-Saharan Africa's second known death, with reported cases across Africa standing at more than 900 and rising fast. In Iran, both supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani promised the country would overcome the outbreak - but still refused to join the rest of the world in imposing heavy restrictions. Bolivian soldiers stand guard at the presidential palace in La Paz, after the government asked residents to stay indoors to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in La Paz, Bolivia on Thursday View of empty streets, after a curfew was decreed, in Cali, Colombia, today. Colombian authorities confirmed 17 new cases of coronavirus on 20 March, bringing the number of people infected in the country to 145, none of them fatal, but one cured Police and Military forces taking security measures during the mandatory isolation simulation in Bogota, today Colombian authorities announced a mandatory isolation simulation as a preventive measure against the spread of the COVID-19 in different cities of the Country In Latin America, Cuba and Bolivia both announced they were closing their borders, and Colombia said it would begin mandatory isolation from Tuesday. The pandemic has sparked fears of a global recession, battering the world's stock markets and prompting governments to push huge spending plans to limit the damage. The global sporting calendar, shredded by the pandemic, still has one major event coming up that has not yet been called off - the 2020 summer Olympic Games in Tokyo. Mumbai, March 21 : Essel Group Chairman Subhash Chandra, who earlier skipped the Enforcement Directorate (ED) summon in the money laundering probe against Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor and others, was questioned by the probe agency here on Saturday. A senior ED official said that Chandra, who is also a Rajya Sabha MP, appeared before the probe agency in connection with the case and was questioned about his group's loans. The official said that Chandra's statement was recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Chandra arrived at the ED office at Ballard Estate at about 11 a.m. and was questioned for several hours. The official said that besides Chandra, former Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal was also questioned by the ED in connection with a separate money laundering case linked to the alleged financial fraud with a Mumbai-based tours and travel company. The official said that Goyal has been asked to appear before the agency in connection with the Yes Bank case later. Earlier Goyal had also skipped the ED summon citing personal reasons. According to ED officials, promoters of crisis-hit DHFL, Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan, had also skipped ED summons in connection with the money laundering probe against Kapoor citing Covid-19 threat for their non-appearance. The ED has summoned the borrowers as part of its probe into the stressed loans sanctioned during the tenure of Rana Kapoor. IANS was first to report on Monday morning that the ED was all set to summon all the top borrowers of the bank for questioning in connection with its money laundering probe into the Yes Bank case. The CBI and ED began a probe into the short-term debentures of the DHFL in which Yes Bank had invested Rs 3,700 crore from April to June 2018. The probe is part of another investigation pertaining to Yes Bank's purchase of debentures from DHFL against which the company was granted loans totalling Rs 600 crore against a collateral security of around Rs 40 crore only. The loan amount later turned into non-performing asset (NPA). It was alleged that DHFL's promoter Kapil Wadhawan simultaneously paid kickbacks totalling Rs 600 crore to the Kapoors in the form of a loan of a similar amount to DoIT Urban Ventures, a venture owned by Rana Kapoor's daughters -- Rakhee Kapoor Tandon, Roshni Kapoor and Radha Kapoor. It was also alleged that Yes Bank did not initiate action to recover the loans extended to DHFL. The ED arrested Rana Kapoor on March 8 after several hours of questioning and he was sent to ED custody till March 20. One of Rana Kapoor's daughters was stopped from boarding a flight to London by immigration department officials at the Mumbai airport. Last Friday, the CBI registered a fresh case against Rana Kapoor, his wife Bindu Kapoor and Avantha Realty Promoter Gautam Thapar in a fresh case involving the crisis-hit bank. The ED also registered a fresh case of money laundering against Kapoor and his wife on Tuesday. T here have been more than 4,000 confirmed coronavirus cases across the UK since the outbreak began, after Wales and Northern Ireland announced more infections today. The UK-wide figure had been at 3,983 as of Friday. Wales earlier announced 89, before 22 were detailed in Northern Ireland and then a further 51 from Scotland, taking the UK tally to more than 4,100 confirmed cases. This figure does not account for those who may have recovered since their diagnosis. A healthcare worker in Northern Ireland / PA Scotland also announced a further death of a coronavirus patient. This would take the UK toll of patient deaths to at least 178. A further UK-wide tally, including England's numbers, is expected to be released later on Saturday. Dr Chris Williams, Incident Director for the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak response at Public Health Wales, said:89 new cases have tested positive for Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Wales, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 280, although the true number of cases is likely to be higher. Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) is now circulating in every part of Wales. Three people in Wales who tested positive for Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) have now died." A quiet London street amid social distancing policies / PA First Minister Arlene Foster said: "Life in Northern Ireland will be different, as it is across the world, for a time, but that time will come to an end and we must be able to come out the other side. We will do that by having each others backs." The actual figure of people with the virus in the UK is believed to be far higher. as not everyone will have been tested. The Government closed all pubs, bars and restaurants on Friday in a bid to slow the spread of the virus in the UK. But Mr Johnson said on Thursday that the UK "can turn the tide" against coronavirus within 12 weeks. Empty streets in UK after pubs and restaurants close 1 /8 Empty streets in UK after pubs and restaurants close An empty Westfield Stratford City Getty Images The empty car park outside a cinema in Leicester, after Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered pubs, restaurants, leisure centres and gyms across the country to close PA Westminster Bridge is quiet in London AFP via Getty Images A pedestrian walks past a closed pub in New Cross, south London PA Cyclists keep their distance in Richmond Park PA A sparse Odeon cinema in Leicester after the Government ordered leisure facilities to close PA He added: "Im absolutely confident that we can send coronavirus packing in this country. But only if we all take the steps that weve outlined, that is vital, thats how were going to reduce the peak." But some people went for one last night of fun that evening - even after Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned Brits "not to be tempted". The NHS is close to capacity / Getty Images Streets across the country were empty on Saturday as the need for limiting social contact began to hit the home in the UK. Deputy chief medical officer Dr Jenny Harries said the official advice was not dont go outside but to reduce social contact when leaving the house. There are already concerns the NHS is close to being overstretched. Northwick Park hospital in London said on Thursday it had run out of critical care beds. The hospital resolved the situation on Friday, but warned that it could happen again. And others have criticised the Government for exposing front-line NHS workers to coronavirus by not giving them proper equipment. Lisa Anderson, a senior cardiologist at St George's Hospital in London, told the BBC's Today programme that Government rules meant that equipment used by NHS staff was no longer up to World Health Organisation standards. Boris Johnson is looking to defuse a civil liberties row over coronavirus emergency laws by dropping plans for the powers to last two years without a further Commons vote, it has been claimed. Sources say the Government is seriously considering a request from Labour for MPs to vote every six months on whether to renew the wartime-style legislation. But the move is unlikely to see off a Tory revolt over the Coronavirus Bill, with former Brexit Secretary David Davis saying yesterday it was 'flawed and based on uncertain medicine and science'. Boris Johnson is looking to defuse a civil liberties row over coronavirus emergency laws MPs will on Monday debate the 329-page draft law which would hand the state draconian new powers, including police being able to quarantine infectious people refusing to co-operate for up to a month and fine them 1,000. The draft Bill to be fast-tracked through the Commons makes clear the sweeping powers would last up to two years without a further vote, sparking warnings that dozens of Tory MPs will rebel tomorrow and demand a shorter review period. But now sources say the Government is seriously considering agreeing to Labour demands for the legislation to be subject to a Commons vote every six months. A source stressed the new powers would only ever be used if absolutely necessary. But he added that Ministers wanted to maintain the spirit of consensus reached with the Opposition over fighting the virus and may now agree to Labour's request. The emergency laws debate comes amid plans for the Army to draft in 20,000 personnel to help police the capital and ensure delivery of vital supplies if necessary. Brexit Secretary David Davis said the move was 'flawed and based on uncertain medicine and science' Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn wrote to the Prime Minister last week to say that although people understood the need for temporary restrictions, the plans were so far-reaching that MPs should decide every six months whether to renew the legislation, until the law expires in two years' time. But Mr Davis warned Labour's 'confused' proposal could simply lead to the laws being regularly 'rubber-stamped' by MPs, and he insisted the legislation should instead expire after one year. That would allow for a proper review of the powers, not simply rolling over approval every six months. Mr Davis said: 'Let's give them the benefit of the doubt now and say the whole thing stops dead in 12 months. And if at nine months we decide we need another Bill, we take three months to do it properly on the basis of real knowledge and proper parliamentary scrutiny.' Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn wrote to the Prime Minister last week to say that MPs should decide every six months whether to renew the legislation He added that the current draft legislation 'is bound to be flawed' adding: 'It's based on uncertain medicine and science, very uncertain economics and uncertain knowledge of what will happen throughout society.' Mr Davis also branded the police detention powers as 'unnecessarily excessive'. Last week, senior Tory MP Tom Tugendhat also raised concerns over the time-frame, saying: 'Given that the Prime Minister expects this to be over in three months, the Government must explain why it's asking for the powers to last ten times as long.' No10 last night insisted it was still sticking to its two-year time-frame: 'The measures in the Bill are temporary, proportionate to the threat we face, will only be used when strictly necessary, and will be in place as long as required to deal with the situation.' A disaster declaration by the city of Dayton has changed the business climate in the city, but the Dayton Chamber of Commerce is following the guidelines and making the best of the situation by providing help to owners struggling in a rapidly changing environment. The declaration comes in addition to an executive order from Governor Greg Abbott that limits social gatherings to 10 people, prohibit eating and drinking at restaurants and bars while still allowing takeout, close gyms, ban people from visiting nursing homes except for critical care, and temporarily close schools. We are reaching out to our members and other businesses in the community, said Paula Moorhaj, executive director for the Dayton Chamber of Commerce. The closure of the Dayton Community Center in adherence to the proclamation has forced the cancellation of numerous activities and has hampered facilitating any kind of meetings. Instead, we are in the process of calling all of our members to gauge what they need and trying to help them meet those needs, Moorhaj said. She emphasized they are still available to serve the membership by phone, email, or by appointment. Some businesses have responded to our request for information, but wed like them all to chat with us so we can get their information out to the public, she said. Mexican food restaurant Los Compadres at 401 W. Clayton in Dayton was still open at press time and serving take-out food. You can call and place your order and they will bring your order out so hes doing his part and I hope we will be able to post some exciting information from them in the next couple of days, she said. Moorhaj has posted a request from businesses on their Facebook account and hope they will respond as soon as possible. If you (restaurants or any food establishments) have any kinds of deals youre offering to the public, please respond and we will do our best to help get the word out, she said. Neither the county nor the city have issued any declarations that would require the closure of any restaurants or bars or any businesses, but are mandated to follow the national and local declarations and recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta that require no more than 10 people in a gathering at one time. We have been recommending to food businesses that they use their wait staff as delivery drivers since there really isnt any delivery services like Grub Hub or Door Dash in our area that we know of, she said. Moorhaj said the local eateries are doing a great job. We have talked to several of them and they are doubling and tripling their normal routine of cleaning and disinfecting, she said. Many of the businesses, she said, boast great menus for take-out. I think I have ordered from every one of them at some given time. We really encourage everyone to support them even more now because we want them to remain in our town for a long time to come, she said. Please call or check websites before going to many businesses as they are closed or working remotely. At the chamber office, they are practicing good hand washing habits, no handshaking, and wiping down of doorknobs and often touched surfaces. Its business as normal, with precautions. We ask that you also take precautions and remember to shop local to help support our families during this time, she asked. One of the major events that has been affected by the shutdown is the annual Mud Bug Fest. We will be refunding any sponsorship dollars received so far, Moorhaj said. We have to follow the CDCs recommendations. We hope to reschedule a similar event when things settle down, but it might be too late for mudbugs, she said. Moorhaj urged consumers to shop local now more than ever to support the towns economy and local stores. To reach Moorhaj email paula@daytontxchamber.com or call her at 936-256-4181; or contact Jessica Sims at essica@daytontxchamber.com or call 936-256-4155; or contact Staci Wise at staci@daytontxchamber.com or call at 936-256-9390. The chamber office number is 936-257-2393. dtaylor@hcnonline.com The Kerala High Court on Friday rejected the petition seeking the online sale of liquor to reduce crowd at the liquor outlets in the wake of COVID-19 threat. G Jyothish, an Aluva native, filed the plea. "While the state is struggling to cope with the threat, such a petition is an attempt to mock the judiciary. The petitioner has to pay Rs 50,000 to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund within two weeks," the High Court observed. "While the courts consider only cases of urgent importance in the public interest, this selfish behaviour is condemned," the court said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Copyright 2020 Albuquerque Journal SANTA FE Accused child killer Jordan Nunez is facing 14 to 24 years in prison after pleading guilty as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors in a case involving the 2017 death of 13-year-old Jeremiah Valencia. In front of a small crowd in a 1st Judicial District courtroom in Santa Fe on Friday, Nunez, 21, pleaded guilty to recklessly allowing the abuse of Valencia and two counts of tampering with evidence for wrapping the boys body in plastic and helping bury it not far from the home they shared in Nambe. Prosecutors and Nunezs attorneys filed a motion for a plea agreement on Wednesday, more than two years after Valencia died as a result of months of abuse inflicted upon him by Nunez and his father, Thomas Ferguson, and Tracy Ann Pena, Valencias mother and Fergusons girlfriend. Due to the recent COVID-19 outbreak, the court allowed 10 spectators for the hearing. Some watched the proceedings on video screens in adjoining courtrooms. Chief Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Padgett Macias said a jury trial would have shown how Nunezs actions, or lack thereof, resulted in Valencias death. Despite the opportunities to do so, (Nunez) failed to stop Ferguson and failed to intervene to protect Jeremiah, she said. And Jeremiah died as a result. Nunez, Padgett Macias said, was in the bedroom where the final beatdown took place, during which Valencia suffered injuries that medical examiners were expected to testify contributed to his death. Nunez also pleaded to helping Ferguson force Valencia inside a dog crate, where he was kept for several days. Valencias sister testified in September 2018 that Nunez repeatedly flipped the dog crate with Valencia inside. Padgett Macias said after the hearing that prosecutors decided to make a plea deal partly because of the complexity of the defenses strategy, including the claim that Nunez acted under the abusive control of Ferguson. We wouldve had a tough time overcoming the boogeyman and the monster that Ferguson was, she said. Ferguson committed suicide in April 2018 in the Santa Fe County jail while awaiting trial for Valencias death, leaving a note proclaiming his innocence. Padgett Macias said prosecutors informed Valencias sister, who was 12 at the time of the abuse and witnessed much of it, about the terms of the plea deal. It was most important to talk to the sister, and I think its all still ruminating and resonating with her, she said, adding the girl might speak at Nunezs sentencing hearing. First Judicial District Judge Matthew Wilson told the court he expects a three-day sentencing hearing in June. Pena reached a plea deal with prosecutors in November 2018, agreeing to a 12-year sentence for her part in the death of her child in exchange for her testifying against Nunez at trial. Curfew-like restrictions on the movement and assembly of people will be imposed in Kashmir as part of the Prime Minister's appeal to observe a 'Janata curfew' on Sunday to check the spread of coronavirus, police said. Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kashmir, Vijay Kumar said extra police force will be deployed in the valley to ensure that strict restrictions are imposed. He appealed to people to cooperate with the police and other security forces. "It may be janta curfew by name, but the history of Kashmir is such that whatever the situation is, the restrictions cannot be imposed without the police or security forces enforcing them," he told reporters at a press conference. He said the motive of the curfew is to break the chain of the spread of the novel coronavirus. When asked whether the restrictions would continue on Monday, the IGP said that would be communicated to the people as and when required. Kumar also said that bulk SMS services will be started Saturday evening to allow the spread of awareness messages to the people. Divisional Commissioner Kashmir Pandurang K Pole, who accompanied the IGP, also appealed to the people to comply with the curfew call as the country has passed the second stage and is entering the stage three of the deadly disease. "This is the third phase and the fourth and fifth phase will come. In the fourth stage, the numbers do not increase and in the fifth stage, corona is in the winding state like the once currently in China. We cannot tell exactly how many days it will take, but the current stage is the third stage," he said. The divisional commissioner said the government is alert and prepared to contain the spread of the virus. Kashmir has two facilities to check for coronavirus and samples were being collected at five locations in the valley, he said. On a question whether the first positive case of the virus in the valley had used VIP influence to escape the mandatory screening, the divisional commissioner said the woman had filled the self-declaration form and was advised home quarantine. "The Khanyar woman had filled the self-declaration form and had been advised to undergo home quarantine. The doctors had advised her for home quarantine according to the advisories which were in force then. The contact with tertiary institutes when complications developed was a bit late, but we took action immediately by taking various steps. Seventeen people who were in close contact with the woman are in isolation and she is stable," he said. Pole said the authorities are verifying the travel details of those who reached the valley in the last few days. Meanwhile, Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police Dilbag Singh chaired a high-level meeting with the heads of all police wings, zones, districts and units to review the preparation in view of the coronavirus outbreak. He passed necessary directions to safeguard his men from the novel coronavirus and said adequate funds have been made available to all units for making necessary purchases. "Isolation rooms must be created in all the district police lines and suitable places be identified for providing quarantine facilities to the police personnel," he said. He directed the zonal inspector generals of police and the medical superintendent to visit these places and make a list of the requirements so that the facilities are made operations as quickly as possible. "Since police has to respond to different situations which include the quarantine designated places, the men deployed for such duties must be having full protecting gear so that they are safeguarded. Adequate funds have been made available to all the units for making different purchases and more funds will be allocated for providing these facilities," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Doris Carron of Ramparts, Greenore, passed away peacefully with her family around her in the dedicated care of the staff of Saint Francis Nursing Home, Mount Oliver. She was predeceased by her husband, Paddy Carron and recently by her son Francis. Doris was the youngest of eight children of the late James and Bridget McGrath, Rathcor, Riverstown. She is deeply missed by her loving family, Mary, Patrick, Caroline, Stephanie, Keith and Olivia, daughters-in-law, Caroline and Jacqueline, sons-in-law, Kevin, Derek and Mark, and all her grandchildren who she loved and adored, also all her nieces and nephews, relatives and friends. Doris is survived by her sister, Kitty Sheelan, sister-in-law, Maureen McGrath, brothers-in-law, Owenie Treanor and Peter Sorohan. She was born in her home in Rathcor in June 1932, and attended the local school in Rathcor where she made many lifelong friends. At a young age Doris travelled over to England to assist her sisters in caring for their young children. She later returned and took up employment at the Ballymascanlon Hotel, where she enjoyed her time and made many friends. She had some great stories of this time in her life and when she met her husband Paddy Carron. They married in March, 1959 and lived in Dublin for a while, before returning to live in Greenore. Doris soon learned to drive so she could visit her beloved mother in Rathcor when she earned the fond name Stanley from her late brother, Terence. She continued to drive until the age of 83. Having got the travel bug early in life, no journey was too far. She travelled to Boston to visit her daughter Mary and her family, bringing her favourite brown bread, Tayto Crisps and Cadburys Crunchies. She also visited her daughter Olivia and her family who live in Wales. They loved to hear she was coming over, whether it was for communions or confirmations. She never missed an occasion. Doriss love of style and fashion was well known. She was the life and soul of any party. She loved people and making friends and theyll all agree, she always told you what she thought. Doris was fortunate to have lifelong friends and continued to make lasting friendships throughout life, especially with young people. Her family were touched by the number of people from the many parts of Doris life who paid tribute to the wonderful person she was. Doris reposed at her son Keiths home where she lived, before removal to Saint James Church, Grange for funeral mass on Wednesday, February 5, 2020, and burial afterwards in the adjoining cemetery. The funeral was a fitting tribute, celebrated by Father Malachy Conlon PP. The beautiful music was performed by Roisin and Evelyn Crawley and organist Olivia Finnegan. Noi Bai International Airport's staff guide passengers to quarantine areas (Photo: VNA) National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines on March 19 announced that it will stop flights between Vietnam and ASEAN countries of Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar, starting from March 21. The carriers services between Vietnam and the UK and Japan will be suspended as from March 23. Meanwhile, its flights departing from Vietnam bound for Germany and Australia will be halted from March 24, and those departing from those two countries for Vietnam will be halted from the next day. Jetstar Pacific also announced the suspension of its international flights until April 30. Similarly, budget airline Vietjet Air will suspend its flights from/to Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Myanmar and Indonesia starting from March 20. The suspension is projected to last until the end of April, but will depend on COVID-19 situation. However, Vietjet Air has yet to make decision on its routes between Vietnam and Taiwan, Japan and India. Vietnams newest carrier Bamboo Airways said the air route connecting Hanoi and Prague of the Czech Republic, which was initially planned to be launched on March 29, will be delayed to April 26 due to impact of the COVID-19. The airlines international flights have been suspended. Representatives of the airlines said passengers of the affected flights during the COVID-19 outbreak would be able to change their departure date and destinations to later dates free of charge when the outbreak is under control. Earlier, Vietnamese airlines had suspended flights from/to mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, the Republic of Korea, France, Russia and Malaysia in the face of the COVID-19. Starting from March 19, passengers with travel history to epidemic-hit areas arriving in Noi Bai International Airport will be sent straight to concentrated quarantine facilities and have their samples taken there, in a bid to reduce overloading at the airport. HAVANA -- Cuba will bar foreign visitors from entering the country for a month starting Tuesday in a bid to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus in the Caribbean island nation, President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on Friday. The country will continue to allow Cubans and foreign residents entry, although they will have to go into quarantine for 14 days at a sanitary institution upon arrival, he told a televised roundtable. Foreign visitors will be able to return home and commerce will be allowed. Cuba is one of the last countries in the region to impose some kind of border closure as the highly contagious disease takes hold in Latin America and the Caribbean. This should enable us to stop [importing] cases and to focus on detecting those there are in the country and stopping transmission, Diaz-Canel said, adding that the restrictions could be extended depending on the situation. Tourism is one of Cubas top income earners although arrivals had already started shrinking in recent days as countries that are the top sources of visitors to the island started advising against travel. Already planes are mainly coming to pick up visitors, many arrive empty, like those coming from Canada, Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero said on the roundtable. Possibly all hotels will close. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Cuba rose to 21 on Friday -- 10 of those foreigners -- with 716 people hospitalized on suspicion of having the disease, according to the health ministry. A 61-year old Italian tourist, who was one of the first cases to be confirmed in Cuba nine days ago, also became the first coronavirus fatality this week. Diaz-Canel called for Cubans to start practicing social distancing, avoid crowds and trips on public transport at peak hours, and cancel social outings. Something very difficult due to Cubans nature, but very necessary, is the elimination of effusive greetings, he said. No kisses or hugs and greetings at a prudent distance until the epidemic passes by. The president said the country could take more severe measures in the coming days or even hours, depending on the spread of the virus. Interior Commerce Minister Betsy Diaz said 151 workshops were currently making face masks and called on citizens to aid production by contributing fabric. Many Cubans are making their own face masks at home. When Dennis Najjar and Bill Gerber launched AccountingDepartment.com in 2004, they defied convention. Najjar was the unconventional accountant, an entrepreneurial CPA living in New Jersey and dreaming of how he could utilize the internet and automated processes before automation was even a thing. Gerber wasnt an accountant; he was a Connecticut business owner who went bankrupt because he didnt have financial processes. In a strange twist of fate, while Najjar was envisioning building a virtual accounting company, Gerber arrived in his office. Both had realized that most entrepreneurs didnt want to see spreadsheets but still needed someone to deliver the right information to make better decisions in business speak instead of accounting speak. Living two states apart, the fact that Najjar and Gerber found each other seems like destiny. After countless interstate meetings, a rough business plan and a handshake between this unlikely pair, AccountingDepartment.com was born. Sixteen years later, the company has grown to 135 employees, with double-digit growth every year. Here are Najjar and Gerbers six lessons for taking a startup to scale-up. 1. Match your solution to your customers needs. Instead of accountants doing accountant work, the co-founders prioritized the customer: What did they need? What information would help build a better business? How should that information be packaged so they could use it? Gerber understood the frustrations entrepreneurs felt with their financials, and Najjar could communicate the numbers in a way that made sense. The lesson: Figure out what your customers need and build your competencies around the solution. 2. Niche down. Instead of becoming proficient in all accounting software, Najjar and Gerber strategically specialized in just one: QuickBooks. Specialization unlocks the deep functionality of a tool, which gave the co-founders' customers unmatched visibility into their financials. It also allowed them to train their employees to become experts because they werent doing broad, basic training in all accounting software. The lesson: Most businesses try to be everything to everyone. Specialization enables you to create comprehensive solutions over other basic offerings. 3. Prioritize your employees. We hire the best, train them well and support them, so they dont leave, says Gerber. We even part ways with a client if they dont treat our employees well, adds Najjar. Its harder to replace an excellent team member than a client. To build their culture, Najjar and Gerber focused on finding an equal or better way to do everything that a physical office would offer, but virtually. They asked each new employee about their positive experiences in physical offices, finding a virtual equivalent that met the same needs and then encouraging employees to champion their causes. We have a team fitness club, fantasy leagues for every sport, a recipe club and paid volunteer time and we listen to every new suggestion, says Gerber. The lesson: Money alone wont retain the best employees; they need to feel like valued community members. 4. Dont quit when challenges arise. Gerber and Najjar self-funded the launch of AccountingDepartment.com. Finding the right technology was critical as a virtual business but challenging in the early 2000s. We spent $80,000 in our first year on a server that didnt do the job, recalls Gerber. We had to take money out of our houses and credit cards to fund it. It was a hard knock, but the co-founders believed in their vision. They found a new data center, and while that brought other challenges, they pushed through. We knew that eventually, technology would catch up to what we needed we just had to stay operational until it did, says Najjar. The lesson: All businesses have inevitable ups and downs. Stay true to the vision and find imperfect solutions to remain operational. 5. Be willing to fund your growth. I wanted to attend a trade show when we were starting, but it cost $30,000, recalls Gerber. Dennis agreed that I should go, as long as we saw a return on the investment. So, we worked out what I needed to get out of the show to achieve that, he continues. Now we attend 50 shows a year. If you want to succeed, take risks and put your money where your mouth is. Its that simple. The lesson: You cant expect customers to invest in you if you arent willing to invest in yourself. 6. Shift with the market. What works initially doesnt always work later. When we started as a virtual, outsourced business, no one even knew what the cloud was, laughs Gerber. Now anyone with a laptop can offer outsourced accounting services and theyll do it piecemeal for a low price. Instead of compromising, the co-founders changed their strategy. We realized that if we could service a $1-million business, we could service a $10- or $100-million business, says Gerber. Freelancers arent playing at that level. We grew by creating a new market for ourselves. The lesson: Keep a pulse on your business landscape, and shift it to where your competitors arent playing. Whether youre running a physical office or a virtual business, these lessons are universal. Ultimately, it comes down to a simple formula: Who is your customer, what do they need and how are you delivering the solution and supporting the people who execute it for you? Connect with Bill Gerber and Dennis Najjar on LinkedIn, or visit AccountingDepartment.com. Want to share your insights in a future article like this? Join The Oracles. Related: This $15 Course Can Teach You How to Scale a Business on YouTube 6 Lessons to Help Take Your Business to Double-Digit Growth El director de Crecimiento de Alibaba nos dice cuales son los 3 desafios criticos para las empresas Copyright 2020 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved Two Harris County Sheriffs deputies have tested positive for COVID-19, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez announced Friday night. The two deputies did not work in the jail, or in the same location, according to a statement detailing the news. They are now quarantined at home, where their symptoms are being monitored. While weve known that the likelihood of a positive COVID-19 test within our ranks was practically inevitable, todays news is a gut punch to our Sheriffs Office family, Gonzalez said, in the news release. Each day, the men and women of the Harris County Sheriffs Office consistently report for duty, risking their own health and safety for the community they swore to protect. Now is the time for our community to show their gratitude by heeding warnings to stay home and practice social distancing to minimize the risk to all first responders. Lives are at stake. THE FIRST 50: What we can learn from the Houston-area people first diagnosed with COVID-19 One of the deputies, a man in his late 60s, recently traveled to New York. He has not reported for duty since returning from his trip. The other deputy is a woman in her late 20s who last reported for duty on March 11. Spokesman Jason Spencer said the sheriffs office is working with Harris County Public Health to identify people, including co-workers and members of the public, who may have had contact with the two deputies. Testing for the deputies co-workers is expected to begin as soon as Saturday. CORONAVIRUS UPDATES: Stay informed with accurate reporting you can trust Harris County Deputies Organization President David Cuevas said he was aware of both cases. He'd spoken to the female deputy, who was in good spirits, and would be reaching out to the male deputy as soon as possible. "The deputy I spoke to is in good spirits," he said. "Myself, the department, and the union support her in anything she needs, and we are family and we're praying for her and her recovery." "Obviously we want to make sure everyone in the law enforcement community is COVID-19 free," he continued. "But we understand there are going to be circumstances where people test positive. We want the public to be reassured we are prepared and ready to continued to provide law enforcement services in the county." Lagos Central Mosque appeared deserted on Friday as authorities cancelled regular prayer services amid efforts to stem the spread of the new coronavirus. A spokesperson for the mosque, Sikiru Alabi-Macfoy, said the move was in compliance with a state government ban on religious and public gatherings of more than 50 people. The weekly service has been halted for at least 4 weeks. Meanwhile, many people carried on with business as usual at the city's busy Balogun market. One trader said she feared the virus less than the closure of the market, where she earns her daily living. "The lower masses are the ones affected most... they can try and buy a cup of rice or a cup of beans or a bowl of garri to feed their family. After that they still come out again to do their daily activities to earn money and make their profit", said Ganiyat Agunbiade. In addition to the ban on large gatherings, Nigeria has closed three international airports but those in Lagos and the capital, Abuja, remained open. The west African country has so far reported twelve cases of the new coronavirus. For most people, the virus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. The vast majority of people recover from the new virus. According to the World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to recover. Given the coronavirus outbreak, Portland-area YMCA centers will pivot from offering camps and swim lesson to provide child care and early learning programs for the children of essential workers, YMCA officials said Friday. The YMCA of Columbia-Willamette will convert its membership facilities in Beaverton, Sherwood and Vancouver beginning Monday to offer early learning and school age child care for working families, medical personnel and first responders. The YMCA will also continue to provide child care to children from all kinds of households at 13 of its child development centers. YMCA officials said they encourage families to keep their children at home amid the virus outbreak. But they said they recognize many parents are critical to the response of the public pandemic and do not have child care alternatives. The YMCA is asking for donations to support its work to help those families. -- Betsy Hammond; betsyhammond@oregonian.com; @chalkup Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 21:25:57|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close WUHAN, March 21 (Xinhua) -- More than 1,000 migrant workers departed their hometown in Hubei for the city of Hangzhou in east China on Saturday after the virus outbreak situation eased across Hubei Province. A total of 1,071 migrant workers in Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture set out for Hangzhou on a special train on Saturday morning. These migrant workers possess health codes that would exempt them from observing the 14-day quarantine rule once they arrive as Hangzhou and Enshi recognize each other's health codes. Li Jinggui, from Jianshi County, boarded the train with his wife and two children. "My boss has been asking me to go back because the factory needs workers. I'm glad to get back on the free train," he said. The train rides are managed by local human resources authorities. No passenger is allowed to get off the train halfway to prevent risk. More than 5,000 people from Enshi work in Hangzhou as part of the east-west cooperative poverty reduction program. They work in electronics, manufacturing and service sectors in Hangzhou. Since mid-March, hundreds of employees in the prefecture have arrived at Hangzhou by bus. By Wednesday, all cities and counties in Hubei had been labeled as low risk except for Wuhan. These cities, counties and districts have no newly confirmed cases in the last 14 days, and thus are categorized as low-risk regions. As testing and positive cases of the coronavirus in New Jersey continue to increase, more schools are finding connections to the outbreak. Morristown High School is the latest to add a connection after the district announced on Friday a student is presumed to be positive after displaying symptoms following a positive test of a member of the students household. Gov. Phil Murphy said as of Friday the state now has at least 890 cases, including 11 deaths. Officials announced 155 new positive tests. As of Saturday morning, the following schools had reported contact with a person diagnosed with COVID-19. This post will be updated as more cases are announced. Bergen County Cliffside Park School District Superintendent announced Thursday that a staff member at School #4 tested positive for COVID-19 and a staff member at School #6 was in contact with a family member who tested positive for it. Read the superintendents full letter. Students and staff from George Washington School in Edgewater were told to quarantine through March 29, after someone from the district tested positive. The school serves pre-K through second grade. The order also applied to Eleanor Van Gelder School students who ride bus #2. Students and staff at Anna C. Scott School in Leonia were asked to quarantine after a staff member at the elementary school tested positive for the coronavirus. The order lasts through March 27, and also applied to middle school students who attended SACC," an out-of-school program, as well as the staff members who worked in the program. Essex County A foreign language teacher at Heritage Middle School in Livingston tested positive and is quarantined. They were at the school through March 11, officials said Wednesday. Hudson County Someone who attended a career fair at Harrison High School last week tested positive for COVID-19, the schools principal announced Wednesday. The person began to show symptoms two days after the fair. Hunterdon County An employee at Hunterdon Central High has tested positive for COVID-19, the schools superintendent announced Thursday. The school has consulted with the Hunterdon County Department of Health, which confirmed the case and the department will contact anyone who is at-risk residing in the region. Those at-risk individuals who reside outside the region will receive notification from their appropriate health department. Mercer County The Princeton Health Department announces a confirmed case of coronavirus from an employee of Riverside Elementary School. The employee is not a resident of Princeton and was under under medical supervision. The health department was in the process of identifying and contacting all those who may have come in contact with the infected employee. Timerberlane Middle School in the Hopewell Valley Regional School District in Pennington announced a teacher had tested positive Wednesday night. They were asymptomatic when last at school. Middlesex County An employee at Middlesex County Vocational and Technical Schools in Perth Amboy tested positive on Friday. Two Edison School District staff members have tested positive for COVID19, one employee works at the Board of Education Office and the other at Lindeneau Elementary School. Persons who were in direct contact with each of the individuals have been contacted and instructed to monitor their daily health, and if they become symptomatic to seek medical attention. A family member of a student at Walter M. Schirra Elementary School in Old Bridge Township, Middlesex County, tested positive last Friday. Monmouth County Students at Freehold Township High School had immediate family members test positive for the coronavirus and have been in self quarantine since last week. The students have not exhibited any symptoms. Red Bank Regional High School announced a presumptive positive case of the coronavirus for a student on March 11. Morris County The Morris School District announced on Friday a member of the household of a Morristown High School student tested positive for the coronavirus, and the student is assumed to be positive as well after developing symptoms. Morristown High School last held classes on March 13, and the student attended classes until the school was closed. The student was exposed to the coronavirus prior to the school closing, so the district has asked students and families to monitor for symptoms. No other cases or symptoms have been reported among the student body. A nursery school employee at a pre-school associated with the Morristown Jewish Center tested positive March 13. Children and employees were asked to self-quarantine for 14 days. A Mount Olive Middle School employee has tested positive for the virus, the district announced. The townships health department said it would reach out to individuals who may have been affected. Passaic County A staffer at Eastern Christian High School, a private school in North Haledon, tested positive for the virus. Union County A teacher in the Cranford Public School District tested positive, the district announced Wednesday night. The teacher lives in Monmouth County, according to the districts website. NJ Advance Medias Amanda Hoover contributed to this report. Sign up for text message alerts from NJ.com on coronavirus in New Jersey: If you would like updates on New Jersey-specific coronavirus news, subscribe to our Coronavirus in N.J. newsletter. Tell us your coronavirus stories, whether its a news tip, a topic you want us to cover, or a personal story you want to share. Chris Ryan may be reached at cryan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisRyan_NJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 20, 2020) - American Battery Metals Corp. (CSE: ABC) (the "Company" or "American Battery" or "we") is pleased to announce that further to the Definitive Agreement announced on March 6th, 2020, the Company has received the necessary shareholder support from over 50% of the votes and the transaction is expected to close early next month. In addition, the Company announces that its annual general and special meeting of shareholders (the "Meeting") will be held on Tuesday, April 7, 2020. The Company's notice of meeting and information circular (the "Meeting Materials") have been mailed to shareholders and are also available on the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. The Company also advises that it is closely monitoring developments related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and will evaluate possible alternatives to an in-person Meeting as necessary. As set forth in the Meeting Materials, matters to be voted on at the Meeting include the election of directors, the appointment of Dale Matheson Carr-Hilton LaBonte LLP, Chartered Professional Accountants as the Company's auditors and approval of the Company's incentive stock option plan. The following are biographies for each of the individuals standing for election as directors at the Meeting: Jeremy Poirier - Mr. Poirier has over 15 years of experience in the capital markets, built a strong network of investor and industry contacts, served on a number of boards, and held senior officer positions at several public and private companies. Mr. Poirier was a co-founder of Pure Energy Minerals Ltd. and served as a Director from December 2013 to September 2016, in addition to holding a senior management role. During his tenure with Pure Energy, he reviewed numerous lithium assets and fostered relationships with various partners throughout the supply chain. Mr. Poirier was CEO of Bearing Lithium Corp. from September 2016 through December 2019 and was instrumental in the Company's transformation through the acquisition of Li3 Energy and facilitating a number of over-subscribed capital raises .Mr. Poirier currently serves as a director of Bearing Lithium and Pike Minerals, in addition to serving as CEO and Director of Lions Bay Mining. Story continues Keith Minty - Mr. Minty is a well-seasoned mining engineer with over 35 years of international and domestic mine development and operating experience. From 1997 to 2003, Mr. Minty was President and CEO of North American Palladium Ltd. where he was responsible for restructuring the LDI mine with a C$350 million initial public offering and developed it into the world's fifth largest platinum group metal producer. From 2008 to 2013, Mr. Minty was the Chief Operating Officer at Thani Dubai Mining ("Thani") where he was responsible for all project exploration and operation activities in Yemen and Egypt as well as new business development activities. Prior to joining Thani, he was the South African country manager for HDI. Mr. Minty is an experienced company director as he has held many board memberships on public and private companies in the past and currently is a director of Rover Metals, DNI Metals and Callinex Mines. Mr. Minty obtained a B.Sc. in Mining Engineering from Queen's University, Kingston Ontario, Canada in 1978 and a Masters of Business Administration from Athabasca University in 2014. Albert John Carlesso - Mr. Carlesso has over 25 years of international business experience in the financing, development, and stewardship of companies in the mining, technology and special situations sectors. While Mr. Carlesso has been a founder and director of both public and private companies, he has had a particular focus on mining in Latin America for the past 18 years. Mr. Carlesso was Vice President of Corporate Development for Desert Sun Mining, which was acquired by Yamana Gold in 2006 for US$500 million, in addition to co-founder and Executive Chairman of Explorator Resources, acquired by Sociedad Punta del Cobre in 2011. Mr. Carlesso is a graduate of Western University with a B.A. in Economics. While a Director of New Sage Energy Corp, the company was issued a cease trade order on August 7, 2013 for failure to file its interim financial statements and management's discussion and analysis for the period ending May 31, 2013. While Executive Chairman of Oremex Gold, the company was issued a cease trade order for failure to file its interim financial statements and management's discussion and analysis for the period ending May 31, 2013. While Executive chairman and CEO of Oremex Silver, a cease trade order was issued against the company for failure to file its interim financial statements and management's discussion and analysis for the period ending May 31, 2013. The order was lifted on September 10, 2013 upon filing the required documents. Stuart Moller - Mr. Moller has 35 years' experience in international mineral exploration. Stuart has held senior roles with Barrick Gold and Pan American Silver, and as Vice President Exploration at Continental Gold he led the discovery of the Buritica gold deposit (acquired by Zijin Mining for $1.4 billion). Mr. Moller holds a B.A. Geology with Honors from Colgate University and a Master of Science, Geology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. David Mitchell - Mr. Mitchell has over 30 years of experience in the Canadian finance industry, having been employed by a number of intermediate and boutique size investment firms in roles ranging from a floor trader to being a director and officer. Mr. Mitchell is the founder and CEO of Stillbridge Ventures Inc., a corporate consulting and advisory firm to small and emerging businesses. Mr. Mitchell has also facilitated a number of underwritings of CPCs. David Mitchell has since May 2019 and is currently a director of Novo19 Capital Corp. ("Novo19"), formally Parkside Resources Corp. a reporting issuer which was subject to cease trade orders issued on February 3, 2015 and May 5, 2015 by the British Columbia Securities Commission, as principal regulator, and the Alberta Securities Commission, respectively, which were each revoked July 19, 2019 (the "Novo19 CTO") after Novo19 under new management including Mr. Mitchell made certain necessary historical public disclosure filings. The Novo19 CTO was issued due to the failure of Novo19 to file (i) annual financial statements and management's discussion and analysis, and CEO and CFO certifications thereof, for the year ended September 30, 2014, and (ii) interim financial statement and management's discussion and analysis, and CEO and CFO certifications thereof, for the interim period ended December 31, 2014. Mr. Mitchell joined Novo19 as a director on May 15, 2019 and was not associated with Novo19 at the time the Novo19 CTO was issued. About American Battery Metals Corp. American Battery Metals Corp. is a junior mineral exploration company engaged in the business of acquiring, exploring and evaluating natural resource properties. The Company has an option to acquire a 50% interest in the Fish Lake property located in Esmeralda County in the state of Nevada, USA. Jeremy Poirier Chief Executive Officer, President and Director Phone: 604.722.9842 Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation and may also contain statements that may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking information and forward-looking statements are not representative of historical facts or information or current condition, but instead represent only the Company's beliefs regarding future events, plans or objectives, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of American Battery's control. Generally, such forward-looking information or forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or may contain statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "will continue", "will occur" or "will be achieved". The forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained herein include, but are not limited to information concerning the annual general meeting. Although American Battery believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing, and the expectations contained in, the forward-looking information and statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information and statements, and no assurance or guarantee can be given that such forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information and statements. The forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release, and American Battery does not undertake to update any forward-looking information and/or forward-looking statements that are contained or referenced herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Not for dissemination in the United States or for distribution to U.S. newswire services To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/53660 [March 20, 2020] Battery Market in Telecommunication Industry 2020-2024 | Rise in Data Use to Boost Growth | Technavio Technavio has been monitoring the battery market in telecommunication industry and it is poised to grow by USD 6.98 bn during 2020-2024. The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current market scenario, latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. Request a free sample report This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200320005410/en/ Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Battery Market in Telecommunication Industry Market 2020-2024 (Graphic: Business Wire) The market is moderately fragmented, and the degree of moderate fragmentation will accelerate during the forecast period. To make the most of the opportunities, market vendors should focus more on the growth prospects in the fast-growing segments, while maintaining their positions in the slow-growing segments. Rise in data use has been instrumental in driving the growth of the market. Battery Market in Telecommunication Industry 2020-2024: Segmentation Battery Market in Telecommunication Industry is segmented as below: Product Lead-acid Battery Li-ion Battery Others Geographic Segmentation APAC Europe MEA North America South America To learn more about the global trends impacting the future of market research, download a free sample: https://www.technavio.com/talk-to-us?report=IRTNTR40132 Battery Market in Telecommunication Industry 2020-2024: Scope Technavio presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources. Our battery market in telecommunication industry report covers the following areas: Battery Market in Telecommunication Industry: Size Battery Market in Telecommunication Industry: Trends Battery Market in Telecommunication Industry: Industry Analysis This study identifies increased need for rural electrification as one of the prime reasons driving the battery market in telecommunication industry growth during the next few years. Battery Market in Telecommunication Industry 2020-2024: Vendor Analysis We provide a detailed analysis of around 25 vendors operating in the battery market in telecommunication industry, including some of the vendors such as Accumulatorenwerke HOPPECKE Carl Zoellner & Sohn GmbH, Amara Raja Batteries Ltd., C&D Technologies (News - Alert) Inc., East Penn Manufacturing Co. Inc. and EnerSys. Backed with competitive intelligence and benchmarking, our research reports on the battery market in telecommunication industry are designed to provide entry support, customer profile and M&As as well as go-to-market strategy support. Register for a free trial today and gain instant access to 17,000+ market research reports. Technavio's SUBSCRIPTION platform Battery Market in Telecommunication Industry 2020-2024: Key Highlights CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2020-2024 Detailed information on factors that will assist battery market in telecommunication industry growth during the next five years Estimation of the battery market in telecommunication industry size and its contribution to the parent market Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior The growth of the battery market in telecommunication industry Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of battery market in telecommunication industry vendors Table of Content PART 01: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY PART 02: SCOPE OF THE REPORT 2.1 Preface 2.2 Preface 2.3 Currency conversion rates for US$ PART 03: MARKET LANDSCAPE Market ecosystem Market characteristics Market segmentation analysis PART 04: MARKET SIZING Market definition Market sizing 2019 Market size and forecast 2019-2024 PART 05: FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS Bargaining power of buyers Bargaining power of suppliers Threat of new entrants Threat of substitutes Threat of rivalry Market condition PART 06: MARKET SEGMENTATION BY PRODUCT Market segmentation by product Comparison by product Lead-acid battery - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Li-ion battery - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Others - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Market opportunity by product PART 07: CUSTOMER LANDSCAPE PART 08: GEOGRAPHIC LANDSCAPE Geographic segmentation Geographic comparison APAC - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 North America - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Europe - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 MEA - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 South America - Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Key leading countries Market opportunity PART 09: DECISION FRAMEWORK PART 10: DRIVERS AND CHALLENGES Market drivers Market challenges PART 11: MARKET TRENDS Declining Li-ion battery prices Increasing need for rural electrification High operating costs of telecom towers PART 12: VENDOR LANDSCAPE Overview Landscape disruption Competitive scenario PART 13: VENDOR ANALYSIS Vendors covered Vendor classification Market positioning of vendors Accumulatorenwerke HOPPECKE Carl Zoellner & Sohn GmbH Amara Raja Batteries Ltd. C&D Technologies Inc. East Penn Manufacturing (News - Alert) Co. Inc. EnerSys Exide Technologies GS Yuasa Corp. LG Chem Ltd. Panasonic (News - Alert) Corp. Saft Groupe SA PART 14: APPENDIX Research methodology List of abbreviations Definition of market positioning of vendors PART 15: EXPLORE TECHNAVIO About Us Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200320005410/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Lockdowns have begun across Africa as coronavirus cases rose above 1,000. Nigeria announced it is closing airports to all incoming international flights for one month in the continent's most populous country. Rwanda said all unnecessary movements outside the home are banned for two weeks as of midnight except for essential services such as healthcare and shopping. The East African nation, which has 17 cases, has told all public and private employees to work from home. Tunisia imposed its own lockdown earlier. Eritrea and Angola announced their first cases, meaning 41 of Africa's 54 countries are now affected. Congo has reported its first death from coronavirus. Pictured, policemen wear masks as they ride on a patrol truck amid the outbreak in Goma, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, on March 19 Nigeria announced it is closing airports to all incoming international flights for one month in the continent's most populous country. Above, a woman wears a protective face mask at the Murtala Mohammed International airport in Lagos on Thursday Rwanda said all unnecessary movements outside the home are banned for two weeks as of midnight except for essential services such as healthcare and shopping. Above, a trader weighs grains at the Kimironko market as shoppers stock up on essential items that have been price fixed in order to prevent exploitative prices in Kigali, on March 17 Eritrea and Angola announced their first cases, meaning 41 of Africa's 54 countries are now affected. Above, technicians from the Angolan Ministry of Health screen passengers arriving from Lisbon for possible coronavirus infection, at the Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport in Luanda Chemists wearing medical masks are seen behind a cordon as a preventative measure against the Covid-19 pandemic in Tunis, Tunisia, today Congo reported its first death, while Burkina Faso reported two new ones. Uganda is closing its borders to all but cargo. Ethiopia said all arriving passengers will face mandatory quarantine as of Monday. Somalia said it is lifting its ban on international flights for two days so stranded citizens can come home. Nigeria's international flight ban came a day after Africa's busiest airport, in Johannesburg, blocked foreigners from disembarking and two major airlines - Ethiopian Airlines and South African Airways - announced sweeping cancellations of international flights. The announcement came shortly after Nigeria reported its first cases in the capital, Abuja. The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority said 'emergency and essential' flights are exempt from the ban that starts on Monday. An adviser to president Muhammadu Buhari said Nigeria also plans to suspend all passenger rail services from the same day. Nigeria's international flight ban came a day after Africa's busiest airport, in Johannesburg, blocked foreigners from disembarking and two major airlines - Ethiopian Airlines and South African Airways - announced sweeping cancellations of international flights. (Above, a woman in the Diepsloot township north of Johannesburg, South Africa, today) The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority said 'emergency and essential' flights are exempt from the ban that starts on Monday. Above, near the Central Mosque in Lagos on Friday Tunisia imposed its own lockdown earlier. Pictured, Habib Bourguiba Avenue in downtown Tunis on March 14 (top) which has become deserted in recent days (bottom) Zimbabwean president Emmerson Mnangagwa announced a national disaster even before his country confirmed its first virus case on Friday. On Saturday, his country announced the first case in the capital, Harare. Above, health workers screen people visiting a public hospital in Harare today While Angola closed its air, land and sea borders this week, TV footage showed president Joao Lourenco attending Saturday's inauguration of Namibian president Hage Geingob. Also in attendance was president Mokgweetsi Masisi of neighbouring Botswana, which this week suspended international travel by all government employees. Namibia has three cases of the virus. Zimbabwean president Emmerson Mnangagwa was also there. He announced a national disaster even before his country confirmed its first virus case on Friday. On Saturday, his country announced the first case in the capital, Harare. Africa now has more than 1,100 cases, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said. Burkina Faso now has the most virus deaths of any country in sub-Saharan Africa. The West African nation has one of the highest caseloads on the continent with 64. Several government ministers in Burkina Faso have tested positive, including the minister of foreign affairs. On Friday, president Roch Marc Christian Kabore announced the country's two international airports would close for two weeks, with exceptions for military and cargo. Burkina Faso is one of Africa's most fragile states with a growing humanitarian crisis caused by attacks linked to Islamic extremists. More than 130 health centres have closed, affecting more than 1.5 million people, government and aid groups say. Burkina Faso now has the most virus deaths of any country in sub-Saharan Africa. The West African nation has one of the highest caseloads on the continent with 64. (Pictured, a girl washes her hands at a restaurant in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, today) A Nigerian security guard sits outside a mobile clinic in Victoria Island, Lagos today According to a government response plan seen by The Associated Press, emergency teams are not trained for a respiratory disease outbreak and do not have appropriate protective gear. There is also insufficient screening at borders. None of Burkina Faso's 44 high-flow entry points have the required personal protective equipment, and only 23% have coronavirus screening devices. Jerry-Jonas Mbasha, cluster coordinator for the World Health Organisation in Burkina Faso, said he was 'much worried about what might happen in the next one week, two weeks from now'. Most people only experience minor flu-like symptoms from the coronavirus and recover within a few weeks, but the virus is highly contagious and can be spread by those who appear well. Secondary school students at a temporary hand-washing point, before they return home. The Rwandan Government has decided to send back all students of boarding schools after the first case of COVID-19 was found on March 13, in Kigali It can cause severe illness, including pneumonia, in some patients, particularly those with underlying health problems. More than 275,000 cases have been confirmed globally, including over 11,000 deaths, according to a running tally by Johns Hopkins University. At least 88,000 people have recovered. In Nigeria, which just three weeks ago announced the first coronavirus case in sub-Saharan Africa, authorities said that first patient, a man who had travelled from Italy, is now fit to go home. In Kenya, health officials continued to disinfect crowded markets in the capital, Nairobi, trying to stop the virus' spread. 'It's for the sake of us, it's for the sake of the country,' said public health council chairman Simon Kimani. Metrolinx says it is not distributing face masks to frontline GO Transit workers to protect them from the COVID-19 outbreak, one day after committing to providing employees with the protective equipment. As the Star previously reported, on Thursday morning a Metrolinx executive sent an email to the union representing GO workers confirming that employees would start being fitted with the masks later that day. I can confirm that Metrolinx will be commencing fit tests for all front line employees starting today. Once an employee has been fitted they will keep the masks, read the email from Eve Wiggins, Metrolinx vice president for bus operations. But in a video message to employees posted Friday, Metrolinx CEO Phil Verster said the agency wont be distributing masks because there isnt any medical advice that suggests that its necessary to do so. He appeared to blame the media for any confusion around the issue, saying Metrolinx wouldnt give out masks despite what you read in the press. He didnt address the email one of his vice presidents had sent to union leadership. Verster said in the video Metrolinx wouldnt prevent employees from wearing their own masks that they bring from home. The masks the agency had said it would distribute are the higher-end N95 models with respirators, which are designed to protect wearers from viruses. They have become difficult to find since the start of the outbreak. Manny Sforza, international vice president of the Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents more than 1,600 GO bus drivers, station attendants, and transit officers, said he was extremely disappointed and shocked Metrolinx wouldnt follow through with a commitment they gave the union. We were looking for reassurances and peace of mind to put (workers) at ease, and this is going to confuse people even more at a very difficult and stressful time, he said. In response to questions from the Star, Metrolinx spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins didnt directly explain why the agency had backtracked on its commitment to give workers masks. Metrolinx has taken measures to ensure preparedness and to protect our employees, she said in an email. Gloves and hand sanitizer has already been distributed to staff and weve taken a number of measures to separate our train and bus staff as well as station staff from the general public to ensure social distancing. She said the agency plans to take additional measures in the coming week, including no longer accepting cash from passengers. Asked whether Metrolinx still intended to fit its workers with masks, Aikins said the agency will follow guidance of provincial health officials. In recent weeks rules around face masks have become a hot button issue for transit employees in the GTA who continue to work through the outbreak that has shut down much of the country. On Wednesday, the TTC dropped its prohibition against employees wearing masks they bring from home. The agency said the move was partially motivated by its need to avoid job action from employees. Ben Spurr is a Toronto-based reporter covering transportation. Reach him by email at bspurr@thestar.ca or follow him on Twitter: @BenSpurr Read more about: (Newser) Italys tally of coronavirus cases and deaths continues to soar, with officials on Saturday announcing new day-to-day highs: 793 dead and 6,557 cases, the AP reports. The country, at the heart of western Europes rampaging outbreak, now counts 53,578 known cases. Across the Atlantic, New York state officials considered establishing temporary hospitals on college campuses and in New York City's main convention center in preparation for a possible onslaught of coronavirus patients, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Saturday. Cuomo said the government is seeking to increase hospital bed capacity by 50 percentup to 25,000 more beds. Officials have also identified 2 million protective masks to send to hot spots. story continues below The state is reviewing four possible locations for temporary hospitals, which would be operated by the Army Corps of Engineers. The governor also said 1 million N-95 masks are being sent to New York City on Saturday, with another 500,000 masks going to Long Island. He is also trying to find a supplier for more gowns, and clothing companies are converting to make masks. "Everything that can be done is being done," he said, adding, "We are literally scouring the globe looking for medical supplies." New York has seen about 10,400 coronavirus cases, and about 1,600 people hospitalized. In Italy, more than 60% of the latest deaths occurred in the northern region of Lombardy, whose hospitals have been reeling under a staggering case load. (Read more coronavirus stories.) 21.03.2020 LISTEN The one-million Euros cold storage facility built to address post-harvest fish losses in the Ningo-Prampram District of the Greater Accra Region is to reopen in about a week, upon the directive of the Government. The Spanish FAD-sponsored refrigeration facility comprising cold storerooms, a freezing tunnel, an ice bin, and a flake ice factory, was closed about four years ago as a result of unpaid electricity bills. Engineers have started rehabilitation works by replacing parts that have broken down and it is expected to be fully operational in the next seven days. Mr John Peter Amewu, the Minister of Energy, speaking to the media during when he toured the facility, said issues about the fisherfolks were of great concern to President Nana Akufo Dankwa Addo; hence his directive to reopen the facility for operations. He said the Ministry would work with all stakeholders to find a way to settle the debt to enable the facility to operate to achieve its objective of reducing poverty caused by post-harvest losses. The visit enabled the Minister learn more about the facility and interact with its interim Management. Mr Amewu advised the Management of the facility to initiate steps such as shutting down the facility when it was without fish to reduce the electricity cost. Answering a question on adding renewable energy sources to reduce the bill, the Minister said, it would be considered in due course because the initial high cost of installation must be dealt with. Nii Joseph Armah Quaye, the Interim Director of the Facility, thanked President Nana Addo for granting their request to re-open the facility. He stated that the Landing Beach Cold Store was the first of six to be located in different fishing communities at a total cost of $7 million during the tenure of former President John Agyekum Kufuor. He said the cold store produced ice cubes in large quantities for fishermen who used them to preserve their fishes whilst at sea. However, it was disconnected by the Electricity Company of Ghana for unpaid bills. Mr Quaye said following the closure fisher folks had to travel to Tema to buy ice cubes. ---GNA No, we dont want to let panic and fear rule our lives, but neither can we pretend we are dealing with anything like we have ever seen before in our lifetimes. This is not the flu. Nobody, exactly nobody has any immunity to this virus, which is having its way with our species right now. This is not panic talking. This is what has been observed. The reason things dont seem so dire around here yet is that we are still riding along on the gentle part of the exponential growth curve in the rate of infections, an observation we have all heard and probably failed to fully grasp too many times to count. Being ordered to stay inside rubs me completely the wrong way. But I get it. This all may be too little, too late, but it has to be done, so get with the program, or we are all in a major fix. Greg Tolman, Berkeley Nice gesture for seniors Its a nice gesture on the part of Safeway and Target setting up hours aside for us senior citizens to get what we need. But I hope Safeway will restock their shelves on Monday and Wednesday nights and Target on Tuesday nights, otherwise this policy is completely useless if there is no toilet paper or hand sanitizer readily for us to buy. Ernest Tam, San Francisco Unnecessary panic Concerning Coping with closed schools (Editorial, March 20): Gov. Gavin Newsom should not be causing unnecessary panic by speculating that the states public schools might remain closed through the summer. Instead, he should be meeting with Tony Thurmond, the state superintendent of public instruction of California, to carefully formulate a plan for online learning for teachers and their students, as well as plans for families that dont have Internet access. Better yet, why not involve Silicon Valley and ask if any tech companies can donate laptops to students who need them, along with free Wi-Fi service? During this coronavirus health crisis and related school closures, an innovative state like California should rely on its best minds to help its students continue their education. Finn MacLaughlin, Daly City Focus on the positive The news everywhere is gloomy. Infirmities, death and economic collapse are the prevalent flavors of the day. Lets put them in another context. Solidarity is being shown again and again. The first responders havent failed us. The scientists are working in an accelerated fashion to provide us with the best way to cope short and long term. We are protecting at a state and federal level those who are dispossessed. The citizenry to a great extent is accepting the restrictions needed to curtail the advancement of the virus. We are staying home but able to communicate with others via modern technology; we talk to our grandchildren every day via FaceTime. The delivery companies are stepping up and improving the carrying of essentials to our home. We have access to movies, talks and podcasts to diminish the boredom that confinement brings. The media should offer us the bright side of this crisis. The sun will shine again. David Cantor, Los Angeles Needs-based assistance Regarding Once a fringe idea, direct cash payments gain wide support (March 18): Although many politicians are suddenly embracing the notion of directly sending cash to all American citizens during this economically devastating coronavirus pandemic (what former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang proposed as a universal basic income), I hope that it is needs-based. Why should individuals with seven-figure incomes receive the same payment as someone with a five-figure income? Dont be surprised if the GOP proposes offering more money to those who need help the least, as it did when passing tax cuts that only benefited our wealthiest citizens a few years ago. After all, trickle-down economics has, is and always will be the Republican Partys mantra, even during this health crisis. Yvette Violanda, Daly City What about elections? What are the contingency plans for the November elections? If we are still in the grip of this pandemic, can we be sure President Trumps people will not be able to alter the process? We, whove been waiting patiently to remove this administration from office, need the reassurance that there will be no election postponement and every voter can cast a vote. We cannot take anything for granted. Please, leaders, get busy. A Limerick priest is to offer Holy Communion to parishioners who are unable to attend Mass this Sunday because the coronavirus restrictions In a post on social media, Fr Sean O'Longaigh said he will offer the service after celebrating Mass (in private) at St Marys Church, Askeaton. I know how important it is for so many people to receive the Lord in Holy Communion so I will be putting a procedure in place on Sunday whereby people may receive the Eucharist, said Fr OLongaigh. Following the 11.30am Mass (which will be broadcast on the parish radio system), Holy Communion will be offered to parishioners as they drive past the Parochial House, which is located on the church grounds. I will stand near the front door of the parochial house with the Eucharist, people who wish to receive should arrive only by car and remain in the car. I will be wearing disposable, protective gloves and the occupant(s) of each car should have a small plate or something similar, he said. You should open the window of your car at the passenger side and extend the plate, and I will place the Holy Communion on the plate, he added. Parishioners who wish to receive Holy Communion are asked to enter the car park via the west (Foynes end) entranceand to obey the directions of stewards who be on duty. Fr OLongaigh says he hopes the initiative will go some way towards supporting and reassuring those who are presently not able to attend Mass. New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania are requiring all barbershops, beauty and nail salons and tattoo parlors in their states to temporarily close to help stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. In a joint statement, the four governors told all "personal care" businesses owners in their states they must close by 8 p.m. ET Saturday to slow the spread of Covid-19. The personal care mandate applies to tattoo and piercing parlors and hair removal services as well. The governors' statement did not say when the order will be lifted. New York, meanwhile, went a step further on Friday by ordering all non-essential businesses in the state closed and asking all New Yorkers to stay at home. Small businesses are being hit particularly hard New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has said he and his counterparts in neighboring states have been "coordinating to the greatest extent possible." "We know how the novel coronavirus spreads, and we are making data-driven decisions as the situation evolves to continue to reduce density and slow the spread of the virus," Cuomo said in a statement. "We remain in constant communication with our neighboring states to ensure we are establishing a set of uniform rules and regulations for the entire region. These temporary closures are not going to be easy, but they are necessary to protecting the health and safety of New Yorkers and all Americans." Cuomo emphasized that the orders are legal provisions that will be enforced. "There will be a civil fine and mandatory closure for any business that is not in compliance," he said. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said social distancing is critical to slow the spread of coronavirus "and protect the most vulnerable members of our community." "While we understand the challenge these restrictions pose to our region's small businesses, we are actively working with the federal government to ensure that financial relief is made available to our business owners and workforce as quickly as possible," he said. Pennsylvania businesses and residents should check the state's existing guidance for more details on closures and other tips on containing the coronavirus, the order said. "Pennsylvania continues to work with our neighboring states to implement mitigation strategies that will fight the spread of COVID-19 in our region," Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf said. "All Pennsylvanians are greatly appreciative of the aggressive approach our neighbors our taking, which will help all of our residents as we address this public health crisis." Turkey on Friday recorded five more deaths from the novel coronavirus, bringing the overall total to nine, as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged people not to go out for "non-essential reasons". "We have lost five patients who are elderly and with a weak resistance," Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter. Koca also said the number of cases has reached 670 after 311 out of 3,656 patients tested positive over the last 24 hours. In a voice message published on his official Twitter account, Erdogan urged Turks to follow hygiene rules and implement social distancing, while urging the faithful to pray at home. "You certainly should not go out for non-essential reasons," he said. Turkey, which has a population of 83 million, has announced a raft of measures to limit the spread of the virus, including the closure of schools and universities, and shutting mosques to mass gatherings. On Friday, police deployed at the entrance of several mosques in Istanbul so as not to allow worshippers to perform mass prayers. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) On Wednesday, Amazon warehouse workers at a processing facility in Queens, New York City, received a text from management: Were writing to let you know that a positive case of the coronavirus (COVID-19) was found at our facility today. Amazon temporarily closed the facility the same day but quickly reopened on Thursday. This news, and the decision by Amazon to reopen the facility, sparked outrage among the warehouse workers, who refused to work and ultimately caused the facility to shut down on Thursday night. In a video posted on social media by "Amazonians United NYC," a worker voiced his anger. We know what youre doing. We can see that theres an absolute disregard for our lives. We dont buy it anymore. Another worker joined, saying: Its not possible that in four hours youve disinfected every package after you got a positive diagnosis. According to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the virus which causes COVID-19 can survive for up to 72 hours in plastic, 48 hours on stainless steel, 24 hours on cardboard, 4 hours on copper, and up to 3 hours in the air. Amazon warehouse workers each handle thousands of packages per day and work in close proximity to one another. The worker was found to be infected after New York City finally began to escalate its testing program. As of this writing on a Friday night, there are 5,151 patients with confirmed cases of COVID-19. On Thursday night that figure was about 3,600. The increases in confirmed cases has been exponential in scope, after the first case in the city was discovered on March 1. In a city where many residents rely on public transportation for work and live in close proximity to one another, the real figures of infected are likely far higher. Thus far, the New York City been one of the centers of the outbreak in the United States. Whole Foods, a subsidiary of Amazon, also reported that a worker in Columbus Circle, NYC, was diagnosed with COVID-19 the same night as the Queens Amazon warehouse worker. The response from Whole Foods has been just as callous. The store was closed for one night only and reopened the next day. It has recently been reported that a second NYC Whole Foods worker has tested positive and the same measures were applied. COVID-19 has already had an immense impact on the global economy, as millions of workers around the world are being laid off or otherwise left without pay. At the same time, workers in grocery stores and distribution have faced sharply increasing workloads as consumers stock up on essential goods and order online. According to Guru Hariharan, CEO of CommerceIQ, which helps brands sell on Amazon, sales of many packaged goods have more than doubled compared to a year ago in just the first two weeks of March. Sales for a specific 27-pack of 1,000-sheet toilet paper were up 944 percent over the same period in 2019, he added. In response to this surge in demand, Amazon announced on March 11 that it would be hiring an additional 100,000 warehouse workers. However, the Amazon workers are yet to be employed and those that are currently on the job are working longer and harder amidst a developing pandemic. In this context, workers have condemned the supposed safety measures adopted by Amazon as recklessly inadequate. The conglomerate has given a measly $2 per hour raise, to $17 per hour, to their workers, which will be in effect only until the end of April, while offering workers the option to take unlimited unpaid time off." If a worker is actually diagnosed with COVID-19, they are given two weeks of paid leave. This is wholly insufficient for multiple reasons. First, the absence of testing means that many workers who become infected will not be able to confirm the diagnosis. In addition, the coronavirus has a hospitalization rate of 15 to 20 percent and may require months of treatment. Finally and most importantly, persons who are infected with COVID-19 can spread the disease before they exhibit symptoms, which can take up to two weeks. In other words, the presence of a single confirmed case in a workplace means that many more workers have already been exposed. Amazon announced this week that shipments of non-essential items to warehouses would be limited. But consumers are still able to purchase the most frivolous items from the Amazon website, from Star Wars bottle openers to copies of Ayn Rand's book Atlas Shrugged." Amazon workers are seething over risks that are taken with their lives and the lives of their families. They are contacting each other on social media and exchanging combative messages. One Amazon worker posted on Facebook: "Ive yet to see 1 of the cleaning crew disinfecting hand rails, elevator buttons, actually anything we touch on the daily. IMO, if they insist on being open, it should only be stations [with] enough latex gloves and lysol wipes to stock at. Another worker remarked, Theyre taking advantage of the workers who actually need that extra money but Amazon is putting SO many people at risk! This should not be legal to do especially with the amount of people we work with! These packages are coming from all around the world ... no one can control that. It's just not fair. The state is collaborating with Amazon to force warehouse employees to continue to work in dangerous conditions. New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo announced an executive order directing all non-essential business statewide to close in-office functions effective on Sunday at 8:00 p.m. However, among the list of "essential" businesses are Amazon warehouses, which are specifically exempted from state protections. This mirrors the recent bipartisan measure passed in Congress which providers workers with limited paid leave. This measure excludes workplaces with over 500 employees, which amounts to nearly half the US workforce, including most Amazon workers. The World Socialist Web Site welcomes efforts by workers to organize and fight for their their health and safety in the midst of the pandemic. A statement of the Socialist Equality Party National Committee published Monday provides: "Where work must continue, such as in the health care industry, transportation, food production and other sectors essential to the functioning of society, measures must be implemented to ensure the safety of workers and guarantee that their rights are preserved. Every work location must be staffed with trained health care professionals, with workers provided with necessary equipment, including protective clothing, masks and gloves." If you work at Amazon or any other workplace where management's purported safety measures have been non-existent or inadequate, or where workers are taking action to defend their rights, we are very anxious to hear from you. Please use the following link to contact us. Welcome Guest! You Are Here: Home Regional News East Various reports hit the news feeds today quoting a deliberately headline-grabbing statement by Paul Sankey, managing director at Mizuho Securities, in which he is reported as saying, Oil prices can go negative. That is, they could as a combination of Saudi Arabia (and Russia) flooding the market with increased oil and the market running headlong into COVID-19-induced curtailment of activity that is suppressing consumption, which combined will create the perfect storm of excess supply. In reality, inventory levels are already rising. CNN quotes Sankey, who said global oil demand is only around 100 million barrels per day. However, the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic could crash demand by up to 20 percent. This would create a 20 million barrel-per-day surplus of oil in the market that would rapidly exceed storage capacity, forcing oil producers to pay customers to buy the commodity hence, in effect, negative oil prices. The American government plans to purchase a total of 77 million barrels of oil starting within weeks the article states, but according to Sankey, this can only be done at a rate of 2 million barrels per day, leaving a massive excess that will be looking for a home. Brent oil prices have already fallen to the lowest level for 17 years. The consequences for the U.S. oil industry if a coronavirus-induced recession drives down demand could be catastrophic. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) collapsed by a staggering 19.2 percent to $22 while the Mexican Basket is down 22.4 percent. For a short while, hedges will protect producers and they will continue to pump oil. While that will protect producers for a while, it encourages counter-cyclical practices; producers should be cutting back but instead will probably continue to pump and ship into store. Francisco Blanch, a commodity strategist at Bank of America, warns in a Fox Business report that the demand destruction caused by the COVID-19 virus and the price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia could cause inventories to swell by 900 million barrels in the second quarter alone. He estimates the world currently has about 1.5 billion barrels of available storage. Storage, however, is regional and may not match neatly with excess supply. China continues to build storage capacity, having traditionally been short of space, but is now in a better position to take advantage of ultra-low prices. In a severe scenario, if the market struggles to find a home for surplus barrels, then oil prices might have to trade down into the teens, Blanch suggests. That would leave U.S. and Canadian producers deeply in the red when hedges run out. Weaker OPEC countries, like Iraq, Iran, Venezuela, and Nigeria, could see their economies collapse, while all offshore production would be loss-making if oil prices remain suppressed into the teens over the long term. Related: How Chevron Could Win Big On The Worst Oil Deal Ever Having laid out the worst-case scenarios, it should be said even Saudi Arabia and Russia will burn through their reserves at a clip if prices fall into the teens. As such, some form of truce, one that would support prices and reduce output, is possible. In addition, our focus has naturally been on the direst of outcomes from the current pandemic: a combination of short, sharp lockdown shock and the acceleration of new vaccines could see us in a much more optimistic situation two months from now. A recession? Yes, inevitably, but for how long? The first half of the year, maybe, before some form of stability reasserts itself. Still, who can blame them? Negative oil has a ring to it. Just dont expect to get a credit to your card when you fill up your tank it aint going to happen. By Stuart Burns via AG Metal Miner More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The local hospitality industry has been severely impacted by the coronavirus crisis. But many local restaurants remain open on a limited basis, pivoting to take-out, drive-thru and delivery service to minimize contact between people, the prime directive to fighting the virus. Local tourism agencies around the region, which just earlier this month were pitching the pleasures of the Louisiana dining scene to visitors, have pivoted, too, and are now promoting businesses to locals. +4 To support New Orleans restaurants, Rouses Markets is selling dishes from their menus Groceries stores are busier than ever in New Orleans, while the restaurant business has been dramatically restricted by efforts to fight coronavirus. Along with other independent efforts (see takeoutcovid.com), these groups are using their websites as directories to whats available and rallying support for a crucial part of the regions economy and culture. Mark Romig, senior vice president at New Orleans & Company, the citys tourism marketing group, said the support locals can provide now is vital for how the restaurant sector emerges from the crisis. Were at a point where our dining scene hangs in the balance, Romig said. The best way we can support the economy and the restaurant workforce is to encourage people to do what they can with these take-out and delivery options. The tourism groups website neworleans.com has an online directory of open New Orleans restaurants. The site can sort searches for restaurants with take-out, restaurants with delivery and restaurants selling alcohol (which the state has permitted for take-out and delivery). Local restaurants that want to add their information can email Kristian Sonnier at ksonnier@neworleans.com or Kristen Loflin at kloflin@neworleans.com. Restaurants across the spectrum of styles, prices and cuisines have adopted different strategies. Some offer dishes from their regular menus to go, others are cooking up complete family-style meals. On Sunday, Gov. John Bel Edwards issued a "stay at home order," telling residents to leave home only for essential services. Restaurants are considered an essential business and can continue to operate on a take-out basis. The key, Romig said, is for any of these services to minimize contact between people, following the orders of local and state authorities aimed at slowing the spread of coronavirus. Gift cards, purchased from restaurants now to use later, are another way to bolster these businesses in a time of crisis. +14 A spring ritual, boiled crawfish now a take-out lifeline for New Orleans businesses Crawfish have long been Jason Seithers business and his passion. In these days of coronavirus crisis, crawfish are starting to feel like his For residents, the effort is making more food available and in some cases providing the comfort of familiar tastes. For the restaurants, it is keeping a flicker of business alive and at least some staff working. The industry has seen massive layoffs in the past week, as unemployment has surged. Romig said the community needs to stay strong and look to the future. He noted that New Orleans & Company staff is already working to rebook postponed conferences and meetings for the second half of the year. Were not accepting anything but a victory over this, said Romig. So well get through this, and we want people to be a position to come back and start hitting on all cylinders again. Parish To-Go Vaccine news in your inbox Once a week we'll update you on the progress of COVID-19 vaccinations. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up The St. Bernard Chamber of Commerce created its Parish To-Go campaign for restaurants and markets in St. Bernard Parish, collecting information at stbernardchamber.org/parish-togo. Local company Road Runner Delivery Service is handling delivery for restaurants in that area. Taste the River Parishes The River Parishes Tourist Commission created its Taste of the River Parishes initiative, connecting residents with restaurants in their communities, and its encouraging the hashtag #tastetheriver to help spread restaurant information on social media. See the River Parishes list at tastetheriverparishes.com. Tammany Taste The St. Tammany Tourist & Convention Commission has a list of restaurants across its communities with take-out and delivery, and is encouraging the hashtags #TammanyTaste and #LAnorthshore. See the list here: louisiananorthshore.com. Dixie Beer's New Orleans Restaurant Guide Dixie Beer, now owned by Saints and Pelicans owner Gayle Benson, has its own guide to area restaurants still operating, with about 250 listed. The brewery is also promoting to-go specials at select restaurants that come with food and cans of Dixie, which doubles as a fundraiser for the Gayle Benson Community Assistance Fund, benefiting hospitality workers. See the guide here. Takeoutcovid.com Drinkers Edition is an app that helps people find happy hour deals. With bars closed and happy hours now for now just a memory of happier times, the Drinkers Edition team created a new site, takeoutcovid.com, a directory to restaurants still operating. The site also has a collection of links to resources for service industry support. Takeoutcovid.com now lists operating info for more than 150 restaurants, sorted by neighborhood. Businesses can submit their own information through the site. +8 Massive layoffs at New Orleans restaurants days after coronavirus-caused closures Last week, Ralph Brennans restaurant company had 650 people on the payroll, serving breakfast at Brennans, fixing Pimms Cup cocktails at Na Open4bizla.com A new site developed in partnership between the Louisiana Restaurant Association and the marketing firms the Osterfeld Agency and Ellie Rand Public Relations is a platform for restaurants to post their operating updates and menus. See open4bizla.com. Where NOLA Eats Facebook group On our own Where NOLA Eats Facebook group, members and businesses have been posting regular updates to restaurant menus, offerings and services and opportunities to help. You can search for them using the hashtag #nolaopen. 21.03.2020 LISTEN We live in unusual times. The Coronavirus pandemic has altered our lived reality globally, and for the worse, necessitating significant behaviour change on the part of citizens and states alike. Governments everywhere are under pressure to respond to protect and save lives and avert social and economic catastrophe. The Government of Ghana is no exception. That the current situation calls for unusual, even draconian, measures is not in question. The question is how. Like nearly all modern constitutions, the Constitution of the 4th Republic of Ghana is written for good as for bad times, for peacetime as for war, for a time of Corona beer as for a time of Coronavirus. The Framers of our Constitution were rational beings; they knew that we would not always live in normal times. Thus, as has been said of the American constitution and its framers, our Framers, too, did not intend that our Constitution operate as a "suicide pact" that condemns us all to a collective death because it is too rigid or inflexible to allow us the tools with which to fight off or respond effectively to an attack on or threat to our collective existence as a community. Rather, the Constitution our Framers wrote, like nearly every modern constitution, appropriately anticipates and provides adequately for emergencies, whether arising from armed invasion or domestic insurrection or pestilence or natural disaster. Of course, not being prophets, our Framers could not have foreseen this particular Coronavirus pandemic, but they were human and intelligent enough to know that emergencies like this, whether localized, nationwide, or global in scale or origin, could arise that would require exceptional response from Government and involuntary sacrifice on our part. Therefore, our constitution rightfully allows, under those circumstances, for our normal flow of life, including our livelihoods, to be disrupted by Government for our collective good and the good of the Republic. It does this by empowering our elected authorities, the President and Parliament, to act swiftly and take extraordinary measures appropriate to the situation, including by imposing appropriate restrictions on our constitutional rights and liberties while the emergency subsists. The Framers also knew that emergencies are tempting moments for rulers. Conscious of our own history with "preventive detention" (PDA) and military regimes, the Framers did not want determinations of "emergency" or their duration to be left to the discretion of any one person. They also did not want our Parliament to go to sleep and leave the Republic in the hands solely of the Executive during periods of emergency. In short, they did not want emergencies to be abused or turned into occasions or excuses for rule by DECREE or executive fiat. With these considerations in mind, our Framers laid down, in Article 31 of the Constitution, a simple but sensible framework to govern and regulate this place during periods of emergency. Titled "Emergency Powers," Article 31 empowers (1) the President to proceed, upon advice of the Council of State, to declare a state of emergency by issuing a PROCLAMATION to that effect, which proclamation shall be published in the Gazette so as to put the public on notice that a state of emergency has been declared. A Proclamation would typically include a narrative, setting forth the facts and circumstances giving rise to the declaration of emergency as well as the raft of extraordinary measures announced and contemplated (if on an escalating basis) in response to the emergency. (2) Having done so, the President must immediately notify Parliament of "the facts and circumstances leading to the declaration of the state of emergency". (3) It is then for Parliament to decide, within 72 hours (3 days) of receiving such notification, whether the Proclamation must remain in force or not. The decision of Parliament, whether to approve or reject the declaration of a state of emergency, is binding on the President. If the Proclamation is approved by Parliament, it will remain in effect for 3 months (90 days) in the first instance, subject to further extensions, each such extension to last one month (30 days) at a time. If the Proclamation is not approved by Parliament, it must expire after 7 days. Parliament may also revoke a Proclamation it has previously approved. A state of emergency may be declared for only that part of the country where the emergency situation exists or for the entire country, depending on the nature of the risk or threat. The Framers also wisely left open-ended the facts and circumstances under which a state of emergency may be declared, noting only that those circumstances "include" a natural disaster and acts by persons that threaten the essentials of life, including essential supplies and services. The import of this provision, contained in clause (9) of Article 31, is to clarify, in case there is any doubt, that a natural disaster (such as massive flooding) or act of an individual or individuals that is calculated to lead to an extreme shortage of the essentials of life may give rise to or grounds for declaration of a state of emergency. The import of article 31(9) is not to exclude other obvious circumstances like an armed invasion, insurrection, or an epidemic. To the contrary, article 31(9) should be read to mean, rightfully, that those circumstances are too obvious to require express mention. No doubt a pandemic of the kind we currently face, one whose true domestic scale and scope are unknown and whose duration is uncertain, easily qualifies as the kind of circumstances under which a state of emergency may be declared." Importantly, Article 31, clause 10, allows Parliament to enact legislation authorizing the taking of measures "during any period when a state of emergency is in force," which measures, if taken in normal times, would constitute an infringement of our fundamental human rights guaranteed in articles 12 to 30 of the Constitution, including our rights to freedom of movement, speech, assembly, worship, and association. However, even during such emergencies, only those measures "that are reasonably justifiable for the purpose of dealing with the situation that exists during that period" are permitted by the Constitution. Does a state of emergency exist in Ghana today? No, because none has been declared, and no Proclamation to that effect has been issued, gazetted, or presented to Parliament by the President. In other words, whether a state of emergency exists to warrant recourse to emergency powers is a political question for the President to determine in the first instance, subject to the prompt approval of Parliament. Up to this point, no such emergency has been declared. What, then, is the constitutional basis for some of the extraordinary (though not all radical) measures already announced by the President in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic? Good question. In announcing those measures, the President did not proclaim or declare a state of emergency, as other national leaders have done. Neither did the President invoke any specific law as the basis or authority for the announced measures, which included measures infringing certain constitutional rights. He indicated at the time only that he had authorized the Attorney-General to complete the necessary legal papers that would ground the announced actions firmly in law. What about the Imposition of Restrictions Bill laid before Parliament yesterday under a certificate of urgency? Well, it is not clear what the point is of that newly sought legislation. There is already the Emergency Powers Act (Act 472), enacted pursuant to the provisions of Article 31. If it was felt necessary to amend the Emergency Powers Act for any reason, that law could very easily be amended. The motive for resorting to a new Imposition of Restrictions law is, therefore, hard to divine. As far as I can tell, the bill fills no void in our current arsenal of statutory weapons available to the President to fight the domestic side of the present pandemic. If the object of the Imposition of Restrictions Bill is to give the President power to take quick extraordinary measures in an emergency, as the Memorandum to the bill suggests, the Emergency Powers Act and Article 31 already give the President the tools to get the job done. (Curiously, while asking for new legislation, the President has not as yet tried to invoke the Emergency Powers Act or any other law for that matter). If, however, the point of the Imposition of Restrictions Bill is to give the President power to assume emergency powers without subjecting himself to Article 31, then there is no constitutional authority for that option of one-man rule by decree, no matter how convenient that option might be for a president. Emergency powers, which are the powers that authorize the kind of far-reaching wholesale or mass restriction of rights ostensibly envisioned by the Imposition of Restrictions Act, can be authorized or done only "when a state of emergency is in force." Declaration of a state of emergency by Proclamation and, therefore, conformance with the dictates and strictures of Article 31, is a necessary predicate for the invocation either of the Emergency Powers Act or, for that matter, of any law that purports to authorise the assumption of emergency powers requiring the imposition of wholesale or mass restrictions on the range of rights protected as fundamental human rights in articles 12 to 30 of the Constitution. What if the President has not made a determination that a state of emergency exists or is warranted? Of course, the President need not invoke, rely on or avail himself of Article 31 if he does not wish to declare a state of emergency. In that case, however, he denies himself the kind of sweeping, albeit regulated, emergency powers that a state of emergency would permit. There are, of course, certain narrow restrictions, specifically on free movement of persons or residence within Ghana or entry into Ghana and on freedom of speech or expression, that may be imposed, pursuant to legislation, in normal, "non-state of emergency" times. There are many such laws on the books already. The Public Health Act, the Public Order Act, the Immigration Act, and various other laws permit the Executive branch to impose some narrow or targeted restrictions in particular individual or selected cases in the interest of public safety, public order, public health and the preservation of social cohesion (e.g. against hateful propaganda, etc). The President may determine, even in the face of this epidemic or pandemic, that the current situation is of a kind or scale that does not rise to the level of, and therefore does not warrant declaration of, a state of emergency. That's his prerogative; he cannot be forced to declare a state of emergency if he does not wish to do so. If the people believe that his failure to do so is reckless, their remedy is a political one. But that is not to say that the President lacks the power to respond to exceptional but "non-state of emergency" situations. In those circumstances, where he chooses not to invoke the Emergency Powers Act and Article 31, he can still fall on laws like the Public Health Act (Act 851), which allow him, acting through his responsible Minister, to take certain relatively limited, targeted and incremental measures, including more narrowly limited restrictions of certain rights of affected persons, in response to the situation. What the Constitution does not countenance is for the President to impose by executive Instrument in a "non-state of emergency" situation, restrictions of the kind and scale that would be expected in a state of emergency. That would amount to giving the President--ANY President, now or in the future--license to assume de facto emergency powers and thus rule by decree without subjecting himself to the framework and limits set forth in Article 31. Thanks to the Constitution, not even Parliament can authorize such a displacement or circumvention of Article 31. If a President wants sweeping "emergency powers" under any law whatsoever, he and Parliament must simply follow the processes, including the timelines, stipulated in Article 31, beginning with the declaration by Proclamation of a state of emergency. In my view, that relatively easy first step, given the present circumstances, is long overdue. In the present situation, the Government could simply have invoked the Public Health Act once a pandemic was declared by the World Health Organization, then escalated it to a state of emergency by invoking the Emergency Powers Act and Article 31 of the Constitution once we recorded one or a few cases of the pandemic or crossed a certain threshold along the path. These, of course, are political determinations to be made by the President and his advisers. However, not having taken either step, we are now faced with a situation where the emergency measures already taken and implemented are, strangely, without firm constitutional basis. So what is the purpose and intent behind the Imposition of Restrictions Act? It is not clear to me. Both the Public Health Act and the Emergency Powers Act, if deemed inadequate, could be amended to deal with any perceived gap in the existing legislative regime for dealing with epidemics. However, that path has not been chosen. If the idea of this new bill is that Parliament, through this one-off legislation, would divest itself of the constitutional role and responsibility imposed on it by Article 31 and allow the President a free hand to rule by decree (via sweeping emergency powers) in an emergency, then, clearly, the bill or law cannot stand. Even if the Imposition of Restrictions bill were to pass, as it most likely will, it cannot free Parliament or the President from the constitutional obligation to abide by Article 31, insofar as the law has the purpose or effect of allowing the President to assume emergency powers. Parliament cannot outsource or abdicate its constitutionally assigned task. It can choose to be a rubber stamp, but it cannot give away to the President Parliament's non-delegable constitutional duty. Thus, if the idea here is to create an alternative path for the Executive to assume emergency powers without invoking a state of emergency, that unconstitutional agenda, too, must fail. In short, given the tools that are now already available in the President's constitutional tool kit, including the ability to amend existing legislation to accommodate any present challenges, it is hard to see any good faith or lawful warrant for passage of the so-called Imposition of Restrictions Act. Like most Ghanaians, I support swift and radical action by the Government to wrestle down this epidemic before it wreaks havoc on our society and economy. But what is worth doing is worth doing right. Let's focus on what matters and not get distracted and sidetracked from what needs to be done. Let us also not forget that the legislation Parliament is being asked to enact is not just a statute for this occasion or for this President only. It is designed for unknown contingencies and unknown future Presidents. As the Americans like to say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. The constitutional and legislative framework for a President of Ghana to respond decisively in an emergency is not broken. There is no point trying to fix that which is not broken. H. Kwasi Prempeh March 20, 2020 Accra Peter Stefanovic has landed a new gig with Sky News. The 38-year-old, who already presents Sky News' First Edition with Laura Jayes, will help host a channel on the network dedicated to the coronavirus pandemic. The channel, titled Sky News COVID-19, will launch on Monday at 6am with Peter and Laura delivering 'every breaking detail'. 'We will keep viewers across every breaking detail': Peter Stefanovic, 38, (pictured) is set to host a Sky News channel dedicated to the coronavirus pandemic alongside Laura Jayes. Pictured on Sky News' First Edition The 24-hour-a-day channel will feature Australian and international news on the killer virus, including press conferences and government announcements. Viewers can tune in on Foxtel's Channel 604, Sky News Channels 103 and 600, and on the Sky News website. Peter described the coronavirus pandemic as 'one of the biggest stories of our time'. 'It's something that doesn't just affect Australia, but the entire world,' the former Channel Nine star added. 24-hour-a-day channel: Perth Now reported on Saturday that the channel, titled Sky News COVID-19, will launch on Monday at 6am with Peter and Laura (pictured), 36, delivering 'every breaking detail' 'With so much to know, it's important we get all of it to air and this extra channel will help us do that to keep viewers across every breaking detail.' Peter and Laura, 36, will be joined by other journalists on-screen including Kieran Gilbert, Annelise Nielsen, Tom Connell and Ashleigh Gillon. Coronavirus (COVID-19) is a respiratory illness accompanied by fever, coughing, sore throat, shortness of breath and fatigue. It can produce pneumonia. The spread of the disease, which began in Wuhan, China, has seen over 245,900 cases worldwide and more than 10,000 fatalities. Pandemic: Peter (pictured with Laura) described the coronavirus pandemic as 'one of the biggest stories of our time' As of the evening of March 21, the total number of people diagnosed with the virus in Australia is 1,073 including seven deaths. Australia's borders are now closed to foreigners to slow the spread of coronavirus. As of 9pm March 20, only Australian permanent residents and citizens can enter the country. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he made the drastic move because 80 per cent of Australia's coronavirus cases have come in from abroad. 'Non-essential' gatherings of over 100 people have also been banned, and Australians have been strongly advised to self-isolate for the next two weeks. Vietnams Ha Anh Phuong is among the 50 finalists for the 2020 Global Teacher Prize for her contributions to education in remote areas. From the 50 list, a prize of $1 million will be given to an "exceptional teacher who has made an outstanding contribution to their profession," according to the Varkey Foundation, a British charitable foundation that gives the award. Phuong, 29, teaches English at Huong Can High School in a mountainous area of Thanh Son District in Phu Tho Province in the north, where many people cannot get good education for economic and geographical reasons. Ninety percent of students in her school are of ethnic background. Herself a Muong, Vietnams third largest out of 53 minority groups, Phuong decided to become an English teacher after watching a Vietnamese documentary about how teachers had knocked on peoples doors in the remote mountainous areas to persuade them to send their children to school. After getting a Master of TESOL at Hanoi University, she decided to return to Phu Tho and become a teacher there. In her school in the remote, mountainous area, students have little chance to practice English with foreigners, which often leads to low language competence, shyness, poor intercultural awareness, and lack of interest. Phuong has helped her students tackle this challenge by using online teaching models, connecting them with children in schools worldwide through Skype. Some of her innovations have significantly improved student outcomes and are clearly seen in their national exam results. Last year all her students, who had previously been low achievers in English, passed the final exam. Known as the "4.0 innovative teacher" in Vietnam, she has now taught students online on four continents (Africa, Europe, Asia, and America), and is an active member of a Microsoft educational community that gathers global teachers to design lessons and engage in professional development. Last year she was awarded the Innovative and Creative Teacher prize by the Ministry of Education and Training. Asked about making it to the final 50 for the global award, she said: "Its a great honor for me to surpass tens of thousands of entries to make it to the final. This prize money would help offer a more positive perspective on education in Vietnam and in Phu Tho." In a congratulatory letter to her, Minister of Education and Training Phung Xuan Nha described the award as "the Nobel prize for education." "The nations education is in a process of radical and comprehensive change as well as international integration. An enthusiastic, passionate, brave, and innovative teacher who applies technology in teaching and wants to turn Vietnamese students into global citizens like Ha Anh Phuong will be a source of encouragement for students and teachers all over the country." With the new coronavirus epidemic still raging and schools closing, Phuongs online teaching model has special significance. "My students say they can study and lie in bed at the same time and can cough anytime without facing discrimination," she wrote in a Facebook post about teaching students at home. Vietnam also had one teacher in the top 50 last year, when the prize was won by Peter Tabichi, a science teacher in Kenya. Phuong is one of five Southeast Asians among this year's finalists along with an Indonesian, a Filipino and two Malaysians. Science/Medical Coronavirus: Young people are not invincible, WHO warns BBC Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health Says Its Receiving Protective Equipment, But Still Needs Donations Vermont Public Radio. Martha r: Proactive quilting and sewing groups in NH and VT. Theyre telling us they can make them by the thousands.' Mapping the Coronavirus Outbreak Across the World Bloomberg COVID-19 coronavirus epidemic has a natural origin Science Daily (David L) What Is Trumps Coronavirus Drug? Is It Safe? Does It Work? Bloomberg At the POTUS news conference today, much was made about Chloroquine. When I was in Vietnam 1967-68, we took 300 mg of Chloroquine once a week for malaria prevention. For those fighting in the Central Highlands, we also took primaquine. So lots of Americans have experience w it. Homer Hickam (@realhomerhickam) March 21, 2020 Be sure to read the full thread: From the last couple of days the hype over the Chloroquine (CQ) and Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) treatment for #COVID19 has bothered me a lot. So I have decided to dig into the available & published data. What is the evidence right now for treating #COVID19 patients with CQ or HCQ? Gaetan Burgio (@GaetanBurgio) March 21, 2020 Dr. Fauci pushes back on the idea that he dismissed that Chloroquine could be effective against Coronavirus: Im not dismissing it at all and I hope that interpretation wasnt widespread. pic.twitter.com/2eFkIXlTop Benny (@bennyjohnson) March 20, 2020 Carnival offers to turn its cruise ships into makeshift hospitals during coronavirus The Hill. Kevin W: Probably not a good idea. Infections spread too easily aboard a ship and where would they get the spare doctors and nurses to staff it anyway? What Taiwan Could Teach the World About Handling Coronavirus Time (resilc) By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday came close to blaming Iran for a rocket attack in Iraq last week in which two American troops and a British service member were killed. 'Maybe we shouldn't say yet,' said Trump when the question was posed to Pompeo at a White House news conference. Said Pompeo: 'Let me just get back to you on the answer to that.' The Pentagon said last week that Trump had authorized the U.S By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday came close to blaming Iran for a rocket attack in Iraq last week in which two American troops and a British service member were killed. "Maybe we shouldn't say yet," said Trump when the question was posed to Pompeo at a White House news conference. Said Pompeo: "Let me just get back to you on the answer to that." The Pentagon said last week that Trump had authorized the U.S. military to respond to the March 11 rocket attack in Iraq. Trump has been preoccupied with addressing the coronavirus pandemic. The United States has blamed Iran-backed militia for the attack but has not yet said whether it was linked to the Iranian leadership in Tehran. Tensions have been running high between the two longtime adversaries since Trump ordered a U.S. drone strike that killed Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani on Jan. 3. When Pompeo was asked about whether Iran was responsible, Trump interjected: "We know plenty." Pompeo added: "Weve made clear that the Iraqi Shi'a militias are funded, trained and equipped by the Iranians. We've urged the Iranians not to do that. Weve told the Iranians that they will be held responsible for those attacks when they threaten American lives." Despite the tensions, the United States has offered humanitarian assistance to Iran while it struggles with the coronavirus outbreak. Iran is one of the countries outside China that has been most affected by the pandemic. On Friday, Iran said its death toll from the outbreak rose to 1,433. Pompeo suggested that tough U.S. sanctions on Iran would continue over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs despite some appeals for them to be relaxed due to the virus. "The whole world should know that humanitarian assistance into Iran is wide open. It's not sanctioned," he said. "There is no sanction on medicines going to Iran, there's no sanctions on humanitarian assistance going into that country. They've got a terrible problem there and we want that humanitarian medical health-care assistance to get to the people of Iran," he said. Trump said in a message to Iran to mark the Nowruz holiday that "the people of Iran have made it clear that they want leadership that represents them, not the interests of its corrupt regime." "The Iranian people deserve leaders who listen to, respect, and invest in them, not leaders who target and persecute them while wasting money to advance their nuclear ambitions and test more missiles," he said. (Reporting by Steve Holland; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Leslie Adler) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Illinois reported three new deaths and 296 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, bringing the statewide total to 9 deaths and 1,049 cases overall, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. One of the new infections is an infant, said Dr. Ngozi Ezike, head of the Illinois Department of Public Health. At least 8,374 people have been tested in Illinois. Illinois is also in its first full day of a stay-at-home order through April 7. Residents can still go to the grocery stores, put gas in their cars, take walks outside and make pharmacy runs. Heres what else you can expect. Nationwide, there are 26,747 cases and 340 deaths as the U.S. overtook Germany as the country with the fourth-highest number of cases, according to Johns Hopkins University. Worldwide, nearly 312,000 people have been infected and over 13,400 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University. Numbers are through Sunday morning. Here are the latest updates Sunday on the coronavirus in the Chicago area and Illinois: 9:30 p.m.: Fourth Chicago police officer tests positive for coronavirus A fourth officer has tested positive for the coronavirus, Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Sunday night. The officer is assigned to a South Side patrol district, Guglielmi said, and the affected workstations will be cleaned. As part of this process, we have contacted members that may have come in close contact with this officer, Guglielmi said in a statement. We are taking these cases extremely seriously and continue to act exclusively on guidance from CDPH and public health experts within the Chicago Police Medical Section concerning infection control practices and the best health and welfare for our officers. Earlier Sunday, officials said two more officers tested positive for the coronavirus, which brought CPDs total cases to three.The latest case does not appear to be connected to the other three cases, Guglielmi said. Morgan Greene 6:23 p.m.: Employee of Napervilles North Central College tests positive for coronavirus An employee of North Central College who works in the Naperville campus Old Main building has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, according to a news release from President Troy Hammond. North Central was notified of the confirmed COVID-19 case March 21, the same day the employee, who is part of the administrative staff, was notified, the release said. The staff member was last at work March 10, and went home after starting to feel ill. The staff member was not immediately tested, but began a 14-day self-quarantine after consulting with their health care provider, according to Hammond. Other campus community members who had close contact with the administrative staff member were contacted, per health department guidelines, and North Central remains in contact with the individual, their family and local health agencies, according to the news release. Read more here. Erin Hegarty 6:11 p.m. Two more Chicago police officers test positive for the coronavirus. We are taking these cases extremely seriously Chicago police on Sunday learned that two more of its officers have tested positive for the coronavirus, bringing CPDs total for infected officers to three, officials said. The latest CPD officers to test positive are a detective sergeant and another officer who work in different facilities, officials said. In a department wide memo on Sunday, interim police Superintendent Charlie Beck said one of those officers last day at work was Wednesday and the others was Friday. Both officers learned Sunday they tested positive for the coronavirus. I have personally spoken to these members and both are in good spirits, Beck said. Both of these individuals will remain in isolation until medically cleared. In the memo, Beck said other CPD employees who worked in close contract with the infected detective sergeant and other officer have been notified. Additional CPD employees have been advised to return to work and self-monitor for any symptoms, Beck said. As a reminder, those who had brief, casual contact with an infected individual are not considered at great risk of transmission, and for most people the illness is generally mild and can be safely managed at home, Beck said in the memo. Should individuals exhibit any symptoms, we are asking you to stay home, check in with CPDs Medical Section and consult your physician. Their diagnoses were not related to a third officer, a detective, who was disclosed last week as having the coronavirus. police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. To further ensure the health and safety of our members, we are working very closely with the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) and the Citys Department of Assets, Information and Services (AIS) to clean affected workstations," he said of the two new infected officers. We are taking these cases extremely seriously and working as hard as possible to practice appropriate infection control and educate police officers on best practices. Jeremy Gorner 6:03 p.m. Cook County jail guard tests positive for COVID-19 The Cook County sheriffs department on Sunday confirmed that a jail guard who worked in the residential treatment unit tested positive for COVID-19. The unnamed employee was currently in isolation at home, officials said in a statement. Sheriffs officials used video to identify anyone the guard had come in close contact with, leading them to order a small number of staff to stay home after consulting with city public health officials. None of the employees were symptomatic, according to a news release. The areas where the officer worked were recleaned and disinfected, officials said. There were no confirmed cases among jail detainees, according to sheriffs spokesman Matt Walberg. William Lee 6:02 p.m.: Blue Island closes police station, sends workers home after officer tests positive for coronavirus Blue Island police officers were pulled off the streets and out of the station early Sunday morning after the city learned one of their ranks had tested positive for the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, city officials said. Mayor Domingo Vargas said he made the call to send officers home after consulting with the police chief and state and county health officials. My main thing has been and always will be the safety of my men and women, the employees and residents of Blue Island, he said. (State and county health officials) advised us what needed to be done and we are following their recommendations. Vargas said Blue Island officers remained on duty until Cook County sheriffs deputies were able to relieve them. Blue Island Police Chief Bernadine Rzab remains in control of the department and in communication with her direct reports, but at least six sheriffs office units are handling all patrolling for the time being, he said. Read more here. Zak Koeske 4:15 p.m. First responders line up for tests at Northlake Walmart Drive-through coronavirus testing for medical workers and first responders only opens on March 22, 2020, outside a Walmart in Northlake. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune) First responders in dozens of cars lined up Sunday afternoon for a COVID-19 test in the parking lot outside the Walmart at 137 W. North Ave. in Northlake. But as wet snow fell in the late afternoon, a mobile sign warned newly arriving cars that the testing site was closed. Wearing hazmat suits and pivoting from a clutch of white tents, volunteers spent about 20 minutes per visitor to administer the drive-up test through rolled down car windows. This is a very big deal, and we were so proud to step up, said Northlake Fire Chief Norman Nissen, who helped provide security for the site. While police had to turn away several people who requested the test but did not qualify because they were not first responders, there have been no arrests since testing began Saturday, Nissen said. Weve seen a lot of older people drive up, who are scared, but when we explained that the testing was for first responders, like nurses and firefighters, they were all very understanding, he said. Nissen said the impromptu drive-up testing station is expected to be open Monday, and volunteers will continue giving the free tests to first responders, until the supplies run out. Karen Cullotta 4:13 p.m.: Mayor Lightfoot to host telephone town hall with AARP Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the head of Chicagos Department of Family and Support Services will participate in a telephone town hall meeting this coming week to answer questions from senior citizens about the coronavirus pandemic. The meeting is being hosted by the American Association of Retired Persons and will be livestreamed on Facebook and Twitter at 7 p.m. Thursday. The meeting will also feature the head of the citys Department of Family and Support Services.Earlier in the week, at 3:30 p.m. Monday, the mayor and AARP will host a Facebook live session. AARP Illinois members in Chicago who opt to receive telephone town hall calls as part of their membership will receive a phone call shortly before the start of the Thursday event. Those who wish to join the town hall through Facebook and Twitter can do so from the AARP and Mayors Office pages. The sessions are being held to address seniors concerns about the coronavirus, and provide information about resources available through the city, such as transportation options and boxed meal delivery. After the town hall, an information packet outlining services throughout Chicago for older residents will be e-mailed to as many of the calls participants and AARP Chicagos 250,000 members as possible. Jessica Villagomez 3:22 p.m.: First responders, health care workers can be tested for coronavirus at Joliet, Northlake Walmart sites The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Sunday set up drive-through coronavirus testing sites for first responders and healthcare workers at Walmart parking lots in Joliet in Northlake. Each site can administer a maximum of 150 tests per day and will only service those who fit the criteria and are present on-site in a car, said Walmart spokeswoman Jennifer Rodriguez. Only those with a first responder or healthcare ID will be tested, according to a statement by the Joliet Police Department, and those workers do not have to be showing symptoms. Rodriguez said any worker in those fields who may have been exposed to the virus can be tested. Read more here. Frank Vaisvilas Chicago man suffers through hell of coronavirus, but believes hes recovering After returning home to Chicago from a ski trip to Austria on March 9, Todd Favekah felt terrible. Todd Favekah, 50, tested positive for coronavirus upon coming home after skiing in the Austrian Alps. (Todd Favekah/HANDOUT) What seemed like the worst cold of his life wiped him out: His head was so congested it felt like a bowling ball; his ears ached and his throat was killing him; he had to lie down every hour. He asked for a coronavirus test at a NorthShore University HealthSystem urgent care center, but since he initially did not know he had been exposed to the virus, he was denied. Only after a Norwegian skiing companion sent an alert that he had tested positive for the virus was Favekah allowed to get the test. Medical workers wearing protective suits stuck a swab into Favekahs throat, and jammed other swabs uncomfortably far up both nostrils to take the samples. They told him to isolate himself at home while he waited for results, which came three days later: He had the virus. Read more here. Robert McCoppin 2:35 p.m.: 3 deaths, 296 new coronavirus cases in Illinois, bringing state total to 9 deaths and 1,049 cases Illinois reported three new deaths and 296 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, bringing the statewide total to 9 deaths and 1,049 cases overall, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. One of the new infections is an infant, said Dr. Ngozi Ezike, head of the Illinois Department of Public Health. At least 8,374 people have been tested in Illinois. Gov. J.B. Pritzker, at his daily briefing, thanked businesses and residents for pitching in, turning from distilling spirits to hand sanitizer, and for caring for animals that have been stranded. He also said the city has been getting masks from Chicago TV police and fire shows. Pritzker briefly addressed a feud with President Donald Trump that erupted on Twitter after the governor derided federal inaction on coronavirus in an appearance on CNNs State of the Union Sunday morning. Im a pretty even-keeled guy, Pritzer began, before saying hes having a hard time not losing his temper at Trump. Trump promised to deliver for al the states weeks ago and has done very little. The only way to get attention, he said, is to go on TV and make noise about it ... This is a time for serious people.... Get to work or get out of the way. Here is a geographic breakdown of the 1,049 Illinois cases, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health: Chicago: 519 (49%) Cook County: 286 (27%) DePage County: 79 (8%) Lake: 69 (7%) Will: 21 (2%) Kane: 13 (1%) McHenry: 12 (1%) 12:05 p.m.: Chicago Public Schools confirms first case of coronavirus at Jones College Prep Chicago Public School officials said Sunday there has been a confirmed coronavirus case at Jones College Prep. An emailed statement did not say whether the person was a staff member or a student, or what condition the person is in. Only close contacts, as determined in consultation with the Chicago Department of Public Health, will need to be in self-quarantine for 14 calendar days starting from the time of the last contact. CPS will communicate directly with CPS staff and students who have been identified by CDPH as a close contact within the next 24 hours, the school district said. The high school, located in the Loop, has been closed for classes since March 17 after Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced that all Illinois schools would be shuttered. Chicago Tribune staff 11:45 a.m.: Pritzker says lack of federal action is hurting states efforts to fight coronavirus. Trump shoots back, Fake News A day after issuing a statewide stay-at-home order, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Sunday that such action should be taken across the country as coronavirus cases continue to soar, and he complained that the lack of federal effort has forced Illinois to pay more for crucial supplies as they compete with other states. This shouldve been a coordinated effort by the federal government," Pritzker told CNNs State of the Union with Jake Tapper. So, yes, were competing against each other, were competing against other countries. Its a ... wild west out there and, indeed, were overpaying, I would say, for PPE (personal protective equipment) because of that competition. He also criticized the White House for not issuing a nationwide shelter-in-place order. These shouldve been done nationally, they havent been. Soon after his appearance, President Donald Trump shot back with a tweet again labeling criticism of his efforts as Fake News." Governor of Illinois, and a very small group of certain other Governors, together with Fake News @CNN & Concast (MSDNC), shouldnt be blaming the Federal Government for their own shortcomings," he tweeted. We are there to back you up should you fail, and always will be! Read more here. Katherine Rosenberg-Douglas 10:40 a.m.: Walmart parking lots in Northlake and Joliet to be used for drive-thru test sites for first responders and health workers possibly exposed to coronavirus Walmart announced Sunday that parking lots at two of its stores will be used for federal drive-thru testing sites for the coronavirus for first responders and health care workers who have potentially been exposed to the virus." The chain emphasized that the sites in Northlake and Joliet are not open to the general public, and testing is not available in Walmarts stores. The effort comes as the nation struggles to test people for the new virus, which has sickened thousands across the country. In Illinois, more than 750 people have been reported infected, and at least six have died. Cars line up as drive-through coronavirus testing for medical workers and first responders opens March 22, 2020, outside a Walmart in Northlake. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune) Politicians and medical providers have criticized the federal government for its slow rollout of drive-up testing stations, even as other countries like South Korea and Germany have already been testing in this manner for weeks. The method allows suspected patients to be tested inside their vehicles to minimize the spread of the highly contagious virus. Walmart said it hoped the sites at its parking lots "will help us better understand the operational, public health and safety considerations associated with federal, state and local efforts to expand access to mobile testing. The sites will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Each site can administer a maximum of 150 tests per day. Patients will need to stay in their cars for verification of eligibility criteria, ID check and sample collection, Walmart said. For the safety of all those on-site, the test site is not able to service those who walk up. Chicago Tribune staff 10:20 a.m.: Indiana reports 10th positive coronavirus case in Lake County, 201 statewide The number of positive coronavirus cases in Lake County has jumped to 10, according to the Indiana Department of Health. The Department of Health also said Sunday there are now 201 positive cases in the state, with 1,494 people tested. The state did not release where the Lake County victims are from or where they are being treated. The latest cases were reported in 22 counties. The highest number was in Marion County, which reported 35 new cases, followed by Hamilton County, which reported eight cases. Four people have died, according to the state. None have been from Lake or Porter counties. Read more here. Post-Tribune staff 9:55 a.m.: Chicago groups scramble to change 2020 census plans for hard-to-count communities after coronavirus stay-at-home order Westside Health Authority outreach workers Jordan Bester left, and Emily Ferry hand out information about the 2020 census to Frank Towns on March 12, 2020, in the South Austin neighbor of Chicago (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune) Community groups outreach efforts to get people to respond to the 2020 census were upended as concerns about the spread of COVID-19 took over daily life. Health and elected officials urged people to practice social distancing as schools were closed and gatherings of more than 10 people were discouraged. Gov. J.B. Pritzker took the drastic measure of issuing a shelter-in-place order starting Saturday to try to contain the virus. For organizations on the front line of outreach work, the changes spurred by COVID-19 have meant theyve had to quickly alter their efforts just as the U.S. Census Bureau started collecting data about the countrys population. Read more here. Elvia Malagon 9:45 a.m.: Oswego residents asked to take extra caution with garbage service The village of Oswego is asking residents to take extra caution with garbage service during the coronavirus pandemic. Groot Industries, the villages contracted waste hauler, announced Friday that garbage haulers have been instructed to collect garbage and recycling placed in carts and bagged trash only, in order to protect workers from contracting and spreading COVID-19, according to a press release from the village. Haulers will not collect trash that is loose in cans, according to officials. They will also not collect bulk items, electronics, construction debris or appliances until further notice. Trash should be put in a garbage cart or bagged in a trash can, officials said. Haulers will not return to collect any trash that is missed or not put at the curb on time.Recycling will be limited to only items that fit in recycling carts, according to the release. Nothing placed outside of the cart will be collected.Yard waste will still be collected as scheduled beginning the first week of April, village officials said. Read more here. Aurora Beacon-News staff 9:41 a.m.: 4 Elgin firefighters in isolation after contact with 3-year-old with coronavirus Four Elgin firefighters will be isolated until March 27 after having contact with a 3-year-old child who has tested positive for the coronavirus, officials said. AMITA Health St. Alexius Medical Center in Hoffman Estates notified the Elgin Fire Department Thursday that a 3-year-old patient the firefighters transported March 12 has tested positive for COVID-19, according to a city news release. The fire department didnt learn of the childs condition for a week because it can take seven to 10 days for the results to be returned, the release said.Elgin Fire Chief Robb Cagann said all four firefighters have not shown any symptoms since their contact with the child. Read more here. Rafael Guerrero 9:35 a.m.: Chicago launches website to help first responders and health care workers find day care The city of Chicago is setting up a website to help health care workers and first responders find child care. The city is partnering with Sittercity, an online resource for in-home care, to create a website sittercity.com/chicagoresponds where workers can go to reach teachers and daycare providers, tutors and coaches, dance instructors and other Chicagoans who dedicate their lives to caring for children and who are unable to work while their primary workplaces are closed, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a statement. The website was due to go online Sunday. Sittercity will provide three free months of its premium service, Lightfoot said. People wishing to volunteer for work during the outbreak can visit the citys website. Chicago Tribune staff 9:30 a.m.: PADS Lake County scrambling to accommodate homeless in face of coronavirus-related issues Lake Countys largest provider of homeless services has lost three of its 15 overnight shelters, and is on the brink of losing three more, as the organization struggles to follow government guidelines to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus yet maintain its vital support for one of the countys most vulnerable populations. The county had 53 confirmed cases of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, just behind Cook and DuPage counties, as of Friday afternoon, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. The states total hit 585, including five deaths. The restrictions handed down by Gov. J.B. Pritzker have intensified since Lake County reported its first case on March 11, and the numbers locally and statewide have climbed. Homeless shelters have been among the locations specifically identified as being exempted from the closures that Pritzker has ordered. Still, PADS Lake County, with 28 employees and more than 3,000 volunteers throughout the year, is a case study of the difficulties faced during the viral pandemic by organizations giving support to persons experiencing homelessness, who are at high risk of COVID-19s effects due to a variety of factors including unresolved health problems. Read more here. Grant Morgan 9:15 a.m.: Peace Corps recalls volunteers, leaving Chicago-area participants in a state of chaos On the eve of her one-year anniversary in the Peace Corps, 23-year-old Katie Bassett packed up the last year of her life in the northeastern Isan region of Thailand and prepared for emergency evacuation. Her last two days were filled with tearful goodbyes to teachers and students she had built deep relationships with and to her Peace Corps colleagues. Bassett is one of more than 7,000 Peace Corps volunteers in 60 countries who were evacuated because of COVID-19. The government service announced March 15 that it would temporarily suspend all operations, an unprecedented move that threw volunteers into a state of chaos as they tried to leave the countries they considered their homes. Read more here. Grace Wong 8 a.m.: Heidi Stevens: Chicagoans joined together for a Bon Jovi singalong. Next up: Jackson 5. On Friday, Chicago couple Jenni Spinner and Rebecca Kell created an event on Facebook inviting folks to throw open their windows, stand on their balconies, venture onto their front stoops, wander into their front yards and launch a massive group singalong to Bon Jovis Livin on A Prayer. Hey, Chicago! the lead singer of the 100-million-record-selling New Jersey band said. I heard you guys are about to open up your windows and scream and shout to Livin On A Prayer.' Want you to know that Im just warming up, getting ready to sing along with you. In these trying times Im with you with all of my heart and my soul. An hour after the singing ended, Spinner and Kell already had an invite posted for next Saturday. Same time. Same place (obviously). New song: ABC by the Jackson 5. Read more here. 7 a.m.: West Loop bookstore opened, then closed 2 days later due to coronavirus Business partners Mary Mollman and Javier Ramirez threw a grand opening party on March 14 for their new store, Madison Street Books, complete with a balloon arch and a morning-to-night roster of activities. Two days later, they like countless other Chicago businesses shut down temporarily in consideration of the health of our neighbors, patrons, employees and friends during the COVID-19 outbreak. Javier Ramirez and Mary Mollman opened Madison Street Books, in the West Loop, on March 14; two days later, they shuttered it temporarily due to the coronavirus (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune) After offering curbside and hand delivery for a few days, the store is now fully closed due to Gov. J.B. Pritzkers stay-at-home order, except for online orders. Read more here. Kathleen Rooney Saturday, March 21 6:20 p.m. Cook County distributes masks, gloves to first responders Cook County officials on Friday evening distributed more than 33,600 N95 masks and 38,800 gloves and gowns to regional first responders amid shortages, officials said. The equipment was sent to about 86 jurisdictions across Cook County, according to a news release from the county. The supplies came from the countys emergency supply cache with additional equipment provided by the state, the release said. Madeline Buckley 6:15 p.m. Confirmed COVID-19 cases reported at Loyola University, U of I Urbana-Champaign A Loyola University Chicago student has been diagnosed with COVID-19, marking the schools first confirmed case in a student, officials said. The student is at home self-isolating, and has not been on campus in the last 14 days, the school said in a letter to students, faculty and staff. The university received the report Saturday morning. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign also reported its first confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the school community on Saturday. Two U of I employees tested positive for the virus, according to a message from the chancellor. One employee was tested on March 15, and was last on campus on March 13, the message said. The other employee was tested on March 18 and has not had any contact with others, is in self-quarantine, according to the message. Madeline Buckley 5:30 p.m. 16 new COVID-19 cases in Lake County; blood donors sought As of Friday, there have been 16 new cases, marking a total of 65 Lake County residents who have tested positive for the disease since March 11, according to a statement from the health department. Officials there are hoping healthy residents will give blood after many recent blood drives were canceled because of the pandemic. We recently learned there is an urgent shortage of blood supply in our region due to recent cancellations of blood drives, said health department spokeswoman Lisa Kritz. If you are healthy and able to donate blood, we would ask you to consider making an appointment at a local blood donation facility. Vitalant (formerly LifeSource) operates two donation locations in Lake County, in Gurnee and Lake Bluff. They are extending their hours and they encourage eligible donors to call (877) 258-4825 or visit https://www.vitalant.org/ to schedule an appointment. Additionally, information on upcoming American Red Cross blood drives can be found at https://www.redcrossblood.org/. Rosemary Sobol 5:14 p.m.: Aurora police officer tests positive for the coronavirus An Aurora police officer, a part of the supervisory staff, has tested positive with coronavirus, officials said. The employee started feeling sick on March 17, went home to seek medical treatment and was tested for COVID-19. The staff member immediately began self-quarantining at home while awaiting the test results. Aurora police officials were notified late Friday by the Kendall County Health Department that they tested positive. Read more here. 5:10 p.m.: Bail review requests available during limited operations in pandemic: Circuit Court of Cook County Pretrial defendants in Cook County Jail will still be able tohave bail reviews, according to a statement from Chief Judge Timothy Evansoffice, in a reminder following massive courthouse closure changes thatwent into effect as a precaution against coronavirus on March 17. After an arrest and initial bail hearing that results in someone being held in custody, that defendant has the right to ask a judge to review the bail in an effort to be freed from jail while the criminal case is pending. Judges will continue to be available every day, including weekends, to hear all requests for bail reviews, the statement said. To help move along the cases as quickly as possible and promote social distancing, attorneys may waive the defendants appearance in court, the statement said. We stand ready to handle these cases on an expedited basis so that judges may balance a defendants rights, public safety and public health, Chief Judge Evans said in the statement. There is no precedent for the current situation in which the court is operating. The vast majority of Cook County court operations, both criminal and civil, have been postponed for nearly a month. Regular operations are expected to resume April 15 at the earliest, according to an earlier statement from the chief judges office. Rosemary Sobol 4:25 p.m.: Maywood religious leader delivers food and water to the needy One good thing that has come out of the coronavirus ordeal is churches getting back to being churches and giving to those without, said Rev. Darryl Bass of Impact Ministry of Maywood. We care about you, Bass said. Just because youre homeless or in a situation, it doesnt mean its the end. Impact Church, in west suburban Maywood, has joined forces with the Garden of Prayer Church and Gods Heritage Full Gospel Church to provide food and water to the needy during this stressful time. From 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays, truckloads of food will be parked outside of Maywoods Gods Heritage Full Gospel Church, 1200 S. Fifth Ave., so people can stop by and pick up what they need. Separate groups also will be delivering to the elderly and those without transportation. Friday, when Rev. Bass was on his way delivering, an elderly woman spotted him and asked what he was doing. After he shared with her the churches outreach services, she told him she had been praying for water. Not only did she receive water, she was put on a list to get food, Bass said. Bass approved of the governors stay at home order, saying it will bring friends and loved ones closer. I think it was a smart move for the governor to order people to stay put, Bass said. Hopefully in the near future he can address people being able to get tested. Bass was also hopeful parents would use this time to form tighter bonds with their children. I always tell people your presence with your children is worth more than presents, he said. Most families dont know how to interact with each other. Its time to grow relationships. So far, the churches have given out more than 500 meals, and plan on doing more, spanning outside of the Maywood area, Bass said. Being a Christian isnt about who can build the biggest church. Its about needs being met, Bass said. Anyone wanting to get involved should contact Rev. Bass at 708-359-6388, or go to the church website at https://impact-church-maywood.org/contact/ Deanese Williams-Harris 4 p.m.: The thing Im most afraid of is losing my job Along several blocks down Clark Street, in Chicagos Rogers Park neighborhood, the usual Mexican restaurants and hair salons were dark, with notices on the windows in English and Spanish announcing closures or delivery-only services with phone numbers to call. The thing Im most afraid of is losing my job, said Rocio Garcia, who works at a bakery that had reopened on Monday after making repairs. She was out of work for 12 weeks. As she bagged 10 pieces of sweet bread, Garcia said the order to stay home was a good step. Shes afraid to get the coronavirus and no longer hugs or kisses people hello. This week, a customer with news of a case in Puebla, a city in central Mexico where her teenage son lives, had her calling home in a hurry. They told me not to worry, and laughed that gossip had made it all the way to the United States, Garcia said. Maria Secundino, the shopkeeper at Tienda Rapida, said the biggest impact of the stay-at-home order would be that it would double her duties to calm people who came to get supplies. I tell them theres no need to panic. Worry if you dont have food, soap, Secundino said, adding that so far people have listened to her and not taken more than they need. Until they order me to close, Ill be here. Cecilia Reyes 3:41 p.m.: One last chance for the boys to use the playground at Oz Park Ray Pelelas crouched down to his knees with his arms around his two sons, 3 and 5, and pointed out a crow in a tree while the boys played at the playground Saturday afternoon at Oz Park in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. The boys exclaimed at the site of the bird, and then ran into a play structure, built like a castle, at the park. It was the boys last chance to play in a city playground, as Mayor Lori Lightfoot has mandated they all close as part of the stay at home order. Green space in parks will remain open. Pelelas said he understands the need for social distancing, but feels he is quickly running out of things to do with his young children. All three wore gloves while playing in the park. After the order takes effect Saturday evening, Pelelas thinks they will still go to Oz Park to walk around and play in the grass outside the playground. But it will be difficult to explain to the boys why they cant use the swings and the slides. We cant go to church and pray. We cant go to the park and play, Pelelas said. We need fresh air. Madeline Buckley Canceled birthday parties: Well have to adapt Soheil Zadeh just canceled the birthday parties for his two sons, 14 and 11, in light of Pritzers order to stay at home to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. The boys, whose birthdays are in March and April, were planning to have sleepover parties with a group of friends, but that will now be impossible. But the boys understand, Zadeh said. Theyre pretty reasonable kids, he said. Zadeh and the boys were playing basketball at Oz Park, letting off steam and getting some exercise Saturday afternoon. Zadeh doesnt believe his familys routine will change that much, because the boys are already out of school, and he has been working from home. Well all have to adapt, he said. Madeline Buckley 3:21 p.m.: Restaurants, parks and enforcement: heres what Illinois stay-at-home order means for Aurora Gov J.B. Pritzkers stay-at-home order is the states latest step to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus, but some in Aurora dont anticipate it amounting to dramatic changes for those already practicing recommended social distancing measures. Still, Pritzker and Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin said abiding by the new rules and staying at home as much as possible could help significantly. Without such measures, cases in Illinois would rapidly rise, overwhelming hospitals and leaving in scarce supply hospital beds, protective equipment for hospital workers, and ventilators for those who need, Pritzker said. The order was slated to take effect Saturday at 5 p.m. and last through at least the end of April 7. It bans all gatherings of more than 10 people, and most other public or private gatherings outside the household, with some exceptions. Indoor and outdoor playgrounds, museums and other places of public amusement are closed, though in Aurora most museums and the citys zoo were already closed due to the coronavirus. Employees, where possible, must work from home. Read more here. 2:35 p.m.: 168 new coronavirus cases and one new death in Illinois, officials say State officials Saturday announced 168 new coronavirus cases and one additional death in Illinois. The new totals bring the number of cases to 753 cases and six deaths in the state. The latest death was a man in his 70s from Cook County, officials said at a news briefing. Pritzker asks for retired health workers to join fight against coronavirus Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Saturday called on retired health care workers, including doctors, nurses and physicians assistants, to come back and join the fight against COVID-19. The state will expedite licensing and waive fees, Pritzker said, speaking during a daily briefing at the Thompson Center. Health care workers whose licenses will soon expire will be automatically extended through September. This is heros work, he said. All of you have our deepest gratitude for your willingness to serve. Madeline Buckley 1:58 p.m.: A last trip to the library Teri Odom and her 7-year-old son arrived at the Lincoln Park branch of the Chicago Public Library just as it was closing ahead of the stay at home order issued Friday by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker. Odom thought the library would be open until 5 p.m., when the order takes effect, but librarians were locking up, leaving with plants and other personal belongings around 12:30 p.m. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot ordered public libraries to close as part of the mandate. "It's going to be different for everyone," Odom said as she and her family prepare to comply with the order. The biggest impact of it might be on her son, who will no longer be able to have playdates, she said. She also reminded her son that he won't be able to play soccer. "Oh come on," the boy responded. Odom has been trying to find outdoor outlets for her son instead, and she recently bought him a bigger bicycle, which he sat on in the library's vestibule. He needs to get out, Odom said. Madeline Buckley 1:55 p.m.: Some leave the city to stock-up on home-confinement supplies Two South Siders from the Chatham neighborhood, Brenda Smith and her neighbor Amanda Harris, decided to travel out of the city, after seeing a long line outside of the Food 4 Less grocery store on 87th Street, right off of the Dan Ryan Expressway. We started at 8 a.m., and now its past noon and there are people still outside the doors waiting, Smith said. We dont know if they are holding people back or what the deal is, but the lines are out the door. The two neighbors traveled to two stores in Burbank, Petes and Jewel, to shop instead of facing the grocery stores on the South Side. Hopefully the social problems of living in food deserts with be brought to the forefront during this time, Harris said. One thing I will say is the attitudes of those working (in Burbank) was absolutely uplifting and positive. Smith agreed, saying, In times like these we have to encourage each other and remind each other that if we work together, things will be all right. Deanese Williams-Harris 12:25 p.m.: Chicago TV shows donate masks, other props for coronavirus treatment Their doctors may be fake, but it turns out hospital procedurals like Chicago Med, The Resident and Greys Anatomy, are awash in authentic medical gear. With production halted, and a critical shortage of supplies in real-life hospitals, the TV industry has stepped in to donate what would otherwise be their props: Surgical masks, gloves and more, originally intended for actors, are now en route to actual health care personnel. We are doing it big time, Carla Corwin, a producer on the NBC series Chicago Med, wrote in an email this afternoon. Studio approved. We are donating all supplies to the Illinois Department of Public Health and they can distribute to the various hospitals as they see fit. Corwin added that they are also including gear from their sister shows Chicago P.D. and highly sought-after N95 masks from Chicago Fire. Miranda Squerciati from "Chicago P.D." (Elizabeth Morris/NBC) Chris Shader, the prop master on Chicago Med, and Dr. Andrew Dennis, a Chicago trauma surgeon who serves as a consultant on the show, helped organize the effort. A donation had already been made to an emergency room in Rockland, Illinois, that Corwin described as without supplies. Read more. Melena Ryzik, The New York Times 12:08 p.m.: Bears pledge $250,000 to Chicago community relief fund The Bears are donating $250,000 to the Chicago Community COVID-19 Response Fund, the team announced Friday. The City of Chicago, the Chicago Community Trust and United Way of Metro Chicago launched the fund earlier this week to help provide access to emergency food and supplies for those in need because of the coronavirus crisis. The funds website says donations also will go toward helping with rent, mortgage and utility assistance and nonprofit safety and operations assistance. The fund raised more than $8 million in a day, including a pledge to match $100,000 in individual donations from the Blackhawks. Bears President and CEO Ted Phillips said in a statement the team is beginning their support of those in need with the donation. Read more. Colleen Kane 11:45 a.m.: Lightfoot: We are seeing the resiliency that is part of this citys DNA Hours before a statewide stay-at-home order took effect, Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Saturday morning sought to reassure Chicagoans that food would remain available, including to the poor. Lightfoot acknowledged the unprecedented times but asked people not to crash grocery stores to hoard food. Flanked by local charity leaders at the Office of Emergency Management and Communications, she noted that Gov. J.B. Pritzkers order would not shut down grocers or restaurants that serve food for pickup. She announced also that the Chicago Community COVID-19 Response Fund, launched by the Chicago Community Trust and United Way of Metro Chicago, had raised $13.5 million this week. As difficult as things are now, we are seeing the resiliency that is part of this citys DNA and our resolve to make sure that we do everything that we can to be neighbors to each other to get us through this difficult time and on the other side, she said. On Friday afternoon, Lightfoot stood with Pritzker as he announced a directive calling on Illinois residents to remain in their homes in a bid to slow the spread of a virus that had infected 585 people in the state and killed five. The order runs through at least April 7, though Pritzker acknowledged it could go beyond that. His order, which takes effect at 5 p.m. Saturday, largely codifies prior recommendations and rules issued by state officials, and Pritzker noted that many Illinoisans were already taking the measures. The new rules ban any gathering larger than 10 people, in keeping with the recommendation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It also bars residents from socializing in-person with people outside their household, meaning even small parties and casual get-togethers should not take place. Playgrounds will be closed, though each community will decide whether green space will remain open for recreational use. Illinois has shut down its state parks. All Chicago Park District facilities will be closed, but people can still enjoy the open spaces as long as they maintain a social distance of 6 feet. Nonetheless, Lightfoot and leaders from local charities sought to calm fears that food would become unavailable. The mayor noted that Chicago Public Schools students can get free meals at schools, while Kate Maehr, executive director of the Greater Chicago Food Depository, encouraged people in need to visit the organizations website to find places to pick up sustenance. Lightfoot, who lives in the Logan Square neighborhood, also advised residents that they could continue venturing outside for walks. My wife and I took a walk this morning. A little brisk, but good for the soul, she said. Dan Hinkel 11:15 a.m.: CTA bus driver has tested positive for coronavirus, officials say A Chicago Transit Authority bus driver has tested positive for the coronavirus, city health officials said in a statement on Saturday. The CTA has contacted the driver and individuals who had contact with the individual. The person worked out of the Forest Glen bus garage at 5914 West Armstrong Avenue. Twenty bus routes operate out of the garage, according to the CTAs website. The garage will remain open, according to the statement, and CTA is conducting "extensive cleaning and disinfection of the impacted area." The transit agency said it is requiring that staff practice social distancing, and encourages any employee feeling sick to report his or her symptoms to their health care provider and the city's Department of Health. As of March 20, there have been 212 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 2 deaths among Chicago residents, according to the city. Cecilia Reyes 10:55 a.m.: Indiana reports 47 new cases, bringing state total to 126 Lake County, Ind., now has seven positive COVID-19 patients, including an emergency room doctor with Methodist Hopsitals, the hospital said. Statewide, of the now 833 tests reported to the Indiana State Department of Health, the number of infected people rose to 126 overnight, up from 79 Friday, according to the ISDH. The number of people whove died from the virus remained at three Saturday morning. The Methodist Hospital doctor has been quarantined, Methodist Hospital spokeswoman Evelyn Morrison said Friday. The physician was not identified, but likely contracted it outside the hospital, she said. The doctor wore protective gear while seeing patients during the shifts last worked from March 14 to 16 and hasnt been on duty since, according to the hospital. Read more. Meredith Colias-Pete 10:30 a.m.: Chicago-based United Airlines warns of massive layoffs without federal aid Leaders of United Airlines and its labor unions are raising the threat of massive layoffs if Washington doesnt provide sufficient help to the airline industry by the end of this month. The airlines CEO, Oscar Munoz, its president and four union officials said Friday that without federal help this month, our company will begin to take the necessary steps to reduce our payroll to match a 60% reduction in flying planned for April. Southwest Airlines said Friday that it had significantly scaled back its flights in and out of Midway Airport, its Chicago hub, days after federal authorities closed the airports control tower after technicians tested positive for the coronavirus. Associated Press and Chicago Tribune staff 10:25 a.m.: COVID-19 is having a major impact on Chicago orgs assisting those in need. Heres how you can help. The spread of the coronavirus pandemic has placed an extra burden on Chicagoland nonprofit organizations. Even before Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued a stay-at-home order effective Saturday evening, nonprofit organizations were forced to cancel fundraising events and have expressed concern that donations will suffer because of COVID-19. Blood banks, in particular, are in need given the number of canceled blood drives. Here is an evolving list of where you can make donations to organizations helping those in need. For more reading or to find a charity, visit Charity Navigator or Guide Star. Kate Thayer and Jeremy Mikula Friday, March 20 Heres a recap of coronavirus updates in the Chicago area and Illinois from Friday: Thursday, March 19 Heres a recap of coronavirus updates in the Chicago area and Illinois from Thursday: Wednesday, March 18 Heres a recap of coronavirus updates in the Chicago area and Illinois from Wednesday: 128 new cases were reported in Illinois. There are now 288 reported cases across 17 counties. An additional 24 individuals at a long-term care facility in DuPage County tested positive for the coronavirus, bringing the total number of patients there to 46. Oak Park issued a shelter-in-place order as River Forest and Forest Park leaders urged residents to comply as well. Education officials indicated there is a very real possibility that Illinois school shutdown could be extended. Heres how Illinois hospitals are preparing for a flood of COVID-19 patients. Drive-thru coronavirus testing is starting up at some Chicago-area hospitals. But its by appointment only. Chicago Public Library will close the majority but not all of its locations, drawing the ire of the union representing municipal employees who demanded all libraries be closed. ICE will delay some deportations as pressure mounts for Chicagos Immigration Court to close. Toilet paper and hand sanitizer arent the only items consumers worried about the new coronavirus have been hunting for: Ammo is also flying off the shelves at local gun stores. A private school in Chicagos Lincoln Square community has reported six cases of coronavirus. Does the coronavirus have you worried about toilet paper? Using paper towels or napkins can lead to plumbing problems. A day after announcing he had activated an Illinois National Guard unit, Gov. J.B. Pritzker acknowledged more service members may be deployed. The coronavirus may imperil Chicagos more than decadelong construction boom. Were mentally preparing for a shutdown. Several Chicago restaurants are open for delivery or pickup amid the coronavirus shutdown. Check out this running list. Tuesday, March 17 Heres a recap of coronavirus updates in the Chicago area and Illinois from Tuesday: 55 new cases of COVID-19 brought the total in Illinois to 160. Among the new cases were 17 patients and four staff members at a long-term care facility in Willowbrook. A retired nurse with history of respiratory issues is confirmed as states first coronavirus fatality. But relatives dont know how she contracted it. Despite coronavirus anxiety and problems at the polls, Cook County and Chicago avoided record-low turnout in Tuesdays primary election. Coronavirus concerns are thinning the crowds on public transit. If you must ride, here are ways to be safe. Illinois will allow marijuana dispensaries to take orders from medical patients at the curb or in the parking lot. For a suburban woman on the coronavirus-stricken Princess cruise, the trouble started when she left the boat. What if a Chicago doctor has to choose which coronavirus patient gets a respirator? Pondering the unlikely and unthinkable. Homeless shelters brace for closures amid coronavirus pandemic. Every public and private school in Illinois closed Tuesday because of the coronavirus. Heres what you need to know. These videos of penguins running free inside the Shedd Aquarium are just the coronavirus distraction we need. Monday, March 16 Heres a recap of coronavirus updates in the Chicago area and Illinois from Monday: Gov. J.B. Pritzker limited crowd sizes in Illinois to under 50, the latest in a stream of restrictions handed down in recent days. The ban came as Illinois officials reported 12 new cases of COVID-19 in the state, bringing the total since the start of the outbreak to 105. Cook County officials are considering so-called compassionate releases to ease coronavirus risk in jails. Illinoisans readied for a primary Election Day like no other, with fear of the spread of coronavirus raising concerns of low turnout. CPS prepared to shut down for a second time this school year as the teachers strike now looks like a dry run for a new disruption. How an extraordinary secret meeting of Chicago chefs grew into a commanding voice to seek help from the governor. Sunday, March 15 Heres a recap of coronavirus updates in the Chicago area and Illinois from Sunday: President Donald Trump responds to a question by NBC News White House Correspondent Peter Alexander during a news briefing on the latest development in the CCP virus outbreak in the United States at the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington on March 20, 2020. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) White House Press Continues to Humiliate Itself During Pandemic Commentary They should have a sign at the entrance of the White House press room: Please Check Your Personality Disorder at the Door. Either that or Dantes epochal, Lasciate ogne speranza, voi chintrateAbandon hope all ye who enter here. Thats the way it seems anyway, to many of us watching the now-daily press conferences regarding the current pandemic. The assorted paleo-virtue signalers and candidates for anger management training that comprise the White House press corps have, as if it were possible, humiliated themselves more than ever, almost beyond recognition. To say they are more interested in scoring points against the president than eliciting information or even improving the precarious health and economic situations of their fellow Americans is close to the understatement of the year. When, on March 20, NBCs Peter Alexander shouted accusingly at Trump while interrupting another questioner, What do you say to Americans who are scared? I knew we were headed for a new low in gotcha land. No good answer was possible from anyone. Trump called it a nasty question, which was another understatement. Alexander might as well have screamed the hoary, When did you stop beating your wife? (Of course, many of the network reporters MSM colleagues jumped to his defense. Its what they dohate and circle the wagons.) And then there was ABCs Cecilia Vega, who spent the better part of the past week of press conferences enraged, and attempting to label Trump racist (what else?) for calling a virus from China a Chinese virus. Go figure. The publication for which I am writingThe Epoch Timeshas a more precise name that they are urging others to adopt. It refers to the virus as the CCP virus because the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) sat on information about the outbreak for six weeks. From its editorial: The name holds the CCP accountable for its wanton disregard of human life and consequent spawning of a pandemic that has put untold numbers in countries around the world at risk, while creating widespread fear and devastating the economies of nations trying to cope with this disease. I wonder how Ms. Vega would respond to this. On second thought, I dont, because I have a pretty good idea she would ignore it, as would a good many of her cohorts in the White House press room. Although he would recognize its veracity, Trump would be in a more complex position adopting that name. It certainly would obviate the already bogus accusations of racism. (Not that it matters. Calling someone a racist these days is about as meaningful as calling a classmate doo-doo head in nursery school.) Nevertheless, Trump still has to negotiate with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on a variety of subjects, while extricating the United States from a supply chain that includes the majority of our medicines coming from communist China. His use of CCP virus would likely not be helpful in those circumstances. None of this would be of much interest to the gang in the press room, for whom the word subtlety doesnt exist. Whats interesting is that many of the more extreme questions that are short on content but long on hostility come from the well-paid representatives of the television networksABC, NBC, and CBS. These companies received their prominent positions in the press room and, more importantly, on our television screens, decades ago. When, as the lyrics go in the great Joan Littlewood musical, this bloody war is over, it may be time to revisit the preferences given to these networks that tend to mirror each other in ways that are inherently anti-democratic. Do they have those positions in perpetuity? Why? That could be asked of several other media outlets we could name. Early in the Trump administration, some effort was given to mixing (democratizing, really) those allowed in the press room. Even some lowly bloggers were allowed to ask questions via Skype. That seems to have gone by the wayside. Afterward, during Trump II perhaps, that too could be revisited. And not to upset Mr. Alexander and Ms. Vega too much, but their antics actually are making Trump II all the more likely. According to a recent Harris Poll, the publics approval of Trumps handling of the CCP virus has been improving, up 5 percent from a few days ago. As of March 1718, 56 percent approve, while 44 percent disapprove, of the way Trump is dealing with the crisis. Considering the divisiveness of our society and the unremitting enmity of the press, thats not too shabby. Roger L. SimonThe Epoch Times senior political columnistis the author, most recently, of The GOAT. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. No Pongal temple rites; pray at home, Hindus told By Navaratnam Parameswaran View(s): View(s): Religious festivals in the north were brought to a halt this week with the threat of coronavirus. The Nainativu (Nagadeepa) Nagapoosani Amman Temple Trustee announced that all special poojas were cancelled until further notice. Normally, every Monday during the Tamil month of Panguni (March-April), special Pongal prayers are held in the temples, especially at the Panrithalaichi Amman Kovil in Madduvil, Chavakacheri, and the Vatrapalai Kannaki Amman Kovil in Mullaitivu. Thousands of devotees gather at both temples on Mondays but this year the management of both temples instructed worshippers not to attend. Keerimalai is the sacred place for Sri Lankan Hindus to mark a relatives last rites (Anthiyetti). This week, the Keerimalai Anthiyetti Mada Trustee announced that Anthiyetti ceremonies would be suspended in Keerimalais sacred water area. Hindus have been asked to pray at home. In Jaffna, the Chamber of Commerce decided that shops shorten trading hours, with doors closing at 2.30 p.m. In Mullaitivu, the District Regional Director of Health Services said drugs would be delivered to the homes of clinic patients. Private bus operators in the north decided to reduce daily services from 80 to 20. Fishermen from outside the Mullaitivu area are to return to their own regions, the Mullaitivu Government Agent decided, following consultation with Aquatic Resources Department officers, health authorities and fishermens organisations. There have been no deaths in 18 states and 21 states have less than 100 cases Coronavirus cases continue to rise at a dramatic rate across the United States, reaching over 22,000 people by Saturday afternoon with 280 deaths. In the past twelve hours, 3,000 new cases were confirmed bringing the national figure to 22,076 but the large spike is attributed to the improved access to testing which has made positive cases easier to identify. Almost half of cases are in New York state where there has been 10,356 cases confirmed and 56 deaths. There are 280 deaths nationwide. There have been no deaths in 18 states and 21 states, plus the three U.S. territories, have less than 100 cases each. On Friday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the first 'point-of-care' coronavirus test which can be used in hospitals and emergency rooms, delivering test results in 45 minutes. Scroll down for video A car drives up for drive-thru coronavirus testing in Somerville, Massachusetts, on Wednesday. The increase in these test centers has lead to an increased in the number of cases Workers in protective gear operate a drive through COVID-19 mobile testing center as the number of cases in U.S. jumps by 3,000 in 12 hours. Testing helps to ensure that positive patients are given the correct treatment and are isolated from others to prevent spread Members of the Maryland Army National Guard work to set up a triage tent in the parking lot outside of the emergency room at Adventist HealthCare White Oak Medical Center as the number of cases in the U.S. rises over 22,000. There are 190 in Maryland and two deaths Triage centers are set up in Elmhurst Queens to test for Coronavirus in New York City. These lines could be shortened with thanks to a new test authorized by the FDA late on Friday Cepheid's Chief Medical Officer David Persing speaks about the new 45-minute coronavirus test which was given FDA approval on Friday and will be on sale by the end of March The new test was developed by the company Cepheid which plans to have it on sale by the end of March. STATES WITH MOST CORONAVIRUS CASES New York: 10356 Washington: 1524 California: 1259 New Jersey: 890 Florida: 659 Illinois: 585 Advertisement The test will importantly deliver results onsite in 45 minutes at the hospital or emergency room where it is taken, cutting out the time-consuming step of sending the test to a lab. The FDA granted the California-based company 'emergency use authorization' for the test rapid molecular test which will decrease the testing process by days. By cutting the wait for results down to 45 minutes, doctors can almost immediately decide on the best treatment for patients which will 'help alleviate the pressure' on struggling healthcare facilities flooded with large numbers of cases and people requiring testing. 'You can collect a specimen, it can be out of a car or anywhere but then it gets batched with another batch of specimens and gets sent to the reference lab and that takes time,' explains Cepheid's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. David Persing, of the current testing system. People line up for a triage center to test for the coronavirus set up in Queens. Long lines for tests are being seen across the country as more cases are confirmed positive People fill out forms as they wait for a coronavirus test in Queens, New York Cepheid's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. David Persing show the test tube that a sample can be places in during their new FDA-approved coronavirus test which offers results in 45 minutes 'And then the reference lab takes time to build up the batches and all of that adds up to days or turnaround time so it's not quick.' STATES WITH MOST CORONAVIRUS DEATHS Washington (2nd most cases): 83 New York (most cases): 56 California (third most cases): 24 Louisiana (7th most cases): 16 Georgia (9th most cases): 14 Advertisement 'For real-time patient management systems to be made in hospitals, what's really needed is a test to determine rapid status of infection on site when patients are being seen and admitted. 'What we need now is a way to identify somebody who has SARS CV2 quickly who represents in a similar way in a relatively severe presentation who's going to likely be admitted,' he added. 'What we've developed is a reference lab quality test which can be run at the point of care in about 45 minutes or less.' While the test can be used in a doctor's office it will go to hospitals and emergency rooms first when it goes on sale at the end of the month. The test has been developed to work with Cepheid's GeneXpert Systems of which there are 5,000 located around the U.S. and 23,000 around the world. A man wearing a mask sleeps near another person on a sidewalk near the Union Gospel Mission in downtown Seattle. Washington has now registered 1,524 cases Felix Hassebroek watches his sisters play in the backyard of their home at the end of their first week of home school in New York City where cases have now risen over 6,000 Increased testing is believed to be one of the best measures with which to combat the outbreak and cut it off. The news comes as the 75 million Americans are warned to stay home and bars, restaurants and stores are boarded up. President Donald Trump has also spoken about the possibility that the whole country may be placed in a two-week quarantine as 3,300 National Guard soldiers are deployed across 28 states. New York state was declared a major disaster area by Trump on Friday as the number of cases skyrocketed and Mayor Bill de Blasio deemed it the epicenter of the country's outbreak. The city itself has over 6,200 cases, while only two other states - California and Washington - are registering more than 1,000 cases. The significant jump in cases in New York has been linked to the improved access to testing Richard Weber Jr., 57, ,died of complications related to the coronavirus in New York on Wednesday despite saying to days earlier that he believed he was doing better and recovering Governor Andrew Cuomo credited the massive rise in cases to the improved testing system which can now process thousands of tests a day to readily identify positive cases and ensure that they are quarantined and treated. Between the hours of 10am and 6pm on Friday, 14 people died from coronavirus in New York City, meaning almost two people an hour died, as the total number of deaths in NYC reached 56 people. Among the city's deaths was 57-year-old attorney Richard Weber Jr. who had claimed that he was recovering from the virus just two day earlier. The Manhattan-based partner at Gallo Vitucci Klar died on Wednesday after he revealed on Monday he was hospitalized and had tested positive. 'He was just a wonderful human being with a real dedication to giving back to others,' LeGal executive director Eric Lesh told the New York Post. 'We urge our members and friends to stay safe and healthy. Protect yourselves, friends and family. We are all in this together. We will continue to pursue equality and justice with Richard's memory and generous spirit in our hearts.' The New York Army National Guard and U.S. Air Force prepare to hand out food to residents at a distribution station outside New Rochelle High School the original epicenter of the New York Outbreak. Cases in Westchester County are now over 1,300, more than more states A woman wearing a face mask waits to hand out food to the homeless in California where the third highest number of coronavirus cases have been registered. They stand at 1,259 Second is Washington that has 1,524 cases but the most number of deaths at 83. Thirty-five of those are linked to the Life Care Center care home that became the first epicenter of the country's outbreak in February. In Illinois, which has the sixth largest number of cases, a shelter-in-place order was given on Saturday. All 50 states have issued an emergency declaration to deal with the coronavirus pandemic with West Virginia only confirming its first cases on Tuesday. There have been no deaths in 18 states, including North Carolina which has 240 cases but no fatalities compared to other states with significantly less cases. Only three states are registering cases over a thousand and 21 states still have less than 100 cases. U.S. territories also have less than 100 cases: Puerto Rico, 17; Guam, 15; and the Virgin Islands, 3. Up to 70,000 Americans may be confirmed as being infected by with coronavirus by the end of next week according to the director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins. Collins said he expected to see a 'pretty dramatic' increase in the number of people being confirmed - but stressed that it 'doesn't mean necessarily that the outbreak has exploded at an even more rapid rate.' 'It just means we're now able to find out who's out there, who is infected,' because 'testing is now going to be much more available across the country,' he said. 'We will probably see four, five times that number of cases a week or 10 days from now.' Barrington School District 220 Superintendent Brian Harris, fourth from right, was among officials to stand with Gov. J.B. Pritzke March 13, 2020 at the Thompson Center in Chicago when the governor announced that all K-12 schools statewide will be closed for a period of time in an effort to curtail the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Harris sent a statement to SD220 families March 20 announcing that distance learning will continue after spring break and likely to at least April 7. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune) Children under the age of seven, who are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, will have a different form of the condition compared to those diagnosed at age 13 or above, suggests recent research. Type 1 diabetes occurs when the immune system in the body attacks the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, destroying them. This means they no longer regulate blood sugar levels effectively and people affected by the condition need to inject insulin several times a day. The research which was published in Diabetologia - the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD), is a first of its kind that studied how children who were diagnosed under 7 years old do not process insulin properly and the cells that make it are quickly destroyed. Surprisingly, those who are older at diagnosis (aged 13 or above) often continue to produce normal insulin. The Exeter team suggested new names for the two distinct endotypes: Type 1 Diabetes Endotype 1 (T1DE1) for that diagnosed in the youngest children, and for the older at diagnosis it is Type 1 Diabetes Endotype 2 (T1DE2). Professor Noel Morgan, of the University of Exeter Medical School, said "We're extremely excited to find evidence that type 1 diabetes is two separate conditions: T1DE1 and T1DE 2. The significance of this could be enormous in helping us to understand what causes the illness, and in unlocking avenues to prevent future generations of children from getting type 1 diabetes. It might also lead to new treatments if we can find ways to reactivate dormant insulin-producing cells in the older age group. This would be a significant step towards the holy grail to find a cure for some people." The Exeter team reached their conclusions by analysing two bioresources including the unique Exeter pancreatic biobank comprising more than 130 samples, many of which come from children and young people who died soon after being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) March 20, 2020 " Information Clearing House " - Rabat The coronavirus outbreak in Iran has reached epic proportions, with a recent study warning millions could die. The crisis has prompted several countries to demand a temporary respite from US sanctions intended to cripple the Iranian economy. Even before the coronavirus pandemic, unilateral US sanctions on Iran had created a deep recession and shortages of foreign goods. The sanctions were implemented after the 2018 US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, intended to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. The International Atomic Energy Agency stated that Iran was in full compliance with the agreement, yet the US still introduced sanctions to apply maximum pressure on Iran. In practice, this maximum pressure meant crippling poverty for the people of Iran even as its government continued to comply with the nuclear agreement. Human Rights Watch revealed that even before the coronavirus pandemic the sanctions were directly impacting the health of Iranian citizens. On several occasions, US officials have indicated that the pain US sanctions are causing for ordinary Iranians is intentional, part of a strategy to compel Iranian citizens to demand their autocratic government to change behavior a recipe for collective punishment that infringes on Iranians economic rights, Human Rights Watch reported. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter Starving a population in order to force them to oust their government would be something that is usually subtle and cloaked in rhetoric and propaganda, but the US has been unapologetic about its campaign. Things are much worse for the Iranian people, and we are convinced that will lead the Iranian people to rise up and change the behavior of the regime, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in early 2019. These sanctions against Iran appear to have a siege-mentality intended to starve them out. Besieging a city and depriving it of resources in order to break the population is a war crime under international humanitarian law, or the laws of war. When done to an entire country, however, such strategies are portrayed by the media as a light-handed measure that can be freely used as a foreign policy tool by economically powerful nations. Economic sanctions were already a brutal punishment on the weakest populations in the target country. Now that COVID-19 is creating an unprecedented health-crisis in Iran, calling these sanctions cruel is putting it lightly, according to Salons reporting. Even as the US is struggling with its own Coronavirus crisis, for which its president takes no responsibility,it presents Irans ineffective and opaque fight against COVID-19 as a wholesale and purposeful murdering of Iranians by its government. In his March 17 remarks on the matter, while announcing empty gestures that will provide no relief to the thousands of infected Iranians, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, The Wuhan virus is a killer and the Iranian regime is an accomplice. while announcing empty gestures that will provide no relief to the thousands of infected Iranians. In return for these meaningless gestures, Pompeo had the unmitigated gall to state in the spirit of humanitarian gestures the United States also continues to call on Iran to immediate release all wrongfully detained Americans being held inside of that country. As the US buckles under the consequences of its own non-transparent and ineffective early measures against the virus, it intends to let Iranians starve and die for their governments similar ineptitude. Reporting by the Intercept and others reveal that the US intends to wreak untold death and misery upon the people of Iran by continuing sanctions in the face of a humanitarian disaster. The US still hopes that those Iranians who survive the current Coronavirus crisis will blame and overthrow their own government, until that happens the US appears committed to their inhumane siege of sickly Iran. " Source " The Strategic Communication Group (GCS) announced on Saturday that a number of 227 Romanian citizens returned to the country from Italy, not having real possibilities to continue their stay on the territory of this state. "In continuing the information communicated yesterday regarding the demarches of the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Transport, Infrastructure and Communications Ministry, in view of facilitating the return to the country of the Romanian citizens, non-residents, who are seasonal workers affected by the drastic restriction of the economic activities in which they were engaged in Italy, as well as the Romanian citizens who are in Italy in special situations without real possibilities to continue their stay on the Italian territory, the Foreign Affairs Ministry mentions that 227 Romanian citizens have returned today to the country," the GCS mentions.The Romanian citizens have been repatriated from Turin, Italy, with two charter type flights, operated by a private company, the quoted source showed."We renew the calls subsequently made regarding the avoidance of any foreign trips which are not absolutely essential and the recommendation that tourists or Romanian citizens who are temporarily abroad urgently return to the country. Furthermore, we also call on the Romanian citizens to prove understanding and responsibility, and responsibly assess the opportuneness of currently traveling abroad. Such trips can entail major risks, endangering the citizens' safety and their possibility to return to the country. Moreover, we call on the Romanian citizens with the domicile or residence abroad to strictly observe the recommendations of the authorities in these states and we underscore that trips to Romania are not advised. These trips can be affected by the restrictions imposed by the transit states and can be an additional factor of spreading the COVID-19 infection, thus, endangering the safety of those back home," the GCS mentioned. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his address to the nation on March 19, asked senior citizens to stay indoors for a few weeks to protect themselves from being infected by the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), while also calling upon others to not venture out for any non-essential work. The PMs appeal is in line with the current medical knowledge offered by public health experts and researchers in order to stem the tide of the global pandemic which has left 275,452 persons infected worldwide at latest count. Even as conflicting reports have emerged on the correlation between age and a persons vulnerability to the virus, statistics from some of the worst-hit countries have shows that old and those with pre-existing ailments are more likely to die or develop serious complications, while asymptomatic, often young, people have a tendency to transmit the virus and be very contagious. A study issued by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week showed that while young adults are not immune to serious illness that needs hospitalisation, the percentage of people hospitalised increased with age. The data are relevant for India where young adults account for the majority of recorded Covid-19 infections. All four Covid-19 deaths in India have been of people over 60 years. This means even if older people stay indoors and young leave only for essential work, the elderly are still vulnerable to the virus, especially in India where many people live in multi generational families. According to figures compiled by the United Nations, an average Indian household has 4.8 members. This is the highest in comparison to 10 countries worst-hit by the Coronavirus pandemic. China and Italy, where the number of cases have been the highest, have 3.5 and 2.4 members per household, respectively. Four in 10 Indian households were home to non-nuclear families, according to the fourth National Family Health Survey (NFHS), conducted in 2015-16. That a significant number of Indian households were not nuclear families also means that many of them were multi-generational families, which is to say that members of a wide range of age groups live together. A Hindustan Times analysis of the NFHS data shows that every third household in India had at least one senior citizen (aged 60 or above) and at least one person of a younger age. Also, 17% households had at least one member from all wider age groups a child up to 10 years old, someone between 10 and 60 years of age and a senior citizen who is 60 years old or above. This means even if only a young member of a family leaves home for essential work such as buying groceries or medicine, many senior citizens back home continue to remain vulnerable by being in contact with their younger family members. Also, there are about 4.3% households in which only senior citizens live, which in many cases would mean that they have no option but to leave their house for essential work. The share of families with at least one senior and one non-senior citizen varies across the states and union territories with the highest in Lakshadweep and Kerala (more than 40%) and the lowest in Arunachal Pradesh and Dadra and Nagar Haveli (about 17%). In national capital New Delhi, a quarter of households had at least one senior and one non-senior member. As the country records 258 confirmed cases, it is imperative to practise safety measures, including disinfecting surfaces and sanitising/ washing hands regularly even more stringently. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Hundreds of UK British nationals stranded in Peru due to the coronavirus pandemic could be flown home early next week, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has said. More than 400 British and Irish citizens are believed to be in the South American country, with some fearing they would be unable to leave following a Government lockdown. But the FCO said on Saturday that Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab had secured permission for a UK-organised flight to leave Peru for 'early next week' following a call with his Peruvian counterpart. In a Twitter post, Mr Raab said: 'I had a good conversation this afternoon with my opposite number in Peru, Gustavo Meza-Cuadra. 'Amidst all the challenges of tackling Coronavirus, we committed to working together in the coming days to enable UK nationals in Peru and Peruvian nationals in the UK to return home.' The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said on Saturday that Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab (pictured) had secured permission for a UK-organised flight to leave Peru for 'early next week' following a call with his Peruvian counterpart Hundreds of UK British nationals stranded in Peru due to the coronavirus pandemic could be flown home early next week, the FCO has said. Above, Mr Raab's tweet of hope for those stranded in the South American country Marcus Edgar (above), 48, who is working in Huanchaco in the north of the country, said 422 UK and Irish citizens had so far registered on a database to say they were still stranded. The PR consultant, from Reading, said: 'The UK Government has done nothing so far and that is the frustration' Caia Daly, 37, from north London, whose nine-month-old baby is recovering from pneumonia, is among those stranded Ms Daly, who is originally from Dublin, flew to Lima with her husband Carlos Abisrror (pictured) and two young children in February for a four-week holiday and to see family. Their Air France flight home, which was scheduled for Friday night, was cancelled, and now they do not know how or when they will get back to the UK The FCO said it would continue to work with the Peruvian government to arrange further flights in coming days. 'We are working round the clock to make flights available next week for British people who wish to leave Peru but who are currently unable to do so on commercial flights because of the travel restrictions that have been imposed,' an FCO spokesperson said. UK nationals in Peru earlier said they felt 'let down' by the Government's efforts to help them return home. Marcus Edgar, 48, who is working in Huanchaco in the north of the country, said 422 UK and Irish citizens had so far registered on a database to say they were still stranded. A young British woman stuck in Peru has said she feels 'abandoned' by the UK Government. Mereida Fajardo (right), 20, is on her gap year and has spent six months travelling the South American country with friend Gemma Harris (left) The PR consultant, from Reading, said: 'The UK Government has done nothing so far and that is the frustration. 'There are no repatriation flights, and the only way [to get home] is to register your interest in charter planes, and that is ridiculous because they cost 3,000.' Mr Edgar, who is due to return home on April 2, said a WhatsApp group and database had been created by British nationals in the country, with the details for each person passed to the UK embassy in the city of Lima. 'I think the general feeling from most people is that they feel let down by the lack of communication from the Government,' he said. Peru is currently on lockdown, with borders closed and no flights allowed to enter or leave the country without government permission. A curfew is running between 8pm and 5am and all shops are closed except for pharmacies and those selling food. British nationals had been advised by the Foreign Office to find secure accommodation for the 15-day State of Emergency period. Peru is currently on lockdown, with borders closed and no flights allowed to enter or leave the country without government permission. (Above, shoppers outside a supermarket in Lima today) A curfew is running between 8pm and 5am and all shops are closed except for pharmacies and those selling food. Pictured, a Peruvian soldier on patrol on Saturday in Lima during the Covid-19 restrictions Caia Daly, 37, from north London, whose nine-month-old baby is recovering from pneumonia, is among those stranded. Ms Daly, who is originally from Dublin, flew to Lima with her husband Carlos Abisrror and two young children in February for a four-week holiday and to see family. But their Air France flight home, which was scheduled for Friday night, was cancelled, and now they do not know how or when they will get back to the UK. To make matters worse, Ms Daly spent three days in hospital this week after her baby picked up a virus which led to pneumonia. Ms Daly said: 'If things get really bad here, I'm worried for my children's health, particularly with the baby recovering from pneumonia.' Another Brit stranded is Mereida Fajardo, 20, who is on her gap year and has spent six months travelling the South American country with a friend. Miss Fajardo, who suffers from mild asthma, claims the British Embassy and Foreign Office have been 'useless' with providing assistance and she has been advised to 'keep in touch' with her airline. More UK nationals are reportedly stuck on board a cruise ship that has docked in Genoa, Italy, after the Spanish and French authorities refused to let them disembark. Guests of the Costa Pacifica, which left Argentina on March 3 and can hold up to 3,780 guests, are 'being held prisoner', the son of one of those on board has claimed. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. District Attorney Michael E. McMahon has this message for anyone assuming they can take advantage of the coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic to break the law: No, you cant. The last thing we need is a state of criminality, McMahon said Friday in a telephone interview. I want those who are thinking of committing a crime to know theres no free pass. No one should think that they can commit crimes. While admitting the system is stressed, the D.A. said its important for borough residents to know that law enforcement is on the job and remains vigilant in this time of crisis. We are here,'' he said. "We are certainly continuing to prosecute violent crimes and everything that comes through here. Well do everything we can to keep crime low and Staten Islanders safe. As the virus spreads, the D.A. said hes naturally concerned about the toll it could take on cops and prosecutors, forcing them to take sick leave. Thats exactly why we have to maintain the rule of law,'' he said. "I hope the public is aware of the sacrifices public servants are making. NO VIRUS-RELATED CRIMES YET On a positive note, the D.A. said hes not aware of any coronavirus-specific crimes thus far on Staten Island. But, he cautioned, We know theyre coming. McMahon said hes leery of potential price gouging on supplies in shortage, as well as scams, such as individuals who appear in hazmat suits at homes, telling telling owners the premises need to be inspected. The D.A. also noted that the U.S. Census Bureau has temporarily suspended all field operations for the 2020 census for two weeks until April 1. Consequently, residents should be wary of anyone coming to their door in the interim and claiming to be a Census taker. 53 The coronavirus life in New York City: The new normal On the downside, McMahon said his office has seen an uptick in domestic-violence cases. He said he expects that trend will continue. Therefore, he said, its critical to continue prosecuting domestic-violence cases so victims can obtain orders of protection and access to needed services. NEAR SHUTDOWN FOR COURTS Courts have been in a near shutdown since the beginning of the week in a bid to halt the spread of the disease. But arraignments on new arrests are continuing in Criminal Court. To limit contact, the arraignments are being conducted via video hookup. The defendant remains in a holding cell at the courthouse while the prosecutor, defense counsel and judge are upstairs in the courtroom. Suspects arrested on Staten Island and suspected of having COVID-19 will be booked at the Red Hook Community Justice Center in Brooklyn, said McMahon. They will not be processed at the 120th Precinct stationhouse in St. George. Virus-free suspects will be booked at the 120th Precinct and arraigned in Criminal Court. To limit prosecutors interaction with cops, prosecutors will talk to them remotely to draft criminal complaints, the D.A. said. Individuals charged with misdemeanors and some low-level felonies will be issued desk appearance tickets, requiring their court appearance at a later date, said McMahon. The most recent grand-jury term has concluded, so there is no current sitting grand jury until further notice. For defendants accused of violent felonies, Probable Cause hearings will be held to determine if those individuals can remain detained for 45 days, said McMahon. If no grand jury action is taken by that time, prosecutors can attempt to show good cause as to why further incarceration is warranted, he said. LEGAL AID SEEKS INMATE RELEASE On Friday, the Legal Aid Society filed a lawsuit in Manhattan state Supreme Court seeking the release of 116 incarcerated defendants at local jails. Those individuals, Legal Aid contends, are at high risk for COVID-19 infection due to their age and/or an underlying medical condition. Earlier this week, a national organization known as Fair and Just Prosecution called for a dramatic reduction in incarcerated and detained populations, due to the pandemic. The group is comprised of elected prosecutors committed to promoting a justice system grounded in fairness, equity, compassion and fiscal responsibility, according to its web site. Four New York state prosecutors were among those who support the proposal, including the Manhattan and Brooklyn district attorneys. McMahon said hes not signing on. I dont think this crisis gives anyone a get-out-of-jail free card, he said. However, McMahon did say hes conferred with fellow district attorneys in the city, the Legal Aid Society and city officials on the issue. He said theyre trying to identify those detained defendants for whom we could maybe make an accommodation in the interest of public safety and fairness. We want to make sure that people who are in jail are kept safe, said McMahon. There are ways to do that. A balance has to be struck. Toward that end, he said theres been talk of repurposing some buildings at Rikers Island to isolate those defendants. With the pandemic showing no signs of abating, McMahon said he is calling on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to issue an executive order to suspend the six-day period to file an indictment for bail-eligible felonies, as well as to suspend the speedy trial laws. Such measures were imposed after 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy, he said. Under the current conditions, prosecutors havent been able to get lab tests completed and obtain other materials as quickly as required by law, said the D.A. Criminal defense lawyers like Mark J. Fonte urged caution. We all risk embarking on a slippery slope when civil rights are suspended, said Fonte, who is based in St. George. These are, however, unprecedented times. Historically, the temporary suspension of these rights has not caused undue hardship. I clearly remember similar measures enacted after 9/11 and the swift restoration of those measures once the crisis passed. TDT | Manama The High Appeal Court confirmed the jail term awarded to three men convicted of selling drugs. Police conducted a massive operation to arrest the three suspects, who were also fined BD1000 each by the court. Incidents leading to the case occurred after police received an anonymous tip-off about a gang involved in selling drugs in the Kingdom. Following a sting operation by cops in plain-clothes, the first suspect landed in police net. Drugs kept for selling were also recovered during the sting operation. During interrogation, the suspect confessed to his crimes and offered to help police to bust the gang. Officers then, using the first suspect, held another sting operation where he lured another with an offer to buy BD300 worth of drugs. They struck a deal and decided to complete the sale in Juffair. Police officers c o n v e rg e d o n the scene and pounced on the first defendant, as soon as the sale was made. During interrogation, the first defendant expressed his readiness to help arrest the third involved red-handed. Officers then devised a plan to lure the third suspect into selling drugs. As the deal took place, officers pounced on the unsuspecting suspect who was startled to find him surrounded by cops. All of them were handed over to public prosecution to take necessary legal actions. The court handed them jail terms and a fine of BD1000 each. The defendants appealed the judgement, which was rejected. The secretary-general of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Zurab Pololikashvili led a high- delegation to the World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters in Geneva to further advance the two agencies coordinated response to the worldwide Coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak. WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus welcomed the delegation to Geneva and thanked UNWTO for its close collaboration since the very start of the ongoing public health emergency. On the back of the productive meetings, the heads of both United Nations agencies stressed the need to include the following guiding principles: The importance of international cooperation and responsible leadership at this critical time, The solidarity of the tourism sector and of individual tourists, as well as the responsibility both have for helping minimize the spread and impact of COVID-19 The key role tourism can play in both containing the COVID-19 outbreak and in leading future response efforts Pololikashvili said: The COVID-19 outbreak is first and foremost a public health issue. UNWTO is following the lead of WHO, with whom we have enjoyed an excellent working relationship from day one. This meeting reaffirmed the importance of strong cooperation and international solidarity and I welcome the director-generals recognition of the role tourism can play both now and in the future. Proportionate Response Pololikashvili and Dr Ghebreyesus confirmed the two UN agencies commitment to ensuring any response to COVID-19 is proportionate, measured and based on the latest public health recommendations. Pololikashvili added that the tourism value chain touches upon every part of society. This makes tourism uniquely placed to promote solidarity, collaboration and concrete action across borders in these challenging times and also ideally positioned to once again drive future recovery. Responsible Communications At the same time, the heads of UNWTO and WHO called for responsible communications and reporting of the worldwide COVID-19 outbreak. The UN agencies stress the importance of ensuring all communications and actions are evidence-based so as to avoid stigmatising sections of society and spreading panic. Next Steps UNWTO and WHO will liaise with UNWTO Members, as well as with the chairs of all the UNWTO Regional Commissions and the Chair of the Executive Council to further advance tourisms response to the COVID-19 outbreak. UNWTO will also communicate with other UN bodies, including ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) and the IMO (International Maritime Organization), and with Iata (International Air Transport Association) and with key sector stakeholders to ensure tourisms response is coordinated and consistent. - TradeArabia News Service The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has led to companies across the globe to close, but now a local Las Vegas outdoor company is reopening its doors to donate services to remind people in Southern Nevada about the importance of social distancing. Kre8 Media Outdoor Advertising has partnered with the Nevada Governors Office to offer five digital mobile billboards pro bono to explain preventive measures to mass audiences. The geo-targeted units include the following messages: Stay Home Save Lives, Stay Home for Nevada and Prepare, Dont Panic. The spots will run 10 hours per day March 2023 and will generate 3,120,000 impressions. Kre8s mobile billboards will travel to five custom routes in the Las Vegas valley to maximize reach and frequency of messages. We are completely shut down as a business yet running these advertisements to play our part during this time of need, said managing partner and co-founder of Kre8 Media Outdoor Advertising, Jeremie Watkins. By volunteering my companys services, I can put some hardworking employees back to work who were previously furloughed. Out-of-home advertising can educate people who may be tempted to gather in large groups over the weekend. I encourage others in outdoor advertising to work with government agencies to do their part to deploy appropriate messaging to the general public. We are all in this together. The author signs her new cozy mystery Murder Haunts the Theater, in which amateur sleuth Monica Walters investigates the death of an actress at an Albuquerque theater. Barbara Langner signs her new cozy mystery, "Murder Haunts the Theater," in which amateur sleuth Monica Walters investigates the death of an actress at an Albuquerque theater. "Murder Haunts the Theater": A female detective, a lovable dog, and quirky characters merge in an intriguing mystery at an Albuquerque theater. When an actress is murdered, a cast member blames her death on the ancient curse that has hovered over Macbeth for centuries. Monica Walters, an amateur sleuth, agrees to play the dead girl's role of a witch in order to investigate the murder. Monica finds clues in the murdered actress's past but isn't able to prevent another death. In fact, she finds herself targeted by the elusive killer. Barbara Langner lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico in an old house with a gnarled cottonwood tree frequented by a flock of vultures. The birds entertain her dog, aggravate her husband, and inspire the writer's macabre interest in murder. Organic Books is Nob Hill's home-grown family-owned bookstore. We sell used books, new books, books by local authors, cards, journals, pens and more. Find us at 111 Carlisle Blvd SE, in the Nob Hill Shopping Center in Albuquerque. Free weekly events! Organic Books is open 10 to 7, every day except Mondays. Learn more at https://organicbooks.net or call 505-553-3823. Have you ever noticed these little alien-person stickers on roads in the District and other cities? In D.C. I notice them mostly at crosswalks near the Mall. But Ive seen them in Philadelphia, too. Who puts them there? What do they signify? The Airports Authority of India (AAI) on Saturday said that 12 airports in the North-East region that fall under the essential services category will continue to be functional on Sunday during 'Janta Curfew'. "12 airports in North-East region fall under essential services category. They will be functional tomorrow during 'Janta Curfew'. There are no plans to close them until now. Domestic flights will keep operating," Sanjeev Jindal, Regional Executive Director, AAI said. As a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of coronavirus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had appealed to citizens to follow "Janta Curfew" on March 22 in his address to the nation on Thursday. According to official data, India has reported 271 cases so far. The Prime Minister also requested senior citizens and children to remain indoors for the next few weeks. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - The Italian Embassy in Libya has welcomed the commitment of the Government of National Accord to respect a truce on humanitarian grounds to counter the threat posed by the spread of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Adrian Wail Akhlas and Made Anthony Iswara (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, March 21, 2020 09:24 662 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad206c6167d 1 Business rupiah,US-dollar,rupiah-against-dollar,1998-crisis,Foreign-exchange,forex-reserves,bank-indonesia,imports,manufacturing-industry,foreign-debt Free The rupiah breached Rp 16,000 against the US dollar on Friday, the weakest since the 1998 crisis, taking its toll on central bank reserves, corporate debt obligations and import-reliant industries as the COVID-19 pandemic prompts an Indonesian asset selloff. Bank Indonesia (BI) Governor Perry Warjiyo said on Friday that the central bank had spent Rp 163 trillion (US$10.1 billion) to buy government bonds in the secondary market to stabilize the rupiah as foreign investors exited the market. The stabilization efforts that weve taken focus on providing a supply of dollars, which we will continue doing through intervention [], Perry told a teleconferenced press briefing, referring to the central banks bond buying and intervention in spot and non-deliverable forward markets. As of 4:59 p.m. in Jakarta on Friday, the rupiah had weakened more than 15 percent against the US dollar this year. It broke the Rp 16,000 mark during the day, a level unseen since the 1998 crisis. The benchmark stock index, the Jakarta Composite Index (JCI), has lost a third of its value this year. As of Thursday, a Rp 105.1 trillion capital outflow had been recorded this year as foreign investors dumped Rp 92.8 trillion worth of government bonds and Rp 8.3 trillion in stocks, BI data shows. Our foreign exchange reserves are more than enough, Perry said when asked about the impact of the market rout on the central banks dollar reserves. At $130.4 billion in February, Indonesias dollar reserves represent 7.7 months of imports, well above the 3-month international adequacy standard. Bahana Sekuritas economist Satria Sambijantoro said the potential rebound of the rupiah would depend on the governments efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. We think most of the rupiahs weakness was driven by psychological not fundamental factors due to the two-tier pricing in the forex market that discourages exporters and bonds investors from holding on to their rupiah-denominated assets, fearing further depreciation, he wrote. The government has pledged to allocate Rp 120 trillion (US$7.5 billion) from the 2020 state budget to stimulate the economy, which may grow at the lowest level in 15 years, just above 4 percent, Finance Minsiter Sri Mulyani Indrawati said. State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir said the weakening of the rupiah against the US dollar could also impact state firms debts, including flag carrier Garuda Indonesia. We have been negotiating regarding the airlines [condition] for more than a month, Erick said in a teleconferenced press briefing on Friday. Garuda may need to restructure its foreign-denominated debts as it has struggled to pay its obligations as the pandemic hits the travel industry hard, he added. Garuda Indonesia issued US$496.8 million in global sukuk (sharia-compliant financial assets) on June 3, 2015. They are due to mature on June 3 with an annual return of 5.95 percent, according to the companys financial report released in September of last year. For import-reliant producers, the rupiah depreciation would increase costs in a sector already hit by supply chain shocks resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. If manufacturers want to keep their products competitive in the market, they have to pick a factor of their costs that they can cut, which is their workforce, said Indef Center of Industry, Trade and Investment researcher Andry Satrio Nugroho. Andry predicted that the factory activity benchmark, the IHS Markit Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), would fall drastically in March. The index managed to climb to expansion for the first time since June at 51.9 in February. A reading above 50 indicates expansion, and one below 50 indicates contraction. We have to finish the virus problems first, and then industries can catch up, just like what China is doing right now, said Andry, adding that the recent stimulus should focus on healthcare instead. Chamber of Industry and Commerce (Kadin) vice chairman for industrial affairs Johnny Darmawan said on Thursday that the depreciating rupiah would be a further drag on already sluggish business activities due to social distancing measures taken by consumers and enterprises. President Joko Jokowi Widodo on Sunday urged Indonesians to practice social distancing, a public health measure to slow the transmission of an infectious disease by staying 1 meter away from other people in the case of COVID-19. It involves working from home, studying from home and praying from home, the President said. Production has declined because of social distancing measures to slow down the coronavirus. Business has already been lethargic, said Johnny. Manufacturing industry players have complained about the disruption in the supply of raw materials as measures to contain COVID-19 bind factory production across Indonesia. Between 20 and 50 percent of raw materials for domestic industry are sourced from China, Indonesias biggest trade partner. The government previously announced two rounds of stimulus packages including a package worth Rp 22.9 trillion that includes individual and corporate tax breaks. The first package, worth Rp 10.3 trillion and announced on Feb. 25, provides for staple needs and mortgage subsidies for low-income families and fiscal incentives for travel-related businesses. Indonesia had 369 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 32 deaths as of Friday. Globally, the pneumonia-like illness has infected over 240,000 people and has claimed at least 10,000 lives. (mpr) People across South America are upset about the new restrictions imposed to combat the new coronavirus pandemic. The coronavirus has infected more than 246,000 people and killed more than 10,000. Almost 86,000 people have recovered so far, mostly in China. But the few people still in the streets of the region's countries with restrictions in place said their main concern is mostly economic. After the first day of mandatory national quarantine in Argentina, the streets of Buenos Aires looked empty with long lines outside supermarkets and pharmacies. Only a few people walked through the downtown area and the iconic 9 de Julio boulevard. Police were seen in hazmat suits, stopping and questioning people in the streets. During the quarantine scheduled to continue until March 31, people are only allowed in the streets to buy cleaning items, medicines and food. Cleaning workers, security officials, migratory services and media workers are exempted. Argentina has 158 confirmed coronavirus cases and three deaths. In Venezuela, people crowded the market of the impoverished Petare area, after President Nicolas Maduro ordered citizens to wear a mask in public under quarantine. Some expressed concern for how they would survive during the quarantine and some complained that rules are not in line with the country's economic conditions. While Venezuela's exposure to the coronavirus has so far been limited to 42 confirmed cases on Thursday, the potential economic damage from the disease has the entire country of around 30 million on edge. Even before the virus' outbreak, Venezuela's oil industry was on its knees. Severe sanctions applied last year by the Trump administration nearly halved oil production and worsened a humanitarian crisis that has pushed nearly 5 million people to flee the country. Elsewhere in Latin America, several countries imposed strict transportation, in some cases including curfews. The Peruvian government declared a state of emergency, while Chile called for 90 days under a "state of catastrophe." For most people, the virus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. The vast majority of people recover from the new virus. According to the World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to recover. LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / March 21, 2020 / Compare-autoinsurance.org (https://compare-autoinsurance.org/) is a top auto insurance brokerage website, providing car insurance quotes online from trustworthy agencies all over the United States. This website offers car insurance info about different coverage types, available discounts, and money-saving tips. Online insurance quotes helped many drivers to make a wise decision when choosing a car insurance policy. Drivers are not required to go to the well-known insurance companies and accept any offer that is thrown at them. 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CONTACT: Company Name: Internet Marketing Company Person for contact: Gurgu C Phone Number: (818) 359-3898 Email: cgurgu@internetmarketingcompany.biz Website: https://compare-autoinsurance.org/ SOURCE: Internet Marketing Company View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/581910/The-Best-Places-to-Get-Free-Car-Insurance-Quotes-and-Save-Money TORONTO, March 20, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Magnolia Colombia Limited (Magnolia or the Company) (MCO.V) is pleased to announce that the TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV) has approved a secured loan to Gamesquare Inc. (the Target) in the principal amount of up to $250,000 pursuant to a grid promissory note and general security agreement each dated March 19, 2020 (the Target Loan). The Target Loan bears interest at 10% per annum, is secured by all present and after-acquired assets of the Target, and must be repaid if the Transaction (defined below) is not completed. To date, the Company has advanced the full $250,000. A portion of the proceeds of the Target Loan was used by the Target to acquire Code Red Esports Ltd., which acquisition has been completed (the Acquisition). The remaining portion of the proceeds shall be used by the Target as working capital to complete the transactions contemplated in an amalgamation agreement dated February 26, 2020, pursuant to which Magnolia will acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of the Target (the Transaction). Please see the Companys press release dated February 26, 2020 for more information about the Target, the Target Loan, the Acquisition and the Transaction. Full details of the Transaction and the Target will be included in the management information circular of Magnolia which is to be mailed to its shareholders. It is anticipated that both the shareholder meeting and the closing of the Transaction will take place in the second quarter of 2020. The common shares of Magnolia will remain halted pending further filings with the TSXV. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, without limitation, statements regarding the Transaction, the ability of the Company to complete the Transaction and the Companys shareholder meeting. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as plans, expects or does not expect, is expected, budget, scheduled, estimates, forecasts, intends, anticipates or does not anticipate, or believes, or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Magnolia, as the case may be, to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Although Magnolia has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Magnolia does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Story continues About Magnolia Colombia Limited: Magnolia Colombia Limited is a Canadian independent oil exploration company. For further information, please contact: James Lanthier, President & CEO Email: james.lanthier1@gmail.com Phone: 416-861-5886 Completion of the Transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to TSXV acceptance and, if applicable, disinterested shareholder approval. The Transaction cannot close until the required shareholder approval is obtained. There can be no assurance that the Transaction will be completed as proposed or at all. Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the management information circular of Magnolia to be prepared in connection with the Transaction, any information released or received with respect to the Transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of Magnolia should be considered highly speculative. The TSX Venture Exchange Inc. has in no way passed upon the merits of the Transaction and has not approved or disapproved of the contents of this news release. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its regulation services provider has reviewed or accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. President Stevo Pendarovski of North Macedonia has signed the final accession document for the small Balkan country's entry into NATO. Pendarovski signed the instrument of accession on March 20 that will shortly make the country the 30th member of the Western military alliance. The president was able to sign the document after Spain on March 17 became the last alliance member to ratify the membership of the former Yugoslav republic. The Spanish parliament was forced to vote remotely on the membership because of fears of holding a session amid the coronavirus crisis. Following the Spanish parliament's vote, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg wrote on Twitter that "with that, all allies have welcomed our soon-to-be 30th member. Congratulations, North Macedonia!" North Macedonia was granted a protocol on accession to NATO membership in February 2019, after a 2018 agreement with Greece that changed the former Yugoslav republic's name from Macedonia, resolving a decades-long dispute between Skopje and Athens. The United States and European allies have backed Skopje's efforts to join the alliance as part of efforts to slow attempts by Russia and China to increase their influence in the Balkans. Based on reporting by AP, RFE/RLs Balkan Service, and Defense News Hadi Sirika, minister of aviation, says the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, and Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja will soon be shut. The minister said this on Friday while speaking with state house correspondents after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, adding that it would help check the spread of coronavirus. According to Sirika, even though the presidential task force on COVID-19 is in the best position to announce any action regarding that, he spoke in his personal capacity. Sirika is a member of the task force chaired by Boss Mustapha, secretary to the government of the federation. Well I think differently, this is my individual perspective. At some points, these airports must be closed. This is my opinion. But like I said, there is Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 of which I am a member, he said. Read Also: Coronavirus: FG Imposes Travel Ban On Two More Countries But certainly and definitely at some point, these airports must be closed (Abuja and Lagos), all of them in Nigeria will be closed. I think it is the safest thing to do because these things multiply exponentially. But for a better brief, I think we have the forum, the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, they will come up with a statement. But I can guarantee you that, sooner than later the airports will be be closed. We would close down these airports and we would issue the necessary notices to airmen as to what time they would be closed. I think it will be very soon. It is better safe than sorry and I think in my opinion, this is my personal opinion, if you want to catch a fish empty the water. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 00:54:31|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Medics supporting virus-hit Hubei Province arrive at their hometown in south China's Nanning City, March 20, 2020.(Xinhua/Cao Yiming) IMF officials wrote in a blog that Chinese policymakers made the "hard choices" to implement strict mobility constraints, both at national and local levels, with the devastating tradeoff in Hubei Province. WASHINGTON, March 20 (Xinhua) -- China's experience so far has shown that the right policies make a difference in fighting the COVID-19 epidemic and mitigating its impact, though some of these policies come with difficult economic tradeoffs, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Friday. Noting that success in containing the coronavirus comes at the price of slowing economic activity, three IMF officials wrote on an IMF blog that Chinese policymakers made the "hard choices" to implement strict mobility constraints, both at the national and local level, with the devastating tradeoff in Hubei Province. "This makes it clear that as the pandemic takes hold across the world, those hit the hardest -- within countries but also across countries -- will need support to help contain the virus and delay its spread to others," they said, adding that mitigating the impact of this severe shock requires that support to the most vulnerable be provided. The IMF officials said that Chinese policymakers have "targeted vulnerable households and looked for new ways to reach smaller firms" -- for example, by waiving social security fees, utility bills, and channeling credit through fintech firms. The authorities also quickly arranged subsidized credit to support scaling up the production of health equipment and other critical activities involved in the outbreak response, which has been helpful, the officials argued. The blog, part of a special IMF series on the response to the coronavirus, is co-authored by Helge Berger, the IMF's China mission chief, Kenneth Kang, a deputy director in the IMF's Asia & Pacific Department, and Changyong Rhee, director of the Asia and Pacific Department. To safeguard financial stability, the IMF officials said, Chinese authorities "stepped in early" to backstop interbank markets and provide financial support to firms under pressure, while letting the renminbi adjust to external pressures. Medical workers are busy at the ICU (intensive care unit) of Wuhan pulmonary hospital in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, March 19, 2020. (Xinhua/Xiao Yijiu) Among other measures, this included guiding banks to work with borrowers affected by the outbreak, incentivizing banks to lend to smaller firms via special funding from China's central bank, and providing targeted cuts to reserve requirements for banks, they said. Noting that some of the relief tools come with their own problems, the officials said using "well-targeted" instruments wherever possible "is the way to go." The IMF officials said the outbreak led to terrible human suffering in China, as it is continuing to do elsewhere, along with significant economic costs. "The coronavirus shock is severe even compared to the Great Financial Crisis in 2007-08, as it hit households, businesses, financial institutions, and markets all at the same time -- first in China and now globally," they said. "While there are reassuring signs of economic normalization in China -- most larger firms have reported reopening their doors and many local employees are back at their jobs -- stark risks remain," the IMF officials said, adding that this includes new infections rising again as national and international travel resumes, as well as economic risks of the ongoing pandemic. "Therefore, Chinese policymakers will have to be ready to support growth and financial stability if needed," they said, "given the global nature of the outbreak, many of these efforts will be most effective if coordinated internationally." As March break draws to a close and the unprecedented reality of no-school plus work-from-home sinks in, new challenges emerge. The Ontario governments Friday launch of an online platform called Learn at home doesnt answer the question of how to reach the most marginalized students the ones without internet and without adequate supports at home so they can continue to learn. Once again policy-makers failed to centre their plans around those who need it the most, by making their needs secondary to those of more privileged students. And if, as scientists expect, social distancing is extended for months or is undertaken on an on-off basis, what could schooling without formal structures look like? Is it time to re-envision education? First things first: The early days of the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be the time to add pressure on adults to do their jobs from home, recreate classrooms and engage with formal curricula. It doesnt help children, either. To learn, you need to be in a situation where youre not in crisis, said Beyhan Farhadi, a Toronto District School Board (TDSB) secondary school teacher. We are collectively in crisis right now. The Kids Help Phone saw a 350 per cent increase in young people reaching out with fears related to COVID-19, the CBC reported. For now the only thing we can do are enrichment activities, said Raneem Azzam, a TDSB teacher with a PhD in social justice education. Have kids use their imagination as much as possible, suggested Phiona Lloyd-Henry, a Peel District School Board teacher. Ask who could develop the scariest stories, who could develop the funniest stories, who could dance. Have them perform for their siblings. Things that wouldnt cost money. Schools are big on teaching global competencies or building capability to navigate the world. If you can talk your kids through how they can negotiate things, how they collaborate, how they make consensus. Those are also great skills they need to have, Lloyd-Henry said. Those who can afford it could have children volunteer or work with neighbours to develop connections, she said. While Ontarios new plan includes free access to digital learning on TVO for online math tutorials, study-based games and subject-specific YouTube channels, digital connectivity remains the main entry point to that learning. The province said its working on alternatives for those without access to the internet. Its very challenging, said Suzanne Narain, an occasional TDSB teacher and community organizer in the Jane and Finch area of Toronto. This could be a huge gap in learning. Anything short of the province offering grants to families to pay for internet would keep people behind, Azzam said. Its really time to redistribute resources. This is where corporations must step up, and telecoms should offer free internet access in less-connected neighbourhoods. However, as Narain says, Even if they do have the internet, some of the students might not have devices. There may be only one cellphone and if the parent needs it, the child may not have access. Children share computers provided at school. Schools in privileged neighbourhoods also have iPads and laptops usually acquired through fundraising by parents. All these devices lie in schools collecting dust even as other students struggle without them. All should be put to use. This is where communities must step up. Id like to see parents asking school boards to mail out physical material, Farhadi said. And have them reach out to people they know who need support, ask them what they need and be advocates on their behalf. Can companies like Best Buy offer refurbished devices? Narain asked. Or huge corporations that have access to these materials help? Were in unprecedented times that need these companies to take action. All of this, however, assumes children are self-motivated to learn and that online learning is effective. Professors are struggling immensely with how to deliver (the lessons) at university level to highly independent students, Azzam said, So to imagine that were going to deliver that at a K-12 level is absurd. Another piece missing in Ontarios plan is direction on how teachers can connect with students and build or maintain relationships. When they say schools are closed, what does that mean for administrators and other staff? Can people sign out books to families or to students? asked Azzam, who freely signed out books for students the day before school closed. Connection to Farhadi, might look like a phone call teach them how to log in, maybe. The next step, to use the students neighbourhood as a site of learning. One example Farhadi gave is asking students to go outside (if safe) and take a photo of something of significance to them and write a blurb on it. Or to post a selfie and describe where you are. Ive asked students to take an inventory of technologies and interview someone born before 1980 and talk to them about their experience with technology, she said. As the weather warms, classrooms could take place in outdoor settings. Maybe there can be community hikes and walkthroughs that allow for geographical learning, Narain said. The pandemic, she said, forces us to be expansive, not just physically expansive but also in our vision. How can we teach in a different kind of a capacity, where students dont have to be overcrowded in a classroom? Its clear that its not good for learning and its not good for our health. At the best of times, as teachers well know, students return to school in September at wildly varying levels of ability. If the new barriers are not tackled right away, a break of this magnitude could well make those gaps unbridgeable. Dancing With The Stars' Grainne Gallanagh has confirmed she is to return to nursing to do her bit in a bid to help relieve short-staffed hospitals in the midst of the coronavirus crisis. The 25-year-old former Miss Universe Ireland, from Buncrana in Donegal, was a finalist on Dancing With The Stars and has been in self-isolation since coming out of the show last week. However, she has now decided to put her modelling career on hold and return to nursing as part of the HSE's Call for Ireland recruitment drive for healthcare staff. Nervous Speaking on The Ray D'Arcy Show on RTE Radio One yesterday, she said that she was feeling nervous about her return to nursing. "I'll be a bit nervous going back but obviously with everything going on it's the best thing to do," she said. Expand Close Grainne back in her nurses uniform / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Grainne back in her nurses uniform She added that she didn't know what would be waiting for her on her return. "I'm not really sure what to expect," she said. "I have colleagues who are already in the midst of everything in the hospitals right now and it's such a stressful environment anyway. "Hats off to anyone who works in a hospital - I know what it can be like. "It can be so, so stressful... and we don't know what way things are going to go. "It's so uncertain. It's a scary time, it's scary for everyone but I think especially for people in hospital." Grainne qualified as a nurse in 2016 and nursed in the UK for several years before her modelling career took off and she won the coveted Miss Universe Ireland title. "The nursing took a back seat while I was doing all my travelling and stuff," she said. "But I still stuck with it - I did agency work. You can choose your shift depending on your availability." She said that vital healthcare skills would be a "waste" if they went unused in the midst of a pandemic. "When you have the certain skills with anyone in nursing, medicine, healthcare it would be a waste not to use them in a time of need and crisis," she added. "It's scary for yourself but it's even scarier for someone coming into the hospital." The star has been in self-isolation along with fellow contestant Brian Dowling since coming out of the show. "When the show abruptly came to an end we decided that we would continue to isolate for another week or so because we've been around so many people," she said. Angela Merkel was spotted buying four bottles of wine from a supermarket in Berlin as the coronavirus crisis grips Germany. Germany has seen 21,000 cases and 75 deaths from the killer bug. He shopping trip in Mitte, Berlin, follows government plans to unveil an economic rescue package worth 822 billion euros (759.45 billion) to fund the country's fight against the coronavirus pandemic. Angela Merkel was spotted buying four bottles of wine from a supermarket in Berlin as the coronavirus crisis grips Germany The package - revealed in a draft bill - would be the biggest in Europe's post-war history. To finance the extraordinary measures ranging from partial nationalisations to credit guarantees to salary top-ups for workers forced into part-time, the government will also shed its debt averse attitude. Merkel's government will seek permission from parliament to raise the legal limit on its annual borrowings. He shopping trip in Berlin follows government plans to unveil an economic rescue package worth 822 billion euros (759.45 billion) to fund the country's fight against the coronavirus pandemic Merkel's government will seek to borrow 156 billion euros (144.13 billion) for 2020, a sum that exceeds a constitutional limit by 100 billion euros. Faced with the coronavirus pandemic which has brought all travel to a standstill, forced employees into working shorter hours and left most shops shut, Merkel has vowed that Germany will do whatever it takes to preserve its economy. 'We will do what we can to get through this situation well, and we will see at the end of that where our budget stands,' Merkel had said last week, stressing that ending the virus crisis 'comes first'. Merkel's government will seek permission from parliament to raise the legal limit on its annual borrowings. Pictured: Merkel shopping today Merkel was photographed perusing the shelves in Mitte, Berlin, as the country is ravaged by coronavirus With public life all but shut down, the government expects 33.5 billion euros (30.95 billion) less tax intake than previously budgeted in its 2020 accounts. 'The economy and the job market are severely impacted by the measures taken nationally and internationally to curb the pandemic,' according to the document. Merkel's government will seek to borrow 156 billion euros (144.13 billion) for 2020, a sum that exceeds a constitutional limit by 100 billion euros. Pictured: Merkel shopping today 'In the current situation, the duration of the pandemic and the measures tied to it are not predictable.' To ensure that businesses do not go under, the government is earmarking 400 billion euros (369.56 billion) to underwrite their debt or offer recapitalisation that could lead to partial state takeovers, according to the draft bill. The plan is to be debated by the cabinet on Monday before it is put before parliament later in the week. Operators in the tourism and service industries are among likely candidates for state help, as they count among those hardest hit by the pandemic which has put much of Europe in lockdown. Tourism and hotel group TUI has said it was applying for state aid to keep it afloat, as it suspended the 'majority' of its operations over the virus. German airline giant Lufthansa meanwhile has been forced to scrap most of its flights in coming weeks as several countries including the United States ban travellers from Europe. Germany's so-called 'debt brake' was written into its constitution in 2009, and limits a federal budget deficit to 0.35 percent of GDP. With public life all but shut down amid the crisis, the government expects 33.5 billion euros (30.95 billion) less tax intake than previously budgeted in its 2020 accounts. Pictured: A woman wearing a face mask feeds pigeons in Cologne, Germany To ensure that businesses do not go under, the government is earmarking 400 billion euros (369.56 billion) to underwrite their debt or offer recapitalisation that could lead to partial state takeovers, according to the draft bill. Pictured: Nearly-deserted streets in Cologne, Germany The limit can be exceeded only in emergencies, for instance in natural disasters or other extraordinary situations that significantly impact the country's finances. Beyond the 'debt brake', keeping the budget of Europe's biggest economy balanced is a key campaign promise of Merkel's party. The self-imposed dogma of maintaining a 'black zero' has been a constant source of friction with other European countries, including France, which argues that Germany should invest more to help the eurozone bolster its economy. By AFP SYDNEY: Authorities closed Sydney's Bondi Beach on Saturday after huge crowds flocked to the popular sunbathing spot despite a government ban on large gatherings due to the coronavirus pandemic. The temporary measure comes after photos of mostly young beachgoers packed on the famous sands were widely shared online, drawing howls of protest in the media and from officials. "What we saw this morning here on Bondi Beach was the most irresponsible behaviour of individuals that we've seen so far," New South Wales state Police Minister David Elliott said. "This is not something we are doing because we are the 'fun police'," he told a beachside news conference. ALSO READ: Singapore reports first death from coronavirus after 75-year old woman dies The ban could be extended to other beaches if social distancing rules are not followed, he warned. Non-essential outdoor gatherings of more than 500 people have been barred as officials seek to stem the spread of the virus. Australia has nearly 1,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19. "This is a disease that young people can get -- they can go into hospital, they can die from it," Kristina Keneally, a NSW senator who lives in Sydney, warned. Australia has taken a series of drastic steps to contain the spread of the contagion, including closing its borders to foreigners and non-residents. But Prime Minister Scott Morrison has so far stopped short of ordering people to stay home or the shutdown of non-essential businesses, as introduced in some parts of the world. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The number of coronavirus cases on Staten Island has risen to 285, as more tests continue to be conducted. Friday nights total is up from 242 reported on Friday morning. Officials have repeatedly said the number of cases will continue to rise. They have also greatly shifted their focus to the effect the virus will have on healthcare systems in the city and state. *** CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF CORONAVIRUS IN NEW YORK *** Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been working with the federal government to find ways to supplement New Yorks hospital capacity. He is working with the Army Corps of Engineers to establish possible sites for emergency hospitals, and the USNS Comfort -- a 1,000 bed naval hospital ship -- has been deployed to the New York Harbor. Mayor Bill de Blasio continued his calls for the federal government, particularly President Donald Trump, to do more as the city prepares to deal with the worst of the virus. He has called on Trump to mobilize the nations armed forces to help aid the response. The president dismissed the mayors criticism of his administrations response, saying he is working with the governor. *** Be the first to know: Sign up for our newsletters; and get breaking news and top stories pushed to your phone with the SILive.com mobile app. RELATED COVERAGE: Coughs, sneezes, surfaces: Heres how coronavirus is and isnt spread How the coronavirus hit Staten Island: A timeline of the pandemic in our borough Governor seeks to limit coronavirus impact on hospitals NYPD Commissioner: Cooperation, not closures, expected for ban on dining at restaurants and bars According to a list of witnesses logged on IDHRs investigation report, the agency interviewed White, his deputy chief and five other officers by phone. Two other officers told the agency they did not wish to participate in the investigation, three did not respond to the agencys attempts to reach them and a union business agent was not contacted because his non-work contact information was not provided, documents show. Empty courtrooms, suspended trials, sick judges, requests to free prisoners the judicial system in the U.S. and Europe is grinding to a halt in some areas while racing to wrap up cases in other jurisdictions as the pandemic wreaks havoc. On March 16, the U.S. Supreme Court for the first time in decades delayed oral arguments. The 11 cases included an $8-billion (U.S.) copyright clash between Google and Oracle Corp., as well as U.S. President Donald Trumps challenge to subpoenas for his financial information. A German tribunal is trying to wrap up the Cum-Ex tax dodge trial before the virus potentially derails the case, one of the biggest financial probes of the year. And a court in Hamburg even organized a 10-minute hearing of a former Nazi concentration camp guard over fears he might contract the coronavirus if the session were any longer. The nearly unheard-of measure encapsulates how law officials, typically bound by protocols and procedure, but dependent on human interaction, are being forced to rethink how they can still allow defendants to have their day in court. A complete shutdown will cause delays that will impact on the fair administration of justice for both complainants and defendants in criminal cases, said Camini Kumar, a British family lawyer, who anticipates U.K. courts shutting. With courts either racing to finish trials or postponing them indefinitely, those already convicted are also making their voices heard about the risks of incarceration and the pandemic. A day after authorities in California and New York took steps to reduce jail populations, a clutch of French organizations representing prisoners, magistrates and lawyers urged France to drastically reduce its number of inmates. Even Michael Cohen, Trumps former lawyer and fixer, asked a federal judge to let him spend the rest of his three-year sentence at home, citing the risk that he may become infected with coronavirus in a federal prison camp. Until this week, the U.K. judiciary had followed the British government in trying to put on a brave face and carry on as normal, given most schools there remain open. That facade began to crumble late on Tuesday as the U.K.s top judge said courts wont start criminal trials that are scheduled to last longer than three days. Such trials which involve judges, lawyers, defendants, jurors and other staff, are too much of a risk to allow new cases to be heard, according to Lord Chief Justice Ian Burnett. Trials currently underway will generally proceed in the hope that they can be completed, he said. Kumar, who works on custody and divorce cases, said the virus exacerbates already stressful situations. Walking into a court building feels like entering a petri dish, Kumar said. Court users are being forced to put themselves and others at risk. There are crowded waiting rooms, inadequate washing facilities and no visible precautions against COVID-19 save for posters telling people to wash their hands. There is a widespread sense of unease. The U.K. government this week published its planned Coronavirus bill that would provide emergency powers to ramp up the use of audio and video links to try to enable some courts, including criminal ones, to continue operating without the risk of further spread of the virus. Not many details were provided about the Silver-Bow County resident whose positive test was confirmed Saturday, but an investigation is ongoing and a list of those the person has come into contact with will be provided, according to Karen Sullivan, Butte-Silver Bow County health director in an email. Also on Friday, Bullock ordered the closure of several types of businesses for one week, in an effort to limit the large gatherings that could cause virus spread. The Montana Nurses Association wants him to go even further. On Friday evening, the groups CEO, Vicky Byrd, wrote a Facebook post asking members to encourage our governor to order our state of Montana residents to stay home (shelter in place) and close all non-essential businesses until further notice. As of Saturday California, Illinois, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut were already under such orders. South Africa could be only days away from a national shutdown if the number of coronavirus cases continue to increase rapidly. This is according to a report in The Star newspaper, which said the number of community infections can be much higher than the official numbers. Yesterday Health Minister Zweli Mkhize announced that there are now 202 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus in South Africa. The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) also confirmed that the Free State province has reflected its first positive case of COVID-19. The number of new infections in South Africa jumped from 34 on Thursday to 52 on Friday a rapid increase which concerns stakeholders. The official numbers may, however, be much lower than the true infection rate because of the current testing criteria. Professor Alex van den Heever from WITS told The Star that people who did not fit very specific criteria have been turned away from being tested. I believe that is a serious error of judgement and we are essentially turning a blind eye to possible community-based infections, said Van den Heever. He highlighted that if South Africa starts to see 100 to 200 community-based infections per day we would probably have to escalate the prevention strategy. This escalation, as was the case in China, Italy and France, includes a national lockdown with strict self-isolation rules. Gauteng Premier David Makhura warns of lockdown Yesterday Gauteng Premier David Makhura warned that a national lockdown may be where South Africa is headed unless the coronavirus spread is contained. Gauteng is the hardest hit by the coronavirus outbreak and currently has 109 confirmed infections, with 33 of these infections reported in the last day. A lockdown may just be where we are all headed and the decision to do so has to be made by our national leadership, said Makhura. We will raise it with the President. We are watching these numbers very closely and we are worried, said Makhura. He expressed absolute confidence in President Cyril Ramaphosa and the leadership team to do the right thing. Now read: Google launches coronavirus website With the Pennsylvania primary just around the corner, Dauphin County Commissioners urge its most vulnerable residents of contracting the coronavirus elderly or those with respiratory or immune system issues to cast a mail-in ballot for the April 28 primary. The option to vote using a mail-in ballot instead of going to the polls is available for anyone, according to commissioners. "Due to the concern that public gatherings can help spread the coronavirus, we want residents to know how to apply for mail-in ballots, said Commissioners Jeff Haste, Mike Pries and George P. Hartwick, III. "Voting by mail is a safe and secure alternative. To vote by mail: Visit www.DauphinCounty.org/vote for a link to download a mail-in ballot application or go to www.VotesPA.com/ApplyMailBallot to apply online. To apply online, you must enter a valid PA Drivers License or PennDOT ID number. Voters without proper ID need to download the application and use the last four digits of their Social Security number. Mail applications to: Dauphin County Bureau of Elections and Voter Registration, P.O. Box 1295, Harrisburg, PA 17108-1295. Applications can also be dropped off in a locked box outside the entrance of the Dauphin County Administration Building, 2 South 2nd St, Harrisburg, PA 17101. Important deadlines to use mail-in ballots for the April 28 primary: AIMIM's Maharashtra unit head MP Imtiyaz Jaleel said memorials cannot protect people in times of a pandemic, which is why it is important to build hospitals instead. Funds allotted for constructing memorials should be utilised for building hospitals, he said. Taking to Twitter, Jaleel said, "No smarak (memorial) of any leader would protect you in times like these! Hospitals will! That's why I am opposing memorial building and instead asking for hospitals to be made with that money (sic)." Jaleel had earlier warned the Uddhav Thackeray-led government that he would move court if public money is used for constructing memorials and suggested that political leaders donate funds for the same. Jaleel's constituency Aurangabad came into focus a few months ago after memorials of BJP leader Gopinath Munde and Shiv Sena Supremo Bal Thackeray were slated to be constructed there. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Cannes, France Sat, March 21, 2020 19:03 662 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad206c7b134 2 Entertainment cannes,Cannes-Film-Festival,homeless,coronavirus,COVID-19,France,film-festival Free The French town of Cannes said Friday that it would open the pavilion of its prestigious annual film festival -- postponed due to coronavirus -- to homeless people as the pandemic spreads in France. The Cannes film festival, the world's biggest, is no long being held from May 12-23 because of the spread of COVID-19. On Friday, France reported 78 more deaths from the coronavirus over the last 24 hours, bringing the total death toll from the outbreak in the country to 450. Some 12,612 people have now been confirmed to have been infected, but authorities warn the real figure could be a lot higher. In face of these developments, Cannes municipal authorities said the venue, which usually houses congresses and art events, has been handed over to accommodate up to 50 people living on the street in what they saw as "a symbol of solidarity". Read also: Hotels in Paris to house the homeless "Currently, the priority is confinement and the confinement of the most vulnerable," said Dominique Aude-Lasset, deputy director general of Cannes urban services. Beds, meals and showers will be made available in line with regulations regarding social distancing during the virus-related confinement across France. Television will also be provided, while temperature and baggage checks will be carried out at the entrance, Aude-Lasset said. Cannes Festival organiszrs said Thursday the event would not be able to go ahead in May, but could be postponed to mid-June or early July. Along the Mediterranean coast in Nice, city authorities similarly plan to open up accommodation for the homeless from Monday. As coronavirus cases surge and hospitals already experience a shortage of equipment, Americans should forgo buying and wearing protective masks, says television host and heart surgeon Mehmet Oz, also known as Dr. Oz. It is your patriotic duty to not use a mask, says Oz, in a newly released interview on Influencers with Andy Serwer, taped on Monday. We dont have enough of them. The strain that the coronavirus outbreak will place on the U.S. healthcare system could overwhelm the available resources, jeopardizing the nations response, Oz said. On Thursday, The New York Times reported that a community health clinic in Minnesota was considering shutting down because it didnt have enough masks and that doctors at a St. Louis hospital were wearing ill-fitting masks while treating coronavirus patients. Other physicians at a Los Angeles emergency room were given expired masks. If the hospital system gets sick either the doctors themselves or the hospital can't keep up with the flow that's the weak link in our society, he says. We can deal with this otherwise. The worst-case scenario Oz raised a possible worst-case scenario in which ill patients cannot receive needed medical care due to a lack of available hospital space or equipment, noting that such an outcome has taken place in Italy, where on Thursday the number of coronavirus-related deaths surpassed China, a country with a population more than 20 times greater. You have critically ill people waiting in gurneys and hallways while their brethren are being saved, Oz says. That's what happened in Italy. As people infected with the virus seek medical help, hospital workers across the country are encountering a shortage of masks, surgical gowns, and eye gear, The New York Times reported. Anticipating the high demand for masks, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome M. Adams called on Americans late last month to cease purchasing them. Seriously people STOP BUYING MASKS! Adams tweeted on Feb. 29. They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus, but if health care providers cant get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk! Story continues Oz made the remarks during a conversation that aired in an episode of Yahoo Finances Influencers with Andy Serwer, a weekly interview series with leaders in business, politics, and entertainment. Since 2009, Oz has hosted Dr. Oz, a daily talk show on personal and public health issues with millions of viewers. For nearly three decades, Oz has worked as a heart surgeon at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, in New York City. In 2003, he founded HealthCorps, a nonprofit that helps teenagers take care of their physical and mental health. Ten physicians criticized Oz for providing self-care and medical advice that they say does not pass scientific muster, calling on Columbia University to end its affiliation with him. Notably, he backed a study on green coffee bean weight loss pills that was later discredited. Oz maintains his affiliation with Columbia, where he is director of the Integrative Medicine Center. Television host and heart surgeon Mehmet Oz, also known as Dr. Oz, appears on Influencers with Andy Serwer. Oz emphasized a shortage of N95 masks, thicker masks that fit more tightly than standard surgical masks and prevent an individual from breathing in smaller particles. Medical professionals receive a special fitting for such masks, but they are not effective when bought online by everyday people, Oz said. You're literally just finding a N95 mask on Amazon and putting it on, he says. So if you have facial hair, it won't work. If it doesn't fit your face correctly, it won't work. Anyway, so why waste your money and take a mask out of circulation that we could have used to keep nurses and doctors healthy? The hospitals are under-supplied of masks, he adds. And the nurses and doctors can't use enough of these N95 masks. Read more: The coronavirus outbreak appears to be depressing census turnout across the nation, but not in New York City. During the first week in which people could fill out the census, New Yorkers responded at a higher rate than they did 10 years ago, even as the country's performance declined, according to figures shared by New York City on Friday. Of course, its quite early on in the weeks-long process, and New York City still lags the country as a whole. But the citys self-response rate of 10.5% is a promising start, especially when compared with its 6% rate during the first week of the census in 2010, and not so far behind the initial nationwide rate of 14.1%. The initial self-response data shows that the unprecedented citywide Census 2020 campaign is resonating and that New Yorkers, particularly in this critical time, want to ensure that we receive the resources and representation we deserve, Julie Menin, the director of New York Citys census outreach efforts, said in a statement. We have far more to do, and we must remain both cautious and vigilant, especially since the communities on the front lines of COVID-19 are also the ones that have been historically undercounted by the census, which is why we need every New Yorker to join our quest to get all of us counted. New York City is investing an unprecedented $40 million into efforts to encourage residents to fill out their 2020 census forms. But many of those events and door-knocking initiatives have been put on hold as the global coronavirus pandemic has led local and state governments to limit human interaction to slow the viruss spread. The effort to a citizenship question this year even though it failed may also dampen turnout in some communities. Yet it looks like New Yorkers will have more time to respond to the survey. The U.S. Census Bureau announced on Friday that it would extend the count which is being conducted primarily online for the first time for two weeks to now end on Aug. 14. Earlier this week, City & State spoke with Menin, the director of NYC Census 2020, to find out how the city has changed its approach to make sure all New Yorkers get counted. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Could you tell me about how New York Citys census operations have had to change in light of the coronavirus? Before (the) coronavirus, we had held over 500 events all throughout the year, big town halls and large-scale events on the census and the importance of the census. Now, of course, in light of COVID-19, we have revamped our plan. First of all, we are focused very much on the phone banking and text messaging part of our strategy, which we were always going to do. But now we are making some significant changes. Weve pulled down and are changing some of the ads that would have launched in the subways, instead converting those ads to digital and to TV. Secondly, we are really focused on making sure that New Yorkers understand, from the messaging standpoint, that at this time of coronavirus, the census is incredibly important because health care funds are linked to how many people fill out the census. Whether its childrens health insurance, whether its funding for hospitals, or the fact that the New York City Health Department looks at census data in emergencies to determine how to respond. In all of these different instances, we want to make sure that that message is clearly communicated. And the fact that so many people now are at home, its easier than ever to complete the census by just going online or calling the toll-free number. You had mentioned that the city would be tracking data on the response rates across the five boroughs. How are you going to use that data now to inform which areas to target? That data is going to be more valuable to us than ever because it will allow us to see by census tract, which is on average about 3,000 people, how many people in that particular census tract responded. Now, before coronavirus, we could have done events in the neighborhood. Now were going to need to reach them remotely. But it still is extremely valuable data because it allows us to phone bank into those census tracts. It allows us to really look at how can we best reach people who are not responding. And also our digital ads. I mean, were putting more money than ever now into digital. One of the challenges in planning is to make sure that New Yorkers have internet access and libraries act as those points of access for some people. But now that a lot of libraries have closed, how do you ensure that people who do not have internet access at home are able to complete the census? That is a real measurable issue. We had initially had over 300 pop-ups that were available for people to go into that lacked internet access. Now, due to the coronavirus, weve really got to focus on phone banking those individuals because thats going to be more important than ever to ensure that we phone bank them and that they understand that there is a toll-free number that you can call to answer the census. Its available, that toll-free number, in 13 different languages. Theres a different number for each of the 13 languages that people can call. In addition, we strongly believe that more paper forms need to be mailed out. We directly expressed that strong concern to the regional bureau. And they have indicated that its likely that they will do so. Some elected officials and groups have been calling for the census to get delayed. How do you see that playing out? Is that something that you would support? Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, we are dealing (with) an unprecedented situation. And while we do have the tools digitally and through the telephone were dealing with the unknown and the census is more important than ever now. We support taking whatever measures are needed to ensure a proper count. And if that means a delay and an extension of time, then we need to absolutely do that. Usually universities will coordinate with the Census Bureau to get the count out for their students on campus. How is that proceeding now? We literally started that in January. That was one of the first things in my first week on the job that I started working on, because I quickly learned that, in 2010, some dorms were simply not counted, either because the U.S. Census Bureau didnt make contact early enough with the university or they werent making the proper contact point within the university. I assembled the universities in New York City, had them designate a point person within the university, and then worked with the U.S. Census Bureau to make that contact much earlier because that contact was generally happening right before the count begins. Thats way too late. Has there been any confusion now that students have en masse been moving back home or displaced from campus? Because theyre counted in group quarters, whether or not the student is residing in the dorm does not affect the count. Lets take (New York University) as an example. So NYU students who are living in the dorms at NYU, we establish a contact within the university system to work directly with the U.S. Census Bureau. They then turn over that administrative data directly to the U.S. Census Bureau. So whether or not the student in particular was living in that dorm at that very moment because of (the) coronavirus does not affect the count. Description GIS 20 March 2020: The population of the Republic of Mauritius has been exhorted to respect the national confinement protocol rolled out since this morning, at 6 am local time, in the wake of the outbreak of the Covid-19 in the country with 12 cases registered to-date. Citizens have been called upon to fully collaborate to fight the propagation of the virus across the Mauritian territory. The current situation prevailing in Mauritius and the implementation of all measures, were the focus, this evening, of a press briefing, in Port Louis, by the spokesperson of the National Communication Committee on the Covid-19, Dr Zouberr Joomaye, in the presence of representatives of the Ministry of Health and Wellness, and the Mauritius Police Force. The National Communication Committee on the Covid-19, chaired by the Prime Minister, Mr Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, aims at providing daily updates as well as implementing the transparency policy of Government with regard to the evolution of the Covid-19 across the Republic. Following new cases of Covid-19, an essential measure, that is the national confinement protocol of 14 days, has been applied with the objective to protect citizens and slow the spread of the virus, said Dr Joomaye. This means that citizens have to remain at home given the highly contagious nature of the virus through human contact, he stated. The Committees spokesperson also emphasised that Rodrigues Island is also concerned by the national confinement protocol and that flights will not be allowed as from 20 hours this Sunday between Mauritius and Rodrigues. Moreover, he recalled that that only some essential services will be allowed to operate. These are: the Police Force, Fire and Rescue Services, hospital/health centres/clinics, pharmacies, food supply chains, gas filling stations, and banks. A certain number of economic activities will also be allowed to operate as these are indispensable for Mauritius, he stated. The list will be communicated, he added. Markets and livestock services will operate normally and as regards public transport a minimum service will be offered. Buses will be on roads as from 7 am to 7 pm at a reduced frequency and the Metro Express will operate as from 6 am to 6 pm. In addition, the National Communication Committee has recommended that citizens use the hotlines 8924 between 09 00 hours to 16 00 hours, and, 8925 to 8929, after 16 00 hours, if ever they think that they are suffering from the symptoms related to the Covid-19, and therefore avoid going to public hospitals and dispensaries. The Committee further recalled that till now 667 persons are quarantined and a contact tracing is still underway to retrace people who have been in contact with those tested positive to the Covid-19. GRAND RAPIDS, MI The reality of the rapidly evolving coronavirus pandemic hit home in a big way this week for Cassandra Hallman. The 34-year-old single mother of three, who works as a nurse at Jupiter Family Medicine in Plainfield Charter Township, says her normal full-time workweek has been shortened to just 16 hours. Now, like scores of Michiganders, shes scrambling to adapt to the new reality. She faces the challenge of paying for rent, utilities and other essentials after losing half her income. I am concerned about bills," Hallman said. I know when I have to pay my rent next paycheck its not going to be there. Unemployment filings have skyrocketed across Michigan this week after measures designed to protect public health and slow the spread of coronavirus were implemented. Workers across the spectrum, from the food and beverage industry to manufacturing, are feeling the pinch. Its been rough, said Elijah Russ, a 25-year-old Grand Rapids resident who was laid off from his part-time job at Lucys Cafe. I have a little bit of a nest egg right now, but not too much. Enough to last a week or two. In addition to his job at Lucys, Russ said he also earned money playing gigs with his band, The Elijah Russ Collective. But now that Michigans bars have closed and gatherings of more than 50 people have been prohibited, those dollars have also dried up. In all, Russ estimates hes down about $1,000 a week. Its tough right now, but I think everybodys trying to keep as calm as we can, he said. Theres so many things that are out of our control. State and national officials are working to cushion the blow. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive order this week that extended unemployment benefits from 20 to 26 weeks and suspended in-person registration and work search requirements. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has pushed for an economic stimulus package that would provide checks of $1,000 per adult and $500 per child to U.S. families. The effort is designed to bolster the economy amid worries that the fallout from the virus will send the U.S. into a deep, prolonged recession. So whats in store for West Michigans economy? How many more workers are at risk of being laid off? The answer depends on how long it takes for the number of people infected by the virus to peak, said Paul Isely, associate dean at Grand Valley State Universitys Seidman College of Business. The longer we go, the more businesses that get into trouble because they dont have the capital to get through it, he said. The longer we go the more people end up being laid off because they no longer have people to sell things to. Isely said a lot of businesses can survive up to six weeks of minimal economic activity. But if we start getting up to eight, or 10 or 12 weeks, then were going to see a lot more strain, he said. Between Monday and Wednesday, more than 55,000 Michiganders filed for unemployment, said Erica Quealy, a spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity. She said the number of unemployment fillings is 1,500 percent higher than normal. April Newton, 33, of Kentwood, says she filed for unemployment after she was laid off from her full-time job as a cook at the Social Kitchen and Bar on Monday, March 16. She learned she was losing her job on the same day that Whitmer signed an executive order closing restaurants and bars to all but delivery and carry-out orders. Newton said shes expecting to receive about $300 a week. in unemployment Ive been through a lot of things in my life, she said. Ive never been laid off, but Im not overly concerned as long as I have my necessities a place to stay, clothes, some food. Ryan Waugh, 30, says hes worried about keeping a roof over his head now that hes been laid off from his cooking job at Lindas Corner Landing in Ionia. He said hes applied for unemployment and expects to receive $160 a week, about half his regular paycheck. I dont know if I should just wait this out or go to Walmart and apply over there, Waugh said. Later, he added: Its scary not knowing if Im going to be able to pay rent. The number of Michigan residents testing positive for coronavirus COVID-19 has exploded over the past 10 days, when the first two cases were confirmed in Wayne and Oakland counties. As of Friday afternoon, 549 people had been diagnosed with the virus. It has also been linked to the death of three people. In Kent County, at least 12 people have tested positive for coronavirus. There are two confirmed cases in Ottawa County. The economic impact of the virus moved beyond the hospitality industry on Wednesday when Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler announced they would temporarily close all their U.S. factories. GM has one factory in West Michigan. The Components Holdings plant at 2100 Burlingame Ave. SW in Wyoming employs 797 hourly and 249 salaried workers, according to the companys website. Beyond the automakers themselves, the plant closures will be felt among West Michigans companies that supply parts and other products to the auto industry, said Birgit Klohs, president and CEO of The Right Place, a Grand Rapids-based economic development group. She said she and her colleagues have been reaching out to those automotive supply chain businesses, and other companies from across the region, to make them aware of state and federal resources and to answer other questions. We need to figure out how do we get these companies through these next few months, Klohs said. Manufacturing is our bread and butter. Despite the challenges many are facing due to the economic fallout caused by the coronavirus, workers such as Hallman, the Grand Rapids nurse who has seen her hours cut in half, are trying to stay optimistic. Its bringing families together, and its slowing people down which is maybe what we need, she said. You have to find the good in everything. PREVENTION TIPS Read more: Grand Rapids ballet suspends remaining performances for season due to coronavirus crisis Meijer expedites hiring process during coronavirus outbreak Translating coronavirus information focus of new Hispanic Center, Community Foundation partnership The five-day Budget Session of the Delhi Assembly will now be held on a single day on March 23 in view of the coronavirus pandemic, a government official said on Saturday. According to the original schedule, the session was to be held from March 23-27. "The Delhi government will present its budget on March 23. On the same day, it will be passed," the official said. The number of coronavirus cases in India rose to 283 on Saturday, the Union Health Ministry said. The contagion has claimed one life and infected over 20 people in Delhi. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) President Rouhani: Sanctions failed to force Iran to give in to US pressure Iran Press TV Friday, 20 March 2020 6:07 AM Iran's President Hassan Rouhani says US sanctions and pressures have failed to force the Iranian nation to give in to Washington's excessive demands. "The harshest ever sanctions were imposed against our nation [last year] by global terrorists," Rouhani said on Friday morning in a message to Iranians on the occasion of New Year. He added, "Our oil industry came under the most severe sanctions regime in history and pressures were mounted on our economy from all directions." The Americans sought to increase pressure on Iran through sanctions in an attempt to force the nation to buckle under pressure, but our great nation resisted and created another epic, the president added. "We were not defeated; in fact, we stood up against US pressures and resisted," Rouhani said. Elsewhere in his televised message, the Iranian president expressed his thanks to people, the country's medical personnel, including doctors and nurses, and NGOs for their hard work to stem the "destructive" novel coronavirus, or COVID-19. Iran is battling the coronavirus pandemic under the harshest ever sanctions by the US, which were re-imposed after Washington left a UN-backed landmark nuclear deal between Tehran and major world powers in 2018. After leaving the landmark nuclear deal, Washington began forcing others to toe its sanctions line. Britain, France, and Germany have stopped their transactions with the Islamic Republic, bowing to the US. In late January, the United States and Switzerland announced the launch of a channel to ship food and medicine to Iran. Washington alleges that it has exempted foodstuffs and medicine from its anti-Iran sanctions, something that Tehran rejects as a "brazen" lie as the bans have deterred several foreign banks from doing any business with Tehran. Iran has written to the United Nations and all international organizations, urging the removal of the draconian measures that have hampered the country's fight against the virus. So far, the new virus has claimed 1,284 lives in Iran and infected more than 18,000 others. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Feel free to keep sex on the list of acceptable stay-at-home activities. If youre staying at home with your significant other already amid the coronavirus outbreak, having sex doesnt add any additional risks on top of everyday contact, according to medical experts. What we do know is that the virus is transmitted through saliva and secretions, so as best as we can tell, the biggest danger in terms of sexual activity is just having your face close to the other persons face, Dr. Lauren Streicher, the founder and medical director of the Northwestern Medicine Center for Sexual Medicine and Menopause, told the Chicago Tribune. When you look at coronaviruses and what we know about them in general, the risk is really about upper respiratory transmission, as opposed to sexual activity, Streicher continued. If you have someone youre quarantined with your spouse, your partner, or whoever I dont think there is any problem with having sex because youre face-to-face all day anyway. Streicher added if a person within a home is symptomatic or positive for the coronavirus, sex would be out of the question, since distance must be maintained between the patient and other residents. A sick person should be isolated from the rest of the home and its members. While having sex with someone within the same home doesnt present any additional risks, experts do warn about the hazards of coming in contact with people from other homes. Simply being around other people could fuel the spread of the virus. The recommendation right now is that we try to stay home as much as we can and really only interact with people for things that are essential, like groceries, Dr. Julia Marcus, an infectious disease epidemiologist and professor in the Department of Population Medicine at Harvard Medical School, told The Guardian. And even when we do that, try to keep some physical distance of about six feet from other people. That would definitely make sex a challenge. The New York Department of Health suggested if you do have sex, it should be with people close to you. The agency suggested video dates, sexting or chat rooms may be options for others, rather than risking contact with people outside of the home. Sign up for text message alerts from NJ.com on coronavirus in New Jersey: If you would like updates on New Jersey-specific coronavirus news, subscribe to our Coronavirus in N.J. newsletter. Tell us your coronavirus stories, whether its a news tip, a topic you want us to cover, or a personal story you want to share. Chris Ryan may be reached at cryan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisRyan_NJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Principal secretary to Haryana chief minister Rajesh Khullar, UTs home secretary Arun Guptas daughter, and NP Sharma, the chief general manager of Chandigarh Smart City Limited, are among the 203 persons under home quarantine in Chandigarh in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. Khullar returned from the US on Friday and has been advised to stay isolated for 14 days till April 4. A poster reflecting home quarantine has been pasted in front of his official house in Sector 16. Similarly, a poster has also been pasted at Arun Guptas official residence in Sector 16 after his daughter returned from the US on Saturday morning. Gupta told HT that only his daughter had been quarantined in a separate room in the house. He or any other member of his family did not come in touch with her after she landed in the country. Although I have voluntarily decided to work from home for a few days, I am free to attend office or go outside, he said. OFFICIALS SON CAME IN CONTACT WITH FIRST COVID-19 PATIENT The most crucial case is that of NP Sharma and his four family members. His 23-year-old son came in contact with Chandigarhs first corona positive patient, a 23-year-old woman resident of Sector 21. The son was isolated at GMCH, Sector 32, on Friday evening, following which Sharma and his whole family was put under home quarantine in Sector 19. Since his son met the positive patient, Sharma has attended multiple official meetings and even come in contact with CSCL CEO and MC commissioner KK Yadav, who further attended several top-level meetings where UT administrator VP Singh Badnore and adviser Manoj Parida were also present. QUARANTINE POSTER REMOVED FROM JUDGES HOUSE UT removed a home-quarantine poster from a judges house after it came to fore that his son and daughter landed in Delhi from abroad on Friday, but were yet to reach Chandigarh. Sources said the judge expressed annoyance over the poster even when no one was home from abroad. CHANDIGARH ADMINISTRATION GETTING LIST OF FOREIGN TRAVELLERS FROM IMMIGRATION Many of those home quarantined in Chandigarh have foreign travel history. A senior UT official said they were getting a daily report from the immigration office of those returning to Chandigarh from abroad, and based on this, they were putting them in home quarantine for 14 days. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Megan OHalloran and Jack DiPrimio arent your typical high school students. Their names will be on the ballot for Pennsylvanias primary election as candidates for delegates as theyre vying for the chance to attend the upcoming Democratic National Convention in July in Milwaukee. OHalloran, 18, and a senior at Upper Dublin High School in Montgomery County, made her debut in political activism several years ago, but it was delegate candidates running in other states that motivated her to run. It inspired me to do as much as I possibly can for the future that I want, because the people who take action are the ones who are able to create the most change in their communities and are the ones who are able to maybe inspire others, she said. She will represent the PA-4th District. DiPrimio, 17, and a junior at Upper Darby High School in Delaware County, agreed. He will represent the PA-5th District. I am doing this so young people have a voice at the D.N.C. because not many teenagers decided to run for delegate, DiPrimio said. OHalloran and DiPrimio have had their political boots on the ground. Shes been involved in High School Democrats of Pennsylvania and volunteered for local democratic committees, while he worked as a party team leader for former presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren and organized a school walkout after the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. As delegate candidates, it took some work to get their names on the states Democratic primary on April 28. It was definitely exhilarating. It was exhausting. Its not for everyone, DiPrimio said. The petition collecting time period is really stressful and you have to know how to talk to people and advocate for yourself. In order to become eligible, would-be candidates need to get 250 signatures from registered Democrats, OHalloran said. It was something she started on as soon as she turned 18, the eligible age to be on the ballot. It was actually the first thing I did on my birthday as an 18-year-old [was] sign my own petition, which is a little dorky, but I think its kind of cute, OHalloran said. She worked to connect with party voters that were her classmates, neighbors and fellow Democrats in her community. She added she received guidance about the overall process from people working on Warrens campaign. They walked me through the process talking to voters, and explained she needed to clarify what they would be signing. After sending her signature pages to the state, OHalloran received the approval to get her name on the ballot. That was a really big moment, she said. OHalloran and DiPrimio initially pledged their support to Warren, but she has since dropped out of the race. If I do get elected, [the candidate I support] would have to be somebody who is open to progressive reform and is open to hearing young peoples voices, OHalloran said. While on the canvassing trail, OHalloran and DiPrimio got mixed reactions based on their age and candidate choice. I think that young people as the next generation of progressives in politics have every right to step on the stage, and thats what Ive been telling people if they ever question me, and Ive gotten mostly positive responses, she said. Others needed some further clarification about DiPrimios cause, he said. So Ill be honest, not a lot of high schoolers know exactly what a delegate is, but my teachers have been a great support, he said. Both are looking forward to the chance to attend the Democratic National Convention. DiPrimio, as a self-proclaimed political nerd, said hes excited to engage with politically minded individuals. An adult told me its like the biggest sporting event for the greatest political nerds of all time, he said of the convention. OHalloran said going to the Democratic National Convention will be a new experience for her, and shes eager to just get there. Ive never been on a plane, OHalloran said. She said shes excited for the opportunity to be a part of this political moment. Being surrounded by so many wonderful people and dedicated people will be the most wonderful part of going to Milwaukee, OHalloran said. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-22 06:40:29|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close TIRANA, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Albanian President Ilir Meta on Saturday called on all citizens to respect the restrictions imposed by the authorities to fight the spread of coronavirus. Meta spoke to reporters after attending an activity related to blood donation here. "It is important to respect all the guidelines of the public health authorities, but also all the restrictions that have been imposed because they are in the interest of every citizen," Meta told reporters. Meta noted that the restrictions imposed should not be regarded as a deprivation, but as "an indispensable protection in these critical moments." Regarding the deployment of the army and police forces on the streets across the country, the president said that armed troops and the police forces "are in function of guaranteeing rule and discipline that protects citizens from negligence." Meta underlined that the situation cannot be tackled only by doctors, nurses, as it requires the commitment of all state structures. "This is a new crisis not only for us, but also for other countries," he said. Meta expressed his conviction that the preventive and isolating mechanisms will be improved every day, underlining that "this requires everyone's cooperation, reflection and solidarity." On Saturday, Prime Minister Edi Rama announced that no one will be allowed to leave home between Saturday 1 p.m. local time to Monday 5 a.m. because there is a curfew in place. Rama warned of consequences on everyone who disobeys them. As of Saturday, according to health authorities, the number of confirmed cases in Albania is 76, of which two have died and two have recovered. Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are sharing mental health resources during the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images) Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are sharing mental health resources and tips for remote volunteering during the coronavirus pandemic infecting 304,000 people globally. The couple, who are reportedly taking government advice when it comes to self-care, wrote a long caption on their official Instagram page Sussex Royal on Friday, alongside a blue graphic that read, Today I feel __. With everything going on, its a lot to take in, they wrote. Many of us may feel confused. Or alone, or anxious or scared...and in isolation, some of us may just feel bored, or that you dont know what to do with yourself without your normal routine. Its perfectly normal to be feeling any of these things. Like most of the world, Canada, where the royals live with their 10-month-old son Archie, is practicing self-isolation and social distancing, as ordered by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (whose wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau tested positive for COVID-19). Our emotional well-being is challenged everyday whether we realize it or not, but our lives are usually filled with distractions, wrote the royal couple. Now with constantly changing COVID coverage, we are all adjusting to this new normal and the feelings that come with it. But heres the good thing (because right now we need to hear good things, right?): Yes, there is isolation and physical distancing, but there doesnt have to be loneliness. They included the Instagram handles for international support resources that, in addition to offering services, also need volunteers: Crisis Text Line, Shout U.K. and Kids Help Phone. If youre home and feeling bored, you can digitally train to be a counselor and HELP someone who really needs your support! What an amazing way to use this time, the couple wrote. If you feel alone, overwhelmed, depressed, or anxious, you can text one of these lines and talk it through. If you are in an abusive relationship and now find yourself in isolation with your abuser, these counselors are there for you. You do not need to suffer in silence. Story continues People who feel uncomfortable talking to strangers, should reach out to family and friends via phone-and-video calls. Ask if theyre okay, tell them how youre (actually) feeling, and use this time to really listen for the answer, read the caption. If there is someone you know and are worried about, your text may be the thing that saves their life. Although Markle, 38, and Prince Harry, 35, departed royal life in January (separating from their titles and roles as working members of the Royal Family), they traveled to the U.K. earlier in March. The couple received a standing ovation at The Mountbatten Festival of Music, took a beautiful viral photo in the rain at the Endeavour Fund Awards and met with Kate Middleton and Prince William for a Commonwealth Day event at Westminster Abbey. A royal source told People of Markle and Prince Harry, Like everyone, they are taking government advice, and if and when they are specifically made aware of being in contact with someone who has tested positive they will act accordingly. This week, Queen Elizabeth, 93, addressed the coronavirus pandemic in the U.K., where 5,000 people are infected and 234 have died. Referring to the climate as a period of great concern and uncertainty on Instagram, she thanked scientists and medical and emergency personnel. The queen revealed that she and husband Prince Philip were holed up at Windsor Castle. Most of us will need to find new ways of staying in touch with each other and making sure that loved ones are safe, said the queen. I am certain we are up for that challenge. You can be assured that my family and I stand ready to play our part. And the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge made a Thursday visit to the London Ambulance Service in Croydon, to meet with NHS 111 emergency operators. According to People, Middleton and Prince William used hand sanitizer and avoided handshakes. For the latest news on the evolving coronavirus outbreak, follow along here. According to experts, people over 60 and those who are immunocompromised continue to be the most at risk. If you have questions, please reference the CDC and WHOs resource guides. Want daily pop culture news delivered to your inbox? Sign up here for Yahoo Entertainment & Lifestyle's newsletter. VANCOUVERAs communities across the country shut down businesses and tell people to stay home to prevent the spread of the pandemic coronavirus, one tiny American town is getting ready to be cut off from the rest of the country to which it belongs. Its just past lunchtime at the Point Roberts Community Centre and volunteer co-ordinator Madeleine Anderson is cleaning up the local lunch-by-donation ritual. Only this time, instead of serving food to communal tables as usual, she and a team of volunteers handed out fish and potatoes through car windows to maintain the social distance required by the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Seeya Roger, thanks for everything and let me know what my bill is, Anderson is heard saying through the phone Friday afternoon, bidding goodbye to the chef. Its not unusual to see the 1,200-person community band together, especially in times of uncertainty and turbulence, Anderson said. After all, Point Roberts is something of a geographic aberration. A peninsula point just south of the 49th parallel, its located in the United States, but only accessible by land through Canada. That means when border restrictions between Canada and the U.S. apply Friday at midnight, Point Roberts residents will be confined in an area about the size of Vancouvers airport, except for essential travel. Groceries, prescriptions, and gas are all available in town, but getting clothes and building supplies, as well as high school education, requires the international crossing. We have federally controlled borders, so its a gated community, we like to say, Anderson joked. That gate, usually no more than a minor inconvenience to residents of the town, many of whom have dual citizenship between Canada and the U.S., will be a lot less porous after Friday night. Canadian and American officials Wednesday announced a mutual deal to restrict travel across their shared border in an effort to stem the spread of COVID-19. That means no one in, no one out of Point Roberts, except those providing goods and essential services. It was a little bit of an echo of 9/11; we didnt know what was going to happen then either, Anderson said. The worlds longest unguarded border stayed open after that tragic event. Not so during the COVID-19 crisis. The restrictions will be in place indefinitely. For Christopher Carleton, the Whatcom County Fire Chief for Point Roberts, said the definition of what is considered essential is the key concern for the town. Hes in charge of Point Roberts response to COVID-19 and hes been assured by both American and Canadian border officials that certain necessities will be allowed to flow once the restrictions kick in. Emergency vehicles will be allowed to cross the border , a necessity in a town with only one medical clinic open three days a week. Things get murkier with other kinds of crossings. On the top of Carletons mind are the 28 Canadian volunteer fire fighters that form most of his emergency response team (six are locals and nine cross two borders to get to Point Roberts from other areas of Whatcom County). Our demographics within Point Roberts being of the sort that we dont have a lot of young people who live there, we (rely) on the young men and women that come over from Canada, Carleton said. He issued a fire ban while the pandemic continues, to keep emergency responders available. That would be a devastating impact to, not only our agency, but also to outreach to our community members, Carleton said. Whatcom County executive Satpal Sidhu said hes heartened that both Canadian and U.S. border services are coming to the table with the county with an eye to making sure Point Roberts has what it needs to weather the COVID-19 crisis. It has been a community cut off for a couple of centuries, Sidhu said. So residents have become highly accustomed to crossing customs. Even if someone needs a plumber or electrician, they cant just call someone in Delta or Tswassen, British Columbia, he said. During normal circumstances, its not that difficult, but in this kind of crisis it is a unique problem for us. Making sure volunteer fire fighters and emergency responders can get to Point Roberts is a priority, but Sidhu said there are likely to be other types as of yet undetermined trips that may become essential depending on how long the crisis endures. In the meantime, the community, like so many others around the world, is making do during a tough time. Anderson, for example, had to find a step-in cook for the lunch program, because the regular chef crosses the border. What Im seeing now is people extending more hands, more offers of assistance, taking note of their neighbours while maintaining their own safety, Carleton said. I guess people are doing even more now than they do on a regular basis. Read more about: Pakistan on Saturday suspended all international flights for two weeks and curtailed train services as the coronavirus cases surged to 666 in the country after more pilgrims who returned from Iran tested positive for the deadly virus, which has turned into a major global crisis. The government in a statement said all international flights are being suspended for two weeks to curb the spread of the virus. From 8 pm tonight, "all incoming international flights are being suspended for two weeks," a statement issued read. National flag-carrier PIA however will be allowed to bring back its planes. Cargo flights will also be allowed. Earlier, the PIA had said all international departures were being suspended till March 28. Railway Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad ordered to reduce the number of trains running in the country from March 25 until the middle of the holy month of Ramadan, which would start around April 25. "We have decided to suspend 34 trains out of total 142 running in the country while another eight trains will be suspended from April 1," he said. The government announced the measures as the number of confirmed cases in the country jumped to 625 on Saturday, which increased to 666 by late evening. The worst-affected Sindh province reported 90 new coronavirus cases, taking the provincial tally to 357. The new cases have been detected in pilgrims who returned from Iran and have been quarantined in Sukkur, according to a spokesperson for the Sindh health department. The number of COVID-19 patients in Balochistan rose to 104 with 12 new cases. After 41 new cases surfaced in Punjab, Chief Minister Usman Buzdar announced the closure of all shopping malls, markets and public places from 9 pm on Saturday till 9 am on Tuesday. However, pharmacies, petrol pumps and grocery stores will remain open. In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the number rose to 27 as new cases came forward, provincial health minister Taimur Jhagra said. Gilgit-Baltistan has 30 cases, Islamabad 10 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir one case. So far three patients have died in Pakistan while five have recovered. Pakistan reported the third casualty from the virus in Karachi on Friday, two days after two men both pilgrims returning from Iran and Saudi Arabia died of the coronavirus in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The 70-year-old who died in Karachi was a cancer survivor. He had other medical problems, like hypertension and diabetes, but did not have any travel or contact history, officials said. Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza has said that all provinces of the country now have laboratories where coronavirus tests can be done. Speaking at a press conference, Mirza said that the number of labs would increase in the future. Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday ruled out total lockdown but asked people to reduce unnecessary travel and go for self-quarantine for at least another 45 days to help tackle the coronavirus crisis which has killed over 11,000 people and infected 250,000 worldwide. Pakistan, despite its close proximity with China, remained unscathed by the virus until February 26 when a man from Karachi tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the Express Tribune reported. The man, in his twenties, had returned from Iran, which is also one of the worst-hit countries. After a brief pause following the first case, COVID-19 cases witnessed a sharp surge as more pilgrims returning from Iran tested positive despite the fact that they were quarantined for 14 days at the Pak-Iran border crossing of Taftan in Balochistan. Amid an imminent threat of spread of coronavirus, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has ordered the release of under-trial prisoners detained in Rawalpindi's overcrowded Adiala jail in minor crimes and directed the Islamabad police not to make arrest in petty matters, the Dawn reported. The Lahore High Court (LHC) has summoned the first meeting of its Crisis Management Committee on March 24. The government has exempted import of 61 diagnostic support and personal protective equipment from all duties and taxes for a period of three months in order to reduce the rising prices in the domestic market. The government has also allowed the use of non-utilised amount of the World Bank-funded projects worth USD 40 million for purchase of COVID-19 equipment. The provincial government of Balochistan has decided to impose a 21-day partial lockdown across the province to control the spread of highly contagious disease. Under the lockdown, which is similar to the restrictions imposed by the Sindh government, all major shopping centres, markets and food restaurants will remain closed. However, food delivery will be allowed during the lockdown. Pakistan Prime Minister Khan while addressing the media in Islamabad on Friday had said the country's strategy is a little different from a complete lockdown, considering Pakistan's socio-economic realities. "Pakistan isn't a rich country like Italy, where people can get through a sustained period without economic activity," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Dressed For War Julie Summers S&S, 20 Rating: Having owned every issue of Vogue published since September 1977, as well as having devoured numerous books on the subject, I had thought I was an expert. To my surprise, Julie Summerss biography of Audrey Withers, British Vogues editor from 1940 to 1960, was a revelation. First, Audrey was not a debutante, but a blue-stocking who got the job aged 35 because of her editing skills, head for business and ideas. Conde Nast himself, the founder of the magazine empire which published Vogue, wrote at the time of her appointment: Id rather have an editor who can edit, than an editor who can mix with society. Second, she was a feminist, keen for women to continue in their careers after marriage (as late as 1944, female teachers had to resign upon marriage). At the helm of Brogue (British Vogue), so nicknamed by employees at its launch here in 1916 because the American version could no longer cross the Atlantic due to German submarines, she hired former model Lee Miller, and sent her to report on the war in Europe, publishing page after groundbreaking page of her photographs and essays, beating male reporters at every turn: Miller was the first female photographer to enter Dachau. Audrey Withers (photographed above in her office in 1948) was not a debutante, but a blue-stocking who got the job aged 35 because of her editing skills, head for business and ideas It was a shortage of paper that meant Brogue, formerly fortnightly, turned monthly, and prospective subscribers had to wait until an existing one died. But the shortage sharpened Audreys pencil: only the best made it inside, the opposite of today, where magazines are able to disgorge unendingly online. Audreys editorship was deemed vital by the War Office. Writes Summers: They realised it was more effective to appeal to women through magazines they trusted than through the pages of daily papers, which could be ignored Today, even Vogue, whose job it is to sell us things we dont need and cant afford, is scrabbling to save the planet. But again, Audrey Withers got there first, championing the idea of quality over quantity, publishing articles on knitting hats, bed jackets and even swimming costumes, and how to liven up a much-seen garment with a different hat, or gloves. Withers championed the idea of quality over quantity, publishing articles on knitting hats, bed jackets and even swimming costumes (above, advice on good posture) While Vogues current editor, Edward Enninful, is all about diversity, its interesting to note Audrey was never an elitist snob, but was crazy about inclusivity while Europe was being torn apart, writing: That part of our population which looked askance at foreigners has grown used to strange uniforms and strange speech. The Poles in Scotland; the Czechs in the Midlands; Free French fishermen in Cornwall. There was a transatlantic tug-of-war over the Royals in those days, too: US Vogue wanted help with a feature about the 18-year-old Princess Elizabeth entitled The worlds most famous bride-to-be. Audrey drew a blank with photos, sending a memo: You will remember the retiring habits of the British aristocracy sorry to sound so stuffy. Conde Nast himself (above), the founder of the magazine empire which published Vogue, wrote at the time of Withers' appointment: Id rather have an editor who can edit. When I was editor of Marie Claire 20 years ago, I thought it revolutionary to rail against skinny models. Yup. Audrey got there first again, introducing a section entitled, tactfully, Above Average. For her, being thin would for ever be tarnished by what she saw not just in Lee Millers photos of the victims of concentration camps, but also in the faces of the women on the streets of Paris after liberation who moved so slowly about their daily lives due to hunger. Perhaps thats why, in 1960, on the cusp of a decade that would see women turned yet again into little girls, shed had enough. Id have liked more gossip and Id have loved more photos, but this meticulously detailed, fascinating book should be read by every young woman starting out so they might realise hard work, not connections, will get you anywhere. Long Way Home Dan Jarvis Little Brown, 18.99 Rating: Meeting people at times that really test them is the best way to see what theyre made of. Im not talking about the past three years in Parliament during which Ive sat opposite Dan Jarvis, the Labour MP for Barnsley Central. I first met him in 2007 in Helmand, Afghanistan, when he was an officer in the Parachute Regiment. There are tales of training and command and of the relationships that bind men together as they execute the orders of our elected governments (Dan Jarvis serving in Afghanistan, above) As he rightly guessed, I had been sent from British HQ in Kabul to check up on him. He was training a small unit of unkempt Afghans in a remote firebase, moulding them into a highly capable fighting force. In the silence of the desert, we spoke about his wife Caroline, her cancer, his family, and the tough decisions he had to take in command of the men we served with. Over the days and nights on patrol, we got to know each other. But even there, and at Carolines funeral in 2010, seeing his quiet strength with their young son and daughter at the familys lowest moment, I learned only part of what shaped him. This memoir reveals so much more. It starts with the then 14-year-old author and his younger brother being left alone on an uninhabited Scottish island overnight by their parents as a character-building exercise and takes us through his time at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. IT'S A FACT Dan Jarvis became the first serving politician in over 60 years to be awarded a military honour when he was made an MBE in 2011. Advertisement Then he is off to operations in Kosovo as the aide-de-camp to General Mike Jackson, and to war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and on to new, political, campaigns in Yorkshire as well as being an MP, he is mayor of Sheffield City Region. There are tales of training and command and of the relationships that bind men together as they execute the orders of our elected governments, but this is not just a memoir about his professional life. Long Way Home is also about love and family and hope. It is about how he dealt with the loss of his wife on what he describes as the worst day of my life. He likens the impact of her death at the age of just 43 to being pulled over the edge of a waterfall and into a terrifying free fall. But throughout this book, which has taken him several years to write, his integrity, courage and passion shine through. Dan and I may disagree about politics but we are lucky to have people like him speaking for our communities in Parliament today. The legitimacy of our democracy and armed forces relies on ethos and principle more than simple rules. His service, like this book, gives hope. Tom Tugendhat is a Conservative MP and a former British Army officer Conan Doyles Wide World Andrew Lycett Tauris Parke, 20 Rating: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle will for ever be associated with the fog of Baker Street, but while Sherlock Holmes brought the author global fame, he was about so much more than the great detective: physician, campaigner, spiritualist and prolific contributor to a variety of publications. He was also an intrepid and prodigious traveller who wrote extensively of his adventures and incorporated many of these experiences into his fiction. This is an anthology of his travel writing, selected by his biographer, and organised geographically. Starting with his early accounts for the British Journal Of Photography of his visits to the Arctic in the company of whalers and sealers, the book then accompanies him across the globe, at the zenith of the British Empire, by train, ship, camel and carriage, from continent to continent, through swamps and jungles, up the Nile, down a diamond mine, in a train crossing the vast prairie lands of North America. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was also an intrepid and prodigious traveller who wrote extensively of his adventures (above visiting New York in 1926 with his wife Jean and children) For Holmes die-hards there are visits to the Reichenbach Falls and the Baskerville moors. As this volume amply demonstrates, Conan Doyle was a shrewd observer of people, able to evoke a real sense of place. His observations are generally trenchant and perceptive and there is a lot of humour. He was also a man of his time and though in many ways enlightened, some of his conservative, patrician views reflect the prevailing attitudes. Although most of the extracts are wonderfully entertaining and well-selected, Andrew Lycett, a respected authority on Conan Doyle, appears to be operating on auto-pilot, providing the minimum in terms of linking commentary. This is definitely one for the fans: a romantic paean to a lost age. The Sherlock Holmes industry marches on. Simon Humphreys Could the coronavirus be a biological weapon in the not-too-distant future? By Thalif Deen View(s): View(s): UNITED NATIONS (IPS) The devastating spread of the deadly coronavirus across every continent with the exception of Antarctica has triggered a conspiracy theory on social media: what if the virus was really a biological weapon? And more specifically, was it an experimental weapon that accidentally escaped from a laboratory in China? Or as others contend, is it a weapon surreptitiously introduced to de-stabilize a country with more than 1.4 billion people and described as the worlds second largest economy, after the United States. Both narratives are considered false, and probably part of a deliberate disinformation campaign, according to military experts. Still, in the US, Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas has repeated the charge that the virus was a creation of the Chinese military while others source it to North Korea. And US President Donald Trump has been roundly condemned for a racist remark after describing the deadly disease as a Chinese virus. But one hard fact remains: the potentially destructive power of biological weapons, which were banned by an international convention, going back to 1975. Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates predicted in a TED talk in 2015: If anything kills over 10 million people in the next few decades, it is likely to be a highly infectious virus, rather than a war. They will not be missiles, he warned, but microbes. And two years later, according to GeekWire, Gates repeated the same warning at a side event during the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos: Its pretty surprising how little preparedness there is for it, Gates was quoted as saying in 2017. Addressing the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Seattle last month, Gates said the impact of COVID-19 could be very, very dramatic, particularly if it spreads to areas like sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia. Meanwhile, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged about $100 million to fight the virus, as part of its broader efforts in global health. Dr Filippa Lentzos, Associate Senior Researcher, Armament and Disarmament Programme, at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), told IPS a biological weapon comprises a biological agent and a delivery mechanism. In theory, she pointed out, any virus could be used as a weapon, but historically some agents have been viewed as more effective than others, e.g. anthrax, brucellosis, Q fever, tularaemia, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, glanders, plague, Marburg virus disease and smallpox. She pointed out that much will depend on what ends or purpose the weapons are being used for. In terms of the coronavirus, there would no longer be a surprise factor, and resistance to the virus may in future have been built up, though the jury is still out on that one. As of March 20, the coronavirus has accounted for over 255,000 positive cases worldwide and over 10,000 deathsand rising. In the United States, there have been more than 200 deaths so far, and over 14,000 positive cases of the spreading virus. The New York Times of March 18 cites a study by Imperial College, London, which estimates the virus can kill over 250,000 in the UK and more than a million in the US - unless officials took action to slow its spread. Asked if there are any countries identified as still manufacturing or hoarding biological weapons despite their ban, Dr Lentzos said over the past 100 years, about 25 countries are believed to have possessed a biological weapons programme for some period of time. Most programmes were of a short duration. They were small and developed limited, unsophisticated capabilities. Only two countries are known to have had sophisticated capabilities that could inflict mass casualties or extensive economic harm: the United States and the Soviet Union (now Russia), said Dr Lentzos, who is also a Senior Research Fellow at Kings College London and a biosecurity columnist at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Today, she said, there is limited public information on possible illicit biological weapons activity. The main concern today is not really that countries have offensive biological warfare programmes, but that they are building dual use capabilities. Asked about the use of biological weapons as part of germ warfare during World War I, she said there was some covert use by Germany during World War I to infect horses with biological agents to block their use by Allied military forces. In World War II, there were substantial covert attacks on China by Japan, as well as some clandestine use in Europe against Germany. There has been very limited known use since 1945, said Dr Lentzos, who is also an Associate Editor of the journal BioSocieties, and the NGO Coordinator for the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. According to the Washington-based Arms Control Association, the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) is a legally binding treaty that outlaw biological arms. Opened for signature on April 10, 1972, the BWC entered into force on March 26, 1975. It currently has 182 states-parties. Ten states have neither signed nor ratified the BWC, including Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Israel, Kiribati, Micronesia, Namibia, South Sudan and Tuvalu. (Thalif Deen is a former Director, Foreign Military Markets at Defense Marketing Services; Senior Defense Analyst at Forecast International; and military editor Middle East/Africa at Janes Information Group.) North Korea on Saturday fired two projectiles presumed to be short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, the latest in a series of such launches this month. This is the third test that has been conducted by Pyongyang this year. They were fired northeastward from areas near its western county of Sonchon in North Pyongan Province at 6:45 a.m. and 6:50 a.m., respectively, the JCS said, adding that they flew around 410 kilometers, reaching a maximum altitude of around 50 km, Yonhap News Agency reported. "South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities are analyzing other specifics," the authorities said. "Our military is monitoring the situation in case there are additional launches and maintaining a readiness posture, the JCS said." Calling the launch "a very inappropriate act" at a time when the whole has been facing difficulties due to the coronavirus pandemic, the JCS called on the regime to immediately halt such military moves. On March 9, the North fired at least three short-range projectiles believed to have come from super-large multiple rocket launchers, a week after launching two short-range projectiles of the same type, according to the JCS. It was not immediately known if leader Kim Jong-Un guided the latest firing, but officers hinted at the possibility. The North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) also reported on Saturday that the country held an "artillery fire competition" of its army on its western front. The previous two rounds, which occurred from its eastern regions under Kim's guidance, appear to have been part of its artillery strike drill for the wintertime exercise, JCS officers said, noting that the drill is likely to continue throughout this month. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hyderabad: When Rakesh Kumar returned to his hostel on Thursday, he was taken aback to see a notice on the gate of his building. "The hostel management requests its residents to vacate the premises within 24 hours," it read, citing orders from municipal authorities. Rakesh is not alone in his dilemma. Several other private hostels in the city, which host working employees and students, have been putting up notices, asking people to leave the premises immediately due to the coronavirus outbreak in the country. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao recently announced that all educational institutions, pubs and recreation places in the state would be shut till the end of March. Urging companies to also practise social distancing, the government had appealed for employees to be provided work-from-home options. But not many IT companies have followed suit. The city hosts a significant population from various districts, particularly people who have moved here for work or educational purposes. How can they ask us to leave within 24 hours?" asked a distraught Sathwik, who is employed at a software company and hails from Nalgonda. "I do not even have a work-from-home option, so what am I supposed to do now? According to his hostel management, officials from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) visited various hostels and issued an ultimatum to make alternate arrangements for the residents. GHMC officials, however, denied any such orders. There was no official order issued from GHMC on this. We are looking after sanitisation and suggested that hostels should not be overcrowded, but said nothing on vacating or sending people away," said Deputy Mayor Baba Fasiuddin. The IT industry COVID-19 committee clarified that working hostels need not be shut. It said police helpline numbers were available and people could report such actions taken by hostel managements. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-22 05:58:21|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close TRIPOLI, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Spokesman of the eastern-based army of Libya on Saturday welcomed the international call to stop military action in the country to allow authorities to fight against the possible outbreak of COVID-19. "The general command (of the eastern-based army) welcomes the international call for a cease-fire for humanitarian reasons in order to confront the (possible) coronavirus infections," Ahmad al-Mismari said in a statement. He added that the eastern-based army "is committed the most to the cease-fire." Earlier, Arab and Western countries, as well as the UN Support Mission in Libya, called on the Libyan parties to stop all military action in the country to allow authorities to fight against the coronavirus. The eastern-based army has been leading a military campaign since April 2019 in and around the capital Tripoli, attempting to take over the city and topple the UN-backed government. The fighting has killed and injured thousands of people and forced more than 150,000 to flee their homes. Both rival parties have imposed a curfew in Libya to prevent any possible coronavirus infections. Enditem As an investor its worth striving to ensure your overall portfolio beats the market average. But its virtually certain that sometimes you will buy stocks that fall short of the market average returns. We regret to report that long term British American Tobacco p.l.c. (LON:BATS) shareholders have had that experience, with the share price dropping 52% in three years, versus a market return of about -18%. More recently, the share price has dropped a further 24% in a month. But this could be related to poor market conditions -- stocks are down 32% in the same time. See our latest analysis for British American Tobacco There is no denying that markets are sometimes efficient, but prices do not always reflect underlying business performance. One flawed but reasonable way to assess how sentiment around a company has changed is to compare the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price. During the three years that the share price fell, British American Tobacco's earnings per share (EPS) dropped by 0.06% each year. This reduction in EPS is slower than the 22% annual reduction in the share price. So it's likely that the EPS decline has disappointed the market, leaving investors hesitant to buy. The less favorable sentiment is reflected in its current P/E ratio of 10.17. You can see below how EPS has changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image). LSE:BATS Past and Future Earnings, March 21st 2020 Dive deeper into British American Tobacco's key metrics by checking this interactive graph of British American Tobacco's earnings, revenue and cash flow. What About Dividends? It is important to consider the total shareholder return, as well as the share price return, for any given stock. The TSR incorporates the value of any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings, along with any dividends, based on the assumption that the dividends are reinvested. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. In the case of British American Tobacco, it has a TSR of -44% for the last 3 years. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. This is largely a result of its dividend payments! Story continues A Different Perspective Although it hurts that British American Tobacco returned a loss of 13% in the last twelve months, the broader market was actually worse, returning a loss of 23%. Given the total loss of 2.3% per year over five years, it seems returns have deteriorated in the last twelve months. While some investors do well specializing in buying companies that are struggling (but nonetheless undervalued), don't forget that Buffett said that 'turnarounds seldom turn'. I find it very interesting to look at share price over the long term as a proxy for business performance. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. To that end, you should learn about the 3 warning signs we've spotted with British American Tobacco (including 1 which is makes us a bit uncomfortable) . Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of companies we expect will grow earnings. Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on GB exchanges. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading. A 39-year-old man who was at Rick Shores restaurant in Burleigh Heads on March 13 between midday and 1.30pm has tested positive for coronavirus. Queensland Health is calling for anyone who was at the restaurant during that 90-minute period to monitor their health and see a doctor immediately if they develop any symptoms. Rick Shores restaurant in Burleigh Heads is the site of the latest coronavirus scare. "While the risk is very low, a small number of people who sat near this case could potentially have been exposed," a statement released on Saturday night said. "The man was asymptomatic when he attended the restaurant but developed symptoms 24 hours later." Hindustan Unilever (HUL) has announced that it will be reducing the prices of Lifebuoy sanitisers, Lifebuoy Liquid Handwash and Domex floor cleaners by 15 per cent. The country's biggest FMCG company has said it's scaling up production to meet the supply-demand arising out of coronavirus outbreak. Sanjiv Mehta, Chairman and Managing Director, HUL said, "In a crisis like this, companies have a big role to play. We are working closely with the governments and our partners to ensure that we overcome this global health crisis together." The company has said it will donate two crore pieces of Lifebuoy soaps in the next few months to the sections of the society, which need it the most. It will also partner with medical institutions that are providing testing and care facilities to affected people and provide them free supplies of sanitation and hygiene products such as hand sanitisers, bar soaps and floor cleaners. HUL will also donate Rs 10 crore to upgrade the health care facilities in testing centres and hospitals. The panic around the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in India has led a large segment of consumers hoarding basic food items such as milk, curd, rice, atta (flour), oil and lentils, as well as personal care products such as soaps, handwash and sanitisers. One often gets to see empty shelves not just in neighbourhood kirana stores but also in supermarkets. Even e-commerce platforms have been complaining of running out of stocks of necessities, especially products such as handwash and hand sanitisers. Apart from HUL, other consumer goods manufacturers such as Amul, Godrej and ITC have also increased their production. According to RS Sodhi, MD, Amul, demand for long-shelf-life milk, milk powder and cheese has gone up by 20 per cent over the last two weeks. "Consumers not only are hoarding out of panic, but they are also buying more milk-based products because there is an advisory against consuming eggs and meat. People are substituting it with milk-based protein," says Sodhi. Amul has increased its production by over 20 per cent to meet the increased demand. ALSO READ: Coronavirus update: Here's a list of 62 test centres for COVID-19 Godrej Consumer, which was planning to increase its soap prices due to a 30 per cent increase in prices of raw materials, has now shelved the plan and is instead going all out to increase production and cater to the increased demand. According to Sunil Kataria, CEO (India & SAARC), Godrej Consumer Products, "We have ramped up production of our soaps, Godrej Protekt handwash and sanitisers in our units as well as through our vendor partner units. We are working closely with raw material and packaging material suppliers to facilitate uninterrupted supplies. Our teams are also working round-the-clock to ensure that adequate stocks are available across channels." Also read: Coronavirus pushes India Inc into financial chaos Similarly, ITC claims to have doubled production across its food and personal care business to ensure availability. "Given the challenging circumstances, we have redoubled our efforts to ensure an adequate supply of all our FMCG products including Savlon handwash and soaps across all channels. We would like to assure consumers of the availability of products and would like to urge them not to panic in this situation," says an ITC spokesperson. He also added the company has redoubled its efforts to make sure that the various retail channels don't fall short of basic food items such as Aashirvaad Atta. Will an increase in production and sale of basic food and FMCG products reflect in higher revenue growth for the manufacturers? Not necessarily, say consumer goods and industry experts. Most of these products, according to them, are low margin products, which may ensure volume growth but will not reflect too much in the revenue growth. Also read: Centre stares at shortage as sole procurer of COVID-19 gear struggles to supply Bollywood actor Alia Bhatt has refuted rumours of break-up with Ranbir Kapoor - not in words - but with the perfect Instagram post. She shared a picture of herself gazing at the sunset while standing, in what looks like, her balcony. However, it was the photo credit that gave all away. She had credited her favourite photographer RK. Stay home &... watch the sunset #stayhomestaysafe P.S - credit to my all time fav photographer RK, Alia wrote alongside the image. Alias sister Shaheen commented on the post and said, So he only takes bad pictures of the rest of us then. While Neetu Kapoor posted a heart emoji on the image, Guilty actor Akansha Ranjan Kapoor wrote, Training my bf to be more like yours. Alia and Ranbir were working on their first film together, Brahmastra, before they decided to stay at home and practice social distancing amid the coronavirus outbreak. Directed by Ayan Mukerji, the film was initially scheduled to be released on Christmas 2019. The extensive VFX involved has been the reason for its delay. The movie will also feature Amitabh Bachchan, Nagarjuna and Mouni Roy. Alia recently celebrated her 27th birthday with sister Shaheen and her girl gang. In videos and pictures shared online, Alia can be seen cutting not one, but two cakes as others sing the Happy Birthday song. Also read: Happy birthday Rani Mukerji: These 5 statements prove she is the real Mardaani of Bollywood Apart from Brahmastra, Alia also has Sanjay Leela Bhansalis Gangubai Kathiawadi - a story based on Hussain Zaidis Mafia Queens of Mumbai. The film revolves around an owner of a brothel in Kamathipura, Mumbai. She will also be seen in SS Rajamoulis RRR, in which she will be paired opposite Ram Charan. Follow @htshowbiz for more What is the Official Language of Mexico? Hint: It's Not Spanish Mexico is a culturally diverse nation, says an article. It has a variety of indigenous languages widely spoken by the entire population. Mexico's Many Languages Originally, there 198 indigenous languages in the country. 130 of the 198 had already gone extinct. Currently, there are only 68 indigenous languages spoken by Mexicans and they are still at a threat of extinction. This is one reason why the Mexican government is making significant efforts to help the survival of the remaining languages. The Widely Spoken Language in Mexico Spanish is the widely spoken language in the country. However, the government had not officially proclaimed it as the country's official language. In 2002, the country's government had promulgated the law of linguistic rights. This law aims to protect indigenous languages in Mexico. Revival Efforts to Mexican Native Languages Even if Spanish is the most popularly spoken language in the country, the government still does not recognize it as Mexico's official language. The reason behind this is that the country wants to promote its native languages over languages spoken in foreign nations. Mexico is recognized by the constitution as a multilingual nation. Also, there are relevant efforts by the government in the promotion of indigenous language by providing support to Linguistic Rights. Currently, the country recognizes a total of 62 indigenous languages. These are the country's co-official languages. The Battle between the Spanish Language and Native Dialect There is a difficult battle between the native dialects and the Spanish language for dominance among the Mexican youth. The Mexican youth is perceived to prefer speaking the Spanish language instead of their local dialect. Based on official statistics, there are 21 critically endangered local languages while 38 of them are labeled as definitely endangered. The Three Major Indigenous Dialects in Mexico The three major indigenous dialects in Mexico are the Nahuati Language, Yucatec Maya language, and the Mixtec Language. The Nahuati language is the most popular native language among Mexico. It is part of the Uto-Aztecan family that originated in the United State's southwestern region. Records reveal that approximately 500 speakers of the language came from central Mexico. After a century, the language transformed into a popular language among the locals of the country. The Yucatec Maya language is the second most popular native dialect in Mexico. It is also popularly known as Maya. This is a 5,000-year-old language. Speakers of this language can be found in the Yucatan Peninsula. Finally, the Mixtec Language is the third most spoken dialect in the country. This language originates from the Oto-Manguean family. The language was developed around the now called Guerrero, Puebla, and Oaxaca. Foreign Languages in the Country Foreign migrants in the country had significantly affected the spoken language in Mexico. The arrival of migrants had resulted in the import of foreign languages. These languages had resulted in natives abandoning their native languages to foreign ones. Some of the foreign languages that arrived in the country are Japanese, Greek, English, Italian, German, Portuguese, Arabic, French, and Chinese. The enemy opened fire, employing proscribed 120mm and 82mm mortars, grenade launchers of various types, heavy machine guns, and small arms. Russia's hybrid military forces on March 20 mounted nine attacks on Ukrainian Army positions in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, with four Ukrainian soldiers reported as wounded in action. Read alsoTwo Ukrainian soldiers receive shrapnel wounds amid shelling in Donbas on March 17 "The Russian Federation's armed forces violated the ceasefire nine times on March 20. Four Ukrainian soldiers were wounded as a result of enemy shelling," the press center of Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation Headquarters said in an update posted on Facebook as of 07:00 Kyiv time on March 21. The enemy opened fire, employing proscribed 120mm and 82mm mortars, grenade launchers of various types, heavy machine guns, and small arms. Under attack came Ukrainian positions near the towns of Maryinka and Krasnohorivka, and the villages of Shyrokyne, Novotroyitske, Krymske, Luhanske, Khutir Vilny, Novhorodske, and Novotoshkivske. "Since Saturday midnight, Russia-led forces have attacked Ukrainian positions twice near Krasnohorivka and Novhorodske," the update said. In any other country, Dr. Li Wenliang would have been hailed as a hero for his insight that helped save thousands of lives from a virus outbreak. But unfortunately, Dr. Li was in China, where not only that he was never acknowledged, but was accused by the authorities of scaremongering and spreading panic. His crime? He warned about the possible outbreak of coronavirus. This was back in December when much of China, let alone the rest of the world had not even heard of the virus. REUTERS Dr. Li an ophthalmologist from Wuhan had noticed that a 2003 Sars-like virus was spreading in the region and warned fellow medics and asked them to take precautions. He posted this message to fellow doctors in a chat group warning them to wear protective clothing to avoid infection on December 30. But after someone leaked the message to the authorities he was summoned to the Public Security Bureau where he was told to sign a letter. In the letter, he was accused of "making false comments" that had "severely disturbed the social order". He was one of eight people who police said were being investigated for "spreading rumours". By January 30, Dr. Li had also contracted the virus and died in a Wuhan Hospital days later. AFP Now, China has exonerated Li in a startling admission of error by the ruling Communist Party. The partys top disciplinary body said the police force in Wuhan had revoked its admonishment of Dr. Li Wenliang that had included a threat of arrest. It also said a solemn apology had been issued to Lis family and that two police officers, identified only by their surnames, had been issued disciplinary punishments for the original handling of the matter. REUTERS China which has seen more than 3000 deaths to the Covid-19 outbreak is currently witnessing a slow down in the number of cases being reported. For days now, the country has not recorded even a single domestic case. The National Health Commission said all of the 39 new cases recorded Friday in China were brought from overseas, showing that rigid travel restrictions and social distancing requirements appear to have had their desired effect. After the outbreak was confirmed, China took the unusual step of locking down entire cities, which has since is being emulated across the world as a desperate measure to stop the outbreak that is infecting more and more people across the globe every passing day. The order was slated to take effect Saturday at 5 p.m. and last through at least the end of April 7. It bans all gatherings of more than 10 people, and most other public or private gatherings outside the household, with some exceptions. Indoor and outdoor playgrounds, museums and other places of public amusement are closed, though in Aurora most museums and the citys zoo were already closed due to the coronavirus. Employees, where possible, must work from home. Within a few years Thompson was to become one of the most trusted people in Sun Ras entourage, and, some even said, the heir apparent to the leader, the music historian John Szwed wrote in Space Is the Place: The Lives and Times of Sun Ra (1997). Mr. Thompsons devotion to the groups music and its theatrically attired, cosmo-futurist performance ethic sprang eternal. At one concert, Mr. Szwed related, Mr. Thompson was locked in a three-saxophone melee of free improvisation when two of the keys became dislodged from his baritone saxophone and shot off into the audience. He used his fingers to plug the open holes and kept playing, aggressively. All of a sudden his hand got stuck in the horn, and even after the other saxophonists had grown tired and dropped out, he kept going, not knowing what else to do. You need to be creative like that, Mr. Allen remembered Sun Ra telling him approvingly afterward. He was so creative he tore the keys off; he was like that little Dutch boy and the dike! Danny Ray Thompson was born on Oct. 1, 1947, in New York City, to Elgie and Oscar Leonard Thompson. When he was a child his family moved to Los Angeles, where he picked up the nickname Pico, for the boulevard near where he lived. His father, a research scientist, was the first black person to receive a degree from the University of Texas. His mother, an interior designer, encouraged Dannys interest in both music and acting. He is survived by a half sister, Dawne Thompson; a son, Darrell Thompson; and two stepchildren, Loren and Gay Ojugbana, whom he had helped raise, and with whom he remained close after his marriage to their mother, Marilyn Ojugbana, ended in divorce. As North Korea on March 21 fired two presumed short-range ballistic missiles into the sea, Seouls military reportedly urged North to immediately stop its very inappropriate military demonstrations as the world is struggling to cope with coronavirus pandemic. According to reports, projectiles were fired around 6:45 and 6:50 am from an area around the country of Sonchon, western North Korea. They reportedly flew 410 kilometres cross-country on an apogee of 50 kilometres before landing in waters off the eastern coast. South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) reportedly said that such military action by North Korea is highly "inappropriate" and that too at a time when COVID-19 is causing difficulties worldwide. He further urged North Korea to immediately stop. READ: US General: 'fairly Certain' North Korea Has COVID-19 Cases As per reports, the missile launch came just hours after North Korea confirmed that it would go ahead with a session of the Supreme Peoples Assembly, its rubber-stamp legislature in Pyongyang. The event gathers almost 700 of the countrys top officials in one spot. North Korea has not publicly confirmed a single coronavirus case, but state media have described anti-virus efforts as a matter of national existence. North Korea has even banned foreign tourists, shut down nearly all-cross border traffic with China. Furthermore, the country has intensified screening at entry points and mobilised health workers to monitor residents and isolate those with symptoms. Several health experts believe that the epidemic in North Korea could have dire consequences due to the countrys poor health system and a shortage of medical supplies. READ: North Korean Leader Abstains From Wearing Mask Amid Coronavirus Dread Abandon ballistic missile programs Speaking of the missile launches, this is the third time in this month that North Korea launched projectiles. On March 1, North Korea had ended its months-long hiatus and launched two unidentified projectiles into the eastern sea. The projectiles were launched from an area near Wonsan, a port town east of Pyongyang, but the range and type of weapon were not identified. On March 9 North Korea again fired three unidentified short-range projectiles off its east coast. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Belgium, and Estonia, had said in a joint statement the missile tests undermine regional security and stability, as well as international peace and security, and are in clear violation of unanimously adopted UN Security Council resolutions. They also urged North Korea to engage in good faith in meaningful negotiations with the United States aimed at denuclearization and take concrete steps to abandon all weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs. READ: North Korea's Kim Guides Another Round Of Artillery Drills READ: South Korea: North Korea Fires 2 Presumed Missiles Into Sea The Ministry of Health on March 21 evening announced two more cases who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19, bringing the total in Vietnam so far to 94. browser not support iframe. The 93rd case is a 20-year-old male student from Hungary. He landed at Noi Bai airport on March 18 on Flight SU290. His samples were tested positive by the Hanoi Centre for Disease Control for the first time on March 20. Second test by the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology showed the same result on March 21. The 94th case is a 64-year-old woman from the northern province of Bac Giang. She came to the Czech Republic to visit her daughter from February 29. She landed at Noi Bai airport on March 18 on the same flight as the 93rd patient. Both patients are being treated at the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases No.2 in Hanoi's Dong Anh district, and in stable condition. Two medical workers tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 browser not support iframe. Two female nurses of the Hanoi-based Bach Mai Hospital have become the first Vietnamese medical workers to be infected with the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. The 86th patient is a 54-year-old nurse at the HIV Outpatient Clinic of the Bach Mai Hospitals Centre for Tropical Diseases. She went on a vacation with her family from Hanoi to Con Dao island in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau on March 6. They boarded flight VN7209 from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City and flight VN8059 from HCM City to Con Dao. After returning to Hanoi on March 8, the nurse went to work as usual one day later without any symptoms. On March 11, she started to feel tightness across her chest, without cough and fever, and was admitted to the Bach Mai Hospitals Heart Institute (C4) to get treatment for hypertension and tightness at her chest for four days. She was discharged from the institute on March 19. But as she was confirmed to have been in close contact with the 87th patient, she was given a COVID-19 test the same day, and the result was positive. On March 20 afternoon, her second test also showed the positive result. She is now being treated at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases No. 2 in Hanois outskirt district of Dong Anh. The 87th patient is a 34-year-old nurse who is in charge of receiving people to a quarantine area of the Bach Mai Hospital's Centre for Tropical Diseases. She exhibited symptoms like fatigue, cough and fever on March 18, and tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 at the Bach Mai Hospital. The patient was then transferred to the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases No. 2 and her second test was also positive. Inpatients currently being treated in the Bach Mai Hospitals Centre for Tropical Diseases have been transferred to the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases for further treatment. The 88th case is a 25-year-old female resident of Hanois district of Ha Dong. A student in the UK, she came back through Noi Bai airport on March 12 and underwent a self-quarantine at home until March 16 when she felt difficult breathing. Her sample test later turned out to be positive, and she is now being under quarantine with stable health conditions. The 89th is a 22-year-old female resident of Ho Chi Minh City. She travelled from New York, Boston of the US to Japan and from Japan to Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City on March 17 night on Flight NH831. Entering Vietnam, she showed no symptoms of the disease but her sample was taken on March 18 early morning and later tested positive. The patient is now quarantined in the citys Cu Chi district. The 90th is a 21-year-old female resident of Ho Chi Minh City. Over the past one month, she came to Barcelona in Spain and on March 15, she headed to Dubai from Barcelona on Flight EK188. She arrived at Tan Son Nhat airport on March 16 on Flight EK 392. Entering Vietnam, she had a light fever and cough. Her sample tested positive later. The 91st is a 43-year-old British pilot of Vietnam Airlines residing in Ho Chi Minh City. He was a passenger on Flight VN10 from London to Vietnam on February 8, but could not recall his subsequent itinerary and international and domestic flights. He served as a pilot on Flight VN272 from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi on March 16 and Flight VN607 from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City the same day. From March 13-18, he stayed in Ho Chi Minh City and visited a number of eateries and recreation establishments. On March 17, he started to have a fever and cough and on March 18 afternoon, he was admitted to the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases with a lung problem. His sample tested positive on March 18 night and March 20, and he is now being treated at the hospital. A 21-year-old Vietnamese student from France was confirmed as the 92nd case. The man flew on Flight QR40 from Paris to Doha on March 16, before landing March 17 at Ho Chi Minh City-based Tan Son Nhat Airport on Flight QR970. Upon entry, he did not display any symptoms of COVID-19 and was sent to a concentrated quarantine area in District 12, HCM City. On March 17, the man developed fever, sore throat and dry cough, and was transferred to the acute respiratory disease hospital in HCM Citys Cu Chi district a day later. The HCM City Hospital for Tropical Diseases confirmed his sample as positive on March 19 night. The same testing result was confirmed by the Pasteur Institute of HCM City on March 21. Medical consultation group set up for severe COVID-19 cases Medical experts discuss treatment for COVID-19 patients in Vietnam The Ministry of Health on March 20 said that it has set up a specialised medical consultation group for the treatment of severe and critical COVID-19 cases in Vietnam. The group comprises of 30 experts in the departments of intensive care, emergency, infectious diseases, microbiology, nutrition and pharmacy from leading hospitals such as the Hanoi-based Bach Mai Hospital, the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases and Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, among others. It will be supervised by Assoc. Prof., Dr Luong Ngoc Khue, Director of the Health Ministrys Department for Medical Examination and Treatment, and headed by Prof. Dr. Nguyen Gia Binh, Chairman of the Critical Care Medicine, Emergency Medicine and Poison Control Association of Vietnam. The group will hold direct or online consultations per request of hospitals in charge of severe cases, and analyse the progress of those cases to give recommendations and suitable treatment for each patient. With one more patient discharged from the hospital on March 20 morning, 17 out of 85 confirmed COVID-19 patients in Vietnam were declared cured and allowed to go home. At present, COVID-19 patients are being treated at 12 medical facilities nationwide. There are 31 patients under treatment at the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases, with two in critical conditions./. PM orders preventing COVID-19 spread in community Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has requested the performance of measures to prevent the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic and curb its spread in the community. During a meeting between permanent members of the government and the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control in Hanoi on March 20, PM Phuc said the Politburo lauded efforts of the entire Party, people and armed forces in the fight against the epidemic. As the golden time to combat COVID-19 is only one week away, the government leader asked for the continued vigilance in the fight against COVID-19. PM Phuc called on the whole society to switch to online transactions or via mobile phones and limit face-to-face meetings to prevent infections. In crowded or COVID-19-hit areas, it is a must to wear face masks, he stressed. The Ministry of Education and Training was required to enhance online teaching while people were urged to not come to karaoke clubs or massage parlours, which he said, should be suspended or even shut down. The PM ordered raising public awareness of the effort to strengthen their trust, as well as increasing the use of technological advances in the regard. As the granting of visas to Vietnam will be suspended from 0:00 on March 21, authorities were required to minimise visitor arrivals in Vietnam via airway, road or seaway, he said. PM Phuc said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Vietnamese embassies must encourage overseas Vietnamese to stay in their host countries for treatment if necessary. In case they still want to return home, flights will be arranged at an appropriate time, he said. According to the government leader, all people entering Vietnam will be quarantined and those violating quarantine regulations will be strictly punished. The health sector and authorities were asked to promptly discover infection cases to provide treatment, thus minimising deaths. The PM also agreed with the proposal to pool all possible means and resources, especially humans, to fight the pandemic. Vietnam has enough food and necessities to meet public demand, he said, stressing that it is prohibited to hoard goods to seek profits from the epidemic. No discrimination in COVID-19 quarantine: Deputy PM Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam There is no discrimination in quarantine for COVID-19 and no high-class quarantine facility for people paying service fees, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam affirmed at a meeting in Hanoi on March 20. The self-paying quarantine facilities are set up for diplomatic and official passport holders, experts in key projects, and important trade partners, it was agreed at the meeting of the national steering committee for preventing and combating COVID-19. Dam, who is head of the committee, emphasised the core role of the military force in quarantining. He asked the involved military units to continue implementing strictly quarantine regulations issued by the Ministry of Health. The heath sector should encourage people to join the voluntary health declarations to make it easier for the classification of cases, he ordered. Deputy PM Dam called for special attention to be paid to vulnerable groups such as the elderly, people with chronic diseases and disabilities, warning them to limit traveling and stay at home. According to the Ministry of Health, as of 12:00 noon on March 20, Vietnam recorded 85 COVID-19 cases, of which 17 have been cured and discharged from hospital. More than 38,000 people having close contact with confirmed infection cases or entering Vietnam from pandemic-hit areas are being quarantined. Overseas Vietnamese receive support in wake of COVID-19 The Vietnamese Embassy in Laos has recommended Vietnamese citizens in the country not to panic and rush home as no cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Laos so far. To prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19, the Lao government has activated the highest preparedness level, using such measures as closing all schools, scrapping big gatherings, closing almost border gates with Vietnam and Thailand and suspending the majority of international flights, according to the embassy. The embassy has also asked the community to keep a close watch on the developments of the epidemic. In case of emergency, it is recommended to contact the embassy via hotlines 85620 96106775 or 85620 92546868, and the Vietnamese Consulate Generals in the country. Meanwhile, the Vietnamese Embassy in Switzerland has called on Vietnamese in the country to seriously observe regulations on COVID-19 combat set by local authorities. The embassy contacted EUROASIA, an airline ticket company in Bern, and the firm said it is willing to provide information about flights to Vietnam via 0319719787 and 0792224228. The Vietnamese mission to the United Nations, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the other international organisations in Geneva also set up working groups in charge of dealing with emergency incidents during the epidemic combat. In Australia, the Vietnamese Students Association in New South Wales said after collecting information about the disease across the state, it will make plans to support Vietnamese students there. The Vietnamese students will be connected with local authorities and schools, Vietnamese representative agencies, and media agencies of the two countries to get relevant information. Vietnam has the fourth largest number of students in Australia, with 20,000 at present. Religious events to be cancelled due to COVID-19 The Government Committee for Religious Affairs on March 20 asked religious organisations and worship places to suspend festivals, conferences and activities for large crowds. The religious organisations were also asked not to send followers to events abroad and receive visitors coming from coronavirus-hit areas. These organisations should increase online services and interactions instead, the committee said. Places of worship at risk of any coronavirus infection or suspicion of infection must inform authorities for disinfection and closure. The committee also asked Vietnamese followers of different faiths to refrain from repatriating during the epidemic period and only do so when it is really necessary, following due precautions. Vietnam has recorded 92 COVID-19 cases so far, of which 17 have been cured and discharged from hospital. Vietjet offers SKY COVID CARE insurance for passengers New-age carrier Vietjet offers the SKY COVID CARE insurance with coverage ranging from 20,000,000 VND (856.9 USD) to a maximum of 200,000,000 VND (8,569 USD) for all passengers flying on its domestic flights from March 23 to June 30, 2020. With the insurance, passengers are eligible for insurance coverage and benefits from Vietjet within 30 days starting at 00:01 of the flight date, regardless of how passengers are infected with the disease. To be eligible for insurance coverage, passengers need to provide all information in accordance with Vietjets Terms and conditions when purchasing tickets and using aviation services; and comply with all regulations on disease prevention and control of Vietjet, the Ministry of Health and authorities. Lao Airlines suspends flights to Vietnam due to COVID-19 Lao Airlines, the national flag carrier of Laos, said on March 20 that it will suspend all of the flights to Vietnam amidst the complex developments of COVID-19. The cancelled flights comprise QV311/312 to Hanoi and QV515/516 to Ho Chi Minh City between March 21 and April 30, along with QV 313/314 and QV 315/316 to Hanoi from March 22 to April 30. The launch of a route linking Laos with Vietnams central city of Da Nang will also be halted until further notice. Apart from Vietnam, the carrier will suspend flights to many destinations in the world until April 30, including Seoul of the Republic of Korea; Changzhou, Shanghai, Wenzhou and Jinghong of China; Phnom Penh and Siem Riep of Cambodia; and Bangkok and Chiang Mai of Thailand. Also on March 20, the British Embassy in Laos warned that British nationals visiting or living in the country and intending to return to the UK should make arrangements to do so as soon as possible. The number of international flights departing from Laos is reducing rapidly as a result of travel restrictions in the region and global. Two more flights with COVID-19 cases announced Vietnamese students returning from Europe are waiting to move to concentrated quarantine areas. The Ministry of Health announced on March 20 night that it has identified two more flights with passengers carrying the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. They are All Nippon Airways flight NH831 from Tokyo to Ho Chi Minh City on March 17, and Emirates flight EK392 from Dubai to Ho Chi Minh City on March 16. The ministry called on all passengers on the flights to contact disease control centres of cities and provinces for guidance on health monitoring. Airline ticket agents are responsible for notifying the passengers who bought tickets for those flights. Vietnam recorded 91 COVID-19 cases as of March 20 night, of which 17 have been cured and discharged from hospital. COVID-19 fight now Vietnams top priority: Deputy FM Permanent Deputy Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son At the request of US Deputy Secretary of State Steven Biegun, Permanent Deputy Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son on March 20 held phone talks with leading officials of the foreign ministries of the US, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea and India on the situation of the COVID-19. During the talks, the officials shared information on the complex developments of the pandemic and said that in the current context, their countries are prioritising every resource and taking strong measures to contain the spread of the disease. Son and his partners agreed that regional and international cooperation has an important role to play in containing the spread and controlling the pandemic in the time to come. The official affirmed that fighting the COVID-19 is Vietnams current top priority, adding the government is very resolute and mobilising all the resources for the work. He asked the US and other countries to continue sharing information and intensifying their cooperation with Vietnam in this effort. The countries should consolidate and bring into play available regional and international mechanisms, including those of the ASEAN, in the fight against the pandemic, he said, adding they should also continue the measures aimed at minimising its impact on economic growth and social stability and expressing his belief that the joint endeavors and cooperation of the international community will help roll back the pandemic in the time to come. Steven and other officials spoke highly of Vietnams strong and proactive measures in the COVID-19 fight over the recent past and highlighted that Vietnam is one of the countries effectively coping with the pandemic. They also reaffirmed support for Vietnam in the work in the time to come./. Hanoi donors contribute over 176,000 USD to COVID-19 relief effort Organisations, businesses and individuals in Hanoi make donations to aid the country's COVID-19 relief effort. Organisations, businesses and individuals in Hanoi have so far donated more than 4.1 billion VND (nearly 176,300 USD) COVID-19 relief effort, said the Hanoi chapter of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF Hanoi) on March 20. The donations were made in response to the VFF Central Committees call for all people to contribute to the pandemic prevention and control. Among the largest contributors were the Vietnam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex), who donated medical supplies worth 3 billion VND, the Hanoi chapter of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha donating 650 million VND for the installment of a negative pressure room to treat infected people, and Tho Lao Pagoda in Hai Ba Trung district with a donation of 100 million VND. Not only fortunate people, the less fortune have also joined the national effort to combat the wide-spreading coronavirus which has infected 85 people in Vietnam so far. Nguyen Van Ta from Hung Tien commune, My Duc district has donated his savings to the relief fund. Chairwoman of the VFF Hanoi Nguyen Lan Huong expressed her heartfelt thanks to the donors, pledging all the donations will be used to curb the spread of the virus. She also urged people to continue supporting the campaign by contributing money, necessary things and ideas. On the same day, Chairman of the Hanoi Peoples Committee Nguyen Duc Chung dismissed rumors about a lockdown of Hanoi since the number of confirmed cases in the capital city continues rising. Hanoi is putting the pandemic under control, he said, calling people to stay calm and be cautious about the rumors. Chung went on to say that the municipal steering committee for COVID-19 prevention and control will provide local people with regular updates and transparent information about the outbreak. The city will continue taking drastic measures to protect peoples lives and health as well as contain the virus transmission, he added. COVID-19: More places required to accommodate quarantined people People at concentrated quarantine area The National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control has requested relevant ministries and localities to arrange more places as quarantine areas, and coordinate with the Defence Ministry to receive quarantined people in case the armys areas are overcrowded. In its latest dispatch sent to the Ministries of Defence, Public Security, Foreign Affairs and Transport and Peoples Committees of provinces and cities, the steering committee required effective medical quarantine for those entering Vietnam from pandemic-hit countries and territories. It asked flight attendants to guide passengers to complete e-medical declaration forms right in the planes. Vietnamese and foreign passengers have two separate areas to conduct quarantine procedures. In case congestion occurs at the airport, the work will be conducted at concentrated quarantine areas. Concerned ministries and localities should continue implementing the committees dispatch No.1272/CV-BCD and the Health Ministrys dispatch No.1271/BYT-DP on organising quarantine and taking samples for testing to prevent COVID-19 spread. Relevant ministries and People's Committees of provinces and cities are responsible for organising concentrated quarantine for those coming from ASEAN, Europe, the US, China, the Republic of Korea and Iran. For citizens from ASEAN member states, Malaysian passengers are prioritised to take test samples. Those who have visa exemption must show documents affirming they are not positive for the SARS-CoV-2 granted by their countries authorised offices and accepted by Vietnams health office. The measure is not applied with those entering Vietnam for diplomatic and official purposes. For those coming from or transitting through countries and territories which were less affected by the pandemic, passengers have to be quarantined at home or their places of stay with close health monitoring. By March 20 morning, Vietnam had recorded 85 infection cases. Heeding Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus call to come home has been a frustrating and at-times impossible task for hundreds if not thousands of Canadians caught abroad this week during the coronavirus pandemic. For one couple, it meant a nerve-wracking scramble, touching five airports, that was ending Friday in exhaustion and relief. Donna McInnis and Kevin Ball landed Friday afternoon at Torontos Pearson International Airport, eagerly awaiting the final leg of their journey back to their home in St. Margarets Bay, N.S. It had taken three flights just to get back to Canada: Malaga, Spain, to Dublin; Dublin to London; and London to Toronto. Its a relief to be back, Ball, 76, said after clearing through customs. There was a lot of uncertainty. The couple had been staying in Spain, which has surpassed 1,000 deaths related to COVID-19. It is only the second European country to reach that grim milestone. On Monday, Trudeaus message to Canadians abroad had been clear, telling them, Its time for you to come home. It was a call that sent many rushing to return, despite the closure of borders and the cancellation of flights around the globe. Facing a health crisis and the clear advice of government, McInnis and Ball were among those who decided to head home, and their odyssey offers just a glimpse of some of the challenges now facing travellers. Their journey was complicated by the fact that McInnis, 70, has a bronchial condition that causes her to have a mild but persistent cough. They had to be hypervigilant about keeping safe distances away from others in public spaces. My main concern has been their exposure to the virus, particularly given my mothers bronchial condition, said their son, Jason Ball, whose wife is an editor at the Star. Going through five airports during an outbreak put them in a very vulnerable position; if they had been detained due to my mothers cough, it might easily have turned catastrophic. The couple had been enjoying a getaway from the Maritime winter in a coastal villa in sunny Costa del Sol in southern Spain. They were planning to spend additional time in Greece and London before returning home at the end of April. But those plans were tossed aside after Trudeaus ominous announcement Monday for Canadians outside the country to return home while they still could. We wanted to have access to our own health system, Ball said. The couple documented their journey in text messages to Jason, who shared them with the Star. Ball noted that the taxi driver who drove them to the airport in Malaga was worried about how he will pay his bills with the big drop in business. He had a mask but didnt wear it, Ball also observed. At the airport, announcers kept reminding travellers to keep their distance. Officials checking boarding passes were very nervous about passengers forgetting to stay 1 metre away. Who can blame them, Ball wrote. He noted that joining them on the flight to Dublin were a couple of older Irish musicians with a guitar and banjo whose gigs in Spain had been cancelled. On the flight, a passenger sitting behind McInnis coughed during the flight with no mask. One worry that McInnis had was whether her chronic cough might cause airport staff to be suspicious of whether she had been infected with coronavirus. Amazing how being terrified of coughing can be an effective preventative, she wrote. Reminders of the pandemic followed them. At the airport in Dublin, they observed two lads with wipes and spray holding the wipes on the handrail of the walking sidewalk. But at Heathrow Airport in London, McInnis reported that people still seemed clued out about social distancing. And after landing in Toronto, McInnis told the Star she was surprised to find travellers jammed in a shuttle bus. By the time they arrive home, they will have travelled 30-plus hours. Asked about the prospect of having to go into isolation for two weeks, they said they didnt mind, given how much time theyve spent in public spaces. Weve been in dozens of lineups, Ball said. Isolation is a good idea, McInnis added. We endorse the notion of the quarantine. Plus, friends have chipped in to get them groceries. That doesnt mean Jason wont fret just a little. I will breathe a huge sigh of relief in about two weeks, when theyre settled in at home and are symptom free. Correction March 21, 2020: A previous version of this story misidentified the name of the Spanish city the couple was travelling from. Read more about: The servers at Fish Pond Restaurant in Willis normally see a full dining room and write an estimated 100-150 checks Monday through Saturday with a team of about 30 employees. But now, to-go orders are running 25-26 with a skeleton crew as the old-fashioned cafe struggles to remain open during the novel coronavirus pandemic. Many businesses across the United States have had to close their doors. Others fight to adapt to a constantly evolving public health crisis threatening the global economy by offering amended hours and new services, including to-go orders, curbside pickup, and delivery options. At the family-run, down-home cooking Fish Pond Restaurant that opened in 2008 at 17091 Texas 75, Ronnie and Kathy Wonzer are offering to-go plates and promoting their business and menu options on Facebook, including for breakfast and lunch, and their steam table. But Kathy Wonzer said some customers simply do not have the money to spend or are choosing to eat groceries at home. Now the couple is beginning to worry about the future, including payroll and paying bills. They are choosing to take it day by day, while hoping customers will come in when they can. He has cut down as much as he can, Kathy Wonzer said. We will have to wait and see. The restaurant is offering a full menu to-go from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday. The steam table offers quick meals from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Pacific Yard House The Pacific Yard House in downtown Conroe reported that it has had to layoff several employees, dropping from a total of nearly 50 cooks and servers to now only six salaried positions. The restaurant remains open and started a new hospitality tamale program Saturday to support the employees who have lost their jobs. The tamales are on sale for $1.25 and all sales go toward the laid off cooks and servers. Burger Fresh While also striving to survive within the parameters of restrictions and recommendations, the locally owned and family-run Burger Fresh at 804 Gladstell in Conroe is currently offering curbside pick-up from 11 a.m. to 8.p.m., delivery within a 20-mile radius, various meal options, and family-sized casseroles, including chicken spaghetti that can feed a family of four to six. We are having to adapt, Burger Fresh Manager Karen Holick said. Some employees dont want to come in. We have to work extra hours and do whatever we can to keep the business afloat. Holick said the burger joint has remained consistently busy for the past two or three days. While the owner had to search six different locations for the groceries he needed, she said so far, the restaurant has been able to keep the supplies it needs. The eatery has reached out to an emergency room to look into options to serve health care workers with an interest in serving first responders as well. In my opinion, they are on the front lines as a soldier directly in contact with a virus that doesnt have a cure, Holick said. I could only imagine the fear that they must have about the coronavirus that people are dying from and hoping not to carry it home to their families and themselves. Conroe Fire Department Lt. Lloyd Sandefer said the fire department has suspended visitors at fire stations, including for those who are dropping off food and treats to try and limit and minimize the risk of potential exposure. Sandefer said H-E-B has opened its store early to firefighters to get groceries and supplies for their shift from 6 to 8 a.m. The firefighters can participate in curbside pick-up to help support local businesses, he added. Vernons Kuntry Katfish Vernons Kuntry Katfish on Texas 105 in Conroe has started to offer curbside pick-up 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily with a full menu and offers discounts to first responders. Like my late husband and son always said, we are here to feed the people and we will, Mary Bowers said. The late Vernon Bowers started the family-run business over 30 years ago. Since then, the restaurant has gained popularity and has even been recognized as one of the top 10 catfish restaurants in Texas. In 2017, the restaurant survived Hurricane Harveys approximately 4 feet of flood water with the support of the community that helped the family renovate and reopen. Only two years later, this past September, grieved the unexpected loss of the owner Buster Bowers who had continued to run the business with his mother Mary Bowers and Sister Debbie Bowers. Mary Bowers said the restaurant has been following government mandates and CDC recommendations, while remaining open to continue to serve the community and restaurants 45 employees that has supported the business. While the restaurant has scaled back the number of employees working per shift, she said the business continues to receive its supply and will keep working as long as it can. If supplies become more limited, it will go to a limited menu. She has concerns about the future as she prays the crisis will pass soon. Her heart goes out to those who are unable to leave their homes and she hopes to help anyone she can. Weve gotten through everything else and we can get through this too, she said wiping away tears while sitting in a room full of empty tables. Conroe resident Dale McDaniel has food at home, but ordered a fried shrimp plate to go to support the economy. I think that this will just be a blip on the radar screen, something that we can remember, but I have great faith in our economy and our businesses, McDaniel said. I think somebody in the United States will come up with a cure or come up with a vaccine. If government gets out of their way, I think that will happen. Kuntry Katfish Catering Starting next week, Kuntry Katfish Catering, which shares a parking lot with Vernons Kuntry Katfish, will also be offering various family size meal options for lunch and dinner on specific days and hours. The owner, Clint Campbell, an old friend of Vernon Bowers, started the catering business in 1994. Today, the catering business supports two families, including his daughters family. Meal pick-up schedule includes lunch from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Monday through Friday. Dinner will be available for pick up 5 to 6 p.m. on weekdays, except for Wednesday. Orders need to be received an hour before pick-up time and must be called in at 936-760-2737. Meating Place BBQ The faith-led and locally owned Meating Place BBQ has temporarily closed its Montgomery location, where the owner Bobby Adams said there are other restaurants in the small town such as Uncle Bobs BBQ and the Cozy Grape. However, Adams said his Pinehurst location is still offering a drive-thru option with a full menu, which operates from 10:30 a.m. to about 8 p.m. or when the food runs out for the day. In lieu of being charged a fee for Uber Eats delivery, the restaurant has started offering a 20 percent discount to customers and like many of the restaurants, including Fish Pond, Burger Fresh, Vernons Kuntry Katfish and Kuntry Katfish Catering, Adams has turned to social media to promote his business that remains busy. He expressed concern about the business and about people in the community not getting fed, but he remains optimistic that the hardship will pass. I encourage the community to support these businesses that are around because they are important to the community and the workers that are employed by all of these businesses, Adams said. I do worry about the people that dont have an income. Im trying to keep working to keep everybody with some kind of income. But Im dismayed and shocked like everybody else. Its new to us all. One day at a time, every day is a different. mellsworth@hcnonline.com Sometimes, pessimism pays off. For instance, last year, around the same time that the coronavirus invaded the human population, Marc Maron stood onstage in Los Angeles and asked: "Isn't there something that could bring everyone together and realize we have to put a stop to like almost everything? What would it take?" Then he answered his own question: "Something terrible. That's what brings people together. Nothing good." In "End Times Fun," released on Netflix last week, Maron, 56, imagines doomsday scenarios with baroquely grim imagery: skies aflame, waters rising, lizard infestations, melting faces, technological singularity. His apocalyptic mood might have once seemed like typical hyperbole, the latest gloom and doom from a neurotic progressive in the age of Trump, but it now has the thundering resonance of prophecy. Maron meets the moment not just because we are all inching closer to his dark worldview, but also because he's the rare comedian to ask the really big questions, the existential ones that take on more urgency in a crisis. When people are frightened, as they are now, they often turn to religion, which for Maron, doesn't only mean prayer or visiting houses of worship. In the first show I saw of his in 2000, "Jerusalem Syndrome," he described Disney, Microsoft and other corporate giants as our new gods, calming fears and providing comfort for a price, of course. He also has repeatedly poked fun at his own shaky devotion. "I think I'm spiritual, maybe not," he said in a previous special, summing up a certain brand of faith in a secular age. "End Times Fun," a state-of-the-nation special, is his most ambitious production, sometimes to a fault, veering from reflective to raunchy, covering everything from the anti-vaccination and #MeToo movements to evangelical politics. Some of his premises, about the shadiness of President Donald Trump or the sexuality of Vice President Mike Pence, are too familiar. What stands out is his anchoring theme: a skepticism of unshakable belief of any kind. He singles out three major American religions: Fox News, Christianity and the Marvel Universe. He spends the least time with Fox, while he is quick to point out that Marvel and Christianity were both "created in Jewish writers' rooms." In Jewish comedy, pride has always hidden right underneath self-hatred, a paradox Maron examines (and inhabits) as well as anyone. After 31/2 decades in comedy, Maron has evolved into a sneakily clever joke mechanic. Smuggling punch lines into asides or seeming tangents, he attempts to approximate more of a conversation than a setup-and-punch-line structure, one full of Socratic dialogues, short stories and barroom theories. Sometimes he seems more interested in a literary flourish than a belly laugh. His final joke is not hilarious but it calls back to no fewer than four different ones from the previous hour. In earlier specials, he almost fetishized spontaneity, but his work now is more overtly writerly, intricate and structured. Experience should humble you. And in an era of righteous certainty and flamboyant superficiality, what sets this special most against the grain is its commitment to doubt. He begins by imagining himself on the couch at a loss, wondering whether he can trust the few things he thinks he knows, which, in his accounting, number seven. When Maron says, "I don't know what's happening, but it's pretty clear the world is coming to an end," the first part is just as important as the second. Comics tend to speak with authority on whatever subject they are hammering away on, but Maron keeps explaining how little he knows what he knows. The shaky ground that truth sits on is a rich subject in an age of disinformation and charges of fake news. With an assured hold on the material, the special's director, Lynn Shelton (who also directed him in the 2019 indie comedy "Sword of Trust"), underlines the theme of the slipperiness of truth by constantly shifting views of the comic, adopting a multiplicity of shots and angles, most intimate, none taken from below or on high to give the impression of power or omniscience. Her visuals tell a story: There are many different ways to look at the same thing. At the end of one Maron's riffs, he turns to the audience and says, "Am I right?" This rhetorical device has become a comedy cliche, but he breathes new life into it merely by saying it with conviction. It's rare to hear a comic seem as if he actually wants to know. But he doesn't. It's a setup to the real message of this comic sermon that follows, a refrain that echoes what a lot of people feel about the state of things right now. Answering his own query yet again, Maron says, "I don't really know." By West Kentucky Star Staff Mar. 20, 2020 | 05:09 PM | MCCRACKEN COUNTY, MARSHALL COUNTY On February 27, the McCracken County Sheriff's Office began investigating a burglary that took place at a barn on Old Hinkleville Road. Numerous items had been stolen, including trailers and four-wheelers. Detectives collected evidence, including video surveillance footage, which reportedly showed an older white Ford truck involved in the burglary. On March 10, detectives with the Marshall County Sheriff's Office began investigating a separate burglary, which led to additional information about the burglary that took place on Old Hinkleville Road. Detectives say that while interviewing 24-year-old Kenneth Fornof of Boaz, they obtained information that Fornof and 39-year-old William Patrick Sells of McCracken County, had reportedly broken into the barn, stealing four-wheelers and a trailer. Fornof was lodged in the Graves County Jail. Detectives interviewed additional witnesses, which reportedly corroborated that Sells and Fornof were in possession of an older white truck. Detectives were able to locate the truck at a business in Marshall County, and say some stolen tires were located on the truck. Detectives seized the truck due to the alleged stolen property. Marshall and McCracken detectives went to a home on Lovelaceville Road in McCracken County. Sells had reportedly fled, but detectives say they were able to locate a stolen trailer at the location, and other stolen items. On Friday, detectives did locate Sells in a closet at the home he had fled from a few days earlier. Sells was lodged in the McCracken County Jail. Fornof is being charged with third degree burglary, and theft by unlawful taking over $10,000. Sells is also charged with third degree burglary, and theft by unlawful taking over $10,000. A burglary investigation across McCracken and Marshall County has led to the arrest of two people. Premium online access is only available tosubscribers. If you have an active subscription and need to set up or change your password, please click here New to PW? To set up immediate access, click here. NOTE: If you had a previous PW subscription, click here to reactivate your immediate access. PW site license members have access to PWs subscriber-only website content. If working at an office location and you are not "logged in", simply close and relaunch your preferred browser. For off-site access, click here. To find out more about PWs site license subscription options, please email Mike Popalardo at: mike@nextstepsmarketing.com. YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian-American man who died March 19 in Pasadena, California was a US citizen. The deceased young man was an ethnic Armenian US citizen, foreign ministry spokesperson Anna Naghdalyan told ARMENPRESS. Jeffrey Ghazarian, 34, died Thursday morning at a Pasadena hospital after spending 5 days on mechanical ventilation. He was diagnosed with the novel coronavirus days ago, according to TMZ. According to TMZ, the man was a high-risk patient due to a history of asthma and frequent bronchitis as a child. He also had undergone surgery for testicular cancer back in 2016. Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan Australian workers are being told to work from home as offices around the country close their doors in a precaution measure to slow the spread of coronavirus. Working from home has its own unique challenges with thousands of people now adjusting to working remotely. But there may be one added advantage to operating your own mini-office - you may be able to claim many items on tax and pocket the extra cash. According to the Australian Taxation Office you can claim the bill for any items you need to buy to set up your home office up to a value of $300. Australians working from home may be able to claim office items on their tax return (stock image) This could include items such as computers, printers, telephones, furniture and furnishings. You can claim the full cost for items $300 and under and the decline in value for items that cost more than $300. So while you can't claim the total cost for that fancy new laptop you can claim how much value you laptop lost during the time you were using it for work, known as its depreciation. If you need to crank up the heating or cooling to keep your home office at a comfortable working temperature, you can claim that electricity cost - the same goes for lighting. Though you can only claim the portion of the bill that was used for work, with power prices sky high this could be a pretty big saving. Internet and phone bills can also follow this formula - you can claim up to $50 or more if you ensure you accurately only claim the work-related proportion of the bill. When working out these proportions you can either keep accurate records, for example a list of your phone calls, in case you are audited, or use the ATO's standard running cost rate. That rate is 52 cents for every hour you work from home, so if you work an eight hour day that is $4.16 per day. You can also claim expenses associated with keeping your work space running smoothly. This could include cleaning costs, whether that is hiring a cleaner or buying cleaning products, along with furniture and electrical repairs. Lastly consumable items - think printer ink, printer paper, pens and other stationary - can also be claimed. The ATO reccommends keeping a work diary logging the hours you worked as well as keeping any receipts and bills involved with your work. While working from your house may present other challenges you could claim items on your tax return and pocket the extra cash Danbury - Danbury Hospital and its fledgling Nuvance network is bracing for the next phase of an unprecedented public health crisis after a draining week that tested its strength. The hospital mistakenly described by the governor as overwhelmed with 200 quarantined nurses has changed the way it operates to keep pace with a COVID-19 outbreak thats altered life for schools, businesses and families. The one way to shape how this plays out is understanding and appreciating the need to maintain personal hygiene, respect the notion of social distancing and follow the recommendation about reducing the spread of the virus by avoiding large gatherings, said Dr. John Murphy, president and CEO of Nuvance Health, which runs Danbury, Norwalk and five other hospitals. People need to take it seriously. What began as Connecticuts first case of the coronavirus pandemic on March 8 at Danbury Hospital had infected 190 people across the state by Friday. Four elderly people are dead, including two at Danbury Hospital and one at Norwalk Hospital. On Friday, New York and Illinois joined California ordering residents to stay indoors to break the transmission of a disease that had killed 200 people nationally and 11,000 people internationally. Meanwhile, Danbury and its 11-month-old Nuvance network are facing the next phase of the outbreak with enough staff and resources to manage the immediate demand. The 200 nurses Gov. Ned Lamont inaccurately told an MSNBC audience were furloughed from Danbury Hospital were actually a variety of staff that also came from Norwalk Hospital and Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Some of them have served their 14-day quarantine and are poised to return to work. In addition, Danbury has enough masks, gloves and hospital beds for now, Nuvance officials said. We know this is an evolving situation, which is why we are closely monitoring inventory of essential supplies and working daily, even hourly, on creative solutions to get the supplies we need now and throughout this pandemic, said Amy Forni, manager of public relations for Nuvance. Innovative supply chain management, proactive planning, and conserving supplies through appropriate use will carry us forward. The changes Danbury has put into place to fight the outbreak include a temporary ban on most visitors, the suspension of elective surgery, the screening and testing of employees before their work shifts, and the launch of two drive-thru COVID-19 testing sites in Danbury and Norwalk. The drive-thru sites, which are only for patients whose physicians have ordered a test, had served a total of 800 people by Friday. We established the collection sites to reduce possible exposure to COVID-19 at our medical practices and hospitals, and to the residents in our communities, Forni said. Both collection sites are now available for pre-screened people suspected of having COVID-19 to give a specimen sample for a test. Danbury braces for the next wave of the coronavirus as the first anniversary of Nuvance approaches in April. The $2.4-billion network, which merged the former Western Connecticut Health Network with a four-hospital network based in New York, serves 1.5 million people from the Sound Shore to the Hudson River. Murphy said the urgency of the public health crisis has accelerated the networks efficiency in way that would have taken years in ordinary time. If we can in fact flatten this curve and get through this with as little morbidity as possible, we will all be grateful and consider ourselves lucky, Murphy said. Minimizing risk From the moment the states first case of coronavirus was suspected here on March 6, Danbury Hospital has been like the canary in the coal mine for Connecticut. The case caused alarm, because the person lived in New York and worked at Danbury and Norwalk Hospitals. A dramatic example of how the coronavirus can spread made headlines last week when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that workers at a Seattle-area assisted living home associated with 35 coronavirus deaths had spread the disease during their shifts at other senior living sites. But that is not what happened at Danbury and Norwalk, in part because staff rotation between hospitals has been minimized with the suspension of elective surgery, and in part because Nuvance screens employees for coronavirus symptoms before they begin a shift. As a result, there have been no confirmed COVID-19 cases connected to that first hospital employee who tested positive for coronavirus, Nuvance said on Friday. The screening also includes asking employees and visitors about possible exposure to a suspected or confirmed COVID-19 person and recent travel history. Forni said. Anyone who meets the criteria for possible risk of COVID-19 will be asked to please leave, and be helped with what to do next. For residents who have symptoms that clinicians determine dont meet the criteria for a coronavirus test, the experience can be frustrating, one Danbury man told The News-Times. Roland Gillner said his wife had flu symptoms progress to the point of respiratory distress and she was treated at Danbury Hospital. The man said, They told her to self-quarantine for two weeks, and just because they didnt administer a test, that doesnt mean she doesnt have COVID-19, Gillner said. Forni responded that only people experiencing symptoms of COVID-19, including cough, fever, and shortness of breath/difficulty breathing, and meet other criteria such as possible exposure to COVID-19, should be tested. Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton said the hospitals response to the outbreak has been invaluable to the city. Danbury Hospital has been outstanding in their management of this crisis, the mayor said. rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342 Both Italy and Iran signed up the OBOR in 2019, opening an array of sectors to Chinese investment, from infrastructure to transportation, and consequently employing thousands of Chinese workers for construction work under the initiative.Writing for the American online magazine The Federalist, Helen Raleigh argues in her article that the "short-sighted and foolish decisions" of the leaders of Italy and Iran to enthusiastically sign up for the OBOR in the hope to rescue their failing economies has left the two nations in a worse position following the outbreak of novel coronavirus.Italy has reported more than 35,000 cases of the novel coronavirus, and killed nearly 3000 others, while Iran has recorded over 17,000 cases and 1135 deaths, as per the latest data available on the World Health Organisation website.The presence of Chinese workers in Pakistan for the construction work under China-Pakistan-Economic-Corridor (CPEC) -- flagship project under the mega OBOR -- has raised concerns of the exponential surge in the number of cases in that country. Pakistan has so far reported 304 cases of coronavirus -- the highest among the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation nations.With the OBOR, China has used the brand of the "New Silk Roads" and promised a 360-degree counter-globalization infrastructure project of sea and land routes between China-Asia, Africa and Europe by investing in ports, inland ports, railways, telecommunications, and digital roads.Against the warning of the European Union and the United States, Italy became the first and the only G7 country to sign onto the OBOR. The Italian government downplayed the development as "largely symbolic" saying it had no legal value, and pointed out to the fact that other European countries, like Malta, Greece, and Portugal, have already signed something similar.The first case of coronavirus in Italy was reported in Lombardy -- the region that saw the most Chinese investment. Nearly a month from then, Lombardy is still the hardest-hit region, while the entire country has been in lockdown until at least April 3. The country's economy is expected to contract 7.5 percent in the first quarter.A similar narrative unfolded in Iran, when the Health officials trace the country's coronavirus outbreak to Qom, a city of a million people. Medical professionals suspect that coronavirus spread in the city either through Chinese workers employed in projects under the OBOR, or an Iranian businessman who travelled to China. (ANI) A staff member in Vice President Mike Pences office has tested positive for the new coronavirus. It marks the first time a White House employee has tested positive for covid-19 although the vice presidents press secretary, Katie Miller, assured that the staffer did not have close contact with either Pence nor President Donald Trump. Further contact tracing is being conducted in accordance with CDC guidelines, Miller said. Pences office did not identify the individual or specify what the persons job entailed so it isnt clear whether he or she spent much time in the White House or with any other senior administration officials. Advertisement Pence is leading the governments response to coronavirus and has come in close contact with the virus before. Two people tested positive for covid-19 after attending the American Israel Public Affair Committees Policy Conference, which was also attended by Pence. Plus Pence was also at the Conservative Political Action Conference, where an attendee tested positive. Pence also met with Fabio Wajngarten, a top communications aide to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, in Mar-a-Lago shorlty before he tested positive for covid-19. Pences office said earlier in the week that the vice president had not been tested for the virus. Two members of Congress, Democratic Rep. Ben McAdams of Utah and Republican Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, tested positive for the virus on Wednesday. At least 29 members of Congress have self-quarantined, including Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, who is Trumps incoming White House chief of staff. Jose K Joseph By Express News Service TIRUCHY: The cancellation of international flights from Sunday (March 22) would have a bearing on exporters and cargo agents in the district. Though the restriction is expected to end on March 29, exporters and clients are hesitant to take further orders over uncertainty of flight operations. Already the sectors are witnessing more than 50 per cent loss in business due to the suspension of Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Dubai and Sharjah flight services in this week. Goods, mostly perishable, such as flowers, fruits and vegetables and cargo are exported from Tiruchy airport to foreign countries. There are about 15 exporters operating from here. On an average, Dubai flight of Air India and Sharjah flight carries around 2.7 tonnes of cargo. Vegetables are also sent to Kuwait via Sri Lanka. The exporters will incur loss of more than `20 lakhs a week, an airline source said. On the other side, the cargo export which is already facing the heat is expected to worsen in the coming week. As flights operations to Malaysia and Sri Lanka were suspended, exports reduced by half. Now, we have service only to Singapore, where we send about two tonnes of vegetables. Further restriction will greatly affect us, said SA Sayeed, president of Express Courier Operators Association. Some exporters opined that situation would not only affect them but also farmers who supply the goods. We export three tonnes of flowers every week to Malaysia. Now, we cannot even take orders this month as we are not sure when the flight operations will resume. The income of farmers too will be affected because of this, said N Jagatheesan, a major flower exporter in the State. Inmates pass the time within their cell block at the Twin Falls County Jail in Twin Falls, Idaho, in a 2018 file photo. (Pat Sutphin/The Times-News via AP) Lawmakers Urge Trump Admin to Reduce Federal Prison Population Over CCP Virus Congress members have urged President Donald Trump to reduce the federal prison population as a measure to curb the spread of the Chinese Communist Party virus (CCP virus), commonly known as the novel coronavirus. This comes as several states have begun releasing inmates to protect its prison and jail populations. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wrote a letter (pdf) addressed to Trump on Thursday urging him to take a number of steps to reduce the federal prison population such as commuting sentences of elderly inmates who do not pose a current and substantial safety risk, commuting sentences of medically vulnerable individuals, and establishing procedures to release individuals who are awaiting trial in prison or jail. Preventing the rapid spread of COVID-19 is the countrys top priority and ensuring the safety and wellbeing of people in prisons, jails, and detention facilities is a critical part of that effort, the letter read. As President, that duty and responsibility falls even more squarely within your purview. [W]e urge you to adopt and release decarceral guidelines and use your clemency power to reduce the population of people in federal custody whose release poses no risk to public safety, the lawmakers wrote, adding that state leaders should follow suit to reduce the spread of the CCP virus. The Epoch Times refers to the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19, as the CCP virus because the Chinese Communist Partys coverup and mismanagement allowed the virus to spread throughout China and create a global pandemic. Similarly, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) called for low risk inmates to be released from federal prison custody in a letter to Director of Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Michael Carvajal (pdf). The American Civil Liberties Union has also been urging the Trump administration to reduce the federal prison population as a measure to protect those incarcerated and prison employees from the CCP virus. The organization sent a letter to Attorney General William Barr and Carvajal on Wednesday calling on the federal government to release inmates who are 65 and older or have a chronic medical condition because they would be particularly susceptible to the virus while citing concerns of prison overcrowding and recommendations of public health professionals. The public health concerns presented by coronavirus in confined spaces creates an urgent need to ensure the health of those incarcerated, particularly those who are elderly and those with chronic health conditions, the letter read. There are currently 175,483 inmates held in federal prisons either run by BOP or private corporations, according to the agency. Over 10,000 of this population are aged 60 and over. The letter also calls for the Justice Department (DOJ) to direct the U.S. Marshals Service to release inmates in their custody who may be vulnerable to the CCP virus. The DOJ did not immediately respond to The Epoch Times request for comment on the ACLU letter. The BOP declined to comment on the letter. At least four states have begun releasing inmates from their jails in an attempt to reduce the risk of spreading the virus following reports that infections have started to appear. The Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department has released about 600 inmates since Feb. 28, many of whom had less than 30 days left on their sentence, in order to protect the jails population from potential exposure of the virus, Sheriff Alex Villanueva told NBC on Monday. Similarly, Cuyahoga County in Ohio has also released hundreds of inmates over coronavirus concerns. In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Tuesday that the city will be releasing inmates who might be particularly high-risk in terms of vulnerability to the virus. He added in an interview with WCBS radio on Wednesday that they will identify inmates who need to be released because of their health conditions, pre-existing conditions, or if the charges were minor. His decision comes after a prisoner and a corrections officer tested positive for the virus in the citys notorious Rikers Island jail. De Blasio said during a press conference on Thursday that eight other prisoners have shown symptoms and have been moved to isolation in the communicable disease unit. Meanwhile, Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister in Florida announced on Thursday during a news conference that low-level, non-violent offenders will be released from custody to prevent the spread of the virus in the county jails. He said a total of 164 inmates have been approved for release. As your Sheriff, there is nothing I take more seriously than public safety and protecting our community, said Chronister. In times of crisis, like the health crisis we are facing, agencies around the country are finding ways to balance public safety and the health of their employees and neighbors. We are no different. Concerns About Spread in Detention Chris Beyrer, a professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told The Epoch Times that the risks of people contracting respiratory diseases such as COVID-19 are higher in prisons, jails, and immigration detention centers. These are very crowded, often not clean facilities. Social distancing and staying six feet or two meters away from people is often impossible, he said. [In] many prisons, jails, and detention centers, the beds are two feet apart. Theres no physical way that people could stay six feet apart from each other. A lack of access to essential sanitary products such as hand sanitizer and soap is also a concern as it also increases inmates risk of contracting the disease, Beyrer said. In prisons, hand sanitizers are banned in order to prevent inmates from drinking the product due to its alcohol content. Meanwhile, inmates have limited access to soap because many prisons demand a co-payment for such items. Inmates often rely on family members to bring them soap, toilet paper, and other personal sanitary products. But, you know, because of COVID-19 many prisons and jails are not allowing family visits. So all of that stops for people, he added. Other reasons for the greater risks of contracting the disease include the prevalence of older inmates or inmates with chronic health conditions, the widespread presence of mental health conditions among the U.S. prison population compared to the free population, and increased stress and anxiety in prisons can weaken their immune system, Beyrer said. Meanwhile, there are also concerns over whether prisons and jails are prepared to deal with an outbreak of the CCP virus within the system. Beyrer said he believes the system is not prepared, saying that the prisons infirmary is often not equipped to do intensive care and ventilation needed to deal with serious complications of COVID-19, such as acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). A substantial proportion of people will have [ARDS]. It has about a 30 percent mortality [rate]a highly lethal complication. And, you know, if somebody needed ventilation, they typically would be sent to a civilian hospital again with two guards typically, he said. So imagine how quickly an outbreak would tie up prison staff. I mean, that would be an extremely difficult thing to be able to try and provide. The BOP said they had been making plans to address the CCP virus since January and have consulted many subject-matter experts. The agency released a number of measures to mitigate the transmission of the virus in federal prisons on March 13. Some measures include suspending social visits for 30 days, suspending legal visits for 30 days but case-by-case accommodation will be granted, and suspending inmate facility transfers for also 30 days. As part of the Pandemic Influenza contingency plan, all cleaning, sanitation, and medical supplies have been inventoried at every one of its 122 BOP facilities, and an ample amount of supply is on hand and ready to be distributed or moved to any facility as deemed necessary, a BOP spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email. The Bureau of Prisons is prepared to address any supply concerns if necessary. On Wednesday, CNN reported that two federal prison employees tested positive for the CCP virusthe first cases in the federal prison system. One of the employees works at a medium-security prison in Berlin, New Hampshire, while the other works at an administrative facility in Grand Prairie, Texas, according to the outlet. According to the BOP website as of Friday, the Grand Prairie, Texas, staffer is undergoing presumptive testing, while the Berlin, New Hampshire, staffer was given a presumptive diagnosis based on flu-like symptoms. No inmates have been diagnosed with COVID-19 so far. The BOP did not respond to The Epoch Times queries about the two cases but said they were clarifying how they were reporting their numbers based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance. Beyrer suggested a number of ways to minimize the risks of spread including reducing the population of people in prisons, jails, and immigration detention, consider early release for the elderly and infirm inmates who are not security threats, stop co-pays for soap and increase cleaning supplies in correctional facilities and detention centers, and prioritize personal protective equipment for prison staff who may introduce COVID-19 into prisons from the community. There are currently over 14,600 confirmed cases of the virus in the United States and 210 deaths as of Friday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Yvonne and Peter Missio left their Missisauga home, with suitcases packed for the cruise of a lifetime, stopping in Tasmania, Fiji, Vanuatu, Samoa, Bora Bora and Hawaii. It was a bucket-list trip, said their daughter, Sonja Missio, from her home in Toronto. COVID-19 seemed like a distant threat when her parents left for Australia five weeks ago, Missio said. So her parents boarded the Norwegian Cruise Lines ship in Sydney, Australia, in late February. The ship made its first planned stops in the South Pacific, allowing passengers to disembark but the land visits ended roughly two weeks later when countries refused to allow passengers to leave the ship, Missio said. The cruise was scheduled to run from Feb. 28 to March 20. Now, as the Norwegian Jewel travels to a port in Hawaii, it is unclear if anyone other than local citizens will be allowed to depart, she said. The next option would be California, where thousands have tested positive for the virus, an exit location that Missio fears puts her parents at risk. People are panicking, she said. We understand that getting them off that boat means they will be quarantined. We just want them on land where there is a plan in place to get them home, eventually. The Star called and emailed Norwegian Cruise Lines for comment but did not receive a response by deadline. On March 13, Cruise Lines International Association announced it was suspending cruise ship operations from U.S. ports of call for 30 days. The association told CNN that a handful of ships are still at sea, saying our members are focused on bringing these ships back to port as soon as they can. Missio has been in touch with passenger Jay Martinez, following his posts on Twitter. A public relations officer from Texas, Martinez and his wife are on their honeymoon. He said their cabin has in essence been converted to a joint operations centre to work anything from media engagements, monitor breaking news and work as liaison to communicate messages between families on land and guests on board. Martinez said the staff on the cruise ship have been working hard but there has been no communication from the corporate office. Nobody knows where or when the passengers will be allowed to leave, although on Saturday, there was still hope that Hawaii might allow all the passengers to leave. There is no indication that anyone on the ship has the virus, he said. If Honolulu denies us (on Sunday), Martinez wrote, many of are concerned we will be rerouted to California where the Governor has said in a letter to the Trump administration that 56 per cent of the states population 25.5 million people will be infected over an eight-week period. In an email, Yvonne Missio, 69, said there is no resolution in sight. I try not to listen to rumours and hope that a port lets us disembark as the ship is COVID free. Next worry is catching the virus on the way home. In Peru, Amy Schwartz and her family are trying to get home, after getting caught in the countrys travel ban. Schwartz, who is 15 weeks pregnant, is on leave with the Nova Scotia government, spending the winter in Peru with her partner and toddler daughter. She said she has an asymptomatic congenital heart condition that flares up during pregnancy and had planned to return to Halifax in late March. As the virus spread, Schwartz rebooked their flights, moving the return date to March 21. Shortly after that, the Peruvian government cancelled flights. Now she is hoping that the Canadian government will make good on an apparent plan to send an airplane to Lima for the Canadians trapped in the country. It makes me nervous, not knowing what will happen, she said, citing a lack of evidence on the impact of COVID-19 on an early trimester pregnancy. For now, Schwartz and her family are waiting, hoping for definitive news from Global Affairs Canada. The uncertainty is wearing us down. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 21:46:28|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- China has sent a team of medical experts to Serbia to help the country fight the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang announced Saturday. Geng said the National Health Commission tasked the Guangdong provincial health commission with establishing the team. The experts left for Serbia Saturday afternoon, he added. Veteran TV anchor Tracy Grimshaw has made a desperate plea for Australians to take coronavirus seriously as the country faces an alarming surge in cases. Grimshaw made the plea on A Current Affair after thousands of Australians flooded Sydney's Bondi Beach on Friday despite restrictions on crowd sizes put in place by the government. The scenes saw the swift closure of the world-famous beach the following day and widespread condemnation from health officials. 'All of us could get this virus. And we all know someone who probably wouldn't survive it,' Grimshaw said on Saturday. Grimshaw said the images at Bondi showed the potential fallout from the virus was not being understood by many Australians. 'There's some confusion, sure. But too many people still think this virus isn't their problem,' she said. Those who flocked to Bondi Beach on Friday (pictured) have been accused of putting lives at risk by ignoring social distancing The scenes on Friday saw the swift closure of the world-famous beach the following day and widespread condemnation from health officials Grimshaw pointed towards the rampant spread of coronavirus in Italy that has overwhelmed its medical system with over 47,000 cases and 4,000 deaths. 'No one knows how bad it will get for us here, but we all have a responsibility to protect each other,' she said. 'So please learn the rules and follow them, stay 1.5 metres away from others, and if you've just arrived here from overseas, stay at home for two weeks. 'Don't go out. It won't kill you to do that, but at least you won't kill someone else.' Grimshaw pointed towards the rampant spread of coronavirus in Italy that has overwhelmed its medical system with over 47,000 cases and 4,000 deaths It comes as the number of coronavirus cases surged overnight with Victoria alone recording 51 new cases with the state's total number of infections now at 229. Following the scenes at Bondi on Friday the New South Wales Health Minister Brad Hazzard reminded Australians they were now in a 'different time'. 'We need to behave in different ways and that is to keep your distance. The recommendation is at least 1.5 metres. That is a sensible recommendation that people should sensibly take on board,' he said. Ireland may be facing into a new divide as some regions of the country have tougher emergency measures imposed on them to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan said there is currently no justification here to escalate the national restrictions inflicted on the population and introduce more draconian constraints, such as ordering people not to leave their home. However, he said depending on how the coronavirus spreads, putting local hospitals and health systems under acute pressure, there may be a case for heightening measures in particular regions. He was speaking after another 126 people tested positive for the virus, pushing the total to 683 amid predictions the daily toll will continue to spiral next week. He said he believed there is a high degree of compliance among the population with social distancing measures, and the hope is that at the end of next week the rate of increase will have slowed, missing the potential 15,000 cases signalled by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. "Now is not the time for complacency," he added. Restrictions His advice to families celebrating Mother's Day this weekend is to confine it to members of the household and not mingle with relations or friends. Expand Close Defence Forces cadet John Higgins working at the contact tracing call centre in UCD / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Defence Forces cadet John Higgins working at the contact tracing call centre in UCD An analysis of the number of positive cases up to Wednesday, when 438 were positive, shows a rise in infections among healthcare workers caring for the sick. Some 114 healthcare workers have fallen victim to the virus so far and the majority picked it up here. The median age of infected people has got slightly older at 44 years and the numbers in intensive care have risen to 12. More people are picking up the virus and do not know the source - community transmission has risen from 35pc to 40pc. It comes as there is a growing momentum among a significant number of doctors to impose tougher restrictions on the population at this point to avoid Ireland becoming "a second Italy" where 4,032 have died and its hospitals are crippled. Dr Carmen Regan, an obstetrician in the Coombe Hospital in Dublin, who is echoing the call by several doctors, said: "The only way to reduce the exponential rise in the number infected during this epidemic is to isolate, contact-trace and test as many as possible. "This will in turn influence the number presenting with severe symptoms to general practitioners, accident and emergency departments and critical care facilities across the country. "We need to do as other countries have done, lock down, to buy time." However, Dr Holohan said he did not believe more extreme measures are needed now and the emergency group of experts overseeing the management of the virus will consider any escalation when it meets next week. Many GPs remain very concerned at the delays faced by patients who are referred for testing for the virus. Dr Padraig McGarry said it can take up to 10 days for a patient to get a result. The HSE said community testing is now provided in 29 locations. The majority of centres are offering testing in a building or clinic location, while a number are offering a drive-through testing service. "It is planned that there will be a further expansion in the number of testing locations in the coming days," he said. There is also growing worry among healthcare workers that they will run out of protective equipment which has been supplied by the HSE. Patients This is vital to ensuring the risk to healthcare workers is minimised when they are treating patients. Health Minister Simon Harris said the HSE is working to source additional hospital capacity, including in private hospitals. He also said there are a lot of vacant beds in HSE hospitals for the first time in his four years as health minister. This is due to HSE staff discharging patients who are able to go home and fewer people presenting to hospitals. As of today, we have well over 1,000 spare beds, he said. Hotels and places like the Garda Training College at Templemore may also be used as step-down or isolation facilities. We are going to see a very significant increase in cases in the coming days and weeks, he warned. Generally speaking long term investing is the way to go. But along the way some stocks are going to perform badly. To wit, the Sinofert Holdings Limited (HKG:297) share price managed to fall 57% over five long years. We certainly feel for shareholders who bought near the top. And some of the more recent buyers are probably worried, too, with the stock falling 37% in the last year. More recently, the share price has dropped a further 21% in a month. However, we note the price may have been impacted by the broader market, which is down 21% in the same time period. Check out our latest analysis for Sinofert Holdings In his essay The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville Warren Buffett described how share prices do not always rationally reflect the value of a business. One way to examine how market sentiment has changed over time is to look at the interaction between a company's share price and its earnings per share (EPS). During five years of share price growth, Sinofert Holdings moved from a loss to profitability. Most would consider that to be a good thing, so it's counter-intuitive to see the share price declining. Other metrics may better explain the share price move. It could be that the revenue decline of 8.2% per year is viewed as evidence that Sinofert Holdings is shrinking. This has probably encouraged some shareholders to sell down the stock. The image below shows how earnings and revenue have tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail). SEHK:297 Income Statement, March 21st 2020 It is of course excellent to see how Sinofert Holdings has grown profits over the years, but the future is more important for shareholders. It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on how its financial position has changed over time. A Different Perspective While the broader market lost about 26% in the twelve months, Sinofert Holdings shareholders did even worse, losing 35% (even including dividends) . Having said that, it's inevitable that some stocks will be oversold in a falling market. The key is to keep your eyes on the fundamental developments. Unfortunately, last year's performance may indicate unresolved challenges, given that it was worse than the annualised loss of 15% over the last half decade. We realise that Baron Rothschild has said investors should "buy when there is blood on the streets", but we caution that investors should first be sure they are buying a high quality business. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Sinofert Holdings better, we need to consider many other factors. For instance, we've identified 4 warning signs for Sinofert Holdings (1 shouldn't be ignored) that you should be aware of. Story continues Of course Sinofert Holdings may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of growth stocks. Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on HK exchanges. If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading. Santa Clara County Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody examined the raw numbers COVID-19 cases had nearly tripled over seven days and realized the Bay Area was teetering on the brink of disaster. The region was on track to become Italy, in terms of how quickly the disease would spread, unless drastic measures were taken. If normal life went unchanged in that moment, the numbers showed, health care facilities and staff would, within about two weeks, be overwhelmed by patients infected with coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, in need of immediate treatment. Difficult decisions that Italian health providers were facing, including who should be prioritized for care, would quickly become the reality for Bay Area doctors and nurses. Hundreds were dying each day in Italy. One week ago, on a rainy Sunday morning, Cody convened a conference call with public health officers from neighboring Bay Area counties. Within an hour, they agreed to take the boldest and most stringent action in the nation to confront the spread of coronavirus: requiring nearly 6.7 million people to shelter in place, with only essential activity and travel allowed. We know that Santa Clara County is the epicenter of this outbreak in the Bay Area and we know that COVID-19 is spreading rapidly, Cody said at a Monday news conference, which was held simultaneously with other officials in their counties, announcing the unprecedented action. We know we need to do this and we know we need a regional approach. We all must do our part to slow the spread of COVID-19. The Chronicle reported on how health officers made the critical decision through interviews with those who were involved. Cody was not available, but other Santa Clara officials discussed her role in the process. Since officials made the shelter-in-place order, the number of positive cases in the Bay Area counties has nearly doubled from 273 to 539. The Bay Area accounts for nearly half of the states 1,286 cases of coronavirus infection. As of Saturday afternoon, Santa Clara County had the highest number of cases in the Bay Area: 263 cases and eight deaths. Viruses cross county lines, said Rohan Radhakrishna, the deputy health officer at Contra Costa County Health Services. The weekend data showed the beginnings of an exponential rise. That was the warning sign that we needed to act fast to flatten the curve. Under state law, public health directors have the legal authority to file a public health order. The directive from Bay Area public health officials caused a domino effect throughout California. By Thursday, nearly 21 million people in the state were under shelter-in-place orders issued by their public health departments. That evening, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a stay-at-home order for the entire state until further notice. At noon last Sunday, officials from six Bay Area counties joined a call, and began by reviewing data from the outbreak in the region. The growth in COVID-19 cases didnt reflect the whole picture. Because testing in the region, as well as in the state and the country, was severely limited, untold hundreds or thousands of cases were going undetected. Still, the numbers showed that Santa Clara County was about two weeks behind reaching levels seen in Italy. And the other counties were just a few days or so behind Santa Clara County. If nothing was done, officials feared for the most vulnerable populations: the elderly or people with underlying medical issues that would require intensive medical treatment. Officials were also concerned about how other treatments would be impacted what would happen to people who need routine care due to heart conditions or if someone was in a serious car accident. Most concerning were the number of ICU beds, respirators and other supplies that were needed to confront the crisis without any preventive action, said Jeffrey V. Smith, the Santa Clara County executive. The need for bolder action was clear: The six counties and Berkeley decided to stand together instead of focusing on county-by-county measures, Radhakrishna said. Santa Clara County officials drafted the order with input from the various health officers. By late Monday morning, just before the press conference announcing the order, the health officers in the six counties and Berkeley confirmed their intent to adopt the order. Now Playing: Several Bay Area counties have ordered residents to shelter in place through April 7 as health officials scramble to keep coronavirus from spreading. The order mandates that people stay indoors and isolate themselves except to attend to certain essential activities. Video: San Francisco Chronicle We needed a regional approach, Radhakrishna said. We couldnt wait on the White House, we couldnt wait on the state, we have local data from the Bay Area showing an exponential rise of community transmission, so its up to us to flatten that curve in our region. Leaders in the cities that would be affected knew a shelter in place was being planned. But many were surprised at how quickly it came. Elected officials were notified as public health directors worked with attorneys to draft the language of the order and some learned of the order in the hours leading up to the public announcement. I was a little surprised it came so soon, but then looking at the numbers and looking at the little bit of data that exists both nationwide and worldwide it was clearly the right decision at the right time, Smith said. Since the crisis first started to spread through the country, Santa Clara County has emerged as a leader in its response. On Jan. 31, Santa Clara County had its first positive case of COVID-19. Since then, the countys public health officials have been the first in the region to take radical action to combat the virus. Nine days later, Santa Clara County was the first to ban mass public gatherings of 1,000 or more people. Within three days, the county amended the order to prohibit gatherings of 100 or more people and to restrict gatherings of more than 35 people. Other counties, including San Francisco, quickly followed. San Francisco halted gatherings of 100 or more people a day later, on March 14. Some elected officials said there had been conversations of a possible shelter in place, but many didnt expect it occur for weeks. San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said over the last few weeks, conversations with public health officers focused on two strategies: conducting more testing and issuing a stay-at-home order. If we were able to be much more proactive in testing ... I think wed all recognize we wouldnt have to make all these kinds of decisions, but clearly that horse has left the barn, Liccardo said. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. Liccardo said he found out about the stay-at-home order Sunday afternoon and quickly moved to enforce it for the nearly 1 million residents of San Jose. He called county officials to understand how to interpret the order and how to implement it. Adeh Skandarian, 33, works at a cannabis dispensary in San Jose. When the order was announced, he said the dispensary received 100 requests for delivery within an hour. On a normal day, the dispensary typically gets 40 requests. I was shocked at how sudden it was, he said of the order. Delaram Mehrkish, of San Jose, said the order was a welcome development after seeing how other countries, including Iran, have been suffering from the crisis. Its about time, the 24-year-old said. We were already panicking for my (76-year-old) grandmother who is alone in Tehran. The way that Iran is treating this and the way that Italy is on lock down, I know this is only going to get worse, so I was really relieved to hear (about the order). In the hours leading up to the public announcement, officials scrambled to make sense of it. San Francisco Supervisor Matt Haney got word Monday morning from Mayor London Breed about the order. Haney spent the rest of the day walking the Tenderloin to let corner stores and markets know they were considered an essential service. I visited 20 to 25 of them, and half of them thought they were going to have to close, Haney said. Time isnt on our side here, and (the mayor) had to balance moving as quickly as possible with getting the information out. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said she received a text on Sunday night from Breed alerting her of it. Extraordinary times require such measures, she said. Santa Clara County officials said Cody and other public health workers are working around the clock and in unity with their counterparts throughout the region. This is not the end of the situation, obviously, Smith said. The COVID crisis will be with us for quite some time. We will see a dramatic increase in severe infections and other infections over the next couple of weeks. That is because the virus is already out there. San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Trisha Thadani contributed to this report. Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani Medical workers perform a test for the coronavirus at Temple University's Ambler campus as Montgomery County opened its drive-through testing site Saturday. Read more Significant developments New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy banned public gatherings of any size and ordered a statewide business shutdown as the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus there rose to 1,327. Delaware, meanwhile, prohibited access to beaches in the state. Allegheny County reported a death from the coronavirus Saturday. It is Pennsylvanias second reported death due to the virus. There are now 397 cases in the commonwealth. In Philadelphia, officials reported the first confirmed case of coronavirus in a nursing home resident. A drive-through testing site opened Friday at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Montgomery County opened its own drive-through site Saturday, and 540 people signed up to get tested. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf released an updated list of life-sustaining businesses Friday evening that are permitted to remain open and delayed enforcement of his closure order until Monday, after his initial one caused widespread confusion. Track the latest data on the spread of the coronavirus in the Philadelphia area here. What are the symptoms of coronavirus and what should you do if you think you have it? Read answers to frequently asked questions here. Read the latest Philadelphia-area coronavirus updates here // Timestamp 03/22 10:00am Congressional leadership will meet later Sunday to discuss a nationwide coronavirus stimulus. New Jersey has banned all public gatherings. Legislators say next week will be key in deciding whether to push Pa. primary. LIVE COVERAGE FOR MARCH 22: Senate close to passing coronavirus stimulus package; governor and legislators discuss rescheduling Pa. primary Pennsylvania governor, lawmakers in talks to postpone primary to June 2 because of coronavirus // Timestamp 03/21 9:53pm Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and key members of the state legislature are preparing a proposal to postpone the April 28 primary election until June 2, The Inquirer has learned. While no agreement has yet been reached, lawmakers and members of the governors administration have discussed the idea for the last several days. On Saturday, state officials and lawmakers and staffers of both parties and chambers held a call to discuss the proposal. County elections officials have been pleading with the state to postpone the primary, saying it is all but impossible to prepare for an April 28 election at a time when institutions are pulling out of hosting polling places and poll workers are declining to work not to mention the possibility of endangering public health with in-person voting. Some elections offices have been temporarily closed or have been functioning with skeleton staffs as part of government shutdowns to prevent further spread of the coronavirus. Its certainly an issue wed like to address sooner rather than later. They need certainty either that were going to have an election in April or certainty that were not, said Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman (R., Centre), who said its probably appropriate to postpone the election. Jonathan Lai, Chris Brennan READ MORE: Pennsylvania governor, lawmakers in talks to postpone primary to June 2 because of coronavirus Amtrak is on track to lose $1 billion amid unprecedented drop in ridership // Timestamp 03/21 7:53pm In need of about $1 billion in supplemental funding to battle an unprecedented drop in ridership, Amtrak has now taken aggressive steps to cut the pay of top staff and other measures, the company confirmed Saturday. Daily ridership is down 90% systemwide while future bookings are down 85% year-over-year, according to Amtrak. Amtrak and our state partners estimate we need approximately $1 billion in supplemental funding through the remainder of the year to make up for the unprecedented loss of ridership and revenue and to minimize employee and service impacts, an Amtrak spokesperson said in a statement. The companys management employees now face temporary salary reductions including a 100% reduction for its CEO effective until at least Sept. 30, or the end of its fiscal year, according to an internal memo from Stephen Gardner, senior executive vice president and chief operating and commercial officer. The pay cuts take effect for the first pay period in April, reflected in the employees April 17th paychecks. Incoming CEO William Flynn will succeed Richard Anderson on April 15. Patricia Madej READ MORE: In need of $1 billion, Amtrak cuts management pay as it faces unprecedented ridership loss Likely innocent death-row inmate tested for coronavirus symptoms // Timestamp 03/21 7:25pm A Philadelphia court on Saturday ordered that Walter Ogrod, a man on death row for a 1988 killing that authorities now say he likely did not commit, be taken to an outside hospital for testing and treatment of coronavirus symptoms that he developed this month. Ogrod, 55, has had symptoms of infection since March 11, when he was taken to a prison infirmary with a cough and fever. He is housed at the State Correctional Institution Phoenix in Montgomery County. Until Saturday the county was home to Pennsylvanias highest concentration of coronavirus cases. The Philadelphia District Attorneys Office supported the emergency motion. Earlier this month, the office asked a judge to vacate Ogrods conviction; the next scheduled court date on the matter has been postponed at least until June as a result of efforts to slow the spread of the virus. READ MORE: Death-row inmate who is likely innocent will be taken to hospital after developing virus symptoms Allison Steele, Samantha Melamed Rowan University says a student and employee have tested positive for coronavirus // Timestamp 03/21 7:15pm A student and an employee at Rowan University have tested positive for the coronavirus, the university said in an email to staff Saturday evening. They include a student who lived in Holly Pointe Commons on the Glassboro campus and an employee who works on the Stratford campus at the School of Osteopathic Medicine. The student hasnt been on campus since March 13, and the employee not since March 9, the school said. We are relieved to say that both are expected to fully recover, the school said. Part of the campus remains open, Rowan spokesperson Joe Cardona said. We have told the great majority of employees to work from home, he said. Our Rowan medicine offices will continue to see patients, however. Susan Snyder Three inmates at Delcos jail have tested positive for coronavirus // Timestamp 03/21 6:58pm Three inmates at Delaware Countys jail have tested positive for the coronavirus, officials said Saturday. The GEO Group, the private-prisons company that manages the George W. Hill Correctional Facility, has been dealing with the global pandemic since March 13, when a maintenance supervisor at the jail tested positive for the virus and was placed under quarantine. Health department officials believe the supervisor contracted the virus from his son, a Lower Providence police officer whose son was being treated by a cardiologist who tested positive after traveling overseas. As a precaution, 11 inmates who had contact with that worker were isolated from the rest of the jails population, and 23 other staffers were told to self-quarantine at home. Of those 11, one inmate has now tested positive for the virus, officials said. The rest were medically cleared by the state Department of Health, but remain in isolation in an abundance of caution, according to a statement from GEO. Two other inmates who were not a part of that original group later developed symptoms and tested positive as well. A total of five staff members, including the maintenance supervisor, have also tested positive for coronavirus since March 13. Four of them remain at home on self-quarantine and the fifth has been released from an unspecified local hospital, according to a GEO spokesperson. Other staffers who came into contact with inmates or co-workers who tested positive have been issued personal protective equipment, and will be placed on quarantine if they exhibit symptoms. The facility remains on restricted movement, the spokesperson said, and all visitors aside from lawyers have been barred from the jail. Vinny Vella An afternoon of Bach, Beatles and other bops" in Collingswood // Timestamp 03/21 6:26pm After the coronavirus pandemic forced music venues to close and concerts to be canceled, Pauline Worusski decided the world could use some live music. So she invited neighbors to stop by her Collingswood home Saturday afternoon for some Bach, Beatles and other bops. With doors and windows open, Worusski played the piano for an hour, taking requests and serenading about a dozen listeners appropriately distanced, of course with songs ranging from a Mozart sonata to Cant Help Falling in Love. Worusski, who is the music director at the Lutheran Church of Our Savior in Haddonfield, said she would do the same thing every Saturday from 2 to 3 p.m. until the pandemic ends. Tim Tai, Tom Gralish Pennsylvania extends income tax filing deadline to July 15 // Timestamp 03/21 4:45pm Pennsylvania has extended the deadline for filing personal income taxes to July 15, in line with the new federal tax deadline. This is a necessary step that will give Pennsylvania taxpayers extra time to file their returns and make tax payments during a difficult time for everyone, Revenue Secretary Dan Hassell said in a statement Saturday. The department of revenue said it would waive penalties and interest on 2019 personal income tax payments through the new July 15 deadline, which applies to both final 2019 tax returns and payments, and estimated payments for the first and second quarters of 2020. It also advised residents to file taxes electronically if possible, enabling the department to process the returns even as commonwealth offices are closed. Federal officials earlier this week delayed the federal tax return deadline to July 15. Maddie Hanna Hundreds register for drive-through COVID-19 tests in Montgomery County // Timestamp 03/21 4:33pm More than 500 people have signed up to get tested for coronavirus at the drive-through site Montgomery County opened on Saturday, officials said. The testing site, at Temple Universitys Ambler campus in Upper Dublin Township, is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. by appointment only. As of 3 p.m. Saturday, 540 people had registered to get tests by appointment over the coming days and as long as supplies are available, officials said. Testing is reserved for high-risk individuals such as people with fevers at or above 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit and respiratory symptoms such as cough or shortness of breath, the county said. More criteria can be found here. Based on the Center for Disease Controls (CDC) guidance, we want to remind everyone to please stay at home and practice social distancing and proper hygiene whenever its necessary to leave your home, Val Arkoosh, chair of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners, said in a statement. Officials also said Saturday that nine more people in Montgomery County had tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus, raising the total number of countywide cases to 77. The new cases ranged from a 10-year-old boy in Lower Merion who was being monitored at home to an 84-year-old Lower Merion woman who was hospitalized. Andrew Seidman, Maddie Hanna Camden, Burlington Counties report nine new confirmed cases // Timestamp 03/21 4:10pm Camden County officials reported four new cases of the coronavirus Saturday. The county now has a total of 19 confirmed cases. The confirmed cases include: a man in his 70s from Gloucester Township who is hospitalized; a man in his 50s, isolating at home in Cherry Hill; a Cherry Hill woman in her 30s isolating at home; and a woman in her 20s isolating at home in Pennsauken. Burlington County officials reported five new positive cases, bringing the county total to 25. The new cases include a 61-year-old Cinnaminson man, a 48-year-old Mansfield man, a 56-year-old Mount Laurel man, a 78-year-old Mount Laurel woman, and a 62-year old Evesham man. The state of New Jersey has had 1,327 residents test positive, Gov. Phil Murphy said Saturday. Laura McCrystal, Maddie Hanna Philly confirms first case of coronavirus in a nursing home // Timestamp 03/21 2:18pm Philadelphia Health Commissioner Tom Farley has called for all nursing homes to stop accepting visitors after the city on Saturday announced the first confirmed coronavirus case in a facility for seniors. We have been trying very hard to avoid this, Farley said at a news conference. I would expect that there may be more of these in the future. The nursing home resident was one of 18 new confirmed coronavirus cases the city announced Saturday, bringing Philadelphias total to 85. Confirmed cases, however, likely account for only a fraction of the number of infected people in the city due to the speed at which the disease is spreading, the time it takes infected people to show symptoms, and the widespread shortages of testing kits. READ MORE: Nursing homes are running out of protective equipment amid coronavirus pandemic Nursing homes are especially dangerous environments for the coronavirus because seniors and immunocompromised individuals are the most at risk to die from the disease and because the contained facilities can become fertile grounds for the virus to be transmitted. Farley said that, in addition to nursing homes, he believes all hospitals should keep visitors out. Sean Collins Walsh Philly Mayor Jim Kenney criticizes federal response, calls for aid // Timestamp 03/21 2:05pm Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney on Saturday criticized the federal governments handling of the coronavirus crisis and called on Congress to send direct federal aid to U.S. cities. Its been clear that the federal response has been deficient, with mixed messages and very slow actions, Kenney said Saturday at the citys first virtual news conference since the crisis began. At the same time states and cities across the country have been stepping up. Federal funding typically flows through state governments. Kenney, however, has joined 303 mayors in signing a letter to Congress asking that $250 billion in aid be sent directly to municipalities. Funneling federal aid through state governments may make sense during normal times, but these are not normal times. It is not sufficient now. It adds bureaucracy and delays, Kenney said. Cities like Philadelphia need this aid because we have the largest concentrations of people, because we have high levels of poverty, and because time is crucial. He highlighted the shortage of testing kits in cities like Philadelphia as one area where direct aid could benefit urban areas. Kenney, an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, avoided attacking him by name in his comments Saturday, the first in which he spoke out against the federal response to coronavirus. As recently as Friday, he declined to comment on Trumps handling of the crisis. Im not going to get into politics. Ive made very clear my feelings about the president, but this is more important a period of time that we try to be nice to each other as best we can, he said in an interview Friday. Even though we may have some complaints, well keep those complaints quiet. He clarified Saturday that he will continue to refrain from criticizing Trump individually. I said I had no comment about him personally, but the response from the federal government has been deficient, Kenney said at the news conference. I dont have a political complaint as far as an individual person. Were talking about the system as a whole. Sean Collins Walsh Vice President Pence says he will get tested for virus // Timestamp 03/21 1:31pm Vice President Mike Pence said he and his wife would be tested for the coronavirus Saturday, after a staffer of his tested positive for the highly contagious virus. Neither Pence nor President Donald Trump had direct contact with the staffer, and the White Houses doctor has no reason to believe I was exposed, Pence said at a press briefing Saturday. Still, he said he would be tested for the virus. The staff member has had mild cold symptoms for a day and a half, Pence said. He said the White House has worked with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to trace the staffers contacts with others. Maddie Hanna New Jersey bans all public gatherings, orders businesses to close // Timestamp 03/21 1:27pm Gov. Phil Murphy has banned public gatherings of any size in New Jersey, and ordered all nonessential businesses to close by 9 p.m. Saturday. This represents his strictest efforts yet to tame the spread of the coronavirus pandemic in New Jersey, which has now claimed 16 lives and seen 1,327 people test positive for the disease. Any place people congregate is a place where coronavirus can be spread, Murphy said. This is no time for people to be acting selfishly. Businesses that do not have to close include grocery stores, medical offices, food banks, marijuana dispensaries, pharmacies, gas stations, convenience stores, hardware stores, banks, laundromats and liquor stores. A full list of exempt businesses can be found at covid19.nj.gov. Murphy also signed an executive order ensuring his orders supersede any conflicting direction from county or local officials. He also reiterated if any resident disobeys these orders, they could face prosecution. For the folks monkeying around, Murphy said, we will take action. He also pleaded with residents to not flock to the Jersey shore if they have a second residence there, for fear an influx of residents may tax beach towns not used to high populations in the off-season. Murphys order to close nonessential businesses comes shortly after Gov. Tom Wolf demanded Thursday that businesses that are not life-sustaining must close. Governors in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Delaware are trying to synchronize social distancing measures throughout the region. Murphys ban on public gatherings is stricter than Pennsylvanias, which asks residents to follow guidance from the Centers for Disease Control, limiting gatherings to no more than 10 people. Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said New Jersey has ramped up its efforts to increase bed capacity and estimated 2,000 beds could become available in the next five to six weeks. She said the Army Corps of Engineers is prepared to build temporary hospitals in New Jersey, with particular attention paid to South Jersey, which faces a hospital shortage compared to the northern part of the state. Murphy reiterated residents should only seek information about the coronavirus pandemic from reputable media organizations, warning there is a flood of wrong information floating around the community. Please do not feed into this disinformation campaign of others, Murphy said, you do not help anyone spreading rumors. Pranshu Verma Delaware governor orders closure of beaches // Timestamp 03/21 1:13pm Delaware Gov. John Carney prohibited access to beaches in his state Saturday. "We saw too many people on the beaches yesterday and we werent seeing the kind of social distancing that we need in order to slow the spread of coronavirus, Carney said in a news release. The order will take effect at 5 p.m. Saturday. The order includes exceptions for exercise or walking dogs. Laura McCrystal Pennsylvania reports exponential rise in confirmed cases // Timestamp 03/21 12:33pm The number of new coronavirus cases being reported each day in Pennsylvania has continued to rise, Health Secretary Rachel Levine said Saturday. "We are still seeing an exponential rise in Pennsylvania and the United States, Levine said. "We are actually seeing a spike in cases because more people are being infected, rather than because of increased access to testing. There were 103 new cases reported since Friday, Levine said. The previous daily rise was 83. She could not say when Pennsylvania will see a flattened curve, meaning new cases declining instead of rising. Were in new ground here, Levine said, adding that she cannot currently say when schools or some businesses will be allowed to reopen their physical spaces. On Thursday, Gov. Tom Wolf ordered all but life-sustaining businesses to close. Levine said there are discussions about a shelter-in-place order, but no decision has been made. Regarding reports that some areas in the U.S. are urging people not to get tested to ration health care supplies, Levine said its not necessary for people with no or mild symptoms to be tested in Pennsylvania. We want to prioritize testing to patients who have symptoms, Levine said, adding that the state also wants to prioritize health-care workers, seniors, and people with preexisting conditions. Levine also confirmed that the Allegheny County Health Department has reported its first COVID-19 death, bringing the statewide total to two. "Each day we tell you how important it is to stay calm, to stay home, and to stay safe, Levine said. "This is more than just a catchy phrase. This virus is deadly. And we need to practice social distancing to minimize its spread and its impact. Sarah Anne Hughes Pennsylvanias second coronavirus death reported in Allegheny County // Timestamp 03/21 11:20am A person in Allegheny County has died from the coronavirus, the countys health department said Saturday. It is the second reported death in Pennsylvania due to the coronavirus. Allegheny County officials said the adult had been hospitalized. They did not immediately provide additional information out of respect for the persons family, but more details are expected at an afternoon news conference. On Wednesday, Gov. Tom Wolf announced the states first coronavirus death, a 55-year-old man from Northampton County. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Pennsylvania has been growing rapidly, passing 250 on Friday. Maddie Hanna New Jersey shuts down libraries // Timestamp 03/21 10:15am New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy ordered New Jersey libraries to close Saturday in an effort to limit the spread of the coronavirus. While many of these facilities are an important part of the fabric of our communities," Murphy said in a statement, "its critical that we take this opportunity to slow the spread of coronavirus seriously. His order applies to municipal, county, and state-run libraries, in addition to libraries and computer labs at public and private colleges and universities. Later today, Murphy is likely to order all nonessential businesses in New Jersey closed, and potentially limit or ban public gatherings. Rutgers University faced criticism this week for keeping its libraries open. The university said it was necessary so students could have access to the internet while ordered to study remotely. A union representing some Rutgers workers said Saturdays decision came too late. It is an outrage that the president of the university, a medical doctor, insisted on leaving faculty and staff in an unsafe workplace for so long," Rebecca Givan, vice president of the Rutgers AAUP-AFT said. Rutgers has many other options for ensuring that students have access to the technology they need to complete their work for the rest of the semester." Rutgers President Robert Barchi is a medical doctor. Before joining Rutgers, he was president of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. Pranshu Verma, Susan Snyder PA National Guard activated to help at Montco testing site // Timestamp 03/21 9:55am As a drive-through testing site for the coronavirus opens Saturday morning in Montgomery County, about 80 members of the Pennsylvania National Guard are activated to assist there. National Guard members set up tents and unloaded gear at the testing site in Upper Dublin Township, according to videos and photos shared Friday by the Pennsylvania National Guard. The site, at Temple Universitys Ambler campus, is open for testing by appointment only, county officials said. Appointments can be made online. The site will be open between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. daily. Residents are eligible if they meet one of these criteria: Have a fever of 100.4 degrees or higher and respiratory symptoms Are 65 or older with a temperature of 99.6 or higher Are first responders with concern of exposure to a patient or with respiratory symptoms Are health-care workers providing patient care who are unable to get testing through their employers and have potential exposure to a patient or respiratory symptoms Laura McCrystal Its Always Sunny stars raise money for Philabundance // Timestamp 03/21 9:03am The stars of Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia are helping to raise money to feed Philadelphia residents in need. Rob McElhenny and Kaitlin Olson launched a GoFundMe page Friday for Philabundance and pledged to match all donations up to $25,000. Please help them feed our most at-risk! McElhenny tweeted. As of 9 a.m. Saturday, they had raised more than $17,000. Laura McCrystal Officials seek mask donations as they face shortage // Timestamp 03/21 8:45am As health-care workers are facing a shortage of protective gear, officials are asking for help. Montgomery County Commissioner Valerie Arkoosh issued a public call for face mask donations at a Friday afternoon news conference. READ MORE: Health-care workers treating coronavirus need protective gear. In Pa. and N.J. they dont have enough. We are taking masks of any type, so if for instance maybe you are a landscaping business or a business that uses certain cleaning products that requires a mask, Arkoosh said. If you are at the moment not working and you have masks that you would be willing to donate to the county, we can use masks of any type. Arkoosh asked Montgomery County residents with masks to donate to call the county at 610-631-3000. Residents of other counties have reached out with donations as well. Anisha Gupta, a paper conservator at the American Philosophical Society Library & Museum in Philadelphia, said she reached out to the Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management to donate masks. Conservators have medical-grade masks and gloves because they work with chemicals, Gupta said. A member of the Philadelphia Fire Department responded to her email quickly, she said and was happy to accept the donation. One of my coworkers will go through what we have in our conservation lab on Monday (we have a variety of masks and respirators) and let the fire department know, Gupta said in an email Saturday. Laura McCrystal At coronavirus test site outside Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphians seek reassurance // Timestamp 03/21 05:15am Ana Avila was inside one of about a dozen cars waiting to enter the new coronavirus testing site outside of Citizens Bank Park. The 24-year-old mental health worker had been nervous since learning one of her patients had been in contact with the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia cardiologist who tested positive for coronavirus. Her patient began showing symptoms, then so did she shortly after a dry cough, fever around 104, and shortness of breath, all symptoms of the coronavirus. Avila went to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania last Thursday, but she says she was told she had pneumonia and was sent home without being tested for the coronavirus. Now, more than a week later, her symptoms continue. She hoped the new site, which opened Friday outside the Phillies home, would be able to test her. READ MORE: At coronavirus test site outside Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphians seek reassurance Ellie Silverman Phillys new normal? From the airport to the Acme, foot traffic shows a changed city // Timestamp 03/21 05:00am It took a single week to remake one of the nations most walkable cities with its vibrant restaurant scene into a shelter-in-place society. Home to 1.6 million people, Philadelphia was also typically visited daily by thousands of tourists and suburban commuters. We studied Googles pedestrian foot traffic data from Thursday to learn how a pandemic has quickly altered daily routines across the city. Foot traffic at places like the Reading Terminal Market and the Rocky Steps plunged, while Acmes increased. READ MORE: Philly's new normal? From the airport to the Acme, foot traffic shows a changed city Chris Williams and Dylan Purcell Struggling Pa. towns brace for financial gut punch // Timestamp 3/21 5:00am Municipalities in Pennsylvania could have to dip into reserves, cut services, or borrow money to cover budget shortfalls due to the coronavirus. Many towns in the state are already struggling financially, and the economic impact of the coronavirus and the states business shutdown will result in decreased tax revenues. Its going to hurt no matter what we do, said Jasson Urey, a township manager of Greenville in northwestern Pennsylvania. READ MORE: Struggling PA towns brace for financial gut punch from the coronavirus Charlotte Keith of Spotlight PA The number of cornavirus cases in Pakistan on Saturday surged to 510 as more pilgrims who returned from Iran tested positive for the deadly virus even as the death toll remained three in the country. Pakistan confirmed the third casualty from the virus in Karachi on Friday, two days after two men both pilgrims returning from Iran and Saudi Arabia died of the coronavirus in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The 70-year-old who died in Karachi was a cancer survivor. He had other medical problems like hypertension and diabetes but did not have any travel or contact history, officials said. The nationwide tally of COVID-19 patients has rose to 510 with 267 cases in Sindh; 92 in Balochistan; 96 in Punjab; 23 in K-P; 21 in Gilgit-Baltistan; 10 in Islamabad; and one in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. In the worst-affected Sindh province 15 new cases were reported on Saturday, the provincial health minister said. Karachi's Expo Centre has been turned into a field hospital for the patients. Karachi airport has started screening of passengers on domestic flights. The travellers will have to go through screening procedures before boarding and after disembarking from the flights. Pakistan, despite its close proximity with China, remained unscathed by the virus until February 26 when a man from Karachi tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the Express Tribune reported. The man, in his twenties, had returned from Iran, which is also one of the worst-hit countries. After a brief pause following the first case, COVID-19 cases witnessed a sharp surge as more pilgrims returning from Iran tested positive despite the fact that they were quarantined for 14 days at the Pak-Iran border crossing of Taftan in Balochistan, the Express Tribune reported. Amid an imminent threat of spread of coronavirus, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has ordered the release of under-trial prisoners detained in Rawalpindi's overcrowded Adiala jail in minor crimes and directed the Islamabad police not to make arrest in petty matters, the Dawn reported. The Lahore High Court (LHC) has summoned the first meeting of its Crisis Management Committee on March 24. The government has exempted import of 61 diagnostic support and personal protective equipment from all duties and taxes for a period of three months in order to reduce the rising prices in the domestic market. The government has also allowed the use of non-utilised amount of the World Bank-funded projects worth USD 40 million for purchase of COVID-19 equipment. Eleven new coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Balochistan, taking the provincial total to 92. The provincial government has decided to impose a 21-day partial lockdown across the province to control the spread of highly contagious disease. Under the lockdown, which is similar to the restrictions imposed by the Sindh government, all major shopping centres, markets and food restaurants will remain closed. However, food delivery will be allowed during the lockdown. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan while addressing the media in Islamabad on Friday said people should self-quarantine for at least another 45 days to help tackle the coronavirus crisis. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Could a California-style order to shelter in place be coming to Johnson County? In a word, absolutely. His gentle bedside manner belying the ominousness of his words, the county's public health officer, Dr. Joseph LeMaster - also of KU Medical Center - told county commissioners Thursday that such a directive could be coming. ALBANY, N.Y. -- New York is missing out on $6 billion in federal aid due to a glitch in Congresss coronavirus relief bill, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said today. Cuomo is asking New Yorks Congressional delegation to fix that immediately, or else New York gets nothing. New York has more coronavirus cases than any state in the United States of America," Cuomo said. "That we should not be included in the bill obviously makes no sense. President Donald Trump signed multiple bipartisan bills earlier this week dedicating money to combat the spread of COVID-19 and assist states and local governments. Theres a line in the bill that says in order to qualify for relief money, a state cant make any changes to its Medicaid procedures. Cuomo said he began changing Medicaid procedures in January. He had assembled a team to assess the program, which issued a report earlier this year. Cuomo said the changes are an effort to eliminate waste in Medicaid. Because of those, however, New York cant access that huge pot of federal money. Its not really funny. Its sad, he said, chuckling. But either you cry or you laugh...Weve been changing procedures since January. MORE ON CORONAVIRUS But many of the people who cause problems are likely the ones who could benefit from a long-term city partnership with a mental health service provider. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 14:06:36|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close HAVANA, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Cuba will restrict foreigners from entering the island nation for a month starting Tuesday as a preventive measure against COVID-19, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on Friday. "Cuba will guarantee the safe return of foreign visitors to their countries, and will maintain commercial activities and cooperation with other nations," Diaz-Canel said on national TV. He urged citizens to restrict travel and cancel social events, stressing the importance of stepping up border control as part of a prevention plan to curb the pandemic's spread. These measures come days after Cuba reported its first death from COVID-19 on Wednesday, and the number of confirmed cases reached 21 to date, all of which were imported, according to officials. Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero said the country is not closing its borders, but regulating the entrance of foreign visitors. "Cuban nationals as well as foreigners residing in the Caribbean nation for study or work purposes will be able to arrive in the country by plane or boat," he said. "The Cuban national airspace will remain open for international flights." Marrero said special facilities to provide medical attention have been set up to isolate crew from cargo flights and ships visiting the island. The Cuban government said it will provide assistance to sectors affected by the restriction, namely tourism and transportation. Italy reported a dramatic surge in coronavirus deaths on Friday as the pandemic spread further across the planet, but Wuhan in China reported no new cases, sparking a glimmer of hope. Worldwide fatalities from the pandemic swept past 10,000, with the number of infected people topping 250,000, according to an AFP tally. Italy, already the worst-affected country in the world, added another 627 fatalities, taking its reported total past 4,000 despite government efforts to stem the pandemic's spread. The nation of 60 million now accounts for 36.6 percent of the world's coronavirus deaths. Governments and central banks continued to throw unprecedented sums of money into the economic battle, hoping against hope that a deep global recession could somehow be dodged. In a rare incident of encouraging news Wuhan, the Chinese city where the new coronavirus first emerged in December, reported no new cases in 24 hours. 'Hope for rest of world' "Wuhan provides hope for the rest of the world that even the most severe situation can be turned around", World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual news conference. But hours earlier California, among the worst hit state in the United States, told its 40 million residents to stay at home, the most drastic move yet in the US. The California measures will, however, not be enforced by police unlike in France, Italy, Spain and other European countries where people face fines if they break the rules. Britain, meanwhile, ditched its more relaxed attitude on Friday, telling cafes, pubs, bars, restaurants, nightclubs, theatres and leisure centres to close, in line with its neighbours in the EU. Germany's biggest state Bavaria on Friday became the first region in the country to order a lockdown, imposing "fundamental restrictions" on going out for two weeks. Graphic showing largest number of daily cases of COVID-19 from March 13 to 19. By (AFP) The strict measures follow the template set by China, as a lockdown imposed in Hubei province where the virus first emerged appeared to have paid off. Italy, which has seen more than 1,500 fatalities in the past three days alone, has now recorded the five highest one-day tolls officially registered around the world and a total of 4,032. China's death count was steady at 3,248, according to the AFP tally of official data. Europe now accounts for more than half of the fatalities linked to the COVID-19 disease around the world. However, accurate figures are difficult to come by as many of those who die are suffering from other illnesses and infection rates are uncertain because of a lack of testing in many countries. Scramble for treatments The pandemic has sparked fears of a global recession, battering the world's stock markets and prompting governments to push huge spending plans to limit the damage. Across Europe, governments continued to rigorously enforce lockdown measures. By SEBASTIEN BOZON (AFP) The central banks of the United States, Japan Britain, Canada and Switzerland joined forces on Friday in announcing a new effort to keep dollars pumping through the world economy. The US, meanwhile, is showing signs that it is ramping up efforts on all fronts, fast-tracking antimalarial drugs for use against the virus, halting all routine visa services at embassies and promising a $1-trillion emergency relief package. The US package -- coupled with a European Central Bank plan to buy 750 billion euros in bonds -- saw stock markets across Asia and Europe rebound in Friday trading, but US exchanges were lower. US President Donald Trump, who has come under fire for his response to the crisis, said on Thursday that US officials would make antimalarials chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine available "almost immediately". Across Europe, governments continued to rigorously enforce lockdown measures. By BERTRAND GUAY (AFP) Experts are divided over whether the drugs are suitable though, having undergone only the briefest of clinical trials. Trump also sparked an international row after he accused the Chinese of being secretive over the initial spread and severity of the virus, saying the world was now "paying a big price". European lockdown bites Across Europe, governments continued to rigorously enforce lockdown measures as the continent's most celebrated boulevards and squares remained silent and empty even as warmer spring weather arrived. China reported on Friday a second day with no new domestic cases of the virus since it appeared in the central city of Wuhan in December. By STR (AFP) France announced more than 4,000 people were fined on the first day of its confinement and ministers branded those breaking the rules as "idiots". France and Italy have both said they are likely extend the confinement beyond the initial periods, and British schools will close indefinitely on Friday. Technology companies have begun to hint at the strain being put on their systems. Both Netflix and YouTube, which say they have experienced a surge in demand since lockdowns began, have promised to reduce the default image quality of streaming video in Europe to ease pressure on the internet. However, the restrictions are bringing some communities closer together. In sparsely populated rural Spain -- a country that ranks fourth in the world for coronavirus infections -- neighbours are pulling together to help the old and the vulnerable. Sergio Caminero, 30, who lives in Lovingos, a tiny hamlet north of Madrid, went to pick up some shopping for an elderly neighbour. "She's older and is quite frightened and tense," he told AFP. The shadow of the virus is lengthening across Africa and the Middle East too. Gabon confirmed sub-Saharan Africa's second known death on Friday, with the total of reported cases across Africa standing at more than 900 and rising fast after lagging other continents. In Iran, both supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani promised the country would overcome the outbreak -- but still refused to join the rest of the world in imposing heavy restrictions. The global sporting calendar, shredded by the spread of the pandemic, still has one major event coming up that has not yet been called off -- the Olympic Games, set to take place in Japan in the summer. burs-jh/spm A Ranchi court has convicted former Jharkhand Minister Anosh Ekka for laundering money in a case also involving former Chief Minister Madhu Koda, officials said on Saturday. They said the court will sentence Ekka on March 31. Ekka, a minister in the Koda Cabinet, has been convicted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Koda, Ekka and others were being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate for alleged possession of disproportionate assets and money laundering. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) "A Country Once Colorful Has Radically Changed"-Georgian Pianist About Italy - GeorgianJournal The College Board is rolling out a new plan for its high school Advanced Placement exams in light of school closures across the country taken to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. For the 2019-20 school year, the College Board is working to develop a secure, 45-minute online free-response exam for each AP course, according to new information shared Friday on the College Board website. Exam content will focus on concepts teachers were able to deliver up until early March when school closures first began across the country. In Indiana, a majority of public and private schools had vowed to close school buildings, many opting instead to enact eLearning, by March 13. On Thursday, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb ordered the closure of all schools until May 1, saying that school may stay closed longer, but that "we'll make that call down the road." "We know the coronavirus has created new and unexpected challenges," the College Board website states. "Based on the number and length of school closures, it's clear that the usual way AP Exams are given at schools won't be possible." Vietnamese studying abroad are unable to relax with Covid-19 cases on the rise, though locals appear unfazed. 6 a.m. Wednesday, France local time, Linh opened her phone to learn the country had recorded 7,700 Covid-19 cases. She sighed when seeing Ile-de-France, a region in north-central France where she stays, had 1,000 infections. But Linh, who came to France in 2018 to study medicine at the University of Paris-Sud, did not feel surprised since the number of cases had been rising rapidly. To cope with the pandemic spread, France had deployed 100,000 police and gendarmes across the country Tuesday to ensure total lockdown in a bid to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus. Yet before the national lockdown, many locals failed to take the threat seriously, Linh said. "Even when authorities had applied different measures to limit infection, I and many other overseas Vietnamese students were worried because the French did not stop gathering in public." "People hung out even more in the absence of work and school," Linh said, explain her French friends had still been asking her to join them. People gather at Montmartre Hill in Paris right before France declared its national lockdown on March 17, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Dieu Linh. For her Vietnamese friends, however, the story was much different. Many had immediately returned to Vietnam after learning the news that their home country would restrict entry. Linh wanted to go home just as much, but was scared by the high risk of infection on planes and at airports. She also worried it could prove hard to return to France once visiting Vietnam during this period, which could interrupt her courses. Eventually, she decided to stay put. "I've told myself everything is gonna be just fine if I don't go out and follow all the needed steps for prevention," Linh affirmed. Prior to the stringent lockdown, Linh had made some time to stockpile food, water and several essential products. She has limited her time on public transport, switching to walking if she could, and opted for shipping service. In studying, she has turned to online classes since the start of March, since her school shut down due to the pandemic. Online classes are not new at the University of Paris-Sud and cause her little trouble. What makes her most uncomfortable is that she can no longer frequent the schools library, her favorite place to study. Vu Ngan, a 23-year-old from Hanoi, is studying in Leeds, a city in the northern English county of Yorkshire. She was alarmed Tuesday as the number of local Covid-19 patients had jumped to 19 and almost 2,000 nationwide. By the time she learned the news, she said, the U.K. had not come up with any specific plans to cope with the pandemic aside from asking its citizens to wash their hands frequently, and to self-isolate at home in case they experienced any symptoms of the pneumonia disease. Local authorities even demanded people refrain from attending hospitals or clinics for coronavirus tests without prior doctor approval. What worried her more is that schools were still operating as usual and that locals did not want to wear face masks in public, one possible solution recommended to prevent spreading infection. Ngan and her Vietnamese friends have frequently faced discrimination while wearing masks outdoors. Some even stamped them with the term "coronavirus," before coughing and spitting in their direction. "My parents have repeatedly told me to go home. Theyre afraid that in case I contract the virus, I would not receive timely treatment as in Vietnam." "Im still wavering between returning and staying on because my school is still open, and if I go home now, I cant tell when I could get back in the U.K., not to mention the high risk of infection on the plane," Ngan said. For now, she has made new rules for herself: except for school, she only goes out when it is truly necessary. In Baden-Wurttemberg State of southwest Germany, 23-year-old Mai from Vietnams northern Nam Dinh Province has been busy searching for a ticket back to her country. "For now, only Vietnam Airlines operates Vietnam-Germany flights, with all tickets from now until early April sold out or costing at least VND35 million ($1,500) each. I clearly could not afford that." An empty street of Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany, March 18, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Ngoc Mai. Germany recorded over 9,300 infections and 26 deaths by Wednesday. Three days prior, the country had shut down all schools. Mai locked herself at home. When the pandemic first reached Europe, she had stockpiled food, sanitizer and masks, but the fear of being discriminated against or even assaulted whilst wearing a mask in public has prevented her from going out. She is also afraid overseas students like her would not be "treated as devotedly as in Vietnam" if contracting the virus. "My health insurance here only covers a small part of the health check fee while the cost for hospitalization is huge. If I get infected, I will not have enough money for treatment," she said. Vietnamese returning from Europe fill out health declaration form before getting Covid-19 testing upon arriving at Noi Bai International Airport, Hanoi, March 18, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy. According to the Ministry of Education and Training, around 190,000 Vietnamese are studying abroad, most of them in the U.S., with 29,000, followed by Canada with 21,000, Australia and New Zealand with 30,000, Japan with 15,000, South Korea with 14,000, the U.K. with 12,000, Italy and China with 11,000 each, Germany with 7,500 and France with 6,500. Minh, a senior at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, the U.S., has been worried about both her physical and mental health. Two weeks ago, several students at Vanderbilt were confirmed positive and American media all covered the news. Yet people around her still went to restaurants and the gym like nothing had happened. As the school shut down, her friends even asked her to join them at a bar. Only after President Trump declared a national emergency over the new coronavirus pandemic last Friday, did people in the U.S. change their behavior and reduce public outings. After her school started running online classes, Minh could not decide if she should stay or return to Vietnam. If she stays, there will be no family members nearby should she get sick but if she goes home, it may mean she would have to wake at 3-4 a.m. each morning for online classes. Aside from online classes, another problem for her is the visa. If she flies to Vietnam and for some reason, could not re-enter the U.S. before May 2, she could have trouble obtaining a new visa, miss her graduation ceremony and face the threat of losing a job she got in New York. Eventually, she decided to go back to Vietnam because "there is nothing more important than your health, both physically and mentally." The long-awaited Windrush Lessons Learned Review, published on Thursday this week, opens with the story of Nathaniel. Nathaniel went on holiday to Jamaica with his daughter in 2001. When they tried to return to the UK, immigration authorities told him he could not come back in. His passport of 45 years was no longer valid, though it had been when he took a trip to Jamaica in 1985. He had arrived in Britain as a citizen of the UK and Colonies in the 1950s. In 2010, he died in Jamaica of prostate cancer. He could not afford treatment. Nathaniel had every right to be in Britain, so why was his re-entry denied? Nathaniel was one of the 160 people, mostly of Caribbean descent, who were erroneously detained or deported in what would become known as the Windrush scandal. Up to 8,000 have been caught up in the scandal in myriad ways, suffering great injustice as a result; people made destitute, separated from their families, losing their jobs, homes and identity. Nathaniel moved from the Caribbean to the UK as a citizen, when his birth country was still part of the British Empire. Because of this, many people from the Caribbean, including my grandmother, arrived on British passports. Others, like my aunts, arrived later on their parents passports. They lived, worked and had families without the need for documents. But new immigration laws in 2014 and 2016 forced individuals to prove their status to access basic public services, rent housing or start a new job. Wendy Williams, author of the Lessons Learned review, found that a lack of understanding of this history by Home Office staff and successive governments was a root cause of the Windrush scandal, calling it institutional ignorance and thoughtlessness towards the issue of race and the history of the Windrush generation. The comprehensive report shows us how immigration legislation in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s made it harder for people of colour to move to the UK and laid the architecture for the scandal. Commonwealth citizens who moved to the UK before 1973 were entitled to stay and didnt need to prove it. They had the option to register before 1987 but the governments own publicity at the time said there would be no consequences if they didnt. But when the scandal began to get public attention in 2018, the report found the Home Office blamed individuals for failing to obtain evidence of their status. If Home Office staff and politicians had understood both past policy and how Britains history is tied to the Caribbean then the scandal could have been avoided. One of the recommendations of the review is for all Home Office staff to undergo comprehensive training drawn up by academic experts about the history of the UK and its relationship with the rest of the world, including Britains colonial history and migration. Williams urges the Home Office and the government to tell the stories of empire, Windrush and their legacy. Shes right. No one should be working on or delivering immigration policy without a thorough knowledge of what came before. But its not just policymakers that need to understand this history. The best way to tell the stories of empire, Windrush and its legacy, and as a consequence, a fuller version of our national story, is by reforming the curriculum. Under the national curriculum, students are meant to learn about how Britain has influenced, and been influenced by the wider world. Last year, a report from Runnymede Trust with the TIDE project and Dr Jason Todd Teaching Migration, Empire and Belonging found that the number of schools teaching migration, belonging, and empire is unknown. They appear as suggested topics but the colonisation of the Caribbean and the end of the empire dont feature even as suggestions. Our Migration Story, an education resource covering migration in Britain from the Romans to the 21st century, attempts to address this but more is needed, such as government backing for over-stretched teachers to be provided with training and development. This is not the first time this has been a recommendation in a government review. Over 20 years ago, Lord Macphersons inquiry into the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence made a similar suggestion. It said the national curriculum should be revised to prevent racism and value cultural diversity. Home Office showed 'institutional ignorance and thoughtlessness' towards race Windrush report finds The government shouldnt wait another 20 years to take action. The announcement of a 500,000 fund for grassroots organisations that run advice surgeries and support people applying for compensation is welcome and long overdue. And their commitment to launch a Windrush working group to develop programmes of support for those affected by the scandal is positive, if vague. But so far, the government has been quicker to apportion blame to political parties of all shades and reiterate that successive governments are at fault, instead of committing to concrete actions. They have only committed to reflect on the recommendations to change the Home Office target culture that discourages common-sense decision-making. There is no mention of a review into the hostile environment and its impact. The Windrush Scandal is far from over. People are still homeless, facing unemployment and fighting deportation. The mental health impact is incalculable. The pointing of fingers by the government and claiming you started it will not achieve justice. Agreeing to enact all of the recommendations in the Lessons Learned Review would be a start. Kimberly McIntosh is a senior policy officer at the Runnymede Trust and at the research organisation Race on the Agenda Hanoi Peoples Committee Chairman Nguyen Duc Chung (R) and Chief Representative of JICAs Vietnam Office Konaka Tetsuo (Photo: VNA) The Hanoi leader affirmed this at a reception on March 20 for Chief Representative of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)s Vietnam Office Konaka Tetsuo. According to Chung, effects caused by the COVID-19 epidemic on the worlds top ten economies, including Japan, will impact greatly on Vietnam's economy. He expressed the hope that the two sides will work closely together to accelerate the implementation of Japans investment projects in the city, thus further strengthening their cooperation and reducing losses caused by the pandemic. Hanoi is doing its utmost to prevent the spread of the COVID-19, Chung said, adding that the experience of Japan, China and the Republic of Korea in this work has proven effective. For his part, Konaka praised the Vietnamese Government and Hanoi for their efforts in the fight against the epidemic, saying that Vietnams performance is even better than Japans. The JICA official noted that Japans ODA funds have been used effectively in Hanoi, citing the Yen Xa water plant as an example. He added that when the Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Zone project is completed, Hanoi will have many opportunities to attract investment from foreign technology companies. He also asked the municipal authority to quickly address existing shortcomings in projects funded by Japanese ODA in the city, and continue to support JICAs activities in the coming time. Fears of coronavirus hasn't stopped a surge in migrant crossings to the UK. (Photo by Gareth Fuller/PA Images via Getty Images) Coronavirus fears havent stopped a surge in migrants trying to cross to the UK in boats, with more than 100 people intercepted by border controls in the past week. A total of 108 migrants have been intercepted by UK and French authorities trying to make the journey across the Channel, with 64 of those taken to the UK. They included a number of incidents, with one involving the interception of a boat carrying 24 migrants including seven children who claimed to be Iranian and Iraqi nationals. Latest coronavirus news, updates and advice Live: Follow all the latest updates from the UK and around the world Fact-checker: The number of COVID-19 cases in your local area Explained: Symptoms, latest advice and how it compares to the flu The Home Office said migrants intercepted in the Channel and brought to the UK were being closely monitored for symptoms of coronavirus and Border Force and all operational staff had personal protective equipment (PPE) available to them. Migrants wearing face masks were reportedly spotted at the Port of Dover in Kent. More than 100 migrants have been intercepted trying to cross the Channel. (Picture: PA) Bella Sankey, from Detention Action, called for migrants to be given safe accommodation, instead of indefinite detention and the means to self-isolate if they need to. She said: The desperation of those making death-defying crossings during a global pandemic is self-evident. She added that following the Windrush report, the Home Secretary says she wants to put fairness, dignity and respect at the heart of the Home Offices mission and put people before process. If this is true, those seeking sanctuary here will be provided with safe accommodation, instead of indefinite detention, and given the means to self isolate if that is necessary. Fears have been raised over the potential for COVID-19 to spread through migrant camps, including 3,000 migrants living in northern France. Sir Richard Branson and other billionaire aviation investors should reach into their own pockets and contribute to any bailout deal for the sector, former Ministers have demanded. The Government is thought to be on the verge of agreeing a multi-billion pound rescue deal for airlines and airports which could include the State taking stakes in the firms amid their battle to survive the coronavirus crisis. But research by the MoS has found that the industry's biggest firms which count billionaires and sovereign wealth funds among their largest investors have paid out more than 12billion in dividends and share buybacks in the past five years. With companies already facing bankruptcy and planning thousands of job cuts, the figures will raise questions about whether more earnings should be saved up for disaster scenarios. On the board: Virgin Atlantic's Sir Richard Branson is coming under pressure over talks for a bailout Lord Myners, a former City Minister who worked on the bank bailouts of 2008, and former Business Secretary Sir Vince Cable are among those who said any Government support deal 'should involve participation by existing owners'. Lord Myners told the MoS: 'The taxpayer isn't there to provide a one-way bet for owners, but to protect jobs and the economic and social framework.' A number of large UK companies have been bracing for an downturn over the past few years by trimming debt piles, slimming oversized businesses and boosting cash reserves. However, many aviation firms have continued making large payouts, with big chunks going directly to billionaire founders and overseas shareholders. Now the coronavirus pandemic has grounded planes, they are running out of money. Branson's Virgin Group, the majority shareholder in Virgin Atlantic Airways, has called on the Government to provide 7.5billion of emergency support for the sector. Billionaire Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou and his family own more than a third of EasyJet Airport bosses, including executives from Heathrow and Gatwick, have asked to be part of any rescue deal. It is not clear how any bailout fund would be divided and which companies would be included. But Transport Secretary Grant Shapps held talks with a number of major airlines thought to include Virgin Atlantic, Ryanair, easyJet and British Airways owner International Airlines Group and airports last week. Heathrow announced on Friday that it would need to 'reorganise and shrink our operation' in response to the coronavirus crisis but added that it has 3.3billion available to maintain 'at least a 12-month liquidity horizon'. Heathrow has also paid out 2.15billion in dividends since 2015. This would have been divided up among a consortium of large, mainly foreign, investors who own the airport. Spain's Ferrovial will have taken more than 500million, while the Qatar Investment Authority and China Investment Corporation received around 430 million and 215million respectively. In the same period, Gatwick which was owned by a number of sovereign wealth funds during these years paid out 1.1billion. British Airways owner IAG has paid out 2.4billion (2.2billion) in dividends since 2015, and has also completed share buybacks worth 1.7billion in this time. Around 20 per cent of this total nearly 800million will have gone to IAG's largest shareholder, the state-owned Qatar Airways. Ryanair bought back 3.2billion of shares in the period and paid out 918million of dividends. Michael O'Leary, the airline's controversial chief executive, owns around four per cent of its stock and so would have taken around 150million. EasyJet came under fire last week for completing a 174million dividend payment while participating in bailout talks. The latest payment takes its total since 2015 to 1.2billion. Greek-Cypriot billionaire Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou and his family own more than a third of the company, and so would have taken more than 400million of this total, including about 60million last week. Virgin Atlantic, which is a private company 51 per cent-owned by billionaire Branson's Virgin Group, has not declared a dividend since 2014 when it paid out 88million. Each of the firms has also paid out tens of millions of pounds to executives in the past five years, although many bosses have agreed to take pay cuts during the Covid-19 crisis. Branson and Haji-Ioannou are not on the boards of Virgin Atlantic or EasyJet and so are not in charge of dividend decisions. Lord Myners suggested the Government should provide financing through interest-paying bonds that can be converted into shares. The price of these convertible bonds should be at a 'small premium' to current stock market values, Lord Myners said. He added: 'If no existing owners subscribe for the new security, they will own a smaller percentage of a healthier business than they own now. If this doesn't appeal, they have to contemplate the consequences of administration.' Sir Vince Cable said he is concerned about the prospect of Heathrow getting financial assistance from the State without it being 'conditional on shareholders making a contribution' to recognise the dividends they have been paid. Last weekend, the Centre for Aviation warned that without assistance, most of the world's airlines would be bankrupt by the end of May. Crowds wearing protective masks, following the outbreak of the coronavirus, are seen at the Shinjuku station in Tokyo Reuters Herd immunity occurs when enough of a population is immune to a pathogen that it prevents its further spread. The Netherlands says that herd immunity will be a side effect of its approach in containing the spread of COVID-19, but an infectious disease expert is skeptical of this. The UK has reconsidered a plan to achieve herd immunity and instead is attempting disease suppression through other measures like social isolation and possible self-quarantine for the highest risk individuals. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. This week, Mark Rutte, the prime minister of the Netherlands, announced the country's approach to containing the spread of COVID-19 through social distancing by encouraging people to work from home and avoid restaurants, bars, and public transit. Rutte also mentioned the possibility of herd immunity, which was immediately met with backlash from experts who say deliberately exposing as many people to the virus to build an immune population is not a good idea. Rutte quickly clarified that herd immunity would be a side effect of the country's approach and not the focus. However, infectious disease expert Natalie Dean says that the safest way we're likely to develop herd immunity against COVID-19 isn't naturally over time, but through a vaccine. What is herd immunity and how it's achieved Herd immunity is when a large enough percentage of a population is immune to a pathogen so that it cannot spread widely. What share of the population must be immune largely depends on how contagious the pathogen in question is. For example, to limit the spread of measles, experts estimate that 93% to 95% of the population needs to be immune. Measles is more contagious than the novel coronavirus: Experts estimate between 40% to 70% of the population will need to be immune to halt its rapid spread. Herd immunity can be achieved through a vaccine, like in the case of smallpox and measles. Experts estimate that it could take at least 18 months to develop a vaccine for this coronavirus. Story continues It can also be achieved naturally as people are infected, recover, and are then immune to further infection. This works if chances of reinfection are low or, ideally, zero. It is currently unknown whether anyone can get reinfected with the novel coronavirus, which complicates plans to achieve herd immunity naturally. "The only safe way we will be able to get herd immunity against this virus is a vaccine," said Natalie Dean, a biostatistician at the University of Florida who specializes in infectious disease epidemiology. Why deliberately trying to accelerate herd immunity isn't a good idea While the theory of herd immunity is viable, it's still unclear how contagious the new coronavirus is and how severely it affects different demographics. And that's the big problem with Rutte's idea that, "by taking this approach, one in which most people will experience only minor symptoms, we can both build immunity and ensure that our health care system is able to cope," he said in his address on Dutch television on Monday. "They're making a big assumption ... young people can get the disease and won't die," Dean explained. "We don't have enough data to support that. We're seeing 30-year-olds in the ICU and we don't know if those people aren't going to have long-term breathing problems and lung problems." In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report on Wednesday that looked at coronavirus cases in the US between February 12 through March 16. Of the 508 hospitalizations for coronavirus, 20% of them were people ages 20 to 44, suggesting that "millennials are not invincible," STAT news reports. How accelerated herd immunity would affect the UK Prime Minister Rutte isn't the first to mention herd immunity. As the COVID-19 threat emerged in the UK, Patrick Vallance, the chief science adviser to the UK government, suggested that achieving herd immunity in the country was a viable way of dealing with this virus. In response, experts calculated that over 47 million people in the UK would need to be infected and then recover to achieve herd immunity, an estimate based on the idea that 70% of the population needs immunity to prevent the COVID-19 virus from spreading. Extrapolating from current case statistics, this would result in over one million dead and eight million needing critical care. Another report in Imperial College London modeled the effect of COVID-19 on the UK population under different intervention strategies such as social distancing, school closures, and home quarantine. It found a similar result that just letting the coronavirus spread will quickly overwhelm the healthcare system. In light of these estimates, 501 scientists and mathematicians have signed a letter to the UK government explaining their extreme concern. The fallout from this announcement has led the UK to reconsider this approach. Read the original article on Business Insider Avoid the crowds: Busy scenes near Lough Tay, Co Wicklow, people look for a distraction from the coronavirus crisis and home. Photo: @LugMoquilla 'I was horrified when I saw the photo," says Paul Clarke. "The amount of people not listening to the warnings on how the virus is spread from person to person." Clarke is a keen hiker from Naas, Co Kildare. The photo (above), which he posted on his LugMOquilla Instagram account this week, shows traffic congestion near Lough Tay, Co Wicklow, on St Patrick's Day. It's just one image of crowded parks, access roads and walking sites shared on social media this week, as cooped-up citizens escaped their homes for fresh air, exercise and interaction in a society that has seen its sport, cultural institutions and pubs close down almost overnight. "We drove to Gougane Barra yesterday [10 minutes from us] and drove away without getting out of the car because there was a bank holiday-style crowd," says Siobhan Burke, a tourism consultant who lives in West Cork. In Dublin, travel writer Nicola Brady noted busier-than-usual crowds at Bull Island, Phoenix Park and St Anne's Park, "where there were loads of families walking within close proximity to each other on narrow paths". "We've seen a real increase in visitor numbers to our most popular recreation sites in South Dublin and North Wicklow," confirms Pat Neville, communications manager with Coillte. "Places like Ticknock, the Hellfire Club or Tibradden... people tend to go where they know. With the numbers we're seeing in the most popular areas, social distancing is very difficult to manage." 'Social distancing' is a key concept in the public health guidelines issued as Ireland battles to contain the global spread of Covid-19. The HSE's tips for social distancing include recommendations to "avoid crowded places", "reduce interactions" and "keep a space of two metres [6.5ft] between you and other people". With shuttered sports, schools and leisure options however, a pent-up demand for activity has resulted in peak season-style crowds congregate around popular parks and trails, making such distancing more difficult. "The main walking spots in Wicklow are overrun with people creating chaos and not respecting safety distances," says Fred Verdier of Wicklow Tourism, where Glendalough and Laragh have drawn bumper-to-bumper traffic. The National Parks & Wildlife Service (NPWS) has also posted a notice of concern. "While there is space at most sites to facilitate some access to fresh air and exercise for people during this period, NPWS staff have noticed irresponsible behaviour at sites [large social groups gathering on communal walks as opposed to small family units walking], which could increase the risks of onward transmission of Covid-19," it said. Visitor centres at Ireland's National Parks and Nature Reserves have closed until at least March 29, but the parks and reserves themselves remain open. The NPWS urged walkers to adhere to social distancing principles and HSE advice in these "extraordinary times" - recommendations that have also been echoed by the OPW. Other communities and groups have pointed out issues with littering, dog control and the impact of crowds and inconsiderate parking on locals, farmers and access for emergency services. So what should hard-pressed families in need of fresh air do? "People do need access to nature," says Pat Neville of Coillte. "Forests in Ireland are open and we are encouraging people to go there," he adds. But he pleads that people do not block entrances, have a back-up plan if car parks are busy [there are more than 300 recreation sites listed on www.coillte.ie], and respect the HSE guidelines on hygiene and social distancing. "It doesn't feel natural. Normally you walk shoulder-to-shoulder. But we're asking people to spread the distance out, as you would anywhere else." Others suggest visiting off-peak (outside the 'rush hours' of 12-4pm) and doing a little research on less popular walks, parks and estates. "Wicklow is blessed with many locations for all to enjoy outdoor activities and there is plenty of room for everyone," says Fred Verdier, suggesting lesser-visited places for outings like Tinahely, West Wicklow, and walks south of the Wicklow Way stretch. Ahead of the weekend, Paul Clarke of LugMOquilla has contacted fellow hiking Instagramers, encouraging them to post photographs of off-radar walks he hopes will steer people away from hotspots. "The mountains in Ireland are vast," he says. "But there are some lesser-known, beautiful walks people can do to get out of the house to clear the head." Seoul: North Korea fired two projectiles that appeared to be short-range ballistic missiles into the sea off the east coast of the Korean peninsula, South Korea`s military said on Saturday, after what analysts said was a show of confidence during the coronavirus epidemic by announcing an April legislature session. The launch follows two earlier this month, when North Korea launched short-range missiles and multiple projectiles, according to South Korea`s military, drawing US and Chinese appeals for Pyongyang to return to talks on ending its nuclear and missile programmes. The suspected missiles were fired from North Pyongan province, South Korea`s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. The province is above Pyongyang on the northwest corner of the Korean peninsula, bordering China. Japan`s coast guard said on Saturday that North Korea appeared to have fired a missile, which landed outside Japan`s exclusive economic zone waters. Earlier on Saturday, North Korea announced it will hold in April a session of the Supreme People`s Assembly, its rubber-stamp legislature, in Pyongyang, which analysts had said would involve gathering almost 700 of the country`s leaders in one spot as the coronavirus spreads worldwide. "If it goes ahead, it would be the ultimate show of (North Korea`s) confidence in managing the coronavirus situation," Rachel Minyoung Lee, of the North Korea monitoring website NK News, said on Twitter this week. North Korea has not reported any confirmed cases of the new coronavirus that was first detected in China late last year, though a top US military official said last week he is "fairly certain" there were infections in North Korea. State media KCNA also said on Saturday North Korean leader Kim Jong Un guided an artillery fire competition between combined units of the North Korean army on Friday, displaying photos of him watching with high-ranking military officers, all unmasked. It was unclear whether Saturday`s launch was part of the drill. A Utah woman was arrested on suspicion of killing her husband after the medical examiner told police that the man died from blunt force trauma. Veronica Vizcarra, 30, of Kearns, Utah, was arrested Monday on suspicion of murdering her husband, Carlos Vizcarra-Corona, 33. Authorities believe his death stemmed from Veronica beating him with a nail gun. Police and the fire department had initially responded to a call about an unconscious male at the couple's home on March 11. Upon arrival, they found Carlos in the home, dead. Veronica Vizcarra, 30, was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder in the death of her husband, Carlos Vizcarra-Corona, 33, who died from blunt force trauma Veronica then told investigators that Carlos had a serious problem with alcohol and consumed too much Tylenol, according to court documents obtained by ABC 4. Investigators noted that Carlos had been hospitalized for alcohol abuse about four months prior to his death. After conducting an autopsy, however, the Medical Examiner told police on March 12 that while Carlos did have serious medical issues stemming from alcohol use, his actual cause of death was blunt force trauma and a ruptured spleen and that his death was being ruled a homicide. Carlos' injury was said to have been in a stage of healing, but that it was unable to heal due to the extensive damage. When police questioned Veronica about the healing bruises found on Carlo's chest, back and face the day he died, she was said to have told them that the bruises were the result of his getting into a fight at work about two weeks before he died, according to the court documents. Police were called to Veronica and Carlos' home (pictured) where they found Carlos dead. Veronica was said to have claimed that he had a problem with alcohol use Carlos' sister, however, told police that Carlos had not gotten into a fight at work. As the investigation continued, detectives said they spoke with witnesses who claimed that - in the two weeks leading up to his death - Carlos had told them that Veronica had beaten him with a staple or nail gun on February 27. Photos witnesses gave police showed Carlos' injuries were consistent with those found on his body when he died. Two of Carlos' coworkers also told police that he did not get into a fight at work, as Veronica had claimed. While searching the couple's home, police found and seized specific items that were related to the alleged assault. Veronica was arrested and booked into jail March 16, where she is being held without bail on suspicion of first-degree murder. Veronica has a previous legal history. In January, she was charged with criminal mischief, child abuse and two counts of domestic violence in the presence of children, according to court records obtained by Deseret News. During that incident, Carlos told police that Veronica had been 'drinking alcohol and threw glass cups at him and his 11-year-old daughter,' the police affidavit said. In October 2019, Veronica pleaded guilty to an assault charge for beating up a woman, court records showed. After entering her plea, prosecutors said that she intimidated the victim outside the Salt Lake City, Utah, courtroom. The intimidation led to Veronica being charged with the third-degree felony of retaliation against a witness in November 2019. Veronica was due to have a court hearing on that case on April 25. As of 10:00 on March 21, a total of 29,155 Ukrainian citizens returned home from Egypt. In particular, 25,016 Ukrainian citizens flew from Sharm el-Sheikh; 4,139 people from Hurghada. "The Embassy continues to facilitate the departure from Egypt of those citizens of Ukraine who arrived in the country not as part of tourist groups. If possible, such citizens are evacuated by charter flights with vacant seats," Ukraines Foreign Ministry press service posted on Facebook. As reported, the national lockdown was introduced in Ukraine until April 3 to counteract the spread of Covid-19 coronavirus infection. In particular, educational establishments and all shops except groceries, pharmacies, gas stations and banks were closed. The operation of subways in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Dnipro was suspended. The intercity and interregional road, rail and air passenger transportation was stopped. In addition, the foreigners are banned from entering Ukraine and the international passenger services are suspended. Infrastructure Minister Vladyslav Kryklii stated that Ukraine would return its citizens even after the closure of air services and borders. As of 10:00 on March 21, Ukraine confirmed 41 cases of COVID-19. Fifteen new cases were detected in the last 24 hours. ol The globe is currently fighting a war against COVID-19 caused by novel coronavirus. The pandemic has turned fatal in the last few weeks, with its epicentre being shifted from Wuhan in China to Europe. With the scare being spread at a lightning speed, the number of positive coronavirus cases is showing exponential growth. Among such growing concerns, a lot of people are still confused about the disease and how it may show up. To help the netizens deal with their doubts, a 22-year-old Twitter user Bjonda Haliti has taken to social media to share her experience of being diagnosed with the deadly virus. She briefed that even though she had a whole conflict in her mind about writing the post, she felt it may help people deal with anxiety and stress. Im 22 years old and I tested positive for COVID-19. Ive been debating on posting, but I want to share my experience especially with those around my age to help bring awareness, and to relieve any stress/anxiety some may have due to the pandemic. Bjonda Haliti (@baeonda) March 18, 2020 Day 1: It started with a mild DRY cough and a slightly sore throat. I was very tired that night. Bjonda Haliti (@baeonda) March 18, 2020 Day 2: I felt a lot of pressure in my head to the point I would have to cough softly to avoid the discomfort. That night, I experienced the chills and had a fever. One main symptom that stood out to me, my eyes physically hurt. They were tender and sore. Bjonda Haliti (@baeonda) March 18, 2020 Day 3: Energy levels VERY low, I only slept, and still ran fevers. At this point, my symptoms were: dry cough, migraine, fever, chills, some nausea. I decided to go to the doctors where I tested negative for the flu and strep. Bjonda Haliti (@baeonda) March 18, 2020 She revealed that it all started with dry cough and a slightly sore throat on Day 1, along with the feeling of being extremely tired. On the second day, she felt pressure in the head, along with chills and fever at night. She also mentioned that one of the most significant symptoms was the pain in her eyes, which turned tender and sore. On Day 3, she slept all day as the energy level dropped and fever was high. At this point, my symptoms were: dry cough, migraine, fever, chills, some nausea. That is when she decided to visit a doctor, who tested her negative for flu and strep. She was prescribed antibiotics and 800mg of ibuprofen. While her fever vanished on the fourth day, she had another symptom: shortness of breath. She described it as having bricks on my chest. She tried the 10-second test which appeared on various fake reports but did it without complications. Day 4: Finally no more fever, but a new symptom showed up: shortness of breath. It was uncomfortable, it felt like I had bricks on my chest. I tried the self diagnose test I read online (hold your breath and count to 10) which I successfully did with no complications. Bjonda Haliti (@baeonda) March 18, 2020 Day 5: Symptoms: sore throat, cough, shortness of breath. I went to the same doctor and I was very adamant about getting tested. Doctor said my vitals were unremarkable but I wasnt going to take no for an answer! I also requested chest X-rays, everything came out normal. Bjonda Haliti (@baeonda) March 18, 2020 Day 6 - With the continued use of antibiotics and ibuprofen, my symptoms were: sore throat, cough, shortness of breath. My energy levels began to increase. Bjonda Haliti (@baeonda) March 18, 2020 This hit her hard and she decided to get tested for coronavirus. She continued with self-quarantine while waiting for results. She detailed about her later days being quarantined at home. While she is doing well, for now, she has also stated that she has no underlying disease, or does not smoke and vape. She requested everyone to take extra precaution and maintain social distancing. From Town & Country Back in March, Joe Biden pledged that should he get the Democratic nomination, a woman would be his running mate. When asked during the debate in D.C., "How will your cabinet ensure the best advice on issues that affect women's physical and financial health?" Biden committed to putting a woman on his ticket. "If I'm elected president, my cabinet, my administration will look like the country, and I commit that I will, in fact, pick a woman to be vice president," Biden says in the video above. "There are a number of women who are qualified to be president tomorrow. I would pick a woman to be my vice president." Bernie Sanders later dropped out of the race, leaving Biden as the presumptive Democratic nominee, but one question remained: who would he choose as his VP? Today, we finally have an answer. This afternoon, the Biden camp confirmed that he has selected California senator Kamala Harris to be his running mate. "Ive decided that Kamala Harris is the best person to help me take this fight to Donald Trump and Mike Pence and then to lead this nation starting in January 2021," Biden said Tuesday. Photo credit: Win McNamee - Getty Images Harris, one of Biden's former sparring partners, has been on a short list of VP contenders for weeks now. She made a name for herself during the debates, and while she doesn't directly help Biden flip a swing state, having a person of color on the ticket is a key issue for many Democratic voters. Last August, Biden said he was open to choosing a person of color as his running mate, suggesting it might be his preference. "Whomever I pick, preferably it will be someone who was of color and/or a different gender, but I'm not making that commitment until I know that the person I'm dealing with I can completely and thoroughly trust as authentic and on the same page [as me]," he said. Below, a few of the other women who were thought to have been in the running for Biden's VP. Story continues Elizabeth Warren Photo credit: Alex Wong - Getty Images With his statement about choosing a woman, Biden eliminated the possibility of selecting Bernie Sanders as his running mate, but some members of the liberal wing of the Democratic party hoped Biden will choose Elizabeth Warren to shore up his prospects with progressives. Earlier this year, Biden's campaign announced that he was adopting Warren's bankruptcy legislation as part of his platform, which was seen as an olive branch to both progressive-leaning Democrats and Warren supporters. Tammy Duckworth Photo credit: Chip Somodevilla - Getty Images While Duckworth wasn't a candidate during this election cycle, the junior Senator from Illinois checked a number of advantageous boxes for Biden, should he have chosen to add her to the ticket. Not only is she a woman of color, but she is a decorated veteran with years of legislative experience, and she could have helped Biden's appeal in the midwest. Stacey Abrams Photo credit: Alberto E. Rodriguez - Getty Images Abrams earned national attention when she nearly won the Georgia gubernatorial race in 2018 as the first black woman in the U.S. to be a major party's nominee for governor. Biden floated the idea of having Abrams in the past. When asked about his vice presidential pick last fall, he said, "I could start naming people but the press will think thats who I picked." But then he vaguely listed the qualifications of a few women, including "the woman who should have been the governor of Georgia." Michelle Lujan Grisham Photo credit: Bill Clark - Getty Images The only Latina governor in the country, Lujan Grisham, would have possibly Biden with his appeal in the Latinx community. Gretchen Whitmer Photo credit: JEFF KOWALSKY - Getty Images Another name floated was Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan who is widely considered a rising star within the Democratic Party. But earlier this year, she's confirmed that its not going to be me. "I think it's important that he has a woman running mate, to be honest. I think that there are a lot of phenomenal potential running mates for him," she recently told MSNBC. "I'm going to help him vet and make sure he's got a great running mate. It is not going to be me." Amy Klobuchar Photo credit: Scott Eisen - Getty Images Senator Klobuchar was previously thought to be a frontrunner in the race to be Biden's VP, so much so that back in May, it was widely reported that Biden asked Klobuchar to "undergo a formal vetting to be considered as his vice presidential running mate." But now she's taken herself out of the running. "This is a historic moment, and America must seize on this moment. And I truly believe as, I actually told the vice president last night when I called him, that I think this is a moment to put a woman of color on that ticket," Klobuchar said in June, referencing the protests following the death of George Floyd and the growth of the Black Lives Matter movement. "And there are so many incredibly qualified women, but if you want to heal this nation right now, my party ... this is sure a hell of a way to do it." Catherine Cortez Masto Photo credit: Zach Gibson - Getty Images A relative newcomer among the senators on this list, Nevada Senator Cortez Masto represented a changing of the guard in the Democratic party when she took over for Harry Reid following his retirement in 2016. One notable area where Bernie has had success in the primaries has been with Latinx voters; she could have provided a much-needed boost to Biden's appeal in that community. But in late May she withdrew her name from consideration. It is an honor to be considered as a potential running mate, but I have decided to withdraw my name from consideration," she said in a statement. Nevada's economy is one of the hardest hit by the current crisis and I will continue to focus on getting Nevadans the support they need to get back on their feet. You Might Also Like A further 102 people have tested positive for coronavirus in Ireland, the Department of Health announced this evening. It brings the total number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the Republic of Ireland to 785. The HSE is now working to identify any contacts the 102 new coronavirus patients had in recent days to limit further spread of the virus. The most recent breakdown of the figures, which included 584 cases up to last Thursday showed 13 people (2pc of cases) have been admitted to ICU. A quarter of cases were linked to healthcare workers. Dublin accounted for more than half (55pc) of all cases. Read More Community transmission now accounts for a larger portion of virus spread. More than a third of infected people (35pc) picked up covid-19 while travelling. Another 23pc of cases are linked to close contact with other patients. Four in 10 cases (42pc) picked up covid-19 in the community. Dr Ronan Glynn, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said; We must continue in our efforts to limit the spread of Covid-19 together, as a society, to protect our healthcare workers and our most vulnerable. Department of Health Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan said officials are asking gardai to help the public abide to social distancing measures by dispersing large groups. The Department is aware that pubs in some areas of the country are continuing to open, in contravention of existing public health advice, he said. "If any such premises become known to us, the Minister will be advised to use his regulatory powers to enforce the temporary closure of premises in order to prevent the spread of Covid-19. We are also asking An Garda Siochana to assist in encouraging the public to abide by the public health advice on social distancing by encouraging any groups congregating in public to disperse. Taking to social media this evening, gardai called on teenagers to follow social distancing guidelines. "Gardai are being called to teens who are congregating for outdoor drinking sessions, please, please, please adhere to what we are being told to keep everyone safe," a garda spokesperson said. "We are also getting calls of stone throwing causing danger to traffic." Earlier today, Health Minister Simon Harris said that pubs who remain open will forcibly be shut by the government for not complying with a request to close and limit the spread of the coronavirus. The minister is aware of a small number of pubs still operating and social media footage that appears to show customers still drinking in premises that are not complying with a request for bars to shut. It comes as he confirmed households will start receiving new booklets next week with the help of An Post offering advice and answering frequently asked questions about the coronavirus. The HSE is also set to start interviewing thousands of people who applied to work in the health service or return to work in the sector to help tackle the disease. The telephone interviews will start next week. Harris said he is satisfied and proud of the lengths healthcare workers and citizens are going to in limiting the spread of the disease but conceded some people could do more. He said he was very disappointed to hear of a small number of publicans still serving customers. Let me be very clear to those people. Last night the Oireachtas gave this Department and myself, as minister, emergency powers. The President of Ireland signed that in to law last night and we will shut you down if youre a pub that is remaining open. You are letting down the people of this country. You are also letting down your fellow publicans who are helping out and complying, with great difficulty to them and their staff at a very challenging time. Independent.ie understands health officials have been notified of a small number of pubs, including a pub in Munster, which has opened to customers in recent days. Harris met with medical leaders from across the country via teleconference today along with the departments chief medical officer Tony Holohan, to discuss what medical professionals on the frontline are seeing as they work to address growing cases of coronavirus. Last night it was confirmed another 126 people had tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number to 683. When asked today if the country is in a surge phase the Minister said: We are in what the chief medical officer determines to be a delay phase. That basically means the coronavirus is here and we are doing everything we can to slim down its spread. It is highly likely we are going to see a significant increase in the number of cases in this country in the coming days and weeks. Gardai are being called to teens who are congregating for outdoor drinking sessions, please, please adhere to what we are being told to keep everyone safe. We are also getting calls of stone throwing causing danger to traffic#SocialDistancing#WashYourHands pic.twitter.com/WzWyNLS4Rl An Garda Siochana (@GardaTraffic) March 21, 2020 The actions we take or dont take, as a people, will help determine how many cases we see in two or three weeks time. The minister added he is satisfied measures currently in place will help slow down the spread of the coronavirus. He said a significant amount of new personal protective equipment is due to arrive in the coming days, including 6.5 million more face masks. The HSE said it has 35,000 coronavirus testing kits and another 20,000 kits are expected to arrive next week. To date more than 12,000 tests have been carried out. My department will also meet, along with other state agencies on Monday, with stakeholders from industry. We will meet with some of the pharma companies in Ireland, some of the medical devices companies, and this is to ensure we can absolutely maximise the access we have to medical devices in the coming days weeks and months. The minister said it was important people continue to practice social distancing on Mothers Day tomorrow. He said people can still bring a gift to their mother, cook a meal and drop it to her doorstep, or find other innovative ways to stay in touch. He thanked all the mothers on the frontline in the medical and retail sectors who are helping others at present. I am very conscious we are asking people tomorrow to stay apart. Dont let tomorrow pass just because you cant visit your mum. Meanwhile, Northern Ireland saw its largest daily increase to date, with 22 new cases confirmed today. There are 108 positive cases of Covid-19 in Northern Ireland, and one person has died so far. Northern Ireland schools will close from Monday due to the coronavirus, except for key workers' children. A list of key workers whose children will need to be provided for while they are working includes healthcare, nursery and teaching staff, members of the police, fire and prison services and those keeping public transport and the electric network operating. Visit our Covid-19 vaccine dashboard for updates on the roll out of the vaccination program and the rate of Coronavirus cases Ireland Sen. Bernie Sanders is weighing his options in the 2020 campaign for president. Read more Sen. Bernie Sanders has convened a series of weighty discussions about the future of his presidential campaign with his closest confidants, according to two people with direct knowledge of the conversations, and at least three potential paths forward have come up in the private talks. One option that has been raised: keep the campaign technically active with a goal of winning votes and accumulating delegates to the July nominating convention, but forgo attack ads aimed at delegate leader Joe Biden. Another: stay in the race and aggressively compete for the nomination. A third choice: end the campaign. The people with knowledge of the talks spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive conversations. They cautioned that other options or nuances may also be on the table and stressed that Sanders, I-Vt., had not yet made up his mind. and was still trying to reach out to supporters. A campaign spokesman did not dispute their account. Few if any dilemmas in recent political history have been fraught with so many variables and such significant potential consequences. Before the coronavirus crisis reared, Democrats were anxious that disputes in the party would persist long into the general election, as they did when Sanders squared off against Hillary Clinton in 2016. That concern has only intensified as the coronavirus has upended daily life across the globe, thrown the presidential race into uncertainty and created an urgent appetite for Democratic unity. With Biden staked to a solid lead and the future of the remaining primaries in doubt, many in the party are calling for Sanders to bow out, in recognition of the destructive divisions that could deepen if he sticks around. They are eager to pivot to a general election posture against President Donald Trump and want to empower Biden to get started as soon as possible. At 78, Sanders, a Democratic socialist who long toiled on the fringes of the national political debate, might well be in his final national campaign. Unlike four years ago, when there was a clear incentive to keep running against Clinton and build a still-budding movement, he came into this race as a known entity with a proven following - making his current political aspirations less clear. After suffering decisive losses in three more primaries Tuesday, and standing almost no chance of catching Biden in the race for the Democratic nomination, Sanders decided to return home to Vermont last week to assess his future. The senator is expected to reach a decision about the way forward in consultation with his wife and closest adviser, Jane Sanders. Campaign officials have signaled that he is not in any rush. In a sign of how close Sanders is keeping his deliberations, even longtime friends and associates have said in recent days that they have little idea of where he will come down. Those with knowledge of the private discussions said the conversations have been substantive and thoughtful and that they reflect how intensely the senator is grappling with his options. Outside supporters have publicly suggested a range of different options, underlining the dilemma Sanders is confronting. Larry Cohen, a close ally who helms a nonprofit aligned with the senator, is advocating that Sanders do three things: push for mail-in balloting for the remaining primaries to curb the risk to voters from the coronavirus; stay in the race to accumulate enough delegates to influence the party platform; and forge a working conversation with Biden that acknowledges that the former vice president, not him, has the path to a majority of pledged delegates. "Just a dialogue with Biden, not attacks," said Cohen. RoseAnn DeMoro, a close Sanders friend and former nurses' union head, said Sanders should not approach the race as a done deal and ought to treat a come-from-behind victory in future contests as a possibility given the volatility of the times. "I think there'll be openings that we don't know" about, said DeMoro, warning that it would be foolish to concede to Biden. Biden has made entreaties to Sanders and his supporters, embracing policies the senator has championed and nodding to his youthful movement in recent speeches. Aides from the two campaigns have been in close touch over the coronavirus, officials from both sides said this week, outlining a potential path for negotiations that could lead to an exit more acceptable to Sanders. It's not clear he would take it, however. Sanders appears as keen as ever on using his platform to advance his own ideas about how to combat the impact of the coronavirus, as he did Friday evening when he convened a virtual discussion. "This a moment that history will look back on and say: How did the people of the United States respond?" Sanders said in his opening remarks. He has put forward a plan that draws on his longtime calls for a universal health care system and calls for sweeping new protections for working-class people. On Saturday, Sanders continued to focus his campaign's energy on the coronavirus. As he took to social media to renew his calls for $2,000 emergency cash payments to help Americans cope with economic setbacks, the campaign broadcast online a live "teach-in" on the virus. The campaign also announced that its robust fundraising operation was still churning, collecting more than $2 million in 48 hours for five charities trying to mitigate the effect of the virus. Those close to the senator say that in recent days he has immersed himself in finding solutions to mitigate the crisis. Many of his supporters point to the economic and public health problems arising from it as justification for the far-reaching reforms he has long advocated. In other words, they say, it's a moment that calls out for Sanders to stay onstage, not exit. Some in the senator's orbit pointed out another potential thicket: the disconnect between the officials spearheading the campaign and the legions of fans who have powered a movement that started when he rose to prominence in the 2016 campaign. The two domains don't always operate on the same wavelength, and in this case, some feel, there is far more passion among average supporters for him to stick around than there is among the campaign professionals around him. On Saturday, Sanders was sounding like a candidate who was not yet ready to relinquish his platform to promote his ideas. Suspend evictions, foreclosures, and utility shut-offs nationwide, he tweeted. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 20:30:54|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close With more promising signs signaling progress in China's anti-virus fight, the government and companies are beefing up concerted efforts to help stabilize global supply chain, bracing for reviving business activities while implementing strict prevention and control measures to prevent any resurgence in cases. by Xinhua writers Chu Yi, Gao Wencheng, Chen Aiping, Yin Xiaosheng and Wang Chunyu BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- As China's caseload of COVID-19 continues to wane thanks to strict control measures, factories across the country have gradually returned to normalcy, which is expected to mitigate the impact of coronavirus on the global supply chain. Aerial photo taken on March 17, 2020 shows chartered buses with migrant workers passing a toll station in Xiaogan, central China's Hubei Province. (Xinhua/Hu Huhu) With work and production resumption accelerating in China amid further containment of the disease, the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain is gradually linking up again, said Wu Hongliang, an official with the National Development and Reform Commission. "The overall advantages of China's industrial chain have not changed despite the outbreak," Wu said. ROAR BACK INTO LIFE In the city of Ningbo in east China's Zhejiang Province, Shenzhou International Group Holdings Limited, a giant knitting manufacturer whose annual orders with world-renowned brands such as UNIQLO, Adidas and Nike exceed more than 20 billion yuan (about 2.82 billion U.S. dollars), has seen its work resumption rate reach 95 percent so far. "We've adopted a grid-based approach, taking one floor as an independent and closed unit," said Chen Zhongjing, executive deputy general manager of the company, adding that such an approach can ensure the risk of an outbreak is controllable. Workers are seen at a factory of the Shenzhou International Group Holdings Limited in Ningbo, east China's Zhejiang Province, Feb. 12, 2020. (Xinhua/Huang Zongzhi) "Nothing would be possible without the help of the local authorities," said Ma Jianrong, chairman of the company with about 30,000 employees from 14 Chinese provinces and cities. "The municipal government has coordinated 700 buses to bring our migrant workers back to work." In China, the government and companies are beefing up efforts to help stabilize global supply chain, working together to revive business activities while implementing strict prevention and control measures to prevent any resurgence in cases. A woman works at a factory of the Harbin Dongan Automotive Engine Manufacturing Co., Ltd in Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, March 10, 2020. (Xinhua/Wang Song) NanoFilm Vacuum Coating (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., with its production operations in Shanghai's Qingpu District, carries out vacuum coating for products including consumer electronics, automotive and precision engineering parts, serving as a key link in the supply chains of some global multinational technology companies. "More than 1,500 mask-clad workers have returned to work in our Qingpu factory, and the Shanghai government has given us strong and much-needed help," said Dr. Shi Xu, executive chairman of the company. "As most of the workers are from cities outside Shanghai, local authorities have helped to arrange hotel accommodation for their 14-day quarantine, providing considerate services to ensure our healthy staff can return to work as soon as possible," he added. Workers are seen at a factory of the SAIC Motor in Pudong New District of Shanghai, east China, Feb. 27, 2020. (Xinhua/Ding Ting) To revive the whole automobile industrial chain, the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Information has facilitated the work and production resumption of eight large-scale complete vehicle enterprises and more than 600 auto parts manufacturers. With their support, eight suppliers in the upstream and downstream industrial chains of Tesla's Shanghai gigafactory have resumed operations. PLUG TO GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN With the hum of machinery filling the air, CRRC Zhuzhou Locomotive Co., Ltd. (CRRC ZELC) resumed production on Feb. 11 to keep its supplies available to its overseas projects. About 95 percent of its employees have now returned to work. A worker conducts welding at a factory of the CRRC Zhuzhou Locomotive Co., Ltd. in Zhuzhou, central China's Hunan Province, March 3, 2020. (Photo by Chen Sihan/Xinhua) Ding Ci, technical manager of the company's India's unit, said the Chinese headquarters is working diligently to ensure a continuous supply of parts, "dispelling our Indian partners' worries about the impact of the epidemic." "All work is proceeding as normal," Ding said. It is widely believed that the virus outbreak is a stress test for China's resilience in the global supply chain, said Vinoth Kumar, an electrical technician with CRRC ZELC's India unit, working on a metro project in the Indian city of Mumbai. "In the case of the Mumbai metro project, I am 100 percent confident in the supply of trains from CRRC ZELC in China," Kumar said. A worker transfers a container at the Harbin international container center in Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, March 19, 2020. (Xinhua/Wang Song) Shortly before the World Health Organization declared the outbreak as a pandemic, China's State Council unveiled new measures to support foreign trade and investment in case the increasingly severe situations overseas further weigh down global industrial chains. The measures in the pipeline include a shorter negative list of foreign investment and more foreign trade loans from financial institutions. Foreign trade of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province climbed 9.3 percent year on year to 32.28 billion yuan in the first two months of this year. According to local customs, the northernmost province's import and export values with its neighbor and major trade partner Russia registered a 14 percent year-on-year growth during the period to 22.97 billion yuan. Aerial photo taken on March 19, 2020 shows the Harbin international container center in Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. (Xinhua/Wang Song) Nearly all major foreign trade firms in 19 provincial regions, including Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces and Shanghai, have resumed production, Li Xingqian, director of the foreign trade department under the Ministry of Commerce, told an online news briefing on March 12. "In the short run, the impact (of COVID-19) on the global economy and supply chains is unavoidable," Li said, adding that China will work to intensify global cooperation to contain the COVID-19 outbreak, and minimize its impact on both China's foreign trade and global trade growth. (Fang Wenyu, Zhang Xingjun and Wang Jian also contributed to the story) (Video reporters: Sun Qing, Qi Hongxin, Tang Tiefu, Guo Jiewen, Wu Huiying, Yu Xianhong and Wu Zhonghao; Video editor: Chen Sihong) Bangladesh tightened border controls while Sri Lanka arrested more than two dozen people for violating a nationwide curfew as part of increased efforts on Saturday to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in densely populated South Asia. The region, home to 1.9 billion people, appears to have been less hard hit than elsewhere in the world but the rate of new infections in Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka has accelerated, with 869 detected cases and seven deaths. A senior Indian health ministry official in New Delhi said India had tested some 15,00 people in about 70 ... Like many places across the nation and the world, Pennsylvania has enacted strict restrictions to public gatherings and access to non-vital businesses in order to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Many of the states churches have followed suit. And as those shutdowns continue to affect the various aspects of our lives, many places of worship are doing what most of us have done - looked to the Internet to stay in touch with one another. The whole world is probably working on stuff, said Bryan Leach, an executive pastor of Life Center Ministries in Harrisburg. Fortunately for their congregation, Leach said, Life Center has had an online presence with worship services and devotionals for a number of years now. We have a huge online viewing audience that watches regularly, he said. Its a great way to communicate and connect to people. Life Center traditionally has three services a week; two on Sunday mornings and one on Wednesday evenings. Now, Leach said, the pastors have been ramping up their posts and videos on services like their YouTube account, their Facebook page and their own streaming page on LCMI.tv, allowing for both live and pre-recorded sermons. Similarly, the Lives Changed By Christ churches located throughout central Pennsylvania region have already been streaming services for about 18 months or so, according to LCBC director of communications James Byers. For us, this was a process that was already in place, Byers said. It was just a matter of directing folks who had previously been attending at physical locations to transition over to online. The video services stemmed from a desire to reach people where theyre at, he said, and the response from the congregation has been positive thus far. People are just encouraged, thankful, grateful that as a church family, we can continue to meet despite the circumstances that were in right now, Byers said. Weve been trying to figure out how to stay connected to our congregation. Weve been trying to call and email and connect through Facebook, and see how we can care for people through this and how we can pray for them. How can we show up and care well for people in our community? The LCBC services are streamed online at 13 different times during the week, spread over Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays. A list of times and information on how to view them can be found on the official LCBC website. But even churches that are not known for their digital presence are branching out online. Bishop Ronald Gainer suspended all masses in the Diocese of Harrisburg last week, just as many other churches and religious groups have done. But this hasnt prevented Catholic parishes from getting creative, according to Rachel Bryson, executive director of public relations with the Harrisburg diocese. We have encouraged our parishes to livestream their masses, if possible, so they can continue to feed the spiritual needs of the faithful during this time, Bryson said. Many of the Parishes within the Diocese of Harrisburg are live streaming weekend and daily Masses through both Facebook and YouTube," the diocese said in a statement. Several parishes have also developed innovative ways of connecting with parishioners without access to social media or the Internet, such as offering a conference call option to participate in the Mass. That isnt the only way that some parishes are getting creative to tend to their flock, either. At least one Catholic church in our area will still be conducting the sacrament of confession, albeit with an automotive twist. Drive-Thru Confessions will be held at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Mechanicsburg from 1-2:30 p.m. on March 21, as seen in the Facebook post below: And thats only the beginning of the more analog solutions, when it comes to reaching peoples souls in a time of social distancing. Newville Assembly of God and Christian Life Community Church are among the churches banding together for a Church at the Drive-Ins event, scheduled for March 22 at 10:30 a.m. at the Cumberland Drive-In in Newville. During this time of mandated shutdowns, suspensions and uncertainties revolving around the COVID-19 pandemic, we as the Church still have a big job to do, the Facebook event reads. By hosting Church at the Drive-Ins, we can be in compliance with safety/health regulations while still coming together to hear the word of God preached. But churches and other religious organizations are still trying to meet peoples physical needs as well as spiritual ones, though the social isolation plans make efforts more difficult - and with the threat of the spreading virus, more dangerous. Were still trying to find ways to support local nonprofits at each one of our communities that are doing work to help the marginalized, Byers said. Now more than ever, the church and followers of Jesus have an opportunity to really live and demonstrate their faith. We really encourage people to be the church, to see a need and meet it. How has your place of worship adapted to social distancing and the coronavirus shutdown? What is your church, synagogue or mosque doing? Let us know by contacting us on social media or by emailing us at features@pennlive.com. More coronavirus coverage: Amid coronavirus supply shortages, Pennsylvania health officials project calm, faith in federal help Coronavirus symptoms: Is it COVID-19 or allergies or something else? Easy recipes you and the kids can make while staying home during coronavirus pandemic FORMER US vice-president Joe Biden looks to have a clear path to taking on President Donald Trump in November with only the uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic seemingly standing in his way. Mr Biden holds an essentially insurmountable delegate lead over his last remaining rival, Bernie Sanders, yet the Vermont senator remains in the race. And with several states delaying their primaries to avoid the spread of Covid-19, Mr Biden can't reach the required majority of pledged convention delegates until May or June. The former vice-president, who proudly calls himself a "tactile politician", can't chase those votes in public because he's essentially confined to his Delaware home like any other American in a quasi-national quarantine. His new campaign manager and her staff are working from home, too. For now, Mr Biden's campaign has little choice but to embrace an unprecedented political purgatory. "Three weeks ago, we were on the verge of collapse as a campaign, so this is a very recent phenomenon," said Biden senior adviser Anita Dunn, insisting the 77-year-old remains focused on playing a productive role in the coronavirus response and sewing up a nominating fight that he doesn't see as finished. "We will figure out how to put together a general election campaign for this difficult time," Ms Dunn said. Mr Biden is confident enough in his position, campaign co-chairman Cedric Richmond said, that he's started to consider possibilities for a running mate. But Mr Richmond said no vetting process has begun in earnest. His former Democratic presidential rivals have coalesced around him, too. On Wednesday alone, Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard dropped out of the race and threw her full support behind Mr Biden, and New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand tweeted he had the "right experience, empathy, and character to lead". Mr Biden announced Jen O'Malley Dillon, a veteran Democratic operative, as his new campaign manager on March 12, two days after another round of primary victories widened his lead over Mr Sanders. But in the same gathering where Ms O'Malley Dillon was introduced, she and Mr Dunn told the staff they were shuttering the Philadelphia headquarters and all other Biden offices. With social distancing already taking hold, Mr Biden and his wife Jill addressed the group by telephone from their Wilmington home. The campaign has promised the expected build-out from a relatively shoestring staff - growth having been hampered by Mr Biden's inconsistent fundraising until his recent primary victories - into a national footprint befitting a nominee. But as Ms O'Malley Dillon plots general election strategy, there's little evidence that mass hiring is imminent. Mathematically, there aren't enough delegates up in April for Mr Biden to claim the nomination. More likely he'd need to win 75pc of the delegates from scheduled contests to win the nomination outright on May 19 with Mr Sanders still in the race. If he doesn't, June 2 would become his more likely clinching date. Both candidates have indicated they won't descend into a bitter fight. Mr Sanders was at home in Vermont on Thursday, beginning to speak to top supporters about his campaign going forward. His team understands he has virtually no chance but they also said Mr Sanders wants to leave on his own terms. In an email to supporters, Mr Sanders didn't ask for campaign contributions for the second straight day - an indication he won't be in the race much longer. The Maharashtra government on Saturday ordered industries in the Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial belt near Pune to observe an indefinite lockdown with immediate effect to contain coronavirus which has infected 63 people so far in the state. This decision was announced at a meeting of industries associations and representatives of various companies which was addressed by Maharashtras joint director, Industries, Sadashiv Survase. He said the meeting was held on the directive of Pune divisional commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar. Nearly 3.5 lakh workers are engaged in various units in the Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial belt. Among those affected by the lockdown order is auto major Tata Motors. Pimpri-based Tata Motors in a statement Friday evening had said that it will observe a shut down between March 23 to March 31 in view of the high level precautionary measures in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad to contain the spread of coronavirus. Follow live updates here. The statement said: We have been monitoring the situation closely and all data seem to point out that Maharashtra has been the most impacted. In the interest of safety of our employees in the state, we have decided to rapidly scale down activities at Pune site to get to skeletal operations by end of Monday, 23rd March 2020, and be ready for plant closure by end Tuesday March 24th, 2020 if the situation warrants. We shall remain in this mode till March 31st and review it in due course. The company said that as a manufacturing organisation, it was dealing with a complex situation at hand, with a large part of its workforce in the plants and at its engineering research centre. We shall continue to closely monitor the situation in all the states where our offices and plants are located and make appropriate and proactive decisions should the need arise, the statement said. The management has asked its employees to participate in the Janata Curfew on March 22 from 7 am to 9 pm, as announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Pimpri-Chinchwad Small Industries Association president Sandip Belsare who was among those present at this meeting said, As per the direction of the government we have informed all industrial units to completely lockdown from Saturday. We have told them that the lockdown will be for an indefinite period depending on the Covid-19 situation in Pimpri-Chinchwad and Pune. The government warned of strict action if the lockdown is not complied with. The state government has already announced the shutdown of major cities from Saturday to contain the spread of the virus. All offices, shops and establishments in Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Pune, Pimpri, Chinchwad and Nagpur will be closed till March 31 following an announcement by chief minister Uddhav Thackeray. Nurses have been pictured wearing clinical waste bags on their heads and feet at an NHS hospital that has been overwhelmed by coronavirus. Northwick Park hospital, in Harrow, London, declared an emergency situation on Thursday after all of its critical care beds were filled with patients. It took 24 hours for the hospital to stand down - after hurriedly transferring patients to nearby hospitals - but desperate nurses have issued an urgent plea for proper masks, gowns and gloves amid fears of an inadequate supply. The hospital has reported six deaths due to COVID-19, and has dozens of patients in intensive care. Nurses have been pictured wearing clinical waste bags on their heads at Northwick Park hospital, which declared an emergency on Thursday when it ran out of critical care beds Nurses pictured wearing clinical waste bags on their heads at the hospital, prompting fears it may have an inadequate supply Shocking photos of exhausted nurses wearing yellow-coloured waste bags on their head at Northwick hospital have been shared on social media. 'We are so disheartened with what we face day by day, night by night,' read the caption. 'Improvising PPEs (Personal Protective Equipment) to at least try to protect us from our infectious patients, buying our own wellington boots that is said to be re-imbursed. This is how our prime minister says that we are stockpiling PPEs! 'We have to stay brave for our colleagues who are off sick, families and our patients. It just made us cry inside but we show brave and smiling faces to everyone.' One nurse, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Daily Telegraph they started using waste bags as they had 'no choice'. 'We could catch the virus ourselves,' she said, 'We need proper PPE kit now, or nurses and doctors are going to die. It's as simple as that. 'We're treating our own colleagues on the ward after they caught the virus from patients. How can that be right? 'There are so many younger people here on ventilation - many with asthma or diabetes. They can't stop coughing, they just cough and cough and cough and they can't help it.' Northwick Park Hospital, in Harrow, north-west London, on Thursday declared its intensive care unit was completely full. It freed up space after transferring patients but could hit capacity within hours The nurse also said even her own family doesn't want her to come home, in case she's carrying coronavirus. The hospital, which is run by London North West University Healthcare Trust, is expected to be overwhelmed again within hours. Queen Elizabeth Hospital and University Hospital Lewisham, which are run by the same trust on the south-east side of the city, are reportedly unable to admit all critically ill patients to intensive care. Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust has reportedly been turning away patients, although the trust denies this. Pictured, The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich Dr Lisa Anderson, a consultant cardiologist at St George's hospital in London, told BBC Radio 4 this morning that critical staff are not getting the protection they need. 'The government changed the guidelines for protection equipment on Monday,' she said, 'and they're no longer complaint with WHO recommendations'. 'So whereas the WHO says you have to wear a full gown and a visor, we only have to wear a simple face mask, short gloves and a little pinafore apron when we're dealing with patients up to 12 hours at a time. 'The equipment has arrived but because they have changed the rules where you can only wear that equipment... patients are being treated without protection.' She denied rumours that the NHS has run out of essential equipment. To help units handle admissions, it is thought they may have to impose a clinical threshold of 60 years old for admissions in order to hold back da flood of patients. The number of cases reported in London as of Friday, shown on the map above London is at the epicentre of the UK's spiralling outbreak and yesterday recorded 18 more deaths, taking its total to 69 out of more than 1,200 cases. Many trusts around the capital are reportedly already at capacity or exceeding it, at a time when the outbreak is meant to have barely started. Barnet, Lewisham and Greenwich, Epsom and St Helier, North Middlesex and Hillingdon, are all reportedly struggling. A senior director at an unnamed London health trust has told the Health Service Journal that the situation is already 'f****** petrifying'. 'The thing people aren't really talking about yet is that we are going to have to quickly agree some clinical thresholds for admissions to intensive care,' he said, 'This is what the Italians had to do, and whether it's set at (a maximum age of) 60 or whatever, we are going to have to do something similar. 'There's no way we're going to be able to scale up to the level we need otherwise.' Lewisham and Greenwich hospital was reported to be turning away patients yesterday due to a lack of capacity, but a spokesman said this was untrue. Two London hospitals (pictured, University Hospital Lewisham) are turning away coronavirus patients because they are running out of beds, staff have claimed. This was denied by the trust A spokesman for London North West University healthcare trust said: 'We can continue to provide our staff with appropriate Personal Protective Equipment, in line with national guidance from Public Health England. 'We are frequently writing to our staff to remind them what protective equipment they should be weareing and how they can access it, and will be issuing a reminder to ensure that all our teams have the most up to date information.' Public Health England does not advise nurses to wear foot covers to care for patients with COVID-19. (Photo : Screenshot From Walmart Couponers Facebook Page) Walmart The recent news being reported about Walmart has been circulating the panic buying and terrible lines being drawn but in a recent turn of events, a certain happening has just topped it all! A woman went out to buy groceries but then came back wish something more, a baby! In this time of social distancing due to the coronavirus (covid-19) most citizens are urged to stay at home therefore stacking up on food and other necessities at home is an absolute necessity. This need has lately brought stores like Walmart and other groceries to host a massive amount of people as well everyone seems to be trying to stock their homes. A woman gave birth in the toilet paper aisle Just recently, a pregnant lady went into labor suddenly while at a Walmart located in southwestern Missouri just this week! The birth happened in an odd place which was in the middle of the store's very own toilet paper aisle which is usually one of the first things that run out! The manager reports the situation According to the acting manager by the name of Jessica Hinkle, the woman suddenly told associates who were at the Springfield store on Wednesday afternoon that hew water just broke and that she could not wait any longer and had to go into labor right then and there! Read Also: Alcohol vs. Hand Washing: Which One of These is More Effective? Hinkle expressed her reaction to the situation to a local news station KY3 by saying, "We were like, 'what do we do now?'" continuing with a follow up that "Another lady comes around the corner and she says, 'I'm a labor nurse, can I help?' and we said, 'Yes. Yes, please.'" The team was set as firefighters rushed towards the scene Firefighters were the first respondents to the scene while Hinkle was blocking the aisle with merely a sheet in order to give the woman at least a bit of privacy during labor. Once the fire and medical crews arrived in only a short matter of time, the whole team was able to help deliver the baby! The firefighter's response on the situation According to Springfield Fire Chief David Pennington's Tweet which was released on Thursday, "Our Firefighters are EMT's and are well trained to handle any EMS call that comes in," which shows just how reliable the firefighters are in other times of need. A successful delivery Mr. Pennington was able to put everyone at ease by saying that both the mother and the newly delivered daughter were in fact, "doing very well." Later on Mr. Pennington thanked Fire Lt. Michael Kuss as well as his crew for being able to successfully pull off the emergency delivery. Read Also: Beware! Face Masks from Amazon Labeled "Based in USA" are Manufactured in WUHAN CHINA! Hinkle told KY3 that the customers who had been gathering around the scene erupted in cheers once the baby was successfully delivered! The citizens who were gathered around in Walmart that day did not expect for one bit that this situation would happen. And now some good news: LT Kuss and his crew safely assisted mom with the emergency delivery of her baby. Both are doing very well. LT Kuss: "During a time of panic and fear it is incredible to run a call that produces joy and brings new life into the world". Amen, Lieutenant. pic.twitter.com/AiNgOyQ3h2 March 18, 2020 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. China Exonerates Late Whistleblowing Doctor Li Wenliang 2020-03-20 -- China has exonerated late whistleblowing doctor Li Wenliang, who was hauled in for questioning by police, who accused him of "spreading rumors" when he tried to alert the authorities about the emerging coronavirus epidemic in the central city of Wuhan. Police in Wuhan revoked a reprimand they issued to Li, who has since died from COVID-19, and apologized to his family for their treatment of him, official media said. Li, an ophthalmologist at Wuhan Central Hospital, had shared information from a patient's medical records in a WeChat group on Dec. 30, showing signs of infection with a SARS-like coronavirus, the report said. Detained and reprimanded by police on Jan. 3 for spreading rumors, Li was among eight people to be detained and questioned in Wuhan over "rumor-mongering" around the new disease. "It turned out that the information they spread online alerting the public of the risks of people-to-people transmission was accurate," the Global Times newspaper, which has close ties to ruling Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece the People's Daily, said in its report on the probe. Investigators conducted face-to-face and phone interviews with Wuhan officials, party leaders, publicity officers, health experts and police, as well as the local internet censors, the paper said. "The probe's findings showed that Li did not deliberately intend to disturb public order in posting the information on WeChat," it said, adding that Li was still responsible for passing on the information "without verification." His employers, who were increasingly in the grip of the developing epidemic, spoke to Li, but didn't sanction him formally, the report said. Beijing-based rights lawyer Cheng Hai said the official attempt to make amends was largely cosmetic. "First, there is no ruling that the disciplinary punishment was illegal; second, there was no mention of the positive social impact of Li Wenliang's actions," Cheng said. "Third, there is no clear apportioning of accountability." Widespread public anger The report only said that the reprimand was "inappropriate," Cheng said. "Li Wenliang's actions were entirely lawful, and there was no legal basis for the reprimand whatsoever," he said. "Neither did they recognize that Li Wenliang's actions didn't endanger anyone, nor did they name who was responsible." A freelance journalist who gave only his surname Liu said the report was more of a response to widespread public anger at Li's treatment. "The Li Wenliang affair had a huge impact," Liu said. "If it had merely been a question of online opinion, the government might not have paid it much attention." He said the ruling Chinese Communist Party normally relies on censorship and total online deletion of negative comments when something goes wrong. "It wasn't until people started talking about protesting on the streets that they started scrambling to calm things down," Liu said. He said that since President Xi Jinping took power in 2012, his administration has become very tolerant of mistakes, but only among officials who prove their loyalty to the current leadership. "It doesn't matter how big of a mistake you make; if you loyally implement orders from on high, they will clear up any mess for you," Liu said. A psychologist surnamed Tan said the report was too little, too late. "There are still so many unanswered questions, such as what was the role played by the [Communist Party] secretary?" "The investigation team should have given a much more thorough account." Tycoon still unaccounted for Li wasn't the last person to run afoul of the authorities after criticizing the government's response to the coronavirus epidemic. Chinese social media star and property tycoon Ren Zhiqiang is incommunicado, believed detained, after an article critical of the government's response to the emergence of the coronavirus in Wuhan appeared online. The article was attributed to one "Ren Zhiqiang," but RFA was unable to verify whether he wrote it. The article, titled "The lives of the people are ruined by the virus and a seriously sick system," doesn't mention President Xi, but it takes aim at decisions made under his direct command, nonetheless, including the decision to go ahead with a mass Lunar New Year banquet for thousands of people that resulted in a huge cluster of COVID-19 cases in the weeks that followed. "The emperor is holding up a piece of cloth, trying to cover up the fact that he is wearing no clothes at all, although his ambition to be a strong leader is naked enough," the article quipped. "No criticism of the mass assembly of 170,000 people has emerged, and the truth has never been uncovered, nor the cause of the outbreak discovered," the article said. "The covert propaganda around the decisions made during the Wuhan coronavirus epidemic will only deceive those who are willing to be deceived," it said. "It won't mend those families broken by ... lost loved ones." The article also took issue with the accusation by police that Li and his seven colleagues were "rumor-mongering." Xi has ordered China's media to follow the party line, focus on "positive reporting", and "speak the party's will and protect the party's authority and unity" when reporting on COVID-19. Reported by Han Jie for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Lau Siu-fung and Man Hoi-tsan for the Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. Copyright 1998-2020, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content March not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Gov. Phil Murphy sat down Friday afternoon for a live interview with NJ Advance Media about New Jerseys response to the coronavirus outbreak just after he announced confirmed cases of the illness have risen to at least 890, with 11 deaths, and said more business closings are on the way. Heres a look at nine things the governor discussed during his 13-minute chat on NJ.coms Facebook page: 1. Its undetermined if New Jerseyans will be ordered to stay home. In the last 24 hours, the governors of California and New York ordered people to stay home, except for essential workers and essential travel, to help stop the virus spread. Murphy did not go as far Friday, though he did say he is expected to order all non-essential businesses in New Jersey closed on Saturday. To be determined, the governor said as to whether he will order people to stay at home. But itll be no gatherings, non-essential businesses not open. ... Theres no amount of aggressiveness thats too much. Murphy has already closed of all public and private schools and the shutdown of casinos, dine-in restaurant service, theaters, gyms, and indoor shopping malls, and a suggested curfew from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. He also has limited public gatherings to no more than 50 people and repeatedly called for people to stay home if they can. Other businesses have so far been allowed to stay open, as long as they adhere to social distancing guidelines and close by 8 p.m. But that appears to be changing Saturday. Murphy did not explain what non-essential means, though hes unlikely to close grocery stores, gas stations, and pharmacies. In many respects, California did something that sounded like it was a lot more significant than weve already done, Murphy said. Frankly, weve probably been as aggressive as any American state. But were gonna tighten the screws further. We have no choice. 2. New Jerseys number of positive tests will go up, but that may help. Murphy said Friday the state may be weeks away from the peak of the number of cases. But he said he did not know just how many cases the state is projecting. I dont have a crisp answer in terms of how bad, the governor said. But the numbers are gonna go up, and theyre gonna go up meaningfully. Murphy said thats partly because the state is seeing more community spread and testing is expanding rapidly. The state opened its first government-run drive-through testing center, in Bergen County, on Friday and is expected to open a second, in Monmouth County, on Monday. For those worried by the spike in cases, Murphy said more testing is a good thing. The more we know, the better well be in terms of our ability to deal with this, he said. 3. There are no numbers on how many people have recovered from the illness already. The state has not provided numbers for how many, if any, New Jerseyans inflicted with the virus have recovered. Murphy also didnt provide a number, though he said "a lot of folks are not hospitalized." Particularly those that are younger or dont have underlying health issues, he said. But the folks who are getting badly, theres no understating how bad this could be. 4. Daycare centers are remaining open for this reason. Despite the rash of school and business closings across the state, Murphy has faced criticism for keeping child day care centers open. The governor said they remain open because some health-care and emergency workers with children need a place to bring their kids. Weve got to be really careful that we dont tilt the machine completely out of whack, Murphy said. We need some place for parents to go with their kids." He said officials are watching that very closely. Murphy also announced Friday he is closing adult day care centers in the state. 5. The state still needs health-care equipment. New Jersey remains short on personal protective equipment for health-care workers as they confront the virus, Murphy said, but officials are working to secure more supplies. He said the state continues to seek assistance from the federal government, while also buying new equipment and getting donations from private companies. Were turning over every single stone, the governor said. But the fact of the matter is: We dont have enough. 6. Heres where to call if you see a business violating the states orders. If you discover a business remaining open or violating another of Murphys orders, he said you can call 1-800-222-1222 or call 2-1-1 or text NJ COVID to 898211. You can also visit NJ.gov/Health. Everybodys got to be compliant here, Murphy said. 7. Dont expect to go through with your elective surgery. Murphy did not say he is ordering people in New Jersey to stop getting elective surgeries. But, he said, I dont think even if they want to do elective surgeries that theyre allowed to. The governor noted how he had a cancerous tumor removed from his kidney March 4 and recently did a follow-up with his doctor via his wifes iPhone. The good news is: It looks good and Im recovering, he said. He also said he was struck by something else his doctor told him. He made the following statement, which kind of took me back, Murphy said. I had cancer. It had to be done within a certain amount of months. But he said almost certainly if I were up now for that operation, it would have been delayed, deferred. 8. There is help if you cant pay your rent or mortgage or are out of work. The state is enacting numerous laws and putting other policies in places to help New Jerseyans affected by the sudden closing of businesses, Murphy stressed. He noted hes given a two-month extension on drivers license renewals, ordered that foreclosures or evictions be halted, and is urging banks to make sure they give people every break possible. I want landlords to hear us loud and clear: This is the time to give people a break, Murphy said. He also noted that New Jersey saw a 20% jump in unemployment requests last week, and that another 15,000 applications for unemployment came in on Monday alone. Murphy emphasized that the state had two choices." Ignore the virus, have enormous amount of fatalities and people sick, and have an economic cratering, or get our ahead of this, flatten the curve, limit the fatalities number of people sick, but also still have an economic meltdown, the governor said. Im gonna take door No. 2 every time out. Murphy also noted he and the governors of New York and Connecticut are asking the federal government for at least $100 billion in direct assistance to cover lost revenue and other costs. 9. You still wont have to pump your own gas amid the pandemic. No, Murphy said, he hasnt considered ending New Jerseys status as the last state in the nation that allows only full-service gas. That has not come across my desk," he said, and that is not a consideration at least at this time. Murphy said he expects New Jerseyans to have their gas pumped for the rest of time. Sign up for text message alerts from NJ.com on coronavirus in New Jersey: If you would like updates on New Jersey-specific coronavirus news, subscribe to our Coronavirus in N.J. newsletter. Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. 21.03.2020 LISTEN Nana Obiyaa (Queen Nanny) was born, in the Gold Coast, one hundred and thirty years earlier than Harriet Tubman. The Asante kingdom was formed in 1670 by King Osei Tutu and Okomfo Anokye. Between 1670 and 1744, Asante engaged in wars of conquest against Akyem, Denkyrira, Banda, Gyaman, Akwapim, and Akwamu. The Asantes sold their prisoners of war to slave traders, in exchange for Firearms and Ammunition. Nana Obiyaa was in her early youth, when her village was conquered. She and her townspeople, including several close family members ended up on the Caribbean Island of Jamaica. They were sold to a sugar plantation in Saint Thomas, near Port Royal. THE COROMANTINS. The "Coromantin-slaves" was the name collectively, assigned to all slaves who were processed through Fort Amsterdam at Kormatin, before embarkation to the Caribbean. Most of the slaves imported into Jamaica were from the Gold Coast, the Congo, and Madagascar. The Coromantin-slaves were mainly from the Fanti, Akim, Asante, and Ga tribes. Recorded documents indicate that between 1701 and 1725, the Coromantins formed 44.8% of the total number of slaves that arrived in Jamaica. The Coromantins would later, lead most of the slave rebellions, not only in Jamaica, but also in other parts of the Caribbean and North America. Finding life on the sugar plantation unbearable, Nana Obiyaa and her brothers: Akyeampong (Accompong), Kwadwo (Kojo), and Kwaku (Quaco) planned their escape. They knew of other slaves who had seized the opportunity presented by the British capture of Jamaica from the Spanish in 1655 to escape into the Blue Mountains. They have been living freely on the steep Blue mountains since then. Nana Obiyaa and her brothers made their way into the jungle of the steep blue mountains where it would be harder to find. Nana Obiyaas sister Sikansuo was not involved with of the plot; she was left behind on the sugar plantation. Nana was well versed in Akan Traditions and Religion. She introduced Ancestor Worship and performed many of the Akan Rituals and Ceremonies, for the inhabitants of the blue mountains. She practiced herbal medicine, too. That made her a Chief Priestess, and a powerful person in the Windward Maroon settler community. By the year 1720, Nana Obiyaa was fully, in charge of the Windward Maroon community on the Blue mountains. Her town was named Nanny Town. Nanny Town was located on a 900- foot ridge, and Maroon guards were placed at strategic positions to look out for enemy invaders. The guards relayed information to the Maroon community and their Warriors, by blowing Nantwi-abeng" (horns derived from cattle). Nanny Town could not be viewed from a lower position because of the steep mountain slope, and It was accessible by narrow-footpaths only. That made it impossible for the British and their mercenaries to invade Nanny Town, without falling into traps set by Nanas well-trained warriors. From their hideouts in Nanny Town, the windward maroons visited the plantations at night and lured other slaves to escape and join them on the mountain. Their numbers grew gradually, and the area became a safe haven for other escaped-slaves. Nana took over the recruitment and training of the windward maroon warriors (men and women). Psychologically, she performed rituals to boost the spiritual powers of the warriors. Nana was well versed in Guerrilla-warfare too. She learned the art of camouflage during her childhood days. She taught her warriors how to cover themselves with tree branches and leaves and stayed still like trees. Camouflaged warriors were placed at strategic positions to Ambush the attacking British soldiers and their mercenaries. Most British troops and other invaders were led into an ambush, and got killed by the maroon warriors. The British attacked Nanny Town several times without much success; they were beaten back, most of the time. The British did not know the bush terrain very well, and their well-equipped force was no match for the scantily-equipped maroon warriors. As Nanny Town became well-populated, Nana and her brothers decide to split up and spread their liberation struggle to other parts of Jamaica. While Nana Obiyaa and Quaco remained on the blue mountains, Akyeampong and Kojo moved westward. Akyeampong went to establish Accompong Town in present-day Saint Elizabeth parish. Kojo helped to establish Cudjoes township (Trelaway Town) and later became the leader of the Leeward maroons, after winning the leadership contest against a Madagascan, at the age of 30 years. Kojo welcomed Non-Coromantes (Congolese, Madagascans, Nigerians) into his Leeward Maroon community. The core of the maroon communities was formed by Coromantes. Kojo introduced the swearing of oaths to all new community members. They swore an oath of allegiance to the gods. By swearing an oath to the gods, the heterogeneous Akan-speakers and non-Akans became united as one people with a common destiny. Kojo forbade the use of any language other than English among the leeward maroons. He sought to avert ethnic factionalism. Though English may have been the mandated language of use, Kromanti persisted. Even today, Kromanti is known as a ritual language, and elements of Kromanti are present in the everyday speech of modern Maroons. THE BRITISH-MAROON WAR OF 1725-1734. The Maroon warriors frequently raided plantations to release slaves and capture new weapons. On the windward front Nana Obiyaa was able to free about 1000 slaves. The sugarcane plantation owners were unhappy; they were losing slaves, and their equipment and crops were frequently burned by the windward maroons. The colonial government reacted by sending British soldiers, freed-black mercenaries and militias to purge the blue mountains. The final British assault and eventual victory, came in 1734. Captain Cuffee (Kofi) (Capt.Sambo) Captain Cuffee was one of the Nana brothers. In the Akan tradition a brother could be a Sibling, a Cousin, someone of the same Clan, or even a person from the same town when they meet elsewhere. Kofi had been with Nana and the windward maroons. He could not understand why Nana wielded so much authority and influence on the blue mountains. He decided to sell Nana to the British. After conniving with the British, he led the 1733 invasion of Nanny Town. He knew the terrain very well. After the scouring and burning, he entered Nanas hut, at a time she was asleep and fired into the hut and presumably killed Nana Obiyaa. For his reward, the British honored Kofi, and gave him full freedom from slavery. Nana Obiyaa and some of her followers escaped the 1733-1734 attack. She made a new hideout near the Rio Grande. Later Nana Obiyaa wanted to join forces with her brother Kojo in the West, for the liberation struggle. Kojo was however interested in a Peace Deal with the British. Nana Obiyaa was left frustrated; she eventually gave up on the struggle for freedom for all slaves. She became more interested in food production. The maroon war was over in 1739. Peace treaties were signed between the British and the Nanas brothers (Kojo, Quaco, Kofi, Johnny, Akyeampong) and several other leaders. The British offered Nana Obiyaa, a new parcel of land, 500 acres. After initial resistance Nana acceded to the pressure from her brothers. She finally agreed and accepted the land the British had granted she and her people. She moved to the new land. The old Nanny Town was never rebuilt. A new Nanny Township was established, and renamed Moore Town. Nana lived peacefully with the British; she concentrated on crop farming and animal husbandry. Nana Obiyaa was married to Adu, also a Coromantin. She had no surviving biological children at the time of her death. She died at the age of nearly 69 years in 1755. The Government of Jamaica, declared her a National Hero in 1975, awarded Nana Obiyaa, now known as Queen Nanny, the title of Right Excellence. A portrait of Queen Nanny, is found on the Jamaican $500 Bill. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 20, 2020) - Southern Arc Minerals Inc. (TSXV: SA) ("Southern Arc" or the "Company") announces the resignation of Khalid Al Obaidli as a director of the Company. Khalid Al Obaidli has been a director of Southern Arc since November 2013. Mr. Al Obaidli is the Chief Executive Officer of Qatar Mining Company, a long standing shareholder of Southern Arc, and is resigning from Southern Arc to focus on other activities in Qatar. The Company would like to thank Mr. Al Obaidli for his time and contributions to Southern Arc. Michael Andrews has relinquished his responsibilities as President and Chief Operating Officer in order to focus on his other business activities. Those responsibilities have been assumed by the Company's Chairman, John Proust. The Company would like to thank Dr. Andrews for his role as an officer and looks forward to his continuing contributions as a director of Southern Arc. On behalf of the Board of Southern Arc Minerals Inc. "John Proust" Chairman & CEO About Southern Arc Southern Arc is a Canadian company focused on enhancing shareholder value through strategic investments in mineral resource companies with a focus on gold and copper-gold. Southern Arc's management team identifies highly prospective assets in politically safe jurisdictions and seeks to unlock their value by providing strategic investments, proven technical skills, global knowledge, and increased access to industry relationships. More information is available at www.southernarcminerals.com or by email at info@southernarcminerals.com Southern Arc Contact John Proust Chairman & CEO Phone: 778-725-1490 Email: info@southernarcminerals.com Cautionary Note Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as such term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/53632 Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 21) The local government of Muntinlupa has imposed a 24-hour curfew starting Saturday in a bid to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease. The city council approved in a special session Friday an ordinance requiring Muntinlupa residents to just stay in their homes. Exempted are health personnel, law enforcers, other frontliners, workers who provide 'essential services,' and 'emergency cases.' There will be a written record of curfew violation for first-time offenders, according to the ordinance. First-time violators will also be stripped of benefits granted by the local government until the end of quarantine period or on April 12, it added. Repeat offenses will also be put on barangay records. Second-time violators will also stop receiving relief goods and other assistance. The ordinance was signed by Muntinlupa Mayor Jaime Fresnedi on March 21 and took effect immediately. An earlier ordinance imposed a curfew from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. The curfew ordinance follows an earlier agreement among Metro Manila mayors that recommended such measure to keep people off the streets to contain the viral disease. President Rodrigo Duterte early this week placed the entire island of Luzon under enhanced community quarantine as a strategy against the spread of COVID-19. Authorities said they were looking for a second assailant. Police did not say if the man who had been shot had fired his gun as well. The boy was reported to be conscious after the shooting. Australians refusing to comply with measures aimed at slowing the deadly coronavirus have been warned they will soon face lockdowns, as authorities fight an increasingly uphill battle to contain the virus after the number of infections surpassed 1000. Doctors have raised concerns that COVID-19 is spreading through people flouting the requirement to self-isolate for 14 days after returning from overseas or being exposed to a confirmed case, while restrictions on testing mean that thousands of people with cold and flu symptoms may unknowingly carry the virus. Beachgoers are seen at Bondi Beach on Friday despite the threat of novel coronavirus in Sydney. Credit:AAP Royal Australian College of Surgeons NSW chairman Ken Loi told The Sun-Herald and The Sunday Age that Australians were blatantly flouting the requirement to self-isolate after travel, including a patient who showed up for his scheduled elective surgery days after arriving in the country. "He threatened to sue the surgeon for refusing him," Dr Loi said. The Peace People initially faced down violent opposition by the I.R.A. participants in the first Peace Women march in Belfast were assaulted, accused of collaborating with the British but the momentum behind the movement ebbed, and there were disagreements among the three leaders over strategy and funding. Since the late 1970s the organization has had little presence in Northern Ireland. Ms. Williams, who was criticized for not donating all of her share of the Nobel Prize money to the cause, left the Peace People in 1980 and emigrated to the United States, settling in Florida. She returned to live in the Republic of Ireland in 2004. Like Ms. Corrigan, Ms. Williams used her profile as a Nobel laureate to campaign on international issues, including childrens welfare and global peace. She lectured widely in the United States. Relations with Ms. Corrigan, which had become strained as the Peace People flagged, were mended after Ms. Williamss return to Ireland. In 2006, they joined four other female Nobel laureates to found the Nobel Womens Initiative, promoting peace, womens rights and other causes. After a visit to Iraq that same year, Ms. Williams caused controversy when she told a childrens seminar in Australia that she didnt believe that she was nonviolent. Right now, I would love to kill George Bush, she said, referring to President George W. Bush. I dont know how I ever got a Nobel Peace Prize, because when I see children die, the anger in me is just beyond belief. Its our duty as human beings, whatever age we are, to become the protectors of human life. After Ms. Williamss death, Ms. Corrigan put out a statement of condolence on the Peace People website, saying in part, Betty was a woman of great courage with a passion for peace and a love and compassion for all children. ANN ARBOR, MI With evidence the new coronavirus is spreading locally, Washtenaw County Health Officer Jimena Loveluck is warning residents to take precautions. Residents can assume there is a possibility the virus may be present when they are in public places in the community, she said in a new video update Friday, March 20. The health department is not announcing evidence of community spread to cause panic, but to reinforce that people should be taking all recommended prevention measures. In addition to washing hands and regularly touched surfaces, officials recommend practicing social distancing, assuming anyone may be carrying the virus, keeping at least six feet away from others and working from home if possible. Stay at home, Ann Arbor mayor tells residents in new coronavirus video update We will get through this by working together as a community, Loveluck said. Most people who get ill will recover at home without medical care, but some will get seriously ill. We must do everything we can to protect our community members and prevent our health care systems from being overburdened. The goal is to slow the spread of COVID-19 illness as much as possible, Loveluck said in Fridays video. There were 16 confirmed cases in the county as of Friday and 549 across Michigan. That climbed to 29 for the county and 787 statewide on Saturday. Washtenaw County coronavirus case count climbs to 29 with 13 new cases Updates are being posted by the health department at www.washtenaw.org/COVID19. Washtenaw Countys first two COVID-19 cases were reported March 12. According to the health department, one had traveled to Europe and the other to New York. Several more cases were confirmed in the following days, and on March 19 the count doubled from seven to 14. The health department now believes the virus is spreading within the community, as several new cases have been confirmed in people with no history of travel. On Sunday, Michigan had 53 confirmed cases of coronavirus COVID-19. By Friday, it was more than 10 times that 549 cases. Four in the state have been fatal. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported over 15,000 cases in the U.S. as of Friday, including over 200 deaths. MORE FROM MLIVE AND THE ANN ARBOR NEWS: Complete coronavirus coverage in Michigan. Saturday, March 21: Latest developments on coronavirus in Michigan Washtenaw County declares emergency, approves $250K coronavirus response fund Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer asks Trump to help auto industry weather coronavirus storm Another 5 things that give us hope amid coronavirus crisis in Washtenaw, Livingston counties Coronavirus argument in Ann Arbor ends in shooting death, police say The protestors who have been on a sit-in in front of the Delhi University's women's hostel block at the Dhaka Campus to protest against the hostel curfew have put their protests on hold till at least March 31 owing to the Coronavirus pandemic. But they will have a few representatives taking their place at the protest site the residents have put plants to sit in for them. Keeping in mind the ongoing health emergency, the women residents of the Dhaka Complex said that they would continue their struggle symbolically till March 31. "We will follow the principle of social distancing due to which we would avoid huge gatherings. As a symbol of dissent, we have placed plants at the protest site to depict that the protest still continues in its full swing leaving alone the idea of gathering in huge numbers for some time," said Amisha Nanda, who came up with the idea. "I had the idea that we should put plants there (at the protest site) because it signifies growth for us, the growth of our protest. The protestors supported the idea," she added. The women hostellers of the varsity have also been asked to vacate the premises by March 22 but at the same time trains have been cancelled, regulations passed to not go out unless it is an emergency the students stand between a rock and a hard place now. They also alleged that the residents of the male hostels are not being forced to move while they have been told to vacate as soon as possible. The students had said that they will adhere to the lockdown directives and will not venture out. "We had written to the Vice-Chancellor stating that we will remain indoors and no one will be allowed inside no visitors, parents or even students who are not currently inside. The mess workers had agreed to cook for us at NESHW as they too won't be able to leave for home. There are very less trains running and it is not safe to travel either," said Amisha, a resident of Ambedkar Ganguly Students' House for Women. "But the authorities have given us only 24 hours to vacate. They even said that if we can't go home we should go to the State Houses. But they will stop mess services at the Undergraduate House for Girls from tomorrow," said Amisha. Veteran ABC health presenter Norman Swan says he has filled a "vacuum" left by the government's poor communication on the coronavirus crisis, accusing health authorities of putting out "public relations Valium". The broadcaster of nearly 40 years, who is a doctor by training, has become a beacon of guidance for many confused and concerned listeners. But he says he has never sought to portray himself as an official spokesperson or adviser on managing the pandemic. Norman Swan, a physician by training, has presented Radio National's Health Report for the past 35 years. "There's something wrong with the system if it's me that people are relying on," Dr Swan said. "You see all these Twitter messages saying 'Norman for chief medical officer'. Thanks very much, but no. I don't want to be the national spokesperson for coronavirus. My job is to hold the government to account." Close to one billion people worldwide were confined to their homes on Saturday as the global death toll shot past 11,000 and US states rolled out lockdown measures already imposed across swathes of Europe. The pandemic has completely upended lives across the planet, restricting movement, shutting schools and forcing millions to work from home. While President Donald Trump insisted the United States was "winning" the war against the virus, individual states dramatically ramped up restrictions, with New York and Illinois joining California in ordering residents to stay home. The virus death toll surged past 11,000 worldwide, with 4,000 alone in worst-hit Italy where the daily number of fatalities has shot up relentlessly over the past week. An estimated 900 million people are now confined to their homes in 35 countries around the world -- including 600 million hemmed in by obligatory government lockdown orders -- according to an AFP tally. While the elderly and those with pre-existing medical conditions are the hardest hit by the virus, the World Health Organization warned that young people were also vulnerable. "Today I have a message for young people: you are not invincible. This virus could put you in hospital for weeks -- or even kill you," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. "Even if you don't get sick, the choices you make about where you go could be the difference between life and death for someone else." China on Saturday reported no new local infections for a third straight day, and the WHO said the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus emerged late last year, offered a glimmer of "hope for the rest of the world". But there are growing concerns of a new wave of "imported" infections in the region, with Hong Kong reporting 48 suspected cases on Friday -- its biggest daily jump since the crisis began. Many of them have a recent history of travel to or from Europe. Italy reported its worst single day death toll Friday, adding another 627 fatalities and taking its reported total to 4,032 despite efforts to stem the spread. The nation of 60 million now accounts for 36 percent of the world's deaths and its death rate of 8.6 percent among confirmed infections is significantly higher than in most other countries. France, Italy, Spain and other European countries have ordered people to stay at home, threatening fines in some cases, while Bavaria became the first region in Germany to order a lockdown. Britain, falling in line with its EU neighbours, also announced tougher restrictions, telling pubs, restaurants and theatres to close and promising to help cover the wages of affected workers. Australia's famed Bondi beach was also ordered shut after sunbathers crowded the hotspot in defiance of government orders to avoid non-essential outdoor gatherings. "This is not something we are doing because we are the 'fun police'... this is about saving lives," New South Wales state Police Minister David Elliott told reporters. With virus fears gripping the United States, its largest state California -- with over 1,000 cases and 19 deaths -- told its 40 million residents to stay at home. New York state, which has reported over 7,000 cases and 39 deaths, followed suit on Friday, ordering its nearly 20 million residents to do the same from Sunday evening. Trump applauded the New York and California decisions, but said he did not think a nationwide lockdown was needed. "Those are really two hotbeds," he said. "I don't think we'll ever find (a US-wide lockdown) necessary." Shortly after the president spoke, the governor of Illinois ordered residents of the midwestern state to stay at home and the Connecticut governor did the same. The restrictions so far imposed in seven states cover around 100 million people, with the country's three most populous cities -- New York, Los Angeles and Chicago -- under lockdown. Trump also announced Friday that the US and Mexico have agreed to restrict non-essential travel across their border. And US lawmakers on Friday evening missed a deadline to reach an agreement on a $1 trillion emergency package, amid fears of widespread economic fallout because of the pandemic. Strict confinement measures across Europe follow the template set by China, as a lockdown imposed in Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital, appeared to have paid off. Europe now accounts for more than half of the world's fatalities linked to Covid-19. Accurate figures are difficult to come by, however, as many of those who die suffer from other illnesses and infection rates are uncertain because of a lack of testing in many countries. In a sign of the shifting centre of the crisis, China has sent medical supplies to European nations struggling to cope with the pandemic, including Greece which received 500,000 medical masks from Beijing Saturday. The shadow of the virus is lengthening across Africa and the Middle East too. The Democratic Republic of Congo reported its first death Saturday, while Burkina Faso reported two new deaths, bringing the total number of fatalities in sub-Saharan Africa to five. Cases stand at over 1,000 across Africa, where health care systems are fragile and social distancing is not possible in many crowded cities. In Iran, which reported 123 new deaths Saturday, both supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani promised the country would overcome the outbreak -- but still refused to join the rest of the world in imposing heavy restrictions. The country has more than 1,500 deaths and some 20,000 infections. In Latin America, Cuba and Bolivia both announced they were closing their borders, and Colombia said it would begin mandatory isolation from Tuesday. Rio de Janeiro's beaches will be off-limits to sunseekers from Saturday, leaving street vendors worried how they will survive with limited government support. For businesses across the county the uncertainty of what lays ahead in light of the escalating Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic with concern upper most for the public and their staff has resulted in many of them having to close their doors. Depending on their offerings some businesses are comparing the current climate to that of a red weather warning with no end in sight. Others, such as large supermarkets are experiencing panic buying as people rush to bulk buy. For Des Faul, owner of Cafe Fleur operating his business is becoming increasingly difficult with cancellations rolling in. "We've seen a marked decrease in the footfall in the last week, people just aren't around town. And then some of our meetings have been cancelled because they're stopping gatherings so our deliveries are down. We've had eight cancellations so far." Regularly providing catering for meetings at Sligo University Hospital, Des explains that this side of the business has been massively impacted. "Some days we would be doing 12 deliveries but now we're on one or two. The hospital would be a big part of our business but pharmacy reps who normally host meetings and get us aren't allowed go to hospitals because they're closed to visitors. "We're affected on the inside and the outside," he says, referring to the ongoing works on O'Connell Street. "You can see why cancellations are happening but from our perspective it's tough enough, but times are tough for everybody. "We have the O'Connell street works which didn't help anybody but we'll get over that, that's finishing in five weeks time." Keeping an eye on the escalating cases in Italy, Des is trying to remain positive but cannot avoid being concerned about what the future may bring "We've no idea what's to come. We're three weeks behind the curve of Italy and they've shut the entire country down. I'm not a sensationalist person and I like to be pragmatic but also realistic. I see a lot of damage coming very quickly." Like all small businesses owners Des is preparing his business for the worst case scenario of losing staff for a time due to coronavirus or self isolation. "We're all wondering what we should do. If three of seven staff are sick and if the rest are in isolation for two weeks anyway that's us closed. If we lose two staff to self isolation we'll be tight, if we lose three we'll be closed." Explaining the reality of running a business in these ever-changing and uncertain times, Des says the hands on reality of hospitality means staff need to be on site for it to function. "We need a certain amount of people to operate. There's no remote working in this business, that doesn't happen. "There's a certain amount of paperwork I can do, that'll take a day, after that I don't know." Asked what plans he has in place, the businessman said he is expecting things to get much worse. "I've no doubt it will get significantly worse quite quickly. We're looking at not doing outside work. I'm the delivery guy and I run the business so I'm putting myself at risk going outside, especially going into places like the hospital." Des says up until now it has been fine as he and his staff have always exercised excellent hygiene practices. "We're in the hospitality industry we wash our hands umpteen times a day anyway, but there's still a risk factor, so we may have to slim down the operation, not do deliveries, have one or two people working a day and just do take outs." "We want to keep it going because people get into habits very quickly. If you're not open they'll go somewhere else so you don't want that. We want to keep it going as long as we possibly can." Not meaning to be dramatic or sensationalist Des says he is readying his business for the eventuality that the coronavirus is already in Sligo. "There's no reason it wouldn't be here, the incubation period is three days to 12 days, why would we think we're any different to other place. This is the reality. We're a small SME we're not covered." Des relucantly took the decision on Saturday to close. "We hope to re-open once all of this chaos dies down. We have run a great business with fantastic customers and a very loyal team and we aspire to get back up and running later this year," Des said in a post on social media. Other businesses followed suit at the week-end including the Four Lanterns, Ej Menswear and a host of pubs and some restaurants, with takeaway being offered in some only. Having survived bleak periods of trading in the past, most recently the recession, John Mullaney Jnr of Mullaney Brothers, O'Connell Street, is no stranger to overcoming adversities in business. Speaking to The Sligo Champion, the straight talking businessman is candid, he sees the pandemic closing small businesses. Discussing the travel agent side of Mullaney's, John says these are very uncertain times for people and only they can decide if they cancel future travel plans. "There's a very fluid situation in terms of travel arrangements, cancellations and what applies to people is very immediate. If you're going on holidays next week you've a decision to make, if you're going on holidays next July you don't have the same decision." He says at the moment the only definite way of getting your money back for paid for flights is if Department of Foreign Affairs prohibits you from travelling. "If they do then you get your money back. But,until they do, then you don't,unless you're travelling within that seven day period in which that direction is given." "There are a lot of changes being made by suppliers, you really need to contact each individual supplier to see what their arrangements are. They will apply to people travelling up to, generally March 31st, after that it's wait and see." In practical terms, Mr Mullaney reiterates that it is only a person's personal choice whether they travel or not. And, right now, with no government directive, people will have to bear the brunt financial if they cancel plans. "If you feel you don't want to go, then you're going to lose whatever deposit you have paid and insurance and the direction of the state doesn't take into account feelings. You have to wait for an instruction not to go or you take the hit." Mr Mullaney says airlines and tour operators are being flexible. "Airlines or tour operators have become much more flexible than they were previously at the start of this but again it's generally in relation to travel within the next couple of weeks, anything in the middle of summer they're still waiting to see." He goes on to explain,"When the 31st of March rolls around the circumstances that exist then will roll on to the next deadline, which will probably be the middle to end of April until then we just have to suck it up and see." "People who are paying their balances which is generally for people travelling next June is when we're collecting balances now, 90% are paying up and are going to go. There is a certain percentage that have decided to cancel, that's down to your individual risk. "I see images and photographs of airports at the moment and there's nobody there, so it would make it very comfortable to travel, but again it depends on your risk." Comparing the current situation to a red weather warning, Mullaney says these are very difficult times for business owners. "This will be extremely difficult, this is the equivalent of a red warning alert in weather terms. We get those occasionally, they're generally for one day, you can live with that. This isn't going to be for one day, this is putting people off coming into town. It's putting people off doing things that they would normally do. That will have a very significant impact on footfall, that has a very significant impact on trade." We are just waiting to see what happens. There's very little we can do, but just ride this one out and hope that it doesn't come to pass what we're being told what could come to pass. We have no choice, we're here, we're open. We'd be delighted to see customers, we're looking forward to seeing customers." Businesses across Sligo are busy putting plans in place to reduce risk, supplying areas with hand sanitiser and some even introducing social distancing measures. Today is Mother's Day. It is a day when we celebrate the sacrifice and the effort of those who gave us life. Across the country, I know that millions of people will have been preparing to do something special not just a card, not just flowers. I know that everyone's strongest instinct is to see their mother in person, to have a meal together, to show them how much you love them. But I am afraid that this Mother's Day the single best present that we can give we who owe our mothers so much is to spare them the risk of catching a very dangerous disease. Boris Johnson (R) and mother Charlotte Johnson Wahl attend the launch of his book 'The Churchill Factor: How One Man Made History' at Dartmouth House on October 22, 2014 The sad news is that means staying away. This year the best thing is to ring her, videocall her, Skype her, but avoid unnecessary physical contact or proximity. 'And why? Because if your mother is elderly or vulnerable, then I am afraid all the statistics show that she is much more likely to die from coronavirus. We cannot disguise or sugar-coat the threat. The numbers are stark, and they are accelerating. We are only two or three weeks behind Italy. The Italians have a superb health system, yet their doctors and nurses have been overwhelmed by the demand. The death toll there is already in the thousands and climbing. Boris Johnson, sister Rachel Johnson and mother Charlotte Johnson Wahl attend the launch of Boris Johnson's new book 'The Churchill Factor: How One Man Made History' Unless we act together in Britain, unless we make the heroic and collective national effort to slow the spread, then it is all too likely that our own NHS will be similarly overwhelmed. That is why this country has taken the steps that it has, imposing restrictions never seen before either in peace or war. We have closed schools, pubs, bars, restaurants and gyms, and we are asking people to stay and work at home if they possibly can. To help businesses and workers through the crisis, we have come up with unprecedented packages of support. All of this is putting our country, and our society, under enormous strain. But already this crisis is also bringing out the best in us all in the army of volunteers that has sprung up to help the vulnerable, in the millions of acts of kindness, in the work of all the people who are continuing to provide essential services from transport workers to supermarket staff to health and social care workers. Yes, this disease is forcing us apart at least physically. But it is also the crucible in which we are already forging new bonds of togetherness and altruism and sharing. This country will be changed by coronavirus, but there is every reason to think we will come through it stronger and better than ever before. And the more effectively we follow the medical advice, the faster we will bounce back to health medically and economically. So this Mother's Day let's do everything we can to show our respect and love to those who gave us life and minimise the risk to their own lives. Bit by bit, day by day, we are all helping to delay the spread of the disease and to give our amazing NHS staff the time to prepare for the peak. So follow the advice, send your love to your mother by phone or video-call. Stay at home, protect our NHS, and together we will save thousands of lives. Two Republican senators faced calls to resign yesterday over media reports that they sold substantial amounts of stock ahead of the global coronavirus-induced market meltdown after receiving private briefings on the outbreak. Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Richard Burr sold between $628,000 and $1.7m (1.6m) worth of stock on February 13, in 33 separate transactions, after offering public assurances the government was ready to battle the coronavirus, according to non-profit investigative journalism group ProPublica. Mr Burr's committee has been receiving daily updates on the outbreak. Two weeks after the stock sale, the North Carolina Republican told a luncheon on Capitol Hill the virus was more aggressive in its transmission "than anything we have seen in recent history", according to a recording obtained by National Public Radio. The comments predated Wall Street's massive sell-off. Burr's office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler sold $1.28m to $3.1m (2.9m) in stocks from January 24 through mid-February in 29 transactions, two of which were purchases, according to 'The Daily Beast'. The report said the sales began on the day her health committee hosted a private coronavirus briefing for senators. Ms Loeffler wrote on Twitter that she was informed of the transactions three weeks after they occurred. "This is a ridiculous and baseless attack. I do not make investment decisions for my portfolio," she said. But by early Friday, critics on both ends of the political spectrum were calling on both lawmakers to consider resigning. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Muhammad Habib Abiyan Dzakwan (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, March 21, 2020 09:29 662 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad206c62040 3 Opinion COVID-19,COVID-19-in-Indonesia,COVID-19-lockdown,infectious-diseases,social-distancing Free Following President Joko Jokowi Widodos announcement on March 2 of Indonesias first two positive cases of the infectious respiratory disease known as COVID-19, the country was added to the list of nations affected by the pandemic, which was originally identified in Wuhan, China. The Tourism Ministry has calculated that Indonesia has lost US$2.8 billion of economic potential merely from the loss of Chinese tourists. The Office of the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment also announced another round of losses worth about $500 million from the delays in Chinese investment in the country. The economic burden is particularly painful because Indonesia recently took measures to neutralize the impacts of the United States-China trade war last year. Beyond the financial damage, Indonesia should be much more concerned about safeguarding its citizens from the virus exposure. According to the official government count, there were 309 confirmed cases with 25 deaths in 16 provinces across Indonesia as of Thursday. There is no single recipe for an effective response to the virus. Some choose radical intervention through the strict limitation of peoples movement, be it locking down a city, locking down travel between provinces, full closure of the whole nation or simply tightening control over its entry points. With regard to the first model, the best case presented was Chinas quarantine of Hubei province, which began on Jan. 23 after the World Health Organization field visit to Wuhan. China suspended public transportation leaving the province; private vehicles were banned from the streets; people were required to wear masks; general door-to-door health checks were performed, and large-scale treatments in temporary quarantine camps were put in place, among other measures. As a result, new infections surrounding the epicenter dropped below 10 cases daily, according to Chinas count. The Philippines and Italy followed suit. But their success rates cannot be measured anytime soon as the outbreaks in the countries are still ongoing. It is likely that the success of the lockdowns will depend on the nations geographical character, political systems, community behavior and economic resilience. On the other end of the spectrum, Singapore combated the COVID-19 crisis by using moderate intervention through surveillance and containment without closing its borders. Singapore has implemented policies to discourage the movement of its citizens and others within the country. The policies include the online submission of health clearance prior to arrival, the requirement to attach proof of an appropriate location for a 14-day mandatory self-quarantine, a limit of 250 people at gatherings, the suggestion of improving ventilation in buildings, the use of contact tracing and the requirement that owners and tenants in public venues limit the number of visitors and enhance their business continuity plans. The set of moderate policies reflects the lessons the country learned from the injurious Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003. Having the right policies and experiences at their disposal, Singapore has so far experienced no deaths from COVID-19. No lockdown is needed for Indonesia at the moment. The Singapore model is one good example of no-lockdown measure, even though directly copying its model will not be possible. Another reason for avoiding a lockdown is the economic fallout. The lockdown would hamper the Rp 33.2 trillion of incentives from generating optimum results, worsening the damage experienced by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and workers in the informal sector. The other reasons against an immediate lockdown are found from a management perspective. At the moment, Indonesia may not reach a tipping point, which is marked by massive deaths, a dramatic increase in new positive cases and provinces affected in a short amount of time or a sharp increase in local transmissions. Indonesia has not yet mobilized all of its national resources to address the pandemic. The private sector, for example, seems to have been left without guidance about what kind of assistance they can provide. Our greatest concern should be whether people are fully aware of the current emergency situation and whether our emergency health system has been properly prepared. A lockdown will likely fail if policies at the regional level are incoherent with those of the national government, considering the fact that most regional governments have not focused on facing wide-ranging disasters like the one we currently face. But, in any case, where a lockdown becomes necessary or when one of the tipping points is achieved, Indonesia should have measures ready to mitigate collateral damage, including mass hysteria, mental distress and further economic costs. To win the battle against COVID-19, Indonesia needs innovative policies beyond the sectorial ego of bureaucracies. The potential worst-case scenarios that should be mitigated are if the outbreak coincides with natural disasters (e.g. floods, earthquakes) or an existing disease (e.g. dengue), if the outbreak infects many high-ranking officials or if the outbreak remains unabated during the upcoming holy month of Ramadan. It is imperative that the National Task Force for COVID-19 forms contingency plans rapidly. The robustness of medical responses in a pandemic can be indicated by the availability of necessary equipment (e.g. testing kits, masks, ventilators, thermometers), the number of well-informed and insured medical officers, the accessibility of the treatment (hospitals or qualified clinics), and the use of artificial intelligence in detecting or curing the disease. Cases such as the use of raincoats by doctors who take care of potential COVID-19 patients in Garut, West Java, and the shortage of masks in some hospitals must be addressed quickly. Diplomatic interaction should be intensified with countries who succeed in managing the outbreak. This includes China, Singapore and South Korea, bearing in mind that they are veterans of SARS 2003 and Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) 2012. Practical recommendations include requesting all ambassadors identify potential partners in their respective host countries to support our domestic needs against COVID-19, helping Indonesian scientists and laboratories join the international network in pursuit of vaccines, inviting international philanthropists to participate in national efforts against the disease and optimizing the role of the AHA Center in mobilizing international assistance for Indonesia and ASEAN countries. National resources from nongovernment sectors must also be mobilized. As of now, their role has been limited due to a lack of information regarding how to assist. A public-private partnership against COVID-19 could be forged, including foreign enterprises if necessary. ______ Researcher at CSIS Disaster Management Research Unit Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post. Americans seem confused as to the difference between a Democratic Socialist and socialism, which is highlighted in Mr. Bryan Mullins letter. When Bernie Sanders calls himself a Democratic Socialist, he is not referring to what Americans believe socialism is, which is government taking over the means of production throughout the nation, seizing property and personal assets. In fact, no one in our political system is calling for that. What they are calling for is expanding social welfare benefits through increasing tax revenue at a time when the GOP is cutting taxes and aiming to slash entitlement programs. It should also be noted that our economy already consists of both private and government/state-owned entities, making it the mixed economy it is today. As Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman states: Bernie Sanders isnt actually a Socialist in any normal sense of the term. He doesnt want to nationalize our major industries and replace markets with central planning; he has expressed admiration, not for Venezuela, but for Denmark. Hes basically what Europeans would call a Social Democrat and social democracies like Denmark are, in fact, quite nice places to live, with societies that are, if anything, freer than our own. Denmarks economy is a market economy with a much larger array of welfare state programs than our own, funded through a progressive tax policy, much like what Senator Sanders is proposing. Existing entitlement programs, such as Social Security and Medicare, are currently funded through payroll taxes, except for Medicare Part D, that allows them to be pay-as-you-go systems to help ensure solvency. Senator Sanders Medicare-for-All plan leaves much to be discussed regarding details and cost. Whether or not this is the best approach to get health insurance to all Americans remains to be seen, but as a society, this has, at least, opened the conversation to insuring all Americans. We already have socialized healthcare with everyone over the age of 65 on Medicare, as well as the 80 million Americans that are on Medicaid. Another point of contention regarding Sanders plans has to do with student debt. Seventy percent of our economy is made up of consumer spending, and with student debt being very high, many young adults are projected to not contribute to the consumer economy as they have in the past. As far as Bernie Sanders forgiving all student loans, I dont know if thats the best option, but its now getting Americans to talk about this issue. However, if Wall Street banks can be bailed out with taxpayer dollars in 2008 after committing fraud, why cant student loan borrowers get more affordable repayment options that allow them to be better consumers in our economy? Mr. Mullins stated that young people need good parenting. I couldnt agree more. As an educator, it is my responsibility to provide, unbiased, the facts with data, to my students so they can discuss and form their own opinions. Im sure Mr. Mullins believes this approach also works well around the family dinner table. (Dr. Joseph Frusci is an adjunct assistant professor of history at the College of Staten Island.) Top lawmakers and the White House scrambled Friday to negotiate a massive, bipartisan stimulus package to address the widespread economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, aiming to bridge some deep divisions on specific proposals. The negotiators hope to reach a deal before an ambitious end-of-day deadline set by Senate Majority Leader so that the bill can be ready for a vote on Monday. McConnell took procedural steps Friday to prepare for that vote. The negotiations are reportedly being conducted by four bipartisan task forces covering rebates and tax breaks to help individual Americans; aid for small businesses; health care issues; and relief for specific industries most affected by the crisis. Stimulus likely getting bigger: The package being negotiated is reportedly likely to exceed the $1 trillion cost of the Senate GOP plan released Thursday evening, with both lawmakers and the White House reportedly pushing to make it bigger and to change the structure of the direct payments to Americans laid out in the Senate proposal. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin reportedly has been pressing to spend more on direct payments to Americans while Democratic leaders also are looking to spend more on workers as well as hospitals and other health-care facilities. Democrats reportedly are pushing to bolster unemployment insurance for workers who are furloughed or laid off as businesses close or scale back. As of Friday afternoon, Sen. John Thune (R-SD) said two main sticking points remained in the talks: whether or not to bolster unemployment insurance and funding for hospitals, according to The Hill. Pushback on smaller payments for the poor: The 247-page coronavirus relief package unveiled by Senate Republicans on Thursday, called the CARES Act, would provide payments of up to $1,200 per person and $2,400 per married couple. Those payments would phase out for those earning between $75,000 and $99,000, based on 2018 tax returns, with individuals earning over $99,000 and married couples making more than $198,000 not eligible. But people with incomes up to $2,500 would get a minimum payment of $600 (or $1,200 for couples). Story continues That regressivity drew bipartisan scorn. We are beginning to review Senator McConnells proposal and on first reading, it is not at all pro-worker and instead puts corporations way ahead of workers, Pelosi and Schumer said in a joint statement Thursday night. GOP Sens. Mitt Romney of Utah and Josh Hawley of Missouri were also among those criticizing the regressivity of the direct payments. The current bill has promise but it shouldnt give lower earners smaller checks, Romney tweeted. We need to fix this to ensure lower earners get equal payments. The final package is reportedly likely to ensure poorer Americans dont receive smaller payments. President Trump, at a White House briefing Friday, said that the direct payments Americans would be much more than $1,000 and that hed be open to coming back to Congress for more. I want to get workers money, he said, adding that if more stimulus is needed, well do something later, Im sure. Like what you're reading? Sign up for our free newsletter. Our concern about Donald Trump in the campaign of 2016 was not about his personal morals. The ultimate choice to vote for him was made easier by the manifest political criminality of Hillary Clinton. And his emergence as an America First, America-loving president was a welcome relief after the apology tour presidency of Barack Obama. The concern about Donald Trump was that he had no ideological core. His public political persona was that of a fairly standard liberal Democrat from New York, but one smart enough over his career to shift around and play both sides of the political aisle as necessary to support his business interests and ambitions. The problem with a leader with no ideological core surfaces in a time of crisis. He will display who he really is. This may include a lot of good parts i.e., he may have the street smarts of a New York real estate developer, and he may have an insightful and creative mind for addressing big challenges. But with no governing philosophy developed over years of deeper thinking, he may not have that "true north" of wisdom that filters and shapes the right steps to take to protect America. That surely sounds like heresy to the mainstream Trump-supporter, especially on the surface of evaluating his performance in handling the CCP Virus crisis. Because on that surface, Trump appears masterful: facing the cameras every day, demonstrating a president in command, offering confidence that America will prevail, and exercising the far-reaching powers of the presidency to "care" for Americans on a scale that no one would confuse with a philosophy of limited government. His use of unprecedented wartime powers is winning praise from CNN's Dana Bash, from New York governor Andrew Cuomo, and from Squad member Ilhan Omar. That ought to tell you something about the non-ideological nature of how he is behaving. But here's the rub: America has never been brought to her knees to the level happening right now, on Trump's watch. Not in the Civil War. Not in WWI or WWII, and certainly not at any time during the Cold War. Forty million Californians sheltered in place by order of an American government official? Schools closed from coast to coast and restaurants closed in every major state...by order of American government officials? And movements toward gun control and limited rights to gather by order of American government officials? And nationalized health care achieved in important practical respects without the inconvenience of having to pass laws? All of this to fight a pandemic of still unclear comparative seriousness that originated in anti-American communist China and is being cheered on, magnified, and roiled relentlessly by the anti-American left, including especially the MSM. If this isn't a deliberate plot to take down America and every safeguard of American freedom, how would it look different if it were? It feels increasingly like Americans are watching execution of a plan to take down America as a constitutional republic, and Trump as president, fed by a CIA-type psychological assessment of Trump that bet on his 'go big' instincts that are untethered by a deep ideological understanding and appreciation for what truly makes America exceptional and great. One can almost picture the idea popping up in a John Brennan type's head: Pandemic! That's the ticket. There are a couple of generations of Americans who've dismissed God and faith; they can be counted on to be "frightenable" out of their minds by the prospect of a runaway disease and won't raise a peep of dissent against any action government might take in the name of caring for them. And Trump can be counted on to throw restraint to the winds. There will be no real nod to the idea of trusting Americans and trusting American freedom to cope, adapt, and overcome. Trump could be counted on to embrace all-powerful nanny-state government on steroids. By doing so as a so-called Republican with populist support, Trump could be maneuvered to deliver all necessary precedents for an eventual leftist president to overthrow the Constitution in the name of dealing with a "public health crisis." Whether Trump wins re-election in 2020 matters less and less to the left. The pieces are in place; the "pandemic play" has done the trick that Nazism, communism, and socialism could not do from the outside. So if it is a plot who are the plotters? Deep State intelligence holdovers in cahoots with the CCP? Is George Soros in the mix? Or is this just another conspiracy theory in the age of conspiracy theories? We'd prefer to believe that it is a conspiracy theory with no merit. But we would also have preferred to believe that America's DOJ and FBI were not capable of the manifestly criminal behavior that they engaged in the run-up to and aftermath of Trump's electionall with the purpose of overthrowing the duly elected American president. We would have preferred to believe that no American Congressman would have been capable of the tyrannical abuse of the rule of law that Adam Schiff transparently engaged in to promote an impeachment and removal of the duly elected American president. And we would prefer to believe that we would never see America in the condition it is in right nowparalyzed by fear and ordered into passive submission by actions of the American government. And so we, along with millions of other Americans, are not sure what to believe about what is happening to this country in March 2020. It feels like we are being played. Eric Georgatos and wife Debbie operate the America, Can We Talk? media platform, with 4 day a week video podcasting by Debbie, and weekly written commentary, all centered around the importance and value of preserving America as founded. Image credit: Pixabay, public domain. REDDING, Calif. - Redding police officials responded to reports of gunshots Friday night when an argument between a father and son resulted in an attempted homicide. Police say this all happened on March 20, at 8:48 p.m., when officers from the Redding Police Department responded to the 1700 block of Henry Avenue on the report of several gunshots in the area. When officers arrived, they located Alonzo Shoulders, 57, of Redding, suffering from numerous facial injuries. Officials say an investigation of the incident revealed that Alonzo Shoulders and his son, Michael Shoulders, 32, of Cottonwood, engaged in a physical altercation during a family dinner. During the confrontation, Alonzo Shoulders retrieved a handgun from a bedroom within the residence before he fired the revolver several times towards his son, Michael. Police say the confrontation ended when Michael Shoulders was able to take physical control of the firearm and flee the scene in a vehicle. Michael Shoulders was uninjured during the altercation. Redding Police say Alonzo Shoulders received medical treatment for his injuries before he was booked into the Shasta County Jail for the following: attempt homicide, felon in possession of a firearm, felon in possession of ammunition, domestic battery and negligent discharge of a firearm. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 19:53:45|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping said China stands ready to work with France to boost international cooperation in epidemic prevention and control and build a community of common health for mankind. Xi made the remarks in a recent message to French President Emmanuel Macron, in which he extended sincere sympathies on behalf of the Chinese government and people to their French counterparts over the COVID-19 outbreak in the European country. China and France have a fine tradition of helping each other and sharing weal and woe in bilateral relations, said Xi, who thanked the French government and society for their support of and sympathies with China's all-out battle against the novel coronavirus disease. Pointing out that public health security is a common challenge faced by humanity, he said the Chinese government and people firmly support France's efforts against the COVID-19 epidemic, and stand ready to boost cooperation with France and jointly win the battle through mutual support and help. Both as permenant members of the UN Security Council, China and France share the important responsibility of safeguarding the lives and health of the entire human race, Xi stressed. China, he added, is willing to make concerted efforts with France to enhance international cooperation in epidemic prevention and control, support the United Nations and the World Health Organization playing a core role in improving global public health governance, and build a community of common health for mankind. Xi stressed that he attaches great importance to the development of China-France relations, and stands ready to work with Macron to properly coordinate all aspects of work related to epidemic control and bilateral relations, so as to ensure that the China-France comprehensive strategic partnership will ride out the COVID-19 test and continue to move forward. michael barbaro From The New York Times, Im Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily. [music] archived recording Well, some call it the most dangerous place on the planet when it comes to facing a coronavirus outbreak a packed county jail could be a disaster waiting to happen. michael barbaro Across the U.S. archived recording 1 The Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department said archived recording 2 In Chicago, the Cook County Jail has archived recording 3 New York calls for quick action now growing louder after michael barbaro Jails and prisons, with their cramped quarters and communal living, have become hotbeds for the spread of the coronavirus archived recording 1 Prisoners are sounding the alarm on the ballooning outbreak, writing messages on windows reading, Help. We matter. And Were dying. archived recording 2 Everybody is losing it. I mean, its not just the detainees but also people that are working here. archived recording 3 We cannot change the fundamental nature of jail. We cannot socially distance dozens of elderly men living in a dorm sharing a bathroom. Think of a cruise ship recklessly boarding more passengers each day. michael barbaro prompting local governments to take the unprecedented step of releasing thousands of inmates archived recording People are confined to their homes, but this pandemic is actually bringing freedom to some New York City inmates. Mayor de Blasio said michael barbaro and raising the fraught question of who is let out and who remains in custody. Today, Megan Twohey speaks with our colleague Alan Feuer about the story of one inmate trying to get out of the second largest jail in the country, Rikers Island in New York. Its Thursday, April 23. megan twohey So, Alan, tell me about Mitch Pomerance. alan feuer So I met Mitch Pomerance through his lawyer, Laura Eraso. And Mitch is 54. And before the virus even landed at Rikers, Mitch was already in bad health. In fact, his health was so bad at one point that he had to be transported off the Island to a nearby hospital, where he underwent surgery to drain fluid from his lungs. And so hes been working with Laura, his lawyer, trying to build a case to get off of Rikers Island. laura eraso Hey, Mitch. Can you hear me? mitch pomerance Yes. alan feuer And we recorded three of their conversations over the course of a week, earlier this month. laura eraso So you know, like I had told you a little bit about earlier regarding today, we were in line all day for the writ to be heard. But unfortunately, the court only goes to 4:30, and they werent able to squeeze it in on the calendar. alan feuer The court system, dont forget, has more or less shut down because of the pandemic. megan twohey Right. alan feuer And on the day that we recorded our first call with Mitch, there was indeed a backlog in the court system, and the judge didnt have time to hear Mitchs case. megan twohey And while Mitch is waiting for the judge to hear his case, what is the situation like for him inside the jail? laura eraso I know your sister told me that somebody else in your dorm had been taken out? alan feuer So Mitch is housed in a dorm at Rikers. And that means that he lives with a dozen or so inmates in one open room. And he tells his lawyer that one person in that dorm has tested positive for Coivd-19. mitch pomerance Yes, we were tested again the other day, and it turns out that at least one is a carrier. So this guy actually, although he has no symptoms, he actually has the disease, they say, and he can pass it on to the rest of us. And so they took him out today, and its real scary because no one was told. alan feuer Mitch is also telling his lawyer here that the staff at Rikers hasnt cleaned the dorms since that person tested positive. laura eraso So what did they did they just test you and leave? Or did they do any other did they clean or sanitize or anything? mitch pomerance [LAUGHS] They didnt clean. They didnt even empty the garbage yet. We have garbage overflowing all the garbage pails, and they didnt even clean. They gave us a new test two days ago, three days ago, and hes the only one the only they told us about so far. So Im sure Im positive theres more. Im praying its not me. Im praying its not me. laura eraso I mean, was he wearing a mask or anything? mitch pomerance No, never. They gave us one mask for the whole week yesterday last night. My mask fell apart like four days ago. So I had no mask. Ive had no mask for four days. megan twohey And how does that description of the conditions, at least in his particular dorm, how does that square with what youve learned in your reporting? alan feuer Well, from the start of the crisis, the Department of Corrections has taken several measures to slow the spread of the virus. Theyve asked inmates to sleep head to toe at night. You know, they wanted to get one mouth and nose as far away from another mouth and nose as they could. They had the cleaning staff clean the common areas and the housing areas as best as possible. But the fact is, conditions at Rikers remain very unsanitary. You know, the inmates cant get hand sanitizer because its an alcohol-based product, and theyre not allowed to have alcohol. Oftentimes, the only way for them to get soap for their own personal hygiene is to buy it in the commissary. So these measures that were put in place to stop the spread of the virus havent always worked. laura eraso I know you guys sleep in pretty close proximity. How close do you think you were to him? mitch pomerance About 5 feet, 6 feet from where he sleeps he slept over the next aisle over, one person over. laura eraso Wow. mitch pomerance So that was about 6 feet from me, yeah. laura eraso But how do you feel? How do your lungs feel? I know youre going through that too. mitch pomerance Its constantly where they operate, it hurts a lot. megan twohey So it sounds like Mitchs risk of getting Covid-19 is really high. alan feuer Yes. But, in fact, Mitchs lawyer, Laura, expects they could get a decision from the judge very soon about the question of his release. laura eraso And hopefully we get a result tomorrow, but we can talk more about that, OK? mitch pomerance OK, thank you so much for everything. I appreciate your help. Ill be talking to you tomorrow. laura eraso All right, stay well. mitch pomerance Good luck. Thank you. alan feuer But when they talk the next day attorney Hey, can you hear me? mitch pomerance Yeah. alan feuer shes got some bad news. She and her team went in front of the judge. They argued the case. And the judge has said no, Mitch cant get out. megan twohey Hmm. laura eraso Im trying to do it as quickly as possible. I realize that someone else who was sleeping next to you had tested positive. mitch pomerance Someone else? Not someone else four people. laura eraso Wow. So they came back today mitch pomerance Four people, four people. laura eraso with the test? mitch pomerance Yeah, four people today. This is crazy. This is actually crazy. Theyre killing us. They are killing us. What are we supposed to do? What do we do? We need to file a writ. I need to get out of here. I need to get out of here. Theyre killing me. If I catch this, Im dead. I dont know what to do. We need somebody to step in. We need somebody important to step in a congressman, a senator, somebody, a court, a judge. Somebodys gotta do something for us somebody. megan twohey So by this point, Rikers has already released hundreds of inmates. alan feuer Correct. megan twohey So how are they deciding who stays and who goes? alan feuer Well, so far theyve released 650 people. And of those 650 people, youre generally talking about three different categories of inmates. First, there are those who have been accused of non-violent, low-level offenses. There are also people who are at Rikers serving whats called a city year, a sentence that is short, less than a year, and so theyre about to get out anyhow. And then theres a third category of people who are at the Island because theyve committed a technical violation of their parole, meaning they were out on parole for a previous crime, and they got caught doing something minor like smoking a joint or drinking a beer on their sidewalk. megan twohey So how does Mitch fit into this picture? alan feuer So the challenge for Mitch is that his case is just a lot more complicated. Mitch has served a combined 22 years in prison for selling drugs and committing multiple robberies. The state considers him a violent offender. He got out of prison in 2018. But then, last summer, he was rearrested for an attempted robbery charge while he was on parole. So Mitch just doesnt really fit neatly into any of those categories for people that were getting off Rikers Island. And yet, hes medically vulnerable, which is another factor that judges are weighing in releasing people from Rikers and that the city itself is prioritizing people like that those people, who, if they catch Covid-19, theyre more likely to die. laura eraso Were trying to put as much pressure on the governor, on New York state docs, on Commissioner Annucci to release everyone and release them safely. I mean, as Ive said before mitch pomerance I dont care about everyone. I want to get out. Im trying to get out. laura eraso No, I know. mitch pomerance I dont care about anybody else. Everyone else is not sick like I am. Im going to die if I have this. If I get it, Im going to die. Simple as that. Simple as that. Lets not play games. Im going to die. I dont care about anybody else right now. Im being selfish about this. alan feuer So Mitch represents this really difficult but interesting tension that a lot of courts are facing across the country right now. Does he pose too much of a risk to public safety to be let out, or is he medically vulnerable enough to be let out? Should judges be prioritizing the safety of the public, or should they be thinking about the health of the individual inmates? [music] megan twohey So, Alan, it sounds like the judge, in denying Mitchs request to get out of Rikers, is putting considerations of public safety above his health. alan feuer Yeah, absolutely. megan twohey So what does Mitch say about that? alan feuer Hey, Mitch, Alan Feuer from The New York Times. How are you? mitch pomerance Im OK, I guess. Things are horrible here. alan feuer Well, I asked him. I just put it to him if he was a public safety threat given his rap sheet. alan feuer Well, let me ask you this. mitch pomerance Yes, sir. alan feuer Is there any way you can understand the judges decision? You know, its an attempted robbery charge. Im not saying, you know, you havent been proven guilty yet. mitch pomerance Right. alan feuer But can you understand how a judge might make the decision thats been made here? mitch pomerance Can I understand? Yes, I can understand. I can, without a doubt, that the judge doesnt want to jump out the window and grant anything for fear of me going out and doing another crime, committing another crime. So, again, I do understand that. I absolutely do. But I cant say anything more than look at my proof. alan feuer Do you see yourself as a threat to public safety? mitch pomerance I dont. I dont. alan feuer Explain that to me. mitch pomerance I cant walk, first off. Im in a wheelchair. If I can get up and walk two steps, it would be a miracle. I cant walk. I mean, just look at the proof of what I have. At least with a clear conscience, look at it with open eyes, and then make a decision. megan twohey So what happens next? mitch pomerance Hi, Laura. laura eraso Hey, Mitch, can you hear me? mitch pomerance Yes, I can. alan feuer Mitch and Laura talked again the day after the judge denied his request to leave Rikers. laura eraso All right, so what did they tell you when they gave you your test? mitch pomerance So just five minutes ago the R.N. came, and he came around the dorm, and of the 12 people we have left in a dorm, everyones positive but three people. So now were positive, and we dont know whats going to happen now. Theres so many people that are positive alan feuer Mitch tests positive for Covid-19. megan twohey Wow. mitch pomerance Yeah, theres so many people that are positive on Rikers Island, its out of control. Its out of control. I dont feel good at all. Im having a problem breathing already. I told them Im having a problem breathing this morning. This is laura eraso OK, well, I mean, were going to move fast on this. I just was actually on the phone megan twohey So is that it? Is Mitch out of options? alan feuer Well, what this does the change that this makes in Mitchs case from a legal perspective is that it allows Laura, his lawyer, to make a totally different argument in front of the judge. Now, instead of just saying that Mitch is potentially at risk of contracting the disease, she can argue that because he already has it, and hes got this terrible preexisting condition in his lungs, that hes not going to be able to get the proper medical care he needs at Rikers Island. laura eraso Im going to try to Im going to get these papers filed today, and Im not going to wait for the other affirmation. So were going to handle this, and this definitely needs to be reargued in light of this fact, OK? mitch pomerance Yeah. laura eraso So just concentrate right now on trying to take care of yourself your mental health, your physical health. So Im going to be in touch. Call me at the end of the day, and I can confirm with you that I was able to finish that up and get it filed, OK? mitch pomerance All right, thanks. laura eraso OK, bye. Take care. mitch pomerance Goodbye. alan feuer These jails, like Navy ships or meat processing plants, they are petri dishes for infection. But unlike service members or essential workers, inmates in jails, they arent necessarily the most sympathetic population in the world. Still, should part of their punishment be to potentially contract a disease like Covid-19? I mean, is that supposed to be included in the price of going to jail? Mitch is still there at Rikers, waiting for an answer. alan feuer So help me understand right now what an ordinary, average day of yours looks like today? mitch pomerance Hmm, well, I need help. I need help showering. So theres this guy, Eddie, who helps me shower. He helps me get in and out of the shower in the morning time when he gets up. I take a shower, have breakfast, and go back to bed for a couple hours and take my medication. Im just doing a lot of reading. Thats it. I try to stay in contact with my family on the phone. alan feuer And how are you feeling these days? mitch pomerance You know, Im a little agitated right now. Any time I move around, its hard for me to breathe. So right now, Im trying to draw breath. So I have a real bad headache right now. automated speaker You have one minute left. mitch pomerance Im just trying to get out of here. I just want to be I just want to live again. Thats it. [music] megan twohey Well, Alan, thank you so much for taking the time to share this with us. alan feuer Well, thanks for having me, Megan. michael barbaro Well be right back. [music] michael barbaro MISSISSAUGA, Ontario, March 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Metro Richelieu has announced that all existing employees at its Metro and Food Basics stores will start receiving a premium of two dollars per hour. This payment will be made retroactive for hours worked since March 8, 2020. Metro, following the lead of other major national employers, will be adding further customer and employee safety protocols at its stores as well. This includes containment innovations such as the installation of plexiglass dividers at checkouts and service counters, and improving social distance through limiting the number of customers in the store as well. Its encouraging to see yet another major retailer recognize the important work these frontline retail workers are doing to keep people fed through this crisis, said UFCW Local 175 President Haggerty. Metro has also announced further measures to provide an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to all employees through to May 2, 2020. Im pleased to see Metro recognize the hard-working employees at their stores, said Haggerty. These workers are essential to helping us all weather this global crisis by making sure we have the food we need. These steps to ensure safety for employees and customers is following the right path. I, again, extend the challenge to meet these provisions to all employers out there with employees who are showing up to work day after day. Lets look after our workers and help keep them safe. The Union continues to reach out to all employers where Members of UFCW Locals 175 & 633 to have them compensate employees properly at this time, provide pay security for those that need to be off work, and enact stringent health and safety protocols for everyones safety. Thank you to the strong, dedicated members of this Union and workers everywhere: you are the indispensable backbone of this country. As this crisis continues, all of the Membership can count on their Union to keep fighting for their rights and protection, added Haggerty. Our focus remains ensuring that Members are protected and secure throughout this ordeal. Earlier today, Loblaw Companies announced similar measures being put in place throughout their network of stores across Canada as well. UFCW Locals 175& 633 represent over 70,000 workers in all workplace sectors including over 41,000 workers in Retail Grocery and Pharmacy. For more information please contact: Tim Deelstra Engagement & Media Relations Strategist, UFCW Locals 175 & 633 226-750-4366 or media@ufcw175.com There are 22 new positive cases of coronavirus in Northern Ireland, bringing the total number of cases to 108 in the largest daily increase to date. The Department of Health said 2,186 tests have been carried out here. To date, one person has died of the coronavirus in Northern Ireland. It comes as the number of people across the UK who have died after testing positive for Covid-19 reached 233, with a 41-year-old patient thought to be the youngest victim in the UK since the outbreak began. People with mild symptoms - a new persistent cough and/or fever - should stay at home and self-isolate, according to the Department. They will not require testing and will not therefore be included in testing totals. Ahead of school closures to most children on Monday, the Department of Education has said there is no limit to the number of key workers' children that schools can admit as long as it is safe. New guidance from the department said teachers may be shared between schools to allow them to open on Monday but that normal school meals and transport may not be available. It's after it was announced that Northern Ireland schools would close from Monday due to the coronavirus, except for key workers' children. Ministers are asking schools to remain open for staff next week to allow them to prepare for remote learning, ensure provision for vulnerable children and key workers youngsters up to the end of Year 10. A list of key workers whose children will need to be provided for while they are working includes healthcare, nursery and teaching staff, members of the police, fire and prison services and those keeping public transport and the electric network operating. Health minister Robin Swann confirmed he has written to childcare workers to clarify that they should remain open to meets the needs of parents who are key workers and vulnerable children. On Friday, a package from Chancellor Rishi Sunak which pledged that the Government will cover 80% of the wages of workers up to a total of 2,500-a-month in an unprecedented intervention was welcomed across Northern Ireland. Read More Here is how Saturday unfolded: From three cases three weeks ago, the number of coronavirus cases in India has shot up to 223, underlining the gravity of the situation. There is little point in exulting at the low numbers relative to the developed world; testing in India is inadequate so it is entirely possible that the outbreak is far more widespread than we know. Since Indias healthcare system is rarely up to the task at the best of times, Prime Minister Narendra Modi did the next best thing in his address to the nation, warning citizens that the threat may be far worse than we know, presenting India with unique ... Hundreds of Australians remain trapped on cruise ships unable to get home as passengers of four separate cruises are being told to remain alert for symptoms of coronavirus. On Saturday, NSW recorded another 83 cases of COVID-19 pushing the states number of confirmed cases to 436. It marks the biggest jump in cases in Australia in 24 hours to date. Hundreds of Australians on board cruise ships are desperate to get home, but as countries impose travel bans their options are limited. Credit:AP Sydneysiders Sakib Awan and his wife are stuck on the Norwegian Jewel and were meant to disembark in Tahiti on Friday. But due to travel bans, they have been turned away by several countries and are now heading for Hawaii in the hopes of disembarking. During the talks, the officials shared information on the complex developments of the pandemic and agreed that regional and international cooperation has an important role to play in containing the spread and controlling the pandemic in the time to come. The official affirmed that fighting the COVID-19 is Vietnams current top priority, adding the government is very resolute and mobilising all the resources for the work. He asked the US and other countries to continue sharing information and intensifying their cooperation with Vietnam in this effort. The countries should consolidate and bring into play available regional and international mechanisms, including those of the ASEAN, in the fight against the pandemic, he said, adding they should also continue the measures aimed at minimising its impact on economic growth and social stability and expressing his belief that the joint endeavors and cooperation of the international community will help roll back the pandemic in the time to come. Biegun and other officials spoke highly of Vietnams strong and proactive measures in the COVID-19 fight over the recent past and highlighted that Vietnam is one of the countries effectively coping with the pandemic. They also reaffirmed support for Vietnam in the work in the time to come. SKM to observe May 26 as 'black day' to mark 6 months of protest against farm laws Sad day for democracy if line between right to protest, terrorist activity blur: High Court Janta curfew: Shaheen dadis will continue protest India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, Mar 21: The women protesters in Shaheen Bagh will continue with their protest on Sunday, the day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged people to remain inside their houses under a self-imposed curfew. The women have been blocking a side of a road connecting southeast Delhi to Noida since mid-December to protest against the amended citizenship law. On Monday, the Delhi government said gatherings with more than 50 people were not allowed in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic. The size of gatherings has since been reduce to 20 people. "It also applies to Shaheen Bagh," Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said. COVID-19: Remove Shaheen Bagh protesters says plea in SC The protesters on Friday told PTI that not more than 50 women had been staging protest at any given time. "On Sunday, we will sit under small tents (at the protest side). Only two women will sit under each tent and maintain a distance of more than a metre between them," a protester who did not wish to be named said. Another protester, Rizvana, said the women had been taking every precaution and they were covered in burqa all the time. "Washing hands regularly is part of our lifestyle. We offer namaz five times a day and we wash our hands every time," she said. Ritu Kushik, another protester, said women aged above 70 and children aged less than 10 were not being allowed at the protest site. Janta curfew in India on Sunday between 7 am and 9 pm "The women are not sitting on the mattresses any more. Cots have been placed and there's a minimum distance of three metres between every two cots. Not more than two women can sit on a cot," he said. Taseer Ahmad, one of the key organisers, said sanitisers and masks had been arranged in enough numbers, and the protest site was being disinfected at regular intervals. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, March 21, 2020, 9:21 [IST] COLUMBUS, Ohio - Cuyahoga County is among three counties public health officials are investigating as a possible coronavirus cluster. Cuyahoga had 92 confirmed cases of the virus also called COVID-19, as of Saturday, while Miami had 11 and Tuscarawas County had 1. A 91-year-old Cuyahoga man was the third announced coronavirus death in the state. The state has 247 confirmed cases of coronavirus. A disease cluster is a term used by epidemiologists when they find a concentration of illness in an area. When people have been confirmed to have coronavirus or the flu or other infectious diseases, epidemiologists reach out to with everyone that theyve been in contact with to track disease spread, Oho Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton said in a daily news briefing Saturday. For coronavirus, the contacts have been told to self-quarantine, even if theyre not exhibiting symptoms, because people can be asymptomatic carriers and the disease can incubate for up to two weeks. The Tuscarawas County Health Department is following a confirmed COVID-19 case from another county, in which someone had direct contact with approximately 20 residents and three healthcare workers at a Tuscarawas long-term care facility, Ohio Department of Health spokeswoman Melanie Amato said. The Tuscarawas health department is working closely with the long-term care facility to monitor the residents. Families of the residents have also been notified. There is another cluster in Miami County, at another long-term care facility, a nursing home, Amato said. The Cuyahoga County cluster wasnt identified. But at Saturday afternoons state coronavirus briefing, Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton said that clusters can be around schools, at nursing homes or within families. In nursing homes, where we are seeing influenza-like illness but theyre testing negative for the flu, Acton said. To me, thats something that puts a flag out theres something else going on there. And maybe (coronavirus) was going on early on -- and that includes, and theres guidance out there as well, coroner-related work thats underway. More coronavirus coverage First Cuyahoga coronavirus death among 247 confirmed Ohio cases and 3 deaths: Gov. Mike DeWines Saturday, March 21 briefing Ohio Attorney General sends letters to 2 abortion clinics, telling them to stop all non-essential procedures Coping with coronavirus: Guide aims to ease fear of pandemic disease If you think you might have coronavirus, call your doctor before heading to the ER to avoid spreading disease Coronavirus and lungs: How do smoking, vaping, air pollution affect respiratory illnesses? 91-year-old man is Cuyahoga Countys first coronavirus death Mike Rowe has won legions of fans because he is the ultimate pragmatic man. He came to fame showing us the "dirty jobs" that keep America functioning. His current crusade is to deflect some energy, money, and prestige from academic degrees and channel it into trade certifications. He makes the case that we have a deficit of people capable of keeping the country running at a mechanical level and that more English majors will not solve the problem. In a long and fascinating Facebook post, Rowe turns his pragmatic outlook to the coronavirus. He is not a skeptic and has the humility to recognize that he doesn't fully understand the whole situation. Still, he understands how systems work, and he's worried that the panic that's breaking the American system is worse than the coronavirus itself. Before getting to Rowe's wisdom, here are a few things to think about. First, Rowe is not alone in having an incomplete understanding of the situation. Indeed, it would be hard to find anyone who fully understands what's going on. There are too many data for any one person to absorb. Moreover, just as "to a hammer, everything is a nail," the experts to whom we turn tend to view things through the narrow filter of their expertise. This means that they, too, cannot fully understand the situation. Second, America's current 1% mortality rate falls on people who already have the Grim Reaper's hand reaching for their shoulders (that is, the elderly and those with underlying health problems). They died too soon because of the disease, but they were always vulnerable. As we get an idea about the number of people who are minimally symptomatic or entirely asymptomatic, increasing the denominator, the mortality rate will become less terrifying. Third, Italy, Iran, and Spain are basket cases, with mortality rates of 78 percent among those diagnosed. There are some commonalities among the three hardest hit countries. All of them have had close business contact with mainland China through the Silk Road project or other Chinese initiatives, with hundreds of thousands of Chinese citizens shuttling through. All of them were in denial about the coronavirus. All of them have socialized medicine. All of them have more traditional family structures, which may mean young people living with, and infecting, older people. After that, the commonalities start breaking down: Italy has large numbers of older people, while Spain and Iran do not. Iran and Italy have terrible pollution. Spain does not. Italians and Spanish are heavy smokers; Iranians are more moderate. Other countries have commonalities with Italy, Spain, and Iran, yet they are not affected in the same way. Again, although we're beginning to understand the coronavirus's make-up, we are still failing to understand the way the disease moves through populations. It would be interesting to see if those who have died in America have a genetic tie to Italians, Spaniards, or Iranians. Just as those who have type A blood are more vulnerable to coronavirus, perhaps people with specific genes are, too. Fourth, the Black Death in the mid-1300s killed 3050% of the world's population. Modern medicine makes it unlikely that this will happen in the here and now. All of this gets us back to Mike Rowe. He points out that, despite the lack of knowledge we have, Americans especially Americans in government are making instant, big decisions with consequences that may be disastrous and far-reaching. He writes, too, that people cannot perpetually maintain a state of panic. Even if we wanted to keep people locked in their houses for a year, wiping out entirely the American economy, Americans wouldn't put up with that. From this, Rowe concludes that Safety First is not a sound principle. It's a panic principle that shuts down functionality. Safety is important, but if it becomes the primary doctrine driving a nation, the world stops, which is itself dangerous. In other words, Rowe counsels mixing pragmatism with panic, lest we make things in America so bad that we cannot recover from them: Chinas Orwellian experiment to fight the virus is working at home, but cannot be replicated in Europe or the United States. Except for Italy and Spain, no major western country is praising Chinas fight against the pandemic. Washington (AsiaNews) For Zhiqun Zhu, an expert on Chinese affairs at Bucknell University in the United States, China is far from being seen as a global leader in the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic. In the West, only Italy and Spain seem to have bought President Xi Jinping's "victory narrative. For the scholar, Beijings approach to fight the COVID-19 virus cannot be fully replicated in Europe or the United States because their respective political and cultural conditions are too different. Professor Zhus interview follows. I don't think China is winning the propaganda war internationally. So much is still uncertain. Even domestically, said Zhiqun Zhu, professor of political science and international relations at Bucknell University in the United States, speaking to AsiaNews. Prof Zhu, who is a member of the National Committee on United States-China Relations, notes that even at home, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been strongly criticised for not disclosing information about the infection in a timely manner and for crushing dissenting voices. Many Wuhan physicians, including Li Wenliang (who later died from the virus) and Ai Fen, director of Wuhan Central Hospital's emergency department, criticised the authorities for hiding the truth about the spread of COVID-19. Intellectuals like Xu Zhiyong, Xu Zhangrun and He Weifang have also said that that a free press would have saved many more human lives. For Zhu, the draconian measures to shut down Wuhan and restrict mobility nationally did succeed to contain the virus within China, and for that, many in China (and outside) give credit to the CCP. However, Beijings approach cannot be fully replicated in the West. Their political and cultural conditions are too different. For example, few people in the United States wear masks to protect themselves and others from contagion and US authorities do little to impose their use. The same is true for Europe. Governments there struggle to keep people at home as China did in its great Orwellian experiment. This is clear in Italy, where the imposition of temporary and limited military regulations have not stopped people from having contacts. With the exception of the Italian and Spanish governments, Western democracies are careful not to buy into President Xi Jinping's "victory narrative. In the US, President Donald Trump is not alone in attacking Beijings crisis management, especially in its early stages. According to a Gallup poll conducted last month, only 33 per cent of Americans have a favourable opinion of China, down from 53 per cent in 2018. German Chancellor Angela Merkel noted that it was Europe that came to Chinas rescue at the start of the epidemic. China's offer to help Italy when EU countries turned their backs on Rome certainly helps China's image in some parts of Europe, Zhu explained. However, the conspiracy theory that the US military athletes brought the virus to China does not help China at all. In any event, the Trump Administration racist labelling of the disease Chinese virus is totally unacceptable. Female genital mutilation affects far more countries than previously thought, meaning global estimates for the number of women who have been cut are woefully low, researchers said on Tuesday. FGM is traditionally associated with a swathe of African countries, but the study highlights growing evidence that the ritual is also practised in other regions including the Middle East and Asia. World leaders, who have pledged to end FGM by 2030, are seriously off track, rights group Equality Now said, as it called for global efforts to end the practice to be broadened to more countries. The United Nations childrens agency UNICEF estimates that about 200 million girls and women have been cut worldwide, based on data from 31 countries, mostly in Africa. But Equality Now said at least 92 countries were affected by FGM, including Singapore, Iran, India and Sri Lanka. The study also included an account of FGM from the United States, where a woman from a white Christian community told the Thomson Reuters Foundation last year how she was cut as a child. FGM, which can cause a host of serious health problems, is often done in the name of culture or religion, but is not mentioned in the Koran or Bible. Whats remarkable with FGM is that its happening across so many cultures, so many regions and across different religions too, the reports co-author Divya Srinivasan said. It is not a cultural issue, its one of gender inequality. FGM often involves the partial or total removal of the external genitalia, and in some places the vaginal opening may be sewn up. In Asia and the Middle East, the ritual may involve pricking or nicking the clitoris instead. Anti-FGM campaigners say all forms are a serious abuse and even a nick can cause grave damage, especially when done on a baby. Srinivasan urged countries to gather national data on FGM prevalence, adding that the U.N. global estimate was a woeful under-representation of the true picture. She said she was particularly surprised at the results of small studies from places like Saudi Arabia and Oman which are not normally countries that come to mind when you think of FGM. Womens rights activist Habiba al Hinai, who conducted a survey in Oman, said 78% of women she spoke to reported being cut, but the issue was taboo and she received a massive backlash after publishing the results online. The data I gathered was shocking, devastating, said al Hinai, founder of the Omani Association for Human Rights. Misconceptions in Oman around FGM included that it was good for a womans health, stopped cancer, improved sex with her husband and made childbirth easier, she said. Al Hinai called for more support for women in the Middle East who might be disowned by their family or tribe and divorced by their husband if they spoke out on FGM. The 92 countries listed in the Equality Now report also included 31 in Europe, North America and elsewhere, where FGM is practised by diaspora communities. (This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.) Follow more stories on Facebook and Twitter Authorities announced on March 20 that human remains found in Florida have been tentatively identified as missing Colorado boy Gannon Stauch. The 11-year-old was reported missing in January by his stepmother, who was later charged with killing him. The El Paso County Sheriffs Office wrote in a statement Friday they responded to a call from the Santa Rosa County Sheriffs Office about a deceased juvenile male. The remains of Stauch were found near Escambia River Bridge on Interstate 90 near Pace by a Florida construction crew, according to ABC. Pace is located in northwestern Florida, 15 miles north of Pensacola and nearly 1,400 miles away from where the boy was last seen nearly two months ago in his Colorado home on Jan. 27. After the remains were transferred to the District One Medical Examiner, an autopsy was performed and authorities tentatively identified the body as Stauch. We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to the friends and family of Gannon, police said. Stauchs stepmother, Letecia Stauch, told authorities back in January the boy never returned after leaving to go to a friends house. After a search that lasted for weeks came up empty, authorities presumed the boy was dead and they arrested the stepmother in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on March 2, The Associated Press reported. Following Fridays discovery, the 4th Judicial District Attorneys Office in Florida has filed additional charges against Letecia Stauch. The new charges include one count of first-degree murder and eight counts of committing a crime of violence, an enhanced charge that would be used to increase punishment, ABC News reported. I filed eight counts of crime of violence, for the alleged use of a firearm, a blunt instrument, a knife or other sharp object, El Paso County Senior Deputy District Attorney Michael Allen told ABC News reporters during a televised news conference. Anyone who has seen Letecia Stauch in Pace or Pensacola, Florida between Feb. 3-5 is asked to call the El Paso County Sheriffs Office tip line at 719-520-6666, authorities said on Facebook. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Two FBI wanted Nigerians, Patrick Erakposhere Onajokpe and Macdonald Chukwuma Nnamdi, along with four others have been convicted in Warri and sentenced. Onajokpe and Nnamdi were convicted by Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court, Warri, Delta State for various offences bordering on impersonation and Internet fraud. The four others were convicted for operating a vessel within Nigerian Waters without due registration and licence by appropriate authority. They were all prosecuted by the Benin office of the EFCC. One of the convicts, Patrick Erakposhere Onajokpe, alias John Mark was arraigned on a two count charge of fraudulently impersonating the identity of John Mark through which he defrauded unsuspecting American ladies. One of the count reads: That you Chief Patrick Onajokpe (alias James Mark) Glory Agbare (at large) Alfred Akpewe (at large) Elena Onah (at large) sometime between 2014 and 2015 in Warri within the jurisdiction of this honourable court fraudulently impersonated the identity of one James Mark claiming to be a black American working in deep sea off coast of taxes, USA, in your hush app account where you enticed unsuspecting American ladies into romantic relationships online and in that process, obtained the aggregate sum of $878,489,24 from ladies and you thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 22(2)(b)(ii) of the Cybercrime (prohibition prevention, ets) Act 2015 and punishable under section 22(2)(b)(iv) of the same Act. Upon his arraignment, the defendant pleaded guilty to the charge when it was read to him. In view of his pleas, the prosecution counsel, Aso Larry Peters, prayed the court to convict and sentence the defendant. However, the defence counsel, Paul Ejiga, prayed the court to temper justice with mercy as the defendant was a first time offender and has become remorseful. Justice Nwite convicted and sentenced Onajokpe to five years imprisonment, in the alternative, a fine of N6 million. He is also to forfeit all items recovered from him which include a Range Rover, a Petrol Station, an uncompleted plaza and phones. Justice Nwite also ruled that the properties be sold and the proceeds restituted to the victim of the crimes. Nwite also convicted MacDonald Chukwuma Nnamdi who was arraigned on a two count charge of obtaining personal identification information and using same to file fraudulent tax returns with the inland revenue service, USA. The defendant pleaded guilty to the charge when it was read to him. The Prosecution counsel, Aso Larry Peters prayed the court to convict and sentence the defendant accordingly. The defence counsel John Okhuihiev prayed the court to temper justice with mercy. Justice Nwite sentenced Nnamdi to three years imprisonment with an option of one million naira fine. One of the charges against him read. that you MacDonald Chukwuma Nnamdi, Daniel Mercedis (at large) sometimes between 2018 and 2019 in Benin City within the jurisdiction of this honourable court did with intent to defraud used attached e-mail to obtain personal identification information of others online and used same to file fraudulent tax returns with the inland revenue service (IRS) of the USA and you thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 36(1)of the Cybercrime ( prohibition prevention etc)Act 2015. Similarly, the Commission secured the convictions of Akinwade Olajide, Onume Kingsley, Kelechi Ogbuiton and Seje Skinn. They were arraigned for operating a motor vessel on Nigerian Waters without due registration and licence from appropriate authority. They were convicted and fined the sum of N600,000 each. The judge also ordered that the defendants undertake in writing to be of good behaviour Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates Clark County health officials on Saturday reported three new novel coronavirus cases, including two elderly patients who are now hospitalized. A woman and a man, both in their 80s, tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours, health officials said. The woman had contact with a prior confirmed case in Clark County and was self-quarantined when she developed COVID-19 symptoms. Health officials said they are still working to determine whether the man had contact with any known coronavirus patients. Both are now in the hospital. The third case is a woman in her 40s who had no known contact with another coronavirus patient. She is currently quarantined and recovering at home. In total, nine Clark County residents have now tested positive for the virus. Three of them have died a husband and wife in their 80s, and a man in his 70s. To date, there have been 1,524 confirmed coronavirus cases in Washington state, including 83 reported deaths. -- Shane Dixon Kavanaugh; 503-294-7632 Email at skavanaugh@oregonian.com Follow on Twitter @shanedkavanaugh Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. Trisha Krishnan, the brand ambassador of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) India, took to their social media handle to address the Coronavirus crisis. In the video posted on March 19, the South Indian actor is seen talking about the deadly virus and preventive measures to fight it. She says, "COVID-19 disease can be stopped. Together we can do it." Check out Trisha's message here: How do you protect yourself and your loved ones from #Coronavirus? Trisha Krishnan, #UNICEF India Celebrity Advocate shares simple messages to remember, follow and share with your family and friends on WhatsApp. #COVID19 @trishtrashers @vijayabaskarofl @drbeelaIAS @NHM_TN pic.twitter.com/xbuoHycNZ9 UNICEF India (@UNICEFIndia) March 19, 2020 South actor Trisha joined UNICEF as their Brand Ambassador reportedly in 2017. Her role reportedly includes spreading awareness for the welfare of the youth, especially young girls. She had previously engaged with UNICEF to address the issues faced by young girls in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Also Read | Kartik Aaryan Breaks The Internet With His Trademark Monologue On Social Distancing Also Read | Alia Bhatt And Other Celebs' Turn To Books In The Time Of Social Distancing Meanwhile, Trisha, who is reported to be on self-quartine recently hit the headlines after she opted out of the Chiranjeevi starrer Acharya. She opted out of the film due to some creative differences with the makers of the film, stated media reports. Meanwhile, the actor has multiple movies at different stages of production. Also Read | Tiger Shroff Shares The Positive Aspect Of Social Distancing Amid Coronavirus Outbreak Also Read | Work From Home Tips To Help You Manage A Team Effectively While Social Distancing; Read Trisha will be next seen in Jeethu Joseph directorial Ram. The movie, starring Mohanlal and Trisha in the lead, is reported to be a thriller. The upcoming Malayalam movie is reported to hit the screens by August 2020. Besides the upcomer, she also has Mani Ratnam's dream project Ponniyin Selvan and M. Saravanan's Raangi in the making. Also Read | Samantha Akkinenis Way Of Educating People About Social Distancing Is Unique, Effective The Pennsylvania Game Commission Friday closed all shooting ranges on state game lands statewide as part of the states efforts to control the spread of coronavirus. The closure, which includes rifle, shotgun, pistol and archery ranges, adheres to Gov. Tom Wolfs March 19 updated guidance to help control the spread of COVID-19. As a result, the commission announced, it will not have the staffing to service the ranges, which require routine maintenance. Additionally, many of the ranges can become very crowded and represent a potential risk to the spread of coronavirus, according to the agency. Commission Executive Director Bryan Burhans said, We know the ranges are popular, and we know this announcement will cause disappointment among those who use these ranges, but our No. 1 priority, at this time, is public health and we are encouraging people to stay home and heed all state and federal safety precautions. The commission maintains about 30 shooting ranges on state game lands. They normally may be used during regular hours by anyone with a valid hunting or furtaker license, or shooting-range permit. The commission did not announce any date for when the ranges will reopen. Pennsylvanias 1.6 million acres of state game lands remain open for public access, at this time. All hunting and trapping seasons and bag limits still are in effect. State game wardens and commission dispatchers are considered essential employees and continue working and responding to wildlife emergencies and more. Calls can still be placed to the region offices; visit this page for a list of phone numbers: http://bit.ly/2IRr6q8 Full coronavirus coverage: https://www.pennlive.com/coronavirus/ Thanks for visiting PennLive. Quality local journalism has never been more important. We need your support. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work. Contact Marcus Schneck at mschneck@pennlive.com. Two influential Republican lawmakers on Friday urged Twitter to ban the Chinese Communist Party from using its platform for spreading "propaganda and whitewash" the entire history of its alleged coronavirus cover-up. "While the coronavirus pandemic is afflicting families, governments, and markets around the world, the Chinese Communist Party is waging a massive propaganda campaign to rewrite the history of COVID-19 and whitewash the Party's lies to the Chinese people and the world," wrote Senators Ben Sasse and Congressman Mike Gallagher in a letter to Twitter CEO Jack Dorse. The widespread use of Twitter by communist officials of the People's Republic of China (PRC) during this crisis emphasises the contradiction in officials from governments that deny their citizens access to social media platforms like Twitter having access to those same platforms, oftentimes to spread disinformation, they alleged. "By banning Twitter in China, the Chinese Communist Party is keeping its citizens in the dark," the two lawmakers said. "By putting propaganda on Twitter, the Chinese Communist Party is lying to the rest of the world," the Senators wrote. "We believe that the propaganda campaign Chinese government officials are currently waging on Twitter -- especially during the current global crisis -- merits the removal of these individual accounts from the platform," the letter said. In an accompanying statement, Sasse and Gallagher said that it is clear that the Chinese Communist Party officials are using Twitter to "disseminate propaganda" in the midst of a dangerous global crisis. "Even worse, this propaganda obscures and confuses users over the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and potentially undermines efforts to contain and control the outbreak. We believe this behaviour more than warrants their removal from the platform," they said. "Additionally, given the humanitarian importance of free and open access to the internet, we believe that access to social media platforms should be denied to government officials from countries that prohibit their own populations from accessing this very content," the two lawmakers wrote. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) By Ted Hesson and Frank Jack Daniel WASHINGTON / MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The United States and Mexico have agreed to restrict non-essential travel over their shared border in an effort to limit the spread of the new coronavirus, U.S. President Donald Trump said during a news conference at the White House on Friday. Flanked by top U.S. By Ted Hesson and Frank Jack Daniel WASHINGTON / MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The United States and Mexico have agreed to restrict non-essential travel over their shared border in an effort to limit the spread of the new coronavirus, U.S. President Donald Trump said during a news conference at the White House on Friday. Flanked by top U.S. officials, Trump also announced that his administration would invoke a health-focused statute to block migrants from either border from entering the United States illegally, saying illegal immigration threatens "to create a perfect storm" in combination with the virus. The "non-essential" travel measures will restrict tourism at the border. The measures against illegal immigration mean the United States can rapidly return Central Americans and Mexican migrants it arrests, the Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said earlier, speaking in Mexico City. Ebrard said he had agreed with U.S. counterparts that trade, work and medical trips would not be restricted at the border. Those comments were echoed on Fox News by Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf. Roughly 3 million personal vehicles crossed legally each month in 2019 between San Diego, California, and the Mexican border city of Tijuana, according to U.S. Department of Transportation data. A U.S. official said the restrictions would not impact rail or trucking shipments across the border. Trump has said for weeks he was considering southern border restrictions to contain coronavirus, with infection fears adding to his ongoing campaign against migration ahead of the 2020 presidential election. The United States so far has many more confirmed coronavirus cases and deaths than Mexico. While Mexico already allows the United States to send it Latin American migrants, mainly to await U.S. asylum hearings in Mexican territory, the decision to allow a rapid turn around of Central Americans appeared to be a new concession. Ebrard said Mexico will not allow the United States to return other nationalities to Mexico under the new immigration measures, which he said only applied to border apprehensions, not other deportations. He said about 1,200 Mexicans are currently apprehended illegally crossing the border each day, and about 120 Central Americans. The United States was aiming to send those migrants back to Mexico within a day, down from a three-day turn around currently, he said. (Additional reporting by Raul Cortes in Mexico City, Ted Hesson in Washington; writing by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Dave Graham) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. The federal government on Saturday announced 10 new cases of Covid-19 in Nigeria. This brings the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 22. According to a statement signed by the minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, the new cases were confirmed in the Federal Capital Territory and Lagos State. New cases Mr Ehanire said of the ten new cases, three were confirmed in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and seven in Lagos State. This brings the total number of confirmed cases in Nigeria to 22, he said. Mr Ehanire also disclosed that all ten new cases are Nigerian nationals. Nine of them have travel history to Canada, France, Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom. He said all the patients returned to the country in the past week. Meanwhile, the 10th case, he said, is a close contact of a previously confirmed case. This implies that Nigeria have recorded just one case of Covid-19 in a foreign national. However, most of the cases have been imported from Europe and the U.K. @Fmohnigeria has confirmed 10 new cases of #COVID19 in #Nigeria Of the 10 new cases, 3 are in the Federal Capital Territory and 7 are in Lagos 9 out of the 10 cases have travel history outside Nigeria in the last one week. The 10th case is a close contact of a confirmed case pic.twitter.com/Bm557clqL0 NCDC (@NCDCgov) March 21, 2020 Treatment Mr Ehanire said the three cases in the FCT are being treated at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital (UATH), Gwagwalada while the 7 (seven) new cases in Lagos are being treated at the Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH), Yaba. He said all 10 new cases have mild to moderate symptoms and are currently receiving treatment. Mr Ehanire said the federal government remains committed to working with states to provide optimal care for all confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country. Travel restrictions As of March 21, 22 cases have been confirmed, with two of the cases discharged. There has been no death from COVID-19 in Nigeria. So far, 19 cases were imported while three are contacts of people who came into the country. Nigeria is yet to report any local transmission. Nigeria, as of Friday, had restricted travel from 15 countries with high coronavirus cases. The affected countries are; China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Japan, France, Germany, United States of America, Norway, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria and Sweden. The travel restriction commenced on March 21. The travel restrictions are expected to limit the number of imported cases into the country. Contact tracing As the country records more cases from the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, it has become imperative for the government to intensify contact tracing to identify those who might have been in contact with the confirmed cases. As such, the minister said the Port Health Services has heightened screening at all air, land and sea points of entry into Nigeria and adapted the protocols to reflect the travel guidance issued by the Presidential Task Force on the Control of Coronavirus. He said the National Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) led by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) supported by partners will continue to coordinate response activities and strengthen preparedness capacity across states nationwide. Advertisements He said an intensive national risk communications campaign is also ongoing, to inform Nigerians about COVID-19. Meanwhile, Nigerians are advised to avoid public gatherings, maintain good personal hygiene and visit the hospital when they fall ill. 7:18:55 P.M., on the first night of Gov. Gavin Newsom's 'Stay at Home' decree, all is quiet along Hollywood Boulevard, near the TCL Chinese Theatre. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) Very little pedestrian traffic in front of a closed Hollywood and Highland shopping complex. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) On Thursday evening, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a statewide stay at home order. Newsoms executive order also marks the first mandatory restrictions placed on the lives of all 40 million residents in the states fight against the novel coronavirus. The order also prohibits gatherings in enclosed spaces of more than 10 people. Los Angeles Times photographer Jay L. Clendenin and videographer Mark Potts document the first night of the order in Hollywood. Quiet scene along Hollywood Boulevard in front of the TCL Chinese Theatre. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) A long exposure reveals ghosting effect of foot traffic along Hollywood Boulevard near Madame Tussauds in Hollywood. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) Starbucks cafes will close after the coffee chain announced a change to its coronavirus precautions Friday. The company is shuttering most of its stores and only allowing drive-thru and delivery orders. Starbucks cafes across the United States and Canada will temporarily close for at least two weeks starting on Friday, March 20. However, Starbucks locations situated in or near hospitals and healthcare centers are staying open to serve workers and first responders. Starbucks deliveries can be ordered through delivery.starbucks.com and Uber Eats. After Philadelphia barista Anyia Johnson started an employee petition asking the chain to close, Starbucks announced it would be offering catastrophe pay for 30 days to employees who choose to stay home, have been diagnosed with coronavirus disease, exposed to the virus, or are at high risk. The moral thing to do, would be to suspend business, while paying partners, until there is a grip on the virus, says Johnsons petition, which has drawn 36,047 signatures. Starbucks is making the changes after tactics like removing furniture and only allowing grab-and-go orders did not put an end to social gathering at the cafes. If you feel youre taking a risk by coming to work or fear carrying the virus, please stay home, said Rossann Williams, executive vice president of Starbucks, in a letter to employees. We will help you manage through your time off. As we have said several times since the beginning of this crisis, no Starbucks partner needs to choose between their health and coming to work. Any partner serving in our stores that remain open are there because they want to be there to serve our community at this time. The chain also said it would be expanding employee supports for childcare and mental health. Lets be real, Williams said in the statement. Lattes arent essential.' But in times of crisis, the government asks convenient food and beverage outlets to remain open when possible for pickup, Drive Thru, or delivery. Like grocery stores, gas stations, and other daily conveniences, our stores are part of a support system the government is counting on to be in service to the community. Have a tip? Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmyKup or on Facebook. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. Hillary Clinton has chosen sides, and she is so firmly enlisted in the Chinese propaganda effort to evade responsibility for foisting the COVID-19 virus on the world that an ambassador from that country has publicly endorsed her on Twitter in the name of justice. Perhaps in the twisted worldview of pathological Trump hatred, it is a good thing to side with the progenitor of a plague upon the world, the country that openly plans to displace the United States and establish itself as the worlds hegemon. Here is the tweet spotted by Rep. Paul Gosar: Communist China literally thanking Hillary Clinton for her support... pic.twitter.com/NUOxi17wSt Rep. Paul Gosar, DDS (@RepGosar) March 21, 2020 As American Thinker readers know, identifying a virus by its place of origin is well established, and has never before been regarded as racist. When was "German measles" w=ever denounced as a racist name? Many progressive politicians and media figures called Coronavirus, as it was then known, the Wuhan virus early on. When Chinas strategy turned to denying its culpability and some propaganda organs absurdly claimed that US soldiers had seeded the virus in China, the claims of racism started appearing. China has been behaving like an enemy, threatening to cut off supplies of pharmaceuticals (and thereby kill Amercans). Siding with an enemy in a time of crisis has never before been a winning strategy, except when ones homeland is defeated, at which point one becomes a Quisling. Perhaps the former Secretary of State was misled into thinking this was a wise move by the dominant media efforts in support of Chinas propaganda line. There will be a reckoning. Open source In Georgia, a state of emergency is introduced for a month. Georgian Prime Minister George Gaharia announced this today, on March 21, after a meeting of the coordinating council for responding to the spread of coronavirus, Novosti-Georgia reports. According to Gahariya, all individuals and legal entities are required to comply with the state of emergency. For violation of the state of emergency, administrative liability is introduced - for individuals in the amount of $1000, for legal entities - $4700. What restrictions shall be applied during a state of emergency: - for violation of the isolation or quarantine regime, persons will be forcibly transferred to the appropriate institution, sanctions will be applied for violation of the rules. For international passenger traffic restrictions are set, except for freight traffic; - other terms and rules for the provision of public services are established. The Government of Georgia will be given the right, if necessary, with the aim of quarantine isolation for medical purposes, to restrict the right of ownership and use the property of individuals or legal entities and material resources; - limited to more than 10 people. The government will have the right to restrict private organizations, business structures or entrust them with the implementation of specific activities. If necessary, the government will regulate the prices of medicines, medical services and essential products. The government will establish rules and conditions in the field of education that are different from the laws of Georgia. If necessary, the government will be able to declare a general mobilization of persons with a medical education and authority. Meetings of the Georgian government can be held remotely. All individuals and legal entities are required to comply with the state of emergency. As we reported before, According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, 146 Ukrainians are quarantined abroad, and three died due to coronavirus By Edward Curtin Two categories of propaganda must be distinguished. The first strives to create a permanent disposition in its objects and constantly needs to be reinforced. Its goal is to make the masses available, by working spells upon them and exercising a kind of fascination. The second category involves the creation of a sort of temporary impulsiveness in its objects. It operates by simple pressure and is often contradictory (since contradictory mass movement are sometimes necessary). Jacques Ellul, The Technological Society March 20, 2020 " Information Clearing House " - The French-Algerian writer Albert Camus great 1947 novel, The Plague, is a warning to us today, but a warning in disguise. When he died sixty years ago at the young age of forty-six, he had already written The Stranger, The Fall, and The Plague, and had won the Nobel Prize for Literature. The outward story of The Plague revolves around a malignant disease that breaks out in a town that is quarantined when the authorities issue a state of emergency. After first denying that they have a problem, the people gradually panic and feel painfully isolated. Death fear runs rampant, much like today with the coronavirus. The authorities declare martial law as they warn that the situation is dire, people must be careful of associating, especially in groups, and they better obey orders or very many will die. So the town is cordoned off. Before this happens and the first signs that something is amiss emerge, the citizens of the town of Oran, Algeria remain oblivious, for they work hard, but solely with the object of getting rich. Bored by their habits, heavily drugging themselves with drink, and watching many movies to distract themselves, they failed to grasp the significance of the squelchy roundness of a still-warm body of the plague-bearing rats that emerge from their underworld to die in their streets. It was as if the earth on which our houses stood were being purged of their secret humors; thrusting up to the surface the abscesses and pus-clots that had been forming in its entrails. To them the plague is unthinkable, an abstraction, until all their denials are swept aside as the truth emerges from the sewers and their neighbors and families die from the disease. Stupidity has a way of getting its way; the narrator, Dr. Rieux tells us, as we should see if we were not always so wrapped up in ourselves . plagues and wars take people equally by surprise. The American people are wrapped up in themselves. Nor do they recognize the true rats. They are easily surprised; fooled would be a better word. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter Camus uses a physical plague to disguise his real subject, which is the way people react when they are physically trapped by human rats who demand they obey orders and stay physically and mentally compliant as their freedom is taken from them. The Plague is an allegorical depiction of the German occupation of France during World War II. Camus had lived through that experience as a member of the French Resistance. He was a writer and editor of the underground Resistance newspaper Combat, and with his artists touch he later made The Plague a revelatory read for today, especially for citizens of the United States, the greatest purveyor of the plague of violence in the world. We are all infected with the soul-destroying evil that our leaders have loosed upon the world, a plague of killing that is now hidden behind the coronavirus fear that is being used to institute tight government controls that many will come to rue in the months ahead, just as happened after the attacks of September 11, 2001. Coronavirus is a perfect cover-story for the occupation of the publics mind by a propaganda apparatus that has grown even more devious over the past 19 years. Ask yourself: Where is the news about U.S. military operations in Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen, Iraq, eastern Europe, Africa, Latin America, Asia, etc.? There is none in the corporate mainstream media, and little in the alternative media as well. Have those operations ceased? Of course not. Its just that the news about them, little that it was, has disappeared. Now it is all about us and the coronavirus panic. It is about how many of us might die. It is about stocking toilet paper. For the rich, it is about getting to their second or third houses where they can isolate themselves in splendor. As I write, 150 or so Americans are said to have died of Covid-19, and by the time you will read this the number will have climbed, but the number will be minuscule compared to the number of people in the U.S.A. and those numbers will be full of contradictions that few comprehend unless, rather than reacting in fear, they did some comprehensive research. But arguments are quite useless in a time of panic when people are consumed with fear and just react. For we live in plague time, and the plague lives in us. But to most Americans, Covid-19 is the plague, because the government and media have said it is. Like the inhabitants of Oran, the United States is peopled with sleep walkers, pseudo-innocents, who are chiefly aware of what ruffled the normal tenor of their lives or affected their interests. That their own government, no matter what political party is in power (both working for deep-state, elite interests led by the organized criminals of the CIA), is the disseminator of a world-wide plague of virulent violence, must be denied and divorced from consensus reality. That these same forces would use the fear of disease to cow the population should be no surprise for those who have come to realize the truth of the attacks of September 11, 2001 and the anthrax attacks that followed, both of which were used to justify the endless wars on terror that have killed so many around the world. It is a shock for so many people who cant countenance the thought that their own government could possibly be implicated in the death of thousands of U.S. citizens and the release of the deadly anthrax, which we know came from a U.S. lab and was carried out by a group of inside government perpetrators. When it comes to the plague-stricken deaths visited on millions around the world for decades by the American government, this must be denied by diverting attention to partisan presidential politics, and now the coronavirus that engenders fear, loathing, and a child-like tendency to believe Big Brother. The true plague, the bedrock of a nation continually waging wars through various means i.e. bombs and economic and medical sanctions, etc. against the world, disappears from consciousness. As U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said to 60 Minutes Lesley Stahl in 1996 when Stahl asked her if the U.S. sanctions on Iraq that had resulted in the death of 500,000 Iraqi children were worth it: We think the price is worth it. For decent folks must be allowed to sleep at night, says the character Tarrou sarcastically; he is a man who has lost his ability to sleep well since he witnessed a mans execution where the bullets make a hole into which you could thrust your fist. He awakens to the realization that he had an indirect hand in the deaths of thousands of people. He loses any peace he had and vows to resist the plague in every way he can. For many years Ive been ashamed, he says, mortally ashamed, of having been, even with the best intentions, even at many removes, a murderer in my turn. The rats are dying in the streets. They are our rats, diseased by us. They have emerged from the underworld of a nation plagued by its denial. Unconscious evil bubbles up. We are an infected people. Worry and irritation these are not feelings with which to confront plague. But we dont seem ashamed of our complicity in our governments crimes around the world. For decades we have elected leaders who have killed millions, while business went on as usual. The killing didnt touch us. As Camus said, We fornicated and read the papers. He knew better. He warned us: Its a wearying business being plague-stricken. But its still more wearying to refuse to be it. Thats why everybody in the world looks so tired; everyone is more or less sick of plague. But that is why some of us, those who want to get the plague out of their systems, feel such desperate weariness. Yet the fight against the plague must go on. Tarrou puts it thus: All I maintain is that on this earth there are pestilences and there are victims, and its up to us, as far possible, not to join forces with the pestilences. That may sound simple to the point of childishness; I cant judge if its simple, but I know its true. You see, Id heard such quantities of arguments, which very nearly turned my head, and turned other peoples heads enough to make them approve of murder; and Id come to realize that all our troubles spring from our failure to use plain, clear-cut language. So I resolved always to speak and to act quite clearly, as this was the only way of setting myself on the right track. These days, I keep thinking of an incident that occurred when I was a young investigator of sexually transmitted diseases, working for the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare through the Public Health Service as an epidemiologist. My job was to track down sexually transmitted diseases by finding links of sexual contacts. One day I went to interview and take a blood sample from a poor woman who had been named as a sexual contact. I knocked on her door on the third or fourth floor of a walkup apartment building. She looked through the peep-hole and asked who it was and I told her my name and what government agency I represented. I could tell she was very wary, but she opened the door. She stood there naked, a very heavy woman of perhaps 300 pounds. She nonchalantly welcomed me in and I followed her as she padded down the hall where she took a housecoat off a hook and put it on. There is, as you know, an old tale by Hans Christian Anderson called The Emperors New Clothes. Although the emperor parades around naked, the adults make-believe he is clothed. Only a child sees the obvious. I was 23-years-old naive young man at the time of this unforgettable incident, but it echoes in my mind as a reminder to myself that perhaps that woman was unconsciously teaching me a lesson in disguise. The year was 1967, and when I went out to get into my government car with federal license plates, a white man in a white shirt in a white car in a poor black neighborhood, a hail of bricks rained down toward me and the car from the roof opposite. I quickly jumped in and fled as the ghettos were exploding. Soon the National Guard would be called out to occupy them. Intuition tells me that although the emperor has no clothes and a vast PSYOPS occupation is now underway, too many are too grown-up to see it. Its an old story continually updated. Like The Plague. Edward Curtin, educated in the classics, philosophy, literature, theology, and sociology, Teaches sociology at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. http://edwardcurtin.com/ Ragging victim lies immobilised from injuries while UGC consults police By Tharushi Weerasinghe View(s): View(s): Pasindu Hirushan, the 21-year-old ragging victim from Sri Jayawardenepura University, is awake and responding now but doctors are concerned that the right side of his body could be paralysed, his sister said this week. Doctors ran preliminary response and memory checks on Hirushan assisted by his family, his sister, Shermila Silva said. He is still in the intensive care unit (ICU) and under sedation day and night owing to the intense pain he suffers. But doctors were hopeful, she said. The family is preparing for a legal battle, with Shavindra Fernando PC leading the team representing Mr. Hirushans party. The case against six arrested senior students of the university was to be heard on March 23 but is likely to be postponed now due to the coronavirus crisis. Pasindu Hirushan, from Kamaragoda in Minuwangoda, a past pupil of St Peters College, Udugampola, was severely injured on March 5 when a tyre rolled downstairs by seniors at a freshers party hit him when he was climbing the stairs. The University Grants Commission (UGC), which has been powerless to stop ragging, said it had a zero-tolerance policy on the widely-condemned practice. We are 100 per cent committed, not to the reduction, but to the complete eradication of ragging, the UGC Chairman, Senior Professor Sarath Amaratunge, said. The UGC met the National Police Commission and other senior Deputy Inspectors-General of Police to discuss possible action. This has become a crime of national impact and the UGC really does need help from intelligence [personnel], Prof. Amaratunge said. We cant afford ragging of any form in our universities. We are responsible for each and every incident as it is the innocent youth who pay the price. There are increasing numbers of students coming forward with complaints through various safe platforms provided by the UGC, the Chairman claimed. The UGC online portal, an anti-ragging help app and a 24-hour hotline were some of these initiatives. They collect information from student complaints and share the information with the relevant university administrations. Most students, however, said help from these platforms usually came too late. Kasun Wijeyaratne, a former student of the Advanced Technological Institute in Gampaha, experienced horrors as recently as 2018. Two weeks into our university life, the ragging begins, he said. It ranged from sleep deprivation to stripping and 4am cold drenches. They made us harass the girls since they couldnt get into their quarters, Mr. Wijeyaratne said. He joined a group that tried to fight ragging. Multiple complaints to university administration were ignored. The freshers then reached out to the Veyangoda police who, they said, dismissed the cases without proper inquiry. Mr. Jayasinghe was also a member of the group. He said students were often manipulated into joining the ragging. Seniors pressured most freshmen to enter certain boarding houses, creating a level of dependency that seniors later used to their advantage. Mr. Jayasinghe refused these helpful recommendations as his parents chose accommodation for him. He said forcing students, male and female alike and many from conservative homes to walk around in pants without belts was a common practice, to cause embarrassment when the unsecured garments fell down. Freshers were made to recite lewd poems and forced to watch pornography in groups. Some students had to be hospitalised owing to extreme physical exhaustion from ragging. Mental trauma often went unaddressed and unnoticed Mr. Jayasinghe said. His refusal to conform to the Naiwala traditions angered seniors. When he attempted to record ragging incidents a physical altercation eventuated, landing him in Gampaha Hospital. Some arrests were made, he said; those charged had been in remand for 56 days and released. The case is yet to be taken up again. Mr. Jayasinghe suffered severe mental and emotional trauma. He was threatened for fighting back. He left the university system and is now working at a studio. Kasun Wijeyaratne too dropped out of university and the food science course he was pursuing after the enraged seniors who had targeted him were released. He is taking a nursing course now because he says he has no other option. While the UGC claimed that only 5 per cent of students engaged in ragging, interviews carried out by The Sunday Times reveals the reality is close to 70 per cent. Most incidents of ragging are not tried under the Prohibition of Ragging and Other Forms of Violence in Educational Institutions Act, Shermila Silva said. If the law dealt with these perpetrators with severity under the anti-ragging act, then others would be deterred from committing the same crime, she said. The UGC chairman had expressed similar sentiments in the past, but words provided no relief to the victims. Nurses need ramped-up testing for Covid-19 so they can return to patients bedsides, a union leader in Northern Ireland has said. Those with symptoms are having to self-isolate for days. The Royal College of Nursing also urged greater availability of personal protective kit. I am here at @RCN_NI today to speak with nurses. I heard their concerns around equipment, tests and additional protection measures needed for health workers. Their asks must be delivered upon and I will bring them to the Executive as a matter of urgency. #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/IAwy5Y3rNQ Michelle ONeill (@moneillsf) March 21, 2020 RCN director in Northern Ireland Pat Cullen said: It needs to be stepped up immediately. We cannot have promised that it is going to happen in a few weeks it needs to happen now. The reason that nurses are asking for testing is that they dont want to be away from work for seven or 14 days. They want to be back in supporting their patients and supporting their colleagues. They believe they owe it to the public and they owe it to their other colleagues that they are leaving behind and the enormous guilt they are feeling because they are left at home not knowing what is happening. Police are still receiving reports of anti social behaviour and end of school parties. Please review the advice of the Health Minister below, consider the health of others and adhere to the social distance practices outlined by @healthdpt. #COVID19 https://t.co/2S7xDlgFD6 Police Service NI (@PoliceServiceNI) March 21, 2020 Stormont deputy first minister Michelle ONeill met nurses on Saturday and said she heard their concerns. She said: In particular, many are concerned about the need to ramp up testing, so that more staff can continue to work, and the availability of basic personal protection equipment. I listened and I will keep listening to them moving forward. I assured them I would do everything that I can as Joint Head of Government to make sure that they have all the support they need as they work to protect us all. The safety and well-being of health workers is paramount if we are to get through the challenge that is tackling Covid-19. End-of-school parties and anti-social behaviour by young people are being reported in Northern Ireland, despite the impending catastrophe of Covid-19, police have said. The country recorded its biggest daily increase in cases on Saturday, and a senior Belfast doctor warned huge numbers of patients will die during the coronavirus pandemic. Students no longer in school after they were ordered to close risk passing the virus to more vulnerable groups like the elderly, so police urged party participants to consider the wellbeing of others and follow official guidance. A respiratory consultant in the Ulster Hospital in Co Down, Dr Julia Courtney, said: It is hard to actually convey just the enormity of the crisis that is looming for the NHS, and so for everyone, in the next few weeks. Huge numbers of people will die and the only thing that will have any impact on this impending catastrophe is slowing the spread of this virus. Open source I wish you good health, dear citizens! Traditionally, I am telling you about our resistance to the spread of coronavirus. First of all, we have very good news. The patient from Chernivtsi was re-tested for coronavirus. And he again tested negative. Hence, we can state officially: Ukraine has the first person recovered from coronavirus! Today, he will be discharged from hospital and return home. I congratulate him personally and our entire country! This is the most pleasant news in recent days, and it shows that we will certainly be fine. The main thing is to keep calm and stay in isolation mode. We also received the first batch of rapid tests made by the Institute of Molecular Biology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. I am really grateful to our scientists, our experts for managing to do that in a short time. I would also like to say that in the next 48 hours we expect the following items to be delivered to Ukraine from China: - 10 million high-precision laboratory tests that will be distributed throughout Ukraine. - 10 lung ventilators. - 1 million masks that will be provided to Ukrainian pharmacies. - 100,000 heavy-duty masks for doctors and police officers. - 400,000 rapid tests and 10,000 liters of disinfectant. We will do our best to provide every citizen of Ukraine with personal protective equipment, rapid tests, disinfectants. Each of you. To date, more than 15,000 police officers have been involved in combating the spread of coronavirus. Among other things, they will monitor the compliance by our carriers and businesses with government restrictions. But I believe that we are all conscious citizens, and constant monitoring by the police will not be necessary. Also, the RSA Heads and mayors of large cities are commissioned to maximize the number of minibuses, buses, trolleybuses in their regions. This will help observe the 10 and 20 passenger limit. I urge every RSA Head and every mayor to realize their personal responsibility, to actively and effectively solve transport problems in your area. This is very important for the health of all Ukrainians. Now regarding our citizens abroad. In the last five days, we have returned more than 50,000 Ukrainian citizens. 42 flights are scheduled for today to transport home 8,000 more Ukrainians. Yesterday I had a conversation with Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau. We have agreed on the mutual evacuation of Ukrainians from Canada and Canadians from Ukraine. Those who need it. We have agreed on transit corridors with Hungary and Poland for our people to return home. And we also interact with the Polish railway. Today, five trains will depart from Przemysl delivering about 3,000 citizens to Ukraine. A train that will return Ukrainians from Lithuania and Latvia is scheduled for tomorrow. Everyone who returns from abroad is subject to mandatory medical examination. It is very gratifying that the vast majority consciously choose self-isolation at home for 14 days. Even though they have no symptoms. I want to thank all Ukrainians who continue to stay at home for their consciousness and sense of responsibility. Staying home helps prevent the spread of the virus and lets you and the others avoid the risk. I also want to support the flashmob of the world and Ukrainian doctors and personally urge: Doctors stay at work for you. Stay home for them. You know, I called my mom today. All these days, I ask her to stay home. And all these days she does not listen to me. She says: "Nobody will choose the right products better than me". But in the end, I managed to convince her, and my mother agreed not to leave the house without necessity. Friends! Call your parents, your grandparents. Bring them everything you need. Or order them the online delivery of products and pharmaceuticals. Teach them to order the online delivery themselves. Teach them to pay for utilities online. Do your best to minimize occasions of them getting outside and their contacts in stores, banks, post offices. Ask them to stay home. Don't give the virus a chance. Dear Ukrainians! Selfishness is a coronavirus counterpart. Today, we have no right to think only about our own needs. And we cannot allow a million Ukrainians to turn sick at the same time. No medical system in any country can sustain it. Our common goal is to minimize the spread of coronavirus. And the best way to do this is to stay home. This is how you care about the weakest. About those at risk. Stay home and keep well, dear Ukrainians! I wish you 36.6! Take care of yourselves! Save Ukraine! Winnipeg police have charged a 20-year-old man with second-degree murder and issued a Canada-wide warrant for a second homicide suspect, concluding a deadly week in the city. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/3/2020 (662 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Winnipeg police have charged a 20-year-old man with second-degree murder and issued a Canada-wide warrant for a second homicide suspect, concluding a deadly week in the city. Police said Friday they had charged 20-year-old Okoth Obeing with second-degree murder in connection to the city's eighth homicide of 2020: the slaying of cab driver Balvir Toor early Thursday in the William Whyte neighbourhood. Vincent Scott Ross, 24, died after being shot Monday in a home on the 500 block of College Avenue. (Jesse Boily / Winnipeg Free Press files) Toor was found by police around 5:25 a.m., after residents on the 500 block of Burrows Avenue noticed a taxi with its emergency light flashing and called 911. Toor, a 44 year old Duffy's Taxi driver, had suffered stab wounds and was taken to hospital in critical condition where he died from his injuries, police said. Police believe the suspect had called for a cab, and after being picked up, stabbed the driver in an unprovoked attack. He fled, and the driver was able to activate his vehicle's rooftop emergency light. Obeing was arrested at a home in the King Edward neighbourhood around 9:15 p.m. He is also charged with four counts of failure to comply with conditions of a release order. He remains in custody. Obeing was previously convicted of mischief in 2019. Court records show Obeing was released on bail Jan. 7, after being charged a week earlier with possession of stolen property and possession of cocaine for the purposes of trafficking. On Friday, police also shared images of a suspect wanted for second-degree murder in the death of 24-year-old Vincent Scott Ross, the city's seventh homicide of 2020. A Canada-wide arrest warrant has been issued for Christian James Bruce, 28, described as 5-foot-9, 146 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair, and various skull-related tattoos on both arms, as well as tribal-style tattoos on his face. (Supplied) Police issued a Canada-wide arrest warrant for Christian James Bruce, 28, of Winnipeg. Bruce is described as 5-foot-9, 146 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair, and various skull-related tattoos on both arms, as well as tribal-style tattoos on his face. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Bruce has a lengthy criminal record, including multiple convictions for assault, weapons offences and breaching court orders. Most recently, he was sentenced in February to 90 days' time served for assaulting a former girlfriend in 2018. Ross was found March 16 suffering from a gunshot wound in a multi-unit home on the 500 block of College Avenue. He was taken to hospital in critical condition, where he died from his injuries. The public is cautioned not to approach Bruce, and anyone with information regarding his whereabouts is asked to call 911. Anyone with additional information that might help investigators can call 204-986-6508 or Crime Stoppers at 204-786-TIPS (8477). with files from Dean Pritchard danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca This weeks long reads take a deep dive on the novel coronavirus, but offer readers uncommon angles on how the pandemic is swiftly shaping and changing our daily routines. From innovative recipes whipped up using simple ingredients drawn from your pantry, to a century-old lesson lifted from the archives of Philadelphias approach to social distancing during the 1918 flu, weve selected some of the best long reads of the week from across the Stars newsrooms. Want to dive into more long features? Sign up for the Weekend Long Reads newsletter to get them delivered straight to your inbox every Saturday morning. 1. Torontos public life all but vanishes amid COVID-19 crisis New rules and strategies in face of COVID-19 many of them now recommended for the whole of the province cut the hum of citys public life to a whisper. 2. Can a Canadian still get home? What closing the U.S. border over COVID-19 means for you and your family OK. So, the border is closing. Heres what we know, and what we dont know yet. 3. Farmers say time is running out for foreign workers as confusion reigns over travel during the coronavirus pandemic As Ottawa deliberates lifting COVID-19 travel restrictions on migrant workers, Canadian growers say workers are needed now, or crops may go unplanted, which would endanger the countrys food security. 4. She survived a childhood of sexual abuse and addiction. Now shes suing the Alberta government to keep the support she says she needs Her lawyer says changes to an income-support program will devastate the lives of vulnerable Albertans. 5. Lego, Trump and trying to give his kids a bath: Inside Justin Trudeaus coronavirus self-isolation After Justin Trudeaus wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, came down with COVID-19, the prime minister was forced to recognize as many Canadians would in the days ahead that his home was also his workplace for at least the next two weeks, Susan Delacourt writes. 6. Doctors and nurses are on the front lines of the war against COVID-19. Theyre digging in for a long fight Health-care workers have been killed by the coronavirus in China, Italy and elsewhere. In Canada, they can see whats about to hit us. This is life before wartime. 7. I was a doctor quarantined during SARS. Here are some lessons on dealing with the coronavirus Peter R. Newman was a doctor during Torontos SARS epidemic who found himself under quarantine. Its given him a unique perspective on potential dangers from the coronavirus pandemic. 8. If you dont laugh you cry. How Canadians on the Diamond Princess cruise endured a month-long COVID-19 quarantine Over the next days, the number of confirmed cases on the ship started to mount. First it was 10, then 34 ultimately, nearly 700 passengers tested positive for the virus, 47 of them Canadian. It dawned on everyone aboard that they would be there for some time. 9. What to cook when youre stuck at home As people practice social distancing and stay at home whenever possible, how we eat and shop for groceries will change over the next while. You can be loose with the recipes when you build these easy meals. 10. Lessons on social distancing from the 1918 flu pandemic: St. Louis shut down public gatherings quickly. Philadelphia held a parade and saw death rates spike Philly vs. St. Louis and how they handled the Spanish Flu in 1918 has become a shorthand in epidemiology and a lesson in the merits of social distancing as the world grapples with COVID-19. 11. Coronavirus is taking a toll on peoples mental health, but there are ways to cope As the coronavirus rolls around the world, Canadians are struggling to deal with the fear and anxiety that comes with it. 12. Trump tweeted about the Chinese Virus, but Asians like us were already facing abuse. Lets talk about why Many people of East Asian appearance are suffering silently, writes Joanna Chiu, fearing more racist backlash if they speak up. Read more about: From individuals to massive corporations, so many people across the country are mobilizing to provide help as the coronavirus pandemic escalates. And whether hurricanes or government shutdowns, Chef Jose Andres, who founded non-profit World Central Kitchen with his wife Patricia Fernandez de la Cruz, is no stranger to stepping in to provide food to communities in need. Since 2010, their charity has worked to deliver meals to the hungry following disasters of all kinds. Now, they've stepped up to help with relief efforts in the wake of the coronavirus crisiswhether delivering meals in Yokohama, Japan following the quarantine of the Diamond Princess cruise ship or distributing grab-and-go meals to families in Queens and the Bronx. Closer to home, we're moved to see World Central Kitchen get to work in Little Rock, Arkansas, in partnership with Bill Clinton's Clinton Center and the City of Little Rock, among others. Among the many social media posts from various parties involved, our day was definitely brightened by this sweet video shared by Andres himself of one food truck owner giving food to a group of thankful youngsters. "This is Slader from our @WCKitchen team in Little Rock, Arkansas! He owns Alaskan Dumpling Co. food truck....and has been delivering fresh meals to kids while schools are shut down!" wrote Andres in a Tweet accompanying the video clip. "Thank you for giving us food," a cute little girl said in the exchange, before reminding the food truck owner, Slader, that she needed a spoon. Watch the sweet video below. This is Slader from our @WCKitchen team in Little Rock, Arkansas! He owns Alaskan Dumpling Co. food truck....and has been delivering fresh meals to kids while schools are shut down! #ChefsForAmerica @BillClinton @ClintonCenter @lrsd @pcssdschools pic.twitter.com/DjXUBp9ZaY Jose Andres (@chefjoseandres) March 19, 2020 WATCH: Christmas Lights Are Going Back Up All Over the Country to Symbolize Hope Story continues Christmas Lights Are Going Back Up All Over the Country to Symbolize Hope Through the darkness, let that light shine! If you'd like to make a donation to the World Central Kitchen, you can do so here. We're grateful to the many working hard to ensure that students, the elderly, and other at-risk populations stay fed during these trying times. B oris Johnson has warned the coronavirus outbreak is accelerating, as he urged people not to visit their parents on Mothers Day. In stark message to the country, he said the NHS was in danger of being overwhelmed in the same way as the Italian healthcare system unless people heeded Government advice on social distancing. It came as ministers urged the 1.5 million people in England considered to be most at risk from the disease due to their health conditions to begin shielding themselves by staying at home. Letters will go out this week to those concerned, strongly advising them not to go out for at least 12 weeks from Monday. Punters go for a drink before pubs and bars close to stop Coronavirus 1 /14 Punters go for a drink before pubs and bars close to stop Coronavirus People outside O'Neills pub, in Clapham, London PA A man wearing a protective face mask sits in a pub, on the day Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered all pubs to close in response to the number of the coronavirus disease cases REUTERS Lot of people went to the pub, despite Boris Johnson asking the nation not to be tempted to have one last drink REUTERS People at a Cardiff nightclub after Boris Johnson announced that all pubs, restaurants and gyms were to close Matthew Horwood Boris Johnson, is seen on a television screen in a pub in London as the spread of the coronavirus disease continues REUTERS A man drinks in the BrewDog pub in the Cowgate Getty Images Staff wear face masks at Mussel & Steak restaurant in Edinburgh Getty Images The Bricklayer's Arms pub in West Putney displays a sign warning customers it has closed 2020 Getty Images People are seen drinking inside a pub in London Getty Images The Alexandra pub in Worthing, after Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered pubs and restaurants across the country to close tonight PA Pub goers enjoy a final evening of drinking in a J.D. Weatherspoon's in London Getty Images At the same time, the Government announced a new local support system to ensure people self-isolating at home without the support of family or friends can get basic groceries delivered. Military planners, already helping councils and local resilience forums in their responses to the outbreak, have been centrally involved in setting up the new network. It follows the dramatic announcement on Friday that all pubs, restaurants, cinemas and theatres are to shut in the latest move to combat the disease. The Prime Minister acknowledged they were imposing measures never seen before either in peace or war, but said they were essential as the outbreak gathered pace. The numbers are very stark, and they are accelerating. The Italians have a superb health care system. And yet their doctors and nurses have been completely overwhelmed by the demand, he said. The Italian death toll is already in the thousands and climbing. Unless we act together, unless we make the heroic and collective national effort to slow the spread then it is all too likely that our own NHS will be similarly overwhelmed. National Trust to close parks from midnight due to coronavirus Mr Johnson said that while everyones strongest instinct was to visit their mother on Mothers Day, the best single present they could give her was to stay away and spare her the risk of becoming infected. This time the best thing is to ring her, video call her, Skype her, but to avoid any unnecessary physical contact or proximity, he said. And why? Because if your mother is elderly or vulnerable, then I am afraid all the statistics show that she is much more likely to die from coronavirus, or Covid-19. We cannot disguise or sugar coat the threat. Asked at his No 10 press conference on Friday whether he would be seeing his own mother, 77-year-old Charlotte Johnson Wahl, the Prime Minister said he would certainly be sending her my very best wishes and hope to get to see her, before trailing off. A Downing Street source later clarified that his contact with his mother on Sunday would be confined to a conversation over Skype. The latest official figures released on Saturday showed the number of people across the UK who have died after testing positive for Covid-19 has risen to 233, with 53 more deaths in England, two in Wales and one in Scotland. Loading.... Those being urged to stay at home include people who have received organ transplants, those severe with respiratory conditions such as cystic fibrosis and severe chronic bronchitis (COPD), and with some cancers such as those of the blood or bone marrow. They also include some though not all of those receiving certain types of drug treatments including those which suppress the immune system leaving the body less able to fight off the virus. Where possible, they will receive regular text messages containing advice and guidance on how to manage their condition while at home, including on getting prescriptions delivered and accessing support for daily living. Those living with them are urged to stringently minimise any personal contact. Dr Paul Johnstone, director at Public Health England, urged people contacted by the NHS not to ignore the advice. If you receive a letter it is vitally important that you act on it for your own protection, dont attend any gatherings of friends or families and dont go out for shopping, leisure or travel, he said. Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick said the Government was committed to ensuring people received the support they needed while they were at home. Public safety and making sure that those most at risk from the virus continue to get the support they need throughout this period is the Governments top priority. People should stay at home, protect our NHS and save lives, he said. This will be an especially worrying time for those with serious underlying health conditions and that is why we are urgently acting to ensure extremely vulnerable individuals are taking extra steps to shield themselves, and that the essential items they need are supplied to them. P olice have launched a murder probe after a man died following being shot in the head in north London. The victim, who police have named as Abdullahi Mahmoud, 29, died after being fired upon in Hertford Road, Enfield shortly after 4.30pm on Thursday. Officers went to the scene and found Mr Mahmoud with a serious head injury. He was rushed to hospital and later died while in care. Scotland Yard said a 21-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder and is in currently in custody. The victim was shot in Hertford Road, Enfield on Thursday / Google Maps Detective Chief Inspector Pete Wallis of the Metropolitan Polices Specialist Crime Command, said: Our thoughts are with Abdullahis family and they will continue to receive specialist support as the investigation progresses. This was a violent attack in the middle of the street and my team are working hard to establish who is responsible. We are exploring the possibility there was more than one assailant and would specifically like to appeal to those who may have been shopping in the area at this time to make contact with police. One line of inquiry is that this is gang-related, however enquiries are in the very early stages and we retain an open mind as we gather evidence and piece together the last moments of Abdullahis life." North Area Borough Commander Treena Fleming said: This is a horrific incident and our first thoughts are with the victims family, who have lost a loved one in tragic circumstances. I want to reassure local residents that they can expect to see an increased police presence in the area. Please, if you have information that you want to share, do approach them and tell them what you know. South Sudan And The Concept Of Transitional Government "In conclusion, the recent Transitional Government of National Unity has already featured in a very small way, a poor, improper or misallocation of some mandate holders related to the above Institutions and others that I did not mention". By Beny Gideon Mabor What's Transitional Government? According to existing literature, one of the findings entails that "a transitional government is an emergency governmental authority set up to manage a political transition generally in the case of a new nation or following the collapse of previous governing administration". Source (Wikipedia). In either of the case, the end game of transitional government is to implement agreed package of programs that shall help parties to reach general elections and form elected government. In South Sudan, there are competing views and each group defined it in a subjective manner. I will show my view as well. South Sudan has been in transition since 2005 because of being a new nation. It's a new nation because from 2005 up to 2010, there was no country call Republic of South Sudan and the general elections so conducted in 2010 were elections of the Sudan with Southern Region having her autonomous transitional governance arrangements as a result of comprehensive peace agreement (CPA) of 2005. On 9 July 2011, South Sudan seceded and joins the community of nations in a fast track manner. Accordingly, the Republic of South Sudan was supposed to conduct her first general elections in 2015. Unfortunately, for reasons of political violence as a result of many folds associated with a new nation and lack of institutional readiness in charge of electoral process to carry out its mandate, the general elections were cancelled and the National Legislature extended the life span of the elective offices at all levels. Again, we continued with the transition until another agreement on the resolution of Conflict in South Sudan was revitalized in September 2018. This is an agreement that established the present day Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (R-TGONU). Therefore, considering the demands for political accommodation in a transitional governance arrangements, there are technical institutions that cannot compromised meritocracy and professional competences. Top amongst them are ministries of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Health, the Judiciary, National Audit Chamber, Bank of South Sudan, and South Sudan Human Rights Commission amongst others. In conclusion, the recent Transitional Government of National Unity has already featured in a very small way, a poor, improper or misallocation of some mandate holders related to the above Institutions and others that I did not mention. It's not too late to correct it if there's a political will. Otherwise, the intended objective of managing transition may have some hurdles on the way. This is my personal note and does not represent the position of any entity. UMC General Conference aimed at ending debate on LGBT issues postponed over coronavirus concerns Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment The United Methodist Church General Conference, the global policy-making gathering for the denomination, has been postponed due to concerns about spreading the coronavirus. Held every four years, the UMC General Conference was originally scheduled to take place May 5-15 at the Minneapolis Convention Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. UMC spokeswoman Diane Degnan directed The Christian Post to a statement by the Executive Committee of the Commission on the General Conference released on Wednesday. According to the executive committee, the General Conference will be postponed due to the Convention Center restricting events through May 10 to slow the spread of the coronavirus. This followed recommendations by the Minnesota Department of Health, Gov. Tim Walz, and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey to postpone or cancel events involving more than 50 people. Commission Chair Kim Simpson explained in the statement that the decision was expected and that they intend to move forward with new plans as quickly as possible. Our focus in this moment is not solely on the gathering of the General Conference for the work we have been called to do, but is on the individuals, families, churches and communities around the world whose lives are being impacted by this pandemic, stated Simpson. We recognize the struggle to deal with the physical, emotional and spiritual needs which come with the unknown. We are confident that local United Methodist churches will be finding new ways to be in community with their neighbors and meet their evolving needs. The commissions decision to postpone the General Conference came days after the UMC Council of Bishops sent them a letter requesting postponement. Newly imposed international travel restrictions to the U.S. are making it more difficult for our Central Conference delegates, explained the letter, sent out last Friday. Consideration must also be given to the grave risk resulting from international travel and meeting in a very large gathering with the potential spread of the virus when we are together. This years General Conference planned to address possible legislation aimed at splitting the denomination over its longstanding internal debate on homosexuality. For several years, progressive United Methodists have tried to change the denomination's official stance that homosexuality incompatible with Christian teaching. While their efforts have always failed, they have taken to increasingly resisting UMC rules against same-sex marriage and the ordination of noncelibate homosexual clergy. The most notable proposal advanced to General Conference was known as the Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace through Separation, which would, among other things, allocate $25 million for Methodists who adhere to biblical sexual ethics to vote to leave the UMC and create their own denomination. The Philippines Conference Cavite, the Sierra Leone Conference, and the Michigan Annual Conference each voted to send the Protocol to General Conference, with the Philippines and Sierra Leone also expressing their endorsement of the plan. Unlike the two international conferences that acted before the March 7 vote in Albion, The Michigan Conference did not endorse the Protocol, explained the Michigan regional body. The single motion brought by the delegation for action by the Special Session was to send the petition entitled 'Reconciliation and Grace Through Separation and Restructuring' (BOD New 2556) to the 2020 General Conference. You may have heard a lot of news regarding toilet paper in the past few days. Be it about newspaper printing blank pages to resolve loo paper crisis or cops asking people not to call 911 in case of its shortage. But this may be the funniest loo roll joke you will consume today and, it has nothing to do with the shortage in supply of the product. This picture was posted on Twitter by Matthew Berry, an ESPN+ host, on March 19. It is a clear representation of how Berrys creative daughter is dealing with school shut down during the Covid-19 outbreak. The photo shows a toilet gone rouge as it takes up the bad habit of smoking. One has to commend this 8-year-olds imagination that used two full toilet paper rolls, one finished loo roll and a cap to create this innovative piece. The post currently has over 28,000 likes and 2,100 comments along with almost 196,000 retweets. My 8 year old daughter just yelled "Oh no the toilet is smoking!!" My wife and I ran to the bathroom to find this. Its just day 4 of home school. pic.twitter.com/tG92vJPOtR Matthew Berry (@MatthewBerryTMR) March 19, 2020 While one Twitter user said, today I learned your 8-year-old and I have the exact same sense of humour. Another responded, this is brilliant. I just set up the same thing in my bathroom and cant wait for the kids and my wife to stumble across it. Im 43 years old. However, it wasnt just this 43-year-old that got inspired by the smoking toilet prank. This woman re-created the scene to spook out her boyfriend and said that it worked marvellously. Just pulled it on my boyfriend. 10/10 panic, would reccomend. pic.twitter.com/YCNDvt4tfe Krystal LaPorte (@WowSuchKrystal) March 20, 2020 While one Twitter account declared this piece grade A+ art. Another took the marking scale to a whole different level by saying this: Honestly, Social Studies grade A+ too. This is very relevant to current events on about 8 different llevels. Vinegar Mike (@VinegarMike) March 20, 2020 Some people were still concerned about the shortage in supply as one Twitter user had this to add to the thread: Look at you showing off that you own two rolls of toilet paper. QuarantinePickle (@sportspickle) March 20, 2020 But honestly, out of all the ways in which one could use toilet paper during a pandemic; using it for a prank that turned into an art installation on Twitter is definitely up there. We just hope this toilet quits smoking. What do you think of this masterpiece? SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The month of February saw Xiaomi ship more smartphones than Huawei, moving the latter from number 3 spot for the first time Huawei has been struggling from the aftermath of the U.S. ban, and while the company reported a stellar 2019 financially, February 2020 has not been kind. For the first time, Xiaomi has overtaken Huawei in terms of who sold more phones The numbers are provided by Strategy Analytics, who report that Huawei conceded its third-place to Xiaomi, but by a very small margin. Huawei sold 5.5 million units while Xiaomi managed to sell 6 million, making its margin of victory slim, but significant. The report also shows Samsung in the number 1 spot with 18.2 million units sold while Apple was in its comfortable number 2 spot with 10.2 million units sold. While the February numbers might peg Huawei on the losing side, the picture is quite bleak for everyone. Last year, February saw 99.2 million units move, whereas this year, OEMs were only able to move 61.8 million units, a near 40 percent drop. The slowing sales are being attributed to the Corona Virus rampage, which has impacted every rung of the ladder, starting from supply chain to the very consumer. Even as the world moves towards recovery and markets start to balance out, Huaweis fate may still be in the red. The U.S. governments ban on Huawei sees the company project sales to drop by another 20 percent for the year 2020, and that projection was given before the Corona Virus hit. In a bid t to remain relevant and competitive, Huawei set out to create its own core services known as Huawei Mobile Services, an alternative to Google Mobile Services, which its phones no longer ship with. The lack of GMS would mean no access to Googles services, and most importantly, no access to Play Store. With HMS, Huawei hopes to create its own app ecosystem and has been luring developers with the promise of high revenue share and support for development and distribution. It would appear that HMS may not be the perfect solution to Huaweis problems. Edward Boateng, Ghanas Ambassador to China has discredited claims that the Embassy failed to provide adequate needs of stranded Ghanaian students in China at the height of the Coronavirus outbreak in that country. He said videos and photos that were shared by some students in China on social media to denigrate the efforts made by the government of Ghana to feed the students during the outbreak did not represent the full package made available to them by the government. He was of the view that the publications were misleading and were spearheaded by a few students there. Sharing details about the Embassy and the government of Ghanas support to the students at the peak of the outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID19) with Citi News Bernard Avle, Edward Boateng said enough food was sent to the students and what they shared on social media was only the first of the many boxes of food sent to the students. We decided to send them money but the Minister [for Foreign Affairs] out of her own motherly instincts said if the students say they dont have food to eat, why dont we send them food from Ghana. So we sent Gari, Kenkey, Sardine, Shito, Fufu, BankuMy officers had to work three days continuous, packaging these things nicely. They went in boxes of five, six some communities even got 10 boxes so when they got the first box, they decided to put it out [on social media], he said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in February dispatched cartons of assorted Ghanaian food items to the Mission in Beijing for onward delivery to the students in China particularly Wuhan but some students expressed displeasure about the food package they received and posted photos of it on social media. For us, we managed the situation. We had conference calls all over China in managing the situation. It was only a handful of students who were making all those noises. We knew very much that we were in control of the situation. Edward Boateng told Bernard Avle that the Ghana Embassy in China took better care of Ghanaians in China amidst the spread of the virus than diplomats of other countries. Ghana Embassy in China took better care of their people than any other embassy including the Western Countries, he said. He noted that the Ghana Mission in Beijings service to citizens in China was widely commended by other missions in China. We got recommendations from the other embassies that we did very well and we were in touch with them." citinewsroom Illustrative image (Photo: VNA) Specifically, its flights to and from Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar will be halted from March 21. Meanwhile, flights to and from the UK and Japan will be suspended from March 23, and others to Germany and Australia from March 24. Earlier, the carrier temporarily stopped flights between Vietnam and China, Hong Kong (China), Macao (China), the Republic of Korea, France, Russia, Malaysia and Taiwan (China). Passengers buying tickets for international flights before March 25 will be eligible for changing their itineraries or flight dates for free. Further information could be found on the website www.vietnamairlines.com, www.facebook.com/VietnamAirlines, Vietnam Airlines ticket agents, customer care hotline 1900 1100 (calling from Vietnam) or 842438320320 (calling from abroad). Michigan has seen a dramatic increase in unemployment claims this past week, but state officials have been told by the U.S. Department of Labor not to provide daily updates on the numbers, said Erica Quealy, spokeswoman for the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity. On Wednesday, Quealy told journalists that claims were up 550%. The Gongwer news service reported that about 55,000 unemployment claims were filed between Monday and Wednesday this week, a 1,500% increase. Since then, the U.S. Department of Labor has imposed an embargo on state reporting daily numbers on unemployment claims, Quealy said. We can confirm that the Michigan Unemployment Insurance claims are up dramatically compared to normal anticipated activity this time of year, Quealy told MLive Friday. The data for this week should be available on Thursday, March 26, she said. The New York Times reported that it obtained a copy of the email sent Wednesday by the U.S. Labor Department enacting the embargo. The email instructed state officials around the country to do nothing more than provide information using generalities to describe claims levels (very high, large increase) until the department releases the total number of national claims next Thursday. The message noted that the data was monitored closely by policymakers and financial markets to determine appropriate actions in light of fast-changing economic conditions and should be closely held until the Labor Departments report, the Times reported. Michigan reported its first two coronavirus cases on March 10. Since then, many businesses have temporarily closed or reduced their hours, especially after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ordered the closing of businesses such as fitness centers and day spas and limited bars and restaurants to take-out or delivery service only. CORONAVIRUS PREVENTION TIPS Michigans State Emergency Operations Center is coordinating state-government resources and the response to the coronavirus spread. It has shared the following tips: What you can do to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases: Always cover coughs or sneezes with a tissue or sleeve. Stay home if you are sick and advise others to do the same. Avoid close contact with people who are sick. Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands. Wash your hands often with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds. Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol, if soap and warm water are not available. Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces(computers, keyboards, desks, etc.). Its not too late to get your flu shot! While the influenza vaccine does not protect against COVID-19 infection, it can help keep you healthy during the flu season. READ MORE Complete coverage at mlive.com/coronavirus Friday, March 20: Latest developments on coronavirus in Michigan In the military, we used to call it asleep on guard duty just like Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld on 9/11 by Eric S. Margolis He who seeks to defend everything, defends nothing. King Frederick the Great of Prussia. This is one of the most important maxims of military history. Every young officer should have it drilled into his head. Yet the confused administration of President Donald Trump has been doing just this as it fights an invisible foe no one expected. Trump, who dodged US military service using phony doctor certificated about his feet, now shamelessly styles himself a war president. This new affectation mirrors Trumps well-known love of ostentatious displays, military parades, and bombastic talk. When draft-dodgers grow old, they often become flaming warmongers and carriers of the big stick. Fox-TV watching older American men replaced their long faded sexual prowess with calls for martial action by..the young, of course. Now, as the coronavirus spreads, our self-proclaimed War Leader has drawn his sword to defend endangered America. But Trump cant decide if he is waging war against a vicious virus or fear itself. For the first two weeks of the epidemic he dismissed it as a hoax spread by lefties. It was surprising the Clinton Democrats did not claim the plague was started by Moscow. When the light of reality put an end to Trumps Panglossian cheer, the president assumed the costume of doctor in chief and began warning that the Wuhan virus was very dangerous and likely introduced by foreigners (read Muslims, Chinese and Mexicans). If only his wall had been built. Thats Trumps happy story. The factual version shows Trump & Co was so busy provoking Iran into an air war, politicking in Washington and studying polls of Midwestern evangelical voters that they totally missed the advent of the coronavirus, even though they had plenty of time to see the onrush of this viral tsunami. In the military, we used to call it asleep on guard duty just like Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld on 9/11. The mighty, all-powerful US had plenty of 500 lb and 1,000 lb bombs, fuses, fuel air explosives, napalm and 20mm shells for Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, West Africa, and other unfortunate targets, and supplies to stock over 800 military bases around the globe, but not enough ventilators, respirators, face masks or even beds to accommodate the flood of sick Americans. As the great Frederick said, one cannot defend against everything or every eventuality. But a strategic surge capability for such life-and-death materials is essential. So are emergency supplies of essential items. The US is not Romania. We are spending $1 trillion on our military this year when all departments are included. Tell me they cant afford backup face masks or ventilators? Supposed there was a chemical/biological attack on the US? What would we do? Use torn up pieces of the NY Daily News as gas masks? This is what people did in Europe for toilet paper in the threadbare 1950s. Maybe we will do it again. Trump treated this virus attack as a political problem, alternately dismissing it or claiming decisive action. Proper government action was delayed for weeks by Trump calling the virus a hoax. A nation that could produce an entire Liberty ship during World War II in 24 hours was left telling frontline nurses to wear scarves around their mouths because there were no stocks left of N95 facemasks, respirators or gowns. It was easier for the Italians. They have Europes oldest population. So they just let their elderly sick die off in favor of younger, more robust patients. The Pope has remained out of site with what are termed sniffles. He may well have the virus as do many who mixed with crowds. A penitent China is now shipping masks to Italy. In his usual regal style, Trump has been taking responsibility for every aspect of the virus epidemic. Thats dangerous, because he could end up being blamed for some of this disasters health and economic damage. A much better example is Californias cool, competent governor, Gavin Newsom who has managed this crisis with skill and aplomb. He could very well run for president in the next election. Some environmentalists will even suspect that the current plague is the planets payback against Trump and his flat earth Republicans for their devastation of our wildlife, forests and waters. Mother Natures revenge. When Gov. Greg Abbott signed a waiver this week that relaxed state regulations on pickup and delivery of alcoholic beverages, some envisioned a free flow of beer, wine and other spirits amid the coronavirus pandemic in Texas. Turns out the waiver, designed to help restaurants and bars hurt financially by the public health crisis, applies only to cocktails and other liquor-based beverages, which still must be served in small containers sealed by the original manufacturer. Jeret Pena, owner of the bar Still Golden, was among hundreds of business owners struggling Friday to understand the effects of the governors action. He had been gearing up earlier in the week to deliver cocktails en masse with food from his kitchen. But after learning more about its implementation by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, he said he has thrown up his hands and resigned himself to selling what he can in the form of to-go orders of beer and wine. On ExpressNews.com: Coronavirus shock hits S.A. businesses, workers Its a big, giant cluster-mess. And honestly, the most disappointing thing about this is our industry is heavily hit, Pena said Friday.I know that theyre trying to help, but its just not helping. It has been a confusing week in Texas for restaurants, bars and their patrons. The city shut them all down Thursday, while Bexar County initially sought to keep them open for business, with limited in-dining service in suburban and incorporated areas. But then the governor issued an executive order to close all dining and drinking establishments statewide at least through April 3. The governors office issued a news release saying his TABC waiver will allow restaurants to deliver alcoholic beverages with food purchases to patrons, including beer, wine and mixed drinks. TABC spokesman Chris Porter said restaurants with a wine and beer retailers permit have always been allowed to sell those beverages to go, or have them delivered, as long as they have a consumer delivery permit or a contract with someone who has one. Wine or malt beverages can be delivered in a container of any size, and it doesnt have to be in its original sealed container, he said. The waiver approved this week is for establishments with a mixed beverage permit and an on-premise kitchen to provide to-go or delivery service of alcohol with food prepared on the premises, Porter said. A new state law that took effect in September allows those businesses to deliver beer and wine, as well as manufacturer-sealed, single-serving mixed drinks. But the cocktails have to be in containers no larger than 375 milliliters. The governors waiver temporarily negates a provision of that alcohol delivery law that requires a food and beverage certificate. But the TABC is still requiring distilled spirits that are delivered or served to-go with food to be in an original manufacturer-sealed container that is no more than 375 milliliters in size, Porter said. Thats what Pena said he cant do. His business primarily has 750-milliliter containers and 1-liter bottles. If every bar wanted to go and buy 375s, it would be a hand sanitizer shortage. Theres not enough, Pena said. Geoffrey Bezuidenhout, general manager of Picnikins Patio Cafe and president of the San Antonio Restaurant Association, said he has not closely followed the issue, since his business has a beer-and-wine permit. But he had received push notifications all day from the Texas Restaurant Association, and most of them have been about the TABC. The statewide association has been in close contact with the TABC and the governors office to push for the curbside beverage solutions. Much of the confusion, Bezuidenhout said, has been about the type of containers for delivery and pickup service of cocktails, under standards aimed at protecting consumers. On ExpressNews.com: A timeline of COVID-19 in San Antonio You cant just make a Jack and Coke in your bar, put it in a to-go cup and wrap it, and call that a manufacturer-sealed container, Bezuidenhout said. Dawn Larios, executive director of the local restaurant association, said shes hopeful that the waiver will prove beneficial to some hard-hit businesses once details are worked out. She said the group has tried to share the most current information with its members, as well as nonmember establishments, to help provide a steady food supply for San Antonians, as lines continue forming at grocery stores. Were here to help the community, Larios said. Porter, the TABC spokesman, said the agency is in daily contact with hundreds of concerned industry members across the state. We understand there are a number of issues that are important to each of them, and were working to solve as many as we can as quickly as possible. The situation is changing every day, he said. The latest information is at the TABCs coronavirus page: tabc.texas.gov/coronavirus. Scott Huddleston covers Bexar County government and the Alamo for the San Antonio Express-News. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | shuddleston@express-news.net | Twitter: @shuddlestonSA The stakes with the coronavirus have gotten higher. A study in China has shown the virus can still survive in the cured host cells. The bad news is that after recovery, the patient can spread the virus like a walking viral sack! And this will be the condition for two weeks, even after quarantine. Why does the coronavirus persist? Most viruses and pathogens have this characteristic and most patients will not be very contagious during the post symptom period. According to Krys Johnson, an epidemiologist at Temple University's College of Public Health, this is good news for everyone who has been cured of COVID-19. Another thing is that viruses in the system will prompt an immune response to it. As long as the virus stays in a person's system, there will be no reinfection, added Krys Johnson. After coronavirus infection, some will be carriers and others will not. A study published by the JAMA This study was published by The Journal of the American Medical Association on Feb. 27, the subjects were four medical professionals from 30 to 35 years old, who develop the COVID-19 and treated at the Wuhan University's Zhongnan Hospital in China between January 1 and February 15. Only one was admitted and the rest were okay. All were given the anti-viral oseltamivir, also called the brand name of Tamiflu. Specifics of the treatment administered The four individuals got better, when the symptoms of the COVID-19 disappeared, with dual tests of negative for the virus (tests two days in a row). All were directed to isolate for five days at their homes. Still, samples like throat swabs were taken for five days and 13 days after getting cured. All the samples showed a positive infection from the 5th day to the 13th day, when isolated. The results from the samples indicate that recovered patients may still be carriers of the virus. Conditions like this show the coronavirus can still spread, despite getting cured in clinics and hospitals, but the recovered will not get sick. But at this point, the coronavirus can be spread after recovery, based on data. Also read: 10 Coronavirus Drugs and Vaccines in Development The anomaly of the Japanese coronavirus patient A Japanese patient who recovered from the coronavirus, got sick again from the virus, according to Reuters. Other Chinese patients have fully recovered from the virus and are not getting sick, unlike what happened to the Japanese patient. It might be possible that a new strain re-infected her and she did not have immunity to it yet. Another is her system did not totally eradicate the virus, and it reproduced in here lungs with symptoms resurfacing. Low-level viruses Other viruses tend to hang around the body after recovery from sickness, according to Ebenezer Tumban, a virologist at Michigan Tech University. Some of these pathogens are the Zika and Ebola virus, that will be present in the recovered patient's body, he added. They test the four Wuhan patients intending to find genetic fragments in body tissue, said Tumban. He added that Tamiflu must have lessened the copies of the virus in their systems. One shortcoming is the test should be adjusted for sensitivity. For the Japanese patient without the anti-pathogen medicines, the virus increased and are not enough to hurt the tissues, but the symptoms still returned. These individuals will not be so contagious from coughing or sneezing, because the virus is not as many but close contact of food or drinks, or intimate contact is not advised. Precautions should be done to avoid sharing the disease. Immunity implications Most patients will develop an immunity to it unless there is a mutation which makes it different. Once cured of the coronavirus, the person still needs to isolate himself from others to avoid transmitting it. Related article: Coronavirus Can Survive in Air and Surfaces, Infecting Victims @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Russia to quarantine all arrivals from abroad for two weeks People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 09:42, March 20, 2020 MOSCOW, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Russian health authorities on Thursday ordered the country's regions to ensure a 14-day isolation period for everyone arriving from abroad to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Individuals can be isolated at home or put under observation in specialized clinics, said a decree signed by Anna Popova, head of Russia's Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare. All arrivals are required to report when they returned to the country, as well as the place and duration of their stay abroad via local hotlines. The watchdog instructed regional governors to introduce a high alert regime in order to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Russia has banned practically all foreigners from entry, closed borders with neighboring states, and suspended most flights and rail links. Earlier on Thursday, Russia reported the first coronavirus-related death. So far, 147 cases of COVID-19 have been registered in the country. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Mike Bloomberg has talked a good game about maintaining campaign offices nationwide and spending possibly $2 billion of his enormous personal wealth to help elect a Democrat in the 2020 general election, but he may not deliver on his grandiose promises. That's the word from numerous staffers who tell Fox Business that a new plan may be on the drawing board that will provide significantly less support from the former New York City mayor and billionaire entrepreneur than Bloomberg initially stated when he dropped out of the race for the Democratic nomination following his Super Tuesday losses. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS FOX Business has learned the proposed independent expenditure, a political action committee-like entity that Bloomberg staffers were told would likely hire them if the presidential campaign unraveled, may now be axed. Instead, Bloomberg may focus his efforts on supporting the Democratic National Committee, where some of the displaced staffers may be added. A Bloomberg spokeswoman would not comment on the matter and people close to the campaign say no final decision on its future has been made as this story is published. But an update on the fate of Bloomberg's campaign staffers will be discussed at 11 a.m. New York time today, hosted by Dan Kanninen, who was Bloombergs 2020 states director, Bloomberg campaign aides tell Fox Business. BLOOMBERG'S MONEY COULD WIN 2020 RACE EVEN IF HE DOESN'T The call is expected to outline next steps for staffers still employed by the campaign that was moving toward a national effort to beat Donald Trump in the 2020 election. Neither Mike Bloomberg nor his campaign manager Kevin Sheekey are expected to be on the call. The move shows that Bloomberg isn't totally backing away from promises to fund the eventual Democratic nominee, likely to be former Vice President Joe Biden, who now has a commanding lead over socialist Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. But it does, according to staffers, show that Bloomberg is having second thoughts about his initial sweeping plans to influence the race for the White House even if he dropped out of contention. Story continues GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE We were told something very different initially, one former staffer tells FOX Business. Some people feel they were misled by the campaign. It's unclear what may cause the shift if there is one later today. Some staffers speculated it has something to do with the economic impact of the coronavirus which is roiling markets and causing shares of the big banks -- the very customers of Bloomberg's data and news empire, Bloomberg LP, to tumble. Signs that the former mayor would reduce his footprint in the 2020 general election began weeks ago when many Bloomberg staffers were laid off despite the promise of employment until November. BLOOMBERG'S AD SPENDING MAY PROVIDE A CLUE TO HIS PRESIDENTIAL PLANS Meanwhile, FOX Business was first to report a Bloomberg campaign staffer has tested positive for COVID-19 as many campaign workers face losing their insurance at the end of the month. There are some benefits to shifting Bloomberg's campaign operations to the DNC. For example, the DNC allows staffers to coordinate their efforts with the Biden campaign; under Federal regulations, super PACs and independent expenditures are not allowed to work directly with campaigns. WALL STREET EXECS QUESTION TIMING OF NYSE'S FLOOR CLOSING This is strategically and tactically smart to work with the DNC, Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf tells FOX Business. It means Bloomberg is no longer an outsider to the Democratic Party and allows staff members to coordinate with the Biden campaign. But working with the DNC does put stricter limits around how much and where Bloomberg spends money. Its unclear how much he can legally funnel to the DNC's coffers. Related Articles New York, March 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Metallurgical Coal Market 2020-2024" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p05724788/?utm_source=GNW Our reports on global metallurgical coal market provides a holistic analysis, market size and forecast, trends, growth drivers, and challenges, as well as vendor analysis covering around 25 vendors. The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current global market scenario, latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. The market is driven by increasing demand for steel.In addition, advances in the mining industry is anticipated to boost the growth of the global metallurgical coal market as well. Market Segmentation The global metallurgical coal market is segmented as below: Application: Steelmaking Non-steelmaking Geographic Segmentation: Americas APAC EMEA Key Trends for global metallurgical coal market growth This study identifies advances in the mining industry as the prime reasons driving the global metallurgical coal market growth during the next few years. Prominent vendors in global metallurgical coal market We provide a detailed analysis of around 25 vendors operating in the global metallurgical coal market, including some of the vendors such as Anglo American Plc, Arch Coal Inc., Bharat Coking Coal Ltd., BHP, China Coal Energy Co. Ltd., China Shenhua Energy Co. Ltd., Coronado Global Resources Inc., Glencore Plc, Teck Resources Ltd. and Vale SA . The study was conducted using an objective combination of primary and secondary information including inputs from key participants in the industry. The report contains a comprehensive market and vendor landscape in addition to an analysis of the key vendors. Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05724788/?utm_source=GNW About Reportlinker ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place. __________________________ Wellington: As the rest of New Zealand moves to protect over-70s and vulnerable citizens to coronavirus, one septuagenarian has been granted an exemption to continue working. Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, 74 years old, has been given the green light to continue in his role by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks to the media on Saturday. Credit:Getty Images On Saturday, Ardern introduced a new four-stage coronavirus alert system to indicate the type of public health measures required to fight COVID-19. The country is currently at level two, which explicitly requires high-risk people, including "those over 70 or those with other existing medical conditions" to stay home. Research stations established in South China Sea PLA Daily Source: China Military Online Editor: Chen Lufan 2020-03-20 22:14:42 The Chinese Academy of Sciences has established two research stations on Yongshu and Zhubi islands in the South China Sea to allow scientists to live and conduct field studies on ecology, geology and environment. The Yongshu station already has systems monitoring coral reef biomes, the island's flora and fresh water conservation. On the Zhubi islands, it recently finished the designs for its seismic stability and fresh water monitoring systems. The academy said the stations will help scientists expand their research into deep sea ecology, geology, environment, material sciences and marine energy. They also play a part in monitoring ecological and seismic changes in key regions of the South China Sea. The two stations are branches of the academy's general research center on Meiji Island, which was built to support China's undertakings in ecological protection, resource utilization and sustainable development in the South China Sea. The Meiji research center was launched in 2018 and is run by the academy's newly established South China Sea Innovation Institute for Ecological and Environmental Engineering. In the future, the center will utilize its location to provide more insights on ocean acidification, reef protection and curbing micro-plastic pollution and marine disasters. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Drive-thrus are spreading across many sectors of South Korean society lately, following the success of the nation's drive-thru coronavirus testing centers that have been praised by foreign media for their safety, efficiency and speed. Schools and pubic libraries have adopted the method in the distribution of books, while restaurants and retailers are allowing their customers to pick up food or products while staying inside their cars. Drive-thru systems, allowing people to buy goods or receive services without leaving their cars, have been gaining increasing popularity, as more and more people are reluctant to make direct contact with others amid the COVID-19 scare. A number of coronavirus triage centers in South Korea have set up drive-thru style facilities, where medical staff lean through car windows to check drivers' fevers and respiratory symptoms and take their samples in less than 10 minutes. The drive-thru virus testing method has won much applause from foreign media and been imported by the United States, Japan and many countries in Europe. Taking a cue from the coronavirus clinics, a number of non-medical public institutions and private businesses here have also adopted the innovative drive-thru method. Pohang Jecheol Middle School in Pohang, a North Gyeongsang Province city hit hard by COVID-19, distributed textbooks for the spring semester to the parents of its students in a drive-thru earlier this week. Homeroom teachers put a set of 14 textbooks in a bag in advance and then delivered them when the parents came to the school by car. At the request of the provincial educational office, many other secondary schools also handed out textbooks in a drive-thru system, drawing favorable responses from parents who want to avoid contact with others in waiting rooms. Parents of Jeju Jeil Middle School on the southern resort island of Jeju also received their children's textbooks from inside their cars Thursday. Elementary, middle and high schools were supposed to begin their spring semester on March 2, but the start date has been delayed to April 6 due to fears of virus transmissions in classrooms. In Daegu, which accounts for over two-thirds of Korea's confirmed coronavirus cases totaling 8,652 as of Friday, a restaurant has drawn media attention for selling pork chops in a drive-thru method. Its customers can order pork chops by phone before picking them up from inside their cars. In Pohang, an association of regional fish farmers sold 800 sushi lunch box sets to residents and visitors in a drive-thru system last weekend. A number of public libraries in Seoul, Busan, Ulsan, Cheongju and other cities have recently launched a service to lend books via a drive-thru system. In most cases, citizens log into the library websites and select books to borrow before picking them up at the entrance of a library the following day. The municipality of Changwon, southeastern South Korea, began a toy rental service based on the drive-thru system for its residents on Friday. Its citizens can make a phone reservation for up to two toys and pick them up the following day while in their cars. Among retailers, the Gwangju branch of Lotte Department Store last Tuesday launched a "drive-up and pick-up" service for its customers who complete an online payment for their desired goods in the company's app. (Yonhap) A scene from the Netflix documentary "Crip Camp," winner of the Audience Award at this year's Sundance Film Festival. (Netflix) "Crip Camp," a documentary about a "summer camp for the handicapped run by hippies" that inspired the disabled rights movement, opened the Sundance Film Festival in January with volunteers turning away ticket holders because every seat in the Eccles Theater was spoken for. Outside, there was a massive scrum with rumors flying that Barack and Michelle Obama, executive producers on the film through their company Higher Ground, might be attending. That proved to be wishful thinking, but their absence didn't dampen the response to the movie. "Crip Camp" left Sundance with the festival's Documentary Audience Award, great reviews and the feeling that it could follow the path of "American Factory," the Netflix/Higher Ground film that won the documentary Oscar this year. "Crip Camp" might still wind up at the Oscars. But if it does (provided the Oscars actually take place), it will be traveling a different path as might every movie with awards aspirations in 2020, owing to the current COVID-19 pandemic. The motion picture academy's leadership has been actively discussing altering its rules in recent days, with an announcement likely in the next couple of weeks that could ease the requirements for movies to qualify for the 2021 Oscars. "It's all we talk about," said a source close to the academy who was not authorized to comment on the record. The academy issued a statement Thursday, noting that it is "in the process of evaluating all aspects of this uncertain landscape and what changes may need to be made," adding that its leadership is "committed to being nimble and forward-thinking" in its evaluations. "Translated," says one of the academy's 54 governors, "that means everything is on the table this year because we have no idea what the next several months are going to look like right now." "Crip Camp" was set to open theatrically Wednesday in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco, concurrent with its streaming premiere on Netflix. The documentary will still land on Netflix, but whether it ever plays in theaters remains in question with the nationwide closure of cinemas because of COVID-19. Story continues Currently, for a movie to qualify for the Oscars, motion picture academy rules state that it must play for at least seven days in a Los Angeles County commercial theater, with at least three screenings per day for paid admission. The academy's board of governors went out of its way to reaffirm that rule at its April meeting last year, with then-President John Bailey calling the support of the theatrical experience "integral to the art of motion pictures." But with moviegoing off the table for the foreseeable future, and studios such as Universal Pictures and DreamWorks releasing current films and the upcoming animated Trolls World Tour for home viewing and Warner Bros. and others rushing their recent releases to VOD, it may be difficult for the "theatrical experience" to be integral to anything this year, including the Oscars. Filming on many of the year's most promising titles Sofia Coppola's family comedy-drama "On the Rocks," Steven Spielberg's adaptation of "West Side Story," David Fincher's Herman Mankiewicz biographical drama "Mank" has been completed, and the movies are in various states of postproduction. Wes Anderson's latest, "The French Dispatch," is locked and was presumably going to premiere at Cannes in May, though that film festival, like everything else these days, has been postponed. Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul's latest, the Tilda Swinton-led drama "Memoria" (bought by Neon, the studio behind Oscar winner "Parasite"), likely was heading for Cannes too, as was Leos Carax's musical "Annette," starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard. Spike Lee's "Da 5 Bloods," the story of four black veterans returning to Vietnam to deal with their trauma (and search for buried treasure), also is completed. "Done. Finished. Locked And Loaded," Lee wrote in an email to The Times. The marketplace for these movies, though, will depend on how long the COVID-19 outbreak lasts and how the current pandemic might alter the landscape once the new normal of self-isolation and social distancing ends. If and when theaters reopen, there could be a glut of previously postponed movies vying for release dates and screens. Awards-season contenders (again, presuming there is even an awards season to begin with) might need to shift to 2021. Already, thanks to production shutdowns, two prime Emmy contenders set to premiere this spring the latest installment of FX's acclaimed limited series "Fargo," starring Chris Rock, and National Geographic's "Genius: Aretha" with Cynthia Erivo starring as Aretha Franklin are thought to be out of contention, though their ultimate fate could depend on whether the Television Academy loosens its rule about how many episodes a series must air before its May 31 Emmy deadline. "Everyone's freaking out right now ... about everything," says a veteran awards consultant. "A month ago, we were so done thinking about the Oscars. Now, I'd give everything just to be able to focus on something so trivial again." An alleged fraudster accused of attempting to sell dozens of fake coronavirus treatment kits around the world has appeared in court after an international investigation. Frank Ludlow, 59, was arrested yesterday allegedly in the act of sending kits from a post office near his home in West Sussex, after US customs officers in Los Angeles intercepted a package on Wednesday containing 60 fake kits labelled 'Anti-Pathogenic treatment' and sent from the UK, said City of London Police. Officers from the Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) charged Ludlow with one count each of fraud by false representation, possession of articles for use in fraud and unlawfully manufacturing a medicinal product. A picture of the fake testing kits, above, were posted onto Twitter by the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit, warning those who may have purchased one not to use it He appeared at Brighton Magistrates' Court today and was remanded in custody until April 20. British police and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) launched a joint investigation after being alerted by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Ludlow was arrested less than four hours later allegedly attempting to send 60 more fake kits to France, the US and other parts of the UK. Police said the kits are thought to contain potassium thiocyanate and hydrogen peroxide, both of which are extremely harmful chemicals when the user is instructed to wash and rinse their mouth with them. They are warning anyone who bought one of the kits not to use it. Detective Chief Superintendent Clinton Blackburn, in a general warning to the public, said: 'Fraudsters are constantly looking for ways in which they can exploit people, including using global emergencies, and times of uncertainty for many, to defraud people out of their money. The fake testing kit was thought to contain dangerous substances, namely potassium thiocyanate and hydrogen peroxide (above), both of which are harmful to consume 'While police have taken swift action to arrest this individual, we believe some of these kits may still be in circulation. 'If you have purchased one of these kits, it's important you do not use it. Instead, report it to Action Fraud via their website www.actionfraud.police.uk or by calling 0300 123 2040 and quoting "Trinity CV19 treatment kits".' Tariq Sarwar, of the MHRA, said: 'We are encouraging people with health concerns to seek advice from a registered healthcare professional and only purchase medicines they need from an authorised seller. 'You should ensure you are buying your medicines and medical devices from a registered pharmacy or website only. 'When buying online, beware of illegitimate websites, suspicious URLs and remember that claims like "100% safe, no side effects" or "quick results", are often warning signs. Cut prices and speedy deliveries can expose you to fake medicines, identity theft and fraud.' Steve Francis, Director of the US National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Centre, praised the swift response of UK police, adding that people attempting to profit from the virus crisis will be held 'accountable for their criminal and dangerous acts'. A grand-scale social debate has been raging in Oregon and across the nation over how far each of us needs to go to collectively slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. A growing number of people have voluntarily taken precautions that might have seemed unimaginable in the U.S. just three weeks ago: canceling kid birthday parties, working from home, clearing the calendar of all dinner dates and nixing that much anticipated spring break trip. Then Friday evening, Gov. Kate Brown came out with this social distancing news: She is working with local officials on an order to mandate that people stay at home unless its absolutely necessary that they go out, such as to get groceries, seek medical care or go on a walk for physical and mental health. The new order -- expected by Monday -- will be on top of existing social distancing measures the governor had already ordered, such as closing schools until at least April 28, shutting down sporting events and other gatherings with more than 25 people and forbidding restaurants and bars from offering dine-in service. Social distancing measures are the most effective way to flatten the curve and slow the spread of the virus, Brown said. "But these measures dont work unless we all follow them every single day. Your actions right now mean the difference between life and death for yourself and for others," Brown continued. California Gov. Gavin Newsom became the first governor in the nation to enact a blanket statewide stay at home order that started Thursday. It allows residents to leave their homes only for essential needs, or for walks. WHAT IS SOCIAL DISTANCING? A month ago, virtually no one had heard of the term social distancing. But back then, no cases had been diagnosed in Oregon and just 15 cases had been reported in the U.S. As of Friday night, 115 had been identified in Oregon and 17,800 nationwide. Four people have died in Oregon and 238 coast to coast. First and foremost, social distancing means staying at least 6 feet from other people, according to the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. The World Health Organization says it should be at least 3 feet -- but many experts say thats not far enough to avoid a powerful cough or sneeze that could propel the virus onto you. The idea is to decrease the number of people infected to avoid a nightmare scenario like that predicted by the Imperial College in London this week: As many as 2.2 million deaths in the U.S. The straight math shows that would be more than 27,000 deaths in Oregon. IF DONT HAVE A FEVER OR DRY COUGH, WHY IS SOCIAL DISTANCING CRUCIAL? The obvious reason to practice social distancing is so you dont get infected. The other is that so you dont unknowingly spread COVID-19 to others. A study published this week by the American Association for the Advancement of Science found that asymptomatic people or people whose symptoms were so mild they didnt realize they were infected were a major driver of the disease from its epicenter in Wuhan, China, to the rest of the world. The study found that this group of roving people -- whose infections were never diagnosed -- were responsible for spreading the disease to 79 percent of the people who were diagnosed in China. One Southwest Portland doctor sent out an email to his neighborhood, warning residents that they should assume they have the new coronavirus if their symptoms include the top two -- a fever and cough. He said they should just stay home, unless their symptoms grow severe enough to phone a medical professional who then recommends hospitalization. WHAT IS GOOD PRACTICE AND WHATS NOT? Beyond maintaining an immediate distance from others, social distancing means minimizing all contact with people outside your household unless its absolutely necessary. Ways to accomplish that is to cancel all face-to-face social events, work from home, avoid public transportation and go out only when its truly essential. Although Oregons governor has already officially banned all gatherings of more than 25 people and advised people not to gather in groups of more than 10, there still have been a number of places where people can do that. Notably, people can shop for clothes, gifts and household items. The Portland areas malls -- Washington Square, Pioneer Place, Lloyd Center and Clackamas Town Center -- were still open Friday and had no posted plans to close on their websites. But individual stores within them had already made their own decisions about closing as a measure of self-enforced social distancing. Those shuttered stores include Apple, Gap, REI and H&M. SHOULD MY KID HANG OUT WITH FRIENDS? Oregons more than 640,000 K-12 students have been out of school only for five days, but kids have been itching to get out and see their friends. Theres been disagreement among scientists who study the spread of disease, medical professionals and public health officials about whether thats OK. A fast growing number have said its not: As tough as it is, children meeting up with classmates indoors or on playgrounds is not socially responsible. The same goes for adults inviting a friend or a relative over to your home for dinner or a drink. Some experts say, however, that meeting up with another person for a walk or outdoor activity -- as long as at least 6 feet of distance is maintained -- is fine. Friday evening, the governor, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler and Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury made clear that past norms of socializing has to stop. Their coming order will address this, they said. Kafoury said it is OK to recreate outside by walking, jogging, cycling or skateboarding as long as people keep their distance. This is a scary time for us, and we naturally want to be together, but the virus spreads when people congregate with others outside their immediate households. As much as we love Forest Park or (the) Portland waterfront, we have to avoid crowded trails or clustering in public parks when there isnt enough space, Kafoury said. We are in a moment when temporary disappointment and inconvenience are the price we pay for health and safety," she added. Made it to #catfishjunction on the Idaho Oregon border, Mikey catching his first catfish on the #SnakeRiver you can't catch the coronavirus if your not around anybody... #catfishjunctionRVPark#StayAtHomeChallenge #firstdayofspring #CoronaVirusChallenge pic.twitter.com/Vdbwvy5jRE AllTheOutdoors (@AllTheOutdoors) March 19, 2020 WHAT ABOUT FAMILY GATHERINGS? One of the toughest things about social distancing for many is cutting off traditional in-person interactions with extended family members -- especially those who are elderly. Case-in-point: A 73-year-old New Jersey woman and three of her adult children so far have died in the span of a week. They are believed to have contracted the new coronavirus after attending regular Sunday church services and Sunday family dinners. Nineteen other family members, including spouses and children, remain quarantined, according to NJ.com. BUT IVE GOT TO GROCERY SHOP... Yes, or go to the pharmacy or get gas. Experts recommend going to the grocery store during its slowest hours -- maybe early in the morning when some stores open or late at night when the crowds thin out. Wipe down your shopping cart and try to avoid getting too close to other shoppers. Costco has been encouraging shoppers and employees to maintain 6 feet of distance. Its also limiting the number of customers in its stores so no space gets too crowded. @courtyforrest I went today and was soft-smiling to strangers from a distance. But then people got too close and I put my pointy elbows out. One Chicklette (@1chicklette) March 20, 2020 Consider using the self-checkout line to avoid having a cashier touch your groceries, which might be just fine for some cashiers also wanting to reduce human interactions. Sanitize or wash your hands after checking out. A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine this past week found that the new coronavirus can live on cardboard for up to a day and plastic for up to three days. Infectious disease experts say shoppers can wipe down their groceries once at home, as an extra precaution. Ordering groceries online is also an option, but some Oregonians have reported days-long delays in deliveries because of increased demand. SHOULD I TAKE THAT SPRING BREAK TRIP? Kafoury, the Multnomah County Chair, said Oregonians must cancel their upcoming trips and this isnt the spring break anyone imagined. The U.S. State Department on Thursday urged Americans not to travel outside the country -- a move that increasingly has become impractical anyway with more countries closing their borders and flight cancellations. The CDC doesnt normally offer advisories for travel inside the U.S., but has warned Americans to consider a long list of concerns before taking even a road trip. Among them is whether you will be traveling to spend time in dense crowds and, if youre exposed, whether youre prepared to self-quarantine for 14 days upon your return. The popular vacation rental site Airbnb is requiring its hosts to offer full refunds to customers who booked stays between March 14 and April 14. VRBO, a competitor, is not, sparking angry comments from customers. Just cancelled our air bnb for our annual Oregon Coast spring break trip crazy that the Corona Virus is really messing with the regular flow of life on a global scale. These are historic times. Adriana Van Vliet (@AvatarAVVV) March 16, 2020 THIS IS HARD, REALLY HARD... FaceTime, phone calls and texting are great ways to stay connected. With the nice weather in the Portland area recently, some neighbors have taken to social distancing with a drink outdoors, chairs set a healthy distance apart. In social media posts, medical staff clad in scrubs and masks from across the world have been urging regular folks to limit contacts -- holding signs that all read We stay here for you. Please stay home for us. WE STAY HERE FOR YOU PLEASE STAY HOME FOR US ! PLEASE SHARE THIS MESSAGE pic.twitter.com/AVioztdRhU Corona Virus Update (@CaronaUpdate) March 19, 2020 In hopes of staying connected and encouraging morale, some dutiful world citizens have been trying to lighten up the mood. Theyve tweeting #StayAtHomeChallenge along with an explosive number of videos of people "hacky sacking" with toilet paper rolls while home -- among them, Portland Timbers and Thorns players. Unprecedented times call for unconventional activities. First up, Marvin Loria. Your turn - show us what you got!#StayAtHomeChallenge | #RCTID pic.twitter.com/cMN2euewYa Portland Timbers (@TimbersFC) March 18, 2020 Timbers player Jeff Attinella tweeted out a video of himself doing push-ups on the living room floor, with his adorable 3-year-old daughter sitting on his back. Summing up the sentiments of many who have taken social distancing to heart, he said: Hope everyones doing OK, he said. ...Wash your hands and stay inside. A little bit of cuteness to start your day.@Jeff_Attinella1 and his daughter are staying fit while staying at home! #FlattenTheCurve #RCTID pic.twitter.com/B2dsOHecyw Portland Timbers (@TimbersFC) March 17, 2020 -- Aimee Green; agreen@oregonian.com; @o_aimee Subscribe to our Oregon Coronavirus newsletter: A three-week romp through the Pacific with your new spouse might sound like a nice way to start a marriage at least until a global pandemic hits. Newlyweds Jay and Carmen Martinez had their honeymoon disrupted in a way they never could have imagined. With the worldwide outbreak of coronavirus, the San Antonio natives and 2,000 other passengers on the Norwegian Jewel cruise ship have been turned away from ports across the Pacific, even though no one on the ship has tested positive for COVID-19 or shown symptoms of the disease. Fears of the virus spreading rapidly within cruise ships and the logistical issues of getting passengers home have caused ports in New Zealand, French Polynesia and Fiji to turn the ship away. Officials in Hawaii said this week the Norwegian Jewel and another cruise ship the Maasdam were allowed to to restock on fuel and food in Honolulu Harbor. However, passengers will not be allowed to leave the ship, the Hawaii Department of Transportation said in a statement. Presently, all state resources are focused and directed toward containing the spread of COVID-19, said Jade Butay, director of the Hawaii Department of Transportation. Allowing more than 2,500 passengers and crew to disembark will further strain these resources. That surprised the passengers, who thought they would be leaving the ship and returning home from Hawaii. We had been told a few days ago we were going to be able to disembark in Honolulu, Jay Martinez said. And about 30 minutes after that, we found out from that announcement that the Department of Transportation for the state government of Hawaii had since rescinded that offer. So you had over 36 hours of people continuing to book flights under false pretense theyre going to be going home. Martinez, 27, and his wife, 26, have become a connection to the outside world for the ship, relaying messages to and from passengers families. In a nutshell, our cabin has been turned into a makeshift joint operation for the entire cruise ship, Martinez said. Were working as liaisons for family members looking to get in touch with those on board that may not have access to the internet or may not be tech savvy enough to access the internet. Martinez said morale on the ship has fluctuated. Passengers repeatedly have thought or been told that they would be allowed to disembark, only to learn their ship was being turned away. With only about 20 computers available for passengers to use and slow internet speeds Martinez said it can be a logistical nightmare with six- hour wait times for passengers who want to schedule a flight home online or contact a relative. But Martinez said the crew has been phenomenal and that the passengers have come together as theyve worked to get home. I think that among the guests on board, theres definitely been a sense of camaraderie that were in this together. Were in the same boat, Martinez said. Most of us are doing our best to weather the storm, but theres heightened levels of anxiety and frustration. The Norwegian Jewel is expected to arrive in Honolulu today, and Martinez said he wants Norwegian Cruise Lines to make a deal that would let passengers leave the ship and get shuttled to a chartered plane ensuring minimal exposure to the Hawaiian public. The corporate cruise line correspondences that weve been getting, were not getting told the entirety of the true story. The communications we are getting are very sparse and vague, he said. Our intended solution, for the health and safety of Hawaiians, is that Norwegian Cruise Lines take initiative in this matter and arrange a direct transport from cruise ship to the airport. The Norwegian Jewel isnt the only cruise ship marooned amid the pandemic. More than a dozen cruise ships around the world are currently unable to disembark. Jay works in public affairs, while Carmen works in public health. The two UTSA graduates recently relocated from San Antonio, but Martinez said theyre looking forward to coming back and seeing family here. The couple had planned a trip to visit home for Easter but that probably will have to be postponed, Martinez said with a chuckle. Martinez said he has been able to work remotely from the ship. But he and Carmens recent days have been consumed with organizing communications for passengers on board and trying to resolve the situation. When the couple finally returns home whenever that may be Jay said hell try to figure out the new socially distanced world. We want to get a grasp of our surroundings when were in closer proximity to family, of what this new normal is going to look like until we get a grasp on what it is thats going on, Martinez said. What I want to do when I get home is re-evaluate, hug my cat, and wake up the next morning and get back to work. diego.mendoza-moyers @express-news.com A KLM flight from Amsterdam to New Delhi was turned around midair, an official and a passenger told AFP on Saturday, after apparent confusion about India's coronavirus regulations. Because of the pandemic, India has imposed a bar on flights from Europe and from Sunday a one-week complete ban on all incoming international commercial flights comes into force. Passengers on the KLM flight, which had been due to arrive in the Indian capital early Saturday, included a pregnant woman who needed medical treatment on returning to Amsterdam. The aircraft was told late Friday "to return to its point of departure due to operational reasons while it was still airborne," the official told AFP without wishing to be identified. "Delhi does not have permission to land (planes) so we don't know why KLM decided to fly out from Amsterdam despite a clear advisory from the Indian government." One of the 120 or so passengers, also speaking anonymously, said that the announcement that they were going back was made over Russia around four hours into the flight. The Hindu daily reported that the aircraft had around 100 Indians on board who had started their journeys in the United States and Canada. The flight was also meant to bring home a number of Dutch citizens from India, it added. Despite the bar on flights from Europe, the Indian foreign ministry gave clearance to the KLM flight because the passengers were only transiting through Amsterdam, according to the Hindu. But India's Ministry of Civil Aviation thought otherwise and the plane was asked to head back to the Netherlands, the paper said. "We don't know what to do... Please help," one passenger said in a Twitter video, apparently shot at Schipol, carried by the Hindu. Tejus Vispute, the husband in India of the pregnant woman, said his wife had been admitted to hospital after landing back in Amsterdam and later discharged. "Once the flight turned back mid-air, my wife got really stressed out. She's around six months pregnant," Vispute told AFP. "The crew was very supportive." It was unclear how many other Indians wanting to come home are stranded around the world in the current crisis. The Indian foreign ministry was not immediately available for comment. India has so far confirmed 258 cases of coronavirus and four deaths. Flash Wuhan, the epicenter of COVID-19 outbreak in China, provides hope for the rest of the world that even the most severe situation of COVID-19 can be turned around, the World Health Organization (WHO) chief said Friday. Calling it a "success", WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, reported no new cases for the first time since the epidemic outbreak started. According to the Health Commission of Hubei Province, no new infections or suspected cases of the novel coronavirus were reported on Thursday in Wuhan, marking two days in a row of zero report at the epicenter of the epidemic in a months-long battle with the deadly virus. "The experience of cities and countries that have pushed back this virus give hope and courage to the rest of the world," Tedros said at a daily briefing. Answering a question from Xinhua, Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO health emergencies program, said it's a message of hope from China that the coronavirus can be suppressed, whose transmission chains can be broken through huge all-society effort, coordination, solidarity, commitment and workable supply chains, as well as engagement of activated communities and brave health workers. "That is a message of hope to many other countries around the world who have very low number of cases right now," said Ryan. Tedros said COVID-19 seems to reach a new and tragic milestone every day, as more than 210,000 cases, including over 9,000 deaths, have been reported globally. "Every loss of life is a tragedy," Tedros said, calling it "motivation" to double down and do everything people can to stop transmission of the virus and save lives. Tedros warned younger people particularly that they are not spared amid the pandemic. "Data from many countries clearly show that people under 50 make up a significant proportion of patients requiring hospitalization," said Tedros. He stressed solidarity between countries as well as between age groups is the key to defeating COVID-19. The state government is doing all it can to secure more ventilators as a united group of medical specialists warn him of a dire shortage. Almost 50 of the states most senior medical professionals warned WA Premier Mark McGowan in a letter that 400 extra Intensive Care Unit ventilators would be needed a day if immediate and widespread isolation measures werent implemented. Mr McGowan on Sunday said he hadnt seen the strongly-worded letter but the government was doing all it could to secure more vital equipment to deal with the pandemic. Were doing everything we can to secure more ventilators, nationally and internationally, he said. We have got people working on factories or local manufacturing of ventilators as we speak." Mr McGowan could not confirm how many ventilators the state had but a staffer confirmed there were currently about 100 in the system and an additional 100 were on their way to WA. Early this week, as the novel coronavirus ravaged Italy, two tweets went viral: one of swans returning to the canals of Venice, another of a dolphin swimming in them. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 21/3/2020 (662 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Opinion Early this week, as the novel coronavirus ravaged Italy, two tweets went viral: one of swans "returning" to the canals of Venice, another of a dolphin swimming in them. Three days later, Natasha Daly of National Geographic stepped in. The claims were bogus: swans regularly appear on an island in Venice and the dolphin was filmed hundreds of kilometres away in Sardinia. Such posts were meant to give people "false hope," Daly wrote. However, fantasies such as these, "Are likely to play a key role in keeping spirits up in the weeks and months ahead, as people self-quarantine in their homes and connect with each other through screens." Lost in the misinformation was the fact the canals of Venice are clearing (due to the halt of water traffic) and so, too, is the air. On March 13, the European Space Agency posted a satellite video of the skies above Venice, which "reveals a decline of air pollution, specifically nitrogen dioxide emissions," since January. Another ESA video posted Thursday shows a drastic (frankly, almost unbelievable) reduction of nitrogen dioxide emissions above the Chinese cities of Beijing and Shanghai, since December. Nitrogen dioxide is a harmful emission produced by burning fuel at factories, power plants, and driving vehicles activities that have dramatically decreased since countries instituted shutdown measures to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus. In images from the ESAs Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite, the month of February marked a 20 to 30 per cent drop in atmospheric content of nitrogen dioxide. While dolphins and swans may not be recovering quickly, the water, air, and earth is. The worlds economy reliant on burning fossil fuels, extracting minerals and resources is slowing, but nature is moving as fast as ever. The reduction of atmospheric pollutants is saving human lives, too. Every year, according to the World Health Organization, around seven million deaths are linked to diseases related to air pollution (such as lung disease, cancer, stroke and heart disease). The country with the highest number of air pollution-related deaths? China. Italys in seventh place. In early March, Stanford University assistant Prof. Marshall Burke published findings via online science journal G-FEED.org, arguing, over the long term, Chinas reduction of nitrogen dioxide "likely has saved the lives of 4,000 children under five, and 73,000 adults over 70." While this number is higher than the number who have died thus far in the pandemic, it doesnt take away from the life-and-death impact of COVID-19. As of Friday, there were more than 260,000 confirmed cases in the world (with China and Italy representing nearly half) and more than 11,200 deaths (China and Italy making up more than half). The next most-affected include Germany, the United States, and Spain with thousands of new cases reported every day, all over the globe. Humanity will eventually halt the spread of the virus, but its effect is going be felt for generations. (Like my grandparents, who told me about hiding under desks in preparation for nuclear bombs, this is going to be a future story that begins with: "I remember when we had to") The world wont be the same but in many ways, it shouldnt be. The past few weeks have demonstrated humans can and will radically alter habits, lifestyles, and patterns of behaviour when needed. Jen Zoratti | Next A weekly look towards a post-pandemic future delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Like air pollution and global warming, COVID-19 is invisible but very real. The novel coronavirus also may have come from humanitys neglect for the power of nature. In a remarkable recent piece in the Guardian, entitled "Tip of the iceberg: is our destruction of nature responsible for COVID-19?" writer John Vidal uncovers research that suggests "It is actually humanitys destruction of biodiversity that creates the conditions for new viruses and diseases." Due to industries that rely on the exploitation of the worlds resources and increased industrialization, more and more forests are being cut down, animals and plants are going extinct, and human populations are increasing: a recipe for increased "transmission of disease from wildlife to humans," (such as Lyme disease, Ebola, and SARS), Vidal writes. This should force all of humanity to think about the way it interacts with the animals, earth, water, and sky as a relationship, not things to take from endlessly. Because, in the end, if we only take, we might not always like what we get back. niigaan.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal on Saturday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a money laundering probe against Yes Bank promoter Rana Kapoor and his family members, officials said. They said Goyal's statement will be recorded by the investigating officer of the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) at its office in Ballard Estate here. Jet Airways' loan exposure to the crisis-ridden Yes Bank is about Rs 550 crore. Goyal was first summoned by the central probe agency on March 18 but he cited the reason of tending to an ill relative for skipping the summons. He was given a fresh time and deposed Saturday, they said. The agency initiated action against Kapoor and his family members and raided him soon after the Reserve Bank imposed a moratorium on the "stressed" Yes Bank earlier this month. Normal banking operations for Yes Bank customers were re-started on Wednesday. Also Read: YES Bank-Rana Kapoor case: Anil Ambani appears before ED Also Read: YES Bank crisis: Former CEO Rana Kapoor's ED custody extended till March 20 The Iraqi government has been forced to deploy troops after hundreds of thousands of people defied coronavirus restrictions and attempted to visit a shrine sacred to Shiite Muslims, two senior security sources with knowledge of the situation told NBC News. An estimated 300,000 to 400,000 people arrived at the shrine of Musa al-Kadhim, the seventh of the 12 imams who are considered to be the spiritual and political successors of the Prophet Muhammad, to the north of the countrys capital Baghdad, one of the sources said Friday. Security forces closed the area around the shrine in order to prevent people from entering them, gathering inside, he said, adding: We believe that the number of infected people will increase next week because of this visit. On Saturday as crowds approached the shrine they were prevented from entering and turned back by security forces. Iraq imposed a weeklong curfew Monday after 10 deaths were recorded in the country. Flights were also suspended from Baghdads international airport and several governorates in the country also closed their borders. Another seven people have since died from COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, and 195 cases have been confirmed. Image: (Hadi Mizban / AP) But that did not deter pilgrims from turning up in their tens of thousands at the site where between 3 and 4 million usually arrive at this time of the year to pay their respects to the martyred imam. Shiites are a sect of Islam who value commerating the descendants of the Prophet Muhammads family, through the lineage of his daughter Fatima known as the Ahlul Bayt, said Dr. Marryum Mahmood, a researcher at the Cadbury Center for the public understanding of religion in the British city of Birmingham. They see them as pure, she added. Much like Catholicism, she added, worshippers seek intercession by calling on these progeny to pray, so they are not praying to them, but through them to God. As a result, visiting the shrine was important, she said, Story continues As well as making their way from other parts of Iraq, in previous years, thousands of pilgrims have made their way to the holy site from Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, Mahmood added. Traditionally, pilgrims converge on foot on the imposing complex in Baghdad to pray and take part in mourning ceremonies that last several days. Saturday was particularly important to them because it was the day that Musa al-Kadhim was martyred in a prison in what is now Iraq, Mahmood said. Among the Shiites, who make up around 55 percent of Iraqs population, there was a sense of defiance, particularly in light of recent tensions in the country between the United States and the predominantly Shiite Iran, she said. While some Shiite Imams in the 10 million-strong city have urged people to obey the curfew rules, others like Muqtada al-Sadr, whose fighters clashed with U.S. troops after Saddam Hussein was driven from power, have done little to discourage people from visiting the shrine. I ask Allah to accept your visit and obedience, al-Sadr, who has since recast himself as a bulwark against Iranian influence in Iraq, tweeted Friday. He added that he hoped everyone would complete their visits quickly while following medical guidance so they would not be a source of infection to others. He also told people not to assault security forces. In response to the gatherings at the shrines, Iraqs acting Prime Minister Adel Abdul- Mahdi said in a statement that fines would be issued to anyone breaching the curfew. Those visitors were violating health regulations, he said. Iraqs ministry of health also warned against the gathering because of the great risk of spreading the virus. The advice went unheeded. (Newser) Officials in Florida are delivering some bad news in the case of missing Colorado boy Gannon Stauch. CNN reports that a body was found in the Florida Panhandle this week, and it's likely that of 11-year-old Gannon Stauch, who vanished from Colorado Springs in January. Per a release from the El Paso County Sheriff's Office in Colorado, officials there were contacted Wednesday by the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office in Florida with news that a "deceased juvenile male" had been found in Pace, about 15 miles northeast of Pensacola. An autopsy tentatively IDed the body as Gannon's, the release says. "We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to the friends and family of Gannon," the release notes, adding that, due to a gag order, no further details will be made available. story continues below The statement did mention, however, that anyone who'd seen Gannon's stepmother, Letecia Stauch, suspected of murdering Gannon, in either Pace or Pensacola in early February to contact El Paso County authorities. Gannon's mother said earlier this month that Stauch "will pay 100% for this heinous thing that she did." CBS Denver says authorities believe Gannon was murdered in the Colorado Springs area. Stauch had previously been charged with first-degree murder of a child under 12 by a person in a position of trust, child abuse resulting in death, tampering with a deceased human body, and tampering with physical evidence. She'll now face new charges, including first-degree murder with intent and deliberation, which could bring her life without parole in prison, per CBS. (Gannon's father has filed for divorce from Letecia Stauch.) You got a tarot card reading on the boardwalk when you were in seventh grade (and the reader was totally right about your crushhe did end up being a jerk). Ever since then, youve been curious about tarot cards, but never had the nerve to buy your own deck. Not sure where to start? We asked our friend Fahrusha, a psychic reader in New York who is a pro at all things tarot, to give us a crash course for beginners. Oh, and dont freak out if you pull the Death Cardbut more about that below. 1. What is tarot, exactly? The worlds oldest known deck of tarot cards was commissioned for the Duke of Milan in the 1400s. At first, the deck was used to play card games, like the classic Italian game tarocchini, but it started being used by fortune tellers to make predictions in the 1800s. In Europe, the deck is still used to play card games, and its pretty much used for divination purposes only in the U.S. Like a regular deck of playing cards, a tarot deck has four suits (although these suits vary depending on whether the cards are from Northern Europe, Southern Europe or Central Europe). A standard deck has 78 cards: 56 cards in the Minor Arcana (or Lesser Arcana) and 22 in the Major Arcana. The Minor Arcana is broken up into four groups of 14 cards each. Also similar to a deck of playing cards, the 14 tarot cards in each suit are numbered from one (like an ace) to ten and include court cards, the page, knight, queen and king. (Well take a look at some of the other cards in the Major Arcana in a bit. Theyre the ones you need to know if youre trying to get in touch with the cards power.) 2. How do I get my own tarot deck? You can buy tarot decks at bookstores, metaphysical stores and online. But Fahrusha warns that not all decks are created equal. To know youre getting the real deal, she recommends the Rider-Waite deck or the Mary Hanson-Roberts deck. Story continues The Rider-Waite deck is the gold standard of fully illustrated decks and is filled with rich and useful imagery, she says. The Mary Hanson-Roberts deck is based on the Rider-Waite deck and is especially good for the faint of heart since the images have a bit more of a palatable, fairy-tale quality to them. A disclaimer for first timers: Our expert says to steer clear of cards that are all doom and gloom and look more ominous than they really should. Please, do not pick an unillustrated deck or one filled with frightening images, she says, since these will do little to inspire you. Instead, take a look at your options and go with the one that feels right to you. 3. Whats the point of a tarot reading? Unlike other psychic arts (like palmistry, divination and fortune telling), a tarot card reading can focus on a specific question. Fahrusha says the question she is asked the most is Does so-and-so love me? But in order to get an accurate answer, you need to get a little more specific. A better question might be, How does Pat feel about me today? she says. Accept the answer given to you by the cards and do not ask again for at least three days. The reason behind the three-day waiting period? Fahrusha says this is enough time to let pass if you need to ask the same question without risking an incorrect reading. Tarot cards can also help you make decisions by giving you a quick glimpse into the future. For example, if you cant decide whether or not to go out this weekend, you might consult the deck. If the cards tell you theres a love connection on the horizon, respond to that dating app notification. 4. Will every reader give the same predictions? Tarot is an art, not a science, so the meaning of each card can be interpreted slightly differently, depending on who is reading the cards. And to further complicate things, each card has a different meaning if its flipped right side up or upside down when its dealt. Heres an example: Most tarot readers, when turning over the Fool card facing up (well get into the meanings of this card in a sec), will say something like Youre a spontaneous free spirit. But it can also mean that the person being read is innocent and that theyre starting out on a new path in life. Or that theyre about to embark on a new beginning. The prediction will be different for each reader based on their own history with the cards and experience doing readings. But dont worry if you dont feel a particular way about what the card means just yet. Youre a beginner! Youll get there. In the meantime, Fahrusha recommends using a handbook for guidancelike A.E. Waites The Pictorial Key to the Tarotif you want to get to know each of the 78 cards more intimately. 5. OK, Im ready to read. What are the major cards? Becoming intimately familiar with a deck of 78 cards can take years, so for our beginner purposes, were going to take a look at some of the Major Arcana cards that can reveal the most about our lives: the High Priestess, the Lovers, the Hermit, Death and Judgement. Heres what each one means when flipped right side up and upside down. 1. The High Priestess: Shes pictured sitting on a throne, with a veil draped behind her. This represents a division between the minds conscious and subconscious. The division is representative of two opinions or sides to every matter (whether thats masculine and feminine, dark and light, etc.). Right side up: Read your situation with your intuition, subconscious mind and feminine perspective. Upside down: There might be some secrets behind your dilemma that are keeping you disconnected from your own intuition. 2. The Lovers: A couple that looks similar to Adam and Eve gaze at the sky, but instead of the wrath we know the biblical duo faced after giving into temptation, this pair is being physically and emotionally healed. Right side up: There will be love, harmony and some important choices in your relationship. Upside down: You might face times when self-love and misaligned values get in the way of your relationship. 3. The Hermit: No, this isnt a picture of you staying in on Saturday night. The Hermit stands on the top of a mountain (a symbol of accomplishment). He went on a journey to get there and has been rewarded with knowledge and a heightened state of awareness. Right side up: Youre doing some soul-searching that can only be guided by your own intuition. It might be a good thing to be on your own while you figure this out. Upside down: Theres too much isolation in your life right now and its leading to loneliness. 4. Death: Nope, pulling the Death card doesnt mean youre going to die. Instead, the messenger of death shown on the card is a reminder that none of us can dodge him forever. People who pull this card might be dealing with grief, going through a huge change or coming to the beginning or end of something significant. Right side up: Youre facing the end of something serious in your life (whether its the end of a committed relationship or preparing to say goodbye to an elderly loved one) and youre going through a transformation. Upside down: Youre not handling a change in your life well and are resistant to what it might mean. 5. Judgement: Were not here to judge you and neither is this card. The Judgement card shows people reaching toward the heavens in an illustration of the ultimate reckoning well all face one day, but pulling this card means something about how youre currently feeling about yourself. Right side up: Theres a possibility of a new beginning in your life, but you need to first absolve yourself for something youve done (or be absolved by someone else). Upside down: Your inner critic is filling you with self-doubt. This loud argument in your head is drowning out the calling the universe is sending you to move on. Stop judging yourself, girl! 6. How do I read tarot cards with friends? You know how its hard to be objective about your own life? Like when you know you shouldnt text back that guy who blew you off a dozen times alreadybut you do anyway? If your best friend were in the same situation, youd never give her that advice. Thats why Fahrusha says its fine to learn and practice with yourselfand its even important to get a feel for the cards first on your own before attempting to read someone elsebut its not likely that youll be objective with your own reading. Practice with a friend who is also interested in learning, she says. Its very instructive and will help you learn if youre able to trade readings with someone else. Grab your most intuitive friend and sit catty-corner from her (not immediately next to or across from each other) at a table or a desk. Cover the table with a clean cloth; the only things allowed on it aside from your cards are one or two special items that give you energy, like a crystal. (Sorry to say this isnt snack time, so only water or tea are OK at the table...but this is also your party, so we wont tell if a glass of wine sneaks in there.) Shuffle your deck like you would any other set of playing cards, but be thorough about it! Fahrusha notes that you and only you should handle your cards, because allowing someone else to touch them could throw off the energy youve given the deck. Deal a series of three cards, all facedown in front of your friend to set her up for the reading. Have her ask the cards a question or talk a little about what shes looking to gain from her reading. Flip one card at a time, focusing on what it might mean before moving on to the next. When youre finished, go back and take a look at all of the cards together to try to piece together a bigger picture about what theyre trying to tell you. Fahrusha recommends that beginners keep a notebook to jot down their thoughts about what theyre seeing and inferring from the cards. Her biggest piece of advice: Have fun when youre starting out. Give yourself some time and patience while youre learning. (And remember, dont sweat the Death card.) RELATED: Everything Youve Ever Wanted to Know About Reading Palms, According to Someone Who Does It for a Living WESTPORT A Hamden man has been arrested after fleeing police and striking a police cruiser, injuring a police dog, in a December incident. Sherod Manick, 18, is charged with first-degee reckless endangerment, criminal mischief, criminal attempt to assault a police officer, intentionally injuring a police dog, reckless operation of a motor vehicle and engaging police in pursuit/disobeying the signal of an officer According to Westport police, shortly after midnight Dec. 12, 2019, Norwalk police communicated that they were investigating an attempted armed carjacking that occurred in their city, as well as a second successful carjacking. At least one of the suspects was reported to have displayed a firearm. A description of the four suspects and the vehicle in which they were traveling was provided to surrounding agencies by Norwalk police. A Westport officer was the first to locate both the suspect vehicle and stolen vehicle traveling together. An attempt was made to stop these vehicles while both were northbound on Interstate 95 between exits 17 and 18. The stolen vehicle was able to elude police. The suspect vehicle engaged Westport officers in pursuit; members of the Fairfield Police Department, Connecticut State Police and Norwalk officers later joined the pursuit. During this pursuit, the suspect vehicle struck and damaged Westport police officers vehicles multiple times in an attempt to elude them. The force of the impact of one of these collisions caused a Westport police canine to be injured. The suspect vehicle ultimately was stopped in Fairfield. Once stopped, the three occupants did not obey initial verbal commands given by officers to surrender, but ultimately all were taken into custody without further incident. A silver revolver was located in the suspects vehicle. At that time the suspects were turned over to Norwalk police. Manick was identified as the driver during this pursuit. An arrest warrant was sought and granted for Manick. On Thursday, Westport officers were contacted by Manson Detention Center, reporting that Manick was being released from their custody, but was being turned over on this active warrant. Manick was transported to Westport police headquarters. He was held in lieu of a $75,000 bond and was to be arraigned Friday at Superior Court in Stamford. OUAGADOUGOU, BURKINA FASOAfricas cases of the coronavirus rose above 1,000 on Saturday while two heads of state appeared to defy their own travel restrictions to attend another presidents inauguration. Angola announced its first cases, meaning at least 40 of Africas 54 countries are now affected. Congo reported its first death; Burkina Faso reported two new ones. Somalia said its lifting its ban on international flights for two days so stranded citizens can come home. And Ethiopias electoral authorities discussed the virus effect on a major national election later this year. Angola closed its air, land and sea borders this week, but Namibian media showed President Joao Lourenco at the inauguration of Namibian President Hage Geingob. Also in attendance was President Mokgweetsi Masisi of neighbouring Botswana, which this week suspended international travel by all government employees. Namibia has three cases. Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa also was there. He announced a national disaster even before his country confirmed its first virus case on Friday. On Saturday, his country announced the first case in the capital, Harare. Africa now has more than 1,100 cases, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a new update late Saturday afternoon. Burkina Faso now has the most virus deaths of any country in sub-Saharan Africa. The West African nation has one of the highest caseloads on the continent with 64. Several government ministers in Burkina Faso have tested positive, including the minister of foreign affairs. On Friday, President Roch Marc Christian Kabore announced the countrys two international airports would close for two weeks with the exception for military and cargo. Burkina Faso is one of Africas most fragile states with a growing humanitarian crisis caused by attacks linked to Islamic extremists. More than 130 health centres have closed, affecting more than 1.5 million people, the government and aid groups say. According to a government response plan seen by The Associated Press, emergency teams arent trained for a respiratory disease outbreak and dont have appropriate protective gear. Theres also insufficient screening at borders. None of Burkina Fasos 44 high-flow entry points have the needed personal protective equipment, and only 23 per cent have coronavirus screening devices. Jerry-Jonas Mbasha, cluster co-ordinator for the World Health Organization in Burkina Faso, said he was much worried about what might happen in the next one week, two weeks from now. Most people only experience minor flu-like symptoms from the coronavirus and recover within a few weeks, but the virus is highly contagious and can be spread by those who appear well. It can cause severe illness, including pneumonia, in some patients, particularly those with underlying health problems. More than 275,000 cases have been confirmed globally, including over 11,000 deaths, according to a running tally by Johns Hopkins University. At least 88,000 people have recovered. In Nigeria, which just three weeks ago announced the first coronavirus case in sub-Saharan Africa, authorities said that first patient, a man who had travelled from Italy, was now fit to go home. Meanwhile, Africas most populous country said it now had cases in the capital, Abuja. In Kenya, health officials continued to disinfect crowded markets in the capital, Nairobi, trying to stop the virus spread. Its for the sake of us, its for the sake of the country, said Simon Kimani, public health council chair. Read more about: A mother and her three children were among six people who drowned when two vehicles were swept off a bridge after torrential rainfall deluged Indiana, authorities said The bodies of Felina Lewis, 35, of Laurel, Indiana, and her daughters, aged 7 and 4, were found in Sanes Creek on Friday. The body of her 13-year-old son was found Saturday morning, said Franklin County Coroner Brian Baxter. The children's names were not expected to be released, he said. The victims from the other vehicle were identified as Shawn Roberts, 47, and Burton Spurlock, 48. Both men were also Laurel residents. Felina Lewis, 35 (pictured), and her three children were among the six people who died when their cars were swept off the road during the torrential rainfall One of the two vehicles that was pulled from the floodwaters is seen above. Six people were killed in the flash flood, including a mother and her three children Indiana Conservation Officer Josh Thomas said the creek, a tributary of the Whitewater River, quickly surged into a torrent in the region Baxter said autopsies were pending on all six victims, but they are presumed to have drowned. A van and a pickup truck carrying the victims were swept off a roadway into Sanes Creek late Thursday or early Friday after a bridge over the creek was partially washed out by floodwaters when the area received 2-3 inches of rain, officials said. Indiana Conservation Officer Josh Thomas said the creek, a tributary of the Whitewater River, quickly surged into a torrent in the region, which has many steep ridges and valleys that are prone to flooding during heavy rainfall. It's unclear whether the vehicles were washed into the creek at the same time or separately, he said. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources' Law Enforcement Division shared this photo of a washed out bridge along Sanes Creek where the six died after being swept away The huge section of bridge that collapsed while a van and pickup truck were crossing over it Community members look on as rescue crews search for victims near Laurel, Indiana Rescuers searched tirelessly until the final victim, a 13-year-old boy, was confirmed dead 'Its terrible. It's hard to fathom,' Thomas said. 'Down here, with all these hills, things flood quickly. A lot of these creeks are very small, but all of a sudden theyre big with a lot of water and a lot of water moving really fast. They go down almost as quickly as they come up.' He said all of the victims' bodies were found along the creek and not in the vehicles. Laurel is about 55 miles southeast of Indianapolis. Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleged on Saturday that the railways was not ensuring proper screening of passengers entering the state through long-distance trains. She said migrant workers from the state, particularly those in Maharashtra, were being packed off in trains and sent back without medical checkups. "I have been saying this for the last one month. Now India is entering the third stage (of the coronavirus outbreak), which is very dangerous. The next two weeks are extremely important. I have asked the chief secretary to tell the railway authorities to immediately stop all long-distance trains," the chief minister told Bengali television news channel "ABP Ananda". "I have also been urging the Centre to stop all international flights coming to the country for a long time," she said. On the availability of masks and hand sanitisers, Banerjee said the priority of the government was to supply these items to the health workers, cleaning staff and police personnel first. "The small-scale sector of the state is manufacturing around 6,000 litres of alcohol-based hand sanitisers everyday. We will first supply it to those who are in the priority list and then it will be made available to the public," she said. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo accused the Centre of not making enough masks and hand sanitisers available to the state. She also urged people to avoid large gatherings. "Some groups are organising large gatherings even now, which should be completely avoided. I urge them not to play with fire at this point in time," the chief minister said. The District Magistrate (DM) has imposed restrictions on the entry of the people belonging to other cities till April 2 as a precautionary measure in view of the coronavirus threat. "The devotees and visitors coming from other parts of the country will be stopped at the border of Ayodhya district and sent back," the order states. The order adds: "There is also a ban on mass bathing in Saryu till 2 April as well. Bookings have also been cancelled till 2 April at Yatri Niwas at all hotels, dharamshalas, lodges in Ayodhya district." The order further states that crowd gatherings will be banned at all temple shrines in Ayodhya district to prevent the infection of coronavirus. The Ram Navami is starting on March 25, while Ram Janmotsav celebration is scheduled for April 2. A day after his address to the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the threat of the pandemic is common to all states and underscored the need for the Centre and all States to work together. Addressing the nation on Thursday, Prime Minister Modi urged citizens to follow 'Janata Curfew' from 7 am to 9 pm on Sunday to contain the spread of coronavirus. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) (Natural News) In a stunning admission that the speed of the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus has overwhelmed government officials and health care providers in California, Los Angeles County has now surrendered to the coronavirus. According to the LA Times, Los Angeles County health officials advised doctors to give up on testing patients in the hope of containing the coronavirus outbreak, instructing them to test patients only if a positive result could change how they would be treated. The paper goes on to report the cause behind this catastrophic abandonment of any last hope of containment: The guidance, sent by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health to doctors on Thursday, was prompted by a crush of patients and shortage of tests, and could make it difficult to ever know precisely how many people in L.A. County contracted the virus. As the LA Times openly says, the tipping point of containment has long since passed. Thats not even the goal anymore, and the number of infections being reported out of LA will no longer even come close to describing the real situation on the ground there: The department is shifting from a strategy of case containment to slowing disease transmission and averting excess morbidity and mortality, according to the letter. Doctors should test symptomatic patients only when a diagnostic result will change clinical management or inform public health response. The guidance sets in writing what has been a reality all along. The shortage of tests nationwide has meant that many patients suspected of having COVID-19 have not had the diagnosis confirmed by a laboratory. We can thank the CDC for that shortage, of course, and the Dont test, dont tell policy that brought us to this catastrophe. Expect 140,000+ deaths in LA County alone, over the next 18 months There are over 10 million people in LA County. Thanks to this new policy of abandoning any attempt to test people or contain the virus, we can now expect the Wuhan coronavirus to burn though the greater Los Angeles area with incredible speed. Sooner or later, the infections will likely reach something on the order of 70% of the population, even with attempted social distancing measures in place. Thats around 7 million people becoming infected. Heres how this breaks down based on current conservative numbers: For LA County alone: 7 million infected 1 million requiring hospitalization 140,000 420,000 dead (2% 6% case fatality rate) Widespread collapse of health care infrastructure Collapse of law enforcement, emergency responders and anyone attempting to police the region (including National Guard troops) Expect chaos. Expect looting and violence. Its LA, after all, and the gangs are barely kept in check even during good times. Oh, and on top of all that, its going to be difficult to get food, too, since food production is cratering and food supply lines have largely collapsed. Weve got a lot of good information on how you can survive. Read Pandemic.news to stay informed. WASHINGTON The federal government is moving to inject upward of $2 trillion into the U.S. economy in the coming weeks, a top White House economic official said Saturday, as congressional negotiators raced to finalize a sweeping stimulus package meant to blunt the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, made the $2 trillion estimate as he joined negotiations on Capitol Hill over how to structure an ambitious rescue plan that congressional leaders are hoping to pass into law by early next week. At the White House, President Donald Trump offered an optimistic take on the talks. "I think we're getting very close," the president said. Underscoring the urgency and rapid pace of the negotiations, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., boarded a flight back to Washington Saturday after spending the past week at home in San Francisco, according to a senior Democratic aide - indicating she plans to plan a central role in negotiating the plan with Republicans. Kudlow estimated direct cost of the legislation - which is likely to encompass direct payments to Americans, unemployment insurance funding, rescue funds for businesses and health care appropriations - at about $1.4 trillion. A portion of that, he said, would capitalize on Federal Reserve emergency lending that could support hundreds of billions of dollars in additional loans. The package appears likely to become the single most expensive fiscal stimulus in American history. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Saturday afternoon that they were pressing ahead, with a vote possible Monday on "a hopefully very significant bipartisan package to help rescue the economy and to get greater funding for all of the health care aspects of this pandemic." The ballooning size of the federal coronavirus response has mirrored the escalation of the global health crisis. The legislative response began last month with a $2.5 billion White House request last month, which ultimately grew into a $8.3 billion appropriation directed mainly at public health needs. A follow-up package signed into law Wednesday spent more than $100 billion in initial economic relief, providing free covid-19 testing and an emergency boost to the federal safety net. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis currently estimates 2019's gross domestic product at $21.4 trillion. Ten percent of that would be $2.1 trillion, and even a bill of $1.4 trillion would amount to nearly double the cost of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act - the fiscal stimulus passed during the 2008-2009 global financial crisis. "This is going to be the largest relief package in history," said Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.Y., a Senate Finance Committee member involved in the talks. It is likely to include hundreds of billions of dollars in direct cash payments to American taxpayers, a boost to state unemployment insurance benefits, loans and grants to businesses large and small, and emergency funding to support hospitals and health care infrastructure under massive strain from the pandemic. "The American people need Congress to put partisan politics aside and provide the American people relief as quickly as possible to get the economy turned around, and we must demand this of ourselves, as well," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said on the Senate floor Saturday. The thorniest issues have surrounded balancing direct aid to Americans through tax rebates with enhanced unemployment benefits directed through the state unemployment insurance systems. Democrats have argued for a significant boost to the latter, but Republicans have expressed doubts about whether the states could handle an influx of the dimensions that Democrats have proposed. Democrats have also pushed for more direct cash aid to states to backfill certain budget shortfalls that could lead to drastic cuts to front line services. Republicans have instead advocated for boosting aid to existing programs such as Medicaid and encouraging states to tap rainy-day funds, White House legislative affairs director Eric Ueland said late Friday. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., who is leading negotiations for Democrats in concert with Pelosi, sounded an upbeat note in noontime remarks on the Senate floor, citing a "very good, very detailed" morning phone call with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin - a key White House negotiator. "We discussed many of the outstanding issues, and we are making very good progress," Schumer said. "I have every expectation that this progress will continue throughout the day. Democratic negotiators will meet with their Republican counterparts throughout the day to continuing hammering out the details. The Senate is here. We are working. And we are all eager to come to a bipartisan agreement as soon as humanly possible." The hopeful note stood in contrast to a missive that Pelosi sent to House Democrats Friday evening, calling an initial Senate GOP measure introduced late Wednesday a "nonstarter." Any bipartisan agreement, she said, must "greatly increase unemployment insurance and Medicaid, help small businesses survive, expand paid sick and family leave and put money directly into the hands of those who need it most." Senators worked late into the night Friday in search of a deal, with principal negotiators leaving the Capitol around 10:30 p.m. reporting some progress but also a number of issues still unresolved. McConnell had hoped to clinch an agreement Friday night to ensure a vote Monday on the massive legislation. House members would have to be called back to vote on the bill, a complication unto itself, given the spread of the virus and with two House members already announcing they've tested positive for it. Agreement appeared near on one major issue - how to structure direct payments to individuals in a way that would effectively flood the economy with hundreds of billions of dollars in cash. The bill McConnell originally released Thursday drew bipartisan criticism because many people would have gotten one-time payments of $1,200 but the poorest Americans - those without federal tax liability - would have gotten as little as $600. Throughout the day Friday, lawmakers of both parties and administration officials voiced objections to that structure, and as the talks broke up late Friday, White House legislative affairs director Eric Ueland told reporters they were near agreement on ensuring that the poorest Americans didn't get less money. "I think we are headed in a very good direction to make sure that aid flows directly to lower-income Americans as well," Ueland said. Overall, Ueland said late Friday, "Differences have been narrowed. Ideas and alternatives have been put on the table. Members are directly engaged with each other. And as a result, policy proposals that might ultimately find bipartisan endorsement here in the Senate are clearer tonight than they were this morning." Remaining unresolved included a push by Democrats to add many tens of billions of dollars to unemployment insurance programs, something they have argued is necessary to catch the tidal wave of people bracing for layoffs. Schumer and Democrats were pushing for expanding unemployment benefits to provide six weeks of full pay, while waiving waiting periods and job-search requirements. That would amount to a sea change for the nation's unemployment insurance system, which is meant deliver much smaller checks not meant to wholly replace a worker's lost wages. But some Republicans were voicing concerns about the ability of states to administer large-scale increases in the unemployment program, and Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia joined a meeting of senators Friday to issue a warning on that front. Paul Winfree, a former White House policy aide who now serves as a Heritage Foundation fellow, said conservatives are reluctant to funnel too much money through the unemployment insurance system. An Office of Management and Budget review early in the Trump administration, he said, found states had unspent unemployment insurance balances from the 2009 economic stimulus because they didn't have the systems in place to easily disperse the money to people who qualified. But Democrats insisted the system, at least in many states, could handle the influx. That is our bottom line. It is our single most important issue, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the top Finance Committee Democrat, told reporters Friday. The administration has raised questions, as you know, about how it would be administered. We have said, well, we think in most states it can be handled. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka on Saturday announced three neighborhoods within the city that have been identified as coronavirus hotspots through tracking done by the city. Those areas are Bloomfield Avenue to Verona Avenue and Lake Street to Route 21; Springfield Avenue to West Market Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and South 12th Street; and Avon Avenue to Clinton Avenue and Irvine Turner Boulevard to South 12th Street. Area 1: Bloomfield Avenue to Verona Avenue, and Lake Street to Route 21. Area 2: Springfield Avenue to West Market Street, and Martin Luther King Boulevard to South 12th Street. Area 3: Avon Avenue to Clinton Avenue, and Irvine Turner Boulevard to South 12th Street. The mayor said he could not disclose how many cases of coronavirus were in those areas or how many residents were in quarantine there. He urged residents in the hotspots to take more steps in addition to Gov. Phil Murphys stay-at-home order put into place Saturday afternoon for all New Jerseyans. We need them to listen to the governors directive," Baraka said during a press conference at the citys Office of Emergency Management headquarters. But more importantly, if you live in those areas - and well get that message out to you - we need you to take that one step further." That means residents in those areas should not go for a walk when others are outside, not go to parks, or visit relatives. Baraka also urged dog walkers not to go out when others are doing so. All of Essex Countys parks have been closed and non-essential businesses have been ordered to close throughout all of New Jersey, so the mayors executive order and plea to residents does not change much more for residents in these hotspots. Workers in essential industries, like nurses, may still leave their homes to go to work. Other residents may still go outside for emergency reasons, doctors appointments, food shopping, or to pick up a prescription. City officials have been mapping positive cases and people in quarantine throughout Newark, the most populated municipality in the state. Baraka said theres been a correlation between the areas where people are in quarantine and where people have tested positive for coronavirus. There were 31 coronavirus cases in Newark as of Saturday afternoon, the mayor said. Essex County had at least 107 cases, which makes it the third-highest county throughout the state for coronavirus cases. Bergen and Middlesex counties have 363 and 116 cases, respectively, while there are at least 1,327 people with the illness in New Jersey. Two Newark residents have died after being diagnosed with the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, said the mayor. Testing site now open in Newark Testing for the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is available at the Mary Elizabeth Mahoney Health Center, a federally qualified health center. City officials say the facility is servicing all residents, including the homeless. The facility may be reached at 800-734-7083. The mayor urged residents to first get an evaluation from a physician. Those without health insurance should call the health center first to be evaluated. Resources for homeless, small businesses City officials have previously said N-95 masks and gloves will be distributed to homeless shelters, outreach personnel and community organizations. The city is working on arrangements for quarantine locations should any of Newarks homeless population test positive or need to isolate while they await their results, he added. Guidelines were also being developed for shelters workers to help them identify and deal with the homeless when they test positive or are in need to be tested. The mayor said Saturday three locations have committed to providing space for homeless who may have to quarantine. He declined to say where those locations were. Baraka is also working to create a fund for Newarks small businesses that are struggling under the new restrictions that help stop the spread of coronavirus. The mayor called on the citys corporate sector to donate to the fund, which he is hoping will be able to provide grants of up to $10,000 for small businesses. Small businesses throughout New Jersey hurt by the coronavirus can also seek low-interest federal loans of up to $2 million. Tell us your coronavirus stories, whether its a news tip, a topic you want us to cover, or a personal story you want to share. If you would like updates on New Jersey-specific coronavirus news, subscribe to our Coronavirus in N.J. newsletter. Sign up for text message alerts from NJ.com on coronavirus in New Jersey: Rebecca Panico may be reached at rpanico@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @BeccaPanico. Ranjit Survanshi didnt want to go to the grocery store. All weekend he had been avoiding the crowds at the Safeway across the street, but now it was Monday, a few hours after Mayor London Breed announced a shelter-in-place order that would go into effect at midnight. His wife was 8 months pregnant at home. Whole Foods had no delivery windows for online orders. He needed groceries. As Survanshi waited to check out, trying to maintain the required 6 feet of distance from his fellow shoppers, the customer behind him stepped in front of his cart and closed the gap. Do you mind keeping more distance? Survanshi asked. He had this look on his face like I was the biggest jerk in the world. When Survanshi turned around again a minute later, the man, who was Asian, had his cell phone up in Survanshis face, recording as he cursed him out and called him racist. Im like, No, didnt you read the order? He was not listening at all to me, Survanshi said. Under normal circumstances, how close we stand in a checkout line is hardly a source of conflict, let alone cell phone recordings and accusations of racism. But in a matter of weeks, the coronavirus has upended fundamental aspects of how we behave, interact and live our lives. Adapting to the new reality of sheltering in place and the full spectrum of precautions required to prevent the spread of the disease is causing conflicts and tension. Evolving our social norms at hyper speed is messy work. In theory, the directives are clear. Under the shelter-in-place order, which Gov. Gavin Newsom extended statewide on Thursday, most Californians have been instructed to live under a loose house arrest: No going to work or school. No in-person socializing with friends or family. Venturing outside only for essential supplies, to relieve a pet or for a bit of exercise and maintaining a 6-foot buffer whenever they do. In practice, the rules are fuzzy around the edges, and the degree of adherence swings wildly. Author and organizer Charlie Jane Anders said she has been pretty fanatical about following the new guidelines and she is disturbed to see others taking a more blase approach. Its weird to go outside and find a lot of people who are not taking it that seriously. On a recent visit to her neighborhood market, Anders said, customers were blocking the aisles and coming up right next to her to grab items they wanted. When Anders tried to say something about maintaining a safe distance, people just laughed her off. She has encountered the same thing when she gets out of the house for walks: runners passing close by, people wearing headphones and not paying attention, neighbors seemingly ignoring the rules about staying 6 feet apart. Anders has changed her own behavior to limit those interactions. Shes imposed a moratorium on looking at her phone or wearing headphones while she walks, and is setting out at less busy times of day. If shes approaching someone too closely, she crosses the street to maintain distance. I think its early and people are just getting used to it, she said. And also, theres a little complacency out there. Anders, who organizes the monthly literary cabaret Writers with Drinks, has gone through her own adjustment period. She agonized over the decision to cancel the March 14 event, before Breed banned gatherings entirely. Its kind of wild to think how our mind-set has changed, Anders said. It has been a little bit of whiplash. Adjusting to new norms such as how we share our sidewalks and public spaces usually happens over time, but the coronavirus has accelerated that process. In rapid succession weve sacrificed concerts and Warriors games, religious services and office work, visits with friends and dinners out. Now, were eyeballing the distance between us when we greet neighbors on the street or pass strangers in the grocery store. According to UC Berkeley School of Public Health professor Denise Herd, communities and individuals adapt at a different pace based on culture, education, socioeconomic status and media consumption. Layer in concerns over personal health vulnerabilities, and what feels safe to one person may seem wildly irresponsible to someone else. Even the experts dont always agree on what constitutes appropriate behavior and whos flouting the rules. On Wednesday, CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta grew incredulous as he watched live footage of runners and walkers along the Embarcadero in San Francisco. I still really get the impression people in many places arent taking this seriously, he said to CNN anchor Jake Tapper. And thats a problem. We see a whole bunch of people here who are not distancing. Theyre holding hands and walking down the street and you know, normally, Id say bravo, but this is actually kind of enraging, Tapper said. In response, San Francisco officials reiterated that going outside is allowed under shelter in place. It is OK to go outside to walk your dog, or go for a walk, run or a hike, alone or with someone in your household, Rachael Kagan, a spokeswoman for the citys health department, told The Chronicle. You can also go outside with someone else, as long as you stay 6 feet apart. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. Now Playing: Here is what you need to know about the coronavirus. Video: Manjula Varghese The shelter-in-place order has also created conflict in neighborhoods where adults and children are suddenly stuck at home all day. Writer and cookbook author Jessica Battilana, who writes The Chronicles Repertoire column, was having PE class with her two kids, ages 6 and 8, on a quiet street in the Lower Haight when a neighbor working from home came outside to complain that the noise was disruptive. I was like, Youre kidding me, Battilana said. The conversation escalated, and Battilana eventually called the man an expletive in front of her kids. It wasnt her proudest parenting moment, and she spent the rest of the afternoon fuming. You know what were up against. You know the kids are at home and were trying to keep them entertained. They need to blow off a little steam, she said. Of course, were all under stress, but thats all the more reason that we need to extend a little more grace to each other. Battilana thinks the speed of the changes has created a situation ripe for social conflict. All of a sudden the switch was flipped, and people are not accustomed to spending the whole day at home, she said. Its all terrible. We all have to be extra understanding. Everyones trying to carve out their own space in this new social order. Gabrielle Lurie / The Chronicle With sheltering in place expected to last weeks, if not months, and Newsom suggesting that students may not return to classrooms before summer break, Bay Area residents will likely have plenty of time to get accustomed to this new normal no matter how reluctantly. Survanshi isnt planning on returning to Safeway. For the foreseeable future, he said, hell look for grocery deliveries as much as possible. Otherwise, its Grubhub every meal. Sarah Feldberg is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sarah.feldberg@sfchronicle.com Sudan abolishes Islamist committees formed to confiscate church properties Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Sudans transitional government has abolished committees formed under the Islamist regime of former President Omar al-Bashir that were used to take over church properties. Nasreldin Mofreh, Sudans Minister of Religious Affairs, signed an order last Wednesday requiring the dissolution of church councils that international advocates said legitimized the former governments confiscation of church properties. We are pleased by the Ministers decree, given the role these illegitimate church councils played in the former regimes persecution of Christians and the obstacles they continued to present to churches ability to represent their own interests to the government, U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Chairman Tony Perkins, said in a statement. Advocates are hopeful that the move will lead to the return of church oversight to rightful church leaders. After the secession of South Sudan in 2011, Christian communities were left vulnerable to the implementation of a strict Islamic legal code under Bashir's regime. Through the mechanism of church councils, properties were taken from organizations such as the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church and the Sudanese Church of Christ. As undue government influence was imposed on the churches, some pastors were arrested for their refusal to give up control of their denominations. Since the Bashir regime was ousted last April, the transitional government has made vows to improve conditions for Christians in the country. According to Morning Star News, a nonprofit devoted to covering the persecution of Christians worldwide, more legal action will be needed to regain some church properties lost under the authority of the abolished committees. But the Rev. Yahia Abdelrahim Nalu, the head of SPEC, called the move a step forward. He told the outlet that most of the problems that occurred in churches affiliated with the two denominations and Pentecostal churches were caused by the church committees. Last November, Mofreh reportedly told an Arabic newspaper that property confiscated by the former government would be returned to churches through court proceedings. By disbanding these church councils, the Sudanese government is returning agency to religious organizations and allowing them to conduct their own affairs. USCIRF Commissioner Anurima Bhargava said in a statement. We hope this decree serves as an important first step in extending full rights to long-persecuted religious minority communities, including the restoration of property seized by the former regime. The order comes two weeks after Perkins and Bhargava traveled to Khartoum where they met with Mofreh and Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok among other religious and societal leaders from Feb. 26 to March 1. It was the first USCIRF visit to Sudan after the fall of the Bashir regime. During the trip, Sudanese government leaders conveyed a desire to bring a new era of openness and inclusivity to their country that suffered for 30 years under brutal and autocratic religious repression, according to Perkins. Hamdok and other transitional government officials met with USCIRF in Washington, D.C., during a visit last December. The visit marked the first time in three decades that Sudanese leaders had visited Washington, D.C. The officials shared how they planned to expand religious freedom in a country that is ranked as the seventh-worst in the world when it comes to Christian persecution, according to Open Doors USAs World Watch List. During the USCIRF visit in late February and early March, Mofreh and Hamdok affirmed their commitment to improving religious liberty. They pledged to work with the U.S. and other international partners as the country implements additional reforms. This decree confirms our sense that while Sudan has many serious challenges ahead, its transitional leadership is sincere in its promise to implement concrete and meaningful measures to improve religious freedom conditions in the country, Perkins said in a statement. According to Morning Star News, Mofreh has said that he plans to issue another order in the future that would regulate relations between church leaders and government. Prior to the order, the transitional government took some key steps to improve the religious freedom conditions in the country. According to USCIRF Commissioner Johnnie Moore, Sudan finalized a constitutional declaration last year that no longer references Islam as the primary source of law in the country. In addition, the transitional government repealed a public order law that gave police forces broad authority to arrest and punish people for violating religious-based moral teachings. The law enabled punishments such as floggings of women for wearing pants or dancing. The BBC reports that in some cases, stonings and executions occurred. The transitional government also said earlier this year that Bashir and two other ex-government officials responsible for the genocide in Darfur will have to face prosecution at the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands. In December, the U.S. State Department removed Sudan from its list of countries of particular concern for egregious religious freedom violations. Sudan is now on the State Departments Special Watch List. KYODO NEWS - Mar 21, 2020 - 21:43 | All, Coronavirus, Japan Japan plans to implement corporate tax refunds for companies that have been forced to incur losses due to the outbreak of the new coronavirus, a government source said Saturday. The measure would mainly apply to small and midsize companies such as restaurant operators and school lunch suppliers, as well as large companies that usually are not eligible for such tax relief, the source said. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government would also enable business operators to expedite procedures for filing for tax refunds, it said. Together with an emergency economic package it will draw up next month, the government aims to support corporate finances and bolster the Japanese economy as the spread of the pneumonia-causing virus appears likely to significantly affect global growth. With the envisaged tax refund, the government plans to assist catering companies that have been forced to discard food for school lunches following Abe's call for schools to shut down from early this month through the end of a spring vacation in early April. (Students head to an elementary school in Shizuoka, central Japan, on March 16, 2020, as some elementary and junior high schools in Japan resumed classes.) Owners of restaurants and music clubs may also apply for tax refunds due to losses from the cost of disinfection and facility renewals if customers are found to have been infected with the virus. However, a sales slump itself will not qualify a company for a refund if it stems only from the economic fallout, according to the source. Aside from refunds, the government is considering separate tax measures for affected small and midsize firms and individuals as part of the new emergency package. Some lawmakers and officials were advocating a possible property tax reduction or exemption, or a cut in the consumption tax, whose rate was raised by 2 percentage points to 10 percent in October. On March 10, the government adopted a fresh emergency package of about 1 trillion yen ($9.6 billion) for businesses battered by the viral outbreak, featuring 500 billion yen in zero-interest loans for small and midsize companies falling short of cash. The stimulus measures also involve 430.8 billion yen in actual spending under the fiscal 2019 budget. Related coverage: Myanmar still free of COVID-19 despite rising cases in neighbors Bangkok orders mall closures from Sun. amid coronavirus crisis Tokyo Olympics must not go on, Washington Post says Wyandotte Co. removes exceptions for weddings, funerals to prevent spread of COVID-19 WYANDOTTE COUNTY, KS (KCTV) - In an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19, Wyandotte County is no longer allowing key exceptions to their rules about people not gathering in groups. Earlier in the week, restaurants, bars, clubs, and theaters were ordered to closed to prevent the spread of the virus. An important precaution and glimpse at the urban areas of our community cracking down as the spread of Coronavirus worsens. Read more: Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 14:36:35|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close CANBERRA, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt has slammed "unacceptable" mass gatherings as COVID-19 continues to spread in the country. Greg Hunt on Saturday urged local councils to ensure that Australians were abiding by the federal government's ban on non-essential gatherings of more than 100 people indoors and more than 500 outdoors. His comments came after photos emerged of thousands of people at Sydney's iconic Bondi Beach on Friday. In response, the government of New South Wales (NSW) has ordered the closure of the beach in an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19. "What happened in Bondi was unacceptable and the local council must take steps to stop that occurring," Hunt said on Saturday. "Each of us as individuals, as families, as groups, as councils, as state governments, as a national government has responsibility." "Where something like this is occurring, the local council must step in and that message is absolutely clear." There have been 874 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Australia as of Saturday morning -- an increase of 23.3 percent from 709 on Friday. A similar increase between Saturday and Sunday would mean that the number of cases would surpass 1,000. There have been seven deaths in Australia, six of which were in NSW, which has had more than twice as many cases as any other state or territory with 382. Hunt said that there have been approximately 115,000 tests for the virus carried out across the country to date. News Corp Australia reported on Saturday that the national cabinet, which is made up of Prime Minister Scott Morrison and state and territory leaders, will consider restricting interstate travel and the prospect of neighbourhood lockdowns when it next meets on Tuesday. March 21 : Shriya Saran seems to spread love in her own adorable manner. Just like most of us, celebrities are also doing their best, to stay safe, and avoid the uncontrollable spread of the COVID 19 virus. While irresponsible citizens like Kanika Kapoor have done their mistake, we still have good hearts like Kartik Aaryan, Amitabh Bachchan, Virat Kohli, Malaika Arora, and many others staying inside homes and also letting people know to stay safe and clean. Among these, we have the actress Shriya Saran who also took to Instagram along with her dashing husband Andrei Koscheev shared some cute moments of fun at their home in Barcelona. These adorable videos could instill great couple goals in all of us. She was a wild girl on her balcony as she playfully danced away to the song, I wanna hold your hand. The video was filmed by her husband. She had worn a red knitted sweater along with black shorts. She donned her no-makeup look and we loved the glow in her flawless complexion. As mentioned in her post, she was going through the Day 10 of social distancing process. Just the above one, this was another video that would surely pass those infections giggles to your face too. She wore a blue sweater a black hat and danced away with a carefree attitude. Her husband has been a part of all these joyful attempts, making their love story truly enviable. This was her first video on TikTok. In the coming days, we could hopefully see more of such happiness filled scenes on TikTok. Shriya Saran had acted in many South Indian films for many years until she got married. She was a pure shot of hotness, and her fluid dance steps still hit the top of the minds of her fans. The actress may soon be coming on to the screen after a long gap. It seems that the discussions are over, and she will soon sign the contract for the film with Boyapathi Sreenu. North Korea has not reported any cases of the coronavirus In this photo provided by the North Korean government, an artillery firing competition between army units is held in the country's west in North Korea. AFP Photo Seoul: North Korea fired what appeared to be two short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast on Saturday, the latest in a series of such launches by Pyongyang as the world struggles with the coronavirus pandemic. The South Korean military condemned the launches as "extremely inappropriate given the difficult situation the world is experiencing due to COVID-19... We urge them to stop immediately." North Korea has not reported any cases of the coronavirus, which has turned into a major crisis with 11,300 deaths and more than 270,000 infections worldwide. There has been widespread speculation, however, that the virus has reached the isolated nation, and health experts have warned that it could devastate the country given its weak medical infrastructure and widespread malnutrition. Japan's defence ministry also confirmed the North Korean launches. ns over its nuclear and missile programmes. Hopes for a thaw after meetings between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump were dented as they failed to produce any substantial progress on denuclearising the Korean peninsula, and Pyongyang has since continued to refine its military capabilities, analysts say. With the latest launch Pyongyang "continues an international strategy of trying to normalise its missile tests", Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, told AFP. 'Dancing with the Stars' finalist Grainne Gallanagh is to return to nursing in a bid to help relieve short-staffed hospitals in the midst of the coronavirus crisis. The former Miss Universe Ireland (25) has been in precautionary self-isolation since coming out of 'Dancing with the Stars'. But she has now decided to return to nursing as part of the HSE's Call for Ireland recruitment drive for healthcare staff, which has seen over 50,000 people applying to help. Speaking on 'The Ray D'Arcy Show' on RTE Radio One, she said she was feeling nervous about her return to nursing. "I'll be a bit nervous going back, but obviously with everything going on it's the best thing to do," she said. "I'm not really sure what to expect. I have colleagues who are already in the midst of everything in the hospitals right now and it's such a stressful environment anyway. "Hats off to anyone who works in a hospital - I know what it can be like, it can be so, so stressful... and we don't know what way things are going to go. "It's so uncertain, it's a scary time, it's scary for everyone but I think especially for people in hospital." Gallanagh qualified as a nurse in 2016 and nursed in the UK for years before her modelling career took off and she won the Miss Universe Ireland title. "The nursing took a back seat while I was doing all my travelling and stuff," she added. "But I still stuck with it - I did agency work - you can choose your shift depending on your availability." She said that vital healthcare skills would be a "waste" if they went unused during a pandemic. "When you have the certain skills, with anyone in nursing, medicine, healthcare, it would be a waste not to use them in a time of need and crisis. It's scary for yourself but it's even scarier for someone coming into hospital," she said. The Donegal native has been in self-isolation as a precaution since coming out of the show, which ended last Sunday night. The UK Government is drawing up plans to buy shares in British Airways and other airlines hit by the Pandemic Crisis to keep them afloat, insiders confirmed. Talks are in place which could see the State holding equity stakes in companies on the brink of collapse as coronavirus panic damages the UK economy. Billions of pounds would be injected into the likes of BA, whose boss Alex Cruz told his 45,000 staff that the viral outbreak is threatening the company's survival. Mr Cruz warned that the escalating crisis is 'of global proportions like no other we have known' - including the 2008 Financial Crisis and 9/11. The Government is understood to be under pressure to intervene after it was warned that Chancellor Rishi Sunak's 350billion bailout is 'not enough'. Last week, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps hinted that emergency measures could see airlines, rail operators and bus firms 'run by the public sector'. Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps arrives in Downing Street on March 17 He promised that 'world-leading, well-run, profitable' airlines like BA, EasyJet, Jet2, and other air travel providers would not be allowed to collapse. One unnamed source told the FT that 'at some point the Government will need to think about all the industries and businesses that might be severely impaired'. This development comes as the spread of Covid-19 - the illness caused by the novel Wuhan coronavirus - continues to spook international stock markets. One of the hardest hit sectors throughout the Crisis has been travel, as airlines have grounded an unprecedented number of planes and airports have all but closed. Meanwhile, Britons trying to get back home have been stranded overseas. British Airways pilots have opted to take a 50 per cent pay cut in April and May as the company fights for its survival amidst the coronavirus pandemic. BA employs 4,500 pilots who will take two weeks of unpaid leave each month. The reduction in their salary will be spread out over three months to reduce the blow. Data from Glassdoor.com indicates that many BA pilots are on six-figure salaries. Under the new deal, it is indicated that a consultation on potential job losses is going to be put on hold. Though indications suggest airlines may layoff personnel before the government measures kick in. British Airways plane taxis past parked aircraft near Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport in London British Airways CEO Alex Cruz, who pleaded with staff to take the Pandemic Crisis seriously Britain's volatile FTSE 100, the index of the country's biggest 100 companies, was aggravated after Boris Johnson instructed people to follow Social Distancing Orders. The PM told pubs, cafes, bars, restaurants, cinemas, theatres, gyms, and leisure centres to shut yesterday for at least 14 days as the UK goes into lockdown. Widespread concerns that the Government's coronavirus policy may be doing more harm than good forced the Chancellor to unveil a huge virus package. Mr Sunak unveiled 350billion that would be injected into the economy. The bailout was criticised by trade union, though, for not helping workers. In response to these complaints, the Chancellor has vowed to pay 80 percent of workers' salaries up to 2,500 per month. Around 30billion of VAT payments have been deferred, and the Treasury will increase benefits by 7billion as people suspect potential mass layoffs. Rishi Sunak's blank cheque to save jobs: Chancellor pledges to cover 80 percent of laid-off workers' salaries up to 2,500 a month, defer VAT bills and increase welfare payments by 7billion in extraordinary package to fight coronavirus crisis Chancellor Rishi Sunak effectively signed a blank cheque as he unveiled a huge new coronavirus bailout to cover the wages of millions and stop firms going bankrupt. He said the Government will cover 80 percent of salaries up to a ceiling 2,500 a month - equivalent to the UK average wage of 30,000 a year - as long as employers keep workers on their books, and there will be no limit on the total cost. The scheme will be up and running by the end of April and be backdated. Some 30billion of VAT bills for the next quarter will be deferred, and there will be a 7billion boost to welfare to 'strengthen the safety net'. Renters will also get a 1billion fillip with housing benefit rising. Mr Sunak proclaimed dramatically: 'For the first time in our history the government is going to step in and help pay people's wages.' Chancellor Rishi Sunak told worried Britons they will not face the Pandemic Crisis 'alone' as he unveiled another huge new coronavirus bailout last night Experts forecast that Mr Sunak's intervention could save 800,000 jobs in Britain's workforce for when the country eventually emerges through the emergency. Standing alongside Boris Johnson at a press conference in Downing Street, Mr Sunak made a direct appeal to businesses not to sack people. 'The Government is doing its best to stand behind you and I am asking you to do your best to stand behind our workers,' he said. The staggering rescue package, which will last an initial three months and be financed by borrowing, was on an even bigger scale than many had expected - and the true costs might not be known for months. It was hailed by unions and business groups - although Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell griped that it should have gone even further. The wage subsidy is expected to apply to firms where people have already been laid off - as long they are brought back into the workforce and instead granted a leave of absence. There are thought to be more than eight million workers in sectors that are directly affected, such as hospitality, retail and leisure. If the government pays out the maximum rate to five million, it would cost 12.5billion a month. If the situation continues for a year, as Government experts say is possible, that could cost 150billion - equivalent to the annual NHS budget. The figures could end up being lower depending on the detail of the scheme, with the Resolution suggesting that a million workers could be covered. The bill will be offset by not having to pay jobless benefits, but they are far smaller. It comes on top of a 350billion package announced just earlier this week, including 330billion of loan guarantees and 20billion of rate reliefs and grants. And at the Budget last week Mr Sunak pumped 30billion into stimulating the economy. Meanwhile, the Bank of England has slashed rates twice to a record low of 0.1 percent and announced that its quantitative easing scheme - effectively printing money - is being ramped up to over 600billion. There have been warnings that without action GDP could be slashed by a fifth and a million could lose their jobs within months - with many more to follow - after Social Distancing Orders brought the economy to a halt. Can we extend the goodwill beyond coronavirus? Just a fortnight ago, I made it clear that the Scottish Conservatives would offer our full support to the First Minister and her government as they respond to the coronavirus emergency. I did not do that lightly, Scottish Conservative leader Jackson Carlaw told MSPs earlier this week. He continued: Ten years ago, I shadowed Nicola Sturgeon when she led, as health minister, the national response to a previous epidemic, so whatever political differences we might otherwise have God knows that they are many I have every confidence in her leading the countrys response to the crisis at this time. It is not the time for opposition parties to exploit our situation or to use partisan and pejorative rhetoric against the efforts that are being made. To those who are venting against the United Kingdom Government or directly to me about Sturgeons government, let me be clear: for now, the Scottish Government is a government for us all, just as the government in Westminster is a government for us all. Will mistakes be made? Possibly. Will our response at times be slower than we would wish? Probably. After this is all over, we can learn from our experience and prepare ourselves for any future event. For now, I am clear that the Scottish Conservatives will stand with the First Minister. I assure her that the questions that we will ask will be measured and entirely designed to inform and not to hinder the national effort that she is leading, and that we all place our trust in the advice that is received from qualified professionals. The First Minister replied: Like many members, I am a politician to my fingertips, but I have never been less interested in party politics than I am right now. In the battle against the virus and what we will face in the months to come, we are all on the same side, and we should never forget that. I accept and understand the importance of robust scrutiny, which is as important now as it is at all times. We are in a common endeavour, and it is important that we recognise that. We have never faced a situation like this, so I will do something else that is perhaps not normal for a politician. I say candidly that we will make mistakes: we will not always get it right, but we will strive at every turn to do the right thing, for the best reasons and in good faith. I genuinely appreciate the sentiments of support that Jackson Carlaw has articulated today. Probably not since the Second World War has there been such a spirit of solidarity and the putting aside of party politics for the greater good of the country. We must act like any wartime government and do whatever it takes to support our economy, said Boris Johnson. While talk may be of war against COVID-19, peace has broken out as politicians across the spectrum face something that is, quite literally, a matter of life and death with so many unknowns that no one can claim to be party to the right answer. It has proved to be the curveball issue that has emerged to unite the country against the odds. Even the constitutional bickering has been put to one side temporarily, with Scottish Government constitutional relations secretary, Mike Russell, writing last week to Michael Gove to say that in light of the crisis, the Scottish Government would no longer pursue an independence referendum in 2020 and urging the UK Government also to take a six-month pause on Brexit negotiations. It seems that some of the trust in politics has been restored. Experts are now very much back in vogue and as politicians have been more open and transparent about the process of decision making, of trying to do their best when they dont know for certain what the impact of their choices will be, people have been more willing to accept their good intentions, albeit in the face of imperfection. Even social media has become a nicer place, with the majority looking to support and encourage rather than divide and tear down. Coronavirus has brought out the best and the worst in people. On the one hand, the need to protect the vulnerable has seen outbreaks of neighbourliness. Shops and cafes are offering food deliveries; people are making food parcels, offering to fetch messages, post letters or simply chat over the phone with complete strangers who happen to live nearby; over 200 community aid groups are being set up; and even breweries and distilleries are making hand sanitiser to help with the shortage. Meanwhile, many households have been voluntarily self-isolating to protect others, simply because someone in the family has a cough. The shocking nature of the situation has forced everyone to re-evaluate what is important, with contact with loved ones at a premium and the effects of all our actions on everyone else suddenly writ very large. Internationally, too, there have been uplifting images, such as the Italians singing to each other across balconies as they self-isolate, Cuba taking in a British cruise ship that had an outbreak of the virus or the Norwegian prime minister holding a special press conference to explain coronavirus to children. Suddenly, we have become interested in what is happening in other countries. On the other hand, the pandemic has seen the outrageous selfishness of people stockpiling, to the extent that supermarket shelves have emptied, so that there is nothing left for others. In one case, a supermarket has even had to remove its foodbank collection point because people were stealing items from it. It has also exposed some of the strengths and weaknesses in the UK system. The BBC, previously under attack, has come into its own as it rearranges programming to keep providing news despite expected staff shortages, as well as additional programming tailored around self-isolation, such as food programmes to focus on cooking with essentials, exercise routines for older people, televised church services and a new iPlayer service for children. BBC director-general Tony Hall said: We all know these are challenging times for each and every one of us. As the national broadcaster, the BBC has a special role to play at this time of national need. We need to pull together to get through this. Thats why the BBC will be using all of its resources channels, stations and output to help keep the nation informed, educated and entertained. We are making a series of changes to our output to achieve that. The crisis of a pandemic has underlined the benefits of having a national health service that can pool resources and coordinate a national response, but it has also highlighted the effects of years of underfunding on its ability to deal with increased pressures. It has put the question of who should be considered a key worker in a new light, too. And the most vulnerable are, as ever, particularly hit, with homeowners being given mortgage loans and renters having been promised measures to protect them from eviction, homeless people have been left on the streets after night shelters have had to close to prevent the spread of infection. Schools may have to be opened for children on free school meals, simply because without that, those children might not eat. And while there are many positive examples of inventive use of technology to tackle isolation, with people offering everything from exercise classes to pub quizzes and choirs over social media and meeting apps, those who are most at risk of loneliness, the elderly and disabled, are least likely to have access to the technology that could help them connect with others. Deep flaws in our economic system, which were already well known, have now also been writ large. The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, announced interventions in the economy on a scale unimaginable only a few weeks ago, with 330bn in loans and 20bn in aid, a business rates holiday, and grants for retailers and pubs, saying it was not a time for ideology and orthodoxy. The Scottish Government announced a 1.9bn package of support for businesses, including a 10,000 grant for businesses that are eligible for small business rates relief or in the rural business scheme, 12 months business tax relief and 25,000 grants for properties in retail, hospitality and leisure, as in the rest of the UK, as well as a further 350m of support for welfare and wellbeing. Much has been made of the cinemas, theatres, restaurants, cafes and bars that will be affected by social isolation, but the pandemic has shown, like never before, the frightening nature of the gig economy, where thousands of people on zero-hour contracts, as well as the self-employed, have suddenly found themselves without any source of income at the click of a finger. While all this is known, the question is whether any of the change is permanent. Will communities continue to rally round its most vulnerable? Will the trust in politics be restored permanently or is this simply a moratorium on hostilities? And will the fundamental flaws in the economic model highlighted by the coronavirus, leaving some in a highly precarious situation with no safety net, lead to a rethink of policy? As everyone stops, takes time out and spends more time at home, COVID-19 offers a chance to re-evaluate the kind of country we are. Is it the kindness or the selfishness that will prevail? And will the care, trust and community-mindedness extend beyond the next couple of months? If the cleansing that is currently going on across the country were to be extended to the soiled systems and the goodwill extended, we would have the opportunity to see the country healed of more endemic problems than just a pandemic virus. With a view to take preventive measures to check the further spread of Covid-19, the teaching staff of the UT government schools and colleges was allowed to work from home while the ministerial staff was asked to report on duty on rotational basis. The orders regarding this were taken out by the director school education, Chandigarh on Friday. The move came up as teachers showed more and more anxiety on being asked to report to their respective workplaces till Thursday despite Chandigarh recording positive coronavirus cases in the city. As of Friday evening, six positive cases of Coronavirus are reported from Chandigarh(5) and Mohali(1). A school teacher employee union leader said, After the growing unrest among the teachers the Education department had to bring out this notice. How can they ask us to report to the school in times of a national crisis? We are also prone to infection. How will they ensure that the infection wont reach us? The order released by the Education Department reads that teaching staff of the school are allowed to work from home however they will have to remain in touch with students and schools over phone or social media up to the March 31st 2020. The school teachers will prepare result meanwhile and undertake evaluation work of non CBSE examinations from home. The non teaching staff members of the schools are also allowed to put on duty on rotation basis in such a manner that not more than 50% of staff attends duty subject to minimum 1 ministerial staff member for at least 3 hours on working days. Meanwhile the teaching staff working in colleges shall also work from home till 31st of March and may remain in touch via technology, says the order. The head of school is asked to be present along with one staff member from teaching faculty as per requirement. The teachers are also asked not to leave the station without prior permission of the competent authority. The Education department will also provide training to master trainers and volunteers during this period. By West Kentucky Star Staff Mar. 21, 2020 | 02:32 PM | GRAVES COUNTY According to the Graves County Sheriff's Office, 43-year-old Christy G. Jones, also known as Christy G. King, was last seen in late 2019 by her family and has not been heard from in several months. Her family is concerned about her well-being and wishes to make contact with her. Jones is white, 5 feet 3 inches tall, and weighes approximately 150 pounds. She has blue eyes with blond hair, and a tattoo on the upper left side of her chest that is the Chinese symbol for love. Family members and deputies believe Jones may have moved to Memphis, TN with a boyfriend. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Sheriff's Office at 270-247-4501. Graves County Deputies are asking for the public's assistance with locating a missing Mayfield woman. By Express News Service BENGALURU: Unprecedented measures taken to prevent the spread of coronavirus are likely to severely impact the economy that was already experiencing a slowdown. It may require nearly six months to fully recover from this impact. We were already on the downturn and the GDP growth rate, which is 4.8 per cent, may slump-down to 4 per cent. Maybe even less, said Prof R S Deshpande, visiting professor and former chairman, Institute of Social and Economic Change (ISEC). According to him, the lockdown will have a major economic impact, hitting the unorganised sector the worst as a large number of people will migrate back to villages. They will not have any source of income, he added. While central and state governments are battling to blunt the impact of the outbreak, most sectors, including agriculture and food processing, real estate, aviation, tourism, hospitality, retail, textiles, transport and logistics are likely to be hit. According to a survey by the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI ), which was released on Friday, a significant 53 per cent of businesses indicate the marked impact of the pandemic on operations even at the early stages. All businesses will be impacted, some will be hit more and some less. It may take around six months to recover, said D Muralidhar, chairman of research wing and past president of FKCCI. In Karnataka, economic activities will be hit by 15 to 20 pert cent, he added. If the slowdown due to the health emergency continues for a long time, it may impact jobs and order books may not be replenished and companies may find it difficult to manage. Taxi drivers, auto drivers, those working in the hospitality industry and unorganised sectors are already feeling the heat. If it continues for long, even the organised sector may find it difficult to hold on to their employees, Muralidhar added. New Delhi: The Health Ministry on Saturday (March 21, 2020) said they have increased the number of labs to 111 which are all functional now. Ministry also said that the hospitals will have mock drills tomorrow. The Joint Secretary of Health Ministry Luv Aggarwal also notified that they are likely to issue guidelines for private labs over charging, sample collection for COVID test on Saturday evening. He said, PM Modi talked to all the Chief Ministers yesterday through video conferencing and discussed social distancing. Aggarwal added, "Ignore Fake News. Wear a mask only when you have a cold." "The hand sanitizer is not required all the time. Masks are not required to be worn all the time. Guidelines have been released for this," said the joint secretary adding that N95 mask is not necessary and clothing mask which is in two-three layers is fine. We have asked states to be prepared in every way and they can use the Disaster Relief Fund, stated Aggarwal. Aggarwal also informed that around 1700 people have been placed on quarantine so far. He also added, "262 passengers will leave for India from Rome today and they will be taken care of separately." As of Saturday morning, 271 people have tested positive for the virus in India. India has tested 14,811 people till Saturday. The first individual to be tested in India was on January 21, 2020. In early March, when the number of American coronavirus cases was still low and the president himself sounded unalarmed, Republicans generally told pollsters they were unworried, too. About 40 percent of them in a national tracking poll said they were not at all concerned about an outbreak in their communities. In that same moment, hardly any Democrats agreed. That pattern, consistent across other surveys, seemed to suggest not long ago that Americans would view even a deadly infectious disease as they have come to see so many facets of life refracted through pure partisanship. But more recently this picture has begun to shift. Not concerned at all about a coronavirus outbreak in their local area Source: Civiqs As the coronavirus toll has risen and the stock market has plunged, as the economy and daily life have come to a halt, and as the president and conservative commentators have changed their tone, Republican concerns about the virus are now rising. Political scientists expect that in short order the views of Republicans and Democrats may converge on how seriously they take the virus. While the effects of partisanship are incredibly pronounced, I think they also hit their limits, said Brian Schaffner, a political scientist at Tufts. In the months ahead, we may well see persistent partisan splits on whether Americans approve of how the president is handling the crisis. But on the more fundamental question of how they perceive the threat in their personal lives, Democrats and Republicans are now moving in the same direction. Both say they are growing more concerned about an outbreak in their local areas, according to a daily tracking poll by Civiqs. Since the stock market crash on March 9, the share of Americans of both parties who said they were extremely concerned about an outbreak has increased nearly every day. Partisan differences are eroding in part because the messages coming from President Trump, Fox News hosts and other Republican party leaders increasingly if inconsistently resemble the messages Democrats are hearing from their preferred news sources and leaders. Even some policy responses, like sending Americans money to weather the crisis, have received bipartisan support. At some point, if everybody is saying the same thing, said Ryan Enos, a political scientist at Harvard, theres reason to believe that that party gap should go away. Some of these partisan differences may be because Republicans are more likely to live in rural communities, far from the first domestic outbreaks and in places where social distancing isn't such a challenge. But the cues people get from party leaders are also hugely important in shaping public opinion. And the president has gone from dismissing the virus as under control to addressing its dire consequences in daily briefings all messages that have in turn been amplified by conservative media. In responding to pollsters, both Democrats and Republicans have a tendency to cheerlead for their party to give the answer that their team is supposed to give, even if that answer doesnt reflect their true behavior, or if it contradicts indisputable reality. That may be part of what explains these early and stark differences in coronavirus concerns. Until quite recently, if you were a Fox News watcher, you werent supposed to be worried about the virus. Mr. Schaffner, the Tufts political scientist, wondered if he could bypass what people were saying and look directly at how Democrats and Republicans were behaving. He found something like that evidence in online search data. In early March, people in Democratic-leaning media markets were much more likely to do a Google search for hand sanitizer a trend that didnt exist before the crisis. Over the last two weeks, that partisan pattern all but disappeared: More searches for hand sanitizer More Repulican areas In early March, places that were more Republican were much less likely to search for hand sanitizer. As the outbreak became more serious, and as party leaders communicated the scale of the problem, that divide diminished. Circles represent media markets; they are sized proportional to the number of households in each market. Google Trends are an index. FiveThirtyEight, Nielsen Sources: Google Trends There is also some evidence that Republicans in parts of the country hit first by the virus began to grow more concerned even before the presidents cues shifted. A national poll conducted by Survey 160 and Gradient Metrics, which oversampled Washington State residents, found that Republicans there were much less likely than Republicans nationally to say the crisis had been exaggerated by the media. On that question, Republicans in Washington looked more like independents across the country. In state data from the Civiqs daily tracking poll, Republicans in Washington State have also shown for weeks the highest levels of concern. Extremely concerned about a coronavirus outbreak, state by state Source: Civiqs That suggests that people in other parts of the country will grow more worried, regardless of their partisanship, as they learn more not just from TV anchors and presidential news conferences, but also from their sick friends and neighbors. At a certain point, if they dont know someone who has it, theyre going to know someone who knows someone who has it, said Samara Klar, a professor at the University of Arizona. And thats not going to fall along party lines. Those kinds of things are going to make the partisan gap go away. Whats perhaps more remarkable is not that the gap will ultimately narrow, but that it existed so starkly in the first place. Similar ideological divides havent been apparent in Britain. In the U.S., differences in level of concern between Democrats and Republicans or between people who get their news from national newspapers or Fox News have been far wider in YouGov polls than any of the differences by education, income, age or race. Past public health threats in America have shown some echoes of this partisan pattern. Republicans, for example, were more likely than Democrats to say they were concerned about the Ebola outbreak that occurred during the Obama administration. But in the past, Democrats and Republicans behaved in some similar ways when faced with a public health threat, according to work by Bethany Albertson, at the University of Texas at Austin, and Shana Kushner Gadarian, at Syracuse University. They have studied the role of anxiety in politics when people confront threats like terrorism and disease. Facing a public health threat, they found, the more anxious Democrats and Republicans became, the more likely they both were to trust expert sources like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. People want expert actors; they dont want partisan actors in times of crisis, Ms. Gadarian said. Whats different now than in our studies is that our current president has been undercutting messages from the C.D.C. and other health experts about, first, whether or not this is a crisis, whether you should be anxious, and, second, what we should be doing. She and Ms. Albertson also suggest partisanship among the public and the media had grown more pitched than during H1N1 or even Ebola. For weeks and weeks, this threat has been politicized, or made partisan, in a way that is quite stunning, Ms. Albertson said. Consider the counterfactual where that trend continued, even in the face of a rising death toll and widening restrictions on daily life. If Trump had made less of a dramatic shift, you have to think about scenarios where conspiracy theories would be gaining more ground, the idea that my kids schools were closed and its the Democrats fault, said Matt Grossmann, who directs the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research at Michigan State. These are all possible alternative worlds if the parties werent converging in concern and threat at the moment. Gina Davison scrolled through social media, overwhelmed by the constant onslaught of coronavirus posts. She began to feel helpless, like there was nothing to be done for the thousands of San Antonians affected by long lines at grocery stores, layoffs at businesses and shortages of essential items. Davison, a single mother and local photographer, had slowly come to understand how difficult it would be to get work in the weeks to come. Her neighbors, two of whom work in restaurant and catering businesses, were similarly distraught. People everywhere were hurting, and she felt powerless to stop it. Finally, I realized I had the power to help, said Davison, who also runs a homemaking blog for a small, loyal group of followers. I dont have a car, but I still have the potential to help someone. I can connect them to other people and resources while staying at home with my son. On Monday, she got to work. She logged onto Facebook and created a group, the Hippy Helpers, a spin-off on her blog name, The Hippy Home, and began inviting others to join her. She encouraged them to help in any way they could. Did anyone have extra food they could share? Was someone available to run an errand? Which stores had baby formula in stock? If one thing comes out of all of this, it is my hope that it brings our society to realize how interdependent we are, Davison wrote to members on Facebook. We can get through this, but we need each other to do it, especially the vulnerable and the poor who always get hit the hardest. Throughout San Antonio, neighbors are banding together, albeit virtually, mobilized by the recognition that the coronavirus pandemic will continue to affect people rich and poor, young and old for the foreseeable future. Theyre posting on Facebook, offering child care to neighbors, setting up networks through Google to pick up groceries for the elderly, handing out free water bottles on a street corner, and organizing fun games through Nextdoor. Briauna Barrera, a member of San Antonios Democratic Socialists of America, started an online network through Google this week to find groceries for residents or check in on elderly relatives. By Friday, more than 100 people had filled it out a questionnaire, she said. A restaurant owner had offered to provide 200 meals for the group to deliver. Now, Barrera is focusing on hosting online information sessions so San Antonians can learn how to get involved. Weve really been seeing an outpouring of care, Barrera said. The biggest need weve seen is emotional support. People want to be in contact with people they want to feel like theyre not alone in this. Ruben Galvan, a pastor at Firehouse Church, had more than four dozen large packs of water and Gatorade hed planned to use for a church event, now canceled amid concerns about the coronavirus. Instead, he and his 9-year-old son drove to the intersection of Steves and Hackberry on Thursday and handed out the packs, emptying their truck in four hours. Cynthia Quillian, a Realtor, was inspired to do something after her friend, a middle school art teacher, started a Facebook group called cov-ED co-op to connect educators and parents with online education resources for students. Quillian, who has done small fundraisers for her friends school before, worried about all the children in low-income families who dont have access to technology. She started a GoFundMe in hopes of buying laptops for about 1,200 at-risk kids. Lets keep them stimulated. Lets keep them engaged, Quillian said. Its not like this is going to change anytime soon. This is going to be a big part of our lives. Sara Lucy Nanez, a local business executive who works in the limousine industry, began two Facebook groups in an effort to connect residents in need of essential items. The first, which provides updates on which stores have grocery supplies, has more than 1,400 members. The second, called Start With Your Street, encourages members to check in with their neighbors to make sure theyre OK and see if they need anything. If you dont have the needed items, thats OK, Nanez said. Someone does. So far, Nanez and her team of followers have helped connect with more than 20 residents. A woman needed a twin mattress; another was looking for Spaghettios with meatballs for her son, who has sensory issues. A caretaker asked for adult diapers. Everyone is coming together, Nanez said. Its beautiful. Rather than get overwhelmed by the onslaught of daily coronavirus news, find small ways to help, Nanez and others said. I think a lot of times, in our normal life, we are so rushed that we dont take the time to acknowledge the community around us, said Davison, the local blogger. I think thats the one positive thing that will come out of all this. We need each other to survive. Want to help? Here are some places to start: Give blood: The South Texas Blood & Tissue Center has warned that its blood supply is low due to widespread cancellations of blood drives. People can schedule appointments to donate, allowing for social distancing. Prepare food boxes for low-income families and seniors: The San Antonio Food Bank needs volunteers to prepare food kits for 300,000 households and distribute meals to children who are out of school. Meals on Wheels, which serves older and disabled residents, is expanding the number of meals it provides and needs donations. Gather supplies for your favorite nonprofit: Many nonprofits, including Catholic Charities, Family Violence Prevention Services, San Antonio Pets Alive and St. Vincent de Paul, dont have enough basic supplies, including non-perishable food, bottled water, baby formula, hand sanitizer and paper towels, because of the high demand for household items. Organize hygiene kits for the homeless: San Antonio police officers need hygiene kits, including hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, soap, bottles of water and socks, to distribute to people experiencing homelessness. Kits can be dropped off at one of several SAFFE substations. Sign up to be a virtual volunteer: Many organizations, including The American Red Cross, have in-person and online volunteer opportunities. The Central and South Texas Region of The Red Cross has training online, allowing for social distancing. Write a letter, send a card to a senior living facility: Several elder care facilities, including Elmcroft Senior Living in Windcrest, have asked for cards and letters for their residents, who can no longer receive visitors. Check with the facility first to make sure there are no restrictions on items they can receive. Support local hospitality workers, artists facing uncertainty: Hospitality workers and artists are hurting now that performance venues and bars have shut down and restaurants switched to takeout and delivery only. Culinaria has organized an emergency relief fund, as has San Antonio Tip Jar, Howl at the Moon and the San Antonio Opera. Reach out to your local school: Educators are scrambling to create online lesson plans for their students. Reach out to your local schools and see what they need. Offer to record an educational video about your profession, drop off books for students spending more time indoors, or laptops for children who dont have them. Check on friends, neighbors: Public crises can exacerbate mental health issues for people who are already working to cope with anxiety, depression and social isolation. Others may just feel overwhelmed by the stress of layoffs, a lack of child care and uncertainty about the future. Call or FaceTime family members. Check on elderly neighbors. Send a card to a friend. Organize a mutual aid network: You can start small by creating a list of people who live in your apartment complex or on your street. Use online tools or lists to track what people need and what people are able to give, like household supplies or delivery of medicine from pharmacies. Donate to a relief fund, a local nonprofit: Several prominent philanthropic organizations have launched campaigns to support families and nonprofits affected by the coronavirus. Make a donation of more than $25 to the COVID-19 Community Response Fund or the Big Give Emergency Relief. Emilie Eaton is a criminal justice reporter in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | eeaton@express-news.net | Twitter: @emilieeaton The CEO of the Bergen County hospital that is treating over a dozen of the states coronavirus patients has been stricken with the disease. Like so many in our area and in the healthcare field, Ive tested positive for COVID-19, Holy Name Medical Center CEO Mike Maron said in a statement. Im being monitored by Holy Names tele-medicine program as I recover at home. Maron said he was continuing to work from his house and that he began self-quarantining as soon as he began developing symptoms and was later tested for the virus. Now more than ever, Im grateful for the tireless work of Holy Names healthcare professionals, who are on the front lines of this national pandemic, Maron said "We are all in this together. The medical center, located in Teaneck, currently has 18 patients that have tested positive for coronavirus, a hospital spokeswoman told NJ Advance Media. One of the states first patients to test positive, a 30-year-old Teaneck resident, was hospitalized there after they began showing symptoms on March 3. The hospital recently announced that it had expanded its number of negative pressure rooms from about 15 to around 65 after converting other rooms with fans and filters as centers around the state try to make room for more patients suffering from coronavirus. Tell us your coronavirus stories, whether its a news tip, a topic you want us to cover, or a personal story you want to share. If you would like updates on New Jersey-specific coronavirus news, subscribe to our Coronavirus in N.J. newsletter. Sign up for text message alerts from NJ.com on coronavirus in New Jersey: Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrisrsheldon Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips. The woman, who tested positive for coronavirus in Maharashtra's Aurangabad district, has now tested negative for the infection following treatment, an official said Aurangabad: The woman, who tested positive for coronavirus in Maharashtra's Aurangabad district, has now tested negative for the infection following treatment, an official said. The woman, with travel history to Russia and Kazakhstan, had tested positive for the virus on 13 March, district health officer Dr Sundar Kulkarni told news agency PTI. Her latest swab test reports after treatment have come out negative, he said. "Our line of treatment has worked. We used retroviral therapy, which is a combination of three to four drugs. She will remain under observation till the end of this month and then (be) discharged," the official said. At least 21 swab samples were taken from the college where she works as a lecturer and all of them have tested negative, he added. External affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Thursday started back-to-back interactions with Indian envoys on the challenges posed by the rapid spread of the Sars-Cov-2 virus. Jaishankar, who was speaking via video conference with the heads of missions in groups, also delivered a clear message to Indians stranded abroad. They should stay put and not panic. The interactions began at about 4.45 pm (IST) and continued till late evening, people familiar with the development said. The purpose of the interaction with the heads of mission was to brief them about the steps taken by the government and ask diplomats on the front-line to remain vigilant, the people added. Also read: Covid-19: What you need to know today Many diplomats posed the same question: how to deal with Indians panicking and itching to return to India. Jaishankars answer was that the diplomats continue their outreach to the Indian community and reassure them that there was no need to panic but that they must stay put. The foreign ministers decision to hold the interactions with Indian envoys in groups comes a day after India barred scheduled international flights from landing in the country for the next one week, an effort at containment. A large number of the 230-plus Covid-19 patients in the country are individuals who recently returned from abroad. The others are people who came in contact with such patients, mostly when they were asymptomatic. Jaishankar is part of the group of ministers set up to handle the Indian response to the virus. In his interactions, the foreign minister acknowledged the pivotal role played by diplomats in handling the situation so far and asked them to up their game. Also read: Is Tamil Nadu man Indias 1st community spread case? It has been a tough time for diplomats in many countries, one of the people cited above said. This is particularly true of those posted in countries such as China, Iran, Italy, Spain, France and the United Kingdom that have had a large number of Covid-19, cases, this person added. The Sars-Cov-2 virus originated in Chinas Wuhan . Nearly 80,000 people have been infected in China alone; over 3,248 died. In countries that didnt act in the initial stages, it has spread rapidly. Italy, which has the second highest number of cases (47,021), has reported more deaths (4,032) than China. In his televised address to the nation on Thursday, PM Narendra Modi asked people to guard against complacency when it came to dealing with the pandemic. He also underscored that the disease, which had impacted the world more than the two world wars, would hurt countries and the global economy as well. Many other world leaders have also expressed similar concerns about the risk posed by the disease. It is in the context of this assessment that questions are also being raised about the silence of the United Nations Security Council on formulating a global response to the containing spread of Sars-Cov-2. China is the president of the UN Security Council this month. But other global groupings have also been working on the issue. Efforts are on to call for a G-20 meeting via video conference to put a global response in place SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Yosemite Falls March 20 2020 Yosemite Conservancy Webcam Image View Photo Update at 7:15 p.m.: Yosemite National Park officials have updated information related to the parks closure. While the public is no longer allowed to enter the park, officials provide these exceptions: Residents of all communities within the legislative boundary of Yosemite National Park and residents of Yosemite West who are using NPS roads to access their residences. Additionally, while in the official performance of their duties: authorized NPS employees, authorized contractors of the NPS, authorized employees or contractors of Yosemite Hospitality, The Ansel Adams Gallery, NatureBridge, Yosemite Conservancy, the United States Postal Service, or other authorized park partners. Tori James wrote the below article. Original post at 4:30 p.m.: Yosemite National Park, CA One of the countrys iconic parks will not be accessible until further notice due to COVID-19 concerns. As of 3 p.m. Friday, Yosemite National Park officials announced that the park would close to park visitors until further notice at the request of the local health department officials. The closure will be enforced 24/7. Yosemite National Park spokesperson Jamie Richards states, The health and safety of our visitors, employees, volunteers, and partners at Yosemite National Park is our number one priority. The National Park Service is working with the federal, state, and local authorities to closely monitor the novel coronavirus situation and we will notify the public when we resume full operations and provide updates on our website and social media channels. She encourages folks in the meantime to enjoy the park remotely through its website, where folks may also access the parks webcams and free app. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ary Hermawan (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, March 21, 2020 14:56 662 7f440ff09e92db75a02bbad206c6e72c 1 Opinion #commentary,buzzers,politics,Jokowi,anies-baswedan,COVID-19,COVID-19-lockdown,democracy,social-media Free This is how I imagine Indonesia will end; not with a bang of an atomic bomb launched by a formidable adversary, but with a buzz created by social media influencerslocally known as buzzersthat prevent us from making informed decisions in a global health emergency. Indonesia, or at least its capital, is now on the verge of a massive outbreak of a highly contagious disease that has engulfed the world like wildfire, killing thousands of its inhabitants. The COVID-19 pandemic is no science fiction. Its a real-life threat faced not only by Indonesia, but by over 140 other countries. But it appears that nothing is off limits for a group of local social media influencers who are willing to turn every issue into a petty partisan squabble, framing an extremely serious discussion about ways to prevent a looming health disaster within a shallow, myopic and nauseating political spectrum. In the past few days, at a time when the central government is expected to act fast to respond to the pandemic, social media users have been engaged in a heated discussion over whether Indonesia, or Jakarta, should impose a partial lockdown to flatten the curve of infection in order to save lives. Read also: Jokowi must make case for lockdown as COVID-19 may spark social unrest: Report Free discussion is certainly a necessity in a democracy and I cherish the fact that Indonesians are able to talk about how the government is handling this crisis on social media. But, alas, this discussion is only useful if there are no groups of people with vested interests trying to muddy the waters and turn a supposedly rigorous, evidence-based policymaking process into a mere political game. We have seen on social media an attempt to portray those who back the idea of imposing a lockdown as kadrun (desert lizard), the derogatory term used by supporters of President Joko Jokowi Widodo to describe his detractors, particularly those openly rooting for Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan as the next president. Anies has called for a soft lockdown to prevent a wider contagion in the capital, which has become Indonesias epicenter of the pandemic with 215 confirmed cases and at least 18 deaths, more than half of the national toll. President Jokowi, however, is reluctant to endorse such an extreme policy, fearing its dire social and economic consequences. In a thinly veiled rebuke at the Jakarta governor, who had briefly restricted the citys transportation services, the President asserted that he alone held the right to impose a lockdown. Read also: Economics of partial lockdown to contain spread of coronavirus Since then, the COVID-19 outbreak has been political. Jokowis concerns may be justified, but Anies call for a lockdown is also perfectly rational, especially given the facts we have: that Indonesia was dreadfully late to take measures to contain the virus in the early stages of the outbreak and that other countries have taken different lockdown measures to survive the virus. I am not saying one of them is right or wrong. What we need is a clear discussion and effective decision-making to avert a disaster. The science is clear and simple: We need to flatten the curve of infection to prevent a surge in cases that could overrun hospitals and overwhelm our medical workers. There is no other way; the government must be able to test more suspected patients and take drastic measures to restrict peoples movement to slow down the spread of the disease. The challenge now is how both Jokowi and Anies do those things while also protecting the urban poor and preventing social unrest. To do that, the President and the governor, though perceived as political rivals, should put aside their egos and put the interests and safety of the nation above all things. Science should take the lead and politics should not have a say in this. With Anies declaring an emergency on Friday, urging offices to suspend operations, shutting down bars and nightclubs, restricting services and canceling religious masses, it appears that the two political leaders have reached an agreement. But the partisan squabble has not ended yet. Online conversations are still littered with political comments disparaging Anies policies or Jokowis indecision, disregarding the loose definition of a lockdown and painting the whole discussion in a black and white spectrum: pro-lockdown crowds against anti-lockdown crowds. The fact is, not all Jokowi supporters back Jokowis policies, and not all of Anies constituents are happy with his decisions. But the noise coming from the influencers is too loud and interruptive that we fear it could cloud both leaders judgment. President Jokowi has already come under fire for being excessively cautious in sharing information about the outbreak and failing to act fast to address it. We cant afford to have a group of influencers drown out input for and criticism against him. Online political influencers have been around for some time. And since partisan politics is the rationale of their existence, they have always been on the wrong side of history, supporting misguided government policies and attacking academic opinions. We can only hope that the government, or the President himself, is not the one paying these influencers, though we are concerned that the government seems to consider social media influencers as equally if not more powerful than the media. Some of them have even been invited to the State Palace by the President. If you are confused about how the central and local authorities are currently handling the situation, please dont bring politics into this. The 2019 presidential election is over, and the COVID-19 pandemic has nothing to do with it. A pathogen does not care whom you voted for in the last presidential election, or will vote for in the next one. It is here now and it can infect everyone, regardless of your political, religious, economic, cultural and ethnic backgrounds. So dont let the coronavirus infect you and your loved ones, and please dont let social media influencers or buzzers infect and eventually kill our democracy. Our lives may depend on it. LANSING, Mich. Big box retailer Menards says it mistakenly placed too high a price on face masks it sold in its stores and is apologizing to customers after Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel sent a warning letter about price gouging during the coronavirus crisis. "We are all working under a great deal of anxiety and stress and believe that in normal times this most likely would have never happened," spokesman Jeff Abbott said. "We are very sorry for this mistake," and will offer a higher rebate to customers who bought the overpriced masks, Abbott said in an email to the Free Press. Nessel sent Menards a "cease and desist" letter Tuesday a precursor to possible legal action after her office received 18 complaints from consumers about the retailer selling overpriced bleach, face masks and other items. Abbott said the company's marketing team noticed that customers in the Midwest were snapping up dust masks, which are often used to protect lungs during home improvement projects and commercial construction projects, "the minute we put them online for sale." Surgical masks have been in high demand as a possible protection against the coronavirus, and it is likely residents purchased dust masks as a substitute when there were no surgical masks to be found. The concern was "our Midwestern customers who really needed dust masks were unable to buy them," Abbott said. "In an attempt to fix this, the team came up with the brilliant idea to raise the online price to $39.95 per two-pack of dust masks and experiment with a large rebate offer, thinking this would restrict dust mask sales to our Midwestern customers as rebates can only be spent in our stores and not online," Abbott said. He did not say what the price of the masks was before the change, but Nessel said in her news release that items were in some cases being sold for double their normal prices. "Our intention was to offer around a $35 rebate, but when designing the ad, a $20 placeholder was used on the ad template and posted by mistake on our website," Abbott said. "In the chaos of this crisis, the error went unnoticed for two days, but when discovered was immediately removed from our site." Abbott said those who purchased the masks will receive a $39.95 rebate when they apply for their $20 rebate, "essentially getting the masks free." Nessel spokeswoman Kelly Rossman-McKinney said that "based on Menards' statement, they acknowledge overpricing face masks many are buying in an effort to protect themselves against COVID-19," and Nessel's office looks forward to "receiving a direct response to our concerns from Menards, and will evaluate it at that time." Also, "this is a perfect example of how important it is to report price-gouging the minute you see any overpriced item," she said. Menards has pushed back at the allegation it charged overpriced bleach, saying the price it charged was reasonable. Nessel had received 823 complaints of price gouging during the coronavirus pandemic as of late Wednesday afternoon, according to a news release. Her office sent another cease and desist letter Thursday to Warren-based retailer Norkan, Inc., for allegedly selling a 10-pack of face masks for nearly $80, when the normal price is about $23, the news release said. A Norkan official could not immediately be reached for comment. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 2 Fr Eugene Sweeney, PP of St Peter's has issued a statement in relation to masses within the parish, all of which have been suspended until March 29. However mass will be available on the internet. A statement reads: 'Following the instructions issued by the Archbishop Eamon Martin and the four Irish Archbishops, all weekday and Sunday Masses until Sunday, March 29 will be cancelled in St Peter's Parish, including St Patrick's Day. This is done in union with St Mary's Parish, Holy Family Parish, Mell, the Augustinian and Dominican Churches. 'In the current emergency situation all are dispensed from the obligation physically to attend Sunday Mass. Each weekday, Monday to Saturday, Mass without a congregation will be recorded in the Parish and uploaded on the parish website and Facebook page. This recording can be accessed each day throughout the day from 10.00am. Sunday Mass will similarly be available from 7.30pm each Saturday evening, and all day Sunday. 'St Patrick's Day Mass will be available from 7.30pm on Monday 16 March, and all day 17 March. The Novena to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal will be included at Mass on Mondays, as usual, and to St Anthony of Padua on Tuesdays, and the Triduum of prayer to St Joseph for vocations. www.saintpetersdrogheda.ie 'Anniversaries and Month's Mind Masses for both St Peter's and Our Lady of Lourdes Churches will be read out as already arranged. The Parish will be happy to facilitate families wishing to have names read out a second time at Mass when current restrictions are lifted. 'The Lenten Sunday Series of Talks in the Lourdes Church, and the 24 Hours for the Lord, will be suspended until current national restrictions are lifted. 'Both St Peter's and Our Lady of Lourdes Churches will be open throughout the day as usual from 9.00am, and people are encouraged to visit the churches for private prayer. Adoration will move from the Blessed Sacrament Chapel to the main church at St Peter's, taking place each day, 9.00am to 3.00pm. Baptisms and weddings will be held during this period in both churches, as already arranged, as will all funerals of those who die during this period. No more than 100 people may be in attendance, however, in accordance with national directives. 'St Peter's Church shop will be open as usual, Tuesday to Saturday, 11.00am - 3.00pm. 'These arrangements will be shared on the parish website and Facebook page, as will further notices. Please also see notices at both churches. www.saintpetersdrogheda.ie www.facebook.com/StPetersParishDrogheda Archbishop Eamon Martin has stated: "This is an occasion for all of us - especially in families - to pray more intensely for each other and especially for those who have succumbed to the illness. We should pray also for those at the frontlines - especially doctors, nurses and medical staff and other carers, including clergy - that the Lord will protect them as they place their own wellbeing at risk in the service of all." The clergy of the Parish will continue to offer Mass for the people of the Parish, and to be available for them. I pray that everyone will be safe, and that together we will move forward from this. St Oliver Plunkett, pray for us.' Human Rights Watch (HRW) is urging Pakistan to take immediate and urgent steps to ensure that prisoners and detainees have access to adequate medical care and protective measures against the coronavirus. The New York-based rights group says Pakistani prisons, jails, and detention centers should also consider reducing their populations through appropriate supervised or early release of low-risk detainees. Human Rights Watch said the risk of contagion is particularly serious at overcrowded prisons in Pakistan -- a country where at least 660 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed with at least three deaths. With little testing available, Human Rights Watch said the real number of coronavirus cases is likely much higher. Brad Adams, the rights group's Asia director, said Pakistani authorities should urgently act to limit the chance of a catastrophic outbreak at overcrowded detention facilities where he said the governments longstanding failure to ensure hygienic and humane conditions is amplifying the threat posed by COVID-19. According to a report last year by Pakistan's government, there were 77,275 prisoners being held in 2019 at 114 prisons meant to have a total capacity of only 57,742. The majority of those being held were undergoing trial and had not been convicted. Meanwhile, Pakistan suspended all international passenger for two weeks. "We are suspending international flight operations effective tonight at 8:00 pm [local time]," Moeed Yusuf, a special assistant to the prime minister on national security, told journalists on March 21. Earlier Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has urged citizens to strictly follow the policy of self-quarantine and social distancing to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Addressing journalists in Islamabad on March 20, Khan said he was not in favor of a total lockdown of the country, saying it would affect poor people. Khan warned that if the number of infected people continue to rise, Pakistan may not have the necessary facilities to properly handle the situation. He also advised people not to buy food in bulk to avoid shortages. Hours before Khans press conference, millions of Pakistanis attended Friday Prayer at mosques across the country. RFE/RL Radio Mashaal correspondents from different cities reported that very few people were wearing masks during the prayers, and that worshippers were seen handshaking and hugging. The government of Pakistan's worst-hit province of Sindh has announced a three-day lockdown, asking people to stay inside from March 21 to 23. On the evening of March 21 Pakistan, a country of roughly 220 million people, has confirmed more than 660 cases of coronavirus so far, most of them linked to travel to neighboring Iran, and three deaths. Pakistan sealed its border with Iran last week. But only after hundreds of pilgrims returned home from the Islamic Republic -- one of the countries worst affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Islamabad has historically failed to contain infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, hepatitis and polio. With reporting by the AFP and Radio Mashaal Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 22:38:21|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close VILNIUS, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Lithuania reported its first COVID-19 death on Friday, the Lithuanian Ministry of Health said Saturday. According to the ministry, the patient, an elderly woman with a number of chronic conditions, died shortly after being taken to the emergency department of Ukmerge Hospital in central Lithuania on Friday. The COVID-19 diagnosis was confirmed after her death. As of Saturday morning, 21 people tested positive for the coronavirus, bringing the total tally to 69, according to official data. Also on Saturday, Lithuanian health vice minister Algirdas Seselgis said that a doctor from Ukmerge was diagnosed with COVID-19 and 160 persons had had close contacts with the doctor. "The sad news is that 127 of them are medical workers," Seselgis was quoted by local media as saying. He was speaking amid public concern that medical workers in Lithuania were not sufficiently tested and hospitals might become the focal points for the spread of the coronavirus. Seselgis said all the 160 persons will receive tests for COVID-19. Earlier on Friday, it was revealed that new confirmed COVID-19 cases in Lithuania also included a doctor from the largest Vilnius hospital Santaros Klinikos. Two medical workers had been confirmed positive with the coronavirus in Ignalina, a town in eastern Lithuania. According to the data from the Institute of Hygiene under the Ministry of Health, around 13,700 doctors worked in Lithuania in 2018. Up to the date, a total of 1,466 COVID-19 tests have been carried out in Lithuania. "It's diabolical," says clothing retailer Joe Bertuna as he looks out on the empty halls of Australias largest shopping centre in Chadstone. "It's not even worth opening your doors." "We can't last much longer," says another trader selling fried chicken in what is normally a bustling food court at another of Melbourne's large malls - Northland. "I haven't paid my rent this month. I've been here for 21 years now, and not ever once have I missed the rent," he told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. Malls around Australia, normally bustling with people, are like ghost towns. Credit:Justin McManus The mall, usually bustling with people, is like a ghost town with solitary shoppers wandering past empty stores. The eerie quiet is echoed in Sydney's northern beaches in the usually crammed Westfield Warringah Mall. There, one ladies' fashion chain staffer says she has not "seen anyone for hours". At a nearby beauty salon, liked by landlords as an 'internet-proof' tenant, a beautician says "I've never seen it like this". Advertisement The Archbishop of Canterbury has urged stockpiling shoppers to stop hoarding food amid the coronavirus panic, telling worshippers there is 'no Christian justification' for doing so. After supermarkets up and down the country saw huge queues and rushes for staple goods such as toilet roll and tinned food, Most Reverend Justin Welby tweeted: 'If you're still hoarding more food and supplies than you need, please, please stop. 'Please think of others - especially the most vulnerable, and those risking their health to look after us. Leave enough for everyone. We depend on each other.' The Church of England's most senior bishop added: 'And to put it a bit more strongly for followers of Jesus - there is no Christian justification for hoarding more than you need. 'As John the Baptist said in the Gospel of Luke, "Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.'' Several supermarkets have now announced restrictions on certain items and special hours for elderly and vulnerable residents due to the surge in demand for goods. The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has urged stockpiling shoppers to stop hoarding food amid the coronavirus panic, telling worshippers there is 'no Christian justification' for doing so Most Rev Welby instead urged people to consider donating to food banks, which have seen increased pressure during the outbreak. 'If your cupboards are full, here's an idea - take a few items to your local foodbank, or ask if your neighbours need something,' he tweeted. The Church is preparing to deliver its Sunday services online-only for the first time after banning mass worship to prevent the spread of the virus. Rev Welby's plea came after furious Britons criticised selfish panic-buyers who have raided shelves and left those most in need without food and essential supplies. As the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country reaches 3,983 with 177 deaths, and workers are confined to carrying out their duties from home, shops are still being stripped bare. Last week saw a spike in shoppers stripping shelves bare, leaving many of Britain's elderly and key workers who work long hours having to go without while others piled groceries high. Customers had complained of facing three-week waits for grocery deliveries from supermarkets - with online stores not showing availability until as late as April 9 at some supermarkets. Archbishop Welby pleaded with shoppers in a series of tweets to stop hoarding food. He also warned Christians directly that there is 'no Christian justification for hoarding more than you need' In an effort to battle panic-buying and a huge increase in demand as customers self-isolate, Lidl will recruit 2,500 workers on four-week contracts, and Aldi revealed a recruitment drive to hire 9,000 new workers, including 4,000 permanent jobs. Asda says it will hire more than 5,000 temporary employees laid off due to Covid-19, working with 20 national companies to bring staff from industries including food and travel at risk of losing their jobs. Marks and Spencer said it will reserve a 'special hour' for NHS and emergency workers along with vulnerable customers for the first hour of trading on specific days - and Tesco announced that from Sunday they would introduce a similar measure, allowing Health Service staff to select their shopping before checkouts open. The Prime Minister has urged the public to stop 'mass buying', saying that there is 'no reason' shops should be empty and asking Britons to 'please be reasonable in your shopping and be considerate of others'. Social media users have been heaping scorn on shoppers who are taking more than their fair share of precious groceries using the hashtag #stophoarding - calling on their countrymen to be considerate and take only what they need. Footage of distraught critical care nurse Dawn Bilbrough, who was unable to buy basic foods following a 48-hour shift, showed her urging shoppers to stop stripping supermarket shelves amid the coronavirus pandemic - in a post that gained such support it sparked the #doitfordawn hashtag where Britons are urged to be considerate of healthcare workers and those in need while shopping. Earlier in the day, pictures emerged of shoppers buying far more groceries than they needed. (pictured: A shopper in Asda buying baby formula) Chaotic scenes unfolded at Lidl in Neasden as shoppers sought to buy groceries amid growing fears over the coronavirus Shoppers were faced with empty shelves in Tesco, Cambridge, on Friday morning when supplies were cleared before they had a chance to buy during their 'Pensioners' Hour' Eager shoppers queue outside a Sainsbury's supermarket in Kenton, London before it opens at 7am on March 20 Customers stock up on toilet roll at Costco as the Chancellor unveiled an emergency package aimed at protecting workers' jobs and wages as they face hardship in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic Furious Britons are criticising selfish panic-buyers who are raiding supermarket shelves and leaving those most in need without food and essential supplies Supermarkets hire thousands of new staff to battle soaring demand Supermarkets are responding to increasing pressure to stock shelves and deliver orders on time with an urgent recruitment push to hire thousands including 9,000 at Aldi, and 5,000 at Asda. Lidl has announced plans to recruit 2,500 workers on four-week contracts to help keep up with high demand in stores as customers continue clearing shelves over the coronavirus outbreak. The grocer said recruits can start immediately and will be paid at least 9.30 an hour, adding 'the new hires will be responsible for working together to keep the store clean, tidy and the shelves well stocked so that customers can get the products they need'. Asda has announced plans to hire more than 5,000 temporary employees laid off due to Covid-19, working with 20 national companies to bring staff from industries including food and travel at risk of losing their jobs. Chief executive Roger Burnley said: 'During these difficult times everyone has to work together to help people most affected by Covid-19 and Asda is pleased to play its part. 'That is why today we have committed to hiring more than 5,000 employees who have lost their jobs due to Covid-19 and have been left with deep concerns about their household budgets.' Advertisement In her heartbreaking appeal, Ms Bilbrough, 51, from York, who had just completed a lengthy and exhausting shift, explained that she had visited her supermarket to pick up basic food items for the next two days when she was left having a 'little cry'. After discovering there were no fruit and vegetables for her to sustain a healthy living amid the COVID-19 outbreak, the healthcare worker made a tearful plea to the public urging them to 'just stop it'. Britons retweeted Ms Bilbrough's message using the hashtag #doitfordawn, urging shoppers to stop hoarding crucial groceries leaving others with little or nothing. The nurse took to Facebook from the seat of her car to tell the nation: 'So I've just come out the supermarket. There's no fruit and veg and I had a little cry in there.' 'I'm a critical care nurse and I've just finished 48 hours of work and I just wanted to get some stuff in for the next 48 hours. 'There's no fruit, there's no vegetables and I just don't know how I'm supposed to stay healthy. 'Those people who are just stripping the shelves have basic foods you just need to stop it because it's people like me that are going to be looking after you when you are at your lowest and just stop it please!' After sharing the emotional video, Ms Bilbrough was flooded with messages of support from concerned friends and loved ones, with some offering her some of their very own food items. One person wrote: 'Oh Dawn, I'm so sorry to see you so upset. The job you are doing is so very important to so many people, and how unfair it is that this means you are last in line for the nutritious food you really need to stay healthy and keep doing that important job. Thinking of you and sending much love.xxx' While another commented: 'Oh dear Dawn, heartbreaking to see you like this, I feel you, you are strong, and it is so important what you do....and many others...proud proud proud. I will share....' Another user added: 'Sending you love and strength Dawn Bilbrough xx' Elsewhere another person offered the nurse some of their own groceries, telling her: 'Dawn bless you, please don't cry! I'm in isolation but I have a bag of potatoes, carrots and a water melon you can have. 'I can leave them on my doorstep for you, double bagged! Be fine once, cleaned and boiled. Please don't cry.' The emotionally-charged video comes as retailers stress there is plenty of food in the supply chain but shoppers need to act responsibly to ensure everyone can get what they need- particularly those who are the most vulnerable. The shelves are empty as panic buying continues at the Tesco Holmbush store in Shoreham, earlier this week Items that are now selling out, and subsequently being rationed, at supermarkets up and down the country, include long-life milk, cleaning fluids, toilet rolls and pasta Piers Morgan calls out stores and sellers that are inflating prices as much four times including toilet roll for 14 Calls are flooding in on social media to name and shame stores that are inflating their prices so much that a four-pack of toilet roll is selling for up to 14 amid coronavirus panic buying. Piers Morgan tweeted two pictures from local shops showing the prices of toilet roll as 14.99 and 18.99. He tweeted the pictures alongside the caption: 'Been sent this by a friend up North, taken in a local store today. Calls are flooding in on social media to name and shame stores that are inflating their prices so much that a four-pack of toilet roll is selling for up to 14 amid coronavirus panic buying 'Just as we'll never forget the wonderful generosity and kindness of people who go the extra mile now, nor should we ever forgive essential shop-keepers who fleece their regular customers in a time of crisis.' Some Twitter users have speculated that they believe the store is a corner shop in Gainford, Darlington. Another outraged customer filmed the owners of his local newsagent which had hiked the price of a packet of toilet roll to 10. Footage shows a woman behind the counter at the newsagent on the phone to police claiming the customer is 'harassing' her. He proceeds to walk out of the shop and says, 'Do not come to this shop,' while pointing his camera at the storefront. James Deegan posted the footage on to his Twitter account alongside the caption: 'This is akin to the black market in WW2 and this should be made illegal. 'She's calling police, they should be arresting them for profiteering in a national emergency. 'There is no excuse for hiking prices like this absolute scumbags.' Other social media users took to Twitter to post pictures of their local shops profiteering from similar methods. The dramatic rise in prices comes as Boris Johnson yesterday spoke on the topic of mass buying. Horrified Twitter users responded to the astonishing uploads to show their disgust During the fourth press conference of its kind, created to keep the public up to date on coronavirus issues, Johnson said: 'I really hope retailers will continue to be reasonable. 'I don't want to see profiteering of any kind. 'We've got good supply chains and farms, theres no reason for shops to be empty. 'Everyone understands why people are buying stuff - we're being advised to stay at home if we have symptoms. 'However, please be reasonable in your shopping and be considerate of other shoppers as you do it.' Sajid Javid tweeted to say: 'Stop panic buying. I know many of you are tense and nervous. But it has real consequences for vulnerable people. 'Just think. And stop it.' Horrified Twitter users responded to the astonishing uploads to show their disgust. One said: 'Report to trading standards, profiteering is illegal.' While another said: 'This is a disgrace! How can these people live with themselves. Can we not name and shame these individuals? 'They need outing on TV.' Online retailers on eBay were also found to be hiking prices up and two rolls of toilet paper were seen selling for 9.99, alongside another brand of toilet paper which was selling four rolls for the same price. Advertisement Supermarkets are taking measures to help shoppers during the coronavirus outbreak, particularly for the elderly and vulnerable. As thousands of customers stockpiled on products in a panic-buying frenzy, many were left facing empty shelves at the supermarkets during their food shop. Here are a range of actions taken by supermarkets to steer people away from stockpiling to ensure fewer people are missing out: Tesco has prioritised a one-hour slot for the elderly and vulnerable every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 9am in all of its stores with the exception of Express stores. NHS staff are also able to visit large stores one hour before the usual store opening time every Sunday from March 22. Customers are only able to buy three items of the same product with the removal of multi-buy promotions. To allow for cleaning and filling shelves with stock, Tesco reduced the opening times at its 24-hour stores to 6am to 10pm. The supermarket has implemented some social-distancing measures at its checkouts with customers encouraged to pay by card. Sainsbury's has dedicated the first hour in every supermarket to elderly and vulnerable customers. The supermarket will also give customers aged over 70 and those with a disability priority access to online delivery slots from Monday. It is also planning to expand its click and collect service by adding more collection sites from Monday. To allow extra room for essential products, Sainsbury's closed all of its cafes and meat, fish and pizza counters in its stores. Customers are limited to buying three of any product and a maximum of two of the most popular products including toilet paper, soap and long-life milk. From Friday, Asda has dedicated the opening hours up until 9am in its larger stores for vulnerable people, with additional support for those who need it. The supermarket has restricted shoppers to three items of any product including food, toiletries and cleaning products. As staff numbers fluctuate with workers in self isolation, Asda revealed plans to recruit 5,000 people. Its employees are being urged to invite friends and family whose work has been impacted by coronavirus to get in touch with their local store about job opportunities. Waitrose, which is part of the John Lewis Partnership, has placed a three-item limit on certain products and a limit of two packets of toilet roll. On Friday, it launched a protected shopping period for the elderly and vulnerable at every store which will take place during the first opening hour. The retail group has also launched a 1 million community support fund to create additional delivery services, as well as delivering essential items to care homes and community groups and donating products to vulnerable people. The high street chain announced it is dedicating the first hour on Tuesdays and Fridays for NHS staff and emergency workers. This does not include franchise stores in petrol and railway stations. On Friday the first opening hour of its stores were set aside for vulnerable customers, which will continue next week every Monday and Thursday. The German discount supermarket has announced a recruitment drive to hire 9,000 new workers, including 4,000 permanent jobs, to help keep shelves filled during the coronavirus outbreak. The supermarket added that all nappies and paper products, including toilet and kitchen roll, will now be restricted to two items per customer. All other products will remain restricted to four items per customer, with a few exceptions. Morrisons announced on Tuesday it is creating 3,500 jobs to expand its home delivery service to cope with demand. It has placed purchasing restrictions across 1,250 lines. Morrisons also announced an expansion of its home delivery service, including 3,500 new jobs. On Friday, Lidl announced plans to recruit 2,500 workers to start immediately on four-week contracts to cope with the surge in demand. In Northern Ireland, there are dedicated shopping sessions for elderly people from 9am to 11am every day. The Co-op announced it will create 5,000 jobs to provide temporary employment for hospitality workers who have lost their jobs because of the coronavirus crisis. Around 6,500 students across 25 Co-op Academy Schools who currently have free school meals will be given a 20 voucher for every week that schools remain shut. Since Thursday, the first hour of opening every day at all Iceland stores have been dedicated to the elderly and vulnerable. Supermarkets are responding to increasing pressure to stock shelves and deliver orders on time with an urgent recruitment push to hire thousands including 9,000 at Aldi, and 5,000 at Asda. Lidl announced plans to recruit 2,500 workers on four-week contracts to help keep up with high demand in stores as customers continue clearing shelves over the coronavirus outbreak. The grocer said recruits can start immediately and will be paid at least 9.30 an hour, adding 'the new hires will be responsible for working together to keep the store clean, tidy and the shelves well stocked so that customers can get the products they need'. Supermarket cleared of beer - except Corona! A Sainsbury's store was stripped of nearly all its beer - but wary customers left dozens of boxes of Corona. A picture of the shop in Dulwich shows shelves almost completely bereft of alcohol, but boxes of the Mexican beer remained nearly untouched. Last month the company that owns Corona was reported to have been facing its worst quarter in 10 years following the coronavirus outbreak. Advertisement Asda's plans include hiring more than 5,000 temporary employees laid off due to Covid-19, working with 20 national companies to bring staff from industries including food and travel at risk of losing their jobs. Chief executive Roger Burnley said: 'During these difficult times everyone has to work together to help people most affected by Covid-19 and Asda is pleased to play its part. 'That is why today we have committed to hiring more than 5,000 employees who have lost their jobs due to Covid-19 and have been left with deep concerns about their household budgets.' Following the rise in panic buying, supermarket chains Tesco and Sainsbury's announced that they will be restricting customers to only buying three of any grocery item. A Sainsbury's spokesperson told MailOnline they are limiting purchases of grocery products to a maximum of three of each item and a maximum of two on the most popular products including toilet paper, soap and UHT milk. Meanwhile, while Asda and Morrisons announced they too will be restricting purchases across 1,250 regularly-bought lines. Online retailer Ocado also temporarily stopped new customers from gaining a membership after they were left overwhelmed by orders from people choosing to self-isolate amid the crisis. Yesterday Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged the country to stop panic buying and be 'reasonable' when they went to the supermarkets. He said: 'We've got good supply chains and farms, there's no reason for shops to be empty. 'Everyone understands why people are buying stuff - we're being advised to stay at home if we have symptoms. 'However, please be reasonable in your shopping and be considerate of other shoppers as you do it.' Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 21) Taytay, Rizal and Iloilo province recorded their first COVID-19 cases on Saturday. According to Taytay Public Information Office, the first COVID-19 victim from Barangay San Juan has died and has already been cremated. The positive result was only confirmed after the victims cremation, the statement said. The other COVID-19 patient from Taytay, who is also from Barangay San Juan, is currently confined at an unnamed hospital in Ortigas Avenue after experiencing symptoms of the disease. The family of the second COVID-19 patient is currently under quarantine in their house. Due to the first COVID-19 cases, the Taytay Municipal Health Office will lead a massive disinfection and fumigation around the municipality to further prevent the spread of the disease. The Taytay police will also apprehend those who are loitering in the streets and those who are riding motorcycles and private vehicles with passengers aside from the driver. In Iloilo province, Vice Governor Christine Garin broke the news of her areas first COVID-19 case. No other details are available yet regarding the COVID-19 situation in the province. The Philippines now has 307 confirmed COVID-19 cases, along with 19 deaths and 13 recoveries. You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close UPDATE: New Jersey coronavirus outbreak rises to 1,914 cases with 20 deaths. 590 new positive tests announced. New Jersey now has at least 1,327 coronavirus cases, including 16 deaths, after state officials reported 442 new cases and five new deaths during a briefing Saturday when Gov. Phil Murphy announced new executive orders shutting down non-essential retail businesses, canceling social gatherings, and instructing people to quite simply stay at home." Officials expect the number of cases to continue to increase as the state expands testing and sees more evidence of community spread. The number will continue to grow significantly, Murphy said at a news briefing at Rutgers-Newark. "That will be many, many thousands. Murphy said five more people have died from coronavirus. They include a man in his 50s from Monmouth County, a man in his 80s from Essex County, a woman in her 70s from Morris County, and two Bergen County residents a man in his 40s and a man in his 80s. Three of those deaths were from long-term care or rehabilitation facilities, said state Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli. The partial county-by-county breakdown of total cases includes: Bergen County: 363 Middlesex County: 116 Essex County: 107 Hudson County: 97 Monmouth County: 92 Union County: 81 Passaic County: 67 Morris County: 64 Ocean County: 62 Somerset County: 34 Mercer County: 30 Burlington County: 21 Camden County: 15 Hunterdon County: 14 Gloucester County: 6 Sussex County: 6 Warren County: 5 Atlantic County: 4 Cape May County: 2 Cumberland County: 1 State health officials said 98 cases remain under investigation to determine where those who tested positive reside. Murphy said he has not been tested for coronavirus because he is not showing any symptoms and the focus is on people with symptoms being tested. Meanwhile, Murphys order calls for nearly all of New Jerseys 9 million residents to stay in and refrain from travel except for obtaining food and medicine, seeking medical attention, visiting family and close friends, exercise, and reporting to work at a business that is still open. The non-essential business shutdown takes effect at 9 p.m. on Saturday. The order includes a number of exceptions, such as grocery stores, liquor stores, pharmacies, home improvement and restaurants that offer takeout and delivery. Other non-essential businesses should instruct employees to work from home, if possible. MORE: New Jersey lockdown rules: What residents need to know about stay-at-home order Murphy clarified that all health care or medical services are essential and there are blanket exceptions for health-care workers, law enforcement, members of media, certain federal government employees, and workers that provide access to low-income residents like food banks. The list of essential businesses that are allowed to keep operating is, according to the state website: Manufacturing, industrial, logistics, ports, heavy construction, shipping, food production, food delivery, and other commercial operations; and medical facilities where a sick or injured person is given care or treatment, such as: doctors offices, hospitals, dentist offices, long-term care facilities, and other medical offices. Day care centers for children are also remaining open for emergency personnel and essential workers who need to have their kids watched. The goal of Saturdays order, officials said, is to limit human interaction to slow the spread of the virus and help make sure hospitals arent overloaded. New data from a Rutgers University study analyzed by NJ Advance Media shows a worst-case scenario of 1 in 7 New Jersey residents contracting the virus, which causes the illness COVID-19. Thats if little social distancing precautions are taken. The state has not reported how many negative tests have come back, or how many people have been hospitalized with or recovered from the virus. New Jersey opened its first state-run coronavirus testing site, at Bergen Community College in Paramus, on Friday. The site has administered about 1,000. The center was overrun by long lines both Friday and Saturday, and started turning people away shortly after opening Saturday morning. A second, similar site, at PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, is scheduled to open Monday. Murphy said a spike in positive cases may help officials get a better grip on how to respond to the crisis. The virus has infected more than 287,000 people and killed nearly 12,000 people across the globe, according to Johns Hopkins University. In the U.S., more than 19,000 have been infected and more than 245 have died. The state also announced a new website for information and answers on the states response to the virus: covid19.nj.gov/. Sign up for text message alerts from NJ.com on coronavirus in New Jersey: If you would like updates on New Jersey-specific coronavirus news, subscribe to our Coronavirus in N.J. newsletter. Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. The telecom department on Saturday wrote to chief secretaries of all states, urging them to allow movement of field staff of telecom companies and infrastructure providers, and give other permissions to ensure uninterrupted operation of critical communications networks amid coronavirus outbreak. In a letter to the chief secretaries of all states and union territories on ensuring "operational continuity of telecom services in view of threat of Covid-19 outbreak", the Telecom Department said that in case of restrictions being contemplated for containment of coronavirus, all critical telecom infrastructure should be permitted to remain operational. Moreover, all critical telecom infrastructure should be permitted to be manned by the staff of telecom service providers/telecom infrastructure providers, it said. "For accessing critical telecom infrastructure locations, the movement of the staff of telecom service providers/telecom infrastructure providers be permitted," the letter said. The Department of Telecom (DoT) has also said that movement of vehicles carrying diesel for the DG sets at critical telecom infrastructure should be allowed, and that sufficient diesel availability should be ensured. It has also sought states' cooperation for ensuring availability of power supply to critical telecom infrastructure. "The support of police and disaster response forces be provided to telecom service providers/telecom infrastructure providers, if necessary," it said. The DoT underlined that at this juncture a robust telecom infrastructure is critical for providing access to emergency services. "...ensuring uninterrupted operation of critical telecom infrastructure is of paramount importance...," the DoT said. Critical telecom infrastructure includes telephone exchanges, mobile switching centres, network operation centres, transmission centres, data centres, telecom tower sites, call centres of telecom service providers and warehouses where maintenance spares of telecom service providers are stored. The latest moves comes after the telecom department on Friday met telcos and associations to discuss critical issues around business continuity of communications networks, as industry sought government intervention for allowing movement of essential field staff and sought other waivers to keep services up-and-running amid the coronavirus outbreak. Representatives from industry bodies like COAI and Tower and Infrastructure Providers Association (TAIPA) as well as telecom operators like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea, Reliance Jio and state-owned telcos had attended the meeting called by senior telecom department officials. As such, the government has initiated a slew of measures to contain the spread of coronavirus and create an awareness around the global pandemic. It has launched a chatbot on messaging app WhatsApp to address any queries that people may have about coronavirus. Sources said the chatbot has been developed and implemented by Jio Haptik Technologies, a conversationalAI platform and a subsidiary of Reliance Industries. 'MyGov Corona Helpdesk' can be accessed by sending a Whatsapp message to +91 9013151515. It is equipped to resolve various FAQs pertaining to the novel coronavirus including necessary precautionary measures, symptoms, helpline numbers, affected cases in the region, Government advisories (including travel) amongst others. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US intelligence agencies were issuing ominous, classified warnings in January and February about the global danger posed by the coronavirus while Donald Trump and members of congress played down the threat and failed to take action that might have slowed the spread of the outbreak, according to US officials familiar with spy agency reporting. The intelligence reports didn't predict when the virus might land on US shores or recommend particular steps that public health officials should take, issues which are outside the remit of the intelligence agencies. But they did track the spread of the virus in China, and later in other countries, and warned that Chinese officials appeared to be minimising the severity of the outbreak. Taken together, the reports and warnings painted an early picture of a virus that showed the characteristics of a globe-encircling pandemic that could require governments to take swift actions to contain it. But despite that constant flow of reporting, Mr Trump continued publicly and privately to play down the threat the virus posed to Americans. Members of congress, too, did not grapple with the virus in earnest until this month, as officials scrambled to keep citizens in their homes and hospitals braced for a surge in patients suffering from Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Intelligence agencies have been warning on this since January, said a US official who had access to intelligence reporting that was disseminated to members of congress and their staff as well as to officials in the Trump administration, and who, along with others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive information. Donald Trump may not have been expecting this, but a lot of other people in the government were - they just couldn't get him to do anything about it, this official said. The system was blinking red. Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Show all 26 1 /26 Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town An empty street in Manhattan borough following the outbreak of coronavirus disease in New York City Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town A cab drives down at Seventh Avenue in Times Square Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Syracuse University campus is seen almost empty as number of universities are moving all classes to e-learning, due to the coronavirus outbreak Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan Empty street is seen near Lincoln tunnel Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan An empty restaurant Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan Empty chairs are seen near Hudson yards Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan An empty restaurant Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town A mobile souvenir shop sits in an empty parking lot at Allianz Field as a match between the New York Red Bulls at Minnesota United FC is postponed USA Today Sports/Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan An empty Jacob K Javits Convention Center Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Syracuse University A person sits in an empty eating hall Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan Empty parking lots Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan Jacob K Javits Convention Center Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Seventh Avenue Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan Empty retail stores Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan Empty street is seen outside the New York Times building Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan Empty parking lots Reuters Coronavirus turns New York into a ghost town Manhattan Reuters Spokespeople for the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) declined to comment, and a White House spokesperson rebutted criticism of Mr Trump's response. President Trump has taken historic, aggressive measures to protect the health, wealth and safety of the American people - and did so, while the media and Democrats chose to only focus on the stupid politics of a sham illegitimate impeachment, Hogan Gidley said in a statement. It's more than disgusting, despicable and disgraceful for cowardly unnamed sources to attempt to rewrite history - it's a clear threat to this great country. Public health experts have criticised China for being slow to respond to the coronavirus outbreak, which originated in Wuhan, and have said precious time was lost in the effort to slow the spread. At a White House briefing on Friday, Alex Azar, the health and human services secretary, said officials had been alerted to the initial reports of the virus by discussions that the director of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had with Chinese colleagues on 3 January. The warnings from US intelligence agencies increased in volume towards the end of January and into early February, said officials familiar with the reports. By then, a majority of the intelligence reporting included in daily briefing papers and digests from the ODNI and the CIA was about Covid-19, said officials who have read the reports. The surge in warnings coincided with a move by senator Richard Burr, to sell dozens of stocks worth between $628,033 (539,084) and $1.72m (1.47m). As chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mr Burr was privy to virtually all of the highly classified reporting on the coronavirus. Mr Burr issued a statement on Friday defending his sell-off, saying he did so based entirely on publicly available information, and he called for the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate. A key task for analysts during disease outbreaks is to determine whether foreign officials are trying to minimise the effects of an outbreak or take steps to hide a public health crisis, according to current and former officials familiar with the process. At the State Department, personnel had been nervously tracking early reports about the virus. One official noted that it was discussed at a meeting in the third week of January, around the time that cable traffic showed that US diplomats in Wuhan were being brought home on chartered planes - a sign that the public health risk was significant. A colleague at the White House mentioned how concerned he was about the transmissibility of the virus. In January, there was obviously a lot of chatter, the official said. Inside the White House, Mr Trump's advisers struggled to get him to take the virus seriously, according to multiple officials with knowledge of meetings among those advisers and with the president. Mr Azar couldn't get through to Mr Trump to speak with him about the virus until 18 January, according to two senior administration officials. When the health secretary reached Mr Trump by phone, the president interjected to ask about vaping and when flavoured vaping products would be back on the market, the senior administration officials said. On 27 January, White House aides huddled with then-acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney in his office, trying to get senior officials to pay more attention to the virus, according to people briefed on the meeting. Joe Grogan, the head of the White House Domestic Policy Council, argued that the administration needed to take the virus seriously or it could cost the president his reelection, and that dealing with the virus was likely to dominate life in the United States for many months. Mr Mulvaney then began convening more regular meetings. In early briefings, however, officials said Mr Trump was dismissive because he did not believe that the virus had spread widely throughout the United States. By early February, Mr Grogan and others worried that there weren't enough tests to determine the rate of infection, according to people who spoke directly to Mr Grogan. Other officials, including Matthew Pottinger, the president's deputy national security adviser, began calling for a more forceful response, according to people briefed on White House meetings. But Mr Trump resisted and continued to assure Americans that the coronavirus would never run rampant as it had in other countries. I think it's going to work out fine, Mr Trump said on 19 February. I think when we get into April, in the warmer weather, that has a very negative effect on that and that type of a virus. The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA, Mr Trump tweeted five days later. Stock Market starting to look very good to me! But earlier that month, a senior official in the Department of Health and Human Services had delivered a starkly different message to the Senate Intelligence Committee, in a classified briefing that four US officials said covered the coronavirus and its global health implications. Robert Kadlec, the assistant secretary for preparedness and response, who was joined by intelligence officials, including from the CIA, told committee members that the virus posed a serious threat, one of those officials said. Mr Kadlec didn't provide specific recommendations, but he said that to get ahead of the virus and blunt its effects, Americans would need to take actions that could disrupt their daily lives, the official said. It was very alarming. Mr Trump's insistence on the contrary seemed to rest in his relationship with China's president Xi Jingping, whom Mr Trump believed was providing him with reliable information about how the virus was spreading in China, despite reports from intelligence agencies that Chinese officials were not being candid about the true scale of the crisis. Some of Mr Trump's advisers told him that Beijing was not providing accurate numbers of people who were infected or who had died, according to administration officials. Rather than press China to be more forthcoming, Mr Trump publicly praised its response. China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus, Mr Trump tweeted 24 January. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi! Some of Mr Trump's advisers encouraged him to be tougher on China over its decision not to allow teams from the CDC into the country, administration officials said. In one February meeting, the president said that if he struck a tougher tone against Mr Xi, the Chinese would be less willing to give the Americans information about how they were tackling the outbreak. On 3 February, Mr Trump banned foreigners who had been in China in the previous 14 days from entering the United States, a step he often credits for helping to protect Americans against the virus. He has also said publicly that the Chinese weren't honest about the effects of the virus. But that travel ban wasn't accompanied by additional significant steps to prepare for when the virus eventually infected people in the United States in great numbers. As the disease spread beyond China, US spy agencies tracked outbreaks in Iran, South Korea, Taiwan, Italy and elsewhere in Europe, the officials familiar with those reports said. The majority of the information came from public sources, including news reports and official statements, but a significant portion also came from classified intelligence sources. As new cases popped up, the volume of reporting spiked. As the first cases of infection were confirmed in the United States, Mr Trump continued to insist that the risk to Americans was small. I think the virus is going to be - it's going to be fine, he said on 10 February. We have a very small number of people in the country, right now, with it, he said four days later. It's like around 12. Many of them are getting better. Some are fully recovered already. So we're in very good shape. On 25 February, Nancy Messonnier, a senior CDC official, sounded perhaps the most significant public alarm to that point, when she told reporters that the coronavirus was likely to spread within communities in the United States and that disruptions to daily life could be severe. Mr Trump called Mr Azar on his way back from a trip to India and complained that Ms Messonnier was scaring the stock markets, according to two senior administration officials. Mr Trump eventually changed his tone after being shown statistical models about the spread of the virus from other countries and hearing directly from Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, as well as from chief executives last week rattled by a plunge in the stock market, said people familiar with Mr Trump's conversations. But by then, the signs pointing to a major outbreak in the United States were everywhere. The Washington Post (Photo : Image by Darko Djurin from Pixabay ) Coronavirus Symptoms Start With a Simple Stomach Ache Then Flu Says Study (Photo : KIM KYUNG-HOON on Reuters) NEW CORONAVIRUS STUDY: Flu is Not The Early Sign of COVID-19 But Stomach Ache! The early signs of Coronavirus disease are dry cough, high fever, and flu-like symptoms. This is what most health experts advised all countries experiencing the deadly and contagious respiratory disease in order for them to contain its spread. However, a new study is now being circulated, saying that there was actually an earlier sign of Coronavirus that most Wuhan patients experienced first, before having flu-like symptoms. And that is stomach ache or stomach pains. Study: Here's the first thing you'll feel if you have Coronavirus, and It's not flu! Contrary to what most people and health experts believed in, stomach ache or stomach pains are the earliest signs of having Coronavirus disease. This is what the United States scientists revealed in their published study in the American Journal of Gastroenterology. According to them, before COVID-19 patients experienced flu-like symptoms, they first felt pain in their stomach areas such as diarrhea, vomiting, or abdominal pain. Out of the 204 positive cases of COVID-19 in Hubei, China, almost half of them experienced digestive problems when they arrived in the hospitals. The researchers also identified that some cases even get problematic digestive symptoms before they get to experience any respiratory diseases. "In this study, Covid-19 patients with digestive symptoms have a worse clinical outcome and a higher risk of mortality compared to those without digestive symptoms, emphasizing the importance of including symptoms like diarrhea to suspect Covid-19 early in the disease course before respiratory symptoms develop," said Brennan M.R. Spiegel, co-editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Gastroenterology. Not all cases experience stomach pains; some experience nothing at all Though experts already claimed that stomach ache might be the early signs of a positive COVID-19 patient, the doctors still acknowledge that not all patients with viral disease have the same symptoms with stomach pains. High temperature and dry coughs are still the early official symptoms of the virus, and it must not be overlooked just because a patient does not experience any stomach pains. Meanwhile, health experts also clarified that not all positive virus carriers have symptoms. In fact, studies "found that the stability of SARS-CoV-2 was similar to that of SARS-CoV-1 under the experimental circumstances tested," the study states. "This indicates that differences in the epidemiologic characteristics of these viruses probably arise from other factors, including high viral loads in the upper respiratory tract and the potential for persons infected with SARS-CoV-2 to shed and transmit the virus while asymptomatic." Older people and even people that have precondition diseases are more prone to catching the disease. This is the reason why the transmission of the virus can be quite tricky for most health experts around the world, as some cases have no symptoms at all. Still, authorities advised to regularly wash hands, stay away from the crowds, and protect the immune system to prevent getting the disease. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. More than 150 people were tested Friday for COVID-19 at drive-thru test sites in Huntsville while another 38 tests were administered at a drive-thru site in Athens. And test sites are scheduled to be open throughout next week in both Huntsville and Athens. At a press conference late Friday afternoon, Huntsville Hospital announced that 75 people were tested on the first day of a drive-thru COVID-19 test site while 80 more were tested at the fever & flu drive-thru site. Felicia Lambert, spokeswoman for Athens-Limestone Hospital, told AL.com that 38 COVID-19 tests were given at the hospitals fever & flu drive-thru site on Friday while 35 received the test on the clinics first day on Thursday. The results of those tests are expected on Monday, Lambert and Huntsville Hospital Senior VP for Operations Tracy Doughty said. The Alabama Department of Public Health, in its updated count, said Friday afternoon that 7 people had tested positive in Madison County while 1 had a positive test in Limestone County. Tracy Doughty, senior VP for operations at Huntsville Hospital, speaks at a news conference on March 20, 2020. There will also be a change in protocol at the Huntsville test site when it reopens on Monday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Doughty said that a physician or nurse practitioner will be on site to identify patients who need the COVID-19 tests. Those who have symptoms and want to be tested will not be required to have a doctor's order to receive it, which was the condition on Friday's tests in Huntsville. Symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough and shortness of breath. Doughty said those who are higher risk to contracting COVID-19, such as those with asthma, could also be evaluated at the drive-thru clinic on Jaycee Way in John Hunt Park. The Huntsville clinic shut down around noon on Friday as a thunderstorm moved through the area but patients were referred to the fever & flu drive-thru clinic on Governors Drive near Huntsville Hospital. The Huntsville test site has secured test kits from Assurance Scientific Laboratories in Birmingham. In Athens, Lambert said the drive-thru clinic saw 70 people altogether on the first day and 64 on Friday. In addition to the COVID-19 tests, she said 5 patients tested positive for flu. The Athens clinic, located at 902 West Washington Street, does not require a doctor's note to be tested for COVID-19. But, like the Huntsville site plans Monday, Athens has practitioners on site to evaluate patients to determine if a COVID-19 test is needed. Patients are first tested for flu or strep throat both of which yield almost immediate results and if those tests are negative, patients may then be tested for COVID-19. The Athens clinic will be open Monday through Friday next week from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Lambert said. Doughty said Huntsville Hospitals rationale in requiring doctors notes as a prerequisite for a COVID-19 test was to ensure that patients who most needed the test were seen. By Bill Van Auken March 20, 2020 " Information Clearing House " - In a speech delivered Thursday announcing that the number of confirmed coronavirus infections worldwide had risen to 200,000, the director of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, stated that the only way we can defeat this pandemic, as we have always been saying, is through solidarity. Solidarity, solidarity, solidarity ... Were one human race, and that suffices actually. This is an invisible enemy against humanity. The solidarity of humanity across the planet is not merely a noble ideal, but a life-and-death necessity in combatting a deadly virus that threatens to infect hundreds of millions of people as its spreads to every corner of the globe. This ideal, however, stands in stark opposition to the reality of a world capitalist society riven by unprecedented levels of social inequality and characterized by the pursuit of geo-strategic interests through the means of murderous violence. Alongside the invisible enemy against humanity, the coronavirus, there stands another quite visible one, world imperialism. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the increasingly desperate conditions confronting Iran and its population of nearly 83 million. The country has the third highest number of fatalities after Italy and China, and nowhere is the mortality rate greater, as the number of infections continues to rise sharply each day. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter Irans Health Ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur announced Thursday that 149 people had died over the previous 24 hours, bringing the death toll from the virus to 1,284. During the same period, another 1,046 cases of infection were reported, raising the total number to 18,407. Both numbers are believed to be serious underestimations of the ravages of the disease. Based on our information, every 10 minutes one person dies from the coronavirus and some 50 people become infected with the virus every hour in Iran, the spokesman said. Rather than human solidarity, Washingtons response to this crisis has been a deliberate attempt to intensify it at the cost of countless lives of Iranian working people. The pandemic, rather than being seen as an enemy to be eradicated in every country, is viewed by the White House, the Pentagon and the CIA as a new weapon of war that must be integrated into imperialist planning. This is the inescapable conclusion from the Trump administrations imposition Thursday of yet another round of punishing economic sanctions against Iran, targeting companies based in the United Arab Emirates that are accused of buying petroleum from the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC). This follows by only two days, another set of sanctions announced by Washingtons bully-boy Secretary of State Mike Pompeo against nine separate entities in China, Hong Kong and South Africa. The blacklisted companies were charged with engaging in significant transactions involving Iranian petrochemicals. Casting the pandemic in nakedly aggressive and xenophobic terms, Pompeo told a State Department press conference, The Wuhan virus is a killer and the Iranian regime is an accomplice. In the same breath, he claimed that Washington was prepared to carry out humanitarian efforts to help the Iranian people stay healthy. The level of lies and hypocrisy is breathtaking, even by the Trump administrations standards. US sanctions, which have blacklisted the countrys central bank, make it impossible for Tehran to buy basic medicines and medical supplies supposedly allowed under the maximum pressure regime. This has condemned tens of thousands to early and preventable deaths well before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. Now, according to one estimate by an Iranian physician, the countrys death toll from COVID-19 could reach as high as 3.5 million. This human suffering is not collateral damage from Washingtons maximum pressure sanctions regime, it is its direct purpose. Through brutal collective punishment, hunger and the spread of disease, US imperialism seeks to foment regime change in Tehran with the aim of eliminating a regional obstacle to its hegemony over the oil-rich Persian Gulf while, in turn, preparing for war with China. The coronavirus pandemic is seen as yet one more weapon in the US arsenal. As the January 3 drone missile assassination of Gen. Qassem Suleimani at Baghdads international airport made clear, US imperialism is prepared to carry out a direct war of aggression to achieve its aims. With the same order authorizing the illegal murder of Suleimani, Trump authorized the Pentagon to carry out bombing raids against Iranian ships, air defense systems and other targets, paving the way to a catastrophic military confrontation. The level of desperation of Irans bourgeois-clerical government as it confronts the spread of the coronavirus is expressed in its appeal to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), with which Tehran has not had relations for more than four decades, for a $5 billion emergency loan to pay for urgently needed medical supplies. With Washington holding the deciding vote within the IMF, the loan request will likely be rejected. A similar request from Venezuela, another oil-rich country that has faced a tightening noose of maximum pressure sanctions as it confronts the spread of the coronavirus, was turned down. The IMF board cynically claimed it could not release the money because it did not have clarity on recognition of the government of President Nicolas Maduro. As if the US puppet Juan Guaido and the small band of CIA-backed, right-wing conspirators who surround him could organize efforts to contain and mitigate the disease! Meanwhile, Washingtons right-wing allies in Latin America have rejected any collaboration with Venezuela in combating the spread of the coronavirus, again with the hope of using countless thousands of deaths to topple the existing government and impose a US puppet regime. The effects of these criminal policies will not be confined to the targeted countries. The coronavirus has already spread from Iran into much of the Middle East and South Asia. The Pentagon has even been forced to lock down occupation troops in Afghanistan for fear that their return home could spread the virus. In its March 17, 2020 statement How to fight the COVID-19 pandemic: A program of action for the working class, the National Committee of the Socialist Equality Party (US) raised the demand to End all sanctions and trade war measures. It stated: The response of Iran, Venezuela and other countries is being crippled by economic sanctions that prevent them from acquiring basic medical equipment. Trade war measures implemented by the United States and European countries must be halted. The coronavirus is a global disease that requires a globally coordinated response. The worldwide coronavirus pandemic has exposed once again in the most clear-cut manner that the most basic interests of the working class and the very survival of humanity are incompatible with imperialism. The solidarity required to defeat this disease and save the lives of millions around the planet can be forged only through the unification of the working class across national boundaries in a common fight for socialist internationalism. Copyright 1998-2020 World Socialist Web Site - All rights reserved " Source " 75 Vande Bharat trains to connect different parts of country in 75 weeks of 'Amrit Mahotsav': Modi Rail, bus air services to remain suspended: Services that will be hit during Janta curfew India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, Mar 21: There would be no trains, buses or metros on Sunday. These steps have been taken in view of the janta curfew that has been announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The PM in his address asked the people to stay of the roads and public places during the janta curfew, which will be in place for 14 hours between 7 am and 9 pm on Sunday. While almost all services will remain closed essential services such as media, medical services, police will not come under the purview of the curfew. No passenger train will originate from any railway station in the country from midnight to 10 pm on Sunday in view of the "Janta curfew." Janta curfew in India on Sunday between 7 am and 9 pm Mail and express trains will also stop services from 4 am on Sunday. All suburban train services to be reduced to a bare minimum as well. As of now, the Indian Railways has cancelled 245 trains in order to restrict unnecessary travel due to the coronavirus outbreak. GoAir has announced that it would suspend all flights on Sunday when the janta curfew will be in force. Indigo has said that it would operate only 60 per cent of its domestic flights on Sunday. "Vistara will operate on a reduced network on Sunday, 22 March on account of Janta curfew. Passengers who have been affected by cancellations will be contacted soon," Air Vistara spokesperson said. The Delhi Metro has announced closure of all its services on Sunday. There are however no plans as yet to shut down public bus services as yet. Ola and Uber have advised drivers to stay off the roads. However the app services will be functional in case of an emergency. 95,000 autos in Delhi have extended their support to the Janta curfew. 15 traders in the national capital would down shutters. Coronavirus: What is 'Janta Curfew on March 22? The Noida Metro Line Corporation will suspend Aqua Line services and the city bus service. In Gujarat no government buses will ply on Sunday. In Tamil Nadu, the bus and metro rail services will remain suspended. Private operators too have extended their support. Operations of Lucknow Metro will also remain suspended. All pubs malls, theatres, bars across the country will remain shut. The BMTC in Bengaluru would operate with limited capacity and based on demand. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Saturday, March 21, 2020, 11:18 [IST] To mark International Women's day, Bus Eireann, Ireland's largest public transport operator outside of Dublin, hosted a coffee morning for female staff in Dundalk's Crowne Plaza last week. Hosted by three members of Bus Eireann's Senior Leadership Team, Eleanor Farrell, Chief Commercial Officer, Miriam Flynn, Chief Schools Officer and Sinead Kilkelly, Chief People Officer, the gatherings focused on sharing career progression tips and techniques with women who work for Bus Eireann in the Northeast. Bus Eireann is proud to be a member of the 30% Club, which is dedicated to promoting gender balance at all levels of the business. Currently, 40% of the Senior Leadership Team are women and 30% of management positions are held by women. The company also held a number of open days for women around the country last year, as part of an expansion and enhancement of services on a number of Bus Eireann routes nationwide, which resulted in the recruitment of 15 female drivers. Sinead Kilkelly, Chief People Officer with Bus Eireann said; ;Equality is not a gender issue, it's a business issue. Bus Eireann believes the future is an equal one for everyone, regardless of gender. In the past, the transport industry has typically not been an attractive one for women choosing their careers , but that is changing fast, as we look to recruit the very best talent and strive for gender balance across the business.' Bus Eireann are currently recruiting for drivers and apprentices, full details are available on www.buseireann.ie/OurVacancies. LifeStyle The best Lifestyle shows are right here, from Australia and around the world. Catch up with the experts on home design and interiors, food and cooking, the property market, and get fresh ideas with the savviest of renovators. Whether you need inspiration for cooking up a storm, to refresh a tired room, or tips to sell your property, Foxtel Lifestyle will always something new for you to watch. Enjoy your favourite experts like Andrew Winter and Neale Whitaker, or Shaynna Blaze and Jamie Oliver live or On Demand. Police in Paris have detained two people on suspicion of hoarding face masks in defiance of a government decree requisitioning such products during the coronavirus epidemic. At least four inquiries have been opened in the French capital. One person in custody is a manager at a drugstore in the posh 16th district of Paris. The other works at a travel agency where stocks of masks, as well as sanitising hand gels, were found. "Pharmacists and drugstore managers need to know that we will be extremely vigilant and that we will prosecute," chief Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz told AFP. He added that a worker at an organic grocery store in the Belleville neighbourhood was also facing prosecution after he was caught selling more than 15,000 face masks along with around 250 bottles of fake hand sanitiser. A nationwide shortage of masks has the authorities racing to secure supplies for doctors and hospital workers ahead of an expected surge in coronavirus patients in the coming days. 30 million masks The government has said 30 million surgical masks will be delivered to hospitals, health clinics and pharmacies in the coming days. China this week sent France one million masks to help cope with the coronavirus crisis. China's Xinhua News Agency reported that the masks arrived in Belgium on 18 March, from where they were shipped to France. French health officials have expressed exasperation that many people are wearing masks for their trips outside the house, ignoring repeated advice that they are not needed for healthy people. Some hospitals have also reported thefts of thousands of masks since the outbreak. (with AFP) Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar appealed to the people of the state to observe Janata Curfew on Sunday by staying indoors in order to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Kumar said that social distancing is the best way to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made a fervent appeal to all Indians to observe Janata Curfew on Sunday from 7 am to 9 pm. We would also like to appeal to the people that they should try to stay indoors as much as possible even after 9 pm. Everyones alertness and cautiousness are the only way to avoid getting infected by the coronavirus. Such experience will make us prepare to deal with future challenges, Kumar said. The entire humanity seems to be in danger, Kumar said, adding that we all are fighting the problem firmly and necessary steps and precautions are being taken by the state government. As per the State Health Societys bulletin, none of the 85 samples collected in Bihar till Saturday tested positive for the COVID-19. Till Saturday, 520 passengers who have returned after January 15 from countries worst hit by the virus have been identified and kept under home quarantine, it said. The chief minister on Saturday held a meeting to review the preparedness in tackling any outbreak in the state. The meeting was attended by his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi, Health Minister Mangal Pandey, Chief Secretary Deepak Kumar, Director General of Police (DGP) Gupteshwar Pandey and Patna Divisional Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Agarwal. The meeting deliberated on all aspects of the prevailing situation, an official statement said. Intense screening of passengers is being done at Patna and Gaya airports and the government has made arrangements to put people coming from abroad in quarantine, it said. Constant screening of people is also being done in all bordering areas of the state, the statement said. Kumar stressed on the need for screening every passenger, whether they arrive on a flight, a train or a bus. It should be ensured that necessary equipment and isolation wards are set up to deal with any situation, he added. Kumar also directed the officials to take necessary action to increase the numbers of testing lab in the state. The chief minister urged the people of the state not to panic and instead remain alert. He also appealed to people to avoid crowded places and non-essential travel. Meanwhile, Bihar Motor Transport Federation (BMTF) president Uday Shankar Singh said that private buses in the state will remain off the roads on Sunday in view of the Janata Curfew. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Ned Gerard / Hearst Connecticut Media STRATFORD One person was wounded in a shooting in town shortly before noon Saturday, police officials said. Gunshots rang out around 11:55 a.m., prompting police to get a call for shots fired at a home on East Broadway between Sutton and Warwick avenues, according to Capt. Frank Eannotti. NEW YORK - New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered a statewide shutdown of nonessential business activity starting Sunday, following California's example as two of the country's largest states take drastic action to try to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. Shortly after the announcement, Illinois made a similar declaration - another sign of how states and cities are in some ways on their own when it comes to making momentous decisions in the fight against the virus. "We're all in quarantine now," Cuomo said at a Friday news conference. "Think about it. We're all in various levels of quarantine." The order for nearly 100% of New York's workforce to stay home will be painful and costly, the governor said, but it was deemed the only way to prevent the surge of coronavirus patients requiring intensive hospital care from outstripping New York's capacity to provide ventilators for the worst cases of the covid-19 disease. "These actions will cause disruption. They will cause businesses to close. They will cause employees to stay at home. I understand that. They will cause much unhappiness," Cuomo said. The governor said that he accepts full responsibility for the decision and that if people are unhappy about it, "Blame me." Businesses that fail to comply with the order will be fined, although the state is not planning to sanction individuals found in violation, officials said. The move comes as state and local authorities face the prospect of running out of beds in hospital intensive-care units, and also grapple with urgent demand for masks and protective gear for the health-care workers treating coronavirus patients. To try to keep more hospital beds free, the state is urging all hospitals to cancel elective surgeries. "I feel terrified," said Judy Sheridan-Gonzalez, a longtime emergency room nurse and the president of the 40,000-member New York State Nurses Association. Sheridan-Gonzalez, who works at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, said that when her association recently surveyed its members, only 4 percent felt confident in their hospitals' responses so far to the pandemic. "We had warned them since 9/11 that we are not prepared for disaster," she said, calling the lack of equipment and staffing "a crisis." Although industrial-quality N95 masks are available at the hospital where she works, nurses are permitted to wear them only when inserting tubes or performing other procedures that risk suspending droplets of bodily fluid in the air, Sheridan-Gonzalez said. "All the nurses want to be able to do what we can do," she said, but "it inhibits that desire to help, to be placed in danger." A Montefiore spokeswoman said the hospital is "following all CDC guidance and protocol." At Mount Sinai Hospital, the first in New York to treat a coronavirus patient, emergency department medical director Jolion McGreevy said things are functioning fairly smoothly. The hospital is seeing about 130 patients a day reporting flu-like symptoms, and those patients are steered to a separate screening area. "We're not feeling a crunch of the supplies," McGreevy said. "That's not to say that it's not at the front of our minds." As of Friday, 7,102 New Yorkers had tested positive for the novel coronavirus, and 5,151 of those were in New York City. Statewide, 35 people had died, officials said. The figures mean that roughly one-third of all known U.S. cases are in New York City. "I hate to say this, but it's true: We are now the epicenter of this crisis, right here in the nation's largest city," Mayor Bill DeBlasio said. Northwell Health, whose two dozen hospitals and 800 outpatient centers make up New York's largest hospital system, began restocking supplies in mid-January. Still Northwell has been "burning through months' worth of supplies in weeks, especially masks and lab supplies," said Northwell spokesman Terry Lynam. Cuomo said his directive was not a "shelter in place" order, noting that New Yorkers can and should take solo outings for exercise, such as running or hiking, but should keep a distance of at least six feet from others at all times, the governor said. The term "shelter in place," Cuomo said, causes unnecessary panic and evokes different kinds of crises, such as an active-shooter event. But he also chided young Americans for thinking they could not fall ill and therefore putting themselves and others in greater danger. "I can't tell you how many young people are out there saying it doesn't affect young people. You're just wrong. This is lunacy what they're doing in some parks, in some areas," the governor said. "When you're young, you think you're invincible. Yeah, you're wrong." Friday's announcement is another blow to the state's large and small businesses. In Manhattan, some small businesses had already closed temporarily, but others had remained open, hoping to eke out enough money to stay afloat despite the sudden loss of most customers. To soften the blow, the governor said he was also ordering a 90-day moratorium on all residential and commercial evictions. "I know that we're going to put people out of work with what I did," Cuomo said. "I want to make sure I don't put them out of their house." A number of industries are exempt from the order, including food, medicine, elder care, medical equipment, telecommunications and paper products. New York is also taking aggressive steps to try to meet the demands caused by the outbreak, including manufacturing its own hand sanitizer and funding new production of protective gear. But hanging over all of those efforts is a need for more ventilators, which Cuomo said are as important as armaments were during World War II. "It's ventilators, ventilators, ventilators. That is the greatest need," the governor said. "The rate of increase in the number of cases portends a total overwhelming of our hospital system." Cuomo said that if New York state had a law like the federal Defense Production Act, which allows the federal government to force private companies to prioritize federal contracts, he would use it. Without such a law, New York is trying to be creative in spurring more production of medical gear that is in high demand around the world. "What I'm saying is, I will pay businesses more. I'm trying to make these products. If you are in this line of work, we need masks. If you're making clothing, figure out if you can make masks. I'll fund it," Cuomo said. New York officials are still debating other steps that might become necessary if the hospital system does run out of beds. One scenario floated by some officials has been using the Javits Center, a large convention hall on Manhattan's West Side, to handle overflow patients. The Javits Center did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Some experts have expressed doubt about its usefulness, since the cavernous space is not ideal for trying to contain an infection. Isaac Weisfuse, a former New York City health official, said it would be more prudent to use hotels near hospitals if there was a demand for extra bed space. The Permian Basin Board of Realtors February report showed good and bad for those selling a home inside Midland County. The good was that a seller has the potential to make a lot of money. The average home in February sold for $329,500. Also, the number of homes sold during the month was 33 more than February 2019. Real estate in Midland, Texas, has been and remains strong in spite of all the bad news, said Carroll Nall, MLS executive director for the Permian Basin Board of Realtors. However, there is evidence the market is beginning to trend even subtly -- toward the buyer for the first time in years. The average and median prices for a home sold in February were lower year over year the first time that has happened in Midland County in more than a year, according to PBBOR statistics. February homes report Total houses on the market: 493 Homes sold: 178 Average days on the market: 57 Average sold price: $329,500 Median sold price: $295,000 See More Collapse Also, the average home sold stayed on the market for 57 days the largest number of days going back to March 2017. The February report also shows that no price category was immune to the days on the market rise. Other than homes in the $200,000 to $249,999 price range, all price ranges showed an average days on the market of at least 53 days, and more than half were greater than 60 days. The number of homes on the market is also approaching 500 again. The 493 homes available at the end of the month was 227 more than February 2019. Realtor Victoria Printz told the Reporter-Telegram last week the number of homes available in the county rose to 535, and she expected another 100 on the market within a month. The last time there were 600 homes on the market inside Midland County was 2016. Supply, though, isnt a bad word for those at the Permian Basin Board of Realtors. Nall said even when the community appears headed toward a downturn that this is really not the time to back off of housing start plans for the Permian Basin. We have been behind the housing curve for some time and that has driven prices up with a steady climb, Nall said. We have to be willing to look at the current situation as an opportunity to catch up and revitalize our community and many of our neighborhoods, so that when recovery comes, it will be much more productive and supportive to our workforce. The Federal Communications Commission is in talks with congressional leaders to change the E-rate program to allow it provide funding for in-home connectivity and device use away from school, an agency spokesperson told Education Week. As school districts continue to close across the country, policymakers are discussing how best to quickly disperse federal money for remote learning through the E-rate, a major program overseen by the FCC that provides support for improved Internet access in schools and libraries. The E-rate program is currently capped at $4.15 billion annually. The fund has about $1.5 billion that is unused for this funding year, which ends on June 30. But language in the federal Communications Act prohibits the agency from using E-Rate for students home use of wireless devices and services, directing E-Rate funds to be provided for support of connectivity in classrooms only, according to the office of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. Based on this language, the FCC cannot subsidize home use of connectivity services and devices without authorization from Congress, said a spokesperson for Pai, a Republican. A group of 18 senators and FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat, are calling on Pai to use emergency powers to quickly change FCC rules to authorize E-Rate funding to foster students use of devices and connection services at home. In a statement to Education Week, Rosenworcel said while she would welcome congressional guidance, the FCC should speed up the process by implementing an emergency rule change to loan mobile hotspots to students, particularly those who lack adequate Internet connection. Internet Bottleneck Many districts are scrambling to figure out ways to provide students with virtual learning, as well as print-based academic resources. Theyre also trying to figure out how to do so equitably , particularly since students from poor families may lack devices and reliable connectivity at home. A recent Education Week survey revealed the scope of the challenge facing districts. Forty-one percent districts said they are not currently capable of providing virtual lessons to all students during a coronavirus shutdown. Just 22 percent said they could provide remote learning for as long as is needed. A Rosenworcel aide said that as classrooms migrate online, the FCC can interpret the Communications Act language to mean that students must be virtually connected wherever they are physically located, and issue E-Rate rulemaking accordingly. The FCC is made up of five commissioners, and is controlled by Republicans. The commission currently comprises three Republicans and two Democrats. Several pieces of draft legislation to address remote learning are currently under consideration by Congress, said Michael Flood, senior vice president of strategy for Kajeet , a company that sells mobile Wi-Fi hotspots and other devices allowing students to access the internet from home. Flood, who has been in contact with policymakers and has seen several drafts of federal legislation, said lawmakers are working to determine the specific means to provide needed technology to students and teachers, and to distribute necessary funds. Theyre all moving very, very quickly, and weve been talking about it all week, Flood said. The House Energy and Commerce Committee, and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions did not respond to Education Week requests for comment. The FCC already took a step this week aimed at helping school districts serve students virtually during the coronavirus outbreak. The agency said it is temporarily waiving rules that limit private companies ability to provide schools receiving E-rate funds with free products and services. Photo of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai during the 2017 debate on net neutrality. --Jacquelyn Martin/AP See also: UPPER THUMB With one confirmed case of coronavirus in the Thumb and the majority of the communities holed up for the sake of social distancing, the effects of the worldwide pandemic can certainly be felt here. As you start your weekend, here are 10 things you need to know about coronavirus. 1. The Upper Thumb learns of its first COVID-19 positive individual In the early afternoon of March 20, the Tuscola County Health Department notified the community that an 88-year-old Tuscola County man tested positive for the coronavirus. 2. Governor orders postponement of nonessential medical procedures as state numbers jump Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ordered Michigan doctors and dentists to postpone all nonessential medical procedures Friday but declined to join other states in telling residents to stay home, as the number of Michigan coronavirus-positive cases jump 64% to 549 people. 3. Local grocers adapt, innovate to keep residents safe and supplied With stores and businesses closing in an effort to reduce spread of the coronavirus, many local grocery stores are going the extra mile to provide an essential service to their respective communities. 4. Thumb area food pantries are stepping up to keep residents fed Food pantries, such as the Caseville Community Food Pantry are helping residents impacted by the coronavirus pandemic by providing food and support. 5. Thumb area hospitals join forces to answer questions for community Six leading medical experts in the Thumb gathered to discuss the ever-evolving impact of the coronavirus, and provide answers for the community. 6. What are some of the top coronavirus questions around the nation? As concerns about the coronavirus pandemic sweeps the globe and people are in quarantine, they are relying on the internet to get and share information. Google Trends dedicated a dashboard to see what people are asking. 7. How do you apply for unemployment benefits in Michigan? With a growing number of people finding themselves without work, take a look at this breakdown of the application process. 8. Several senators are accused of selling stock following a confidential briefing on coronavirus Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr and Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler are among several senators who have been accused of selling stock after receiving a confidential briefing about the coronavirus. California Sen. Dianne Feinstein is another accused in the selloff. 9. Updated: map of US coronavirus cases by state As the coronavirus spreads throughout the United States disrupting daily life for most Americans, every state in the nation has now reported confirmed cases of the deadly illness also known as COVID-19. SFGATE Reporter Dan Gentile compiled visuals of the coronavirus outbreak. 10. The Huron County Community Foundation is providing relief during pandemic In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Huron County Community Foundation (HCCF) is providing emergency assistance funding to local organizations that are going above and beyond their typical operations to assist the community during this time. Health care workers in San Francisco got a large shipment of protective equipment Friday a critical arsenal as they battle the coronavirus pandemic. The donation from Flexport, a San Francisco company that uses software to make international trade more efficient, includes 60,000 surgical masks, 34,000 gloves, 2,000 surgical gowns and 50 thermometers. Mayor London Breed announced the delivery Saturday in conjunction with Supervisor Catherine Stefani, who served as an intermediary. Officials said they would put the supplies to immediate use in San Franciscos Emergency Operations Center. Our frontline health care workers and first responders are doing heroic work to protect people and save lives during this crisis, Breed said, noting the need for more equipment as the city braces for a surge of COVID-19 cases. Hospitals throughout the country are confronting a scarcity of masks and other gear, which became so dire in Washington state that medical workers made 500 masks out of vinyl, tape, foam and elastic purchased at Home Depot. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidelines, allowing workers to use bandannas, scarves, and homemade masks as a last resort. Experts cited several reasons for the shortage, including the rapidly spreading virus which quickly stripped hospitals of their supplies and a consumer buying spree. Also, hospitals rely on manufacturers from China and Italy for their supplies, said Brent Andrew, spokesman for San Francisco General Hospital. Both countries were hit hard by the coronavirus, which led to economic disruptions. In San Francisco and elsewhere, concerned citizens have rallied hospital donations online while elected officials work behind the scenes. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. I was thrilled but not surprised to hear that Flexport is stepping up to deliver thousands of much-needed surgical gowns, gloves, masks, and more to our local efforts to flatten the curve, Stefani said. When we all step up, theres no challenge too great for San Francisco. Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan You cannot drive at 120 kmph on highways says Madras HC Madras HC to hear actor Vijay's civil lawsuit against his parents, nine others 'What was Chennai Corporation doing since 2015 floods?': Madras HC pulls up civic body No protests in TN until coronavirus is controlled says Madras HC India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, Mar 21: The Madras High Court has said that there shall be no protests or mass gatherings until the coronavirus outbreak is brought under control. The interim order was passed by a Division Bench comprising Justices M M Sundresh and Krishnan Ramaswamy. The court stated that mass gatherings and anti citizenship law protests cannot be permitted until the virus is brought under control. The court further adjourned hearing on the plea that sought to prevent large crowds of lawyers from gathering in the courts. Govt introduces WhatsApp chatbot to solve your queries over coronavirus The court is also hearing a petition that sought action against the Thowheed Jamath for staging anti citizenship law protests and a jail bharo programme. The petitioner said that the protest was held despite the Tamil Nadu government ordering a shutdown of malls, educational institutions and gyms. The government had also advised against mass gatherings in its order. Existing front-line employees at Canadian Loblaws and Metro grocery stores will get a premium of $2 per hour, retroactive to March 8. The United Food and Commercial Workers which represents the approximate 90,000 Loblaw Companies Ltd. workers announced the result of ongoing discussions in a press release Saturday. The premium is well deserved for these current frontline employees, said UFCW Local 175 President Shawn Haggerty. The wage increase will be applied to the hourly rates of both full-time and part-time workers. The increase for Loblaws workers is temporary, and will be in effect until further notice, said Anouk Collet, executive assistant to the national president of UFCW Canada. We commend Loblaw for showing leadership on this wage increase and call on other employers to follow this important example, said UFCW Canada National President Paul Meinema. Shortly after the Loblaw announcement, Metro announced it will also raise wages for grocery store and distribution centre workers. The increase is effective from March 8 until May 2. UFCW wanted other grocery stores including Sobeys to follow suit. Loblaw Companies Ltd. and Empire Co. Ltd., which owns the Sobeys and Safeway chains, are installing plexiglass dividers at checkouts and pharmacy counter as additional protective measures against the virus. Most grocers including Loblaws, Sobeys, NoFrills, Walmart, Metro, Costco and FoodBasics, have reduced store hours so they have time to restock shelves and implement deeper cleaning practices. Grocers are also limiting the number of customers allowed in stores at a time in an effort to improving social distancing. Many have announced special early shopping hours for seniors and the immunity compromised. Costco has put a limit on certain in-demand items, such as hand sanitizer and toilet paper, to ensure customers who need the items can get them. Shoppers Drug Mart extended seniors discounts of 20 per cent on all purchases to apply during store-specified hours, in addition to its weekly seniors day discount. Torontos Longos locations announced a daily community wellbeing hour between 8 to 9 a.m. for seniors and other at-risk members of the community. Visit local grocery store website for updated grocery store hours and information. With files from The Canadaian Press Read more about: COLLIERS TOWNSHIP, Pa. Pennsylvania hunters donated a record 150,000 pounds of venison to Hunters Sharing the Harvest in 2018. That deer meat went to food banks throughout the state to feed families in need. People gathered at the Colliers Sportsmens Association March 12 to celebrate the programs success. It has grown immensely since its inception in 1991. Hunters Sharing the Harvest is a great illustration of what happens when public sector support and private generosity work together to solve a problem, Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding said. But its more than just a way to feed people, said Sam Linton, a pastor at Log Church, in Pittsburgh. For two families who lost their father, the venison reminded them of their dad and husband who used to hunt and bring home deer meat, Linton said. For elderly people who used to hunt, it was a reminder of their past beloved hobby. You cant undercut the impact its making on an individual basis, he said. Hunters Sharing the Harvest allows hunters to donate deer meat to local food banks. The hunters take their deer to participating processors. From there, the meat gets distributed to local food banks and food pantries. There are 127 butchers in the program, said John Plowman, executive director of Hunters Sharing the Harvest. By the numbers 1 deer = 200 meals. 21 regional food banks distribute the venison to more than 5,000 local providers. 1.5 million pounds of venison have bene donated since 1991. More than 4,000 deer were donated in 2018. The yearly goal is at least 100,000 pounds of donated venison. Source: Hunters Sharing the Harvest It costs nothing for the hunters to donate deer. The program is funded through a combination of state-funding from the department of agriculture and the Pennsylvania Game Commission, corporate sponsors and other private donations. The 2019 numbers are at about 118,000 pounds, Plowman said, but not all processors have reported their numbers yet, so it is likely higher than that. Sheila Christopher, executive director of Hunger-Free Pennsylvania, said having venison as a fresh protein source for food banks is invaluable. Its especially important for seniors, a growing population being served by food banks. The partnership with Hunters Sharing the Harvest has been instrumental with maintaining a steady supply of high-protein, nutritious product we could not possibly purchase in the open market, she said. (Reporter Rachel Wagoner can be contacted at 800-837-3419 or rachel@farmanddairy.com.) The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Saturday asked its employees with foreign travel history to go for quarantine before resuming their duties. A circular issued by the General Administration Department (GAD) advised people to avoid contact with persons having a foreign travel history. "The virus mainly spreads through social contacts and social gatherings and when a person comes in contact with those who are infected. Therefore, all the Administrative Secretaries/Divisional Commissioners/ Deputy Commissioners/Heads of Departments are directed to ensure the quarantine of all such officials or their relatives who have a foreign travel history since March 1, before they resume their duties," the order read. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) With six new coronavirus positive cases being reported in Gujarat on Saturday, the number of infected persons in the state has gone up to 13, Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said. These patients are being treated in hospitals at Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat and Rajkot, Patel told reporters in Vadodara. "Thirteen positive cases of coronavirus have been reported in Gujarat so far. Of them, twelve have history of travel abroad," he said. A man from Gandhinagar, who had recently visited a foreign country, tested positive for coronavirus, and is being treated at an isolation ward in a hospital in Ahmedabad, he said. A 52-year-old man with travel history to Sri Lanka had tested positive in Vadodara earlier in the day. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Among the Mesoamerican cultures, the Aztec Empire is one of the most popular. It had been in existence since the arrival of the Europeans in the earlier parts of the 16th century. It was established after a 'Triple Alliance' of city-states situated in Mexican valleys namely Tenochtitlan, Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan. It was the dominant empire in the region for more than a century, says an article. Despite the abundant presence of Hispanic influence in Mexican culture, it still has several co-relations with Aztec civilization and Mesoamerican culture influences. This makes modern cultures a combination of the New and Old World. Here are some exciting facts about the Aztec Empire: The people from the Aztec Empire called themselves as Mexica. The word Aztec may not have been used by the actual group of people. The word refers to the people of Aztlan. Aztlan is the name of the ancestral home of the Aztecs. The ancestral home of the Aztecs was believed to be located in the northern part of Mexico or the southwestern part of the United States of America. Aztec people call themselves Mexica. The people were reported to have spoken the Nahuatl language. Approximately three million people still speak the indigenous language in some parts of central Mexico. Mexica came from northern Mexico. People who speak Nahua started to migrate to the Basin of Mexico approximately in 1250 AD. The Mexica were the last group of migrants who arrived. During their arrival, the fertile lands were already claimed. Tenochtitlan was discovered in 1325 AD. The Aztecs moved to Lake Texcoco. It was told that it was a place where an eagle was spotted to have nested on cactus while eating a snake. This is the symbol placed in the middle part of the Modern Mexican flag. This event was perceived as a prophecy. This had brought to the discovery of Tenochtitlan on the island on March 13, 1325. The Tepanecs were defeated and they became the most powerful state in Mexico. Since 1367, the Aztecs had been providing military support to Tepanec, a nearby state. This move had led to the significant expansion of their empire. In 1426, the ruler of Tepanec died and Maxlatzin, his son, had taken his place in his father's throne. He wanted to reduce the power of the Aztecs but was lost the battle later. The empire was not entirely an empire. The Aztec empire rulers were not the same as the European empire's rule with its subjects. An example of a famous European empire is the Roman Empire. The Aztecs did not practice direct control over nearby city-states in their scope of rule. What the Aztecs did is that they allowed local rulers to take charge of their subjects. Then, they required every local ruler for regular tribute. This order led to the great wealth of the Tenochtitlan. Check these out: Three fresh positive cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) were reported in Mohali, even as Panchkula also confirmed its first case on Saturday morning, taking the tricity count to 10. There was no new case in Chandigarh. Among the fresh cases is a woman from Mohalis Phase 5, who works for the father of Chandigarhs first coronavirus patient, the 23-year-old woman resident of Sector 21. The 25-year-old woman had accompanied the patients mother and driver to pick her from the Amritsar airport on her return from London on March 15. She is in isolation and stable at the civil hospital in Phase 6, Mohali. A 38-year-old woman, who worked at a beauty salon in Sector 20, Chandigarh, that the Sector 21 woman visited on her return from London, has also tested positive. The woman is a resident of Kharak Mangoli village in Old Panchkula adjoining Sector 1. Her son has tested negative, while the result of her husbands sample is awaited. She has been kept in isolation at the civil hospital in Sector 6, Panchkula. The salon that she works at operates from a residential building. On Friday, the mother, brother and cook of the Sector 21 woman had also tested positive. So, far five people have contracted infection from her. As soon as reports of Panchkulas first confirmed case surfaced on Saturday morning, panic gripped Kharak Mangoli village. Police arrived and cordoned off the locality, appealing residents to stay indoors, while the health department initiated sanitisation. A team of health department doctors visited door to door with thermal sensors, and an ambulance took patients with symptoms to the hospital. NRI WOMANS SISTER TESTS POSITIVE A day after a 69-year-old non-resident Indian (NRI) woman who was visiting Mohali from the United Kingdom (UK) tested positive for coronavirus, her sister, who is 73 years old and had accompanied her from the UK, also tested positive. They stayed at Phase 3A and are now admitted to Fortis Hospital, Mohali. A 42-year-old resident of Sector 69, Mohali, who also flew back from the UK and got admitted at Government Multi-Specialty Hospital, Sector 16, Chandigarh, has tested positive. His condition is stable, and his family is under quarantine. Mohali civil surgeon Dr Manjit Singh confirmed the reports and said the two elderly sisters who were positive had been shifted to Fortis Hospital, Mohali, from the civil hospital on their request. Their condition is improving. We have quarantined 120 persons in Mohali who came in direct or indirect contact of the persons testing positive. They are being monitored, said Girish Dayalan, deputy commissioner, Mohali. PHASE 5 RESIDENTS COLLEAGUES QUARANTINED The Phase 5 resident had been regularly going to work at an automobile company in Phase 7 Industrial Area, Mohali, after she picked up the Sector 21 resident from the Amritsar airport on March 15 (Sunday). The Chandigarh residents mother had taken the Mohali woman along to pick up her daughter, and the three women had returned in the same vehicle with a family driver. About 45 employees who work at her firm have been scanned, stamped and put under home quarantine for the next 14 days, Dayalan said. Two women aged 75 and 55, both residents of Phase 5, who also came in contact with the positive patient, have been kept in isolation in Kharar civil hospital. Their samples have been sent for testing. Police in Keralas Kannur registered a case against a mosque committee for allowing mass prayers more than 500 people in violation of directives related to social distancing in view of the coronavirus outbreak even as thinner attendance than usual was reported at mosques across the country for Friday congregational prayers amid requests by top clerics urging people to offer namaz at their homes. Reports from elsewhere in Kerala, which, with 26 confirmed cases, is the second worst-hit state by the outbreak in India after Maharashtra, said most mosques were deserted as people offered prayers at their homes. Attendance at mosques in Jammu and Kashmir was thin in view of restrictions on the movement of people that were imposed on Wednesday as a precautionary measure to check the spread of the disease. On Friday, there were more restrictions and people were not even allowed to move on roads. At many places, police had sealed roads leading towards main markets and only government employees and people associated with essential services were allowed to move. Across Uttar Pradesh, a majority of worshippers said they preferred offering prayers at home while several prominent mosques were shut. Muslim clerics on Thursday asked people to cooperate in keeping a check on the virus outbreak in the state. It was a general appeal we made in public interest. I am happy the worshippers listened and offered namaz in mosques closer to their houses or at their homes, said Maulana Khalid Rasheed Farangi Mahali, a cleric. Anis-ur-Rahman Qasmi, a cleric from Bihars Phulwarisharif, said devotees were asked to maintain hygiene and ensure distance between themselves at the time of prayers. Many people offer prayers at home. We also educate those who come for prayers about preventive steps in view of coronavirus outbreak. We tell them to perform ablutions at home, carry their own prayer mats and maintain a safe distance while offering prayers, he said. Pirzada Ziauddin Siddiqui, who is associated with Furfura Sharif shrine in West Bengals Hooghly district, said the people, who offered prayers in congregation, maintained a distance from each other even as imams have asked people to pray at home. Durgapur Muslim Welfare Society president Dr A F Azizur Rahaman said Muslims maintained a distance of one metre from each other while offering prayers In Karnataka, Muslim organisations had directed mosques committees to cut short the time of prayers and have people disperse at the earliest. In Goa, shorter prayers were offered at local mosques. At the historic Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad, at least 4,000 to 5,000 people offered Namaz as is the case every Friday. ...there were no sermons by the religious heads after the prayers and the people dispersed quietly, said Mohammad Shafeeq, a worshipper. By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A wave of layoffs at restaurants, bars and hotels, as efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic bring much of everyday American life to a halt, could drive new applications for U.S. unemployment benefits to a record 1.5 million or more next week, economists warned on Thursday. New jobless claims already hit a two-and-a-half year high of 281,000 last week, jumping by 70,000 from the week before, the Labor Department said on Thursday. It was the biggest weekly increase since 2012 and officials laid the blame on the coronavirus, which a Reuters tally shows has infected nearly 9,500 across the country, killing at least 115. And the worst is yet to come. Economists said their own tracking of data from individual states suggests claims could shoot up to at least 1.5 million this week. Data for the week ending March 21 will be published next Thursday. "State filings offices for Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut report claims filings this week are running six to 14 times higher than the same week last year," said Conrad DeQuadros, senior economic advisor at Brean Capital in New York. "A quarter of all claims filings are in two states, New York and California. Given the preliminary reports for a few states, next Thursday's unemployment claims report could show an initial claims reading north of 1.5 million." (GRAPHIC - Unemployment benefits claims will soon surge: https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/13/3677/3638/Pasted%20Image.jpg) This estimate, which other economists agreed with, would far outpace the previous record of 695,000 set in 1982. During the week ended March 14, unadjusted initial claims soared 14,000 in California and jumped 9,000 in Washington state, which has been hardest hit by the coronavirus. They increased 7,000 in Nevada. "Last week's jump in claims is likely to look minor in comparison to what lies ahead," said Nancy Vanden Houten, lead U.S. economist at Oxford Economics in New York. Story continues According to Well Fargo Securities' tracking, Ohio reported 36,645 unemployment claims were filed on Monday. This was in addition to 11,995 filed on Sunday. Ohio received only 562 applications the previous Sunday. "Massachusetts reported 19,884 claims filed on Monday alone, more than the total received in February, while Pennsylvania reported 50,000 claims on Monday and even more than that on Tuesday," said Sarah House, a senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities in Charlotte, North Carolina. "Many states reported that their employment websites crashed due to a surge in traffic, suggesting demand for unemployment benefits is even higher than the reported figures." (Reporting By Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Dan Burns and Bernadette Baum) Edo State Governor, Godwin Onaseki has revealed that he does not intend to shutdown places of worship in the state due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Many state governments have banned religious gatherings as part of efforts to curb the spread of the virus in their states. However, while speaking with religious leaders who visited him in his office on Friday, Obaseki said he does not plan to shut down any religious house. According to him, the decision towards that effect will only come when absolutely necessary. There is no plan to shut down places of worship except it becomes absolutely necessary. However, we would want to appeal that for the sake of your congregation, we should look at how to keep people from being too close from one another. It is possible to place visual services, he said. The governor said there is no need for anyone in the state to panic as his government has taken appropriate measures to prevent the importation of the coronavirus into the state. He, however, added that his government has put up measures to deal with the spread of the virus if it eventually finds its way to the state. KanyiDaily had reported that Nigeria currently have 12 confirmed cases of the dreaded coronavirus. Eleven in Lagos and one in Ekiti. Congratulations, bursamp3.net got a very good Social Media Impact Score! Show it by adding this HTML code on your site: Bursamp3.net scored 100 Social Media Impact. Social Media Impact score is a measure of how much a site is popular on social networks. 5/5.0 Stars by Social Team This CoolSocial report was updated on 3 May 2018, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want. This is the sum of two values: the total number of people who shared the bursamp3 homepage on Twitter + the total number of bursamp3 followers (if bursamp3 has a Twitter account). The total number of people who shared the bursamp3 homepage on Delicious. This is the sum of two values: the total number of people who shared, liked or recommended the bursamp3 homepage on Facebook + the total number of page likes (if bursamp3 has a Facebook fan page). The total number of people who shared the bursamp3 homepage on Google Plus by a google +1 button. The total number of people who shared the bursamp3 homepage on StumbleUpon. Basic Information PAGE TITLE bursamp3.net Is For Sale DESCRIPTION The domain name bursamp3.net is for sale. Call BuyDomains at 844-896-7299 to get a price quote and get your business online today! KEYWORDS OTHER KEYWORDS net is for sale, net is for, is for sale, net is, is for, for sale, bursamp3 The keywords meta-tag found in the head section of the homepage. The description meta-tag found in the head section of the homepage. The URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is the address of the site. CoolSocial advanced keyword analysis tool is able to detect and analyze every keyword on each page of a site. The title found in the head section of the homepage. Domain and Server DOCTYPE XHTML 1.0 Transitional CHARSET AND LANGUAGE UTF-8 DETECTED LANGUAGE English English SERVER Apache OPERATIVE SYSTEM Linux Linux Operative System running on the server. Type of server and offered services. Represents HTML declared type (e.g.: XHTML 1.1, HTML 4.0, the new HTML 5.0) The language of bursamp3.net as detected by CoolSocial algorithms. Character set and language of the site. Site Traffic trend during the last year. Only available for sites ranked <= 100000 in the world. Referring domains for bursamp3.net by MajesticSeo. High values are a sign of site importance over the web and on web engines. Facebook link FACEBOOK PAGE LINK NOT FOUND The total number of people who tagged or talked about website Facebook page in the last 7-10 days. The total number of people who like website Facebook page. A Facebook page link can be found in the homepage or in the robots.txt file. The type of Facebook page. Facebook Timeline is the new layout of Facebook pages. The description of the Facebook page describes website and its services to the social media users. The URL of the found Facebook page. Twitter account link TWITTER PAGE LINK NOT FOUND The World Health Organisation, earlier this month, declared the Novel Coronavirus (also known as COVID-19) as a pandemic, as the outbreak reached over 100 countries. While the death toll increases, there is no cure yet. Prevention from the infection is being treated as the best way to stop the spread. B-town celebrities are trying to spread awareness about the infection, so are the Twitter memers. A fan recently turned Sidharth Malhotra's, Marjaavaan poster into a Coronavirus apt meme. The poster now reads, Ghar Se Bahar Matjaavaan. Film's director Milap Zaveri took to Twitter to share the photoshopped poster and added, that he thought it was brilliant. The post shows both Sidharth Malhotra and Riteish Deshmukh wearing masks. Take a look: Meanwhile, to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in India, the Indian Government has asked people to stay at home and practice social distancing with a Janta Curfew on Sunday, in an effort to stop the Coronavirus transmission chain. The effort was applauded by the B-town celebrities who took to their social media handles and urged fans to follow the initiative. Amitabh Bachchan tweeted, "I applaud all fellow countrymen who work tirelessly to keep the essential services operational in such extenuating circumstances ..BE ONE, BE SAFE, BE IN PRECAUTION !" Later, Shah Rukh Khan also shared his point of view on the Curfew initiative, "It's imp 2 reduce social interaction 2 minimum. Self Quarantine. The idea of #JanataCurfew on Sunday is a means to this end & we should continue this concept at a personal level as much as we can & more. We need to 'slow down time' to arrest the virus spread. Be safe & healthy all." Actors like Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra, Alia Bhatt, Akshay Kumar, Anushka Sharma and more have been urging their fans to stay at home. Alia Bhatt Encourages Rishi Kapoor Taking Virtual Yoga Lessons During Quarantine Akshay Kumar Slams People Who Disregard 'Home Quarantined' Stamp: 'What Kind Of Mentality Is This?' The people who are under home quarantine and facing problems can request Nagpur authorities to shift them into institutional quarantine, Deepak Mhaisekar, Divisional Commissioner of Pune said on Saturday. "If anyone has problems with home quarantine then he or she can request us to shift into institutional quarantine," Mhaisekar said. He also appealed to everyone to participate in 'Janata Curfew', an initiative announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 22 in the wake of coronavirus outbreak. "I would like to appeal to everyone to stay at home tomorrow. I would appeal everyone to participate in 'Janata Curfew' and make it a success to contain the spread of coronavirus," Mhaisekar said. "Yesterday, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray did a video conference with us. We have given them inputs as to what are we expecting from the government," Mhaisekar added. Mhaisekar also said that he had conducted a meeting with blood banks. "Today morning we had a meeting with representatives of blood banks. There is little shortage of blood in the city. I appealed blood banks that they should start their functioning in a way that not more than 15 people are gathered at one place. Any person willing to donate blood can walk into a hospital or blood bank but make sure that not more than 15 people are gathered at one place." Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday announced that all offices and shops apart from essential services will remain closed till March 31 in major cities of the state including Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur. The total number of coronavirus cases in Maharashtra rose to 63, said state Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Saturday. The total number of positive cases of coronavirus has climbed to 283, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko has said that the Kyiv authorities allocated UAH 260 million from the reserve fund of the city budget to counter the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, the press service of Kyiv City State Administration said. "The city makes purchases of devices for artificial ventilation of the lungs and today their number is more than 300 units. Also, the capital allocated UAH 260 million from the city budget reserve fund to fight the spread of coronavirus," Klitschko said in the Svoboda Slova Savika Shustera (Freedom of Speech of Savik Shuster) program on the air of Ukraine TV Channel on Friday night. Also, according to him, the city authorities purchased two express laboratories that give a more reliable result and the ability to diagnose with the help of saliva. The test result can be obtained after 40 minutes, its reliability is 97-99%. In addition, Klitschko said he had received recommendations from doctors from Wuhan (China) to minimize the effects of the spread of COVID-19 coronavirus. "I received a piece of advice from Wuhan. And now we are using the methods that were applied there. I am sure that if we use the recommendations now, gaining time, we will minimize the consequences of the spread of the disease. It is important not to miss the spread of this disease," the mayor said. Ghana has decriminalised the use of cannabis but for health and industrial purposes. Parliament passed the Narcotics Control Commission Bill, 2019 on Friday evening. The law also makes the country's Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) a Commission with enhanced powers to oversee the industrial use of some narcotic substances. The Commission, however, will have the mandate to control and eliminate the trafficking of prohibited narcotic drugs to ensure public safety. The new law also empowers the Minister for Interior to grant licences for the cultivation of cannabis of not more than 0.3 percent THC, the main psychoactive compound in cannabis that gives the users a high sensation, for industrial and medicinal purposes. Punishment for the cannabis-related offences has also been stiffened, according to a source on the Defence and Interior Committee of Parliament. Before this law was passed, Ghanas Narcotic Drugs (Control, Enforcement and Sanction) Act, 1990, PNDC Law 236, criminalised narcotic drugs such as cannabis and states that anyone found in possession or importing a narcotic substance shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than 10 years. The manufacture, produce or distribution of such narcotics also faced similar sanctions. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that around 147 million people, or 2.5 percent of the world population, consume cannabis. On the African continent, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Lesotho, and South Africa are among counties that have decriminalised medicinal cannabis use. The economic potential of the medicinal and industrial cannabis industry has been one of the main reasons for the change in legislation in these countries. In line with this, a Neuroscientist Drug Researcher at the University of Columbia, Professor Carl Hart, urged Ghana to consider legalising and regulating the drug so it could enjoy its enormous benefits. Other advocates for the legalisation and regulation of cannabis consumption have been outspoken in their desire to see the law changed. A Former Executive Secretary of NACOB, Akrasi Sarpong, has also long held that legalisation of some aspects of cannabis consumption was inevitable. Speaking to the BBC when he was head of NACOB in 2014, Mr Sarpong argued that war waged on cannabis in the country stands to be lost because many people believe what you are fighting is not a crime. In 2019, the Rastafarian Council of Ghana threatened to hold a march to demand the decriminalisation of cannabis. But some health experts have warned against the legalisation of cannabis in Ghana saying the health risks far outweigh its financial benefits. The Mental Health Authority also objected to the legalisation of cannabis because of the threat of purported health hazards users will be exposed to . ---citinewsroom Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-21 20:51:34|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Public health crises pose a common challenge for humanity, and solidarity and cooperation are the most powerful weapon to tackle them, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a recent message of sympathy to German Chancellor Angela Merkel. In his message, Xi, on behalf of the Chinese government and people, expressed sincere sympathies to the German government and people over the recent COVID-19 outbreak in the Eurpean country. Xi recalled that not long ago the German government and various sections of German society conveyed via multiple means their sympathies with and support of China's epidemic prevention and control efforts. China firmly supports Germany's endeavor in combating the epidemic and is willing to provide assistance within its capacity if there is a need from the German side, he said. Upholding the principle that mankind is a community with a shared future, China stands ready to continue sharing information and experience with Germany, and strengthening cooperation in such areas as epidemic prevention and control, treatment of patients, and vaccine research and development, so as to jointly protect the health and well-being of people not only in both countries but in the rest of the world, Xi added. Xi stressed that China highly values the development of China-Germany relations, and is willing to work with the German side to deepen their all-round strategic partnership and promote the development of China-Europe relations. Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-22 05:52:16|Editor: zyl Video Player Close Military vehicles are seen in Rabat, Morocco, on March 21, 2020. Morocco has announced a public health emergency and restricted movements, which came into effect starting from 6 p.m. (1700 GMT) on Friday until further notice. Citizens could only leave their homes if they are provided with a special authorization from local authorities. (Photo by Chadi/Xinhua) RABAT, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Morocco decided Saturday to ban private and public means of transport between cities, starting from midnight, as the number of COVID-19 cases climbed to 96 so far. According to a statement by the Interior Ministry, this ban does not include travels for health and professional reasons proven by documents issued by administrations. Moroccan airline Royal Air Maroc said in a separate statement it has suspended all its domestic flights until further notice. Morocco has announced a public health emergency and restricted movements, which came into effect starting from 6 p.m. (1700 GMT) on Friday until further notice. Morocco has closed all its land and sea borders, and suspended all international passenger flights from March 15. At 2 p.m., they badly needed supplies. In the last few days, calls had gone out around the state for any and all medical masks, gloves and gowns to be donated to hospitals to help with coronavirus response. A week earlier, people panic-purchased aisle after aisle of toilet paper and hand sanitizer. But in the Oregon Convention Center on Friday, they needed blue masking tape. The tape was essential to making sure the homeless shelter opening there in just a few hours properly spaced residents far enough apart to maintain social distancing protocols. The Oregon Convention Center will hold 130 people in a northeast corner of the building. Multnomah County employees set up a temporary shelter in the Oregon Convention Center on Friday, March 20, 2020. The shelter, which includes 130 beds, will be made available to people who are homeless and at risk for contracting the novel coronavirus. Dave Killen / StaffThe Oregonian Its the second temporary homeless shelter set up by Friday after local officials realized that existing shelters would not be able to protect residents if someone inside had contracted coronavirus. Early Friday afternoon, about 20 volunteers had started to set up green Army cots in the nearly empty hall usually used for car shows, career fairs and forklift competitions. Multnomah County Commissioner Sharon Meieran sat on the floor and tried to use her leg as leverage to pop crossbars into place that stretch the canvas taut. Its like reducing a dislocation, said Meieran, who is also an emergency room doctor. Meieran has spent the pandemic juggling Kaiser ER shifts with her duties as an elected official. She had volunteered to be a medical worker in the shelter that night, but showed up to find that everyone first was tasked with building the shelter infrastructure. Eventually, she got an assist and wrestled the crossbar into place. Theres a satisfying clunk, which you also get with a dislocation, she said, and then laughed. Sorry. Multnomah County employees set up a temporary shelter in the Oregon Convention Center on Friday, March 20, 2020. The shelter, which includes 130 beds, will be made available to people who are homeless and at risk for contracting the novel coronavirus. Dave Killen / StaffThe Oregonian Her colleague, Chair Deborah Kafoury had announced Tuesday the intent to open hundreds of shelter beds by the end of the week. On Thursday night, the North Portland Charles Jordan Community Center welcomed the first batch of people who were moved out of existing homeless shelters that were too crowded to keep everyone a safe distance apart. The convention center, owned by the Metro regional government, caught the publics attention for the role it plays in the community. Metro officials have gone to great pains to say that the center will return to normal hosting activities once the governors ban on large gatherings is lifted, and that it wont remain a homeless shelter. For now, the space fits the need near perfectly. Trucks repurposed from the Multnomah County Library -- of which all locations are closed -- and animal control entered through the loading doors and parked under the sign that said food court carrying hundreds of cots, blankets and other supplies. Multnomah County employees set up a temporary shelter in the Oregon Convention Center on Friday, March 20, 2020. The shelter, which includes 130 beds, will be made available to people who are homeless and at risk for contracting the novel coronavirus. Dave Killen / StaffThe Oregonian The bathrooms are built for large numbers of people, and the rooms are built to be easily cleaned. As they waited for more tape, Jenny Carver stood in the hall and examined a map of what the shelter should look like. She had worked for the Oregon Red Cross doing exactly this type of work before joining the county. Setting up homeless shelters in just a few hours was no longer her job, but once the shelter push started in earnest, she again took on the role. Finally, the tape appeared, carried by her coworker Malachi Hindle, who also had joined the county from the Red Cross. Hindle spread the tape on the floor and the volunteers rejoiced. Most had been teleworking earlier in the week when an email went out Wednesday asking for anyone who wanted to switch to emergency shelter staffing. Alex Nevison volunteered. Ive got tape, lets go, he said, cheering on his taping buddy. Multnomah County employees set up a temporary shelter in the Oregon Convention Center on Friday, March 20, 2020. The shelter, which includes 130 beds, will be made available to people who are homeless and at risk for contracting the novel coronavirus. Dave Killen / StaffThe Oregonian Nevison spent 14 years of his life in a shelter similar to the one he was helping create. He grew up during civil war on the Ivory Coast of Africa, and moved onto one of the Army surplus cots when he was 11. The act of constructing this shelter brought those memories back. Every human deserves better -- a place to be, get warm, sleep in peace, Nevison said as he unspooled tape and tried to keep it from twisting before sticking to the concrete floor. They were marking large rectangles that were then subdivided into 5-foot-by-7-foot boxes that held a cot and a blanket, which had come in heavy bales off one the library truck. Grant Swanson, wearing a yellow public health vest, moved through the room, slicing the yellow plastic binding with a boxcutter. In the cavernous hall, the bindings breaking sounded like small gunshots, signaling that the next phase of the set-up could start. Carver explained that the blankets should be placed on the cots to show guests which direction to sleep. That night, each person would face the opposite direction to maximize space but distance the chance of coughing on each other. You know, keeping peoples heads apart, Carver told the group. A normal part of our life now. Multnomah County employees set up a temporary shelter in the Oregon Convention Center on Friday, March 20, 2020. The shelter, which includes 130 beds, will be made available to people who are homeless and at risk for contracting the novel coronavirus. Dave Killen / StaffThe Oregonian About 50 people were set to arrive late Friday afternoon, Carver said. They would be signed in with their name and what shelter they came from before the convention center. Then, they would be fed and allowed to roam as they pleased. Carver was upbeat and jokey with the newbies. She seemed undaunted that at 3 p.m. -- an hour before people were supposed to arrive -- bars holding the privacy curtains enclosing each rectangle fell over with a clatter. The group simply closed the loading door to stop the breeze and requested sandbags from the convention center staff to hold the scaffolds. This was not the real work of creating a shelter, Carver said as the county employees got the screens hung again. She liked walking into an empty space and imagining how it would look in a few hours. Multnomah County employees set up a temporary shelter in the Oregon Convention Center on Friday, March 20, 2020. The shelter, which includes 130 beds, will be made available to people who are homeless and at risk for contracting the novel coronavirus. Dave Killen / StaffThe Oregonian She had put up temporary shelters in schools. She helped create one in Mt. Hood Community College during the Eagle Creek wildfire. She was pleased at how different the convention center hall already looked from that morning. But the real heavy lifting still came later. The biggest part of working in a shelter is just talking to people. Seeing how theyre doing, how their day is, Carver said, trailing off as she surveyed the work. Providing a hospitable space. -- Molly Harbarger mharbarger@oregonian.com | 503-294-5923 | @MollyHarbarger Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.